Ash's POV

"Split up and hide," I command. Ducklett and Gengar quickly make their way into the dense forest, hidden from all views. The cameramen are going to have a hard time recording all the action in this battle.

"Two can play that game," Hanno smirks. "Golem get underground, Gardevoir teleport into the leaves of a tree."

Now all four Pokémon are out of view, not the best battle for TV so far. Someone has to make the first move but there's not much either of us can do. "Future sight!" Hanno yells. Great.

The psychic attack will eventually hit my Pokémon, no matter how well they're hiding. "I guess it's go time," I state. "Ducklett how about you cool this place down with rain dance. Gengar turn invisible and use shadow punch straight up into the air."

The blue duck Pokémon squawks loudly and dark grey clouds start to hide the sun as well. A lot of hiding going on today. A rumble of thunder rumbles the stadium before rain droplets start falling from the sky. It turned from a small drizzle into a full on downpour.

I can see water dripping off my hat while trying to see if what I did this for will happen. I wipe the water that my hat didn't stop from going on my face, then I look around into the flailing crowd. A fair amount of them have umbrellas or ponchos but not everyone. I can see Lillie in the front row with an ice structure over her head.

Good thing she has two ice types with her, but I'm definitely going to hear about this when the battle is over.

But we're not the only things getting soaked, the trees are getting hammered so hard that the ground underneath is also getting wet. Very wet in this case.

Mud is already forming at the surface and I know that Golem will like that. While Hanno is preoccupied with the rain and his rock type, Gengar's purple fist attack flies high into the air before diving back in the trees. Shadow punch can't miss the Pokémon so I'm feeling pretty confident that the super effective attack on Gardevoir is going to give me a big advantage.

"Duuuuuuuuck!" A cry comes from the forest.

"Golem didn't come up through the watered down dirt did he?" I ask no one in particular.

"I didn't tell him to," Hanno shrugs. "Maybe it's Arceus helping me out."

Maybe but then Ducklett comes flailing out of the forest with a ghostly fist chasing him. "Oops," I sweat drop. "Ducklett use air slash to defend yourself."

The Unova native Pokémon goes to do his signature salute before shooting out the pressured gust of wind. Ducklett brings one of his wings to his head but then the ghost type attack nails him the face. "Good teamwork guys," I laugh.

Ducklett falls down comically while Gengar continues to hide out in the trees. "Golem use discharge quickly!" Hanno yells. "Time for some fried chicken."

The command took me and Ducklett by surprise so he couldn't get off the ground in time. I watch the yellow glow fly along the water flooded ground until electrocuting him. The ground must've absorbed some of the damage because Ducklett is able to get up under his own power.

"We don't like fried chicken," I smirk and Ducklett cheers. "Actually it is pretty good."

Hanno goes to respond but then portals open up in the sky and I start getting Anistar City Gym flashbacks. "Gengar use shadow punch quickly and follow it to hopefully Gardevoir this time!" I yell.

I couldn't see Gengar follow my order but I know where Ducklett is and no punch is coming his way this time. Except something stronger is heading his way...

Two giant orbs of psychic energy explode of the portals and shoot towards the battlefield. One hits the area in front of me, causing smoke to fly into my body and pushing me back in the process. Once I feel the force of the explosion die down I look ahead to see the damage.

There's a giant crater with a defeated duck Pokémon in it. "Thanks bud," I call him back. I look up for my other Pokémon and I can tell where he is since a large patch of trees is missing. "Gengar if you're okay use dark pulse."

I wait, Hanno waits, the crowd waits, Kukui waits, Arceus waits, you get the point...

And then...

A black spiral of energy shoots into the sky with a Gardevoir going for a ride. "Finish her!" I yell. "Woah."

Gengar starts swinging the dark type attack all over with amazing control. He repeatedly hits Gardevoir who is in too much pain to teleport or defend herself. I notice her eyes become swirly and I tell Gengar to stop. "That looked like fun," Hanno says and returns his Pokémon while thanking it.

The rain is still hammering down on the stadium and I bet people are regretting coming to watch this battle. But that also means Golem probably won't try to come up and attack. This is what you call a stalemate and Hanno is tired of it. "Fight through the water and come up to use thunder punch!" He yells.

It's a risky move I can tell and a few things have to go right before Gengar gets hit. You would think Golem's lack of speed or flight to follow Gengar would stop him from attempting the command but I guess not.

Common sense however didn't need to stop him since the thick layer of mud did. With only his head above the ground, the Alolan Golem is stuck in place with nowhere to go. "Oops," Hanno facepalms.

"Finish this with drain punch!" I smile confidently.

Gengar creeps forward for an extra effect, this is also the first time everybody can see two Pokémon at the same time. Maybe Gengar shouldn't have stayed invisible until now.

He brings his fist back, does a spin, and punches Golem in the face with the super effective attack. Green particles exit Golem and diffuse into Gengar, the former fainting in the process.

We may not have seen much, but Ash Ketchum is moving on to the quarter finals!

Silver's POV

Royce and Christopher are both trying to outsmart each other but effectively getting nowhere. The Ninetales duo and Royce's Spiritomb/Medicham combination have been able to land a few big hits but they need to string some together if they want to win.

Christopher's Pokémon's synchronization is amazing to witness. They're able to cover each other without command and they understand what Christopher wants out of them. You think that would lead to an easy win but Royce's mysterious Spiritomb has proven to be a tricky challenge so far. And with Medicham defending steadily and calmly, these two trainers don't leave many openings for high powered attacks.

I see on the computer in front of me that Ash won his battle already and this one doesn't have a defeated Pokémon yet. It looks like the blonde haired guy is ordering Spiritomb to use destiny bond though so something is in the works.

A hazy yellow sphere confuses the stadium before it gets absorbed into its purple spinning body and he smiles evilly with his green colouring. What a creepy Pokémon... Now when Spiritomb faints, whoever lands the finishing hit will go with him. A good idea I guess but why would Royce use that move instead of focusing on his impermeable defence.

"Time to finish this battle," Royce smirks. "Spiritomb charge while spinning fast like we practised. Medicham get ready."

The ghost and dark type hovers along the ground with its keystone body only a few centimetres off the ground. It spins and repels the fire and ice attacks being bombarded on it. It's taking damage but I know that's what Royce wants. "Now!" Royce yells.

The pink psychic Pokémon was hiding behind Spiritomb before jumping out with hi/jump kick. Medicham comes down hard on the Alolan Ninetales, knocking it out in the process. Usually Christopher would be happy with the combined damage his Ninetales' did on Spiritomb but not this time.

The ghost type faints from a finishing flamethrower and the attacker, Ninetales, faints as well. That got intense real fast.

What a quick ending to a long battle. Royce is moving on!

Paul's POV

It's Lucario versus Bisharp, winner moves on to tomorrow, while the other gets to watch from the couch.

"Like you did in the Sinnoh League!" Someone yells.

I look down and see a laughing Dawn while Moon is giggling from beside her. Please remind me why I bother with them.

It's taken a long time, an unfortunate placement under a falling pillar, and a well timed gullotine attack to get this far. A powerful fighting type move from either side could decide this battle.

Riptide is going for the win right here with focus blast!

The orb rockets along the ground and towards its target. Lucario stands strong and deflects it with a metal claw.

Good idea to simply deflect the low accuracy attack. But now he's firing an aura sphere way up into the sky. Since it can't miss, Bisharp will have to stay ready so he can stop it and keep this battle going. The aura sphere is approaching and the dark and steel type is ready with a metal claw to defend.

Everyone is watching the aura sphere closely but nobody is watching Lucario close in with close combat. This battle is over.

"Great job," Riptide compliments once the aura sphere is deflected away harmlessly into the ground. And almost on cue with the small explosion, Lucario appears and delivers a few hard blows to Bisharp's stomach.

It came down to the end but Gladion was one step ahead. And because of that he is moving on. And by the way mystery heckler, my loss in the Sinnoh league came down to the final bit of energy our Pokémon had.

"It's okay Plum head!" Dawn yells up to me.

"Yeah I still love you even though you lost," Moon jokes.

I roll my eyes and sit back into my chair sighing. Except I go back to hard and flip over. Where'd all this bad luck come from?

Bonnie's POV

Since the battles have ended for today, we all decided to have a big party to celebrate Royce, Gladion, and Ash moving on. It's mostly just been talking so far but it's about to get exciting. "Cake is almost ready," Cilan whispers in my ear and I nod.

I tell Sydney and we find Mallow and Gary who unfortunately aren't standing together which would have made this a lot easier. Brock comes in with a really tall cake that is covered by a curtain thing I borrowed from the private restaurant we have access to.

I work my shipping magic to lead Gary to a chair at the table set up where the cake will be right in front of him. I smirk at Sydney who distracted Mallow enough to guide her beside Gary. "So I won a bet with Brock so here's the cake I was asked to request by a few girls and two legendary Pokémon," Cilan sweat drops while the three of us humans smile sweetly.

Brock lifts up the curtain delicately to reveal a green and purple cake. The sides are white while each layer has alternating green and purple icing around the top. And in big words is "SpiceTreeShipping".

Since not many of us like green and purple, and since the two are sitting beside each other, everybody was able to look at the correct lovebirds. Except Ash who is drooling at the cake. "Too late," Gary laughs and I look at him confused.

He lifts his hand that was under the table and shows Mallow's hand already in it comfortably. "Good try guys but we took care of it ourselves," Mallow blushes and leans on her Kanto boyfriend.

"A success is a success either way," I cheer and high five Sydney.

We spent the rest of the evening joking around and getting sugar highs from the icing loaded cake, that I requested because I love icing. After that it was time to say goodbye to Sydney.

I made it quick so that they wouldn't be late and I promised to travel to Johto to visit. After a few hugs, her, Kyred, and a Olivia left the hotel and towards the airport.

Time for the quarter finals...

__________________________

I think my writers block is gone... phew. I'm finally back to writing without it feeling forced and that goes for all my books.

Buuuuut I'm gone Wednesday and Thursday for school so next update won't be until next weekend.

So Cya soon and I'm starting something next chapter where I'll tag two people who have and continue to support, comment, vote, and/or contribute to the book. (Most do all four)

It isn't too late to contribute and bring more readers to the book so keep doing whatever you can/want/have been doing.