Chapter 88 Battle to the Top
When Ash and Pikachu wake up, they find themselves inside a prison cell, much to their surprise.
Ash: Great...I'm being captured again...
As he walks forward, he notices that on the other side is another prison cell, and the one inside is Victoria.
Victoria: (Notices Ash) Ash!?
Just then, both of them feel another door closed, and now they realize that they only have little space to stand on. Both of them try to open it, but in vain.
Victoria: I can't get out!
Ash: Me too! What's going on here?
Just then, the screen turns on, and the one in the screen is no other than Lin, the current leader of Team Meteor.
Lin: Welcome.
Victoria: Is that-?
Ash: That's Lin...
Lin: I understand that you and your petty shambles of acquaintances have come here to stop me. How funny. You thought you were strong together. And here you are now. Let this be a lesson. Numbers do not help. Friends do not help. Spirit does not help.
Victoria: (Rolls her eyes) What does someone like her know about spirit?
Lin: In the end, you are still powerless. You are still a victim. You always will be, won't you?
Victoria is angry as she can't find the words to admit that Lin's wrong.
Lin: Now we will play a game. In order to reunite with your so-called friends, you must fight them. The winner may proceed. The loser will suffer a penalty. There are no rules. (Ends the screen)
Ash: We have to fight each other to get out of here? Like we're going to do it!
Victoria: Ash! Let's do it...please.
Ash: What are you talking about? This is a trap!
Victoria: I'm not backing down. I promised Kiki I'd finish the job. Ash, give me everything you've got! We'll find out which of us is better suited to finish off Team Meteor!
Ash frowns as Victoria really wants to battle him, so he agrees and she goes for Mienshao first, Ash goes for Gardevoir, wanting to try out his new team member's strength. Mienshao goes for Fake Out, causing Gardevoir to flinch, and then it goes for U-Turn, recalling Mienshao and going for Lucario. Then Lucario goes for Flash Cannon, with the machine field helping the Pokemon, Gardevoir takes a lot of damage. Ash decides to recall Gardevoir and goes for his own Lucario. He has Lucario go for Aura Sphere, but it is stopped by Victoria's own. In the end, Lucario goes for Power-Up Punch to defeat Victoria's.
The second Pokemon is Alolan Raichu, and it goes for Nasty Plot and Psyshock, defeating Lucario, so Ash goes for Krookodile for this battle, causing the Alolan Raichu to only use Nuzzle and no other move. In the end, without anything to do, Raichu is defeated by Krookodile's Crunch. Mienshao returns and delivers the High Jump Kick on Krookodile, knocking it out, but Ash goes for Gardevoir and has it use Dazzling Gleam, eventually knocking out the Mienshao after using Psychic.
The fourth Pokemon is Togekiss, and it goes for Dazzling Gleam to knock out Gardevoir. Ash goes for Eelektross, using the field-effect and Discharge, dealing a lot of damage to Togekiss. Togekiss tries to use Air Slash and Dazzling Gleam to stop Eelektross, but the eel Pokemon finishes with a Thunderbolt. The fifth Pokemon is Gallade, and it goes for Throat Chop and Close Combat, knocking out Eelektross, so Ash goes for Charizard, having it use Wing Attack and Air Slash, eventually defeating Gallade.
Victoria: To minimize the chaos within...Sensei, I'm so sorry. (Sends out Incineroar)
Ash continues to battle Incineroar with Charizard, and Charizard goes for Dragon Claw to deal a lot of damage, but Incineroar also goes for Outrage. After dodging the attacks Charizard finishes with Rock Slide.
Victoria: Really? After all my hard work, training to be able to beat them- I said I'd never lose to Team Meteor again, but-
Just then, the jail from Ash's side opens, and electricity is shocking Victoria, much to Ash's surprise.
Ash: Victoria! (Rushes towards her cell)
Victoria: (Still being shocked) Ugh- W-what are you- waiting for?! Get g-going already!
Ash: But what about you?
Victoria: I'll be fine-! I'll prove... As K-Kiki's successor- ugh... It's gonna t-take a lot more than this- To break my spirit-
Ash sighs as he continues forward, only to find another one of those puzzles back in Devon Corp, only this time it adds the conveyer belts in it.
Radio: Xx$# X&( X20x-
Ash looks at the radio transceiver, and he finds that the panels are still working when he presses the button. After walking pass the puzzle, Ash finally gets to another cell room, and he has a bad feeling about this.
Ash: I really don't like this place...first Victoria...what about the next one...
As he enters the cell again, he finds that the other side is Arclight.
Ash: Arc!
Arc: Ash? Oh, fuck, not again. Look, I found Adrienn. Xe's on the level below. It was a set-up like this one. Did you see it? Or the others?
Ash: I found Victoria, she was also on the level below. And it was also a set-up just like this one!
Arc: That bitch- That was Lin, right? She said we had to fight each other to get out. And Adrienn- Xe refused. Goddammit. Xe said xe wouldn't fight, and that I should just go on. And, the penalty... The floor was searing- Look, it's not pretty.
Ash: Victoria and I did fight, because she wants to, not because of the penalty, I beat her, but the penalty is that the floor was shocking...and it is not pretty as well.
Arc can only grit his teeth, and the screen also turns on to reveal Lin once more.
Lin: Do you understand yet?
Arc: Tch, here we go.
Lin: You have no control. You never did, Even if your glass-spun egos depend on convincing yourselves otherwise. You are pigs to be herded. You are pigs to be hurt. Sputter, shiver, and squeal. It changes nothing. You know what to do.
Then the screen turns off again, and Ash can only grit his teeth.
Arc: She's gonna eat those words when one of us "little piggies" catches up to her. But right now... I found out the hard way before that even these bars are electrified. Plus the floor panels, which...
Ash: Wait, so you're not the one who does the floor panels?
Arc: If I'm not at the control panel to switch them for you, then who is? Regardless, of all my tough talk, I don't have a way out of this. It pisses me off, but she's right. We got cocky. And now we're trapped. So what do you wanna do, Ash? Are you gonna fight? Or are you refusing like Adrienn?
Ash: I really don't want to fight you, but for Victoria, I'm going to win this and stop Lin.
Arc: (Nods) Good. I'm fighting for Adrienn's sake now too. You get that, right? Let's do this!
This is the first time Ash is fighting Arclight, and he goes with Luxray as his first Pokemon.
Ash: (Thinks) He might be an Electric Type user...then if that's the case, I'll have to change the field.
Then Ash goes for Florges as his first Pokemon. Luxray goes for Electric Terrain, and Ash decides to go with Misty Terrain to block it. Now that the Misty Terrain is up, Ash quickly has Florges go for Moonblast, dealing a lot of damage to Luxray. Luxray goes for Wild Charge, it still deals a lot of damage, but Luxray is defeated by Florges' Petal Dance.
The next Pokemon is Raichu, and Florges is confused because of Petal Dance, and Raichu goes for Hidden Power Steel, which defeats Florges in the end. At the same time, the Misty Terrain also ends, so Ash goes for Ferrothorn for the next Pokemon, and it goes for Ingrain first to set up the roots, and then goes for Power Whip to knock it out. The third Pokemon for Arc is Noivern, and it goes for Hurricane, causing Ferrothorn to get confused and then finishing with Heat Wave.
Ash: Noivern can learn Heat Wave? I should have taught Noivern that...I think I'll ask Charizard to do that for Noivern...
He sends out Alolan Ninetales as his third Pokemon, and it goes for a Blizzard, knocking out the Noivern because it is four times super effective. The fourth Pokemon for Arclight is Jolteon, and Jolteon goes for Discharge, with the Electric attack, it defeats Ninetales because of the field. Ash goes for Golurk for the fourth Pokemon, and Golurk manages to deal with Earthquake, breaking the field, and then finishes with a Shadow Punch.
The fifth Pokemon is an Exploud, and it goes for Surf and Ice Beam, dealing a heavy amount of damage to Golurk and knocking it out. Ash goes for Heracross for the fifth Pokemon, and Heracross goes for Close Combat to knock the Exploud out. And the final Pokemon is Ampharos.
Arc: You've got a good showing. But don't think I'm going off the air just yet!
Ash sees Arclight showing the Mega Ring and presses it, and he is not happy about it.
Ash: I wished there are some ways I can get a Key Stone...I have a lot of Mega Stones, but I can't use them...
Then Mega Ampharos goes for Agility and Zap Cannon, causing Heracross to get paralyzed, and Heracross is knocked out by the Dragon Pulse, so Ash goes for Pikachu as his final Pokemon. Pikachu goes for Quick Attack, trying to outspeed Ampharos, and then delivers an Iron Tail, knocking out the Ampharos in the end.
Arc: Hah. All right. Sorry, Adrienn. Looks like it's my turn now. (Recalls Ampharos) At least this way, winner and loser alike, we can both take pride in knowing that we did everything we could. Go get 'em, hero.
Just then, much to their surprise, Ash's door opens once more, but Arclight just falls through the ground and disappears. Ash tries to look for Arc, but the bottom level is just dark and nothing else.
After getting out of the room, he finds more puzzles, and he tries to solve them as fast as possible since the last one is Ame and he really needs to find the Champion of Reborn. As he is doing the puzzles, Ash also finds the PULSE Dex on the ground.
PULSE 01 Magnezone: Electric and Steel Type. Ability: Levitate. The very first PULSE Pokemon created. Its function is mass reproduction. Each of its eyes contains the energy of one of the people responsible for its creation. It obeys only them.
Ash: The Magnezone! That means if I defeated the Magnezone...then ZEL will be back to three people! But...
He is wondering if he should do it? He is not ZEL and he really doesn't know will they like to be separated or not, not only that, he also spotted the Absol back in the underground, which might be thinking that one of the people is going to die. He shakes off the thoughts and quickly solves the puzzle and rushes toward the upper level.
And here is a new chapter, as you can see, Ash has been forced to fight Victoria and Arclight thanks to Lin, who trapped them and forced them to either battle or get the penalty. I hope you like this chapter and the next chapter will be another PULSE Fight.
