A Journey's Link

Chapter 21 - Rivaled

The white light produced from the Pokeballs dissipated, revealing two extremely strong Pokemon. On Ash's end was his Gengar, who he hadn't used in a while and seemed to be excited to fight. On Paul's end was his Electivire, a Pokemon that Ash had a lot of history with.

It's Electivire! Ash thought. The last time we fought was at the Lily of the Valley Conference. He replayed the battle that he and Paul had and remembered not only how intense it was, but how it proved to Paul once and for all that his method of training Pokemon was valid and useful compared to Paul's unethical ways.

"Recognize it, Ash?" Paul asked. "It's gotten much stronger since then!" Ash grinned and nodded, then said, "I'm glad to hear that! Hopefully, you've been training alongside it!" Paul didn't say anything in return but decided to continue the conversation.

"I can see you've caught a Gengar," Paul said. "Impressive." Ash pumped his fists and exclaimed, "This Gengar is something special! I'm really glad to be good friends with it!" Gengar turned around and smiled at Ash, happy to be owned by such a caring trainer, unlike his previous one.

There he goes again with his love for Pokemon, Paul thought, closing his eyes. It comes to him so naturally, I wonder how? He opened his eyes and nodded at Ash, who nodded in return; they were both ready for the power the other had to offer.

"Now Electivire, use Thunder Punch!" Paul commanded. Almost instantly after giving this command, his Electivire made a fist, and electricity began flowing through it. Ash hadn't expected it to be so quick so suddenly, so he watched as Electivire rammed its fist into Gengar's floating body, sending him flying into a group of trees; luckily, he landed in the branches, weakening the impact.

"Gengar!" Ash yelled, worried for his Pokemon's health. Paul anticipatingly looked at the trees, secretly hoping that Gengar would rise out. What a waste of time that would be if I already knocked it out, Paul thought. After a while, nothing happened, leading to the Rotom Announcer Drone to check on Gengar's wellbeing.

Pathetic, Paul thought. After all this time, I thought Ash would've been stronger. He tapped his foot waiting for the final consensus, while Ash sat across from the battlefield, smiling with confidence. "What's so funny?" Paul asked. Ash just shook his head and simply said, "Just wait."

Paul clenched his teeth, clearly not wanting to wait. He and Electivire looked at each other, waiting for the next move from Ash. Just then, a shadowy figure emerged from the trees. It was Gengar, who had a few scratches on him but was otherwise in tip-top shape.

"How!?" Paul yelled, surprised that Gengar was nearly untouched after a direct hit from Electivire. "Vire!" Electivire screamed, surprised that a Pokemon had blown off its Thunder Punch. It was proud of it and gained respect for any Pokemon that could walk it off with such ease as Gengar. Gengar floated down to Ash with a big smile on its face.

"Way to go, Gengar!" Ash exclaimed, giving Gengar a fist bump. He turned back to Paul and said, "Gengar is super strong because of our special training!" Gengar floated back to the battlefield and stuck out his tongue at Electivire, who became angry at the sight of Gengar's taunting.

Paul grimaced, as he didn't expect a situation like this. I know Ash isn't a serious person, Paul thought. But this is a completely different level than I thought. He shook his head and refocused, preparing to give Electivire another command. Ash saw the readjustment and decided to continue the battle with Gengar's own punch.

"Gengar, use Ice Punch!" Ash said, mimicking the punching movement as if he was fighting, not his Pokemon. Gengar's fist became surrounded by ice and emitted a frosty aura. Paul watched in anticipation as Gengar charged its fist, and instantly knew what move to use next.