"All right, here we go!" Cameron said, just as his quarter-final was about to begin. "This is going to be great!"
"Yeah," Riolu agreed.
"Our first Full Battle!" Cameron went on, captivated by the idea. "We're going to be able to use five Pokémon at once!"
"Five Pokémon at once?" Ash repeated. "I thought-"
"Six!" Riolu interrupted. "Six Pokémon! I told you about this several times, including ten minutes ago when I counted off the number of Pokéballs on your belt because you forgot one again!"
Cameron frowned. "Huh. Are you sure it's six?"
He scratched his head. "I think you said that you'd be able to bring the same number of Pokémon if I wasn't here, so that would mean you had five, because you wouldn't count yourself."
Riolu tried to roll her eyes, snigger and face-paw all at once, and hit herself in the forehead.
"Ow," she muttered. "Trust me, it's six Pokémon in total able to battle."
"Yeah, you can bring more than six but you need to lock in your choice of six before the actual battle!" Ash contributed. "I do that a lot, because I have Arc and Ibid and Pikachu and sometimes there's also others confusing the whole calculation one way or another, but if you only bring six then that's sort of done for you."
Cameron looked deeply mystified for a moment, then brightened. "Oh, okay!"
He got a Pokéball ready, and Ash did the same.
"Go!" he called, and Ash's Buizel emerged onto the field at the same time as Cameron sent out a Hydreigon.
"That's an impressive Pokémon," Drayden observed.
"Yeah, though I'm impressed it hasn't gone on a rampage," agreed Hydreigon, next to him.
Emolga coughed.
"That's different and you know it," Hydreigon added, then leaned forwards. "Wait, hold on, is that-"
"Let's do this!" Cameron called, holding up his Mega Ring, and Hydreigon Mega-Evolved with a brilliant flare of Infinity Energy.
When the light faded, Mega Hydreigon had thumped to the floor as it lost Levitate, and now had five heads instead of three.
"Okay, this should be interesting," Buizel admitted, rolling his neck and flicking his tails. "So do those separate heads do separate thinking, or not?"
"To be honest, we don't spend much time thinking about the philosophical side of it all," Mega Hydreigon admitted, in multiphonic stereo. "Mostly it's about biting things and going blaaaah a lot."
The referee signalled for them to begin, and Cameron pointed. "Dragon Pulses!"
All five heads spat out bolts of green light at once, and Buizel's tails went whirr as he blurred away from the initial rush of attacks. He bounced off the ground, conjured an Ice Shard, kicked off it to build up a completely different vector, then used Aqua Ring which he absorbed into his body with a splash.
"Unnamed priority Fairy attack!" Ash ordered, and Buizel darted in with a blaze of energy around his paw. He hit all five of Hydreigon's heads in quick succession, his attacks rattling down the set, and Cameron frowned for a moment then brightened.
"Tri Attack!" he called.
With five heads instead of three involved, the attack was even stronger than usual, and it smacked Buizel out of the air as it got a direct hit. It knocked the Aqua Ring out of him with an audible briiiing, and he did a forward roll as soon as he hit the ground before skidding over to catch the watery object before it dissolved.
"Keep it up!" Ash said. "Now try Extremespeed!"
"You know," Pikachu said, leaning forwards a little. "I could swear that Pokémon had five heads before."
"Oh, yeah, you're right," Ash agreed, watching as Mega Hydreigon used Fury Attack in all directions (six of them at a time) and Buizel lost his Aqua Ring again. "Ibid?"
"Mega Hydreigon," Ibid reported. "Ability: Lernean. Grows more heads as it takes damage, up to a maximum of nine."
"Right, so-" Ash began, then Mega Hydreigon used Dragon Breath in a way that resulted in a sort of solid wall of flame.
Buizel's Aqua Ring dissolved before he could snag it, and the Water-type went flying through the air before landing not far from Ash with a wham.
"I think he's probably out cold," Pikachu guessed.
"It looks like it," Ash agreed. "You did great, Buizel, Aqua Ring was working really well!"
He recalled the Water-type, then held up a Repeat Ball. "You get a chance to-"
Zacian emerged from the ball before Ash had finished speaking.
"Dibs," she announced. "Ash, if you would?"
"Sure!" Ash agreed, getting his backpack down and taking out the Rusted Sword. "Here you go!"
"Thank you," Zacian said, taking it up, and transitioned into Crowned Sword form with a flash of golden light. "Hail and well met, dragon of many heads. I take up Galar's chief blade, and may our battle be well worth the doing."
"I don't think that worked," Mega Hydreigon said, one head piping up to make the observation.
"I do beg your pardon?" Zacian frowned.
"You said hail, but it's not hailing," the same head clarified. "I'm not sure if this is a time out or not, and obviously if it's not then we should get going, but if you were using Hail there it didn't happen."
"Ah, I see," Zacian said. "It's figurative or evocative language, which-"
"How are you speaking so clearly?" another head queried. "If I tried speaking while my mouth was full it'd just be murfle murfle mrf, unless I used a head whose mouth wasn't full but then I'd need to plan it out ahead of time, and you don't have a spare head like that like I do."
"Which one of us is the spare?" another of Mega Hydreigon's heads checked. "I don't want to be surplus."
"Ahem," Zacian coughed. "I'm speaking very well, thank you. Now, if you don't mind, I'm going to try and return some gravitas to proceedings."
She began to walk, and after three paces her paws began to tread on thin air.
"And not a word about how I'm ignoring gravity," she said, testily. "It is not the same thing as gravitas."
Two heads had been about to speak, and both closed their jaws before trying to look like they hadn't been.
"Now," Zacian resumed, once she was floating in mid-air at about the average head height of Cameron's Pokémon. "Behold, the sword of power, the blade it is my fate to bear. Forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were one, and sadness but a dream."
The referee called for them to resume, and Zacian charged just as Cameron called for a Flash Cannon barrage.
"Now that I think about it, I might need to look up whether using that in a Pokémon battle is a violation of some kind of rule," N said, frowning. "It's technically an extremely important historical artefact, after all."
"Suppose it is," Pansage asked. "Who's going to tell her? You?"
N contemplated that.
"Discretion is something a hero of truth can have, right?" he asked Reshiram.
"Absolutely," Reshiram agreed.
Several minutes later, Zacian walked over to Ash's side of the arena. This took some time, because she had to climb the crater wall.
"I have five things to report," she said. "Firstly, I am victorious. Secondly, I would quite like a lie down. Thirdly, I may be immune to Dragon type attacks but when a Draco Meteor barrage blows up the ground beneath me it still stings."
Ash waited for a moment.
"What's the fourth thing?" he asked.
"I miscounted," Zacian replied, and fell over with a thump.
"Well, great work anyway!" Ash told her, recalling her. "Uh… referee, do we need to fix the battlefield?"
"If you both agree to having it fixed mid-battle, we can do it," the referee said.
"I don't mind, either way," Ash shrugged.
"Then let's keep going!" Cameron said. "I've already picked my next Pokémon!"
He held up a Pokéball, then threw it, and Ash sent out Larvitar as Cameron's Ferrothorn materialized.
"I officially have no idea how Ash is picking his Pokémon for this tournament," Lenora admitted. "He went from a Legendary Pokémon to a Larvitar?"
"I think the secret is actually fairly simple," Brycen told them. "Ash picks his Pokémon based on what seems to make sense, without any real regard for their individual strength, because more than any other trainer on the planet he can set up just about any Pokémon to be capable of just about any situation."
He held up a hand, and used Ice Beam. "I know this because he's not limited to Pokémon."
"Though you've got to admit, it's impressive," Cress smiled.
"Wait, hold on," Cheren requested. "Did Brycen just use actual ice powers? Is that a thing that can happen, you get Pokémon powers from being a gym leader?"
"Many Psychic type gym leaders and trainers have psychic abilities," Zygarde said. "In addition, I am given to understand that it is common for Electric type gym leaders to make electrical devices, and for Fighting type gym leaders to be designated as Very Fit. The causal relationship is not currently clear."
"This is something else, though." Brycen said. "It's going to be in the next Brycen Man film, which is in pre production… I think the scriptwriter said something about how they'd spent several days trying to work out the ideal set of villains, then they read a news article about what happened in Hoenn a year or two ago and they stopped needing to brainstorm."
"I remember that," Zygarde noted. "Ice powers would make sense, there."
"Okay, I'm going to use-" Cameron began, then Riolu tapped him on the waist. "Huh?"
She whispered something into his ear.
"Right, good point!" Cameron agreed. "So instead we're using a secret weapon!"
"I'll be honest, I'm surprised Cameron managed to keep a weapon secret," Pikachu admitted. "I've not known him for long, but long enough to form that impression."
Cameron held up a Premier Ball, then sent the Pokémon in it out, and a Reshiram emerged.
Ash's Zekrom immediately came out of his own Luxury Ball, and hovered overhead.
"I have questions," he admitted. "One of them is, can I go next? It'd be ideal!"
"Sure," Ash agreed.
Zekrom advanced. "And the next question is – really?"
"I know, it sounds inherently crazy," Reshiram admitted. "But, I mean, look at him."
The Vast White Pokémon waved his arm at his trainer, who was smiling brightly. "Can you imagine him managing to lie successfully?"
"Well, no, but that's an Ideal trait, isn't it?" Zekrom said.
"I think you'll find that being True to your principles is actually being True, not being Ideal," Reshiram countered.
Zekrom gasped. "Those are Fighting words!"
"Actually, no, they're not," Reshiram told him. "Fighting words would be words like Blue Flare, or Turboblaze. Fighting-type words would be Vacuum Wave or Mach Punch."
His turbine lit up, howling as heat shimmer rose from it. "Now, let's do this!"
"So, there's not just one of each of you?" Drayden asked.
"This is true," N's Reshiram said. "It is in fact surprising how many of the Legendary Pokémon that people imagine to be unique have multiple members. Myself, Zekrom… Xerneas and Yveltal… Arceus…"
"Arc is quite young," Zygarde added helpfully. "Though I must admit I am not sure how time works with them."
"Don't forget that there's more than one Celebi," Hydreigon pointed out.
"How could you possibly tell?" Marshal said, distracted. "Couldn't it be the same Celebi in two places at once?"
"One of them is shiny," Cilan provided. "That is about the only way to be sure, admittedly."
"Wow, this is a really good battle," Cameron said, glancing over at Riolu. "Don't you think so?"
"It's a very difficult battle as well, but you're right," Riolu agreed. "At least Reshiram and Zekrom neutralized one another, but we've only got two Pokémon left and I'm one of them."
"Are you sure?" Cameron said, then counted under his breath. "One, two, three, four… yeah, you're right. Just you and Swanna left!"
"Swanna?" Riolu repeated. "You brought-"
Cameron threw Swanna's Pokéball. "Go!"
About thirty seconds later, he returned her again.
"...okay, so it was probably a bad idea to send her out against that Croconaw," he admitted. "I guess that means it's up to you, Riolu!"
"I thought we agreed on Watchog instead of Swanna," Riolu grumbled, good-naturedly, then sprinted out into the arena with her paws glowing blue.
"How often do you meet people who are like Ash to this degree?" Grimsley asked. "I feel like you'd know if it's common or rare."
"Hmm," Archeops said, scratching her head with a wing. "I think it depends how like Ash you mean?"
"That Riolu is just Copycatting everything Croconaw throws at her, and somehow doing it better," Grimsley replied, pointing. "That sounds like the kind of nonsense Ash would do."
He frowned. "Wait, hold on, that was a Grass attack from Croconaw, and Riolu copied it twice?"
"Yeah, I think she's copy-catting herself," Latias guessed.
"That's a very good hover," Excadrill told her, quietly. "How are you doing it?"
"Cushions," Latias whispered back.
Then Cameron's Riolu evolved to Lucario, rushed towards Croconaw, and they did a passable samba for several seconds until Lucario used an unlicensed dance move involving throwing Croconaw two hundred feet into the air.
"That's going to sting when he lands," Marshadow said. "Or, at least, I think that's how corporeality works."
Croconaw went thump into the ground, and Ash recalled him a moment later – only to send out Sandile.
"Okay, hmm," Sandile said, checking a set of notes. "Well, this is the quarter finals, so this is about right, but according to this I'm supposed to be a Krookodile and I'm not supposed to be battling you."
"You're talking like there's some kind of way this is supposed to work?" Lucario said.
"Well, supposedly there is, but I suspect whoever writes this just makes it up as they go along," Sandile shrugged, dropping the notes in a hole. "I can tell you that I've seen so many plot arcs get completely messed up over the last few months… anyway, let's begin, shall we?"
He placed a small wooden ball on the ground, then pulled an enormous hammer out of the same hole and knocked the ball at Lucario like he was using a croquet mallet. The ball hit Lucario and exploded with a blast of flame, sending Lucario sprawling backwards, and when it landed next to her she saw that the word pyro had been written on it.
"It all seems in order to me," Sandile said, then dove underground as Lucario used Copycat to launch a more conventional Pyro Ball right back at him.
"I keep forgetting how tough Sandile is," Pikachu said, as the Ground-type got hammered into a wall by Cameron's Lucario.
The attack made him flatten up like a concertina, and he sprang back out again – still flat – before putting a claw in his mouth and blowing hard. That reinflated him back to normal size, and he jumped into the air before doing a perfect swan dive into the ground.
"Admittedly, I know that the first part of that was Flatter, but I'm not sure how he was able to do the second part," Pikachu added.
"I'm pretty sure that was Round," Ash shrugged.
"All right, wise girl, take this!" Sandile called, emerging from the ground again. This time he reached into the hole he'd left, pulled out a large remote control with a button on it, and pressed the button.
Nothing happened, and Sandile frowned slightly before pressing the button two more times. Then he held the button down, and after a second or so the ground underneath Lucario exploded.
Cameron's Pokémon did two complete flips in the air, then recovered her bearings enough to land with a crouch instead of a crash.
"Copycat!" Cameron said.
Lucario pulled a remote of her own from the ground, frowned at it for a moment, then pressed the button for a complete second.
The ground underneath her exploded again.
"Allow me to congratulate you on your victory," Lucario told Ash, after Cameron had taken his team on a quick trip to the medical station. "Though I have to ask… what did Sandile do?"
"Oh, yeah, I asked him about that!" Ash replied. "He used Future Sight, which meant that after a short warm-up period a really powerful attack hit you. And you copied it exactly, which meant that after a short warm-up period a really powerful attack hit you."
"That's amazing!" Cameron said. "Can we learn that attack?"
"I think I'd rather learn the attack that targets someone else," Lucario said, shaking her head. "But you'd better win, Ash."
"I think usually the opponent has something to say about what happens in a battle," Pikachu said. "Even if it's usually complaints."
AN:
No relation to Sir Aaron of Cameron Castle, probably.
I mean, he could have got lost.