As Paul's second Pokemon and Ash's powerful aura-guided Pokemon stood face to face, Ash knew that Electivire was not to be underestimated. Paul kept his Electivire fresh, and both trainers knew that he will use it as his last Pokemon.

"Lucario! Aura Sphere!"

"Cross Chop!" Paul shouted.

As Mega Lucario fired its Aura Sphere at Electivire, the Thunderbolt Pokemon showed its prowess and cut it down with its own Fighting-type move.

"Lucario, charge towards Electivire!"

"You do the same! Ice Punch!" Paul shouted.

As Lucario and Electivire were approaching each other, Ash had Lucario counter with Bullet Punch. However, Lucario's energy was slowly going out, and this time it was overpowered, with it even having its left arm frozen…

"Electivire! Let's finish this! Wild Charge!"

"Reversal!" Ash countered, and the usual explosion followed.

When the dust settled, Lucario was on the ground motionless, and its opponent was clearly damaged. But it felt like he was in a prime position, despite Ash's two remaining Pokemon. Additionally, Toxic Spikes could still bite. But Ash had other ideas.

"Lucario is unable to battle! Electivire wins!" the referee shouted.

"Return, Lucario. Thank you so much." Ash said.

"It's time to get out those Toxic Spikes." he smiled.

"Gengar, I choose you!"

As the Ghost-type appeared on the battlefield, it was slowly absorbing the opponent's Toxic Spikes. Paul noticed this, and immediately remembered that its opponent was part Poison-type as well.

"I used Toxic Spikes for no reason. Damn it." Paul thought. "But I'm still winning. I must win this battle."

"Gengar! Dazzling Gleam!"

"Electivire, Thunder!"

Gengar's Dazzling Gleam proved faster and the ghost-type managed to cancel out a potentially dangerous Thunder attack, damaging Electivire.

"Good job, Gengar! Follow up with Sludge Bomb!"

"Hit them back with Fire Punch!" Paul shouted.

Electivire this time managed to perk up and was mostly unfazed by the Sludge Bomb, despite it receiving small hits here and there, as it shot up the little poisonous bombs back at Gengar, hitting it at point blank.

"Gengar! Are you okay?" Ash said.

"Gen." Gengar smiled. It seemed mostly unfazed. That quadruple resistance helped.

"Looks like it's come down to this." Paul smirked.

"Ash… I'll need to introduce you to my technique."

"Yeah! I'm happy! I'll be looking forward to seeing it!"

"Return, Electivire." Paul said, as Ash instantly knew what he was about to do.

"Answer my call, yellow human! Dynamax Electivire!"

"Yellow human? What?" Ash thought. But he had no time to think, as the huge Electric-type Pokemon appeared on the battlefield.

"Great. And now I've used up Mega Lucario. This thing could exploit my Gengar easily and then lay it all on Dracovish…"

"Gengar, let's be careful." Ash said.

"Electivire! Max Lightning!"

"Dodge it, Gengar!" Ash shouted.

Gengar used it's ghost-type abilities to float above the ground, as he shortly disappeared. Electivire's attack was massive and turned the whole area into an electric terrain. This was bad.

"Let's go, Gengar! Charge up a Shadow Ball!"

"Max Hailstorm!" Paul continued. Paul's Electivire formed huge clouds over its head and shot them down at Gengar. Gengar destroyed one of them with Shadow Ball and barely dodged the attack. But now Ash also had to worry about hail. Again.

Although this time, hail could backfire for Paul, seeing as Electivire was not an ice-type Pokemon.

"One more Max Lightning!" Paul immediately responded. This time, Gengar wasn't fast enough and was promptly hit at point blank, as Electivire turned back to normal.

"Gengar is unable to battle! Electivire wins!" the referee shouted.

"Hm." Ash smiled.

"Return, Gengar. Thank you."

"It's going to be all right." Jira thought. "Guys, let's calm down. Ash still has this in the bag."

"What do you mean? That Electivire is insane…" Goh thought.

"Just like last time, he'll find a way around it." Brock smiled. The same sentiments could be echoed from Johto, from that location where…

"Guys", Jira spoke, "Ash prevented Electivire from gaining attack boosts. Now he only really has to worry about Electivire's powered up electric moves in the first place. Hail can actually help him here."

"I'm putting all my faith in you. You're my friend, you know." Ash stared at his last Pokeball, in what many people already considered an anticlimactic finish, with Ash's aces being taken out, Drapion being removed, and Electivire not being able to finish off with Dynamax.

"Dracovish! I choose you!" Ash shouted, as he sent out his last Pokemon.

"And now, in this snowy, chilly weather, the climax of the epic Ash Ketchum vs Paul battle is about to unfold. Paul has managed to level up the odds, and is attempting to do the impossible! A remontada is not out of question anymore! Will Electivire have what it takes to eliminate a third Pokemon and complete the comeback? Or will Dracovish prevail and Ash will advance to the final round?"

"Electivire!" Paul shouted. "We'll win! Let's give it all until the end! This one goes for you as well, Ash. You've… impressed me. As pathetic as you are."

"Paul…" Ash smirked. "I accept your challenge. Dracovish, you're all I have left."

"Battle start!"

"Electivire! Thunder!"

"Dracovish! Charge towards Electivire quickly! Use Dragon Rush!"

Electivire charged up the Thunder straight at Dracovish, as the fossil Pokemon was pushing its way through. Dracovish took a lot of damage, but ultimately prevailed and managed to hit Electivire straight in the face with its powerful attack.

"Hail keeps falling! Both Pokemon get hurt!"

Electivire was huffing and puffing at this point. Paul needed to think something up, quick.

"Dracovish! Now go towards Electivire again!"

"Hmph." Paul smirked. "Just like Infernape, Pikachu and Gliscor."

"Hmph." Ash smiled harder.

"Catch it!" Paul shouted.

"I thought so." Ash smiled. "Dracovish, Fishious Rend on its antennae!"

Electivire caught up Dracovish and rolled its antennae around it. But Dracovish's huge mouth opened up and revealed one of Electivire's design flaws. Both of its antennae were rendered useless as Dracovish bit them with insane force. The side effect of this was massive electricity hitting the fossil at point blank. Ouch. That's gotta hurt a lot.

And both Pokemon were barely standing at this point. The continous hail did not help as they took even more damage.

"Let's finish this!" Ash and Paul shouted.

"Electivire! We have to bet it all on this! Wild Charge!"

"Dragon Rush!"

"GO!" both shouted.

With all the remaining electricity inside its body, Electivire charged up its Wild Charge as Dracovish responded by running towards it with Dragon Rush. Electivire knew that this was the last chance for Paul. The electric terrain was helping it a lot in this regard.

Meanwhile, a loss here for Ash would not be taken well. He's beaten Paul before, he disappeared for two years, and his strategy plans went way better. He felt like he couldn't be beat via sheer power, the way he used to push his way through.

As Dracovish and Electivire were hitting their heads with each other, the entire crowd was standing up, remaining silent. Misty, Dawn, May, Serena and their Pokemon did the same, in front of the TV. Even the announcer went silent.

Finally, the struggle ended, and a massive explosion was heard. The dust covered everyone's sight of the battlefield. Ash and Paul remained motionless as the dust was clearing.

And the hail was going away.

Silence.

And more silence.

And then…

"Electivire is unable to battle! Dracovish wins! This means the victory goes to Ash of Pallet Town!" the referee shouted.

Electivire fainted while still standing. It remained motionless in a way that reminded of Ash's Sirfetch'd. Meanwhile, Dracovish was still tumbling, before finally gaining its control.

"Dracovish." Ash smiled. "We… we did it!" he shouted as he ran towards his Pokemon and hugged it. Dracovish was finally done justice, he felt.

"Thank you, Electivire." Paul quietly said as he walked towards Ash.

"Ash." Paul said as he extended his hand. "That was a good battle. You're still the same."

"You too, Paul." The two rivals shook hands, as Electivire recovered and walked towards Dracovish, with both Pokemon shaking hands as well.

"By the way… since no one has told you this yet, I'll be the first one. Welcome back." Paul smiled.

"Thank you, Paul."

"Professor Oak has asked about you from time to time."

"Ash, that was a great display", Jira spoke as he clapped alongside Goh and Hop, as well as their Pokemon.

"Brock…" Goh said. "Brock? He… he's gone…"

"Ash, I hope we'll see each other again." Paul said as he went towards his locker room with his hand up.

"Paul… he's better now. Hehehe. Oak-san, you've taught him a thing or two." Ash thought.