"Welcome to my gym, Ash Ketchum," Bugsy greeted. "I saw you coming, so I hope you don't mind if we do this outdoors."
"Yeah, for some reason Falkner was kind of jumpy as well," Ash said, frowning. "Wonder why..."
"You have a reputation," Misty told him. "My sisters complained about you – and so did I! - and you kind of reinforced the stereotype since then."
"Everything went fine with my gym..." Brock said.
"You're the exception," Misty replied. "Besides, didn't Pikachu punch your Steelix across the room?"
"...I had tried to forget that," Brock admitted.
"Right." Bugsy picked up a box of Pokéballs. "This match will be four Pokémon per person, with two out at a time. Only the challenger is allowed to switch out. Do you have your Pokémon for this fight chosen?"
"Yep!" Ash replied promptly. He turned to Pikachu and Lucario. "Like I said last night, guys."
"Understood."
"Begin!"
Ash held out two 'balls. "Okay! Heracross, Bayleef, time for battle!"
Bayleef nodded. "Got it."
"I'll do my best," Heracross added, taking a stance.
Bugsy released his first two Pokémon, who materialized next to one another.
"That's a Venonat and a Pineco, right?" Brock asked, as the former picked up the latter.
"That's right." Bugsy nodded. "Bugs are varied, which is one of their strengths."
Bayleef frowned. "Okay, let's see... Grass moves aren't great against bugs."
She glanced across at Heracross. "You go for the Pineco."
"Got it." Heracross lumbered forwards.
Bugsy pointed. "Venonat, use Skill Swap!"
Venonat clicked, eyes glowing, and a light passed between it and Pineco. The utility power had just finished when Bayleef's Razor Leaf attack arrived.
The furry Bug was barely inconvenienced at all by the attack, and released Poisonpowder before jumping out of the way as Bayleef tried to Body Slam it.
"Ugh!" Bayleef said, shaking her head as the clouds of poison washed over her. She grimaced, then closed her eyes and concentrated for a bit.
Her bulbs opened slightly, and a soothing scent washed out of them. It countered the purplish poison in the air, and then burned it out of her body as well.
"There," she said, pleased. Then jumped out of the way as Venonat launched a Fury Cutter attack, clipping her foreleg.
"That could be a problem," she observed.
A loud explosion resounded from the other side of the battlefield.
"Are you doing okay?" she called.
"Just fine!" Heracross replied. "I think... this thing keeps exploding!"
He pointed his horn down again, and managed to flip Pineco into the air. "Aha!"
"Gyro Ball!" Bugsy instructed.
Pineco began rotating at blurring speed as it rose, reached the apex, and fell.
"Whoa!" Heracross stumbled, just about managing to avoid contacting the spinning Pokémon, and rolled over until he was standing back upright. "Sneaky!"
Pineco replied by showering spikes in all directions.
"Okay, let's try this!" Heracross brought his forelegs together, and concentrated.
Glowing faintly, a ball of blue energy formed as he brought them apart, then destabilized.
"Oh, dear... okay, second time lucky?"
As Heracross tried to get his Aura Sphere working, Bayleef backed across the battlefield using her vines to deflect attacks from Venonat.
His complicated variety of status attacks weren't doing him any favours, as by now Bayleef was in a constant haze of healing honeysuckle scent from her Aromatherapy, but the odd Signal Beam was a significant threat that had to be stopped with dense showers of leaves or by physically getting in the way of them with her vines.
"Aha!" she said, as she finally managed to get a vine past the mess of conflicting attacks and grab him around the middle. "Now let's see if you-"
Her foot landed on one of the spikes.
"Aagh!" she cried, her grip loosening a bit, and Venonat nearly wiggled free before she got the other vine in to strengthen her grip. "Right!"
She began swinging him into trees and the floor with her vines, producing an interesting array of squeak noises.
"Finally!" Heracross announced, as he got the Aura Sphere working. "Take this!"
The wobbly, poorly stabilized Sphere crossed a now very spike-strewn battlefield, and blew a divot out of the ground underneath Pineco.
"Rapid Spin!" Bugsy ordered.
Pineco spun faster, taking off into the air. It tilted, and began to head for Heracross at high speed.
"Now, use Explosion!"
Heracross dove for cover as the ballistic pine cone went off.
"Does this mean I win?" he asked, once Pineco rolled to a stop – clearly out of it.
Bugsy held out two Pokéballs. "Your turn, Durant!"
"Aren't they from Unova?" Ash asked.
"I know Burgh, he lives there," Bugsy replied. "Good eye, though."
The Bug/Steel type clicked his pincers.
"Finally, something I can hit!" Heracross advanced, and promptly stepped on a spike. "Ow... okay, this could take a while."
Bayleef, meanwhile, was looking curiously at Venonat. "Shouldn't you have been knocked out by now?"
Venonat replied by firing a Psybeam.
Bayleef dodged – and only then realized who was just behind her.
"Sorry!" she called back at Heracross, who'd taken the attack in the side and was visibly staggering. "Try to get over here so I can help protect you!"
Venonat used the distraction to bite his way out of her vines, and then fired a beam of light at Durant – a second Skill Swap.
Heracross lumbered over to Bayleef. "How is this going to work?"
Another Psybeam came in, and got blocked by Bayleef's carefully aimed Razor Leaf. "Like that. Try and use Aura Sphere, I'll keep us both safe."
"Venonat!"Bugsy called. "Use U-turn!"
Venonat shook his antenna, and then launched himself forwards. Heracross blocked the attack with a punch, and knocked it out.
"That was easy," Heracross said. He brought his rear leg up to his horn and tried to pull out a Spike. "Two down, two to go. What now?"
Bugsy released his final Pokémon.
"Oh, neat!" Heracross added. "They're from Hoenn, right?"
"Durant, Entrainment!" Bugsy snapped, pointing at his newly-released Shedinja.
Uh-oh... Dexter observed.
"What?" Ash asked, taking his Pokédex out of his pocket.
I've been keeping track – Bugsy's been passing Sturdy around like a baseball defence. We're in trouble.
"I'll handle this!" Heracross called, charging forwards through the Spikes. He reached Shedinja – and passed through.
"What?" he asked, shaking his head.
"Shedinja's immune to attacks that aren't super effective!" Ash called.
All attacks, Dexter corrected.
"What?" Ash blinked. "What do you mean, all attacks?"
That one just picked up Sturdy instead of Wonder Guard.
Ash worked it out. "Oh."
"What happened?" Misty asked. "I forget how that works."
Shedinja has an extremely small amount of life force, Dexter explained. And the ability Sturdy lets a Pokémon naturally use Endure, retaining at least a small amount of life force so long as it has as much as it can. And for Shedinja, the two thresholds are the same.
"Which means that Shedinja can't actually be hurt by attacks," Ash finished.
He cupped his hands around his mouth. "Heracross! Just get the Durant!"
"Got it!" Heracross replied, dodging a Shadow Ball from the now essentially invincible Shedinja. "Take this!"
Durant scuttled backwards out of the way of a Focus Punch, and an X-Scissor hit him from behind.
"Are you okay, Heracross?" Ash called, worried.
"Yeah!" Heracross replied, as a shower of leaves from Bayleef prevented another attack from reaching him. "I can do this!"
He lunged forwards, crushing Spikes under him, and this time his Focus Punch connected. Durant clicked, then used Guillotine and finally knocked Heracross out.
"Nice work, Heracross," Ash said. "It was a bad matchup, but you did good work."
He took up another Pokéball. "Okay, Quilava!"
Quilava landed between two fields of spikes, and nearly got a Shadow Ball to the face.
Jumping out of the way, she Flamethrowered both her opponents. This had very little effect on Shedinja – protected by Sturdy – but Durant screeched in pain.
Shedinja zoomed in, and hit her in the side as he passed through her.
"Ow!" Quilava said, dancing a half-step sideways.
Her quills flared up again, and she sent out shots of fire. Shedinja dodged them, and hovered back to the centre of the spike field.
"Over here!" Bayleef called. "Hurry!"
"What?" Quilava replied. "Why? I'm – ow!"
"What you are is poisoned!" Bayleef pumped out more Aromatherapy. "You need to get over here so I can heal you!"
Quilava nodded, and launched herself into a somersault. Her quills flashed with flame and dug into the ground, and she spun off – caroming off Spikes and nearly hitting a low hanging tree branch, before skidding to a halt next to Bayleef and coming back out of her Flame Wheel.
She took a breath, and sighed. "Thank you so much, that's much better."
The two female mid-level starters exchanged wary glances with their insectoid opponents.
"What now?" Quilava asked.
"First – you get rid of that Durant," Bayleef decided. "Come over here if you feel any attacks hit at all, they might be Toxic."
Quilava shuddered. "Got it."
Taking another breath of the sweet honeysuckle, she curled up again and reactivated Flame Wheel.
"Your Pokémon are quite good at teamwork," Bugsy observed, as Quilava came in on a Flame Wheel attack. She skidded across a patch of harder ground, leaving embers behind her, and then launched herself at Durant.
The Bug/Steel Type scuttled out of the way, then Shedinja came in and stung her with Toxic again.
Quilava's path became a little more erratic, but she canted around and took a wide, high speed return journey to come to a halt within the Aromatherapy cloud. A few seconds of steady, soothing breath, and she set off again.
"Quilava!" Ash called suddenly. "The Durant used Rock Polish, it's dodging your attacks that way!"
"What do I do, then?" Quilava asked, as she crushed a Spike under her rapidly spinning body and accelerated. "I've got to go faster, right?"
"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "Jump into the air while spinning, and then use Aerial Ace!"
"Got it!"
"Durant!" Bugsy said, realizing what that meant. "Look out!"
Quilava ramped off a tree, spinning up it in a trail of fire and then uncurling and spinning off. In mid-air she rolled back into a ball, spun up again – seemed to hang in mid-air for a moment, and then shot straight at Durant at blurring speed.
"Yes!" Ash called, as the Fire attack connected and knocked Durant out. "Now, keep it up! Use it again, and attack Shedinja as often as you can!"
"That won't work," Bugsy informed him.
"Won't it?" Ash replied, grinning.
Panting, Quilava spun to a halt next to Bayleef. "I'm getting really dizzy now..."
Another breath of honeysuckle, and she smiled. "And that always makes me feel better."
"Just make sure you don't get too dizzy," Bayleef cautioned. "I can't cure everything."
"Right." Quilava took up her stance. "Do you think this is going to work?"
"Eh?" Bayleef blinked. "You mean the battle?"
"Yeah." Quilava shrugged, not taking her eyes off the Shedinja. "I mean... I don't see how this is going to work."
Bayleef nodded. "True. But Ash does, and that's good enough for me."
Quilava observed her out of the corner of one eye. "Did you tell him?"
"...oh, you knew." Bayleef pursed her lips.
"I worked it out."
"Well..." Bayleef shrugged. "He found out. He was quite sympathetic, though... his answer was no."
Quilava nodded solemnly. "I'm sorry."
Then she shot off in another trail of fire, launched herself into the air, and went hurtling forwards in another of those unerring mid-air attacks.
This time, when she hit, there was a flash of orange fire around her target as she passed through. It flinched, and promptly fainted.
"Yes!" Ash said, as Shedinja fell to the floor. "I thought so!"
"...what?" Bugsy asked, watching as Quilava skidded to a stop and flopped on her back, chest heaving. "How did you-?"
"Sometimes – very rarely – Fire type attacks set their target on fire," Ash replied. "I guessed that would still work!"
It seems you were right, Dexter said – a little startled. The progressive injury from the burn bypassed its Sturdy ability. Do you always guess in battle?
"Not always," Ash replied. "Usually."
"Well." Bugsy returned his Shedinja. "I'm kind of glad we held this outside."
Ash took another look at the battlefield.
It was, frankly, a wreck.
Spikes were strewn everywhere, the ground was torn up in long furrows from Razor Leaves, missed Whips and the odd attack from Heracross, a huge pile of broken Spikes covered the centre of the battlefield, Toxic residue hissed on the ground, and most of it was smouldering from dozens upon dozens of Flame Wheel tracks.
And there were the craters from the repeated explosions, too.
"Well done, Ash," Bugsy admitted, shaking his hand. "Your Pokémon are good at adapting to impossible situations, and they work well together – which earns them, and you, the Hive badge."
Ash accepted it, and beamed. "Great!"
He collected Quilava from the battlefield, stepping carefully over the Spikes. "Nice work, Quilava. I think we'll have to remember that attack."
Quilava nodded, yawned, and tapped her Pokéball to return herself.
"Don't you usually use a Scyther, though?" Ash asked, as Bayleef walked over to him with equal care.
"Against you?" Bugsy snorted. "Don't make me laugh. I say the Scyther's my best, but really he's my best against people who haven't won Leagues before."
"...huh," Ash said. "Suppose I'm a victim of my own success, then."
"I know you two are having trouble," Ash said, looking between Sylvester and his duck. "But a lot of new trainers have trouble. Pikachu and I had trouble to begin with!"
Pikachu nodded, and gave Ash a demonstrative zap.
"Think that, but all day," Ash went on, unfazed. "We pretty much hated one another. But then we got into danger, and from then on we were great friends.
"You bet!" Pikachu agreed with a cheerful nod.
"How?" Sylvester asked. "I mean – I'm no good..."
"It's not easy, no," Ash continued. "But that's how you get better – practice."
He changed his gaze to Farfetch'd. "I know it sometimes feels like you know a lot more than your trainer. And that might be true! But... I work with my Pokémon."
Pikachu took over. "He does. Ash keeps an eye out for things we don't notice, and if we have trouble with something he gets us through it."
"Just give him a bit of a chance, okay?" Ash asked.
Farfetch'd considered that, then nodded reluctantly.
"Besides," Ash added. "You know what he means when he says 'Cutting attack'. I'm sure you can work it out."
"Right," Farfetch'd quacked.
"Think that'll work?" Brock asked, as they continued through Ilex.
"I've got no idea," Ash admitted. "Hope it does, though."
He held up the block of sweet-smelling wood they'd been given. "This is probably a good sign, though."
"Hi, guys!" Brock said, waving. "Long time no see!"
"Yeah," Misty agreed. "It feels kind of strange."
"Well, we're glad you're missing us," James said jovially.
"No, more in the sense of peaceful," Misty amended.
"That's cold," Meowth muttered, mock-shivering.
"Anyway, what brings you here?" Ash asked.
"Well." Jessie shrugged. "Lickitung is alright, but you never restored him. And I have to admit, we're missing the big doofus."
"Wobbuffet, right?" Ash shook his head. "How long did you have that guy, anyway?"
"Well, I'd'a said long enough," Meowth groused. Then he shrugged. "Eh, at least we ain't bein' hit by attacks as often when he's around."
"How's everyone?" Ash asked, as they fell into step.
"Well..." James sighed. "Abra's still as lazy as ever."
"He's got an actual book where he works out how ta optimize his sleep regime," Meowth contributed. "O' course, he only works in it five minutes a week..."
"Arbok and Weezing are fine," Jessie said. "I've been training them for contests, and they work well together. Weezing has this lovely line in stage mist, which had everyone applauding."
Meowth sniggered. "And all the other contestants passed out."
"Contests?" Ash asked, then nodded. "That's right, you did those..."
"And I think we did well," Jessie agreed.
"Gyarados gets exercised once a week around the Seafoam Islands," James took up the list. "I don't ask, but he usually comes back looking a bit bruised and quite smug."
"And Victreebell?"
James couldn't answer, because there was a plant on his face.
With calm efficiency, Jessie and Meowth hauled the Victreebell off.
"This," James summarized.
"Wow," Ash said. "He really does just keep latching on, doesn't he..."
"I'm sure Ninetales told you about Growlie," James resumed, returning his Grass-type.
Ninetales nodded, with a small smile.
"And Cubone..."
"She's..." Jessie searched for a tactful way to put it. "Listless."
"We kinda hope da latest mission's gonna perk her up," Meowth added. "We're competin' in da Pokéathlon!"
Ash, Brock, Misty, Pikachu, Lucario and Ninetales all stopped in their tracks.
"You're doing what?" Ash spoke for all of them.
"Why not?" Meowth asked, shrugging. "What's so wrong with dat concept?"
"...well, now I feel kind of silly," Ash admitted. "Because all I've got is "That's stupid..."
"Thanks!" Benny said, clutching the Pokéball. "And I hope you get on well with Wobbuffet, too!"
"I'm sure we will," Jessie replied.
When he'd left, she promptly passed the Pokéball to Ash. "All right, you should definitely be able to restore him, he's been around you for longer than just about any of your companions."
"Not continuously, but yeah." Ash opened the 'ball and gave Wobbuffet a tap.
This didn't change his expression.
"Uh..." Jessie tapped him as well, making him bob gently back and forth. "You awake?"
Wob-wob-wob.
"Alive?"
Finally, Wobbuffet stirred. He looked down at Meowth. "What just happened? Where did the birdie go?"
"Dat was a Woobat, ya doofus," Meowth sighed. "An' welcome back in time."
"Right." Wobbuffet turned to Jessie, and saluted. "Reporting for duty!"
"Is that what he was saying all this time?" Ash asked. "Huh."
"Actually, it ain't," Meowth shrugged. "About half of it was puns. Jessie an' James are lucky I wasn't translatin' them."
"You think it would be punishment?" Wobbuffet asked.
"Ow." Ash winced. "Right, we're getting out of here before we hear too many of those. Where next?"
There's the Fire and Rescue Grand Prix. There is, however, a problem.
"I think we'd be pre-emptively banned, knowing Squirtle..." Misty joked.
That's the thing. We are.
"...oh."
After that, the next major event is a riverside a few days travel away. Both you and Ash have a Pokémon to catch there.
"That sounds better," Misty perked up. "Let's go, then."
Once the friends had left, and the Rockets were themselves well out of town, Wobbuffet turned to Jessie. "Time travel?"
"That's right," Jessie agreed, once translated. "Pretty much all of us."
"Why?"
"Dat's what your pre-evolution says..." Meowth muttered. "Anyway, it ain't all da same stuff again. Meet da new guys!"
Jessie and James started opening Pokéballs.
Wobbuffet bent over the snoozing Abra. "He seems quite a good psydekick."
"Oh, shaddup..." Meowth said. "An 'dis is Growlie."
"Named after his younger self? I see an old dog can learn new tricks."
Meowth threw a coin at him. It bounced off with a boing noise, and smacked Meowth in the cheek.
"Okay, dat wasn't da best choice..."
Gyarados waved a tail.
Wobbuffet seemed about to come up with another pun, but backed off at a glare from Meowth.
"And her?"
Cubone looked up. "I've heard of you."
A bone formed in her paw. It bounced off the floor a couple of times, then went flying directly at Wobbuffet.
Boi-i-ing!
She blocked it with an identical bone, and both shattered.
Her expression became considering. "Interesting. How many times can you do that?"
"I don't understand the question."
"Good." Cubone produced a pair of bonemerangs. "I request your help with training."
"Wait a sec," Meowth said, raising a paw. "Remember dat fing we talked about?"
"...you are correct." Cubone nodded. "I will limit my practice to four hours per day, for reasons of health."
"Dat's better." Meowth gingerly patted her on the shoulder. "I know, ya threw yourself into it. But it ain't normal, even Ash spends a lotta time havin' fun."
"Thanks again, Quilava," Brock said. "Without Charizard, it's a little harder to cook enough food when everyone's out."
"Think nothing of it," Quilava yawned, and pushed up the heat from her quills again. "My flames feel a little tingly..."
"That's fine, I think," Brock reassured her. "It's the same thing as when muscles hurt a bit after they're used for a long time."
"Good to know."
"What are we having?" Stantler asked, peering closer. "That looks strange..."
"It's a risotto," Brock explained. "I've done some bacon, as well, so the Pokémon and people who want to can add some, but the main meal is just lots of risotto – which is fine for everyone."
"I see. That's clever." Stantler nodded, absorbing the information. "I suppose you have to think like that, when there's a lot of different kinds of diet. Everyone back with my herd ate the same things, because they're all Stantler."
"That's right." Brock rubbed Stantler's ears. "How are your illusions coming?"
"I'm working on learning how to make an illusion of Ninetales." Stantler bobbed his head. "It's harder than I was expecting to get her right – especially making sure the walk is convincing. At the moment the illusion is sort of... static."
"Practice makes perfect." Brock swirled the meal around. "Okay, this looks about ready."
He raised his voice. "Ash! Can you get the bacon?"
"Where is it?" Ash called back.
"I left the plate on that tree stump!"
"Oh." Ash walked over, holding a plate. "I think I just remembered where we are."
He put it down, revealing it to be completely empty.
"...oh, right, I remember!" Brock said. "The Houndour, right?"
"Yeah." Ash looked around. "Where was it they lived..."
"Ash..." Brock asked, concerned. "You're not going to try to get the bacon back, are you?"
"What!? No!" Ash shook his head emphatically. "No, there's an injured one somewhere, that's why they stole the food. I'm gonna find it and bring it to the Pokémon centre to get healed!"
"...sure." Brock sighed. "I know better than to try and stop you. Just – have some food, first, please?"
"Ash!" Pikachu called, panting. "Slow down!"
Ash kept running. "I may have stopped long enough to get food, but that Pokémon needs my help – and I'm not going to let it be hurt by my being late!"
Lucario looked down at his teammate. "Do you need a lift?"
"Yeah, yeah... sure." Pikachu nodded, and jumped up and along Lucario's proffered arm. "I'm a lot smaller than you, you know... and I'm running on a full stomach."
"I'm sure." Lucario accelerated again, until he was running alongside Ash and matching him stride for stride.
"Thanks," Pikachu said.
"Think nothing of it."
It wasn't much longer before they came out onto a cliffside overlooking a cave, and beheld a dramatic scene.
Half-a-dozen Houndour stood in a defensive pattern outside the cave mouth, with two flanking a clearly badly injured fellow who was no longer able to stand.
Before them, grumbling and growling, was a Golem.
Lucario halted. "Ash, what should we-"
Pikachu interrupted him. "Ash!"
Lucario glanced to his side.
Ash was no longer there. In fact, he was in mid-air over the Golem and descending fast, his palms glowing blue.
"Did he even slow down!?" Lucario asked, exasperated, just before his trainer delivered a Force Palm attack to the big Rock-type.
The blow knocked Golem off its feet, and it rolled over before coming back upright. Ash, for his part, landed lightly – the attack having negated most of his momentum from falling – and unslung his staff, which began to crackle with blue light.
"Well, he's got a sense of showmanship..." Pikachu said weakly.
"Who cares, let's help him!" Lucario stepped forwards and went down the steep cliff edge sideways, with one foot leading at full extension and one crouched up behind.
Before they reached the bottom, Ash had already blocked a Rock Throw attack with another burst of palm-delivered Aura and used his staff for a stunning overarm blow, and was winding up for an Aura Sphere with his free hand.
Lucario landed on bended knees, waited a moment to let Pikachu jump free, and then darted forwards with one foot glowing. He planted the free foot, pivoted on it, and slammed a kick into the Golem's left knee just as the Aura Sphere arrived.
"Seriously, Ash," Lucario said, as the Golem hurtled off into the distance. "You should have waited for us."
Ash shrugged. "Are you guys okay?" he asked the Houndour.
They were mostly too busy staring at him.
"That was awesome!" one said, before being glared at by the leader and going silent with a whimper.
"All fine?" Ash checked. "Good. Now – one of you is hurt, right?"
There was a round of growls, as the reminder shook the Houndour out of their astonishment and back into pack mode.
"No, I don't want to hurt him!" Ash denied. "He needs help – there's a Pokémon centre a few miles away."
The alpha cocked his head on one side, then turned away to glance between the others.
Ash heard the faint muttering that resulted.
"-he's in a bad way, we should-"
"-can't trust any of-"
"-that's a Lucario, boss. Lucario are-"
"-...I'll say yes. If it means he'll be fine."
As the alpha turned back, Ash nodded. "Don't worry. He will be."
The leader stopped. "You speak Pokémon?"
"Yeah, I keep forgetting that's not normal," Ash admitted. "Aura, basically."
"So cool!" one of the pack said, and got glared at again.
"Okay, I need to pick him up," Ash said. "Can I come through?"
After a moment, the leader barked an order, and the pack split in two – leaving a path to the injured one.
Ash crouched down, and gathered the ill Pokémon into his arms. "Don't worry, you'll be fine."
The Dark-type coughed weakly.
"Dexter!" Ash called. "Which way to the Pokémon centre?"
Start. Straight on for four hundred yards, then take the first left at the bottom of the hill.
Ash got moving again, Lucario padding alongside – with Pikachu – and the pack falling into formation around him as a kind of honour guard.
Five miles or so was a fairly long run, especially over broken terrain... but someone was counting on him. So Ash didn't care much how far it was.
"It's a good thing you got him here when you did," Nurse Joy said, scanning the Houndour. "It looks like an injury got infected, so Antidotes wouldn't have done much. Not even berries are very good at coping with an infection – they just help with the symptoms."
She shrugged. "But he should be fine in the morning."
Ash nodded his thanks, still a bit winded. "Thank you."
"Recently caught?"
"Not caught at all," Ash corrected. "He's wild – so are the others."
Joy peered over her counter, and spotted the half-dozen or so other wild Houndour dotted around the waiting room. "Oh. Are they... safe?"
"I'm sure they are," Ash told her, sitting down. "They were worried for their packmate, that's all."
"Quite understandable."
As Ash got his breath back, the pack leader walked over.
It coughed lightly to get his attention.
"Yes?" Ash asked, mopping his forehead with a towel.
"We owe you," the alpha said bluntly. "I don't like having an unpaid debt."
"Don't worry," Ash replied. "Really. Helping an injured Pokémon like that is its own reward."
"You're a really strange human."
"I get that," Ash agreed.
"I would say we'll be here when you need us, but... you're clearly a traveller." The alpha thought something over. "Where do you live?"
"Uh... I kinda plan to spend the next several years on the road," Ash said. "But I grew up in Pallet town, in Kanto."
"I see." The alpha frowned, tail wagging slowly. "Hypothetically speaking, if we turned up there, what would happen?"
"I guess Professor Oak would probably want to study you," Ash frowned. "He doesn't get to work with wild Pokémon often, especially not groups of several of them."
"Interesting."
The next morning, Ash set off back south to find his friends.
The Houndour pack – back to full strength – were about to head in the same direction, but their leader raised a paw.
"Wait."
"What is it, boss?" one asked.
The leader padded over to a corner, and came back with a piece of paper. Dropping it, he spread it out – a map of southern Honshu.
"I spoke to his Quilava last night," the alpha explained. "She said this Professor provides food – if the Pokémon can't get enough themselves."
He tapped the map. "It sounds like a better deal to me than what we have around here. We get studied, yes, but studied doing what we do anyway – and in return, we get security from hunger and ready medical attention."
For a moment, the alpha fixed his gaze on his newly-healthy son, then looked between his sons, daughters and mate, as well as his brother. "I don't want to lose any of you before I have to."
Folding the map up again, he turned. "We're going east."
"Ignis will never be defeated!" Hideyoshi exclaimed. "For Ignis! Monferno, attack!"
Sir Aaron rubbed his temples. "Hey, Arceus?" he called into the sky, as Monferno beat up Palkia's ankle. "These antagonists aren't exactly the most intelligent in history."
I was in a great hurry. I'm still working on designing the rest.
The huge Dragon/Water Type lifted his foot, inspecting the small scratch marks. "This is not much of a challenge. Hydro Pump."
Squeaking in alarm, the Monferno was carried away by a colossal torrent of water.
"Do you yield?" Sir Aaron asked, pointing one of his swords straight at Hideyoshi.
"I-" Hideyoshi stopped talking, freezing in place.
There we go! Arceus said, pleased. Right, you wanted a challenge?
"A bit of one, yeah," Aaron agreed.
Good.
Hideyoshi unfroze. "-most certainly do not! Infernape!"
Pakika kicked the Infernape into the middle distance as it charged.
"What about now?" Sir Aaron queried.
"I've still not sent out my champion! Reshiram, get them!"
"...wait." Dialga pointed. "Did he just say-"
Blue Flare hit Palkia directly in the face.
Reshiram keened to the sky, flames skirling out of its tail turbine, and followed up its first attack with a colossal Dragonbreath.
"Okay, that hurt!" the Space Pokémon roared, claws sliding out and smashing away the remains of the attack. "Aaron, orb me!"
"Got it!" Aaron replied, throwing the Lustrous Orb.
Palkia caught it, and grinned.
"Here we go! This is gonna be fun! Spacial Rend!"
Reality twisted in half, and fired itself at Reshiram.
As the explosions started, Giratina floated down to Aaron's level. "When's our turn?"
"Dunno," Aaron admitted. "Any elemental locations you'd prefer?"
"Psychic would be nice. I'm good at Psychic."
AN:
Shedinja with Sturdy – yes, that does technically work. The result is a Pokémon that can only be KOed by multi-hit moves (and not Normal or Fighting ones), or status conditions, or recoil or weather. (There's probably a few more things too – but the important bit is that Ash's team only had a very short list of them.)
Wobbuffet's back, and Ash came close to recruiting a Houndour or six. No dice for now, but mainly because he didn't ask... (By the way, the Houndour pack structure here is mimicking real world wolves. Their packs are family – mother, father, the odd uncle or aunt, and the kids.
As for the events in the pocket dimension... well, they're not going to be bored, that's for sure
