Chapter 22

"First Impression."

The order was so fast, Ash didn't have time to call out a counter-attack and Latios was sent crashing into a wall.

"You alright?" telepathed Ash.

"That hurt a lot," replied Latios, re-activating his levitation. "I'll be fine though,"

Knowing Latios would take a lot of damage from Pinsir's bug-type moves, Ash decided he should try to protect Latios first. "Use Reflect!"

"Brick Break."

Ash groaned as Pinsir smashed through the barrier Latios had set up. The move did minimal damage, but that was one more defensive option down. Then again, the best defense is a good offense, right? "Use Dragon Pulse!"

"X-Scissor, straight through,"

Ash instantly realized his mistake as Pinsir took the Dragon Pulse and rammed into Latios, who fell out of the air from the super-effective move.

So that was that. "Latios, you did amazing," Ash praised as he returned the downed Eon to his Pokeball. Ash took a deep breath. "Well, you're all I have left Latias. Could you battle for me this once?"

"I'll do my best," Latias gave Ash a light nuzzle, then uncloaked and flew onto the battlefield.

"Pinsir, use Guillotine."

"Quick Latias, dodge!" Ash yelled, knowing the move would knock her out instantly. Thankfully, the move wasn't very accurate and Latias easily dodged it.

"Bind."

"Watch out!" Ash's command came slightly too late. The Guillotine had only been a distraction for Pinsir to sneak up behind Latias.

Latias cried out as she tried, but failed, to break free from the attack.

"Swords Dance, let's finish this."

"Latias, Mist Ball! Get out of there quick!" Ash's mind went over every way Latias could escape her current predicament. Latias fired her attack, but instead of the familiar ball of mist, a pink, fairy-like energy shot out of Latias' mouth as a powerful yet sad sound rang throughout the battlefield.

The attack slammed into Pinsir before it could react, causing it to double over in pain and begin hitting itself in confusion. With Pinsir's attention diverted, Latias used her claws to tear the weakened Bind attack to pieces.

"Latias… that was amazing!" Ash praised. "What attack was that?"

"I-I don't know, it just came to me I guess," replied Latias, slightly embarrassed.

Ash pulled out his Pokedex which began in a robotic tone. "Alluring Voice: The user attacks the target using its angelic voice. This attack also confuses the target if its stats have been boosted recently."

Ash smiled. "Great job Latias! Now, use Dragon Pulse!"

The blast of draconic energy slammed into Pinsir, snapping it out of its confusion, but throwing it against the wall, severely damaging it.

"Not bad, not bad," Nigel remarked as he pulled something out of his pocket. "But can you stand up to the power of my dark Pokemon in their mega form?" He snapped a black bracelet onto his arm which began to glow with a black, smoke-like energy. The top of the bracelet glinted with the rainbow DNA symbol.

Ash snapped on his own bracelet. "Ready Latias?"

Latias held up her keystone. "Ready!"

The whole room began to glow as both trainers activated their respective bracelets. Beams of blue and yellow light shot between Ash and Latias while hazy black and purple lines connected Nigel and Pinsir. Two powerful bursts of light and energy emanated from the Pokemon, sending clouds of dust and chunks of rock hurling across the room. After one final blinding flash of light, the clouds of dust settled, revealing both Pokemon in their mega forms.

"Why did they have to launch so much dust?" complained Jessie, "My perfect hair is ruined!"

"Hold on a second," said Meowth, wiping some dust from his eye. "I just noticed something,"

"What is it?" asked James, "A snack? I'm starving,"

"Not a snack you doofus," replied Meowth, "look at that guy's Pokeballs,"

"I thought we already knew about the dark balls," said James.

"Not that, look at how many there are," said Meowth.

"There's 6, what- oh…"

"Exactly," said Meowth, "now, he may be the leader of the so-called 'Team Void' but he is disrespecting the villain's code of conduct. We can steal and cheat but we never, ever, go against our word."

"That's not all, look at the twerp," interrupted Jessie, "he only has 4 Pokeballs,"

"Hold up," said James, "does that mean that…"

"Da twerp's Latias has to beat 3 of that guy's Pokemon," finished Meowth, "dats not good,"

"Do you really think nets are going to be enough?" asked James.

Jessie considered the question. "Alright, time to pull out all the stops."

"No, that can't be right," Brock scratched out what seemed like his millionth attempt, "any luck Misty?"

"Nothing here," said Misty as she tossed another piece of crumpled paper over her head, "If one of us takes ten minutes and one of us takes five minutes, by the time they go and one of them comes back, we'll only have two minutes left! Not to mention the five-minute person will have to cross again to get back."

Before Brock could reply, they were interrupted by a shout from Professor Oak.

"What is it Oak?" asked Professor Birch, going over to him.

"I think I got it!" exclaimed Professor Oak.

"You have the answer?" asked Brock.

Professor Oak held out a paper filled with a bunch of numbers, lines, and squiggles. "Let's say Brock has the one-minute ball, Misty has the two-minute ball, I have the 5-minute ball and Birch has the 10-minute ball,"

"Why do I get the slowest one?" mumbled Professor Birch.

Professor Oak ignored Birch's comment, "If Brock and Misty go first, then it will take two minutes to get them across, then Brock can come back with the lantern in one minute. Then Birch and I can go across the bridge together in 10 minutes."

"But that's already 13 minutes," interrupted Misty, "how will either of you get back in time to grab Brock?"

"That's where you come in Misty," said Professor Oak, "I see no reason why you can't go instead of one of us,"

"That's it!" exclaimed Brock, "If Misty comes back to get me we can make it back just in time!"

The four of them high-fived and picked up their respective balls. Brock readied himself and with a deep breath, grabbed the lantern.

"Latias, use Dragon Claw!"

"X-Scissor."

Latias' claw shone with draconic energy as Pinsir's arms charged up the bug-type attack. In a moment, both Pokemon shot at each other, meeting in the center of the battlefield as their attacks struggled for dominance. Just then, Nigel snapped his fingers and Pinsir's attack suddenly broke through, knocking Latias to the ground.

"Now Bind and finish it with Guillotine."

Ash watched, helpless as Latias was caught in the Bind and Pinsir charged up what would surely be a knockout. Ash felt completely devastated. If he failed he would fail Latias, Pikachu, Latios, Skye, his friends, even Team Rocket… Just then, something inside Ash told him to calm down. Reluctantly, he obeyed, and as he did, something suddenly hit him. "Latias, Dragon Pulse, right below you!"

Under immense pain, Latias mustered up the strength to launch her attack in the only direction she could while being strangled on the ground; down. What the point was in attacking a random hole she didn't know, but trusted Ash nonetheless. Besides, what did she have to lose? As she braced for the incoming attack, Latias heard an explosion right above her, followed by grunts of pain from Pinsir. Her attack had hit… but how?

"Great job Latias! Finish it off with Draco Meteor!" called Ash as Latias shook off her bindings yet again.

Exactly why her attack had worked dawned on her as she summoned one of the most powerful dragon-type moves; Draco Meteor. It was obvious now, the holes that Skye had made during her attack on Houndoom were connected, which meant if an attack went in one hole it would come out of the other hole. Smiling, she didn't notice the dark glint in Pinsir's eye as she launched her attack and watched as Pinsir crumbled to the ground.

Ash pumped his fist, "Great job Latias!"

Latias smiled in relief and rushed over to Ash. Halfway across the battlefield, however, she suddenly felt all her energy being drained as she collapsed to the ground.

"Latias!" Ash rushed over to her. "What happened?"

Nigel laughed. "For someone who wants to save the world, I thought you would at least know Destiny Bond when you saw it,"

Ash gritted his teeth. This was it, he was completely out of Pokemon.

Nigel smirked as he pulled another Pokeball out. "Ready to be defeated, so-called 'hero'?"

"I don't have any more Pokemon left," Ash mumbled.

"Well then, why don't you fight me yourself, Latius?"

And cut!

Congrats to Edmonton58 for sort of figuring out the riddle. Yes, I did take that riddle from a popular YouTube channel known as Ted-ed. Here's the link for those of you who are interested. /watch?v=7yDmGnA8Hw0&list=PLJicmE8fK0EhMjOWNNhlY4Lxg8tupXKhC&index=1

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