Ash had been showing off his affection over there on purpose. Since the Masked Man's Zigzagoon was truly terrifying, Ash chose to buy some time to let his Pokémon recover.
Not to mention the deep breaths that could help them start recovering on their own, each of his Pokémon actually carried the healing pills that Ash had given them. Normally, they would just need Ash to provide them; however, with Ash being watched by the Masked Man, they could only secretly take the pills to recover.
These battles so far had been thrilling; defeating Ho-Oh's Fusion Attack had nearly exhausted the strength of Mega Absol and the others. But let's not forget who Ash is—a support-type trainer who specifically prepares medicinal items to help with recovery.
And Ash still had money; what kind of medicine hadn't he stocked up?
Thus, under Ash's truly insane pharmaceutical support, Pikachu and the others recovered as if it were a game. This was Ash's true strength— you'd never know where he would pull out medicines for his Pokémon, or they would just secretly take some recovery items themselves.
Now that their state was improved, Mega Absol seized the opportunity to launch an attack against the Masked Man.
"Pikachu!!!!!!"
With Pikachu using Bolt Strike once again, the immense thunder dragon charged toward the Masked Man, while Mega Absol took this chance to use Swords Dance to boost its attack power.
Gyarados unleashed a powerful Hydro Pump, while Abomasnow sprayed a terrifying Liquidation, and Aerodactyl used this opportunity to strike with Prehistoric Force.
As countless attacks rained down on the Masked Man, he merely patted Zigzagoon and said, "Go."
"Pfft!"
At the sound of the Masked Man's words, Zigzagoon dashed out and sprayed a fine snow.
Then a terrifying scene unfolded; the ordinary move Hail directly countered the attacks of Prehistoric Force, Hydro Pump, and Liquidation.
Pikachu's Bolt Strike surged toward Zigzagoon.
However, the thin layer of ice protecting the Masked Man reappeared. The electrically-charged Bolt continuously struck at the thin ice barrier created by Zigzagoon; while Bolt could break through the barrier time and again, the barrier kept healing itself, and even when Bolt dissipated, it still couldn't penetrate Zigzagoon's defense.
The Masked Man then looked at Ash and said, "Since we can't reach an agreement, I'm afraid I must do this."
Suddenly, ice puppets began to appear, each shaped like a water-type Pokémon, with the most formidable being Suicune.
"Go!"
At the Masked Man's command, the ice puppets charged directly at Ash and the others, and Mega Absol also dashed toward these ice puppets.
"Roar!!!"
Ash's Charizard let out a roar and bonded evolved into Charizard Y. There was a reason Ash encouraged Charizard to evolve into Y this time.
With Charizard Y's roar, the sunlight became blisteringly intense.
In such circumstances, some of the weaker ice puppets began to melt, and seeing this, the Masked Man's gaze toward Ash shifted.
"Your Charizard now has the ability… could it be?"
Realizing the Masked Man had discovered his secret, Ash no longer concealed it and said boldly, "That's right! After bonding evolution with me, Charizard's ability is Drought. Isn't that amazing? And there's something even more amazing! Gyarados, Nihilego! Let's go!"
"Roar!!!!" *2
With the roars of Gyarados and Nihilego, a massive column of water appeared around Gyarados, while Nihilego glowed with a steel-like sheen.
With a crackling sound, Mega Gyarados and Mega Nihilego emerged.
"Hahahaha! Great! Ash! You truly are the person I need! I must have you!"
"!!!!!!"
Upon hearing the Masked Man's words, Sabrina immediately jumped from Ash's arms and sheltered him behind her, with Blue acting the same way.
"Creep! What do you want to do to Ash?!" *2
Ash, being shielded by the two girls, quietly held his shoulder and said, "So it turns out you're a creep… Blissey! Gardevoir, protect me!!!!!!"
"Garde!" (Dear, don't be afraid!)
"Happy!" (Don't worry, Ash! I'll protect you!)
Seeing Ash and his Pokémon acting defensively, the Masked Man couldn't help but shout, "I'm not a creep! Ash, I have a very important goal to accomplish. For that, I need a lot of power. 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, Zigzagoon, controlling countless ice puppets, charged at Ash and the others, and amidst the roars of Ash's Pokémon, the 'war' began.
The Masked Man fixed his gaze on Ash; he had decided that Ash must be under his control. Ash's power would absolutely assist him in capturing the legendary Pokémon that could traverse time—Celebi!
The Masked Man's name was Guren. He usually disguised himself as an ordinary Gym Leader in Chengdu, but in order to capture Celebi, he had previously controlled Ho-Oh and abducted countless talented children with the purpose of making them help him seize Celebi.
The reason for his actions was surprising; it wasn't to conquer the world, but to allow his Pokémon Lapras to reunite with its parents.
Lapras's parents had died in an accident when Guren was young, and he wanted to use Celebi's power to reunite Lapras with its family.
In a sense, Ash and Guren were aligned, but Guren could never tell Ash the true reason behind his actions, and Ash would never forgive someone who had nearly harmed his wife. Thus, there was no possibility for reconciliation between Ash and Guren.
As of now, Guren had not stopped scheming. Ho-Oh was not his strongest Pokémon; Zigzagoon was! However, Guren's real trump card had yet to emerge—Ghastly had been hidden beneath his cloak.
This Ghastly was Guren's ultimate method of controlling Ash.
While Guren plotted against Ash, Ash was also doing the same. Don't forget, even though Ash had released almost all of the Pokémon he had brought along, there was one huge fellow that had not yet appeared—yes, it was the giant Tentacruel!
This strategic asset had always remained unutilized, serving as Ash's ultimate insurance.
Both Ash and Guren harbored ulterior motives and were waiting for that opportunity—an opportunity for a lethal strike.
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