CHAPTER 12 – MISREAD CORPSE
1335… 1336… 1337…
Ash lowered his hand, having finally counted all the bricks in the trainer tunnel. In contrast to his timely arrival for his battle with Ari, Ash had turned up fifteen minutes early for his second match. Rather than spend the time worrying about what was going to happen in his battle with Fraser, Ash had taken up the mundane activity of brick-counting in an effort to keep his head in its usual Zen mode. Being down four points on the second-placed Hope, he couldn't afford to panic now. If he did, he'd be out of the tournament. It was that simple.
"Mr. Ketchum, they're ready for you," said the security guard behind him. Acknowledging the man with a wave of his hand, Ash took a deep breath, readying himself for what was ahead.
"Alright, Ash. Remember what Ari told you; defensive moves, then strong counterattacks. Let him make the first move. Be wary of his combination attacks," he repeated to himself, and it helped somewhat in calming him. But then the awaiting crowd began to permeate his hearing. That steady crescendo of a chant, "Ash! Ash! Ash!" beckoning for him to make an appearance.
Out of habit he glanced at his shoulder, but Pikachu wasn't there this time, still resting up at the Pokémon Center. He wouldn't be able to offer Ash any words of comfort or reassurance before he took to the field. This time, he was completely on his own. Trying to not let it bother him, he exhaled a long breath and took his first steps onto the grassy field.
The first thing he noticed was that the grass was a lot longer than it looked from the tunnel. His feet sank a good six inches into the grass before finding solid ground, a few blades sneaking up into his long pants and tickling at his shins. The crowd roaring in his ears was definitely loud, but nowhere near as vocal as the one that had attended his battle with Ari. Unsure whether to take that as a good sign, he strode to the centre of the field, marked by a circle of white paint.
Thankfully he didn't have to wait very long for Fraser to take to the field, his opponent striding out under the midday sun as Ash came to a stop. He was quite short for someone in his mid-twenties, with curly black hair styled in something which would look like an afro if his hair was longer. A light shadow of stubble covered his chin, winding up to beneath his beaked nose, above which his curious blue eyes took in the atmosphere.
In Ash's honest opinion, Fraser looked like a teacher, especially with his choice of clothing. A long-sleeved, formal white shirt with segmented pairs of vertical gold lines covered his slight torso, tucked in at the waist to a fashionably slimming pair of denim jeans. Unlike Ash, he looked quite relaxed; thumbs tucked into his jeans' pockets, an easy-going smile on his face, and he also seemed to be enjoying the gentle breeze that rustled through the arena, the same one that made the long grass sway.
"Ash, right?" he asked happily, extending his hand. His voice was loud and commanding, but not demanding. One befitting of a leader, or a father.
"That's right. You must be Fraser," said Ash, shaking the man's hand. He was very relieved when Fraser didn't try to break his hand like Luuyn had; instead he was as gentle as his appearance would lead one to believe.
"Here's to a good battle, Ash. May the best man win, and – hopefully – proceed to the next round," he said, Ash missing the tiniest hint of remorse in his tone as they broke the handshake and headed back to their positions.
On the right-hand sideline, a tall woman with a frayed black ponytail held her flags at attention. "You both know the rules. One point for each one-on-one win, and one point for the overall match win. Mr. Dent will choose a Pokémon first."
"Dent?" Ash repeated blankly, before realising that he never actually asked Fraser for his surname. Allowing himself a soft chuckle at his own forgetfulness, he waited as Fraser made his choice.
"Let's pull out the win, Beedrill!" he grinned, the Poison Bee Pokémon appearing on the field amidst the usual bright flash. Ash was by no means a stranger to Beedrill, having angered dozens of hives of them during his adventures as a trainer, but the noise they made when their wings started whirring always sent chills up his spine. Maybe it was on account of all those run-ins, and that sense of primal dread one got from being chased by a three-foot-tall hornet. But if there was one thing he'd learned from his encounters with them, it was how to battle them.
Ash instantly knew which Pokémon to send out to combat Fraser's first choice, his fingers wrapping around the fifth PokéBall on his belt the moment he saw the Beedrill. "Noctowl, I choose you!" he yelled, throwing the ball skywards where it burst open to reveal his Owl Pokémon. Noctowl spread its vermilion wings wide, throwing a scatter of golden particles into the air which drew the collective fascination of the crowd. "Ooh"s and "Ahh"s rang in both trainers' ears as the spectators admired Noctowl's plumage, but Fraser gave it little more than a passing note.
"Shiny, eh?" was all he said on the matter, knowing that Shiny Pokémon were by no means more powerful than their non-lustrous counterparts.
"The first battle of this match will be Beedrill versus Noctowl! Trainers may begin after the bell!" announced the referee, swinging both flags to her sides as the ding of steel on bronze echoed across the stadium.
Counter-intuitively, Ash remained silent as the crowd swelled with expectation for an opening move. Fraser seemed to have adopted the same strategy. Ash frowned, but wasn't about to go back on Ari's instructions to let Fraser make the first move. On the other side of the field, Fraser seemed quite intent to let him. Sensing this stalemate developing, the crowd began to grow restless, jeering them to try and incite some action.
Ah, nuts to this, no one ever got anything done by standing still, Ash thought, launching a spontaneous offensive. "Noctowl, cut Beedrill down with Air Slash!" he ordered, throwing his arm forwards and earning the crowd's support for taking the initiative. Noctowl's wings shone with a dull white light, and it gave a mighty flap of its wings, sending three arcs of spinning energy curving dangerously towards the Bug-type.
"Beedrill, dodge it with Agility, then perk up with Rage!" Fraser countered, stepping into action the moment Noctowl finished its move. Beedrill darted to the side as the discs homed in, effortlessly dodging the blades as they swung off course and carved deep gouges in the ground. Amidst the flurry of grass trimmings riding the leftover wind currents to the ground, Beedrill became outlined with a faint but unmistakeable red aura, the buzzing of its wings doubling to a fever pitch.
"Good work! Now move in for a Fury Attack!" he ordered. Beedrill nodded affirmatively and shot forwards like a bullet, one of its spindly arms drawn back to no doubt deliver a powerful thrusting jab when it came within range.
"Knock it down with Confusion!" Ash shouted, a little put-off by how quickly Beedrill was closing the distance between itself and Noctowl. Undeterred, Noctowl took aim, the horns on its head lighting up in a brilliant, sky blue hue. Beedrill was barely ten feet away when Noctowl fired, a gigantic blue beam shooting forwards from its glowing horns and striking Beedrill dead-on before it had a chance to dodge. The strength of the attack pushed Beedrill right back across the field before it managed to slash the Confusion to pieces with a well-placed jab of a forearm stinger.
"Not bad, Ash," Fraser conceded with a shrug of his shoulders, supremely unworried with the battle's first exchange. "Beedrill, let's try another Fury Attack!" he called out to his Pokémon, but Beedrill refused to duplicate its attack. Instead, the Poison-type found more sense in simply beating itself over its own head with its stingers.
It must be confused! Ash realised, hesitating on the idea to try another Confusion attack. Rather than attack Beedrill again and risk snapping it out of confusion, he patiently waited for the Poison Bee Pokémon to stop attacking itself. He was too pleased with the lucky shot Noctowl had scored with its Confusion to notice that the red aura around Beedrill's body was growing in intensity with each self-administered attack.
"You done beating yourself up, buddy?" Fraser smirked, well aware that Beedrill's self-harm was fuelling its Rage. It took a couple more strikes before Beedrill was content with the damage it had done to itself, but it looked and sounded absolutely furious when it stopped. Thinking Noctowl was the one who had been smacking it around, Beedrill's wings whirred with anger to match the blood-red outline encasing its body, raising its front stingers in a threatening gesture.
"Noctowl, Take Down, and step on it!" Ash yelled hastily, recognising the buzzing of Beedrill's wings as the same one made when its hive was disturbed. Not wasting a second, Noctowl charged forwards with its powerful wings, streaking towards Beedrill like a miniature comet and crash-tackling the enraged Bug-type into the grassy ground. Ash whooped and punched the air in delight at the strong hit, and Noctowl also seemed pleased with its efforts when it flew back to Ash's side of the field.
But then they both heard the infuriated droning emanating from the grass, sending that usual wave of chills down the back of Ash's neck as Beedrill reared up once more. The Rage aura surrounding it looked eerily similar to that of a Pokémon under Blaze. It was enough to even make the crowd shift back in their seats in worry, they were that unfamiliar with the effects a full-blown Rage would induce upon a Beedrill.
"I reckon it's about time for one of your Fury Repeaters, whaddaya say, Beedrill?" Fraser laughed. A twitch of its head was all the warning Beedrill gave anyone as it raced across the field in a yellow blur, startling both Noctowl and Ash with its speed.
"Fury Repeater?" Ash repeated in surprise.
"It's a combination move me and Beedrill came up with," Fraser explained, a wicked smirk tracing its way onto his lips as Beedrill lashed out at Noctowl with a stinger, missing it by millimetres. "One part Fury Attack, one part Fury Cutter!" he elaborated, Beedrill accentuating the attack names with a hit each on Noctowl, striking the Owl Pokémon in the left wing and breast. Noctowl squawked in protest and swung a wing into Beedrill's face, stunning the rabid Pokémon for a moment and allowing it a brief escape.
"I don't like the sound of that! Noctowl, we gotta calm that Beedrill down, and fast! Use Hypnosis!" Ash instructed loudly, waiting with baited breath as Noctowl regained its composure and focused its eyes on Beedrill's. A soft wave of shimmering rainbow circles poured out from Noctowl's eyes and seeped into its foe's, but in the enraged state it was in Beedrill was completely unaffected.
"Fury Repeater!" Fraser yelled, smelling blood in the proverbial water.
In the wake of Noctowl's failed attack, Beedrill pounced. One. Two. Three. Four quick blows it landed on Noctowl's body, each double the strength of the last. A fifth connected with Noctowl's wing-joint, the force of the blow sending Noctowl crashing into the ground below, the only mercy afforded to it being the soft landing provided by the lush grass.
"Noctowl, no!" Ash bellowed, almost rushing out of his trainer's box in fright as his Pokémon struggled to pick itself up from the grass. Beedrill's strength and speed were alarming in combination with its Fury Repeater attack, and with it under the effects of its Rage technique, Ash knew he'd have to take it out fast. "You good to go for more, Noctowl?" he asked anxiously.
Not one to let an overgrown insect beat it around, Noctowl shook its head and spread its wings wide, ignoring the flare of pain that shot through its right wing courtesy of Beedrill's last strike. The attending crowd all cheered on the Owl Pokémon, if only because it had been an enthralling battle thus far, and Noctowl's refusal to stay down was exactly what made a Pokémon battle great. Beedrill took its opponent's defiance as an insult, and darted down to finish Noctowl off for good this time on Fraser's command.
"Confusion, one more time!" Ash ordered. Noctowl had been thinking the exact same thing, for the words had barely left Ash's lips before its head lit up with blue light. With a trilling cry, Noctowl discharged a second beam, and once again its aim was true, the blue streak smashing into Beedrill's midsection and blasting the Pokémon skywards. "Great shot!" he cheered.
"We're not done just yet!" responded Fraser, eyes tracking his Pokémon as it righted itself high above the battlefield. "Beedrill, go down twin-stinger for a Poison Jab!" he instructed, his Beedrill entering a dive the moment it heard. Aiming both stingers down towards the ground and streamlining its body, Beedrill spun as it descended on an arrow-straight path for Noctowl.
"Third time's the charm, Noctowl! Confusion!" Ash yelled. Narrowing its eyes to focus in on Beedrill, Noctowl took off, charging a powerful Confusion attack as it flew up to meet its foe. Everyone present at the stadium – Ash, Fraser, the referee and the crowd – all craned their heads skywards, daring to brave their eyes against the blazing midday sun as Noctowl launched a third beam of shimmering blue. Completely unfazed as the attack drew closer and threatened to swallow it whole, Beedrill fearlessly flew into the attack, bisecting it with its stingers as it dove relentlessly onwards.
Noctowl desperately tried to duck to the side as Beedrill split the attack down the middle, but the Poison Bee Pokémon wouldn't be denied revenge for Noctowl's earlier Confusions, driving its stingers into the Flying-type and bringing the pair of them down like a brick sinking a plastic bag.
Ash watched with a pained expression as his Pokémon was sent hurtling into the ground, landing with a pronounced thud on the hard ground that not even the grass could muffle from his ears. Reluctantly, he peered over to confirm what his heart had told him was true; Noctowl lying motionless on the ground with swirls in its eyes.
The referee saw the same picture as Ash did, raising her green flag in Fraser's direction and announcing, "Noctowl is unable to battle! Beedrill is the winner and Mr. Dent receives one point!"
"Good effort, Noctowl," Ash said with a resigned smile, recalling his unconscious Flying-type to its PokéBall. "You've earned this rest. We'll make sure we win so you can fight another day, buddy," he told the red-and-white orb before he stowed it on his belt. He looked back over to see Fraser doing the same thing with Beedrill's PokéBall, and felt a twinge of distress at what the situation spelt for him.
At the moment, he was sitting on last place in his bracket. Ari had four points, Hope had four, and Fraser had one. If Fraser won the next matchup, it was mathematically next to impossible for him to proceed; he'd need to salvage a point from the last battle, cleansweep Hope in his final match and pray that Ari got two three-nil results. That was a lot of things that need to fall his way. Ash was never a fan of leaving his destiny in someone else's hands, so he knew that if he had any shot to survive in this tournament, now was the time to step up. Now was the time to pull off a miracle.
"Mr. Ketchum, please send out your next Pokémon," requested the referee.
This is it, Ash, he told himself, his hand strafing across his belt to close around his sixth, you lose this next matchup, and you're out of the tournament. No two-ways about it. You want to stay in the race? You gotta win. Got it? You. Must. Win!
"Go!" Ash roared, tossing the PokéBall forward. Splitting open and making the crowd cover their eyes at the intense white flare it produced, the orb's contents also gave them a reason to cover their noses as one of Ash's most notorious Pokémon flopped onto the field. It was a seething pile of purple slime, the only distinguishable features being its cavernous mouth and small white eyes. Rejoicing in its own putrid stench and relishing the chance to fight for its trainer again, it raised an amorphous purple fist to the skies as the grass around it withered and died under its touch.
"Muuuuuuuhhh!" groaned the Pokémon, none other than Ash's Muk.
"God that's awful…" muttered Fraser, pinching the bridge of his nose and making a counter-selection with his free hand. "Pull out the win, Drifblim!" he said, opening his PokéBall and releasing the Blimp Pokémon for the world to see. At first, Drifblim welcomed the open outdoors, but shrank back a fraction as Muk's overpowering stench seeped its way, fouling the normally clean air.
"The second battle of this match will be Drifblim versus Muk! Begin!"
Ash didn't even wait for the starting bell to sound, halfway through an order before he heard it. "Muk, use Sludge Bomb!" he said, throwing Ari's advice out the window and opting for offense right off the bat. He couldn't afford to waste time waiting for Fraser to make the first move; he had to strike early and decisively whilst he still had the element of surprise.
"Drifblim, defend with Stockpile!" Fraser countered as Muk opened its mouth wide and fired a volley of balloon-sized sludge pellets. Drifblim hummed in response, sucking in a vast volume of air that further enhanced its moniker as the Blimp Pokémon. By the time Muk's Sludge Bomb reached its target, Drifblim was spherical, though the attack did score a direct hit, exploding on contact with Drifblim's body and releasing clouds of noxious gas.
Come on, tell me that did some damage… Ash willed, crossing his fingers and waiting for the smog to disperse. When he finally got a look at the impact region, he wasn't too disappointed; Muk's attack had by no means done any serious damage, but he could definitely make out a few scorch marks where the attack had landed. It wasn't much, but it was something.
"Pay it back some with Shadow Ball!" Fraser called out, snapping Ash out of his thoughts in time for him to see the Ghost-type forming a deathly purple blob of pulsating energy in front of itself.
"Another Sludge Bomb, Muk! Block that Shadow Ball!"
The two Pokémon attacked simultaneously, Drifblim lobbing its Shadow Ball across the field the same instant Muk spat another spread of Sludge Bomb at it. Despite being a much larger projectile, Drifblim's Shadow Ball was torn to pieces by the numerous hits of the Sludge Bomb, the two moves mutually destroying each other over the field's centre circle in a violent burst of smoke.
"Not bad, not bad," comment Fraser, impressed by Muk's power. "But! Let's see you try and defend against this! Drifblim, use Charge Beam!" he ordered, that same smirk working its way back as Drifblim floated down to the ground.
"That thing knows Charge Beam?" Ash wondered aloud, watching as Drifblim formed a crackling yellow orb of electricity between its front flippers. The orb continued to grow as Drifblim invested more and more power into the attack, soon looking like a palette-swapped version of its Shadow Ball. Sparks arced across the surface like solar flares, reflected in the eyes of the crowd and the metal of the stadium wall as Drifblim moved to fire.
"Acid Armor!" Ash yelled the moment Drifblim discharged the attack. An enormous jet of electricity surged over the field at lightning pace, spearing through air that had barely a split second ago been Muk's head. But the Poison-type had liquefied itself, leaving the attack to fizzle harmlessly into the wall over Ash's left shoulder. Dropping his gaze, Ash saw that the tall grass completely obscured Muk from view, although the circle of dead grass was a bit of a giveaway as to where it was.
"Muuuk muuhhh?" it grumbled.
"Great idea!" Ash grinned, his eyes darting back to Fraser and Drifblim, both of whom were looking around for where Muk had disappeared to. "Spread out and fire when ready!"
"Just what are you having your Muk do?" asked Fraser, narrowing his eyes at Ash.
"Testing your intuition," Ash replied, hiding a grin as he spotted a disturbance in the field out of the corner of his eye. He had no intention whatsoever of revealing his plan to Fraser, especially not at such a crucial stage in the contest as this. "But I gotta hand it to you, your Drifblim sure packs a punch! I could feel that Charge Beam from here!"
"Well thanks for that Ash, but flattery won't get you anywhere in a battle," he chuckled, waving off the praise with all the bravado of a veteran superstar. "So how's about you let your—?"
"MUUUUHH!"
"What the—?"
Muk burst out of the ground like a trapdoor spider ten feet from Drifblim, rearing up to its full height and opening its mouth so wide it could almost swallow the Blimp Pokémon whole. A guttural grumble echoed from the depths of the Poison-type, and Fraser only had enough time for a hasty shout of "Stockpile!" before Muk let loose with its biggest Sludge Bomb yet, pelting Drifblim's surface with volley after volley of poison bombs, each one exploding on contact and pushing the Ghost-type back.
An ear-splitting scream crashed down upon Ash's ears from the crowd, who rose up as one to applaud the move as it obscured Drifblim behind an ever-expanding cloud of smog. Quickly recovering from a reflexive flinch, Ash joined them in cheering Muk on as it continued to lay waste to – or rather, on – its opponent with a blistering hail of sludge.
It took a good fifteen seconds for Muk to let up on its barrage, and by the time it had, there was a giant cloud of swirling smoke where Drifblim used to be. Ash signalled for Muk to return to his side of the field, and the Poison-type obeyed, strangling more of the grass as it slid across the now half-dead field.
"Lemme know you're okay in there, Drifblim!" Fraser told the cloud. A few moments passed before he got a response, in the form of a whirling wind current blowing the cloud apart from the inside-out. The fans drew their collective breath as the smoke dissipated, revealing a for the most part unharmed Drifblim. But even from where he was standing, Ash could see that Drifblim's face now bore a close similarity to the moon; littered with pockmarks and small impact craters.
Ash took heart from the damage Muk was inflicting, although his years of experience told him that Drifblim was slowly grinding its way on top with Stockpile. As he tried to think of a strategy to circumvent Stockpile's defensive applications, Fraser launched into action, sparing him the effort.
"Shadow Ball!" he cried, his tone betraying his slight frustration at having not landed a hit thus far. Drifblim cupped its front flippers together and quickly charged another spinning blob of ghostly energy, flinging it forwards with terrifying speed that caught Ash off-guard. He tried to think of a counterattack, but his mind and mouth both locked up at the moment, still focused on bypassing Drifblim's use of Stockpile.
"Muk!" was all he managed to choke out as the Shadow Ball zoomed towards Muk.
Rather than take the attack lying down, Muk did what its trainer normally did best. It improvised. Waiting for right moment to make its move, Muk kept its small eyes trained on the Shadow Ball. Once the right moment was at hand, Muk made use of its enormous mouth, opening wide and swallowing the attack.
"WHAT?" Fraser shrieked, his voice cracking, but the surprises didn't stop there. A noise like a mix of thunder and an upset stomach echoed through the air as Muk began convulsing on the field. Ash took a worried step forwards, but his anxiety was misplaced. With a roar Muk opened its mouth again and regurgitated the Shadow Ball. Only this time, it was coated in a thick layer of toxic sludge, drops sloughing off the orb as it raced towards Drifblim and burning acrid holes in the grassy field.
"Drifblim, shoot it down with Spit Up!" shouted a panicking Fraser.
Pulsing with a dull white light that intensified with every passing instant, Drifblim opened its tiny beaked mouth and charged a small white sphere in front of it, eyes never leave the incoming missile. The mammoth shape of Muk's retaliatory Gunk Shot bore down upon it, but Drifblim loosed the Spit Up when Muk's attack reached the peak of its trajectory.
The sphere exploded into a colossal beam of destructive white energy, piercing straight through the Gunk Shot and detonating it mid-flight. The toxic orb imploded in on itself the moment the Spit Up touched it, bursting outwards like a purple star going nova. Sludge, smoke and pieces of Shadow Ball rained down on the field, littering it with rubbish, but Drifblim still had plenty of power left, and redirected the attack like it were a laser beam, bringing it to bear on Muk itself and prompting Ash to dive to the ground as the beam swivelled closer.
Muk gave an anguished bellow as the beam burned at its body, instinctively liquefying itself to escape the worst of the attack's power with its Acid Armor technique. Fortuitously, Drifblim had exhausted most of its stockpiled power by that point, and the beam quickly dissolved into nothingness, leaving no evidence of its usage except for one huge smoking hole in the boundary wall. And possibly a few traumatised fans who were forced to evacuate their seats as Drifblim's attack treated the stands like a stick of butter.
"Wow, what a powerful attack!" breathed Ash, only now peering out from over his forearms to check the aftermath of Drifblim's assault. A massive trench easily twenty feet deep had been carved into the left side of the field, even continuing up to the stadium's back wall. "Muk?" he yelled to the field, picking himself up and scanning the debris for a recent sign of Muk's poisonous touch.
"Muuhhh…" mumbled a muffled voice near the trench, catching the attention of Ash and Fraser. Both trainers looked on in amazement as Muk reformed itself, but Ash was shocked to see the horrible scorch mark covering Muk's back on account of the Spit Up beam.
"Muk…" Ash muttered, astounded at how Muk was still fighting with an injury like that. As if sensing its trainer's amazement, Muk roiled back to Ash's side, giving him a toothless grin that could only mean one thing; I got this. Ash laughed. "Yeah, you do. Now whaddaya say we finish this battle?" he asked, Muk nodding its shapeless head and turning back to face Drifblim. The Ghost-type was panting heavily after the Spit Up, having poured an incredible amount of energy into the attack.
"Drifblim, let's end things with a Shadow Ball!" Fraser instructed, knowing that both Drifblim and Muk were on their last legs. On command, Drifblim began charging up its attack, a slow process on account of its numerous injuries and fatigue.
"Muk, let's try one last Sludge Bomb, but hold onto it for the moment! I've got an idea!" Ash told his Pokémon. Muk nodded dutifully and prepped a Sludge Bomb for whatever Ash was planning, trusting its trainer to come up with the right move. Ash waited with his breath in his throat as Drifblim continued to charge its attack, the Shadow Ball slowly growing in size. Come on… he thought, for the first time willing an opponent to ready its final attack.
"Fire!" Ash yelled suddenly, catching everyone by surprise.
Muk roared and fired a single, bullet-like Sludge Bomb pellet across the field. Drifblim moved to fire the Shadow Ball, but in its weakened state was too slow, and the Sludge Bomb struck the attack dead on, rippling across its surface and detonating the orb whilst it was still in Drifblim's grasp. The Shadow Ball exploded into its creator with a sound like cannon-fire, knocking the defenceless Pokémon out of the sky. Drifblim trailed smoke as it crashed into the ground, barely landing Ash's side of the centre circle and moving no more.
The crowd descended once again into rapturous applause at the move, stamping and whistling and screaming themselves hoarse. The referee needed no convincing as to Drifblim's current state of consciousness, flicking her flag out of her holster.
"Drifblim is unable—!" she began, but she stopped mid-sentence and lowered her half-raised flag as Drifblim began to shine with a dull light.
"What's going on?" Ash wondered as the light began to strengthen. Then he noticed that Drifblim seemed to be… inflating. Just like when it had used Stockpile, Drifblim's form swelled to accompany the intense light pouring out from its body, and Fraser took a few cautious steps back as his Pokémon began to bulge in odd places, straining at the seams, almost like it was about to—
"GET DOWN!" Ash bellowed to Muk, diving for cover once again as Drifblim's Aftermath ability activated.
Another week, another chapter. And a potential cliffhanger at that, too! Darn, I'm good…
Many thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, but since they had a unique input, special thanks to the anonymous "lightningblade49" for being the only person to review it. Also, thumps up, LB, for picking that Ash would use Muk in this battle! Some serious Sherlocking going on with you, my good man, even if you can't go three-for-three at the moment.
Props to anyone who can guess Ash's third choice for this battle, because I'd be as surprised as last time if you got it! But I'm also a good sport.
Chapter 13 – Stars Of Light, which will see the action continue on from Ash's battle with Fraser, will be released exactly as planned, on the 25th, also known down here as Australia Day Eve. Because we're all just so patriotic and such. Hopefully it's at least as good as this chapter, if not better. I am to please, after all.
As always, keep reading, and don't forget to review~