What If Ash was in Pokemon Horizons?

Trending Terastallisation! Dance, Dance, Quaxly!

Dot posts a Nidothing video in collaboration with Iono regarding their upcoming Terastal Training battle, during which Iono expresses her hopes on her challenger battling true to herself. After the video has been posted, Dot talks with Liko and Roy about what she thinks "battling true to herself" means to her. Based on her earlier battle against Varoom, she believes the answer to be creating a plan and following through with it. Having simulated a battle between Quaxly and Bellibolt based on their moves, she believes she has a plan that she can follow. She does, however, acknowledge the fact that unexpected things can always happen, based on one of her Nidothing streams, where she accidentally messed up in the middle of a live broadcast, although this ended up spreading Nidothing's popularity further. As such, Dot spends the entire night refining her plan to be as comprehensive as possible, knowing full well that her unevolved Water type is at a severe disadvantage against a fully evolved Electric type.

Meanwhile, Ash is on the path to Glaseado Mountain, but curretly, he's hiding in some bushes, seeing a pack of Paldean Tauros, he finally spots one of the Blaze Breed, and he sends out Quaxwell to fight it.

Ash: Go Quaxwell! Say Tauros, you wanna have a battle?

Tauros gets angered and starts to attack, but Ash has experice with Kantonian Tauros, and he has Quaxwell's quick feet and dancing skills to land swift water hits with Water Gun and Aqua Jet, eventually Tauros is defeated and Ash catches it

Ash: Nice! Now we've got a perfect counter to Grusha's Ice Types!

The next morning, after refusing an offer from an ecstatic Murdock to come cheer for her in person, Dot heads out with Liko and Roy to prepare for her battle. Unnoticed by them, Sidian and Coral are following them to get intel on Terapagos, though Coral has more interest in getting some of the local churros. They are, though, noticed by Clavell, who assumes that they have come to cheer for their fellow student and offers to join them in doing so, but the two walk away while Clavell is busy checking his phone. As the evening sun spreads orange light over Levincia, Dot exits the Levincia Gym, having been informed that the arrangements for her battle are done and that it'll take place at the central square. Clavell meets up with the three, wishes Dot good luck in her test, and asks how their journey has been going so far. Roy starts excitedly telling in length about what he experienced in Artazon, so Liko tells Dot to go ahead. Just as Dot heads off, Clavell turns to Liko and asks her how she's been doing.

Ash's battle with Grusha begins

Grusha: I hope The World Monarch can put up a fight.

Ash: Oh, belive me I will!

Ash sends out Tauros, who isn't trustful of Ash, but he doesn't back down from a fight, meanwhile, Grusha sends out Cetitan

Ash: Who's that Pokemon?

Ash scans Cetitan with his Rotom Phone

Rotom: Cetitan, Terra Whale Pokémon, an Ice Type, This Pokémon wanders around snowy, icy areas. It protects its body with powerful muscles and a thick layer of fat under its skin.

The battle begins, Grusha and Cetitan are in total sync, meanwhile, Tauros does whatever attack it wants, only obeying Ash from time to time, Tauros takes a beating, but it keeps fighting, and so does Cetitan, eventually, both battlers Terastallize, Cetitan an Ice Tera Type and Tauros a Fire Tera Type, the two Pokemon clash, and Tauros barely comes out on top, passing Ash his first Terastal training test.

Ash is now outside Grusha's Gym

Ash: Well buddy, looks like me and Tauros are gonna have to work on being friends.

Pikachu: Pika Pi.

As night descends over the central square, Iono starts a livestream to broadcast her and Dot's Terastal Training battle live. With a crowd around the square watching, Dot reminds herself to stick to the plan.

Dot suddenly hears a familiar voice

Ash: Dot! Dot!

Dot looks in the crowd and sees Ash in the stands, next to a shocked Liko and Roy, Dot just waves in response

Iono starts the battle with Spark, but Dot uses Quaxly's superior speed to avoid the attack. Iono orders another Spark from Bellibolt, but Quaxly again dodges it. Iono realizes that Dot had noticed that Bellibolt takes a moment to charge up the electricity required for the attack and used that opportunity to avoid it. While Dot orders a Water Gun as a counterattack, Liko and Clavell are still locked up in their conversation, until they notice Roy following Dot's battle on his Rotom Phone and are reminded of it. They rush to the central square, where Quaxly's Water Gun has only succeeded in triggering Bellibolt's Electromorphosis Ability, building up electric power inside it. Dot tells Quaxly to dodge the incoming attack, but Iono surprises her by having Bellibolt unleash a powered-up Discharge, which hits Quaxly hard. Struggling to stand back up, Quaxly only barely avoids a Spark before striking back with Low Kick and Water Gun. Deciding on a moment of healing, Iono tells Bellibolt to use Slack Off. Quaxly's Water Gun barrage fails to stop Bellibolt from healing itself, and it stands back up, fully reenergized. Iono orders a Discharge, but due to Quaxly's attacks having left the battlefield soaking wet, this inadvertently knocks out power from the central square, causing both the lights and the livestream to be plunged into darkness.

Dot tries to come up with a new plan to deal with the situation, but her mind is drawing a blank due to the situation being too unexpected. She does, however, calm down upon seeing Quaxly dancing happily on the puddles around the square. Deciding to turn this disaster into success, Dot pulls out her Tera Orb and Terastallizes Quaxly into a Water type. The timing of this maneuver catches Iono off-guard, and her confusion only grows when Dot tells Quaxly to repeatedly use Low Kick without taking advantage of the Terastallization. During the rapid-fire assault, Quaxly suddenly learns a new Water-type move and hits Bellibolt hard with a boosted Liquidation. Liko and Roy are happy about this, but at that moment, the lights and the cameras turn back on. With her livestream restored, Iono regains her usual confidence and decides to go all out too, Terastallizing Bellibolt into an Electric type and ordering another Discharge. Quaxly attempts a counterattack with Liquidation, but Discharge strikes first. When the attack dissipates, Quaxly's Terastallized state becomes undone and he collapses, making Iono the winner of the match. Dot admits that he lost, but, at Iono's insistence, also admits that she had fun. Iono emphasizes that having fun is a very important part of being a Pokémon Trainer, and because of this and staying true to herself, she declares that Dot has passed her test. Liko and Roy come over to congratulate Dot while Iono concludes her livestream.

Later, at the Levincia Gym, Clavell also congratulates Dot on passing her test, before extending the same congratulations to Ash, Liko and Roy as well. Now that all four of them have passed their tests, he asks them all to return to Naranja Academy, though he also reminds them to interact with wild Pokémon along the way and write their reports for Jacq. Before that, though, he again addresses Dot and asks her to teach him all that she knows about streaming, leaving Ash, Liko and Roy to awkwardly wait as a lengthy conversation ensues.