Indigo League

The gang was nearly at the Indigo Plateau.

"So Ash?" Misty asked. "How far do you think you'll make it in the Indigo League?"

"Well I'd like to win the whole thing." Ash admitted. "But I'm aware that isn't going to be easy. So my plan is to make it through the preliminaries."

"You'll do great big brother." Tomo said.

Ash smiled and rubbed Tomo's head in gratitude.

Just then they approached a large fanfare and people with flags.

"What's going on?" Ash asked.

"They must be waiting for the torch bearer." Misty informed him.

"Torch bearer?" Ash asked. "Oh wait, that's the person who runs into the Indigo League stadium with a torch and lights a huge flame that burns during the Indigo League."

"You're right Ash." Brock said. "And the flame is supposed to be a form of inspiration for competitors. It's said to be a flame of Moltres."

Ash looked at Moltres on the Pokedex.

"Moltres, the Flame Pokemon. Known as the legendary bird of fire. Every flap of it's wings creates a dazzling flash of flames."

"What an amazing Pokemon." Ash said. "I wish I could be the torch bearer."

"Excuse me, young man." A voice said. "But did you say that you want to be a torch bearer?"

The gang turned around and saw a old man in a car.

"Who are you?" Ash asked the old man.

An Officer Jenny spoke up.

"This is the Honorable Charles Goodshow, President of the Pokemon League Torch Committee."

"I'm Ash and this is my younger brother Tomo."

"My name is Misty and this is Brock." Ash and the gang greeted Mr. Goodshow.

Ash walked up to Mr. Goodshow.

"I would like to be a torch bearer." He told Mr. Goodshow. Mr. Goodshow smiled.

"And you shall be too." He said. "You have the spirit kid. And if your friends want to join you, they can."

"Well guys." Ash said. "What do you say?"

"I want to run with the torch too." Tomo said.

"I would like that as well." Misty added.

"It's a once in a lifetime opportunity." Brock stated.

So Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock got to run with the torch. Ash was first with Pikachu. Then Tomo was next with Growlithe. After that was Misty with Togepi on her shoulder and finally Brock with Vulpix. Until at last they reached the stadium. Brock handed the torch to Mr. Goodshow who invited the gang to come to the opening ceremony of the Pokemon League being held tomorrow.

That evening, Ash and the gang were inside the Pokemon Center. Ash had his Pokemon checked and registered himself for the Pokemon League. A lot of Pokemon trainers were there too, even Gary. Poor Nurse Joy was kept very busy. That night while everyone was asleep, Ash was still awake. He was thinking about everything he had done on his journey; catching Pokemon, collecting all eight badges and traveling to all sorts of places. And now he was in the Indigo League.

"This has been one heck of a journey." He whispered to himself. Then he tried to get some sleep.

The next day, everyone had gathered in the stadium; it was almost time for the opening ceremony for the Indigo League. The stadium seats were full of people and trainers, who had gotten eight badges were waiting for the tournament to begin. A runner was just about to place the flame on the cauldron. But then the flame was swiped from his hand. It was James. Team Rocket wanted to sell the Moltres flame for money. This made Ash irate.

"Why does Team Rocket have to rear their ugly heads now?" He asked.

He'd come a long way to get here and Team Rocket was trying to ruin it for him.

Team Rocket had a big machine with a cauldron. Jessie lit the flame onto the cauldron and the flame turned into a bigger flame.

"With this flame." Meowth said. "Not only will we be rich, but we'll be unstoppable."

"Pikachu Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered Pikachu to use Thunderbolt on the machine, but that was ineffective.

"At this rate." Ash said. "Team Rocket will destroy the stadium and take the flame away."

Team Rocket aimed their machine at Ash.

"Let's teach the twerp a lesson." Meowth said.

"Yes, let's." Jessie nodded. They shot the flame at Ash and Pikachu.

*'Do I seriously have to remind these three fire is useless against me.'*

The flame didn't end up burning him. Instead, a pair of eyes glowed in the flames.

He had used the fire to change forms.

"Rrrar!" He produced a loud roar.

Suddenly he heard a screech and saw the shape of a bird in the flames.

"Moltres." Ash said.

Moltres revealed itself to everyone including Team Rocket. Team Rocket wanted to capture it, but before they could do so Moltres destroyed their machine and sent them flying. Then Moltres flew towards the stadium's cauldron and lit the flame.

Everyone was amazed by what just happened and were also happy that the tournament would now proceed. Mr. Goodshow gave a welcoming speech and declared the Pokemon League open. Ash stared at the flame and thanked Moltres for assisting him. Now the Pokemon League had officially started.

Ash was waiting for his first Indigo League battle to begin in a waiting room. After the opening ceremonies, Ash found out that he had to pass through four preliminary battles on four unique battlefields (Grass, Water, Ice and Rock) to qualify for battling inside Indigo Plateau. His first battle would take place on the water field.

"Since this is a water field, I will use Floatzel, Dragonair and Raichu." Ash informed his friends.

"That's a good idea." Misty said. "Those three are a great choice."

The screen in the Pokemon Center where participants would find out who their opponents are showed Ash was up against a trainer named Mandi, who was a bit of a magician.

"This guy's going down." Ash smiled.

Ash's battle with Mandi wasn't until afternoon, so he prepared himself for it. He called Prof. Oak and asked him for his Corviknight, Dragonair and Raichu. Ash switched Wartortle and Sandslash for them.

"I wish you luck Ash, especially since this is your first time competing in a Pokemon League." Prof. Oak said.

"Thanks Professor." Ash replied.

Delia was at the lab too and she wished Ash lots of luck.

"I will be watching you on TV all the way." She said.

Ash felt ready after getting Corviknight, Dragonair and Raichu from the lab. He found out Gary won his first battle on the ice field, but concentrated on his first battle. Later on they met Mandi, but he was a cocky, arrogant trainer and Ash didn't like him at all.

"I look forward to beating you in our battle Ash." Mandi smirked.

*'If that guy thinks he's going to win our battle, he's sadly mistaken.'* Ash thought.

Soon it was time for Ash to battle on the water field.

"Ready Ash?" Misty asked.

"As ready as I will be." Ash replied. "Let's go."

Ash, Tomo, Misty and Brock entered the arena together. Ash took his place on the battlefield and Tomo, Misty and Brock took a seat behind Ash. The battlefield was a water field all right; it was a big pool with two platforms.

"Each trainer uses three Pokemon." The judge explained. "If a trainer recalls a Pokemon, a Pokemon is knocked out, it falls asleep or refuses to battle, those count as losses."

Delia and Prof. Oak were watching the battle on TV and all the other residents of Pallet Town were watching too. They knew that Ash and Gary were participating in the Indigo League, so they wanted to watch both of them. Then the battle began.

Mandi sent out his first Pokemon, Exeggutor. Ash knew it was a grass and psychic type, so he sent Dragonair out to battle.

"Okay Exeggutor, Egg Bomb." Mandi said.

Exeggutor fired multiple egg shaped balls at Dragonair.

"Quick Dragonair, Protect." Ash said.

Dragonair quickly protected herself from the Egg Bomb attack with a force field.

"Okay time for us to counter attack use Flamethrower." He said.

Dragonair sent a stream of fire at Exeggutor and Exeggutor was burned. Mandi didn't expect this.

"Quick Exeggutor, Hypnosis." He said.

"Extreme Speed." Before Exeggutor could do that, Dragonair attacked. Dragonair tackled Exeggutor really hard and it fainted.

Mandi's next Pokemon was a Seadra. Ash returned Dragonair and sent out Corviknight.

Seadra was a water type that could learn dragon type moves, so Dragonair was at a disadvantage.

"That's a good idea." Misty said. "Dragonair would have a rough time against Seadra."

"Yes he knows exactly what he's doing." Brock added.

"Of course." Tomo said. "Big brother has trained hard for this."

Misty and Brock knew Tomo was right.

"Corviknight, Hurricane!" Corviknight flapped his wings and released a large gust of wind.

"Dodge it with Agility!" Mandi ordered.

"Continue using Agility." Mandi said.

Seadra kept on swimming around the pool preventing Corviknight from hitting it. Ash had seen this tactic used by water type Pokemon and knew how to counter it.

"Hyper Beam!" Corviknight fired a white beam of energy from his mouth which hit Seadra dead on.

"Oh no!" Mandi gasped. He had been underestimating Ash this whole time and now he knew exactly what Ash was capable of.

Seadra had swirls in his eyes after being hit by Hyper Beam. It had fainted.

Now Mandi had one Pokemon while Ash still had two. Mandi sent out his final Pokemon, a Golbat.

Ash returned Corviknight and sent out Raichu. Since he recalled one Pokemon and sent out another; he was now down to one Pokemon and would lose the battle if Raichu was defeated.

"You think Ash will be okay?" Misty asked, nervously.

"He'll be fine. Besides Golbat is a flying type; it will easily be defeated by Raichu's electric type attacks."

"Golbat, Double Team." Mandi ordered.

"Raichu, Swift." Raichu's attack got rid of the copies and hit the real Golbat.

"Okay Raichu, Thunder." Ash said. Raichu fired a Thunder attack at Golbat, which really shocked it and then Golbat fainted.

"Golbat is unable to battle." The referee said. "Raichu is the winner. And since Ash Ketchum defeated all of Mandi's Pokemon, this match goes to him."

So Ash won his first preliminary battle. He hugged Raichu.

"We did it Raichu!" He cheered. Raichu was happy with the victory.

Misty, Brock and Tomo congratulated Ash for his victory.

"You were great big brother." Tomo said, hugging Ash.

"Yeah." Brock said. "For your first battle, you did great out there."

"And you knew exactly what to do out there." Misty said.

"I did say I was ready for this." Ash replied.

Tomo, Brock and Misty nodded in agreement.

The next day Ash battled in his second preliminary round. He was up against a trainer named Jeremiah on the rock field. So far Ash had defeated Jeremiah's Electrode and Fearow, thanks to Tauros and Rhydon. But Rhydon had been knocked out by Jeremiah's Nidorino. Ash was now down to his last Pokemon and he called Marowak out to do battle.

"Nidorino, Horn Drill!" Jeremiah ordered.

Marowak struck Nidorino with his club.

"Bonemerang." Ash ordered.

Nidorino was hit by Marowak's bone three times and then it fainted. Ash won his second preliminary round.

"I'm amazed how strong Marowak has become." Misty said after the battle ended. "I mean when we first met him, he was only a baby Cubone."

"Yeah, but baby Pokemon do grow up quick with the right training." Brock pointed out.

The next day was Ash's third preliminary round on the ice field. He was up against a trainer named Pete. At the moment they each had one loss; Ash had defeated Pete's Dewgong with Magneton, but then Magneton was knocked out by Cloyster. Ash then released his Kingler to fight Cloyster.

"Crabhammer Kingler." Ash said.

"Withdraw Cloyster." Pete said.

Cloyster retreated back into it's shell and Kingler started to whack Cloyster with Crabhammer.

"Switch from Crabhammer to Rock Smash." Ash said.

Kingler used Rock Smash on Cloyster. As Rock Smash was a fighting type move, poor Cloyster couldn't handle it as it was a ice and water type and it fainted. Pete returned Cloyster and sent out his last Pokemon; an Arcanine. Ash thought this would be a easy battle, since Arcanine was a fire type Pokemon and Kingler was a water type Pokemon. But Pete proved him wrong; Arcanine defeated Kingler with a Dragon Rage attack. Ash sent out his last Pokemon; Golduck.

"Golduck, Hydro Pump." Ash said.

Golduck fired a powerful Hydro Pump attack, but Pete had Arcanine counter the Hydro Pump attack with a Fire Blast. Arcanine continuously released Fire Blast around the ice field and all the ice melted. Only a small bit of ice, where Arcanine was standing was left. Ash smirked; since Golduck was a water type, it was a good time to attack.

"Swim up to Arcanine and use Hydro Pump again." Ash told Golduck. Golduck swam up to Arcanine and used Hydro Pump again. This time Arcanine was hit and fainted. Ash won his third preliminary round.

The next day, it was the fourth preliminary round. Before Ash's battle, they watched Gary's fourth preliminary battle on the rock field. He was battling a girl named Melissa and both she and Gary were down to their last Pokemon. Gary's Nidoking was putting up a good fight against Melissa's Golem, but Golem defeated Nidoking with Seismic Toss. So Gary lost in the preliminary rounds and earned Top 32 in the Indigo League.

Gary was a bit disappointed with himself, but it didn't make him stop wanting to be a trainer.

"I'm surprised Gary lost." Ash said out loud. "I was expecting him to make it at least four rounds."

He started to feel a bit nervous now, but with Tomo, Misty and Brock cheering him on Ash started to cheer up.

Later on it was Ash's fourth preliminary battle. He was up against a trainer named Jeanette. Ash sent out Ivysaur to battle first and Jeanette sent out Beedrill.

"Beedrill fight that Ivysaur with your Twineedle." Jeanette said. Beedrill flew down to Ivysaur and tried to stab him with the Twineedle attack. Ivysaur managed to keep dodging, but this Beedrill was as fast as him. Ash had to do something quick before Beedrill hurt Ivysaur.

"Ivysaur, Leech Seed." Ash said.

A seed sprouted from Ivysaur's bud and Beedrill was trapped by the leech seed as it's energy was drained.

"Now Tackle." Ash said.

Ivysaur tackled Beedrill hard and then it fainted. Jeanette returned Beedrill and sent Scyther out next.

"Are you still okay to battle?" Ash asked Ivysaur. Ivysaur was okay to battle.

Scyther flew over to Ivysaur and tried to slash it.

"Ivysaur, try using Razor Leaf again." Ash said. Ivysaur fired razor sharp leaves at Scyther, but Scyther deflected them with it's scythes.

"Now use Double Team Scyther." Jeanette said.

Scyther multiplied itself to confuse Ivysaur.

"Okay Ivysaur strike all those copies with Vine Whip." Ash said. Ivysaur whacked all the copies and the real Scyther as well. Scyther was struck by the vine whip really hard and fainted. Jeanette's last Pokemon was a Bellsprout. Ash was surprised but it didn't cause him to lose concentration.

"Ivysaur Tackle." He ordered, but Bellsprout easily dodged it.

Ivysaur tried again, but Bellsprout easily dodged it a second time. Ivysaur tried a third time, but Bellsprout grabbed Ivysaur and slammed him onto the ground multiple times until he fainted. Bellsprout was like a ninja warrior, it was obvious that it had been trained really well. The same thing happened when Ash sent Flareon out. Bellsprout easily dodged Flareon's Flamethrower attacks and then it slammed Flareon into the ground really hard. Ash couldn't believe how strong this Bellsprout was. He then sent out his Muk to battle.

"Sludge Bomb Muk." Ash said. Muk fired globs of brown sludge at Bellsprout, but Bellsprout easily dodged that attack as well.

"Slam that Muk." Jeanette said.

Bellsprout tried to slam Muk, but it had no effect on Muk's sludgy body.

"Body Slam Muk." Ash said. Muk body slammed Bellsprout.

Bellsprout tried to fight Muk off, but it fainted.

So Ash won all four preliminary battles and he could battle in the Indigo Stadium.

After the preliminary rounds, Ash along with his friends and family were having dinner in a restaurant.

"I have to say Ash." Misty said. "You did great during the preliminary rounds."

"You were awesome big brother." Tomo said.

"Yeah." Ash said. "And it's all thanks to my Pokemon."

"You and your Pokemon have come a long way Ash." Prof. Oak said. "Not only have you and your Pokemon become strong, but your bond has too."

"I am very proud of my boy." Delia said.

"Too bad Gary didn't make it past the preliminary rounds." Brock said.

"Yes." Prof. Oak sighed. "The thing about Gary is he's a good trainer, but he gets overconfident. That's what caused him to lose his fourth preliminary round. So Ash my boy Pallet Town is cheering exclusively for you."

Ash smiled; he felt more confident than ever.

After dinner, Ash and the gang met up with a trainer named Ritchie. Ritchie looked almost identical to Ash, aside from the hair and eye color. Ritchie also had a Pikachu, nicknamed Sparky. Ash also found out Ritchie had a Butterfree and Charmander.

"It's like Ritchie and I are twins." Ash chuckled; after all he has a Butterfree and caught Charizard as a Charmander.

The next day, Ash was getting ready for his fifth battle. Believe it or not his opponent turned out to be Ritchie. At first both Ash and Ritchie felt uncomfortable about battling each other, since they had become friends as well as rivals. But they agreed and promised each other to make it the best match ever.

First Ritchie sent out his Butterfree, nicknamed Happy, to battle. Ash had his Flareon out. Ritchie had Happy use Sleep Powder, but Flareon blew it away with Flamethrower. Then Ash had Flareon use Fire Fang on Happy. Happy was hurt by Flareon's fiery teeth and was burned as well. And with a powerful Quick Attack, Flareon defeated Happy. Ritchie called out his Charmander, nicknamed Zippo, to battle. Zippo and Flareon put up a good fight with Slash and Quick Attack, despite being fire vs fire, but Flareon was knocked out by Zippo's Slash. Ash sent out Wartortle, who quickly knocked Zippo out with Water Gun. Ritchie sent out Sparky last. Wartortle did the best he could, but Sparky defeated him easily with a Thunderbolt attack. To make the last battle fun, Ash released his Pikachu to battle. Ritchie was a bit surprised, but understood what Ash was doing. Pikachu and Sparky were evenly matched; firing electric type attacks at each other and charging at each other with Quick Attack and so on. In the end though Ash's Pikachu managed to knock Sparky out with a combination of Iron Tail and Thunderbolt, earning Ash the win.

After the battle Ritchie healed his Pokemon at the Pokemon Center. Ash was also there, healing his team.

"Ash, that was the best battle ever." Ritchie said. Ash agreed.

"I wish you the best of luck for your next match." Ritchie said.

Ash was now up against a girl named Assunta. Since he was now in the finals; Ash would be fighting six-on-six battles. They were now down to their final Pokemon, Pikachu and Ivysaur. Assunta turned out to be quite a challenging opponent for Ash. He had defeated her Rhydon, Tentacool, Venomoth, Parasect and Primeape using Vaporeon, Corviknight, Arbok, Clefable and Pinsir. Ash's Pikachu did quite well against Assunta's Ivysaur. But eventually Assunta's Ivysaur defeated Pikachu with Vine Whip. So Ash lost in the finals.

Ash was a little disappointed after losing. But then again he managed to earn Top 8 in the Indigo League, a lot higher than Gary's place. So he wasn't that down. He reunited with the others at the cabin.

"You feeling all right Ash?" Misty asked.

She had been a little worried about Ash since he lost to Assunta.

"I'm fine." Ash responded. "I was hoping to win the entire tournament, but Top 8 isn't that bad. Beside there are other leagues I can compete in."

"You're right." Misty agreed.

After the final round of the Indigo League it was time for the closing ceremony. All the participating trainers marched into the stadium and received a lot of applause from the crowd. Ash, Ritchie and the other trainers that didn't win received a Pokemon League badge. The badge was shaped slightly like a wing in a green and cream colored cloth and it was an ice blue colored badge. And the trainers who came in 3rd, 2nd and 1st were placed on the winner's box and received a trophy and medals. Then fireworks went off in the night sky and the Moltres flame was extinguished until next year's competition. Everyone then started going home.

Before returning home, Ash said goodbye to Ritchie and then stared at the stadium one final time. He thought about the time he entered the stadium, seeing the Moltres flame and running with it, the battles he was involved in, meeting his new friend Ritchie and earning the Pokemon League badge. Now it was time for Ash and the others to return to Pallet Town.

Ash's journey through the Kanto Region may have come to a end, but a new journey would soon begin.