As Noivern was about to crash down into the ground, Hawlucha called out to their teammate which Meowth translated as asking them not to give up.

Noivern opened their eyes and instinctively used Supersonic to cushion his descent, flapping back up and still in the fight.

"Way to hang in there! But that makes defeating you all the more worth it. Meowstic, Psychic again!"

She summoned a hailstorm from the chucks of ice which Ash commanded to maneuver, weave, and dive from akin to a fighter jet,

"Acrobatics!"

Noviern attempted to speed up faster than before but Meowstic dodged each one of their strikes as Astrid commanded it to use Thunderbolt, weaving around the force of electricity as a shield against the bat's agility and power, not helped by the ice shards still on their wings.

"Now, Boomburst!"

"Intercept with Disarming Voice!"

The clashing of normal and fairy sound waves in midair seemed dead even between the two until Meowstic willingly gave up, only to use Psychic to shield herself from debris, hoping from falling stone and ice while gripping to send more rubble at Noivern's back, pushing them towards her.

"Quick, Noivern, Dragon Claw!"

"End this, Meowstic, Sucker Punch!"

The bat dragon's dragon energy green claws struck fast but the cat's fist garnered a dark purple aura around her arm. The pain made Noivern flinch as Meowstic bounded off a wall with the speed to fly down and strike Noivern straight in the chest, slamming them into the ground.

Swirls appeared around Noivern's eyes.

"Noivern, no!"

The video cameras spiraled around them as the referee looked down. "Noivern is unable to battle!"

Ash's Pokemon on the monitor was grayed out. "The score is now one to one."

Noivern crawled over to Ash, Pikachu, and Hawlucha. The other two nudged them, thanking them while Ash leaned down

"You did good, Noivern. Thanks to you, we're one step closer to victory."

Hawlucha asked Noivern to stand back and watch. "Wait, Hawlucha, I want to save you for Absol!"

Hawlucha pointed to the ground and Meowstic. Ash was at first confused, but a spark lit in his eyes. "Alright Hawlucha, I choose you!"

"Cha," diving onto the non icy parts of the town battlefield while Noivern stood behind Ash and Pikachu.

Hawlucha posed naturally, striking its limbs at Meowstic, flapping their fingers back and forth at her. She slightly pouted, repeating the same match.

Claude snickered. "She's a bit prideful huh."

Astrid couldn't help but laugh. "He's still quite the character. Shame, Absol really wanted to battle him."

"Don't worry, we'll get through Meowstic to make that happen! Hawlucha, Karate Chop!"

Hawlucha charged white energy in their fist, blasting in the air.

"Intercept with Sucker Punch!"

Meowstic dived off the building first, slamming into Hawlucha. However, they smiled, holding the Constraint Pokemon's arms in place before gyrating their body alongside themselves before karate chopping them straight onto the chapel. The feline clutched their stomach, still confident.

"Quick, Thunderbolt!"

Meowstic weaved it around, making it chase after Hawlucha, who backflipped away from the electric force, slipping off the building as the feline's control of lightning followed suit.

"Hawlucha, skate on the ground!"

"Cha!" They glided on one hand, dodging and finding the balance to narrowly avoid the lightning crashing and melting several of the ice ground into water.

"After him! Psychic!"

Hawlucha gasped of the wave of the ice shards and rocks summoned in the air fired at them.

"Noi-vern!"

"Pika-Pika!"

"Dodge them, and use X-Scissor!"

The Luchador Pokemon dragged and drifted through the floor, wowing the crowd as they crossed their fists akin to a pair of scissors, slipped underneath rubble, and crushed another boulder into pieces. Their feet landed on two ice shards, skating with no difficulty.

Bonnie compared it to something out of a Pokemon Showcase while Serena recognized it as a similar tactic to Ash vs Wulfric, leaving Clemont amazed at another unpredictable strategy.

"Hawlucha puts on the marvelous show of speed avoiding Astrid's attacks. How will she counter?"

"Meowstic, after him!" She shuddered. "Fine, hop from building to building, Sucker Punch!"

The cat followed orders after the hawk wrestler, flying down for a surprise attack.

"Now, X-Scissor to the ground!"

Hawlucha crossed their arms and claws, glowing light blue, putting their claws together in front of it and slammed the blue X shaped energy with a magenta outline onto the floor.

The light pink aura around the battlefield glowed again, but showed several cracks throughout the ice, cracking and shattering completely.

Astrid and Claude gasped.

"He broke through the Psychic Terrain?!"

Ash nudged his nose. "Bug types are super effective on Psychic types, aren't they? So why not Psychic Moves?"

"Ash has found a strategy around Astrid's super powerful environmental advantage! But Meowstic's closing in!"

"No sweat, Hawlucha, High Jump Kick!"

Hawlucha kicked away one of its makeshift skis to pivot around the same spot. Their knees glowed white-orange as the cat's Sucker Punch connected, leaving her stuck to a deadly strike blasting them towards a building.

"Is it over?!"

"Not yet Meowstic! We can still win this!"

Astrid's Mewostic turned to her, wobbling but on their last legs.

"Alright, Hawlucha, return! Goodra," pulling out their PokeBall. "Let's wrap this up!"

Hawlucha nodded, returning back to their Pokeball, while he threw out the slimy dragon.

Astrid took a deep breath. "Meowstic, use Thunderbolt across the battlefield and get rid of the ice!"

The feline ripped out their most powerful electric blast crashing throughout the ground, shattering the ice or making the rest of it melt down.

"Goodra, go and use Bide!"

"Stop them, Sucker Punch, send them flying!"

Meowstic dived down and leaped across the battlefield, reaching Goodra's stomach and striking it towards the stairwell.

"Quick, Disarming Voice before it can recover!"

Meowstic fired the fairy soundwaves at Goodra at full force.

"Goodra, latch onto the street pole with your antenna, and swing around it!"

They gripped the pole with both, swinging their entire body around and released with the speed to endure damage of the sound waves while flying at Meowstic.

"Oh no, Meowstic move!"

"Grab them!"

Meowstic was stuck in midair as Goodra wrapped her body around their antenna-horns before throwing her towards the ground.

"Let it rip! Bide!"

"Goo-dra!" They fired the white beam of energy completely obliterating Meowstic completely. The video drones and referee already saw the swirls on Mewostic's eyes, fainting.

"Meowstic is unable to battle!" The battle score blacked out her icon.

Devastated, Astrid watched Meowstic whimper.

"Thank you, you gave it all you had," Astrid said, climbing onto the battlefield to pick up her close friend and partner, watching her slowly awaken her eyes.

"Meow?"

"Don't worry, this isn't over yet," tapping her PokeBall and returning her.

Am I going to lose?

"Absol!"

Her final partner jumped out of her PokeBall, giving her a clear nod.

"Absol? Right," shaking off her doubts.

"Ash, be reacquainted with my partner. Go, Absol!"

The quadrupel mammalian roared, ready to spill disaster towards Ash's hopes of victory.