Capítulo 65: 21,22
"...so, what do you think?" May asked.
Skitty tilted her head. "Well, like, I guess it's cool and stuff, but I'm kind of okay with being a Skitty right now."
May nodded. "Okay – let me know if you change your mind."
"Totally."
Max put the Moon Stone back in his bag.
"So, are you looking forward to a contest?" May asked.
Skitty nodded eagerly. "Absolutely!"
"I was thinking... well, if it's a two-Pokémon one then there's a routine we were practising with Beautifly. Remember?" May asked.
"I sure do!" Skitty agreed, eyes glinting slightly. "That was so much fun."
"Right, we'll do some more work on that tonight," May decided. "To make sure you're in practice."
"Psheah, I can do this easily," Skitty said, licking her paw.
They were interrupted by Brock's Crobat, who came flapping back down to the group. "Uh..."
"What is it?" Brock asked.
"Well... there's a guy in a Zangoose costume."
"Oh, Nicolai again!" Max said. "Hey, sis, can I battle him again? I kind of want to show what I've learned..."
"I don't see a problem," May agreed.
Ash sighed.
"You get enough battles," Brock pointed out.
"I guess so..."
"Wait," Skitty said, pointing at Max. "Isn't he, like, too young to be a trainer?"
"Special exemption," Ash said. "I'm technically his tutor."
"...so, like... he doesn't have as much time to pet me?" Skitty huffed. "Seriously uncool."
May tickled her under the chin, and reduced her to a purring fuzzball in seconds.
"No fair," she managed, then went back to purring.
The larger Zangoose reached up and pulled its head off.
"Hey, guys," said the contents, Nicolai. "Fancy meeting you here!"
"We could say the same to you," Brock replied. "How's things?"
"Not bad," Nicolai said, reaching down and giving his Zangoose a caress. "I caught this guy a couple of days ago, he's fitting in pretty well already."
"Just keep him away from Seviper," Brock chuckled.
"We're not all that bad," Zangoose muttered. "My father's father is supposed to have been a Seviper."
"Pardon?" Pikachu asked, blinking.
"Dad was a Linoone, it's a long story..."
"Wait," Ash said, and got out Dexter. Paging through, he found the page he wanted... and blinked.
"I did wonder... apparently Zangoose and Seviper are directly compatible."
Zangoose gaped. "What?"
"Can we have a fight now?" Nicolai asked. "I've barely followed any of this."
"Sure!" Max agreed readily.
"Okay, so, one Pokémon a side," Brock said. "Basic rules... go!"
"Zangoose!" Nicolai called, now back in his costume.
"Guy!" Max replied, and released the Grass-type.
"Okay, Zangoose!" Nicolai said. "Swords Dance!"
"Don't give him time!" Max instructed, and Guy surged forwards.
Taking four quick steps, he threw himself into a foot-first flying kick aimed for Zangoose' lower body.
Zangoose moved quickly, stepping back to throw off the attack, and then jumped as Guy planted one foot and turned it into a whirling low kick.
"Just missed!" Nicolai said, relieved. "Okay, Aerial Ace!"
"Block!" Max called quickly, as Zangoose darted in to attack.
Guy's arms came up into a blocking stance as he bounded back to his feet, then his right arm swept across in a block that struck Zangoose on the elbow just as he launched his attack.
His left arm punched up through the gap, and Zangoose was knocked away.
Guy didn't follow up, panting and rubbing his lower arm instead.
The Flying-type attack – though blocked – had hit hard, that much was clear. But the damage was healing fairly quickly.
"Don't let him attack again!" Max called. "Mach Punch – hit him first!"
Guy nodded, and sprinted forwards with his fist ready.
Zangoose tried to dodge away, and was partly successful – the Fighting-type attack only caught him a glancing blow.
Recovering, he paced warily for a moment – cirling, looking for an opening.
"Aerial Ace again!"
"Seed Bomb!" Max ordered.
Guy fired an explosive seed at the incoming Normal-type, who aborted his attack and swiped at the seed instead. There was a bang and a cloud of sesame-smelling smoke, which obscured the battlefield a little.
"Crush Claw!" Nicolai said, and there was the sound of claws – then the sound of fist.
Both Pokémon came bursting out of the smoke, Guy once more looking worse off but healing rapidly, and Zangoose sporting a few fresh bruises that hadn't been there before the clash.
"Okay, Guy!" Max shouted. "Dynamic Punch!"
They saw Zangoose' eyes widen, and he tried to get out of the way of the attack.
Guy lunged forward, fists glowing, and then slammed home a punch.
It exploded.
"Great work!" Max said, as Guy walked back over – a little unsteadily.
"You too, Zangoose," Nicolai added, returning the Normal-type. "You had a disadvantage, but you coped well."
He nodded, mostly to himself, then turned to Max. "Good work," he said formally. "I apologize for what I said last time we met."
"That's okay," Max grinned. "I was pretty new..."
"You've got a lot of Pokémon," the Joy said, handing back the Pokéballs. "Collectors?"
"Ash and I are both doing the Gym challenge," Max explained, releasing Cinder in a flash of light. "So we do a lot of training – and my sister's a Coordinator!"
"I see," the Joy smiled, then did a double take. "Wait... is that Ash Ketchum?"
Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's me."
"Well, that explains it," the Joy said. "I did wonder what some of those Pokémon even were..."
"Goomy's from Kalos and Keldeo's from Unova," Ash explained. "Actually – sorry, Latias, forgot to check earlier. You okay?"
"I'm fine!" Latias assured him happily. "I wasn't doing combat training, so I just needed a rest."
The Joy nodded. "Well – everything okay?"
She looked back as the Chansey brought the last set of Pokéballs over – and a yellow mouse, who jumped from her arms to the desk to the counter to Ash's shoulder in a series of flowing leaps.
"Hey, Pikachu!" Ash smiled. "Miss me?"
"Of course," Pikachu replied, taking his customary place and adjusting Ash's hat slightly.
"Me too," Ash replied.
"Well, I heard you could speak to Pokémon," the Joy admitted. She passed over the remaining Pokéballs, and Ash clipped them to his belt. "It's just strange to watch..."
There was another flash of light as Skitty emerged. "Can I, like, have a ride on a shoulder too?"
May glanced down at Ethan's screen. "Fine, I guess..."
"No, like... not yours." Skitty indicated Max. "I want to ride on his shoulder, you know?"
"Are you jealous?" Cinder asked, a smirk curling her lip.
"Totally not!" Skitty replied vehemently.
"Then I guess... well, it should be okay," Max said, reaching down to pick her up.
Skitty stuck her tongue out at Cinder – then gaped as the Dark-type smirked, and padded over to May.
May saw what she was going for, and bent down to give the Dark-type a scratch.
"Hey, that's totally uncool!" Skitty meowed. "It's, like, making it into a contest!"
"And you weren't already?" Cinder replied, tail wagging lazily.
"Not, like, like that..." Gathering herself, Skitty leapt off Max's shoulder and onto May's.
Cinder padded back over to her own trainer.
Skitty jumped back again.
May stifled a giggle as Cinder came right back over to her.
I feel like there should be music accompanying this, Dexter commented.
"Hey!" someone said. "Get out of the way, you're blocking the counter!"
"Sorry!" Brock said, speaking for all of them.
"Like, this totally isn't settled," Skitty informed Cinder.
That done, they moved off to one side.
"This is why you shouldn't have young trainers," the person said, shaking their head. "They've got no manners..."
"You're one to talk!" Max replied, stung.
"Isn't that..." May asked quietly.
"Think so," Brock agreed. "He does look basically the same as Max."
"I'm old enough to be a proper trainer," the older boy said, looking pointedly down at Max. "You're, what... six?"
"Seven!" Max replied. "How old are you, anyway?"
"Ten!" the other boy said.
"...really?" Max asked. "I'm not that much shorter..."
"Excuse me?" the Joy asked. "Don't you have a Pokémon to check?"
"No, I just wanted to make sure the counter was clear," the boy replied.
Joy looked at the mostly-empty room, and the lack of a queue. "Okay, if you say so..."
The boy turned back to the argument. "How come you've got Pokémon this young, anyway?"
"Max passed the tests early," Brock said. "He got very good marks, and Ash is basically acting as his tutor."
"Max?" the boy asked. "But that's me!"
"I'm pretty sure I'm called Max," Max said.
"So am I," Max protested.
Cinder sniffed. "You smell different, can't we just use that?"
"Most humans can't smell that well," Pikachu pointed out.
"Okay, look!" Max said. "Do you have a Pokémon?"
"No!" Max said, a little sharply.
"Then I'll help you catch one!" Max said.
Max was taken aback. "You... really?"
Max shrugged. "I won't promise you'll get the first Pokémon we find, I might want to keep it..."
"I guess," Max agreed.
"I'm glad you two are wearing different coloured outfits," May said. "Or this might be really confusing."
The float of Brock's fishing rod bobbed on the water surface.
"So, how long does this take?" Max asked.
"Well, last time it took hours," Max admitted. "Brock, you did put something on the lure, right?"
Brock nodded.
"Good," May smiled. "Who are you going to use to help catch the Pokémon, Max?"
"Well, either Delta or Arc, depends what Type it is," Max said. "I guess if it's a Ground type I might even use Guy."
"Who are those Pokémon?" the other Max asked, making a clear effort to reach out.
"This is Arc," Max said, and the Electric-type emerged in a flash. He yapped happily, and Max gave him a stroke. "He's my Starter."
"Huh, really?" Max asked, interested. "I thought most people who started early got the fancy starters."
"Arc's fine for me," Max replied. "My sister got a Torchic, though – he evolved really fast."
May giggled. "That's an understatement..."
Another scratch, and Max returned Arc before switching Pokéballs. "And this is-"
"Hey, Ash!" Brock called, interrupting them.
"What?" Ash asked, hands up in a cross-block.
"Stop training on the lake, you're going to scare the Pokémon!"
Ash sighed, and walked back onto the shore. Lucario followed him, leaving tiny ripples where his paws kissed the surface.
"...did he just stand on a lake?" Max asked.
"Yep!" Max agreed. "We're kind of getting used to it by now."
"Excuse me?" Mawile asked politely.
Skitty opened an eye. "Like, what is it?"
"Well... I wanted to ask a question," Mawile explained. "Why do you talk like that?"
"Like, like what?" Skitty asked, and yawned.
"Like that!" Mawile said.
"Yawning?" Skitty flirted her tail. "I'm, like, tired..."
"No, like that!" Mawile insisted. "With all the likes!"
"...I don't, like, get what you're saying..."
Mawile frowned, and walked off.
Skitty's tail flirted again, and she rolled over onto her back and yawned again.
"Excuse me?"
"Guh!" Skitty rolled her eyes. "What now?"
"Why do you use... the..." Mawile's voice took on the tones of someone concentrating. "Quo-ta-tive like?"
Skitty rolled back over on her front, and saw Mawile was reading off Dexter's screen. "Like, what does that mean?"
"Like that?" Mawile said, in the tones of a question.
"Like, like like, or like?"
"Like like," Mawile replied.
Dexter emitted an electronic sigh.
"But... it's just, like, talking?"
This is going to take forever.
"How come you're travelling with Ash Ketchum, anyway?" the older Max asked.
"It's kind of a long story," May said. "Basically, we first met when my Dad was officiating a League challenge he was in."
"That's kind of neat," Max admitted. "Which one? Kanto or Johto?"
"Orange Islands," May told him.
"...I've never heard of that one. They have a League?"
The younger Max chuckled. "Yeah, but not many people seem to have heard of it... it's a pity, the battle was really cool!"
"That's pretty lucky of you, then," the older one said. "I-"
The rod was abruptly jerked out of the holder. There was a splash, and something began struggling.
"What happened?" May asked, standing up.
"It looks like something got caught in the string!" Brock frowned. He grabbed a Pokéball from his belt. "Marshtomp, can you go and look?"
Marshtomp emerged, and began swimming out into the water.
"And watch out for the line!" Brock added.
"What could have got caught in the string?" the older Max asked.
"Well, it couldn't have been a swimming Pokémon," May began, then interrupted herself. "Or I guess it depends what you mean by swimming – look!"
As they watched, Marshtomp lifted a Surskit out of the water and began untangling it.
"Oh, that's cool!" the older Max said, standing. "I like those!"
His doppelganger picked up a Pokéball, ready to throw, then put it down again. "Actually, he looks kind of stressed... maybe we should make sure he's okay first."
"Good idea," Brock agreed. He waded out into the water and started to help Marshtomp untangle the Surskit. "It's okay, calm down... sorry about that..."
"So... you want to know why I, like, say like?"
"Yes!" Mawile nodded.
"It's when I, like, like something?" Skitty tilted her head. "Or when, you know, something's kind of similar to another thing? Like, a Glameow is kind of like a Skitty?"
"No, not like that," Mawile shook her head. "The other way!"
"Then I, like, totally don't get what you mean..."
Can I go now? Dexter asked.
"Well, he seems to like me," older-Max said, some time after the Surskit was properly untangled. "Don't you?"
Surskit looked up, smiled, and chirped something.
"You can probably guess that that was a yes," Brock said.
"Do you think he'd like to come with me?"
Surskit nodded again.
May passed a Pokéball over. "Here you go – you'll need one of these."
"Thanks," the local Max said, and held it out for Surskit to tap.
There was a flash, and the Pokémon was caught.
"I... I've got a Pokémon," he said, slowly. "Thank you so much!"
"No problem!" the younger Max replied. "We Maxes have to stick together!"
"Since when was that a rule?" May asked.
"Since I came up with it," Max told her.
"...ooooh, I get what you mean," Skitty said. "Like, no, it's just talking. You know what I mean?"
Mawile shook her head earnestly.
"...like, never mind," Skitty said. "I'm going to have my-"
"We're leaving, guys!" Ash called.
"Guh."
"Sorry!" Mawile said, shuffling her feet. "I really wanted to know..."
"Was that the same one he had last time?" May asked.
"I think so..." Max agreed, as they walked down the road. "Maybe it's just... fate, or something."
"Or Celebi," Brock nodded.
Sorry, did I miss something?
Ash turned to his right, and saw Celebi floating along next to him. Her eyes widened, and she vanished with a pop and a flash of blue light.
"...well, at least she's busy," Max said.
"Okay," Butch said, noting something on a pad of paper. "That's the third time at least we've seen that Tyranitar, so I guess we have to add it to the list too."
Cassidy nodded. "Right... we're sure it's his?"
"It's talked a lot with that Ivysaur," Butch pointed out. "And he did have a Larvitar – it's quick for one to evolve to Tyranitar, maybe he captured a relative."
Cassidy nodded.
"Why are we just taking notes?" one of the Rocket agents asked. "We could just steal the Pokémon that are there right now!"
Butch and Cassidy exchanged a glance, then gave him a long look.
"That wouldn't work," Cassidy said, summing it up.
"Why not?" the agent asked. "We've got Mega Stones – five of them! You've got a Mega Aggron, and you have a Mega Charizard!"
"And that is one of the hardest targets in the country," Butch explained.
"Why, Branch?" another agent asked, fiddling with his Key Stone. "What's so tough that a Mega Charizard, Aggron, Abomasnow, Venusaur and Slowbro couldn't handle it?"
"It's Butch!" Butch snapped.
"Sssh!" Cassidy said. "Keep it down!"
Butch subsided reluctantly.
"Anyway," Cassidy went on. "Professor Oak is a former League champion. He's still got his Dragonite, which has been seen more often recently."
"His grandson is also a League Champion – a current one – who leaves a lot of Pokémon here for long stretches of time," Butch went on.
"And then there's Ash Ketchum."
"You can't scare us with scary stories about Ash Ketchum!" Ariana said, joining her two teammates in standing up to Butch. "I heard you ran like a Butch, B-"
"Don't finish it!" Butch warned.
"We don't have to tell you scary stories," Cassidy pointed out. "Just look at the paddock. Actually look at it."
The three younger agents crowded forward to see.
"That's one of Ash Ketchum's Pokémon," Butch said. "It's a Heracross who beat up Tyson's Mega Tyranitar."
"While it was Mega too," Petrel said mulishly.
"Would you take your chances?" Cassidy asked. "And that's another one of Ash Ketchum's Pokémon."
They looked at it.
"I saw that on on the news," Proton admitted. "What is it?"
"A Legendary from Unova," Butch told him. "And the Squirtle he's talking to is the one who does things we're pretty sure should be physically impossible."
"And that's someone who lives around here," Cassidy took up the 'lesson'.
The three lower-ranked agents stared.
"Are those Legendary Pokémon she's got playing roly-poly with her?" Ariana asked slowly.
"Yes," Butch agreed, as Molly romped around laughing with Entei.
"And that's not even getting into-"
Slowly, with majestic wingbeats, the Storm's End flew into the paddock.
"What... the... hell?" Petrel breathed, as Ho-Oh folded his wings and strutted over to talk with a Houndoom.
"That's also one of Ash Ketchum's Pokémon," Cassidy said.
They watched the conversation for a few more minutes, the younger agents thankfully shocked into silence – then there was a stir of movement.
A Houndour came running up to the Houndoom as they watched, and began barking – made faint by the distance.
Ho-Oh and Houndoom listened. Then both Fire-types turned to look at where the Rockets were hidden.
"Okay, time to get out of here!" Butch said, very quickly. "Who's got the Natu?"
"Okay, girls?" May asked. "Ready?"
Beautifly nodded.
"Like, yeah," Skitty agreed. "I guess we're, like, not doing the Assist thing?"
"Depending on who counts as a teammate you could end up using Aeroblast," May pointed out. "So... well, maybe we'll leave that for later, it could look quite good... anyway, yeah, we're doing the other one."
"This is, like, so much easier," Skitty declared. "Totally."
"Yeah, Ethan's a big help," May agreed.
You are welcome.
"Good luck, May!" Max said, nodding to her. "We'll be watching!"
"We sure will!" Ash agreed. "Let's see something cool!"
Somewhat surprisingly, May was called almost immediately – it seemed that she'd been selected to appeal first, or second at the latest.
As she walked out onto the arena floor, she smiled – and released the first of her two Pokémon.
Skitty appeared in a flash of sparkles, and flourished her tail before meowing cutely.
She chased her tail in a circle, then looked up as May released Beautifly – who materialized in a cloud of smoke, which was then swept out of the way by the churning of her wings.
Skitty crouched, tail waving from side to side... then her tail stopped, and she jumped up at Beautifly with paw outstretched.
Beautifly gained height, dodging the swipe, and did a lazy roll.
Pouting, Skitty frowned – then perked up, and jumped again.
Beautifly was a little higher than last time, so that didn't work the second time either – but this time, Skitty didn't quite land back on the floor of the arena.
There was a flash of blue, and she landed on a small piece of ice – produced by a quick and tightly focused Blizzard.
Claws gaining purchase, she jumped again, and Beautifly dove out of the way this time.
As the routine continued, Skitty's ice platforms got more and more elaborate. From a series of individual pillars, it began to take on a continuous character – connecting the platforms up, then spreading out into broader shapes, until within a minute she was skating around on a three-dimensional racetrack she was forming as she slid along it.
Beautifly ducked, dodged, wove and climbed, leading her on a merry chase, and finally seemed cornered as Skitty bounded after her towards the icy wall of an earlier part of the structure.
In reply, Beautifly's compound eyes flashed a brilliant blue. The whole wall of the ice sculpture exploded in a shower of icy dust, and the blast eddied out an instant diamond-dust to fill the whole arena.
As the dust-like snow faded, people began to see what was inside the cloud – and began to applaud.
In the pile of snow, Skitty and Beautifly were just finishing a small Snow-Munchlax.
The Emboar bellowed, hooves skirling with flame, and did a forwards flip before slamming down on Skitty.
Yelping, the Normal-type dodged out of the way – but didn't quite make it. The tip of her tail got caught under the Heat Crash, and a moment later Beautifly hit the Emboar with a Psychic-attack.
"May's team has good teamwork, but a bit slow," the local Joy remarked critically. "And Marcus is doing great double-team work!"
As she said it, the other Pokémon – a Fearow – turned in a stately wingover before flaring her wings and extending her claws.
"Jump!" Marcus called, and Emboar leaped skywards to grab onto Fearow's legs again.
"What do we do?" Beautifly asked, looking over at May.
May frowned. "I don't – wait! Beautifly, try to slow them down!"
She pointed at Skitty. "Pikachu's your teammate, now use Assist!
Skitty blinked. "Like... it doesn't work like that..."
"Just do it!" May said.
Beautifly launched a Gust at their opponents, and Skitty frowned.
Then her eyes widened.
"Like, whoooaaaah!"
Electricity crackled around her paws and tail, arcing from point to point, and began to form a globe.
"I didn't know you could do that..." Ash said, blinking.
"Is that Volt Crash?" Brock asked, glancing at Pikachu.
The Electric-type promptly shook his head. "No, wrong structure. It's-"
Skitty used Zap Cannon.
The blast of electricity crashed up and out, striking the Fearow on the wing, and brought both of Marcus' Pokémon down in a staggering crash onto the stage.
"An interesting move!" one of the commentators said. "But can she build on it?"
"Beautifly, down to the ground!" May called quickly. "Skitty – up on her back!"
Skitty began to run, wincing as the electricity still frizzing up her tail began to discharge, and jumped up onto Beautifly's back between the wings.
The two rose back into the air, a little clumsily, and May pointed. "Up a bit higher – there!"
"Ember, quick!" Marcus called, and a shower of Embers began to flash skywards from his Emboar as the Fearow shook her head and recovered.
As they burst, they produced little red-cored snaps of smoke, and Beautifly wove between them to avoid being hit.
"Blizzard!" May said. "Beautifly, boost it with Psychic – and make it go around Emboar!"
Skitty inhaled, and let loose a blast of icy wind that formed a potent Blizzard.
Beautifly's eyes glowed as she shaped the icy wave, speeding it and curling it, and it split into three streams of ice.
Her aim wasn't perfect. One of the streams was intercepted by Emboar's arm, hissing as it expended itself, but the other two hit nicely – frosting up Fearow's wings and preventing her from taking off again.
Then the whistle went.
"Time's up!" the organizer said. "And – well, well... I'm not sure what we do in this situation. How do we handle an exact draw?"
"It's okay, May," Max suggested. "It's not that bad."
May looked mulish.
"You should have gone with rock," Brock told her.
"Okay, like, that was totally unfair," Skitty said. "Hey, Pikachu? I'm going to need you to, like, teach me moves and stuff."
"You are?" Pikachu asked. "Like what?"
"How to do Thunderbolt!" Skitty replied. "Duh! And I, like, need a Water move too..."
"Where are we headed now?" Max asked.
Ash frowned. "I... well, I guess there was something about Mt. Chimney?"
"It's on the way to Lavaridge," Brock agreed. "I think we're pretty close – we could get there fairly soon. Today, if we flew."
Nope.
"Dexter?" Ash asked.
It's time to deliberately get lost again.
"How many times have we heard that..." May sighed. "Okay, where to?"
Firey path, for now.
"Okay!" Brock said, checking the map. "That's... this way!"
He pointed.
There was a pause, then Dexter let out an electronic sigh. Yes, you're right.
"Great!"
"Hey, Ash!"
Ash looked around. "Who said – wait, is that Thatcher?"
"That's me!" Thatcher confirmed, waving. "I'm surprised I overtook you – I'd have thought you'd be long past here by now!"
"...no, not really," Max said, shaking his head. "It takes us weeks to go a short distance, it really does."
"So, what have you been doing?" Brock asked.
"I've been helping to teach my Plusle and Minun how to cheer!" Thatcher told him. "You know, Helping Hand!"
"So... do they both use Helping Hand?" May asked.
"Yep!"
"At the same time?"
Thatcher paused. "Er... well, I guess one of them would have to have another move... so Plusle does know Thunderbolt..."
"Really?"
May looked up to see Skitty on her shoulder. "Wait, when did you get-"
"Like, can you get one of them to teach me? I'd totally love to know how to Thunderbolt!"
"She wants to learn how to use Thunderbolt," Ash supplied. "Hasn't Pikachu been able to help?"
"No," Skitty replied, rolling her eyes. "He's totally not a good teacher, he – like, he just expects me to get it. And, like, nuh-uh!"
"...I'm not that bad," Pikachu muttered.
"That sounds like something we could help with," Thatcher agreed. "At least, I think Plusle could give her a bit of training..."
He sent out both Electric-types, to get their opinions.
"...teach a cat?" Plusle asked, a little nervously.
"I'll make sure nothing goes wrong," Pikachu assured his fellow Electric-type.
"Like, I wouldn't do it anyway," Skitty said, flirting her tail. "I'm sure you're totally bad for my diet."
"Tabitha," Maxie said, looking up and adjusting his glasses.
"Sir," Tabitha replied.
"A matter of great urgency has come up," he said, standing up behind his desk. "Have you heard of the power of a Meteorite?"
"I remember the research we took from Stone's corporation mentioned it," Tabitha agreed. "It was something about Infinity Energy?"
"That's correct," Maxie agreed. "Now, we managed to intercept information from the space tracking facility on Mossdeep, and they picked up an incoming meteoroid. It was small enough to make it into the atmosphere, and seems to have made it down more or less intact – so I intend to test our assumptions about the ability of meteorites to do what we think they can."
"I see, sir!" Tabitha nodded. "So – am I to retrieve the meteorite?"
"Not just that, Tabitha," Maxie said. "Your job is to take a package of machinery we built to harness Infinity Energy, find the Meteorite – on Mt. Chimney – and use that machine."
"What will it do, sir?" Tabitha asked.
Maxie adjusted his glasses. "It is designed to empower our Lord Groudon – and, in this specific case, that means to cause Mt. Chimney to erupt."
"I see!" Tabitha agreed, eyes shining. "When do I leave?"
"Tomorrow, just before dawn," Maxie told his Admin. "Gather a team – take two of the big transport helicopters."
"I won't let you down!" Tabitha assured him.
"Worst... Training... Ever!" Skitty panted. "Like, how did this happen?"
"You're the one who hit them!" Pikachu retorted, as they ran from the horde of angry Slugma. "Swellow!"
The Flying-type shot over. "Yeah, what is – whoa."
Swellow reversed direction, and began flying alongside the four fleeing Pokémon. "What happened here?"
"Like, these Slugma started chasing us!" Skitty said. "I totally don't know why!"
"She got frustrated and used Blizzard, it hit one," Pikachu corrected.
"Hey! That's totally not true!" Skitty protested.
"This has gone really, really badly," Minun panted. "I'm getting tired..."
Swellow swooped down. "I'll carry you two back!" she suggested. "Plusle, Minun – grab on! I'll carry you back down to your trainer!"
Plusle and Minun exchanged a glance, then both nodded.
"Jump!"
Both the Cheering Pokémon jumped up and grabbed onto Swellow's feet.
Then, as she rose back into the air and away, a determined red shape appeared on the path.
"Hello," Corphish said, crossing his pincers. They both flashed, and Razor Shell ignited with a snap-hisssss. "I challenge you all to a battle."
The Slugma piled up, muttered to one another, decided they were going to attack anyway, and surged forwards again.
They quickly changed their minds.
"...like, I want to learn that attack now," Skitty said.
"I'm not sure you can," Pikachu replied. "You don't have any shell."
"Like, I can use any attack if it's with Assist, why can't I do that?" Skitty demanded.
Pikachu shrugged, then considered that further. "Actually, we should do some experiments. Can you do, say, a move like Sacred Fire or Secret Sword?"
"Are you guys okay?" Ash asked, running into view. "I – oh, you are. Okay."
Corphish waved from on top of a pile of Slugma.
"Like... how are you not getting burned by that?" Skitty asked.
"I never was much good at thermodynamics."
"Yarr," Archie said. "Matt, your job be to take a cuttin' out expedition an' head up to the top o' Mount Chimney."
"Aye, sir!" Matt nodded, saluting. "An' what be my crew?"
"That be up to ye to decide," Archie assured him. "A good cap'n picks his own crew! Take ten picked lads an' lasses along, and make sure ta capture that Meteorite that landed up there!"
"What be the purpose, cap'n?" Matt asked.
"Ar, well, it be to use the Infinity Energy from the meteorite, an' to test how it can be used to catalyze the powers of Lady Kyogre," Archie said. "An' in that vein, it'll be a machine you take which'll test it – aye, it'll make it rain strong enough to put out Mt. Chimney, so it will!"
"Aye aye, sir!"
Several hundred miles away from Hoenn, Giovanni stirred his coffee, and took a sip.
Putting it back down, he lifted the newspaper.
"Hm," he observed. "The front page is interesting... a meteorite landed in Hoenn."
Persian yawned.
"Well, mostly that it looks like we kept that little matter on Cinnabar out of the news..."
22
"Well, at least the Numel were easy to handle," Max said.
"Speak for yourself..." Brock muttered. "I had to treat one with a cold."
"Yeah, I was wondering why your eyebrows were scorched," May giggled. "Did one sneeze while you were picking it up?"
"I don't want to talk about it."
"How long is this cable car going to take to get here?" Ash asked, looking up the slope of Mt. Chimney.
"It's not the busy season," Brock pointed out. "So I guess they just don't need to be as prompt. Wait – there we go!"
He pointed, and they looked up to see a cable car descending the mountainside.
"Great!" Ash said. "Not long now before we get to Lavaridge!"
Don't forget we may need to wait on Mt. Chimney, in case Team Magma and Team Aqua show up a bit later than us, Dexter noted.
"What were they after again?" Brock asked. "A meteorite, right?"
Correct. The meteorite was tracked coming in, so it's not been affected by what's happened so far... it landed somewhere near the top of Mt. Chimney.
"Right," Brock nodded. "So, basically, if we grab that then there's no problem?"
Well, apart from two groups of well-armed criminals.
"Right, me hearties!" Matt called back through the Sea King. "We all ready?"
"Aye!" the Aqua agents agreed, saluting.
"Remember, our first priority be to find that Meteorite," he said, as they rose over a small ridge and began to rise towards the top of Chimney itself. "An' to stop any interfering Magma types, o' course."
He pointed. "You, you, you. Starboard side. You and you – larboard side. An' these four brave lads and lasses with me, we be fightin' Magma if they show their faces."
Some blank faces looked at him.
Matt sighed. "There be no love for the classics. Right – you, you and you are headed to the north side of Chimney, and you two are headed to the south. And I'm taking you four with me in case Magma turns up."
"What about me, sir?" asked one of the new grunts.
"You – and those two – are keepin' our helicopters in one piece," Matt instructed. "The scientists have their own guard, but you're keeping the Sea Kings safe."
"Right," the grunt said, looking relieved.
"First mission, lass?" he asked, and got a nod. "Don't worry, it ain't so bad once you're in the thick of things."
"Two minutes!" the pilot called back.
"All right!" Matt shouted, standing up and clinging onto one of the rails over a door. "Everyone get their Pokémon ready, we be goin' in fast!"
"The view's pretty incredible," May said, looking out over quite a large sweep of central Hoenn.
Hundreds of feet into the air, there was almost nothing to impede their view of anything in any direction except for straight towards Mt. Chimney, and it was quite a view.
"You can see so much! Look – there's Lavaridge, where we're headed..." May smiled, remembering. "Wow, you can see the hot springs from here!"
"Oh, yeah!" Max agreed. "Man, those look good..."
Ash looked down at Lavaridge as well, but had eyes mainly for a different place – the Gym. "So, Max, how do you think you'll do against Flannery?"
"Huh, I'm not sure..." Max admitted. "Guy's not really the best to use, but... well, I guess it depends if Delta's ready for it. Apart from that, Arc and Cinder are pretty much the best choices."
Ash nodded. "Makes sense to me. But actually, Guy could be better than you think – remember, with that Toxic Orb he can't be set on fire..."
Max frowned. "Why not?"
"...not sure," Ash admitted. "But I've never seen a Pokémon poisoned and burned at the same time."
May shrugged. "I'd just use Blaziken."
"Or there's that," Ash said. "What about you, Brock?"
"Marshtomp and Geodude, for a start," Brock said. "Then Ninetales."
"Makes sense," Ash agreed. He looked down at Absol. "So... uh, this is a volcano – do you feel anything about it?"
"A certain foreboding," Absol admitted. "It's not just the potential of an eruption, either, or even the chance that those we are here to stop might intervene. There's something... more localized."
She concentrated, and her eyes lit up – then she growled.
"What is it?" Brock asked.
"We need to get out of here! Now!"
The cable car trembled.
"What was that?" Ash asked, hand already reaching for a Pokéball.
Absol pointed up the mountainside with a paw. "The cable!"
A moment later, the steel cable went slack.
An almighty wham heralded the destruction of the cable car, as it exploded into hundreds of pieces.
The four friends – along with Absol and Lucario, who'd destroyed the car – came tumbling out of the wreckage, and the moment they were clear Pokéballs began to flash open.
Brock sent out Flygon, who took a moment to assess the situation and then caught him by the shoulders.
"We're making a habit of this!" he said, transferring Brock to his back.
Ash had the good fortune to have two flying Pokémon available, and he sent both out at once. Latias materialized in a flash and caught May, who began to shout in surprise before realizing what had happened and that she was safe, and Pidgeot appeared in a flash of light before coming up underneath Ash and saving him and Pikachu from the long drop.
"Get us close enough to grab Max!" Ash said urgently, and she banked around hard before diving at speed.
"Jirachi!" Max shouted. "Help!"
His bag opened, and Jirachi looked out sleepily. What is it, Max – whoah!
Now thoroughly awake, the Psychic-type tried to work out what to do in a hurry. Uh... Psychic?
The glow slowed Max's fall – a bit – but not enough to really help out.
One of Max's Pokéballs opened in a burst of white light, and Delta emerged. "Max, hold on!"
"But you can't lift me!" Max called back, as Delta's fins tilted and pressed him against his trainer.
"I'm a Flying-type! I... can... try!"
I wish Max doesn't go splat! Jirachi said as fast as he could.
His tags began to glow, and then so did Max and Delta.
Then Delta's glow outshone the others.
"...okay, maybe we don't need to help Max!" Ash said, looking up as the glow faded.
Delta spread his fins – his big fins – and began to flap them. As he did, he pulled up and away from the drop... with Max safely on his back.
"Delta!" Max said, audible at this distance. "You evolved!"
"...I guess I did!" Delta agreed, flapping his fin-wings less intensely now that they were out of danger. "Thanks, Jirachi!"
I can't make Pokémon evolve, Jirachi replied. I was just catching Max – that was all you.
As Pidgeot beat her wings, rising from her hover to join the others, a steady rushing sound of water became gradually louder.
"I caught Absol!" Keldeo reported, hooves blasting away with the full force of his Hydro Pump as he joined them.
Sure enough, Absol was – somewhat nervously – draped across his back.
A wham from below made them all look down.
Lucario rose from his crouch and waved.
"...I guess we forgot to catch him," Pidgeot noted. "Whoops..."
"He's tough, he can take it," Pikachu waved off.
Matt sent out his first Pokémon, a big tough Carracosta he'd gotten special from Unova. "Scurvy landlovers got here before us!"
A series of flashes heralded the emergence of other Pokémon – such as a pair of Crawdaunt, and a burly Whiscash.
"Hey!" someone said. "Where'd my Pokémon go?"
"Use yer backup, you sea-dog," Matt ordered.
The grunt blushed. "Really?"
"No, you can just sit this one out – of course send your backup out!" Matt snapped. "What do you think?"
"Sorry!" the grunt squeaked, and raised his Pokéball.
A Luvdisc came out.
Matt sighed. "Lad, you need a better backup."
"I didn't expect to lose her!" the grunt defended himself, as Luvdisc looked around in bafflement. "And he's not trained for battle!"
"It'll have ta do," Matt decided. "All right, lads, you know your places!"
He checked that they did – making sure there were enough Pokémon, and that the Wingull scouts were in the air, as well as making sure the team defending the helicopters were ready.
Spotting the graceful Milotic that new Grunt had sent out, he gave her an approving nod. "Right – everyone, charge!"
"Aqua!" they called in near-chorus, and went on the attack.
"Well?" Tabitha asked.
"Cables cut, sir!" the grunt reported. "We should be secure against anyone trying to interfere."
"Good – stay here, in case there's any further problems," the admin instructed. Getting a salute, he went on. "The rest of you – come with me. We just got word – the meteorite's been found."
"Aqua!" someone shouted, running towards the group with a Croconaw by his side.
Tabitha sent out a Pokémon, a fully-grown Camerupt, and it snorted before beginning to gather energy in both its craters.
"Use Hydro Pump!" the Aqua grunt ordered, and a blast of water crashed out at Camerupt.
There was a long hiss and a cloud of steam.
When it faded, however, the Camerupt was all but unfazed.
Startled, the Aqua grunt took an involuntary step back. "But... how?"
"Solarbeam!" Tabitha instructed, and green light shone from Camerupt's nostrils. He aimed, then opened his mouth, and a blast of yellow-green energy shot across to strike the Croconaw and knock it skidding backwards.
"Vulpix!" another Magma agent said. "Finish it off with an Energy Ball!"
The Grass-type attack flashed out, and Croconaw muttered something before slumping.
"Uh – you're not going to..." the grunt improvised, and grabbed his other Pokéball. "Pelipper!"
"Rock Slide," Tabitha ordered.
Camerupt's craters both went off with a bang, and chunks of basalt came raining down on the hapless Pelipper.
"Let's get going," Tabitha said, striding forwards. "Aqua could be an inconvenience."
"That meteorite is ours!" the Magma grunt said.
"No, it's ours!" his Aqua opponent rebutted, pulling on it.
The Magma agent pulled back. "Ours!"
Their Pokémon – both Poochyena – looked at one another and exchanged sighs.
"So..." one said. "Humans, eh?"
"Word," the other replied.
"The machine's set up!" a scientist reported. "But we're still waiting for the meteorite."
Tabitha nodded. "I see. I'll make sure you get it."
Below, the lava lake of Mt. Chimney bubbled.
"Sir?" one of the scientists asked, as Tabitha turned away.
"What is it?"
"Well... if we're going to make Mt. Chimney erupt... aren't we on Mt. Chimney?"
Tabitha chuckled. "I see the cause for your confusion. No, we're going to set the eruption going and then get clear in the helicopters."
"I see!" the scientist nodded. "For Groudon!"
"For Groudon!" Tabitha replied with a nod.
"Uh..." the other scientist began. "I saw this film, once, and a helicopter tried to get away from a volcanic eruption but couldn't."
"Propaganda," Tabitha dismissed.
He frowned. "Where is that meteorite?"
"Good work!" Matt said, holding the meteorite up. "Now all we needs to do is set the machine goin', and then get the charges ready!"
"Charges?" someone asked.
"Why, it be simple!" Matt told him. "We needs to start it rainin', extinguish Mt. Chimney, and then fill the caldera with water... then blow the side off the mountain! Down goes the water, an' washes Mauville out to sea!"
"Cool!" someone said.
"Isn't it just," Matt chuckled. "Now, where's that machine..."
"Sir!" called a grunt. "Magma's set up a machine too!"
"Landlubberly copycats!"
With a sigh, the Admin gestured. "Right, let's go stop 'em!"
"It's not like anyone can even get up here," the grunt muttered, looking again at the destroyed winch mechanism. "And if they did have a Flying-type, why'd they come here?"
He glanced down at his Houndour, who shrugged.
Then a squeaky voice came from behind him. Startled, he looked – and saw nothing.
His Houndour blinked, and barked something that sounded like a confirmation.
"What is it, boy?" the grunt asked, crouching down to the Fire-type.
Something tapped him on the shoulder.
"What?" he asked, looking, and Blaziken punched him.
"Hey!" Houndour said, growling, as Blaziken eased the unconscious Magma agent down. "That was my trainer! You hurt my trainer!"
"Your trainer nearly killed my brother," May replied, sliding down from Latias' back.
Houndour's eyes widened, and he whined. "...really? But... it wasn't supposed to hurt anyone..."
"You do realize that Team Magma's trying to make the volcano erupt, right?" Brock asked.
Houndour looked confused. "But... that shouldn't hurt anyone... I mean, lava's kind of warm and sticky, but it's not really dangerous..."
"I see," Blaziken said solemnly. "Do you know that not all Pokémon have Flash Fire?"
"They don't?"
Keldeo landed in a clatter of hooves, and Absol jumped gratefully down from his back.
"What now?" Ash asked, as Pidgeot landed with the rest of them on the lip of the volcano peak.
"I'm not sure..." Brock frowned. "I-"
He stopped, and his gaze turned to look back the way they'd come.
"Why is there an Octillery on Max's face?"
Delta's fins worked frantically as he steered towards a landing, and flopped down with a last-minute burst of Surf to help the landing go smoothly.
"I don't think I can carry you a very long way..." he said, panting.
May hurried over and helped to pull the Octillery off her brothers' face. "Where did this come from?"
"Mffmfff – ah!" Max gasped as the Pokémon finally popped off. "I don't know! It was in my bag!"
"Wait..." Brock frowned. "Don't Mantyke need Remoraid to evolve into Mantine? Maybe that's... why..."
The Octillery launched itself out of May's grasp and began hurrying across the battlefield at speed, heading for some intense fighting going on between Magma and Aqua agents.
"Well, now we know where Jirachi got it from," Brock observed.
Oh, yeah, I guess that must be what happened!
Distantly, the Octillery fired into the combat – knocking a Growlithe off a Luvdisc, by the looks of it.
"It looks like the best thing is if I just go after that Meteorite!" Ash decided. "Anyone got any reasons that might not work?"
None were forthcoming, though Lucario did arrive a few seconds later.
"That run was bracing," he said.
After a few more seconds, Pidgeot took off with Ash in a rush of wind, and Latias followed her to help out where she could.
"This crazy scheme of yours be flawed in all kinds o' ways!" Matt said. "How exactly do y' plan to stop the eruption flattenin' Mauville?"
"Well... we don't?" Tabitha replied, as their Pokémon faced off.
Carracosta and Camerupt slammed heavy physical blows into one another, neither making much impression on the other.
"Sacrifices must be made," Tabitha went on.
"But ain't your plan t' make more land for humans?"
"You're one to talk," Tabitha said, shaking his head. "Won't all the silt make it much harder for Pokémon to live in the bays?"
Matt shrugged. "There's Barboach too."
"Anyway!" Tabitha went on. "Now!"
A Honchkrow snagged the Meteorite from Matt's hand, avoided the attacks from his Golbat, and deposited it in Tabitha's own hand.
"Now that I have the meteorite, I can-"
A brown-cream blur shot past, and Tabitha didn't have the meteorite any more.
"...what just-" Matt asked, blinking, and looked.
Out over the magma, Pidgeot slowed to an easy, stiff-winged hover in the updrafts from the lava lake.
Ash waved, and put the Meteorite in his bag.
"...well, that's annoying," Tabitha sighed. "At least I still have the machine..."
There was a whoomp.
"Some scurvy invisible Pokémon just tipped it in the lava," Matt supplied helpfully. "An' now it's doin' the same with mine."
Tabitha rubbed his temples. "Right. Retreat!"
"Don't mind if I do!" Matt agreed, and both ran for their helicopters.
"Well, I guess they got away," Max said. "Some of them, anyway."
"Yeah," Brock agreed, looking at the half-dozen or so team members from each faction who hadn't managed to make the helicopters.
In at least one case that had been because Mega Steelix had physically interposed himself, and in two more Geodude had built hasty prisons out of earth-manipulation.
May was frowning. "Did either of you see the Aqua agents protecting their helicopter?"
"No," Brock said. "I was focused on Magma."
"I didn't see anything," Max said. "Why?"
"Oh, just... one of them looked familiar," May shrugged. "Not sure why, I certainly didn't recognize the Pokémon..."
Several minutes later, the police finally arrived.
"Hi!" the head Jenny said, wincing, as she slid off the back of the Pokémon she was riding. "Sorry about the delay – the cable car was cut..."
"Yeah," May agreed. "We were in it."
She gaped. "But – how did you..."
"Lucario has very fast reactions, and we had just enough flying Pokémon," Ash told her. "Good thing you had some Dodrio, though."
"Yeah, they're my sisters'," the Jenny said, indicating another one of the police officers. "She has five – they ran straight up the side of the volcano!"
"Impressive," Lucario noted. "Incidentally, there's some prisoners over there."
"Oh, that's good," the officer smiled. "I wondered whether they'd all got away."
"At least half of them did," Brock told her. "Some heavy lift helicopters left before we could stop them."
"Well, you did your best," the Jenny smiled. "So... hm."
She turned. "Hey, sis! You got a Wailord too? We've got a lot of prisoners to transport!"
"Give me a minute!" the sister called back, giving one of the Dodrio a rub. "I'll call in a chopper!"
"Right!"
Turning back, the Jenny smiled. "Sorry about that..."
"No problem," Brock assured her. "What's going to happen to the Pokémon?"
"Well, we usually try to rehabilitate them," she told him. "The service can assimilate a few Fire-types fairly easily, we have some good trainers back at the main station... as for the others, well, it was Team Magma and Team Aqua?"
Ash nodded.
"Hm, they don't usually work together..."
"No, they turned up at the same time by coincidence," Max said. "I think."
"That does explain it," she nodded. "Well, that means there's Fire-types, Water-types and Dark-types... well, I'm pretty sure that Wallace can help to handle the Water-types, and Sidney's always a good help with Dark-types."
"It sounds like you've got it under control," Ash said. "We know someone in the Elite Four up in Kanto and Johto, but if you don't need their help with the Water-types that's fine."
The policewoman nodded, and turned to get to work – then frowned.
"Is that one of theirs you missed?"
Ash looked over. "The Corphish? No, he's mine."
He took out the Pokéball, and returned Corphish from the middle of his circle of defeated enemy Pokémon.
"That crawfish has a lot of anger to work out," Pikachu observed.
A few minutes after that, as the friends were preparing to fly back down the mountain to Lavaridge, another of the policewomen approached them.
"Excuse me?" she asked. "Well... I was wondering. How many Legendaries were there here?"
"Three," Ash told her. "Jirachi, Latias and Keldeo."
"Thank you," the Jenny smiled. "We've been asked to keep track, when you're around..."
"Well, I guess it's one kind of reputation," Brock chuckled.
That sounds pretty dangerous, Latios sent to his sister.
She smiled, amusement coming across their bond. It's okay, really... they never even saw me until I wanted them to.
I know. And I know you're so much stronger than you were a couple of months ago. Just... stay safe, Latias, Latios said softly.
I will, brother, she replied. And you. Fly safe.
The mental link faded, and Latios let out a happy sigh.
It was good that his sister was okay, even after a run in with a volcano...
He had to admit, these days it really felt like they were legendaries. They did heroic things, saved people, and fought powerful enemies.
It felt good. And the Soul Dew was still as safe as ever.
"Hey, Latias?" a voice asked, faintly.
Latios was instantly on guard. That wasn't Bianca, or Misty – so it had to be an intruder.
He whirled, cloaking, and began to store power as a prelude to an attack. After last time, Latios refused to be caught by surprise in his own home!
A woman stepped through the shimmering veil, and Latios readied himself to pounce.
Then a Latias drifted through the portal behind her.
Latios did the psychic equivalent of a spit-take, and blew a divot out of the grass.
"What was that?" the Latias asked, zooming down to hover protectively in front of the human. "Who's there? Latias, are you okay?"
"What do you mean?" Latios asked, moving to a new position. "What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here? I'm visiting a friend – what are you doing here?"
"This is my home!"
"What's going on, Latias?" the human asked, baffled.
Latios heard a giggle through his link with his sister. Oh, yeah... I forgot to mention my new friend. She's a Latias!
Sister, how could you forget this? Latios demanded, gesticulating.
He missed the approach of the other Latias until she barely avoided bumping into him.
"That's where you are!" she said, poking him, and his cloak dropped from sheer surprise.
"...oh, so you're Latias' brother!" she added. "Nice to meet you!"
"Uh, nice to meet you," Latios replied. "She told you about me?"
"Well, yeah!" the Latias said.
"She didn't tell me about you..."
"I can't understand you, you know!" the human called. "Why don't you two come down here so I can at least pretend I know what's going on?"
"Sorry!" Latias called, zooming back to her trainer.
Somewhat confused, Latios followed.
Stop giggling, please, he asked his sister.
"You've got a what?" Gary asked, yawning.
"A meteorite!" Ash repeated, holding it up to Dexter's camera.
"And why are you showing me at four in the morning?" Gary pressed.
"Four in the – whoops," Ash winced. "Sorry, Gary, I keep forgetting about the time difference..."
"Right," Gary said, and yawned again.
"Look," he sighed, once his yawn was over. "Meteorites might be interesting, but as far as I know they don't do anything special. I'll send you some papers about it later this morning."
"Okay, no need for that," Ash protested. "Thanks anyway, Gary. Sleep well!"
Dee ended the call, and Gary lay back in bed.
Three seconds later he bolted upright.
"Well, it was worth a-" Ash began.
Incoming call, Dexter announced. It's Dee again.
"...what, already?" Max blinked.
Ash hit the answer button.
"Why didn't you tell me you had an Absol!?" Gary demanded, sounding very awake now.
"...pardon?" Ash asked weakly.
Behind him, Absol waved – having just worked out she was in view of the camera.
"Ash, I've had an Absolite for over a year!" Gary told him. "I told you about it! How come you haven't-"
"I forgot!" Ash protested.
"How can you forget something like that?"
"I'm not the geologist!"
Absol raised a paw. "...does this mean that I might be able to Mega Evolve?"
"I guess it might," Brock said.
Ritchie Getem walked out of the Pokémon Centre, and smelled the sea air.
"Pacifidlog is a pretty cool place," he said.
"Yeah!" Sparky agreed, bounding along behind with his long tail lashing. "I never knew you could have a floating town!"
Ritchie nodded.
"Oh, I was thinking we should do Brawly next," he added. "Any thoughts?"
"I guess that Cid gets to do most of the fighting?" Sparky asked.
"Well..." Ritchie shrugged. "Don't most of you have psychic powers? Any of you would be pretty good..."
"Yeah, but he's really good at it," Sparky shrugged. "I guess maybe Fortune could have the other half of the battle, though..."
"That sounds like a plan," Ritchie agreed, as they walked along the wooden walkways between one raft and the next.
It was pretty deserted, this time of day – everyone was having lunch, which was fine by Ritchie.
He looked up. "So... hm, wonder what's the best way to get there?"
Sparky thought about it too.
"You could just-"
The air tore open in front of them with a shimmer of green light, and Ritchie threw up a hand reflexively.
As he lowered it, he couldn't help but stare.
"What the heck?" Sparky asked. "Celebi?"
"Oh, so this is where you are!" Celebi said, hands on hips.
"What?" Ritchie asked, confused. "Why shouldn't we be?"
"You're due in Marion Town!" Celebi informed them. "Yesterday. And yes, that's literally the day before this one!"
Ritchie blinked, nonplussed. "Where's Marion Town?"
"Johto!" Celebi informed him, and her hands began to glow. "Don't worry, you'll be back here in time to do whatever it was you were going to."
"Don't we get a say in this?" Sparky asked plaintively.
"Nope!" Celebi smiled, and they vanished.
Ritchie landed behind a tree, inside what looked like quite a big city.
"Okay, what's the big idea?" he asked, looking around – and seeing no Celebi.
"Ritchie?" Sparky asked. "Do you have any idea what's going on?"
"Not really," Ritchie admitted.
"Oh. What a pity..."
Ritchie chuckled at Sparky's tone of voice, then frowned.
"Did you hear that?"
They looked around the tree.
"You can't destroy the Pokémon Centre!" an elderly woman said, standing in front of a bulldozer. "It's a historical site!"
"It's on prime land," someone in a hard hat replied. "I'm sorry, ma'am, but there's not enough Pokémon Centres in the city to serve it – even with the other one much newer than this old relic – and the new designs would let this one take up the slack."
Trainer and Raichu exchanged glances.
"This is private property!" said a younger woman. "Part owned by our family. You can't demolish it!"
The hard-hatted man sighed.
"Right, if you're going to make this difficult... I'll go get the compulsory purchase order and come back tomorrow."
"No!" the older woman gasped – she looked like a Joy, as did the younger one. "This has been my home for decades!"
"I'm sorry," the foreman said, sounding like he meant it. "If it matters, I made sure you got a good price – very good."
He waved his hand. "Okay, everyone! Leave the dozers outside the grounds, we'll come back tomorrow. It's nearly the end of the day anyway..."
At that comment, Ritchie blinked – and looked skywards.
The sun was sinking below the horizon.
But... it had been lunch back in Pacifidlog...
Oh, yeah... Celebi did say we were needed yesterday...
"This used to be such a nice little town," the old woman said, emphasizing the little. "But poor Marion has lost its history as it grew. Now people care more about building better buildings than they do taking care of the past!"
"It's not the Johto way," her granddaughter said. "We like to hang onto the past – it's important to remember where we came from."
"I agree," Ritchie nodded. "This building looks like a real treasure – it could be a museum."
"We tried applying," the younger Joy told him. "But the Mayor wouldn't have any of it."
Ritchie winced.
The girl looked over at her elderly relative. "Grandmother?"
"Sorry, love," she apologized. "Just lost in memories... back when this building was opened. When my dear friend Nick died in a landslide... it put a terribly sad face on the proceedings, but at the same time – well, it means this building's the main way I remember him."
She sighed. "It's a pity he didn't come to my party – he might have survived."
Ritchie exchanged a look with Sparky. Now that sounded potentially significant.
That night, Ritchie found himself unable to sleep.
If he'd been brought here to help with the Pokémon Centre... then how could he do what he was supposed to?
Would he have to speak to the mayor? Argue passionately about the value of the past?
This was much simpler when we were up in Almia...
"Hey!"
Ritchie sat up. "Wha-?"
"Sssh!" Celebi said, putting her finger to her lips, and Ritchie obediently shushed. "Get your Pokémon, we've got to be quick."
Not willing to argue with the Psychic-type Legendary, Ritchie shook his Raichu awake and grabbed his belt before following Celebi.
Celebi led him downstairs, into the main room, and then pulled open a drawer on a dresser.
"We're having to do this really quickly, since you're already time-displaced just to be here," she told him. "See this?"
Ritchie caught the carving she threw him. "This... is a Celebi?"
"And a pretty good one, too..." Sparky said, admiring it.
"Good."
A flash of green light, and they vanished.
This time, Ritchie materialized into the middle of a thunderstorm.
"Agh!" he said, startled, and then began projecting a weak psionic shield to make the rain slide off him. "What's the big idea?"
"I said we were in a hurry!" Celebi told him. "There's an unconscious Joy – it's the one you met today – near one of my shrines just that way. Chop chop!"
She vanished in a twinkle of light.
"...okay," Sparky blinked.
Ritchie sent out his Gallade. "Cid, can you tell if there's anyone around here? Any humans?"
"Two", Cid told him without preamble. "One over there – and one approaching quickly from that direction. On a Ponyta."
"We'd better get to that Joy," Ritchie decided. "Lead the way!"
Fortunately, there was only a short way to go before they found the Joy in question – clearly the (much) younger version of the elderly woman they'd met in the Pokémon Centre.
"How is she?" Ritchie asked, glancing up at Cid. "You can tell this stuff, right?"
Cid nodded, and bent down. His hand hovered just over her forehead, and a flicker of light played over it for a moment.
"She's okay, just out cold," Cid reported.
"So, I guess Celebi was right," Ritchie agreed. "What do we do now?"
Sparky shrugged. "Make sure she's okay – whoah!"
His cheeks sparkled, and he fired a blast of electricity to the sky.
Ritchie tracked it, and watched as the Thunder attack batted away an incoming lightning bolt.
"Where was that going?" he asked, blinking away the flash.
"I'm pretty sure it was about to hit that guy Cid sensed," Sparky explained.
A few seconds later, a Ponyta cantered into the clearing with a young man on her back.
"Whoa!" the boy called, and the Fire-type halted in a shower of sparks from her hooves.
"Is she here?" he asked, sliding down from Ponyta's back and recalling her. "Have you seen Joy?"
"She's right here!" Ritchie replied.
Diving past Ritchie into the shelter of the copse around Celebi's shrine, he crouched down and examined her.
"Good," he said, feeling her forehead. "She seems fine."
"Yeah, we thought so," Ritchie confirmed. "My Gallade checked."
"He did? Thank goodness – oh, sorry, I don't know your name."
"Ritchie," Ritchie said. "What's yours?"
"Nick," the boy replied. "We – my father and I – we travel around quite a lot, but we've been in Marion Town for longer than usual..."
"Right," Ritchie agreed. "I get what you-"
Sparky sent another bolt of lightning skywards.
"That one could have set the copse on fire!" Sparky told him, glancing over his shoulder. "The trees here are too tall, they're attracting all the lightning!"
"We've got to get to safety," Ritchie said. "Can we-"
"She'd never leave the shrine!" Nick replied. "It's her favourite thing in the world – I'll do anything to protect it for her!"
There was the ionic crackle of a Thunderbolt from Sparky, and a moment later Cid's arm-blade snapped up to block a second bolt.
"It's getting worse," he said, clinically. "Now would be a very good time to leave."
Joy's eyes fluttered open.
"Nick?" she asked, then shook her head and became more alert. "Wait – what's-"
Cracka-cracka-BOOM!
"Sparky!" Ritchie called, looking up.
"I missed one!"Sparky told him, sounding panicked. "The tree's on fire!"
Then Celebi appeared in a flash of green light, spreading her arms, and a green glow enveloped the shrine – and, as the chunks of flaming tree came crashing down, they hit the shield and skittered off.
"Celebi," Joy said, softly. "I... wow."
Celebi turned her head slightly and winked at Ritchie.
"I'm decided," the Joy said, once the danger had passed and the storm was subsiding. "I'm going to stay here and become a proper nurse!"
"Sounds like a plan," Nick agreed, before sighing. "It's a pity you can't come with me, though..."
Joy blushed.
"Hmmm..." Sparky said, softly. "So that's not what we came back here to change... I wonder what was?"
"You'll find out!"
"Wait-" Ritchie tried to say, but another green flash whipped them away again.
"What was that?" Joy asked, looking around. "Huh. He left."
"Wonder why?" Nick frowned.
Ritchie, Cid, Sparky and Celebi appeared on a dusty track, still soaked from the rain.
"-what... are you..." Ritchie began, and sighed. "I was going to ask what it is you want us to do..."
"Oh, you're nearly there," Celebi told him.
Another Celebi flew overhead, and dropped a wooden carving.
"Ah, that's right!" Celebi said, and vanished.
The one who'd dropped the carving flew down to them. "Now, you need to get Nick to go back and give this to Joy."
"But..." Ritchie pointed at where the Celebi had been, then at the Celebi floating down to them, and then at the wooden Celebi carving she'd dropped. "Where'd the other one go?"
"I'm the other one, just on the other side of two very short time-space jumps," Celebi said. "You get the hang of it eventually."
A shrug. "Or go nuts. Either or."
"I really hope my own preferred Legendary is more sensible than this," Sparky muttered.
"Oh, I can tell you! Who is it?" Celebi asked, lying back on thin air.
"Well... I kind of like Thundurus..."
Celebi pursed her lips and waved a hand. "Eh, depends which one. Anyway, you'd better get going!"
She pointed. "They went thataway! Hurry!"
With that, Celebi vanished. Again.
"Fortune!" Ritchie called, releasing his Rapidash. "We'd better hurry!"
Sparky jumped up onto Fortune's croup as Ritchie returned Cid. "Right, let's go!"
With the powerful Fire-type's help, they sped down the track at a brisk pace.
"You're damp," Fortune complained as his legs ate up the distance.
"We were in a thunderstorm five minutes ago," Ritchie explained. "Wait – there they are!"
He tapped Fortune's mane, and the Rapidash slowed to a canter and then a trot as they came up to the two travellers and their Tauros cart.
"Nick!" he said, waving.
"Aren't you that kid from last night?" Nick asked, frowning. "Ritchie? Wait... your clothes are still wet. How's that-"
Ritchie tossed the carving to Nick. "Here!"
Nick caught it, and turned it over slowly. "This is the Celebi carving I made Joy..."
"And you should go back and give it to her!" Ritchie told him.
"I should?" Nick repeated. "But... we're already on the road... I don't understand..."
"If you walk away from her you'll be making the biggest mistake of your life," Ritchie said. "So don't! You should-"
The ground trembled.
"What was that?" Nick's father asked, looking around as the shaking increased in strength.
"Up there!" Nick gasped. "Landslide!"
Nick's father pulled his son onto the back of the Tauros, and cut the reins connecting him to the cart. "Run, boy!"
Ritchie could see at a glance that they weren't going to make it. Not quite.
That decides things, then.
He grabbed at his belt, releasing all the Pokémon he had on hand. "Zippo, Cid, Rose, Cruise, do something about this landslide!"
Zippo roared, wings hammering, and charged up-slope. Picking one of the bigger boulders on the right-hand edge of the slide, he slammed an Iron Tail into it and made it shatter into pieces.
Cid ran up behind, blades glowing, and slashed at another boulder, and Cruise projected himself forwards in a blast of compressed air.
The Pupitar dodged away from a small rock, matched speeds with a large one, and began to push it to the side.
Rose – being a Taillow – mainly provided moral support.
And Fortune galloped up behind the Tauros, and began shoving him forwards with powerful pushes of his muzzle. The shock of the flame scared the Tauros even more than the oncoming landslide, and he found an extra gear somewhere.
They ran for perhaps twenty seconds. Then there was a roar, and dust, and a shower of gravel and larger stones.
When the dust settled, both Nick and his father – and their Tauros – and Ritchie and Fortune were, somehow, safe.
"That was close..." Nick said, sounding deeply shocked. "If we hadn't had you here..."
He touched the Celebi carving. "I guess – wait!"
Turning, he looked back at the huge pile of rocks. "All our things were in that cart..."
"Any Pokémon?" Ritchie asked.
"No, Ponyta's here, and..." Nick sighed.
"We're ruined," his father commented. "I don't know what we'll do now..."
"Wait!" Nick said, filled with a sudden hope. "We can ask Joy for help! She wouldn't let us down!"
He turned. "Thank you for the help, Rit...chie?"
The young trainer was nowhere in sight.
"There we go!" Celebi said, smugly, as Cruise and Zippo popped in. "Got all of them! Good work, by the way!"
"So, I guess we did what we had to?" Ritchie asked, looking around at their latest landing spot. "I guess we're back in the present?"
"Nearly!" Celebi winked. "Look over there!"
Ritchie did.
He saw a little presentation ceremony taking place, complete with ribbon and big scissors.
"And it gives me great pleasure, as Mayor of Marion Town," an elderly man was saying, "to formally open this museum of Marion Town Life!"
"This is Marion Town in the present?" Ritchie asked, startled.
He looked around.
No skyscrapers in sight. Just a sprawl of landscape and traditional Johto small-town buildings.
"And," the mayor went on – in front of what looked a lot like the same Pokémon Centre from before, now Ritchie looked – "to name as the curator – my wife!"
Ritchie stared. "That's the Joy we met – so that must be Nick!"
"Like I say, good job!" Celebi nodded. "Now, back to Pacifidlog!"
Another green flash, and they were gone.
"...well, that was... different?" Ritchie asked, some minutes later.
"Yeah," Sparky agreed.
The trainer frowned suddenly, and sighed. "Oh, no – I should have asked her to drop us off in Dewford!"
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