"…Floatzel!" Ash announced, and threw Floatzel's pokéball out over the field. When it started to fall downwards, a blast of water exploded out from the ball before being blasted in all directions by sparks of electricity, which Floatzel, in the middle of them, punched and kicked, causing the sparks to jump from one droplet to the next, resulting in a sphere of electricity surrounding Floatzel, which just stood there, calm and unaffected by it.

Jayce grunted and said, "You know that this ain't a contest, right?"

Ash cryptically said, "Isn't it?" with a raised eyebrow.

"Of course it isn't! This is a trainer battle!"

Lana warningly said, "Jayce," thinking on what May had told her when she met her in the foyer before the match began.

"…you know…where you try 'n' beat the opponent by defeating their pokémon in battle."

"I see," Ash said. "You are unaware then."

"I'm 'unaware'?!" Jayce exclaimed. He asked, "Of what?"

"It would appear that you have even more to learn than I'd thought, Jayce."

"What is that supposed to mean!?" Jayce demanded.

Nurse Joy interjected before Ash could answer, saying, "Now, Jayce will release his pokémon, followed by Lana."

"Alright, fine," Jayce said, not entirely(at all) satisfied with their half-finished conversation. He announced, "I choose you, Poliwrath!" as he threw his pokéball out over the field. A blue, muscular, fighting type appeared on the field opposite Floatzel.

After Jayce had caught his pokéball and returned it to his pokébelt, Lana called out, "Go, Golisopod!" and flung her pokéball out over the field, though this one didn't have a ball capsule attached to it.

At the reveal, Ash said, "So, you've been over to Alola, have you?"

"I haven't, no," Lana said. "My aunt gave me this 'ere Golisopod for my birthday one year, though it was a Wimpod at the time. Why? Have you been there?"

"I see," Ash said, thinking, 'Then I won't need to watch out for any of them, then.'

Nurse Joy said, "Since this is a battle with a Frontier Brain, he will call his move first." She paused for a second. "Let the Sea Round begin!"

As soon as he had the go ahead, he said, "Alright Floatzel, use Brine on Poliwrath." When the stream of water hit Poliwrath, it slid back, about a metre, before coming to a stop, at which point Floatzel let go of its attack and Ash saw a blue aura generate around Poliwrath and thought, 'So, it does have Water Absorb then? That's going to make this battle annoying, but far from unwinnable.'

Jayce said, "Alright, that was great Poliwrath! Now, use Dynamic Punch!"

'Dynamic Punch? That could be problematic,' Ash thought as Poliwrath lumbered forward. When it was close, Ash said, "Inflate it Floatzel!" With a grin, Floatzel's yellow live vest thingy expanded, intercepting Poliwrath's fist, but, Golisopod came in from behind with a Razor Shell and tore right through it, rendering it incapable of being used for defence for at least that rest of the match. Ash grunted in annoyance, but still respected the efficacy of Lana's attack. He said, "Floatzel, Sonic Boom," and Floatzel flipped on the spot and swung its tail at Golisopod, shooting many crescents of white energy at it. Every one of which made contact, it being far to slow to actually avoid any of them. That said, its defence was great enough that what damage that was inflicted, was negligible at best. 'So, she focused on its defence as she was raising it. A rather standard practice when dealing with a slower pokémon. That aside…' "Floatzel, use Aqua Jet!" Floatzel immediately shot away from the onrushing large stream of water, courtesy of Poliwrath's use of Hydro Pump.

Lana said, "Use Aqua Jet Golisopod!" and her pokémon was surrounded by water as Floatzel was released from its Aqua Jet.

Ash raised his right eyebrow and thought, 'Oh? That's interesting. I wonder what she'll do if I…' he said, "Floatzel, make an Ice Aqua Jet with Ice Punch." Floatzel looked at Ash curiously, unsure exactly what he was meant to do as he hadn't needed to be given so minute instructions when was told to use Ice Aqua Jet for a very long time. Seeing the look, Ash slightly nodded at the oncoming Golisopod. Floatzel nodded and activated Ice Punch, spinning the icy aura around its hand as Golisopod rushed at it.

As it did, Lana thought, 'Ice Aqua Jet? That's that awesome move that Floatzel knows that covers it in a shell of ice. But I thought that Aqua Jet needed to be activated before…!' Her eyes widened and she exclaimed, "Oh no! Golisopod, stop!" but it was too late, Floatzel's Ice Punch had connected and the shell of ice had formed around Golisopod, trapping it as the block of ice slid to a stop.

Ash said, "Well Jayce, it looks like it's just you and me now."

"That's right, it is," Jayce said and grinned.

Ash asked, "What are you grinning about?"

"Now that Lana's out of the way, that gets rid of one of the obstacles."

"'Obstacles'? What do you mean by that?"

"You both said is in the last match. The rules used in this match increase the number of things that we need to focus on during battle. Now that it is a one on one battle, we are on a level playing field."

Ash sighed and said, "If we are strictly talking about the rules, you are right. However…it is your go."

"Thanks," Jayce snarkily said. "Now! Poliwrath, use…" as Jayce started to give Poliwrath an order, he started making a bunch of strange movements, that not many in the arena recognised, that Poliwrath started mimicking.

Ash did. He thought, 'Jayce can use Z-Moves!' He also recognised the movements, making regular use of them himself, so he started making movements of his own, though they were distinct from those that Jayce was using, as did Floatzel.

Jayce finished first. He said, "Poliwrath, use Gigavolt Havoc!" A large ball of electricity formed in front of Poliwrath, which it punched to launch it towards Floatzel.

As the super-powerful move rushed at Floatzel, Ash and Floatzel finished their stances and Ash said, "Z-Aqua Ring!" when he did, Floatzel was surrounded by a net of water, which was thick enough to absorb the electricity of Gigavolt Havoc, completely protecting it from Poliwrath's attack.

Jayce's eyes widened at the feat before narrowing as he thought on what Floatzel had done after being released from the ball capsule. He demanded, "Was that a taunt, back at the start of the battle?"

"No," Ash said, figuring that Jayce was talking about the ball capsule that he used with Floatzel. "I see it as more of a warning."

"A warning?"

"That 'type', means absolutely nothing to Floatzel. That aside, I thought that you hadn't been to the Alolan Region."

"Lana went through the Decalora Islands while I was there."

"I see. So, how many do you have?"

"I've got Lightning, Ice and Bug. You?"

"It took me a little over a year, but I managed to get a full set."

"Seriously!?" Jayce exclaimed, knowing full well just how rare, and difficult, it was to obtain even one, let alone a whole set of Z-Crystals. "Is that how you became a Frontier Brain?"

"No. I was technically a Frontier Brain for a very long time before I'd even heard of them."

While that was going on, Lana was thinking, 'Z-Crystal? What the heck's that? Maybe I should look into them. Especially if Jayce can pull of something like that whenever he wants. But that can wait. What matters now is that this is one fine mess that I've gotten myself into. How the heck am I supposed to get Golisopod out of there? Suppose that Razor Shell is really the only move that it's got that has any chance of breaking through that thing. However…' she sighed and thought, 'Well, I suppose that I don't really have much by way of choice in the end.' Then, she shouted, "Golisopod, use Razor Shell to break through it!" at the top of her voice in the hope that that would let her voice reach Golisopod through the ice. It did and Golisopod started hacking away at the ice.

Jayce, getting his head back in the battle, bit his lip as he thought, 'Damnit! Gigavolt aHaHHHavoc didn't work! On top of that, I can only use it once and, given the number of Z-Crystals that he has, he probably has enough experience to use multiple Z-Moves too! The only thing that I can think of that has any hope of winning, is to get it from behind with Golisopod. Even so though, that's easier said than done.' He tried to think of a plan that would get Golisopod out of the ice faster than 'sometime'. Unable to do so, he turned to Lana and said, "Hey sis, I think that we need ot get it from behind now that it can't use that life-vest looking thingamajig."

"Yeah, but that's not possible without both of our pokémon in play. And, that Z-Aqua Ring is going to be problematic too."

"Yeah, I suppose so. Any ideas?"

"Keep on blasting it with ranged attacks."

"With ranged attacks? Why? Gigavolt Havoc is the strongest move that I can use, and it was all but useless!"

"Yeah. But, despite it's normal duration, that Z-Aqua Ring was probably really taxing on Floatzel, which should put a limit on its duration, or, failing that, drain Floatzel's stamina whenever it's activated, all of which create their own openings. Well, that's if it wasn't just a one-off effect anyway."

"Alright," Jayce said. "Poliwrath, use Thunderbolt!" causing Poliwrath to rub its hands together before thrusting them at Floatzel. When it was about to hit, the same net as before appeared to intercept it, no smaller than the previous one.

Ash said, "Floatzel, use Rain Dance!" At the command, Floatzel raised its hands towards the roof of the arena and tapped its feet as it turned in a circle while, above it, what moisture was in the atmosphere, condensed into cloud and it started to rain down on the battlefield.

Lana's eyes widened and said, "That's not good."

"What isn't?" Jayce asked. Rain Dance just empowers water type moves. That includes both of ours as well as his. It should also serve to get Golisopod back in the match sooner too."

"It also works really well when a pokémon has the ability Swift Swim!"

At this, Ash's lips twisted downward as he thought, 'So, she is the one coming up with all of the strategies then, is she?' Then he thought over the last match and realised, 'Most of their 'combinations' were born from Lana working to augment Jayce's Charizard's attacks. Quite effectively at that.' He said, "Floatzel, use Ice Aqua Jet!" and it rushed at Poliwrath, surrounded by a horizontal column of water that turned into a shell of ice faster than either twin was expecting, even Lana, who had been expecting the increase in speed. When it hit Poliwrath, the ice shell shattered as Poliwrath was sent flying back. Eventually it got back under control and slid to a stop, only to receive an Ice Punch to the face almost immediately after stopping. When it came to a stop this time, it found that Floatzel hadn't moved, but was standing still, except for one arm that was pointing at it, waving its paw in such a way as if to say 'Bring it'."

Poliwrath stomped its feet on the ground, annoyed at the impertinent water type, trying to challenge it, the only fighting type water pokémon to a fight if the dual ice punches were any indication and it rushed at Floatzel, activating two Dynamic Punches on its way. It punched at Floatzel with its right fist, but, before it connected, the net of water appeared, knocking its hand to the left and it off-balance, which Floatzel used to land an Ice Punch on its face, causing it to spin on the spot. It then spun and used Sonic Boom to knock its legs out from under it and punched the ground between its legs, freezing both of its legs to the ground with a large bock of ice. Suddenly, it heard Ash call out, "Floatzel, watch out!" as a blue streak made its way at a very fast pace Floatzel only had time to look at why he was being told to 'watch out', before it was hit in the back with a Razor Shell, as Golisopod let go of Aqua Jet before it made contact, unwittingly imitating one of Ash's favoured strategies with Raichu.

Lana said, "Use Razor Shell to release Poliwrath from the ice." Golisopod smashed the ice with its other hand. It also held out a claw to help Poliwrath up, who batted it aside and pushed itself up, its pride as a fighting type bruised by Floatzel, who was itself pushing itself up off the ground.

Floatzel made a show of brushing some dust off its bicep, mocking Poliwrath further. Poliwrath's eyes flashed and it saw red and ran at Floatzel once again. Jayce called out, "Poliwrath, no!" only barely able to break through his pokémon's ire. It looked at its trainer and let out a series of sounds, and Jayce said, "I get that. Believe me. But a physical fight won't work against Floatzel." Jayce waited until Poliwrath finished responding. When it was done, he sighed and said, "Yes, I know that there has never been any problems with that in the past, but Floatzel's trainer has many fighting types, and Floatzel has clearly had experience battling against them."

Ash thought, 'So, he's clearly not completely oblivious.' He said, "Floatzel, get 'em both with Ice Aqua Jet!"

Lana said, "Golisopod, use Aqua Jet and spin the water!"

Ash thought, 'Oh? Let's see if she can do it…' He said, "Floatzel, up!" and the ice-enclosed Floatzel changed into an upward trajectory.

Lana thought, 'Is he giving me a chance?' She said, "Well, no matter. Golisopod, stop." Golisopod let go of its attack. She said, "Okay, doo it again, but this time spin the water faster!" Golisopod did as it was ordered and shot into the sky, headed straight at the ice shell already up there.

Ash called out, "Alright, come back down Floatzel!" and the ice shell turned around and started coming back down, straight at Golisopod.

Lana called out, "Golisopod, use Frost Breath!" and it let out an icy breath, which started to freeze the water around it as it neared the falling block of ice. It was just too slow though and Floatzel's Ice Aqua Jet broke through the half-formed ice shell, itself shattering as they both plummeted to the ground. Ash wasn't phased a bit as Lana bit her lip, trying to think of how to save Golisopod, other than by returning it to its pokéball, effectively retiring it from the match. Then she thought, 'Well, I guess it's really the only thing that I can do,' and said, "Golisopod, use Aqua Jet when you're closer to the ground."

As she did, Ash grinned and thought, 'Apparently there is a future for the Battle Frontier after all.' But his thoughts quickly returned to the battle as he saw multi-coloured waves heading towards Floatzel and saw Poliwrath with glowing red eyes. He thought, 'Hypnosis!' and called out, "Floatzel, use Countershield, now!" at the same time as Golisopod used Aqua Jet, now needing to do so to get out of the way of the Hypnosis. In the air, Floatzel was surrounded by a sphere of water that was rapidly spinning in many directions with multiple tongues of water whipping around it, knocking aside the Hypnosis. It had the added effect of slowing its fall thanks to some of the wild streams of water hitting the ground and, when the Countershield receded, it was barely half a metre off the ground and landed easily, taking no damage from the fall.

From where she was standing, near the entrance to the field, May thought, 'Well I'll be. I never thought that I'd see the day that a challenger would actually attempt to throw one of Ash's strategies back at him during the match that they first see it. And that Aqua Jet/Razor Shell combination looked familiar too.'

On the field, Lana exclaimed, "Damn! I thought I had it there too!"

Ash said, "You almost did."

"I don't suppose that you'll tell me where I went wrong?"

"The speed."

'The speed? The speed of what? Frost Breath? The spin? Golisopod itself? I suppose that, for now at least, it doesn't really matter. That clash just now proved that spur-of-the-moment, copied techniques won't work against him, which means that Jayce and I really will need to rely on our own strategies and techniques in order to finish this battle. And that Countershield poses issues of its own. It means that not only do we need to deal with that Z-Aqua Ring, but it also has a backup defence. I'm beginning to see why he said that type is meaningless. Which really begs the question of how many of his pokémon does that apply to. Well, I guess that that is another inconsequential issue that will have to be dealt with later.'

Ash said, "So Lana, are you going to try and throw Countershield back at me next?"

"Maybe later. That exchange just now told me that half-baked copies won't work against you."

"So then, show me what you've got!" Ash challenged, looking straight into Lana's eyes.

"Alright," Lana said, tugging down on her cap's brim.

Jayce ordered, "Poliwrath, use Thunderbolt!"

Ash frowned as he thought, 'Not Gigavolt Havoc? Jayce must not have enough experience to use it repeatedly.' When the watery net absorbed the power of the lightning bolt, Ash said, "Jayce, that Poliwrath needs some serious conditioning."

"Conditioning? Why?"

Ash grinned and said, "Floatzel, let's show 'em."

"Floatz!" Floatzel said with a grin and a nod.

When Ash started moving strangely, Jayce's eyes widened and he exclaimed, "What?! Another one! It's not possible!"

Lana looked at her brother and asked, "What 'isn't possible'?"

"Using multiple Z-Moves in a single battle."

"Why's that?"

"It takes a lot of power to use just one, and after the pokémon does, it gets seriously drained of energy. So using two is just unthinkable!"

"Well he's doing it, so it's clearly not that unthinkable!"

"In any case, if we survive this, it'll be the perfect time to attack."

When Floatzel finished its movements, it spread its arms wide as Ash said, "Floatzel, use Hydro Vortex!" and it spun on its right foot, and a water cyclone surrounded it and moved forward towards the twins' pokémon, getting larger as it went.

When it was about halfway to them, Lana said, "Jayce, have Poliwrath stand next to Golisopod," as the large cyclone of water rushed towards their pokémon.

"Alright," Jayce said. "You heard her Poliwrath!" Poliwrath did as instructed and stood next to Golisopod.

When it was next to her Golisopod, Lana said, "Alright, now, both of you, use Protect!" they did so and, to the surprise of both Ash and Jayce, who were both aware that Protect, and other similar defensive moves, couldn't block Z-Moves in their entirety, it worked and they suffered no damage whatsoever.

Seeing this, Ash thought, 'So, a double-layered Protect will actually defend against the entirety of a Z-Move, will it? That's good to know.' He said, "That was n interesting move Lana. Tell me, did you know that that would work, or was it a guess?"

"More of a hope really," Lana admitted before ordering, "Golisopod, use Aqua Jet, and Poliwrath, get in the stream!"

"Hey!" Jayce exclaimed, "Poliwrath is my pokémon! As Poliwrath jumped into the stream of Golisopod's Aqua Jet.

"Sorry, just trying to expedite, bro."

Jayce grunted and said, "Fine, whatever," as if he didn't care. He did.

Lana said, "Golisopod, keep it up and use Max Razor Shell!"

'Max Razor Shell?' Ash thought. 'I wonder what it…oh…I see,' Ash finished as a multitude of watery blades emerged from the stream. 'That…could be problematic.' He said, "Use Countershield!" and Floatzel spun on the ground, narrowly dodging Golisopod's blades, using Brine to generate the shield. When one of the tongues of water cut the Aqua Jet's stream, leaving Poliwrath to tumble to the ground, Ash said, "Floatzel, stop and use Ice Punch!" and Floatzel ran over to Poliwrath and went to punch it while it was down, but was prevented from doing so when its Z-Aqua Ring activated, defending against Golisopod's Liquidation.

Floatzel's eye twitched as it glared at Golisopod, which was why it didn't see it coming when he got hit from behind by Poliwrath's Gigavolt Havoc, just after Z-Aqua Ring had faded, knocking it out. Poliwrath also lost consciousness and fell to the floor, only barely able to pull off two Gigavolt Havoc's.

Nurse Joy said, "Floatzel is no longer able to battle! Jayce and Lana win this round," before rushing over to Poliwrath, as Ash did the same, both concerned as it was using a Z-Move that knocked it out. They slid down next to it at the same time and Nurse Joy started looking it over with the expert eye of a trained medical professional, noticing its heavy breathing. Ash was looking at it with vastly different eyes. Eyes that were glowing blue as he read Poliwrath's aura. Nurse Joy said, "There doesn't seem to be anything wrong with it…" and blinked as she looked at Ash and saw his eyes. She said, "You're eyes. They're…."

"Yeah," Ash said, "Medically speaking, you're right…however…" Ash laid his right hand on the swirl on Poliwrath's chest and it momentarily took on the same blue glow that Ash's eyes had. When the glow faded, Poliwrath's breathing was back to normal, even though it was still unconscious.

Nurse Joy asked, "What did you…"

"Z-Moves use something called 'aura' to supercharge a pokémon's attack and the better conditioned a pokémon is, the more they tend to have. I just…refilled…enough of Poliwrath's aura that it was no longer in danger.

"How did you…"

"I can write some stuff down for you before I leave the town, though I'm not sure how much use it will be."

"That's more than fine," Nurse Joy said.

"Good," Ash said as he stood up and took out Floatzel's pokéball and, as he walked back to his side of the field, returned it as he passed by. When he was back in his trainer box, he said, "You did good out there." Then he frowned as he looked at Jayce and said, "That was a very dangerous thing that you just did, Jayce."

"Yeah. Is Floatzel okay?"

"I'm not talking about Floatzel. I'm talking about Poliwrath."

"What do you mean? Poliwrath's fine."

"Only because I am the one that you did that against." Ash sighed and said ,"Z-Moves are very draining Jayce. In more ways that you can possibly understand."

Ash saw a strange look on Lana's face as he talked to her brother. She was thinking, 'What was that that I felt just now? It's really odd. It's like nothing I've felt before, but still somehow…familiar? I don't get it. I feel like I should know what it is for some reason, but…' she sighed and thought, "Ah hell, who knows. I sure don't.' she got out Chandelure's pokéball, ready to begin the next round, now that there was actually going to be a next round, as Ash lectured her brother on the dangers of using Z-Moves more times than a pokémon can handle, and the consequences on both the health of a pokémon, and what it would mean for his future, including jail time for the mistreatment of his pokémon.