Pokémon: Aiming for Kanto's Summit
By Fox McCloude.
Disclaimer: Pokémon and all related characters belong to Satoshi Tajiri, Nintendo and GAMEFREAK. All rights reserved.
Battle 1: Ash vs Lorelei (II).
Cerulean Gym…
Misty was at the edge of her seat, her fists clenched anxiously. The match was turning out to be amazing, and she was still somewhat split on who she should be rooting for. On one side, there was her former traveling companion and lifelong friend, and on the other, her great heroine and mentor.
"Sheesh, I wish both of them could win," she muttered.
Unfortunately that wasn't possible. According to the Elite Four Challenge's rules, the challenger had to achieve a victory in the match: a draw wasn't enough. The Elite Four's standards were much higher than those of the Gym Leaders after all.
"Well, well, like, what's so cool on TV today?" Violet suddenly appeared behind her, talking directly to her ear.
"Gah!" the redhead almost jumped off her seat. "Violet, I've told you not to do that!"
"Sorry, little sis," the bluenette replied as she glanced at the screen. "Oh, so your darling boyfriend. No wonder you look so excited."
"Ash is not my boyfriend," Misty replied. "He's my best friend, it's different."
"Same difference. So, like, how's the match going?"
"Well, so far Ash's winning three to one, though his Pokémon didn't end up well, so might as well be a three to three," Misty replied. "And Lorelei has yet to bring out the big guns."
"Hmm… so do you think Ash can win?"
Misty didn't answer immediately. Talking about real odds, from what she had seen so far, Ash had certainly improved a lot as a trainer, and his Pokémon had grown much stronger. But defeating an Elite Four member required more than just strength alone. You needed to have strategy and think outside the box.
If Lorelei was using her usual team, her three remaining Pokémon would be her Slowbro, Lapras and Mamoswine, though not necessarily in that order. She had no idea to know which Pokémon Ash would use against them, assuming he'd paid attention to what she said via phone the other day. And despite having trained under her, she had never actually seen her using her real full strength.
"If he does what I told him… maybe," she finally said. "And if he loses, he knows I'll never let him hear the end of it."
Violet giggled, and Misty focused back on the TV screen. The last part was true: if he actually lost she'd never let him live it down. But, if he kept up the pace and adapted to anything Lorelei threw at him, he could stand a good chance. It was Ash she was talking about, after all.
Back at the Indigo Stadium…
"Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for waiting; we're about to resume our match! The competitors are now returning to the battlefield!"
In the middle of the crowd's murmurs, Ash and Lorelei went back to the trainer boxes on both sides of the field. The battlefield had returned to its initial state, with the pond unfrozen once again. The referee went back to his own box, raising both flags.
"Once the break is over the battle continues. The challenger must choose his next Pokémon," he declared, raising the flag towards Ash's side.
"It's time. Floatzel, I choose you!" Ash called as he threw the Pokéball.
"Float, floatzel!" The evolved form of Ash's Buizel appeared on the field, giving a couple of punches forward in a challenging fashion
Lorelei gave him an inquisitive glance, and then chose her own Pokéball. "Lapras, your turn!"
Thus, Lorelei's next Pokémon was her Lapras. According to Misty, Lapras had been her first catch ever, having gotten him since she was very young, and just like Dewgong he had a lot of experience on his side.
"Start!"
"Lapras, begin with Thunder!" Lorelei called. Lapras gave a squeak and prepared to summon the electric attack.
"Dodge with Aqua Jet!" Ash countered.
Floatzel coated himself in a water aura and dodged the Thunder, launching himself at the Water/Ice-type. Lapras didn't stop, and continued to summon lightning bolts over the field, but Floatzel dodged them in zigzag until he came close enough to ram him.
"Body Slam!" Lorelei called.
Much to Ash's surprise, right before Floatzel hit Lapras, he jumped to evade the charge. Somehow predicting where he'd stop, Lapras fell on top of the aquatic weasel with all of his weight. Instinctively, Floatzel covered himself with his arms and inflated his floater right before Lapras fell on him, cushioning the impact somewhat.
"Fury Cutter!" Ash shouted.
"Float, float!" The fins in Floatzel's arms turned into a pair of red sharp blades, and with a violent double cross slash, the weasel removed the plesiosaur from himself, jumping back to his feet.
"Keep attacking, Floatzel!" the Pallet trainer ordered as he punched forward.
Without sparing a second, Floatzel charged at Lapras and continued to slash at him with his fins. The Fury Cutter boosted damage with each hit that landed, and both decided to capitalize on that as much as possible to gain an early advantage. Thus, Floatzel slashed at Lapras in the face, neck and body, delivering horizontal, vertical and diagonal cuts one after another, ending with a double crossed from below that knocked him upwards and caused him to fall on his back.
At that, the aquatic weasel leapt into the air to fall on Lapras and deliver a devastating blow while he was still on the ground. However, while he was down, he wasn't out by any stretch.
"Freeze-Dry," Lorelei called with a chilling voice.
Lapras opened his eyes brusquely and opened the mouth with a shriek, firing a powerful blue energy beam at Floatzel, hitting him right on the chest and sending him flying backwards.
When he landed, Floatzel had been encased in an ice block, leaving only his head and part of his limbs out, as he tried to struggle to break free.
"Psychic," the Elite Four member added in the same tone as before.
Lapras straightened himself and began emitting a blue aura, which also surrounded the frozen Floatzel, causing him to levitate. Next, a telekinetic pull sent him flying at one of the frozen rocks. And then another, and another, and yet another, bouncing around like a pinball until he finally crashed at the waterfall's wall, breaking the block. He fell with a belly flop on the pond, but he quickly came back out.
"Floatzel, use Water Pulse!"
Floatzel put both hands together and formed a large water sphere, which he threw at Lapras. Lorelei didn't give any response, and Lapras stood still as he let the sphere to hit him. After the water slash, the drops glowed and a few of the wounds from the previous attacks began to heal.
"Water Absorb," Ash observed. The Pallet trainer clenched his teeth. Misty hadn't told him much about Lorelei's Lapras, except that he had a rather varied move arsenal (and he had seen it so far), but she didn't go too far into specifics like his ability. He clearly had a great advantage to face against other Water-types.
"Lapras, Freeze-Dry!" Lorelei called.
"Floatzel, Scald!" Ash countered.
Lapras shot the freezing ray at Floatzel, who countered with a stream of boiling water, fighting cold with heat. Both attacks pushed one another for a while, until they exploded in a large cloud of steam that covered the field for a bit, preventing both trainers and the crowd to see what was going on.
During that brief respite, Ash began thinking a bit to face the situation. Lorelei's Lapras had a pretty good moveset, and his ability pretty much discarded Floatzel's Water-type attacks, as they would only heal him. Well, while he thought about something, first thing was to clear the field to recover visibility.
"Floatzel, use Sonic Boom and clear the steam!"
The weasel jumped and spun into the air to fire three sonic bursts at the steam cloud to clear it up, and Lapras silhouette began turning visible through it.
"Get close and use Fury Cutter!" Ash ordered.
"Lapras, Hydro Pump!"
Floatzel coated his fins in red energy and rushed at Lapras. In turn, he opened his mouth to shoot water streams intermittently. While Floatzel dodged them at first, when he came closer one managed to hit him and sent him flying through the air, interrupting his attack.
"Body Slam!"
Once more, Lapras jumped over Floatzel. Ash had to think fast: the Aqua Jet couldn't serve as an attack, but it could still serve as an evasive maneuver.
"Use Aqua Jet and get above Lapras!" he exclaimed.
Floatzel nodded and quickly propelled himself out of Lapras' way, letting him land on the ground with a thud. Once he got above him, Floatzel dispersed the water and prepared to fall on him.
"Crunch!" Ash called.
Floatzel placed his head downwards and opened his mouth while his fangs became larger with dark energy, and with a violent snap, they closed behind Lapras' neck, causing the Water/Ice-type to let out a shriek of pain, drilling into Ash and Lorelei's ears.
"Ow, my ears," Ash muttered behind his teeth.
Still shrieking, Lapras began shaking his neck violently as he tried to get Floatzel off him, but the weasel tightened the bite even more and didn't let go. Seeing that he wasn't doing any good with that, the plesiosaur charged backwards against one of the waterfall's walls, intentionally crashing against it, but that didn't help either.
Ash caught on that Lorelei adjusted her glasses, sending out a glare with the sunshine's reflection before giving out her next command with a gelid voice. "Thunder."
And with a desperate cry, Lapras summoned a lightning fall to fall on Floatzel (and himself), electrocuting them both. For a moment, Ash's Pokémon fought back the discharge trying to endure, but he finally couldn't hold on any longer and lessened his fangs' grip, and with a violent shake Lapras managed to finally get him off his back, throwing him into the pond.
"Freeze-Dry!"
"Floatzel, get out quickly with Aqua Jet!"
Lapras fired the freezing beam again. By a miracle, Floatzel escaped the pond before it was caught by the attack and frozen solid. Floatzel landed safely on the ground, but as soon as he did so, he gave of sparks and recoiled in pain, falling to his knees and holding his body.
"Floatzel!" Ash shouted as he realized what had happened.
"Seems like Lapras' Thunder helped us after all," Lorelei said. "Lapras, use Aqua Ring!"
Lapras cried out and summoned a couple of water rings, orbiting around him and glowing as they started to heal his wounds. Not quite as immediate like Rest, but its lasting effect would be bothersome and make his effort to damage to go to waste. To top it off, Floatzel's paralysis would complicate things even further.
"Freeze-Dry!" Lorelei pointed forward.
Once more, Lorelei called for the freeze-dry beam attack. At that moment, Ash didn't stop to think: he'd just decide to gamble with one of his improvised tactics, unaware if it would work with that particular attack.
"Floatzel, counter with Aqua Jet!"
At first glance, it sounded like using that attack against a Pokémon with Water Absorb was insane. For a moment, Lorelei thought he'd use it to dodge, but that wasn't the case: Floatzel charged head on directly against the Freeze-Dry beam as he started spinning like a drill. The water layer enveloping him turned to ice, and he kept going forward unstoppable at Lapras, hitting him hard and sending out icy shards everywhere after the impact.
"That was…" Lorelei readjusted her glasses.
Ash let out a sigh of relief. "Oof, good thing it actually worked,"
The Ice Aqua Jet was still one of Floatzel's favorite moves, though over the years Ash had tried to discover its limitations. For example, an attack like Icy Wind wasn't strong enough to freeze the water, unlike Ice Beam or Blizzard, and he'd never used it against an opponent with Freeze-Dry. Fortunately, Floatzel didn't suffer any ill effects: the water had shielded him from direct damage.
"Very smart, using my own attack to turn your Aqua Jet into a solid projectile." The Elite Four member nodded. "That way you bypass my Lapras' ability."
"We learned that trick from a friend," Ash said, making a note to properly thank Dawn after he had won. "I didn't know if it would work against that Freeze-Dry, but now I do."
"Well, congratulations to your friend," said Lorelei. "But you still have a long way to go before you beat us. Lapras, use Psychic on those ice shards!"
Lapras focused his psychic powers and levitated the remaining Aqua Jet shards. Making them orbit around to gain momentum, he fired them like a gatling barrage straight at Floatzel, who then covered himself with his arms and pumped his floater to cushion the damage as much as possible. The barrage hit him harder than expected, though, causing him to pull back a few steps.
"Use Thunder!" Lorelei called.
"Dodge!" Ash shouted in turn.
Floatzel tried to get out of the way, but the paralysis acted up and prevented him from moving, causing him to take the full brunt of Lapras' Thunder. Encouraged by that, Lorelei called to press on with another Body Slam to squash him flat. This time the weasel was unable to react and took all of Lapras' weight. The whole battlefield echoed with the crash, and for a moment, Floatzel stopped moving.
The referee approached to check on him. "Floatzel is unable to-!"
"FLOAT!"
*CRUNCH!* And before they could declare him out of the battle, Floatzel opened his mouth and enlarged his fangs to sink them in one of Lapras' flippers. While his opponent cried out in, Floatzel gave him a shove to get him off, standing back as Lapras rolled to a side.
Ash smirked: Floatzel had always been a rather headstrong Pokémon, and a way to incense him was to declare him out before he gave his all. Somehow pushing that button gave him a second wind, but as he saw him breathing heavily, he realized he was about to reach his limit. With that in mind, the trainer reviewed the cards he could still play.
Lapras' Aqua Ring was still active and healing him every few moments. Floatzel's arsenal forced him to use mostly his melee attacks, but Lapras could easily repel him before he could get close. The only thing he could do would be exploiting Floatzel's ability to boost his speed and start a fast assault, but he couldn't do that without rain.
'If only Dewgong's Rain Dance was still active, maybe I could… Wait a minute… yeah, we can do that!'
'I know that look, Ash,' Lorelei thought at the same time. 'What are you up to now?'
During the whole match, Lorelei had paid attention to Ash's body language, and he'd always adopt that expression when he got an idea. And he'd always pull something unexpected from up his sleeve whenever he did.
"Floatzel, Water Pulse!"
The Elite Four member tilted her head slightly. What would that do? A Water-type attack would only heal Lapras. And the order that followed left her even more confused.
"Throw it to the air and fire a Sonic Boom!"
With fast movements, Floatzel tossed the water sphere to the air as high as he could, and then delivered a tail strike to send out the sonic blast to burst it. Upon doing so, he created an improvised rain that fell all over the field. It wouldn't last too much, just long enough.
"Lapras, use Thunder!"
"Dodge and use Fury Cutter!"
Lapras summoned the electric attack and tried to drop the lightning on Floatzel to seal the assault. But much to his surprise, Floatzel disappeared before getting hit, and reappeared almost as if he had teleported. He repeated the process a couple times more before getting in range, and once his fins readied the red blades, he started slashing at Lapras with no mercy.
"How did he…? Of course," Lorelei said after understanding. "Swift Swim, speed boost in rain."
Just like at the beginning of the match, Floatzel relentlessly attacked Lapras, delivering slash after slash to boost the damage output. Although Lorelei tried to give commands, Floatzel's attack speed prevented Lapras from countering. Even after the brief rain stopped, it had fulfilled its purpose by giving Floatzel the head start to catch him, and with the attack boost with each strike, the damage became more and more visible, especially when the Aqua Ring was unable to heal it fast enough.
Floatzel didn't stop until he got another paralysis attack, which Lapras barely used to use a desperate Psychic attack that launched Floatzel upwards in an uncontrolled burst.
"Freeze-Dry!" the Elite Four member called.
The Water/Ice-type fired the freeze beam again. In a brief timespan, Ash and Floatzel exchanged glances, and Ash managed to send a 'you know what to do'. Floatzel nodded and aimed his face downwards, coating himself in the Aqua Jet's protective layer to meteor towards Lapras.
Lorelei tried to call off the attack, but it was too late: the beam froze the Aqua Jet and it crashed, hitting Lapras' head and leaving him in a daze. Floatzel landed behind him, once again giving sparks due to the paralysis, while Lapras waddled around for a bit after the last blow, and finally slumped on the ground, his eyes spinning.
"Lapras is unable to battle, Floatzel is the winner!"
"Good job, Floatzel!" Ash gave him a thumbs up, which the weasel returned.
"Flo, flo!"
Lorelei returned her fallen Lapras, and his icon on the board turned off completely. With that, the battle was four to one in Ash's favor, but like before, Lorelei's Pokémon had forced Ash's past his limits to achieve victory, and had been left badly battered in the process. He'd hardly be in shape to keep fighting after that.
"Well played, Ash," Lorelei said. "You're just two Pokémon away from beating me. But as you'll see, the last two will be the hardest ones. Mamoswine, go!"
"Mamo!" The warthog and mammoth hybrid appeared on the field, stomping the ground as he blew icy air through the nostrils.
A heavyweight, Ash could see it. Well, in that case, it was best to face him with someone on his own level in the same area. With only two had two battle-ready Pokémon left each, there was no better-suited opponent.
"Floatzel, return!" Ash said. Once Floatzel's icon switched to standby, the trainer picked his next Pokéball. "Torterra, I choose you!"
"TERRA!" The Grass-type turtle announced as he appeared on the field.
From outside, it would seem that Ash didn't know what he was doing, and even those who knew him would think the same, if they knew of Torterra's record. After all, once he reached his final evolution it took him a lot of work to adapt to his size to use his raw power on his favor. But since then, he and Ash had been spending the past few years seeking to correct that
"Torterra versus Mamoswine, start!" the referee declared.
"Mamoswine, Blizzard!" Lorelei began.
"Torterra, Synthesis!" Ash preemptively countered.
Mamoswine inhaled and then blew through his nostrils a powerful icy wind blast. Torterra held firm and awaiting the unavoidable attack, braced himself as he prepared the healing energy in advance, the trees on his back glowing. Despite the wind's force, the turtle was unmovable and other than getting some frost here and there, the healing move reduced the actual damage to minimal.
"Stone Edge!"
"TERRA!" Torterra raised his forelegs and giving a hard stomp, summoned several sharp rock pillars from the ground, advancing straight at Mamoswine.
"Earthquake!"
With a stomp just as strong or even stronger, Mamoswine generated a seismic wave to counter the Stone Edge, and in a matter of seconds it neutralized the stone pillars reducing them to gravel. Without stopping, the tremor kept going forward at Torterra and made him flinch slightly, though he was able to endure it without too much actual harm.
"Ice Fang!" Lorelei called.
"Energy Ball!" Ash replied.
Mamoswine once again snorted through his nostrils, and his large tusks turned from ivory white to a glowing icy blue. Stomping loudly, he stampeded towards Torterra, who in response fired out of his mouth a green energy sphere. While it hit him in the middle of the face, even exploding, the huge mastodon kept going implacable until he came close enough and hit Torterra from below, sending him upwards violently.
Torterra crashed against one of the icy mounts, but he quickly regained his footing and glared defiantly at Mamoswine, who kicked the ground with his right forepaw awaiting his next order, still blowing cold air through his nostrils.
"Earthquake," Lorelei ordered.
"You too, Torterra!" Ash shouted in turn.
Both Pokémon stomped with their forelegs simultaneously. As both seismic waves encountered in the middle of the field, they neutralized each other, evenly matched in strength and intensity. Ash caught that Lorelei gave an impressed smile.
Meanwhile, Torterra was able to endure the attacks, but they hadn't been able to land any solid blow other than that Energy Ball. It was time to, in a manner of speaking, heat things up a bit.
"Torterra, Sunny Day!" Ash called.
"Tor!" The trees on Torterra's back glowed again, and it fired a red luminous ball at the air, exploding to create a small artificial sun to bathe the entire field, making the ice crystals glow everywhere.
"So you're trying to put the weather on your side," Lorelei said. "Mamoswine, Ancient Power!"
"Swine!" Mamoswine started to form between his tusks a large silver energy sphere, ready to fire it at a moment's notice. Ash noticed it was much larger than when he had seen Dawn's Mamoswine do the same, so he assumed it would be that much more destructive.
"Torterra, Solar Beam!"
Right when Mamoswine was about to fire his attack, Torterra leaned his backside forward as he took on the sunshine. The Sunny Day gave the attack a quick charge and he was able to fire his powerful energy beam right when Mamoswine did the same with the Ancient Power sphere.
The quick charge played in their favor, and the beam pierced through the Ancient Power, shattering it by focusing in a small area and going forward until it hit Mamoswine in the center of the face. The wooly mastodon shook after recovering from the impact, and glared at the turtle, who returned it defiantly and challenged to come for him.
"Blizzard!" Lorelei shouted.
"Torterra, you know what to do!" Ash called in turn.
Just like at the beginning, Torterra preemptively prepared to heal when Mamoswine blew the Blizzard. Except this time, thanks to the sunshine's power boost, the Ice-type attack's was completely restored and Torterra was left with no visible wounds, other than the frost that quickly melted away.
"Leaf Storm!"
At Ash's command, the small forest on Torterra's back glowed with green energy, and a second later he fired a spiraling blast of leaves towards Mamoswine. The speed was so great, neither the Ice-type nor his trainer were able to react in time, taking the full brunt of the blast, pushing him backwards enough to leave very noticeable trenches with his heavy feet.
Lorelei had to admit that attack had been impressive: to move a Mamoswine heavier than average, it had to have been very powerful, and evidenced how well-trained Ash's Torterra was. However, she also knew the effect of using Leaf Storm and possible repercussions, so she'd have to use that to her advantage.
"Icicle Crash!" the Elite Four called.
Mamoswine breathed again and blew another icy current, except that he did it upwards this time. The icy air solidified instantly, creating a rain of ice spikes that began to fall over Torterra.
"Defend with Stone Edge!" Ash ordered.
Torterra stomped on the ground and raised a wall of rock pillars to shield himself from the spikes. It was a good defense: it prevented most of them from hitting, but they turned to be just a distraction for Mamoswine to charge using Ice Fang to demolish the barrier, ramming Torterra with all his weight like a living tank.
"Fissure!" Lorelei called.
Mamoswine gave a double stomp and instantly a large crack began to split the battlefield, going directly towards Torterra.
Once again, Ash's battle instincts flared up at maximum and the trainer reacted instantly. "Use Rock Climb to escape!"
Torterra's toenails enlarged and much to the surprise of everyone witnessing it (barring Ash of course), the turtle leapt out of the crack's way, using his claws to grip onto the waterfall's wall, and running across it with a rather good speed for his massive size. As soon as he got in range, he charged to ram the mastodon with full force.
"Mamoswine!" Lorelei shouted, her icy demeanor cracking for a moment. How could Torterra move that fast?
"Prepare an Energy Ball, Torterra!" Ash ordered.
"Terra!" The turtle began forming the green ball in his mouth, but surprisingly didn't fire it. Unaware of what Ash was up to, Lorelei decided to give her next command immediately.
"Ancient Power, now!"
Bigger than before, Mamoswine began concentrating the silver energy sphere between his tusks to fire it. Torterra held his own attack in his mouth without firing it, but the Elite Four member was certain that even if he fired it, it wouldn't do any good. A couple seconds later, Mamoswine let go of the Ancient Power, hitting the target and causing a huge explosion that raised a lot of smoke.
"Was it enough?" Lorelei asked in a low voice.
As the smoke cleared, Lorelei could see Torterra's silhouette was still where it was before, and standing. However, once she got a clearer view, she was shocked to see that, despite having taken clear damage, the forest on his back was glowing with a powerful green energy. That wasn't the ability Overgrowth, it was a different shade to what she knew.
More like… that of an Energy Ball attack.
"Did he just…?"
"Torterra, use Solar Beam!"
"TERRA!" the turtle bellowed at full force, and the glow on his backside intensified even more.
With the Sunny Day still active, the attack's quick charge kicked in, and the green glow from before added to the Solar Beam's firepower. The beam itself was different from the last one: rather than being focused in a smaller area for more damage, it came out as wide as Torterra's backside and it expanded as it advanced. Both Lorelei and Mamoswine widened their eyes, unable to react to such attack power that irremediably consumed the mastodon before sending him to fly and fall loudly on his back, having to roll forward to get back on his feet with difficulty.
"I… can't believe it," Lorelei said, half shocked, half impressed.
Using the logic, the Leaf Storm should have weakened the power of Torterra's special attacks, but that Solar Beam had clearly been stronger than the first one. The Sunny Day-induced quick charge had also prevented them from reacting or raising a defense, and she doubted they could have protected themselves against that kind of power.
And then, the Elite Four member recalled: she never actually saw Torterra firing the Energy Ball. The only thing that occurred to her was that he probably swallowed it, and somehow it gave him an additional boost to his attack.
"I'm impressed, Ash." Lorelei nodded with acknowledgement. "That was one of the strongest Solar Beams I've ever seen."
"Thank you." The trainer smiled. "I think it's about time for us to end this round, wouldn't you agree?"
Lorelei nodded. Somehow she felt that after that attack Ash had practically secured the round, so she at least had to make sure that Mamoswine didn't go down gentle, causing some damage or finding a weakness to exploit.
"Mamoswine, use Blizzard!"
"Torterra, use Stone Edge and create a path towards Mamoswine!"
While Mamoswine inhaled to blow the artic current, Torterra stomped on the ground and created a straight line of rocky pillars going at Mamoswine, making them bigger as they went forward. Two particularly big ones protruded from underneath Mamoswine, violently knocking him backwards.
"Rock Climb!" Ash shouted.
Once more, Torterra extended his claws, but this time he jumped over the pillar line, still active on the field. Once again running at an impressive speed for his size, he jumped at Mamoswine for another full body tackle. Lorelei managed to call Mamoswine to do an Ice Fang, and although Torterra beat him in the attack clash, he didn't come out unscathed.
"Charge another Energy Ball!"
This time, the Elite Four trainer could see it clearly: Torterra opened his mouth and charged the green energy sphere, but instead of firing it, he swallowed it, making the greenery on his back to glow with its power. At that moment, the last vestiges of the Sunny Day were beginning to dim down, so Ash and Torterra decided to use them before they vanished.
"Solar Beam!"
"Ancient Power!"
Mamoswine gathered his remaining energy for one last attack, and fired the large silver sphere. Torterra replied with another Solar Beam, and while it wasn't as explosive and impressive as the first, it was still strong enough to overpower the Ancient Power after a few seconds and hit Mamoswine hard enough to leave him knocked out. The round was over.
"Mamoswine is unable to battle, Torterra is the winner!" the referee declared.
"This is amazing, ladies and gentlemen!" the MC shouted in the middle of everyone's cheers. "The match is now five to one on the challenger's favor! Only one Pokémon stands between Ash and his first victory against Kanto's Elite Four!"
"Yeah, way to go Torterra!" Ash shouted. Torterra turned to see his trainer and nodded with satisfaction.
The board turned Mamoswine's icon off, leaving only one remaining Pokémon for Lorelei. The Elite Four trainer returned her fallen wooly mammoth and after thanking him silently, she glanced at the challenger. The confident, rash and impatient boy so full of hopes and dreams she met so many years before, was now standing before her as an equal, forcing her to the limits and one step away from beating her. But she couldn't make it easy for him, and as per the norm for such a challenge, she had left the best for the finale.
Besides, even though Ash was able to exploit Torterra's power to defeat Mamoswine, and didn't take that much damage, Lorelei could spot two glaring weaknesses she could capitalize on her favor. The rest of his team, barring his last unrevealed Pokémon, even though still in standby, was not in condition to endure another assault, so she could still turn the match's tide around if she played her cards right.
"I must congratulate you, Ash. You are the first challenger who forces me to use all my team in a long time. I'm pleased to see how much you've grown in all this time," Lorelei said with genuine admiration. "But you still have one more obstacle to overcome. Do you have what it takes?"
"We're going to give everything we've got to win today," Ash assured. "We've come this far, and nothing will make us stop."
"So be it." The red-haired woman raised her final Pokéball. "I'm placing all my hopes on you. Slowbro, I choose you!"
And thus, the final icon in Lorelei's side of the board activated, while her sixth Pokémon appeared on the field. Notably, this particular Slowbro looked very different from other members of her species. Her expression didn't look like that of an absent-minded idiot. It looked focused and full of determination. Somewhat unusual and maybe creepy to an extent, but Ash wouldn't let that intimidate him.
"Let's go on, Torterra, I'm counting on you!" Ash declared.
"Terra!"
As soon as the referee called them to continue the match, Lorelei reviewed in her head what she planned to do. Torterra had taken almost no damage during the past round, and he probably had a large amount of stamina to not to be evidencing any fatigue so far. In that case, she had to avoid damage at any cost, and save enough energy for Ash's last Pokémon.
"Torterra, attack with Stone Edge!" Ash shouted.
"Terra!" Torterra stomped on the ground, raising the pillars right towards Slowbro. Lorelei in turn, hardened her icy demeanor even more, as she was determined to win.
"Dodge with Telekinesis."
Slowbro's eyes glowed blue, and much to both Ash and Torterra's surprise, she didn't use her power on her opponent, but instead herself, using it to levitate herself out of the way right when a stone pillar protruded from under her feet. Torterra kept attacking, but Slowbro continued to move around, floating just inches over the ground with an impressive speed, even more so than Torterra's when wall-running.
"Zen Headbutt," Lorelei called, in the same gelid tone as before.
Lifting herself up in the air, Slowbro set herself in position and fired herself as she reinforced her head with psychic power. Slowbro hit Torterra so hard she pushed him, leaving a few noticeable trenches, If not comparable to those of Mamoswine when he was hit by the Leaf Storm. Shortly after, Slowbro landed softly on the ground, leaving her psychic powers aside for a while.
"Wow, I never thought I'd see a Slowbro moving that fast," Ash commented.
"I could say the same about your Torterra," Lorelei replied.
Even though she was smiling outwardly, Lorelei knew she had to be cautious. While she had trained her Slowbro to make her mind work at higher speed, that didn't eliminate her physical limitations. She wasn't as slow as Mamoswine, but she was still somewhat vulnerable to opponents capable of moving fast around the field, so they learned to use her psychic powers to bypass those limitations.
That said, the tactic had a handicap of its own: it consumed a lot of energy and she couldn't abuse it all the time. Only when necessary.
"Water Pulse."
"Energy Ball!"
Both Pokémon simultaneously began to charge their respective spheres. Lorelei crossed her fingers hoping for Torterra to swallow it, but he didn't: the turtle used the attack the 'normal' way and fired it. Slowbro did the same and both of them collided in the middle of the field, fusing into some sort of yin-yang bomb that exploded a few seconds later, though without causing damage to either of them, barring splashing some water droplets and green sparks.
'He didn't swallow it,' Lorelei thought. 'How does Torterra know whether he has to fire or eat it?'
The Elite Four member tried to analyze the boy's body language, and tried to recall the previous instances the same attack was used. When Torterra fired it, Ash had only said the name of the attack itself, while the times it was swallowed, Ash added other actions, 'charge', and 'prepare'. Was that the key?
"Sunny Day!" Ash called, interrupting Lorelei's thoughts.
The Elite Four trainer saw again how the weather sphere was fired up in the air and exploded to create the artificial sun once more. Synthesis and a quick-charged Solar Beam had cost her the previous round, and adding the Energy Ball to the equation it became even more dangerous.
"Solar Beam!"
"Dodge!" Lorelei cried out.
Torterra began charging his attack, while Slowbro preemptively used Telekinesis again to levitate and dodged the beam by the hair. While not as powerful as the previous ones, the quick charge still gave a dangerous factor, and she needed to avoid damage at any cost.
"We need to get close! Stone Edge and Rock Climb!" Ash called.
Once again, Torterra used the first attack to create a path towards Slowbro, even knowing she'd dodge, and grabbed onto it with his claws to run through it. Lorelei squinted her eyes as she locked her gaze onto Torterra, knowing the first weak point she had spotted on the previous round would come into play now.
"Circle around and use Fire Blast!"
Right when Torterra was about to reach him, Slowbro levitated once more to dodge doing a quick spin, and using her Shellder tail as a pivot to control better as she inhaled. Torterra overshot her, and he only realized when the fiery explosion hit him on the back.
"Torterra!" Ash cried out.
Lorelei smirked and nodded. Just as she had anticipated, even though Torterra could run fast across the walls, he could only do so in a straight line. His size and weight would hamper him if it came to turn around and change directions, which left him vulnerable to a circle-and-hit tactic. Obviously, that couldn't be used with Mamoswine who was a similarly big and heavy, but Slowbro was a different story. Besides, the active Sunny Day boosted Fire-type attacks, thus making the Fire Blast even stronger.
"Quick, Torterra, use Synthesis!" the black-haired boy called.
Torterra began healing himself, although this time around despite the Sunny Day, the recovery wasn't as evident as before. Not too surprising: after taking the blast at point-blank range and boosted even more by the Sunny Day, another attack like that could be the end for him.
"Energy Ball!" Ash ordered, and Lorelei paid attention to the way he said it, this time especially to the tone and emphasis on each word. Squinting her eyes, she predicted Torterra would swallow it.
And he did so: Torterra used the power boost and fired another quick-charged Solar Beam. Boosted by the Energy Ball there was no time to dodge, so the only choice was to counter it with another attack. With luck, the Sunny Day-boosted Fire Blast would be enough.
"Fire Blast!"
Slowbro opened her mouth and blew the fire kanji, which expanded to almost thrice its normal size as it advanced forward, clashing in the middle with the Solar Beam. This time, the resulting explosion was so strong both Pokémon were caught in it, getting themselves knocked backwards a few yards, although Torterra took the worst part being closer to blast.
At that point, Torterra was starting to evidence fatigue from the combat, but he refused to fall. However, Lorelei thought she had figured when Ash and Torterra would use the Energy Ball to attack directly and when they would use to boost the other attacks. All she had to do was wait until they did.
On the other side, Ash was starting to worry. Torterra was reaching his limit and hadn't been able to land any solid hits against Slowbro.
'What are we gonna do?' he mentally wondered, and then decided to go for the first thing that came to his mind. "Torterra, use Stone Edge all over the field!"
"Terra!" the turtle bellowed as he began stomping repeatedly on the ground, summoning the rocky pillars everywhere across the field.
Rather than summoning in a straight line, the pillars protruded at random and irregularly. Lorelei snapped her fingers and Slowbro glanced at her for a second, just long enough to give her a nod of acknowledgement. Slowbro returned it, knowing what she had to do.
"Slow…" Right before a pillar rose from beneath her, Slowbro used Telekinesis in herself to dodge. The sharp rocks continued to appear one after another, but Slowbro dodged it again with great agility, never letting them touch her even once.
Slowly but surely she closed the distance and charged to give Torterra a Zen Headbutt with enough force to knock him backwards.
"Terra, terra!" he shouted, shaking his legs around as he tried to turn himself back up, but to no success.
"Torterra!" a worried Ash cried out.
Lorelei almost felt bad for taking advantage of an opponent who was helpless on the ground, but it was an official match and nothing in the rules forbade an attack in such conditions. Slowbro fired the burning kanji once more, hitting the ground so hard it exploded with enough force to send Torterra spinning through the air. The only bright side was that he landed on his feet, but the huge smoking, kanji-shaped hole left on the ground evidenced the kind of firepower behind that move.
"Torterra, use Synthesis!" Ash shouted again.
That was it: if Ash had chosen the healing move so soon, it meant they had been forced to the defensive and they had to capitalize on it. Torterra tried to heal his wounds, but halfway through the process a flare burst engulfed him, interrupting the healing and causing his trainer to grit his teeth. Lorelei looked up: the artificial sun had begun to vanish and along with it, the advantage it granted to Torterra's moves.
"Use Energy Ball!"
'He's going to swallow it,' Lorelei thought.
In the time Torterra took to gather enough energy to form the sphere in his mouth, and then swallow it to store up its power, the Sunny Day finally dissipated. Just as Lorelei anticipated, they were going for a Solar Beam, and she was hoping for that, especially now the quick charge was gone.
"Disable!" she ordered.
"Slow!" Slowbro thrust both palms forward while Torterra stored energy for the Solar Beam. The turtle froze in place and flinched slightly, cancelling the attack. But then, something else happened.
Torterra saw himself engulfed by a green energy burst, crying out in pain as the Solar Beam's power faded into nothingness. There was the second weak point Lorelei had been able to identify: using the Energy Ball to boost the attacks was smart, but also a double-edged sword due to the risk it carried.
"Torterra!" Ash cried out.
"Just as I thought," Lorelei said. "If the power isn't released soon into another attack, it'll only explode inside. It's like a safety valve, isn't it?"
"Huh?" Ash briefly widened his eyes, and then glanced at Torterra.
Admittedly, he had never thought about it, but when the works sank in he realized Lorelei had a point. By disrupting the Solar Beam's charge, the stored energy had nowhere else to go, and it caused damage to Torterra himself when it exploded. The trainer made a mental note of not to forget about that next time.
"Leaf Storm!" Ash ordered.
"Terra!" Torterra roared and let out his leaf barrage from his small forest, but it was notably less powerful than the one he used against Mamoswine. Maybe it would have been different had he chosen to boost it with the Energy Ball.
"Slowbro, levitate through that tornado and use Zen Headbutt!" Lorelei countered.
As the leaf barrage flew at Slowbro, she levitated herself again and instead of trying to dodge, she dove into the eye of the storm, spinning like a drill as her head covered itself in psychic energy. Ash shook when he recognized his own tactic, but he was unable to do anything and Torterra took the blow head on, falling backwards with a thud while Slowbro landed slowly on the ground as the leaves spread around. Torterra struggled to get back up, though the burn he suffered before flared up again, causing him pain.
"Your Pokémon has great endurance and determination to match, Ash. But I'm afraid he's not getting back up again after this." Lorelei grabbed her Pokéball-shaped hair clasp, removing it.
Ash paid no attention to the crowd's "Oooohhhh" when the Elite Four member let her hair down and increasing tenfold her physical appeal. Instead, he focused on the shiny stone it had incrusted, right on the place where the activation button would be, and the luminous beams coming out of it.
"Our opponents will be at our mercy when they are frozen solid. Are you ready? MEGA EVOLUTION!"
Slowbro raised her tail revealing a small band, normally hidden by her Shellder so it wouldn't be as obvious at first glance, and the Slowbronite it held began reacting to Lorelei's Key Stone. Through the light show, the trainer watched how Shellder's carapace moved and consumed Slowbro's body until almost taking it over, revealing her new form.
"SLOOOOOWW!" the new Mega-Slowbro, much to Ash and Torterra's surprise.
"Slowbro, Ice Beam," Lorelei called, with a tone that could only be described as close to the absolute zero.
Ash didn't bother to give any commands; he could only watch how Mega-Slowbro fired the freezing beam towards the helpless Torterra, encasing him in a large ice block and leaving him trapped with no way to escape. Next, Lorelei snapped her fingers, and Slowbro raised the block from the ground using her Telekinesis, lifting it to a more than considerable height, and then dropped it to the ground like a meteor, crashing it against the frozen pond and breaking through the ice layer.
The ice block shattered with the impact, and the water could be seen through the broken ice layer underneath. A few seconds later, Torterra floated back to the surface, immobile. Lorelei had spoken the truth: he wouldn't get back up after that.
"Torterra is unable to battle, the winner is Slowbro!"
"Incredible, ladies and gentlemen!" the MC shouted. "After the difficulties Torterra gave Mamoswine, Lorelei reveals an ace in the whole no one was expecting, Mega Evolution! Will this be a miraculous comeback? What will the challenger do about it?"
Ash returned Torterra while his icon on the scoreboard turned off completely. Now the score was five to two on his favor, but with that kind of power the trainer was sure: none of his Pokémon would endure a battle against him. Once upon a faraway time, he would have probably used them as cannon fodder to wear his opponent, but not now. He wouldn't force them to get hurt more than needed if he could help it.
"Well, if it's that's how we're going to play, all I can do is use something on the same level." Ash then grabbed his sixth Pokéball. "Sceptile, I choose you!"
"Sceptile!" The tree lizard came out on the field, his icon appearing on the board instantly. As soon as he set foot on the icy floor, he put something in his mouth. Lorelei glanced at the object in question, and realized it was some sort of pipe, with something in the tip's end.
"Is that…"
"A Sceptilite," Ash completed as he rolled up his right glove to reveal his second hidden ace: a Key Stone of his own. "Let's go, Sceptile! Break the limit, MEGA EVOLUTION!"
Ash tapped the stone on the bracelet and it glowed. Just like with Slowbro, the Sceptilite on the pipe reacted to it, connecting trainer and Pokémon with the power of their bonds, and awakening his advanced form.
"SCEP… TILE!" Mega Sceptile announced as the Mega Evolution energy dissipated.
"Sceptile versus Slowbro, start!" the referee declared.
Lorelei glanced one last time at the trainer and his Pokémon before giving out her first command. Mega Evolution was the mark of a truly exceptional trainer, and if she'd been impressed with Ash's performance before, now she was ten times more.
Regardless of the official score on the board, the result of this round would decide the match. At the time, it was no longer an official battle, and both trainers had become opposite poles: she was cold and merciless as a glacier, while he was like a volcano about to erupt. They only shared one thing in common: they were unstoppable and focused on one thing, victory.
"Slowbro, Ice Beam," Lorelei called.
"Sceptile, use Agility and dodge!" Ash shouted in turn.
Slowbro was the first to attack, firing the freezing beam against Sceptile. Knowing that the best way to deal with supereffective attacks was not to be there in the first place, Sceptile started running at speeds almost imperceptible for the human eye, vanishing from sight when the beam almost touched him, and reappearing on the left side. He then moved again to the right to jump, and placed himself above Slowbro ready to attack.
"Leaf Blade!" Ash called.
"Sceptile!" Sceptile crossed his arms in front of his face while he dove in. The leaves in his fore arms turned into green glowing blades, and the lizard delivered a double cross slash, landing on the other side as he turned around, ready in case of a possible retaliation.
"Telekinesis," said Lorelei.
"Move on, Agility!" Ash countered.
Slowbro thrust her palms forward trying to trap Sceptile with her psychic powers, but the always alert lizard vanished from sight and started moving around the field without stopping. Since Telekinesis required to focus on the target for a few seconds, they had to take advantage of Sceptile's superior speed to stay on the move.
Sceptile jumped across from one ice mound to another, trying to change directions as fast as he could to confuse Slowbro, and get behind her to attack on her blind spots.
"Bullet Seed!"
Sceptile opened his mouth and fired a barrage of green bullets like a machine gun, intentionally aiming at Slowbro's head where the Shellder carapace wouldn't shield her. The Water/Psychic-type turned to him as she tried to focus to attack again.
"Water Pulse."
Enduring the gatling seed barrage, Slowbro focused the water sphere in her hands, making it almost as big as her head. Preemptively, Sceptile pulled back one of his arms to deflect it with a slash, but the Elite Four member had already foreseen that, so as soon as Slowbro threw the water ball, she gave her next command.
"Ice Beam."
Much to Ash and Sceptile's shock, Slowbro fired the Ice Beam, freezing the sphere midflight and turning it into a solid projectile. The sudden change took Sceptile off guard and distracted him for a second, allowing the ice ball to hit him in the face. Ice shards flew all over the place and Sceptile landed sideways, but he quickly jumped back to his feet and looked defiantly at Slowbro.
"Freezing a Water-type attack to turn it into an ice projectile," Lorelei said, taking advantage of the pause. "I must thank you, Ash, I think I'll add that idea to my personal arsenal from now on. Although it's much more useful when you can do both attacks yourself instead of needing your opponent to do the other, don't you agree?"
Ash gritted his teeth and let out a little groan, but she couldn't hold it against Lorelei for doing that. Furthermore, she did not only take his strategy, but also took it one step beyond by using it all by herself. As expected from an Elite Four member.
"I'm flattered that you like my ideas, but we still have many where that came from," Ash assured. "Sceptile, Dragon Pulse!"
"Fire Blast!"
Slowbro's fire kanji clashed against a blue energy blast that took the form of a large dragon, exploding in a show of multicolored lights. Both Pokémon continued to fire their attacks one after another for a while, with the same result. They seemed to be evenly matched in raw power, but Sceptile had a clear speed advantage in speed that became more glaring as the match went forward, and he finally was able to fire one of his attacks ahead of Slowbro, knocking her off-balance and creating an opening to keep pressing forward.
"Bullet Seed!"
"Dodge."
Sceptile fired another seed barrage at Slowbro, who used Telekinesis in herself to spin around and dodge the rounds. Since Sceptile only stopped for a split second to fire and then jumped to find another angle, Slowbro couldn't focus on him and all she could do was try to dodge. But the more she did, the more Sceptile closed the distance getting more and more in range for a melee attack. Lorelei anticipated to it, and decided to avoid it at any cost.
"Frozen Pulse," she said, naming her own version of the Water Pulse/Ice Beam combo.
Slowbro threw the water sphere and immediately fired the beam to freeze it. Luckily for Ash that he saw it coming this time, and he could react fast to counter it.
"X-Scissor!"
Sceptile's blades took a more bluish tint, and they hit the Frozen Pulse a double cross slash from below, shattering it to pieces. With that ice projectile out of the way, he was able to get in range ant slashed at Slowbro with a similar one, except from above.
"Way to go, Sceptile, keep attacking!" Ash said, encouraged by that hit.
The X-Scissor sent Slowbro flying a long distance, but she quickly recovered and looked defiantly at her foe. Lorelei clenched her fists slightly as she saw Ash pressing on the offensive as soon as he gained the upper hand.
Unfortunately for him, said advantage was about to disappear, or better said, to invert.
"Trick Room," the Elite Four trainer called.
"Slow…" As soon as the command was voiced, Slowbro began to glow with a blue aura, while the field around them started to cover itself with a series of transparent squared tiles, which extended all over the ground and then formed walls and a roof, creating a large cube that encased them all.
Ash grimaced as he saw how Sceptile's movements began to slow down while Slowbro's accelerated. Having faced this move previously he knew how annoying it could be, and it made sense they had saved it up until now. After all, it was useful against an opponent who was faster than Slowbro, like Sceptile. The lizard had almost landed another X-Scissor slash, but he slowed down enough for Slowbro to dodge easily. Without wasting any time, she placed behind at a safe distance.
"Telekinesis," Lorelei called.
Now with the speed boost on her favor, Slowbro thrust her palms forward and immobilized Sceptile, levitating him to the center of the Trick Room's cube. The lizard began flailing his arms and kicking around as he tried to break free from her grasp, but to no success.
"Ice Beam."
With Sceptile unable to do anything to prevent it, Slowbro fired the white energy beam, encasing Sceptile in a large ice block, comparable to the one she used to finish Torterra off. And just like she did Torterra, she dropped him down like a meteor, except that she aimed for the solid ground instead of the frozen pond, making it shatter even easier. When Slowbro saw Sceptile was still conscious and struggling to get back up, Lorelei snapped her fingers again so Slowbro would pay heed to her orders.
"You and Sceptile have fought well, Ash," she said. "But now it all comes to an end. Slowbro, lift him up high and drop him to the ground!"
Slowbro outstretched her hands once more and lifted Sceptile, ready to drop him one last time. As she did, Ash tried to get the gears in his head to work, trying to think about something. The Trick Room had removed the speed advantage they could have used on their favor, and as long as it remained active…
"Wait a moment… that's it!" the trainer shouted. "We need to remove this space!"
Lorelei arched an eyebrow. What did Ash mean by 'remove this space'? Whatever it was, she wouldn't allow him to try: Sceptile had already gotten to the ceiling and now Slowbro just had to slam him to the ground and the battle would be over.
"Sceptile, Leaf Storm!"
Once more, Lorelei was caught off-guard by Ash's decision. Going in freefall there was no way he could properly aim the attack at Slowbro.
But as she soon realized, Slowbro wasn't the target at all: Sceptile simply fired the attack backwards and to propel himself forward. Despite not having his normal speed, the pushing force caused by the leaf explosion was enough to rocket him at Slowbro, whose focus broke briefly.
"X-Scissor!" Ash shouted.
"Move aside!" Lorelei replied.
Due to the shock, Slowbro barely managed to spin to dodge Sceptile's blue blades. But Lorelei's relief left as soon as it came, since Sceptile kept going forward without turning around, evidencing that his intention had never been to attack Slowbro.
His actual target was the Trick Room's wall.
"Scep… TILE!"
A double cross slash, adding up the flight speed was enough to deliver a devastating blow. A large X-shaped mark formed over the transparent tiles, causing small cracks that soon grew bigger and bigger, until they finally spread across the entire space and shattered it to pieces, before disintegrating into dust. And Lorelei's gelid demeanor went along with it.
"No…" the glasses-wearing woman muttered as she realized what that implied.
"Now, Sceptile, we can't let Slowbro escape! LEAF BLADE!" Ash shouted at the top of his lungs.
After regaining his normal speed, Sceptile charged without missing a beat at Slowbro, slashing at her over and over without mercy, never giving her a breathing moment. All they could do now was to start a ferocious assault and hit her as hard as they could until she couldn't get back up anymore.
"Disable!" Lorelei managed to call when she had a brief respite. Even though Slowbro managed to raise her hands and paralyze Sceptile to turn off the green blades, it was just a minor setback.
"Don't stop, use X-Scissor!" Ash called out.
If one attack didn't work, all they had to do was switch to another. The green blades were replaced by blue ones, no less effective as they too served their purpose. Sceptile kept slashing at Slowbro over and over again, until he delivered a double cross strike that crashed the Water-type against the waterfall, making her sink into the still running water. Before she could recover, though, Sceptile rushed as fast as he could outstretching both arms, determined to go for the killing blow.
One last X-Scissor with all of his might, and the result was a large cross-shaped cut that literally split apart the waterfall for a moment, causing a rock slide on Slowbro, while Sceptile jumped backwards to get away from it.
A few seconds passed, and when the waterfall's flow stabilized after the rock slide, Slowbro was revealed to have lost her Mega Evolution. She laid on the water motionless, her eyes blank and her mouth wide open.
"Slowbro is unable to battle, Sceptile wins!" the referee declared. "Lorelei is out of usable Pokémon, thus the victory of the match goes to the challenger, Ash Ketchum!"
"It's over, ladies and gentlemen, an amazing match has reached its conclusion! Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town has scored his first victory against the Elite Four with an incredible 6-2!"
Slowbro's icon turned off completely, and with that the result was sealed. The crowd began to applaud while Ash's portrait enlarged on the scoreboard and the letters of *WINNER* appeared along with it. Sceptile returned to his normal form and dropped himself on his rear in exhaustion, while Ash and Pikachu approached to check that he was fine. The lizard gave them a thumbs up, and then they turned towards Lorelei, who returned her fallen Slowbro and walked slowly towards them. The Pallet trainer did the same as Pikachu hopped back onto his shoulder, and along with Sceptile they too walked to meet with her in the middle of the field.
"Congratulations, Ash." She extended her hand, having left her icy demeanor behind and adopting her usual gentle and relaxed expression. "You were able to break through my ice defenses to achieve victory. You've certainly come a long way since the last time we met. I'm very happy you could give me such an exciting battle, so I'll retire happy that you were my last official opponent."
"All credit is for my Pokémon," Ash said as he shook hands with her, and then glanced at Pikachu and Sceptile, who then shared a fist-bump with each other and their trainer. "They did their best for me."
"Well said. I'm glad you haven't forgotten your lesson back then," the red-haired woman said. "You better not forget it if you want to overcome the rest of this challenge."
Ash nodded, and he glanced at the scoreboard and the crowd cheering for him. A great victory indeed, but he still had a hard challenge ahead of him. There were still three more Elite Four members to defeat, and then, above all of them, the Regional Champion. The real challenge was just beginning.
Cerulean Gym, that night…
"Who the hell calls when I'm taking a shower?!"
Covered in her bathrobe and unwrapping the towel from her hair, the redhead ran towards the videophone, rather irritated with the *RING, RING, RING, CALLING IN, CALLING IN* going off non-stop. It better be important.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" she shouted as she sat down and pressed the call button with one hand and grabbed the auricular with the other. "Cerulean Gym, hello?"
"Hey, Misty." It was none other than Ash, whose happy expression turned slightly confused as he saw her. "Woah, did I call at a bad time?"
"No, of course not," the redhead replied, half-sarcastically. "By the way, congrats on your victory, you were awesome."
"So you did see it, huh?" the black-haired boy smirking.
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," said Misty. "Anyway, did you need something?"
"Nothing special, just… I just wanted to thank you," Ash replied. "The tips you gave me really helped. I owe you one."
"Oh, do you want me to count all the things you owe me?"
"I didn't know you were counting them," he replied, putting slightly. "Though, you could have warned me about the Mega Evolution."
"Hey, don't look at me like that, I had no idea of that one," the girl defended herself. "And all things considered, even more so with you, I'd say you were pretty lucky."
For a moment, both of them gave each other death glares, and after a few seconds… they simply laughed out loud. It felt great to do that, it brought them many good memories. It almost seemed like no time had passed at all from those days.
"Seriously, I really appreciate that you helped me that much," he said with full sincerity.
"It was nothing. Anything for my best friend," Misty replied.
"If there's something I could do for you, anything…"
"Don't worry about that," she interrupted. "Today you proved yourself up to par for the challenge. Keep doing your best and make sure you clear it. That's all you have to do."
"Sure thing," Ash said as he placed a hand against the screen.
Misty quickly caught what he meant: they couldn't high-five through a video call, so that was the next best thing. With a nod, both of them bid each other farewell and ended the call.
The redhead glanced at one of the photographs in the living room, one of so many they had taken during their early journeys. That one with her, Togepi, Brock, their photographer friend Todd Snap, and of course Ash y Pikachu. She still recalled Todd little slip on the ground and how they had to catch him, though looking back now, it was funny to remember. Had it really been so long since then?
"Ash, you can do it," the redhead said, reminiscing with determination, and having full certainty that her friend would clear the challenge. Victories would only encourage him to keep going forward and work even harder. As long as he didn't let it get over his head, he'd be just fine.
On the other hand… maybe she could have asked for some little favors now that Ash had beaten Lorelei, since winning against at least one Elite Four member earned him certain privileges. Oh well, it was a bit late. She'd tell him the next time they met in person or if he called again.
To be continued…
Author's notes:
Okay, so the wait is over. At least I didn't take that long to finish this battle, but well, I've been quite busy. Studies, work, having to wait in a LONG line at the bank just to get a meager amount of cash… but I don't wanna bore you guys with that.
Now, on to the battle itself. Although I changed the order of the rounds and some of the Pokémon used in the original version (I replaced Meganium for Sceptile, and a Slowking I had given Lorelei instead of her usual Slowbro), it wasn't as hard to keep it flowing and build the sequence step by step as I went forward, and the new mechanics along with the strategies Ash has used in the anime weren't that hard to adapt. You might have also seen a few nods to my other stories, but as I've already stated, there's no shared continuity unless stated otherwise. Anyone up for trying to identify them? I might consider doing something special for those who try and succeed.
So, for the time being this story will be paused, as I have a pending oneshot for the Resetverse before the month's end, though I'll have the mid-term break in August and September, and I'll be more free to write when I'm done with my current exams. Thanks for the reviews to highlander348, w00za, Hall Gowrt, annoyingintrovert, Alphadelta-23 and AzureTemplar3535. See you next time, and just in case, even though I have some specific details for the battles set, suggestions for Pokémon and movesets for the remaining Elite Four members are welcome.