Chapter Thirty Eight:

'You were brilliant Tauros, now we just have to get back out there and keep winning,' Ash cheered to the bull Pokémon who seemed to be more than happy to agree with him, 'You were amazing out there.'

'I have to say I agree,' Gary drawled as he entered the room, 'Your Tauros is very powerful even with the very little amount of training you've given it in the five or six years you've owned it.'

Ash gave a dark look to Gary, even as Misty and Brock hastily tried not to look like Gary might have a point. Pikachu, jumped out of Brock's arms, scampering over to Ash, cheerfully jumping up and down on the bench, crying out in Pika-speak, making it clear enough it wanted to battle again.

'Of course you can buddy, but Tauros is going pretty well so far, so I think we're just going to start out with him for a bit,' Ash explained.

'Ash, what's your other Pokémon, if you want us to help you, you should probably let us know that one,' Misty suggested, 'We know all of your Pokémon really well.'

'Not this one,' Ash admitted, 'It's someone I caught in Unova, but I'm saving it specifically for Tyranitar, the typing was too good to resist.'

'Haven't you been told the entire time you were here not to rely on typing?' Gary asked quirking an eyebrow, 'I mean, really, this is a league filled with type specialists trying to one up each other. If they didn't know how to handle any combo of types you throw at them then they'd hardly be as renowned as they are.'

Ash nodded, 'I get that, but I trust this one, it'll get the job done. Anyway, Perry's left me with an advantage he doesn't know I have, I know exactly what his last three Pokémon are. He's got his Tyranitar, that Solrock he showed before and the Magcargo.'

'I'll admit you're probably right about that, but you don't know what you're getting into when it comes to those three, well actually mostly Tyranitar and Magcargo, they're both usually part of his party, but that Kabutops you faced, that took four of your Pokémon to get rid of, usually isn't. Perry like a lot of the younger siblings here tends to have a reasonably set party, but he had to mix it up because of his loss against Trip, logically speaking, you should be going better than this because Perry isn't using what he's familiar with. Why else do you think the Archeops was so easy to take out? He doesn't use it that often in battle at all,' Gary said particularly harshly making Ash glare at him even more ferociously.

'Are you trying to ruin my good mood?' he growled.

'I'm trying to get you to be realistic Ash,' Gary said, 'If this was a one chance only situation you'd be taking it way more seriously, and I want you to appreciate the chance you've got. People who earn eight badges and get into the respective Pokémon Leagues in their own regions, usually think they're pretty good, but all but maybe half a dozen would fail to earn one badge here. Remember, I almost didn't tell you about the League because it's that hard to get through, quite honestly you can't keep acting like it's going to be a walk in the park, you need to man up and start working for this.'

Ash gritted his teeth, glancing at Misty and Brock for their reactions, and could tell by the fact they weren't looking at them that they were doing everything in their power not to make it look like they didn't think Gary had a point, 'Okay Gary, be the genius you always thought you were, what do you think I need to do to win this?'

'You need to stop taking such humongous risks, you are so lucky that wood-hammer trick worked, especially when you didn't even know exactly what the technique for teaching that move was. Who were you planning to use on Magcargo?'

'Totodile, unless you think that's incredibly stupid.'

'I'm trying to help you Ash,' Gary said forcefully, 'Brock, you used to train rock-types as a specialty, what do you think?'

'It's a ridiculously good match up for Ash,' Brock nodded, 'But Magcargo's have really high defence, ridiculously high defence, Forrest has one. Their special attackers, Perry would have taken that into account, but their speed is horrendously low so that probably works out well for Ash. Totodile is a very high energy Pokémon; it'll dance right out of the way of any charging attacks.'

Ash nodded restlessly as Misty spoke up, 'And Ash, you need to be careful about how long you go without attacking it, Magcargo is a fire type, and I've run my gym way too long to now know that they have a nasty habit of being able to use Solarbeam.'

'A fire type can use Solarbeam?'

'Of course they can,' Gary replied, 'If you let him put up a Sunny Day attack you're screwed because then he won't need to power it up.'

'Totodile's a great Pokémon Ash, it's very high level and it knows a really big range of attacks, it should be able to handle Magcargo, but what are you going to do if Perry pulls something you didn't expect and takes him out?' Misty questioned.

Ash thought for a second, before replying, 'Staraptor, a Close Combat should be good as long as I switch out before it can get hit after it's made its move.'

'And for Tyranitar you have a strategy right?' Gary made sure.

'I'm going to use its size and speed against it, well, that and gravity,' Ash smirked, having really thought this one through, the image of just what he was planning to do had been too good to resist.

'Okay, if you're sure, what about the Solrock?'

'It won't listen to Perry, he's not going to get that far with it,' Ash began, but was cut off by a voice at the door.

'Yeah but I suggest you don't underestimate that thing, especially because of who its original trainer was,' making them all look up to see Nixie, who after a moment said, 'Yeah, that Solrock was caught by Asterion originally as a birthday present for Perry.'

'Asterion? That Solrock belonged to the toughest trainer in this entire league?' Ash asked sharply.

'Asterion decided rather than just giving it something wild he'd train it a bit, teach it a few moves, make it a good Pokémon for Perry to train with. He didn't think for a second that the Solrock wouldn't want to listen to a trainer who he knew for a fact was less skilled,' Nixie explained, 'Honestly if Perry told it to do whatever it wanted it'd wreck any normal trainers team, you have to be smart, and it's a psychic type so try not to think too loudly.'

'So who are you going to use against it Ash?' Misty questioned, knowing that this was a development Ash didn't want to hear.

'Well it'll definitely give Tauros and Pikachu something fun to do,' he offered making the two Pokémon cry out triumphantly, they were determined to take it down, 'Okay you two get ready.'

...

Ash was pumped as he reascended to the trainer's platform, having hyped himself up, jumping around, shaking out his limbs looking far too energetic. Dawn and May were both giggling at him while Max was just shaking his head. Pikachu bounded up the platform to stand beside him, little jolts of electricity coming off its cheeks, ready to go as soon as possible. Something about what Gary said, even if it had been negative originally had got him into an even better headspace than before, and he was ready to handle this.

Perry took to the platform on the other side of the battlefield, juggling the three remaining Pokéballs, looking completely at ease, winking at Dawn making the coordinator blush as May said something to her. He seemed to have done something to stop him stressing out so much and as he placed the remaining half of his party on the table in front of him, both young trainers seemed to be in the zone. They were going to make this a good battle. Perry gave Ash a look that spelt out "this is so not over," waiting patiently for Nixie to start the battle again.

'Ready boys?' Nixie smiled, and at the two ultra-competitive looking nods she got, she smirked slightly and loudly announced, 'This battle shall now recommence, trainers choose your Pokémon.'

With a smirk, Perry lobbed his next Pokéball into the air, crying out, 'Magcargo I choose you!'

Magcargo's form materialised onto the field, flames sprouting from its crumbling shell. Its half cooled lava body shone like heated coals, its bright yellow eyes near glowing with an eerie light. This wasn't the first time he'd faced a Magcargo, there were Flannery's and he'd faced a few in the silver conference, so he knew what he was doing. He couldn't help but notice that this one was a little larger than he remembered them being, not that Magcargo's were necessarily small Pokémon. Though as per usual he realised how much tougher this one tended to look than any others of their species, it just looked... intense.

Ash drew back his wrist, calling out, 'Totodile, I choose you!' loudly, he knew the big jaw Pokémon could do it.

Perry hardly looked surprised as the little water type danced up and down on the spot, seeming to have known that Ash was going to choose it, 'Magcargo, start out with Lava Plume.'

An explosion generated from underground, sending spurts of lava towards Totodile from below covering the immediate area with smog, 'Totodile, get out of the cloud, I can't see you!' Ash called out in concern.

Eventually Totodile managed to dance its way out, but from the little charred marks all over its shiny blue skin, he could tell that the attack had done the damage Perry had wanted it to, 'Not so cool now are we?' Perry asked casually making Ash grit his teeth, no, he couldn't lose his temper.

'Okay Totodile shoot water gun into the air to cool yourself off, and then aim it at Magcargo,' Ash instructed.

Totodile gave its cheerful, gravelly cry, and sent a large jolt of water into the air, waiting as it rained down on it before it sent it full blast towards Magcargo, 'Get out of there with rollout!' Perry instructed.

Magcargo jumped into a rolling ball, seeming to be moving far too quickly to even have a cohesive shape, making Ash suddenly feel doubt about what Brock had mentioned about its shoddy speed. He instantly called out to Totodile to dodge, which the water Pokémon managed with a flying leap, legs kicking wildly in the air as it landed back on the ground. Though it had to leap up again as Magcargo rolled back, but its body seemed to radiate more and more heat as it rolled faster and faster, turning with apparent ease aiming at Totodile. Ash knew he couldn't let Totodile get hit by this, he knew from his experience with Whitney's Miltank all the way back in Goldenrod City that the longer it had to roll the harder it would hit in the end.

'Send your water gun at the ground Totodile, fly!' Ash called at the right moment.

Totodile clearly was putting all its trust in its trainer as it sent its water gun full blast at the ground, hovering in the air from its mouth as it hung in the air like it was balancing on its nose atop a geyser. Magcargo was forced to roll through it, too late to stop its course. The shock of the water attack caused it to stop, still partially under the full blast attack, which wasn't good at all, but before Perry could even get Magcargo out of there, Ash made another call.

'Totodile, Ice Fang!'

Transitioning flawlessly between the two attacks Totodile only started to fall slightly before the entire water jet began to freeze, trapping Magcargo in a block of ice. Totodile was still clamped to the ice pillar by its teeth, and at Ash's gesture the water-type turned from biting it, to standing atop it. It danced up and down, all too excited by the success of the attack, but Ash knew he couldn't leave it there for much longer. Magcargo's body was too warm, and already it was starting to thaw out, so he decided to call out:

'Totodile, use brick break!'

Totodile crashed through the ice, and straight into Magcargo, freeing the fire type from the ice, but smashing into its delicate shell with the super effective attack, 'Shake it off Magcargo,' Perry called regardless of the damage, 'And use Toxic.'

Ash gaped and tried to yell out, but Totodile was hit by the purple liquid that its foe had spat on him, 'Toto!' it cried in alarm, jumping up and down, clearly in pain.

'Try rinsing yourself off with-'

'Gyro Ball!' Perry commanded.

Inside its shell, Magcargo slammed into Totodile, sending it flying into a nearby wall, but as Totodile managed to stand, clearly deeply hurt by the attack, it took another jolt of damage from the poison, 'Totodile, are you okay?' Ash called in alarm.

'...To...to,' it insisted, clearly determined to go on despite the fact it was clearly onto its last reserves of health.

'Magcargo, time for a Solarbeam,' Perry announced.

Ash knew he had a limited amount of time to act, it would take Magcargo longer to power up in a cave than it would while outside, but he had to act fast regardless. Gary was right; he hadn't been taking this seriously enough. And even if he had to use someone else to finish off the battle, he would make sure that all of Totodile's efforts hadn't been for nothing; the little water type had worked too hard for that.

'Okay Totodile, put all of your energy into a Headbutt attack, you can do this!' Ash called.

Totodile's eyes flashed as it determinedly charged at Magcargo, the effects of the poison causing it to glow purple as it ran forward across the battlefield, insistent to make this attack land. But as Magcargo released the Solarbeam it almost seemed like it was going to be over when out of nowhere the big jaw Pokémon ran up the side of the wall, making the attack miss before it span like a torpedo smashing hard into Magcargo at an extreme speed. Perry gaped as he realised his attack had missed, not able to process quite how Totodile had moved out of the way of his attack, but Ash was ecstatic.

'That was amazing Totodile!' Ash cheered, 'Now, quickly use water gun!'

Totodile forced its way through its fatigue to send the blasting water attack at Magcargo's delicate shell. But Perry was done playing and called for a Body Slam that Totodile was just too exhausted to dodge. Being crushed under the lava Pokémon for all of a few seconds was enough in Perry's opinion, and as Totodile glowed purple one last time, it was all too clear that it was over. Nixie seemed quite surprised, as after a long second she raised her hand on Perry side.

'Totodile is unable to battle; this round goes to Perry's Magcargo.'

Ash nodded as he withdrew the water-type, smiling at the Pokéball, unable to help but feel proud of Totodile, 'Thanks buddy, you did so well out there, if you hadn't already been so tired after facing Kabutops I knew you would have won that match, I'm proud of you.'

He placed the lure ball down in the slot given to him, looking over his Pokémon, but although he had originally intended to send out Staraptor if Totodile had fainted he found himself changing his mind and grabbing the Safari Ball off the table, 'Tauros, come back out.'

The bull Pokémon's hooves dug into the surface off the battle field, clearly ready to fight, Perry seemed annoyed, clearly still curious about just who Ash's final Pokémon would be as he nodded to Nixie to let her know he wasn't going to change, 'Magcargo, start out with Lave Plume!'

'Tauros,' Ash said completely relaxed yet still wondering if this would work, 'Use Fissure.'

Perry's eyes bulged as he just caught the attack name but he was too late and Magcargo was too slow to prevent the one-hit knockout attack as Tauros's glowing hoof slammed into the ground sending a colossal white beam across the battlefield, which split it in half causing Magcargo to fall than wither in pain before it collapsed within the crack which Tauros had opened up. Ash had wiped out the lava Pokémon in one move, clearly having been determined to wipe it out.

Even as Nixie announced Tauros as the winner of the round, a majority of Ash's travelling companions were exchanging glances. They knew that Ash usually wouldn't use fissure, he hated the idea of a move that would automatically knock out a Pokémon, it didn't provide any challenge in his opinion, he usually called it "a cheap trick on the odd occasion that it hits." Ash had known Magcargo wouldn't have been able to dodge it, it wasn't fast enough, and yet he still used that attack, it wasn't quite like the Ash they knew.

Perry withdrew Magcargo, looking desperate to control his rising temper as he pulled out his next Pokéball, sending Solrock back out onto the field. It wasn't just a move to counter fissure though, he was clearly saving his most powerful Pokémon for last, no doubt Tyranitar was usually something he'd use to intimidate and scare all the other trainers who came here. It was a considered a pseudo-legendary for a reason, it was a straight-up monstrous battler. Ash knew he was going to keep Tauros out immediately, he'd promised Pikachu and Tauros they could take on the sun shape Pokémon, he wasn't going to let them down.

'Solrock use Charge Beam and rotate!' Perry called.

Rotating the spindles of its body forward, Solrock began spinning at an incredible speed, before its body sparked with electricity and sent beams from each rocky pillar, which looped around each other creating a vortex of bright yellow light, 'I am so using that in a contest,' May murmured looking stunned by the beauty and ferocious power of the attack.

'Double Team Tauros!' Ash called loudly, and an entire herd of bulls appeared on the field, being vaporised within seconds as the real Tauros, standing on the edge only got slightly hurt by the electric attack.

Perry gritted his teeth looking irritated that Tauros had avoided the full attack, but regardless called out, 'Good try Solrock, now use-'

'Go for a Zen Headbutt Tauros!' Ash called.

Glowing blue Tauros charged forward as slowly Perry anticipated, waiting for the perfect moment before he commanded, 'Flamethrower Solrock.'

Just as Tauros leapt up to attack the sun shape Pokémon, he was engulfed in flames, stopping his attack and driving him back a few steps, 'Shake it off Tauros and get ready for a Stone Edge,' Ash called out in concern.

Tauros grunted with agreement and sent out the spinning boulders with extreme precision, but they were quickly shattered as Perry called out, 'Hold still but activate your Iron Head attack.'

The rocks broke apart harmlessly as they collided with Solrock's glowing body, effectively irradiating the attack with an almost effortless manoeuvre. Before at Perry's call, Solrock flew forward silver light pulsing from it and slammed directly into Tauros. The bull Pokémon's hooves scattered along the ground as it was forced backwards, eventually slipping and having to force its way back to its feet.

'Stay strong Tauros, Double Team, charge into Take Down,' Ash called, knowing he had to keep calm and thank it through otherwise he'd never win the match.

Solrock had no room to escape as the doubles charged at it, leaving it looking for the real Tauros and only seeing as it just as it slammed head first into it. At Ash's call, Tauros continued the attack, hitting it with a constant barrage of stomps and horn attacks. And Ash was just waiting for Solrock to break through the onslaught and attack, and as Perry called out it was hardly a surprise what he decided to do.

'Solrock use Psychic!' Tauros was glowing with ultraviolet light as it was pulled away backwards through the air, and Ash was just trying to figure out something to do when Perry called out again, 'Now use Shadow Ball.'

The swirling ball of black and purple energy blasted from Solrock's mouth striking the flying Tauros at full force, where it was unable to flail it was so forcefully secured in the psychic attack. But almost like Solrock's Iron Head attack, out of nowhere Tauros began to glow a white silver light. Ash stared in shock, wondering foolishly for a second if Tauros had learnt a new attack, but logic won over as he realised the truth. But he was left with one lingering question, since when did Tauros evolve? And if they did before, why had no one mentioned that?

Tauros's airborne form shone as its form began to ripple and adjust as it evolved. Perry signalled to Solrock to put the Pokémon down, clearly all too curious to what it was going to look at, which was Ash's first clue that this hadn't happened before. And as the light cleared he stared at Tauros's evolved form with awe. It was bigger and bulkier in appearance, and the once smooth ruff of dark fur had grown wild and began descending down its front legs. Its horns had grown massively, and the little grey circles on its forehead had transformed into incredible spikes. The tail which had once been three separate prongs, now combined before splitting into its forks each strand tipped with red fur.

Powerful hooves digging trenches into the ground, what had been Tauros let out a mighty cry to only further show just how much stronger it was as it howled, 'Minos!'

Hello my dear readers!

I am so sorry its taken me this long to update, its probably the longest there's been without an update since I randomly got uninspired you know... before Aura I think. But don't worry guys I am here and I'm back with another instalment of the fabulous "The Eclipse Islands." The only reason it took me so long is because originally I was attempting to write this plus the next chapter in one go, that way I would be sure where to split it, but my attention span just couldn't hold out so I decided just to write this one and make the next one ridiculously long if I have to.

This battle is intensifying by the minute, but even if Perry has two Pokémon left and Ash has four, we have yet to see Perry's pseudo-legend partner take to the field, and everyone in the Pokémon world knows one thing about Tyrannitars. They destroy everything. And what is Ash's last Pokémon that he seems so sure can handle it? Just what card has he gotten hidden up his sleeve.

Also Ash's luck with evolution timing seems to increase, with a brand new evolution that the Carinthia's don't even know. A powerful Minos takes to the field, but how different is it from its previous form? Do you think it just might have changed types? And if it has, what is it now?

Thank you to my fabulous reviewers for your continued support:

LightningBlade49: Yeah, he doesn't know how to work with Torterra as well as he does with his smaller, faster Pokémon. Unless Bulbapedia is lying to me Torterra lost every battle (that wasn't against Team Rocket) that it's been in since evolving from Grotle. Soon he's going to have to work hard to change that.

Amalgam24: Ash's luck is something to be envied, but he's in his groove, and as for his last Pokémon, it's someone from Unova, but just who it is... You'll have to wait and see! Same when it comes to what happened in the Unova League. After seeing the new Charizard Mega-evolution it's going to be hard not to pick Charmander! And Froakie seems to be the sleekest of the starters so far, I can't wait to see if it gets an additional type.

Dream Guardian King Allan: Oh like I'm going to make it that simple after this much hype.

Chica36: Glad to hear you enjoyed the last chapter and I can't wait to see what you think of this one. Great insights as always, and Ash reflecting on what he did wrong would be a really good character moment that I'm seriously going to consider. And Gary more than ever wants to see Ash win, he doesn't want to deal with post-league failure Ash again.

Imortalglee: I'm glad to hear it. Froakie and Charmander combo huh? Sounds great! They probably would, I'm pretty sure it would work, I can't see why they wouldn't let that happen.

Rioludoodle: Thanks so much! I hope this one's up to scratch!

Booklover20011010: Fenniken is my pick for now as well, but that might change depending on how the third evolution looks. I think I probably will, I was just worried about how many people will stick around to however many hundred chapters this might take. Sorry for the long gap between updates.

Rales Mckoy: Then fu fu fu all the way! Evil plans are formulating, so what'll come from this continuing battle? Sweet a Chespin fan, I think its the cutest out of all the starters, lets face it, and if it comes out like the whole epic knight thing I'm anticipating, it'll be fun. Mega Pikachu huh? I can really see GameFreak pulling that out, but at the same time I'm wondering what limits their setting themselves for this Mega-evolution concept, or if their are limits.

KhaosOmega: That or they both start with and 'f' and my brain failed, thanks for the review as always :D

CottonMouth25: Bounce, bounce, bounce! I'm all for that theory, but I have a feeling that Chespin's going to end up as a ground type, seeing as it did use mudshot in one of the trailers, but it could just be Gamefreak messing with us all.

Marco: It's always really good to hear from a new reviewer, and I'm really glad you're enjoying the story. I think you're going to be happy in a few chapters then when it comes to Ash's old Pokémon, he already has Primape, but who else will return? New Pokémon is something I'm a little unsure about, but legends and Ash seem to be remarkably drawn to each other so you never know. Well Ash does already have his Gible for Dragon, his newly evolved is his third dark type though, did you mean ghost? I'm not sure how Ash would use a steel type but I'll definitely look into it, and as for psychic types... I may have an idea, not sure how it'll work but I've got an idea.

Thanks to my amazing reviewers, favouriters, followers and readers, and I'm sure that'll I'll see you all again next time, I hope to hear from as many of you as possible! So smash that review button! Drop a comment and make a writers day or really make them think.

So my question of the chapter on top of weighting in on what you think of Tauros's new evolution, is what has Game-freak done in the Pokémon universe that has made you go "really? That's what you've decided to do?" Was it a storyline? A gym leader? A pokémon? Or just something that they missed entirely that you wish they had done. Let me know dear readers!

So I'll see you all next time for the epic conclusion of Ash vs Perry!

Review, favourite, follow! Check out my other stories like The Phoenix (Pokémon), Dawnlight (Sailor Moon), Forbidden Year (Hunger Games) or Zero Hour (original)

~Selina