A Journey's Link

Chapter 1 - Battle

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Ash yelled this command with certainty and passion, his voice making its way across the sandy battlefield and reaching Pikachu's ears. He was Ash's closest partner and had been with him through every situation imaginable.

The lightning-fast mouse's tail shined a bright white, acknowledging his trainer's command and preparing to strike. As Pikachu approached his opponent, ready to attack, Ash heard a command across the battlefield.

"Bisharp, counter with X-scissor!"

The opponent was quick on his feet; he recognized Pikachu's speed a while ago in the battle and realized if he wanted to win against the fast electric mouse, then he would have to fight on the more defensive side.

The steel-type readied his blades, which were now glowing light blue, indicating that he too, was ready to strike. Both Pokemon made contact and were evenly matched, with neither breaking through the other's attack.

Dust was spread upon both Pokemon being thrown back by their even forces, with neither doing any significant damage. Ash clenched his teeth, unsure of how to proceed. The opponent's Bisharp was able to nullify all of Pikachu's Electric-type moves with Iron Head by somehow absorbing the electricity into the move, so he couldn't go down that route.

Ash had admittedly never seen a tactic quite like that one. He was a usual proponent of peculiar battle strategies, but even this one surprised him. Scanning the battlefield, he began looking for a way to utilize his surroundings to his advantage.

"Ash! You and your Pikachu are a strong pair!" exclaimed his opponent. "I can tell you've traveled a lot!" Ash couldn't quite make out what his opponent looked like. His appearance was completely hidden, lost to the seemingly random blurry vision of Ash; he knew this person had a face, but he didn't know what it looked like.

Come to think of it, Ash thought. I don't even remember how we met this person. He couldn't even remember what he had been doing before his arrival into this battle; he'd simply appeared in this one-on-one without any warning and jumped straight into the battle, which had been going on for quite some time.

Disregarding his suspicions, Ash replied to his opponent's compliment with a toothy grin. "Thanks! Pikachu and I have been best buddies for as long as I can remember!" Pikachu glanced back at Ash, a smile on his face, and raised his arm in the air, agreeing with Ash. "Pika-pi!"

"That may be true, but there's no way you can get past my Bisharp!" bragged the mysterious opponent. "We were trained under the leadership of many noble Gym leaders!" As if on cue, Bisharp posed with his blades, showing off his strength.

Ash had also met many Gym leaders in his past, some even becoming close friends and traveling with him. He was reminded of their power, and how hard he had to work with his Pokemon to conquer those Gyms. But he knew that it didn't matter how hard the Gym was because he and his Pokemon would also find a way to overcome any obstacle.

Ash wanted his opponent to know his true strength. "Alright Pikachu, let's show our opponent how we easily beat the gym leaders he trained under!" Pikachu, not looking back at Ash, acknowledged with a small "Pi!" and sparked his cheeks, clearly ready for a battle.

His opponent was visibly thrown off by this challenging statement from Ash, but regained his composure and prepared to give his Bisharp his next command. Ash clenched his teeth again, knowing that he was going to have to utilize the sand in the battlefield to somehow stop Bisharp's Iron Head, or maybe to lower his opponent's accuracy.

His opponent began his command. He cast his arm to the side and yelled, "Alright Bisharp, use-Ash it's time to go! Wake up!" Ash was confused, as he wasn't sure what his opponent was referring to. I'm already awake, Ash thought. Why is this mysterious person asking me to wake up?