66,67

"Sooooo..." Steve said, after a moment. "I'm guessing they're both knocked out again?"

Ash checked with Aura Sight, then glanced back at his staff – now dimmed to quiescence. "...yeah, pretty much."

"This keeps happening today," Steve frowned. "Oh well. Next?"

"I guess," Ash said, as Steve recalled Shadow – revealing Heracross underneath where she'd been, his Mega-stone containing headband once more across his forehead.

Ash recalled the Bug-type, and sighed. "Right... okay, who next..."

"I know who I'm sending out!" Steve informed him gleefully. "Okay, Crypt, time to wreck face!"

He threw the Pokéball, and a blue-skinned Sawk materialized.

"Raikou!" Ash called in reply. "You wanted another fight, right?"

"That's correct!" Raikou agreed, tail lashing. "Right, let's do this!"

"That's odd," Misty said, frowning. "I didn't think he had a Sawk... then again, I suppose he might just have not sent it out yet."

"Wait..." Brock blinked. "What was the name of that Greninja he sent out before?"

There was a pause.

"Oh," Misty said. "Well, that explains that."

"Attack!" Steve called.

The Sawk promptly punched the stadium floor.

"...no, attack the enemy," Steve clarified.

The Sawk punched the floor again.

Raikou got tired of waiting, and fired an experimental Thunderbolt attack at his opponent. Crypt's reply was a surprisingly supple dodge, whirling around the bolt of electricity and coming to rest with both feet firmly on the floor again.

"Oh, for... the Raikou!" Steve shouted. "Attack the Raikou!"

Crypt frowned, then charged towards Raikou. A dark energy gathered on his palms, and then lashed forwards in a Dark Pulse which collided with Raikou's Thunderbolt and smashed both apart.

"Raikou!" Ash said, as the Fighting-type got closer. "Use Rock Smash!"

"Right!" Raikou agreed, skipping back and batting with a paw.

The heavy blow connected, and there was a poof of blue light – and the Sawk vanished, replaced by a dark-furred Zoroark.

"Oh, that explains that!" Raikou said, pleased. "I did wonder..."

The Zoroark lashed out at his muzzle, scoring thin parallel red lines on the side of it. There was a negative-flash of darkness from the Dark-type's other hand, and an attack which seemed like nothing more nor less than a wave of reddish blackness lashed out.

Raikou blinked, staggering backwards. "Ow! That's not... right..."

Pawing at his streaming eyes, he focused.

There was no longer a Zoroark there. Instead, there was a Magikarp flopping in a small puddle.

"Okay, Raikou!" Ash called. "Look out, he's still able to attack like that!"

"Got it!" Raikou replied, running to gain some distance, before turning and beginning to charge an electrical attack. "Um... question? Is he going to?"

"You are not a Magikarp, you idiot!" Steve shouted. "You are capable of using moves that aren't Splash!"

Crypt did not seem to be capable of using a move that was not Splash.

"Raikou, Thunderbolt!" Ash called.

Raikou complied. A net of electricity briefly covered his body, then zipped up to his tail and lashed forwards.

The Thunderbolt connected with Crypt, blasting him backwards out of his puddle, and he reverted to his base form before bouncing along the floor a couple of times with smouldering fur.

Snarling, he vanished entirely in a shimmer of illusion.

"...that's a new one on me," Raikou said, blinking. "Well, Latias has pulled it on me a time or two, but-"

He shook his head. "Ash? I require assistance!"

Ash already had one eye closed. "Okay... uh, let's see... to your right!"

Raikou whirled, stabbing out a broad spread of electricity.

It caught something, which flickered, but then vanished again – and an audible schwing of darkness emerged from thin air, going straight for Raikou's footpaws.

The Electric-type jumped over it, and roared – slamming his paws on the floor, making it shake.

Crypt tripped over something as the ground trembled. He faceplanted into the floor, materializing, then ignored the Aura Sphere Raikou sent his way in favour of launching a vicious attack on the ground.

"...okay," Ash said, blinking. "Press the attack!"

"Zap Cannon!" Raikou announced, firing it. Crypt saw it coming, and turned into a Hoothoot.

The attack passed over his head.

"Now how does that work!?" Raikou demanded.

"Zoroark transformations are... well, kinda solid!" Ash explained. "I don't know what that means here, though!"

"Hoot," Crypt said clearly, tilting his avian head. Then a wave of ghostly energy lashed out from his eyes, reaching for Raikou.

While the Electric-type dodged, Crypt changed shape again. This time, his form was that of an Exploud, and he promptly used Boomburst.

Karen sat up, making the Umbreon on her lap grumble slightly.

"But... that's not how Illusion works..." she said weakly.

Raikou was blasted backwards by the roar of sound. He dug his paws in, claws extending, and leaned into the blast to shed speed – leaving furrows in the dirt.

"Right!" he roared, and launched a crackling Thunder attack at his opponent.

This burst the illusion, and seemed to do some damage on top of that. Crypt snarled, teeth bared, then jumped into the air and turned into a Drifblim.

"I'm starting to get dizzy," Pikachu admitted, as Crypt floated gently skywards. "How many Pokémon has he been already?"

"Too many!" Raikou commented. He frowned, and began the laborious process of charging a Volt Crash.

"Raikou, don't!" Ash called quickly. "It'll just leave you open, and you've still got aiming problems. Use Thunder again!"

Complying, Raikou switched to Thunder. He fired off the attack, and Crypt's illusion collapsed.

Then Crypt turned into a Wailord.

Raikou had the misfortune to be underneath.

Ash winced. "Raikou! You okay?"

For a few seconds, there was nothing. Then the Electric-type burst from the floor, mud clinging to his mane, and shook himself.

"Ow."

Another blue flash caught his attention, as Crypt shifted forms yet again.

This time, he (rather underwhelmingly) became a Feebas.

"...the heck?" Ash asked, blinking, as the Feebas flopped around not doing much.

"You are not a fish!" Steve hollered. "You are a free shapeshifter!"

Flop.

"Turn into something useful, damnit!"

As Raikou advanced for a Wild Charge, Crypt's fishy body glowed blue once more and reformed into something round.

"I am a Pokéball!" he said clearly, and exploded.

Raikou landed on his side, which drove the air out of his body with a whoof. Shaking himself, he clambered back to his paws and swiped at the smoke.

"He's gone invisible again!" Ash informed him. "Left!"

Raikou shrugged his small bundle of signs off his back, and swiped them through the smoke. They connected with a thwack, and Crypt materialized rolling and shaking his vulpine head.

"Quick Attack!" Ash called.

Slightly surprised, Raikou duly jumped forwards in a Quick Attack. The charging blow hit Crypt before he recloaked, though a moment later the Dark-type fired a swirl of Night Daze and vanished in the confusion.

"Okay, Raikou, I think I've worked something out!" Ash called.

"I can barely see..." the Electric-type muttered, shaking his head as the Night Daze began to wear off. "What is it?"

"I think he's reacting differently to different Types than Dark-types normally do," Ash explained. "The Aura Sphere wasn't nearly as effective as it should have been, especially compared to how he took the Quick Attack..."

"I did wonder." Raikou shook his head once more, then smiled as he seemed to have driven the problem off entirely. He looked back and forth, searching for a possible sign of a Pokémon, then pulsed out a hemispherical wave of electricity. "Shockwave!"

It didn't hit anything.

Ash closed his eyes, and gasped. "Below!"

Raikou leaped out of the way just before Crypt – in the form of a Diggersby, now – burst through the soil and swiped his ears at him. The blow connected, knocking Raikou about a bit, but he quickly rallied and sent an electric blast at the concealed Zoroark.

A moment's scowl from the now-revealed Dark-type, and then there was another poof and-

Raikou blinked. "What?"

He shook his head. "Zap Cannon!"

The Ditto-shape which Crypt had taken up reshaped itself – forming a hole in the centre, which let the attack pass through without touching the sides.

"...hm, interesting." The Electric-type frowned, and began to charge a Shockwave – intending this time to slam down a horizontal plane of electricity and get the confused Dark-type that way.

Just as he was about to bring it down, though, his target changed again. This time, a Ninjask buzzed towards him, passing close enough to trim his fur on his right side, before curving out over the stands and finishing above the crackling electrical plane.

Raikou rolled his eyes, and sent the plane upwards instead.

"...oh, yeah, right," Steve said, airily, as Crypt transformed back to a Zoroark and plummeted back towards the ground. "Hey, moron! Turn into something that can fly!"

"I'm getting a headache..." Pikachu muttered. "And if it's this bad for us, how do the audience feel?"

"Raikou!" Ash called. "Try a Shadow Ball!"

"Pardon?" Raikou asked, blinking, as Crypt briefly became a Honchkrow and beakplanted into the ground before emerging and shaking his head. "But... that's not an effective attack..."

"Just try it!" Ash advised.

"If you say so..."

Still a little dubious about the plan, Raikou began to prepare a Shadow Ball – then stopped, as Crypt made yet another transformation.

This time, into a Regice.

"...that's new," he muttered, then bolted as Crypt fired a Hyper Beam from his eyes which carved a long furrow in the arena floor.

Running hard, muscles bunching, Raikou remained ahead of the beam while it lasted. The moment it died out, he skidded around in a sharp turn and fired his Shadow Ball.

It made it about halfway before being hit by an Ice Beam.

Raikou shook his head. "Right, get closer first!"

He dodged out of the way of a second laser-beam of energy, turning hard, and snapped off a Shockwave as he approached.

The electric attack did the trick, breaking Crypt's illusion, and a moment later Raikou himself arrived and bowled the Zoroark over before firing a close-range Shadow Ball.

This attack hit hard. Ash's gamble paid off, as the Ghost-type attack seemed to do as much as almost all the other attacks so far put together, and Crypt snarled before bringing his hind legs up and pushing Raikou bodily off him.

"Keep it up!" Ash advised. "One more should do it!"

As he said that, though, Crypt transformed one final time.

This form was an Absol, and it bared gleaming teeth for a moment before howling.

The noise was indescribable. It made Ash's teeth itch, and Pikachu nearly fell off the window slit.

"Is that Perish Song?" Ash asked, hands on his ears.

"Well, I feel ready to faint..."

There was a crackle-BOOM from the stadium, as Raikou landed a body-blow with a Wild Charge.

The Perish Song cut off in a strangled squawk, and Raikou followed the flying Dark-type before Stomping up and down on Crypt a couple of times as he reverted.

Panting, he turned back towards Ash's window. "Okay! Okay. I'm done. I think."

"Good work!" Ash managed, taking his hands tentatively from his ears. "What do you mean you think?"

"Well, I feel-"

Raikou stopped talking mid-sentence, and collapsed.

"...okay," Ash said, blinking. "Oh, right. Perish Song. Uh... what the heck was up with that Zoroark?"

"Yeah, people ask that," Steve admitted. "Basically, he's a moron with Sketch. He's learned most of the moves in the world, but he's utterly convinced he is whatever he's pretending to be."

There was a flicker as he returned his out-cold Dark-type. "I have seen him disguise himself as a Rotom and spend three hours trying to get into the toaster. Anyway – next?"

"Sure-" Ash began, then stopped. "Wait. What's that?"

He squinted, shading his eyes as he followed the dot approaching the stadium.

It soon became clear as a Pokémon – a Flying-type, he could see the wings – and then a Charizard, who circled once before dropping down into the arena proper.

As the Fire-type came in to flare, Ash realized who it was. "Oh – you're Charla, right?"

"That's right!" Charla roared. "Hey, has my boyfriend fought yet-"

She stopped dead, and began to blush.

Charizard burst out of his own Pokéball. "Knew it! Knew you'd be the first to say it!"

"Yes, yes, alright, you win," Charla muttered, blushing heavily. "Anyway!"

She faced him directly. "Liza and I got hold of this just yesterday," she informed him, reaching up and unpinning her bow. "Take good care of it."

"Of what-" Charizard began, then focused in on the bow as she handed it over.

In pride of place, gleaming on the knot, was a small spherical stone.

"...really?" he asked, hushed.

"I expect it back completely undamaged!" Charla insisted.

"Wow. Uh... yeah, I'll take great care of it," Charizard promised.

"Good," she said, with a satisfied smile. "Now, show whoever you're fighting what Charizard are made of!"

As she spread her wings, she winked. "After all, I don't think it's going to be a Raticate."

"That was a special case!" Charizard bellowed, and she laughed before flying up to a clear spot and landing there.

Grumbling, Charizard slipped the bow over one of his horns and turned to face his foe. As he did, Steve held up a Pokéball.

"Hey, Ghost!" he called. "Your turn!"

There was a flash, and Charizard found himself facing a Blaziken.

He blinked. Blaziken. At the Silver Conference.

"...oh, not again..." Charizard muttered. He took a deep breath, and sighed it out. "Right!" he said, more loudly.

The Blaziken cocked his head. Charizard couldn't help notice that there seemed to be some rather nasty scars around his eyes.

"Was that your girlfriend?" he asked, looking up towards Charla.

Charizard nodded. "Yes," he said simply, pride in his voice.

"Smoking hot – I mean, wow!" the Blaziken went on. "Damn! I'd love to discuss fire alone with her for hours!"

Charizard's nostrils let out just a bit of smoke.

"Ready, Charizard?" Ash called, seeing the warning signs of an impending explosion.

He unlimbered his staff for the third and final time this match, and concentrated.

Charizard.

There were a lot of memories here. Ranging from when he first found the frightened Charmander on a rock, through the months with Charizard a recalcitrant, argumentative presence... then that terrible, wonderful night in the Orange Islands when all that changed.

And since then, Charizard had been his rock and powerhouse. Not always there, and Ash didn't begrudge him for it – but always there when he was needed. Gym battles, league battles... and to catch him when he fell.

There was an intense flash of orange light.

"Well, there he is again," Norman said, looking over the orange-and-cream Mega Charizard. "I think he was the first Mega I ever saw, come to think of it... that thing in Greenfield last year."

"Probably," May agreed. "I – wait, what!?"

The rest of the family followed her gaze, seeing the Blaziken taking out and donning a pair of glasses – glasses which were shining with an orange light just like Charizard's borrowed bow had done.

"Blaziken has one too?" Max asked, just before the Blazikenite activated.

When it faded, the Fire-Fighting type had changed significantly.

Gone were the yellow markings, replaced by differently-patterned black ones forming a rippling fire-pattern against the red feathers. Long coils of flame rippled off his wrists, and white feathers formed wing-like crests either side of his forehead and spaulders around the base of each arm.

"...I want one," May decided. "I so want one."

Mega Charizard spread his wings, hammering at the air, and took flight – shooting skywards on his broader, sleeker wings compared to normal.

"Okay, Ghost!" Steve shouted. "First, don't get too distracted by pretty female Fire-types in the audience!"

The Mega Blaziken – Ghost – chuckled, gaze tracking Charizard as his opponent soared skywards.

"Second – get him!"

"Look out, Charizard!" Ash called up. "He looks-"

Ghost crouched, briefly, and exploded skywards.

He ascended into the heavens with astonishing speed, but Mega Charizard was ready for it – he pulled up, shedding forwards speed and firing out a burst of flame.

Intensified by the brightening sun overhead, the Fire Blast detonated with a BANG and a spherical blast of heat. It knocked Ghost sideways in the air, but he rallied quickly and lashed out with a kick.

The kick went nowhere near Mega Charizard. The whoosh of air which it produced, however, did reach him and buffeted at his wings – making him roll and turn, before he recovered and flew a little higher as Ghost dropped back to the arena floor.

"Is it me, or is that Blaziken accelerating?" Ash asked, watching as Ghost landed before volleying a pair of punches skywards.

The blasts of air that resulted were spectacular, and Mega Charizard weaved around them with his wings nearly perpendicular to the arena floor before coming around in a wingover and launching down another Fire Blast.

Ghost skipped back a step, then backflipped – landing on his hands, he bounced for a moment before kicking with extravagant force at the oncoming fire attack and detonating it early.

He then came back to his feet and sprinted at the arena wall.

"Definitely accelerating," Pikachu agreed – then blinked. "Whoa!"

Ghost reached the stadium wall, ran up it without slowing, and kicked off to soar skywards once more.

As previously, Mega Charizard braked – wings hammering the air to change his trajectory and throw off Ghost's attack path. This time, however, Ghost had a counter.

He lashed out with a kick behind him, producing another of those blasts of wind from the sheer speed of the blow, and propelled himself towards the surprised Mega Charizard.

Fists flashing, he aimed a blow at Mega Charizard – who was, though surprised, more than ready to tangle in melee.

For several long seconds, the two Fire-type Megas clashed in mid-air. Ghost's legs pumped, slamming air down to keep him skywards through sheer strength, and his arms flashed through a series of punches which Mega Charizard alternately blocked and countered with his own.

As Mega Charizard had a long tail, that of course came in too – flashing with green light for a Dragon Tail, or silver for an Iron Tail, Mega Charizard aimed to disrupt Ghost's kick-based way of staying in the air.

Ultimately, though, the two separated once more. There was an almighty BANG as Mega Charizard used Flame Burst at point-blank range, and used the moment of confusion to climb higher and away.

"Good!" Ash told him. "Try and stay higher than he can reach!"

No longer concerned with staying in the air, Ghost fell to the ground and absorbed the impact with ease.

"Hey!" Steve shouted. "How do Flying-types stay in the air?"

Ash blinked. "Pardon?"

"Just answer the question!" Steve insisted, as his Mega Blaziken punched up at Mega Charizard and countered a Dragonbreath.

"Uh... well, I guess by flapping their wings?" Ash replied, a little mystified.

Ghost and Steve smirked. Their expressions looked almost identical.

"WRONG!" Steve informed him. "Okay, Ghostie!"

Ghost spread his arms, the firey plumes on his wrists flaring around – then there was a wash of flame, which quickly subsided.

As it did, the wrist-plumes stilled completely.

Overhead, Mega Charizard wondered what was going on – then, suddenly, his wings stopped working.

He could still flap them, but they weren't holding him in the air. It was like they'd turned into dead weight.

Unbeknownst to him, Ghost's manoeuvre had aimed at equalizing out air pressure in the battle area. All air pressure, and just about all air movement – including the pressure difference and vortices which made aerofoils and wings work.

"Charizard!" Ash called up to him, as he began to fall. "Fire Blast, right down – now!"

Unquestioningly, Mega Charizard complied.

The high-powered Fire Blast scoured a great big crater in the arena floor, but more importantly it disrupted Ghost's layer of dead air – with a powerful pillow of blast overpressure, which slapped into Mega Charizard's spread wings and prevented him from hitting the floor too hard.

"Look-" Ash added.

Mega Charizard looked up just in time to get a Blaze Kick to the face.

"How the heck did you do that?" Ash asked, keeping an eye on the ground fight.

Fortunately, while Mega Charizard would have undoubtedly preferred to fight in the air – or to have a different Mega Charizard form, if he had to fight on the ground – he was still just as tough as ever.

"Oh, the falling thing?" Steve checked.

Wings glowing silver to stiffen them, Mega Charizard blocked a roundhouse kick from the overpowered chicken and retaliated with a blazing gout of Dragonbreath. The blast blew Ghost backwards, and he did a handspring before skidding to a halt.

"It's kind of a bizarro version of Gravity!"

Ghost crouched, and blurred around in most of a circle to attack Mega Charizard from behind. His axe kick met a claw as Mega Charizard whirled, and both fired out a Fire Blast which knocked both combatants flying.

"Basically he uses the flame to set up a huge pattern of horrible air currents-"

Mega Charizard landed first. He dug his claws into the ground to slow down, inhaled, and shot out a second plume of flame at Ghost to throw off his landing.

"-and it really screws with fliers!"

Ghost dodged to one side with the recoil from an air blast, and sprang right back into action by closing in on Mega Charizard while he reloaded.

A high kick was blocked by Mega Charizard's claws. Mega Charizard's tail swipe was avoided by Ghost's skywards leap, though the one-footed High Jump Kick he came down with met a Flamethrower coming the other way.

Powering through it, Ghost landed with one foot on Mega Charizard's shoulder and swiped at him with the other – resulting in his knocking Mega Charizard sprawling.

"Charizard!" Ash called. "Fire Spin – everywhere!"

Coming scrambling back to his feet, Mega Charizard built flame in his mouth for a moment and fired it out in a continual cylinder which spread out to cover the entire field.

The flames themselves were weak – even with the blazing sun overhead lending it force, his Fire Spin was spread thin – but they did set the remaining grass on fire.

"Now, back in the air!" Ash went on.

Mega Charizard's wings spread with a crackle, but as he made to leap Ghost emerged from the blaze and aimed a spin kick at him.

Not in the mood for this, Mega Charizard fired a blast of Dragon Rage and sprang skywards.

Ash proved to have guessed right – the wild flames throughout the stadium were overriding Ghost's earlier wing-binding effect, and Mega Charizard lost no time in rising to fighting altitude.

Below, he saw Ghost crouching ready to spring, and a grin formed on his face for a moment.

Then, as the Mega Blaziken launched skywards, Mega Charizard fired. The incandescent ball of orange energy travelled a few feet, then exploded with a bang into a shower of meteors.

"Ow!" Molly said, hands going to her ears, as the dozen or so projectiles from the Draco Meteor all hammered into Ghost in the same fraction of a second. "That was loud!"

"What I don't know is if-" Brock began, and then Ghost emerged from the cloud of smoke.

He was still going up, but significantly slowed by the multiple explosions, and peaked a little way below Mega Charizard's operating altitude.

"Blast Burn!" Steve called.

"Wha-" Ash yelped. "You too, Charizard!"

In the frozen moment as both Fire-types charged – a glowing ball of bluish light forming in Ghost's clenched hands, and Mega Charizard's maw gaining a similar-hued glow from inside – one voice could be heard.

"Everyone close your eyes!"

Then Blast Burn met Blast Burn. The two bluish lances of Fire-typed energy collided about halfway between the two participants, and there was a very big bang.

The concussion was incredible.

A hot wind snatched at hats and hair around the stadium, buffeting through the energy shield erected by multiple Alakazam for the first overpressure of the blast – before they got it back under control, and the wind dropped.

Even through closed eyelids, the blast had been a bright red bar of light – but no-one had seen the result, and the colossal plume of smoke and steam which had resulted blocked anyone seeing either Pokémon.

"Are you okay?" Charla called into the smoke, wings half-unfurled to fly down there herself.

Then, driven by a powerful upcurrent, the smoke and steam was drawn out of the arena into the open air.

It revealed two Pokémon lying sprawled on the arena floor.

"Another double-" Ash began, then frowned. "Wait... Charizard!"

"What is it?" Pikachu asked, squinting.

"He's still transformed!" Ash pointed out. "Charizard, get up! Charla's watching!"

His Fire-type stirred.

Taking a deep, shuddering breath, he pulled his arms in and used them to lever himself to his feet. Once there, he paused for a moment – then let out a tired, triumphant roar.

With an orange flash, he transformed back, and – with great care – took the bow from his horn.

Then, with the whole stadium watching in a hush, he forced himself into the air and flew over to his mate to return her Mega Stone.

"Well done!" Charla said, voice full of pride. "Oh, lords of fire and air... well done!"

She took the bow and replaced it, and Charizard smirked – then stumbled.

"I think I'd like a sit down now," he said, and she chuckled.

"Well, Charizard might be able to fight once he's had a rest," Ash said, frowning. "But for now I guess it's you, Pikachu."

"I've been waiting for it," Pikachu agreed. "Fortunately, if it's a Ground-type I should be fine."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Go show 'em, Pikachu!"

The mouse grinned, then jumped out onto the smouldering battlefield to face Steve's final Pokémon.

"So," Steve said, stretching. "Couldn't help but notice that you used three Megas there."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "It was going to be only two, but..."

"Pretty cool," Steve told him. "Hey. Snap."

He sent out a slate-grey Metagross, and grinned. "Oi, Scabbard! Win this or I'm cancelling my debts to you!"

The Metagross stomped in a circle to face him, and its' golden metallic cross sparked briefly as it regarded him. You are not getting out of it that easily.

"Oh, come on!" Steve wheedled. "I'm useless with money, you know that, but before long I'm gonna need to start selling organs!"

Indeed. Now, make yourself somewhat useful.

Sighing, Steve took up his Key Stone once more.

He blew on it to cool it down a bit, and raised it.

"A third one?" Ash asked, a little startled.

"I said snap!" Steve pointed out, and then the now-familiar orange glow suffused his Metagross.

When it faded, Ash – and most of the audience – had their first look at a Shiny Mega-Evolution.

It was quite a strange one.

To begin with, the golden cross had gone blue – the same colour as the body of a normal Metagross – while the rest of the Pokémon had the silver-body and gold-claws it had retained beforehand.

The bigger changes, however, were to the body plan. Specifically, the major change was that the Mega Metagross was floating – and had eight limbs, not four. There were four large ones forwards, arrayed around the face, and four smaller behind.

Scabbard swivelled, and his red eyes flashed. Target acquired.

"Let's do this, Pikachu!" Ash called.

"Twelve Pokémon in one match, and half of them have gone Mega," Lance said, shaking his head. "This is getting ridiculous."

He frowned. "Actually, though, I don't..."

"What?" Lorelei asked, looking up from the stand-off.

"I was just wondering – one of these two is going to be in the final. Who are they going to be fighting?"

Lorelei frowned, then winced. "You're right – whoever it is, they're going to be a lot less-"

There was a BOOM from the arena below.

Pikachu tucked into a forwards roll, tail glowing, and sheared through the closest chunk of debris before unrolling and landing on the cracked earth.

"Missed!" he said, then dove out of the way again as the Mega Metagross launched a Flash Cannon shot at him.

The Steel-type attack blew a furrow in the ground, then a lance of psychic energy followed it, and Pikachu slipped nimbly around both with bursts of Agility before turning and making his first counterattack.

Electricity sparked briefly around his cheeks, then shot forwards with a sound like tearing cloth. It splashed on a psionic shield for a moment, then powered through, and the Zap Cannon exploded between Scabbard's four forearms just short of his face.

Interesting. Analyzing...

Pikachu followed it up with a Thunder, then Scabbard matched electricity with electricity by firing a succession of tightly spaced Thunderbolts.

The first one hit Pikachu and drained down into his voltage wells – or began to, because when the second hit there was a SLAM of equalizing current as the second half of the positive blast hit the first half of the negative blast.

Pikachu was sent flying backwards, rolled, spun and landed against the wall before scampering out of the way of another sequence of attacks.

"Okay, Pikachu!" Ash called. "He wants to match electricity with electricity – let's show him!"

"You got it!" Pikachu replied, and slapped out a Shockwave variant to keep things fluid.

The lightning bolt he sent at Scabbard branched, then branched, then branched... splitting into eight currents, then sixteen, then thirty-two until the whole assemblage became a single conical lance of electrical fire.

It sleeted across Scabbard's raised shields, worming in at a hundred places, and the shield failed in several local patches. The Shock Wave attack drove through those patches of failure, following the path of least resistance, and crackled down one of Scabbard's claw-arms into his body.

Pikachu hadn't been idle while his attack had been propagating. He focused electrical energy into his cheeks, then out of them into a broad ring around his body – much thicker and broader than his usual fare.

Maybe a battle wasn't the best time to experiment, but then again they'd tried this a couple of times already...

He shifted himself so the ring was about a pace ahead of him – moving continually as he did, running around the wall so he didn't present an easy target.

Then the ring split. But not into three – into four.

Lance half-stood, staring down into the arena. "That is a Pikachu, right? I mean... just a Pikachu?"

"There's nothing just about Pikachu," Misty chuckled.

"No, but I mean – we just saw Raikou earlier!" Lance pointed out. "Raikou! And yet – that attack, whatever it was, was more sophisticated than anything Raikou did... and..."

He looked closer. "Isn't that that signature move Ash's Raikou tried during the battle with that other one?"

"Actually, it's a move Ash and Pikachu invented," Brock corrected him.

Lance blinked. "What."

The shiny Raikou lounged across two seats chuckled, and said something Lance didn't catch.

"Yes, I know, he blew up my gym with it," Misty sighed. "I've come to terms with it." A pause. "Really I have."

"Actually, that looks a bit different this time," Brock said. "It doesn't normally get this bright-"

With four rings instead of three, Pikachu was able to exercise tighter control over the resultant snarled-up electromagnetic loops.

It took more effort, and more concentration – that was true. But everything had some kind of price, and in this case Pikachu felt the price was worth it.

Because what it got him was the ability to do this.

Three of the rings locked together, forming an escape path facing directly towards the approaching Scabbard – producing an almighty blast of electricity.

But Pikachu was not using a backstop this time, so the electrical blasts went both directions. Instead, the fourth ring shot out and curved the other blast, making it come back on itself in a hairpin turn and crash home a sliver of a second after the first one.

The first one, which had blown a hole in Scabbard's shield.

The net result of this was that an attack almost as powerful as a complete Volt Crash blazed through an open space where a shield should be. It hit Scabbard full in the face, knocking him backwards, and electrical energy crackled around all eight limbs.

"All right!" Ash grinned. "It worked!"

"I know!" Pikachu agreed, still on the move and now coming around the curve towards Ash. "I guess that's just because I'm that good!"

This is excellent!

Both trainer and Pokémon blinked. "Eh?"

Scabbard's eyes flashed, and the last of the residual energy discharged into the ground. So much power in such a small Pokémon! Fascinating! Let me do science to you.

Faintly, Steve could be heard.

"Oh, no..."

It was not encouraging.

Scabbard opened up by charging forwards, levitating smoothly over the badly scorched ground, and hammered in a two-clawed Meteor Mash with opposite arms.

Pikachu's yellow form blurred slightly as he dodged around the attacks, then slipped away from the second volley of two Meteor Mashes and took a quick breath.

Then, when the third blow came in, he drew one paw back briefly – and lashed out with the palm shining a bright blue.

The impact was incredible, producing a swirl of air lifting the ash strewn around the arena floor.

There was a frozen moment of perfect balance, then both Pikachu and Scabbard were blown backwards as Pikachu's Force Palm fired.

Rolling and flipping, Pikachu skated across the floor before sticking to it like glue as his feet glowed with another use of Aura – not quite the water-walk trick, but something close, holding the dusty ash together and him to it.

Scabbard was already coming back in. Excellent! Not just electricity, but Aura as well! How does this feel?

He drew back one glowing arm, then launched a Hammer Arm forwards.

This time, Pikachu caught it.

Cracks formed in the ground around him, as the force of the impact had nowhere else to go but to try and shift the ground he was clinging to – but it held, as a flicker of blue light danced around from his left paw to his right.

"Counter!" Pikachu announced.

This blow spun Scabbard halfway around, and he blinked before refocusing and switching to something else.

Lance gaped. "What?"

"He's been learning from Ash and his Lucario – or Riolu – for a couple of years at least," Brock clarified.

"He's fighting a Mega Metagross! In melee!"

"I think that's mainly by spending a lot of Aura," Misty said, wincing as Scabbard drove Pikachu into the ground with an Ice Punch – then a torrent of electricity came from the crater, smashing the ice, and Pikachu followed that up with a shower of Aura Spheres and a Brick Break to let them through Scabbard's shield.

"Question," Molly's Entei muttered.

Brock tore his eyes from the battle, and looked – then blinked.

"Aren't those all Steve's other Pokémon? Why are they hiding behind you four?"

Ash's Suicune shook her head. "Good question..."

"Save us, volcano dog!" Shadow demanded. "You are the one who is strong against Scabbard in Science Mode!"

Interesting. Interesting! Tell me, how does this feel?

This time, Scabbard's claws all came down at once – crackling with electricity.

Pikachu spent more Aura in blocking the physical impact, and the Thunderpunches drained down into his voltage wells.

He blinked. "Uh, not that I'm complaining, but... why?"

Assessment of ability potential! Scabbard explained, before swiping a claw to backhand Pikachu away. The Mouse wasn't there when it arrived, dodging to one side before ramming an electrically-enhanced Force Palm into the metallic limb.

Yes! This is exactly what I was interested in – electrical Aura used in the same way as conventional! A major-

"Just get on with the fight!" Steve hollered.

I will do science if I want to do science, Scabbard replied, sounding a little hurt. He swiped irritably at Pikachu, and was then forced to take the combat more seriously by Pikachu using the contact to channel a Thunder through him.

Scabbard lifted up his claw, and Pikachu came with it – clinging grimly on, and shocking away.

I feel this is not an ideal situation.

"Pikachu!" Ash called. "Can you try an Electroball?"

"Good idea!" Pikachu replied, electricity crackling around his tail. "Electro-"

Scabbard punched him off his claw with his other claw.

Pikachu twisted in mid-air, positioning himself for when he hit the wall, but it still hurt. He bounced off with a pained squeak, and landed hard before coming to his feet.

"Ow," he said, shaking his head, before facing Scabbard.

The Mega Metagross was crackling extravagantly, lightning playing over all eight claws. Let us see whether this works.

Two spheres of lightning began to form, defined by his claws. One was yellow, the other blue, and as they approached one another a few bolts bridged the gap – producing, for just a moment, an eerie green colour.

Do you know how Fusion Bolt works? Scabbard asked.

Ash paled. "Get ready, Pikachu!"

Pikachu nodded firmly, arms outstretched.

Then Scabbard came rocketing across the battlefield, surrounded in blue light.

Pikachu crouched, power gathering around his cheeks for a moment, then leaped forwards in a Volt Tackle.

The two Electrical attacks collided, Pikachu's yellow corona against Scabbard's blue outer layer.

"Hey," Pikachu managed, as his attack tried to burn through Scabbard's to reach his target. "The real Zekrom does it BETTER!"

An extra bolt darted out from his tail. It curved around, and hit Scabbard's Fusion Bolt on the top edge.

It was hardly enough to make a Pidgey twitch.

More importantly, though, it ionized the air – leaving a path Pikachu controlled, and down which the Fusion Bolt began to drain. Straight into Pikachu's Volt Tackle, lending it force.

Ah, Scabbard said, as the blue layer collapsed – and reformed, around Pikachu this time. Now I see why Teravolt is so important to the successful use-

The second layer collapsed, and Pikachu hit Scabbard with all the pent up force of the entire clash. There was a moment when the oversize ball of electricity was about to collapse in on its bearer, but Pikachu dealt with that by the simple expedient of cramming it all into an Electroball and shooting that after Scabbard.

The detonation filled most of the arena.

Pikachu landed, and flopped back into a sitting position.

His cheeks chirped once, then fell silent – stinging something fierce. "Owww..."

Across from him, there was an orange flash at the base of a small crater.

"Huh, look at that," Steve mused. "Scab got beat. Doesn't happen every day."

After a frozen moment, Ash clambered out of the box and raced across the battlefield to his starter. "Pikachu!"

He picked Pikachu up and whirled him around, heedless of the static buzzing through Pikachu's fur. "That was awesome!"

"I'm glad you liked it..." Pikachu said, a little woozy. "Ow. I think I strained my Type."

"Ash Ketchum... uh... wins?" the referee asked. "Does Steve have any Pokémon left?"

"Nah, they all got knocked out," Steve shrugged. "GG, gotta go. Oi, Shadow!"

"Isn't there a third-fourth place playoff?" Ash asked, curiously, as the Hydreigon swooped down into the arena.

"Don't care," Steve waved. "I fought who I came to fight, I'm off now."

After a brief argument with his Dark-typed Dragon, he returned the rest of his team and flew off.

Up in the stands, a boy in his early teens put his head in his hands.

"Oh, no..." he said, sighing. "I've got to fight him now."

67

"It's a pity we can't do this more often," Brock said, inching his arm around Philena's back.

She noticed, but let it go with a tolerant smile. "I said I was sorry... something came up with a couple of poachers trying to steal-"

"Don't worry," Brock interrupted her. "It's fine. I know."

He rolled his eyes. "I travel with Ash. Believe you me, I know things can come up at short notice."

Philena Ivy chuckled. "Fair point. I did catch his semi final match on TV, though..."

She shook her head. "I'm sometimes amazed how powerful trainers are – I mean, I know there are some really powerful Pokémon, and intellectually I know the Elite Four can fight Legendaries on some sort of level pegging, but to see two trainers of that kind of level going all out..."

"Just wait, we'll get you that Shinx and you'll change your mind," Brock teased. "I can see it now, in two years you'll be challenging Zapdos to a duel or something..."

"You're teasing me," Philena stated.

"Doesn't make it incorrect."

Holding in a giggle, the researcher leaned forwards a bit. "...who's that in the other box?"

"I saw his battles," Brock filled in. "Well, the last few. He's quite good."

"What does quite good mean here?" Philena asked. "Good, great, or knowing the signature moves of Legendary Pokémon?"

There was a pause.

"Poor guy," Brock mused. "Oh well, at least since Ash has won a league before-"

"There we go," Philena pointed. "A Feraligatr?"

"He calls it Floodwater," Brock supplied. "He gives all his Pokémon nicknames, I think – most people do all-or-nothing."

With a second flash, they watched as Ash sent out his Snorlax.

"That's one of the ones Ash caught in the Orange Islands, right?" Philena checked. "Okay, should be interesting."

"Good work, Floodwater!" Fred Farrell called, as his powerful Starter grappled with Snorlax. "You're doing great – keep it up, keep low so he can't topple you!"

Floodwater's growl was a little strained, but seemed hale enough. He opened his mouth and fired out a blast of water, then got hit by a burst of Hyper Beam from the Snorlax in return.

"Wait – I know!" Fred realized. "Fire at his feet! Hydro Pump, then Ice Beam!"

Floodwater let out a roar, then fired Hydro Pump at Snorlax' big feet. The blast drove through the grass and into the earth below, making it a kind of soup, and the big Normal-type's feet slipped.

"Hold the Ice Beam!" Fred decided. "Just twist-"

With Snorlax losing traction, Floodwater was finally able to get a good enough grip. He lifted, muscles straining, and slammed Snorlax over onto his side before finally unleashing the Ice Beam.

A torrent of ice roared out, covering the Normal-type's chest, and by the time it ended there was a thick layer of frozen water pinning Snorlax to the ground.

"Don't let up!" the trainer called.

"Fire Punch!" he heard Ash shout, and winced.

"Wait – Focus Punch!"

Floodwater drew back his fist, which glowed, and volleyed it forwards as the ice shattered.

It met a Fire Punch coming the other way, and Snorlax clearly came off much the worse – skidding backwards, rolling over in a somersault before coming back to his feet.

"Good!" Fred called. "Okay, Floodwater, finish this! Hydro Cannon!"

Floodwater's spines began to light up – the ones at the tail tip first, then rapidly going up to his head. He inhaled, then fired – just as Snorlax unleashed another blast of light from his Hyper Beams.

Water went everywhere, some of it hissing to steam.

"I see what you mean," Philena admitted, as the two attacks petered out and both big Pokémon lunged forwards for another bout. "Good, but..."

Brock nodded.

"Okay, Floodwater!" they heard Fred call. "That's enough for now – Fuchida!"

The Feraligatr was replaced in a flash by a Forretress.

"That might be quite a bad idea," Brock frowned. "Snorlax knows Fire Punch, after all."

As he said that, Snorlax did indeed lunge forwards with his fist glowing with orange-red flame.

Just before it connected, Fred raised his voice. "Explosion!"

There was a BANG, and Snorlax staggered backwards from the concussive blast.

"Or he might do that," Brock admitted.

"Don't you have a Forretress?" Philena asked.

"That's right!" Brock confirmed. "I was thinking about what I'd do in this situation, but the answer is I'd send out Steelix so I wasn't really in the right mindset."

Below, Fuchida followed up his Explosion with a Flash Cannon. Snorlax wobbled, then seemed to rally, and fired off another Hyper Beam – this time at the grass, aiming to flip the Forretress into the air.

"You asked to see us, boss?" Jessie said, as the trio entered the room.

"Indeed I did," Giovanni confirmed. "Sit down."

The three sat.

Meowth looked up, and noticed that Giovanni's attention was mostly focused on a screen rather than them. "Uh... boss?"

Giovanni glanced up. "Go on."

"I was kinda wonderin'... uh... what you're watchin'?"

The Boss of Team Rocket nodded to himself. "Understandable. Observe."

He pressed a button, and the big wall-screen to their left lit up.

It showed a Snorlax attempting to play soccer with a Forretress, trying to kick it into the air hard enough that the Explosions wouldn't hurt him.

"Wait a sec..." James said, looking closer. "That Snorlax looks familiar."

"Indeed it should," Giovanni smiled thinly. "That is the Ash Ketchum you've been following."

He steepled his fingers. "Unfortunately, I'm going to be pulling you off the task of following him directly – not merely to handle some singular other task, that is."

"Why's that?" Jessie asked.

The image of the battle onscreen shrank down to fill a single quarter, making it a little harder to see as Snorlax threw the Forretress straight upwards before launching Hyper Beams at it.

In two of the other quadrants, symbols appeared.

"There are two groups in Hoenn who worry me. They seek Cosmic Power – specifically, they appear to be attempting to gain control of Groudon and Kyogre respectively."

Giovanni contemplated his agents. "Most of my other cells would be incapable of matching a Team which seeks to control a Legendary. You, on the other hand, have the resources required."

"You got it, boss!" Meowth grinned. "Uh... what's da plan?"

"Find out what they're doing, and how far along they are. Slow them. Stop them, if you can. And..."

Giovanni paused.

"If all else fails, at least be visible trying to help things out. If the world is heavily injured but not destroyed, then that will make us prominent in the rebuilding."

"Right!" Jessie and James nodded, and Meowth jumped off the chair.

"Oh, and James?" Giovanni added. "I don't know how you managed to obtain that Moltres, but take good care of him or her."

"Don't worry about that," James said fervently.

Once they'd left, Giovanni glanced over at his Persian.

"This is so much less effort than trying to recapture Mewtwo would have been," he observed, then hit another button on the remote control and returned the screen to full size.

"Keep it up, Totodile!" Ash called, as his little Water-type twisted to keep Fred's Flareon in his sights.

Water sprayed out, some of the droplets hitting the Flareon's side, and the Fire-type yipped before accelerating and coming around in a blazing Flare Blitz.

"Aqua Jet!" Totodile announced, waddling forwards a step and then diving into a charging head-first water-cloaked headbutt.

The Flareon, however, didn't play ball. He continued charging in until nearly the last moment, then jinked aside – letting the plume of fire and heat slap into Totodile on a slant.

The Water-type had turned to follow, but the sideways Flare Blitz knocked him off course. He hit, rolled, and another burst of Aqua Jet got his momentum under control.

"Good one, Flambé!" Fred encouraged his Pokémon. "Just like we practiced! Now – Dig!"

Flambé vanished underground, and Totodile looked around warily.

Ash closed one eye. "Totodile, Aqua Jet straight up!"

Totodile did so, and a moment later the ground blew open in a fair-sized crater.

"This might be lower-key than that battle Latias was in, but that's only a very relative thing," Bianca said, one eye on the television and one on the canvas as she painted busily away.

Latios squeaked, and frowned.

Bianca's brush stilled as she paid attention, and got a transmitted sensation from Latios. It wasn't telepathy, nothing close yet, but it was progress.

"I know," she admitted, going back to painting – but moving slower. "She was amazing, and it's a bit frightening that she got that good that fast."

Another sensation.

"But mostly good, yeah," Bianca agreed. "I'm pretty sure it would be much harder for those Rockets to get her if it happened now. She'd just shoot into the air and turn invisible."

Bianca switched colours, loading more red and blue paint onto her brush to get just the right purple, then dabbed most of it on her pallet to save it and got to work. "I'm kind of wondering what you'll be like at the other end of your first time with Ash..."

She frowned, then made a correction. "There."

Latios looked at it, bobbing gently up and down, and shrugged.

This time, Bianca got an image of – purple. Expanses and expanses of it. And a distinct puzzlement.

She guessed the meaning, and chuckled. "Yes, you are that colour when you go Mega. Same as Latias."

Latios didn't seem to like that.

"I know... but you do still look different."

A confused sound.

"Watch."

Bianca painted busily, one eye closed as she concentrated. Her brush swished back and forth, drawing out the shape of a Mega Eon, and adding in the fins with exquisite care before going back over the body of the Pokémon with a pale alabaster highlight.

"There," she said, some minutes later.

Latios stared at the result. His dear friend hadn't done the eyes, so the most obvious indicator of who was whom hadn't been done, but...

That is Latias, he said softly. It's as clear as-

"I heard you that time!" Bianca smiled. "Well done!"

Latios looked up, startled, and squeaked happily. He concentrated, and after a moment Bianca shook her head.

"Sorry, missed it that time..."

She smiled as Latios gave a more disappointed sound. "Don't worry. We'll keep practicing."

She looked back over at the television, just as the tired-looking Totodile managed to catch Flambé a direct hit on the nose with an Aqua Tail.

"Nice shot, Totodile!" Ash called. "Watch out, though, he's still a threat!"

Totodile nodded firmly.

As he turned back to his opponent, Flambé dug himself out of his crash scar. He shook his head, grumbling, then crouched down and charged forwards again.

"Fire Blast!" Fred called suddenly.

The Flareon dug in his paws, skidding slightly as he came to a halt, and unleashed a jet of flame which roared towards Totodile.

"Now!" Ash ordered. "Counter Shield!"

Totodile dove forwards, tucking into a half-roll and firing a burst of water forwards.

He splashed into the water he'd just created a moment later, and began firing at full Hydro Pump power – tilting his head a little to the side, so he began to rotate and spin with increasing speed.

The spinning cascade of water was about half-established by the time the Fire Blast reached it, and it wasn't quite ready for it – but the effect was already there, as the Fire Blast was eroded and sprayed from the side and front with successive waves of water droplets that drank away the heat.

Totodile was still knocked out of his spin by the explosion, but with most of the force gone he endured it easily before twisting and coming to a halt.

He inhaled, then launched a tiny blue sphere forwards.

"Flambé, run!" Fred rapped out.

The Flareon tried, he really did. But Totodile's Hydro Cannon was just a little too fast, and he was caught by the abrupt eruption of water and hammered to the floor.

Thanks to a quick Endure, he was still able to get up – just. But clearly not in fit shape for battle.

Fred winced. "Okay, not sure how a Totodile did that..."

He returned Flambé, and switched Pokéballs. "Okay, Felicity, your go!"

Felicity, his Flaafy, landed on the battlefield with a crackle of ready electricity. The Everstone pendant around her neck shone in the stadium light, and her tail flashed twice as she took her stance.

There was a thrack as she fired off her first move, an Electric Terrain which spread throughout the stadium, and then a Charge Beam caught Totodile as he readied an attack.

"And... there!" Bianca said with a smile, finishing the eyes. "How does that look?"

Latios contemplated it.

So far, there was no background, beyond a few pencil marks indicating where things would go. But – there she was, alright.

Mega Latias, a cheeky grin on her face, with a shimmer along her wing indicating she was just emerging from stealth. She was full of life and verve, and somehow Bianca had managed to capture his sister's pure joy at flying free – safe in the outside world at last.

Latios had no reservations sending his approval.

"Glad you like it," Bianca chuckled. "Now, let's see... should I do the trees or the grass first?"

An image of a Sudowoodo insinuated itself into her mind.

"Trees it is," she agreed, then looked back at the television. "Oh, there's that Ivysaur. He seems to be doing well..."

Backpedalling, Ivysaur's vines whipped out and grabbed at the leek.

"Okay, Fowler!" Fred called. "Fury Cutter!"

The leek glowed, cutting slightly into the vines, and Ivysaur withdrew them before they took more damage.

Firing out a storm of leaves from his flower, he grunted as the avian swung his glowing plant and blocked leaf after leaf.

"Ash, any thoughts?" he called.

"Uh – yeah!" Ash said. "Okay, Whirlwind!"

Ivysaur inhaled, and blew – hard.

The wind caught his opponent by surprise, and tugged at the leek in his hands.

Ivysaur renewed his leaf-based assault, stepping to the side and trying to stay out of range.

"Gust!" Fred called, and Fowler's wings hammered. They didn't quite lift him into the air, but it was close, and the wind clashed with Ivysaur's Whirlwind and negated much of the air movement.

Fowler swept his leek around and pointed it like a wand at Ivysaur, and a beam of light came out.

It swept across Ivysaur, who blinked as it did nothing whatsoever. "Eh?"

"I wonder what that was," Delia said. "Do Farfetch'd get moves like that? I thought they were mostly about hitting things with the leek..."

"That's correct," Professor Oak agreed, glancing between the two TV screens. "Farfetch'd are Pokémon who really do only one thing well, as a rule, and that's hit things very hard with their leek. A skilled trainer is one who can work with that."

Ivysaur lashed out with his vines again, and Fowler blocked with a down-to-up swipe before flaring one wing and producing a cloud of feathers.

"That's odd," the Professor blinked, leaning closer.

"The feather thing?" Delia asked.

"No, what feather-" Oak switched screens. "Oh! Ah, that's a Feather Dance. It weakens the enemy – shouldn't have worked that well, though," he added, as Ivysaur hauled in his vines with a great deal of effort.

"Maybe that beam did it?" Ash's mother suggested. "Sorry, I'm not great at recognizing all the moves..."

Ivysaur volleyed out another shower of leaves, but these ones were much more sluggish than the previous one. They barely reached their target, and he swept his leek in arcs to intercept them all with ease.

Oak nodded. "Hmmm... could be..."

As the battle went on, Delia spoke up again. "Professor?"

"Yes?" Oak asked, as Fowler went on the offensive and Ivysaur barraged out attacks to keep the duck at a distance. "What is it, Delia?"

"Well... I know you won the Indigo League in the past, but... what did you do after that?"

Oak leaned back. "Ah, now there's an interesting question! I actually did several things at once. I was quite the traveller in my misspent youth, you know..."

Delia chuckled. "I'm sure. But what were they?"

"Well." Oak sat back. "I'd been travelling for a few years before I won the Indigo League, and after that I went abroad for a year... Kalos, it's a nice place." He frowned. "Though, actually, that's quite confusing... I remember two quite different gym battles against the same person..."

He shook his head. "Anyway. I came second in that league, then I won another, and after that my qualification path took too much time."

"University, you mean?" Delia checked.

"That's right."

Oak smiled. "I was going to go back and carry on travelling, but... then I met her."

"And then your son came along, and..."

"That's right," the professor confirmed. "After that, it was too hard to justify going away for months on end."

He shrugged, a little melancholy. "These things happen."

After a moment, he glanced at the television. "Ouch!"

Delia looked over at that one too, and blinked. "Is that allowed?"

"Apparently."

The moment passed, with the referee not raising his flag, and Oak nodded to himself. "Well, well... anyway. If you're wondering what Ash should do... that's up to him. I've already gathered from our conversations that he's certainly not someone to just stomp someone's dreams flat – look at the team he's using here."

Ash's mother nodded, understanding. "Right. Because he's not using, say, Pikachu, it's still an interesting match."

"That's right – and Ash's Pokémon are all strong, but not all of them are as strong as one another. He's giving the weaker ones a chance to-"

The ground ripped open, as roots came surging out of it. They were slow and sluggish, though, and Fowler hopped from root to wooden root and cut his way out with a series of Air Slashes.

Ivysaur panted, as his Frenzy Plant collapsed.

What was wrong with him today?

"Ivysaur!" Ash called. "I think I worked it out!"

"Good, because I haven't!" Ivysaur replied. He pulsed out a Grass Whistle, just to see if he could knock the Farfetch'd out and gain an advantage that way, and was rewarded by Fowler's eyes drooping until he fell asleep.

Then he started using Sleep Talk.

"Gah!"

"He used Simple Beam on you!" Ash explained. "It meant his Featherdance affected you much more strongly than normal!"

"That would explain a-" Ivysaur ducked under a swish of the leek, "lot!"

"Ancientpower!" Ash told him.

Ivysaur's vines snapped out and snarled up Fowler's legs, making him trip. He lurched back to his feet and cut the vines with a quick swipe, but the time that took gave Ivysaur a change to use his Rock-type attack.

A momentary glow of light as the rock formed, then it fired forwards.

Fowler might have been able to block it if he'd been awake. He wasn't, though, and the rock hit him on the forehead.

Blinking, Fowler awoke. He rubbed his stinging forehead with his free wing, and promptly got hit by another Ancientpower.

As the duck slumped, Fred recalled him. "Okay, Flambé!"

"Ivysaur, you'll be no good out there!" Ash called. "Have a rest!"

"Gladly!"

Fred thought for a moment. Should he call Flambé right back and switch to Floodwater? Both Pokémon had had a rest, but...

He'd see what Ash sent out first.

With a burst of white light, a Muk formed on the battlefield.

"Muk, huh?" Fred asked. "Interesting – okay, Flambé, remember, don't let off the Flare Blitz! You can burn off poisons that way!"

Flambé nodded firmly back at him, then engulfed himself in flames once more and charged at Muk.

Tracey blinked, looking up at the computer from his paperwork. "Wait, is that-"

"...what just happened?" Koji asked, glancing at his new friends. "Seriously, what?"

Casey shook her head. "This happens all the time with him. He told me this story about how he basically brought down the roof of the Cianwood gym..."

"But – what?" Koji looked to Pietra for advice. "What moves did that Muk just use?"

On the battlefield, Flambé rolled to a stop, heavily bruised from his encounter with Muk's everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to TM moves. Shaking his head, he inhaled and switched to Fire Blast.

Pietra counted on her fingers. "I had... Hidden Power, Shadow Ball, Venoshock, Sludge Bomb, Rock Tomb and Focus Blast, but there were a lot more in there. A Fire move as well, at least."

"Isn't the Fire move a bad idea dealing with a Flareon?" Casey asked, and got shrugs.

"It's not like he was only using the Fire move," Pietra pointed out.

"Is it me, or is this surprisingly close?" Bruno asked. "That Muk was pretty impressive, but then again I didn't know they could be diluted out of a fight."

"I know," Lance admitted. "Especially after the previous match... I was worried that either Ash would use one of those Pokémon and it'd be one sided, or..."

He realized he hadn't thought of an or yet, and shrugged.

"That's kind of deliberate, I think," Brock said, as Tauros and Floodwater clashed with a slam. "He's used everyone in his entire team this conference."

"Oh, I see," Bruno admitted. "That's kind of a nice idea... hey, I didn't know his Tauros had that move-"

"He's got three, remember," Lorelei said.

"Actually five," Misty told them. "All pretty different."

"Right," Bruno nodded.

There was a WHAM as Tauros slammed home with a Wild Charge, then followed up with a Spite as Floodwater began to charge his Hydro Cannon.

"Good!" Ash shouted. "Great work! Now – Thrash!"

Snorting, Ash's Wild Bull stampeded forwards. His horns glowed briefly, and then the impact resounded around the arena.

Floodwater was bowled over by the impact. He pushed himself up on one side, then slumped back with a sigh.

"Well, that's that, then." Lorelei smiled. "A well-fought final, both of them."

Fred sighed, shaking his head. "That was... ah well."

It had been closer than he'd been fearing – Ash's Raikou and Latias had scared him, the Charizard, Heracross and Lucario had worried him more, and the Pikachu was frankly terrifying if only because of howmuch firepower had been crammed into a small volume.

He recalled Floodwater. "Good work, bud," he said, sincerely. "It wasn't our conference, but... good work."

After that, Fred sat down for a moment, breathing deeply to try to let the adrenaline wear off.

"Hey."

Looking up, Fred saw that his opponent was at the edge of the box.

"I just wanted to say," Ash began. "Great work. Really – I know what it's like, believe me."

"Really?" Fred asked, a little startled. "When?"

"...I guess not in tournaments," Ash admitted, realizing his five heartbreaking losses had technically never happened.

"Ah, here you both are!" Mr. Goodshow said, entering. "Wonderful show, both of you, wonderful show!"

He nodded to the runner-up. "Mr. Farrell? Just so you're aware, you have Elite Four challenge rights too."

Fred blinked. "I do? But-"

"Mr. Ketchum has that right already, so you get it too," the organizer smiled. "It's for exactly this situation. Now, come on – there's the podium in a minute."

He frowned for a moment. "Unfortunately, Mr. Steve has left the country, so there's no third-fourth playoff. Your opponent from the semi-final will be in third place on the podium. Now – come on, come on! A marvellous conference, all of it!"

As the cheering died down, Lance stepped up to the microphone.

"Now that the Silver Conference is over, I have a few announcements to make," he said. "Firstly – there's been rumours about it, so I'll confirm several of them. Some of the Kanto-Johto Elite Four are stepping down."

He waited for the muttering to subside. "It was a hard series of decisions to make, but we've come to them after a lot of thought – and we hope they're good decisions. Firstly, my colleague Lorelei will be retiring to work on her secondary career as a writer."

Lorelei waved, as a groan of disappointment ran around the stands. "I'm glad everyone's so upset!" she quipped, producing some laughter. "But I'll still be around – Lance and the others are friends, not just co-workers, and I'll stay in touch with them."

There was general approval of this.

Lance waited for a moment. "Secondly, Agatha – a staunch veteran and one of the longest serving members of the Elite Four on record – has decided to retire to spend more time with her sisters."

Agatha looked offended the disappointment was more muted. "Oh, you all like the young one..." she said darkly. "Well, see if I write a book!"

The laughter that followed, and the applause, seemed to mollify her somewhat.

"And, finally, I will be-"

Lance had to stop for a moment at the shock that spread through the stand.

"-I will be moving to the position of Grand Champion only, as we have recruited three new members for the Elite Four from what was a close-fought and hotly contested field. We'll be introducing them tomorrow-"

He let the relieved cheers build and peak, then subside a little.

"-and I'm sure you'll love them. First, though, we've all decided on a grand sendoff for Agatha and Lorelei, and Mr. Ketchum – this year's winner – has kindly agreed to waive his usual challenge in favour of battling each of us – with, in all cases bar one, a single Pokémon."

He smiled at the clear bafflement. "Everything will be clear tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen."

"Man, now I feel really nervous..." Ash admitted. "When I fought Lorelei, it was pretty much solo..."

"It'll be fine, Ash," Pikachu assured him. "Really."

"I hope so," Ash said. "I wonder how-"

Dexter beeped.

Incoming call.

"Huh, wonder who-"

It's from Dee, Dexter interrupted, as Ash flipped him open.

"Oh, right... hi, Gary!"

There was a pause.

"What do you mean, snap?"

"I mean snap!" Gary repeated, adjusting the trophy in his off hand. "We got bored and won the conference here in Kalos!"

"That's overstating it just a bit," Umbreon rolled her eyes. "It was a lot of work..."

"Yes, very much," Furfrou agreed. "But – well, a grand challenge indeed!"

"No, I don't feel threatened by you!" Gary said, shaking his head. "Whatever, Ash – I'm only one behind you now! And no, Orange doesn't count."

"That Pyroar was tricky," Arcanine admitted. "Good thing he made that mistake right at the start with Flash Fire."

Indeed, the whole team was quite remarkable, Alakazam nodded.

Furfrou rolled her eyes. "Umbreon could not hear you," she pointed out.

"Sorry."

"It was totally as much of a challenge as you had!" Gary insisted. "So what if you had to face some crazy nutjob with three Megas, you have Legendaries!"

"This argument is going to take a while," Umbreon predicted. "Who wants coffee?"