Double Trouble

"Gastrodon is unable to battle! Bulbasaur wins!"

"Banette is unable to battle! Mightyena wins!"

"Aron is unable to battle! Cubone wins!"

"Sneasel is unable to battle! Machop wins!

"Dartrix is unable to battle! Weaville wins!"

"Parasect is unable to battle! Chimchar wins!"

"Dreadnaw is unable to battle! Grotle wins!"

"Good job Grotle." I said while recalling him.

"Grotle!" He cried out happily at the praise before vanishing, even if he had obtained a near-effortless victory against his opponent, a water/rock type.

This was just the latest of the MANY battles I had been challenged to since my tryst with Jessie earlier, each of which my pokemon had managed to win with trifling ease. Possibly since I focused more on type matchups thanks to reading the minds of my opponents to know which pokemon they would choose, which was NOT illegal according to the League rules similarly to how I can use my aura in battle.

It was the primary reason why people hated battling against psychics, especially the Gym Leaders specializing in the type.

"Anyone else?" I asked while glancing around at the crowd that had formed, filled with trainers eager to take me and my pokemon on.

"Alright! I'll take you on!" Cried out a man that stepped out from the crowd eagerly, his pokeball raised up in preparation. "Go Metang!"

"GAAaaAAAaaaANG!"

A screeching roar punctuated his declaration as a blue metallic pokemon appeared in the arena, it's two arms raised up challengingly.

"Alright then. How about a bit of a challenge, Gastly?"

A ghostly wail met my words, as I sent out a massive ball of gas to do battle with the opposing Metang. It was a wail that sent chills down the spines of nearly everyone present, while I was pretty sure the tempurature did drop a degree or two.

"Holy shit... It's an alpha!"

"ANOTHER?!"

"Dude's collecting MONSTERS."

I smirked at the collective reactions to Gastly's appearance, while he too radiated mirth and pride at the fear and awe he inspired.

"The battle will now begin!" The drone officiating the match declared.

'Confuse Ray.'

"Metang, use Flash Cannon!"

As we both gave our commands at the same time, Metang began amassing steel type energy for an attack while Gastly produced a sinister ball of light that flashed before it's eyes, confusing it right as it unleashed it's attack.

We all watched as the attack went wide of Gastly, sailing out into the open air as it missed due to Metang's confusion.

"Metang! Use Psychic Noise on it!" My opponent urgently ordered, before his pokemon suddenly produced a mind-shattering noise that brought most of the audience to their knees. Gastly in particular seemed affected by it, given that it was an attack based around sound that went in every direction, regardless of how confused it's user was.

'Shadow Barrage!' I hurriedly ordered Gastly as the noise assaulted my aura-enhanced senses.

Though it struggled to do so under the audible assault, Gastly summoned numerous Shadow Balls before hurtling them at Metang.

The noise abruptly ceased when all of the Shadow Balls struck their target, dealing significant damage to the psychic/steel type that was Metang.

'Now, a Mega Shadow Ball to finish this up.' I mentally commanded Gastly, who began amassing ghost type energy for the attack.

"Look out Metang!" My opponent cried out as his pokemon struggled to shake the confusion from itself. But they were a moment too late.

A Shadow Ball nearly as large as Gastly descended upon Metang, before engulfing it entirely as the pokemon vanished momentarily from view. And when we were able to see it once again, it was unconscious.

"Metang is unable to battle! Gastly wins!" The drone announced, declaring my latest victory.

"Metang..." My opponent almost whined, returning his pokemon to it's pokeball.

"Excellently done Gastly." I called out to it, making Gastly inflate to make itself look bigger in pride, before it suddenly started to glow.

I blinked as Gastly condensed and grew more tangible in front of me, even as it's size grew slightly while two hands that weren't attached appeared on either side of it.

"HAAAAAAAAAUNT!"

My newly evolved Haunter cried out victoriously, radiating a feeling of satisfaction that it had FINALLY managed to evolve. Apparently it had been trying to do so for a while, even before joining me.

"Congratulations." I said with a wide smile, equally happy that it managed to evolve into it's next form.

"Haunt!" It declared once more, before proceeding to swan dive right into my shadow.

"That's really impressive! How about a test to see what your new haunter can REALLY do?" Asked another guy as he stepped forward, pokeball in hand.

"Sorry, but I have a previous challenge to get to." I answered, checking the time as I did so. Even my Rotom phone shot up to make some noise.

"Time to go! time to go!" Rotom cried out, thanks to alarm I set on it. But then it added, "You also have one new message from Nemona!"

Thankfully no one else could see what was on the screen thanks to angle my phone was at, as it showed me a picture of an ass that was framed with tanlines, and a caption that read, 'ready to come and kick this in battle yet?'

I shook my head with a wry smile at the picture, while also debating on whether I should send one back to her with the caption 'not yet, I need to train LONG and HARD.'

Maybe later, cause I still had an appointment to keep.

Lucario and I quickly departed from the crowd of people to make room for the next couple of trainers intending to do battle, and started searching the ship for the person I needed to find. Thankfully, he had a large amount of aura compared to everyone else around us, making it easy to find him even with all of the people on board the ship. And naturally when I did find him, he was in the middle of a battle.

"Now finish it up with a Flamethrower!"

"Char!"

I watched as a small Charmander spewed a torrent of flames from it's mouth at the opponent before it, a Skarmory, that immediately went down due to the numerous other injuries it had accrued until now.

"Skarmory is unable to battle! Charmander wins!"

"Yeah! Way to go Charmander!" Ash exclaimed excitedly, dancing around with Charmander and Pikachu as he did so while Tracey and Goh watched on from the side. Until...

"Char?"

Charmander suddenly began to glow before growing in size, until the light faded to show a newly evolved Charmeleon.

"ALRIGHT! CHARMELEON!" Ash shouted in unbridled excitment, only....

"Char."

"..."

His new Charmeleon proceeded to unleash a Flamethrower on Ash himself, leaving my brother charred from the chest up.

"W-why...?" Ash wheezed as he collapsed onto his side, only for Charmeleon to look away pointedly. It was a complete contrast to the happy little Charmander that it had been a moment ago.

"Leave it to Ash..." I said while shaking my head in exasperation, as several of the people around us laughed at his expense.

Ignoring them, I grabbed Ash by the scruff of his neck and began to drag him away while Charmeleon followed, made to do so by Pikachu.

"Come on Ash, we have an appointment to keep." I said without any sympathy.

"Ani.....ki...." Ash groaned with a puff of, well, ash from his mouth.

"Up and at em little brother. Its time I showed you how to make an entrance." I told him, while both Tracey and Goh tried to keep up.

***

"This is the time..."

"And the place...."

""But our challengers are not here...""

Two petite figures muttered amongst each other as they waited in the place described in the note delivered by the adorable shiny Ralts.

Based on outwards ppearances, they were nearly identical with dark-blue hair, fair skin and grey eyes, while even their outfits matched as they wore clothes reminiscent of shaolin monks, also dark blue. The only real differences between them was that one had green star pins on the chest of his robe, while the other had pink stars along with her tied up hair ending in two pigtails.

They were Tate and Liza of the Mossdeep city Gym in Hoenn, answering a challenge they had received earlier that morning. But as the minutes ticked closer and closer to the time they were supposed to battle, their opponents never showed up.

Suddenly, right as the very minute that they were supposed to battle arrived, smoke flowed out from somewhere to cover the ground, courtesy of a Smokescreen attack.

"To protect the world from devestation!" Declared a voice, drawing all eyes to a person standing upon a balcony.

"To unite all peoples within our nations!" Declared a second that appeared identical to the first, standing upon another balcony that was reletively opposite of the other.

"To protect the virtues of truth and love!"

"To defend peace beneath the stars above!"

"Ace!"

"Ash!"

The two figures then leapt down from the balcony to land in the middle of the arena, one more gracefully than the other, before they continued.

"Team Ketchum is always prepared for a fight!"

"So you should surrender now-"

""Or face our might!""

"Pika pi!"

"Haaaaunt haunt!"

To end the duo struck a pose while being joined by a Pikachu, and Haunter that appeared from within one's shadow.

...

*On another section of the SS. Anne.*

"Do you feels dat?"

"I feel it Meowth... Someone minced our motto!"

"Don't they know that's copyrighted material!"

"Hey! Stop slacking and get back to work!"

"Ga! We can't blows our cover here!"

"""Right away sir!"""

...

Back at the arena that was about to host a battle, people were applauding the youths who put on such a spectacular display for them, including Tate and Liza. Unknown to those around them, the psychic twins were silently having a discussion within their minds about they should put together a motto and routines for their entrances as well.

"A little rocky, but truly not bad for your first attempt Ash." One of them said to the other as they stopped posing.

"Ha... I'm not as good at these things as you are Aniki."

"That's why you need to practice. Maybe I'll put together a training program for you to do every morning once we separate again."

"Aniki..."

Tate and Liza shared a look while their eyes filled with humor, as it was obvious which was the elder of the twins before them, even without the one calling the other 'Aniki'.

"Ace and Ash Ketchum..."

"We have been expecting you."

Tate and Liza said out loud to them, drawing both of their attention.

"Really? I mean I specified THIS time, so there shouldn't have been much waiting."

That made the psychic twins go silent since, truthfully, they HAD arrived quite a bit earlier than needed in their anticipation. They couldn't help it, as the prospect of facing another pair of twins with abilities excited them.

But, what surprised the two of them the most was the fact that, no matter how much they tried, neither of them were capable of reading Ace Ketchum's mind. His brother's was an open book though, almost overloading them with how rapid and LOUD his thoughts were, but they could not gain the slightest thing from Ace.

The fact both interested and excited them since it was obvious that Ace had no defenses around his mind to begin with, and the last time they had battled against someone without being able to read their mind was when they had a mock-battle against Sabrina. Even their combined psychic might hadn't been enough to get through her defenses, and she managed to completely wipe the floor with them. She was akin to an idol to the two psychics, though that might not be the case if they knew her true allegiance.

Back to the battle, Tate and Liza remained unmoving as Ace and Ash took their own positions across from them, and a drone appeared to officiate the match as well.

"We shall send our pokemon out first..."

"As is customary of all Gym Leaders..."

""Go-""

"Solrock!"

"Lunatone!"

At their command, two pokemon appeared in the arena that looked like the sun and a crescent moon respectfully, both of them levitating up off of the ground.

""Alright then!"" Ace and Ash said at the same time as well.

""I choose you-"

"Honedge!"

"Pikachu!"

At their command the Pikachu from before leapt out into the middle of the arena, while Ace threw out a pokeball that opened to reveal a floating sword with a red sash that had a purple end. The sash then gripped the scabbard covering it's main body, and removed it to reveal a blood-red blade.

""!?!""

Tate and Liza widened their eyes at the Honedge that appeared before them, both having expected Ace to send out the Haunter they had made their entrance with. But neither could deny the beauty of the blood-red blade as she hovered there before them, ready for battle.

"Pokemon ready?" The drone asked, preparing to start the battle.

"Begin the battle!"

'Light Screen.'

'Reflect.'

Immediately Tate and Liza gave the orders to apply barriers in front of their pokemon, which shimmered to life around both Lunatone and Solrock to severely dampen the effect of both physical and special attacks. It was a standard tactic that they used to start every battle.

On the other side Ace and Ash synchronized their auras in what Ace now knew was called Harmony, something that was easy for them thanks to all the work Ace did to help Ash train his aura. And while the technique wasn't as concise as Telepathy, it allowed them to know each other's intentions as they gave their orders to their pokemon.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Honedge, Swords Dance and then do as I will." Ace instructed, getting his pokemon to increase it's strength before the next step, learning a new move on the fly.

Typically the two ways to teach a pokemon a new move were to either use a TM, or repetition and intense training. With how much Ace trained with his pokemon via aura though, he could replicate the feeling of a move and project it to his pokemon on the fly. It was how he managed to teach Vespiquen Aerial Ace back when she was just a Combee, when it should have been borderline impossible to do so.

He was doing the same now as he directed Honedge at Solrock and Lunatone through the shadows, channeling fighting type energy to it via aura at the same time. And when Honedge shot up out of the shadows, it unleashed said energy in an attack that shattered both barrriers.

"Brick Break!"

Both Tate and Liza went wide eyed at the defense destroying attack, right as a flash of light temporarily blinded them from Pikachu's Thunderbolt.

*KER-KRACKLE!*

Both Solrock and Lunatone were bathed in lightning as they were enveloped in the attack, which was far stronget than any Pikachu had a right to be as it illuminated the entire arena.

""Alright!""

Ace and Ash declared as the former held a hand out, which the latter slapped excitedly for a high-five.

'Are you two ok?' The psychic twins asked their pokemon via Telepathy, which was responded to in affirmation.

'Good. Now Lunatone use Psyshock, and Solrock use Stone Edge.'

"Sol!"

"Lune!"

After crying in affirmation, Lunatone immediately sent waves of psychic energy at their opponents to send Honedge back into the shadows, while Pikachu was being forced to evade. As pikachu and Honedge tried to regroup after dodging the attack though, numerous sharp spires of rock suddenly shot up from the ground, impacting both of them.

Honedge got off lightly, being part steel type that was resistant to rock type attacks. But Pikachu was bombarded with the sharp rocks repeatedly, getting knocked every which way by them until he was well and truly battered.

"Pikachu!"

Ash's voice could be heard over the cheering of the crowd, prompting Pikachu to action as he recovered slightly. The two brothers then shared a look, a look that Tate and Liza knew meant more was being conveyed between them than one could hear.

"Honedge, use Slash!"

"And Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

"Honnnne."

"Pika!"

At their command Honedge and Pikachu shot forward at Solrock and Lunatone, the former with her blade glowing, while the latter with his tail doing the same.

'Morning Sun and Harden!' Tate and Liza quickly ordered their pokemon, resulting in them being enveloped in a strange glow that healed the damage that had been inflicted upon them by Thunderbolt earlier, before they hardened their bodies to increase their physical defense. And not a moment too soon.

"PikaCHU!"

Pikachu cried as he jumped up and flipped to bring his glowing tail down onto Lunatone, who braced itself against the attack. Only, Pikachu wasn't the only one attacking.

"..."

Lunatone only heard the hum a split second before the attack came, as Honedge shot out of it's shadow to Slash it from behind. An attack that would normally do negligible damage against rock types like Solrock and Lunatone, but since Honedge was made out of metal, it was purely an attack of the steel typing.

*Clash!*

*Clash!*

The two attacks hit Lunatone one after the other, the first from Honedge knocking it off-balance, while the second from Pikachu doing the most damage.

""Good! Now keep it up!"" Ace and Ash declared in unison, which Pikachu and Honedge readily followed as they moved to attack Solrock next, even as it tried to attack with a Zen Headbutt as they recovered from attacking Lunatone.

What followed was a display of teamwork and cooperation that left even Tate and Liza completely stunned, and they were literally the very image of teamwork!

Following the commands of Ace and Ash, Pikachu and Honedge delivered one powerful Slash or Iron Tail after another against Solrock and Lunatone without pause, giving neither of them the time needed to counter attack or recover. And if either of them did try to counter attack against one of them, then the other would appear to deliver another attack.

It was all they could do to use the move Morning Sun to heal the damage as it was being inflicted, but even that strategy would not last long since the move drained so much of their energy. It COULD however give them the opening they needed to break the combination of Ace and Ash.

'Lunatone, Double Team!' Liz ordered her pokemon once they had their strategy planned out.

A second later the arena was filled with dozens of Lunatone, each one glaring at Honedge and Pikachu in a display that would overwhelmed any other pokemon or trainer. Instead, both Ketchum's looked right at the actual Lunatone with their pokemon following their gaze faithfully. Which was exactly the opening that Tate was hoping for.

'Fire Blast!'

"Sooooooool!"

Groaning in affirmation, Solrock summoned a star-shaped pillar of flame that bathed the entire arena while Honedge and Pikachu were distracted, catching both of them up in the blaze.

"Honedge!"

"Pikachu!"

Ace and Ash both exclaimed as their pokemon disappeared within the flames, only to reappear a moment later looking more than a little worse for the wear. Honedge was weak against fire, while Pikachu was covered in burns.

But that was least of the Ketchum brother's worries.

"It's going out of control!"

Similar shouts could be heard from the audience as the flames from the Fire Blast spread out, reaching all the way to Ace and Ash themselves.

"WAAAAAAAAH! I'M ON FIRE ANIKI! HEEEEEEELP ME!"

Ash screamed as panic and fear took him from the flames enveloping his body, making Ace wince as he received the emotional feedback from his brother before forcefully severing the link between them. As for the flames, he just snorted at them disdainfully as the cheap parlor trick they were.

Let alone pain, Ace felt no heat from the flames as they crept up his legs and bathed his body, telling him they were just an illusion that Tate and Liza had used to try and unsettle him and Ash.

'Now, use Psychic!' Liza quickly ordered her Lunatone through Telepathy, hurrying to take advantage of this opening.

"Night Slash, Honedge!" Ace quickly countered, breaking the psychic power of Lunatone briefly as the blade of darkness hit.

"Now Pikachu, use Double Team to stay back from Solrock!"

"P-Pika!"

Though it took a second, several illusionary copies of Pikachu appeared in the arena a second later like Lunatone earlier, giving him a chance to avoid any new attacks from Solrock and Lunatone.

And with that done, Ace promptly backhanded Ash across the face.

"OWWW! Why'd you hit me Aniki?" Ash whimpered as he cradled his throbbing face.

"To wake you up. You're not burning." Ace said without taking his eyes off the batttlefield, and drawing Ash's attention to the fact that he was not in fact burning.

"Oh..."

"Yeah, oh." Ace replied dryly, while he focused on Tate and Liza.

"Take command of Honedge with Pikachu. I'll do something about Tate and Liza for that earlier trick." Ace explained his plan to his little brother, as an evil smile crept up on his face.

Technically, Tate and Liza had broken no rules with that illusion. Use of psychic and aura powers were allowed so long as they did not actually interfere in the battle itself, and all they had done is make the Fire Blast look bigger and more destructive than it actually was to distract them.

So why couldn't Ace do the same thing, with a 'little' bit of aura added for realism?

'Solrock, use Bulldo-!'

"GYAAAAAAA!"

Tate's actual voice tore through the arena as he screamed bloody murder from the pain that suddenly assaulted him, while his vision shifted slightly so that he was hallucinating a Houndoom standing before him, surrounded by several Houndour.

There was a flash of flame, and suddenly it felt as if his back was on fire as one of the Houndour used Ember on him, before following it up with a Slash.

"Tate?!" Liza exclaimed as her brother cried out in pain, and collapsed to the ground while curled up in the fetal position.

To use psychic powers required one to be calm, and to have complete control over their emotions. But whatever Tate was going through was so extreme that not even Liza could get through to him.

'Lunatone, use Moon Blas-!'

"HYAAAN!"

Just as she were trying to give Lunatone an order, Liza felt as if someone had begun to caress her delicate flower, which no one had ever touched before. Not even Liza.

Sensations the like of which Liza never before surged through her body, as she had always held herself back in the effort to train her self control and psychic powers. Plus Tate would sense it if she ever did THAT...

And then to accompany the hellish pleasure she was feeling, Liza suddenly saw Ace himself standing before her, naked as the day he was born with a massive....THING between his legs. Of course he didn't JUST stand there. No, Ace then began touching and caressing her body in all of the wrong(right) places, playing her inexperienced body like master musician.

As he focused on maintaining TWO illusions on Tate and Liza, Ace needed to devote every single ounce of mental concentration he had to keeping them up. Leaving Ash to take command of the pokemon while Solrock and Lunatone hurried to carry out their masters previous orders, and end the match quickly.

"Alright! Pikachu, give it your strongest Thunder! Honedge, keep them away from Pikachu!" Ash commanded, deciding to end the battle in a single massive attack.

"Pika-!" Pikachu growled as he built up all of the necessary electricity, slapping his cheeks as he did so.

His entire body began to crackle as the energy built up, with Pikachu even drawing on the power of the Light Ball that Ace had given him and Ash. The hair of the spectators began to stand on end as the electric power built up in the atmosphere, filling the air with the smell of ozone so potent that they could almost even taste it as well.

At the same time, a battered and beaten Honedge was desperately trying to keep Solrock and Lunatone from attacking Pikachu as he prepared to end the battle.

Lunatone was no problem, as it unleashed a Moon Blast that Honedge could easily tank thanks to her metallic body, even with all of the damage she had sustained until now. The Bulldoze coming from Solrock was another problem though...

With Solrock charging straight for Pikachu, Honedge was just barely able to drive her point into the ground in front of it to tank the attack herself. And unfortunately, she was weak to ground type attacks, to the point where this one DID KO her.

"Honedge is unable to battle!" The drone announced, right before all of the power Pikachu had been building up was unleashed.

"Pika...CHUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!"

*KER-KRACK!!*

Light filled the room as the largest Thunder any of the spectators had ever seen descended upon Solrock and Lunatone, and there was nothing either could do to defend against or evade it.

The scent of burning ozone filled the room this time as Pikachu's attack lashed out, and the thunder following it was nearly deafening as almost everyone was forced to cover their ears while they ducked down.

Though only a minute or two had passed since Pikachu unleashed his attack, it felt much longer to spectators when they finally managed to blink the spots from their eyes to see what had happened. And when they did, they all found Solrock and Lunatone lying in the middle of the arena, unconscious while Pikachu still stood on all four above Honedge, as if to shield her from the attack.

"Solrock and Lunatone are unable to battle! Pikachu and Honedge win!" The drone declared to a stunned audience.