Chapter 93: 68,69
"It's kind of bizarre to be in the stands looking down at Max," May confided. "Well, you know what I mean… when Max is in one of the battles, and I'm up here."
"Yeah," Brock agreed, looking around at the jam-packed stadium. "I guess it shouldn't be surprising that this one's been the one that most people want to see."
He winced. "Actually, I'm not sure how many people are in the other three preliminary stadiums at all..."
"I think it's supposed to be stadia," May corrected. "Stadios?"
As they wondered about that one, there was a cheer.
Ash walked out onto the arena floor, a little surprised by the volume of the crowd, and saw his opponent coming out of his own tunnel.
"Uh..." the other trainer said, sounding startled. "Yeah, I'm just going to… hope this goes alright."
He expanded out a Pokéball. "Go, Rhyperior!"
"Pikachu!" Ash said, pointing, and Pikachu ran up his arm before jumping off his hand and somersaulting onto the floor.
"Now, remember!" the announcer called. "Preliminary matches are one Pokémon only! The loser is eliminated. As we have a full roster this year, there will not be the chance for high-performing defeated trainers to return to the tournament."
He paused. "Begin!"
"Fire!" called the other trainer.
Pikachu immediately darted forwards, sparks of lightning fizzling on his cheeks, and spun with his tail glowing white to shatter a Rock Blast that Rhyperior shot at him as soon as the battle started.
Keeping up his momentum, Pikachu pushed off the wreckage of the first Rock Blast and rose a little higher. Coiling, he landed on the second Rock Blast, and kicked off it towards Rhyperior – moving faster this time.
The third one exploded the moment he touched it, and the Electric-type was knocked high into the air.
"Electroball!" Ash called.
Seeing Ash's plan in a moment, Pikachu dumped power into a quickly-formed sphere of electricity and shot it downwards at Rhyperior. He added a little electrostatic kick to it, and the attack detonated on Rhyperior's forearm – the shower of sparks and little bolts of lightning ruining his aim, making the Rock Wrecker go wide.
A fissured rock exploded in the air behind Pikachu as he dropped back to the stadium floor, and he took a moment to see how much of an impact his Electroball had actually had.
Very little, as it turned out. Some of the sparks were still present, forming a glittering cloud expanding slowly outwards, but even as he watched they were sucked into Rhyperior's horns like the rest of the attack.
"Hm," Pikachu said, ears twitching. "Lightningrod."
He cracked his knuckles. "Okay, then."
"I still can't believe we're facing Ash Ketchum..." Ryan said under his breath. "Okay, Rhyperior – stay alert! You know he doesn't need Electric attacks to fight… I know! Earth Power and Fire Blast!"
Rhyperior nodded confirmation, and slammed his tail into the ground. A web of cracks spread out, aided by a stomp that Rhyperior drove into the ground in front of his position, and then he shot a Fire Blast down through one of the holes.
Flames and rock burst outwards from the Fire-type attack, which raced all around the ring Rhyperior had dug, and a glowing hot ring formed around the burly Rock-type.
Then he pointed one arm, and fired a Stone Edge.
By the time he fired, Pikachu was somewhere else. Blurring around in a circle with Agility, the Electric-type dodged Rhyperior's entire attack and pelted towards the moat.
"Earthquake!" Ryan snapped.
Rhyperior slammed down a fist, and the whole stadium area trembled – the shaking stopping short of the stands due to a pair of Reuniclus reinforcing the LinesPokémon for the battle.
As the shaking pulsed out, Pikachu jumped into the air. He landed just once, long enough to kick off again, and his second leap took him clear over the red-hot moat Rhyperior had put together.
"Metal Burst!" Ryan ordered, hoping that this would work.
Pikachu rammed home a blue-glowing palm, the impact sending Rhyperior staggering – absurd for such a small Pokémon – then his rocky skin pulsed bright silver, and Pikachu got blasted backwards as the attack reflected all the energy that had been put into it.
"Right!" Ryan cheered, as Pikachu bounced once before recovering and skidding to a halt. "That hurt him!"
Rhyperior rubbed his chest.
"...and you, I guess," Ryan added. "Keep it up! Uh… Rock Wrecker!"
The Rock-type attack took a precious second to work up, but Pikachu didn't take the opportunity to dodge. Ryan wondered what that meant, and then-
Rhyperior fired a boulder infused with Rock-type energy directly at his Electric-type opponent.
Then Pikachu countered the Rock Wrecker with one of the most powerful Electric attacks Ryan had ever seen. It hit the oncoming boulder like a lance of light, hesitated for a long moment, then punched right through the centre and blew it into a shower of rock fragments.
There was a blur of blue light, and then Pikachu was springing forwards. Gravel was raining down all over the middle of the stadium, and a shining blue Aura Sphere flashed forwards for Rhyperior to block it with a Water Pulse, and then everything got a bit too fast for Ryan to follow.
"Magnitude!" he called.
Rhyperior's tail slammed into the ground, harder than the last time, and Ryan nearly lost his footing from the ground moving underneath him. There was a squeak, a half-cut off cry of "Pika-!", then a slam.
After the shaking had subsided, Ryan looked up – and saw his Rhyperior slowly collapsing to the ground, hitting with a sound like an ongoing avalanche.
Standing on top of him was a small yellow dot.
"Wow, he was pretty good!" Brock said, applauding. "His Rhyperior reminds me of Forrest – he's got one, and it's pretty strong."
"That's the one you told me about, right?" May checked. "The one who fought a Latias?"
"Yeah, that's right," Brock confirmed. "He was really helpful when Forrest did the Gym qualification course, too..."
"Oh, hey, I recognize her," Misty said, pointing at the screen.
Karen followed her gaze. "The girl in the northern arena?"
"That's right," Misty confirmed. "She makes kind of a career out of beating Ash's most powerful Pokémon. I'm surprised she's in Hoenn, though, my sisters said she challenged their gym."
"I'm sure there's an explanation," Togekiss opined.
"Yeah, I think there is too," Misty agreed. "I'm just kind of wondering what it is."
As they watched, Casey sent out her Pokémon, and her opponent followed suit.
"Huh, her Elekid evolved," Misty said. "Lucky her!"
"And is that a shiny Riolu she's with?" Karen asked. "Wait… I think I do remember her – isn't she the one where most of her team's either black-and-yellow or has a scarf?"
"That's her," Misty nodded. "She's a massive baseball fan, too."
"Bladestorm, use Stealth Rock!" Gale ordered.
His Skarmory dove in a U-shaped arc, steely feathers scraping the ground at the low point of his dive, and the scrapes pulsed before flashing and producing a half-dozen large stones.
Electabuzz regarded them with irritation, and batted away the closest one with a Rock Smash which left it in fragments.
"Good start!" Casey told him enthusiastically. "Now, let's use a pinch hit!"
"Pinch hit?" Gale repeated. "What kind of Pokémon move is that?"
Electabuzz chuckled, a sound with an electric humm in the air behind it, and his antenna sparked. He drew back a fist, and hurled a bolt of lightning at Bladestorm.
"Autotomize!" Gale yelped.
The Skarmory flapped hard – shedding feathers, which got in the way of the attack and which made it discharge early. Electabuzz' Shock Wave attack went astray, sending a shower of sparks off in all directions, and Bladestorm swept around in an Immelmann turn before blasting back a flurry of Swift stars at his Electric-type opponent.
Electabuzz raised both arms to block them, then had to dive out of the way of a follow-up Rock Tomb.
"Electabuzz, you're the batter now!" Casey said. "Pick up one of those feathers!"
Moving fast, Electabuzz ran across the arena floor and snatched up one of Bladestorm's discarded primaries. Gripping it near the end like a baseball bat, he lined up briefly on the second Rock Tomb attack and sent it flying.
"Great!" Casey complimented.
"Great..." Gale muttered. "Right – Steel Wing! He can't block all of you!"
Electabuzz shifted his grip, looking like he was ready to try.
"...wait," Gale added, as Bladestorm lined up for his attack. "No! Abort!"
Bladestorm flared his wings, arresting his speed, and twisted hard right to get out of range. Electabuzz lunged forwards, bat whistling through the air, and a little spark jumped across the gap in the moment before Bladestorm made it back out of range and into the air.
"Your Pokémon was going to use the feather to conduct a Thunderbolt!" he accused.
Casey blinked. "...uh, yeah?"
She shook her head. "Okay, Electabuzz, let's hit this one out of the park! Electroball!"
"Okay, I see where this is going," Gale said. "Sandstorm, Bladestorm!"
The shield around the arena became visible, rippling from thousands of tiny sand impacts as the LinesPokémon kept the Sandstorm from affecting the crowd.
"You know Will's training some Mr. Mime to help with that?" Karen asked. "He's had Umbreon and Sneasel help test their barriers against Dark-type attacks – apparently if they make them out of hardened air it sort of works."
"And I bet you're trying to work out how to get through them," Misty added.
"Of course," Karen agreed. "Why wouldn't I?"
They shared a chuckle, then Karen blinked as the Electroball whistled past Skarmory.
"That was fast..." she said. "I suppose this is Electro Baseball?"
"I think that's what Casey's turned it into," Misty nodded.
She rubbed the back of Milotic's neck. "I think we might need to get you a bath soon," she said. "You're starting to dry out."
"What, again?" Karen asked.
"Water-type," Misty pointed out. "You didn't complain about the swimming pool yesterday."
"It was hot yesterday," Karen riposted, with a smile. "But point taken."
Rain pattered down all over the arena, driving the sand out of the air.
"Okay, her Electabuzz lost the last feather, that's good," Gale said to himself. "Uh… Bladestorm, try and get a Sandstorm going again!"
Bladestorm rolled, clattering his wing-feathers together, and then a blast of lightning leapt out of the cloud and sent him crashing to the ground.
"Bladestorm!" Gale said, almost as shocked as his Skarmory. "What did you do?"
"Thunder!" Casey explained. "Soaking wet and made of metal, you're kind of at risk – it's one of the reasons baseball games have to end if a thunderstorm's moving in."
"...oh, well," Gale sighed, returning Bladestorm once it was clear the Steel-type wasn't going to get up again. "Good match."
Walking forwards over the muddy grass, he shook her hand. "I knew I should have kept up the Kanto challenge..."
"Wait, you were doing that one too?" Casey asked, recalling her tired Electabuzz. "Huh – snap!"
Gale snorted. "Should have known..."
"Hi, guys," Ash said. "Oh, thanks for keeping a seat for me, Lucario."
Lucario crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out. "This is my seat, and I'm keeping it."
Shrugging, Ash sat next to the Steel-type. "So, what did I miss?"
"A couple of matches," May said. "Ethan says that Casey was in one of the other arenas – wasn't she the one who beat up Charizard?"
One of the Pokéballs on Ash's belt twitched.
"Yeah, and he's not really happy about it," Ash agreed. "This is one good thing about being right near the start of the schedule, though."
"We get some time to actually watch matches," Pikachu elaborated. "Hey, isn't that the guy who you helped with his Metang?"
"Yeah, that's Morrison," Ash agreed. "Let's see what he uses-"
"Of course it's the Metang," May asserted. "You'll see."
The first Pokémon to appear on the field was a Golem, sent out by his opponent, and then Morrison sent out his Metang.
It was a Metang.
"Okay, it was the Metang," Ash said. "You were right."
"So," Brock said. "Golem are… I have to admit, I'm a Rock-type… uh… I'm trained in Rock types, but I've never seen what's great about Golem compared to Geodude."
"Preach it," Geodude agreed, arms folded.
"...when did you come out?" May asked.
Geodude spread his hands. "Word."
"So, what do you think?" Max asked.
Cinder tilted her head. "I think I'd find this Metang a lot easier to fight than this Golem is."
They watched as the Metang's pair of clawed arms/legs went up, slowing Golem with a pulse of psychic energy, then grabbed his forearms and threw him over the Steel-type's shoulder.
"I mean, you know, it's doing a lot of psychic stuff, and..." Cinder shrugged.
"Yeah, but it's doing a lot of punching, too," Max countered. "And that-"
There was a thwam as Metang lashed out with a Meteor Mash.
"-like that," Max amended.
Cinder growled softly, a rippling rising-and-falling tone without any real threat or malice behind it. "I'm fairly sure I could fight it, though..."
"Hey, keep your voice down," someone asked.
"Sorry," Max winced.
"It's okay," the other trainer said, more quietly. "It's just kind of easy to forget that there's other people in here…"
"It's good of them to put in TV screens," Cinder opined. "It makes it easier for trainers who are going last to get as much of a look at the battles as the trainers who go first."
"You're right," Max agreed, softer this time.
"...wait, you can understand her?" the other trainer asked, surprised. "I thought that was really rare."
"It took a long time to learn it," Max said honestly. "But we kept it up, and now – yeah, it's pretty great."
"Cool," the other boy said. "Oh – I'm Yun, by the way."
"Max," Max introduced himself. "This is Cinder."
"Max!" Cinder barked softly, nodding at the screen.
They watched as Metang caught a Rock Throw in his metallized fist, then took a second one directly to the face.
"How did he do that?" Yun asked.
"I think… yeah, I see," Max said. "See, the Golem was using Earthquake at the same time, so he was making Metang concentrate on three things at once – the shield lost itself a bit. I guess he'll have to make sure he splits his attention more now."
"Like how Metang have two brains!" Yun realized. "That's pretty smart – I wouldn't have worked that out."
Max shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I try to spot tricks like that… it's important to know a lot about your Pokémon."
"I can agree with that," Yun said.
Both boys were now watching the screen as they talked, and so they saw when Golem peeled out into a Rollout and drove straight at Metang.
"So, what do you think it's going to do?" Yun asked.
"I'm not sure," Max replied. "With that much mass, Golem could be trying to break through the shield… or perhaps..."
A light began to shine from inside Golem's craggy exterior. Then there was a brilliant red flash, and the speakers relayed a faint bang just as the ground shook ever-so-slightly.
"Explosion, right?" Yun said, wincing. "That must be painful."
"Yeah, for both of them..." Max agreed.
As the dust cleared, both Golem and Metang were still up and fighting – though they looked quite beaten about by the explosion.
Metang turned slightly, listening to its trainer, then shot forwards – moving as fast as a speeding train, it headbutted directly into the startled Golem.
Chips of rock flicked out from the impact point, and Golem staggered. Then, as he started to recover, Metang grabbed him and pulled him forwards and upwards.
Then he used Meteor Mash repeatedly, keeping Golem suspended in mid-air on a cushion of punch.
"...I guess that's that battle," Yun said, wincing. "Ouch!"
Golem landed, rolled several times, and hit the arena wall with a thud – then collapsed backwards, no longer able to battle.
"Hmmm..." Cinder mused. "I think I'd need to start with a Fireshock..."
"Are you sure you're ready for this, Rose?" Ritchie asked.
Rose nodded solemnly, wings half-spread. Of course, she sent him. It's what I've trained for.
"All right, you know best," the Psychic chuckled.
Recalling the Flying-type, he popped her 'ball on his belt, then lifted up Sparky to rest on his shoulder.
"You're not getting any lighter," he said, with a huff of effort. "Come on, try a diet one of these days?"
"Not likely," Sparky replied. "Besides, I am getting lighter. I weighed myself today, I'm one pound lighter than I was last month."
"Fine, fine," Ritchie laughed. "Okay, let's get going!"
"Is that Ash?" asked Queen Ilene.
"That is not, your majesty," Lucario informed her. "That is another boy who looks very much like Ash."
"I see," the young ruler said, nodding. "Thank you for the clarification."
"Right, here we go," Hope said, clenching her fist. "Froslass, go!"
The Ghost-type flashed into being, and took in the environment before sighing and summoning a little snow cloud for herself.
Opposite her, Rose appeared on Ritchie's arm, and he sent her into the air with a gesture. "Go!"
"Icy Wind!" Hope ordered.
Froslass bundled up a ball of snow and turned it into a blast of frigid air, which reached out for Rose as the Taillow approached. Then there was a sudden BANG and the attack disintegrated.
"What was that?" Hope shouted, hands halfway to her ears. "What did that Taillow just do?"
Banking around, Rose made another pass – accelerating, then abruptly boosting past the sound barrier in a flicker of wings and air control. The thunderclap as she momentarily kissed mach one produced a shockwave, and that shockwave blew away the snowcloud Froslass was using to shield herself.
"Okay, concentrate..." Hope said to herself. "Froslass, that Boomburst can't hurt you! Just keep up the Ice attacks – make it Hail!"
Froslass raised her arms to the sky, exhaling, and a cloud of hail began to form.
Rose did a roll, speeding up and climbing into the sky, and crested at about the height of the seats.
"That reminds me of another one of Ritchie's Pokémon," Ash said, as the Flying-type dove and her shockwave shattered the hail all around her into fragments of diamonddust. "Remember Nagi? That Spearow?"
"I do, yeah," Pikachu agreed. "Didn't he fight Pidgeot?"
"I remember it well," Lucario said. "I was watching at the time after defeating Cid. Maybe that means that Nagi taught her."
He frowned. "Actually, though, something does occur to me. How's Rose going to harm Froslass?"
They followed Rose's movements as she punched a hole in the cloud, the crack-BOOM of her supersonic Boomburst pushing out and driving the hailstorm away before it began to reassert itself.
"I mean, she could do Flying attacks," he went on. "But she doesn't seem to be."
"Ice Shard!" Hope called, pointing.
Froslass shook out her hands, forming a half-dozen icy shards in them, and then flung all six upwards at the high-speed Taillow.
"One hit," Pikachu said quickly.
"Two," Lucario countered.
Caught somewhat off-guard with too much velocity to shed, Rose slammed into a corkscrew dive. That took her out of the way of the icy barrage, one just grazing her back, and then she went supersonic with a boom and smashed a second wave aside like kindling.
"Told you," Pikachu said.
"I was counting the second wave," Lucario replied unconvincingly.
"Wait, I know what's going on," Ash said.
"What's that?" Brock asked.
"I'm pretty sure Taillow can-"
Rose flicked an Air Slash downwards, one which narrowly missed Froslass, then accelerated straight towards her. She built up speed to the point her feathers rippled on her wings, and then-
She Boomburst right past Froslass, and this time the shockwave caught the Ghost-type and slammed her into the ground.
"Froslass!" Hope called, then sighed with relief when her Froslass floated back into the air. "What happened?"
The Snow Land Pokémon shrugged, then had to turn her attention back to Rose as the Taillow came down in another screaming dive.
"Hyper Beam!" Hope decided.
Froslass ducked aside, taking less of a hammering this time from the powerful shockwave of Rose's Boomburst, and spent a moment targeting before putting her hands together and launching a river of purple-pink energy upwards.
Rose wrenched herself through a tight turn, avoiding the attack's first component, but then being caught a glancing blow as the energy swept across to intercept her.
The shields rippled as they absorbed the excess energy.
"You know, I'm kind of glad those are there," Ash said, frowning. "Or that could have hurt a lot of people…"
"Yeah, no kidding," Pikachu agreed.
"Maybe that's one thing your rampage through the gyms of Kanto and Johto did that was good," Brock suggested.
Ash's retort died on his lips as he saw Rose take off again. Her flight was more laboured, and she didn't have the instant snap that she'd had before, but the Flying-type was still up – and able to fly through the hail and up to the top of the stadium.
Once there, she began to circle – getting faster and faster.
"I guess she's getting up speed for her next attack," May suggested.
"I think you're right," Ash agreed. "But there's something else, too…"
Ready? Ritchie asked.
I'm ready, Rose confirmed. Good plan.
As she reached attack speed, she dove down, wings beating as fast as they could without her hurting herself – and she just skimmed the top of the cloud layer, her dive helping her kiss the sound barrier just as she fired off a Defog attack.
The combination made the thick, black cloud tremble – and discharge all the moisture in it as a shattered mixture of hail and snow. The stadium below the hail cloud filled with white as it disintegrated, and Froslass was momentarily left without any way to see.
"What's going on?" Hope called.
Rose pulled up for a moment, gaining a little height, then dove through the storm. Her passage produced a swirling clear-air tunnel through the snow, and she dove right through Froslass.
As she did, she released all of her compression-heat as a single powerful Heat Wave, the superheated air washing out from inside Froslass and catching her in a curtain of flames.
To most of the audience, Rose vanished into a thick cloud of snow, and then there was an eruption of fire and sound which blasted all of that away and revealed the moment after the final clash.
Rose hovered in the air, panting – and below her, Froslass dropped slowly to the arena floor.
"Good work!" Ritchie said, raising his arm to let Rose land. "That was a tough fight!"
"I guess he's going though, then," May said, stating the obvious. "What happened, Ash? Lucario?"
"Why aren't you asking me?" Brock asked.
"I'm pretty sure you can't do the Aura thing," May explained.
"No, but I do know what happened," Brock said. "Rose used Flare Blitz."
"That's..." May stopped, and thought about it. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense..."
"I'm pretty sure it wasn't," Ash told them. "But it was a Fire-type attack."
"Close enough," Brock declared.
I can tell you what actually happened, if you want, Ethan suggested. As an aside, I am impressed with Brock's deadpan.
"...wait," Max said, slowly. "This means we're facing one another, right?"
Yun shrugged. "It must do."
"Okay, then," Max nodded. "I think that's okay. I mean… I've not actually battled anyone in a League before, it must just be bad luck it's someone I made friends with."
"I've not been to any Leagues before, either," Yun confided. "I was just assuming that if I looked like I knew what I was doing, it would work."
"It was working on me," Max chuckled.
He reached out a hand, and Yun shook it.
"Let's see who's got the better team," the other boy said.
"Actually, I don't think it's quite like that," Max admitted. "I think luck's important too. So… let's see who gets lucky?"
"Works for me," Yun agreed.
"That's Max, isn't it?" Johanna asked. "The other boy?"
"Yeah, that's him," Dawn agreed.
"He looks very young to be doing the Pokémon League… how old is he?"
"A couple of years younger than me, I think," Dawn hedged. "Maybe a year and a half? I think he was pretty close to getting his first Pokémon when, you know, Ash broke time. Again."
"I see," her mother said.
There was a thump from the other side of the couch.
"Glameow!" Johanna called. "Don't do that!"
Glameow let out an irritated grumble, implying by tone alone that Johanna couldn't possibly have seen whatever it was she was complaining about this time.
Dawn smiled, then turned back to the TV. "Okay, let's see how this goes!"
"Cinder, go!" Max said, throwing her Pokéball, and his Mightyena landed lightly on the springy grass.
"I'm glad they replace this every so often," she said, touching it, then looked up as her opponent formed.
Yun sent out a multi-limbed Octillery, one which took up a position with his two forelimbs curled up to improve his posture and the other six laid out in a row on the ground – then, as the glow died, Max did a double take.
"Wait – that's a shiny Pokémon!"
"That's right!" Yun confirmed. "Octillery's pretty cool, huh?"
Cinder stretched, rolling her neck, and kept her eye on Octillery as the judge raised his hand.
"Begin!" he said, bringing it down.
"Fire!" Yun ordered. "Octazooka!"
Octillery locked on and fired, a powerful burst of orange light, and Cinder bounded away from what was just about to become a crater.
Using her tail – briefly an Iron Tail – to counterbalance, the Dark-type skidded sideways a little and lunged. Her teeth flashed with lightning as she began a Thunder Fang, then she clamped them together to produce a shower of sparks – one which reached out towards Octillery, catching him a glancing blow.
Octillery turned and blasted Cinder with a Signal Beam.
"Whoa!" Max said, as she rolled to a stop halfway across the arena. "Cinder, are you okay?"
Cinder's reply was to nod, crouch, and disappear underground in a rapid Dig.
"So, what do you think's going on?" Caroline asked.
Norman frowned. "Well… let's see, now. Octillery are powerful Pokémon, especially on the attack – so if it's tough enough to take a few knocks it can make it very hard for an opponent to hit it."
I suspect I know how Roland would have sorted this out, Gardevoir pointed out. He's much faster than Cinder at moving around an opponent.
"That's right, teleporting would be a big help," Norman agreed. "But for Cinder… well, what they need to work out is how to avoid that happening the next time she comes out to attack."
He pursed his lips, thinking. "Or, rather, that's one way to do it. There's others."
"And I'm sure you've already decided which one you'd use," Caroline suggested.
Norman shook his head. "Not really, no, it depends on what Cinder's able to do..."
Several feet underground, Cinder flared her nostrils.
Right. So that meant that Octillery was over… there.
She took a moment to make sure her plan was ready, then lunged through the earth – bursting out in a shower of turf, and clamping onto Octillery's tentacle.
She bit down hard, another Thunder Fang flashing out, and the yellow cephalopod began shaking it to make her let go.
"Signal Beam!" Yun called.
Cinder swiped with a paw, and had the satisfaction of seeing her Sucker Punch connect before Octillery hit her with the Signal Beam.
This time she described a complete somersault, landing next to Max.
"Dig down just a bit!" Max instructed. "Get out of the line of fire!"
Cinder did so, making herself a hyena-hole about four feet deep, then turned to look back at her trainer. "What now?"
"Uh… hold on, I'm thinking..."
"Octazooka again," Yun said. "Aim it up a bit, try to land it on her."
Octillery's head swiveled, and tilted up a little. His mouth pinched up, then he launched out a slug of glowing water which dug a little crater next to Cinder.
"Think faster," Cinder suggested helpfully. She turned around, scraping up some more dirt into a little earthwork.
"...wait, I know," Max brightened. "You can tell where Octillery is from underground, right?"
"Good work!" Yun said, as Octillery's latest Octazooka hit – blasting a hole through the earth barrier in a shower of wet mud. "Now, more like that!"
Octillery's yellow tentacles drove an inch or so into the ground, and he fired five blasts in quick succession – peppering the ground where Cinder's hole was.
"...wait," the trainer went on. "Where did she go?"
He frowned. "Okay, Octillery, be ready for her to come at you from behind!"
Octillery moved forwards, neck swivelling, and did a quarter-turn to give better coverage behind himself.
"Now!" Max called.
There was a frozen moment, and then an almighty bark sounded from below ground. Earth went flying upwards, and a large hole formed next to Octillery – close enough that two of his tentacles nearly fell into it.
"Back, quick!" Yun ordered.
"Okay, aim a bit to the left… now!" Max said.
This time the effect of Cinder's Hyper Voice was less than the first, as the shout had a side path to lessen the force. Nevertheless, it blew another hole out of the ground, and Octillery wavered – then fell down, into the crater.
There was a snarl, a yelp, and the bright flash of a Signal Beam from inside the hole, and Yun stopped himself from running forwards. "I can't see what's going on!"
"Foul Play!" Max suggested.
"How can you tell what's going on?" Yun asked, exasperated.
"Guesswork!" Max replied. "Cinder, how's it going?"
Cinder barked something, which was nearly cut off by the fwoosh of an Octazooka blast.
Yun looked up at Max, and saw him wincing. "What was it?"
"Uh… it was kinda rude," Max admitted.
"Did he just blow up the arena?" Johanna asked, glancing at her daughter. "His Pokémon just made two huge craters in the arena!"
"Well, yeah," Dawn shrugged. "Why? It works..."
Cinder dug into the wall, getting out of the way of Octillery's latest blast, and angled up – getting herself almost up to the level of the turf, then springing out of the crater side and ramming both paws onto Octillery's squishy head.
The Water-type blasted the wall, then began reaching with both yellow tentacles to try to fling her away. Cinder was having none of that, and clung on to his neck.
"Damn it, just give up already!" she snarled, and hit him with a Thunder Fang.
There was a burst of smoke which made things worse for both of them, then Cinder shifted her weight and tilted Octillery to face straight upwards.
"Think of Seed Bomb," she instructed him, and gave him a sharp blow with her tail.
A green-brown glowing seed fired upwards, then Octillery shook her off and reoriented himself.
"Get her, Octillery!" Yun called, then paused. "Wait – oh no! Look out!"
"Foul Play," Cinder said.
The Seed Bomb landed right on top of Yun's Octillery, knocking him out in one loud bang.
"Man, I think we broke the arena," Yun winced. "That was a pretty brutal battle."
"Yeah," Max agreed, scratching Cinder as she emerged from the ground next to him. "And I think you need a bath..."
Cinder looked herself over, then sighed. "You're right..."
"Seriously, that was a good one," Max added. "It's kind of a pity you've been knocked out so early, I think you could have gotten a lot further."
Yun nodded to himself. "I guess-"
"Attention!" the announcer said. "Will the contestants please leave the arena, we are about to fix it!"
"Fix it?" Yun repeated, stepping back with his Pokémon recalled. "It's totalled! How are you going to fix-"
Three Diglett blurred into the arena, moving very fast indeed, and reconstructed the entire topography of the arena so it was back to flat and undamaged. There was a pulse of Grassy Terrain, and when that faded everything was nice, soft, springy grass.
"...like that?" Max asked.
Wow! Kirlia said. That was pretty cool!
"What did you think, Norman?" Caroline asked.
"Well..." Norman frowned, gathering his thoughts. "I think it went fairly well. You can certainly see Ash's influence in his style, since he trusts Cinder to handle some of the fighting herself – but he's still clearly helping out when he sees the need."
He reached up and idly scratched his chin. "As for the battle itself – that Hyper Voice trick was a good one, because it let Cinder redefine the battlefield. It was a bit brute-force, though, I think I would have tried something else like just digging up directly underneath him..."
But fairly good, correct? Gardevoir checked.
"Oh, certainly," Norman agreed. "That Octillery is quite a tough Pokémon to battle, like I said – you have to have some way of not being in the firing line, or if you try to attack it you'll just get blasted."
Oh, is that what you meant? Kirlia asked. That makes more sense when you say it that way.
"Great work, Max!" May said, patting the seat next to her. "Okay, I think we're nearly done with the first round – how was your first League battle?"
"It was kind of different to gyms, or to other battles," Max replied, thinking. "It's the whole way there's only one Pokémon – so you have to win it with that Pokémon."
He paused, looking at his Coordinator sister. "Well, I guess you do know that kind of thing..."
"Yeah, double battles are the rarity with me," May said.
"Oh, hey, that's Tyson," Ash pointed. "Funny, I never really ran into him this time..."
"That's a pretty cool looking Meowth," Arbok said, glancing slyly at his teammate.
"Hey, I'm cool!" Meowth replied. "I'm plenty cool!"
For a moment, they watched as the Meowth on the screen – Tyson's Meowth, equipped with a jaunty hat and a pair of boots – battled back and forth with his opponent, a fast-kicking Hitmonlee.
"No, I think he's cooler," Arbok decided. "Don't you think so, Audino?"
Audino raised his hands. "Come on, I'm just the cook."
Arbok's tail flicked. "Some Pokémon aren't willing to speculate," he sighed. "What about you, Marowak? Any opinion?"
Marowak contemplated the swashbuckler battling in the Ever Grande League, then their own teammate Meowth.
"Well..." she began, drawing out the syllable. "His outfit is very snazzy."
"I've got a snazzy outfit too!" Meowth said, stung. "It's a ninja outfit, remember?"
"Funny thing," Marowak replied. "I've never seen you in it."
Meowth did a double-take, then sighed. "Ah, whatever."
"Is this a pirate and ninja thing?" Dustox checked.
"A what?" Meowth said, confused.
"Well, you're both Meowths, but he's a swashbuckling pirate-y type, and you're a sneaky ninja-y type," she explained. "The two are mortal enemies."
"...I'm pretty sure there ain't no hidden martial art about hatin' pirates," Meowth said, dubiously. "Though come ta think of it, da whole class for me was about half an hour and then a load'a correspondence courses."
"Are you actually watching this match?" Audino asked.
"Well, I was until I got told I shouldn't like pirates," Meowth replied, turning back to it anyway. "An… huh."
Marowak looked closer. "I did not know Meowth could eat dreams."
"News ta me, too…" Meowth admitted, and started rummaging around in his bag for his dog-eared Prima guide. "An… let's see… yup, here we are! Turns out we can. Whod'a thunk?"
"Not that Hitmonlee, that's for sure..."
Carnivine came over with four bowls of popcorn. "Hey, guys, how's it going?"
"Not bad," Arbok replied. "Though I must say, this League has a lot more people in it than some we've seen. And participated in."
"So, back to the land of the awake?" Meowth asked, taking three steps back and sliding on the soles of his boots. "Let us see how well you fight like a mon!"
"You put me to sleep!" Hitmonlee replied, highly offended. "I'd like to see you fight when you're unconscious!"
"Rolling kick, Hitmonlee!" ordered his trainer.
Tyson's Meowth crouched, then sprang forwards. His claws flicked out, sharp and wicked, and he drew a M-shape in claw marks on Hitmonlee's side as he went past.
"Ow!" Hitmonlee yelped. "Right, that's it – Mega Kick!"
Coming up from his roll, the Fighting-type planted one leg and swivelled on it – bringing the other around with blazing force to hammer into Meowth and knock him out of the arena.
It missed.
"Aerial Ace," Tyson's Pokémon informed Hitmonlee, and his claws blurred in a move so fast they left a trail of wind behind them.
Hitmonlee staggered backwards, then hit the ground with a crash.
"Tyson and his Meowth win!" the judge announced. "They will go through to the next round!"
"That's right!" Mr. Goodshow agreed, voice coming over the PA. "And with that wonderful battle, we're moving on to the second round! These are doubles battles, so everyone should make sure to have two Pokémon ready which work well together!"
As the announcement cut out, Brock looked over at Ash and Max. "Do you guys know who you're using?"
"I haven't decided yet," Ash admitted. "I wonder if maybe Swellow and Corphish would work well together…"
"You could have Mawile and Goodra do it," May suggested. "They're great friends!"
Ash nodded. "You're right, that's another good option – or I could try using Noctowl and Absol, that could be interesting."
He chuckled. "I've got too many choices..."
Correct. You have 43 distinct Pokémon counting Tauros as separate and assuming everyone is available; thus your total choice is 903 combinations. Of these, 342 have at least one Legendary participant.
Dexter emitted an electronic shrug. Of course some of these are combinations like Keldeo and Absol, which would be hard to organize, or Mewtwo and Pikachu, which is simply unfair.
Pikachu looked smug. "Because of me, right?"
You are a statistically significant component of the unfairness, Dexter clarified.
"I'm going to treat that as a win."
"What about if it's Mewtwo and I?" Lucario asked.
"Well, that's it for today," Queen Ilene said. "That was very interesting – thank you for joining me for it, Lucario."
"It is my pleasure, your majesty," Lucario assured her, picking up the remote. "Now, which of these is the off button..."
He pressed one at random, and the channel changed.
"...I've not seen one of these before," Ilene said, watching the strange ball game on the screen. "Is that a Lucario?"
In a large, open stadium, a Riolu dribbled a spinning top forwards – passing it from foot to foot. As a Shinx approached, the Riolu took a run up and kicked it left towards a Lucario, who performed a startling backflip in mid-air and volleyed it over the head of a nearby Luxray.
The camera panned, showing the third member of the Fighting-type team – a Mega Lucario, pulsing faintly with the light of Mega-Evolution. It jumped ten feet into the air, lined up a punch, and hit the top.
The Mega Lucario was clearly aiming to knock the top into a floating pyramid, but the force of the blow simply made it explode into a thousand pieces.
"Foul by the Royal Blues!" someone shouted. "Penalty shot for the Fuego Lions!"
A pause. "And can someone get a new puck?"
69
"Well, here we are!" Chili announced, stepping back and looking up at the building. "This is where we'll be making our magic!"
"And by magic, you mean… meals," Cress pointed out.
"Meals are magic,"Chili informed him, waving it off. "Just ask Cilan about that."
"It's not just a meal, any meal," Cilan said, with a flourish. "It's the interplay between meal, trainer and Pokémon – the way that it energizes them into a great battle!"
Chili chuckled. "We know, bro."
For a moment, the three brothers fell silent.
"Still amazes me," Cress said. "We all made it."
"That's right!" Chili agreed. "Not one, not two, but all three of us managed to earn the right to stand as Gym Leaders!"
"You're correct, of course," Cilan smiled. "But at the same time… weren't you just astonished by the buffet of wonderful Pokémon that we were offered at the League? It makes one's mouth water just thinking of it."
"You're not wrong," Chili nodded. "That Darmanitan, whoo! And I'm pretty sure that Heatmor was something really special – did you see how he punched through that Reflect shield?"
"It makes me wonder how we're going to keep up," Cress said.
"We'll work something out," Chili assured him. "You've got Panpour, right? And we can take turns – one of us will run the restaurant, another will sort out the gym rooms, and the third will go off to catch some Pokémon – you know, Gym Pokémon, so whatever we can get that fits with any element we have."
"I do have my eye on some Basculin," Cress admitted.
"That's the spirit!" his enthusiastic brother agreed. "What about you, Cilan?"
Cilan pondered.
"I'm not sure," he admitted. "But I think you're right, we should get some gym Pokémon. Even if we try to be a first-gym challenge, sooner or later someone's going to come along with seven badges and we'll just be the garnish on their road to the League."
"And that's awful," Cress stated.
"I know! Garnish improves appearance, and adds a pinch of taste, but it's not the core of the flavour!"
"Okay, uh..."
Iris stared out the window, thinking, then began to write. "The establishment of the Gym system in Unova began after a war three hundred years ago, attempting to regulate the use of Pokémon and to bolster local..."
She paused. "Wait… was it to bolster local autonomy or to reduce it? I can never remember these things!"
The nascent Dragon Tamer leaned back in her chair and groaned. "Why do I have to know this stuff? None of it's relevant to today anyway, it's not like tomorrow Alder's going to go on the TV and announce he's disbanding the League..."
Excadrill clicked his claws together.
"What?" Iris asked, batting her hair out of the way so she could look at him. "What's the problem?"
The Steel-type shrugged, not particularly interested in being talkative.
"Fine, be that way," Iris retorted. "Aargh… okay, I need to write about a thousand words on the history of the gym system…"
She paused, then got out her diary and looked again at the assignment.
"...okay, I think this might work!" she said, perking up. "It doesn't say it has to be about all the gyms. I could just write about the Opelucid City gym, that one's interesting!"
Fraxure sniggered.
Iris waved her hand at him, already discarding the partly-used paper and starting a fresh piece. "Okay, here we go..."
"...hey, Pikachu?" Ash asked. "Is it me or is that the guy who had the Pelipper and kept Pokémon in its beak?"
"I think you're right," Pikachu agreed. "He'd have to be really stupid to try cheating right in front of all these spectators, though."
"He was… Anthony," Ash said, remembering. "And yeah, but his thing did have potential."
"Trainers, send out your Pokémon!" the judge called.
"Well, I guess we'll see," Pikachu said.
"Go!" Ash called, winding up for the throw.
Ash's two Pokéballs flared with light, letting Swellow and Pidgeot burst out into the morning air.
"Oh, yeah!" Swellow said, wings blurring, and flew a corkscrew path around Pidgeot's more sedate glide. "I am so ready for this!"
"I'm sure you are," Pidgeot agreed. "Let's see how it all works out, shall we?"
She slowed down to hover over the grass of the stadium, with Swellow orbiting her, and faced down Anthony's Pokémon.
Surprisingly, there was only one – his Pelipper, flying a slow course towards them.
"So, what do you think?" Swellow asked. "Are you going to use Aeroblast?"
"Not in a crowded stadium," Pidgeot replied. Her wings crackled, air control layers forming from the tips of the feathers, and for a moment there was a white shock like a bird four times her size around her. Then she accelerated, climbing high into the stadium air, and turned to attack.
"Me first," Swellow said cheekily, her own wings propelling her forwards. She inhaled, letting the pressure build up in her beak, then let it out in a Boomburst which blasted out towards Pelipper.
There was a flicker of green light, and the attack hit Pelipper without any appreciable effect.
"He's-" Ash began, then there was a concussive BANG which knocked Swellow sideways in the air.
"-using Protect," Ash finished what he was going to say. "What was that?"
Swellow recovered from her dive, one wing cutting a few blades of grass as she bottomed out, and swept back up into the sky. "Okay, that was uncool. Who did that?"
"Pidgeot, wait!" Ash called, thinking. "Use Hurricane!"
Pidgeot replied by stabilizing her position in mid-air. Pelipper fired a burst of water at her, a Hydro Pump with enough force that the recoil sent him backwards a foot or two, and Pidgeot didn't dodge – she simply swept her enormous wings around, then beat them so hard that the Water attack aimed at her dispersed and turned into rain.
The wall of wind hammered at Pelipper, making him slide further backwards, then passed with the Flying-type still in the air.
"Payback!" Anthony called.
Pelipper sent a blast of Dark-type energy back at Pidgeot, who stood on her tail and flew straight up until she was right at the top of the arena.
"Pidgeot, this time try a Razor Wind!" Ash said.
Reaching her apex, Pidgeot went into a succession of rolls – one, two, three in a row, then slowed by braking with her wings and let the spiralling wind go on without her.
There was a long flash of green light, and the Razor Wind fell apart.
"Okay, he's using Protect!" Ash informed his Pokémon. "That means – attack one after the other!"
Swellow dove in. "Okay, me first!"
A pressure wave built on the tips of her wings, and she launched off a Boomburst and a pair of Air Cutters at the same moment. The pulses of hardened air shot forwards, then there was an explosion and they were all dispersed.
Ash frowned, then closed his eyes – and saw what was going on.
"Change of plan!" he called. "There's a Pineco in his beak!"
Pidgeot and Swellow both realized what he meant in a flash. The larger of the Flying-types broke off her attack, pulling up and around, and Swellow dove so she wouldn't run into the blast radius.
"How come we can't see it?" she asked, hovering for a moment over Ash's head.
"I guess he must be using Protect on his own beak so the explosion only goes outwards?" Ash suggested.
"I have a plan!" Pidgeot called down. "Swellow, up here!"
The swift Pokémon shot back into motion, zooming up to join her ally.
"Okay, what's the idea?" she asked.
"He can't do both Protect shields at once," Pidgeot explained. "And I can put together a drill that can push him into the floor if he shields… so he'll have to use Pineco."
Her wings spread, and she began to circle around the hole in the roof – faster and faster – and roll about her own axis, wings a blur.
"Ready?"
"...oh. Oh, yeah," Swellow said, eyes widening. "This is going to be so cool."
Pidgeot's speed built until a spiral of wind built up, and then she stopped abruptly.
"Now!" she said, drawing her wings back, and Swellow darted up-around-and-down into the eye of the still-coiled windstorm.
With an almighty flap of her wings, Pidgeot drove her whole prepared attack straight down. Five layers of contra-rotating wind drove straight down towards Pelipper, with Swellow riding behind the tip of the third like a surfer in the curl of a wave.
Pelipper did a double-take as the drill came towards him.
"Explosion!" Anthony ordered him. "You can't block that!"
Opening his bill, Pelipper shot Pineco out on a stream of water. A glow built as the Bug-type began to ready his Explosion-
Then things happened very fast. Swellow rolled right and then left, matching speeds with the drilling razor wind layers to slip through them, and snatched up Pineco in her talons. Doing a fast backflip, she hurled the Bagworm Pokémon into the empty middle of the stadium just an instant before he exploded.
Suddenly bereft of his defence, Pelipper was caught up in the Razor Wind and hammered into the floor. The first and second layers both hit him, but Pidgeot dispelled the other three before they could add insult to injury.
"Whoo!" Swellow cheered, circling the smoking Pineco as he fell. "Who's the mon?"
"I assume it's you," Pidgeot chuckled.
"That was a pretty good battle," Ash said, shaking Anthony's hand. "I like the Explosion trick."
"You do?" Anthony asked, a little surprised – then gratified. "I – oh, thank you, that's great to hear."
He looked down. "After we met… I had a long think about what I'd been doing, and… well, I'm glad I can still make it work well."
"Yeah, I think you should keep it up," Ash told him. "Double battles are a great way to use a Pelipper, and there's always Contests too – some of them are doubles."
"That does sound like a good idea," Anthony smiled. "Thanks."
"You know, a Pokémon League like this is sometimes really hard to keep track of," May said, waving to close down Ethan's summary of the battle Casey had just faced. "It was okay just following Ash, but now there's… what, six people? And they're not in the same stadium?"
Brock shrugged. "It's easier than trying to follow Ash from half a world away."
May winced. "Oh, yeah, when he did Vertress. I remember that… it all kind of went wrong, right?"
The gym leader waved a hand. "I'm not sure – I mean, the guy who beat him did have a Riolu which evolved into a Lucario, and we all know how tough they can be, but it is the only time Ash has done worse than he did the previous League."
Except for the Silver Conference after the Orange League, Ethan stated.
"The only people who think that one counts are Ash and the people in it," May said, then sniggered. "Okay, it's not that bad..."
"The Orange Islands are… odd," Brock allowed. "But it's relaxing. And the people there are very friendly."
"Especially Professor Ivy," May teased. "Yeah, I can see that."
She stretched. "Okay, it looks like Morrison's up next. Not sure who his opponent is… apparently it's someone called Ushi."
Morrison put his hands together and gave a quick bow. "I am ready!"
"Sure," Ushi chuckled. "Then I guess I am too. Go!"
"Do your best!" Morrison said, releasing his own Pokémon.
On his side of the arena, his Girafarig landed with a clack of hooves, and then his Growlithe took up a position by her side.
Across the battlefield, Ushi's Machamp spread his arms and set his feet.
"Wait – where's the other Pokémon?" Morrison asked. "You do know it's a double battle, right?"
Ushi nodded. "Look closer."
Machamp whirled an arm around his head, and a red blur shook back and forth.
"…is that a Magikarp?" Morrison said, staring. "Why does your Machamp have a Magikarp by the tail?"
"It's a crying shamu," Ushi replied. "Now, Machamp!"
"Growlithe, dodge right!" Morrison ordered.
Growlithe jumped away, avoiding a wet-slap of an impact as the Magikarp shot straight at him, and Machamp lunged forwards with all four arms ready to punch.
Girafarig skipped backwards, making sure her hooves didn't bump into one another, and a light formed around her horns.
"Psybeam!"
Machamp blocked in a double-X formation, and the Psybeam that hit his crossed forearms made him grunt as it arrested his momentum and pushed him back a step. As he did, Growlithe darted forwards under the body-barrel of his ally, and lunged.
"Fire Fang!" Morrison confirmed, and Growlithe's teeth flashed with fire as he went for Machamp's leg – then got caught by a stunning fish blow in the side.
"What happened?" Morrison asked. "Wait – did Magikarp go back to him?"
"Ah!" Ushi chuckled. "I see you've discovered the Returning Fish technique!"
"Try and catch the fish!" Morrison said. "Girafarig, keep an eye on it if it goes past you!"
The head face of his Psychic-type winked at him, and then Girafarig was hit in the side of the neck hard enough to nearly knock her over.
Growlithe shook his head to clear out the ringing sound, then jumped back and landed on Girafarig's back to help defend her.
"Keep it up!" Morrison asked. "Growlithe, make sure that you avoid being hit by that fish!"
Growlithe barked an affirmative, and fired Embers at Machamp from Girafarig's back. The Fighting-type blocked them with a blur of motion (which included Magikarp being used to knock the balls of flame aside) and then threw his fishy weapon at Morrison's Pokémon again.
Growlithe pounced, catching it out of the air, and shook it with a muffled bark.
"All right!" Morrison cheered. "Good work!"
"Dragon Rage," Ushi ordered.
"What?" Morrison asked, taken aback.
Growlithe's tail went down, and he had just enough time to see a sadistic glitter in Magikarp's eyes before a torrent of energy came blazing out of the Water-type's mouth.
The sheer force propelled Magikarp into the air, then caused it to fly around like a punctured balloon – forcing Growlithe to let go after the second time they hit the ground – and Magikarp turned off the blazing energy in time for Machamp to catch him.
May blinked. "Huh. That's a thing."
"Yeah, that about sums it up," Brock agreed.
"Okay, we need a new plan!" Morrison said, thinking hard. "Growlithe, Flamethrower!"
"Roww!" the Fire-type barked, bracing himself, and let out a blast of flames. This one was stronger than the Embers he'd fired before, and Machamp used three arms to punch pulses of compressed air and knock the cinders aside. The other arm wielded his ally Magikarp, taking on the main force of the flamethrower.
"Now, Girafarig!" he added. "Charge Beam!"
Lightning raced up Girafarig's horns, and she fired a bolt of electricity straight at Machamp. It struck Magikarp, producing a flash of side-scatter, and Machamp took the last dregs of the flamethrower head-on before Growlithe ran out of puff.
"Machamp, Magikarp, fish cannon attack!" Ushi said.
Machamp steadied himself, supporting the dazed Magikarp with two arms, and used the third to twist Magikarp's tail. A river of Dragon Rage poured out, the first flush blocked by Girafarig's quick and low-powered Dazzling Gleam, and then Morrison's Pokémon scattered to avoid being hit.
The Magikarp-derived Dragon Rage kept firing, sweeping around as Machamp fought to keep it under control despite the recoil, then hit Girafarig a second time. She skidded sideways, hooves skittering on the floor, and fell down – then Growlithe jumped at Machamp and was batted away by a fist.
"Girafarig, use your telekinesis!" Morrison said. "Take the Magikarp from his hands!"
Girafarig reached out, horns glowing, and Machamp had to cling on with all four hands to prevent Magikarp being snatched away. With that much force going into the tug-of-war, Growlithe was free to act, and ran in a half-circle to get behind Machamp
"Flare Blitz!" Morrison said.
Growlithe coiled himself, then lunged – the eruption of flames from the impact knocking Machamp forwards, making him lose grip on Magikarp, and then Growlithe got out of the way fast enough that a Psybeam from Girafarig didn't get him too.
"Great work!" Morrison praised. "Now, get that Magikarp!"
"Look again," Ushi said.
Morrison and his Pokémon looked, and saw that Magikarp was glowing a bright white. His form expanded, turning from a small fish into a giant sea serpent, and then the newly-evolved Gyarados roared.
Girafarig hit it with a Charge Beam, and it went backwards into the wall.
After several seconds with no further movement, the judge raised a hand. "Machamp and Gyarados are unable to battle!"
"If that Gyarados had evolved ten seconds earlier, I think Machamp could have used it as a flail," Dawn said. "That would have been pretty effective."
Johanna just gave her daughter a look, then sighed. "Do you always think like this?"
"What?" Dawn asked. "It makes sense, right?"
"An odd kind of sense, yes..."
"Okay, Arc, good luck!" Max said, sending his starter out with a flash of light. "And you too, Delta!"
"Huh," his opponent said. "You're someone who nicknames their Pokémon? Never saw the need."
Shrugging, the burly trainer – several years older than Max – send out his Onix. "Me, I just call him Onix."
"Sir, please send out your other Pokémon," the judge asked, as Delta took off in a rush of tailwind.
"Fine, fine, hold on to your britches," the trainer said. His other Pokéball opened, and a dainty Sylveon landed on the battlefield.
"...huh?" Max asked, a little confused.
"What?" his opponent said defensively. "He's a good Pokémon!"
"Who's this guy?" May asked.
His name is Fisher, Ethan told her. Apparently he is originally from Shikoku.
"He's got pretty good taste in Pokémon," Brock said. "And he's a caring trainer too. Look at the sheen on that Sylveon's coat – it's been very well raised, and that fur's been taken care of daily!"
"I guess that's good," May agreed. "It's important to make sure your Pokémon are in top condition, because it makes them feel happy – so they fight better and they feel better."
She frowned. "Brock? What would someone's team look like if they didn't have good taste in Pokémon?"
Brock paused. "Uh… actually, that is a good question. Maybe… someone using Pokémon that aren't good at fighting in a League?"
"I'm not sure there are any," Lucario said.
"Unown?" Brock suggested. "They work well as alphabets, but as single Pokémon they're not very worthwhile."
"Yeah, they're weak to the crowbar-type," May joked.
"Actually that's technically the steel type," Brock countered. "The Crowbar's the specific Appliance, it's a Steel-type. A stirring rod is Glass-type."
"How long have you spent thinking about that?"
"Longer than I should," Brock admitted. "I think we might be missing the battle."
"Rock Throw!" Fisher instructed. "Get that Manectric!"
Arc bounded backwards, and the rock was knocked off course by a focused Bubblebeam from his overhead teammate.
"Thanks!" he barked, glancing up, then turned to the Sylveon. It used furry tendrils from its bow to try and trip him, but Arc simply hit them with a Thunderbolt and let the electricity arc back up them to the Fairy-type – earning a yelp of surprise.
"Okay, forget the Manectric for now!" Fisher amended. "Onix, Bite! Sylveon, Rock Climb!"
"Rock Climb?" Max repeated. "But what's – Delta! Get higher!"
Delta swerved upwards, fins flapping, as Onix lunged upwards towards him. As the Rock-type rose, Sylveon came thundering up his spine – paws and whips combining to pull him higher and higher – then jumped up to get onto Delta's back.
Delta immediately rolled, trying to fling the Fairy-type off, but took a nasty Moonblast as he did so and wobbled in mid-air.
"Delta, over here!" Max called. "Arc – now!"
Side-slipping, fins beating hard enough to make Sylveon find it difficult to launch further attacks, Delta lost height and dove towards Max. As he did so, Onix returned to a lower coil – ready to lunge – and then Arc flashed an incandescent white and charged straight at the Rock-type.
"Ice Fang!" he roared, blasting himself forwards with an application of stored charge to his leg muscles, and knocked Onix aside before sliding around in a half-circle to come back and help Delta.
"A Mega evolution?" Fisher asked, blinking. "Huh, guess you've got some tricks, kid!"
"I think that's the fourth Mega Evolution we've seen so far this League," Steven noted. "They're definitely getting a little more common – especially for them to show up so early in a tournament rather than being kept back as a trump card."
"Does make you wonder, though," Sidney grinned. "How many guys lost because they chose to keep their Mega Evolution secret, picked a different Pokémon, and got beat?"
Steven shrugged. "I'm sure there's a few."
Sylveon retreated, using his whips to latch onto the tailtip Onix offered him, and landed neatly atop the head of his Rock-type partner.
Arc growled, crouched half-down to make himself able to react quicker, and spared a glance for Max. "What now?"
"Thunder!" Max said.
An earsplitting blast of thunder slashed forwards, leaving an ozone smell in the air behind it, and splashed off a hastily-interposed tail.
"Not good enough, kid," Fisher said. "Electric attacks against a Ground-type?"
He paused. "Though I guess there was that one guy with the Pikachu… anyway! Onix, use Rock Tomb!"
Delta used Surf. A wave of water came from overhead, smacking into Onix as he got ready to attack, and then Sylveon counterattacked with a Moonblast which shot up and burst just below Delta's right wing.
Shaking the water off himself, Onix fired upwards as well – a quickly-aimed Rock Tomb – then swung his tail to knock Arc aside. There was a crackle-BANG of discharging lightning, and Arc kicked off the tail hard enough to drive it into the floor.
Sylveon spun and kicked sand up, momentarily obscuring Arc's vision, then dove off the side of Onix and onto the floor.
"Arc! Delta!" Max called, as Onix tried to hammer the Mega Manectric into the nearby wall. "You need to get out of range – Delta, fly low for a moment!"
"Stop them!" Fisher said urgently.
Dipping his wings, Delta slid down towards the arena floor. "Here!"
Sylveon grabbed at one of Arc's legs. The Electric-type used Discharge, knocking the Fairy-type away with a bang of equalizing electricity, then jumped over Onix' tail – only for the head to come crashing out of the ground in front of him and Tackle him.
"I'm not even sure who's winning," Caroline said. "Do you have any idea, dear?"
"Well, I think it's undecided at the moment," Norman replied.
They watched as Arc jumped over a coil of rocky serpent, ran up the tail, and kicked off with a burst of electrical backlash – rising into the air, and reaching the top of his arc just as Delta came winging up from below.
That was cool, Kirlia judged. What happens now?
"Good question," Norman said. "Let's see..."
"Okay, Arc!" Max said. "Hold on tight! Delta, if you see an attack that's not a Rock-type one then have Arc block it!"
"Right!" the Pokémon agreed, Delta just a bit ahead of Arc, and the Water-type did a dizzying barrel roll in mid-air a moment later. The centrifugal force kept Arc attached to Delta's back as they went upside down, and Arc spat a bolt of lightning which detonated Sylveon's latest Moonblast well short of contact.
"Okay, that's a tricky one," Fisher said, as Delta levelled out again. "Might have to think about that one..."
"Thunderstorm!" Max ordered.
Fisher blinked. "What?"
Delta inhaled, slowing to get a better aim, and fired down a powerful Brine attack. The salty water speared down towards Onix, who raised his tail instinctively to block the worst of it, and the mixture went everywhere.
"Wait – look out, Sylveon!" Fisher said, blanching.
Delta stopped his attack, rolling again, and Arc jumped. His paws delivered a little bit of scattered voltage to Delta's back – making the flying-type twitch in pain – and then the Mega-Evolved Electric-type dumped almost his entire remaining charge in a huge Thunder attack aimed straight down.
It hit Onix on the tail, and didn't harm him – but it also raced onwards, crackling down his sides and onto the soaking, salty floor. Only a relatively small fraction of the attack reached Sylveon, but he yowled with surprise and collapsed as the Thunder blasted right through him.
Arc landed on the wet ground, panting, and shook out his mane. He looked up long enough to see a vengeful tail descending on him, then yelped and dove to the side.
A moment later, Delta landed – unable to stay in the air, he'd instead elected to Waterfall straight down on top of Onix and poleaxe him into the ground.
Mud and water rained down for a few more seconds, then the judge raised a hand. "Max Maple is the winner!"
"There you go," Caroline said, nodding. "I knew Max could do it."
"Well, he is very talented," Norman agreed. "But you didn't sound so sure a few minutes ago."
He's right, you know, Gardevoir said, sitting down in the free armchair. Four plates of cookies followed her through the air, and she plucked one before putting it down on a side table. Oh, I finished making those cookies you suggested. They seem very nice.
"Which ones are these?" Norman asked, taking one of the other plates. He took a bite, and blinked. "Oh, salted caramel? That's lovely!"
Thank you, Gardevoir replied. I had a minor panic earlier when I realized I didn't have a spatula, but fortunately I did have telekinesis so that solved itself.
"Some Pokémon abilities are useful for so much more than fighting," Caroline smiled. "Of course, that's sort of an obvious thing to say."
How come humans have technology, then? Kirlia asked. I mean, if Pokémon can do all the things you'd want to do with technology?
"The same reason why we have technology do things humans can do," Norman suggested. "It's because it saves time – you could fly a thousand passengers to Alola by having five hundred Pidgeot do it, or you could have two aircraft do it. And you could either have a Pokémon cook for you, or you could turn on a stove."
He shrugged. "I think mostly the point is that machines do jobs where machines can, so Pokémon are freed up to have more leisure time and to do the things only Pokémon can. Or which they can do more easily."
Right, Kirlia agreed. That makes sense. And I don't think many Pokémon could watch battles happening dozens of miles away, especially doing it to let others see them too...
"Let's do this!" Kayley called, sending her Pokémon out. "Ariados, Roggenrola, you know the plan!"
Ritchie sent out his own Pokémon, and Zippo and Sparky appeared – both in big flashes of light, then standing with Sparky to the left of and in front of his Fire-type ally.
"Sticky Web!" Kayley ordered.
Her Ariados shot out webs of a sticky material, adhering to the little spike on top of Roggenrola, and then skittered forwards and to the side. With a convulsive heave, the two cooperated to swing Roggenrola around in a half-circle and whipcrack him towards Zippo.
Who used Flamethrower.
The strands of web promptly and energetically caught fire, parting in under a second and sending Roggenrola past out-of-control to smash into the arena wall.
"...oh, uh..." Kayley said, wincing. "I kind of hoped that would work..."
She shook her head. "Uh – okay, Electro – no, Signal Beam!"
Zippo moved smoothly forwards, wing swiping up to block – the Bug-type attack splashing off the scaly surface and doing little damage – and Sparky retreated behind the leathery shield before using his tail to lasso Zippo's wing joint and fling himself into the air.
Ears glowing, the Raichu launched forwards a Thunderbolt, and then spun around in mid-air to send a pulse of psionic energy out and hit Roggenrola.
Both Kayley's Pokémon went sliding backwards, hit the walls, and collapsed.
"Is that it?" Sparky asked, after a few seconds.
"Ritchie Getem wins!" the judge said. "Very easily."
"It was just kind of a bad matchup for her," Ritchie said, shrugging. "I thought that plan was a cool one, though… you just need a backup plan."
"Yeah, I know..." Kayley agreed, sighing, and returned her Pokémon.
"That was short," Brock said, checking the time. "And that was the last match of the day, right?"
"For this one, yeah," May confirmed. "There's still a battle or two going on in the other arenas, though."
"Right," Brock decided, standing up. "That sounds like time to head back to where we're staying."
He recalled Stantler, who'd been on the seat next to him, and then the group moved across sideways and reached the stairs.
"It's a pity we can't fly out," May said. "I mean, it'd be pretty convenient, but the air traffic control would be kind of awful."
I could manage it, Ethan told them.
"Yeah, but would you want to?"
Ethan was silent for a long moment.
Not more than a few times.
"There you go," May pointed out. "Hey, Brock, why did you have Stantler out?"
"Well, Steelix wanted to see how the matches went," Brock explained. "And I thought that if Stantler watched, then he could use his illusions to replay the highlights."
"Neat," May decided.
They came to the bottom of the stairs, and May looked around for a moment to get her bearings. "That way, right?"
"That's right," Brock agreed.
There was a series of meows, as a Shinx came dodging through the crowd to reach them. She patted Brock's leg, and pointed. "That way!"
Brock did a double-take, then followed her pointing paw. "Philena?"
Professor Ivy waved. "Over here, Brock!"
The trainer paused long enough to scoop up Shinx, then pushed through the crowd towards Professor Ivy. "What are you doing here?"
"I thought it'd be a good chance to have a break," Professor Ivy explained. "It's about the right timing for a week off, after all."
"This is your Shinx?" May asked, as the Electric-type jumped from Brock's arms and settled on Philena's shoulder. "She's pretty cute."
Shinx purred, very glad of the praise, as Brock gave Philena a quick hug.
"I'm sorry it's been so long," he said, releasing her. "I've been in Hoenn for a while, and that's a long way to go to the Orange Islands – and it's almost never been a good time. But it's going to be Kanto for the next few months, so..."
He let it trail off, then shrugged. "Well, Flygon can probably manage something."
"That would be nice," Philena smiled. "But I knew that you'd not always be around, Brock – so don't beat yourself up over it."
"That uses energy that could go into stroking," Shinx said sagely. "Speaking of which, I know you know what I'm saying when I ask for them!"
Brock laughed, petting the Electric-type. "She's quite a little tyrant, isn't she?"
Philena nodded. "Oh, yes… she really is."
Blaine cleared his throat. "Ahem! Is everyone quite finished?"
Several of the younger Gym Leaders looked embarrassed, and the noise subsided.
"Thank you," the Fire-type specialist said, putting his hands on the table. "Now, as I was saying… is anyone still having problems running high-badge challenge teams?"
He looked over to his left. "Forrest? I heard you were facing some issues."
"It's okay now," Forrest told him. "I got Dad to help me train up one of those new Omanyte that were found near the Ruins of Alph, and he's been pretty helpful. Apart from that-"
"Oh, you got an Omanyte?" asked Violet. "Those are kind of neat, I guess… Misty's Kabutops is a bit spiky for my taste."
"He's an Omastar now," Forrest replied. "So… actually more spiky."
Violet sighed. "That's kind of a pity."
"We're getting off topic," Blaine said, not for the first time. "So, Forrest, you have the issue in hand?"
"Pretty much," Forrest agreed. "I'm going to see about getting a couple more Fossil types, I think it'd be neat to have a Shieldon or Lileep… but last time I got checked out I passed."
"That's good to hear," Blaine admitted. "So, that's Forrest… what about the Cerulean gym?"
"Yeah, that's been kind of hard to live up to," Lily said. "Ever since Misty became, like, awesome, everyone thinks we're the same kind of trainers, and we're… less of that. Still… you know, it's kind of working out okay."
Blaine nodded. "Right. What about you, Mavis?"
"Doing just fine!" Mavis confirmed. "The gym's all set up, and I've taken a few challengers so far – not many have come to Gardenia town yet, but I'm sure that'll change."
She frowned. "Though… actually, nobody's won my Heart Badge yet. Is that wrong?"
Koga stroked his chin. "It might be," he hedged. "I'll leave Janine in charge and have a look at how you're handling challengers – it might be you're not judging the challenge right. You've been taping them?"
"Of course!" Mavis agreed. "But I'm afraid Juvia might have broken one of the cameras during a match, so not all of that one will be there."
"That's what I'm talking about!" Surge applauded.
"Lieutenant Surge," Giovanni chided. "We're all very impressed with Ms. Mavis, of course – but I would appreciate it if you would show some courtesy."
Surge subsided, throwing a glance at the Viridian Gym Leader. "Killjoy..."
"Giovanni is correct, Surge," Blaine informed him. "Let's see… what about you two?"
Yas glanced at Kaz, then spoke up. "Right. Well… we're still making sure we've got a team ready to challenge the Elite Four for qualification," he said. "That was something we wanted to ask, actually – how does it work when you've got two gym leaders?"
"Is that what's been delaying you?" Surge asked, then shrugged. "Tsk… and to think you've been getting ready for this for years."
"After what happened when we did our first attempt we're not exactly eager to get beaten that badly again!" Kaz protested. "Besides, one of the new Elite Four is a Dark type specialist! How are we going to even stand a chance against her?"
"You don't," Giovanni told them. "You research her fighting style, then use Pokémon borrowed from her to help you beat one of the other Elite Four members – like Misty, or Will."
"Be that as it may," Blaine said, tempted to call the meeting to order. "I understand that the Dark City presumptive gym is going as planned?"
Nods.
"Good. Now...Sabrina, have you had any luck identifying who you want to run your Lavender Town project?"
"Not so far," Sabrina replied. "I'll let you know if I do."
Blaine nodded. "Okay, I understand – thanks for keeping us updated. And I understand Seph and Yolanda couldn't be with us today, so..."
He took a deep breath. "Any Other Business?"
Forrest raised his hand. "I've got something."
"You don't need to raise a hand for attention, Forrest," Blaine assured him. "What is it?"
"Well..." Forrest looked uncertain. "My brother said that Ash Ketchum's coming back to Kanto for the next few months."
There was a long pause.
"Anyone know where I can buy some good gym armour?" Mavis asked.
"Did you hear about what he did to Jasmine's gym? It won't help..."
Melody! Silver sent, wings flaring. It's great to see you!
Indeed it is, his mother agreed, bowing down to the priestess as she climbed up towards the Shamouti shrine. And our thanks for visiting us.
"That's fine," Melody replied, setting down her burden for a moment. "It's no problem, really..."
Slowking tapped her on the shoulder. "I'll get that," he informed her, picking up the box. "It's good of you go bring it this high."
So saying, the Water-type began climbing up the steps himself. Melody smiled, then followed – hurrying ahead to look for a good clear area.
"Is it okay to have that wall cleaned off?" she checked, pointing. "That one's about the right shape."
Of course, Ash's Lugia said with a nod. He shifted, getting so he was almost along the line of the rock face, and fired a powerful Hydro Pump. Focused so the stream of water had the force of a pressure washer, he blasted the debris clean off the cliffside, and when he stopped a few seconds later the result was a clear rock face with only a few minor cracks or gaps.
"Great!" Melody said, and set the projector down on a rock. "Now, I know you wanted to watch Ash's matches, so I thought this would work best. I recorded the League so far onto a couple of disks, so we can skip the bits you're not as interested in."
That sounds excellent, the female Lugia said.
"Yeah, this is going to be great!" Silver agreed.
I'll just go and get our visitor, his father added.
"Visitor?" Melody asked, then held up a hand against the dust as Lugia took off in a rush of wind. "Who's the visitor?"
"Rayquaza's been visiting," Slowking told her, placidly. "He wanted to talk about the thing with the Groudon and Kyogre."
Yeah, that was cool, Silver added. But he said that he can't do the Mega Evolving thing any more, something about how the meteorite was too small.
Melody nodded, understanding most of what they were talking about thanks to her studies. "Well, will he fit?"
"I can simply levitate," Rayquaza said from directly above her.
It was a testament to Melody's steadiness that she didn't jump a foot in the air.
"I must admit, I'm interested to see this," the Dragon-type added, as Melody shook herself and started to turn the projector on. "It will be a useful insight, of the kind Mewtwo seeks out."
The lens lit up, throwing a white image onto the cliffside in the gathering gloom, then Melody hit the remote control and it skipped ahead to the first-round matches.
"There's about a hundred and thirty of these, so let me know if I should fast forward," she said.
Let's just watch for now, one of the Lugia suggested. So we get an idea of what we're looking at.
The sun had long set, and the broad sweep of a cloudless night shone over Shamouti, by the time Melody paused the video.
"Okay, that's enough for one night," she said, yawning. "I'm pretty sure it's past midnight..."
Silver sighed. Aww… okay, I guess that makes sense.
He lay back on the stone of the shrine, and brightened. Wow, the stars look great! It's completely clear!
"That's my doing," Rayquaza informed him. "My Air Lock ensures that the sky is calm and clear."
"It does look pretty good," Melody agreed, as her night vision recovered. "I don't think I've ever seen this many stars in the heavens."
"Look!" Silver said. "There's so many shooting stars!"
Melody watched as they came, sometimes two or three a minute, sometimes more. "And you're right, Silver, that's beautiful – and amazing!"
Silver yawned, wings flopping out beside him, and he shook his head. "Wow… I'm more tired than I thought..."
His mother chuckled, nudging him. "Come on, Silver. It's time for bed."
"Okay," Silver agreed, reluctantly.
He rolled over onto his feet, then stood, and pointed north. "Mom? What's that?"
Both the Lugia looked.
"It's a comet," his mother said. "It looks like quite a big one, as well… from where it is, it must be quite a long way north, which is why we don't usually see it."
"Right," Silver yawned. "Thanks..."
"Melody," Silver's father added. "It's a long way to town, and it's very dark. If you wish, I will offer you a lift."
"I – thanks!" Melody said, honoured.
"It is no problem."
Lugia crouched to let her on, then took off with a single psionically-assisted wingbeat and headed down the slope.
Weekly Power Status
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