The Final Battle: Dark Type Domination (Part 6)
After recalling their two fainted Pokemon, Ash and Alexa shared a glance with one another. Giving a nod, and moving in sync with each other, the Ketchum siblings each grabbed a Pokeball off their belts, pitching them out onto the field.
"Electivire!"
"Sceptile!"
"May the Aura Guide You!" The two siblings said in unison as their teammates burst from their respective Pokeballs.
Electivire stood tall above its partner Pokemon, flexing its muscles as its body began to crackle with electricity. Ash's Mega Sceptile eyed its two opponents, Nidoking and a Darkrai (which hailed from another dimension.) Placing a twig in its mouth, the Hoenn starter remained unintimidated, staring down its opponents.
'Talk about a friendly face…' Sceptile said, observing the jagged red teeth that surrounded the head of Tobias's Darkrai. In the past, Sceptile had squared off with one before. The one who befriended Ash, and was leading the Legendary charge at the Tree of Beginning back in their home dimension. This one, however, was even stronger.
'Ah, we can take 'em,' Electivire said, placing a meaty hand on the Mega Pokemon's shoulder. 'Besides-' The massive Pokemon said, removing its hand and aiming it at Sceptile's tail. 'We did this before and it worked out!'
'Agreed,' The Grass type starter said with a side-eye and a grin.
Forming a circuit with each other, Electivire and Sceptile sent an electrical charge back and forth between each other, supercharging each other once again. Between Electivire's Motor Drive and Mega Sceptile's Lightning Rod, the pair of Pokemon got the power boost needed for taking on these powerful foes.
Bursting into a sprint, Alexa's Sinnoh Pokemon made a rush across the field first, slamming the weight of its body into Giovanni's Nidoking. As the two flew backwards, Tobias's Darkrai charged up a pitch black orb of darkness in between its clawed hands. However, before it could fire its attack, a flurry of leaves appeared before the Pokemon, making it lose sight of its target. Suddenly, a pair of glowing yellow eyes appeared from deep within the Leaf Storm, as Ash's Sceptile lunged outwards, slicing its opponent across the midsection with a dual Leaf Blade.
Now positioned on top of Giovanni's Nidoking, Alexa's Pokemon began driving its massive fists into the face of its opponent on the ground. Pulling back its right fist, Electivire charged its hand with a light blue beam of energy, preparing an Ice Punch. Giovanni's Nidoking countered, however, driving its free left hand into the ground. Shooting out from the ground at an angle was a Stone Edge, knocking Electivire off its opponent. Positioning itself on all fours, Giovanni's Nidoking glared at its downed opponent, before forming a green Megahorn atop its head. Lunging forwards at its target, Giovanni's Nidoking was struck in the back by a powerful Dragon Pulse, causing it to fall forwards onto the ground.
Spinning around and rising up to two feet, Giovanni's Nidoking glared at its attacker. However, with its back exposed, Electivire saw its opening for an attack. Rushing in at an immense speed, Electivire drove its knee into the left side of the Nidoking's back, making sure to avoid its poisonous back-spikes. Electivire then delivered a right hook Ice Punch to the side of the enemy Pokemon's head. Rushing in on its two feet, with its head leaning forward to make it more aerodynamic, Ash's Mega Sceptile delivered a slash to the left leg of the Nidoking. Rushing in with another strike to the back of its knee, Giovanni's Poison/Ground type went down, hitting its bottom jaw against the ground.
Attempting to rise, the Drill Pokemon heavily panted from the damage it had sustained. Before getting up, however, the two opponents standing before it were enough to keep it on its knees. After sharing a nod, Electivire drove a glowing orange punch into the side of the beast's face, followed by a Dragon Claw from Sceptile coming in the other direction. With the combination of attacks, Giovanni's tyrant Nidoking fell backwards, finally eliminated from the battle. Returning his fainted Pokemon, a smug grin was plastered on the face of the Rocket Leader.
Before they could share any words, Electivire noticed the shadowy body of Darkrai rippling behind Ash's Mega Pokemon, with its revealed eye glowing blue. Pushing its partner to the side, Electivire fired off a Discharge from its finger-tips in the direction of the Mythical Pokemon. Tobias's Pokemon, however, avoided the attack by sinking down into its own shadow.
'Back to back!' Sceptile exclaimed, as it and Electivire stood together in the center of the field, quickly hopping into formation. Each surveying the ground, they awaited for Darkrai's shadow to appear so they may launch their attack.
"Below you!" Alexa shouted. Taking notice of the trainer, the two Pokemon lunged out from the center of the field just as Darkrai began to rise from the shadows below their very feet. As it leapt away, Ash's Sceptile released ten orbs which lined its back. Dropping onto the ground surrounding the Darkrai, each seed went up in an explosion, sending Darkrai flying up into the air.
"Nice call!" Ash said, turning towards his sister with a smile. "Now go after it, Sceptile!"
'Right!' Ash's Pokemon stated, lunging up into the air with its right Leaf Blade drawn. Meeting the Darkrai in the air, the Mega Sceptile dragged its blade up Darkrai's body, reaching the top of its head. When Sceptile was done, Darkrai hit the ground, but sunk into the shadows in order to hide.
"Master! Are you not going to help me!" Tobias frantically shouted, turning to the man beside him. With Darkrai as his final Pokemon, the man was fearful of what would happen if he were to lose on the Immortal Battlegrounds.
"Do not fret, Tobias," Giovanni said, unclasping his fifth Ultra Ball from his belt. "Everything is going exactly as planned. Go! Golem!" Tossing the ball onto the field, Giovanni's rotund Pokemon landed on the ground with a thud. Revealing its limbs and head, the final evolution of the Kantonian Geodude line let out a growl. "Rock Blast!"
From Giovanni's side of the field, Golem opened its mouth, firing an onslaught of projectiles towards its enemies. Crossing its arms to offer up some protection, Electivire was hit by several of the rocks, all shattering upon impact with its body. Appearing from behind Electivire, Ash's Mega Sceptile broke into a sprint once again, charging with its Leaf Blades drawn. From the ground below its very own feet, Darkrai made its presence known once again by grabbing onto the ankle of the starter with a single hand as it dashed by.
Tripping forwards, and sliding across the ground, Ash's Sceptile spun onto its back to gaze up at its levitating attacker. Before it could react, Sceptile saw the bright blue orb of an Ice Beam forming in its opponent's hand, illuminating off of its face. In the blink of an eye, the Darkrai fired off its attack at Ash's grounded Pokemon.
"SCEPTILE!" Ash exclaimed, witnessing his Pokemon go down. Due to the severe type disadvantage, Ash's Mega fainted and reverted back to its original form. Pulling out its Pokeball, Ash prepared to return his fainted Pokemon.
"Ohoho, victory tastes sweet!" Tobias exclaimed. "This beast is so powerful that not even your Mega Pokemon could take it down! How do you expect to fare against-"
"Swellow, use Aerial Ace!" Alexa exclaimed. Rocketing down from the sky, the navy blue, red and white bird soared down, striking the Mythical in its abdomen with its sharp beak. Continuing on, Swellow pulled back up, making its way towards the ceiling.
"WHAT!?" Tobias shouted, upon seeing the bird Pokemon flapping in place in the air, showing its previously damaged wing had recovered.
"You were so busy yappin' that you missed me switching out Electivire!" Alexa shouted across the field.
"So the child is capable of learning," Giovanni said, turning to Tobias, placing his hands in the pockets of his black jacket. "She was even capable of adopting one of my strategies. Tobias, need I remind you that you are on your last Pokemon. I would certainly hope that your technique will be free of errors moving forwards. For your sake."
"Yes Master," Tobias said, turning onto the field, witnessing his Darkrai slowly rising up once again. "Ash Ketchum will fall at my hands!"
"Tell ya what Tobias!" Ash called over, selecting his next Pokeball and enlarging it. "If you wanna beat me, you better pray that you can take this guy down!" Winding up, Ash pitched his Pokeball out onto the field. "Heracross! May the Aura guide you!" Ash's Single Horn Pokemon burst from its ball, standing tall on two feet. Flexing its arms towards its opponent, Heracross let out a cry as a means to intimidate its opponent. Tobias's Darkrai remained silent, simply staring down its opponent. "Remember this guy Tobias?"
"Why yes," The servant said. "If I remember correctly, that Pokemon is quite adapted to battling my Darkrai. But last time I faced it I was the one who prevailed. And the same shall-"
"Swellow, use Steel Wing!" Alexa exclaimed as her bird Pokemon shot down from the sky once again, as its left wing took on a metallic glow, striking Darkrai in the midsection once more, before getting out of there quickly.
"Uh- YOU LITTLE SHIT!" Tobias exclaimed, pointing a finger at the teen.
"Nice one," Ash said as he subtly bumped fists with his sister.
"No problem," She said in return.
"Now Heracross, let's get that Golem! Use Brick Break!"
'Oho, targeting me? Unfortunately for you, I won't give you the chance to touch my Pokemon,' Giovanni thought to himself, witnessing Heracross leaping upwards, revealing its once concealed wings and rocketing towards his Pokemon. "Rollout." Giovanni muttered. Retreating its heads and limbs into its body, Giovanni's Golem spun in place before shooting off to its right, forcing Heracross to swing downwards at no target. Spinning around, the Bug/Fighting Type witnesses the Rocket Boss's Pokemon come to a stop.
"Heracross, look out!" Ash exclaimed, calling out to his Pokemon. Turning to its left, Heracross was struck by the pitch black orb of Tobias's Darkrai. Now trapped within a Dark Void, Heracross immediately fell asleep and hit the ground face first.
"Darkrai, use Shadow Claw!" Tobias shouted, causing his Mythical to launch itself across the field towards the sleeping Johto Pokemon. As it made its rush, its black smoke-like protrusions rippled as the Pokemon made a low growl, forming a purple claw with its right hand.
"Quick Attack!" Alexa called out, commanding her Swellow.
Taking a nosedive from the air at an immense speed, the bird Pokemon put its body between the attacker and its target. As Darkrai's Ghost type attack phased through the bird Pokemon, Swellow changed its course, travelling up the arm of Darkrai, striking it in its one revealing eye with its beak. Faltering backwards, the Pitch-Black Pokemon covered its injured eyes with a hand before firing a volley of Dark Voids in all different directions. Gracefully dodging each one, Swellow rose higher and higher up into the air, towards the Unown ceiling. Looking down, it observed Giovanni's Golem standing completely still.
"Alright, now use Steel Wing!" Diving down once again, the Hoenn bird enveloped its two wings in silver.
"Rollout." Giovanni calmly said once more.
"Pull up!" Alexa exclaimed upon hearing Giovanni's command.
A few feet before it would have made contact, Swellow flapped its wings while angling its body upwards to evade any danger. However, Giovanni's Golem retreated back into its body, veering off away from the Pokemon, now positioning itself in front of its trainer. Never having the intent of striking Swellow.
'What's up with that?' Alexa thought to herself. 'He's not going on the offensive. Does he just not want his Pokemon to get hurt?'
"Darkrai, finish him!"
"Oh no you don't! Heracross, use Sleep Talk!"
As Darkrai soared down at its sleeping target in a blur, the Single Horn Pokemon raised its body into a handstand, before fully flipping over its opponent. Landing on two feet, the sleeping Pokemon spun around, revealing the massive green horn glowing atop its head. Pushing forwards, Heracross drove its Megahorn into the back of its opponent. Pushing it along, Heracross sent the Sinnoh Mythical from another world into one of the many pillars surrounding the field.
Leaving the Pokemon crumpled at the base of the pillar, Heracross awoke from its slumber, and moved so it may lock eyes with Giovanni's Golem once more. Lunging forward, using its wings to carry itself across the field, Ash's Heracross charged in at the Pokemon with a Megahorn once again. Firing projectile rock after rock from its body in an attempt to slow the Bug/Fighting Type down, the resilient Heracross smashed through every boulder with its powerful horn. Driving its horn into the shoulder of the Pokemon, Heracross wedged its appendage between the rocks that made up Golem's body, sending it rolling onto its back. Following this, Giovanni gave his next command.
"Roar!" Making a menacing face, and letting out a cry that made the wedged Heracross plug its ears, as it was forced out of the body of the Pokemon and back into its ball. Springing out from the ball on Ash's belt was his Greninja, still under the power of its Battle Bond Ability. 'Now this will do nicely…'
"What do ya say sis? You wanna help me double team this big bastard?"
"With pleasure," The teen said as her Swellow flapped down in front of her.
Forming a katana made out of water, Greninja slung the blade over its shoulder as it locked onto its opponent, who stood completely still. Together, it and Swellow rushed into battle moving at the same speed.
As Alexa watched the two Pokemon charge forwards, she felt a twinge-like sensation coming diagonally from her left. Sensing the Aura of Tobias's Darkrai whizzing by, she exclaimed: "Greninja, behind you!" The Kalos Pokemon heard the girl's command just in time, as it spun its body tightly around, drawing its blade so that it would be pointed to its enemy. Darting off in the opposite direction, Greninja made its way to Darkrai slashing it in its abdomen, while Swellow continued on towards Giovanni's Pokemon. This broken formation on the Ketchum's part made Giovanni grit his teeth in mild frustration.
"Golem, use Dig!" The mob boss exclaimed. Once again retreating to its body, Golem leapt into the air, making its body rapidly rotate. Hitting the field, the Kantonian Golem drilled its way into the field below, burying itself underneath the battlers. Since it was unable to follow, Swellow pulled up once again, circling back to Greninja and Darkrai's position. Cloaking its body in blue flames as it circled upwards, Swellow maneuvered behind the Mythical Pokemon, driving a Brave Bird into its back. Going up in a large explosion, Swellow pulled through the smoke clouds with blue electricity surging through its body, a side effect to using the powerful flying type attack. Looking up towards the sky, Greninja tipped two fingers to the bird Pokemon for the assist. As it did, Darkrai hovered back to an upright position and lunged at the Pokemon. Sensing it, Greninja flipped backwards, throwing five Water Shurikens at its attacker below. Crossing its arms, Darkrai cloaked itself in a faint green glow. Using Recover, it healed back some of its health before taking on further damage from Greninja's stars. The Dark type Mythical had many nicks appear on its body as each ninja-star made contact, however all began to heal themselves shut.
"Liquidation!"
"Aerial Ace!"
Greninja sprung upwards drawing out two katanas made of water, preparing to slash at Darkrai, whose arms were still crossed from Greninja's previous onslaught. Diving downwards, Swellow had white streaks of light streaming off its body as it locked onto the back of the Pokemon once more.
"Darkrai, get out of there!" Tobias exclaimed, tugging at the hair on either side of his head. "Master, please help me!"
This remark made a smile grow on the Rocket Leader's face, as he saw his opportunity to launch his attack. "Now Golem!" The man shouted.
Partially bursting up through the ground from under Tobias's Darkrai was the rocky body of Giovanni's Golem. A look of hope washed over his ally's face, as he assumed Giovanni had come to his rescue. His face dropped, and his eyes widened as his partner's Pokemon went up in a bright flash of white light that enveloped all of the Pokemon on the battlefield. From the center of the field, Giovanni's Golem caught all of the Pokemon in a massive Explosion.
Getting blown backwards in Golem's Explosion, Ash's Greninja felt the intense heat of the attack rushing across its body, as several smaller rock fragments struck its body like shrapnel. Crashing to the ground, the frog-like Pokemon then went upright, driving a single blade into the ground to slow its momentum as the Explosion continued to grow outwards across the field.
Alexa stood looking at the oncoming blast with wide eyes, watching as her airborne Swellow was enveloped in the attack with no means of escape. Moving in front of his sister, Ash stuck out both of his hands, manifesting the Aura around him into a protective shield. Soon, however, he let out a cry of agony, feeling Greninja's pain, who was caught in the middle of the blast. As the rushing wave of intense energy continued over them, Alexa came to, raising both of her hands to channel her Aura as well, providing a cover and support for the top of the Ketchum's shield. Forced to wait out the blast, the two trainers inside could only think of their Pokemon that remained unprotected from the full effects of the Explosion.
Once subsided, the two siblings lowered their shield to see a kneeling, charred Ash-Greninja with its blade in the ground as the only conscious Pokemon on the field. Laying fainted were Tobias's Darkrai and Alexa's Swellow, both sprawled out on the ground, with Giovanni's Golem nowhere in sight. It had given up its own life to serve Giovanni's purpose.
With his final Pokemon knocked out, a look of fear overtook Tobias's face, as the Unown from the ceiling above began to hover downwards. Surrounding the two men across the field, Tobias lunged forwards at Giovanni, grabbing him by the collar of his black blazer. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!? You brought me here so that I may have revenge on Ketchum! And yet you cost me this match!" Tobias said with panic growing in his voice. "You promised me that at the end of this, I may rule at your side. As your Servant of Darkness!"
"Are you even hearing yourself right now, Tobias?" Giovanni said in his collected tone. "I brought you here so that I may have a significant advantage against Ash. But as it turns out, you are not worthy enough to stand tall on the Immortal Battlegrounds. So why should you be the one worthy enough to rule at my side?"
Anger flooded Tobias's mind, but all would soon be drowned out by the sound of the Unown swirling around him. Attempting to pull Giovanni forwards, he was met with little luck as his hands phased right through the man's clothing. Glancing down at them, he noticed they were becoming more and more transparent, as tiny orbs of light left his body and into the Unown around him. The man who cost Ash in the Sinnoh League let out a final yell as his essence faded away into many particles of light, which would soon be absorbed into the Unown.
Bearing witness to the whole thing were the Ketchum's across the field, with the moment causing both of their stomachs to drop. A single tear rolled down Ash's face while witnessing this occur. While Tobias was their enemy, his alignment with an untrustworthy man was no way to go out. Rushing forwards, Alexa recalled the unconscious bird to its ball, just before the Unown had lowered themselves over Tobias's fainted Darkrai, which met a similar fate to its master. The two gazed across the field, seeing only one enemy. The Rocket Boss straightened the lapel to his jacket, which was mucked up by Tobias's grip.
"Shall we continue?" Giovanni said with his elbows crooked, hands out at either side.
"You're a monster!" Alexa shouted across the field. "Tobias trusted you! You were his teammate! And your poor Golem! To think you actually cared about your Pokemon!"
"How wrong you are, my dear. Perhaps someday you will realize what it means to be truly powerful. Tobias was incapable of holding his own against two ignorant brats and paid the ultimate price because of it. He should have never expected to rule by my side," Giovanni said with a cold stare. "As for my Golem, that was an instance of the ultimate sacrifice. It did what needed to be done to ensure my victory."
"That's disgusting," Ash said, pale in the face. Glancing out onto the field, Ash saw his Greninja's body going rigid as its breaths were shallow. While it still had a little fight left in it, most of its energy had been drained from getting caught in the blast.
"Oh come now! I knew that the ultimate way to damage you would be through your Greninja and its Battle Bond! It put on an impressive performance against my last Mewtwo, so I needed to be sure that it was too weak to fight my more powerful creation! And as a result, your mortal body would suffer as well."
"In the game of chess, one must be willing to make sacrifices to aid in the long term goal. My Grunts, my Pokemon, Tobias, hell, even your old friends-" Giovanni said, making Ash grow stiff. "-were all just pawns to get me to this very moment." The Rocket Leader pulled out his final Pokeball: a tiny black orb with a red button. Pressing it, the ball enlarged itself into a black and purple Pokeball with a yellow and red eye where the typical button was; a Mewtwo Ball. "And now the final instrument to your destruction is upon you. Your old friend… now my freak of nature." Giovanni then gave the ball a light underhand toss. As the ball made its fall onto the golden field, Ash felt a chill run down his spine as he looked into the eye on the ball, feeling like it was looking back at him. "It was fun while it lasted. Now enjoy facing off against my Ultimate Weapon." The Mewtwo ball hit the golden battlefield and opened, releasing an uncontrolled wave of black, chaotic energy from the sphere and up into the air. Inside of the torrent of chaotic energy, two piercing purple eyes stared into the direction of the Ketchums, forcing the chill of Dark Aura into their bodies.