Disclaimer: Pokémon is still owned by The Pokémon Company, which in turn is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and probably others I forgot. The following fanfiction is me playing around in their sandbox, using characters they envisioned and created, except for the odd character that wasn't. I own nothing of this.

Chapter 7: Family and Friends

Winter had always been May's least favourite season, even if her birthday was in there. It was cold, often wet, and the world was so bleak and pale. There wasn't any life around, it felt like, and she couldn't wait until spring arrived in a month or two.

The road to Petalburg down Route 102 was pretty filled with starting Trainers for some reason, and a few of them recognised her from some place. The braver ones challenged her to a battle, and she used that to give skiploom some experience battling. She'd only caught the skittish Grass-type last week, the Pokémon having crashed into her while she was out walking on Route 110. They'd taken a liking to each other, and so skiploom became her newest Pokémon and her first catch since she'd travelled with Ash.

It wasn't really fair to the new Trainers, but they did challenge her. She made sure to give every one of them a few tips after the battle, just to soothe the hurt.

Skiploom couldn't last forever, but Mega Drain had made him last a lot longer than May had expected. It was good to know for later, she thought as the last Pokémon Center before Petalburg came into view from around a corner.

It was where she'd stay the night. Where she'd turn 16. Just admitting that made her feel old. It hadn't felt like four years since she'd left home, meeting Ash – and losing her bike – two days after her birthday and then travelling around the region with him and Brock and Max.

How had everything gone so wrong?

May had figured out that Ash leapt into danger eagerly after the first week. Only a slowpoke wouldn't have done that. The Pallet Town teenager sometimes said that trouble just found him without trying, but May knew better. That amount of trouble had to be on purpose, it just couldn't be anything else. The Rockets helped, and after they'd stopped chasing Ash when he went to Sinnoh… Sinnoh had been quiet, Ash had admitted that himself when they'd talked. He'd said something about some crazy Legendary fighting in… What was it again? Alamos Town? She shook her head as she handed her Pokémon to Nurse Joy..

At first, she had believed him about that, but last month, she'd looked up the town and tried to find reports of Legendary Pokémon fighting there. Nothing had shown up in the news, no matter the website or newspaper she had read. The strangest thing she had found was that there'd been some kind of mass nightmare about people dying in that town, but that was just darkrai being darkrai probably. The Dark-type Legendary did that from time to time, the article had mentioned.

Maybe it was like the TV anchors had said. Ash had missed the trouble and the danger and had joined the G-men just to get his fix. Like an addict. And they had sent him out, finding a private laboratory to test the danger of Pokémon away from towns, and the rest was history. He went in there without asking what it was about, and destroyed the place, killing a Pokémon and injuring several more, and also injuring one of the employees who had been outside for a smoking break.

And her little brother had joined in like the blind pre-teen boy he was.

How could someone so smart – May had no illusions that her brother was the smartest in the family by a lot – be so stupid at the same time? He definitely sought danger out, gladly admitting it and trying to justify it by saying that he couldn't not do something.

It was just wrong, May knew. His brother and friends could have let qualified people deal with it all, running while possible. That was the entire point of warnings, wasn't it? They'd done part of it, telling someone – even if it was Lance – after that Gym Leader made a prediction. That was all fine. She didn't really understand why they had gone back to Lumiose from the other side of Kalos, but that wasn't important either. The only thing that was, was that they had gone with the Gym Leader when he'd irresponsibly asked if they wanted to come along.

Dad would never do that. He'd make sure others were safe first, sending them away from where everything was happening.

Max had changed because of it, and not for the better. Anyone would after being close to such a powerful Legendary. He had been so angry with her, that one time in the greenhouse. Even fighting – and drawing – Dad the day after hadn't helped in reducing that anger, and she'd had to suffer through his glares whenever they looked at each other over dinner. Mom and Dad hadn't cared about it though, and asking them about it after dinner had only made Mom reply that she knew what she'd done to earn it. That had confused her, and only after talking about it with someone else had she realised that she had been rude about it.

There wasn't any way of telling him that now, though.

May wasn't sure why Max had fled from the police, but she knew one thing. He needed help. He needed to vent to a therapist about what had happened in Geosenge. She'd said that to the police, and even the government guy who came and visited her a week or so later had agreed with her that he needed help to work through the obvious trauma. From being so close to yveltal, from being attacked like that in Coumarine, even from kirlia dying.

Visiting a therapist friend of the family had helped her a lot after the Slateport Festival where she'd lost all of her hair, even if it had only been a few times. Max had been through a lot more recently, and he didn't really have anyone to talk to that wasn't involved in some way, May thought.

She'd been relieved to hear that he wasn't wanted any longer, a few days after talking to the government guy. The police did still want to talk to him and to Danny, but that made sense. They had been at the scene of a crime.

Sadly, Max had somehow vanished off the face of the earth, and it was only after her week in the luxury resort that May had heard where he had ended up.

Kanto. Which had told the Hoenn government to fuck off.

The thought of politics still made May's head hurt, but somehow, someone had convinced Max and the Kanto government both that the G-men's fairytale was the right explanation. It was complete tauros shit, and it had made her furious when she'd realised that her brother wouldn't get the help he really needed now. Even just remembering that now caused searing anger to spike in her stomach.

A few deep breaths later, May opened her eyes to see that it was just about time to go and grab dinner. Somehow, she'd spent a good half hour thinking through everything. She left her room, but as she did, an idea appeared in her mind.

Maybe she should go and find him after getting a couple of Ribbons in this cycle.

~~§~~§~~

Froslass fell to a Night Slash from Falkner's honchkrow, spiralling to the ground after the ranged scythe hit the tired Pokémon, and Danny returned her, muttering thanks for a good fight. It had been the first time the Dark-type had attacked from range using its own attacks, with an earlier Mirror Move surprising froslass as she had tried to create some space as the heavy-set Pokémon bore down on the tired Ghost-type.

Shadow Ball was always a double-edged attack around Ghost-types.

The teenager studied the Big Boss Pokémon, who had landed close to Falkner, looking impassive. From the distance, Danny couldn't see if it was tired or even hurt, but they were proud Pokémon, he remembered. They wouldn't show weakness until it was nearly fainting.

It wasn't fast, not really able to find ways to use its wings to hit froslass, which it had tried to do for a bit until the Shadow Ball had offered a better way. That meant it was more physical probably, and while it wasn't that heavy, Danny's flying Pokémon were very light. It was slow enough to make spritzee work, but one Wing Attack and the Fairy-type would just hit the ground. Masquerain and magnemite would fare better, but not too much. Weight wasn't that important on the ground, but it was in the air.

Loudred it was, then. She was heavier than honchkrow and she definitely had plenty of tricks to deal with any dive-bombing.

The Dark-type took flight as flags swept down, making no real attempt yet at reaching loudred, unlike against froslass. Danny and his Pokémon studied the movement for a moment. "Echoed Voice and Supersonic," Danny whispered his first order.

There were times when loudred was effectively deaf to what Danny said, but at the start of a battle, she wasn't, and the back of the purple Pokémon tensed in concentration. Honchkrow saw that something was coming, and it sped up its flight, but it kept up its circling overhead.

The flight turned into a small dip as the combination attack hit; the Echoed Voice energy missing but the Supersonic screeching temporarily freezing motor functions showed Falkner that there was more at work. There was a gesture at the opposite side, and the Dark-type went into a full dive, wings glowing with silvery Steel-type. "Avoid it."

The Normal-type prepared, and just before the honchkrow would have hit her, she dove to the side, rolling on her back and immediately getting up again as her opponent adjusted course with a furious flap. A quick Screech didn't deter it any, but even as the wing slapped loudred in the side, Danny saw his Pokémon take a deep breath in.

The Uproar came out when honchkrow was maybe six feet away, and the expanding cacophony was enough to unbalance the flying Pokémon, which crashed into the ground, sliding along for a moment and stopping not too far from where Danny was standing.

Hopping to its feet, the honchkrow exhaled a thick black smoke, steeling itself against the onslaught of sound that loudred was still putting out and vanishing from sight.

Danny folded his arms as he waited for visibility to return. At this point, neither of them could do anything: gestures and pointing wouldn't make it through the smoke, and the Uproar was too loud and disruptive for any shouted orders to work. The way the smoke roiled told Danny that the Uproar was ongoing, but that was it.

Loudred skidded out of the smoke, a hand going to the edge of her large mouth and swiping at it. Danny wasn't certain what had happened, but he could guess, especially after he saw Falkner's Pokémon take flight, looking a bit ruffled, but otherwise okay.

He couldn't tell loudred what to do yet; not verbally, but here, she could see him, and their eyes met for a moment. A quick gesture; a palm thrust outward, told her what he thought should be done, and she obliged. A burst of continuous circles tore through the sky, and honchkrow was forced to make a very awkward-looking roll to avoid the Hyper Voice.

Two thrusts and then a fist balling up led to another two barrages of Hyper Voice; the second one clipping the left wing and sending honchkrow closer to the floor. It recovered faster than Danny had expected, opting for a Mirror Move that caused it to use Hyper Voice. The attack met the second round of Echoed Voice of the match; a solid-looking six-by-six wall of energy that crashed into the Hyper Voice and immediately caused an explosion.

That was good for Danny, even if he couldn't give another order while loudred was busy weathering the shock wave. He didn't need to either: the Big Voice Pokémon had the same idea in building up a third Echoed Voice, focusing on speed over strength. The resonance meant that it still was a pretty large attack, and honchkrow, which hadn't been able to brace itself as well as loudred had been able to, was unable to recover from the previous explosion before this attack crashed in, forcing it to the ground.

Falkner returned it from across the field, despite the Pokémon still seeming to have a little fight left. Then again, there was no way loudred was going to let it come close enough to get another attack in.

Swoobat was Falkner's third Pokémon, and it – he – only had to unleash one attack for Danny to grab loudred's pokéball. The Attract had been lightning-fast, obviously something that they had practised, and Danny had spotted the slight sway in loudred's body.

He didn't need a love-sick Pokémon in battle, thank you.

Swoobat were fast as a rule, and Danny could guess that it would know something to counter Ghost-types, making it a very unfavourable match for dusclops. Helioptile was out as well, since she was, well, female.

It was the speed that was the deciding factor for Danny to choose his Pokémon, and with a powerful throw, magnemite appeared in mid-air, swaying from side to side a bit as it looked at its opponent.

"No Attract here," Danny muttered as the referee's flags went up, and the moment they went down, he ordered a Protect, expecting another rapid attack at the restart of the battle. Magnemite was prepared for the command, and it blocked a Confusion trying to envelop the magnet-like Pokémon. "Lock On."

A second Confusion connected, but so did the Lock On, and a moment later, magnemite readied electricity, drowning out the already diminishing psychic energy that hadn't really done much to scramble its thoughts and forcing swoobat to start thinking about his own defences.

Pale blue met vivid yellow in a violent clash, and while the two attacks seemed to be equal in strength, magnemite had the advantage of having sparred with multiple Psychic-types over the last year and a half. Its output shot up for half a second, and like a power surge, the electricity suddenly overpowered the psychic barrier, reaching the swoobat and sending him spiralling down.

It was too early to chase, and so magnemite held position as wings gained control of the descent, and a Heart Stamp was soon sent upwards. The range meant it was easy to disperse; a precise Mirror Shot piercing through and impacting on the ground below. The Courting Pokémon had already vanished, and Danny tracked its movement to behind magnemite, where it glowed kaleidoscopic for a second, but nothing happened.

"He used Future Sight," Danny informed magnemite as another long-range Heart Stamp was snuffed out by another Mirror Shot. Swoobat was refusing to come close, instead opting to swoop around the arena, flapping his small wings rapidly to rise before going into a glide. "Hold Protect for that, get a Lock On in."

The Lock On landed, but then magnemite was forced to defend itself from another Confusion. This time, however, the defence wasn't enough, and Danny immediately saw why: the Psychic attack had been spear-shaped, like baltoy's psionic spike, and magnemite was expecting to defend something else.

The tip reached magnemite, impacting on one of the small magnets and sending it spinning around its own axis in mid-air. Swoobat attempted to get a quick Heart Stamp in, but Danny quickly yelled "Drop!", and his Electric-type fell several feet as its electromagnetism was temporarily gone. The Heart Stamp soared overhead and with a final twist, magnemite got control back of its movement. It chose to use Mirror Shot as swoobat halted to counter the attack. "Supersonic behind it."

Mirror Shot and Confusion met, cancelling each other out, but magnemite had already adjusted its position, veering right to avoid the other attacks and sending out the Supersonic. Swoobat wasn't fast enough to resume moving, and the attack connected, causing Falkner's Pokémon to start shaking his body around to get rid of the confusion in his brain.

"Move close, Thunder Wave," Danny ordered, hoping to make the most of the distraction, and the Electric-type whirred through the air, adjusting its electrical output to paralyse wings, but before it could hit, a Future Sight orb blinked into existence behind magnemite. "Protect!"

It wasn't enough. Danny saw the Protect crack open and a barely weakened attack hit magnemite. Kinetic energy caused it to rocket off, right into the confused swoobat, and for a moment, both Pokémon were in free fall as they tried to reassert flight.

They did so at roughly the same time. A quick and blind Thundershock lurched from magnemite's back towards swoobat, but he deflected the yellow energy down with a Confusion, making it pass under him by inches at the most. A Heart Stamp landed a moment after as magnemite swivelled around in mid-air, but it wasn't enough to knock magnemite out. Danny knew that his Pokémon wouldn't be able to take too much more, though: the Future Sight had been powerful and it had needed to overpower the earlier defence as well, siphoning more energy away.

But there was plenty of fight left in both of them. "Another one."

Magnemite was unerringly accurate at Locking On, and this time, swoobat forewent distance, diving straight towards the electric-type after being targeted. He went fast, momentarily vanishing in what looked like an Aerial Ace manoeuvre, but there was a hint of psionic blue on his head as well.

Belatedly, Danny realised it was another combination attack – Zen Headbutt and Aerial Ace – and magnemite paid the price for it as pure transferred momentum nearly made it hit the ground before it was able to right itself. One of the magnets had been knocked off-centre as well, but flailing movement from above also caught Danny's attention, and his gaze shot up to see swoobat trying to shake off something that looked like paralysis.

Had magnemite had a Thunder Wave on itself as swoobat had hit? Danny didn't know, and he didn't care either. This was the opportunity. "Everything you have!"

The output was more than Danny was expecting, but less than he knew magnemite was capable of – the magnet being bent out of shape seemingly really hurt for guiding electricity. Still, it was more than enough to make swoobat cease struggling, instead falling to the ground listlessly.

Falkner didn't even wait for his Pokémon to hit the ground, returning it several feet up. Danny soon did the same to a visibly flagging magnemite. "We'll get that fixed," he spoke soothingly. "You were great out there."

A minute later, everyone met up on the side of the arena. "Both of you, impressive work," Falkner told them. The blue-haired Gym Leader thrust a hand outward, two silver Zephyr Badges in his palm. "Well-balanced teams and a variety of strategies to deal with my Flying-type Pokémon. You also passed my secondary test of being able to think fast. It was as I expected from what I saw in the Kalos Conference."

"You watched that?" Max asked from beside Danny, who was studying the wing pattern for a bit, missing Max's expression.

"Parts, to prepare," Falkner said, donning a wry smile. "Sadly, my preparation didn't include that magnemite. Swoobat might be a generally more powerful Pokémon, but being unable to use Flying-type attacks and Attract both clipped my and his wings very effectively. A well-chosen Pokémon, though there was some luck involved as well."

Danny's mind went back to the Future Sight ricochet. "Loudred was still okay and it'd be harder for her to fall for Attract a second time," he replied. "But I'm glad magnemite was able to win. We've had a lot of too-strong opponents recently. It fell by the side a bit."

Falkner's nod was understanding. "Your credentials suggested that, yes. But to your credit, leading with your strongest Pokémon available was an excellent move. You put me in a spot where I had to do something, and you thrived in that role."

"That was our plan for me," Danny admitted. "Max has a team that's good for this Gym. I don't, so we thought I needed to make things count fast."

The Gym Leader glanced aside, looking for something Danny didn't catch. "This happens. The situation will be different later. But I have to ask you Max," Falkner said as he turned to the other teenager. "Why did you not use manectric?"

"You said no Mega," Max reminded the Gym Leader.

Falkner grimaced. "Ah. A misinterpretation. I only meant that you shouldn't use the Mega Evolution. The Pokémon itself would've been fine. I was fully expecting you to use it as your third, and minior does know Bulldoze."

"That too? It was annoying enough as it was," Max said, not even trying to hide the leftover frustration that Danny had seen during the battle. The Alolan Pokémon had pushed xatu hard with its change in style once it had taken some hits. "I'm just glad it was a Flying-type."

Falkner smiled as they all remembered xatu's strategy of using Synchronoise. "Not something you can expect to work often, but maybe more useful for it." The lift opened behind them, and all of them turned around to see a girl step out; looking a bit shocked at the sudden attention. A totodile by her side looked between its Trainer and the three of them. "I think my next challenge is here. Good luck to you."

~~§~~§~~

The waves subsided, and the blastoise reverted back to regular. Misty followed it up by returning the Gym Pokémon, still a bit bewildered that it had worked. She didn't use him that much in fights; only when the gloves came off. "Can you tell me what this was about now, Professor?" she asked. "Can't influence the experiment now."

Old and wise eyes regarded her, and she saw the intelligence and the acumen that made him so respected in Kanto. "While you were with Ash… How often did you encounter life-threatening danger?"

The question took Misty aback, but not aback enough to miss the soft snap as the room was sound-sealed. "You probably know them all," she prevaricated as she collected her thoughts. "Probably three or four times? Not counting Team Rocket and their plot of the week. What does this have to do with Mega Evolution?" She made it clear she expected answers.

"Gary hypothesised that brain development is a factor in being able to utilise Mega Evolution," Oak started, meandering a bit. There usually was a point to it, though. "Consider that, apart from the exceptions you know about, all previously established Mega Evolutions were done by people past the age of 21, and Korrina in Kalos still undercuts the next closest by a year and a bit. Most of the known exceptions revolve around Ash." Misty made to speak, but Oak shook his head. "More specifically, the danger he regularly finds himself in."

Had Gary ever been with them on one of those life-threatening events? Misty didn't remember offhand. She could explain Max's friend away, at least. "When was Gary..."

"Mewtwo."

That explained the sound-sealing. Deeply classified information that Misty didn't even remember part of. She'd made peace with that ages ago. "Okay. What are you saying, Professor?"

"Gary, myself, and Professor Rowan, up in Sinnoh, want to prove that there are age-related limitations to Mega Evolution, if only to stop inexperienced young Trainers from somehow getting their hands on a Mega Stone and then losing it to an organisation like Team Rocket. What we are having problems with is coming up with skilled, trustworthy, and accessible Trainers for this." The grey-haired Professor fixed eyes on hers. "I want you to keep an eye out."

One name came into Misty's mind immediately. "Does May have a venusaur? I kno…"

She trailed off due to the Professor's shake. "She is out for two reasons. The first is that she still has an ivysaur."

"And the second reason?"

"Her brother was persuasive in arguing she wasn't trustworthy."

The few times she'd seen both of them, they had been typical sister and brother: occasionally annoyed with each other, but otherwise they'd defend each other to the death. Sure, Max hadn't been a teenager yet, but even when she had been most angry with her sisters, they were still family. "What makes him say that?" she asked cautiously. The explanation made enough sense. "Plausible enough."

"Agreed. It is disappointing. She would have been a strong indication." The Professor shook his head, a hint of a sigh escaping him. "Any other ideas?"

This time, she had. The association of siblings brought her to someone obvious, and Misty wasn't sure how she had missed him the first time around. He was a co-Gym Leader, for manaphy's sake. "Forrest. Brock's brother," she stated. "He has the bond with steelix, he's about my age, and he's probably not had anything like what the rest of us have had."

A rare sheepish look overtook Professor Oak's face, making Misty glad she hadn't been the only one missing the fairly quiet young adult. "That would be a great start," he admitted. "Steelixite is one of the easier Mega Stones to acquire, and his credentials are impeccable."

The room unsealed itself, and for a few more moments, they chatted about contacting Forrest, ending up with Misty testing the waters to see if he was amendable. She had been planning to spend the night in Pewter anyway en-route to Cerulean. Partially because she didn't want to go through Mount Moon or over the inhospitable terrain to the south at night, and partially because Brock's cooking was good enough to take a detour for.

~~§~~§~~

The black-haired man was busy, stuffing things into a nondescript regular pack; the kind you wouldn't look at twice in any town. The door to the former office was closed, and the building had been build before internal windows had come into vogue. "Hello Oscar."

The man overreacted, sending a wad of money flying as a knife appeared out of nowhere. The money looked like legal tender, or a very good fake, at least at first glance. "Fucking hell," the seedy man said as he saw who had interrupted him. "Thought I'd seen the last of ya. Guess I was fuckin' wrong."

The knife vanished into an inner holster, but the man didn't shed the tense posture. "It should be now. I'm just here to tie up some loose ends." His own hand went into an inner pocket, and an envelope soon flew through the room. It landed on the desk. "Received this yesterday."

A finger went under the envelope's fold, and a letter slid out. Oscar took it, starting a cautious read; eyes darting between paper and person. "He made it to Kanto safe, registered… Says Professor Oak had found a stray Pokémon that took a shine to him..." the Unovan summed up. "Kanto's not got any poochyena, right?"

A shrug. "Evan counts on us not knowing that. Neither of us is inclined to say something about it."

"What does his mother think about the Pokémon?"

Evan's father chuckled softly. "She believes Professor Oak took pity on him. Her nephew's got a good rapport with Oak, and it was the explanation she jumped to." And he hadn't even needed to push her. Fortuitous to say the least. "She's not thrilled about potentially not seeing him until he fulfils the requirements, but also secretly relieved that he's out of Hoenn."

"As most mothers would be." Bitterness infused the barely-adult's voice, twisting it into dark mockery of what would normally be praise. "She doesn't know about..."

"I wouldn't be here if she knew." Probably because she'd be chewing him out extensively, and Philip wasn't sure his wife would understand even with his best attempts. "She still thinks Evan's just been wandering around town or going to friends." Which was true, from a certain point of view.

That caused some confusion. "But… You said Ev isn't a good liar. Said that was why you found out about us."

As if boys that age cou… No, wait, his cousin had proven that slightly wrong if Norman and Caroline's private complaining over Yule had been any indication. "She believes it's just him hitting puberty early and testing how far he can go. It wasn't worth picking a battle over."

Oscar didn't understand. He wouldn't. Not with what Philip knew of the man's background. He made a good attempt at looking like he did, and silence fell between them.

He had said everything he had to, but when he turned around, signalling unseen, Oscar spoke up once more. "Wait. Why..." The criminal took a deep breath. "You know what we do. Made it clear as fuck. Why'd you let Ev come to us? Weren't..."

"After what happened to Geoffrey, you wouldn't." The tension in the room skyrocketed, and Philip didn't even need to turn back to Oscar to know the man had frozen. Now was the time to hammer the weakness in his armour. "How much do you hate yourself, Oscar? Knowing that you peddle the same shit that got your younger brother killed before even reaching ten?" No answer came, as expected. "If you want out – all of you – then I can help."

Eventually, curiosity won out over anger. "How?" the other man croaked pitiably.

A swivel, and Philip told him. It didn't help the man's complexion much.

~~§~~§~~

Indigo Plateau was just like Ever Grande City in how busy it was with the upcoming League. Even from their perch in the mountains surrounding the place, Danny could almost see the bustle of a busy place. it was different from the kind he'd encountered in Kalos; in Lumiose; but that had taught him the signs of it anyway.

There were four stadiums visible, as well as one main Pokémon Center. Other buildings weren't as instantly recognisable, but at least one of the higher buildings had a logo belonging to some kind of hotel company on it. "I thought you said there were five stadiums here?"

"There's a kind of pit beyond those tall buildings in the middle. They built one of the stadiums in there," Max told him before moving a ways down the cliff they were standing on. "It's visible from here."

A small gap between the buildings showed just that, giving them a glimpse of a stadium's outer wall. Danny didn't know which one it was. He saw Rock and Water, so it could be Ice or Grass. "Feels weird that there's only four stadiums involved. Ever Grande has a lot more."

"Ever Grande needs to fit in up to a thousand participants. Kanto has a hard limit of 256, first come first serve basis. Most Trainers have probably already been here for a week."

Danny nodded to that. Alice and Linda had told them just that earlier, as they had been travelling from the Battle Tower and taking a scenic route around the area. it had been two weeks since they'd beaten Falkner in Violet City, and while they'd tried to find a Gym Battle at the Dark-type Gym, that hadn't been possible. For good reasons, they both felt: the Gym Leader had given birth to twins prematurely, but it was a bit disappointing to have to go over a month without a Gym Battle. Violet to Azalea would be about a week's worth of travel non-stop, and more with training pauses or trouble getting through Union Cave, so they were looking at a new badge at the end of February. Hopefully.

Going to a nearby Gym after the League was done was not an option either. You never wanted to be at a Gym close to a Conference location once it was done. Max's Dad had told them that much when they were younger.

Flapping wings from above broke Danny's thoughts, and he twisted his neck around. An orange Pokémon was slowly descending, half-gliding, and it was one both of them recognised immediately. "That's one problem solved," Max said drily.

"Not much of a problem with Pokénavs," Danny replied equally drily as the Fire-type landed nearby. Ash jumped off the draconic Pokémon's back, patting the flank before returning him. "Were you looking for us?"

"Just luck," Ash replied as he walked up with a wide grin, pikachu appearing from inside his small backpack and jumping out to close the distance faster than his Trainer. "I was off checking out the Victory Road park for a bit. There are some scary strong Pokémon there."

"I thought it was restricted?" Max asked as he half-knelt, giving pikachu a scratch on the head. "We couldn't go there last time."

Ash didn't reply immediately, instead pulling Max up and into a quick hug. Some protest ensued, not least pikachu who demanded more scratches in an exaggerated put-off tone. "Perk of being a strong Trainer." The older teenager looked back at where the park was, roughly. "Did you know it used to be a test for Trainers?"

Danny did not, but Max replied first. "Ash Ketchum, trying to teach us history? Who are you and what have you done to him?"

"Had to learn it somehow without Brock around. And you, sometimes," Ash replied in turn, which shut Max up. Grins were shared. "They stopped it a few years before Professor Oak started out. It's just been a protected area since." He looked around, but there was nobody nearby. "Lance would probably let you in if you stuck together."

"Let's not," Danny told Max before the younger boy could suggest it. "I'm here to relax and have fun, and not have to watch out for some rampaging rhyhorn."

A small stare-off was broken by Ash clearing his throat. "Well… I'm not sure if it's relaxing, but would you have fun helping me train during the tournament?"

Danny blinked. A lot of times. Did Ash really just… "Aren't there any others?" he found himself asking.

Ash shook his head. "Misty's stuck in Cerulean and Brock's only coming a few days. His parents are on a trip until next week, so he has to stay home and take care of his family." A wry smile appeared. "And after the last tournament and the training I did for that, we kind of know each other's teams too well."

That sounded entirely too familiar, Danny had to admit. He could also imagine that Ash would know their styles inside and out after years on the road with both of them. "We're not going to be as good as them," he warned Ash good-naturedly.

"Don't undersell yourself. You're both smarter than I'll ever be and you've got a few really powerful Pokémon on your team." The nod was obviously aimed at the necklace against Danny's chest and the wristband Max was wearing; both hidden beneath coat and shirt. "I'm not sure I have any Pokémon who can defeat manectric one on one without resorting to Mega absol."

The comment made both pikachu and charizard react; the former amused, the latter sounding a bit insulted. "You fly, charizard," Max said, not really caring about the Fire-type's grumpiness. "Manectric's got a lot of output. More than pikachu, even."

Now it was pikachu's turn to appear insulted, and Ash concurring made it even worse. It was all an act, though, Danny knew.

An idea lit up inside his brain. "I'm game," he said, to Max's surprise. His best friend had probably expected that he'd need convincing. "But only if you give us a battle on full strength. Not an easy one like we had before: one we'd have if we met in a League."

"You're going to lose. You know that, right?" Ash said softly, matter-of-factly.

"Of course," Danny agreed. "It..." he continued, only to fall silent as he realised he didn't know where he was going. All the others gave him a moment to collect his thoughts. "We need the practice. Nearly all of the others we challenge are just weaker. It's good practice for the ones that aren't as strong, but people keep saying we're prodigies and potential Champion material." Mostly Max, but Danny had heard Keith at one point, when the older teenager thought he wasn't listening. "We need to know what that level is like."

Max's surprised look made Danny want to break out in a chuckle, but he restrained himself. Barely. "Did you read my mind?!"

"Not sure I'd want to," Danny fake-muttered. It got the obligatory middle finger from Max and a smile from Ash. "We've been travelling together for nearly two years. Some of you has rubbed off on me I think."

Before Max could return the favour, Ash cleared his throat. "If you're okay with it, I'm okay with it, but I don't want to battle here in the practice grounds." He turned towards Max, ever so slightly. "How far can xatu Teleport the three of us?"

"Fifty miles at least," Max said after a moment of thinking. "I know we did that to get to Lumiose with Serena, and you're probably not heavier than all our packs and Serena combined. Why?"

"Pewter's about forty miles east and Brock never does challenges after eight at night. We wouldn't have to think about keeping attacks in or about others watching us." Ash glanced down at the Plateau, and Danny followed his gaze. "There's still four days until it starts. Tomorrow and the day after good?"

"It's a deal."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Name: Falkner

Age: 28

Type: Flying

Location: Violet City

Signature Pokémon: pidgeot (multiple).

Typical format: 3v3

Information: Flying-type Gym Leaders are birds of a feather: a variety of largely fast Pokémon and a demand of challengers that they're able to deal with fights in three dimensions. Falkner occasionally brings out a dodrio or gliscor curveball at higher levels, as well as a degree of preparation not often seen. For learning how to work with and against Flying-types, he is one of the best in the business for that reason.

From: Poképedia's Johto Gym Leader Profiles