Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

Pokémon: Sinnoh no Isekai

Chapter twenty-six: A heated clash of opposing souls

The heroes had made it over to the Pokémon Center near Lake Acuity, where Ash had his Pokémon checked over by the Nurse Joy there. Brock tried to flirt with Nurse Joy, but both his Croagunk and Nurse Joy's Chansey intervened and stopped him. After Ash handed his Pokémon over to Nurse Joy, he told her why he was there. "Oh, that Paul boy has already arrived, but he went to do a little bit of warm up at the lake side."

Ash nodded in understanding. "Guess that I'll wait for Paul to arrive back here at the battlefield outside, then."

"Oh, the battlefield outside can't be used," a male voice spoke up. The heroes all turned and saw a man dressed as a referee for Pokémon battles come walking over. "You guys are Ash and his party, right?" the referee said, "Yeah, the name's Oliver, and Reggie asked me to come in to officiate the full battle between Ash and Paul."

"And what's this about how the battlefield outside can't be used?" Kenny asked, shooting a wry look to Oliver.

Shrugging in a 'what can you do' way, Oliver explained, "It's under construction at the moment. Totally unusable right now." Lowering his arms from shrugging, Oliver went on, "However, Reggie has selected another location for the battle."

...

Over at the lake side clearing near Lake Acuity, Reggie was watching Paul practice a bit with his Electabuzz. "...The moves of your Pokémon seemed well polished," Reggie commented, "The battle against Ash has you anticipating a real challenge."

Paul stopped short, recalled his Electabuzz. "...Feh," Paul scoffed, "You speak as if I'm worried about having to face that idiot. Making sure that my Pokémon are always sharpened to their keenest edge is just the kind of guy I am." Turning to look at Reggie, Paul arched a wry eyebrow at him. "...But I do confess a curiosity as to why you even suggested that I have this full battle against Ash. It's not like he's a threat to me."

Reggie scowled a tiny bit at his little brother not treating others with at least a base line level of respect. "...Aside from how I hope that battling Ash will help you learn more about being a Pokémon trainer," Reggie began, "I also hope that battling Ash will make you learn more about respecting how other people do things, as well as learn to respect others in general."

Once more, the younger brother scoffed. "I only respect others when they meet my standards, not because I was asked to settle for accepting them to their standards." Reggie sighed in a resigned tone, unsure how to reach his younger brother when he's like this. Reggie seriously hoped that Ash would be able to make Paul see reason and prompt him to make a turn around in his attitude.

Because at the rate that Paul was currently going at, things will blow up, and it won't be pretty.

...

Back at the Pokémon Center, Ash received his Pikachu and the pokéballs that held his other five on hand Pokémon from the Nurse Joy. "Say Ash," Dawn began, a bit curious as she honestly doesn't know what Pokémon aside from Pikachu that Ash has on hand at the moment, "What Pokémon are you going to bring against Paul?"

"Pokémon that I have faith in," Ash replied.

"Umm, could you be a bit more specific, Ash?" Brock asked, "Because the last time that I checked, you have faith in all of your Pokémon."

Ash nodded once in agreement. "That's right. But to be specific, you'll see when I battle Paul what my other five Pokémon are." With all preparations made, the heroes went out over to the location that Reggie had picked for the full battle between Ash and Paul.

Out in the clearing near the Lake Acuity lake side, the heroes encountered Paul and Reggie again. "Thanks again for agreeing to this, Ash," Reggie said, "I feel that both you and Paul have a lot that the two of you can learn from one another."

Paul arched a wry eyebrow. "What can I possibly learn from a weak trainer whose only win against me not only wasn't an actual battle, but the win was awarded to him by default rather than him earn it the right way?"

"Your actions during the Pokéringer competition over in Squallville speak for themselves," Ash said evenly, showing very little if any emotion period.

Reggie winced a bit, already able to tell that this wasn't going to end well. "...Given that the both of you want to grow stronger as trainers, a full battle between the two of you was inevitable. This full battle here will not only help the both of you grow stronger, but it will also help you both find what weaknesses you have as trainers so you can work to overcome them."

"I have no weaknesses as a trainer," Paul said firmly, his arms crossed over his chest, "And if I find one, I eliminate it on the spot."

Ash, as well as the others, scowled a bit at Paul's attitude. At that moment, Oliver came by in a hot air balloon with a portable scoreboard. Helping him man everything was Team Rocket wearing some disguises. "I thought we'd have to hide nearby to watch," Jessie whispered to the boys, too low of a volume for Oliver to hear, "How lucky we are to actually get a role that lets us see the battle with front row seats?" James and Meowth nodded in agreement with Jessie.

Beginning the match, Oliver said, "This will be a full battle, single style, between Ash and Paul! Each trainer may use their respective entire parties of six Pokémon for this battle, and the battle will be over when all of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle! Furthermore, both trainers may switch their Pokémon out at any time freely!" Holding up a coin, Oliver said, "We'll determine who sends out their first Pokémon first with a coin toss." Flipping the coin, catching it, then slapping it onto the back of his other hand, Oliver kept the coin covered as he called out, "Call it!"

"Heads," Paul declared.

"Tails," Ash replied.

Oliver uncovered his hand. "It's heads. Paul makes the first move."

"Wait, that's not how it happened in the anime in me and Kenny's previous life," Dawn thought, "Paul makes the first move here?"

Paul smirked in dark amusement. "So I get a lead. And I intend to keep it." Paul tossed up the pokéball that held his first Pokémon for the full battle against Ash. "Torterra, standby for battle!" Paul's Torterra came out into battle with a loud, confident roar.

Seeing Paul's Torterra, Dawn frowned in worry. "Paul's Torterra here," Dawn thought as she began running through things in her head, "Aside from arguably being Paul's strongest Pokémon, is the one behind the injuries of both Roark's Rampardos and Maylene's Lucario." Turning to look at where Ash stood as she saw him take out the pokéball holding the first Pokémon he was going to use in this battle, Dawn thought, "Ash has an advantage here as Paul sent a Pokémon out first, so I hope that he sends out something that can-"

"Glalie, I choose you!" Ash called out as he tossed up the pokéball he held to send out his first Pokémon for the full battle, which to the surprise of Dawn was his Glalie.

Paul scowled as he saw that Ash's first Pokémon was a Glalie. "And where did this come from, Ash? Since when did you have something like a Glalie?"

"I caught Glalie as a Snorunt during my journey through Hoenn," Ash explained evenly. Pointing forward, Ash said, "Glalie, use Icy Wind!"

Glalie opened its mouth and spewed an ice cold gust of wind at Torterra, striking it and making it cry out in pain. "Torterra, use Stone Edge!" Paul ordered.

"Glalie, dodge it using Double Team!" Ash called out. Glalie then quickly made doppelgangers of itself, with the Stone Edge busting one of said doppelgangers. "Use Icy Wind again!" Ash cried out.

"Torterra, block it with Stone Edge!" Paul commanded. A wave of Stone Edge shot up and blocked some, but not all, of Glalie's Icy Wind. The attack also went on to strike Glalie a bit, making it cry out in pain. Paul, seeing this, smirked as he saw a chance to score an early win. "Torterra, use Frenzy Plant!" Paul commanded.

The mighty grass ground type summoned a large, vast swarm of thick roots to emerge from the ground, going on to slam into Glalie repeatedly before making it fall to the ground, where it clearly laid defeated. "Glalie is unable to battle," Oliver announced, "The winner is Torterra!"

Ash recalled his defated Glalie as Paul smirked. "It's just like I told you," Paul taunted Ash, "I got a lead, and I'm keeping it."

Ash scowled bitterly at Paul before looking at Glalie's pokéball. "...Sorry about that," Ash said, "You did well, Glalie."

"No it didn't," Paul snarled, "It did terribly. But then again that's probably a reflection of your abilities as a Pokémon trainer."

Scowling again, Ash looked to Pikachu who sat perched on his shoulder. "You ready for this, Pikachu?" Ash's Pikachu nodded in firm determination before hopping off of Ash's shoulder and running out onto the battlefield.

Paul had an unamused, confused look of surprise on his face at Ash's second choice of Pokémon. "You're seriously sending an electric type Pokémon like Pikachu out against a dual grass ground Pokémon like Torterra? No wonder you're a weak trainer, as you obviously don't know about how type matchups even work!"

"Says the guy who kept said dual grass ground Pokémon out against an ice Pokémon," Ash shot back.

"It's called making a Pokémon work to push past its limits," Paul shot back in return, looking wholly unamused with Ash.

Scowling, Ash asked, "So it's acceptable when you do it, but when I do it I'm a weak trainer for it?" Looking forward, Ash saw that Paul was clearly keeping Torterra in, despite how it took two ice attacks from Glalie. Pointing forward, Ash called out, "Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

"Pika!" Pikachu cried out as he quickly ran forward towards Paul's Torterra, his tail glowing and shining like polished metal. Upon reaching Torterra, Pikachu jumped up and struck it across the face with Iron Tail, dealing a solid hit.

"Use Iron Tail again!" Ash called out.

"Torterra, pin Pikachu down with Crunch!" Paul ordered. Pikachu struck Torterra across the face again with another glowing tail that shined like polished metal, but Torterra, clearly pushing it a lot, was able to bite down on Pikachu's tail to keep him from getting away. "Now use Stone Edge!"

"Pikachu, use Quick Attack!" Ash cried out. Pikachu was able to very quickly lurch forward and strike Torterra in the eye with a solid headbutt hit, but Torterra was able to push through just long enough to blast Pikachu at point blank range with Stone Edge, letting Pikachu go as the little electric Pokémon was sent flying by the Stone Edge. However, that last effort, combined with all of the damage it took up to this point, made Torterra collapse and pass out, where it and Pikachu both hit the ground of the battlefield, defeated.

Raising his hands up, Oliver announced, "Both Pikachu and Torterra are unable to battle! This is a double knockout!"

Ash went over to pick up his defated Pikachu, carrying him over to Dawn and asking her to hold him while he took care of the rest of the battle. As Ash got back to his spot, Paul had recalled his defated Torterra. The cruel trainer scowled bitterly at his Torterra's pokéball. "Disgraceful," Paul spat, "I had expected better of you."

Ash heard Paul's scolding of his Torterra, and it made him even less amused than before. "Why? Because it lost?"

"And to an opponent it had a type advantage against no less," Paul replied, "Something that you obviously don't understand! But you'll understand sooner or later." Tossing up the pokéball that held his second Pokémon for the battle, Paul said, "Honchkrow, standby for battle!" Paul's Honchkrow flew out into battle, crying out confidently. Dawn as she cradled Pikachu could have sworn that she also heard a hint of worried fear in Honchkrow's tone as it listened to Paul.

The other heroes, and even the disguised Team Rocket, looked on in worry as Ash took up the pokéball that held his third Pokémon for the full battle. Dawn was especially worried, as Ash was down two Pokémon while Paul was only down one. Things were already looking poor for Ash as he tossed up the pokéball he held to send out his third Pokémon.

"Gardevoir, I choose you!" Ash called out, sending in his Gardevoir who, although she has been losing weight since Ash caught her, was still very much overweight for her species.

Seeing the fat Gardevoir made Paul go wide eyed in shocked surprise. "Is your Gardevoir seriously obese?" Paul scolded, "That just goes to prove how you're a weak trainer! You spoil your Pokémon until they're useless!"

"Gardevoir was like this when I caught her a short while ago!" Ash pointed out as he shot back at Paul, "I'm currently working on-"

Paul held his hands up in a gesture to make Ash take pause. "Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait!" Giving Ash a bewildered look, Paul said, "You're telling me that you knowingly and willingly caught a Pokémon that was very clearly out of shape?" The cruel trainer scoffed in annoyance. "So you aren't a weak trainer because you spoil your Pokémon until they're useless. You're a weak trainer because you willing catch whatever junk Pokémon come your way!"

Throwing his hand forward, Ash shouted, "Gardevoir is not a junk Pokémon, and I'll prove it to you!"

Scoffing again, Paul said, "I'd like to see how you can do that, since you're using a psychic Pokémon, one who's out of shape no less, against a dark Pokémon that's in peak physical health!" Pointing forward, Paul commanded, "Honchkrow, use Night Slash!"

"Gardevoir, use Moonblast!" Ash ordered.

As Honchkrow flew in to make a slashing strike at its obese opponent, said opponent conjured a sphere of light above her head that she then cast at Honchkrow, striking him directly and making him fall back a bit where he landed on the ground on his feet. "I forgot," Paul scowled, "Gardevoir is also a fairy type."

Pointing forward again, Ash said, "Gardevoir, use Moonblast again!"

"Honchkrow, return!" Paul said as he recalled his Honchkrow, "Electabuzz, standby for battle!" Coming out in Honchkrow's place was Electabuzz, who was clipped on his right shoulder by the Moonblast from Gardevoir. "Electabuzz, use Light Screen!" Paul called out.

"Gardevoir, use Psychic!" Ash commanded. Gardevoir's eyes glowed brightly with psychic power as Electabuzz was conjuring its Light Screen attack. Electabuzz took a slamming hit from Psychic, but was able to get Light Screen up afterwards.

Smirking, Paul taunted, "Looks like special attacks won't help you much here now, Ash." Pointing forward, Paul called out, "Electabuzz, use Thunder!"

"Gardevoir return!" Ash said as he swapped his Pokémon out, "Swampert, I choose you!" Ash's fourth Pokémon in the full battle against Paul turned out to be his Swampert, who he caught back in Canalave City during the fiasco with the Wailmer in the sewers. Dawn, seeing this, was glad that she gave Ash the idea to catch that Swampert, especially since it tanked Electabuzz's Thunder like a total champ, thanks to its partial ground typing granting it immunity to electric attacks.

Paul immediately went wide eyed in alarm when he saw Ash switch a Swampert in. "And Torterra just had to go down before Ash sent something like a Swampert out," Paul muttered to himself. Acting quickly, Paul said, "Electabuzz, return! Honchkrow, standby for battle!"

"Swampert, use Brick Break!" Ash commanded.

Paul switched his Electabuzz out as it couldn't do anything at the time to Swampert who was rushing in to chop at Electabuzz. Paul's Honchkrow came back out and cawed confidently, but not one second later it got hit by Swampert's Brick Break, dealing decent damage to the already injured Honchkrow while also breaking the Light Screen that Paul had gone through so much trouble to set up to impede special attacks from Ash's Pokémon.

"Honchkrow, use Sky Attack!" Paul called out.

"Swampert, use Ice Punch!" Ash commanded.

Honchkrow began to glow brightly as it tried taking up into the air, but Swampert, its left fist radiating icy cold energy, quickly slugged Honchkrow in the right side of Honchkrow's rib cage, making it cough out in pain a bit before it was sent skidding across the battlefield, where it laid defeated. "Honchkrow is unable to battle!" Oliver announced, "The winner is Swampert!"

Paul scowled bitterly as he recalled his fainted Honchkrow. "Disgusting," Paul scowled while looking at Honchkrow's pokéball. Ash looked furious at Paul for scolding his Pokémon for losing, while Ash's Swampert looked confused. Paul took up another pokéball to send another Pokémon out into the full battle. "Ursaring, standby for battle!" Paul's fourth Pokémon in the full battle against Ash was his Ursaring, who looked primed and ready to fight.

"Swampert, return!" Ash said as he withdrew his Swampert, "Gardevoir, I choose you!" Once again, Ash's obese Gardevoir took to the battlefield.

The cruel trainer scowled in disgust at Ash's overweight Pokémon. "I still can't believe that you're bothering with wasting time on an out of shape Pokémon. At least catch one that's clearly in better health, why don't you?"

"Any Pokémon can be good if you put the effort into it!" Ash shot back, "No Pokémon has to be strong right of the bat! Part of being a good trainer is working with Pokémon to get them to reach the point where they are strong!" Ash shot Paul a bitter scowl. "...Of course, you'd know that if you didn't release every Pokémon of yours that doesn't automatically measure up to your standards-" Ash paused to snap his fingers "-Like that!"

Paul's gaze narrowed. "...Did you just imply I don't know how to be a proper trainer?" Clenching a fist, Paul said, "I'll show you just how wrong you are and put you right in your place where you belong! Ursaring, use Slash!"

Paul's Ursaring took a running charge at Ash's Gardevoir, who just stood there. "This doesn't look good," Brock said grimly where he and the others watched, "Unless Ash has a plan here, he's going to see Gardevoir take a heavy hit."

Ash, seeing Ursaring coming in a straight line that it couldn't effectively leave on a moment's notice, smirked as he pointed straight at Ursaring. "Gardevoir, use Attract!" Gardevoir conjured a circle of pink glowing energy shots in the shape of hearts that she cast at her opponent. Ursaring, who saw the attack coming, tried to move out of the way, having no idea what it was.

However, the Attract ended up hitting Ursaring, and when it next saw Gardevoir, seeing her sparkle as she had a cute look on her face, Ursaring was instantly smitten, his eyes now looking like pink hearts as he grasped his hands together before holding the grasped hands against the left side of his face as he cried out in obvious infatuation. Due to said infatuation, Ursaring by no means was in any mood to harm the plump, cuddly cutie before him.

The others watching the battle saw this, and Kenny pointed at what was going on while laughing out loud. "Paul's Ursaring likes fat girls!" Kenny exclaimed in hysterical amusement, "Ah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Paul was beside himself with annoyed anger. "Ursaring!" Paul barked, "Get over it and use Slash!"

"Gardevoir, use Psychic!" Ash called out. Gardevoir's eyes glowed with psychic power before that force slammed into Ursaring, making him look a little flushed as he was nonetheless still heavily crushing on Gardevoir. "Use Moonblast, Gardevoir!" Ash commanded.

Gardevoir conjured another sphere of light that she cast at her opponent. "Ursaring! Snap out of it and get out of the way!" Paul yelled. But it was no use; Ursaring in the throes of love couldn't hear his trainer, and as such he was blasted point blank by Gardevoir's Moonblast, which sent him flying back until he hit the ground and skidded for a bit. The hit did technically snap Ursaring out of his infatuation, but then again the hit also knocked Ursaring out.

Making the necessary call, Oliver announced, "Ursaring is unable to battle! The winner is Gardevoir!"

Paul made a frustrated noise that was half growl and half snarl as he recalled his fainted Ursaring. As Ash cheered over how he gained the lead from Paul, and with a Pokémon that Paul was dissing no less, Dawn where she sat with the others watched on with a surprised look on her face. "In the anime in me and Kenny's previous life," Dawn thought, "Ash was only able to knock out two of Paul's six Pokémon at the Lake Acuity battle before he lost."

Looking over to where Ash was giving Gardevoir a thumbs up, Dawn thought, "But here, Ash while still having four Pokémon left has so far taken out half of Paul's team." As Paul scowled bitterly at the pokéball that held Ursaring as he scolded it before putting it away, Dawn thought as Paul took out the pokéball holding the Pokémon he was going to send in next, "If Ash is careful and depending on his other Pokémon, then he might be able to radically change the course of things here."

"Electabuzz, standby for battle!" Paul said as he sent his Electabuzz back out.

Seeing this, Dawn figured that Paul was going to try to set up Light Screen again. Ash also saw this, which prompted him to swap his Pokémon again. "Gardevoir, return!" After Ash recalled Gardevoir, he gave Dawn a surprise by calling out, "Sceptile, I choose you!" Ash's fifth Pokémon in the battle against Paul was his Sceptile, a very powerful grass Pokémon that Ash had at his disposal.

Seeing the grass Pokémon, Paul smirked as he called out, "Electabuzz, use Light Screen!"

"Sceptile, use Leaf Blade!" Ash commanded.

Just as Dawn had predicted out of the cruel trainer, Paul was trying to set up Light Screen again with Electabuzz. However, Dawn also saw Paul go wide eyed with surprise when Ash had called for Sceptile to use the physical attack Leaf Blade, which told Dawn that Paul was anticipating a special attack out of Sceptile rather than a physical. Electabuzz was able to get the Light Screen up no problem, but that Light Screen did squat to stop Sceptile from bringing the hurt with Leaf Blade.

Seeing that Electabuzz was looking to be one solid hit away from going down, Ash said, "Sceptile, use Quick Attack!"

"Electabuzz, return!" Paul said as he switched his Pokémon out, "Magmortar, standby for battle!" Paul swapped his weakened and winded Electabuzz back out to send Magmortar in. It took a solid Quick Attack to the face from Sceptile, but Magmortar was still in it. "Feh," Paul scowled as he saw that Ash's Sceptile landed without any issues, "Flame Body didn't activate. How pathetic."

"Just because your Pokémon's ability didn't activate doesn't mean you can complain about it!" Ash said, "It's not a guarantee, Paul!"

Paul's gaze narrowed as he regarded Ash. "You really are a weak trainer then, since you obviously don't care about pushing your Pokémon to their limits to make them grow stronger!"

"Of course I make my Pokémon work hard and grow stronger!" Ash shot back, "But I don't make them suffer or scared of failing, unlike what you obviously have going with your Pokémon!"

Paul scoffed in annoyance. "Figures that a weak trainer like you would mistake making a Pokémon work hard with making it suffer."

"You harshly scold your Pokémon every time they fail you in some way!" Ash shouted angrily, "In fact, I saw and heard you scold every one of your Pokémon that has lost so far in this battle after you called them back! If that's not considered a form of making Pokémon suffer, then I don't know what would begin to qualify!"

"You know nothing because of your lack of willingness to do whatever it takes to become strong by any means necessary!" Paul shouted.

Ash's gaze narrowed at Paul as he glared at the cruel trainer. "...I know more than you can begin to guess, Paul." Holding up his Sceptile's pokéball, Ash said, "Sceptile, return!"

Seeing Ash recall Sceptile, Paul smirked. "About time you showed some competence in being a trainer, switching your grass Pokémon out since I have a fire Pokémon out."

Ash rolled his eyes dryly at Paul's smug attitude. "Right. Because keeping a Pokémon out when it has a type disadvantage is only okay to do if you do it." Holding up the pokéball that held the next Pokémon he was going to send out in the battle against Paul, Ash went on, "But this one here doesn't need to be at an absolute advantage all the time to be strong." The others watching the battle looked on as Ash moved to toss up the pokéball that held the next Pokémon that he was sending out into the battle.

"CHARIZARD! I CHOOSE YOU!"

END, CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Author's notes;

Here the first part of the Lake Acuity battle between Ash and Paul is covered, and while Paul has shown to have the same party here so far that he has in the anime, the only Pokémon in Ash's team that didn't change is his Pikachu. Aside from that, Ash's team is entirely different, making use of Pokémon he caught along the way and from journeys through past regions. The next chapter will see the Lake Acuity battle continue, with Ash using what's arguably his strongest Pokémon that he has up to this point.

Dawn's Pokémon: (on hand) Chi-Chi (female Infernape), Leni (female Lucario), Cyrus (male Staraptor), Akiza (female Roserade), Germany (male Garchomp), Boss (male Honchkrow)

Kenny's Pokémon: (on hand) Roshi (male Torterra), Zarbon (male Machamp), Cell (male Scizor; shiny), Goofy (male Houndoom), Juan (male Pikachu), Slick (male Snorlax)

Ash's Pokémon: Pikachu (male), Glalie (male), Gardevoir (female; obese), Swampert (female), Sceptile (male), Charizard (male)