Going forward and beyond {Path of the Aura Ranger: Book I}

IV Zoey's P.O.V

"I can't wait for the battle," commented Riley, between Paul and his Lucario. "It will be the first five-on-five Gym Battle of Ash I'll observe."

"Mine too! Our teacher was very excited about facing off against The Saint," the businessman sitting beside me commented. "Oh, how rude of me, my name is Jeremiah, I am part of the senior class from Trainer's School that Gym Leader Candance teaches. We were fascinated by Ace Ranger Ketchum's lesson in adaptability and terrain manipulation."

"It was a good lesson," Riley agreed, before smiling at Paul and me. "But nothing you guys haven't already learned from him. So, don't worry about it."

Before we could reply, Mr. Honcho stepped forward with a smile and announced: "The battle between Ash, The Saint, and Candance, the Gym Leader of Snowpoint City, will now begin. Each trainer is only allowed five pokemon, and the battle will be over once all pokemon on one trainer's side have been defeated. Furthermore, only the challenger may substitute pokemon. Let the battle begin!"

"Froslass!" Both trainers on the battlefield called out, taking out their Poke Balls. Silence reigned in the gym, before Ash and Candance burst into laughter, soon we also joined them. Even Paul chuckled at the coincidence. Who would have expected them to call out the same pokemon out of all the possibilities out there?

"Froslass, use Hex!" Candance commanded. Ash did not even need to order his Froslass to dodge before she was moving. However, the moment she moved out of the way, Candance's Froslass materialized before her and hit her with a powerful Confuse Ray. "Nice one! Let's take advantage of her confused state, Icy Wind!"

"No!" Dawn exclaimed beside me, looking at Froslass with worry. Though my eyes were not on the pokemon fighting, but on Ash, who was uncharacteristically quiet. He is someone who is in constant movement and a chatterbox, especially during battles. Yet, he stood there in silence, clenching his fists on each side of his body, observing the fight like a Pidgeot. "Not Ice Shard! Froslass needs to snap out of it!" Dawn moaned, bringing my attention back to the fight. Right now Ash's Froslass was on the receiving end of a barricade of Ice Shards, she won't last long if it continues like that.

"There's not much to do, once you get hit by a Confuse Ray from an experienced and powerful ghost is hard to make a comeback," Jeremiah commented.

"Just wait, Ash will turn the fight around before you know it," surprisingly, the one who jumped to defend Ash was Paul. His eyes never left the battlefield, observing the battle like a Staraptor. He suddenly smirked, when electricity crackled on the battlefield. "See," he commented smugly when Ash's Froslass returned the Ice Fang attack she received from Candace's, with a Thunder Wave.

If there's one Ghost-type pokemon that I expected to use an electric attack with the precision and power of an Electric-type one, it would be Ash's. I thought, shaking my head in good humor. Especially, under Pikachu's tutelage. I've seen what Pachirisu's Electro Ball can do and I do not want to be on the bad side of that attack, thank you very much!

"Draining Kiss!" Ash ordered, getting Candace's Froslass in a worse state. Unfortunately, the paralysis did not last long and before they could attack again, Candace's Froslass snapped out of it and retaliated with a Will-O-Wisp. But Ash did not back down and his next attack shocked us all. "Froslass, Destiny Bond!"

The gym was silent when during the next couple of minutes, both Froslass landed on the floor and fainted.

"I did not expect you to use that move," Candance said what we were all thinking, as both trainers recalled their Froslass. "That is not a move I would expect from you."

"I've been taking a few lessons from Fantina," Ash commented with a bashful grin. "Learning that ghosts are different than other pokemon and trying to adapt to their nature."