True to her word, Fantina arrived with Ash's new clothes the next day, as much as Ash and Lance would've preferred that not to be the case.
Trying them on though, Ash had to say they didn't look half bad. The pants were a bit slimmer fitting than anything he would've ever chosen for himself, but Fantina responded that that was what was necessary to maintain even a modicum of formality, and if he didn't like it she could certainly get him some heels to try on. He shut up after that.
The new jacket, well it was really more of a vest, being sleeveless and all, had a high collar with white lining and extended about midway down his thighs, with a single button which closed over the zipper, and a pair of white pockets on the front. It was paired with a black turtleneck, which he would've complained about given Hoenn's heat this time of year, but which somehow seemed to be made of a fabric which looked solid but felt almost like wearing nothing at all. She'd even made a pair of custom sneakers, stating that as a trainer, he could get away with that in the name of practicality.
"C'est magnifique!" Fantina stood back, admiring her work. "So, mon petit chéri? What do you think? Am I the greatest stylist in Sinnoh, or am I?"
"I love it!"
"J'aurais préféré if we could've done away with the hat, but alas, I must admit that it's something of your trademark at this point."
Ash gulped at realizing doing away with his hat was even an option.
"I must say, Monsieur Ash, I believe I have outdone myself. One might even almost mistake you for Kaloçais… Almost."
"Thanks, I guess?"
"Now, for the finishing touch, la crème de la crème." She pulled out a glasses case and opened it, before putting a pair of blinding red mirrored aviators on Ash.
He looked at himself in the mirror.
"Are the glasses really necessary?"
"But of course! The eyes are the gateways to the soul. To hide them so, it gives you a sense of untouchability."
"Pikaaaaa…" Pikachu reflected Ash's thoughts.
"I think I'd prefer it without the glasses…" He took them off.
"Pah. Fine. Perhaps with your countenance it is indeed better without them. But then you must learn to carry yourself to compensate.
"Back, straight." Ash felt a measuring stick which he was sure she hadn't been holding a moment ago hit him and he jolted straight as a rod. Fantina rested the ruler under his chin. "Chin, up.
"You must radiate confidence. Tell me, are you the best trainer in Hoenn?"
Ash thought about it. He'd encountered a lot of strong trainers in Hoenn. "Maybe…? I don't think so."
"Then how can you be champion? Mon petit cheri, if you are to be champion, you must know in your heart of hearts that you are the best. It does not matter whether or not it is true."
"Huh?"
"Do you think I won my Grand Festival because I was the best? Do you think Lance won the Indigo Conference and defeated the Champion's League because he was the best?"
"Yeah?" It seemed to make sense to Ash.
"Non! It is because we knew we were the best. Il y a une différence."
Ash looked at her confused. She sighed, scratching the bridge of her nose. "In competition, even the best falter. You must be firm as a stone. If you falter, you will lose. If you are the best, and you do not know it, you will still lose. If you are not the best, well, it does no harm to think you are."
"I guess that makes sense…"
"Guessing does you no good. You must know it. Feel it. As vividly as you feel your passion for battle!" Fantina paused and looked at Lance.
"Mon chéri, tell me, why am I the one teaching your protégé for you?" He looked at her and shrugged.
"Not sure, you seem to have taken it upon yourself, and you seemed to be doing a good job so I wasn't going to interfere."
Thwack! The ruler rapped him across the back of his head. Apparently that wasn't the answer Fantina wanted to hear.
"Ow! Do you always have to be like this?"
She held her chin. "Well, I do prefer leaving you alive, but if you insist I'm certain Gengar would quite enjoy feasting upon your soul."
A giant sweatdrop formed on Lance's forehead.
"No, no, alive is good, this is fine."
"Now, if you insist on being so derelict in your duties… mon petit chéri, would you care for a battle?"
~ ⁂ ~
Lance cued them up, "This will be a three-on-three battle with substitutions! Trainers, select your pokémon."
"Drifblim, allons-y!"
"Pika-pi!"
Ash looked at Pikachu on his shoulder, "You think it's time for a rematch, huh? Alright then, Pikachu, let's go!" Pikachu should make short work of a flying type.
Pikachu leapt onto the field.
"You may begin!"
Ash was the first to react, "Volt tackle!"
Pikachu flew down the field gathering charge.
"Soar the skies, Drifblim!" The balloon pokémon began to rise higher than Pikachu could jump.
Ash had seen that a lot before from trainers with flying types. Honestly, even if Pikachu's mobility hadn't been on the level it was, it was kinda stupid. The higher they went the harder a Thunderbolt would hit. That said, going with a less obvious response prevented any unexpected counters.
"Iron tail." The aura of sparks around Pikachu discharged into the ground as he sprung off into the air.
"Put him to sleep, ma belle!" Drifblim began to glow.
Too late. "Thunderbolt." Pikachu was faster. The bolt of lighting jolted through the ghost-type pokémon, only a split second before Pikachu hammered down on it with his hardened tail.
"Bliiiiiiiiim," the glow around it flickered and died, though the pokémon still seemed ready to battle.
Ash narrowed his eyes. Drifblim was rather strong considering how badly Fantina was playing out the battle. It didn't quite add up.
"Quick, bounce with iron tail again, and electro ball to finish her!"
"Let's put on a juggling show! Psychic!"
Pikachu sprung off the ground as quick as it hit it, forming a ball of electricity. Suddenly it was still in mid air.
Fantina smirked at Ash. "Very good, very good, mon petit chéri, but alas, futile."
"Pikachu, let's show her juggling, fire it off with thunderbolt!" Lance was right, showing off too much could cost you a battle.
"Chuuu!"
"Drop him!" A hint of panic could be heard in the gym leader's voice.
"Iron tail off the ground!"
The sequence of events was difficult even for the trainers involved to follow. Pikachu shot the electro-ball out with blinding speed using thunderbolt right as Drifblim fired him towards the ground with psychic. Ash's prediction was right though, and as the electro ball-thunderbolt combo hit Driftblim, the ghost-type was instantly knocked out. Which left Pikachu a split second to get off an iron tail when the psychic power released him before he hit the ground.
"Drifblim is unable to battle. Pikachu wins."
"You did well, ma cherié. Return." The red light summoned the balloon-shaped pokémon back into the pokéball.
"Well done, mon petit chéri, but how shall you fare against Gengar the Terrible!"
Ash thought about it for a moment, before deciding,
"Oshawott, I choose you!"
Fantina let out an uncharacteristic squeal on seeing the pokémon.
"How precious! In a contest, you might even stand a chance of winning! Such a pity this isn't a contest. Gengar, show them it is you who goes bump in the night, night shade!"
"Counter it with hydro pump!" The torrent of water collided with the jagged beam of what could only be described as blackness. The attacks exploded at the contact point, showering the battlefield with water. "Now, aqua jet into a razor shell!"
Ash saw from Fantina's face that he had made a mistake. Oshawott was now committed, there was no chance of calling off the attack or significantly changing the direction. And Gengar was fast.
Fantina didn't even bother to command the dodge, merely giddily yelling out "Olé!" as Gengar pirouetted out of the way and hit Oshawott from behind with a shadow punch.
"Osh!" The pokémon yelped as it was thrown into the air.
Fantina put one hand on her hip and the other above her eyes as she watched Oshawott soar through the air. As the poor pokémon was reaching the peak of its trajectory, she yelled,
"Gengar, mon petit monstre, would you care to take the shot?" Gengar responded with another night shade.
"Oshawott! Snap out of it, aqua jet to dodge!" Water surrounded Oshawott as it jetted out of the way. That was close, Ash thought. If not for Fantina's theatrics, Oshawott would've been a goner.
"Alas, a miss, whatever shall we do? Gengar, hypnosis."
Ash only had a split second to react. There was no way to block the attack this time, but he had a thought.
"Oshawott, same as before!" Oshawott seemed to get the gist. He propelled himself towards Gengar in a spin with a razor shell in front of him. The wave of psychic energy hit him, but at this point, the hit was a foregone conclusion. Gengar couldn't dodge while performing the hypnosis.
Gengar flew to the ground, and as the dust cleared, the result was evident.
"Gengar is unable to battle, Oshawott wins!"
Oshawott rose from the ground drowsily, woken by the impact.
"Osh…" He looked around trying to figure out what had happened.
"You won Oshawott!" Oshawott looked at Gengar and started jumping with joy.
"Wott-wott! Wott!"
"Gengar, merveilleux mon chér. Return."
"Oshawott, that was amazing." Oshawott ran over to hug Ash's leg.
"It is not over mon petit chéri. It is time for someone I think you have not yet met. The curtains rise to reveal Spiritomb!"
Ash's face turned white with fear.
"Where did you find that pokémon?!" He asked.
"A magician does not reveal her secrets, non? I will say it is one of my most recent bébés. I caught it here in Hoenn but a few weeks ago."
Ash calmed down, it wasn't the same Spiritomb then. But the same tactics would work.
"Pikachu, you think you've rested enough for this?"
"Pika-pi."
"Alright then, let's go Pikachu!"
"Encore? Très intéressant. Spiritomb, a wonderful night to have a curse isn't it?"
"Tomb…" The pokémon's voice resonated across the battlefield like a gong.
Gonna have to win this fast, Ash thought to himself.
"Get in close with quick attack!"
"Spiritomb, will-o-wisp." The eerie fireballs began to whip around Spiritomb making any close approach extremely dangerous. Ash could see she was stalling, hoping to let the curse take care of things, but there was very little he could do.
"Pikachu, iron tail into the air, then thunderbolt."
Fantina was silent, for a minute, but once Pikachu was up in the air, she barked out one word, "Now!"
Spiritomb sent the will-o-wisps flying towards Pikachu. There was no way to dodge the attack, but Ash had known that before he even told Pikachu to go for it.
As the blue fireballs closed in, Pikachu let loose a massive thunderbolt, before they hit him. Ash had seen will-o-wisp before. The attack would leave a painful burn and certainly could deal a fair bit of damage, but unlike many fire-type moves, there was no force behind it, which left Pikachu completely free to follow through on the thunderbolt.
"Now, Pikachu, electro tail!"
Pikachu's tail gleamed, turning to steel, as he formed an electro ball at the tip.
"Spiritomb, block it with a shadow ball!" Some of the black ectoplasm separated from Spiritomb's roiling mantle and began to form a ball.
"Blast straight through it with your tail!"
"Pika-piiiiiiiii!" Pikachu rolled into a summersault letting his tail hit the shadow ball first. The attack hit its mark, slamming into Spiritomb's keystone.
"Tooooooooomb!" The pokémon bellowed as it was sucked into its keystone.
"Spiritomb is unable to battle. Pikachu wins!"
Pikachu struggled on its feat and collapsed, the curse finally taking its toll.
"The battle goes to Ash!"
Once the pokémon were all healed up, Fantina strode over to Ash.
"Very well done, mon petit chéri. Though it pains me to see you taking on some of Lance's dryness in your fighting. Your fighting used to exude passion; you could've made a wonderful coordinator."
Ash scratched the back of his head.
"Well, it seems to be working. I'm not a coordinator, and if this is what it takes to win…"
"C'est sûr. Such fighting is quick and effective, but does it make you happy?"
Ash didn't know how to answer that. Lance came over.
"Fantina, mind not trying to unteach him what I've spent days trying to pound into his head?"
"Mon chéri, but you are teaching him your problems as well as your strengths. You have no passion anymore! It is one thing to fight like this in a tournament, there I shall not criticise at all, but in a friendly battle? Need I remind you of your and Cynthia's disagreements on this same topic? And how that ended?"
Ash saw Lance flash red.
"Oh come on, that's a low blow. Even before that happened we all knew she was the strongest of us by far."
"How exactly did that battle go? Ah, yes, I remember, she swept the field with you. With one pokémon."
Ash felt like this was the sort of argument he wasn't really supposed to be listening to, but he didn't exactly have anywhere to go.
"Fantina, we both know that it's hardly fair to call Cynthia's Garchomp 'one pokémon.'"
"C'est vrai, non? It is merely a statement of fact."
"It's also arguably the strongest non-legendary pokémon in the world. No one is sure what her secret is."
"Well, of course, I've asked her just like the rest of us, and got the same response you did. Ce que je veux dire—the point I am making—is that she did it with style. Did your discipline help you then?"
"I've never lost to Steven though, and that's who he needs to beat."
"C'est vrai. And j'imagine he will, one way or another. But Lance, consider, do you really want him to follow in your footsteps?"
Ash was puzzled. Why wouldn't he want to follow in Lance's footsteps? He was one of the strongest, judging by the conversation, perhaps the second strongest, Champion in the world.
Fantina paused.
"Alas, mes chéris I must take my leave now. I shall see you tomorrow for the opening ceremony of the Grand Festival. We shall travel together, I'll pick you up."
She glanced at Ash, and he felt a thwack across his back. "Mon petit chéri, I thought I told you not to slouch."
She strode towards the stairway to leave the roof, and turned back for a moment.
"Oh, and Lance, I have not forgotten you promised me dinner on the phone."
"I said a bottle of wine!"
"And conversation. How can one drink a bottle of wine and converse without at least un amuse-gueule? Tsk, vous Kantonniens… C'est vulgar!"
"You didn't seem to have a problem with it yesterday!" Lance shouted, but she was already gone.
"What did she mean about following in your footsteps Lance?" Ash asked him.
"It's a long story and one I've made promises not to share, since it's not mine alone. It's also irrelevant. Like she said, the fighting style we're working on will work great in the tournament.
"I guess." Ash's pokémon weren't complaining, and when they were happy, he was happy.
"Now let's get some more training in to wrap up the day."
"Yeah!"
"That's the spirit!"