"Hmm, let's see…" Sandile said, flicking through some notes. "Next up is, uh… right, nobody important… skip that one too… I think we go straight through to the quarter finals."
"What are you talking about?" Dedenne asked. "There's still lots of battles to go, over, um, over thirty of them I think?"
"Yeah, but most of them are so filler that it's not worth focusing on them," Sandile replied. "Seriously, check the scripts if you don't believe me."
He passed a piece of paper to Dedenne, who looked at it.
Turned it over.
Turned it over again, just in case.
"This is blank," he said.
"Yeah, it's the script for the round of 32 and round of 16 episode," Sandile agreed. "That's because there isn't one. Take whatever lesson from that you want, I say."
Dedenne considered.
"So who is Ash battling in the round of 32, then?" he asked.
"Don't know, that's the point of what I'm saying," Sandile answered.
During the first of the quarter finals, which was Ash battling against Tierno, Diantha leaned over to get Serena's attention.
"I know we met recently, but I didn't get to meet all of Ash's Pokémon at the time," she said. "At least not and get a complete profile of what they can do. So… what's that Goodra doing?"
Serena watched for a long moment.
"I think it's the cha-cha-cha," she said. "But I'm not very good at that kind of dance, so it could be the danzón-mambo."
"Not quite what I meant, but it's still nice to know," Diantha decided. "I more meant why he's dancing in the first place."
"Well, Goodra's a Dragon type," Serena pointed out. "I'm not saying you didn't know that, of course you did, you're the Kalos Grand Champion."
"You're not wrong," Diantha chuckled. "But I assume you were going somewhere with that?"
"Yes," Serena confirmed. "Goodra's only dancing move that I know of is Dragon Dance, so that's what he's doing."
"Now, Dragon Tail!" Ash called, and Goodra did a twirl.
His tail intersected the Iron Tail that Tierno's Raichu had been using to hit him, producing a loud clang noise, and the Iron half of the Tail went spinning away and yanked Raichu off to the side.
"Thunderbolt!" Tierno called. "Then do a throwing dance – Play Rough!"
"Look out, Goodra!" Ash warned.
Goodra blocked the incoming Thunderbolt with his tail, sending arcs of lightning fizzing off in all directions, then faced down Raichu as she approached.
"What was that block move?" Diantha asked.
"Hmm," Serena frowned. "Breaking Swipe, I think? It could have been another Dragon Tail, though."
Raichu reached Goodra, flinging him into the air with a Play Rough, and Goodra clenched himself up before roaring – then suddenly, just before impact, he was back on the ground again as if he'd never taken off in the first place.
"Hurle-Temps," the Translation Gear provided.
"Well," Diantha said. "That's a surprise."
She thought about that.
"Actually, maybe it isn't…"
"Let's do this!" Croconaw said, later in Ash's battle, as Tierno sent out his Blastoise. "Ready?"
"Yeah!" Blastoise replied, making his guns go click as he prepared his stance. "We'll see which one of us is more ready for this!"
"I couldn't agree more!" Croconaw agreed more, bouncing from one leg to the other, then pointed at Blastoise. "I'll begin with one Articuno told me about! Morris!"
He broke into a Revelation Dance, and Blastoise took a shocked step back before firming up his dedication and choosing his counter. "Squat Dance!"
"Clever choice!" Croconaw said, nodding, and clacked his sticks together. "But not clever enough!"
"Then I'll have to use a Reel!" Blastoise decided, swapping out one style for another at a moment's notice, and his feet clacked against the hard stone of the arena floor.
Croconaw's dance stopped, interrupted by the energy of Blastoise's reel, and he shook himself out before switching to a firey Arabesque that clashed against Blastoise's chosen style and sent Tierno's Pokémon reeling backwards.
"You've still got this, Blastoise!" Tierno called. "Do a gigue!"
"Right!" Blastoise said, and Croconaw changed styles at the same time he did. A fast gigue was matched up against a slower loure, both Pokémon circling looking for an opening, then Ash was the one to call an instruction this time.
"Swords Dance!"
Croconaw began sword dancing, which at first caught Blastoise by surprise despite the warning from Ash's instruction, but then began doing a weapon dance of his own – a spear dance, instead of a sword dance, leading the two Pokémon to directly press their solo routines up against one another in a fast two-part weapon dance.
Suddenly, Blastoise switched to a breakdance, and the disruption was enough to knock Croconaw into the air from the reaction. He did a complete flip, then landed with a thud and staggered about a bit, but then he was ready to leap back into the fray and did so with a daring gavotte.
Blastoise opted first for a foxtrot, which turned out to be a poor choice, then tried a swing dance before finally opting for a calypso, and Croconaw gave ground when faced with the energy of Blastoise' performance – only to change tack and do a ballet, which left Blastoise no option but to go on the defensive with a bout of the Twist.
It looked like Tierno was about to lose, but Croconaw overplayed his hand and tried for a can-can too early – a mistake that gave Blastoise the opportunity to turn the duel around, and one he took with style in a sudden waltz.
"...so, Siebold, you are the expert on Water types," Wilkstrom said, eventually. "What's going on?"
"I don't know," Siebold had to admit.
He frowned, thinking about it.
"Dancing?"
In the semi-final round, Ash went up against a trainer called Astrid.
"Hawlucha, you go first!" Ash decided, sending out his Fighting-and-Flying type just as Astrid sent out her own first Pokémon – an Absol, with a little glittering brooch on his chest fluff.
"I haven't battled a Hawlucha before," he said. "This should be what are you wearing."
"Aha!" Hawlucha replied, tweaking his red outfit and gold cape. "You might think I'm Hawlucha, but I'm actually Shazam!"
A bolt of lightning struck next to him.
"Are you sure?" Ash checked. "I thought that was what you had to say to make it work, not your actual identity."
"Hawlucha may not have remembered the whole brainstorming session," Hawlucha admitted. "I definitely remember the word, though, because that's how I use Thunder. Shazam!"
A bolt of lightning struck on the other side of him.
"None of that has explained the cape," Absol pointed out.
"Well, of course I have to wear the cape," Hawlucha replied. "How else am I going to look like Shazam?"
This time the bolt of lightning hit just in front of him.
"I mean, like this," Hawlucha amended. "It's an image thing."
"Absol," Astrid called, getting the Dark-type's attention, and there was a flash as she Mega-Evolved Absol. His claws grew, his horn changed, and a pair of wings formed from his back.
"Ah!" Hawlucha said, knowingly. "I think this should help out!"
"Remember, those wings can still control the air, just not as well as articulated wings like yours," Ash said. "He's also got awkward peripheral vision because of the extra-length mane, but don't rely on that because of danger sense, and it's difficult to block on the left side because the horn there is smaller… oh, yeah, and it's kind of easy to blow a Mega Absol around with the wings, even with danger sense there's not really much they can do about that because the wings can't be articulated."
"I noticed that, yes," Hawlucha agreed. "What about the tail? I seem to remember you can fence with it?"
"Yeah, if you've got a good blade move to channel through it, so watch out for that," Ash advised. "And remember, danger sense tells you about danger but it's way harder to use it to work out what's safe – it warns you but you can still be overloaded."
Mega Absol was listening with a mounting sense of disbelief.
"How exactly do you know all this?" he demanded. "It doesn't even sound like you have an Absol yourself, that's way too detailed."
"Hawlucha will never betray the confidence of a friend's secret identity!" Hawlucha announced. "Or my name is not Shazam!"
He stepped to the side, and the thunderbolt hit where he'd been a moment ago.
"Okay, can you explain that?" Drasna requested. "It sounds like there's a story there."
"Well, Ash doesn't have an Absol, but he has a Ninetales whose fiancée is an Absol," Serena said. "But in this case, Ash is speaking from personal experience because he can be an Absol… I'm actually surprised Diantha hasn't mentioned it yet."
Diantha held up a hand. "I wanted someone else to be able to support me. Otherwise it sounds a bit like I'm crazy."
"Actually, I should offer to let you try out the potion some time," Serena went on. "I've got some with me… it really does give you a completely different perspective. In my case, from about knee height."
The battlefield swap finished, a battlefield of sharp stone spikes and eerie mist locking into place, and Ash raised his hand.
"What type of battlefield is this?" he asked. "It doesn't look obvious."
"This is a Dragon typed battlefield," the referee told him. "I think they were a bit stuck for ideas… anyway. Ash Ketchum, you can either continue your battle using your Buizel or recall him."
"I'll recall Buizel," Ash decided. "He's really tired after having to run after his Aqua Ring so many times… so that means we both pick a new Pokémon and send them out at the same time, right?"
The referee nodded, and Astrid and Ash both held up their Pokéballs.
"Now," the referee said, and Astrid sent out her Pyroar.
Ash sent out Froslass, and the Fire-type smirked as he shook his mane out.
"An Ice-type," he said. "This should be easy enough."
"Well, you'll see," Froslass replied.
"Begin with Fire Blast!" Astrid called, as the referee signalled the beginning of the battle.
Pyroar roared, using Fire Blast, and a star of flames shaped like his mane flashed out and up at Froslass.
He was expecting a quick victory, or a powerful hit, or at least to make Froslass dodge. What he wasn't expecting was to be bathed in flame himself, with a beam of intense fire slamming down and holding him in place with reddish-translucent motionless flame until it shattered with a powerful flex of his muscles.
"What was that?" he asked.
"Haven't you ever heard of fighting fire with fire?" Froslass asked. "Dear me, it's not like it's an uncommon thing."
"Well-" Pyroar began, then shook his head.
"Noble Roar!" Astrid instructed.
Pyroar roared, boosting his energy, and Froslass twirled her arm around to form a flamizzard before shooting it down at him.
"Um," Wilkstrom began. "That's… actually quite hard to process. I'm not sure what Malva would be saying if she was here with us, because that seems like a non-regulation use of… well… fire."
"Oh, are there regulations on how you're supposed to use fire?" Ponyta asked. "I should tell N about those, he likes collecting those."
She then looked down, noticing Litleo's intent attention on the battle.
"Is something up?" she asked. "Wondering if you could do better?"
"Not really, not quite," Litleo replied. "It's just, I think this is the first time I've seen a Pyroar I'm not related to, so I'm seeing what I think. I know that I'd look quite different, but… well, I've been thinking about evolving at some point, and I'm trying to see if I'd be giving up grace."
Ponyta thought about that.
"I've seen you practicing dance moves," she pointed out. "Given where you started, no, I don't think you'd be giving up grace… or, at least, you could earn it all back."
"I think that's a yes vote from you, then," Litleo decided. "Ever thought about evolving, yourself?"
"Not yet," Ponyta decided. "I'd want to feel sure first. But I'm not ruling it out."
"How did you set my mane on fire!?" Pyroar roared, down in the arena. "It's made of fire! How can you set fire on fire?"
"A can-do attitude!" Froslass replied, helpfully.
AN:
It's a dance battle, of course.
