The Battle Tower

The gang made it to a place called Cremini Town where they rested for a whole day. And now, Ashlyn and Alain were getting ready to battle the sixth battle facility that was near Cremini Town. Ashlyn, Alain and Tesla were running in a forest for exercise.

"Well, this will be our sixth facility battle, Alain, Tesla. And when we win this one, we can battle the last facility." Ashlyn declared.

"Raichu!" Tesla agreed, excitedly.

Suddenly Ashlyn stopped running. Alain and Tesla looked at Ashlyn.

"What was wrong, Ashlyn?" Alain asked.

"I sense a psychic ability user nearby." Ashlyn replied.

Before Ashlyn, Alain and Tesla could do anything, a Beedrill was flying towards them.

"Oh-oh we must have disturbed that Beedrill." Alain realized.

"Hold it! We're sorry! We didn't mean to disturb you!" Ashlyn apologized.

Beedrill stopped and hovered in front of them, "Bee beedrill bee. (You're near my nest where my mate and children are.)"

"Your nest? We truly are sorry. We'll go somewhere to train; we don't want to disturb you or any other Beedrills after all." Ashlyn declared.

Beedrill understood that Ashlyn, Alain and Tesla meant no harm and it flew off back to its nest. Ashlyn, Alain and Tesla let out sighs of relief.

"That was a relief huh, Alain, Tesla?" Ashlyn said.

Tesla and Alain nodded in agreement.

"You three were lucky there." said a female voice.

A lilac haired tomboyish girl came up. Ashlyn recognized her. The girl is Salon Maiden Anabel of the Battle Tower.

"You sure knew how to handle that Beedrill without fighting it." Anabel commented.

"Well I know quite a lot about Beedrill, I've met up with them hundreds of times." Ashlyn said.

"Ashlyn, we better get back to the others. Not to mention that Scott might be waiting for us." Alain suggested.

"Yeah, we need to know who the sixth Frontier brain is." Ashlyn agreed.

"Well, you already found her." Anabel declared.

"Huh?" Ashlyn and Alain blinked.

"I'm Salon Maiden Anabel of the Battle Tower. It's nice to meet you." Anabel greeted, "And who are my challengers?"

"I'm Ember Ketchum of Pallet Town." Ashlyn introduced herself.

"And I'm Alain Sycamore of Lumiose City." Alain introduced himself.

"It's nice to meet you two." Anabel smiled, "Do you two wish to challenge me now?"

"Is tomorrow okay? I wish to sort out the Pokémon I will use for our battle first." Ashlyn asked.

"Of course, we'll battle tomorrow." Anabel accepted.

"Thank you, Anabel." Ashlyn thanked her.

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Ashlyn, Alain and Tesla went back to the Pokémon center and told the others that they met Anabel of the Battle Tower. They were surprised that Ashlyn and Alain met the Frontier brain before Scott.

"Anabel is a psychic user." Ashlyn said.

"You sure?" Alain asked. Then he remembered what Ashlyn had said before the Beedrill appeared, "Is she the one you sensed earlier?"

Ashlyn nodded, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure she also knows that I'm a psychic user as well."

"So you'll be using your dark type and ghost types." Brock stated.

"Yup. I'll use Mani and Twilight. Although I'm having trouble deciding my third." Ashlyn admitted.

{A/N: Mani - Shiny Umbreon, Twlight - Absol}

"So am I." Alain added.

"Why don't you give Prof. Oak a call?" May suggested.

"How about you give your dad a call, Alain?" Max suggested.

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Ashlyn made a phone call to Prof Oak and told him about Anabel.

"[Well Ashlyn, since you just told me that Anabel uses psychic Pokémon the best thing to do is to use your dark type Pokémon.]" Prof. Oak advised.

"I agree," Ashlyn agreed, "and that's why I wish to use Mani and Twilight for this one."

"[A very good choice indeed, any others?]" Prof. Oak asked. Before Ashlyn could say anything, Hex (Gengar) appeared behind Prof. Oak.

"[Aaah! How many times have I said not to creep up on people, Hex?!]" Prof. Oak shouted angrily.

Hex laughed, "Gen gengar gen." He said.

"You wish to fight a fight with the psychic Pokémon too, Hex?" Ashlyn asked Hex.

Hex nodded 'yes'.

"[Look like you've got your third Pokémon, Ashlyn.]" Prof Oak confirmed.

It was true that Hex would have disadvantage over Psychic type due to being part Poison as well as Ghost. But Gengar's were known to always fight Psychic Pokémon, especially Alakazam, no matter what. So Ashlyn agreed to use Hex with Twilight (Absol) and Mani (Shiny Umbreon).

Meanwhile, Alain had chosen Absol, Zoroak, and Houndoom for his battle with Anabel. Ashlyn had a good feeling that it would be a great battle for the both of them

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After getting Hex, Mani and Twilight, Ashlyn and Tesla head over to a forest to check out her Pokémon. Alain followed after her with his. Before they started, Ashlyn used her aura to check out the area for Beedrills. She didn't want to bother anymore Beedrills.

"This area is all right" Ashlyn declared she sent out Hex and Twilight, "Okay you three, we'll be going against a frontier brain that uses psychic type Pokémon. So are you all ready for this?"

Mani, Twilight and Hex trilled with excitement. Alain's Absol, Zoroark and Houndoom were also excited.

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The next day came, it was time for Ashlyn to battle the Battle Tower. The Battle Tower building was a skyscraper. Scott arrived just before Ashlyn and Anabel were ready to have their battle, which was a relief to her. Inside, where the battlefield was, it was like an assembly room. Ashlyn and Anabel took their places on the battlefield and Scott and the others sat on a bench at the side.

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"I know that Ashlyn has battled two gym leaders who used psychic Pokémon before, but this may turn out tricky for Ashlyn." Max commented, who was referring to Sabrina, Tate and Liza.

"You could be right," Scott agreed, "Anabel can be hard to beat with her psychic Pokémon because she is one with them. But I'm sure Ashlyn already knows what she's up against."

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Anabel's assistant Maron explained that the challenge was a three-on-three Pokémon battle, and then he declared it to begin.

Anabel sent out an Alakazam to battle first and Ashlyn sent out Hex (Gengar).

"Hex, use Lick!" Hex was about to lick Alakazam, but Alakazam teleported before Hex's tongue could lick it.

"Alakazam, Psybeam!" Anabel ordered.

"Hex, Night Shade!" Ashlyn countered.

Alakazam used Psybeam, but Hex counted it with Night Shade.

"Alakazam, Psychic." Alakazam's eyes glowed blue and Hex was being moved towards the ceiling.

"Quick use Shadow Ball, Hex!" Before Hex hit the ceiling, he managed to toss a Shadow Ball attack at Alakazam and hit it.

"Now Hex, use Dark Pulse!" Hex fired Dark Pulse at Alakazam, and the attack hit it. That did well on Alakazam, but then Alakazam used Recover.

"Since that Alakazam knows Recover then I'll have to go all out." Ashlyn takes out a Gengarite out of her pocket. Her eyes glow blue and the Gengarite appears right in front of Hex who catches it in his hands. Then Ashlyn placed two fingers on her Keystone glove causing it to light up as Hex's Mega Stone shined brightly.

"Key Stone, let our hearts become one! Go beyond evolution! Mega Evolve!" Ashlyn called out.

Hex shined brightly and then he changed into his Mega Evolve form.

"Hex, use Shadow Ball!" Ashlyn ordered.

"Alakazam, use Psybeam!" Anabel countered.

The Shadow Ball and Psybeam attacks collided with each other and created an explosion. When the explosion cleared, Alakazam was down.

"Alakazam is unable to battle! The victory goes to Hex!" Maron announced.

Hex went back to his regular form.

"Well done, Hex." Ashlyn complimented the Shadow Pokémon.

Hex smiled, "Gengar!"

Ashlyn and Anabel returned their Pokémon and called out their next Pokémon. Ashlyn called out Twilight (Absol) and Anabel called out Metagross.

Metagross's body becomes covered in a blue aura. It then sticks its arms forwards and charges full speed at Twilight. Ashlyn recognized the attack as Meteor Mash.

"Counter that with Rock Smash!" Ashlyn countered.

Twilight's horn flashes white. The white glow then fades, and his horn starts to glow orange. Metagross and Twilight butted each other from their attacks.

"Fire Blast, Twilight!" Twilight backed away and used Fire Blast.

Metagross did get hit by the Fire Blast, but it was still going.

"Metagross, use Meteor Mash!" Anabel ordered.

"Twilight, use Dark Pulse!" Twilight launched his attack at Metagross.

Metagross did get hit by the Dark Pulse attack, but Metagross still managed to charge through the attack.

"Double Team!" Twilight quickly made copies of himself which made Metagross go right through one, "Dark Pulse again!"

Twilight launched his attack which caused a dust cloud. When the cloud cleared, it showed that Metagross had fainted.

"Metagross is unable to battle! The victory goes to Twilight!" Maron announced.

"You did great, Twilight." Ashlyn complimented the Disaster Pokémon.

Twilight smiled back at his trainer, "Sol."

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"That Dark Pulse attack must have been too much for Metagross after it dealt with the Fire Blast attack." Brock commented.

"Now Anabel has one Pokémon to use." Alain pointed out.

"And this last Pokémon will be Anabel's favorite Pokémon." Scott added.

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Anabel's final and favored Pokémon was an Espeon, and Ashlyn sent out Mani (Shiny Umbreon).

"Mani, Quick Attack!" Ashlyn ordered.

Anabel's Espeon did the same. Mani got the hardest tackle from Espeon.

"Iron Tail!" Ashlyn and Anabel ordered.

Again, Mani got the hardest hit. It was clear that Anabel's Espeon was very strong.

Espeon fired a Zap Cannon attack at Mani.

"Mani, dodge and then Feint Attack!" Mani dodged it and struck Espeon with Feint attack, "Now Secret Power!"

Espeon got tackled and paralyzed; since it was used in a building, it caused paralysis.

"Espeon, try to relax and use Zap Cannon again!" Espeon managed to use Zap Cannon, but it missed Mani.

"Dark Pulse, Mani!" Mani's Dark Pulse attack hit Espeon and scored a direct hit. "Now let's finish this with a Quick Attack!" Mani tackled Espeon hard and Espeon fainted.

"Espeon can't continue! Mani wins! Ashlyn is the winner!" Maron announced.

"We did it, Mani!" Ashlyn caught Mani as he jumped into her arms and hugged him close, "You were great, Mani."

"Umbreon! (Thank you, Ashlyn!)" Mani smiled as she nuzzled against Ashlyn.

Anabel praised her Espeon for battling so hard and congratulated Ashlyn on her win. "You and your Pokémon gave me a surprising and wonderful battle, Ashlyn."

"I enjoyed the battle too. It felt great to battle another psychic user." Ashlyn stated.

"I agree. This is yours, the Ability Symbol." Anabel held out the symbol to Ashlyn.

The Ability Symbol had a sort of cone shape in the middle.

"Thank you, Anabel," Ashlyn gave a slight bow and gently took the symbol from Anabel's hand.

"Alright, we got the Ability Symbol!" Ashlyn posed with her Pokémon.

"Raichu! (Symbol number six!)" Tesla cheered.

Hex, Mani and Twilight also cheered.

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The next day, Alain went against Anabel. He used Zoroark against Alakazam, Houndoom against Metagross, and Absol against Espeon. In the end, Alain had won against Anabel and received the Ability Symbol.

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The gang was outside the Battle Tower with Scott and Anabel to send them off.

"Okay Ashlyn, Alain, your next battle is your final battle at the Battle Pyramid." Scott informed.

"Be careful, Ashlyn, Alain, Brandon is a very strong Frontier brain. Many trainers have struggled against him." Anabel warned.

"Don't worry, we'll be careful, Anabel." Ashlyn assured her.

"Where is the Battle Pyramid?" Alain asked.

"I already forward the data to Max's PokéNav." Scott replied.

Max opened the PokéNav and looked up the information, "The Battle Pyramid is located just beyond Pewter City." He informed.

"So that Battle Pyramid is right near my hometown." Brock commented.

"It is for now." Scott said.

"Huh?" The gang looked at Scott with confusion.

"What do you mean, Scott?" May asked.

"Oh, you'll find out." Scott explained, holding his index finger up.

The gang blinked in confusion at that.

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After earning the Ability Symbol, the gang is heading towards Pewter City, where beyond it, lies the Battle Pyramid, the last Frontier brain that Ashlyn and Alain will have to face.

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Pokémon Caught: Shiny Arcanine (Sonia)(F), Magmar (Fuji)(M), Hisuian Zorua (Yuki)(F), Sprigatito (Fleur)(F)