Meanwhile back out in the street Eriscordia had kicked Ash and had fallen to the ground after a powerful Mega Kick had landed on his left side. Ash was sort of dazed but he could see as Eriscordia raised her scythe and let it go to hit Ash but he quickly rolled to the side and saw the scythe land hard on the street leaving a deep impression on the pavement. Ash got back up and jumped high into the sky and as soon as he felt he had enough altitude he used Agility to reach his target quicker and before Eriscordia could react Ash had pounced on her and tried to slash her but she had moved her scythe in front of her blocking Ash from slashing her.
Ash tried to push forward but Eriscordia put up a fight despite the fact that Ash had the upper hand and was psychically stronger than her. As they wrestled about Ash was suddenly distracted as Pikachu stood on the sidewalk and called out to its trainer. "Pika pi!" Ash looked and lowered his defense so Eriscordia raised her legs and put them right under Ash and flipped him. In midair Ash managed to twist about and landed on his legs but as soon as he gathered himself he saw Ericordia looking at him and he heard as she said telepathically. "Seems I can't hurt you much this way so I'll attack where it hurts the most."
Ash suddenly realized what she meant by that but before he could stop her she had teleported right next to Pikachu and raised her right scythe but before slicing the small mouse to pieces she noticed something around the little yellow mouse's neck. Eriscordia's eyes widened as she laid eyes on the black sphere. Hours before their encounter Ash had entrusted his best friend with looking after the black sphere he stole from Petrov. She then realized that Ash must have had the white sphere with him; her plans weren't completely ruined after all. Instead of attacking Pikachu she swung the scythe close to Pikachu and broke the chain around the little Pikachu's neck and snatched the sphere but before she could celebrate Ash had teleported behind her and as soon as he grabbed her he teleported them to the top of the bank.
Once at the top of the bank both snarled at each other and looked at one another viciously. Now that Eriscordia had her sphere and Ash had his both would be very difficult to bring down. After a brief moment of threatening each other both of them jumped at themselves at the same time, Eriscordia swung her left scythe but Ash blocked it with his right scythe but Eriscordia used her free scythe and slashed Ash on the left side of his face. That angered him so he violently and quickly swung his left scythe and slashed Eriscordia on her right arm. Both Scythers backed up and kept a space of about 15 feet from each other.
Both remained calm and at the same time changed back into human form. Eriscordia had a bloody thin line on her arm while Ash had a bloody thin line across the left side of his face. It wasn't a serious injury, but they were both still quite angry from it. Eriscordia wiped the angry look from her face and a grin invaded her face as she put her hand on her hip. Ash calmed down a tad and waited to see what she would do or say.
"You've put up quite a fight I'll give you that. But you have also been the biggest, most bothersome pain in the ass I have ever had to put up with." At that second Ash chuckled and a wicked grin slowly carved on his face. A feeling overcame Eriscordia, a feeling that the boy standing before her was up to something. She kept looking at him cautiously and wanted to ask him something but she preferred not to in case she would get involved in the conversation and would cause her to lower her defenses. Ash kept staring into her eyes seriously and the wicked smile grew more and more, not in length but in its wicked nature. In his silence he had been conjuring up a devastating attack, an attack more powerful than Aeroblast or Sky Attack put together.
Eriscordia kept looking at him now rather curious instead of cautiously. She raised an eyebrow questioning his motives as to why the smirk on his face, deep down she knew he was up to something but his cocky nature was getting to her. Suddenly a powerful burst of cold wind hit her like a ton of bricks, the impact sent her to the ground and as she hit the ground the wind died down and in a dazed notion she looked up and saw Ash still grinning and looking at her. Eriscordia realized that Ash had used Microburst but not at a destructive level, he was merely toying with her. "You little brat! Wait till I get my hands on you!" Eriscordia extended her claws which strangely were not that long and were a soft pale gray unlike Ash's which he had also extended as he kept his hands hidden behind his back.
As Eriscordia walked closer she lifted her right arm and swung it at Ash's face but Ash grabbed her hand before she could slash him once more. She looked at him and thought to herself. "He's going to be tougher than I thought." Eriscordia dragged her hand away and took several steps back. After she had a good distance between him and herself she began to glow as they did when they were about to change shape so Ash readied himself for anything. A pure white aura wrapped Eriscordia from top to bottom and suddenly the light became so bright it actually stung Ash's eyes but he tried his best to keep an eye on her.
Eriscordia then began to levitate and continue to glow, a glow which was so potent it grabbed the attention of all bystanders down on the streets. Suddenly two strange shapes extended from her back and the glowing aura seized. High in the night sky was a beautiful figure; Eriscordia had changed into her real shape. She had long, soft silver hair; gorgeous and huge white wings that looked as fluffy as an Articuno's icy feathers. The wings also had several silver feathers tucked in between the army of beautiful white feathers. Eriscordia also had on a magnificent white dress made of soft silk, the dress was long and in a tube style but looked decent unlike all the other outfits she had worn during her conflict with Ash.
Her skin pale as the moon's face but as gentle as a newborn's sweet smile, unlike before she was now barefoot, no five inch heels or leather boots to decorate her seductive styles. Eriscordia was indeed the very image of all things pure and beautiful. Still, that image held no remorse for Ash for he knew the truth about the apparition before him, although she looked like the most beautiful creature on the face of the planet on the outside, inside she couldn't have been more frightening and horrendous.
Ash exhaled in a frustrated fashion as he looked upon the beauty before him, thinking of her image and then thinking how he would turn. The thought of turning into that which gives nightmares, that which stands for everything he ever stood against, that which the greatest force of darkness had crafted with its filthy, unholy claws. For a brief moment a touch of sadness overwhelmed him. Nothing that was happening was fair, especially for him, he was not used to having such a dark nature nor had he ever thought he would be that which every morally correct person would turn down. He looked down on himself and saw how he was dressed; strangely enough he hadn't noticed he was still dressed that way.
Ash looked at his hands and then his arms which were covered by the black overcoat he had borrowed from Dante. His wardrobe consisted of a pair of black, leather rock boots, black, baggy pants, a plain black, long sleeved shirt and a black overcoat that reached his ankles. He sighed sadly and as he slowly closed his eyes a tear fell out and caressed his cheek. For that split second he said to himself he was defeated. He had given up and Eriscordia had not even started to fight him. Ash had let himself defeat him, as he dug himself into that hole he fell to his knees and quietly sobbed. An alien feeling overcame him but he cared not, he only wanted this to be over and to go back to the way things were.
During that entire time Eriscordia had been telepathically listening to him, she had tapped into his thoughts and read every word and felt every devastating feeling and was quite surprised at him. She slowly and swiftly lowered down to the rooftop and walked over to him. Ash saw her walking towards him and felt nothing, he only wanted this all to end no matter who would suffer the consequences of his actions. When Eriscordia stopped he kept his eyes on the ground looking at the small dots of tears on the floor and said in a low and sad tone. "Just do it. Just do it and get it over with…please."
Eriscordia smiled sweetly and sat on her knees right in front of Ash. She slowly put her hand under his chin and lifted his face until she saw his eyes full of despair, sadness and tears. "You're strong. Most people who touch the sphere break down the minute they learn what it is that they have become. It's like you said as Marco was explaining: It's just another sickening moral lesson." This of course was said telepathically, no Pokémon could ever talk like a human could no matter how intelligent or powerful.
This was indeed a side to Eriscordia Ash had never seen or even thought existed in her. He thought that in his fragile state she would take advantage of it and kill him the second he had dropped to his knees not to mention after he had asked her to do it. He reacted to what she had said and replied. "A moral lesson? Look what I've become. How is…this...a moral lesson?" He said as a few more tears slowly marched down his cheek and he looked at himself.
"What you look like does not define who you are. What defines a person are the actions they do and choices they make in life. You and I and your friends and everyone else down there are merely pawns in this little game called life. The game's outcome depends on the moves you make. You've been given a weapon for you to use, a weapon created by darkness but to be used by the light. The entire lesson that both civilizations had to learn was that looks can be and are deceiving. Thanades stood for all the good in the world yet he was cast out as a demon but I who stood for all the wrong reasons were celebrated only because I did not look like a nightmare."
"You may not understand now but in time you will, love." Eriscordia leaned into his ear and said. "You need not wish for death so soon…you're time will come but nowhere near this time and age." Ash was still not only confused but still had no will to fight and Eriscordia saw this and her answer was simple, sweet and just right. She lifted her right arm and slowly put her index finger right where his heart was located and said in the softest and sweetest voice he had ever heard. "In the middle of darkness there's a light."
With that being said Ash did not fully understand but that last statement made a lot of things clear for him now. He smiled and Eriscordia returned the smile but then the strange scenario of the light and the darkness exchanging pleasantries would soon end for both had a score to settle. Eriscordia flapped her graceful wings and flew into the night sky, once high enough she extended her right arm and lifted her index finger and at the tip of her finger a small white sphere began to materialize and it grew slowly.
Ash stared at the sphere and then realized what attack it was. The attack was nothing like Light's Shadow but it could do some heavy damage if he took a direct hit. He turned around and ran away from Eriscordia but as she unleashed the attack it hit right behind him pushing him over the buildings edge. The front side of the bank had a sliding design to it that allowed Ash to only slide down the building. Of course as Ash slid out of control he tried to hang on to something but there was nothing he could get a good grip of so he extended his claws on both hands and sank them into the glass. The claws made a horrible screeching sound that bothered him but he knew if he let the sound get to him he would slide faster and surely go over the edge. As he reached the edge he got a good grip of the edge and held on as long as he could.
Meanwhile down bellow everyone had been watching and Officer Jenny and the others become alarmed when they saw someone hanging on to the edge of the building. "Oh, my goodness."
"Ash!"
"Pika pi!"
Ash groaned as he slipped a little but tried to hang on as much as possible. Eriscordia flew down to where he was and said, as she once again became that vile and unpleasant girl who had made Ash's life miserable for the past few days. "Well, how's the view from there, Ashy boy?"
"Oh, you idiot!"
"Tch, tch. My, what a short temper we have. So how are you doing?"
"Falling, jackass. I'm falling."
Eriscordia began to laugh and as she did she pointed her right index finger at Ash. She was going to hit him with the same attack but before she could he let go of the edge and fell down 96 floors. When he hit the ground he did so with his feet and as soon as his feet touched the ground he walked forward and seriously. All bystanders were both shocked and amazed as to how he landed on his two feet and broke nothing, Eriscordia of course was not happy at all. She flew down and landed close to Ash but he kept walking down the road and after he felt he had a good distance he stopped dead in his tracks.
Ash began to glow with a black aura and a black mist appeared and wrapped itself all around him. The mist became so dense no one could see anything at all but Eriscordia knew what was happening so she sat back and waited. Slowly the mist cleared away and all around gasped in horror for Ash had also changed into his now true form. Before them stood a nightmare, the creature was a gargoyle with black skin, two huge wings that looked like a devil's with the skin on the inside silver like Eriscordia's hair and feathers. The gargoyle had frightening yellow eyes, needle sharp fangs that looked like they could tare flesh in a matter of seconds. There were three massive horns on its head and several long and thin spikes running down its back and a long smooth tail.
The creature was truly menacing and scary. Just looking at him brought unease to all who laid their eyes on him, Officer Jenny, Nurse Joy, Dante, C.J., Karin, Brock, May and Pikachu were all frightened by Ash. Ash however cared not, he knew what and who he really was and who Eriscordia was so the form bestowed upon him did not trouble him one bit, and it in fact fed his ambition to defeat Eriscordia. Eriscordia on the other hand was having trouble, the dark image before her scared her to no end but she tried her best not to show it although it was futile since Ash could smell the fear emitting from her.
Now that both were even they were about to give all they could and stop at nothing to win this battle that would determine if the end was near or not. Eriscordia was a tad insecure about what her actions should be since over the years she lost all her battles one after another. Eriscordia lifted both arms at shoulder length and closed her eyes as she began to concentrate deeply. Ash knew she was up to no good so he kept both eyes open in case she would pull a dirty trick. A soft rumble was felt on the ground as Eriscordia summoned her shadow minions once more. Right behind her from the ground a dozen shadows emerged from the ground and stood still as they waited for her orders. This time all her shadows were legendaries. Mewtwo, Mew, Lugia, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Ho-Oh, Entie, Suicune, Celebi, Latios, Latias, Groudon, Jirachi and Rayquaza stood behind her and snarled as they laid eyes on their target. A feeling that Eriscordia had tapped into his mind crossed by his thoughts since all shadows standing there represented all legendaries that he had encountered.
The shadows divided and separated as they made a team of three in order to take Ash down. Of course that didn't stop Eriscordia from having a bit of fun of her own. She looked at her shadow minions and said. "Now my pets, one pack of three shall attack and then the other and then the other. Of course, you will succeed in bringing him down so I don't see the need for replacing each other. Now…get him!"