Part CXLVII: A Meeting of the Minds
"Keep an eye on the past as you decide who you will be in the future." Olympia said to Ash as he stood across from her in his box on the Anistar Gym's battlefield. "Remember this as we battle."
"Right, my path is to get that 7th Gym Badge for sure." Ash said confidently. "And keep moving forward to the Kalos Conference."
"Pika." Pikachu said from Ash's shoulder just as confident as his human and best friend.
It was the day after Sycamore had arrived in Anistar City and it was finally time for Ash's battle with Olympia at the Anistar Gym. On the line was his 7th badge and Ash couldn't wait for it. He'd been preparing for this ever since Laverre, other than when he was helping Misty with her performance practice or Serena with coordinator battle practice though the latter had helped him as well, so he was pumped for the battle.
They'd all woken up early, had a good breakfast as even the nerves of an impending gym battle couldn't quench Ash's appetite, and headed to the gym. That was of course when they realized that the gym was opposite the Sundial, as none had noticed it the day before given the giant rock and what happened at it. It was even more amazing that they didn't notice give the gym's appearance.
The Anistar Gym, like the other Kalos ones for the most part, stood out while at the same time being similar enough to past gyms Ash had been to. It was a large, circular building with a dome atop it, but the dome had no windows except for narrow triangular ones at the point where the walls met the dome. It wasn't until they reached the gym itself did they realize that there were pillars all around and an outer balcony at the top around the base of the dome.
However, all that wasn't what made it stand out. No what did was the three arches that were angled to the left as one looked at it and going over the gym with support pillars. The middle arch and the left hand one were closer to each other while the one on the right was a bit further away. To add to all this there was a circular thing on support and above the dome to the right of the far-right arch. Completing the look were two crooked pillars with what looked like a fake flame atop them flanking the entrance to the circular green the gym lampposts around it.
Despite the gym being in the city, it was in its own park like area with a manicured green around it and groves of trees in rectangles in front of it while more wild groves flanked it to keep the gym separate from the rest of the city around it. This was the most normal part to Ash though as a few of the Kanto gyms were similarly located in the middle of parks in their respective cities.
Still, as his battle was coming, they didn't have time to gape at it as they walked up the entryway and the stairs to the glass doors that led into the gym. They were greeted at the door by the two acolytes from the day before and led in with Ash being taken to the battlefield by Charlene and the girls and Professor Sycamore who had decided to watch it while his assistants run the show at the Sundial, were taken elsewhere by Carrie. That was confusing until they saw the uniqueness of the Anistar battlefield.
After going through a corridor, Ash came upon a circular battlefield in the heart of the dome, that was clear by the domed ceiling above them, all glowing with a blue light that illuminated the room though it did have normal battlefield markings. There was even a walkway to his starter box and as Ash reached it he saw why it was set up like this.
On either side of the rectangular battlefield was a cut out areas with gears beneath them over a drop. It was one of the more precarious looking battlefields Ash had even been on, though not the most unsafe as nothing was more dangerous than the old design of the Cinnabar Island secret gym, and this only made him even more eager for the coming battle.
There was an observation area, it was a ring above the battlefield that encircled the edge and had its own entrance area though there were stairs that would take the observers down to the battlefield should they wish for it. Given the height, it would be impossible to leap off so for once Misty would have to wait to celebrate if Ash won as it would take her too long to get there for their usual celebration.
Regardless, the girls, all in cheerleader outfits in their set colors again, and Sycamore, along with Piplup and Helioptile, were on the observation deck ready to support Ash in the upcoming battle. The time for his 7th gym battle in Kalos had finally begun.
"Ha then let us begin." Olympia said thrusting her arms to the side to open her cloak for the first time, showing the stary interior of it, as two Poke Balls shot out to burst open revealing Olympia's Meowstics to Ash. "As you know, you will be battling these Meowstics."
"As expected, a double battle." May said glad that all their preparation had been right, and Olympia's confirmation had been true.
"Ash will be battling Olympia's strongest duo." Carrie said from her point in the center of the acolytes on their side of the observation platform opposite the girls supporting Ash, Charlene had remained when she'd shown Ash to the battlefield and was now in the referee spot for the battle. "This will be good."
"Alright, I'm ready." Ash said with a grin as he pulled out his two Poke Balls for this battle and Pikachu leapt off to support him from the side.
"The battle between Olympia the Anistar Gym Leader and Ash, the challenger from Pallet Town, is about to begin." Charlene said as golden arches rose up from behind Olympia and arced over the battlefield, stopping behind her, in the middle, and behind Ash as they did and turning the ceiling of the dome into a reflection of the night's sky that matched the interior of Olympia's cloak. "This will be a double battle so both trainers will fight with two Pokémon at once and there will be no substitutions."
"No substitutions, well that was expected I guess but still limiting." Ash said not changing his tactics, he'd trained these two in mind for this battle and as such he was going to stick with it. it just meant that he couldn't replace one that fell or got a status problem, while the girls and Sycamore discussed the upcoming battle though the girls all had complete faith and support in Ash. "Sigilyph, Dunsparce, I choose you."
As Ash said the names of his Pokémon he tossed the balls out so that his odd looking psychic and flying type, and the equally strange looking normal type, appeared before him. Olympia couldn't resist raising an eyebrow at his choices, they were unexpected to say the least though at least one was a Pokémon she was familiar with.
"Woah he has a Sigilyph as well." Carrie said her eyes wide. "How'd he find one? I thought I had the only one in Kalos."
"So, he's using two of his more unexpected catches." Sycamore said from his position. "Interesting. I wonder how he will use them as a pair in battle."
"Ash always wanted to get those two involved in a gym battle and this turned out to be the perfect one." Misty said as she cheered for her boyfriend. "Go Ash, you got this."
"Give it your best guys." Ash said ignoring the sideline chatter as he got into the zone for the battle.
"Good alright then, battle begin." Charlene said and Ash's Anistar Gym battle officially started.
"Helping Hand and Future Sight at the same time." Olympia said to start the battle showing her clear proficiency with two Pokémon in battle and how best to maximize such a partnership.
Before Ash could react, the male Meowstic was already starting his Helping Hand move, eyes closed and ears unfurled as was the case with that species, thus boosting his partner's attack power. Then the female Meowstic did the same as she closed her eyes and her ears unfurled to send a series of attack orbs into the sky were they vanished. Ash knew Future Sight and grit his teeth at that, he'd gotten lucky against Kenny with it as he could win before it stuck, but he had a feeling he wouldn't this time around. Still, he wasn't idle either.
"Sigilyph, hit the male with Shadow Ball." Ash ordered using the newest attack Sigilyph had learned especially for this battle. "Dunsparce, go after the female with Ice Beam. We'll start with range attacks."
All Olympia did was nod and her Meowstics closed their eyes, unfurled their ears, and glowed blue. A second later they flew into the air and dodged the attacks and began to fly around the battlefield. This was what Ash had trained for however, Meowstics were noted for being able to do this after all, and instantly Dunsparce and Sigilyph were tracking them.
"Keep an eye on their flight patterns and predict where they will be." Ash said as he switched things up. "Sigilyph, Air cutter on the female, Dunsparce, Air Slash on the male."
"Light Screen." Olympia countered as both of Ash's Pokémon sent out their flying type attacks. "And Dark Pulse."
Instantly the male Meowstic, who was the one who knew Light Screen, activated the defensive move and a screen of light appeared before him and his companion as the move affected all Pokémon on the battlefield who were fighting with the user of the move and would last a decent amount of time. It wasn't a moment too soon as well as the two ranged, flying type attacks slammed into their respective Meowstics causing them to meow in pain from the slash of air that hit the male while the female was struck by a razor-like wind from Sigilyph.
At least that was what it looked like to Ash from the ground but as Professor Sycamore explained to the girls when they were shocked by the speed of the Light Screen's activation, the actual reason for the speed was the male's ability, Prankster. That ability gave Meowstic priority on a status move that Light Screen qualified as thus allowing him to defended himself and his teammate before the attacks hit them.
Regardless, even with Light Screen, Ash got the secondary effects on both hits. Air Cutter had a higher-than-average critical hit ratio and it triggered as it hit and exploded on the Light Screen adding to the mitigated damage.
As for Air Slash, it had a good chance of causing a Pokémon to flinch and when you factored in that Dunsparce's ability was Serene Glance, not that Ash actually knew that at the moment, and the chance of the added effect triggering increased causing the male Meowstic to shudder in the air after the hit. Ash saw this and quickly capitalized.
"Ice Beam on the male Dunsparce." Ash ordered. "Sigilyph…"
Ash didn't get to finish his order to his psychic and flying type however as at that moment the black aura imbued with negative thoughts flew out of the cloud that had formed from the impact of Air Cutter and slammed into Sigilyph. The dark type attack was super effective on him, and he wailed as he fell from the sky just as Dunsparce got the Ice Beam he was sending at the male off.
"Sigilyph, correct yourself and fall back with a Shadow Ball to keep the female at bay." Ash said as the Ice Beam slammed into the male, the Light Screen again activating mitigating the damage from the ranged attack though the freezing effect wasn't triggered, causing him to wail and crash to the ground no longer glowing blue. "And regroup together."
Sigilyph managed that as he used his strange body to his advantage by rolling in the air and skimming over the surface of the battlefield, blasting a Shadow Ball at the white Meowstic as he did, to get back to Dunsparce's side. The female Meowstic avoided it with ease before landing on the ground at her partner's side and her ears furling again as the male next to her got to his feet and the Pokémon stared at each other. The opening salvos had been done and already it was clear that the match was very evenly matched.
"So, you can defend against range." Ash said thinking hard on the battle as he recalled exactly what Light Screen could do. "Those Meowstics, they're perfectly in tune with each other and trained to support the other."
"Of course, we expect nothing less from Olympia." Carrie said from above though Ash wasn't listening to her as the girls looked in in worry.
"Seems like your passion from earlier has dwindled." Olympia said taking Ash's hesitation as a sign that he'd cooled down, not as it was his attempt to adapt to the battle, and quickly attacking to see if she could reignite that passion. "Psyshock, both of you."
"Dodge it." Ash said as the two Meowstics unfurled their ears and glowed purple as they seemed to combine their attacks together for the move before blasting the wave of psychic power off at Ash's Pokémon.
Sigilyph took to the sky to avoid it while Dunsparce leapt away though he was not the most agile of Pokémon. However, that was when things suddenly took a strange turn. The Meowstics glowed blue again and appeared to manipulate their Psyshock, moving it to follow Ash's Pokémon as they dodged it.
With Dunsparce they didn't have to go far before the attack hit him sending him wailing to the side in an explosion but with Sigilyph they were all over the place as he used his unique body to fly around frantically dodging it as the move continued to home in on him. As he did Ash saw an opening.
"Sigilyph that will hit you, but it won't do much damage due to your resistance to psychic type attacks." Ash called out as Sigilyph kept trying to avoid it not knowing that the female's ability was Keen Eye making it really hard to dodge attacks, something Sycamore deduced up in the observation deck and explained to the girls as they watched the move seek out Sigilyph. "So, focus on the female and hit it with a Shadow Ball but only after Dunsparce has landed his hit. Dunsparce, Gyro Ball at the male."
From the dust of the hit that Dunsparce had taken he began to spin. The cloud obscured him, and he shot out, a spinning ball in the air, right at the male before he could react and with them focusing on Sigilyph the Meowstics didn't realize until it was to late that Dunsparce was a threat to one of them.
Before they could react, Dunsparce slammed into the male, the steel type move more powerful than usual due to Dunsparce's slow speed stat, and the male waled in pain as he was thrown back to crash into the ground. Add in that it was a physical attack and not a ranged one and Light Screen couldn't protect him from taking the full damage of the move.
The hit got the female's attention and she turned to look at her companion. In that instance, Sigilyph gave up trying to avoid the attack and sent out a Shadow Ball right at the female. She had enough time to turn before the ball of ghost type power hit her in the face and she staggered back from the blow. The Light Screen did trigger as Shadow Ball was a ranged attack, so it mitigated the damage a fair bit despite the super effective nature of the attack, but she'd still taken a good bit of damage from it.
At the same time the Psyshock finally hit Sigilyph in the back sending him spinning forward with a grunt. However, as he was a psychic type, one of the many types resistant to its own type, he wasn't badly hurt and was able to stay flying as he moved forward to keep up the press with Dunsparce on their opponents.
"The time is now." Olympia said with a grin as a series of portals opened up above the battlefield and the Future Sight rained down upon Sigilyph.
Before anyone could react the Avianoid Pokémon was hit by the psychic type attack and wailed in pain though more shock than damage given his resistance to the move. Still, it was enough to throw Sigilyph to the side and into Dunsparce causing damage to both though it was minor and inadvertent. The girls noted in surprise at the perfect timing of the move and how it had shifted the momentum of the battle so quickly just as Ash seemed to be gaining the upper hand.
However, Ash Ketchum wasn't one to quit lightly, he always fought to the bitter end and as dense as he was on many things, one thing he wasn't dense in was the ways of the Pokémon battle. He may not have realized what the abilities at play were, few factored those in and less at the level Olympia was clearly using them at, but he'd figured her out at least. Now he could work with it as he quickly adapted to the battle with a new, out of the box, idea.
"Alright Pikachu, I have a plan." Ash said crouching down next to his starter and whispering his plan to Pikachu, it would only come into effect if Olympia did what he thought she'd do but after what had just happened and her words he was certain that she would use it again. "Ok, you got it buddy?"
"Pi, Pikachu." Pikachu said with a nod as Ash rose to face Olympia again more than eager to help Ash, Dunsparce, and Sigilyph in this battle, his focus now entirely on what he had to do.
"Good, do what you can." Olympia said as she watched Ash while his Pokémon rose from the impact after the Future Sight. "This will be your test."
"I'm all ready, I'll pass your test." Ash said confidently as he grinned at Olympia and clenched his fist, this was just the kind of challenge he relished when facing a gym leader as his Pokémon got ready for it. "Now, together, Dunsparce use Drill Run, Sigilyph Air Cutter."
"Helping Hand and Dark Pulse." Olympia commanded again as Dunsparce flipped over and began to spin so that his drill shaped tail was pointing at the Meowstics that he was facing. "Stop them."
"You know what to do guys." Ash said grinning as the male activated Helping Hand to boost the power of the female's Dark Pulse that was then shot out at the Dunsparce as he launched his spinning body at the female, the male had already taken plenty of damage, so they had to even it up a bit by targeting the female with a physical attack. "Show your own teamwork."
"That won't…" Olympia began before her eyes went wide at what happened next. "I see, very clever."
That was because Sigilyph hadn't been aiming at the Meowstics with his Air Cutter but rather the Dark Pulse itself. This was a combo move that they'd worked on in training, often against Serena as she'd need to do double battles should she reach the battle stage of the Grand Festival, to ensure that the Drill Run landed. The ground type move had a high critical hit ration, and so to ensure that it hit Sigilyph would fly up and cover Dunsparce with an Air Cutter on any move that was used to block Dunsparce from landing the attack.
That's just what happened this time around as the Air Cutter came down in a razor-like wind and slammed into the Dark Pulse, driving it down and into the ground right before it reached Dunsparce. As such, Dunsparce was able to clear it and slam his spinning tail into the female Meowstic's forehead though it didn't trigger a critical hit this time around. However, it still did plenty of damage and the female was thrown back with a wail.
"Thunder Wave." Olympia said realizing that she had to inflict a status problem on the bigger of the two threats she was facing. "Paralyze that Sigilyph."
The female Meowstic got up as the male returned to her and sent the wave of electric type power at Sigilyph. With her Keen Eye ability, it was going to land for sure and give Olympia an edge against it. At least that was the plan until Sigilyph twitched to the side as the move reached him and shot past harmlessly causing everyone to gape at that.
"What the hell just happened?" Misty asked as Olympia's acolytes stared at the battlefield with slack jaws with the exception of Carrie who was glaring angrily.
"It's ability." Sycamore said deducing it quickly. "Sigilyph, it has the Wonder Skin ability."
"What's that?" May asked. "I've never heard of that ability."
"That because as far as anyone knows only a Sigilyph can have it though there are theories on a few other Pokémon who might have it as their hidden ability." Carrie said through gritted teeth. "And mine doesn't have it, it has Magic Guard instead. Wonder Skin, it allows Sigilyph a greater chance of dodging a status affecting attack like Thunder Wave."
"I see so my Meowstic's Keen Eye is neutralized by that, if not outright inferior to it." Olympia said recovering first and using that to her advantage. "Good to know but we must continue. Helping Hand and Future Sight."
"Pikachu this is it." Ash said, the attack snapping his attention back to the battle at hand as the move he'd expected started with the boosting move from the male adding to the strength of the female's offensive move as she sent the balls into the air to disappear into portals.
The moment they did Pikachu began to move his tail like a metronome, starting the second the balls vanished, and he spoke 'Pi' for every beat of his tail to ensure he kept it and the count he'd begun. This was Ash's plan and based off what Olympia had said earlier. With Pikachu's aid, Ash was sure that he could work with this and counter it. Of course, he had to last that long and at least one more Future Sight attack, plus that Keen Eye ability of the female Meowstic was going to be a problem, but he knew that his Pokémon could do it.
"Well, whatever they're up to is a mystery to me." Olympia said with a small smile on her face, it was interesting to see what her challenger was doing to counter her, and she looked forward to learning what Ash's plan was as it might be just what she was looking for from him. "Let's see if it works."
The girls and Sycamore were equally confused by this. They had no idea what Pikachu was doing but it clearly had something to do with Ash's chat with him earlier and the Future Sight attack. This was Ash though, so anything was possible in his battles, and he was more than ready to show them as the battle continued.
"Now, both of you, Psyshock." Olympia said as the battle resumed in earnest.
"If we can't dodge it then we attack, offense is the best defense after all." Ash said with a grin as he began to plan how to handle this move. "Dunsparce, blast through it with Gyro Ball, Sigilyph get high and wait for my order."
Ash's Pokémon acted at once as Dunsparce began to spin rapidly and shot forward as the purple wave of the combined Psyshock came at him while Sigilyph ascended higher into the air and further back from the action. As a result, the Psyshock split in two with half of it going towards Dunsparce, the other half towards Sigilyph.
However, the half that hit Dunsparce didn't seem to have much effect as he shot through the wave, spinning fast as the steel type move dissipated the psychic type one. That was when the wave changed again and rather than continue towards Sigilyph, the second half arced back down and began come at Dunsparce from behind him. This was what Ash was ready for though.
"Air Cutter again." Ash ordered. "Protect Dunsparce."
Just like moments earlier, Sigilyph flapped his wings to create the gust of air that was made up of a razor-like wind. It then descended and slammed into the Psyshock negating it and giving Dunsparce the opening he needed. With Ash cheering him on Dunsparce slammed into the male Meowstic and sent him flying back with a wail though it wasn't enough to knock him out and Olympia saw her own opening from it.
"Dark Pulse." Olympia ordered.
Before Ash could react the female Meowstic leapt in front of her male companion and fired off the dark type attack. Dunsparce was too close to avoid it and Sigilyph too far away to be of any help, so the move slammed into Dunsparce's face and sent him flying back with a wail to land on Ash's side beneath Sigilyph though as with the male Meowstic it wasn't enough to take him out of the battle.
"Alright we still got this." Ash said as both Dunsparce and the male Meowstic showed they were still in this. "Now…"
However, before he could say anymore the Future Sight happened again, the portals opening above Ash's Pokémon and showering them in the attack with an explosion. At the same time Pikachu let out an exclamation and looked to Ash, he had the and the count that Ash had asked him to find.
"Guys, you ok?" Ash asked as the smoke cleared to show both of his Pokémon still in fighting shape with Sigilyph right over Dunsparce.
It seemed that the psychic type Pokémon had shielded his partner, which he had, from the worst of the attack because he knew he could withstand the blow better with his resistance to psychic type attacks. It was an impressive display of teamwork and sacrifice but one that Ash should have expected given his own nature with the Pokémon he caught.
That was because since his capture by Ash, Sigilyph had learned what kind of human his trainer was from his teammates and the training they were doing for this battle. Ash had taught him a new move, he'd shown Sigilyph that there was more to life than what he'd been doing when caught and he was going to repay that faith by winning this match and the gym badge that came with it alongside Dunsparce who also understood what was going on.
Together they'd win and secure Ash another badge while also showing the rest of the team that they were worthy Pokémon as well. The others had won major battles for Ash already, had secured badges or other honors, and now it was their turn to do the same. They were still in this, and they would win this one for Ash and their friends.
"Good, Pikachu, what do you say?" Ash said looking down at his best friend.
"Pika, pi." Pikachu said moving his tail a bit to make it clear that he had the timing down. "Pi Pikachu."
"Alright good." Ash said with a grin as he turned to Olympia. "Time for our counter."
"You're spirit is impressive, just as I have foreseen." Olympia said with a grin. "My visions do not lie, though I may not fully understand them, and this battle is going as well as I was shown."
"You'll see it all because I'm going to get that gym badge." Ash said confidently.
"In that case show me." Olympia said thrusting her arms wide as she pressed the battle forward. "Use Helping Hand and Future Sight again."
"This is it, Future Sight." Ash said as the attack was released and the balls of the move flew into the air to vanish. "Pikachu."
"Pi, pi, pi." Pikachu said as he began his count again with his tail this time knowing what could come of it.
"Let's go." Ash said to his Pokémon knowing that this was it, this was the make-or-break moment of the battle.
"Psyshock and Dark Pulse." Olympia said again going straight to a move while Ash was slightly distracted. "Make sure the latter is aimed at Sigilyph."
"Sigilyph, evasive maneuvers." Ash said as the female Meowstic sent out the Dark Pulse while the male used the Psyshock. "Dunsparce, block it with Ice Beam and keep it up. We may not be able to avoid it, but we can block it."
Sigilyph began to fly around, using his body and the cuts that his wings allowed him to make to keep one step ahead of the Dark Pulse that was coming at him. At the same time, Dunsparce released his Ice Beam at the Psyshock and intercepted it in the middle of the battlefield with an explosion as the two moves clashed and canceled each other out with a cloud of smoke from the explosion.
That was what Ash had expected and Dunsparce knew his orders and unleashed another Ice Beam that cut through the smoke and slammed into the male Meowstic's chest sending him back with a wail. He was still in the battle as the Light Screen had protected him, but it was all starting to take its toll on the Pokémon and the Light Screen was nearing the end of its effective period. That wasn't all for Ash though as he saw his other chance.
"Now Sigilyph, dive." Ash said as Sigilyph neared a spot over the head of the female Meowstic. "Show the evasiveness only a flying type or airborne Pokémon can have."
Sigilyph saw this and if he could he would have grinned at that as he dove down and at his opponent as fast as possible, the dark type attack right on his tail. Then, at the last minute, he pulled up and barrel rolled away just as he'd learned from Talonflame who'd been really useful in teaching him how to be more evasive in the air.
The timing had been key, and the Dark Pulse was too fast to change directions as abruptly as Sigilyph could so instead it slammed into the female Meowstic causing her to be hit by her own move. The only thing keeping her still in the battle after taking a super effective move like Dark Pulse was the still in effect Light Screen mitigating the damage some as she was thrown backwards in the air to crash next to her companion.
Still there was one factor that Ash was waiting for and he knew that it was coming soon. He had a plan for it though, one that was going to take a bit of skill, but he had faith that his Pokémon could do it. With most of his other Pokémon he'd have just had them do this physically but these two couldn't due to their odd physiologies. That said, he still had a way to do it, one he'd seen done by a few others the year before and now it was his turn to use this tactic.
"Pikachu!" Pikachu yelled suddenly as he hit the count and knew that the attack was coming.
"That's it, the Future Sight will appear." Ash said looking up to the dome where the attack would come from. "Sigilyph, as soon as you see it use Psychic on the attack and throw it at the Meowstics."
"What?" Olympia asked confused as the attack appeared.
A second before the attack though, Sigilyph had inverted himself so that his back was now parallel to the ground and began to glow blue with Psychic. Then, the moment the move appeared, he targeted the balls and they too glowed blue before stopping in the air well before they became a threat to Sigilyph.
Ash had seen this done by Sabrina against his Dratini in their full battle, Anabel against Misty and lastly by Conway had tried to use it against Pikachu in the Indigo Conference the year before and knew that it could be done. In addition, he'd had Max's Gardevoir use Psychic on Dragonite that one time and come close to winning that matchup because of it, so he knew this move well. Now it was his turn to finally use Psychic to his advantage.
Before anyone could do more than gape at the act, Sigilyph had flipped forward and tossed the balls at the Meowstics, striking them with their own move. They were of course resistant to it, and for the last time Light Screen protected them as well, but it still hurt them and threw them into the air with a wail. This was just what Ash was waiting for and he pressed his final advantage.
"Ice Beam, Shadow Ball." Ash said as Olympia just stared at the move as Ash had done what she'd hoped he would and gotten the timing down but still, the way he'd turned her own Future Sight back on her was really out of the box. "Finish this."
Ash's Pokémon let out roars and fired their attacks at their opponents. After everything, the female was Sigilyph's, and he fired his Shadow Ball at her as she arced through the air with a wail while the male was Dunsparce's, and he launched his Ice Beam at the angle needed to hit his opponent.
Both attacks slammed home and as the turn limit for Light Screen had ended there was more resistance to ranged attacks. This was especially bad for the female as the ghost type attack was super effective against her and after everything she'd taken this was too much for her and she passed out in the air the moment the ball hit her in the face. She was thrown back before crashing down to the battlefield to lie on her back swirls for eyes.
As for the male, he still had a small amount of fight in him that could have been used to continue the battle if the freezing effect of Ice Beam, increased by Dunsparce's Serena Glance ability, hadn't triggered and he was frozen in mid air before falling to the ground in a block of ice, a look of shock on his face. He was still conscious but unable to move and Ash knew that this was it, it was time to end it.
"Drill Run." Ash said grinning as he completed the climax of the battle.
Dunsparce let out a sound before he leapt forward, flipped so that he was tail first, and spun around it as he shot at the frozen male Meowstic. All Olympia could do was watch in slack jawed amazement as Ash finished the battle against her having turned the tables masterfully on her during the course of the battle.
It was clear to her now, her visions hadn't lied about this battle and his passion, his spirit, his compassion and his skill were all clear to see. It was no wonder that that Froakie had chosen him and that he'd be the one to unlock that generational ability should Frogadier evolve. Ash was truly one to watch going forward.
For now, though, all Olympia could do was watch as Dunsparce slammed tail first into Meowstic with the ground type attack. The ice shattered and the blow hit Meowstic in the chest sending him flying backwards. He didn't make a noise, he couldn't as he was well past his limit and out cold before he hit the ground and bounced a few times before sliding and then coming to a stop on his side a few feet from the other Meowstic with swirls for eyes.
"Olympia's Meowstics are unable to battle." Charlene said as she looked at the two Meowstics she knew so well to confirm that they were out cold while the other acolytes just gaped at what they were seeing before them. "Sigilyph and Dunsparce win, that means that the challenger Ash has won this gym battle."
"Alright, we did it." Ash said leaping in the air as Olympia just smiled in her defeat before he rushed out to congratulate his Pokémon while the girls cheered for him. "Sigilyph, Dunsparce, you were amazing."
"Pikachu." Pikachu said as they reached their teammates and embraced.
"You too Pikachu." Ash said as he patted all his Pokémon.
"You two fought bravely, take a good rest." Olympia said as she opened her arms and recalled her Meowstics before closing her cape and beginning to walk out to Ash as he stood to look at her, she had some more words to say to him. "Young man, during that battle you were truly one with your Pokémon and I could sense the strong bonds you have with all of them, that's love. The true power of love. You battled very well Sigilyph, Dunsparce, and you as well Pikachu, without you the timing would not have been known."
"Pikachu." Pikachu said with a smile from Ash's shoulder as Charlene came out with a box in her hands, while the other acolytes, Misty, May, Serena, and Professor Sycamore began making their way down to the battlefield, but the moment right now was for Ash and Olympia.
"And now proof of your victory at the Anistar Gym." Olympia said as Charlene reached her and she took the badge from within the box in her acolyte's hands and held it out to Ash. "I present to you the psychic badge."
In her hand was one of the most interesting and strangest looking badges Ash had ever seen. It looked like a gold, oval, cloud-like thing with a tail in an elongated, shallow, s shape that had purple fillings in the loops and purple beads connecting the tail to itself and the cloud thing. Finally, there was a larger purple bead on a loop dangling from the end of the tail. Still, it was Ash's 7th badge, and he was going to celebrate it.
"Alright, I got the psychic badge." Ash said as he held it up in his fingers in his victory pose as Pikachu, Dunsparce, and Sigilyph celebrated behind him.
Olympia looked on with a smile as her acolytes, Ash's friends, and Professor Sycamore came onto the battlefield to talk with her and congratulate Ash. That smile fell as Ash put the badge into his case and Olympia let out a gasp as a vision chose that moment to suddenly hit her.
