AN: Hey, here's Chapter 6 for your reading pleasure. I wasn't very confident writing the battle to be honest. While I've got a heap of battle scenarios In my head it's hard to get it written to my own satisfaction. It was nice to get some positive feedback on it though, so thank you all.
I've been catching up with the anime as of late, haven't actually watched it in ages. I swear that Gym leader Korina will give him a Lucario which can mega evolve. You've got to admit that form looks badass, makes me wonder if Charizard will come back again for that exact reason. His move set in Unova was disappointing but he's still a badass.
ultimateCCC - Thanks for name for the energy ball swallowing technique I decide to use your idea again. Thanks credit to you.
Darkrai6543 – Many thanks to my new beta reader, I appreciate the helping hand and advice.
Now on with the battle, I don't own Pokémon or any of its Characters.
The atmosphere was electric, and the crowd was vocal. It had been a while since they'd had a battle of this intensity grace the Sinnoh league. The presence of a legendary was definitely something see. It actually being challenged for the first time in this competition was a spectacle that can be said no one wanted to miss.
Ash's friends were pleased with his performance so far. He was holding his ground, something no one else had done against Tobias in all his battles.
"Ash is doing well so far. He's holding his ground against Tobias. That substitute definitely helped keep Sceptile in the match but it will only get harder from here I'm afraid," Professor Oak said seeing the powerful dark aura surrounding Darkrai.
"It's pleasing to see the improvement that Ash has shown from his last battle against Paul here. He's definitely come prepared for Tobias. Well as much he one could be; the rest of his team is still unknown to anyone," Cynthia said.
Bertha nodded. she was pleased to see Ash had actually listened to her own advice since they'd last battled, which was to be more observant of his opponent. There were still a few small lapses in concentration but his Sceptile had mostly covered up for them. Certainly better than last time they met. "Yes a definite improvement."
Flint smirked, knowingly looking at Sceptile who had his own green aura surrounding it. "Tricky little customer isn't he? Not easy to match a legendary in power but seems like he's found a way to give his Pokémon a power up. You'd think that's Overgrow, but it isn't. Wonder how long it will last."
"Interesting little technique Ashy -boy has created. He's certainly come up with some useful little maneuvers. I wonder if he has more tricks hidden up his sleeve." Gary said glancing at Brock knowingly with others also giving him a passing glance, him being the one who had spent his time helping Ash.
Brock didn't say anything. He was focused completely on the battle, quite pleased with Ash's performance so far. He hadn't shown all his cards early but just enough to force Tobias to take him seriously, which he did starting to open up on Darkrai's own personal range of unused techniques. He was sure there was more Tobias had up his sleeve, but the more Ash pushed him the more Ash would learn of his opponent which could help later on.
Ash had mainly been trying to engage Darkrai at close range with Sceptile's high speed and attack power since Darkrai hadn't really shown any real close range moves to engage Sceptile with, other than feint attack, which wasn't really for that purpose other than counterattacking if Sceptile got to close. It didn't seem to have been taught to use move instinctively like Sceptile had been with substitute, so that was bonus and something that could be exploited.
'It's clear Darkrai hasn't shown everything yet either so Ash had best keep his guard up, the tables can turn again just as easily,' Brock thought uneasily.
"What is that move anyway? It swallowed an energy ball, right? Didn't his Grotle do that on accident against my dad?" Barry questioned scratching his head in thought.
"We call it power surge, because that's basically what it is. Sceptile's perception, power and physical strength have all gone up. Its defense as well, actually. The aura is sort of like armor but it won't be for a long period though," Brock answered out loud for everyone listening.
Professor Oak looked very interested in Brock's explanation. A move that increases all stats at once was something new. "Interesting concept. You could technically do something of a similar effect for other Pokémon of different types as long as you had a similar move to energy ball."
It certainly was an interesting concept, and something to look into. Perhaps he'd ask Ash to let him observe Sceptile up later on.
"Something compacted, like an aura sphere maybe?" Candice asked.
Professor Oak nodded. "Precisely, this is just in theory though. There are still many questions to be answered. Would they only be effective when used by a Pokémon of the same type as the move used, or will it work on any Pokémon? As I said it's all in theory. I'd need to see results of such an experiment to see if it's possible, unless Ash or Brock have the answers for this through their training?"
"No, unfortunately we didn't really have too much to time to really work out the complete mechanics of power surge," Brock stated. He himself was interested in such results as well; perhaps they'd try with another one of Ash's Pokémon when they returned to Pallet Town.
"Who knows? You people can work it out later. There's a battle going on down below I don't particularly want to miss," Paul said eyes squarely on the action with everyone else following his example.
Ash and Tobias were having a stare down along with their Pokémon, neither making a move although a small smirk was forming on Tobias face as he stared at his opponents Pokémon.
"Interesting. Very interesting. I see you've come with a way to give you're Pokémon a bit of a power up of its own. I thought you'd use a status raising move like sword dance or hone claws to try and counter Darkrai's own strength increase but you've come up with something very different. I wonder why," Tobias said while scrutinizing the opposing Sceptile.
He couldn't understand the point in using such a technique when he could receive a similar effect from already existing moves. Other than the green glow surrounding Sceptile and slightly longer grass blades there wasn't much real difference appearance-wise. There had to be something more to it. He had been caught off-guard enough to realize there always seemed to be purpose in Ash's orders despite how bizarre some of them were.
Honestly, it had been first time he'd seen someone spin out of the way of an opposing move to dodge.
Ash smirked. "You'll find out why while we battle. I only told you about substitute so I wouldn't be accused of cheating; I'm not giving you any more freebies so figure it out yourself," Tobias gritted his teeth at Ash's cheek.
"So the kid gloves come off? Very well then, I'll force your secret out in the open. Darkrai ice beam!" Tobias ordered now annoyed at his opponent's cheek.
The ice beam itself was surprisingly much more compacted and had more of the appearance of a lance or a spear. The change in appearance also came with an increase in speed through the air, which would have caught Sceptile off guard normally but with its speed enhancement from the agility and power surge it dodged just as easily as before.
The beam shot passed him, drilling into the arena wall leaving it sticking out of the wall in the open. It wasn't in the way so it didn't really effective the battlefield at all.
"What incredible power! That ice beam is literally sticking out of the wall!" The commentator said in awe of the spear of ice.
Ash raised an eyebrow looking at the chunk of ice. "You call that an ice beam, more like an ice toothpick." It was slightly worrying though; the spear looked like it could cause a lot more damage than a regular ice beam would. Whether or not these increases had gone to the rest of Darkrai's abilities as well crossed Ash's mind.
Tobias grinned. "Ice spear. I like that name. Perhaps I'll use it from now on. I see your Sceptile's speed has increased even further with that power up; that ice spear was launched at double the speed of Darkrai's' previous ice beams. Its aerodynamic shape would also increase its acceleration as it travels through the air, making it even harder to judge the speed the projectile is coming at, so Sceptile's perception could have also gone up. That might explain the glowing eyes."
Ash had to take his hat off to Tobias; one attack and he was able to judge some of the increases it had received but he had only scratched the surface.
"From your silence I'll assume that I am correct, but surely there's more to it than that, otherwise it would have been pointless to even create this technique. Let's see how you deal with the unexpected. Darkrai charge Sceptile!" Tobias ordered catching Ash & Sceptile off guard as Darkrai soared across the field at high speed for Sceptile.
"What!" "Scep!"
"This is a surprise, for the first time Darkrai is about to go head to head with Sceptile!"
Ash didn't get it. Sceptile was clearly faster than his opponent and a close range specialist. It would be able to strike a blow a lot easier than Darkrai could. It seemed more suited to long range. It was kind of like an archer trying to fight a swordsman head to head.
"Alright Sceptile use solar beam, push him back!" Ash ordered.
The seeds on Sceptile's back glowed quickly as if under the effects of sunny day. The energy quickly formed in its mouth and launched into devastating solar beam, twice as large as normal.
"Quick, double team!" Tobias quickly ordered as the solar beam zoomed trough one of the fake images colliding with the wall behind Tobias and taking a chunk off, scaring part of the crowd just above the devastation.
"Now prepare to intercept Sceptile! Leaf blade!" Ash ordered with Sceptile charging to meet Darkrai head on much to Tobias' delight.
"As you charge ominous wind, knock him off balance and use poison jab!" The high speed winds caught Sceptile off guard. While he didn't get knocked off his feet he had to stop and use one of its blades as a shield against the harsh wind. It was having difficulty keeping its eyes open against the winds and could barely see Darkrai ahead who was completely unaffected by its own move as it quickly closed the distance with its right hand glowing purple.
Ash gritted his teeth in disbelief. He had been caught off guard again.
While ominous wind had been a surprise the fact that Darkrai could keep it active while moving and using poison jab at the same time was shocking. The amount of concentration required would be unbelievable, although luckily he had just the move to counter this otherwise Sceptile would have had to try an counter with leaf blade which would have been difficult to accomplish at this point.
"Sceptile detect!"
Squinting its eyes, they glowed briefly as Sceptile just barely dodged each of Darkrai's wild swings of poison jab using both its arms. The winds weren't helping with his movement, but he was just fast enough for detect to work.
"Darkrai now use haze!" Darkrai's eye glowed as a small haze covered both Pokémon while Darkrai kept up its poison Jab and Sceptile continued dodging. Detects effects were lifting and ominous wind was coming to an end, although for some reason Sceptile still felt himself getting slower. It was slowly getting harder to dodge, much to his annoyance, and he was just scraping past Darkrai's latest sloppy blow.
He certainly didn't want to want receive damage from such poor fighting technique.
Having had enough of the barrage Sceptile blocked both poison jabs with both his blades, leaving them at a stalemate. They struggled to overcome the each other with poison slowly seeping down Sceptile's blades; much to the Pokémon's discomfort. While poison wasn't really good for a grass type like himself, the clash gave him a slight breather; Sceptile didn't understand why it suddenly felt weaker though.
"What happened to Sceptile's power surge?" Dawn asked seeing the aura surrounding Sceptile gone.
"Looks like it shares the weakness all other status moves have against haze, it returned Sceptile's raised stats back to normal meaning power surge ended. Very clever of Tobias; the whole head on ploy was to get rid of Sceptile's power up giving Tobias the advantage again with Sceptile's stats back to normal," Cynthia observed.
Brock was frowning. While power surge gave an all-round boost to all a Pokémon's stats and along with a boost in its senses, the equivalent of being in this case in a continued Overgrow state there were a few drawbacks in its use. It only last a limited period of time until wore off, then leaving the Pokémon a little drained.
Overuse of the technique would cause some internal damage to the Pokémon according to Nurse Joy when they were testing the limits while training. They had been lucky it had been minor. According to Nurse Joy Sceptile could only use it once a day for 5 minutes at most anymore and then it would start causing problems.
He and Ash had decided to follow Nurse Joy's advice; it wasn't worth it to put Sceptile at risk using it any more than the one a day, although they were hopeful that maybe in the future that could change. The reptile himself didn't agree with the pair, which was understandable as it gave incredible power, kind of like a steroid but without being actual drugs involved. Still, such an obvious weakness being exposed made him feel like kicking himself. Ash probably felt the same and now they were back to square one. Still, things weren't all lost Ash still had some tricks left. Whether they would be enough though was the question.
Ash gritted his teeth, staring at the struggle. Normally Sceptile would have been able to push Darkrai off, but the sudden wear off from the power surge had caught him off-guard. Another kink in the technique they had to work out, this had hurt his strategy a lot.
Tobias smirked. "Looks like it has the same weakness of every other status changing move. So much for that trump card. Still, I wanted Darkrai in close for two reasons, not just for that."
"What!" Ash said, surprised.
"Flash!" Tobias said smugly as a glint came over Darkrai's uncovered eye.
Ash panicked. "Sceptile quickly! Close your eyes!" A bright flash filled the arena with one screaming Pokémon clutching its eyes in agony being too slow to close them, but by doing so he left himself open for the twin poison jabs to connect.
"SSSCCCCEEPPP!" "Sceptile no!" Ash yelled.
Sceptile was hurled to ground hard still covering its eyes with both hands gritting its teeth on its twig, which surprisingly didn't snap from the pressure. There was also pair of large purple bruises on its green belly where the poison jab had connected.
"What a devastating combo! Sceptile's been left blind and in agony!"
"Now use dark void!" Tobias said calmly feeling the climax of the battle approaching.
"Sceptile quickly substitute!" Ash yelled desperately.
Where Sceptile lay there was a brief flash but to the naked eye it looked Sceptile hadn't moved an inch, Tobias narrowed his eyes at the downed form.
"Dream eater but afterward gain altitude quickly just in case it's another fake." Tobias said having a plan in place just in case there was another copy.
An astral image of Darkrai once more went through the downed form of it opponents causing it to shudder again before quickly vanishing, meaning it was another fake. It didn't last as long this time Tobias noted perhaps Sceptile was at its roped end.
"And Sceptile emerges once more from underground, escaping dark void again with substitute! The battle continues!"
Misty breathed a sigh of relief. "Substitute came through again."
Barry shook his head "It's still not good Misty. Sceptile is worn out and it's fighting blind. Perhaps it's time for a substitution."
"It's not good either way you look at it. Sceptile was chosen against Darkrai for a reason and now I'm not even sure some of the others would do much better." Brock said shaking his head. It didn't look good.
For how much longer was the question on everyone's minds. Sceptile was now on its haunches taking deep breathes having just come up from using dig. While it hadn't taken much damage physically, other than the feint attack and twin poison jabs, its pride was hurt that he'd allowed them to connect.
Stamina was starting to run low as well with the repeated use of substitute and the frenetic pace of the battle. The aftereffects of power surge were also kicking in and on top of it all; it still hurt to open its eyes meaning he'd be fighting blind for now. 'We need to end this quick!' was all Sceptile could think.
Ash breathed a sigh of relief that they were still in this battle, but Sceptile looked worn. Perhaps it was time for a substitution, but for who?
Snorlax and Glalie were too slow and he wanted to save Charizard for later. Infernape, while quick, he was not as fast as Sceptile and had no real safeguard against dark void. Pikachu was not much slower than Sceptile but didn't have a safe guard either, but was probably the best option at this point with its thunder armour.
Who knows, maybe dark void would just bounce off its shiny coat. Don't think it would help Pikachu's ego though.
Ash already had enough of the pissing contest going on between a pair of his senior Pokémon in Charizard and Sceptile. He didn't need the leader of his team added to the mix, whose example would lead everyone else after them.
Not that it mattered. From what he'd seen the odds of Tobias himself actually changing were remote, but anything would be possible at this point. Sceptile was still blind at the moment which was a big problem. As Ash mulled over his choices, Tobias made it for him.
"Darkrai ice spear!" Despite being blind at the moment, Sceptile could still hear the incoming Ice spear, quickly jumping to its right as far as it could to get out of the way, and then hearing it zoom past and crash against the wall.
"So you can still hear the ice spear as it travels through the air. Well then, what about against multiple coming from every direction? Darkrai use double team and ice spear again!" Tobias ordered.
"Shit! Sceptile's cornered!" Barry yelled much to the other's dismay at seeing he was right.
Brock bit his lip. 'How will you get out of this one Ash? I can only really see one way, but it might not work effectively without power surge.'
Darkrai made multiple copies of itself to surround the unmoving Sceptile from all sides, each forming a spear which was a lot smaller than normal, as hearing them coming from all directions would make it difficult for Sceptile to judge the real from the fake.
Seeing no real way to avoid them, he powered up agility to try and get out of their way when they got close. Maybe he'd get lucky.
Ash saw that they were in a bind with no real way out. Detect wouldn't work here. Aerial ace was still disabled and that left no real defensive option. He could use an attack to defend but Sceptile didn't have one that could defend from all directions. It looked like Sceptile had the same thought seeing the use of agility.
'Agility?' Ash pondered.
'Wait, that could be it! But it might not work as well without power surge to help with the control and accuracy, plus Sceptile's condition isn't that great either. But then again accuracy doesn't matter at this point; the ice spears are coming from all directions with only one being the real one. As long as Sceptile can get rid of the copies he can still hear the real one properly and dodge. He wouldn't have to open his eyes that way. Like we have much choice though, one more substitute and I don't think he would be able to move at that point.' Ash thought.
"Sceptile I know you can't control it properly in this state but we don't have much choice, use quick sword, but only for five seconds ok? Anymore and it will be too much stress on your arm!"
Sceptile's eyes opened in surprise at the order. He had forgotten about his trump card, which was understandable since it was a power surge use only technique at this point.
Concentrating carefully he channelled the already powered up agility energy into the receptor of his right arm, small veins popping out as the energy poured into limb. Once Sceptile had poured everything he had into his right arm it had a small green aura surrounding it and flowing along its blade.
Hearing the swift approach of the ice spears Sceptile immediately started slashing the air as fast as it could. Its right arm was literally vibrating as it slashed. Soon it couldn't even be seen, the slashes making its arm a blur and multiple nigh invisible wind blades cutting through the air in all directions with no real control on their location; some went upwards to the sky or at Sceptile's feet, tearing up the earth.
The incoming ice spears were no match for the invisible wall of wind dicing them into tiny shards before they could even make contact with Sceptile. After only five seconds the arena was in shambles. Lots of scars covered the grass field with some gashes along the surrounding walls.
Ash was lucky that psychic Pokémon built a barrier to protect the crowd and trainer boxes from stray moves being thrown; otherwise he wouldn't have considered using quick sword at all. It was definitely a scary prospect if Tobias' face said anything along with most of the crowds.
(A/N: Quicksword – Irene from Claymore basically, if you want to see what it really looks like)
Commentator was speechless too, it seemed.
The real Darkrai had been able to avoid all slashes that had come it way, but it had been lucky its location had the fewest wind blades. Its clones hadn't been as lucky, but it probably didn't matter.
He was more concerned about Sceptile, who despite the short usage was clutching its arm in pain, small veins pulsing visibly to the naked eye. Sceptile was using synthesis to try and heal some of the damage while Tobias was distracted. While it was a devastating technique, there were drawbacks.
Overuse damages the nerves in his arm, and they had determined while training that a max twenty second of controlled usage at this point would be doable, but only during power surge it seemed to limit the damage Sceptile would sustain in addition to the better control.
VIP Box
"What on earth was that!?" Barry screamed clutching at his head in disbelief. He didn't know what to describe what he just saw; the battlefield was close to destroyed.
"I've never seen so much damage so quickly from a grass type!" Bertha said, stunned.
Flint and Volkner were both gobsmacked and unable to say anything. Aaron and Lucian were not much better; Lucian's glasses falling down his nose without his noticing.
Mr. Goodshow, in all his years of watching matches, knew this was definitely something never seen before.
Then again, so was that power surge move. Not many trainers really experimented with the existing move criteria.
"Just what was that? It was like invisible air slashes were flying in every direction. There was a lot of kiai in that move," Candice said seriously for once with Zoey nodding with her mentor and friend.
"Yeah its arm was moving so fast it was like it was cutting the air itself."
Paul was purely stunned for once in his life. 'Ash, what on earth have you been doing!'
Professor Oak did not know what to think about that move. It was very reckless, whatever it was, but he needed answers. "Brock you probably know what that is. An explanation please."
Everyone listened eagerly.
"It's called quick sword. It's basically manipulating the energy agility produces and channeling it into the receptors of Sceptile's arm instead of both legs, increasing his slashing speed astronomically to the point where Sceptile literally is cutting air itself."
One question was eating at the professor so he asked; "From what you're saying it's the energy of agility into both legs channeled into one arm surely there's obviously a drawback if Sceptile's conditions said anything. I don't believe a limb is created to handle that amount of power. There's also the lack of control as well."
"You're correct. There is a big drawback. As you can see overuse of the techniques damages the receptors in the arm. We discovered this from Nurse Joy when we sent Sceptile for a check-up. She said while it is a problem if he overdoes it, over time the body would become accustomed to use with the receptors getting larger to deal with the excess energy and in time the limit on use would extend to longer periods, but that would take time and training. Ash has had to be careful and we've been advised when training on it to have a medic nearby in case." Brock said.
"And the lack of control?" The Professor pressed.
Brock sighed and scratched the back of his head.
"It's very difficult for Sceptile to control the direction of his slashes. They're quite wild and as you can see they're impractical in most cases. It takes a lot of control for him to use it normally which is why it mainly was going be used during power surge, when in that form he has a lot more control of that technique and it isn't as damaging for Sceptile to use, meaning a longer timeframe to use it. While it's still not long, twenty seconds is definitely better than the five it seems normally. That was the plan; at least negate dark void with substitute and try pushing him into a corner and taking him out with quick sword when he was vulnerable, but that kind of backfired," Brock sighed again.
"He definitely wasn't going to use it after haze ruined that strategy but he didn't really have much of a choice for Sceptile to defend himself, being blind at this point, so I understand why. It was also probably the only real moment quick sword would have been useful in this state. Being able to see
wouldn't have mattered, plus the protections in place for the crowd probably helped him come to that decision easier."
"Still, where did he come up with it? And power surge as well. You don't come up with them on the fly," Zoey asked.
"Power surge you already know was made on accident really. Well, so is quick sword as it's actually an incomplete technique."
A few brows rose at that. "Incomplete?"
"Yeah, its creation had been more of an accident while training. Ash had been trying to accomplish the use of agility in the receptors of Sceptile's entire body to get the highest possible perception, reaction time and quicker movement. It was more of a long term project which as you can see produced some interesting results while trying to channel agility's energy into different limbs." Brock stated.
(Equivalent of lightning armour from Naruto, basically)
Everyone looked speechless, unable to really compute how Ash had come up with this.
The professor couldn't help but analyse Ash's discovery.
'So in theory, on top of having a such a high increase in perception, speed and reaction time, along with the ability to increase mobility of a single limb, Sceptile could be near unstoppable for a small time,' The Professor thought to himself.
It was doubtful Sceptile or any Pokémon would be able to sustain such a heightened state for long periods without a high cost, but in a one on one match it would difficult to see Ash losing. Still, that was years of training away to even contemplate such.
At this point quick sword was very effective, but it definitely needed more control. In theory Sceptile could produce something of a similar effect if channelled into one leg and not two, in that he could kick much harder.
Perhaps a new entry in the future of the first grass/flying type without actually having the weaknesses of one would be possible.
No one would really complain. Gyarados was classed as a water/flying type despite not be able to fly or really use any Flying type moves other than bounce. Maybe that's why the original discoveries of Gyarados believed it to be a flying type with it constantly bouncing as high as it could as if it could fly in the sky while sharing the weaknesses on one.
Cynthia wasn't really sure what to think.
This was definitely uncharted territory when it came to Pokémon, and it was Ash who had come up with this crazy idea. She knew he had a big bag of tricks when it came to battling but this was something else altogether. 'Just where do you come up with this Ash?'
Scene change to Battlefield
'Just what was that?' Thought Tobias, speechless.
He really could not describe what Sceptile had just done to damage to field so much, and so quickly.
Whatever it was, though, Sceptile definitely did not have control of it seeing as Darkrai did not have any difficulty avoiding it with so few air slashes actually on target.
Analyzing his opponent's Pokémon's condition, he saw that said Pokémon was trying to heal the damaged arm with synthesis (with limited success it seemed). It was clear it was also self-inflicted damage - probably from the friction of the limb moving so fast or channeling so much energy into its arm, or even a combination of both.
'The good news is that it probably a one-time use for today, so that's good.'
But Tobias had to wonder just what his other Pokémon were capable of doing if this kid could come up with such an insane technique.
The good news for Ash was that they were still in the battle and it looked like Sceptile's vision was starting to return from the squinting it was doing while healing its arm.
The bad news was that Sceptile didn't have much energy left in him and its right arm probably wouldn't be very effective for the rest of the battle.
He watched his Pokémon grit its teeth and stand up again while gripping the arm. The healing hadn't done much visibly - the veins still popped out - but it at least looked usable. He would have to avoid using it as much as possible.
Tobias seemed to have regained his composure by then so he doubted he'd receive the time to use synthesis again to recover energy instead of healing a limb.
"I don't know what that was just now, but it's clear your Sceptile doesn't have much fight left in him. Its right arm is useless and it probably cannot even defend itself," Tobias stated with confidence, seeing Sceptile's poor condition.
"That's not true!" Ash yelled with vehemence.
Sceptile was in agreement with its trainer, taking a defensive stance once more. Nevertheless it wore a grimace from its wounded arm.
"I'll show you then, Darkrai use phantom force!" Tobias ordered.
Darkrai glowed dark purple before completely vanishing from sight.
VIP Box
"Phantom force, what's that?" Misty asked never having heard of it. It looked many of the others hadn't either.
Professor Oak knew, having done research on it. "It's a ghost type move, a very rare one. It has the ability to pierce through any defense and it's not able to be blocked as well. Ash is going to have a hard time defending against it."
"So Sceptile is a sitting Psyduck, not good." Misty said with concern.
"You're one to talk about Psyduck's; I heard you had a pretty stupid one." Gary teased, obviously not having learnt his lesson earlier if Brock's expression said anything.
The mallet smashed into the back of Gary's head, knocking the fool out and scaring others around him, although Cynthia looked at Misty with interest, a slight glint in her eye.
Battlefield
Ash grimaced at another new move from Darkrai. This time it was one he had never heard of before, and Darkrai had completely disappeared from sight.
"Sceptile keep an eye out; Darkrai could strike from anywhere!"
Sceptile's vision was now back to normal and it was rotating its head in every direction, but saw nothing.
Tobias smirked and pointed his finger ahead. "Darkrai, now!"
There was no real warning to show Darkrai's reappearance; no flashing light showing it's re-entrance to the field; it just ghosted in behind Sceptile unknowingly.
Ash yelled in warning. "Sceptile, behind you!"
Sceptile didn't have any time to actually move before be being slammed in the back, earning a painful grunt and knocking the grass type off balance. It steadied itself immediately, though.
Looking around it noticed Darkrai had disappeared again. Round two then.
"Sceptile use detect!" Ash ordered seeing that his Pokémon had no real time to mount a counter so he had to defend.
'Bad move Ash; phantom force cannot be blocked.' Cynthia thought.
And she was right; as soon as Darkrai reappeared Sceptile was knocked off its feet this time, completely caught off guard with detect's ineffectiveness.
Darkrai, seeing his opponent down it quickly launched an ice beam. Not the improved version it had been using previously though. The battle was starting to wear on Darkrai as well, it seemed.
Unable to dodge Sceptile quickly used both blades as a shield to try and limit the damage, which proved to be effective but froze both blades once more. The ice encasing them was much thicker this time around, making the blades much heavier.
Darkrai disappeared for a third time - again using phantom force - much to Ash and Sceptile's frustration.
Sceptile this time predicted the direction Darkrai would reappear from, so not being able to dodge he took advantage of the large chunks of ice on his blade as shields to try and absorb the impact.
Darkrai's left shoulder met the twin ice blades but with Darkrai having the momentum he pushed Sceptile back, sliding along the ground digging up more turf of the already battered battlefield.
The ice encasing Sceptile's blades was cracking and shattered before they finally came to a standstill, both Pokémon pushing against one another.
Tobias smirked. "This position looks familiar, wouldn't you agree Ash?"
Ash's eye's widened in understanding.
"Sceptile close your eyes!"
Sceptile was quick to comply with the order, not wanting a second experience of flash.
Tobias smirk got even wider. "You fell for it hook line and sinker, Darkrai dark void and end this!"
"Shit, no!"
If the Darkrai could have smirked it would have. Using it's free hand not pushing against Sceptile it formed the ball once more.
Sceptile's eye's had barely opened when Darkrai had made dark void and was now from Sceptile's eye's in slow motion reaching out to press it into his chest.
Sceptile's eyes slowly widened in shock. He didn't know what to do; he couldn't move to dodge, substitute would pretty much take him out anyway, so what could he do?
Having a second at most to try and register a response he felt something click in his brain so he went on instinct.
Within centimetres of contact Sceptile vanished from sight causing Darkrai to overextend in surprise, but not for long with Sceptile reappearing underneath and with incredible speed upper-cutting him straight up into the heavens, spinning out of control.
Looks like aerial ace had become accessible again just in time.
"What!" Tobias roared furiously.
"Unbelievable! It seems Sceptile used aerial ace just in the nick of time to get out of another sticky situation, and now Darkrai is spinning out of control!" The commentator screamed in delight. this was some battle, he thought.
"Amazing that the move that started the battle saved him again. It looks like disable wore off." Cynthia said out loud.
Dawn grinned. "Now's your chance Ash! Get him!"
"Yeah Ash get him!" Misty cheered, fist pumping with one hand and currently chocking a purple in the face Gary with the other while he spluttered out apologies.
Brock himself stood up ignoring Gary's pleas for help and glared down below screaming at Ash. "Sceptile's worn out, you got to get him now!"
Despite being shocked, Ash was able to somehow hear Brock over crowd. Looking above he could see Darkrai still spinning out of control with its altitude increasing, and Sceptile needed to get up there. Glancing around he noticed two of the ice spears still sticking out of the walls of the stadium at varying heights, having survived the quick sword assault to his great fortune.
"This is it Sceptile, let's get them! Get up there using the ice spears stuck in the wall!"
Sceptile charged behind Ash where the two ice spears were, using agility once more to increase its speed, quickly jumping on top of the first ice pillar and reached the second one higher up, landing in a crouch.
Angling himself and using the momentum of the first jump he forced himself as high as he could destroying the second Spear with the force of the jump.
Sceptile was just able to get above Darkrai who was now was regaining control of its flight.
"Use leaf blade as you fall!" Ash screamed to Sceptile who was now falling down towards Darkrai using the momentum of the fall to increase the power of its blade.
Tobias didn't panic though. "Intercept with poison jab!"
As Sceptile came down with its right blade Darkrai countered using poison jab with its left arm which caused Sceptile to flinch as his arm was still tender.
The impact caused the pair to fall towards the ground at higher rate of speed, Sceptile having the extra momentum was pushing against Darkrai, move type advantage or not.
The same process repeated with the other blade against the second Poison jab leaving them at a stalemate as they approached the ground.
Sceptile knew he had to break this stalemate or they were both boned.
He was running on pure adrenaline at the moment.
Not really thinking about Sceptile smashed its head against Darkrai causing it to flinch and forced it slightly away, giving Sceptile the opening he needed.
Sceptile executed a quick spin and smashed its left blade into Darkrai's side accelerating its fall to the ground, causing it to collide with the center of the field with a large explosion, causing a smokescreen, which Sceptile was quick to cut through as he fell seeing his opponent down and in a large crater.
It was time to end this; he'd remember that he'd have to thank Pikachu later.
"This is it, Lights out iron tail!" Ash screamed in glee feeling his first victory.
Sceptile smirked. Despite being meters from the ground he did a forward mid-air flip slamming down its large glowing silver tail into Darkrai with a crunch.
Darkrai screamed for the first time, its body jerking up from contact, and the crater widened further while debris flew into the air.
Pushing off the downed Darkrai, Sceptile landed close by in a crouched position before grabbing its arm in agony. It seemed he had pushed the limb too far. He needed rest, he realized as he gasped for air. It also had a headache from using its skull like that - he swore he'd lost brain cells.
Sceptile weakly glanced at Pikachu next to his happy trainer who gave him a thumbs up which he weakly returned.
"What a devastating close range combo! The fall from the sky was painful enough but the falling iron tail was brutal! Is this curtains for Darkrai?"
"What a combo, he used the fall to increase the momentum of leaf blade against Darkrai and left it no room to maneuver. And that final iron tail was devastating enough that that should be it for Darkrai," Brock said, proud of his friend and his Pokémon.
"All right, first victory for Ash!" Dawn screamed in delight while hugging Zoey who was next to her.
Delia clapped her hands in delight of her son's first victory.
'Well done Ash you've really outdone yourself.' Cynthia thought wistfully having a lovely smile on her face.
Ash, while happy at taking the first win, knew the cost was high. It was very unlikely that Sceptile would able to take further part in this battle.
Its right arm was near useless at this point and he would only further damage it if pushed any further so it really was a draw from his standpoint.
Unknown to Ash and everyone Darkrai was still conscious, but just barely.
Darkrai didn't know what to think about its opponent. It had been the first in a long time it had been pushed so hard in a battle.
It normally held back his capabilities so that the battles were remotely amusing, but it wasn't necessary today. he had been beaten by a worthy opponent.
It was pleasing to know he could actually be challenged by Pokémon other than his teammates.
'Still it would have been interesting to witness a match between this Sceptile against my masters starter… the last one… who… defeated… me.'
That was Darkrai's last thought as it drifted into unconsciousness. While it had lost the battle it was satisfied. Seeing the swirl encompass Darkrai's visible eye the referee was quick to raise his Flag.
"Darkrai is unable to battle, Sceptile is the winner!" The referee yelled.
His friends and family were delighted for him along with the crowd who were cheering for the underdog.
But Ash had mixed feeling on his first victory. He had taken the first round but at what cost.
AN: Decided to cut it off there, this battle wore me out writing. Still hope you all like it.
I always like the little combos Ash seemed to come up to get out of jam like thunder armour, or even on accident with Energy ball swallowing. But it does piss me off he seems to just forget about them and never use them again. His memory seems to be just as bad with promises to released Pokémon.
I know I made Sceptile pretty badass but he won't be the only one so keep that in mind.
I know I didn't use all Sceptile's moves but they weren't needed this time around. Instead they will come into play later.
There were a few moves thrown in from different animes, can you pick them all?
I'm sure there are some question for me, so I'll do my best to answer PMs and I'll answer what I can.
Anyway read and review. I would love to know what you think of the battle so far and what I can improve on other than grammar obviously
Later, Lightningbalde49