54.5

You remember last time? Latias asked. How?

Ash did it – he did it to you, too. That's how you remember. Latios paused. Sis, I'm sorry for leaving you before.

It wasn't your fault! Latias snapped back, then recoiled. Sorry, Latios, I'm just – all the time, I was so... and then...

Latias... Latios paused. I was wrong too. Neither of us are strong enough to keep ourselves safe, let alone Altomare – we should have been learning. I should have taken Rayquaza's offer – I should have done something to make sure we couldn't be...

He shook his head, invisibly. It doesn't matter. We're coming to save you, sis.

A mental caress. Thanks, brother.

Latios felt Latias relax away from him a bit, breaking the sight sharing. I'll fight as hard as I can to make sure they can't stop you, she promised.

Stay safe, sis, Latios told her.

Then he noticed something, and blinked.

"...what's that coming in towards the museum?"

Lucario glanced up, then looked towards the building. "It looks a lot like a pair of parachute canopies..."

Annie frowned, a bit worried by how her sister was acting.

She didn't seem to be very interested in making sure the jewel was alright. She was tapping away at her keyboard, saying things about revivification and enhancement that Annie was having trouble following.

Well, in between the bouts of maniacal laughter, that is. Those were a bit worrying too.

"Oh, this is outrageous!" Oakley said, making a fist-clenching motion. "Absolutely... gah! Attack, you stupid fossils!"

"What's wrong, Oakley?" Annie called up.

"Those stupid brats! No matter how many reinforcements I throw at them, they're just coming through them!"

She pointed at something on the screen. "And how does that make sense? They're running on the water!"

"Well-"

Annie's comment was interrupted by a loud crash from overhead. Both looked up, startled, as chunks of lead and glass rained down from a shattered window.

Two shapes landed on a catwalk up near the roof.

"Prepare for trouble, because this isn't a game!" one of the silhouettes announced.

"And make it double, because you're ruining our good name!" the other said – a male, this one.

"Annie?" Oakley asked, quietly. "Who are they?"

The duo overhead didn't seem to notice. "To protect this city from devastation!"

"To help us save our reputation!"

"To denounce the evils of idiots in our way!"

"To extend out our strength and help save the day!"

"Oakley... I have no idea," Annie admitted.

"Jessie!" the woman overhead called, seemingly in answer.

"And James!" her compatriot added.

"Oh, right!" Annie said suddenly. "These are those guys who did all those boring lectures."

"Team Rocket will blast you off at the speed of light!" Jessie said, sounding annoyed.

"Surrender now!" James agreed. "Or prepare to lose this fight!"

There was a pause. Then one of Jessie's Pokéballs opened.

"Wobuffet!" the Pokémon inside reported.

"...I've never seen anything so stupid," Oakley said slowly.

"Okay, now it's personal!" James said. "Growlie, get them!"

Growlie materialized and pounced straight off the catwalk, fire lashing from his fur. A Fairy Wind hit him as he fell from the Sylveon, but he more-or-less ignored it and hammered home a Flare Blitz into Annie's Leafeon as the nearest target.

The Grass-type bounced off the wall and collapsed to the floor, and James' Arcanine looked around for the next target. Cofagrigus' spectral hands reached for him, and he dodged aside before ducking under a Psybeam from Espeon and barraging Shedinja with Embers.

While that was going on, James released Weezing as well. The Poison-type floated skywards and began firing attacks down, making Espeon switch from trying to catch Growlie to focus instead on keeping Weezing from getting off too many Sludge Bombs.

Jessie's own contribution to the battle was just as significant. She sent her Arbok out, and it darted down to shower Cofagrigus with poisonous stings before chomping home with a nasty Crunch. The Dark-type attack connected with Cofagrigus, making the Ghost shudder and phase partly solid again, and Arbok stabbed his tail in to inflict some poison while it was possible.

"Annie!" Oakley called. "Stop them!"

Ariados went down in flames from a Fire Blast, and then Espeon managed to get a grip on her Poison-type opponent. She hit him with Extrasensory twice, and he crumpled to the floor before fainting and being returned.

That was about the point Growlie's luck ran out, too. He overextended going after Bisharp, and Kirlia caught him in a psionic bubble. Frowning, she did the same to Arbok, holding the two of them in the air.

Sylveon fired a Moonblast at Jessie and James, which Wobuffet blocked and returned via Mirror Coat. The attack hit Glaceon in the side, not knocking her out but severely injuring her, and for a moment there was an uneasy silence.

"Umbreon!" Annie said. "Dark Pulse, he can't Mirror Coat you!"

Umbreon nodded, firing. Wobbuffet grinned, blocking it, and was just about to use Mirror Coat aimed at the Sylveon when Growlie and Arbok cannoned into him from a psionic shove. Their momentum carried all three Pokémon and their masters back out the window.

"And that takes care of-" Annie began, and then there was a huge flash outside the window.

To their shock, a Moltres climbed past the window, James on her back and Jessie safely held by her shoulders, and a thundering roar began to shake the building.

"Why do they have a Moltres?" Annie asked. "What's that noise?"

Scowling, Oakley glanced at the monitors. "They've got a cargo plane! With hover jets! That's – where did they get that?"

She watched as Moltres deposited her cargo inside the open door, then came flying back out and speared flame down into the museum. Espeon and Kirlia established Light Screens over the window, blocking most of it, but the temperature got uncomfortably warm.

Oakley clapped her hands and made a grand gesture, pulling up a great wave of water from the nearby lake and hurling it at Moltres in the form of a waterspout.

Latias screeched in pain, ignored by both the sisters, as the DMA drew out more of her energy to fuel itself.

The fire-type dodged, but she and the aircraft both had to gain height to avoid it, and Oakley capitalized on that by sending every Flying-type she had access to at them to keep them busy.

A dozen Anorith fountained up out of the water.

Snorlax picked one, wound up, and punched it so hard it hit a building opposite.

"Good," he declared. "Next please."

"I'm trying," came Kingler's muffled voice. "It's a bit hard to aim these – whoa, big one!"

Another blast of water from a Crabhammer, and this time there was a Carracosta. Snorlax hit it with a pair of blazing orange beams from his eyes, but the shelled Pokémon endured the attack fairly easy and hauled itself up onto the road.

Muk used Mega Drain, Giga Drain, Shockwave, Focus Blast and Thunderbolt, and Carracosta fell limply back into the water. In a different canal.

"Good," Snorlax said solemnly. "We are a good team."

"Next one's coming up!"

Primeape exploded around the corner, volleying in powerful punches to the five Fossils trying to break through a barricade. Two of them collapsed, and the remaining three – a Rampardos, an Armaldo and a heavily-armoured Kabutops – turned, white eyes glowing blankly as they regarded Primeape.

"Fire, left!" he called. "Ground right!"

Quilava made a screeching turn around the same corner, nearly hitting the wall as she turned, and rammed home a Flame Wheel into the Armaldo. It staggered backwards, and Quilava hit it again – focusing her attacks on the one she was most able to harm.

Donphan followed a moment later, driving his attack into the Rampardos to Primeape's right and knocking it over. He bounced off, rolled back into a ball in the air, and hit it with a Magnitude attack which shook the street.

The Kabutops, however, seemed made of sterner (or possibly just more durable) stuff. It slashed out at Primeape, and he retaliated by punching up under the scythe blade aimed at him – knocking it off course and up into the air.

Barely had that happened when another blade came whistling in from the other direction. Primeape handled this one by the simpler and more satisfying expedient of punching the Kabutops directly in the face, knocking it over backwards and making the scythe miss.

Not letting the fossil get its feet under it, Primeape exploded forwards and delivered another blow – this time to the chest of the Fossil Pokémon. He grabbed one of the ones he'd knocked out before, a Shieldon, and began using it as an implement to pound away – alternating between hitting the chest, and hitting one or another of the arms to keep them from attacking.

"Now!" Quilava called, and Primeape jumped free a moment before her Solarbeam hit the stalled Kabutops.

Landing with feet apart and one arm down, the primate Pokémon launched himself forwards in another sprint to the next turning.

Quilava and Donphan spun up and followed, only marginally slower.

"Get the Ice-type, Nile!" Ingrid called, and her Feraligatr ducked a blast of ice from an Amaura. The big Water-type growled defiance, before grabbing the Amaura in her jaws and giving the fossil a rattata-killing flick over her head.

There was a faint crash as it hit something the other side of the square, and Ingrid winced. "And watch out for the buildings!"

Nile glanced back at her and shrugged, before lunging forwards and chomping down with an Ice Fang on a Tyrunt.

She glanced up at the sound of a roar, and paled slightly. A whole group of bigger fossils were headed for her team – more than Nile could handle alone.

"Look out!" she called, and Nile kicked the Tyrunt out of her way before launching forwards a Hydro Pump. The attack went off course, drawn into the Storm Drain of a Cradily, and she hissed. "That's not good..."

There was a crackling BANG.

She blinked, as an Omastar came flying into the square followed by a trail of crackling lightning. "Wait, what's-"

A purple-yellow blur bounded over a fallen food stand, slowed briefly, and hit a Bastiodon with an electrical globe that sparkled like starlight. Bastiodon staggered, and the blur pounced forwards – hitting the Bastiodon again with a BANG before kicking off its face to crash into the side of an Aurorus.

"Is that Raikou!?" she asked, glancing at Nile, and the Water-type shrugged.

Booming laughter echoed around the square as Raikou hit the Aurorus with an Electrical attack, before unlimbering something from his back and smacking it in the face with what appeared to be a large bundle of signs.

Glancing over at them for a moment as the Aurorus crashed to the ground, he threw one of the signs to the floor. It hit with a clatter, and Raikou pushed off to knock a Kabutops to the ground with another of those huge blasts of electricity.

Ingrid could read the sign from where it had landed. "'I've got this under control'?" she read. "Eh?"

Another booming laugh, and Raikou hit an Armaldo with his shimmering-iron tail. It folded over, hitting the ground hard, and Nile contributed by blasting it with a Hydro Pump.

Screeching, an Archeops shook itself out of a pile of rubble near the middle of the square – apparently having revived itself after being shot down earlier. It ran four steps with an ungainly gait, took off and turned towards the direction of the main square of Altomare, and an enormous bolt of lightning from Raikou hit it.

It promptly crashed into the canals.

Sparks snapping from his fur, Raikou glanced around one more time. He hit the Cradily with a Rock Smash, taking it out of the battle, and then pelted off to help someone else.

"...that happened," Ingrid said faintly, looking at the pile of neutralized fossils.

Nile grinned.

"Not much further to go," Misty said, as Mega Gyarados swam towards the museum at high speed – covering the seaward flank.

He'd already flattened at least four Pokémon she was sure were supposed to be Sturdy in a single blow... which was interesting, but probably something to concentrate on later. For now, she was trying to make sure she was giving good cover for Ash.

She'd already noticed he was keeping several Pokémon out of the fighting – Lucario and Pikachu were the most obvious ones... well, apart from Keldeo, who he seemed to be riding... but she hadn't seen a few others, so she guessed he was making sure he had a full team ready for the fight in the museum.

"How common are Mega Stones?" Bianca asked.

"I don't think they're very common," Misty hedged – she'd of course had to explain what the heck was going on when Gyarados went Mega - "but we've run into a couple, so I guess they're not too rare either. Somewhere middling, I suppose."

Bianca nodded. "Got it."

"Oh – over there!" Misty added, pointing. "There's a big Omastar!"

Barely had she spoken when Kabutops dove off Mega Gyarados' back, plunging into the water with a crash. He swam over to the Omastar with swift strokes, and brought his twin scythes down in a cross-cut Leaf Blade which knocked it out in one devastating blow.

"I've never liked Omastar," Psyduck muttered. "Too many sharp bits."

Politoed shrugged. "I'm sure they're nice if you get to know them."

Kabutops jumped back up onto Mega Gyarados' scaly back, looked around for a moment, and plunged off after a Relicanth headed for them with blank white eyes.

"Make sure not to get too far from us!" Misty called after him. "You look like just another fossil to anyone overhead!"

"I'd bally well say not!" Noctowl said, curving into a spiral around them for a moment. "'scuse me, just recuperating for a moment – all the flying ones are going after that hovering aircraft, the bounders."

That said, he swooped up. "So we're going after them! Tallyho!"

Politoed frowned briefly, then blasted a Hydro Pump at an incoming Armaldo which knocked it back under the water. "Starmie, can you-"

Starmie spun once. "Hiyoh!"

As the Armaldo came up for a second run, the starfish engulfed it in a bubble of psychic force which kept it from escaping. The Water/Psychic type then electrocuted it with a Thunderbolt before hitting it with a Water Pulse to finish the job.

Psyduck wobbled as Mega Gyarados shifted. "Careful, we're on the-"

He glanced up, and blanched. One of those Archeops from the snarling aerial battle overhead had been knocked out – and it was coming directly for them.

Reaching into his mental reserves, he pulled his headache back to the fore – drastically increasing his psychic powers, at the cost of an enormous and painful headache. His eyes flashed, and he shoved at the Archeops to try to deflect it.

For a moment, he had it under control. Then the Archeops' eyes snapped back open, and it beat its wings to force itself down faster – slipping his control for a moment, as it moved far faster than he was expecting.

The Fossil bird came diving down on a genuine attack run, now. A violet and yellow aura began to build around it, as it used Giga Impact, and the task of stopping it got exponentially more difficult.

Psyduck pushed harder, determined not to let Archeops hit them.

He didn't care how much it hurt. He didn't even care just how hard it was to push past the energy of the Giga Impact to get at the Pokémon underneath.

All that mattered was making sure Misty – and Gyarados, and Politoed, and all his friends – were safe.

There was a timeless moment of crystal clarity-

And the Archeops went flying back into the air, hit an Ice Beam from Totodile, and splashed into the water some distance away.

"What just-" Misty began, then stopped. "Uh... do you feel okay?"

I feel.. fine, actually. Better than-

Starmie floated down, using its gem as an impromptu mirror.

...huh, Golduck blinked. That's new.

"Congratulations!" Politoed grinned.

These seem very peculiar, Golduck muttered mentally, inspecting his webbed hands and feet. What are they for?

"Swimming!" Misty informed him. "Now you've got no excuse not to learn!"

Just watch me...

The quintet of Tauros came thundering up to the doors of the museum, trampling a final line of Shieldon underhoof, and slowed – panting, as the fatigue from their charge began to bite.

Squirtle jumped off. "Okay, nice work guys! That was awesome!"

"I'm sure it was," the lead Tauros nodded, flanks heaving. "But next time we train, we do it with big, beefy weights so we build up more stamina!"

"No complaint here!"

"Thank goodness..." Ivysaur muttered, jumping hastily to the ground. "It's over."

Ash and Keldeo arrived in a clatter of hooves, Lucario skidding to a halt a few paces behind with Pikachu on his shoulder. As soon as they were stopped, Pikachu transferred himself to Ash. "Phew. Are we ready?"

"I don't know..." Ash muttered, looking at the doors. "These weren't sealed last time – look out!"

A wave of water came crashing over the side of the museum plaza, and then abruptly halted in place.

There was a sudden feeling of pressure, and the wave thundered back into the sea.

I can handle the waves, announced a mental voice that was almost but not quite like that of Psyduck. I might need help with the Fossils, though.

Ash blinked, on seeing who'd been speaking. "Psy – no, Golduck! You evolved?"

I'm as surprised as you are. But – look!

Everyone looked, the humans dismounting as their rides reached the steps.

There were a lot of Fossil Pokémon coming towards them. By the looks of things, in fact, most of the remaining fossils in the city were headed their way.

"Ash, you and Latios go save Latias!" Misty told him. "We can handle ourselves out here – right, Brock?"

Brock nodded firmly. "Right, Misty. Let's do this!"

The sound of engines grew briefly louder, and a Victreebel landed next to them with a slightly mushy sound. That was followed by a familiar-looking Scratch Cat, who nodded to them. "Jessie an' James said we was surplus ta requirements," he explained. "Jessie's flyin' da plane, an' James is directin' everyone else firin' out the doors an' stuff. Well, an' flyin' escort."

"Oh, so that Moltres was yours," Ash nodded. "I did wonder – cool, we can use the help!"

Victreebel saluted with his lash-whip spike. "Glad to help."

He lumbered down the steps, placing himself ready. It didn't take long for the help to be needed, as a large number of Kabuto, Omanyte and Anorith came scuttling over the lip of the plaza – with a Tyrantrum in the distance just one of the visible reinforcements on the way.

Keldeo, for his part, was facing away from the oncoming hordes. "Right!" he said firmly, flashing over to Resolute Form and taking a swing. "Secret Sword!"

The armour behind the wooden doors flashed sparks as Keldeo cut into it, but he managed to cut a line through it on the second swing. Two more cuts, and he had a rough outline of a door.

Ash sent out his full team for the fight inside. "Okay, everyone ready?"

Nods all round.

"Right. Go for it, Keldeo!"

Keldeo spun on his forehooves, and lashed out with a kick at the weakened section. It resisted only for a moment, then blew inwards with a BANG.

"Oakley, what's going on out there?" Annie asked. "I thought this thing was-"

"I'm trying!" Oakley snapped, gesturing frantically. "But this is just... gah!"

She looked down through her control panel at Oakley. "Not only are there all three Legendary Beasts out there, but that Ketchum kid and his friends just fought their way to the museum!"

Annie blinked. "But that means-"

A triangular section of the museum door exploded inwards.

"Why doesn't this thing have close in defences?" Oakley asked, annoyed. "You'll have to stop them, Annie!"

"Right!" Annie nodded, glancing around.

Kirlia had finished healing Umbreon and Sylveon from the hits they'd taken, but at least three Pokémon were still unconscious.

Well, that would have to do. "Get him!" she said, pointing at the boy – Ash. "Stop them!"

There was a brilliant flash of orange light from that side of the room, and Annie threw up her arm for a moment.

When she lowered it, Ash's Heracross was – different. More muscular arms, different horn, all kinds of minor differences. And he looked a lot tougher.

"What the-" Oakley spluttered. "That's not fair! Our one didn't work!"

"You were just using it wrong-" Annie began, and then things got loud.

Lucario crouched briefly and launched himself forwards, aiming a punch for the startled Bisharp. He got about halfway before there was a flash to his right, and the Kirlia materialized before hitting him with a Fire Punch.

Rolling with the blow, Lucario spun and braked his momentum with a forepaw as he slid along the tiled floor. There was an earsplitting BANG as Pikachu opened fire, and then Lucario was concentrated wholly on the battle with the Kirlia as she teleported over and attempted another Fire Punch.

Lucario dodged swiftly to his right, evading the attack aimed for his shoulder, and punched up with his right fist under his supporting left arm. His opponent flickered away from that one as well, appearing behind him, and got in a hit before he sprang back to his feet and lashed out with a kick.

That blow connected, but only for a moment before Kirlia flashed away again.

For a fraction of a second there was no sign of Kirlia, then she materialized behind Lucario and fired a Dazzling Gleam at him.

The sound of her feet on the floor was just enough for Lucario to get warning. He spun on one foot, paw already glowing for a Flash Cannon attack, and fired just before the Dazzling Gleam hit.

Both combatants were knocked backwards by the attacks hitting them. Lucario went over sideways from the blast of the Fairy-type attack, flinging out his free arm to brace himself, and slid along the floor for a moment before coming back to his feet.

For her part, Kirlia was too concentrated on her attack to manage a teleport. The intense light of the Flash Cannon hit her a little off-centre, spinning her around once and knocking her back into the wall.

She shook her head for a moment, looked up, and teleported out just before Lucario hit her with a pair of Metal Claws.

Using the momentum of his swipe, Lucario spun and put his back against the wall to avoid her teleporting behind him again. He scanned the room, absently assessing the situations his allies were in, then looked up and had his answer.

Kirlia was using the overhead catwalks as a place to recover and plan. He charged a pair of Aura Spheres, one in each paw, and fired them upwards to break the one she was on in two places.

Unfortunately for him, the Psychic-type noticed. She flashed out just before the Spheres hit, and Lucario turned his attention back to the floor just in time to catch an incoming Fire Punch.

This time, his retaliatory kick connected, and Kirlia was sent flying backwards before recovering and using a Light Screen to block his Flash Cannon.

Fortunately for Lucario, the overhead catwalk made a grinding sound just before its weakened section finally snapped off. He had enough time to reach up, blocking the heavy steel material, and throw it off to one side to avoid it getting in the way. He blinked, as – by sheer luck – the metallic object landed right on top of an exhausted-looking Umbreon, which had picked a terrible place to hide in the shadows.

Kirlia used the distraction to wind up and fire a Psychic pulse at him. Wincing, Lucario endured the attack and turned back towards her, before lunging forwards with both sets of Metal Claws forming from his hand-spikes.

She teleported out again, and Lucario dove forwards to arrest his movement with both palms against the floor. He coiled up like a spring, then uncoiled and pushed backwards – unbalancing it, so his right arm pushed more than his left.

The unorthodox move let him hit Kirlia with an Iron Tail as he spun, knocking her to the floor, and she got up a little slower than she had been as he landed with his back to the wall.

Scowling, she disappeared once more.

Lucario's paw went out to his right, catching her incoming Fire Punch.

He smirked, and Kirlia had just enough time to realize what was going on before the Dark Pulse he'd been charging fired. That scrambled her teleportation for a crucial moment, and he followed up with a paralyzing Thunderpunch and a final Flash Cannon.

As his opponent hit the floor, clearly out for the count, Lucario glanced up to check on the rest of the battle.

Pikachu's first big Thunder attack was blocked by the same Excadrill from before, this time keeping his right set of claws firmly on the ground to channel the electricity away from him.

Deciding to sort the Ground-type out first, Pikachu ran forwards. His paws shimmered with blue as he readied a Force Palm, and the Excadrill went from nervous to alarmed as he realized just how unconventional an Electric-type Pikachu really was.

Excadrill brought up both sets of claws in a blocking position, managing to intercept Pikachu's Force Palm, and slammed his feet into the ground for a Bulldoze.

Pikachu's response to this was to jump over it, keeping in the air for the moment the attack was actually firing, and he fired another Electric attack as he came down – a Thunderbolt, this time, which skirled over Excadrill's claws and headspike without doing anything damaging.

That seemed to reassure Excadrill slightly, and he launched forwards into a Drill Run which took him out of the way of the descending Pikachu before curling around in a tight circle and boring in directly on his opponent.

Pikachu dodged aside from the first Drill Run attack run, charging and firing a small Aura Sphere, and hissed as Excadrill drove underground and the Sphere burst on the surface.

A moment later, Excadrill came boring up out of the ground, barely missing Pikachu with his Dig attack, and swiped out with his claws a couple of times. Pikachu stepped back, giving ground, and was about to retaliate when a burst of bluish energy scythed along the ground nearby.

"Careful, Keldeo!" Pikachu called, getting a "Sorry!" in return, and his Force Palm was just a moment too late to catch Excadrill. The mole burrowed underground again, and Pikachu focused.

Aura Sight was enough for him to see the speeding Ground-type, who emerged a few metres away before spinning into another Drill Run and coming in on the attack.

This time, Pikachu hit him with another Thunderbolt.

This time, it worked. The shocked Excadrill wobbled, losing track of his spin, and drilled a furrow in the floor of the museum that missed Pikachu by at least a foot. He braked with a horrible screeching of claws on stone, swiped at Pikachu's speculative Zap Cannon and managed to block that one, then lunged close-in with his claws flashing.

Pikachu was unable to quite dodge all of them. One swipe scored thin red lines down his side, and another came close enough to trim his fur but didn't quite draw blood.

Cheeks sparking, Pikachu gave ground once more and rammed a pair of Aura Spheres together. The cloud of small blue seeker spheres which resulted barraged Excadrill from all sides, halting his forwards rush and making him stagger.

Pikachu nailed him with another Thunder, sending him collapsing to the ground, and panted – then looked up, confused, as something clattered to the floor from the main DMA mechanisms.

Keldeo galloped forwards, and fired a scything Ice Blade from his horn as he ran at the Espeon in his way.

Her tail snapped across, producing an intense Light Screen, and the Ice-typed attack splashed off. Her eyes glowed, and she fired a beam of multicoloured energy from the gem on her forehead.

Keldeo swung his Secret Sword down to block, wincing as the attack connected – then a sparkling ball of energy hit him in the flank, making him stagger sideways as the Sylveon joined the fight.

"Take this!" Houndour called from behind, and Beat Up duplicates descended on Sylveon and Espeon. The Fairy-type popped them with a quick Dazzling Gleam, but her ally seemed to be having more trouble.

Trying not to let the Sylveon have time to help her friend, Keldeo launched forwards another Ice Blade – aimed at her this time. Unfortunately, the Sylveon was quick-witted enough to get out of the way, and avoided being hit by the Ice attack – though it did hit Ariados as it started to recover, quite firmly returning it to unconsciousness.

"What's the plan?" Houndour asked, glancing up at Keldeo. As he did, the Sylveon finished off getting rid of his Beat Up duplicates for the Espeon.

"Go for the Espeon!" Keldeo instructed. He reared back, and fired a blast of water from his hoof at Sylveon – knocking her backwards, before the Espeon formed a shield to protect her.

Shaking the water from her fur, Sylveon launched a shower of Swift stars at Keldeo. The Water-type blocked them with his blade, eyes flicking from one star to the next to make sure he got all of them, then yelped as a Moonblast followed the Swift attacks.

Ducking down low, Keldeo evaded the powerful Fairy-type attack – not noticing as it blew the lurking Umbreon backwards towards the DMA machinery – and swung his horn to fire off an Ice Blade at Sylveon. She dodged, running around to his side, and he was forced to turn to follow.

Meanwhile, Houndour focused mainly on keeping the Espeon occupied. He Snarled at her, the pulse of Dark-type energy battering her Light Screen, then interposed himself to stop a Psybeam hitting Keldeo and formed more Beat Up copies – this time of Meganium, Keldeo himself, Pikachu and Lucario.

The quartet of Dark-type spectres got in a hit each, with the copy of Lucario managing two, before Espeon swept a Signal Beam around herself to clear the doubles out.

Grinning, Houndour pounced forwards while the feline Psychic-type was occupied. He feinted left, then right, and managed to slip in under her guard to bowl her over with a powerful kick.

Rolling back upright, the Espeon fired a Signal Beam at him. He jumped to one side, wincing as the Signal Beam hit one of his white bones before he got clear, and hit her in return with a burst of flame she couldn't fully shield against in time.

She began to charge another attack, and he slipped in quickly to headbutt her in the jaw before she could finish the process.

"Sucker..." he chuckled, dodging out of the way of a retaliatory paw swipe.

As he did, Keldeo was trying to hit the dodging Sylveon. He fired off two more Ice Blades, one of which clipped her tail and the second of which went uncomfortably close to Pikachu.

"Sorry!" he called, wincing, and evaded a second Moonblast before closing the distance on Sylveon and switching to physical attacks. He scored a hit with his hooves, catching Sylveon in the side and rolling her over once, but she came quickly to her feet and managed to evade the Scald that Keldeo sent her way.

Glancing over at Houndour's fight, Keldeo saw an opening. He spun, kicking out at Sylveon – who jumped back, her Moonblast fizzling – and fired a blast of water at her from his rear hooves. That sent her further backwards, spluttering, but the important bit was that it sent Keldeo jetting forwards.

He launched an Ice Blade at Espeon as he approached, hitting her in the side as she focused on preventing Houndour's Inferno from reaching her, and the shock of the impact left her unable to get out of the way of a follow-up Dark Pulse from Houndour.

"Thanks!" Houndour yapped, and returned the favour by hurrying over towards Sylveon. He ducked a Fairy Wind attack which only managed to clip his tail, feinted right, and hit her with a hasty Overheat.

Finally pushed beyond endurance, Sylveon collapsed.

Meganium hung back, trying to keep an eye on the whole fight.

She'd jump in if one of her friends was in too much trouble, but her main role here was something else entirely. As the Pokémon who could heal out of Ash's team, it was her job above all to revive Latias once she was freed from the DMA.

Shivering, Meganium remembered what Ash had said about it. Latios, much the stronger of the two Eon Pokémon, had been so drained by his long spell in the DMA last time around that the effort of stopping the tsunami had killed him – and Latias had survived.

This time, it was the weaker – Latias – who was in the machine. And that was scary.

The ground shook as someone outside used something powerful, and the roar of a Tyrantrum was abruptly cut off by what sounded like a yelp. Meganium itched to go out and help – but that wasn't her job. She was needed here.

Looking back over to the DMA, she winced again at the sight of Latias contorted in pain. There was a metal-rending crash from inside the museum, and her eyes flicked to the source – that was Lucario, but he was alright. Good.

Then a shower of icy shards came at her from her right, impacting on her skin almost before she noticed them. Crying out in shock and pain, Meganium turned – vines lashing out – and saw the Glaceon from earlier.

It hadn't been knocked out, like she'd assumed. A blast of cold air washed out from the Ice-type, battering her vines aside, and it fired an Ice Beam at her.

Meganium fired a blast of petals, which managed to mostly intercept and interrupt the Ice Beam, and stepped back warily looking for an opening.

The vulpine Glaceon didn't seem inclined to give her one. Building up a storm of ice, it readied an all-up Blizzard to throw at Meganium.

Dexter's projected form flickered as he tried to interface with the ancient technology in the DMA.

It was dizzyingly complex, but more importantly it was almost completely different to the computing structure he was used to. There were hints of something familiar – and it was, at least, Turing-complete – but apart from that it was frustratingly hard to make much headway. He was having to essentially perform digital first contact, writing new interface protocols from the ground up.

Wait...

Now that was familiar. He'd last run into it over a year ago on J's floating battleship, but the structure was familiar. And that had interfaced into much more modern systems... like... so!

Dexter glanced up briefly as something exploded. Seeing it was only Heracross, he returned his attention to the DMA.

Ah! The interface protocol he'd run into back on J's battleship did work. That let him use it to convert commands in his own machine language to whatever this used, which was very helpful.

A few more seconds, and he was past a layer of rather rudimentary ICE and into the system.

Unfortunately, it looked like most of the power feed measures were mechanical. Who came up with this thing?

This is an affront to proper systems design... Dexter muttered out loud. A battered-looking Umbreon pounced on him, and he fired a quick Signal Beam to knock her away towards the back of the museum before returning to his task.

It looked like the system which interpreted the gesture commands was very complex and very easy to shut down. That would, at least, prevent any more power draw.

Dexter didn't exactly need to carefully weigh the pros and cons of doing it. He deleted a line in the parser software, and Oakley started screaming and banging on the controls as they hashed and began to show gibberish.

Now, could he shut down the mechanism animating all those Fossils?

Dexter dove back into the code, looking for whatever it was sending that on.

Mega Heracross found himself facing two opponents at once, who both charged him as soon as he was halfway to the DMA.

The Beedrill came in first, spikes ready, and made to hit with a Poison Jab from all three at once – then buzzed in shock, and dove out of the way of a stream of Pin Missiles fired from Mega Heracross' left arm.

Recovering, the Beedrill tried to come in again from a different angle, and Mega Heracross discouraged him with a large rock from the other arm.

"Okay, how does that even make sense!?" Beedrill asked, exasperated.

Bisharp didn't have any useful insights to volunteer. He decided to contribute instead by attacking directly – bringing his bladed arms up and bringing them down in a Dual Chop.

Mega Heracross punched the arms as they came down, knocking them back and ruining the attack, before kicking the Bisharp unceremoniously in the chest and firing another Rock Blast at Beedrill as he tried to exploit any distraction.

This Rock Blast exploded on contact, knocking Beedrill back and some distance into the air.

Breathing space thus gained, Mega Heracross proceeded to hit Bisharp again as he got up. The blow sent the Steel-type skidding backwards a few paces, and he gave a steely-faced frown before swiping at Mega Heracross with a Guillotine.

Mega Heracross stepped back, firing a few Pin Missiles at Bisharp as he did so, and successfully avoided the Guillotine. He had a bit less luck with the abrupt Psycho Cut, which extended from Bisharp's arm blades and hit his chest-plate.

"Take this!" Mega Heracross announced, pulling back his right fist. It clunked, the chunky forearm section spinning around once, and then Mega Heracross delivered a devastating Focus Punch which knocked Bisharp against the far wall and clearly out for the count.

Beedrill buzzed in again, and got hit by another Rock Blast which took him out too.

On the whole, Mega Heracross thought, that hadn't gone too badly. He glanced around for somewhere else he might be needed.

"That's not nice!"

Glaceon's Blizzard fizzled out, as both she and Meganium looked in bafflement towards the speaker.

Mawile stomped forwards, hands on hips and looking very cross. "Miss Meganium is lovely and nice! And she wasn't fighting you or doing anything wrong, so you shouldn't attack her!"

Glaceon blinked. "But... this is a battle..."

"And Miss Meganium wasn't taking part!" Mawile scolded. "You're being very naughty!"

Shaking her head, Glaceon seemed to recover her equilibrium a bit. She looked down her nose at Mawile, and rolled her eyes. "Right, I'll handle you first."

Ice began to gather around her muzzle as she charged an Ice Beam.

"Mawile, look-"

Mawile's false-jaw swung forwards, glowed white, and headbutted Glaceon hard enough to knock her into the wall.

"...out?" Meganium finished, more uncertainly, as Glaceon slumped into unconsciousness. "Was that Iron Head?"

Mawile shook her head. "I said you were being naughty, naughty Glaceon. You should have listened!"

"Where'd you learn that, Mawile?" Meganium asked curiously.

"Mister Scizor was doing it at Professor Oak's place!" Mawile explained brightly. "And Mister Raikou helped explain how it was done!"

"...I'm not sure if that counts as a good influence or a bad..." Meganium said with a frown.

Latios skimmed invisibly through the room, coming to a halt just in front of the sphere which had held him in another timeline – and which now contained Latias.

Sis, we're here! Latios called, gaining her attention. Don't worry, we'll get you out of that thing!

Latias nodded, weakly, then her eyes widened. Latios, look out! Behind-!

Latios whirled around, and a pair of ghostly hands clawed at him. He pulled at them, struggling free of the Cofagrigus' first attack, and it hissed menacingly at him.

The Ghost-type didn't look very healthy, actually – the sarcophagus-shaped central body was battered and damaged, and purple lightning shot across the surface every so often. It looked like it was afflicted by some quite nasty poison, actually.

But, poisoned or not, it was still quite capable of fighting. Ghostly arms whipped out at Latios again, and he backed out of the way – since the Ghost could clearly tell where he was, he dropped his invisibility to focus more fully on the battle.

Flames shot from the Ghost's eyes as it used Will-o-Wisp, and Latios dodged to one side. He considered diving forwards in a Tackle, but realized that the Ghost-type was immune to attacks like that.

What does this Pokémon do, Latias? Latios asked, looking for advice.

It grabbed me and paralyzed me! Latias replied. It kind of... drained my energy, and knocked me out.

Right! Latios said, frowning. We'll see about that!

He feinted left and dodged right, avoiding the grabbing hands again, and heard a shout of rage from the woman operating the DMA. It sounded like the systems controlling it had gone a bit haywire, actually, and the whole structure shivered a bit.

Latios darted out of the way as Cofagrigus nearly managed to grab him, skimming right next to the Ghost and avoiding a burst of flame, and blocked the next attack with Safeguard. As he did, he racked his brains – what was that move he'd worked out once?

It was something about...

Latios! Latias called, as his distraction cost him. Cofagrigus grabbed Latios' left wing with a long arm snaking around the entire structure of the DMA, and hauled him in close.

Closing his eyes, Latios really hoped he'd remembered this right.

He opened them again, and two rings of multicoloured energy pulsed out from them. One went wide, hitting the DMA machinery, but the other one connected with Cofagrigus – apparently finally enough to knock the Ghost-type out.

What was that? Latias asked, sounding a little better now.

Psywave, Latios answered. I've only used it once before – that was decades ago. It took so long to remember how to...

He shook his head. How are you feeling?

Better, a bit, Latias confirmed. It's stopped-

She cut off mid-sentence, and winced as a new pulse of energy ran from her to the machine.

Latias!

Latios glanced back and forth between his sister and the DMA, and noticed something strange.

Part of the machinery, up where he'd hit it with Psywave, was rattling. Loose.

He floated a bit closer, keeping one eye on his exhausted sister, and as he did a stuck hatch opened fully and two small spheres clattered to the ground.

"Okay, seriously, what's up with this kid?" Annie asked, mostly to herself, as she evaded a kick from Ash and grabbed her remaining net gun from her belt.

Ash swung his staff in an arc, intercepting her arm as she brought the weapon up. It hit her in the elbow, and the net gun fell from nerveless fingers to clatter on the floor. Wincing, Annie gave ground and shifted her guard to her other arm.

"Oakley, can't you help over here?" Annie called. "Doesn't that machine have some kind of setting to – whoa!"

Ash feinted low, then rapped her shoulder with the brightly-glowing head of his staff.

"Ow!" Annie snapped. "You brat!"

"Annie, there's no setting to-" Oakley began, then there was a shattering sound from her control panel. "What? What just happened – where'd the controls go!? Work, you stupid-"

She hit the projectors with her fists, enraged, and something went clunk.

Annie wasn't having a much better time of it. Ash pressed her harder and harder, using his staff to extend his reach, and knocked away her grapple when she tried to get at it.

Finally annoyed beyond endurance, Annie overextended – just slightly. The punch she'd overcommitted to went a little wide, and Ash helped it on its way with an elbow strike before hitting her in the vulnerable knee with the butt of his staff.

"Argh!" Annie shouted. "You little-"

Ash punched her in the face.

"That felt way too satisfying," he said, shaking his head. "Guys?"

He glanced around, seeing that just about everyone else was finished. Even as he watched, Heracross transitioned back down from Mega and Pikachu blasted the Excadrill into unconsciousness about halfway back to the door.

There was a clattering sound from the DMA. "What was that?" Ash asked, surprised. "Dexter, did you-"

Not me, Dexter reported. Though the power reserves just stopped growing.

"Ash, we need to get my sister out of there!" Latios reminded him. "If you think that'll help, then fine, but remember what happened to-"

He stopped, thrown, and did a double-take at the base of the DMA.

"Why is that sphere glowing?"

Lucario hurried over. "I handled the Kirlia – Ash, why is your staff glowing?"

Ash glanced down, noticing that the capstone on his staff hadn't gone quiescent when Heracross had reverted. Instead, it was glowing more and more brightly – gold, then silver, then fusing into the familiar blazing orange light of-

-the flash of orange light died down.

"What was that?" Latios asked. "There was a bright light, but where did it come from?"

Latias gasped. Brother! You're- look!

Latios shared his sister's sight for a moment, and his jaw dropped.

His entire shape had changed.

The fins from his upper back had moved, or fused to his arms – he wasn't sure which – and he now found himself with a pair of broad, streamlined fins on the outer edges of his arms. If he held them right, which would mean his claws pointing behind him, they seemed like they would form a kind of wing surface.

A pair of fins like he'd had before were still there, but on the base of his body instead of the top, and there were minor changes to his head as well – the horn-tufts slightly different, two small spikes on his cheeks.

Most peculiar, though, was his colour. He was purple.

"What just happened?" he asked, out loud.

"You Mega Evolved!" Ash said, looking from his blazing staff to Latios. "But that must mean – and where's the Mega Stone?"

"Look," Lucario said, pointing. "One of the spheres that fell out of the DMA is gone."

"That must be it," Ash nodded. He blinked. "Wait – this means we can break down that forcefield! Latios – uh, I mean, Mega Latios-"

"What is Mega Evolving?" Mega Latios asked. "I've never heard of – wait, is that what your Heracross was doing? What Misty's Gyarados did?"

"That's right," Ash confirmed. "It means you're a lot more powerful now, but it's temporary. Usually it requires a strong bond between the trainer and the Pokémon, but..."

Mega Latios blinked, then frowned. "We can discuss it later. You said we could break down the forcefield?"

"Right!" Ash nodded. "There's a really powerful move Latios learn – I saw it in Sinnoh, it's called Luster Purge. If you use that, you should be able to break down the field!"

"Luster Purge..." Mega Latios repeated. "It sounds..."

The name seemed to speak to him. To something deep inside his psyche, something which was so deep it seemed inherited.

He inhaled, and the power seemed to come to him as he did. Energy, a deep purple like his current form, flowed towards him as he turned and took aim.

Latias, get to the bottom of the bubble, he said softly through their bond. I don't know how big this is going to be.

Latias did so without complaint.

Then the Luster Purge fired.

A beam of intense pink-white-purple energy erupted out from his mouth, and tore through the shield like a soap bubble. Two of the three rings clattered to the floor, a hole melted in one side of their metal, and the third one fell a moment later.

Ash caught Latias as she slumped to the floor. "Meganium, can you heal her?"

"I'll certainly try," Meganium said, hurrying over. She exhaled softly, a sparkling pink pollen building up in her flower, and then shook it towards Latias.

As her brother watched anxiously, Latias inhaled the glowing pollen. She coughed weakly, then her colour improved and she seemed to become more animated.

"Thanks," she said, taking another breath and rising slightly off the floor. "I feel a bit-"

Then there was another bright flash of orange light.

When it faded, it was Mega Latias hovering there.

She looked a lot like her brother, right down to the purple colour of her highlights. About the only difference was the colour of her eyes, which were a bright yellow-orange rather than Mega Latios' deep near-red.

"Latias – are you okay?" Mega Latios asked, concerned.

She smiled – and it seemed much more certain than before. "I feel great – better than I have since all this started! Better than-"

Mega Latias paused, not wanting to say it. Better than since you died.

"Why were there two Mega Stones in the DMA?" Lucario asked, curiously. "I mean, obviously Ash's staff is acting as the keystone here, but where did the Mega Stones-"

I can answer that one, Dexter said from his position over in a corner. The DMA, at least this time, was built to reverse the normal process of gaining energy for a Pokémon via Mega Evolution. As far as I can tell, the more affection the operator feels for the Pokémon used as a power source – the better the whole thing works, and the less pain and suffering it causes.

He paused. Speaking of which, I think I may have tripped an ICE program.

"A what?" Ash asked.

Intrusion Countermeasure Electronics. It realized I was hacking it, which is... bad.

"How bad?" Mega Latios asked, not happy at the sound of this new threat.

It's going into an emergency lock down mode. That means it's going to try to destroy the DMA – and the Soul Dew – to prevent it from being captured.

"That's terrible! How do we stop it?" Ash asked.

The main calculation mechanism's about twenty feet down through solid rock, Dexter told them. I'm not sure if-

"I know!" Mega Latias interrupted. "Brother – can you do that Luster Purge again?"

Mega Latios nodded. "Why?"

"Uh – Porygon? Where's the mechanism, exactly?"

Dexter floated quickly over to a point a little off-centre on the main floor. Directly under – here.

"Right!" Mega Latias grabbed her brother's finned arm. "Fire your attack straight down there, where the Porygon just showed us!"

I have a designation, you know... Dexter muttered.

"Right!" Mega Latios said, understanding. Dexter got out of the way, and Mega Latios charged up his Luster Purge a second time.

He spotted his sister doing something similar. "What are you doing, Latias? A Luster Purge as well?"

"Nope!" she told him, teasingly, sounding more like herself than ever, and he smiled with relief.

Then he fired – straight down.

The blast of purple and pink energy went straight through the museum floor. It smashed through the underfloor crawlspace, then burned through foot after foot of rock layered with ancient armour before finally petering out.

Then Mega Latias fired.

Unlike her brother's Luster Purge, Mist Ball was an altogether more subtle attack. There was no ravening blast of energy, just a globe of misty, compacted material which travelled at a comparatively leisurely velocity.

It then exploded, making the whole building shake on its foundations and sending a fountain of pulverized rock dust back up through the irregular hole Mega Latios had made.

The DMA seized up, twitched, and went quiescent.

We did it, Latias said, transitioning back down. Her brother did the same, exhausted, and the two of them floated limply to the floor.

The sound of movement made Ash look around.

Oakley's control pod had opened out, and she was leaning out – groggy, probably because the DMA had been flailing wildly around for the last couple of minutes and giving her a wild ride.

"Ow..." she muttered. "Hey, what's with the-"

As she reached for the dimming Soul Dew, Pikachu blasted her with a Thundershock.

"Not. Happening," he said, firmly.

Ash hurried over to inspect the battered gemstone. "Ouch..."

"How is it?" Latios asked, nervously. "That does not look-"

"I think it was pretty close to giving up," Ash said, kneeling in front of the holder. "Hold on, I think I..."

"Ash... what are you doing?" asked Pikachu, worried. "That looks familiar..."

"That's because it is," Ash replied, still concentrating. "It's what I did at Cameran Castle, to heal the Tree of Beginning."

He managed a grin, nodding to his worried Starter. "Don't worry, I know when to stop..."

As he spoke, the Soul Dew's glow began to brighten. It started out a deep, flickering purple, then as Ash poured Aura into it the purple lightened and cleared to become a modest, ocean-blue.

It was nowhere near the brilliant, shifting sky-blue it had been earlier that day, but it was certainly an improvement.

Ash finished his careful nourishing of the gemstone. "Good," he said, standing up – and wobbled, nearly falling over again.

Lucario was there in a moment, and supported some of his weight. "Careful, Ash – you put a lot of your own strength into that."

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I guess..."

He double-checked his gloves were on, then picked the Soul Dew up – careful to make sure he wasn't accidentally touching it with his skin, in case that was bad for it.

"Let's get this home."

He looked around, ignoring the damage done to the museum – that didn't matter at the moment. "Uh – hold on a moment. Pikachu? I think the one in the control pod mentioned that she had a Mega Stone? Can you look?"

"Sure," Pikachu said, scurrying over and hopping up into the control chair. A few seconds of rummaging, and he had a Mega Stone – and a Key Stone – secured.

Ash took them. "Thanks – guess we could have a use for these sometime. And – hey, Latias, Latios? Maybe you should grab those Mega Stones you were using. I know they were part of the DMA, but you could probably use them better."

"That sounds better than leaving them lying around," Latios agreed, picking up the blue-marked Latiosite. His sister's Latiasite was almost the same – both had greyish-purple main stones with purple flecks, but the centre of her Mega fleck was a bright pinkish-red which matched her feathers.

"Let's go," Ash added, stepping away from Lucario now he felt a bit more steady on his feet.

Emerging from the museum, they found what looked a lot like a small warzone.

The fossils had disappeared with the shutting down of the DMA, but the evidence of battle remained – scorch marks, cracked stone, scored or melted pathways through the plaza tiles, water and mud all over the place, and one of the big pillars fallen and shattered.

"Hey, that's my one!" Latias said, feeling vaguely hurt, and that got everyone's attention.

"Ash! You're okay!" Brock called, a grin lighting his face. "And Latias, and – everyone's fine!"

"We are indeed," Latios said, with a smile. "Rather better than I was when this happened before."

He frowned, reminded. "Before – the sea! Is it going to-"

No, it's not.

The mental voice was one quite familiar to most of those present.

I handled the wave for you, Mewtwo said, floating down to a landing a little way in front of Ash. I also made sure that all the buildings with people in were unbreached by the fossils, that trainers knew where to go to link up with other trainers, and incidentally that the number three hover-jet on Jessie and James' new aircraft survived ingesting an Archen.

"Wow, thanks!" Meowth said, blinking. "Ya know, dat's a really nice-"

Abra materialized, picked up Meowth and Victreebel, and vanished.

I think I can guess what he was going to say to finish that, Mewtwo mused. Right, let's go somewhere more private.

There was a bright flash-

And the plaza was empty.

In Altomare's secret garden, everyone appeared in a bright flash on one of the larger lawns. Several Water-types landed with a splash in the lake.

There we go, Mewtwo said, dusting his hands off. Piece of cake.

"How'd you teleport Houndour and I?" Ash asked, curiously. "For that matter, how am I hearing you?"

Miracle Eye, Mewtwo explained. It's really quite simple. Anyway, I believe you have-

"Right," Ash agreed. He took the Soul Dew, walked over to the metal cage with Latias and Latios hovering around him, and placed it carefully in the water.

It flashed, then began to glow more brightly. The fountains started to let out water again, flowing into the canals, and Altomare somehow felt right again.

"Phew," Ash added, slumping back to sit down. "I think we need a bit of a rest, after that..."

Not surprised, Mewtwo agreed. I'll be over here if you need me.

There was another flash, and Mew appeared.

Hello, Mew, he added, a little warily. Nice of you to join us.

Mew ignored him. Hello! The playful Legendary said, waving cheerfully at Mawile. You're new!

"I'm only young!" Mawile nodded. "So that makes sense. What's your name?"

I am Mew, only young one, Mew informed her, and got a giggle in return.

Mew floated up a few inches, and faced Ash. She is adorable!

Ash chuckled. "Yeah, I'm glad to have her."

"Uh... Meganium?"

The Grass-type looked up from where she was soaking up the sun's rays. "Yes?"

Latias looked nervous, rubbing her hands together. "Um... Pikachu told me I should talk to you about... something..."

Meganium looked Latias over for a moment, then sighed. "Sit down," she suggested, using her vines to tap the slope next to her.

Latias nodded, a quick, jerking motion, and settled to the grass.

For several seconds, neither spoke.

"Uh... thank you for healing me," Latias said.

"It was no problem," Meganium told her. "Really. But I don't think that's what you wanted to talk about, is it..."

"No," Latias admitted. She swallowed. "Pikachu told me..."

Latias gathered her courage for a moment, then took the plunge. "He said you'd had a crush on Ash."

Meganium nodded, slowly. "I did. And – I guess you did. Or do."

"I-" Latias frowned. "It's hard to tell what I think. I've got... two sets of memories, and they're all confusing. I have one set where I saw Ash walking in the street, and... and I was attracted to him, a bit. And then he saved my brother, and I was so grateful to him. But... I guess I..."

She shook her head. "And then there's a second set, where I'd heard about Ash before he got here. He'd been in the news, as a skilled and famous trainer, and..."

Meganium waited a few seconds. "And what?" she asked, gently.

"And... I guess he meant freedom," Latias explained simply. "He's had Suicune for months now, other Legendary Pokémon for some time – at least, that's what I understand – and... I've never been allowed to be visible in Altomare, let alone leave, so..."

"...so you were a bit attracted to him, and you liked the idea of leaving – for a while, at least," Meganium filled in.

Latias nodded. "And then... this." She gestured around the garden, and Meganium took her meaning. "He saved my life. He literally rode to the rescue on a legendary Pokémon... and now I don't know what I think."

A moment later, Latias felt a pair of vines encircle her. Gently, just enough to let her know they were there.

"I know the feeling, Latias," Meganium told her, giving Latias a hug. "You want my advice? Talk to him about it. Maybe not now, but soon."

Latias nodded. "Thanks," she said, voice a little raw. "I think I will."

"You okay, Ash?" Misty asked.

Ash looked up, a tired grin on his face. "Yeah," he said, with a nod. "Yeah, I feel... great, really."

"I can see why you would," Misty agreed. "I mean, not only is it your birthday-"

"Did Brock ever tell you what I did for my birthday when I was fighting the Battle Frontier?" Ash interrupted.

Misty blinked, thrown. "Uh... not really, no."

"I didn't do anything," Ash explained. "Didn't really do much in Sinnoh, either. And... well, Altomare was why."

He sighed. "Last time... Latios died. I mean, I know the Entei in Greenfield died last time, but... it was my birthday, and I couldn't save him, and..."

"Ash..." Misty began, worried.

Ash rubbed at his eyes. "I'm alright," he said. "Really, I'm alright – I mean... Misty, have you noticed that things seem... harder, this time around? Ever since Shamouti, at least."

"Yeah, now you mention it," Misty nodded. "There were three Beasts at Greenfield, not one, and the Marauder had a lot more firepower."

"Right!" Ash nodded. "And – this time, it was harder than last time... and we won. We did better."

He sat back. "That's why I feel great."

"I can see that, I guess," Misty agreed.

She glanced over, and poked Ash. "Hey, get up, Ash!"

"I wasn't asleep..."

"Latias and Latios are coming over," she said, nodding.

As Ash sat up again, Latias reached them. "Uh, Ash?"

"Yeah, Latias?" Ash asked.

"I... thank you, for saving me," she said. "And... can we come with you?"

Ash blinked. He was about to reply, but Latios spoke up first.

"Latias – I appreciate that you want to leave Altomare. I won't stop you – it wouldn't be right, you have a chance to leave safely and do what you've dreamed of. But... this is our home, and our purpose is to protect the city. If you leave, I'll stay to keep it safe."

Latias shook her head. "No! Latios, I want you to come with me! I – don't want to lose you again."

The male Eon twin blinked. "Again – oh. Oh. Sorry, Latias, I didn't-"

"I know you're alive, now," Latias said, hugging him. "But – I feel so afraid. I didn't really appreciate you enough, and now – and – I'm afraid that if I go alone, you won't be here when I come back-"

Her voice caught for a moment.

"Latias..." Ash said, wincing.

"And-" Latias went on, swallowing. "I – how can you protect the city? How can either of us? We just got shown that neither of us is strong enough! We should be stronger, strong enough to protect ourselves or we're just a liability to Altomare!"

"I know, Latias," Latios agreed, bowing his head. "I was a complete fool. I should have agreed to Rayquaza's offer of training when he made it, decades ago. But... I didn't want to be away so long, and I wanted your childhood to last a little longer. I had to grow up too fast, sis... I wanted you to have the time to play."

"Exactly!" Latias said. "But Ash – even Pokémon like... have you seen what Pikachu can do? What Lucario can do? We'd be safest with him – and he could help us learn to defend ourselves!"

Ash frowned. "Hold on... I think I've got an idea. Misty, can you get Bianca?"

Misty blinked, unsure what Ash was going for, but nodded. "Sure."

She looked around for the aspiring artist, and saw her having a talk with Mewtwo on the other side of the garden. "Be back in a few minutes," she informed them.

"Right. Do you know what Mega Evolution is?" Ash asked, addressing the Eon twins directly.

"I... have some idea," Latios said, slowly. "It's what happened to us in the museum?"

"Right," Ash confirmed. "Heracross can do it, Misty's Gyarados can do it, and my friend Gary has a Blastoise which can do it. It's a big powerup for the Pokémon which gets it."

He indicated the staff on his back. "This is my Key Stone – a trainer needs three things for their Pokémon to Mega Evolve. A Key Stone which they have, a Mega Stone which the Pokémon has – a different one for each Pokémon..."

Latias glanced over at where they'd put the two stones from the museum, and Ash nodded. "Right. And the third thing is – a strong bond between trainer and Pokémon. That's it."

"Right," Latios said, nodding.

"Wait – you said trainer," Latias frowned. "How did it work with us?"

"Well, clearly the Pokémon doesn't actually need to be caught by the person using the Key Stone," Latios mused. "And as for the bond – yes, I can see how that would work. Ash saved both our lives, sister – I remember the effort and sacrifices he went through to save me."

Latias considered that, then nodded. "Right."

"So, my idea was-" Ash began, then noticed Misty returning with Bianca. "Right. Latias, Latios, can you get the stones from the museum?"

Latias nodded, zooming over to where she'd left hers and picking it up. Latios was a little slower, but they were both back by the time Bianca got there.

"Hi – Misty said you wanted a chat?" Bianca asked. "What's this?"

"Okay," Ash said, rummaging in his pocket and laying his staff on the grass. "Bianca, can you hold this?"

Bianca took the gemmed earring with some confusion. "Sure... uh, why?"

"Oh, I see where this is going," Misty smiled.

"Bianca – just think about Latios," Ash told her. "I know you've grown up knowing him, so I'm sure there's some good memories-"

"Right," Bianca said, still a little uncertain, and closed her eyes – thinking of the time she'd shared with the Eon Pokémon.

The first time she'd done a picture of him, with crayons and scrap paper, and he'd made squeaky noises of delight over it – one of the times he'd been as exuberant as his sibling.

The time she'd fallen into a canal, and Latios had been there almost before she'd hit the water – pulling her out, invisibly, and placing her back on the canalside as gently as a breeze.

And – the indescribable relief, when she saw both Eon twins emerging from the museum. Tired, but hale and whole.

There was a flash of orange light. Startled, Bianca opened her eyes – and saw the earring in her hand shimmering with light.

And Latios was... purple.

"What just happened?" she asked.

"It's Mega Evolution," Misty told her. "It's a way a Pokémon can become much more powerful by working with someone who cares for them. Ash, that's a great idea!"

Ash nodded. "Right. So – Latias, would you feel leaving Latios was safe for him if he was able to do that?"

Latias blinked. "I... actually, yeah," she admitted, as Latios shifted back down from Mega. She thought about it a bit longer. "I mean, I guess I'd feel he was safe if Latios was able to transform – but Bianca had better not let him out of her sight!"

"Bianca, what do you think?" Ash asked her.

She just looked a bit confused.

"...Ash, she didn't understand what Latias said!" Misty reminded him.

"Oh, right!" Ash chuckled nervously. "If you had that earring on you, and Latios or Latias was with you with their Mega Stones, then they'd be safe. Would you be willing to do that?"

"If it would keep Latias and Latios safe – then yes," Bianca nodded, understanding. "Wait, does this mean that you might be taking Latias away? I guess she's always wanted to – but she is my friend, and-"

"I may have a suggestion," Suicune volunteered, moving closer. "Sorry to interrupt, but – for we three of Ecruteak, Ash already has the system that we may leave whenever we wish. Perhaps one of you at most should be with him at any one time – but perhaps, if training is the intent, you should both spend some time with him."

"So Latias and Latios kind of commute?" Bianca asked.

Latias frowned. "I... guess that sounds fine," she admitted. "Latios?"

"It does sound sensible," Latios nodded. "It would ensure we were both safe, better able to protect Altomare – and had the chance to train, to become stronger."

"Great!" his sister beamed. "That's settled, then!"

She blinked. "Wait. Does this mean Ash has to catch us in Pokéballs?"

"That's a tough one..." Misty said. "If we left one of Dexter's transceivers here, then you two could swap places whenever you wanted to – if you were both caught."

"It's really your choice, though," Ash added. "I've made really sure with all the Legendaries who I've-"

"All the – how many do you have?" Bianca asked, then shook her head. "Never mind. I don't think I can handle many more shocks..."

"So, how are you getting along with Electrike?" Norman asked his son.

"Pretty well!" Max replied, stroking the stiff fur of his Electric-type. "I kind of think I should give him a nickname, though... any ideas?"

"Nicknames are a pretty personal thing," Norman said, frowning. "I wonder if-"

There was a clatter on the stairs as May came running down.

"Ethan just spotted – you have to see this!" she said, scooping up the remote control and turning their TV on.

"...the situation in Altomare seems to have largely stabilized. The marauding Fossil Pokémon from earlier have now vanished, and thus far all indications are that there were no serious casualties from the incident.

All indications are that this unexpected good news is due to the efforts of trainers – both local and those in town due to the Altomare festival – who fought off the strange invasion with great dedication.

In particular, all three of the Beasts of Johto were seen roaming the streets, rescuing those trainers or groups of trainers who were in trouble. Since Suicune and Entei have previously been confirmed to be caught by a trainer, the indications are that Raikou was present for the same reason."

"Wait..." Norman said. "Didn't you say Ash had caught Suicune?"

"Hang on, they're going to show it again," May told him. "Look!"

Jaws dropped as the shaky camera-footage was played. Taken from the second floor of a building looking towards the museum, it showed the friends' charge in with the Bull-Dozer, Mega Gyarados, the sheer number of fossils, someone who seemed to be Ash riding Keldeo towards the museum, and then there was a flash towards the right of shot.

The camera moved to show a Moltres materializing from a Pokéball, a hovering aircraft under attack by Aerodactyl and Archeops, and then a Pidgeot boomed past barely below the sound barrier and launched in a Sky Attack to clear the air around the hovering plane.

"...the heck?" Norman asked weakly.

May frowned. "Huh, more spectacular than usual... "

The footage wound on for several more minutes, capturing a huge battle around the museum, and then the fossils abruptly vanished.

There was a momentary shot of Mewtwo, and then everyone vanished.

"...when you get a chance, can you call Ash?" Norman asked. "I'd kind of like to know what the heck was going on there."

"Do you think that went alright?" Jessie asked, as their transport aircraft headed east towards a pre-arranged airstrip.

"Well, I don't know," James replied, steering them up a little to avoid some turbulence. "I guess we didn't manage to stop Annie and Oakley, but the Boss mainly wanted us to be seen – and we certainly were."

"Do you think we helped?" Meowth asked. "I mean, I kinda did a bit, an' Victreebel knocked out dis whole line o' Carracosta, but what about you guys in da museum?"

"Probably," Jessie nodded. "Growlie did a lot of damage – knocked out their Leafeon and Shedinja, I saw that – and I'm pretty sure Arbok managed to poison the Cofagrigus. He couldn't get through to the Sylveon, though."

"Growlie hit the Glaceon," James reported. He frowned, and increased the pitch on their piston engines a little. "Didn't knock her out, though, which might be a problem."

"What were Annie and Oakley tryin' ta do, anyway?" Meowth asked.

"Take over the world?" Jessie guessed. "That's the usual."

James frowned. "Wonder what's going to happen to them..."

Giovanni walked into the room, and sat down. For a long moment, all he did was look at the two humiliated agents.

"Can you give me one good reason why I should not have you both killed?"

"Sir, we-" Annie began.

"Do you have any idea how much you have cost us? How much your little scheme would have cost us if it went through?" Giovanni shook his head. "You've managed to single-handedly undo two years of patient PR work. Two years. I suppose I would be impressed, if I thought you meant to do anything like this."

"I-"

He continued talking over them, not deigning to notice that they were speaking. "As it stands, I have to convince several highly placed people that supporting Team Rocket initiatives is in their best interests. The legal ones, at that. It is only because you failed that I can salvage anything from this. That and that one of my top teams was visible in the area helping to stop you."

He fell silent for a second. Annie and Oakley didn't speak.

"Yubitsume. All of it. Both of you. You're not allowed Pokémon any more, you're assigned to grunt work, and if you make anything approaching a slip one more time then you will consider that merciful."

He stood, leaving the room without a word.

Gary came down to breakfast, squinting in the morning light. "Thanks for letting me use the spare bedroom, Professor Sycamore..."

His fellow researcher nodded, pushing a cup of coffee across the table. "I heard you getting up – here."

"Thanks." Gary took a swig, sighing. "Ah, that's nice."

"You'll like this, too," Sycamore winked, putting a magazine down on the table in front of him.

Gary glanced up at the title. "Pokémon journal? I mean, I do read it – everyone does – but-"

He paused mid-sip, eyes widening, as he spotted the cover splash.

Mega Evolution – examples and details

Below that was a big picture of a Mega Lucario, with smaller images all around the edges.

"What!? Did we get pre-empted?" he asked, shocked.

Sycamore shook his head. "I know a couple of guys who work at the journal, I showed them the paper early. We got the news late yesterday it passed peer review, and they managed to get it into this month's issue. Nice work, right?"

Gary put his coffee down a bit hard and opened the journal, glancing at the contents before leafing through to page 53.

Mega Evolutions – observations, conclusions, mysteries and further directions of research

Oak, Sycamore et al

"...I mean, wow..." he said, blinking. "This is... well, this is huge."

"I know, right?" Sycamore chuckled. "It's out there, now – enjoy it, Mr. Oak! I've only been in Pokémon a few times... but anyway, this means there's lots more research to be done. There could be whole papers on individual Mega Evolutions, now... and we're at the forefront!"

He waved his empty mug around, punctuating his sentences. "It's wonderful, isn't it! All that research to be done!"

"And I can use Mega Blastoise openly, now," Gary nodded. "It's pretty... huge?"

Sycamore looked up at the abrupt change in tone. "What is it, Mr. Oak?"

Gary nodded to the muted TV. "I think my friend Ash just got in trouble again."

Reaching for his pocket, he took out Dee's main body. "Can you call Ash?"

Placing call. Dee paused. Line busy. I think it's Ethan – that means May saw the news first.

"What have you done this time, Ash?" Gary sighed, rubbing his temples.