Ash vs Thorton

It was the day following the events of Ash and Marnie capturing their own Darkrai, rather than eagerly race to face the Frontier Brain he decided to give the guy enough time to recover from the long nightmare that Darkrai had given the city. That and he knew that the Frontier Brain and Hugh would be completing their match against one another, Ash didn't remember what Pokemon the guy was utilizing nor did he really care as the best part of a Pokemon battle was never knowing what your opponent would sent out next!

"You know I completed a Battle Factory back in Kanto," Ash explained to Lillie and Marnie as the group made their way back to the Battle Factory. "I wonder if the rules are the same as they were there, the Frontier Brain allowed me to choose a single Pokemon of his to face off against and I chose to fight against his buddy Articuno. I wonder if this guy has any Legendary Pokemon!"

"Darach had an Entei, I'd wager that most the Frontier Brains own Legendary Pokemon. They're supposed to be exceptionally strong trainers and it takes exceptional individuals to raise a Legendary Pokemon, like you and your Latias." Zach spoke up.

"He's right, Brandon owned three of the four known Regi Pokemon so it's quite possible that this guy's got something powerful as well." May added on.

"Well that'll just make things more exciting," Ash clenched his fists as stars filled his eyes. "It feels like it's been months since I battled a Legendary Pokemon!"

"Months? It's been two weeks since you beat Darach and Caitlin..." Marnie sweated.

"Yeah well it feels like it's been that amount of time for me!" Ash stated with an eager grin as he pushed through the front doors of the Battle Factory. "So let's get my challenge underway!"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"Ash, welcome to the Sinnoh region's Battle Factory!" Scott greeted Ash as he stepped inside, a warm expression on the man's face as he made his greeting. "Now I must give you a fair warning on how things work here, you may remember how Noland gave you a choice as to what Pokemon you'd fight against am I right? Well here at the Battle Factory, Thorton is quite unique as he owns just as massive an array of Pokemon as yourself and Noland but rather than either of you using a prepared team you'll each be assigned three Pokemon from Noland's personal collection completely at random! Not even Thorton himself will know what his machine will pick for either of you, it takes an exceptional Pokemon trainer to pull off a victory when he's left in the dark and an equally exceptional individual to work with Pokemon they're unfamiliar with! So Ash, are you ready to face off against Factory Brain Thorton?"

"You bet I'm ready, this just makes things even more exciting!" Ash clenched his fists before looking to Pikachu with an apologetic expression. "Sorry Pikachu, maybe next time."

"Pika." Pikachu waved it off before flicking his tail as he was curious as to what Pokemon Ash would be assigned with for the day!

Scott led the way towards the battlefield where Thorton could be standing alongside a robotic duplicate of himself, it appeared that he had to be at least Clemont level of intelligent as the robot showed no signs of hostility or breaking down.

"Greetings challenger, I am Thorton-bot and this is my master, Thorton head of the Battle Factory! The rules are simple, it'll be a three on three battle and both sides are allowed to switch out Pokemon however only one switch is allowed per round! One you switch out you may not do so again until either side has lost the round, your opponent will still have the ability to swap however if they hadn't done so yet making the match quite unpredictable!"

"So you're the Ash Ketchum I've heard so much about," Thorton eyed Ash over before shaking his head lightly. "Don't look that impressive to me but looks can be deceiving! Let's have a great battle shall we?"

"You know it, I'll give it my all no matter what Pokemon I'm using!"

"Pi Pikachu!"

Thorton smirked before nodding at his robotic counterpart. "Go grab the Pokeballs will you?"

"Right away Thorton," The robot walked into the backroom and returned shortly with a box full of Pokeballs. "I shuffled these around just this morning, after Master Thorton fed them all. So it'll be completely random as to what you get! Pick three if you will."

Ash grabbed three Pokeballs at random causing Thorton-bot to walk over and offer the box to Thorton who grabbed three balls at random before offering Ash another smirk. "On the count of three we'll release our first Pokemon! One, two, three-GO!"

Ash and Thorton threw a Pokeball forward causing two bursts of light to appear on the field as a Lucario stood in front of Ash while a Hydreigon appeared before Thorton!

"Car..." Zach's Lucario blinked at the sight of another.

"A Lucario, well this shouldn't be too hard." Ash was already pretty familiar with the species as apart from one of his best friends owning one, he'd battled quite a handful during his adventures! "Use Aura Sphere!"

"Car." The Lucario clamped her paws together as a sphere of aura began charging between them, she kept her gaze focused upon her opponent before firing off a large sphere of aura though it wasn't anywhere near as big as Korrina and Zach's since the state of the aura depended on one's bond with the Pokemon! The attack exploded against Hydreigon causing the Dragon to let out an enraged roar as he set his eyes upon Lucario.

"Flamethrower!"

"Hydre!" The three heads all began firing off streams of fire at Lucario making it quite difficult to maneuver away from the attack as it came from three different directions!

"Extreme Speed!" Lucario whizzed across the field in a white blur but had the misfortune of racing directly into one of the streams of fire! The brief moment of pause as the heat met her body was all that was needed for the other heads to aim at her, giving her a dose of triple Flamethrower! The jackal let out a cry before collapsing to her side as swirls filled her eyes.

"Well that was anticlimactic." Marnie sweated. "Almost as if somebody were making a statement about him and Lucario."

"Lucario return, I choose you whoever you are!" Ash threw forward a ball only to leap back in surprise as a Suicune came bursting out onto the field!

"Cune!" The Water Legendary cried out as she gazed up towards Hydreigon.

"Return," Thorton returned Hydreigon and reached for a different ball. "Go!"

A burst of light shined on the battlefield before a light blue colored Sceptile appeared before them! "Sceptile!"

"Leaf Blade!" The leaves on Sceptile's arms glowed a bright green color as the Grass type raced across the field, pulling back his arm as he prepared to lash out and strike his opponent!

"Use Ice Beam on the field in front of you!" Suicune fired a beam of ice upon the battlefield, freezing it solid as the battlefield now resembled an ice rink! Sceptile's feet weren't exactly made for cold weather so the Grass type began slipping before landing face first in the ice, sliding towards Suicune before coming to a halt directly in front of her. "Hyper Beam!"

A bright yellow-orange beam fired from Suicune's mouth, blasting Sceptile and sending the Grass type flying back to his trainer! Sceptile landed on his side before slowly standing with a determined gaze.

"Sunny Day!"

"Sceptile!" Bright sunlight began shining down upon the battlefield, melting the ice and muddying up the ground.

"Now use Thunder Punch!"

"Sceptile!"

"Let's dodge it with Extreme Speed then strike from behind with Ice Beam!" Suicune raced across the field at a blinding speed, disappearing right as Sceptile lashed out with an electrically charged punch before reappearing behind him as she fired off a beam of ice! A block of ice formed around Sceptile's body as he became frozen in ice, swirls filling the Grass type's eyes as Thorton uttered out a sigh before returning him to his ball.

"Go!" Thorton chose to send out the remaining Pokemon other than send Hydreigon back out.

A large burst of light appeared before a rather large and familiar looking bird Pokemon emerged.

"Zap!" Zapdos looked his eyes on Suicune as the two shared a brief glare.

"Ice Beam!" Suicune opened her mouth and fired off another beam of ice, Zapdos shivered as a cold sensation flowed through his body.

"Rain Dance!" Thorton cried out.

"Uh oh, Suicune's in trouble." Zach muttered.

"Hm?" Lillie looked at him.

"Thunder always hits when Rain Dance is in effect, there's no other reason an Electric type would be using that move!"

Ash appeared to know that as well as his fists clenched. "Looks like we no longer have a choice, Sheer Cold!" A cold wind suddenly filled the arena however luck wasn't on his side as it didn't effect Zapdos! Zapdos began sparking off electricity as he uttered out a fierce cry before a large blast of electricity shot down from the sky, blasting Suicune as her body surged with electricity!

"Cune!" Suicune gritted her teeth but was still standing after the attack although she did look significantly weaker than she had been before.

Ash clenched his fists before shouting out. "Sheer Cold one more time!" Surely it wouldn't fail twice in a row? A cold breeze filled the battlefield and Zapdos began to shiver as his feathers turned bright blue while ice formed over his body. The Electric type shivered before dropping from the sky, a thud could be heard as his body hit against the ground!

Thorton smirked and appeared to be slightly impressed as he returned Zapdos to his Pokeball. "Alright, Hydreigon let's finish Suicune with Hyper Beam!"

Much like before with the Flamethrower attack, all three heads fired off orange-yellow blasts of energy!

"Suicune use Extreme Speed, race around the edges of the battlefield and not directly through it, once you're past Hydreigon I want you to use Ice Beam!"

"Cune!" Suicune shot off across the field in a bright white blur, lifting her gaze up at Hydreigon as she moved beneath him before she'd open her mouth and blast the Dragon with a beam of ice!

"H-Hydre!" Hydreigon shivered as a cold sensation flowed through his body.

"Outrage!" Hydreigon's eyes glowed bright red as a red aura surrounded his body, the dragon quickly lashed out and slammed his tail against Suicune's body before striking out a second time as a fierce cry came from the Dragon's mouth!

"S-Suicune..." The Legendary Beast dropped to her side as swirls filled her eyes.

"She sure lasted a long time," Marnie stated. "She worked quite well with Ash too despite them just meeting..." She scratched her chin as she couldn't help but think that meant something!

"Suicune return, I choose you whoever you are!"

"Raichu rai rai!" A Kantonian Raichu emerged, pumping his fists at the air before flashing Pikachu a cocky smirk as he took notice of the rat. "Rai rai!" Raichu thumbed at himself as if to say 'leave it to me!'. Pikachu angrily flicked his tail as he couldn't help but wonder why almost every Kantonian Raichu was a complete asshole to him!

Hydreigon swooped towards Raichu as he prepared to lash out with another Outrage!

"Meet him head on with Volt Tackle!"

"Raichu!" A bright electrical glow surrounded Raichu's body as he raced across the battlefield. "Rai rai rai! Raichu!" He slammed his electrically charged body directly against Hydreigon's swinging tail causing Hydreigon to utter out a loud cry as electricity surged through his body! Raichu landed back on his feet as Ash clenched his fists and smirked.

"Alright! Now finish with Dynamic Punch!" Raichu's fist became enveloped in a bright blue aura as he leaped up and nailed Hydreigon directly in the chest! The Dragon roared loudly before dropping to the ground, landing with a hard thud as dust flew up and temporarily blinded them from seeing the results of the match! Within a few seconds the dust disappeared showcasing the defeated Hydreigon as swirls filled the Dragon type's eyes.

"Alright way to go Raichu!"

"Rai rai!" Raichu smirked.

"Pika..." Pikachu flattened his ears and crossed his arms as he didn't like that a Raichu had won the final round.

"Tox." Toxtricity didn't seem to like it either showcasing a rare moment where they were in agreement on something. The two looked at one another before looking away with a huff as Thorton began approaching Ash.

"Congratulations Ash, that was quite an impressive feat!"

"Thank you sir, here's your Pokeballs back!" Ash grinned as he handed the balls back to Thorton. Thorton nodded towards Thorton-bot who grabbed the Pokeballs and safely returned Raichu before making his way into the backroom to heal them all up.

"And here's the Luck Symbol!" Thorton smirked as he handed Ash another Frontier Symbol. "A sign of your victory here today! Good luck on beating the next Frontier Brain, I believe Scott has your directions ready?"

"Indeed I do!" Scott handed Ash a slip of paper. "Your next opponent will be Battle Hall Matron Argenta, the Battle Hall is located in Jubilife City so you actually don't have to walk quite so far this time!"

"Jubilife City? Awesome, we'll be there in a matter of days!"

"Pi Pikachu!"

"Tox!"

Ash turned to his two Electric types with an eager look as he was already looking forward to his next match, every Frontier Brain he beat was a step closer to battling the Frontier Head himself, Palmer!

A bit short, I truly struggled with this one as Thorton utilizes random Pokemon and it was hard coming up with match ups. Eventually I decided to just have it be like the games where it's random for you and Thorton! But I chose to give Ash two Pokemon that he'll never have while one possibly plants seeds for later ;)

But yeah, this story's not dead. Let me know what future battles you'd like to see :)