178. Sneasel

The staff quickly brought Ash's group and the new Harrison to a high stone staircase.

"There is an ancestral hall above this stone staircase, and the Sacred Fire is stored in that ancestral hall. But... there is a wild Sneasels lingering near the ancestral hall that is making us unable to take it out."

Ash and his party have already seen Sneasel before in their travels, the Iron Masked Marauders Sneasel that was transformed into a true evil Pokémon by the Dark Poké Ball. Their claws are very very sharp, and it can cut through the fine iron cage trapping a Pokémon like with one single blow.

Hearing that it was a Sneasel, Harrison became very excited, "So Seasel is indeed here!"

Seeing Ash's questioning look towards him, he explained with a sheepish smile, "It's like this. I heard that there are wild Sneasels living around Mt. Silver. I've always wanted to catch one and train them to be my fast attacker!"

Obviously this Sneasel has caused a lot of trouble to the staff of the Ho-Oh Shrine for some time now. "The problem lies with this very Sneasel. It has a very strong sense of territory. As long as someone approaches the ancestral hall, they will be attacked by him and his goons. We can't do much of anything because of them."

This Sacred Fire has been always been used before, so the result is that more and more people are injured because of the strong attraction it holds for wild Pokémon's!

"Not only that, but recently it has accepted a Machop and Machoke as his subordinates, so we asked the Pokémon Trainer coming here to help us, but no one can successfully take out the Sacred Flame from there!"

It turns out that this is the main problem, then it will be easy to solve. Ash and Harrison nodded together, "Don't worry, leave it to us!"

After saying that, the two looked at each other and smiled.

Ash will be responsible for taking out the Sacred Fire out of the building, while Harrison will try to conquer that powerful wild Sneasel.

The stairs were really high. Misty was very tired, but Molly was easily the most relaxed out of the group. She levitated with the help of Latias's Confusion and just floated next to everyone else.

"Come on guys, come on! You can go faster! Hahaha!" Her bell-like laughter sounded on the stairs, and everyone worked hard and quickly reached the top of the not so small hill.

Ash was the first to step up to the top. When he looked up, he saw a sharp looking knife swung towards him!

With a flash of blue light all over his body, Ash raised his hand and easily blocked the sharp knife with his arm. Everyone quickly followed and saw Machoke and Machop standing in front of them as if they were guarding the mountain gate, which they kind of were.

"Machoke and Machop are that Sneasel's followers!"

Brock remembered the mission information that was shared by the staff just now to them.

"Brock, take care of Togepi please!" Misty entrusted Togepi in her arms to Brock, so that she couldn't let it run around anymore while she battles.

Then, she looked at Ash, "Ash, let me handle this guys! Come on up, Corsola!"

Misty threw out her Lure Ball, "Corsola, use Spike Cannon!"

Harrison, not to be outdone by Misty, ordered his Houndoom beside him, "Houndoom, use Flamethrower!"

Two attacks easily swallowed up the Machoke and Machop, and Ash quickly took this opportunity to break into the ancestral hall.

Their mission is not to defeat the Machoke and Machop, but to obtain the Sacred Fire belonging to Ho-Oh!

When he opens the door, he saw a real life statue of Ho-Oh, which was almost like it was alive. It was a magnificent statue.

And above Ho-Oh's outstretched wings, there is a golden basin holding the Sacred Fire. The Sacred Fire is indeed unusual, it was emitting a golden light.

This flame had a different color to it compared to his Entei who also knew how to use Sacred Fire.

Suddenly, a sharp claw suddenly appeared in front of Ash, but Ash was easily able to avoid it with his heightened speed.

"It's not a good habit to attack others casually, Sneasel!" Ash grinned and threw out one of his Poké Ball, "Tyrouge, stand by for battle!"

Sneasel is a dual-type Pokémon of the Dark and Ice-type, and Fighting-type attacks will be extremely effective against his kind!

They are also pretty evenly matched when it came to speed but now power.

However, Sneasel was able to get Machoke and Machop to be his subordinates, which obviously shows his very clever mind.

Ash's Tyrouge has been training hard since he was caught by him. Since he doesn't want to evolve as of yet, he puts in dozens of times more effort than his evolved form to become just as strong or if not stronger. Ash's words have always been in his mind since the first time he said it!

Under the guidance of Annihilape, it wears the Macho Brace to constantly surpass his own limits. As Ash said, the Fighting-type is the attribute that is truly born for fighting!

"Snes!" Looking at the thin little guy in front of him with a Black Belt tied on his head, Sneasel showed a mocking smile and waved his claws gently as he was obviously taunting him.

However, Tyrouge, who had gone through hell-style training, could not be so easily taunted. He had his stoic face that remained motionless, always maintaining a fighting posture, controlling his breathing, and condensing his momentum for the next burst attacks.

Until Ash gave out his next order, "Now!"

There is no fixed name for the move. Tyrouge glared at Sneasel and stepped forward at an astonishing speed!

Sneasel was obviously frightened by Tyrouges sudden burst of speed, but he still reacted quickly and swung its claws towards Tyrouges punch!

However, Tyrouges punch was clearly a feint attack, the real attacking move was another punch from the other direction!

He easily swung away Sneasel's claws, then punched Sneasel on the waist, knocking him away!

Sneasel retreated violently, but in the next second he touched the ground with one foot and rushed towards Tyrouge again. Dark-type energy condensed on his palms!

That is clearly a Ghost-type skill, Shadow Ball!

Ash don't know where he learned this attack from. If the compatibility wasn't so low, Ash would have really thought of catching it for himself.

But obviously, this Sneasel has no sense of identity or belonging to Ash, and what is going on now is not a battle of conquest, this is just beating the crap out of a random wild Pokémon!

"Kick it back!"

Tyrouge grinned lightly and kicked the Shadow Ball away with the Dark-type energy from one of the moves Ash especially taught him for such a situation, a Dark-type attack called Thief. The force of this kick was just at the right angle. The Shadow Ball was actually kicked back and exploded right in front of Sneasel!

Sneasel was stunned by the explosion, and Ash ignored him, walked straight into the ancestral hall, and used his Psychic to remove the golden basin of the Sacred Fire from the statue of Ho-Oh.

He looked at the statue and murmured, "Ho-Oh, I'm going to meet you one of these days!"

Maybe that day will be the day when Ash really becomes a Pokémon Master.

Ash came out of the building with the Sacred Fire in his hand. Misty and Harrison were also able to defeate Machoke and Machop by the time he came outside. Harrison nodded towards Ash and came to the injured Sneasel, "Go, Blaziken!"

The Pokémon sent out by Harrison was something that Brock and the others had never seen before. It was tall, mighty and a very cool looking Pokémon.

Blaziken is a dual-type Pokémon of the Fire and Fighting-type, so he is absolutely invincible against a Pokémon like Sneasel who is weak to both of Blaziken's types.

"This is a Pokémon I've never seen before. It's so awesome!" Molly's starry eyes were already beginning to show.

Ash smiled a little, "It turns out to be a Blaziken, Harrison, is this your Starter Pokémon?"

Hearing Ash's words, Harrison gave Ash a high look, "Yes, I didn't expect you actually knew do Blaziken from the Hoenn Region!"

There was no time to continue talking with Ash for now. Harrison looked at the injured Sneasel, who had now come back to his senses, "Seasel, come and fight me, I want to catch you!"

This was obviously a declaration of battle, a way of communication between a Trainer and a Pokémon.

Sneasel accepted the challenge. Ash tried to not do much damage to it just now. He suddenly accelerated and stretched out its sharp claws towards Blaziken.

"Blaziken, knock him away then use an Ember!"

Blaziken was very fast. After knocking Sneasel away with a fist, he chased after him with another Ember. His movements were very crisp and clean.

This was Harrison's fighting style, which is also very similar to Ash's fighting style.

"Now, Blaziken, give it the final Fire Punch!" Blaziken knocked Sneasel down, "Go ahead, Poké Ball!"

Sneasel was subdued by Harrison, and Ash was also able to retrieved the Sacred Fire. Not only that, the Ho-Oh Shrine was also willing to take in Machoke and Machop to guard it here from other wild Pokémon's.