37,38

"Doctor Namco?"

The Doctor sighed. "Namba, as you well know."

"...actually, no, I didn't," the grunt said, looking confused. "I got told it was-"

"Oh, never mind. Report."

The grunt nodded. "Right. Target two is still following the normal behaviour patterns, and the decoy has been put in place."

"Good." Namba smiled. "And target one?"

"We've not seen it recently, but no departure was noticed – and since target two is still there-"

"Very good." Namba nodded. "Our countermeasures?"

"I'll answer that," said one of his allies, striding into the room. "At ease."

The grunt nodded to him, and stood back.

"Doctor Nerva, we-"

"Why do I even bother?" Namba interjected. He waved a hand. "Sorry. Do go on."

"As I was saying, we have delivered on our end of the bargain." The tall, gaunt man handed over a bag. "Six Shadow Pokémon. Two each Magnezone, Dusknoir and Probopass – they should suffice for the trap."

"Excellent," Namba said, earlier irritation forgotten. "These will be most suitable."

The gaunt man waited.

When the silence stretched, he sighed. "And your side of the bargain?"

"You know as well as I do what that is," Namba said, waving a hand in dismissal.

"Please. Do remind me."

Namba sighed. "Very well. You get the adult, properly converted and enhanced by the machine. The child is mine – suitably enhanced, of course."

"Of course," his interlocutor agreed. "A pleasure doing business with you... Doctor Samba."

Namba's eye twitched.

Ash squinted, looking ahead on the path. "Wait – is that..."

He grinned. "It is! Hey, Ritchie!"

At his shout, the figure turned. "Oh, hi Ash!"

Sparky waved, too, long orange-tipped black tail flagging back and forth, and the other boy stopped to let Ash and his friends catch up.

"Man, I've not seen you in months!" Ash said, jogging up. "How's things?"

Ritchie shrugged. "Well – I told you about Almia, right?"

Ash nodded.

"We handled it – Cid evolved while we were there. He's a Gallade now." Ritchie chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "The final battle was just awesome – I was on Zippo, blowing chunks out of this gigantic war machine, and Cid just jumped on board and started wrecking the insides."

Sparky nodded. "I helped, too!"

"Yeah, Sparky helped," Ritchie agreed, scratching his Raichu. "He was swatting missiles out of the air left and right... we all owe one another, really."

"I know the feeling," Ash said, with a nod. "How about since then?"

"Oh..." Ritchie reached up again, and Sparky's tail wrapped around his finger. "Since then it's been pretty quiet, actually. Last several months, we've just been going around Japan trying to pick which League to challenge next. I'm thinking Sinnoh, but Sparky disagrees."

"I want somewhere with a Water or Flying gym," Sparky explained. "Or Hoenn. Hoenn has both."

"Well, I guess I can understand that," Ash said, and nodded to the side of the path. "Hey, let's catch up all the way – how are the others?"

Taking the invitation, Ritchie swung his bag off his back. He braked it with a quick burst of psychic energy, and sat on the grass next to it. "Okay... well, you know Zippo's a Charizard, of course, and I mentioned Cid."

So saying, he released the duo. Zippo sat with a pleased growl, spreading his wings out in the sunlight, and his Gallade gave each trainer there a measured bow.

"Lighten up, Cid," Ritchie invited. "They're friends."

The Psychic-type spread his hands. "That is how I show respect to friends, Ritchie."

Shaking his head, Ritchie looked at Ash as if to invite comment. "Yeah, it's this all the time. I keep telling him he needs to relax..."

The trainer shrugged. "Oh, yeah, the others. This is Cruise."

He released a Pupitar, who hovered there for a couple of seconds before hovering gently to the ground.

"He's not been as active, recently," Ritchie apologized. "He says it's just the evolutionary stage, but I'm not so sure..."

Cruise animated long enough to give his trainer a look, then settled back to the grass and closed his eyes.

"Layabout," Ritchie said fondly. He then took another Pokéball from his belt. "Oh, yeah, you know Eevee..."

"Still not evolved?" Ash asked, curiously, as the little Normal-type ran around in circles and Sparky kicked off to join him.

"Yep," Ritchie confirmed. "Still can't decide. I guess there's that much choice."

"I'd have figured Espeon," Ash admitted. "You know, with the psychic thing."

"He's not great at psychic training," Ritchie replied with a shrug. "We have tried."

"You two really know one another well, don't you?" Brock said, half his attention on Sparky playing keep-away with his lightning-bolt tailtip and Eevee.

"Actually..." Ash frowned. "We only met once, at the Indigo League."

"I guess we just hit it off well," Ritchie agreed. He then blinked, and rummaged in his bag. "Oh, yeah, I forgot! This is Fortune, he's new too."

The Pokémon who solidified from the Pokéball was a sleek Rapidash. He looked Ash over, then nodded.

"I use him to get around when Zippo's kind of a bit big," Ritchie filled in. "I've got a few more... there's Goldie, my Cherrim, Soaker – a Finneon – and a Poochyena called Sooty... and I think that's about it."

He glanced over to make sure that Eevee was okay, then turned back to Ash. "So – who do you have who I've not met? Who's evolved?"

Ash took a breath. "This could take a while... okay, Riolu evolved-"

Ritchie looked up at Lucario. "I'd never have guessed."

"It was quite dramatic," Lucario assured him.

"Apart from that..." Ash counted under his breath. "...right, let's do them in chronological order. I met a Lapras..."

"You've been busy," Ritchie complimented him, as the list approached the end.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I know."

He looked up as Brock handed him a plate. "Oh – thanks, Brock, you're awesome."

Brock smiled, passing another plate of food to Ritchie. "Well, this is turning into a picnic."

"You have cool friends, Ash," Ritchie said, smelling the food. "That smells delicious, Mr. Slate."

"Please, call me Brock!" Brock asked firmly. "Mr. Slate is my Dad. Makes me sound old!"

Ritchie chuckled. "I'll remember that. So, Ash – was that the end of the list?"

"Not quite," Ash hedged. "There's a couple-"

He looked up. "What was that?"

The scattered conversations between the Pokémon went silent too.

For a moment, there was stillness. Then a tremor of movement ran through the camp as over half the Pokémon came to their feet.

"Who else heard that?" Lucario asked, paws already sparking into bright blue life.

"I certainly did!" Zippo roared. "What was it?"

"A Lugia," Lucario said, having teased out the voice itself. "In severe pain. We should hurry!"

Brock's food fell to the ground, forgotten, as all four trainers set off at speed.

"Marvellous," Namba said, chuckling.

Catching the young one had been easy enough, but the adult... that had posed more of a problem.

Or it had – until six Shadow-enhanced Pokémon had simultaneously caught her in a powerful Gravity trap as she crested the hill searching for her babe, and slammed her into the ground hard enough to knock the wind out of her.

The grunts – mostly from Cipher – moved in to get their specimens underground. It would be important to have this Lugia in the machine before she recovered enough to fight.

Ritchie got there first, with Fortune's help.

Unfortunately, he couldn't head straight on in. By the time he got there, the Cipher team was ready for him.

He was attacked by a Liepard as he dismounted from the Rapidash, its wicked tail-scythe slashing at Fortune's legs, and he returned the Rapidash before switching out to Cid.

For his part, Cid opened hostilities with enthusiasm. Grabbing the tail just behind its scythe with one arm, he pulled the startled feline towards him and volleyed in a Brick Break before it managed to eel out of his grip and regain some distance.

"What the hell's going on?" Ritchie asked, gaze flicking back and forth and noticing the other three admins – as well as at least a dozen grunts, all standing back as reserve.

Liepard darted back in, tail lashing, and Cid raised both arms in a Quick Guard – successfully deflecting its attempt at Fake Out – before giving a pace and blocking a Night Slash.

His next move was a sudden switch to aggressiveness. Lashing out with a Power-up Punch, he knocked the incoming Dark-type backwards and pounced forwards as a follow-up – then grunted as the local gravity suddenly tripled.

Ritchie grunted, looking up, and saw a Dusknoir with strange purple-shadow highlights was focusing on the area. Probably that was the one using the enhanced-gravity move.

A slap-BANG drew his attention, as Cid used Vacuum Wave – barely slowed by the higher gravity. It licked out and punched the startled cat in the face, sending it skidding backwards.

The Liepard shook his head, tried to get up, and slumped back.

Apparently the man Ritchie was fighting considered the battle as good as done as well. He scowled, and switched to some kind of bizarre hieroglyphics-like flying Pokémon.

"You back here as well, Cid!" Ritchie instructed, flipping open his Pokédex with one hand. "Huh. Sigilyph... okay, Sparky, you handle it!"

Sparky's cheeks... well, sparked. He jumped forwards, taking Cid's place on the battlefield, and snapped off an exploratory Thunderbolt.

The Raichu's bolt crashed forwards, then splashed off a series of Light Screens, and both human and Pokémon frowned.

"Looks like it's not going to be as easy as all that..." Ritchie sighed, and Sparky nodded.

"Perhaps we should try – whoa!"

A beam of psionic energy hit the ground where Sparky had been. Not wanting to be hit, the Raichu dodged away from the next two blasts as well, and focused.

His tail lashed back and forth, glowing for a moment, and then stopped glowing and he volleyed in two more blasts of electricity.

"I predict you're in trouble," Sparky said lightly, still running around in circles.

"That's not going to help," the Cipher man said with a chuckle. "You realize that trying the same thing when it failed the first time is insanity?"

Ritchie grinned.

Then a ball of light appeared next to Sigilyph, hovered there for a moment, and shot sideways.

"Future Sight!" Sparky explained, tail snapping, and he sent forwards a Thunder Wave just as the Future Sight ball hit.

Distracted by the multi-pronged attack, the Sigilyph's screens let through the crackle of electricity. It slumped to the ground, and Sparky pounced with a Wild Charge.

"Still think that was insanity?" Ritchie asked, as the Psychic-type skidded along the ground from the force of the Electric attack.

The Cipher man pursed his lips. "I'm afraid you're unlikely to appreciate this properly, boy, but needs must. This is a Shadow Pokémon! Druddigon!"

Ritchie winced at the sight.

It was a Druddigon, right enough, but it was... wrong. Purple energy gathered on its claws and on the edges of its rocky skin, and it had dead-looking eyes.

"Watch out, Sparky..." he said, frowning. "This could be a tough one."

"Shadow Smash!"

Brock gaped. "You're... are you real?"

Miror B pointed to a grunt. "Music!"

Some Latin-styled dance music began playing from a boombox.

"There we go!" Miror B said, starting to dance. "But I got to tell you, you ain't gonna have an easy time of it with me!"

He reached to his waist. "Go! Ludicolo! Ludicolo! Ludicolo! Ludicolo! Ludicolo, and Ludicolo!"

"That's..." Brock was lost for words.

"Ludicolous?" Ninetales recommended.

He gave her a look. "You're not helping."

"Sorry..."

"Okay" Brock took a breath. Right. Ludicolo.

At least he knew how to handle that Pokémon, having used it himself.

"Crobat! Forretress!" he sent out.

As the two Pokémon materialized, Miror B was giving his own commands. "Rain Dance! Now, just plain dance!"

The six Ludicolo started dancing.

Ice roared skywards, and a Tropius with crackling purple energy running over its wings jinked to one side.

A second blast followed, and this time the Grass-type wasn't so lucky. It was caught in the powerful Ice Beam, and came crashing to the ground.

"Hm," Misty's opponent said, seeming offended. "So much for the vaunted strength of Shadow Pokémon... some brat finished it off."

Misty shook her head. "You really expect a Water-type specialist not to have some plan for Grass-types?"

She shrugged. "Besides, Shadow or not, it's still got the same weaknesses as usual!"

"You'll pay for that," her opponent promised. "But if weaknesses are the problem... Manetric!"

Misty was already returning her Gyarados, and switching to Staryu. "Okay, Staryu – Cutting Water Dance!"

"Hah!" Staryu replied, spinning up into the air.

"Look out!" Ash called, and Lucario ducked below a sweeping Blaze Kick from his opponents' Blaziken.

Palms glowing, he slapped the follow-up punch aside, and slammed home a Force Palm as Blaziken overextended a little.

"Hm," Nascour said, frowning. "Feisty little boy, aren't you..."

"More than you'd think," Ash said with a grin. As he said that, Lucario formed an Ice Punch on his off-hand, and started giving ground from the Shadow Pokémon he was fighting.

Nascour looked closely. "There's no way that's... what are you up to?"

There was a sudden crash from behind the Cipher admin, and he looked around – the puzzle of Lucario's tactics forgotten.

His gaze fell on the Shadow Dusknoir who had been forming part of the trap for Lugia – or, rather, one of them in particular, who was currently being beaten up, down and sideways by phantasmal copies of several wildly distinct Pokémon. (Including, strangely enough, a Lugia.)

"Got him!" Houndour yapped to Ash, poking his head over a small rise next to the Dusknoir.

"Good work!" Ash called back. "Now get the next one!"

As he said that, the duplicates disappeared, and the Shadow Dusknoir fell to the ground.

Nascour looked back to the trainer, just in time to see his Lucario do an uppercut which went nowhere near Blaziken.

To his astonishment, an instant whirlwind formed from nowhere at all, sweeping his bewildered Fire-type into the air. Lucario blurred after him, delivering a combination of stunning mid-air blows, and then finished off with an axe kick which sent Blaziken slamming back to the ground.

Undeterred, Nascour switched to his Alakazam.

"Hang in there, Sparky!" Ritchie said. "Just one more... there! Electroball!"

Sparky's long tail whipped out in a circle, pulling together the electricity for an Electroball before launching it forwards. It was especially potent against such a slow Pokémon when fuelled by his earlier Agility, and despite the unfavourable type it proved to be enough to finish the Shadow Druddigon off.

"Good work!" he added, as Sparky landed next to him.

His opponent sighed. "Eelektross, handle this peon."

Ritchie blinked at the sight – another Shadow Pokémon.

"Cruise, you handle this!" he instructed. "Have a rest, Sparky."

The Pupitar jetted into position, and hovered there for a moment as the shadowy Eelektross began to circle.

"Giga Drain!" the Cipher admin shouted suddenly.

Eelektross lashed its tail and darted forwards, teeth glowing inside the sucker-like mouth-

And Cruise fired a Hyper Beam.

"What!?" the admin asked, startled at the sudden eruption of brightly-glowing energy.

Ritchie shrugged. "He learned it back in Almia," the young trainer volunteered, as Eelektross staggered back. "Good work, Cruise – now, Smack Down!"

A circle of glowing rocks formed, orbiting Cruise at speed. They spun faster and faster, then speared out at the recovering Eelektross and knocked it to the ground.

"Earthquake!" Ritchie added, hoping to hit the grounded Electric-type before it recovered.

Crobat skimmed low over the heads of his opponents, spinning off Air Slashes to hit the Ludicolo.

They barely seemed to notice, continuing to dance.

"Uh..." Brock began, hesitantly. "You've been dancing for the last five minutes. Are you going to fight?"

Miror B shrugged, dancing himself. "Why would I do that?"

"Not sure, it just seems like the thing you do in this situation," Brock admitted.

Forretress opened her shell slightly, and fired a Signal Beam out – playing it over one enemy at a time, hitting all six in sequence.

Again, no reaction. That could just be because they were using Rain Dish to heal, though.

There was a plume of flame from behind Miror B and his Pokémon, as Ninetales managed to sneak up on one of the Magnezone and Fire Blast it.

This got no more reaction from Miror B or his Ludicolo than anything else.

Brock took the time to try and get some kind of overview on the fight.

Ash and Misty seemed to be doing fine... and as he watched, Ritchie's Pupitar finished off a Shadow Electric-type, so he was doing well too.

There was a bang from the other side of the battlefield, drawing Brock's attention. None of them were over there, so what was that?

Lucario lowered his paws as his opponent slumped to the ground.

It had taken longer than either Ash or Lucario were comfortable with to beat the Alakazam, and he'd managed to get a few nasty psychic blows before going down...

On the plus side, Houndour had managed to get the other Dusknoir, so there were only the two Shadow Probopass left blocking the friends' large Flying-types.

"That Lucario of yours is... inconveniently powerful," Nascour said, frowning in irritation. "Very well – I'm sure this will handle him."

Out came a Camerupt.

"Okay, Lucario, take a break," Ash said. "Your turn!"

Suicune emerged, landing lightly, and smirked. "I'll do my-"

"What!?" Ritchie called from halfway across the battlefield. "That's awesome!"

Ash waved, a little embarrassed. "Yeah, I was about to mention..."

"Did you actually catch her?" Ritchie asked. "That's so cool!"

"Camerupt!" Nascour snapped. "Sunny Day!"

The sun blazed brighter in the sky, banishing the clouds.

"Now, Solar-"

There was a rumble of thunder, and the clouds returned.

Taking advantage of the reprieve, Suicune fired a Hydro Pump at her still-charging opponent.

"Miror B!" Nascour said, in tones of complete exasperation. "What the hell was that for?"

"You're not the boss of me, man!" Miror B called back. "I be dancing!"

"We've got a damned Legendary to deal with now!" Nascour admonished him, and got a rude gesture in return.

One of the 'balls on Ash's belt trembled.

"Not yet," he said to it, as the two Cipher admins continued arguing. "They've still got some of their trap set up. Just a little longer."

No further movement, but he could tell Lugia wasn't happy with even as much waiting as they were doing.

Nascour sent out a Luxray next, who promptly got a faceful of Brine.

"What was that for?" he growled, looking with intense irritation at Suicune.

She smirked back. "A friend showed me." With that, she darted in, and slammed her paws down to deliver a Bulldoze.

Luxray went skidding backwards from the blow. He snarled, and snapped off a Thunder at this irritating Water-type-

Which grounded off his tail back into his fur.

"Told you," Suicune said, and rammed home a second Bulldoze.

"Man, I can't believe these guys all got out of prison," Wes said.

"I guess we missed a few," Rui replied with a shrug. "Hey, at least we managed to catch up with them."

"I guess."

Their mount rocked a little.

"Hey... that's strange," Rui added, frowning. "I think there's some Aura adepts over there."

"Really?" Wes looked up. "Where?"

"I think it's some of the kids. Not that one with the Raichu, though."

Another Cipher grunt jumped in their way, and released a Girafarig and a Medicham. "You won't get past me!"

Wes sighed. "Metagross?"

Affirmative. Meteor Mash.

Raising his two forelegs, Wes' Metagross slammed home a Meteor Mash onto both Psychic-types.

When he resumed his advance a few seconds later, neither were conscious.

"These guys aren't very tough," he added, as the peon sent out a Delibird and a Parasect. "But it's taking ages to get through them."

He came to a decision. "Okay, you two," he said, releasing his twin starters. "See if you can help clear us a path."

Umbreon and Espeon jumped down from Metagross, landing lightly, and began lending supporting fire with Dark Pulses and Psybeams.

The ground shook slightly.

"Hurry up!" Dr. Namba hissed, eyes flicking across the control panel.

It didn't help, of course. The whole Shadow-ification process was going to take as long as it took, especially when combined with his Rage Crown modifications, and it wasn't going to be sped up by berating the computer.

Perhaps he should have started with the younger specimen. That one might have taken less time...

As he considered it, the young Lugia cried out in its native language. Namba wasn't sure what it meant... probably something about calling for a parent, actually.

The Chandelure fell to the ground, wavering, and its flames dimmed.

"Good work, Cruise!" Ritchie said, grinning. "Nice Stone Edge!"

Cruise floated there for a moment longer, as Ritchie's opponent scowled.

"Right, you brat!" he said, simmering. "That rock lump of yours isn't going to last the match! Simisage, Seed Bomb!"

Simisage emerged from his 'ball, and stepped forwards with a Seed Bomb charging in his hands.

Ritchie's reply was a grin. He returned Cruise, and switched Pokémon. "Zippo, blast him!"

Simisage's attack fizzled out as he looked up (and up) at the burly Charizard.

He sighed, and put his hands over his eyes just before Zippo used Flamethrower.

"Got anything left?" Ritchie asked, as Simisage collapsed to the ground.

The admin looked frightened.

"Guess not," Ritchie decided. "Come on, Zippo, let's go!"

"Grunts!" the admin shouted. "Stop them!"

The Pokémon the grunts sent out were underwhelming to say the least. Ritchie left them to Zippo, sending out Fortune once more and swinging onto his back. "Come on, Fortune, let's get into that lab!"

Fortune snorted an affirmative – then staggered, nearly losing his footing as the ground shook.

Kabutops slashed his scythes through an incoming Charge Beam, deflecting most of the electricity aside in twin blasts which blew troughs in the ground.

Some of it got through, though, and crackled up his arms. He grunted, pivoted on one leg and swiped his left scythe down with a Night Slash.

The Grumpig he was facing was knocked backwards, reeling.

Capitalizing on his advantage, Kabutops ran forwards. He pushed through a pulse of telekinetic energy intended to check his advance, crossed his scythes, and brought them down-and-across in an X-Scissor.

That was finally too much for the Psychic-type, who passed out.

"How did you do that?" the admin asked. "I – but – you're a single-type trainer!"

Misty grinned, and flashed a V-sign. "Single-type trainers do have weaknesses, but they know what they are and train to overcome them!"

The admin muttered something.

Deciding to ignore him, Misty looked around to see if her friends needed much help.

Kabutops stood from where he'd finished off the Grumpig, then jumped – back, towards Misty. His scythes flashed out, cutting a Vine Whip as it reached out for Misty.

She looked around, startled, and then towards a grunt with a Tangela already readying more vines.

"Gyarados!" she called, pointing. "Get him!"

The grunt suddenly looked a lot less confident as Gyarados charged up a Flamethrower.

His Tangela got a brief reprieve, though, when the ground shook. It fell over, but the flamethrower was aimed where it had been and missed.

Brock snapped his fingers. "I know! Forretress, use Toxic Spikes!"

Forretress glanced back at him, nodded, and did so. Her shell glowed as she sent out dozens of the toxic caltrop-like spikes, aiming them especially where the half-dozen Ludicolo were dancing.

"Hey!" Miror B said, as his Ludicolo started to wince and flinch – finding the spikes as they danced. "Stop messing up my dance, hombre!"

Brock shrugged. "Sorry, but this is a battle..."

"Huh." Miror B frowned, looking honestly confused. "I thought it was a dance-off, man."

"...why would you think that?" Brock asked, thrown.

"Well, look at your Forretress!" he said, indicating her with a gesture. "She's breakdancing!"

"...that's just spinning."

Miror B shrugged. "Same difference."

Brock shook his head. "I've got no idea how your thought process works. Crobat – Venoshock!"

Crobat came swooping in, trimming his wings, and delivered some globs of greenish gunk on a low-level bombing run of an attack. When they hit one of the Ludicolo, there was a flash of discharging energy and the Grass-type staggered.

They were still dancing, though.

Then the ground shook, knocking Brock and Miror B staggering and all six Ludicolo off their feet.

Ash frowned, as Pikachu opened up enthusiastically on the shadow Walrein in front of him. "I heard something there! A faint-"

The 'ball at his waist shook again, more strongly still, and then burst open.

Ash! Lugia said, opening his wings. That was Silver, I'd know his voice anywhere!

Nascour gaped. "You have... a Lugia?"

Then he grinned. "It doesn't matter – we've still got our trap set up, after all. Probopass, use Gravity!"

Lugia grunted as the two powerful Gravity attacks clawed at him, and began to glow as he resisted the psychic attack.

Then the force on him abruptly halved, allowing him to begin to gain height.

Nascour blinked. "What just-"

Ash punched him in the chin.

Nascour went down like a sack of potatoes, and Ash shook his hand to get the stiffness out. "Man, he was annoying..."

"Secret Sword!"

Keldeo's voice echoed off the nearby hillside as he fired the ranged version of his signature attack. It scythed across the outside of Namba's lab, carving a path through the rock facing, and slammed into the remaining Shadow Probopass.

The Rock-type didn't stand much chance against Keldeo's powerful attack.

"Sorry I took so long!" Keldeo called. "I was trying to take the one over here by surprise!"

Ash glanced up, and saw Keldeo was in fact standing on the unconscious Probopass.

With a crackling bang, Walrein went down, but then staggered back upright.

"You doing okay, Pikachu?" Ash asked, worried.

"I've got this!" Pikachu replied. "Lugia needs your help now!"

Ash nodded, and jumped aboard as Lugia gained height.

This lab should not exist, Lugia said firmly, inhaling in preparation for his signature move.

Just before he did, though, the whole place trembled.

"Was that you?" Ash asked.

No, it wasn't... Lugia informed him, puzzled. I wonder if-

The lab exploded from the inside out.

Clinging on, Ash gaped as a completely transformed Lugia climbed free of the ruin – gaining height quickly. Rather than the usual downy white feathers sported by all Lugia Ash had seen before, she was completely different in colour – a dark purple, nearly black, with glowing red eyes.

Love! Lugia called, suddenly.

"That's your mate?" Ash asked, bewildered. "Why does she look-"

I don't know! Lugia replied, mental voice full of anguish. But that's her! I'd know her anywhere!

"Lugia!"

Lugia looked down to see Suicune facing up at him.

"We'll help your son! Go save her!"

Lugia glanced up to see his mate heading east at speed – already a considerable distance away – then back down to Suicune. I will. My thanks, Suicune.

He whirled, turning almost in his own length, and set off after his mate.

38

"What just happened, Wes?" Rui asked, as they watched the second – white – Lugia vanishing off to the east after the first one.

"And why are you asking me?" Wes replied, shaking his head. "I don't know any more than you do."

"Well, excuse me for-"

Query. Does this argument serve a purpose?

Wes winced. "Metagross... don't interrupt."

Correction accepted. Metagross' mental tone somehow seemed smug, as it slammed aside two more Pokémon and battered through to the last member of a Grunt's team.

Espeon contributed at that point, firing a beam of psionic energy which knocked the burly Magmortar to the ground, and Umbreon pounced with claws ready.

"Who are these kids, anyway?" Wes asked, as their ride continued tearing the Cipher perimeter a new one. "I swear I saw one of them using a Suicune. And – wait, is that Miror B?"

Rui stood to get a better view. "...yes, that's him."

Wes took in the view for a moment longer. "At least someone gave him a beating... wait, how come he's got six Ludicolo? Where'd he get the other two?"

Rui shrugged helplessly.

Requesting input.

"Huh?" Wes shook his head, looking around. "Huh. Looks like we ran out of grunts."

Affirmative. Requesting input.

That was definitely smug.

"Okay, you big bucket of bolts," Wes said with a sigh. "Uh... provide cover, I guess. We should go see what those kids are here for..."

"The same as us?" Rui suggested. "I mean, they're presumably from this country, at any rate, which is more than we can say."

Wes crouched, sliding down Metagross' head and dangling his feet off for a moment, then jumping down. "Yeah, but I mean more why they're picking a fight with Cipher in the first place."

His knees bent, absorbing the force of impact, and his twin starters flowed into position on either heel. "You coming, babe?"

Rui made a rude gesture and jumped down behind him. "Don't call me that."

"Yeah, yeah." Wes waved her off. "Okay, where's the Shadow Pokémon around here?"

She gave him a look. "Everywhere! Or haven't you noticed the-"

"Okay, okay. Jeez." Wes grinned. "Right, let's go."

"Okay, I think that's all of them," Brock said, dragging one of the grunts over with his arm twisted up behind his back. "Lucario? Can you handle this one?"

Lucario nodded, and picked up another one of the reinforcing rods scattered all over the place from Shadow Lugia's spectacular escape (which had blown the concrete of the lab to bits). He bent it into a knot with casual strength, and used it to tie the hands of the Cipher grunt behind his back.

A second rod went around his ankles, tying them together.

"Thanks," Brock complimented him.

"No problem." Lucario looked up, scanning. "There's several more over there, but they seem under control for now."

"Why's that?" Misty asked.

"There's a Metagross staring at them."

"That would do it, yeah," Ritchie said. "Hey, who's this?"

Wes waved. "Hi! Name's Wes. This is my main babe, Rui."

Rui's cheeks flamed. "Stop calling me that!"

"Why?"

She didn't reply.

"Heh." Wes returned his attention to the locals. "So... what brings you here?"

"We were having lunch just over there," Ritchie explained, nodding. "Then most of our Pokémon heard a noise – they said it was a Lugia in pain. Really nasty pain."

The two Orreans exchanged a look.

"That was probably the creation of a Shadow Pokémon," Rui said, after a moment. "We've fought them before – this is Team Cipher."

Wes aimed a kick at the unconscious Nascour, which missed – probably deliberately. "Especially this jerk. I don't recognize most of the cannon fodder, though."

"We've run into Shadow Pokémon before, too," Brock said.

Pikachu winced. "That was not pleasant."

"Huh, really?" Wes shrugged. "Good to know we're not the only ones who can handle it. How'd you purify them?"

"Ash appealed to the Pokémon in question, and managed to bring him back," Lucario said by way of an explanation.

"Yeah, sounds about right," Wes agreed. "Worked for Metagross."

Pikachu blinked, at the news that the burly pseudo-legendary glaring at a band of captured Cipher personnel had previously been a Shadow Pokémon.

"So, where's this Ash?" Wes went on. "It'd be nice to compare notes, I guess..."

He looked around at the piles of unconscious Pokémon. "And see if we can kinda speed up the process of helping these Shadow Pokémon, there's like two dozen..."

"Professor Krane could help with that, couldn't he?" Rui asked. "I heard something about-"

Wes shrugged. "Like I listen to the old fart."

Rui decided to ignore that for now.

"Ash... went off on Lugia, I think?" Brock asked, glancing at Suicune for confirmation as she loped back over.

"That's right," Suicune confirmed. "I said we'd help Silver. Keldeo's trying to find a way into the lab."

"Who's Silver?" Rui asked, frowning.

"Lugia's son – the child of the two Lugia you saw," Suicune explained. "Are you a... ah, I see. You're an Aura adept, like Ash."

"So he's an Aura user?" Rui asked. "Interesting, I've not met many others before."

They glanced off into the distance, trying to spot the Lugia, and saw the occasional flash of light.

Ash bent low over Lugia's back, trying to produce as little wind resistance as possible.

I'm... not having much luck... catching her, Lugia reported, sounding a little out of breath even in his mental tone. She's flying faster than I'm used to.

"Can you catch up?" Ash called. "Just get close enough for me to jump over?"

That might be difficult, Lugia reported. Why do you need to jump over?

"I've got an Aura technique – Aura Purge!" Ash told him. "I need to be in contact, but I think it can help her!"

That is excellent news. Lugia broke off for a moment, as they hit a cloud. Anything that works – we have to try it.

"I agree there," Ash said.

He glanced down at his belt, and winced. "Oh, no – I left everyone back by the lab!"

A pity. Lugia frowned, hammering his wings much more than usual as he tried to squeeze every last breath out of his speed. Then we're going to need to slow her down some other way. Sorry, love.

He inhaled, energy rushing towards his mouth. Not for long – far less time than it would normally take to charge the attack. Then he fired a weakened Aeroblast.

The bluish beam traced across the flank of the Shadow Lugia. It didn't hit very hard, but the effect was immediate – rather than flying at full speed away, XD001 banked in a startlingly tight turn and bore back in on them, screaming with rage.

Hold on tight, Ash! Lugia warned, sideslipping in the air and ducking away from his corrupted mate.

After a moment, Lugia felt a warmth on his feathers as Ash started using Aura to cling on.

That worry alleviated, he threw himself into trying to outfly his mate.

It took some doing – she wasn't as experienced as he was, but the process which had turned her into a Shadow Pokémon had made her faster and stronger and a lot more powerful.

Lugia found himself forced to focus entirely on defence within the first few seconds as she spun off a tornado of dark, wrong-feeling energy and whipped it at him. He established a Light Screen with hurried intensity, which splashed the attack off it, but it clawed at his wings despite that and tried to suck him down towards the sea.

Then she did – something.

Shadowy wings churning the air, she gathered together a ball of energy between her talons. It throbbed, like a heartbeat, and then pulsed outwards in a spherical wave.

Lugia grunted as it hit his Light Screen, smashing it to pieces, and she followed up with another of those tornadoes of dark energy before he could get his shield back up again.

Deciding not to stick around, Lugia replenished his shield and began to climb – gaining height as fast as he could.

Is she following? he asked Ash. I can't spare the attention to look.

Ash did have the chance to look, though, and he turned back as Lugia's climb went near-vertical. "Yeah – she is! She's going slower, and – look out-"

Ash's voice gave Lugia just enough warning. He rolled forwards, already charging an Aeroblast, and fired it at her just as she launched her own corrupted version of the attack.

The two beams hit one another halfway between Lugia and Shadow Lugia, producing a violet ball of energy as they flowed towards one another. The ball grew, crackling with lightning, and then exploded as it passed a critical threshold.

Immediate danger over, Lugia resumed his climb.

Doctor Namba shook his head, trying to clear it.

The process had been going fine, and then... the Lugia had cried out, and then XD001 had...

Had...

As the world came back into focus, Namba saw the ruins of the machine and realized what must have happened.

The process of turning a Pokémon into a Shadow Pokémon was well understood, but his Rage Crown additions were new and much more poorly studied. The combination of the two must have left XD001 unstable, and then the sound of an injured juvenile had startled it and driven it to act.

How inconvenient.

Voices floated down through the lab to him, and he sat up – pushing a few small chunks of plaster off his legs – then stood.

The young Lugia was still in its cage. There were scorch marks all over the walls next to the shadowification machine, and most of the structural damage seemed to be over that side of the lab – and, with no XD001 in sight, he could deduce the course of events.

XD001 had broken out of the machine, then blasted through the roof and left that way – bringing the upper levels down on top of the hole once it was through.

The fact it hadn't rescued the juvenile probably meant that the shadowification process had changed it, though. Otherwise – presumably – it would have saved its child.

Namba was contemplating his next course of action when there was a crash from overhead.

"...nearly there," he heard someone say.

"Lucario, are we-"

Then something he didn't quite catch.

He paled. That meant the guards were defeated.

Namba reached for his waist. "Kadabra, get me out of here!"

His Kadabra nodded, raised her spoon, and they vanished in a flare of teleportation.

A few seconds later, the ceiling crumpled and collapsed near the centre of the room. A Metagross slammed to the floor, looked up, and began using psionic force to hold the rest of the building up.

"Thanks," Brock said, dropping through the hole himself. "There he is!"

Silver looked up, frightened. "Who are you? Are you friends of the bad person?"

"We're with your father," Brock said. "He's trying to make sure your mother's alright."

"They're related?" Wes asked. "Neat."

The Orrean followed Brock through the hole, being caught by Metagross with a casual exertion of telekinesis, and looked around. "Wow... man, I'm surprised to see some of this stuff. I thought it was all impounded way back when."

"Where do you think the other Shadow Pokémon came from?" Rui asked, rolling her eyes as she hopped down into the lab. "Sometimes, Wes..."

Wes shrugged. "Whatever."

"Hey, quieten down," Brock said, keeping an eye on Silver. "I think this poor guy's a bit scared."

"I'll help," Suicune volunteered, leaping down through the gap herself. She landed with feline grace on the floor surface, and smiled. "Hello, Silver. Remember me?"

"Suicune?" Silver asked, tilting his head. "Didn't you visit me and momma a few times?"

"That's right," Suicune confirmed. "Now, we're going to get you out of here, okay?"

Silver considered that, then nodded.

"Good." Suicune looked back up through the hole. "Keldeo? I think we might need your help down here."

Hooves clattered on the floor above, then there was a sudden blast of water (soaking Metagross for a moment, who then established a telekinetic shield and looked annoyed) as Keldeo slowed his fall with Hydro Pump.

Lugia rolled, snatching his tail away from a blast of Shadow Storm, and slapped the air with his wings as he banked.

"How high are we?" Ash called, as Lugia's trajectory stabilized once more.

Several miles! Lugia glanced down, then performed a peculiar little wingover to evade a Shadow Blast. I can't tell more precisely, but the air's definitely thinner up here.

"Right," Ash nodded. His grip tightened for a moment. "Okay, I'm going to need to get onto her back at some point – but when I do the Aura Purge, we're both going to pass out."

Lugia twisted his neck around to look at Ash. Really? You didn't mention-

"I've been kind of preoccupied!" Ash admitted. "Sorry. But – I'm going to have to do it."

Then I'll have to catch you, Lugia decided. Keep the two of you up while you're doing it.

"Won't work," Ash said, shaking his head, and winced as another corrupted Aeroblast came uncomfortably close. "If you touch someone in Aura Purge, you get pulled in too. I guess... the best thing to do is to follow us down, and to pull us apart psychically if we're about to hit the ground."

Won't that ruin the attempt? Lugia asked, half his attention on his attacking mate.

"It's better than hitting the ocean that hard!" Ash pointed out.

True. Okay, be ready to jump... I'm going to try to get you heading towards her.

Ash nodded. "Got it," he said, rising to a crouch on Lugia's back.

For the next several seconds, Lugia was trying to avoid being hit. Shadow Shed blew away his attempt to maintain a shield, and then he was clipped by a Shadow Storm which spun him around in mid-air.

At that moment, though, he saw his chance. Folding one wing, he side-slipped out of the line of fire and below Shadow Lugia as she tried to close on him.

Rolling and pitching, wings snapping back open, he pulled a wingover and was heading the same direction as the corrupted Pokémon for a moment.

Ash gathered himself and leaped.

He covered the forty or so feet between the two Pokémon in a couple of seconds, but Shadow Lugia had been turning and dodging as he moved.

Ash missed her torso, got clipped by her lashing tail as she turned into an escape dive, and fell past her.

Ash! Lugia called, folding his wings in and following.

Ash glanced up, spreading his arms to increase his air resistance and slow his plunge towards the sea miles below. "Lugia-"

The wind built up around him as his speed increased, snatching at his clothes. The cape slowed him, but it was pulling on his neck harder than was comfortable-

And the comforting white bulk of Lugia loomed up next to him. A quick pull-up, and he was on Lugia's back again.

"Thanks, Lugia," he said, as the windrush vanished. "Okay, that wasn't close enough by the looks of it."

I concur, Lugia replied, using the velocity from his dive to climb back to fighting altitude again. I am going to have to make contact with her.

He inhaled, building another Aeroblast, and then fired it upwards as Shadow Lugia tried to catch him off-guard with a Shadow Blast.

This time, it was a more powerful Aeroblast – and the Shadow Blast had been charged for longer. The globe of clashing energy grew faster and remained stable longer, producing a stunning concussion when it finally destabilized which knocked both Lugia tumbling.

Ash's hands wound around Lugia's feathers as his ride spun through the air, then breathed a sigh of relief as he regained control of his attitude. "Do you think you can get close enough?"

Lugia contemplated that for a few seconds, as his mate likewise recovered her flight regime. Yes, he said after a moment.

He tilted back, gaining height, and his wings slammed the thin air for as much traction as he could gain.

Sunny Day, he announced, and the sun blazed brighter in the sky overhead. Using it, he moved so he was above and a little to the south of his mate.

Hiding in the sun.

Then, when she seemed to have lost track, he turned downwards.

Ash saw the bluish fins on Lugia's back fold in, and crouched low over his neck to reduce air resistance as they dove.

Shadow Lugia noticed him coming about half a second before he arrived – not enough time.

The impact was stunning for all involved, making Ash's teeth click painfully together and knocking both Lugia out of their flight regime.

Ash's friend recovered first, twining his tail around that of his mate to hold them together for as long as possible. Then, as she began to thrash about to get him off, Ash jumped from one neck to the other – barely four feet of distance.

He wrapped one arm around her top right fin for grip.

"Lugia, go!" he called.

Seeing Ash was on safely, Lugia released his mate and dropped free.

A second later, Ash's glowing palm touched XD001's back, and they fell into Aura Purge.

"Okay, Silver," Brock said. "We need you to duck down now, okay? Hide in that corner of the cell."

Silver nodded, and squeezed himself into one corner of the tough metal cage.

"Ready, Keldeo!" Brock said, unnecessarily.

"Sacred Sword!"

A curved beam of light slashed out from Keldeo and sheared off the entire top left edge of the cell. A second one followed, cutting off the bottom left edge, and several of the bars clattered to the floor.

"There we go," Misty said. "Can you get out that way?"

"I... think so," Silver said. He pulled in his wings, to take up as little space as possible, and gingerly eased his way through the missing bars.

"There we go," Suicune said with a smile. "Now, let's get out of here, okay?"

She looked around. "Metagross? Can you lift us out of here?"

...the important thing, I find, is that those actions are not ones I want to do now. Therefore, my actions when I was a Shadow Pokémon are not 'mine', and as such I can consider myself not to be responsible for them.

Pikachu nodded. "Thanks, that gives me a lot to think about. I can tell you've put thought into this."

Suicune cleared her throat.

"Oh!" Pikachu looked up. "Sorry, we were distracted."

Metagross stamped its feet on the floor as it rotated to face them. Right. I think I can help lift people up through one at a time, though it would be easier if there was no overburden above us.

"Right," Ritchie said. "Zippo! Cid!"

Zippo and Cid duly emerged from their Pokéballs.

"Can you two help clear away some of the stuff on top of us?" Ritchie asked.

Cid nodded, leaping up the hole and starting to use Psychic to move the rubble out of the way. Zippo jumped after him, wings flapping to make the jump, and began moving material too.

"Psyduck, you help!" Misty said, sending him out.

Wes sent out Espeon. "Hey, can you help move stuff too?"

Espeon gave him a look.

"Hey, Umbreon can't do this kind of stuff!" he protested. "I don't use you as a night light, I don't use him for this stuff, it evens out."

Espeon's reply was a disdainful tail flick. He looked up, and started moving material with Psychic.

Ash came to his feet, looking around to get his bearings.

It was... interesting. He'd been in several inner worlds so far, and they'd all been quite different from one another – indeed, there'd been the implication that they changed depending on the circumstances.

This one was a rocky, windswept island. The air was chill, and there was no greenery whatsoever.

Ash shivered as the wind started to bite. It was really cold...

He started up Lucario's Airslip Aura trick, diverting the main force of the wind around him without letting it bite, and looked around. There had to be something important-

Movement caught his eye, and he turned in time to see something emerging from the low clouds.

Shadow Lugia.

A glow built around her mouth, and Ash dove sideways with a yelp just as Shadow Blast fired. It carved a trench in the black rock of the island, sending gravel flying in all directions, and narrowly missed Ash's boots.

He came to his feet, looking around for where the corrupted Lugia had gone.

Closing his eyes for Aura Sight, he caught a glimpse of her vanishing upwards into the clouds. Once there, she became much more blurred – though still possible to track.

Ash squinted, looking closer as she turned and came back down through the low cloud layer. This time, ready for her, he could get a closer look.

In addition to the dark colour of her feathers, there was something else wrong...

Ash ducked behind a hexagonal pillar of rock as she made her second attack run, forcing her to sheer off to avoid crashing, and it was then that he got a good look at her head.

Some kind of metal headband, with an angrily-glowing red crystal on it centred right between her eyes.

That had to be something important.

Ash's first reaction was to ask Pikachu to hit it, but before he said anything he realized – he didn't have Pikachu. In fact, he didn't have any Pokémon whatsoever.

He would have to do this himself.

But how to hit the headband – and Ash was sure he had to get it off – without hurting Lugia? Either he had to get onto her back again, this time without a friendly Lugia to help, or...

Or he'd have to attack it off.

As he thought, Ash kept the pillar between him and the shadow Lugia, using Aura Sight to keep an eye on her position while also glancing around for what might help.

Perhaps he could use Aura Sphere?

No, that wasn't a good idea. In the first place, it would be hard to hit the headband, and in the second place getting just the headband would be very difficult indeed – it was placed in a very inconvenient location.

Ash racked his brains, trying to think what to do.

Then something... suddenly seemed to make sense.

Ash couldn't tell you what the logical chain was that led to the realization. He just knew there was something he could do which would solve the problem, if he could pull it off.

At that moment, Shadow Lugia got tired of his dodging. A Shadow Blast lashed out, hitting the base of the pillar Ash was hiding behind and bleeding past on both sides.

Fortunately for him, Ash was in the blast shadow of the pillar.

Unfortunately, the pillar was being hammered by what amounted to an Aeroblast, and it wasn't able to withstand that kind of pummelling. It creaked, cracked, and began to fall over.

Ash ran for cover, looking around for another pillar to use.

There!

The one which caught his eye wasn't a single hexagonal spire of rock like most of the rest. In fact, it was formed of dozens of them, crowded together right near the centre of the island in a big irregular accumulation.

Better still, some of them were snapped off at different heights, providing a convenient way to climb up. Ash wasted no time, making a series of Aura-enhanced jumps to get to the top of the series of pillars.

Lugia trimmed his wings, holding down his speed to make sure he followed his mate and his trainer as closely as possible.

It was disconcerting to watch, as Ash and his mate plunged limply towards the surface of the ocean – still a couple of miles below, but getting closer faster than he'd like.

There was a brief slap of moisture, as they passed through a wisp of cloud – then it was clear, heading towards the ocean below with nothing but air beneath them.

I hope this works, Ash... he said silently.

Ash got his fingers over the lip of the column, and hauled himself up by main strength.

Almost immediately he was hit by a blast of wind as Shadow Lugia skimmed low over the surface of the rock, and he raised an arm against flying debris – mostly pebbles.

That over, he took a deep breath and looked up.

Shadow Lugia was circling overhead, now, apparently having given up the attacks for a bit.

That suited him fine.

Ash reached for his staff, and swung it off his back.

He'd done this once before, about a year ago, in his own mind – with the memory of Keldeo.

He was in another's mind now, though. He only had himself to work with.

But, in theory, it should work. So he concentrated, focusing on the idea of what he wanted to do.

I want a sword.

Alone, that wouldn't help. But he also knew from working with Keldeo that the Sword moves could be used at range.

And that should be what he needed.

The staff twitched for a moment, as it felt his Aura and the idea of the staff tried to react with the idea of what he wanted to do.

Ash's eyes snapped open as the back of his neck prickled. He ducked, and Shadow Lugia didn't take his head off with her feet.

Pushing himself back to his feet, Ash focused on the staff. He needed this to work!

He needed to help Lugia – by hitting just the headband, and nothing else.

And the staff quivered in his hands – then changed.

For a moment, Ash was distracted by its new appearance. It was, most certainly, a sword.

There was nothing particularly special about the cross-guard, nor the hilt – though it was certainly not a katana. It looked a little bit European, if anything.

The blade had letters inscribed on it, though Ash saw only a few – burn.

Shadow Lugia let out a screeching roar overhead, reminding Ash of her presence some distance away.

He grimaced – I hope this works – and wound up, then threw the sword.

It was a clumsy, two-handed swing with a weapon not built for throwing.

But it didn't seem to matter. The blade sliced out with perfect accuracy, rotated once, and cleanly sheared the headband in two right at the crystal with its razor tip.

Two brassy halves fell away, and then everything went white.

Lugia came to a decision.

They were too low. He had to pull Ash away, had to make sure they didn't crash into the sea – which would be like hitting the ground, from this high.

He reached out with his mind, groping for Ash's form to break the connection, as they plunged through the last few hundred metres. One moment the sea was a uniform blue, then he could see the white of the wave-crests, then the waves were as clear as could be-

And he couldn't get a grip on Ash.

Instinctively, Lugia spread his wings and pulled up and away as the water loomed close. The moment he did, he regretted it – he should have-

Saffron-scented air blasted him from behind.

"You were kind of cutting it close, there," a voice said.

Turning frantically, Lugia saw-

A human teen. Ho-Oh. (Though a different one to the familiar one of Johto.)

Ash was safe, coming back to groggy awareness on Ho-Oh's back.

And then, in a fountain of spray, his mate burst back out of the sea. White-winged, hale and well, and most certainly not corrupted.

Lugia felt a bit breathless from the sudden shocks. What just happened? he asked.

Good question, his mate asked, looking around in some confusion. The last I remember, I was in a laboratory.

The human teen shrugged. "Okay, this might take a while – hey! Where'd you go, you little..."

A Celebi emerged from beneath Ho-Oh's wing, and shrugged.

"You took us here!" he said. "You could at least explain."

Celebi shrugged again, and vanished in a flash of light.

"...fine, be that way," the boy said. "I'm Wes. Let's head back to the lab, I'll try and explain on the way."

Clearing the overburden took several long minutes, after which Metagross was able to send the humans and Pokémon up one by one.

Fortunately, Houndour hadn't gone into the hole in the first place – being Dark-type, he would have had to seek alternate means of exit.

"Phew," Misty said, wiping her brow. "Glad that's handled."

Metagross levitated out of the hole behind her, and there was a rumbling crash as he stopped holding the roof up.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Wes asked, jerking his chin in that direction.

"Not sure," Brock admitted. "Any ideas?"

Ritchie frowned. "Well, I've helped the police with their inquiries before, up in Almia... I guess it depends on how nice the individual Jenny is."

"Japanese police are all called Jenny?" Rui asked, blinking. "I heard about that, but I wasn't sure if it was true..."

"It's true," Brock assured him. "Well, there's support personnel – I think you'd call them deputies – but the police are all from the Jenny clan."

"Weird," Wes said succinctly. "Right, everyone still-"

He stopped.

"Oh, come on!"

"What is it?" Rui asked.

"Miror B got away somehow. Heck knows how..."

"I've never understood how a man that incompetent evades the police so easily," Rui admitted.

Wes shrugged. "He's probably going to be Michael's problem someday. Right, we done?"

"We should wait until Silver's parents get back," Misty suggested.

"Yeah, sounds like a good idea," Wes admitted. He looked into the east. "Wait, I see something... looks like... two Lugia and a Ho-Oh."

"Is Ho-Oh here?" Brock asked, interested. "It'll be nice to-"

One of Wes' Pokéballs burst open, and a Celebi came out. "Biiii!"

Wes looked up. "What is it, Celebi?"

The time-travelling Pokémon tapped one of the other balls on his belt. "Bii!"

Misty blinked. "He's saying that's your Ho-Oh. You have a Ho-Oh and a Celebi?"

"Sounds familiar," Brock said to her sotto voce.

"Oh, great." Wes looked around and spotted a small rise. He jogged over behind it, Celebi following behind, and the friends watched with some bemusement.

Wes sent out Ho-Oh with a flash of light and clambered aboard. Celebi circled them as Ho-Oh took off, and then they all vanished in a flash of light.

A few seconds later, he came gliding down on Ho-Oh from the east.

"Hi!" he said, waving. "Miss me?"

"...you were only gone four seconds," Ritchie said slowly.

"Huh. Cutting it fine, then," he mused. "Anyway. Here's your friend back."

Ash stepped off Ho-Oh's back with slightly unsteady legs, and got mobbed by his Pokémon – Pikachu first.

Silver looked up joyfully. "Mama! Papa!"

The two Lugia, who had been lagging a little behind Wes' phoenix, separated from their close formation and came down to land either side of their son.

His mother swept Silver up in her wings. Silver! It's good to see you, dear!

It is, indeed, his father added, embracing them both. I was so afraid for you.

The reunions and explanations took some time after that.

Ash and his friends were informed of the trouble Cipher had already caused in Orre, and how they'd been turning Pokémon into Shadow Pokémon to make them more powerful. It seemed that Wes and Rui had tracked down rumours of Cipher looking abroad for help across the Pacific to Johto, and arrived in the proverbial nick of time.

In return, Ash told Wes and Rui a slightly edited version of their adventures so far – touching mainly on the most important moments, such as Shamouti and the Lake of Life.

Ritchie got in on the act by telling everyone the fuller story of his mission to save Almia. One of the moments everyone was quite impressed by was the last-minute evolution of Cid to defeat a mind-controlled Tyranitar.

Once that was done, there was still a hearty meal to have as everyone unwound from the tense battles they'd been through for the last hour or so, and then there was talking to the police – who arrived halfway through dessert, and left some time later with a large number of Shadow Pokémon and a number in Orre to contact for help if needed.

As the sun began to slip towards the horizon, though, everything that needed to be said had been said.

Ritchie and Rui both promised to come to the League to see Ash battle – and after some arm twisting, Wes reluctantly agreed to come too.

The Orreans said their goodbyes first. As it turned out, they had taken a passenger jet from Orre, which had landed them in Olivine, and simply Surfed the rest of the way on Wes' Feraligatr. They had a plane to catch, so left to return to Olivine the same way.

Ritchie hung around for a bit longer, discussing things with Ash, Brock, Misty and their Pokémon. Pikachu spent about half an hour having a long discussion with Sparky about evolution, which left him quite contemplative.

Eventually, though, Ritchie left too, and Ash and friends were on the seashore as the light faded.

Ash, Lugia said after a while.

"Yeah?" Ash asked, turning.

I haven't said this enough. Thank you, for helping me save my son and my mate.

Ash blushed, rubbing the back of his neck. "It's fine, really... I mean, I'd help out any-"

Nevertheless. Lugia nodded to him. I am, once again, in your debt. And – I look forward to the League. I expect to compete by your side.

Before Ash could really react to that, Lugia spread his wings and took off. He circled his family once, and they too took to the air – flying back towards Silver's home for the night.

I'll tell Pidgeot where you are, his mental voice floated out of the gathering gloom.

Giovanni considered the report in front of him for some time.

"You say they forced you to apply the research to Lugia?" he said, eventually.

"That's right!" Dr. Namba said, nodding vigorously. "I'd never do it myself – too dangerous – but they threatened me, and I had to tell them how to do it until I got a chance to get away."

"Indeed," Giovanni said. "It's a good thing they didn't know about your Kadabra – but they must have been guarding you very closely, for it to take five days for you to have a chance to use her to escape."

Namba prevented himself from swallowing nervously with an act of will.

Giovanni examined him for a few minutes more, then shuffled the papers on the desk with a sudden slap.

"How well did it work?" he asked.

"The specimen was transformed physically," Namba said, happy for the move to safer topics. "It was clearly much more powerful, but also uncontrollable – or, at least, they didn't manage to establish control."

"So they did finish," Giovanni mused. "Interesting. Their security must have been excellent to keep you from escaping for so long."

Namba said nothing. It was probably the safest option.

"Well," Giovanni said, eventually. "It's a good thing we don't seem to have been officially linked with this whole sorry incident. I'm assigning you some bodyguards to make sure you're not snatched again, Sambo."

Giovanni hid his amusement at the twitch in the man's eyebrow.

He wasn't all that pleased with the scientist at this point. The bodyguards were for his protection, yes, but they were also for Giovanni's protection – against any actions by the good Doctor of which he might not approve.

Really, Samba was getting off lightly.