Chapter 19 – Part 3

His footsteps echoed around the damp stone walls. Barely looking where he was going, he just walked 
where his feet lead him, only breaking out of his trance when Pikachu began chattering away and 
pulling on his ear to gain his attention. Looking around, he found himself standing at a T-junction 
in the middle of a maze whose extent was beyond comprehension. No longer caring where his feet 
carried him, he took the passage to his right and continued walking on. A low rumble vibrated 
throughout their surroundings, sending small chips of stone to dance and Ash to stop and look 
around. Parts of the stone walls moved and the straight path he was walking down turned into a right 
corner. 

Glancing around at the new surroundings for a moment, Ash decided to continue down the same 
corridor. Strangely, every so often a small panel of the wall would not be fashioned from yellow 
sandstone, but of a silver mirror that reflected a scared young man with ruffled black hair and a 
yellow Pikachu perched on his shoulder. 

Another rumble resounded through the passages as the corridors altered their pattern again. However, 
this time there were more mirrored panels than before. Walking around in utmost confusion the pair 
delved deeper and deeper into the twisting and turning corridors. Yet another rumble shook the 
building as the maze altered its design once more while Ash and Pikachu stood still in anticipation 
of what path may next unfold before them. When all the walls had ceased in their movements, every 
wall was a silver mirror, reflecting off each other to confuse the walker even more. Using his hands 
upon the cold surfaces to follow the corridor, Ash began to walk forward again as his eyes wandered 
around the passages at the many reflections of him and his Pikachu. 

Starting, Ash stood still with his eyes wide open and mouth agape. Pikachu leapt from his shoulder 
onto the ground, his cheeks sparking as the both watched their reflections, grinning madly at them. 
Taking a stance, Ash braced himself as every Pikachu they could see leapt forward out of the walls 
and into the maze. Staring this way and that, Ash found every Pikachu to be exactly the same and 
could no longer recognise his best pokemon buddy. At once, four jumped onto his shoulder as each 
tried to persuade him that it was the real ones and the others were all impostors. 

Stumbling back to the wall, he knocked the Pikachus on his shoulder onto the floor and crouched on 
the ground with his hands over his head as he screamed out, “Pikachu, thunderbolt them all away!” 
and he braced himself for the shock. As one, every little yellow electric rodent sent out a deadly 
wave of electricity. The cries of the hurt Pikachu’s rebounded along with Ash’s scream throughout 
the maze. 

Slowly, Ash sat up again from where he had fallen over and rubbed his eyes to regain their focus and 
recover his trembling body. His eyes came to rest on the one, small, solitary Pikachu remaining as 
it lay struggling to breath. Its little body was battered and bruised while small sparks of 
electricity shivered over its body. Crawling forwards, Ash took Pikachu into his arms where his head 
flopped to the side against his arms.

“Hey, come on buddy, say something!” he pleaded. Slowly, Pikachu’s eyes opened and focused on the 
face in front of him. Letting out soft breath he murmured “Pikapi…” as his tiny paw reached forwards 
to gently brush Ash’s face before falling back to his side as his breathing ceased. 

Disbelief ran across Ash’s face when the little body remained motionless. He felt completely and 
utterly lost and alone without his very first pokemon. Tears ran down his face to land of the course 
fur of the Pikachu on his lap. Gently he murmured his pokemon’s name over and over, building in 
volume as his body was wracked by sobs. Clutching the body tightly to him he gave his pokemon one 
last hug before letting him rest on his lap. 

He had to blink and clear his eyes a few times as Pikachu’s body began to lose its colour. Staring 
at the once lustrous coat, Ash was shocked to see the pokemon was fading away into nothing. He 
clutched tightly onto the body but it continued to fade and soon, there was nothing left in his arms 
bar the cold and empty feeling the loss of his first pokemon had created. 

Sitting there for a few moments longer, he allowed his mind to take in and digest what had just 
passed. Only minutes ago Pikachu had been full of life as he balanced on his shoulder. But now…

Rage began to build in his body as he went over everything that had happened to him since he had 
entered the gym, no, this mad house! First he and Misty had lost their pokemon, then he had lost 
Misty, but Pikachu had still been there to help him and look after him, as always, but this was too 
much for him, for Pikachu, his best pokemon to have died in a place where he was meant to be 
victorious, not utterly beaten. 

Angrily striving onto his feet, Ash began spinning around, glaring at everything in sight as he 
screamed, “Where are you? Come on, where are you Koga? Or are you so pathetic now that your traps 
must kill anyone and everyone who comes to challenge you for a badge? Come on, where are you?” 

The mirrors dissolved into an inky, swirling blackness as a strong, deep voice reverberated around 
Ash, “I am right here!” Spinning around, Ash beheld a tall male figure clothed in a green samurai 
robe with black bindings. His dark hair stood out over his face while his features remained in 
shadow. An unseen breeze rippled his robes gently, giving him a foreboding appearance. Their 
surroundings changed once more and it became clear that they were now standing on the second floor 
of an old wooden mansion, a battle arena marked out upon the floor. “Now you may challenge me for 
your gym badge.” He said. 

“And how am I supposed to do that?” asked Ash in a manic laugh. “You’ve taken all my pokemon, 
killed one of them even. How am I supposed to fight when they have all been removed?”

“Simple,” boomed Koga’s voice again. “Choose two random numbers and two of your pokemon will be 
returned to battle. This is one of the hardest gyms to defeat for a reason. How well can you perform 
when your partners are chosen for you, not by you?”

Gritting his teeth and glaring at his opponent, Ash thought for a moment before yelling out, “Fine, 
I’ll play your little game. Number 3 and 5!”

Two small holes appeared in the floor before him as two pokeballs came up from the floor on two 
pillars. Grasping the balls firmly, Ash waited for the pillars to sink back into the floor before 
releasing their occupants. Phanpy and Corphish appeared to face the Venonat and Nidorino sent out 
by Koga. 

“Begin!” echoed Koga’s voice once more. 

Wasting no time, Ash clenched his fist and vowed, for Misty and Pikachu, he was going to win this 
match and beat Koga. “Phanpy, start off with your Defence Curl then move into a Rollout on 
Nidorino!” The little blue elephant curled herself into a tight ball before rocketing off in the 
direction of her opponent. The attack was powered up from the long distance Phanpy had to travel to 
reach Nidorino as well as the use of her defence curl. On his trainer’s order, the Nidorino began 
to brace himself as Phanpy came closer and closer. 

“Horn drill!” cried Koga and Phanpy crashed straight into her opponent’s attack and she was sent 
sailing through the air to land with a sickening thump a few feet from her trainer. Struggling to 
her feet, she told her trainer she’d be ok and ready in a few moments, leaving him time to order a 
bubblebeam from Corphish. The beautiful bubbles were narrowly dodged by Venonat as it lazily began 
to drift towards its opponents, but Corphish managed to score a direct hit on Nidorino’s face as 
however fast his evasion tactics were, Corphish was faster. 

A sense that victory was not impossible began to make its presence known as Phanpy trumpeted in 
anticipation of her next move and the Nidorino began to stumble. “Corphish!” he called out, “Use 
your bubblebeam on Nidorino, keep it down! Phanpy are you ready for another rollout?” His playful 
pokemon tightly rolled herself into a ball and headed straight for Nidorino while it was occupied 
with the fierce barrage of bubbles it received from Corphish. 

“Venomoth! Get Nidorino out of there with your confusion!” The bug stopped drifting towards its 
opponents and swiftly spun around and lifted its team mate into the air as Phanpy rolled underneath. 
However it wasn’t strong enough to help Nidorino evade Corphish’s bubblebeam attack as it continued 
to pelt the suspended ground type. Nidorino began to grunt in pain as the bubbles cascaded over it’s 
body. Without any need for a command from her trainer, Phanpy altered her course and ran up the 
wall behind Nidorino and launched into the air, striking Venomoth square in the chest. The pokemon 
lost its concentration, sending Nidorino crashing down to the floor. 

Wanting to knock out Nidorino right there and then, Ash ordered Corphish to cease the beam of 
bubbles and scuttle up close for a crabhammer to finish it off. 

“Corphish, Corphish Corphish!” cried the red lobster as he grew ever closer to his opponent while 
his claws began to glow a bright white. “Caw-aw-aw-aw-aw…phish…” he wailed while flying through the 
air once Nidorino had used his thunderbolt attack with a speed that would have even put Pikachu to 
shame. Corphish slid on the ground the last few feet before coming to rest in front of Ash. 

“Come on Corphish, you have to get up, this is a battle we cannot lose!” encouraged Ash, installing 
a sense of the will to win into both of his pokemon. The pair stood side by side to watch Venomoth 
and Nidorino while they all exchanged glares. “Corphish, use your bubble beam again on Nidorino!” 
cried Ash, the strategy to stick with long range attacks forming in his mind. 

“I don’t think we’re going to have a repeat performance of that!” called out Koga, manic laughter 
rippling through his voice. “Venomoth, use disable on that excuse for a lobster and put an end to 
those pathetic bubbles!” 

“Venom-moth!” confirmed the bug pokemon as it focused its attention on Corphish. A blue aura 
surrounded the lobster and the florescent stream of bubbles that rose forth from his claws ceased. 
Corphish frowned and shook his claws up and down a few times, completely bemused at how one of his 
best attacks could had stopped working. His eyes opened wide to see Nidorino charging straight for 
him with his head low to the ground and the spike on his head rotating for a horn drill. He was 
rooted to the spot as Nidorino came closer and closer before Phanpy came to the rescue and smashed 
Nidorino in his side with her rollout attack. Snapping out of his reverie, Corphish lit up his claws 
for the crab hammer ordered and smashed straight into Nidorino, sending it flying across the arena. 
It grunted a few times as it struggled to its feet to stare down the smug little Phanpy on the other 
side of the battle arena. 

“Venomoth NOW!” called Koga, his voice pounding with confidence. While Ash, Corphish and Phanpy had 
been occupied with Nidorino, Venomoth had silently drifted over to hover directly above them, 
awaiting its trainer’s command. Dropping from a great height, the purple moth dove down and released 
a strong psybeam attack that had Phanpy and Corphish rolling on the ground as their heads felt about 
ready to explode. 


Taking the opportunity while his opponents were recovering, Nidorino began to charge, his head low 
and horn spinning. With a sickening crunch that made Ash wince the large poisoned pokemon collided 
with Phanpy, sending her flying into the air before skidding around in a sharp corner to take on 
Corphish. In a confused and bewildered state, Corphish swung his claws around in a fashion that 
moved his body out of the way of the charging Nidorino and his claws to crash into Nidorino’s head. 
The pair fell to the ground just a few feet away from each other. Slowly, Corphish got up onto his 
claws just as Nidorino was beginning to stir. Wasting not a moment longer, Ash cried out for a 
bubblebeam attack, praying that the effects of the disable had worked off. He found himself holding 
his breath as Corphish readied his claws, opened them wide and let loose a large, long barrage of 
bubbles to smash straight into Nidorino, sending it crashing into the wall and out of the match. 

However serious and grave the circumstances of the match were, Ash could still feel that rush of 
adrenaline he always got when he began to claim the upper hand in a battle. Waiting for a moment 
while Koga returned his pokemon with a very sour expression, he praised his brave battlers as they 
returned to him, panting heavily to stand between Koga and their trainer. “Well done Corphish, 
you’re doing great! Are you still holding up ok Phanpy?” 

Giving her trainer a broad smile of reassurance, Phanpy tried again to block the pain that emanated 
from her trunk where she had landed on heavily more than once during the battle. 

“Well Ash, you may have been able to defeat Nidorino, but you will never beat Venomoth. You were 
there when he evolved and should remember that we were already strong then, but now we are 
invincible!” his last words echoed and boomed around the room, filling Ash’s head with the 
vibrations as he gritted his teeth and began running through various strategies and methods that 
would lead to success. “Venomoth, Sunny day!” he commanded. 

Leaping back into the battle and retreating from strategy, Ash called for a bubblebeam from Corphish 
and Hidden Power from Phanpy. The two sent the blue bubbles and golden spheres straight for Venomoth 
to pelt it mercilessly. Venomoth closed one eye and squinted through the other as it was determined 
to finish sending the fake sun high into the air while the attacks it received began to drive it 
back towards the wall.

“Double Team” cried Koga, straining his neck back to watch his pokemon and shielding his eyes from 
the glare of the sun. Immediately, clones of Venomoth appeared all around the room while the one 
currently under attack faded into nothing. Halting their attacks, Corphish and Phanpy looked up this 
way and that, completely frantic by being unable to place the real Venomoth. “Now,” said Koga with a 
thin lipped smile, “Solarbeam!”  

“Get out of there or use Harden and Defence Curl!” screamed Ash as panic crept into his voice. A 
solarbeam would be equally deadly to either of his pokemon. He stared with wide eyes as a multitude 
of white beams were sent from different areas of the room and directed at one spot. A huge cloud of 
smoke rose up and hid the scene from his view as his eyes scanned the field for any sign of his 
pokemon. 

“Phanpy!” spinning round, he spotted the happy little pokemon as she gingerly waved her snout at her 
trainer from the wall of the room. Thrilled that Phanpy was safe and able to continue battling, Ash 
focused again upon where Corphish had last been seen.

“Caw-aw-aw-awphish…” groaned his lobster pokemon as it lay in the centre of the room, his eyes two 
identical swirls. Cursing his bad luck, Ash took the chance of stalling for a moment by running onto 
the field to carry Corphish back to his trainer’s box rather than be returned to his ball. Taking a 
battle stance again, Ash called over his remaining pokemon to his side, watching every Venomoth in 
the room. 

‘I have to get rid of that sun…another solar beam will result in the end of this for sure…’ he began 
thinking. “Phanpy, you have to knock out that sun as the priority.” Giving her trainer a nod of 
understanding, she lifted her head into the air and raised her trunk as golden spheres began to form 
an intricate pattern just under the tip of her trunk. Firing the beam with amazing accuracy, the 
first sphere hit the fake sun square on, making it explode in a shower of light. Automatically 
curling up in her defence curl, Phanpy was protected by the devastating wave of power created in the 
explosion while every clone of Venomoth was destroyed and the real one landed heavily on the ground.
“Phanpy, rollout! Quickly!” screamed Ash at the top of his lungs as he seized the one chance he had 
of victory with both hands. With a crash, Phanpy collided with her opponents and managed to spin 
around and hit it again before it could take off, one wing badly damaged from the fierce onslaught. 
Phanpy skidded to a halt on her four sturdy feet and took her own initiative to fire off another 
Hidden Power to collide five times with the moth.

Her opponent seamed completely beaten as it hit the floor with a sickening thud and Phanpy relaxed 
a little, believing her job to be done.

“Venomoth, Silver Wind!” The bug somehow hovered in the air a few feet and managed to flap its wings 
strongly to send wave after wave of silver dust to hit Phanpy and send her rolling back into the 
wall. Fury coursed through the blue pokemon as she curled herself into the tightest ball possible 
and came spinning straight at her opponent with no thought of mercy in her mind. 

Once, twice and thrice she crashed into Venomoth before dust filled the room completely, obscuring 
Ash’s vision completely and forcing him to close his eyes. Suddenly, a thud resounded around the 
room as one of the battlers fell to the other. Gritting his teeth and staring wildly through the 
smoke, Ash tried to pierce his gaze through the thick barrier to see who was standing, and who was 
down. 

The smoke began to thin and shapes became apparent. There, lay a small blue pokemon, lying still on 
the ground as a bug with large wings shivered a few times but remaining in an apparently upright 
position.