59,60

"They wish to see Lord Ho-Oh at the opening ceremony?" Suicune asked, blinking. "Interesting. Most interesting."

"Do you think he'd say yes?" Ash asked, worried. "And about the other-"

"Oh, I'm sure he'll at least consider it," Suicune assured him. "It was a surprise to me, that's all – for all that the Conference of the Silver Mountain is dedicated officially to him, I don't believe he's ever been before."

She frowned for a moment, thinking. "Yes, I think I know where best to go to meet him. If you'll excuse me?"

Ash nodded, and she set off at a run.

"What about me?" Raikou asked. "You went to all the bother of getting me, too, so let's hear it!"

"Well..." Ash frowned. "Do you know where Mewtwo lives?"

"Nope!" Raikou said, shaking his head emphatically.

"...okay... do you know where Mount Quena is?"

"I most certainly do!" Raikou confirmed. "And now I know where Mewtwo lives, too!"

He pranced about a little. "I assume you want me to head over there and get him?"

"That's right," Ash confirmed, and before he'd finished speaking Raikou was off.

"And myself?" Entei asked. "Presumably it's Lugia who you want me to get."

"No, I sent Pidgeot off to alert him," Ash replied. "The Lugia I'm talking about is the one who lives at Shamouti, in the Orange Islands."

Entei worked out how far that would be to run across water, and winced. "Yes, probably for the best to use the Flying-type."

"I just wanted to have you for training with Houndour and Quilava, actually," Ash resumed. "As you're all Fire-types, it's safer to practice moves on one another."

Entei nodded, considering. "That makes sense... you do intend to use us, correct?"

"Well..." Ash frowned. "I'm... well, we'll see how it goes. I don't just want to win by using Legendaries first or anything, and... oh, I don't know."

"Consider it, please," Entei said. "It's an interesting experience, if sometimes a little unusual."

"Got it," Ash nodded. "I'm trying to make sure everyone's used, best not leave you guys out..."

Lucario stood, eyes resolutely open, and looked around himself at the clearing.

Nothing was moving – well, nothing that could be his foe. The grass waved in a gentle breeze, Butterfree and Ledyba drifted from flower to flower, and in the distance something exploded in the direction of Entei's training session with Houndour and Quilava.

Lucario's eyes narrowed. He swept his paw out, blue Aura forming for a moment, and a blade of compressed air snapped out.

It whipped through the air, hitting one of the Butterfree, and the Bug-type dissolved to be replaced with Latias. "Aww... you got me..." she said, sighing.

"You failed to take into account the way you crushed the plants below yourself," Lucario informed her. "You're getting better, though."

"Sure you didn't need to use Aura Sight?" Latias asked plaintively.

"No, but I'm running out of other options. Keep it up." Lucario looked away for a moment, and when he looked back Latias had recloaked.

He settled into his stance. Her training goal for the day was to tag him with an attack launched before he noticed her – and he wasn't allowed Aura Sight.

It was an interesting challenge.

"Okay, watch this," Primeape said. "Pay close attention."

Larvitar nodded attentively.

Primeape walked over to a boulder, and took a deep breath. He then scowled, and launched himself at the large rock – shouting, screaming, flailing, he proceeded to hammer blow after blow after red-glowing blow into the rock, blasting chips out of it in showers and finally smashing it in half with an almighty impact.

"Like that," he told Larvitar. "Now you try."

Larvitar blinked. "Uh... okay."

He walked slowly over to another rock, and punched it. It split in half neatly down the middle.

"No, no, that was just Rock Smash," Primeape told him. "I want to see passion! Rage! Outrage! Imagine the rock stole your dinner!"

The little Rock-type blinked. "Okay... if you say so..."

"Okay – Ash, Pikachu, let's try this again, okay?" Keldeo said. "First, focus your Aura together into both palms."

Ash complied, twin blue-glowing spheres forming. Pikachu did the same, but his were slightly flecked with yellow for a moment before they cleared and became blue.

"Right," Keldeo nodded. "Good start. Now, focus all the heat into one palm, and all the cold into the other."

They both got that far without much trouble, resulting in spheres of elementally-typed aura hovering just over their hands.

"Now for the hard part," Keldeo told them. "Try to power up the one in your right hand – the ice one – without breaking it, and without changing how it feels. It should stay icy cold-"

There was a bang from some distance off, breaking Pikachu's concentration. His globes of Aura burst, and Ash frowned as the hot ball shattered and the cold one wobbled dangerously.

"Nearly-" Keldeo said, and then there was a loud shout from the direction of the bang.

"Get this stupid stuff OFF me!"

Ash leapt to his feet, exercise forgotten. "That was Entei!" he said, eyes already looking towards where the Fire-types had been training. "Come on!"

Pikachu hopped alongside and up to his shoulder, and they set off at a run.

"Who left all this confounded tripwire here?" Entei snarled, wincing as the tungsten-steel snarled his paws. "This is not a safe training environment... you two okay?" he added, glancing up.

Quilava nodded, and Houndour bit down on the strand across his forepaw with a Crunch and a spang. "We're okay, I think," he reported.

"Who did this-" Entei began, and then was interrupted by the sound of a Pokéball opening.

"Mean Look, Misdreavus!" a voice commanded.

Entei glowered right back at the Misdreavus. "What's this in aid of?"

An Ultraball bounced off his flank, and failed to trigger.

"What!?" the same voice added. "But – I could understand if it didn't catch him, but-"

Entei rolled his eyes, and Roared. The Misdreavus vanished back into her Pokéball with a squeak of fear, eliciting a huff of satisfaction from Entei before he went back to handling the wire.

Another Ultraball hit him, in the shoulder this time, and he sighed. "Young man, I am going to get very annoyed soon..."

"What's going on, Entei?" Ash asked, hurrying over. "We heard-"

"Hey, I saw him first!" said the young man. "Croconaw!"

A Water-type emerged from the Pokéball he threw this time. It glanced at Entei, at the two inert Ultra Balls, and the dozen or so Pokémon (and one trainer) surrounding the tableau, and rolled his eyes. "Nelson, really? After what happened with the net trap at the hot spring?"

"This trainer is trying to catch me!" Entei said, sounding offended. "The others could have been hurt by these stupid wire traps! I'd pull them off, but..."

Keldeo swung his horn down. "Relax," he warned, and sliced through the tungsten wire. As it wasn't splitting under tension, it just fell off rather than whipping in all directions.

"Stop interfering!" Nelson said. "I'm trying to catch Entei, and I'd got him, and-"

"-and you're kind of late," Ash told him. "Sorry, he's taken."

Nelson's sentence fizzled out. "Pardon?"

By way of demonstration, Ash held up a Fast Ball. Entei glowered at Nelson, then Returned himself back into the ball.

"...oh," Nelson said, in a brittle voice.

He sat down, putting aside his folded-up laptop, and sighed. "Well... sorry, I guess."

His Croconaw patted him on the shoulder, a little awkwardly.

"I kind of caught all three of the Beasts," Ash explained. "Sorry..."

Entei emerged again. "And, I might add, we suggested it to him... well, my sister did, but we both agreed."

"I'm sorry about this," the Croconaw said, shrugging. "He's always wanted to... well."

Ash winced. "That's kind of... well, now I feel bad."

Nelson swallowed. "I guess... well, I guess I'll work out something else to do," he said, sighing. "Sorry, I just feel a bit..."

Keldeo frowned. "What about if... he's not the only Entei, there are others, so you could try to make yourself into someone who the Beasts of another land are interested in."

Nelson looked a little startled to get advice from a Pokémon, but considered it. "Yeah," he said, after a moment. "Maybe that is the best idea-"

Lucario interrupted, pointing. "Look."

Ash and the others followed his paw, and saw a shimmering shape coming over the crest of a nearby ridge – followed by a trail of rainbow light.

"...well, this is just the perfect time, isn't it..." Ash said, as Ho-Oh began his final approach. "I hope the clearing's big enough-"

Mewtwo materialized, with Raikou alongside. I believe you wanted to speak with me?

Darting out from behind him, Mew made a bee-line for Mawile. Hi again!

"Hi!" Mawile waved. "Have you met my little brother?"

Larvitar sighed. "She means me," he informed Mew, who emitted a strange squee sound.

Suicune skidded to a halt. "Hello, Ash, I found – oh, I see my brother arrived... who's this?"

Nelson looked increasingly overwhelmed, which wasn't helped when Lugia came backwinging into the clearing in a storm of wind.

Ash, good to see you. Pidgeot's off fetching my mate to handle things in Shamouti, so...

His mental voice trailed off. Is this a new companion of yours?

"What's going on?" Nelson asked, faintly. "Is Arceus about to jump out of your backpack or something?"

"So, what do you think of this one?" Brock asked, after a few minutes.

Misty frowned. "Actually, I'm still thinking... mainly, I'm wondering about if I have a modification budget."

"I think so," Brock hedged. "After all, Lorelei's house has a large refrigeration unit built into it. And I'm pretty sure that Lance's house had a big launch tunnel fitted, so he can take off from inside."

The Water-type trainer nodded. "Yeah, I guess that makes sense."

"What were you thinking about modifying?" Brock asked, looking around the largely-empty house Misty was considering.

"Well, a lot of my Pokémon are aquatic, and that swimming pool is nice, but..." Misty shrugged. "Might not be so nice in the winter. So I was thinking – first, roof over half of the swimming pool and put in an underwater curtain – you know, to seal off the outside portion if it gets too cold..."

"Right..." Brock said, following along. "So there'd be a heated indoor pool?"

"Not just that," Misty went on. "I was thinking of plumbing in pools to as many indoor rooms as I could manage, connected to the outside one. I'd probably need to stock up on a couple of those nice compact rebreathers, but it would mean I could swim from room to room."

Brock blinked. "...that's actually a pretty cool idea."

He frowned. "Just remember to have dressing gowns or something so you can put them on if someone comes around, I guess. And you're probably going to have trouble fitting Gyarados whatever happens."

Misty nodded, considering. "Hmmm... maybe the swimming pool needs to be bigger..."

After Nelson had been politely led away, Ash sat down with just about all the Legendaries he'd ever – technically – caught.

"Right," he began. "Sorry for calling you all-"

Ho-Oh waved his big rainbow wing, interrupting Ash. "I'm mainly upset it took you over two years to get around to working up the courage!" he admonished. "I didn't let you catch me because it was neat, it was because you were the person I considered to be worthy of it – and because I wanted to see what it was like!"

Ash blinked. "You've been waiting for that long?"

"Yes!" Ho-Oh informed him, in no uncertain terms. "I know an Articuno who's used in battle more often than you use me, and he's not even caught!"

"Wait..." Pikachu said, slowly. "Do you mean the one Nolan has?"

"I think that was the name, yes," Ho-Oh confirmed, smoothing his feathers down. "I accept that you don't want to appear to be privileged, which is good – but there are limits, you know..."

"Lord, I think his reluctance stems from the time that was," Suicune said respectfully. "There was a trainer who defeated him at the Lily of the Valley, who commanded one each Darkrai and Latios, and who fought his way through Sinnoh with only the Darkrai."

Lugia nodded, slowly. That makes a great deal of sense – but you are going too far the other way, Ash.

"Alright, alright, I get the picture!" Ash said, raising his hands in surrender. "Fortunately, there's a good way for me to use you without feeling too guilty. Well, two of them, really."

Interesting, Mewtwo observed. I think this will be the first time I've actually been used in a proper battle by a trainer... and no, Giovanni does not count.

"So," Ho-Oh asked. "What are these two?"

"The first one was the opening ceremony – because the Silver Conference uses your flame," Ash explained. "And it's in your honour."

"True." The big phoenix smiled, nodding. "That would be impressive indeed."

"And the other one is – well, you remember Misty?"

"I do indeed," Ho-Oh said. "How is her Togekiss, by the way?"

"She's helped us out so many times," Ash told him. "Especially with her Sacred Fire – that was a really good move for her."

She saved me, once, Lugia told his fellow great bird. I did not realize it was from you her talent came. Many thanks.

"Well, Misty's been working on the qualifications for the Elite Four," Ash said, drawing a nod from Ho-Oh. "She got in."

"I will have to congratulate her!" the Rainbow Pokémon declared.

As will I, Mewtwo added. Misty is a brave trainer indeed. Who did she replace?

"That's the thing," Pikachu grinned. "We don't know – Lance, Agatha and Lorelei are all stepping down or otherwise moving out of their Elite Four slot."

Lugia blinked. My own islands have a League that works a bit differently, but – I understand that's unusual.

"It is, yeah," Ash confirmed. "Three at once is pretty unique. Anyway, they asked me to be their opponent for some... well, farewell matches, though I think I'm supposed to be fighting Bruno as well – he's the one who's sticking around."

Ah, now it all becomes clear, Mewtwo smiled. I for one would be interested in being an opponent for such a match. Do we get to spectate on the off days?

"I don't think anyone could stop you," Ash admitted.

"I like both ideas," Ho-Oh pronounced. "But if we are to battle in your name, then we should have at least some training."

"Right," Ash agreed. "I did think about this a bit... though I guess I have a few questions first."

"Ask away."

"Well... you're a phoenix, right?" Ash asked. "What does that mean?"

"In terms of rebirth?" Ho-Oh chuckled. "Aside from healing others, or causing rebirth as I did with the Beasts... I can also recover faster than other Pokémon, healing myself of wounds and fatigue, though it takes a while."

Ash nodded. "And – I know about Sacred Fire..."

He counted on his fingers. "Rock, water, electricity... Do you know Solarbeam?"

"I do indeed."

"Let's focus on handling that Electrical weakness, then..." Ash frowned. "Right, I've got a couple of ideas for that. When Pidgeot gets back, we can work on dodging and also on one of my ideas. The other thing we should look at is Dragons and other Fire types, because they resist your fire."

Ho-Oh frowned. "You think that could be a problem? I resist Fire as well..."

"Yeah," Ash nodded. "But if one of them knows Stone Edge, you're in big trouble."

The phoenix winced. "That, I admit, I had not considered. Ouch. What do you recommend?"

"Well, we'll see if there's some good moves you could learn..." Ash frowned. "Can you do dragonfire?"

He shrugged. "We'll work on that in a minute. Lugia, you have... water, psychic, flying, and I remember you used Twister?"

"Correct. I'm aware I need some way to handle many types, though."

"Yeah... let's see, what about Earth Power? Donphan can help teach you that one..."

"He's supposed to be somewhere around here, right?" May asked, glancing down at Ethan's screen.

Correct. Dexter says he's training around here.

"How are we going to find him, though?" Norman looked over at his children as he asked the question.

May shrugged, and Max pointed into the sky. "I think that's a pretty good clue."

Norman and Caroline followed his arm, and gaped.

"Is that Ho-Oh? And Lugia?"

"Looks like it," Max agreed. "Even if I didn't know they were on his team, random Legendaries is usually a good indicator Ash is around."

"True," May nodded. "Right, let's see... where are they flying from?"

Norman sent out his lone Flying-type, a Staravia. "Let's find out. Staravia, can you have a look and see if there's a trainer around here?"

The Flying-type chirped, nodded, and launched herself skywards.

"I can see this is going to be an interesting Silver Conference," Norman commented.

"Ready?" Ash asked.

I believe so. This sounds like a most effective way to deal with subterranean Ghost-types.

"Well, effective it might be, but it's not very efficient," Ash admitted. "I'd originally planned it to be something Lucario or I could do, but it's far too draining."

And for me it's relatively easy. Well, I suppose that's one of the advantages of being designed as the world's most powerful Pokémon.

Mewtwo cracked his knuckles. Let's try this with a small area first.

He jumped into the air, and stuck there. Shadow Balls formed on his fists, and crackled out – splitting and multiplying and growing, until there were dozens of them.

Then he made a grand gesture, and the Shadow Balls wove a high-speed, braided pattern through the space below him. Some of them went far enough down to reach the ground, and passed through it as easily as air.

Well? Mewtwo asked, a few seconds later, as the Ghost-type attacks dissipated.

"I'm pretty sure anything inside the area would have been hit at least once," Ash decided. "Might want to work on making it charge faster, though."

I will.

"Hey, Ash!" a familiar voice called.

Ash turned. "May! Max, nice to see you both!"

"What's with all the Legendaries?" Max asked, looking around the clearing. "I knew about most of them, but Mewtwo's a new one on me."

"Right," Ash nodded. "Uh – Misty's managed to score a pass on her acceptance tests to the Elite Four, and because they're changing the lineup they asked me to be a kind of opponent for exhibition matches – for the old lineup, I mean."

Norman blinked. "That's quite an honour – for you and for her, actually."

Ash chuckled, reddening slightly. "Yeah, guess so..."

He shook his head. "Anyway – are you here to watch the tournament?"

"That's correct," Norman confirmed. "I'd like to see what you're like in battle before you reach Hoenn – and, of course, my kids both want to see you."

"So does Blaziken!" May added. "Though we might have trouble with the seating..."

"What about your Electrike, Max?" Ash asked, remembering hearing about it. "Have you picked a name yet?"

"We're down to a few," Max said. "Still not sure, but the current favorite seems to be Arc."

The Electric-type formed out of his Pokéball, and gave Ash a quick sniff. "You smell of a lot of Pokémon," he said, tilting his head. "I don't recognize all of them."

"I'll introduce you," Ash decided. "That could take a while, though..."

The first day of the Silver Conference dawned bright and clear. The air was crisp, as if in anticipation of the tournament to come, and muttered conversation ran around the stadium.

As the minister stepped down from his podium, where he'd delivered the official and not-very-important opening pronouncement, Mr. Charles Goodshow took his place.

He picked up the microphone, and a hush spread through the stadium.

"Welcome, welcome, welcome!" he said, a smile on his face. "I'm glad to see you all here, come to watch this wonderful tournament about people and Pokémon and how they work together as a team!"

He paused for a moment, looking over the grass – which, of course, wouldn't last long. There were too many skilled trainers about to battle over it.

"This tournament, the Silver Conference, is the tournament of Johto – the region of our fair land where everything takes place a few days into the past." Mr. Goodshow smiled. "Which is why I found it so hard to book a hotel room today."

There were chuckles at the Obligatory Bad Speech Joke.

"But more than that, Johto's focus is not so much on the past as on how the past becomes the future. It is for that reason that this tournament's flames are those of Ho-Oh – the Legendary bird of Fire, the end of storms and the Pokémon, above all, of rebirth."

He threw his arms wide. "So, welcome to the Silver Conference!"

The fireworks went off, the crowd began to cheer – and then stopped, startled, as Ho-Oh came flying low over the stadium wall.

Banking, the Rainbow Pokémon dropped lower – below the line of the roof – and skimmed just over the heads of the crowd. As it did, a rainbow-coloured trail spread out and grew and brightened, so that when Ho-Oh turned in and climbed out of the stadium again it did so through a shimmering ring of seven colours.

Ho-Oh's wings came in for a moment, and it slowed. Then, as it spread them again, flame crackled out in a rose-red flower in the sky which hid it from sight.

As the billow of flame cleared, it became apparent Ho-Oh had vanished completely.

Up on the roof, Ash shrank the simple Pokéball and clipped it to his belt. "What do you think, Pikachu?"

"Not bad," the mouse agreed. "We'd better get down there, though, your first match is in ten minutes."

"Hmmm..." Ash muttered, trying to decide. "Who to use first..."

"Me?" Pikachu suggested.

"No – not unless there's a really powerful opponent," Ash replied. "Which means you're not being sent out first, at least..."

The Electric-type nodded reluctantly.

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Ash added, and released Mawile. "Want to watch? Just to see what a battle's like?"

Mawile smiled. "Sure!"

Ash lifted her to the edge of his box, so she could see, and made his decision. "Ivysaur, you're going out first."

The Pokéball he was speaking to didn't react, because it was a Pokéball. Presumably Ivysaur was fine with that, though.

"Actually, who's my opponent..." Ash looked up, and frowned. "That looks familiar... isn't that that kid who was after a Cyndaquil?"

"Will both contestants send out their first Pokémon?" the announcer called.

"Right!" Ash said firmly. "Ivysaur!"

"Sandslash!" his opponent called.

"I remember hearing about you," Ivysaur said, tilting his head. "Wasn't your trainer a bit of a jerk?"

"I must admit he was," Sandslash confirmed, with a slight nod. "That is for the past, though."

He brought his arms up into a ready posture, then separated the claws out and gestured. "Sandstorm!"

Ivysaur winced as the sand-laden wind kicked up. He lashed out with his vines, aiming to grab Sandslash before the shifting sands concealed him completely, but the pholidote jumped over one and sliced a nick in the side of the other – knocking it off course.

Then the Sandslash melted into the sand, and Ivysaur closed up his flower to protect it.

"I hate sandstorms..."

Something moved. Ivysaur reacted quickly, inhaling and launching a gust of wind from his mouth that blew a tunnel of clearer air into the sandstorm.

Nothing was revealed.

Then the faint tap of running clawed feet drew his attention – from behind. Whirling, Ivysaur fired a barrage of Razor Leaves towards the sound.

There was a grunt of pain, and then Sandslash loomed out of the storm with shocking suddenness – claws flashing, making Ivysaur give ground and dodge away from the Fury Swipes.

Using his vines as extra appendages, Ivysaur managed to fend off most of the swipes. One scored a line down his flank, making him wince, and he got a hit in in return with a second shower of Razor Leaves.

"Don't stay in combat for long!" the trainer – Koji – called. "Stay in the sand!"

"Yes!" Sandslash replied, jumping back – just in time, as he was only caught in the fringes of a Seed Bomb from Ivysaur. The bomb did part of what it was supposed to, though, blowing the sandstorm away in a great plume of disturbed sand and revealing more of the battlefield.

Following up on his advantage, Ivysaur fired a shower of Magical Leaves. The multicoloured attack sprayed out in a broad cone, then focused back in on Sandslash and pelted him with leaves that detonated in a succession of small explosions.

"That's enough for now, Sandslash!" Koji called, as his Ground-type skidded to a stop and crouched down. "Jumpluff, your go!"

Ash blinked. "Huh. Maybe he really has changed, I don't remember him calling a Pokémon back before... speaking of which. Ivysaur, you okay to stay out?"

Ivysaur nodded firmly, before turning to the battle again.

"So... Pokémon can be called in and then go out again," Mawile said, absorbing that. "So they can get a rest, right?"

"That's right," Pikachu confirmed. "Though admittedly most of the battles you've seen so far have been kind of unofficial..."

Ivysaur frowned for a moment, considering.

Jumpluff was high in the air, out of reach for a fair number of his attacks. There were always ones like Razor Leaf or Seed Bomb, but against a Pokémon with those types then asking nicely might be the better option...

Ah, that might do.

His flower opened again, shaking the sand out of it, and he rolled his neck for a second before concentrating.

The sand that had made the earlier sandstorm came rushing towards him, forming a ball in front of his nose and glowing red as it did so.

"Jumpluff!" Koji called. "Watch out for that, that's a Rock-type attack!"

Jumpluff darted aside as the Ancientpower fired, then came swooping in. As he did, a blue-grey light began to shine in his top puff.

Ivysaur fired another Ancientpower, but the agile Flying-type dodged around the attack with a nimble grace.

"Acrobatics!" it announced, swinging one puff into Ivysaur's side.

Empowered by the Flying Gem, Jumpluff's attack hit with a force that belied his low weight. Ivysaur went bouncing and skidding across the arena, hitting the retaining wall with a wham, and took a few seconds to right himself once he came to a stop.

"Ow," Ash's Pokémon said indistinctly. "That was painful."

"Ivysaur!" Ash called. "Use Poisonpowder, then he can't get close to you!"

Nodding, Ivysaur opened his flower again. Purplish powder came out in a hazy cloud, hovering near him and making the Jumpluff break off a second attack run.

"Fairy Wind to clear it!" Koji instructed.

As Jumpluff duly did so, swirling around and producing a sparkle-laden gust, Ash spoke up again. "Whirlwind, and keep up the Poisonpowder!"

Ivysaur blinked, wondering what Ash was going for, but complied. He blew sharply, producing a wind of his own, and the wind focused and concentrated the poisonous dust he'd released into a plume that reached for the sky.

Jumpluff released his Fairy Wind, but the sylvan nature of the gust worked against it. Ivysaur's improvised gust of toxic wind hit it, pushed it back, and reached Jumpluff with the cloud of Poisonpowder.

"Ergh..." Koji winced. "Okay, Jumpluff, Acrobatics again!"

Grimacing as the poison began to bite, Jumpluff darted down again. Already poisoned, the cloud held little fear for him, and he smashed Ivysaur around like a golf ball with a second Acrobatics.

That one was too much for Ivysaur, who passed out.

"Nice work," Ash said, recalling Ivysaur. "Okay, I'm not sure who else he has, but..."

He frowned. "Wait a minute. Grass and Flying..."

Pikachu caught his meaning. "Really? The Silver Conference for her first battle?"

Ash shrugged. "Well, given the opponent..."

"True."

Ash turned to Mawile. "Want to give battling a go?"

"Sure!" Mawile said readily. "What do I do?"

"Wait until the Jumpluff gets close enough, then use Ice Fang on it."

She nodded, horn-jaws waving, and Ash recalled her before sending her straight out onto the battlefield.

Jumpluff blinked. "What?"

"Hi!" Mawile said, waving. "It's my first official battle, so I'll try to do my best!"

A little thrown, Jumpluff glanced back at his trainer. "What should I..."

Koji didn't understand, but got the gist. "Uh... well, I guess it would help if we saw what his third Pokémon was – so hit her with Acrobatics again!"

"Right!" Jumpluff nodded, adjusting his angle slightly, and swooped down – building up a spin, to hit Mawile with his puff hard enough to knock her across the arena like he had Ivysaur.

"That looks like fun!" Mawile giggled. "All spinny!"

Jumpluff adjusted one last time, ready to attack, and- TEETH

"It somehow never fails," Norman said, shaking his head, as Jumpluff plowed an icy furrow in the battlefield. "The first time someone meets a Mawile, they're always tricked."

"Yeah," May agreed. "It's not like newly hatched Pokémon are always weak, either..."

"Newly hatched?" Caroline asked.

"Ash told us she'd hatched about... a few weeks ago, I think?" May frowned. "When he faced the eighth gym."

"Interesting," Norman commented. "So that must be an egg move."

"Good work, Mawile," Ash said, calling her back. "Let's see what he's got next, shall we?"

"Okay!" Mawile nodded. "Was that okay?"

"It was fine," Pikachu told her with a smile.

Across the field, Koji took another Pokéball. "Typhlosion!"

"Typhlosion?" Ash repeated, as the fire-type formed. "So he did get one. Okay, let's try... Totodile!"

Totodile looked up at the big burly badger. "Hi!"

"Hello," Typhlosion growled. "You're very small."

"And you're quite big!" Totodile said in reply. "I bet you find it hard to fit through doors! I sometimes have trouble, but only very little doors."

"I'm not really allowed inside any more," Typhlosion admitted. "I burned down half of Professor Elm's lab... it was an accident..."

"Typhlosion, start this off with a Fire Blast!" Koji instructed.

"Ulp!" Totodile jumped into the air, using Aqua Jet to boost himself out of the way, and the Fire Blast detonated just behind him.

As he passed over Typhlosion, he aimed a burst of water down. The Fire-type replied with an Eruption, lancing flame into the air, and Totodile's Hydro Pump kept him safe but evaporated in a great plume of steam before it reached its target.

"I hope you're recording this, Ethan," May whispered. "Maybe when I get Wartortle we can try something like that. That looks- whoa!"

Below, Totodile landed, and immediately had to head skywards again as his opponent charged in in a Flare Blitz.

"I wonder how they're going to fix the arena..." Max said absently. "I mean, it's getting pretty wrecked."

"True..." May admitted, as the grass fire spread out and began to join up.

Totodile landed, rolled, and turned to fire back at his opponent. The first Scald met an Inferno coming the other way, but the second slipped past the Flamethrower aimed to intercept it and splashed across Typhlosion's flank.

"Ow!" Typhlosion roared, stung. "Okay, that's-"

Totodile hit him with a Hydro Pump, knocking him over backwards, then hesitated – as the Fire-type got back up again.

Typhlosion's ruff blazed up brighter, this time with a flickering blue mixed into it. He set himself, paws against the ground and back arched, and then inhaled – massively.

"Careful, Typhlosion!" Koji called, warningly. "Remember what we talked about!"

"I know!" Typhlosion managed, then fixed on Totodile again. "Take this!"

With a ripping, tearing sound, a lance of purple-white fire blazed out.

"That's... wait, Dexter, am I right about this?" Ash asked, squinting. "It's a lot weaker than I remember, but – is that Blast Burn?"

I don't know any other moves that are a plasma lance like that, but–

Pikachu overrode him. "Wait, look!"

Ash looked closer, and saw what Pikachu meant. There was a surf-roar of steam explosions under the sound, now he listened closer, and the lance seemed to be bifurcating near the end...

"Add Ice Beam to it!" Ash called, guessing what must be going on.

The moment after he gave the order, there was a definite change to the character of the clash. The white heat of the flame receded a bit, going yellow and then orange, and Totodile became visible again – jaw open, tail dug into the ground for balance, firing a stream of icy water which had just barely kept the unfamiliar form of Blast Burn from hitting him.

As Typhlosion's attack finally fizzled out, Totodile stopped firing as well. He panted, water dripping from his teeth, and shook his head before feeling his jaw. "I think I strained something..."

"Totodile! Aqua Tail!" Ash called. "Quick!"

Totodile's jaw may have been aching, but his tail was fine. He pulled it out of the ground, tilted his head forwards, and ran towards Typhlosion.

"Look out, Typhlosion!" Koji called, and the Fire-type shook himself out of his exhaustion. Lightning crackled in his fur, and he launched forwards in a Wild Charge.

Leaving it to the last minute, Totodile pushed off and did a forwards-roll over the charging Typhlosion's head. As his Wild Charge died out in confusion, Totodile landed and rammed his water-cloaked tail home with full force.

Just to show he'd recovered, he added to that with a blast of water from a Hydro Pump.

Soaked, Typhlosion staggered a bit and collapsed.

"You did great," Ash heard Koji say, as the other trainer called his Typhlosion back. Then Sandslash came out again, and Totodile was faced with a second fight in a row.

"Your friend seemed to have anger problems," Totodile said.

"Yes, he does a bit," Sandslash admitted. He took a stance, and spread his claws. "Sand-"

Totodile hit him with a Water Gun.

"Do you mind!?" Sandslash asked. "I was trying to... oh, whatever."

He dove at the ash-marked ground, and vanished into it as though it were a swimming pool.

"Oh, right!" Totodile nodded. "That's Dig! I know how to deal with Dig!"

He jumped into the air, and used Aqua Jet to keep himself in the air for longer, before launching down a blast of Hydro Pump towards the ground.

The soil and grass right under him quickly became soaked with water, and when he landed again it was with a marshy splash.

A moment later, the water drained away, and muffled cursing came from below him.

"Yep!" Totodile said, as Sandslash burst to the surface with a wet splat of mud a few feet away. "Diggin' in mud's hard!"

By way of reply, Sandslash slapped the ground. "Earth Power!"

Totodile jumped to the side as the crackling vein of Ground-type energy shot towards him, just about avoiding it, then ducked the sandy tsunami of a Sand Tomb and punched a Rock Slide rock in half.

Staggering back on one leg for a bit, he returned fire with another Scald which splashed across Sandslash' spines and soaked him.

"Use Sand-attack!" Koji called. "Then Focus Blast!"

"Uh oh..." Totodile muttered. He lunged forwards, water spraying off him as he used Aqua Jet, and broke through the stream of sand to hit Sandslash just as the Focus Blast began to charge.

There was a bang.

Totodile landed, wobbled a few steps, and sat down hard. "I see pretty Starmie..." he said, eyes following something only he could see.

A few feet behind him, Sandslash hit the ground with claws ready. He took one step, and promptly fell down the hole he'd used for Dig.

"Sandslash?" Koji called, after a few seconds. "You okay?"

Several more seconds passed in silence, aside from Totodile slumping over and starting to snore, and the referee raised his flag. "Both Pokémon are unable to battle. Mr. Ketchum is the winner, as he still has one Pokémon!"

"Does that mean I kinda-sorta won?" Mawile asked, frowning. "I'm the only one left..."

"I think it does," Ash smiled. "Not bad for your first match... I think that might just deserve ice cream!"

"Yay!" Mawile giggled.

"I have to say, Koji, I'm really glad you paid attention to what we said," Ash told his opponent a few minutes later.

"Thanks," Koji nodded. "That's good to hear, especially since I know now you were the Indigo Champion last year. And... yeah, I just spent a lot of time trying to be a good trainer – two of my Pokémon decided to leave, but Sandslash and Skiploom were some of the ones who stuck around... I'm glad they did."

"Wait..." Ash frowned. "Were you the one whose Typhlosion torched Professor Elm's lab?"

Koji blushed. "Yeah, that was me. Quilava – well, he was one then – was being a bit listless, so I took him for Professor Elm to look at, and... well, he evolved."

He shook his head. "Anyway. Good luck, Ash – can I call you that?"

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "Hope you do well too!"

60

"You know," Pikachu said, as they entered the box for the second match. "The grass seems awfully not burned given what we did to it last match. And we can't be the only ones throwing around powerful attacks."

"Yeah, good point..." Ash admitted. "Do they replace the floor or anything?"

I believe they have a groundsPokémon with Grassy Terrain, Dexter commented.

Ash nodded, pleased there was an answer. "That would do it. Hey, I wonder who our opponent is this time..."

"Good question!" Latias squeaked, hovering alongside. "Ooh, so this is what the trainers see during a league battle..."

"Yeah, it's pretty restricted, I guess," Ash said. "But I can see my Pokémon, and the battlefield, and that's usually enough – though Aura Sight helps, too."

"Right! And I guess you could see me if I was cloaked?"

"That's right," Ash confirmed. He was about to go on, but the announcer cut in.

"And facing him, Macy!"

"Uh oh..." Pikachu muttered.

"What?" Ash asked. "I think I remember her..."

"Hi!" Macy called. "I really like you, Mr. Ketchum!"

"Congratulations," Pikachu said, deadpan. "Meet your greatest threat. Fangirls."

"I don't get it," Ash muttered. "Okay, let's see..."

He selected a Pokéball. "Go! Houndour!"

"Slugma!" Macy replied, throwing her own Pokéball.

Houndour landed on lithe feet, and looked across the field at his opponent.

With a faint crackle, the grass caught fire around Slugma.

"Whoops..." it said, glancing down.

"I know the feeling," Houndour said. "Right, battle time?"

"Okay!" Slugma said, ears flaring up.

"Blast him, Slugma!" Macy called. "Show him our passion!"

"Flamethrower!"

Houndour dodged aside, frowning as the grass-smoke began to spread out in an impromptu smokescreen. "Ember!"

The scatter of small fireballs did nothing in particular to the Slugma, but the way some of them glittered through the smoke but others vanished did tell Houndour one important thing – where to attack next.

He howled, a chilling sound, and then lunged forwards – bounding through the flames, and feinting left before hitting Slugma in the side.

There was a crackle of heat as Slugma's skin shifted and the hot rock beneath glowed through, but Houndour was used to heat – indeed, he relished it, his Ability drinking in the flames and sending an extra pulse of energy through his body.

"Take this!" Slugma called, lunging at Houndour, and the Dark-type gave way and just about avoided being hit. The follow-up attack was more of a problem, though – an Earth Power which knocked him backwards and rolling out of the smoke cloud.

Shaking himself, he got up – facing the advancing wall of smoke – and let out a yip of confusion as eight Slugma came out of the smoke cloud.

He sniffed, trying to tell which was the real one by scent, then sneezed.

With all the ashes and soot in the air, that had been a bad idea.

"Ash?" he asked, glancing at the box for a moment.

Latias frowned. "Wait, they're not setting the grass on fire..."

"Right!" Ash nodded. "Good spot. Houndour – none of them are real! They're not making the grass burn!"

Houndour blinked in realization. "Oh, right! I missed-"

A rock came wooshing out of the cloud, making it billow, and he ducked with his belly flat to the ground to avoid being hit.

The Double Team of Slugma vanished, and Houndour frowned. Coming to his feet, he paced around the expanding circle of flame and smoke before firing a Dark Pulse into it.

"Houndour!" Ash called. "Look out, he's-"

A shower of large stones came out of the smoke, spaced in a close pattern around Houndour. The canine Fire-type kicked off from the ground and smashed his forepaws into one, knocking it aside, and landed with a shake of his head – then nearly got clocked upside the jaw by a very, very fast lava-snail.

"-evolved," Ash finished.

"Wonderful!" Macy called. "A symbol of the deep connection between my opponent and me!"

Pikachu glanced up at Latias' invisible form. "Are you growling?"

Latias turned cherry-red under her feathers. "Eep – was I?"

Pikachu nodded slowly.

She didn't know what to say to that.

Houndour jumped out of the way of the turbo-snail, keeping track of it as much by sound as sight – the high-speed Magcargo wasn't moving quietly, after all.

"How exactly does this work?" he asked, running for a relatively safe area, and then jumped out the way as that became a dangerous area.

"Rock Polish, I think!" Ash called over to him. "Hey, Houndour! Dig!"

"Right!" Tail wagging, Houndour picked a spot and dug a hole into the ground – making it under just before Magcargo tried to knock him flat again.

"I hope he gets this right..." Ash said, squinting as the smoke irritated his eyes. He waved a hand, starting up the Airslip trick, and tried to keep both Magcargo and Houndour in view. "Come on..."

Can Houndour learn Dig? Dexter asked, confused.

Ash looked puzzled. "He's a dog. And I know that Growlithe, Poochyena and Lillipup can do it..."

Magcargo slowed down a little, looking around. "Okay, where'd you go?"

There was a pause. Then Houndour lunged out of the ground just behind him, delivering a powerful blow with both forepaws, and added in a Crunch for good measure.

"Ow!" Magcargo snapped. "That hurt!"

"It was supposed to!" Houndour muttered, fighting to stay on the thrashing snail. "By the way - Foul Play!"

With that, he wrenched his neck around, and Magcargo overbalanced.

Panting, Houndour jumped off and dove underground again with a Dig – aiming to hit his opponent before it could right itself.

"Come back, Magcargo!" Macy called. "Star-"

Houndour came back out the hole he'd just dug, and pounced. "Pursuit!"

The impact finished Magcargo off.

"Phew," Houndour said, tail wagging, as the smoke began to disperse. "Who's next?"

His reply was a large, high-speed globe of water which slapped to the ground right next to him.

"A Starmie," Ash frowned. "Those are tough, I hope Houndour's ready for this."

"That's a Water-type, but also a Psychic-type..." Latias said, following along. "So I guess it's even?"

"Starmie are fast, though," Ash pointed out. "Type isn't everything."

"With you it sometimes doesn't mean anything..." Pikachu quipped.

Houndour glanced over his shoulder, looking towards Starmie, and then jumped aside as another Water Pulse came in.

He jumped over the curtain of fire that was still rolling across the stadium, and hid in the smoke cloud.

"Right!" he said, before yelping as a Thunderbolt barely missed him.

Starmie followed that up with a Water Pulse and a Water Gun, and Houndour headed deeper into the smoke to avoid being pasted.

"Okay, let's try-"

"Starmie, use Surf!" Macy called. "Quench those flames!"

"Houndour!" Ash called immediately. "Run forwards – get under the wave!"

Hondour spun towards Starmie, and began to run flat out – body flat and at full extension between long lopes, kicking up puffs of ash and dirt from the smouldering grass.

To either side of him the Surf hit the ground with a hiss, and he closed his eyes before barging through the leading edge of the watery attack.

He slipped on the wet, slick ash as he landed, rolled over once, and got moving just in time to avoid a Water Pulse.

"Keep it up, Houndour!"Ash called.

"He's not attacking..." Latias muttered. "Is that bad?"

"I think he's trying to," Pikachu replied. "But he's not able to stand still long enough to attack. Ash, what's the plan here?"

"That water's making more smoke," Ash said. "It's getting harder and harder for her to see through it... Houndour! Try now!"

Houndour nodded, and split off two duplicates as he ran. They crackled with Dark-type energy, formed into doubles of Lucario and Pikachu, and promptly got obliterated by a Thunderbolt from the hovering Starmie.

"Not thick enough, then," Latias observed.

"Good work, Starmie!" Macy called. "Now, get that Houndour!"

Houndour zigged when he should have zagged, and got caught in the side by a Water Pulse. He yelped in pain as it smashed into him, knocking him off-course and skidding across into the smouldering area of the battlefield.

Starmie fired two follow-up attacks mostly-blind, producing wet slap sounds but nothing more.

There was a long pause. Then a Dark Pulse came flashing out of the smoke, and Starmie slipped sideways in the air to avoid it.

"Starmie!" Macy called. "Use Psychic to clear the smoke!"

A hammer of psionic force washed across the field from left to right, gathering up the smoke and forcing it out of the way.

And, smoke streaming around him as it plumed from his Dark-type shadow, was Ash's Pokémon.

He wasn't a little Houndour any more. Over twice as tall as before and easily three times the bulk, rangy legs ringed by bony manacles held up a pitch-black body with rows of bones across his back and with a spade-tipped tail lashing behind him.

His red jaw hung slightly open, baleful eyes flashing above it, and the two big bony horns topping his skull shimmered in the sunlight.

Houndoom snarled briefly, tail snapping across like a whip-crack, and this time four duplicates appeared next to him.

They poofed into the forms of Suicune, Entei, Raikou and Keldeo, and proceeded to charge in on Starmie as a group.

Starmie managed to blast away the Entei-copy with a powerful Thunderbolt, and the Raikou-copy ate a Water-Pulse which destroyed it as well, but then the pseudo-Suicune and the pseudo-Keldeo hammered Starmie into the ground and then jumped on it.

Before the starfish Pokémon could hover back out of the small crater, Houndoom pounced – both paws landing hard on the outer body, before slamming home a Crunch and using that as leverage to toss it across the battlefield like a frisbee.

Ash blinked. "Huh."

There was a flicker of red light as Macy returned her Water-type.

"Uh," she began, then rallied. "That's another sign of our bond! Your Fire-type evolved as well!"

Houndoom looked over at Ash, and beamed. "I did it!" he yapped, tail wagging happily, and bounced around a bit. "I beat the Starmie too!"

Ash chuckled. "You sure did – nice work, Houndoom! Congratulations on evolving!"

"Thanks!" Houndoom barked, still prancing around. "That was a fun battle!"

"Okay, Electabuzz, we can still win this!" Macy called, getting their attention. "Go!"

Houndoom shook his head, focusing, and turned to face his opponent.

She gave him a brief, considering look, then put her hands together and launched forwards a Thunderbolt.

Houndoom feinted and dodged, snatching his tail out of the way of the attack, and then cracked it. "Beat Up!" he announced, one eye on his opponent, and sent in copies of the three Beasts to hit Electabuzz.

"Shockwave!" Macy called out, and Electabuzz' horns crackled. She nodded once, and the two horns exchanged a flicker of lightning before producing a spherical electrical shockwave that burst the three incoming Beat Up clones.

"...that's not very fair," Houndoom said, a whining note in his voice. Then he released a Dark Pulse, blowing away the incoming Thunderbolt, and elected to close in instead.

Another Thunderbolt snapped past his ear, making him flinch away reflexively, and the third and last she got off before he arrived glanced off a horn and sent a tingle of electricity through his body.

Growling, he hit her with both paws, bowling her over, and her next attack – a Thunderpunch – slammed into his flank as he built up the heat for an Inferno.

Wincing, he focused the purplish flames and launched them down at his opponent. There was a crackle as the grass around crumbled further, but Electabuzz seemed fairly hale.

Then she pulled her other hand out from beneath her. Houndoom had just enough time to realize there was a Focus Blast glowing between the two forefingers before it hit him in the chin.

"Ouch!" Latias squeaked, as Houndoom performed a complete cartwheel in the air.

He landed surprisingly well, forelegs reaching out to slow his fall, but was still a little dazed when he landed – and then he took a Zap Cannon squarely in the shoulder, which detonated and crackled along his fur.

When it faded, Houndoom wobbled for a moment and slumped sideways.

Ash returned him with a smile. "That was awesome, Houndoom."

He switched Pokéballs. "Okay, Donphan, let's finish this!"

Donphan materialized. He looked at his opponent, then around at the stands, and blinked. "I have this strange feeling of deja vu..."

Shaking his head, he frowned. "Right. Battle time. Let's try..."

Rearing up, he drove his hooves into the floor and sent a lance of brown-glowing energy forwards along the ground. Electabuzz tracked it as it came in, and jumped over it – avoiding the Ground-type attack, before landing again and throwing forwards a Signal Beam.

Donphan rolled sideways to avoid it, and discovered why Donphan didn't usually do that as his tusk promptly stuck in the ground.

"...oh, this is embarassing."

"Electabuzz!" Macy called. "Close in and get him!"

Electabuzz ran forwards, legs pumping, and her fist drew back and began to shimmer.

"That's Ice!" Ash called urgently. "Look out!"

Donphan glanced at the oncoming Electric-type to judge her speed, and drew back his two hooves which were closer to the ground. Just as she arrived, he kicked off with them – taking a glancing and painful blow from the Ice Punch, but also knocking himself onto his back rather than his side.

As Electabuzz planted a foot and spun into a sweeping low kick, Donphan accelerated – moving rapidly out of the way of the attack before it could connect, and curving around to come in on an actual attack run with Rollout.

"Get another Ice Punch ready!" Macy called, and Electabuzz set her stance.

Donphan's Rollout connected with an Ice Punch coming the other way, which sent both combatants bouncing backwards from the point of impact and knocked him out of his curl.

Electabuzz recovered first and pressed her advantage, running forwards to deliver another Ice Punch, and Donphan took it in the side as he spun up before shooting off to the other side of the arena.

"What now?" Latias asked, trying to follow the fight. "I think... well, does Donphan know any good ranged attacks? That Electabuzz seems fast enough to hit him as he comes in."

"That's right," Ash nodded. "And no, he doesn't... but he can come in faster. Donphan! Head around to the south side of the arena!"

Donphan changed course as soon as he heard, and accelerated – easily dodging Electabuzz' Signal Beams she fired at him.

"Ram the wall and push off!" Ash added.

Trusting his trainer, Donphan charged the retaining wall. He hit with a crash, rolled part-way up it with his topspin, and then pushed himself into the air.

To his north, Electabuzz watched the hurtling elephantine Pokémon. She cocked her fist back, glowing with another Ice Punch, then frowned – squinting, as Donphan moved near the sun.

"Look out!" Macy called, suddenly realizing Ash's plan. "Dodge!"

"Magnitude!" Ash ordered, as Donphan came down.

The impact made the stadium tremble, and Electabuzz had left it too late to run. Too close to the impact, she was battered into the air by a slab of arena underfloor knocked up by the impact, and Donphan ran her over with a Bulldozer just after she landed.

"Electabuzz!" Macy cried out. "Are you okay?"

Electabuzz twitched, looked up at the large Ground-type giving her a look, and tapped her hand on the floor twice.

"Electabuzz is unable to fight on!" the referee announced. "Victory to Ash Ketchum!"

Ash caught up with Macy as she left the stadium.

"That was a good fight, by the way," he told her. "I know I kind of beat you with just two Pokémon, but – I thought I'd let you know it was good."

Macy's expression broke into a smile. "Thanks, Mr. Ketchum!" she said enthusiastically. "That means a lot to me!"

"Heh, it's-"

"I mean, a lot!" she stressed. "I mean – I feel so lucky to have been beaten by you!"

Ash blinked. "Wait, what?"

Pikachu glanced up at Latias. "You realize you actually have to focus psychic energy to use Psybeam, right?"

Latias blinked. "What?" she asked, looking away from Ash trying with increasing desperation to end the conversation without seeming rude.

"You kind of looked like you wanted to get that trainer as far away from Ash as possible..."

Invisibly under her light-bending feathers, Latias blushed. "I did it again, didn't I..."

Pikachu nodded.

"Here goes," Misty said, leaning forwards in the box as the groundskeeper's Grotle finished replenishing the grass. "Ash's last qualifier."

"Thanks for letting us sit here, by the way," Brock added, nodding to Lance.

"The stadium's built with plenty of room," Lance told them. "And the Elite Four box seems to have been designed in case someone wanted their Wailord to watch... anyway, Misty, I hope you're paying a lot of attention to all the battles."

Misty nodded. "I've certainly been keeping track of the Water-types and anything else that's relevant – for example, I can't help but notice that someone had what looked like a Greninja, but Greninja don't learn all those moves."

"They don't?" Lance asked, interested. "Well, well. I missed that one. Thank you for the information."

He shook his head. "I must have been misled by how it's a ninja."

"Ninja or no ninja, they don't learn Solarbeam or Night Daze," Misty assured him. "I think everyone else missed it because they're so rare here, but..."

Brock frowned. "Night Daze? Now you mention it-"

"Wait a minute," Misty interruped him. "Is that Pietra?"

Brock turned back to the battlefield. "It is! Look at that..."

"Nice to see you again!" Pietra called.

"You too!" Ash replied. "Who are you sending out first?"

"You'll know when I do it, of course!" Pietra told him.

"Please send out your first Pokémon on the count of three!" the referee said, raising his flag. "Three, two, one – go!"

"Azumarill, let's go!" Pietra cried, throwing her Pokéball forwards.

Ash threw his Safari Ball. "Tauros!"

"Right, let's get on with it," Tauros said, rolling his neck. "An Azumarill, huh... well, I know how to handle that! Take Down!"

He bent down and charged forwards, hooves drumming on the springy grass underfoot.

Azumarill tilted his head as the bull came in, then jumped and twirled – the ball on the end of his tail enveloping itself in water just before impact.

Tauros grunted in surprise as the Aqua Tail hit – very, very hard. Water exploded out in all directions, knocking him to the side and making his hooves skid a little as he avoided falling over, and even after he recovered there was at least an inch of water on the floor.

"How exactly does that work?" he asked, hooves splashing in the water as he turned to face Azumarill more directly.

His opponent shrugged, and fired a stream of Muddy Water. Tauros snorted, squinting, and charged up it – sending up great plumes of water as his hooves propelled him forwards in the gradually deepening water.

Just as he reached Azumarill, he slowed – digging his hooves in and shedding speed. That threw Azumarill off, and his second overpowered Aqua Tail didn't connect.

Tauros wasted no time capitalizing on it. He Stomped down at Azumarill as the Water-type landed from his jump, managing to connect with one blow of two before Azumarill blocked with his still-powered-up tail ball and produced another huge blast of water.

The water sluiced down Tauros' hide, carrying the mud that had accumulated there, and the water level rose another inch or so.

"Seriously, how are you doing that?" Tauros muttered.

"I've just got Huge Power!" Azumarill replied, jumping at him. "Play Rough!"

Brock blinked. "Misty – why is that Azumarill swinging Ash's Tauros around by its tails?"

Misty shrugged. "I don't know..."

"Is your Azurill going to do that?"

"Only if I let Ash babysit, most likely," Misty said.

Landing in a slippery, skidding kind of way, Tauros shook his head to recover before turning to face Azumarill once more. "That hurt," he announced, and kicked a hoof irritably at the water. "And the lake doesn't help..."

Azumarill added to the water with a Hydro Pump, and then looked at Tauros again. "Are you having trouble with all the water?" he asked. "I hope you're not... that would be terrible..."

"You're quite annoying, surprisingly," Tauros announced. "Okay, that's it."

Snorting, he broke into a trot and then a run. "Giga Impact!" he said, pushing mightily to maintain his speed through the thigh-deep water.

"Waterfall!" Azumarill called in reply, cloaking himself in water and charging forwards.

Tauros skidded to a halt, the purple-yellow glow of his attack dissipating. "Sorry, meant-"

Azumarill hit home, with an almighty blast of water as his overpowered Waterfall connected.

"-COUNTER!"

There was a BANG, and Azumarill was sent flying into the air by a red flash of light as Tauros returned the power of the attack with interest.

Both participants came off badly. Azumarill hit the water – now over a foot deep – hard enough to make a loud smack noise, and bobbed to the surface a moment later looking much the worse for wear.

Tauros was worse still. He'd done what would probably have been a bounce if he were lighter, and fetched up against the retaining wall in a splayed pile of limbs. A long moment passed, then he pushed himself back to wobbly hooves.

"Ow," he said, and met a Bubblebeam from Azumarill which finished the job of knocking him out.

"I wonder if I should feel guilty that I taught him that," Misty muttered. "Well, the Bubblebeam bit, not the Aqua Tail stuff."

Brock shrugged.

"Okay, time for my second Pokémon!" Ash said, grinning.

Pikachu sighed. "You're really going to do this, aren't you."

Ash shrugged, and picked up the second Safari Ball. "Tauros!"

"...wait, I'm getting deja vu," Pietra said, blinking. "And – okay, how is he standing on the water?"

She shrugged. "Well, I can hardly talk. Right, Azumarill – same as last time!"

Azumarill nodded, and dove under the water.

"Hmmm..." Tauros mused, keeping his eyes peeled. "Where might that Azumarill be..."

He shrugged. "Not that it matters!"

Bunching, he began to run – and his hide snapped and crackled with electricity as he used Wild Charge.

The entire miniature lake crackled and fizzed, and Azumarill burst back out of the water looking battered.

Unfortunately, he came out right in front of Tauros, who planted a well-aimed kick on his midsection to send the Water-type flying in the direction of the stands.

Azumarill halted mid-air as the LinesPokémon caught him, and then levitated him back to his trainer.

"Azumarill is unable to battle!" the referee announced. "He was defeated by Ring Out. Pietra to send out her second Pokémon!"

Pietra nodded. "Well, you're best here!" she said brightly. "Go!"

Misty sighed. "Pokémon these days don't appreciate water battlefields."

Brock nodded sympathetically, and they watched as Pietra's Rhydon surfed into the battle.

"That's a better board than the one he had last time, though..." Brock pointed out, absently.

"That Wild Charge won't work on me," Rhydon said, slowing slightly, and then dipped his tail into the water and thrashed it to get back up to speed.

"Well, yes, I'd gathered," Tauros replied, trotting around to keep his opponent in his line of sight. "Hold still, please!"

As he said that, he abruptly accelerated – hooves thundering along the water as though it were solid earth – and curved in towards Rhydon, snorting and bellowing.

"Iron Head!" he bellowed, his horns glowing with a silvery light as he approached.

Rhydon chuckled roughly, then drew back his fist.

"Left!" Ash called suddenly, and Tauros dug in his hooves and slowed – sending up a great wash of water which splashed Rhydon's face, and made the Hammer Arm attack Ash had seen being prepared go wide.

As he curved, Tauros hit Rhydon with all three tails in succession – the first one was normal, but the second and third ones glowed with the same silvery light as his horn had as Tauros belatedly used Iron Tail.

Both those latter two impacts made crunch sounds which were audible from the stand, and Rhydon wobbled a bit before overbalancing and falling off his board with an almighty splash.

"He's not down yet!" Ash told Tauros. "Look out!"

Tauros kept running, gaining some distance, then turned to look and saw Rhydon standing out of the water – his board on his head.

As he watched, Rhydon walked, then broke into a lumbering, sloshing run. He threw the board down into the water, jumped astride it, and used his tail to accelerate back up to speed.

"That's going to get annoying..." Ash muttered. "That's much faster than Rhydon normally are. Hmmm..."

He frowned for a few more seconds, then snapped his fingers. "Got it! Tauros, new plan!"

Tauros glanced over at him, still circling.

"Run straight at Rhydon!" he commanded.

"So... this is the old plan again?" Pikachu asked, as Tauros accelerated and charged in.

"Not really..." Ash said absently, frowning. "Right – Earthquake!"

About two seconds from reaching Rhydon, Tauros reared up. His hooves glinted for a moment, then he rammed them with full force into the water.

Although he was on water, not earth, the trick he was using to stand on the water made it react a lot like earth. The watery surface trembled, then knocked him backwards as it burst outwards in all directions.

Rhydon found himself abruptly facing a wave nearly as tall as he was. He turned to try to ride it out, but too late – the breaker curled over him and crashed down in a massive avalanche of water.

Tauros was similarly pulled down by the instant wave, and the remains of it slapped against the retaining walls and sent spray skywards.

"...that's new," Misty said, blinking. "Instant huge wave. I'll have to see if I can do that somehow."

"That reminds me, how would you deal with this Rhydon?" Brock asked, as he saw both Pokémon hauling themselves erect again – a bit bedraggled in each case, though Tauros seemed marginally better off.

"Kabutops and Leaf Blade," Misty replied promptly. "Even if he's more resistant to Water than usual, Kabutops could attack from unexpected directions with a Grass move."

"Makes sense," the Rock-type specialist... who had just the one Rock-type... nodded.

Tauros shook his head, recovering his senses, and then crouched briefly and reared his front legs out of the water. When they came down, they hit the water surface as though it were solid, and he used that as a lever to pull himself the rest of the way onto the water.

Rhydon was looking down at his board. "Oh no!"

"What?" Tauros asked, frowning. "What is it?"

Rhydon held up a small piece of fabric. "The arm strap came off! It's not safe now!"

Tauros blinked. "...right..."

"That's not fair!" Rhydon went on. "Take this!"

His horn began to rotate, faster and faster, and he crouched over and began a splashing run through the water.

Ash frowned. "That's Horn Drill, and that means – right, I hope this works. Tauros! Cancel the water walk!"

Bemused, Tauros did so. He splashed back down up to his haunches, and faced the oncoming Rhydon.

"What are you-"

"Now, Fissure!" Ash shouted, just as Rhydon arrived.

The Fissure shook the stadium slightly, and hit Rhydon square-on – invisible under the deep coating of water covering the floor – at just the same moment the Horn Drill hit Tauros.

Both Pokémon went flying backwards, out for the count, and slammed down into the water.

Which was rapidly draining away.

"...did you plan that?" Pikachu asked, blinking, as the Fissure drained out the entire stadium in only a few seconds.

"Yeah?" Ash replied, sounding a bit confused. "Why? The others can't water-walk."

He picked up his third 'ball for the fight. "Tauros!"

"You're kidding!" Pietra called, as the third Tauros appeared. "You are kidding! You've sent out three of the same Pokémon?"

"They're still different!" Ash replied. "What's your third?"

Pietra blinked, glanced at her third Pokéball, and flushed slightly. "Uh... Dugtrio..."

"Does that really count as one Pokémon?" Tauros asked, as he jumped up and down a bit to feel the consistency of the ground.

"Yes," Dugtrio said, all three voices in unison. "We train a lot to be this coordinated."

"Okay," Tauros muttered.

A ball of energy began to grow between his horns.

"What's that?" Dugtrio asked. "It looks like-"

Tauros fired the Solarbeam.

The moment he finished, a Mud Bomb hit him in the side.

"Missed!" the Dugtrio said, then popped back down its hole.

Ash blinked. "Is that Dugtrio male or female?"

Pikachu cocked his ear, and listened for a moment.

"Two male, one female," he said.

"Dugtrio are strange. Anyway... uh... Tauros! Can you use Earthquake?"

Tauros' reply was to lean forwards, coming off the ground with his hind legs, before swinging back and driving them into the ground.

Another tremor resonated out across the stadium, driving the Fissure fissure to crack a little wider, and Dugtrio popped out of the ground before diving right back in as soon as the shaking stopped.

"Uh... right..." Ash frowned, as Dugtrio launched itself out of the ground long enough for a Fury Swipes before going right back in again.

"Over by the stadium wall!" Tauros heard Ash say, and lumbered over there.

"Okay, good!" Ash told him. "Now – Earthquake again!"

This time, Tauros saw the Dugtrio pop out of the ground. "Aha!" he bellowed, and charged forwards – and the Dugtrio promptly vanished underground.

"...well, bullocks," he said, and glanced at Ash's box. "Any ideas how I can whack some moles?"

"Yeah!" Ash replied. "We're nearly done – now, go over to the stadium wall, and charge up Solarbeam!"

Nodding, and wincing as Dugtrio hit him with a nasty Slash, Tauros trotted over to the side of the arena and began to build a Solarbeam again.

There was the sound of a muffled argument from underground.

"What are we going to do? We can't stay underground during an Earthquake!"

"I don't know, you know everything!"

"Guys, we need to-"

Tauros slammed down an Earthquake, and the Dugtrio popped out of the ground again.

"Aaaaah!" they all called in unison, as Tauros fired his Solarbeam at the trio of Ground-type moles.

When the green beam of light faded, they were all unconscious – having fallen mostly back into a hole, but not far enough to keep them safe from the attack.

"Ash Ketchum wins!" the referee announced.

"I have to admit, Dugtrio confuse me, too," Brock said, joining in the applause. "So... how does it work now?"

"Well, Ash is one of the first to finish the round-robin stage," Lance told them, as Tauros and Dugtrio were recalled and the Grotle trotted out to refresh the grass. "So he's probably got a day or so free before the elimination stage."

"Okay, neat," Misty said. "I guess he gets a day off..."