I am alive.

Sorry, it's been a long time since I last posted a chapter but a lot of stuff's changed for me and this chapter fought me every step of the way.

Hopefully it's worth the wait.

Chapter 48

Clashing Elements

Decidueye appeared in a flash of white light landing silently onto the field, his head cocking to the side as he focussed on Mega Swampert.

"Ready when you are." Ash called across the field, Olivia smirked in response.

"Ice Punch." The moisture on Mega Swampert's fist quickly solidified into a thick coating of frost around her fist as she barrelled forward.

"Dodge it." Decidueye gave his wings a short but strong flap as he glided out of the way, evading most of the blow but still getting clipped by it. "Razor Leaf." Another flap of his wings sent a volley of sharp leaves into the Mud Fish Pokémon's side.

"Hydro Pump!" Olivia called, the high pressured blast of water knocked the Razor Leaf attack away and continued on towards Decidueye. Without needing the prompt the Grass and Ghost type evaded the attack by falling back whilst plucking a feather and firing at the Water and Ground type. As the feather flew it took on a dark purple haze and seemingly passed through Mega Swampert connecting with her shadow instead. Purple chains shot out of the shadow, latching themselves onto her wrists and ankles as more chains circled her body.

From the stands May lifted her Pokédex and aimed it at the chains.

"Spirit Shackle, a Ghost type move exclusive to Decidueye. This move prevents the target from leaving the battle while Decidueye is there."

Decidueye righted himself and with a few strong flaps of his wings gained some distance from his opponent but Olivia wasn't going to let that happen without a fight.

"Ice Beam, rapid fire!" The orange ridges on Mega Swampert's arms turned icy blue as multiple blasts of cold energy shot towards the Arrow Quill Pokémon. Managing to evade some of the attacks Decidueye was able to gain some distance but at the cost of taking a number of super-effective hits. "Hit him hard!" Mega Swampert took a deep breath before launching a Blizzard from her mouth, Decidueye wasn't able to dodge the wide spread attack and faltered to the ground, wrapping his wings around himself to try and maintain his temperature.

When the cold storm ended Decidueye gave his wings a powerful flap as he shot up towards the hot lights and took aim at his opponent once more.

"Now Razor Leaf again!" Ash called.

"Protect!" Olivia countered, a pale blue dome rippled into being around Mega Swampert shielding her from the attack. Decidueye's eye twitched in annoyance before he attacked again, focussing the full power of Razor Leaf into a single leaf, sending it at high speed into the protective dome, managing to embed itself halfway through before being completely stopped. As Protect started to fade the Grass and Ghost type used Leafage to pick up the fallen leaves from his previous attacks and pelt Mega Swampert before upping the power to turn the attack into a Leaf Tornado. While Mega Swampert was blinded by the attack along with the sand from the battlefield Decidueye pulled a long feather from his wing and dashed forward at blur of motion.

The edges of the feather took on a pale green energy and Decidueye rapidly closed the distance and sliced across Mega Swampert with a Leaf Blade. The spectral purple chains holding her in place shattered as in a flash of light the Mud Fish Pokémon reverted to her previous form and fell face first to the ground.

Olivia returned Swampert with a soft smile and plenty of thanks before taking out her last Pokéball.

"It's been a while since I've needed to use my ace, you sure know how to excite a lady."

"Well, I like making battles interesting."

"We're definitely getting to the good stuff now. Flygon, you're up!" Olivia threw her last Pokéball high into the air as it snapped open and released the Mystic Pokémon. The ground and dragon type somersaulted in the air before diving to towards the ground in a spin, stopping in a hover a foot above the sandy battlefield.

"You ok to continue Decidueye?" Ash asked, Decidueye hesitated for a moment before nodding. "You sure? It's ok if you want to rest." Decidueye and Ash seemed to share a telepathic conversation for a few seconds before Ash smiled. "Alright, we'll do it your way." Ash slipped off his jacket, letting it drop to the ground behind him then pulled something out of his pocket and attaching it to his wrist. "Ready when you are!" He shouted across to Olivia.

"Flamethrower!" Flygon responded immediately by reeling her head back then whipping it forward releasing a stream of almost white hot fire. Decidueye dodged to the side and sent Ash a pointed look.

"Ok, let's see if I remember how this goes." Ash mumbled to himself as he reached to his wrist and twisted a crystal. He crossed his arms over his face, then brought them down to his sides before crossing his wrist and extending his arms in front of his chest, he then bent at the waist and crouched slightly before swaying side to side as he stood up with his arms bent at the elbows and his hands hanging limp at the wrist. He finished these strange movements by holding his wrists and limp hands in front of his eyes then throwing his arms to the sides as if he was playing peek-a-boo. Just as Ash was finishing this weird display a purplish energy aura surrounded him, there was a flash of the same energy around Decidueye as a golden symbol blinked in front of him. "Sinister Arrow Raid!"

Decidueye shot into the air before spreading his wings wide, a multitude of arrows surrounding him all glowing with the same energy that had surrounded Ash. The arrows shifted to point at Flygon as Decidueye fell into a dive, the arrows swiftly following. The Arrow Quill Pokémon shot passed Flygon in a blur of motion as all of the arrows hit their target, filling the air with smoke.

Decidueye stumbled as he landed and turned to watch for Flygon to appear only see a glowing tail swing out of the smoke and hit him across the face the second he turned. The blow sent his sprawling and took the last of his energy.

Ash gave a sad smile as he returned Decidueye and thanked him for his help.

"I have two questions." Olivia called over to him. "What the hell was that and how stupid do you feel with the weird dance?"

"It was a Z-move, and not as stupid as you might think." Ash replied as he held his last Pokéball. "Let's finish this. Sceptile, I choose you!" Before he'd even finished materialising Sceptile was in motion.

"Tile!" The grass type shouted as he disappeared into the smoke cloud.

"If that's what you want." Ash replied, relaxing his stance and put his hands in his pockets. "He wants to do this on his own." Ash explained after seeing the curiousness in Olivia's eyes.

There was an almighty crash as the smoke cloud was forcefully blown apart revealing Sceptile and Flygon locked in combat with Leaf Blade and Dragon Claw shining fiercely, they pushed off each other gaining a couple of feet distance before clashing again. Sceptile feinted with his left blade and swung his right in an upward arc, scratching Flygon's chest before she evaded the full power of the blow. Retaliating by flipping into Dragon Tail Sceptile blocked with both Leaf Blades in a cross guard and attacked with Bullet Seed to the Mystic Pokémon's unprotected back. The attack his but didn't seem to do much as Flygon twisted to make the attack graze her wings.

As Flygon tried to fly away, Sceptile grabbed her tail and slammed her into the ground and spun into a flurry of Leaf Blades. Spitting out a Flamethrower in desperation and watching Sceptile tank it, Flygon quickly disappeared underground. Jumping a distance away Sceptile rested his tail against the ground and closed his eyes, his head twitching every so often in one direction or another.

Flygon burst from the ground to Sceptile's right, lashing out with a Dragon Claw but the attack passed through Sceptile as the afterimage faded revealing Sceptile down on all fours with the six yellow buds on his back shining brightly. A beam of solar energy shot from his mouth and crashed into Flygon's chest who responded with another Flamethrower. The two attacks clashed covering both Pokémon in smoke, when it cleared both Pokémon were showing signs of damage but they stood strong. Flygon stared intently at Sceptile while he just smirked back, a glint in his eyes saying he was enjoying himself. His arm blades slowly started to glow and extend as the two combatants stared at each other before the Forest Pokémon shot forward again swiping at the Mystic Pokémon who shot into the air and launched a Dragon Pulse.

Sceptile spun around the attack and jumped to meet Flygon in the air, flipping over with a Slam attack. Flygon once again managed to make the attack a glancing blow an responded with a Dragon Tail. Olivia watched the two Pokémon battle back and forth with her arms folded.

"I'm feeling a little left out but seeing Flygon battle on her own is giving me ideas to work with." She said.

"I know what you mean." Ash replied. "Watching a Pokémon battle on instinct and experience is amazing."

Flygon flew in with a Dragon Claw which Sceptile batted aside and counterattacked with a Bullet Seed to Flygon's face. Darting out of range Flygon attacked with Flamethrower which Sceptile just grinned at before launching a Leaf Storm around himself to block the attack. He then used the strength of the wind generate by the attack to get into the air and tackle Flygon closer to the ground.

Over and over again the two combatants clashed against each other, their battle becoming more of a brawl and neither wanted to give in. Sceptile spun underneath a Dragon Claw and dove over a Dragon Tail before lashing out with another Leaf Blade, scoring a light blow as Flygon used the force of the hit to move away. Olivia looked confused as Sceptile didn't give chase as he had every time previously, instead the Forest Pokémon leapt back and shook his tail causing a couple of weights to drop out of it.

"Seriously!" Ash shouted, "You knew we were going into an important Gym battle and you kept the training weights on?!"

"Tile Sceptile." The grass type shrugged.

"Yeah, it's good training but not right now!" Sceptile shrugged again before hopping in place a couple of times then suddenly appearing in front of Flygon spinning into a Swords Dance as he did be delivering a flurry of Leaf Blades. A wave of sand flew backwards from where Sceptile took off from covering Ash, the raven haired Trainer wiped his face and spat out a mouthful of sand. "I'll get you back for that." He promised.

As Flygon was thrown back from the force of the attack, Sceptile created an Energy Ball and in another burst of speed, swallowed it. Vibrant green energy burst into life around Sceptile as he tackled Flygon and jumped taking them towards the rafters. Flygon slashed away with Dragon Claws but Sceptile kept his hold, until he suddenly disappeared.

Flygon quickly caught herself in the air and searched for the Forest Pokémon but found no sign of him. She started flying around cautiously, still finding nothing until she passed underneath one of the lights and Sceptile dropped from inside the shade. Flygon began to buck and thrash to try and dislodge her unwanted passenger but Sceptile held tight as one of his arm blades became cloaked in bright yellow, almost white energy and extended to the same length as his tail as the yellow bulbs on his back were a similar blinding white.

Forcing Flygon to dive towards the ground Sceptile waited until the last second before using his powerful legs to kick Flygon into the ground and flipping in the air to deliver a final attack to the downed dragon and ground type with spinning Solar Blade. A massive plume of sand erupted from the impact and when it settled Sceptile was standing, although battered and bruised, over the downed Flygon.

"Now that was a hell of a battle." Olivia said as she walked onto the battlefield, kneeling next to Flygon. "I'm so proud of you, now take a nice long rest." She turned to look at Sceptile. "You are one touch customer." She said with a smile before giving him a friendly punch to the shoulder.

"Nice work Sceptile." Ash said as he joined them. "But next time leave the training equipment behind." He handed the weights back to Sceptile who once more hid them in his tail. "Now take a rest, you've earned it after that." Sceptile smirked and closed his eyes as Ash returned him to his Pokéball.

"Never thought I'd see a Pokémon that could beat Flygon when it came to speed." Olivia reached into her back pocket. "I'm not one for the pomp and circumstance that usually goes with this stuff." She flipped an Earth Badge to Ash, his hand shot out and caught it easily. "You've beaten me and claimed your Gym Badge, good luck with the Pokémon League." Olivia threw an arm around Ash's shoulder and shouted over to May. "Now let's get our Pokémon healed and celebrate!"

"Don't you have to be ready for other challengers?" May asked as she walked towards them.

"Usually but with the League a few weeks away and being the strongest Gym, I don't get that many Trainers try their luck here if they're struggling for badges." Olivia dragged Ash with her as she moved to meet May and threw her other arm around the brunette's neck. Not waiting any longer Olivia pulled the pair with her as she left for the Pokémon Centre, only stopping long enough to lock the Gym's doors. As they entered the Pokémon Centre, she grabbed Ash's wrist and raised his arm into the air. "We have a winner!" She shouted, getting some confused looks from the people in there while others smiled and clapped. "It's not often I lose a battle so I like to make a show of it when I do…well sometimes, there's been a couple when the one who beat me hasn't been the nicest of people. I don't celebrate with them, only the cute ones like you." Olivia tilted her head to whisper in May's ear. "Don't worry, I'm only teasing. I know he's yours." May's cheeks flushed red as she looked away, though she couldn't hide the small smile on her lips.

While they waited for their Pokémon to be healed, Olivia took to retelling the battle to anyone in the Pokémon Centre who would listen, providing her own sound effects as she did. Manaphy was sleeping in May's lap as Pikachu sat on Ash's shoulder watching Olivia in amusement. Once Nurse Joy returned their Pokémon Olivia dragged them through the city to a Karaoke bar.

"Now the fun begins!" She grinned.

And that's that.

Hopefully it won't be so long between chapter.

Until Next Time.

Basic Trainer