Here we are, yet another chapter ready for your viewing. Thank you to all of the people who added my story to their favorites list and shoutout to neaucleareactor5 , Askeller08 , JustaSkip , and Yami Nova for the reviews. I really appreciate them and I literally stay up all night checking my email for notifications on who added my story or reviewed it. It means a lot to me that people actually read my work and tell me how they think I can improve it.

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"As we advance in life it becomes more and more difficult, but in fighting the difficulties the inmost strength of the heart is developed." – Vincent Van Gogh

Chapter Ten

"Let's Dance"

Heh, I sounded really cool. Internally I gave myself a fistbump, sometimes my genius astounds me. Honestly, there was a huge chance that Aegislash and I could lose this battle since Giovanni was way more of an experienced trainer than me, plus this is Aegislash's and I's first pro-battle together.

But that doesn't mean we can't give him a run of his money.

The arena was a rocky field that while mostly flat, had slightly uneven spots from years of battling. There was no one watching our battle from the stands, so it was just Giovanni, Grunt, Sauron, and I.

Giovanni smirked, his unease washing away as he stepped forwards and called out his pokemon.

"Rhyhorn, let's go."

And so, the battle has begun. Sauron versus Rhyhorn, and ultimately, me versus Giovanni.

Except, there was a long silent pause as each side tried to wait each other out to see who would make the first move.

Sauron was in his shield form and I decided that we needed to get the momentum of the battle and put ourselves in the right mindset.

"Sauron, enter in with Close Combat and aim for the juncture where the neck and shoulder connect!" Sauron swiftly moved, he changed out of his defensive stance and went into his attacking one. He attacked, in almost a type of execution pose, laying a devastating hit on one juncture but was interrupted when Giovanni yelled for Rhyhorn to dodge and use Take Down.

"Sauron!"

Sauron was slammed to the ground by the 250 pounds (115 kg) of mass called Rhyhorn. He was starting to flail, his purple ribbon and gold body was struggling under his opponent who was twice his body weight.

"Rhyhorn, use Horn Drill repeatedly while you have him down!" Giovanni shouted, his face twisting into a smug and punchable shape. Maybe his face has always been like that, how unlucky.

My thoughts quickly changed when I saw what was happening to Sauron, he had his shield back up but Rhyhorn was persistent with delivering punishment.

I couldn't let this continue, I had to find a way to stop this before Sauron got seriously hurt!

Racking my mind, I quickly reviewed the scene and flashed through Sauron's moves. There weren't many and this was his first pro-battle, age be damned. However, there may be one.

"Sauron! Listen to me closely, I want you to wrap your arm without the shield around Rhyhorn's neck and use Iron Head as much as you can until he gives you the chance to escape!"

Sauron's purple arm held Rhyhorn in a discounted chokehold, before he started to bash the pointed end of his head against Rhyhorn's face. There were loud thuds that happened every time Sauron bashed his head against the rock rhino thing.

Rhyhorn eventually had to move away once Sauron started hitting a little too close to its eyes.

Sauron immediately got out of its control and shaked himself off as noblely as a ghost sword could after being tackled by a rock/ground rhino. There were visible scratches on him and his shield's gorgeous gold pattern looked to be tattered and dulled. He's going to be so annoyed until he recovers to his usual luster.

Giovanni tried to get Rhyhorn's momentum back by calling out another move. However, this move didn't make much sense seeing as it was an electric move against a steel type.

"Thunderbolt!"

Shaking the strangeness of the move away, I called out to Sauron. Maybe he just didn't want to lose the momentum.

"Sauron! Stab into the ground and let it hit you!"

Sauron immediately dug into the ground, and let the lightning uselessly hit the dirt. However, he didn't rise from the ground and even while he was constantly trying to shift out. He was stuck.

When I glanced at Giovanni's face, I realized that he was smirking. He threw his arm out and shouted for his partner.

"Rhyhorn, use Bull Doze and while he's stuck in the ground use Stomping Tantrum!"

What I saw broke my heart.

While Sauron was stuck in the ground, he got tackled by the Rhyhorn and was forced to take the abuse. Stomp after stomp hit Sauron and pushed him deeper into the ground, making cracks around them. There was nothing I could do to save him and that scared me.

Our first battle was a crushing defeat.

#-#

Here's the Pokemon Ash has and their moveset.

(Male) Aegislash (Sauron): Swords Dance, Iron Head, Shadow Ball, Close Combat, Sacred Sword, and King's Shield.

(Male) Charmander (Frodo): Growl, Scratch, and Ember.

*Frodo has Prolonged Evolution Disorder which as the name states, he will not be a Charizard until MUCH later. However, think of it like this, slow and steady will win the race or battle in his case.

(Male) Shiny Snivy (Legolas) : Overgrow, Tackle, Vine Whip, Attract, and Leaf Tornado.

Sorry about the short chapter. It would've been pretty cool if Ash won but realistically it was her first pokemon battle against the leader of Team Rocket and one of the hardest gyms. This is a turning point in her life and will give her the reason to work harder.