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.

28. Chapter 28: The Semifinals

He yawned as he his eyes cracked open, irritated by the light of dawn. Following the pattern that had developed since the Conference began, Ash gently pulled Seeker and Sneasel off of his chest and looked around the room.

Everyone was there except for Infernus, as usual. He absentmindedly allowed a rough fingertip to run over the scratched surface of the Magmortar's pokeball, marveling at how he could almost feel his friend's heat.

Ash suddenly scanned the room again. Oz was missing.

The trainer got out of the comfortable bed quietly. Seeker had already woken up and dully fluttered over to Bruiser's silent form but Sneasel had already slipped back into the abyss of sleep and was curled up into a small black ball of fur and fang.

He'd rather not wake up any of his friends. They'd earned their rest. He wouldn't begrudge them an extra hour or two of sleep.

What was important was that he find Oz. He needed to talk to her. She wasn't too happy about her lackluster performance in the battle against Gary and had been rather sullen since then. Oz was never the most social member of the team, but she'd usually allow Tangrowth to poke her or sit in silent contemplation with Dazed.

Speaking of Dazed…

The Electabuzz is feeding.

He nodded at her as she appeared from the shadowed corner of his room, wise eyes narrowed as she idly polished her faceted pendulum in her white mane. "Do you think she would mind if I spoke to her?"

The Hypno's eyes shut. A faint blue glow escaped from behind the furred lids as she concentrated, only for the lights to be unveiled as the shining orbs snapped open.

Do so. She is not at peak efficiency. We will need her strength should our next opponent be a true threat. The Nidoking's temporary loss leaves us at a distinct disadvantage.

"I know." Ash murmured. "I think it's time to let Infernus out to play."

Dazed's expressive eyes conveyed her distaste for that idea.

I would not suggest you encourage the brute. He takes unnecessary joy in battle without realizing the full extent of his new power.

"He's one of our strongest." He shrugged. "I'd rather him focus his energy on something productive."

Very well.

Dazed said no more, simply giving Ash a parting nod before she shuffled away. Ash smiled at her retreating form, grateful for the privacy she offered. He doubted Oz would want the others around for this conversation.

He headed downstairs quietly. He didn't want to wake his roommates or their teams, although he didn't think that their pokemon slept outside their pokeballs very often.

"Oz?" He called out quietly as he reached the outside of the room where the small generator was. Oz could feed easily from the modified electrical sockets but she preferred to make her "meals" quick. The generator's ability to feed her reserves in a few minutes rather than nearly an hour made it a far more appealing option.

A subtle whir was his only reply. Ash stepped into the room, taking the noise as an invitation.

The Electabuzz pulled up from the generator as soon as he entered, currents of electricity arcing erratically across her yellow and black fur. She cocked her head quizzically at him, obviously curious at what drew his presence.

"Hey." He smiled. Oz gave a tentative whir back, still a bit wary of him. She'd been acting as though she were about to revert to her behavior when he'd first caught her since the battle. This conversation should have occurred sooner. "I just wanted to talk before the others got up."

She nodded, large fists clenched reflexively. It was clear that she knew what he was here for.

"I'm entering you in the next battle." He said after a moment of silence. "You didn't get a good chance to show off last battle, but don't worry about anyone thinking you're weak. You had a spot of bad luck. That's it. None of the others on the team would have fared any better against Confuse Ray."

Oz whirred and crossed her arms, a sullen look on her face as she bared her fangs. Electricity arced through her thick fur as she thought of her battle against Umbreon. It was clear that she hadn't even come close to getting over it.

"You ran into an unfavorable matchup." Ash repeated. "It happens to everyone at some point. Move on. You have another chance and I know you'll make the most of it. It's not in you to just give up."

The Electabuzz nodded. A few sparks arced off of her fuelled body, although they fizzled out before they could strike anything.

He smiled at his friend, satisfied. She didn't need a long talk. She just needed to know that he still had faith in her abilities. The rest of her confidence would be regained when she fought against her opponent and won – and he was certain that she would win. Oz was strong.

"I'll let you finish feeding." The trainer told Oz as he heard a few muffled thuds upstairs. He wasn't sure if it was from his roommates or his friends, but either way he'd keep them from disturbing the Electabuzz. "I'll buy you a bit of time, alright?"

Oz whirred happily. Her striped tail swished about hesitantly for a few moments, prompting him to remain. Finally, after several seconds of deliberation, she raised her fist and looked at him expectantly.

Ash's eyes lit up. He curled his calloused fingers into a fist and met the electric-type's charged hand with his own. A shock rushed through his system, a minor jolt just weak enough to avoid being uncomfortable but strong enough to be noticeable.

The Electabuzz pulled away after a moment, leaving Ash to tremble slightly as the electrical current arcing through his body twitched and died. She whirred softly and spared no time in turning back to the generator she had been feeding on.

"I know this is unnecessary, but make sure you're at peak condition." Ash said, turning away from the door. Oz just nodded from where she sat, intelligent black eyes locked onto the trainer. "I'm not sure who we'll be facing, but I do know that they'll be tough. Very tough. You'll need all the power you can get."

Oz whirred quietly as she turned to her energy source. Her fist was placed squarely on it, sucking up the electricity as quickly as the generator produced it. Ash hadn't quite worked out all of her expressions and mannerisms since they hadn't spent much time together – training with Lance had divided his attention and the last few weeks had been so hectic that he just hadn't had many chances – but he thought she seemed rather pensive. He silently resolved to fix that situation.

With that he left to head off his awakening housemates – or, more specifically, Sneasel. All of the others were content to leave Oz in her solitude.

He supposed that he'd take Sneasel with him to find out their next opponent. The little dark-type enjoyed the outings and it would be a convenient way to give his friends a break from his pranks. Sneasel had managed to forget his loss to Ursaring and latched onto his inborn arrogance once more.

Besides, his battle with Gary had given Ash an idea that only Sneasel could pull off…

XX

"I'm here for my battle." He smiled to the friendly woman operating the desk. She nodded cheerfully and typed his name into the computer.

He felt a short burst of pride for both himself and his team for making it so far when he saw only himself, the trainer from Unova, Michael, and Neesha left in the brackets. Ash was the youngest by at least eight years and still competing with these elite trainers.

Ash frowned slightly when it struck him that he'd be battling the Unovan trainer, Grey. He'd hoped for Neesha.

Not to say that Neesha was weak. Far from it. She'd made it to the Top 4, after all. That required true talent and dedication.

But he knew Neesha. He knew her style and her team. She used fairly mundane pokemon in extravagant ways but he didn't have to worry about exotic fighters like those that Grey would possess. He'd have to study the Unovan's team further.

Hydreigon was known threat. It had demolished Amelia's team with little effort, utterly immune to her attacks. That kind of power required cunning to subvert effectively, even though he had faith in Torrent's ability to match the fearsome dragon blow-for-blow.

He had picked up on a weakness, however. Hydreigon wasn't too bright. It fell into its battle-rage too easily, susceptible to traps and feints unless its trainer guided it away from them. The dragon relied on its terrible power to rampage over foes. Ash wasn't sure if it would adopt a more intelligent style if it faced an equal, but he did know that he'd have at least a few moments to surprise it with Torrent's own incredible strength.

It was a shame that Nidoking wouldn't be able to battle. He'd be the best choice to put down the Hydreigon if Torrent proved insufficient. Dazed would probably be most efficient at defeating the weakened Hydreigon in Nidoking's absence. Her ability to teleport would be invaluable in avoiding the beast's incredibly powerful attacks.

"Good luck on your battle, Mr. Ketchum!" The woman smiled at him. Ash nodded gratefully, still caught up in his thoughts and strategies as he wheeled about and left the building. He didn't have time to waste.

Gary had begun to test his strength, but he hoped that Grey would be an equal. Until proved otherwise he would give the Unovan the credit that honor deserved. He wouldn't wing this battle. He'd prepare.

And after that he'd have to do some research. He thought he had a way to turn the sleeping dark-type curled around his shoulders into a fighter to be feared and he didn't want to lose any time in accomplishing that goal.

He had a slight grin on his face as he lightly scratched around Sneasel's sole feather. It would take some time to prepare and teach, but it would be utterly fantastic when his youngest friend truly mastered this technique.

XX

"I thought you'd like to know I'm facing the Unovan in the Semifinals." He said quietly as he, Jonathan, and Amelia ate at their table. Sneasel was down by his feet begging for scraps and doing his utmost to climb up to the table, although Tangrowth was kind enough to pull him away and wrap him up in a friendly hug whenever the dark-type got too bold.

"Beat him." Amelia growled, an unusual fire behind her eyes. It seemed that she hadn't gotten over her utter defeat at Grey's hands. "I don't care how you do it, but smash that dragon of his into the dirt."

Ash raised an eyebrow at the uncharacteristic aggressiveness, but just let a faint smirk play over his features. That was certainly new.

"Yeah!" Jonathan cheered with his mouth full. Ash shot him a look of distaste, which was just obvious enough for the older boy to pick up on. "Sorry, sorry. But come on, aren't you even a little excited about this? You're going to get to fight that jerk and humiliate him in front of a million people."

Jonathan snorted and glanced over to Amelia. "I mean, can you even imagine how that must feel?"

She scowled at him and began to say something to Ivysaur, but Ash just raised a hand and calmed the situation down. "I can't, but I could always ask you if the mood struck me."

The other boy just rolled his eyes as Amelia sat down and glared at him. She was in a touchy mood today. "Ha. Very funny."

Ash smiled slightly before his expression shifted to be slightly more serious. "I doubt it's going to be that easy. He made it to the Semifinals and all of his other battles have been over before they began. I'm just going to take out Hydreigon and work from there."

"You'll be fine." Amelia assured him. "You beat Gary with no trouble and he's really strong!"

"I wouldn't say that I didn't have any trouble." Ash muttered quietly, mind flashing to Nidoking. His first friend was still recovering from the brutal injuries Blastoise had left him with. He'd barely done anything but sleep for the last two days as his body slowly healed what the Pokemon Center couldn't.

"Nidoking got banged up a little, so what?" Jonathan commented airily. "He's fine now, isn't he?"

Ash nodded tightly, annoyed at Jonathan's attitude. Nidoking's skin had been ripped off from the power of Blastoise's Hydro Cannon. He had not been "banged up a little".

"So take this punk down." The other boy gave him a manic grin and pumped his fist. "How are often are you gonna get to beat down one of those guys, eh? Make the most of it!"

He rolled his eyes at Jonathan's exuberance and slouched in his chair a little, idly toying with the few clumps of noodles he hadn't devoured. Ash kept one eye on Sneasel as potential strategies ran throughout his mind, each tailored with Hydreigon as the main focus.

The Indigo trainer had already looked up Grey's team while Jonathan and Amelia were out training. He had no illusions that going up against the Unovan's exotic team without preparation was a very bad idea. Grey had at least a year to get used to Kanto's pokemon and their basic abilities. Ash had a day to come up to speed with Unova's.

He didn't have access to Unovan pokemon on his pokedex yet, but he was confident that there would be sufficient information in the databases to fill him in. There were usually one or two Unovan competitors in the Conference every year. If worst came to worst he would just check their battles to see if they had any of the same pokemon. He'd certainly find the recordings of Grey's battles.

Ash already had a good idea of the roles each of Grey's team performed. He might not know specifics or what kind of abilities they possessed, but it was simple enough to analyze their physiological attributes and divine their purpose.

Hydreigon was a juggernaut of raw power and unstoppable force with a hide thick enough to easily absorb and deflect all but the strongest of attacks. Torrent would be a necessity in Nidoking's absence. Infernus would be the ideal backup, along with Dazed when it was weakened. He would have to fight fire with fire to fell the beast.

Scolipede, a strange, massive bug-type that was somewhat similar to what he imagined the mix of a Weedle and Arbok would look like, was obviously meant for speed. It was heavily built and little more than a heavily armored exoskeleton and dense muscle. It wouldn't be slow. Everything about its form was devoted to speed and deadly power – its horns looked sharp enough to tear into to anything weaker than a Nidorino's hide with ease and probably deliver a nasty dose of poison in the process.

Eelektross was an odd water-type that appeared to have electric-type traits. He wasn't sure if it was enough to be classified as an electric-type, but it would be a threat to watch out for. It vaguely reminded Ash of a pokemon he had seen in the Hoenn section of his pokedex called Huntail, although the resemblance was most likely purely superficial.

He doubted he would have trouble with it. It looked like one of the water-types restricted to the pool in Indigo Stadium. He'd check up on it more thoroughly just to be sure. Its muscular "arms" were either meant for entangling prey while it injected electricity into them or dragging itself along the surface, neither of which he would allow the creature an opportunity to take advantage of.

Beeheyem was one of three pokemon that he had been forced to use in the Conference so far. It was obviously a psychic-type considering it appeared to be levitating in the image on Grey's profile, but other than that he had little knowledge of its abilities. He expected it would have some form of shields or the ability to teleport in order to make up for its physical infirmity, but he'd definitely look it up. Ash hated fighting the unknown.

Ash frowned as he recalled his foe's last two pokemon: Jellicent and Chandelure. Both were rather odd, to say the least. The blue Jellicent looked absolutely harmless and fairly ridiculous, but it must have some sort of unseen power to be used by Grey. It just struck him as spectacularly unintimidating, like Tentacruel without any of the terror the water-type inspired.

Chandelure appeared far less innocent than Jellicent but lacked the imposing nature of Hydreigon or Scolipede. It was obviously a fire-type, although he suspected it also possessed ghostly or psychic abilities as well. Otherwise it wouldn't be able to survive with its odd body structure. The suspected abilities made it a threat to be reckoned with. Ghosts that made it this far were often the trickiest of opponents, phasing out of reality at will and manipulating forces similar to that which made Confuse Ray so potent.

That type of power mixed with fire only invited caution on his part. It wasn't nearly as intimidating in appearance as Hydreigon but he suspected that its use of ghostly or psychic power would render it a tricky opponent. Dazed would be his best chance. Perhaps she'd be able to lock it into this universe with Disable.

"I'll see you later." He said, yanked from his thoughts as he realized he'd been staring at an empty plate for the last minute or so. Ash shook his head lightly and nudged Sneasel off of his foot.

"Where're you going?" Amelia looked up from her loud conversation with Jonathan curiously as Ash put his dishes in the sink to be washed later.

"I have homework." He said shortly, turning out of the kitchen with Sneasel hot on his heels. It was a small blessing that Grey didn't have a variety of pokemon to choose from. He wouldn't have to memorize too many completely new pokemon and their abilities, but it did mean that they'd be incredibly well-trained and honed into fighters with more experience than most any other trainer could boast.

Amelia and Jonathan nodded, unsurprised. Ash gave them one last parting nod before he left for his room. He'd be able to focus much better in the peaceful setting, surrounded by his family.

His mouth quirked up slightly as he heard a muttered comment from Jonathan.

"I guess I get to make sure he remembers to eat this time…"

XX

He was ready.

Perhaps not to the degree he would have preferred, but he was prepared for this. He would face the Unovan and show him the strength held by his friends.

He would win.

"It's a shame that you aren't able to fight in this one." He murmured to Nidoking, who stood hunched by his side. The poison-type towered above Ash where he sat in the staging area, annoyance in his eyes at the reminder of his fading injuries.

Ash waved his friend's low groan of irritation away. "It's fine, Nidoking. You've more than earned a short break from fighting."

When Nidoking just grunted softly again Ash rolled his eyes. "Look, would you rather be out for this battle or the Finals?"

That shut his friend up. Nidoking snorted quietly and stood silent for a few moments. Ash kept his focus on the poison-type from the corner of his eye as a tiny well of nervousness bubbled up in his stomach, an uninvited irritant in his mind.

He'd learned everything he could about Grey's team and memorized all of their potential abilities in the limited time he had. Ash had designed plan after plan to neutralize his greatest threats with the least cost on his part. He'd laid traps within traps.

But he couldn't hold off the fear that he hadn't done enough. Ash trusted in his friends and his own ability but it was impossible to shake the anxiety. Grey was very powerful, certainly an equal if the strength of his Hydreigon and the rest of his team were any indication.

They might be equals, but Ash would win. His friends had always refused to accept defeat, so he would follow their example. No matter how far he had to go, he would lead them to victory. His family had earned that right and so much more.

A dull claw tapped his shoulder. Ash looked up and saw Nidoking gazing at him with his narrow black eyes, utterly calm. Nidoking grunted, eliciting a smile from the trainer.

"I'm just thinking. This will not be an easy fight." Ash murmured. "Gary was the first to really push us, but even he fell quickly after Blastoise and Alakazam were defeated. I don't think it will be so easy against the Unovan. At least three of his team are strong enough to pose a real challenge. I fully expect the others to be up to par."

Nidoking growled lightly in support and laid his claws against Ash's hat comfortingly, the heavy weight not bothersome in the least to the trainer.

"Thank you." He grinned to his first friend. Ash tapped Nidoking's shoulder familiarly, mimicking the poison-type's movements. "And don't worry if you'll get to battle again or not. I'm not about to lose – not when you're depending on me."

"Infernus has been cooped up for a long time, you know." Ash smiled lightly. Nidoking bared his fangs at him, amused. "I think it's time to let him out to play. How many do you think he'll take down?"

Before Nidoking could do anything to respond the loudspeaker came on. Ash didn't even bother listening to it, knowing the words by heart at this point. He just stood up and headed down the hall that would take him to the Stadium, Nidoking trailing behind him.

He kept a stern expression as he rose into the heavy warm air of the Indigo Stadium accompanied by his friend. The sun had already fallen and his hat was stuffed gingerly into his pocket. Ash would rather not put up with any snarky comments about it like he'd suffered through with Jonathan and Gary.

"And here comes the Green Trainer, Ash Ketchum!" The announcer roared, joined by the chants of hundreds of thousands of voices that made up a chorus of thunder. Ash smiled and gave them a light wave. Nidoking just glared out at the sea of faces, eyes narrowed as he observed so many potential threats to Ash. "This incredible rookie has proven himself time and time again! It's no longer a question of how far he'll go, but whether he will win and become the youngest winner of the Indigo Conference in history!"

"But this match will not be easy!" The announcer boomed. "Whoever wins will have to fight for it! Because here comes George Grey of Unova, who has crushed every opponent he's faced so far! Will he manage to stop our favorite rookie in his tracks? Well, let's see! Green Trainer, release first! Begin!"

Ash didn't hesitate. Torrent appeared on the massive battlefield in a flash of scarlet light, his noble eyes peering at the opposite side curiously as he awaited the appearance of his foe. His body was tense, ready to snap into action at a moment's notice. He had already gone over several potential strategies with Torrent.

Torrent and Infernus would be the key players in this battle. Infernus would probably fare well even against Hydreigon, but his abilities would be put to far better use against the weaker members of Grey's team that he could hunt and destroy with nigh impunity. Torrent's job was to defeat Hydreigon no matter what. The massive dragon was the single greatest threat Grey possessed and the cornerstone of the Unovan's team.

"So that's how you're playin' it." Grey drawled, a feral grin on his lips. "Well count me in. You're pretty tough, kid, and I ain't about to underestimate you. So I'm going to enjoy this. Hydreigon, no holding back!"

With that the beast emerged onto the field, the scarlet eyes on each of its heads glaring with bloody fury as the two "hands" snapped viciously and honed in on Torrent. Hydreigon's main head roared, a gout of blue fire emerging in a crackling roar as the creature locked eyes with the Kingdra, blood and pride burning between them.

"Dragon Pulse." Grey called out lazily, alert eyes belying his false boredom. They were sharp and intelligent, capable of analyzing information and processing it in mere seconds. Ash had seen those eyes in the mirror every day of his life. "Get advancin'. Don't give it a chance to fight back."

Hydreigon responded immediately, charging forth on its powerful hind legs as its two smaller heads' jaws gaped open and a sphere of greenish energy with a core of white formed just outside. Its main head was focused intently on Torrent, who remained perfectly motionless as the crowd looked on with bated breath.

Torrent knew how to counter this. Fighting against multiple dragon-type opponents was one of the most valuable lessons Lance had given them during their training. Even though his friend couldn't match the Dragonite trio, he was well-versed in how to neutralize their attacks.

So, when the two powerful orbs of draconic energy shot out of the two maws Torrent was ready. He reacted almost instantaneously. Two Dragon Pulses, fired one after another, intercepted Hydreigon's midflight, releasing an enormous amount of crackling energy that Hydreigon charged straight through, heedless of the superficial damage it suffered doing so.

"Ice Beam!" He shouted to Torrent, who tipped his snout back just a few inches before he released the cascade of jagged, arcing beams that shot toward Hydreigon with incredible precision. Hydreigon simply leapt above them, finally unfurling its massive wings that kept it safely above the Ice Beam.

Hydreigon roared and unleashed an enormous stream of flame from both of its lesser heads, seemingly out of frustration rather than any serious attempt to defeat his friend. It soared closer to Torrent with speed Ash hadn't expected considering Hydreigon's sheer bulk and dived down to the Kingdra's side, taking advantage of the temporary cover the flames gave it.

He didn't have to tell Torrent to respond with an immediate Ice Beam, far more powerful than the one used when Hydreigon had been at a decent range. Grey was smart to try and get in close. Torrent wasn't able to maneuver very quickly on dry land, even with his levitation. They had to get Hydreigon away now.

Hydreigon roared in pain, but suffered through the Ice Beam and latched onto Torrent's body with one of its heads, the sharp, jagged fangs that filled its maw able to barely crack into the Kingdra's heavy plates of armor. The other recoiled, hissing and reflexively snapping at the other "hand" at the pain of suffering most of the Ice Beam's power.

"Focus!" Grey snapped, a little anger slipping into his tone as Hydreigon began to lose discipline. "Dual Hyper Beam now!"

"Blizzard! You have it trapped!" Ash cried simultaneously, knowing that he had to keep Hydreigon from unleashing its formidable Hyper Beams. Torrent was tough and durable, but he couldn't stay in the battle if he was hit by two Hyper Beams of Hydreigon's caliber.

Both dragons carried out their commands. The difference was that Torrent was just a touch faster – while Hydreigon's savage nature was certainly a great boon in battle, it worked against Grey in this case. By the time Hydreigon's free heads had stopped snapping at each other Torrent had already prepared the Blizzard, which he unleashed straight into the primary head.

"Focus!" Grey raged, his previous command repeated with a snarl as Hydreigon went reeling, all but one head covered with a thin layer of frost. Torrent levitated farther back while he still had the chance, not severely damaged from their brief altercation but obviously in pain from where Hydreigon's third head had bit him. "Go into Outrage! Don't back off."

Ash's eyes widened in fear at the mention of Outrage. It was almost like a dragon-type Rampage, although less strenuous and powerful. Outrage sent the user into a focused rampage, allowing the dragon to access more of its immense physical power and giving it the single-minded focus to weather some attacks, although when the adrenaline rush ended it tended to leave the dragon incapacitated and weak for a brief period of time.

But at this short of a distance Grey wouldn't have to worry about the negative aspects of the technique. Hydreigon would be able to charge Torrent and maul him in just a few seconds if it slipped into Outrage.

"Draco Meteor!" He called frantically as all six of Hydreigon's bloody eyes locked onto Torrent's retreating form. The beast roared furiously and began its charge, the massive dragon's speed far greater than Ash would have anticipated had he not read up on it.

The crowd went wild as Torrent reared his head back and shot the massive sphere of golden draconic energy high into the sky, scarlet eyes intent on the rapidly approaching Hydreigon as the beast tore across the battlefield with great leaps and bounds.

Ash counted down the five seconds it would take for the comets of draconic power coordinated by Torrent's will to reach their target.

Five.

Hydreigon drew nearer, lesser heads snarling and spitting as they strained outwards toward Torrent with a mouthful of knives.

Four.

Torrent was still as his iron will grasped control of the comets that the massive orb had split into, their falls angled at a single point as the golden energy strained for release.

Three.

Hydreigon was close. Another few seconds and he'd be on Torrent in a frenzy of fangs and blood.

Two.

The comets fell.

One.

Hydreigon leapt at its target, just aware enough of Grey's furious commands to realize the danger of the Draco Meteor.

Torrent was hurled back as the Draco Meteors slammed into Hydreigon's hulking form less than ten feet away from him, the stunning release of golden power massive enough to be felt by the crowd. The psychic barriers all around the battlefield flared up and dust whirled through the air above the dim outline of a deep crater.

Ash watched the swirling debris intently once he'd confirmed that Torrent had only sustained minor injuries. They would be uncomfortable if he had to fight another powerful opponent but he should be fine. With the kind of devastation his most powerful technique had wreaked Hydreigon couldn't fight for much longer, if at all.

The dust parted suddenly, revealing the black form of Hydreigon as it stumbled out, bleeding and burned all over but still capable of movement. Its three heads were dazed but still conscious enough to keep a wary eye on Torrent, who still had another few seconds before the strain Draco Meteor placed on him would begin to subside.

He grit his teeth as Hydreigon's bloody eyes burned with hatred and the beast unfurled the massive wings that it often kept behind it. The badly injured dragon wasn't finished yet.

At least Draco Meteor had snapped it out of Outrage. If it had remained in its berserker state then Torrent would have been finished by now.

"That was pretty good. Another hit like that and Hydreigon'll be down for the count." Grey flashed Ash a manic grin full of childlike glee as he leaned onto the edge of his box and rested his chin on a fist. "But that Kingdra of yours isn't fully grown yet, is he? Probably has another few years before he hits his prime, yeah?"

Ash just stared at him stonily. He didn't object to the Unovan's words. The more time he burned before Grey ordered Hydreigon to attack the better. It wasn't as if he was wrong. Torrent still had years to go before he reached his full strength and could use Draco Meteor as leniently as Lance's team could. The same held true for the rest of his team.

"You got a good turn in, but it's my time to shine now, boyo." The Unovan drawled. "Hydreigon, Draco Meteor!"

He bit down a curse, his self-control fading as Grey's words reached him. "To the water!"

Torrent levitated to the massive pool as fast as he could, the strain evident in his eyes as Hydreigon roared its fury. Two smaller spheres of golden power formed in front of its lesser heads, but the one that sprung out of the main head was absolutely gigantic, almost as large as one of Saph's.

The orbs shot up into the sky above the pool, Hydreigon's control over the technique absolutely flawless. It required true mastery of Draco Meteor to direct the orb to that degree. Torrent could place them in the general area of his target but that was as far as they'd gotten before their time with Lance had come to an end.

Ash's teeth were clenched as the comets began to drop, brilliant gold flashes arcing through the air as Hydreigon expertly manipulated them to fall on Torrent's exact location, right next to the pool.

Torrent slipped into the water right as the first of the comets smashed onto the surface and exploded in an impressive display of light and heat, followed quickly by a barrage of the others that vaporized the water it touched, although hundreds of gallons instantly flowed to replace it in a great rush.

He relaxed slightly as the barrage of nearly twenty Draco Meteors finally ended after reducing the water level in the pool by nearly six feet. Torrent was at the very bottom, having recovered just enough after the first volley to sink to the very bottom. His friend looked to be badly wounded, but his thick plates of armor had saved him from being knocked unconscious or worse.

"Well that's disappointing. Your Kingdra was a tad faster than I'd expected." Grey smiled. "This'll be fun. Fly, Hydreigon! Snipe it."

Hydreigon didn't bother trying to stumble its way over to the side of the pool. That would be an easy way to get shot with an Ice Beam or some other ambush by Torrent. Instead it finally took to the air, although the injuries it had suffered made the process slower than it had been before and looked a little tiring.

Ash scowled as one of Hydreigon's smaller heads stretched out from Hydreigon's arm gleefully, its "neck" stretched to the absolute limit as its jaws opened wide. The other was more subdued, although it gnashed its fangs and spat little plumes of blue fire as it impatiently stared at the water's surface.

He couldn't order Torrent from here. His friend had excellent hearing but the water would dampen any commands and the roar of the crowd as the deciding phase of the battle began was far too for Torrent to differentiate sounds.

That realization was all he needed to relax. There was nothing he could do, so there was nothing to worry about. He just had to trust in his friend's judgment. Torrent was hurt badly, but Hydreigon was in a bad position as well. It couldn't possibly fight for much longer.

The sudden flash of a Hyper Beam snatched his attention away from his thoughts. He abruptly felt his body tense as a line of water was vaporized, aimed perfectly to account for the diffraction of water. Hydreigon was brutish and relied more on raw strength than anything, but Grey had trained it extremely well.

Fortunately enough, Torrent was very, very fast in the water. Whatever his slowness on land Torrent was little more than a blur in the water, his expert manipulation of it and his hydrodynamic form enough to make him faster than many other smaller and lighter aquatic pokemon.

It was with that speed that he dodged the first Hyper Beam and the second the head that had previously been tracking him fired. The primary head's Hyper Beam came much closer, however, and managed to send Torrent reeling from the sheer heat and concussive force the beam carried.

Ash frowned as the cycle repeated with another Hyper Beam from the first head, followed by another that barely missed the Kingdra as he sped through the water. Grey certainly made use of Hydreigon's unique physiology. One head fired the Hyper Beam, one tracked the target and accounted for any necessary adjustments to the aim, and one rested. All in all a brilliant strategy with Hyper Beam.

He was certain that it had its weaknesses, however. Hyper Beams, no matter how weak, required a great deal of energy that would leave an inexperienced user or a pokemon without much stamina exhausted for a few brief moments. It was a weakness that could be trained out to a certain degree, but that did not change the fact that Hyper Beam was a very taxing attack.

Perhaps Hydreigon could keep it up almost indefinitely given the ridiculous endurance it had displayed so far, but after being struck by Draco Meteor and returning what amounted to three Draco Meteors at once it had to be drained.

Ash would normally be fine with Torrent simply letting Hydreigon exhaust itself, but that wasn't an option. Torrent was hurt as well and couldn't keep up this kind of speed much longer. If Hydreigon – now on its fourth volley of Hyper Beams – hadn't slowed then Torrent would have been struck already.

He had to attack.

And, when Hydreigon's third head grew frustrated and snapped at the primary head when it missed, Torrent did. As the two heads growled and spat at each other Torrent sank to the bottom of the pool, deep enough so that it was difficult to see him.

Then he closed his scarlet eyes and focused.

"Pay attention!" Grey raged, an ugly sneer across his face as he addressed the petulant Hydreigon. "You're about to get attacked, dumbass! Fly higher."

Hydreigon's primary head snapped out of it and growled once more, forcing the lesser head to submit. With their internal conflict resolve, Hydreigon flapped its wings and tore its way higher to the sky. It looked down at the water, which trembled and jumped as Torrent exerted his control over it, and moved one of its heads into position to fire a Hyper Beam.

Ash doubted it would have done anything, but he never got a chance to find out as Torrent finally began the offensive. An enormous pillar of water a hundred feet high burst from the pool, Torrent's shadowed form barely visible through the whirling column. The psychic barriers flared up as the water brushed against the invisible wall, briefly blinding an entire side of Indigo Stadium with its intensity.

Even his eyes widened as Torrent began to levitate out of the pool and onto the battlefield proper, surrounded by millions of gallons of water that whirled constantly and was maintained only through Torrent's iron will and incredible strength. It moved with him slowly, tearing and soaking the earth and rendering Torrent an unstoppable juggernaut.

"AND what is THIS?!" The announcer screamed, almost sounding as though he were going to wet himself with excitement. Ash's mouth turned upward briefly. "Ash Ketchum's Kingdra REVERSES the course of this battle with an INCREDIBLE technique. How will Hydreigon –"

He stopped listening as the announcer waxed praise. It was unimportant. All that mattered was that Hydreigon had just begun to try to fly away, although Torrent somehow managed to angle the column to catch the massive dragon in the water funnel, sucking it in and rendering it helpless for a few brief seconds.

"Blizzard!" He shouted, knowing that this was their one chance. If Hydreigon wasn't defeated here then it would face an utterly exhausted Torrent. Forming a funnel like this normally wouldn't take him too much effort, but actually carrying it out of the pool and forming it into a controlled weapon was an act that would have strained him at his best.

Torrent's hidden form raised his snout up and released a massive blast of frozen power. The moment the icy blast touched the swirling water it froze, the layer of ice rapidly spreading throughout the entire faux-hurricane at an incredible rate.

In mere seconds the column of water was frozen, an icy tomb for Hydreigon. Torrent was invisible now, silent and tired from his exertion.

"Now that's what I was waiting for!" Grey crowed, a manic grin stretched across his tanned face. "You really haven't been pushed in this Conference, huh?"

Ash silently nodded. His eyes were focused entirely on Hydreigon's form entombed in Torrent's ice. Kingdra were one of the few dragon-types capable of sustaining such low temperatures without much trouble thanks to their habitat in the abyssal trenches. Hydreigon was far more vulnerable. If it wasn't unconscious yet it would be in a few seconds.

"C'mon, boyo, pep up!" The Unovan flashed him another disturbingly cheerful grin. "No more holding back, kiddo. I'm gonna win this, but I ain't gonna let you hand this match to me on a silver platter!"

He scowled at that. Ash didn't particularly like being talked down to, especially when it made a reference to his age.

If Grey wanted his best, he would get it. He'd held back long enough.

His eyes suddenly locked onto the column of ice with a bit of apprehension. He thought he saw – no.

No.

Hydreigon fell out of the ice in a small avalanche of slush. Its hulking body was covered in it and the beast shivered pathetically, barely conscious. It still pulled itself shakily to its feet, however. No matter how far reduced it was from its original fearsome state, Hydreigon's determination kept it from simply giving up.

"C'mon, Hydreigon. This battle's over." Grey drawled. His sharp eyes flashed with something and his mouth quirked up into an odd smile. "But let's leave our friend here with a parting gift, yeah?"

The beast roared and one of its lesser heads thrashed wildly in response to his words, the other limp and unmoving. Ash looked at the single unconscious head with brief fascination before he returned his attention to Torrent. That was an interesting little detail that hadn't been included in the reports on Hydreigon's physiology.

He frowned as Hydreigon's remaining heads focused solely on Torrent, who was a barely visible shadow through the ice. Ash didn't bother calling out. The ice Torrent was surrounded by would leave him deaf to his commands. He'd have to trust Torrent's own awareness and preparation.

Ash clenched his fist as orbs of orange-gold light swirled inside of Hydreigon's mouths, growing more and more as if the beast had put every last bit of energy it had into the attack. Whatever hopes he had of the ice being too thick for Hydreigon's attack to penetrate faded instantly.

The trainer breathed. There was nothing he could do. Torrent had achieved his sole purpose in the battle and had finally been able to reveal his true strength to the world. He could rest easy knowing that he'd managed to succeed.

And with that twin Hyper Beams shot forth from Hydreigon's fearsome maw, the spears of light enough to briefly light up the entire stadium even under the rays of the sun.

But then the column of ice collapsed with a thunderous roar, brief cracks instantly giving way to huge chunks of frozen water that left indentions and small craters in the battlefield as they landed, releasing energy akin to a small earthquake that wracked the ground and left the exhausted Hydreigon crumpled as it was pelted by small daggers of frost.

Torrent's last act of defiance didn't leave him unscathed, however. He left Hydreigon unconscious and terribly wounded – Ash could see the blood running down the dragon's body, although it was little more than a scratch as far as Nurse Joy was concerned – but was struck by the Hyper Beams a second later. They exploded in a brilliant rush of light, which kept Ash from watching directly as Torrent's badly burned body was hurled far back into the bottom of the drained pool, where it landed with a heavy thud.

Ash winced, but still kept a slight smile on his face as he recalled his friend. Torrent had done better than he had hoped. Hydreigon had proved to be a real monster – Torrent hadn't had such an even battle in a very long time and Hydreigon had certainly outclassed his friend in most areas of combat – but he'd won in the end.

That was all he could have asked for.

"Nice one." Grey nodded approvingly as he recalled his own dragon. "I'll have to kick up my idiot of a Hydreigon's training if I wanna keep up with you, kiddo. That Kingdra's gonna be a monster when it grows up."

Ash dipped his head to show his acknowledgement. He eyed the Unovan patiently as the teen made a show of running his fingers across the other five pokeballs on his waist. Grey had a smirk on his face as he finally selected one and raised it just high enough so that the beam would go over the trainer box.

"Here's a hint, boyo: pick somethin' strong." Grey drawled as Beheeyeem appeared in a bright flash. The alien creature vaguely reminded Ash of Giovanni's Claydol, just more streamlined. Its luminescent green eyes burned with malice, the glow fueled by the psychic power wielded by the strange intelligence. "She's not very gentle."

Dazed appeared mere seconds after Ash had realized what Grey released. Beheeyem was noted to have exceptional abilities when it came to the manipulation of others' minds. It could alter memories temporarily, possess weaker pokemon, and layer illusion over illusion upon the victim's mind.

It was widely feared in Unova for that reason. Beheeyem, like Ninetales, were renowned for their abilities to alter perceptions. They could dominate a victim's senses with nary a thought, creating touch and vision and sounds that were impossible to tell apart from reality.

As such, Dazed would be the best choice to counter it. She had the most powerful psychic defenses other than Infernus and would be able to easily dispel any illusions. Not to mention that she could actually keep up with it should the alien psychic begin to teleport.

"Not bad." Grey whistled as he regarded Dazed, who stared back at the Unovan with an utterly bored expression. The tremble of her pendulum was the only hint that she felt anything but serenity in the face of battling the Beheeyem. "Could do worse, for sure. Too bad it won't be able to hypnotize Beheeyem. You're just an amateur in that regard."

Ash's mouth quirked up slightly. If Grey thought that Dazed's true power lay in her hypnosis he would be sorely surprised. Dazed had more than a few tricks waiting for those who failed to realize the true extent of her strength.

"Begin!"

Beheeyem didn't so much as twitch as the announcer's command boomed across the arena. It just continued to levitate, the only hint that it realized there was a battle going on the deadly green eyes locked onto Dazed.

Ash crossed his arms. Dazed simply met Beheeyem's stare, a slight glow emanating from her bored eyes as she resisted whatever it was the alien creature was attempting to do to her. Her pendulum shone brightly under the dying light of day and jumped erratically, but Dazed remained strong.

"Signal Beam." Grey drawled with a lazy wave of his hand. Beheeyem twitched an arm.

He barely caught the formation of a small, multicolored orb of swirling energy between the three prongs on Beheeyem's "hand" before a rainbow-hued beam of energy shot out, distorting the air where it passed before it slammed straight into Dazed.

Or would have.

Dazed blinked as the Signal Beam washed over her shimmering shield of blue light, the construct reinforced many times over with her power in order to survive contact with the bug-type technique. She wanted to stay as far away from the debilitating nature of the Signal Beam as she could lest this battle come to a quick close. Beheeyem would prey upon any weakness with ruthless efficiency.

"Not too shabby!" Grey cackled. The unnerving grin on his face was back in full force as his eyes glittered with that same intensity Ash knew so well. With a snap of his fingers the battle began in earnest.

Beheeyem appeared roughly twenty feet behind Dazed, its teleportation so perfect that not a single light or sound gave its move away. Its arm raised up again in a blur and released a Dark Pulse straight into Dazed's back with enough power to easily send her into a fit as the foreign energy ravaged her mind.

Or it would have. Beheeyem's eyes had just enough to pulse in surprise before it teleported back to its original position, barely avoiding the flurry of Shadow Balls that casually littered the battlefield. Dazed stared at it with utter disinterest as it avoided the attack.

The two powerful psychics didn't move for several more seconds, each assessing the other. That initial flurry of blows had been nothing but a test to determine whether their respective opponent was worthy of anything resembling effort.

Considering the power that pulsed beneath their skin and filled the air thickly enough to be cut by a knife, each had found the other acceptable.

"Multiball." Ash said quietly. Dazed was a defensive fighter but he didn't want Grey to dictate the terms of their match. Beheeyem was exceptionally powerful, even if its potent illusory abilities were nullified by Dazed's defenses.

This was another test, one which Beheeyem passed perfectly. It teleported even as the words left his mouth, the alien creature appearing at the very back of the arena, close to Grey's box.

He frowned when he saw that Beheeyem's eyes began to shine brighter. It appeared that its previous glow was simply a latent effect of levitation. Right now it was actually doing something.

But what?

Ash glanced around the battlefield and took it in with a sweeping stare. Nothing was out of place. There was no obvious psychic interference – no glowing stone or sand.

There was nothing.

But, as Beheeyem's eyes burned with power that was easily equal to what Dazed could muster, he continued to search. He knew it had to be doing something.

His eyes finally glanced up to Grey's, which shone with the same green fire as Beheeyem's. The Unovan smirked and sent him a cocky wave as realization dawned on him.

A psychic link. His opponent was more formidable than he'd expected. The link would be an erratic one considering Grey didn't seem to have any sort of psychic potential, but even just a series of images and erratic thoughts could greatly increase Beheeyem's combat efficiency if the duo were experienced in its use.

Ash doubted that Grey would be able to interpret or send signals as clearly as Sabrina could – she was the strongest human psychic in the world, after all – but just being able to get directions to the psychic without having to vocalize his commands was a tremendous advantage.

Beheeyem moved. Two Signal Beams of slightly lesser intensity than the one it had used to test Dazed flashed, the rainbow-hued blasts carving a thin fissure into the dirt right where the Hypno had been mere moments before.

Dazed appeared in front of him in a brief flash of light, still with the same air of boredom about her. Her eyes did narrow slightly at Beheeyem as it hummed and teleported again, this time appearing right beside her before releasing a Dark Pulse from its thin, atrophied arm.

Ash frowned as Dazed barely managed to teleport away in time, avoiding the wave of alien power by a hair. Beheeyem shouldn't have been able to react that quickly once it came out of teleportation. There was always a brief moment of confusion when one teleported as one oriented themselves with their surroundings. It could be trained to be miniscule, but that Dark Pulse had been primed the instant Beheeyem had arrived at its new destination.

It looked like the duo were making good use of their psychic link.

As Beheeyem teleported near Dazed again with another Dark Pulse perfectly prepared Ash realized he needed to nip this in the bud. This heralded the beginning of a very annoying game that Dazed would lose. She didn't have the natural propensity for teleportation that Beheeyem did or the psychic link to assist her.

Sooner or later she would slip up. She'd be a shade too slow and then Beheeyem's Dark Pulse would end it for her. Ash doubted that a single Dark Pulse would knock her unconscious but it would be enough to nullify much of her power for a few minutes. Combined with Beheeyem's power and continued ability to teleport meant a quick end for Dazed.

"Multiball. Hold it." Ash commanded as Dazed teleported near the base of his box again. She didn't outwardly react but the grey aura of power that briefly flowed from her eyes was enough. Dazed seemed to have picked up on his idea, as several dozen miniscule Shadow Balls sprung up around her in a sphere. She could attack anywhere.

Grey scowled and Beheeyem finally stopped its constant assaults on Dazed. Even if it could manage to hit Dazed with a Dark Pulse it would almost certainly be struck by one of the Shadow Balls. They were extremely weak, but Beheeyem seemed reliant enough on its psychic powers to move that it would cripple it.

Between a weakened Dazed and an immobile Beheeyem, he'd place his money on his friend.

The Unovan's eyes burned brighter in tandem with Beheeyem's. Ash immediately grew wary. That meant Beheeyem was harnessing quite a bit of its power.

"Get ready." He said just loud enough for Dazed to hear over the dull roar of the crowd. She actually nodded, something that was more than a little surprising. Dazed didn't usually care to acknowledge his words. She preferred to carry them out. "Immobilize it through any means."

Beheeyem finally moved once more. It released a great flash of light before it did so, nearly blinding Ash and his friend. A cheap tactic but very effective.

He squinted down at the battlefield as Beheeyem emerged into existence once more, no Dark Pulse on its arm. Dazed was blinded, but that didn't mean she couldn't feel Beheeyem's powerful presence via her rudimentary psychic "echolocation".

A flurry of Shadow Balls greeted the alien creature, which reacted instantly by teleporting within three feet of Dazed with a Dark Pulse primed. Dazed, still stunned from Beheeyem's flash of light, was struck before she could teleport once more to safety. Ash's face fell into a murderous scowl as his friend fell twitching to the earth, the Dark Pulse more powerful than the last.

His brow furrowed when Beheeyem fell to the ground, covered in grey arcs of energy that danced over its streamlined form. How…?

Realization came quickly when he saw the last of her tiny Shadow Balls dissolve into nothingness after striking the psychic barrier in front of him. Dazed might not have been able to teleport in time, but she did have enough time to release the rest of her Shadow Balls in a directionless blast, one of which had managed to strike Beheeyem as it loomed over the defenseless Hypno.

A small smirk of satisfaction wormed its way onto his face when he saw Grey clutch his temples and grit his teeth in agony as the aftershocks of the ghostly explosion wracked his mind after it was transferred over the psychic link. It seemed like there was a downside after all.

"Focus Blast!" He commanded. Dazed wouldn't be able to access her psychic abilities, but if he was lucky she'd be able to utilize Focus Blast. It relied on the power of the body to form it, not the mind.

Dazed's head rose and her dull eyes out-of-focus as she struggled to raise a single arm that was wracked with spasms as the dark-type energy ravaged her mind. A tiny ball of white-blue energy slowly began to form, but a beam of rainbow energy cut her off before it could be hurled at her target.

Beheeyem twitched and shuddered as it slowly levitated to just a little less than its previous height. It was in bad shape, but it had been able to defeat at least one opponent it was fairly equal to.

Ash just scowled as he recalled his friend. Dazed was one of his primary battlers – one of his strongest. She wasn't on the level of Infernus or Torrent but she could still go toe-to-toe with any of his team for much longer than most pokeon. It was disconcerting that she had been defeated without actually taking down her foe with her, even if she had made the job much easier.

He inwardly sighed. They had been so close. He honestly hadn't expected Beheeyem to teleport inside of Dazed's guard in the split second before the wave of Shadow Balls would have hit. The strange psychic-type was even more skilled than he had anticipated.

"You did well, Dazed." He murmured to the pokeball before he looked up to Beheeyem with a fire in his eyes. Ash let just a hint of his next choice's personality burn through his own as he flashed the groaning Unovan a savage grin.

"Nice feint. Didn't see that coming." Grey moaned as he rubbed his temples in a futile attempt to alleviate the pain. "Beheeyem, get ready. One last attack."

More of Ash's teeth were revealed as the smile tugged at his mouth. Beheeyem wouldn't get another attack.

Infernus would make sure of it.

With that he released his friend, who emerged into the light of day with a burst of dancing fire and a roar that shook the earth. Infernus' eyes burned with malicious interest as he stared at the odd form of Beheeyem that sagged slightly as its power faded. One of his arms molded itself into a cannon, an orange glow easily visible from deep inside the tube.

Grey looked at the Magmortar curiously, a dangerous grin edging its way onto his tanned face. He squinted as Infernus' body heated to a terrible temperature that left the air warped and wavering around him, masking the dim glow that began to emanate from his powerful body.

"That's what I'm talkin' about." Grey drawled, still massaging his head. "Glad to see you ain't pulling any punches, boyo."

Ash just scowled, the sight of Dazed's trembling form still imprinted in his mind. The Feather pulsed in tune with his heart and drove him forward. His blood burned.

"Begin!" The referee shouted, breaking the silence that pervaded since Infernus had been released.

"Finish this quickly." Ash commanded as a bit of his usual calm returned. The water Torrent had sprayed all over the stadium might dampen Infernus' abilities if Beheeyem managed to harness it. He'd prefer to avoid any damage to Infernus. He needed his friend's strength right now to even the odds.

"Miracle Eye!" Grey shouted. It seemed that some of the pain had ebbed. "Keep track of it! Account for refraction."

Beheeyem hummed and raised one of its spindly arms slowly. It aimed it at Infernus, who leered at the psychic-type with a dangerous mockery of a smile.

As Beheeyem's eyes burned brightly, augmented even further by psychic powers. Miracle Eye was a rare technique but very useful. It was incredibly difficult to learn but was a potent weapon in the hands of a powerful psychic. In effect it allowed a psychic to track almost any target by overlapping the psychic's awareness of the minds around it and sight, basically marking a target and allowing for the location of almost any living being.

That was its primary function in this instance, but it was also one of the few psychic techniques of any use against dark-types. Aside from allowing psychics to enhance their sight in order to track their natural enemies more easily, Miracle Eye allowed the user to see a dark-type's "aura" of the alien energy that flowed through their body and the locations of the organs that harnessed it. By knowing the location of those organs it was possible to damage them through another attack that didn't rely on psychic powers, which would in turn leave them vulnerable to direct psychic attacks.

It was more than possible for a psychic to memorize where the organs that made a dark-type what it was were, but only the enhanced tracking abilities and reflexes bestowed by Miracle Eye made it practical to attack them. The organs were well-protected and required incredible precision to temporarily disable, let alone truly damage.

Ash just smiled. Miracle Eye was a waste in this instance. That thought was only confirmed when Beheeyem fired off a flurry of moderately powerful Psybeams, each aimed with precision beyond what it possessed during the psychic bond with Grey.

Beheeyem hummed happily as they reached their target, only to cock its large head when Infernus, who had previously stood absolutely still in the face of the attack, vanished in a crack and flash of light.

The psychic barely had time to raise its head before Infernus dropped down on it from above, his immense bulk more than enough to crush the psychic as his claws carved past its tough exterior and released hundreds of volts of electricity into its sensitive body, just enough to stun.

Beheeyem screamed. Infernus just grinned and casually raised his cannon to the psychic's thrashing body. A fiery glow shone deep within the appendage and a stream of red and orange flame liberally bathed the place Beheeyem had been just moments ago.

Infernus snarled and stood up, flames still trickling out of his cannon at a sedate pace. A cloak of flame settled about him, leaving his intimidating figure nothing more than a blackened silhouette bathed in raging light.

"Yes!" Grey crowed as he gleefully returned Beheeyem. Another pokeball was already in his grip as his gleaming eyes regarded the Magmortar before him. "This is what I've been waiting for! C'mon out, Eelektross!"

Ash glanced at the hulking creature that emerged with interest. It was similar to the picture he had seen. He'd guess that it was around seven feet long, although the way it constantly wound and twisted in midair made it difficult to tell for sure. The creature was essentially one long muscle with teeth and claws. It was probably around a foot thick in most places, disregarding its various fins.

It certainly wouldn't be an easy target, although he doubted Infernus would have too much trouble. The creature's electricity would hardly be a concern to the Magmortar. Eelektross would also be limited by the lack of water to retreat to. It was able to levitate, which Ash hadn't known about, but it had very few advantages over Infernus. Most of the water it could utilize to great effect had been splashed around the battlefield by Torrent.

The creature sparked angrily as it writhed in midair, beady red eyes locked onto Infernus as it awaited the command to begin. Eelektross' tubular mouth contracted slightly, the fangs scraping together.

Infernus just grinned at it. His cannon glowed with heat to the point that it was easily visible within his cloak of flame and his claws sparked with electricity, mocking the Eelektross.

"Your playmate can teleport, so be ready." The Unovan drawled. "Shut it down with Thunder Wave and Zap Cannon and finish it off with Hyper Beam. Don't take any chances, 'kay? This thing is the real deal!"

Ash just grinned and waited. If Grey wanted to waste time by talking then so be it. Infernus wouldn't be running out of fuel anytime soon. His endurance had been insane as a Magmar. Now he could probably fight all day without feeling the drain.

"Begin!"

Eelektross wasted no time. The deadly creature dipped slightly as it released two massive charges of electricity, one designed to paralyze and the other to damage. Ash noted that detail. It seemed that part of Eelektross' levitation was a connection to its electric-type abilities. Magnetism didn't sound likely unless it had a strip of metal on its underbelly.

He shrugged it off. That was a question for Professor Oak. Right now he needed to keep an eye on the carnage.

Infernus didn't bother using Air Lens, surprisingly. Ash had told his friend to keep that secret as long as he could but it seemed that Infernus had paid a bit more attention than he thought. He'd have to make sure the Magmortar knew it was fine to use it after this battle. It would be a shame if he lost the final battle of the Conference because Infernus avoided using one of his abilities.

Instead, Infernus teleported once more. He fell onto Eelektross from atop just as he had Beheeyem, instantly enveloped in another cloak of flame and terrible heat as he smashed the powerful water-type into the ground and seared it with an unending stream of fire from his cannon.

Eelektross thrashed helplessly as Infernus speared its thick muscles with his claws, effortlessly bypassing the tough layer of rubbery skin thanks to the terrible heat infused into the claws. He held Eelektross in his grasp without flinching, every attempt by the creature to escape by releasing thousands upon thousands of volts of electricity or spitting water to dampen the flames doing nothing but fuelling his enjoyment of the struggle.

Ash finally felt his spite fade as he watched the helpless creature cook in Infernus' flames. Most pokemon were capable of resisting extreme heat from a distance and had evolved defenses to deal with fire-types – thicker hide, a protective layer of fat, and abilities that could let them rush away from the dangerous pokemon and their attacks – but it was never meant to deal with something like this.

Magmortar were not a fire-type. They were the fire-type.

And Infernus was the pinnacle of their kind.

Water-types could resist flame. Their bodies could shrug bursts and streams of fire and heat off with ease. But Infernus' body was as hot as the flames that he surrounded himself with. Prolonged exposure would kill it.

He eyed Grey worriedly. The Unovan didn't even seem bothered as he watched Infernus slowly kill his pokemon with fire and claw. If anything he seemed entranced by the spectacle, a look that reminded Ash of a giddy child painted across his face as he stared at Infernus.

It matched Infernus' grin perfectly.

Ash felt bile rise in his throat as he realized Eelektross had stopped resisting. It just lay there uselessly, no amount of experience able to save it.

"Back off!" He roared when Infernus showed no signs of letting up. The fires had only brightened and it spelled a quick end for Eelektross if he didn't intervene quickly.

Infernus seemed to awake from a pleasant dream as Ash's words reached him. The inferno that raged around him faded and died as Infernus teleported back to his original position in the middle of the field. Before long there were only embers, although a new conflagration kindled around Infernus as his power flowed into the air and sky.

Eelektross had been unconscious for several seconds now. White burns and blackened hide covered its thick body, the gruesome evidence of the fires that had engulfed it. Ash felt slightly sick as he looked at it.

His friend hadn't even fought the creature. Infernus had just held it down and let the terrible heat that surrounded him finish Eelektross off.

It was eye-opening. Everything else Infernus had fought since his evolution was able to resist his fires. Rhydon was all but immune and Arcanine could survive them without too much difficulty for a short period of time.

Ash wondered just how much longer it would have taken for the League to interfere. They didn't like pokemon being seriously wounded in the Conference, let alone killed. Aside from their obvious moral concerns, it meant that a great deal of talent had just been destroyed.

He found that he couldn't bring his gaze away from the barely living husk of Eelektross.

That was the power of Infernus.

"Huh." Grey muttered as he finally recalled the unconscious creature. "You interested in trading that Magmortar? I'm sure Hydreigon wouldn't mind taking one for the team. If you can control that Magmortar you can whip him into line no problem."

Ash grit his teeth and barely managed to shake his head. His hands shook and the Feather fueled his righteous anger at the Unovan's callousness.

"Too bad." The older teenager sighed. "But, just to be safe, are you sure? I'll even throw another one in to sweeten the –"

A massive Flamethrower from Infernus cut him off. His friend had a sneer on his face as he regarded Grey once the stream of flame had finally cut off and left the badly strained psychic barriers a chance to recover.

Grey blinked and cocked his head. "Offer's still up if you want to talk after the match."

Ash just glared and met the eyes so similar to his own with the steel he had gained during his journey. The last thing he would do was trade one of his family, let alone to someone like Grey.

Not that Infernus would allow it.

"Red Trainer, please select your next pokemon." The announcer said. His voice shook, revealing the feelings that most of the stadium had at the moment. "If you do not proceed you will be disqualified."

"And wouldn't that be a damn shame." Grey muttered. "Alright, let's get this show back on track."

Ash eyed the strange creature he released speculatively. Chandelure was certainly an odd creature, although it radiated an aura of malice that he could feel even from behind the psychic barriers. Most lesser pokemon would balk at the oppressive feeling it released.

Infernus grinned.

"Begin!"

Chandelure wasted no time. In an instant the ghostly blue fires that it held roared to life and exploded into massive, twenty foot long tongues of flame that danced erratically under the light of the sun. The ghost seemed to control the pillars perfectly. Each twisted and turned on itself so that they loomed over the Magmortar draped in a cloak of red and orange and gold.

Steam wafted up from the drenched earth as Infernus stepped forward confidently. His heat seared the ground and left it dead and dry. The Magmortar held no fear as he suddenly charged Chandelure, who instantly lashed out with its giant tongues of blue flame. Several stayed back as the blue pillars writhed and entrapped Infernus, who had a brief flash of alarm on his face as he felt the cold bite of the icy flames.

An instant later he teleported, leaving the conflagration that surrounded him to die as another spawned anew. He landed on top of Chandelure, which let out a terrible screech as it realized its prey had somehow escaped its trap. The strange creature wasn't nearly as helpless as Infernus' previous victims, however.

A gout of ghostly flame shot up from its "head", which actually made Infernus flinch as the unworldly fires latched onto him and burned. He did his best to scrape them off with his claws while his cannon frantically blasted Chandelure with an infinite stream of raging fires but it was to no avail. They simply burned into him, the flames of Chandelure something incredibly similar but far different than true fire.

Ash grit his teeth as Infernus roared in agony, his own illusions of Infernus' invincibility cast aside. Infernus could not be matched by an ordinary opponent, but Grey had obviously chosen Chandelure and its unique abilities well. He'd never seen anything like it during his travels. Gengar and other strong ghost-types possessed strange powers but Chandelure was the first he had heard of that had control over flame beyond Will-O-Wisps.

"Fire Blast!" He snapped, raw desperation surging through his mind. Chandelure appeared to be somewhat resistant to normal fire and heat, but it didn't seem to be a true fire-type in that regard. It certainly had fire-type traits, but those seemed to be tied into its ghostly powers. Chandelure used Will-O-Wisp to mimic fire-type abilities, certainly, but Ash wasn't sure if it could be classified as an actual member of the type.

Infernus roared, absolutely livid at the realization that Chandelure was actually burning him, and poured every ounce of his fury into the massive eruption of flame that raced from his mouth and blasted into Chandelure's oddly shaped body before Chandelure could try to further increase the intensity of its unnatural flames.

Grey's arrogant smirk just grew even more obnoxious. "Hey, cool him off a bit. Let's show him how ya beat Hydreigon. Curse!"

Chandelure's flames crackled as if amused. Its whips of blue fire whirled ominously as the specter's luminous yellow eyes flared with delight that fit better on a child's face than that of a deadly ghost-type.

He barely had time to call out a warning to the rampaging Magmortar before Chandelure's primary flame, which had previously been left unused, flared up and rushed into Infernus' mouth as he prepared to unleash another torrent of flame.

Ash grimaced as Infernus roared and clutched his throat in agony, the flames around him spiraling out of control as their master fell victim to Chandelure's ghostly fires. Infernus could barely even breathe as the searing substance rushed down his windpipe into his stomach, leaving only superficial damage but agonizing pain.

Curse was a dangerous technique. It was on the same level of difficulty and held just as much potential for permanent damage as Confuse Ray if used by an unskilled wielder.

It essentially involved a ghost injecting some of its essence into the body of its enemy. That was a difficult, costly process for the ghost but far worse for its victim. The ghost's essence would disrupt natural biological processes and slowly shut down the area of the body it was injected into before slowly spreading throughout its host until it was removed or the host died.

While the ghost suffered the loss of a great deal of its strength for the next few days or so, the victim would either fall unconscious in a matter of minutes or die in less than an hour. Psychics would fall into uncontrollable seizures the instant they were Cursed.

Grey had certainly made the best choice possible. After Infernus had cooked Eelektross alive it was clear that nothing else he possessed could actually fight the Magmortar. Chandelure could both survive his flames, inflict damage with its whips against which Infernus had no true defense, and bring it down in a sacrificial gambit via Curse.

He scowled. Grey had outplayed him. Now Infernus was trapped and locked into place through the ghostly fire that consumed him. Thanks to the specter's power he couldn't hope to teleport. Infernus had become quite adept at the skill but his psychic abilities were far too limited to attempt to teleport while a ghost's essence was mixed into his body. Ash doubted that Sabrina's Alakazam would be up for such a challenge.

Ash watched with a bit of worry as Infernus spat endless streams of blue flame from his mouth in an effort to clear the specter's influence. It had no effect but Infernus was in too much pain to actually realize that. He wasn't sure if his friend had ever suffered this much in a fight. Normally Infernus just raged at the pain and pushed forward. Now he was actually immobilized by it, even if his mere presence was doing significant damage to the trapped Chandelure.

Neither Chandelure nor Grey were bothered by the damage it took. The luminous yellow eyes of Chandelure had begun to fade as its power waned but they still pulsed happily as Infernus' fiery cloak waxed and ebbed erratically under the thrashing of its master.

"Let's throw this thing in for a loop." Grey drawled. He rhythmically tapped his fingers against the edge of the box. Ash bit back a scowl when he realized that the Unovan was actually bored. "Confuse Ray."

Ash froze when Chandelure's slowly dissipating body managed to pull itself just far enough out from under Infernus' shackled foot to meet his friend's erratic gaze. Yellow seared into molten black and chaos was born.

Infernus screamed for the first time Ash could remember.

It was a terrible sound that was accompanied by a vast surge of flames that left a quarter of the battlefield consumed in the crackling of an inferno that bit deep into the cracked earth.

He felt a bit nervous as the fires brushed against the psychic barriers. Infernus' power was dangerous. It was an all-consuming force even when kept under Infernus' leash.

Now, released in full to fight whatever terrors Infernus saw in the alien world of the ghosts, it was unstoppable. Chandelure wilted under the sheer temperature, what little was left of its fiery appendages vanished as Infernus' strength was released in full.

The battlefield was impossible to discern, but the flash of Grey's pokeball was bright enough to show Infernus' vague silhouette. It was completely invisible as his natural camouflage activated, although Ash could still approximate his location fairly easily thanks to the rampaging Magmortar's frequent gouts of flame that shot high into the air and left quite a bit of the crowd unexpectedly blinded.

It was only when the inferno continued to increase and gained a core of white that Ash was struck from his stupor and finally recalled Infernus. He gripped the ball tightly as it shook slightly. Ash wanted to do his best to calm Infernus down until he fell entirely into stasis.

Ash would definitely remember to never try out Confuse Ray on Infernus. He had strong defenses against psychic intrusion but Confuse Ray cut straight through him. It wasn't something he'd planned on doing, but now that he knew the danger of Infernus letting loose he'd go out of his way to avert that.

He shuddered lightly at the thought of Infernus' rampage occurring in an unshielded setting. In just a minute his friend's fires could have consumed the entire battlefield in their conflagration. If it had been at a normal stadium people easily could have died.

"Sorry 'bout that." Grey said unapologetically. His eyes glimmered as he kept that same cheerful smirk up. "I didn' really want to deal with that thing for too much longer. You've got a real monster on your hands there, boyo. Coulda left Chandelure in a bad place if I hadn't acted when I did."

Ash acknowledged the Unovan's complements with a terse nod. He got the feeling that Grey enjoyed his reaction a bit too much.

With that the Unovan released Jellicent. Ash still couldn't find it in himself to be impressed by the large blue creature. He knew it was more than a credible threat if trained by Grey but it just looked so ridiculous.

He resolved to abandon that attitude as he released Oz. She needed his support if she was going to win. Oz was powerful but not quite up to par with his primary battlers yet.

"I hope you don't think I'm messing around if Jellicent isn't too much trouble." Grey called out with a small smile. "He's not really meant for regulated battles, if you know what I mean."

"Be careful." He warned Oz. "He has plenty of tricks. Don't dismiss Jellicent as a threat."

She whirred and set herself in a combat stance. Oz was ready.

"Well ain't I flattered." The Unovan smiled. "Anyway…Confuse Ray."

Oz growled angrily as Jellicent attacked her with the technique she hated the most. She was ready this time, though, and expertly dodged before thrusting her huge fist toward her foe and unleashing a massive Thunderbolt in the same motion.

Jellicent groaned and jiggled as its large body was struck by the blast of electricity but didn't show much outward harm. It suddenly swelled up as Oz prepared to go on the offensive again, forcing her to fall back in case it had an attack to dangerous to dodge.

Ash didn't have to listen to hear her whir of frustration as it turned out Jellicent had simply used Mist, spewing a thick white cloud that covered most of the arena and kept her from seeing it. The creature blended in almost perfectly, rendering it effectively invisible in the thick cloud.

"Stay calm." He called out soothingly. "Just wait."

Oz hummed and slackened a bit as she warily watched the mist. Electricity crackled throughout her thick fur as she awaited an attack.

Ash found it difficult to predict where the battle was headed. Jellicent was obviously trying to evade Oz's powerful electrical attacks and doing its best to lure her into the mist, but with Grey as a trainer Ash wasn't sure if it would attack Oz of its own volition. The huge water-type seemed more like an ambush fighter, but he knew that the Unovan would have trained it to be more aggressive.

He just knew that Oz had to stay out of the rapidly encroaching mist. She could probably inflict serious damage if she just let out her electricity in uncontrolled bursts but it was far too risky. The mist was Jellicent's territory. It was king there.

"Shock Wave. Feel out its position." He commanded. Oz whirred and held out both of her fists. A brief surge of electricity erupted around her before it was channeled into a series of arcs between her hands, which she spread before she shot out the wave of electricity.

Normally Shock Wave would hone in on an opponent's bioelectricity, but Ash didn't want to risk Jellicent being able to avoid it through manipulation of the mist. He knew it was one of the ghost-types that Grey seemed to favor so he didn't want to risk it having some sort of strange ability to travel through the mist.

A single bolt could potentially be avoided, albeit with difficulty. It was most useful up close. But the wide-area version would ensure that Jellicent would have to spend much more energy in order to avoid it. The mist wouldn't be safe for at least a second.

Ash grinned when he heard Jellicent's low groan of pain. The electricity arced about it, marking its location for Oz who quickly took advantage of the situation and sent a series of weak Thunderbolts at it.

Jellicent just groaned and took the hits. Ash frowned. The only water-types he knew that could take Thunderbolts that easily were Gyarados and Kingdra and that was because of their thick armor. Jellicent didn't have anything to shield against the electricity.

What was its secret?

He sorely wished that he'd learned Lightning Bolt from Surge on their mission together. An attack that powerful would certainly negate whatever defense Jellicent possessed.

"Keep hitting it. Overwhelm it with Thunderbolts." Ash called out. He watched closely as Jellicent's position was marked again and again with the Thunderbolts. The mist was briefly illuminated by the bright flashes of light, clearly showing that it was Jellicent being struck and not some sort of psychic clone like the ones he'd encountered when fighting Jessica's Starmie.

Ash scowled as he came up with nothing. Jellicent didn't appear to be doing anything. It just sat in the center of —

Ah.

He thought he understood. Just to be sure he kept an eye on the thick layer of fog as Oz continued to bombard Jellicent with Thunderbolts.

As expected the mist slowly receded, the rate accelerating whenever Oz upped the number of attacks. Ash felt a small grin work its way onto his face when he realized what Grey was aiming for.

Grey wanted to exhaust Oz. Jellicent was an invaluable fighter thanks to Mist — Bruiser and Tangrowth would be utterly lost in it and unable to fight effectively, even though Tangrowth could use Ancient Power and his vines to locate and attack Jellicent — and it surely had some tricks that would go to waste if it were defeated by Oz.

Jellicent probably didn't have anywhere near the level of defense he had first assumed. It appeared to be a soft target that, judging by how the mist constantly decreased, used the fog to heal itself somehow. That wouldn't be out of line with its appearance or typing.

Now he just had to decide how to beat it. Grey was obviously confident in its regenerative abilities if he wasn't bothering to attack while Jellicent soaked up several dozen Thunderbolts. If he let Oz continue Jellicent would use all of its mist to heal, but Oz would be drained and there was no guarantee Jellicent wouldn't just make more mist until Oz was stuck in the middle of it and at the water-type's mercy.

Just getting rid of the mist wasn't an option but Oz didn't have the firepower to defeat Jellicent in a single attack. He'd have to work around that somehow before Grey decided that Oz was weak enough for Jellicent to go on the offensive.

"Keep hitting it. When the mist thins go after it with Flash Step." He instructed. Oz just whirred as she hurled her spears of electricity faster and faster, the constant use of electricity boosting her reflexes to levels that few pokemon not of the electric-type could match.

Jellicent's supply of readily available water dwindled rapidly under Oz's redoubled assault. It still remained entirely passive, although it gurgled and moaned in pain more frequently now.

"Alright, Will-O-Wisp." Grey said as the last of the mist vanished. Jellicent's eyes glowed with blue power as a large ball of ghostly fire materialized in front of it and quickly split into nearly a dozen smaller Will-O-Wisps. The water-type acted far quicker than he'd expected by launching around half of the fireballs at Oz, but she was fast enough to leap out of the way before they could latch onto her. "Mist. Blast it with Hyper Beam."

Ash's eyes narrowed as Jellicent began to spew another cloud of fog out of its mouth. He didn't have to tell Oz to attack. Aside from two quick Thunderbolts to at least try to stun Jellicent, she used Flash Step to get close.

Flash Step was a relatively simple technique. It simply involved Oz preparing a Thunder Punch and wreathing her body in an aura of electricity before she made contact, which would explode outwards when she made contact and blind the opponent before they could react to her crackling fist.

He eventually planned on working with Oz to make the electricity stirred up in her coat powerful enough to paralyze her opponents for a short time, but as it was Flash Step was a basic, albeit incredibly useful, technique.

Jellicent was helpless to resist as Oz crackled towards it in an arc of lightning and smashed her large fist directly into the space between its eyes. It wasn't built for speed.

That didn't stop it from shaking slightly and spitting out a Hyper Beam that was so compressed it seemed like it was little more than a string of red-gold energy that nevertheless carved a narrow fissure more than ten feet into the earth.

Oz whirred angrily as she narrowly avoided the Hyper Beam and continued to rain blow after blow against Jellicent. The large creature took the hits well, although it wasn't able to fight back. Nothing in its arsenal gave it any sort of skill in close combat. It was obviously designed to attack from afar, preferably from somewhere its prey couldn't detect.

Ash frowned when he saw that Jellicent was healing itself as fast as Oz could deal damage, although the small amount of Mist it had produced before Oz struck had already been drained and it wasn't glowing with the tell-tale light of Recover.

He kept an eye on Jellicent and its surroundings as Oz tore into it with a relentless savagery only Infernus could surpass. The constant flares of lightning were easy enough to adjust to as long as he didn't look directly at them, but even so it took him several seconds longer than he would have liked to realize Jellicent's secret.

"Smart…" He murmured to himself as he saw the water that had been hurled all over the battlefield by Torrent pulled into Jellicent. It was a scarce resource, but the water that had managed to avoid Infernus' wrath was enough to keep Jellicent in the battle for a few more seconds as it futilely tried to find a way to attack the Electabuzz.

Ash stood back and waited as Jellicent finally began to recoil from Oz's blows. It seemed that the creature had finally exhausted the water and couldn't just heal itself to negate whatever damage Oz sent at it.

A smile flickered across his face when Oz smashed a fist into the creature and kept it there, flooding its watery body with thousands of volts of electricity and finally sending the strange water-type to the ground.

Jellicent was certainly the easiest to defeat so far. He was just glad that Torrent had taken almost all of the water out of the battlefield's faux lake. If Jellicent had ready access to that much water it would have been almost impossible for any of his friend's other than Torrent to defeat. Its regenerative abilities were absolutely astounding and the cover of the water would have been more than enough to let it ambush his teammates from the depths.

Torrent and Infernus had done him a greater service than they'd realized in getting rid of Jellicent's water source.

"Fantastic job, Oz." He called out with a grin. She whirred happily and turned to him, her fangs bared in a friendly manner. "Keep it up. There's just one more opponent and we're done here."

She nodded and turned back to Grey. The Unovan gave her a disconcerting grin and dipped his head to the Electabuzz, although Ash couldn't tell if it was sarcastic or not.

"Nice job. Jellicent was a bit out of his element, but that ain't something you need to concern yourself with." Grey said flippantly. "You've got a few monsters on your team, kiddo, but I've been holding one of mine back. Hydreigon's tough, but Scolipede ain't too far behind."

Ash frowned as Scolipede's massive form appeared in a flash. The creature's claws clicked together as its head cocked and analyzed Oz with the cold, calculated intelligence of an apex predator. It hissed and tensed up, the powerful muscles that corded under its malleable exoskeleton ready to spring and propel its massive bulk to the prey.

"Hit it with as many Thunderbolts as you can." Ash warned as the referee called out the order to begin. "When it gets close use Thunder Wave. Stay away from it no matter what."

Oz whirred and bared her fangs at Scolipede. The bug-type didn't react other than rubbing its numerous claws together once more. It wasn't something that should have bothered him, but the motion awakened some sort of primordial fear in his gut that told him to stay far, far away from the deadly creature.

"Rush it." Grey yawned. Scolipede's eyes flickered blue for the briefest of moments before it finally moved, the huge bulk of its body propelled at a speed that such a large creature shouldn't have been able to move at.

The Electabuzz wasted no time in hurling several Thunderbolts at it, although Scolipede proved that it was as nimble as it was fast. Its large primary legs effortlessly forced it far to the side, the leap quick and erratic enough that Oz's followup Thunderbolts missed by a wide margin.

Oz whirred nervously as Scolipede closed the hundred feet between them in a matter of seconds. It was relentless, covering ground even when it dodged and weaved around whatever attacks she sent at it. Scolipede's reflexes were absolutely ridiculous. The years of experience probably didn't hurt either.

He scowled when Oz's Thunder Wave was easily dodged by the bug-type. Scolipede simply leapt to the side the second Oz released the blue bolt of electricity and deftly avoided her wild Thunder Punch before it casually ducked under her guard and stabbed into her with its horns.

Oz screeched in pain and flailed wildly as arcs of electricity jumped and danced around her body, the blast instinctively released in order to stun whatever had hurt her. Scolipede simply cocked its head and watched as she quivered and screamed as the horns cut through her thick fur and hide as easily as it would have carved through paper.

Ash felt a little nauseous as he raised his pokeball to return Oz. Scolipede didn't even have to try to beat Oz. It was absurdly fast — not much could casually surpass an electric-type in speed.

Scolipede was utterly calm as its prey vanished. It simply let the last arcs of electricity fade and vanish from its bloody horns before it made its way back over to its side of the battlefield.

Grey didn't give Scolipede enough credit. It was just as much of a monster as Hydreigon, just of a different variety. Whereas Hydreigon was a slavering juggernaut capable of taking most blows without flinching and unleashing terrible destruction wherever it went, Scolipede was a scalpel. It was coldly efficient and seemed to lack the lust for battle Grey's other pokemon displayed. Scolipede finished its opponent and moved on.

He'd have to be careful. As it was Oz would have to spend at least a day in the Pokemon Center to make sure that wound was completely healed. Scolipede's horns had slid nearly halfway into her before the creature stopped. That kind of injury wasn't easy to heal, although he didn't think its horns would leave very much damage in their wake. They were relatively smooth and designed to kill cleanly and efficiently rather than tear the body apart in the process.

Ash considered his options. Scolipede was one of the members of Grey's team that he didn't have a specialized strategy for. It wasn't like Hydreigon, which specifically needed one of his most powerful friends to neutralize. Tangrowth or Bruiser would be able to fight Scolipede effectively, even if Rampage would probably be necessary for Bruiser to match its speed.

He did feel the first bit of nervousness start to bubble upwards in his stomach. This was the closest he'd come to losing and it wasn't a good feeling. He'd gotten so used to overwhelming the competition with one or two pokemon that he'd almost forgotten what it was like to face an equal.

Torrent, Dazed, Infernus, and Oz had all been defeated. Just Torrent and Infernus would have been enough to handle any of his other battles except for perhaps Gary.

Grey was a formidable opponent. He was as close to an equal as Ash had found so far. Not so far above him as Lance but enough to match him in most instances.

It was too bad that he'd only get to battle him the once. Ash certainly didn't like the Unovan but he hadn't enjoyed a battle this much in a long while.

He shook those thoughts out of the way and turned to glance at Nidoking, who had been almost completely still and silent this entire battle. Ash had almost forgotten that he'd never returned Nidoking after he'd become immersed in the battle.

Nidoking grunted and just lightly tapped him on the shoulder with his blunt claw. Ash smiled and nodded to show his appreciation for the gesture before he looked back to the battlefield.

Scolipede was entirely still. It was perfectly controlled — a weapon. A predator.

"Green Trainer, please release a pokemon or you will be —"

Ash didn't bother letting the referee continue. Tangrowth appeared in a bright flash of light and looked around the battlefield with his cheerful round eyes, vines waving happily as he finally saw Scolipede. That was probably a reaction the fearsome bug-type had never gotten before.

While Bruiser would certainly be able to defeat Scolipede under the influence of Rampage he'd rather avoid that option unless it was absolutely necessary. Rampage was too taxing to use in anything other than a truly desperate situation and he'd rather not worry about Bruiser being able to recover from it by the time of the Finals. He should be fine in the three day rest period but if Scolipede inflicted other wounds he could be out for the count.

Tangrowth was the best choice to go out first. Not only could he neutralize Scolipede's speed and agility thanks to his ability to cover the entire battlefield with his vines, he could also use Stun Spore and Sleep Powder to weaken it for Bruiser in case the grass-type was defeated.

Not that he expected Tangrowth to fall. Scolipede appeared to be a purely close range fighter. It probably had some kind of ranged capabilities but Tangrowth could easily neutralize those with Ancient Power. The bug-type was highly specialized. If it get close it would probably be able to pierce Tangrowht's shell of vines with no problem but he wouldn't have to worry about that.

Scolipede wouldn't get within fifty feet of Tangrowth. Tangrowth was the perfect choice to fight Scolipede. He was completely removed from most of the danger he'd encounter from the giant bug-type.

"Begin!"

"No holding back. Finish this quickly." He said to Tangrowth, who gurgled and immediately extended several dozen of his vines in response. They shot out in every direct and splayed out around him, ready to attack Scolipede from every angle.

"Ingrain. Effect Spore. Don't let it get close and keep it at bay with everything you've got."

Tangrowth acted instantly. His vines shot out at Scolipede, who barely managed to leap out of the way before the majority of the appendages slashed into the earth where it had stood a second before. It hissed angrily when several others slammed into it from the side, although its legs hooked into the earth and kept it from being sent sprawling.

The grass-type yanked the vines away before Scolipede could sever them with its sharp horns, although one was hit by a sudden shot of poison that left the vine shriveled and dead. Tangrowth detached the useless appendage moments later. It would just be dead weight.

Scolipede was suddenly smashed into by four other vines that nearly overwhelmed the strength of its legs and sent it to the ground, although the creature barely managed to hold on. It slashed helplessly at the vines and spat some more poison, although it was useless once the appendages pulled away.

"Get out of there, dumbass!" Grey roared frantically. That cheerful facade he'd adopted for the entire fight had finally faded. It was clear that he'd expected Scolipede to have little difficulty in tearing its opponents to shred. A unique foe like Tangrowth perfectly adapted to combatting the powerful bug-type was something he clearly hadn't anticipated. "It's spraying Stun Spore and Sleep Powder everywhere! Get in close and end this."

Ash smiled as Scolipede heeded its trainer's words and rushed forward without hesitation. It fell into Agility again, which gave it just enough speed to avoid some of the vines. Scolipede was still struck, but it was usually able to sever whichever one was fast and lucky enough to hit the incredibly quick creature.

This fight was over. He'd assume that Scolipede just wouldn't breathe while it rushed through the cloud of Stun Spore and Sleep Powder. A good tactic since it probably didn't have anything to clear the air but one that would leave it weaker and fatigued than it would have been otherwise.

"Ancient Power. Get ready to bind it." He called out. Tangrowth gurgled and finally began to use nearly a hundred of his other vines. They didn't extend more than ten feet, but that was all they needed.

A hundred spheres of silvery power formed at the tip of the vines simultaneously. Tangrowth's saucer-like eyes shined cheerfully as he pulled the vines harassing Scolipede up to safety and released the barrage of Ancient Power.

The glow briefly lit up the entire stadium as they impacted, most flashing past Scolipede and leaving dozens of small craters littered around the arena while several managed to hit Scolipede even as it leapt as high into the air as it could, sending the bug falling back down to earth and leaving it exposed on its back.

In less than three seconds Scolipede was wrapped up in dozens of thick vines that curled around its muscular form several times in order to ensure its immobility. The vines glowed with a dim green light as they began to suck energy from the bug-type and leave it helpless to resist as Tangrowth finished it off painlessly.

Ash smiled as he noted that several huge sections of the ground were outlined in silver power. Tangrowth had truly accounted for everything. If Scolipede managed to escape by some miracle it would be smashed back into the ground by large chunks of rock and earth.

"Damn it." Grey snarled. His composure had finally slipped. "Superpower! Finish that Tangrowth no matter what you've gotta do!"

That finally made him worried. He knew personally just how devastating Superpower could be if used properly. Scolipede would be indescribably fast and strong if it managed to cast off its unconscious barriers and reach the true potential of its muscles.

"Finish it." He shouted even as Scolipede erupted from the tomb of vines with a deadly hiss. Its horns moved so quickly that he couldn't catch the movement and several of Tangrowth's vines fell twitching and squirming to the ground.

Scolipede hissed and coiled up before it rushed forward in a blur of movement. The creature was just as fast as Jessica's Persian and much more powerful.

Tangrowth realized the danger and quickly reacted. Around a quarter of his vines liberally littered the battlefield with Ancient Power while the rest lashed out at Scolipede as it blurred around the silvery spheres with perfect energy, although the vines forced it to leap high in order to avoid one of the impromptu nets that Tangrowth had formed.

That spelled its end. Scolipede had fallen right into Tangrowth's trap. As it began to fall back to the ground near Tangrowth, having easily carved through a handful of the vines sent to stop it, an absolutely gigantic rock that had to way around a ton was yanked from the battlefield by one of Tangrowth's previous Ancient Powers and smashed into the descending bug with a ridiculous amount of force.

Ash grinned and called out his congratulations to Tangrowth as Scolipede was sent crashing to the ground. It landed with a sickening crunch, although it seemed relatively fine. He could see that its exoskeleton was cracked and one of its legs was awkwardly bent but that was nothing Nurse Joy couldn't fix up easily. The thick black goop bleeding out of its cracked shell was cause for concern, but it was manageable.

It took a few seconds before what had just happened set in.

"UNBELIEVABLE! ASH KETCHUM WINS in a stunningly close match!" The announcer roared in tune with the crowd. "ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE! I don't think anyone will be forgetting about this magnificent battle anytime soon! For the first time, a rookie is advancing to the Finals! AMAZING!"

Ash felt a little numb. His entire body felt like he'd just been dunked into ice water — he felt like he could go climb to the top of Mt. Silver and still run a marathon.

He'd won. He was going to the Finals. It was something he was aware of intellectually as the battle came to a close but the full magnitude of that statement had only just now struck him.

Ash glanced over to Grey as the Unovan recalled Scolipede. The older teenager appeared to have regained control over himself and sent him a quick grin that held the same dangerous quality as everything else that came from Grey did and nodded with something that seemed like respect.

The rookie nodded back and recalled Tangrowth, who was still happily bouncing around the ravaged battlefield. He tapped the red and white ball affectionately before he hooked it back onto his belt.

Nidoking's claws rested on his shoulder before he could turn around. Ash grinned and looked back at his friend, his own excitement just as obvious as Nidoking's.

Their eyes met and the grin stretched its way even further.

"Nidoking, I hope you're ready. We're going to the Finals. And we're going to win."

The poison-type nodded determinedly and walked at Ash's side as he turned and began to head down from the box, heralded by hundreds of thousands of cheers and roars.

He smiled to himself and went down to the reporters. Ash just wanted to get this over with quickly.

Nidoking's presence would certainly help. He didn't like unfamiliar people or pokemon getting close to Ash anyways. The addition of cameras and intrusive reporters would just raise his ire further, which would scare the reporters away with any luck.

With any luck he'd be out within ten minutes. He needed all the time he could get, after all. Whoever his next opponent was, they would be tough.

And there it is. I know it doesn't have very much content outside of the battle, but this was supposed to be the second half of the last chapter. The next chapter might be split up, although I'll be able to get it out faster for sure.

As always, leave any questions in a review or PM! I'm always glad to respond.

Thanks for reading!