Chapter 429
"Let Me In…"
The Fiend silently strode through the path of thorns. Walking slowly, with pearl-white fog slipping through its jagged teeth with each step it took.
Ash glared at Alexa, she'd swiped his belt of pokeballs, leaving him with only the pokeball in his hand and Pikachu to defend himself.
"Get him, Pikachu. Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered.
"Pi-ka-chuuu!" The mouse launched a stream of lightning into the pathway. The lightning slammed into The Fiend.
The monster did not stop his pace, it briskly continued it's walk, unmoved by the electricity.
The Fiend stepped off the path and lowered the severed-head lantern onto the ground. He then plucked a pokeball from his striped red-and-black pants and without a word tossed it, summoning a reptilian pokemon with a maroon-and-black body.
Ash examined the pokemon for a second, and then, he finally recognized it, "A Krookodile." He realized.
(That means Pikachu's electricity is no use against it.) Ash realized.
"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!" Ash shouted.
The tail of the mouse glowed.
Suddenly, without a command the Krookodile kicked up a cloud of sand into the Pikachu's eyes. Blinding it with it's Sand Attack.
"Shake it off, Pikachu!" Ash shouted, "Come on back!" Realizing how futile it was for Pikachu to battle a Krookodile.
Pikachu returned to his side.
Suddenly, from beneath the dirt flames shot into the air, imprisoning Ash & Pikachu in a ring of fire.
"What's going on?" Ash turned to Alexa.
"There's no recalling a pokemon in the battle with him. Pikachu can no longer be used in the battle." Alexa explained. "There's no swapping or switching pokemon. Just a straight-up battle."
"Why didn't you tell me that?!" Ash snapped.
Alexa innocently shrugged, "I forgot."
(Darn it.) Ash thought, clutching the pokeball in his hand. He now only had one pokemon left to use again him.
How many pokemon did The Fiend have? The most a trainer was allowed was six at a time. So Ash's pokemon was potentially now in a six-on-one battle.
Ash squeezed the pokeball. "This isn't fair but, we've gotta win." He thought he aloud, "Ya hear me." He said to the pokeball. "We have to win." He wound his arm up and launched the pokeball, "Go!"
Incineroar, the muscular fire pokemon, leapt out of the light and across the battlefield from the Krookodile.
(Damn.) Ash grunted. Realizing the huge disadvantage he was at. Krookodile was a ground-type while Incineroar was a fire type. (Most of Incineroar's Fire attacks aren't going to do much damage. But Krookodile is a dark-type so Incineroar's Fighting Attacks should make up for it. Plus, the Krookodile is slow. There's no way it can dodge Incineroar's offense.)
The Fiend nodded his head.
The Krookodile advanced, determined to strike first.
(It's tough to read the moves when he's not ordering anything.) Ash realized. (How is he communicating with his pokemon?)
The Krookodile raised it's leg and stomped on the ground, launching an Earthquake attack.
(Time to counter.) Ash punched his wristwatch. The watch on Ash's wrist begin to glow, "Let's burn the battlefield to ashes, Incineroar," pumping his fist in the air, "Malicious Moonsault!"
The tiger leapt into the sky, it's body enveloped in flames. The Z-Move supercharged Incineroar as it bombed from the sky like a meteor, crashing into the Krookodile into an explosion of fire.
Ash smiled as the Krookodile slumped forward and collapsed into the crater of dirt. A Z-Move was more than enough power to overcome the type disadvantage. All Ash had to do was take down five more pokemon.
"We can do it, Incineroar!" Ash cheered with Pikachu by his side in the ring of fire.
Without a word, The Fiend raised a pokeball, recalling the Krookodile in a cherry-red glow.
The Fiend then dug inside it's mouth, retrieving a pokeball covered in saliva and spots of blood. Without a word, it tossed the pokeball and in a blur of light a pokemon resembling a chandelier appeared. It had a striped round head and dark violet spikes that resembled flames.
Before Ash could react, The Fiend nodded.
The Chandelure's body glowed midnight blue, and it's five flames concentrated into a single twisted ball of shadow-energy.
Ash's Incineroar, still recovering from the Z-Move was defenseless.
The Shadow Ball collided with Incineroar, bowling it over and toppling the burning tiger.
"Get up!" Ash called, "Please get up!" But the Incineroar was down.
Suddenly, the ring of fire faded into a plume of grey smoke and Ash felt a cold chill in his knees. The chill spiraled down his calves to his ankles. He could move his legs again.
"Incineroar," Ash wrapped his arms around the unconscious tiger, "You gave it your all, buddy. I'm proud of you." Recalling the tiger.
Alexa interrupted, "You shouldn't be."
Ash glared at her, "You!" He stood, making a beeline for her and his belt of pokeballs. "Give me my pokemon!" Ash demanded.
"I'm sorry, Ash." Alexa said, not sounding sorry at all. "I told you. He made me do it."
Ash's fingers curled into a fist, ready to strike Alexa if she didn't give him his pokemon. Suddenly, the muscles in Ash's body burned as if he was on fire, and his body seized up. "Aaah!" Ash shouted, unable to move.
"Ash! What's happening?!" The blind Roman called.
The Fiend stood over Ash, towering over the paralyzed trainer and his Pikachu.
"Chuuuu!" The mouse launched a string of lightning at The Fiend.
The Fiend, unmoved by the lightning, raised it's hands, staring at the words on it's gloves, HURT & HEAL. As if undecided on which to do.
He shook off the electricity and turned to the Pikachu, the HURT glove raised to the sky. A swift wind swept over the field and is punched by an invisible golem, the wind was knocked out of the lungs of Pikachu and the mouse slumped forward and tumbled into the dirt, unconscious.
"Pikachu!" Ash growled, "NO! You coward!" He shouted at The Fiend. "Battle me fair! Don't cheat! Battle me! You cheated!"
The Fiend advanced on him. It lowered it's head, eyes glowing as it leered over Ash. It's dark voice spoke three words to him, "Let me in…"
And everything went black.