A/N: Written for the Advent Calender Challenge on the RLt. And the final chapter of this collection: the full six on six match between Max and Ash.

Milestones
XXV – The Twenty-Fifth

'Who'd have thought we'd have our rematch here?' Ash asked lightly, adjusting a new-looking hat on his head.

Max just grinned; he'd been waiting on purpose after all. Waiting for Ash to defeat Orre's previous Champion and take the title himself – three months after defeating the last of the Elite Four. Waiting until he had defeated the Elite Four as well, so that his rematch would also be a contest for the titleship. And waiting until his Magneton was ready to evolve into Magnezone, so that he could have the strongest possible team to go up against his idol.

Ash grinned too, jigging Pikachu on his shoulder as he planted his feet into his trademark stance. 'I'm ready,' he said, before lifting his voice and shouting it out. 'I'm ready!'

'Then come at me!' Max shouted right back, pulling out his first Poke-ball. But it was Ash who threw his first, revealing a Torterra.

Max chose Torkoal as his first Pokemon, though he was weary of Torterra's ground typing. And it proved to be a problem, as Earthquake and Rock Climb weren't friendly to the Fire type. Max was forced to call him back in favour of Skarmory instead.

Being airborne and, thanks to Agility, speedy, Torterra had a harder time nailing him with Rock Climb or Bite, and Leaf Storm was largely ineffective. But Torterra was strong in both offence and defence, and Skarmory had been worn down thoroughly by the time he defeated the Grass type Powerhouse.

Ash let out another Grass type – Sceptile – to finish Skarmory off with a single Leaf Blade. Max was tempted to send out his own Sceptile – but Sceptile was his anchor and that would be all his plans out of the roof.

Why is Ash sending two grass types in a row anyway? Max grumbled to himself, then shrugged and decided it was Ash and when did anything Ash do stick to a plan. Except for becoming Champion before Max defeated the Elite Four of course.

To heck with it, Max decided finally, and sent out Sceptile.

That was an interesting battle to watch, the two Sceptiles battling it out. Ash's managed to win by a small margin, but Max sent his injured Torkoal out to finish it with a newly learnt Overheat.

'Impressive,' Ash said with a grin as he recalled Sceptile. 'But you might want to take a look at Torkoal.'

Max did, and realised his Fire type had been knocked out. Apparently Sceptile had gotten a final attack in somewhere.

He sent out Shelgon next, confident that Ash wouldn't send out Charizard – which he didn't. Nor did he sent out Glalie, an ice type, nor Snorlax or Buizel who knew Ice Punch. Instead, he sent out a female Unfezant.

So there was the small matter of Shelgon wanting a ride to deal with before the match. Luckily, both Ash and Unfezant were more than happy to oblige.

The battle resumed. Unfezant easily dodged Shelgon's Draco Meteor and Stone Edge. In fact, she easily won the bout, tossing the dragon-type into the air with her strong talons, then knocking him back down with a heavy Gust.

With Max having lost his third Pokemon, they took a five minute break, in which Max lamented Shelgon's easy lost. But Skarmory's flying abilities, even with Agility's help, were very different to the flexible Unfezant's.

When Ash sent out Unfezant again after the break, Max sent out Gardevoir, whose Thunderbolt finally broke through. But it was still a gruelling match, and Max had to call Gardevoir back when Ash sent out Corphish.

It was the same Corphish from Hoenn, and it seemed Corphish recognised him as well for he snapped his pincers and grinned. Max, realising he was running out of options, sent out the only Pokemon left with an advantage: Magnezone.

Unfortunately for Max, Corphish managed to knock Magnezone out with some powerful Crab Hammers, and it was up to the slick Purlloin to cause some confusion and beat the crab.

Max was ready to call Purlloin back when Ash sent out Pikachu, and the two went for a battle of speed and agility instead. Purlloin put up quite a fight, but Confuse Ray was no match for Ash and Pikachu's bond, and Purlloin herself was no match for Pikachu's superior speed, technique and power. It wore Pikachu down, but an Electro Ball finally slammed the purple cat into the edge of the arena.

And, just like that, Max was down to his last Pokemon. 'I'm not going to give up,' he said quietly, to himself and his final Poke-ball, before raising his voice and shouting it to the stadium. 'I'm not going to give up!'

Ash grinned. 'Show me how far you've come,' he called.

Max grinned too, tossing Gardevoir's Poke-ball into the sky once again. 'Come on out Gardevoir.'

Sparks flew from Pikachu's cheeks as he readied himself. Beads of sweat clung to his fur but he was still pumped and ready to fight.

Max didn't think about how strong Pikachu was. He didn't think that there was still a sixth Pokemon to fight against – and, judging from the appearance of Corphish and Sceptile, it would be another favourite of Max's: Charizard.

And Max was right, because when Pikachu finally collapsed from exhaustion and resisting too many Psychic attacks, it was Charizard that replaced him, roaring a Flamethrower into the skies and pumping his fists.

Gardevoir just looked at the orange lizard in the eye and then collapsed. And the MC was shouting the result to the stadium, and Max was recalling his Gardevoir back, disappointed and yet still relieved – relieved that Ash was still there, still higher, so Max could continue chasing him down.

Ash offered a hand, and Max took it. 'Promise we'll battle again?'

Ash promised.