章 88: 62,63
"Okay, so this is what Lopunny's Mega Stone looks like," Norman mused, looking at it. "I can kind of see how that works – the colours are kind of Lopunny-ish. Look, there's that dark brown, and that cream colour..."
"Yeah, I see what you mean," Lopunny agreed, peering at it. "This is going to be so cool!"
Norman chuckled at the tone. "I know you're eager, but we should do this slowly."
Lopunny crossed his arms. "Really?" he asked, tilting his head.
"It's so that I have a better understanding of how Mega Evolution works," Norman told him.
"It's important to focus on the good things," Ash supplied. "It tends to work best that way."
"Right," Norman agreed. "But I'm working out what helps May, so..."
He handed the Stone to Lopunny, who took it and frowned. "Uh… hm, it's harder than I thought to come up with a place to carry this..."
Brock chuckled. "I think you can work that out after testing it."
Norman snapped his fingers. "That's what I was forgetting! Max, can I borrow your Key Stone?"
"Sure," Max agreed, retrieving it from his bag and handing it over.
"Okay..." Norman said. "Ready, Lopunny?"
Lopunny nodded.
Norman looked down at the stone, concentrating.
Lopunny had been quite a fiery Pokémon from the moment he'd joined Norman's team years ago. At first a Buneary, he'd had such an attitude that he'd developed a habit of weaponizing it – one of the few Pokémon who could make good use of the move Frustration.
He'd always been a good battler, too, but… sometimes that attitude had led to him coming out second in fights.
"Should it have worked by now?" Lopunny asked, shaking the Mega Stone.
Norman smiled, thinking more about the positive sides of Lopunny.
He was a brave battler, combining strength and speed and a sometimes-reckless style which was beautiful to behold… from a distance, at least, it was probably less pleasant when you were actually the target.
And of all of Norman's Pokémon, Lopunny was probably the one with the strongest sense of self. He knew exactly who he was, what he wanted to be, and what he wasn't – and that was what Norman appreciated most about him.
The orange glow flashed from the Mega Stone, then spread out to encompass the whole of Lopunny's form.
Interestingly, there wasn't much actual change in his silhouette as the Mega Evolution flashed over him. His ears narrowed, developing distinct tufts and lengths instead of a single section, and the furry boots developed little ruffs around where his long feet met his ankles.
Then the light of Mega-Evolution faded.
"Well?" Mega Lopunny asked, striking a pose – a martial arts posture, legs and arms ready to strike. "I feel great! How do I look?"
Brock frowned. Ash looked interested. May tried not to giggle.
Casper just laughed. "Oh, wow!"
"What?" Mega Lopunny asked, looking up. "What's so funny?"
"You look even more girly than you did already!" Casper said, then burst into laughter again.
Mega Lopunny's face fell. "...I don't, do I? Please say I don't..."
"Oh, yeah!" Casper said, doing a spin. "Your ears look like they're pigtails, and your legs have ripped pantyhose on them! Seriously, it's hilarious!"
"Shut it!" Mega Lopunny snapped, launching himself into the air and swinging a kick at Casper.
"I'm a G-" Casper began, then got knocked into the middle distance.
"Whoa!" Brock said.
"Casper, you okay?" Max called.
"That's neat," May noted. "Scrappy?"
"I must admit, I did not expect that to actually work," Mega Lopunny said, landing with both knees bent. "Well, it's something…"
"I'm okay!" Casper called.
"So, what do you think?" Norman asked. "We'll get a mirror so you can see the appearance, but apart from that?"
Mega Lopunny shifted his weight, bouncing from foot to foot, then held up a forepaw. "Ehh… could be better."
"What's the problem, then?" Norman went on, glancing at May. "Can Ethan help?"
Of course, Ethan replied, flashing and producing subtitles.
"Okay, firstly, Casper's right, this looks stupid. Second, there's nothing with pizzazz! I don't get what's so special about Mega Evolution if all that happens is I feel more energetic."
"Perhaps we could have a spar?" Lucario offered. "It might convince you of the value of a Mega Evolution."
"Sure," Mega Lopunny replied, shrugging. "Whatever."
Lucario took up his position, palms ready and glowing with Aura.
Then Mega Lopunny kicked him.
The speed of the blow came as quite a surprise to both of them, and Lucario was only able to block rather than dodge – which turned out to be a problem when the force of the kick was enough to send Lucario flying through the air anyway.
"Huh," the Normal-type said, looking down at his legs again. "They're still stupid, but… actually quite convenient."
"I think we both learned something there," Lucario agreed, back on his feet. "Perhaps we should experiment further."
"I think that's enough for now," Norman said. "We've got the Mega Stone for a few days at least, so we can experiment more than once."
He turned to May, missing Mega Lopunny crossing his arms again. "May – the pause at first was because I was testing something. What's the first thing you think of when you think of Altaria?"
"Flying," May said immediately. "We've been doing so much of it..."
"Then that's the problem, I think," Norman said. "This is a bit of a guess, but I think what's going on is that because you're thinking about flying, you're thinking about that uncertainty."
He shrugged. "So there's at least three things I can think of to sort that out – make it so that you first think of other things about him, deliberately focus on other things instead of flying, or – well, make it so that flying is something you're not uncertain about."
There was a wham, making everyone jump.
"Mega Lopunny?" Norman asked.
"I just wanted to see how hard I could hit something," Mega Lopunny replied, trying to hide the broken fence post behind himself.
"Use your ears, they're bigger," Casper suggested.
"Why me?" Pikachu asked.
"Well..." Roland glanced over at the others. "Lucario and Blaziken are too big to train me, and… uh, actually, I don't know any other fighting experts."
He then nodded. "Plus, you use all kinds of crazy Electrical moves, and that's what I want to be able to do – to fight close in or a long way away, and use teleporting to make that work!"
"I must admit, it would be easier for you to train if Riolu hadn't evolved," Pikachu agreed. "Okay… hm, what would be a good way to go about this..."
He thought, then nodded to himself. "Okay, let's start with some basic sparring. No attacks, no teleporting – that way I'll get a picture of where you are at the moment."
"Got it," Roland agreed. "When do we start?"
"Any time now," Pikachu told him, sliding his hindpaws into position.
The Ralts took a stance of his own, then punched. "Yah!"
Pikachu blocked with his tail.
"Uh… hiyah!" Roland shouted, launching a palm strike.
Pikachu blocked that one with his tail, too.
Roland looked down at the yellow appendage. "What's the lesson here?"
"That Pokémon are all kinds of different shapes, and many of them can fight with every limb they have," Pikachu explained, returning his tail to a position behind him. "Okay, let's try this. You don't put all your strength into one punch, you need to stay flexible so that – if it misses or gets blocked – you can go straight back to attacking. Like this."
Pikachu telegraphed his blow, drawing a paw back, then moved it forwards. Roland dodged, and Pikachu moved smoothly into the next four strikes of a simple combination – alternating left-right-left until Roland got tagged by the fifth one.
"Now you try," the Electric-type invited.
"Right!" Roland agreed, returning to his basic stance. "Ho! Ha! Yah!"
"A bit better," Pikachu agreed, catching the third. "But you're taking too long between strikes. Try to make them flow better – if you overcommit, your opponent knows what you're going to be doing… and that's bad."
"So I need to catch you off guard..." Roland said, thinking. "Right!"
He lunged, launching a strike with his palm that Pikachu blocked. Their forearms met with a faint smack sound, and Roland then vanished in a flicker of light.
At the same instant, he appeared behind Pikachu and punched out-
Pikachu's tail came up under his arm, hitting him in the elbow and making him flip completely over before landing on his back on the grass.
"Every limb they have," Pikachu reminded him, turning. "Your mistake was that you appeared on top of my tail – try to work out where my tail is and where it isn't before you commit."
"Ow," Roland said, wheezing. "That hurt!"
"I did say no teleporting," Pikachu waved off. "Okay, let's try this again – remember, try to recover from an attack as quickly as possible."
"Right," Roland agreed, nodding. "Okay, let's try this!"
"So, what do you think I should do?" May asked.
"Well… I think there's a lot you could do," Norman smiled. "Firstly – how many routines do you have worked out for your Pokémon?"
May counted under her breath. "...well, I still need to do one for Munchlax..."
"But apart from that, I bet you have something for all your Pokémon," Norman checked, getting a nod. "Then it's obvious – you should spend some time with your Pokémon, enjoying yourselves. All your Pokémon – not just Altaria. It'll help with your Mega Evolution problem, but it shouldn't have to be just about that problem."
"I think I understand," May said. "I know there's a few weeks… so I should basically take time to play with everyone, so we have a better rapport."
"And because it's fun," Norman agreed. "I remember from my own League battles – they were stressful. There's no need to worry and be stressed for weeks, not when you're so ready already."
He chuckled. "But still, Altaria should be one of the ones you focus on the most. I think perhaps it would be a good idea for us to go flying – more than once a day."
"Us?" May repeated.
"Yes," Norman confirmed. "Actually, Staraptor and I have only had a few practice flights – I think I'd appreciate the company as much as you."
WHAM.
"Mega Lopunny," Norman sighed. "Please stop punching things."
"That one was a kick!" Mega Lopunny protested. "I'm trying to get a handle on how much stronger I am!"
"Ahem."
Mega Lopunny looked over at Blaziken. "Yes?"
"I thought we might spar," Blaziken explained, taking his stance.
"Sure!" Mega Lopunny agreed. He cocked his leg back, then lashed out. "Yah!"
Blaziken backflipped away from the attack, handspringing further into the air, then landing on both hind legs as Mega Lopunny pressed the attack.
In reply, Blaziken launched out a swirling blaze of flame from a Fire Punch. It bloomed out towards Mega Lopunny, then twisted and turned back around to cloak Blaziken himself.
Mega Lopunny waited a few seconds for the flames to peak, then lunged into them. "Mega Kick!"
Blaziken blocked with a high knee strike, pushing off from the ground with his free foot just before the moment of impact. The result of that was that Mega Lopunny's powerful kick span him around a complete rotation, and Blaziken twisted to lash out with a Blaze Kick of his own.
"End run!" May called, as the Blaze Kick met an Ice Punch coming the other way and produced a finely-divided mist of water.
"Take this!" Mega Lopunny shouted, volleying in a Mach Punch.
The moment Blaziken's feet touched the ground, though, he vanished – leaving a swirl of displaced air, and a trail of smouldering grass.
Mega Lopunny turned, ears punching out along with a snap-kick, and intercepted – with difficulty – the high speed Flare Blitz that Blaziken had just attacked with from a different direction entirely.
"Impressive," Norman said, glancing down at his daughter. "You're both right – Mega Lopunny is a bit too impressed with his own strength. He's being too direct..."
"Ya!" Mega Lopunny yelled, launching an Ice Punch into the air.
His attempt at the Flying Dragon Uppercut worked almost perfectly, the spiral of air grabbing Blaziken and flinging him upwards into the sky.
Mega Lopunny's mistake, however, was that he hadn't realized his own hot-tempered Aura was just as valid a target. He too went rocketing skywards, with a startled yelp the only sound that May and Norman got from him before he was too high to hear.
"...I think maybe it's time for that flying session," Norman decided. "Can you catch Blaziken?"
"Sure!" May agreed, sending Altaria out. "Okay, let's go!"
"Hah!"
Ritchie waved his hand, focusing, and a pulse of psionic force flashed out from it.
Cid, his Gallade, blocked with crossed-swords. "Not so fast!"
The trainer backed away, concentrating, and manifested a shield which Cid's blade clashed off – making a peculiar ringing noise.
"My turn!" Ritchie replied, and gestured – making a pushing motion, which sent the charged air of his shield pulsing outwards.
Cid diced the air into four equal pieces with a two-bladed X-Scissor, and lashed out with a kick – one which Ritchie saw coming, and ducked under before retaliating.
"Time's up!" Sparky called.
Both Psychics – trainer and Pokémon – froze.
"I think that went well," Cid said, slowly moving back into his normal guard position. "I should remember that combination – I might have a chance to use it."
"Yeah, so long as we face Ash at the League," Ritchie agreed. "Okay, Sparky, your turn."
Sparky jumped down, long tail lashing, and took his position opposite Cid.
"Who's after me?" Cid asked, swinging his arms to keep them limber.
"I think it's Zippo," Ritchie frowned. "Yeah, he's next."
"Right."
Sparky concentrated, sparks forming from his cheeks, and slowly expanding outwards. He exerted his own Psychic skill on the electricity, and it spread out before forming into a pair of electrical whips – whips which were as long as his tail, though without the lightning-bolt tip at the end.
"Go!" Ritchie called, starting the timer.
Sparky jumped forwards, swinging both whips along the same path as he did so. Cid blocked one, which wrapped around his glowing sword-blade and pulled it out of place -
Cid fired a telekinetic blast, throwing Sparky's follow up off target, and then Sparky's actual tail – crackling with electricity like his pair of whips – flashed in from the left and got under Cid's guard.
"Thunder!" Sparky announced, blasting his teammate.
Cid grunted, then slammed one blade into the ground with a bang and sent Sparky flying.
"Careful," Ritchie said, looking between them. "It is just a spar…"
As he watched, Sparky flipped himself upright in mid-air. The Raichu did a spin, then landed with a bounce and roll to skid to a halt on the soft grass.
"Okay, you asked for it," he said, reforming one of the whips – then snapping his claws together, breaking it off.
Cid watched the independent string of electricity, hunching warily. "This seems new."
"It is," Sparky replied. "By the way, Future Sight."
A ball of psychic energy materialized directly behind Cid, who dove out of the way and brought his left blade up just in time to block the incoming electrowhip.
"Up a bit – and dive!" May called, eyes on Blaziken as he fell towards them.
Altaria complied, looking out of the corner of his eye to check how fast Blaziken was moving, and going slowly enough to let Blaziken catch up before accelerating to match speeds.
"Got you!" May added, reaching out her hand to Blaziken, who took it and used the leverage to twist himself into place behind her.
Altaria pulled out of his dive, scudding comfortably over the slope, and May exhaled.
"Phew," she said, looking back at Blaziken. "I'm glad we could catch you."
"I'm grateful," Blaziken agreed, paused, then went on. "But you realize there were at least two easier ways to do that?"
"What?" May asked, blinking, then felt the slight thump of Altaria touching down. "Thanks, Altaria."
"No problem!" the Dragon-type cooed.
"Well, firstly, you could have just returned me," Blaziken pointed out. "You have my Pokéball right there on your belt."
"...oh, yeah..." May agreed, blushing. "I should have thought of that..."
"And, secondly, I'm a Blaziken." Blaziken shrugged. "I know Sky Uppercut and High Jump Kick. I go that high all the time."
May sighed, facepalming. "...I'm a moron."
"Awww..." Altaria giggled. "I thought it was very nice of you."
"You did, at least, fly very well together," Blaziken noted.
"...yeah, we did," May agreed, smiling. "We did, didn't we, Altaria?"
"Sure did!" Altaria confirmed.
Norman smiled.
"That worked," he said, and Staraptor cawed something.
His reply was a shrug.
"Okay, here we go," Charizard said, wings beating strongly in the moist sea air.
"You sure about this?" Charla asked. "This could go very wrong very quickly."
"Yeah, but not that wrong," Charizard countered. "It's why I'm doing this here."
"I did wonder," Charla admitted, looking down at the island – full of ninja-otaku Squirtle and their evolutions. "Okay, go ahead."
Charizard beat his wings once more, drawing ahead of his mate, then folded his wings and dove – gaining speed rapidly, until he was a slender orange dart hurtling down towards the deep water below.
He hit the waves with a crash, sending up a plume of spray which spread for a moment and then collapsed.
Charla stayed circling overhead, worrying.
Wondering.
Then there was another blast of spray, accompanied a moment later by the hissing wham of a steam explosion, and her mate fought his way clear of the waves.
"Nailed it!" he roared, shaking water off himself as he climbed back to height. "That was really cool!"
"This is a really bizarre kind of training..." Charla muttered.
"Well, yeah, how else should a Fire type train to resist water?" Charizard asked, flicking his wings to remove some of the last of the water. "Okay, let's go challenge as many of those turtles as we can! At once!"
"Slow down, there, Groudon," Charla chuckled. "You are actually, you know, vulnerable to being drowned."
"...I choose to believe that's just hearsay."
"Three!"
Corphish shifted, scuttling around in a half-circle, and the red blades of his shellsabers hummed gently.
"Four!" Swellow chirped, swooping in from his left side and hitting him with her claws.
Corphish rotated the other way.
Swellow turned, pulling up in a backflip which turned momentum into a spin and then turned that spin back into momentum. Wings flapping, she sped around the outside of a wide curve faster than Corphish could turn. "Five-"
Her voice cut off in a comical-sounding squaak as Corphish held his sabers up in the air, and Swellow nearly crashed trying to dodge out of the way. She rolled on her side, wings as stiff as she could get them, and barely fitted through the gap between the pair of glowing red blades.
"Phew!" she said, turning. "I guess that means-"
"One," Corphish replied, nodding to the ground in front of him.
Swellow looked, then sighed. Sure enough, there was a little white feather on the ground – with a straight, cut edge to it. He'd managed to get her.
"Okay, fine, we'll try something else," Swellow said. "What about this time I've got to dodge those crazy Bubblebeams of yours?"
Corphish considered, then deactivated both blades. Shwwwwip.
"I have a better idea," he said. "This time, you're in one place and I have to hit you."
"But… uh… you can't fly."
Corphish shrugged. "I don't see how that is a disadvantage."
"...fine, then," Swellow agreed, alighting on a tree branch. "Okay, I stay here, and you have to get me without me getting you."
"Fine by me," Corphish agreed, and scuttled off.
Swellow watched as he went out of sight, then shrugged. "I wonder what his plan is."
Snap-hiss. Vwuum.
The tree began to fall over.
"Corphish!" Swellow shouted, taking flight as the tree went crashing to the ground. "That-"
"Worked," Corphish pointed out.
Swellow's beak worked for a moment.
Then she smirked. "Okay, if you want to play it that way… get ready to eat Boomburst!"
"I'm not sure that's edible," Corphish mused.
Ash took a step back, shifting his weight, then swung.
Absol blocked it with her horn, the metal blade clashing against Absol's blue-glowing Sacred Sword. "Ash, that's not working – you're still giving yourself away."
"But… you're an Absol," Ash stressed. "How can I not give something away to you?"
"It's not just her," Lucario volunteered. "You know as well as I do that your stance must not betray your attacks."
"Right," Ash agreed, bringing the presentation sword back to the guard position and wiping some sweat from his forehead. "This is just… well, harder to control than Sir Aaron's staff."
"That's not necessarily going to be the case," Lucario said. "Quite apart from learning – what would happen if you used it like the staff?"
"I can't," Ash replied. "I'd need to hold it near… the middle," he finished, then looked between the sword and his glove. "Wait… I can just hold the sword blade in my hand with Aura – right?"
"That''s one way," Lucario agreed. "But another one is that you can use your boots to anchor yourself."
He inspected the sword. "But yes, I think this is heavier than it should be. I suspect that's because it's a sword made to look pretty."
Letting it go, he frowned. "Perhaps what we need to do is to go back to kata again?"
"Or we could just sharpen it a lot, so it gets lighter," Absol suggested, then winced. "Wait, no, bad idea, apparently that would mean at least four of us at some point accidentally cut themselves."
"That's… surprisingly specific," Ash said. He ran his finger along the blade. "But yeah, this is actually kind of blunt."
He shook his head. "Okay, let's try this again!"
"Don't overtire yourself, Ash," Lucario reminded him, but shifted his weight into a stance. "Remember – you can put the sword wherever you want before you attack, just make sure the attack itself is fast."
"Ready?" Beautifly asked.
Spoink nodded, bouncing up and down steadily. He knocked his pearl with one ear, then the other, and headed it off so it landed next to him. "Okay, go!"
Beautifly's proboscis reached down to the basket of berries, then began to knock them off the edge one by one. "Go!"
Spoink caught the first three berries in quick succession, bouncing them so the bottom one was hitting his forehead, the second one was hitting the bottom one and the third one was hitting the second.
That lasted perhaps five seconds, then he swapped the first one with the second one – and ate the third one.
There was a pause, then he let out a blast of flame from Natural Gift that made him wobble – just as the second one came down to be eaten in turn. Uh oh…
This one turned out to be Flying, and the resultant sudden gust of wind blew him backwards and made him trip over.
Beautifly winced as he bounced up into a tree, then sighed and put the basket down.
"Not bad," she said, waggling her wings as she flew up to get him down. "I think we're really going to need to work with a memorized list rather than improvising, though."
Spoink looked glum.
"I know that May loves improvising," Beautifly said, softly. "And I think it's wonderful you're trying to keep that going. But rehearsed routines are never something she's not liked."
"I guess," Spoink agreed. "Thanks for your advice, Beautifly."
His spring kept springing rhythmically out as they talked, and after a few seconds of contemplation Beautifly wafted enough of a gust of wind at him to knock him out of his branch.
"Here's your pearl," she added, as Spoink landed on the grassy forest floor. "Want a break before we keep going?"
"Please," Spoink said, thankful.
"Okay, let's go!" Totodile announced. "Ready?"
Torkoal nodded.
"Me first," Totodile went on, stepping forwards. "Okay, Mr. Muk, go ahead!"
Muk opened his mouth, and opened fire.
He also opened water, lightning, poison, psychic, ice and rock.
Humming to himself, a simple tune which went up and down the scales, Totodile pranced back and forth. His legs and tail got close, never quite actually crossing over enough to trip him up, and he ducked and jumped to avoid the blasts as they came in.
"And… around… and – yah!"
Totodile let out a great big wave of water, which collided with the Flamethrower Muk sent his way and eroded it in a wash of steam.
"Full marks!" Totodile announced, slowing to a halt. "Now your turn!"
"Right," Torkoal agreed, and took a deep breath. Steam began to ooze from his shell, and he stepped forward. "Now!"
There was an almighty bang as he launched himself into the air, then an ongoing screaming whistle as jets and blasts of steam sent him back and forth, up and down, and flipping over and over. One or two of the attacks got close enough to splash him, including a Sludge Bomb, and when he came to a stop some thirty seconds later he was panting heavily.
"That is a lot harder than it looks."
"Hmmm..." Totodile said, frowning, and stroked his chin with one foreclaw. "Maybe you need some music when you're doing it?"
"I'm not entirely sure that would help."
Cinder loped steadily along, muscles aching as she completed her latest lap of the training area.
It would be important for her to be lean, fit and fast for the League, and she was going to make sure of it.
Not to mention-
She changed course slightly, jumped, and landed on Casper as he emerged from the ground.
"Ow!" Casper yelped, then vanished into the ground.
Cinder grinned.
He'd been all enthusiastic about the idea of practicing at ambushing Pokémon from below, but – when he actually had to try to do it – it was turning out to be… harder… than he'd expected.
She felt for him. She really did.
"Okay, time to be stealthy," Arc said, tail waving back and forth.
He crept forwards, sliding slowly into the bushes.
"Stealth, stealth, stealth."
Gradually, cautiously, he oozed forwards.
His target glittered through the screen of the bush, unaware of his approach.
"I am so sneaky," he whispered to himself, then crouched lower. His muscles bunched, and he used a burst of electricity to accelerate as he pounced-
Forretress exploded.
Arc went backwards as fast as he'd come forwards, went crashing into the bush, and rolled over twice before coming to a rest – twig-strewn – on the grassy floor. "Ow."
"Next time… don't talk about how sneaky you are," Forretress said, then rolled off.
"...ow," Arc coughed.
"Blaziken?" May said, drawing the attention of her Fire-type.
"Yes, May?" he replied, looking up from a mug of cocoa. "What is it?"
"Well..." May glanced over at Ash, who had stopped work with the sword for now and was engaging in a back-forth Force Palm spar with Lucario. "I can see how good a rapport Ash has with his Pokémon, and how well he understands what they can do… I was wondering if you think it would help us if you taught me some martial arts."
Blaziken looked thoughtful, and drained the last of his mug. "I think it would be… interesting," he said, swallowing. "My style at this point is quite refined, but I think you could learn the basics – and yes, I think it would help. Somewhat, at least."
He stood. "You realize, of course, that you won't be able to match Ash?"
"Well, yeah," May said, clearly considering it obvious. "Ash is Ash… I just think it'd be an interesting way to stay fit, really."
"Well, then, with that understanding – I think it would be a fine thing to do," Blaziken agreed. "Do you remember the stretches we did before our first routine this time?"
May nodded. "Yeah, the ones to make sure I could do all the dance stuff. I still do them, actually..."
"That's good – flexibility is important," Blaziken said. "Now, I'm sure you want to start with the fun bit, but first I should ask. Do you see yourself using more of your legs, or your arms?"
His trainer shook her head in bafflement. "No idea whatsoever."
"Then we should perhaps begin with how to punch." Blaziken held up his clawed hand. "Punch my hand, please."
May did so.
"Wrong."
"Oh, come on!" May moaned, shaking her fist. "I hit as hard as I could!"
"No, you didn't," Blaziken corrected her unabashedly. "First, you balled up your hand with your thumb inside. That's a huge mistake, it can lead to breaking your thumb if you punch something hard enough. Second, you punched with just your arm – when you fight, you move your whole body at once. That's more obvious with a kick. And third, you didn't have enough follow through – you were aiming to stop your hand quite close to mine."
May nodded, trying to follow. "Okay, so… my hand should look like this?"
"Better," Blaziken agreed. "Now, try again."
May took a deep breath, and punched again.
It hurt a bit more this time, but she could also clearly feel the difference – she punched a lot harder with those few simple changes.
"Much better," Blaziken said, nodding in approval. "Now, do fifty of them in a row."
"I think I might regret this..." May said, as Blaziken held up both hands with their palms facing towards her.
"If I do my job right, you'll be working your muscles a lot harder than you normally do," Blaziken told her. "That means you will be aching a lot, at first, but you'll also be quite a lot tougher."
He inclined his head. "Now, about those punches..."
May nodded, and got going.
"Good. Okay. Clench harder. Good. Better! Use both hands – there we go."
What's going on over there? Kirlia asked, nodding at May.
Gardevoir did a double take. I don't think May is frustrated with how Blaziken's training is going...
High atop a tower in Opelucid City, a young girl with far too much hair stared towards the distant mountains – watching the sunrise.
"I miss home..." she said, sighing, and shook her head.
A loud snarl drew her attention.
"Fraxure! Excadrill!" she said, hooking one leg around the girder and scowling down. "Stop making so much noise!"
Excadrill looked at her, clashed his claws, and turned away in a huff.
"Sometimes you two are harder to deal with than a herd of Deino," Iris sighed, looking down at her Pokémon.
Well… only Excadrill was really her Pokémon. Officially, that is. She'd caught him over a year ago, and they should have been fast friends by now… but, despite how important it was for a Dragon-type trainer to have at least one Steel or Poison type around, nothing seemed to work out.
"What happened, Fraxure?" Iris asked, looking at the Dragon-type.
At her words, Excadrill just turned his nose up further.
Deciding she had probably better sort this out before it got worse, Iris crouched on the top layer of the tower and hopped down to the one her Pokémon were on.
"Think you can help?" she asked the Dragon-type.
Fraxure glanced at her, tusks sharp and glittering, then nodded.
"Okay..." Iris said, concentrating.
She could sometimes tell roughly what a Dragon-type was thinking, and… this would help, hopefully.
Drawing in her focus, she reached out…
...and she got a confusing mix of emotions, but most of them were on the same basic theme. Fraxure wasn't sure what was up with Excadrill either, but he was certain that Excadrill had started it.
Iris groaned, sitting on the meshwork floor.
That wasn't really helpful… how the heck did other trainers do this?
"Cynthia doesn't have this trouble," she said, out loud. "Or Kirsty… heck, Alder doesn't..."
For a moment, she wondered if that was because they didn't have to deal with Dragon-types, but then she shook her head – Lance was cool too, and he was a Dragon specialist… and one whose Dragon-types were some of the most powerful she'd ever seen.
"Well, maybe it's an experience thing..." she muttered.
Fraxure tilted his head. "Frax?"
"I'm wondering why I'm having trouble with Excadrill," she clarified, then groaned. "No, no way is it an age thing, Ash is even better than all the others!"
Now there was a trainer she wanted to be like. Ash was, what… thirteen? Barely older than she was… and he'd been doing all kinds of awesome things for over a year now.
Maybe it was that he could talk to all his Pokémon, not just Dragon-types. Granted, if there was a type she'd pick, Dragons would be it – but not being able to understand Excadrill made it even harder to work out the best way to sort out what was bugging him.
Plus he had Legendaries. Lugia was kind of cool, and Latias and Latios were ridiculously cool.
"It was all a lot simpler back home," she said, looking back towards the mountains again. Remembering when she'd tried to catch Drilbur, befriending him, and then the two of them working together.
What had gone wrong?
The radio tower shook gently beneath Iris, and she shook her head.
"I'm being silly," she told herself. "I bet Drayden never thought like this!"
She rubbed Fraxure on the back, scratching his scales just where he liked it. "We'll show him, heh?"
Fraxure nodded, leaning into the scratch, and Iris felt his pleasure – and smiled, glad she was treating him right.
Excadrill huffed.
"All three of us," Iris added. "I couldn't do it without you, Excadrill."
The Steel-type sounded like he wasn't sure of that, and tapped his claws on the metal.
"Come on," Iris began, then stopped.
She could feel something…
Fraxure straightened too, sniffing. "X-ure!"
Excadrill waved his claws dismissively.
"It's… something big," Iris said, trying to focus on the tingling sensation in her draconic empathy. "Something… there!"
She turned, and then watched as a Dragonair flew straight up the side of the tower.
"Wow..." she breathed – impressed. "That looks amazing!"
Dragonair heard her, rolling around his flight path and coiling down towards her. The lithe Dragon-type circled the tower twice, getting closer with each pass, then stopped in mid-air and examined her.
Iris felt curiosity, and waved. "Hi," she said. "I'm Iris – this is Fraxure, and this is Excadrill. He's my Starter."
Dragonair regarded the Steel-type, then said something that sounded dismissive.
"Hey," Iris rebuked, holding up a hand. "I know he's not… agreeable… but he is a strong Pokémon!"
The Dragon expressed amusement, and Iris smiled. She reached out a hand, and Dragonair flinched back a little.
"Sorry," Iris said, drawing the hand back slightly. "I just want to say hi – I don't meet many wild Dragons here in Opelucid."
Fraxure said something she didn't catch, and Dragonair chuckled – then nosed in a little, letting her stroke the side of his neck. Just once.
Then he flew upwards, doing a circle of the tower – leaving a soft rainbow mist behind him – and set off towards the mountains, letting out a long cry.
Iris watched him go, touched.
"Iris!"
The shout shattered her good mood, and she groaned. "Yes, Officer?"
An Officer Jenny on a Braviary came flying up the side of the tower, glaring at Iris. "You've been told a dozen times not to climb the radio tower!"
"Yeah… but I've not hurt myself yet," Iris pointed out. "And it stops me feeling homesick."
"That's not a good enough reason!" the Officer said, as Braviary hovered. "Come on – down the tower with you, young lady!"
Iris slumped. "Bet Ash Ketchum never had problems like this..."
Noctowl was asleep.
Or was he?
With a Pokémon like that, it was hard to tell.
What was real, though, was that several berries were vanishing from the snack bowl in Delia's kitchen.
Not all at once, just one at a time, and it was never easy to tell when it had happened… but there were definitely fewer than there were at the start of the evening.
It probably wasn't Noctowl, though. He was asleep.
"Okay, everything ready?" Norman asked.
"Yep!" Max agreed. "Well, not quite for me… but I don't really need to be."
Jirachi laughed. It's still at least two weeks until the League!
"Yeah, but the Grand Festival is the day after tomorrow," May countered. "And I want to make sure we get a slot on time..."
"I know, I know," Max said, nodding.
"So, when are you guys going to turn up and watch?" May added. "It'd be nice to see you in the crowd."
"Well, I'm not sure I can be away from my gym for long," Norman said, wincing. "But we can certainly try to be there for the last few rounds – so make sure you get there!"
"I sure will!" May agreed, with a thumbs-up.
"Don't forget to make sure your dresses are in top shape before the Appeals!" Caroline added.
"Mom, I've been doing this for years..." May protested. "This isn't even my first time doing this Hoenn Grand Festival."
"But it is the first time in years," Caroline reminded her. "And it's my job to remind you!"
"I guess it is," May sighed. "Well, I guess – see you soon, then. I'll be thinking of you."
"And I will too!" Max added. "Just… not during the contests I won't be doing."
"Wasn't that a double negative?" Brock asked.
"No it wasn't!" Max replied quickly.
"I'm pretty sure that wasn't not a double negative," Norman said, then stopped and frowned. "Or not?"
"I think we're all just confused now," Ash complained. "Can we get going?"
"Sounds like a good idea," Brock agreed. "Okay, ready?"
"I still think it's a pity that you can't fly there on me," Altaria trilled, a little sadly.
"I know," May said, reaching up and scratching him. "But it is a long flight – I'd rather not tire you out."
"Whereas we are perfectly able to go hundreds of miles," Suicune smiled. "I think Ash and I have amply proved that between us."
"Yeah, tell me about it," Ash muttered. "At least it wasn't always that far..."
"Do we really have to go now?" Entei asked, sniffing. "If we delay for another couple of hours it'll be lunch."
"Oh, hush, you," Suicune said, waving a paw. "You ate enough last night."
"Well, I suppose..." Entei admitted.
"Let's be off, then!" Raikou demanded. "The hour's not getting any earlier!"
"I think that means you should be going," Norman said, smiling. "Okay, Max, May – see you soon. And good luck."
"Thanks," May said, returning Altaria and checking her belt. "I think that's everyone… Max?"
"Yeah, I've got everyone too," Max confirmed. "Now, uh… who should we be riding?"
"Well, my fine young fellow, of COURSE it's me!" Raikou pronounced, slapping the ground with his paw. "You did so well in Mauville, now let's dashed well be off already!"
"I think he means that he'd like you to ride him, Max," Suicune supplied.
"Right," Max agreed, getting on. "Jirachi? Remember, stay in my bag for now."
Fine… Jirachi said, pulling the top down and clipping it.
"And I guess it's going to be me riding Entei," Brock said, after a moment. "Suicune's the one who's best at diverting the air away from her rider, and that means that May's hairdo doesn't get wrecked."
"Doesn't that mean your hair will be ruined?" May asked.
"I'm used to it," Brock replied, with a melancholy sigh.
"Charmed, I'm sure..." Entei rumbled. "Very well, I shall endeavour to ensure your hair is as salt-licked as you assume it will be."
"...sorry?" Brock tried.
Ash got astride Latios, who flashed over into Mega, and May took her seat on Suicune.
"Comfortable?" she asked, looking back over her shoulder.
"Yeah," May agreed, shifting a bit. "It's kind of cold, though – is that you?"
"Probably," Suicune admitted. She took a breath, and the cold feeling went away. "Fortunately, water can be warm as well as cold."
There was a flash of light.
"Mom!" Max complained.
"Sorry, it was a really good picture..." Caroline said, lowering her camera.
"Well, we should be going," Brock reminded them. "Okay, you all know where we're going?"
"Of course," Suicune said.
"It's not exactly hard to find," Entei added.
"Wait, we're going somewhere in particular?" Raikou blinked.
His brother and sister snorted.
"Kidding, kidding… mostly," Raikou said.
Mega Latios rose into the air, and Ash pointed. "That way!"
"WRONG!" Pikachu, Mega Latios, Entei, Suicune, May, Max and Brock chorused.
"...okay, you do it," Ash said, lowering his hand. "Show-offs."
"Being able to find your way around isn't a show off thing," May said. "More like… basic life skii-iiiIII~!"
Norman glanced over at his wife as the four Legendaries shot off towards the Grand Festival. "It's funny how used to things you can get."
"Of course," Caroline agreed. "Oh, that does remind me – Gardevoir wanted to try cooking today, so let her know how well it went."
"That sounds nice," Norman said. "This is because you've been teaching her?"
"More the other way around," Caroline shrugged. "She wanted to cook, so I started showing her."
"Jessie!"
Jessie blinked sleep out of her eyes. "What is it?"
"Hoenn Grand Festival registration ends today!" Meowth reminded her.
Jessie paled, then started getting dressed in a whirlwind blur. "Get the plane ready for takeoff!"
"Hey, now, it's still about eight hours we got-" Meowth began, and had to duck a hairbrush.
"Just do it!" Jessie snapped. "I don't want to miss the chance to do the Grand Festival this year!"
Meowth ducked back around the door, and shook his head. "'an I still got to wake Pikachu an' Seviper… dat ain't gonna be fun either..."
63
"Okay..." May said, glancing over at Blaziken. "You remember this, right?"
Blaziken nodded. "You've only reminded me six times."
"Yeah, I guess I must be nervous..." May chuckled, then shook her head. "Anyway… just one move, and it's what you can do with that."
She smirked. "I think we've got a good one."
"It is fortunate that my Ability is not a move," Blaziken noted blandly.
"Yeah," May agreed. "Okay, I think this is our slot."
She took a deep breath. "Let's go."
Blaziken touched his Pokeball, returning himself, and May strode out onto the arena floor.
"Any idea what May's planning?" Max asked, looking over at his friends.
Brock shrugged. "Not really, no."
"We were just about to ask you..." Ash added. "She didn't tell anyone?"
"I imagine she told at least one of her Pokemon," Lucario pointed out, then frowned. "Though, given her predilection for improvisation, it's not even certain she told the one she's about to use..."
"That wouldn't go well," Max winced. "Well, it might… but I think it probably wouldn't."
"I can just imagine her sending Munchlax out, ordering Metronome, and getting Explosion..." Brock said, shaking his head. "That would be impressive, but a bit… too unexpected."
"Yeah," Max agreed. "Well, let's see what happens..."
May took her position in the middle of the arena floor, her orange-brown dress billowing slightly, and raised Blaziken's Pokeball.
"Go!" she announced, and her Fire-type appeared in a flash of orange flames – which were promptly carried along with him, as he hit the ground running and accelerated rapidly.
The swirl from half a dozen Fire Seals formed a brief shape, a figure-eight which reached up towards the sky, before dissipating into the air above the stadium.
"An interesting opener," the announcer said, frowning. "But Blaziken hasn't used a move yet – I wonder what they're planning?"
As he spoke, Blaziken accelerated further. May's dress rippled, blown around by the currents, and she waited – then pointed.
"Blaze Kick!"
Blaziken's feet flashed with fire, and he did a lightning-fast backflip, launching a snap-kick into the air as he did before hitting the ground and going right back to his top speed.
Blurring around in a half-circle to face the direction he'd been going a moment before, Blaziken did another of those backflips – launching the kick so quickly in the grip of his Speed Boost that it looked like the mirror image of the first.
A fraction of a second to land, and he was moving again. This time, Blaziken's kicks were simple high snap kicks rather than the more elaborate backflip kicks, but he was still moving fast enough that he could launch several of them in a single second.
"Wait… is that making a pattern?" Brock asked, as the flames rose higher.
"I think it is!" Max agreed. "And it's – oh, hey, that's actually really cool!"
As the crowd watched, Blaziken's dozens of Blaze Kicks spread and separated, forming the edges of a great structure in mid-air. Cool and smoky, cut through with fresher and brighter veins formed of more recent swipes of flame, and with five lobes each formed in turn of several smaller points.
For a few seconds, there was a giant flaming maple leaf hanging in midair over May – then it diffused, blown away in the wind as the effect of Blaziken's high speed run hit it with a turbulent wash of air.
Blaziken slowed, panting, and his wrists flared brightly as he tried to relax.
"Great work, Blaziken," May assured him, putting her hand on his shoulder. "What I could see looked great!"
Blaziken didn't seem to react.
"Blaziken?" May repeated, and realized suddenly that she was having trouble hearing herself too.
Her ears were ringing a bit from the noise of Blaziken's display – and there was a cacophony of applause, ringing down from the stands.
"Well done," she said again, smiling. "Take a rest, okay?"
"That was so cool!" said a nine year old girl in the stands, clapping as hard as anyone else. "I didn't realize you could do that!"
"That's what being a Coordinator is about," her mother chuckled. "But that was unusual, you're right – I don't think I've seen many Coordinators turn their name into a symbol like that."
"Mom?" the girl asked, looking up at her. "Were you that good?"
"Well, I did have quite the winning streak..." the mother said, as the applause subsided. "But that young lady's going to go far, Dawn. You could do a lot worse than look up to her."
Dawn nodded firmly.
"Better?" May asked, handing Blaziken another glass of water.
The Fire-type took it gratefully, and drank about half of it before sighing and relaxing a little.
"I'm glad we didn't try to do the letters too," May said, chuckling slightly. "You might have fallen over halfway through..."
"I doubt that," Blaziken said, loftily. "I was moving too fast to fall over."
"Then you might have tripped," May countered.
She shrugged. "Still, I hope we got a high score – I forgot to check."
"So do I," Blaziken agreed. "Hopefully they don't think I was using Agility as well as Blaze Kick."
"If they do, we'll appeal the decision," May said, then chuckled.
"Sorry," she said, raising a hand. "I didn't realize the pun until I said it..."
Blaziken shook his head.
"Who are you planning on using first?" he asked.
"Well, I kind of want to give you a break," May said, thinking. "And – I know normally the first round is the easiest, but I think it'd be best to give Munchlax at least a bit more time to practice his routine. So… I don't know, actually. It depends if it's a Single or Double contest."
"Hey, May!"
May turned. "Drew?"
"The very same," Drew agreed, sitting down a little way off. "We just finished our qualification appeal – I hope we got in, I'd hate for us to miss the chance for a Grand Festival clash."
"I hope we got in, too," May agreed.
Drew snorted. "Hope? May, with that response you're in. Guaranteed! It looked great – I was in the stands until it was just before my slot, and I'm glad I was."
He reached down to pet Leafeon as she padded up to him. "And this lovely lady and I just did a little Cherry Blossom Blizzard, so here's hoping."
"Sorry I missed it," May winced. "Blaziken was kind of..."
"Yeah, I know," Drew waved off. "This happens."
He glanced at May, then chuckled. "Incidentally, I didn't know Blaziken was Canadian..."
Blaziken gave him a look.
"Okay," May said, the next morning. She looked at her whole team, crowded into her dorm room. "How many of you remember how this is done?"
Altaria raised a wing. "I was never taught..."
Me neither, Spoink contributed.
I've read the rulebook.
"...out of those who have a chance to know," May clarified. "I'm pretty sure just about everywhere we've gone has different rules about their Contests."
Blaziken nodded.
After a moment, Venusaur raised a vine – which hit the ceiling with a slight thump. "Am I right in thinking it's one big Appeal round, then five Battle rounds?"
"Right," May agreed. "I heard that at least one of the Battle rounds is going to be a double, so I hope all of you can have a turn… but there's an important question to answer first. Who's going to do the Appeal."
"Well..." Beautifly began, fluttering into the air. "It's a tricky question… I mean, I think you're implying that it's either Appeal or Battle?"
"If you've already done one, you're going to the back of the queue," May confirmed. "That does depend a bit on who it is – I don't think you want to face Harley again, Spoink?"
That's fine, Spoink confirmed. He scares me.
May reached out and touched him on what would be the shoulder if he had any arms. "It's okay – you don't need to face him if you're not comfortable with it."
Spoink smiled.
"So, let's see..." May went on. "I know we worked on a routine for each of you, so – I guess the main question is which one would be best."
"How do we decide that?" Glaceon asked, licking her paw. "I mean, I think the ice-rail is pretty good, but..."
She shrugged. "I don't know if it's the best."
"Like… what is the best, then?" Skitty said, waving her tail. "I… guh, it's totally too hard to choose!"
"Perhaps we should vote?" Venusaur suggested.
There was a whump from the direction of Munchlax.
Everyone turned, and blinked at the sight of the ursine Normal-type faceplanted on the floor.
"Huh," May said. "I guess he voted for sleep."
"That's, like, a postal vote for him," Skitty said, flirting her tail.
"Voting sounds good," May went on. "It'll make it easier to choose, anyway – Ethan, can you help?"
Of course.
Ethan materialized, and holograms appeared in front of the entire team – showing pictures of everyone except themselves.
I have disallowed the option of voting for oneself, Ethan clarified. Count your vote as automatic for yourself, and then pick another.
"Well… this is kind of neat," Altaria said, examining it, then reached down and pecked one.
"Munchlax?" Glaceon asked, patting him on the back. "Munchlax?"
"Told you," Skitty purred. "Totally a postal vote."
"Since when do you know what one of those is?" Venusaur asked.
"Um, hel-lo?" Skitty said, tilting her head. "Hoenn's Got-"
"Forget I asked."
Beautifly made her choice, then Glaceon, and a moment later the final panel disappeared as everyone finished registering their choice.
It's Altaria, Ethan told them.
Altaria jumped slightly. "What?"
You're actually the only Pokemon who didn't vote for you, Ethan informed him. And, considering I was counting everyone as automatically voting for themselves, it's unanimous.
"It's not unanimous," Glaceon pointed out, lifting one of Munchlax's eyelids and peering in. "Munchlax hasn't picked."
"You know, Ash's Snorlax has Hyper Eye Beams," May told her.
Glaceon jumped back, then flirted her tail. "...oh."
"I think you, like, lost the cool look," Skitty stage-whispered.
"I'm an Ice-type," Glaceon shot back. "We always look cool."
"So… it's me, then?" Altaria asked.
He took a deep breath, and let it out. "Wow. Okay… okay, May! I won't let you down!"
"Nor will I," May agreed, reaching up to his cheek and scratching it. "Let's blow 'em away, Altaria."
"What, has he learned Whirlwind?" Beautifly asked.
Everyone looked at her.
"...okay, sorry..." she muttered. "Clearly not the right audience."
"I forgot how many of these there were," Ash groaned, as the latest Coordinator left the stage. "This has taken more than an hour already! Can't they just get on with it?"
"There's sixty-four Coordinators," Max pointed out. "They all get three minutes, and there's some time for the judges… if they just did them all in a row without breaks, it'd last more than four hours."
Ash winced. "...okay, now I can see why they do them in blocks."
"Hey, at least they're cool," Max said.
"Yeah," Pikachu agreed. "I liked the breakdancing Carracosta."
"Actually, that one was good," Ash agreed. "And I've got a couple of ideas for Torkoal now..."
"Just make sure he doesn't get too… Squirtle..." Brock said, wincing at the thought. "I know he's been training with Squirtle for months, but he seems relatively sensible so far..."
"Right," Ash nodded, then thought again. "Actually, would a bit of Squirtle-"
"No!"
"Hey, look, Drew's turn," Pikachu said, getting their attention. Even Max – who couldn't understand him directly – got the gist, and they turned to watch.
Drew sent out his Roserade, with a flash and a shower of petals.
"Grassy Terrain!" he called, and the Grass-type did a twirl. A shower of sparkling pollen came from both flowers, raining down over the arena, and the short grass began to grow and lengthen.
She kept twirling, making the grass sprout higher and higher, and as she did it began to take on other – less normal – features.
First there were some tall wild grass shoots, with seeds, which reached at least two feet high before they began to bow over towards the ground.
"Petal Dance," Drew said, walking in a slow circle some distance from Roserade, and she accelerated – pink and red petals blossoming outwards, followed by blue and white and intense yellow.
Her Grassy Terrain pulsed out again, and this time it didn't just produce grass.
Nosing up through the glowing green grass came new shapes. Crocuses, roses, big yellow dandelions and tall lilies which spread their petals to the sky.
"That's a new trick," Brock said, as the Grassy Terrain became a set of concentric rings of flowers, like a mixture of a flowerbed and a wild, beautiful meadow.
"He certainly seems to like gardening," Lucario observed.
"What I want to know is what Drew has planned for the rest of the time," Max said. "There's at least a minute left."
"Okay, here we go," Drew said, pointing. "Leech Seed!"
Roserade twirled, still sustaining her Grassy Terrain, and fired out three Leech Seeds from each flowery arm – six total, forming two clusters of three on either side of her.
The energy of the Grassy terrain poured into them as well, forcing the resultant plants to grow into tangles of vines and leaves. In seconds, six large and thick bushes had formed.
"Stop Grassy Terrain!" Drew instructed. "And – now! Razor Leaf!"
His Grass-type lowered her arms, shaking them, and then pointed them at the first of the bushes. A storm of razor-sharp leaves came spiralling out, forming into discrete strands and descending on the bush.
Roserade directed them with a series of sharp gestures, and they swarmed around the first bush – then the second, and then the third.
The fourth got a new set of leaves as Roserade turned to face the other way, then the fifth, and the sixth was engulfed before being revealed just as the time ran out.
"Okay, that is pretty cool," Ash admitted, as he saw the results.
On the side of the arena furthest from him and his friends, there was a set of three topiary sculptures – a little rough and unpolished, but clearly the Three Golems.
It was harder for Ash to see the ones which were facing away from him, but it looked like one of them was Kyogre and another Rayquaza – so the other had to be Groudon.
"You did say he liked gardening," Lucario said. "I like it."
"How are they going to get it off the arena?" Max asked, clapping along with the storm of applause as Roserade took her bow. "It seems like kind of a shame to just cut it down..."
"Actually, given how tricky that is…." Brock chuckled. "I bet there's about twenty of those gardens all over wherever it is Drew was practising before coming here."
"Yeah, good point..."
"It didn't seem to take this long last time," Ash said, climbing the stands.
Pikachu shrugged. "Who knows… maybe you just fell asleep for some of them."
"That's more Snorlax' thing," Ash shot back.
He looked around. "Uh… wait, is this the right section?"
Lucario silently examined his seat ticket.
"No," he said, simply. "We are on the wrong side of the stadium."
"Okay, Ash, how did you manage that?" Pikachu asked. "We only went to get a burger!"
"Yeah, but it was around the stadium a bit, so I walked around the stadium a bit after we got them… you weren't paying attention?" Ash checked.
Pikachu let out a long sigh. "I was eating. Mostly ketchup."
"No harm done," Lucario announced. "This way."
At about the same time, the other side of the stadium, Dawn and Johanna hurried up the steps.
"Come on, Mom!" Dawn said, looking back. "I want to make sure we get back to our seats before they start again!"
"I know, dear," Johanna agreed, chuckling slightly. "But you're the one who wanted the ice cream."
"Drat!" Celebi muttered, shaking her head.
"Okay, here we go..." May said, taking a deep breath.
She threw Altaria's Pokeball, which burst open in a great flash of smoke and hid her from sight.
When it faded, Altaria stood on the arena floor some distance from her.
May took another deep breath, and stepped forwards. The moment she did, Altaria turned to look at her, flinched, and flapped some distance away.
May looked down, clearly upset, then began to approach again – more slowly and carefully, making it clear she wasn't a threat.
As she did, Altaria began to sing.
It wasn't anything particularly loud at first, nor was it much that could be recognized as singing – just some soft background which resonated in the air, calm and gentle, and over the top a series of notes like a piano performing scales.
Altaria settled down, giving no outward indication he was the singer, and folded his wings around himself – then looked up as he heard movement.
May sat some way off, smiling and looking non-threatening.
Altaria turned back to snoozing and closed his eyes – then looked up again as May reached for his wing, making May stand up and pretend she hadn't been trying to get close at all.
Thoroughly peeved, Altaria stood up and flapped a little further around the arena – though not quite as far as the first time he had – before alighting on the wall.
The pause let him change the music, weaving in more complex melodies as he Sang a stronger theme into the air, and the scales amplified until they took on a life of their own.
May didn't try to approach him again, this time. Instead, she reached down to the ground and picked up a long stick – one which Altaria had dropped from his fluff earlier, so she could take it.
Taking a look back at Altaria, she began to sketch out in the dirt – starting with his long, curving neck, and then going on to do the wings.
Altaria looked over his shoulder to check she wasn't coming closer again, saw what she was doing, and kept looking. After a few more seconds, as she got to the tail, he took wing again to fly over and have a look.
Glancing back a moment, May didn't stop drawing – just noticing he was there. Then she watched as Altaria flew over her, inhaled, and shot out a narrow beam of Dragonbreath which went nowhere near her.
Everyone watched as Altaria flew over the arena floor in four or five passes, turning to look at May after each pass, and the Sing swelled into a symphony.
By the time he was done, and came down to a landing, he had drawn a wobbly picture which was just about recognizable as May.
May looked around herself, recognizing it for what it was, and smiled – then headed for the door of the arena, some way away from Altaria.
Her third footstep meant she nearly stepped on one of the lines, and Altaria rustled his wings warningly. Getting the message, the Coordinator instead stepped over the still-smoking line.
The way to the door was the most thickly drawn section of the image of May, and so she was focusing entirely on making sure she didn't step on any of the lines – so she didn't see it when Altaria ghosted into the air and flew around to just where she was going.
Altaria's song died down to a series of pure notes, ethereal and gentle, as May looked up and saw that she'd ended up right next to the Dragon-type.
Hardly breathing, she raised a hand – and Altaria nosed forwards into it.
Then an orange glow stole over him.
There was a flash of light, bright enough to make the audience blink, and when it had faded Altaria was – finally – Mega Altaria.
May hugged him, Mega Altaria enfolding her in his wings, and the crowd erupted.
"Well done May," Brock said, as the applause finally died down. "That went really well – especially his managing to Mega Evolve at the end."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "The first time's always special, and that one was a lot more special than usual."
"Kind of wish we could tell her," Max sighed. "I thought that was really good, and-"
Ahem, Kris coughed.
"In person," Max amended. "No offence, Kris, just… you know."
What's wrong with texting?
Max shrugged uncomfortably. "I don't think you can hug over the phone."
Ah, Kris admitted. Yes, that would be difficult.
"Hey, look," Ash added, pointing. "Look who's right after May!"
"Is that Jessie?" Brock asked. "I think it's the right hair..."
Jessie smirked, adjusting her dress a little.
She'd sometimes despaired of being able to say this… but now was her chance.
"Go, Pikachu!" she called.
There was a bright flash, and her Pikachu appeared in mid-air. She spun once, tail working to control her movement, then landed with knees bent.
Her large, wide-brimmed pointy hat waved back and forth a little as she straightened up, letting the long black robe hang down with its moon-and-stars silverwork, and she flourished a long staff before planting it on the ground.
She was also wearing a large beard, to complete the look.
Leaning theatrically on the staff and raising her free paw, she traced a circle in the air – a circle which left an orange trail behind it, so that when Cosplaychu brought her paw back to where it had started there was a complete band of flickering orange-yellow light.
She drew back her staff, poking the tip through the middle, and shouted. "KA!"
Flames exploded outwards in a great long spike, reaching twenty feet into the air, and then began to fall back like a fountain.
Keeping her staff raised, Jessie's Pikachu made another gesture – and as she did, the falling flames stopped, then reversed, forming a great flaming sculpture in mid-air like a pine tree.
The pine tree hung there for perhaps four seconds, and then Cosplaychu changed her tack. The flames of the pine tree shot out in all directions, stopped, hung there for a moment and exploded into showers of sparks.
Already, however, a new blast of flame was replacing it. This one spiralled into the air, leaving a trail of dripping white sparks below it, and split into three parts which accelerated back down towards their mistress.
Cosplaychu deflected them with her staff in a single motion, and formed the circle of Mystic Fire again.
Dozens of small comet-like flames went into the air, exploding one at a time with sharp cracks and puffs of multicoloured sparks.
"I didn't know Pokemon could do that..." Dawn said, watching with amazement. "It's like a fireworks display!"
"Pokemon can do a lot of things," Johanna told her with a smile.
"But that's a Pikachu," Dawn pointed out. "I definitely didn't know Pikachu could do this!"
"...put that way, neither did I..." Johanna admitted.
"Now for the grand finale!" Jessie called, keeping an eye on the time.
Cosplaychu nodded, moving her staff around in an arc much bigger than any she'd made so far, and then launched an almighty spire of flame into the air.
It rose and rose, passing out the top of the stadium, and detonated in a massive crackle and wave of sparks.
The crowd cheered… and then the cheering died down again, as the flames didn't go away.
Instead, the fire took on a shape. Wings formed, with a pair of great snaps of sparks, and a moment later an angry Charizard of flame roared and dove towards the stadium.
It stooped on Cosplaychu, who stood her ground – then, as it reached about twenty feet in height, launched a bolt of lightning at it.
The explosion was loud and smoky, obscuring the view of the stadium floor for several seconds.
When it faded, Cosplay Pikachu was standing on Jessie's shoulders – still in costume, but waving to the crowd.
"Ya know, I tink she's been takin' all dese appeals as a challenge," Meowth noted, looking over at Cubone. "What da you think?"
"It's likely," Cubone agreed. "Though I'll never understand how she manages that whole costume thing – you know, learning moves when she puts it on, forgetting them when she takes it off..."
"It might not be so complicated as you think," Meowth said, tapping his paw on the floor. "After all, ain't you able to use all kinds'a powers by usin' all different bones?"
"That's different," Cubone said, shaking her head. "That's a Reality Marble."
"And hers isn't?"
Cubone's head stopped moving.
"That… would explain a lot, actually..." she admitted.
"Hey!" James hissed. "It's getting busy again!"
"Ain't it still our break?" Meowth asked, pointedly looking at his wrist – not that he had a watch, but the point came across.
"There's a rush on!" James said, flipping another half dozen burgers. "Now!"
Meowth and Cubone exchanged a glance, then sighed and put their aprons back on.
Hopping up onto the counter, Meowth cleared his throat. "Rocket Burger, out of this world food! How can I take your money – I mean, uh, order?"
"I knew we should have told Jessie the dress cost too much..." Cubone said, adding cheese to burger buns.
"So… Mega Altaria, huh?" Max asked, looking the Fairy-type Dragon up and down.
"Yeah," May said, smiling. "It's really new – so new I'm not sure we know how we're going to use it, but-"
She was interrupted as Mawile came walking past.
"You are the fluffiest dragon ever," she announced calmly. "I approve!"
Mega Altaria chuckled, a trilling sound, and fluffed his cloud. "Thank you – I certainly feel fluffier than before."
"What's wrong with me?" Goodra asked, sounding very glum.
"Nothing, of course!" Mawile assured him promptly. "You're less fluffy, but that's great too!"
"That's all right then," Goodra said, chuckling.
"Remember how all the Dragon-types ran away when she hatched?" Ash asked.
"I still don't understand that..." Mawile said, scratching her head. "Dragons are all sorts of cool!"
Thwack!
Raticate jumped, her big catcher's mitt raised, and just about managed to snag the ball as it hurtled overhead. It slipped as she fumbled and tried to grab it, so she threw it towards the base, and Riolu let out a sigh of dismay as she was caught out.
"Okay, that's game!" Casey called, clapping. "Good work, everyone!"
"Thank you," Riolu said, panting. "I'm glad you approve."
"Well, to be fair, you did get about twelve runs," Casey reminded her. "That's a pretty good haul – and you weren't any slower today than before, so I think everyone else is just getting faster."
Pichu's tail went back and forth, and he grinned. "Pi-chu!"
"Yeah, that tail serve is really rockin'," Casey nodded. "Right, everyone – it's time for another spar!"
"What will it be this time?" Riolu asked.
"Probably some more training for Beedrill," Casey answered. "He's kind of my ace now… so, you know."
"I thought I was your ace," the Fighting-type protested.
Pidgeot chirped, Meganium frowned, and Raticate started chuckling.
"...yeah, but… oh, it's complicated," Casey said. "Think of him as like… a pinch-hitter I can use when someone's got the right tactics to deal with the rest of you."
Pidgeot nodded, satisfied. Meganium shrugged, and Riolu tapped her chin. "It does make more sense put that way."
Raticate said something.
"Raticate wants you to know that was very funny," Riolu added.
"It was?" Casey said. "Huh… anyway… Riolu, Meganium, can you set up the targets?"
Casey's Meganium nodded, picking up the discarded bat, and Riolu took a pair of baseballs up – one in each paw.
Beedrill buzzed overhead, and Casey waved – then closed her eyes, concentrating.
Beedrill was a Pokemon she treasured, for all sorts of reasons. One of them being that, unlike all her other Pokemon, she'd caught him fully evolved.
He'd been a precise battler, helping her get through a couple of rough matches, and to add to that he was just plain agile. Pidgeot was faster – much faster – but Beedrill could fly rings around anyone else on the team.
Definitely a MVP contender.
She opened her eyes, taking her hand off her Key Stone, and smiled at the sight of Mega Beedrill.
"Okay, same drill as last time!" she added. "Ready?"
Mega Beedrill buzzed an affirmative, rising into the air and hovering backwards.
"Okay, two at once!" Casey instructed. "Now!"
Riolu threw the first ball up in a lazy lob, then did the same a bit less strongly – so it didn't rise so high, and came down towards Meganium at the same time as the first.
Meganium's grip on the bat shifted, vines getting good leverage, and then – WHACK!
Mega Beedrill reacted instantly. All five of his stings glowed, and he used a potent Pin Missile attack which split and resplit into hundreds of tracers – which then spread out to englobe both hurtling balls.
The missiles came in in a single coordinated attack, peppering both baseballs with hits so quickly it came as a single event, and then the baseballs hit the ground looking like golf balls.
"Great!" Casey said. "Now, let's try dodging – batter up!"
"Mega Beedrill says that he never looks forward to this bit," Riolu said, hefting a baseball. "Ready, Meganium?"
Meganium nodded.
Mega Beedrill did not look ready.
"Come on, guys, we need this ready for the Hoenn League!" Casey implored.
"Does that mean we have chosen which one to do this year?" Riolu asked. "I was wondering why we have fourteen badges."
"I keep changing my mind, okay..." Casey said, sighing. "Now, pitch that ball!"
"Dear?"
Lugia looked up, startled. "Love?"
"You were miles away," his mate said, chuckling. "What was it?"
"Oh… just wondering how I'd do in a Contest," Lugia explained. "I was thinking… laser light show?"
"If you want to blow up the whole arena and everything for three miles in every direction," his mate teased.
"...I could do it a long way away..."
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