Hi everyone, sorry it took so long.

I am doing two (t w o, not three, four and especially not five) battles before the Elite Four.

Ash walked along. A nice woman had rested his pokemon before he ran into any more trainers, and he was glad. He didn't like sending out weakened pokemon to fight rested ones. Now that his pokemon were healed, he could face battles without worry again.

Sadly for poor Ash, and happily for his pokemon, no more trainers appeared as he walked along. He didn't see anyone until he say the large gateway to Victory Cave (a/n. Technically, in the game, the cave is Victory Road, something I don't agree with because it has no trainers and so you don't have any tough battles. Plus, it really isn't a road.)

Right as Ash was about to walk through the door, a girl ran up to him. "Hey, I challenge you to a one on one pokemon battle!"

Of course, this was because she only had one pokemon. Ash noticed she only carried one pokeball on her belt and wasn't carrying a backpack, so she wouldn't be able to catch new pokemon if she ran into them.

"I'm the strongest of the trainers here, which is why I'm the furthest up," she bragged. "You must be pretty good to get this far, but there's no way you'll get past me and rapidash! Go!"

A healthy-looking rapidash appeared.

Since this was probably going to be his last battle before the Elite Four, he pulled out his pokedex.

"Level 36."

Ash sighed almost silently. There was no way even she could have beaten the gym leaders, even if a few of them, like Falkner, hadn't fought as hard as they had against him.

So, which pokemon should he use? Tsunami would have an advantage, but he had already gotten plenty of battle experience. In fact, why not use Midnight, who hadn't battled yet but would probably be the most needed in his upcoming battles?

"Go, Midnight!" said Ash.

Rather strangely, the girl did not seem surprised by Midnight. Ash could guess why. She probably didn't know every pokemon, so didn't realize that Midnight was a brand-new pokemon.

"Rapidash, stomp!"

"Midnight-" Ash shrugged. This looked like it would be easy. "Do whatever you want. Have fun!"

Now, by the laws of the pokemon world, it is demanded that Ash, for being so proud, should suffer. Usually this suffering would be losing the battle. Unfortunately, Ash has a pokegoddess, and has every right to a little (and a lot) of pride. He was, in fact, right, it would be easy. The difference between a pokegod and a normal pokemon is rather large.

Midnight flapped her wings lightly. The rapidash, no matter how fast it ran, was unable to charge at Midnight. However, the swift winds blew the flames into a bonfire.

"Rapidash, use flamethrower!"

Rapidash spat a raging blast of fire at Midnight, who simply flapped her wings harder, increasing the power of the flame and driving it back at the pokemon.

Megan was infuriated. "Rapidash, use take down!"

Rapidash once again charged at Midnight, who was growing bored with this. She simply hit the ground with one paw and an earthquake began, knocking out the rapidash, who was weak against ground attacks.

But, in accordance to the laws of the pokeworld, Ash also got hit by the attack and was tossed around for a moment plus badly bruised.

Still, Ash wasn't upset. Midnight had learned a new attack, after all. A few (hundred) bruises were worth that!

Ash proudly walked past Megan and into the Pokemon League Gatehouse.

The guard, who had been resting, sat up. "Do you have all the eight badges of Johto?" he asked suspiciously. He knew that the gym leaders only let in a set number of trainers to fight the Elite Four, after all, and one extra trainer had already come by.

"Yep!" said Ash proudly, showing off his eight badges.

"Okay, go on through."

Blinking slightly, Ash walked out of Victory Cave into the bright sunlight. His pokemon had battled hard within the cavern. The wild pokemon in there were strong and aggressive, but his pokemon had risen to the challenge. Now, though they were quite tired, they had also gained many levels and learned a few new attacks.

Still, he wasn't in any shape for a hard battle. Thankfully, he knew there was a pokecenter right before the Pokemon League and the Elite Four.

And, right up ahead, he could see the majestic building. He quickened his step as he hurried toward the Elite.

"Hey, loser, how did you get this far?"

Ash looked over to see Andy just ahead of him.

"Was the guard asleep? How on earth did you get all the way here?" demanded Andy.

"I have all the badges. I assume you do as well?"

"Better believe it! Why don't you just turn around now. I'm going to be a master, so you should just admit it and leave. Why go through all the trouble of battling the Elite Four and the Champion if I'm just going to beat you at the end?"

"For once, you have a point. Only one of us can be the best. Why don't we just fight now to decide who goes on?" Ash knew that his pokemon were weak from fighting in the cave, but he had Midnight. She hadn't done badly against Andy's high-level magmar and now she had been trained and was much stronger.

"Sure. Let's fight with no switching. Sneasel, go!"

Who should I send out? wondered Ash. I guess I could use Sneasel, but the other sneasel would have a resistance to most of my sneasel's attacks. Tsunami did know flamethrower, and if I send out Midnight she'll probably remember how to use fire blast or learn sacred fire on the spot. Midnight, though, should be saved until the end -Andy's magmar would be even stronger then before, and flying is weak against ice anyway. Scizor would really be the best choice for fighting the sneasel, since dark and ice attacks are bad against steel and bug attacks are strong against dark. And, of course, sneasel had strong attack and speed, and bad defense, while Scizor had strong attack, medium speed and great defense. But more importantly, would he be okay battling at all?

"Go, Scizor!" he said, summoning Scizor next to him. "Scizor, do you want to battle? You haven't gotten as much experience as the other pokemon, and you should be fine against a sneasel."

In answer, Scizor leapt in front of his trainer. "SCI!"

Well, Scizor seems fine, thought Ash. I'll just be ready to withdraw him if anything seems wrong.

"Sneasel, ice punch!"

"Scizor, dodge and slash!"

Sneasel raced at Scizor but the steel/bug pokemon just managed to get out of the way in time. As the sneasel flew past, Scizor managed to slash it.

Sneasel staggered for an instant, but managed to whip around and face Scizor, ready for the next command.

"Sneasel, use ice beam!"

"Scizor, dodge again and try to use slash!"

Andy's sneasel shot a powerful ice beam at Scizor. He tried to dodge but the sneasel scored a direct hit.

Scizor staggered slightly but didn't miss a beat, lunging at the dark/ice pokemon and slashing it again. The second slash attack seemed to chop a large block off of the sneasel's hit points, because it staggered again and nearly collapsed. Andy looked horrified.

"How could your scizor do that to my sneasel? I trained it to beat anything!" Andy cried.

"Apparently it can't beat something that has a double type advantage. Ice and dark moves will only have half their normal effect, and normal moves are the same. Plus, my scizor has super strong attack power and your sneasel has a very low defense. You don't stand a chance!" gloated Ash.

"C'mon sneasel, try a slash attack of your own!"

"Sne!!"

Sneasel raced at Scizor once again, hitting the steel pokemon with little effect.

"What the…" gasped Andy.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? Normal moves only do half damage too, and Scizor has great defense!"

"Grrr…Sneasel, use ice beam!"

"Scizor, just slash once more!"

The powerful ice beam attack hit Scizor, but he ignored it and slashed at the sneasel again, fainting it.

"Sneasel, return, go-"

Ash stiffened. What if Andy used Magmar? It would be silly to use your strongest pokemon this early in the match, but fire was strong against both steel and bug. Scizor would be toasted just by being within five feet of that fiery monster!

"-magneton!"

Ash breathed a sigh of relief. "Scizor, do you want to keep fighting?" It wouldn't be good to have only been able to beat one pokemon before you had to withdraw your own.

"Scizor!" said Scizor, nodding.

"Okay, try using slash!"

Magneton shocked Scizor and Scizor slashed it, but neither attacks showed noticeable damage.

Andy had chosen a pokemon who would be resistant to normal, steel and bug attacks, but his magneton's attacks would also be weak against scizor. It seemed like a stalemate. Magneton had high special attack power to boost it's electric attacks, but Scizor had high attack power to boost it's physical attacks.

Suddenly Ash got an idea. "Scizor, use double team!"

Three more scizors appeared. Magneton tackled but it was confused and moved slower then normal. The scizor it was aiming for avoided it's attack.

"Now use focus energy!"

All three scizors glowed for a moment, focusing their power.

"Magneton, tackle!"

Magneton tackled one of the phantom scizors, who vanished.

"Now sword dance!"

The two scizors whirled for a moment.

"Magneton, tackle once more and the double team attack is over!"

Once again, magneton tackled and the last phantom disappeared.

"I guess I beat you and you double team, Ash!"

"So what? Now my scizor is super strong. Besides, Scizor, use double team again!"

Horrified, Andy watched as two new scizors appeared. While he tried to think of how to beat them, Ash attacked.

"Scizor, slash!"

All three of the scizors slashed, and the real one's attack hit home. Magneton faltered.

"And again!"

Again, all three scizors slashed and the boosted attack power took its toll on magneton.

"Magneton, use lock on so you won't miss!" ordered Andy, remembering the move.

Magneton glared about, focusing on one of the three scizors.

"Scizor, slash!"

All of the scizors attacked. As they started to withdraw, Andy yelled "Use zap cannon now!"

A powerful yellow beam hit one of the scizor. The rest vanished as Scizor let out a loud cry of pain. He staggered forward towards the magneton, badly paralyzed.

"Scizor, return!" called Ash. Oh no. That move might have really hurt him. Still, he had a battle to finish.

Now who should he use? Midnight knew fire attacks, of course, but once again he would need her to deal with magmar and like before, her part-flying type gave her the disadvantage. Not even a fool would send out Tsunami, even if he did know a fire attack, since water/flying pokemon had a double weakness. So who-

Ash felt like kicking himself. Sandslash, of course! He had already used Sandslash against a magneton, how could he have forgotten that ground moves were good against both electric and steel, no to mention that ground pokemon couldn't get hit with electric attacks?

"Go, Sandslash!"

"Magneton, use tackle!"

"Sandslash, dig!"

Magneton tackled Sandslash but it then dug into the ground.

While Andy tried to remember what attack would hit a digging pokemon, Sandslash appeared and knocked out his magneton.

"Magneton, return, go-" Andy paused. He didn't have any water or grass pokemon, and his sneasel had already fainted. All he had was Gengar, who was weak against ground (a/n Yes, gengar, being part poison, is weak against ground. It IS part poison, even if you never noticed it before. That's why psychic pokemon slaughter them. And yes, ground IS strong against poison. I'm not nuts.), golbat, who would have an advantage but not much of one, since Sandslash didn't rely on ground attacks alone, and finally he had a kadabra. He knew Ash had an umbreon, plus that other weird pokemon was a dark type, so he shouldn't save his psychic pokemon.

"Go, kadabra! Use psychic!"

"Sandslash, dig underground to avoid it!"

Before Sandslash could escape, he was caught in the grip of the kadabra's powerful psychic. Already weaken from his battles in the cave, Sandslash fainted.

"Sandslash, return, go Sneasel!"

Andy glared. So, Ash had a sneasel too? Well, he would beat it easily. Andy's kadabra had been taught moves to beat any type.

"Sneasel, use faint attack!"

"Kadabra, use dynamic punch!"

Sneasel vanished and reappeared, striking the kadabra and causing it to stagger. Still, it struck back with its dynamic punch. At close range the normally inaccurate move hit hard. Sneasel fainted, the combination of the kadabra's high level, her weakness to fighting moves and that fact that she was already tired from her previous battles proving disastrous.

"Return, Sneasel, go Moon! Try to stay out of range of the kadabra's fighting attacks!"

Darkmoon stared at the kadabra. She couldn't attack without getting in range of the kadabra's fighting moves, but kadabra couldn't hurt her with its psychic moves at a distance. If she stayed out of range, it couldn't attack her but she couldn't attack it. Of course, if the kadabra knew other moves…

"My kadabra doesn't just know fighting moves! Use zap cannon, kadabra!"

Kadabra formed a ball of energy looking something like a cross between a hyper and solar beam, then shot the electricity at Moon, who dodged the attack easily.

"Try shadow ball!"

The kadabra formed a second ball, black this time, and hurtled it at the umbreon. The attack hit but her natural resistance against ghost moves and high defense prevented it from doing much damage.

Ash was worried. Moon was doing great but he didn't know how to attack. Moon couldn't stay defensive forever. She had to attack!

What attacks could Moon use? Faint attack, bite, crunch, all of them would force Moon to get into close range. Quick attack might allow her to retreat after attacking, but for how long?

" Moon, if you can think of a way of fighting, do it!" called Ash. An umbreon should know her own attacks better then him, after all.

"Bre," answered Moon. Her rings let off a brilliant flash, partially blinding the kadabra. Opening her mouth she spat out tiny stars that seemed to be made of light at the psychic pokemon.

"Kadabra, recover!"

Kadabra glowed, starting to heal the damage. Instantly Moon lunged and Crunched down on its side. It fainted.

"Kadabra, return, go golbat!"

"Alright Moon, try a faint attack!"

"Golbat, use supersonic!"

Before Moon could go anything, the golbat sent out a high-pitched cry. Moon stopped in her tracks, franticly flattening her long, sensitive ears against her head and covering them with her front paws.

"Great job golbat, now use wing attack!"

Golbat dove in at the dark pokemon, smashing its wings against her.

"Moon, use faint attack!"

Moon looked up at the golbat, about to bite it, but the ringing in her ears was so distracting…she just couldn't focus on anything. Turning, she noticed Ash had his mouth open and was apparently saying something, but she couldn't hear anything. What was going on?

With Moon confused, the golbat managed to hit her several more times before she began to fight back. While her unheard trainer kept yelling at her to use faint attack and not knowing why she was just lying there, she suddenly lashed out with a powerful bite attack. She caught the golbat's wing in her mouth and bit down hard, shaking the golbat back and forth and ripping the flesh. Andy heard bone snap and quickly withdrew his pokemon.

"What's wrong with your pokemon? It just broke my golbat's wing!" yelled Andy.

"It was just an accident. She must have been badly confused from your attack earlier," said Ash coolly. Still, this did disturb him. Was Moon bloodthirsty? After all, she was the only one who didn't die in the pokemon center of all the sick pokemon…No, Moon wouldn't do that…would she?

Andy didn't notice his rival's inner monologue. "Fine. Go, gengar! Use thunderpunch!"

The ghost pokemon gave Moon a single electric punch, but it was enough to faint the confused and exhausted umbreon.

"Moon, return, go, Tsunami!" Ash hated to have to send out the water/flying pokemon against this new opponent who had just used an electric attack, but what else could he do? He had to save Midnight for last.

"Gengar, use thunderpunch again and that weakling will fall at your feet!"

Tsunami roared in anger at the insult and reared up, towering over the far-smaller ghost pokemon. The gengar stared up at it in terror.

"Tsunami, use-"

Tsunami suddenly struck at the ghost. How dare that pokemon's trainer say he was weak! He would crush this pathetic ghost with ease! His fangs sank into the gengar's sofe gaseous form in a powerful bite attack.

"C'mon gengar, use shadow ball!"

The gengar quickly pulled away then tossed a black ball just like kadabra's at the water pokemon. Tsunami roared in pain -the gengar was stronger then he had thought, and his life was so close to the end anyway. Still he would be able to beat shrimp pokemon like this one for a while yet. Lunging, he bit into the ghost again, shaking it around and slamming it into the ground. It soon fainted.

"Return, gengar, go, Magmar!"

The spitfire pokemon looked at the huge water pokemon calmly, without the slightest bit of worry. Tsunami noticed the slight but also registered the magmar's immense power. He quickly called a surf attack, mentally summoning water out of nowhere. The resulting wave hit the magmar without effect.

[You are stronger then you should be,] commented the magmar. [considering your level. Death surrounds you. You should be dead, and you will die soon, but you are not old or injured. I can feel humans around you. Why?]

"Tsunami, try-"

"Ash, if Magmar wants to talk, let him," growled Andy. "You shouldn't care, since it will prolong the time until I crush you."

Tsunami stared in shock. How did the creature know such things? It was ancient and powerful, but still…[What do you mean?]

[And I sense the dark creature in you. Do you serve the beaten once-goddess?]

Tsunami felt nervous, a rare feeling for a powerful gyarados. Ever since he had left the lab and that human, he had not felt it, even in the face of death. But every instinct he had was warning him about this magmar, a fire pokemon. [How do you know such things? You may be old and high-level, but even then you should not know this.]

[I am no mere pokemon. The Dark Goddess fell by my hand. You and your kind can no longer even remember what transpired on that fateful day. The fool. She forgot that flame is the enemy of shadow. She did not know that I would betray her.]

Few pokemon knew much of the ancient goddess. She had died long, long ago, and her main followers, the dark pokemon, were to undergo many periods when mass hysteria caused people to slaughter them. Bird pokemon rarely conversed with land-bound ones, so they did not preserve the legend among the more numerous grounded pokemon. And Tsunami did not have wild pokemon to tell him the old tales. Few free pokemon were introduced to Prof. Hemlock's lab. He and Darkmoon had known of Midnight, and that she had died, but no more. And so he did not understand what the magmar was alluding to.

Tsunami did a gyarados version of a shrug, the muscles of his back rippling. [The Goddess is back. She is strong. I live only by her grace.]

[Don't feel too safe around her. She is a demon. She may grant life, but she also takes it without a second thought. Anger her and you will regret it] warned the magmar [do nothing to her and you may still regret it, please her and yet you may still regret it. The stronger she gets, the more dangerous she becomes. Her strength is our weakness. She thinks nothing of the Lessers.]

The water pokemon shrugged again in dismissal.

The magmar looked at him again, a cold, calculating stare. Tsunami suppressed a shudder. It was unnerving, when most fire pokemon were so impulsive and hot-tempered. [And if you serve the Dark Goddess of Death, if you serve that demon, if you gloat that she has let you live because you are her pet, then you deserve your fate all the more.]

Tsunami heard the threat in the magmar's voice, but before he could react the magmar lunged, delivering a lightning-quick thunderpunch. A second afterward, the magmar regretted not hitting as hard as possible. He was conserving his power for the once-goddess, and did not expect that nearly-gone Lesser to be able to survive that attack, let alone take it with so little damage. Even that patched creature would be able to heal his attack and would not die. Before he could remedy his mistake and kill the gyarados, Ash withdrew the fainted water dragon and sent out Midnight.

[You] hissed Midnight.

[Well, Destroyer, the time to finish our little game approaches. First tell me, though: How did you come back?]

Midnight shrugged. [I don't know. I don't remember. I am and am not here]

[What are you saying?]

[I'm not here, not fully. It can go either way.]

[What do you mean?]

Midnight laughed bitterly. [I don't know. I am and am not. Some of my abilities are here, a tiny bit of my power, a few of my memories. That is all. I do remember you, but not much else]

[So this will be easy?]

[Oh, did you think I meant that? No, you will just last longer then normal. You are just a Lesser with some of the power of a Higher added to you and a long life. You will never become a true Higher.]

The magmar snorted. [And I sense that you are a Higher who has, abet temporarily, gotten weakened somehow and gone closer to a Lesser. We are even, save that I am higher-level. Yes, given time, you will finish and change into a full Higher -ah, is that what happened? You or one of your followers, since the legendaries are not doing anything now, must have somehow changed some other poor pokemon into a form close enough to yours to summon your spirit into the vessel. Still, I don't sense their mind there, but no matter. At any rate, I will not give you the time to recover. Had I killed you at my first chance it would have been easy, but circumstances interfered. You still are too weak to beat me!] he said, then bolted to the side and hit her with a fire blast. The battle was on.