"Let's begin, Gastly. Second round."
"Heh, you're quite bold to say that," Gastly sneered, his red eyes narrowing. "I was only holding back earlier to avoid affecting her, but that doesn't mean I'm afraid of you. Don't blame me if you end up seriously injured."
"Come on," Ash replied calmly.
At that moment, Ash's Aura flared to its fullest. Compared to his untrained control from a month ago, his mastery over Aura had advanced tremendously.
He still couldn't compare to the Aura Guardians in the chat group, but dealing with an Elite Four-level Gastly? Heh, that much was within reach.
"I suppose I should get a little serious too," Gastly said with a grin. His gaseous body suddenly shone with bright, ghostly light. The next second, his form began to shift, legs, arms, and claws emerging, crimson eyes flashing with power.
Gastly had evolved into Gengar.
For a millennia-old Gastly, learning to evolve and even revert between forms was nothing special. Most Pokémon could control when to evolve, but devolving was a feat that bordered on impossible, something only an ancient being like this one could do.
Normally, he preferred his Gastly form. But when it came to battle, Gengar's full body granted greater strength and agility. Though he hadn't fought in ages, now he was finally facing a worthy opponent, a human.
After completing his transformation, Gengar clasped his hands together, gathering dark energy between them. In an instant, a massive black orb pulsed into being, crackling with ghostly power.
"Shadow Ball!"
The attack screamed through the air, far stronger than the one that had sent Team Rocket flying earlier. That had merely been for show. This one was meant to kill.
The Shadow Ball tore through the night sky, cutting the air with a shrill whistle as it hurtled toward Ash.
But Ash didn't dodge. He stood completely still, waiting until the orb was right in front of him.
At the last moment, he focused his Aura into his core, steadied his breath, drew back his fist, and...
"Bang!"
The Shadow Ball that could have shattered steel disintegrated upon impact with his punch, bursting into fragments of black and purple energy that scattered like fireworks.
Gengar froze midair, his eyes wide in disbelief.
He'd just punched apart a full-power Shadow Ball, barehanded.
"You've got to be kidding me," Gengar muttered. "That was my strongest shot…"
Even after countless years at Elite Four strength, few humans, no, no humans, could have blocked that head-on. And this human hadn't just blocked it; he'd obliterated it without breaking a sweat.
Was this guy even human?
"My turn," Ash said quietly.
He placed his hands at his waist. A brilliant blue sphere of energy formed between them, glowing brighter and brighter until it looked like a miniature sun.
"Aura Sphere!"
With a loud shout, Ash thrust his hands forward, launching the sphere. It streaked through the darkness like a comet, bathing the entire gorge in blue light.
Gengar immediately shot upward, darting left and right to evade. But the Aura Sphere followed him unerringly, bending its path like a guided missile.
"Tch… fine!" Gengar gritted his teeth and spun midair, conjuring another Shadow Ball. He hurled it straight toward the incoming Aura Sphere.
The two orbs collided.
"Boom!"
A deafening explosion shook the entire area. Even from hundreds of meters away, Misty and Brock felt the impact ripple through the ground beneath them.
If the aftershock was that strong from this distance, the center of the blast must have been catastrophic.
As Gengar hovered in the smoke, he exhaled in relief, only for his expression to twist in horror.
From within the smoke, another Aura Sphere burst forth, cutting through the haze like a blue meteor, and slammed directly into his chest.
"Boom!"
A second explosion erupted midair. Gengar's body went tumbling, his form flickering as he tried to regain control.
The earlier move, Ralts's Discern, finally made sense.
Why use it? Because Aura Sphere was a Fighting-type move.
Normally, Ghost-types like Gengar were immune to it. But Discern nullified that immunity, forcing Gengar into a tangible state that Aura could strike.
And Ash, whose entire combat style centered on Aura and martial arts, was at his absolute peak when combining the two.
This was exactly what Champion Ash from the chat group had advised him to do, fight smart, not by the book.
In official battles, Trainers were forbidden from participating in combat. But out here, in the wild? There were no such rules.
Who said you had to rely solely on Pokémon to catch one?
When Ash first caught Pikachu, hadn't he done it with his own hands?
Now, facing a foe his Pokémon couldn't handle, it was time for his strongest trump card to fight, Ash himself.
It was because of Champion Ash's suggestion that he'd even proposed this battle condition to begin with.
The Aura Guardian in the group had also explained that Ghost-types were immune to Aura and Fighting energy, but with Discern, they became vulnerable.
And even if Ralts couldn't have used it, Riolu could have stepped in. Though still recovering from his injuries, using Discern wouldn't have been too taxing.
But since Ralts had learned it herself, Riolu could stay safely in his Poké Ball to rest.
"Damn it, that hurts!" Gengar groaned, his form flickering as he steadied himself midair. The remnants of Aura energy still crackled along his body.
That blast had been partially weakened by his Shadow Ball. If it hadn't, he'd have been finished.
Ash exhaled slowly, his eyes calm but sharp.
He lowered his stance, gathering Aura again at his waist. "Encore," he said quietly.
A new Aura Sphere began to form, pulsing brighter than before.
If this one hit, the battle would be over.
Just then, Gengar's entire body was suddenly enveloped in a radiant glow. The next instant, a blinding figure burst out of the light and soared into the sky.
Ash froze mid-motion, his hands halting the formation of the Aura Sphere. His expression shifted from confusion to utter disbelief.
"Wh–what?!"
Misty and Brock, watching from afar, gasped in shock as well.
"Ho-Oh!"
"Why is Ho-Oh here?!"
Indeed, before everyone's eyes appeared the majestic, rainbow-feathered figure of the legendary Pokémon, Ho-Oh.
The sight stunned everyone, even Ash, who had been laser-focused in battle.
Ho-Oh glided through the air, sunlight glinting off its brilliant plumage, before suddenly diving straight toward Ash in an attack.
Ash snapped out of his shock at the last second. The Aura Sphere he'd been condensing dissipated instantly, and he rolled sideways, narrowly avoiding Ho-Oh's blazing dive.
Dust kicked up around him as he regained his footing. His sharp eyes followed Ho-Oh's movements—something about this wasn't right.
"Where did Gengar go?" he muttered, frowning. "And why is Ho-Oh attacking me out of nowhere?"
Ho-Oh turned midair, its massive wings spreading wide as it prepared for another strike.
Ash's instincts flared. He activated his Insight Eye, pushing his Aura perception to the limit. In an instant, layers of illusion peeled away in his sight, revealing the truth.
"It's not Ho-Oh." His expression darkened. "It's Gengar!"
A wicked grin spread across the false Ho-Oh's beak. "Heh, too late now!"
The illusion shattered in a flash of purple smoke. The dazzling Ho-Oh reverted into Gengar's grinning form, and a Shadow Ball had already materialized in his hand.
"You can't dodge this at such close range, can you?!" Gengar laughed, hurling the Shadow Ball directly at Ash.
The attack exploded point-blank.
"Boom!"
A wave of black and violet energy burst outward, swallowing Ash in smoke and light.
"Ash!!!"
Misty screamed, her heart lurching. Even Brock's eyes widened in horror. No matter how strong Ash was, taking a Shadow Ball at that distance from an Elite Four-level Gengar, he couldn't have come out of that unscathed.
The blast rippled across the cliffside, echoing for several seconds before slowly fading. Smoke billowed thick and dark, obscuring the battlefield.
High above, Gengar hovered, watching warily.
He didn't relax. Not yet.
If Ash could still move, he'd attack again immediately.
After a thousand years of freedom, the last thing Gengar wanted was to end up caught by a human.
But then...
"Where are you looking?"
The calm, almost mocking voice came from behind him.
Gengar's entire body went rigid. His eyes widened, and without turning his head, he shot forward instinctively, trying to escape.
But he wasn't fast enough.
Ash's punch, wreathed in brilliant blue Aura, struck Gengar square in the back.
"Bang!"
A visible shockwave exploded from the impact. The force hurled Gengar downward like a meteor, slamming him into the earth below.
"Boom!"
The ground quaked violently. Rocks shattered and scattered in every direction as a massive crater formed at the impact site.
Ash landed a moment later, dropping lightly from the air. His feet hit the ground with precision, his Aura still humming faintly around him.
He glanced down at the torn fabric across his stomach and exhaled. "That was close…"
If he hadn't been continuously reinforcing his Aura barrier, that last Shadow Ball would've left him seriously injured.
But because of that same defense, he'd managed to bait Gengar into letting his guard down, and strike at the perfect moment.
Against a cunning opponent like this, one moment of hesitation was fatal.
And now, Gengar lay unconscious in the crater, his body faintly flickering.
From a distance, the ghostly maiden floated closer, her expression filled with worry. She reached out to touch Gengar, but her hand passed right through him. Her face dimmed with sadness.
"Don't worry," Ash said softly as he approached.
"He's fine. He's just lost the ability to fight. Judging from the flow of his Aura, he'll wake up soon."
Misty and Brock ran up, breathing hard.
"Ash, are you okay?" Misty asked, her voice trembling slightly. She pressed her hand to his stomach to check, confirming that he was, miraculously, unharmed.
"What could happen to me? It's Gengar lying on the ground, not me," Ash said with an easy grin as he crouched beside the fallen Pokémon. "Let's see if I can help him recover a little."
He placed his hand gently on Gengar's side, and a soft blue glow radiated from his palm. Aura energy pulsed outward, flowing into Gengar's body like rippling water.
Aura wasn't exactly a healing force, it couldn't mend wounds like Chansey's Heal Pulse or Joy's medicine, but it could strengthen life energy. By stabilizing a Pokémon's vitality, Aura could jump-start their recovery, at least enough to wake them from unconsciousness.
If Gengar had been critically injured, even Ash's Aura might not have helped much. But for a powerful Pokémon simply knocked out in battle, this was more than enough.
After a few seconds, Gengar stirred. His crimson eyes flickered open, confusion flashing across them. The moment he saw Ash's face above him, his instincts screamed to fight, but then memory caught up. He froze mid-motion, realizing who had beaten him, and the tension in his body faded away.
"You… you strike fast and hard, kid," Gengar grumbled, his smoky grin returning faintly.
Ash chuckled, helping him sit up. "You're an Elite Four–level Pokémon. How else was I supposed to win without going all out?"
At that, Gengar rolled his eyes dramatically.
He had lived for two thousand years, drifting through the world, learning everything from trickery to human language. He had once thought himself far wiser and more cunning than any human alive.
Most Trainers he'd met couldn't command half as efficiently as he could fight.
But this boy…
This boy had completely overturned his worldview.
Two millennia of experience, and yet this human had outmaneuvered him with sheer speed and precision, breaking his Shadow Ball with a punch, fighting him on equal footing, even overpowering him in the end.
Could this human actually rival a Legendary pokemon?
The thought flashed in Gengar's mind before he quickly shook it off. That was ridiculous. A human battling on the same level as a Legendary Pokémon? Impossible… probably.
Still, he couldn't quite dismiss the idea either.
Ash had already proven he wasn't a normal Trainer.
"Alright, young man," Gengar said finally, exhaling a faint, smoky sigh. "A deal's a deal. I promised I'd become your Pokémon, and I'll keep my word. But before that, you have to fulfill your promise to me."
Ash smiled and snapped his fingers. "Deal!"
Then he turned toward the ghostly maiden who hovered nearby, her translucent form wavering like mist in the night.
"Don't worry," Ash said gently, his voice soft and warm. "I'll take good care of Gengar. And as for you…"
He paused, looking at her with quiet understanding.
"I've heard your story. After all this time, the person you've been waiting for, he's long gone. Maybe he's already reincarnated somewhere out there. So let go of your pain and find him again in your next life. With the bond you two shared, I'm sure you'll meet again."
...
Stones and reciews would be helpful
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