Chapter 82: 51,52
"Okay, here goes," Max said, looking out over the battlefield. "You said it was a double battle, right?"
"Right!" the two Gym Leaders said, in unison. "First one to lose/both Pokémon is the loser."
Max nodded. "Uh – I guess that means I go with the original plan. Cinder, Casper, let's do this!"
The Mightyena and the Shuppet appeared in bright flashes of light, one on the ground and the other floating at least four feet off the ground.
"I'll do my best!" Casper said, nodding back and forth. Cinder, for her part, just set her stance and waited.
"We specialize in/paired Pokémon!" the twins announced. "Solrock/Lunatone!"
"Solrock and Lunatone..." Max repeated, glancing down at Kris. "They're pretty similar, right?"
Very similar, though not identical, Kris confirmed. They have different specializations.
"Okay..." Max said, frowning. "Right."
"Ready?" Tate asked.
"Begin!" Liza said a moment later.
"Casper, use Night Shade!" Max ordered. "Cinder, focus on Solrock!"
Casper's eyes crossed, and he launched out a pulse of ghostly energy. It rolled out across the gym, ruffling Cinder's fur as she loped forwards, and then Solrock shook slightly as the attack hit it.
Lunatone, on the other hand, hid behind a Light Screen, and endured the attack effectively unscathed before firing a flashing Ice Beam out at the racing Cinder.
Growling as the attack hit, Cinder clashed her teeth together with a Fire Fang flashing on the tips. The small pulse of heat helped her endure the attack, and she pounced at Solrock – who simply floated upwards, meaning she only got in a glancing blow with her Bite before falling back to the floor.
"Another Night Shade!" Max called.
Cinder skidded, half-overbalancing before managing to control her trajectory, and turned to face Solrock and Lunatone.
There was a tense stalemate for a moment, with the Night Shade barely affecting the battle. Then Cinder feinted towards Solrock and headed for Lunatone – only to take a Solarbeam in the flank. Knocked sideways by the blaze of solar energy, she landed wrong, tripped and ended up in a heap.
"Can't you at least try to distract them?" she griped, shooting a glance at Casper as she got back to her feet. An Ice Beam came in, and she jumped away from it before breaking into a loping trot around the side of the arena.
"I'm trying!" the Shuppet told her. "It's not-"
"How can it not be working?" Cinder asked. She crouched and sprang, landing a Bite on Solrock which made the Meteorite Pokémon twitch. "You're able to annoy me enough!"
"Cinder?" Max asked. "Try something else – use Iron Tail, they're Rock-type too!"
Cinder's paws scrabbled for grip on Solrock's spiky protrusions, and she adjusted her jaw to hold on a bit harder – a job made more difficult when another Night Shade hit and made her mount shake violently.
Twisting, she managed to get her tail to hit the back of Solrock's body, but a moment later Solrock slammed into the wall and trapped her tail between itself and the wall.
The Mightyena dropped free with an undignified yelp, landing on the floor on her side, and rolled upright before shaking her head.
"Look," she growled. "Just keep one of them occupied, okay?"
"How?!" Casper demanded.
"Try flying at one of them?" Max guessed. "That'll keep it from being able to focus!"
"Right," the Ghost-type agreed, and dove forwards.
"Keep it off with/Sandstone!" Liza and Tate called.
Both Rock-types began to spin, and sand swirled out from their bodies until there was a dense cloud around both Solrock and Lunatone which was almost too dense to see through.
"Agh!" Casper protested, shaking his head. "I can't get through that!"
"Are you a ghost or not!?" Cinder demanded, bunching up and launching herself forwards. Her fangs flashed, and she managed to get a grip on the lower prong of Lunatone despite the swirling sand.
Gritting his ethereal teeth, Casper advanced into the swirling sandstorm. The particles of rock battered off him, some of them passing through, and he fired out a Night Shade right next to Solrock.
That seemed to do some damage, and the Rock/Psychic-type lowered in the air a little.
"All right!" Casper cheered, and did it again.
"Ice Beam/Solarbeam!" the twins ordered, then looked at one another.
"Ice beam?" Tate asked. "That'll just-"
"But Solarbeam's bad for-"
Both Meteorite Pokémon had their attacks ready at the same time, but then a Night Shade hit Solrock and disrupted the Solarbeam.
"Cinder, drop!" Max called, and his Dark-type dropped just before the Ice Beam flashed out. It went wide, at first, but then Lunatone redirected it and hit Cinder about the middle of her back.
Grimacing, Cinder forced herself to keep moving, and managed to avoid the worst of the Solarbeam that followed up after the Ice Beam.
"If you hadn't messed around with that then they'd have cancelled out!" she yapped, trying to shake the frost off her back.
"So now this is my fault too?" Casper asked. "Well, then, if I'm making things worse-"
"Moonblast!" Liza ordered.
"Casper, stop that attack!" Max called.
Casper froze for a moment, then dove towards Lunatone. His horn glowed faintly, and he did a spin which released a pulse of purple light. "Will-O-Wisp!"
The flickering fire reached out, forming a ring which hit Lunatone, but it was only a moment or two later that the blast of Fairy-type energy lashed out and hit Cinder.
Then Solrock fought fire with fire in a very literal way, hitting Casper with a Fire Spin.
Max winced. "...ouch."
He returned the knocked-out Cinder, then waved at Casper – who was faintly smouldering. "Come on, I don't think you can beat them both on your own."
Casper nodded, looking downcast.
"Don't feel/too bad," the twin gym leaders consoled him.
"Yeah, I'm actually quite good at this," Tate added. "She's useless, though."
"Hey!" Liza laughed, elbowing him. "Don't listen to this second-rater."
"But if there's something/you should learn," they went on, speaking in unison again, "It's that teamwork matters more for double battles than type."
"You can come back and do a rematch any time," Liza assured him.
"Just work on your coordination," Tate added.
"They're right," Ash said, as they left the gym – Ash having declined to have his battle for now, so Max wouldn't feel he was delaying them too much. "If you'd used Cinder and Arc, I think you'd have done better – because they're good friends, and they're good at working together."
"And I'm pretty sure that Cinder's too mad at Casper because of all those pranks to really cooperate with him," May added. "I know I would be after that peanut butter trick..."
"But canines like peanut butter," Casper protested. "But I guess not usually in their tails..."
"Yeah, that one was going too far," Max said. He glanced down at Cinder's Pokéball. "I guess it's the Pokémon Centre first… can you guys help me with teamwork?"
"Sure!" May said readily. "I've got a plan for the next Contest with Swablu and Venusaur, so we can train Cinder and Casper alongside them."
"Is that a good idea?" Casper asked.
"It's an excellent idea," Lucario replied, pacing alongside. "You have the potential to work well together – you just need to learn how. And it'll hopefully work through your issues with one another, too."
Ash sat down, trousers soaking up the faint dew still on the grass, and glanced over. "Do you think you'll need help, Max?"
Max frowned. "Not sure," he admitted. "I guess maybe… if you let me know if I'm making a mistake?"
"Sounds good," Ash agreed. "I've got to keep an eye on Pikachu and Lucario, as well."
"You mean watch us beat one another up," Pikachu clarified, already taking his stance.
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Watch out for the boomerang Aura Sphere trick."
"I get hit by it one time and no-one ever lets me forget it," the Electric-type muttered.
"Well, it did look funny," Lucario commented, one foot sliding back to take up his stance.
As Ash's pair of signature Pokémon began a swirling high-speed battle, Max sent out Cinder and Casper.
"Okay, guys," he said, crouching down. "I think we can agree that that… didn't go well."
Cinder muttered something, glancing up at Casper, and the Shuppet averted his eyes.
"...wasn't my..."
"Hey!" Max said sharply. "We won't say it's anyone's fault – but what does matter is making sure you two get better at working together."
"How would that work?" Cinder asked. "I mean – thinking about it, I'm the one who can actually hurt those Pokémon. They pretty much ignored him."
"Right," Max nodded. "But they shouldn't be able to. And you need to make sure you can use any openings he makes – he did manage to get them off balance with Night Shade a couple of times."
He sat back. "So – there's at least a couple of problems. One of them is that you don't actually like each other."
"The problem's not with me," Cinder stated. "It's with him – I've been minding my own business, and he does things like… like… that aniseed bomb!"
"They're not all bad, though," Max pointed out. "Wasn't the shoelaces one for Blaziken at least a bit funny?"
Cinder shook her head stubbornly.
"Oh, come on, that one was gold," Casper said.
"And you need to meet her halfway," Max added. "You're doing way too many pranks which she doesn't like, and you're not taking her feelings into account – some of them are really pretty horrible."
Casper drifted around in a circle, then dropped down slightly. "Maaax..."
"Okay," Max went on, in a decisive tone. "Here's the idea. You're going to be working together to interrupt the routine that Swablu and Venusaur are working… and you're going to be swapping who's in charge."
Both Dark-type and Ghost-type looked confused.
"Plan it out first," Max said. "Work out between you what you're going to do – but the first time, it's Cinder who's in charge. That means you have to do what she says, Casper."
"That doesn't sound very fair," Casper complained.
"Yeah, but the second time you're swapping," Max went on. "So it'll be Casper in charge."
"So that means you'd better make sure the plan's a good one," Casper pointed out.
"...fine," Cinder said, sullenly. "But you'd better learn a proper attack."
"Actually, I think Ash can help you with that one," Max suggested. "Ash – can you teach Casper how to use Shadow Ball?"
"I could, yeah," Ash agreed, then frowned. "But it might not be the best one for Casper to use in a battle – I think moves like Spite might work better for that."
He shrugged. "But we can start with Shadow Ball, I guess."
Shifting to get a better angle, he held out his hand to Casper – then used the tiny sliver of Metal Claw that he could manage, and sliced a small gash in the ball of his thumb.
Casper watched as a drop of blood came out, and Ash took a deep breath before working the energy into a ball of shadowy darkness.
"...okay," he said, tilting his head. "That's cool and all, but how do I do it?"
Cinder put her paws over her head. "This is going to go terribly..."
Black paws padded softly on the leafy floor, and a ghostly shape went gliding overhead.
"Okay, there they are," Cinder whispered, peering out through a gap between two trees. "You see them?"
"Yeah," Casper replied.
Venusaur whipped her vines through the air, one about a foot above the other. Swablu did a roll, wings folding in, and slipped neatly through the gap – then rose a foot, and passed through the vines on their next whipping pass.
He sang as he flew, a tweeting tune which seemed to ascend higher and higher into the air as he kept going, and he accelerated – just a little, just enough to do his trick closer and closer in towards Venusaur's tree.
"Now," Cinder went on. "You need to jump out of the ground right there, in front of her foot, and fire a Night Shade off so it just about misses. Then I pounce out of the trees here, and try to catch Swablu with an attack. Right?"
"Right!" Casper replied. "Good plan!"
"Bad plan," Casper said sagely, floating a safe distance above the ground.
Venusaur finished trussing Cinder up, and lifted the Dark-type to eye level. "You lose."
With that, she shifted Cinder over to a bush, and dropped her in.
Casper kept a wide berth, and floated down inside the bush to speak to Cinder. "I think we need a rethink."
"Yeah, I'd like to see you do better," Cinder said, spitting out leaves. "Pfeh. Okay, your turn, wise guy – what now?"
"Mabel, Mabel, set the table, don't forget the red hot label," Swablu sang to himself, weaving in and out of Venusaur's vines as they accelerated.
"I wonder if the humans watching would be as impressed if they knew what you're singing," Venusaur chuckled.
Swablu shrugged, bringing his wings in to slip through a particularly small gap, then opened them again and swerved closer. "Winds blow hot and winds blow freeze, how many times did Mabel sneeze?"
"One, two, three!" Venusaur joined in, and slowed one of her vines down before curling the tip inwards.
Swablu changed direction in a high-speed flip, grabbed onto the tip, and held on as Venusaur wrapped her vines around one another and around her tree.
They shortened quickly, accelerating Swablu further, and then whip-cracked him off to do a flip just overhead.
The Grass-type fired a pulse of Sweet Scent, and Swablu blew it out in all directions with a Gust before switching to a hover just over Venusaur's flower.
"Great!" May said, clapping. "I think that's the best go yet!"
"Was there anything we did wrong?" Venusaur asked, panting.
"I don't think there was anything big," May clarified. "But it'd be good if we could add a bit more to it – like, say, little Solarbeam pulses or something. And if Swablu can add in his Mist, that'd be great."
Swablu nodded. "Got it!"
"Apart from that… well, how are you doing with Disarming Voice?" May asked. "I'm thinking about the battle side of things – Venusaur's fine, but you might not be."
The Flying-type looked nervous.
"You'll be fine," Venusaur assured him. "You're quick – so your first job is to not get hit and Sing at them. That'll sound good, look good, and help me fight."
"Thanks," Swablu peeped, sounding a bit more confident. Then he frowned. "Look!"
He nodded, and the Dark-type creeping through the underbrush suddenly darted forwards.
Venusaur nodded. "I'll deal with this," she said, extending her vines and forming them into a single braided length before pushing them out together.
They hit Cinder – and passed through.
"Huh?" the Grass-type asked, confused. Then a spark of purple energy ran up her vines, and she flinched. "Ow!"
Then the ground heaved up to her side, and Cinder bit home with an Ice Fang.
"Sneaky," Venusaur admitted, Stomping down next to the hole left by Cinder's Dig. It collapsed, but the Dark-type jumped free.
Swablu took a deep breath, and sang out a high, pure note. It hung in the air for a moment, then he faced at Cinder and sang louder, the note wavering on the edge of turning into a shriek.
A heart-shape pulsed out and hit Cinder, who flinched and jumped back before diving back underground.
"Great work!" May praised.
"I know what's going on," Venusaur said, nodding at the first Cinder. "That's Casper – he's using some kind of illusion."
She thought for a moment, then charged and fired a Solarbeam. The attack hit, and the fake Cinder changed back into a dizzy looking Casper.
He shook his head, recovering, and fled back into the bushes.
"I guess that's them dealt with," May said. "Okay, let's try the same again but with the Mist and some pulses of Sweet Scent as well."
"Good idea," Venusaur decided, adjusting her stance a little. "Ready?"
Swablu peeped his agreement, and flew into her flower before getting ready to dart out. "Ready!"
"Three, two, one – go!" May called.
"Well, that was sort of an improvement," Cinder admitted. "But it's not going to work again."
"Yeah, I know," Casper said. "It's pretty obvious."
"I was just saying to be sure," Cinder said, then bit off the next few words. "Okay, need to remember to be calm about this..."
She shook herself, sending a bit of stray dirt flying. "Okay, here's the new plan. You can move things, right? Well, if you can make a twig crack, it might distract Venusaur for long enough for me to dart across the space."
"I… actually like that plan," Casper said, surprised. "Are you feeling okay?"
"Well, anything that means I don't get knocked about by Venusaur is an improvement," Cinder pointed out. "So… the thing which is missing is that it'd be good if you had a better attack… can we give Shadow Ball another try?"
She pawed the ground. "Okay, I've got a new first step to our plan. Let's see if we can find Glaceon."
"Glaceon, huh?" Casper asked, floating after her as she sniffed the air. "I don't think I've come up with a good prank for her yet..."
"Then don't," Cinder replied shortly.
"Spoilsport."
Ninetales frowned, looking at the result of her work, then moved one tail forward and brushed it lightly.
"There," she said, stepping back. "What do you think?"
"Not bad," Geodude said, nodding. "I think that's a pretty good first try."
Stantler looked up from the grass he'd been cropping. "Are you done?"
"Sure am," Ninetales confirmed. "Come have a look."
The Normal-type cantered around to look at the canvas.
It wasn't a particularly sophisticated picture, precisely – there was very little blending of colour, and the form of Stantler was drawn out in broad lines rather than in a filled shape like most paintings.
But, at the same time, it had a certain elegant simplicity. The deer bending down to take a mouthful of grass had an energy, a reality about the simple curves, which somehow made it look like the essence of Stantler if not precisely the true form.
"Yeah, that's pretty cool," Stantler agreed. "I like how you smudged my horns."
"Actually, that was a mistake," Ninetales said, with a slightly embarrassed chuckle. She heated the nearby bucket with a flicker of flame and dipped her tails into it, washing off the nine colours on her nine separate tail tips and staining the water a muddy brown. "But you're right, it fits."
"Okay, so..." Glaceon tossed her head, ears waving back and forth. "Shadow Ball is a Ghost move, which means it interacts in tricky ways with non Ghost types. I'm not sure if it'll be easier for you, though."
She frowned, then nodded. "Okay, I've got an idea – feel this, would you?"
The Ice-type began to gather a smoky grey light in her mouth, only charging it for a moment before switching to letting it stand at a constant power level.
Casper reached in with his horn, and blinked. "Huh. That feels… odd."
"Is it helping?" Cinder asked. "Giving you any insights into how to use Shadow Ball, like we were hoping?"
After several seconds, Casper shook his head – and hence his body. "No, I'm not sure-"
Glaceon resumed charging the attack.
"Gah!" Casper yelped, darting backwards. "Watch it!"
"I thought it might help," Glaceon said innocently.
"You know," Cinder said, tail wagging slightly, "I think that she might just have pranked you."
Casper thought about that.
"Yeah, she did," he admitted. "Good one."
Glaceon discharged the Shadow Ball. "Tell you what – let's see how you use Night Shade."
Energy duly gathered on Casper's horn as he crossed his eyes.
"Stop there," the Ice-type added. She leaned forwards, and batted at the field of energy with a paw before bringing it back.
"Yeah, that's a little bit like my Shadow Ball," she agreed, licking the paw where it stung. "You need to ball it up, and then spin it – to get it more coherent – before firing it off, and try to keep it together."
"I didn't see you spin it," Casper protested, trying to form the energy as she described.
"Yeah, it's more of a training thing," Glaceon supplied.
"Okay, I… ergh!" Casper strained, then the nascent attack exploded and sent him flipping back through the air.
"I think the first step of our plan is to keep working on that," Cinder decided. "It'd be a good surprise if you were… you know. A threat."
"I guess maybe if it means you get knocked out less often." Casper sniped back.
"Okay, I think we're sitting here," Brock said, putting action to words by claiming a seat.
Ash sat next to him, Pikachu clambering around his arm to get to a good position, and Max filled out the row.
"Any idea where Blaziken is?" Brock asked. "He normally watches this – I didn't notice he's not here..."
"I think he said he'd be back at the campsite," Max shrugged. "Probably because Cinder and Casper were staying too."
"...wait," Pikachu said, raising a hand. "Didn't Ash say their training was to try and sneak up on Venusaur and Swablu?"
"Yeah?" Ash confirmed. "So?"
Max glanced down to Kris, then worked it out. "Uh… maybe I should have mentioned why I asked if they were coming..."
"They'll find out," Brock shrugged. "Okay, let's see when May's Appeal is."
Max stood up to check. "I don't think it's for a while, people are still coming in."
They sat watching for another few minutes, until the last few stragglers entered and the doors were closed. The lights dimmed, and one of the judges tapped their microphone.
"Welcome, ladies and gentlemen!" he said, smiling around at the arena. "Today's Contest has fourteen fine appeals for you to watch, and it's a doubles Contest – so make sure you put your hands together for the first of our Coordinators, Jason and his Beedrill and Vibrava!"
Jason walked out of the tunnel to polite applause, and waved back before taking two Pokéballs – one in each hand.
"Go!" he called, sending out Vibrava, and then threw the other Pokéball out into the centre of the arena.
Vibrava took it before it could hit the ground, and the Ground-type flew a tight circle around the grounds before lob-tossing his partner up into the air.
During the long flight time, Jason threw the first Pokéball, and Vibrava Returned himself into it – then Beedrill emerged, catching the other Pokéball, and sending Vibrava's 'ball upwards.
They continued self-juggling for another two repetitions, then both Beedrill and Vibrava did one final trick with the Pokéballs – knocking them back to their trainer – and did a high-speed pass on one another instead. The buzzing of their wings intermingled, making the air hum, and both began to send out faint streamers of light as they charged some kind of attack.
Purple light around Beedrill and green around Vibrava let them draw shapes in the sky – a big circle around a little circle, with a line across most of the diameter to connect one to the other.
Then, just as it became clear they'd drawn the Pokéball symbol, they flew together right in the centre of the design and fired their attacks into one another.
There was a bright white flash, and they came spiralling out of it before pulling up to hover.
"Not bad," Brock said, applauding. "A bit unfocused, though."
"No, I think there was a Pokéball theme," Max pointed out.
"All right, here we go," Casper said, quietly. "Ready?"
Cinder nodded.
"Three, two, one – go!"
Casper darted out of the bushes, horn glowing, and fired a Shadow Ball into the ground. It burst as it hit, producing a puff of shadowy smoke, and Cinder pelted forwards through it.
"Wait!" Casper said suddenly, diving back into the bush. "Abort! Abandon plan!"
Cinder's paws threw up a clod of grass as she skidded to a halt and turned tail. "What?" she barked, exasperated.
"We weren't going after Venusaur!"
Cinder looked back over her shoulder, and blinked.
"...how come Blaziken was there? Why wasn't Venusaur there? That's not fair!"
"Foul!" Casper agreed.
Still looking over her shoulder, Cinder ran into Casper. The impact knocked the Ghost-type flipping over backwards, and he looked a bit green when he righted himself.
Blaziken smirked slightly.
"That didn't go well," the Ghost-type muttered, shaking his head. "Where did Venusaur go?"
"Good question," Cinder agreed, rubbing her nose. "I'll see if I can track her, but it might take… a..."
She stopped.
"Wait a moment. Can I just… try something?"
"Sure," Casper agreed.
Cinder pounced on him.
"Ouch!" Casper complained, as her paws knocked him to the floor. "That's not very-"
"I can use you as a jump pad," Cinder interrupted.
Casper blinked. "Wait, yeah, you can. Is that because you're Dark-type or something?"
"Don't know," Cinder admitted. "But if that does work then that's actually going to look pretty cool. Especially if you can fire Shadow Balls as you get in place, so Solrock and Lunatone are confused about what you're doing."
The Ghost-type nodded, then stopped. "Wait. If we're going to do this, that means that you need to be good at using me as a jump platform… and we need to work out a way to warn me without our opponents knowing."
He sighed. "I'm going to be trodden on a lot, aren't I?"
"Think of it as character building," Cinder advised.
"First verse!" May called.
Swablu did a backflip, slowing and halting his forwards movement, and did a wingover. The Beedrill trying to attack him buzzed past, missing by a few inches, and came around for another pass.
A moment later, Venusaur whipped her vines up in a dense pattern. Swablu dove, passing through a hole in the middle of the pattern, and Beedrill came to a halt as he looked for a way to keep chasing Swablu.
"Chorus!" May said, pointing.
"Vibrava, look out!" Jason warned, and his Ground-type's wings blurred as he rolled to one side – just as Swablu sang out a high, pure note of Disarming Voice.
Venusaur fired a barrage of Magical Leaves into it, the multicoloured flecks of plant taking on some of the Fairy energy they passed through, and then there was a cacophony of pink explosions.
Vibrava dropped out of the bracket looking a little the worse for wear, and the judges applauded politely.
"A nice combination move," said the one at the centre of the table, and Jason's points dropped noticeably. "And well aimed, too."
A moment later, Beedrill fired a salvo of Pin Missiles. They struck home on Venusaur's flower, making her flinch, and Vibrava added a well-timed Earthquake.
"But Jason's team is providing some well spaced attacks," the local Joy agreed. "It looks like this is a battle between two quite evenly matched opponents!"
"Swablu!" Venusaur called, her vines blocking an attack aimed for her partner. "Fourth verse?"
"Fourth verse!" Swablu agreed, and began to sing. As he flew around Venusaur, he released a Mist, then concentrated entirely on his music.
"Good!" May called, as the song got louder. It rose and fell, weaving a coloratura which described note after note around a soaring main theme.
"What's that?" Jason asked. "Try and stop whatever he's doing – Vibrava, Beedrill, use a drill assault!"
Beedrill saluted him, circling, and Vibrava flew up to join him. They did a pair of laps to build up speed, brown-yellow energy surging around Beedrill's drill, and then Beedrill dove straight down towards Venusaur.
Vibrava followed, wings resonating as he built up a powerful sound shockwave. As soon as Swablu broke off what he was doing to stop Beedrill, then Vibrava would be ready to hit him.
The whole attack run took perhaps two seconds, and then things came unstuck.
Swablu's song rose to a crescendo – then paused, for just a moment, before letting out a final note which was loud enough to knock Beedrill off course.
Venusaur fired her Solarbeam out of the shimmering mist, right at where Beedrill had just been. Vibrava found himself flying directly into a Grass-type attack, and abandoned his attack to try and get free.
The Dragon-type rolled sideways, nearly ramming straight into Swablu, and fired a blast of Dragon Pulse to force the Flying-type to get out of the way.
Swablu yelped as the violet attack hit, and went limp for a moment before recovering and pulling out of his dive.
"And that was a lovely exchange of attacks from both sides!" called the first judge. "It's looking neck and neck as we head towards the last minute of the Contest!"
"Good luck, Swablu!" May called.
Swablu shot her a quick smile, then dove and flew past Venusaur's flank to gather speed. The Grass-type fired some Razor Leaves up as a bit of extra defence, and Swablu took a deep breath.
And exhaled a blast of violet fire.
Beedrill was caught by surprise by the sudden appearance of Dragon Pulse, and dodged late. Swablu swept it to the side slightly, producing a nice smoke-ring effect but not managing to give Beedrill more than a couple of quick hits.
Doing a falling-leaf to drop lower, Swablu targeted Beedrill once more, then flipped – an unnecessary but good-looking flourish of purple Dragon Pulse making a half-circle as he did so – and rose to target Vibrava instead.
Vibrava fired a Boomburst just as the first flames of the Dragon Pulse reached him, and there was a spherical explosion which hid everyone for a moment.
"Was that Mirror Move?" Brock asked. "Or..."
"No, I don't think so," Ash replied. "Wait – oh, cool!"
Vibrava peered into the fragments of flame as they dissipated.
Had he managed to get that Swablu?
He had to dodge aside as Venusaur targeted him with a Solarbeam, and then a cloud dragon tackled him back into it.
When the blaze of green-yellow energy faded, Vibrava was out for the count.
May whooped, jumping up and down. "Well done! Well done, Altaria – great work!"
Altaria did an aileron roll, a trail of mist rolling out from his wings as he did a lap of the stadium, then came down to perch on her arm as the clock finally ran out.
"Oh, you look beautiful!" she said, stroking his head. "Wait, how am I – are you keeping your weight low?"
Altaria's wings flapped slowly, and he nodded. "Yeah – I think I weigh too much without doing this. It's kinda too bad, too – I liked sitting on your shoulder."
"That's okay," May assured him. "And great work with him, Venusaur!"
"Congratulations, May Maple," the judge said, calling her attention back to the Contest. "And congratulations on your Pokémon evolving, as well."
Jason came over to shake her hand. "I guess that evolution did us in," he said, nodding – looking a bit disappointed. "It was really close until that bit."
"Yeah, you're a good Coordinator," May agreed. "I hope you make it into the Grand Festival, you deserve to."
"Wooah!" Cinder yelped.
She landed on one paw, stumbled, and barely avoided crashing into a tree before managing to steady herself and avoid a tumble.
Whirling, she faced Casper. "You jerked on the takeoff again!"
"Yeah, it's kind of hard not to when half a ton of Mightyena steps on your face!" Casper replied, shaking his head. "I mean, I could move so you're using my spike instead – I bet that'd make it easier for me to hold you up!"
Cinder was about to retort, but paused – and sniffed.
"Wait..." she said, raising a paw. "I think they're back. I smell Max, Ash, Pikachu, Brock, May… Venusaur..."
Another sniff. "And… I think that's Swablu… hey, they're upwind, I can track them."
"You can?" Casper said, interested.
"Yeah!" Cinder agreed, with another sniff. "Let's use that to ambush them – that way we can use our new trick and finally tag Swablu!"
"No, we can't do that!" Casper protested.
Cinder gave him a look. "Why not?"
"Because it's my turn to do the plan," Casper explained, then cleared his throat. "Ahem. We should use our new trick to ambush them and tag Swablu."
"Wow, real original," Cinder said under her breath.
"So, how are you handling being so much bigger?" May asked, turning her head to keep Altaria in view as much as possible. "I know that Venusaur had some trouble when she first evolved."
"It's fine, actually," Altaria said, drifting around them with slow wingbeats. "I mean, I'm still kind of new to it, but my flying is very similar so that's good-"
There was a crack, and some twigs floated down.
"I do keep trying to fly through spaces too small for me," he added, blushing. "But that's fine."
"Altaria are pretty cool," Ash volunteered. "You've got a Dragon-type now, May – hey, I bet he could carry you!"
"Really?" Altaria asked, looking back along his body.
"Yeah – there was this guy we met back in Kanto who had an Altaria he used as a ride," Ash explained. "That one was bigger than you are, but he was bigger than May is too – and I think he went long distance."
"So Altaria should be able to carry May short distances," Max filled in. "That sounds like fun – maybe you won't need to borrow a Pokémon from Ash when we go from one island to another, May!"
"Hey, don't forget what happened when you went flying with Delta," May shot back.
Brock chuckled.
"I think I'd be okay giving it a go," Altaria piped up. "But I think we should practice somewhere someone can catch May if it goes wrong. I'm not really sure if I can carry someone… well, not safely at least."
"Maybe Pidgeot can help," Ash suggested. "Or – hm, if you're kind of flying by floating then Latios can help."
"That would be nice," Altaria agreed.
There was a sudden rustling in the bushes, and Casper charged out. He did a double take, stopped, and turned back. "Cinder, change of-"
Cinder jumped out, forepaws landing on Casper's head. She coiled up like a spring until all four paws were on the Ghost – who was rapidly rethinking the whole situation – and then kicked off, getting about halfway to Altaria before Lucario grabbed her out of the air by the scruff of her neck.
"I have to admit, that's much better," he said, lowering her.
"Since when did Swablu evolve?" Cinder asked.
"...actually, that was pretty cool," May said, nodding. "Not going to lie."
"I'm going to get a headache," Casper announced.
"...did my Pokémon just do a flying leap off one of my other Pokémon?" Max asked, blinking. "That happened, right?"
"Eh, it's a good tactic," Pikachu said.
"So is throwing your teammates," Lucario added, before glancing at Pikachu. "...not that I would abuse that tactic."
"Okay, let's see if you can hover," Latios said, slowing further and angling himself up. "Slow your wingbeats… slower… now, hold them out to the side completely."
Altaria did so, his feathery cloudstuff wings rippling in the breeze, and floated in the air. He began to drop, but very slowly – far slower than anyone would expect, just looking at him.
"Okay, that's good to know," Latios nodded. "That means that you're able to effectively cancel out some of your weight, sort of like how I levitate – but not quite."
"Right," Altaria nodded, then folded his wings in and alighted. "I kind of know that my wings stop me from falling a lot, that is something I've noticed even before evolving."
He looked over at May, now helping Spoink practice, and waved as she glanced over. "Do you think that means I'd be able to carry a passenger?"
"We can start small," Latios decided. "I'll see if Pikachu is available."
He turned, ready to head back to their camp, and Altaria piped a warning. "Wait, I see someone!"
Latios followed where Altaria was pointing, and saw a Salamence coming in low over the trees.
His gaze hardened. "Altaria, let Ash know – this might be trouble."
Altaria darted off.
Latios dove for the trees, going invisible as soon as there was a tree trunk within line of sight, and darted back behind Altaria.
"A Salamence?" Ash repeated. "Lucario, this might – oh, never mind."
"What?" Pikachu asked.
"I thought it might be Hunter J, but it's not," Ash told him. "That's Drake."
May, Brock, Altaria and Blaziken looked at him, then back at the growing dot of the blue Dragon-type.
"How can you tell?" Latios asked.
"I saw him back in the Togepi Kingdom," Ash replied. "He's got a vaguely Dragonish Aura, it's enough to notice."
"False alarm, then," Lucario noted. "Well, better a false alarm than not noticing a real attack."
"We should probably get ready to say hello," Brock said. "He'll be here in a minute."
You should really take the mission to Silent Chasm, Arceus chided them.
"Why?" Dialga asked. "We're starting to get the hang of this."
"Yeah, we know you too well, Dad," Giratina agreed.
"We can just putz around the first few areas and pick up loads of money," Dialga went on. "Knowing you, Shiftry got kidnapped by Reshiram or something – no thanks."
There was a divine cough.
"...did you actually have Shiftry kidnapped by Reshiram?" asked Aaron, lowering his left foot from a practice post.
...no, Arceus declared. Now, hurry up and get with the Silent Chasm or I'll stop generating missions.
"Spoilsport," Palkia muttered. "I was going to make a big room full of Poké and warp space so I can swim in it..."
52
Salamence came down to land, skimming low across the hilltop before flaring and coming to rest.
Drake jumped off before his Dragon had stopped moving. "Mr. Ketchum?"
"That's me," Ash confirmed. "Nice to see you again."
Brock nodded his agreement, and May smiled. "It's good to meet you when something ridiculous hasn't happened in the last few hours."
"Well, that thing with Groudon and Kyogre wasn't very long ago," Brock pointed out.
"Actually, now I come to think of it..." Ash frowned. "There isn't something dangerous going on, right?"
"No, lad," Drake replied. "Nothing as bad as you think – it's just that I was checking on Liza and Tate, and they mentioned that your friend Max had faced them recently."
Reaching up, he gave Salamence a scratch under the chin. "And I thought it might be a good idea to look in on you."
"That's nice," Brock said. "What would you like to drink?"
"I doubt you're old enough to buy it," Drake waved off.
"Actually-" Brock began, and then a loud noise interrupted them.
A blaze of white-blue-purple light lit everyone from the north, and then Goodra went hurtling overhead to the sound of Mawile's happy laughter.
Shortly before the big Dragon-type landed, Mawile jumped off his back, and a makeshift parachute opened with a crack of air.
"...well, you don't see that every day," Drake admitted. "I see your Goomy evolved to his final stage."
"Yeah, it's been a good month or two for evolving Dragon-types," Ash agreed, glancing over at Altaria – who blushed slightly, dipping his head. "And Mawile took the idea that Goodra couldn't fly as a challenge."
The Dragon-type specialist nodded, frowning. "I see… well, Ash, your Pokémon are clearly as surprising as you."
"I think Mawile's decided to take after him as deliberately as possible," Brock agreed.
As he spoke, the Steel-type came hurrying up the hill with Goodra. "Did you see that? The parachute thing worked – oh, hello," she interrupted herself, and did a quick curtsey. "What's your name?"
After a moment of silence, she looked puzzled.
"Remember, not everyone can understand Pokémon," Brock said gently, and she made an ah of understanding.
"So, you're the one who came up with a way for Goodra to fly?" Drake asked, bending down. "I'm impressed."
"Pleased to meet you, Impressed," Mawile said, then giggled.
Standing up again, Drake looked around, then counted under his breath. "Two… three… four… how many Dragons do you have?"
"Well, you know Flygon is Brock's Pokémon," Ash said, remembering the conversation from last time. "And you know Goodra as well, and I think Latias and Latios were on the news too..."
Latios waved.
"Does Charizard count?" Ash added.
"...probably," Drake agreed. "Close enough for me, anyway, especially with a Charizardite X. But what about the Altaria?"
"He's mine," May said, stroking his back. "Just evolved this morning."
"He looks quite large, for an Altaria," Drake commented. "Reminds me of the ones the Blackthorn clan keep."
"I do?" Altaria asked.
Drake looked him up and down, then did the same to May. "You could probably ride him, lass, if-"
"Already thought of it," she interrupted.
The Elite Four member chuckled. "Well, most people do, and I can't blame them – there's nothing quite like riding a dragon."
Latias told me that Ash nearly fell off her when he started, Latios said.
Drake blinked, startled. "Who was – was that Latios?"
Recovering a bit, he turned his attention to the floating Legendary. "I knew Latios and Latias were Psychic-type, but I didn't realize they were telepaths that could communicate with humans..."
It took a while for me to learn, Latios explained. Maybe others can do it more easily, but my sister and I kind of had to work our powers out for ourselves. Ash had some great ideas to help with that, too.
Drake nodded. "It's good to see that some of the only known Latias and Latios with a trainer are in such good hands."
Turning back to the trainer in question, he gave him another look. "So! I hope you're not going to just make our League look ridiculous, Mr. Ketchum!"
"Uh… how would I do that?" Ash asked.
"I'm sure you've got several different ways to make them look ridiculous," Pikachu said, making Salamence snort with laughter. "The tricky bit is not doing it."
"Well, unfortunately, everyone knows you use Legendaries," Drake said. "So you can't just not use them… but try not to steal everyone's thunder."
"That's kind of my main ability," Pikachu protested.
Salamence chuckled again.
"I kind of wish Drake got that one," he said. "It must be so cool for your trainer to understand you."
"How much further?"
"Not far," James replied, glancing out the window. "May was in a Contest just this morning, and it's not like they're going to have gone far."
He looked back at the others. "Right?"
"Nah, I'm pretty sure they could be on da other side of Hoenn by now," Meowth pointed out. "You know, 'cause of Latias, Latios, Pidgeot, an' da Beasts."
"...oh, yeah," James admitted. "Should we keep going?"
"Of course we should!" Jessie replied. "We can ask if they've done the Gym challenge here yet!"
"And if they have?" Cubone asked, leaning against the rear wall of the cabin and using a sharp spine to clean around her claws.
"Then we work it out as we go along, of course!" Meowth reminded her. "'cause we kinda do that a lot, an' all..."
There was a flash of light, just visible from where they were.
"What was that?" James asked.
Jessie got out the binoculars, and focused them. "It looks a lot like… there's a Salamence fighting a Latios!"
"Okay, da twerps got in trouble again!" Meowth sighed.
"They just keep dragon us back in!" Wobbuffet quipped.
Cubone threw her spine at Wobbuffet, which bounced off. "That was terrible."
"Okay, that's something to work on," Drake said, as Latios went crashing into the ground.
Salamence flew overhead, stopping his barrage of Dragonfire, and let the modified Tailwind he'd been using dissipate as well.
"Yeah, I can see..." Ash agreed, wincing, as Latios shook his head and brushed grass off his flank. "Was that because of the shield bubble?"
"Aye," Drake confirmed. "Since he was relying on the shield, Salamence just blasted him so he couldn't unshield – or even see where he was going – then just blew him into the ground. Used it on that Dragonite Lance has."
The Elite Four member shook his head. "Of course, it didn't work then..."
"You okay, Latios?" Ash called, and got a thumbs-up from the Legendary. "Great!"
"So, how would you handle that one?" Drake added, as Latios gathered himself and floated back into the air.
"Uh..." Ash frowned, thinking about it. "Well, I guess there are a few options. One of them would be to form a Counter Shield inside the bubble and push it outwards, to create enough of a gap – but for that you'd need to – look out!"
Latios rolled to the side, and a Draco Meteor screamed past to hit a pond below. Water went everywhere, and a Lombre made a rude gesture at them as it hit the apex of its arc.
"Good," Drake added, gruffly. "Some people will distract you while their Pokémon follows a preset plan, hoping you won't notice."
"That's kind of sneaky," Ash agreed. "I guess you just have to watch out for people doing things you can't see."
Drake cuffed him on the shoulder, seeming momentarily surprised when it didn't stagger him. "You've got the right idea, lad – and I noticed when Latios went invisible, too."
"I guess it's hard to surprise a Dragon-type specialist with what a Dragon-type can do," May observed. "Unless it's a Dragon which isn't really well known, like Mega Rayquaza."
"...yes, I heard about that," Drake said. "From the message Lance sent, he suggested that you actually rode on-"
He broke off, realizing he was the one being distracted from the fight now, and pointed. "Salamence, there!"
Salamence's big wings flared, pulling him up into a backflip, and he fired a Dragon Pulse at empty air – which suddenly gained a shimmering transparency, as Latios shielded just before being hit.
"You need to be more unpredictable," Drake began.
"No he doesn't!" May said quickly. "If there's anyone who doesn't need to be more unpredictable, it's Ash!"
"...well, I suppose that might be true," Drake allowed. "But if Latios goes for the ideal shot – the blind spot – then he's going to be more predictable than if he tried somewhere else."
Whatever else Drake was about to say was interrupted as a big heavy-lift aircraft came thundering over a nearby hill, all eight hoverjets flaring, and spun around before opening the doors.
A Dustox came flying out of the open doors, flying up into the air to get clear, and a moment later the ramp bounced against the ground for a moment and a dozen Pokémon came rushing out.
"Why are Jessie and James here?" Brock asked, blinking. "I mean..."
Two large bones went flying into the air aimed at Salamence, who dodged them with an adroit flick of his wings, and he counterfired with a Dragon Pulse on his own initiative.
"Wait!" Ash said, realizing, as Wobbuffet knocked the Dragon Pulse back into the air and Moltres burst skywards. "They think that's Hunter J's Salamence!"
"Blaziken!" May called. "Let them know they're-"
Blaziken set off with a whoosh of air, accelerating away from May's side and leaving a faint smell of smoke behind him.
"Hunter J..." Drake muttered, scowling. "We're all better off with her in prison."
"Any sign of the Poison types?" Victreebel asked. "Dustox, can you see anything?"
"No sign!" the Bug-type called back down. "Or her – but I see May and her friends, and they don't seem in danger."
Abra picked up Wobbuffet with a pulse of telekinesis and used him to swat aside a Dragon Rush from Salamence. It worked, just, but sent the Psychic-type shooting off into the middle distance.
Mercifully, his latest pun went unheard.
"Any ideas?" Cubone asked.
Well, one, but it's a bit meta- Abra began to reply, before Blaziken came sprinting into the area.
He spun, using his heels to brake, and span to a halt next to Meowth. "Wrong Salamence," he explained simply.
"...oh," Meowth muttered. "Guys! False alarm!"
James poked his head out of the door. "Really?"
"Whose is the Salamence, then?" Jessie asked. "I mean, they're not very common, and who'd be…"
Her voice slowed.
"Didn't we get sent blasting off by a Salamence once?"
"Well, it ain't like we can check da scrapbook..." Meowth said, shrugging. "But yeah, sometin' about a ship?"
"Wouldn't that be Drake, then?" asked Cubone, flipping a bone in one hand as she watched the circling Salamence.
The others stared at her.
"What? It's in the dossiers… don't any of you read dossiers?"
Growlie raised a paw, and Chimecho dingled happily. "Chimecho!"
"No, no, it ain't just Chimecho!" Meowth sighed. "What is it?"
Chimecho's expression contorted. "Chimecho… uh… I do?"
"That's better," Carnivine complimented him.
"You know, I think we might have gotten distracted..." Jessie suggested. "Did we just accidentally attack a Pokémon belonging to an Elite Four member?"
"Ta be fair, it ain't anything close to da first time,"Meowth said. "Even if ya don't count Misty on dat list..."
"Let's go explain before we get our plane confiscated," James sighed.
"Hm..." Drake said, frowning. "So… you saw a Legendary fighting a Salamence, and decided it had to be Hunter J – one of the most ferocious criminals in recent history, and someone who is currently in maximum security jail?"
"Pretty much," Jessie agreed.
"Can ya blame us?" Meowth added.
"It's not like it's even the third time we've shown up just in time to help out Ash with trouble of this kind," James mused.
Drake nodded. "Completely understandable."
The Rockets nearly fell over.
"Pardon?" Jessie said, frowning. "This never happens."
"Well, not when we ain't just helped take da Elite Four guy in question out from in front of a volcano," Meowth corrected. "An' a couple of other times too."
While they talked, James took something out of his pocket and threw it to land a few feet away. "Whoops," he said. "I think I just dropped something."
"I hope someone else doesn't find it before you do," Jessie agreed. "That would be at terrible accident."
Everyone else just looked at the glittering stone.
"Just take it!" Meowth snapped, kicking it to Ash. "But if anyone asks, we dropped it – got it?"
"That's a Mega stone, right?" May said, looking at it. "What's it for?"
"Sceptile," James said, apparently giving up with even the pretence. "It's a Sceptilite – call it payment for the Audinite."
"Thanks," Ash said, touched. "That's pretty cool of you guys."
"Isn't Mega Sceptile a Dragon-type?" Brock asked. "I remember Clair using one."
"...she never told me that," Drake said, surprised. "Maybe the lass didn't think it was important enough to mention."
"I guess I can try it out now, if you'd like to see," Ash said. "Dexter, can you get Sceptile?"
Placing call now.
"And get Meganium too," Ash added. "I think I might use them together for my gym battle here."
Kingler's enormous pincer reached out, aiming straight for the Nidoqueen.
It closed around her neck, then he shifted his stance slightly and moved her forward three places.
"Not bad," Quilava admitted, looking at the chessboard. "I wasn't expecting that."
Kingler clicked. "You need to keep an eye on the Queen, it can move all over the place."
The Fire-type nodded, ruff flickering up for a moment. "Hmmm… I don't think it's quite as bad as it seems, though. What do you think, Totodile?"
"Huh?"
Totodile looked over to Quilava, then to the board. "Oh, right! Sorry, I kinda got distracted..."
Hurrying over, the crocodilian Water-type leaned down and tilted his head. "Uh… okay, how do the Rapidash ones move again?"
Quilava demonstrated, moving it two places forward and one to the right, then put it back in place.
"Right… uh, I think you should ignore the Nidoqueen one, 'cause it's not going to be able to capture anything without being captured," Totodile said. "You should use this one over here."
"The Mew I've got six spaces across the board, right," Quilava agreed. She checked again, looking at all the pieces Kingler had in that area, and making sure none of them could capture the Mew before it got to the eighth place and could turn into whatever she wanted. "Yeah, I like that idea."
She reached out, pushing the Mew piece to the seventh row.
Kingler promptly moved his Rapidash, so it was threatening one of the same pieces the Nidoqueen was targeting.
"Were you planning on doing that?" Quilava asked.
Kingler nodded, looking smug.
"Well, fair enough.. Totodile, do you want to do the honours?"
Totodile pushed the Mew to the eighth place, then took it off the board and put a Nidoqueen there instead. "There!"
Kingler inspected the board, then looked up.
"Have you ever considered evolving?"
Quilava and Totodile blinked.
"Uh… I sort of have," Totodile said. "But I'd be way too big then. And Croconaw seems kinda slow and clumsy, too, and that's not something I want to be!"
"I can see why you'd think that," Kingler nodded. "I mean, it's a big change – but for me, all that happened was that I got bigger and tougher. I didn't really slow down, so there wasn't much of a downside."
He indicated Quilava with one claw. "What about you?"
"Uh… I don't know," Quilava said. "I don't think my Flame Wheel fighting style would really work as a Typhlosion – they're more brawlers, and I work best hit-and-run."
"I guess that makes sense," Kingler agreed. "You wouldn't want to end up like Torterra."
"I can't wait to meet Torterra again!" Totodile informed them. "He has the best parties!"
"Oh, I remember those," Quilava smiled. "Who gave him the idea of putting fairy lights in his branches?"
Totodile held up his right paw. "Me!"
"You know, you guys are pretty loud," Swellow called, banking to circle over the clash. "You could keep someone awake."
Sceptile jumped backwards, blades blazing with a bright green light. "It's midday, and Noctowl's the other side of the ranch."
He brought one Leaf Blade up to block a swipe from Corphish's glowing red blade, then jumped back and fired a ranged Leaf Blade from the other. The crustacean blasted it apart with a crossed-blade move, and swept his Shellsabers down to both sides.
The Grass-type attack hit the ground, cutting furrows in the grass, and then they lunged again.
"Hey, Sceptile? Sceptile!" Swellow called. "I just remembered what it was I came over for!"
Another quick blade-clash, and Sceptile brought his tail around. It flexed, flipping Corphish into the air, and the Grass-type came bounding forwards to exploit the moment of vulnerability.
Corphish replied with a blast of Bubblebeam, twisting in mid-air, and used his right shellsaber to push off from Sceptile's blade.
"Sceptile!" Swellow shouted, with just a hint of Boomburst.
Sceptile disengaged, and let his leaves shed their glowing coating. "Yes?"
"Ash wanted you," Swellow informed him. "And I guess Meganium – any idea where she is?"
"Why would I know where she is?" Sceptile asked.
"Because you two are friends?" Swellow replied, answering the question with a question. "Fine, never mind then, I'll look for her."
Corphish and Sceptile watched her fly off.
"Were you going to tell Swellow that I'm over here?" Meganium asked.
"Not really, no..."
"Hi, Sceptile!" Ash said, sending him out. "Sorry it's not long since the Groudon and Kyogre thing."
"That's fine," Sceptile shrugged.
He glanced over at Team Rocket. "Afternoon."
"Hi yourself," Meowth replied. "How come you ain't all over James like some Grass types are?"
"Never saw the appeal, myself," Sceptile replied. "What was it you wanted, Ash?"
"Oh, yeah," Ash said, taking the Sceptilite out. "Catch!"
Sceptile caught.
"Is this a Sceptile Mega Stone, then?" he asked, inspecting it. "I have to admit, the colour fits. Are we going to try it out?"
"Yeah," Ash confirmed. "Ready?"
"Certainly."
With a nod, Ash unlimbered his staff.
Sceptile.
Sceptile had had his ups and downs early on, especially as Treecko and Grovyle. He'd been wilful, not willing to go along with an order he didn't agree with, and independent-minded – something which had made him a handful, but also made him a much better fighter.
As time had gone on, though, he'd concluded that Ash was worthy of his trust. That was something Ash treasured – after all, it meant he'd managed to earn something that was not easy to earn.
Once earned, that loyalty was humbling. The tough Grass-type had been the one to finally defeat Tobias' Darkrai, and had fought Regirock and Deoxys for him along with being a real powerhouse throughout Hoenn and Kanto.
And, of course, there was his battles this second time around. His mastery of Sacred Sword, and his performance against Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre.
Sceptile was a strong Pokémon, and a worthy one.
"That's pretty cool," Mawile said. "He really is like that one Clair had!"
Ash opened his eyes.
Mawile was right – Mega Sceptile looked a lot like Clair's one had. But there were differences, as well – subtle things, in the way he carried himself and the position of his tail.
"Hey – can you check something?" Ash asked, remembering. "There was a thing Clair's Mega Sceptile did – when it used Leaf Storm, the tailtip fired kind of like a missile. Can you do that?"
"Let's find-" Mega Sceptile began, and then the red tailtip rocketed off and blew half the leaves off a tree.
"Whoa!" May said, taking several steps back. "Are you sure that's safe?"
"...I can see I might need some practice at this," the newly Mega Evolved Pokémon admitted.
"I think that's nearly everything tested," Mega Sceptile said, with some satisfaction. "Thanks for the practice, Lucario."
Lucario dropped his Protect shield, and nodded. "Not a problem. What's left?"
"Oh, this is something we came up with back at the ranch," Meganium told him, and glanced over at Ash. "It's not really a new trick, but it's something that could be useful."
She extended her vines, flexing them, and nodded. "Right, ready. Lucario, can you fire something that looks a lot like a dangerous Bug or Fire attack?"
Lucario's reply was to form an Aura Sphere, then spin it up further and light one of his hands on fire for a Fire Punch.
The crackling flames streamed into the Aura Sphere, slowly charging it with bright orange under the outer blue shell.
"That's impressively realistic," Mega Sceptile said evenly. "Is that actually Fire-type?"
"A bit," Lucario replied, finishing the process – resulting in a two-layered ball, orange contained within fainter blue.
Then he wound up and threw it at Mega Sceptile.
Meganium's vines wrapped around Mega Sceptile's shoulders, and she yanked him back and to one side – well out of the way of the attack, letting it burst harmlessly on the ground.
"There," she said, slackening the vines and uncoiling them. "Phew, you're a bit heavier like this."
"I don't feel heavier," Mega Sceptile said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and waving his tail. "Are you sure?"
"There's not much, but it's there," Meganium replied. "Must be the extra tail length and all those spiky bits… whatever they're for."
"I think they're supposed to be aerodynamic… that makes sense, right?" Mega Sceptile asked.
"I don't think that's how aerodynamics works," Lucario shrugged. "But maybe, I don't know – I mean, you're a dragon now, who knows how they work."
Meganium frowned. "Oh, that's right – that means Fairy type attacks and especially Ice type attacks are something to watch out for. But – do you know any good Dragon type attacks to use your new Type?"
There was a pause.
"...no, actually," Mega Sceptile said, shaking his head. "No, I do not."
"What about Steel moves?" Ash asked. "And you can probably transform back now, Sceptile, so take a rest."
The Grass-type did so, exhaling slowly, and his transformation reversed itself.
Meganium caught the Sceptilite as it dropped out, and passed it to him. "You should probably get a band to keep this on."
"I'll ask May if she's got something," Ash decided. "But I think it might be a good idea for Sceptile to brush up on Iron Tail – that or one of you gets a good Poison move. Since you have to watch out for Fairy types now, it sounds like it's just the sensible thing to do."
"Can't I just knock them out with my new power before they get a chance to use a move?" Sceptile asked. "It's not like there'll be a Pokémon that powerful in this gym battle."
"...you know this is a gym leader battle, right?" Meganium asked. "And that Ash's reputation has preceded him? I wouldn't be surprised if they prepared something specially."
"Fine," Sceptile sighed. "If you say so."
He nodded to Lucario. "Let's-"
Pikachu jumped in front of him, interrupting the Grass-type. "Actually, I'll be teaching you."
Sceptile looked blank. "Why?"
"Because Lucario's a Steel type," Pikachu pointed out. "He didn't need to learn Steel conversion – I did." Demonstrating, Pikachu switched his tail to Iron Tail and swished it back and forth a few times. "So come on, let's get this learned before dinner!"
"Are you sure there's time?" Sceptile asked.
"Yeah, it's already four PM," Ash added, checking Dexter. "So there's only an hour or two – Brock's already setting up his grill, and I'm pretty sure Audino's recruiting Mawile to help him out."
"He'll finish it before dinner," Pikachu said firmly. "If that means delaying his dinner, then that's what we'll do. Come on!"
Sceptile took a step back. "Wait, I never agreed to that."
"So?" Pikachu shrugged. "We're burning daylight, let's do this!"
"You'd better go," Meganium said, smiling. "I'll save you a plate."
"Traitor," Sceptile muttered, following his yellow drill sergeant.
"Here you go!" Mawile said, standing on tiptoe and sliding a box of cooking supplies onto the bench.
She turned around, leaning forwards, and her jaw put three fresh onions on top of the box.
"Thank you," Audino smiled. "And thank you as well, Goodra – just put it over there, please."
"Why do I have to carry more than anyone else?" Goodra asked, hefting an entire portable grill into the cleared space.
"Because you're a big strong dragon!" Mawile replied. "Besides, Mister Abra is helping too!"
Abra yawned, teleporting in five hundred berries and some pastry, and fell asleep.
"Psychic powers are sort of cheating," Goodra grumbled.
Mawile giggled. "Don't be such a sourpuss!" she said, and Goodra smiled back at her.
"So, what are you doing first?" she added, looking up at Audino. "Are you going to Mega Evolve, to become an even better cook?"
"I could," Audino agreed. "Meowth – can you ask Jessie to Mega Evolve me?"
"Got it," Meowth said, dropping out of the trees.
Mawile jumped. "Was he here all that time?"
"I think he was planning on taking one of the pies," Audino said darkly, adjusting his Audinite.
A moment later, it began to glow.
"Wow..." Mawile said, watching as Audino transformed. "You've got a cool transformation sequence!"
She glanced over at Goodra. "Hey, think we can do one of those next time I get a Mawilite?"
"It could be fun," Goodra mused. "What would I be?"
"The fun mascot who tells the heroine about her destiny!" Mawile said, patting him on the leg. "You're perfect!"
"He's a bit big, isn't he?" Mega Audino asked, using the immense power of Mega Evolution to chop potatoes with his knife. "I mean, he's big enough to carry you on his shoulders."
"That's the best kind of mascot!" Mawile explained. "It's a pity there isn't a Goodraite, though… there's not, right? That would be cool!"
"Okay, so this is Fullmoon island," Todd mused, shading his eyes and looking up at the mountain forming the peak. "I'm pretty glad we're coming here now, this would be pretty horrible in winter..."
Sneasel waved a paw.
"Oh, sure, you'd be fine," Todd said, shaking his head.
The mustelid Ice-type nodded, a faint smirk on her muzzle, then looked inland.
She got out the map, and tapped a point with her foreclaw.
"Yeah, that's where the lake is supposed to be," Todd agreed, and glanced up at the position of the sun. "But I don't really want to go up there without our guide – I think Cresselia might take it wrongly otherwise."
Sneasel thought about that, then nodded. She folded the map again, and clambered up Todd's leg to stow it in his bag. Not stopping there, she scaled his back and sat on top of his bag with a chirp.
"See anything?" Todd asked, reaching back to give her a rub and a scratch.
The Dark-type shook her head, leaning into the scratch, then stilled and pushed his hand away.
Planting one foot on his neck, she got a bit more height, then unzipped Todd's bag with a toe and retrieved her camera.
"Can I turn?" Todd asked, standing still to provide her a stable platform. At a 'nease!' of approval, he turned to look out to sea to see.
It took him a few seconds to see it, though Sneasel had no such problems – the camera's whirr sounded three times before he finally saw what was on the way. "Oh, well done! Can you do the standard set?"
Sneasel smiled, adjusting the camera to reduce the zoom and took another photo. She took a moment out of her time to pass Todd his own camera, then returned to taking a sequence covering the whole time from appearance to shore.
Todd did something slightly different, trusting Sneasel to get a good sequence of regular photos. He tuned the zoom so it showed a wider field of view, then deliberately put the incoming Pokémon out of focus.
Sea, sky, spray and Suicune all blurred together as he took the photo, and only a few seconds later the shiny Legendary came splashing through the surf and padded slowly to a halt on the beach.
"Thanks for coming," Todd said, smiling.
Suicune nodded, and spoke.
"...no, I'm afraid I can't understand you," Todd apologized.
The Shiny stopped, then laughed, shaking her head.
"Sne..." Sneasel chirped. "-easel?"
Suicune nodded, and padded past them before glancing back and gesturing with a paw.
"Right," Todd agreed. "Thanks again for this – Molly said you didn't mind, but it's still great of you to come all this way."
Suicune indicated his camera, and Todd chuckled. "Certainly, I'll send some of the best pictures. There's one I got of you coming in, and-"
Sneasel showed him the back of her camera, one of the pictures she'd taken on screen.
"Great work!" Todd praised, taking it and showing Suicune. "She got one of you bursting through that wave right at the end!"
Molly's friend nodded enthusiastically, then indicated the trail again.
"Right," Todd agreed. "We'd better make sure we actually get to Cresselia in time to talk to her."
The sand crunched under their feet, and then Todd raised his voice again. "Do you think she'll be okay with it?"
Suicune shrugged, waving a paw back and forth.
Sneasel glanced at her trainers' face, and Todd chuckled. "That one was obvious."
"...so, what actually did happen in Hoenn?" Karen asked, rummaging through the movie cases. "Lance told us the short version, but… well, you were there."
"It's… kind of hard to summarize," Misty said, then ducked as Togekiss drifted overhead and perched on the hammock they'd set up. "I mean, I was in Team Aqua for months, so there's that..."
"No, not that bit," Karen clarified. "Unless there was something with a Legendary then as well?"
"There was a Moltres," Misty told her. "I wasn't on the Groudon capture team, though, so Moltres was the only Legendary I really ran into…"
Karen gave her a look. "You're desensitized."
"What?" Misty asked. "You battled Legendaries too."
"Yeah, and it was hard to find them!" Karen replied. "But for you, Legendaries are just… a thing that happens."
"Well, Ash did use about three different Legendary Pokémon in his gym battles in Johto," Misty shrugged. "Maybe you're right, maybe I am a bit used to meeting them..."
Karen snorted.
"Okay, a lot," Misty amended. "But you were really asking about the big battle against Groudon and Kyogre, right?"
"Yeah," Karen agreed. "This one?"
Misty nodded. "Yeah, an action movie would be good."
Karen put the disk into her media system, and sat back on one of the bean bags. Absol came padding over and licked her hand – blade carefully averted from the beanbag and Karen's skin – and the Dark-type Elite Four member smiled down at one of her strongest Pokémon. "By the sounds of things you were living an action movie."
"Well, there was a volcanic eruption, so yeah," Misty agreed. "But the important bits are… yes, there was a Mega Evolution thing happening to Groudon and Kyogre – it was called Primal Reversion. Yes, they were so strong that the only Pokémon I saw managing to fight them without being Legendaries or Mega-Evolved were..."
She counted on her hand. "Lance's Salamence, Lance's Dragonite, Ash's Pikachu and Ash's Sceptile… and I think Charizard and Lucario were there too. And all of them are powerful."
"Who was Mega Evolved, then?" Karen asked.
"Well, the one you'd probably be most interested in is Absol," Misty informed her. "Mega Absol – I only saw her for a moment, but she was pretty cool. She was actually flying on the air upcurrents around Primal Groudon."
Absol barked.
"Yeah, we need one of those!" Karen agreed, laughing.
A very loud advert for 'Fossil Safari' interrupted the conversation, and Karen held up the remote for Absol.
Misty watched, interested, as the Dark-type hammered the skip button about eight times in two seconds. "What-"
Absol's gaze went to the screen, and then she nodded in satisfaction.
"Oh, cool," Misty chuckled, as the main film titles started. "I guess going too far is a kind of disaster?"
"A really small one, but it counts," Karen agreed. "Okay, here we go… want some popcorn?"
Lucario jumped backwards, spinning with balletic precision on his right foot, and lashed out with a Flash Cannon.
Garchomp dodged, blades flashing as she turned the movement into a spin, and the Steel-type backflipped away from a Dual Chop attack before skidding to a halt again.
Both were already preparing their next attacks, and a Dragon Pulse roared out from Lucario's palm before being knocked aside by a blaze of energy from the Dragon-type.
Garchomp engulfed her form in glowing violet-yellow energy, powering up a Giga Impact, and there was a knock on the door.
Both Pokémon dropped out of combat stance instantly.
"It's open," Lucario called, bowing to Garchomp. He raised himself onto his toes, palms down, and took a deep breath before letting it flow slowly and steadily out.
"I'm still finding that to be very useful," Cynthia said, shutting the door behind her with a click. "It's so useful that we can talk properly to one another – and, through you, all my other Pokémon."
Garchomp waved. "Did you find anything?"
"Both Garchomp and I would like to know if everything went well," Lucario summarized. "Any problems?"
"Well, a couple of idiots tried to mug me," Cynthia replied, sitting down on one of the benches lining the walls of the salle. "Spiritomb told them off."
"Ouch," Lucario said. "I hope they weren't hurt."
"Not permanently," Cynthia waved off. "He did carry them halfway across the city, but only because that was the main police station."
Garchomp chuckled. "I'm not sure, but I think if I was there I might have tried to cut their trousers down."
Lucario explained, and Cynthia nodded. "Thanks."
She leaned back against the wall. "This is such a great thing to be able to do… I think it's kind of a revolution we're in the middle of watching, this explosion of Pokémon and human cooperation."
"I think you're very right," Lucario agreed. "It's all those things in a short space of time – those films by Cleavon, then the interview with the current Johto Champion..."
"...and the book by Mewtwo on top of that," Cynthia smiled. "That was very informative – it's good to get a perspective like that, and it's got people talking."
She shrugged. "But I think the bit with Ash Ketchum was the most important one, really. Because he can understand Pokémon, and because he can use Aura well enough it helps remind people that Pokémon are… a lot like them, really."
The tough Sinnoh Grand Champion snapped her fingers. "Oh, I was going to mention – Lance told us about what happened down in Hoenn, he was there."
Lucario sat next to her. "Oh?"
Smiling, Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Yes, 'oh', Lucario. You don't need to pretend you're not interested. Anyway, apparently it was Ash Ketchum being there which helped."
"He does seem to get around," Lucario mused. "Well, I suppose he has good taste in Pokémon."
"He does?" Garchomp said, tilting her head. "I didn't know he has a Garchomp."
"He doesn't," Lucario told her.
Cynthia chuckled. "Yeah, I get the idea. Anyway, he told us about all this… and reminded me that the tip-off is that Cyrus is worse."
Lucario glanced at his trainer. "No news of him? I assume you would have told us if there was."
"It's like he's a ghost or something," Cynthia sighed. "Nobody's found more than a few vague hints of where or what he's doing – it took a lot of effort to confirm he existed at all, but I'm pretty sure by now."
She shook her head. "But that's all stuff we've talked about before."
Reaching across, she rubbed Lucario's shoulder. "And – I'm sorry I turned out to be no good at the Aura stuff."
"You spent weeks with us on Iron Island trying to learn," Lucario assured her. "That's enough effort that you don't need to be sorry at all, Cynthia."
"Thanks," the Grand Champion said, smiling.
After a few seconds, she looked towards one wall – south.
"I'm almost afraid what's going to happen if Ash Ketchum comes to Sinnoh," she admitted. "He's met almost every Legendary he's come close to so far, and Sinnoh is supposed to be the land of the Hall of Origin… not to mention that we'll have to come up with a good challenge."
Garchomp huffed.
"Don't worry, I'm confident you can give him a good battle," she added, smiling up at Garchomp.
"Good," the Dragon-type said, satisfied.
"That dinner was amazing," May said, lying back against Altaria's fluff with a sigh. The Humming Pokémon leaned his head down, and she scratched it with her free hand. "We should make Brock and Audino have cooking battles more often..."
"I think we'd explode," Max groaned.
Cinder muttered agreement, tail wagging weakly, and Casper sniggered.
"Hey, Max?" Ash said, helping Brock package up the leftovers. "Do you think you're ready for having your gym battle tomorrow?"
"Uh… not sure," Max admitted. "Guys?"
"...I think we could," Cinder said, glancing at Casper. "I mean, we're a lot better now, I'm just not certain we're enough better."
She shrugged. "What do you think?"
"I think..." Casper did a miniature loop-the-loop. "Yeah, so long as I don't get trodden on too much."
"No promises," Cinder replied, flashing a smirk.
"I think that looks like we're ready," Max summarized. "Well, ready enough."
"Do you want to go first?" Ash asked. "I think I'm okay with either."
"I think… yeah, going first sound okay?" Max checked.
Cinder nodded, then closed her eyes. "Just so long as it's the afternoon… I'm going to be sleeping this off for a while."
"Silly corporeal Pokémon," Casper said, spinning like a top. "I don't get full!"
"Want me to try and kill a berry for you?" the Dark-type asked, not opening her eyes. "I'm pretty sure I've heard of people murdering a milkshake."
There was a crackling BANG from some distance away.
"I wonder if that means Sceptile's worked out Iron Tail," Brock said. "Ninetales, you're okay to warm up their food if it's too cold, right?"
The elegant Fire-type nodded.
Weekly Power Status
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