Ron the True Fan: Titan against titan. You've all been looking forward to this one!
Takeshi Yamato: Begin playing the Johto Champion Battle Theme (Anime Version) for maximum epicness.
Blackthorn City, Johto Region, 1539 hours local time, Day 202 of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon Journey
Pikachu was familiar with Dragonites. Drake's was unusual, but… he could handle Lance's.
Massive Pokemon ALWAYS underestimated the small ones and Pikachu was nimble and fast. While he hadn't been training as hard as the others back home…well, he left Ash alone for long periods in Rota for more reasons then just trying to get him mated.
Why was Serena not doing that? She KNEW it would help him.
Back to the fight at hand. Lance's Dragonite stared Pikachu down, unimpressed, but respectfully saying nothing. Yet.
"We're probably going to destroy the building." Lance said, knowing exactly how this was going to end.
Badly. For the building.
"I hope Clair's got her insurance in order." Ash quipped, trying to reduce the tension. Seven years. He dreamed of facing the great Champions of the regions for seven years.
It was time to see if the dream lived up to reality.
"Hyper Beam!" Lance ordered, Dragonite building power in his mouth.
"Pikachu, you know what to do!" Ash said, knowing and trusting in his starter's judgement.
"Pika!" 'On it!' Pikachu confirmed, sparking.
"Your little spin trick won't help you with Dragonite." Lance warned as the dragon-type fired, sending the beam of energy at Pikachu.
But Countershield was not the plan.
Instead, Pikachu used Volt Tackle, shooting forward towards Dragonite, using his smaller size against Dragonite's bulk, as Lance's starter lacked the flexibility of his second stage, too quickly for Dragonite to hit and so close it would be physically impossible for Dragonite to aim at.
Lance scowled. It was atypical. But then again, Ash bucked the conventions.
Trainers commanded their Pokemon in battle. Ash left them with a general plan, then let them act of their own accord. Flexibility and speed allowing for a good decision now over a perfect one too late.
Pokemon not raised by humans struggled with that. Even seasoned trainers struggled with that. ALL of Ash's Pokemon with few exceptions were all wild captures.
That showed one thing: Ash REALLY knew how to train his team, or his team knew how to turn the new recruits into able warriors that could take a plan and adapt it to real world conditions.
Either way, Dragonite was in for a bad day as Pikachu's tail turned silver and he spun to slam into Dragonite's left leg, Iron Tail slamming into hard dragon scales. And due to the hyper beam, Dragonite couldn't do much to stop him from doing it again.
But eventually, the energy stream ran dry, Pikachu swinging one final time before darting behind the orange dragon, narrowly avoiding a swing of the massive tail, flipping before sending a thunderbolt into the dragon's back, making him yelp in pain.
Resistant to electric attacks did not mean immune to electrical shocks to nerve that actually stunned Dragonite for a good 15 seconds.
Enough time to continue to hammer Dragonite with Iron Tail strikes.
"Dragonite, power through and use Fire Spin! Keep him from getting close!" Lance ordered, which Dragonite obeyed as soon as he was free of his electric shocks, creating pillars of fire.
"Electroweb, use it on yourself!" Ash ordered, Pikachu flipping to create a spider web that covered him, the fire not touching him physically, but the heat was going to cause… problems.
Fortunately, a legacy from Goodra would make Dragonite's life a special brand of hell.
And Lance would weep if he knew just how bad his day would be. He got a hint as he remembered Pikachu's type and what thy could learn.
And that Thunder became one hundred percent accurate with rain. And while the rain had stopped on the field… Rain Dance was still in full effect.
"PIKA!" 'FRY, ASSHOLE!'
Dragonite looked up…and promptly regretted it.
Two Rocket grunts watched from several kilometers away as a massive thunderbolt slammed into the gym, creating a small explosion of plasma that set the wooden parts of the structure on fire.
The female grunt dopped the field glasses.
"Nope." she said, deciding that telling Patel that facing Ash was suicide.
Dragonite growled as he shook it off, the Fire Spin dissipating before he shook the stars out of his eyes. Right before Pikachu's form with a silver tail and a glowing orb of electrical power on the end of it heading for his face. His opinion changed in the second before impact.
He thought Pikachu was just another starter that performed well enough to get his trainer here.
NOW he was a true equal: hitting hard and making sure he couldn't hit back.
Power and agility.
Dragonite was fast, yes, but also bulky.
Bulk that was good for facing large, fully evolved Pokemon. Not Pikachu.
He started to spin, trying to make a Twister, but blind as he was, he didn't notice the Iron Tail going for his gut, knocking the wind out of him.
"Dra-" 'Do you use ANYTHING but Iron-' Dragonite didn't finish as a tail slammed into his leg, this time a Brick Break.
"Pika." 'No, but why knock what works?'Pikachu asked, right before calling down another Thunder.
It was a figurative death by a thousand cuts, but even Lance's starter would fall eventually, especially if Pikachu just kept darting out of reach, shielding from the attacks Dragonite fired at him.
"Lance, I think we should call it a day." Ash said as the wood began to burn. The plasma flash-dried everything, only the barriers put in place by arena Pokemon shielding them from the heat, but now they were on fire. Fire was never good.
"We're finishing this now." Lance retorted, now VERY annoyed. Other then Noivern, Ash had suffered almost no damage to his team that wouldn't take more then a day or two to heal. Dragonite was getting pounded on by a second-stage Pokemon like the wreck of the Mikasa was by a school of Gibles!
He would be damned if Pikachu was getting out of this unscathed!
Problem was, Dragonite was not flexible. Physically. Oh, he had powerful attacks, but he was so bulky that anything small would get through. Normally, that wasn't a problem. They didn't pack enough of a punch to BE a problem.
Ash's Pikachu was the EXACT OPPOSITE of the usual, almost omnipresent doctrine, where bigger was better. A doctrine Ash was either ignorant of or actively using against the one using it.
And Dragonite was flagging with another Electro Ball to the face, which shocked his nervous system AGAIN before Pikachu's tail shined one last time and slammed into the top of his muzzle.
With THAT many shocks, he was paralyzed. With the constant barrage of attacks, he was on the cusp of fainting from pain.
That last strike was enough to put Dragonite on the ground.
The group watched as the gym burned.
Kyoji raised a hand, "Who wants to bet-"
"Ash." replied every single one of the 'original runners'.
"…you girls know how to ruin my fun." Kyoji groused.
"Well, it was either Ash or Lance and who's got the electric-type with the power boost that came from being a Shadow Pokemon for so long?" Anabel asked. "Even Lance can't defy STAB."
"That stands for…?" Mei asked.
"Same-Type Attack Bonus. It's a term for Pokemon using attacks that match its' own type." Anabel said. "For example, if your Natu used Peck, a Flying-type attack, it would do more damage then if Misty's Staryu tried it."
"Staryu can't learn Peck." Misty said.
"It was just an example, Misty: she has no idea how these things work." Anabel replied, Misty nodding in 'of course she's clueless'. "And if she wants to be a Pokemon trainer…well, at least she's got the right teacher."
"Speaking of which…" Neesha said before a Dragonair flew over, carrying Lance and Clair while Ash's Charizard carried both his trainer and starter over, with Ash looking a mixture of disappointed, yet satisfied.
"You fight in the Johto League, we're fighting on Mount Silver." Clair snapped to Ash. "It is going to take MONTHS to rebuild the gym after we put out that fire!"
And the fire brigade was busy doing… just that.
Clair stormed off, infuriated as Ash dismounted, patting Charizard on the shoulder.
"Oh, what the hell is with that look?" Neesha demanded. "You beat Lance!"
"That's the problem." Ash said. "I beat him, more through the actions of my Pokemon then me, so the credit really belongs to them-"
"Still their trainer, Ash. Their victories are yours, too." Kyoji said, grinning.
"I didn't reach the finals. I feel like a sham." Ash retorted. "I wanted to get there by my own merits, not, well, have the right handed to me."
Kyoji facepalmed. "Ash, Cipher interfered." he reminded.
"I STILL should've had to face whoever went to the finals." Ash said. "It still feels wrong."
Lance laughed, getting his attention. "I know exactly how you feel." the champion said. "For a long time, I thought the same thing: I needed to earn things the same way as everyone else. But sometimes… life ruins that. And it's not your fault. The universe just doesn't care about our opinion. The only thing we can do is make do as best we can. You feel like facing the Elite Four was a handout, but you earned it. And if it makes you feel better… we consider what happened in Orre more then making up for it."
"It doesn't." Ash said. "But I… do appreciate the thought. This is just something I have to work through."
"And I have to get Indigo ready for next year." Lance said. "It'll give me something to focus on other then the fact that… well, you practically humiliated me. Dragons and their trainers don't like being humiliated. If you think you feel bad… you're not the only one."
With that, Lance walked away.
"Well, at least neither one of you are happy." Kyoji said after a minute. "What's the old saying? Misery loves company?"
Ash gave him a look. "Ok, you'd rather not have anyone be miserable. I get that, but doesn't it make you feel a BIT better that Lance is unhappy, too?" Kyoji amended.
"No. But he had a point. The universe doesn't really care what we think." Ash said. "Doesn't mean I can't stop trying to make sure no one's miserable."
The Lake of Rage - Johto Region - 1824 hours local time
Admin Petel was… insane. It was a consequence of pretending to be so many people without a chance to be himself. But insanity or not, he wasn't stupid.
Or unfeared. It was why no one abandoned him. They knew if they did, they would die.
"And that's what happened." the grunt finished, Patel muttering to himself. "…Sir?"
"Yes, yes, he's perfect. You can go." Patel said, the grunt FLEEING from the room.
He was perfect for Patel to either coopt into the Team… or just replace.
After all, madness recognized madness. And Ash Ketchum was insane.
Entry 100: Patel
The master of disguise and infiltration expert of Team Rocket, Patel is… insane.
And not the 'slightly off his rocker' crazy, the 'completely detached from reality' crazy. This is due simply to the fact that he spends more time as other people and not as himself, having been trained to near-perfectly copy his target's personality. This has led him to be unstable.
As the last Rocket Admin, he has the last grouping of grunts left. Of course, his insanity makes him unwilling to do anything that makes any sort of sense.
That still means he is dangerous.
Ron the True Fan: Disappointed in the length? Well, join the fucking club. This was planned to just be the battle between Dragonite and Pikachu and other then a long boring flight back, there was no way to extend it. Director's Cut will fix that.
Takeshi Yamato: Yeah. And, of course, some of the last Rocket remnants are still causing trouble… but that'll change. We might even give them an offscreen visit by Marauder. (Kyril may not be appearing in the mainline stories anymore, partly because I have downgraded myself to Beta status for a while, but that doesn't mean he's not doing anything anymore. He's still being a general menace to the various Teams.)
Ron the True Fan: Now… to quell the eventual bitching. Why did Pikachu hand Dragonite his rear end so easily? Well, normally, trainers bark out orders and the Pokemon obey without question. Lance certainly gave orders to Dragonite. Ash, however, allows initiative. Similar to how militaries allow squads to know a general gameplan, but adapt to the battlefield. …I suppose I should specify that GOOD militaries do this. It might be surprising, but seeing how Pokemon are, effectively, foot soldiers and trainers are generals, it's rather disappointing to see the best trainers act like the old Soviet and current Russian high commands. Yes, I've been following the shitshow going on in eastern Europe and no, I'm not particularly interested in who started it as long as it ends as bloodlessly as possible.
Takeshi Yamato: Agreed on ending as bloodlessly as possible. And yeah, Ash letting his Pokemon act on their own initiative is quite useful, especially since he knows them (mostly) and trusts them. Then again, several of them have been with him since DAY ONE.
And that brings me to another point. As of the time we are making these notes, news has reached us that in the actual Anime, Ash Ketchum is finally hanging up his hat. He has reached the end of his journey, and the next season/series (Scarlet and Violet) will feature NEW protagonists. All I can say is… IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME!
Ron the True Fan: If the writers were smart, it would have been incremental. Getting closer and closer to the top with every generation after Hoenn. Sinnoh: no Tobias and he loses against the first member of the Elite Four, but does well. Unova: defeats two. Kalos: faces Diantha and NARROWLY loses. Alola and Galar: as shown. Which brings us back to Ash's winning streak. Like the writers overcompensated for the backlash of Kalos, we ARE doing something similar. …That and Dragonite isn't exactly physically flexible. I mean… look at him. The only difference between us and the writers… Do I REALLY have to repeat that Ash's psyche is NOT exactly well after ALL THE SHIT he went through? Victories on the battlefield are NOTHING compared to having mental stability!
Takeshi Yamato: Having the world literally end and time needing to rewind didn't help, either. So… yeah, Ash doesn't have issues. He has entire SUBSCRIPTIONS. And beating the Elite Four isn't gonna help all that much.
Ron the True Fan: SOT may or may NOT end with Galar. We're unsure. What I DO know is… we have planning to do. See, we were rather forced into doing this without finishing that. So if we don't update for another month? That's why. (Picks up Gible) I need my cuddles.
Takeshi Yamato: Yeah. So, please… don't pester us for another chapter right away. Let us rest and plan. Worst case scenario, we get back into the swing of things no later than April. February is more likely, but I have to put in a sop to Murphy.
Gible: Gi… (Gets cuddled)
Ron the True Fan: Need. Gible. Cuddles. Why. Must. You. Be. CUTE?
Takeshi Yamato: Because Gible.
Ja ne!