Chapter 304: My Bond With My Pokémon Isn't That Fragile!
A Dragonite?
Watching Ash's Dragonite land, Mammon raised an eyebrow. Where had Ash gotten a Dragonite from? Sure, in the anime, Ash's later journey years did eventually include a Dragonite — a huggy, affectionate one, pretty endearing, actually. But that had been well into his later travels. Well, fine — the storyline had already diverged wildly from canon at this point; Ash having a Dragonite this early wasn't especially strange. Might have a Gengar somewhere too, for all he knew.
Mammon turned his attention to Paul. Honestly, since joining Team Rocket, Paul's growth rate had been genuinely startling — fast enough to raise eyebrows. Had to hand it to him — Paul really was a naturally gifted trainer to begin with. But more importantly, he genuinely put in the work. On ordinary days, Paul poured nearly every spare minute into training, a level of diligence that put even Platinum to shame. Whether Paul could actually beat Ash today — that remained to be seen.
"Using Drapion against Dragonite, huh — though honestly, there wasn't a much better option available." Brock mused, working through the matchup — Ash had no Ground-type on hand to properly counter Drapion, and Dragonite at least held the aerial advantage.
On the field, Drapion raised its head and let out a low growl at Dragonite, brandishing its two menacing pincers in open provocation. Dragonite's eyes went wide, glaring back at Drapion, its expression flashing with an almost human indignation at the taunt.
"Dragonite, use Hurricane!"
Ash swung his arm hard, calling out the command. Dragonite let out a cry, its wings — small relative to its bulk — beating rapidly, a powerful gale sweeping toward Drapion.
"Pin Missile!" Paul commanded evenly.
Drapion's two pincers flared white, swinging down hard, a barrage of white light-beams streaking out — countless Pin Missiles rushing to meet the Hurricane head-on.
BOOM!
Pin Missile and Hurricane locked in a fierce midair standoff, thunderous concussions ringing out one after another. Though the Hurricane kept pushing forward, wave after wave of Pin Missile beams detonated in succession, holding the storm at bay. With one final, violent blast, the Hurricane was finally consumed entirely by the barrage, the shockwave rolling outward, dust billowing across the field.
"What even is that Pin Missile?!" Ash stared, stunned. That Drapion had actually managed to block Hurricane outright with Pin Missile? Absurd.
"Dragonite! Extreme Speed!"
But the next second, Ash was already calling out his next order. White light flared across Dragonite's body as it shot forward like lightning, plunging through the dust cloud straight at Drapion.
"Toxic Spikes."
Drapion raised both pincers together, forming a deep-violet orb of poisonous spikes between them.
Watching this, Mammon let out a soft laugh.
THWACK!
Dragonite's Extreme Speed slammed hard into Drapion's head; Drapion grunted but held its ground, sending the Toxic Spikes orb rocketing up into the sky.
"Good! Fire Punch!"
Dragonite's right claw ignited in roaring flame, driving down at Drapion's head. Drapion immediately crossed its pincers to block.
BOOM!
The fire exploded outward, the sheer force sending Drapion's massive body skidding backward, four furrows carved into the ground beneath its feet. At the same moment, the Toxic Spikes burst apart overhead, streams of deep-violet liquid raining down, seeping into the entire battlefield below. A brief flash of eerie violet light rippled across the ground, then faded, the field returning to normal.
"Great! Dragonite's got Drapion on the back foot!" Misty cheered.
"No — that Toxic Spikes..." Brock's brow furrowed. On the back foot? He didn't think so. Drapion had only taken that Fire Punch head-on in order to guarantee landing the Toxic Spikes in the first place.
"Toxic Spikes — I think that's a field-control move, causes poisoning?" Ash studied the now-calm field. He'd never actually seen this move used before — even Whitney, the Gym Leader he'd faced back in Goldenrod... wait, no, that reference doesn't track here — he genuinely had no real reference point for it. Not that it mattered much — Toxic Spikes was field control; as long as you never touched the ground, it wouldn't affect you. And Dragonite could fly.
"Dragonite! Extreme Speed!"
Thinking fast, Ash called out the order again. Priority-move Extreme Speed made for excellent close-range pressure, and Dragonite was already a strong close-combat fighter to begin with.
"Iron Defense." Paul remained perfectly calm.
Drapion growled low, its body taking on a metallic sheen. Steel-type Iron Defense — a massive boost to physical defense.
THWACK!
Extreme Speed closed the distance again, slamming into Drapion's head once more; Drapion let out a pained cry. The metallic sheen faded back into its body — Iron Defense, successfully applied.
"Dragon Claw!"
This time, Ash didn't call for Fire Punch — both Fire Punch and Dragon Claw would deal normal damage to Drapion regardless. Ash figured he'd seen enough of this Drapion's fighting style by now — basically tanking hits, relying on raw physical toughness. Might as well use the STAB-boosted Dragon Claw for higher damage output. Dragonite's claws flared with sharp, verdant light, slashing hard at Drapion.
"Grab it!"
But at that moment, Paul suddenly gave the order.
"?" Ash blinked.
Dragonite's Dragon Claw connected with Drapion's head — Drapion gritted through the pain and took the hit, Iron Defense having cushioned most of the damage. Then, in the next instant, the pincers on either side of Drapion's face suddenly shot forward, clamping down on Dragonite's still-extended arm. Dragonite tried desperately to yank free, but Drapion held on with a death grip.
"Hydro Pump!"
Ash's brow furrowed — it really had gotten caught. No matter, though.
Dragonite took a deep breath, cheeks puffing out, blue water-light building — Water-type Hydro Pump. But just then, a sharp whistling sound cut through the air. Drapion's tail whipped forward with startling speed, latching onto Dragonite's completely unguarded throat and slamming it hard toward the ground. Hydro Pump fired — but with Dragonite already being wrenched backward by the tail, the shot went wildly off-target.
BOOM!
Dragonite was driven hard into the ground, the impact strong enough to shake the earth itself.
"What?!" Ash startled, staring at Drapion's extended tail. It can do that too?
The moment Dragonite touched the ground, deep-violet toxic light flared beneath it — Toxic Spikes, triggered! The eerie poison-glow spread across Dragonite's whole body, drawing pained cries from it — poison damage from the spikes.
"It's over," Mammon murmured, clicking his tongue. The scene felt distinctly familiar — this was exactly the Toxic Spikes tactic Paul had used in the anime, letting Drapion sweep through three of Ash's Pokémon in a row. In practice, plenty of moves worked quite differently here than they did in the games — games served game mechanics, after all, while reality followed its own logic. Toxic Spikes was a textbook example. In-game, Toxic Spikes worked like Spikes — hazard-style field control that poisoned Pokémon switching in, only affecting grounded types (leaving Poison, Steel, and Flying types immune). But here in reality, Toxic Spikes wasn't limited to newly-switched-in Pokémon at all — any Pokémon that touched the ground would trigger the poison, and the same Pokémon could be poisoned by it more than once. It affected Flying-types too, as long as they touched down — just as, in the anime, Ash's Staraptor had dodged a close-range Aerial Ace only to get snatched by Drapion's tail and slammed to the ground, triggering the Toxic Spikes poison in turn.
"Dragonite!" Ash watched his poisoned Dragonite with real worry now.
"Ice Fang." Paul's voice remained steady.
Drapion hauled Dragonite up bodily, thick blue-white cold radiating from its bared, sharpened fangs, driving toward Dragonite's body. Ash's pupils contracted — this is bad! Dragonite, already suffering from the poison damage, had almost no way to dodge — and worse, it was still locked in Drapion's tail-grip around its throat. It watched, helpless, as Drapion's head closed in, struggling uselessly against the crushing hold pinning it to the ground.
CRACK!
The frigid Ice Fang sank straight into Dragonite's body, thick frost instantly crystallizing around the bite. Dragonite let out an agonized wail, its strength draining away in an instant — Ice-type damage against it was brutally effective.
"This—" Misty stared, utterly floored as the tide of battle flipped in an instant. Dragonite was 4x weak to Ice!
"Come back, Dragonite!" Ash didn't hesitate, reaching for the Poké Ball to recall it.
"Crunch."
But Paul gave no opening at all, Drapion following up immediately with a Dark-type Crunch. Toxic Spikes poison plus Ice Fang plus Crunch — that combination proved too much. Dragonite's legs buckled, its body going limp in an instant.
Watching this, Ash gritted his teeth, expression grim.
"Dragonite is unable to battle. Drapion wins." Platinum announced the result.
"Ash got careless," Caitlin observed.
"Exactly. He didn't seem to understand Drapion's fighting style at all — gave Paul the opening he needed," Platinum agreed, walking back over.
"Purely in terms of raw strength, that Dragonite was actually stronger than Drapion." Platinum looked over at Ash. But a battle was never decided purely on raw strength. Fighting Drapion demanded real caution around that flexible, extendable tail — and clearly, Ash hadn't known that at all. Not especially surprising, honestly — Drapion was primarily native to Sinnoh, and given its intimidating appearance, few trainers chose to build around it as a primary ace. Paul was one of the rare few who genuinely knew how to use it well.
Brock: "..." Misty: "..."
"Sorry, Dragonite. That's on me. Get some rest now." Ash recalled it gently, offering comfort.
"That's all you've got?" Paul said flatly, addressing Ash directly.
"You don't even understand your opponent's Pokémon, made no effort to probe for information — and just charged in with attack after attack, mindless and impulsive, running purely on hot blood."
"Are you even a proper trainer?"
Paul's tongue really could be sharp when he wanted it to be — a vein was visibly throbbing on Ash's forehead by now.
"You've barely gotten one small advantage, and this is a full battle — we've barely even started. What are you so smug about?"
Ash was thoroughly furious. What kind of person is this — one Pokémon down and already acting so superior?
"Just stating the facts. If that's really all the skill you've got, this fight's going to be over fast," Paul said, tone as level as ever.
"Ha ha~" Ash laughed, more furious than amused now.
"My bond with my Pokémon isn't that fragile! Keep your eyes wide open and watch closely!"
Ash threw his second Poké Ball with real force.
"Gengar! I'm counting on you!"
White light hit the ground, a low, eerie chuckle following it, and the purple, pudgy figure emerged, pulling an exaggerated, mischievous face at Drapion. Gengar, unmistakably.
Paul, though, remained unmoved by the theatrics, brow furrowing slightly instead.
"Bond?"
He murmured the word under his breath, his gaze toward Ash growing visibly more distasteful.
Bond, huh... another one of these types, going on and on about bonds and friendship all day long?
(End of Chapter)
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