The final event of the summer camp, or at least the final event with any points, was a Team Battle Tournament. That meant that each team would have all three trainers battling at once, each using one Pokémon, against the three trainers and Pokémon from another team.

Before they started, though, something did have to be worked out.

"I had an idea," Ash began.

"Uh oh," Clemont said.

"Uh oh?" Chespin repeated. "Uh oh? Do I need to remind you of certain past events?"

She rummaged in her quills and pulled out a scroll, unfurling it. "Item one, on this reverse date-sorted list. The test of the Gear Shift Gear, which fired a toothed flaming cog two miles out to sea!"

"I only used wood because I wanted to make it lighter," Clemont said. "You can't blame that on me."

"I can, and I have," Chespin said. "Item two! The sea-to-air Sharpedo!"

"That Sharpedo probably already knew Bounce before it ate the lure," Clemont defended himself.

"Item three! The Fire Control Gear, no more needs to be said about that one," Chespin declared. "If I wanted to explode I'd learn the move."

"All right, all right, you've made your point," Clemont admitted, as Bonnie put both hands over her mouth to try not to giggle too much. "But still, the fact that those happen doesn't mean things don't also happen when Ash has ideas."

"Well, what I was thinking was," Ash resumed. "This isn't an official battle, so using Pokémon you're registered to isn't required. So what about if Bonnie takes part in my place?"

"Wouldn't that mean that someone who wasn't part of Team Froakie was battling for Team Froakie?" Ponyta asked. "That wouldn't be in the rules, would it?"

"Honestly I think they'd just be relieved," Serena said. "What do you think, Bonnie?"

"That would be great!" Bonnie replied. "So I could use Dedenne if he wanted?"

"Or Zygarde, if they were okay with it," Ash said. "Though Dedenne probably gets first pick because he's your going-to-be-a-starter Pokémon."

"Can we do some practice?" Dedenne asked. "We've got time, right? That way I can see if it works."


"That was very magnanimous of you, Ash," Professor Sycamore said, as the other campers got ready for the tournament to begin. "You didn't have to give up your slot in a tournament like this, and I know that a lot of the reason you're still travelling is to train up new sets of Pokémon."

"Right, but Bonnie doesn't usually get a chance like that," Ash replied. "Not in a semi-formal battle like this. So it seemed like a great chance to let her compete!"

He smiled. "Plus, Dedenne found out that he likes some battling, so I guess we'll see what happens!"

"It was tricky helping Dedenne," Pikachu admitted. "He's got this thing a lot of Dedenne apparently have, which is that they've got trouble building up their own electrical reserves. Instead, they have to rely on electricity they absorb from the environment or other Pokémon, and in something like this you can't be sure that the other Pokémon will have electricity to absorb… so we went somewhere slightly different."

"I'm sorry, but if Pikachu was trying to tell me something, I didn't understand it," Sycamore said. "Your Ninetales is too far away, I think."

"I can provide a translation if you want," Arc volunteered. "Alternatively, my colleague Ibid has plenty of information on Pokémon, including what they say."

"Technically I can only use Pokémon speech to communicate," Ibid agreed. "Fortunately, Chatot exists and so this effectively removes any constraint, even before considering that I have met Meowth."


"Vine Whip, Bulbasaur!" Shauna called. "Keep that Chespin away from Squirtle!"

"And help him out, Charmander," Trevor instructed.

Fennekin hit Charmander's Ember attack with an Ember of her own, then whipped the whole thing with a tail-flick into a swipe that splashed against Squirtle – which was quite surprising even if it wasn't very elementally effective – and Chespin ducked under the Vine Whip just before it reached her.

"Okay, now, Dedenne!" Bonnie called.

"On your left, Chespin!" Clemont added, and Chespin reached out as Dedenne came scampering over to her.

She grabbed the Electric-type and spun herself through a half-turn before letting go again, which had the practical effect of launching Dedenne across the beach at speed.

Dedenne reached down with a paw, clipping the sand as he shot past Team Squirtle's Pokémon, and the side-swipe meant he went from moving fast to spinning quickly. Sparks zipped up and down his tail, fizzing off the ends of his whiskers as he slowed down very noticeably from one spin to the next, and he skidded to a halt before pointing.

"Discharge!" he called, and hit all three members of Team Squirtle at once.


"Hmm," Professor Sycamore frowned, as the three Kanto-Starters shook off the blast with varying levels of difficulty. "I wonder what that was…"

He flicked open his Pokédex, which in an unfashionable move was a simple digital encyclopedia without any kind of actual sapience, and nodded to himself. "Ah, I see. Dedenne can't generate much electricity themselves, so that was using an electrodynamo."

"Yep," Pikachu agreed, nodding. "Since that just means you need something moving through a magnetic field, that's easy enough, Dedenne has a bit of electricity and that's enough to bootstrap. Now, working out how to run a Carnot engine for electrical power generation, that was a challenge."

Arc made an electronic noise. "Cough. He still cannot understand you."

"That's a pity," Pikachu admitted. "Mind you, I'm not even sure if Dedenne is going to – wait, this looks promising."

Dedenne used Dazzling Gleam.

"Yep, there we go," Pikachu said, waving his paw to get rid of some of the flash-blindness. "That's an arc light for you."

"I will choose not to interpret that as a comment on my weight," Arc decided.


"And another successful theft!" James said, smugly. "We're really doing better thanks to this new plan!"

"Yeah!" Meowth agreed. "There ain't a better way to steal Pokémon from a Twerp than to be pro-active about it, an' steal them before they even get them!"

He considered the Tympole they had in a tank, placidly vibing to himself, then glanced over at the others. "Only… how did we tell which ones ta steal, again?"

"I'm not really sure I follow it myself," James confessed. "Narrative inevitability?"

"Tryin' to predict where he's going next?" Meowth tried.

"Assumption: you were the ones who had an idea," Porygon disclaimed.

"It works, that's how!" Jessie snapped. "Also, shut up!"


"Well, I recognized the Carnot engine, I think, but what's this one?" Professor Sycamore wondered out loud. "How do you get electricity from a sandstorm?"

"That one's actually easier than you'd think," Pikachu shrugged. "It's draining off the static electricity that's already building up there because there's already static in a sandstorm, plus a bit of using the moving air for wind-turbine style generation. You probably didn't recognize it because it was an unconventional turbine configuration, what with the whiskers and all."

Professor Sycamore read off Arc's screen, then nodded. "Ah, I see. Very ingenious! But that doesn't mean Team Froakie have it all their own way… this is going to be a very exciting battle to see whether Team Froakie comes in second or third place!"

"Second or third?" Tierno said. "How come? This is the final, right, Professor?"

"Yes, it is," Sycamore confirmed. "And either you or Team Froakie will be coming second. Team Chikorita have already won the whole Summer Camp competition."

"We have?" asked one of the members of Team Chikorita. "How's that?"

"I told you, remember?" her teammate said. "I worked it out. We came second in the PokéVision and won the PokéEnteering, so that plus our scores from the PokéFishing meant all we had to do was come third in the tournament and it'd be impossible for anyone to catch up with us – no matter what."

"Huh," Shauna muttered. "It feels weirdly wrong for the whole thing to already be decided before the final match."


That was the last event of the Summer Camp, which saw Team Froakie win the tournament and come out second in the whole Summer Camp competition, but there was still an opportunity for everyone to say goodbye to the friends they'd made over the course of the week.

Ash brought over his Charizard to give some advice to Trevor's Charmander, which was mostly talking about how bad Charizard's first trainer had been and saying that if that didn't sound familiar then Trevor was really cool and Charmander should stick by him. Then telling him not to try swimming before he could dig.

"Is that like not running before you can walk?" Charmander asked.

"No, running before you can walk works for several of my teammates," Charizard dismissed. "Actually I think it's how my trainer operates… honestly, that might explain a surprising amount…"

"Well, walking is just falling forwards and catching yourself, so of course more momentum can help!" Ash said.

"Ow," Charmander winced. "That made my head hurt."


Next up on the friends' journey was Shalour City, for Ash's battle with Korrina, but when he got there he found the gym was on an island out in the sea.

"That's weird," he said. "What's that place?"

"That is the Tower of Mastery," Arc informed him. "It is not just the location for the Shalour Gym, but is also an important historical landmark."

"Most places that are still around are important historically, right?" Ash said. "That is, uh, if something's old and people used it a long time ago, then either we've completely forgotten why and so studying it is important or we still remember why and so it's a link to the past."

"You are not wrong, but some places do have additional significance," Arc replied. "In this case, it is important in the history of Mega Evolution."

"Oh, Ash!" Korrina called, waving, and skated over on her rollerblades along with her Lucario (who wasn't wearing rollerblades and didn't skate over). "I wondered when I'd see you around Shalour City! I'm looking forward to our battle!"

"Yeah, so am I!" Ash agreed. "What's up with the gym, though?"

"Patience is important," Korrina told him. "You'll see… but I will say, there's a reason I'm not in the gym at the moment."

"Ahem," Lucario coughed.

"Oh, thanks Lucario," Korrina told him. "You remember Gurrkin, right? My grandfather? Well, he asked me to call him when you showed up, he wants a word with you about the secrets of Mega Evolution."

She took a phone out of her pocket. "Let's see… there we go, I've texted him. We can wait here or I can show you around Shalour?"


Shalour had some very nice biscuit shops.


As they were finishing a plate of assorted 'sandy' biscuits, of the special Shalour Sable type, Gurrkin came up to them.

"There you are, Ash," he said. "And good afternoon to your friends, as well… do you know what it was I wanted to talk about?"

"Korrina said it was about the secrets of Mega Evolution!" Ash replied.

"This should be interesting," Clemont added. "I can't wait!"

"Yes," Gurrkin confirmed. "It was about the secrets of Mega Evolution."

He looked Ash solemnly in the eyes.

"Please tell us what they are," he said.


AN:


Chespin has a lot on that list.