Chapter Thirty Six:

As Totodile sent out its water gun attack, it went flying into the air as it only vaguely sloshed Kabutops but hit the ground full force sending the big jaw Pokémon high up into the air. Totodile flailed in the air, trembling and kicking out its legs as it started to fall back to the ground at increasing it crashed head first into the ground.

'Totodile!' Ash cried in alarm,

Totodile seemed to shake it off thanks to its thick skull, and began jumping up and down, ready to go. To which Ash could only breathe a sigh of relief to in response. But he should have held in that breath because Kabutops was back up, having taken full advantage of the few seconds of Mega Drain it had managed to get off. But Totodile's extreme amounts of energy seemed to be on its side as it seemed ready to go rather quickly.

'Okay Totodile, use Slash!'

Totodile leapt forward, slashing with it's hand across Kabutops's torso, which despite hitting its mark, clearly didn't do very much at all as it just looked at him and then retaliated within an instant as Perry called, 'Night Slash!'

Totodile was knocked back and Ash knew he had to think of something, this Kabutops was just too powerful. The degree to which it was trained surpassed what he was capable for about the first four and a half years of his journey. And yet unless Perry had caught one before the technology was available, it could have only been revived within the last eighteen months, when reviving Pokémon fossils became possible. And yet this Kabutops was wickedly strong. He had to think of something else. Normal type moves weren't going to much, so he had to utilise some of Totodile's newer moves.

'Totodile, use Crunch!'

Totodile flew forward and with glowing teeth it clamped down on Kabutops's arm, with a near sickening crack, 'Just use Mega Drain while it's close,' Perry sighed effortlessly.

'Release Totodile!' Ash cried in alarm, having forgotten about that.

What was he supposed to do? Perry was gaining ground fast, and now that he didn't have the surprise left to Totodile's move set he was starting to run out of ideas. He had to think fast and even as Totodile scampered away from the Mega Drain attack as fast as its little legs could carry it, Ash knew he had little choice.

'Totodile, that's enough for now, come back,' Ash said and much to everyone's surprise he withdrew him from the field, before whispering to the Pokéball, 'I'm sorry buddy, you almost had him and I stuffed up, don't worry, rest up, I'll need you later.'

'So Ash? Out of ideas already? You need to play it a little more creative if you want to get through this,' Perry sighed.

'Stop being such an artist Perry,' Nixie called from the judge's platform, 'Ash, what's your next Pokémon?'

Ash thought for a long moment, before he decided he had to take a risk and despite knowing it was a big risk he sent in his next Pokémon, 'Staraptor! I choose you!'

'What?!' he heard the explosion from his friends.

'Ash you idiot!' Gary yelled, 'It's a rock type! And it knows Ice Beam! What are you thinking!?'

'Sit down Gary,' Misty snapped forcing him down onto the bench, 'Let's just hope this is some sort of plan!'

'It is, I picked it,' Max said proudly but everyone just shushed him loudly so they could return to the match.

'Staraptor, start this off with Quick Attack!' he called loudly.

Staraptor glowing white slammed into Kabutops who couldn't escape, 'Stone Edge Kabutops,' Perry retaliated.

Surrounded by tiny stones, Kabutops started pelting Staraptor with rocks, 'Dodge with Agility,' Ash called, having been informed by Professor Oak when the flying type had learned the new move.

Dodging with lightning fast speed Staraptor managed to avoid a majority of the rocks and moved to the other side of the field, 'Okay Staraptor, time to use Brave Bird!'

Hurtling towards Kabutops, bursting into flames before opening its wings and surrounded in a blue aura it crashed into Kabutops at full speed before Perry could retaliate, but he didn't really seem to be trying to as Kabutops took the hit, 'Shake it off Kabutops and use Aqua Tail.'

Kabutops leapt into the air and its tail glowing blue smashed into one of Staraptor's wings, forcing the flying type to spin through the air before it flapped its wings, trying to stay airborne. Ash gritted his teeth, knowing he had Close Combat still, that would be able to take out Kabutops, but it was risky and would leave Staraptor at a severe disadvantage with its defence and special defence down for the rest of the match. But he had his Pokédex out, to see in the months since he'd stopped training with Staraptor if it had learnt anything else, and noticing one move in particular, he realised that he had a hidden ace, that he better utilise before Perry did anything else to rule it out.

'Staraptor! Back to back Steel Wing!' he bellowed.

Staraptor gave a cry of acknowledgement as Perry faltered for a second as Staraptor flew towards Kabutops, wings glowing, as it collided time and time again with Kabutops. The fossil Pokémon was trying to counter with its blades but Staraptor's natural speed was getting better of the highly defensive Pokémon. Silver wings crashing into Kabutops time and time again and then finally, after such a long time, and so much effort, Kabutops fell to the ground.

'Kabutops!' Perry called in alarm.

But Kabutops was down, as Nixie gave her call, 'Kabutops is unable to battle, the round goes to Staraptor.'

Perry gritted his teeth, before a patronising smile came across his face and he selected another Pokéball off the stand before calling out, 'Aggron!'

The large steel beast ruptured from its Pokéball with a tremendous thump, but the moment Ash went to change Pokémon, scooping up Staraptor's ball, Perry yelled out, 'Stealth Rock!'

Aggron roared loudly, slamming its brutish claws together, and instantly boulders rose along the sidelines of the battlefield and Ash froze. Knowing how bad this was. Stealth Rock was in play now, and if he switched out then his Pokémon would be hurt pretty badly, and if he withdrew his Staraptor and sent it back in later might even cause an instantaneous knock out. There was nothing he could do really, except hit hard as fast as he could.

'Staraptor, use Close Combat!'

'Aggron, use Dragon Tail,' Perry said simply.

Staraptor had barely gotten within two feet of Aggron when it slammed its tail hard into the oncoming target, sending Staraptor flying through the air, instantly withdrawing it into its Pokéball. He gaped, realising what Perry had just forced him to do, take out the Pokémon that had a move capable of dealing quadruple damage. He was forcing Ash to take damage from the stealth rock. And injuring Staraptor all in one go.

He looked back to his friends, trying to comprehend what had just happened. May and Dawn looked stunned. Max had a hero worship look plastered on his face. Misty and Brock looked begrudgingly impressed. And Gary didn't look surprised at all, and noticing Ash looking at him his old rival hastily spoke up.

'It's a typical Carinthia move, hell one of the brothers used that combo to sweep the three rounds of the Kanto League,' Gary called out, 'You seriously need to study their battle style more Ash.'

Ash froze, knowing Gary was right, if his rival was good at anything it was studying, and now he had to think of what he could do. The two Pokémon who wouldn't be hurt too badly by this were already weakened. He couldn't send Staraptor back out against this, he needed something that could break the Stealth Rock attack, and that was when he remembered his fight in the Oreburgh Gym.

'Pikachu,' he whispered to the electric type from where he sit, 'Think you can take a hit?'

'Pika!' Before he even said anything, Pikachu bounded onto the field, 'Pika Pika!'

The moment Pikachu landed on the field, like he'd expected, the rocks launched their way towards his partner Pokémon. Pikachu managed to dodge the first stone, but the others crashed straight into him. Biting his lip to stop him yelling out, hating the pain being caused to his Pokémon regardless of him expecting it or not.

'Okay Pikachu, shake it off, time for an Electro Ball!' he called out.

Pikachu puffed outs its chest before launching the orb from its tail in record time, flinging it towards Aggron. But at Perry's call, it deflected with an Iron Tail attack, and Ash remembered that Tien had pulled the same move with her Persian. And getting into a back and forth of Iron Tail attack's wasn't going to work so he had to change.

'Use your tail to spring out of the way Pikachu,' Ash called, and much to his relief the attack hit the ground, fizzling out after Pikachu had managed to get airborne, and knowing he'd better do it now he also made another call, 'Use Thunderbolt to shatter as much of the Stealth Rock as you can.'

Pikachu's electricity exploded from its body, completely shattering a majority of the boulders below it, and as Pikachu landed on the ground Perry looked far from happy, 'Aggron, time for your own thunderbolt.'

Ash was stunned, but unwilling to lose as electricity ricocheted from Aggron's bulky form, hurtled towards Pikachu as Ash called out, 'Chanel it into the ground Pikachu!'

Like it had back in Lt. Surge's gym so very early in their journey, the thunderbolt hit, causing smoke to surround the electric mouse, but as it cleared Ash smiled as Pikachu was completely unaffected by the attack. Balancing atop its tail which it had wedged into the ground, Pikachu was there, looking determined, looking ready to fight some more, having absorbed just enough electricity to really pump it up. He could hear Misty and Brock laughing, they couldn't help but recognise the manoeuvre Pikachu had come up with itself.

Pikachu leapt down to the ground, and smiling, knowing his friend was okay, Ash called out, 'Use Iron Tail Pikachu.'

Pikachu launched itself towards Aggron, as fast as it could, tumbling into a front flip as it struck with its glowing tail, even though it was clear it had hurt Aggron though, it didn't stop Perry from making his next call, 'Ice Beam Aggron.'

The pale blue light struck Pikachu hard, the precision beam freezing it to the spot as it landed on the ground for a split second, but before Ash could properly call his next move, 'Pikachu use-'

Perry had already decided to use the move he'd been keeping up his sleeve the whole time, 'Aggron, use Earthquake,' Ash yelled out in surprise as the battlefield began to shake, and Perry called out, 'This is part of my redesign of the gym, the battlefield itself isn't actually connected to the cave, see the gap? It's my method of avoiding cave-ins when challengers are stupid enough to pull that in a place like this, now it gives me the opportunity to have a proper attack to face Electric Pokémon.'

Ash didn't hear him, he was too busy yelling out to Pikachu who was seeming in serious pain, 'Ash!' Misty yelled desperately from the sideline, 'Call Pikachu back! Now!'

'Pikachu!' he yelled desperately, 'Come back!'

Pikachu was clawing its way back to Ash as Perry sighed and in a relieving show of humanity, snapped his fingers, calling off Aggron briefly. Ash ran onto the field, scooping Pikachu into his arms, breathing in relief as he carried his partner off the battle field, and handed him to Brock. Stroking it between its ears, before he could ask Brock to look after him, his best friend sent him a knowing look, making Ash understand he just had to get back to the match.

Ash was left to consider as he stood atop the platform, whether or not he was ready for this match. He'd only taken one of Perry's Pokémon, one who wasn't even part of Perry's usual party he was assuming from what he'd overheard last night. To take out one Pokémon, it had weakened three of his own team. And now, far from beating Aggron, he had four weakened Pokémon, leaving only two completely fresh for battle.

He thought long and hard about his next move though. He'd bought Torterra specifically to face Aggron, type-wise it was the best choice, but there was a problem. Aggron had already shown that it was perfectly capable of using Ice Beam. And as a doubly super effective attack unlikely to miss, he was extremely hesitant to send Torterra out against that. But after weighing up the stats in his head he knew he didn't have much of a choice, if he revealed his full party before he had even seen half of Perry's, then he'd be in trouble.

'Torterra, come back out.'

Perry looked bored again before he called out, 'Aggron, use Double Edge.'

Aggron glowed in a piercing light, thundered towards Torterra. Ash could guess that Aggron would have an ability to take out recoil, he couldn't rely on that to help him, but then he remembered something, Torterra had a new move or two.

'Torterra, he got us with it, so let's get him back, time for your Earthquake attack.'

Rearing up on its hind legs, Torterra slammed its front legs onto the ground, causing the battlefield to shake once more. Aggron stopped in its tracks, roaring with pain but Perry gritted his teeth, ready to take another step to get in Ash's way.

'Focus Blast!'

The jet of light struck even as Aggron shook back and forth on the spot. Torterra skidded along the ground, stopping its attack as it tried to absorb the blow to keep up its energy. Ash gritted his teeth, trying to keep up his spirit, but Perry was undeniably skilled, and he was still left to wonder what was going to happen. Because though he didn't want to lose, he was having trouble processing the fact that Perry looked like he was winning.

'Ice Beam Aggron!' Perry called.

Ash knew he couldn't let this hit, calling out, 'Energy Ball Torterra.'

Green impacted with blue causing a small explosion, but before Ash could even see a clear view of Aggron, with alarming speed the metal monster tore through the smoke and slashed Torterra straight across the face with purple claws, 'Torterra!'

The continent Pokémon groaned in pain, struggling to keep moving, 'Told you that I see nothing but Torterra's here, but I already knew from your battling style that you wouldn't be able to utilise it properly. Your Pokémon don't evolve for a reason Ash,' Perry laughed, 'You need them to stay small, speedy, yet hard hitting for you to properly use them, you have less of an idea on how to use bulky Pokémon then Aura does about friend making.'

Ash felt the anger pulse through him, and guilt knowing he was partially right. He'd had no idea how to use Grotle when it had first evolved from Turtwig; he'd had to get help from Paul to figure it out. Most of his larger Pokémon were rarely a consistent part of his full party, like his Snorlax like he'd kept around in the Orange Islands but removed from his party in Johto, and maybe Krookodile who was on rotation all throughout his Unova travels. But he had to stay calm, if he lost his temper and stuffed up, he'd only prove Perry right.

'Torterra, use Leaf Storm while it's still close!'

Torterra sent out the glowing cyclone of leaves as fast as it could while Aggron was still at close courters, which Perry was unable to prevent, as slowly but surely Aggron recoiled, 'Now quick, use Energy Ball!' It impacted hard in the gap of Aggron's shoulder armour, but Ash was far from done, 'Time for your Iron Head attack!'

Glowing with piercing light Torterra crashed into Aggron, using its weight to smash into it at full force. The blows were raining down quickly; Perry had made a mistake in two things. One insulting Ash's battling style and two bringing Aggron close, which was where Torterra did its best work.

'Come on you can do this! Use-'

'Iron Tail!'

The full force attack slammed into Torterra actually flipping it as Perry seemed to have gotten tired of being the victim. Torterra was on its side, tree crushed slightly as it rolled, trying to get back up, but not seeming to be able to. Ash's heart was in his mouth, trying to think of something, what could he do now?

Hey everyone;

So I just noticed something, the last chapter was nearly six thousand words... I've been keeping these chapters to like... two thousand, so the updates would be quicker... wow.

Anyway, in this chapter Ash's battle with Perry continues, intensifying as he slowly realises that he's underestimated the challenge that was ahead of him in the Eclipse Islands. We'll he come out up on top? Or is he setting himself up for disappointment.

I have a question for you guys, I've been doing chapter rewrites in sync with the new chapters, how many of you guys read them? Are they good for newer readers coming in? Or do you guys not like them because they delay updates? I could keep going with them in sync, do new chapter than a rewrite before I do the next new chapter, or just a rewrite whenever I get the time for it. Let me know.

So now it's time to thank my reviewers for their constant support and feedback:

Chica36: Great to hear that you enjoyed it, and as for how Drew will react, the answer isn't too clear right now, but all shall be revealed in due time.

Rioludoodle: If the different sections had been longer it would have been less confusing I guess, but I needed it to go fast. No he wouldn't and I don't intend for him to, but is it now that he loses? Or will he somehow scrape through? I'm glad you liked how I played on the water gun, and as for Trip, he was going to be regardless seeing as I've barely watched the Best Wishes series, so I decided to do it on purpose and make him the near ultimate rival instead.

Booklover20011010: Well after a long wait it is back and I can't wait to hear what you think!

Amalgam24: You never know, with such a large group there are going to be some pretty mixed reactions.

Rales Mckoy: Oh yeah, the Carinthia's are an inclusive group, of which Gary managed to disrupt unfortunately. You never know how Drew will react, only time will tell, as will Ash's battle against Perry, as he seems to be fading fast.

Cottonmouth25: Hello fellow sociopath, I can understand your hatred for them, the ritualistic sacrifice was a nice touch. I decided redeem one and burn the other, just to give Ash a more concentrated zone of hatred. But I'm glad that you're enjoying the story.

Kyndig: Um... sorry your first part is a little confusing, double check your phrasing please. And as for why Trip is surprised, it'll be explained soon enough, but there is a definite reason. Thanks as always for the review.

Aussieking: I was close to picking Squirtle, but it was a toss up between sunglasses and dancing, and I felt that in the end that Squirtle might be better off against one of the more powerful Carinthia's. Gotta love Kabutops, Perry's got a pretty great party. Well, that was part of it, I wondered if you'd have realised that it couldn't be Hydie when I mentioned that Nixie had served as a Champion, but Hydie never bothered to challenge the Elite Four. Don't worry, there'll be more secrets to crack in the upcoming future, and I'm sure you'll be a little more right. Hmm... who would win in a battle of stubborn? Because let's face it Drew was May's Gary.

IhateMarySue'ssooooMuch: Now that is evil, is any human capable of putting someone through that torture? And I agree with you about Totodile, gotta love the little guy.

Spidersndue: Great to hear, it was a bit of a hard chapter to separate out. A rival for Max huh? Sounds like a plan... now what to do with that character... MWA HA HA!

So thanks to all of you wonderful readers and reviewers, this is my most successful story in views, reviews, follows and favorites, and I thank you so much for that. So keep on being amazing, all of you!

So I have a question for all of you, what do you all think of Pokemon X and Y, the upcoming 6th generation? What do you like? What don't you like? What are you hoping for?

See you all next time!

~Selina