Crushing Defeat?

Ash took in a deep breath and exhaled with a sigh as he took in the sights of the massive Cinnabar Island, the home of the seventh gym badge that would bring him one step closer to the Pokémon League. His blood was pumped and he was excited. He felt like battling Blaine just then and now. However, before he could run off to his own shenanigans, a voiced called.

He turned around to look at Misty and she had the strangest look on her face, something that said, "Are you kidding". She brought her right hand which was behind, forward. Ash blushed slightly at the sight. There in her grasp, was his backpack. He must have been so excited that he must have forgotten it there.

"Sorry Misty, It's just that I want to fight Blaine so badly."

"I understand but still…"

She was about to open her mouth to speak when she felt a hand on her wrist. Before she could say anything however, the raven-haired trainer took off running without even saying anything.

"Ash Satoshi Ketchum! Let go of me this instance!" she yelled, but all in vain.

Ash ran faster. "Sorry Misty, it's just that you were talking so slowly that I had to drag you… now come on." From what Ash had known of, the gym was close to the volcano on the island.

Ash being Ash spent about an hour trying to look for the gym's entrance before he finally found it. There was a cave that was carved close to the mountain side, but before he could go inside with Misty, they heard a voice.

"Yo," the voice said.

"Who's there?" Ash asked as he and Misty turned around to look.

A figure dropped down from a nearby rock that was just out of sight. It was a bald man with a white moustache and round black shades. He was sporting a white lab coat and a black shirt with a red tie that had pokémon symbols on it, and purple trousers.

The man appeared to be deep in thought before he spoke up. "I'm guessing that you must be pokémon trainers and it seems to me that you are both here for a gym battle."

"One out of two," Ash replied with an excited tone. "I'm the one here for the gym battle. I'm Ash Satoshi Ketchum by the way."

"So the son of the master has come to grace me with his battling skills," the man said with a chuckle. "I'm the Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island. They call me the Hotheaded Blaine…" as he said this he looked at the before asking Ash a question. "So shall we move this to a more conducive place?"

Ash nodded but his mind was led to ask. "Where's the gym?"

"Ah… Unlike the other gyms, mine is situated atop the volcano."

"Atop the volcano?!" Misty exclaimed.

Blaine smiled. "Yes… in the center of the volcano, there's a platform the size of a battlefield. That's the gym arena."

"But… won't the fumes from the lava affect the trainers?" Ash had to ask.

"That's the tricky part… pokémon battling is not just about the pokémon themselves but also the trainers. How can the pokémon battle if the trainer's mind is frail and easily affected by external forces?"

Ash and Misty nodded. Blaine had a point there. The smoke definitely had an effect on the trainers. The trainer withstanding such effects would definitely add to their skillset. It was in its way a kind of training that would pay off in the long run.

It didn't take long before they arrived at the mouth of the volcano. From both ends of the volcano, a walkway extended until they met at the center, forming a circular battlefield. Beneath the platform, Ash and Misty could see the pool of magma below. He'd heard that the volcano on Cinnabar Island was dormant and at the same time inactive. Magma was flowing within the volcano but apparently it showed no signs of erupting soon.

"That's where we will be doing battle," Blaine said as he continued walking. He turned back to look at them. "She can wait behind. Only you should proceed."

Ash nodded and turned to Misty who sat down on an elevated platform. He began making his way for the battlefield with a smile etched on his face.

Soon, Blaine and Ash were standing a ways off from each other. Silence filled the air and Blaine decided to break it as a glint of mischievousness flashed through his glasses.

"Alright… let's get started Ash. I can tell that you're in a hurry."

Ash nodded silently as he held a pokéball in his hands. "Ready when you are Blaine."

Blaine smirked. "Incinerate everything Ninetales."

From Blaine's pokeball came a Ninetales. As soon as it landed on the field, its tails fanned out, giving it an intimidating appearance, eyes narrowed at Ash. Ash seemed to notice that it was as though Blaine had transformed into a completely different person. He smiled to show that he too had accepted the challenge.

He tossed his own pokéball as he released his Golduck. He wanted to take the lead from the get-go.

"Challenger has the first move," Blaine said as he gestured towards Ash. "Ninetales you know what to do." A nod and a growl were what came after and Ash gave his command.

"Water gun."

Golduck took in a deep breath as he amassed water within him before releasing it as a jet stream of water. The attack flew through the air at Ninetales but Ash was able to notice that the attack size reduced considerably before it reached Ninetales of which the attack was promptly avoided.

"What gives?" Ash asked as he noticed what had just occurred.

"Ah young Ketchum, let me tell you something that you may not know. Holding back in this battle is not going to do you any good. You see the volcano produces enough heat to render weak water attacks completely useless and ice moves are highly ineffective. Knowing that is key to battling with water types atop this volcano.

Without wasting time, Blaine called out his attack making sure to use distraction that was caused in Ash's mind. "Quick attack and flamethrower."

Ninetales responded to Blaine's call as she became outlined in the familiar with white glow. Within seconds she had reached Golduck's part of the field. Her mouth was wide open and flames could be seen dancing in them. A stream of flames was the next thing that escaped them and slammed into Golduck's face. Ash could see that Golduck had received more damage than he should have normally had and that was because of the damned volcano.

Thing is, Gym Leaders were meant to take advantage of their gyms to set up an area of battle that was meant to favour them and not necessarily the trainers. And that was why Blaine, being a fire type gym leader resorted to have his gym atop a volcano because it would prove troublesome for those trainers that solely relied on type advantage.

Ash snapped out of his little stupor. "Muddy water."

He really hadn't thought this one true. The nature of the volcano would pretty much make water pokemon a lot weaker than they normally were. The thing with muddy water was that it also utilized land as an added advantage hence why he thought it would have done a bit of damage.

Ninetales just stood still as she took on the attack with relative ease. She proceeded to launch another stream of flames at Golduck.

"Dodge it and future sight."

Golduck dodged the flames as his eyes glowed pink with psychic energy. He projected an attack into the future and awaited Ash's orders. The raven-haired trainer noticed that Golduck's footwork wasn't all that in order as he dodged the attack. The heat must be getting to him.

"Fire spin."

A thin stream of flames made their way out of Ninetale's mouth with intent on trapping Golduck. Golduck didn't bother waiting for Ash as he rolled out of the way.

"Do what you can to avoid her attacks," Ash called to the water type. He had played right into Blaine's trap, not that he actually wanted to trap him but Ash had made a big mistake by sending in Golduck without knowing how the terrain would affect him. He gr65it his teeth and was trying to come with a way that he would be able to help him. Blaine had thrown him off his game.

An idea suddenly clicked in his head and he turned to see Golduck hit by an attack that looked to be extrasensory. He was going to turn the battle into one of close quarters.

"Cross chop," he yelled to the Duck. Golduck made his way as fast as he could towards Ninetales. Blaine ordered an attack but before she could use it, future sight hit her. That was what Ash needed. Golduck was able to land the cross chop attack and he decided to follow up on that.

"Brick break."

Golduck had practiced a lot in how to switch moves mid-fight. His right hand glowed white as he slammed it into Ninetales and sent her flying. Ash cheered inwardly. He had landed two attacks that he hoped would be at least a little bit damaging.

Ninetales was able to recover with ease and soon enough, she was back in the battle. Her eyes glowed as she used extrasensory again and Golduck responded by using psychic to clash with her.

Information Corner:

Remember when I said that there were some pokemon that weren't of a particular type but could use moves of that type as though it was a secondary typing. Ninetales and Golduck were amongst those pokemon because they could utilise moves of the psychic type very efficiently.

Despite the fact that psychic was likely a more powerful move than extrasensory, the result was a stalemate as both attacks met and cancelled each other out. However, Blaine was prepared for this. Ninetales blurred out of view as she appeared in front of Golduck with her head reared back as she released a point blank flamethrower.

The duck pokemon quacked in pain as he shot a water gun in defense, but Ninetales had already moved out of the way and was already making her way back towards Blaine.

"Flame burst."

This time, rather than immediately shooting a stream of flames at Golduck, she chewed her mouth a bit before spitting a blob of flames at Golduck. Ash recognised the move and ordered a water gun to be launched at the ground.

Understanding his trainer's thoughts, Golduck shot a jet of water below him as he propelled himself just out of the range of the flame's explosion.

"Flamethrower."

A huge stream of flames escaped her mouth as they made their way towards a defenseless Golduck… or so they thought. Golduck spewed an even more powerful jet of water as he used the recoil launched him out of the way of the flamethrower as he rolled to a stop on the ground.

"Calm mind," Blaine called out and Ninetales ceased all movements as she focused deeply, waves of psychic energy washing over her body.

"Propel yourself into a focus punch."

Golduck's hand attained a bluish white glow as he shot a jet of water to propel himself from behind. The force launched him forward as he gave into the reaction, not even bothering to resist. His body was flung fast and as soon as he felt the force diminish, he rolled forward before standing up and continuing to run.

Reaching Ninetales he thrust his right hand back and then threw it forward, slamming into Ninetales and launching the fire type into the ground. Just then, Ninetales had finished Calm Mind and had covered herself with extrasensory that absorbed the some of the impact of the focus punch.

It came as surprise when Ninetales stood up and shot a stream of flames that slammed into Golduck. The attack launched Golduck back and into the ground. Another stream of flames slammed into the water type but he rolled out of the way and got up.

"Hypnosis," Blaine called out, but Ash was also prepared with something similar.

"Disable."

Both moves required a form of eye contact before they would work and it appeared that both trainers were thinking in a similar light. Now this was a bit trickish seeing as the moves were launched at the same time and it was down to luck and couple of other miniscule factors that the victim and the victor would be decided.

"Ninetales/Golduck," both trainers called as they saw the pokemon standing still. Neither of them could account for the fact that they had called two similar and psychic-related moves but the victor was clear and that was something that Ash had noticed.

"Hydro pump." They only had one shot at this and he was intent on making it count. The huge and powerful torrent of water sailed through the air, not even bothered by the heat of the volcano. It crashed into Ninetales and launched the fire type out of the platform and had her falling towards the lava below. Before this could happen, Blaine had recalled her and soon enough, Golduck passed out.

Information Corner:

Okay, I can't just escape this so here's my little explanation for what just happened. So, everything about this battle lies in the disable vs. hypnosis. In this fanfic, both of these attacks are psychic moves. I just don't see how disable could be a normal type move and I explained it in the Mount Moon Arc. So both these pokemon cast similar psychic attacks at the same time resulting in something that I'd like to give a name to but I don't know what to call out. It's like two psychics of the same caliber casting mental attacks on each other at the same time, it's like there's some kind of backlash on their minds… so basically that. Then the factors involved, let's just say luck as the general factor. Ash being the chosen one which has been hinted at is blessed to luck out at times and that is due to the fact that Blaine is a fire type trainer so the mental psychic typing fortitude of his pokemon won't be that focused like that of those like Ash who focuses on all types in general, and again disable was on a higher scale on the psychic typing than hypnosis. Hypnosis worked better in close quarters and lost effectiveness the more the distance increased. With that being the center of it and Blaine being unaware of the fact that Ash was calling a move of his own too, it just worked out in Ash's favour and disable connected.

Golduck in turn passed out because even though the effects of hypnosis were diminished, with his less developed psyche and the fact that he powered through the backlash was too much for his brain to suppress, and that was what Ash meant when he saw he had only one chance at this.

I believe this explanation should be enough.

Ash looked at Golduck's friend ball and smiled. The battle was tough, many times tougher than he had expected, but he was able to pull through even though it was a draw.

"Ash, you really are an interesting battler… I'm all fired up now," Blaine said with a huge grin and surprisingly the light from the sun reflected off of his bald head, causing it to glow. His grin was very wide and he took another pokeball as he released the pokemon held within.

The light condensed to reveal a rather hairy pokemon. Ash had seen this pokemon before lots of times. It was an Arcanine and a rather large one, though not too large. It barked as it came out and revealed its long tongue.

Ash wanted to test out this pokemon's current strength so he had already prepared it beforehand. He released his Primeape from within its friend ball. The pokemon came out with a battle cry as it stomped the ground.

Blaine smiled as he spotted Primeape. It was his turn to make the first move. "Extreme speed, get in close and then thunder fang."

With a low bark, Arcanine disappeared from sight as it appeared in front of Primeape with fangs sparking with electricity. It bit into the fighting type's foot and began to shake it violently. However, Primeape forced his body forward as he held unto Arcanine's snout with his left hand and punched with a bluish white right hand. Arcanine was forced to let go as it unleashed a stream of flames at Primeape.

Primeape's fists became wrapped in flames as it blocked the flamethrower with minimal damage received.

"Pursuit and fling."

Primeape felt chaos energy envelop him as he made his way at Arcanine.

"Extreme speed, evade and flamethrower point blank."

Arcanine slipped into a blur as it took off running with Primeape inching in closer and closer with every passing second. Arcanine stopped all of a sudden as it turned to face Primeape before unleashing a massive stream of flames at the fighting type who could watch as he slammed into the flames.

"Now thunder fang."

Arcanine once again bit into Primeape's flesh with electrified fangs. Primeape let out a cry before nailing Arcanine with thunder punch and forcing it to let go.

"Fire blast."

"Focus blast."

While Arcanine's mouth filled with flames, Primeape charged martial energy in between his palms. Both pokemon launched their respective attacks that clashed and resulted in an explosion that kicked up dust and smoke, obstructing each other from their views.

Ash and Blaine watched with intent on knowing what was to happen. Within the smoke, Arcanine shot off with extreme speed at Primeape but the fighting type had countered by using Arcanine's momentum against it and driving it into the ground. His hands glowed white as he descended with a mega punch but Arcanine evaded with extreme speed.

The smoke soon cleared and both trainers could get a clear view of their pokemon. Primeape had scorch marks on his body and was panting rather heavily. Arcanine on the other hand was panting but not as much as Primeape.

"Move in with pursuit and karate chop."

Primeape became cloaked in chaos energy once again as he approached Arcanine who just stood there awaiting Blaine's command.

"Flamethrower," Blaine shouted just when Primeape was within a clear hit range, but was surprised to see the fighting type swerve out of the range of the flamethrower before coming down on Arcanine's head with a vicious chop. Arcanine yelped but Primeape let up and decided to follow up with a focus punch to the side of Arcanine's jaw.

Arcanine was launched back by the attack and hit the ground heavily. That surprised Blaine and caused him to smile even wider.

"This is proving to be a rather interesting battle… Let's go all out now. Arcanine, flamethrower maximum output."

Arcanine recovered from the focus punch as his mouth filled with flames before he spewed out an even hotter stream of flames at Primeape. The attack slammed into Primeape and sent him flying until he slammed into the ground and skidded to a stop. That caught Ash off-guard as he saw Primeape struggle to his feet. That was one hell of a flamethrower.

"We're finishing this Arcanine… Extreme speed and put him down."

Arcanine barked as he blurred out of sight and slammed into Primeape.

"We're not done," Ash said as he called out an attack. "Cross chop." Both of Primeape's fist glowed white as he crossed on his chest and dove at Arcanine. The fire type not even paying heed as it quickly evaded the attack and appeared behind Primeape.

Ash was prepared for this however. "Counter!"

Without missing a beat, Primeape responds with a swift twist as he switched over to focus punch and threw his fist at Arcanine. The fire type almost didn't have enough time to respond but it was able to pull his head back and launch a flamethrower at Primeape.

Experience was a very important factor as it could be the deciding factor in a battle… it may not always look to do much but it was vastly important. Right before flamethrower had hit, Primeape had formed a premature focus blast in his left hand that he tossed at Arcanine. Flamethrower slammed into Primeape and he was launched into the air while spinning on his side before slamming into the ground and creating a small trench in the area.

"Laser focus… We're ending this."

Arcanine crouched as predatory instincts kicked in. His eyes focused with intent and all his energy. The next attack was not going to be a normal one.

"Primeape!"

"Fire blast," Blaine called out to the fire type.

Arcanine barked and fire filled his mouth as he spat out a condensed ball of flames. The ball grew until it morphed into the familiar kanji for big and slammed into Primeape. A loud shriek filled the air and soon enough it died down. Primeape was out for the count.

Ash wordlessly recalled the fighting type as he looked at Arcanine. The fire type was panting; Primeape had clearly done a great deal of damage especially with that final focus blast at the end of it all.

That gave Ash the courage to send out his next pokemon. He released Volt from his friend ball and the electric type came out, smashing his fists together and generating electricity.

The third battle was about to begin and it was going to be Volt vs. Arcanine. Ash already had a strategy prepared for the battle and he was going to utilise it without making any mistakes.

"Thunder speed and thunder punch."

Blaine was confused slightly because he had never heard of such a pokemon move but he still gave an order. "Evade it and watch its movements." He had vaguely guessed that it was a move that had something to do with speed.

Volt's entire body crackled with electricity as he pushed himself off of the ground and made his way towards Arcanine. Originally he was a bit hot when he came outside but with the electricity now wrapping his body, he felt more at ease. The speed at which Volt moved shocked Blaine and he saw it as something as something that was superior to Arcanine's. Volt had closed the distance within moments and an electrified fist slammed into Arcanine and launched it back.

Blaine whistled, Volt was definitely faster than the average Electabuzz. It was at that moment that he noticed that Volt had the shiny gene.

"Keep it up Volt, thunderbolt."

"Flamethrower!"

Volt's antenna crackled as he launched thunderbolt at Arcanine who responded with his own stream of flames. Both attacks clashed and fought for dominance before thunderbolt broke through flamethrower and nailed Arcanine dead center, electrocuting him.

"Arcanine!"

"Don't let up… Cross chop."

Volt crossed both hands together as they glowed a bright white before charging at Arcanine.

"Fire blast," Blaine called as he saw the electric type near his pokemon. Arcanine gathered strength as he launched the sphere of flames at Volt's incoming form. Volt didn't bother stopping as electricity crackled through his feet and he pushed off of the ground, spinning forward until he crashed down on Arcanine, eliciting a cry of pain from the fire type.

"Let's end this with thunder punch."

Not even bothering to pause, electricity made its way to his right fist and he came down on Arcanine with a vicious punch. The Legendary Pokemon was out for the count.

It was Blaine's turn to return his pokemon. He released another one a second later and it condensed to reveal a rather tall horse-like pokemon. It was a cream coloured pokemon and it had a mane and tail of pure flames. Near its hooves, flames also poured out from its body. It was the infamous Fire Horse Pokemon, Rapidash.

Blaine knew fire types won't be all that effective against electric types, but he had a pokemon that could make use of the only type that electric pokemon were weak against. "Drill run."

Rapidash stomped its foot and ran forward, earth energy swirling atop its head as he charged Volt, and Rapidash was no slouch when it came to speed. Within moments it was already approaching the electric type.

Volt dodged and was about to take a stance when he saw Rapidash coming at him again, seemingly having diverted its direction the moment Volt had dodged. The electric type dodged again but this time Rapidash came at him even faster than he would have expected and narrowly missed him. As he dodged this time, he made sure to put some distance between the both of them.

"Thunderbolt," Ash called out.

Volt wasted no time in using the electric move at the incoming Rapidash but was surprised to see Rapidash jump over the attack and slam into him with drill run.

Ash was surprised at what he had just witnessed. He wanted to question it but his mind reminded him that he was fighting a Gym Leader and not just someone ordinary.

"Agility around the field."

"Watch its movement and use thunderspeed to evade if it gets too close."

Psychic energy wrapped around Rapidash's body as it began to run, feeling its body become lighter and his movement speed increase. Volt on the other hand had paused a bit as he watched the horse run around. Ash already had a rough guess on Blaine's strategy and was trying to conserve energy by having Volt wait and not attack.

"Flame wheel."

Rapidash didn't bother stopping as flames gradually began to surround its body like a wheel. It switched direction and headed straight for Volt who was already expecting it. Electricity crackled around his body as he dodged the fire type. Rapidash's attempted assault didn't end there as it turned around and began tailing Volt who would evade it.

Ash was playing it safe because he knew that at this point Rapidash would be able to evade any attack that Volt would send its way. He wanted it to move in close before he gave a command, but unfortunately this didn't come to pass.

As Volt evaded the next time, Rapidash's speed suddenly increased as it slammed into the electric type and sent him flying.

"Now earthquake."

Dispelling flame wheel and the agility that it had used while covered in flames, Rapidash raised his front legs up and was about to come down before Ash yelled something.

"Sky launch."

Volt's hands quickly became shrouded in electricity as he slammed both on the ground just before Rapidash's hooves came down and shook the battlefield, splitting some areas of the field with its power.

Ash was lucky he had gotten out of that one, but he was like a sitting duck in the air and for some reason he had felt that it was all part of Blaine's plan as he saw a stream of flames slam into Volt. They weren't like the ones used in flamethrower and he suspected something very terrible was going on.

As Volt landed, he saw burn marks on his stomach. That attack earlier was an Inferno, a fire type move that was guaranteed to burn a target. The thing with burn was that it was quite similar to paralysis in the sense that it made it quite hard to perform moves because of well, the burn.

"Agility and fire blast."

Rapidash shot off as his speed increased again, but this time, it had flames dancing in its throat as he shot a ball of flames at Volt. Ash though was having none of it, he had been misled by Blaine a lot in this match but he had figured out Blaine's flaw, at least in this match.

"Thunderspeed maximum output to dodge."

Volt's body surged once again as he dodged the fire attack and began to run.

"Agility and flame wheel combo."

Flames wrapped around Rapidash alongside psychic energy. The fire horse shot off as it gave chase to Volt.

"Rolling Kick," Ash called out.

"Stomp!"

Rapidash had already gotten close to Volt before the electric type suddenly stopped and placed one foot after the other and launched himself off of the ground. Rapidash's response to this was to raise his two legs to try and stomp on the electric type.

Ash smirked. He had pretty much anticipated this. "Delay rolling kick." This was a battle style that he had picked up from Sabrina when she had fought him.

Blaine was taken aback by the command but was in for even more of a shock as Volt paused mid-attack and waited for Rapidash's attack to land. As soon as the stomp landed, he kicked his knee sharply and pulled back.

Rapidash neighed loudly as collapsed on his feet. Ash swore he heard Blaine clap. The weakpoint of Rapidash's was in their knee area… any attacks there were usually damaging.

Blaine wanted to end the battle quickly because it seemed as though Ash had him figured out. "Sunny day and solar beam."

Ash was prepared for it. "Rain dance."

Just as sunny day was about to escape Rapidash's mouth, Volt shot a thunderbolt into the sky above and called forth clouds that began to darken gradually as Volt manipulated them, all the while dancing to a groove that existed only in his head. The radiance from the sun intensified but the clouds soon covered it as it began to drizzle and soon rain began to fall.

The thunderbolt and the heat emanating from the volcano were favourable factors in the formation of the rain clouds. Blaine felt his heart beat faster because he had a feeling that Volt knew thunder and in the presence of rain, it had no chance of missing.

"Thunder shower," were the two words that escaped Ash's mouth and this caused Volt to grin widely. His body crackled with electricity as he charged up a thunder attack. Blaine knew that he wouldn't be able to dodge it so he did the next best thing and ordered a protect.

Volt grinned as the electricity intensified and he launched the powerful attack into the clouds causing Blaine to be dumbfounded. He wanted to ask why Volt had done that but he didn't have to because almost immediately, the rain clouds responded to his thunder as an even bigger and more powerful thunder attack descended and crashed into Rapidash and its protect.