(Note: this is today's second chapter.)
"Whoa!" Max said, awed.
The dust hid the events actually in the battle area itself, but there was a more immediate concern – shrapnel. Bits of arena floor going flying in all directions, including some towards the crowd.
Then they all stopped moving, held in mid-air by psychic energy.
Misty's Psyduck frowned, giving Norman a look. You know, the Pokemon League had a Linespokemon who got paid for this service.
"Blame Ash Ketchum, he's the one who attracted such a big crowd," Norman said with a grin. "I'm just the referee, it's not my gym." His expression turned more serious. "Seriously, though, thank you."
Pleasure.
With that, the bits of floor that used to be the arena went clattering to the floor, and the audience tried to see through the dust at the results of what had been going on within.
"There you are!" Lucario called, kicking off from the spire and heading straight down at the abruptly non-hidden Gengar – who looked quite startled that his underground hiding place had just turned into a crater.
He tried to leave, flying off to the side of the crater to disappear back underground, but a pair of glowing shadow claws on each arm gave Lucario the relative solidity he needed to hold Gengar in place and stop him from escaping.
"Dark Pulse!"
The attack hit at point-blank range, and Gengar winced but kept struggling. A second attack, though, was finally too much and he went limp, then dissolved back into his Pokeball.
"That's three down," Norman announced. "We're going to change the field now – to a Water field."
Pipes began to fill the crater from below, and Lucario hopped up to the top level with one paw steadying his passenger. He stared the still-active Ditto down warily.
"Venusaur!" Drake called from overhead.
Lucario glanced across at Pikachu, who looked terrible. "Okay, I think we both know what Ash has left."
Pikachu nodded, wincing as the Curse drained the dregs of his energy and he fought to stay conscious.
"We need that Ditto taken out," Lucario continued as the Venusaur materialized at the edge of the new water pool. She immediately began gathering light for a Solarbeam attack, but Lucario ignored her for the moment. "Having him around is too dangerous for the others. Pikachu... use Tackle."
Pikachu raised his head. "Wait, what? You're not going to-"
Lucario used Fling.
Drake gaped as a ballistic Electric Mouse hit his Ditto, sending him flying clear out of the arena – and, by the way he reverted to pink goo, knocking him out to boot.
"I've got to admit, Ash," he said, nodding with respect. "You're a tough trainer, and your Pokemon know your stuff. This is the first time in ages someone's fought far enough to reach my Dragonite without my leading off with him. Dragonite, go!"
As the Dragon/Flying type materialized, Pikachu pointed in the direction Ditto had gone. "That's... what you get for... plagiarism."
Then he fell over.
"Do we have to change the arena again?" Ash asked, as Psyduck retrieved Pikachu from the field. "I mean, I know I just lost my third Pokemon, but we did only just change it to Water..."
"I'm... not sure." Norman thought it over. "We can forgo it this time, I think."
"Great." Ash glanced between two Pokeballs, then came to a decision. "Charizard!"
Charizard erupted from his Pokeball, and took in the situation at a glance.
"Right!" he said, giving Dragonite the eye. "You're going down."
Dragonite regarded him calmly, hovering in mid-air over the pool of water. His skin pulsed with a faint inner light, periodically strengthening.
Lucario stepped forwards onto the water, a slight blue glow to the feet the only outward sign of how he was staying up. "Your aura is impressively strong."
He frowned. "And getting stronger...aha!"
Lucario's paws swept forward, launching a Dragon Pulse.
"I should have known!" Drake complimented, as his Dragonite moved out of the way with impressive speed and continued his near-stationary Dragon Dance. "You clearly do your research, Ash Ketchum. You're ready for my dragon-type!"
Charizard's wings spread with a crackling of scales, and he jumped into the sky. Hammering at the air, he rose, dwindling to a speck in only a few seconds.
Dragonite left off his Dance, jumping after the orange dragon and speeding into the air himself.
"It seems we have been left to our own devices," Lucario said formally.
Venusaur grunted, and released the Solarbeam she'd been charging.
Lucario cancelled his water-walk, and dropped under the water as the blast of light came in. He sank like a stone to the bottom of the pool, and waited until the Solarbeam had vented itself on the upper waters.
The water temperature perceptibly increased.
When that was done, Lucario's paws churned the water and he swam back up. Emerging into the air in a shower of spray and landing on the water, he blocked – mostly – a quick Razor Leaf attack from his foe and fired off a Flash Cannon to keep her honest.
Venusaur shielded with her vines, and Lucario took the opportunity to look up at the overhead battle.
As he'd expected, gouts of flame and lightning pocked the heavens. Even as he watched, Charizard got in a hit with a Dragonbreath, and took a nasty Thunderbolt attack in return. Dragonite then followed that up with a Water Gun, which Charizard evaded by standing on one wing and turning almost back on himself.
Lucario returned his attention to the ground fight.
Venusaur shook her vines out again, and then launched a half-dozen Leech Seeds in a broad spread.
Lucario's first response was to go into a crouched, one-palm-down stance on the water's surface. He then forced Aura out his feet, and moved in towards his opponent in a great shower of spray – going under and thus evading the seeds.
Venusaur was unprepared for the sudden closing of the range, and hesitated. Lucario put that hesitation to good use, snagging one of her vines and using it as an anchor to pull himself further in.
When at close range, he delivered two quick Force Palms – which were mostly absorbed by the thick foliage, but still elicited a grunt of pain – and then a more general physical blow.
The Grass-type gave him a scowl, and her flower pulsed.
Lucario jumped, recognizing the attack, and only his leg was caught by the eruption of roots from a Frenzy Plant.
He glanced up as he struggled, then went back to what he was doing and punched the thick roots hard enough to crack them. Working with a focused speed, he broke the one keeping his leg trapped – though not before it made some nasty bruises – and dove from there back into the water.
Venusaur lumbered forwards, about to try a Mega Drain into the pool itself, but then noticed what was coming from overhead.
Lucario held his breath as orange light covered the surface of the pool, licking across in sheets of flame. The water temperature went rapidly to an uncomfortably high level, and kept rising as whatever Fire-type attack was going on up there played across it.
Eventually, it abated, and Lucario lunged for the air again.
Emerging from the steaming water (in a noticeably lower pool), he found himself in humid air amidst a cloud of thick steam, with the ground around noticeably calcined.
"You don't go halfway, do you?" he asked Charizard, seeing his silhouette.
"I stopped as soon as she fainted," Charizard replied, sounding quite hurt. "Then Dragonite hit me with an Aqua Tail."
Lucario raised a paw, and fired a Dragon Pulse into the sky. "Missed," he reported. "Detect, I think."
Dragonite circled for a few seconds more, waiting for the steam to clear.
When it did, he ran through his options, and decided to capitalize on his Dragon Dances to remove one enemy as quickly as possible.
The choice of how was easy, and he turned over and dove with stunning speed.
"-whoa!" Lucario said, as Dragonite blurred downwards.
His arms came up, and he launched off a Dragon Pulse. Charizard contributed with a Dragonbreath, but Dragonite flew straight through the Dragon Pulse – accepting the damage – and used Protect to get past the Dragonbreath before ramming into the stadium floor.
The ground heaved.
Lucario staggered as the Earthquake move hit him, forcing him to focus all his attention into staying on his feet, and the follow-up Focus Blast sent him sprawling.
Dragonite broke off for a moment to Thunder Charizard, which let Lucario get back to his feet, but a Fire Punch was the final straw – Lucario's attempt to Counter it instead of blocking failed, as the blow sent him sailing into the air and he landed unconscious on the floor.
Ash had had more thinking time than his Pokemon, on account of not having a dragon to the face to deal with. He had both Pokeballs ready, using one to return Lucario as soon as he landed, and then took the final Pokeball for this match and threw it.
Lapras opened fire as soon as he materialized, the Ice Beam hitting Dragonite in the side and producing a patch of iced-up skin. Two more attacks hit, one on the wingtip and one on the tail, before Dragonite was able to regain height using his enhanced speed and get out of the way.
He used a Hydro Pump to cool the still-warm ground, keeping an eye on Dragonite, and turned his attention to Charizard. "You okay?"
"Mostly," Charizard replied. "A few electrical shocks, but I can still fight."
"Good." Lapras looked up, and fired a few more Ice Beams. They were close, but Dragonite managed to dodge them successfully. "I can't hit him when he's this fast."
"I'll handle that." Charizard looked eager for it. "Just be ready, and try to not hit me."
With that, he lunged skywards.
Charizard noticed, as he reached altitude, that Dragonite was looking better than he had been.
Suspiciously well, in fact.
"I really should learn that move," he commented. "I hate it when other Pokemon use Roost."
Dragonite shrugged. "It's legitimate." With that, he came forward in a slashing attack run.
Charizard inhaled, and released a roaring gout of Dragonbreath. Unlike previously, this one he just kept breathing and breathing and breathing, rolling his neck around and producing a sphere of fire as a Counter Shield.
Dragonite veered off, unwilling to enter the danger zone at speed, and elected to wait Charizard's lung capacity out – because, no matter how strong, Charizard couldn't simply keep going forever.
His judgement was correct – Charizard did have to drop the shield. But he did so on his own terms, stopping marginally before he had to and using the last gasp of breath to give Dragonite a nasty score when he resumed his attack.
Dragonite flew a little further off after that sting, and circled at a distance, using his superior speed to keep the range open and fire off stinging Thunder attacks – most of which Charizard avoided, but not all.
The only thing that really complicated Dragonite's situation was the occasional bolt of ice from Lapras, who was slowly but steadily improving his aim.
Then the ice beams stopped.
Dragonite looked down for a moment, curious, and saw Lapras was beating his flippers gently – in time – and seemed to be glowing.
An Aurora Beam speared skywards, past Dragonite at a fair distance, and hit a cloud overhead.
It began to hail.
Dragonite winced, the cold hailstones beating against his vulnerable body and face, and slowed so that they wouldn't hit his front too hard.
"Aha!"
Charizard came through the hail in a great blundering rush, a Flare Blitz engulfing him, and cancelled the fiery shield just before he collided with Dragonite. Dragon Claws let him latch on, and a point-blank Dragonbreath struck Dragonite in the small of the back before Drake's Pokemon retaliated with a Thunder Wave.
Wincing as the electricity crackled over his body, Charizard tightened his grip with all his strength, and fouled Dragonite's wings with his own.
Unaided, Dragonite's levitation alone was not enough to keep both of them in the air, and they began to plummet.
"Seismic Toss," Charizard managed to get out, tail lashing in the airstream. "Lapras! Now!"
Dragonite finally realized what was going on.
Charizard was using a heavy Iron Tail to manipulate their descent. Specifically, he was making them both plunge directly towards Lapras – offering Lapras a zero-deflection shot, one which was guaranteed to hit.
The Transport Pokemon took it with all four flippers, and fired a continuous Ice Beam attack.
It broke around both plunging dragons, injuring Charizard but burning through Dragonite's energy far more quickly, eroding his Dragon Dance's advantage and cloaking him in a thin film of ice.
Dragonite tried to knock Charizard out so he could break free, but the burly orange Fire-type clung grimly on as they dropped through the sky.
Lapras was still firing when about a third of a ton of Pokemon landed on him.
Ash used his Aura vision to see through the cloud of spray and diamond-dust, trying to see how his Pokemon were.
Lapras was out of it, that much was obvious – resilient he may have been, but that much dragon at that high a speed was too much for him, especially with Dragonite's Thunderpunches grounding into him.
Charizard, on the other hand, was still standing – though exhausted.
As was Dragonite, amazingly. As the cloud cleared, it was obvious that his wings were iced up beyond any chance of flight, and his whiskers were sheened with frost – but he was still standing.
"You just don't... give up, do you?" Charizard asked, breathing heavily.
The plunge hadn't done him much good, either. There was a layer of ice on his own wings, though that was melting, and he had quite a headache from the impact of landing.
He tried to summon up the fire for one more Flamethrower, to decide the match – but none was forthcoming. His element was spent, largely by the ice if he was any judge.
Reaching deeper, however, something else responded.
"...oh." Charizard blinked. "So that's how it works."
He inhaled, and a ball of orange energy grew in his mouth. It was a small one, barely reaching six inches across by the time it stopped growing, and he released it with obvious effort.
Rather than going straight for Dragonite, however, it went up.
"Wait..." Ash said, looking closer. "That looks... familiar..."
The globe exploded, releasing dozens of smaller fragments which rained down trailing mystical orange fire.
Completely taken by surprise by the unexpected nature of the attack, Dragonite was unable to put up his Protect in time, and the anaemic Draco Meteor was sufficient to finally knock him unconscious.
"Huh," Ash said, that being about the only response he could come up with to express how he felt about that.
Then he blinked, counting under his breath.
Reaching a conclusion, he punched the air. "Yes! I won! Nice work, Charizard!"
Charizard glanced back at him, and roared in triumph.
Everyone else was just too busy staring at the ravaged battlefield.
Norman shook his head, and coughed. "Ahem. Ash Ketchum is the winner!"
Scattered applause grew, until it became a thunderous crescendo.
"Nice work, Ash," Drake said, coming up to shake his hand. "No-one else has got through my whole team to even face my Dragonite, let alone beaten him, in years!"
Ash chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck with his free hand. "Heh... yeah, sorry about the arena, by the way. I do that a lot."
"I've heard." Drake grinned, tapping the Pokeball resting around his neck. "Dragonite and I don't mind, a good fight is a lot of fun, and – well, like I say, you've got a reputation."
Ash shrugged. "It's the Pokemon, not me. They do the work."
"But you train them," Drake countered. "Dragonite and I have had this argument before."
He waved his hand. "Anyway. Ash Ketchum, as winner of this match you've earned the right to the Winner's Trophy, and to be honoured in the Palace of Victory. We'll sort it out in an hour or so."
The Head Leader winked. "You don't get my job, though."
"That's okay," Ash replied, then thought about what it would mean if he had. "I think I'd rather not have your job even if I had the choice, though – travelling is too much fun."
Drake cricked his neck, and turned. "One hour!" he reminded Ash, as he walked off. "Get your Pokemon healed up, there'll be photos taken."
Ash was about to do so, but then remembered something.
"Dexter," he said, quietly.
Yes? The Pokedex beeped back.
"Can you ask the Professor to send over a Pokedex? Or two. Fully loaded up."
Sending.
"Sir, can I have a moment?" Ash asked, catching up to Norman.
The Normal-type trainer looked around, nodding – a bit puzzled. "Of course. Why, did you have a question?"
His two children both looked a little surprised to see Ash so close, which felt vaguely uncomfortable for Ash. "Well, kind of... first is something a little private."
Norman exchanged a look with his wife. After a moment of silent discussion, she took May and Max a bit further away down the road to the beach – sparking a protest from Max.
"What is it?" Norman repeated, more quietly.
"Okay... this is what you'd call a secret." Ash took a deep breath. "I've travelled in time."
To his credit, Norman didn't visibly react. It wasn't clear whether this was shock, or acceptance – it could have been either. "Go on," he said, voice betraying no emotion.
"I can prove it," Ash went on, rushing his words slightly. "Dexter?"
Dexter knew just what to do. His projector pulsed, and a holographic image appeared – of May, standing at Blaziken's side.
Norman's jaw dropped open at seeing a confident young teen so much like his daughter – but only a few years older. She even had the hat – one they'd got just this very holiday, and which had turned out to be slightly too big for her just yet. "That's... that is May. It has to be. But..."
He took a deep breath. "Okay, I believe you. And – you must have known May in the future, then... but... why tell me?"
"I can... kind of, give people back memories of the future. If I knew them really well, I mean." Ash shrugged helplessly. "I wasn't expecting to meet her – or Max, I knew him too – for another year or so, when I went to Hoenn."
"I've been considering moving to Hoenn," Norman observed neutrally.
"But – well, I guess you must have been here when you weren't the first time, or something. So..."
He frowned, uncertainly. "So, since you're their dad, I thought you'd be the best one to ask about this. Should I do it for them now, or wait?"
Norman considered that, silently, for a good couple of minutes.
After a silence which made Ash shift from foot to foot, he spoke up again. "How did you meet May?"
"My Pikachu blew up her bike." Ash chuckled nervously. "That's how I meet everyone, it sometimes seems."
More silence.
"Alright," Norman said, eventually. "If May ended up that confident, it must have been good for her. Was she a good trainer?"
"She was a coordinator, actually," Ash corrected. "A good one, too."
"Right."
Dexter beeped. Pokedexes are on the way.
"What's that about?" the Gym Leader asked.
"The third option. Oak's Pokedexes are basically not far short of being Porygon. The third option is..." Ash gave a small shrug. "Load two up, one each for Max and May, with the future information, and... well, teach them."
"You've given this a lot of thought," Norman observed.
"I really haven't," Ash replied promptly. "This is really an unexpected opportunity."
"Ash!" Misty called, jogging up. "Your Pokemon are healed!"
Pikachu ran ahead, jumping onto his shoulder.
"Thanks, Misty," Ash replied, accepting the Pokeballs.
"And – Professor Oak sent these through," Misty added, handing over two red Pokedexes. "I don't know why – he said you asked for them?"
She looked over and slightly up, at Norman. "Why-?"
"What were May and Max to you?" Norman asked, interrupting her.
"My friends," Ash replied simply.
"Okay," Norman said. "Go ahead."
Misty looked from Ash to the Gym Leader. "Should I know what's going on here?"
Pikachu shrugged. "I've got a good idea."
"It's great to meet you!" Max said enthusiastically, taking Ash's offered hand and shaking it. "I- huh?"
He blinked. "What just-"
"I'll explain in a moment," Ash said. "I don't want to have to do it twice."
Taking one of the Pokedexes, he handed it to the young boy. The other, he held out to May.
Mystified, she took it.
Then there was a confusing rush of memories. "What just..."
She trailed off, trying to reconcile two sets of memories.
They were mostly fairly similar, including this holiday – the one which had decided her father and mother on moving further south, to Hoenn. But there were – differences.
Mostly involving Ash Ketchum.
Seeing him on television – seeing his Pokemon, small, inoffensive and cute, and unbelievably showy – that had made her attitude to Pokemon... change, slightly.
It had also proven to her that a young trainer could still make it big. She hadn't come to any conclusions, not at the time of this holiday, but... being a Trainer had become a little more than just an excuse to travel.
"Okay, Ash," she said, her stance unconsciously shifting slightly to how she'd grown accustomed to walking a few years later. "Why are we in the past? You didn't run into another Legendary, did you?"
Ash sat down. "This could take a while. Dexter?"
The Porygon obliged, forming visual aids.
"Basically, about the time of the last thing from the future you remember..."
"...and that's about the size of it," Ash finished, about forty minutes later.
He shrugged. "I kind of had to make a snap decision, so I asked your dad. He knows the time-travel thing, by the way."
"Well..." May thought about that. "So, we have to do the whole thing again?"
"I can do the same to your Pokemon, so you'll meet Blaziken again," Ash reassured her. "But... yeah, not much choice."
"It's going to be years until we get to go on our journeys!" Max burst out. "I've been waiting long enough!"
Not necessarily, Dexter put in. It is actually possible to get Pokemon before ten years of age.
"Interested now," May reported.
"Well, you've already got one each." Ash indicated the Pokedexes. "I'm sure they can help you – give them a few days, they'll be Porygon, and then you can work with them."
"Cool!" Max said, inspecting the red device. "They never did this last time!"
You can probably thank me for that, Dexter announced, smugly.
Ash glanced at his watch. "Uh oh – sorry, guys, got to rush. Hall of fame."
"Yeah, yeah," May said, rolling her eyes. "Go ahead, mister Pokemon league champion, sir."
When he had gone, Max and May exchanged glances.
"We seriously need to discuss this with Dad," Max said. "I want to be able to befriend all those Pokemon I met last time properly."
"No kidding," May agreed.
The shutter clicked.
"Yeah, that'll do," Drake judged. "We'll put the photos up when we can pick the best ones."
He clapped Ash on the shoulder, as his Pokemon moved back out of their pose. "It'll be good to have a new face in here..."
Lapras gave Charizard a look. "Incidentally, did you have to land on me?"
"Well, yeah," Charizard replied. "I mean, where else did you want me to land?"
"There was a whole arena!"
"Excuse me for giving you a zero-deflection shot even you couldn't miss."
Pikachu and Lucario regarded their bickering with amusement.
"It's a good thing we never get like that, isn't it?" Pikachu said.
"Indeed. You've been most understanding of my tactical decision to throw you at Ditto."
Pikachu blinked. "Your what?"
"...forget I said anything," Lucario advised.
AN:
And that's the Orange League. Next up, a bit of tidying things up around the archipelago, and then it's heading to Kansai.
