Chapter 16 Cealdon

"What were we doing before that mess happened?" Misty asked, as they left the Celadon Pokémon centre.

"I think we were leaving Celadon, headed… er…"

P1 Grand Prix. I suggest Ash goes back to the Fighting Dojo and picks up Primeape, I can't think of a better place to test a new martial arts style.

"Right, right, got it." Ash took Pidgeot's Poké ball, and released her. "You up for a quick trip, girl?"

"I most certainly am. Be good to get back in the air, I hate things like Smack Down and Gravity."

"Right. See you guys later."

Pidgeot waited until Ash was properly seated, then flared her wings and took to the sky. With a boom a few seconds later, she was past the sound barrier and away.

"So, Brock. Are you going to enter?"

Brock shook his head. "Heck no. Geodude's got some work to go before he's a viable combatant again with our group, especially the kind of levels Ash works at. I'm probably going to see if I can come up with something for him to use, instead."

Misty sighed. "I know the feeling. I mean, sure, I have a strong team. But Staryu's being overshadowed a lot by Starmie, and poor Goldeen-"

"I'm back!" Ash called from overhead.

That was fast.

"I'm supersonic, remember? Windshaping."

"Fair enough. Is Primeape ready for this?"

Primeape hopped off the hovering Flying type, dropping fifteen feet to the ground and absorbing the impact with a brief flare of Aura.

Riolu sighed. "Does everyone do that these days?"

Pikachu nudged him. "And who managed to usurp control of an artefact from the very person who created it out of her own suffering?"

"…shut up."

"Right! Now, to the P1! Pidgeot, would you prefer to stay out for a while?"

"Yes, thanks."

Charizard's Poké ball flared open. "I'll join you. Be good to get some practice in, especially with the Fuchsia gym coming up."

"Hmm… looks like eight competitors are here. But weren't you one of them last time, Brock?"

The Pewter leader rubbed his chin. "Very strange… so someone's filled in my slot. Wonder who it is."

"Hey, Ashy-boy!"

Ash winced. Damnit.

Gary leant on Ash's shoulder from behind and loomed over him. "Long time no see. I hear you're doing pretty well – for a rookie. Caught any powerful Pokémon yet?"

Ash rolled his eyes. "See the Charizard and Pidgeot sparring overhead? Mine. The insanely rare Riolu riding my other shoulder? Mine. I liked you a lot better when you weren't arrogant."

Gary frowned. "I'm arrogant? What have I ever done that made me look arrogant?"

Riolu stared. "Ash, is this the one with the sports car and the rabid fangirls you mentioned?"

Ash nodded. "Yep, this is him."

"And now Ashy-boy thinks he can understand Pokémon? It's easy to see why you-"

Ash gave up, and slapped the Oak boy with a blue-shrouded hand. "Here, now shut up."

Gary's eyes widened as five years of memory poured into him. Some of it was from before now, which was strange, and he analyzed it quickly for differences. Sure enough, there they were. Ash hadn't ever had a Riolu in the past he now recalled, and his Pidgeotto had only evolved just as it left. But on the other hand, the Ketchum had come by a lot of strength honestly – and impressed him, too.

The torrent of new information startled and humbled him. He saw the world coming to the brink of disaster twice, remembered hearing about many more – and finally, as the memory transfer ended, he saw his last desperate attempt, as the only local high-grade Trainer, to stop Cyrus' insane plan. But his Pokémon hadn't been strong enough alone.

Gary stumbled, and Ash supported his rival – his friend – as the other boy fell forward. "You okay?"

"Y-yeah. What happened?"

"Cyrus tried to-"

Gary forestalled him. "I know that bit, I was trying to stop him at the time. Skip ahead to the…" he glanced around, seeing Brock running interference for them, "time travel."

"You were? Wow, any chance we could chat? I don't know a lot of the specifics. Er, anyway, after things went thoroughly wrong then Arceus sent me back to try and prevent it. As I understand it, I can restore anyone who I knew well – sorry, man, I don't think I can do your Pokémon unless I saw them a lot – and our goal is to prevent it. Other than that, our lives are our own."

"Well, so much for my dream of becoming a Pokémon League champion… or is it?" Gary grinned malevolently. "I'll still work towards research, of course, but you need a rival to keep you in shape, Ashy-boy!"

Ash matched the grin. "I wouldn't have it any other way. Dexter, mind copying across your Pokémon data files?"

Sure thing, Ash.

Gary started at the voice. "Was that your Pokédex?"

That was indeed me. Oh, by the way, the Pokédex OS is a hair away from becoming a Porygon like I have – and I think the massive data dump I just provided to your own pushed it over the edge. Expect to see sentience emerge over the next few weeks.

Gary shook his head. "What are you like?"

"Driven. Anyway, you entering your Golem?"

"Yeah, you're putting that Primeape in like last time I suppose."

"Watch out for him. He's invented a whole new style."

"Match 2: Primeape vs. Poliwrath. Begin!"

Primeape ran forwards, sliding under the jet of water that was his opponent's opener. As the Poliwrath launched a vicious Karate Chop, he deflected it with one arm before slamming the elbow hard with the other. The Water/Fighting type's thick skin reduced the effect, but it still caused considerable pain.

Not letting him rethink his approach, Primeape discarded a boxing glove and volleyed a pair of punches into the same spot – one padded, one not.

Poliwrath groaned in pain as the pair of blows bruised his shoulder, and called up a wash of water with Hydro Pump.

Primeape retreated, discarding the other glove. His new style was focussed on abrupt, savage attacks in place of using an opponents' strength against them.

For that, the gloves most Primeape wore to protect their hands from their own strength were less useful – focused impact was the key.

He focussed, drawing on that small amount of Aura he could spare from reinforcing his own body, and punched viciously at an approaching Bubblebeam.

The blast of air from the high speed attack forced the bubble stream apart down the middle, and in that moment he ran forwards.

Poliwrath threw a DynamicPunch, hoping to hit his faster opponent, only to catch nothing but air as Primeape jumped over the blow. He got hit by the scattered Bubblebeam, of course, but that wasn't a problem.

Landing behind Poliwrath, he slammed a blow into the back of each foot. Then the knee, the thigh, and a volley at the small of the back. Finally, he blasted a massive, wound up blow into the side of the turning frog-like Pokémon, knocking him out.

Gary turned to Ash. "Was that just basically Close Combat as a fighting style?"

"Pretty much, yeah. There's more to it, though. He awakened his Aura before Cyrus' Victory, and he uses it almost entirely on internal effects." Ash noticed Gary's confusion. "Oh, internal effects. Er, most people who have Aura split it between external and internal effects. External is stuff like Aura Sphere," Ash couldn't resist showing off and spun one up on his hand, "or more subtle things like Aura Sight, or more blatantly just ignoring physics, like what Riolu does when he walks on water."

"It's only modifying physics! It's called surface tension!"

Gary snorted. "Showoff. So what's internal effects?"

"You saw how fast Primeape was moving? He was boosting his own muscles with internal Aura. Probably a lot of his last month's training was conditioning his body to take it. From what I saw, he's not used full boost yet."

The young Oak whistled. "I guess I better tell Golem what not to do then."

"Match 5! Primeape vs. Machamp! Begin!"

Primeape exploded into action, meeting a Megapunch by Machamp with a Mach Punch of his own, the high boost he was under causing the purely physical attack to produce a strong shockwave of wind.

Machamp flinched back from the blow, his upper left fist in severe pain.

To most of those watching, Primeape disappeared. Ash's training had given him the reflexes needed (barely) to see what happened, and some of the black belts around the arena could see Primeape's sprint as well, but Machamp for one was first alerted to the movement of his opponent by the impact of a Cross Chop on his back.

Looking around desperately, Machamp only saw brief flickers of his opponent as he blurred in, hammering home a long sequence of Close Combat attacks before pausing and winding up a Focus Punch.

Machamp seized the moment and jumped forward, delivering a Karate Chop that sent Primeape reeling back.

Ash, on the sidelines, sat back. "Right, he's won."

Gary frowned. "What?"

Primeape skidded to a stop, wiped blood from his lip, and with a rush of displaced air was slamming an uppercut into Machamp's jaw. He then began a series of incredibly fast strikes that individually didn't seem to be doing much damage at first – but as time went on they seemed to become heavier and heavier blows, before the final one knocked Machamp into a ring out.

Ash explained. "That wasn't really a Focus Punch – it was a Revenge made to look like one as a trick. And that gets more powerful if you've just been hit, as you channel the enemy attack power around to hit its' originator. The second bit was that Primeape has Anger Point – land a telling blow, and he goes into a massive rage. Hence the near-sonic speed of that boost. The third bit? That combo was Assurance."

Gary frowned. "I know Assurance – Umbreon uses it. Used. Will use… Isn't it only good in teamwork situations?"

"Primeape was attacking fast enough to be his own teammate for that purpose. Sure, that one blow nearly finished him, but that Assurance combo has no practical limit to it – with Anger Point active, he could probably just keep hitting a legendary until it fell over."

Gary frowned. "Okay, I have no idea how to face this guy. Golem's good, but – well, Rock type and all that."

"The finals of the P1 Grand Prix! Golem versus Primeape! Begin!"

BOOM!

Primeape flew out of the sky to land heavily on the floor, surprising many watching as he'd just been standing ready for the match to start less than a second earlier.

Golem, on the other end of the field, slowly fell backwards in a faint.

Gary shouted through the stunned silence. "Okay, what the hell did your insane Pokémon do now, Ash?"

Ash grinned, and called back. "It's called a Master Blow. A single attack that completely exhausts the user – but usually worth it in one on one combat. Sure, he'll need three days of rest, but it didn't give you the chance to get your Counter off. I knew you were planning one."

Primeape glared at him.

"Okay, fine, HE knew you were planning one."

Gary nodded thoughtfully. "So," he asked, over a rising series of sobs from his paradoxical cheerleaders, "presumably my best choice would have been just to lead with an Explosion?"

Primeape winced at the thought. Hit a blast front at the speed of sound? No thanks…

"So, I guess this is goodbye again, hey Ash?" Gary smiled.

"Yeah, but not for long. I think we're due to meet again in..?"

One month, that thing with the Diglett.

"Okay, fine. Dexter, you able to set up a communication link of some sort with your counterpart?"

I can do that myself. Gary looked down at his own Pokédex, for it was the one that had spoken.

"Dee?"

Sentience development provisionally complete. Hi.

Gary shook his head. "You're paying me back for all the times I showed you up last time, aren't you? Just casually giving me a Porygon…"

"That's an unintentional but funny side effect. See you around… Gary."

The two shook hands, and parted ways as friends.

Oak nodded at the email he'd received. "Fascinating… and good to know that my two favourite boys have reconciled themselves." He then frowned. "Hang on, if that's what the memory engram did…"

He got up and retrieved a spare Pokédex, slotting it into the computer interface port. Quickly typing, he transferred the massive data dump from Dexter he'd received almost five months ago into it.

Barely had he finished before a message appeared onscreen: compiling.

Oak sat back. "Ah, I thought so, the Pokédex hardware's something even I don't fully understand. Suppose something about it must make it easier for an AI to develop." Getting up, he met Ash's Kingler and the Ivysaur he'd rotated back to the lab while Primeape was out. "Ah, Ivysaur, I expect he'll want you back soon, and I can get to know Primeape. Your Trainer's really been stretching the established convention as it is, you know – I suppose only that neither Pikachu nor Dexter really have Pokéballs is what allows him not to be remarked upon."

The system gave a warning chime, and Primeape's Pokéball materialized on the transfer plate. "And here he is." Oak released the simian Pokémon, who promptly staggered slightly before Ivysaur's vines caught him.

"Wow." Ivysaur said. "What happened to you?"

Primeape shakily moved over to the wall. "I just used up as much energy as most Pokémon do in a half hour battle in about a second, and I may have broken some fingers. Take it from me – the sound barrier is not your friend, at least not when you break it."

Kingler looked puzzled. "Crabhammer does that all the time."

Ivysaur shook his head. "No, that's just the supercavitation bubble doing it. Primeape here seems to have punched something so fast the air couldn't get out of the way quickly enough."

"That's about right. I really need to make my muscles and bones take Aura boosting better-"

"Doubtless the conversation is fascinating to you," the Professor interrupted, "but I haven't yet finished my translation software and you, Ivysaur, really need to get going."

The indicated Pokémon nodded and dissolved in red light, before being whisked away to the east.

"Now that's done, why don't we get you to the infirmary?"

Primeape took Kingler's proffered claw for support, and followed the Pokémon Professor to the room he was to convalesce in.

Might want to try repeated blows next time instead of one giant one…

"Oh, brilliant. Now we have to go to the most polluted city on the planet. Don't suppose we could just throw a massive Defog over the place and be done with it?"

Brock frowned. "I'm not sure that Crobat is strong enough alone to do anything like that large an area. And he's the only one I think would be safe flying in that soup."

Ash thought for a minute. "Then have Crobat clear enough area for Pidgeot and Charizard to have a go?"

Misty nodded thoughtfully. "That would work, but it still leaves the sea."

Ash snapped his fingers. "Idea! Pidgeot, you up for a long distance trip?"

Pidgeot emerged from her Pokéball. "As ever!"

"Right. See you guys tomorrow, probably." Ash climbed aboard, Pidgeot sweeping into the air and off towards the north.

"Um…" Misty frowned. "What just happened?"

Overhead, Ash crouched low over his fastest Pokémon (still, despite Primeape's attempt for the title). The wind around him was a fairly gentle breeze at the moment, but that was going to change.

"Hey, girl? Sinnoh, full speed if you please." He called forward.

"You want to be more specific?"

"When we're closer! Pikachu, Riolu," he turned his attention to the two of them, "It might be better if you get in either my bag or your Poké balls, this might be a little rough."

After a moment of debate, both clambered into the surprisingly roomy bag.

"Where is everything?" Pikachu asked, lighting it up with a pair of sparks.

"Ash has that little pouch of Sir Aaron's, I assume he keeps everything in there now." Riolu replied knowledgably. Then noticed he was standing on a small red object. "Oops, sorry Dexter."

Not a problem. Well, looks like we're all in here for the next few hours… want to talk about anything?

There was a muffled boom from outside, the shockwave of Pidgeot breaking the sound barrier deflected by the winds wrapped around her body.

Riolu frowned. "What happened the first time around for you all? I never saw Ash when he was an inexperienced trainer, I want to know more about him."

Dexter hummed. I can provide a fairly dry account, but I think Pikachu might be the mon to ask about what Ash was like.

Pikachu smiled. "I'll be glad to. Here's a story though, did you know that he actually tried to release me once?"

Riolu looked shocked. "But… but you two are closer than brothers! I can see the strength of your bond, sometimes it seems strange that it's not a physical entity!"

The mouse nodded. "It was the first time we ever met any wild Pikachu, see, and Ash thought I'd be better off with them. The big lunk didn't see otherwise until I chased him down and glomped him." Pikachu's eyes shone with the memories, of when they'd truly realized how much they meant to each other. "But to begin at the beginning…"

…

"Wow…" Riolu said as the tale finished. "That's moving, that is. Strange to imagine Team Rocket being so bad at their job, though."

Pikachu chuckled. "They really turned the corner in Isshu and haven't stopped getting better since. To be honest, it's a little intimidating how much better they are now. You heard about what Meowth's like now?"

I know. Strange, isn't it, but I suppose such things happen.

"Down there, Pidgeot!" Ash called, from a perspective very few other people in the world had ever had.

Pidgeot was good enough at shaping the air to maintain atmospheric pressure even at six miles high, and also to augment her wings to fly at such an altitude, so the young trainer hung so far up as to see the whole of East Sinnoh spread out under him.

She tilted her head back to look at him. "The island to the north east?"

"Yeah! That's where I want to go, if you don't mind."

"Mind? I just wondered if there was going to be something more difficult for me to do. Okay, hold on!"

She banked right, aiming for the speck of colour in the blue waters, and folded back her wings.

Ash prudently crouched low over her back, to make things easier for her.

Cynthia's Lucario leapt over an Earthquake from her Garchomp, and briefly switched to Aura sight to see what was going on.

What..?

An invisibly high speck to normal sight, something was travelling overhead with a multicoloured blaze of Aura beyond almost anything he'd ever seen.

Certainly there were those with Aura this strong, but those were either ground-bound Lucario, or Dragons. And this Aura didn't feel like that of a Dragon – nor entirely like that of a Lucario…

Could it be that there were many Aura wielders travelling together?

He was startled out of his consideration by the wind of a Dragon Rush narrowly missing him, and returned his attention to the fight with a Dragon Pulse of his own.

Pidgeot reached an altitude of about one kilometre, and rapidly shed her accumulated velocity with a pair of wings of air ten metres long, two white shocks in the slipstream alongside her.

Ash was laughing in delight. "This is so amazing! The wind, the landscape spread out below, just wow!"

Mischievously, Pidgeot spun another layer on her air control to press Ash into his seat and executed a barrel roll, Ash yelping in surprise as the ground spun crazily around him.

After another few seconds, a white cloud flashed across his vision and broke around Pidgeot as she transited down through the sound barrier. The sea below began to shallow, then was replaced by sandy beach, dunes and finally flowery meadows that the bird Pokémon alighted in as softly as a breeze.

Ash stepped off her back, wobbly for a second, and opened his bag. "You guys okay?"

Well, I am…

Pikachu clambered out and hugged the grass. "Next time, no aerobatics!"

"I'm with you…" Riolu muttered as he rooted through the berry pocket for a pair of Persims. On finding them, he tossed one to Pikachu and ate the other, sighing in relief as his stomach settled. "Why are we here, anyway?"

Ash slipped a blindfold over his right eye and began scanning around. "This is the Flower Paradise. It's a truly amazing place, a real jewel in the seas off Sinnoh – normally it's cold up this far north, but there's a warm current or something. Anyway, look out for a Shaymin. I thought it was worth a try seeing if there were any that would want to travel to Kanto, and perhaps help sort out the ludicrously polluted Gringey City."

Riolu blinked. "Well, I suppose it might work."

Set up.

Dexter materialized his body, and hovered over. Preparing for search pattern.

Ash nodded. "Thanks. Pidgeot, see if you can rest up a bit. I know that that kind of journey has to be at least a bit tiring.

"Thank you for your concern, but I can manage a return flight."

"And you'll be wiped out afterwards, I bet." Ash frowned. "Get yourself fed up. Need me to get some of the rations out?"

"I'll find something." Pidgeot spread her wings again. "I'll be back in an hour."

Ash and co. spread out over the beautiful meadow. Each searched in their own way – Ash looked for an Aura signature that would indicate a Pokémon, Pikachu spread his electrical awareness to detect anything with a nervous system, Dexter ran a series of complex recognition algorithms… and Riolu looked for an Aura signature that would indicate a Pokémon. Well, maybe they didn't all have their own way.

Ooh, that looks – nope, it's just a set of flowers.

Ash walked over to the indicated flowers and looked at them. "They look like… yeah, they're those special flowers that Shaymin use to change form. I think it might be an idea to mark this place, we'll come back and transplant them to Kanto if we get a taker."

Gracidea. I see.

"That was it. Now, back to looking for the Pokémon of Gratitude."

After a few more minutes, Pikachi felt something. "Over here!"

Ash carefully stepped through the meadow, making sure to avoid as many flowers as he could. "Where? I don't see… oh, hang on a minute." He looked again, this time only with his uncovered eye. "That's amazing!"

What?

"They actually blend with the local Aura perfectly. It's astonishing."

The object of their interest shifted slightly, and uncurled to look at them. Well, good afternoon. If I might ask, why are you here?

Ash snapped his fingers. "That's right, you guys are telepaths…"

Get to the point.

"Oh, sorry. Well, I was wondering if you – or one of the other Shaymin from the meadow – would be interested in travelling to Kanto. There's a terribly polluted city there, and I'm sure they'd be pleased to have you nearby. Then, of course, there's that it's rather warmer."

That does sound interesting… but aren't there dangerous Pokémon in Kanto?

Ash chuckled. Pikachu spoke up. "Since the Legendary Pokémon of Sinnoh were involved in the creation of the universe, I think that's a bit of a nitpick. Regardless, I can assure you that there are many wonderful people in Kanto – it's the home of the very first Safari Park, which is a massive area of land within which battles are forbidden."

The Shaymin considered. Well, if you think it would be a good idea…

Ash crouched down and held out his hands.

What? No Poké ball?

"I'd never stoop so low as to try to catch you after explaining things like that."

After a moment's consideration, the Shaymin crept into his arms. Ash carefully lifted it

Her

Her, and started back towards where Pidgeot was waiting.

"Oh, hang on." Ash pulled a Poké ball out, and released Ivysaur. "Can you carefully dig up that Gracidea plant, and be ready to carry it back?"

"Sure thing, Ash." He vanished underground.

Shaymin blinked. You're… doing that for me? Making it so that I can change Formes even in the far south?

"Yes. What's more, it should last longer as the weather is warmer."

"Got it!"

"Good. Okay, guys, all aboard!"

"Hello, little one. I'll fly as carefully as I can."

Don't bother. I've flown before, it's exciting.

Pidgeot spread her wings, and hunched down for the first big spring. "I'll take that as a challenge!"

In perfect unison, Pikachu and Riolu downed Persim berries.

Wooow. So that's Kanto?

The view was spectacular, Ash's Pidgeot soaring up over Mount Moon's axial ridge and giving her passengers a low-angle impression of most of the northern half of the region.

"Sure is. It's quite technological, but since I've been lost in the woods for over half my time with Pokémon at all, there's ample wilderness here."

Pidgeot banked lower, slipping sideways in the air as she bled off height. As they passed Saffron, still moving at about five miles a minute, she began to look around for her destination.

Hm. There's the city, and there's the campsite, and – wait a second, that can't be natural-

She threw herself into a sudden dive, and a succession of light beams slashed past at her former predicted path.

"What's going on?" Ash shouted as his ride plunged into a small valley near Gringey City, splashing down in a lake rather than dump speed slowly.

"Ash! There's something up there, something invisible and very big!"

"What?" The trainer demanded, as he deposited Shaymin on the shore and readied his Poké balls to meet whatever the new threat was.

Analyzing… Ash! It's Hunter J!

"Oh, say you're joking."

Afraid not. She's here, and from a quick check of radio traffic… The Pokédex/Porygon actually gulped. We're in big trouble now.

AN: Well, that's what Primeape has been working on. And Ash takes a quick trip to the other end of the country.

Pidgeot can break the sound barrier, after all.