57,58

The Marine Pokémon Laboratory was not exactly inspiring.

"...this is just a house on the edge of a small cliff," Misty said, after a moment.

"I don't know," Brock hedged, leaning out over the cliff. "I think that's a small pier down there too."

"Do you need much, for it to be a lab?" Ash asked.

"Not really, no," Misty admitted. "I guess I'd expect a bit more, though..."

"Professor Oak's lab isn't much bigger than this," Ash pointed out. "Though his ranch is huge. I guess Marine Pokémon don't need – hey, look!" he said, interrupting himself. "Out there!"

They squinted.

"What is it?" Latias asked, hovering invisibly at about head height. "Wait, I can see.. something. Very faint."

"It's Lapras!" Ash grinned. "He was busy during the Altomare thing, he's not met you yet... ah, here we go!"

He sent out Pidgeot, jumped off the cliff onto her back, and they shot off towards Lapras and his pod.

Latias blinked, unseen. "...should I follow him?"

Misty shrugged. "I honestly think it's your choice."

"Excuse me?" a voice called, and the two gym leaders turned to see a woman waving at them. "Hi? Do either of you know why that boy's going out to that Lapras pod? I've been trying to call them over for hours, he's going to ruin my work!"

"I doubt Ash is going to do that," Brock said. "One of his Pokémon is the pod leader."

"...really?" The researcher blinked. "How?"

"He sort of released his Lapras, back when we found them in the Orange Islands," Misty explained. "I say sort of because Lapras still gets called on for battles occasionally."

"Okay, well then." Shaking her head, the woman sighed – then blinked, looking closer at Brock. "Oh, I recognize you now!"

"Really?" Brock asked, a little surprised.

"Yes, Professor Ivy has a picture of you on her desk... oh, dear, where are my manners? I'm Naomi, I'm the head researcher here." Naomi shrugged. "Also the only researcher..."

"Low budget?" Brock asked.

"Pretty much," Naomi confirmed. "I'm researching communication between Water-type Pokémon, specifically Lapras and others who use ultrasound and infrasound."

She shrugged. "I put in a budget application for a month's worth of Wailord food, that's like asking to be allowed to open a restaurant. I got denied."

"Ouch," Brock winced. "Philena's mostly managed to succeed on her applications, but she's never very calm about them..."

"You research communication between Water-types?" Misty asked. "Interesting. I'm a Water specialist myself."

"You know, Misty..." Brock said, slowly. "We could help her a lot."

"Oh?" Naomi looked interested. "How could you help me?"

In reply, Misty sent out Golduck. "Hey, Golduck?"

What? Golduck asked, glancing down at the water below. You don't have another scheme to teach me to swim, do you?

"Not at the moment, no," Misty assured him. "It's mainly to see if you can help this lady with her research."

Ah, I see. Providing subtitles. Golduck nodded. I suppose I could.

Naomi stared for a moment, then sighed. "Well, I never considered a Psychic-type... well, Golduck isn't one, but you know what I mean."

"I'd suggest Slowking," Brock volunteered.

"Hey!" Ash called, as Pidgeot swept back over. "They're on the way over for a chat! Lapras is looking good – he said there's a Lanturn over here?"

"A Lanturn?" Misty asked, interested. "Maybe he and Chinchou could have a talk, too..."

"This looks like it'll be better than if I'd just got my grant in the first place," Naomi said with a chuckle.

"This all seems very peculiar," one of the Lapras said, as they floated just offshore.

"Well, you know how it is..." replied the pod leader, shrugging. "My trainer's not one to do things by halves."

"I still remember when he dropped you off," another admitted. "That was ridiculous and amazing."

Ash's Lapras tilted his head, shrugging. "Oh, well... thanks?"

"Uh..." his mother began, frowning. "Is there something invisible in the air just over there? Or is it just me?"

"Now you mention it..." Lapras admitted, frowning. "It does look like there's something."

"Ash?" Latias asked, quietly. "Can I-"

"Lapras and his pod are good," Ash assured her, just as quietly. "The researcher I'm less sure of, but it should be fine."

"Okay," she said, trusting him. She took a deep breath, and slowly shimmered into existence.

"Cool!" several of the Lapras chorused.

"You're pretty," one of the younger ones added. "Are you one of my brother's friends?"

"We've not met yet," Latias told her. "Speaking of which – hello!"

"Hello to you too! Latias, right... I see you got another Legendary, Ash," the pod leader said with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Latias. That's a neat trick you have there."

"Thanks," Latias replied, bobbing up and down a little.

"I've got some food," Naomi reported, coming out of her lab. "It's a thanks to everyone for helping out... oh, I've not seen that Pokémon before. What is it?"

"She's Latias," Ash explained. "She's from Altomare."

"Altomare... interesting," Naomi said. She looked closer. "Is she a water Pokémon?"

"No, Psychic and Dragon."

"Oh, okay." Naomi nodded to herself. "Now, I was wondering – I know that these Lapras are from the Orange Islands, mainly, but how far do they migrate?"

"We've been up to Sinnoh once before, my mother says," Ash's Lapras said. "We usually go down a little further south than the Orange Islands – once or twice to Oblivia – and west to the mouth of the Long River or east to the Deepest Trench."

Golduck translated helpfully, adjusting his rubber ring a bit.

"Ah, interesting!" Naomi nodded to herself. "And is that normal?"

"Fairly normal," one of the older Lapras spoke up this time. "Other pods have about the same range, some have longer if they have access to good currents. We're comfortable in just about any temperature so long as the sea's there."

"Wonderful!" the researcher said, taking notes. "There's so much to ask – oh, I must ask about how far you tend to travel in a day..."

Some hours later, Naomi finally ran out of questions.

"That was amazing," she said, putting down her third full notebook. "Just.. wonderful, to get that much first-hand information. Thank you so much for your time and effort."

"It's no problem," Lapras told her. "My sister enjoyed it, and you paid us well."

"Yes, though it took quite a lot of my supplies of..." Naomi shook her head. "Oh, who cares! I'm going to write this all up, and publish some papers about it, and then I should be able to get one of my more ambitious projects going!"

She turned to the friends, who had been discussing how Mawile could best use her jaw-horns in battle. "Oh, and thank you three as well for being so patient! Sorry about that, I got a bit-"

"It's no problem!" Ash said, grinning.

"It's nice of you to say so," Naomi smiled. "Oh – sorry, I nearly forgot! Elm said you'd be coming to pick up the egg!"

"Is there a reason he couldn't get it himself?" Brock asked, curious. "I mean – when we heard him on the phone he seemed a bit... preoccupied..."

"He said something about a trainer with a recently-evolved Typhlosion without much control of his flames," Naomi reported. "The lab seemed to be pretty much all either wet or smouldering."

"Ouch," Misty winced.

"Anyway, just give me a moment-" the scientist said, collecting her notebooks and hurrying up the stairs towards the lab doors.

"She's a bit excitable," her Lanturn said, by way of apology. "By the way, I hope I wasn't being a nuisance earlier."

"You mean the Supersonic?" Lapras asked. "No, it was okay. Bit off-tune, but not as bad as some of the other Pokémon we've met."

"I'll work on that, then," Lanturn said firmly. He glanced to one side. "So, what do you think?"

Misty's Chinchou shrugged. "I'm still deciding about whether I want to evolve. You're certainly a lot bigger than me!"

"That happens," Lanturn agreed.

"What's the back light for?"

The larger Pokémon blinked. "...good question."

"Here we are!" Naomi said, coming back down the stairs with an egg container. "The poor thing was stolen from the Pokémon preserve at Mount Silver by poachers, but they were forced to leave it behind in a police raid."

"Poor thing!" Latias said, wincing. "That can't have been pleasant..."

"We'll get him sorted out," Ash said, taking the container. "I guess we'd better get going, though, it's still mid-afternoon and there's plenty of time before nightfall."

"Right," Naomi agreed. "Well, thanks again for your help!"

"Oh, it's okay," Misty assured her. "Golduck needed some time getting used to the concept of water – even if he is still using that rubber ring..."

It makes me feel safe, Golduck said firmly.

A mile or so down the road, with Latias back to invisibility, the friends sat down in a clearing.

"Well, let's get this sorted out," Brock said. "You checked, right?"

"Yep," Ash confirmed. He unscrewed the top of the case, and took the egg out – then added the little touch of Aura which reminded the recipient.

Responding quickly, the greyish egg began to glow. It intensified, then – as the glow died down – a Larvitar, slightly curled up, stood there.

Larvitar blinked. "What just happened?" he asked, uncurling a little and looking around. "Last I remember I was – and now – what?"

"This could take a while to explain," Ash told him. "The basic version is – we're now back in time. It's a day or so before you hatched last time."

"That explains why Brock and Misty are there," Larvitar admitted. "Hi, Pikachu."

"Hi!" Pikachu grinned. "You're a lot more sociable than last time."

"Not much worse I could be," Larvitar admitted ruefully. He blinked. "Wait – if it's the past, that means... those poachers! My mother-"

"I was worried about that," Ash admitted. "We can sort that out now, if you want – or very soon, anyway."

"How soon?" Larvitar asked.

"Pidgeot flies really fast, so – today, probably," Ash said, trying to remember how far it was to Mount Silver. "If we find them, anyway."

"Ash, you're not thinking of heading off and leaving us again, are you?" Misty asked.

"Kind of?" Ash tried. "Uh – who do we have... Charizard said he'd be busy for the next few days... maybe Suicune and Entei again?"

"I'm not riding Entei again," Brock said quickly. "Not until he learns a way to keep the wind out of my eyes."

Larvitar did a double take. "Wait. Entei? Suicune? Those are available to you?"

Pikachu chuckled. "Ash has Legendaries. Plural."

Hearing a good cue, Latias switched to visible. "Hi!" she said brightly, then started giggling at the expression on Larvitar's face.

"We're getting off topic," Togekiss said. "I might be able to carry Misty, but I'll be a lot slower than Pidgeot is... I don't think I could keep up with Suicune, either."

Latias cleared her throat. "I could try," she said.

"What?" Ash asked, blinking. "I mean, I know you can lift me, but... you're sure?"

"It solves this problem," Latias said, more firmly. "And – well, I think it might be a good time to try out the – what did you call it? Latias...ite?"

"Oh, right, the Mega Stone," Ash nodded. "Yeah, I guess that might be a good thing."

"What's a Mega Stone?" Larvitar asked.

Pikachu chuckled. "Oh, you've got so much to catch up on..."

Ash unlimbered the staff, reaching around in his bag. "We've got to get you something to keep this on," he said, retrieving the Latiasite – then frowned. "Actually, that might mess with your stealth. Tricky one..."

He passed it to Latias, who took it, and adjusted his grip on the staff.

Latias.

Ash's mind couldn't help but remember the two parallel approaches to the museum, from different timelines – once when he was racing to rescue Latios with Latias' help, and once the reverse.

There was a flash of orange light, and he blinked.

"Huh."

"What?" Mega Latias asked, as her transformation finished.

"That took a lot less time than usual to trigger... strange." Ash shrugged. "Oh well..."

"What just happened?" Larvitar asked plaintively. "Is that a Form change?"

"No, something else," Pikachu told him. "It's kind of... yeah, we were surprised too."

"Right," Mega Latias nodded. "Let's see how fast I can fly like this. Climb on!"

Ash had a moment of uncertainty, looking for the best place to use as a grip, but ultimately used her upper 'arms' to help him climb on. Her back was broad enough to fit him quite easily, and she bobbed there for a moment before rotating her arms to face backwards.

"So... how are we going to do this?" Ash asked, crouching down a bit.

"Give me a few minutes to see how I fly, okay?" Mega Latias asked. "If you fall off, it's better if you have Pidgeot to catch you."

Ash winced. "Good point..."

Mega Latias took a breath, then-

"Whoa!" Ash called, startled, as she shot forwards. Almost as soon as she had, though, she braked again – and Ash was glad he was using Aura to hold on tight, because otherwise he'd have gone flying forwards off her back and ended up in the sea.

"It's okay!" Mega Latias said, arms coming back to a more normal angle. "It's okay, I just wasn't expecting to be that fast..."

She frowned. "Okay, I should probably be really careful not to break the sound barrier, that might be quite a bad idea with someone on my back..."

"I agree!" Ash said ruefully. "Pidgeot uses wind shaping to make that easier, though, I think it means that we're in a kind of air bubble?"

"Maybe I could try that with psychic... hm," Mega Latias frowned. "I'll certainly try that later... let's see if I can go slower this time."

She zoomed forwards again – still accelerating too hard, but less so than before this time.

"Okay, I'm pretty sure we've got the hang of it now," Mega Latias said, drifting back down to the others some minutes later. "And we only lost your hat twice."

Ash winced, remembering the dives to catch his hat. "I'm keeping it in my bag for now."

"Probably a good idea," she agreed. "Okay, who's going with who?"

Pidgeot flashed out of her Pokéball, wings spreading, and came down to land the other side of the small clearing. "You know, if Togekiss can lift Misty, then I can probably use Tailwind to keep her at the same speed as the rest of us."

"...that makes sense," Misty admitted. "Whoops..."

"Let's go, then!" Larvitar said. "I want to help my mother!"

"Right!" Brock nodded. He glanced over at Pidgeot. "I guess I'm riding her?"

"If you ask nicely, yes," Pidgeot twitted him.

Ash got down off Mega Latias, hoisted up Pikachu to his shoulder, then lifted Larvitar and started to get back on.

"Okay, that's even more ridiculous than Noctowl!" Mega Latias said, head curved around a little to watch. "Larvitar weigh as much as a full grown human!"

"Really?" Ash asked, glancing down at Larvitar. "Huh."

The Dragon-type didn't really have a sensible reply to that.

"How's that feeling?" Misty called, the slight windrush pulling at her words as she spoke.

"It's okay..." Togekiss replied. "It's a lot faster than I've ever gone before, but at least keeping you in the air isn't too hard."

Misty looked down, seeing the land unfolding beneath them. Then to her side, where Pidgeot flew with lazy-looking flaps of her huge white wings of air, incidentally sustaining a tailwind blowing the two Flying-types along at three hundred miles an hour.

She was shielding them from the wind, too. Special bonus.

A few hundred metres ahead, Ash's staff shone a bright orange-gold as it sustained Mega Latias' transformation.

The Psychic-type seemed to be enjoying herself, if the occasional whoop was anything to go by.

"Hey, look – there's Mount Silver in the distance," Misty said, squinting, as they climbed a little to clear a ridge. "Just there!"

"I see it," Togekiss agreed. "We're really covering the distance fast!"

"Hey, Misty!" Brock called.

She looked over. "Yeah?"

"Below us!"

Misty leaned as gently as she could to look over the edge of Togekiss' wing, and frowned. "Hey, you're right – that looks like a Flying-type climbing up to meet us!"

For several seconds, they watched as the Pokémon approached. It fairly soon became clear it was a Pidgeot, and one with a rider at that.

"I hope we're not about to have trouble with Rangers like Ash did!" Misty called over to Brock. "Are we in the Silver reserve yet?"

"Don't think so!" Brock called back. "We could be, though!"

With surprising suddenness, the Pidgeot grew from a stick-figure shape to a large, obviously real Pokémon. It approached, slowing slightly as it levelled off, and then came alongside.

"Oh, it's Casey!" Brock said, smiling. "Hi!"

"Hi yourselves!" Casey replied, waving from the back of her Flying-type. "What brings you here?"

"We're helping a Pokémon – a Larvitar," Misty explained. "Ash has got him – he's just ahead!"

"I wondered whether that was him," Casey admitted. "Especially after seeing who it was on his Pidgeot. What are you helping the Larvitar with?"

"He was stolen as an egg from his mother by poachers," Brock told her, and the usually easygoing Casey scowled.

"Poachers... yeah, we had trouble with some yesterday. Bunch of idiots with a giant robot, they nearly got Riolu. Pichu and Elekid together managed to drive their robot off, though – watch out, it's tougher than it looks."

"Oh, you got an Elekid?" Misty asked. "Congratulations!"

"Thanks!" Casey replied, grinning. She glanced ahead, and saw Mega Latias turning into a broad descending spiral. "Guess this is where we head down, right?"

"Suppose so," Brock nodded.

"Well spotted," Mega Latias said, as she descended. "I can see it more clearly now – that's a Tyranitar alright."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Even if it's not the right one, we can ask whether they know Larvitar's mother."

Larvitar peered down. "I can't see the- wait, there we go! It's her!"

"Lucky us," Ash smiled. "Latias, can you land a little way clear of her? We don't want to startle her."

"Got it."

Arms up so her fins were perpendicular to their direction of travel, Mega Latias bled off the rest of her speed. She hovered down to about two feet off the ground, some distance from the curious Rock-type, and Ash slid off her back before lifting Larvitar down.

"Remember, she's not gone back," Ash reminded Larvitar in a low voice. He put the young Rock/Ground type down, and stepped back to let her see him.

"Mother?" Larvitar asked, raising his voice.

The Tyranitar looked thoroughly shocked. "What did you just say?"

"Mother," Larvitar repeated. "I'm your son – from the egg that got stolen."

"Oh, right," she said, nodding. "I see what you mean. I'd thought you wouldn't..."

She trailed off, looking up. "What was that? I heard wings!"

"They're just my friends," Ash said. He squinted into the sky, and frowned. "Oh, hey, two Pidgeot. That's unusual – hey, is that Casey?"

The trio of Flying-types swept over the branches of a low tree, and alighted near the still-transformed Mega Latias.

"Ash," Larvitar said slowly. "Did you just answer my mother's... wait, why am I-"

He paused.

"Would you believe I was so startled by everything else that I didn't notice you speak Pokémon now?"

"I'd believe it," Pikachu said. "Mainly because everyone else seems so surprised by it."

Brock strode over. "Thanks for the ride, Pidgeot!" he called behind him, getting a smile and a wing-wave in reply, and turned to face Tyranitar. "She's a big one."

"I may be a little bit lost, here," Tyranitar said. "Who are all these other people?"

"They're Ash's friends," her son told her. "Ash helped me get back to you after I hatched."

"About half an hour ago," Pikachu supplied helpfully.

"Yes, it was all a bit quick..."

"Excuse me?" Casey asked. "I was wondering – do you have any idea where the poachers are? We had a run in with them yesterday, and I want to make sure they don't steal any more Pokémon!"

"I don't know," the Tyranitar admitted. "Sorry."

Ash translated, looking a bit downcast. "That could be a problem..."

"Sounds like we're quite popular!" a voice said, distorted by the loudspeaker it was being said through.

Everyone turned. "What was that?" Misty asked.

A loud stomping began to echo through the forest. It got closer and closer, until the source came into view as it pushed a tree over.

Casey blinked. "...that's a giant robot Tyranitar."

"Could do with being a bit bigger," Pikachu said critically. "And the joints are kind of poorly made."

"It's very good of you to bring that Larvitar!" another voice said through the loudspeaker. "We can use this to catch it - and Tyranitar!"

"...you're a moron," Brock said, sighing. "Didn't you notice the four Pokémon trainers?"

"They're the morons, Braggo!" said the third voice. "Look, there's only three trainers!"

Brock glanced to his side, and blinked. "Uh, three?"

Tyranitar blinked. "Actually, now you – where did my son go? Where did the other trainer go?"

There was a shimmer over the Tyranitar-bot.

"Here goes," Ash said. "Now, Noctowl!"

The Flying-type flapped his wings, dispelling the cloaking illusion. As he did, Ash jumped off Mega Latias' back, landing with a thud on the big robot's head.

"Thanks for the lift," Larvitar said, clinging on with one arm and using the other to volley blows in on the saurian machine's head.

"Ash!" Brock called up at him. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Breaking the robot?" Ash replied, puzzled. "Why?"

"Oh, whatever..."

"Hey!" the loudspeaker blared. "Stop that! That's expensive armour up there!"

A flash down below heralded the materialization of Casey's Riolu. The young Pokémon took in the situation, drew back a foot, and formed a sphere of glowing energy between her palms.

"Look, guys!" the third voice – Blurt, that was it – said. "Boss, they're trying to break our robot from the front too!"

There was a crackle from where Larvitar was steadily hammering his way into the machine.

"Quick!" said the second voice, firmly. "Get the brat! Squash them both flat!"

One of the machine's arms reached up to swat at Ash and Larvitar, up on the head of the machine. The other reached for Riolu, aiming to knock both her and Casey out of the fight.

Ash saw the big metal arm coming, and summoned Aura into his palms. They flashed blue, and he drove a palm-strike into the artificial claws with a splintering crash.

The other arm didn't have much better luck either. Casey sent out her Meganium, who used her big, powerful Vines to snarl the arm mechanism up before it reached Riolu.

Tyranitar blinked. "Who exactly has my son made friends with!?"

"Ash, for starters," Brock told her, focusing on the fight. "Okay, Steelix, stop it from moving!"

His Iron Snake burst into existence, charged forwards – evading the kicking of a metal foot – and twined around the mecha-Tyranitar, weighing it down and trapping its feet.

About at that point, Riolu's Aura Sphere finished charging. She threw it at the metallic machine, blowing a hole in the armour at about chest height and revealing a maze of circuitry.

"Zap the hole in the armour!" Misty said as she opened a Lure Ball, aiming her instruction at both Pikachu and her just-released Chinchou.

"Got it!" Pikachu said, grinning, and electricity snapped and crackled around him before lancing forwards in a Thunder. Chinchou gave him a slightly disgruntled look, then added a much-less-impressive Shock Wave.

The whole robot lit up like a Christmas tree, and there was the sound of an argument over the loudspeakers.

"...told you, it can't take any more than this!" Chico snapped. "Get them to stop!"

"That sounds good to me!" Casey grinned. "Elekid, Pichu, zap it!"

The two Electric-types joined hands and lanced forwards a Thunderbolt, and then the whole machine exploded.

"Larvitar!" Tyranitar called, as smoke hid the wreckage. "Did he-"

Ash landed about halfway between her and the ex-robot, one arm down to break his fall and the other firmly clutching Larvitar to his side.

"Whoo!" Casey grinned. "That was awesome!"

Latias transitioned back down from Mega with a bright orange flash, catching her Latiasite as it fell, and drifted back down with Noctowl.

"I guess we should tie these guys up or something," Brock said, nodding towards the thoroughly unconscious Poachers.

"Good idea," Misty agreed. "Brock, can you send Crobat to look for a Ranger?"

Fortunately, there was a Pokémon Ranger not too far away.

Once the situation had been explained and the criminal brothers had been carted away, there were still a few discussions to be held.

"So, how have you been?" Ash asked Casey, who shrugged.

"Good – catching Elekid was great, he and Pichu work well together. And... yeah, we've been doing what you'd expect, pretty much. Just got our eighth badge recently – Clair. Strange thing, she was holding it in a field..."

"Yeah, I think that was Raikou's fault," Ash said with a wince.

"Raikou?" Casey repeated. "I met someone who... oh, don't tell me you caught Raikou too..."

"Well, yeah... but that was after he broke the Blackthorn gym," Ash protested. "Not my fault this time."

"Sure it wasn't," Casey laughed. "Anyway, I saw you on the news, at Altomare. It wasn't a great picture, but it was you – I recognized Keldeo, too."

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, this kind of stuff just happens... oh, I guess Riolu's doing well. And your Bayleef evolved to Meganium, too."

"Yeah, that was recent," the baseball fan said. "She was keeping Riolu safe, actually."

"It's a good reason," Ash nodded. "Oh, I guess you're going to be at the Silver Conference? Don't lose to anyone who isn't me, now!"

"I'm not going to lose to anyone!" Casey told him. "That way, when I beat you, at least you'll have been beaten by the champion!"

"Excuse me?" the Tyranitar said, looking to Latias. "Can I ask you a question?"

Latias blinked. "Sure, I guess," she said, nodding.

"You are a Legendary Pokémon. Why is it that you travel with this boy, Ash?"

"Good question, actually... Larvitar muttered. "We didn't get around to discussing that."

"Well... for myself, it's partly because I wanted to see the world. Partly because he's a good trainer, and making me stronger. And partly because... partly because he's able to keep me safe – his Pokémon are very strong," Latias said, thinking carefully as she did so.

Tyranitar nodded, and glanced down at her son for a moment. She considered her next question carefully.

"I had heard that Latias and Latios were guardians of a great city."

"That's right – Altomare," Latias nodded. "My brother and I take turns being with Ash or being there, because that way we keep Altomare safe and also learn how to fight."

"Interesting." Tyranitar nodded again. She turned to her son. "Larvitar, my son – what do you think of this human?"

"He kept me safe both before and after I hatched, and helped me find you," Larvitar said simply.

"Right." Tyranitar considered that a moment longer, then thumped her tail on the forest floor – not hard, just enough to make a soft noise."Trainer?"

Three of the humans looked up. "Yes?" Brock said. "Who do you mean?"

"The one who aided my child."

Ash stepped forwards. "Me?"

"Yes." The female paused. "What do you plan to do now?"

"Well, uh – get ready for the Silver Conference, really, we're nearly there..." Ash said, shrugging. "Contact all my Pokémon, make sure they're ready, that kind of thing."

"Contact? Ready?" she asked. "You speak as if they are not all at your command."

"Of course they're not!" Ash said with a nod. "They're my friends – and some of them might not want to fight, or they might be busy with their family or with something else. So I ask them, to make sure."

"Interesting..." Tyranitar frowned. "How do you contact them, then?"

"Mother, what are you-" Larvitar began, and trailed off at a quelling look.

"There's some transceivers that I have, which work with the Pokémon Transfer System," Ash explained. "So my Butterfree's with his family most of the time, but I can contact him and bring him over – that sort of thing, it's so I don't have to abandon them when I release them."

Tyranitar nodded, in understanding. She fixed Ash with a stare. "If my son wishes it, then he may travel with you."

"Wha?" Misty said, blinking.

"That's kind of sudden..." Brock managed.

"I like what I've seen. I would not wish to be apart from my son for long, but if you can make him strong and give him happiness then he should travel with you – if he wishes it." Tyranitar looked down at the little Rock-type. "Do you wish it?"

Larvitar gaped. "I – well, yeah, I guess..."

Tyranitar smiled. "Then that seems settled."

She gave Ash an intimidating glare. "Provided, of course, that you do right by him."

"Of course I will!" Ash said, stung.

"Excellent." Tyranitar nudged her son forwards, and he took a few steps before looking up at Ash – who swept him up in a hug.

"Nice to have you around," Ash said, grinning.

One of the Pokéballs on his belt opened.

"Yay!" Mawile said, beaming. "I've got a little brother!"

Larvitar blinked. "But..."

"You hatched after me, you're a little brother!" Mawile said firmly. "That's maths!"

"I'm not even going to ask how long that battle took," Sir Aaron said, sighing. "Because the answer would worry me."

Yeah, it was a while, Arceus admitted. You could probably tell that from where you're standing, though.

Sir Aaron had to admit, Arceus had a point. They'd started this particular battle on the high clifftop of Avia, and ended it in a smoking crater which was so deep water was seeping in through the sides. Salt water.

The three Dragons came over, chuckling to one another.

"Did you see that bit where Yveltal came up behind me?" Giratina asked. "I just Shadow Forced my way out of the attack zone of Oblivion Wing, appeared behind him, and knocked him into your Roar of Time!"

Dialga nodded, his back-plates shifting slightly. "Pity Lugia hit you with an Aeroblast, though."

"That was pretty funny," Palkia nodded, sniggering at Giratina's expression. "What? It was! Completely hilarious."

"Hey!" Giratina snapped. "It wasn't funny, it was painful!"

"Funny from here," Palkia said.

"Guys!" Sir Aaron said, and they subsided. "Thanks. Now, where are we going next?"

Ah, this is where it gets interesting, Arceus said. I really want to show off the Fairy type one, so you get teleported straight there.

"Fairy!?" the three dragons chorused.

"I'm not ready!" Giratina said, blanching. (It looked strange.) "That's not fair, dad!"

"You think you have problems, my special move's Dragon-type!" Palkia shot back. "They're immune to that!"

"Now, which of you is going to manage to come up with something I want first..." Dialga mused.

Sir Aaron was about to speak, but then there was a wrenching discontinuity-

-and they were on an island.

"Welcome to my lands!" said... someone wearing a fuku.

"Arceus, what the-" Sir Aaron began.

The reference was obvious, Arceus told him. That's Tsuruhime.

"Oh, great..."

"I'm afraid you're going to have to be battled with all my strength!" Tsuruhime said brightly. "Xerneas, let's go!"

All three Creation Dragons looked nervously at the deer-like Legendary as it strode forwards.

"What's that on his horns?" Sir Aaron asked, looking closer. "Wait. That's a Power Herb. Oh, this isn't going to go well..."

Xerneas used Geomancy. The Power Herb flashed into fire as it was consumed, meaning that Geomancy's charge time was reduced from considerable to seconds. A huge pulse of green energy spread out across the whole battlefield, before rushing back into Xerneas and crackling on the ends of his horns.

Then he used Moonblast. Eight times. At once.

Giratina phased out of existence before the attack wave arrived. Palkia summoned a colossal wave of water, dampening the effects of the attack, and managed to endure the worst of it.

Dialga fired a Flash Cannon back at the shots headed for him, resulting in a large explosion.

"Yeah, I'll handle this," he said, fins extending. "Stand back!"

Sir Aaron stood back.

58

"Your mother," Ash said, looking down at his newest Pokémon, "is a fantastic negotiator."

"I'd gathered," Larvitar admitted. "How long do you have me for?"

"Two hours a day until the Conference, all day during, and alternate days afterwards," Ash rattled off. "Well, we've got a week or so to train first."

"I look forward to it," the little Rock-type said with a smile. "Mother taught me some ways to defend myself, but – I have little doubt you'll teach me some she didn't."

Ash smiled back. "I've got a few ideas. Let's see... hey, maybe Primeape can teach you Outrage."

"I... don't think I ever met him," Larvitar admitted. He glanced up at Latias. "Not that that necessarily means anything these days. What's he like?"

"Angry," Pikachu supplied. "Usually, anyway. He has a very focused kind of rage."

"...right." Larvitar considered that. "Why Outrage?"

"It's Dragon-type, so not much resists it," Ash explained. "Only Steel and Fairy, and you can learn Fighting and Steel attacks to handle those."

"Right."

"Oh, you have Hidden Power, right?" Ash asked, snapping his fingers. "Do you know what type it is?"

"No, sorry." Larvitar shrugged.

"It's okay, we can try to work it out. That could be pretty useful. Hmmm..." Ash glanced up as they exited the trees, then got back to thinking. "Oh, of course – Tyranitar are Dark-type. Did you learn any Dark attacks?"

"Bite, yes, but that's about it."

"Still a good start – Lucario knows Dark Pulse, though, he can teach you that. And I can see about getting you started on Aura."

"Can I join in?" Mawile asked. "I want to learn that too!"

"You're better at different moves to Larvitar," Ash told her, smiling. "You're a Fairy-type, though you could probably learn Steel moves at the same time as him. You could even show him how to do Iron Head."

"That sounds fun!" the young Pokémon said. "I get to teach my little brother how to do an attack!"

"I'm years older than you," Larvitar frowned.

"No you're not!" Mawile denied. "I saw, you hatched after me!"

Latias stifled a giggle.

"So, what you do is, you put your head forwards," Mawile said earnestly, demonstrating. Her horn-jaws swung down a little as well, coming to a position alongside her forehead. "And then you headbutt it!"

She cracked the bark of a tree.

Larvitar blinked. "It sounds like there's a step missing. Isn't that just Headbutt?"

"I don't understand the question," Mawile said, frowning. "It's how I do it."

"But you're made of iron. I'm not, so I need to have the Steel-type bit somehow."

"Oohhh, right," Mawile nodded. "I get it!"

Larvitar waited.

"Well?" he asked, after a few seconds.

"No idea!" she said, shrugging.

Pikachu came to the rescue. "I might be able to help you, Larvitar."

"Good," Larvitar said, gratefully. "I could see us going in circles for quite a long time."

"Okay, first I'm going to do the switch from normal to iron tail – just here. Watch."

Pikachu frowned briefly, concentrating, and his tail shimmered blue-white for a moment. "Did you catch that?"

"A bit," Larvitar said, looking closer. "Can you do it again?"

Pikachu complied, and Larvitar watched.

"I think I've got an idea," he said, after a moment. "See if this is going in the right direction."

"Pikachu's really good with them," Misty smiled. She lobbed another ball at Golduck, who deflected it with a pulse of psychic energy.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I guess it's because... you know, I've never really taken him off my team. He's had the most experience dealing with Pokémon from all over, from Caterpie and Pidgeotto to Pokémon like Iris' Axew."

"You miss them, don't you?" Brock asked, seeing Ash's expression.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I'm afraid to try and contact them, in case I... well, wreck their lives, I guess. I've been lucky so far, and it looks like very little changes so long as I don't get too close.. but I do miss them."

He sighed. "I was thinking of giving Kalos a try, actually... then, I mean. Just an idea."

"You just can't sit still, can you, Ash?" Brock chuckled.

"Nope!" Ash replied firmly, chuckling. "Where'd the fun be in that?"

He frowned. "Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Dexter, I've got a training idea for you and Lucario."

This sounds worrying.

Lucario hit the ground lightly as Ash sent him out, and took a slow, deep breath. "What do you think we should do?"

"Well – how's your Mirror Coat, Lucario?" Ash asked, glancing up at the sky – where Togekiss, Crobat, Pidgeot and Latias sparred – then returned his attention to the two Pokémon beside him.

"Reasonable," Lucario hedged.

"Reasonable should be good enough. Okay, here it is – tennis!"

There was a pause.

"I don't get it," Lucario told him.

"Okay, here it is," Ash began. "Dexter, you go over there – bit further, bit further – there. Now, you're going to be firing attacks at Lucario – who won't be dodging."

"I won't?" Lucario asked, then nodded. "Ah. I see."

"Yeah, you're going to be using Mirror Coat to send them back at Dexter," Ash agreed. "That'll give you training at that, and Dexter at quickly switching from attack to defence."

Interesting. My serve.

Dexter unfolded into combat configuration, and Ash prudently moved out of the way.

Tyranitar looked up as the transceiver flashed.

A Pokéball bounced out of it, opened, and released her son.

"Afternoon, dear!" she said, picking him up and giving him a hug. "How was your lesson?"

"I can now headbutt rocks in half," Larvitar told her.

"I knew this would work out well!"

"I'm surprised how big this town is," Ash admitted, looking up at Mt. Silver. "I mean, isn't that a dormant volcano?"

"Volcanoes often have a lot of people around them, Ash," Brock told him. "And it's active – it last erupted during the Shogunate."

Ash winced. "That must have been pretty bad..."

"I remember hearing about it," Misty volunteered. "They had a week or so's warning from the local Xatu, which meant they knew what was coming – and there was only ash fall, no lava."

"Oh," Ash blinked. "That's not so bad."

Misty shrugged. "I guess active volcanoes just have a bad press."

"Well, they can be quite nasty – Mount Chimney..." Brock began, then shrugged. "Oh, you probably know anyway."

"Pretty much," Ash agreed. "Remember the thing with Groudon?"

Brock winced. "Yeah..."

Ash glanced up. "Hey, is that – it is! Look, guys, it's Mr. Goodshow!"

"Who's that I hear?" the spry man said. "Ah, if it isn't the Kanto Champion! Ash!"

The trainer in question flushed. "I... it still feels strange, hearing someone say that – most people don't, and it sounds more like something someone would call Lance."

"Don't be so modest, my boy!" Mr. Goodshow said, coming over and pumping Ash's hand up and down in a ferocious handshake. "Good to see you. Good to see you! I hope you, and everyone else, put on a good show!"

"Badum tish," Brock said, deadpan.

"What's that?" Mr. Goodshow asked, glancing over at Brock for a moment. "Anyway, it's good you arrived so early, there's more than enough time to get everything sorted out. Oh!"

The organizer pointed at Ash. "Now, I saw you on the news a few times! I heard you had Legendary Pokémon, young man!"

"Uh – yeah," Ash nodded, a little embarrassed. "I wasn't going to-"

"I was going to make an announcement anyway, at the start of the conference," Mr. Goodshow overrode him. "It's because of these Mega Evolutions everyone's talking about, so I'll just add Legendaries to the list. No more than one of each without prior agreement!"

Brock blinked. "...that's it?"

"That seems very permissive," Misty added.

"Well, what's more spectacular than a battle with two really powerful Pokémon?" Mr. Goodshow asked, winking. "Now, a little bird told me that you might not be the only person with one of those, so we should get some smashing battles!"

"Uh... okay," Ash nodded. "Sounds fun! I was worried about what I was going to do... though I guess using Pokémon like Entei or Keldeo or Lugia might-"

"Lugia?" Mr. Goodshow asked, delight in his voice. "Wonderful! Simply wonderful! Tell me, young man, what other secret treasures are you bringing to the humble Silver Conference?"

Ash looked a little lost. "Pardon?"

"I think he wants to know what other Legendary Pokémon or Mega-evolving Pokémon you have," Pikachu suggested.

"Oh, right!" Ash said. He winced. "Well, I'm not even sure about Lugia – he said he wanted to come... the others might not."

"And who are these others?" Goodshow pressed.

Ash took a deep breath. "Ho-Oh and Mewtwo," he said. "But I'm not sure if-"

He stopped, seeing the grin on Mr. Goodshow's face.

"This will be amazing!" the man said, beaming. "You'll have to ask – even if Ho-Oh can't compete, he should be there for the opening ceremony! Excellent!"

"Calm down, sir," Brock advised. "You're getting a bit overexcited..."

As he said it, Mr. Goodshow restrained himself with a bit of an effort. "Sorry, I – very sorry about that, I just think this is going to be one of the best Pokémon League Tournaments for a good while. Not just the new scheduling, but this..."

"What's the new scheduling?" Misty asked.

"Oh, it's simple!" Goodshow beamed. "First off, all competitors are entered into a random draw which gives them between one and three matches to impress the judges. They can use one Pokémon each in each of those judged matches! Once that's done, there's a three-trainer round-robin six-on-six, and after that it's a straight elimination tournament! What do you think of that?"

He blinked, seeing their blank expressions.

"...wait, how does that work?" Misty asked. "What about the people with a really good team who get one bad matchup in the first bit?"

"...I'm guessing you don't like it?" Goodshow said, with a sigh. "Oh well. Was it at least interesting?"

"The round-robin sounds alright," Brock told him. "Maybe you could do those, but three-a-side? And then the top one or two go through to the finals?"

"Maybe that does sound better..." Goodshow muttered. "I'll certainly give it a think.. wonder how many..."

He trailed off, muttering.

"Perhaps if-"

"Sorry to interrupt, Charles," a voice interrupted. The friends glanced up, and saw a caped man who was unmistakeably Lance walking towards them. "I'm afraid I'll have to borrow two of your friends here."

"Oh, by all means!" Mr. Goodshow nodded. "By all means."

"Good," Lance said courteously. "Misty Waterflower, Ash Ketchum, would you mind accompanying me?"

"What's going on?" Ash asked, confused.

"Well, I suppose you'd know – it's the selection meeting for the prospective Elite Four candidates, Misty's invited. As for you..." Lance smiled. "I've got a few things to ask you as well, so I thought I'd pick you both up at once."

"Sure!" Misty nodded. "Let's get going, then!"

Much to Ash's surprise, they didn't have far to go.

Lance led them through the streets of Silver Town, past the Ho-Oh Shrine – still quiet, with a few days to go until the ceremonies started – and into one of the better hotels surrounding the Pokémon Centre. They went up two floors, and Lance motioned them into a conference room off a plush corridor.

Inside were several other trainers, all older than Ash and Misty – Ash recognized Lorelei and Bruno, sat next to a projection screen, and Koga who was leaning against the wall.

The others were new to him – a young man in his early twenties with a flamboyant outfit and a Solosis hovering by his shoulder, a slightly older grey-haired woman sat on the far side of the table, and a firey-haired girl who looked to be in her late teens and had a Growlithe by her side.

"And here's our last two," Lance said, as he came through into the room behind Ash and Misty. "Misty's the other prospect, and since Ash Ketchum was-"

He was interrupted by a yelp from under the table.

Ash glanced down, and saw a pair of red eyes staring at him in shock and what seemed to be terror.

"Nope!" said the owner of the eyes, who turned out to be an Absol. "Nope, nope, nope, nope, nope!"

She bolted out from under the table, past her trainer, dove at the window, and bounced off with a reverberating DONG.

"Absol!" Karen called, jumping out of her seat and hurrying over. "What's gotten into you?"

"...what just happened?" Lance asked, bewildered.

Feeling obscurely guilty for how he'd somehow scared the poor Dark-type, Ash sent out Meganium to help her out with Heal Pulse, Aromatherapy, and a nice chat.

"There we go," the Grass-type said, after calming Absol down a bit. "Feel better?"

Absol shook her fur out, still a bit wide-eyed. "I feel a little better," she admitted. "But – what is that boy? I look at him, and it's like he's a walking disaster area!"

"You're not far wrong..." Meganium admitted. "Ash is a bit of a weirdness magnet. What do you actually see?"

The Dark-type took another breath of the soothing scent. "Well, with most people it's kind of... the trouble they'll run into. Minor things today, more major things further out. Very general, though, and it's stronger the more likely something is."

She shook her head. "But looking at that boy, I see a confusing mish-mash of catastrophes overlapping and layered onto one another. I guess, looking more closely, I did panic a bit, but..."

"But?" Meganium prompted.

Absol groped for the words. "It's... they're still further away than I first thought, but they're a lot bigger. I can't actually tell much more than that, the echoes of possibility are all kind of reverberating off one another and confusing me."

"That sounds... painful," Meganium winced. "I hope you feel a bit better now."

"I think I'm just going to not bother looking over that side of the room," Absol muttered. "And try to ignore my subconscious telling me to run away."

"Well, now that that's sorted out," Lance said, with a slight questioning tone.

"She seems calm now," Ash informed them.

"Yes, we're going to talk about how you can tell..." Lorelei muttered. "Anyway. Let's get going. First – thank you all for coming, candidates."

Misty took a steadying breath.

"We're sorry for calling you to turn up so early compared to our original deadline," Lance began. "But fortunately you were all finished with your challenges anyway – sterling work."

Koga nodded silently.

"Thanks," Courtney said, smiling briefly. "It was interesting fighting Registeel."

Lance nodded. "You've all done well – congratulations. Now... there's going to be a total of three slots available. I am stepping down from my current position to revert to Grand Champion, since I only took the fourth seat in the first place in order to make up the numbers."

Nods.

Lorelei spoke up next. "I'm stepping down in order to focus on my writing business, which is really taking off, and – how did Agatha put it, Bruno?"

Bruno frowned. "Something like... she wanted to retire while there were still a few months left in her." The fighting-type specialist sniggered. "She's been going on about that for ages, and she's only just sixty-five."

"Don't you know not to ask a lady's age?" Lorelei asked archly.

"I didn't have to, I worked it out," Bruno replied with a wink.

Lance caught the expressions on the applicants. "I see you're surprised how we're relatively informal in private. We're friends, as well as colleagues."

Misty nodded. "I guess that makes sense."

"So – because there's three people moving, we asked more than the usual number of prospective candidates." Lance looked around the room, nodding to each in turn. "You've all done very well, but I'm afraid we've reached the point we have to select."

There was a shifting, as people pulled their chairs in or leaned a little forwards in anticipation.

"There's a few things we consider," Lance went on. "It's not just your performance when facing your Legendaries, but how hard they were. Similarly, it's the nature of how you helped the Pokémon you did – nothing's a rubber stamp, here."

He smiled. "Team variety plays into it, too – even the Pokémon that aren't of your type, since they show you're able to raise a variety and do it well. So."

Another pause.

"Lance, get on with it!" Lorelei said tartly. "These poor people have been waiting long enough!"

"Karen, of Goldenrod," Lance began, and Karen looked up in surprise.

Lance nodded to her. "You went far afield for your challenges, which is to be commended. Your battle against Lugia was brave and showed inspired strategy, while your decision to travel to Sinnoh to clash with the Darkrai of New Moon Island was one that we did not expect."

He smiled. "And, of course, you did well indeed to prevent that Spiritomb at Lavender Town from panicking. Well done indeed, Karen – you are our first selection."

Karen blinked, somewhat shocked.

Her Absol, now seemingly mostly recovered, padded over – keeping her distance from Ash – and licked her palm, head-blade carefully tilted away from anything vital.

"Thank you," she said, recovering a bit. "Sorry, I'm a little-"

"Understandable," Lance nodded. "Courtney, of Vermillion – you at one point sent us a letter informing us you had declined. Might I ask why you changed your mind?"

Courtney blushed. "I... well, I wasn't sure if I wanted to go through with it. I'm still not sure, really – but I thought I should at least give it a go. See if I was capable."

Lance smiled. "I see." His expression turned a bit harder. "Unfortunately, while you are clearly Gym Leader material, I don't feel that your challenges were up to the standard of the Elite four – it's a demanding task, working in this Elite Four, as we have to watch over and work within two regions."

Courtney pursed her lips, considering that.

"Thanks for letting me know," she said, eventually. "Sorry, I guess – for wasting your time."

"On the contrary, it's always good to know about up-and-coming trainers. I'll recommend you to Blaine as a possible secondment," Lance consoled her. "Will, of Saffron."

Will faced up, calmly.

"If Karen went far afield, you went to astonishing lengths. How was Unova?" Lance quipped, and the laugh that followed broke the tension a little. "I understand you challenged the Swords of Justice to duels."

"I did," Will confirmed. "I would like to submit my battle against Terrakion for consideration, since I did best with that one."

Ash and Misty exchanged glances, both thinking the same thing – he fought all three?

"Accepted," Lance said promptly. "And your battle in Sinnoh was also a worthy feat – even to find Giratina is a great achievement, let alone battling him."

Will inclined his head in a small nod. "He destroyed me, though," the Psychic-type trainer pointed out.

"That's hardly surprising. I'd be worried if he hadn't," Lance said. "Nevertheless, we consider you to be a skilled enough trainer that we're going to be robbing Sabrina of her most promising trainee – you're second on the selection list."

Will took this fairly stoically, nodding and sitting back.

"Misty, of Cerulean."

Misty swallowed.

"It has been a long time since we had someone who fought the Beasts of Ecruteak for their challenge," he said. "It has also been a long time since I personally witnessed part of any challenge for an applicant to the Elite Four. Your youth tells against you, but your skill and the skill of your Pokémon counteract that. You are our third selection."

"That's..." Misty's voice was brittle, and she stopped speaking for a moment. She resumed, a little more firmly. "That's... thank you. Even after I got the letter, it's still... well, a surprise, I guess." She chuckled, shaking her head. "Sorry, this is a bit overwhelming."

"I'm not surprised," Lance smiled. "You're one of the youngest to get the nod."

"Well," Koga said, pushing himself off the wall he was leaning against. "I suppose that means I don't get in."

"I'm afraid so," Lance nodded. "It's just a case of there being so many good candidates – you're Elite Four material as well, just less so than these three. If Bruno ever wants to retire-"

"Ha!" Bruno laughed. "That'll be the day."

"It'll come to all of us sometime," Lance shot back. "Anyway, if Bruno does decide to step down, or if a space opens up for some other reason, rest assured you'll be called upon."

"Thanks," Koga nodded. "Perhaps it's for the best, anyway, Janine's on the cusp of being ready to challenge for the right to operate Fuchsia but I'd really prefer her to have a couple more years."

"Well, it's nice when things work out," Lance smiled. "Koga, Courtney, thank you for your time – and sorry the journey was wasted."

Courtney shrugged. "I wouldn't say it was wasted, at least I get to stay in a nice hotel during the busy season at Mount Silver."

"Very upbeat of you," Lorelei said, approvingly. "I like it!"

Koga strode from the room in silence.

"I hope he wasn't too offended..." Lance muttered, as the door shut.

"From what I remember, Koga's a bit stoic at the best of times," Misty volunteered.

"True," Bruno chuckled. "Right. What's next..."

Lance glanced down at a sheet of paper on the table. "Right. Now, the switch-over isn't happening immediately, we're aware you all have arrangements to make – for starters, housing, since we do have some connections. In particular – Misty?"

"Yes?" Misty asked.

"As you're a Water-type trainer, you're going to want a place of residence with good facilities for Water-types. You've got a fairly large – but not unreasonable – budget and some leeway on how you spend it, so keep that in mind. In any case, the formal changeover is going to take place in a month or so."

The three newly selected candidates nodded or muttered to themselves.

"Who's going to be handling the challenges?" Will asked. "The Silver Conference starts next week, and it's going to take a while..."

"Well, that's one reason I'd asked Mr. Ketchum to join us," Lance replied. "I'll get onto it in a moment. Don't worry, though, you won't be expected to fight challengers for a while after you're settled in – or, rather, Bruno will be the first challenge they face."

Bruno chuckled. "Wish me luck."

"Actually," Karen said, frowning. "That does raise a question. What order would we normally be expected to battle in?"

"That's up to you to work out," Lance told them. "The most recent set was a rotating one, we took turns, though as the Grand Champion I was always last."

He paused a moment. "Of course, no-one actually got to me... anyway. As members of the Elite Four, you may also join a group called the G-men. It's basically something for us to do the rest of our time when we're not handling challengers, assessing prospective Gym Leaders or training, and it involves trying to pre-emptively handle trouble."

"Lance, you and Bruno were the only two members of the last set who were part of it," Lorelei sighed.

"So?" Lance asked. "I'm making the option available. Any further questions?"

Misty raised a hand. "What about our Pokémon who aren't of our type?"

"Ah, that's an interesting one!" Lance smiled. "I forgot to mention that. The usual practice is that they're available for Gym Leader candidates to use – so your Togekiss would be a prime choice for a prospective Flying-type or Fairy-type leader to take Bruno or Karen on, actually."

"Interesting," Misty nodded. "So that's where the Pokémon I used in my own test came from?"

"Some of them," Lance hedged. "There's a larger number who are just part of the general pool."

Misty nodded, satisfied. "Thanks."

"What he's not telling you is that he raises a lot of them himself," Lorelei chuckled. "All kinds of dragon-types or Dragon egg group Pokémon."

"Lorelei..." Lance said warningly.

"That's why he has to keep buying new capes!" Bruno added, quickly, before his boss could make good on the threat in his voice. "They keep biting holes in-"

"Bruno!" Lance snapped, but too late. The room dissolved in laughter as the nervous new members of the Elite Four pictured it, and after a moment Lance joined in ruefully.

"Well, so much for that," Lance sighed, once they'd got it out of their system. "Does anyone have any further questions?"

None were forthcoming.

"Okay," Lance nodded. "Any further questions, I'll be in town for the next month or so unless things go badly wrong somewhere – and so will Bruno. Misty, could you and Ash Ketchum stay for a minute?"

Karen and Will gave them confused looks for a moment, then shrugged. Karen left by the door, her Absol still avoiding looking at Ash, and Will sent out an Elgyem which teleported him somewhere.

"Is this about me?" Ash asked, as the door closed.

"It is, that's correct," Lance confirmed. "There's two separate issues here. Firstly – I've noticed you seem to get involved in an awful lot of... strange circumstances."

"What do you mean?" Misty frowned. "I've probably been in all of those..."

"Maybe," Lance nodded. "But Ash is usually the one who's more clearly taking major action – we saw his Charizard on the news, and that was clearly mostly his team in Altomare. And he's one of the few trainers we know to have more than one Legendary."

Lance turned to Ash. "So – first question. We know you've got at least four Legendary Pokémon, but how many is it really?"

"Nine," Ash answered. "Lugia, Ho-Oh, Mewtwo – those are ones I just hold the Pokéballs for, I don't use them in battle-" Lance nodded in understanding, and Ash continued. "Latias and Latios I'm training in rotation, we've not worked everything about that out yet. And there's the three Beasts of Johto, as well as Keldeo. They insist I use them properly."

"Most trainers wouldn't need to be forced," Lance commented. "Interesting. And we've seen or heard of you all over the place, usually saving lives or Legendaries – New Island, Shamouti, Greenfield, the Lake of Life, that incident in the Whirl Islands, and now Altomare. There's also what happened at the Lake of Rage, and at Gringey City when you saved one of my clan members."

Ash fidgeted, as the recitation brought home just how often that kind of thing happened. "Yeah..."

"Ash Ketchum," Lance went on. "The annals of the Dragon Clan are incomplete, but I think I have found the reference I want. Are you one of the Chosen?"

Misty blinked, not having expected that question.

"That's right," Ash confirmed. "I didn't know until I met Ho-Oh, but... yeah, I am. And I think Ho-Oh mentioned the Dragon Clan are too."

"Correct," Lance agreed. "Though we barely use the term any more. I see you've been living up to your heritage, and more."

Ash blushed a bit. "Yeah... I just run into things, I guess. And my normal instinct is to... well, help..."

"You certainly run into a lot of situations where you can-" Lance began.

There was a bright blue flash, interrupting him, and all eyes turned to the centre of the table.

"Don't tell him about that, that's... a bit..." Celebi looked around, and sighed. "I was two minutes early again, wasn't I..."

"Pardon?" Ash asked, blinking. "What just-"

"I wanted to make sure things don't go too far off what my plans say!" Celebi said, as the Elite Four members stared. "So far we've kept it all nice and lined up with making sure you get all your Pokémon and meet people when you should... mostly."

"Mostly?" Misty asked.

"May and Max was a mistake, but at least it was a fortunate one!" Celebi told her brightly. "Now-"

"What's Celebi doing here?" Lance asked, shaking off his shock.

Celebi blushed. "Oops... I might have caused more trouble than I was planning to fix..."

"Time travel's involved," Ash said, keeping an eye on Celebi. "When we saved her at the Lake of Life – that battle with the Iron Masked Marauder – we kind of broke time."

Lorelei blinked. "What."

"Okay, so – there was Professor Oak there, as a young boy, because Celebi brought him forwards in time. And there was a bit of a time paradox, and Molly Hale's Sylveon was involved, and..." Ash shrugged. "Long story short, the Fairy-type happened. We altered history a lot."

Bruno blinked. "So you – but wait, the Fairy-type has always been there. It's one of the Eighteen Types, it's why I have a Toxicroak..."

"It's always been there since Molly's Sylveon was at the creation of the Plates," Misty said. "Before that-"

"But that doesn't make sense!" Lance burst out. "How can there have been a Sylveon there if the Fairy-type didn't exist until a Sylveon went back in time? Why are you using the word before?"

"Tell him that if he's got a headache he's getting the hang of it," Celebi suggested. "Oh, you should probably tell him about Galactic, too."

"Right," Ash said, glancing at Celebi again. "Celebi said that if you don't have a headache you're not understanding time travel, basically. She also mentioned a team who are going to cause a lot of trouble in the future – Team Galactic, up in Sinnoh."

Lance sighed. "I can see I'm going to understand less after this meeting than before. Right, Galactic – I'll let Cynthia know, she can keep an eye out."

He turned to Celebi. "What's going on? Why him?"

Celebi frowned. It's because he's the Chosen One, she said, now speaking to Lance directly. Not just 'one of the Chosen' – it's been directly affirmed by a large number of legendaries, including the Creators.

"...when did he meet Arceus?" Lance asked, now completely lost. "When did he meet Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina, for that matter? Is this more time travel?"

He has been sent back in time to fix a great wrong, Celebi told him. Too many details are a major problem here – but tell Cynthia this. Keep an eye out for Team Galactic, and for Cyrus – he's the leader.

Lance looked like he was brimming with questions, but clamped down on most of them. "Is that all we can know?" he asked, after a moment.

"And can we be sure-" Bruno began.

I'm afraid it's about all you can know now, Celebi said. I'm sorry, but I've checked. Rest assured, we'll keep Ash running into the major disasters, and he's good enough to solve them.

"Right..." Lance said, sighing. "I suppose that's as much as I'm getting."

Afraid so. Bye!

Celebi vanished.

"...I followed maybe half of that," Lorelei admitted.

Lance sighed, rubbing his temples. "Maybe I'd have been happier not knowing... anyway. Right. There was one other issue I wanted to bring up with you, Ash, and fortunately it's somewhat less grim of a matter."

He managed a smile. "You heard that three of us are stepping down, one way or another – Agatha, Lorelei and myself. You've currently got challenge rights. Well, first – rest assured that if you win the final, your opponent gets the right to challenge too. People with the right can still compete, and it's not preventing anyone from getting a slot."

Misty blinked. "Wait, does that mean I might have to fight Ash at the end of-"

"No, actually," Lance told her. "There's a short moratorium on challenge at the end of the Silver Conference, because of that. The current plan is, instead, to give the current slate of Elite Four members a grand send-off. Four exhibition matches, one for each of us."

He nodded at Ash. "You said you had nine Legendaries available? I think you're a suitable opponent for those."

Ash's jaw dropped.

"It's not a challenge, not formally, but..." Lance shrugged. "It should look spectacular."

Gary squinted through the hail, trying to see the combatants. "Arcanine, you doing okay out there?"

His reply was a flicker-flash of flame, and then a Fire Blast speared out of the snow and detonated on the leg of his opponent – a large, sturdy Avalugg.

"Good work!" he called, as Wulfric's third Pokémon staggered back a bit. "Just a bit more, Arcanine! You're doing fine!"

There was a howl out in the artificial snowstorm that had been raging since Abomasnow had been sent out, and Arcanine charged out of the hail with flame enveloping his legs and spreading to his body.

Avalugg shook itself, eyes flashing, and fired a Water Pulse out towards his opponent. The moment he did, Arcanine jinked – sending up a great plume of swiftly-melting slush as he drifted across the icy floor and out of the way – before blurring forwards in a series of splashes and leaping high into the air.

As the Ice-type lowed deeply and fired a Blizzard, Arcanine's forepaws hit the Avalugg's back. He snarled, gripping on hard as the Blizzard tugged at his frosted fur, and then launched another Fire Blast in at point-blank range before leaping off. Avalugg's next attack – a violent Double-Edge – knocked his paw as he jumped, and he landed a little askew.

Panting heavily and favouring one paw, the Fire-type turned back towards his foe – watching, to spot any sign of weakness.

Avalugg growled one more time, and then slowly slumped sideways.

"Very good!" Wulfric called, as Arcanine sank to the floor himself in exhaustion. "I wondered why you did not change after two, since the hail was taking its toll, but you raise your Pokémon well!"

"Thanks," Gary said, recalling Arcanine for a well-earned rest. "He wanted to see if he could do it, and... well, I believed in him."

"A noble sentiment!" Wulfric declared. "Well, you now have all eight badges! Most impressive, for a scientist!"

Gary winced. "I'm not just a researcher... I mean, I'm studying Pokémon and how they battle, which means being a trainer."

"That is true!" the burly Gym Leader agreed. "Will you be in the League, then?"

"Sounds like fun," Umbreon volunteered. "See how far we get this time, and all that."

"I think.. yeah, I'll give it a go," Gary said. "Seems rude not to."

And, he thought, silently, it might placate Blastoise. He was all sulky that I was going to use Arcanine first...