Hey again! Lot of battling this chapter, which surprisingly took a lot of rewriting to get right, but hey it is what it is. Hope you enjoy reading it more than I did writing it hehe.
"CAN THIS THING JUST SIT STILL AND STOP MOVING FOR A SECOND!" Peonia shouted, stating the obvious.
It had been approximately five minutes since Ash and Brandon had fallen into a realm of unknown and Goh, Peonia and Chloe were left to deal with the Regieleki. For the past while, the only thing the electron Pokemon did was dash around the room at speeds the group of travelers didn't even know were possible, fueling their frustration.
"Argh! More Pyro Balls Cinderace! Help me out guys!" Goh exclaimed, getting tired of trying to hit a target they could barely see it was moving so fast.
Peonia and Chloe complied by ordering their Pokemon to use Rock Slide and Copycat on the Pyro Balls, but to no avail, as the Regieleki simply kept on dashing around the room in a flash.
"This isn't working, we need to figure out a way to keep it still! We're not getting anywhere by just attacking aimlessly!" The Vermillion City girl argued, equally frustrated by the Regi Pokemon.
"I mean, at least it isn't attacking us…" The young researcher exhaled, trying to look at the plus side.
As if perfectly on cue, Regieleki stopped for a brief moment, giving the humans temporary hope that it had finally got tired. Unfortunately, Regieleki only halted so it could switch directions and use Extreme Speed on Cinderace, Tyrantrum and Eevee, going even faster whilst also dealing damage.
"You just had to say something Goh…" Peonia commented whilst giving her companion a glare.
"Actually, this might be our chance…" Chloe suddenly said out of nowhere, causing her two friends to look at her questioningly. "If it's going to start attacking us, then we at least know it's gonna have to eventually come close to one of our Pokemon, we just have to predict who's it gonna go for next and stop it in its tracks."
"And how exactly are we going to do that?" Chloe's childhood friend questioned further.
"Study its pattern, and hope for the best!" She declared with a similar amount of confidence a person Goh and Peonia knew all too well would.
"Wow, Ash's attitude really is rubbing off on you…" Peonia noted. Goh simply nodded approvingly.
"J-Just focus on the battle!" Chloe retorted embarrassingly.
Despite their Pokemon being relentlessly attacked, the three humans took time to try and figure out Regieleki's pattern of movement. They quickly figured out the Pokmeon was dashing towards Eevee first, then Cinderace, then Tyrantrum, always in that order. The trainers told their Pokemon to pay attention to how much time was in between hits and judge the time they should use their attacks on that, since it was way too fast using Extreme Speed to see exactly when to strike.
Even with the constant damage they were taking, the three loyal Pokemon complied. It took a little while, but the Pokemon had roughly figured out how much time it took Regieleki to complete a full lap of attacks, and soon enough they got themselves prepared.
"Alright everyone," Goh said, deciding to take the lead in commanding the plan, "Cinderace, when you're ready you do the first move, then while it's stunned, Eevee and Tyrantrum, you hit it with your own moves, got it?"
Cries of affirmation from Cinderace, Eevee and Tyrantrum gave Goh some hope this could actually work.
Cinderace closed its eyes, and waited one more lap before making its move. The fire type flinched initially at being hit by another Extreme Speed, but quickly recomposed itself. After a very short time frame, it heard Tyrantrum get hit, then in the same time frame, Eevee, and finally…
"Cin…" The bunny sensed the electron Pokemon approaching and prepared a Blaze Kick. "...derace!" It exclaimed as it perfectly calculated Regieleki's path and landed a power kick to the Pokemon's chest, sending it flying in an unexpected direction to the shock of the opposing Pokemon.
Unfortunately for the group, they hadn't expected Regieleki to be sent so far it had eventually reached Tyrantrum and was about to collide with it. Luckily, Peonia was quick on her feet, and came up with a solution.
"Dragon Claw! Send it to Eevee!" The blonde haired girl ordered, her companions looking surprised by her command.
Tyrantrum didn't hesitate though and its right claw was quickly enveloped in a green aura, the despot Pokemon slashing the Regieleki with its claw towards the direction of Chloe's Eevee.
It took a second but Chloe thankfully realized Peonia's plan and continued the chain. "Do the same and send it to Cinderace again!"
"Eevui-vui!" Exclaimed the normal type. Similarly to Tyrantrum, its right paw glowed green before Eevee slashed Regieleki straight back to Cinderace, creating some sort of pinball scenario, with Regieleki acting as the ball.
"Double Kick Cinderace!" Cinderace smirked at Goh's command, and once the opposing Regi Pokemon got close enough, the striker Pokemon kicked Regieleki with it's right leg to stun the Pokemon, then swiftly kicked it again with it's left leg to send it to the wall, a huge booming sound occurring as the electric type Regi Pokmeon collided with the concrete before dropping to the ground.
"Alright! That was awesome!" Peonia celebrated, gladly enjoying the fact they had temporarily bested the Regieleki.
The friendly Pokemon celebrated as well, before Goh quickly pointed out they still had work to do. "It's not over yet, it looks like it still has some fight in it…"
Indeed, the electron Pokemon rapidly picked itself up from the ground, looking not at all happy by the little game of pinball they had played, and let out a loud cry, lightning bursting once more from its body as it created a dome of electricity surrounding the entire room.
"Looks like it stopped playing around…" Chloe noted, seeing Regieleki set up an Electric Terrain. What came next was a series of Thunderbolts, forcing the group of traveler's Pokemons to move.
"Dodge it!" Shouted the three trainers. The Pokemon successfully managed to dodge all the bolts of lightning, though, the noticeable power behind the Regieleki's move was worrisome.
"Get in there with Quick Attack Cinderace!"
"You too Tyrantrum, Dragon Claw!"
"Copycat it's Thunderbolt Eevee!"
Ordered Goh, Peonia and Chloe accordingly. Goh's fire type quickly charged in first, but the Regieleki easily evaded it with the faster move Extreme Speed, then the electron Pokemon charged towards Tyrantrum to match it. Peonia's Pokemon tried to predict its movement and used Dragon Claw a little early, but unfortunately for it, Regieleki managed to duck under the move and strike Tyrantrum from behind, causing the rock type to skid forward. The Regi Pokemon then took one look at Eevee's Thunderbolt and decided to best it, shooting out another Thunderbolt of its own, its body glowing a weird yellow as it launched the move, something not going unnoticed by the humans.
Chloe knew that Eevee was probably outpowered here, but what she wasn't expecting was for it not even to be a contest, as Regieleki's Thunderbolt easily outpowered Chloe's Pokemon in another surprising display of power. The bolt made contact with the normal type, dealing a great deal of damage and causing an explosion.
"EEVEE!" Worriedly screamed out the maroon haired girl, surprised at just how easily Regieleki dealt with her partner. Eevee was seen flying from out of the smoke and swiflty landed hard on the ground, badly hurt.
The electron Pokemon wasn't done just yet though, as it soon set its sight on a familiar dinosaur and bunny, but instead of rushing straight for them, it flew above them and energy started crackling from its body.
Peonia, not knowing what move the opposing Pokmeon was using, decided to play it safe. "Quick! Protect!"
Tyrantrum quickly formed a turquoise shield surrounding it and Cinderace in hopes of avoiding whatever move Regieleki was using. The electron Pokemon glowed yellow once more and started pouring down bolts of lightning from its body onto the two Pokemon, the move colliding with the shield formed by Tyrantrum, and to the humans surprise, the shield started breaking.
"What on Arceus is that move!?" Peonia shouted, not at all familiar with the electric type move.
"I don't know, but somehow it's powerful enough to break through Protect!" Goh replied, noting the fact Protect should have fully, well, protected them.
"Look, it's body it's glowing like when it used Thunderbolt earlier!" Chloe mentioned. The group of humans looked up to find that it was indeed the case, seemingly giving Regieleki more power…
It didn't take long before the bombardment of lightning bolts from the electron Pokemon completely shattered Tyrantrum's shield, and hit it and Cinderace straight on, dealing massive damage and sending the two Pokemon crashing into the opposite wall. Goh and Peonia simultaneously shouted out their Pokemon's name in worry.
"Whatever that glow is, it's giving that Regieleki some serious power!" Peonia said, noting how both Eevee's Thunderbolt and Tyrantrum's Protect didn't even stand a chance against its moves. "Even with Electric Terrain, there's no way whatever move it just used should have been that powerful!?"
"Weird, its body didn't glow like that earlier when it was using Extreme Speed…" Remarked Chloe.
"Let's just keep our distance while we see that glow, our regular moves don't stand a chance against that power…" The Vermillion City researcher suggested, not wanting to face the Pokemon head on.
"It's hard to do that when the only way we've managed to deal damage is by getting close!" His Childhood friend replied.
"Well if you have any other ideas Chloe then I'd love to hear them!" Goh snarked back, slightly ticked off.
While the two friends started arguing about what they should do, Regieleki still hadn't left them off the hook, and quickly brought the fight back to them, rushing to Cinderace, Tyrantrum and Eevee with Extreme Speed once more. Peonia was paying enough attention to tell her rock type to use Protect, but Cinderace and Eevee on the other hand could do nothing but simply take the hit, both of them seriously starting to feel the pain of the moves by their opponent.
"Okay, can we all calm down and focus please!? I got an idea…" Peonia started off, bringing her two companions' attention back to the battle as she spoke in a serious tone. "Since Regieleki is way too fast, we have to limit the places it could go so it's an easier target. Let's make Eevee and Tyrantrum corner it with our moves, then Cinderace can have an easier target with Pyro Ball, got it?"
A bit shocked by her unusually assertive tone, the two Vermillion City trainers were slightly taken aback, but nevertheless nodded in agreement.
"Good… Tyrantrum, surround it with Rock Slide! Chloe, lend me a hand!" The blonde haired girl said.
At Peonia's command, Chloe told Eevee to follow Tyrantrum's lead and try to surround their target with giant rocks falling from the sky.
The Regieleki tried to run away, but Goh saw that coming, and ordered Cinderace to keep it busy by chasing it with Quick Attack. Whilst it didn't manage to hit the target, the fire type successfully distracted the Regieleki enough to give Chloe and Peonia's Pokemon enough time to completely trap the Regi Pokemon within rocks.
Seeing his chance, Goh told Cinderace to jump and fire some Pyro Balls from up above. The Strike Pokemon managed to get a couple hits in before the Regieleki forced its way out from within the rocks, only to unfortunately be met by a Tackle from Eevee and a Dragon Claw from Tyrantrum, as the travelers were finally using their superior numbers to their advantage.
A relatively even exchange of moves occured in the next minutes, the Regieleki still showing a lot more power and speed then it's opponents, but Chloe, Goh and Peonia were now doing a way better job to cop with it than earlier, to the point where Peonia managed to get a lucky flinch onto Regieleki, and the three Pokemon went all in.
"It's flinching, now's our chance!" Peonia shouted, telling her friends it's time to attack.
"Let's combine our moves!" Goh suggested, trying to deal as much damage with a single attack.
"Pyro Ball!"
"Copy it Eevee!"
"Mix it with Ancient Power!"
Cinderace started it all off by quickly juggling a rock and shooting it like a soccer ball towards the still flinching Regieleki. Eevee did the same, her tail illuminating a bright orange as she similarly picked up a pebble and fired it with its tail side by side with Cinderace's move. Tyrantrum topped it all off by forming a giant silver ball in front of its body, and launching it just behind the two rocks of fire, creating some sort of fiery mix, all of their moves combining into one.
Regieleki, finally recovering from its flinched state and knowing it couldn't dodge, simply launched a Thunderbolt in response, creating a stalemate of power in the middle of the room as a huge explosion accompanied by a booming noise occured. The humans and Pokemon alike struggled to stay on their feet, and soon noticed the floor under them started to crack as a result of the pressure being exerted by all of their moves colliding.
"Uh guys, this doesn't look so good!" Goh warned, even though it was not hard to notice.
"YEAH, NO KIDDING!" Shouted back the Vermillion City trainer's two companions simultaneously, obviously noticing the ground crumbling beneath them.
It only took a couple more seconds before the solid ground completely collapsed on them, a huge black pit forming just beneath their feet, and Goh was unfortunate enough to fall into a seemingly endless pit of nothingness, letting out a scream of terror in the process. Reacting fast, Cinderace quickly dove after its trainer and grabbed his arm, only to be pulled in himself. This created a sequence of events in which everybody tried to grab onto somebody else falling into the abyss, only to fall in themselves. Eventually, Peonia, after Chloe's, Eevee's, Tyrantrum's and Cinderace's failed attempts of saving Goh, managed to grab ahold of a solid surface and grab onto Chloe at the same time, forming a long line of human and Pokemon grabbing on to each other.
"WHAT IS IT WITH THIS TRIP AND FALLING DOWN THINGS!" Goh screamed from all the way down as the last person dangling in the pit.
The Galar native keeping everybody up struggled to hang on, but was pushing through, and was almost managing to pull herself to safety, except a familiar Pokemon had other plans. Regieleki smugly floated over in front of her and seemingly laughed at the state they were in, and slowly approached Peonia's only hand keeping the group from completely falling down the hole, menacing to make her lose her grip.
Peonia angrily gritted her teeth, and slowly said. "Don't. Even. Think. About it." She practically growled.
Unfortunately for her, Regieleki didn't have the sympathy to care about their situation, and aggressively pushed her hand off the ledge, finally making her lose her grip and causing the snake formation below her to completely fall into the abyss.
Regieleki made some incomprehensible noises before following them down the pit.
10 minutes prior…
Despite being indoors, Ash could feel a trail of wind gushing past him as he and his starter Pokemon kept falling into a land of uncertainty. As he let his body relax through the abyss, Ash pondered for a second why this exact situation kept happening to him, and asked himself just how he somehow always ends up descending down an edge. He could've easily called out his other Pokemon to help him out just like last time this happened to him, but his mind was too preoccupied by other things to think up another crazy solution to his repeated problem.
Still falling, Ash closed his eyes in resentment towards himself, as an image of Chloe's helpless and shocked face right after he told Pikachu to use Electro Web flashed in his mind. He knew he had done the right thing, it was safer to let himself and Pikachu go down than possibly bring her down with him, but he knew, he just knew, she hated his decision, something which didn't sit well with Ash at all.
'ASH!' The Pallet Town trainer heard in his mind, sending shivers down his spine at the sheer terror in Chloe's voice when she uttered those words just moments ago.
"I messed up didn't I…" Ash said softly to himself, eyes still closed. He let his body relax once more, trying not to think about the situation. The slight breeze he was sensing was quite nice after all…
"PIKAPI!"
"Pikachu…? OH SHOOT!"
Due to his mind wandering, Ash had somehow forgotten he was still possibly falling to his death at the very moment, and let out a panicked scream. Pikachu, falling just next to him, quickly remembered just how much of a predicament they were in and frantically pointed down below with his little paws, where the approaching hard ground could already be seen. Knowing that at this point there was nothing he could do since he had reacted much too late, Ash quickly enveloped Pikachu in his arms and turned his back to the ground whilst closing his eyes, hoping to absorb most of the damage from the fall in an attempt to at least salvage his best friend.
"PIKA-PIKACHU!" Was the last thing the Alolan Champion heard before he felt his back collide with something… soft?
Expecting to hit the hard surface, it took a while for Ash to figure out he actually had a much softer landing than expected. After a couple of seconds of confusion, Ash reopened his eyes to find out he had in fact landed, but instead of the expected solid concrete, he had actually landed in a conveniently placed stash of hay.
"Glad to see you finally join me Ketchum." Brandon suddenly said a little further away from Ash and Pikachu, the experienced battler looking up ahead, whilst the trainer and Pokemon looked at the Regi Master confusingly. "Although you might want to move from there…"
"Huh?" Ash changed his field of vision to see what Brandon was talking about and his eyes quickly widened when he saw the familiar floating orb of Regidrago charging up a purple beam from one of its arms. It didn't take long for Ash to realize it was actually aiming for him and Pikachu, so he hurriedly dove out of the way alongside his mouse Pokemon, landing roughly just next to the now scattered hay stack. He quickly dusted himself off and ran to Brandon, who was standing behind his Registeel.
"You really have a knack for falling off things don't you?" Brandon jokingly said, probably not too appropriate for the situation.
"Very funny…" Ash replied in a dead tone. "Care to explain why these Pokemon are so mad at us?"
The Pyramid King frowned and looked back at Regidrago as he went back to a serious tone. "I'm thinking that since Regieleki and Regidrago supposedly haven't had any contact with anybody but themselves for the past who knows how many decades, they probably don't know how to react to unfamiliar faces, so their first instinct is to attack. On top of that, I'm assuming by how the temple reacted to us all jumping on the dots at the same time that we weren't actually supposed to awaken them like that, so they probably have a little grudge against us for suddenly disturbing them irregularly…"
"Well that's just great…" The Hyper Class trainer thought out loud sarcastically before sighing. "So, what's your plan now?"
Brandon smirked uncharacteristically at Ash's question and declared. "We do what we've been doing so far, we battle it."
Ash and Pikachu simultaneously blinked a couple of times, making sure they heard Brandon correctly, before the young trainer said. "D-Didn't you say just a few minutes ago that Regidrago was so strong it had to be sealed away because the people feared the destruction it was capable of!? And you want to battle it!?"
"Do you have any better ideas?"
"I-I…" Despite trying to reason with Brandon for a better way out of this situation, Ash understood the fact that realistically all they could really do as of now was to battle the dragon type Pokemon, since they were stuck in who knows which part of the temple with no exit, and eventually gave in. "Fine… Pikachu, let's go!
"Pikachu!" The Pokemon exclaimed as he leapt out in front of Ash, landing next to Registeel.
"Thunderbolt!"
"Flash Cannon!"
The two moves, courtesy of Pikachu and Registeel, were launched at the opposing Regidrago, who surprisingly decided to take the pair of attacks without replying back with an attack of its own.
The Regidrago staggered back quite a bit from the combination of the moves, clearly not expecting such powerful moves from the strangers. It quickly floated back to where it was and decided to take the fight to the foreigners and rushed towards them, its jaw-like hands suddenly turning into large claws, preparing a Dragon Claw.
"Match it with Iron Tail!" Ash ordered, as his buddy equally rushed towards the floating red orb.
The two Pokemon collided with their moves, and to the absolute shock of Ash, Pikachu was immediately sent flying to the opposite wall, leaving a dent in said wall, and falling to the ground hard.
"P-Pikachu!?" Ash shouted out, as he saw his partner slowly picking himself up from the ground, clearly feeling the effects of the abnormally strong Dragon Claw. "What on earth is that power!?"
Brandon frowned, equally shook, before replying. "I don't know, the attack seemed a lot more powerful than it should have... Whatever the reason, let's keep our distance, Ketchum."
"Right. Thunderbolt again Pikachu! Don't let it dodge!"
"Pika-Pi!" The electric mouse replied as it shot out another powerful Thunderbolt. The Regi Pokemon opted to try and dodge the move this time, and quickly started floating around in an attempt to outrun Pikachu's constant bolt of electricity.
"Force it in a corner so Brandon has an opening!" Ash suddenly ordered. He knew it would just be a waste of stamina to have Pikachu follow Regidrago with a Thunderbolt aimlessly, so he decided to have Pikachu force it to the back right corner of the room so Brandon had a free attack.
Regidrago seemed to fall for the plan, as Pikachu had successfully pushed it to the end of the room after a while, so Brandon decided to take his chance. "Hyper Beam Registeel!"
The Pokemon in question made some familiar incomprehensible noises and launched a giant beam from the braille pattern on its chest. Regidrago, being backed in a corner, could only take the hit, and a huge explosion occurred.
"Alright! That must have done some damage!" Cheered Ash, as he foolishly thought they had successfully managed to land a powerful hit. After the dust settled, reality was revealed, and Regidrago appeared just fine, if not better than it was before the move.
"What!? How!?"
"Look closer Ketchum." Brandon simply told him. Ash took a second glance and quickly realized what had happened thanks to the fact the Regi Pokemon was glowing orange and spinning on itself. The red orb Pokemon had absorbed the damage by using Dragon Dance, while at the same time boosting its attack power and speed. Having used Dragon Dance in a similar fashion a while back with Dragonite, Ash still felt like something was off.
"B-But, even if it did use Dragon Dance to protect itself, there's no way it should have been able to absorb ALL of the damage right!?"
"That I will admit, something's not right here…"
Ignoring the confused state of the opposing trainers and Pokemon, Regidrago attacked them once more with Dragon Claw, rushing towards Pikachu.
"Quick attack to dodge it!"
The electric type did just that and started running around the room in an attempt to dodge the Dragon Claw. The Dragon Orb Pokemon, realizing that even with its boost in speed it would be pointless to chase after Pikachu because of its naturally low speed, quickly changed trajectory to Brandon's Registeel instead.
"Watch out Brandon!" Ash warned, realizing Regidrago's plan.
Knowing he couldn't dodge because Registeel was also very slow, The Pyramid King had no choice but to meet the attack head on.
"Block it with Iron Head!" Instinctively shout out the Regi Master. Registeel became coated in a white aura before slamming its head directly against the Dragon Claw. Some sparks of friction appeared momentarily between the clash of moves before Regidrago suddenly glowed a peculiar purple color, something that didn't go unnoticed by Ash, and overpowered the Iron Pokemon, sending it flying in the other direction, only stopping when it met the hard concrete wall.
Whilst Brandon gritted his teeth, Ash narrowed his eyes on the Regidrago, who had just stopped glowing purple. 'That's odd… Maybe that has something to do with its boosted power?'
Ash's train of thought was interrupted by the Pyramid King, warning him that the mysterious Regi Pokemon was going for Pikachu next. Ash narrowed his eyes at the incoming Pokemon and noticed its arm started glowing white, signaling the Regidrago was planning on using Hammer Arm. Pikachu had already started running, since it obviously didn't want to face it head on again, but Ash had other ideas.
"Pikachu!" The electric type's ears perked up as he kept running. "Stop and match it with Iron Tail!"
Pikachu's eyes widened slightly, not really wanting to do what its trainer ordered considering Regidrago had completely outpowered him last time, but nevertheless, Pikachu quickly switched directions and jump towards Regidrago with a cry, its tail glowing a shiny silver before matching the Hammer Arm.
Pikachu let out a little surprised cry, as it realized that the attack was a lot weaker than the Dragon Claw from earlier, despite the fact Hammer Arm is probably the stronger move normally. In fact, the difference in power was so notable that Pikachu managed to keep Regidrago in a stalemate, allowing Brandon another chance at a free move.
"Focus Punch!" Shouted out the Pyramid King, as Registeel quickly ran up to the Dragon Orb Pokemon, its fist glowing a bright white, and landed a powerful punch onto Regidrago, making the Pokemon stagger back.
Ash frowned again. 'I don't get it. Why was Pikachu able to match a Hammer Arm, but against a Dragon Claw it wasn't even close? There has to be another factor in play here…'
Ash's face suddenly lit up, and he quickly asked Brandon a question. "Brandon, is there anything in the old myths that talks about Regidrago's ability?"
The Regi Master seemed a bit surprised by the question and put a hand on his chin in a thinking manner. "Not directly, but I think I know where you're going with this..."
"Then that must be it! It probably has an ability that boosts dragon moves, that's why that Hammer Arm seemed so much weaker than the other moves, and probably why Dragon Dance was even more powerful than usual."
"You're most likely right. Okay, here's the plan…." Brandon said before explaining to Ash his idea. The Alolan Champion nodded at his peer's words and exclaimed:
"Gotcha! Alright Pikachu, charge in with Quick Attack!"
"Pika-Pikachu!" Exclaimed Ash's best friend, as in a blink of an eye he dashed forward towards the Regidrago. Brandon implied a similar idea by ordering Registeel to get close with Iron Head.
Pikachu, being the faster pokemon, approached the Regidrago first. The dragon orb Pokemon launched a Dragon Energy at the general direction of the opposing Pokemon, who avoided it with relative ease since they were still quite a distance away. As Pikachu got even closer, Regidrago, thinking the tiny mouse was going to hit it straight on again, prepared to strike the electric type with a Dragon Claw from its right jaw-like hand. The dragon type Pokemon swung its arm, only to be surprised by the fact Pikachu had simply dodged out of the way, making it miss completely. In the moment of shock, Regidrago failed to notice that Registeel was right behind the mouse charging towards it at full speed with an Iron Head. Not having the time to think, the dragon type Regi Pokemon quickly used a Hammer Arm with its other arm to block the incoming move, forcing it to stay still. Little did it know, it was exactly what Ash and Brandon were hoping for.
"Now's your chance Pikachu! Thunderbolt, full power!" Shouted Ash. Pikachu quickly jumped and shot a bright bolt of electricity at Regidrago, knowing it couldn't move.
Unluckily for the humans, Regidrago wasn't going to let it be beaten so easily. Just before the Thunderbolt hit it, Regidrago quickly charged up a Dragon Claw with it's other free arm thanks to the added boost of speed from Dragon Dance and pushed Registeel in between it and Pikachu, making it so that Registeel was the one to take the electric type move. Because of being simultaneously hit by Thunderbolt and Dragon Claw, Registeel couldn't handle the powerful moves and subsequently fainted.
"Registeel!" Worriedly screamed out Brandon, seeing it's loyal Pokemon no longer be able to battle. Ash was equally stunned by Regidrago's quick thinking and failed to notice the Dragon Energy being shot out by Regidrago aimed straight at Pikachu, who could only stand and take it.
"Pikachu!" Ash screeched out, as he saw his first Pokemon be hit by the abnormally powerful dragon type move and be sent flying once more. The trainer instinctively took off for the direction his partner was going and managed to catch him midair, but because of the overwhelming force, Ash skidded back quite a lot, only stopping once he reached the back wall of the room, colliding harshly against it and forcing him to the floor.
Ash, despite being in a lot of pain, quickly checked his partner's condition. "Pikachu…" He whispered softly, seeing his partner badly hurt.
"Pikapi…" Was all Pikachu responded in a faint voice.
"You rest up well buddy, we'll take care of the rest." The Pallet Town native swiftly placed his partner Pokemon next to him, the electric type leaning on the wall, and Ash quickly dusted himself off and got up from the floor.
He walked over to Brandon, the man in question recalling his Registeel, and said. "Man, it sure is strong…"
"They weren't lying when they said these Pokemon were so strong they had to be sealed away..." Thought out loud the man in response.
Ash looked at the ceiling mindlessly and chuckled. "You can say that ag-
The Hyper Class trainer suddenly interrupted himself once he noticed cracks start to form from the ceiling just above them and asked Brandon. "Uh… Y-You see that too right?"
The Pyramid King nodded and said the obvious. "We should probably move before-
Brandon wasn't even able to finish his sentence as debris had already started falling from the ceiling. The two trainers quickly dove out of the way right before the ceiling completely collapsed onto them, and what followed was the blurry sight of a yellow figure, who zoomed across the room in a flash, only stopping once it had reached Regidrago, finally allowing the trainers to analyze the figure.
"Regieleki!?" Ash questioned, almost forgetting it was also in the temple, just before two more familiar Pokemon landed just in front of him and Brandon.
"Wait Cinderace and Tyrantrum too!?" He added, surprised by his friends' Pokemon's sudden appearance, the pair barely paying attention to Ash's shock, instead focusing their eyes intently at the Regieleki.
Cinderace and Tyrantrum looked pretty roughed up, so Ash and Brandon deduced pretty quickly they had been doing some battling of their own. The next thing the pair of experienced trainers heard were two screams coming from above, and it didn't take a genius to figure out the origins of the voices.
"SOME HELP WOULD BE GREAT RIGHT ABOUT NOW CINDERACE!"
"TYRANTRUM PLEASE!"
Screamed out the familiar voices of Goh and Peonia respectively, the pair practically begging for their Pokemon's aid.
Cinderace, noticing its beloved trainer in distress, quickly went just under him and caught Goh right before he hit the ground, and Tyrantrum did the same by catching Peonia. The two humans both exhaled as their Pokemon placed them back on a stable surface.
"Oh, hey guys…" Goh and Peonia said simultaneously with a lack of enthusiasm, noticing they had reunited with Ash and Brandon.
Ash immediately noticed the lack of a certain maroon haired girl and asked worriedly about said girl. "Where's Chloe!?"
Goh and Peonia looked at each other confused for a brief moment, since they were certain Chloe had fallen alongside them, and then looked up, and the sight of Chloe and Eevee falling together could be seen. The screeches of panic from both the trainer and Pokemon were deafening to the ear.
Ash, without a second of doubt, quickly shifted himself in a position so he would be just beneath Chloe, and thankfully, the Hyper Class trainer managed to catch the girl bridal style and Eevee managed to land in Goh's arms somewhat safely.
There was a slight moment of awkwardness, as Ash and Chloe, the girl still in the guy's arm, simply blinked at each other. A stiff giggle from Peonia was finally the thing to break the silence.
"Bit early for that don't you think guys?" Peonia joked, not being able to contain the urge to tease the two in their current position.
A bright crimson covered both of their faces as Ash instinctively dropped Chloe to the floor in embarrassment. The boy quickly went to apologize. "U-Uh sorry a-about that Chloe-
Out of all the reactions possible from the Vermillion City girl, a slap to the face was probably the last thing Ash was expecting, and from the widened eyes of Goh, Peonia and Brandon, the others weren't either. The Alolan Champion quickly rubbed his hand on his cheek, clearly feeling the sting from the unexpected slap. "I-I probably deserve that…"
"That was for both dropping me to the floor AND for using a move on me earlier!" Chloe shouted at her crush, before adding. "I would scream at you even more right now for how selfish you are, but we should probably deal with the two Pokemon first."
"R-Right..." Ash conceded, not really looking forward to a future conversation with the Vermillion City girl, but happy nonetheless she was fine.
Goh gently dropped Eevee to the floor, the normal type quickly running to its maroon haired trainer, and visibly frowned once he changed his sight to the two Pokemon in front of the group and said. "I don't know how you guys fared but…" Started off the young trainer, specifically addressing Ash and Brandon. "Regieleki has been giving us a hard time, we may have done some decent damage, but it's way too fast for us to do just about anything, so we can barely get a move in…"
"Sounds like the complete opposite of us…" Brandon noted. "Regidrago's pretty slow from what we've seen, but it hits hard, it knocked out Pikachu and Registeel without too much trouble."
"Just great…" Peonia sighed, before mentioning something strange they had figured about Regieleki. "On top of that, for whatever reason, when using its electric moves Regieleki gets this strange glow that makes it way stronger…"
Ash's eyes widened and he quickly exclaimed. "The same thing has been happening with Regidrago and its dragon type moves! We figured out it's probably because of its ability, so if Regidrago's supposedly boost dragon moves, it would make sense Regieleki's would boost electric moves."
"Well that's great that you guys figured it out and all but, how exactly do we deal with it?" Chloe asked, hoping they had figured out a way to counter their boost in power.
Ash and Brandon looked at each other uneasily before the Pyramid King responded. "Tough to say… We tried baiting Regidrago into using a non dragon type move so we'd have an opening, but we haven't had much success…"
"Fantastic…" Goh said out loud. "So what? Are we just screwed now?"
Everybody would've liked to contradict Goh's words, but nobody could quite find what to reply, their situation was quite dire afterall, and everything they tried just seemed to come to nothing…
Chloe, seeing the uncharateristical downed mood from everybody, determinedly tried to motivate them again. "Come on guys! We aren't going to give up are we!? We've got Pokemon still by our side, we can do this! They might be strong, but that just means we're going to have to be stronger! We've faced so many things on this trip already and always got out of it, so we just have to do it again!"
At Chloe's word, Brandon quickly shook his head, irritated with himself. He was acting just like the younger trainers, giving up way too early when nothing was over at all. He had grown out of that phase as a trainer long ago, and as the leader of the group and an experienced Battle Frontier brain, he couldn't let that happen again…
"The girl's right, we're being stupid here." Brandon admitted. The intimidating nature of the Galar myths had brought the childish mentality out of him, and he knew he was better than that. Guess it showed he still wasn't a perfect trainer himself. "Regieleki and Regidrago are Pokemon, just like the ones we have by our side, so we just have to be better and smarter than them, simple as that." He quickly detached a Pokeball from his belt and released it, revealing his Regirock.
At the sight of Brandon's powerful legendary Pokemon, Goh seemed to regain his composure as well, realizing his two companions were speaking truthly. "You're right, we're better than this, no point in being down when the battle has barely even started!"
"Yeah! Let's show these Regis just who they're messing with!" Peonia added, motivated once more.
"Now we're talking!" Chloe cheered, glad to see her companions back to normal. She turned to see the only member of the group who hadn't spoken up yet. "Ash?"
The trainer in question chuckled, before saying. "You know, it's crazy how you, the least experienced out of all of us, is the one to motivate us…"
"Not my fault none of you weren't thinking straight!" She replied back.
"Can't argue with that…" Ash smirked before pulling out a Pokeball. "Alright Lucario, let's show them the product of our training!"
A flash of light occurred alongside the appearance of Ash's familiar Lucario, who let out a battle cry as he stared down an unfamiliar pair of opponents.
"Alright listen up everyone!" Brandon started off, back to his assertive tone. "Ash and Peonia can start by focusing on Regieleki, Goh and I will focus on Regidrago, and Chloe, you and Eevee do what you do best and copy some moves."
Everybody nodded confidently at Brandon's words, remotivated to best their opponents. Peonia specifically stared down the Regieleki, the Pokemon seemingly staring back, and all whilst keeping eye contact with the electron Pokemon, she spoke to her idol and new friend. "Ash I'm warning you, I got a personal bone to pick with this Regieleki, so try to keep up will ya?" Peonia said sarcastically whilst stretching her arm, ready for payback on the Regi Pokemon.
"You of all people should know that I will!" Ash replied with a grin. "Let's rock everyone!"