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 10: Predicting The Future

It was pure coincidence that Max and Danny ran into the class that was going to be watching them, a few streets away from the Mahogany Gym. The teacher noticed them and waved the teenagers over to the other side of the road. They crossed without any problems, and excited chatter greeted them. "Great to see you," the thirty-something said. "Class, these are Danny," he said, instantly getting the attention and mostly silence from his pupils, "and Max. They're pretty skilled trainers, and you're going to be watching them battle with Pryce today."

"Not Danny Birch and Max Maple? The third and fourth place finishers in Kalos?" one boy exclaimed, and Max resisted the urge to snort. There was always one of them that broke the silence, usually a boy too. Nor was he surprised that one of them had heard of their results. A girl near him yelped and a boy elbowed his way into view. "It is them!"

"Yes, Robert, it is," the teacher said sternly. "You know what you need to do."

The blonde boy blushed deeply, and he immediately turned to the girl he had shoved aside, apologising profusely. She seemingly accepted and turned her back on him afterwards.

The group started walking again, and Max and Danny fell in with the teacher at the rear. "I forgot to ask this yesterday," he said, "but which of you is going first?"

"I will," Max said. It was his turn after all. "We've been taking turns since we started out together. Except once."

"It's a Hoenn tradition that the eighth badge someone gets is a bit of a strange challenge," Danny picked it up, not even needing the teacher to ask. "Every Gym Leader has a different challenge. The one we faced put us together to fight a four-on-four with two of our Pokémon."

"Must be relatively new. Didn't have that when I was there." The teacher smiled at them. "Of course, that was seventeen years ago. Things change. Yes, Elise?"

A girl dropped back a bit. "Do you think girls can be good Trainers too?"

Max and Danny exchanged a short glance, but Max knew he was probably the better one for answering it. "Of course. It's not like boys are just better because we're boys," he told her. "In Ever Grande, we both got knocked out by a girl. Danny's opponent was a professional Trainer, too."

"We have two friends. Keith and Jane," Danny added as they stopped. The adults at the front of the group – probably a pair of parents or something – looked both ways before taking up position in the street, creating a path the children should cross in between. "They're pretty good Trainers too, and they travel together. And if you ask both of them, they'll tell you that Jane is the better Trainer of the two."

"But they're not as good as you are," came the reply, and Elise sounded certain of that. It was true, Max had to admit.

Max sighed. He hated that he had to do this. "You know May Maple?" he asked, hoping to get some recognition. He got none, meaning he had to explain. "She's a Coordinator, but don't let that fool you. I know she's beaten a few Trainers from the upper rounds in Ever Grande. She just likes Contests more than just battling."

"May Maple is Max's sister, and a top-class Coordinator," the teacher added. "And yes, Elise, Contests need a lot of skill with battles as well. Maybe even more than just going for Gyms. After all, you need to train to make your Pokémon be stylish and effective."

That pacified the girl, and she went back into the group; her pink backpack vanishing in the crowd. "Regular question?"

"Observant of you, Danny," came the commendation, making Max snort. Even when talking to teenagers not in his class, the man was a teacher through and through. "It's hard for the girls to have a role model here. Pryce has been the Gym Leader since before I was born, and the only other Gym Leaders that are a bit nearby are Morty and Claire, and she doesn't really count because of the Dragon Clan's position." The man sighed. "You can show them all examples, but it's not real enough for them."

It wasn't something Max was familiar with, what with Roxanne pretty close-by and knowing from five years of experience that girls could be just as good as boys. "Must be tough to teach them."

"Most of the more valuable lessons in life are hard to teach. It's why this job is both rewarding and annoying sometimes."

The rest of the walk to the Gym was mostly silent, or as silent as a class of pre-teens could be. Max wasn't stupid enough to think that he wouldn't have been just like them: Gym Battles weren't always open to the public.

Shelia awaited them, waving the class through as Max and Danny waited. "Right. Both of ya should know tha' Pryce does two aside. You can switch Pokémon, he can't. We'll also have a few questions in between the battles so we can add some more ice to the field if we need to."

"I'm not planning on using a Fire-type," Max offered cheekily. He'd seen the dewgong out in the back.

"Melting isn't the only problem," Shelia replied, recognising Max's statement for what it was and smiling. "Both of you are allowed to use Mega Evolution if you want to, but give me a sign beforehand so I can send out an extra jynx."

That seemed fair, and Max's heart soared with the thought of potentially being able to use manectric in her first Gym of the region. Danny probably still wouldn't use aggron, though, he figured; not after he had completely wrecked Whitney with it.

That had been slightly awkward after the battle, but she had given them permission… Max just hoped she had been able to find some dugtrio to help out with the meadow they had wrecked.

Somehow, Max wasn't surprised to see Danny head into the crowd of children, where he was immediately bombarded with questions. The older teenager liked being around others.

Five minutes later, Max palmed one pokéball, confident that the strategy they had come up with would work against most of the Ice-types that Pryce could send out. "Clefairy, it's your turn."

Glaceon was definitely vulnerable to their plan, and Max took a moment to quickly run through the things he knew about the Ice-type. Just Ice-type, which not a lot of Pokémon were: surprisingly sturdy if you didn't attack with an elemental weakness, if not great at dealing with things up close; and they were known for learning Mirror Coat.

He had no doubts that this one knew it as well, which would maybe even allow it to stand up against manectric if she or he weren't careful. That wasn't the problem, though: clefairy had other ways of beating the Ice-type.

In fact, it could be a big help, Max realised.

There was one little tradition he always led with, and it wasn't any different this time. Glaceon launched an Ice Beam as clefairy started waggling her fingers, rapidly finding an attack and starting to glow a blue that was reflected in the clear ice underneath her.

The resultant explosion of what looked to be Psychic and Ice Beam tore at more than a few of the rocks in the middle of the arena, and the ice underneath definitely took a beating as well. Both Pokémon were completely unaffected except from some wind ruffling at them, but glaceon was the first to recover, launching an entirely predictable Hail.

Max knew Pryce knew clefairy could just be outright uncaring of the hailstones that fell, and it showed in the intensity of the weather, going for white-out conditions rather than the larger stones. There was loud complaining from the side as some of the children wanted to see the battle, but Max shut them out of his mind, focusing on the battle and countering the effects in front of him.

The smart idea would be to attack with something that was close to invisible in the conditions, which left Ice Beam or something more up close from the glaceon. Clefairy knew that as well, as she had hopped over to one of the nearby rocks, hiding behind it after using a microscopic application of Gravity on her feet to land on the ice. It was one of the reasons why he had chosen her to start out. "Lure glaceon in."

Clefairy's Disarming Voice was nothing more than a big sign that told glaceon where the Fairy-type was hiding. A short burst of frost came from the hailstorm ahead – right-hand side – but the Icy Wind did basically nothing to the hiding clefairy. A short burst of Ice Beam proved the same, and Max didn't see a third attack come, which led him to suspect the Ice-type was going for a different approach.

Quick Attack was one of the eevee line specialities, and glaceon approached from the direction clefairy wasn't expecting, which got her some time in the air, but that was all fine. a Disarming Voice went out even as she landed on her feet, and that prompted the Mirror Coat to come out. "Encore!"

With complete trust in Max, clefairy withstood the reflected attack, instead focusing on making sure glaceon was locked into using Mirror Coat and just that for the next half-minute or so. The Fresh Snow Pokémon hurried away as soon as the attack hit, but…

There was a huge sign in the snow as the Mirror Coat shone bright, like a lighthouse in fog. "Huh," Max wondered, before shaking his head. "You know what to do."

Clefairy did indeed, jumping on and off a rock, using her light frame and command over Gravity to close the distance far quicker than glaceon probably held possible. The beacon made it easy to locate Pryce's Pokémon, and it wasn't long before the helps came from the fog. It was only Doubleslap, but clefairy was good at using the attack. The nails on her hands helped as well: they were sharp as a razor right now.

"Metronome," Max ordered into the blizzard when he saw the light of Mirror Coat start to diminish, and a quick waggle turned into a spike of purple light in the fog. A loud yelp came, as did an Ice Beam that sent clefairy rocketing back. She landed near Max, but when she got up, she gave him a satisfied smile, as if to say mission accomplished.

Then she moved to get out of the way of an Icy Wind, avoiding most, and leaving Max to figure out what that little smile had meant exactly. He'd need to see glaceon, he supposed, and with clefairy once again hiding behind a rock, that would probably soon follow. "Ready Gravity."

When the blue-white Pokémon did come into view, Max's pink Pokémon was ready, and a purple-black dome overlaid that part of the arena. It forced glaceon to the ground, but the ice made it slide on, bowling clefairy over in a perfect strike, disrupting the field of increased gravity and sending both Pokémon away uncontrollably. Clefairy landed on her back somewhere off to the side, but Max was focused on the opponent's Pokémon, which headed nose first into the rock clefairy had first hid behind.

When it had, Max saw the oozing wound on the flank, something purple dripping onto the field. Poison.

First Psychic to block the Ice Beam, and now Poison Jab or something with clefairy's sharp nails to poison the glaceon? That luck with Metronome was stupid, and he instantly shifted gears. Pryce couldn't switch, and the low body temperature and metabolism would keep the poison in the system for a fair while. Not as fast as it would be on other Pokémon, but that was okay. Outlasting became his new plan. "Avoid!"

What followed was a simple game of cat and mouse, but the cat was wounded and the mouse was far faster at reacting to everything that happened. Clefairy avoided most of the attacks coming her way, only being hit by a Shadow Ball – a quintet had bracketed her, and she'd avoided four of them anyway – and an Icy Wind. Max didn't catch all that missed thanks to the thin Hail still present, but he knew it included a multi-coloured beam attack. Probably Signal Beam; it looked like it.

It felt a bit like cheating, just dodging and avoiding, but glaceon was just too slow at catching clefairy with anything from range, and any time the Ice-type decided it wanted to get close, a patch of manipulated gravity in a wide area in front of clefairy made sure that didn't happen. That had been Max's plan all along: to use clefairy's mastery of Gravity to allow her to control the battlefield, but with the Poison Jab for her and the Mirror Coat being Encored, it had gone beyond his wildest dreams.

He was already wondering about what Pryce was going to send out next when he saw glaceon glow… yellow? What the hell was going on there? "Move!" Max ordered on principle.

Clefairy did, but glaceon led the shot, causing an absolutely enormous star-shaped attack to crash partially into the Fairy-type's foot, sending her spinning up into the air and the upper shield.

Earth's gravity soon reasserted itself, and it assured Max that clefairy was still able to fight when she started creating a dome in which she would land, which she did without crashing too hard into the ice. It probably still hurt, and cost clefairy a lot of energy to create a dome with inverted gravity while falling, but it was better than the alternative for sure.

"Glaceon is unable to battle."

Max went for his Pokédex, managing to get it pointed at the glaceon and immediately going to the list of known moves. One caught his attention as soon as he saw the name, and though there was no accompanying picture of what the attack typically looked like, Last Resort sounded pretty much like what glaceon had used to try and knock clefairy out at the end. It certainly packed a punch, but clefairy looked like she could continue.

He shivered for a moment, and he had no idea why. The room was cold, which was why he was wearing a light coat, but… This went deeper than just that.

A jynx on the side dissipated the thin remnants of the hail Hail so Max could actually see the other end of the arena, and when he looked there, he saw Pryce give him an approving nod. "Well done," the Gym Leader said loudly, his voice strong, carrying across the distance between them with ease, despite the standard size arena they were fighting on. How did he do that? "Trusting your Pokémon when you can't see them is the mark of a great Trainer. Now, let's see if you can beat my second Pokémon."

Out came a piloswine, rearing up and stomping down on the ice as it readied itself for the battle. Shelia looked over at Max, and after a moment, he gave her a quick signal to wait. "You did great, clefairy. Get some rest for now," he said as he returned his motherly Fairy-type. He took a moment longer to think about his next Pokémon, but he couldn't find any last-minute reasons not to go with his original plan if manectric was not available. "Poliwhirl, it's your turn!"

Unsurprisingly, Pryce's Pokémon led with a Blizzard. Perfect. "Cover!" Max ordered as poliwhirl got behind one of the rocks – the same rock that clefairy had hid behind earlier – before using a very weak Water Gun on the rock's edge. It froze over immediately in the intense cold, but that was the plan: it further insulated poliwhirl from the harsh wind whipping around the arena.

The Swine Pokémon abandoned the Blizzard, instead starting to move. It was a slow start, but on the ice, keeping speed was easy, and piloswine were heavy enough to smash through rocks. That wasn't good, and poliwhirl got out of the way, making her opponent adjust course before she started the first part of the plan they had practised.

Raindrops started pelting away on the cold surface of the arena, turning into glaze ice the moment they hit the floor, even faster than Max had expected it to happen beforehand. The Blizzard really helped them out, he mused as poliwhirl started doing what she did best: slipping and sliding around on smooth surfaces, using the rocks on the arena and an occasional clever Water Gun to adjust her position, and she soon ended up behind piloswine, near Pryce.

She flipped herself up, hand on a rock, and launched a Water Pulse before even landing fully. Piloswine wasn't able to start moving fast enough to dodge it, instead just turning and taking the attack in the flank before facing poliwhirl again and launching a globe of mud through the air. It clipped Max's Pokémon, but she didn't care, instead using a Bubblebeam to trade blows.

Piloswine didn't turn in time, and several bubbles hit its snout, making it snort angrily. It stomped, and an icy Stone Edge rose from the ground, sharp shards zooming through the air, looking to pelt and cut poliwhirl.

Max's Pokémon wasn't able to dodge all of them, but most of them worked well enough, and a precise Water Gun knocked a second salvo out of the air before it could be launched, though it also diffused the water to just soak piloswine's fur instead of actually doing something. It made him wish that poliwhirl was actually good with Ice-type moves: freezing the wet fur would make the piloswine a sitting duck for anything else they could do.

An Ice Beam prompted poliwhirl to start moving again, and the rapid sliding was too much for the targeted attack to keep up with, a wall-like trail of ice following the path poliwhirl had taken to get out of the attack until Pryce's Pokémon gave up. Instead, another Stone Edge followed, and once again, it mostly missed, but some of them tore at poliwhirl.

It was time to stop avoiding and start attacking in earnest, Max realised. Piloswine were fine with trading, and Stone Edge was one of the attacks that could just hit completely wrong and open up a wound to exploit for later. Water Absorb could only do so much.

Water Pulse was the attack that was probably hardest to stop with either Stone Edge or Ice Beam, and he relayed that to his blue-and-white Pokémon.

She went for powerful hits over quick hits. The first globe obliterated over half of a Stone Edge coming her way, and after a quick skate across a short distance, a second Water Pulse did the same to a complete Stone Edge closer to piloswine's face. The globe splashed into the Ice-type's face, prompting another outburst of angry snorting.

Okay, that was a downside of the tactic. Piloswine's Take Down was now actually fast, and it managed to clip poliwhirl while she was sliding by throwing its rear around to hit her. It caused both of them to hit obstacles uncontrollably, but Pryce's Pokémon was a lot more used to it, Max felt. It recovered faster for sure, going into a Blizzard while poliwhirl was on the front of a rock, instead of easily able to dodge behind it.

Poliwhirl launched herself forward, startling Max. Water ran over her body, he saw, but going straight into a Blizzard was stupid. What was she…

Oh. Oh.

Poliwhirl was a genius.

Her speed on the ice was too great for the winds of the Blizzard to slow down, and with the water running over her, the low temperatures in the room, and the strength of the attack, she quickly froze into a hard block of ice. A hard block of ice that was hurtling towards piloswine, who couldn't dodge because its rear was still up against the rock. The best it could do was to avert its head, but something like forty pounds of pure ice hit it at great speed, shattering the ice and driving the piloswine through the rock behind it.

Poliwhirl didn't exactly come off great either, looking woozy as she got up, but she was far better off than piloswine, which was braying in pain. At the distance, Max couldn't see if there was blood, but taking anything to the face like that without being prepared for it would hurt. "Water Gun!"

The Ice Beam was too late, the water overpowering it long enough for it to hit piloswine in the face – in the weak spot. Poliwhirl did lose control of the attack as she couldn't maintain her footing on the extremely slippery floor, but she got up immediately, seeking out a place to better position herself.

Then a towel flew into the ring.

Max shivered for a moment as Pryce returned his piloswine. "I cannot win this. You tactically outmatched me at every turn in this second round, no, at all times. That was an inspired way of battling," the Gym Leader said, voice inexplicably carrying. "I think that deserves some applause, don't you think?"

After the children applauding and hooting, and Max ascertaining that poliwhirl was okay – she was, just in need of a bit of rest – he and both of his Pokémon made their way over to the area just in front of the stands. Behind him, the jynx were hard at work at recreating the arena as it had been before the battle. Pryce was there as well, and they shook hands before Max was granted the badge. "Well done. Now, my class has been pelting your poor friend with questions, so I think it's time for you to answer some." That made Max chuckle, and Danny as well. "Lydia?"

"What happened to glaceon? We couldn't see."

The indignant tone amused Max. Pryce waved to him to answer first. "Clefairy knows Metronome, you saw that at the start. Just after the Mirror Coat ended, she used it again, and I think it got Poison Jab. And, well… She's got really sharp nails." He bent down, prodding clefairy. "C'mon, go show them."

"Being able to work with the unexpected is important for Trainers. His switching from offence to avoiding was impeccable," Pryce added. "Some say Metronome is luck, but only if you get something that doesn't hurt just you."

"Clefairy has gotten Ember from it against my vulpix before," Max told the class. Some of the kids snickered. "Flash Fire makes vulpix immune and it boosts Fire-type moves as well."

That got the rest of the class laughing. "Robin?"

"How was poliwhirl so fast?"

"Physics," Max replied, and the way the boy's face fell was amazing. "No, really."

"Piloswine's Blizzard lowered the temperature in the arena," Pryce took over. "And the floor was even colder because it's ice and we keep it like that. It made the rain turn into freezing rain. I assume you practised it before, and I walked into it."

"It's one of poliwhirl's tricks," Max said, patting the slimy Pokémon, who preened. "Sliding around is one of her ways of getting around the battlefield faster than people think she can. And ice is great for sliding." He glanced over at the Gym Leader. "I didn't expect the Take Down."

That got him an indulgent smile. "Least you were surprised at one point. Darren, may I?" A nod from the teacher. "Be honest. When you think about strong Trainers, who of you think about Pokémon just overpowering the other?" About fifteen hands went up. "But strength isn't everything. I happen to know that most of Max's strongest Pokémon are weak to mine."

"Sceptile is weak, xatu is weak, shelgon is weak," Max listed off on his fingers, figuring that Pryce wanted him to list them. "Baltoy and ninjask aren't as strong as those three, but they're weak too. And you brought out two counters to my manectric."

"If strength can't win, you need skill," Pryce continued his lecture, and Max saw every single pre-teen listening intently. "And that can take many forms. Many of piloswine's attacks were negated because of poliwhirl's superior speed. The clefairy didn't slip on the ice by creating small zones of her Gravity attack on her feet." Max nodded. "Timing is another skill, and the Encore had perfect timing. If you want to be a good Trainer, train skill and strength. Strength without skill is easily defeated. Now, Danny, I think we should battle now."

"Wait," Max said, and Pryce turned around, clearly wondering. "How did you talk to me from the other side of the arena?"

"Jynx knows a sound amplification trick. It comes in useful sometimes."

~~§~~§~~

Mahogany wasn't as big as Ecruteak was, and it lacked a park, but that didn't stop the teenagers from finding a spot to use for their picnic. An early dinner picnic, sure, but still.

Danny had thought of it a few days before they found houndour. He hadn't been sure what it was going to look like at all, but after the first one in Ecruteak, both he and Max had agreed that this should be their celebration for winning a Gym Battle. Just a picnic, with each of them bringing some food. There were no heavy topics allowed except for the battle they just had, and it was all about trying to unwind and relax a bit.

There was enough to worry about, but if you worried all the time, you'd end up worse. And with Max being a big worry-wart, Danny felt pretty sure his friend needed it as well.

"Got some skewered stuff, a salad with radishes and Mago Berries as the main ingredients, and a couple of sandwiches," Danny said as he took the various containers out of the insulated bag. It hadn't taken him too long to get it all together the night before, with most of the work going to the skewers and slicing the soft cheese that was on there. "What did you bring?"

Max opened his own bag, revealing a closed container that had clearly been in the freezer until twenty minutes ago. "Lettuce, onion, and Oran Berry salad and some ice cream for dessert."

"Ice cream?" Danny exclaimed. How on earth…

Max made a wobbly gesture. "Well, kind of. Take some Pecha, cut them up, freeze very lightly, then blend them together. I added some nuts too." He opened the container a smidge, inviting Danny to come take a look. "Keith gave me the idea. Said his Mum used to make it when he was younger and didn't always want to eat his fruit."

It sure looked tasty enough, if pink. "Well then, let's go eat."

They ate in silence for a while, just enjoying the good mid-May weather that had finally shown up. Exploud, who had recovered from his battle in the Gym, and sceptile seemed to enjoy the weather as well, lazing nearby and occasionally eating some food, which was excellent. The salads were perfect, the skewers were tasty, and apart from one attempted theft by a spearow and a frisbee landing nearby, nobody interrupted them. "Nothing like a good meal after a hard battle," Danny said after finishing his last bite of regular food;. Max had been done for a minute already. There was some left, but knowing them, that would end up as an evening snack. "Let's wait a few for dessert."

"Sure," Max said, shrugging and turning the movement into a stretch so long Danny wanted to make a quip about Max trying to become taller by stretching himself out. "You still want to go to the Lake of Rage?" A lazy nod. "You never told me why."

Huh. "I didn't?" Danny said, trying to remember and not finding anything. "Oh, right, Serena called on the Pokénav to ask about an idea she had." Inspiration sure struck at weird times, but Danny had known that for years already. Dad hadn't exactly hidden it. "It's kind of stupid, but… Dad proposed to Mum there. Just feels like a place I should visit, y'know."

"Sap," Max shot back instantly, but the younger boy was on board. Danny could tell from the way he said it and his grin. "You could catch a magikarp there too, if you wanted to. It's supposed to have tons of them."

"And a couple of gyarados live in the lake as well, so you'll be keeping manectric out," Danny shot back, causing both of them to laugh merrily. "For real, gyarados are pretty cool, but they take a lot of effort and they're not my style." And both of them didn't really like Water-type Pokémon that were limited to water. Max's then-poliwag had made that pretty clear, despite being somewhat amphibious.

Sceptile walked up, grabbing the last remaining skewer and sitting down next to Max, taking care to keep the tail out of the way. The teenager half leaned-in, content. "And after going there?" he asked, grimacing against a sudden glare of sunlight reflecting off of something nearby – Danny could see it on Max's glasses. "How do you want to go to Blackthorn?"

Danny didn't answer immediately, instead stretching his leg and immediately regretting it as he felt a muscle start to cramp. It didn't. Barely. "Ice Cave. The passes are pretty bad, and getting into the Dragon Holy Land by accident sounds like a recipe for disaster," he told Max honestly. "Bunch of territorial and powerful Pokémon? I'll take my chances underground."

"Blame Team Rocket for that," Max said, surprising Danny. "They're the ones who stole the flame and caused the wildfire that burned a couple of acres before it was put out. Didn't help the dragonite guarding the place went berserk..."

Of course Ash was involved. There was no other way Max knew those details; not when they had access to the same knowledge on the internet. "Every time I think I've heard it all, something else comes up," Danny said. "I shouldn't be surprised."

"About every single Legendary Pokémon in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn," Max reminded Danny. "And I'm pretty sure he's kept things back from me as well." The younger teen raised his hands, holding them palm up near his shoulders. "But let's not talk about that, and aren't you supposed to be the one stopping me from thinking about way too much heavy stuff?"

They'd been best friends for years, but seeing smug confidence on the younger teen's face every time he outmanoeuvred Danny still irritated part of him. As per usual, though, he let it slide with a smile; a heartfelt one despite it all. It hadn't always been like that, but even the first time that it had happened – smug confidence instead of know-it-all bravado – Danny had eventually quashed the annoyance, and Dad had taken him aside later to ask what had been the problem.

One day, Danny hoped to be as good at reading people's body language or faces or whatever as Dad was.

He shook his head, stopping his inner thinking, seeing Max's confidence faltering as he tried to make sense of Danny's silence. That was okay, but it'd do what was forbidden. "It's a one-way street, Max," Danny said as haughtily as he could manage. "You need to be protected from yourself sometimes."

That scowl, most definitely faked, always made Danny's day.

~~§~~§~~

Pressure on his bladder woke Danny up, sometime in the arceus-forsaken hours of the night. He carefully got himself out of his sleeping bag – under the night sky this time because it was warm. There weren't a lot of stars visible through the leaves. Some moonlight did make it through, enough to see by as he stumbled towards a bush a bit away. He wanted to crawl back into warmth, but he knew he couldn't yet, or he'd not sleep.

He found an out of the way spot, but then blue light caught his eye. It moved and it danced; it bounced and it wiggled. It called, wanting Danny to…

"Dusclops!" Danny hissed as he shook himself out of the Will-O-Wisp, all warmth and sleepiness gone from his body. He tensed, ready to fight off another mental attack or to dodge a physical one. He didn't know which Pokémon had tried to do it, but he wasn't having any of it.

His Ghost-type, on guard duty for the night, appeared on the scene, releasing a harsh red light that made Danny close his eyes to not be blinded. When it subsided from his eyelids, the culprit was clearly visible – and surprised. A small litwick hovered – no, stood on a branch – a few feet above a brush, flinching when a Night Shade lanced out. The attack didn't hit, as dusclops exercised enough control to keep the attack in check.

He felt for the litwick. It looked terrified. Maybe it was the lighting, but the purple flame on top of its head shivered, and there wasn't any wind to cause it to do that. And while Ghost-types were tricksters, Danny felt it wasn't the case here. "Let it go, dusclops," he said softly.

The Night Shade dissipated, and it took Danny's eyes a moment to adjust to the lack of lighting. Litwick jumping down didn't help, but it soon came out of the brush, slowly waddling across the grass. It stopped as dusclops made her way past Danny to stand in front of him; a hint of Ghost-type energy trailing over his shins. "Clops?"

"Wick-wi," the white Pokémon squeaked back, tilting its… its body, Danny supposed. It was all head. "Lit?"

Not knowing a Pokémon at all meant pure blind guessing as to what it meant, and it was the middle of the night. It was too late, too early, whatever, for this. It made Danny wish for the gardevoir to be here and help, except that'd probably keep him awake for an hour if things went wrong. "Dusclops?" he asked. "What is it?"

"Clo," his Ghost-type said, pointing at litwick first, and then suddenly taking a step back and tapping Danny's thigh. "Ops."

Okay. This was getting too surreal for whatever o'clock it was. "You want to come with me," Danny said flatly, and the litwick nodded so hard the flame nearly hit the grass. "It's the middle of the night. I can't battle you now."

The shake made it extremely clear that the litwick would join without even a battle. "Wiiiiiiick," it said, begging. There was something of an attempt at puppy eyes going on, but Danny was immune to those, and the fire on its head and the wax covering one eye didn't help either.

He sighed. "Stay here," he said. "I need a pokéball for this. You stay as well, dusclops."

Finding his couple of spare pokéballs wasn't hard, in a side-pocket of his pack as they were, but as he rose to walk back, Danny thought of something. He moved left, towards where Max was sleeping, and quickly located the green pokéball on the belt lying next to the black sleeping bag. His friend's breathing didn't change at all, luckily, so hopefully, he'd sleep through all of this.

Gardevoir seemed a bit surprised to be sent out, and for a moment, he looked ready to fight, but then, somehow, the Psychic-type realised this wasn't related to the watching that he also did from time to time. Probably the empathic powers he had. "I need you to translate," Danny said softly. "I just want to know one thing."

Max's Pokémon nodded, concentrating, and then sending a whisper into Danny's mind. "Of course."

Silently thanking gardevoir for keeping a whisper, Danny turned back to the litwick that was just standing there, looking at the three taller figures. "I've got a pokéball here," Danny said, kneeling down because it felt right to do that. He held out the ball in front of him, enlarging it with a mechanic, metallic shoop. "But why do you want to join?"

A look between him and gardevoir to his left, and litwick quickly squeaked off an answer consisting of six syllables. "He has never seen a human throw off his Will-O-Wisp entrancement so fast," gardevoir translated dutifully. Another titter, and an enthusiastic jump up. "He thinks it's amazing."

Perhaps the second translation wasn't needed, but the solemn tone that gardevoir used made Danny snort softly. "Well. Can't say no to that. Welcome, litwick. I'll come get you tomorrow," he said as he rolled the ball across the grassy field. It stopped just short of the Ghost-type, but a tap ensured the capsule opened, and the capture was instant. "Strangest thing of the year," Danny muttered.

He walked the thirty feet to their camp, and somehow, Max sitting up in his sleeping bag – rubbing his eyes – was not a surprise to him. "'chu want gardevoir for?"

"Translation," Danny said as he remembered to return Max's Pokémon, doing so and putting the capsule down right next to Max's hand. "Caught a litwick. Wanted to join me. I wanted to know why."

"Why?" Max echoed.

"'Coz I resisted his Will-O-Wisp," Danny said matter-of-factly. A twinge reminded him of why he had gotten out of his sleeping bag in the first place, and he started walking away. "Go sleep now, Max. We'll talk in the morning."

"Where you going?"

"To pee."

~~§~~§~~

"This is the last time I let you talk me into something like this," Keith swore as he followed Jane across the Great Marsh, near Pastoria. He was wearing rubber rain boots that reached to maybe a hand under his knee, and still he could feel water and mud everywhere in his socks. "Why did you even want to come here?"

"Told you before," Jane replied, far more chipper than he was. "I want to see if I can get a carnivine. This is the only place they show up a lot." She stopped, turning around as Keith did the same. "Oh, and you know it won't be the last time I talk you into something."

Then, she started moving, and Keith's eyes drifted down for a moment before he resumed his trudging. She was completely right, as usual. "Plant Pokémon, right? Eats small bugs and stuff? Why do you want another Grass-type?" He was pretty sure he hadn't asked that before. "We haven't caught a new Pokémon since halfway in Kalos."

"It's not for me, dummy," Jane replied, turning around, one hand on her hip. "It's for your Mum."

"My Mum," Keith repeated blankly. He blinked, and put a finger in his ear to make sure some mud hadn't found its way in there. "You know she hates Pokémon in the home, right?"

Jane started walking again, and Keith hurried to keep up. As much as he could in the marsh. "She said so. But carnivine don't make a lot of mess, and they're perfect to get rid of all kinds of nasty bugs and insects too. Don't need much food either."

She had really thought this through. "Not me you need to convince," Keith told his girlfriend of thirteen months. "Still wish they lived somewhere else than this marsh!" he added as his foot sank down, and he yanked it out immediately, before the muddy water reached the top of the boot in force. "Walking in heavy snow is a lot better than this." And he had hated that as well. Some snow, like in Kalos, fine. The amounts Sinnoh got? Fuck that.

They walked for a bit, but all they saw were a couple of croagunk looking at them and Keith's vivilion flying overhead, and Jane swore she saw a yellow Pokémon, but he didn't see any. They did come to one of the wooden paths that crossed the area, allowing Keith to rest for a moment. He even convinced Jane to stop as well; the clock helping him out on that one. It was getting close to lunch.

"What do you want to do after you're done travelling?"

The question took Keith by surprise, and he lost a quarter sandwich to the marsh, making his girlfriend giggle. Thankfully, he had brought plenty, but he didn't get a new one, instead thinking, and not really coming up with an answer. "No idea. It's what, sixteen months off? I barely know where I'll be next week!"

He mock-glared at Jane, who stuck out a tongue. She was more impulsive in where to go, especially since they'd agreed to take it slow and easy in Sinnoh. They had three badges now since January, and they'd just meandered around the region, going wherever they wanted to go. "Everyone has a dream. I know I do."

"What's yours, then?"

"I could just not tell you," Jane said teasingly, but for once, she relented under his exasperated look. "I want to be an animator. Like cartoons, or maybe for children's books." She shrugged. "Don't know what exactly, but it's been something I've wanted to be for years."

Despite Jane not saying anything about it before this moment, Keith felt it fit his girlfriend perfectly. As long as he'd known her, she'd always been great at drawing, and it was fun to watch her draw. She looked cute while concentrating. "You should go for that," he agreed. "Everyone loves your drawings, I know that."

That got him a quick peck. "And you? Any dreams of being a famous world-class Trainer?"

It was an obvious tease, and they both knew it. After Kalos, they knew hey weren't cut out for that. "Two years back, maybe," Keith allowed. "But I don't know. I'm only fourteen, and yes, you are too. Do most people know what they want to be at fourteen?"

"The ones we know, maybe."

The duo Jane alluded to, sure. "Sure, but Crasher Wake was a wrestler before becoming a Gym Leader, and I know Mum didn't really know herself at my age."

Jane scooted over, leaning into his shoulder for just a moment. "Runs in the family then."

"Hope it's the only thing."

Wait, what did he just say? Why did he say that? He glanced to the side, seeing Jane giving him a weird look, but the apology he was going to make was stopped by a finger on his lips. "What do you mean? And be honest."

He opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again, closed it again, swallowed, drank some water, and swallowed again. "C'mon Keith," he said to himself. "You can do it." He looked back up, into his girlfriend's understanding eyes. "I don't want to be like my father. Running away from my family and putting them in money trouble for years." The idea was revolting, but… he knew he'd inherited at least something of his father.

"Didn't he cheat on your Mum? And then took all the money?" Jane asked, getting a nod as her answer. Anger rose within for a moment. "You're not him, Keith. I know you've got his hair and face, but that doesn't make you like him." She bit her lip. "You want to know what my Mum and Dad told me? About you?"

Wait, what? When had that happened? What did that even mean? "Uwha?"

Jane snorted softly, pressing a finger against his nose. "They said that you're kind, sweet, stubborn, and good for me. With examples too." She gave him an absolutely brilliant smile, causing a happy fluttering in his pretty full stomach as his face turned into a tomato. "And you know what I think about your mother? She's just like you. Talking to her was a lot like talking to you. Except I can't make her shut up like this."

It was five minutes later when Keith and Jane broke off, and only because Keith saw a wild wooper jump into the marsh with something that looked like a sandwich bag in its mouth. One look later confirmed it: Keith's remaining lunch was gone, but after what Jane had just done, he didn't care.

Groudon below he loved her.

~~§~~§~~

The pictures on the screen were very familiar. Once trustworthy boys, now traitors to Hoenn. "These are the most recent pictures we have," the man told the three of them, assembled in the room. The other two were male, older. One had brown hair, the other's was covered with a cap. "They are travelling across Johto, and the Trainer database suggests they are taking the so-called inner circuit around." Inner circuit. Eight badges in the heart and east of Johto and the shared area. "This one was taken near Mount Mortar, not long ago. Both of them received a badge in Mahogany a few days ago."

Mahogany meant the next stop was Blackthorn. "Blackthorn's a fortress," one of the others spoke up, voice hoarse.

"Then we find them elsewhere. Only two places they can go," the third of their group spoke up, sibilant. He scratched his head. "If they're not Teleporting everywhere."

"We have a way of stopping that. Otherwise, this would be a fool's errand." The cloth went off the thing next to the one who had invited them here. "This device will stop Psychic-types from concentrating well enough to do anything. It works by burning up certain gems from Unova – the locals call them Psychic Gems. One should give you about an hour's worth of disabling; long enough for you to neutralise them otherwise." The man gave a sharp look. "You have a Pokémon that should help with that."

Sleep Powder should do the trick. No matter how strong a Trainer you were, you were still human, and you could be caught off guard. "I will do my best to bring them back to Hoenn."

"Of course you will," the brown-haired man that would lead them spoke up, holding out his hand for a shake. It was taken. "You know how they think. Know your enemy and yourself, and you will win battle upon battle," the man quoted. "We have the battling skill to counter them, and you the knowledge. Together, we will bring them to justice."

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

Rowan,

We have concluded our experiment. Despite several months of practice, our subject was unable to achieve Mega Evolution. We have also ruled out that it is neither the Pokémon nor the equipment being used; see the attached document for details. Human influence is the only variable that could make sense, as per our assumption and the results of your own experiment with the Abomasite.

I am aware that this lacks scientific rigour, but I believe that we have enough information to put it out to the public that barriers appear to exist and that not everyone can achieve Mega Evolution. This should at least keep most Trainers from clamouring for it for the foreseeable future, until the truth inevitably trickles down.

Your thoughts?

Oak

Author's Note: A bit late, no thanks to my internet. In return, you do get a long chapter; one that got a bit out of control, but it's still fine.

Next update in three weeks: I'll be lucky to have free time in the next two weekends.