//------------------------------// // The Fearsome Octolock and the Indomitable Bea // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Ash continues his fight in the Pokemon World Championships. Currently, he's ranked 890th. So far, he's maintained a flawless winning streak. Seeking his next challenge, he's come to Saffron City along with Goh and the Mane 6. There, he's been training his Riolu and putting him against other Fighting-Type Pokemon to better himself, such as Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee. "Yes. Those moves are sharp." A martial artist at the dojo commented at Riolu's movements. "Aren't they? I feel like we're totally unstoppable!" Ash exclaimed. "Pikachu!" "Are you sure you should be boasting this much in the Fighting Dojo?" The martial artist asked, chuckling. "Our Karate Master is no trifling foe." "Think he'll battle me?" "He's battling someone else right now. A challenger arrived before you." "Aw..." Ash groaned. "Pika..." "Worry not. He'll be done shortly. The Master cannot lose." With the others, they were all watching the Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee train their punches and kicks vigorously with 100% of their effort. "Fighting-Types sure are overwhelming aren't they?" Applejack commented. "But they're awesome too. Oh, I kinda want one of my own someday." Rainbow Dash thought. "I can give you one at the Pokemon House if you want, Rainbow Dash. The Passimians are always a good choice." Fluttershy recommended. "Thanks, Fluttershy. But I already have a pretty good idea of what I want my future Fighting-Type Pokemon to be." Goh was busy trying to figure out which of the two Pokemon he wanted to catch. Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan? "Should I go for Hitmonchan and his barrage of focused punches? Or Hitmonlee with his immensely destructive kicks? Do I really have to pick just one?" Goh asked the martial artist. "Yep. That's the rule." He nodded. "The Fighting Dojo can only give trainers Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan. One or the other." "Bummer. I guess I'll take..." All of a sudden, Ash's Rotomphone was ringing. "A Championships trainer is nearby."The phone said. "Pika?" "That must mean the challenger is about to battle at the moment." The martial artist looked over at the dojo entrance. "I gotta see this!" Ash ran over to the entrance, wanting to view the battle for himself. "Let's go you two!" "Pikachu!" "Rio!" "Excuse me! But I'm coming in-" But before he knew it, the moment he got close to the door, a Hitmonchan was knocked out, crashing into the young trainer. "Ash! Are you okay?!" Fluttershy asked. As they all went up to him, they saw who actually managed to knock Hitmonchan out by looking over at the inside of the dojo. Standing there was a trainer who had a fierce appearance to her. This trainer went by the name of Bea. And she looked back at the ponies, intimidating them with her sharp eyes. Fluttershy hid behind Rainbow Dash while Pinkie Pie hid behind Applejack. "Is she still looking at us?" Pinkie whispered. "I didn't anticipate such power." The martial artist with the Hitmonchan said, surprised at the sudden overwhelming beatdown. "Referee. Call it." Bea turned around, speaking. "O-Of course! Grapploct wins! As such, the winner is Bea!" "You okay, Hitmonchan?" Ash heled the Punching Pokemon up. "Hitmonchan!" The trainer ran over to his Pokemon. "You fought well, Hitomchan. Return." He sighed, returning his Pokemon to its ball. "I can't believe it... Our Karate Master was utterly helpless." A martial artist student spoke. "That Grapploct is stupid-strong. Its trainer demonstrated an utterly impeccable fighting technique too." Another said. "Grapploct?" Ash took out his dex to see this new Pokemon he's never seen before. "Grapploct. The Tantrum Pokemon. A body made up of nothing but muscle makes the grappling moves this Pokémon performs with its tentacles tremendously powerful. Once you're caught in its tentacles, it is nigh-impossible to break free. Searching for an opponent to test its skills against, it emerges onto land. Once the battle is over, it returns to the sea." "That was a fine battle. I thank you." Bea bowed to her opponent. That's when her Rotomphone started ringing as well, showing that a challenger was near. And that challenger was Ash of course. "Hm?" Ash held his Rotomphone out to see that Bea was the nearby challenger. She was also participating in the World Coronation Series. "You signed up for the Championships too? My name's Ash. I'm fighting in the Championships too. I'd like to battle you!" "I accept your challenge," said Bea. "Really? Alright!" "Pika!" "Riolu!" "My name is Bea. I hail from Galar." "Galar?" Twilight spoke. "May we use this arena, please?" Bea requested the Karate Master. "Of course. By all means. You said your name was Ash, right?" The Karate Master turned to Ash. "I am the owner of this Fighting Dojo. They call me the Karate Master! You may use this place as you see fit." "Thanks, Karate Master! I'm getting psyched!" "Are you all here to battle as well?" "Oh, no. We're just here to cheer Ash on with his journey towards Leon." Pinkie replied, holding a flag with Ash's face on it. "Go, Ash!" "And I'm just here cause I heard I could get either Hitmonchan or Hitmonlee here," Goh answered. "Indeed you can. If you can defeat me in a battle that is." "I have to battle?!" Goh jolted back. "Well, first. Let us observe Lady Be's battle. To live alongside Pokemon. Battle alongside Pokemon. One way to do that lies here. Lady Bea is a Gym Leader in the Galar Region, you see." "Gym Leader, huh?" Ash uttered. "She is known as both the Fighting-Type Gym Leader and the master of the century-old art of Galar Karate. Furthermore, she travels around, visiting dojos all over the world, battling, refining both herself and her Pokemon, in pursuit of even greater strength." "Her rank is even higher than yours, Ash." Goh checked the rankings on his phone. "Ranked 751st, huh?" Ash saw. "...You know on second thought, maybe we can come back another time." Twilight and the others felt like they've walked into the wrong dojo and met with a terrifying opponent. "No way, Twilight!" Ash stopped them. It was already obvious that he wasn't going to just leave because of a very-impressive sounding trainer. He certainly didn't leave when facing Leon for the first time. "Ugh...I was afraid this was going to happen." Twilight sighed. "I'm in the Super Class too. I'm 890th. We've won every match we've had so far! Riolu here has worked super hard!" "Rio!" "Pikachu!" "Hmm..." Bea narrowed her eyes at Ash. "I can indeed feel a burning fighting spirit from that Riolu. It seems to have been trained well." said the Karate Master. "I know right! Riolu's awesome, isn't he?" Ash looked back, speaking to him. "Ash! I know you can't turn down a battle no matter what! But now may be a good time to ya know...leave. Her eyes are a bit on the scary side." Spike commented. "Don't worry about it, Spike! Speaking of Fighting-Type Gym Leaders, I managed to beat Korrina, remember?" "Korrina?" Bea spoke. "You know her?" Ash leaned forward. "I have battled her." Bea was recalling the moment she first battled against Korrina. And how she actually managed to defeat her Mega Lucario. "She was entirely too soft." "What's that supposed to mean?!" Ash replied, not taking kindly that what Bea said. "Hey! What do you mean by soft?!" Pinkie exclaimed. "There is no need for me to say more." "On second thought.. clobber her Ash!" Rainbow Dash yelled from the back. "Why did you sign up?" "Because I wanna get stronger with my Pokemon! And I keep climbing the ranks, I'll be able to battle Leon to the fullest!" "Pika!" "Leon? To the fullest? Leon is every trainer's goal. Even the champions are aiming to surpass Leon due to him being the strongest trainer in the world. That includes me. I wish to defeat him and become the undisputed strongest. Thus, I signed up for the Championships." "It's gonna be me that becomes the strongest trainer of them all! My friends and I will defeat Leon!" "Then let us not hold anything back in our battle." "This is getting a bit heated, don't ya'll think?" Applejack said to her friends. "Mhm. Ash! Just do what you always do and you'll win for sure!" Goh said in the back. "Alright! I got this! Pikachu! Riolu! Let's do this!" Ash put his right fist in his left hand. "Pika!" "Rio!" Everyone was seated on the floor, ready to observe the outcome of this battle. The Rotommachine that usually arrives during a ranked match showed up here in the dojo. "The Pokemon World Championships has approved this Super Class Battle! The matchup is Contestant Bea vs Contenstant Ash! This battle will be a 2v2. Alright, both sides send out your Pokemon at the same time. 3...2...1...GO!" "Hawlucha! Go forth!" "You're up, Farfetch'd!" Both sent out their Pokemon, ready to go. For Bea, it was a Hawlucha. "Hawlu!" The Wrestling Pokemon struck a pose in the air, landed down and got into a stance just to show off. "Far!" Ash's Galarian Farfetch'd was sent out with its large leek ready. "Hawlucha, huh? Farfetch'd! Watch out for its air attacks!" Ash warned his Pokemon. "Far." "Battle start!" "Hone Claws!" Bea made the first command by giving off a knee and a fighting stance as a result. Hawlucha took the air, spinning about as its claws were glowing in the process. It just gave itself a boost. "Lucha!" "Farfetch'd! Use Night Slash!" "Far!" Farfetch'd swung its leek about, sending blue slashes towards the opposing Pokemon. The Wrestling Pokemon, however, managed to simply avoid the slahes by performing its agile tricks, moving to the side, flipping over etc. Hawlucha then landed on the leek just to show off. "Karate Chop!" Hawlucha ran on Farfetch'd's leek, sending a Karate Chop on the Wild Duck Pokemon and even knocking it back a bit. Not only that but its leek was no longer in its possession. "Far!" "Oh, no Farfetch'd!" Hawlucha went all the way back, showing off with some frontflips as it took the air once more. "Flying Press!" "Farfetch'd grab your leek!" The Fighting-Type woke up instantly. It rolled forward, avoiding Hawlucha's Flying Press thankfully. "Farfetch'd!" The Wild Duck Pokemon managed to grab its leek in time, getting its groove back. "Alright!" "Good job, Farfetch'd!" Fluttershy said from the crowd. Hawlucha's attack wasn't over yet. It turned around, running towards its fellow Fighting-Type. "Now! Brutal Swing!" Farfetch'd went on the offensive by swinging its leek forward. It managed to make contact against Hawlucha, finally. Before the Wrestling Pokemon knew it, it was being swung around by Farfetch'd. "Lu?!" "Keep swinging!" "Let's finish this. Flying Press!" Bea made another stance via command again. Hawlucha made a quick recovery by placing its claws on the leek. The Fighting-Flying-Type took the air by leaping off of the leek, spreading its arms out for Flying Press. Farfetch'd had stopped swinging, feeling dizzy afterwards. "Quick, Farfetch'd! Look up!" Too late. Hawlucha was too close to Farfetch'd due to the limited space this dojo has. As a result, Hawlucha slammed down on Farfetch'd with Flying Press, forcing the Wild Duck Pokemon down to the floor. Its leek flew up in the air, out of its wielders feathers. The dust from the impact cleared with Hawlucha jumping out of it. Both Bea and Hawlucha gave off the exact same pose to claim victory. It was then revealed that Farfetch'd had fainted. "Far..." "Farfetch'd is unable to battle!" "Pika..." "Aw, man...Return Farfetch'd." Ash brought his Pokemon back to its ball. "You did great." "Pika." "It won't be so easy next time!" Ash clenched his fist. "It seems she has complete control over the battle." said the Karate Master. "Poor Farfetch'd." Fluttershy sighed. Bea returned Hawlucha to its Pokeball, deciding to switch it up. The Pokemon she brought out next was widely considered to be her strongest Pokemon most of the time. "Grapploct! Go forth!" She tossed the Pokeball forward, sending out the Grapploct from before. "Grapploct!" "There it is. Grapploct." Ash stood firm. "That's the same octopus looking Pokemon from before, right?" Rainbow Dash asked the Karate Master. "Right. Neither my Hitmonchan nor Hitmonlee stood a chance against it. It's truly a fierce Fighting-Type Pokemon." "Pikachu!" Pikachu was ready to take on Grapploct, but instead, Riolu moved forward. "Riolu? You'll go?" Ash looked down at him. The Emanation Pokemon didn't say a word. He only turned around to his trainer, showing the determination in his eyes. "Alright. Riolu! I choose you!" "Rio!" Riolu front flipped forward in the arena, ready to take on its fellow Fighting-Type. "Pikachu. Cheer us on, okay buddy?" "Pika!" "I'm going for my Riolu next, Bea!" Grapploct gave off a 'bring it on' motion with its tentacles, taunting the baby Pokemon. "Battle Start!" "Vacuum Wave!" "Rio!" Riolu jumped in the air, unleashing three waves of vacuums towards Grapploct without wasting any time. "Charge in! Detect!" Grapploct easily detected the Vacuum Waves, avoiding them by propelling its body back and forth whilst heading towards Riolu at the same time. Grapploct got close to Riolu as Bea gave off the next command. "Close Combat!" "Double Team!" Thankfully, Riolu split itself into afterimage clones, throwing Grapploct off focus. Multiple afterimages surrounded Grapploct, making the Tantrum Pokemon unable to figure out which was the real one. As a response, it began a flurry of attacks with all of its tentacles, attacking every afterimage of Riolu. The more it attacked, the more clones appeared. "Liquidation!" Bea managed to put an end to the Double Team by having Grapploct summoned liquid around its tentacles. It scattered all of its tentacles towards the clones with water around them all. This managed to destroy them all until the real one was revealed. "Ward them off, Riolu!" Riolu attempted to hit back the flurry of Liquidation. At first, it looked like it was working. Riolu managed to push back some of Grapploct's appendages. However, there were way too many of them. And it was only a matter of time until they finally hit their mark. Soon, Riolu was bombarded with liquid strikes, pummeling the Emanation Pokemon. Thankfully, Riolu was a resilient Pokemon, so he wasn't down and out yet. "Oh, my. This has heart racing." Rarity sighed, unsure of the outcome. "Are you okay, Riolu?" "Pika?" "Rio!" "With all those tentacles...I can't predict its moves at all. What do we do?" Ash thought for a moment while Riolu and Grapploct were staring each other down. That's when Ash came to a conclusion by staring at Grapploct's sides. "That's it. We'll have to take the risk of getting in close to finish it! Especially if it's wide open like that. Riolu! Use Force Palm!" "Ri!" Riolu lunged forward, pulling its arms back, preparing for a Force Palm. "No! Don't fight up close!" The Karate Master suddenly warned, making everyone wonder why not. The reason why it wasn't a good idea to fight up close against Grapploct is because of its menacing grab. Grapploct was about to grab Riolu, ready to place him in its clutches. "Watch out Riolu!" Ash called out. Riolu luckily managed to backflip away at the last moment, avoiding Grapploct's grab. "That was close...If it grabbed Riolu, that would've been game. What can we do now? We can't get close unless we deal with those arms." Riolu was catching his breath, cautious of Grapploct's movements. "I haven't seen Ash focus this much before." Pinkie said. "Grapploct lured them into that. If it made contact, then the match would've been over then." said the Karate Master. Ash examined the dojo, looking for a clear opening. He looked around and then to Grapploct, thinking of a way to turn this around. Until he thought of something that could work in hindsight. "Alright, Riolu. Here's what we'll do. Strike under its feet! Force Palm!" "RIOLU!" The Emanation Pokemon struck the floor of the dojo with its palm. The impact caused a burst of blue energy to suddenly rise up, heading towards Grapploct. Instead of making contact, it instead went beside Grapploct. This energy was actually forcing the wooden floorboards to rise up and attack Grapploct, similar to what Dragonite did to Lucario. Throwing the Pokemon off its focus. "Here it comes! Ash's shenanigans!" Twilight leaned forward. "Grapp?!" Grapploct was met with wooden floorboards attempting to attack it. It used all of its appendages to hit the incoming floorboards over and over again. "Now! Use another Force Palm!" Ash went in for the opening whilst Grapploct was distracted. "Rio!" Riolu jumped forward as he and Ash were sure that due to Grapploct behind distracted from behind, they could deal some damage now. But to their surprise, Grapploct managed to not only knock away all the floorboards that were attacking it, but it even tricked Riolu by revealing an extra appendage that it hadn't used against the floorboards. That appendage managed to grab a hold of Riolu, finally having Grapploct have Riolu in its clutches. "Rio?!" "Riolu!" Ash exclaimed. "Octolock!" Bea gave off a command involving a new move that nopony, not even Ash has heard of. Grapploct's signature move. Octolock. The Tantrum Pokemon used the rest of its appendages to subdue Riolu, pinning him down on the floor. "The heck's an Octolock?!" Ash bellowed. "Pika?!" "His plan didn't work?!" Fluttershy gasped. "R-Riolu!" Riolu was struggling to break free from Grapploct's clutches with all his might. But no matter what he did, he couldn't break free. "What move is that?!" Goh asked. "He walked right in her trap!" The Karate Master explained. "Riolu! Hang in there! Break free with Vacuum Wave!" Riolu was straining itself by attempting to unleash a Vacuum Wave from its little palms. However, the grip was so powerful that it wouldn't let him pull the move off. "Your technique has too many wasted movements." Bea taunted Ash. "Pikachu!" "Come on Riolu!" Pinkie Pie was shaking Applejack. "Riolu! Your feet! Kick the floor!" Riolu changed things up. It stamped its feet on the floor, launching him and Grapploct into the air. That actually caught Bea by surprise. As they were airborne, Grapploct ended up turning around on its back with Riolu being above this time. Grapploct fell to the floor, taking damage from it. This caused Grapploct to lose its focus on Octolock, giving Riolu a chance to break free. "Awesome job, Riolu!" "Yes!" Fluttershy exclaimed. "Oh, thank Celestia. He needs to stop making us worry so much." Twilight breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Ash works best when he makes all of us panic though." Rarity replied. Riolu was feeling tired. But that wouldn't stop him from giving up. Not one bit. "Hang in there, Riolu!" "Rio!" "Grapp..." "Liquidation!" "Reversal!" Both attacks were initiated. Grapploct was preparing to slam Riolu with a full-force blast of water. Riolu was prepared to use an all-out attack that would be very potent due to how much damage he's taken. "Yes! Reversal! With all the damage that Riolu's taken, this move is sure to deal some great damage!" Rainbow Dash uttered. "Grapp!" Grapploct moved forward, ready to attack with Liquidation. So did Riolu as both Fighting-Types clashed their limbs together. They struggled for a few seconds until they both ended up cancelling each other out, knocking them both back to the ground and proving that they were equal in strength so far. Both of them were actually tiring themselves out. Riolu got on his knees whilst Grapploct almost fell over, but its tentacles supported it up. The Tantrum Pokemon moved forward, advancing towards its fellow Fighting-Type. "Use Octolock again!" All of a sudden, the attack was used once more. Grapploct quickly grabbed onto Riolu before he knew it. This time, the grip was tightened even further. "Oh, no Riolu!" "Pika!" "Riolu..." Riolu could feel all of his muscles being restrained. As if he had zero control over them. Grapploct had tightened the grip this time, not giving Riolu the chance to move any of its over limbs this time. "I can't watch!" Fluttershy covered her eyes with her hooves, not wanting to see this Baby Pokemon struggle so much. "Forfeit. Otherwise, Grapploct and I will bring you down." "You wish I'd back down! We've made it out before! Hang in there Riolu!" "Rio...Rio!" From the looks of it, Riolu was starting to actually slowly break free, but it was still a great struggle. "You leave me no choice. Liquidation!" Bea decided to finish things once and for all. Grapploct removed one appendage, placing it in front of Riolu. The Emanation Pokemon looked up at the freed appendage, gasping. Before he knew it, he was struck by a blast of water. Right in the face too. "Riolu!" Ash cried out. The baby Pokemon fell on its back, tumbling on the floor. The Rotom machine flew over to see Riolu's current condition. And with one look, it made its decision. "Riolu is unable to battle! As such, the winner is Contestant Bea!" That was the match. "I thank you." Both Bea and Grapploct bowed. "Riolu! You okay?!" Ash ran over to his Pokemon along with Pikachu. "Pika!" "Based on the results of this battle, the Pokemon World Championships rankings will be updated!" "Bea won with such ease..." Goh uttered. "Not even Ash's crazy tactics could help. Even when he tried to outsped her." Twilight said. "Both Hawlucha and Grapploct are practically almost unharmed. They weren't given too much damage." The Karate Master commented. "I lost...completely and utterly." "Pikapi..." Not only that, but Ash's ranking dropped from 890th to 930th. Bringing his rank down to an unfortunate level. "She was really tough, huh Ash?" Applejack and the others went up to him. "No kidding," Ash replied. "Return Grapploct." Bea returned her Pokemon. "I shall take my leave. Thank you for allowing us to battle here." Bea bowed to the Karate Master. Bea however, said nothing to Ash when she was making her leave, completely ghosting her. Rainbow Dash didn't take too kindly to that kind of poor sportsmanship as she was about to let her have it, but Applejack pulled her back, shaking her head. It was best to just let her go. Ash was still thinking about his loss anyways. "Now, Goh. It's our turn to battle." The Karate Master said. "Huh?!" Goh pulled back. "So who'll become your partner? Defeat me and the choice is yours!" "R-Right now?!" Over at the Saffron City Pokemon Center, Ash got his Pokemon all healed up to full strength. "Rio!" "Far!" "Good to see you guys back and healthy. Guess you were the only winner here, huh Goh?" Ash was referring to Goh managing to actually win against the Karate Master and obtaining Hitmonchan who was by his side. "I got a Hitmonchan, so I'm satisfied!" "Hitmon!" "Are you feeling okay after that loss, Ash?" Pinkie went up to him. "If you need somepony to cheer you up, we can throw a party for you!" "Thanks, Pinkie. But I'm actually doing great!" Ash replied. "Typical of you to still be happy even after losing," Twilight said. "But I guess that's what makes you...well you." "Haha! Thanks!" Ash kneeled down to his Pokemon. "Riolu. Farfetch'd. Sorry, I ruined our perfect winning streak." "Rio!" "Far!" "Riolu and Farfetch'd say that it's okay Ash. You did your very best." Fluttershy translated. "Pikachu?" Pikachu went up to Ash's shoulders. "I've never had a battle like that before. But next time, I'll make sure it won't happen again." Ash stood up. "We'll battle Bea a second time sooner or later!" Ash had confidence in his face. "Pika!" The Gym Leader of Galar Bea has given Ash the first taste of defeat in the Championships. He still has a long way to go to reach the monarch and strongest trainer of all, Leon. This battle showed Ash what he'll be facing as he continues to rank up as the journey continues. Chapter 155 End!