An Electrically Charged Battle!
Ash and his friends were once again traveling through the vast Desert Resort and although it had been over a week since the events it still shook most of them as they traveled through the area. Hilda had chanced a quick peek at the collapsed ruins while everyone else was distracted as she secretly hoped that it laid undisturbed and Ghetsis had perished down there. However much to her annoyance a large gaping hole was present where Kyurem had obviously burst through before flying off with Ghetsis to parts unknown. She made her way back to the group right as they made camp for the night, Hilda noticed that Zach was looking extremely comfortable with the idea of sleeping out there and she couldn't blame him one bit. They could be right above Haxorus' body for all they knew! She placed her hand atop his own before taking him into her tent so he wouldn't have to be alone that night, figuring her company might help a bit.
Lucario laid outside the tent and watched over the camp at night while Hilda sleep in her sleeping bag a few inches away from her brother but a singular arm reached out and wrapped around him. It was the first time she'd actually seen him sleeping since his return so she was a bit surprised to see him immediately start tossing and turning within his sleep.
Zach was standing atop of an ancient draconic shaped tower while the Black Knight stood across from him, his sword currently pressed up against Chili's throat. It was a recurring dream of his ever since being freed from the spell and each night it was somebody different that he cared about rather it be Hilda, Professor Juniper, Cheren, Bianca, Lucario, or Skyla. It was part of why he hadn't interacted with the others much as he was afraid they'd die if he got close to them.
"Surrender yourself now or I'll send your friend to Arceus!" The Knight shouted.
"No this can't be... you were me, how can you even be alive?!"
"Foolish child your mind is too weak to comprehend, I now share the same realm that you once had. I might not be able to escape the way you did especially with that annoying jackal and bratty sister of yours around but I swear I'll find a way out and then we'll have a face off!" The knight sliced his sword through Chili as the red headed boy disappeared in a cloud of smoke.
"And one of your loved ones will be lost forever!" Another voice could be heard but it was unfamiliar to him.
"Pi?" Pikachu's ear twitched as the gang ate their breakfast the following morning. He shifted his eyes towards the sand nearby as he thought he'd heard something but nothing was there. Pikachu shrugged and turned back to his ketchup bottle, not noticing as a light brown reptilian shaped head emerged from behind him. The large crocodile Pokemon licked his lips before bursting out from the ground as he lunged right at Pikachu however right before he could make contact Dewott swiftly intercepted and struck the Pokemon's stomach with Razor Shell!
The crocodile let out a gasp before hitting the ground with a soft thump. Ash turned to look at the defeated Pokemon and tilted his head as he was unsure of what it was although he was pretty sure he saw some Plasma grunts fighting off Team Rocket with them! This one was most likely not affiliated with them though as it wore a pair of shades!
"Krokorok the Desert Croc Pokemon, Krokorok really hates it when its body gets cold. On nights when the temperature drops, it digs deep into the desert sands!"
Ash put away his Pokedex before reaching for an empty Pokeball. He may already have a Ground type in Nidoking but having a Dark type on his team might just come in handy! Ash threw the ball at Krokorok and the crocodile was soon engulfed in a bright red light before the ball hit the sand and started shaking back and forth, soon chiming out to announce the capture complete!
"Alright we just caught a Krokorok!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"Dewott!"
"Great work Dewott!" Dewott crossed his arms as he cast off a smirk towards Pignite, the Fire type let out an annoyed snort as flames shot from his nostrils.
Nimbasa was a fairly large city although it was nowhere near as large as Castelia City, there were several large stadiums off to the north which hyped Ash up for a brief while before Iris gave him some unfortunate news.
"Those are sport stadiums not everything has to involve Pokemon battles, I swear you can be such a kid!" Iris rolled her eyes.
There was also a large facility that was called the Battle Subway, the name sounded exciting to Ash and much to his surprise he discovered that somebody in the group was vastly more excited for it than he was!
"The Battle Subway!" Cilan squealed out. "Oh we've just got to enter that, I've always wanted to compete in it but I never had a partner to do it with!"
"So what you're a train connoisseur?" Iris asked. "I thought winning that fishing competition would help calm you down."
"Fishing is just one of my many passions!" Cilan placed his hand on his chest as he cast a dreamy look towards the sky. "What kid didn't grow up wanting to ride a train that could travel across the Unova region in a matter of hours?"
"Hold up the subway's that fast?" Brock questioned.
"Oh yeah, super fast!" Cilan's eyes lit up. "Us Gym Leaders use the subway system to quickly travel around from city to city that way we don't have to stray from our duties for too long!"
"Then why haven't we seen a subway entrance?" Ash asked with a light head tilt.
"You haven't been looking close enough Ash!" Cilan loudly exclaimed before leaning close to him. "Please Ash will you partner up with me for the Battle Subway?! The leaders of the facility are incredibly strong trainers and gifted in the art of double battles so I promise that you'll have a good time!"
"You bet I will, I never turn down an opportunity to fight strong opponents!" Ash clenched his fist and excitedly turned towards the Battle Subway however the line was just too long for them to possibly even have a shot at battling the trainers before nightfall hit. Ash sweated lightly before turning to Cilan. "Sorry but maybe we should wake up and head here early tomorrow?"
Cilan nodded in agreement. "Sure thing, I don't mind waiting another day! Besides the Gym Leader is possibly free right now."
Cilan began leading the way towards an amusement park which made Ash question if Cilan had hit his head on something. "Cilan... isn't that an amusement park?"
"It is, the Nimbasa Gym is part of a ride!"
Ash and Pikachu gave each other a curious look before shrugging. As they entered the park Ash heard a familiar shout as a strange yet familiar man shouted at the group.
"Hey hey you lot get over here, I've got just the deal for you!"
"Deals?!" Cilan's eyes lit up as he quickly shot forward. Iris facepalmed as she imagined Cilan was about to get ripped off.
"How would you like to buy this Magikarp? It's quite common in regions far away from here but it's quite rare here in the Unova region and I've come all this way from the Kanto region to deliver a bargain just for you! You see this Magikarp will quickly lay eggs in a matter of days meaning that within weeks you'll have plenty of Magikarp that you can sell off to other trainers for a high price and become extremely loaded and free to do whatever your heart desires! I really like you though so I'll make you a deal, I'll sell you this Magikarp for a mere five Pokebucks and you'll be free to do whatever you want with it!"
"You look familiar," Brock began stroking his chin as he stared thoughtfully at the Magikarp salesman. The salesman began sweating nervously, he'd ripped off so many people over the years that he couldn't even keep track anymore!
"Pika pi!"
"Cilan don't! This guy is a con artist, he stole my friend Spoink's pearl back in my Hoenn adventures!"
"Con artist?!" Cilan exclaimed.
"A-Ah I remember you now!" The salesman lied as he didn't recall the events at all. "I've changed my ways and turned over a new leaf! These Magikarp really are a gold mine and I've got many other trinkets too!" He pointed to what appeared to be a bunch of trinkets and junk scattered about his table. Iris picked up what appeared to be a broken machine.
"What's this supposed to be?"
"An item finder, it'll find you hidden treasures all across the world! Just imagine all the riches that you can find!"
Zach noticed a mirror with a silver bordering, there was a light blue swirl on the top left, a yellow swirl going across the top and a green swirl going down the top left while on the bottom was a cloud-like design. "That looks familiar..." He suddenly spoke up making Ash jump lightly as he almost forgot he was with them.
"What's this?" Ash pointed at the mirror as Zach held it up.
"Reveal Glass! It unlocks a Pokemon's true potential!" Zach narrowed his eyes before showing it to Lucario and Pikachu, the two stared right at their reflections and nothing was happening making Zach begin to set it down as he assumed the man was just full of it! However as he placed it down he got a good look in the mirror and let out a startled yelp as he saw the Black Knight staring back at him!
"You okay?" Hilda placed her hand as his shoulder while Zach stared at the mirror for a moment before shaking his head.
"I-I'm fine, let's just get out of here... this guy's full of it."
"Well con or not I like this Magikarp, I'm gonna take it!" Cilan paid the salesman before returning Magikarp to his ball. The salesman then waved at them as they walked off before his eyes shot wide as he noticed a large and muscular ticked off customer heading back into the amusement park.
"And now I make my leave!" He quickly began stuffing all of his Pokeballs and trinkets into a bag before slinging it over his shoulder, not noticing a bright light shining from within the bag before a dark shadow appeared behind him as the Black Knight took form. He looked down at his armored hands before looking at his hilt for his sword. Everything was right as it should be!
"Free at last!"
"Hey sir stupid, any idea where that bozo who ripped me off went?!" The angry customer shouted.
"Silence!" The knight withdrew his sword causing the man to quickly raise his hands.
"F-Forget I asked!" He quickly ran off as the knight stared after him.
"Foolish mortal, your time will come soon enough." The knight turned and began making his leave from the city.
"Ah!" Ash, Pikachu and the others screamed as the rollercoaster shot down and rapidly sped back into the Gym before coming to a halt at the end of the track allowing for them to exit out onto the platform that led into the portion of the Gym dedicated to Pokemon battles! Ash eagerly raced on through the doors before coming to a halt as he was greeted by what appeared to be a fashion show as quite the beautiful blonde woman was walking down a stage while showing off her outfit to what appeared to be fans as loud screams and shouts could be heard from both eager men and women.
"Uh... you sure that this is the Gym?" Ash turned back to face Cilan who quickly nodded before pointing towards the blonde woman.
"That's Elesa, the Nimbasa City Gym Leader!"
"So what she likes rollercoasters and putting on fashion shows? Why is she even a Gym Leader?" Ash questioned as there were no signs that she was even interested in Pokemon from what he could see so far. They waited a few minutes and Elesa eventually took notice before fully turning around to face them. She beckoned them forward with her hand before shouting out to the crowd.
"Looks like I'm about to put on a battling show for you all!" Elesa shouted as she threw up her arms, loud cheers echoed throughout the large room as the crowd showed their enthusiasm.
"So she puts on public performances?"
"Yep!" Cilan nodded.
"Oh wow!"
Brock suddenly raced forward before getting down on his knees upon getting a good look of the blonde beauty. "Hi there my name's Brock, don't let the name fool you I may sound tough but I'm actually a bit softy! I love Electric types, one of my best friends is an Electric type and I must say that you're the most beautiful model that I've ever had the honor of laying my eyes upon, would you do me the honor of going out with me?"
"Hey hold up!" Hilda shot forward before standing directly in front of Elesa. "You remember my brother right? His best friend is a Lucario? Well he's single too and could use a girlfriend, surely two powerful trainers such as you are a capable match!" It was a long shot though as Elesa was Brock's age so she was a few years older than them. However Elesa's eyes weren't on either of them, the blonde beauty's eyes went straight to Ash before a loud squeal emitted from her throat as she rushed forward with hearts in her eyes.
"What a cutie!" She stopped directly in front of Ash and reached out for Pikachu causing Hilda and Brock to both face fault upon realizing that she rejected both their offers in favor of snuggling Pikachu! Croagunk had been a mere second away from Poison Jabbing Brock so he stared down in shock before croaking out in laughter as he grabbed hold of both Brock and Hilda before dragging them away! Elesa was pulling at Pikachu's cheeks as she continued fawning over him.
"I've never gotten to see one of these cuties up close before, they're quite a novelty here in Unova!"
"Um Elesa was it? I wouldn't do that if I were you, you see he doesn't like-"
"Pikachuuu!" Pikachu unleashed a powerful shock of electricity in an attempt to get Elesa off of him, shocking both Elesa and Ash before they landed down on the ground, their faces covered in soot and their hair a mess as they coughed out. Ash nervously looked towards Elesa however the blonde didn't appear mad let alone upset at that, merely laughing it off as she looked towards Pikachu. "That Pikachu of yours sure is something, I look forward to battling him!"
Ash let out a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head before giving off a nervous smile to her. "Yeah well you see, Pikachu's actually my strongest Pokemon so I'm trying to avoid using him in the Gym challenge so my other Pokemon can have a chance to shine."
"Pika!" Pikachu nodded in agreement though he did look a bit upset at not being able to battle against Elesa. Elesa looked down with disappointment before suddenly looking up with an eager smile.
"I have a proposal, I'll use my strongest Pokemon in this battle and Pikachu will have to beat him if you want to earn my badge!" Elesa proposed. "It'll still be a three on three battle but the other two Pokemon will be weaker as to allow you to use whoever you please!"
"What do you think, Pikachu?" Ash asked as he turned to face him. Pikachu raised up his fists before eagerly chanting out as excitement shined within his eyes.
"Pika pi!"
"Pikachu's in and so am I, let's do this!" Upon his acceptance the stage began expanding outwards in order to take the form of a properly sized battlefield! Elesa was already standing in her proper position as she cast off a smirk in his direction.
"Great, I'm looking forward to seeing him in action!" She seemed vastly more interested in Pikachu than she was with Ash. "Emolga let's light things up!"
"Emol!" A white squirrel Pokemon emerged from her ball in a burst of bright light! The Pokemon had quite a few similarities to Pachirisu as both were white squirrels with yellow circles on their cheeks however this Pokemon had a long black tail in the shape of a lightning bolt while her ears were covered in black fur along with what appeared to be yellow wing-like flaps beneath her arms!
"Is this Pachirisu's evolution?" Ash questioned while reaching for his Pokedex.
"Emolga the Sky Squirrel Pokemon, it glides on its outstretched membrane while shocking foes with the electricity stored in the pouches on its cheeks!"
"Electric/Flying, eh? Pignite I choose you!"
"Pignite!" Fire burst from his nostril as he gave Emolga an intimidating look.
"Oh Arceus, Ash this is no time to play the part of a kid! Pignite's Fighting type!" Iris shouted
"Acrobatics!"
"Huh?" Ash blinked as it was some move he'd never heard of. "Dodge it with Rollout!"
Pignite let out a squeal before curling up into a ball and as Emolga glided towards him at quite a remarkable speed, Pignite shot up into the air to meet her head on! Emolga was pinned down against the ground as she was crushed by the pig Pokemon!
"Volt Switch!"
Ash once again showed visible confusion as Elesa was using moves that he hadn't yet seen nor heard of during his Unova adventure. Emolga held her arms together as a large electrical orb formed in front of her, the flying squirrel then gave it a push and sent it directly at Pignite as he still held her down. Pignite let out a loud squeal as electricity surged through his body while Emolga disappeared in a beam of red light as she retreated to her Pokeball before another Pokemon came bursting on out, this one yet another Pokemon Ash hadn't seen before. It was a large eel Pokemon that levitated in the air above meaning that much like Emolga, Ground type attacks wouldn't be much good here! Looks like Krokorok would have to wait another day for his turn at the spotlight!
"What's going on, I thought you were forbidden to switch your Pokemon?" Ash questioned.
"I am! However if a challenger uses Roar or some other attack that forces me to switch then I must do so, and moves that have my own Pokemon retreat are also allowed. You just can't physically swap, you've got to use strategy!" Elesa smirked lightly. "And don't worry, Eelektross is not my strongest Pokemon!"
"Eelektross?" Ash pulled out his Pokedex once more in order to scan the creature.
"Eelektross the EleFish Pokemon, they crawl out of the ocean using their arms. They will attack prey on shore and immediately drag it into the ocean!"
Cilan shuddered as he silently wished the Pokedex would stop using it's dark entries. Sometimes the Pokedex acted fine and then it'd go and shock him with another dark tale! He was starting to wonder if Ash's Pokedex was haunted and purposefully did this just to scare him!
"I see no reason to switch you out, you alright with that?"
"Pignite!" Pignite gave his trainer a thumbs up.
"Alright then, seeing as we don't have much of a choice continue with Rollout!"
Pignite let out a squeal as he rolled up into a ball before blasting across the field and proceeding to slam Eelektross' body down against the ground!
"Discharge!" Eelektross' body began sparking as he fired off multiple beams of electricity out across the field, successfully making contact with Pignite as the pig Pokemon let out a squeal.
"Come on Pignite let's do this, Rollout once more!"
"Pignite!" Pignite rolled up into a ball before blasting across the field, he quickly shot up and slammed into Eelektross sending the eel Pokemon crashing down to the ground before he laid in a defeated slump with Pignite standing triumphantly over him. "Pignite!" Pignite flexed his arms and let out a triumphant snort as flames burst from his nostril.
"Way to go Pignite!"
"I'm confused how did Pignite beat Eelektross so easily?" Hilda asked.
"Rollout continues for a few rounds until it either misses or the Pokemon using it is taken out, the power grows after each continuous hit but you also have the drawback of not being able to do anything else rather than returning the Pokemon to his ball so the move has some drawbacks to it..." Zach explained emotionlessly.
"Ah."
Elesa returned Eelektross before grabbing hold of the ball containing Emolga. "Alright Emolga let's try this again, Attract!"
"Emol!" Emolga burst from her ball before putting on a seductive pose as hearts quickly appeared within Pignite's eyes, the muscular pig began drooling while staring affectionately at her.
"Now use Discharge!"
"Emol!" Emolga's cheeks sparked as she fired up the attack!
"Meet her head on with Rollout!"
"Pignite..." Pignite was too busy drooling over Emolga to listen resulting in Ash clenching his fist from light frustration as he could do nothing else as the bolt of electricity flew towards Pignite and gave him quite the powerful shock! The muscular pig Pokemon toppled over onto his back while swirls appeared within his eyes. "Pignite..." He groaned out.
"Pignite take a long rest, you've earned it!" Ash smiled down at the Pokeball as Pignite disappeared into it, Ash placed it back upon his belt before reaching for the ball containing Servine. "Servine I choose you!"
"Servine!" Servine burst out and raised her head lightly at the sight of Emolga.
"Attract!" Elesa cried out. Emolga put on a seductive pose yet nothing happened, Servine merely smirked at Emolga as the flying squirrel sweat dropped. "Servine's a female?!" It was hard to blame her as most starters Ash encountered were male, his Meganium and Servine were the few exceptions.
"Servine!" Servine cast off a cocky smirk as Ash threw out his arm.
"Alright Servine, use Slam!"
"Servine!" Servine sped across the field before quickly slamming her body against Emolga as she knocked her out of the air! Emolga let out a cry as she fell to the ground before resting in a defeated slump in front of Servine as the Grass type raised up her head and smirked. "Ser!"
Elesa returned Emolga to her Pokeball while Ash returned Servine as per their agreement it was time for Pikachu to face off against Elesa's strongest Pokemon whatever that may be!
"You ready Pikachu?!"
"Pika!" Pikachu flicked his tail as he leaped from Ash's shoulder.
"Zebstrika let's light things up!"
"Zebstrika!" The large zebra Pokemon emerged from it's ball. Hilda's eyes widened before she quickly turned to face her brother as she remembered him owning one. Zach promptly left the room at the sight of another Zebstrika while Hilda quickly ran after to comfort him.
"Zebstrika the Thunderbolt Pokemon, this ill-tempered Pokemon is dangerous because when it's angry it shoots lightning from its mane in all directions!"
"Alright Pikachu let's start things off by giving him a taste of our Thunderbolt!"
"Pika!"
"Ash don't, Zebstrika's ability-" Iris was cut off by the sound of Pikachu firing off a powerful blast of electricity however much to Ash, Brock and Pikachu's surprise Zebstrika was standing there as if it had no effect!
"What's going on?"
"Motor Drive. When hit by an Electric attack instead of taking damage this Pokemon's Speed stat will rise!"
"Now you tell me..." Ash muttered as he pocketed the Pokedex with an annoyed look. "Alright Pikachu use Quick Attack!"
"Pi pi!" Pikachu quickly shot across the field before throwing his body up against Zebstrika.
"Flame Charge!" Zebstrika's body suddenly became encased in flame and Pikachu let out an alarmed shout as he quickly rolled out of the way!
"Pi!"
"Zebstrika can learn Flame Charge?!" Ash exclaimed while clenching his fists. This was complicating things as Zebstrika would eventually become faster than Pikachu and there was only so much that Iron Tail and Quick Attack could do against the powerful zebra! Ash looked over the field before a light bulb went off in his head.
"Pikachu use Thunderbolt on the field!"
"Pika!"
"What's he doing now?" Iris questioned. Pikachu's cheeks charged up before he unleashed his powerful electrical attack against various different spots on the ground resulting in parts of the field rising up while other parts cracked and began lowering. The field was now rough and uneven, making it quite difficult for a large Pokemon like Zebstrika to control his fast movements!
"Now use Iron Tail on some of that rubble!"
"Pika!" Pikachu's tail shined brightly as he took a swing, firing rubbles across the field where it pelted against Zebstrika's body! The zebra let out a neigh of annoyance before huffing out in anger as electricity burst from his mane and fired blindly across the field making it even more of a mess!
"Flame Charge!" Elesa shouted as she threw out her arm. Zebstrika let out a loud neigh as he began racing forward only for his eyes to widen as he tripped right over a raised crack resulting in him landing in a collapsed heap in front of Pikachu. He began slowly raising back up onto his legs before looking up as Pikachu stepped in front of him, a smirk present across Pikachu's face as he looked down upon him.
"Iron Tail!"
"Pika!" Pikachu's tail shined as he took a hard swing against Zebstrika's face, the zebra let out a groan before fully collapsing as his eyes were now filled with swirls.
The crowd let out a cheer as Pikachu raced back towards Ash before leaping up onto his shoulder while Elesa clapped her hands as she approached the two. "Well done you two, I honestly thought that we had you once we locked off your Electric attacks but you proved yourselves to be my superior in every way." Elesa took a polite bow before extending her hand as she dropped a lightning shaped badge into Ash's palm. "You've definitely earned the Bolt Badge!"
Ash turned to Pikachu with a smirk before the two did their signature pose as Ash held out his newly obtained badge in front of him.
"We just got the Bolt Badge!"
"Pi Pikachu!"
"I can't believe it, Ash is already half done with his badge quest!" Iris stared in shock.
"There's still six months before the Unova League starts though, I think we can afford to slow down a bit and smell the roses!" Cilan exclaimed as Pansage nodded in agreement with his trainer. "Pan Pansage!"
Brock wasted no time in trying one last time to get Elesa's number. "My dear Elesa we're about to part ways, such sorrow fills my heart as it thinks that you're the one! I'm a Rock specialist, you're an Electric specialist and you know what they say about opposites attract. But if you were to ask I'd hunt down an Electric type right this very second and-"
Crack! Brock's egg began cracking open within his bag causing him to let out an alarmed shout before removing it to retrieve the egg. "My egg, it's hatching!"
Croagunk had been about to jab his trainer but paused upon the egg starting to crack. A bright glow surrounded the egg and a small yellow spider Pokemon was now resting in his hands and looking up at the Pokemon doctor.
"A Joltik!" Elesa squealed out as she sprang forward, Brock couldn't help but blush darkly before feeling a wave of disappointment hit as it was clear the blonde only had eyes for Electric types and nothing else! Brock then let out a light chuckle as he looked down upon his new teammate with a smile.
"Welcome to the team, Joltik. We're happy to have you!"
"Joltik!"
Yeah there was no way I'd avoid Krokorok, probably thought he wasn't going to join by now huh?
And the Magikarp salesman actually has something of value and doesn't even know it nor do our heroes!