Chapter 83: 53,54
"Okay, ready?" Ash asked.
Sceptile blinked owlishly, then yawned and pushed himself up from the ground. "Pikachu hates sleep."
"I actually quite like it," the Electric Mouse demurred, clambering up Ash's clothes to rest on his shoulder. "I just think that it needs to be earned."
"How late did you finish training?" Ash asked, glancing at his starter.
"Uh… sometime around midnight, I think," Pikachu said. He glanced over at Ninetales, who was still asleep – until Brock shook her to wake her up as they prepared to break camp. "He did get his food, though – and he got Iron Tail working, too."
"I guess that's good news," Ash agreed. "Sceptile? Do you want to wait a bit longer before it's time for your turn?"
"I'd like to," Sceptile said, letting out a big yawn and shaking his head. "Can I get some breakfast first?"
"I'll handle that," Meganium volunteered. "How does a croissant sound? I know where Brock keeps them."
Sceptile nodded, yawning again.
"We'll be along later," the Grass-type told her trainer.
"Sure," Ash agreed. "Uh – I'll get Latios to come and get you when we're ready, is that okay?"
"That sounds ideal," Meganium confirmed.
"I guess that means I'm going first, then?" Max asked.
"Yeah, looks like," Ash agreed. "Ready?"
Max thought about it, reaching down to give Cinder a stroke. He glanced at Casper, who nodded firmly, then back to Ash. "Yeah, I think we are."
"That's the spirit!" the older trainer said. "Okay, uh..."
Dexter let out an electronic sigh. Take the first path to your right, and go one mile. Then turn left…
Max reached up to knock on the door of the gym, and it opened.
"Hello!" the twins chorused. "It's good to see/you again, Max!"
"Hi," Max said, confused for a moment. "How did you do that?"
"Natu told us/you were coming," they explained.
"Natu saw the future, right," Max agreed.
"Actually..." Liza began, chuckling.
"..he was looking out the window," Tate finished.
The friends looked, and a little green Flying-type waved a wing at them through the gym window.
"That's somehow a lot less complicated," Max said. "I'm not sure if I should feel let down..."
"Don't be," Tate said, standing back with his sister to let them in. "After all-"
"-it's time for your gym battle!" Liza concluded.
"Yeah," Max agreed. "I guess so – I hope it goes better than last time."
"I'm sure it will," May assured him. "You, Cinder and Casper have put in a lot of work."
"Thanks," Max smiled.
May kept talking. "Of course, it'd be pretty hard for it to be worse..."
"...okay, now I'd like to retract that thanks..."
"Right, here we go!" Max said. "Cinder, Casper – you know what to do!"
"But which one of us is in charge?" Casper asked.
"You are," Max decided. "I'll shout if I see anything, but you've got a better perspective than Cinder does. Just pay attention to her."
"I hope this works," the Mightyena muttered.
Liza and Tate exchanged a glance, then sent out their Solrock and Lunatone.
"Ready?" the girl asked.
"Begin!" her twin said.
"Okay – Cinder, same plan as we did with Swablu!" Casper called, spinning up a Shadow Ball. He fired it, aiming for Solrock, and winced as the Rock-type easily floated away from the attack. "Uh… low for now!"
Lunatone charged up a Moonblast, pink energy flickering across its form, and fired it at the racing Cinder. She glanced up, jinked to one side, and kicked off the wall to change direction – letting the attack hit the ground to her left and fizzle.
"Great work!" Max called.
Solrock's eight points began to glow a faint green, and thin Solarbeams came lancing out from them. They hit in front of Cinder as she loped across the arena, forming a close-knit fence, and she slowed slightly to take it in.
A grin spread across her muzzle, and she sped up again – heading for the widest gap, one just a little wider than it would take to let her squeeze through.
"Left!" Casper called urgently.
Cinder was startled, but complied – dodging to one side. She winced as two of the eight small Solarbeams connected, but any complaint she had died in her throat as a Moonblast hit right in the gap she'd been aiming for.
"Sneaky..." the Dark-type admitted, as Solrock ended its fence of light. "That was planned!"
"It sure was," Casper nodded. "Okay, Lunatone's low – go for it!"
Crouching, Cinder bunched up her muscles underneath her and kicked off. She rose quickly into the air, aiming for the Rock-type, but it rose too fast and her jaws clashed on empty air.
Solrock spun in with a Rapid Spin to hit her before she reached the ground again, and then Casper's Shadow Ball hit Cinder on the tail-tip – making her sting, but also driving the Psychic-type off before it could reach her.
Twisting herself so she could land on her forepaws instead of her shoulder, Cinder growled. "What was that for?"
"It stopped Solrock from getting you," Casper replied. "Keep moving!"
Muttering something, the Dark-type swung back into motion.
"Rock overhead!" Casper added, and Cinder glanced up for just long enough to fix its position before using an Iron Tail to slam the rock back up at the Lunatone which had fired it.
There was a crackle as the rock burst on a psychic shield, and Cinder allowed herself a grin.
This was going to be such a surprise for them… she could even see why Casper enjoyed playing pranks.
Kind of.
She'd still Bite him if he did anything like the peanut butter again, though.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Meganium asked, passing a second buttered pastry to her fellow Grass-type. "You know, the teamwork thing… do we just make it up as we go along?"
"Mostly," Sceptile agreed, checking the new Sceptilite holder about halfway up his tail – where he could just about reach it if he twisted his tail around. "I mean, we've got a set of tricks, but we don't even know what we're going to be fighting so building a complete strategy is going to be difficult."
He thought, then spread one clawed hand. "Well, I've got my X-Scissor and my Night Slash, which will help..."
Meganium smiled as Sceptile polished off the croissant. "And my role?"
"Mostly keeping them busy," he said, swallowing, and shrugged. "I know you can handle yourself, so I'll be free to concentrate on one of them."
"Just don't get yourself in too deep," she warned. "I can heal you, but not from too far away – and I think you'd be disqualified if you were knocked out, so I can't heal you from that."
Picking up the plate and butter knife, Meganium packed them away. "Feel better?"
"Yes," Sceptile agreed firmly. "Now, let's go get ready for our battle… hold on, I'll check which way it is."
Meganium squinted against the rush of wind as Sceptile jumped to a nearby tree, then clambered up it in a few quick seconds. "Show-off..."
"Try the left!" Max called, and Cinder swerved – then jinked right again, spotting the incoming attack from Lunatone.
Solrock tried to capitalize on the dodge with a Fire attack, sending droplets of flame raining down all over one half of the arena, and Cinder sped up to dodge between the droplets of the Fire Spin before they could link up and form a wall blocking her way.
Rolling through the final line of flame, she patted out one of the patches smouldering on her fur and bared her teeth at the nearest Psychic-type.
"Why don't you just come down here and fight properly?" she asked, before jumping aside from a Moonblast.
Glancing up at Casper, she jerked her head across towards Lunatone. "Well? Shadow Ball him already!"
A cloud of shadow built on Casper's horn, then went unfired as he dove away from a Psychic from Solrock.
Cinder saw her chance, and pounced.
Her muscles bunched, and she kicked off with an almighty shout – aiming straight for Lunatone, still low down to try another Moonblast.
The Rock-type rose quickly, avoiding her attack, and she reached the apex some way short of her target.
Then Casper skidded into place, and winced. "This is going to suck!"
"About time!" Cinder barked, and her forepaws came down on the back of his head.
As everyone watched, Cinder brought her hindpaws up to meet her forepaws. They bunched, and she pushed off from the Ghost-type at full force – jumping in mid-air, and aiming directly for the surprised Solrock instead of Lunatone.
The recoil from her kick sent Casper into the ground, and he sank in before popping up again, eyes spinning. "That was unpleasant..."
While he was doing that, though, Cinder grabbed on to Solrock with both paws. She used Bite to get a better grip, holding on as the Rock-type tried to throw her off, and rammed an Iron Tail into its side.
"Great work!" Max called, then blinked. "Uh – look out!"
"Yah!" Casper called, firing a Shadow Ball at Lunatone, and the floating moon-rock aborted his attack to dodge before turning to fire back at the Shuppet.
"Wait..." Max frowned, watching intently. "He couldn't see that, and nor could Solrock. So how did he know where to dodge?"
"Who mrrf," Cinder mumbled, Biting again. She twisted, getting a better grip, then reared back – using all four paws to cling on – and used Crunch.
That finally seemed to overcome the ability Solrock had to resist damage, and it went inert before dropping like a Rock.
"Ow," Tate complained.
Cinder waited until the last moment before jumping free, pushing down to make certain that the Solrock would hit the ground, and landed with a skid and a grin. "One down, now let's get that other one!"
"Maybe we should have gone for the one that can use Moonblast first?" Casper suggested.
"Good point," Cinder agreed. "Run!"
She jumped away as a Fairy-type attack hit the ground where she'd been standing, and glanced back at Casper. "Okay, what now? You're the expert!"
"...yeah, give me a moment," Casper said, frowning.
"Casper – use Shadow Ball just above Lunatone!" Max ordered. "And make it a big one!"
"Got it!" Casper called out, charging the attack on the tip of his horn.
Lunatone rounded on him, and Casper used the simple expedient of dropping back into the floor – away from anywhere he could be attacked.
"You're not allowed to do that forever/you know," the twins said.
"That's the first thing you've said all battle," May observed, then blinked. "Wait – are you giving Solrock and Lunatone orders telepathically?"
"Well spotted," Liza nodded. "Of course-"
"-I can't really give Solrock orders, now," Tate concluded.
Casper phased through the wall of the gym, took a moment to orient himself, and fired a Shadow Ball at Lunatone – who dodged, warned by his trainer.
"I know!" Max said. "Casper, back in the wall – and Cinder, come around to near me!"
Both complied, and Casper winked at his trainer before vanishing into the wall.
Lunatone began to build up another Moonblast on his horn, lowering himself just slightly – but staying above jump range.
Then Casper appeared out of the wall – above Liza and Tate, somewhere they couldn't see and somewhere Lunatone wasn't looking.
"Jump!" Max called.
Cinder kicked off from the ground, jaws opening and ready to Bite.
Lunatone took a moment longer to line up its Moonblast, ready to hit Cinder before she reached it, and then a Shadow Ball cracked across the gym from Casper. It hit the Rock-type in the back, knocking it to one side, and the Moonblast splashed off the floor.
Cinder lashed out with a forepaw as she hit the apex of her jump, managing to snag Lunatone on the lower arc of its curve and set it spinning. She landed back on the floor with a grunt, then bunched herself to jump again.
"Okay, we give!" the twins called, in unison.
"You did well, Max," Liza added. "Your teamwork-"
"-and both your Pokemon, are better," Tate said. "It's pretty clear by now that-"
"-you're going to win, but it'd take too long to finish-"
"-the battle."
"Do you guys have to do that?" May asked, head going back and forth. "I'm getting confused..."
Liza returned Lunatone, and shrugged. "It's how we are," the twins said in unison.
Tate took a Badge, and put it on his palm. He concentrated, and it floated slowly across the room.
"Cool..." Max said, watching it. "How long did it take to learn how to do that?"
"A while," Tate admitted. "But it helps-"
"-when I help!" Liza finished. She snapped her fingers, and Max caught the Mind badge before it hit the floor.
"Hey, I guess it worked," Casper said, floating back down. "We make a good team!"
"I suppose we do," Cinder agreed.
"Does this mean we can do some team building exercises?"
"Don't push it."
Brock chuckled.
"I guess it's my turn now?" Ash asked. "Uh… it might be a while until my Pokemon get here, is that okay?"
"Do you have… any threes?" Liza asked.
May handed over some cards, grumbling.
"Any… fives?" Tate went on.
"Okay, this feels like you're cheating," May said, giving up more cards. "Wait. You are, aren't you?"
"There's no rule against/telepathy," the twins said cheekily.
"...fine, you win," the Coordinator muttered. "I wasn't trying anyway..."
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!" Liza called.
The handle squeaked, and Latios came floating in. Sorry about the delay, he sent, throwing two Pokeballs over to Ash. They'd left the camp, so it took a while to find them.
"Thanks, Latios," Ash smiled. "Okay – I'm ready!"
"Right!" Tate said, putting his cards down. A telekinetic Kadabra moved the table back out of the middle of the room, and he took his place next to Liza for the battle. "This will have-"
"-the same rules as Max's battle!" Liza took over.
"So… two Pokemon, first to run out," Ash summarized.
"Right!" the twins said, now in unison. "But we'll use much stronger Pokemon to beat you, Ash!"
Each twin took a Pokeball from their belt, and expanded it out. "Ready? Go!"
Ash threw both of his Pokeballs in quick succession, sending Sceptile and Meganium flashing into existence on the battlefield.
As the Grass-types formed, Liza and Tate sent out their own Pokemon – a matched pair, one Gardevoir and one Gallade, and both wearing medallions around their necks.
"Wait..." Max said, blinking. "Is that a Mega Stone?"
"Which one?" May asked.
"Both of them!"
"That's right!" Liza agreed with a wink. "Gardevoir-"
"-and Gallade-"
"-both have Mega Stones!" they finished, producing a Key Stone with a flourish.
"Huh," Ash said, unlimbering his staff. "Sorry, Meganium, I guess you're the only one who isn't going to be a Mega."
"Despite the name," Pikachu added.
The female Grass-type sighed, shaking her head as Sceptile, Gardevoir and Gallade were all engulfed in light.
The transformation finished for Mega Gardevoir first, and she did a twirl. Everything but her hair and horns had gone white, and her gown had grown longer and more expansive.
More minor but still noticeable changes included her hair, which was more tightly curled, and her face-spikes, which were longer. But perhaps the most unusual bit was her chest-horn – which had split in half, producing a faintly visible aura of power.
When Gallade finished Mega-evolving a moment later, there were some faint similarities visible – chiefly in a cape which had grown to cover most of his back, fluttering in the slightest wind. That combined with the red protrusions on his arms and the crest on his head to form the appearance of a knight, and he stood slightly in front of his fellow Mega.
"Uh… this isn't going to break my streak of keeping gyms intact, right?" Ash asked. "Because I'm up to six, now, and I was hoping to manage all of Hoenn."
Liza and Tate exchanged a look.
"...we'll go and use the outside battlefield," Tate said.
A few minutes later, the spectators (human and Pokemon) were sat neatly on benches around the stadium rectangle and the combatants were ready to start.
"Right!" Tate said. "Three, two-"
"-one, go!" Liza finished.
"Petal Blizzard!" Meganium called, conjuring an instant storm of pink cherry-blossom and sending it cascading forwards.
Mega Gallade jumped backwards, doing an elegant backflip, and landed behind Mega Gardevoir – who spread her hands, producing a shield of hardened air which shimmered like opals.
Mega Sceptile lunged forwards as soon as he saw the shield, blades flashing out and taking on a night-black glow. "Night Slash!"
The Psychic-type added a flicker of blue and pink sparkles to her shield, which slowed down the pair of Dark-type blades, and by the time they'd carved through her shield she had teleported out of the line of attack – leaving Mega Gallade to fight Mega Sceptile instead.
Petals whipped past them, only mildly inconveniencing Mega Sceptile but making Mega Gallade divert some of his focus, and both blade-users began a two-handed fencing clash.
The Night Slash struck a Psycho Cut, making it disintegrate and revealing Mega Gallade's bladelike arm – scoring a shallow hit – but the next blow instead belled as Mega Gallade switched to something more like a Brick Break, overwhelming the Night Slash and sending Mega Sceptile skidding backwards.
Using one foot as a pivot, Mega Sceptile spun around – firing a Leaf Storm to his side as he went, throwing off an attempted Psychic by Mega Gardevoir and making her switch to defence – then turned the spin into momentum to fire off a pair of Leaf Blades at the startled Fighting-type.
Meganium stopped using Petal Blizzard, watched the battle for a moment, and fired a Seed Bomb. She could tell that her teammate was concentrating mainly on the Mega Gallade, so the best way she could help would be to keep Mega Gardevoir busy and stop her from interfering.
I could use some help here, Mega Gallade sent, eyes glowing a faint green as he used Detect. He switched the psychic energy on one arm to a shield, which let him push the Grass-type away, but that lasted only a second or so before it was hit with another Night Slash worked into the whirlwind of attacks coming his way.
I can't concentrate long enough to hit him with a Psychic! his sister replied, annoyance colouring her mental tone. You try shielding against a Leaf Storm like this!
No need to be snippy! Mega Gallade sent back. Perhaps if you-
New plan, his trainer told him, transmitting a concentrated stream of thought through their mental link. Mega Gardevoir, teleport into the air – the height should give you setup time. Mega Gallade, let Mega Sceptile think he's pushing you back!
Right, Mega Gallade agreed.
Now! Liza told him, handling the coordination side of things.
There was a flicker of movement over Mega Gardevoir's side of the link, and Mega Gallade lessened his grip on the ground enough that Mega Sceptile managed to push him back two steps – then knock him away hard enough that he skidded to a halt twenty feet away.
Just a bit more… he heard/felt Mega Gardevoir say, and a flicker overhead indicated she was charging an attack. Wait – whoaah-
Mega Gallade relaxed a little of his focus on his battle, enough to see what his trainer was seeing – then blanched.
He tensed, ready to dive to the side, but then Mega Gardevoir smacked into him at high speed.
Meganium released her vines, snatching them back out of the way, and Mega Sceptile launched a tail-missile Leaf Storm at him.
Then a Solarbeam arrived too.
"Did that work?" Brock asked. "It looked pretty good..."
"No, they're still up," Ash replied, and a moment later a swirl of psychic energy sent the dust flashing outwards – revealing both the Embrace Pokemon and the Blade Pokemon, now safely inside a thick dome of psionic energy. "But that was a great trick, you two!"
"Thanks," Meganium replied.
There was a tense moment, then Mega Gallade stepped forwards – blocking the way to his counterpart, who began charging an attack.
Mega Gardevoir's palms tingled as she pulled her attack together.
I'm going to fire a Psybeam into your next battle, she sent to her brother. I'll only be able to give you a little warning, so don't be surprised.
Do you have to? Mega Gallade asked, then grunted as he formed both psy-blades and blocked a Leaf Blade with an X-shaped blade cross.
Adjusting his weight, he shifted to one side – sending the Leaf Blade to his left, wrenching Mega Sceptile so his follow-up went just wide.
Mega Gardevoir projected out a psionic shield with some of her spare concentration, knocking away a Petal Dance from Meganium. Ready to fire!
Just give me a moment! Mega Gallade sent back.
Meganium's getting something ready, Liza supplied. Try to fire – now!
Mega Gardevoir fired her Psybeam forwards in a torrent of psionic energy. Her gown swirled, and Mega Gallade winced as the blast whipped at his cape and splashed off his quick Light Screen.
Mega Sceptile brought one Night Slash up, alleviating the impact of the attack, and then a pair of vines snagged his shoulders and yanked him out of the way before too much of the Psybeam got past his quick defence.
That Meganium is getting annoying, Mega Gallade sent, muscles clenching. Port us, sis – let's get at her first.
Mega Gardevoir considered that, and agreed with the strategy. She concentrated, preparing for a battle teleportation, and stepped forwards to bring Mega Gallade into the radius of effect.
There was a blur of pseudomotion as they jumped across forty feet of space in the blink of an eye, and then Mega Gallade was lashing out with both his blades of force towards the unsuspecting Meganium.
Look out! Tate sent urgently. Vine Whip!
Huh? Mega Gardevoir deepened her shield, drawing more strongly on her well of psychic power, then realized what Tate meant.
Mega Sceptile had still been in motion when they'd teleported, and she'd dropped her brother in right next to where Mega Sceptile was about to end up.
There was a wham as Mega Sceptile hit Mega Gallade hard enough to drive him to his knees, doing a forwards roll which brought his thick tail down like a hammer and decisively protecting his teammate.
Forget finding the best moment for this! Mega Gallade sent, and Mega Gardevoir could feel his frustration as Tate and Liza relayed the news that Meganium was getting clear again.
He rotated his waist, using one arm as a shield to hold off Mega Sceptile, and his other one snapped out and flashed into flame.
The modified Fire Punch roared as he swung it around, trailing orange-red trickles of incandescence and smacking square into Mega Sceptile.
Where it did much less damage than it should have done.
What? Mega Gallade asked, taken aback. Sis, did you see-
No, what-
The Fire Punch! Mega Gallade explained. It seemed to hurt less than the Psycho Cut did!
There was a transcendent moment as all four participants – Tate, Liza, Mega Gallade and Mega Gardevoir – thought along the exact same lines. There was some faint cross-bleed from where Mega Gallade and Mega Sceptile were fencing back and forth, but everything else was gestalt.
Mega Evolution. Resistance or Ability?
Assume Resistance. Type substitution unlikely.
He doesn't look like a Fire-type, but could be… but Rock and Water are right out.
Dragon?
That would/seems likely.
What if it was an ability? Heatproof or Thick Fat.
Try Moonblast.
The fusion fell apart, and Mega Gardevoir took a sweeping step back to prepare a Moonblast.
Pink and blue light swirled together, forming a ball of sparkles in her hands, and she fired-
"Iron Tail!" Ash called out, and Mega Sceptile spun on one heel to smack the Fairy-type attack to pieces with a steely tailtip.
The motion also drove Mega Gallade backwards, but the siblings felt a shared triumph.
Okay, sis, show him what you can really do, Mega Gallade sent, moving back and keeping an eye on both enemy Grass-types. I'll keep you out of trouble.
Got it, Mega Gardevoir took a deep breath, energy fizzing and coiling in her lungs, and then shouted it out past Mega Gallade's shoulder in an expanding planar wave of pink energy.
Meganium sent her vines lashing out and snagged Mega Sceptile out of the line of fire, meaning that he only took a glancing blow down his side – but thesize of the explosion that happened proved that the team guess about his typing was right.
Know any Ice moves? Mega Gardevoir asked, as Meganium healed up their opponent.
Not really, Mega Gallade replied. Never bothered to learn. You?
Icy Wind, that's about it.
Right! Tate sent. You know what to do.
Yeah – aim for Meganium's left, neither of them are looking that way, Liza informed them.
Another flicker, and both vanished in a teleport.
Mega Sceptile swung his tail to one side, firing the Leaf Storm on his tailtip, and managed to catch Mega Gallade before he completed his Psycho Cut.
A blast of petals swept down on Mega Gardevoir, who then blew them away with a blast of Icy Wind which hit both Grass-types – making Mega Sceptile grimace as his tail iced up, and frosting up the right side of Meganium's petal.
"This isn't very… yah!" Mega Sceptile shouted, Sacred Sword blazing as he smashed it into a flaming Gallade-blade aimed for his teammate.
"Got any ideas?" Meganium asked, risking a moment of healing by breathing Aromatherapy over Mega Sceptile's frozen tail. "We're not doing enough damage, and they keep teleporting!"
Her vine snagged Mega Gardevoir as she spoke, but it took the Fairy-type only a second to blink out of the middle of the vine -leaving it loose on the floor before she quickly pulled it in again.
"I have something," Mega Sceptile replied, letting his blades both blaze up. "Let's just see if it works… Petal Dance now, as thick as you can!"
Meganium obeyed without hesitation, forming a swirling cloud of pink petals which hid them both completely from view.
"They'll know roughly where we are..." she warned, her petal glowing faintly as she sustained the storm of petals. "And I can't keep this up long."
Mega Sceptile nodded, adjusting his twig, then sent a Leaf Blade swiping out into the storm.
Turning to face Meganium, he fired the second blade in the opposite direction entirely – whipping out over her back, barely missing grazing her.
"Hey!" Meganium complained.
Mega Sceptile smirked, then spun around again and spat out his green-glowing twig.
He heard Mega Gallade shout in surprise as the twig punched through his weakened Light Screen. It exploded into a maze of reaching roots as the Leech Seed went off, and Sceptile charged out of the petal storm right after it.
Blades glowing, he got ready to use Night Slash on the Psychic-type before Mega Gallade could fight his way free of the roots… then switched targets a third time, and brought his Iron Tail slamming down on Mega Gardevoir as she teleported in to save her brother.
She panicked, scrambling for the best reaction as Mega Sceptile turned to attack her, and used a Pixilated Hyper Voice which knocked the half-Dragon type flying into the air.
He shook his head, clearing it, then fired a Leaf Storm down from his tail which finally got through her shields – not quite enough to knock her out, at least until Meganium sent her entire petal blizzard at her as well.
Mega Sceptile landed hard, wincing, and rolled to his feet without a lot of the snap he'd had earlier in the battle. "That took entirely too-," he began, and then got hit by a double Focus Punch.
"Sceptile!" Meganium called, her shower of petals dropping to the floor as she lost focus. "Are you alright?"
Her fellow Grass-type pushed himself back to his feet with his muscles straining, tail back as far as it could go as a counterweight, and shook his head to try and clear the lingering effects of the Focus Punches.
"Had enough?" Mega Gallade asked. "No?"
He swept a Psycho Cut through the air, then switched arms and fired a Psychic at Mega Sceptile – enough to finally knock him out, sending him crashing to the floor.
Meganium watched Mega Sceptile as he lost the strength to keep his Mega-Evolution running, and transitioned back down to plain old Sceptile with a bright flash of light.
Remembering to check, she glanced back over at Mega Gardevoir, and breathed a sigh of relief on seeing the Gardevoirite resting on the battlefield. That Pokemon, at least, wouldn't be a problem.
That just left her with Mega Gallade.
"Well?" the Psychic-type asked. "Ready to surrender? The tough one from your team's been knocked out."
"He is not the tough one!" Meganium replied, stamping a foot on the packed earth. "He's faster than I am, more graceful, and probably – no, definitely – hits harder than I do. But I'm every bit as tough as him, and don't you dare suggest otherwise!"
"Really?" Tate asked.
Meganium stamped a foot on the ground again.
It trembled.
Mega Gallade looked down, frowning. "What was that?"
Then the ground exploded upwards in a torrent of woody vines, which reached for Mega Gallade from all sides at once and coiled and twisted like snakes.
The Psychic-type blurred into motion, both blades lighting up and flashing with flame, and he swiped out in all directions to keep away the branches which got closest to him.
He quickly lost ground, though, as Meganium drove her Frenzy Plant harder and faster, and after about ten frantic seconds two trunks trapped his Psycho Cut and forced it to splinter.
He dismissed it and tried to reform it, but there was nowhere for it to go that wasn't into wood too thick for him to cut into.
There were several seconds of near-silence, broken only by the creaking of the wood – and the cracking of the ground as roots expanded and broke up the surface.
Then Mega Gallade burst out in an explosion of flashing blades and flames, sparks trailing from his arm-blades. "Haiyah!"
The Frenzy Plant fell on him.
Mega Gallade? Tate asked, concentrating. You okay?
Mental silence answered him.
I think he's been knocked out, Liza sent him.
Yeah, probably, Tate sighed. Pity, we nearly beat him – not bad, right sis?
Not bad at all. Should we split up saying congratulations?
Sure, Tate replied. "Congratu-"
"-lations!" Liza finished. She held out a Pokeball and returned Gardevoir, and Tate did the same with Gallade.
"Uh..." Tate went on. "Could you-" extinguish the big burning lump of plant?
"-get rid of the burning Frenzy Plant?" his sister extemporized. "It's kind of-" a mess
"-a mess." See? I follow directions.
Give it a rest, Liza sent, with a mental sigh.
"Great work, Meganium!" Ash said, holding up his hand. Meganium caught his meaning, extending a tired vine to match his high-five, then relaxed.
"And – uh, who should handle the fire..." Ash went on, frowning. "Goodra, go!"
Goodra materialized. He took in the situation, then concentrated, and a miniature rainstorm formed to drench the burning Frenzy Plant in water.
"We're going to need to rebuild our outside arena now," Tate commented.
Liza nodded. "But at least it wasn't-"
"-the inside arena," Lucario finished.
Seeing their confused glances, he shrugged. "What? The next line was kind of obvious."
"Actually, we were going to say the entire gym," the twins chorused.
"I'm so glad Latias and Latios don't do this all the time," Brock said. "It'd be very confusing."
"Fire's out," Goodra reported.
"Thanks," Ash said. "Good work."
Goodra smiled, then Returned himself.
"So, uh… what now?" Max asked, as Ash took the second badge. "We're heading to… is it Pacifidlog or Sootopolis first?"
"Actually, I was hoping we'd go to Izabe Island first," May said. "There's a Contest there."
"...didn't you just do a Contest?" her brother asked.
"So?" May shrugged. "I need to give Spoink his debut – oh, that reminds me, we can all try flying there!"
"That's a good point, May," Brock agreed.
"You've got a Flying-type?" Liza asked. "What is it?"
"We usually just teleport," Tate confided.
"Oh, he's an Altaria," May explained. "My Swablu evolved just recently."
The twins exchanged a glance.
"For a non-Psychic type, Altaria are pretty cool," they agreed.
As the friends left the gym, Max hung back for a moment.
"Uh – thanks, you two," he said, nodding to Liza and Tate. "I'm glad you gave me some good tips."
"Our pleasure!" Tate assured him.
"And – I was wondering," he went on. "I'm thinking of getting a Ralts – a boy Ralts, that is, and I'm not sure what to evolve him into when I get the chance. What do you guys think?"
"It depends," Liza frowned. "Of course, my Kirlia didn't have much choice of what to evolve into."
"But my Kirlia did," Tate finished. "We talked about it a lot, and he decided he preferred fighting up close to far away. He never learned Moonblast, for example."
"It depends on the Ralts," Liza summarized. "Hey, why not bring him over to see us when you get the chance?"
"Good idea!" Max agreed.
"Max?" May called. "We're going!"
"Be right there!" Max called back. "So – I guess I'll drop by and visit when I get the chance."
"We'll look forward to it," Tate assured him.
54
"How's it going, May?" Ash called, cupping his hands around his mouth as Pidgeot adjusted course.
"Great!" May replied, a little too quickly.
Altaria banked a little, flapping his wings to gain speed, and she clung onto his neck a little more tightly than she'd been doing.
"You look kind of… nervous," Brock said, looking sideways from Flygon. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine!" May replied. "I'm just – no, I'm fine, okay!"
"Sure?" Altaria asked, twisting his neck around to look.
"Keep looking where you're going!" May yelped.
"...but there's only a few little clouds, and we're half a mile up," Altaria protested. "Were you this scared with Latias or Latios? Or Flygon?"
May shook her head, eyes closed. "No," she admitted. "But with them… well, I kind of knew they were good. I've known you since I helped mend your wing, and… I remember when you were a Swablu, and somehow I can't believe – deep down – that you're as good at flying as..."
Her voice trailed off. "I know it doesn't sound very nice."
"I see, I guess," Altaria hummed. "That's kind of sad."
He thought about it, then brightened. "Maybe it'd help if I used Sing?"
"I think that'd make me feel even worse..." May said, shaking her head.
"Should we go lower?" Ash asked. "Until you're comfortable, I mean..."
He looked down. "I guess we're kind of too high for Delta, anyway."
"Okay," May decided, still holding tightly to Altaria's neck. "That sounds good."
"I'm sorry about scaring you, May," Altaria trilled.
"We'll think of something," Brock assured her. "Don't worry."
The phone rang.
Misty looked up, and put her pen down. "Wonder who that is."
As she got up, Kabutops leaned out of his chair and flipped the phone into the air with the flat of a blade. He balanced it about halfway down his scythe for a moment, then flipped it towards his trainer, and she caught it out of the air.
"Nice," she complimented, and answered the phone. "Who is it?"
A pause, then: "Ash! Hi – everything going okay? If I turn on the news I'm not going to see you riding Rayquaza again, am I?"
Misty sat back down, and began toying with the pen in her free hand. "Yeah, I know it's not likely – but with you likely has a whole different meaning… pardon?"
She listened, then nodded – not that Ash could see her. "Right, I get the idea. I'll see if he's in. And if not… well, I bet Bruno has Clair's number."
Golduck handed her a notepad.
"...oh, never mind, Golduck just reminded me that I have Clair's number," Misty chuckled. "Thanks, Golduck… right, so should I call her or do you want me to give you her number?"
"Okay," Ash said, putting Dexter down as the Porygon ended the call. "Clair said that she'd send someone down to help out."
"That sounds good," May agreed, scratching Altaria behind his plume. "I guess they do have to have thought of this kind of thing."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "It would have helped back when I started flying with-"
There was a huge splash, interrupting them.
"That was Max, right?" May asked.
"Yep, that was Max," Lucario agreed. "Delta got a bit too low."
"Is someone making sure he's okay?" the girl asked. "I mean, he did just crash into the sea."
"No need to be worried," Lucario assured her. "Totodile's treating it as a challenge."
They watched as Totodile towed Max out of the surf, moving with a purposeful rhythm which got the crashed trainer out onto the sand within moments.
Max coughed and spluttered, and then Jirachi gave him a little burst of healing with Wish to help him out.
"It's kind of good that Max suggested this kind of training," Brock said. "I mean, it does mean that he occasionally hits a wave."
"Yeah, I know..." May agreed, still sounding a bit uncertain. "I'm glad Flygon's looking out for him, though."
She lay back, sighing, and stroked Altaria's cloud. "I wonder how that trainer's going to show up..."
"It might not be for a while," Brock reminded her. "Perhaps I should ask for you guys to help me with lunch."
"Sure," Ash agreed. "I guess it'd be good to know."
"So long as someone keeps an eye on Max," May said, then nodded. "Oh – I was going to ask. Either of you two interested in the next Contest?"
Ash frowned, then shook his head. "Nah – you can do it."
"More than one of us can enter at once, you know..." May muttered.
Brock whistled to get their attention. "What do you think of the idea of a burger lunch?"
"Sounds great!" Ash agreed. "So, what's my job?"
Brock looked Ash over, remembering past incidents with burned thumbs. "I want to say buttering the rolls..."
"What about me?" Pikachu asked.
"Power supply," Brock replied.
He chuckled, seeing Pikachu's expression. "No, I'm joking. Ash, you'll do the first batch of burgers and I'll make sure you don't burn them. Pikachu, I think you should make sure the condiments are ready."
May coughed. "Ketchup!"
"...except that one," Brock amended. "We'll take the ketchup out when it's time for lunch."
"This is a stereotype," Pikachu muttered.
"So… you're from Johto?"Altaria asked, tilting his head.
The Dragonite nodded. "That's right," she said, stretching in the warm sun. "The weather there's nowhere near as nice as this."
"Yeah, Hoenn's kind of neat," Altaria smiled. Something pinched his down, and he turned his neck. "That stung."
"Can you loosen that one a bit?" May asked. "Altaria said that-"
"I got the gist," the dragonrider interrupted. "Okay, let's try tightening it here instead… that better?"
Altaria nodded. "Much, thanks."
"Right..." the Dragon Tamer went on, and tugged a few of the important straps. "It looks like it's fairly secure."
"Thanks, Lola," May said, inspecting it herself. "I'd never have known where to start. Uh… so I have to wear the belt, right?"
"Right," Lola agreed. "There's two straps for every connection point, a short one and a long one – that's so you can be tight into the saddle, for when you're first learning, and then the longer one lets you get a bit bolder while still being safe."
"It feels quite snug," Altaria said, flexing his wings and tail experimentally. "But it's not pinching any more."
"This one's built for Altaria," Lola said, slipping her finger under one of the straps and checking it wasn't loose. "Okay, that's how it goes on… but we should make sure you can put it back on yourself, May."
May took another look at the complicated web of straps and connectors. "Uh… is there a quick version?"
"There is," Lola told her, undoing a clip. She went to a second one and undid that too, and undoing a buckle made the whole thing slide off. "That's the quick way – but you need to be able to adjust it, too, in case any of it slips."
The Coordinator sighed. "I guess it's worth it," she nodded. "Right – how did you do that?"
"How did you handle this, Ash?" Max asked, using a towel to get some of the salt water out of his hair. "The flying, I mean."
Ash frowned. "Well… to be honest, the first time I did it – I think it was Pidgeot – it was just… really easy, because Pidgeot controlled the wind so well that I barely noticed how fast I was going."
"Were you afraid of falling off?" Max pressed.
"...no," Ash said, shaking his head. "I didn't really think about it at all – I just trusted Pidgeot, and that was enough."
He shrugged. "But the second time was Charizard, and that was kind of… it went less well."
"Didn't Liza just basically tell you you had to do it?" Brock asked. "Oh, hold on, Max – I'll get Marshtomp to wash that salt out of your hair."
"...are you sure that's a good idea?" Max asked. "I mean, Marshtomp is kind of… big."
"I'll do it!" Totodile volunteered.
"That sounds more like it," Max said.
Totodile promptly used Hydro Pump.
"Gah!" Max yelped, the blast of water knocking him backwards onto the grass.
"Are you okay?" Brock asked.
Max spluttered, then shook his head with a sigh. "I really should have remembered how strong Totodile is..."
"Whoops," Totodile said, looking guilty. "Is your hair better?"
"Good question," Brock agreed. "Did that get the salt out?"
Reaching up to the hair in question, Max squeezed some of the strands. "Well, it's kind of hard to tell..."
He shook his head. "Anyway – what was that, Ash?"
"Right," Ash said, remembering their topic. "I kind of got the hang of it with Charizard, and after that it was kind of easy."
"What about Lugia?" Brock asked.
"...actually, I'm not sure that counts," Ash said. "But… huh, maybe it does count. I just assumed he was holding me on with psychic powers..."
"Do you think maybe it was you falling off and being okay that helped?" Brock mused.
That would have to wait, however, as Altaria came swooping low over them. He turned in a wide arc, skimming over the waves, and slowed to hover.
"Cool!" Max said, smiling. "How is it, May?"
May managed a smile, holding tightly to the straps. "It feels a lot more secure," she agreed, as Altaira gently beat his wings. "I'd still be a bit nervous about going too fast or too high, though."
"But it's safer if you're up high," Altaria pointed out. "It means more chance for me to catch you again!"
"...that's true," May agreed. "But it makes my knees go weak to think about it."
She shifted. "Can we land now? Sorry, Altaria – I'll make sure we go flying a bit every day, to get used to it, but right now I'd rather be on solid ground."
Altaria trilled gently, and stopped beating his wings. Holding them out as a bar of cloud, he controlled his fall so he landed as softly as a feather.
May forced herself to wait several seconds before undoing the clips and getting off his back, and the first thing she did after doing so was to undo the buckles and take his harness off. "We'll put it back on tomorrow," she assured him.
"I can't wait," the Dragon-type said, nosing into her shoulder. "Thank you for flying with me."
"Ready for this?" May asked, looking up at her brother.
Max shrugged. "I guess? I mean, I think I am – but I've never really done a Contest before, so I don't really know if I'm properly ready. How did you feel before your first one?"
May frowned. "...good question, it was a while ago… I guess mostly nervous."
"Oh," Max said. "Good?"
"Remember, what's important is taking part," May assured him. "For you, anyway. For me it's winning."
Max sniggered.
"...okay, yeah, there's no way I could have pulled that off," May agreed. "Of course it's about having fun."
She threw her Love Ball a few inches in the air, and caught it. "Remember, that, Spoink," May said gently. "It doesn't matter how well it goes – just try to enjoy yourself."
"It feels bizarre being up here without Max as well," Ash commented.
Pikachu shrugged. "Hey, it means I get a seat to myself."
"I'm not sure that that automatically follows..." Brock said.
Pikachu flipped an ear. "Well, I'm sitting here, right? Is anyone else sitting here?"
Ash was about to reply, but the start of the Contest interrupted them. "Okay, here we go – I wonder who's going to be first."
They heard who was going to be first.
"...oh, come on," Brock sighed. "Harley again?"
"At least you can't set his Pokémon on fire, Ash," Lucario pointed out. "At least, I don't think you can..."
They watched as Harley threw his Pokéball, which opened to… nothing.
"Hey, what's going on?" someone asked from the audience.
"It's simple," Harley replied. "My Pokémon is already here!"
A Banette burst out of the seats with a flash of ghostly flame, making everyone jump. As it moved, the Ghost-type upped the strength of its flames, making the blue fire swirl around in mid-air and coalesce to form a cloud.
Then, with a mighty BANG, a blast of Thunder stabbed up at the clouds and blew them away.
"Is his thing making people jump this time?" Brock asked. "I know I did."
"Three out of ten," Pikachu judged.
"Who gets a ten in your world?" Lucario asked.
"Arceus using Judgement," Pikachu told him. "Possibly."
"Does that mean that was actually pretty good?" Brock said. "I didn't realize."
"No, it doesn't," Pikachu said, before stopping and thinking. "I may need to revise my system."
"...I guess that means we're not going through?" Max asked, looking around at the underwhelmed reaction.
Guy got back to his feet. "I thought that went quite well..."
"Maybe they're just not ready for breakdancing," Max shrugged. "I thought it was good too."
May strode out onto the Contest floor, wearing a dress that was almost completely black. It glittered as the light struck tiny flecks of quartz, making it seem like a starfield as she made her way to the middle of the arena.
"May Maple!" the announcer announced, because that was his job. "And her Pokémon today is Spoink!"
Reaching into the pocket of her dress, May took out a bag of flour. She opened the top and hit it from below, producing a massive cloud of floury dust, and sent Spoink out as the cloud began to spread.
The seals attached to the Pokéball went off with a multiple-flash of stars, forming three concentric rings on different axes and causing the cloud of flour to swirl and ripple. Then Spoink landed on the arena floor, pearl bouncing atop his head, and he began to focus.
With a creak, the lights swung upwards so they faced the ceiling – casting the arena into shadow, so the main light was the softly glowing pearl on Spoink's forehead.
The pearl glowed brighter, and all the flour May had put into the air began to light up. The swirling movement it had already had took on a purpose, a single direction, and every glowing mote was soon moving in a single clockwise rotation.
Another flash of brighter light from the pearl, and the spherical cloud of flour began to flatten and elongate. The dust near the middle, moving slower, was not as affected, and before long a disc began to form – with a bulge in the middle, glowing more brightly as the denser cloud of psychically-controlled dust produced more light.
"Okay, Spoink," May said, softly. "Here we go."
Spoink nodded, and the disc began to collapse inwards.
Like a ballet dancer drawing their arms in, the shrinkage meant the whole cloud swirled faster. It contracted, growing brighter and brighter as it became smaller than Spoink – then smaller than his pearl – until there was a tiny sphere of brightly-glowing white powder that lit the whole arena in a diffuse white light.
Then Spoink used Shock Wave.
The tiny flicker of electricity sparked into being in the middle of the ball, and the flour caught fire. In fact, it burned vigorously – consuming the ball in a fraction of a second, then igniting the still-untouched majority of the flour that hung invisibly in the air.
There was quite a loud bang – and, at the end of it, a spark of light floated in the air above the porcine Psychic-type.
"We call it 'young star'", May announced into the stillness.
Unfortunately, no-one really heard her – the bang had made it quite hard to hear – but the applause started up anyway.
Spoink let the light drop again and revealed it to be his pearl. "Did that go well?"
"I think it went fine," May assured him.
"That was pretty good," Ash said, speaking slowly and carefully. "But I think next time she might want to have Spoink do some kind of psychic shield."
"What?" Pikachu asked.
No, we're not doing this, Dexter decided, materializing and forming subtitles.
"Thank you," Lucario said, calmly. "That does simplify things."
"So?" Venusaur asked, looking down at Spoink. "How'd it go?"
Spoink blushed. "I think I'm still not very good at the fighting bit… I lost lots of points and got eliminated."
Venusaur shrugged. "That's fine – seriously, it is, you'll learn. Who did you fight?"
The Psychic-type hopped in place, looking downcast. "It was a Banette… and the guy who had it was a Cacturne or something?"
"Hey, don't be, like, depressed," Skitty said.
Spoink jumped – more than usual, that is. "Skitty? Where are you?"
"Like… in the flower, you know?" Skitty asked, raising her tail over the tip of Venusaur's flowery plant. "It's, like, kind of cozy here."
The feline hopped up onto the edge of the petals, then down onto Venusaur's neck and onto the ground. "But… like… what you need to remember is that Harley's a total jerk."
Venusaur rumbled. "Are you sure that's the life lesson here?"
"It's totally my life lesson from dealing with Harley," Skitty said, waving a paw. "But… you know, you could, like, learn a good attack or two to… like… get his ghost?"
"Like what?" Venusaur asked, interested.
Skitty shrugged. "I dunno, something, like, ghosty or dark."
"You're a regular strategist," the Grass-type said. She shook her head, then frowned. "Actually… I know what you could do. Glaceon has Shadow Ball, and Casper could let you practice fighting Ghosts."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Spoink asked, hanging on their words. "Could I really learn to battle well enough to beat that Banette?"
"Of course you can!" Altaria said.
Spoink jumped again. So did Skitty, yowling with shock.
Venusaur pointed a vine. "How did you sneak up on us? You're huge and you're wearing a jingly harness!"
"I've been practising flying really smoothly, so the harness doesn't jingle," Altaria told them proudly. "I'm getting help from Latios – he's great at it!"
"...oh, I get it," Skitty said, smoothing down some of her fur. "So he's totally going to appear out of, like, nowhere, and then we're all, like, 'argh' again?"
They waited several seconds.
"Guess not," Spoink decided. "Good thing too, I think another surprise and I might drop my pearl..."
"You know, this is so much easier to cope with than last time," Swellow said, tail flicking back and forth as she steered around Ash and Latios. "I mean, I got really, really bored when we were going through Hoenn the first time! All walking, walking, walking, and way too slow!"
She shrugged her wings. "I mean, it's still kind of slow, but this is a great improvement!"
Ash watched her as she did a roll over his head, then cut in underneath Latios and powered ahead of him to pull up and rise just in front of his nose. "I guess you're feeling… kind of energetic?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Swellow agreed. "It's kind of interesting flying alongside at such an icy pace for… oh, five minutes… but after that you just want to go do something else more exciting!"
Latios glanced back at Ash.
Ash nodded.
"What's that?" Swellow asked.
"Good question," Pikachu agreed. "Ash, what are you planning?"
There was a bright orange flash as Latios Mega-Evolved, and shot off ahead to the accompaniment of doppler-shifted complaints from Pikachu.
Swellow blinked, wings slowing for a moment, then her gaze hardened and she accelerated. "Right! You want to show off, you get showing off!"
She accelerated, following Mega Latios as he went into a curve up-and-around.
"Brock?" May asked, as Altaria dropped in alongside Flygon. "We don't have to do what they're doing, right?"
"No, May, there's no need," Brock agreed. "I think Ash is just keeping Swellow busy."
"Good," May said, glancing down at Altaria's back and making sure the clips were in place. "I'm still not sure we want to do that kind of acrobatics… yet, anyway."
"Should we test if the straps can hold you?" Altaria checked – before going on hastily. "I mean – just with me going upside down right next to the ground, with Blaziken there to catch you if things go wrong. It might help prove that this is going to keep you safe."
May nodded. "I guess that might help."
She glanced back. "Where's Max, again?"
Brock looked, then tapped Flygon on the side and had the Dragon-type bank to give him a better field of view.
"I can't see him either," Brock frowned.
"I saw them go ahead," Flygon supplied. "They're probably at the campsite by now."
"...okay, I guess maybe we shouldn't have gone ahead," Max admitted.
He shrugged. "Sorry, Pidgeot."
Pidgeot chirped.
She suggests that we go back to meet up with them, Kris told him.
"That does sound like a good idea," Max agreed. "Okay… ready?"
Pidgeot turned her back to let Max climb on, adjusting her wings ready for the return to the sky.
"At least we know the campsite's a good one," Max said, as he mounted up. "And that looks like a great place to train."
The big Flying-type shifted once, checking Max was secure, then jumped skywards with a clap of her wings.
"Okay, Latios, I think that's enough!" Ash called. "Pikachu's looking green."
Mega Latios adjusted his levitation, tilting so that the airflow began to brake him, and Swellow shot ahead to do a victory roll.
"Thanks," Pikachu said, waving his tail. "And it's only ten minutes after I asked you to stop."
Ash shrugged. "It wasn't that bad, right?"
There was an orange flash as Mega Latios went back to Latios, and he glanced back. "Sorry, Pikachu," he said, with the ghost of a grin. "But I do have to do what my trainer says."
"Yeah, yeah..." Pikachu muttered. "Where's the campsite? I feel like fighting Lucario or Blaziken or someone… Ash?"
Ash frowned. "Sorry, I just… this place looks familiar."
Pikachu looked down from Latios' back. "Well, yeah, of course it's familiar, we've been here before."
"No, not like that," Ash said, shaking his head. "I mean it looks familiar from here. We're half a mile in the air, and I didn't have Pidgeot or Charizard last time we came to Hoenn… so..."
He shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel like there's something..."
With a series of small hops, Pikachu ran along Latios' neck to stand on his head. "I'm not seeing it."
"Down there," Ash said, pointing. "Latios – just ahead and a little to the left. Can you land there?"
"I don't see why not," Latios replied, setting off. He folded his wings back slightly, increasing his speed at the same time, and Pikachu ran quickly back to Ash to avoid falling off.
Altaria drifted down, wings spread, and reached ground level neatly between two trees.
May slid off his back, unclipping herself from his harness but leaving it on for now. "Ash?" she called, raising her voice to try and reach him. "What's up?"
Swellow chirped something, waving a wing, and Altaria hummed back. "I'm sure he's got a good reason, Swellow," he said, then shrugged. "Well, at least I think he does."
Flygon came down to land next to Altaria. "Any idea why Ash landed here?"
Swellow chirped again, taking off, and Brock waved May forwards.
"Apparently this is the closest break in the trees to where Ash went," Brock supplied for May. "It's a good thing we saw where he landed, though, or we'd have lost him – maybe Ash forgot we can't see him through solid objects."
"Could be," May said. "Sorry, Altaria – can you wait there for now?"
"Sure," Altaria assured her, and turned to Flygon. "So… ever heard of Twenty Questions?"
"Of course I have," Flygon replied. "Want to go first?"
"Ash, what are you doing?"
"Oh – hi, guys," Ash said, waving back at them. "I'm pretty sure there's something hidden here – just under these vines."
"What makes you think that?" Brock asked. "It's pretty solid old forest here, and it's not that far from being a jungle."
"Well, I'm..." Ash began, then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not really sure. But I feel like we've been here before. Or I have, at least."
"...that doesn't make any sense," May summarized.
"I still want to see if I'm right," Ash said. "Pikachu? Another Iron Tail!"
"I've already chopped off about twenty branches," Pikachu grumbled. His tail took on a silver-steel sheen nevertheless, though, and he ran forwards two steps before jumping and sweeping it around.
The steely, blade-like tail cut off a dozen vines in a single stroke, and a blank rock face was revealed.
"See?" Ash asked. "There is something here!"
"This is probably just a fault scarp," Brock demurred. "If they're hidden from weather, they can get so bright you can see your face in it – because the fracturing rock is so smooth."
Ash closed his eyes, looking at the rock, and then put his palm on it. "Uh… I think… here?"
Stone ground on stone, and a section of rock four feet across descended down into the ground below – exposing a corridor.
"Hey, Brock?" May asked. "Does this have a natural explanation?"
"...no," Brock admitted. "Unless the local Diglett are really dedicated."
"Okay, this is… basically a job for an archaeologist, right?" May asked, looking around at the carved walls by the light of Pikachu's Flash. "Ethan – any ideas?"
Several.
The Porygon2 materialized out of smoothly bevelled curves and rendered spheroids, hovering in front of his trainer and examining the walls. This seems to match most closely to the iconography of the PokéAtlantis culture.
"Pokéatlantis?" Brock repeated. "That sounds kind of… familiar..."
"Oh, I get it," Pikachu said, looking over at his trainer. "This is that king guy again, isn't it?"
"I guess it must be," Ash agreed. "I think he was here once, and I must have got part of that – it's why this is so familiar. Last time it was this strong it was back at the Pokémonopolis ruins..."
"Is it dangerous?" Brock asked. "I mean… didn't you get mind-controlled once?"
"It's not really him," Ash hastened to add. "Just… a few of his memories."
"Because that's not weird at all," Pikachu said, then frowned. "Mind you, I've got memories from my future self… who's sort of me, though, so it kind of makes sense."
"So, what was this place, then?" May asked.
"Well, it was an important place to attack Pokémonopolis from," Ash explained, looking around for a moment as they reached an intersection and then heading down one of the connecting corridors. "And… there was a Claydol, right? Team Rocket released it last time."
Ah, the giant Pokémon again, Dexter agreed. The giant, enhanced, genetically optimal Pokémon.
"Where are you taking us, Ash?" May said. "We're pretty deep underground."
Ash put his hand on the wall again, and another section of stone slid aside – letting in daylight.
"...or not," May added. "Where is this?"
"Looks like some kind of outpost," Brock opined. "There's those little windows with plants covering them… and there's the bay past them."
There are four controls on that panel, Ethan stated. I suggest none of you touch them… mapping…
His eyes flashed, sending LIDAR beams across the surface, then drew a holographic shape in the air several inches above the buttons themselves – restoring the pictograms on the buttons to legibility. The leftmost one releases the Claydol, the rightmost releases… it seems to be a Banette. And the two more towards the middle return them to containment. See how there's a Pokéball symbol.
"Maybe we should make sure that can't happen before we report this place to archaeologists," May winced. "Or at least ask if Sidney can be here just in case."
She blinked. "Wait, I'm way too used to this whole Ash-is-a-Champion thing..."
"There's another switch over here, though," Brock said, pointing. "What about this one?"
That one is… wait, that symbol looks familiar, Ethan said, floating closer. Look.
"That's… a circle and a fleck…" Brock began, then frowned. "You're right – that's the Mega Stone symbol."
"Do you think it belongs to Claydol or Banette?" May asked.
"Banette," Ash replied, then blinked. "Huh. I'm never going to get used to that..."
"Well, Casper's going to evolve into a Banette someday, so we should try and find that," Pikachu suggested. "Ethan, you're the one who keeps finding things about this place. Any ideas?"
It might be close to the stone Pokéball with the Banette in it, Ethan suggested. Which would be in a high location, visible from this control booth… location determined.
"I guess we're going there, then," Brock said. "Wait… that reminds me, did we let Max know we were going underground?"
"You can't see them either?" Max asked.
Pidgeot shrugged her wings.
It seems as though they have vanished completely, Kris concluded. This is inconvenient.
"I wonder if Jirachi can help..." Max mused. "Jirachi?"
The Psychic-type poked his head out of Max's bag. Morning, Max!
"Do you think I can wish to know where Ash, Brock and May have gone?"
Sure! Jirachi agreed. That should be easy! Wish away!
"Okay, here we go," May said, clipping herself to Altaria's harness again. "Ethan, you'll need to lead the way for us."
Of course, Ethan agreed. I will direct Altaria as required.
There was a flash, and Pidgeot materialized in front of them. She flared her wings, hammering the air, and came to a stop just before colliding with Flygon.
Max jumped down. "Guys? What were you doing?"
"...we're about to take off, actually," May admitted. "Sorry."
Max sighed. "Right… sorry, Jirachi, we kind of wasted that wish."
Why didn't you just call us, Kris? Dexter asked.
Kris beeped. Whoops…
"Wow..." Spoink said, bouncing softly in place as he looked up at the giant stone Pokéball. "Can I..."
"No, Spoink," May said firmly. "It's way too big."
"Awww..." the Psychic-type sighed.
Altaria trilled a giggle.
Well, there's something here… go to the left a bit, Kris requested. A bit more. Okay, forward a step… there we are. Just dig there and it should be fine.
Brock sent out Geodude, who raised his fist and made the ground part like the pages of a book.
Showoff, the Porygon muttered.
"I think this is it," Ash said, crouching down and picking up a clod of mud. "Uh… hold on, it might need a bit of cleaning..."
"We can do it at the campsite," Max suggested. "This giant stone Pokéball makes me feel kind of nervous… you know, like Ash might sneeze and make it break in half."
"Why would I do that?" Ash asked.
"Dexter?" Brock said. "Want to play the highlight reel of times Ash has made things-"
"No fair," Ash muttered, then shook his head. "Okay – let's get going. And work out what we're going to say to… whoever we report this to, as well."
"Maybe Steven?" Brock suggested. "He's a geologist, so he might know some good archaeologists. And he knows Sidney, too."
Sidney picked up the phone without looking. "Hey, yeah, Sidney here… what?"
He shook his head. "No way, boss. This is going to be another one of those times I go off and it's all sorted out by the time Sharpedo gets me there, right?"
Another pause, during which his Mightyena came trotting back over with a much-scuffed rubber ball.
Throwing the ball again, Sidney sighed. "Fine, you're the boss. Okay, I'll sort things out and head over."
Closing the phone, he whistled, and Mightyena came bounding back over.
"The boss had a job for us," he explained. "We're heading to Izabe Island – no rush, but we can't play catch any more 'cause I've got to pack."
Mightyena nodded, looking disappointed.
"I know," Sidney agreed. "But hey – Izabe has beaches!"
"Okay, let's try this again!" Ash said. "Tyranitar, ready?"
"Sure!" Tyranitar agreed, stamping a foot on the ground.
"Right!" Ash confirmed. "Okay – Torkoal?"
"Steam up!" Torkoal reported, white vapour oozing from his nostrils.
"Then let's see how you do this time!" Ash stepped back, raising his hand. "Go!"
Tyranitar's mouth opened, and flames seethed within. He took aim, and launched off a Flamethrower.
By the time he'd fired, though, Torkoal was somewhere else. The Fire-type fired a blast of steam from all four leg holes, the vectors cancelling to send him rocketing straight up in the air.
Tyranitar changed his aim, sweeping the flame up, then went left just as Torkoal went right – meaning that his flame crossed paths with the tortoise.
"One!" Ash called.
"Keep it up!" Mawile cheered. "See if you can get five this time!"
Tyranitar kept up his continuous stream of fire, stepping back with one leg and swinging his tail around for balance. He swung his jaws again, catching Torkoal just as the Fire-type let off a steam burst and blew the Flamethrower away.
"I think that's two!" Ash announced. "Make it hard for him, Torkoal!"
Torkoal tucked his head in and intensified his steam pressure, angling his feet so he rotated at speed before spinning across the training ground like a discus.
Tyranitar was by now visibly having trouble sustaining the Flamethrower, but rallied and pushed forward a lance of fire which clipped Torkoal as he changed direction.
"Three!" Mawile said. "Just two more!"
Torkoal launched himself straight up, getting a moment of thinking time, and in response Tyranitar reduced his stream – keeping it up so he didn't end the round, but still doing it.
A moment later, he intensified it again and produced a great roaring surge which caught Torkoal by surprise as he came down.
The explosion of smoke and steam sent Torkoal flipping through the air, and he vanished into the trees.
Tyranitar stopped using Flamethrower, panting hard, and coughed. "That's… harder… than it looks..."
"That was great!" Mawile told him.
She glanced up at Goodra. "That totally counts as two, right? It was a great big explosion!"
Goodra shrugged. "I don't know..."
Torkoal finally managed to flip himself back upright with his neck.
The Fire-type shook his head, looked around, and confirmed that the smell of smoke was only from smouldering leaves rather than an actual fire.
"Well, that went worse than it could have done," he muttered.
"Hi!"
He looked up. "Oh, hey Mawile. That kind of went wrong, didn't it..."
Mawile smiled sweetly at him. "I think it was kind of hot."
"Yeah, nearly set the forest on fire," Torkoal agreed.
"Torkoal?" Mawile asked.
Torkoal blinked. "Wait… that sounded like it was coming from behind me."
He turned around as Mawile came through the brush.
Then he looked back at Mawile.
"...there's two of you!" he said, blinking. "How will I tell which one is my teammate?"
"I'll be your teammate any time," the first one told him.
The second one put her finger to her mouth. "Hmmm… well, you could ask about a Pokémon we both know? So that way you'd be sure it was me. But maybe I should check if you're the real Torkoal!"
"That was easy," Torkoal concluded, nodding to the second one. He glanced over his shoulder, then winced. "Can you get Goodra? I think that might actually be catching fire now..."
"Oh, so you're the trainer of that other Mawile?" asked Samantha, putting her ribbons down for now. "I wondered – they're so cute, aren't they?"
"Yeah, Mawile's a great Pokémon," Ash agreed. "She's really good at including and socializing other Pokémon – and she loves teaching Pokémon like Goodra to fly, too."
"Flying?" Samantha asked, and smiled. "Well, mine's more… flighty, than flying."
Max winced. "That joke hurt."
The female trainer smiled more broadly.
"Um… excuse me?" Ash's Mawile asked. "Are you okay? You look quite dizzy."
"It's only love, darling," the other Mawile explained, looking with adoring eyes at Tyranitar. "Only love."
"Love?" Mawile repeated. "Uh… you know that's my little brother, right?"
That made Samantha's Mawile do a double-take. "Brother?" She looked back at Tyranitar again, and he waved a big, rocky paw. "Little?"
"He hatched after me, so he's a little brother," Ash's Mawile explained firmly.
"Wasn't she after you about three minutes ago?" Pikachu asked Torkoal.
"Easy come easy go," Torkoal shrugged. "If I wanted a romance, I'd rather it be with someone stolid, steady, dependable… and, preferably, heatproof."
Pikachu's paws moved as he tried to envision that. "So… a Bronzong?"
"What?" Torkoal asked, blinking. "No, not the ability. Just… not flammable."
"I didn't even know Mawile had a Mega Stone," Samantha admitted. "Shows how much I know, I'm afraid! No, we tend to do displays – I'm trying to work up the courage to do a Contest."
"What kind of displays?" Ash asked. "I get that it involves those ribbons, but..."
"I'll show you," Samantha decided. "Mawile!"
"Yes?" both Mawile said at once.
Brock chuckled.
Once that minor misunderstanding was sorted out, they spent the next few minutes watching Samantha and her Mawile as they did a ribbon-dance. It started slow, but took on a swirling whirligig character and left them both panting by the end of it.
"That is pretty neat," May said. "I did a fire dance with Blaziken, but there's something different about that."
"I'd like to give it a try," said one of Ash's Pokémon.
Everyone stared.
"Your Pokémon talk?" Samantha asked.
"Seriously?" Pikachu said, looking up. "Are you sure?"
"Of course."
Lucario's foot shifted on the water, throwing up a small ripple. He spread Aura over the surface of the water to increase surface tension and waited, watching out of the corner of one eye, until even that last ripple was still.
Then he began to move, gracefully transforming combat strikes and blocks into arcs of smooth continuity.
The long streamers tied to his spikes trailed out behind his paws – one red, one blue – and the green one attached to his tail formed the counterpoint in the pattern as he whirled and span.
Pikachu shook his head. "I'm torn between laughing and recording blackmail material."
As Lucario accelerated, his paws began to whip up spray despite the Aura he was using to still it. Working it into his routine, the Fighting-type used swipes of his paws to bring it up further, making the whole last minute of the performance a blur of motion shrouded by flying spray.
Then he tripped, and went into the water with a gigantic splash.
"Somehow that wasn't how I expected that to end," Torkoal commented to Goodra, who shrugged.
Picking himself up again, Lucario stripped sheets of water from his body with blue-glowing paws. "Tripped on a Magikarp," he explained.
"I don't see it," Pikachu said, leaning forwards.
"It went downriver," the Steel-type explained. "Sorry about your ribbons."
"That's okay," Samantha said, accepting them back as he untied them. "I'll just dry them out before next time they're used."
"I see," Lucario said.
He looked down. "Your Mawile seems to be hugging my leg."
"No, I'm your teammate," Mawile said. "I just think that was really nice of you to try that out. Her Mawile's over behind Goodra."
Goodra jumped. "What?"
Whirling, he gave Samantha's Mawile a freaked-out look. "But I thought… oh, no, I got mixed up..."
The other Mawile waved. "I don't mind… you're kind of cute."
Goodra looked too confused for words.
"Why aren't we just flying all the way across Izabe island?" Max asked, shaking a stone out of his shoe. "This is much slower."
"Altaria's back with his family," May supplied. "And I think Ash mentioned that Pidgeot's watching over Shamouti."
"Right," Max sighed. "Got it."
He hopped a few steps, leaning on a helpful Guy, then put his shoe back on. "Phew… that was a pain."
"You could have just stopped," Brock suggested.
Max shrugged.
"This is quite rugged terrain," Absol commented, loping along to the side of the path. She balanced for a moment on the tallest point of a large rock, then jumped to another and slid neatly down it. "Quite nostalgic, really, training for chance-dancing is a lot like this."
"Dangerous situations, right?" Ash checked.
"Yes," Absol agreed. She landed with a puff of dust on the path, a little ahead of her trainer, and paused to sniff the air. "Hmmm… there's something in the air…"
"Anything dangerous?" Brock asked.
"No… or, rather, what danger there is isn't immediate yet. I'll keep my senses sharp," Absol told him.
Ash passed her while she spoke, and she began walking again. "I think there's something just ahead, actually… wait!"
Brock and Ash stopped. A moment later, so did Max and May.
"What?" Ash asked. "What is it?"
"The bridge, there," Absol explained, pointing it out. "There was a distinct chance of it collapsing if one of you tried to step on it."
"I guess we need to get across some other way, then," Brock said, nodding. "And tell the town nearby about this – I think I remember this. There was a town, right?"
Correct, Dexter stated.
Swellow came down from overhead. "Hey, I heard you guys talking about a town? 'cause there's some people coming down the road."
"That's helpful," Ash said. "We can let them know how bad the bridge is. Was that what you were sensing, Absol?"
"No, it's not just that," Absol agreed. "There's something else as well – I'd need a look around to be sure, but it's got more chance of things going wrong… just a longer timeframe. A day or so."
"A day's pretty short," May said, reading the subtitles from Ethan. "But I guess it's better warning than five minutes."
"True, that's a lot of what being an Absol is about," the Dark-type agreed. "Making sure that you keep on top of what's the most immediate and high priority danger."
"Hello?" someone called. "Hey, that's that Absol!"
The friends looked up, seeing a group of a dozen or so townspeople headed down the road to them.
"Wait!" Absol called, eyes flashing. "Don't touch the bridge, it's unsafe!"
She glanced back at Ash. "Can you-"
"Stop!" Ash called. "The bridge isn't safe – it'll collapse way too easily!"
"Pardon?" the speaker said. "Another bridge that Absol has ruined?"
"Ruined?" Absol repeated. "Ruined? I certainly didn't touch your bridge – sort of the point, really."
As Ash translated that, leading to further confused arguments, Swellow spread her wings and banked down to the bridge. "I don't see what the fuss is about," the Flying-type admitted, landing on one of the ropes.
The entire bridge collapsed.
"Huh," she said, hovering in place where the bridge used to be. "I guess they just don't build 'em around here."
"I guess we'll have to make our own bridge," Brock decided. "Geodude!"
Geodude gestured. "Right!"
Stone and earth mounded up, compressing into a hard material made of tiny flecks of black and white crystal, then stretched over the gap with a large overhang both sides.
"That's much better," Absol said, smiling. "Now we just need to work out what that other problem is."
She took a step, then stopped and looked up. "Did I just..."
Everyone else followed her gaze, and then another black-and-white Absol appeared on top of a rock on the town side of the river.
"Are you people going to listen this time?" he asked. "I keep telling you, the spring's not safe – it's going to overflow sometime-"
The other Absol stopped, and his jaw opened slightly. It worked twice, no sound coming out, then he gave a strangled gasp.
Turning tail, the Disaster Pokémon began to run as fast as he could into the distance. He made it three steps, tripped, rolled over twice and ended up in a tangle at the bottom of the rock he'd used.
There was silence for a few long, awkward seconds.
"...I forgot what it was like first catching sight of you," Ash's Absol said, conversationally, glancing back at her trainer before looking at the heap of Dark-type starting to untangle his horn from his paws. "He took it well."
"So… hold on, let me hear that again?" the town mayor asked. "Absol are… not dangerous, you say?"
"They warn people of disasters, they don't cause them," Ash explained, for the fourth time.
"And they always seem to turn up at the same time as the disasters because they try to warn people," May continued. "It's just that they get mixed up with being the cause, and they get the blame."
There was a grinding noise as Geodude busily built a breakwater for the town, so that any future flood would be diverted to either side of their houses and avoid destroying the town.
"And you know this… how?" the mayor said, still puzzled.
Ash held up Dexter. "My Pokédex has information on just about every Pokémon in Hoenn – including Absol. And we've had several talks about how her power works."
"Right, right, you can talk to her as well," the mayor said, rubbing his temples. "Well, I suppose Gordon will be happy when he gets back to know that we actually do understand Absol better now."
"...you can do what?" the local Absol asked, looking at Ash's Mega Absol like she'd grown an extra tail to go with the wings.
"It's not that hard," she assured him, pacing over to a rock. "Like this."
She focused for a moment, putting a shimmer of energy on the tip of her horn, then began to carve.
"There," she said, after a minute or so. "Warning given."
The local traced out the lines with his paw. "...I never thought of that."
On the rock, in angular lines, Absol had spelled out: Beware Of Flood.
"I'm going to have to tell my friends and family about that one," the local said. "What gave you that idea?"
"My trainer's kind of unconventional," Mega Absol smiled.
"I thought the whole Mega-Evolution thing was neat enough..."
After shaking his head, the local sighed. "Okay, I get the point, I was being kind of… stereotypical."
"Just a bit," Mega Absol agreed.
Altaria's mother and father looked at him.
"You've grown," one said.
"Yes," the other agreed.
"Really?" Altaria asked, looking at his body. "I didn't notice..."
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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stone