Chapter 34 Battling Kiki

After getting into Kiki's Room, he sees Victoria and Kiki there.

Kiki: I understand you've beaten Victoria, then...

Ash: I also beat Cal on top of Pyrous Mountain.

Victoria: Wait, what?

Kiki: Impressive, especially on such limited time. That leaves only one matter to resolve. As I said, you... (Suddenly gasps in pain as she places her hand on her heart, bending down.)

Victoria: (Rushes towards her with Ash) ...Sensei?

Kiki: (Takes a few deep breaths of air) Apologies; I lost myself for a moment there. I am quite all right.

Ash and Victoria are worried for Kiki, as she seems to be struggling to stay still.

Kiki: What was I saying? Ah, right- Graduation. I will be the one to give the final exam.

Ash: Are you sure, sensei? With your health right now?

Victoria: Surely that's not necessary-

Kiki: (Glares at Ash and Victoria) Ash, Victoria. Please, trust me. Willpower is a muscle. Mine must remain strong as well. It is only through fighting with all of our might that we can truly defeat the chaos within. Please allow me to do so.

Ash and Victoria frown, they can't stop Kiki from doing this.

Kiki: The graduation exam takes the form of a six-on-six Singles Pokémon battle. As is tradition, and the responsibility of the Academy's head, I will administer it. This is a valuable opportunity for you to observe, Victoria.

Victoria: (Frowns) Yes, sensei.

Kiki: (Turns to Ash) You may speak to me in the courtyard when you are ready, Ash. (Leaves)

Victoria: Since when does lying to everyone count as willpower? (Turns to Ash) Ash, can you keep a secret? (Ash nods) She's dying. Apparently, there's no cure. Ever since I came back here, she's been training me to take her place. And I'm the only one who knows. Even now she's pushing herself way harder than she should be. She won't listen, tell anyone, or ease up... What, does she think she's just going to go quietly in the night and no one will notice? Does she really think I can just pick up where she left off perfectly?

Victoria is outbursting with tears in her eyes, and Ash gives her a hug, trying to calm her down.

Victoria: It's not... fair. But then nothing is, I guess.

Ash is hesitating a little, in Shade's visions, Kiki is going to get killed by Solaris' Garchomp...just like he was before getting revived by Arceus. He shakes his head and Victoria breaks the hug, rushing towards the courtyard. Ash also walks outside to see the telecom, and he calls Ame.

Ame: Ash? Oh, you're coming in from Apophyll Academy? It's true that that used to be a Gym, but not anymore. Kiki was forced to retire due to some ongoing health concerns. Are you sure the stress of battling won't be too much on her?

Ash: She just refuses to listen no matter what Victoria and I tell her. So I would want to end the battle as quickly as possible.

Ame: Well, I suppose I can give you her old notes, just in case. Thanks to her school's focus on meditation, the mental energy around there are out of this world! When she uses Meditate, her Pokémon will be much, much stronger than normal, so don't give her that chance! By the way, for beating the Fighting-type, although many people go for Flying-types, that could be a risky play. With all the sand and ash down there, it's easy for it to get kicked up and vision to be lost. But Kiki's mentally focused Pokémon will often still land attacks! Rather than Flying-types, try using the mental energy against her! Psychic types can really do a number down there! Good luck, whatever happens.

Ash nods as he walks toward the battlefield, he sees everyone gathering around to see his battle with Kiki.

Kiki: Ash, let us see how well your discipline holds you. (Nods at Victoria)

Victoria: (Frowns as she continues to referee) The challenger, Ash, will now face the Sensei in a six-on-six Single Battle for the right to graduate. Either competitor can make substitutions. The battle will end when all six of the Trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle...Begin.

Kiki's first Pokemon is Machamp, Ash decides to go with Noivern as his first Pokemon. Machamp goes for Meditate, which raises its Attack stat and focus. Noivern goes for Dragon Claw, however, Machamp grabs Noivern and goes for Strength.

Ash: Noivern! Don't let it hurt you! Boomburst!

Before he can toss it, Noivern lets out Boomburst, causing Machamp to let go of Noivern and kneels on the ground. Noivern goes for Acrobatics, but Machamp tries to go with Rock Slide. In the end, both of them are slammed into each other, but the rock hits both of them as they faint at the same time.

Kiki's second Pokemon is Toxicroak, and Ash goes for Gothitelle for battle. Gothitelle goes for Psychic, with pure focus, it deals more damage. Toxicroak goes for Meditate as well, and before Gothitelle can go with Hidden Power, it uses Sucker Punch to deal a lot of damage. Toxicroak goes for Strength, but Gothitelle uses Double Slap. As both of them clash with each other, Gothitelle finishes Toxicroak with a Psychic attack.

Kiki: You really aren't an ordinary trainer, my third Pokemon is Lucario.

Ash stares at the Pokemon before having Gardevoir go for Psychic. However, it goes for Calm Mind and then Hidden Power, which is Ghost Type, and knocks out Gothitelle. Ash decides to go with Unfezant for this battle, and it goes for Heat Wave, which is super effective. Lucario goes for Aura Sphere, and Unfezant dodges it and goes for Aerial Ace. Both of their clash with each other with Psychic and Heat Wave, and both of them faint in the end.

Gallade is the fourth Pokemon of Kiki, and Ash goes with Dusknoir for this battle. Gallade goes for Night Slash, dealing a lot of damage to Dusknoir. Dusknoir goes for Shadow Punch sending Gallade to the ground. But when Dusknoir goes for Dark Pulse, it causes Gallade's ability Justified, to activate, and it goes for Poison Jab, causing Dusknoir to get poisoned. Dusknoir goes for Hidden Power, which turns out to be not very effective because it is Poison, and Gallade uses Rock Slide to make it flinch. In the end, Gallade is defeated by a Shadow Ball from Dusknoir.

Ash: Now I just need two more wins before I can graduate here...

Kiki's fifth Pokemon is Hitmonlee, and it goes for Knock Off, defeating Dusknoir. Ash goes for Hawlucha for the battle, and Hawlucha goes for Flying Press, slamming Hitmonlee to the ground, but Hitmonlee goes for a High Jump Kick, and Ash has Hawlucha dodge the attack.

Ash: Good, now it is damaged, finish with Acrobatics!

Hawlucha nods as he deals the damage to Hitmonlee, knocking it out of the battle.

Kiki: To minimize the chaos within...Perhaps it's too late...(Sends out Medicham)

Medicham goes for Meditate, and then it goes for Strength, knocking Hawlucha out of the battle, so Ash's final Pokemon is Pikachu. Pikachu goes for Thunderbolt, but the LP lost is recovered by Medicham using Drain Punch. But Pikachu's ability Static activates and Medicham is paralyzed. Using the chance, Ash has Pikachu go for Iron Tail, eventually knocking Medicham out of the battle.

Kiki: ...And all was silent. (Recalls Medicham) Amidst true focus, your energy shines through. Your own hard work is unmistakable. As the founding instructor of this establishment, I am pleased... to...

Just then, Kiki grasps in pain as she holds her heart again, and then everyone is shocked to see their teacher fall to the ground.

Victoria: Kiki sensei!

Everyone rushes towards the unconscious gym leader. Ash and Victoria decide to bring her to her bed in her room. After a while, Kiki slowly wakes up and starts to have heavy breaths.

Victoria: There you go- just focus on breathing. Like in Beginning Meditation, right? Keep it steady. You're okay.

Kiki: (Lowers her head) "Okay" is a rather generous assessment of either my condition or the circumstances. There's no longer any point to saving face. After a display like that- collapsing in the courtyard... Who wouldn't be shaken?

Ash: Sensei! You're being too hard on yourself! Nobody could be as strong as you've been through all of this. Look at everything you've done, all the people you've made happy, and-

Kiki: And for as strong as I've been, I'm still too weak.

Victoria: Sensei! Please calm down.

Kiki: How can I? "Defeat the inner chaos?" Did you think I was only talking about the zen of the mind? I could be centered to dead-zero and I will still end up just that. No amount of meditation is going to change the simple fact that my body is killing itself!

Victoria: That's enough! You know what hurts even more than seeing this happen to you?! Watching you do it to yourself! Sometimes people get sick- big fucking deal! Even then, they get through it with the people near and dear to them. What they DON'T do is lie to everyone around them and go on pretending that everything is fine and dandy when it's clearly anything but! You've put all this pressure on yourself to try and maintain perfect appearances and outward peace, but really you're tearing yourself up inside as much as anyone!? Don't you see the irony you've committed yourself to be a victim of?

Kiki: (Turns away) Of course, you're correct. I am keenly aware of the folly of it all. And despite my lectures, my practice, and my teaching, I've been unable to stop it. That, too, has been a great source of shame to me. How can I advocate for mental and spiritual health when I can't even maintain it for myself? I have felt I was a sham for so long that lying about this was only natural.

Victoria: Then come clean. Be honest about it, and we can all start figuring out how to get through it together.

Kiki: (Sighs) Then there is one more matter I must be transparent about.

Victoria: ...What?

Kiki: (Turns to Ash) Ash. I cannot give you Strength.

Ash: (Widens his eyes) But why? I came all the way here for the TMX, and you still can't give me?

Kiki: The Machine went missing from my care not too long ago. I believe it was stolen.

Victoria: Then, all of these hoops about graduation...

Kiki: The urgency has not escaped me. I hoped I would be able to recover it before you completed these tasks. But, as you can imagine-

Victoria: (Outburst) I can't believe you. (Rushes away)

Ash: Victoria!

Kiki: Ash, sorry, but please leave me. I wish to be alone right now.

Ash can only nod as he also rushes out of the room, and he finds Victoria trying to do deep breathing.

Victoria: Ash, I apologize to you on behalf of the academy. You've been wronged. I've never seen her fall apart so fast. All of this is...a lot of firsts.

Just then, a girl rushes indoors and yells Victoria's name, saying that there are news.

Victoria: I'm kind of over news right now, Lettie.

Lettie: A couple of the students were hiking out at Azurine Island- Apparently there's some suspicious folk over there? Like full black suit and heavy machinery type suspicious?

Victoria: (Widens her eyes) That'll be it. Thanks, Lettie. If anything else comes up, bring it to me. Kiki is going to be resting for a while.

Lettie: You got it!

Victoria: (Turns to Ash) I have to stay here. This school needs at least one person who can be honest and keep things moving. And, although I'm furious at her right now, so does Kiki. Can you check on Azurine Island? If anything else happens, or if that Machine turns up, I'll let you know as soon as I can.

Ash: No problem. Perhaps Cain or the others are also there as well. Let's go, Pikachu.

Pikachu nods as he follows Ash as they all head out to Amaria's Boat.


And here is the new chapter, Ash and Kiki have their battle, but not as a gym battle, and they can't believe everything Kiki is is a lie. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be Azurine Island.