Chapter – 27 Lance Vs Ash
"I think it's a waste of time to try to bring you back to reality. Isn't it Lance?" asked Ash
There was no answer from Lance
"I guess that's a no" Ash completed
"Ketchum…" said Lance "The Lady has ordered me to eliminate you. And that's what I'll do"
"Yeah, you said that already" Ash answered "Let's go"
Lance took one of his poke balls out of his pocket and threw it towards Ash
"Gyarados, I choose you" said Lance while throwing his poke ball and revealing his Pokémon
"Sceptile, I choose you" said Ash doing the same as Lance
Both Dragon Master's Pokémon appeared in front of each other, Ash released Sceptile first not because of its advantage against Gyarados, but because he knew Lance was going to choose Gyarados first like he always did. And Ash knew Sceptile was ready to finally face Gyarados. During his training with Lance, Ash took ten Pokémon to train within the Temple of Dragons; they were Pikachu, Greninja, Charizard, Sceptile, Talonflame, Kingler, Snorlax, Heracross, Glalie and Gliscor. After one year Lance allowed Ash to change five of his Pokémon, so he returned Kingler, Gliscor, Glalie, Talonflame and Heracross to get Noibat, Hawlucha, Infernape, Unzefant and Totodile. Noibat and Totodile were brought by Ash to the Temple of Dragons with the objective of get them evolved, which he did successfully by the way. Ash chose Hawlucha and Unzefant because since Kalos he became very fond of the flight type. Infernape was chosen due to its obviously strength. However, what was interesting it's that when Ash was deciding which Pokémon he was going to return to Professor Oak's Lab, he firstly thought about returning Sceptile instead of Glalie. It wasn't easy to choose five Pokémon to exchange, but he decided to return Sceptile. But when Sceptile was told he was going to go back to Pallet Town… he refused. He wanted to stay with Ash and keep training with him and Lance, and Lance's Gyarados was the reason of it. Sceptile and Gyarados became rivals at the Temple of Dragons, ever since Ash and Lance were battling they've always sent Sceptile and Gyarados to face each other, it became a tradition between them, whenever Sceptile was battling, Gyarados would be its opponent and vice versa. But… in almost three years of training, Sceptile never defeated Gyarados. He defeated many other Lance's Pokémon like Flygon and even Dragonite once, but Gyarados never lost against Sceptile. And now at the most important battle between them, Ash knew Sceptile was finally ready to become winner for the first time.
"I do not regret keeping you at my team Sceptile" said Ash to his Pokémon "Just like me… you hate being defeat, you trained hard and hard waiting to this moment to arrive"
Sceptile looked at Ash and nodded. It was killing Sceptile from inside not having a victory against Gyarados, but now he was going to change this forever
"Our proud is on the table" said Ash "Do your best"
"Gyarados, dragon breath" said Lance
Gyarados jumped and from up above "shot" its dragon move
"Sceptile, use Agility" Ash said
Apparently easy, Sceptile dodged Gyarados attack without getting hit
"It seems you got better trained. But that's not enough to defeat Gyarados" said Lance "Gyarados use thunderwave"
Still on the air, Gyarados send down yellow waves that paralyzed Sceptile
"Damn it" said Ash "Sceptile, use Solar Beam"
Sceptile tried to obey Ash… but nothing came out
"Sceptile it's Paralyzed, it can't move now" said Lance "Gyarados, use Flamethrower"
Almost hitting the ground, Gyarados attacked Sceptile with his fire attack, causing a pretty bad damage to him and some burns along its body
"Sceptile can you still go on?" asked Ash
Sceptile answered yes with his head and then turned to Gyarados
"Great" said Ash "Try to use Solar Beam again"
Sceptile started to charge energy from the sun so he could use the move Ash asked him
"Let's see which beam is stronger" said Lance "Gyarados, use Hyper Beam"
Gyarados also started to charge energy to strike back Sceptile's Solar Beam. It took just a couple of seconds but then both Pokémon were ready to attack
"NOW" shouted Ash while Sceptile shot his attack toward Gyarados
"You too Gyarados, ATTACK" Lance shouted to Gyarados who also shot his attack toward Sceptile´s
Both beams hit each other, and the power of the Pokémon would now be the tiebreaker to see which attack would win and hit the opponent
For almost a minute both none Pokémon were tied, half of the battlefield was taken by the yellow light of Gyarados Hyper Beam and half of the battlefield was taken by the green light of Sceptile's Solar Beam. But unfortunately for Ash and Sceptile, paralyzation took control of his body again, making the Solar Beam to give in and allowing Gyarados's Hyper Beam to hit Sceptile directly
"SCEPTILE" shouted Ash while seeing his Pokémon being throwing away and hitting the ground
Ash ran towards Sceptile and took him into his arms
"Sceptile… are you okay?"
Sceptile was fighting against defeat, he could no longer get up by himself and Ash knew it. It's paralyzation and damage taken so far by Gyarado's Flamethrower and Hyper beam were all Sceptile could stand. But he didn't want to give up
"It's okay" said Ash "It's okay to lose. It only makes us stronger, There's nothing to be ashamed of"
Sceptile didn't want to. He wanted to be the winner, he was trying hard to get up… but it's wasn't possible
"Do you know what you should do?" asked Ash "You should REST"
Sceptile looked at Ash understanding what he wanted to say and then went to sleeping restoring all his strength and healing his status problems
Ash got up, looked at Lance and walked back to his position, leaving Sceptile alone on the ground
"You think I didn't see what you did" said Lance "Sceptile just used rest. Although he is healed, he's asleep. So I have the chance to finish this battle"
Ash said nothing, just looked at Lance waiting him to order Gyarados its next move
"Now Gyarados, use Dragon Tail" said Lance
Gyarados started to "run" towards Sceptile, his tail already getting ready to attack. When he was close to him…
"Now Sceptile, use Flash" shouted Ash
Immediately, Sceptile opened his eyes and a strong flash of light temporarily blinded Gyarados, making him scream in pain
"Now Sceptile, use Dragon leaf" said Ash
"What?" asked Lance "What move is that
Sceptile's blade turned blue and very fast, he used them to hit Gyarados on the head, making him fall into the ground… knocked out
"Gy… Gyarados?" asked Lance still in shock for what had just happened
"It seems Gyarados ca no longer battle Lance" said Ash
Lance returned Gyarados and angrily looked at Ash who was congratulating Sceptile for the first victory against it
"How did Sceptile wake up so fast?" asked Lance
"With this" said Ash showing Lance a small blue berry he took out of his pocket
"A Chesto Berry" said Lance "So when you ran to help Sceptile, you already had this on your mind" Lance said smiling
"Of course" answered Ash "A good trainer is not only made of ability and luck… but also some smartness"
"What about that last move?" asked Lance "What was that?"
"You know Lance… ever since I started training with you, I secretly developing some moves that mix two types together. I did with Charizard before… but I also trained with Sceptile" said Ash
"I see" said Lance "And this one is a mix of Dragon Claw and Razor Leaf I assume"
"That's right" Ash answered
"There was no way Gyarados could stand that attack" Lance said "Dragon Claw and Razor Leaf together created an effect much stronger than the "super effective""
"I was thinking of it when I developed it" Ash said
"Clever" said Lance "Shall we continue?"
"Be my guest" Ash answered
Lance took a second Poke ball out of his belt and threw it revealing his next Pokémon
"Flygon, I choose you" said Lance
"Sceptile, return. I'm leaving you with the victory taste on your lips" said Ash calling his Pokémon back "Talonflame, GO"
Ash released his orange fire bird Pokémon. One of his favorites since Kalos
"So… a sky battle?" Lance asked
"Let's vary a little" Ash answered
"Okay then. Flygon, use Sand-Attack" said Lance
Flygon swung its tail making sand rise from the ground and throwing it toward Talonflame
"Talonflame, fly and dodge it" ordered Ash
"Flygon, don't let Talonflame fly" Lance said "Use Rock Slide"
Flygon used the attack ordered and soon many rocks started falling from the sky and hitting Talonflame while it's was trying to fly
"Talonflame" said Ash
"I know you are a very skilled trainer Ash" said Lance "But so am I. Flygon use Earth Power"
Ash didn't even have time to think… Flygon hit Talonflame making it fall on the ground…knocked out
"Ta… Talonflame" Ash said
"It can no longer battle" said Lance "That was easy"
Ash returned Talonflame and looked at Lance. He was better than he thought. Although they have trained together for almost three years, Lance was unpredictable, he never asked Flygon to use rock and ground attacks before. If Ash knew, he would never call Talonflame to battle Flygon. Such a naïve mistake
"I knew it would be this way" said Ash taking another Poke ball
Lance returned Flygon and also took another ball
"I must find a way to set Lance's mind free from The Lady" Ash thought "If I keep battling Lance I may win, but I also may get my Pokémon hurt and that would be terrible since I still have to battle The Lady. But how am I going to set his mind free?"
"I'm waiting Ketchum" said Lance "Make your move"
"Okay" said Ash "I choose Greninja"
Ash released his frog ninja Pokémon, one of his most powerful buddies
"I choose Aerodactyl" Lance said choosing his Prehistoric Pokémon
"Well… I could say that you were not very smart choosing a rock type against my water type Pokémon" said Ash "But that is going against your teaching of "Types do not win battles"" said Ash
Lance didn't seem to care about Ash speech; he was only waiting him to do the first move
"Greninja, water shuriken" said Ash
On Greninja's hands appeared many shuriken that he threw against his foe on the sky
"Aerodactyl, use wing attack and give them back to Greninja" Lance ordered
Aerodactyl hit the Shuriken and sent all of them back to Greninja who dodged them easily
"Greninja, jump and use cut" Ash said
Greninja ran fast and jumped in an attempt to his Aerodactyl with his "sword"
"Aerodactyl, use supersonic"
Aerodactyl sent down waves that made Greninja confused
"Damn it" thought Ash while watching his Pokémon lose balance in his confusion
"Aerodactyl use crunch" said Lance
Aerodactyl flew down toward Greninja and with his sharped teeth gave Greninja a very strong bite
"Greninja are you okay?" asked Ash
Greninja was damaged, but on the other hand Aerodactyl's attack snapped him out of his confusion
"Greninja… can you keep battling?" asked Ash
Greninja nodded positively to his trainer
"Good" said Ash "Next move will be our last one. Either we win or lose"
"I agree" said Lance
"Greninja, run. Run as fast as you can" said Ash
Greninja started running towards Aerodactyl
"Aerodactyl, Fly" said Lance
Aerodactyl started flying to escape from Greninja but…
"Greninja, used hydro pump… on the floor" said Ash
Greninja took aim at the ground and used the move Ash ordered, the attack made an impulse that threw him up toward Aerodactyl who didn't have time to defend himself
"Now use headbutt" said Ash to his Pokémon
Greninja still "flying" hit Aerodactyl's belly so strong that made him breathless and fall on the ground, but Ash and Greninja weren't done yet
"Now Greninja, to finish this, use as much Water Shuriken as you can" said Ash
Greninja still on the air threw many water shuriken making Aerodactyl disappear into the water that appeared due to his attack. After Greninja finished, the only thing all of them knew was that Aerodactyl had been defeated
"Well done Greninja" said Ash to his Pokémon "I knew you could do it"
Greninja smiled at Ash, all training they did along the years weren't in vain. They both were much stronger now
Lance still emotionless returned Aerodactyl, the tie had come to him finally use his strongest Pokémon on hand
"It's time Ketchum" he said "There is no more reason to keep battle like this. I'm going to use my strongest Pokémon"
Ash returned Greninja. He knew which Pokémon he was going to use. But most important, he knew which Pokémon he had to use as well
"I choose Salamence" said Lance releasing his blue dragon Pokémon
"It's time to set you free Lance" thought Ash "GO! DRAGONITE"
Ash threw the Poke ball that belonged to Lance and released Dragonite, the strongest Dragon Pokémon alive on earth. Lance's Dragonite
At first, Lance seemed not to recognize his own Dragonite, so they both were going to fight with all their power
"Remember Dragonite" said Ash "We're doing this for Lance"
Dragonite agreed, he knew he would have to take his master down to help him to get free from his mental control, and Dragonite would do anything to accomplish that
This battle was going to decide the world's future. For either good or bad
Lance and Salamence VS Ash and Dragonite