Playing music helps tremendously in mapping out these battles, I find.
Anyways, here's the conclusion of Ash vs. Lance, hope you enjoy!
Lapras sung a lullaby upon hearing Ash's command, and icy musical notes began forming on the veil in front of her, the notes appearing on the staff in the pitch Lapras sung them in. Across from her, Lance's now puny—at least in comparison to her—Dragonite slowly uncovered his ears and used Roost, noticing that he wasn't beginning to feel sleepy as Lapras continued singing.
Once she was finished, the music notes on the staff around Lapras broke off and began congregating into a massive globe of ice above her head, orbiting high above in the crimson clouds formed by Lapras Gigantamaxing. As Lapras belted out one last high note, the globe of ice, which had reached the size of a small moon, begun to crack, fissures spreading in the ice like a spider web.
Dragonite could only watch as the icy globe proceeded to shatter like an Ice-type version of Draco Meteor, raining down a maelstrom of gigantic hailstones that released a swirl of multicolored light as they made contact with the ground.
Lapras calmly watched as Dragonite tried to navigate his way through the hailstones, dodging most, but not all of them as they crashed into the ground.
From the stadium floor, Lance called out, "Barrier!" Dragonite complied, shielding his face as his body began to glow gold. With his increased defenses, Dragonite flew the rest of the way through the hailstorm and slammed into Lapras with Body Press... doing absolutely nothing. Upon retreating, he saw that Lapras' body was shrouded in the northern lights that had been released by G-Max Resonance, the attack having generated a makeshift Aurora Veil.
Up above Lapras' head, one of the three crimson clouds disappeared. Down on the ground, Ash called out, "Use Max Geyser and Lightning at the same time!" The Transport Pokémon complied, her horn crackling with electricity as she fired a massive torrent of water directly at Dragonite. Once the Dragon-type was soaked and a small downpour was added to the snow swirling around the battlefield, Lapras used Max Lightning, firing off a bolt of electricity from her horn into the weather maelstrom that, upon reaching the storm clouds, speared down towards the ground with a resounding boom.
The bolt made contact with Dragonite as it came down from above, zapping the Dragon Pokémon and causing him to lose altitude. Once Max Lightning made contact with the ground, it discharged and spread across the ground, permeating the arena with an electric current. Up above, the remaining clouds of Dynamax energy dispersed, and Lapras reverted back to her normal form.
Ash wiped his brow, muttering, "Now we can get back on track," before commanding, "Alright Lapras, use Freeze-Dry!"
"Roost!"
Dragonite glowed a healthy green just as his skin was flash-frozen. After a moment, Lapras's eyes flashed white once again, and the ice around Dragonite burst, though thanks to his last-second Roost, he still seemed relatively healthy. Snorting, Dragonite used a continuous Dragon Dance as he navigated his way through the Ice Beams Lapras shot his way, flying rather fast by the time he was done. Corkscrewing out of the way of an errant Thunderbolt that had drawn power from the electrical terrain, Dragonite's hands glowed teal with Dragon-type energy, and he dove down to the ground with Extreme Speed, clawing at Lapras with a dual strike of Dragon Claw.
This time, Lapras was stunned by the successive blows, and she shook her head before retaliating with Iron Head, knocking Dragonite a fair distance away. Gritting her teeth, the Transport Pokémon used Sing once more, filling the air with her almost-ethereal singing.
Reflexively covering his ears in spite of the electrical terrain preventing Sing from taking effect, Dragonite circled the air to dodge more Ice Beams as Lapras continued to sing. Making his decision, the Dragon-type used Extreme Speed, blitzing towards Lapras and headbutting her right in the throat, interrupting her song and causing her to gag. Once Dragonite retreated, Lapras tried to use Sing again, but could only sputter out a few hoarse notes thanks to Dragonite's tactic.
As Dragonite flew in for another attack run, his wings glowing white, Lapras hunkered down, bracing herself for impact as Dragonite smashed into her with Dual Wingbeat. As he came back in for the second hit, Lapras, seeming no worse for wear, fired an Ice Beam as he flew towards her, his flight pattern offering her a zero-deflection shot that she managed to keep up for a good ten seconds or so before Dragonite smashed into her.
Upon noticing that the snowy weather she had summoned was slowly coming to a stop, being almost supplanted by the rain, Lapras' body glowed a pale blue as clapped her fins together once more, refreshing the snowstorm. Noticing that Dragonite was circling up above, Lapras proceeded to use Surf, summoning a massive wave of water that was augmented by the rain.
Dragonite flew over the wave of water, which harmlessly splashed onto the ground and provided even more water for the Transport Pokémon to swim in. Realizing this, he flew down to the ground and used Earthquake to drain the field, which Lapras shielded herself from by hiding in her barrier of northern lights. As Dragonite followed up with another attempt at Dragon Claw, Lapras shrunk back as the Dragon-type charged in.
Once Dragonite missed the first swing, Lapras retaliated with a low-aimed Iron Head, nailing Dragonite right in the gut, causing him to blanch as he fell over into the sole remaining puddle of water with a splash.
Making a grand gesture, Ash said, "Alright Lapras, just like we practiced! DAZZLE HIM!" Lapras begun the finishing blow by zapping Dragonite with Thunderbolt once again, causing him to writhe in agony within the puddle of water. Once she had shocked him into submission, Lapras' eyes flashed white, and Dragonite was flash-frozen once again in a skintight prison of ice.
Once Lapras broke the icy prison, she wasted no time in hitting Dragonite with a continuous point-blank Ice Beam that pushed the Dragon-type across the field and into unconsciousness.
"Dragonite is unable to battle, the victor of this bout is Lapras!"
Ash breathed a sigh of relief as the rain stopped pouring and the last of the electricity dispelled itself from the field, leaving behind a swirling snowstorm and the accompanying northern lights, which were beginning to slowly flicker. On the field, Lapras stood proud but exhausted, wanting to appear strong for her Trainer.
Chloe watched as Lapras heaved for a moment before asking, "How come Ash got rid of the Gigantamax as quickly as possible? You'd think that he'd want to stay in it for as long as possible given how strong it is according to League Weekly..."
Next to her, Max asked, "Chloe, have you ever seen Ash battle at all for the World Coronation Series? Even just on TV?"
"Er... not really, no..."
May and Dawn exchanged glances, seemingly daring the other to explain things to Chloe. Before they could come to a decision, however, Serena took initiative, saying, "From all of Ash's battles that I've watched, he prefers fast Pokémon that can hit really hard, but that's not to say he has some exceptions, like his Goodra, for example."
From there, Dawn interjected with, "Slow Pokémon didn't really gel with Ash's battle style at first, his Torterra in particular had a really rough time after he evolved from Turtwig to Grotle. It got even worse after he evolved into Torterra, because he didn't win a single battle after reaching his final stage." Next to her, May nodded in agreement.
Max piped up, "So something like Dynamax meshes terribly with Ash's established battle style, but he does see the merits behind using it, which is why he's using it here." As Chloe took that into consideration, Max continued, "I personally don't like it myself because it's so boring to watch," taking a swill of his lemonade once he had finished explaining things.
Her voice taking on a tone of amusement, May asked her brother, "So would you rather be a bored winner or an excited runner-up?" Dawn and Serena held back giggles upon seeing Max choke on his drink, Kirlia thumping his Trainer's back to help him out.
In Serena's arms, Pikachu kept looking from the scoreboard to the battlefield, wondering if Lance was going to send in Aerodactyl or his unrevealed sixth Pokémon.
As Lance recalled Dragonite, he said, "Commendable effort, Ash, but this is where it ends for you!" Lance then threw Aerodactyl's Poké Ball out onto the field, the Fossil Pokémon emerging with a screech and a half-mad cackle before flying down to the ground to meet Lapras face-to-face.
"I've got a bone to pick with ya, y'know," Aerodactyl said as he stared Lapras down.
"Oh, I don't like you much at all either, but you should be glad it's me you're facing and not Tauros, though. He has more reason to hate you compared to me."
On the other side of the field, Lance swept a hand outward as he said, "Enough chit-chat, Aerodactyl, use Stealth Rock, offensive variant!"
Aerodactyl flapped his wings and took to the skies, releasing a stream of white trails from his body that morphed into pointed stones. Shattering the dying barrier of northern lights, Aerodactyl's Stealth Rock slammed right into Lapras, who still managed to weather the hit with relative ease thanks to the snowstorm.
As she attempted to make a move, however, Lapras doubled over in agony, lifting her flippers to reveal that Aerodactyl's Stealth Rocks had embedded themselves in her underside and were beginning to slowly crumble.
Wincing, Ash said, "Never mind that, Lapras, just stick to where you are and keep Aerodactyl at bay!"
Lapras nodded, and used Surf, creating a towering wave of water that just barely missed Aerodactyl due to the Fossil Pokémon frantically ascending upward. Once Lapras' Surf subsided, Aerodactyl used Brave Bird to close distance between himself and the Transport Pokémon, deftly flying his way through the various Ice Beams and Hydro Pumps Lapras fired his way. At the last second, Aerodactyl stopped using Brave Bird, the fiery blue aura around him dissipating, and he switched gears, using Head Smash.
As Aerodactyl rammed headfirst into her, Lapras was pushed across the field, tiredly panting once she slid to a stop. Watching as the Fossil Pokémon retreated no worse for wear thanks to his Ability of Rock Head, Lapras grit her teeth and snapped off another Thunderbolt towards Aerodactyl, who retreated with a cackle before using Earthquake. Instead of attempting to chip away at Lapras, however, this Earthquake was specifically used to create a drain of sorts so that Lapras couldn't swamp the battlefield with water anymore. Once his work was done, Aerodactyl took to the sky once more, dodging a Hydro Pump that had been shot his way.
"Aerodactyl, wait out the snowstorm before using Double-Edge!" Up above, Aerodactyl nodded and patiently dodged his way through Lapras' attempts at anti-air combat, watching as the snow started to fade away. Seizing his chance, Aerodactyl dove down, his body streaking with white light as Lapras began to clap her flippers again. Aerodactyl slammed right into Lapras as she finished refreshing the weather, flying away before she could bite down on his tail.
Making his way back to Lance, Aerodactyl bluntly said, "Just send in Ampharos to take her out, I can't keep dodging those stupid anti-airs forever." Lance nodded and recalled him, Aerodactyl performing an akanbe towards Lapras as he vanished back into his Poké Ball.
Holding out his last Ultra Ball, Lance threw it out onto the field, calling out, "Ampharos, let's finish this!"
The Electric-type emerged from his Poké Ball and landed on the field, shivering from the cold as he adjusted a talisman tied around his tail, revealing the Ampharosite housed within. Taking a look across the field at the exhausted Lapras facing him, Ampharos placed a hand to his chin in thought and asked, "Have I seen you somewhere before?"
"You'll have to be more specific about that, I'm afraid."
"It was Blackthorn City five years ago, your pod swam by the waters outside the city as you went north! I remember because your migration route was in the path of an incoming rockslide, Lance and Clair sent out Dragonite, Kingdra, and I to help clear it out while you guys were stuck."
Recognition dawned on Lapras' face as she said, "Ohhh, that was you! Pleasure seeing you again!"
"I didn't know you had a Trainer too!"
Lapras looked back to a confused Ash with a shrug before turning back to Ampharos and continuing, "I carried him across the Orange Archipelago after he saved me from some terrible people-"
"WAIT! You're the Lapras who was enshrined in the Orange League's Hall of Fame all those years ago against Drake! It's an honor!" Sheepishly, Ampharos continued, "I am so sorry about our teammate's behavior today, Aerodactyl's not normally like that..."
Chuckling, Lapras replied, "This is nice and all, but we've got a battle to do, shall we begin?"
Ampharos' tail orb began to glow as he replied, "Of course."
Both Pokémon nodded towards the referee, who waved his flags down and said, "Battle begin!"
With a snap of his fingers, Lance commanded, "Ampharos, set up Electric Terrain!"
As a massive current of electricity built up in Ampharos' tail, he jumped into the air. While the electricity coursed all throughout his body, he landed on the ground, the charge leaving him and dispersing all over the ground, electrifying the arena floor.
Ampharos proceeded to use Zap Cannon, charging a blue orb of electricity in his hands and letting it fly once it had reached a large enough size.
Lapras watched as the ball lightning erratically zipped all over the field, garnering more power from the electrified terrain before using Ice Beam, wincing in pain from the aftereffects of Aerodactyl's Stealth Rock. The Zap Cannon flew towards where she had fired, and her Ice Beam began building a prison of ice over Ampharos' Electric-type attack, encasing the Zap Cannon within seconds. Undaunted, Ampharos fired off a Thunder which hit Lapras, stunning her long enough for Ampharos to run up to the frozen Zap Cannon and break it free with Iron Tail.
Ampharos watched as his Zap Cannon rose back into the air and flew around for a little bit more before slamming straight into Lapras, engulfing her in electricity. Carefully, he watched as Lapras slumped over, the Transport Pokémon letting out a weak gasp as she fainted, her summoned snowstorm disappearing.
"Lapras is unable to battle, the victor is Ampharos!"
Ash recalled Lapras into her Poké Ball, whispering, "Lapras, I'm proud of you, get some rest," as he clipped her Poké Ball back onto his belt. Reaching for the lone Safari Ball on his person, Ash threw it onto the field, calling out, "Alright Tauros, it's all up to you!"
The Kantonian bull emerged onto the field with a moo, cautiously looking up to see if Aerodactyl's Stealth Rocks from the start of the match were going to come down. Sure enough, they did, and Tauros carefully dodged his way past them all, taking care to not accidentally trip any particularly strong patches of the electric field. Across the field, Lance recalled Ampharos before sending in Aerodactyl once more, the electric current running throughout the battlefield disappearing as the Rock-type let out a cackle upon materializing.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't the bull!" Aerodactyl lowered himself towards the ground, flapping his wings to keep himself aloft as he continued, "Your seafaring friend warned me that you had better reason to hate me than she did-"
Tauros snorted. "I do. Carrying Ash across the sky like some kind of trophy-"
"A TROPHY?! Don't be ridiculous, I was only going to eat the runt!"
Tauros' eyes narrowed, and he calmly said, "Then consider yourself lucky that it's me you're facing and not Charizard," firing off a Blizzard before Aerodactyl could get a word in.
"What, that overgrown lizard? I'd still wipe the floor with him- ACK!" Balking upon seeing the swirling snow barrel straight towards him, Aerodactyl flew upwards as Tauros' Blizzard froze the ground beneath him. With a screech, Aerodactyl used the offensive variant of Stealth Rock once again, launching a barrage of sharp stones towards Tauros. As the Wild Bull Pokémon dodged his way through the maelstrom of rocks before snapping a Thunderbolt from his mane, Aerodactyl dodged the bolt of lightning before flying down to the ground while using Double-Edge, headbutting Tauros in a head-on collision.
When the smoke cleared, it was revealed that even though Aerodactyl had hit his mark, Tauros had refused to yield, having dug his hooves into the ground to cushion the impact. With a smirk, Tauros used Thunderbolt, electricity coursing from his horns and onto Aerodactyl's body, causing him to shriek in agony.
Aerodactyl fell on the ground in a heap, pushing himself to his feet using his wings before using Roost, his body glowing a gentle green.
"Earthquake, Tauros!"
Rearing up, Tauros slammed his hooves into the ground, causing the arena to shake and Aerodactyl to stumble. While the Fossil Pokémon was stunned, Tauros bounded forward and jumped up into the air, landing on Aerodactyl with Body Slam. Tauros righted himself and backed up, carefully watching Aerodactyl with a wary expression. Upon seeing no yellow lightning course along Aerodactyl's body, Tauros began to glow blue as he prepared another Blizzard. Once Aerodactyl took to the sky, Tauros aimed the Ice-type attack upward, sending the funnel of cold winds and snow skyward.
Aerodactyl dodged and weaved his way through the Blizzards Tauros launched his way, taking a moment to gloat before using Aqua Tail. With a swish of his tail, Aerodactyl sent a wave of water flying towards Tauros, who spat a Fire Blast towards the attack.
The two attacks collided, throwing up a plume of steam that obscured Aerodactyl's vision.
Tauros simply trotted out of the rear end of the steam cloud, making sure that Aerodactyl was still fixated on the front end of said smokescreen before firing a Blizzard skywards. This one managed to hit true, and Aerodactyl fell to the floor, his entire body save for his head frozen in a chunk of ice. Tauros proceeded to walk towards Aerodactyl, a icy look on his face as he approached the frozen Rock-type. His body beginning to glow with orange energy, Tauros coolly said, "Like I said, consider yourself lucky-"
Aerodactyl interrupted Tauros by defiantly spitting in his face, replying, "Take your shot then, bull-brain."
"Well, if you insist," Tauros sighed with a shrug, firing his fully charged Hyper Beam directly at Aerodactyl's face, causing a massive explosion. The smoke parted relatively quickly, revealing an unconscious Aerodactyl surrounded by several large chunks of broken ice.
"Aerodactyl is unable to battle, Tauros wins!"
"Alright twerp, way to go!" James cheered. On his belt, Morpeko's Poké Ball jiggled, but he paid it no mind as he turned his attention towards Jessie and Meowth, who had been similarly tense the entire time Aerodactyl had been out on the field.
"Oh, thank Arceus that the Aerodactyl's out of the match," Jessie said, breathing a sigh of relief. Sparing a glance towards a slightly bewildered Angie, she asked, "Ever been to one of these big tournaments before?"
"I competed at the Lily of the Valley Conference two years ago and only got to Top 64, but I had a lot of fun taking on the Sinnoh Gym circuit. Other than that, no, I've mostly been stuck at my family's Day Care."
"Ahhh, dat's probably why ya seem a little confused den," Meowth said. "Tings always get exciting when da twoip's on da battlefield."
Angie watched as Lance recalled Aerodactyl before reaching for his last Ultra Ball.
Ash breathed a sigh of relief... and then promptly realized that Lance's Mega Evolution still hadn't been used... and that his Ampharos was still relatively fresh. Looking towards Tauros, Ash said, "Alright Tauros, it's just a one-on-one between you and a Mega Ampharos. The field's yours for this one, but if I say something, make sure you listen, 'kay?" Tauros nodded, and Ash grinned. "Let's finish this."
Lance threw Ampharos's capsule back onto the field, the Light Pokémon landing on the field and adjusting the talisman around his tail before turning back to his Trainer and pumping one of his arms with a determined nod. With a nod of his own, Lance clutched at the Key Stone that served as the centerpiece of his necklace and began to concentrate.
When Lance was but a young boy growing up in Blackthorn City, he had come across a badly wounded Mareep in the valleys south of the land of the Dragon Clan, and took it under his wing, much to his cousin Clair's delight. After nursing him back to health, Lance tried to release the Electric-type back into the wild, but Mareep refused, having bonded with Lance while under his care.
Lance would proceed to capture Mareep with the Pokémon's consent, and from there, the Electric-type faithfully served as one of his companions in his journeys across the Kanto-Johto landmass. Decades later, when Mareep had evolved into Flaaffy and then Ampharos, the Dragon Clan had bequeathed upon Lance an Ampharosite, revealing that the Mareep evolutionary line's ancestor was a Dragon-type from a faraway land. Ever since, Ampharos served as Lance's ace-in-the-hole for most of his battles.
Ampharos was a Pokémon many would not have expected Lance to have on his team of fierce draconic Pokémon, but he was still a loyal partner that Lance loved with all his heart, stemming from when he had rescued him all those years ago.
Lance's necklace and Ampharos' Ampharosite shone brilliantly as the Electric-type began to glow with multicolored light, energy flowing out of the Key Stone and into Ampharos. Along the Electric-type's tail, the wool he had shed upon evolving grew back, while at the same time, a flowing mane of wool grew from his head, his tail adorning itself with small rounded objects as the transformation completed.
When the light faded, Mega Ampharos stood proudly and took a moment to fluff his tail, revealing a small chain of red orbs along it that resembled the one on his forehead. Shaking his head to let his mane flow, Ampharos looked Tauros dead in the eye and asked, "Shall we begin?"
Tauros nodded, digging his hooves into the ground before mooing in challenge.
The referee proceeded to wave his flags down for the final time. "Battle begin!"
Ampharos began the fight with Electric Terrain, the wool on his tail charging itself with electricity while the orbs within the wool began to glow. Ampharos proceeded to thump his tail onto the ground, the excess electricity channeling itself from his tail onto the battlefield, re-electrifying it.
"Tauros, he's part Dragon-type now, just keep that in mind!" Tauros nodded and wasted no time in firing a Blizzard directly towards Ampharos, who jumped out of the way and retaliated with Thunder, calling down a bolt of lightning that ended up striking the ground just a fair distance away from Tauros. Watching as the Wild Bull Pokémon began to close the distance between the two of them, Ampharos shot a Signal Beam from his mouth, while the orbs on his tail glowed a brilliant red before firing lasers of the same color towards Tauros.
Spitting a Fire Blast towards the Signal Beam to neutralize it, Tauros ended up getting caught by Ampharos' Power Gem, wincing as he stopped his run. Stomping his hooves onto the floor, the earth heaved as Tauros used Earthquake, Ampharos stumbling for a moment before righting himself and preparing an Ice Punch as Tauros charged in. Once Tauros was in striking range, Ampharos swung, nailing Tauros in his flank while Tauros smashed into him with Megahorn, the clash pushing both Pokémon back and resetting them to neutral positions.
Unnoticed by both Pokémon, some of the electricity imbibing the battlefield was drawn into the cracks created by Tauros' Earthquake.
Across the field, Ampharos watched as Tauros reared up and slammed his hooves into the ground once again, causing a large mountain to erupt from the ground. Instead of climbing up it, though, Tauros ran around the mountain, his hooves glowing white as he charged forward with Rock Climb at blinding speed, body-checking Ampharos and almost pushing him out of the battlefield. Upon regaining his balance, Ampharos took on a guarded stance, carefully watching as Tauros came in for another attack run. Once the Wild Bull Pokémon was close enough, Ampharos sidestepped the oncoming tackle and swung his tail at Tauros, which hit its mark with a resounding metallic clang.
Tauros was blown clear across the field and into his own created mountain from Ampharos' Iron Tail. As the bull righted himself and trotted out of the indent he had made, shaking himself to get any remaining pieces of rubble removed from his ruff, Tauros looked towards Ampharos with respect and snorted. Ampharos nodded back with a similar acknowledgement before using Dragon Pulse, the orbs on his tail lighting up as he shot the purple dragon-shaped blast of energy straight towards Tauros, who retaliated with Blizzard.
Though the Blizzard was intended to stop the Dragon Pulse, which it did successfully, some of the swirling winter winds washed over Ampharos, causing him to momentarily black out before coming back to focus. Seems there's a few downsides to this new Dragon-type, he mused to himself.
"Zap Cannon!" Lance commanded. Ampharos nodded, and absorbed a great amount of the electric current running near him, the excess electricity channeling itself upwards through his body and concentrating at a point in front of his mouth, forming a small dark blue globe of electricity. Before Ampharos could fire it, however, the Zap Cannon suddenly glowed with a blinding flash as it changed from dark blue to a brilliant yellow. "What the...?" Lance murmured in confusion, watching as Ampharos changed his stance to accommodate for the new projectile.
Once Ampharos pointed his head to the heavens, Lance finally realized what was happening. "It's just like what happened with Ash's Mega Charizard against Iris' Dragonite at the start of the Masters Eight!" Sweeping his right hand out in a grand gesture, Lance said, "Alright Ampharos, use Draco Meteor!" Even more of the electricity on the field was drawn towards the Light Pokémon, the Draco Meteor in his mouth beginning to pulse and crackle with blue-and-yellow streaks of lightning as he launched it into the air.
...Okay, there are some definite upsides to being a Dragon-type as well, Ampharos thought to himself, watching as his electrified Draco Meteor soared into the skies before exploding, sending a barrage of meteorites imbibed with Electric-type energy raining down all over the field.
Lance noticed that Tauros was still somehow managing to weave his way through most of the meteorites, and said, "He can't dodge those forever, keep him busy with Power Gem!" Ampharos complied, the orbs on his tail glowing with Rock-type energy as they began to fire a barrage of red laser beams into the meteor storm. Watching as Tauros began to get peppered by said Power Gem lasers, leaving him distracted enough for a couple of meteors to hit him, Ampharos added a Focus Blast into the mix, firing the orb of swirling blue-and-yellow energy into the maelstrom of moves and giving Tauros even more things to keep track of.
Tauros lured the Focus Blast into a cluster of meteorites, destroying them and causing them to release a burst of sparks which stung Tauros as they made contact with his hide. Shaking his head to get back into focus, Tauros continued to try and dodge both Draco Meteor and Power Gem, though it was an effort that was slowly becoming harder and harder to maintain the longer the meteorites kept raining onto the stadium.
After what seemed like an eternity, the last remnants of Ampharos' Draco Meteor had finally crashed into the ground, revealing the rather chaotic aftermath of the aerial bombardment. Tauros' mountain that had been created from Rock Climb had been reduced to a pile of rubble, and the entire battlefield was peppered with small craters as a result of Draco Meteor. As the last of Ampharos' Electric Terrain disappeared, the Light Pokémon paused for a moment to take a breather, Draco Meteor having greatly exhausted him.
On the other side of the field, Tauros took several heaving breaths as he unsteadily cantered from side-to-side, the combination of all the dodging he had done throughout the entire battle as well as Ampharos' unexpected Draco Meteor having taken their toll on him. Leering in Ampharos' direction, Tauros let out another snort and used Fire Blast, the star-shaped flame rocketing towards the Electric-type.
Ampharos ducked into the attack's blindspot, feeling an uncomfortable surge of heat as the Fire Blast flew over him and into the wall, creating a small explosion. Getting back up, Ampharos used Signal Beam again, the multicolored beam of Bug-type energy making its way towards Tauros.
Bellowing, Tauros used Rock Climb once again to erect his mountain, blocking the Signal Beam before it could hit him. Trotting around the mountain to inspect the damage, he saw that the Signal Beam had actually ripped out a huge chunk of the mountain, which had fallen to the ground in the form of cannonball-sized boulders. Glancing down at the rubble and then back at Ampharos, Tauros was suddenly struck with an idea, and after dodging an errant Thunder from Ampharos, he used Blizzard on the entire mountain, freezing it along with the rubble on the ground. Backing up to where Ash was standing, he gestured at his Trainer to take a step back as he hunkered down and used Hyper Beam, completely obliterating the mountain.
Tauros looked up as he began to take a breather to recover from his use of Hyper Beam, seeing that the frozen chunks of the mountain had been catapulted high into the air. Walking over to the original pile of frozen rubble, Tauros picked up a piece in his horns and lightly tossed it upwards before violently headbutting it, sending the rock flying towards Ampharos.
Ampharos used Power Gem to shatter the icy boulder, creating a buckshot of ice shards that peppered his skin, making him flinch. Before he could prepare another attack to destroy the next boulder, however, Lance pointed upwards and commanded, "Dazzling Gleam!" For a moment, Ampharos stared in confusion to where his Trainer was pointing before yelping in alarm.
The mountain Tauros had destroyed was now raining down onto the battlefield as humongous chunks of frozen rock. Without hesitation, Ampharos began to concentrate, the orbs on his tail and head beginning to glow as his entire body pulsed with rainbow light. Once the light surrounding him was almost blinding, Ampharos performed a grand sweeping gesture skyward, releasing a wave of Fairy-type light that approached the oncoming rain of rubble, destroying most of the oncoming ice meteorites. Ampharos took a series of deep breath afterwards, building up Fairy-type energy as a partial Dragon-type having taken up a great amount of energy.
"Now Tauros, while he's recovering! Use Outrage!"
Lance let out a gasp of shock as Tauros dug one of his front legs into the ground, snorting steam out of his nostrils as his body and eyes began to glow crimson. With a roar, he charged forwards, his body running on pure adrenaline as he slammed right into Ampharos, knocking him down to the ground and beginning to violently trample the Light Pokémon.
In the midst of getting walloped, Ampharos' tail began to glow once more, and he zapped Tauros with a point-blank Thunder followed by another Power Gem barrage to get the Wild Bull Pokémon to back off. However, said attacks had snapped Tauros out of his trance, and an exhausted Ampharos realized this with a feeling of dread as Tauros leered in his direction with normal eyes, his body beginning to glow orange.
"Alright Tauros, one more time! Finish this with Hyper Beam!"
Once the Hyper Beam was fully charged, Tauros let it rip, the orange beam of pure energy cannoning Ampharos across the battlefield and into a wall. When the smoke cleared, Ampharos was revealed to be lying in an indent in the arena wall, weakly stirring as he reverted back to his regular appearance.
"Ampharos is unable to battle, Tauros wins! Therefore, the winner of this Full Battle is Ash Ketchum!"
Ampharos' icon on the big display went dark as the crowd went wild, Ash running onto the battlefield to hug his exhausted Tauros, who seemed just about ready to keel over from exhaustion.
Burying himself in Tauros' mane, Ash gave him a hug as he helped him remain steady, excitedly exclaiming, "Tauros, that was awesome! You did such a good job out there!" Looking down at his other Poké Balls, Ash clicked them, releasing Lapras, Scrafty, Noivern, Gengar, and Emboar out onto the field, all of them looking rather beat-up, but no less triumphant than Tauros. A cacophony of cries sounded out as the six Pokémon gave each other a group hug, Ash sandwiched right in the middle.
Lance, in turn, went back to his Ampharos and helped him stand, the two them walking back into the battlefield, Ampharos leaning on Lance's shoulder for support. Upon seeing Lance, Gengar gently nudged Ash forward, with him and his teammates staring right at Lance as Emboar and Scrafty gave Tauros a little push forward, the two Fighting-types feeling that he was the one who should accompany Ash up there on account of him being the last Pokémon standing.
Ash put his right arm on Tauros' mane, watching as Lance extended his left hand. "That was an incredible battle, Ash," Lance said as Ash met him in the middle for a handshake.
At the same time, Ampharos extended one of his arms out to Tauros, who snorted good-naturedly and gently tapped a hoof against his hand.
Once they had broken the handshake, Lance sheepishly rubbed his free hand against his nape, saying, "I sincerely apologize about Aerodactyl's behavior out there-"
"Don't be," Ash chuckled.
"What?"
"That made fighting him a ton more fun, especially since he was essentially playing the role of the villain of your team. Did you see how often he cackled every time he came out onto the battlefield?"
The two Trainers shared a good-natured laugh at that, while next to them, their Pokémon rolled their eyes.
"Is he really not like that when you're off-duty?" Tauros snorted. Ampharos gave a 'so-so' gesture with his flipper, and Tauros shrugged to the best of his ability. "Whatever works, I guess."
In the stands, Max and May were animatedly discussing the match, May giggling at her brother's reenactment of Scrafty using Beat Up to summon the shadow clones of Ash's other Pokémon, while Chloe listened in on Serena and Dawn, wanting to understand more so that she wouldn't be completely out of her depth for Ash's final round robin match.
"Okay, so Ash's next match is against Alain..." Upon seeing Chloe's confused expression, Serena continued, "Remember the guy with that silly-looking blue scarf from the opening ceremony?" Chloe nodded. "He was Ash's opponent in the finals of the Lumiose Conference two years ago."
"Oh, okay!"
Dawn added on, "Their battle back then was insane, I feel like this one's gonna be even better because Ash has grown a lot in those two years," excitedly rubbing her hands together while throwing a teasing wink in Serena's direction, causing the Pokémon Performer to blush.
Ash made his way back into the skybox alone, Lance having gone to the Pokémon Center to heal up his team for his upcoming match against Iris. Upon entering, he was greeted by Alain and Diantha, the former giving him a fistbump while the latter praised him for putting on a good show while outnumbered three-to-one.
With an amused smile, Alain said, "Looks like it's you and me tomorrow... you're bringing Greninja, right?"
Ash laughed. "Of course I am! You're bringing Charizard, aren't you?"
"Got me there, Ketchum," Alain acknowledged with a snicker.
Choosing her words carefully, Diantha said, "I for one am excited for a rematch between you two." Putting a hand to her chin in thought, she asked, "What's your lifetime record against each other?"
"Tied 1-1," Ash and Alain answered simultaneously. Looking around for a moment, Ash asked, "What happened in here, and where are Cynthia, Steven, and Leon?"
Counting off her fingers, Diantha answered, "Iris' Dragonite, and Leon wanted to get snacks. Cynthia tagged along to get ice cream, and Steven went so that Leon wouldn't get lost again," covering her mouth in a snicker.
"They're starting! What do you think, Pika-" Ash froze. "Wait, I forgot to get Pikachu! I'll be right back!"
Diantha took a sip of her drink as she watched Ash run out the door, before turning to Alain, asking, "You've got a match against Cynthia later today, how're you feeling about that?"
"Excited, obviously!" Alain said, Charizard's Poké Ball bouncing on his belt.
The two turned their attention to the battlefield, watching as Iris sent out an Altaria, while Lance led with a Flygon.
"Learning that Ash encountered that same Aerodactyl as a beginner Trainer was a trip," Alain remarked.
"He has quite an interesting life story, from what Cynthia's told me," Diantha agreed. "And I get the feeling that what she told me is just barely scratching the surface," watching as Lance's Flygon and Iris' Altaria ended up in a Dragon Claw clash, the two Dragon-types trying to overpower the other.
I am so glad that this is the last time I'll have to use Dynamax for this story, I hate that mechanic so much.
I'm not particularly pleased with how this battle turned out because of the complete momentum killer that the Dynamax was, but I'd much rather show it here once and not have to worry about it again until much later.
By contrast, Aerodactyl was a total blast character-wise and battle-wise.
Hope you enjoyed this chapter regardless though, reviews are appreciated.
See you next time for Alain's fight.
-Krosshair