Another day, another chapter. Thanks again to everyone who read, followed, favorited or commented on this story, I really appreciate it, and it encourages me to continue to write this story. This chapter is slightly longer than the other one's, don't really have a reason as to why, I kinda just kept writing and writing, so yeah enjoy!
"...mmm… the journey starts today…" Chloe hummed quietly as she looked out of the window of the train, hand on her cheek in a bored fashion. She turned her attention to the only two Pokemon currently, Pikachu and Eevee, in the room and saw that they were still running around, having fun, without a single care in the world. She took a glimpse at the sofa in the corner of the room and sighed at what she saw. "...Guess I was right after all… Hey Pikachu, you mind doing me a favor?"
The electric mouse momentarily stopped his game of tag with Eevee and perked up his ears as he looked at Chloe strangely. "Pika?" It said questioningly. Chloe didn't utter another word and simply pointed to Ash, who was currently busy dozing off, laying head first on the small couch. Pikachu grinned as he immediately understood the message the girl was trying to relay, so he charged up a powerful thunderbolt, and after a mighty cry, shot the attack straight at his trainer, who screamed in pain and landed roughly on the floor.
"R-Really Pikachu!? Twice in one day?! What did I do to you this time!?"
Ash's complaints were drowned out by the noise of Chloe's giggling, the girl trying her best to hold back a laugh at the table, as Pikachu resumed his game with Eevee now that he had done his job.
"Ha ha very funny…" Mocked the Hyper Class trainer as he stood up and took a seat in front of Chloe at the table. "So, what's up?"
The purple haired girl stopped her laughing and simply stared at him, confused. Seeing the girl not following, Ash rephrased his words.
"Well, you obviously woke me up for some reason… So what's up?" He repeated.
"I… Uh…" Truth be told, Chloe didn't really know why she decided to wake up Ash. She didn't have a particular reason to do so and kind of just did it without thinking, so she awkwardly tried to give a valid motive to her action. "Uh… I-I wanted to get to know you a bit more… since you know... we don't really know each other that much… Yep that's why…" She answered with an awkward smile.
Ash obviously wasn't convinced by her reasoning, but he let it fly for the time being. "Okay… sounds a bit weird coming from you… but yeah sure. What do you want to know?"
"A-Anything really, like what you were doing before coming to work for my dad." She said, still fumbling a bit with her words.
"Well, to keep it short, I used to travel around the regions and collect gym badges to compete in leagues." Ash slowly started to smile as he reminisced his old memories. "I met a bunch of super nice people and Pokemon from all around the world and went on so many great adventures, it was awesome!"
"I'm guessing that's how you met people like Brandon?"
Ash nodded. "Yeah! He's just one of many, but I got to meet a lot of my really close friends because of my travels."
"And how about Pokemon? I know you have Dragonite, Lucario, Gengar, Sirfetch'd, Dracovish and obviously Pikachu, but you must have caught a lot of other Pokemon too right? Chloe asked, starting to get more comfortable with the conversation.
"Yeah, I've caught a fair few other Pokemon. Though Goh already has a lot more than me..." He laughed at that thought and added: "The rest of my Pokemon are at Professor Oak's Lab, with the exception of the Pokemon I caught in Alola, who stay there with Professor Kukui… Oh and I guess there's also a few Pokemon that I caught that are roaming somewhere around the world."
"What do you mean?" She pressed on, curious.
Ash scratched the back of his head. "Well, for multiple different reasons, I had to... release some of them."
Chloe was pretty shocked by this, as she hadn't really heard of many trainers releasing their Pokemon, and from the few she had heard, it wasn't for very good or nice reasons, so she pretty aggressively leaned on the table and said: "W-What!? H-How could you catch a Pokemon but then let them go after!? All the bonds and memories you make with them just to release them like they meant nothing!? Did you think they weren't good enough for you!?"
Ash defensively put his two hands in front of him. "Woah woah calm d-down Chloe! I promise I had good reasons to leave them behind, some of them even wanted to stay behind!" Seeing Chloe not completely convinced, Ash sighed and gave her a concrete example. "The first Pokemon I ever caught, apart from Pikachu of course, was a Caterpie that I had to release soon after it turned into a Butterfree. It was their mating season, and mine fell in love with a pink Butterfree. It took a little extra effort, but after mine saved the pink Butterfree from Team Rocket, they eventually paired up, so I released him so they could be together."
Chloe definitely wasn't expecting that as an answer, and a little embarrassed for lashing out irrationally and accusing him without any proof, she looked down and said: " O-Oh… I guess that is a good reason… sorry..."
Ash started laughing pretty loudly at Chloe's sudden change of mood, which made the latter pretty irritated. "W-What's so funny?!"
"The fact that you can change attitudes so quickly like that, it's actually pretty impressive." The Vermillion City girl didn't take that as a compliment and looked at him in an unenthusiastic fashion. "Anyways, enough about me, what about you?" Added the Hyper Class trainer.
"Me?"
"Yeah you, I told you about myself, now it's your turn. What were you like before you saw me lying there electrocuted at the front of the lab the first time I showed up? I still haven't forgiven you for that by the way…"
Chloe found herself without an answer, she didn't think Ash of all people would ask to know more about her. On top of that, the young trainer didn't even know what to say about herself. She was a student at her local school... and that was about it, she couldn't think of anything else. "U-Uhh… W-Well… I-I…."
Suddenly, the duo were interrupted by the door to the room opening pretty aggressively, as Goh and Brandon made their appearance. "Chloe! You won't believe what Brandon and I saw on the train- Oh Ash you're awake."
"Finally done dozing off huh Ketchum?" Added on the Pyramid King, which made Ash flinch.
"S-Sorry…" He replied sheepishly. "Where were you two anyways?"
Goh took a seat next to Chloe, pushing her in the process, and started explaining excitedly what they saw. "We were checking out the places on the train, and we met this trainer with a shiny Noctowl, it was this cool golden color and looked awesome!"
"Did you really have to shove me out of the way to tell Ash that!?" Commented the purple haired girl, though no one paid her any attention.
"Woah, a shiny Noctowl!? No way! I caught one too on my journey in Johto!"
Goh and Chloe turned to Ash in shock which confused the Hyper Class trainer. "What?" He asked his friends obliviously, whilst Brandon took a seat next to him.
"You own a shiny Pokemon!?" First said a surprised Chloe.
"Well, yeah…here look" Ash pulled out his Rotom phone and showed the trainers his pokedex containing all the Pokemon he had caught. Whilst Chloe was more interested in all the differents type of Pokemon that his phone showed, becoming pretty impressed with the powerful Pokemon he owned, Goh stayed silent for a while until he stood up and screamed:
"YOU HAD A SHINY POKEMON THIS ENTIRE TIME AND YOU TELL ME ABOUT IT NOW?!"
"Well you never asked…" Goh simply sighed and facepalmed at his reply. Brandon then took the lead in the conversation.
"Anyways… I actually wanted to discuss with you three the ruins in the Crown Tundra. What has Professor Cerise told you exactly about said ruins?"
The three young trainers looked at each other and Goh spoke up. "Well, he basically just told us to investigate mysterious readings coming from one of the temples in the Crown Tundra, that's about it really."
"Figures… Not much is known about these ruins, but I did some research of my own before I came to Galar and I analysed the readings that were coming from a temple located in the Three-Point Pass, and I noticed that the readings were incredibly similar to multiple readings of wild Legendary Regis in the past." Explained Brandon
"So you think one of the Regis is located in the temple?" Asked Ash.
"Not exactly… I'm assuming all of you are familiar with Regirock, Regice and Registeel?" The other 3 nodded, as Goh and Chloe knew about those Legendaries from what they were taught in school and Ash had met all of them previously. "Those three are supposedly the only creations from Regigigas, but there's an old legend in Galar saying that Regigigas actually created 2 more Regis that have since been forgotten."
"Other undiscovered Regis? So you think those readings in the Crown Tundra are actually them instead?" The Battle Frontier Brain confirmed Goh's thought with a nod of the head. "Whoa…"
"Alright! Now this adventure is really starting to get exciting!" Exclaimed Ash, pumping his fist in the air.
"It's only a theory though, but since I am quite knowledgeable when it comes to these Legendaries in particular, I'm pretty confident they at least have something to do with whatever is in that temple."
"Makes sense, you do own a Regirock after all…" Noted Chloe.
"We should arrive at the Crown Tundra station in about an hour, so make sure you're all geared up and ready to go before then, we are going straight to the Three-Point Pass once we arrive." Ordered Brandon, to which the three trainers nodded in response.
"...Ash… …Ash… ...ASH!" After the third time calling his name, Chloe had had enough. She sighed, took a huge breath and screamed at the top of her lungs. "FOR CRYING OUT LOUD KETCHUP WAKE UP YOU STUPID SNORLAX!"
Ash immediately jolted off the couch and looked around frantically. "Huh!? I-I wasn't sleeping again! I-I swear!" Goh, Chloe and Brandon all looked at the Pallet Town trainer and held their heads in disappointment.
"I swear you are the most sorry excuse for a Champion ever…" Muttered Brandon, quietly enough for only himself to hear.
"H-How much time do we have before we get to the Crown Tund-"
Ash immediately got interrupted by a message coming from the train's speakers. "Attention all passengers, we'll be arriving at the Crown Tundra in approximately five minutes. There seems to be a light snowstorm in the area, so it is recommended that all travelers be well prepared to face the cold. Thank you for traveling with us and we hope you enjoy your stay in the Crown Tundra."
"Does that answer your question?" Asked sarcastically Goh.
Ash didn't waste a single other moment and frantically took his bag containing his clothes from the small closet and bolted straight out of the room to go the bathroom to change, with Pikachu following behind him with his signature cap in his mouth. Three minutes later, Ash came running back into the room slightly out of breath. "S-See? Told you I'd be ready…"
As Pikachu slapped the back of his trainer's head, Chloe took a good look at Ash and blushed slightly. He was wearing the same thick orange jacket and jeans that he bought yesterday at the shops, and once again, she couldn't help but think he looked…well... good.
Chloe instinctively shook her head. What was she thinking? This was Ash. The goofball who didn't have a single care in the world, the same one who annoys her so much to the point of actual anger. 'Ok Chloe, he's the same stupid old Ketchup, he just changed his clothes, no reason to see him differently now.' She tried to convince herself. It was so strange. He was in fact exactly the same, but seeing him without his hat on and wearing different clothing, somehow made him seem like a different person, and Chloe had no idea why. She ignored the thought for now and focused on the mission ahead.
Goh meanwhile was pretty confused at the sight of Ash and Pikachu, and asked a question that Chloe was also curious about. "Hey Ash, why is Pikachu wearing your hat? Feels kinda weird seeing you without it."
Ash turned towards him and shrugged: "No particular reason, makes for a bit of a change I guess, and Pikachu actually quite likes to wear my hats surprisingly."
"Pi-Pikachu!" The little Pokemon said as he gave Goh a thumbs up with a grin, then returned to slapping it's trainer with his tiny paws again.
"Ok enough about Ash, let's get a move on, I can see the Crown Tundra station close." Brandon interrupted as he pointed towards a small train station that was visible by the window of the cabin.
"Right!" Exclaimed the three young trainers.
It didn't take very long until the quartet arrived at the station, and after saying their thanks to the staff, they got off the train. Brandon told the group to wait for them at the exit whilst he went and bought a map to help them navigate their way through the Tundra to the Three-Point Pass. As Ash, Goh and Chloe exited the building, the trio immediately felt a cold breeze pass by them, and they shivered because of it.
"Yikes, even with everything we're wearing, it's still really freezing cold outside…" She said as she held on tighter to her jacket. It was safe to say she had fairly underestimated the cold, as she was only wearing a thick white sweatshirt under her beige jacket. She did also have a white beanie matching with a white scarf and small gloves, although these accessories did very little to help her keep warm.
Goh, who was fairing only slightly better than Chloe in terms of staying warm, added: "Yeah, I think we should have probably bought some more layers of clothing… How are you fairing Ash?"
After he didn't get an answer, the researcher turned around and noticed that his companion was now gone. "Huh? Where did Ash go?"
"Oh... you're really gonna get it now Pikachu!"
"Pika-Pikachu!"
Chloe and Goh looked to their left where they found none other than the Pallet Town trainer himself alongside his best friend throwing snowballs at each other. Whilst Ash was hiding behind a small tree for cover, making little snow projectiles in the process, Pikachu was using Iron Tail to try and fire as many snowballs as he could at his trainer. The two of them had huge grins on their faces and seemed to be thoroughly enjoying themselves.
Goh smiled at the scene and then quickly went and joined the two in their mini snowball fight. Chloe watched on as her childhood friend launched a ball of snow straight at Pikachu, knocking him to the ground, and causing Ash to burst out laughing. This ended up backfiring for the experienced trainer though, as Goh and Pikachu then decided to team up against the Pallet Town native. Ash, noticing this, unclipped one of the Pokeballs on his belt and said: "Lucario! I choose you!"
"Brawr!" Exclaimed the steel-fighting type, although he seemed confused to see Ash hiding behind a tree. "Lucario, help me out here!"
The Aura Pokemon still seemed rather lost but when he got hit with a snowball coming from Goh, he understood what was needed from him. The Pokemon grinned and immediately started helping Ash fire back at both Pikachu and Goh. This surprised Chloe, as Lucario didn't necessarily seem like the type to enjoy a simple snowball fight, but nevertheless, the Aura Pokemon seemed to enjoy it just as much as the others. After a little while, Eevee, who was beside her trainer, realized how much fun the boys were having and joined in as well, partnering with Pikachu and Goh.
"Wait Eevee, hold up a second!" She said, although it did little to stop her partner Pokemon. She sighed and then went on her Rotom phone, looking up a guide to the Crown Tundra, as she wasn't necessarily interested in having a childish snowball fight. That being said, only a few seconds after she had pulled out her device, she got hit with a snowball of her own. "H-Hey! Who threw that!?"
It didn't take very long before she found the culprit, as Ash once again bursted out in laughter. "Come on Chloe! Don't just stand there! Me and Lucario are outnumbered over here!" He shouted.
Once Chloe looked at Ash smiling directly at her, they stared at each other idly for a while and the purple haired girl felt face get hotter, so she quickly looked away embarrassed. "I-I'm n-not gonna waste my time playing in the snow like I'm a little kid! W-We got research to do!"
Ash rolled his eyes and went back to helping Lucario fight back against Pikachu, Goh and Eevee. Whilst she did agree with what she just said, Chloe deep down found it hard to turn down Ash's request with how he was staring at her. There was something about the way he looked at her that made her feel... strange. 'What's wrong with me? It's literally just stupid Ketchup...' she thought to herself.
Whilst the girl was busy lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice the group of 5 temporarily stop their snowball fight. Ash told the group to keep quiet and, with a few hand gestures, indicated his plan to the others. They all started forming the biggest balls of snow they could, and after Ash gave a 3, 2, 1 with his fingers, they immediately started assaulting Chloe with their mini projectiles, making the girl faceplant on the ground. Ash, Goh and their Pokemon fell to the ground laughing, struggling to breathe. Chloe was originally furious at this, but when she saw the group vulnerable, she quickly made 5 balls of snow herself, and in a surprising display of aim, hit all five of them in a row. Ash, Goh and the Pokemon simply stood there, stunned.
"Now that's how you throw a snowball!" She said grinning.
The following moments consisted of a free for all of everyone throwing any piece of snow they could at their companions. Goh and Pikachu devised a strategy to take out Ash with the help of a few wild Amauras, who seemed to want to join in as well. The Pallet Town trainer was busy firing everything he could at Chloe and Eevee, whilst Lucario skillfully tried to dodge the incoming projectiles simply using his Aura, which was actually working pretty well, until he got overconfident and got assaulted by the opposing pair.
After a little while, Brandon finally exited the station, map in hand, only to find the rest of his group and some of their Pokemon having a snowball fight. Now normally, the Battle Frontier Leader would have frowned upon his group fooling around, but the sight of the three teenagers and even some wild Pokemon having a blast together, reminded him of his childhood, when he used to love to simply play in the snow with his Pokemon, and didn't have to worry about running a complex battle facility. He smiled, reminiscing of old times, and took out a Pokeball, which revealed a Ninjask, and then caught the group's attention.
"Hey!" He shouted firmly, which made the group stop suddenly and look at him, slightly worried with his tone. Thankfully for them, he smiled even more at their reaction and exclaimed. "First one to hit my Ninjask gets 10 Pokedollars!"
Safe to say the group was surprised at Brandon's words, as they were expecting to get scolded, although they didn't complain about the challenge he gave them. The part bug type Pokemon buzzed excitedly and used Double Team, creating multiple copies of itself. The snow war continued as everyone now focused their attention on trying to hit the real Ninjask franctically buzzing around everywhere. Some other trainers that were on the train with them noticed the fiasco, and decided to join in as well.
As the friendly chaos ensued, Chloe took the time to look around and appreciate her surroundings. She smiled as she saw both humans and Pokemon happily running around, frantically throwing snowballs everywhere. Chloe spotted to her right Goh alongside the trainer with the shiny Noctowl, and another girl with a Swablu. Pikachu rode on Noctowl's back and Grookey on the girl's Swablu, throwing the balls of snow from above at the multiple Ninjasks. She looked around a bit more and spotted Ash having his own mini fight with some wild Snoms. He soon got overpowered though and then the multiple snow types jumped on him excitedly, which made the trainer almost cry of laughter. He then caught Chloe's stare at him, which confused him originally, but he then simply gave a toothy grin and held up a peace sign with his fingers. This made the Vermillion City laugh as well as she felt her heart beat faster. It truly surprised her just how easily he managed to bring joy to anyone near him. After all, he was the first one to go play in the snow, and after only a few minutes, they were now surrounded by dozens of trainers and Pokemon, all following the childish behavior of a single boy. It was as if he was radiating a colorful Aura that no one could resist, including herself. She laughed even more at the thought and continued the battle to be the first one to hit Brandon's Ninjask.
After approximately five minutes or so, a man no older than 30 years old finally hit the real Ninjask, causing the Pokemon to fall to the ground dramatically. Brandon laughed at his Pokemon's dramatic reaction and gave the man 10 Pokédollars as promised, and then everyone said their goodbyes to each other as the multiple trainers and wild Pokemon went their separate ways. Chloe then rejoined Brandon, Ash and Goh, the latter who had caught one of the Amauras he was playing with.
"Guess our little snowball fight got a little out of hand…" Ash said sheepishly to the group, with Pikachu now hiding in his jacket.
"You sure can be childish at times, Ketchum, but there's no denying that it's contagious!" Exclaimed a laughing Brandon, earning a scratch of the head from said trainer. "Well, we should probably get a move on, we got a long walk ahead of us to reach the Three-Point Pass."
Ash, Goh and Chloe nodded in confirmation at the Pyramid King's words. Goh recalled Grookey to spare him of the cold and Ash was about to do the same with Lucario, until he realized that his Pokemon was little further ahead of the group, eyes closed, and was radiating an absurd amount of Aura. "Umm Lucario? You alright?"
The Pokemon in question didn't respond as it stayed completely still. The quartet observed the Aura Pokemon standing there idly, seemingly sensing something peculiar nearby. A couple moments later, the part steel-type turned to it's right and all of a sudden his eyes shot open and he dashed towards an unknown location.
"Hey! Lucario!" Ash screamed as he quickly ran in pursuit of his Pokemon.
"Let's follow them!" Goh said now in a serious tone, as Chloe and Brandon followed Ash.
They kept running for a while, as Ash chased desperately after his own Pokemon, and Goh, Chloe and Brandon chased after the trainer. After weaving through some tall trees and local Pokemon, Lucario eventually came to a stop near a cliff, and seemingly looked at something in the distance, although nothing could be clearly seen.
"...Lucario!" Said a panting Ash as he finally caught up to his Pokemon, who simply pointed in front of him. "What is it? Do you sense something nearby?" Ash however didn't need to ask any more questions, as he soon saw what Lucario was sensing, and he and Pikachu stood still, mouth agape.
"Ash!" Screamed Goh approaching him. He started getting nervous when he saw Ash alongside Lucario, staring at something he couldn't recognize floating menacingly above them. "W-What on earth is that?" He said as Chloe and Brandon caught up to him and also observed curiously the figure.
"Is that… an Articuno?" After Ash's words, the figure finally revealed itself fully as it flew at high speed above them, causing Chloe, Goh and Brandon to back up near Ash and Lucario. They finally got a good look at the creature, which did in fact look a lot like Articuno, but slightly different. It had a different color scheme than a regular Articuno, as it was purple and black instead, and had some sort of dark mask covering its sky blue eyes.
"No... that's a Galarian Articuno…!" Explained a surprised Brandon.
The three young trainers looked at Brandon as if he was crazy, but before they even got the chance to express their own surprise, the Galarian Articuno made a powerful cry and launched an Icy Wind towards the group forcing them to jump out of the way.
"Well whatever it is it doesn't seem to come in peace! Cinderace let's go!"
"Regirock! I need your assistance!"
"Pikachu, Lucario, get ready!
Chloe saw Ash, Goh and Brandon call out their strong Pokemon and felt a little out of place, as she only had her Eevee to battle a powerful Legendary Pokemon, but nevertheless she ordered: "E-Eevee you're up too!"
"Eevui!" Said confidently the small Pokemon.
Articuno seemed to be judging them simply by looking at them, holding it's wings in a fashion that made it seemed like the Pokemon saw itself superior to others. The Legendary Pokemon decided to test their abilities and launched a Psycho Cut at every Pokemon.
Cinderace, Lucario and Pikachu matched it head on with Pyro Ball, Aura Sphere and Thunderbolt respectively, whilst Brandon opted to stand his ground with Iron Defense, and Chloe ordered Eevee to simply dodge the attack, which the Pokemon did with difficulty.
"Lucario, get in close with a Force Palm! Pikachu, do the same with Iron Tail"
"Cinderace, Blaze Kick!"
"Stone Edge Regirock!"
After the three trainers had ordered their moves, their Pokemon immediately took action. Lucario charged up some Aura in its palm and Pikachu prepared an Iron Tail as they ran towards the Psychic/Flying and Cinderace did the same, leaving flame sparks as it ran faster preparing the Blaze Kick, whilst Regirock took some time to fire off a Stone Edge. The Galarian Legendary didn't seem phased at all by the incoming attacks and skillfully dealt with all of them; dodging Lucario's Force Palm, deflecting Pikachu's Iron Tail with its wings, stopping Cinderace right in its tracks with another Psycho Cut and finally halting Regirock's Stone Edge with a Shadow Ball. After the attacks, it looked pitifully at Chloe and her Eevee, who still wasn't backing down, and decided to show them they were way out of their league. Articuno let out an ear destroying cry, disrupting the other Pokemon, and launched a Hurricane at the pair. This made them both struggle to stay on their feet as they tried to withstand the attack, but eventually Eevee was blown away.
"Oh no, Eevee!" Exclaimed Chloe as she caught her Pokemon in the air. Unfortunately for her though, she had backed up too close to the cliff because of the Hurricane, and lost her footing, causing her and her Pokemon to fall off the edge.
"CHLOE!" Shouted Goh and Brandon desperately at the sight.
Ash didn't even take the time to think and immediately dove straight after her. He then frantically pulled out a Pokeball from his belt. "Dragonite, I choose you!". As the dragon Pokemon appeared, Ash had planned to have his Flying Type catch Chloe and Eevee, but since he threw his Pokeball a bit late, he didn't know if Dragonite would be fast enough to catch up to them before they hit the ground, since he didn't actually the length of the fall, so he decided to improvise and grabbed onto one of Dragonite's feet with one arm, and grabbed Chloe's arm with the other. Dragonite immediately felt the weight of both trainers pull on his leg and struggled to stay afloat. Ash with all of his might desperately tried to hold on to both his Pokemon and his companion, who was also holding Eevee with her own arm.
The Pallet Town trainer needed to come up with a plan, and fast. 'Come on Ash! Think! Think!' He thought to himself as he slowly started to lose his grip on Chloe. He still couldn't tell how long the fall was to the ground because of a thick mist obscuring his vision, and he didn't want to test his luck by just letting go and hoping the ground wasn't too far away. He couldn't rely on Brandon and Goh as he knew from the cries of Pokemon that could be heard that the Articuno wasn't giving them any breathing room to help them out. Ash was running out of options as it was getting harder to hold on to Dragonite aswell and he couldn't call out another Pokemon with his hands full. Thankfully, an idea finally hit him, although it was almost just as risky for him as just letting go of Dragonite and praying the fall wasn't too long, but since he knew it could at least save Chloe and Eevee for sure, he went for it.
"Dragonite, no matter what happens, just follow my commands, got it!? He ordered firmly, to which his Pokemon not so convincingly nodded, as Chloe was afraid to see what Ash would do.
"Alright! Dragonite, Hurricane as strong as you can!"
"WAIT WHAT!?
"EEVUI!?"
His Pokemon loyally ignored Chloe and Eevee's screams of terror and acted on his trainer's command and started a powerful Hurricane, making it even harder for Ash to hold on to both Dragonite's leg and Chloe's arm.
"...Alright Chloe… y-you're gonna have to just... t-trust me on this one… Dragonite… focus on Chloe alright..." Ash said, very clearly struggling to hold on. He then used all the force he had left to swing on Dragonite's leg, and when he thought the moment was right, he let go of both Dragonite and Chloe, causing latter to screech, but with the help of Dragonite's Hurricane, the purple haired girl was launched more upwards then downwards, which gave Dragonite just enough time to catch her and Eevee on its back, as it terrifyingly watched it's trainer fall even further down the cliff.
"ASH! NO!" Screamed out Chloe from Dragonite's back.
"CHLOE!" Shouted Goh and Brandon desperately at the sight of their companion falling down the cliff.
"Pikapi!
After Pikachu's cry, Brandon knew what was going to happen next so he tried to stop Ash before he did something reckless again, but unfortunately, he was too late, as the Pallet Town trainer had already dived after the girl.
"Brandon! We got to hel-
Goh got cut off by another cry from the regional Articuno as it fired off another Psycho Cut, forcing Goh and Brandon to dodge the attack.
"We can't! That Articuno will just attack us if it sees us ignoring it, we have our own fight to deal with!" Brandon shouted aggressively.
Goh obviously didn't like the idea of leaving Ash and Chloe to fend for themselves, but Brandon's was right, the cruel Pokemon wanted them to focus their attention on it, and only it. "Argh! Fine! Let's finish this quickly then! Scizor! Let's go!"
"Regice! I need assistance!"
As the two Pokemon appeared, Goh didn't even have time to acknowledge the fact Brandon actually owned another Regi, because as soon as the Articuno saw Goh and Brandon call out other Pokemon, it hurled a powerful Hurricane at the group.
"Goh! You have more agile Pokemon, distract the thing and buy my Regis some time!"
"Got it! Cinderace, get in there with Double Kick! Scizor, fight the Hurricane with Air Slash!"
"Lock On!"
Cinderace took off running with a grin, whilst Scizor tried to slow down the Hurricane with Air Slash, which didn't completely block it considering it was a weaker move, but it definitely slowed it down, and with the Striker Pokemon's exceptional speed, it reached the Legendary Pokemon in no time. The Galarian Articuno once again dodged the attack with ease and was preparing to fire off a Shadow ball at it's attacker, but Pikachu and Lucario suddenly came out of nowhere and jumped in front of Cinderace slicing the Shadow Ball in half with an Iron Tail and launching a Aura Sphere respectively, both earning a silent thanks from the fire type. Meanwhile, Regirock managed to land it's Lock On, making the Articuno fly high above them and retaliate with an Icy Wind
"Regice, corner it's movements with Ice Beam! Stone Edge Regirock!"
"Pyro Ball and Air Slash!
With the Ice Beam from Regice limiting Articuno's movement, It made it easier for Cinderace, Scizor and Regirock to hit their moves, as Pikachu and Lucario also contributed with a Thunderbolt and Aura Sphere. Articuno wasn't done just yet though, as it quickly recomposed itself and it's eyes suddenly glowed a shiny purple.
"What's that move!?"
"That's Freezing Glare, don't let it hit you!" Brandon shouted in panic, unfortunately a bit too late, as Scizor got hit by a purple beam and immediately froze in cold ice. Frustrated, Goh returned and thanked his Pokemon.
"We don't have the time for this! Let's just attack it, it will eventually go down!" Goh exclaimed, in a hurry to get this over with.
"No! You can't just relentlessly attack a Legendary Pokemon and pray it falls! We have numbers so let's play this smart!" Argued Brandon. "Pikachu, Lucario, don't rush in just yet, keep it occupied with your attacks. Goh, calm down and make Cinderace run."
The Vermillion City researcher knew better than to argue with the Battle Frontier king himself, so he followed his orders. "You heard him Cinderace, Quick Attack!"
As Cinderace took off once more in the direction of Articuno, Pikachu and Lucario kept up a constant barrage of Thunderbolts and Aura Spheres. Brandon followed up by ordering Regirock to use Stone Edge and Regice to use Zap Cannon. Articuno was quickly overwhelmed by a mixture of trying to dodge Pikachu and Lucario's attacks and struggling to keep Cinderace away from him, so it didn't have the time to react to the Regis attacks, and got hit with both of them, Zap Cannon having the added effect of paralyzing the Psychic/Flying type, which is exactly what the Pyramid King wanted.
"Alright it's paralyzed! Time to strike back with everything we have! Hyper Beam!"
"Pyro Ball Cinderace!"
"Pikachu!"
"Brawr!"
The five Pokemon put everything they had into one final attack, launching two Hyper Beams, a Pyro Ball, a Thunderbolt and finally an Aura Sphere at Articuno, who with it's paralyzed state, couldn't dodge the attacks, and a huge explosion occurred, sending a huge wave of snow their way. Once the group regained their visibility, they saw Articuno still standing there but was clearly injured, so it let out one last cry, fired off an Icy Wind and used it as a distraction to flee.
Goh and Brandon breathed a sigh of relief, glad to see the Pokemon had finally given up, but just when they thought their problems were resolved, they were reminded by a scream that there was something worse they were forgetting.
"ASH! NO!" They heard Chloe scream from Dragonite's back, with no sight of the trainer in question. Everyone immediately ran towards the edge of the cliff, thinking the worst.
As Ash fell further and further down the seemingly endless ravine, he almost felt as if time slowed down for him, letting him embrace his final moments of desperation. The trainer considered accepting his fate, but he had one last trick up his sleeve. He quickly unclipped two more Pokeballs and, not knowing how much time he had, immediately gave his orders.
"Gengar, Psychic! Sirfetch'd, throw me your leak!"
As the two Pokemon appeared, they immediately went wide-eyed at the sight of their trainer falling down a cliff, so they quickly did what Ash told them to do. Gengar, knowing he couldn't catch up to it's trainer by simply floating to him, as he was already falling at a high speed and was already quite far away from him, desperately used Psychic to try and diminish the velocity at which Ash was falling, which didn't do much but slowed him down a little. Meanwhile, Sirfetch'd, after getting over the realization that he too was falling into the abyss, trusted his trainer's words and threw his leak towards him, which thanks to Gengar's help, reached the trainer in no time.
Ash almost missed the leak, but thankfully, he managed to catch it at the very tip, and then he immediately stuck it to the wall. The trainer knew what was up next so he extended his arm, and as Sirfecth'd was falling, caught him by the leg. Ash let out a screech of pain, as he was already exhausted from holding on to Dragonite and Chloe earlier, and once again using all his force to hold onto both his fighting type and his leak stuck in the wall was really taking a toll on him. Nevertheless the trainer pushed through the pain he felt in his arms and kept the leak firmly stuck to the wall, which after a while, finally made him and Sirfetch'd come to a complete stop, hanging off the edge of the wall of the cliff with the fighting type's leak. Gengar saw this and immediately stopped using Psychic and went to it's trainer aid.
Meanwhile at the top of the cliff, Dragonite, dropped Chloe and Eevee off next to Goh, Brandon and the rest of the Pokemon and it went after it's trainer. The group simply stared at the abyss in silence, praying that Ash would come back up with Dragonite. After what felt like an eternity for them, Dragonite finally came back up, but with Ash nowhere to be seen.
"...I-Is A-Ash…?" Goh asked, terrified. Thankfully for him and the rest of the group, they soon saw Gengar fly back up the cliff with Ash and Sirfetch'd and drop them off safely. The group were originally relieved to see Ash safe and sound, but when they saw him immediately collapse to the ground upon landing, the worriedness came back. Chloe instantly went and checked on the trainer. "Ash!"
Ash opened his eyes for just a second and, when he saw his companion, he said weakly: "...Chloe…" As he finally lost consciousness.