Ash's Just Reward

by The Warmongers of Simora

Ash has done a lot in his life. Despite being only 15, he has saved the world more times than is funny and had helped everyone he has come across. Now, in the Alola Region, he just wants to relax and have fun in the Pokémon school. However, when the Legends of the world begin to congregate to the Alola Region, all with the intent of finding him, how will he deal with it?

40. Chapter 40

Ash's Just Reward Chapter 40

"Entire sentence." = Normal talking.

"Entire sentence." = Psychic talking.

"Entire sentence." = Powerful being talking.

'Entire sentence.' = Person's thoughts.

---

More. I need… more.

Got light. Have light. Light is good.

But more is needed. To stop the pain. Light is needed.

Why? Light has been taken, surely that is enough?

No, never enough. Not with this meagre source. More must be obtained.

The other source, it escaped. Interlopers. They stopped the light from being obtained.

That light, it's needed. I n̸̞̝̞̫̻͖̫͔̄͂̽͆͒̑̊̀̍̃͜͜ͅͅe̶͍̰̔̎̿͆́̓̾͆̏͗̈́͆͊ë̸̢̨̮̾͂͋́ḍ̶̬͖̣̈́͑͆̅̐̄̊̀̈́̀̕̕ ̶̻͕̜̯̪̻͎̖͉͚͔͍́̑͆͑̓͐̀͜͝͝i̷̡̹̤̺͕͎̮̩̙͕͕͐̒̿̓̂̃̂̓͒̉͊̈́̚̚͜ť̶̨̢̢̥̮͓͉̪̗͖̜̙͇̭.̴̧̭͇̪̟͕͉̠̑̌̉̏̔͊̕ ̵̪̼̰̝̪̱̯̰͑̌̈̀̈́̔̀̽̂̕Ḭ̵̛̖̞̘̹̠̮̜̄̈͊͒̿͐͠͠ ̴̙̥̊̈̋̋̈́̍͊N̸̡̧͓̻̘̜͂̈́̊̑̓͆͒̅͒̕͠Ẽ̵̺̜̓͜E̷̼̠̲̐̃͗̀̋̓̉̇͝͝͠D̶̡̳̮̩̜͑́͜ ̴̬̜̥̩̱͔̿̓̈́͐̌̚̕͘͠Į̷̛̜̗̣̯̩̝͔͚̱͚͎̘͉͛̅̉̂̈́͜͝͝T̴̢̡̨̛̟̣̜̩̝̤̗̩̳̱͚̂̈́̄̊͌̔̾̍̃̂̕ ̴̧͉̟͕̲̰͆̿͐͑̿ͅͅN̷̫̥̖̭̒̑̔͐O̴̤̣̤̙̽̈́̈͑̇̈́̓̔̈́͊͘̕͜͝Ẇ̶͎͔͕͓͚̫̗̺͙̥͙̻͙̬̇̀͝!̵̤̦̣̬͙͝

---

Ash picked up a TM, looked at the name printed onto the disc, before looking up at the person sitting opposite to him, staring blankly for a few seconds at them, before shaking his head.

"Nah, I don't think Rain Dance is the move for you," Ash said, causing the mirror match figure in front of him to nod his head in agreement.

"I agree. I don't even know any Water type moves." Latios agreed as Ash placed the TM to his left, picking up another one to consider.

The pair had been doing this for the better part of an hour, Ash taking the chance to catch his breath from some of the more intense training he had helped with during the day without feeling like he was wasting time. Out of the several dozen TMs that he had been gifted from the trio of Mews, who Ash was convinced stole these TMs from somewhere, they had only managed to pick a few they both agreed on, their differences on battle tactics beginning to show.

Ash actually found that, although Latios was similarly inexperienced to battling as Latias, he had a pretty strong opinion on how to approach battles: hitting the enemy as hard as possible, Arceus permitted. While Ash appreciated this view, he still preferred having a balance between speed, power, and improvisation, which led to him and Latios spending most of the previous hour arguing about which moves to use. At some point, Professor Kukui had gotten involved and everything turned into chaos.

The two managed to come to a consensus, with Latios agreeing to stick to Ash's battle style if the moves Ash taught him were primarily heavy hitting ones, something Ash was more than happy to agree to. As a result, the only TMs they had managed to agree on were Ice Beam, Thunder, and Solar Beam.

And now the two were sitting together at one of the tables in Ash's garden, with Mawile sitting in Ash's lap and Azelf watching the interaction with mild interest as he picked up another TM.

"Ooooo," Ash cooed as he read the name of the latest TM, his eyes lighting up, "I think you'll like this one, Shadow Ball." Ash read out, with Latios smiling in his Ash disguise.

"Oh yes, that's a wonderful choice, I appreciate the variety."

"Not only that, but it gives you a counter to Ghost types if you ever come up against them." Ash stated proudly, crossing his arms with a confident smirk as Latios grinned in agreement.

"Ok, I thought at first I knew which Ash was the real one, but then you went and said something smart and I'm back to being unsure." A voice said from behind Ash, causing Latios, still in disguise, to jump and clench his fists… claws as he glared at the newcomer.

"State your purpose here, before I'm forced to act." Latios stated in a firm voice, with Azelf darting out of sight as the newcomer chuckled at Latios.

"You definitely act like Ash, even if you don't talk like him. What a tough choice, smart Ash or linguistically gifted Ash? Can I go with option C where I say you're both fakes?"

Ash burst out laughing at this, before he finally got to his feet.

"There's only one person I know who's that full of himself: Gary Oak!" He said with a massive smile on his face as he turned around to face him, where he was standing with an equally large grin.

"Ashy-boy!" Gary shouted, throwing his arms out as he walked up to Ash, hugging him tightly as they patted each other on the back. "I hope you're the real Ash, cause it'll be really awkward if I'm hugging a stranger right now."

Ash just laughed again, more lightly this time as he waved a hand at Latios.

"You can drop the disguise, he's a friend. I trust him, even though he annoys me to no end."

Latios, finally unclenching his fists/claws, nodded, as his body began to glow and shimmer, his humanoid shape distorting before returning to his original shape, hovering calmly on the spot.

Something which left Gary standing there incredibly wide-eyed as he looked at the Legendary.

"… ok, I know you've told me about how you've met Legendaries and everything, but I must admit, it's an entirely different experience when you see one in person."

Ash just gave a sympathetic smile, patting Gary on the back lightly to knock him out of his stupor.

"You ought to come with me on a regional journey sometime, then you'll get used to it really quickly. Literally ask anyone I've travelled with, I'm really unlucky that way."

"Unlucky isn't the word I'd use, but then again, I don't nearly die on a regular basis."

The two boys then shared a small chuckle, before Gary rubbed a hand through his hair.

"Getting back on track though, Grandad told me everything about what's been happening, and I was on my way back to Pallet anyway. So I've decided, rather graciously, to offer you my help with this issue." Gary said with a flourish, causing Ash to sweat drop slightly.

"Greaaat," Ash said with as much enthusiasm as he could scrap up, causing Mawile, who was sitting on the table where Ash placed her when he stood up, to giggle.

"And my first contribution? A battle!"

"Great!" Ash shouted, with genuine enthusiasm, before sharing a look with Latios. "So what kind of battle did you want to do?"

"Let's keep it simple, we'll do it League style: six Pokémon, substitutions allowed, person who loses their entire team loses. You game?"

Ash just smiled at him, turning his hat backwards as he nodded.

"Give me five minutes to pick a team, and then you're going down."

---

Everyone had gathered around the ring that had been marked out, where Gary was already standing in one of the two trainer boxes, who was appraising the gathered audience with a keen eye. Or rather, who was in the audience.

'Looks like Charizard is sitting this one out,' Gary noted to himself mentally as Charizard sat by Misty and Iris, holding an Eevee in his arms and roaring in what he assumed was a supportive manner. 'One less thing to worry about, though there's a good chance I'll have to deal with a Legendary in this battle, so that's gonna be fun.'

He watched as Ash, who had been doing something with the TMs he had in his hand earlier and running around picking a team for the battle, finally entered the battlefield, with Gary keeping what he hoped was a strong poker face.

Because he was worried in all honesty, since he had been keeping up with Ash's recent performance. Ever since he had rekindled his friendship with Ash and retired from professional league battling, he had decided to keep close tabs on what Ash did, and having watched his last league in Kalos, he knew Ash wasn't a pushover.

Not that he ever was, a fact he'd only admit to himself, since Ash was a talented though unorthodox battler. And he had been getting better over the years, and he was always amassing what seemed to be odd but strangely powerful Pokémon for his team. Which meant he was actually an extremely hard person to go up against.

Though he'd die before he ever said that out loud.

As Ash took his place opposite him, Gary began ticking off opponents. Charizard, along with a few other heavy hitters he was wary of were sitting on the side-lines, making ruling them out a safe bet. But a lot of them weren't there, and that could mean Ash had chosen them for his team. However, Gary knew that a lot of Ash's Pokémon were stranded across the globe, which meant they might not be in Ash's team at all. And there was also the fact that Ash had clearly caught some new Pokémon, if the Mawile he had earlier and the Ralts who was sitting on Meganium's back were any indication.

In the end, Gary just sighed to himself and gave up trying to predict Ash. That was an easy way to lose, since the boy was unpredictable as all hell, and Gary needed to focus on the here and now rather than what could and might be. He had a battle on his hand.

"Ready when you are Gary!" Ash shouted, which Gary nodded to. Showtime.

"Magmortar, I choose you!"

---

"Snorlax, I choose you!" Ash shouted as he threw the ball into the air, the hard-hitting normal type bursting out of the ball in a flash of light, his body hitting the ground with a heavy thud. And Ash revelled in the dismayed look on Gary's face.

Which was exactly what he was looking.

Ash knew he couldn't take this battle lightly. Gary may have retired from battling, but he was an extremely talented trainer, and his Pokémon were strong. So he needed to play it smart and do something which would throw Gary off his game. This made picking one of the Pokémon who gave him such a hard time all the way back in Johto for this battle was a good idea, and Ash could see that Gary remembered that fact keenly, as he was now frowning heavily, likely formulating a plan to deal with Snorlax.

Nonetheless, Professor Oak, who had agreed to act as the referee, shouted to catch their attention.

"Let the battle begin!"

"Fire Blast, let's go!"

Magmortar raised both of its hands, where fire began to pool before firing out, twin five pronged blasts being shoot out at high speed, leaving trails of fire as it travelled toward Snorlax.

"Snorlax, get a Protect up."

Snorlax, who was surprisingly awake at the moment, nodded and raised a hand, where a green shield appeared in front of, which the dual Fire Blasts crashed into, dying out and spluttering in the face of the defensive move.

Eyes squinted extremely hard in determination, Snorlax lowered his arm and tensed up, waiting eagerly for another command.

---

"You know, it's odd. I know Snorlax can be a good battler when he's motivated," Bulbasaur started, "but normally it takes a while for him to get his motor running. I wonder what's got Snorlax so involved this time?"

"He's angry," Krookodile replied plainly, causing Bulbasaur and the other nearby listeners to look at him in confusion.

"What do you mean?"

"Snorlax may be a lazy git sometimes, but he's just as angry about what's been happening recently as the rest of us. He wants to help our friends, our family, but he can't. So he's feeling frustrated, which is why he's probably so awake. Probably hard to sleep when you have that on your mind."

The others said nothing, the weight of his words impacting them hard, so instead of commenting further, they turned their attention back to the fight, where Snorlax was about to begin his counter attack.

---

"Use Hyper Beam!" Ash commanded. Snorlax raised his head up, standing up as straight as he could before opening his eyes, beams of Hyper Beam firing out toward Magmortar.

"Dodge out of the way and strike him with Fire Punch!" Gary countered, with Magmortar reacting just in team, the beams sailing past at rocket speeds, only to crash into some trees with a large explosion. Magmortar then launched forward, leftover flames from its last attack being rechannelled into its next attack.

Snorlax sat there, and Ash just gritted his teeth as he waited for the attack to land. He couldn't order Snorlax to do anything yet, he still needed to recover from the Hyper Beam. So he needed to wait, and hope that Snorlax could take it.

As expected, the attack landed solidly, causing Snorlax to wince and double over, causing Gary to smile. Damage.

Though the smile didn't last long, as one of Snorlax's arms shot out, grabbing Magmortar's with a tight grip, causing both Magmortar and Gary's eyes to widen.

"Quick, get him with a Mega Punch." Ash said quickly, trying to capitalise on Snorlax's recovery. Snorlax responded just as quickly as he recovered, pulling his fist back and smashing Magmortar in the face with such force that the shockwave caused some of Snorlax's fat to ripple. His feet lifted off the ground, before he span round in the air multiple times, crashing into the earth a fair distance away from Snorlax, who was standing firm in front of Ash.

Gary gritted his teeth as Magmortar grunted in pain, as he tried to think about a way to deal with Snorlax. Memories of this happening back in the Silver Conference began to flash in Gary's mind, with his Arcanine and Nidoqueen both falling prey to his raw power. The temptation to switch out Magmortar briefly flashed in his mind, his hand hovering over the Pokéball he wanted to switch with.

But he stayed his hand, as an idea came to him, just as Magmortar managed to get back on his feet.

"Magmortar, let's switch it up. Let loose with a Lava Plume."

Magmortar nodded in agreement, as his body began to glow with a barely contained power, the flames on his body beginning to intensify, before it exploded outward, a wall of fire blasting out and igniting everything in the vicinity. Snorlax barely managed to raise his arms to protect his face, before the wave smashed into him, managing to bowl him over in the process. His fur singed and darkened, and a coat of cinders covered him and left him looking dishevelled as a result.

As Ash rubbed his eyes, trying to clear the cinders from them, Snorlax began to slowly stumble to his feet, Gary grinned to himself as he saw an opportunity present itself.

"Now, before he gets up! Finish him with Fire Punch!"

Magmortar, thriving in the ash filled air, launched forward, now confident that Snorlax would be unable to counter.

"Snorlax, watch out!"

Snorlax stumbled slightly, eyes darting around trying to find Magmortar, but he couldn't see through the thick layer of ash that was in the air. As he turned to the right, Magmortar appeared on his left, throwing a powerful right hook into his side and causing Snorlax to roar in pain.

"Keep it up, don't let him breathe!"

Magmortar then proceeded to throw punch after punch at Snorlax, alternating between hooks, jabs and crosses as he pummelled Snorlax's body, each punch causing Snorlax's already singed fur to burn even more.

Ash watched in frustration as Magmortar continued to launch his assault, but then, as the ash began to lessen and his sight improved, Ash spotted something.

A pattern.

Two left jabs, a right cross, followed with a left cross, and finished with a powerful right overhand, before he began the cycle again. Once, then twice, Ash saw this pattern play out, and he saw his chance. He waited for a moment, before shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Side-step to the right!"

Just as Magmortar began the cycle again, Snorlax heeded Ash's command and stepped to the side, the punch barely grazing him and causing Magmortar to lurch forward.

"Now, use Mega Punch!"

Not waiting for Magmortar to recover, Snorlax threw his fist upward, the powered-up punch solidly connecting with Magmortar's jaw, causing him to topple over, his eyes glazed over and his consciousness no longer with him.

"Magmortar is unable to battle! Snorlax is the winner!"

---

"Woah," Lana breathed, her eyes wide as she watched Gary call back his Pokémon, "I've seen Ash battle before, plenty of times. But I've never seen anyone battle like that on Alola. Only when Ash battled Paul, and that time was also really different to when he normally battles."

Iris chuckled to herself, crossing her arms as she lent back on her chair.

"Yeah, sounds about right. I don't know much about Alola, but Ash said in his letters that battles are quite different there. But don't worry, battles in other regions aren't usually this tense; Ash and Gary just have history, same with Paul. They want to prove themselves to one another, and as a result, push themselves harder. Which leads to battles like this."

Misty and May, who had been listening in, simply nodded, though May had a concerned look on her face.

"My only concern is this is only the first battle. How serious are they going to get?"

---

Ash couldn't help but grin to himself as Gary recalled Magmortar, a tiny amount of pride seeping in.

While Gary may have retired as a professional League battler, he was never going to be an easy opponent. And Gary also seemed to have a natural understanding of how he approached battle situations, a result of having grown up together. That meant that Ash had to be careful with every move he made.

And looking at Snorlax, Ash could see that he wasn't being careful enough. Snorlax was in bad shape, his fur singed and burned in large patches, and his breath was incredibly laboured as he plopped down, taking his weight off his legs.

Ash took a slight breath, before raising the ball in his hand.

"Thanks Snorlax, take a breather."

Snorlax returned to his ball, which Ash pocketed as he stared Gary down. Snorlax definitely wasn't out of the fight yet, but Ash knew better than to let him battle in that state. A quick rest would do him wonders and allow him to get back into the fight later on. But for now, it was someone else's turn to battle.

And it was someone who Ash was eager to battle with for the first time.

Soon, Gary had a Pokéball selected as well, and the two of them called them out at the same time.

"Tyranitar, let's go!"

"Golurk, time to battle!"

The two towering Pokémon materialised in front of their respective trainers, before they began to stare each other down, a show of power and dominance from the two. After a few tense seconds, Professor Oak broke the silence.

"Let the battle commence!"

"Use Crunch!/Heavy Slam! Let's go!" The two shouted, their commands almost merging together.

The two titans strode forward, moving as fast as their massive frames allowed, before crashing into each other. The ground cracked from the impact, as they locked arms with each other, pushing against one another and trying to overwhelm the other.

Though Tyranitar had one advantage over Golurk, he still had his teeth.

With dark energy coating his teeth, Tyranitar bit deep into Golurk's shoulder, causing the ghost type to release a deep moan which caused the spectator's teeth to vibrate as a result.

"Quick, get out of there with Earth Power." Gary said, desperate to get out of this tricky situation, which Golurk fulfilled almost immediately.

Raising a foot, Golurk then stamped down, causing a pillar of fire and dirt to erupt underneath Tyranitar, the ground exploding from the attack. The force knocked Tyranitar away from Golurk, sending him tumbling to the ground and giving Golurk the space it needed to recover.

As Tyranitar's heavy body kicked up a massive cloud of dust, Ash responded with another snap command.

"Keep Golurk away with a Dark Pulse!"

Dark energy began pooling at the end of Tyranitar's tail, lighting up the spike jutting across it and travelling up his spine before arriving at his mouth. With the energy now gathered, Tyranitar fired the beam, which crashed into Golurk and splashing him with crackling dark energy.

Tyranitar, slowly getting his feet under him, kept the beam consistent, forcing Golurk to hold its ground and give him the time he needed to recover. With his feet under him again, he began closing in on Golurk, shortening the distance while still keeping the beam firing.

As the beam finally began to die down, Tyranitar dropped the attack, letting Golurk try and counter with a Shadow Punch. But as it took a few steps forward, Tyranitar then span round, slamming his tail into Golurk's side and sending it rolling away.

Eager to finish this battle before Golurk could get a second wind, Ash gave another quick command.

"Keep him down with Earthquake! Finish it!"

Nodding, Tyranitar span round, his tail curling around as he did, and as he finished the rotation, he brought it crashing down on top of Golurk with a mighty thud and crash, sending dirt everywhere.

When the dust cleared, Golurk was unconscious, and Gary was gritting his teeth together, not once breaking eye contact with Ash.

"Golurk is unable to battle, which makes Tyranitar the winner!" Professor Oak announced, which made Ash's heart leap over the moon.

"Great job Tyranitar!" Ash congratulated, which Tyranitar absorbed with a smug look, "you good to continue?"

Tyranitar gave a thumbs up, before turning back toward Gary, who was eyeing up Tyranitar with an appraising eye. And Ash's good mood began to vanish as Gary's inquisitive look turned into a smirk, and Gary picked another Pokéball.

"Ok then, let's get serious. Nidoking, let's go."

The ball popped open and revealed the Poison and Ground type, who stared at the taller opponent unwaveringly. While standing a fair bit taller than Gary, Nidoking barely came up to half of Tyranitar's height, but was unfazed by this. Which meant Nidoking, and by extension Gary, had a plan up their sleeves.

Deciding that he would risk it, Ash waited for the go for battle.

"Commence battle."

"Use Dark Pulse!"

Tyranitar charged up another pulse of dark energy, firing it at full force toward Nidoking, who still seemed unfazed.

"Circle." Gary commanded calmly, which was when Nidoking broke into a sprint, narrowly avoiding being blasted by the beam of malicious energy. Nidoking then began running around Tyranitar, who simply kept tracking him with his beam, trying to realign the attack and catch him with the pulse, but couldn't seem to keep up with Nidoking's surprisingly agile sprint.

Eventually, Tyranitar's beam gave away, dying out as the charged-up energy Tyranitar had gathered ran out, leaving him gasping for air after sustaining the attack for so long, which was when Nidoking stopped sprinting, skidding to a halt before spinning to face Tyranitar.

"Now!" Gary shouted, causing Nidoking to throw his head back. When he brought his head back down, a ball of energy was hovering in front of his mouth, arcing out with shocking speed and slamming straight into Tyranitar's chest.

"What was that?" Ash shouted as Tyranitar crashed down, causing Gary's smirk to widen.

"A well-timed Hyper Beam Ashy boy. All I had to do was wait for Tyranitar's attack to drop and I knew he'd be an easy target. And now, while Tyranitar lumbers to his feet, Nidoking has all the time he needs to recharge from the attack."

Ash growled as he watched Gary's situation played out exactly as he described, with Tyranitar slowly getting to his feet and Nidoking luxuriously taking his time to recover, leaving Ash to ponder how they were going to bring this back.

Deciding to take a risk, Ash shouted out to Tyranitar.

"Hey, don't fight him from a distance, get close. Use your strength to overwhelm him."

Tyranitar didn't give a clear response to this, but based on how he lurched forward, he had heard him.

Gary and Nidoking seemed unfazed by this, and simply waited.

"Use Dragon Claw!" Ash commanded, and Tyranitar followed it, slashing downward with his arm. But Gary was prepared.

"Double kick."

Just as Tyranitar closed the distance, Nidoking snapped forward and leapt in the air, spinning as he did. As Tyranitar's attack narrowly overshot, Nidoking landed two heavy kicks on Tyranitar, the first striking him in his upper chest, and the second arcing upward and striking him in the mouth.

With the two super effective attacks landing home, and his injuries from the previous battle beginning to catch up with him, Tyranitar finally fell, this time for good as swirls appeared in his eyes and stayed slumped on the ground.

"Tyranitar is unable to battle, meaning that Nidoking takes the victory."

Gary quickly recalled Nidoking without a word, swapping Pokéballs quickly, something which caught Ash's attention. Based on that action, he reckoned that Nidoking was his hidden ace, an unexpectedly skilled battler to keep an eye out for.

Things were getting interesting.

Ash watched as Gary tossed his next Pokéball lightly in the air, catching it and throwing it again as he smirked at Ash, waiting for him to pick out his next Pokéball. Ash, knowing that Gary was waiting for a reaction from him, did his best to keep a level expression while he recalled Tyranitar, quickly congratulating him for an amazing first battle, before switching Pokéballs and taking a deep breath.

This was a big gamble, one he wasn't so sure about in all honesty, and that left him palming the ball, layers of sweat building up on the plasticky surface of the ball. When this Pokémon had came up to Ash expressing an interesting in joining this battle, Ash was more than happy to oblige, but he worried about how this Pokémon would match up against Gary.

This Pokémon reminded Ash very much of how he was when he first started his Pokémon journey all those years ago; determined, hard-headed, overconfident, spirited, but ultimately needing more experience. Every battle Ash could remember with Gary where he had that kind of mentality, he lost. So a small part of him was concerned that this Pokémon wouldn't be able to deal with whoever Gary sent out.

But at the same time, it was the kind of thing he needed to grow. That was how Ash grew, so having him go through a similar experience was the perfect learning curve he needed. So, although it was risky, Ash knew he needed to take it.

After all, he hadn't gotten this far by playing it safe.

Spinning the ball to a front facing position, Ash threw it out, summoning out the Pokémon inside.

"Let's do this Scraggy!"

"Gogoat, let's keep up the streak!"

Ash raised an eyebrow at the Kalosian Pokémon, surprised that Gary had managed to make his way all the way to Kalos, before he closed his eyes in realisation. He knew that Gary had been to Kalos, he had mentioned it in a letter a few weeks ago, shortly after Ash had first gotten his Z-ring in Alola. He had gone to gather notes on Mega Evolution, something to do with his latest research project.

Ash pursed his lips as he looked at the Gogoat, who looked raring to go. Considering that Gary was only in Kalos for a few weeks, and that he was there very recently as well, Ash figured that this Gogoat must have been a new capture. And as a result of this, not as experienced as Gary's other Pokémon.

Scraggy however, was not sharing Ash's train of thought, instead focusing on one thing and one thing alone. How he was going to headbutt this Gogoat, and how he was going to do it again.

Truly a mind of many focuses.

But it didn't matter, since he and Ash were on a similar wavelength in one matter, winning this battle. And that was all that mattered.

"Let the battle continue!"

"Energy Ball!"

"Counter with Focus Blast Scraggy!"

The two Pokémon both charged up balls of energy, each hovering in front of their respective mouths before being fired off, colliding and cancelling each other out with a crash of force and smoke.

"Gogoat, get close and use Leaf Blade."

Gogoat launched forward, sprinting forward with its head down and closing the distance on Scraggy surprisingly quickly, throwing Ash off momentarily. Shaking off his surprise, Ash focused in again.

"Quick, hit him with Headbutt when he gets close." Ash commanded, which Scraggy happily nodded in agreement to. Gogoat closed the distance in only a few seconds, but Scraggy was more than ready, throwing himself forward head first toward the Grass type.

"Jump." Gary then said to Ash and Scraggy's surprise. This surprise then multiplied when, just at the last millisecond before Scraggy's attack landed, Gogoat lept upward, clearing over Scraggy and just at the last moment with his back leg kicked Scraggy in the back of his head, forcing him into the ground and giving him a mouth full of dirt.

"What was that?" Ash heard Misty shout, and he was thankful that she said it first, because that was the exact question currently on his mind.

"Just a little counter for hard-headed hitters that Ash seems to attract. You know what they say, 'Flying types of a feather flock together' and all that." Gary explained, looking rather smug with himself as he said it.

Ash grumbled to himself as Scraggy picked himself up, deciding to take this battle back.

"Scraggy, chase him with High Jump Kick, don't let him get away."

Scraggy shook the dirt from his head, before breaking into a sprint, leaping into the air with energy coating his foot.

Gogoat didn't seem fazed by this, simply bracing its legs and leaping straight up, going several meters into the air. Scraggy, now with no target to hit, continued sailing through the air, eventually crashing straight into a tree, shattering the tree into several pieces but sending waves of pain up through Scraggy's leg.

As Scraggy dropped to the floor, grimacing from the pain travelling through its leg, his moment of pain was interrupted when Gogoat suddenly landed on top of him, the Bounce attack doing tons of damage to the fighting type, before he lept away and put some distance between the wounded Pokémon and itself.

Ash could feel his teeth gritting against each other, being whittled down as he looked at the battle. Things were looking bad, Scraggy hadn't gotten a hit on the Grass type and was being tossed about like a rag doll. Gary was one step ahead of him, just like he used to be.

Scraggy grunted as he tried to get back to his feet, with Gogoat beginning to circle him, watching with a keen eye to see if he successfully got back to his feet.

With a stagger and a moan, Scraggy managed to find his feet, one hand holding tightly onto his trouser-like bottoms and breathing heavily as he stared at Gogoat with an intense glare with open eye, as one of them was swollen shut.

"Scraggy, you still good to battle?" Ash shouted out, concern etched into his tone as Scraggy turned to him, slowly throwing him a thumbs up. Nodding, Ash clenched his fist.

"Then let's turn this battle around. Fire another Focus Blast!"

Scraggy, with his spare arm, charged up another Focus Blast, throwing the orb of energy like one would throw a baseball toward Gogoat, the attack picking up speed as it went.

"Go for another attack run!" Gary commanded, which prompted Gogoat to break out into another sprint, darting around the Focus Blast and homing in like a missile toward Scraggy.

"Now, use Headbutt! Hit him head on before he can react!"

Scraggy launched himself into the air, head pulled back and becoming coated in bright energy, seemingly on target to hit Gogoat head on, but just before it could land, Gogoat fired an Energy Ball point-blank into Scraggy's face, forcing him backwards before lowering his head, priming for a finishing charge.

"Scraggy!" Ash cried as he bounced across the floor, before managing to right himself and land on his feet. He stood unresponsive for a moment, seemingly unaware of Gogoat sprinting forward at full force toward him.

Just before Gogoat slammed into Scraggy, a bright glow overtook his body, blinding Gogoat and causing him to abandon his charge, hooves digging into the dirt as he attempted to shield his eyes. Just before he came into contact with Scraggy's glowing form, the glow concentrated into his hand, lashing out and striking Gogoat head on, sending him flying back.

The glow died out and standing in the spot Scraggy held just a moment ago was a slightly larger Pokémon. His pants were much larger now, and he now had a red fin on his head, with a much more serious look on his head as he stared down Gogoat.

"Scraggy, you evolved into Scrafty! And you learned Focus Punch!" Ash said excitedly, throwing his hands in the air. Scrafty, now with a new surge of energy, smashed his fists together, Ash's excitement bubbling over into his attitude, before crouching into a stance, both fists held loosely in front of him, waiting for Gogoat to make a move.

"This changes nothing Gogoat!" Gary shouted as Gogoat nodded, before pointing at Scrafty, "This ends now, use Wild Charge!"

"Hit him head on with Focus Punch, beat power with power!"

Scrafty said nothing, simply pulling back his fist and tensing up, eyes completely focused on the charging Gogoat, who was sparking with yellow bolts of electricity. The same glow from before began coating his fist, small sparks of aura bleeding out from the attack as it grew in intensity.

With both attacks now charged, the two collided in a massive show of force, the shockwave tearing up the ground around them as they smashed together. The sheer power behind the attacks sent both parties flying backwards, crashing into the ground in similar heaps.

A few seconds passed, and neither party seemed to get up, staying curled up in two bundles. Professor Oak gave it a few more seconds before he began to raise his hand to call a verdict. But just as he opened his mouth, one of the bundles began to stir, slowly raising to their feet shakily.

"Scrafty is unable to battle, which means that Gogoat and Gary win this bout."

Ash dropped his head in frustration, annoyed that even with Scraggy's evolution and new move that he couldn't come out on top. But he paused, took a deep breath and began slowly exhaling.

The battle wasn't over yet, and things weren't as bleak as he wanted to believe they were. As things currently stood, the battle was fairly even. They had both lost two of their Pokémon, making things stand at a tie from a technical standpoint. But Ash knew he had a slight edge, since he'd revealed less Pokémon. Gary at this point had shown four members of his line-up, while Ash had only shown three. And while they had won their respective battles, that meant they were more tired than Ash's remaining team, even if it was only by a slight margin.

Nidoking was a slight concern, having only taken little amounts of damage from Tyranitar, and clearly being one of Gary's planned powerhouses for this battle. But Gogoat wasn't in as good a situation, with the few hits Scrafty managed to land on him clearly having a massive effect if the way his legs were wobbling were any indication. And although Snorlax had taken a beating, Ash could count on him to plough through still if he needed him to, making him a key ace up his sleeve. And with three more Pokémon to reveal, he could control the field.

Returning Scrafty, he watched as Gary had a quick conversation with Gogoat, clearly checking to see if he was still capable of battling. Ash decided to take this moment to exercise some patience, something which the last few weeks at Alola had helped to build up. He knew that he needed to wait to see if Gogoat stayed on the field or not before sending out his next Pokémon, since Gogoat was a tricky fighter. Hit and run attacks were always difficult to counter, so Ash needed to have the right Pokémon on hand to deal with that. And if he sent out the wrong Pokémon, his edge would be lost.

After a few minutes, Gogoat hopped back onto the field, taking his position in front of Gary. He was staying in the battle. With this knowledge, Ash found his hand already picking out his next ally, the perfect choice to defeat Gogoat and his hit and run tactics.

"Quilava, I choose you."

---

Anabel sat silently as she watched Ash and Gary's battle play out, watching every decision made by the two very critically and assessing them carefully. And she was surprised to say that Ash seemed to be… for lack of a better word, off. He still clearly had a critical mind at play, analysing battles as well and as uniquely as he usually always did (at least, to her knowledge), but he also seemed to be forgoing his usual strategies.

He was resorting to bad habits.

Whereas Anabel would have imagined that he'd find some interesting workaround for Gogoat's speed and agility, Ash seemed to resort to using overwhelming force. She wasn't sure if it was because of the Pokémon he was using, one who specialised in using power or wasn't skilled enough to keep up with Ash's ingenuity, or whether it had something to do with Ash himself.

Either way, it wasn't the greatest show, and the longer the battle went on, the more apparent it became.

At first, Anabel thought Ash was fighting well; playing to his Pokémon's strengths and finding and creating counters to whatever Gary conjured up for the battle. But as the battle went on, Ash began slipping into less efficient and more straightforward tactics, falling prey to Gary's methods.

And for the life of her, she couldn't figure out why.

"It's because they've been rivals for years." Misty said out of the blue, causing Anabel to jump slightly.

"How did you know?" She whispered, hand on her heart as she waited for it to slow down again after rapidly speeding up from the jump, to which Misty just shrugged.

"You may be a Frontier Brain, but I'm a battler as well. So I know when someone's trying to figure out what's going on in a trainer's head; comes with being a gym leader, I guess. And Ash is slacking because he's falling into his old ways."

Anabel tilted her head at this, while Misty had a slight sparkle in her eye as she looked at nothing in particular.

"Ash has gotten so much better over the years, but you've only seen him from when he was pretty experienced. Still room to improve, but a solid trainer. I've known him from when he first started and let's just say that he was… bad. To put it nicely. And one area where he needed to improve was with Gary himself."

Misty paused to lean back, putting her hands behind her so she could look skyward.

"Gary was his first rival, and he was nestled nicely in Ash's head. He knew how to wind Ash up, he knew how he approached problems, and he started out much better than Ash. But as Ash travelled, he got better. He began shrugging off Gary's insults, started coming up with more creative solutions, and worked his way to being a better trainer. Which is why Ash is probably the better trainer out of the two."

"If that's the case," Anabel interjected, "then why is he beginning to slip up here? Surely he knows how to deal with Gary if that's the case."

"Well, because Ash is still human. He may be an amazing trainer, but Gary represents something in Ash that he never can leave behind, what he used to be and what his goals used to partly aspire to: beating Gary. He may have beat Gary in the past, but every time they battle, Ash's brain will resort to that old way of thinking. Which is why he's slipping up; bad habits that he had put to bed are resurfacing because of Gary. Hopefully, this battle will highlight to Ash those problems once and for all, dealing with them and preparing him for the future."

"After all, with those Ultra Beasts out there and Legendaries who need him, Ash really needs to be at his best. We all do."

---

"Quilava, use Flame Wheel."

"Gogoat, use Wild Charge!"

The two speedy Pokémon darted toward each other, both charging each other at a breakneck pace, before suddenly veering and trying to sidestep each other, only to end up overshooting each other entirely.

Quilava kept the attack going, using the momentum of the attack to start arcing round, another attack being lined up with the action. Gogoat dropped the attack entirely however, tensing up his legs to leap up in the air, narrowly jumping over the ball of fire at the last second.

The two kept darting around each other, neither being able to land a solid blow on the other, both being too quick for the other. Again and again, the pair went in on attack runs, but they couldn't seem to break the deadlock.

But Ash knew it was just a matter of time. Quilava had started this battle completely fresh, ready and raring to go, while Gogoat was still recovering from his battle with Scrafty. And considering that Gogoat wasn't an endurance battler, that meant that all Ash needed to do was wait for one opportunity.

The temptation to go in all guns blazing was running high in Ash's mind, but he knew he needed to show some restraint. Gary was just waiting for Ash to do that, he could feel it. And while that might have worked with a Pokémon like Tyranitar, it would just get Quilava battered. She might still come out on top, but would be unnecessarily hurt, which Ash couldn't allow.

So he waited, letting Quilava and Gogoat duke it out in their battle of speed and reflex, eyes ever watching for his ideal opportunity.

And soon, he had it. Or rather, he remembered his opportunity for Scrafty's battle.

He just needed to recreate the scenario.

"Quilava, wait!" Ash then shouted, causing Quilava to stop her Flame Wheel to look at him inquisitively. "We need to approach things differently if we're going to win this. Do you remember back in Sinnoh when you evolved?"

Quilava frowned at him for a moment, before slowly nodding, confusion etched into her expression. "Good," Ash said, "'cos we're going to recreate that moment. Charge straight at Gogoat and wait for my signal."

Quilava's eyes widened, before she nodded, this time with more certainty, having finally caught on to what Ash was planning. She span back around to Gogoat before throwing herself forward into another Flame Wheel, not needing to wait for the command from Ash.

"Show them we mean business Gogoat, let's go for another attack run!" Gary responded, with Gogoat breaking into a sprint without hesitation. The two Pokémon charged toward each other, neither showing any sign or indication of slowing down as they thundered towards each other. Seconds before they crashed, Gary shouted out a quick command. One that had caught Ash out just moment ago.

"Jump."

But this time, Ash was prepared.

"Now!" Ash shouted, prompting Quilava to break out of her attack and slam her paws into the ground, rapidly slowing her down just as Gogoat's body went over her body. Gogoat tried lashing out with one of his hooves, but Quilava was able to keep her head low, pressing it down so it was almost touching the dirt.

And unnoticed by Gogoat, she had now lined up her back part of her body, where her flames were currently roaring like an unrestrained wildfire, so that it was in line with Gogoat himself.

"Use Eruption!" Ash roared, and Gary felt a rush of dread run through his veins.

With smoke billowing around her rear-end, Quilava fired a towering plume of fire, which slammed straight into Gogoat's underside and sent him hurtling through the air. The tower reached higher than even the tallest tree in the nearby forest, and small splutters of embers coated the area around Quilava.

A few seconds later, Gogoat crashed into the ground, thoroughly burnt and singed from the attack, and completely unconscious.

"Gogoat is unable to battle, making Quilava the winner of that bout." Professor Oak announced, allowing Ash to breathe a sigh of relief. He was still in this.

Gary called back Gogoat and pulled out another Pokéball, but before he could call out the Pokémon within, Ash suddenly recalled Quilava.

"You did great Quilava, but for now I need you to rest. I'll need your help later," Ash explained to her Pokéball before swapping it for another. And he meant it as well, knowing that Gary still had some tricks up his sleeve. Ash knew he had more Pokémon at that point, but he wasn't out of the clear just yet.

So, with a new Pokéball in hand, he called out his next choice.

"Latios, I choose you."

"Nidoking, time to battle!"

---

"I'm surprised that Ash is swapping out Quilava already. She seemed like she could still battle, so why would Ash take her out of the battle now?" Sophocles wondered aloud, scratching his chin as he watched the two battlers call out their next Pokémon. Paul, who was sitting next to him, slightly raised an eyebrow at the comment.

"I take it you're not much of a battler then, based on that comment." He remarked, causing Sophocles to look at him in an annoyed fashion.

"And what if I'm not? I'm still a Pokémon trainer, my opinion matters." He said indignantly, while Paul just shook his head.

"That's not what I meant. You are indeed a trainer, no doubt about that, but a battler has to think differently in order to win, especially when against a foe who is clearly skilled. Ash knows that he has a slight lead at the moment in regard to remaining Pokémon, but he also had that advantage when Tyranitar knocked out Golurk and look what happened afterward; two knock outs."

Paul paused for a moment to redirect his attention to the two Pokémon currently on the field, before carrying on with his explanation.

"Two of Ash's remaining four Pokémon have already been on the field, and Snorlax in particular took a lot of damage in his battle. Compare that to Gary, who despite having one less Pokémon than Ash, has all of them ready to go at full throttle. Nidoking is the only one who has experienced any fatigue, and even then, he's had ample time to rest. So Ash calling back Quilava for now is a good move."

"With Quilava, and Snorlax as well actually, now resting, Ash can rely on his two Pokémon who haven't seen battle for a stretch, letting them battle until the other two are fully ready for another go. Rather than letting Quilava carry on and potentially getting knocked out after being tired out by Gogoat, Ash is playing the long game. Which is surprising honestly, given how short his attention span is."

Sophocles didn't say anything, instead just looking at the battle that was about to break out. With this in his mind, the next encounter could mean the difference between victory or defeat for Ash.

---

Latios hovered on the spot in front of Ash in utter silence, with his gifted hat held in place with some subconscious telekinetic energy, and was watching the Nidoking scrap his foot into the ground, hyping itself up with growls and grunts as it stared at Latios intently. But Latios wasn't really paying attention to that, rather, he was scraping his claws together anxiously.

He had heard from his sister about her battle debut, and how she had gotten overconfident and gotten caught in a trap by an extremely powerful Pokémon. She had given Latios plenty of advice about how to avoid it, and Ash himself had been giving him tips and basic training throughout that morning. But none of that was really helping with his nerves.

While Latios knew he could handle himself in battle, with the prior clash with the Ultra Beasts being proof of that. But fighting against another Pokémon is instinctual, in his genes, the same as any Pokémon. But this wasn't just a random battle that required him to be quick and strong, this was a trainer battle. Those two qualities, while good to have, weren't enough. Strategy was a key part of it, and improvisation was something Ash and his Pokémon seemed to have as a key skill.

And that was the source of Latios' anxiety, as he knew, from his sister's repeated comments in the past, that he was somewhat of a rigid individual. He liked sticking to the norm and what he was familiar with, and not straying from that. Which was something that would work against him here. A deep part of him was hoping that Ash would take control in that department, but he couldn't help but worry.

So while they waited for the signal to start battling, he found himself resorting to old habits, including scratching his claws against one another.

"Let the battle begin!" The human professor then shouted, and Latios felt his muscles tighten. It had begun.

"Latios, let's start this off strongly, with a Dragon Pulse!" Ash said, with Latios internally sighing in relief. Ash seemed to be honouring their agreement about his move usage, hitting the opponent hard and fast. A fact that meant that Latios might actually be able to do well.

Feeling the draconic energy surge within his chest, he concentrated the energy into his mouth, and then fired the beam straight at Nidoking.

"Let's go Nidoking, circle!" Gary commanded, with Nidoking darting to the side, with Latios' attack narrowly missing, before he began to chase Nidoking around with the attack.

Ash frowned at this, recognising what has happening. Latios was being baited to the same trap.

"Latios, break off the attack!" He shouted, but he wasn't fast enough, as before he could get Latios out of there, Nidoking span on the spot and fired out another outrageously powerful Hyper Beam.

Latios, eyes wide and mouth agape, suddenly flew forward, shattering the sound barrier as he shot off like a jet, leaving the Hyper Beam to miss by a large margin.

Latios circled the entire battlefield rapidly, before stopping in front of Ash, slightly out of breath but in better condition than he would have been if the attack had hit.

And Ash was simply standing there, slightly shocked by what happened.

"I didn't know you could hit those kinda speeds so quickly," he muttered to himself, before shaking himself out of his stupor and returning his focus to the battle.

"Let's use that speed to our advantage, hit Nidoking with Dragon Claw before he recovers." Ash commanded, something Latios was more than happy to oblige to.

With another crack to signify the shattering of the sound barrier, Latios surged forward, slamming into Nidoking with the force of a freight train, completely flooring the tough Pokémon and even overshooting the battlefield as he did.

Gary, in awe of the Legendary's prowess, found himself stuck for what to do. He hadn't expected the Dragon to have such speed, and based on Ash's reaction, neither had he.

Which meant that he could use it against him.

"Nidoking, wait for my signal," he commanded quietly, his eyes never leaving Latios as he flew back to Ash.

"Ok Latios, let's try using your speed as an Extreme Speed, and keep up the attack." Ash commanded, which Latios nodded eagerly to, flying forward again in another burst of speed.

"Now! Grab him!" Gary shouted, prompting Nidoking to throw his arms up and catch Latios by the shoulders. The impact of the Legendary crashing into him caused Nidoking to be pushed backwards, twin trenches being dug up by his feet trying to find purchase in the mud.

"Flip and slam!" Gary shouted, which Nidoking smirked at. He began placing his weight to his right foot while leaning back, pulling Latios over his shoulder and then slamming him with full force into the ground, a crater forming from the powerful impact, forcing the air from Latios' eyes.

"Latios, get out of there! Use Solar Beam!"

Latios, still winded from the strike, didn't show any indication he heard Ash at all, but after a few seconds, a faint green outline began to coat his body, a good sign and one that heavily relieved Ash.

But Gary wasn't about to stand by and do nothing.

"Quick, finish the battle with a Double Kick!" Nidoking complied to this command, jumping upward and striking Latios in the head with dual strikes from his powerful legs, forcing Latios' head further and deeper into the ground. After the strikes, he halted his attack, leaning in to see if Latios was indeed unconscious.

"Is he unconscious?" Professor Oak shouted out, with both Gary and Nidoking shrugging to show they weren't sure. But Ash had a steadfast look on his face, completely unfazed by this.

"Now!" He yelled out, shocking both Gary and Nidoking as a light began to emit from the hole. Before Nidoking could get out of the blast radius, a bright green beam blasted out of the crater and smashed into Nidoking's chin, sending a shockwave of green energy pulsing outward. When the light fainted, Latios had floated out of the crater, looking weary but ready for more.

And Nidoking was out for the count.

"Nidoking is unable to battle, making Latios the victor."

Gary didn't react at first, rubbing his hand in his hair somewhat as he returned Nidoking to his Pokéball, something that relieved Ash immensely. Nidoking had been a major concern, especially with how quickly it had knocked out Tyranitar, but now Ash felt like he had a solid lead in the battle.

That is, he did, until he glanced over at Gary and saw his blank stare had turned into a smirk. He had something up his sleeve.

Pulling out what seemed, to Ash's eye at least, to be an extremely weathered Pokéball, Gary called out his next Pokémon, and Ash began to understand why Gary felt so confident all of a sudden, and he felt an icy dread in his veins.

"Go Blastoise!"

With a pop of the Pokéball, Gary's first ever Pokémon graced the battlefield, cannons armed, and fists clenched as it hit the ground. With a roar it slammed its fists together, before lowering its head, waiting eagerly for the battle to begin.

And to make matters worse, Ash couldn't help but notice that, around Blastoise's wrist, was a band with a rock in it. A band which Ash suspected contained a certain kind of stone.

"Eying up the jewellery Ashy-boy?" Gary asked tauntingly, as he threw up his wrist, revealing that he was wearing a band much like the one Ash himself had received a few days ago, from the Mews.

"Curtesy of Kalos and Professor Sycamore. Us Professor types help each other, and he wanted me to help him with his research on Mega Evolution. And in return, me and Blastoise now have a massive card to play. Let's see how you deal with this!"

He then flung his hand in the air, flicking his hand through his hair before sticking it forward, fist clenched as energy gathered around it. Beams of it then shot out and hit Blastoise's band, the stone embedded into it now glowing and humming before light began to pour out of it, completely coating Blastoise's body and covering his transformation into his mega form.

When the light faded, Blastoise now stood in a much larger form. The two cannons that were an iconic part of his image were now on his wrists, and in their original place was a new third cannon, this one much larger and wider than before, looking like it belonged more on a military tank than a living creature. Mega Evolution now completed with a DNA helix briefly flashing in front of him, he again smashed his fists together, feeling more confident than before.

And Ash felt extremely worried.

"Oh no."

---

"Oh no." Misty muttered, causing May to raise an eyebrow at her.

"Oh no? Why oh no?"

Misty quickly spared her a quick glance, before snapping her attention back to Mega Blastoise, a concerned look etched onto her face.

"Blastoise is one of Gary's strongest Pokémon, a result of being his started no doubt. In the past, Blastoise has been able to lay out even some of Ash's stronger Pokémon with ease. The only one who has been able to properly overwhelm him is Charizard, and that was only just. Which should give you an idea of why that same Pokémon Mega Evolving is bad news for Ash."

Misty's face morphed into the epitome of concern, her mouth slightly ajar and her eyes drowning in worry. She could tell that Blastoise was strong just by looking at it, several years as a trainer had made it easy to do that now, but she had no idea he was that strong.

"Oh no."

---

Ash could feel the sweat beginning to build up on his forehead, as Mega Blastoise stared down Latios. He knew from experience the power it had, and now it had been amplified tenfold. And he was currently using a Pokémon who wasn't incredibly experienced and had been quite injured in his last battle.

Ash began to reach for Latios' Pokéball, when said Pokémon glanced round at him, firing burning in his eyes and defiance etched onto his face. Ash recognised that look a mile off, as it was one that he, and nearly every Pokémon he had ever had in his family, had at some point in their lives.

He wanted to keep battling. And nothing anyone could say would change his mind.

And Ash knew better than to try.

So with a quick nod to acknowledge the look, Ash reached up to his hat, spinning it around so that it was facing backwards. A few seconds later, Latios did the same, spinning the hat around and tensing up his muscles.

He was ready.

"Let the battle commence!"

"Latios, use Thunder!"

"Blastoise, use Hydro Pump!"

The two Pokémon charged up their attacks, with Blastoise taking aim with his cannons and lining up his blasts. Latios, on the other hand, began to generate electrical energy around himself, pooling up the power before unleashing it with a thundering 'crack'.

Just before the attack landed, Blastoise unleashed his Hydro Pumps, which blasted through the Thunder attack and slammed into Latios, sending him tumbling through the air.

Thanks to the power of Thunder, the attack's effects were somewhat nullified, and Latios was able to catch himself before he hit the ground. But the attack still had enough power to leave its own mark on Latios, leaving him panting in the air as he hovered in place.

Ash found himself gritting his teeth as he looked at the monstrous Blastoise. Thunder normally wasn't a move that could be easily brushed off, and from Latios, an inexperienced but very strong minor Legendary, it should have been an ace against the Water type. But instead, it had negated entirely.

Ash knew that Mega Evolutions were incredibly powerful, but now he was up against a Pokémon who had been stupidly strong prior to the power-up. And he had nothing to counter it with.

As Ash began thinking through counters in his head, a faint warm feeling began flushing through his chest, particularly across his heart. At first, Ash paid it no mind, not really noticing it. But as he began running out of strategies in his mind, the warm sensation became very prominent, before a blue beam burst out from his chest, darting straight toward Latios, who just had enough time to look shock before the light overcame him.

Latios' body began to distort and grow, his wings changing position and two massive circular coverings appearing on his arms, making his body much more streamline. Horns began to grow on the side of his head, and he grew significantly larger.

Once the light faded, Latios' colouration had changed from blue to purple, and he was now admiring himself and the changes. To finish off the transformation, the same symbol that flashed in front of Blastoise flashed in front of Latios, signifying his transformation into his Mega form.

Something which caught Ash off guard.

"You can Mega Evolve? How?! I don't even have a Mega Stone for you!" He shouted in confusion, before he took a look at his chest. The red triangle mark that had been branded into his chest when Yveltal had resurrected Latios and Lucario was now glowing, visible even through his shirt. Ash frowned at this, before looking up at Latios, who was now looking at the mark himself.

Ash began to smile, as he caught a glance at Gary's surprised face. He now had a counter.

"Ok Latios, I wasn't expecting this but let's make the most of it. Try another Thunder!"

Latios, still looking surprised from the sudden change in his body, decided to just roll with it. He turned back around to face Blastoise and began charging up another Thunder.

Gary, now refocusing on the battle, threw his hand forward.

"Quick, fire another Hydro Pump!"

Blastoise quickly complied, firing a triple pulse of high-pressured water pulses toward Latios, who unleashed a much more powerful blast of electricity toward him.

The two attacks collided against one another, pushing against one another in a battle for dominance, which ended after a few seconds with a massive explosion.

"Quick, use Dragon Claw!" Ash commanded as the smoke began to coat the battlefield, with Latios flying forward with immense speed, now even more impressive due to his more streamlined body. He darted through the smoke and lashed out with a quick slash and was rewarded for his effort with a grunt of pain from the turtle Pokémon.

"Grab him!"

To Latios' surprise, Blastoise suddenly clamped onto the arm that had struck him, now holding on with an iron grip. Latios tried pulling away, even managing to somewhat drag Blastoise away, but he wasn't able to wrestle his arm away before Gary gave his next command.

"Use Bite!"

Blastoise then yanked Latios toward him, proceeding to go straight for the neck and clamping down with his teeth. Latios yelped in pain, pulling against Blastoise's hold desperate as he was thrown around in the jaws of the turtle.

After a few seconds of struggling, Blastoise released his hold of Latios, only to then hit him point-blank with Hydro Pump, using the two wrist-mounted cannons to get two clean hits on his underbelly. This pushed Latios to the edge, causing him to drop to the floor, unconscious and unable to continue.

With swirls in his eyes, Latios' body began to return to normal, and the triangle on Ash's chest ceased glowing.

"Latios is unable to battle, meaning that Blastoise is the victor."

Ash's face, and mood, dropped as the glow subsided, as he began to realise that his possible comeback against Gary's trump card had already been used up. He had managed to land a good hit, but against a Pokémon like Blastoise, Ash needed more than that.

Trying his best to ignore Gary's smug look, Ash pulled out his next Pokémon.

"Quilava, let's go!"

Quilava popped out of her Pokéball, eyes set forward as she stared at the towering Blastoise.

Knowing that she didn't need any words of encouragement, being experienced enough to get through the battle, Ash instead waited anxiously for the signal to start to sound.

"Let the battle commence!"

"Quilava, use Flame Wheel, don't let him hit you."

With a bark of acknowledgement, Quilava broke into her recognise wheel of fire and darted off in a blitz.

"Let's end this quickly Blastoise, use Hydro Pump."

Blastoise then began firing off multiple Hydro Pumps, taking advantage of the cannons on his wrists to fire in multiple locations, trying desperately to pre-empt Quilava's movements.

But the small fire type was too fast for the lumbering giant, running circles around the water type. However, due to the multiple beams of powerful water, Quilava soon found herself merely circling, and not landing any attacks.

Fortunately, Ash had already thought of something.

"Use Aerial Ace! Home in on Blastoise!"

Quilava gave this a try immediately, breaking out of her wheel and using the power of Aerial Ace to strike Blastoise, moving like a heat-seeking missile and hitting him with the Flying type move. Using her paws to push off his shell, she used the momentum of the attack to roll into another Flame Wheel, zooming off before Blastoise could hit back.

"That's it! Keep it up Quilava." Ash commended, pumping his fist as Quilava began to circle Blastoise again.

Quilava repeated this a few more times, and each time the escape became narrower and narrower. With every hit the damage done was becoming more apparent, as was the frustration on Blastoise's face, and Ash could feel just the faintest glimmer of hope.

But after the sixth consecutive hit, Quilava finally got clipped, as Blastoise backhanded her into the air, sending her crashing into a tree. The impact caused her to yelp before she passed out, completely unconscious.

"Quilava is unable to battle, making Blastoise the winner yet again."

Ash grumbled to himself as he returned Quilava. He quickly thanked her for a job well done before he pondered his options. He and Gary now had two Pokémon left, and both of them had a single one which hadn't been seen yet in the battle. Ash was tempted to call out his sixth Pokémon, but he didn't know if they had what he needed to take down Blastoise.

Speaking of Blastoise, the Mega Evolved Pokémon wasn't looking fresh for battle anymore, now covered in scratches and claw marks. However, while a decent amount of damage had been done, Ash knew that he needed to hit hard. He wanted to have done that with Latios, but he had been knocked out very quickly which left Ash with very few options.

So Ash decided to go for one which gave him the best shot he had of knocking out the powerful Pokémon.

"Let's go Snorlax!" Ash shouted as he called out Snorlax, who, while still looking somewhat singed from his previous battle, looked ready for another bout.

Eager for this match-up, Gary ordered the first attack.

"Alright, let's keep the momentum up Blastoise. Use Hydro Pump."

"Use Protect."

Blastoise aimed his cannons at Snorlax and fired, the powerful streams thundered forward, before crashing into the wall of energy Snorlax had summoned. Before Blastoise could even lower his arms, Ash was shouting out more commands.

"Hit him with Body Slam, don't let him fight you from a distance."

Snorlax began lumbering forward, crashing into the turtle with his full body weight and sending him flying backwards, though he managed to stay upright. Snorlax, not content to stop there, threw himself forward again.

Blastoise, now ready, caught Snorlax by the arms and began pushing back against his charging form, the two behemoths fighting for dominance.

"Break the deadlock Snorlax, show him what you're made of!" Ash encouraged, prompting Snorlax to rear his head back before launching it forward, smacking Blastoise in the face with his forehead.

Reeling back from the strike, Blastoise lost his balance, and Snorlax was able to slam into Blastoise with his belly, knocking him back.

"Quick, hit him hard with a Hyper Beam!"

Not wasting any time, Snorlax's eyes began to glow with fiery energy, before twin beams of energy blasted into Blastoise's tipped form. Dust and dirt were sent flying by the blast, the beam itself not lasting long but hitting hard like a meteor.

When the smoke cleared, Blastoise had reverted, and was now completely unconscious.

"Blastoise is unable to battle, which means Snorlax is the victor of this bout."

Ash breathed a sigh of relief, his entire body sagging as he did so. Snorlax had come through and pulled out the win. If he hadn't, Ash was sure he'd lose the entire battle there and then.

With that in mind, he immediately recalled Snorlax, who had been swaying on his feet. After two intense battles, Snorlax was looking exhausted. And Ash was internally hoping that he wouldn't have to call on him again in this battle, since he knew that his tank was running on empty. He was going to consume a literal ton of food after this battle, but he didn't have the energy for another battle.

So, with his last Pokémon already decided, Ash called his final choice onto the battlefield, just as Gary did opposite him.

"Come on out Staraptor."

"Gallade, time to battle."

---

Ralts found herself perking up as the Gallade materialised onto the battlefield, arms raised in a defensive stance.

She had been captivated by the battle, the ebb and flow of strength and power, the constant clashes and the mind games at work. She had once wondered why her mother spoke so fondly of battles, and how she loved the thrill they gave her.

But now, after having witnessed the spectacle of battle for herself, she couldn't help but agree. And especially after she watched Tyranitar's battle, with his triumph over Golurk and his subsequent defeat at the hands of Nidoking, she wanted more than anything to try her hand at battling.

And a quick glance over at her sister and brother told her she wasn't the only one feeling this urge.

But as she watched the Gallade, something stirred in herself, a feeling of… rightness. She knew that wasn't the right word for it, but looking at that Gallade, watching the way he moved his arms, even while standing there doing nothing, it was like something had clicked in herself.

It took her slightly longer than she'd care to admit before she realised that she had begun to mimic his moves with her arms, before she held them by her side gingerly.

Whatever it was that made her feel right inside watching that Gallade, she was sure that watching it battle would explain everything.

---

"Let the battle commence." Oak announced, hopefully for the last time Ash thought to himself as he watched Staraptor push himself up into the air.

He had never seen this Gallade before, not even realising that Gary had one in all honesty, but he had battled against them before, so he had a rough idea of what they were capable of. Though he knew that this Gallade would probably be more problematic, as being one of Gary's Pokémon usually entailed.

So he decided to stick to Staraptor's strengths as a Flying type and make good use of his flying moves.

"Staraptor, start off with an Aerial Ace, let's go!"

Staraptor chirped in acknowledgement, flying up in a loop before flying in for an attack run.

"Gallade, use Psycho Cut." Gary ordered as a counter, which Gallade fired out with no hesitation. The psychic energy cackled around his hand as it arced round, before launching toward Staraptor.

"Spin!" Ash shouted, prompting Staraptor to spin in the air, performing an aileron manoeuvre to spin out of the way. Now clear of the attack, Staraptor then hit Gallade straight on, sending him tumbling backward.

"Quick, before he gets away, hit him with Ice Punch." Gary commanded, with Gallade proceeding to turn his tumble into a roll, before pushing himself forward and striking Staraptor in the wing, causing part of it to freeze over.

Staraptor, now slightly incapable of flight, crashed into the ground, before pushing himself up with his other wing. He then proceeded to flex his wing, breaking some of the ice but finding it still somewhat stiff. For the time being, he was grounded.

"Good, now that he's grounded, use a Leaf Blade and Psycho Cut combo. Go for the melee!" Gary commanded, smirking as Gallade flung his arms outward, with both arms being coated in the respected energy of each attack, before he lowered himself into a stance, his left arm coated in the green glow of Leaf Blade being placed further than his right, coated in the Psychic energy of Psycho Cut, which was held close to the chest.

"If they want a close quarters fight, we'll give them one. Use Close Combat!" Ash countered, with Staraptor dropping into his own stance, with his wings held in front of him like fists, ready for Gallade as he launched forward.

The two then began to dance around each other, trading blows and ducking and weaving around one another. Each strike that landed shook the recipient to their core, but they ploughed on, determined not to let the other come out on top. Staraptor had a slight disadvantage, with one of his wings not being as responsive as it normally was.

But after a solid minute of trading blows, Staraptor landed one that hit harder than any that landed before, sending Gallade tumbling back. Seeing an opportunity to go for the win, Ash shouted out a quick command.

"Alright, let's finish this battle here and now. Let's go for a Brave Bird!"

Staraptor pushed himself into the air with no hesitation, again arcing around into an attack run, this time coated in the blinding light of Brave Bird.

"Stop him in his tracks with an Aura Sphere!" Gary shouted, recognising the powerful attack for what it was. Gallade, now slightly slower than he was before, charged up a sphere of life energy in his palm, before flinging it skyward, the attack homing in on the charging beam of energy that was Staraptor.

The attack hit him head on, causing a massive explosion to send smoke across the air, covering Staraptor and making him all but invisible.

A few tense seconds went by with everyone waiting to see if Staraptor made it, or if his unconscious body would fall out of the smoke cloud.

His body did eventually come out of the cloud, but he was very much conscious. And very much still coated in the energy of Brave Bird.

With no time to dodge out of his way, Gallade was hit head on, smashed into the ground by the powerful flying type attack and knocked unconscious almost immediately.

Staraptor himself did not come out of the attack graciously, the recoil from his attack and the wounded wing causing him to tumble into the ground, bouncing across the ground before sliding to a halt. He was still conscious, but very much unenthusiastic about getting up any time soon.

"Gallade is unable to battle, meaning that Staraptor is the winner. With no more Pokémon left to battle with, Gary is unable to continue, making Ash the winner!" Oak announced, causing a large amount of cheering from the crowd as they congratulated him.

Which, thankfully for Staraptor, meant that he didn't need to get up anytime soon.

---

"That was amazing!" Ralts shouted, throwing her arms up in excitement.

"I've never seen anything like it before, especially that Gallade. Arceus, the way he moved, it was amazing. I want to be a Gallade when I evolve." She announced, much to the shock of the few Pokémon around her.

"Erm, Ralts," Infernape gingerly interjected, "correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't female Ralts' unable to evolve into Gallade's."

Ralts' excitement stopped in its tracks, her entire body halting on the spot, before her arms dropped to her side.

"Oh." She sighed, her excitement completely gone, replaced with a dreary mood. Before she could dwell on her disappointment, Meganium intervened.

"Maybe that's normally the case, but come on, we are Ash's Pokémon. Weirder things have happened before. And even if she can't evolve into Gallade, so what? She can still battle like a Gallade, maybe even better. In fact," She then stopped to generate two vines, which stretched out to a nearby tree, snapping off two hardy looking branches and bringing them back to her, before presenting them to Ralts.

"Here you go love, you can use these for now to practice. Maybe you can even manage to use Leaf Blade by using these. You can start practicing after dinner, and with enough time and patience, you'll be a better battler than any Gallade; I promise it."

Ralts didn't say anything, staring at the two sticks she held in her hands with a blank expression. When she finally looked up at Meganium, she had tears lingering at the edge of her eyes and her lips were quivering. Before she broke out into tears, she threw herself forward, latching on to Meganium's leg and hugging it for all her worth.

"I love you Mum." She mumbled causing Meganium to well up, and for the nearby Pokémon to aww in response.

"I love you too sweetpea."

---

Ash soon found himself gulping down copious amounts of water as he sat down for dinner. The day of hard training, and that battle with Gary, had left him feeling exhausted and thirsty.

Though he was feeling good, much better than he had in the morning. While he hadn't made any progress in finding his Pokémon, unfortunately, the day had still been very productive. Iris had returned the Pokémon she'd found, Misty had returned with a bunch of friends and Pokémon, and he had done plenty of beneficial training.

Not too bad for a day's worth.

And the recent battle had been a good sign that he was preparing properly, with his Pokémon all performing admirably. With that performance, he could rest assure that he was doing well for himself.

But he found himself still worrying. His shoulder had felt extremely light for the entire day, and it just felt… wrong. And though he was immensely hungry, he couldn't bring himself to properly eat, just picking at his dinner and focusing more on drinking plenty of liquids.

As his thoughts began to drift, his gaze turned to the field where he was battling, where he spotted something rather… peculiar. A rippling effect seemed to be playing out in the air, distorting and pulling at the wisps of smoke that still lingered.

Curiosity piqued, Ash stood up, which had the knock-on effect of catching everyone else's attention as well.

He began walking over to the field, with a few of his Pokémon lingering behind, gingerly approaching the distortion awaiting the signal for combat.

But it never came, as instead of an attack, a portal opened up, and as soon as it did, a red blur darted out, blowing away dust with the sheer speed it had. As it began to slow down, Latios found himself beside himself as he saw who it was.

"Latias!" He shouted, zooming over to her as Lillie and Snowy dismounted from her back.

As Ash stared at the reunion, partly glad to see her and very confused as to how she had appeared, a familiar voice who Ash was dying to hear came from the portal.

"Ash!"

Ash spun around just in time to see a yellow shape flying out of the portal, before falling toward Ash with his eyes outstretched.

"Pikachu!" Ash screamed, relief dripping from his tone as he caught his starter Pokémon, before hugging him tightly. "I'm so glad to see you." He whispered, as Pikachu nuzzled into his cheek, while more of Ash's Pokémon began to emerge from the portal, landing gently behind him as they cuddled.

"Likewise," Pikachu replied, before pulling back from him, "so, what have I missed?"

"A lot, to put it lightly," Suicune interjected, as she strolled to Ash's side, much to the Electric mouse's surprise.

"Ok, you've got some explaining to do." Pikachu said, causing Ash to chuckle, before he stopped abruptly as he noticed some new arrivals land behind him, including another Pikachu.

"I think you do as well." Ash responded, as he glanced at the Pokémon assembled.

"Actually, I think that's my job," a voice rang in Ash's mind, before he turned to see Mewtwo float into a landing next to him, before he waved his hand toward the new Pokémon.

"These are some old friends of mine. We've… had an interesting history, and its one that also involves you, though in ways you probably don't realise. As a result, they've come to a consensus, which leaves myself the pleasure to announce what it is as part of my gift to you, a show of thanks: they wish to join your team, as aid you in any way you deem fit. Will you accept them?"

Ash found himself gazing over the Pokémon, quickly noting what Pokémon were there. There were some surprising ones there, including a Pikachu, Meowth, Vulpix, Scyther, Rapidash, Seadra, Hitmonlee, and even a towering Gyarados. And all of them were eagerly awaiting his response.

And he found himself rather shocked by it all.

"I mean, of course. I welcome anyone who wants to join my team. But I want an explanation as to who they are. And what happened to all of you. And when you've done that, I've got one hell of a story to tell you lot."

Pikachu just smirked at him, crossing his arms.

"Yeah, yeah, that's fine. But more importantly… is that dinner I smell? I would like ketchup with mine."

"Me too." The other Pikachu added in gingerly, causing Ash's Pikachu to burst out laughing.

"We're gonna get along great."

---

Hey everyone, TWoS here, and good news: I'm not dead!

Now, I feel I should apologise, since I have been away from this story for a good while. Nearly two months I believe, which is probably the longest period between chapters since this story started. I'm very sorry about that, from the battle of my heart I am, but it's been pretty hectic for me. First of all, Christmas came and went, which took up a great period of time. I also got Pokémon sword, so I've been playing that… a lot. And I've been dealing with some developments at work which have just been knackering to handle. So, a lot's been happening.

Another thing that made this take so long to come out is the fact that this chapter is quite long. My new longest chapter, as a matter of fact, narrowly overtaking Chapter 30. And what I've released is only part of what I had originally planned. I did want to do another two big segments but considering how long it took me to get this part out, I decided to save it for the next chapter.

But enough with the negative, I'm very happy with what I've released. This chapter was great fun to write, a massive six-on-six battle with Ash and his OG rival. A lot of people have been wanting more focus on Ash, so I decided to give them that. I hadn't originally intended for this to be an entirely Ash-centric chapter, but hey-ho, things have a way of working out nicely.

This chapter is one I hope you can really let me know what you think of, since my battle portions of the story tend to get more of a mixed reception than other parts of my story, so hopefully I've managed to improve in this chapter. So if you could review and let me know, that'd be greatly appreciated. That, and I always enjoy reading your reviews regardless, so please leave them to let me know what you think, I always try to respond to as many as possible.

And also, as part of the fortieth chapter release, I'm going to include an update on the groups, since a lot has happened since the last update. The groups now look like this:

Group 1: Ash, Anabel, Sophocles, Misty, May, Paul, Gary, Lana, Iris, Lillie, Pikachu, Espeon, Absol, Buizel, Snowy (Lillie's Alolan Vulpix), Lycanroc, Kingler, Torkoal, Steenee, Latias, Mewtwo, Lapras, Totodile, Goodra, Quilava, Tyranitar, Mawile, Meganium, Ralts, Leavanny, Scrafty, Togedemaru, Pidgeot, Rotom-Dex, Unfezant, Snorlax, Staraptor, Azelf, Mew, Poipole, Charizard, Eevee, Krookodile, Dewott, Muk, Latios, Talonflame, Heracross, Rowlet, Bulbasaur, Egg, Infernape, Pikachutwo, Meowthtwo, Vulpixtwo, Scythertwo, Rapidashtwo, Seadratwo, Hitmonleetwo, Gyaradostwo, Brionne, Suicune, Delia, Looker, Professor Kukui, and Professor Oak

Group 2: Sceptile, Blaziken, Greninja, Primeape, and Brock

Group 3: Torracat, Lugia, Garchomp, Squirtle, Swellow, Glalie, Emboar, Seismitoad, Hawlucha, Kiawe, Dawn, Max, Hoopa, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Genesect, Genesect, and Lunala

Group 4: Lucario, Servine, Donphan, Torterra, Noivern, Nihilego/Serena, Mallow, Cynthia, and Tobias

Group 5: Butterfree, Noctowl, Gigalith, Corpish, and (other) Mewtwo

Group 6: Tauros Herd

As always, thank you for the crazy amount of support, it's greatly appreciated and I love you all for it. Ideally, the next chapter won't take as long since I have a lot of it planned out and just need to sit down one day and get it written. So, here's hoping.

Until next time though, this has been TWoS, much love to all of you, and I'll see you in the next chapter. Much love, peace – TWoS.