Author's Note: Okay so this is an idea I've been playing with for years. Like I was still in high school when I started writing this. However I've never been good at following through with fics. So I'm posting this as a likely two shot that I'm hoping to continue if I can. The idea is a more mature Ash at 15 fights Paul in the semi-final round with Tobias in a separate seed from the two of them. This allows Ash to see Tobias's semi-final fight later on and make a big choice that you'll see next chapter.

oOoAuraoOo

Ash Ketchum stood tall as he looked across the arena at his opponent. He wasn't shocked to be facing the fellow trainer. In fact he'd relished the thought of having this battle.

And to top it all of it was the Semi Final Battle for the Lily of the Valley Conference. He'd blown through to the quarter-finals when he'd finally met some competition. To be fair the guy was using dragon and steel types. It had been quite annoying to whittle away at the stamina of those brutes. He'd won though, and now he stood in the match that mattered more to him than the final would have, against Paul.

The pokemon master in training smirked as he pulled his hat down tighter, "You ready for this Paul?"

The other boy smirked right back and as the rocky terrain of the first arena lifted up and the referee gave the signal both their first pokeballs went flying.

"I chose you Infernape!"
"Destroy this wimp Magmortar!"

Ash gulped at the intimidating figure posed by the opposing pokemon, but seeing his Infernape jump up and down in joy at the challenge he snapped back into focus.

"Infernape start it with a Vacuum Wave!"

He was glad that he'd gotten the supplies together to have an extensive visit with the move tutor in the month he'd had to prepare for the Conference.

His pokemon raised its arms and shot them forward while raising its body temperature sending a roiling wave of air blasting forward at the hulking mammoth of a fire type in front of it.

Due to Magmortar's slow speed it took the hit and was pushed back a few feet, the air knocked out of it.

Not even needing to follow orders to know what it should do Infernape closed the gap.

"Magmortar blow it away with Lava Plume!"
Ash quickly commanded his pokemon in a perfect counter, "Mach Punch its hand-cannons Infernape!" The quick little monkey ducked beneath the behemoth's guard and knocked its cannons to the side.

Paul was swiftly realizing that his usual 'go in for the kill' tactic wouldn't work with this pokemon match up. "Confuse Ray!"

The ghostly ray struck the monkey pokemon right in the face. Suddenly its perceptions were twisted and flipped. "Fer…nape…in?" It tried to keep its balance as it leapt backwards to gain distance, and fell right on its rear end twenty feet away.

"Now blast it again with Lava Plume!" Paul commanded with a smirk. Ash rapidly was thinking through a counter.

"Quickly use a Flame Wheel to knock the lava away!" Leaping up the monkey pokemon spun while releasing enough fire to make most of the lava splatter away. Some of it broke through and Infernape landed on all fours slightly singed.

"Ash. Ash." A whisper in his head ruined Ash's focus for a split second before he shook it off. Unnoticed to himself a few wisps of blue smoke floated off of his hands and made their way to Infernape.

"Mach Combat combo now!" Ash had gotten smarter after all of his contests in the last two regions. He'd drilled common combos into his pokemon.

The lithe monkey fighter struggled to gather its strength for the move until the smoke fed itself into his flame, his flame burst into life again powerfully and he dashed forward with spectacular speed. Infernape punched Magmortar in the head and seamlessly changed into the use of Close Combat pummeling the flaming giant into submission.

"Magmortar is unable to continue! Match to Infernape!" The referee announced.

"Grr! Useless!" Paul grunted as he withdrew his pokemon.

"Good job Infernape! Return!" Ash knew his pokemon would need a slight rest after that brutal fight.

"Will the competitors choose their next pokemon." The referee commanded.
With a growl Paul tossed his next pokeball, "Weavile cut his pathetic pokemon to pieces!"
"Staraptor I choose you!" The combative bird pokemon came out with a battle shriek.

Paul decided to try and finish it quickly. "Icy wind!" The blast of sleet flew towards the bird.

"Dodge then use Quick Attack to get close and nail it with a Take Down!" Staraptor didn't move fast enough and got part of its tail frozen sending it a bit off balance. Luckily even though Weavile initially dodged the Quick Attack it wasn't ready for the follow up Take Down which sent it reeling.

"Pathetic! Go in for a Night Slash!" Bursting forward with speed it slammed its claw, glowing with black crackling energy, into the brave bird sending it flying back.

"Staraptor! Are you alright?" Ash cried. The winged warrior shook its head to release itself from a daze and let out a battle cry. "Haha yeah!" Ash called out, "Agility then move in for a Close Combat!"

"STAR!" The pokemon gained a bit of blur as it darted around the arena and began flying in close at full speed.

"Gah Weavile destroy it with a Metal Claw!" The attacks struck simultaneously.

Staraptor went flying back and landed unconscious. Weavile stood up looking a bit worse for wear, and getting worse by the minute, it was obviously dazed from the impact.

"Staraptor is unable to battle! Match to Weavile!"

"It's ok Staraptor, return buddy." Ash returned his pokemon and took out another. "Go Floatzel!" The sea weasel pokemon burst out with a flourish.

"Uggh what a show pokemon, destroy the wimp with a Quick Attack Weavile!" Paul called out.

Ash grinned. "Aqua Jet!" The extra water power behind the strike sent Weavile flying before it could get its attack in.

"Weavile is unable to battle! Match to Floatzel!" Paul hissed under his breath as he returned his pokemon and sent out another, "Finish it Electivire!"

Over in the stands Brock gulped. "Oh no Ash is in for it now! Electivire is probably one of the strongest Electric pokemon there is!"

Dawn gave Brock a dirty look. "Ash can do it! He's taken out pokemon that have a type advantage before! He does it all the time!"

Brock shrugged, "Maybe, but it'll be very difficult with this one."

Back down on the field Ash shook the fear off. "Do you want to continue Floatzel?" The sea weasel gave a harsh 'Zel!' of agreement. It wouldn't back down.

"Right! Then start off with a Razor Wind before it can do anything!" Floatzel fell to all fours and began spinning its tails rapidly.

"Electivire end this now with a Giga Impact!" The large yellow monster let out a howl and charged forward, glowing madly.

"Floatzel jump above it and use the Razor Wind to get higher!" The sea weasel leapt above the Electivire and unleashed its attack. The recoil from the release sent it higher while the blade of wind slammed Electivire into the ground canceling out its attack.

"Now dive down on it with an Aqua Jet!" Ash commanded his pokemon.

Paul thinking quickly commanded his pokemon in a last ditch effort, "Discharge!"

Just as Floatzel hit Electivire released the electricity causing an unexpected explosion.

As the smoke clear the referee decreed, "Both pokemon are unable to battle! Please send out your next pokemon now!"

"GO TORTERRA!" The trainers' voices cried out simultaneously.

"Oh wow folks this is going to be a great battle! Two absolutely monstrous Tort-" He was cut off by Paul's command of, "Earthquake!" Right after the command left his lips his giant tortoise slammed its legs down shaking the arena and sending a jagged fissure towards Ash's Torterra.

Ash grinned and taking a page from Gardenia's book he called out a counter attack, "Trip him up with Grass Knot!" Torterra's eyes glowed green and vines burst out of the ground wrapping around his foe's legs and bringing the opposing tortoise crashing into the ground.

Quickly calculating how long he'd have before the foe recovered Ash called out a final command, "Hyper beam!" A sphere of light glowed in his Torterra's mouth as the other struggled to get back on its feet. The beam of pure energy didn't give it that chance and Paul's Torterra was blown clear of the vines and into the stadium wall.

As the dust cleared the crowd held their breath.

"Paul's Torterra is unable to battle! Match to Ash's Torterra!" The crowd went wild as both competitors returned their pokemon. Paul had two pokemon left. Ash had Torterra, Pikachu, and an as yet unrevealed pokemon.

Paul growled, "Grr you better win Aggron!" The rock and steel type tyrant roared as it was released out of its pokeball onto the field.

"Wow, another battle between behemoths!" The announcer cried, "What a match!" His second sentence was again cut off by the dual cries of the trainers calling out, "Earthquake!"

The arena was annihilated by the twin ground attacks. Fissures erupted everywhere and rocks and debris went flying striking both pokemon. While Torterra was already tired from its previous battle, Aggron suffered from a crippling double weakness to ground type moves.

Eventually the tremors ceased, the debris stopped flying, and the dust cleared. Showing another double knockout.

"Wow what a mix of attacks! Both pokemon are down! Paul is on his last pokemon now! And Ash is down to two!" The announcer was just as excited as the roaring crowd while the trainers returned their pokemon to their pokeballs.

Ash knew Paul had likely saved his best pokemon for last. So he'd send out one he knew could likely win and at worst soften the next one up immensely for Pikachu.

"Come on out Gible!"

"Hail, Froslass!"

Ash recognized his mistake immediately as Paul's pokemon came out immediately starting up a hailstorm to hide itself in.

"Gible do you still want to fight it?" The little dragon growled out its named and jumped around excitedly. "Well alright! Start things out with a dig!" Diving underground before it could freeze over it dodged an impromptu Ice Beam from the frosty ghost.

"Ash. Ash. Return." He shook off the whispering voice in his head and focused on the battle. When Gible popped out of the ground he gave it a command, "Dragon Pulse!" The close range blast of draconic energy sent the Froslass flying through the air, though it only sustained minor damage. He knew that with Snow Cloak Gible would have to focus on close range attacks to have a hope of winning.

His thoughts were cut short as a well-timed, extremely super effective, Ice Shards sent his little dragon flying into a wall. "Gible! Get up buddy!" He cried as once again the blue mist flew over unnoticed from his hands to his pokemon.

Reenergized the small dragon and it leapt to its feet and began glowing.

"What?!" Paul roared as the announcer chimed in with, "What do you know viewers! The Gible is evolving!"

As the light faded it struck a fearsome pose, "GaaaaBITE!"

"Awesome! Get back in there with a Dual Chop Gabite!" Zooming along the ground with newfound speed the dragon pokemon slammed first one bladed fin, then the other into the surprised Froslass sending it flying.

"Grr…finish it off with a Blizzard!" Ash blanched at Paul's command and tried to command Gabite to counterattack, but it didn't have enough time to charge up the Draco Meteor and was knocked out by the fearsome ice storm.

"Gabite return! Good job buddy." With a grin he sent Pikachu out. "Let's end this! Volt Tackle!"

Pikachu charged in full speed with an electrifying yellow aura. Frosslass tried to dodge and partially succeeded, only being clipped by the attack.

"Quick Attack into Iron Tail! Don't let up!" Even through the now fading hail storm Pikachu was relentless. He knew how important this match was for his trainer, his friend, his partner. A swing of the tail with a silver sheen and Froslass was down and out to the super effective move.

"And that's it folks! Ash goes to the final round to face Tobias!"

A few hours later Ash and company were watching the recording of Tobias's match.

"How is that fair? Using legendary pokemon like that?" Brock questioned, not truly expecting an answer.

Dawn shook her head, "I guess no one managed to do it before so they didn't feel the need to make a rule about it." Piplup shook in fear as the Darkrai on the recording let out a cry of melancholy and terror inducing power.

Ash stood up without saying a word until Brock and Dawn turned a questioning gaze to him. "I need to make a phone call." Was the trainer's only explanation as he walked off, Pikachu tailing behind.