Chapter 21

"Latios, turn invisible and use Dragon Pulse!" Ash wasn't going to take any chances. Nigel still had 3 Pokemon left. Ash only had Latios and Latias. Of course, Ash did not doubt their abilities, but Nigel's Pokemon kept getting stronger. This was a battle he couldn't afford to lose.

"Use Foresight."

Latios' attack hit Kangaskhan square in the chest, but not before he was forced out of invisibility by Foresight.

"There goes that, what's the plan now?" asked Latios telepathically.

"Just follow my commands," Ash smiled slightly. "Trust me on this one,"

Latios smiled back. "When have I not?"

"Use Dark Pulse," said Nigel, snapping the pair from their conversation.

"Dodge it and grab Kangaskhan with Psychic!"

Latios quickly flew to the left to avoid the beam of dark energy and concentrated his mental energy on Kangaskhan. Or rather, he tried. As Latios attempted to use Psychic to fling Kangaskhan across the room, a backwash of energy suddenly hit him, nullifying his attack.

"Latios! Are you ok?" asked Ash, unsure why Latios was faltering.

"It's Kangaskhan, Psychic attacks don't work on it." Latios shuddered. "I can't attack it mentally… there's nothing to attack,"

Ash grimaced. He was going to break every last one of those dark balls if it was the last thing he did. "Use Dragon Breath on the ground, then use Dragon Claw!"

Latios fired a few reddish flames at the ground, kicking up a layer of dust and temporarily obscuring Kangaskhan's vision. Then, gathering energy in his claw, he slashed at Kangaskhan, dealing a good amount of damage.

"Use Counter."

Time to employ his new tactic. "Fly backwards!" Ash commanded.

Kangaskhan charged at Latios, power surging through its arms. Instinct told Latios to dodge to the side, especially since Kanhaskhan was moments away from delivering a fatal blow. But trusting Ash's orders, he continued to fly backward instead. Just as Latios thought he would surely be hit, Kangaskhan suddenly disappeared.

"Dragon Pulse right below you!" said Ash, snapping Latios out of his surprise.

Realizing what Ash had planned, Latios smiled to himself as he charged up the Dragon Pulse. He fired the attack just as the dust cleared, revealing a dazed Kangaskhan sitting in a crater.

"Wow da twerp's really good at this thing," said Meowth, "using that crater from the Explosion and all,"

"Maybe he doesn't need our help after all," said James, looking wearily at the net in his hand.

"Come on," said Jessie, "do you really think that guy's going to give up if the twerp beats him?"

"What are you talking about Jess?" asked James.

"Think about it James, the twerp's probably going to win this battle, but when he does, he'll be almost out of Pokemon. As soon as the battle's over, that Nigel guy is going to send for the rest of his team, and the twerp will stand no chance," said Jessie, "That's when we come in and trap them in these nets!"

"Yeah," said Meowth, "imagine what da Boss will say when he finds out we flattened his competition!"

"We won't have to live on canned beans anymore!" said James, "And I can finally expand my bottle cap collection!"

"Come on, let's get to work!" said Jessie, ignoring James' comment, "Make sure every net is ready to fire!"

"Do you know what we're supposed to be looking for?" asked Brock, shining his flashlight on yet another stone pillar.

"Not exactly," Professor Birch scanned at one of the many Unknown symbol patterns, which, as usual, was written in an undecipherable language. "but I think we'll know it when we see it."

"Is that it?" asked Misty, pointing at a wooden bridge several yards ahead of them.

"I wonder what that's doing in the middle of a cave," said Professor Oak.

"Hey look!" said Brock, "There's an underground stream! Someone must have built the bridge here to cross it.

"That's impossible," said Professor Birch, "no one's been in this cave for thousands of years!"

"It may not have been built by humans," said Professor Oak, "look here Birch, it's some sort of riddle,"

Professor Birch came over followed by Brock and Misty. True to Oak's word, several lines of writing were carved on one of the bridge's wooden posts.

Dear Travelers, if you wish to go on,

Solve this riddle quickly or stay here ever on.

Your task is to cross the bridge, that's all you have to do,

But you must do it in a way that is only two by two.

Below me is a lantern, that will guide and light your way,

Without it, you will fall into the stream of decay.

The bridge will only support two travelers at a time,

So only two may go at once, the others wait in line.

Beware! Once this lantern is taken you must make haste,

Of minutes you have but seventeen, there is no time to waste.

All of you by then must cross to the other side,

Or else meet certain death and forever here reside.

Now here is where your challenge falls,

Here your puzzle lies,

Each of you must take one ball,

Of a different size.

The first ball will allow you to in one minute to walk,

The second will take two minutes off the clock.

The third will slow you down to a sluggish five,

The final will take ten minutes, so make haste and decide.

"Only 17 minutes?" asked Brock.

"And one of us has to take ten minutes?" asked Misty, "That's impossible!"

"These riddles are always possible," Professor Oak sighed, "but not always easy."

Kangaskhan struggled out of the crater and, breathing heavily, pulled itself to its feet.

"Steel Wing!" Ash called, wanting to end the battle quickly.

"Shadow Ball,"

Ash hesitated for a moment, if a normal type move did nothing to a ghost type and a ghost type move did nothing to a normal type, would a ghost type move do nothing to a normal type move? Ash decided to hope for the best. "Latios, use Swift and dodge!"

As it turned out, Ash was right. The volley of stars went straight through the Shadow Ball, striking Kangaskhan. The attack didn't do much damage, but it did leave Kangaskhan stunned for just enough time to allow Latios to circle around with a super-sonic Steel Wing. That was too much for Kanhaskhan. With loud roar, it swayed once, twice, and toppled to the ground in defeat.

Nigel said nothing as he returned Kanhaskhan to its Pokeball, but simply pulled out another and tossed it onto the battlefield.

Ash took in a breath as he looked at his next opponent, a Pinsir.

To clarify the riddle, Misty, Brock, Professor Oak, and Professor Birch have to get across the bridge. One of them will be able to get across in 1 minute the second in 2 the third in 5 and the fourth in 10. They have 17 minutes total to all be on the other side of the bridge. The only catch is that while they can cross two at a time, they only have one lantern to light the way so one person will have to bring it back for the next people to use (until the last time when there's no one to bring it back to). The bridge can only hold two people at any given time and crossing the bridge requires all people crossing to be in the light of the lantern.

As Professor Oak said, this riddle IS possible, but not very easy.

Leave a review if you figure out the answer and if you give it before the next chapter comes out I'll give you a shoutout!

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

If you did, please leave a review telling me how I did and consider joining my growing discord server of fanfiction readers, writers, and Pokemon fans! (discord . gg/eX4k3bV2au) (Or look on my profile page if the link doesn't work)