Chapter 31 – ASH vs THE LADY
Tension was the word to define the exact moment of Temple of Dragons. At one side Ash and Charizard and at the other The Lady and Ritual Dragonite. Both of them were focused but just one of them was sure that was going to win.
"What that Dragonite did to May's Snorlax… I'm pretty sure it wasn't half of his power" thought Ash "I can either attack first with all I have or wait to see what her strategy is going to be"
The Lady seemed calm. She appeared to have no fear or doubts about the battle they were about to start
"Why does she look so calm?" thought Ash "Is she so sure that she is going to win?"
"Yes I am" said The Lady to Ash mentally
Ash looked at her surprised and angry at the same time, she was doing again
"She's trying to enter my mind again" Ash thought "I'm not allowing it"
"Don't worry" The Lady answered "I have no more intention of controlling your mind"
"What?"
"I can no longer risk having you and Lance on my way" said The Lady "So I must eliminate you two. Once it's done The Temple will have no choice but making me Dragon Master"
Ash was scared, for the first time in a while he was scared. Not because The Lady or her Dragonite, but for what could happen to him, May, Dawn, Serena and all the world if he failed to defeat her
"I feel your fear Ketchum" said The Lady "You are just confirming what I knew a long time… that you will never defeat me"
"What is happening with me? I was fine a couple of minutes ago. Why I feel so… scare?"
Ash was starting to sweat when he felt someone hold his hand. He looked behind…
"Se… Serena?" Ash asked
"Ash… Don't be afraid of fear" Serena said "You once told me that it's completely okay to be scare of unknown things. I've been scared for over three years because it was unknown if you were coming back… but I survived. Do your best now and don't think about the future"
"Serena…" said Ash
"We're in this together. All of us" said Serena looking to May and Dawn
"She's right" said Dawn "We'll never let you get defeat by your fears"
"We trust you Ash" said May "Do you know why we fall down?"
"No" said Ash
"So we can learn to get up again" May answered "So get up Ash"
"Do your best" said Dawn
"And don't give up till it's over" completed Serena with her favorite sentence
Ash smiled at Serena and then smiled to May and Dawn, what a fool he made of himself. He was always cheering everybody up, telling them to never give up, but he failed in following his own advice. Thanks God he has Serena, May and Dawn along with many other friends who would never let him get defeat by his fears.
"It's okay to be scare" said Ash "It's okay to feel fear. What is not okay is to let them control you. Thank you girls. I love you"
The three of them blushed but felt happy for helping him. It was their way to thank him to all the times he had helped them when they were down
Ash turned back to The Lady and faced her completely different
"You've changed" The Lady said "You are ready now"
"I sure am" he answered
"Let's not waste more time" she said
A couple of seconds passed in silence until…
"Charizard, Fly" said Ash
Charizard flew up high disappearing through the clouds
"Dragonite, follow him" said The Lady
Dragonite also flew up high after Charizard
"So… a Sky battle is going to be" said The Lady "Dragonite, speed up and use headbutt"
Dragonite all of a sudden increased his speed getting as fast as it was possible reaching Charizard in just a couple of seconds and hitting him in the back
"Charizard, use Dragon Tail" ordered Ash
Charizard took advantage that Dragonite was facing his back and hit him with his Dragon move… but it seemed to have had no effect on him
"He was supposed to at least get a little damaged… is this the power of the Psyblood Ritual?" thought Ash
"Dragonite now use Aqua Tail" ordered The Lady
It was Dragonite's turn to hit Charizard and just like Ash, The Lady ordered a super effective physical attack, but unlike Dragonite, Charizard seemed to have gotten pretty bad damaged
"Charizard, hold on and use Fire Blast"
"Dodge" said The Lady
"Flamethrower Charizard"
'Dodge again"
"Dragon Tail"
"Once more Dragonite, dodge"
"Have you also notice how fast The Lady's Dragonite is?" asked Dawn
"Yes… Charizard can't hit him" said Serena
"I've never seen such speed before" said May
Ash observed Charizard keep trying to hit Dragonite with his Flamethrower as he easily avoided each attack by just dodging it
"Okay… let's bring this battle to the ground" thought Ash "Charizard get down here" he said
Charizard quickly came back to the ground but Dragonite remained flying
"Do you think I'm stupid?" asked The Lady "Why would I ask Dragonite to go down if he is obviously faster in the air than your Charizard?"
"Who said I wanted him to come down" asked Ash smiling
"What?"
"Charizard, use Draco Meteor"
Charizard used the move Ash ordered and soon meteors were summoned down from the sky
"Dragonite, dodge them" ordered The Lady
Dragonite tried to dodge, he actually was successful at first, but couldn't resist much longer and got hit by many meteors that made him fall strongly into the ground
"That's right Charizard" said Ash
"Amazing" said Serena "I didn't know Charizard could learn Draco Meteor"
"Actually… he can't" said Dawn
"But… how?" asked Serena
"I guess this is just another thing that only Ash can do" said May
"Actually… this is just another thing that only the Temple of Dragons can do" said Ash looking back to the girls
Ash returned his attention to the battle and what he saw made him surprised… Dragonite was already up and worst… it seemed to have felt absolutely nothing from the Draco Meteor attack
"No… this is wrong" said Ash "How… is this possible"
"Dragonite should have gotten damaged" said Serena "He's a Dragon type"
Ash then realized something... he looked at The Lady's Dragonite… his black color and dark appearance…
"He's no longer a Dragon type" said Ash
"What?" asked May, Serena and Dawn
"You finally noticed" said The Lady
"The Ritual… changed his type from Dragon to Dark" said Ash astonished "That's the reason Dragons moves are not working on Dragonite"
"Precisely" said The Lady "Although Dragonite can still use Dragons moves, he is no longer a Dragon Type… so Dragon and Ice moves will no longer be effective on him"
"But bug, fairy and fight moves will work just fine" thought Ash "But… Charizard doesn't know any moves like that"
"It was fun to play with you Ash" said The Lady "But now I will show you the power of my Pokémon"
"What do I do now?" Ash thought
"Dragonite use your speed and hit him with Headbutt" said The Lady
Dragonite moved very fast and hit Charizard's belly with his head making him shout in pain
"CHARIZARD" shouted Ash
"I'm not done yet" said The Lady "Use Aqua Tail"
Dragonite used his tail to strongly hit Charizard who then hit the temple's wall
"And now to finish this, use Water Pulse" said The Lady
Dragonite didn't let Charizard get up, he used Water Pulse while he was still down just confirming what everybody already knew… Charizard was defeated
"Charizard" said Ash
"I can't believe it" said Dawn
"Calm down Dawn" said May
"She's right" said Serena "This battle ain't over yet"
"Charizard… you did your best and they are really strong. Thank you" said Ash to his Pokémon returning him to his Poke ball
Ash looked at The Lady; she was still at the same position as before, just waiting for him to send his next Pokémon
"Let's go" said Ash "This is far from an end"
NOT FAR FROM THERE
A man was calmly walking through the temples watching all damages the previous battles had left behind
"Wow! They really did a mess here" he said to himself
As he continued walking he saw a Dragonite sitting on the floor next to a man who appeared unconscious. The Dragon Pokémon noticed the man's presence and looked at him angrily
"Calm down big guy" said the man "I shall do you no harm"
"He has his own reasons to not trust you" said a voice from behind Dragonite
"So you are awake!" said the man "You don't look good Lance"
"When did you start caring about my health conditions Mascaro?" said Lance
"I don't. I was just saying that you look horrible"
"I've been under Jennifer's mental control; she tried so hard to go further into my brain. I didn't allow of course… but still… it hurts"
"Been there" said Mascaro
"You look different too Mascaro" said Lance getting up
"Yeah? How so?"
"It's like you don't want to follow Jennifer anymore"
"I don't. But I need to"
"Because of your daughter?" asked Lance "She's cured now. Go home"
"The Lady will never allow. She will come after me"
"Don't worry" said Lance "After today… The Lady will be no more"
And then Lance left Mascaro behind and started walking up the stair to the fourth Temple
BACK TO THE FOURTH TEMPLE
Ash took a Poke ball out of his pocket and stared at it
"Bug, Fight and Fairy. I don't know about Fairy but… I can do bug and Fight at the same time" said Ash "Heracross, I choose you!"
Out of the Poke ball Heracross appeared and he was ready to fight
"A bug and fight Pokémon" said The Lady "Don't you always say that types do not win battles?"
"It doesn't" Ash answered "But it helps… in this case… a lot"
"Dragonite, use Fire Blast" said The Lady
"Heracross, Protect"
"Why do you hide your Pokémon?" asked The Lady "Aren't you the best trainer that ever existed?"
"If Lance told you that he is very mistaken"
"Dragonite, use Fire Blast again" ordered The Lady
"Heracross, dodge"
Heracross tried to dodge but the speed of Dragonite's Fire Blast made some flames to hit Heracross while he was dodging
"Heracross are you okay?" asked Ash
Heracross nodded to his trainer to inform that he could still battle
"Let's try some bug moves" said Ash "Heracross use Mega Horn"
Heracross used his horn and rammed Dragonite with no letup; it was so intensive that it seemed that Dragonite wouldn't be able to continue battling after that
"I think Ash did it" said May
After a couple of seconds, Heracross finished his attack making Dragonite fall into the ground
"It's done" said Ash "Dragonite can no longer keep battling Jennifer… you lost"
"hahahaHAHAHAHAHAHA"
"What's so funny Jennifer" asked Ash
"Dear boy… you are so naïve" said The Lady
"What?" asked Ash "What do you mean?"
"I mean this… DRAGONITE… BLAST BURN"
Out of a sudden, Heracross was razed by a fiery explosion that threw him away and knocked out
"He… Heracross" said Ash "But how?"
Ash looked at his fainted Pokémon and then saw Dragonite next to The Lady, with no damage
"You don't understand do you?" asked The Lady "The Psyblood Ritual makes the Pokémon unbeatable. It doesn't matter if your type has advantage; if you are battling with one, two or a hundred Pokémon… you can never defeat the Ritual Ketchum. That's the reason you will never win"
Ash stepped backwards, how was he going to beat an unbeatable Pokémon?
"It seems you have no more will of battling" said The Lady "So I shall no more pretend that my aim is your Pokémon"
"What?" asked Ash
"It's you that I must eliminate Ketchum but just for fun I'll get rid of your girls first"
"NO!" said Ash looking at May, Dawn and Serena "They have nothing to do with you"
"Of course they don't" said The Lady "That's why I said it is just for fun"
"Don't you dare Jennifer" said Ash
"Dragonite use Hyper Beam on the girls and eliminate them all" ordered The Lady
Dragonite used his Hyper Beam on May, Dawn and Serena who were paralyzed to move
"NO" said Ash running to the girls and putting himself in front of them to receive the attack
"ASH" they all shouted but the only think they all heard was the noise of an explosion and smoke going everywhere
"It's… over" said The Lady
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"Are you sure Jennifer" said a voice
"What?" The Lady asked
From the middle of the dust a man wearing a cape appeared along with his Dragonite who intercepted The Lady's Dragonite Hyper Beam with another Hyper Beam that caused the explosion
"Lance" said The Lady "I thought you had died when you hit your head"
"You better than nobody should know I would never die like that" said Lance
"So it's true" she answered
Lance looked back and saw Ash hugging Serena, May and Dawn, probably in an attempt of protecting them
"You were very brave Ash" said Lance "She is a lucky girl"
"Wh.. Who?" asked Ash
"Never mind" Lance answered "I take over now if you please"
Lance looked at The Lady and smiled
"Let's see if this horrible thing you call Dragonite is really unbeatable" said Lance "I challenge you Jennifer"
"And of course… I accept it"
"Boy… this gonna be good" said Ash
A new battle was about to start