Ash was quite unsure of how the battle was progressing. On the one hand, he had lost two Pokemon and Thomdolt had lost three, but he only had five Pokemon, and was almost sure, somewhere in the back of his head, that Thomdolt would have six, if only to stall for more time.

Thomdolt next sent out a Wobbuffet. Ash had a feeling that it was also meant to simply stall him until the poison did its work, but it wasn't very strong and fell to Grimer almost immediately. The Paralysis condition didn't seem to be much of a problem for the time being.

"Gah!" Thomdolt then snarled, all traces of a smile gone from his face. Even if he had six Pokemon, he was down to the last two now. He then sent out a Pokemon that Ash didn't seem to clearly recognize…. though it did seem vaguely familiar somehow.

"Shedninja, use Shadow Ball!" Thomdolt shouted and a blast of dark energy hit Grimer, though for all it did, Grimer seemed to look as if somehow had just splashed his face with some water.

"You should've trained your Pokemon better!" Ash snapped.

Thomdolt smiled. "And you should have done your research better. You clearly can't see that you've almost lost, can you?"

Ash wasn't sure what that was about, so he reacted by doing the most natural thing he knew: he made Grimer repeatedly pelt the enemy Shedninja with Sludge when it wasn't Paralyzed and unable to move. Thomdolt countered by using Shadow Ball over and over. Neither of the attacks seemed to be doing anything to either Pokemon.

It was only after a few minutes that one of the Pokemon seemed to give in, and to Ash's utter surprise it was his Grimer. Finally, his Grimer fainted and collapsed in the dirt, unable to move.

The Shedninja still hovered in the air, and it seemed to be shockingly unharmed; fluttering up and about as if didn't have a care in the world.

That meant that Ash was down to his last two Pokemon: Pikachu and Gastly. Gastly had only been recently captured and was more of a child than a hardened Pokemon ready to battle, but Pikachu had been badly poisoned. And then there were those spikes scattered around the field….

Ash took another look at the Shedninja. Something wasn't right… there was something about that Pokemon that put Ash off. Why weren't his attacks doing any damage to it?

He then whipped out his trusty Pokedex as always, knowing that if anything, it would have the answer to his problems. He opened it, but instead of the usual voice telling him all about the enemy Pokemon, he felt his Badge suddenly vibrate in his pocket and all that came on the screen was static.

Frowning, he tried pressing some buttons, but the Badge just vibrated harder and more static showed up. Finally, the light on the Pokedex went out, and Ash felt his own hand suddenly clench up all by itself, even though he hadn't thought about doing so, and the Pokedex fell from his grasp and onto the ground.

"What are you doing?" Thomdolt asked. "Have you lost your senses? Or are you prepared to surrender? If not, then send out your next Pokemon!"

Ash decided to ignore the Pokedex for now. For some reason, it seemed, the Badge didn't want him to use it in the middle of a battle. He then decided on sending out Pikachu.

"Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!" Ash shouted even as his partner and friend took damage from the spikes surrounding them. The Thunderbolt, to all appearances, struck true, and yet the Shedninja seemed to be unfazed. "Impossible!" left Ash's lips.

Thomdolt grinned, though he tried to hide the sweat that was rolling down the side of his neck. This child had proven himself to be far more capable than he was expecting, and he was now down to his last two Pokemon. This Shedninja had actually been a gift several years ago from Freyja, a gift in the sense that it was payment for a large amount of debt she had taken out from him years ago and was unable to pay back. Thomdolt had gotten very angry that day. One problem with doing business in Galea, aside from the crazy rules that the Gym Leaders imposed on foreign trade and all, was that it was nigh on impossible to call in on a debt. However, it seemed that the Shedninja had been at the very least, worth it.

Ash had finally had enough. "Pikachu! Use your strongest Thunderbolt! GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!"

The following attack was almost powerful enough to have rivaled Marley's Frenzy Vine. The current was so strong that the hair of several of Ash's supporters stood up on end, and even the sun's light seemed to dim across the field at the luminescence generated by the attack, which remained burnt in everyone's retinas far after it had ceased to exist.

And yet, though the earth itself was scorched, the enemy Shedninja was untouched. And so, Pikachu turned over at Shedninja's next blow, and collapsed.

And with it also went all of Ash's hopes. His best friend had just been defeated. He wanted to rush over and cradle Pikachu in his arms, but the spikes were still scattered across the battlefield and blocked his approach. He returned Pikachu to his Pokeball instead.

And now, there was no choice in the matter. He sent out his Gastly.

Thomdolt, who had a triumphant grin on his face up till now, started panicking inwardly. Wonder Guard was an ability that saved Shedninja from all moves that were not super effective on it, but at the same time Shedninja would faint instantly if it was hit with such an attack. Thomdolt had taken out the Fearow, thereby eliminating the risk of getting hit by a Flying type move, but he had not counted on Ash having another Pokemon that could potentially take out his Shedninja.

Ash noticed the change in Thomdolt's demeanor, and seemed to realize that it meant that Thomdolt was afraid of him or at least, his Gastly. But why? He tried to calm down as he realized that this meant that the fight was not yet over, and there was probably still something that he could do.

Thankfully, luck seemed to be on Ash's side in one thing, in that Gastly was unaffected by the spikes, and also that it was only afflicted by Sleep, something that it quickly snapped out of.

"Gastly! Use Lick!" Ash said, as it was one of the few moves that Gastly knew.

The Shedninja used Protect, retaliating to which Ash used Lick again, and this time, the Protect failed, and the Shedninja fainted instantly. After all of Ash's other attacks had done nothing.

"Wait- what?" Ash asked, looking very confused. "Did those other attacks just weaken it or something?"

Thomdolt couldn't believe two things. One, that he was down to his very last Pokemon, and that two, he was losing to someone so dense they had yet not realized why Shedninja was impervious to all those attacks, or had bothered to read about it somewhere before waltzing in to challenge him.

He then sent out his Roserade again, and what resulted was one of the lamest battles that Ash had ever seen.

Sure, it was nail-biting tension as the two Pokemon went at each other, neither being able to do the other much harm, mainly because the whole battle riding on them.

It took a whole five minutes of this before finally, inevitably, Roserade fainted, followed only a few seconds later by Gastly, meaning that Ash won.

"NOOO!" Thomdolt screamed as the Hemlock Badge moved from his pocket. Before leaving though, it emitted a bright flash of light, and somewhere not far from there, a fire soon broke out, engulfing a large quantity of grain that soon spread, burning all the food reserves there were, though oddly enough, it didn't scorch the buildings themselves or even the people or Pokemon within.

But Ash didn't see that, and as soon as he received the second Gym Badge, the foreboding sense that had been in his head and heart disappeared. He hadn't even realized how much being in foreign territory had changed him, as he suddenly felt as if a huge weight had been lifted from his shoulders. Everything around him suddenly felt much familiar, as if he was standing back in his home in Pallet Town, and power seemed to seep through his very veins.

He had won.

A/N: And that's that. I'm updating more frequently for a while to sort of make up for all that time. Thanks for reading, Julie Togepi and reviewing.

Please do review if you liked it. Until next time!