On the Mountains in route to Snowbelle:
"Come on Clemont I don't want to miss Ash's gym battle!" Bonnie shouted. Bonnie and Serena were leading the group while Clemont was lagging behind and panting as he got closer to the girls that stopped to let the inventor catch his breath. Clemont reached the girls and with a large collapse fell to the snow on the ground.
"Bonnie you need to take it slow, I am dying out here!" Clemont said on the snow trying to shake the tiredness he was experiencing. Serena took out her navigator and looked at the route they were following.
"It says here that Snowbelle is still a little far, we can expect to get there tonight," Serena said.
"Oh man, I wanted to see Ash battle," Bonnie pouted.
Serena sighed and went up to the little girl and put a hand on Bonnie's shoulder, "Don't worry, I think we will see Ash battle soon!" Serena smiled as they all started walking this time at a pace that Clemont could keep up towards Snowbelle.
A/N: So we are ready for the gym battle :) I am hype as well. Also we get reintroduced to a person that Ash will have to go through in the future and keep in mind that if you thought Paul was bad, this is worse… Mostly because I like to exaggerate stuff on here and optimize the intensity to the very limit.
Now Ash may be OOC in this chapter, he might not be a lot like Ash or Alain so keep in mind that it is for a reason as to why I wrote Ash in this way this chapter. Also, the fact that Serena, Bonnie and Clemont have not arrived at Snowbelle in time for Ash's battle will have a purpose and it will get clearer.
I hope you enjoy this chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon
Chapter 20- Ash vs Wulfric… Attempting to Win on a Broken Spirit
Snowbelle City:
"Ash are you ready to battle the gym leader? I heard he uses ice type pokemon," Brock explained as he walked next to Ash. The trio was headed towards the gym and the snow was cold. The day was very foggy, but that was nothing, with their coats on they felt nothing.
Ash looked over at Brock and smirked, "I know a lot of the Pokemon in my team are weak to ice, but we will have to pull through." Brock smiled at the idea as they neared the gym. Standing outside the gym though… an unpleasant surprise came.
"Oh…" This boy smirked while looking at Ash and Pikachu. "It is that weak trainer with that stupid Charmander." The boy said in a venomous tone that made Brock flinch. Brock assumed it was Ash's rival, but a type of rival that takes it to this level is something Brock had never seen before.
Ash just clenched his fists. Anger started to course through him. Through clenched teeth Ash simply said, "What do you want Damian…?"
Damian just smirked and turned towards the city, then turned back to Ash, "I am just here to wish you bad luck, hope you lose, stiff." Damian then let out an evil laugh as he walked away.
Brock stood there in surprise and turned to Ash, "Ignore him Ash."
Ash just sighed, "I… guess…" Ash started to remember his recent losses with Frogadier and it was beginning to affect his attitude, more importantly, Ash's confidence. This was something Brock noticed as he and Ash walked into the slightly warmer gym. Ash was in a pensive mood as the trio reached the end of the long corridor where the TV came to life.
"Welcome to the Snowbelle gym, how may I help you?" The television voice came on.
"..." No response came from Ash that was staring at the door in front of him with blank eyes.
"Hello?" the voice asked again.
"Pikapi?"
"Ash are you ok?" Brock asked finally snapping Ash out of his thoughts.
Ash straightened out, "N-nothing is wrong…" Ash then turned to the TV, "I would like a gym battle please!"
The TV voice then responded in a cheery voice, "Alright! Just remember to wear a coat as the gym is cold, Wulfric is awaiting you!"
"Great!" Ash replied while pumping his fist. Brock still looked at Ash with a very suspicious look, something wasn't adding up to Brock about Ash. At that time, the double doors suddenly opened up causing the cold air to rush through the trio and stunning them, but Ash knew he had to maintain a burning spirit if he was going to win this battle. Sadly, he still felt empty inside.
Looking around, Ash saw a large amount of ice around the gym from the icicles on the air to the breath that could be seen when one exhaled. Also, one look at the battlefield and Ash noticed it was made completely out of ice.
On the stands stood no one and the space was occupied by Brock and Pikachu who Ash told he was not going to use in this battle. Ash slowly walked up to the trainer box along with the ref at the side of the field who was completely in snow gear.
The other trainer box stood in front of what looked like an ice throne. Ash looked at the throne and noticed a man with a jacket that he did not use the sleeves of, a large stature and a large beard on his face. Most notably, this man had a collar around his neck which Ash found suspicious. This man stood up and welcomed Ash, "Welcome to the Snowbelle gym, I am Wulfric the gym leader." The man then looked right at Ash's eyes and smirked, "And I accept your challenge."
The ref then looked at both trainers that were standing in their trainer boxes and started giving instructions, "This will be a three on three pokemon battle. The battle will be over when all three pokemon on either side are unable to continue. Do all the trainers agree to these rules?" Ash and Wulfric nodded to the ref who then raised his hand. "Great, now choose your first pokemon!"
"Beartic let's battle!" Wulfric shouted as he revealed a very large polar bear that stood on both feet. The Beartic gave a huge roar of power as Ash stood there staring his opponent. Ash found the Beartic somewhat intimidating, but reached towards his belt and grabbed his first pokeball.
"Sceptile let's go!" Ash shouted as he threw a pokeball into the air and out came the bipedal tree frog. Sceptile stared down his opponent and smirked as he was ready for a battle.
The ref then raided his hand into the air and lowered it while shouting, "Battle… BEGIN!"
Battle music start, Ash (Sceptile) vs Wulfric (Beartic)
Ash wanted started things off strong, "Sceptile use leaf blade, let's go!"
"Sceptile!" Sceptile shouted as he made his green blades grow green and he rushed the blue polar bear standing in the middle of the room. Ash found it interesting how Wulfric was not commanding Beartic at all, he was just standing there watching the Sceptile get nearer. Sceptile reached Beartic and when he did, Sceptile made a large X shaped slash across Beartic's chest. Beartic recoiled back and fell in front of Wulfric. Wulfric looked at Sceptile with surprise, but not knowing Ash was falling for a trap.
"Sceptile use leaf storm!" Ash commanded while putting his arm out. Sceptile obeyed and launched a barrage of leaves from his tail and caused Beartic to fly into the air in pain. "Now slam Beartic into the ground!" Sceptile aligned his leaves so that they lead to the ground and slammed Beartic across the icy field. Ash expected a reaction from Wulfric, but Wulfric just stood there with his arms crossed. Ash then got the idea that he was falling for a trap so as soon as Sceptile returned to his side, Ash spoke up, "Sceptile stand there and pay attention to any move Wulfric can make."
"Tile!" Sceptile agreed.
In the stands:
"Something isn't right. Why is Wulfric not commanding Beartic, Beartic has to be weakened at this point," Brock told himself. He also found it odd that Ash's battling was very confusing as staying alert didn't seem to attract any action.
Back to the battlefield:
"It seems that I have already won this exchange," Wulfric said in a victorious tone. Still with his arms crossed, Wulfric shouted, "Counter!"
"Bear...TIC!" Beartic roared as his fist glew white and he started running towards Sceptile.
"Quick use dragon claw!" Ash shouted in panic as he watched the move come back in with a large amounts of force. Sceptile made himself green scaly claws and charged to counter the Beartic's fist. The gap slowly sealed between both pokemon and both pokemon were stuck in a stalemate between a green pair of claws and a white fist.
Wulfric then completely surprised Ash, "Avalanche! " Beartic made a gray cloud appear over Sceptile and the ice chunks fell on Sceptile making a decently sized explosion that made Sceptile return in front of Ash barely standing and really tired.
"Sceptile are you ok?"
"Tile!" Sceptile replied while holding up his fist.
"Good," Ash looked at Sceptile and knew he had to think of something quickly, "Use frenzy plant quick!"
"Scep...TILE!" Sceptile shouted as he punched his fists together and engraved them into the ground causing a lot of large stems to shoot out of the ice and breaking everything in sight.
Wulfric though, he smirked at Ash's move knowing he could easily counter it, "Use ice punch on the ground!" Beartic slammed his blue freezing fist into the ground and caused ice pillars to shoot out of the ice. The pillars stopped the frenzy plant from rising above the surface and then continued on to hit Sceptile. Sceptile was enveloped in a large explosion from the super effective hit, but still managed to get up. "What good resistance it has Ash, but can it deal with this? Beartic use avalanche again!" The cloud again appeared above Sceptile and Ash needed to find a solution quickly.
"Sceptile use leaf storm into the clouds above you!" Ash shouted. Sceptile obeyed and shot his leafs into the clouds and interacted with the falling chunks of ice which definitely could have been fatal if they had hit. This caused a lot of smoke and then Wulfric said something that left Ash wide eyed.
"Now you are open to an attack, ice punch!" Beartic swiftly navigated the ice and hit Sceptile with a devastating cold punch to the stomach that knocked the tree frog against the wall behind Ash who only had enough time to look back and see the smoke clearing from a clear dent in the wall and a unconscious Sceptile.
"Sceptile is unable to battle, Beartic wins!" the ref shouted.
Ash raised his pokeball and silently recalled his pokemon back into its pokeball.
In the stands:
"This doesn't look good for Ash…" Brock replied nervously. Ash was not his usual self, the determination that usually was in the raven haired trainer was gone and for some reason there was not the same compassion he would have for his pokemon. Ash was not saying his "I choose you" catchphrase and even worse, he was not even praising his pokemon for their effort.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted while waving his arms. Pikachu also noticed the slight change in his trainer's attitude, something that put the electric rodent on edge.
At the battlefield:
Wulfric stood tall with a smile on his face, "So, is that all you got? You're Sceptile was not strong enough to deal with type advantage and you definitely know that my Beartic won't go down to anything of that strength."
"BEARTIC!" Beartic shouted in agreeance. This stabbed Ash many times in the heart as he was being called out for being… weak?
"Don't take it personal Ash!" Ash heard from a voice from the sidelines.
"Pikapi pikachu!" Pikachu shouted as well.
Ash had more anger surging through his blood by the time he grabbed his second pokeball. He would not tolerate being judged by some gym leader and he was not going to let himself go down easily. "Noivern let's battle!"
"VEEEEEEERRRRRNN!" Wulfric watched in amusement as Ash's soundwave dragon went into battle with a deafening roar and fell in front of Ash.
"So it seems you can intimidate, but can you even battle?" Wulfric taunted. "Beartic use avalanche!" Beartic summoned clouds on top of Noivern that started unloading large amounts of ice chunks towards Noivern.
Ash pumped his fist, "Noivern use supersonic straight up break down the chunks of ice!"
"Noi...VERRRN" Noivern emitted sound waves out of his ear and shot them upwards towards the incoming attack. The pieces of ice started to crack and ultimately broke apart into a light hail that showered over Noivern and Ash.
Ash then put his hands to his side, "Use sky attack!" Noivern enveloped himself in a golden aura which glistened in the ice of the battlefield and flew towards Beartic who was holding his ground hard. Beartic once again took the hit head on and fell back on the ice with pain as he slumped over in order to absorb the pain. Ash took no mercy on Beartic at this point, "Use Boomburst!" Noivern gave a battle shriek and sent a beam of strong sound waves at Beartic who was in the ground.
"Ice punch on the ground once more!" Wulfric exclaimed with a pumped fist. Beartic did just as Wulfric said and made an ice pillar that could take the hit. As soon as the sound waves interacted with the ice, the ice began to crack. Wulfric saw this and knew he had to take a chance. "Use ice punch through the sound waves." Beartic punched the pillar and as soon as the pillar shattered into many pieces of ice, the polar bear shot through with a freezing punch.
Ash though, was prepared, "Use hurricane!"
"Noi...VEERNNN!" Noivern shouted and with a flap of his wings made a strong wind go through the stadium blowing Beartic into a vortex almost suck in.
"Beartic get out of there!" Wulfric shouted.
"Tic…" Beartic strained as he held onto the ground with his claws in an attempt to prevent getting sucked into the vortex being created by Noivern.
"That's it, USE COUNTER TOWARDS THE DIRECTION OF THE VORTEX!" Wulfric exclaimed while putting out a punch. Beartic made his fist glow white and jumped into the hurricane which is something Ash needed as Ash was smirking.
"Noivern quick slam the hurricane into the ground!" Ash shouted while punching the ice floor with his fist. Noivern gave a battle cry and caused the wind to head in a spiral direction towards the ground hurting the Beartic even more with a large thud. Beartic slowly stood up, but Ash saw his final opportunity, "Finish this off with sky attack!"
"Noi...VEERRRRR!"Noivern shouted as he glowed gold and flew towards Beartic with great speed. The attack was swift and clean and Noivern slashed right through and with a smirk came out the other side while Beartic suffered a large explosion from where he was standing. Beartic then fell down and lost consciousness which is something the ref took no time to realize.
"Beartic is unable to battle, Noivern wins!" the ref exclaimed holding up the respective flags.
Stands:
"Yes, way to bring it back Ash!" Brock shouted.
"Pikapi!" Pikachu shouted again more happy with the results of the battle.
Back in the Battlefield:
"It took you this long to get past your first test?" Wulfric asked unconvinced while retreating his fallen polar bear. "Let's just see how you handle this one, Avalugg let's go!" Wulfric threw out a pokeball which split into a flashing light that made the giant ice table like pokemon fall on the ground with a loud crash. The pokemon stood in all fours and was ready my make things hard for Ash. Wulfric then smirked and pumped a fist, "Use gyro ball!"
"Avalugg!" Avalugg shouted as he started to spin like a top, something Ash had never seen used before. The pokemon was headed right for Noivern who was in the ground.
Ash knew he needed to avoid the attack, "Noivern fly!" Noivern spread out his bat like wings and took to the skies in order to prevent getting hit by the gyro ball that came down with a lot of speed. Avalugg was still spinning and Noivern was above it. Ash knew he needed to try and use a move to stop the spinning. "Noivern use boomburst straight down!"
"Noi...VERRRRRNNN!" Noivern shouted while emitting his sound wave beam down towards the spinning ice type. The gap closed and there was a small explosion to which Ash celebrated a little, but Wulfric kept smirking knowing Ash had probably messed up again.
"Sky Attack!"
Wulfric knew he needed to execute his plan right away if he was to stop Noivern from using his physical charge. Noivern made the gold veil and was going to going straight for Avalugg when Wulfric put out his fist. "Avalugg stop it with ice fang!" Avalugg made a pair of freezing fangs that aimed straight upwards and trapped the falling Noivern making Ash flinch in shock. Avalugg then swung Noivern around and around and threw Noivern into the ceiling hitting one of the ice crystals.
Ash knew he had to do something quick so he did what he had to by pulling out a pokeball, "Noivern return." Noivern materialized into a red beam and went back to its pokeball. Ash then selected the third and last selection he would have to do for his battle. "Frogadier let's go!"
"Froga!"
Wulfric just stood there processing what Ash just did, "So are you too afraid that you had to switch? Specially into that pre-evolved pokemon? I was expecting something more intimidating like a Charizard."
At the stands:
"Why are people attacking Ash emotionally like that, don't they know what Ash has gone through?" Brock asked Pikachu.
"Pika…" Pikachu hung his head knowing Ash could not take this emotional pain. Pikachu then called out to his trainer, but no avail as Ash either did not hear it or is ignoring Pikachu.
"ASH SNAP OUT OF IT!" Brock exclaimed with hope. Again Ash did not respond and continued a staredown between Avalugg and Frogadier. "I don't like this one bit…"
"Pika," Pikachu agreed.
Back to the Battlefield:
"ASH SNAP OUT OF IT!" passed through the ears of everyone in the battlefield except Ash. Wulfric grew wide eyed knowing something was wrong. 'Ash is not himself apparently… Is it because of me? Maybe… I should probably be less harsh on him, but why is he in this state? Is this even Ash's true power? Now I understand why he is battling so badly. I have to point it out to him as soon as this match ends then.'
Wulfric put his hands out, "Use gyro ball!" Avalugg began to spin and head towards Frogadier which Ash did not like one bit.
Ash spread his hands out and shouted, "Use double team!"
"Froga… Froga… Froga…" Frogadier shouted as he split into many forms. The gyro ball went through the forms and failed to hit the real one.
"Use water pulse!"
Wulfric grew wide eyed, "Avalugg quick stone edge around you to protect yourself!"
"Avalugg!" Avalugg shouted as it stomped the ground and made blue stones shoot out of the ground. The blue stones then surrounded Avalugg in a circle as the many Frogadier copies made a sphere on water on their hands. Then, the spheres got launched and interacted with the stone edge doing no damage at all to Avalugg. Avalugg remained between the stones and this gave Wulfric an idea.
"Now use gyro ball!" Wulfric exclaimed. Avalugg began to spin and the pieces of shards from the stone edge began to shoot out like darts in a three hundred and sixty degree angle which left Ash dumbfounded. The shards hit the copies and dissipated all of them while the real one got hit badly. At the same time that Frogadier winced in pain Ash also felt the pain. "Avalugg finish this off now with ice fang!"
"Frogadier use cut!" Ash exclaimed. The white kunai interacted with the freezing mandibles and that was when Wulfric made his counter attack.
"Use gyro ball!"
The first sight of genius struck Ash since the beginning of this battle and maybe the only time in this battle, "Use your frubbles on Avalugg's abdomen!" Frogadier grabbed some sticky substance from his neck and swiftly threw it at the tip of the abdomen thus preventing any spinning for when Avalugg tried to use gyro ball.
"Avalugg use avalanche on top of yourself!" Wulfric exclaimed. The clouds formed from above and then the ice chunks slammed into both Avalugg and Frogadier and Ash again winced in pain when Frogadier got hurt.
Ash snapped out of the pain and shouted, "Use aerial ace on its head!" Frogadier made his limb glow white and slammed his fist into the head of the Avalugg. Avalugg let go of its grip on Frogadier and Frogadier slipped back on the slide. Ash then pumped his fists together, "Use water pulse!"
"Froga… DIER!" Frogadier shouted while throwing the water sphere and causing an explosion to happen as soon as it hit the Avalugg. When the smoke cleared, Avalugg was on the ground motionless.
"Avalugg is unable to battle the win goes to Frogadier," The ref exclaimed.
Wulfric quickly recalled Avalugg and grabbed one last pokeball from his belt, "Your pokemon are too tired, so Abomasnow let's finish this battle!"
"Abomasnowwwwwww!" Abomasnow shouted as a large cloud went out causing it to hair indoors!
Ash knew he needed to take caution so he took out a pokeball, "Frogadier return…" Frogadier returned to his pokeball and the Ash took out another pokeball. "Noivern you're in charge!"
"Vern!" Noivern shouted while staring down his opponent. Noivern then became pelted by the hail causing some pain in his wing.
"Noivern, ignore the hail, we have to win this," Ash stated in a serious tone. "Now take flight!"
"Vern!" Noivern replied looking at Abomasnow and taking flight.
Wulfric smirked, "Use ice shard!" Abomasnow let out some shards of ice from his back and they headed for Noivern.
"Dodge it!" Ash shouted. Noivern swung around the ice shards and avoided them very well, bit became in range for something else.
"Ice punch!"
"Aboma.. SNOW!" Abomasnow shouted while throwing his fist at the soundwave dragon who then crashed into the wall behind Ash. Noivern did not get up after that.
"Noivern is unable to battle, Abomasnow wins!" the ref declared.
Ash simply recalled Noivern and took out Frogadier silently. Frogadier crossed his arms as he looks at Abomasnow.
At the stands:
"This is really bad for Ash," Brock said in a worried tone.
"Pikapi…" Pikachu said.
Battlefield:
"Abomasnow use ice shard once again!" Wulfric exclaimed.
"Quick use double team!" The ice shards pierced through the copies that Frogadier made in a split second and once again hit the right one making Ash feel more pain. "Stronger...STRONGER! USE WATER PULSE!"
Wulfric grew wide eyed seeing this side of Ash, "Quick use ice shard again!" Abomasnow began to shoot seeking shards of ice towards Frogadier, but Ash had other plans.
"Use cut slice it!"
A risky move by Ash proving fatal.
Frogadier began by cutting the shards to pieces, but then the hail distracted Frogadier and made Frogadier get hit by the ice shard. At this point Wulfric saw his opening. "Wood hammer!" Abomasnow made a green log with his arm and slammed it into Frogadier. Frogadier was slammed across the entire field and crashed into the wall behind Ash.
"Frogadier!" Ash shouted as he saw his pokemon hit the wall. Suddenly, Ash's body arched back in pain and fell back into a sitting position in the trainer's box.
"Frogadier is unable to battle so the win goes to Wulfric, the gym leader!" the ref declared.
"Pikapi!"
"Ash!"
Ash's friends caught up to the hurt trainer.
At the same time, Wulfric came from his throne to talk to Ash. Wulfric was straightforward as he spoke, "Ash, until you are able to trust and rely on your pokemon despite your emotional and spiritual state, you can't win and therefore, I cannot give you a badge."
Ash looked down at the ground with his cap shadowing his eyes.
Later that night:
"Hurry up big brother there it is!" Bonnie shouted.
"Argh, Bonnie wait up!" Clemont exclaimed catching up to his sister.
Serena smiled to herself as she saw Snowbelle in sight. "Snowbelle here we come!" Serena shouted. Snowbelle… Which is probably going to be called Hellbelle for Serena now.
At the Pokemon Center:
Ash was alone looking at Frogadier as he slept. "I'm sorry Frogadier, I promised us we would be stronger… but it didn't happen." Little did Ash know, Frogadier listened to everything Ash said. "If I had only been… stronger…" Ash clenched his fist and spoke up again. "I am going to look for an answer, wherever it is."
Ash walked out of the room and walked into a reunion of friends. Serena, Clemont and Bonnie were talking to Brock. Serena was the first to notice Ash and offered a sympathetic look, "Ash, I heard what happened, are you alright?"
Ash looked at Serena and shaded his eyes with his cap. Ash went to the side of the wall and picked up a jacket while heading to the door. "Ash where are you going?" Brock asked.
"Outside… Alone…" Ash replied with a dead monotoned voice.
"At this time of night?" Clemont asked. Ash just nodded and opened the door into the cold night. The cold wind from the snowy land outside passing through the pokemon center and chilling everyone and making Ash's blue scarf wave around to the cold breeze.
Serena gripped her ribbon as she saw Ash walk into the darkness of the night and clenched it harder when the door closed and she lost sight of Ash. "Ash," Serena said to herself.
The night was silent from there on out.
A/N: Brutal… I know. I had to make Ash lose, how else will he grow?
Ooc because I suck at writing? Or wanted to make Ash be painfully dead? (I purposefully made it so that he does not ever do many Ash things during the battle or even say "I choose you")
Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed… Next episode is intense and will probably have a second disclaimer by the way.
Remember to R & R and I will see you guys next time!
Responding to some reviews:
AmoirshippingFan: Glad you liked that chapter… Although this chapter may have triggered you a little xD!
Guest 1: On Ashura's name? I kind of wanted it to be close to Ash's and well, I think that Ashura would have been more cool sounding than "Ashton". Anyways, glad you liked the chapter!