23,24

"How are you doing, Delta?" Max asked, looking up.

The Mantine flapped by, fins working frantically, and swerved up just in time to not hit a bush. "Whooooah-"

"You need to glide more, what?" Noctowl advised. "Flap to gain speed, glide to turn it into height, and bally well soar!"

Delta tried to soar.

He managed something more like a stall.

"No, no!" Swellow piped, zooming around under him and pushing his angle of attack back to something more normal. "You're asking too much of your airflow!"

"I used to be good at this," Delta muttered.

"You used to be small!"

"Why can't it be like swimming..."

Viscocity, Kris said bluntly.

"Ash?" Max asked, glancing over. "Do you think he'll be okay for the gym battle?"

"Probably," Ash frowned. "He can fly okay, he did when he caught you – he's just a bit nervous."

Max nodded. "I see..."

"Maybe we should look at it another way," Brock suggested. "Would it work to teach Delta how flying works, and then he can work out how best to do it?"

"That could work," Ash agreed. "I-"

He stopped.

"Mawile? When did you come out?"

"I heard you talking about teaching Delta how flying works!" she said, with a notebook in her hands and a pencil in her false-jaw. "I'd like to take some notes!"

"She's quick," May chuckled.

"Well, now!" Noctowl said, flaring his wings and coming down to land on Ash's shoulder. "That's a dashed good idea!"

Max caught Delta as the big Manta came wobbling down to a landing, and they watched as Noctowl spread his wings.

"Now, there's two ways to fly! The first is to just rely on pure power – it's called thrust – and flap or blast hard enough to stay in the air!"

An illusion formed in front of them, made of shimmering light and outlining several Pokémon – including a soaring Mandibuzz and a hovering Natu.

"These plucky lasses have very different ways of flying! The Natu's using sheer wing strength to keep herself from pranging, flapping away so hard that she can stay up! And as for this Mandibuzz here, she's doing the opposite..."

"Okay, I think I get it," Delta said, watching. "So... which would I be better at?"

"Let's see how you glide!" Swellow grinned. She took off in a clap of wings and began to hover there. "You need speed and height, and then hold yourself as flat as possible!"

As the Water/Flying-Type got to practising, Mawile finished her notes.

Ash crouched down to have a look. "What's that?"

"How to fly!" she said, showing him.

Ash took it.

There was a sketchy blob in the middle of the page, with puffy clouds drawn both above and below it (and labelled with 'cloud'). Speed lines showed that the blob was moving at high speed through the air, and another set of lines denoted a blast of non-specific energy which was shooting down and behind the blob.

There was a bit by the side of the diagram listing possible types of energy. 'Flamethrower', 'Dragon Pulse' and 'blowing really hard' were all on there, as well as a few others that were crossed out.

"So, who's this?" Ash asked, pointing at the blob.

Mawile shrugged. "It's kind of... ge-ne-ric."

"Here we are!" May said, happily. "Lavaridge! Hey, let's go to the hot springs!"

"But..." Ash looked downcast. "Gym battle?"

"Can't it wait?"

"Well, yeah, if I have to," Ash admitted. "But I'd kind of like to know who I should get hold of first."

"Fine," May sighed. "Let's go, then."

"Great!"

"But we're just going to check!" May added. "If you start a battle, I'm going to watch it from the hot springs!"

She turned to Brock. "Think he heard me?"

Brock shrugged.

"Oh, hi!" waved a young woman – Flannery – as they approached her gym. "Are you here for a Gym Battle?"

"Yeah!" Ash and Max both said.

May coughed.

"Later today," Ash amended reluctantly.

"Sure!" Flannery agreed. "I'm just getting Meg and Mag ready for a challenge... they're my mid-league-run team..."

"Wait, look out!" Max said, pointing.

Flannery tilted her head. "What?"

The end of her hair touched her Slugma.

"...you're kind of on fire," Max continued, weakly.

"What?" Flannery repeated, then smelled the burning hair. "Aah!"

"Marshtomp, go!" Brock said, sending him out. "Douse that hair!"

Marshtomp duly blasted water on Flannery's hair, producing a hiss and a horrible smell.

"I'll handle that," May said, "Beautifly, Sweet Scent!"

A soothing pulse of tulip rolled out, replacing the smell.

"Thanks!" Flannery said brightly. "Sorry, I'm kind of new..."

She trailed off. "Wait... you're Ash Ketchum, aren't you?"

"That's me," Ash agreed.

"Great!" Flannery grinned. "Hey – would you mind doing me a favour?"

She lowered her voice. "My grandpa used to run this gym, but I think he keeps creeping back to see how well I'm doing. So I want to show him that I'm able to handle a big battle – even if I don't win."

"Who did you beat in the Elite Four?" Brock asked, curious. "I'd have thought that would settle the question..."

"Who do you think I beat?" Flannery shrugged. "Glacia, of course – but I managed to edge out a win against Phoebe, too, just by setting the whole arena on fire so her Ghosts got hit whenever they phased."

"Ouch," May winced.

"Yeah, but Gramps didn't see it, so he doesn't really believe me. Oh, yeah, speaking of arenas..." Flannery rubbed the back of her neck awkwardly. "Can we battle outside?"

"Why?" Max asked.

"I broke the floor," she said simply. "Heatmor tore it up going after a Dig user."

"Geodude can fix that up for you," Brock volunteered.

"Yeah, that would be cool," Flannery grinned. "Thanks!"

"I'd still like mine outside," Ash requested. "Given who I'm planning to get – if he's willing – then the battle wouldn't fit in the gym..."

"Cool," Flannery nodded. "There's a big flat place cut into the slopes of Chimney a little way out of town, come back here when you're ready and I'll show you."

"Sounds good," May smiled. "And it gives us time for a quick go in the hot springs, I've been looking forward to them for a week!"

"These are quite nice," Absol said, stretching in the luxuriant warm water.

She glanced up at Mt. Chimney. "Though if I couldn't tell that volcano is uninterested in erupting, I'd be a bit worried about it."

Ash followed her gaze. "Yeah, I can see that..."

Pikachu floated past.

"Make sure you don't zap us," Ash pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah..."

Ash lay back, sighing. "I guess May did have a point, we've been on the go a while..."

"It's been the most event-filled few weeks of my life, so far," Absol nodded. "And... this is normal for you?"

"Fairly."

"Excuse me," Lucario requested.

Absol shifted to one side, and Lucario got in.

"Good training session?" Ash asked.

"Very good, thank you," Lucario nodded. "I think we really are on the verge of a breakthrough with Sacred Sword."

"That's great news!" Ash grinned. "What's the trick?"

"I'll tell you on the other side of the actual breakthrough," Lucario informed him.

"Fair enough..." Ash shrugged. "Oh, sorry, Absol – you were saying?"

"Well..." Absol gave a sinuous shrug, sending ripples across the water. "I'm fully aware that I joined you essentially to see how you handle the chaos that swirls around you... but since then, I've been thinking quite hard."

"Oh?" Ash asked.

"I've enjoyed it," Absol said, then glanced up at Chimney. "Mostly. And the mention of Absolite... sort of brought a question into quite sharp relief."

She took a deep breath. "I'd be willing to become your Pokémon in truth, if you'll have me."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "It'll be great to have you!"

Absol let out a little breath.

"Are you glad?" Ash asked, curious.

"Well, yes... but not – not just – for the reason you're thinking. As I asked the question I was keeping careful track of just how dangerous my life was – and joining you didn't do anything."

"I guess that's... a useful thing to check," Ash agreed. "So – should I ask Gary for the Absolite?"

Absol blinked. "Huh, now there's a blip..."

"Okay, ready?" Flannery asked. "Two on two!"

"Sure am!" Max agreed. "Okay, let's give this a go!"

"That's the attitude I like to see!" Flannery grinned. "Okay, Meg!"

"Morning," Meg said, waving a pseudopod.

"Is that one of the Slugma you had earlier?" May asked. "They're pretty neat – if dangerous around flammable objects."

"Yeah, like hair," Flannery said, unfazed.

"Delta, here we go!" Max called, and sent his Mantine out.

"Okay, not bad!" Flannery agreed. "Okay, Water and Flying type that's not a Gyarados... right!"

She pointed. "Okay, Meg, show them what a volcano means! Lava Plume!"

"Whoa!" Delta gasped, hammering at the air with his fins to gain height as a blast of flame went skywards with a dull whoosh.

"Delta, stay clear!" Max called, as the arena began to smoke and smoulder. "How are you setting that on fire? It's rock!"

"Actually the fire's not really burning the basalt itself," Flannery told him, as the flames spread out to cover most of the arena in a flickering, dancing web of conflagration. "It's just sitting on top – but it looks cool!"

"I guess it does," Max admitted.

"Max?" Delta called down, wobbling through the air.

"Oh, right!" Max winced. "Uh – Bubblebeam!"

A stream of bubbles speared down into the firey cauldron. Some of them were on target, but the recoil quickly pushed Delta wildly off course and he began to tumble.

"Don't panic!" Max called. "Spread your fins, tail to the right – and flap!"

The calm instructions helped more in abstract than in specifics. Merely knowing that Max was there to help let Delta recover his confidence, and he pulled up out of his tumble before soaring back skywards.

"Phew," Max sighed. "But – wait, what happened to the bubbles? I swear some of them were on target..."

"They vanished in the heat!" Brock realized. "She's made the area hot enough to boil water!"

"Well, it's not quite that hot yet," Flannery replied, as the Lava Plume continued. "But it's certainly hot enough to disrupt a Bubblebeam!"

"Okay, that's not good," Max frowned. "Okay, stay high for now! And – try short bursts, to get used to firing in the air!"

Delta inhaled, and fired a short burst of Bubblebeam. The recoil jinked him, and he flapped in an undignified way for a few seconds before recovering.

"Good!" Max said. "Keep it up!"

Some distance away, Flannery's grandfather lowered his binoculars.

"Okay, now she's setting rock on fire. I guess that's a good sign?"

"Wait!" Delta called down. "I think I worked out something!"

He banked in, dove slightly, and fired out a torrent of water.

"That's more like it!" Max grinned, watching as the water steamed its way through the firestorm.

"Back, Meg!" Flannery called quickly.

Her Slugma slipped backwards, resulting in an interruption of the Lava Plume, and avoided the blast of water – though some splashed her, making a hissss sound.

"Fire Blast!" she ordered.

Meg nodded, and blasted a star of flame into the sky.

Delta yelped, inhaled, and fired another blast of water. The attacks detonated in a huge cloud of steam, and Delta emerged from the other side of it wobbling slightly in the air but broadly fine.

"Fire around the Slugma!" Max ordered. "Then right at her!"

Delta banked around again, and fired his newly-mastered Surf attack in a hose-like stream.

His wingfins trembled as he held himself on course, and a Flamethrower shot past his ear a little close for comfort, but the attack pattern worked – hot, steaming water splashed down around Meg and then hit her head-on.

There was a BANG.

"Meg!" Flannery called, squinting through the steam. Overhead, Delta circled watchfully.

Then, as the steam cleared, it revealed Meg.

"I'm okay-" she began, and was hit by a blast of Bubblebeam.

"...oh," Flannery said. "Ah well... one down, one to go!"

With a flash, the second Pokémon appeared.

Max frowned. "...that's another Slugma."

"Yeah," Flannery shrugged. "But he's different."

"Really?" May asked, looking closer. "Different how? Is he Shiny?"

"No, but... well, there's two things. First, he's male – Meg's female."

"Right," Brock said. "That's a pretty important difference."

Mag nodded.

"Second – well, he knows different moves." Flannery pointed skywards. "Rock Throw!"

Mag's skin bubbled for a moment, then he opened his mouth and fired a flaming rock larger than he was into the sky.

"Turn left!" Max called quickly.

Delta jinked, diving out of harm's way, and the rock whistled just over his tail – then exploded.

"Whoa!" Max said, half-raising a hand as some bits of rock pinged off Delta's upper surface. "What happened?"

"It's basically like Rock Blast," Flannery told him brightly. "It's a rock which is superheated on the inside, so it bursts!"

"That sounds tricky to handle..." Ash admitted.

"How would you deal with it, Ash?"

"In all honesty I'd probably have the Pokémon punch the rock," Ash said. "Sorry."

"Yeah, Delta doesn't have fists... pull up!" Max warned, and Delta did so.

This time, the rock didn't burst, and reached an apex some distance away before falling to the ground.

"There's no-one nearby, right?" Brock asked.

"There shouldn't be," Flannery said, frowning.

There was a wham as the rock landed.

"Okay, you've got a good point... Mag, we're not in the gym any more, make sure to aim so the misses don't land outside the cleared zone!"

Ash looked to his left. "Can you handle any that do go out of bounds?"

"Sure!" Latias squeaked.

Flannery hadn't noticed. "Right – now, use Inferno!"

A blast of heat plumed skywards, and Delta spread his fins to ride it.

"Look out!" Max called.

Delta side-slipped, and the rocks fired through the obscuring curtain of flame whipped past and missed him.

"Can you gain more height, Delta?" Max added, cupping his hands. "Try and get out of range!"

Delta pulled up, rising into the sky, and before long he was only a small shape.

"Ancientpower!" Flannery said, pointing, and Mag fired a glowing red rock into the air.

"Bubblebeam!" Max said, as loud as he could.

Delta heard his trainer, and turned to aim better.

As the rock left the region of intense heat, he opened fire – barraging Bubblebeam into it, in short bursts so he didn't accidentally flip himself over and start tumbling again.

The blue stream pounded into Mag's Ancientpower, and it resisted for a few seconds – then, came apart as it reached altitude, and Delta evaded most of the bits with relative ease.

Latias shot past, grabbing the largest bits to stop them falling on anyone.

"...is that yours?" Flannery asked, distracted.

Ash nodded.

"Right – okay, let's try this! Flame Burst!"

Mag inhaled, and his magma-like body bubbled and swelled up.

Then he fired a great big ball of flame, which flew skywards in a stream of firey tendrils and detonated into a great cloud of fire.

"...no, a bit higher," Flannery said. "Man, that Mantine's really high up..."

"I don't think he wants to be fried," Max replied.

"Well, he's got to come down sometime..." Flannery muttered. "Wait, can I set a time limit? I can, right?"

Brock nodded. "That's allowed."

"Brock..." Max sighed.

"No, it's legitimate," May agreed.

"Okay – Delta, surf!" Max shouted.

Delta waved his fins, then fired down a blob of water.

Mag watched it come in, charging his attack, then fired – and, a second or so later, the falling water hit the rising flame.

There was a bang and a cloud of steam, and water splashed down all over the place.

"Cargo?" Mag asked.

"What was – you evolved?" Flannery realized, looking down and seeing her Fire-type was now a Fire-and-Rock-type. "That's great! Now – uh, try loads of Fire Blasts! Make some turbulence!"

Mag nodded, and leaned back. His shell began to light up, in an uncoiling spiral, and then a series of flaming stars reached for the heavens.

Delta dodged and wove, trying to avoid the pillows of overpressure produced by the Fire Blasts, but he couldn't avoid them all – one slapped into him from the side, then another came up from underneath and made him take a tricky up-and-over manoeuvre.

"Delta!" Max's voice came faintly from the ground below. "I've got a new plan – dive and use Surf as you do!"

Considering that, the Mantine wove around a Fire Blast and then tilted forwards.

Inhaling, he fired a Surf – and the next Fire Blast came straight for him.

There was a bang as the attack detonated on the water, leaving Delta pretty much uninjured.

"Keep it up!" Max encouraged.

"He's building a water shield," Flannery realized. "Cool tactic! Okay, Mag – blast through it! Fire Blast!"

The second Fire Blast aimed at the diving Mantine went skywards, and did little better than the first. It produced a huge, beautiful disc of water as it blasted gallons of the Surf away, but some of the shield remained and Delta just rebuilt it faster.

Flannery blinked. "Wait – try a Rock Throw!"

The Rock Throw was duly used.

It dished out a kind of reverse splash in Delta's progressively-thickening watery wavefront, then exploded – but the water soaked up most of the explosion, and by now Delta was getting close.

"Overheat!" Flannery finally said.

Mag's shell glowed again, and he fired the almighty blast of heat.

"Dive!" Max called out, and then both shielded their faces from the sudden blast of hot steam.

The diving manta ray landed squarely on the snail.

"Delta!" Max called, running onto the hissing battlefield as it cooled rapidly. "Are you okay?"

Delta mumbled something about Octillery, visibly draped over something large.

"How's Mag?" Flannery asked, worried.

Max pulled, and decided he wasn't going to be able to lift his Water-type up. Taking the Pokéball, he returned him in a flash of red light.

With the weight removed, Mag fell over with a thud.

"...I think he's out too," Ash volunteered.

"Right," Flannery agreed. "Well, I guess that's a win for you!"

"But..." Max blinked, then realized. "Oh, right – two on two."

"That's right," Flannery confirmed. "Who's your number two?"

Max sent Guy out. "Him, probably."

Flannery gave the Grass-type a bemused look over. "Wouldn't he catch fire?"

"Nope, he's already poisoned," Max explained.

"Huh, neat trick... okay, here!"

Flannery tossed him a Heat Badge, and Max caught it – then fumbled it, and Guy caught it for him.

"Thanks," he said, smiling.

"Okay!" Flannery snapped her fingers. "Your turn!"

"Right!" Ash agreed. "Oh, what's the rules?"

"We'll do that... uh, extra battle... at the end," Flannery decided. "You know, just to end on a high note. Apart from that, three on three."

She took a Pokéball from her belt. "Ready?"

"Sure!" Ash agreed.

Both threw their Pokéballs.

Corphish formed on the battlefield in a flash of white light, and looked around.

He didn't see his opponent.

"Up here," she said.

Ash's Water-type looked up.

He turned to Ash. "Okay, explain this one."

"I don't know myself," Ash admitted. "Why is there a Blaziken hanging from a balloon?"

Flannery shrugged. "Don't knock it, it works."

"It does?" Pikachu asked.

"Blaziken, Flamethrower!" Flannery said, pointing.

Blaziken inhaled, then blew a gentle stream of fire onto the hand not holding onto the colourful little balloon.

The hand swirled for a moment, and then she lashed out with a billowing wash of flame.

"Yah!" Corphish cried, opening both claws and firing a stream of Bubblebeam.

The Water and Fire attacks hit one another, producing a side-scatter of flickering flames and a cacophany of popping bubbles, and after a few seconds the Bubblebeam won out and the flames dissipated.

Blaziken just hung there for several seconds as bubbles peppered her entire half of the arena – most of them not coming near her, let alone close enough to hurt.

"You're not very good at this, are you?" she asked, once he finally stopped.

"I'm good enough," Corphish replied. He fired another shot, which went nowhere near her.

"You're manifestly not." Blaziken swung herself by the string connecting her to her Air Balloon, and kicked a wash of flame at Corphish.

"I'm Water-type, you know," he said, firing away again to defeat this attack.

"Look out!" Ash called.

Corphish ignored it.

When the flames subsided, he looked at Blaziken again – and saw a green glow in her free hand.

"Ah," he said, and sprinted to his right.

The beam of solar energy that emerged from Blaziken's palm hit the ground just behind him, and swept across to follow him.

As he ran, Corphish aimed both claws directly at Blaziken and began to fire Bubblebeam again.

This time, paradoxically, they were a bit more accurate – at least two bubbles actually hit Blaziken's hanging body – but nowhere near enough to make her stop her Solarbeam or even significantly affect her aim.

"I thought those things just made it so Ground-type attacks didn't work," Max said, frowning.

"Well, she's ten feet in the air," Brock pointed out. "It's not as if he can hit her with Razor Shell..."

"Why's he missing with Bubblebeam, though?"

"I think his aim's just absolutely terrible," Pikachu opined.

"Yeah, probably," Ash agreed, as the Solarbeam faded – it had scored a few glancing hits on the exoskeleton, but Corphish was mostly fine. "Corphish, don't hit the balloon! Aim for her feet!"

"Wait, what?" May asked.

Corphish continued to spray Bubblebeams semi-randomly across the battlefield, but his point of aim drifted downwards as he ran – staying ahead of Ember attacks that starred the ground – and came to focus on Blaziken's feet.

Switching methods, Blaziken inhaled and let out a Fire Blast. She swung backwards with the recoil, then punched out behind her with a Fire Punch that mostly reversed the effect, and continued to keep up her barrage of flame.

All through this time, not a single Bubblebeam bubble hit Blaziken's feet.

One hit the balloon, though, making it boing and wobble slightly back and forth. Then a second.

"Look out!" Flannery called. "He's hitting the balloon!"

Then a Bubblebeam finally reached its target, and the balloon burst with a pop.

Blaziken fell and landed on two legs and one hand, and her wrists smouldered faintly as her head came up in a smooth motion.

"Oh, I get it!" Max said. "His aim's so terrible you told him not to hit it!"

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "And that meant he did."

"That doesn't make sense," Brock said weakly. "Unless his aim is never accurate."

"Did you see what just happened?" May asked. "It kind of looks like it is never accurate."

She sent out Blaziken, just so he could watch the next part of the battle.

"Thank you," he said gravely, and sat down to spectate.

Blaziken crouched, muscles tensing, and then exploded forwards at her crustacean of an opponent.

Crossing his claws, Corphish ignited his Razor Shellsabers, and met her first snap-kick with a glowing blade of water-typed energy.

The contact produced a hiss and smoulder, with a little flame leaking past the blade to reach his exoskeleton, and he swung his other blade to try and hit her while she was stalled.

Unfortunately for him, though, the Blaziken was observant as well as athletic. Pushing hard on his interposed saber, she pushed him back a step – despite his supporting legs – and got clear fast enough that his swing met only air.

Corphish frowned, and scuttled forwards to resume the battle.

Another clash – this time of shellsaber versus Fire Punch, followed by a hard impact of kick on shell matched by a painful Razor Shell to the knee – and the two gained distance once more, feeling each other out.

"Try another Solarbeam!" Flannery called.

Nodding, Blaziken cupped her hands. As Corphish charged to try and interrupt her attack preparation, she ran backwards fast enough to keep her distance before springing into the air.

She executed one slow backflip, and then brought her hands together and fired.

Corphish crossed his beam-like blades, holding them in front of his face, and the blaze of green light hit just off-centre of the X.

Light glanced off, mostly to the right, and carved a thin path through the ground.

"Who do you think's going to win?" May asked, as the green light ran out.

"Hard to say," Brock admitted. "They're not really damaging one another..."

Blaziken landed with a crouch-squat, and stayed for a moment before springing forwards again.

Her foot glowed blue, and she lashed out with a one-two Double Kick at Corphish.

Razor Shell blades swinging up, Corphish blocked both the attacks – though he was sent back a step by the force – and fired a conical blast of Bubblebeam.

Most of them missed – but this close, some of the attack actually hit. Blaziken sprang quickly back out of range, and blurred around to come in on a new vector.

A punch flashed out, flame skirling, and Corphish blocked it with one saber. He stepped to the side, relaxing his muscles, and the remaining force of Blaziken's blow made her stumble forwards for a moment.

Swinging his other claw, Corphish hit her in the back of the knee, and the impact caused Blaziken to fall forwards.

Already recovering, she landed on spry forearms – coming into what looked like a push-up position – and made ready to launch herself back upright.

Then Corphish used Crabhammer.

Directly on her nose.

"...ouch," May said weakly.

Her own Blaziken touched the front of his face a little gingerly.

Blaziken did not get up as smoothly as she had hoped.

Stunned by the impact, she reeled backwards – managing to not fall over backwards, though it was a close thing – and shook her head before recovering.

Waving away the shower of terribly-aimed Bubblebeam headed at her, she wound up and lashed out in a Blaze Kick – one that was noticeably more cautious than her earlier attempts.

Corphish blocked this one, too, and swiped at her ankle with a Razor Shell which missed.

"Fire Blast!" Flannery called.

Blaziken obliged, inhaling and then letting loose a burst of star-like flame.

Corphish didn't have time to dodge this one.

The star-shape detonation covered him for a couple of seconds, and when it faded there were a few small scorch marks on Corphish' exoskeleton.

"Keep it up!" the fiery Gym Leader said. "Blaziken – Overheat!"

Heat sparked between Blaziken's fists.

She sprang back, away from a charge by her Water-type opponent, and brought both fists down on the ground.

Flames skirled around the impact point, forming a circle, then in less than a second pounced forwards to form a moving curtain of intense heat that roared and hissed.

What looked like a great, indistinct bird keened and lunged down onto Corphish, who raised his glowing Razor Shell blades to protect his face.

There was an almighty hiss.

"Corphish!" Ash called. "Are you okay?"

There was no answer for a second or two, then glowing blades cut through the swirling flame and dissipated it.

Corphish looked pretty badly scorched by now, with blackened marks running down his claws and ash on most of his body except for his face.

His opponent, meanwhile, looked quite enervated from the effort of the powerful Fire-type attack. She was visibly panting, but seemed capable of continuing the fight.

"Great!" Flannery complimented, glancing between the scorched Corphish and the tired Blaziken. "Now – finish him off! Focus Blast!"

Blaziken nodded firmly, and steadied herself before forming a globe of blue light.

A second, and then it fired.

Corphish crossed his shellsabers.

Much to the surprise of just about everyone, the Focus Blast bounced off the X-shape of glowing light and rebounded on an unsuspecting Blaziken.

That was finally too much for her.

"I can honestly admit I didn't know he could do that," Ash told Flannery.

"Really?" Flannery asked, interested, as she returned Blaziken. "I thought all the crazy things your Pokémon did were planned out in advance."

"Some of them are," Ash agreed. "Some I make up as I go along."

He returned Corphish. "And some I don't even know..."

May stifled a giggle.

"Okay, next up – Pyroar!" Flannery said, sending him out.

Ash considered that, looking the Pyroar over. "Cool Pokémon."

"Yeah, she's from Kalos," Flannery nodded. "Got her on my gap year."

"You had a gap year?" Brock asked. "I never got a gap year..."

"Okay, Goomy!" Ash decided. "Ready?"

"No," Goomy replied, materializing on the battlefield.

"You can do it!" Mawile said, waving. "Good luck!"

Goomy looked back, and smiled faintly. Then he turned back to face the feline Pokémon, and nodded. "Okay."

"Begin!" Flannery called.

"Ah, good," Giovanni said, looking up from his desk at the grunt. "You have what I asked for?"

The grunt nodded, placing a Pokéball on the desk. Persian paced up and sniffed it.

"Excellent. You may go – and tell my next appointment to come in."

He adjusted the placement of the Pokéball slightly, and then looked up again. "Good. Do you know why I called you in here?"

"Well... dat's pretty much a no," Meowth admitted.

Giovanni nodded. "Indeed. Well, it did not escape my notice that you were lucky to escape serious injury on that last mission."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Poor Growlie, he could have been badly hurt..."

"Indeed," Giovanni nodded. "Which is why I am providing you with assistance."

He picked up the Pokéball. "Jessie. Your friend from nursing school, Chansey – now Blissey, of course – was quite willing to help."

"Is that her?" Jessie asked.

"No," Giovanni informed her. "She's unavailable due to prior commitments. It is, however, her student."

He passed the Pokéball across the table, and Jessie took it.

"I advise you get to know him before your next mission," the Boss added.

He let a few seconds elapse.

"Now, I do have other appointments today..."

"Sorry boss!" Meowth said, standing up quickly. "Didn't mean ta hang around!"

"We'll just be going," Jessie agreed, and they hurried to the door.

"So, dis Pokémon's been trained by dat Chansey you used ta know?" Meowth asked, when they were back in the vehicle bay.

"That's what the boss said," Jessie agreed. "I didn't know she even did training..."

"Any idea what he is?" James asked, curious.

I know, Abra noted idly. There was quite a lot of discussion about it.

"There was?" James asked. "We didn't hear it..."

Of course not, there was a wall in the way.

Before he could be asked to explain that cryptic comment, Abra promptly returned himself into his Pokéball and went to sleep.

"One of these days we should remind him to explain himself," James said. "Okay, I guess we should have him look at Growlie?"

Jessie nodded, and opened the Pokéball.

24

As the battle started, Pyroar crouched and sprang forwards – paws ready for a buffet.

Goomy yelped, and dove out of the way – resulting in the Fire-type missing, skidding a few paces, and turning to attack again.

Her long flaming hair crackled with heat, and she inhaled. Fire sparked in her mouth, then moved to her fangs, and she clashed them ready for a Fire Fang from behind Goomy.

Ash spotted it coming. "Goomy, use-"

"Rain dance!" Mawile said. "Quick!"

"Right!" Goomy said, remembering.

His antennae glowed, and there was a miniature crack of thunder. A small raincloud bloomed out, and the first spatter of rain began to fall.

"Oh, great..." Flannery sighed. "Here we go, always with the rain..."

Pyroar's Fire Fang dissipated unused, and she let out a mrowl of discontent at the water.

"I know, I know," Flannery agreed. "Right, Pyroar, rain countermeasures!"

The leonine Fire-type nodded, tail lashing, and reared her head back. As the rain began to come down in earnest, she launched a Flamethrower skywards, then followed that up with a broader Incinerate.

"Does that help?" Max asked.

"Yeah, actually," Flannery shrugged, as Pyroar shook herself of some of the water. "It takes the edge off, anyway..."

"Goomy, Bubble!" Ash called.

Pyroar gave him an irritated look, then lashed out with her tail at the water bubbles. They popped, producing nothing more than a few stinging marks, and then she pawed the ground and let out an almighty roar.

"Wow..." May said, wincing. "That's loud!"

Goomy flinched, and gulped visibly. "Uh..."

Pyroar launched a Fire Blast.

Goomy swallowed, but didn't run. He concentrated hard, and a squall of intense rain came down from the clouds overhead and battered away at the fury of the five-spoked Fire attack.

There was a great deal of hissing, and what actually reached Goomy was much weaker than it could have been.

"That's a new trick!" Flannery said, surprised. "Can he do that whenever he wants?"

Ash shrugged.

"Let's find out! Fire Spin!"

Pyroar paced forwards, moving at a steady trot for a moment. Then she accelerated, quickly reaching a quite startling speed, and ran in a circle around Goomy.

Flames trailed from her long red-gold mane and lengthened behind her with every pace, and three laps in they joined up to form a continuous circle of heat and flame.

As she continued to run, the ring expanded into a hollow cylinder four feet high, then got higher – and shrunk, keening hotter and hotter. The rain clouds overhead recoiled from the heat, and patches of blue sky began to appear.

"Look out!" Mawile called, worried.

Goomy was hidden from view for a few long seconds. Then a whole new rain cloud formed, directly over the top of Goomy's position, and what looked more like an artificial water cannon than anything came surging down from the little black cloud.

Pyroar turned to look, surprised, and then the torrential raincloud spread and she retreated with a startled yowl.

The Fire Spin collapsed, and Goomy stood in the middle of a puddle. He was breathing hard, and as soon as he was safe the rain slackened back to normal.

"All right!" Ash called. "Great work, Goomy! That was some really heavy rain!"

"Yeah!" Mawile agreed. "That was really wet!"

Goomy smiled, a little shyly – then saw Pyroar readying another attack. She was staying at a distance, but what looked like a Flame Charge was spreading over her body and beginning to blaze brighter.

"Water Pulse!" Mawile said, a moment before Ash could.

Nodding once, the Dragon-type produced a bubble and filled it with water. Holding it in his mouth for a moment, he shot it off as Pyroar began her charge.

The Fire-type was forced to leap aside, interrupting her attack, and the Pulse hit behind her with a splat.

Trying her luck, she surged forwards to try to hit him with another attack before he could fire again. She got very close, and Goomy's hasty second Water Pulse was poorly aimed – it splashed down her flank rather than getting a direct hit.

Roaring in triumph, she burst into crackles of electricity and hit home with a Wild Charge which entirely failed to knock Goomy out.

There was a pause.

"Uh..." Max raised his hand. "She knows that's a Dragon-type, right?"

"Wait, what?" Flannery asked, blinking. "I thought for sure... you know, all the rain, all the Water-type moves..."

She waved her hand at it. "It doesn't look like a dragon!"

"Hey..." Goomy mumbled, feeling hurt.

"Goomy's a dragon all right!" Ash confirmed. "Water Pulse!"

Knowing when she'd miscalculated, Pyroar turned tail and got out of the way.

The next few minutes of the battle were somewhat lower in intensity.

Pyroar stayed mostly clear, trying to avoid the Water Pulse attacks which Goomy was firing with gradually improving accuracy, and occasionally tried to roar again with a Noble Roar or even a Hyper Voice – but doing that involved standing still, and Goomy was also learning to appreciate a stationary target.

For Goomy's part, he wasn't really able to hit Pyroar solidly with much in the way of Water attack – she was quite nimble – and, though he could dampen her flames, he couldn't really move fast enough to take the initiative himself.

"I'm starting to get kind of tired..." he panted. "What's the plan?"

"Just keep it up!" Ash advised, glancing at the water level. "She's tiring too!"

"Flamethrower!" Flannery called again, and another wash of fire and flame crashed over Goomy.

When it faded, his antenna were smouldering.

"Aha!" Flannery said. "Now he's Burned!"

The antenna went out with a hiss.

"...and now he's not," she added, less enthusiastically. "I hate Hydration..."

"Was that my-"

"Bide!" Mawile said suddenly, pointing.

Goomy used Bide.

A second or so later, he discovered why – as Pyroar used Hyper Beam.

The blaze of golden energy hit his reddish layer of Bide, propelling him bouncing backwards across the battlefield, and the liquid light piled up on itself in a layer of frozen energy.

"...uh oh," Flannery said, into the stillness.

Pyroar gave her trainer a look.

Then the Bide layer collapsed, launching glowing red energy back at Pyroar with the gold of her own Hyper Beam right in the middle.

The rain began to peter out, clouds fading into the air, as both Pokémon picked themselves up from their date with a Hyper Beam.

Pyroar was favouring one paw, and gave it a lick before gingerly putting her weight back on it. She hissed through her teeth at the resultant twinge, but seemed willing to go with it for now.

As for the Dragon-type, he was still glowing faintly.

"Are you okay?" Ash called.

"I... don't know," Goomy said, sounding startled. "I feel all weird... like I'm about to sneeze..."

Then the glow brightened.

His body lengthened, gaining distinct parts, and his antennae became longer and more prominent. A small shell-like protuberance formed on his back, and a pair of stubby limbs out on his front.

When it faded, he was no longer Goomy – having evolved, and become a Sliggoo.

Sliggoo looked around in surprise, and then reached up to feel at his face. "...I can't see? But – I can feel loads of other-"

Pyroar pounced on him.

"That wasn't fair!" Mawile said crossly, hands on hips as Ash returned the newly evolved Dragon-type. "She's not a nice Skitty cat!"

Pyroar gave her a lazy glare.

"She's got a point," Ash said.

"...what?" Flannery blinked.

"Oh, Mawile said that wasn't nice," Ash explained.

"Yeah, it wasn't great," she admitted. "Sorry, I really should have told her not to attack just yet... want a break?"

"Not really," Ash decided. "Mawile? Can you make sure Sliggoo understands it's not his fault?"

"It's not!" Mawile agreed. "And I'll tell him until he listens!"

May giggled.

Ash sent out his next Pokémon, and Pyroar gave him a disdainful look.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Corphish asked, curious.

"Nobles do not speak to their inferiors," she said, nose turned up.

"Right," Corphish agreed, and Crabhammered her so hard she turned a backflip.

"...I can't honestly say she didn't deserve it," Flannery said, returning the out-for-the-count Pyroar. "Okay, I'm onto my third!"

She kicked at a nearby puddle, producing a splash. "Wish we could wait until the battlefield's dried up, though..."

"Is that why you wanted a break?" Ash asked. "We still could..."

"Don't worry about it," she waved off. "Right, let's go!"

Houndoom emerged with a flash.

"All right!" he said, tail lashing, as he landed between some of the puddles. "I'm ready!"

Then he spotted his opponent.

The fluffy Flareon waved. "Uh... hi!"

"Hi yourself," Houndoom said, and began to frown. "Uh... question? Do you have Flash Fire?"

"Yeah, I'm a Flareon," Flareon confirmed. "Wait... don't tell me you have it too..."

"Flamethrower!" Flannery called.

Just to test it out, Flareon duly launched a blaze of fire at Houndoom.

Billowing clouds of orange-red flame engulfed the Dark-type for a few seconds... and when it faded, he was not only unharmed but his bones were faintly flickering with their own light.

Water steamed up from the nearest puddle.

"Yeah," Houndoom agreed. "This is going to be a little strange..."

"Why'd you do that?" Max asked. "I mean, he's got Flash Fire."

Flannery shrugged. "Not all Houndoom do. And it's not like the side effect worries me..."

"Right," Max nodded. "I guess sometimes you don't really have to worry that much about an Ability."

"Beat Up!" Ash called.

Houndoom's tail whip-cracked, and duplicates appeared of Pikachu, Sliggoo, Mawile, Corphish and Lucario.

Sliggoo promptly fell over.

"Whoops, didn't mean to do that one," Houndoom admitted.

A moment later, the other four charged towards Flareon.

The Fire-type crouched, and charged – heat blasting out from his body, forming a continuous shield as he used Flare Blitz – and cannoned directly into the duplicate Corphish.

The impact made the fragile shadow-construct vanish in a puff of smoke, and the duplicate of Mawile also vanished as Flareon went past.

"Aha!" Flareon yapped, and skidded around in a half turn as his Flare Blitz ran out. He inhaled, and launched a wide cone of flame which caught all three of the other clones to destroy them in one go.

"Thought so!" he said, triumphantly. "You're immune, but they're not!"

Houndoom replied by creating more clones, and these ones lunged forward straight away.

"This is always a bit strange to watch," Pikachu noted, as Flareon blasted away some clones with a Fire Blast. "I mean... that's me. Lots of me."

"Yeah," Ash agreed.

A Lava Plume punched into the sky, not only catching all the clones currently attacking but also slamming Houndoom himself backwards with the force of the concussion.

"Is it me," May asked, slowly. "Or is it getting... kind of warm over here?"

A pillow of warm air came softly towards them, and it suddenly felt like the middle of summer in a desert for a few seconds.

"Perhaps we should back away," Brock suggested.

Flareon's paws beat a tattoo on the battlefield surface as he ran in. By this point, the surface was almost all dry, and his footing was sure as he jinked left-right to avoid a Dark Pulse and body-checked Houndoom over onto his side.

Houndoom's tail and paws lashed at him, jaws flashing with a Bite, and Flareon fired a burst of purple gas before kicking off and getting clear again.

"Fireblast the floor, Houndoom!" Ash called quickly.

Trusting his trainer, Houndoom launched a weak Fire Blast directly downwards. It produced a globe of bright yellow flame for a moment, and was then replaced by smoke which hung in the air for a few seconds.

"Keep using fire attacks!" Ash said, still speaking loudly to make sure Houndoom could hear him despite the distance. "That was a Smog attack!"

"I got it!" Houndoom agreed, and padded in a circle launching out Flamethrowers to clear the rest of the space around him before going back on the offensive.

He Snarled, aiming for Flareon, and the nimble Fire-type rolled to one side to dodge before coming back to his paws and sending a ball of flame towards Houndoom.

It hit Houndoom's own follow-up, a Dark Pulse, and the attacks detonated with a deep boom.

The sound was low enough that it made the ground shake slightly, and both opposing Pokémon were unsteady on their feet for a moment.

Houndoom recovered first, and charged forwards to use Crunch – though Flareon was less than a second behind, and all Houndoom got was a mouthful of tail fluff.

Then Flareon used Lava Plume, and the mouthful of fluff effectively exploded.

Houndoom went through a backflip, landed upside-down with a yelp and scrabbled back to his paws.

Cracking his tail, he formed more Beat Up clones – which burst instantly.

"What?" he asked, startled, and formed a second set. This lot burst as well.

"What's making that happen?" Ash asked, watching with his eyes closed. "He keeps making them, but they keep vanishing!"

"Ash, look!" May said.

"What?" Ash asked, confused for a moment, then got it and opened his eyes to look.

The smoke that had made him resort to Aura Sight was gone, but it hardly made it any easier to see – because the air was wavering and shimmering with heat haze badly enough that it was only just possible to make out Houndoom and his orange-yellow opponent.

"How hot is that?" Max asked.

530.2 degrees.

"Oh," he said. "Thanks."

Not a problem.

"Use other attacks!" Ash called, and Houndoom moved slightly – presumably he'd heard – before charging forwards.

Flareon matched him, adding a Flare Blitz, and the two passed one another at close range while lashing out with their paws.

At least, that was probably what happened. It was a little hard to tell.

"Thunder fang!" Houndoom announced, biting out at Flareon's ruff. The attack delivered some voltage, making Flareon twitch, and he replied with a Lava Plume and blasted Houndoom physically backwards.

The ground was starting to feel a little... tacky, almost, pulling on individual hairs on Houndoom's legs at times, and there was a kind of roaring background noise which he didn't recognize.

It certainly wasn't Flareon making it, Flareon was right there – cloaking himself in a Fire Spin for a moment, then attacking out of it with a Bite of his own.

Houndoom jumped to the side and hit Flareon with an Inferno, aiming to blow the Fire-type off course and make him land poorly.

The Inferno, however, didn't dissipate once it hit. Instead, it hung there, coiling into a long wisp which spiralled upwards into the air.

Houndoom frowned. "What was..."

He broke off as Flareon charged in, snapping off a Smokescreen which shielded him for a few seconds before being torn to shreds by the strengthening wind, and the two tried to knock one another over to get a solid hit in.

After several seconds of rolling-back-and-forth battle, Houndoom got Flareon on the ground, and was about to attack when Flareon used a Fire Blast to gain separation.

Houndoom felt light for a moment, the blast knocking him into the air... then it didn't stop, and he noticed he was still rising.

Flareon came up into the air as well, whirling around in a wind that abruptly reached a strength great enough to lift them skywards, and below them the ground glowed a dull red.

"What just happened?" Ash shouted over the train-roar of wind.

Set up. Dexter materialized in a flash of polygons, and formed a shield against the worst buffeting of the wind. The temperature-driven winds reached a speed and force great enough to lift both Pokémon into the air. This is like what Lucario does, but without Aura to channel and focus it.

"Okay, what do we call this?" Flannery asked, watching as their Pokémon collided high in the air and were then flung out of the top of the tower of wind. "Is it a draw, or...?"

"Let's call it that and make sure they don't hit the ground," Ash agreed. "Latias, can you catch them?"

Flygon emerged from his Pokéball. "I'll get Flareon," he buzzed, and set off with a buzz of wings.

"Well, you get the badge," Flannery said, fishing a second one out of her pocket once Flareon was safely returned. "That Corphish of yours is still not knocked out... oh, did you manage to get a Pokémon for that extra battle, though?"

"Sure did," Ash agreed. "He was kind of eager – he said he'd been waiting for... uh... two and a half years..."

"Must be one of the first Pokémon you caught," Flannery noted.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

He glanced down at the Pokéball, then at Flannery. "Okay, who should send theirs out first?"

"I will," Flannery decided. "Magmortar!"

Her Magmortar materialized on the cooling battlefield, set his feet wide apart in a squat, steady stance, and stretched to make sure his cannons were ready.

"Ho-Oh!" Ash said.

The Storm's End exploded into the air with a cry that – to anyone who could understand Pokémon – sounded an awful lot like "FINALLY!"

Sweeping his magnificent seven-coloured wings, he slowed to a hover and slowly turned to face them.

"...okay, yeah, I did kind of ask for it," Flannery admitted. "Ready for this, Magmortar?"

Magmortar gave her a look, then looked at Ho-Oh. "Are you sure this is okay?"

"Of course," Ho-Oh replied. "Why wouldn't it be?"

Magmortar shrugged, turned to his trainer, and nodded confirmation.

"That's the spirit!" Flannery grinned.

"Begin!" Brock called.

"Thermal rise!" Ash ordered quickly.

Flapping his wings, Ho-Oh enshrouded himself in a blast of flame which carried him skywards. A quick Thunderbolt from Magmortar hit his tail feathers, crackling between them for a moment, and then Ho-Oh's stiff wings had carried him well above his starting point and the rest of the Electric attack missed.

Emerging from a cloud of bluish smoke, Ho-Oh beat his wings once and began to circle. The scorch marks on his feathers from the controlled close-range explosion began to fade as his powers of rejuvenation and rebirth took effect, and then Magmortar fired another Thunderbolt.

This one, Ho-Oh dodged with a side-slip, and he returned fire with a blast of rose-coloured Sacred Fire.

"Whoa!" Flannery said, throwing up her hand against the radiant heat. "That's some Fire-type attack!"

"Yeah," Ash agreed, shading his own eyes. The attack faded, and it was revealed that it had hit a little to Magmortar's left – mainly by the splash of molten rock quickly solidifying on the surface of the battlefield.

"That's got to be more than eight hundred degrees," Brock noted.

Celsius, Farenheit, or Kelvin? Dexter asked.

"Celsius – why?"

Oh, I just thought I'd point out Kris forgot her units earlier.

Kris beeped. ...whoops.

That's not very rigorous, Ethan noted.

Ho-Oh fired down a second blast of Sacred Fire, which caught a Rock Throw that Magmortar had fired skywards and made it explode into a cloud of shrapnel.

"Great shot, Ho-Oh!" Ash called into the sky, as the rainbow phoenix evaded the semi-molten remains of the attack. "Try to hit Magmortar!"

"Dodge!" Flannery shouted.

Magmortar dove to the floor and fired a Smokescreen, and a pulse of rose-red flames hit behind him before sweeping through the smoke.

Unable to see if he was hitting, Ho-Oh ended the attack after a few seconds, and the smoke began to clear – revealing that he had caught Magmortar for a second or two, as the Fire-type was still in the middle of a glowing scar that turned black as they watched.

Not out yet, Magmortar raised both cannons this time. They glowed, and he launched forth bursts of Thunderbolt which Ho-Oh slid nimbly between.

"Now – Rain Dance!" Ash instructed.

"Oh, yeah, I saw this one," Flannery agreed, nodding. "Rock Throw again, Magmortar!"

"Target... fire!" Magmortar announced, and there was a whoosh of smoke from his right hand mortar-gun as it launched a second rocky projectile skywards.

This one was faster, and Ho-Oh's flames were already weakened by the rainclouds he'd started to create. The rock was attenuated by the flames, but Ho-Oh couldn't stop it, and it thumped painfully into his breast.

That didn't stop him, however, and the rainclouds began to produce their watery payload. The drops hissed and exploded on touching the ultra-hot rocks, and a cloud of condensing steam quickly began to hang in the air.

"Weather Ball!"

"Protect!"

Magmortar spread his cannons, and blue-green light erupted from both of them to form a continuous dome stretching above his head.

Ho-Oh's raindrop-the-size-of-a-truck smacked into the shield, hiding it for a moment, then there was an earsplitting sizzle as the water sluicing off the shield hit the high-temperature rocks around.

When the hissing and cracking faded, Magmortar was standing on a patch of hot rock surrounded by quenched, glassy obsidian.

"Oh, I get it!" May said. "So the shield meant all that water didn't hit Magmortar!"

"Right!" Flannery agreed. "I saw that move on TV, and I knew it'd be a fun one to work out a counter-tactic to!"

"What would you have done if I'd sent out Lugia or Mewtwo?" Ash asked, curious.

Flannery shrugged. "He's got Fling and Feint Attack, I'd work something out. Rock Throw!"

Magmortar fired two rocks this time, and Ho-Oh tucked in his wings and dove past them before launching a stream of flames at Magmortar.

The Sacred Fire beat on Magmortar for at least a couple of seconds, and then Ho-Oh spread his wings once more and pulled out of his dive – safe, for the moment, because Magmortar had been unable to see anything through the rosy curtain of flame.

"Ho-Oh, I've got a plan!" Ash called. "Back up into the sky!"

With great sweeps of his wings, the Storm's End gained height once more – rolling to the right to evade a Thunderbolt, then enduring the impact of a second one and levelling out at altitude.

"Rain Dance!"

"This again?" Flannery asked. "We can – wait, you know that too. What are you planning..."

Ash grinned, then looked upwards – judging the situation. "Ready?"

Ho-Oh waggled his wings.

"Smokescreen!" Flannery said.

The thick cloud of black smoke formed around Magmortar, and then Ho-Oh began to charge his Weather Ball.

"Protect!" Flannery said.

"Sunny Day!" Ash ordered, a moment later.

Spreading his wings with a loud cry, Ho-Oh banished the clouds and called down the sun. The battlefield brightened, and as it did Flannery squinted. "What-"

Ash had one eye closed. "Sacred Fire!"

The rose-red flame stabbed down again, into the rough centre of the smoke cloud.

"Left a bit – forward – there and hold it!" Ash corrected.

"What are you-" Flannery asked, then frowned, thinking it through. "Wait – oh, no! Magmortar, look out! Move!"

After several seconds of full intensity, Ho-Oh cut off the Sacred Fire as abruptly as turning a switch.

The last winds of its firing eddied, sweeping away the smoke, and revealed Magmortar.

His Protect was still up, but only his head and shoulders could be seen – because the rest of the shield had submerged into a pond of lava.

"Tricky!" Flannery agreed. "I guess I'd better recall him now."

She raised her Pokéball, and Magmortar vanished back into it – and, as his vanishing removed the shield, the whole bubble of molten rock began to collapse back in on itself.

As it quickly cooled, it became sticker and more viscous, and didn't just fall back in a glop like water would have.

"That was pretty heated!" Max said.

"...really?" May asked, sighing. "Did you have to say it?"

"Well, it certainly wasn't cool..."

"Stop. Please."

"Good work, Ho-Oh," Ash smiled, as the Fire-type drifted down to a landing. "I'm sorry I don't get much chance to battle with you."

Ho-Oh gave him a look.

"Okay, I don't want to overuse you," he amended. "You're... well, a bit too powerful, and you've got responsibilities."

"Most of which are not very urgent," Ho-Oh muttered. "Shall I just set off from here?"

"If you don't mind," Ash agreed.

"Very well, then. Fair skies, and I hope you'll use me a little more often in the future."

"Contest sound okay?"

"Of course."

With that, Ho-Oh took flight. Rainbow light streamed from his tail, and he set off to the northeast.

Some distance away, Flannery's grandfather put down his binoculars.

"...what the heck?" he asked, of no-one in particular.

"So," James said, looking at their new team member. "Nice to meet you."

"Audino," the new team member said.

"Meowth?" Jessie asked.

"Basically da same ting as you said," Meowth informed him. "Welcome to da team!"

"Dino." Audino smiled. "Audino-dino-dine."

"...Meowth?" James prompted.

"Oh, right," Meowth nodded. "He's sayin' dat Blissey told him a lot about yas, Jessie!"

He shrugged. "Tink we should go out an' get ta know da rest of da team? Like, ya know... Moltres, an' Cubone, an' da Snakes an' stuff?"

"Sounds like a good idea," James agreed.

Audino nodded, earpieces wobbling slightly.