Ash wildly showing off his affection earlier was actually entirely intentional. Because the Masked Man's Swinub was simply too terrifying, Ash had chosen to stall for time so his Pokémon could recover.
Not to mention god-tier moves like Recover that allowed them to heal themselves, every single one of his Pokémon was actually carrying their own stash of Ash's healing pills. Normally, Ash would just feed the pills to them, but since Ash was currently being watched by the Masked Man, they had to secretly pop the pills themselves to recover.
The past few battles had been absolutely thrilling. In reality, the combination move Fenrir that had just defeated Ho-Oh had nearly drained Mega Absol and the others of all their stamina. But don't forget who Ash was. A Support-type Trainer who specifically prepared medicinal herbs to aid in recovery.
Plus, Ash was loaded with money—what kind of drugs hadn't he concocted for them? Thus, under Ash's borderline psychotic pharmacological support, Pikachu and the rest recovering their condition after beating Ho-Oh was basically child's play. This was where Ash was truly unbeatable. You never knew where Ash was going to pull out a potion to use on his Pokémon, or when his Pokémon would secretly pop a recovery pill to heal themselves.
And now that their condition had fully recovered, Mega Absol and the others seized this opportunity to launch an attack on the Masked Man.
"Pikachu!!!"
With Pikachu unleashing Bao Zakeruga yet again, a colossal lightning dragon surged toward the Masked Man. Mega Absol used this opening to activate Swords Dance, sharply boosting its Attack.
Gyarados fired a powerful Hydro Pump, Arbok spat a terrifying Acid, and Aerodactyl took the chance to use Ancient Power. As countless attacks rained down on the Masked Man, he simply patted his Swinub and said, "Go."
"Swin!"
Hearing the Masked Man's words, Swinub charged out and breathed a Powder Snow. Then, a terrifying scene unfolded. It was clearly just a basic move—Powder Snow—yet it completely canceled out the Ancient Power, Hydro Pump, and Acid attacks!
Pikachu's Bao Zakeruga, however, surged straight toward the Swinub. But the layer of thin ice that had protected the Masked Man earlier appeared once more. The lightning dragon, Bao, relentlessly bombarded the thin ice barrier created by the Swinub. But even though Bao managed to shatter the thin ice over and over again, the barrier healed itself just as rapidly. Even until Bao completely dissipated, it still couldn't break through Swinub's defense.
The Masked Man looked at Ash and said, "Since we can't come to an agreement, my apologies. Go."
Subsequently, ice golems began materializing one after another. These ice golems took the shapes of various Water-type Pokémon, with the most powerful among them being Suicune.
"Attack!"
At the Masked Man's command, the ice golems charged directly at Ash and his team. Mega Absol and the others charged to meet them head-on.
"ROAR!!!"
With a roar, Ash's Charizard Evolved into Mega Charizard Y. There was a specific reason Ash chose to have Charizard evolve into its Y form this time.
Accompanied by Mega Charizard Y's roar, the sunlight instantly became blindingly harsh. Under these conditions, some of the weaker ice golems already began melting.
Seeing this, the look in the Masked Man's eyes as he looked at Ash changed completely.
"Could that Charizard's Ability now be...!"
Seeing that the Masked Man had figured it out, Ash didn't bother hiding it anymore. He stated proudly, "That's right. After Bond Evolving with me, Charizard's Ability is Drought. Amazing, right? And there's even more amazing stuff coming! Gyarados, Aggron! Let's go!"
"ROAR!!!
With the roars of Gyarados and Aggron, a massive pillar of water erupted around Gyarados, while a metallic sheen enveloped Aggron's body.
Accompanied by the sound of shattering glass, Mega Gyarados and Mega Aggron appeared.
"Hahahaha! Fantastic! Ash, you are indeed exactly the person I need! I must have you!"
"..."
Hearing the Masked Man say this, Sabrina immediately jumped down from Ash's arms and shielded him behind her. Green did the exact same.
"Pervert! What are you going to do to Ash?!"
Shielded by the two women, Ash silently clutched his shoulders and muttered, "So he's a gay guy... Blissey! Gardevoir, protect me!"
"Garde!" (Don't be afraid, darling!)
"Happy!" (Don't worry, Papa Ash! I'll protect you!)
Seeing Ash and the others guarding against him like he was a predator, the Masked Man roared, "I'm not gay! Ash, I have an incredibly important goal to achieve. To do that, I need immense power, and now I finally know what I truly need! That's right, it's you, Ash! I must have you! Go! Capture him!"
At the Masked Man's command, Swinub controlled the countless ice golems to charge at Ash and his team. Amidst the roars of Ash's Pokémon, the "war" began.
The Masked Man stared fixedly at Ash. His mind was made up; Ash had to be brought under his control! Ash's power would absolutely aid him in capturing that time-traveling Mythical Pokémon, Celebi!
The Masked Man's name was Pryce. He normally disguised himself as an ordinary Johto Gym Leader. In order to capture Celebi, he had once controlled Ho-Oh to kidnap countless children with potential, with the goal of grooming them to help him catch Celebi.
The reason he was doing all this, however, was quite surprising. It wasn't about world domination. It was simply to allow his Lapras, La Glace, to reunite with its deceased parents.
La Glace's parents had died in an accident when Pryce was young. Therefore, Pryce wanted to use Celebi's power to reunite La Glace with its parents.
In a way, Ash and Pryce might actually get along. But Pryce couldn't possibly tell Ash the reason behind his actions. And Ash, on his part, would never tolerate someone who had almost hurt his wives. Thus, there was absolutely no room for reconciliation between Ash and Pryce.
And even now, Pryce hadn't stopped scheming. Ho-Oh wasn't his strongest Pokémon; Swinub was! But Pryce's true trump card hadn't even been revealed yet—the Gastly that had been hiding under his cloak all along.
This Gastly was Pryce's ultimate means to control Ash.
While Pryce was scheming against Ash, Ash was doing the exact same... Don't forget, although Ash had sent out almost all the Pokémon he brought, there was one giant guy who hadn't made an appearance yet. That's right, Tentacruel!
Ash hadn't released this strategic-level behemoth yet. It was Ash's final insurance policy.
And so, Ash and Pryce, both harboring ulterior motives and planning to screw the other over, waited for an opportunity. A chance for a one-hit kill.
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You can read advance chapters and view R-18 images of the characters on pat reon page.
pat reon.com/GreenBlue17
100 power stones.
5 new reviews.