"Good luck, Ash," Cilan said, as they parted company at the entrance to the League.

"And don't freak out too many of the trainers you're going up against," Iris added.

"How many is too many?" Ash asked. "How do I tell if I'm doing that? I'll do my best but there's just too many questions."

Iris looked torn about how to respond, and opted to just shake her head with a sigh.

"I'm not sure it'd be Ash if he wasn't doing that to people," N said quietly, as Ash headed on into the contestants' area. "Where are we going to watch the matches from?"

"Oh, actually, I got contacted about that," Cilan said. "Marshal sent me an email… hold on, I'll see if I can find it."

He took out a beaten up old phone, and sent out Stunfisk with his other hand.

"Beep boop," Stunfisk said, sparking up, and the phone booted up.

"Why do you even have that?" Emolga asked. "It looks ridiculously old. It is ridiculously old."

"Yeah, but it was really cheap," Cilan explained. "It doesn't actually have a battery, but that's something Stunfisk can sort out!"

He tapped on the screen. "And… aha, here we go. It's an invitation to watch the Pokémon League from the Elite Four box, which is open to Elite Four members and Gym Leaders exclusively. I think this got sent to all the gym leaders, looking at it."

"That makes sense," N admitted. "But wouldn't that mean that us going in would be a violation of the rule about only Elite Four members and Gym Leaders being able to go in?"

He looked around reflexively, then blinked. "Wow. I think we might have been travelling with Ash for quite a long time… I was expecting Arc to jump in with the actual rule there, even though I didn't quote the number."

Zygarde held up their green paw. "I believe I may be able to assist," they said. "In previous instances, I observed that they did not complain about having the following people in the Elite Four box: wild Pokémon, Pokémon belonging to different trainers, Pokémon belonging to Gym Leaders or Elite Four members."

"Come to think of it, that does make sense," Cilan admitted. "It'd be silly if you had to leave your Pokémon outside to go in the box."

A few minutes later, Caitlin opened the door of the Elite Four box.

"Ah, you must be… Coriander, right?" she asked. "Alder told us about you!"

"Cilan," Cilan corrected her.

"Oh, sorry," Caitlin admitted, taking a step back. "And, um…"

She shook her head. "I'm trying to remember what type you specialize in, but looking at the Pokémon here isn't giving me any help at all."

"I'm not one of his Pokémon," N said. "If that helps. I'm a Water and Fighting type, though."

"Dragon and Ground, but also not one of his Pokémon," Zygarde stated. "And nor is the Emolga providing translation."

"I can speak for myself," Emolga huffed.

"Dragon and Fire type," Reshiram provided, hovering into the air.

Pidove raised her wing. "Flying and Normal. And neither Reshiram nor myself are one of Cilan's Pokémon."

"That's True," Reshiram confirmed.

Caitlin looked bemused. "So are the rest of them your Pokémon, Cilan? So far I mostly know what you might not be a specialist in… hold on, let me see. Rock and Flying, Ground and Steel, Dragon and Flying, just plain Dragon, Dragon and Ground, Electric and Ground, Grass, and Rock and Bug."

She shook her head. "I've got absolutely no idea whatsoever… Dragons crashing into the ground?"

"Hey, we don't do that that much," Flygon protested. "Not any more."

"Actually, only these three are my Pokémon," Cilan clarified, tapping them. "I'm a Grass specialist, at least theoretically, though in practice I prefer a melange of Pokémon flavours!"

Caitlin looked at the menagerie behind him.

"I can see that," she admitted.

"Okay, here we go," Kendrick told himself. "You've made it. You're at the Vertress Conference… now you just need to do as well as you possibly can."

He checked the timetable. There was a one-Pokémon prelim, then two two-Pokémon battle, a three-Pokémon battle, and finally three full six-on-six battles.

"Let's do this," he said, and stepped out onto the arena floor.

Then he caught sight of his opponent.

"Oh," he added. "Well, uh… do I get extra credit just because of who I'm battling?"

He looked over at the referee. "Is there some kind of consolation prize for being beaten by Ash Ketchum?"

"I might need to check," the referee admitted. "I'll get back to you after the battle, if it's relevant?"

"Yeah, good point," Kendrick said. "Who knows, maybe I'll get outrageously lucky and there'll be a convenient meteorite strike or something?"

"If there is, that'd be helpful!" Ash called. "Rayquaza's often on the lookout for more meteorite!"

"Of course she is," Kendrick sighed, then got his Pokéball ready.

The referee signalled, and both trainers sent out their Pokémon at the same time.

"That's an interesting choice to begin the tournament with," Elesa said, nodding approvingly at Kendrick's choice. "There aren't many Pokémon out there with no weaknesses, but Eelektross is one of them."

She waved a hand. "Of course, they're a little bit… ugly, which has always made me a bit leery of relying on them – I've got one, just to complete my team, but I mostly use them against trainers who rely too much on Ground and Rock types."

"And Ash is using a Boldore," Flygon pointed out. "Which… means nothing whatsoever for what moves she's capable of, admittedly. She might have learned a new one since we last saw Ash earlier this morning."

"Distressingly plausible," Elesa agreed.

Eelektross went surging forwards, sparks flying, then reared up and held out both arms. Lightning flashed between them, and then bolted out to hit Boldore in an impact that sent sparks flying.

"What kind of thing can Boldore do, then?" Drayden asked. "I never battled Ash, though I did speak to him recently."

"Lucky you," three of the other Gym Leaders said, not quite in chorus.

"She's a geologist," N told them. "Or, at least, she says a lot of things about rocks and says she's a geologist. I'm not a geologist myself so I'm unable to evaluate how correct she is."

Down below, Ash called for Stone Edge, and Boldore raised a barrier of greyish rocks around herself. Eelektross levitated a little to the side to get a better shot, but when he fired his Thunderbolt attack it curved visibly off course to hit one of the rocks and there was a flash of white sparks.

"...hmm," Clay frowned. "I'm not at all sure magnetite works like that. If that is magnetite, that is… it shouldn't be making what seems like some kind of magnetic shield."

Shauntal fiddled with the sound system a bit, and they heard Kendrick's voice more clearly.

"You'll have to get close and use Aqua Tail!" he said.

"Boldore!" Ash retaliated. "Use Flash!"

"Flash?" Cheren repeated. "Flash?"

Boldore lit up, which dazzled Eelektross a bit but didn't seem to otherwise harm the Electric-type. He closed in, did a flip, and slapped Boldore halfway across the arena with a powerful Aqua Tail attack.

"Why would he use Flash?" Cheren said. "I don't know if it's a foolish move or not, but Bianca said he was a skilled trainer, so why would-"

"I believe I have worked it out," Zygarde interrupted. "Does someone have a Pokédex?"

"Oh, I do, actually," Cheren replied, and the rookie Gym Leader fished it out of his pocket. "Um…"

"Please look up Boldore," Zygarde requested. "Ask about their crystals, specifcally."

Cheren tapped away at the controls, and his Pokédex went beep.

"It says they glow when there's energy charged up," he read off, then blinked. "No. That couldn't-"

Boldore used Hyper Beam, launching off brilliant blasts of energy from crystals all over her body at once, and Eelektross got launched so high into the air that the Electric-type nearly left the arena entirely. Then he came back down, and went whump into the ground as momentum overcame Levitate.

"Also, not sure if you noticed, but she evolved," Flygon pointed out. "Typical Ash."

"This is interesting," Gigalith admitted. "Hmm. Can I have a word with Phanpy?"

"Sure!" Ash replied. "And that was a great battle, Kendrick, your Eelektross is tough and versatile!"

"I'll take that as a compliment," Kendrick replied. "I feel like I need it…"

Cheren had been going through some of the Unova League regulations for a while by the time Ash's next match came around, only looking up when Roxie got his attention with a tap to the shoulder.

"Huh?" he asked.

"Thought you might want to see this one," Roxie said. "It's Ash and that friend of yours, Bianca."

"Oh, good," Cheren replied, relaxing a bit. "At least… probably good."

"Probably good?" N repeated. "Are you expecting her to win or lose?"

"It's not that," Cheren told the Water-type. "Instead, I was checking the regulations, and I found Unova League Rule 154 B stroke C."

"Isn't that the one about how the badges trainers have from gyms have to all be from different gyms, not just different badge designs from the same gym?" N asked.

"No, that's 154 B stroke B," Cheren answered, holding up the regulations book.

"These rulebooks are badly designed," N summarized. "Whose job is it to keep them in shape, anyway?"

All four members of the Unova Elite Four pointed at Alder.

"Huh?" Alder said. "What's this about?"

"Well, that explains Unova, at least," N admitted. "What is rule 154 B stroke C, then?"

"At the discretion of the Elite Four, a miniature tournament can be held between trainers eliminated by the eventual winner and both participants in the third-fourth place playoff," Cheren explained. "It sounds like it might be a good idea this time…"

"You first, Escavalier!" Bianca called, sending out her Bug-type with a flourish.

"Okay, here we go!" Ash's Dewott said, a pearl necklace jangling on his chest. "Strengthen my heart, Scalchops!"

Both his Scalchops ignited their blades. One lit up with a whoosh of flame, the other shimmered in a sort of subtle way that was hard to make out.

"Uh oh," Bianca added. "Watch out, Escavalier, one of those looks like a Fire-type move!"

Dewott was more concerned with the other one, tapping it against his hip, and it sort of went through.

"Well, this should be interesting," he admitted.

"Iron Defence!" Bianca said. "Then close in and attack!"

"Tailcurrent!" Ash told him. "Keep moving, don't let Escavalier hit you too fast!"

He waved to the referee. "Can I use my Pokédex in the middle of a battle?"

"I don't see why not," the referee admitted. "So long as you're not using your Pokédex to battle or something."

"Nah, not this time," Ash replied. "What moves did Dewott get there?"

"Analyzing," Ibid reported. "Beak Blast and Hidden Power: Ghost."

"Okay, uh… Dewott, use your left sword to block!" Ash called. "Counterattack with your right!"

"You know, guys, I'm not much of an expert on Dewott," Marlon began. "But I didn't think they knew a move that made that much fire."

"He doesn't," Flygon replied. "It's this weird thing he does where he kind of uses Metronome but he gets the result for a whole battle."

There was a sp-p-paaang as Dewott fended off attacks from Escavalier, which set the Bug-type on fire, but Escavalier replied by drilling into the ground with Drill Run and extinguished the flames.

"Okay, Dewott!" Ash called. "I think it's time to take it to the next level!"

"Right!" Dewott replied, rolling to the side as Escavalier burst back out of the ground, and pulled the necklace off. He sliced it in half with both blades at once, revealing a glittering purple crystal, and caught it in one paw.

"Final release!" he announced, and there was a whoosh of energy and water which surrounded him before leaving him as a Samurott.

"Okay, what," Cheren demanded, pointing. "That's Eviolite! It's meant to make pre-evolutions stronger, not make Pokémon evolve!"

"Question," Zygarde said. "Is a Pokémon becoming an evolved version not a way to make them more powerful?"

"I – well," Cheren began, not entirely sure how to answer that. "I suppose it is, but-"

Samurott waved his paw over his face, switching to being a Hisuian Samurott, and Zygarde pointed. "In addition, that appears to be as pre as an evolution can get, since it has not been around for a significant amount of time."

"I think I'm going to stop arguing," Cheren decided. "At least about this battle."

"That was a pretty good battle, so far," Bianca said, returning her Escavalier. "I bet Professor Juniper's glad to see all the new discoveries we're making!"

"I'm glad to help her out!" Ash smiled. "Oh, do you want me to leave Dewott out or swap him for another Pokémon? He seems a bit tired, but I could go either way."

"Did you say Dewott?" Bianca frowned. "But that's Samurott, isn't it?"

"Yes, but only for now," Samurott said, then reverted back to being Dewott and fell to one knee as the Eviolite went clink onto the battlefield. "Phew… it's still too tiring to keep that up for long."

"Can you even do that?" Bianca asked. "That's fascinating! It must be like Mega Evolution. That's another new scientific discovery!"

AN:

Eventually you have to make allowances for this sort of thing.