Chapter 33 Battles for Tests

When Ash and Victoria go to the courtyard, a lot of people are already there watching the two of them battle.

Victoria: I guess I'm supposed to show you, as our newest student, all the ropes? Haha~ I think it's great that you were interested in joining, but let's set that all aside until the immediate issues are resolved.

Ash: (Confused) What issues?

Victoria: I'm a little concerned about Kiki... It's not good for her to push too hard, even with something like this. Lately, she's been... (Shakes her head) Actually, that's not important right now. Did you want to go ahead and fight me?

Ash: Sure, I'm going to fight you first and then Cal.

Victoria: Sounds great, but I hope you know my pride as the foremost apprentice of this Academy won't let me hold back! Give me everything you've got! (Sends out Pangoro)

Ash notices that her Pancham has evolved, and he goes for Aromatisse. Pangoro uses Bullet Punch, which deals a lot of damage, but Aromatisee manages to defeat Pangoro with Moonblast. Victoria's second Pokemon is Gallade, and Ash decides to switch to Drifblim. With the field effect, Psycho Cut takes more damage than usual, and it also goes for Night Slash, defeating Drifblim, but Gallade also lost because of Drifblim's Shadow Ball, and the ability Aftermath.

The third one is Incineroar, and Ash goes for Lanturn for this battle. It goes for Water Pulse, causing Incineroar to get confused, but Incineroar goes for Darkest Lariat, which also deals a lot of damage. In the end, Incineroar is defeated by Discharge. The fourth Pokemon is Mienfoo, it fakes out Lanturn and goes for Rock Tomb, making Lanturn slower. But Lanturn goes for Water Pulse, also making Mienfoo go confused. However, Mienfoo uses the move Meditate, raising the Special Attack, and then it defeats Lanturn with another Rock Tomb. Ash goes for Hypno this time and makes Mienfoo sleep and then defeats it with Dream Eater.

Victoria: You're gonna have to hit a lot harder than that if you expect to breakthrough! (Sends out Alolan Raichu)

Pikachu frowns a little since Victoria's Pikachu evolves, but he understands as Ash calls him to the field, it goes for Nasty Plot and Thunderbolt, which deals a lot of damage to Pikachu. In the end, Pikachu still defeats Raichu with the Agility and Volt Tackle.

Victoria: (Recalls Raichu) Nice Work, Ash. That was a strong showing! No regrets. So you're facing Cal next, right?

Ash: You know where he is?

Victoria: Pyrous Mountain's just a small walk to the west. Sometimes the lava gets in the way, but if that happens, just go to the floor below and give the connecting pieces a good slug. Actually, I feel like I've really been able to personally help him with that. It's been... nice? Anyway, you've got this!

Ash: (Smiles) Thanks.

But Ash decides to explore the dorms first, in the first room, a girl asks Ash to bring the TV to her room, and Ash has to go to the second floor to help move the TV there. In the end, he gets a Sticker for the Department Store that goes to the 6th floor. And he also finds a Black Belt and gives him a Protein, in the end, he gives him the Field Dex for Ashen Beach.

Field Note 20 Ashen Beach:

"Ash and sand line the field." All special Flying attacks, Fire Spin, Leaf Tornado, Razor Wind, Twister, and Whirlpool stir up ash, lowering all active Pokemon's Accuracy. Fighting types Pokemon or Pokemon with Inner Focus can't get confused. Accuracy/Evasion is ignored when the target doesn't have Unnerve, and one of these abilities is in active: Own Tempo, Pure Power, Sand Veil, Steadfast. Activates Sand Rush, Sand Veil, and Sand Force. Zen Mode always active. Calm Mind, Kinesis, Meditate, Sand Attack effect amplifies. Sand lasts 8 turns. Psych-Up +Cures Status. Focus Energy effect amplifies. Mud Bomb, Mud Shot, Mud-Slap, Sand Tomb boosts x2. Clangorous Soulblaze, Hidden Power, Land's Wrath, Muddy Water, Strength, Surf, Thousand Waves boosts x1.5. Aura Sphere, Focus Blast, Stored Power, and Zen Headbutt boosts x1.3. Psychic boosts x1.2 Strength gains Fighting/Psychic. Sand Tomb + Lowers Accuracy. Water Compaction boosts Special Defense. Focus Blast Accuracy:90%. Shore Up recovers 75. Shell Bell recovery +25% damage dealt. Nature Power becomes Meditate. Camouflage becomes Ground Type. Secret Power boosts Accuracy. The Telluric Seed boosts the Critical Hit rate and applies Laser Focus to the user.

Before meeting Cal at Pyrous Mountain, he also finds a cave called Apophyll Cave and captures some Pokemon inside, and much to his sadness, the Pokemon he captured reminds him of a certain Unova Leader that he used to travel with.

Ash's New Capture in Apophyll Cave: Crustle, Stunfisk (Cave)

The cave doesn't have anything for Ash to search for, so he decides to leave the cave and head to his original destination. In Pyrous Mountain, Ash can feel the heat because they are in an active volcano, and they also have to solve some puzzles to lower the lava and other things if they want to get to the top. He also picks up a Field Dex for the Super-heated Field in the second basement.

Ash's New Capture in Pyrous Mountain: Alolan Diglett, Throh, Sawk, Turtonator (Cave)

Field Note 16 Super-Heated Field:

"The field is superheated!" Fire Attacks boost x1.1. Ice Attacks decrease x0.5. Water Attacks decrease x0.9. Certain moves like Hydro Vortex, Muddy Water, Oceanic Operetta, Sparkling Aria, Surf, Water Pledge and Water Spout decrease x0.5 and generates steam, lowering all active Pokemon's Accuracy. Certain Attacks like Scald and Steam Eruption boost x1.5. Becomes Burning Field when Eruption, Explosion, Fire Pledge, Flame Burst, Heat Wave, Incinerate, Inferno Overdrive, Lava Plume, Mind Blown, Searing Shot, Self-Destruct, is used in the absence of Rain or Water Sport. Destroyed by Blizzard, Glaciate, and Subzero Slammer. Hail is terminated. Outrage, Petal Dance, and Thrash fatigue after 1 turn. Nature Power becomes Heat Wave. Camouflage becomes Fire Type. Secret Power causes Burn. The Telluric Seed boosts Defense and applies Shell Trap to the user.

Ash: This place sure is very hot...and those lava flowing are really dangerous...No wonder a Fire Type user like Cal would like to be in a place like this...

Pikachu agrees as they reach the top floor of the mountain. They head outside to see Cal meditating at the side of the lava pit while facing the Academy.

Cal: (Surprised to see Ash) Ash. What are you doing here? If you've come to chide me for my actions, you can rest assured that I am deeply, irrevocably ashamed of how I acted before. Victoria was right; this program was exactly what I needed. I understand now that anger is purposeless. It is a surrender of one's control over themselves. And that is all we have. Because of that loss of control, I hurt Shelly. That was the last thing I ever wanted to do. Even now I want to blame that Doctor. I want to blame my accursed brother. He always got the attention. He got all the praise for everything, and then anything I ever did was just a sloppy second. I want to say that now he took this from me too. Of course, that's just another way of running from my own responsibility. Victoria has helped me understand that those feelings are the real problem. The enemy isn't him, but me. I don't know how I could possibly stand myself after that. But I have to learn to. Hence the meditation, I suppose. And here I am, just rambling on about it. Sorry about that. I suppose being assigned to meditate alone for days on end has that effect on people. You must've come here for a reason.

Ash: I'm also a new student in the Apophyll Academy, and I was asked by Kiki sensei to battle you.

Cal: I don't know where to take energy from anymore. Before, everything was simply fueled by my own rage. But now what? Perhaps that's an answer I can search for against you.

Cal goes for Barbaracle as his first Pokemon, and Ash goes for Meganium, who takes him to the ground like usual, but Ash tells her to stop because they were close to a lava pit. Barbaracle goes for Slash, but Meganium dodges the attack and goes for Vine Whip, slamming the Pokemon and causing a lot of damage. Meganium continues to go with Energy Ball, but it was sliced in half. Barbaracle goes for Stealth Rock to set up the field, but Meganium defeats Barbaracle with a Petal Blizzard.

The second Pokemon is Typhlosion, and it defeats Meganium with Flame Charge, Ash goes for Golem next, but it is hurt a little by Stealth Rocks. Typhlosion goes for Sunny Day and Solar Beam, but thanks to Golem's Study, it goes for Explosion, causing the field to change into Burning Field and both Pokemon are knocked out in the end.

The third Pokemon is Hakamo-o, and Ash goes for Slurpuff to battle. Both of them are damaged by the Burning Field, but Slurpuff goes for Moonblast, only to be sliced in half by Sky Uppercut. It goes for Headbutt, dealing a lot of damage. In the end, Slurpuff goes for Draining Kiss, knocking out Hakomo-o.

The fourth Pokemon is Charizard, and Ash switches for Magcargo to battle. Magcargo goes for Rock Slide, which deals a lot of damage, but Charizard goes for the Thunder Punch, which causes Magcargo to get paralyzed. Magcargo goes for Flamethrower, but it is blocked by Dragon Claw, but Magcargo lands another Rock Slide to knock it out.

The fifth Pokemon is Turtonator, and it goes for a Head Smash, knocking out Magcargo but having Recoil Damage. Ash goes for Dugtrio for the battle, and Dugtrio goes for Earthquake, which is super effective, however, it takes some damage by Turtonator's Revenge. In the end, Dugtrio goes for Dig to knock out Turtonator.

The final Pokemon is Magmortar, and it goes for Solar Beam, knocking out Dugtrio. Ash's final Pokemon is Gigalith, which goes for Rock Tomb and Stone Edge, finally defeating Magmortar after taking a Focus Blast.

Cal: I seem to have lost my fire after all. Perhaps it's for the best. I only ever started training Fire-types to beat my brother's Ice. How stupid of me. (Turns around and looks at the academy) Shelly. Is she doing all right?

Ash: You see, this is why I'm here...Shelly and the others are captured by Team Meteor, and I need Kiki-sensei's Strength to save them.

Cal: ...Captured? By... Team Meteor... (Anger starts to rise) Those imbeciles- (Takes a breath and calms down) ...No. I won't let them take me from myself. I... have meditation to finish. You can go and tell Kiki that you defeated me...I suppose, if you'd like, I can give you a ride down to the mountain base.

Ash: Sure, I forgot to bring Charizard here.

Cal: Right. Charizard should be able to make the trip still. Get ready to hang tight.

Ash nods as he takes a ride from Cal's Charizard back to the Academy, and when he gets there, he quickly rushes towards Kiki's room to have the machine for Strength.


Here is a new chapter, and in truth, you can just pick either Victoria or Cal to battle to get Kiki's approval. But I decide to write both, because it will be understandable. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be the battle with Kiki.