章 91: 66
"Okay, I think we've got enough time to actually discuss teams now," Dawn said. "How long is it until you guys need to be at the Ever Grande conference?"
"About… two weeks, I think?" Brock asked, looking at Ash.
"Yeah, that's right," Ash confirmed.
"If there is one thing you can remember, Ash, it's the timing of a Pokémon League," Lucario stated.
Max chuckled.
"Okay, so… how should we do this?" May asked. "I mean… do we just find some out of the way place and go down the list?"
"Would that be a problem?" Dawn checked. "I've missed kind of a lot."
"Yeah, and I think that's one of the first times I've seen a Draco Meteor hit another Pokémon," Piplup added.
"That wasn't really relevant to what she was saying," Pikachu pointed out.
"...don't care," Piplup replied, shaking his head.
"I think we could spare the time," Max volunteered. "What do you think, Mrs. Berlitz?"
"Well… I think it would be okay," Dawn's mother agreed. "So long as we're able to catch our flight back tomorrow."
"Right!" Ash smiled. "Okay, let's do this! Oh, Dexter, can you ask-"
I've already alerted the ranch, Dexter interrupted. Do you want to bring in Pokémon like Lapras and Butterfree as well?
"You can do that?" Dawn blinked. "How come? I know you have them, but I thought they left."
I'm just awesome that way.
Dawn laughed.
"Actually, it's some transceivers we got," May told her. "Like how you can get a Pokémon from one Pokémon Centre to another? Same thing."
"Oh, neat," Dawn nodded. "So – let's see… any of the Pokémon I knew evolved, Ash?"
"A couple..."
"Man, you've got as many as me..." Dawn said, looking at Max's Pokémon. "I guess I need to recruit a couple more Pokémon if I ever decide I want more variety."
She went down the list. "So… a Porygon – actually, I guess I'll be seeing Ash's one a lot more than you."
That is as expected, Kris noted. Be sure not to be too hard on Dad.
"...wait," Dawn paused. "Dad?"
Both Ethan and I are divergent branches from Dexter's basic net, Kris told her. The same is true of Gary's Dee and Professor Oak's Damos.
"Oh, huh..." Dawn nodded. "Damos – named after that guy we met in the past?"
"That's right," Ash confirmed.
"And then we've got a Manectric, and a Breloom, and a Mightyena," Dawn went on. "Pretty cool team!"
Guy bowed to her, claws together. Arc's tail thumped on the ground, and Max scratched him under the chin. "Yeah, Arc's cool – he's the only Pokémon I have who can Mega Evolve, so far at least."
"Mega-" Dawn began, then stopped. "Okay, is that another thing you invented, Ash?"
"...actually I think it might be," Ash said, looking embarrassed. "Gary said it seemed to kind of be… coming back… after we broke time."
"Didn't you have a Buneary?" May asked. "Because I think that there's a Lopunnite available – Dad's one used it, but he didn't really like it."
"Maybe, if she ever decides to evolve," Dawn said, sighing. "But thanks for letting me know. Okay, there's Mantine-"
"Delta," Max interrupted. "I nickname all my Pokémon."
"Oh, right, I forgot," Dawn admitted. "And who's this, then?"
May snorted with laughter.
"...Jirachi," Max admitted. "I nickname all my Pokémon except him."
"This was that thing Brock told me about with the giant evil Groudon, right?" Dawn checked. "Uh, wait, the other thing – the one without a Kyogre as well."
"Yeah, about that," Ash said. "This time there was a Kyogre too."
"You just can't help overdoing it, can you?" Dawn said, shaking her head. "Okay, and then there's this fine gentleman."
Roland nodded to her, looking very serious. Pleased to meet you!
So am I! Jirachi agreed. So is everyone!
"That's about right," Max said, reaching over to give Cinder a stroke. "It's been great being able to take Pokémon I meet along with me on my journey – last time I just had to promise I'd come back."
And you did! Roland reminded him. Sure, it was kind of complicated – but I don't mind at all!
Dawn smiled. "You look like great friends," she complimented Max. "And, uh – actually, I think I know your full team, May. But I don't think I've met Altaria."
May sent him out, and leaned back into his fluffy wings. "He's great – I had trouble getting used to flying, but..."
They shared a smile.
"It's going to be fun doing that from now on," May added. "I especially want to see how he does when he's Mega Evolved."
"...actually, I should try to do that," Dawn noted. "I'll have to keep an eye out for a Pokémon I can fly on."
"Ash or Brock can probably loan you one to get used to it," May suggested.
"Yeah, I – wait, Brock?" Dawn said. "Who's your flying Pokémon, Geodude?"
"No, Flygon," Brock clarified, sending him out. "He's from Forina as well."
"Those are nice Pokémon," Johanna said, speaking up for the first time in a while. "But – hold on, I want to make sure I'm following. You're… a Gym Leader from Pewter?"
"Yeah, but I don't actually spend much time there," Brock told her. "Which is kind of helpful, because I've only got, uh, one Rock type. And our friend Misty-"
"Her I have heard of," Johanna forestalled him. "Isn't she-"
"Wait, I only just realized," Dawn interrupted her mother. "She's the same Misty who's an Elite Four member, right?"
She grinned. "That's pretty cool."
"Yes, she qualified while we were in Johto," Brock explained. "That was where I met Stantler, too."
Stantler materialized, and bowed.
"I'm pleased to meet you," he said, the words accompanied by little illusory subtitles which dissolved as they were spoken.
Dawn laughed. "Now that''s a cool trick!"
"Ethan can do it as well," May supplied. "I think Ninetales does it sometimes – right, Brock?"
"Right," Brock agreed. "Though, come to think of it, I don't think Dawn ever met Vulpix."
"No, you told me about her, but I've never met her," Dawn agreed. "So, is that all the changes so far for Brock?"
"Well, I am a knight," Brock said quietly.
"Yeah, we all are – oh!" May said, giggling. "You haven't heard the biggest one!"
"Yeah," Max nodded. "This one's huge."
"Come on, then, spill!" Dawn said. "And I'd kind of like to hear about the knight thing as well, but what's this huge change?"
"He's got a girlfriend," May told her.
Dawn stared. "What."
"It's not a huge surprise," Brock protested. "Right?"
"What," Dawn repeated. "What?"
"Seriously?" Brock asked. "This is the thing that's too hard to take? Not time travel, Legendary Pokémon, a new Type and Mega Evolution?"
"None of those break any fundamental laws of nature," Dawn said. "Seriously?"
Brock sighed.
"Okay, I think I've got the full list," Ash said, checking. "Let's see… you never did meet Pidgeot, right?"
"No – just your other birds," Dawn confirmed. "Though I know which bird I think is the best."
"Who?" Piplup asked. "Which bird is this?"
Dawn laughed at his expression, and rubbed his head. "Piplup, of course!"
"...oh."
Lucario sat down next to her. "Dawn – I still remember your aid in rescuing me. If you want any kind of translation, then I'll be perfectly willing to help."
"Oh – thanks!" Dawn said, pleased. "That's an Aura thing, right?"
"Correct," Lucario told her. "I learned it after I got back to the Kingdom, but before everything went banana-shaped."
"Right, here goes..." Ash went on. "These are Pidgeot and Butterfree – the first two Pokémon I ever actually caught, the first time around."
Both the Flying-types in question appeared in flashes of light, and Pidgeot settled to the ground with her wings spread for stability.
"Wow, you're gorgeous," Dawn said. "I guess Ash uses you for flying around a lot?"
"A fair amount," Pidgeot replied, shrugging her wings. "It depends who's available."
Lucario supplied a quick translation.
"And Butterfree… Ash did mention you," Dawn went on. "How's your family?"
Butterfree did a loop-the-loop, wings fluttering.
"Last time we had a chance to talk, he said his first few kids to evolve into Butterfree had gone off on their own," Ash told her. "So I guess that means they're doing fine."
"Right," Dawn agreed.
"Okay, you knew Charizard… right?" Ash went on. "And… huh, actually, I don't think you know either Squirtle or Ivysaur."
"I met Bulbasaur," Dawn said. "So unless he's changed a lot then you can probably skip him… and no, I never met Charizard."
"Right, hold on a moment..."
"Just so you know, Dawn," Lucario said. "Squirtle has become a bit… obsessive."
He paused. "More so than usual for a Squirtle."
Ash sent out Charizard, whose size made Johanna take a step back, and then Squirtle.
"All right, I'm here!" Squirtle announced. "All those other Pokémon were a good warmup, but now the best of all has arrived! There's no Pokémon like me, never was and never will be!"
"...so, you can understand Pokémon now," Dawn said. "I guess it might have some downsides, too."
"It's mostly good," Ash defended. "Mostly."
"Right… and yeah, Charizard's been on TV," Dawn added.
Charizard looked very pleased with himself.
"But… okay, it's great to see your Pokémon, Ash, but what about the ones you caught for the first time this time around?" Dawn asked. "I mean, I did know about Pokémon like Pidgeot and Charizard, so..."
"Right," Ash agreed. "So, first – not all of them can come right now, they're busy. Lugia and Mewtwo are kind of occupied."
Dawn blinked. "Wait – oh, now I remember. You won the Silver Conference, right? You're the one who had several Legendary Pokémon doing exhibition matches."
She frowned, trying to remember the battles. "Does that mean you have all three Legendary Beasts?"
"That's right," Ash confirmed. "I think you met Suicune once, but I couldn't remind her so she doesn't actually know you."
"Indeed," Suicune said.
Dawn and Johanna both jumped. So did Piplup, who then tried to look like he hadn't.
"Sorry," the Water-type went on, mirth rippling in her Aura-translated voice. "I wanted to surprise you."
"You certainly did!" Dawn replied. "So… how did you meet Ash?"
"After Lord Ho-Oh informed us of his unusual situation, I approached Ash at the opening of his journey in Johto and challenged him – he would have to work for it, but my brothers and I would allow him to catch us." Suicune gave a long, rippling shake, making her ribbons dance in the air, then lowered her muzzle. "It was quite a chase."
"Oh, right," Dawn mused. "So you met him almost like I kind of met Mesprit?"
"I'm not familiar with the details," Suicune admitted.
"You met Mesprit?" Johanna asked.
"It hasn't happened yet," Dawn assured her mother, not that that seemed to help. "Actually, though… I just realized. I didn't ask why the whole time travel thing happened."
"Yeah, we should probably explain that," Ash admitted. "Uh… pity we don't have Celebi here, she'd be kind of helpful for this one. Anyway, you know the last bit before you came back?"
Dawn frowned, absently reaching up to touch Suicune as the Water-type lay down next to her. "Kind of… well, I remember a moment when everything got kind of bizarre, and then I was back here?"
"Yeah," Ash said, nodding. "That was Cyrus."
"Cyrus?" Dawn repeated. "Didn't he get thrown into the void by Giratina or something?"
"From what Ash has told me about that battle on Mount Coronet, that's certainly what should have happened," Suicune said, worried. "Gary said Cyrus came back, as did the Creator, but we don't actually know what happened. We may never know for sure."
"Didn't you get on really well with Giratina, though?" Dawn asked, looking up at Ash – not noticing her mother looking completely flabbergasted at Dawn throwing around the names of so many Legendaries. "Perhaps you can do this… memory… thing to him too?"
"Actually, that might work," Ash agreed. "That's something we can look out for – we've had Professor Oak looking for Cyrus, but there's been no sign of him."
"Who's Cyrus?" Johanna asked.
"Someone who wanted – wants? - to take over the world," Dawn told her. "Or make a new one, or… something? It wasn't clear."
"Excuse us?" Entei said. "My brother and I were wondering when it was our turn."
"Yes, this is all too dashed boring!" Raikou contributed.
"How come Raikou's the one I can't understand?" Dawn asked. "I thought most Legendaries could speak human."
"Actually, Lucario taught us," Suicune told her. "It seemed like a good thing to get to know."
Any further conversation was interrupted by a whoosh as Ho-Oh came bursting out of his Pokéball. "I sincerely hope you weren't going to forget me again, Ash!"
"No, I was waiting for a good time," Ash said. "I don't want Houndoom, Absol and Tyranitar to be missed out."
"...did you catch nothing but new Dark types?" Dawn asked. "Though Absol are cool."
"At least she didn't try to jump out a window like Karen's one did," Lucario commented.
"Why would an Absol try to jump out of a window?" Johanna asked, trying to find somewhere to sit which wasn't taken up by Legendary Pokémon.
"Absol can sense disasters, mom," Dawn pointed out. "And Ash is… yeah, you can probably tell."
"I'm having trouble believing it all," Johanna admitted. "But with how overwhelmed I feel… I think I understand why."
Professor Oak looked at the queue of Pokémon.
"Should I ask?"
It's a bit complicated, Damos said diplomatically. Ah, hold on – Houndoom, you and Absol are up.
The two Pokémon in question returned to their Pokéballs, and vanished a moment later.
"I can see I'm not needed," Oak said, shrugging. "What's the occasion?"
Ash just met Dawn.
"...I seem to remember she was the one from Sinnoh," Oak mused. "Well, Ash is trying to speed things up a bit."
"So, this is Houndoom," Ash said, sending the Fire-type out. "His family actually live at the Oak ranch now."
"Cool," Dawn commented, raising her hand for Houndoom to sniff. "Houndoom are a bit grim for me, generally..."
Houndoom pouted, tilting his head and whimpering plaintively.
"...well, they usually are," Dawn went on. "This one seems more like a puppy than anything."
"He kinda is," Ash agreed. "But he's got a really useful trick, too – you know Beat Up?"
"I've only ever heard of it… what's that one again?" Dawn asked.
"That's a move which lets the Pokémon use the strength of their teammates," Johanna reminded her, then blinked and looked around the clearing.
Five Legendaries, a Lucario and a Goodra were only some of the Pokémon who waved at her.
"That sounds pretty powerful," Dawn said. "I guess that's a real teamwork move!"
"It pretty much means that duplicates of half the team beat the opponent up," Lucario told her.
"And this is Absol," Ash went on. "She joined me in Forina."
Absol materialized, landing on all fours, and inspected Dawn.
"...huh," she said, pacing around the trainer in a circle. "Bizarre."
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Is something wrong?" Johanna added.
"Well… Dawn seems to be in for an interesting couple of years,"Absol told her trainer. "Not as bad as you are, but… still, more than most trainers."
"Okay, I guess that might be something to watch out for," Ash decided. "Right, Dawn?"
"...I still can't understand Pokémon, Ash," Dawn reminded him. "That's not changed since five minutes ago."
"Though I should probably learn to talk to humans, so I can give warnings more easily," Absol added.
"We didn't get it either," May said. "Uh – maybe we should just start having Ethan translate."
Agreed.
Ethan's projector flashed, and began producing the promised subtitles.
"Roughly speaking," Absol said, turning to Dawn's mother, "you're in for an eventful few months. Dawn seems quite prone to unusual things happening to her."
"Given that your trainer is a boy who Dawn's known for about a year since yesterday evening, I think you're right," Johanna said, sighing. "I think I'm going to appreciate that help from the Maples..."
"Wait, is that a Mega Stone?" Dawn asked. "Can Absol Mega Evolve?"
"I certainly can," Absol told her. "Perhaps all of us who can Mega Evolve at the moment should show off?"
"That's right, we all have a Pokémon who can," Max realized. "But Ash is kind of the one who wins on that score."
"I'd need to get Latias here to properly showcase it," Ash pointed out. "Latios, is she available?"
"She says she will be," Latios squeaked. "Just a few minutes."
"And-"
"And the last one left on the list is my little brother!" Mawile declared. "Right?"
"Wait, little brother?" Dawn asked. "Didn't Ash say there was a Tyranitar?"
"Well, he hatched after me!" Mawile explained. "So he's little!"
Said 'little brother' appeared in a flash.
"Hello," he said.
"That's… certainly a Tyranitar," Dawn agreed. "I didn't realize they were so big!"
Mawile clambered up his leg, then up his back, and sat on his head. "It's great he's so big, though! It means I get a really good view!"
May chuckled.
"That's kind of cute," Dawn said, smiling at the expression on Tyranitar's face. "Mawile seems like a nice Pokémon."
"Thank you!" Mawile smiled. "It's nice to meet you too!"
"Oh, yeah, the Mega Evolution stuff," Ash remembered. "Okay, uh… Brock, you've got Steelix… I know Max and May have theirs… but I think I need to get Heracross and Sceptile."
"Speaking of those two, I guess you have something planned for Tobias?" Dawn asked.
Ash looked a bit uncertain, and shrugged. "Really, it's kind of hard to know what approach to take… though he is the reason I'm careful about using too many Legendaries-"
"You need to use me more!" Ho-Oh stated quite firmly.
Brock laughed. "Did Professor Oak tell you that trainers spend a lot of time with their Pokémon telling them off?"
"Not really, no..."
"I must admit, I'm interested to see how this works," Johanna said. "I've not actually seen a Mega Evolution up close before."
"Well, the first thing you need is a Mega Stone," Max lectured, indicating Arc's Manecite. "Then you need a Key Stone, and the most important bit is – you need a strong bond with your Pokémon."
"Gary Oak is researching exactly how strong," Lucario filled in.
"Okay, here goes," Max went on. "Ready?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed, unlimbering his staff.
"Actually, I have a question," Dawn said. "Where'd that come from?"
"Rota," he told her.
"Wait, is that the one with Sir Aaron's Lucario inside?"
"He used to be in there," Lucario told her. "We sorted it out almost as soon as Ash got me."
"Right, that makes sense," Dawn agreed.
Then there was a very bright orange flash.
When it faded, eight different Mega-Evolved Pokémon almost filled the small clearing.
Mega Latias and Mega Latios hovered overhead, looking almost identical at first glance until the eye adjusted and began to notice their individual quirks. Just below them was Mega Altaria, whose fluff had developed an iridescent pink lustre to it from his Mega Evolution.
Mega Heracross was flanked by Mega Sceptile on one side and Arc's Mega form on the other, and Brock's Mega Steelix was curled around them all with Mega Absol perched on his nose.
"Ow," Ash said, wincing. "That was a lot more than I'm used to doing at once..."
"Pretty cool, though," Dawn added. "I bet you'd have a lot less trouble with Tobias like that – and it'd probably be much easier to cope with that guy who wanted to steal Giratina, too."
"We can hope," Mega Absol said, nodding.
"I miss being able to Mega Evolve," Mawile said wistfully. "I could fly, it was really cool!"
"HEY!"
Squirtle stomped up to Ash. "What about me? How come you haven't shown off my ultimate Mega evolution of supreme monliness?"
"I don't want to break the Squirtilite before the Ever Grande conference," Ash replied.
Dawn blinked. "...did you say Squirtilite?"
"It's a really long story," Brock assured her. "Just accept it."
"So… what now?" Dawn asked.
Her mother looked up. "Dawn?"
"Well… I'm wondering," Dawn explained. "Should I start my Pokémon journey now?"
"Are you allowed to?" Max asked. "I had to do some exams and stuff to start early..."
"Oh, right, I didn't remember about those," Dawn admitted. "Uh… how long do they take?"
"A few months," Max informed her. "Counting the paperwork, that is."
"We don't spend very long doing the Battle Frontier," Brock remembered. "So it might not really be worth it starting early, Dawn… sorry."
"Nah, I guess it's okay," Dawn decided, sighing. "I mean – I do have Piplup."
She shook her head. "I just wanted to do stuff like, you know, learn that cool talking-to-Pokémon thing Ash does."
"Could you learn that at home?" Johanna asked. "Or is it something you need to be travelling to learn?"
"...that's a good question," Ash said. "I could get Dawn started, but normally it takes a Pokémon that's good with Aura to help teach that side of it."
Dawn frowned.
"What about Lucario?" May asked. "Could he help her?"
"I would rather not be so far from Ash for so long," Lucario said, shaking his head. "I apologize, Dawn – but my place is with my trainer."
"Yeah, I understand," Dawn agreed. "I guess I'll have to just practice with Piplup and work it out ourselves."
"Well, if I put together some instructions for how to train Aura..." Ash began, thinking. "Then you could practice the side of it which is based on actually using Aura, and then you'll have a better chance of working on it quickly once we pick you up in Sinnoh."
"I might be a few weeks," Brock warned. "Actually, I might spend quite a lot of time in the Orange Islands, or in Pewter."
"Why's that – oh, right," Dawn realized. "I just realized, I didn't say congratulations."
Brock smiled. "Thanks, Dawn – yeah, it's been fun so far."
He shrugged. "It is a long distance relationship, mostly, but… I'm glad she's there."
"I guess the first thing to do is to get you started, then," Ash decided. "The first step is going to be making sure you know what Aura feels like..."
"You know..." Raikou mused, tail waving lazily. "I do believe that both of you two bounders actually do know how to use Aura to speak human."
Suicune nodded, thoughtfully. "Actually, you're right."
She raised her voice. "Dawn? Mrs. Berlitz?"
"Yes?" Johanna asked. "Um… should I bow or something?"
"Not at all," Suicune replied. "My brother Raikou has just suggested that I, or Entei – or both of us, possibly – visit your house on occasion and see whether your daughter has improved in her ability to use Aura."
"Well, I didn't actually say that in so many words," Raikou added. "But the gist of it was there."
"It wasn't, Raikou," Entei informed him. "Suicune just turned an observation into a plan. You should try it sometime."
"I have plans," Raikou grumbled.
"Good point," Entei admitted, thinking about a badge quest. "On second thought, don't try making plans."
"That sounds like it'd be really helpful," Dawn said. "Mom? Is it okay?"
"I suppose so?" Johanna asked, completely unsure how to approach the situation. "If they want to help, then – well, I can't really see a problem with it..."
"Excellent," Suicune said. "Now, I understand you live in Twinleaf town?"
"Yes," Johanna confirmed. "How do you – right, the time travel thing..."
"Correct," the Water-type smiled. "Though I may need to get your address, or alternatively call from door to door asking."
Dawn sniggered at the image. "I can just imagine Barry jumping three feet in the air."
She paused, and snapped her fingers. "Oh, that's what I was forgetting – Mom, is there any chance we can delay heading back to Sinnoh by a week or so?"
"A week?" Johanna asked. "I'm not sure… why do you want to?"
"Well…" Dawn waved at Ash and Brock, then took in the rest of the group as well. "This is the last chance I'm going to have to see Ash and Brock for months, and I've never really had very long together with May or Max. Plus it would help me get started on this Aura thing."
"A week would be pretty helpful," Ash confirmed.
"I don't know..." Johanna said, frowning. "I'll think about it. I'm just wondering how we'd get back to Sinnoh..."
"I think Pidgeot would be okay taking you," Ash said.
"That's right," Pidgeot said, confirming it.
"So would I," Latios volunteered. "I'm due to head back to Altomare, so I can take you up to Sinnoh and then come back."
"See?" Dawn asked. "Not only do we get an extra week in Hoenn, we get to fly back with some cool Pokémon!"
Latias giggled.
"Well… okay," Johanna decided.
"Thanks, Mom!" Dawn beamed.
There was a mrowl, and both the Berlitzes looked over to see what the noise was.
Glameow and Skitty were both chasing after something bright and shiny, batting it between them.
"I guess Glameow's made a friend already," Dawn joked.
"Can I make sure I've got this right?" Johanna asked. "Piplup was your starter, but you also had..."
"...Buneary and Pachirisu," Dawn began. "And Mamoswine-"
Johanna blinked. "That one sounds different to the others."
"Yeah, he started off small, but...got big," Dawn confirmed. "And then there's Quilava, and Togekiss as well. And Ash traded me Ambipom for Buizel, but she stopped off to learn Ping Pong."
"Right," Johanna said. "Of course, many Pokémon do ping pong..."
"Ambipom was really good at it," Dawn said, smiling. "But I did think about getting one or two other Pokémon, too… actually, Ash?"
"What's that?" Ash said, turning to look.
"Did you ever get an Eevee?" Dawn asked. "I kind of expected you'd have one, somehow."
"No, I've not," Ash replied. "Molly kind of has all of them, so it sort of makes up for it."
"Molly?" Dawn repeated. "Who's that?"
"Oh, yeah, I didn't mention her yet," Ash remembered. "You know the Unown thing?"
"I… yeah!" the future Coordinator said. "I remember – wasn't your Charizard on the news or something?"
"Right," Ash said. "Well, she was involved with that a lot – the Unown were trying to make her desires come true – and I kind of took on a big brother role for her."
He chuckled. "Yeah, long story short, because of the Unown thing she's got a shiny Eevee who can turn into whatever evolution of Eevee she wants – and it's kind of why there's a Fairy type."
"You're going to have to tell me about that one in more detail," Dawn decided.
"Yeah, I didn't mention the shiny Legendary Beasts yet," Ash agreed. "Not the ones from Crown City, other ones."
"Right," Dawn said, nodding. "Maybe it would be easier to just start from the beginning."
"We've only got a week," Lucario pointed out. "We might need to abridge it."
Dawn sighed happily, leaning back against the side of a hill. The last light of sunset was just fading from the mountaintops, and Piplup lay just to one side of her.
"Ah, this is the life..." she said, softly.
"I know," May said.
Dawn looked up as her fellow Coordinator came over, then shifted slightly to let May take a position to her right.
"I can't imagine how I'm going to handle… what, six months doing nothing? Eight?"
"Can't remember the exact date," May confessed. "I was a bit focused on the Kanto Grand Festival, then I went straight on to Johto."
Dawn nodded. "Right… how did you handle it?"
"Well… mostly I worked for Professor Birch and got really stir crazy!" May admitted. "But it was a lot easier to cope once I got Blaziken back, so you having Piplup's going to help you out a lot. I did have Ethan, too..."
"Ethan? Oh, your Porygon," Dawn remembered.
She patted Piplup on the head. "Yeah, we're going to be doing a lot of training!"
Piplup sighed.
"And there's the Aura thing too," May added.
"Yeah, I guess..."
For a few minutes, they watched the sky darken. A few puffy clouds high in the evening sky were lit with brilliant red light from the sunset, then they too went dark and the stars began to come out.
"Hey, look, a shooting star," May said, pointing.
"I'd make a wish, but..." Dawn shrugged. "I think that's Jirachi's department, right? How did your brother meet him again – don't Jirachi sleep for a thousand years at a time?"
"That was the Forina thing," May explained. "The reason he's still awake is because of Mewtwo – Mewtwo said he put a bit of the Millennium Comet on the far side of the moon."
She looked over at Dawn. "Pretty weird, huh?"
"Not really," Dawn shrugged.
She grinned. "Maybe it's odd for you, but there was that time someone tried to take over a city with an illusory Baccer team. That was pretty odd."
May sat up. "You call that odd?"
She broke off for a moment, and sent Altaria out. "Altaria, it's getting kind of cold – do you mind if..."
"That's fine," Altaria agreed, proffering a wing, and May leaned back into it.
"That's better… anyway, a couple of months ago we had some robots going mad and trying to take over a city, and that wasn't part of a plan at all," May went on.
"I don't know..." Dawn replied, now smiling broadly. "What about the time we had to deal with a Pokémon trying to escape another universe? Or the time time fell apart around us?"
May nodded grudgingly. "Not bad… but we haven't talked about the time Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre nearly destroyed the world. We had to run away from a volcano."
Dawn nodded, then played her trump card. "Ever heard of the Thunder Creature of Michina?"
May frowned. "Um… I think I might have. Mom told me a story like that when I was younger… why?"
Piplup sniggered.
"It's totally Pikachu," Dawn told her. "We went thousands of years back in time, helped Ash and Pikachu save Arceus, and I'm pretty sure we're why the Pokéball symbol appears all over the world and from way before Pokéballs were invented."
May blinked. "Huh."
She reached over to shake Dawn's hand. "You win, good one."
"Thanks," Dawn replied, accepting the concession in good grace.
Altaria trilled something soft and melodic, and both girls lay back on the hillside again.
"Huh, another shooting star," May said, after a minute. "There's a lot of them tonight."
"Yeah," Dawn agreed.
She stretched. "It's much warmer down here than in Sinnoh or Unova – this time of year it'd be really cold after sundown."
"It's kind of chilly for Hoenn today," May replied. "I'm amazed you've not got out a coat or something."
She snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah, you went to Unova – what was it like? I don't think I ever met Ash's Unova team – or those people who travelled with him after you and Brock."
"Iris and Cilan..." Dawn began, then shrugged. "Cilan was a bit like Brock, but mostly in how good his cooking was. Is. Uh… will be?"
"Yeah, welcome to the time travel thing," May laughed. "Before and after are all mixed up."
Dawn nodded her agreement. "Right. Anyway, Cilan kind of saw everything in food metaphors… but I think that was just him being quirky. He didn't have a very big team, either – a Crustle, a Pansage and a Stunfisk."
"I think I've seen a Crustle before," May said, thinking. "What about the others..."
Ethan formed holograms for her. These are Pansage and Stunfisk.
"Oh, yeah, someone I battled in the Orange Islands had a Pansage on their team," May said. "Okay, only the Stunfisk is new."
"I know it's not like they're only found in Unova, but Unova Pokémon look really bizarre to me..." Dawn admitted. "A bit less once I spent time there, but still – I'm used to Pokémon from Sinnoh, but those ones often looked really different."
May nodded. "What about Iris?"
Dawn sighed. "Iris was… well, she's a Dragon trainer, and she did have a Pokémon for-"
She stopped. "Ow, that gave me a headache."
Piplup said something, worried.
"I just… I was about to say Iris had a Pokémon for Fairy-types, but Fairy-types didn't exist then," Dawn explained. "And it was really kind of confusing..."
"Tell me about it," May said. "Max actually failed an exam because the type chart changed pretty much during the exam."
Dawn winced. "Ouch. But yeah… Iris was kind of spirited. I told her stories about some of the things Ash and I had done, but I don't think she really believed me."
"...wait, this was after the thing Ash told me about Victini?" May checked. "After that I'd have thought she'd be willing to listen!"
"It was just after they met Keldeo and Kyurem," Dawn assured her. "But… I don't know, it seemed like she had a lot of trouble keeping her Pokémon from losing control. She caught a Dragonite, and it was..."
She shook her head. "Hopefully she got him under control later."
Overhead, the meteor shower continued – light streaking across the sky every minute or two, sometimes north to south, sometimes east to west, always towards the horizon as if from a point high overhead.
"Did you have any trouble with a Pokémon?" May asked.
Dawn winced. "...yeah… Mamoswine was kind of hard to keep from destroying things."
She turned to the other girl. "You?"
"Not really, actually," May said. "I guess I'm either a better trainer-"
Dawn stuck her tongue out.
"-or I just get lucky."
"Yeah, probably," Dawn agreed.
"Okay, guys, I think it's time for Latios to head back to Altomare," Ash said. "Ready for the League, Latias?"
"Sure!" Latias agreed, nodding. "I've been practicing as much as I could without being really obvious about it – Joy's Latias and I were doing high speed stealth battles over Altomare, though we kind of had to keep it below the speed of sound."
"Actually, that sounds like good training," Latios said. "Hmmm… maybe it'd be possible to train faster than sound if it was done a long way out to sea from Altomare itself."
"Hmm… yeah," Latias nodded. "Sounds like a plan!"
"Actually, I was wondering..." Latios added. "Do you think Joy's Latias would be willing to train with me?"
Latias smirked. "We-ll, let's see… do I think that she'd want to go out to sea with my brother..."
"I mean to train," Latios stressed. "I'm just trying to work out if I'd be able to get a good training session or two with her – do you know when she's likely to visit next?"
His sister giggled. "You're not fooling anyone, you know..."
"About what?" Ash asked, puzzled.
That just set Latias off again, making her alternate between giggling and trying to speak for about a minute.
"Are you done?" Latios asked, sarcastically, when her amusement seemed to be finally subsiding.
"I think so..." Latias said, sighing. "Oh, I love being able to joke with you like this – especially after-"
She shook her head, banishing the thought, and gave her brother a hug. "Good luck, brother."
"I'll take care," Latios promised, returning the embrace, then releasing her.
"And if you do go out with her-" Latias began, smirking.
Latios responded by taking off, pausing only to pick up his blue Cherish Ball before leaving at high speed.
"Faith?" Professor Ivy asked. "Did you get that report?"
"Yes, Professor!" Faith replied, hurrying in. "Sorry, I was reading through it before handing it over-"
"That's fine," Ivy said, waving. "Sorry, I wanted to make sure we had it today – go ahead and keep reading if you're already part way through it."
"All right, Professor," Faith nodded. She opened the folder, flipping through pages until she got to where she'd been. "Right, here we are – this was the bit about the existing Meyer method of determining Wurmple evolution."
"The previous method, right," Ivy agreed. "I think the standard error rate on that process is about fifteen percent?"
"This run was better than usual," Faith said. "It was about twelve."
Ivy was about to go on, but a purr interrupted her.
"Oh, hello!" she smiled, reaching down to gather Shinx into her lap. "How are you doing, young lady?"
Shinx purred, tail twitching lazily.
"Did you do today's practice?" Ivy asked, and was answered by a smug nod. "Good work!"
"I guess she's getting pretty diligent," Faith said, one finger on the passage she'd reached on the report. "What's her training now?"
"She's got to hit the right voltage," Ivy said, scratching along Shinx' spine. "Not just at least, it has to be a bit closer than that. But she's doing very well – I think we might be able to have her help with an experiment some time."
Shinx perked up at the sound of that, tail flicking from side to side.
"You'd like that, wouldn't you?" Ivy smiled.
Shinx nodded, eyes bright and alert.
Then she butted into Ivy's hand, asking her to get back to the scratches please and thank you.
Chuckling, Ivy resumed scratches.
"Oh, and here's some good news," Faith added. "Looks like our method hit a two percent error rate."
"Excellent," Ivy smiled. "I'll have to thank you all for your help with that."
"Hello?" Jonas called. "Is anyone there?"
His Gurdurr groaned, braced against the half-collapsed ceiling.
"It's okay, Banks," Jonas added. "We'll be fine – just keep that from falling on us, okay?"
Banks nodded, breathing deeply and evenly as he bore the weight. Then the ground trembled, and Banks shifted to make sure he wouldn't lose his grip.
"It's an aftershock," Jonas said, looking anxiously at the walls. One of them sunk a bit, then stopped, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
"Okay, we're still good," he told Banks. "There's no way they missed hearing about an earthquake in Lentimas Town, so we should be cool – we just need to wait."
There was a clatter.
"Hello?" Jonas called. "Is anyone there?"
A long pause. Then there was a rippling sound, a crash, and something carved through the wall.
"Whoa!" Jonas yelped, staring at the golden spike which cut through the half-collapsed brickwork. It formed a long, diagonal line reaching from near the floor to halfway up the wall, paused, and then dropped down again to the floor at a ninety degree angle.
A third swipe connected them up into a triangle, then the triangle itself was cut in two and fell outwards.
"This way!" a voice called.
Jonas scrambled for the hole, glancing at Banks to make sure he was still holding up, then looked at his rescuer – a four-legged equine Pokémon with a shining horn growing out of his forehead.
"Can you hold the wall up?" he asked.
"Sure!" the Pokémon agreed, and his horn stopped glowing. He braced himself and stuck it into the apex of the triangle he'd cut, and took the weight with a grunt.
Jonas recalled Banks, and with a slithering crash the debris collapsed into the space they'd been hiding in.
"Thanks," Jonas sighed, as the Pokémon took his horn away from the wall. "You really saved us there."
"It's just what we do!" the Pokémon replied. "I'm Keldeo, one of the Swords of Justice!"
The trainer reached out a hand. "Then thanks, Keldeo."
"Any time!"
As Keldeo proffered his hoof to be shaken, Jonas took another look at his rescuer. Cream and blue, with a fiery red mane, he carried himself with confidence and assurance, and there was a satisfied grin on his face.
He also seemed to be wearing a red-and-white billed hat, with a stylized L on the front and the brim turned to the back, perched atop his mane with no visible means of attachment.
"...what's with the hat?"
Keldeo tossed his head, still with no movement of the cap. "It's something I wear to remember a good friend of mine," he explained.
"Keldeo!" a brass-lunged voice called from some distance away. "We need your help, there's a fire over here!"
"Got to go!" Keldeo apologized, tensing, and galloped off. To Jonas' surprise, about twenty feet from the rescued trainer his hooves suddenly erupted with water, and the Sword of Justice launched himself towards a smouldering house like a water-propelled rocket.
Banks emerged, and let out a sigh of relief.
"Yeah, I know," Jonas agreed. "Man, that was close..."
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