//------------------------------// // Ash vs Equestria // Story: My Little Pokémon // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Saddle Lake, afternoon. Ash being chased down by those influenced by J's Desire was continuing. Recently, they had just evaded a large flock of Flying-Type Pokemon thanks to Mew using Self-Destruct. Right now, they managed to find a large pile of bushes they could hide in for now. But they couldn't hide for long, that's for sure. Ash had Mew in his hands after the ferocious Self Destruct. "Mew..." Mew groaned. "It's alright, Mew. We'll get you healed up after this." Ash reassured. "Mew." "Some of those Flying-Types are gonna come back for us." Rainbow Dash said. "When they show up, Luxray and I are gonna take 'em all out." "Luxray." "I hope Twilight and everyone are alright. I know they won't get hurt since everyone's after me but..." Ash was worried about the safety of everyone else who weren't under the Desire's influence. Little did Ash know that those who have been influenced will grow more aggressive to the point where they won't hesitate to harm others who aren't Ash. Staying in the bushes wouldn't keep Ash safe from his pursuers for long, unfortunately. After all, the Pokemon of Saddle Lake were affected too. At least, most of them. Right in the large body of water that Saddle Lake has, the Water-Type Pokemon inside were preparing to strike Ash at the right moment. Not just them, the Grass and Normal-Type in this forest were watching Ash. They already knew he had arrived here and concealed himself in the bushes. Truly, Equestria was watching Ash. One of the Pokemon decided that now was the perfect time to take action. Two Shroomish made their way to the bushes as they were the first to do something. "Shroom!" The two Mushroom Pokemon were about to use the move Spore as their heads were starting to glow. The plan was to put Ash to sleep so that he was defenceless and immobile, allowing everyone else the chance to strike. "Pika?!" Pikachu was the first to notice this as he always knows when Ash in danger of being attacked. And his mouse-like instincts, of course. Those are mostly the main reason. "Hm? Pikachu?" Ash looked at Pikachu. "Pika!" Pikachu took action as he jumped out of the bushes with his tail being hardened. He was about to use Iron Tail to stop the move from being pulled off. "Shroo?" The Shroomish both looked up at Pikachu, seeing him approaching. "Chu...Pika!" Pikachu slammed his tail down on one of the Shroomish, forcing them to the ground as the other Shroomish had been startled by this. "Mish?!" "Pika!" After smashing the other Shroomish down to the ground, causing it to faint, Pikachu then swung his tail to the side, hitting the second Shroomish in the face, launching him far back. "Shroomish!" The second Shroomish cried after being launched. It then hit a tree, fainting from both Iron Tail and the impact onto the tree. "M-Mish..." "Pikachu...!" Pikachu stood on all fours with his sacs letting out electricity. By this point, he knew that there were Pokemon within this forest aiming at taking his trainer out. And with Pikachu knocking both Shroomish out, that certainly grabbed the attention of the other influenced Pokemon here. Even though they were all tasked with taking Ash out, Pikachu was included as well. He's Ash's partner and always by his side after all, so it would only make sense to take out Pikachu as well since he is the wall that is standing between them and Ash. "Basculin!" The Pokemon from the lake had emerged from the body of water, taking action finally. A school of Basculin, red and blue, each jumped out of the water, collectively using Bubble Beam by shooting multiple bubbles from their mouths. "Pika!" Pikachu turned around, spotting the Basculin as he countered with Thunderbolt. By sending out 100,000 volts of electricity from his body, Pikachu demolished the bubbles with superior power, tearing through them as it shocked each of the Basculin. "Culin!" The Basculin all screeched as they had fainted in one hit after being struck by Thunderbolt. "Guess the jig is up." Rainbow Dash flew out of the bushes with Luxray jumping out. "They won't attack Luxray and us though, so we're in the clear!" "Luxray!" Luxray stood beside Pikachu while Ash stayed in the bushes. All of the Pokemon came out of hiding as they all stared down at Pikachu and the bush that Ash was hiding in. "Pika-Pika!" Pikachu yelled at the Pokemon, telling them to stay away from his best friend. "Tangrowth!" A Tangrowth decided to stay away from Pikachu and instead go after Ash. It did this by standing from afar, extending its vine-made arms. Its arms raced towards the bush, grabbing the attention of Pikachu and Luxray. "Luxray! Iron Tail!" Rainbow Dash commanded. "Pika!" "Lux!" Both Pikachu and Luxray wouldn't let that happen as they collectively used Iron Tail, cutting Tangrowth's vine-made arms in two. But this doesn't bother Tangrowth. They are a Pokemon that are used to having their arms being cut off. They can regrow new ones. And regrow it did. In less than seconds, Tangrowth's arms grew back as it now used both arms to try and grab Ash. Pikachu and Luxray were ready to cut both arms apart with Iron Tail once more, but they wouldn't get that second option. Tangrowth manipulated its arms, splitting them into smaller vines causing them to instead grab Pikachu and Luxray instead of heading straight for Ash. "Pika?!" "Lux?!" "Tangrowth!" Tangrowth then tossed Pikachu and Luxray aside before continuing to advance towards Ash. With Pikachu now being thrown away from the bush, the Pokemon who saw him as a threat were ready to take him out as an Ursaring was about to use Hammer Arm on him. "Ursa!" Ursaring raised its arm as Pikachu was heading in its direction from where Tangrowth threw the Electric Mouse Pokemon. "Pi-Pikachu?!" "Ring!" Ursaring smashed its arms down onto Pikachu, forcing the Electric-Type down on the ground as Pikachu cried out in pain. "Pika!" "Ah! Pikachu!" Ash gasped as he ran to his partner's side instead of staying in the bushes. Ash jumped out of the bushes, avoiding the vines of Tangrwoth in time. "Growth?!" "Ah! Ash!" Rainbow Dash winced as she was hoping that Ash would've stayed hidden in the bushes. But there was no point to that anymore since they already figured out he was in them. "Ring!" Ursaring was about to hit Pikachu a second time with Hammer Arm while he was still on the ground recovering. "Pikapi!" Pikachu closed his eyes, expecting to be hit by Hammer Arm. But, with quick running skills thanks to his years journeying across regions, Ash leapt off the ground, holding his arms out and grabbing Pikachu. Ash also managed to evade Ursaring by leaping past it in time before the Hibernator Pokemon could hit both of them with Hammer Arm. "Ursa?!" "Luxray! Wild Charge on that Ursaring!" "Ray!" Luxray quickly recovered on the ground before enveloping himself in electricity. The Gleam Eyes Pokemon then bolted himself forward at lightning speeds, smashing his head onto the wide stomach of Ursaring at full force. "U-Ursaring!" Ursaring gasped as it had been shocked and knocked away by Luxray. "Ash! Are you okay?!" Rainbow Dash asked. "Yeah. I'm fine." Ash placed Pikachu down before adjusting his hat. But, that one moment where Ash saved Pikachu from being hit by Hammer Arm sparked something unpleasant in him. "Pikapi?" "You all may be under influence by J..." Ash stood up, turning to face all the Pokemon here. "But I won't let you hurt Pikachu!" All the Pokemon were intimidated by Ash's sudden shift in tone. Clearly, Pikachu being harmed is something that Ash would hate. Even if all the Pokemon were influenced by J's Desire, Ash wouldn't take any harm towards his friends kindly. "Oh." Rainbow Dash's eyes widened. "Now we're talking! Get em, Ash!" "Go! Lucario! Gengar!" Ash sent out his Lucario and Gengar. "Luca!" "Gengar!" "Lucario! Make your Aura Sphere massive! Gengar! Freeze the ground with Ice Punch!" "Gen...Gar!" Gengar turned its hand into ice before smashing it onto the ground causing a flash-freeze to happen. The ground of Saddle Lake had been frozen, causing Pokemon to slip due to the frozen group. "Lucario!" Lucario went next by putting his hands together, creating a giant ball of Aura. The Aura Pokemon then jumped into the air while holding Aura Sphere before tossing it down. The Aura Sphere was large enough to engulf a majority of Saddle Lake. The Influenced Pokemon gasped as they witnessed a ball of pure Aura heading their way. Lucario controlled his Aura so that those who weren't influenced by the Desire would be safe. But those who were influenced, the best they could do was run away. But the attack was too large to avoid. Soon, every influenced Pokemon, at least the ones within range, had been hit by Aura Sphere as they weren't fast enough to avoid it. A strong continuous gale came from the explosion of Aura Sphere in the form of a blue dome as it expelled colourful bands with bright radiation of Northern Lights-Esque aurora. Even the ice had been obliterated too. Lucario landed down on the ground next to Gengar as they had both effortlessly stopped the Pokemon from advancing any further while the smoke was clearing. The influenced Pokemon had fainted. "Might've gone too far." Ash rubbed the back of his hair. "They were gonna totally hurt you if you didn't do anything. And there were so many of them." Rainbow Dash flew over. "I guess." Ash looked over at the defeated Pokemon before looking at his own hands and Lucario. "If I can break the Desire from you, Rainbow, then I can definitely do the same with everyone else." "Hm? Oh yeah!" Rainbow Dash nodded. "But that's a lot to break free." "Gotta try and get through them all. Lucario. Help me out here." Ash walked over to the fainted Pokemon. "Lu." "Shroomish...!" The two Shroomish that had been knocked out by Pikachu earlier looked over at Ash and Lucario approaching. Seeing Ash within their sights, the Shroomish tried to attack by using Grass Knot. But they were too weak to do so. "It's okay," Ash said as he kneeled to face the two Grass-Types. "Sorry about this. Pikachu was just trying to protect me. "Shroo?" "How do I do this?" Ash wondered how he could use his Aura willingly instead of unconsciously like he always does. But, he has actually used Aura consciously before. From when he was the Tree of Beginning and when he was facing against Spiritomb. Ash figured the best thing he could do is focus and sync with Lucario. The Alola Champion put his arm out, closing his eyes as he allowed Lucario to touch his back. In unison, both Ash and Lucario were exuding Aura from their bodies. Lucario knew that Ash wasn't a master at Aura, so he decided to do the most work. The Aura ended up surrounding the two Shroomish, instantly colliding with the energy of the Rift. But not only that, Lucario was forcefully expanding the Aura for Ash. Instead of surrounding one or two Pokemon, Lucario made it so that a plethora of Pokemon could be surrounded by Aura. And that's what happened. The Aura spread out, giving off a calming and beautiful glow as a majority of the Pokemon influenced by the Desire had all been covered by Ash and Lucario's Aura. Pikachu, Rainbow Dash, Luxray, Mew, Castform and the non-influenced gawked at the massive Aura being given off by both the trainer and his Pokemon. With so much Aura in one place, the Desire of J was fighting a losing battle as it could barely handle Ash's Aura. Lucario's Aura was far greater as it was destroying the remnants of the Desire one by one. Unova. Back alley. "Ugh!" And J could feel it. But mostly her Desire. Ash's Aura was so powerful that it was reaching the other world from just destroying more of J's Desire. "W-What was that?!" "Impossible...His Aura has already managed to destroy 35% of me." J's Desire spoke. "35%?" J winced as she held her chest. "What do you mean?" "That boy isn't just strong in the battling department it seems...If this keeps up, he might just break the influence in just a few minutes." "A few minutes?" "Even if they don't revert everyone I've influenced back to normal, they can still weaken me to a point where I will be unable to control and influence anyone any further. They won't even need to find you to do so." "Tch! Then what's the point of this team-up, huh?!" "Don't worry. I'll survive. Besides. I still have one other Desire in me as a backup." Saddle Lake. The Shroomish were the first to be broken free from the Desire. Their eyes flashed blue along with their mouths as they felt a sudden shock afterwards. Then, the rest of the Pokemon had been freed from J's Desire with their eyes flashing too. It seems that whenever someone is freed from a powerful Desire, their eyes flash. Rainbow Dash will be sure to remember that. "M-Mish...?" The Shroomish had snapped back with their eyes feeling a bit fuzzy afterwards. They then looked at Ash with new looks on their faces. Instead of faces of animosity and scorn, they looked at Ash with happiness, thanking him and Lucario for freeing them. "Shroomish!" The Shroomish then jumped on Ash, hugging him kindly. "Oh! Alright! You're welcome!" Ash was surprised by the sudden hug as he chuckled. But that wasn't the only hug he was getting. Other Pokemon were heading for a hug just to thank Ash. Fittingly, all the Pokemon here aren't actually unfamiliar with Ash. Since he's been to Saddle Lake several times, he's a fairly local visitor and all the Pokemon have seen him before. So they know how good he is to be around. Thus, the hug had more weight to it. "Hm? Uh oh." Ash and Lucario both gasped as they were about to be overwhelmed by an army of hugs. "Wait, wait, guys!" Ash tried to stop them but it was too late. All the Pokemon piled on him, forcing Ash and Lucario to the ground. "Luca!" "Well. Guess we don't have to worry about doing it one by one huh." Rainbow Dash smiled. "Pika." "Luxray." Rainbow Dash was glad that the Pokemon of Saddle Lake weren't so bent on destroying Ash now. It was a good thing that Aura was capable of counteracting the energy the Rift gives off. It might be the only form of energy that can go against the Rift so far. But as they watched the Pokemon pile on Ash, Rainbow Dash, Luxray and Pikachu heard someone coming towards Saddle Lake via some rustling in the grass and bushes as they were put on high alert, turning around. "Who's there?!" Rainbow Dash growled while Pikachu and Luxray were ready to shock the next individual who would try and harm Ash. But, they wouldn't have to worry about any enemies right now. Because out of the grass and bushes, Absol had appeared. Twilight's Absol of course. And joining him was Pinkie Pike and Fluttershy along with Audino who followed the sound of Ash with her feelers, Slurpuff who tracked Ash down with its scent, Chikorita, Spinda and the tag-along newly hatched Scorbunny. And more than that. Since the Flying-Types were seen heading towards Ash's direction earlier by Twilight, Celestia and Rarity, they also had followed the Pokemon, eventually bumping into Fluttershy's group. Both groups had met up before finding Ash in Saddle Lake. "Sol." "Oh. It's just you guys. Had me worried there." Rainbow sighed. "Hm?" Ash stood up as the Pokemon finally got off him. He spotted the rest of his friends appearing at Saddle Lake. "Oh! You guys are okay!" "Ash!" Twilight, Pinkie and Fluttershy said with smiles on their faces. "Mew!" A weakened Mew flew over to Pinkie Pie since he was still weak and hurt after using Self-Destruct. Pinkie Pie grabbed her partner, holding him in her hooves. "Oh, Mew! Are you alright?!" "Mew..." Mew groaned as he needed some recovering. Luckily Fluttershy's Audino was here to help after immediately spotting the weakened Psychic-Type. "Audino." "All the Pokemon here. Did they help you?" Fluttershy asked. "Nah, we just freed them." Ash pointed his thumb at the Pokemon. "Freed them?" Celestia's attention had been grabbed. "Wait! Did you manage to break the Desire?! How?!" "Easy!" Rainbow Dash flew over. "Ash's Aura here did the trick. Oh and Lucario too. It even freed me." "Rio." "Aura?" Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Aura is capable of breaking the influence of Desires?!" "Well, that only makes sense doesn't it?" Rarity suddenly spoke. "Aura is the only thing that can even stand against Rift energy from what we discovered, correct?" "Right." Twilight. "But I didn't think it would have the same effect as what Passion can do." "That massive flash of Aura in the distance. So it came from you." Celestia pointed at Ash. "I'm surprised you managed to free so many of them so quickly." "Yeah. Lucario really helped with that. Because of him, I could free more than just one or two Pokemon from the Desire." Ash explained, further surprising Celestia and the others. "Luca." "Oh." Celestia made a poker face. "You freed them all in one go?" "Sure did!" Ash had a cheesy grin on his face before high fiving Lucario. "Pretty cool huh?" "This changes everything!" Twilight turned to Celestia and the others. "With Ash's Aura and Lucario, of course, we can free everypony from J's influence without having to worry about doing it one at a time!" "But there are still potentially millions of them that we would have to free," Celestia replied. "The radius would need to be stellar. Is that possible for you, Ash? Lucario?" "Maybe but...That's gonna be a lot of Aura to use." Ash crossed his arms. "Lucario and I will do our best." "Lucario." "Good. We should start by freeing all of Ponyville first. And then we'll move on to the next." Celestia turned around, facing the direction of Ponyville. "What about J? Why don't we find her first?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Passion and I can't unfortunately." Celestia faced Rainbow Dash. "We were unable to find her presence. Perhaps later, we'll sense it." "She has to be somewhere. I mean, if anything, J-" Before Twilight could finish talking, Absol jumped ahead of her, cutting an incoming Hyper Beam in half with his Night Slash. "Sol!" The Disaster Pokemon had protected Ash from the Hyper Beam as the Normal-Type move had been split into two. While they were speaking, someone was trying to pull a sneak attack off on Ash. "Huh?!" Twilight took a moment to process what had just happened. "Absol?!" "Sol!" Absol growled in the direction the Hyper Beam came from. "Seems all of Ponyville has found us!" Celestia narrowed her eyes noticing that the ponies who had been influenced had finally caught up to Ash after following the Sonic Rainboom, the Flying-Types, Mew's Self-destruct and Ash and Lucario's Aura. Because of all that action, it wasn't hard to find Ash. And now they had shown up in Saddle Lake. But it wasn't just the ponies of Ponyville. Audino and Fluttershy soon turned around to notice that other ponies from different parts of Equestria had arrived thanks to the directions of J's Desire. Now there was more than just the problem of dealing with Ponyville. Gradually, all of Equestria was being involved in this by showing up. The Pokemon that came from the mountainside showed up as well including the remaining Flying-Types who had barely avoided Mew's Self-Destruct back at Everfree. "Audino?" "They're here already?" Pinkie looked around while holding Mew. "Pssh. That's good for us. It saves us the trouble of going over Equestria to find a bunch of them." Rainbow Dash looked at the upside to all of this. "W-We're not going battle them all, are we?" Fluttershy gulped. "I don't wish to harm my own subjects but..." Celestia was becoming disgruntled. She knew that Passion was more than enough to handle mostly everyone here, especially if they become one and form Celestial-Gardevoir. But just like Ash, the fear of harming those she cares for still exists and lingers on. "It's not like we can hide anywhere else," Twilight whispered. "All of Equestria's after Ash." "Then in that case...I have an idea." Rarity sparked an idea up by speaking silently. "Allow my Pokemon to handle this." "Your Pokemon?" Celestia turned to Rarity. "I can have each of my Leavanny use String Shot to restrain most of them if I can. Then I'll have Pheromosa use her amazing speed to round them all up or even tire them out if I can get the chance. And if that doesn't work, then I can have Ampharos paralyze them with Static." "Oh...good thinking Rarity." Ash nodded. "I'll be a great distraction. They're not after you guys after all." "It's a plan that can work," Celestia replied. "Let's try it. Rarity. Prepare your Leavanny. Passion and I will help if we can. Ash. Try leaving from Saddle Lake while we handle the rest. We can trust you to handle yourself, right?" "Yeah." Ash gave a thumbs up. "But...things might get rougher from here on. Using Aura kinda made me feel funny. I guess it's that Aura Ataxia thing again, huh?" "If that's the case..." Twilight took out one of her Poke Balls, sending out her Ninetales and Cinccino. "Ninetales!" "Cinccino!" "Ninetales. Minccy. I need you to go with Ash. Make sure nothing happens to him, alright?" Twilight asked. "Nine!" "Cincc!" "If you need extra power for paralyze, Luxray and I have you covered." Rainbow Dash said. "Luxray." "Gengar. I want you to stay and help out too." Ash spoke to his Gengar. "Gengar." Gengar understood what it needed to do. "Be safe, Ash," Fluttershy pleaded. "We'll catch up to you soon. Audi will find you easily." "Audino." "Alright. Off I go!" Ash ran off, separating himself from the group with Pikachu and Lucario following him. And now that Ash was moving, it alerted the attention of his pursuers as all of their eyes were locked onto him. "Catch me if you can!" With that, the ponies started making commands to their Pokemon, ordering them to immediately attack Ash or at least grab him so he doesn't go anywhere. But he had friends to help him. "Use Psychic!" Twilight and Celestia both ordered their own Psychic-Type Pokemon. Gengar helped out since it also had Psychic as a move. "Espeon!" "Gardevoir!" "Gengar!" In unison, both Psychic-Types and Gengar flashed their eyes blue and pink as they collectively held all of the ponies who made the commands in place, surrounding them in a blue and pink outline of Psychic energy. The ponies and their Pokemon gasped as they had been stopped in place. However, not all of them had been stopped. Some ponies had Dark-Types with them which were obviously immune to Psychic. A trainer's Mightyena lunged forward, heading straight for Ash with the attack crunch. "Sol!" But, Absol was there to stop him as he quarrelled with his fellow Dark-Type. Absol jumped in front of Mightyena, preventing him from getting close to Ash. "Here goes!" Rarity used her magic to send out all of her Leavanny. "All at once! Use String Shot on all of them!" "Leavanny!" The 12 Leavanny all shot out thick threads of silky string at once in different directions. Since Eve, Passion and Gengar had huddled the ponies up, that made it easier for the strings to grab an even larger majority. The strings had wrapped around the huddled up ponies, tying them as if it was a rope. All 12 strings coming together were enough to create a layer so thick and wide it would hold an astonishing number easily. But, there were others that they couldn't catch considering just how many ponies showed up. Unfortunately, now that the Desire has made them all so aggressive that they'll even attack others who get in the way of reaching Ash, the remaining ponies are now bound to fight back. Some of the ponies who hadn't been caught by Psychic or String Shot had ordered their Pokemon to attack. Whether from afar or from up close. And there were still so many of them. All the while, Ash was close to leaving Saddle Lake. However, this is where the actions from before became massive benefits. The Pokemon of Saddle Lake that had been freed from J's Desire decided to help. They may be a bit weakened still but they were now in Ash's debt. They were going to repay him after he saved them. With how many Pokemon were in Saddle Lake, they could almost match the numbers of the influenced pursuers. it was practically an all-out scuffle at this point. The Pokemon of Saddle Lake started battling against the influenced Pokemon, helping Twilight's group greatly. "Mightyena!" Mightyena ran towards Absol, going for a Fire Fang. The Disaster Pokemon stood there, allowing MIghtyena to bite onto his neck instead. But there was a good reason for that. Mightyena's teeth sunk into Absol's neck with flames bursting out, causing Absol to wince. But Absol could take it. Plus, he wanted MIghtyena to bite him. So that he could use the perfect move against it. Counter. Absol's horn started flashing as he let out a roar, smashing his horn down onto Mightyena's back, dealing super-effective damage in the process. "Yena!" Mightyena certainly felt that as its grip on Absol loosed before being forced into the ground because of the impact of Counter on its back. The other Dark-Types that weren't affected by Psychic had used ranged moves such as Ice Beam, Dark Pulse and Heat Wave, sending the moves towards Twilight's group. "Audi! Use Protect!" Fluttershy ordered her Audino. "Audino!" Audino stood in front of her friends, creating a green shield of protective energy. This shield was wide enough and strong enough to protect her friends as the three moves had been blocked. "Luxray! Keep the rest of them back with Discharge!" Rainbow Dash joined in. "Luxray!" Luxray made sure to give his friends some clear distance away from any trouble by whipping up a violent flare of electricity from his body, acting as another shield as it hit some of the trainers and Pokemon, shocking and paralyzing them in the process. "Now! Pheromosa!" Rarity sent out her Pheromosa. "Round them all up!" "Mosa!" Pheromosa already knew what she had to do. She immediately got to work as she bolted forward, moving at high speeds and grabbing the wrapped and restrained ponies and Pokemon, one by one. But, things would be easy for the group at this point. Because the Desire of J could obviously see that Ash's friends were a bigger problem than expected. Their amazing teamwork and coordination helped them to easily gain the upper hand. It didn't matter how many ponies and Pokemon there were. Twilight's group had the skills to handle them all. Especially Celestia and Passion considering their overwhelming power. "This isn't working. Some of you go after Ash Ketchum...Cut him off along the way." J's Desire ordered the remaining ponies. "Get rid of his Lucario first and then that Pikachu of his. Immediately." The ponies who hadn't been touched yet were the ones that J's Desire had ordered. They had snuck away from the battle as they weren't involved in it. Their new objective was to catch Ash by surprise. And of course, J would order the trainers that had Ground-Type Pokemon. The Type that both Pikachu and Lucario are weak towards. But she also ordered other trainers with different Pokemon types. Just in case. But besides that, the battle in Saddle Lake continued. With most of the ponies tied up by String Shot and placed closer together thanks to Pheromosa, Passion could begin the process of freeing them of the Desire while the Pokemon of Saddle Lake, Rainbow Dash and Absol deal with the rest. With more Flying-Type showing up, Rainbow Dash sent her Braviary and Altaria to deal with them. And for efficiency, Luxray with his super-effective moves would handle this. And if he wasn't enough, Rarity sent out her Ampharos for assistance. "Where's Ash?!" Pinkie Pie looked behind. "Audino!" Audino could hear where Ash was heading. She pointed south. "Ash will be fine!" Twilight was sure of it. "Let's handle this first before we catch up to him!" With Ash. White Tail Wood. Ash had gotten a good distance. He was far from the central part of Saddle Lake, just between White Tail Wood and thanks to his friends, he was able to leave without being spotted. Even the Flying-Types couldn't get to him since they were occupied with Luxray, Braviary, Altaria and Ampharos. He had some friends to back him up along the way. His best buddy Pikachu, his Lucario and Twilight's Ninetales and Cinccino. There were no hostile Pokemon here so they were in the clear. Ash and the others stopped running as they could hear the battle happening at Saddle Lake. "Man. They're really going at it, huh?" "Pika..." "We'd better find a good place to hide. I've got a feeling a bunch more are headed here." Ash was looking for a new place to conceal himself. Since there were no hostile Pokemon here as observed by the eyes, Ash could take it easy for a while. But, little did he know, he had some extra company coming his way gradually. In the form of the Ground itself. Before they could find a place to hide, one of the ponies nearby had quietly ordered their Ground-Type to move towards Ash. 5 of them in total. But right now, only 3 of them were here with 1 Poison-Type among them. That Pokemon was a Sandslash as it had used the move Dig, burrowing its way through the ground. But it wasn't the only Ground-Type. After all, J's Desire told the ponies who had Ground-Type Pokemon with them to head after Ash. But it had also ordered for other types. Lucario could sense some approaching Pokemon already thanks to his Aura. If anything, he was Ash's alert signal. Since every living thing has Aura, Lucario could essentially know when someone was coming. But, he quickly found out that it wasn't just one individual, but multiple. Lucario obviously concluded that some of the ponies from Saddle Lake had followed Ash here. "Cario..." Lucario stopped walking as he immediately got into a stance, shifting his eyes around. He closed his eyes, searching for the direction where the Aura was heading. He could read Aura waves to properly predict things. "That Lucario...Distract it." J's Desire ordered. Since it had all of the existing knowledge from J, it also had her knowledge of Pokemon as well. And Lucario being a Sinnoh Pokemon much like how J is most known for her actions in Sinnoh, gives J's Desire a bit of an advantage. A faraway pony ordered their Claydol to use the move Earth Power. By spinning its head around, showing its many eyes, the Clay Doll Pokemon's body glowed gold as the ground all around it started to shake. Glowing gold cracks formed, spreading out and racing towards Ash's group at high speeds. "Lu!" Lucario had spotted Earth Power heading this way as he put his arms together, creating Aura Sphere as a way to counter the approaching gold cracks. But that's what J's Desire was hoping for. With Lucario focused on the mighty Earth Power, that would allow Sandslash to strike. And strike it did. "Sandslash!" The Mouse Pokemon finished using Dig as it emerged from to the ground, grabbing Lucario's leg with its sharp claws all of a sudden. "Luca?!" Lucario gasped as he had been grabbed, interrupting his Aura Sphere charging. "Slash!" Sandslash then threw Lucario towards the shockwaves of Earth Power with the strength it gained from Dig. The Aura Pokemon had now been flung towards a supereffective move by another supereffective move. "Ah! Lucario!" Ash turned around. "Pikachu!" Lucario had been struck by Earth Power, feeling a ton of damage power through him when the shockwaves connected. Afterwards, Lucario had been engulfed by an explosion that knocked him further away from Ash. The Aura Pokemon, already taking some damage, landed next to the trainer who had a Claydol. "L-Lucario?" Lucario growled as he looked up at the trainer and their Claydol while still on the ground. "Claydol!" Claydol was tasked with keeping Lucario as far away from Ash as possible. If anything, Lucario was the biggest threat because of how much Aura he gives off. So stopping him would benefit J's Desire greatly. "Ccino!" Minccy was here to do her job as she went over to Sandslash, using Aqua Tail to send it away. The Scarf Pokemon jumped into the air, swinging her liquified tail down. "Slash!" Sandslash put both its claws up, blocking Aqua Tail. Sandslash then dug back down underground. "Seviper!" And from underneath the ground that Sandslash burrowed through, Seviper popped up instantly, wrapping its body around Ash. "Gh!" Ash winced as Seviper was about to poison him with Poison Fang to his neck. "Pikapi?!" "Ninetales!" Ninetales turned to face Seviper as he used Extrasensory. With his eyes flashing blue, the Fox Pokemon fired a rainbow-coloured beam towards Seviper's face. Sevi!" Seviper felt its face being hit as its grip on Ash had been loosened, allowing Ash to break free. It was a good thing that Minccy and Ninetales were here since they had moves that could easily deal with Ground and Poison-Types. "Thanks, guys!" Ash thanked. "Ca!" Lucario had just been hit by another Ground move from Claydol, forcing him to veer back on the ground. Claydol wouldn't allow him to reach Ash at any costs as it would forcefully drive Lucario in opposite directions with its attacks. "Dol!" Claydol then shot a white beam into the ground, using a move that was made specifically to separate everyone from Ash. That move was Earthquake. Much greater than Earth Power. With the tiny beam hitting the ground, Claydol shook the ground, causing massive tremor as the ground was receiving visible cracks. Along with that, large shockwaves were emerging, racing rapidly towards Ash's group. "Not good!" Ash glared at the incoming shockwaves took out Dragonite's Poke Ball. "Dragonite! G-" That's when the third Ground-Type showed itself. A bone from a Marowak had been thrown, knocking Ash's Poke Ball out of his hand. Not only that, but the bone spun around, hitting both Pikachu and Ninetales. The attack used was obviously Boomerang. "Pika!" "Tales!" "Ah!" Ash looked over at the Poke Ball that had been knocked out of his hand as Seviper opened its mouth, shooting out Sludge Bomb. "Pikachu! Iron Tail!" "Chu-Pika!" Pikachu jumped forward, hardening his tail as he blocked Sludge Bomb with it, utilizing Steel's immunity to Poison. But, Seviper was just the distraction. The earthquake was still going and there was little time to stop it. Dragonite's Poke Ball had been engulfed by the Earthquake as Seviper was willing it to let itself be hit by the Ground-Type move. As long as Ash was caught, that's all that mattered. "Ccino!" "Ninetales!" Ninetales and Minccy jumped in front of Ash, doing whatever they could to protect him. Ninetales had used Energy Ball, creating a ball of green energy powered by nature itself while Minccy had used Tri Attack in hopes of freezing the shockwaves. "Slash!" And with those two distracted, Sandslash took the opportunity to grab Ash's leg from another hole it made. Ash gasped as he had then been dragged through the ground by Sandslash. "Pikapi!" Pikachu turned around to see that Ash had been dragged through the earth. All of this was just one big distraction. All they needed to do was get Ash away from his friends and they would have the chance to grab him. And that is exactly what just happened. Ninetales and Minccy had managed to hold back Earthquake with Energy Ball and Tri Attack cancelling it out. But, they ended up losing sight of Ash. He had just been taken. "Pikachu!" Pikachu was going to jump in after Ash but Marowak's bone had been thrown in the form of Boomerang, hitting the Electric Mouse Pokemon in the face. "Pi!" "Maro!" A difficult situation to be sure. Now Ash had been captured by an influenced Pokemon and dragged through the earth. He was now underground and by his lonesome. Dragonite's Poke Ball was still fine, albeit a bit damaged from Earthquake. The Desire to take revenge upon Ash Ketchum wasn't over yet as the journey continues. Chapter 396 End.