Pokewizard

Harry, Sylveon, Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock were all in a clearing where Harry was preparing to teach Ash an important training lesson.

"Okay, Ash, today I'm going to teach you about defense!" Harry said, smiling. "There are several types of trainers. Those who use devastating power to clear the way in their battles, those who use cunning tactics, those who vary their attacks so that any enemy falls, and then those who focus on a solid and impenetrable defense!"

"Which one do you apply to?" Ash asked.

"I try to vary. With my dragons, I face everything with power. With my fairies, I have a huge variety of attacks, as you saw in the broadcast. And with my steel types, I use their incredible resistance. I intend to get four more Masteries this year. I realized that with how much I love Pokémon, focusing on just four types made me sad. I have several other types of Pokémon, even those that aren't even in egg groups, that I tend to train." Harry said, moving away from the group to start a demonstration. "Now please, I'll do a demonstration, so send a Pokémon to a mock battle."

"Alright! Do you want to go ahead Pikachu?" Ash asked his little friend who responded with a determined 'Pika!' and ran ahead.

"Alright then, here's my Pokémon!" Harry exclaimed as he grabbed a Pokéball and threw it. "On stage, Sandslash!"

The Pokémon that materialized was different from what they expected, instead of yellow skin, normal claws and spikes made of stone, there was a Pokémon with blue skin, metal claws and spikes made of ice!

"Wow!?! What??" Ash exclaimed in shock pulling out his Pokedex.

"Sandslash, the Ice Porcupine Pokémon, Alola variant, Steel/Ice type. Due to fleeing its habitat due to a volcanic eruption, this variant moved to snowy mountains, thus causing its appearance and typing to change. Its spines have become ice-coated metal that, when pierced, cause great damage, both through deep wounds and frostbite."

"So this is an Alola variant!" Ash said excitedly. "I had only heard about it, but I never thought I would see one so soon!"

"Sure enough, this little guy has been with me since we took a vacation in Alola a few years ago." Harry smiled looking at his Pokémon. "But now for the battle! You can use the first attack!"

"Well, thanks! Let's go Pikachu, if he's Steel/Ice type most of our attacks will cause neutral damage, so, Thunderbolt!"

"Pika!" Pikachu quickly charged a lightning bolt that was fired at the other rodent.

"Sandslash Protect, then Aurora Veil!" Sandslash quickly covers himself with a shield that dissipates the shock and then an aurora covers his body.

"What does this attack do?" Misty asked from the side.

"Aurora Veil makes all attacks in a row cause only half the damage, whether they are physical or special!"

"Alright Pikachu, Quick Attack to gain momentum and Iron Tail!" Pikachu quickly followed the command using his speed to cause more damage. However, when he was about to arrive, Harry smiled.

"Bad choice Ash! Sandslash, Counter!" Just before Pikachu reached his target, Sandslash acquired a bright red aura that covered his entire body. The effect was shown when Pikachu hit with the empowered Iron Tail. The attack made contact, however, the energy of the blow was absorbed and returned, throwing Pikachu away.

"What!?" Misty exclaimed in surprise.

"Counter, makes any physical attack that hits the user be returned, only with double the power." Brock explained to the water-type trainer.

"Pikachu, are you okay?" Ash asked his Pokémon, who nodded at him. "Alright, Thunderbolt again!" The Pokémon then fired another beam.

"Sandslash, Mirror Coat!" The ice Pokémon then shone and began to have a slight reflection of the things around it, when the electric attack hit, it was quickly sent back, only it was even bigger.

"Mirror Coat has the same effect as Counter, but for special attacks." This time Harry explained. "So tell me Ash, what would be the way to defeat Sandslash?" For a few moments Ash thought as his eyes went from Pikachu, to the field around and back to Sandslash.

"Return Pikachu, I give up this match!"

"What?!" Misty and Brock asked.

"And why?" Harry asked smiling slightly as Pikachu returned to his trainer and Harry and Sandslash approached.

"Well..." Ash began. "There's no way we can win like this. Even if we manage to land an attack, it will only have half the power due to the Aurora Veil. Besides, Sandslash is clearly more powerful than Pikachu at the moment. With Counter and Mirror Coat, we can't do any damage. However, this could be remedied if we had some status attacks like Thunderbolt or Nuzzle, which, if we were lucky, would hit and cause paralysis. We could attack enough to weaken it. Of course, we hoped that they wouldn't be reflected and paralyze Pikachu back." Ash finished his explanation and looked nervously to see Harry's opinion. To which he was relieved to be greeted with a big smile.

"Indeed, that would be your best option. I usually use Sandslash here when we face someone who is particularly annoying to deal with; using Aurora Veil, Counter, Mirror Coat, Protection, and Toxic to poison is a surefire winner in most cases. We'll have to teach Pikachu some status attacks, like Thunder Wave, Nuzzle, and Charm." Harry explained. "Also, there's a specific attack I want to teach Pikachu to catch opponents off guard!" He said, drawing everyone's curiosity.

"Really? Which one?" This brought a mischievous smile to Harry's face.

"Surf!" He said happily.

"WHAT!?/PIKA!?" Everyone exclaimed in shock.