27,28,29,30

"Okay, how was that?" Pikachu asked, cheeks sparking, and Dexter's screen displayed a set of graphs.

He hadn't actually been harmed by Pikachu's attack, thanks to a Traced Lightningrod, but he'd certainly felt the impact.

"It looks like you had a good power ramp up," Ash reported. "Quicker than before, Dexter says."

Correct, the Porygon stated, from both his forms at once. You want to have a very sudden power ramp up and then drop it just as quickly, because that way your actual energy use is lower. It'll increase your endurance, or, at least, it'll give you more options.

"Yeah, while if I want impact without doing that it means running around at full power the whole time," Pikachu said, nodding to show he was following. "I guess the next bit is trying to do that consistently?"

The next bit is trying to do that while under attack, Dexter replied. Lock On.

Pikachu hopped out of the way of a Tri Attack, and shot back a Thunderbolt which made the gauges on Dexter's screen light up.

That didn't have the right ramp up structure, Dexter chided. Keep focused.

As the two of them kept exchanging attacks, Riolu sat down next to Ninetales.

"Now," Ninetales began. "A Dark Pulse is Dark type, of course, but because neither of us is a Dark type we can't simply draw it from who we are. It has to be a little more… nuanced than that. You need to establish a null structure, something which has no psychic signature in it at all, and then fire it out at your opponent."

She raised a tail. "I did it through psychic powers in and of themselves, but you're probably going to want to use Aura. Draining the emotion out of the Aura is going to be hard, but it's the technique I think would work most."

"I see," Riolu replied, forming a little swirl of Aura on his paws, then began to focus.

Squirtle was busy trying out iaido with his sunglasses, but he'd got a bit distracted on making the drawing motion as long and dramatic as possible, and Geodude looked very much like he'd like to be tapping a foot but was currently not in possession of one.

Then, overhead, Charizard used Flare Blitz, and hit a Brave Bird coming the other way.

Which was pretty much a normal day's training.

"Not bad!" Pidgeot called. "But more momentum makes it more likely to work!"

"Sure, sure," Charizard agreed. "I guess I'll just have to get heavier or something, I know how momentum works and you're way faster..."

Then Gary's Blastoise went crash through a screen of brush into the area.

"Rival! I want to challenge you!" he said, cannons going click. "I've got a Finishing Move to show off!"

"A Finishing Move?" Squirtle replied, whirling. "You really think you can beat me with your Horn Drill? I'm the badass leader of Team Gurren, not the badass other guy of Team Gurren! So you'd better put your cannon where your canon is!"

He swept his arm out to the side, and Blastoise's cannons began to form a bubbling swirl of water at the same moment as Squirtle's arm foamed up. "Horn-"

"Drill-"

"Here we go," Pikachu grumbled, from where he – and Ash, plus the rest of the Pokémon – had gone diving over the far side of a small hill at the word 'challenge'.

"BREAKER!" both Water-types bellowed, rocketing forwards. Their drills hit with a watery crash, shedding spray in all directions, and held in equipoise for several long seconds.

Then Squirtle's smaller drill broke the surface of Blastoise's larger one, and jolted forwards – only to run into a second Horn Drill, just as strong as the first.

"What?"

"Two cannons means two drills! And both have the entirety of my strength behind them, to match your blazing spirit with my own!"

Ash's lips moved for a moment. "Does… that make sense?"

"No," everyone answered him.

"Just thought I'd check."

There was a now-familiar enormous eruption of water, and Ash sent Squirtle out again.

"What was the number of the cathedral that ran me over?" Squirtle asked, shaking his head.

Gary strolled into the clearing, and sent out his own Blastoise again. "Hi, Ash. I was wondering where Blastoise went until I saw the massive geyser. Suppose I should have guessed."

"The cathedral that hit you was the Cathedral Terra, of course!" Blastoise said, wobbling.

"It still knocked you out too," Squirtle complained.

"A minor inconvenience!" Blastoise insisted, before falling over.

"That was amazing!" a voice said from nearby.

It was a man wearing a pair of glasses, and accompanied by two other people operating a big film camera and a boom mike.

"Positively inspirational!" the man added. "Excuse me, young men, but are those your Pokémon?"

"Blastoise is mine," Gary said. "Most of the rest of these are Ash's, but Ninetales is… Brock's? I think?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, she's one of Brock's Pokémon… who are you?"

"Oh!" the man said. "I'm Cleavon Schpielbunk, the director! You may have heard of my movies?"

"Well, uh…" Ash began. "Not especially… are you making a movie now?"

"Yes!" the director agreed. "I've got a plan to make a whole movie without any human characters in it at all – just Pokémon!"

He looked interested. "Actually, I didn't know there were any trained Pokémon around here."

"You didn't know there were… huh?" Gary said, baffled. "You do know you're actually inside Oak Ranch land, right?"

"Oak Ranch… hmm, that sounds familiar, but I can't place where from," Schpielbunk admitted. "But, well, I have been having trouble sorting out Pokémon to use in my film… I don't suppose you'd be willing to have your Pokémon take part?"

Pikachu held up a paw.

"What is it, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"I've got some ideas for movie stuff," Pikachu explained. "Riolu had a few, too."

I also have some… in fact, quite a lot of the group does.

"Do you have to make just one movie?" Ash asked. "I feel like there's enough enthusiastic Pokémon here that we could get more than one movie out of it… especially if Dexter and Dee help."

I could be a camera-mon, yeah, Dee declared. Subbing and dubbing, too.

"That would be excellent!" Cleavon said. "I didn't know there were Pokémon that could be movie cameras… I'm sure we'll still have to use the traditional set, as well, but adding in some much more mobile cameras would speed things up."

"Okay, I'm going to go and get the others," Pidgeot declared. "I can see where this is going."

"So, I just want to check this," Charizard said, most of a day later. "You're sure that it's vital to the plot that there's a big airborne dragon rider battle?"

"Honestly? No," Gary's Nidoqueen replied. "It's not vital, even in a fantasy film. But it's very cool, and you get a chance to show off. Really, I'm surprised you're objecting at this point."

"Well, this is my first chance to read the script for that one," Charizard explained. "And… well, my first reaction is that I have about six roles in every single scene. How is that going to work?"

I'm glad you asked, Dexter said. Dee and I will both be acting as cameras in the air, and the camera on the ground will be filming what happens as well. You and Professor Oak's Dragonite will be going through the movements of the whole battle, and we'll composite the shots together from the different angles.

"Compositing is when you, uh, stick them together into the same place, right?" Charizard checked, then huffed out a breath. "Okay, give me the bad news. How many times am I going to have to go up there?"

"That depends how well you react to cues!" Dragonite said. "I'm actually interested in going up there and getting involved in battle, even if it's a fake one…"

A rhythmic clanking sound started up.

"Anyway, lay it down on me," Charizard requested, after glancing over at the source of the clanking sound. "Assume I get everything right. How many times do I need to go up there and do this aerial battle?"

About a dozen, Dee said. Assuming you get everything right. Which you won't, but it should take only a couple of days all told.

Charizard grumbled something. "Well… I guess it'll work, probably."

The clanking noise arrived.

"How do I look?" asked a suit of armour with Brock's voice.

"Purple," Charizard answered. "What's with that, anyway?"

Blue screen wouldn't work because of the sky. Green screen wouldn't work because of the grass. Purple is a reasonable compromise. We're just going to put the actual colours on top of his armour, then do some close passes with Ash on your back for the heroic scenes.

"Ash is the protagonist?" Charizard repeated. "...now I say it, I can't actually think of any better alternatives, but…"

"Didn't you hear the argument between him and Gary about it?" Dragonite asked. "I know it was loud, but I couldn't work out which way around it was… the compromise was that it was going to be Ash, but with makeup, I think."

The Rockets volunteered to help with the makeup, so he's going to be unrecognizable, Dexter commented. Where's Gary, anyway? Is he having trouble with his suit of purple armour?

It feels very strange to be involved with this, Mewtwo said, mostly to Ash and Pikachu. Last time, I was not involved in the slightest with any of this kind of human activity.

"Well, this is a good start, right?" Ash asked. "You're with friends to support you, you've got a great way to leave any time if you feel like you're stressed, and you're helping out but it's all behind the scenes."

That much is true, Mewtwo agreed, then read the script. All right, so… if I've got this right, in this scene I am to make sure that everyone is moving slowly? And that their attacks are moving slowly as well?

"Everyone except for Riolu," Ash pointed out.

Ah, yes. I see that now.

Mewtwo looked slightly confused. Why, though?

"Oh, you must have missed that bit, or… maybe it wasn't something you got round to reading," Ash said. "Either way, it's supposed to be that Riolu is using special enhancements that are making him much faster moving than anyone else, and he's using them to try and defeat the evil corporation and their computer intelligence."

And you… don't think this movie might give the wrong impression of Porygon? Mewtwo checked.

"No, because the resistance has a good computer intelligence," Ash explained. "Actually, because Damos is appearing, there's a total of three Porygon characters in the film, I'm just not sure which one is doing which role yet… anyway, later in the film there's going to be scenes with more than one character able to move at normal speed during the slowed-down bits. If I remember right there's a bit where Riolu and Squirtle have a fight like that, that kind of thing?"

I see, Mewtwo decided. Well, it should be an interesting challenge.

He put his paws together. I believe I am ready to give this a go.

"Hey, Ash?" Pikachu said. "We need you back over in the fantasy one, and then I need to go over to the Pokémon In Love set to do my part as family patriarch in that one."

Wait, Mewtwo requested. You are doing three films?

"Yeah, we all got a bit excited," Ash admitted. "Still, it's fun! There's one film which has no subtitles, that's Pokémon In Love, then this one with the high tech stuff has subtitles but no humans, and the fantasy one has humans… which part's next, actually?"

"So," Ho-Oh frowned. "You don't actually want me to do anything, except appear there."

"Not in… this scene, no," Misty agreed. "It's supposed to be symbolic, actually, about how the conviction of the heroes can't be extinguished. So… be there, optionally on fire, and then there was something…"

She frowned. "Starmie, what was it again?"

"Transparency!" Starmie provided helpfully.

"Yeah, that," Misty agreed. "They'll make it so you're transparent, or translucent anyway. So it looks like you're not really there."

"Well, regardless, I'm glad to be included," Ho-Oh decided. "And I assume at some point that I'm going to be involved in a… less metaphorical way?"

"I… think so," Misty agreed. "It's in the script somewhere, I think…"

"I must say, that was fine work," Cleavon declared, once the cameras had stopped rolling on the dramatic final hacking scene. "I'd never have thought of that plot point!"

He shook his head. "Why, having a virus uploaded to a computer network that's switched off by tunnel packeting using a…"

There was a pause, as he shuffled through the script. "A… current spike… that induced a Bernoulli wake packet and caused the router to turn on, thus making it vulnerable? That's astonishing! I don't know how you thought of it!"

That would be because it's complete nonsense, director, Damos provided. We mostly needed a reason why Riolu would actually need to go into the building but would still be available for a fight, instead of having to be crouched over a computer terminal or something.

"Oh," the director said. "Well… it still sounded good to me? I was worried that it might give people ideas."

If anyone manages to do something remotely like this, they've probably just found out how to evolve a Porygon, Dee said.

"Well, you are the experts," Cleavon decided. "Now, what's next on the shooting schedule… ah, I see we have a skydiving scene to do. Doesn't that need that Ash and his Pidgeot? Or the Pidgeot, at least."

Yes, she's the one who can create a powerful enough updraft that we get a useful amount of filming time after the jump begins. We probably need to postpone that one, they're still somewhere near the Safari Zone,

Cleavon frowned for a moment. "Oh, yes, I remember, getting that scene for the fantasy film… how did he get so many ranchers on call, anyway?"

"They adopted him because he won a race," Brock said. "You know, like the second twist in I Know What You Did Last Thursday."

The director smiled. "What an intriguing coincidence!"

"Hey, Ash!" Gary waved. "Down here!"

Pidgeot circled around, shedding speed, then came down to land next to him.

"So, you've got the third Porycamera with you, right?" Gary checked. "You didn't forget him over there with the Laramie Ranchers or whatever it was you were doing?"

"Uh," Ash replied, embarrassed. "I want to say I'd never do that, but…"

Pidgeot started sniggering.

I would like to say I would remind Ash if he was in danger of forgetting anyone, Dexter said, also embarrassed. But the algorithm I set up to warn me if we were approaching the point Ash should re-acquire a Pokémon turned out to have an unfortunate… flaw.

"It did?" Gary repeated. "Wait, you mean you actually forgot a Pokémon?"

"Yeah?" Ash said. "I remembered eventually!"

Then he sighed. "Though, uh, it took a while to find him, but Pidgeot helped and eventually I spotted Muk from the air."

He unclipped a Pokéball. "So, now I've got my whole Kanto team back together! Sorry, Muk…"

The Poison-type came out, and shrugged. "I'm glad you remembered me. So what if it was a while? I don't mind."

"Well, we'd better hurry up," Gary said. "You're needed for that scene with Ho-Oh, and Pidgeot is needed for the skydiving bit… I'm not sure where Dexter's needed next, the shooting schedule looks like someone's tried to represent string theory with actual string. Tell me the cavalry charge stuff was okay, at least…"

"Yeah, that was great!" Ash replied. "The ranchers really took to it, we got scenes with them charging in both directions – some of the Ponyta and Rapidash even did falls so we've got those there too, and Dexter told me it's ready to edit together…"

He got off Pidgeot's back, and the Flying-type took off to go over and do that part of the practical effects next. "Uh… how's my makeup?"

"Needs a touch up," Gary said. "I can see your original hair colour."

"And… done!" Cleavon said, slamming the gate closed. "That's all the scenes we need for Pokémon in Love. And I have to say, that was a marvellous performance by some Pokémon new to acting!"

He nodded to himself. "Now, all we need to do is to make sure the editing is right, and do any reshoots… actually, speaking of, how is the editing going?"

We've been doing it all along, Damos told him. There's some decisions you need to make for each film, and then a watch through to see if it hangs together as it is, but most of the grunt work of checking for possible errors has been happening during the process.

"Oh, well – that is convenient!" Cleavon said. "Very convenient indeed – I don't suppose you'd be willing to come and work for me? This accelerated shooting schedule has been tiring, but it's a revelation!"

You will probably need to contact Dr. Akihabara for that, Damos noted. This was exhausting and a change, which was okay, but if it became exhausting and not a change I think we would all be unhappy about that.

"Well, it was worth asking," the director said. "I'll be sure to invite you all to the premiere, then… this isn't goodbye, we need to check the edits first, but I wanted to say it while I remembered to."

28

"Something feels a bit off about this training," Riolu said, darting in and hitting Muk with half-a-dozen Force Palm attacks in a row.

Muk sort of rippled.

"Yeah, it's Muk's style," Ash agreed.

Muk's role on Ash's team was sort of… an antidote to people who had a way of dealing with Ash's usual style, really. Most of Ash's Pokémon were fast and tough, but they could be dealt with by someone with the right counter-tactics, and the right counter-tactics were similar enough between the different Pokémon on Ash's team that sometimes Ash ended up in a difficult place.

Which was what Muk's job was. He was so resilient, and so different to everyone else, that he could take a pounding and keep on going.

Of course, that just meant making sure Muk could handle the barrage of attacks. Which was what most of Ash's Pokémon had been doing in turns all day.

The sun was getting low in the sky, so they'd need to stop soon, but… for everyone else, it was good stamina training.

Ash! Dexter said suddenly. I missed something big.

"What's that?" Ash asked, confused.

Something really big. Remember that archaeological dig site?

It only took Ash a moment to remember. "With the, giant Alakazam, and the giant Gengar, and that… weird giant Jigglypuff?"

Yes, Dexter confirmed. This is the day the dig reaches the place they found the artefacts… specifically, the Gengar one.

"Didn't we reveal the – oh, right, we only revealed the Alakazam one," Pikachu said.

"Then we need to act fast," Ash decided. "Riolu, you've got Shadow Claw at least… what else can handle that giant Gengar?"

Not much, Dexter admitted. Those were unusually powerful.

Unusually powerful… something about that was reminding Ash of something else. Not this, a different memory – a memory that didn't feel right – but he couldn't work out what it was.

"I guess we'd better try and find those artefacts, then," Ash decided. "Either make sure none of them activate, or if we have to, turn all of them on. Let's go!"

He recalled all the Pokémon he had out, except Pikachu, and checked Dexter's map for a moment before hurrying for the dig site.

At about the same time, Gary Oak was having a break from his own training routine before the Pokémon League.

In his case, that meant volunteering with a nearby archaeology dig.

"This looks interesting," he said. "Doctor, you know how we're looking for evidence of an ancient civilization?"

The archaeologist, a young woman by the name of Eve, looked up from her own investigation of the side tunnel they'd gone down. "Of course – why?"

Gary held up a strange, black object made of two large spheres connected together by one small one. "Because I think this looks like proof to me."

"Interesting," Eve admitted, looking more closely. "Where did you find it?"

"Dee took an in-situ photo before I picked it up," Gary assured her.

Gary, I feel nervous around that thing, Dee said. I'm searching for the reference for why, but it's… wrong.

"We can't just stop doing archaeological research just because someone's nervous," Eve said. "If we did that, think how many discoveries would never be found, just because someone was worried about being possessed by the spirits of the ancestors for investigating their tombs! I'd think any ancestors would be glad to see their work was being appreciated."

This is different, Dee pleaded. Please – we should leave!

The object twitched, and an invisible force pushed Gary solidly in the chest. He let out an oof of lost air, fell backwards and dropped the object… which stayed in the air, crackling faintly.

"Doctor?" Gary wheezed out, pushing himself back upright, "I'm new to archaeology. Is this normal?"

"Not especially," Eve replied.

As they watched, a shape began to solidify in the air. It began as a vague suggestion, but it become more visible and solid by the moment. It was a huge Gengar, almost too big to fit in the tunnel.

And it was still growing.

I hate to say, but – I told you so!

"Not the time, Dee!" Gary replied, grabbing the startled Eve and lifting her up with an oof of effort, then turned to run. "Mind giving us some cover?"

On it, Dee stated, materializing her combat form from her projector and turning to face behind them – following Gary, but backwards. Set up. Zap Cannon.

The Electric attack flashed out towards the Gengar, but it didn't bother dodging – the attack simply failed to connect.

Warning! Dee said. This Gengar is immune to an electrical attack. Conjecture is that rather than its normal traits it has something which simulates Wonder Guard.

"Oh, just brilliant," Gary muttered, one-handing Dee's earpiece into his ear. "And I'm fresh out of Dark-types… Ash!"

Dee connected the call, and there was a click-buzz before Gary heard the sound of running feet. "What is it, Gary?"

"I'm working with an archaeologist, Eve," Gary explained. "We managed somehow to wake up a giant Ghost type in the caves to the east."

He put Eve down, now they were outside the cave, and the two of them kept running. The Gengar followed them, then turned, and Gary cursed. "Ash, it's got some kind of Wonder Guard ability, I can't touch it, and it's heading for Pallet Town!"

Ash said a word that was even worse than the one Gary had used. "All right, I should have told you about this one. Wasn't thinking – call your grandfather and let everyone else know, I'll take over delaying it!"

Gary's mind went straight there. "Ash, you can't be thinking of-"

"Shadow Ball is an option, Gary, it has to be," Ash replied. "But Pidgeot and Riolu have Ghost-type moves, and Brock's Ninetales has Dark Pulse so if we can get her over here we have a chance."

Gary nodded, briefly wondering if Dee would pass that on somehow, then turned back to check on Eve.

"Come on!" he called. "Sorry, Ash, that wasn't meant for you – we're heading straight back to town, we can't lure that Gengar away anyway. We're just going over that ridge where I fell out of a tree when we were six."

"I know the one," Ash agreed, then the line went click.

"I did not – become – an archaeologist – to run!" Eve said, panting. "I'm not – fit enough – for this!"

"Do you need my help again?" Gary asked, slowing up and checking on the Gengar again. "Or, uh – I've got… no, I left the Nidos back home-"

A sudden gale lashed at them, nearly knocking them both over, and Gary caught Eve before she actually fell down the slope.

"What was that?" Eve asked, breathing quickly.

Gary knew. Ash's Pidgeot had just swept past, barely ten feet over Gengar's head, and her Ominous Wind attack hit the Gengar hard enough to actually slow it down.

Ash himself was sprinting over to the two of them. "Are you okay?"

"Think so," Gary replied. "My ankle stings a bit, I nearly fell over, but it'll be fine. Are you going to be okay?"

"Hope so," Ash replied. "Go and get support, I can't fight this thing alone and you've got a bigger team than me."

"I'll stay here," Eve said. "Maybe I can help."

"Fine!" Gary declared. "But stay safe – both of you."

He took off in a sprint, and Pidgeot swept in again with another Ominous Wind. Riolu got involved too, pacing up to look for an opening, and that gave them enough of a breather that Ash turned to Eve.

"You're the archaeologist, right?" he checked. "Any ideas, Doctor?"

"I found a tablet, earlier," Eve explained. "In the ruins. I wasn't able to decipher it, though, it's old and – well, that's why I brought Gary in to help, this excavation has become far bigger than we were expecting and everyone else is busy elsewhere. And he was interested in helping-"

"Calm down," Pikachu suggested.

"Yeah, Pikachu's got a point," Ash said. "It's a weird situation, you just need to avoid panicking… do you have any pictures of the tablet? Dexter might be able to help."

He held out the core, and Dexter materialized around it.

"I've got it in my camera," Eve volunteered, digging the piece of equipment out. "And… ah… there we go."

She brought it up on the back screen, and Dexter's eyes flashed.

Analyzing, he said. Translating.

Beware the two great powers of destruction,

the shadow of the dark device will grapple with the prisoner of the unearthly urn.

The sacred city will be no more as day is swallowed up by night.

Darker still for you when they return to lay waste to the world,

but no human knows the secret to soothe the powers and guide them back to the shadow world.

The two of them were silent for a long moment after that.

"What was the point?" Eve asked. "If they knew this was going to happen, why would they do it?"

"Pokéatlantis," Ash said, suddenly sure.

He remembered the arguments, the rulers of Pokémonopolis shouting at him – no, at the ruler of Pokéatlantis – and his own heated replies, about their mutual distrust and their plans to use maiju as weapons.

It was an effort, but Ash shook off the echo of a long dead king and his grandiose dreams of capturing a Legendary Pokémon.

"That could make sense," Eve was saying. "But then – how did they make this Pokémon so powerful? "

Pidgeot launched another Ominous Wind at the enormous Gengar, hammering it with ghostly energy, and a Night Shade attack passed right through her.

Her Normal-type meant that she didn't have to worry about that specifically, but it was a sign as ominous as the wind. It was the first time the Gengar had hit her, and if it ever worked out how to use an attack that wasn't Ghost type she'd be in big trouble now it was able to aim well enough.

On the other wing, her repeated uses of Ominous Wind were at least making her stronger and faster… then, as she banked around for another pass, she spotted something on the ground that shouldn't be there.

What was she doing here?

Gary ran into the lobby of his grandfather's lab, panted a bit, then turned for the Pokéball room.

He'd have to check where the Pokémon he wanted actually were, but he could build himself a team of Psychic types and Pokémon with Ghost-type attacks all right.

Brock was already there. "Gary, I was going to head out, and Misty already has, but I realized you don't know the whole details of what happened last time."

"Huh?" Gary replied.

"There's a big Alakazam that could turn up, too, so don't forget Bug-types," Brock explained.

"Right, got it," Gary said, looking over the shelves – which Grandad had labelled, which was nice. "Okay, Alakazam, and…"

"Who's in use?" Brock asked, pointing down at his belt.

"What do you mean? Nobody?" Gary asked, then looked down at his belt.

Which had five full Pokéballs, and one empty one.

"Eevee," Gary realized. "She must have decided to fight – we need to go and rescue her!"

He snatched up his hurriedly chosen team and ran out into the twilight, Brock a pace behind him.

"An unearthly urn and a dark device," Ash said. "Which is, awesomely alliterative, but it also means there's more than one of them around here."

"It's nice being able to use those lines you didn't think of first time around, isn't it?" Pikachu asked.

"Hey," Ash complained. "But yeah… anyway, maybe if we can find the other one, we can get it to fight the giant Gengar. Gengar wasn't saying anything that made sense, but we can probably rely on that other one to fight as well."

"Perhaps," Eve said. "But your Pidgeot seems to be doing well?"

"She can't keep it up forever," Ash explained. "Now, uh… Dexter, any idea how to find this thing?"

Geophysics surveys, Dexter suggested. Pikachu, if you start using electrical attacks into the ground I can record the results, and we can see if there are any unusual formations or spaces underground.

"Oh!" Eve said. "That might work."

Pikachu hopped down from Ash's shoulder and opened up with a Shock Wave, and Ash glanced back at his gallant Pidgeot – and at Riolu, who darted forwards to swipe with Shadow Claw before turning and running away – then followed Eve and the Pokémon.

"What are you doing here?" Pidgeot demanded, doing a wingover.

"I want to help!" Eevee replied, glancing up. "I don't want Gary to be in danger, I don't want his hometown to be in danger, and-"

She stopped, as Pidgeot's attacks made the Gengar ponderously turn away from her, then kept going. "And, and this thing's the opposite of what a Pokémon should be! We're supposed to protect people, and battle for fun, not just destroy!"

"At the moment, you're one of the ones who needs protecting!" Pidgeot called down, sparing enough concentration to keep an air current carrying their words to one another.

"No! I won't accept that I have to leave you to fight alone!" Eevee replied. "I'm a Normal type too!"

"Just hide! I'm sorry, but you're not powerful enough yet!"

Pidgeot banked around Gengar, and one of the Ghost's missed attacks blew a tree to splinters.

Eevee spotted the blast, and suddenly felt afraid. A moment ago she'd felt confident that she could just distract Gengar, even if she couldn't damage it… but her Normal type only made her immune to the direct effects of a Ghost's attacks. The side effects were something else entirely.

Shrapnel, blast force… collapsing trees… those were all still risks.

Well, if she'd wanted to avoid risk, Eevee wouldn't have been herself.

The Gengar threw a kind of Shadow Ball at her, which looked like it was going to hit a nearby tree instead of her, and Eevee used Quick Attack to dodge out of the way.

"This has a weird kind of glow to it," Ash reported, holding up a strange brown object with a blotchy pattern. "What do you think?"

Eve examined it. "I can't see any glow…?"

"I mean in Aura sight," Ash explained. "Do you think this is the unearthly urn?"

"It's not much of an urn, but words do change in meaning over the centuries," Eve replied. "Maybe our modern word for urn is just a kind of specific meaning from a much more generic term? But the question is, how do we use it?"

Pikachu came bounding over. "I found something!"

"It's definitely got the same pattern," Eve said, taking it from him. "But it's a spoon… hmm."

She rotated it. "Isn't there a Pokémon that's associated with spoons?"

"Alakazam," Ash answered, taking the spoon in turn. "I guess Alakazam are a lot like Gengar, so that could be what's going on…"

He turned the probably-the-Urn over, noticing a slot that the spoon would fit into, then double-checked that his hat was firmly on his head.

And slotted the spoon into the urn.

It went click, lifted into the air, and went flying back down the tunnel.

"What did you do that for?" Eve asked, surprised.

"We wanted to get them fighting, right?" Ash asked. "If they're rivals, they might end up focused on one another and they'd stop threatening Pallet Town."

"Maybe not deliberately, but – what are we going to do now?" Eve said.

The ground shook slightly, and she glanced up at the ceiling before continuing. "Two Pokémon that powerful fighting one another… the amount of damage they could do… where will it end?"

"When Legendary Pokémon get involved," Ash replied. "I'd guess, anyway. Pokémon like Lugia and Ho-Oh…"

He stopped, as another flash of foreign memory came.

The King of Pokéatlantis, exultant that the great maiju of his rivals had defeated one another and wrecked their military. Buying him time – years, maybe – to enact his grand plan with Ho-Oh.

Ash frowned, and pushed the memory away again.

He hadn't known they were there, not until… now.

Probably something to do with Pokémonopolis stirring the memories up, if Ash had to guess.

"Well…" he began. "I think this happened in the past, and the area's not one big crater, so maybe there's something here which can stop them both. Pikachu, Dexter, we need to keep looking… and if something stopped these then it's not somewhere it would have been hidden like these were."

Eve blinked. "I – yes, that's a good point. We need to think about the cultural context."

Pidgeot disengaged from the battle in the gathering darkness as an enormous Alakazam began fighting the Gengar.

Their fight was no longer creeping towards Pallet Town, so she wasn't needed to buy time nearly so urgently, and she did urgently need rest from all the Ominous Wind attacks that she'd fired.

"You're distracted," Riolu said, and Eevee flicked her ears in irritation before conceding the point.

"And you?" she asked.

"So am I," Riolu agreed. "We need to be ready if Ash needs us to solve this, however it's going to be solved."

H e kept a wary eye on the two now-battling Pokémon, retreating pace by pace, and Eevee paused for a moment before darting back.

She spotted Gary on the way – and plenty of reinforcements – and changed course to lope over to him. He held out his arms, gathered her up as she arrived, and picked her up to hold her.

"You shouldn't have done that," he said. "Oh… don't do that to me again, okay?"

Eevee knew what he meant.

He was worried for her, just as she'd been worried for him, and she smiled brightly-

-until a flash of light caught her eye.

One of the Alakazam's attacks had bounced off the surging Ghost-type energies of the Gengar, and there was a beam of psychic light heading for Gary.

Eevee reacted without the need for conscious thought. She wriggled free of his arms, used his chest as a springboard, and jumped straight into the beam.

"Eevee!"

For a moment, Gary just stared at the flash of multicoloured light.

Then Umbreon landed on the forest floor, briefly looked herself over, then smirked.

"My turn," she announced, rings glowing, and turned towards the battling Pokémon. "Dark Pulse!"

"Giant paintbrush," Ash said. "Really?"

"We did have a spoon already," Pikachu pointed out.

"True, but… what do you think?" Ash asked. "A Smeargle?"

"What's a Smeargle?" Eve asked.

Ash held up Dexter, whose screen was displaying one of the Painter Pokémon with tail poised to draw. "They're Normal-types, and they can copy moves… they're a bit weak, physically, but they can do just about anything."

"That's… impressive," Eve admitted. "I'm not really very knowledgeable about Pokémon, I didn't have much time for them when I was younger."

"When you were-" Ash began. "You're, what, a year older than me?"

"I was a Doctor of Archaeology by nine!" Eve defended herself. "Do you have any idea how much work that takes? I barely had time to eat!"

Pikachu used Thunderbolt, mostly on Ash, and mostly to get his attention. "Enormous Pokémon rampage to stop, Ash!"

"Oh, right," Ash said. "Well… I guess it was easy enough to work out how the Urn worked, so let's try it with this one too!"

He grabbed the handle of the paintbrush, and pulled it out to activate it.

"That was anticlimactic," Gary said, sitting down with a sigh.

Umbreon rubbed against his legs, and he reached down to caress her.

"I thought these fights you kept getting in were impressive."

"Against those things, I'm not going for impressive if something else works," Ash defended himself. "Though I guess I could have just sent for Mewtwo."

Misty snapped her fingers. "Hey… you know how strong those cloned Pokémon were? Didn't they have the same markings to that Alakazam and Gengar and stuff?"

"That is a good point," Brock agreed. "But we can't really test it, since the cloning machines got thrown in a volcano…"

Later that night, Ash meditated.

He'd felt the alien presence twice today, and he wanted to find out what was going on.

The King of Pokéatlantis, as a memory, was a problem for Ash – but nothing he didn't deal with already. The King of Pokéatlantis, as a person, could be a problem for anyone.

Ash gave a mental snort.

It was… not very charitable of him, but he sort of wished that Ho-Oh hadn't made the King immortal. Spending an age trapped in that capture device might have been poetic justice, but the problem with poems was that things rhymed and happened over and over again.

Maybe Ash should have thrown the orb in the sea, or something.

Then something flashed up in Ash's memory. A shard that felt like his, but unfamiliar… he didn't remember it, even though it was a memory.

Battle. Betrayal. Familiar scene, but unfamiliar participants. Absence of friends. Loss. Pain, exhaustion. Battle. Hopeless charge.

Death and renewal.

Ash staggered back.

So that was what had happened on New Island last time?

So much of what had happened was… parallel, in uncomfortable ways, and it added one to the list of prophecies he'd fulfilled.

But, at the same time… it was good to know. It filled in a lot of gaps about when Ash had met Mewtwo on Mount Quena in Johto, and he'd rather know.

It felt… it felt like his memory, but like someone else had held it for a while. Like it was what Mewtwo had taken, the first time around, restored when he'd reminded Mewtwo, and lost until now.

It wasn't what Ash had come looking for, though, and he cast his senses wider.

Something else twinkled in the distance. Another shard, that was more like… a dark, night-black purple, if anything here had colours.

More hesitant, this time, after discovering how overwhelming the rush of memories could be, Ash reached for this one as well.

Rage. Megalomania. Frustration.

But they were faint, and there was no king here. Only memories.

Ash relaxed a little, and viewed what was actually there.

There were a few details, but not much. Arguments, diplomatic mostly. Some battles, mostly without Pokémon. And the build-up to the king's imprisonment, underlaid with boiling rage and a feeling of injustice.

Ash sort of suspected that they were the main things that the king had been stewing over for all his time in the capture device.

He locked away the alien shard, since unlike the New Island one he didn't want to remember it casually, then relaxed and dropped into a proper sleep.

29

As it happened, the premiere for Cleavon's films – just one for all three – was in Hollywood.

It wasn't in a particularly prestigious theatre in Hollywood, since Cleavon was more of an art film director than anything, but it meant a trip there for everyone involved in the films.

Which probably would have been a lot more expensive if most of them hadn't had Pokéballs.

"There is enough room in there for everyone to watch, right?" Pikachu asked, as they disembarked. "Some of the actors are quite… big. Ho-Oh especially, but he's not the only one."

"I think it'll work," Ash replied, thinking. "Maybe they'd need to sort of sprawl over a lot of the upper seats in a kind of cuddle pile, but it'll probably work…"

"Ah, there you are!" the director called, waving them over. "You know, I only recognized you by the Pikachu and Riolu. That makeup job was astonishing."

"I don't really get how they did it either," Ash admitted. "Though I think it's something about… it was on their agenda to learn?"

"I'm fairly sure it was about gender, but that could be wrong," Pikachu mused, then shook his head. "Anyway… so a premiere is where we watch the movie before anyone else, right?"

Ash passed that question on, and Cleavon nodded. "Yes! That's right, it's an old tradition, plus it means that you might spot the occasional catastrophic mistake just in time for last minute editing."

He smiled. "I've been saved by that one once myself!"

"Imagine that," Misty said.

As it turned out, the only screen was a bit larger than they'd been expecting, and only a mild bit of squeezing managed to get everyone into positions where they could watch the film.

Pikachu and Riolu did have to share a seat, though – and they weren't the only ones – while Mewtwo just opted to float over Ho-Oh's head right at the back of the screen.

The first movie to come up was the futuristic corporate spy-war one, which had only Pokémon as actors but which did have subtitles, and which began with a cold open where Riolu walked up to the back door of a large office building.

Arbok slithered out of the shadows, and the subtitles appeared as he spoke.

Run along, pup, they read. This isn't a hostel.

I'm not here for charity, Riolu replied. I'm here because there's a debt to pay off.

Ash started sniggering.

"Really, Riolu?" he asked, turning to the seat next to him.

Riolu looked embarrassed. "Honestly I wasn't sure if you were going to get that."

"I don't understand all the spoken language, not without Aura to help," Ash said, lowering his voice. "But those subtitles aren't the words you're actually saying, are they?"

"...no," Riolu confirmed. "It's two movies in one, and the other one's a comedy."

Up on the screen, meanwhile, the Riolu who was in the film raised his paws. "Look," he said, while the subtitles said something else entirely. "I've washed my paws, I even used soap, so can I come in?"

"You think I'm a fool?" Arbok replied. "Those paws aren't the ones you're going to be walking on! Are you going to do a handstand all the way up the building, or am I going to have to ask you to come back with shoes and a shirt?"

He raised himself up, hissing. "I don't think you've got permission to be here at all, in fact. Well? Out with it! What are you actually doing here?"

"Have you ever considered personal injury insurance?" Riolu asked, taking two paces before launching himself forwards to attack. His first blow knocked Arbok backwards, and the Poison-type twisted as he landed before springing back upright.

"I knew it!" Arbok declared. "Well, you'd better scram, or you'll be a Willy Loman and no mistake!"

"A what?" Riolu replied, darting out of the way of a shower of Poison Stings. "I don't know that slang."

"Well, then you won't be Happy about it either," Arbok snorted, slithering forwards, then attacked three times before slamming his tail down. "Biff! Bam! Kerpow! And that's the death of a salesman!"

Riolu dropped down out of the shadow of a nearby road sign. "You do know I'm over here, right?"

"What?" Arbok repeated. "Oh, that's not fair. That sign says Give Way, so why didn't it?"

"So…" Ho-Oh said quietly, leaning over towards Mewtwo. "I'm not sure I follow what's going on."

Do you mean the subtitled plot or the spoken one? Mewtwo asked. Because there's two.

"...both," Ho-Oh decided.

All right, so, the subtitled plot is the serious one, Mewtwo explained. It's set in a sort of vague future where people – that is, Pokémon – have mechanical enhancements hidden in their bodies. Riolu was trying to get revenge on a corporation for what happened to him, but while he was there one of their experimental AI frameworks escaped and uploaded itself to his enhancements. The rest of the movie is Riolu trying to avoid being taken down by the corporation or recruited by their rivals, while aiming to break the grip the other AI framework has on the corporation and stop it from taking over the world.

"I… think I see," Ho-Oh decided, a little dubiously. "And the spoken one?"

Riolu starts out as a salesmon trying to get into the building to give them a business card, and meets a Porygon who wants to get into reporting, Mewtwo explained. Eventually he realizes he forgot to leave the business card, so he's mostly just focused on that while Dexter is mostly focused on getting a really good scoop.

"I don't think I understand movies very well," Ho-Oh admitted.

I'm not really used to thinking in those terms either, but I was convinced, Mewtwo said. Then there's that Jessie convinced me to include my photo in the credits.

Ho-Oh gave him a startled look. "Really?"

Apparently they're going to use it as prima facie evidence that I'm not actually dangerous, Mewtwo explained. Of course, they didn't use the words, it took them about ten minutes to express the same basic concept.

He frowned. Come to think of it, I'm not sure how they're going to finesse it so they're using proof they were clearly involved in establishing in the first place, but after what they've managed I suspect they'll be able to do it…

After that came Pokémon in Love, which was largely the same as it had been last time around. A bit more polished, and involving Psyduck actually knowing what in the world he was doing, which was an improvement – and without any subtitles at all, because Cleavon was interested in telling a story without the use of words. Just letting what was shown on screen, in actions and expressions, do the talking.

Ash wasn't quite sure, but from the way Pikachu kept trying not to break out into giggles he suspected that the Pokémon speech amounted to another comedy film.

Still, it had done well last time, if Ash remembered right, and it'd hopefully do well this time.

"Okay, I'm curious," Arbok said, early in the third and final movie on the docket. "How did they do that one?"

"Do what now?" Meowth replied. "Oh, da whole magic thing?"

"Yes, obviously," Arbok retorted. "That's what was on screen at the time."

"You didn't get involved in dat stuff?" Meowth asked, a little confused. "Oh, I guess you were bein' all of those unexpectedly well-read mooks an' stuff in the future movie. Anyway, it's a mix of camera trickery stuff and sleight of hand stuff, and… stuff," he waved vaguely. "There's a Pokémon actually doin' the attack, they're just out of sight and the camera's angled so the attack seems to come from them, then when a magic spell thingummy hits the target we actually had it hit a Barrier or whatever. Then it just, you know, didn't actually set the actor on fire… there's all kinds'a special effects tricks, you just ain't normally able to discuss them two-way with the Pokémon, so extra cool stuff happened 'cause they could do what might normally be runnin' a bit of a risk."

"I see," Arbok said, nodding. "And that bit where the psychic attack just bounced off the Dark Knight completely?"

"Oh, dat's Ash under the helmet," Meowth shrugged. "An' his hat's under the helmet too I guess?"

Meowth vanished for a bit after the movies, saying something vaguely about how he was lookin' for some kinda closure, only to rejoin the Rockets before their flight back to Kanto empty-pawed and saying that he wasn't sure what had happened to Meowzie.

"It's funny, ya know?" Meowth asked. "I just wanted to see how she was an' let her know that I'd got over that whole… ain't able to use attacks, thing. I wasn't even sure if she'd remember me, but… you know, da heart is a funny thing."

Some distance away, a cat wearing a headband adorned with a stylized heart design sneezed.

"Are you all right?" Janine asked.

The ninja-Meowth shrugged her shoulders. "Probably just hayfever," she said. "I'm still not used to all the flowers in Kanto."

A languid stretch. "Well, it's better than living on the streets, that's for sure."

Janine decided that probably meant everything was okay, since the Normal-type didn't seem concerned.

All right, Mewtwo broadcast. I know that some of you are going to have to go back by air for one reason or another, especially Team Rocket because they came here by their own jet, but anyone who wants a trip home by teleport should come over here. I'm going that way myself and I'm open for passengers.

Ash held up his hand, taking off his hat, and a moment later his vision wavered like he was looking through water.

Then he was back in his room in his house in Pallet Town, sitting on the bed.

"Wow," Ash said, impressed. "Hey, Pikachu, look, he even made my bed! Now that's showing off."

"Actually, that was me," Mimey corrected.

"Oh, right, sorry…"

Back at Pallet Town, the routine of training resumed.

Ash had several Pokémon to work with, by this point – even discounting both Mewtwo and Ho-Oh, neither of whom were likely to turn up at the Indigo League for several very good reasons, he still had over a dozen Pokémon to work with and all of them would have to be in good shape for the League.

Which meant rotating their training around, and keeping them rotating, and making sure anyone who could handle self-study was while focusing on different Pokémon each day for one-on-one work… which was what was going on with Riolu and Ivysaur, one afternoon, as the Fighting-type ducked away from a shower of Razor Leaf attacks before hurling an Aura Sphere back.

"Razor Leaf spray!" Ash called, and the spray of leaves burst the Aura Sphere.

"That's a rare Pokémon you've got there," someone called, and Ash looked up to see who'd spoken.

They were instantly familiar, as they would be to any aspiring Pokémon Master who'd grown up in Kanto. Bruno, the stoic Fighting Master of the Elite Four.

"You mean Riolu, right?" Ash checked. "I know you're a Fighting specialist… I think you are, at least…"

"That's correct," Bruno confirmed. "And yes, I've heard that people are surprised about my team of Pokémon."

He folded his arms. "I believe that you can be a master of Fighting and Rock and Ground types, all at once! They're all about strength, and that's my speciality."

"I guess that makes sense," Ash said, thinking. "I know Cynthia doesn't have a single Type she focuses on, she just has a collection of strong Pokémon…"

"Indeed," Bruno confirmed. "To become a member of the Elite Four, you must have a single specialist type, but it is not required to have a team solely of that type."

He walked down the hillside. "I'm surprised at your reaction to me. You are training for the Pokémon League, yes?"

"That's right," Ash agreed. "But I guess… you're a trainer, and I'm a trainer. So we should be able to talk about Pokémon together, right?"

Bruno chuckled. "Hah! I like that attitude."

"But since you are a member of the Elite Four," Ash added. "I wondered… what kind of advice would you give someone like me?"

That made Bruno pause.

"Hmm," he said. "That's a good question."

He was silent for almost a minute, then held up a hand.

"As a battler, my style is to catch strong Pokémon," he said. "Because, as a trainer, my view is that trainers and Pokémon should care for each other. Strong Pokémon enjoy battling, and any Pokémon can be cared for by a trainer."

"What about Pokémon who are weak to start with?" Ivysaur asked.

"Ivysaur's got a point," Ash said. "What about Pokémon that are weak to begin with, and only get stronger when you care for them? Like my Charizard – he actually got abandoned and left to die by his old trainer…"

"A strong Pokémon is one who wants to become stronger," Bruno answered. "Because they are the ones who put in the effort required to become stronger."

Then he shrugged. "I think? I will be honest, you don't get a special course on being wise…"

After Bruno had left, Ash sat down.

"It's funny, really," he said. "I never really noticed it before, but I really did get more comfortable with talking with people like… Elite Four members. Champions, even. And I barely even noticed it until I met Bruno again."

"We've already changed the world," Riolu pointed out. "Is it surprising that you've changed as well?"

30

"We're on the road~!" Ash sang. "To Vi-ri-di-an ci-ty…"

"Ash," Misty said firmly. "You're a good friend. But if you keep singing that I'll hit you until you either stop or improve."

"Uh… sorry," Ash replied. "I'm just excited?"

He shugged. "I mean, it's my first Pokémon League!"

Misty shook her head. "No it's not."

"Really?" Ash asked. "Are you sure you're not remembering wrong? I demand written proof!"

Brock snorted.

"Anyway, it's certainly the first one in a long while," Ash relented.

"It's my first," Riolu said, raising a paw. "Does that count?"

"Hey, at least you get to do them once a year," Brock said. "Officially qualified gym leaders aren't allowed to challenge the Elite Four of the region if they qualified against the same Elite Four."

"Wow, that's… harsh," Ash admitted.

"Well, it means exactly the same Elite Four, not just the regional one," Brock explained. "So Misty and I couldn't do a Gym Challenge in Kanto or Johto until they replace someone, but if it was… say, if Bruno got replaced by someone else, we could give it a go even though Lorelei, Lance and Agatha wouldn't have changed."

"That's actually interesting," Riolu said. "Why is that?"

"I think it dates back to the Unification," Brock frowned. "Mostly it's because otherwise all the gym leaders would be spending all their time challenging one another all the time and nobody would get anything done…"

"Yeah, I can see that," Ash nodded. "So, does that mean they take care about when they change Elite Four members?"

"Probably," Brock agreed.

A shadow flashed overhead.

Ash dropped into a slight crouch, then relaxed when he saw it was just a Pokémon trainer with too much enthusiasm.

"Hi!" he waved. "Are you heading to the Pokémon League as well?"

"I am!" the trainer agreed. "Do you want a practice battle?"

Ash frowned. "You're… not going to insist on any weird rules, right? Like the loser having to give up all their badges?"

"What?" the trainer asked. "No! Who would do that?"

"Sorry," Ash shrugged. "I've met some weird trainers in the past… though, now I think about it, you do sound familiar…"

"I do?" the trainer asked, eagerly. "I'm Otoshi!"

Ash, Brock and Misty exchanged glances.

"Uh…" Brock began, then shook his head. "No, nothing."

"Doesn't ring a bell," Misty agreed.

"Figures," Otoshi said, waving his hand. "People only know me as a voice actor anyway… I voiced an anime character for a couple of years, but then they'd nearly caught up with the manga so I went on a League Challenge. That should let them build up a lead again."

"Oh, now I know where I've heard you before!" Brock said, snapping his fingers. "That character who's… some kind of youkai, right? Mixed with a canine Pokémon?"

"That's the one!" Otoshi agreed.

Ash flipped Dexter open for context, then looked up at Otoshi.

Back down at the screen.

Held Dexter up to compare.

"...did they base the character design off you too?"

"Maybe," Otoshi said, shrugging. "I know they didn't use my hair colour… shall we get on with that battle?"

"Sure," Ash agreed. "What do you think, Pikachu? One each?"

"I can do that!" Otoshi held up a Pokéball. "A nice warm-up! Marowak, come on out!"

Pikachu bounded forwards, and used Magnet Rise to avoid any earthquakes.

"Hah!" he said. "Not much a Ground-type can do against me now, Maro-"

WAK!

The side effect of Magnet Rise is that it also means the user is not actually in contact with the ground. This means that 'friction' and 'gravity' barely apply in terms of staying in one place when, say, hit by a large club.

"Ow…" Pikachu mumbled, from a small crater in the bark of a tree.

Ash hurried over to pry him loose. "That's what you get for underestimating people, Pikachu. Remember, we're dealing with the Pokémon League, now, most trainers have beaten eight gyms."

"Okay, okay, I get the point, now make the world stop spinning," Pikachu asked, flopping backwards onto the grass.

"I guess that was a wake-up call we both needed," Ash decided.

"Shouldn't it be everyone has beaten eight gyms?" Otoshi asked. "And, was it even a good idea to send a Pikachu against a Marowak at all?"

"He's got Fighting moves too," Ash said. "And… other tricks."

He shrugged. "And there's places like Pokémon Tech and the exam course… so some trainers won't have eight badges. Still."

"I guess," Otoshi agreed. "Well, nice meeting you – and I hope to see you at the League!"

"Well, here we are," Ash said. "Indigo Plateau."

"You know, it used to be Quartz Plateau," Brock said. "It's a huge fault block of metamorphic quartzite. It stands out because it's much stronger than anything else between the mountains on either side, so it resists weathering, and…"

He tailed off.

"What?" he asked. "I do know quite a lot about this sort of thing!"

"You lost us," Ash said. "I think it was when you said the word fault?"

"Kids," Brock grumbled.

"You're a teenager as well!" Ash protested.

"And you're not one yet," Brock countered. "Anyway. They changed the name to Indigo when they were trying to make all the Leagues associated with a colour. You know, like Orange and Silver."

"...what about that one in Sinnoh?" Misty asked. "And isn't Hoenn the Ever Grande?"

"I didn't say who the they were," Brock replied, folding his arms. "Or that they succeeded. Or that it hadn't been changed back."

"So… they had a really cool idea, changed one name, and got bored," Riolu said. "Well done them."

He frowned. "Wait. Can you hear something?"

"Yeah," Ash agreed.

He looked behind them. "Oh, right – guys, the torch procession is coming through!"

The friends quickly got to the side of the road, and watched as a runner with the torch went past – along with a couple of cars acting as chase and support vehicles.

Ash smiled. "I remember when the Rockets stole that."

"You mean tried to, right?" Misty asked. "You turned up with it and gave it to me."

"I mean, actually stole it," Ash replied. "The guy on that car… Goodshow, right? He had a lantern with a spare flame, and we lit another torch from it."

He frowned, shading his eyes and looking up. "Uh… yeah! Moltres is following the torch. I guess either they're curious or they do it every time."

Misty looked up as well. "Where?"

Ash pointed, but that didn't seem to help much.

"How did you even see that?" Brock said, eventually picking out a tiny dot.

"Aura," Ash explained. "They're bright, but more importantly there's nothing else to see when I close my eyes."

"...yeah, that'd do it," Misty agreed.

Once they actually reached the Indigo Conference, Ash headed straight for the registration desk.

"Good afternoon," the administrator said, an obvious member of the Joy clan. "You're here to register?"

She tutted. "It's the last day for registering, you should probably have been here sooner."

"That… would have been a good idea, yeah," Ash said, with a weak smile. "Better than not making it at all, right?"

"True," she said. "Now… your badges?"

Ash opened his jacket and counted them off. "Boulder, Cascade, Thunder, Marsh, Rainbow, Soul, Volcano, Earth."

"Oh!" the Joy said. "Is that… yes, those are Marsh and Volcano badges. We don't see those a lot here any more… in fact, most people go to Chubu or Sevii instead of staying in Kanto."

"Yeah, about that," Brock interrupted. "Miss lovely-"

Misty gently reminded him to stay focused, which involved Goldeen.

"-ah, that is, Nurse Joy… what happened to the Indigo League's regular gym inspections? I was Gym Leader for years and didn't see one, then we found that Cerulean sometimes didn't bother with battles, Saffron's leader had become mentally unstable years ago and the Cinnabar Gym had all but closed down entirely."

"That's… somewhat worrying," Joy admitted, deciding to ignore the first bit of what Brock had tried to say. "You're a Gym Leader?"

"Brock," Brock introduced himself, holding up his special Boulder Badge. "Pewter Gym Leader, though I'm on sabbatical at the moment. My father was the previous gym leader and he's taken the gym over again."

"I see," Joy said. "So… how did your friend get those badges anyway?"

"I cured Sabrina!" Ash said, proudly. "And, uh… solved dozens and dozens of riddles for Blaine, starting with where the gym was at all. I think that man needs someone to tell him when he's overdoing it…"

The Joy paused halfway through typing in Ash's information, and looked more closely. "...wait… oh, I recognize you now!"

Ash looked hopeful.

"You're the one who destroyed Cerulean Gym!"

"It was partly Misty's fault!" Ash defended himself. "How else was I supposed to fight a Chinchou with an Electric type?"

Then he looked at Misty's expression.

"I mean… oops, yeah, that was me," he amended. "Is there anything else you need?"

"No, there isn't," Joy told him. "You're registered to compete. Your first preliminary is against trainer Quinn, ten AM on the second day after the opening ceremony. Report to the Grass field."

"Thank you," Ash said, taking the paperwork. "Entry number… two hundred and fifty five."

You're lucky you weren't much later. They only allow two hundred and fifty six entrants.

"Huh?" Ash asked. "Why?"

...it's a round number for computers, Dexter said.

"Well, I guess we've got a day to look around before it's time," Ash shrugged, as they walked away from the counter. "I wonder if Ritchie's here yet?"

"Oh, that kid who was basically a clone of you?" Brock asked.

"Yeah, not the only one but he's the closest," Ash said. "One of the others had a Pikachu, too, that was in the Orange Islands… his mom thought I was him…"

More evidence for your hypothesis that the universe is playing a joke on you.

"That's not a hypowhatever," Ash denied. "That's solid fact. Arceus was betting on my reactions, Dexter… plus the whole, prophecy thing…"

That evening, an image appeared in front of Ash: a Voltorb.

"Ivysaur," Ash decided.

The image shifted, and now it was a Venomoth.

"Charizard."

Inadvisable. Charizard's surprise value means you should save him for later in the tournament.

"I guess, yeah," Ash agreed. "Then… Pikachu."

Pikachu would win, but not without being affected by a powder move.

Dexter's projection changed again, switching to a Mr. Mime.

"Tough," Ash admitted. "...Riolu?"

You would probably win, Dexter said. But be careful which cards you show so early in the tournament. If other trainers know about Riolu's Dark Pulse or Shadow Claw, it could affect their later decisions.

"Yeah, that's the Pokémon League for you," Ash agreed, stretching. "That was why I had so much trouble with Tobias, especially… I had no idea what his team was, apart from that Darkrai."

And then he had a Latios as well, yes, Dexter agreed. Though by then you had an advantage of your own, with all the Pokémon you could call on from other regions.

"We probably should have done that at Vertress," Pikachu said.

"I know, yeah," Ash agreed. "But I don't mind that one as much, Cameron actually had to fight for it… but, yeah, end simulations, please, I don't think they're working for me."

He frowned. "...oh, and can you contact Butterfree? I don't need him yet, but I might call on him in a couple of days."

Certainly.

The next morning, Ash and everyone else who'd entered the Pokémon League this year stood on the field of the main stadium as the opening ceremony played itself out around them.

Normally, there would be sixteen rows of sixteen columns, with one person missing. The trainer carrying the torch into the stadium wasn't able to wait in the middle of the field at the same time, so there would be two hundred and fifty-five trainers standing on the field.

...but normal didn't apply this year. There were two hundred and fifty-six trainers, or fifty-seven depending on how you counted a certain Meowth. The Team Rocket Trio had entered as a group, and anyone who might have stopped them hadn't noticed in time.

An important-looking man stepped up to the microphone first. "I hereby declare open the three hundred and ninety ninth Indigo League in this era of the united Islands. I would also like to say-"

"That's enough," Mr. Goodshow interrupted, tapping him on the shoulder. "The speech doesn't keep going after that."

"Fine, then," the man grumbled, and walked off in a huff.

"And, now," Mr. Goodshow continued. "The flame is to be lit! This flame, from Moltres itself, symbolizes the virtues of the competition!"

"Huh," Ash said, quietly. "Remember the Moltres we met in Shamouti, Pikachu?"

"Yeah," Pikachu agreed, speaking softly as well. "I wonder what kind of virtue it is where they try to set you on fire."

"Probably friendship," Ash decided. "Charizard does it sometimes. You do it too, only with electricity."

"...fair."

The last of the torch bearers stepped forwards, and Ash turned to see who it was.

Then blinked.

It was Gary, and Ash wondered if he'd taken his car for some of the trip.

Ash's old friend walked up to the steps, and began to ascend to the main bowl – when, suddenly, Moltres flew low over the arena wall.

Gary stopped, staring upwards, and Moltres hovered for a long moment before alighting on the rim of the bowl.

It nodded, just slightly.

Recovering his wits, Gary ascended as one of the announcers wondered aloud whether the personal appearance by Moltres was a good sign that it'd be a particularly fired-up competition.

At the top, Gary bowed, then touched the torch to the kindling in the bowl.

Then Moltres ignited the whole bowl at once with a Flamethrower, sending it flashing to life with a dull whump.

Seemingly satisfied, Moltres spread their wings, and was gone in a whirl of air and smoke.

For a few seconds, everyone was silent.

Then someone remembered to start the fireworks display, and a rainbow of colours sparked up over the main stadium before changing to a deep indigo colour.

The four arenas on different sides of the main one all lit up with smaller fireworks displays, with a leaf, rock, droplet or snowflake traced out in indigo sparks.

"...ah!" Mr. Goodshow said, apparently remembering what he was supposed to be doing. "For those who are first time competitors here, at the Indigo League we tend to have four matches going on at once until the last 32, which are held here."

He indicated the four points of the compass. "The first four matches you will each do will be in one of the four satellite arenas, so those who want to fight in the Indigo stadium will have to show the ability to use terrain as varied as Ice, Rock, Water and Grass, representing the four types of natural landscape."

A pause. "Once everyone remaining has qualified, it's a straight knockout tournament, with the winner facing the Elite Four. I believe Lorelei is the first member this year. Thank you, and I hope to see all of you do the best you can!"

"I just had a thought," Ash said suddenly as they watched Gary's first battle. He was using his Arcanine to melt the ice field, making things easier for his starter when he had to use it.

And making things harder for Arcanine, but the Fire-type didn't seem to mind much.

"What is it?" Misty asked.

"Half the League contestants have some kind of dramatic entrance, from flower blossoms to magic tricks. I'd kind of like to have one as well…" Ash said. "You know, just to see how it feels."

Brock shrugged. "Well, the easy one would be to arrive on Pidgeot. I mean, it does reveal her, but then you're going to do that anyway as she's a better reveal than Charizard this early in the tournament."

"I do like that. And it'd look really impressive, too, given that I'll be wearing the full costume in the arena." Ash had been cutting back on how much he wore the enhanced clothes, recently, mainly because his mother had complained… and then washed them.

Misty chuckled. "You sure your mom will be okay with that?"

"She wanted me to look my best on TV, and that outfit's my best," Ash explained. "It's simple logic."

"Okay, now I'm wondering if you're feeling well," Pikachu said.

"Hey!"

Sir Aaron sighed. "Really? This is the next guy we have to fight?"

He looked down. "Because… am I supposed to think this is encouraging?"

Uematsu Hojo rolled around on the floor. "My back!"

Palkia looked uncertain. "That's… not as impressive as it could be."

"It happens, to old humans, sure," Sir Aaron went on. "But they don't tend to challenge me to a fight."

I'm ever so sorry, a transcendent voice huffed from everywhere at once. I thought I'd add character to them.

"You made the Magoichi of Saica into a time traveller!" Sir Aaron complained. "I'm not very clear on exactly how much of a time traveller, but I'm fairly sure that at least some of those were anachronisms."

He glanced up. "For example, the air support was… not normal."

…You enjoyed the fight, didn't you?

"I suppose, but that's not really the point I'm trying to make. It's more that you seem to be having trouble with the tone."

"I disagree," Palkia said. "For what it's worth. This is awesome a lot of the time."

Aaron gauged his opponent for a moment, and kicked at Hojo.

The old man flinched with the sudden crack of the impact, then stood up slowly and rolled his neck. "Thanks, youngster, you fixed my back! But this is a battle, you know. Fuuma! Get him!"

Nothing.

Hojo looked up. "Fuuma? Where's my ninja gone?"

Palkia shrugged. "If he's the one I think you mean, then Dialga landed on him five minutes ago."

Hojo gulped as he contemplated the pair of ludicrously good swordsmen (or –dragons) in front of him. "Aheh-heh-heh… no hard feelings?"