Friendship is Eternal

A/N: Ash, Iris and Cilan find themselves pulled away from their journey at the request of one of their old friends. This starts them on a quest that brings back many old faces, a few new ones, and a challenge that Ash must overcome. Exactly what challenge is this? Well, you're just going to have to read to find out!

P.S. Sorry for the long wait, midterms and exams were smothering me.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything Pokémon related whatsoever.

Chapter 21: Final Gambit

'Archeops, Ancientpower!'

'Braviary, Hyper Beam!' Two yells suddenly cut everyone off, and Archie's Tentacruel was suddenly blasted away by a glowing orb of silver energy and a gold energy beam, knocking back towards the bosses.

'What the blazes?' yelled Archie in surprise, looking wildly into the sky.

The next moment, two avian Pokémon, one resembling a huge eagle and the other a huge Archaeopteryx, swooped down onto the deck and landed in front of Ash's friends, the Braviary blocking them from the bosses and the Archeops blocking them from the admins.

'What's going on? What are these Pokémon doing here?' Brock cried, his head flicking back and forth between the two Pokémon.

However, Bianca's eyes had lit up upon seeing the two people on the Flying-types' backs. 'Hilbert! Hilda! You're here! You're really, really here!'

The brunette boy and girl dismounted their Pokémon to flash twin grins at Bianca, the boy's smile a little bigger. ''Course we are, Bia. You know we'd never let anything happen to you!'

The girl, Hilda, just shook her head, her long brown curls bouncing under her white cap. 'And you give me grief about nicknames, Hilby?'

'It's Hilbert!' snapped the boy in a tone that said he'd been putting up with it for a long time.

'What is the meaning of this interruption?' bellowed Giovanni, the boss of Team Rocket quivering with impotent rage. 'Who are you meddlers?'

'Hilbert Sable and Hilda Frost, at your service,' replied Hilda smoothly, grabbing a few Poké-balls from her satchel. 'We'll be your ass-kickers today, so just sit back, relax, and take it like men!'

'Hah!' jeered Tabitha. 'The two of you against all of us? What makes you think you can take on all of us and our bosses all by yourself?'

'How about you count again, mister?' came a very familiar voice from, to everyone's amazement, off the side of the ship!

As everyone turned to where the voice was coming from, six heads appeared over the railing, as a Kanto region Officer Jenny and Professors Oak, Elm, Birch, Rowan and Juniper all came into view. For a moment, Ash wondered why they all were glowing blue, but then he understood as a huge Pokémon resembling a giant, four-legged crab-like robot with massive claws and a cross over its face floated up behind them, its eyes glowing blue with psychic power.

'You're all under arrest for multiple counts of kidnapping, illegal Pokémon tournaments, and intent to commit murder!' shouted Officer Jenny.

'Mess with one of our trainers, we know they can handle it,' Oak said sternly, his arms folded over his chest, 'but mess with all of them, you'll have us to deal with!'

'Kidnapping our protégés and threatening them with death?' growled Rowan, his white mustache bristling furiously, 'You've crossed the line now!'

'So prepare to be taught a lesson you'll never forget!' Elm declared, pointing dramatically at the bosses.

Matt sneered in derision. 'That's your backup? You think a bunch of old geezers like you can scare us?'

Juniper's eyes narrowed as a Poké-ball appeared in her hand. 'Say that again, buster, and I'll tan your hide right here!'

However, Birch's attention had immediately focused on the sprawled-out figure of King, lying prone beside his two fallen Pokémon. 'Brendan!' he shouted in dismay. 'What did you do to him?'

'Merely what he was expected to do,' said Maxie uncaringly, 'drive Mr. Ketchum here to the brink of destruction, and then send him flying over the edge. But apparently, he just couldn't make the cut. When we're through with this pest here, your incompetent trainer and his companions are next!'

Birch's eyes blazed with paternal fury. 'How dare you threaten my son!' he bellowed at the Team Magma leader, a statement that left Ash and company (excluding May and Max) blinking in shock, 'You'll pay for that! Metagross, flying Bullet Punch!' The huge Iron Leg Pokémon behind them tucked in its now-glowing legs and went spinning for the bosses like a giant flying discus.

'Houndoom, stop it!' Courtney shouted as the Professors and Officer Jenny dropped to the deck. 'Fire Spin!'

'Flamethrower, Octillery!' barked Matt. Both the Jet and Dark Pokémon sent spiraling blasts of flame at Metagross, forcing it to break off its attack as it dodged.

'You want to play with heat?' snapped Juniper, hurling her own Poké-ball. 'Volcarona, time to shine!' In a blaze of light, a huge moth-like Pokémon with a feathery white body and six red wings that flickered like sunspots appeared in the air, waves of heat billowing forth with every flap of its wings.

'Rotom, overdrive! Ominous Wind!' Rowan shouted, tossing out a blue Poké-ball with yellow lightning-shaped stripes. A bolt of electricity arced out of the Poké-ball as it opened, revealing a small, orange, wisp-like Pokémon with an electric-blue aura, two lightning bolts forming arms. Quickly, it spun around and sent a whirl of purple-tinted wind storming at the Team Aqua and Magma admins, scattering their Pokémon from Ash's friends' frozen Pokémon.

'Volcarona, free them with Heat Wave!' called Juniper. Volcarona gave a mighty flap of all six of its glowing-red wings, sending a wave of smothering heat at the captured Pokémon. The heat was powerful enough to thaw out the captured Pokémon in less than a second, but lasted just briefly enough to avoid burning them.

'Magnezone, Discharge!' snapped Phoebus. His Magnezone uttered a single tone and sent bolts of blue lightning flying all over the deck.

'Arcanine, Extremespeed!' ordered Maxie at the same time, as the Legendary Pokémon took off like a streak of light, racing right for Ash and his friends.

'Mienshao, Quick Guard, fast!' retaliated Hilda, flicking out one Poké-ball that released a humanoid ermine-like Pokémon with purple and white fur and long sleeve-like arm tufts. Before anyone could blink, Arcanine was thrown back after ramming headfirst into a circular red shield of energy generated in front of it.

'Carracosta, Wide Guard!' shouted Hilbert, throwing out a Poké-ball at lightning speeds. In a flash of light, a huge blue sea turtle with black plates appeared, and in one smooth motion, swept its flippers to either side. A bronze wall of energy appeared in front of it, stretching to cover itself, Archeops, and Ash and all his friends. The Discharge attack struck the barrier but just bounced off, not harming anyone in the slightest.

'Now counter! Hidden Power!' called Hilda. Numerous energy orbs formed around Mienshao's body, and with one flick of its sleeves, were sent flying at Arcanine and Magnezone like bullets. Both Pokémon growled as the balls exploded against their bodies.

'Rhyperior, Drill Run!' ordered Giovanni, as the huge grey rhino-like Pokémon stampeded at the two Pokémon, its main drill-like horn spinning violently.

'Axew, Dragon Rage!' yelled Iris in panic. The small Tusk Pokémon leapt bravely out of its trainer's hair and sent a dragon of blue fire arcing at the charging Rhyperior.

'Oh no!' Oak exclaimed, rushing forward. 'Dragonite, go! Aqua Tail, now!' He hurled a Poké-ball of his own to release a huge orange dragon with small, powerful wings, twin antenna, and a huge heavy tail that already had water rings flaring up around it. Rhyperior merely winced as the Dragon Rage crashed into its face and dissipated, but a powerful watery tail slam from Dragonite sent it stumbling off to one side.

Elm darted past the melee towards the Galactic Commanders. 'Hand over those trainers this instant!' he cried.

'No chance, you old fool!' Mars snapped. 'You just sealed their fate! Purugly, cut them up with Fury Swipes!' The Tiger Cat Pokémon snarled, extending its claws.

'Porygon, 2, Z, deploy!' called Elm, throwing out three Poké-balls at once, all three bursting open in rapid succession and releasing three pink and blue Pokémon in mid-air. The first looked to be a crude computer rendering of a bird, formed out of angular polygonal shapes. The second was much larger, looking similar to the first but instead formed out of smooth rounded shapes and bearing more of a resemblance to a duck. The third was the smallest, floating in mid-air like a sprite with two waving blue arms and a distended head with two confused-looking yellow eyes.

'Porygon, Thunder Wave that Purugly! Porygon-Z, use Psychic to rescue Ethan and his friends!' Elm ordered in rapid succession. The first angular Virtual Pokémon sent a weak jolt of electricity pulsing at Purugly, freezing it in place for a second as its body seized up. At the same time, the eyes of its smaller, sprite-like evolutionary form glowed blue, and the three trainers were whisked away from the Galactic commanders before they could react.

'Now, Porygon2, blast them! Tri Attack!' Elm snapped. The largest middle-stage evolution of the Porygon line gave a beep in acknowledgement, and the blue ellipsoids on its sides and the one making up its beak started to crackle, as energy lines linked the three spots on its body. The next moment, a huge spinning triangle of red, blue and yellow energy shot forward, striking all three Pokémon and blowing them back into their trainers.

'Mightyena, Shadow Ball!' snarled Tabitha.

'Crawdaunt, Water Pulse!' shouted Shelly. Orbs of pulsing shadow and water shot from the two Pokémon at the recovering group of Pokémon.

'Growlithe, Fire Fang!' countered Officer Jenny, throwing out one Poké-ball, then shouting over the boat's side, 'Squirtle, Rapid Spin!' As the growling Puppy Pokémon appeared and shattered the Shadow Ball with a flaming bite, a brown turtle shell, spinning like a buzz-saw, flew up over the side of the deck and intercepted the Water Pulse. The shell dropped to the deck, and the blue-skinned Tiny Turtle Pokémon popped out of its shell, its angular sunglasses gleaming in the light.

'Squirtle!' Ash exclaimed, seeing one of his oldest Pokémon. 'Great to see you!' The small but powerful Water-type turned and grinned at its old trainer.

'Volcarona, Silver Wind!' Juniper ordered. 'Push them back!'

'Rotom, do the same with Discharge!' called Rowan. Whirling crescents of silver energy and blue lightning bolts split the air as the Sun Pokémon and the Plasma Pokémon forced back the admin's Pokémon, clearing a path for the captured Pokémon to make a beeline straight for their trainers.

'Mamoswine! I'm so glad you're safe!' Dawn cried as she hugged her oversized Twin Tusk Pokémon, which looked similarly relieved. The others were having similar joyous reunions with their own Pokémon.

Juniper, Rowan and Jenny moved to their sides, their Pokémon blocking the admins from reaching them. Oak, Hilbert and Hilda were similarly defending them from the bosses, while Elm also backed up to them, his three Virtual Pokémon pulling the unconscious trainers along with them. Birch, carrying his unconscious son, ran up as well, his Metagross hovering over them all as it blasted the bosses' Pokémon with a silvery Flash Cannon attack, driving them backwards. The 6 adults and 2 able trainers surrounded the ex-captives in a loose circle formation.

'Is everyone alright?' Jenny asked.

Misty and Max immediately spun towards Brock, ready to administer their usual treatment, but uncharacteristically, Brock retained his composure. 'We're all fine, Officer Jenny; none of us are hurt, but we only have one of our Pokémon with us right now; the rest of them are somewhere on this ship.'

'So that means we can't get any reinforcements,' Oak muttered, thinking fast. 'Ash, are any of your Pokémon in fighting condition?'

'Sorry Professor, but after Sceptile got taken out, Pikachu's the only one left on hand, and there's no way it can battle now,' Ash replied, looking mournfully at his partner.

'I can take care of that,' Hilbert responded, unslinging his pack and pulling out a small yellow berry and a couple of bottles of medicine. 'This should help Pikachu recover until it can get proper treatment.'

'How'd you find us anyway?' Tracey asked.

Hilda chuckled. 'When a battle is throwing up Draco Meteor fireworks, it's kind of hard to miss, even in the middle of the ocean.'

By now, the bosses and their admins had recovered. The group was now surrounded, with the bosses right in front of them, the open sea behind them, the Magma and Aqua admins on one side, and the Galactic commanders on the other. 'Y'know, I've always wondered how well the regional professors battled,' chuckled Archie darkly, 'I'm glad I get to find out today.'

'Officer Jenny, how long until that backup you radioed for gets here?' muttered Elm.

'Not for another 30 minutes,' replied Jenny grimly. 'We're going to have to hold out until they get here.'

'Ash, where are the rest of your Pokémon?' asked Oak.

Ash's eyes drifted to the forgotten red and white case lying on the deck as he sprayed Pikachu with the medicinal sprays. 'I think they're in that case. There are still a few Pokémon conscious, but after the battle with the Checkmate Five, there's no way they'll be able to help.'

'Let me worry about that,' Hilda spoke up. 'If you can get your Pokémon back, I might have something that could help.'

'Alright then,' Rowan said, his eyes flickering across the battlefield as he weighed his options. 'We don't have a lot of options, but we need to hold out for as long as we can. Max, Lyra, Leaf, and Cilan, keep an eye on Lucas, Brendan, Ethan and Cheren, and try and wake them up. Bianca, Jenny, Misty, and Iris, watch their backs. Ernest, Brock, Tracey and Khoury, deal with Team Galactic. May, Dawn, Aurea and myself will take Magma and Aqua. Sam, you, Will, Hilbert and Hilda will have to deal with the bosses. Are you up to it?'

'No problem, Archie,' replied Oak with a smile. 'I may be old, but I can still battle with the best of them.' Everyone nodded his or her assent at Rowan's plan.

'What about me, Professor?' Ash asked, Pikachu finally opening its eyes and nibbling at the Sitrus Berry.

'Once all the battling starts, you'll have to get to that case, find any Pokémon that are still able to battle and get them to Hilda,' Rowan replied. 'I hate to throw them right back into battle, but we need every edge we can get.'

Ash nodded. 'I understand, Professor Rowan,' he replied. Pikachu swallowed the rest of the fruit and nodded, its strength almost fully recovered from its highly medicinal qualities.

'Enough talk!' Giovanni bellowed. 'Crush them!'

'Go!' yelled Rowan, as the two sides of Pokémon rushed towards each other, one side out for blood, the other prepared to battle to the bitter end to protect the ones they loved.

As soon as he heard Professor Rowan's yell, Ash and Pikachu ducked out of the melee and ran full-speed towards the case still lying on the deck, hoping to get to it before someone realized what he was doing.

Unfortunately, the bosses did notice him before their Pokémon clashed. Phoebus exchanged nods with the other three, and all four hurled one more Poké-ball each right at the trainer.

Ash and Pikachu halted in their tracks as four more Pokémon burst into existence in front of them: a grey-skinned humanoid wearing a pair of black wrestling pants, with four arms and its entire body swelling with raw muscle, a blue-skinned shark with a pointed nose and a torpedo-like body, another Camerupt, and a small, black-skinned imp with a huge red headdress and collar, and a pair of sharp white claws. All four Pokémon gave menacing growls at the trainer and his Pokémon.

'Stop them!' the four bosses shouted at their Pokémon, moments before they plunged into the melee with the professors.

'Pikachu, Thunderbolt!' Ash shouted, even as all four Pokémon lunged at him with various physical attacks. Pikachu just managed to jump out of the way of Machamp's fists, Sharpedo's shimmering-blue saw-teeth, and Weavile's metallic-edged claws before unleashing a thunderous bolt of lightning at them. The three aforementioned Pokémon fell back from the severe jolt, but the stoic Camerupt took the blast with hardly a flinch, before launching a glowing orb of silver power at the Mouse Pokémon.

'Quick Attack into Iron Tail! Get that Camerupt!' Ash followed up, trying to get around Machamp to the case, while trying to avoid its Strength attacks that shattered the deck around his feet.

Pikachu gave a cry and launched itself at Camerupt in a streak of white light, barely dodging the Ancientpower attack, its tail hardened and ready to smash. However, a second before impact, Camerupt closed its eyes and its body glowed red, deflecting Pikachu's attack with heightened defense.

'Come on, move!' Ash cried in frustration as he tried jumping around the Superpower Pokémon, only for Machamp to grab him around the waist with one of its upper arms and hurl him backwards. At the same time, Camerupt sent Pikachu flying with a cry as it unleashed a wall of earth that Bulldozed the Electric-type.

Despite the attack, Pikachu had the agility to land safely and whip an Electro Ball at Machamp, before narrowly evading Weavile's Ice Shard. The orb of electricity stunned the Fighting-type for a moment, enough time for Ash to dart past it and snatch the case off the deck. 'I got it, Pikachu, let's go!'

Machamp, infuriated, gave a bellow at Pikachu, delivering a truly menacing look at the small Electric-type. Pikachu froze for a moment at the glare, allowing Weavile enough time to strike it with another Ice Shard attack. Sharpedo roared and followed up with a vicious skull strike from its glowing-purple snout, sending Pikachu flying back into Ash's arms.

'Pikachu!' Ash shouted, almost dropping the case full of his Poké-balls to catch his partner. With only the emergency first aid and energy boost keeping it conscious, it didn't look like it could battle for much longer. The four Pokémon loomed over him, their gazes just promising certain death.

'No way,' Ash hissed, holding his partner close to him. 'You're not getting Pikachu. If you want to get to it, you'll have to go through me.' Sharpedo's maw almost twisted into a sneer, as if it was saying, 'That's exactly what we were hoping for,' moments before it launched itself forward in a rocket-like Aqua Jet attack.

Ash braced himself for the impact, but seconds before the Brutal Pokémon hit, Pikachu suddenly jumped out of Ash's arms and met Sharpedo head-on with an explosive Volt Tackle. Both Pokémon were flung into the air with the impact, with Pikachu only slightly better off.

'Pikachu, no!' Ash yelled, but Pikachu shouted back to its trainer, almost as if telling him to get a move on and to not worry about it. Ash stood there for a moment, before running past the Pokémon that Pikachu had by now lit up in a powerful Thunder attack.

As he ran towards Hilda, Ash spared one glance behind him, only to see Machamp leap into the air, grab Pikachu out of the air, and slam it to the ground. Then, at a cry from Weavile, all four of them practically piled onto the Mouse Pokémon in a flurry of punches, slashes, tackles and stomps.

Ash almost halted and made an about-face with the sight, but then another bolt of electricity sent all four flying away as Pikachu released another Thunder attack before rising to its feet, battered, bruised, but filled with a fire Ash had only seen before in himself.

He almost hated himself for turning away, forced to trust in his precious partner to buy him enough time to win this fight.

Don't be a stranger, the rest of the battles are coming up! (Hopefully after I finish my exams…)

I'll be posting the rest up soon, so please R&R! And please, no flaming!