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 16: Tales And Truth

The water show in the Cerulean Gym was as gorgeous as it had been advertised, Serena concluded as the show ended. The audience's applause was deafening, bouncing off of the glass walls of the raised aquarium that had allowed them to see the underwater spectacle. It was a story about standing up for yourself, with the main character getting bullied out of some group and having more fun with a few other 'outcasts' that made others join in too.

She made her way back to the entrance area without any trouble, helped by the fact that it was Monday and it wasn't all that busy, and Serena was already thinking about what she wanted to grab for lunch when she saw someone walking towards her from the corner of her eye. "Serena?" the woman asked. "Can you help me with something?"

It took a moment to recognise who was speaking, but the orange hair jogged her memory. Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader, wanted her help. "Er… Sure?"

The Gym Leader led her down an empty corridor, heading into the first empty room they could find – some kind of office that looked like it hadn't been cleaned properly in a bit. "Ugh. Need to talk to the cleaners and security," Misty muttered, palming a pokéball. "Staryu, can you spray the table?"

Serena was surprised when Misty sat down on the table, her feet on the chair, but she followed suit. "So, er..."

"Relax, Serena," Misty said, smiling gently, and pushing a lock of hair out of the way. "Nothing world-threatening or anything. We've both had plenty of that already. Just wanted to know about Contests over here and Showcases in Kalos. What ar… Oh, hi Violet."

"Why are you in here? It's all so dirty in here!" the blonde who'd just starred in the play said. Her hair was still wet, and she was wearing a bathrobe and slippers. "C'mon Misty, we've got better rooms than this."

Misty sighed, but got up from the table. "Lead on, then."

The next room was quite a bit cleaner, but also messy at the same time; a lot of papers strewn around. "This'll do," Violet said as she sat down on a comfortable-looking sofa. Misty and Serena grabbed chairs from a nearby desk. "Did Misty tell you why I wanted to talk to you?"

"Er… No?"

"I was about to tell her before you came bursting in," Misty interjected. "Violet here wants to go to Kalos for some Showcases. Yes, you do," she added when her sister was about to interject. "You're not someone who just thinks about something."

A host of emotions – exasperation, embarrassment, fondness – crossed Violet's face. "You're right," she admitted.

"Course I am," Misty replied. "Anyway, since we knew you were in town and probably coming to the show, I decided to ambush you. Nice win yesterday, by the way. Loved the contrast."

There were way too many questions running through her head, and she went with the first one that made any sense. "Why didn't you talk to me after the Contest?"

"Because we watched highlights last night. I had challengers all day yesterday, and there were two shows yesterday as well. And when we tried to get you this morning, you were already gone."

She had woken up early, and had spent some time working with mareep on learning how to use Cotton Guard and her own electricity to defend herself. "Well… We're here now. I guess you want to know stuff about Kalos?"

Misty motioned for her sister to speak up. "I wasn't sure about the Theme Performances. What are they like? Everything sounded different all the time."

"That's because they are," Serena said, and Violet raised an eyebrow. "Every Showcase has a different first part. Sometimes it's a baking contest, sometimes you need to answer questions, sometime it's making sure Pokémon fit with a theme… It's always changing."

"A quiz?" the blonde said, pulling a face. "It's not going to be difficult, right?"

"What Pokémon has the move Aeroblast as its signature move?" Serena recited from memory after a moment. She saw that Misty knew, but Violet seemed to be doubting. "That's the hardest question I remember being asked."

Violet wrung her hands. "It sounds so familiar… I wanna say tornadus, but then it wouldn't sound familiar."

"It's lugia," Misty answered for her sister, and that caused a surprised gasp and a smile. "I'm guessing that was on your list too?"

"'s the other thing I thought it could be." The twenty-something turned to Serena. "And it's all about working with your Pokémon to create something?"

"Yeah, that's right. Honestly… I still think like I'm in a Showcase half the time," the teenager admitted sheepishly. "Especially for Appeal rounds. It's very similar. Just with battles here." She saw Misty grin. "Something I said?"

"My sister," Misty started, before shushing the blonde. "She deserves to know. Anyway, she loves the attention Contests have gotten, and the focus on aesthetics – how things look," she added, though Serena remembered what it meant before she did so, "is something she likes. But… She's also the most limited battler of the four of us."

"Limited battler?"

"I'm good with Water Pokémon, but… That's about it," Violet admitted candidly. "And we barely passed the qualification for the Gym anyway, years back. So I'm not gonna look for battles. Not when Showcases are a thing."

It sounded stupid, but Serena kept that thought hidden. Hopefully. "Well… If you want to know more about Kalos… I can probably help you. You're going to need to think of a lot of different tricks though."

"Don't worry about that," Misty chimed in cheerily. "There's probably more she's forgotten about Water-types than you know about them."

Probably true, Serena had to admit. "So… What else do you want to know?"

~~§~~§~~

Evan's houndour rolled sideways, away from the mawile's snapping jaw and the Thunder Fang it was using to try and get the nimble Pokémon to slow down. It hadn't hit yet, but the houndour wasn't used to a long athletic fight, and she was tiring.

Another Snarl came out to create distance, but it coincided with the fake mouth being opened, scoring a hard hit that maybe shouldn't have happened. Danny's eyes snapped to Evan for a moment, and he saw the surprise before he yelled to go in for the knock-out.

Feint Attack in, dodge the swipe, Ember at close range and done. Danny and Max both clapped hard as the referee ruled mawile out, and Evan immediately joined them; houndour running up as well. "I did it!"

"All as planned," Max said, trying to look aloof and failing horribly. "Yeah, that was good. I always forget mawile are Fairy-type, but you stuck with what we practised. Well done!"

Evan returned houndour, and they waited for the Gym Leader to join them. The wait wasn't long. "Planned the whole thing out, did you?" Holly asked as soon as she came within hearing range of the trio of boys on the sidelines. "The result stands, but how much help did you two give?"

Danny and Max shared a look, neither really understanding where this was going. Danny didn't think Holly was mad about it, but it was hard to get a read on the short-haired Gym Leader. "I came up with the strategy, but the execution was all Evan's," Max said at length. "Nothing wrong with that, no?"

Sharp brown eyes regarded them for a moment. "What's the rest of your team, Evan?" she asked, and when the teenager answered her, she nodded, satisfied. "Understandable then. I imagine Helena was happy with your choice of Pokémon." She turned towards Max. "Try to teach him about type limitations before too long. This trick won't work too long." Then, to Danny. "Are you ready? Any requests?"

She'd asked the same of Max, but not of Evan. "Why do you ask us that?"

"Because you have the option to. He doesn't," Holly replied. "Your reputation precedes you on this, both in what you have, and in that you're willing to vary."

"But isn't a badge about beating the Gym Leader at your level?" Evan wondered.

It got a smirk from the Gym Leader. "Correct, but only up to a point. If advanced Trainers want to take a step back to test new Pokémon, or test new strategies with them, it is acceptable," she explained crisply. "The level of execution differs less than you think."

"I do want to use a new Pokémon," Danny told Holly before Evan could ask a question that was obviously going to come. "And I won't take one of my powerhouses out in second unless I really have to."

At that, the group split up. Max and Evan headed for the small bench that hadn't been used since the first battle, while Danny made his way over to the left side of the arena, ready to get his seventh Johto badge.

The second houndour made her way out onto the arena, ready to do battle against whatever Holly was going to bring out. She'd used a snubbull and a mawile against Evan, and a clefable and a ribombee against Max. Was it going to be another Fairy-type without any secondary characteristics against him, too?

The answer was yes: wigglytuff came out, and though Danny had seen a lot of them in Kalos, he'd never scanned them to find out what their Abilities could be. He trained the Pokédex on it, finding that it could inflict Attract, and since houndour was immune to the one spritzee threw out in training, that wasn't going to do anything. Probably. There were male wigglytuff, but they were rare.

He was going to have to be the aggressor. Wigglytuff typically could take a lot of punishment, and houndour had her work cut out for her. But she was tenacious, Danny knew, and as the referee ordered the start of the match, the canine sprung forward, going into a lope and heading left to circle around. Danny knew she was capable of jumping out of the way of any attack, but there wasn't any forthcoming.

It was as if Holly was giving the first move on purpose.

Houndour cottoned onto that, and a burst of Embers shot forward, hoping to force the pink Pokémon to move, but that didn't happen. Instead, it just stood there and took the attack, wincing as the heat hit it, but otherwise okay.

The counter was an Ice Beam? Aimed at… Oh, of course. Freezing the ground around itself so houndour couldn't get close or would have to spend time defrosting everything.

Annoyingly, it was going to have to be that. She was better mixing her attacks up with Fire Fangs and general biting. "Flamethrower low," he ordered as the Dark-type started moving away from the expanding ice.

The blue melted, but it didn't hit wigglytuff because a Dazzling Gleam came out to block it; the rainbow enough to stop the flame until houndour cut it off, but the moment wigglytuff ceased her blocking, the Flamethrower resumed, and this time, the fire flickered as houndour added some chemical Danny didn't understood to it. It caused the block to blow up in wigglytuff's face, and the Fairy-type skid backwards a few feet. "Now."

Now turned into a move out as a quick Focus Blast passed over houndour's head only because she stopped, dropped, and rolled out of the way of the Fighting-type attack, though she paid for it as a second hit her rear paws, sending her sprawling onto the ground.

Without any problems getting up, she went straight back to the Flamethrower, taking a page out of vulpix's book and slowly advancing on wigglytuff. The fire wasn't as thick as it had been, but it did force wigglytuff to either do something about it or get out of the way, across the ice.

Houndour wasn't able to outlast the wigglytuff's defence, though, but it was close, and Danny was pretty sure the Fairy-type was sweating profusely. More importantly, nearly all of the ice had thawed, leaving multiple good angles open for attack instead of just the head-on gap that had been cleared the first time. "Feint and Fire Fang."

The Dark-type broke into a run, heading to the right side first and keeping wigglytuff focused on her by sending an Ember to do just that. A feigned move in was met with a Focus Blast that missed miserably, but houndour didn't move in after the attack ended. Instead, she did as they had practised: wait patiently, identify the weaknesses, and then pounce.

It was only after the fifth Focus Blast – each weaker than the previous as Holly's Pokémon caught on to the trick houndour was using – that Danny's Dark-type moved in. With an unearthly howl and a mighty leap, she jumped forward, and before the Fairy-type could react, there were fangs in its chubby body.

And then the Thunderbolt appeared, forcing houndour to let go just long enough for wigglytuff to try a Double Slap, and things got frantic in melee.

At first, Danny's Pokémon could do nothing but dodge; even moving away was a foolish move because of all the water nearby – it'd just electrocute her or she'd be a fine target in mid-air. Slowly, however, she managed to get in small exchanges between the ducking, rolling, side-jumping, and other tricks that kept her mostly safe. Embers, mostly, after one attempt at using Foul Play to use the wigglytuff's strength against it ended with houndour being flipped over herself.

It was hard to figure out who got out better once the Dark-type started snapping and firing back. Wigglytuff didn't hit as often due to the agility and the smaller profile, but it was not faltering in its relentless tries to hit houndour. Danny's Pokémon, on the other hand, wasn't really able to do everything she wanted: Danny saw her rear left paw drag a bit a few times – it was where the Focus Blast had hit earlier, and there might've been a bad landing on it too after the Foul Play went wrong. He hadn't been able to see that.

With a mighty howl, houndour jumped in for another Fire Fang, but the howl cost time, and it was just enough time for wigglytuff to summon a Dazzling Gleam. The aura suffused the Fairy-type, which then bit into the Dark-type as if she had been burned. She fell off, claws raking across the wigglytuff's stomach, but as the gleam faded, yellow replaced it, and with a quick punch, houndour ended up in the puddles she had created earlier.

The Thunderbolt knocked houndour out.

The knock-out wasn't really a surprise, but Danny did start as he realised that this was one of the first – the first? - times that he had been in a position where the opposing Gym Leader could counter his second Pokémon.

It didn't really complicate matters. He had to deal with the wigglytuff first, and from what he had seen, there was one Pokémon who would probably work best to start out and who also had the option to just grind out anything strong against it.

Magnemite beeped neutrally as it came out, sparks on its magnets from the lack of discharging Danny had had it do in the days before, just in case he had need of the Mauville Power Plant Pokémon.

"Keep it quick," Danny advised as the battle resumed, and magnemite obeyed, sending out a tentative pair of Mirror Shots to scout wigglytuff's defences while moving closer.

It dodged. Awkwardly, too, wobbling as it nearly overbalanced before righting itself. Neither magnemite nor Danny used the opening, though – it was too surprising to see.

Danny noticed where the Fairy-type was standing now, though. "Lock On Mirror Shot," he ordered quickly. "Powerful. Then strike."

Off-grey energy met the blinding Focus Blast, but that was the distraction. As the explosion happened, blocking Danny's sight of wigglytuff, and its sight of magnemite, electricity danced on the magnets, striking not the Pokémon itself – the bulk insulated a bit – but the ground at its feet, forcing a jerking reaction as the water was very uncomfortable to stand in.

A thud announced that the wigglytuff had fallen over in its attempt to get out of the water, and that made it an easy target for another Mirror Shot – to the temple, right onto a blister, if Danny saw correctly.

It was enough, and Holly returned her Pokémon the instant that the referee threw the green flag up. A new Pokémon joined immediately after; actually being thrown in as wigglytuff was returned, and it was one that Danny had never, ever, seen before.

Shiinotic, the Illuminating Pokémon. Forests where shiinotic live are dangerous to enter at night. People confused by its strange lights may never find their way home again.

Alolan Pokémon, Grass and Fairy hybrid… They had some weird things over there in the ocean.

The strange lights meant Confuse Ray was on the menu, which in turn meant that magnemite would have to keep distance or risk falling prey to that. He could work with that, and he told his Pokémon the same thing: to stick at range and to give it a taste of its own medicine.

Supersonic did land, but curiously, the shiinotic didn't move from where it was standing at all. That was suspicious, and Danny focused on the white-pink Pokémon, only to see green tendrils reaching into the ground.

Danny quickly knelt, running fingers over the ground, but only finding it to be the standard arena soil. That was nutrient poor – Ingrain wouldn't do anything – but with the Gym Leader's Pokémon using it… There had to be something to drain from the ground underneath.

And with no way to figure out how big it was, or any way to really sever the roots – they'd just get reapplied and Mirror Shot was a poor best option – Danny was again forced to be the aggressor. Annoying. "Mirror Shot, keep the confusion."

At least the Supersonic had hit – although Ingrain didn't really need anything beyond sending roots out, not exactly the hardest thing. Magnemite swerved a bit to throw the shiinotic off, launched another Mirror Shot, and Danny wasn't seeing anything that looked like a block.

Except then a Dazzling Gleam aura burst into life, and though it was pierced by the Mirror Shot – Steel being effective into Fairy-type energy – it was also enough to weaken the attack to the point where the small Pokémon didn't even waver too much.

A second Mirror Shot met with the exact same fate. "Come back here," Danny ordered, wanting to see if the Pokémon would launch an attack back, even as he started to think about what Holly's strategy could be.

There was something really fishy about the Pokémon just taking everything; Holly feeding it the information it needed to throw up an aura of Fairy-type energy to block incoming blows. Was there another healing move in its arsenal? Or maybe it knew something like Reversal or Endeavour – moves that got more powerful as the user became more fatigued. There had to be a plan, but for one of the first times in his life, Danny wasn't seeing it.

"Challenger, please make an offensive move."

The referee's words knocked Danny out of his thinking. It wasn't an official warning, but it was the prelude to one, and losing a match because you weren't willing to deal with the challenge of the Gym meant that you probably weren't allowed back in. "Thunder Wave."

The Dazzling Gleam was brighter, diminishing the electricity to the point where Danny doubted it'd paralyse a newborn wurmple. That wasn't going to work either.

Thunderbolt at least worked in getting through, but Mirror Shot probably did more work. Still, it was something to keep in mind as he gathered more and more information on how to bring down the stalling Pokémon.

Supersonic was met with another Dazzling Gleam, but a Sonicboom sent after it made sure the attack at least blew up in the Grass-type's face.

Then green tendrils reached out towards magnemite, who moved for the first time in what must've been a minute as the Giga Drain sought to rejuvenate Holly's Pokémon.

The Electric-type dealt with it by electrifying itself and then cancelling its levitation to cut the edges of the tendrils as they tried to avoid being caught by any counter magnemite could throw out, and the shiinotic recoiled a bit as the shock made its way back.

Then it started glowing pink, drawing in all the natural light in the room somehow. It made the Mirror Shot stand out more, but shiinotic cared not, taking the attack as the light created an impression of the moon overhead; soft white light mixing with the overhead yellow light to create an unearthly visual.

And shiinotic would be able to harness that Moonlight for healing.

Moonlight, Ingrain, Giga Drain. If it weren't for the fact that magnemite was Steel-type and shiinotic was Fairy-type, Danny would've put money on a poisoning move in its moveset somewhere as well. It was a stall Pokémon through and through, and magnemite didn't have the reserves to sustain through everything.

That left just the kitchen sink approach, as Max had called his gardevoir's holding off of Lance's dragonite. "Mirror Shot, put everything into it. And I mean everything," he added to make sure that magnemite understood what he was trying to do. "One shot only."

The magnet was unopposed in getting a good position in the middle distance from the shiinotic – far enough away that Giga Drain wouldn't easily hit – and it started to channel a Mirror Shot; wider than any Danny had ever seen before.

An Energy Ball tried to disrupt it, but the massive Mirror Shot obliterated that, forcing out a Protect – of course it knew Protect – from the shiinotic. The green shield visibly wobbled under the Steel-type energy, but Danny was an expect on Protects. It was probably going to hold, or if it shattered, there wouldn't be enough in it to knock shiinotic out in one shot.

And just as Danny was about to resign himself to having to do this again at a later date – another bright glow appeared in the arena, and it wasn't the grey of the vanishing Mirror Shot.

It was the blinding white of evolution.

Magneton started moving before the evolution was even finished, immediately sending out a triple Lock On as its three magnets all did the same thing – they all connected with the shiinotic, which was using the time to try and siphon energy out of the Moonlight up above.

Then three small yellow-green orbs appeared on the ends of each pair of magnets. He'd seen those before, and magneton held the Zap Cannon for a moment to push more electricity into it. Then, they released; not quite simultaneously, but Danny instantly realised that was good.

The Protect came out, but as the first ball of Zap Cannon slammed into it, the shiinotic had to take a step back from energy recoil. Then the second one hit, causing the Grass-type to lose balance, only held half-upright by the Ingrain.

And the third pushed through, hitting, paralysing, and generally overwhelming all and any form of natural defence. Resistant wasn't immune, and Zap Cannon was one heck of a powerful move. "Don't let it recover!"

The Electric-type coated itself in electricity as it zoomed towards the fallen shiinotic that was struggling to get up between the paralysis and the awkward position from the Ingrain. The Dazzling Gleam it tried to defend with – because there was no way that Energy Ball was going to go anywhere Holly wanted – wasn't nearly enough. With a slam that kicked up more than a bit of dirt, the roots broke, the shiinotic fell backwards, and a heavier Pokémon electrified and tried to flatten it.

"Lucky timing," Danny muttered as the referee ruled him the winner. Magneton flew up, but the flight was distinctly wobbly, causing the teenager to return it. He'd go deal with some of the issues he'd already seen later. "Take a good rest.'

He joined the others, but before they could do more than congratulate Danny, Holly was close by, holding out a hand as soon as she came close enough. "I have to wonder," she said after the shake – her grip was surprisingly strong, and Danny wriggled his fingers for comfort. "Is there a houndour hiding on your belt as well, Max?"

Evan burst out in laughter, and Danny felt his lips tilt upwards at the idea of Max with a Dark-type. Even knowing what he knew, it was still amusing. "Vulpix and manectric are plenty enough for me," Max said, shrugging. "Don't have any Dark-types, actually."

"Not every type clicks with everyone," the Gym Leader said. "But after seeing two of them, I was wondering."

"Another friend of ours has one, does that count?" Danny asked, remembering Jane's laid-back houndour. "Though she's up in Sinnoh."

"Then no," came the reply, but it was delivered with a confident grin to take the sting away. "You performed well; all of you. Perhaps a bit lucky with the evolution at the end, but it was clearly close to it anyway. And as my grandfather used to say: power comes in response to need." Another confident grin. "You needed it, and you got it. The Fey Badge is yours."

On cue, an azumarill waddled up, presenting them with a small box. Three round badges were inside: varying shades of green and a bit of a bump giving Danny the idea of a low hill. Everyone pocketed one of them. "I was thinking I was going to have to come back next week."

"Honestly? Tomorrow would've been fine," Holly replied, shrugging when she saw Danny's surprise. "You understood the challenge. You did everything in your power to try to stop it. Such a loss should not be penalised with a week's introspection."

~~§~~§~~

"So you always do this?" Evan asked as Danny spread the cloth out onto the wet ground. There'd been a shower while they had been in the Gym, and the sky looked like it might drop some more rain.

Max sent baltoy out quietly, and him glancing upwards was enough for the brown Pokémon to understand, he knew. After being together for over two years, a lot had just become ingrained and expected.

Case in point: baltoy quickly securing the cloth with a quickly summoned rock, before the wind could blow it away. "It's only our third one," Danny said, thanking baltoy silently. "Had one after Ecruteak, after Mahogany, and now here."

"Why not after Blackthorn?"

"Because we had lunch inside, discussing a lot of battle strategies," Max replied, remembering belatedly that he hadn't told Evan about the details of how their Blackthorn challenge had gone. It was followed by realising that it was probably not the best idea to mention Reginald was there. "Both matches were recorded, and, well… things were unorthodox."

"Unortho-whatsit?"

"Unorthodox. Means unusual or uncommon," Danny supplied before dropping his basket on the ground with a small thud. "I had a three aside Double Battle with some of my most powerful Pokémon. Max had a one-on-three and destroyed the arena in the process."

Max hoped that Danny would go along with the lie he was about to craft about why Lance had shown up. "Lance was in town and he was.. Well, he wanted to know what I could do. How much I'd improved after fighting off yveltal and all that," he told Evan, whose eyes widened almost comically. "So he had me go up against one of his Pokémon. It was one of his aces."

"It was," Danny confirmed for Evan as thunder echoed in the distance. Manectric didn't even need the tap on the pokéball to come out. "He used a fire-based dragonite in the fight he had with the Champion League winner. Took out one Pokémon and weakened a second."

"And you defeated that?!"

It was a miracle Evan's voice didn't crack with how surprised he sounded. Time to find out of it could. "I didn't."

"But you..." his cousin started, before coughing just as his voice was reaching heights it hadn't reached in years. "But you have the badge, right?" he continued at a slightly more normal pitch. "Was it a tie?"

"Lance felt his dragonite was too tired to continue," Danny jumped back into the conversation. "Still think you could've won if you'd been able to draw the fight out a bit longer."

"Mega manectric and gardevoir are strong," Max pre-emptively answered. "Sceptile's the only one who's close, but his strengths are very different and not at all good for fighting dragonite." He manipulated his starter's pokéball. "But when you can give Mega aggron a good run in close combat, that's all good."

More Pokémon came out: poochyena, spritzee, helioptie all settling down nearby. Until thunder cracked again, that was, and Max saw Danny's other Electric-type shuffle over to manectric. "Enough about us," Danny said as he opened one salad-filled box. "Where are you going now? You already have the Void Badge. Which Kanto ones do you need?"

A noise of agreement. "Skipped Pewter after shorty told me to," Evan said, and Max rolled his eyes. It felt forced. "Beat Cerulean, Saffron, Celadon and then went to Viridian."

Skipping the Electric-type Gym was understandable with Evan's team. He had three Pokémon outright weak to electricity, and houndour was caught near Viridian. "So you need two of Pewter, Cinnabar, Fuchsia, and Vermillion," Max listed as he put his share of the boxes on the ground: attempts at some of the simpler rice balls Brock always made. "Which ones do you want to go to?"

"Well… Kind of want to watch you in the Silver Conference," his cousin admitted sheepishly, and Max felt a smile appear. "Pewter and Cinnabar seem easiest for that. Especially if I can hitch a ride?"

"You'll have to ask gardevoir or xatu," Max replied drily, before looking off to the side, noticing baltoy's eye slits glowing for a moment. The light overhead changed a bit. "And Pewter is closer."

"Guess I'll go Cinnabar first." The youngest of them eyed the food, and Max could hear the rumble of his stomach. None of them had eaten much since a half-hearted brunch thanks to the one o'clock battles. "How come you're so good at cooking and stuff?"

Danny laughed as he grabbed one of the paper plates, throwing some food on it. "You haven't had any yet," he said with fake modesty. "And it's called practice."

"It's always practice," Max added, grinning when he saw a scowl appear on the short-haired teenager's face, and then taking a few bites of a cold pasta salad. It was pretty good, but it missed something to bite down on.

"Thought you said both of you cooked? Back at your parents' anniversary?"

Had he said that? Probably. They'd basically spent the entire evening together and it all kinda blurred. "That was a year and a half ago. Things change."

"Except your voice."

He wanted to be mad, Max really did, but he couldn't find it in himself. Jirachi, he was going to miss his cousin's antics, even if he was lazier than a munchlax after food.

~~§~~§~~

Nearly summer and it was raining. Raining, raining, raining. Keith was getting tired of the rain that had kept them in Hearthome. It wasn't like there was nothing to do or anything, but they just couldn't leave where they wanted to go. All the nearby mountain passes had been closed due to rock slide danger from territorial Pokémon and the rain alike, and as Keith moved through the Center, shopping bag in hand, he was reminded of that. It was full.

And somehow, his girlfriend wasn't affected by it at all. She loved Hearthome and the fact that there was an art shop two minutes away from the Center they were staying at. There had been a ton of drawings that she'd made recently; some for herself, and some for others. Keith had delivered a few to Nurse Joy for sending home to their parents.

She wasn't in the room when Keith entered, and on a whim, he walked over to the empty desk, wanting to see what she was working on. From afar, it didn't look like the one she'd been working on when he left, because that one was blue at the top and this one wasn't.

What he saw took him aback.

It was a picture of, well… him. Standing on something that looked like stairs, pointing at something in the distance. His face – and she really got every detail in there, down to a healing pimple underneath his right eye – was contorted in anger and concentration. There were pencil lines on there too, but Keith didn't know what for.

"Should I draw a suit of shining armour for you?"

Jane giggled when Keith jumped up in response, the bag falling to the floor. "Groudon, how are you so silent?" he asked as he grabbed the socks and the snacks he'd also picked up.

"A lady doesn't reveal her secrets," Jane said, moving over, turning the paper upside down before walking towards Keith's bed. "So, any guesses what the background is going to be?"

"Probably something in a city," Keith replied as they both sat down, throwing an arm around his girlfriend. She responded by sending two fingers into his side, and he let go. "Really wish I wasn't ticklish."

Jane grinned, sheer mirth on her face. "Liar," she accused, truthfully. "You're right. It's in a city. Geosenge."

Keith bit down on his first impulse. Jane had told him a while back that she'd started to try and get an idea worked out in good detail before she began working on the drawings. There was a reason for it. "Why Geosenge?"

"Because I felt like it," Jane replied, to Keith's confusion. "It's just inspiration, dummy. I had an idea about this last week: to make drawings of everyone who was there." She grabbed his hand. "And I started with my favourite. And the easiest."

He gently squeezed her hand. "Wouldn't it be easier to draw yourself?"

Jane shook her head. "Nah. Easier than most of the group, but I see you nearly all the time. I only see myself in a mirror."

That made sense. A lot, actually. "So, you're going to draw yourself next? Why not?" he added when she shook her head.

"Don't have a good background idea yet," Jane told him. "If I finish this before we leave to Oreburgh, then I'm going to work on Max's."

"What're you going to do with him? And what's the background you're using for me?" Keith asked.

Jane pulled her feet onto the bed, kicking off her shoes. "Well, you're at the City Hall. That's what the stairs are. So it's going to be you, on the stairs, looking at the square where all the Pokémon are fighting and being all heroic."

"I'm no – uummph!"

"We all are," Jane said, taking her hand off of Keith's mouth and giving him a quick kiss on the lips. "And you're my hero and my boyfriend. That's all the reason I need."

He was never going to understand how girls worked, but he wasn't going to complain. "I'm not convinced yet," he said, smirking.

"Later," Jane said, even though she followed it up with a peck on his cheek. "Max's drawing is going to have yveltal in there, but as a shadow. And it's going to be all destroyed houses and stuff around him."

"And manectric?" Keith asked.

A shake. "No. Just humans. If I wanted to add Pokémon, I wouldn't know where to stop. Makes it harder."

That was something he understood. Using more than four colours to paint a miniature was always hit or miss for him, just because he wasn't sure if he'd gotten the details right. Keeping it simple worked. "I'm sure Max is going to love it. And the others are, too. What?" he asked when he saw Jane's smile falter.

"I… You think they'll like it?" she asked Keith, leaning forward, gorgeous eyes boring into his. "I… It's just that they don't really want to talk about it. Wouldn't it remind them? Or even accept them? I was thinking about making one of the Grand Champions too..."

"Of course!" Keith said. "That drawing you made for Max, Yule before last? That was still hanging in the Maple living room before we left for here. He loved it! And it's not like the famous Grand Champions won't have received any drawings before." An idea jumped into his brain. "In fact… The moment you finish the one of me, I'm going to buy another tube and ask Mum to hang it up in my room in the nicest frame she can find. So I can remember it, forever. And I'll help you with ideas for the others, too!"

His enthusiasm made Jane smile radiantly, and she pounced on him, hugging him hard. "Thank you," she whispered into his ear before giving him a searing kiss that ended all too abruptly. "I'll continue it right now!"

~~§~~§~~

Danny found both of the others waiting for him when he arrived in Pallet; where the sun was not fully hidden behind clouds. He returned xatu, cast a glance around, and saw that there was a tractor nearby, pulling a cart with some metal beams. "I thought you might take the chance to to test aggron while I was here."

"More data is more data," Gary said as Danny shook both his and Ash's hands. "And just on the off chance of Max wanting to know, we can let him know now. Anyway, you wanted to talk about him, so talk."

Nothing for it. "Since November, Max has been feeling something around some Pokémon," he started, having long decided that he was going to do this in proper order, as logically as he could. "We first found out with dusclops and drapion, but by now, it's basically all Dark and Ghost-type Pokémon above a certain strength. It's not familiarity either: he told me how he just knew where a hiding houndoom was in a Trainer battle last night. It was like eight feet away, but the Smog was blacker than Gary's shirt."

"Is he still awkward around Dark-type Pokémon?"

Danny shook his head at Ash's question. "No. He just seems more aware of them and attacks of those types. I had litwick use Confuse Ray on his back last weekend and he noticed before it connected."

Ash seemed surprised by the admission that they were doing that, but it was Gary who spoke up first. "So you're saying he's more sensitive to these types and it doesn't come from extended working with them?" he asked.

"Eh… He doesn't have any Dark-types, and only doublade for a Ghost-type," Danny said, unsure where the confident scientist was going with this. "I guess sensitivity works as well as anything."

Gary nodded, but Danny had the feeling his answer hadn't been what had been expected. "Is it going to mean anything for Max?" Ash wondered, looking at his fellow Pallet Town native.

"Unlikely. Perhaps a large group of powerful and hostile Dark-types could evoke flashbacks, but that is more psychology than anything else." The brunet shrugged smoothly. "I concur with the observations, by the way. He seemed acutely aware of where umbreon was last week."

"So… He's fine?" Ash asked.

Gary scoffed as Danny was inclined to agree. "Apart from being forced out of his home country, nearly getting kidnapped last week, and having a run-in with a Greater Legendary… He's fine by your standards, yes," he finished with a significant look at Danny. "Does he know? Consciously?"

"No." Danny was completely sure of that. "He just thinks he's more used to things from, well… Years and years of practice." He attempted to give Ash a significant look of his own. "You think I should tell him?"

"That's up for you to decide," Gary told him. "But we won't get further on understanding it without him knowing, so that's my bit. Now, I'm assuming aggron's with you considering I didn't see him on the ranch today?"

~~§~~§~~§~~§~~

In an attempt to boost its audience, the Indigo Grand Festival will now take place over four days and ending on the first Sunday of August. For this year's edition, this means that the start is on Thursday July 31st. Coordinators seeking to participate in the Grand Festival will have until the 29th to register at an Indigo Plateau Pokémon Center, though earlier is always recommended.