Seeing that both Ash and May passed the first round of this Pokémon Contets, Harley couldn't help but get annoyed, despite knowing it was pretty much impossible for them to not make it here, 'I didn't expect that May girl to be that capable, but I have contingency plan just for her, and I will use it I have to. I just don't know how long she can last before my cute Cacturne. I will battle him and get the recognition of beating someone like him!'
Ash was still teasing his little Ralts. Since he was now competing here, he left his Pikachu and Togetic under the care of Brock, or them making sure he doesn't "accidentally" harass some girls.
The two of them have the best relationship possible. Togetic likes to play with Pikachu the most, even more so than with Ash or any of her other friends, and Pikachu also loves it a lot because he had been with her since the moment of her birth, and he was also kind of responsible for finding her Pokémon Egg.
"The next round is the round of Pokémon Contest Battles. The first battle is about to begin between Ash and Kent!"
The battle between Ash and the Surskit Trainer, Kent, was just about to begin, but Ash met Harley on the way to the stage, "Ash, did you know? That Surskit's main weakness is speed!"
"Speed?"
"Yeah, it's very slow! So just lure it over and attack it again!" Harley suggested like a good friend.
Hearing this, Ash just nodded, "Thank you for the advice!"
Harley nodded and waked off, 'Did I really fool him? I knew he was just dumb person with a good face, I'm so much better than him! Hahaha!' He tripped.
Ash did it with a light push of his Psychic.
'I will but it back on your retarded brain.'
Surskit's weakness was speed? Fuk no.
Ash sneered, maybe a still kinda past May would have really believed you, but if you show off your IQ like this in front of him, that would be one of the worst jokes possible.
'You absolutely fuking retard, you have eyes but can't see Mount Tai!'
——
"Surskit, use Double Team!"
The first thing that Surskit did was to just use a Double Team. Dozens of these blue annoying bugs slid out of the smoke. The scene here indeed could be very effective—that is if it was used correctly.
"Then use Quick Attack!" Sure enough, it's this basic combo all over again, but such little tricks are no longer effective in front of Ash and his always active minor Aura Sense.
Although its range isn't that big when he isn't constantly concentrating, it was still big enough for this stage without him needing to concentrate at all.
Ralts also didn't need to guess which one was the real in, she just followed the orders Ash gave her when it was needed, the rest were all on here own. She was independent, or that's what she liked to believe.
A single Teleport on the perfect time avoided all of the Surskit's attacks, and then it held up a not so dense Shadow Ball that was almost as big as itself.
When all the Double Team disappeared and the real Surskit was left with only its true form, Ralts hit it with that one powerful black ball.
With a bang, Surskit was instantly defeated, and Ash's title as the Undefeated Honored One was still growing.
As Ash was leaving, he gently hugged Vivian in front of all his fans, making them faint with jealousy, and Vivian blush with happiness.
All he then did was to whisper some words to her ears, turning her face and ears in a red mess.
He then walked off the stage while thanking everyone for their applause, a perfect gentleman.
Harley was mad though, 'Looks like he knew I was lying to him from the beginning! Will be beat my poor self up! No, that can't happen; I'm perfect!'
———
Now it was time for the battle between May and Harley.
Looking at Harley on the stage, Ash smiled slightly and said, "May, Harley is one of those characters you need to face and defeat so you grow up to your potential. He is the kind of unscrupulous rival you need. Now, can you defeat him and make progress or stop? It's all up to you."
"Bulbasaur, take to the stage!"
"Come on, my cutie pie, Cacturne!"
Both Bulbasaur and Cacturne landed on the stage at the same tile. Both were Grass-type Pokémon's, but Bulbasaur had the secondary Poison-type, while Cacturne had the secondary Dark-type.
"Use Poison Sting!" Harley was the first one to launch his attack.
From all the previous performances and even this one single move just now, it was very obvious that Harley's Cacturne was very proficient at using moves like Poison Sting and Bullet Seed, which kind of reminded Ash of the cactus in Plants vs. Zombies.
Now May was able to calm down after thinking some things over, "Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip!"
May's Bulbasaur was always very good at using Vine Whip, even before she caught it, her vines were just like a pair of long, soft, and flexible tentacles. This move was also one of the special moves that have been trained even more by May's training and sometimes by Ash's own Venasaur and Meganium when Ash teleports them over and guide their own training. This can now be used like a whip with the power of a Razor Leaf.
The Vine Whip smacked down the Poison Stings in a single sweep.
It's really not that difficult to deal with the Poison Stings after you realize from where and how Cacturne was using them from.
The Poison Stings were leveled to the floor and were now dissipating, and Harley was stunned there for some moments as he lost more of his points, but May's attack was airtight and still going on, "Next, use Razor Leaf!"
May was carefully taught by Ash in how she should deal with moments like this, where the opponent was not paying attention, and now her battle command was also good enough to pull them off.
The Razor Leaf was now able to exerts its full strength as Cacturne wasn't moving and was going towards it very quickly and with more momentum.
Harley also finally finished all of his inner monologue and issued a command, "Cacturne, use Bullet Seed!"
The attacks between the bullets and throwing knives (leaves) was once again evenly matched, but for Harley, it was a big shame for him. In his opinion, May was just a little girl who was only able to do all this because she had someone like Ash watching and teaching her, and that he would be much better than her if he got those same opportunities.
But that could never happen, Ash didn't like weird dudes like him.
"The fierce battle between Harley's Cacturne and May's Bulbasaur is still going on hot, or whatever Grass-types say, and the two sides are constantly staging both offensive and defensive battles that showed just how much they were refusing to give in to others way!" Vivian was very excited about this performance. The Trainer level between these two were much more equal than the beat down her dream lover gave to his own opponent.
May and Harley's scores were very close to each other, and Ash was nodding at some of their moves. Harley was indeed a good rival for May to have. If she can beat him, May will definitely improve a lot in the mental aspect.
Poor Harley would not have thought that Ash would regard him as May's touchstone and not anything more.
"Bulbasaur, use Vine Whip and then use a close range Tackle on it!"
May had now fully entered her battle mode, and the more longer the fight was going on for, the smoother she becomes in her commands and movements. Her Bulbasaur was also like her because of the bond they shared, and took a look at where Cacturne was and used her Vine Whip to make a move, and then rushed over with Vine Whip still out. Her much smaller body showed amazing strength and more importantly her speed and ability to maneuver in time. The attack landed and sent Cacturne away!
Seeing this, Ash smiled at her back, May's control of the timing of her moves in this battle was already very good, not to mention the amount of growth still left within her.
Seeing his beloved Cacturne fall to the ground, Harley immediately exclaimed, "My dear Cacturne!"
His points were deducted by a lot again, and now May was ahead by a noticeably more points. Judging from the previous battles, she was already locked in for the victory and going to the finals.
"Alright, how dare you do that my perfect Cacturne?" Harley gritted his teeth and took out something that looked to be a voice recorder from his baggy trouser pocket.
Of course, this stage had somehow been amplified by him previously, so the surrounding audience can hear the Trainers' commands, and some narration will also be done during the performance on a much clearer note.
At this moment, Max's voice resounded throughout the performance stage.
"May was also very afraid of Pokémon before. "This story started when she was swimming at the beach when she was a child. At that time, she was surrounded by a large group of Tentacool..."
Max's voice came from the loudspeaker equipment across the stage and the auditorium. This was the last thing May wanted to recall at a moment like this.
When she was young, she also loved Pokémon, but was left a psychological shadow by a large group of Tentacools when she went to the beach. Fortunately, after meeting Ash, her true lover, on her first day of being a Pokémon Trainer, she began to slowly come into contact with Pokémon until now.
"No, you can't tell me about this now!" May covered her ears and tried her best to not hear anything from the outside.
Ash also frowned, May's mind was completely disrupted, "Looks like she can no longer focus on the battle with this going on."
He looked at Harley and thought that maybe he should teach him a good lesson that he will always remember. To actually use such methods to win was not something he was willing to slide.
With a flash of pink light in his eyes, he casually squeezed the recorder hidden in Harley's trousers, and the sound stopped abruptly.
Then he looked at Brock who looked back at him and nodded, there was no need for any words to be spoken between the two long time best friends.
Brock looked down at Max angrily and punched him on the head, "You told him the deepest secrets of your sister that she never wanted anyone to know because of dark it was for her! Why would it be okay to tell some guy such a thing when you don't even know him? And just because he bought you some damn sundae? I could have made some of you had just asked!"
Max covered his head with tears flowing from his eyes, "I'm sorry, I couldn't help it because Harley also said that he was also afraid of Pokémon before..."
Harley laughed happily when he saw May's current condition at the moment.
Bulbasaur looked worriedly at her Trainer who was about to go fall down, so unknowingly she let Harley take advantage of the opportunity.
"Harley, you should be careful when doing such tricks on people, you know that right?" May asked Harley with tears in her eyes, but did not notice that his Cacturnes actions. Bulbasaur was kicked out with one kick.
Ash stood up immediately after he saw something.
May's points were deducted.
This incident obviously broke the rules of a Pokémon Contets, so the points should not he be deducted at all.
"Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf!" May quickly regained her composure, but her mind was still quite confused, and all the moves she sent were destroyed by Harley.
After the continuous attacks, May's points were greatly deducted, but there was still only that last minute and a half left.
If she can survive this crisis, May will still be able to go further and be more stable in her upcoming career. This was a test of her state of mind. It all depends on whether May can defeat her past self and create a new one for herself.
"I won't admit defeat, I will never lose to someone like you!" May gritted her teeth, she was convinced when she lost to Ash because she knew that he was stronger than her by a lot, but she would never accept being defeated by such means by such people!
"May, concentrate on the battle and don't have any distracting thoughts in your mind!" Ash finally couldn't help it anymore. He used his Psychic powers Telepathy, and this only landed on the ears of May.
May's eyes suddenly lit up and she reacted. Looking at Cacturne attacking again from the opposite side, she calmed down and ordered Bulbasaur to use Vine Whip to tie up his feet!
This was a killer move, and Ash also cheered for her.
"Just keep it this way and throw Cactunre out!"
It can be seen that May was also furious, but she calmed herself down to better control herself. At this moment, May has once again broken through herself, and even her bond with her Bulbasaur has been greatly improved.
Bulbasaur also showed her strength further under May's anger and control, and happily smashed Cacturne to the ground multiple times, and then threw it high for the last blow.
"This is our opportunity, Bulbasaur, use Razor Leaf and then Petal Dance!"
This was the fruit of all her recent trainings with Bulbasaur, this was a combo move. The combination of beautiful sharp petals and even more sharper leaves made the audience feel like they were watching a dessert bloom with tall grass and beautiful flower fields, and all in on the stage. Cacturne was beaten to the point where he loses his fighting ability, not to mention the negative points his Trainer was in. "Harley's few remaining points were also knocked out. The buckles are all gone!"
May won, and the whole venue was cheering for her.
But this also means that she will face the big boss Ash himself.
——
Meanwhile Ash told Vivian everything that happened with Harley.
She nodded as it was a violation of the Pokémon Contest rules.
She was even more happier that Ash wanted to talk to her about something after this, just like she wished to.