The anime did Diantha a lot of favors, and it really made me like her so much more compared to how she is in the games.

Also, this isn't where the battle ends, let's just make that clear.

Hope you enjoy!


Pulling herself back up to her feet, Absol leapt to the side, dodging away from Aurorus' Earth Power pulse. As the ground where she had been standing moments before erupted with Ground-type energy, she leapt towards where the pulse had been fired from and swung hard with Iron Tail.

Aurorus actually flinched from the extremely effective hit, but she recovered and retaliated with Blizzard, using the swirling snow around her to aid her attack. Though Absol attempted to dodge, Blizzard followed her every move with unerring accuracy before finally washing over her, causing her horn to ice up. With relatively little movement, Aurorus proceeded to use Aurora Veil, a veil of multicolored light shining to life around her.

A rare look of frustration made its way onto Ash's face as he recalled Absol and took out the Poké Ball which contained his sixth and final Pokémon of the match. "Hydreigon, use Defog!" Ash said as he threw out her Poké Ball.

Materializing, the Brutal Pokémon furiously flapped her wings as the pointed stones dug into her, creating a massive gust of wind that dispelled not only the snowstorm but also Tyrantrum's Stealth Rock, though most peculiarly, the Aurora Veil was still present. Ash immediately recalled Hydreigon and sent Lucario onto the field, the Aura Pokémon cautiously looking up at Aurorus in spite of the massive advantage he had over her in terms of Type. Aurorus' sails momentarily colored themselves bright red as she used Earth Power once again, though Lucario had already jumped over the pulse of Ground-type energy Aurorus had fired into the ground. As the explosion went off behind him, Lucario proceeded to use Circle Throw again, throwing Aurorus overhead in a tomoe nage much like he had against Tyrantrum.

As she crashed to the floor, Aurorus was forcibly recalled and Gourgeist came back out. Recalling Lucario, Ash sent Absol back onto the field, and the Dark-type pawed along the ground as she stared in Gourgeist's direction, the Pumpkin Pokémon's jack-o-lantern face swirling with blue-and-yellow light.

Diantha coolly said, "Moonblast."

Gourgeist's jack-o-lantern face flashed a pale pink as she began charging an orb of Fairy-type energy. Once the orb of brilliant pink light had reached the size of a basketball, Gourgeist let it fly.

Absol darted to the side and bounded forward with Night Slash. However, Gourgeist faded back before doing the same trick she did against Primeape earlier in the match, leaping forward and jumpscaring Absol with Astonish. However, Absol didn't react at all, and since Gourgeist had left herself wide open, she simply charged a Fire Blast and fired it at point-blank range, catapulting the Pumpkin Pokémon across the field.

Though Gourgeist was still up, the Aurora Veil that had enabled her to take Absol's Fire Blast faded away, and Diantha took out her Poké Ball, saying, "Gourgeist, retu-"

"Pursuit!"

Absol proceeded to block the recall beam with her right front paw before clawing Gourgeist across the face with her left. As the Dark-type energy faded from her left paw, Absol watched as the Pumpkin Pokémon slid across the arena and slammed into a wall. Gourgeist limply fell out of the impact zone, muttering, "Trick-or-treat..."

"Gourgeist is unable to battle, Absol wins!"

Smiling Ash's way as she recalled her Pokémon, Diantha said, "Not bad at all, Ash. I remember that you used that trick against that one Trainer in the Sinnoh League, the one with all those Legendaries... Tobias, right?"

"Yeah!"

"Cynthia was right on the money when she said you had a fantastic mind for battling," Diantha chuckled, before sending Tyrantrum back onto the field. The Despot Pokémon roared in Absol's direction once again, and Diantha commanded, "Scale Shot, then Close Combat."

Tyrantrum fired a buckshot of scales from his underbelly yet again, but that was merely the setup for the real attack: as soon as Absol bounded out of the way of Scale Shot, the Despot Pokémon charged towards where she had leapt and used Close Combat, battering Absol so hard that she flew across the arena and crashed into a wall, leaving a deep indent.

Heart in his throat, Ash cried, "Absol, no!"

Much to everyone's surprise however, Absol pulled herself out of the wall and limped back onto the field, determinedly staring at Tyrantrum. Heavily panting, she mustered up what energy she had and used Ice Beam across the floor, creating a makeshift ice rink.

Snorting, Tyrantrum charged forward once again to finish the job with Play Rough... only for him to lose his balance on the ice and face-fault forward, crashing onto the ground. Absol capitalized, firing another Ice Beam that hit the Despot Pokémon before using Play Rough herself, throwing up a massive cloud as she roughhoused with Tyrantrum. With a final kick, Absol sent Tyrantrum across the field, the Despot Pokémon letting out a tired groan as he crashed to the floor.

However, in spite of the damage both Pokémon had incurred, they were both still standing and able to battle. Before their brawl could continue, however, Ash and Diantha both recalled their Pokémon.

Chuckling, Ash said, "I think Bonnie would've been very happy to see that Tyrantrum," as he took Lucario's Poké Ball from his belt.

"Volta?"

Ash nodded. "She ended up befriending one during my first trip to Kalos!"

Diantha smiled. "I'll need to give the Volta siblings another visit sometime in the future, though I'd prefer if Bonnie toned down her antics just a little..." chuckling as she picked Goodra's Poké Ball.


"What does she mean by 'antics,' Serena?" Dawn inquired.

Giggling, Serena said, "Well, May told me about how you guys all had to put up with Brock, and-"

"I think I get the picture," Max finished as May began laughing hysterically.

"What does she do, get down on one knee and ask someone to marry her brother?" Dawn jokingly asked. Upon seeing Serena snort and cover her mouth, she deadpanned, "You're kidding."

In the midst of her laughing fit, May stopped and asked, "How'd you guys put a stop to her whenever she did that? Misty and Max always tugged on his ears to drag Brock away from his latest flirting target."

"And his Croagunk would always Poison Jab him if he got carried away in Sinnoh," Dawn snickered.

"Clemont always dragged Bonnie away with one of his inventions, it was this mechanical Aipom arm that came from his backpack."

"You think Bonnie could be Brock's wingman?"

The four Trainers stared at each other in silence for a moment at Max's question before bursting out in laughter.

It was at that moment that Chloe came back with snacks, asking, "Did I miss anything?"


Lucario materialized onto the field and landed with a clang, while Diantha sent her Goodra back onto the field, the Dragon-type still sporting damage from her bout with Seismitoad.

Looking toward Lucario, Goodra spat a Fire Blast towards the ground, melting Absol's makeshift ice rink. Concentrating, Goodra's tendrils began to glow blue as she used Surf, gathering the melted remains of Absol's ice in a massive geyser before pushing it outwards in a massive wave.

Lucario jumped up and over the wave before using Aura Sphere, striking Goodra with the orb of Aura and following up with Bullet Punch. Just as Lucario wound up an Ice Punch to finish the combo, however, Goodra used Fire Blast at point-blank range, engulfing the Aura Pokémon in a massive explosion as the star-shaped burst of flame slammed right into him.

Panting with exhaustion as the effects of the poison kicked in again, Goodra shoved Lucario backwards and prepared to finish the job with Thunder, generating a massive cloud in the sky. Goodra's tendrils glowed yellow, and a blue bolt of electricity speared into the clouds, charging them. Goodra swung her head down, and the Thunder crashed down onto where Lucario was standing. The clouds dissipated, and Goodra tried to get a look at whether or not Lucario was still able to fight, getting her answer when Lucario pulled himself back up to his feet, his body crackling with yellow lightning.

Ash winced. Paralysis, that's not good at all, he thought to himself. Tightening his right fist, Ash punched it outwards and said, "Alright Lucario, let's see this through to the end! High Jump Kick!"

Lucario nodded, wincing as the yellow lightning crackled across his body once again. Glaring at Goodra, who staggered as the poison's effect inflicted even more damage onto her, Lucario charged towards her and leapt high into the air before diving downwards, his knee glowing a bright red. A determined expression made its way onto Goodra's face as she charged a Focus Punch in her left hand, but Lucario was simply too fast, nailing her in the face with High Jump Kick before she could finish charging her Focus Punch.

Landing on the floor, Lucario stood up with some noticeable effort as behind him, Goodra collapsed, the High Jump Kick having finished the job after all the damage she had sustained from both Lucario and her earlier bout versus Seismitoad.

"Goodra is unable to battle, the victor of this bout is Lucario!"

Diantha returned Goodra and sent Gardevoir back out onto the field upon seeing that she had lost the lead. As the two Pokémon stared at each other, Lucario baring his teeth in a snarl as the yellow lightning crackled again, Diantha clutched her Mega Charm and began to focus.

Gardevoir was her first Pokémon, given to her as a child by her parents when she was just a little Ralts. When young Diantha had first laid eyes on her, it was love at first sight, and from that point, she and Ralts became inseparable.

Just like Ash and his Pikachu, Diantha pondered to herself in amusement before going back to her previous train of thought.

When Diantha was a teenager who was struggling to find her identity, it was Gardevoir—at the time a Kirlia—who encouraged her to try out for a play, which spurred her love for acting. And when she wished to pursue a career in battling, it was Gardevoir who jumped at the opportunity, wanting to support her Trainer in any way she could.

Even though she was at the apex of the world in both the film industry and as a battler, Diantha knew that it was Gardevoir and her love for her that made it all possible.

A brilliant light shone from both Diantha's Mega Charm and the Gardevoirite on Gardevoir's necklace as the Embrace Pokémon herself began to glow with multicolored light. Her hair became more tightly curled as the horn on her chest split into two, and her dress transformed into a large, elegant gown. When the light faded, Mega Gardevoir looked towards Lucario and snapped her fingers, using Shadow Ball.

Lucario proceeded to kick the Ghost-type attack away with Blaze Kick before running—noticeably slower than before—towards Gardevoir, his fists glowing silver. Before Lucario could strike with Bullet Punch, however, Gardevoir's eyes flashed blue as she used Psychic, holding Lucario in place mere paces away from her.

Calmly walking towards the Aura Pokémon, who was squirming and struggling in an effort to break free, Gardevoir used Fire Punch, slugging Lucario right in his midsection as she released her Psychic, causing Lucario to fly across the arena and land on the floor in a heap.

"Lucario is unable to battle!"

Ash watched as the momentary lead he had gotten against Diantha reset back to an even 3-3. Before he could send out his next Pokémon, however, Diantha recalled her Gardevoir and sent Tyrantrum back out, the Despot Pokémon still somewhat exhausted from his two battles against Absol.

Clicking Hydreigon's Poké Ball, Ash sent the Brutal Pokémon back out. Hydreigon bared her teeth in a snarl as she looked at Tyrantrum, who simply roared back at her.

"Head Smash!"

"Flash Cannon!"

As Tyrantrum charged towards her, Hydreigon charged up a silver orb of energy in her left hand-head before firing it at Tyrantrum. However, Tyrantrum simply blasted his way through the Flash Cannon, causing Hydreigon to balk and fly up into the air as Tyrantrum speared past her.

The Despot Pokémon slid to a stop once he realized he had missed, just barely avoiding a head-on collision with the stadium wall. As he stomped back onto the field, Tyrantrum shook his ruff and used Stone Edge, shooting a volley of stones towards Hydreigon.

As she dodged and weaved through the rocks, Hydreigon charged a yellow orb of energy in her left hand-head, and a blue one in her right. Mashing the two together, Hydreigon proceeded to throw the Focus Blast at Tyrantrum, actually managing to score a hit on him. As Tyrantrum stumbled, Hydreigon swooped in and used Dark Pulse, pushing him back even further. While the Despot Pokémon was stunned, Hydreigon looked at both of her hand-heads as if she were thinking about something. After a moment, Hydreigon perked up and let out an evil laugh, a black aura surrounding her body.

When she had finished using Nasty Plot, Hydreigon turned back to where Tyrantrum was standing, only to see that the Despot Pokémon had fired a Scale Shot into the ground just to get the speed boost. Charging towards Hydreigon, Tyrantrum used Ice Fang, his jaws filling with Ice-type energy as he closed in on her. Hydreigon flew away just as Tyrantrum clamped his jaws down on where she was hovering just moments before, causing a burst of ice to erupt from Tyrantrum's jaws.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Hydreigon dodged a Dragon Claw before charging a Flash Cannon in her right hand-head and an Earth Power in her left, stunning Tyrantrum with the Flash Cannon before firing a brown pulse directly onto the ground where he was standing on. As he tried to regain his bearings, the ground erupted underneath Tyrantrum, engulfing the Despot Pokémon in a massive wave of Ground-type energy.

Once the remaining energy from Earth Power had disappeared, Hydreigon took a moment to stare at Tyrantrum, who was still standing up, before cautiously descending to the ground. As Hydreigon made her way down, Tyrantrum let out one last defiant roar before collapsing forward, completely exhausted.

"Tyrantrum is unable to battle, Hydreigon is the victor of this bout!"

"Alright, nice work, Hydreigon!" Ash cheered enthusiastically.

Hydreigon excitedly looked towards her Trainer for approval and said, "Gon!" flying over to glomp him.

Chuckling, Ash recalled Hydreigon and sent Absol back onto the field as Diantha sent Aurorus out once more, the Tundra Pokémon immediately using Snowscape to disappear into the blizzard.

As Absol pawed her way through the snow, a colorful glow made itself known out of the corner of her eye, and she shot a Fire Blast towards the Aurora Veil. Before she could press forward, however, her instincts told her to dodge, and she did so, leaping to the side as Aurorus used Hyper Voice somewhere in the snow, a cold gust of wind brushing past Absol as the sound waves rocketed across the field.

Must be Refrigerate, she thought to herself as she leapt towards where the sound had come from, using Close Combat in a blind flurry. A pained cry told Absol that she had been successful, and once she was out of striking range, she briefly hunkered down, her body glowing with a red aura as she used Swords Dance.

Leaping to the side as Aurorus sent another chilly Hyper Voice her way, Absol recklessly charged towards where the Hyper Voice had come from and swung hard with Night Slash followed by an Iron Tail, which actually caused the stalwart sauropod to stagger from the successive blows in spite of the protection Aurora Veil offered. As Aurorus recovered from Absol's blitz, the snow slowly cleared itself from the battlefield as she lost the focus to sustain the weather.

With Swords Dance having heightened her aggression, Absol charged forward again and used Fire Blast once again, which harmlessly splashed off Aurora Veil, before attempting to use Megahorn.

As her Aurora Veil faded away, Aurorus fixed a hard gaze onto Absol as she used Thunderbolt, her sails crackling with electricity as she fired the attack at Absol, who winced as the Electric-type attack washed over her, stopping her in her tracks. When she was done, she carefully watched as Absol's still-smoking body crackled with lightning, indicating that she had been paralyzed. Inhaling, Aurorus used Hyper Voice again, the harsh yet harmonious sound washing over Absol and freezing her feet to the ground.

"Lock this up, Aurorus, and use Meteor Beam!" Diantha said as she extended a hand outward in a flourish.

Aurorus' body began to glow with orange-ish energy, which slowly began to concentrate itself up where her mouth was. Meanwhile, Absol began desperately trying to break free from the ice down on the ground, her efforts being impeded by the paralysis that Aurorus' Thunderbolt had inflicted just a little bit before. Once she had finished charging up, Aurorus' eyes flashed gold for a moment as she used Meteor Beam, the orange beam of Rock-type energy cannoning right into Absol just as she broke the last of the ice that had encased her feet. Meteor Beam resulted in a massive explosion pluming up from the field, both Trainers shielding their eyes as dust flew everywhere,

Once the last bits of energy from the explosion faded away, Ash and Diantha both looked towards the rapidly-parting smoke with bated breath.

Absol was completely out of it, the Disaster Pokémon lying in a heap in a small crater, while Aurorus still stood tall, taking a moment to recover because of the sheer energy Meteor Beam had forced her to exude.

"Absol is unable to battle, Aurorus wins!"

Ash recalled Absol to her Poké Ball, whispering, "Great job out there Absol, get a nice long rest," before looking on his shoulder and asking, "Do you want to try again, Pikachu?"

Pikachu nodded, enthusiastically saying, "Pikapi, pikachu!" as he leapt off Ash's shoulder and ran onto the field.

"And the ace returns..." Diantha mused to herself, a smile on her face. Looking up at Aurorus, she coolly said, "Snowscape, make it a whiteout."

Aurorus's sails glowed bright blue as she used Snowscape to summon a snowstorm for the third time. Pikachu shielded his face as the snow began to swirl around the battlefield, and when he lowered his paws, Aurorus was nowhere to be seen in the now-blinding white snow.

"Pika..." Pikachu growled as he crawled on the ground, his cheek sacs sparkling with electricity. Noticing that the ground had suddenly darkened, Pikachu looked behind him, and balked upon seeing Aurorus' silhouette menacingly looming over him, her eyes glowing white. Noting that she looked an awful lot like the resurrected Fossil Pokémon from Alto Mare when shrouded in the snow, Pikachu scampered out of the way as Aurorus fired a Blizzard.

Upon seeing that the snow had suddenly turned from Aurorus' initial line of fire to try and hit him, Pikachu used Electroweb, firing a small orb of electricity from his tail. Said orb of electricity expanded into a spider-web of lightning which encased itself in a ball around the swirling winds.


"I can't see a dang ting wit all dis weather flying around!" Meowth complained. Looking towards the blizzard, he called out, "You'd betta be fighting at max strength in dere, Pikachu!"

Jessie bit into a corn cob, Angie having returned from her sojourn in the food court at around the end of Absol's match versus Gourgeist with a bunch of food for herself and them as well.

"Consider it a courtesy," Jessie remembered her saying as she passed them a rather large portion of the food.

This twerpette isn't half bad, Jessie thought to herself as she continued eating, taking the time to savor her food without the risk of Morpeko coming out and eating it all. Looking back at the battlefield, which was still engulfed in snow, she muttered, "Why do all the exciting battles have to have all this weather?!"

A nervous smile on his face as he drank some lemonade, James said, "Jessie, these are elite level Trainers, they need to know a lot about battling, and part of that is learning how to use weather conditions to their advantage," cautiously looking down at his belt to make sure his sole Poké Ball was still closed.

"Wooooobuthhhhet!" Wobbuffet said, his mouth filled with the contents of a bento box.

Angie stood at the front of their section of the stadium, watching the blizzard anxiously as blasts of electricity and the occasional wave of water flew out of the storm. Looking closely, she saw Pikachu jump out of the blizzard and use Thunder, a hellacious blast of lightning spearing down from the sky and disappearing into the snowstorm. Watching as the blizzard lessened in intensity, Angie realized, "He must've scored a hit!"

Sure enough, more of the snow parted to reveal a stunned Aurorus, and Angie continued to watch the battle, thinking to herself, You can do this, Ash.


Much to Ash's relief, some of Aurorus' snowstorm dispelled after Pikachu had struck her with Thunder, and, with him finally being able to see where his Pokémon was, he called out, "Climb up Aurorus and use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu did as Ash said, scaling up Aurorus' neck and standing atop her head. As the Tundra Pokémon tried to shake him off, Pikachu held on with all his might, much like he had against Drake and his Dragonite all those years ago. While she thrashed around beneath him, Pikachu used Thunderbolt, shocking Aurorus and momentarily stunning her as his tail took on a metallic sheen. Pikachu proceeded to drive Iron Tail right between Aurorus' eyes as he jumped off her body and landed on the ground.

For a moment, Aurorus buckled before recovering and using Earth Power, aiming towards where Pikachu was standing... which was right at her feet. Pikachu scampered out of the way of the brown pulse, but not before striking at one of Aurorus' legs with Iron Tail, causing her to buckle on top of the area where Earth Power was right about to explode.

Sure enough, Aurorus was engulfed in the eruption of Ground-type energy, and with all the damage she had taken from her battles against Absol, Lucario, and now Pikachu, the snow dispelled completely. However, much to Ash and Pikachu's astonishment, she was still standing, albeit not without some effort.

Gritting his teeth, Ash thought, If she gets the snow up one more time, that'll be a big problem... right! Taking his hat off his head, Ash made his decision and called towards Pikachu, "Pikachu! Let's use our full power!" as he tossed his hat into the air, the Z-Ring around his wrist glowing brightly with yellow energy.


Here, Diantha got a massive difficulty spike compared to how she is in the games.

I was torn between having Goodra or Aurorus as one of Diantha's last two Pokémon, but I ultimately went with Aurorus because I like 'em and I wanted to experiment with making a defensive Ice-type work. Hail being replaced with snow in Scarlet and Violet was also a big influencer in why she was made so tanky, as snow boosts the Defense stat of Ice-types by 50%, like how sandstorm does the same thing for Rock-types and their Special Defense.

Also, the downside of Swords Dance shown here is actually a concept I introduced in one of my earliest (now-abandoned) Pokémon works, Sentinels of the Sea and Sky.

Stay tuned for the conclusion of this battle!

As always, reviews are greatly appreciated.

-Krosshair