"Shall we continue." Ash more stated than asked, watching as Hau blinked and looked at him with a curious look, "Why did you recall your Hawlucha? He didn't look tired or anything..." Ash rolled his eyes, the question coming across as very stupid as he spoke in a bored voice, "You froze one of Hawlucha's wings - with a wing frozen, he wouldn't have been able to balance enough to attack, so there was no point in him continuing"
Dawn nodded to herself from the sidelines at Ash's words with a smile, "That was a smart move actually" Zack and his siblings blinked, their own reasoning siding with Hau, "Why do you say that?" Nicole voiced there thoughts, making Dawn blink and look at them - surprised that they didn't see the logic behind Ash's words.
"It's simple really - Hawlucha is an all out attacking pokemon, who relies on its balance and movement when in battle - with a wing frozen, the ability to attack and avoid attacks would be restricted. Plus, if the frozen wing was attacked, the broken shards could piece the wing and cause un-necessary damage" Dawn finished, looking back to the battlefield, whilst the three triplets look at he in surprise. It was the first time they had spoken to the girl, and her reasoning was scarily close to Ash's way of thinking - they just hoped she wasn't 100% like Ash.
Hau blinked, not really seeing the logic in Ash's words, "If you say so..." Ash just rolled his eyes - this Hau kid wasn't the brightest bulb, nor the sharpest crayon in the box.
"Let's just continue" Ash stated once more, watching as Hau's face turned back into his ear-splitting grin as he pointed towards Bulbasaur, "Let's knock 'em out with Ice Beam!" Vaporeon nodded as it took a deep breath, shooting the beam of ice towards Bulbasaur, "Use Vine Whip to dodge, then use Sleep Powder" Producing the two dark green vines from his bulb, Bulbasaur easily pushed himself of the ground, narrowly dodging the Ice Beam, which hit the wooden field, freezing Ash's side other, making Ash grunt as he realised he would have to deal with a slippy field form here-on out.
Once in the air, Bulbasaur's bulb began to shake slightly as a blue powder began emitting from the whole in the bulb, falling over Vaporeon: Making the water eeveeloution blink its eyes before it slumped forward, falling asleep, "Saur!" Bulbasaur gasped as he landed on the icy field, slipping about slightly before he managed to balance himself on the ice, "Slide with the ice - Use the momentum to rush into a Tackle" Ash instructed, watching as his Kanto starter began to slowly slide across the ice, slowly but steadily picking up speed.
Once gaining enough speed, Bulbasaur used his vines to push himself forward across the ice, a small shock wave surrounding him as he propelled himself of the ice and slammed into a still sleeping Vaporeon.
"Vaporeon! Come on Vaporeon, wake up!" Hau shouted to his sleeping pokemon, who slide back roughly against the non-icy part of the wooden field, "Your best of returning your pokemon" Ash stated as he watched Vaporeon slide back across the wood, making Hau frown at the words, "No way! We can still fight! Vaporeon just needs to wake up!" Ash sighed at the boys stubbornness, raising a poke'ball and recalling Bulbasaur, "The battle is over, even if your pokemon wakes up, he won't be able to keep fighting"
"What makes you think that? My Vaporeon isn't weak!"
"I never said it was," Ash started with a shrug as he watched Vaporeon slowly start to come round from its slumber, "But my Bulbasaur has a lot more experience, and i am almost certain that my Bulbasaur's Tackle has done more damage than your pokemon can take - in fact, just look at your pokemon. Its struggling to stand up" Hau blinked and looked at his Vaporeon, who indeed was struggling to stand up, its head sporting a brand new, and massive bruise. Making the water type pokemon stop trying to stand as it reached its front paws forward to grip its head in pain.
"Vaporeon! Are you okay?!" Hau gasped, running to his pokemon and knelling beside it, "That Tackle with the boosted momentum did more damage than either us anticipated - for that i apologize, but it would be considered cruel for you to keep your pokemon battling after taking such massive damage directly to the head" Ash continued, making the triplets eyes widen in shock at Ash's apology.
"Did he just say he was sorry?" Ash heard Zack ask, making him roll his eyes at the triplets. Its not like Ash had lost his ability to feel bad for other people or pokemon - he honestly was just careful not to upset anyone if he could help it. But being so hurt made it hard for Ash to interact with people, but pokemon were another story. In this case, he was more apologizing to Vaporeon than to its trainer.
Hau considered what Ash had said, finally nodding as he recalled his injured pokemon, "This battle isn't over!" Hau exclaimed as he walked back over to his side of the field, freezing when he heard a voice exclaim back, "Yes it is my boy!" The voice made everyone turn towards the opening to the woods that was surrounded in strange looking statues, only to see a large man with white hair and a white beard with his hands on his large stomach, a familiar grin plastered across his face.