A/N: Thanks for the feedback. Julie Togepi, yeah, I did kind of like their stories but it occasionally seems to me that they are kind of out of place. Hall Gowrt, thanks for pointing that out, I think I've fixed it.

Just want to say that over two years ago, when I started out with the idea of this fanfic, this was the end to which I had envisioned. Not to say that this is the last chapter, it's just at that point in time I had thought up of only this much. And we've come far- it's been a huge privilege writing for all you guys. Thanks for sticking by me. If anything, this story has shown me how hard it is getting your actual ideas on paper. I know there have been a lot of mistakes- many things didn't turn out as I expected them too.

Anyway, we crossed 40k views on this fanfic so I thought I'd just say another thank you.

Ash was very conflicted. At no other time in his short life had he ever felt the need to think more than now- he knew that Selena was by far the better Trainer, and he needed to strategize.

The problem was that at practically no point in his entire life had he felt himself so unable to make a coherent thought. Not even when he had accidentally smashed a window when he was five years old and his mother had asked what had happened. Not even that time he had accidentally walked into the girl's restroom. Not even that time when Serena had kissed him.

Strategize! Think! These were words his brain kept screaming at him. He dully took in the surroundings- the room was pretty big but with equipment everywhere it would seriously hamper mobility of any sort.

It did occur to him that he should stop staring around like an idiot and actually address Selena. "Well… I'm supposed to tell you about my special rules…"

Selena snorted. "Do you really believe that is necessary? I have known those rules for thousands of years." She then smiled mockingly. "But tell me O knight in shining armor, what kind of hero needs some special rule to fight a lonely old lady? You do know that you can, if you wish, waive your right to use them? Come now, fight me like a man. Fight me on equal terms."

Ash shook his head. "No way."

Selena snarled. "Really? Are you really that insecure in your own talents and abilities that you need them? Do you think you cannot beat me without them?" She then grinned maliciously. "I know quite a little bit of your life outside Galea from all the spying I have done… correct me if I am not wrong, but are you not a failure of a Trainer? You have attempted to win contest, I think they are called 'Pokemon Leagues' and yet you have been unsuccessful all this time." Ash felt his face flush at this- he hadn't been expecting Selena to know, much less talk about that. "You want to become a Pokemon Master? What did you say… 'to be the very best, like no one ever was…' Well then, what kind of Master needs a handicap? Because that is all that those rules are, a handicap for you, and should you even win with those you will spend your entire life wondering if you but could have won had you not used them. When people will tell stories of you- they will also ask themselves as to if you could have succeeded if you fought me on level ground. Tell me, are you satisfied with a simple 'what if' for the rest of your existence that you will mull about, or do you want to truly test your mettle against the Empress of Galea?"

Rage was building in Ash now. He didn't want to admit it, but ever single word that Selena had just said stung him badly- especially given that most of it was true. Everything she had just said played right into his deepest fears and he opened his mouth to say, "You know what? Y-"

He didn't get another word out as his Pikachu had suddenly bit into his ankle. It wasn't very deep, but it did hurt and snapped Ash's attention to his Pokemon.

Pikachu glared at Ash and then Ash realized what his partner was saying. It was exactly what he had been telling himself earlier- that he needed to think. There was no good reason for him to not use every advantage that he had. The cut on his ankle healed fairly quickly thanks to the Badges, and Ash glared at Selena and said, "Nice try, but I'm smarter than that. For now, we'll definitely be fighting using two rules: I get eight Pokemon and every single one of yours you send out is going to be Poisoned, or if it's a Poison type, is gonna get a random status condition. Also, I can negate the abilities of your Pokemon, and oh yeah, in case I lose I can challenge you to a Double or Triple battle, and you would need to win all of them."

"Don't you know how to count?" Selena asked. "Those are four rules!"

"Yeah, yeah," Ash said sheepishly. He really wished that he could talk to Arthur just once more for some advice. Arthur had said that he only had an eight percent chance of winning- but never specified if that was assuming that Ash had his special rules on his side, if Selena was using hers, or neither and he was just comparing both of their strengths. Come to think of it, he hadn't factored in Gregor's Gengar being with him anyway.

As Ash thought of a strategy though, he could only mange to come up with the idea that stalling was a good tactic given that he had more Pokemon and that Selena's Pokemon would be Poisoned. He didn't know how strong this Gengar would be- but considering it was an Elite Four member's Pokemon, he assumed that it would be strong. But given that Phineas and Selena had once already defeated the Elite Four and that Gengar was probably a new addition… oh well, he was overthinking this. There was really nothing to do except for starting the battle.

"Go! Skarmory!" Selena said.

Ash looked at the Pokemon. It was a Steel type and would normally be immune to being Poisoned, and so it instead fell to the floor, fast asleep.

This was a perfect opportunity for Ash and he sent out his Charizard and immediately had it bathe Selena's Skarmory in a torrent of flames.

Selena looked seriously pissed off and withdrew her Skarmory rather than risking further injury to it. It would still be asleep however, even inside the Poke Ball, so Ash didn't see much point in it, but he guessed that maybe Selena thought that she'd send it out again when she wouldn't be at a Type disadvantage.

She instead sent out a Milotic and it became Poisoned the moment it was sent out.

However, Ash remembered something that he had read up somewhere. Milotic had a special ability… something to do with status conditions. "I negate your MIlotic's ability," Ash said. He wasn't even sure if that was how you did it- he hadn't seen Wade do anything back during their battle so maybe all he needed to do was think it, but hey, it couldn't possibly hurt to say it aloud, right? Selena looked furious- so Ash guessed that he had done something right, even though he really didn't remember quite fully what or why it was the correct thing to do.

He then felt like kicking himself- he should have just negated the abilities of all of Selena's Pokemon by default. As far as he knew, it was rare for there to be a Pokemon like Slaking who would have an ability that was a hindrance to itself.

It also occurred to him that his Charizard was not the best choice in this situation and withdrew him and sent out his Pikachu instead.

It occurred to him that this whole fight could really just end up in them switching out Pokemon solely based on Type advantage continuously forever, but Selena seemed to think that she could overcome this. "Water Pulse!"

The attack missed Pikachu by the skin of its teeth as it leaped aside and the attack tore a two feet wide crater in the wall.

"Thunderbolt!" Ash said. Wisps of electricity formed around his Pikachu and coalesced into a large beam of lightning that illuminated the area with a pale yellow light as it moved towards Selena's Milotic. Ash was pretty pleased with himself- that attack was far more powerful than any he had ever seen Pikachu do. And it was a reminder to him that no matter what Selena said he had come far and so had his Pokemon.

This warm, fuzzy feelings were soon lost as Selena's Milotic swiftly avoided the attack and then swung its tail at Pikachu, an attack that hit its mark and sent his Pikachu flying into the wall.

For a moment Ash was very afraid that Pikachu wasn't going to get up, but it managed to somehow, if only very weakly.

"Pikachu, step down," Ash said.

He then suddenly had an idea. It was a crazy, stupid idea, but at the same time it seemed so very reckless that one thing going on in his head was that if Brock and Misty were here right now, they'd say that it suited his battle style perfectly.

"Go! Roserade!" Ash said and released his Roserade.

Selena was taken aback by this development. "You do know that that is my Pokemon… or did you somehow forget about that?"

"I didn't," Ash said. "And it doesn't matter if you trained my Roserade. You gave it to me, and as per the rules that means that it is my Pokemon."

Roserade looked at Selena, and then back at Ash, then to Selena, and then to Ash, as if Roserade was watching some sort of tennis match. It was clear that Roserade had no clue what to do.

But Ash had been counting on this. If Selena had trained Roserade herself, it was highly likely she had been training Roserade with her Pokemon. And so Roserade was probably very used to fighting with Selena's Pokemon, even if it was as a training exercise, and would probably know their attack patterns.

"Hey, listen, Roserade," Ash said. "I know that you don't want to hurt your friends… but you don't have to. All I want you to do is do one thing- avoid all of their attacks. That's all you need to do, avoid them. You don't even need to fight if you don't have to."

Selena ordered Milotic to fire an Ice Beam. Ash watched the attack travel towards Roserade, who looked at the incoming ray with a deer-in-the-headlights sort of expression on its face, but at the last moment did, as a matter of fact, avoid the blow.

"Great, now hide," Ash said. He had remembered what Wade had told him once- that it was necessary to use the terrain to his advantage. Or was that Wade or someone else? Eh, anyway, it seemed like good advice and Roserade was able to fit into many nooks and crannies that Milotic wasn't able to follow, and Selena clearly didn't want to risk destroying the machine since she would be needing it to well, blow herself up.

Selena grew exasperated very quickly and withdrew her Milotic and replaced it with an Alakazam. Ash withdrew his Roserade immediately and sent out his Greninja now.

Selena frowned. It was turning out as Ash had expected- neither of them was willing to fight at a disadvantage. That battle had progressed for quite some time and not a single one of either of their Pokemon had been knocked out.

"Hey Selena," Ash said. "I bet you've lived a long time- and seen thousands of battles. But here's something I think you've never seen before."

Ash had wondered why Greninja hadn't transformed back when he had fought Wade- but he knew now. Their connection had been severed, but after all they had been through again in Galea, he had no doubt in his mind that it would work. A flash of water coiled around both him and his beloved Greninja as Greninja transformed to become more Ash-like.

Selena seemed to lose her composure for just a second. This was something she had never seen before, and it was then that it occurred to Ash that everything that Selena did was planned out well in advance- she probably knew everything about every single Pokemon she had ever seen. But seeing something she didn't understand… well, it was probably scarier for someone like her than for him.

"Miracle Eye," Selena said. Nothing happened, so Ash assumed that Selena, despite her years of experience, didn't know that Greninja was a Dark type and immune to Psychic type attacks. So he decided to strike her with a Water Shuriken.

Alakazam took several hits, but Selena then ordered it to use Psycho Cut. Ash grinned- apparently experience wasn't everything. Hadn't she learned already that Psychic attacks were useless?

But then, surprisingly, the attack hit, and given that neither Greninja nor Ash had been expecting it to, it did massive damage and Ash was forced to withdrew Greninja immediately afterwards. If he had taken the slightest evasive maneuvers, Greninja would not have been hurt as badly- but now Greninja would probably be unable to do anything significant for the rest of the fight.

Selena regained her confidence. "That was a neat trick… but a trick is all…but I have to say, no, I haven't ever seen something like that happen before… what happened to your eyes?"

Ash! Hoopa said. Send me! Send me to deal with her Alakazam!

Ash considered the situation and realized that he didn't exactly have any better choice and so he said, "Hoopa! I choose you!"

Hoopa entered the battlefield and Selena looked thrown again. She had never seen Hoopa before, and Ash realized that Hoopa Unbound's Psychic/Dark matchup mean that it too, would be immune to Psychic attacks like his Greninja. Now, he wasn't sure why Psycho Cut had worked, but he guessed that Miracle Eye was probably the reason why. As it was, Selena had two choice. She either assumed, based on Hoopa Unbound's appearance, that it was a Dark type and use Miracle Eye again, which would waste a turn, or she could directly attack with a Psychic move if she assumed Hoopa was not a Dark type.

Either way, Ash knew that he had the advantage, at least initially, and so he used it to attack. "Hoopa! Hyperspace Fury!"

"Hyper-what?" Selena asked as Hoopa disappeared and reappeared above them and began sketching dark purple all around Alakazam and turned into a dark vortex of energy, striking it from every direction. Selena probably could've reacted to try and minimize the damage that Alakazam was taken, but much like Ash, she was probably not expecting an attack of this sort.

At the end of the assault, Alakazam toppled over. It was down for the count. Ash still had eight Pokemon, and Selena had five.

Yeah! That's what I'm talkin' about! Hoopa said, grinning.

"Well, looks like the professor just got schooled," Ash said. It was a lame joke, and he knew it, but Hoopa still giggled so he supposed that meant something.

Ash had seen Selena shocked before- but never had he seen her completely dumbfounded, her mouth forming a perfect 'O' as she took in what had happened. "Well, well, when I brought you here to Galea I just took whoever happened to be nearest. You fit your purpose well enough- oh, you surprised me many times definitely, and I had to help you out along the way… but you still seem to have many surprises… I apologize for underestimating you…" Selena said. She no longer looked shocked and had a hard expression on her face- something that told Ash that the coats were off now.

Selena now sent out her Skarmory, which was still asleep, so Ash had Hoopa use another Hyperspace Fury attack. It was almost impossible to tell whether this had as much of an effect on Skarmory as it had on Alakazam, but then Skarmory woke up. Selena grinned- this was apparently what she had been gambling on.

"Hyperspace Fury!" Ash shouted again.

"Use Aerial Ace to dodge and then strike it," Selena said. Hoopa's attack missed its mark, and it found itself on the receiving end of Skarmory's Aerial Ace to its back.

Ow, ow, ouch! Hoopa screamed. Ash wasn't sure why the attack had done so much damage, but Hoopa looked like it was really hurt and so Ash told Hoopa to take a break for now.

Selena also withdrew her Skarmory. Ash didn't know whether or not it would get affected by another Status condition when she sent it out again, or if that was only a one time deal. But given that Selena had chosen to withdraw it instead of fighting with it, it was most likely that the latter was the case.

Now Ash was left wondering what he should send out, and so was Selena. They just sort of glared at each other for a couple of minutes before Ash finally caved and decided to send out his Roserade again.

Selena didn't look too happy at this and her face clearly said, 'Not this again.'

She sent out a Dragonite.

Now, Ash had seen several Dragonites before. They were not a Pokemon species that he was unfamiliar with- most of them had been friendly- but he had fought against quite a few and he knew how nasty they could be. His mind drifted back to the Orange League.

But there was something about this Dragonite that was very off. It's skin looked old and worn- it wasn't exactly a different color but it looked faded. There were strange patterns on its skin that resembled cobwebs. And its eyes- its eyes looked ancient. One look into them told Ash that if he tried to fight this Pokemon head-on, he would lose. It wouldn't even be a contest.

"Roserade! Hide!" Ash shouted. It was the only tactic that he could think of that would work in this situation. No matter how powerful that Pokemon was, it was still Poisoned, and that limited the duration that it could fight him.

"Shock Wave," Selena muttered. The attack hit- it always hit- and despite any type advantage that Roserade had Roserade was still one-shot.

"Roserade! Return!" Ash said. He still had seven Pokemon, but the thing is that he knew that this Dragonite would be a huge pain to take down. A pit of dread formed in his stomach as he thought it was probably likely that this Dragonite could take on his entire team. He had one the Orange League by a hair's breadth, after all.

But he clenched his fists and went with the choice he thought best for this situation- and sent out his Charizard again. It was a bit of an odd choice, and given that the opposing Dragonite knew some Electric moves, Charizard was at a disadvantage. But Ash had faith in his Charizard- it was one of his most reliable Pokemon.

"Charizard! Take flight!" Ash said.

"Shock Wave!" Selena shouted.

"Steel Wing and ground yourself," Ash said. Charizard's left wing began to glow with a metallic sheen, and using it stroked the ground as it flew, and the Shock Wave was conducted harmlessly to the ground. Ash remembered seeing this strategy somewhere before, but again, he couldn't for the life of him remember where.

Charizard then struck Selena's Dragonite with its Steel Wing, and the two grabbled together, each of them trying to pin the other to the ground.

"Seismic Toss!" Ash said.

Charizard tightened its grip and moved to try and seize Selena's Dragonite, but it managed to break free and shot a Water Pulse at his Charizard which Charizard only narrowly avoided.

"Flamethrower!" Ash said. From his experience, sometimes it was necessary to throw type disadvantage out the window and just attack.

Selena wasn't expecting it, and the attack hit home although it didn't do very much. The Dragonite however, now looked very, very, enraged. And if there was one constant in the universe, it was that you didn't want to meet an angry Dragonite.

Charizard however, snarled ferociously and went to try and grip Dragonite again. It turned less into a Pokemon battle and more of a wrestling match as the two Pokemon grappled with each other, each of them trying to toss the other one but neither of them gaining any ground.

"Break apart!" Selena said.

Dragonite attempted to put some distance between itself and Charizard, but that was hard as Charizard kept lunging for it, sometimes with its arms and at other times with its fangs.

"Hyper Beam!" Selena screamed.

"Get out of the way!" Ash shouted, though considering how close the two Pokemon were, this was next to impossible.

A huge beam of destruction burst out from Dragonite's mouth and struck Charizard right in the chest, flinging it back straight into the wall, where it tried to get up once, and then another time, but then slumped to the ground.

"Charizard!" Ash shouted. It was hard to believe that it had been taken down like that. His Charizard- one of his greatest bastions of defense, with which he had battled legendaries like Articuno, had been taken down? It was almost unbelievable. He sent out his Pikachu next. Pikachu was raring to go, despite having taken some tail from Milotic a while back.

Pikachu avoided Dragonite's attack's rather easily, and delivered a Thunderbolt to it that made the last one that it had let out look insignificant in comparison. Ash had never heard a Pokemon scream in such agony as the Dragonite did. And if it had been made before- it was now absolutely livid.

"Return," Selena said. She then sent out a Ninetales.

Ash withdrew Pikachu and sent out his Greninja again, and transformed yet again.

"How queer," Selena said. "I have never seen something like that before. I think once I have killed you, I might try and dissect your Pokemon and figure out what it is that allows it to do that."

"Yeah, well, what'll it matter when you try and blow us all to kingdom come?" Ash asked, knowing that Selena was probably just trying to demoralize him. However, Ash knew very well what would happen to all of his Pokemon if he were to lose- and that just made him want to fight on even harder.

"You have a fair point," Selena said and shrugged. "I guess nothing really matters then. But when has anything really mattered at all anyway?"

Ash chose to ignore this and instead Greninja wordlessly began advancing towards the Ninetales.

Ninetales began shooting wisps of blue flames out from each of its tails, most of which Greninja was able to expertly dodge or blow with a well placed Water Shuriken.

And after that, Ash lost all clarity of himself. It was as if in the heat of the battle, all distinction between human and Pokemon was lost.

As such, he had trouble knowing whose hands it were that threw those Water Shuriken at Selena's Ninetales with expert precision. And whose body was it that moved in the air and dodged all of Ninetales' counterattacks? And whose mouth uttered commands as they continuously hammered down on Selena's Ninetales, until after what seemed like an eternity- though it was probably only minutes- it keeled over and sprawled on the ground, motionless.

Selena was not pleased, needless to say and sent out a Frosslass. Ash's head was pumped with adrenaline- he felt like he and his Greninja could continue on forever. He felt invincible. But at the same time, he could already feel his- or Geninja's- muscles tiring. He withdrew his Greninja for now and then considered who he was going to send out now. He looked over at Gregor's Gengar, who nodded.

Ash was a bit uncertain about using Gengar- it was probably very strong, but it was someone else's Pokemon and Ash didn't know any of its moves. But, this was the last of Selena's Pokemon and it was well-rested and 'fresh' in battle so to speak, and so Ash felt that he should also send out a Pokemon that wasn't exhausted.

Gengar then stepped onto the battlefield. Ash didn't see the rod with it, so he guessed that Gengar had probably hidden it somewhere safe while Selena was distracted.

And boy, if Ash thought that Selena looked angry before, it did not compare at all at how she started at Gengar. Those eyes could burn holes through titanium.

"Shadow Ball!" Selena said.

Gengar dodged the attack without even needing a command from Ash. Now, Ash didn't know what moves Gregor's Gengar knew, but the thing was that Ash had an idea. He didn't know if it would work, but then again, that label pretty much fit all of the ideas that he had had today. "Gengar! Venoshock!"

Gengar turned for a moment towards Ash and looked confused. That made Ash worry that maybe Gengar didn't know Venoshock, but the next second dark purple spikes burst from the ground beneath Frosslass and struck it hard.

"Alright!" Ash said. He had read that Venoshock was very useful against already Poisoned Pokemon- making it the perfect move for him to spam over and over again.

In response Selena withdrew her Frosslass and replaced it with her Skarmory again. Huh, now that was a good guard against Venoshock, Ash supposed.

But Skarmory was still battered though, so Ash began ordering Gengar to chuck as many Shadow Balls as he could at the Skarmory. The Skarmory took the attacks and struck back fiercely at Gengar, slashing with its sharp steel wings and claws. Gengar retaliated in kind- not even really needing Ash's instructions at it fought back.

At the end of their bout, Skarmory fell the ground, unable to fight any more, and Gengar was practically on its knees. Ash told Gengar to withdraw- it would not be fighting for much longer now.

But now he had hope- half of Selena's team was down and whoever she had left was already damaged.

But he had long since learned not to count his eggs before they hatched- Selena's Pokemon were still going to be problematic, especially her Dragonite for that matter.

Ash sent out Arcanine, and Selena sent out her Milotic. It was a mistake- but not one that Selena would given Ash any time to rectify as a single Water Pulse was all it took to defeat Ash's Arcanine.

"Go! Drapion!" Ash said and released his Drapion. Selena switched out for her Frosslass again. "Venoshock!"

Drapion released the attack, but it was a whole lot less powerful than Gengar's. Ash had neglected to train Drapion, something that he was regretting now.

"Shadow Ball!" Selena commanded.

Drapion moved so that the Shadow Ball just nicked one if its claws instead of hitting it full-on, and then unleashed yet another Venoshock. This time though, Frosslass anticipated the attack and dodged it.

The two Pokemon moved about in a furious whirlwind, but it soon became apparent that Drapion simply couldn't keep up with Frosslass. An Ice Beam then finished off Drapion- but just after that Frosslass fell to the ground as well. The Poison had taken its toll.

Selena was down to two Pokemon, and Ash still had four.

Selena took a deep breath and sent out her Milotic again as Ash sent out his Pikachu.

Ash tried to play it safe for now- while he was sure that Pikachu could probably take down Milotic, he didn't want to take the risk of him getting injured. As such, Pikachu began running around the walls with Quick Attack. It was exhausted, but running here and there was less troublesome than fighting.

Oh, but Selena tried almost every tactic she knew to get Pikachu to stand and fight. Milotic tried to coil around Pikachu but Pikachu managed to jump out of that. And aiming indiscriminately was not something that Selena wanted to do as it would harm the machine. So, instead she tried goading Ash into attacking, and said several hurtful things… which Ash did his best to ignore.

Finally she gave up and switched out for her Dragonite. And the thing was that its expression and Selena's matched up perfectly.

Ash gulped. What was the best thing to do? Should he attack, or just keep Pikachu running like it had been?

"Shock Wave!" Selena ordered.

Well, that settled it. Stalling was likely not going to be a feasible strategy as Ash watched Pikachu endure the attack and tumble to the ground, only to get back up again.

"Pikachu! Iron Tail!" Ash ordered. Pikachu got up, ran up a wall and then pushed back against it to flip in the air as its tail started to glow silver.

"Flamethrower!" Selena ordered.

Both attacks hit their mark- after Pikachu smacked Selena's Dragonite across its face using its tail, Dragonite released a stream of flames at Pikachu.

Dragonite remained standing. Pikachu didn't. Ash walked over to this Pikachu and picked him up gently. "That's alright little buddy, you did your best."

Send me out again! Hoopa said.

Ash had to admit that it was a tempting idea, and so he decided to go with it.

Dragonite was panting heavily, but something told Ash that it could still take a whole lot more before it would be defeated.

"Hyper Beam!" Selena shouted.

Ash thought that was a bit of a dumb move- given that Selena didn't know Hoopa's type and could only guess based on appearance, well, Hoopa could very well be a Ghost type and that attack would be useless. "Protect."

The attack, though powerful, did nothing to Hoopa following which Hoopa disappeared into one of its rings.

For a full minute it didn't reappear and Dragonite was frantically looking around, waiting for a sound or even the slightest appearance of Hoopa. Then, suddenly, Hoopa appeared out from beneath Dragonite- the last direction it wouldn't expected, Ash guessed, and then struck it with Hyperspace Fury.

Somehow though, Dragonite not only endured the attack, but grabbed Hoopa and then used a Headbutt on it.

Ow! What's that thing's skull made up of- steel or somethin'? Hoopa said.

Hoopa got out of Dragonite's grip, and it then backed away a few paces.

"Thunderbolt!" Selena said.

"Protect," Ash answered.

After that, Hoopa disappeared again, and this time struck Dragonite from the back. Dragonite tried to grab Hoopa, but it was able to avoid its grip this time.

Dragonite glared at Hoopa- and then all of a sudden fell to the ground, now unable to move.

"NO!" Selena's scream echoed around the room. She withdrew her Dragonite and sent out her Milotic.

But by now, it was all but certain that Ash had won. Hoopa took a Water Pulse to the face and got knocked out, and Ash switched with Gengar.

The two Pokemon kept trying to strike each other, but were largely failing, and then Ash went on the defensive and decided to just wait until Milotic would eventually succumb to its Status condition.

"If something can't go on forever, it won't," Ash said to himself as he saw Milotic tire and then finally collapse.

Selena's Badge floated over to Ash and he grabbed it.

"Badges, heal my Pokemon," was his first command as relief washed over him.

He had done it. He had won.

But then- there was that small voice in his head. He still had Pokemon left. And it begged the question, a question that Ash didn't want to ask himself but felt compelled to, strangely enough.

Could he still have won in this battle without using his special rules?

A/N: Thanks for reading! This was supposed to be a climactic battle so I waxed a bit more over this than I normally would have. I (hope) no errors creeped in.