Chapter 44: Highway to Heaven
A week has passed since Ash and May first arrived on the island where Cave of Being is located. Ash, May, and all their friends have trained intensely and have slowly made progress. As Ash and May advanced, Auro, Nate, and Rosa became confident about their abilities, they were clearly getting better at all the tasks they were being assigned.
At the moment though, Ash and May have been given a break to relax and enjoy themselves. The intense training they've received may have made them tougher, but Ash and May could only train so hard.
"Those scavenger missions are tougher every time we do them, aren't they?" Ash asked May as they lied on the grass holding hands.
"No doubt, but I feel like we're getting better too. The missions are getting more complex, yet at the same time we're handling them with even greater ease," May told her raven-haired boy.
"Yeah, Auro did say we're making progress. I just can't wait to put those skills to the test during my gym battles and when we meet up with the Majestic 12, they won't see it coming," Ash smiled confidently at the sky.
"I'll be honest with you Ash; I don't think I could've survived this training by myself or with anyone else except for you. I feel much stronger when I'm with you," May placed her head on Ash's chest as they stared up at the clouds.
"I feel the same way May, you give me strength when I'm not feeling strong and help me open my eyes when I feel like the hope is slipping," Ash squeezed the brunette's hand, enjoying the feeling of her touch within his.
May leaned her lips toward and Ash's and pecked them, beaming at him after the gesture of affection. What would I do without him/her? They thought in each other's minds.
"Tini vi!" they heard Victini cheering.
"Pikapi pipi!" Pikachu's voice could also be heard.
Ash and May sat up, wondering what the pair was doing and smiled when they saw Victini. Just some feet away they saw Pikachu, Victini, Patrat, and Deerling playing what looked like tag.
"Tini victini!" Victini chuckled as Patrat jumped into the air in order to catch the Psychic-type, but its levitation ability gave it the advantage.
"Patrat pat," the Patrat scratched their heads with confusion as they tried to think of a way to get Victini.
"Deerling deer!" one of the Deerling began to charge at fast speed and then launched itself at Victini.
"Tini!" Victini moved away just in time and Deerling missed its mark, much to the Grass-type's surprise.
Unfortunately for Pikachu, the Deerling came headfirst against the mouse. "Pikachu!" Pikachu got tackled by Deerling and the two landed hard against the ground.
"Piiiiikaaa," Pikachu sighed as Deerling lay on top of the mouse with an apologetic face.
"Looks like Victini is having fun, can't say the same about Pikachu," May giggled.
"I'll say, Victini has grown a lot since we first met it at the lighthouse," Ash recalled.
"It was so shy and I think it's grown too. It's even gotten stronger, Victini really has matured since then, it's almost like watching a baby grow," May said with a sweet smile, but for some reason she felt a small pain pinch her heart on the inside.
Ash turned to May and grinned at her, "You raised Victini really well May."
"I didn't raise it on my own Ash, you were also there too. Remember you were the one who would put Victini to sleep after it had a nightmare or would play with it while I had to train," May reminded Ash of what the boy had done for Victini.
"I guess you're right," Ash smiled sheepishly as he recollected the hours it took him to put Victini to sleep or distract it while May was busy.
"We've done a great job looking after it and caring for it," May placed her hand on her heart as she continued watching Victini play.
"We really have," Ash nodded as he beamed at Victini, who spotted the couple and beamed back joyfully.
"Ash, May!" the pair heard Iris calling them and saw the girl running in their direction.
"Iris what's wrong?" Ash asked when the purple-haired girl stopped in front of them.
"Auro wanted to me to tell you that break is over and you have to continue training back by the cabin. He also wants you to bring Victini along," Iris explained to the couple.
"Uh sure," May said with a raised eyebrow, wondering what they had to do now.
"We'll be there right away," Ash informed Iris, who nodded and dashed off once again.
"What do you think Auro will have us do this time?" May questioned the auburn-eyed teen.
"No idea, but we should probably go," Ash answered her and turned to Pikachu and Victini, "Hey you guys time to go!" the boy shouted at them.
Victini and Pikachu quickly stopped their game with the wild Pokémon and told that they had to leave, much to the disappointment of the wild Pokémon. However, Victini promised they would return tomorrow and it received a cheery response. The small pair then bid farewell to the Pokémon and rushed over to Ash and May, wondering what they had to do now.
As Ash, May, Pikachu, and Victini arrived to the cabin area they saw Auro standing there with the rest of the gang. "Glad you could make it," Auro smiled at the pair.
"What's up Auro?" May inquired, wondering why the teen had cut their break short.
"Is there another mission we have to do now?" Ash added to May's question.
Auro grinned at them and nodded, "Well you two have been progressing a significant amount in the past week, but I think we have to cover new ground next."
"What do you mean?" May asked with confusion.
"We're going to do something different now. Your next training finally involves Victini," Auro explained to the couple.
"Really?!" Ash and May responded simultaneously while Pikachu raised an eyebrow and Victini's eyes widened.
"Yes, Victini's training is very practical, but do not get intimidated by anything you might have to face. If I had to comment on this I'd say Victini's training is much more preferable than some of the other stuff you have already done," Auro informed them.
Ash turned from Victini to Auro and asked curiously, "What exactly are we going to do?"
"Simple," Auro crossed his arms, "Victini will battle one of the Lake Guardians. You may not assist Victini in this battle because this battle is focused on just Pokémon."
"What?" May's eyes widened and she shifted her head to Victini.
"Victini?" Victini wasn't sure how to respond, but there was a hint of nervousness in its eyes.
"I'm not sure about this," May spoke with uncertainty.
"Don't worry May, it's in order to help Victini and the two of you become even stronger," Rosa assured May that everything would be fine.
"Besides it's only of the Lake Guardians, they would never do any harm to Victini," Nate assured them as well.
"I don't know…" Ash saw the concerned face on May and also expressed his worries. The pair then turned to Auro who awaited a response from them and seeing as they had no other choice, they simply nodded.
"Good, this training will be one of your most important ones yet," Auro replied.
"Alright then, let's let the Pokémon get into positions everyone and just stand back to watch the show," Nate declared to everyone as Rosa, Iris, Cilan, Auro, Ash, May, and Pikachu all moved to the sidelines while Victini got into its battle position.
The Lake Guardians hovered passed the teens and faced their opponent with stern gazes. "Is Victini going to battle all three?" May placed her hands on her mouth.
"Of course not silly," Rosa giggled.
"That would be too much to handle, we usually let the Lake Guardians decide who gets to battle the opponent," Nate explained to May, relieving her a bit, but she and Ash still remained unsure.
"Mesprit," Mesprit spoke under its breath.
"Uxie," Uxie nodded in agreement.
"Azelf," Azelf bobbed its head and hovered toward its battle position.
"So it looks like Azelf will be the one battling Victini, this could result in something spicy," Cilan crossed his arms and began to watch silently.
"1…2…Begin!" Auro screamed at the Pokémon as a way to let them know it was for the battle.
Victini was uncertain about how to begin, there were very few times it had battled before and the majority of those times were when the opponent was a regular Pokémon, not legendary. "Viiiiiictiiiiiiniiiii!" Victini charged up fire and then released a spinning meteor-shaped fire ball.
"That's Searing Shot," Ash commented.
"Ash, May, as Victini and Azelf battle I want you to notice Victini's fighting methods. You'll begin to understand why I'm making Victini to do this as you watch attentively," Auro explained to them.
Ash and May weren't sure what Auro meant, but nodded anyway and continued watching the battle.
"Az," Azelf's eyes began to glow blue and all of a sudden so did the Searing Shot. "Eeeeeelf!" Azelf screeched and sent Searing Shot back, with the fiery move taking the shape of a serpent.
"Tini!" Victini tried to counter with its Confusion, but it instantly realized that Azelf's psychic powers were at a whole different level.
"Right there, Victini lacked any careful plan to counter Azelf. It was hoping it could save itself by merely relying on its powers," Auro criticized Victini's reaction and only received raised eyebrows from Ash and May.
With helplessness all over its face, Victini closed its eyes and shrieked in pain as the fire burned its little body. "Victini!" May shouted with concern.
"Tiiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiii!" Victini screamed loudly, but the moment it heard May scream it found the power to shake off Searing Shot and the fire became nothing but embers.
"Well whaddaya know," Nate smirked.
"Victini!" Victini glared at Azelf, who only stared at the Fire-type blankly.
"Tini!" Victini declared at jetted at Azelf using Quick Attack. "Vi!" Victini then charged up a bright fire in its jaw and then released it, which began to envelope the Victory Pokémon's entire body in fire.
Azelf stood still and did nothing, as everyone on the sidelines watched. "What's Azelf doing, why isn't it doing anything?!" May became worrisome once again, suspicious of Azelf's plans.
Victini also became suspicious, but continued charging. Suddenly, moments before being hit Azelf analyzed Victini's movements and used Detect, gracefully dodging the fast moving Fire-type.
"It used Detect," Ash gritted its teeth.
"Victini's failure to clearly figure out Azelf took a toll on him, if Victini can't predict such a predictable move then this match will be much more difficult for it," Auro commented once again on Victini's abilities, this time causing May to grind her teeth as well.
"Azelf!" Azelf fired Swift once it moved away and caught Victini further off guard.
Victini quickly turned around, but before it could even react the shooting stars blasted the Victory Pokémon down to the ground. May clenched her fists the moment she heard Victini's tiny body crash into the ground.
Abruptly, a stream of fire shot from the ground at Azelf and the Psychic-type's eyes widened when it saw the speedy fire move. Luckily for it, it knew just how to counter and fired a rainbow-colored beam. Seconds before being shot down, Azelf's Extrasensory canceled out Victini's Flamethrower and an explosion erupted in midair.
"The speed of not only Victini's physical attacks, but its special attacks is very slow compared to that of Azelf's. It might have been quick for a regular Pokémon, but Azelf is a Legendary Pokémon and is stronger than the average Pokémon," Auro pointed out another one of Victini's flaws, provoking Ash and May to lower their heads in dismay, wondering if they were responsible for Victini's failure to even put up a good fight against Azelf.
As Azelf let the smoke cloud disperse, its biggest mistake was just waiting there. Out of the blue, its body began to glow blue and the Psychic-type found itself unable to move, "Elf?" Azelf frowned.
"Victini is using Confusion!" Ash cheered while May felt a sense of relief.
"A sweet comeback if I do say so myself," Cilan stated.
"Victini has this is in the park, I know it!" Iris said joyfully.
"Pika!" Pikachu also expressed its great support for the Fire-type.
"Victini!" Victini burst out of the smoke cloud and was charging at Azelf with Quick Attack. Even the Lake Guardians became amazed by how Victini had trapped Azelf, but they wondered if their psychic partner still had a method to fight back.
As Victini was just several inches away from Azelf with a large smirk on its face, Azelf entered a calm disposition for a second and then abruptly began to screech a powerful sound wave, immediately stopping Victini in its tracks.
"What's that?!" Iris covered her ears in pain.
"It's Uproar!" Cilan tried his hardest to prevent the sound wave from deafening him.
"This isn't good," Ash endured the scream and grinded his teeth.
"Victini!" May yelled once again as she covered her ears.
Auro, Nate, Rosa, and Pikachu also endured the mighty scream, but they also wondered how Victini would fight back now. The Lake Guardians easily resisted Azelf's Uproar and stared blankly as Victini screamed because of the earsplitting shout.
As soon as Azelf halted its Uproar, everyone let out a sigh of relief. Sadly, Victini did not have the time to recover from the Uproar and before it could get itself together Azelf appeared before its eyes. "Azelf!" the Psychic-type glared at Victini and with a glowing purple fist punched Victini with phenomenal force, sending it crashing down to the ground once again, but at the speed of a bullet.
"Tiiiiiiiiii!" Victini squealed in pain as it felt the force of the punch course through its entire body.
"That was Payback!" Ash gasped in disbelief.
"It's over," Cilan said with surprise.
May gasped and only covered her mouth as she tried to stop herself from screaming something, but her wide eyes did a good job at expressing her horror. As the dust cleared Victini lied there gasping for air and a little crater had formed around the tiny Pokémon.
Auro and his two friends gazed up at Azelf who hovered back with the Lake Guardians and then turned their eyes back to Victini, taking pity on the youthful Legendary Pokémon. "Victini is unable to battle, Azelf is the winner of this match," Auro announced with a sigh.
"Victini, are you alright!?" May rushed with Ash to the Victory Pokémon.
"Tini," Victini smiled weakly at May as he felt her tender hand on his head.
"Victini…" Ash caressed Victini's face with his hand as May picked up the little one, wondering if this might've been his fault, for not training Victini in the first place.
"Mesprit, use Heal Pulse on Victini please," Auro walked over while commanding one of the Lake Guardians.
Mesprit hovered down with the others and approached the weak Victini. Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf also took pity on Victini and Azelf expressed its concern by placing its hand on the little one's forehead.
"V," Victini grinned at Azelf, thanking it for having battled him.
"Prit!" Mesprit shot out a light pink orb that burst over Victini and showered bright sparkles over Victini's body. As the sparkles came into contact Victini's body, the bruises and cuts healed themselves as Victini recovered its regular baby-like and angelic appearance.
"Vi," Victini smiled with alleviation.
"With that battle we know what Victini needs work on, it could take some weeks, but with practice Victini will get much stronger," Auro said as he saw Nate, Rosa, Iris, and Cilan walking over.
Auro's voice quickly pressed May's buttons and the girl spat at him, "I don't care if Victini is weak or strong, what you made Victini go through isn't right or proper. All you did during the battle was judge Victini; I would like to see you battle a Legendary Pokémon. You're not as high and mighty as you think!"
Auro's expression was a shocked one while Ash and the others eyes widened in surprise. Rosa frowned and shouted at May, "May, enough! What's not right is that you won't allow Victini to get stronger, what you call judging is Auro doing his best to try to help you guys get stronger so you can fend for yourselves. It's time for you to get serious because nothing in life is easy, Victini needs to get stronger even if it means getting hurt because what will happen if one day you are not around to protect it?! Haven't you realized that the Majestic 12 already have Legendary Pokémon like the Eon Duo? You say we're hurting Victini by making it go through this, but you'll be hurting it even more if there ever comes a time when Victini has to survive on its own and it won't be able to because a girl didn't want it to get hurt during training!"
Rosa's words shot through May's mind like a ray of light and the brunette quickly came to her senses. The moment Rosa mentioned the day Victini would have to survive on its own made her realize that Victini would not always be with her, there was going to be a point where they would have to say goodbye…
She just stood there paralyzed as everyone watched in astonishment; even Victini didn't know what to say. Ash sighed and placed his hand on May's shoulder, "May it-," the boy tried to comfort the coordinator, but got cut off.
"No Ash, you don't have to tell me anything. Rosa is right, we won't always be with Victini and it has to learn to defend itself against anyone whoever tries to harm it. What I did was wrong, and I'm sorry you guys," May lifted her head and revealed tears hanging on her cheeks.
Rosa sighed at May and just smiled. Auro nodded his head sideways and spoke, "There's no need to apologize May, we understand how attached you have gotten with Victini and it's normal to feel that way about something you love. We just want you to understand that we're doing all of this for your best interest."
"I know and that's why I'm apologizing because I know you're only doing this to help us, but now that I've finally realized that I think I'm ready to continue with this…as long as Ash and Victini are," May looked down at the little one and then reached out her hand to Ash while grinning at him softly.
"Vi tini," Victini nodded happily and began to hover beside May, rubbing its cheek against hers.
"Always ready when you are," Ash reassured May and the boy pecked her cheek, making the girl giggle over the affection she was receiving.
With May's tears dried away and concerns brushed away Auro took a deep breath, "Now we get to the main part of the training."
"The main part?" Iris inquired.
"That's right; this segment of the training will focus on making Victini stronger, faster, and tactical. With its flaws uncovered, we know just how to deal with Victini," Auro informed the Unova girl.
"Where will this training be?" Ash questioned.
"We're glad you asked," Nate smirked and Auro snapped his fingers.
Suddenly, the group found themselves the entire environment switching into a plain. The Trees faded away like nothing along with the cabin. The only thing remaining was miles of grass and a mountainous region in the distance.
"Wow, I'm guessing the Lake Guardians are producing this illusion?" May asked with curiosity.
"That's right," Rosa laughed.
"This trick never fails to fascinate me," Cilan scanned the area with interest.
"On this plain there's more space for Victini to move freely and it's great for beginners. By the way, Ash and May, this time you are also involved in the training," Auro informed them.
"In what way?" May inquired with a raised eyebrow.
"You'll see. First let's begin with target practice," Auro pointed some 50 yards away and 10 Abra magically appeared.
"Abra!" Cilan and Iris shouted with surprise simultaneously.
"Pi?" Pikachu wondered what the Abra were for.
Auro's eyes turned to Victini, who eyed Auro curiously, "Victini I want you to imagine those Abra are like bowling pins. You must fire at them and take out all ten of them using projectile moves."
"Victini," Victini nodded.
"And what do we do?" Ash asked.
"Just wait, let's watch Victini first," Auro told them.
Victini hovered to the front of the group and eyed the Abra with determination. "Victiniiii!" Victini fired a Flamethrower at one of the Abra.
As the Flamethrower burned through the plain, the Abra remained calm at the incoming attack. Then suddenly, right before Flamethrower hit one of the Abra, it teleported to another spot just to the right of the Flamethrower. Ash, May, Iris, and Cilan's eyes raised their eyebrows once again as the Flamethrower passed through without hitting anything.
"Ti…" Victini sighed and hung its head low.
"It's alright Victini, no need to get down for that, we're only beginning. Notice how the Abra teleported to dodge though. Teleport is a much faster method of dodging than simply moving away and I want you to start dealing with opponents who move at faster than average speeds. Plus you're also experiencing another problem, Ash, May; did you two notice what it was?" Auro questioned them in order to test their observation skills.
As Ash and May replayed the image of Victini firing the Flamethrower, they realized one clear problem in Victini's execution of the attack, when Victini charged up Flamethrower. Their eyes widened and the pair took turns to speak, "Victini was concentrating too much time on charging Flamethrower," May pointed out.
"And with the time Victini took to charge up, it gave the opponent more time to figure out how to counter rather than fire quickly and catch the target off guard," Ash explained the other half.
"That's right," Auro nodded and Victini's eyes widened in surprise when he realized his mistake.
"Wow," Iris blinked several times.
"Even I didn't notice that," Cilan rubbed his chin.
"Those are some sharp eyes those two have," Nate smiled as he crossed his arms.
"More like eagle eyes," Rosa stated.
"You're exerting too much power to take out the foe and that's a big problem, especially if it's a speedy foe," Auro informed Victini, who nodded in response. "This time I want you to focus on trying to charge less and blast faster, almost like rapid fire, got it?" Auro smiled at the little one.
"Vi tini," Victini nodded and formed a confident smile.
The Victory Pokémon's eyes focused entirely on the Abra and thought of the mistake he had done earlier, too much time on charging Flamethrower…gave the opponent more time to figure out how to counter…Victini smiled and then shouted, "Victiniii!" it fired a high-powered, but speedy Flamethrower at the Abra.
"Victinii!" Victini leaped into the air and fired another rapid Flamethrower.
"Tiinii!" Victini released yet another.
One of the Flamethrowers had missed by a millisecond, but the other two Abra were not so lucky and got vaporized by the Flamethrower. "Victini!" Victini fired another and then released one more only a second after the last followed by a surprise Stored Power.
Like if blasted at the speed of light, two more Abra got taken out while one of the other Abra had reacted a bit too late and got its left arm scorched. "Abraaaaa," the Abra were now intimidated by Victini, some even injured.
"Impressive, that's quite good for a second try," Auro nodded in approval, "Would you care to take out the rest?" the blue-haired boy asked.
"Ti…ni…v," Victini took deep breaths of air.
"It's alright, take a brief rest," Auro chuckled.
"Good job Victini!" May hugged the little one with glee.
"We're so proud of you," Ash wanted to hug the Fire-type, but May held onto Victini completely so the boy rubbed the little one's head and squeezed its tiny hand.
"Pikachu pi!" Pikachu also congratulated the Fire-type.
"That's quite a rapid improvement," Cilan said with surprise.
"It's a Legendary Pokémon, it's supposed to be extraordinary," Rosa giggled.
"So what now?" Iris inquired.
"You'll see," Nate smirked.
Auro caught Nate's gaze and turned to the Abra, who suddenly disappeared. Everyone automatically noticed the disappearance, but before they could ask 10 Pidgeot appeared in the same, staring down at them fiercely.
"What's going on?" Ash raised an eyebrow.
"Pidgeot are incredibly fast Pokémon as you probably already know," Nate began to speak.
"So because they are so incredibly fast, Victini must learn to dodge such opponents using every skill it has at its disposal," Rosa added.
"Oh," Ash and May said at the same time.
"Ash, May, this where you play a greater role. This time you have to command Victini and trust in each other if you want to overcome the 10 Pidgeot. It's a test of instinct, trust, and skill," Auro said to the couple and Victini.
The trio nodded sternly and took their positions as they glared up at the intimidating Pidgeot. "Alright," Ash said as he turned his hat around.
"Victini…" May clenched her fists.
"Go!" Ash and May pointed at the sky.
"Tini!" Victini roared and charged off like a blazing star at the Pidgeot.
"Pidgeot!" the bird Pokémon cried out as they dived down at Victini.
"Victini do a 360 spin!" May instructed.
"Vi!" Victini frowned and moments before coming into contact with Pidgeot, spun 360 degrees as it narrowly avoided some sharp peaks, but one of the more daring Pidgeot charged head down.
"Victini dive down!" Ash ordered.
"Ti!" Victini dove beneath the incoming Pidgeot, catching it off guard.
"Quick Attack!" Ash and May shouted.
"Victiniiii!" Victini shot upward like a bullet at the same Pidgeot and bashed right at it, sending the bird flying and crying out in pain.
"Yeah!" Ash and May cheered while giving each other high fives while Victini winked at them happily, but before they could get moving again a pair of Pidgeot came out of nowhere and bashed at Victini, sending it flying towards the ground as they prepared to use Hyper Beam.
"Victini, get it together!" Ash told the Fire-type.
"Victini!" Victini regained its composure and stopped itself from crashing midway, but its eyes widened when it saw the incoming Dual Hyper Beam.
"Searing Shot!" May instructed.
Victini followed the same procedure as it did when it fired Flamethrower earlier and tried not to charge up a Searing Shot for too long. Luckily, Victini generated a powerful and fast enough Searing Shot that would save it from massive pain. "Victini!" the Pokémon cried out as the blazing spinning meteor attack fired like a shooting star and canceled out the Hyper Beam, causing an explosion between Victini and the gang of Pidgeot.
Ash and May quickly took this time to rethink their strategy. "There's too many Pidgeot and they're too fast Ash," May said to the Pallet boy.
"And when we try to take one of them out more just pop out of nowhere," Ash grinded his teeth as Pikachu and their friends watched from the sidelines, hoping the couple would have a solution too.
As May and Ash thought of ways to give Victini the upper hand a common thought shot through their heads as they remembered the teleporting Abra. That's when they turned to each other and grinned confidently, the couple both knew what they were thinking and nodded.
"Victini, let's use your psychic powers to give them the slip!" Ash told the Fire-type.
"Tini," Victini looked at them and saw the confidence in their eyes. The Victory Pokémon knew that look and put a confident face on as well. Whatever thought Ash and May had, Victini knew they had discovered the key to victory.
"Victini, start off like before!" May instructed.
"Vi!" Victini jetted off and right before coming into contact with the Pidgeot spun 360 degrees, narrowly avoiding their beaks.
"Keep going!" Ash told the Fire-type when another plucky Pidgeot dared to charge forward.
"V!" Victini dove down and like before used Quick Attack to send the Pidgeot flying upward in pain, but now was the real moment of truth. A trio of Pidgeot was coming from different directions with the sole purpose of taking out Victini, but the Fire-type only waited for a command.
Seconds before contact, everyone became worried as to why the couple had not made their move yet. Then right before their beaks could cut Victini's skin, Ash and May both made the same command, "Turn invisible!"
With that instruction, Victini disappeared and fled the zone with the Pidgeot hitting each other and groaning in pain as they dropped to the ground. "Confusion!" Ash ordered.
While remaining invisible Victini caught the Pidgeot off guard and tried their best to determine Victini's location, but before any of them could get far the Psychic-type used Confusion on Pidgeot and bashed it against another, sending them both crashing into the ground.
"Quick Attack!" May demanded.
Victini smirked and before the other Pidgeot could even react to the surprise attack their partners suffered, one of them got sent flying down when Victini bashed at them like a bullet. The speed at which Victini bashed at Pidgeot made the bird crash downwards almost like a blur and when it hit a medium-sized crater formed around it.
"Alright, now let's end this with a Flamethrower!" Ash extended his arm forward.
Victini grinned confidently and revealed its location to the unsuspecting Pidgeot, who got shocked to see the Victini only a few meters away. Before the Pidgeot could avenge their partners though, Victini repeated its procedure from the Abra training and fired two Flamethrower, "Tini...Vi!" Victini shouted as the swift Flamethrower roasted the Pidgeot within three seconds, sending them flying down with pain.
Iris, Cilan, Auro, Nate, and Rosa were all amazed by the development, even Rosa admitted, "It would have taken me longer than that to figure out I could use Victini's invisibility trick to use against my opponents."
"Awesome work Victini!" Ash congratulated the Pokémon for his clean victory.
"That was perfect!" May added to Ash's congratulations.
"Chu pika pi!" Pikachu waved happily at Victini from Ash's shoulder.
Although Auro got pleased by the performance, he still had plenty of more trials for the trio and he knew this next one would give them more difficulty to get around. "Come out," Auro clapped his hands twice, catching the attention of Victini, Pikachu, May, and Ash.
Their attention then instantly turned to the 10 dark holes forming in the grass, much to their curiosity. Unfortunately for them, the curiosity became concern as the 10 dark holes rose up like spheres and revealed a Psychic Pokémon's worst fear.
Ash and May glared when they identified the mischievous Pokémon beaming evilly at them. "Gengar," the 10 Ghost-type Pokémon said at the same time.
That was 44, hope you liked it folks! This chapter is shorter than the usual ones as you've probably noticed. For those of you who are wondering, we are nearing the end of the training arc and there will be some time skips in these final chapters of the training arc, so just wanted to clear that up. This chapter was very simple compared to others, but I liked it because it further explores Ash and May's relationship with Victini. By the way I fixed the Shedinja error a few days ago, guess I don't know my Pokémon as well as I use to lol, I just changed Shedinja to Ninjask for those who are too lazy to look back haha. Anyways, the next chapter will be up next week…I hope. I'll also be working on "Man in the Mirror" for those who are wondering, thank you to those who have been reviewing so far in any story and to those who have sent me PMs. I really appreciate all the support and feedback you give, so please CONTINUE TO REVIEW, PM, ETC, FEEDBACK IS ALWAYS WELCOMED. Well thanks again guys, till next time!