"Now, the first thing you have to understand is that this isn't your only chance," Lorelei said, opposite Ash in an icy underground grotto. "League winners are entitled to keep scheduling challenges until we say they're not, usually if they get too obsessed or they're not showing improvement. This is your first time, of course, and since you're young for a League winner you're likely to be looked on favourably as far as that goes."
She pulled a Pokéball – a Lure Ball, by the looks of it – from her pocket. "Second, you know my typing of Pokémon, and I know your order of battle from the League battles. This isn't a test of type advantage. It's all about raw skill and power. Can you overcome Ice in this most pure form?" She threw the 'ball. "Show me."
Ash pointed forward, sending Pikachu into the battle as Lorelei's Dewgong appeared.
"Stay alert, Pikachu. We don't know what she's capable of."
"Got it."
Pikachu opened with a Thunderbolt, which sizzled through the air towards Dewgong. A moment before it would have hit, it splashed off the air.
Closing his eyes, Ash gasped. "That's ice! Really, really cold ice!"
"Correct," Lorelei said, a note of approval in her voice. "Ice is not conductive of electricity. When it is cold enough, there is none of the water that could allow a current to flow – and so it is immune."
"Ash, the temperature's dropping. I'm getting cold fast," Pikachu said worriedly, rubbing his paws together and shivering.
He wasn't kidding. In fact, it was so cold that hailstones were beginning to fall from the roof.
"Hail," Ash mused. "That gives us a time limit. Pikachu, I think the best way to stay warm is to get physical."
"Gotcha." Pikachu shivered once more, then clasped his paws one into the other and let a blue fire flow over them.
"Aura?" Lorelei said. "Impressive. I'm guessing that is how you detected the ice wall yourself. Rare, to see a human Aura adept."
Pikachu hadn't been idle. He blurred with speed as he charged, punching into the wall of ice with the speed of an Agility and smashing it into shards that pelted the escaping Dewgong.
"You're not getting away that easily," Pikachu said, slamming a fisted paw into the ground and causing an earthquake that made the grotto jump. The vertical movement knocked Dewgong out of his high speed slide and gave Pikachu a chance to close in, slamming a pair of fast Force Palms into his target's side with a wham as Dewgong's blubber absorbed some of the impact.
The Electric-type's feet stood on pads of blue Aura to avoid slipping as he followed Dewgong, not letting up his bombardment. Not only was he tiring with every moment in the hailstom, but he'd spotted that this Dewgong had Ice Body – the very same hail was healing him.
"Come on… what does it take?" Pikachu muttered, his muscles burning with cramp from the cold. It was frigid enough to be a hostile environment, and Lorelei was exploiting that for all she was worth with her style.
Ice grinds forwards, wearing down rock and outlasting heat. The temperature sapped energy from challengers.
Pikachu couldn't remember a battle quite like this, or if other Elite Four members did the same thing, but it was certainly having an impact on him.
Finally, Dewgong seemed to be pushed beyond endurance and passed out. Pikachu wasn't much better, however, countless small injuries from ice shards and the low temperature meaning he was heaving with exhaustion.
"Come on, Pikachu." Ash said, gesturing. "No point you staying out, especially since we can't warm you up in a Pokéball. Get in my jacket. You've done well."
"Thanks."
Pikachu stumbled across the ice, his feet sliding occasionally on a smooth patch, then reached Ash and his trainer hoisted him up into the warmth of his jacket.
"Okay. I've tried electricity, which didn't work… Charizard!"
The Fire-type roared. "Bring it on!"
"Charizard, no restrictions."
"A good decision," Lorelei allowed, throwing her second Pokémon into the mix. "But perhaps not the best… Lapras!"
"I remember my Lapras," Ash said, to himself. "Not long now."
Bolts of fire shot across the grotto, raising the temperature from bone-chilling cold to merely a little cool. Charizard broke off for a moment to plaster the ceiling with fire and cease the Hail effect.
Water pummelled him in the chest as his inattention cost him. "Right, you're getting on my nerves."
Ash had said no restrictions, right?
That was enough for Charizard… and, just as importantly, it was enough for Charizard's subconscious.
He inhaled, letting his fire build, and unleashed a Blast Burn.
The wave of heat that punched out from the impact point – on the floor, rather than Lapras himself – sublimated the ice within fifteen feet of the explosion, punching it straight to boiling in one blast.
Further away it became merely liquid, but the effect was more or less the same. Instantly, the whole chamber went to hot and humid, more like a rainforest than anything.
"Now there's something I haven't seen in a while," Lorelei said. "That's a very powerful move. But there's a disadvantage with it, in this situation. Lapras – Frost Breath!"
The Ice-type exhaled a wash of icy breath, which picked up the moisture in the air and flash-froze it to result in a powder-snow attack mixed with an Icy Wind and mixed again with the move he'd actually used, all rolling forwards in a torrent of freezing air.
When it hit Charizard it caused his wings, damp with the moisture filling the room, to ice up in seconds and made him crash into the ground.
Lapras followed it up with a Hydro Pump and an Ice Beam, freezing Charizard into place.
"Well?" Lorelei asked, turning her attention to Ash.
A second later, the ice exploded in a burst of fire as Charizard unleashed a Flare Blitz, cannoning into Lapras with force enough to finish off the Water-type – and nearly him as well.
Shards of ice shot from the Cloyster that was Lorelei's next Pokémon to hit Charizard as he panted, knocking him out of the fight, and Ash recalled him in favour of Riolu.
Riolu opened with an Aura Sphere, slamming it into the Cloyster's now closed shell and raising sparks.
"Ash, we may have a problem. This shell's even harder than Cloyster shells usually are."
The temperature rapidly fell as Riolu spoke and it began to snow, then hail again.
"Rgh…" Ash muttered. "Okay, back here Riolu. If you can't break the shell then he can just wait you out in the hail. New plan. Dexter!"
I would suggest-
"No, I mean go Dexter!"
Oh, right.
Stand by, ready. Set up.
Dexter's solidified form drifted out into the area of battle. Well, this is most interesting. It seems the cool temperatures will be helpful for me.
His form shattered and reformed as the diamond, which deformed into a six-petaled flower. Lock on. Tri Attack.
The tri-elemental stream of power poured forth, striking Cloyster on a flat plane of the shell. Dexter's attack form gradually rotated clockwise, bringing each of the three aspects of the beam to bear in turn on any given section of the impact area.
Lorelei frowned. "I'm not sure what that's supposed to do, exactly."
The core, visible at the centre of the flower, began to glow with waste heat – but much slower than normal, and the heat increase stopped completely after a minute or so.
"Oh, I see," Pikachu said. "The core's being cooled by the air, so he's not having overheating problems."
"You better, by the way?"
"I'll live. Probably have a sniffle for a few days, though."
"Wait…" Lorelei breathed. "Cloyster, get out of the beam!"
Cloyster tried to comply, but as he started to move his shell gave a crack where the Tri Attack was hitting, and electricity flooded through the gap.
I think that's it for him.
"Nice one! What was that, by the way?" Ash asked.
Thermal expansion and contraction. The repeated fire and ice attacks in succession made the patch of shell grow and shrink, which eventually made it fracture.
"Wow, that's smart," Ash said. "I guess I'll have to try to remember that's an option…"
Thank you. Dexter reformed back to his default shape, and turned around in time to meet a Mamoswine coming towards him at enormous speed. His manifestation shattered, and his projector went an inch into the wall.
Ow. Why is it always blunt physical trauma with me?
"Who knows. Riolu, you ready to give this guy a go?"
"Alright."
Riolu's main problem a minute into the battle, as far as he was concerned, was that Mamoswine was just too big and tough to actually hurt. Slamming a Force Palm capable of breaking rock into a layer of blubber a foot thick just meant the power of the strike was absorbed and lost.
Why, exactly, was it always him who ended up trying out new things in fights?
Then Riolu remembered that they all did, before focusing on what he was actually doing.
He took a moment to focus, and summoned Aura into one palm. Feeding it to make it burn brighter, he began running – no longer attacking, simply evading and moving around Mamoswine.
Doing it like this it was much harder to control, but he had it in paw. Now, there was still one question…
Where should he deliver the uppercut?
There were several options, but… that one seemed to work.
From above, Riolu's path would have been like a spiral picked out by the blue flame in his palm. And as he spiralled in, he slid under Mamoswine's left tusk and smashed a fist into it.
The hot and cold air formed a whirlwind, weaker than usual but still there, and sent Mamoswine flying about five feet and onto his side.
The slam of impact shook the room.
"Phew." Riolu staggered on suddenly wobbly legs, the effort of controlling the reverse form of the temperature spiral having taken its toll. "That was-"
"Look out!" Ash shouted, pointing frantically.
He was too late. Mamoswine hit Riolu with a Superpower and knocked him into the air, and Ash snagged him before he hit the wall with his rarely-used Pokéball.
"Primeape, you've got to take him down!"
"Understood." Primeape focused, standing in an easy fighter's stance and stretching. He bounced on his feet, bent his legs into a crouch, clenched one hand into a fist-
BOOM.
The Master Blow sent Mamoswine into the wall of the grotto almost as fast as he'd knocked Riolu earlier.
I don't think he's going to be much more use, Dexter observed. Not that tired in a cold environment.
"Ergh. That's me down to one."
"I am at the same," Lorelei said calmly. "League members use five Pokémon in their team, to foster skill."
"Oh, okay, so…"
Ash thought through his choices. Not many of them would be much help – he was dry of Pokémon with type advantage.
"Tauros!"
"Jynx," Lorelei replied calmly. "Sheer cold."
Ash's eyes widened. "Fissure!"
He flinched, raising a Protect shield as the side-scatter from the blast of cold arrived, and only opened his eyes once he was sure it was over.
Tauros was lying on the floor, frozen solid. And Lorelei's Jynx was standing, supporting herself with a stalagmite – and a focus sash falling in fragments from her waist.
"...damn," Ash heard himself say.
His mind was freewheeling, two thoughts chasing themselves around his head.
I lost.
I just pushed Lorelei to the wire.
"Well done," Lorelei said, breaking him out of his reverie. "Extremely well done. You've trained your Pokémon well. Last time I was pushed that hard recently was by a Gym Leader, and of course they can call on the resources of their entire gym."
"…thanks," Ash managed. "So… what happens now?"
"Well, you're not going to challenge any of the other Four this time. But you can come back next year and try again – perhaps with a different team?"
Ash smiled at that, a thought coming to him.
He wasn't sure yet, but coming back with a different team was… tempting.
The Legend of the Storm's End, for one.
"But for now…" Lorelei paused. "I suggest you go and continue your journey."
"I think I will," Ash nodded. "Thanks again."
"Well done both of you," Oak said to the two Pallet finalists. "I'd have been impressed if one of you made it to the last sixteen..." he winked, "let alone the two of you in the final! You've certainly made me more popular, let me tell you…"
Ash and Gary shared smirks.
"Now, where are the two of you going? I seem to remember you're off to the Orange Islands, Ash?"
"Yeah," Ash confirmed, with a shrug. "I've got business there, and besides it'd be nice to have a cruise. I've been doing too much walking."
"The opposite, for me," Gary said. "I'm going to do some fieldwork in the Safari Zone. Living rough for a couple of months."
"Actually…" Ash said, thinking. "There's a family doing research on a herd of Kangaskhan, if it's the Kanto safari zone you mean. Weird people, but nice enough. They could probably show you around."
"I'll probably go ahead with that, then," Gary agreed. "May as well meet them to see, anyway."
A letter appeared in a flash in front of Ash, interrupting the conversation. After a moment he picked it up, frowning. "Wonder who this is from."
"Well, go on," Misty said, peering over his shoulder. "Open it."
"Alright, alright, I'll get to it." Ash slit the envelope's tab and pulled out the paper inside. "It's from Jessie and James. 'Congratulations on your first place. We're headed off to Valencia Island in two days, and there's space on the blimp – apparently transporting League placers is good publicity. It's certainly how we got on board.' That's nice of them."
"Jessie and James?" Gary checked. "Weren't they the two Rockets who followed you around? I thought I saw them in the third-fourth playoff. Were they the ones with the Cubone?"
"Yes, that's them. They've improved a lot recently…" Ash shrugged. "But they weren't terrible before, either. Either as people or Pokémon battlers."
"Ah, Valencia," Brock said, in the background. "Maybe this time things will work out better with Philena."
"We never did get a straight answer from you about what happened there," Misty muttered, as Ash's mother got his attention and took him over to the side.
"And I'm not about to give one," Brock replied. "That's between me and any therapists we can find who are qualified to talk about time travel."
"Hey, look!" Ash said, calling his friends over. As they turned, he held up a small lapel pin.
"That's nice. What…" Misty tailed off, looking closer. "It's a flower."
"Yep!" Ash said. "Mom got it for me. It's an indigo flower. She says it's for winning the Indigo League."
"And you'd better be able to add an orange to it!" Delia Ketchum said with a smile. "Seriously, Ash, well done. You're making me regret my decision to let you keep going a little less. I'm proud of you, never forget that."
"Thanks, mom," Ash said, hugging her. "That means a lot to me."
AN:
And that's it for the first series' worth of events.
I don't think there was any substantial rewrite, here, just some