Ash vs. Koga

Both Ash and Koga tossed their pokéballs at the same time and released their pokémon. On Koga's side was an Arbok. The snake hissed as it came out of its pokéball; it was visibly ready for a battle of any kind. It stared down at Ash's Zorua with a deep malice, and flared its hood. Zorua cringed at the stare and backed down some steps.

Information Corner:

Intimidate was a formidable ability to possess by any pokémon. It drew out all the intimidating qualities that a pokémon possessed. The result on the target was a hesitation to attack, thus the reduction of the attack power of the pokémon.

"You have the first move," Koga said with his usual calm.

"Zorua, are you ready for this?" the dark type barked as she stared back at the poison type. That Arbok had to be at least twelve feet. "Start things off with a dark pulse." She ran forward as she charged the dark type move and let it rip. Arbok just stood silent before darting around the field, surrounded by a thin layer of pink energy. Ash recognized the move as agility.

"Earthquake!"

"Sucker punch."

A paw from Zorua was what nailed Arbok dead center on its face as it caused it to cancel out earthquake – or so you think. As soon as Zorua's feet made contact with the ground, an earthquake resounded throughout the entire field.

"Zorua!" Ash shouted as the dark type was launched into the barrier. This Arbok was strong and that earthquake sure packed a lot off power.

"Poison tail," Koga said as Zorua got up.

"Iron tail."

Arbok's tail became sheathed in poison as it charged the dark type whose tail was now covered in a metallic sheen. Both attacks clashed and fought for dominance, but after a while Zorua was overpowered. Koga chuckled and raised an eyebrow.

"You are full of surprises Ash."

"How?"

"Just now, you ordered Zorua to counter poison tail with iron tail. You knew that there was a chance for Zorua to be poisoned if she took that attack, and you completely negated it with iron tail, given the relationship between poison and steel types."

Ash just blushed in embarrassment while grinning. "Zorua dark pulse."

The dark type barked an affirmative as she charged the dark type move. "Stand ground and use gunk shot."

The snake pokémon coiled its long body into a spring and began to create a huge load of poison in its mouth. Both attacks were launched simultaneously and they collided in midair, an explosion ripping out as soon as they clashed.

"Hold your ground Zorua!"

The dark type responded by digging her paws into the gym floor and trying to resist the force of the explosion. Arbok just laid its entire body in a straight line on the ground as the shockwaves harmlessly washed over it. As the shockwaves died down, Koga was on the move again.

"Agility around the field."

"Feint attack."

Arbok shot off as it lightened its entire body with psychic energy. It raced around the field until it felt a force slam into it and break its concentration. A vicious poison tail was what made contact with Zorua's body after she used the feint attack. She was sent flying into the psychic barriers and apparently even passed it.

"Zorua," Ash called out and was relieved to find out that she was okay.

"Arbok use stockpile."

The snake immediately began to focus as it charged up power, in the process raising its defense and special defense.

"Scary face."

Zorua quickly mustered the scariest face she could use as she tried desperately to lower Arbok's speed.

Information Corner:

Scary face – a rather interesting and intriguing pokémon move. The user produces a scary face that when backed up by the energy contained in the move, causes adrenaline content in the body to be reduced – slowing down the target. According to research done by Professor Kukui of the Alola Region some nine or so years ago; the scarier the face, the more the speed is lowered. It simply means that a Gyarados and a Zorua would have different impacts in terms of how they lowered the speed of the target. He was also able to find out that the pokémon the move was being used on also played a part in all… that. It simply meant that a Swinub using scary face on a Gyarados wouldn't do much or may as well be rendered useless.

Ash knew that Zorua's attempt at a scary face wouldn't do much, but it was worth a try. "Evade Arbok and continue using Scary face. Stay along the edge of the psychic barrier, and if it gets too close, take to the safety of the barriers."

It took Koga about ten seconds to process the command, and when he did, he smirked. Zorua paid heed to Ash's words and kept on using scary face after scary face to lower Arbok's speed… her body already tensed to evade as soon as Arbok struck… only problem was that Arbok never attacked. Koga had the poison type use stockpile two more times and then waited.

After about sixteen scary face attack, Koga gave an order. "Smokescreen."

Out of Arbok's mouth poured forth a stream of thick smoke that enshrouded the entire battlefield. "Zorua… I want you to focus and try and use your senses to pinpoint Arbok."

"Arbok… thunder fang on Zorua when you see her."

Information Corner:

Arbok's, while deadly in the bright light of day, were even more deadly in the dead of the night… or in this case, darkness. The smokescreen it had created served as a makeshift darkness that prevented most foes from noticing them while they had a perfect fix on their location. Their tongues allowed them to detect heat signatures – creating a secondary infrared vision that doesn't lie.

Arbok slithered a lot slower than it usually did due to being on the receiving end of over a dozen scary face attacks. Its mouth sparked with electricity as it made its way to Zorua. The dark type was in a predicament of her own… having found difficulty in keeping track of the poison type. Something hit her… hard, and she realized that she was a dark type. How could she be a dark type and be capable of losing to another pokémon in her own element. No way… she had to focus her abilities and overcome Arbok.

Ash was in a little bit of a pinch. He had no idea how to face a pokémon in the cover of smoke. He should have thought that to his pokémon. He took out his pokédex and typed in a reminder. Teach pokémon how to fight in a smokescreen.

Zorua felt her body relax as she scanned for Arbok amidst the cover of the smoke. She sidestepped as she felt something and lashed back with a dark pulse. A loud hiss was heard as Arbok took the full brunt of the dark type attack and it flinched. Ash flashed back to a memory and decided to surprise Koga with a move that Zorua knew.

"Extrasensory!"

Zorua's eyes flashed blue with psychic energy as she used the psychic move… an unknown psychic force slammed into the poison type, earning another hiss once again. The snake coiled itself out of instinct as it awaited Koga's next order. The psychic move had been a surprise that Ash was working on with the dark type, and boy was he glad it had paid off. The move had been a pain in the neck as none of his pokémon were psychic types. It was through the help of Golduck that Zorua was able to get down the tricky psychic move and even after a week of practice, Zorua still had not gotten the move down… at least to the extent that it would prove damaging.

"I guess extrasensory was your ace in the hole… I am afraid I'll have to end this.

The raven-haired trainer frowned. Could he even win this? It was just the first battle and he would admit, Zorua was not the strongest of his pokémon, but Koga had showed a calm that Ash himself could not anticipate.

He was pulled out of his musings by Zorua who was barking at him. "… I guess I am pathetic for thinking like that…" she barked again.

"… Yeah…" Ash looked at his beloved dark type and smiled.

"Poison tail."

"Quick attack into iron tail."

A purple shroud coated Arbok's tail as it made its way at the dark type. Zorua darted around the field, leaving behind a trail of white energy, her tail taking on a metallic sheen. She dashed past Arbok and slammed the steel move into the back of its ehad. Arbok's tail trashed violently as its head made contact with the ground.

"Use the momentum and dig."

Arbok stopped trashing at the sound of its trainer's word and instead began to tunnel in the ground.

"Dark pulse."

Zorua regained herself and shot the blast of dark thoughts into the hole that Arbok had dug. Koga smirked and Ash grinned wildly at that, a grin that grew even bigger, if that was even possible, as Arbok's body came sailing out of the ground.

Information Corner:

It should be noted that dark pulse is a powerful move in a dark type's arsenal, but the thing about dark moves and to a large extent, dark pokémon, is that they get more powerful the darker the environment that they are exposed to, and they get weaker in brighter environments. So a dark type move that is set loose in a hole that has little to no exposure to light, is bound to be much… more… powerful.

Arbok was damaged by that surprise dark pulse, not enough that it won't be able to fight, but just enough to pack power that surprised Koga. Arbok coiled its body as it anticipated its next move.

"Smoke -" Koga cut himself before he said the attack. He remembered how it didn't work in his favour the last time. "Agility."

"Sucker punch."

Zorua tensed as she sent herself at Arbok at unbelievable speeds, her front paw making contact with the jaw of the poison type. Arbok chose to ignore the pain and just lightened its weight with psychic energy. It shot off, a little bit faster than Zorua's speed if it were halved.

'It really is fast, but Zorua still has the advantage… but if he used another agility…' a poison tail drew Ash from his thoughts as Zorua was sent into the psychic barriers once more. She passed the barrier as usual and Ash remembered that the barriers were still intact.

"Quick attack into iron tail again."

"Gunk shot."

A white trail of energy was left behind as Zorua made her way towards Arbok. The poison type's mouth expanded as it was filled with grime and all sort of disgusting materials. It shot it at the incoming form of Zorua, but the dark type blurred out of the way of the move and smashed into Arbok's face with a ferocity that sent it tumbling in the direction of the barrier.

"Quick attack into bite."

Zorua shot off again, still coated by the white energy that she left behind as she used the technique. Her fangs were coated in dark energy as she sank her teeth into Arbok's body.

"Toss it!" Ash yelled.

Not even stopping for a second to catch her breath, Zorua heaved with all the power that she could contain in her tiny body. Arbok felt its body leave the ground, and soon it was airborne. A loud cry escaped Zorua's mouth as she released the poison type from her mouth and sent it flying at the barriers. A loud hiss resounded the air as Arbok made contact with the psychic barrier.

Koga's eyes widened at the tactic before he settled in a frown. Now Ash had a general weakness to exploit on all his pokémon, and the tactic he used was totally unexpected. Koga was a ninja, and he did not even expect that. Fortunately for him, Arbok was still able to fight and that put Zorua at a disadvantage because it seemed as if that last combo had drained her energy.

Ash gritted his teeth, he knew that the barrier wouldn't have been enough to knock out Arbok, but still, he could hope. He just didn't know how to react after Arbok got up and coiled itself again.

"Agility," Koga muttered loud enough for Arbok to hear. The poison type's body attained a psychic glow as its speed rose again.

"Iron tail."

"Gunk shot, aerial form."

Zorua's tail attained a metallic sheen as she ran at Arbok, all the while panting heavily due to muscle tiredness. Arbok responded by increasing the length of its coil so that it would appear like a spring. In one bound, Arbok shot itself into the air as her mouth expanded. It turned itself so that its head was facing the ground and its tail was coiled above. Zorua tripped on her foot, and as she fell Arbok's head seemingly withdrew into the safety of its coil. Its head shot out a second later as it let loose the gunk shot attack that slammed into Zorua and knocked her out.

Ash recalled the dark type and looked at Arbok who slithered over to Koga. Ash's hand made its way to his belt as he contemplated his next pokémon. His hand gripped a friend ball and he tossed it a second later. The light from the sphere died down and revealed a Beedrill. Ash's Beedrill's drill spun as it stared at Arbok, adopting a fighting stance.

"Beedrill, focus energy."

"Arbok agility."

The second battle had started and it began with status enhancing moves. Beedrill's body took on a reddish aura as she focused on her drills. Arbok on the other hand simply lightened its body with psychic energy.

"There is no sense in trying to poison this Arbok so I might as well just go ahead and overwhelm it."

"Beedrill use double team."

Beedrill nodded as it made illusionary copies of itself and awaited Ash's next orders.

"Fury attack and keep it guessing."

All the Beedrill charged forward, intent on dealing damage to the serpentine pokémon, their stingers gaining a kind of red aura.

"Arbok Gunk shot, defense form."

Arbok wrapped its body in its usual coil and its head appeared between two of its coils. Its mouth swelled as it released a massive Gunk shot attack. Ash sighed in relief as the attack hit a copy and Beedrill seized the opportunity to attack. Beedrill was relentless and brutal in the attack at Arbok. Arbok on the other hand was hissing furiously as it broke its defense form. Despite the fact that the form was meant to increase Arbok's defense, it still was greatly damaged.

"Beedrill use venoshock."

Beedrill flew back as she let the poison move sail through the air, making a direct hit on Arbok. Arbok let off a hiss as it recoiled from the move.

"Earthquake."

"Into the air and use focus energy."

Arbok's tail impacted the ground once more as it let loose an earthquake attack. Beedrill avoided the ground move by flying upwards. A faint red aura outlined her body as she focused on her stingers.

"Arbok use poison sting."

"Drill run and get in close with pursuit."

Just as poison sting reached Beedrill, she shot off, a full dark energy outlining her entire body. Her drills were spinning very fast, as she zipped across the field far faster than what Zorua had shown during her battle. Her drills slammed into Arbok's hood eliciting a loud cry of pain and sending the poison type flying.

Koga returned his poison type and took another pokéball. He accessed Beedrill with his new pokémon and deemed it a fitting challenge.

As the light from Koga's pokéball died down, it revealed a black lizard-like pokémon. It had a light purple underbelly with pink markings, its tail having a bright pink underside. Its eyes were a faded purple with black vertical slits.

Ash looked at the pokémon as its tail swayed behind it – if Ash didn't know any better, he'd say it was trying to seduce him, until…

"It winked at me!" the trainer exclaimed.

Koga chuckled lightly. "Forgive Salazzle," he began. "They are an all-female species and let's just say that they produce a lot of pheromones and thus their hormonal activity is high. Even I was caught off guard by the behaviour she displayed."

Ash nodded but was still a bit put off by the display.

"Anyways," Koga began as he cleared his throat. "I believe our battle is on hold."

Ash nodded and waited for Koga to make his move.

"Will-o-wisp."

The moment the command left Koga's lips, it was as though the poison type had changed form from a seductress to a battler. Bluish white flames formed in Salazzle's mouth as she launched them at Beedrill.

Beedrill dodged the move, but she barely evaded the follow-up. Salazzle launched herself at Beedrill, her palms covered in flames. Beedrill avoided the first strike with extreme difficulty, but she was unable to avoid the second strike and was sent hurling back.

"It's well known that Salazzle can set their palms ablaze."

Ash growled. 'So it's also a fire type.'

"Beedrill, drill run."

Beedrill nodded as her drills revved to life. Ground type energy surged around them as she charged the poison type.

With a display of superior speed, Salazzle dodged the attack and leapt into the air. Koga chuckled lightly as Salazzle's cheek puffed up. "Flamethrower."

The markings on Salazzle's body glowed bright as a jet of flames escaped her mouth and made their way towards Beedrill. Beedrill dodged but her left wing was singed a bit.

"Are you doing okay?" Beedrill buzzed an affirmative and Ash smiled. He tried to examine this foreign opponent and try to think of something. Obviously, Salazzle was a lot faster than Beedrill. It was a good thing that they were both poison types, so that put them in a kind of even fight… or so he thought.

"Poison gas."

Salazzle exhaled a thick purple must that filled the entire field.

Ash looked a bit put off. Beedrill was a poison type and thus she could not be poisoned… unless there was a way to poison her. "Beedrill get away."

The bug type looked… surprised but she obeyed nonetheless. She barely escaped without inhaling the gas.

Koga smiled. He was obviously impressed with Ash's quick thinking.

Ash took another meaning to Koga's smile. "Don't let any poison moves from that Salazzle hit you."

Beedrill made a questioning sound and Ash looked down… unsure. "I don't know yet, but I don't want to risk it." The bug type nodded.

"Flamethrower."

"Dodge it and use string shot around the field."

The jet of flames made their way towards Beedrill but she dodged and began to spew silk from her mouth. It was a well-known fact that bug types could spin web from their body to trap prey and Ash was going to capitalize on it.

The field soon became a field of web, and thanks to Beedrill's practice with electro web, her silk had gotten stronger.

"Electroweb."

For a total of about thirty-seconds, a powerful jolt of electricity coursed through the silk that Beedrill had created and struck Salazzle. Salazzle, despite possessing insane speed, she could not evade the attack as she was trapped at the mercy of the stringshot. As the attack died, her body was charred and she was panting heavily. The same was also the case with Beedrill. The bug type had used a high output of power during the attack and she needed energy.

"Flaming fist: Five strikes."

Salazzle's tail swished as the markings on her body glowed, channeling flames to her palms. Despite her injuries, she took on a fighting stance and narrowed her eyes at Beedrill. She lunged after the bug type, her mouth open as a poisonous gas escaped it, filling the entire field. She burrowed under the ground as the gas spread, to avoid its reach. Beedrill was not fast enough and she got caught in the gas.

The moment the cloud began to dissipate, Salazzle burst forth from the ground and slammed into Beedrill's right wing. The bug type jerked a bit but before she could recover she felt a pain in her left wing. She jerked again but Salazzle had already blurred out of sight, and before she knew it, a sharp pain in her thorax sent her into the air.

'How's that Salazzle so fast,' Ash thought.

Salazzle leapt up after Beedrill, appearing above her. She smirked as she pulled her hands back, the flames increasing in intensity as she did so. With a single powerful motion, Beedrill was launched back to earth, with such a ferocity that she left a crater in her wake. Salazzle was not done as her cheeks puffed up.

"Finishing strike," Koga muttered in his usual calm.

A stream of purple liquid escaped her mouth and drenched Beedrill; a poisonous smell filled the air as Ash stared at the crater. Beedrill was knocked out by this beast of a poison type. He recalled her and stared at Koga. The poison type expert was truly a badass trainer.

"How was Beedrill poisoned in the end?"

"Oh," Koga said as he raised an eyebrow. "You were able to notice that… well the answer is kind of a critical one. You see, Salazzle have the ability corrosion. It is a special ability that is only available between their evolutionary-line. It is an ability that allows them to poison both steel and poison types."

Ash nodded in understanding.

"Now I have a question for you… how did you find out that Beedrill may have been poisoned?"

"Beedrill is my pokémon and I know her enough. When she didn't rise up from that crater after taking that venoshock attack, I suspected that there might have been something more to it. Something that had ensured that she did not get up after that attack."

"You have a keen eye, and knowledge of your pokémon. Those are some of the qualities that will make you a good trainer."

Ash smiled. "Thank you." He turned to look at the field as he assessed his next choice. That combo that Koga had used at the end of the battle had been very effective. No wonder Beedrill had been unable to react to the final blow that sent her to the ground.

He tossed a friend ball unto the field and released Butterfree. The bug type came out and stared at the field, or to be more precise Salazzle. He had seen the battle from Ash's eyes and he was itching to see how things would play out.

"Silver wind."

Powdery scales from Butterfree's wings coalesced into the shape of a crescent blade of wind and made their way at Salazzle.

Ash was no fool. He knew the benefits of using silver wind in a battle. There was that slight chance that all the pokémon's stats will be raised in battle and that was what he was hoping for. The chances were slim, but he smiled when he saw Butterfree engulfed in a faint energy glow.

"Will-o-wisp."

"Dodge and get close."

The small wisps of flames danced through the air as they made their way at Butterfree. The bug type avoided the attack and raced towards Salazzle.

"Flamethrower."

"Electroweb and psychic."

Salazzle's mouth puffed up and she unleashed a torrent of flames at Butterfree. The bug type countered by spinning a web of pure electricity and tossing at the flames. He danced around the clashing attacks with eyes glowing blue. The blue glow extended form to Salazzle and the poison type lost her gravitational pull.

"Toss her at the psychic barriers."

With relative ease, Butterfree tossed Salazzle into the psychic barriers, dealing her double damage, before returning back to Ash's side of the field.

"Are you good to continue?" Koga asked.

Salazzle growled an affirmative as she panted. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at Butterfree, a purple gas filling the air.

"What's that smell?"

Koga chuckled lightly. "That is pheromone."

Ash pondered a bit. He knew what pheromones were, but what was its use in this battle today. He looked at Butterfree closely and noticed that the bug type seemed a bit dazed. He blinked twice as a bit of realization hit him. Pheromone were a type of hormone that boosted the receiver and not the user, so maybe it was affecting Butterfree in that sought of way. He made a mental note to ask Prof. Oak about it when next he called.

"Salazzle fire blast."

"Snap out of it Butterfree."

Salazzle's cheek puffed as she spewed a huge ball of fire. The ball continued to grow until it took the form of the kanji for big. The ball approached Butterfree who remained unmoving. There was a huge explosion as the attack made contact, but Butterfree was nowhere to be seen.

"Psybeam."

Butterfree appeared behind Salazzle, his short arms in front of him as he charged psybeam. Salazzle darted as she tried to possibly escape the attack, but Butterfree was having none of it. He paused a bit as his eyes began to predict Salazzle's movements. Each of the myriads of tiny eyes calculated the movement with an efficiency of one hundred percent.

Butterfree let the attack rip through the air as it sailed. Salazzle ran but found herself in the same trajectory as the psybeam. She sighed as the attack slammed into her and knocked her out as she impacted the psychic barriers.

Koga recalled her and looked at Butterfree. The bug type had power and he needed to take him out. Currently, both he and Ash were tied two-two. They both had two pokémon left, but Koga had the advantage in that area. Both of his pokémon were fresh whereas Ash had used one of them already.

Koga tossed a pokéball and released a purple bug looking pokémon tghat Ash recognized as a Venomoth.

"Signal beam."

From the central horn on Venomoth's head came a faint beam of light that slammed into Butterfree at surprising speeds. The bug type tried to right himself as the light slammed into him.

"Use gust."

Butterfree flapped his wings as he sent a gust of wind at Venomoth.

"Counter with your own gust."

Both attacks clashed and fought for dominance before Butterfree's seemingly tore through Venomoth's and slammed into the bug type.

'Guess Butterfree has the advantage in terms of type bonus.'

"Venomoth use pursuit."

A dark outline surrounded Venomoth as it charged Butterfree.

"Meet it with wing attack."

Butterfree's wings glowed white as he charged Venomoth. Wing and head clashed and fought for dominance before breaking out as evenly matched. A signal beam from Venomoth nailed Butterfree square in the chest before he could fully recover.

"That Venomoth's persistent… Butterfree are you okay?"

The bug type nodded an affirmative before turning to face his opponent. Venomoth was just there hovering in place, but there were a few scratch marks on its body from the wing attack/pursuit scuffle.

"Venomoth use another pursuit."

"Aerial ace."

A dark outline engulfed Venomoth as it made its way for Butterfree. Ignoring the attack, Butterfree shot forward, white streaks escaping his body as he disappeared and slammed into Venomoth a second later. The impact knocked Venomoth out of the sky briefly allowing for a follow up gust from Butterfree.

"Counter."

At that instance, Venomoth righted itself and flapped his wings sending a gust of wind to counter Butterfree's, before flying away.

"Damn," Ash said with grit teeth. "Wing attack."

"Pursuit."

Another stalemate clash occurred between the both bug types.

"Wing attack."

"Pursuit."

Another stalemate clash occurred once more, but this time, Ash was prepared for it. "Confusion."

Butterfree's eyes glowed blue in an instant and a weak telekinetic wave slammed into Venomoth and disoriented the bug type enough for a gust attack to slam into it and knock it to the ground.

"We're about to end this Butterfree." The bug type nodded as he awaited his trainer's command.

Venomoth ascended from the crater and nailed Butterfree with a pursuit.

"How?" Ash asked aloud.

"You underestimate me… signal beam."

A faint beam of light erupted from the central antennae on Venomoth's head and made its way at Butterfree.

"Aerial ace and wait for my signal."

Butterfree shot off, sending white streaks flying everywhere. On nearing the beam, Butterfree disappeared in a blur of motion. Venomoth paused as he awaited the attack, but nothing came.

"Where did he go to?" Koga asked.

"Psychic sun."

Koga's direction was diverted to the ceiling where Butterfree was. The bug type's eyes were glowing with psychic energy as he sent a sunny day into the sky creating a miniature sun.

Solar beam began to form in front of the bug type as his eyes were blazing. Forming the attack had been a lot easier to form thanks to the training they had done on Cycling Road.

The solar beam formed perfectly and a psychic outline extended to it.

"Signal beam."

Venomoth mustered up its power and charged up a signal beam before firing it at Butterfree.

In less than five seconds, Butterfree had calculated every possible trajectory to ensure that psychic sun did not miss. He was intent on ending this, going even to the extent of activating compound eyes in the midst of the battle.

Information Corner:

Butterfree are unique even amongst bug types. Their accuracy is beyond the capabilities of most pokémon, and it is further boosted by their latent psychic energies. Their eyes are composed of myriads of tiny eyes that view things from different angles. While this is not much impressive as it takes the accuracy of the said Beedrill to a little over eighty percent, this is even further boosted if the Butterfree has the ability compound eyes. That placed their accuracy at over a hundred percent. At that point, it would take a miracle for Butterfree to miss.

He let the psychic sun loose and it obliterated signal beam at such an angle, moving at speeds that surpassed even Butterfree boosted by silver wind.

"Venomoth… retreat."

Ash had to admit that he envied Koga's perception of calmness. Even while telling his pokémon to flee, he was still calm and collected, however that won't help him in this case.

Venomoth tried to dodge the attack, but Butterfree was having none of that. His hold over the attack did not falter as he used it to control the psychic sun to chase Venomoth. It was only a matter of time before-

BOOM!

The attack exploded as it slammed into Venomoth. The result was a shower of psychic energy and a display of lights. Venomoth could not bear the attack as it slammed it against the psychic barriers where it shrieked till it went limp.

Butterfree descended and panted heavily. The last time he had used this technique in a fight, he didn't have to control it to have to hit a target, but this time he did so and it had taken its toll.

"You have done well Ash," Koga said as he recalled Venomoth back to its ball.

"Thank you sir."

"This is the sixth month of your journey and to be honest, not many will be able to boast of this sort of accomplishment. This is your fifth gym badge and you've taken the gym leader to his final pokémon… however I hope you are ready because the next opponent is not like the others. He is capable of being one of my seventh gym level battlers." He held a pokéball and stared at Ash. This was going to be an interesting battle.

Ash responded by recalling Beedrill and taking a friend ball from his belt. He clutched the ball and smiled. "I was originally going to use another of my less experienced pokémon, but if it as you say it is, then she will do."

Both trainers tossed their pokéballs at the same time. From Ash's side came the Fresh Snow Pokémon, and she was ready for battle. She flicked her… hair and licked her paws. From Koga's side of the field emerged a purple pokémon. It had two pairs of wings and a pair of hind limbs. Its fangs were as white as possible and it narrowed its yellow eyes at Glaceon.

Ash looked at it and recognized the large pokémon in front of him as the final evolution of the Zubat-line, Crobat.

"Glaceon iron attack."

"Dodge it."

Glaceon became outlined in white streaks as she ran, her tail outlined in a metallic sheen as she approached the poison type. She neared Crobat and leapt at him, but the poison type avoided the attack with ease.

Ash began to assess his options. Crobat were fast and that he knew for a fact. The good thing was that he had a type advantage over both of Crobat's types, but he knew that typing was not everything.

"Ice shard."

"Confuse ray."

Glaceon crouched as her fur bristled. She immediately flash froze different ice chunks and launched them at Crobat. The beauty of ice shards was the speed at which it was formed and the fact that it was a priority move. The ice shards sailed through the air and collided with the confuse ray. The ray bouncing off the shards repeatedly as it was redirected somewhere else. The shards landed but Crobat was nowhere to be seen.

"Poison fang."

A sharp pain was what Glaceon felt on her neck as Crobat was sank deep into her skin, ignoring the coldness of her fur as he tried to inject poison into her blood stream. In self-defense, Glaceon bristled her fur and tried to shake the poison type off. She was successful as Crobat eventually flew away, but he had tasted blood and had injected venom into her.

"Glaceon, are you okay?"

She nodded as she stared at the poison type that was just flying harmlessly in the air, seemingly ignorant of the fact that she was staring at him.

"Crobat use smokescreen."

The poison type nodded as he opened his mouth, a stream of smoke pouring out and filling the entire field.

"Heat wave."

Crobat focused as he increased the temperature of his insides. As it reached a certain level, he exhaled a powerful hot breath that made its way towards Glaceon. Glaceon was able to avoid the attack ever so slightly, but it touched her right leg.

"Quick attack."

Glaceon ignored the throbbing pain in her right leg and shot off, completely enveloped in white streaks as she approached the dual type pokémon.

"Wing attack."

Crobat's wings glowed a bright white as he charged Glaceon's incoming form. As they neared each other, Glaceon's form changed.

"Ice beam."

Crobat was unable to avoid the powerful beam of ice that met him dead center on his chest. The ice wasted no time in spreading until it covered Crobat's entire form. The block of ice that was now Crobat fell to the ground where it was now vulnerable to Glaceon's attack.

"Circle back and then iron attack."

Glaceon's body was once again covered in streaks of white as her tail attained a metallic sheen. She circled the field once as she tried to pick up speed. When it was sufficient enough for her, she changed her course for Crobat. She smashed the ice with her iron tail and Crobat was sent flying out of the ice. The poison type slammed into the ground and skidded to a stop.

"Needle barrage."

Glaceon froze her fur in an instant, the hairs becoming like needles as she took aim at Crobat. She unleashed her fury upon Crobat as a multitude of needles sailed through the air and found their mark on Crobat. The poison type hissed as the super-effective move nailed him.

"Now icy wind."

"Crobat!"

Glaceon opened her mouth as she a gust of chilled air at Crobat's fallen form. The air found its mark and tiny crystals lodged themselves between the joints of Crobat's body.

Information Corner:

I had to come up with this on the spot. The reason being because the Pokémon world never gave us a valid reason as to why things were the way they were. Icy wind is a technique that is composed of special ice crystals that take a long time to melt. The crystals are composed of a similar material to the nevermelt ice, but on a smaller scale. As a result of this, once the attack is used, the crystals lodge themselves into parts of the body, usually the joints. This results in numbness in that area and thus it reduces the reflexes of the targeted pokémon.

"Glaceon pull back."

"I must say Ash; you definitely are an interesting trainer to battle. It's very hard to come across trainers who use their head these days. Most of them are all about brute force and the likes."

"Thank you Koga."

"Crobat into the air."

Slowly but surely, the poison type achieved flight but he was definitely battered and bruised.

"Swift, double form."

Crobat circled vertically as he released star-shaped rays from his mouth. After five seconds of the barrage, the area covered reduced as he released the second barrage.

Ash did not even bother telling Glaceon to dodge as swift was an attack that never missed, and despite the fact that he Glaceon had slowed Crobat down, the speed of the attack was something that surprised Ash, and Glaceon was not fast enough to defend against it.

Ash could only watch as the attack slammed into Glaceon and knocked her unto her back.

"I can see the look of confusion on your face and I deduce that you would like to know how the swift attack was that fast, am I right?"

Ash could not help but nod.

"You see, the vertical circling motion employed by Crobat is what gives swift that accelerated speed. You'd have to be faster than Crobat to be able to react to speeds like that with ease. Pursuit."

In an instant, Crobat was covered in dark energy as he shot off and slammed himself into Glaceon.

"Pull back and use steel wing."

Despite being slow, he was definitely faster than Glaceon. His wings attained a metallic sheen as he slammed into Glaceon, eliciting a cry of pain.

"Glaceon!"

"Crobat poison fang."

"Iron tail."

Crobat's fangs were immediately coated in poison as he flew at Glaceon. The ice type was able to defend by having her tail attain a metallic sheen. Because of the steel typing of the move, Crobat's poison was unable to penetrate.

"Toss it."

Despite being weakened from the steel wing attack, Glaceon was able to toss the poison type away and regain her bearings.

"Use hail."

Glaceon nodded as she sent a spiky ball of energy that ascended to the sky, forming a dark cloud in the atmosphere. As the cloud grew to sufficient size, small balls of ice began to fall immediately. The hail began to increase intensity as it twisted into a hailstorm.

Glaceon's ability ice body kicked in. She began to regain her health slightly as the hail pelted her. Being an ice type, she was immune to the damaging effects of the hail, but Crobat… not so much. The hail pelted him and there was no way he could avoid it and he definitely did not know any such attacks that would disrupt the flow of the hail.

"Icicle spear."

It was hard for Koga to see the current attack that Glaceon was forming. Five huge spears of ice formed in the cover of the hailstorm and lucky for Ash, Glaceon had no problem seeing in the hail. A loud shriek was all they heard to know that the attacks had found their mark, well three out of the five had nailed Crobat, whereas he was able to evade the first two.

"Let's finish this iron attack."

"Wing attack."

Glaceon darted around the field, under the covers of the hailstorm; white streaks were coming off her body as her tail attained a metallic sheen. Crobat responded by flexing his wings and causing them to glow white. Both pokémon charged each other with vigor, and as they met a shockwave resounded in the air. Crobat was persistent as he slammed the other wing into Glaceon's side. However, Glaceon pushed through and thanks to the hail, she sent Crobat flying into the psychic barriers.

Crobat remained unmoving on the ground while Glaceon panted.

"It seems we have a winner," Koga said as he recalled Crobat back into his pokéball.

"You did it Glaceon… we won," Ash exclaimed. Glaceon just huffed and sat down to groom herself all the while making sounds as if to say "I got all dirty from the fight and you'll have to give me a bath."

Ash momentarily forgot about the hail and ran onto the field. Before he knew it, he was pelted from everywhere by the small but pestering stones. Lucky for him, it did not take long for the stones to recede.

"Ash Ketchum… you are indeed a trainer worthy of the Soul badge. Not only was that one of the best battles I had against a beginning trainer, but it was one where I was faced with an unorthodox battler such as you."

"Thank you," Ash said as he stood up to meet the man who had walked up to him. "But it is my pokémon that deserve the praise and not me."

"In as much as that is true, you were the one who trained them to the level that they are now. So you also deserve some credit."

"I guess," Ash said as he scratched the back of his head.

"Now," Koga said as he reached into his pocket and took out a small object. "You've more than earned the Soul badge." He handed it over to the young trainer, a smile gracing his lips equally.

"Thank you Koga… and I promise to be worthy of this badge." Ash placed the badeg in his badge case before turning back to Koga. "Will it be okay if I got some pointers from you?"

"But of course… now let's take this outside so I can better explain."

Within minutes, both of them were in the gym training grounds. It was a large open sandy field with some training equipment lying around, though Ash noticed that they were some that were meant for people, but even those seemed a little more than normal.

"Sorry for prying, but why are there so many people training equipment?"

"Aah that." Koga chuckled lightly. "You see the Pokémon League is starting a new program next year… it is called the Gym Trainer Program. Basically Gym Leaders pick three trainers to tutor under them."

"Wow…"

"That's a fine program the Pokémon Master thought of, but why he did so is still a mystery."

"So the program starts next year?"

"Yes, but that is not our reason for coming out here." Koga tossed a pokéball into the air and released a humanoid pokémon. The pokémon was primarily blue and stood at about five feet, a singular blue horn protruding from its head. It had yellow eyes and unending grin that was similar to that of a Gengar's, but was pretty much less menacing. A red orb-like sac came from its upper body, a sight that made it look as if it was constantly croaking. It had three fingers on both hands, with a red claw in-between the index and last finger. Same was the case for its legs, but rather than a red claw, it was more like a red toe.

"This is Toxicroak." As he said this, the pokémon made a bow before attaining a stern expression.

"Is he your strongest pokémon?"

Koga chuckled. "That may just be true," he said as he patted the poison type's back.

Ash's eyes glowed under the cover of his eyes and he could see the level of aura emanating from Toxicroak. It was amazing and that he knew.

"You asked for pointers and I believe that Toxicroak would be the best choice in showing you that… natural abilities."

"Natural abilities?"

"Yes… you see, apart from the standard level of moves that a pokémon can learn, there's also the fact that they can utilize their natural born abilities in battle. You have a grasp on it but it is still of the bare minimum."

"So how do we start?"

"Release a pokémon that is of the same build with Toxicroak, but also one that is very strong."

Ash nodded as he grasped a friend ball and released his Golduck. The water type came out and after a quick confirmation from Ash, he knew what he was here for.

"You need to be able to learn how to command your pokémon if their moves were unavailable."

"How is that?"

"Can your Golduck fight without using any of its moves?"

"I'm not so sure…" Ash admitted after some moments of careful thinking.

"That's what I am talking about. There may come a day when you may be placed in a situation were your pokémon may not be able to use their normal moves. At that moment you will have to rely on their natural abilities. For example, order Golduck to attack Toxicroak. Toxicroak, get in close and neutralize it. Do not use your moves."

"Golduck, you heard Koga, attack."

The Duck Pokémon quacked as he shot a jet of water at Toxicroak. The poison type responded by bending its body over the jet of water. As Golduck stopped the attack and switched tactics to an ice beam, Toxicroak merely bounced over the beam, causing it to miss its mark.

The next time Toxicroak landed, he was within a few inches of Golduck. The water type's hands attained a bluish white glow as he tried to hit Toxicroak with a focus punch attack. Toxicroak ducked under the blow as it swiped his hands upwards, lightly cutting Golduck on the wrist.

"Enough," Koga said sharply. Toxicroak responded by bounding over to its trainer in one leap and standing tall once again. Koga fished into his pockets and took out an antidote. He tossed it Ash who caught it.

"Apply that on the area Toxicroak slashed Golduck."

Ash nodded and did as instructed before patting Golduck on the beak.

"Now that's the meaning of natural abilities. The reason I told you to use the antidote was because Golduck was poisoned."

"What? How?"

"You see that red sac on Toxicroak's throat?"

"Yeah… what about it?"

"That sac is Toxicroak's poison sac. A vast majority of the potent poison that is produced in Toxicroak's body comes from that sac. The sac is connected to those claws on Toxicroak's hands by special veins. A majority of the sac's poison goes to those two claws and as a result they pump poison into the body of whomever they slash. That is what I mean by natural ability."

"I'm starting to get it… so you're saying that basically in order to conserve energy I should not always resort to using pokémon moves."

"That's a bit of it anyways," Koga replied as he walked up to Ash. "Consider Golduck. After focus punch had failed, had it been taught to not only rely on the moves it knew, it could have used its tail to easily fend off Toxicroak."

"Oh…"

"Knowledge is one of the factor keys in a battle. It decides who wins and who loses, but that does not mean that one should rely on it a lot."

"What kind of knowledge? Do you mean knowledge of the opponent?"

"No. I mean knowledge of your pokémon. That comes first for a trainer in the midst of battle. The next thing would be the knowledge of your terrain and surroundings. After these can you now proceed to gather Intel on the opponent."

Ash nodded in understanding.

"Now I ask you this… what kind of info can you decipher from your time with Golduck?"

"Well…" Ash said as he examined his Golduck and thought of their past times. "He is fast underwater… deadly fast. He has strong limbs and a strong tail-"

"That's having its potential wasted… Go on."

"… I think that's it."

"Still limited but you did better than I expected. You need to stop being defined by what you see and starting to have faith for certain things."

"What does faith have to do with pokémon?"

"Faith is a simple definition that is used to define the unreal. That is to say, stop being defined by what you don't see and start using that head of yours. You say that Golduck is fast underwater, why is that?"

"Well… there was a time we went swimming and I decided that we have a race, just to see who was faster. The participating members were I, my Blastoise, Golduck, my Clefairy and my Dratini. Golduck said that he wanted a handicap, so he set himself a little ways behind the rest of us. The sound came and we shot off. Dratini was in the lead and I was close by, but it was then that I felt a huge shockwave pass me. Within seconds, Golduck had won the race."

Koga scratched his chin slightly as he looked at Ash. "Record this in your head. For a pokémon to be able to overtake another or others underwater, then it must have, even if a limited perception, underwater. Is that okay?"

Ash nodded. He'd never thought of that before.

"I have a long way to go," he said as he looked at his hands.

"Yes you do, but no reason to be down about it," Koga said as he recalled Toxicroak.

"That's all?" Ash asked, a bit perplexed.

"Yes. Don't go ahead rushing yourself. Take your time to grow and develop."

"Okay," Ash said as he recalled Golduck.

"Dad!" a voice that was definitely Janine's called. Ash and Koga turned their attention to the doors to see Janine running towards them. As she reached them, she dropped and tried to regain her breathing.

"What is it Janine?" Koga asked.

"Dad… I did it. I finally got through to Nidoking."

"That's impressive… you are finally ready to proceed to the next level of your training."

"Really?"

"Yes… I will be a full member of the Elite Four by next year and you need to be ready to take on challengers."

"Oh… I almost forgot. Misty come on in."

'Misty?' Ash thought.

"You brought someone… a challenger?"

"Nope… I made a friend."

At that moment, an orange-haired girl walked in to the training area.

"Ash!"

"Oh hi Misty," Ash said with a wave.

"I should have expected seeing you here," she said as she got closer to them. "Good afternoon sir."

"Good afternoon," Koga said with a nod.

"Wait… you two know each other?" Janine asked.

"Yeah," Misty responded. "I'm travelling with him."

"You mean you're travelling with him? That's cool."

"I don't think it's that cool," Misty muttered barely enough for Janine to hear.

"Yeah, but that's not important. Dad, Misty's also training to take over the Cerulean Gym."

"Is that so?"

"Yes sir."

"Well then congratulations."

"Thank you sir," Misty said with a smile before turning to Ash. "I hope you are done because I still need a couple more captures before I take on the gym leader role."

"I'm done," Ash said as he made to move. "Koga sir I take my leave," Ash said with a bow.

"Janine will see you off," the ninja said before releasing one of his pokémon. A Crobat Ash recognized.

"So where are you guys going?"

"I'll be heading to the Safari Zone," Misty said. "I'm hoping to catch at least two water types."

"I'll accompany you," Janine said. "I'm familiar with the area and I can definitely take you to the best areas to catch water types."

Both girls turned to look at Ash. "What?"

"What will you be doing?" Misty asked.

"I'll be at the Pokémon Center training," Ash said with a wave of his hands.

"Suit yourself," Janine said as she dragged Misty off.

Ash had arrived at the Pokémon Center and was currently outside in the training area. He tossed all twelve of his friend balls into the air. The lights died down to reveal Blaze, Blastoise, Venusaur, Golduck, Glaceon, Riolu, Volt, Butterfree, Beedrill, Zorua, Tyrunt and Scizor.

"Alright you guys. Start some warm up exercises while I call Professor Oak." He got a multitude of cries from his pokémon.

The raven-haired trainer dialed the Professor's number. It didn't take long for the Professor's face to come up on the holographic screen.

"Hello Ash," the Professor greeted.

"Good day Professor," Ash said with a grin.

"How are you doing Ash?"

"I'm fine thanks Professor."

"So… how is the journey so far?"

"I just won the Soul badge from Koga some time ago."

"That's good Ash. So do you want to transfer any of your pokémon?" The raven-haired trainer nodded a negative. "I was actually calling to ask about a pokémon."

"what is the name of the pokémon that you want to ask about?"

"Well Koga called it a Salazzle."

"Salazzle. Nasty poison types from the Alola region. They are a fire and poison dual type and only the females evolve into Salazzle. The males remain Salandit for the rest of their lives."

"Why is that Professor?"

"Well according to research that was conducted, one of the criteria necessary for the evolution process is the possession of a high level of pheromones, something the males are unable to achieve. Anyways, Salazzle have an innate ability to set their palms ablaze and they are also able to release the pheromones that they have in their bodies, in order to control other Salandit, and to an extension, other male pokémon."

"That's what I wanted to ask about Professor," Ash said as he looked thoughtful for a moment. "How's Primeape?"

"That… is a situation. You need Primeape on your team now, and that is because given their bad temper and reputation, they need to be aware of who's the boss now before things get out of hand."

"Okay… I guess I can adjust my team for the Indigo League. I'll be sending over Clefable."

Ash had sent Clefable to the Coral and he was currently holding Primeape's friend ball in his hands.

"Alright everyone stop," Ash said when he got closer to them. "I'm going to need your help in detaining this pokémon in case he goes rogue."

All his pokémon stopped their warm up and awaited the release of their new family member.

Ash tossed the friend ball, releasing the beast inside. The light materialized into the leader of the Primeape that Ash and Misty had encountered on Cycling Road.

The Primeape blinked and looked around until his eyes found Ash. He growled and charged furiously, but he was intercepted by Blaze who tackled him to the ground. He remembered Blaze very well. This was the pokémon who had caused his capture. He would not forgive him.

"Let him go Blaze." The Charizard reluctantly got off of the Primeape and turned to Ash as if asking "are you sure?"

Ash nodded and turned to Primeape. "I know you are upset that I caught you," Ash said before pausing and walking closer to Primeape. "But as it is now, you can't defeat me or my pokémon."

Primeape snorted at that. In his mind was a different scenario however. He was outclassed by the "big red one with wings".

"I can help make you stronger if you choose to."

He turned his head and frowned. While he wanted to think that the boy could not hold on to his deal, but the way he was bested as he could only land a single hit.

"I know you want to be stronger… I can help you. What do you say?"

Primeape closed his eyes as if to think before grunting.

"A one-on-one fight? You're on."

About twenty minutes later, Primeape was on the ground with scorch marks all over. He had lost once again to the big red one with wings.

"I win, so as promised you will accept."

Primeape grunted and got up, allowing Ash to spray a potion over his wounds to heal him and give him a berry.

"Now everyone back to your warm up exercises." The raven-haired trainer turned to Primeape. "You're with me."

"Now I know you are still angry at me, but we have to work together to make you stronger, and to do that I need to have a grasp of your fighting style."

Primeape nodded reluctantly. The boy was smart he had to give him that.

"Let's see your move set and your info." He activated his pokédex and the electronic device began.

"Primeape, the Pig Monkey Pokémon. It never forgives opponents that have angered it. Even after it has beaten them down till they can't move, it never ever forgives."

Ash glanced at Primeape to see a sinister glint in its eyes.

"This Primeape is male and knows the moves rage, leer, focus energy, fling, final gambit, fury swipes, karate shop, mega punch, pursuit, seismic toss, swagger, cross chop, assurance, punishment, fire punch, thunder punch, ice punch, focus punch. It knows the egg moves close combat, counter, revenge and reversal. It has the ability Anger point which raises its attack upon taking a critical hit."

Ash smiled or rather tried to smile. Primeape might just be a handful, but the mon had power to back himself up.

"Alright let's begin."