Traveler

by The Straight Elf

Ash Ketchum has been determined to become the best since he was a toddler. He has his eyes set on a charmander, but a twist of fate led him to the humble Nidoran. Note: Mix between anime and the games.

11. Chapter 11: GMFO

"Hello, Gary." He said tightly. Ash couldn't help but clench his fists. "What do you want?"

Ash turned to face Gary. His rival had his normal smug smirk on his face and was casually throwing a pokeball up and down in the air.

"Nothing much." Gary shrugged, still smirking. "Just a battle. I think it's time I beat you again."

He couldn't help the small smile that crept onto his face. It looked like he wouldn't have to look far for Torrent's first battle after all. Gary had no idea what kind of trouble he was in.

Ash nodded. "Alright, then. But my pokemon are spread out over the ranch."

Gary never lost his smirk and just waved it off. "Go ahead and call them over. They won't make any difference. I've gotten a lot stronger since we last battled. You won't get lucky this time, Ashy-boy."

"Well, I've gotten a lot stronger too." Ash grinned. He whistled and called down Plume. She shrieked loudly as she slammed into the earth in front of him. Plume sent a cursory glance at Gary and looked at Ash skeptically. "Go get Torrent, Infernus and Bruiser."

Plume nodded and took off, the powerful winds her wings produced forcing both of the trainers back. Ash knew to guard his eyes after being in that situation several times before, but Gary wasn't so fortunate.

Ash just smiled as Gary groaned and began to rub at his eyes. The other trainer would be fine by the time Torrent arrived.

"So, four-on-four?" Ash asked in a friendly manner. He almost felt sorry for Gary. Almost.

His rival scowled at him and nodded. "I hope you brought some tissues, because I'm going to destroy you this time. You'll really be a loser."

Ash just kept his small smile on his face and crossed his arms. Torrent would be arriving any minute now. He glanced over at Gary. "I'll use the first pokemon that gets here. Go ahead and send out yours."

Gary rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me what to do, Ashy-boy."

Nevertheless, Gary looked over at the nidoran herd. Ash watched curiously as he whistled, but frowned when he saw the large, powerful Nidoqueen that led the nidoran plod over. She made the ground rumble a little bit as she walked, and Ash glanced at her with a measuring eye.

Nidoqueen was built to take hits. She had thick plates of armor over her, too heavy for weaker physical attacks to penetrate. Even Nidorino and his sharp horn would have difficulty really injuring her without delving into his fledgling psychic abilities or elemental attacks.

But Torrent wouldn't have much trouble. Ash hadn't actually had him use his attacks, but if that display at the lake was any indication his power had grown dramatically. This probably wouldn't even be a battle.

Ash cocked his head curiously when he saw Nidorino staring at Nidoqueen with wide eyes filled with some emotion Ash couldn't quite decipher. He groaned when he actually realized that Nidorino was "interested" in Nidoqueen. Nidorino hadn't been around others of his species, so Ash supposed that he shouldn't be too surprised, but it might cause problems in the future.

Besides, Ash hadn't thought Nidorino would go for Nidoqueen. The matriarchs were completely infertile, after all. Still, he wouldn't talk to Nidorino about it for now. There was nothing important going on yet.

"Your Nidorino won't be able to beat her." Gary sneered, motioning proudly to the massive creature standing next to her. "I've been training her for weeks now. She's crush him."

Nidorino growled deeply, something Ash could hear from where he was standing. Ash smiled softly and heard an odd trumpeting noise from behind him. Torrent had arrived, although he wasn't visible yet.

"Who said I would be using Nidorino." He retorted. "He's injured."

"What?" Gary said, looking shocked. "But you always use it!"

"Not this time." Ash said with a wide grin as he saw a large, blue form from the corner of his eye. He looked at the regal form of Torrent and pointed at the powerful water-type. "Gary, meet Torrent."

Gary paled, but it was replaced by anger a few seconds later. "How did you get a kingdra!?"

"Skill and luck." Ash shrugged. He smiled fiercely. "But enough talk. Let's get this battle going."

His rival scowled and nodded. Both trainers walked far away from each other until they were a safe distance from any attacks. Nidoqueen and Torrent took their places in front of their trainers, staring each other down with determined eyes.

Ash started the match. Torrent was slower outside of the water, but he was still much faster than Nidoqueen.

"Smokescreen." He commanded. "Then use ice storm."

Torrent quickly obeyed, blasting huge quantities of oily black smoke from his snout until it obscured the battlefield. He moved all the while, levitating back and forth to prevent Nidoqueen from attacking.

"Charge it and use superpower!" He heard Gary cry. Ash frowned at that. It would work perfectly into his strategy, but why would Gary have Nidoqueen charge headfirst into a smokescreen?

Meanwhile, Torrent had blasted a huge amount of frozen air around the clearing, causing the air to become thick and hazy. Ash felt the chill from where he was standing, a testament to its strength. Then Torrent levitated backwards with astounding speed and rumbled loudly as he pointed his head up and began to rapidly spin, whipping up powerful winds. About three seconds after he began he was standing within a tornado, barely visible from outside the cocoon of rapidly whipping wind.

Ash saw Nidoqueen burst through the smoke, charging as fast as she could at Torrent. He frowned when he saw her rear her head back as she charged, but didn't think anything else of it as Torrent released the twister, sending it spiraling through the area of frozen air. The twister carried the cold air and thousands of small, sharp chunks of ice with it, becoming far more dangerous.

Nidoqueen continued charging, collecting small particles of brightly glowing orange and white energy before she released them in a powerful hyper beam. It slammed straight into the ice storm and weakened greatly, although it passed through. Ash didn't have to call out a warning. Torrent lazily levitated away from the weakened hyper beam. It flashed off into the distance before it hit a tree, completely destroying it even in its weakened state.

He was actually impressed when Nidoqueen managed to keep on charging. Most pokemon required a period of rest after using a hyper beam. Either Gary had trained her extensively in its use or he had found an incredibly powerful Nidoqueen.

But he wasn't impressed when the tired Nidoqueen heedlessly charged straight into the powerful, freezing winds. She was trapped in the icy vortex, Torrent controlling the twister in order to keep it focused upon his foe.

Ash couldn't see anything of Nidoqueen's large form but a faint shadow. The white, hazy twister obscured his view. All he could make out was the cold, heavy air and the small shards of ice as they were whipped into an ever more powerful storm.

And then the storm dispersed, the cold air diffusing into the atmosphere. Chunks of ice fell to the ground and shattered and the winds died down. Ash glanced over and saw that Nidoqueen was lying unconscious, completely defeated by the powerful combination.

"Good job, Torrent!" He called out with a grin. Torrent gave him a happy rumble in return, not even appearing tired from the effort of controlling the storm. The kingdra seemed more excited than anything else.

He could barely make out Gary's expression from across the field, but he could tell it wasn't a happy one. Gary looked to have a large frown on his face as he recalled Nidoqueen, apparently unnerved at how easily such a powerful pokemon had been defeated.

Perhaps Gary would have done better had Ash not surprised him, but it didn't look like he had any good options. Torrent would only really be damaged by dragon-type attacks, and those were astoundingly rare. Considering that he lacked the weakness to ice that allowed most dragons to be defeated, Torrent might as well be unstoppable in this fight.

Gary had a determined look on his face as he sent out a large, proud looking Blastoise. His rival's starter rumbled deeply at the sight of Torrent and crushed his fists together, clearly not intimidated.

"Watch out, Blastoise!" Gary called out. "This one's dangerous."

Blastoise roared his understanding and slammed a foot into the ground. Gary had a focused look on his face as he stared at Torrent. Ash supposed that he was futilely looking for some sort of weakness he could exploit on the powerful dragon-type.

He would find none, Ash knew. Blastoise were only capable of learning a few dragon-type moves if he remembered the pokedex information correctly, and it was doubtful that Gary had taught him any. Dragons were rare enough that it was pointless to prepare for a battle with one.

Ash was content to let Gary make the first move. He was confident in Torrent's power and figured it wouldn't hurt to give his rival a fighting chance.

"Brine!" Gary suddenly shouted. "Then use hydro pump and use rapid spin with withdraw!"

Blastoise reacted quite fast. It quickly fired two large blasts of saltwater from its hydro cannons, each almost too fast for Torrent to dodge. Almost.

Then, before Torrent could send an attack in return, Blastoise pulled its head, arms and legs into its shell. Ash frowned as it began spinning rapidly. He knew what Gary was about to do.

"Twister!" Ash ordered as Blastoise used its own hydro pump in order to launch its heavy body towards Torrent. The rapid spin would prevent hydro pump from working, but Blastoise's momentum would be at least slowed by twister.

As Blastoise flew closer, Torrent's back fins moved slightly. Ash was surprised when an absolutely massive twister, dwarfing the one that had been used in the ice storm, swirled into existence in front of Torrent. His friend effortlessly sent the twister spiraling into the protected Blastoise.

Ash had to admit that Gary's strategy was a good one. If Torrent hadn't been a kingdra, his twister wouldn't have been nearly powerful enough to catch Blastoise in midair, buffet it with heavy winds and hurl it several dozen feet away. In fact, if it had actually managed to hit it probably would done a decent bit of damage to Torrent. Something as massive as Blastoise carried a good bit of force behind it.

Blastoise groaned and pulled itself up from the ground. It brushed itself off and glared at Torrent, who impassively gazed back with his scarlet eyes. While Gary's pokemon was hurt by the impact, it hadn't done any lasting damage.

Gary looked like he was clenching his teeth. "Blastoise, use ice beam and then use rain dance. Follow that with earthquake and protect."

Ash frowned at the varied combination of moves. It looked like Gary had spent quite a bit of money to beef up Blastoise's moves. Despite the variety, it wouldn't do anything.

Ice beam could easily be dodged by Torrent. Even if it did hit it wouldn't do much more than slow his friend down. Rain dance would actually help Torrent. It would give him more water to use in his attacks and make him faster. Earthquake wouldn't affect Kingdra since he levitated.

"Let it use rain dance." Ash said. Torrent rumbled a reply before easily dodging the ice beam sent at him. The vast distance between the two pokemon made the evasion quite simple.

Blastoise roared as a ball of glowing white energy coalesced into its hands. The water-type awkwardly thrust its stubby arms into the air, sending the energy ball flying into the sky. Ash patiently waited. Mere moments later rain clouds began to form over the area, making it darker.

He frowned when he felt the patter of raindrops against his skin. At least he didn't have to worry about the rain getting his hair wet or hurting his visibility. His hat kept the worst of it off.

If Ash hadn't thought Blastoise was powerful in his own right before now, the rain dance proved it. The rapidly increasing severity of the small storm was something only a powerful pokemon could achieve. Considering that Blastoise had probably spent the last four months in Gary's team, Ash supposed that he shouldn't be surprised. It was probably the only permanent member of the team if Gary had caught as many pokemon as he'd said.

Ash felt the ground lurch beneath him, nearly knocking him off balance. The rumbling only lasted for a few seconds, though, so he managed to keep his feet. He frowned again. All the rain was making the ground soft and muddy.

"Now, use withdraw and hydro pump!" Gary shouted. Ash frowned and glanced over at Torrent. No rapid spin meant that his attacks wouldn't be deflected.

"Hydro pump, then blizzard."

Blastoise's shell blasted off of the ground and flew towards Torrent. His friend carried out his commands and shot an incredibly powerful blast of high-pressure water into Blastoise's rapidly approaching shell. It was powerful enough to spend the large, heavy pokemon a dozen feet in the direction Torrent fired at.

Ash grinned when Blastoise pulled his head out of his shell, confused and dazed from the impact. That shell was tough but it couldn't protect him from everything. He grinned wider when Torrent blasted a massive wave of freezing air at the tired Blastoise.

Blastoise had no chance to avoid the massive column of swirling, icy air. It covered an area of nearly a hundred feet, relentlessly powerful and advancing. The blizzard was focused entirely upon Blastoise, and his soaking wet body was frozen over by the freezing air.

"Torrent, break up the rain." He ordered. While it was a bit convenient, it was getting annoying. The rain was growing heavier and hitting harder. His visibility was beginning to get reduced.

Torrent rumbled as he turned his elegant head into the air and spun, creating another swirling twister around him. It collected much of the rain that impacted, but Ash wouldn't be using it for an attack. The kingdra suddenly blasted the twister up into the air. It went straight into the heart of the clouds and seemed to explode, the powerful blast of air carrying the clouds away with it.

Ash nodded his thanks to Torrent as the rain died down and vanished. Gary looked furious and was clenching his fists tightly.

"You won't beat me!" Gary roared, furious at his Blastoise's defeat. "Go, Alakazam!"

That made Ash frown. Torrent probably wouldn't have much trouble, but he knew Dazed needed some practice fighting Alakazam. She would be his prime battler against Sabrina whenever they went, so she needed to be the one to fight this battle.

"Dazed, you're up." He said to his friend. She seemed to smile with her sleepy eyes as she walked from behind him and onto the battlefield, the soft mud squelching as she walked. "Torrent, you did awesome!"

Torrent rumbled and levitated over to Ash. The powerful pokemon took his position next to Ash and happily butted his head into Ash's shoulder, although Torrent made sure to put the bare minimum of force behind it. Despite Torrent's self-control, Ash was still nearly knocked over. He just laughed, though.

"Torrent, you're amazing!" He said happily, patting his friend on the head as Gary sent out Alakazam. The psychic-type's eyes narrowed when it saw Dazed, apparently recognizing the hypno.

Gary's face was red as he began giving rapid orders to Alakazam. The psychic-type levitated over the mud that would slow it down and stared at Dazed, its spoons crossed and trembling with barely restrained power.

"Shadow ball, teleport, thunder wave, shadow ball, reflect, light screen, teleport, psycho cut!" Gary ordered, breathless by the time he finished the long chain of commands. Ash frowned at that. He wouldn't be able to counter that many attacks easily.

"Poison gas all over the battlefield." He ordered. "Shadow ball when it gets close, then stun it."

Dazed's yellow body grew tense as he gave her orders. Her pendulum swayed back and forth, the focus for her power flapping in an invisible wind as she prepared. The hypno's eyes glowed brightly as she opened her mouth and spewed a thick, dark cloud of smog over the battlefield. It would take about a minute for it to fully take effect, but it had already begun to diffuse through the air.

Alakazam suddenly took action. It crossed its spoons and its eyes glowed a dull gray as a small shadow ball formed between its foci. A moment later the small, intense shadow ball flashed towards Dazed. She easily sidestepped it and threw up a powerful light screen as Alakazam suddenly appeared behind her.

Alakazam's small shock of electricity was absorbed by the light screen, melting into nothingness as it impacted the barrier. The psychic-type didn't hesitate in throwing another shadow ball, although it too failed to penetrate the light screen. Ash could tell that it wouldn't be long, though. Dazed's barrier was already thinning and cracking.

But he didn't give her anymore commands. Dazed wasn't an Alakazam. She couldn't take in long chains of commands effectively. She could take care of herself. Ash would only give an order when necessary when dealing with psychics.

Dazed hurled her own shadow ball back at Alakazam, but it had already teleported away. Ash couldn't help but grin when it appeared in the middle of the battlefield, which had become swamped in the oily, poisonous gas. Alakazam couldn't help but cough and choke for a few moments as the poisonous gas entered its lungs.

"Now!" He shouted. Dazed quickly hurled her own shadow ball at the temporarily weakened Alakazam, but the other psychic managed to catch it at the last moment between its spoons, although it was obviously a struggle.

Alakazam suddenly created two thin shells of blue and yellow light over its body, its eyes glowing brightly as it did so. Ash recognized that it was an advanced form of reflect and light screen, one that provided more protection but expended less energy. He'd read about it in the pokedex, but hadn't expected to see it from Gary.

It looked like he really had been training hard. Ash had noticed that he'd improved greatly, but this was a surprise.

Now that the reflect was filtering the air and preventing more of the poison gas from entering its lungs, Alakazam moved again. Ash noticed that it simply levitated about, staying above the gas. He'd expected it to teleport.

But Alakazam just stared at Dazed with glowing eyes. Ash frowned as both of its spoons began to glow brightly, but a spark of realization entered his eyes when Alakazam began swinging them in Dazed's direction.

"It's psycho cut!" He shouted. "Dodge them, your barriers won't do much."

Dazed nodded and prepared to move as glowing white crescents began to fly from the bright spoons whenever Alakazam swung them. They flew through the air at an incredible speed, leaving ripples of cut air behind them.

Ash winced when Dazed proved too slow. She just didn't have the maneuverability that Alakazam did. There was no way she could really dodge the flurries of crescents. They were too fast and she was too slow.

But he couldn't let Alakazam attack Dazed with impunity. "Psychic, then shadow ball." He ordered as calmly as he could. Ash felt Torrent comfortingly tap his head with his snout.

Normally Ash would have Dazed try to evade the psychic attack, but there was no way she could. In this case, the best defense was a good offense.

Alakazam only increased the rate at which it sent the psycho cutters at Dazed's weakened body. The few that had hit had done a bit of damage, but she could still fight back.

As a new barrage of the spinning crescents flashed towards her, Dazed's eyes glowed with the light of the sun. Her pendulum blasted forward and trembled as she sent her own psychic towards Alakazam, the wave of telekinetic force overwhelming and disintegrating the glowing crescents.

Ash smiled softly when the psychic wave slammed into Alakazam, sending it floating backwards several feet. It was clear that the attack did little to Alakazam thanks to its impressive shell of protective energy, but it exposed one of Alakazam's weaknesses: while covered with the barrier/light screen combination it couldn't teleport.

So when Dazed fired a large, swirling ball of shadowy energy, he was secure in that Alakazam couldn't avoid it. He was right in his assumption. The shadow ball slammed into the psychic-type's frail body, shattering its barriers and sending it crashing into the ground.

"Again!" He ordered as he saw Gary prepare to give more orders. Dazed quickly blasted Alakazam with another psychic, although Alakazam managed to block it with his own impressive abilities. But Alakazam couldn't defend against a second shadow ball, which slammed into its chest and sent it to the ground again.

Gary looked desperate. Apparently he hadn't expected Dazed to stay conscious through the psycho cut, let alone be powerful enough to retaliate.

"Teleport behind it and use hyper beam!" He cried out. Alakazam shakily stood up and teleported. A split second later yet another shadow ball flashed through the place it had once been.

"Light screen." Ash grinned. Alakazam had just appeared behind Dazed in a flash of light, the hyper beam already prepared in the moment it had vanished.

Alakazam's spoons were crossed as it released the swirling ball of white and orange energy in the form of an immense, powerful beam. It slammed into Dazed's hastily prepared light screen, golden barrier meeting multihued energy.

Torrent rushed in front of Ash as the world in front of him exploded, taking the entire force of the blast in order to protect the trainer. Ash coughed and patted Torrent in thanks. That could have been bad.

"Thanks, buddy." He wheezed. Torrent rumbled his reply. Ash noticed that Torrent didn't seem badly affected by the blast, although it did force the powerful pokemon back a foot or so.

Ash waited for the smoke to clear with bated breath. At such a close range, the hyper beam would either shatter the light screen or simply explode upon it. If it destroyed the light screen, Dazed would be unconscious. If it rebounded or exploded, Alakazam would be unable to teleport in time.

When the smoke cleared, a wide grin split Ash's face. Dazed was still standing, although her entire body was trembling and charred from the immense heat and force that resulted from the blast. Alakazam was unconscious, body crumpled against the ash-covered ground. Both spoons were lying a few inches away from its hands.

Unfortunately, Dazed collapsed mere moments later, unable to remain standing after the immense amount of damage she'd taken and the incredible amount of energy she'd put into surviving the hyper beam.

Nevertheless, Ash kept his smile on his face even as he returned Dazed. He held the pokeball to his face and whispered to his unconscious friend.

"Good job, Dazed." He said quietly, uncaring of the destruction around him. The poison gas was already vanishing without Dazed's power fuelling it. "You did wonderful."

He placed the pokeball back on his belt even as Gary recalled Alakazam with a stunned look on his face. Ash couldn't blame him. That Alakazam was powerful, far more so than he'd expected. No Alakazam was weak, but it was clear that Gary had trained it well. Gary must be furious that it had lost to a hypno.

"How –" Gary shouted across the clearing, which had been devastated by the furious battles that had taken place. Long gouges in the soft ground ran from where the psychic crescents had carved their way through and a large crater had been blasted into the ground from the reflected hyper beam. "Nevermind. You're better than I thought, but you won't beat my last pokemon. Go, Umbreon!"

Ash's blood froze as he saw the lithe, ebony form of Gary's Umbreon materialize. Its rings glowed and flashed in the daylight, creating a mesmerizing effect. Umbreon daintily stepped forward, its head held high as it assumed a fighting position.

For an instant he saw a massive, slavering Umbreon in its place, teeth bared and poisonous sweat dripping from its body. Ash shook his head and stared at the sleek Umbreon again, although the image of Pierce's feral beast overlaid it for another brief moment.

He took a moment to calm himself down, making sure to take deep, soothing breaths. Gary sneered at him.

"Hurry up! I don't have all day, you know."

Ash frowned and looked for Tangela. He remembered how easily the grass-type had ensnared Pierce's Umbreon. Hopefully he would be able to do the same thing in a real fight.

Just then a lance of electricity struck Umbreon's side, knocking it down making the dainty creature yelp in pain and surprise. Gary shouted at Ash with an indignant expression. "What do you think you're doing! You can't attack before the battle starts."

He ignored Gary and looked with horror towards Nidorino, who was charging towards Umbreon with his horn lowered and his barbs extended, leaking poison from both of his natural weapons. Nidorino's eyes were wild and frenzied as he slowly charged towards the dark-type. His friend would take another ten seconds or so to reach Umbreon, but that time was vital.

"Nidorino, stop!" Ash cried, running onto the field. He was too slow thanks to the mud, however, and wouldn't be able to get in Nidorino's way. The poison-type was deaf to his pleas, too overcome by rage and fear to realize what was happening.

Desperate, Ash reached towards his pokeball. Gary might count it against him as a loss, but Ash didn't care. He didn't want Umbreon to get hurt.

He paled and stumbled a bit when he realized that it wasn't there. Ash had left most of his pokeballs at home. Right now he only had Tangela's, Dazed's and Infernus'. Tangela and Dazed tended to get tired quickly from too much walking, so he wanted to be able to carry them home easily. Nidorino had needed to get some exercise to get his strength back, so Ash had left his ball with the others.

"Plume, Torrent! Stop him!" He shouted. Ash looked over at Gary, who was watching the whole spectacle with a bemused expression. "Gary, recall Umbreon!"

"What?" The boy exclaimed. "No way! You just want to score an easy win. Umbreon, knock that Nidorino out! Use psychic."

Umbreon growled softly and turned to face Nidorino, who was now mere seconds from crashing into it and goring the dark-type with his horn. Nidorino grunted softly as he was enveloped in psychic energy, but his eyes glowed a bright purple as he used his own weak abilities to dispel it. Ash was beginning to wish he hadn't had Nidorino train with Dazed to nullify weak psychic attacks.

The dark-type barely leapt out of the way as Nidorino went charging by with incredible force, not agile enough to catch Umbreon while in mid-charge.

Ash stopped when he saw Plume suddenly dive out of the sky. Torrent levitated by him at an impressive speed and stayed in front of Umbreon, more than ready to protect the dark-type from Nidorino's berserker rage.

Gary was furious now. Ash's rival was storming over to the battle with a red, splotchy face and clenched fists. "What do you think you're doing, loser? This is a one-on-one battle. Get rid of your other pokemon."

He glanced over at Gary with a scowl. "I'm trying to save your Umbreon's life. Nidorino got mauled by an Umbreon. He's dangerous right now."

The other trainer rolled his eyes. "Uh huh. Sure he did. Umbreon, just knock him out real quick. I've had enough of this loser."

Umbreon looked uncomfortable but growled an affirmative. It dashed around Torrent's huge body and leapt at Nidorino with bared fangs. Nidorino roared and sent a powerful ice beam straight into Umbreon's body. The dark-type yelped in surprise as it fell to the ground, completely vulnerable to Nidorino's next brutal charge.

Just before Nidorino would have slammed into Umbreon with his dangerous horn, Plume knocked him to the side with a weak gust. Ash nodded to her in thanks. She knew that Nidorino was still hurt and had taken care to avoid hurting him even more. Nidorino probably injured himself even more with this attack.

Nidorino grunted in pain and shakily pulled himself up before growling at Plume. He ignored her after that and tried to charge at Umbreon, who was beginning to rise from the ground. Ash dashed towards Nidorino from where he was, but just before Nidorino would have impacted the dark-type Umbreon was recalled in a scarlet flash of light.

"I've had enough of this." Gary sneered. "You might have strong pokemon, but you're weak, Ashy-boy. You can't even control a Nidorino."

Ash scowled but focused on Nidorino, who had stumbled in confusion as Umbreon vanished, his rage too strong for him to realize what had happened. Nidorino's anger began to break without the catalyst that sparked it, and the bloodlust vanished from his eyes as he looked around confusedly.

He walked over and carefully kneeled in front of Nidorino. His friend looked up at him tiredly and grunted in confusion, apparently not remembering what had happened.

"It's alright." He murmured soothingly, lightly running his hand over Nidorino's rough hide. "Just calm down."

Nidorino breathed deeply and sat down, grunting in pain as his old injuries came back with a vengeance. He leaned his face into Ash's hand and closed his small eyes as the loss of his rage left him weak and exhausted.

Gary, however, just looked at them with disgust as he released a clefable. It danced around in excitement when it realized it had been released before it looked up at Gary.

"I'm done with this. Teleport me away." Gary said with a scowl. "I'll battle you again when you can actually control your pokemon. Smell ya later, loser!"

An instant later Gary and Clefable vanished in a flash of light. Ash glared at the spot with silent fury before returning his focus to Nidorino. His friend was clearly in pain. He needed to get Nidorino's pokeball and give him a potion. Unfortunately, both of those things were at his home.

"I'll be right back." He promised Nidorino. "Plume, Torrent, Tangela, take care of him. Make sure he doesn't move."

Torrent rumbled his understanding and levitated over to Nidorino's collapsed form. Plume just shrieked out her response and took off, circling over the poison-type. Tangela, who had wandered over thanks to the excitement, made his happy gurgling noise and contentedly sat down next to Nidorino and ran his vines over the poison-type.

Ash just nodded at them thankfully before taking off, heedless of any lingering pain or soreness in his own limbs. Nidorino was more important.

XX

"He'll be fine." Professor Oak announced as he finished his examination of Nidorino. He sent a stern glance at Ash. "Now, would you care to explain to me why a large portion of my Corral has been torn to pieces? If you wanted to test out your kingdra's abilities, there are much better places to do so."

"Wait, did Gary not stop by?" Ash said in surprise.

Oak frowned, the lines on his face deepening. "No. Why would he?"

"I battled him." Ash revealed. He scratched the back of his neck and stood up out of his chair.

They were in the lab's lobby. It had been about a half hour since Gary teleported away. Ash had run to his house and returned to Nidorino in order to get him to Oak. He'd put a potion on his wounds just to be safe, but Nidorino didn't seem too beat up.

The Professor sighed sadly and rubbed his temples as he collapsed into a chair. Nidorino grunted and pulled himself up once Oak was no longer standing above him.

"No, he didn't stop by. Did he say why he was here?" Oak questioned.

Ash shook his head. He was frowning as well now, feeling a little sorry for Professor Oak. "No. He just showed up and battled me. After Nidorino tried to attack his Umbreon, Gary just got mad and teleported away."

"So that's how all this happened." Oak muttered, sending a cursory glance at Nidorino, who had plodded over to Ash's feet and collapsed to the ground. "How was he?"

"A lot better than I expected." Ash replied honestly. Saying that Gary had been weak would be a lie. He'd have won even without Torrent, but Gary had gotten a lot stronger. "Last time we battled I beat him pretty easy. This time I would have had some trouble if it weren't for Torrent."

Oak smiled. "I'm glad he's improved. This little competition you two have got going is doing wonders. From what I've made out whenever he contacts me he's been training hard. I can't wait to see you two battle in the Conference. Whoever you face will get a nasty surprise."

Ash smiled with the older man. "I can't wait either. Speaking of the Conference, I still need two badges. Sabrina's and Giovanni's."

The Professor frowned deeply at the mention of Giovanni. "Be careful in Viridian, Ash. Giovanni is dangerous. I've heard stories from my contacts in the League about Giovanni using a powerful, unknown pokemon in some of his gym battles. He has no concerns about injuring challengers' pokemon. It's a bit worrying, actually."

"I'll be careful." Ash promised. "But I want to get Sabrina's badge first. I know I'm not ready for Giovanni yet, even with Torrent."

"Good. Don't become too reliant on him or too sure in his strength." Oak warned. "Kingdra are powerful, yes, but not invulnerable. A strong trainer will be able to defeat him without too much difficulty."

He nodded his understanding. Ash knew that Oak offered good advice. He couldn't become too reliant on Torrent, no matter how powerful the dragon-type was.

"I want to challenge Sabrina again soon." Ash revealed to the Professor. He met the older man's eyes. "Could I get Alakazam to teleport me to Celadon and then Saffron?"

"Why Celadon?" Oak asked with a calculating gaze.

Ash grinned. "I've got to pick up a few things before facing Sabrina. Dazed is going to be my main battler and she's strong, but she had trouble with Gary's Alakazam. She needs to get a bit more mobility."

The Professor's eyes widened in understanding. "I see. Yes, that could work. It isn't often that one meets a hypno with that ability. Very well, when would you like to leave?"

"Tomorrow." Ash said without any hesitation. "It's been nice relaxing, but it's time to start my journey again."

"Just call me if you want Alakazam to pick you up." Oak said. "It can take time to develop the skill and power to teleport across long distances."

Ash grinned again. "I will. Thanks, Professor!"

Oak waved his thanks away. "It's no problem. Alakazam needs to get out more anyways. All she does nowadays is lay around and contemplate the universe."

The trainer laughed at that. "I guess Dazed is getting a head start. She just likes to stare into space."

They talked for a few more minutes before Ash left, a mostly fine Nidorino trailing behind him. The rest of his friends had gone to their favorite places. Dazed had gone back to the house, Torrent had sunk to the deepest part of the lake and Tangela was sleeping on the field, which had quickly dried thanks to the sun beating down on it.

Ash couldn't help the little shocks of excitement that went through him as he contemplated resuming his journey. Pallet was nice, but he wanted to seek out challenges and explore the wilderness again. He wanted to get stronger.

But he could wait another day. He needed to tell his mom he was leaving and get ready for a few days of very intense training with his friends.

Sabrina was waiting for him, after all, and he was going to beat her this time.

XX

His mother wasn't too happy about him leaving so soon, although she didn't try to stop him. She had come to terms with what he'd done over the past four months, but had relentlessly drilled into his head that if he ever came across a particularly dangerous situation he was to leave it alone.

Ash would be lying if he said that he would actually do that, but his mom never actually made him say that he would. He wouldn't be seeking it out – he never had – but if he found more of Team Rocket, it was a given that he would take them down.

But aside from all that unpleasantness, their relationship had resumed mostly unchanged. The only thing out of the ordinary Ash could detect was that his mother would sometimes stare at him with sad eyes. Ash just tried to ignore that. It made him uncomfortable.

Of course, part of her willingness to let him leave again so soon was that he'd promised to return after he defeated Sabrina. He liked being able to see and train all of his pokemon at the same time, and he certainly enjoyed spending time with his mother again.

Besides, he would have to return in order to challenge Giovanni. While he could always teleport to Viridian, Ash would prefer to walk. It gave him more of an experience and he would also get to see the familiar sights of his childhood again. The nostalgic value alone would be worth it.

Just before he left the small, clean home and went to Professor Oak's, he remembered something that he'd been meaning to ask for days now. He glanced back at his mother, who was staring at him with a forlorn look in her eyes, although it quickly returned to normal when she realized he was looking at her.

"What happened to Jonathan and Amelia after the…you know." He asked, omitting the St. Anne for both of their sakes. Ash didn't like talking about the tragedy and his mother didn't like hearing about it.

His mother was deep in thought for a few moments. "They were found on the Seafoam Islands." She finally answered. "Amelia's mother told me that they were in Fuschia right now. They were completely fine from what I heard, aside from the obvious."

Ash nodded with a slight smile on his face. He remembered that they washed up on the Seafoam Islands, so his mom hadn't given him too much extra information. It was still nice to know that his former travelling companions were safe, though.

"Thanks, mom." He said gratefully. "I'll be going now. Professor Oak is probably waiting on me."

"Good luck, sweetie!" His mother told him cheerfully, no hint of her previous concern on her face. "Make sure you cha—"

Ash was already out the door, having hurried up when his mother began to say that. In no time at all he was sprinting to the lab, six pokeballs on his belt and fire in his eyes.

XX

"Alakazam is ready to take you." Oak told him. The older man was sitting down behind his desk, hurriedly writing down notes. One of his aides patiently waited next to him. Ash recognized her as the woman that he'd seen on the first day of his journey. She sent him a friendly smile as she waited on Oak. "Just go outside. She'll be finished meditating soon."

"Thanks." Ash replied. Before he stepped out of Professor Oak's office he glanced back at the busy man. "By the way, if I run into Gary I'll tell him to call you."

Oak's head snapped up. He smiled warmly at Ash. "Thank you. Good luck against Sabrina."

"Thanks." Ash repeated, tipping his hat in acknowledgement. "Good luck with your research."

With that Ash left. He didn't want to keep Alakazam waiting.

By the time he got outside, Alakazam had teleported in front of the lab. She glanced up at Ash with sharp eyes when he walked outside, measuring him carefully. Ash just stood still and let her. Alakazam was the only one of Professor Oak's pokemon that he hadn't had much experience with. The psychic-type had always been too aloof to put up with him and Gary playing with her.

Alakazam motioned for him to come closer. Her spoons were trembling violently as he grew closer. She glanced at him again with a questioning look.

"I'm ready to go." He told her. Alakazam nodded and crossed her spoons. Ash blinked and they were suddenly in a bustling metropolitan, surrounded by small throngs of people and the odd crowd that walked through the streets.

Ash turned around and saw that he was right outside of the Pokemon Center, although far enough away to stay out of other trainers' way. He turned back to Alakazam, who looked exhausted from the long trip. He couldn't blame her considering that Pallet and Celadon were several hundred miles apart.

"Thank you. Are you all right?" He asked in concern. Alakazam just rolled her eyes at him before straightening up. She crossed her spoons as her eyes burned a bright blue. An instant later she disappeared, noticeably lacking the bright flash of light that had accompanied the Abra that teleported him at Chronos Island. He guessed that it was a result of Alakazam's decades of experience.

But he figured that he needed to move on. There was a lot to do and he only had a few days to do it. Ash had his schedule for Sabrina planned, and he would like to meet that goal.

So he walked into the Pokemon Center and signed in. Nurse Joy recognized him and gave him a cheery hello, which Ash did his best to return. Once he got his room he left. He didn't need to go there yet.

Ash had two important stops to make: The Celadon Department Store and the police station.

XX

"Is Officer Jenny here?" He inquired politely. The receptionist, a teenage girl wearing a police uniform, rolled her eyes.

"Kid, you're going to have to be way more specific." She replied boredly. "We've got three here. One an ordinary officer, one trains our growlithe and the other's the chief."

"I need to see the chief." Ash told her. He wanted to say hello. She'd helped him a lot during his time in Celadon so he should at least drop by.

The girl squinted at him. "Why would a kid like you need to see the chief? She has more important things to do than talk to you."

He frowned in annoyance. "Trust me, she'll want to see me. Just tell her that Ash Ketchum wants to see her."

"Fine." The girl sighed. She snapped her fingers, causing an odd, blocky pokemon to appear in midair. It made a few high-pitched whistles and looked at the receptionist with blank eyes. "Pory, go tell the Chief that an Ash Ketchum wants to see her."

The porygon whistled again and vanished. Ash looked at it oddly, causing the receptionist to chuckle a bit.

"Erika thought we needed a porygon." The receptionist said as she rolled her eyes. "Don't ask me why. Pory is just going to deliver the message to the chief."

Ash nodded his understanding even as the porygon reappeared. It whistled a few times, causing the teenager to glance at her computer screen with a frown.

"Huh. I guess she does want to see you." The receptionist muttered. She smoothed out some loose strands of hair and pointed to an elevator down the hall. "Just head to the elevator and go to the highest floor. It'll open up into the chief's office."

"Thank you." Ash replied as he walked past her. When the elevator arrived, he punched in the button that would take him to the fourth floor. In about twenty seconds he had been taken up to Jenny's office.

When it opened up, Ash carefully walked into the bare, plain office. He looked around and saw little in the way of decoration. The walls were gray and the only decorations were in the way of awards and medals that dotted the walls.

"What're you doing here?" The familiar voice of Officer Jenny asked bemusedly. Ash turned to the older woman. She was sitting behind her desk, which was covered with papers and files.

"I just wanted to say hi." Ash said easily. He walked over to Officer Jenny's desk and sat down in one of the wooden chairs. "You helped me out a lot when I was here last."

Jenny shook her head. "It wasn't a problem. You found a Rocket cell operating in my city. Anyways, I can't take off work right now. We're still dealing with the aftermath of the raid."

Ash cocked his head quizzically. It had been more than a month. "Why?"

"I've heard about some of the things you've done since leaving Celadon City, so I guess I can tell you." Jenny said with a tight smile. She looked quite stressed out. "The facility we were holding the pokemon we recovered from the lab was raided by Rockets. We don't know how they found it, but they took every single pokemon there before blowing it up somehow."

She suddenly gave him a calculating stare. A smile tugged at her lips. "Actually, quite a few of them were recovered when a few not-to-be-mentioned people attacked a Rocket base in the Sevii Islands. You wouldn't know anything about that, of course."

Ash kept his steady frown and met her eyes. She had a smirk on her face now. "How'd you know I was there? I was told that I was staying classified."

Jenny shrugged and put an innocent look on her face. "I have no idea what you're talking about. Some of the reports I looked at had a certain similarity to a few reports I put in myself a month or two ago. At least in regards to a certain someone."

He shrugged. Jenny's expression grew dour, the lines around her eyes growing deeper and harder.

"I'm not going to bother reprimanding you for going after the Rockets again, even if it's only because you had help. Very, very powerful help." She said sternly, although she softened a few moments later. "Now, I don't have much time, but I want to know how you're doing with that magmar I gave you."

A smile worked its way onto Ash's face. "He's doing great!" He exclaimed. "He's one of the strongest members of my team now."

Jenny nodded with a pleased expression, although Ash noticed that she made a few sudden notes on a piece of paper. "No discipline issues? Magmar can be dangerous."

"Nothing bad." Ash shrugged. "After the first few days I got it into his head that we should work together. Now he just has anger issues."

"Good, good." The officer said. She looked at the mounds of paper on her desk. "I've got to get back to work, but I'd like to wish you good luck. You're a good trainer and you'll go far."

Ash smiled again. "Thanks. Good luck with the city, Officer Jenny."

She nodded distractedly. "With Erika in charge, I'll need it." Ash heard her mutter as he went back into the elevator.

He couldn't help but grin at that, although it quickly vanished. Ash needed to start working on what TMs he was going to buy.

XX

The Department Store's selection was as great as ever. It was extremely busy today, but the trainer's floor was largely empty in comparison. Most trainers opted to shop at the much cheaper Pokemon Marts when they didn't need anything special. Ash didn't mind. He liked it being quieter.

Another trainer was examining the TMs as well – a tall man whose face Ash couldn't make out from the shadows cast by the man's hat – but they ignored each other. Ash pulled out the list he'd made for his pokemon. They were getting strong enough to get more powerful moves now and they needed more variety anyways. In the Conference he would need every advantage that he could think of.

For Nidorino he was getting earthquake and shadow claw. He would probably get more TMs at a later date, but for now he was just getting the most important things. Nidorino would be able to use earthquake to devastating effect once he evolved and he would need shadow claw to have an advantage over any psychics.

For Plume he was getting double team. She didn't need many moves at the moment, so he figured he would just help her out with what she was already great at. Plume could use double team to greater effect than any of his pokemon and it would help to keep electric or rock-type attacks from hitting her.

For Dazed he bought the TM that would give him an edge against Sabrina. Dazed had everything she needed but mobility. This move would solve that.

For Torrent he bought rain dance. While not the most powerful of moves, it would be useful for the powerful water-type and enable him to gain a bit of an advantage. Torrent would be practically unstoppable if he had extra water to draw on.

Infernus' TM was the most difficult to choose. Aside from clear smog and a few other support moves, Infernus only knew fire-type moves. That was something he wanted to remedy now. So he spent several minutes browsing up and down the TM section. Ash knew the TMs Infernus could learn by heart, so it wasn't too hard to eliminate the vast majority of useless machines.

He ended up buying brick break. It would give Infernus an edge against rock-types and hopefully allow Infernus to deal even more physical damage. Ash was sure that he could find a way to augment the brick break with another of Infernus' moves.

Tangela got sludge bomb. It would give the grass-type a bit of variety and the effects of the toxic sludge could be devastating upon an opponent. Sludge bomb could blind and slow down opponents, or just distract them with its foul smell.

After that, Ash headed to the counter. His other pokemon didn't really need any moves. Seeker wasn't a battler and Bruiser wouldn't be fighting until Seeker was healed. Ash doubted he could get Bruiser away from Seeker right now if he wanted to.

Once everything was paid for – he still had just a little under thirty thousand dollars left, despite the amount of expensive TMs he'd bought – Ash hurriedly left the massive building and went out into the fields nearby the city.

He had a lot of training to do.

XX

It only took a few minutes to use the TMs. He withheld Nidorino's, however. His friend wouldn't be able to resist testing out his new moves despite his injuries. While Nidorino would be ready to do some minor battling in three days or so, he just wasn't ready yet.

Ash was more than aware of Nidorino's annoyed gaze on him as he looked out at the rest of his friends. They were all standing or levitating in front of him, most interested. Infernus was curled up on a pile of ash and Dazed was polishing her pendulum with her long white mane, although her keen eyes never left him.

"I've given some of you TMs before, so you know how this works. Infernus, Tangela, I just want you to use the move you learned on whatever I tell you to."

Infernus snorted a great burst of flame as he stood up and stretched, the heat radiating from his body making the air around him waver and shimmer. Ash had to glance away from the disconcerting effect Infernus' camouflage create.

"Infernus, you're up. See that boulder over there?" He asked, pointing towards a large, roughly spherical stone that sat next to the pond they were training next to. Infernus nodded, his heat growing more intense. "Use brick break."

The fire-type lazily walked over to the boulder and cocked his head at it for a few seconds. He stamped his foot and roared before rearing his fist, which was glowing a bright white, and roughly chopping at the boulder with incredible force.

Ash blinked in surprise as Infernus' burning hand carved deep into the boulder before the attack ended. Infernus' hand seemed to be stuck, and the fire-type glanced at it in annoyance before blazing up. He could see smoke curling up from the crack even as the boulder slowly began to soften and melt from the incredibly high temperature. In just a few moments Infernus yanked his hand out of the boulder, sending drops of molten rock flying everywhere.

He nodded his thanks at Dazed when she caught the molten drops of stone and telekinetically placed it back on the boulder, which was now misshapen at the top.

"Good job, Infernus. Can't wait to see you use it in a real battle." Ash said with a grin. It looked like rock-types wouldn't be having much of an advantage over Infernus anymore. He was sure that his friend would put it to good use.

Infernus snorted flame as his eyes lit up with a malevolent gleam. He glanced at his fist again with darkly amused eyes before curling up into a ball on his pile of ash, although he kept one eye exposed in order to watch the others.

"Plume, show me what you can do." Ash said with a grin. Plume let out a piercing shriek before she catapulted herself up into the air, circling around high above them to gain a little speed before she began to use the move.

Ash saw Plume's body grow white as she began to use the move, moving rapidly in order to create multiple illusory copies of herself. They were moving so quickly that Ash had no hope of even telling which one was the real Plume.

He had to glance away after a few moments. The appearance of six different pidgeot rapidly flying and spinning in the air was extremely disconcerting.

A few moments later Plume landed in front of him, looking extremely pleased with herself. Ash grinned and gently stroked her crest, eliciting a bright chirp from the massive bird.

"Good girl." Ash said fondly. He stepped back and looked over at Tangela. The grass-type was sitting down and happily watching the proceedings, although when he noticed Ash looking at him he leapt to his feet.

Tangela gurgled happily at Ash and waited for Ash to give him a target.

Ash looked around for several moments. He didn't want to hurt the environment at all, so there was only one real target. Infernus would get to finish his job later.

"Sludge bomb on the boulder." Ash said as he crossed his arms and eyed Tangela critically. The grass-type gurgled again before turning to the rock. He suddenly spat a huge glob of toxic sludge from his mouth. The disgusting brown mixture completely covered the cooled stone, although a few drops spattered around the boulder as well.

He wrinkled his nose, but congratulated Tangela nonetheless. If it was that bad being next to it he couldn't imagine the sludge actually landing on him. Ash almost felt sorry for his future opponents.

"Good job." He said nasally, trying to only breathe through his mouth. Tangela hopped up and down excitedly before hugging Ash with his vines. Ash returned the hug happily enough, although he had difficulties with breathing. "Infernus, could you burn that? Dazed, get rid of the gas."

Infernus casually pulled his head up and spat a small, intense stream of white flame that completely engulfed the disgusting boulder. He held it for about ten seconds before returning to his nap. Dazed's eyes burned brightly as she gathered the toxic gas resulting from the sludge's burning up and sent it high into the air.

"Thanks." Ash replied, finally smelling again. The air still held a trace of the noxious sludge's scent, but it was diluted now. He got back to business and looked to Torrent. Just as he began talking, he hesitated. Ash really didn't want to cause a small storm, not yet anyways. It would inhibit Infernus' training and cause him no end off annoyance.

"Torrent, you know you can do rain dance?" Ash asked. The regal dragon-type nodded. "Alright, then. Sorry, buddy, but I can't have it raining yet."

Torrent rumbled his understanding. Ash smiled and turned to his friends. "We've got a big battle coming up. Do any of you remember Sabrina?"

Dazed's eyes flashed briefly at the memory. She almost flinched, although Ash saw her reign in the twitch before it was really noticeable. Her pendulum was trembling, barely held in place by her tight control over her emotions.

Nidorino had a grimace plastered over his pointed face. His eyes were narrowed as he recalled the humiliating defeat he had suffered at the hands of Alakazam. Ash was glad that he wouldn't be using Nidorino in this fight. It had been stupid of him to use him against Sabrina the first time, no matter how powerful Nidorino was.

Infernus, however, instantly snapped up. Flames flickered around him as his eyes blazed with anger. Ash sent a warning glare to get him to calm down. Ash would probably be using him in the battle. The fire-type could work out his fury then.

"So, I want everyone to get used to their new moves." Ash announced. His friends drew forward eagerly. They always liked pushing the destructive potential of their power to the absolute limit. "Dazed, you're going to be with me. I need to work with you the most."

Dazed nodded and shuffled over to him. She took her place by his side and absentmindedly continued polishing her pendulum. Ash glanced back at his team. "Torrent, work on dragon pulse and practice hydro pump some more. Tangela, try and get ancient power working. Infernus, just practice your Haze technique. When you're done with that, work on fire blast."

Infernus snorted flame to show he understood. Torrent and Tangela rumbled and gurgled respectively and headed off.

Ash was working on new techniques. Infernus' strategy of incinerating the opponent and beating what was left of them to a pulp worked fine most of the time, but against Sabrina it just wouldn't be enough. He would have to go with his camouflage and fire spin in order to have an edge against her powerful psychics.

Torrent had proven to be perfectly capable of battling on land. His strength with the moves he did know was simply incredible, but Ash wanted to see what he could do with dragon pulse. Dragon-type moves were exceptionally powerful and would give his friend an additional bit of variety. While he had learned hydro pump a few weeks ago, Torrent still had some difficulty. All he needed was practice.

Tangela needed to learn ancient power. He needed to get a bit of variety in his move pool, in particular variety that would let him crush any flying-types that tried to battle him. While Tangela could easily take down slower flying-types by ensnaring them in their vines and sucking out all of their energy, Ash knew that a fast opponent like Plume would be too swift for Tangela to catch.

But Dazed was the one that needed his personal attention. The others would be fine working on their own. She was the one that would be carrying them during this battle.

The others walked off. Only Plume was left, cocking her head at him oddly, confused as to why she hadn't been given a duty.

"Hey, girl." Ash said with a slight smile. Plume cooed at him gently, lightly pecking him and sending him staggering backwards. "I've got an important job for you. I want you practicing air slash, but every now and then go check on Infernus. Blow out any fires that he doesn't extinguish and keep the others on their toes."

Plume chirped happily and took off, whipping up powerful winds as she tore into the air. Ash was sure that she would enjoy practicing air slash against the others. Hopefully they would get a chance to try their moves out for real, although Plume might be too fast for them to easily hit.

Now it was only Ash, Nidorino and Dazed. Nidorino didn't seem too happy about being unable to train, but loyally followed Ash as he and Dazed walked over to a large field less than a quarter mile from their location. Ash had discovered this place when he had been stuck at Celadon for a few days after the Game Corner incident. It was ideal for training any of his friends.

But the massive, open field was absolutely perfect for training Dazed with her newest technique. It was large enough to pose a challenge yet small enough to mimic the conditions they would find inside a gym.

"Alright, Dazed, you see that tree over there?" Ash asked, pointing to a massive, gnarled tree that dominated the center of the field. It was isolated from all other trees, ancient but alive. "Teleport."

Dazed's eyes flashed briefly before she vanished with a brief flash of light. She appeared about three-quarters of the way to the tree about two seconds later. Her yellow body and white mane were easily visible against the dull green of the grasses that dominated the field.

Ash frowned. Teleportation was instantaneous if used properly and at such a short distance should be perfectly exact. He shrugged it off, however. Dazed was probably just having trouble grasping it. She was a beginner, after all.

"Dazed, come back." He called out. Dazed appeared about twenty feet away from him, her expressive eyes showing herself to be as confused as Ash was. "Are you all right?"

Dazed nodded. She shuffled over to him, a brief flicker of annoyance passing through her. Ash barely managed to catch it before she shut it down, returning to her normal state.

"Again." He ordered. Dazed nodded slowly and gazed at the tree for a mere moment before her eyes flickered and she disappeared. Ash grinned when she appeared less than ten feet away from the tree, although it still wasn't precise enough for his tastes. An instant later she appeared about six feet from Ash.

"Good job." Ash congratulated. Dazed didn't respond, but her eyes did become less narrow. "Again. We need to keep doing this until you can do it perfectly."

Dazed nodded and began the drill again. Ash was rather pleased when she pulled it off almost perfectly this time, although it was clear that the repeated teleportation was beginning to take its toll on her. He had heard that drowzee and hypno didn't have the raw power or specialization to use teleportation as effectively.

Judging from the weakness Dazed was displaying after about ten of the drills, Ash believed it. The abra line had evolved to naturally utilize teleport. Their brains and bodies were specialized for it, as were a few other psychic-type families. Drowzee and hypno were built more for physical and mental manipulation, not tearing holes through space and time.

So this would have to be a last resort strategy. Dazed was getting better and he was sure that her endurance and the ease in which she teleported would improve with time, but as of now she would have to end battles quickly.

He frowned at that. It wasn't completely unexpected, but it seemed that he would have to develop a strategy aside from teleport and shadow ball.

Ash glanced over at Dazed, who had just appeared beside him again. Her eyes were drooping and her body was beginning to tremble. He frowned and walked over to his friend. "That's enough, Dazed. You're doing great. Take a break."

Dazed stared at him thankfully, her pendulum slowly coming to a rest. The flickers of blue energy that encompassed her entire body slowly died down and she closed her eyes.

"We'll start training again in an hour." Ash told her. "Are you just going to rest here?"

The psychic-type nodded stiffly, her body clearly weakened by the strenuous exercises. She slowly sat down and closed her eyes as she began to meditate. It would help to heal her body and prepare her for another bout of training, although Ash would make sure that he was much easier on her this time. He didn't want her overexerting herself.

With that he walked away. He needed to make sure that the others' training was going along well. Nidorino slowly plodded along behind him, still annoyed if his little huffs of annoyance were anything to go by but too loyal to be obstinate.

XX

Over the next five days, his friends' training progressed nicely. Dazed was able to teleport up to ten times before the drain was too much and was still able to fight well. He'd gotten her to perfect using two shadow balls at a single time. She finally had the focus and power to utilize the advanced technique, although it drained her rapidly. Ash would try not to use it very much.

Infernus had grown bored after five days of relentless training. Ash ended up leaving the rest of his friends to train by themselves for a while on the last day while he took Infernus out for battles.

His friend hadn't improved much in respects to power or endurance, but Ash could tell that he'd mastered the Haze technique. It wasn't very difficult, but Infernus didn't like using it. He liked mauling his enemies until they were defeated, although Ash knew from personal experience that Infernus wasn't entirely above using underhanded tricks.

Despite his newfound power, Torrent still hadn't mastered dragon pulse. Ash suspected that he would have to find some method of help. Dragon-type moves were notoriously difficult to learn for those inexperienced with them and Ash knew that it would take at least another few weeks for Torrent to master the attack. As of now he could only form a small sphere of green energy before it fizzled out.

Tangela had mastered ancient power in two days. He went from barely being able to pull pebbles from the earth with his mind to ripping huge chunks of earth and stone from their static prison with ease. Ash was absolutely stunned at Tangela's astounding growth rate. The grass-type had an incredible move pool and was quite powerful when he actually battled, but Ash hadn't expected him to learn a completely new move so quickly. Tangela were hardly known for their intelligence, after all.

Plume didn't do much except heckle the others, swooping out of nowhere to practice her air slash. She'd almost mastered it. The pidgeot was capable of launching several powerful, spinning blades of air with a single flap of her wings, but they were never quite strong enough to make it to her target. Ash suspected she would have it down within a week.

But Ash was as pleased with Nidorino as he was with the others. Nidorino had reigned in his uneasiness from being unable to let out his aggression and hadn't become bad-tempered or dangerous. His friend was always shifting around and looking uncomfortable, but Ash knew that he would be fine.

He'd actually begun to let Nidorino fight in minor battles. When Infernus would have been overkill – some trainers he battled had nothing more than a rattata or spearow – Ash let Nidorino get a workout in. While the poison-type hadn't lost his abilities, he had lost quite a bit of his endurance from his mauling at the hands of Pierce's Umbreon.

Nidorino was getting better though. He was able to fight half-way decent opponents and Ash was going to give him his TMs soon. He wouldn't be strong enough to safely evolve for a while, but it wasn't too far off. Two weeks at the most.

But Ash was done with training. He knew he was ready for Sabrina now. Ash knew what he was getting into now. He'd fought her before knowing of her immense power, but never experiencing it.

Now he knew what to expect. Sabrina was unlike any opponent he'd ever faced before, but he'd defeat her. Dazed was ready, Infernus was frothing at the mouth to repair the wound his pride had sustained against the gym leader and Torrent was eager to show off his strength.

Sabrina was waiting for his challenge, and he was ready to deliver.

XX

He typed in Professor Oak's number into the video phone. Ash needed Alakazam to take him to Saffron. He'd hoped that Dazed would be capable of teleporting him to Saffron after her training was complete, but she couldn't teleport long distances. The most she could do was a couple of hundred feet before the strain would become too much for her. Dazed just didn't have the talent for teleporting.

"Hello?" Oak asked as he appeared on the screen. He wasn't looking at Ash. Instead he was tinkering with a pokeball. Ash could make out an odd purple covering on top of the ball, although Oak quickly hid the ball and looked at the screen. "Oh, Ash! How are you? Did your training go well?"

"I'm doing fine." Ash replied with a friendly grin. "I think I'm ready to take on Sabrina. Dazed can't teleport long distances, but she knows enough. Could you send over Alakazam?"

Oak nodded and smiled. "Of course, of course. Give me a moment. She's meditating."

Ash dipped his head in understanding. He knew how psychic-types liked to meditate, even if he couldn't understand it personally. His body was far too restless to sit still of rmore than a few minutes.

The Professor rose out of his chair slowly, showing the strain age had put on him. He paused to stretch out a few kinks before walking out of Ash's view.

He patiently waited for about two minutes before the Professor came back onto the screen.

"She's waiting outside of the Pokemon Center." Oak informed him as he sat down, sighing in relief as he got into the cushioned chair. "Try not to keep her waiting. She's been oddly temperamental the last few weeks."

"I won't." Ash promised. "Thanks, Professor."

Oak waved his thanks away and pulled out the pokeball again, although Ash noticed that he took care to keep the purple casing away from Ash's eyes. While he was curious about the mysterious pokeball, Ash didn't bother asking about it. The Professor would have told him if he wanted Ash to know.

With that the screen cut off. Ash stared blankly at it before pulling himself out of his seat. He left the room in a hurry. Alakazam was waiting and he really didn't want to annoy her.

Ash found himself outside of the Pokemon Center in just a minute. He'd already checked out and gathered his belongings from his room. His pack was slung tightly around his shoulder and his pokeballs were on his belt.

Alakazam waited just a few feet out of the Pokemon Center. Oddly enough, she didn't seem to be attracting attention. Ash noticed that every now and then someone would send a curious glance her way, but it seemed that most people didn't realize she was there at all.

She motioned for him to come near, pulling her spoon closer to herself. Ash complied and walked closer, apologizing to one of the pedestrians that walked into his path. The man just ignored him and went on.

"Can you take me to the Pokemon Center in Saffron?" Ash asked.

Alakazam nodded and crossed her spoons. Ash only saw her eyes flash a bright blue for a moment before they appeared in a similarly large but radically different city.

He blinked at the sudden change in lighting and scenery and looked over at Alakazam. She glared at his attention and stood back up, refusing to allow wariness to show. A moment later she crossed her spoons again and vanished, leaving nothing but thin air behind.

Ash took a moment to glance around. He would be lying if Saffron was his favorite city. It was too big and dirty and full of people that could be quite snooty at times. But none of that changed the fact that Saffron was an incredible city. While it didn't possess the sheer size that Celadon possessed, Saffron compacted more into less. What Celadon had in sprawling suburbs Saffron had in immense skyscrapers, just low enough to not anger wild pokemon.

He took a moment to appreciate the sight before a well-dressed gentleman brushed past him, sending the trainer stumbling. Ash glared at the man that had ruined his little bout of thoughtfulness, annoyed at the fact the man didn't even glance back. After he'd checked his pockets and belt to make sure nothing had been taken, Ash walked into the Pokemon Center.

It only took about five minutes to get a room. Ash didn't actually go to it, though. He was much too worked up over challenging Sabrina again to bother. Everything was passing in a blur as he focused on every possible strategy he knew that Sabrina might employ and did his best to create a counter.

After all of that was over and done with, he made his way to the gym. While it was easy to get lost in Saffron's intricate network of roads and alleys, Ash managed to remember this area well enough. He'd spent enough time in this section of the city during his last visit to recognize the areas he needed to, although Ash was still a bit fuzzy on the details.

Nevertheless, he found the elegant gym after about fifteen minutes. He'd taken a few wrong turns, but a few signs and locals had managed to get him back on the right track.

He took a moment to take in the unusual building. It was just as he remembered: A smooth, silvery surface with gentle curves and lines. While the gym was much different than the dull gray buildings around it, the contrast only made it more beautiful by highlighting its refinement and the skill that had been put into creating it. It embodied what Sabrina and the psychic-type were about: Strength through skill.

Ash took a deep breath before walking towards it, patiently waiting for some of the small crowds to pass by. A few other trainers that stuck out like a sore thumb in the city waited outside as well, some leaving the gym with despondent looks on their faces and others looking at the gym with a hopeful smile.

The trainer ignored the others as he gently slid the large, sculpted door to the side. He glanced around and saw that practically nothing had changed. Psychics drifted around, accompanied by psychic-types and others training with their order. A few paused to give him a cursory glance. They flinched almost instantaneously and hurried along their way.

He frowned at that, not liking what that said about him. But he wandered further in, feeling quite out of place amongst the cool decorations and simple designs. It just felt above him in a way, as though it belonged to an exclusive club to which he did not belong.

And then Sabrina appeared a mere foot in front of him, her cool crimson eyes gazing at him dispassionately. Her dark hair that held just the barest hint of a murky green floated upwards for a moment as the psychic energy accompanying her arrival dispersed before it collapsed back into place, not a hair out of line.

"Hello, Ash." The woman intoned in her eerily calm tone. It looked out of place next to her warm smile. Despite the chill it sent racing down Ash's spine, he found it relaxing. Such a lack of emotion kept him focused and calm. "You have returned to face me. Do you believe yourself to be of sufficient strength?"

"Yes." He replied honestly. "I've gone through a lot since I last battled you. I'm ready."

Sabrina closed her eyes. When she opened them they were glowing brightly with a deep purple energy. "Indeed. You have seen much, Ash. Things that few have ever seen. I have seen your progress. While I feared for you when the Ice obscured my vision, I should not have. You have been honed through cruel environments and great threats."

Ash felt uncomfortable as she mentioned watching him. He just didn't like knowing that someone had access to his life like that.

"Do not worry." She said in her monotone voice. "I can sense you only in times of great emotion, as I can every strong trainer. My powers are limited to this city, which I watch over and protect from forces that would do it harm. It is difficult to know the mind of another when they are in Fuschia or the Seafoam Islands."

For some reason that didn't make Ash any more comfortable.

Sabrina's smile grew, her cool eyes in direct contrast with the show of happiness. Ash somehow knew that her smile was genuine. Perhaps it was her own mind's immense power overshadowing his own, juxtaposing his thoughts and feelings with her own.

It continued to grow at that, a secret smile that he didn't know the meaning of.

"Come." She told him, eyes growing less narrow and shifting to a warm scarlet. "You remember the way, yes?"

Ash nodded and followed the powerful psychic as they walked through the silent halls of the gym. Several of the robed psychics patrolling the area flinched away from Ash as he passed by but nevertheless bowed and showed great reverence towards Sabrina.

She seemed above it all. Sabrina gave cool nods to the psychics, but no other acknowledgement.

"Why do –" He began.

"They can sense the events you have shaped and survived." Sabrina replied tonelessly. She never slowed down. "Ice has touched you, its presence born from mere contact. It hurts us, the source more than we can bear."

"Ho—"

"I am strong." She replied, once again speaking before the words could leave his lips. Sabrina paused only as she raised her hand to the massive doors that locked them out of the stadium. A faint glow suffused her hand and the immense, silvery doors smoothly opened. "The Ice will leave you soon. It is a mere memory of the source, one that you have been forgetting since you gained it. I can ignore it."

Ash nodded slowly, unsure of what she was speaking of. Articuno, obviously. But how could a mere memory of something hurt a psychic?

"I have said too much." Sabrina told him as they entered the large, dark stadium. As she stepped in, dozens of torches suddenly alit with a bright fire. The familiar battlefield was illuminated, perfectly smooth.

He admired the sight of the floor around the immense battlefield. It was made of an ambiguous stone or glass, shining but not clear. Ash wanted to look at it some more to discover just what it was, but he realized that the gym battle was more important.

When he looked up, Sabrina had already teleported to the gym leader's box. Ash had expected it this time, but he was still a little shocked at the ease in which she used her powers. Sabrina waited calmly for him, four pokeballs levitating around her. They swirled around her at a slow speed, carelessly floating through the air in a blatant violation of physics.

Ash stepped up to his own box. He glanced over at Sabrina.

"This will be a four-on-four battle." She called out. One of the pokeballs hovered in front of her, likely containing the pokemon she would use first. "The match shall end prematurely should either of us forfeit. Pick your fighter."

He blinked in surprise. A four-on-four? He'd expected a three-on-three like she'd chosen last time. Ash frowned and took one of the pokeballs off his belt.

Sabrina's voice suddenly met his ears from across the battlefield. "I have had a vision of our battle. Let us see if it will come to pass."

Ash grinned and released his pokemon. Tangela appeared on the field. He gurgled happily and hopped up and down, although Ash noticed that he looked around for a bit in search of the trainer.

"Tangela, you're in a gym battle!" Ash called out. Tangela gurgled even louder and jumped up higher. His vines unwrapped themselves and wriggled around in the air due to the grass-type's happiness. "We're battling psychics. I know you'll do great!"

Tangela made an odd mixture of noises in understanding and tensed up, waiting for Sabrina to send her pokemon onto the field. He tensed up and prepared to fight as she released a small, slender espeon. Its scarlet forehead crystal glinted brightly as it sauntered up to the middle of the field.

Ash quickly noted the power it seemed to wield. Just from being relatively near it he could feel the barely controlled strength. Espeon would be a powerful opponent.

While he hadn't planned on using Tangela in a gym battle yet, Sabrina had forced his hand. With a four-on-four battle he would have to either use Plume or Tangela. Nidorino was healing well, but he wasn't up for a battle against Sabrina. With his weakness to psychics it would be stupid to send him out anyways.

Plume couldn't fight in these enclosed quarters. They were high up, but nowhere large enough for a bird much larger than Ash was to comfortable fly around and maneuver. It would automatically put her at a disadvantage. She was invaluable everywhere else, but she just couldn't work well in a gym.

Tangela, however, would be fine. He was powerful, showed great skill at battling, and didn't have a disadvantage. While his real strength rested in physical fighting, he also had ranged attacks. When it came to battling indoors, he was by far the best choice.

"Begin." Sabrina's voice announced, echoing throughout the vast chamber.

Within moments Espeon attacked. A powerful psybeam shot out of its gem and slammed into Tangela without warning. Tangela didn't seem to notice, however. He was knocked back a bit, but the psybeam failed to actually hurt him. His shell of vines dampened any effect the psybeam might have had.

"Leaf storm, trap it with stun spore!" Ash ordered. He stayed quiet. Sabrina seemed far too honorable to read minds during a gym battle, so it wouldn't do to throw caution to the wind.

Tangela happily carried out his orders. He fired dozens of razor-sharp leaves from inside of his vines, each glowing and glinting as they flew towards Espeon with incredible force. An intensely bright layer of psychic energy stopped the worst of the attack, but quite a few leaves managed to slice through the barrier and hit Espeon.

The lapse in concentration caused the shield to collapse, leaving Tangela free to shake his spherical, vine-covered body and release the golden powder that would paralyze Espeon.

Even as the stun spore cloud descended over the battlefield, Espeon's eyes and gem flashed brightly for a moment before a bubble of psychic energy covered Espeon, the swirling purple energy keeping the stun spores from getting to the psychic-type. A moment later the psychic barrier exploded, carrying an immense amount of force behind it.

Tangela gurgled unhappily as he was thrown back several feet but leapt to his feet and awaited more orders from Ash. The cloud of stun spores had been dispersed by the wave of force, diffused throughout the battlefield.

Espeon was in the center of it all. Its eyes grew brighter and brighter as the power it wielded intensified. A ghostly, unnatural wind whipped around the lavender psychic-type, forming a shell that dragged and pulled dirt up from the battlefield at an incredible speed. In just a few seconds Espeon had completely vanished, the only thing hinting about its presence the bright, glowing eyes.

Ash frowned. Tangela was stumbling around from the force of the wind, although he wasn't being harmed. If Tangela wasn't able to keep his footing, there was no point in even trying to battle. So he'd have to solve that first.

"Ingrain!" He shouted, struggling to be heard over the howling wind. Tangela managed to catch his voice, though. Several of his vines at the bottom of his body snuck into the ground and rooted Tangela in place. Aside from a small influx of energy, it kept Tangela from being knocked around. It limited his mobility, but Ash could have him snap off the vines if needed.

Now it was time to use Tangela's vines' insusceptibility to pain to use. But first he'd have to get rid of that sandstorm. Tangela couldn't breach the shell. His vines would be shredded and battered before they could penetrate it.

"Ancient power, second." He commanded. Tangela quickly obeyed him.

Tangela could use two variations on ancient power. The first and most common was to simply form a silver energy ball in front of its body and fire it. The second was a bit rarer since not many pokemon had an affinity for it. It involved using the energy normally used to produce the ball to tear great chunks of earth from the ground and throw them at the opponent.

A small ball of energy formed in front of Tangela's body. It spun rapidly, casting a great silvery glow about the field that managed to penetrate the dense layer of sand swirling through the shifting air, before it separated into small beams that carved into the dirt around Tangela.

Four chunks of earth were quickly ripped from the battlefield, leaving Tangela surrounded by a crater. He stood on an island of earth whose only entrance and exit without entering the crater was a narrow strip of land, almost too thin for Tangela to walk on.

The chunks of earth levitated around Tangela for a brief few seconds before they were hurled into the sand shell that Espeon had erected. They were barely visible once they were thrown at Espeon aside from the narrow outlines of silver energy that surrounded them.

Espeon's sandstorm abruptly halted, the particles of dirt and sand collapsing to the ground as one. Ash heard a high-pitched cry, but he knew Espeon hadn't been knocked out by the attack. The furiously glowing eyes and tense lavender body told him that much.

"Vine whip and absorb!" He commanded quickly, hoping to take advantage of Espeon's distraction while he could. Tangela complied happily, sending eight of his extendable vines lashing towards Espeon, who was finally visible again. Two of the vines moved to strike from the sides, an attempt to attack even if Espeon destroyed the vines closest to it.

It proved to be a good strategy. Espeon quickly erected a layer of interlocking, golden pentagons that stopped the six vines attacking from the front from hitting Espeon. Several blobs of psychic energy, most blue but with intense, purple hearts, struck through brief holes in the barrier to sever the vines.

But the two vines that attacked from the sides remained unscathed. They struck into Espeon with incredible force, sending the fragile creature to the ground. Tangela quickly took advantage of Espeon's stunned state and wrapped his vines around its lavender body before yanking it towards him.

Espeon struggled for a bit, but when Tangela began to suck its energy through the vines. It slackened a bit, although a thin layer of psychic energy overlaying its fur helped to prevent as great a loss of its strength.

When Tangela brought it closer as gently as he could, seeking to not cause unnecessary harm, and released four more of his vines to speed up the process of draining its energy Espeon's eyes suddenly flashed.

Ash called out a brief warning to Tangela, but he was too late. A small barrier of psychic energy blasted out from Espeon's body, taking almost all of its remaining strength but severing Tangela's vines. Espeon's eyes suddenly glowed a harsh, vibrant red and Tangela became surrounded in a scarlet aura.

Tangela gurgled in pain as the psychic assault began, immense force battering him from all sides, but he determinedly stared at Espeon. The pale lavender psychic-type had fallen into the crater, unable to escape without exposing itself to harm for several seconds. With the degree of exhaustion it was suffering, Espeon would be unable to escape.

He grinned. "Use your ingrain to wrap it up."

The grass-type focused for a brief moment, doing his best to ignore the intense pain and pressure that pounded down on him. Even as the roots that kept him firmly stuck to the ground erupted out from his island, Espeon's split tail quivered. Espeon tried to leap out of the way as three small vines erupted from the earth Tangela stood on, but was rendered too slow by tiredness.

Tangela quickly ensnared the Espeon, two of the vines firmly pressing it to the ground. When it paused in its struggles and prepared to intensify the psychic assault on Tangela, the grass-type used the third vine to painfully jab it in its forehead gem.

Espeon gave out a high, piercing cry of pain but it was quickly cut off. Tangela had shot off eight more of his vines once Espeon's psychic had been disrupted and wrapped them around Espeon. Once he'd gotten his vines around enough surface area, Tangela sucked just enough energy from Espeon for the psychic-type to be rendered unconscious.

The grass-type stood up with a new vigor and hopped up and down in excitement. He used his vines to pull him away from his island as Espeon was returned by Sabrina.

"Good job, Tangela!" Ash congratulated, hands shaking in excitement. Tangela had performed better than he'd hoped. He hadn't been sure how Tangela would work against a powerful psychic-type like Espeon, but Tangela did great. "Keep it up!"

Tangela gurgled happily and waved some of his vines around.

Sabrina smiled and released her next pokemon. Ash looked curiously at the Mr. Mime that emerged onto the field. He'd only battled two before. Both had been effective, but very unorthodox. This would be a difficult fight.

Mr. Mime had a round, white body with a red spot in the center. Spindly, light pink arms and legs were connected to its round body by red spheres, much like the one on its chest. It had red cheeks and a pair of blue horns.

Ash gazed at it analytically, taking in as much as he could in the brief few seconds before the match resumed.

Mr. Mime didn't look like much, but Ash knew that they were powerful. It was masterful at erecting defensive barriers and attacked with power one wouldn't suspect from such an odd looking creature. He would have trouble getting close to it, but once he had gotten Tangela or his other pokemon close it would be a quick battle. Like many psychic-types, Mr. Mime were extremely fragile physically.

And then it began.

"Leaf storm." Ash ordered. Tangela quickly followed through on the command. He pulled his vines away from his face and shot dozens of sharp, glowing leaves towards Mr. Mime. The psychic-type brightened when it saw the attack and waved its odd hands, which had a faint glow of power about them.

Ash wasn't surprised when the leaves bent and fell to the ground as they slammed into an invisible barrier. Mr. Mime had powerful defenses against ranged attacks.

"Get close. Break through its defenses with vine whip when you can."

Tangela charged towards Mr. Mime as fast as he could. Unfortunately, that was still extremely slow.

Mr. Mime's permanent smile grew wider as Tangela waddled over, vines whipping towards the psychic-type. It waved its hands through the air, creating a barrier infused with enough power that Ash could actually see it. He didn't like what Mr. Mime was doing and called out a warning.

"Get ready to swing yourself away!" He called out. Tangela didn't acknowledge the order aside from extending some of his vines.

The psychic-type's smile didn't change as it awkwardly jutted out its thin arm. Tangela did his best to push himself away with his vines, but he couldn't escape as the barely visible barrier sped towards him. Ash winced as Tangela was slammed backwards at an incredible rate, carried forcefully by the barrier as it continued flying forward.

"Use ancient power!" Ash cried as Tangela was crushed against the psychic barriers that prevented attacks from escaping the arena. Tangela tiredly pulled himself up, his armor of vines not enough to prevent an injury from that attack.

Tangela determinedly formed the swirling, silver ball of energy in front of him as yet another wall of psychic energy was sent towards him. As it neared, Tangela fired the ancient power. It carved straight through the barrier, although it weakened and diffused into the air a few moments later.

The grass-type continued on with the first strategy. He pulled himself up on his vines and began to "walk" on them at an impressive speed.

But then Mr. Mime spread his hands apart, still unscathed from the battle. Two small, compact barriers formed about twenty feet away from Tangela on each side of him. Mr. Mime clapped his hands together, causing the two barriers to fly towards each other, crushing Tangela in between them.

Ash cried out in worry, but just frowned when he saw Tangela's form lying crumpled and unconscious. He returned the grass-type with narrowed eyes. That wasn't something he'd expected. It was clear that Sabrina had trained her Mr. Mime far beyond the others he'd met.

But if she and Mr. Mime were going to be brutal with his pokemon, he'd return the favor.

Infernus stamped his foot and roared in fury when he was released. Flames and lava erupted around him, leaving him nothing more than an intimidating, shimmering figure. He kept the aura of flames wreathed around his form, ready to crush all opposition.

"It took down Tangela!" Ash shouted to his friend. The flames around Infernus intensified, burning white-hot. Infernus didn't like Tangela and took malicious glee in sending sparks his way, but Tangela was part of the team. Besides, Infernus would want to prove just how much stronger he was than the grass-type.

Sabrina smiled softly and the battle began again.

Mr. Mime created another barrier and send it crashing towards Infernus at an incredible speed. It would crush him to the psychic walls and put an immense amount of strain on his body. The barrier was brighter and more intense than the ones that had defeated Tangela.

Infernus didn't even roar as it came closer. He simply reared back his fist and crushed the barrier with his burning hand. The psychic energy dispersed in a brilliant flash of blue light that lit up the entire battlefield for a brief instant.

Ash blinked, stunned. Infernus didn't even bother using brick break on the barrier. He just punched it.

A wide grin split his face. "Infernus, flamethrower! Get close and beat him."

Infernus roared and charged, rearing back his head and spitting a brilliantly intense white stream of flame towards Mr. Mime, whose perpetual smile had vanished. The psychic erected a barrier just in time for the flames to wash harmlessly over the invisible wall.

Mr. Mime's face showed its strain as it worked to keep the barrier working against the constantly growing flames that streamed around it. Infernus was growing closer and closer, an inferno of fire and smoke carried in his wake.

When the flames suddenly cleared, Mr. Mime put down the barrier, which had several cracks in it, only to see Infernus mere feet away. Ash was more than a hundred feet away, but he could see the awe and fear that flashed across Mr. Mime's normally stoic face.

The psychic-type erected another barrier, this one glowing brightly thanks to the immense amount of energy poured into it. Infernus's aura of fire crashed against the barrier even as Infernus reared his fist back and brutally chopped his hand into the aura.

For a moment nothing happened. Infernus and Mr. Mime were locked into a stalemate, both of the powerful pokemon putting all of their power into winning this confrontation.

And then the barrier shattered, a great burst of blue light flashing throughout the room as Infernus' brick break slammed into Mr. Mime and sent the spindly creature to the floor.

Ash hissed as the massive blast of energy swept throughout the battlefield, carrying dust and smoke in its wake. The psychic barriers around the arena were visible for a few brief seconds as they struggled to keep the immense amount of power within the arena's bounds.

He staggered backward as just a tiny bit of the energy managed to slip through the barriers. Every hair on his body stood on end and floating as the psychic power washed over him and his nerves screamed for just a moment.

It was over as fast as it began. Ash breathed deeply for a moment and secured his cap back into place before looking back on the battlefield.

Infernus had a shackled foot firmly planted on Mr. Mime's thin chest, flames curling down on it. The psychic blast had dispelled Infernus' fiery aura, but Infernus' entire body was still covered in flames. He picked up his foot and slammed it into Mr. Mime's chest, knocking the troublesome psychic-type out for good.

"Good job, Infernus!" Ash called out with a silly grin on his face. Infernus had once again proved his strength. "I'll probably bring you back out soon."

The fire-type roared in return and stamped his foot in victory, causing the earth around him to churn and explode upward, lava pouring from the gouges in the battlefield. Ash grinned at the display before returning his friend. If Alakazam was as powerful as before, Infernus could be a deciding factor.

As it was, he wanted to save Infernus' vast strength. Torrent might not be sufficient against Alakazam, and Ash wanted to weaken the powerful psychic as much as he could before sending Dazed out.

Both trainers sent their next pokemon out.

Torrent rumbled his arrival, glancing around the ruined battlefield with great distaste. The earth had been ravaged by Infernus' lava plumes and torn apart by Tangela's vines. It would be difficult for anything to navigate unless they could levitate or fly.

Sabrina's smile never faded. She sent out an odd creature. Ash had seen it before on TV, but it must have been a foreign pokemon since he didn't know almost everything about it. He knew that most of the gym leaders had received at least one foreign pokemon to diversify their teams and force trainers to adapt, but he really wished that they hadn't. It was difficult to battle when he didn't know something's capabilities.

The pokemon she sent out was about his height. It was primarily a light green and white, although a red spike erupted from its chest and back. Its forearms were thick, supported by thin yet extremely muscular arms. Bold, rounded hips and strong legs made up its lower body.

What made Ash jerk in surprise was when sharp blades extended out of its elbows. Its large, red eyes were fierce and determined, although they held great intelligence and respect as they surveyed Torrent.

The pokemon bowed to Torrent and waited. It was perfectly still, albeit tense and ready to strike at any moment.

"Gallade would prefer for you to strike first." Sabrina said softly, although her voice echoed throughout the gym. "It is against his code to be the aggressor."

Ash shrugged. "Torrent, blizzard. Spread it across the battlefield and then use ice storm."

Torrent rumbled as he released a huge amount of freezing air and shards of ice from his snout. The icy air quickly spread across the battlefield, creating a cold zone that would greatly hinder Gallade. A moment later he levitated backwards, far away from Gallade.

The moment Torrent acted, Gallade began a smooth, graceful sprint. It was obviously a fighting-type judging from its strong and efficient movements.

It leapt high above the ice field, although it had no chance of jumping all the way across the swirling, icy mist. Ash blinked in surprise when it suddenly vanished just a moment before it would have landed. Gallade suddenly appeared directly behind Torrent and sliced down his back with his sharp blade.

Torrent roared in surprise, although the blade failed to do real damage. He quickly levitated away and shot a powerful water gun at Gallade. The psychic-type immediately teleported away and appeared next to Torrent, although the powerful water-type was ready this time.

The moment Gallade appeared, Torrent shot a water gun straight at the psychic-type. Gallade wasn't fast enough to avoid the powerful jet of water and was flipped backwards, although it gracefully landed on its feet and teleported away a second later.

Ash frowned. Gallade was much more dangerous than he'd expected. It hadn't showed anything that would really harm something as powerful and resilient as Torrent yet, but it was highly maneuverable and could take a hit. He needed to crush it quickly.

"Ice storm!" He shouted to Torrent. "Focus it on you."

Torrent quickly did as Ash commanded. His fins waved a bit and he spun, causing an immense twister of churning air to form, carrying with it dirt torn from the ravaged floor. The twister ripped through the battlefield, dominating and whipping the entire area with harsh wind.

When it reached the ice field, which had only just begun to fade as the heat from the surrounding area diffused into it, Torrent guided the icy air into it with his own power, turning the formidable twister into a storm of wintery air and sharp chunks of ice.

Gallade appeared in front of Ash's box. It was tense and prepared to sprint, but obviously didn't have a way to attack Torrent while he was in the eye of the storm. The psychic-type sent a few testing psycho cutters, but the brutally powerful wind destroyed them the moment the psychic crescents grew near.

It vanished an instant later. Ash looked around the destroyed battlefield in an attempt to find Gallade again, but there was nothing. He frowned, but his attention was dragged to Torrent's ice storm when the huge column of twisting air suddenly narrowed and intensified.

A moment later Gallade appeared in front of Ash again, sporting several wounds and a thin layer of frost over its body. It was obviously worse for wear and wouldn't be as effective.

Ash couldn't help Torrent right now. His friend couldn't even hear him, let alone act on his commands. Remaining in the ice storm was the best possible strategy for Torrent at the moment. Gallade couldn't penetrate it without suffering great harm himself and Torrent could do whatever he wished.

The column of ice and air suddenly surged towards Gallade, kicking up air and leaving a deep gouge in the earth as it moved along. Torrent's huge form was barely visible inside, a shadow inside the light blue air.

Gallade tensed up. An aura of blue energy suffused its form and it suddenly began a long, loping sprint into the ice storm. Ash couldn't help but admire its courage. Not many fighting-types would willingly attack something like that, even if they had a strategy to deal with it.

And Gallade did have a strategy to deal with the ice storm. As it neared it, Gallade leapt upward and did a sort of spin. When it entered the storm, its body flashed a bright blue before huge amounts of energy erupted from its lithe body.

The effect was dampened enough by the ice storm to allow Ash to actually watch it. Energy exploded outward, carving through the heart of the storm. Ice shards and the air itself was carried outward by the burst of energy, dispersing the ice storm aside from a few remaining swirls of air.

Torrent was revealed. He looked surprised, but he quickly regained control of himself. Gallade was obviously exhausted, but it quickly teleported behind Torrent and elegantly spun around, slicing into Torrent's back with his glowing blade.

Unfortunately for Gallade, that didn't actually weaken Torrent. It simply made him angry. Torrent promptly spun behind and delivered a powerful hydro pump into Gallade, the incredibly powerful blast of water slamming into the psychic-type, who was too tired to teleport away in time.

Gallade was slammed into the torn ground by the powerful attack and was helpless as Torrent shot another hydro pump into its body with unstoppable power. The psychic-type struggled to get up again, but Torrent rumbled loudly and blasted him with one last hydro pump.

The powerful pokemon tried to pull itself up one last time, but collapsed.

Ash was grinning ear to ear. He wasn't sure if Infernus could have taken down Gallade that easily. Torrent had taken a few hits, but his armored hide and typing made them mostly ineffective. Infernus would have had more trouble defending against the maneuverable Gallade.

Sabrina recalled Gallade. Her smile was still there, but it grew a little as she released her last pokemon.

He sighed when he saw the old, powerful Alakazam appear. It was sitting down on air, its power keeping it levitating.

Alakazam glanced at Torrent and landed to the ground. Its spoons began to glow brightly, trembling violently as power surged through them.

"Hydro pump!" Ash called out. "Get close."

Torrent rumbled and flew towards Alakazam. As he shot a powerful hydro pump at the psychic-type, Alakazam casually erected a barrier. It grew slightly brighter as the blast of pressurized water impacted, but it held up without any noticeable strain.

Alakazam stared at Torrent for a moment as the water-type grew nearer. The psychic seemed to smile and crossed its spoons. A blue aura surrounded it and a matching aura encompassed Torrent's form.

Torrent froze, locked in place by Alakazam's psychic. Ash frowned and felt worry gnaw at his stomach, but it was completely wiped away when Torrent rumbled loudly – the ground shook – and suddenly broke Alakazam's mental control.

Alakazam look shocked for a moment as Torrent surged toward him, furious and ready to do battle with the powerful psychic-type.

But as Ash's friend neared, Alakazam casually teleported to the side. As Torrent went ramming past him, Alakazam closed its eyes. The aura around it grew brighter and shifted hue, becoming a dark, rich orange.

It sent a psybeam towards Torrent, perfectly aimed. The powerful, intense beam radiated light and sent Torrent hurtling backwards when it impacted. Torrent survived the attack, but it had done a good bit of damage on him.

Ash clenched his teeth. He'd known that Alakazam was powerful from their last bout, but he realized that Sabrina was holding back. This time he would meet Sabrina's full strength.

"Hydro pump, follow with twister and blizzard!" He shouted. Torrent quickly followed through. Alakazam teleported just inches away from hydro pump, but simply crossed its spoons as the twister neared. A column of light appeared within the swirling mass of air and exploded outwards, destroying the twister with it.

As the blizzard lanced towards Alakazam in a focused column, the psychic-type simply flashed energy through its eyes and conjured a shimmering wall of psychic energy. The blizzard struck it, a howling current of ice and air.

Alakazam was visible from Ash's angle, so he could see its surprised expression at the powerful attack. It raised both spoons and crossed them, causing the barrier to grow in power until it lit the entire room like a miniature orange sun.

Ash shielded his eyes the best he could, but the light still blinded him. He closed his eyes and opened them a few seconds later. Stars still juxtaposed with his vision, but he could at least see some of the battle.

The psychic-type had teleported away from its previous position, allowing the rest of the blizzard to go roaring past it. Torrent tried to shoot a hydro pump at it, but Alakazam simply crossed its spoons and conjured a wall of light mere inches from Torrent's snout.

Torrent's hydro pump was quickly stopped when the barrier slammed into his snout, stopping up the hydro pump and shooting Torrent backwards. The water-type was forced into the psychic barriers surrounding the arena as the light screen continued to ram him, relentlessly slamming into his friend over and over again.

When Torrent finally shattered the light screen and roared towards Alakazam, the psychic-type simply crossed its spoons again. Vibrant orange-white particles of energy coalesced into a ball in front of its mouth. When Torrent grew closer, Alakazam fired the devastating hyper beam straight into Torrent's chest.

The resulting explosion forced Ash to look away again. When he looked back, his heart sank.

Torrent lay in the middle of a shallow crater, the powerful water-type crumpled and unconscious. Smoke trickled from his body, which was covered in soot and dust.

Ash sighed and recalled Torrent. He thanked his friend for his efforts before sending out Infernus.

Infernus' eyes narrowed in fury when he saw Alakazam. Flames swirled around him, leaving him an indistinct shadow in their midst.

"Haze!" Ash commanded. Infernus complied, using fire spin to surround the entire arena in a writhing mass of flames. Alakazam and the area directly around it was the only thing left untouched, its powers preventing the flames from encroaching upon it.

Alakazam looked around with calculating eyes. Infernus was nowhere to be found, but Ash expected Alakazam to find him shortly. Psychic-types could usually detect the minds of others, or at least their emotions. The powerful magmar's emotions were probably no more subtle than he was.

And Infernus emerged from behind Alakazam with murderous eyes, the crackling, roaring flames disguising his entrance. He leapt towards Alakazam with a glowing fist, the other at his side and writhed in flames.

The psychic-type snapped towards Infernus with its spoons crossed. A barrier was quickly erected in front of it, but Infernus' fist shattered it thanks to the greatly enhanced power brick break lent him.

But Alakazam vanished in that instance, finding a new safe harbor amongst the inferno. Ash scowled in anger and annoyance. Infernus vented his fury by letting loose a brutally powerful flamethrower, glowing white hot and intensifying the flames even more.

Infernus vanished into the fire the next instant, his anger helping to display his location. Where he walked the flames surged and intensified, the only obvious indicator of his location.

Ash could see Alakazam. It had appeared in the same spot Gallade like to teleport to: right in front of Ash. The psychic was wary, its spoons crossed and its body shrouded by a light screen and barrier.

He grinned. He could take advantage of this just like he had with Gary. Ash wouldn't even have to tell Infernus what to do.

It was a tense few seconds as they waited for Infernus. His friend had calmed his anger. Flames no longer exploded wherever he walked. Alakazam stood with its back to Ash's box.

Infernus suddenly erupted from beside Alakazam, a single leap placing allowing it to be close enough to attack. His flaming fist smashed into Alakazam's side, the force of his fire punch diffused across the entirety of Alakazam's fragile body. The attack didn't really hurt Alakazam thanks to its protection, but it rattled it.

Alakazam couldn't avoid the next brick break. Infernus' fury fuelled the attack and, despite the immense power Alakazam had entombed in the light screen and barrier that hugged its form, it shattered both of them. The psychic went staggering back, no longer protected and lightly injured, but it no longer played with Infernus.

Ash almost closed his eyes as Alakazam's eyes glinted a bright orange. Cracks formed in its spoons, only to be mended mere moments later. An immense wave of power erupted from Alakazam, sweeping everything in its path away.

His jaw nearly dropped in awe as the pale energy extinguished the flames that covered the entirety of the battlefield, snuffing them out in one fell swoop. Infernus was affected as well. His fledgling psychic abilities allowed him to weather the brunt of the assault without too much trouble, but when he leapt at Alakazam with a furious glare Alakazam simply shot him with a psybeam.

Infernus dispelled the worst of the psybeam, but it still hurt him. He sailed through the air towards Alakazam, however, and slammed his fist into the psychic's chest. Ash grinned widely, although his smile vanished when Alakazam crossed its spoons.

A lance of psychic force, far more refined than Dazed's massive blasts, sliced through the air. Infernus' eyes widened in fear, knowing the power behind it would knock him unconscious.

So he did what he did best: fight. Infernus reared back his head and let loose the most powerful flamethrower Ash had ever seen. It was not particularly large or ostentatious, but narrow, refined, and burned hot enough for Ash to feel it past the barriers.

In short, it was the perfect match for Alakazam's lance.

The two attacks met midway between the two pokemon. They swirled around each other and formed a ball for just a brief instant. The next it exploded, smoke obscuring the view. A wave of concussive force erupted from the explosion, rattling Ash's teeth and sending him stumbling back even through the psychic barriers.

He gasped and pulled himself upright before gazing onto the field. As the smoke cleared, he saw Infernus' body lying unconscious. Ash groaned in despair but looked at Alakazam. It was struggling to stand as well, supported only by its psychic power.

Ash slowly grinned. He had a chance. Alakazam had shown itself to be more powerful than he could have imagined in the last few minutes. It had almost effortlessly defeated Torrent and would have defeated Infernus without taking more than a few bruises had it not been for that explosion.

So he released Dazed. She locked on to the Alakazam instantly, her pendulum quivering and flapping in an invisible wind as she saw the being that had so effortlessly defeated her before.

"Shadow ball!" He shouted.

Both Dazed and Alakazam began creating their shadow ball, the powerful psychics gazing at each other with intense, gray eyes.

Ash noticed that, despite its weakened state, Alakazam's ball grew much larger than Dazed's in a much shorter amount of time. By the time that Dazed hurled her ball, Alakazam's had grown nearly twice as large.

Alakazam clearly meant to allow its immense shadow ball to absorb Dazed's, just like their last battle. Unfortunately for it, that strategy didn't work. Dazed wasn't a mere drowzee anymore. Her evolution had given her strength.

The gargantuan shadow ball Alakazam had formed exploded, not powerful enough to absorb Dazed's attack. Alakazam vanished into an explosion of shadowy energy.

Ash held still with bated breath, mind furiously hoping that Alakazam had been taken out by its own arrogance.

When the smoke cleared, he realized that he wasn't so lucky. Alakazam was clearly weakened, but it took the attack well. It was shuddering and twitching as arcs of grey electricity jumped across its frail body, but it could fight.

Alakazam almost immediately teleported away, disappearing just as Dazed's psybeam sliced through the air. It appeared at the other end of the battlefield, next to its mistress. The psychic-type's eyes shimmered a bright, angry orange as it crossed its spoons.

Ash frowned as Alakazam was enshrouded within a psychic bubble, its aura extending and swelling. He had no idea what this technique was.

Sabrina's smile and eyes grew happy, no longer simply amused.

Alakazam rose into the air slowly, its eyes closed as it focused all of its energy into maintaining the strange technique. Dazed took a wary position, all of her power ready to be used to fight Alakazam.

Dazed's foe floated high into the air within its psychic bubble. Ash noticed that it was a little hazy around the edges, as though Alakazam was having difficulty keeping it up. That made him hope that the energy intensive technique couldn't be maintained for long.

But the next few seconds made him realize that the bubble didn't need to be maintained for long.

The bubble moved. It soared towards Dazed at an incredible speed, crossing the entirety of the immense battlefield in less than two seconds. Dazed promptly teleported away, just a second away from being slammed by Alakazam.

Ash flinched as it slammed into the psychic barrier mere inches from his face. He caught a glimpse of Alakazam serenely sitting inside of the bubble before it pulled away from the barrier – which was shining as brightly as it could under the immense strain it was placed under – and blasted towards Dazed.

Dazed was ready this time. She hurled a shadow ball at the bubble an instant before teleporting back to the area in front of Ash. Unfortunately, Alakazam destroyed the shadow ball. Ash didn't understand how, but a lance of psychic energy sliced into the shadow ball and caused it to disperse into nothingness.

He didn't even understand how this technique was possible. Ash hadn't even heard of it before, and he'd spent weeks poring over Alakazam's entry in his pokedex in an attempt to know their abilities inside out. There were some incredible things mentioned, but this? Creating a bubble of psychic energy that let Alakazam move quickly and be completely invulnerable? This was just unreal.

Sabrina honestly should have a position on the Elite Four if she created this technique. This was simply incredible.

But Alakazam's bubble was failing. It was darting as fast as it could by Dazed, sending tendrils of psychic lances that caused immense explosions wherever they hit. Even as it forced Dazed to teleport more and more to escape the sure defeat the bubble would impart on her, Alakazam's energy was failing.

Ash was sure that it would be able to keep up the technique for at least a few minutes if it were at full strength, but in its exhausted state Alakazam was fading fast. He didn't think that it could survive more than another twenty seconds of this at the rate the bubble was fading.

Of course, Dazed was weakening as well. She couldn't keep up with the amount of teleports required of her. Her reaction time was slowing by just a hair each time. Soon she wouldn't be able to escape quickly enough.

It was a battle of attrition.

Fortunately, it was a battle Dazed would win. After three more of the little cycles, Alakazam flashed towards her one last time, the last of its energy poured into the move.

Dazed's eyes burned with pain, but she managed to teleport one last time. Alakazam's bubble failed a moment before it would have slammed into Dazed and knocked her out. The psychic-type's bubble finally broke and dispersed, sending Alakazam flying towards the barriers.

It was returned before it could actually hit. Sabrina had a wide smile on her face. Ash blinked.

Then it hit him.

He'd done it. He'd defeated Sabrina, one of the most powerful and feared gym leaders in Kanto. He'd won!

Ash grinned so widely it felt as though his face would tear. But he paid his burning facial muscles no mind. He shouted congratulations to Dazed, his voice almost cracking with the sheer joy he felt.

This wasn't just a victory. This showed that he was really worthy to be a pokemon trainer. He'd done great things in his short time as a trainer, but this meant he really had skill. Ash had what it took to be in the Conference.

"You did well." A warm voice said to him. Ash snapped his focus to Sabrina. "Few trainers are capable of defeating me. You are one of them."

"Thanks!" Ash said happily, the silly grin never fading. "It was an awesome battle!"

"It was." Sabrina agreed with a dip of her head. "You have proven your strength. I am honored to present you with the Marsh Badge. You have earned it."

Ash reverently took the small, polished badge from Sabrina. He eyed the simple circle that meant so much with glee. The Marsh Badge was simple. All it was were two concentric golden circles, far less ornate than most others he'd received.

"The battle went as I foresaw." He heard. Ash glanced up at Sabrina. "Your victory was always assured."

He cocked his head. "It was?"

"Yes." Sabrina replied, her eyes drifting past him to see the universe. "You had the skill and power to defeat me. Had you chosen another strategy, perhaps you would have failed. But I believe you would have found a way. The future is never set, but it is probable."

Ash frowned. The adrenaline still coursing through his veins addled his thoughts. That was a bit too complex for him to decipher right now.

"It will come in time." Sabrina said with a smile. "Before you leave, however, I would like to request a rematch in the future. I would like to test my skills again."

"Of course!" Ash happily agreed. This battle was one of the best he'd ever had. He'd love to have a similar experience, especially if it didn't have so much riding on it. "I'll come by when I can."

Dazed shuffled next to him then. She looked exhausted, the bags under her eyes greatly intensified. Ash smiled softly at her, temporarily ignoring Sabrina.

"You did great, Dazed. I couldn't have expected better." He murmured. Dazed smiled at him with her eyes, the bags vanishing for a brief moment. "Do you want to go in your pokeball?"

The hypno sleepily nodded. Ash quickly followed her request. She deserved everything he could possibly give. All of his friends had earned it.

"I have faith that you will meet the challenges ahead." Sabrina said as she motioned for him to follow. As they made their way to the entrance of the gym, she continued speaking. "The gym leaders see great things in your future. I have confidence that you will achieve them."

Ash was silent for several moments. They had just arrived in the wide, airy atrium. Several psychics nodded reverently to Sabrina, although they continued to shy away and flinch at the sight of him.

"Thank you." He said politely. "I hope I can meet your expectations."

Sabrina just nodded at him before vanishing. Ash blinked in surprise before he opened the elegant door and left.

He'd had a long day.

But he'd achieved a lot. Sabrina was defeated. Only one more gym leader remained.

Giovanni awaited him.

A/N: Well, there it is. I'd like to apologize for the time it took me to update. I know I said that I'd try to update Tuesday or Wednesday, but apparently I had to make up for my Spring Break. I just had too much stuff to get done to write as much as I'd like.

Anyways, thanks for reading! The tournament is next chapter, along with some unexpected surprises.

I'd also like to thank everyone who has reviewed, followed, or read my story. I've gotten tons of support, and it makes me really glad to write. Make sure to review!