This is the third of four chapters today.


"Tell me we're getting this!" Roxy begged, her microphone prudently turned off for her check.

"Every moment," her cameraman replied, tracking the Charizard as fire, water and lightning attacks shot back and forth between it and two moving points on the ground.

Roxy nodded, and turned her microphone back on. "Incredible scenes here from Greenfield, where the Charizard we observed previously is battling with what appear to be two of the three Legendary Beasts of Johto! A third Beast has been glimpsed occasionally inside the large tower, from which blue and orange flashes are periodically seen."

A low, almost subsonic rumble came from the direction of the main battle.

"That sound you can hear – if our cameras can record it – appears to be the roars of the three Beasts – Suicune, Entei and Raikou. We do not know why they are battling the champion and his Charizard and Pikachu, indeed we can only speculate – but it may be that it has something to do with the reason behind this strange crystal formation."


"How are you doing, Pikachu?" Ash asked, concerned.

Charizard twisted in mid-air, and he had to double-check his grip on the Fire-type's back as they dodged another instant spire.

Pikachu panted. "It's not easy keeping this Thunder Armour up – every time Suicune hits, it discharges, and they've noticed." He pushed out another layer of electricity, replenishing the armour. "They're trying to knock Charizard's protection off and then shock him, and..."

"It's okay, Pikachu. We'll be fine," Ash said, with more confidence than he felt. He channelled Aura through his hands into Pikachu, boosting his endurance a little, and the Electric-type smiled back up at him.

"We'll be fine," he repeated. Then turned, and launched off another attack at Suicune. This one barely missed, but she had to dodge awkwardly to make sure that was true and nearly fell – until another spire of crystal came up, restoring her footing on what was an increasingly crowded battlefield. Charizard managed to score on Raikou at about the same moment, but the Beast seemed only lightly injured.

A flash of rose-coloured light drew Ash's eye. "Is that-"

Charizard gained height, allowing Ash to see clearer.

Entei was unleashing a continuous, rolling stream of Sacred Fire. Lucario's paws were up, sustaining a Protect, but his energy was clearly waning rapidly under the stress of so many Fire attacks.

The stream ran out only a moment before Lucario, pushed beyond endurance, collapsed.

"Lucario..." Ash said, wincing both at the loss and what it would mean. Even as he did so, Entei jumped out of the open window, ran along three spires, and joined in the melee.


Molly stared out the window, wincing at every crash and explosion and stream of water.

Then she glanced down at the unconscious Lucario lying on the ledge, and then towards the television – where the reporter sounded worried that the champion and his Pokémon were losing.

But...

They were in her house. Weren't they the bad ones?

She looked again at how far the crystalline landscape had spread, and then at the repose Lucario, and wondered.

They'd been worried about whether she was alright...

It was all so confusing.

"Molly?"

Brock and Misty reached the top floor, legs burning. Neither paused for more than a couple of seconds before running over to her.

"Are you alright?" Brock asked. "Where's Ash?"

Molly pointed out the window, and both Gym Leaders followed her gaze – then gasped, seeing both Lucario and the hammer-and-tongs battle outside.

"I don't get it," Molly said suddenly.

"What?" Misty asked, tearing her gaze from the fight.

"Why doesn't everyone leave me alone?" Molly asked. "Me and mama and papa and big brother?"

"We want to help you," Misty tried to explain. "To make sure you get help."

"I don't need help!" Molly snapped. "I'm just fine!"

The tower shook, and the colour the walls were glowing changed.

"Calm down," Misty soothed. "You're going to-"

All three beasts roared at the same time, and the humans looked out the window in unison.


Raikou used Thunder. Suicune used Hydro Pump, and Entei used Fire Blast.

The three attacks bracketed Charizard, forcing him to stop or run into the Hydro Pump, and then swept in towards him all at once.

Ash charged and fired a hasty Aura Sphere, trying to block the attacks, and the resultant explosion blew him and Pikachu entirely off Charizard's back and sent the Fire-type tumbling towards the floor, out of control.

Ash grabbed Pikachu in one arm as soon as the two were close enough. As he fell, Ash looked down – there seemed to be a flat enough surface, so if he used enough Aura to soften the blow he should be able to land softly.

"Charizard, go!" Ash shouted, seeing him starting to stabilize his tumble. "I can land safely!"

"Ash!" Pikachu called urgently.

Ash looked up, right towards the sight of Entei charging an Eruption. One aimed directly at him.

Then a beam of red light hit Entei hard enough to powderize the rock he was standing on, smashing his Fire attack and sending him hurtling downwards.

Smashing through two more crystals, he finally came to rest on a new one which grew out of the tower especially for the purpose.

Pidgeot swooped past, headed for Ash. At a wave from him, she pulled up instead of catching him, and sent a Gust hammering at Suicune as she ran to try and attack Charizard from above.

Ash finally hit the ground. He went down to one knee, using his free hand to slow the fall as well, and panted for a moment.

"That wasn't much fun..." he muttered.

A satchel thwapped to the ground next to him.

Pikachu examined it. "Isn't this Pidgeot's?"

"Yeah, it is," Ash agreed. He opened it, taking her Pokéball and putting it on his belt ready to hand. "Hey, what's this?"

He picked it up and held it to the light. It was a smooth, white feather – barely three or four inches long, smooth and somehow rubbery to the touch.

Running along his arm, Pikachu sniffed it. "Smells like Lugia."

"Maybe it's one of his feathers." Ash shrugged. "Interesting."

Putting the satchel across his back – empty, it didn't weigh much, and Pidgeot would probably want it back – he jogged over to the side of the tower.

A moment's thought, and he released Noctowl.

"Can you try and make sure I can't be seen by the Pokémon fighting overhead?" he asked.

"I can certainly do what I can, old boy." Noctowl landed on his hat. "What are you planning?"

Ash started to climb the smooth, sheer crystal of the tower wall, using Aura-glowing hands and feet to stick to it like flypaper.

"That works. I was going to say, I can't exactly lift you, but..." Noctowl hooted. "You're invisible, as it happens. A little something from the box of tricks."


"Oh, dear..." Professor Oak said, watching the conflict. "This keeps getting worse."

"-his Pidgeot," the anchor said. "She's known to be a skilled specimen, but this attack is one which none of us either at Greenfield or in the studio recognize. It didn't look like a Hyper Beam. Professor Ivy?"

"I just don't know, Roxy," Ivy admitted.

"I should have gone."

Oak turned to his friend. "Delia, don't beat yourself up over it. None of us could have known this was going to happen."

"I know," Delia sighed. "But I should have gone."


Ash clung on to the tower as a sudden wash of wind threatened to blow him off. "Ugh..."

"Are you okay?" Pikachu asked, concerned. "Sorry I can't help, but I'm pretty close to drained – about all I can do is use my light ball, and that puts my throughput down a lot."

"Yeah, I understand." Ash steadied himself, and started climbing again. "You've done a lot already."

Pidgeot came into view around the side of the tower, closely pursued by Entei and Raikou. They fired Flamethrower and Thunderbolt at her, barely missing and snatching at her feathers, and she rolled to snatch them away from the reaching attacks.

Charizard tried using a Fire Blast, but Suicune intercepted it with a Hydro Pump, producing an explosion and a cloud of steam. Unable to turn aside enough, Charizard flew through the cloud with a hiss of pain.

Then Suicune switched her attention to Pidgeot. A Hydro Pump briefly connected with Pidgeot, soaking her tail feathers and fouling her ability to manoeuvre slightly.

That slight difference turned out to be crucial, as Raikou finally caught her with a Thunder. She screamed with pain, wobbled in the air, and hit one of the crystal spires.

Ash watched, heart in his mouth, as Pidgeot bounced between four or five more crystalline spikes with juddering impacts, and finally slid to a halt on the surface of the crystal landscape.

"Pidgeot!"


Molly gasped. "I didn't..."

She shook her head. "I don't want this! Why is everyone fighting? Why is everyone being hurt!"

The tower trembled in reaction to her words.

"Molly, you need to calm down," Misty said urgently. "Getting upset won't help."

"But that-and..." Molly's hand went to her forehead. "My head hurts... what's going on?"

Brock looked up from where he was examining Lucario. "Molly, please-"

"No!" Molly stamped her foot, tears coming to her eyes. "Stop treating me like a child! I-I..."

The floor shook again, stronger this time.


Below her feet, in what had been the lounge room of the mansion, an entire alphabet of Unown were becoming confused.

They could no longer tell what Molly wanted. Some parts of her desires were still clear – she wanted mama and papa and brother to do well – but everything else was unclear. And even the former crystalline certainty of her wish for the Beasts to win... that was becoming uncertain and frayed.

The strength of her emotions demanded that they put out more power. But the lack of direction meant that power had nowhere to go.

Some of it spontaneously formed crystal spikes and flowers in random, unconnected places. The rest just leaked into the air, seeking a place to earth out.


Ash blinked, clinging onto the crystal tower surface with one hand. "Pikachu – can you see, is Pidgeot okay?"

"I... think so."

Ash rummaged in his pocket with his free hand. "Dexter, can you get over and look?"

Are you sure, Ash? I thought you were going to save me for Molly's mind.

"I have to know Pidgeot's okay," Ash insisted. "Hurry."

Will do. Set up: Sonic Form.

Dexter's body materialized around his projector, and he sped off towards the stricken Flying-type.

Ash turned his gaze upwards, to Charizard. By now, he was once again under the sustained attentions of all three Beasts, and having to counter-shield almost continuously while he was in their line of sight to avoid taking an easy hit.

He closed his eyes for a moment. "Come on, Charizard."

Unnoticed in his pouch, the feather of a Rainbow Pokémon began to glow.

Unnoticed, in Pidgeot's satchel, the feather of a Diving Pokémon began to glow.

And, most certainly noticed by Pikachu, the orb topping Sir Aaron's staff began to glow.

"Uh... Ash?" Pikachu said, uncertainly. "Why is-"

Silver Wing, Rainbow Wing, and staff dropped into resonance. All three were now locked onto exactly the same frequency – that of Ash's own aura – and began to energize one another.

There was one thing Ash wanted, right now. For his big, powerful bruiser of a Fire-type to win this.

The power-saturated air provided an energy source. Ash provided a location. The feathers and staff, put together, provided a conduit.

Orange light shone in the heavens.


Charizard beat his wings as hard as possible, and launched down a potent Overheat at Raikou.

As he'd hoped, the attack knocked Raikou off kilter – and did some clear damage, the first time that had been so evident in the whole battle.

But he couldn't repeat it, unfortunately. Overheat was a once-off, as was Draco Meteor – a move he was still saving.

Growling in frustration, he looked down – and noticed that Suicune was far enough away from the tower that he could, finally, do what Ash had released him to.

Fire and aura built in his throat, sending warmth through his entire body, and he unleashed them downwards in a Blast Burn.

Suicune's supporting crystal more or less exploded. The Water-type herself wasn't too badly injured, thanks to a last-moment spherical eruption of water, but he'd clearly scored on her despite the type difference.

Charizard backwinged, avoiding a flamethrower from Entei, and noticed something really strange about his wings just before a Thunderbolt from Raikou hit him.

It didn't hurt as much as he was expecting, actually...

Swooping around a spire, Charizard took the respite to inspect himself.

His scales had gone black, with blue highlighting. His wings were saw-toothed on the trailing edge, though that hadn't impacted his flight capabilities. His arms were much stronger, more muscled, and he could feel he was carrying himself lighter – more easily for the same weight. And bright blue flames streamed from his tail and the sides of his mouth.

Actually, they reminded him of Dragonbreath.

Had he evolved? Again? But... that was impossible...

Charizard decided to ignore it for now, and curved back around the spire.

Flames gouting from the side of his mouth, Charizard charged down and unleashed a roaring Dragonbreath on Entei, then followed it up with a rake by claws glowing with draconic energy and slammed his similarly-empowered tail into the Fire-type beast's side.

Wings slamming, he climbed a little, and looked back at his handiwork. Entei was actually staggered by the succession of Dragon-typed blows, confirming Charizard's suspicion that his type had indeed changed.

Charizard performed a forward half-loop around a convenient crystal spire, smashing aside the smaller one which tried to entrap him, and fired his long-hoarded Draco Meteor at Suicune.

He was about to follow that up with close-in attacks, but as the meteor fragments rained down on Suicune he saw an incoming Raikou and climbed to avoid him. He beat his wings harder, and another rush of warmth went through him.

Glancing back at the Electric-type beast, he did a double-take.

He had changed again. His body colour was back to normal, his tail was longer, and two small winglets were present at his arms. His wings were also different again, being more ragged and less sawtoothed.

He was also, he noticed as his attention went back to the battle, far faster-flying now.

Putting it to good use, he snatched himself away from a Thunder attack, and replied with a colossal Fire Blast – even bigger than usual.

Overhead, the sun blazed brighter than normal, lending further force to his fire attacks and weakening Suicune's water ones.


In Liza's house, over a dozen draconic jaws had dropped.

"What?" asked the dragon tamer, blinking at the screen. "What in Groudon's name is that?"

None of the Charizard answered her, too busy watching with astonishment as Ash's Charizard shifted more-or-less randomly between a faster Y-state and a more burly X-state, trading blows with three legendaries at once and clearly doing relatively well out of it.

Charla spoke up first. "Dibs."

"What?" One of the other Charizard looked over at her. "Didn't you-"

"I said dibs," Charla reiterated. "I know, we're still working out what to think, but right now I want to make something clear. I get the right of first refusal."

"Because of some ridiculous story he made up about time travel?" Another Charizard, a female this time, looked vaguely upset. "That doesn't seem fair."

"Don't care." Charla shrugged.

Something exploded on the television, and they all turned back to it to avoid missing anything else.


"What the actual-" Gary stared at the screen, rubbing his eyes. "That's a mega-evolution. It's got to be."

Even as he spoke, Charizard flashed orange and went from Y back to X, then landed a punishing Flare Blitz on Raikou.

"But..." Umbreon blinked, uncertain. "Surely... we only recently found out about it ourselves? How can Ash possibly have a Mega Stone? A Key Stone?"

"How else do you explain that?" Gary's gesture took in the screen. "It's a change of shape in an orange flash which is reversible and which clearly involved a heck of a lot of extra firepower."

Putting action to the words spoken in far-off Kalos, Charizard took chose that moment to employ another Blast Burn and sent Entei hurtling into a crystalline wall, cracking it.


The studio analysis of Charizard's feat was... there was no studio analysis.

Everyone involved, from the Orange Islands to a studio in Johto, had been entirely struck dumb.


"You're awesome, Charizard," Ash said, climbing with his head craned around to follow the battle.

He could see Charizard was still tiring – whatever the staff was doing, it wasn't erasing his fatigue – but the Beasts were having a much tougher time of it than they'd been expecting.

It would be touch-and-go if Ash reached the window before Charizard hit exhaustion, but that would be enough.


With another flash of light, Charizard went from Y to X, and body-slammed Suicune into the floor.

Snarling, he whirled, spitting dragonfire at the approaching Entei and Raikou, and tried to disguise how tired he was feeling. Several minutes of full-capacity combat had him down to the dregs, and he had to give Ash more time.

At this point, even a bluff could help.

Suicune came slowly to her feet, also panting, and glared at him. Why won't you leave us alone?

"Your... Molly... isn't well," Charizard stated. "She needs help, and Ash is here to give it to her."

Why should we trust you? Entei snorted, dismissing that out of hand. She doesn't need help. She doesn't want help. If you are gone, she will be happy. That is all we wish.

Charizard flashed again, and went back down to just plain non-mega-evolved Charizard. Stumbling, he caught himself on a broken-off spire, and clung to it for support.

You're too tired to fight, Raikou said, triumph simmering in his mental tone. Leave, before we make you.

Charizard was about to tell them what he thought of that, when three blurs flashed across his vision and the beasts vanished.

"Wha?" he blinked, and looked to his right.

What he saw made him want to rub his eyes.

Entei fighting Suicune. Suicune fighting Raikou. And Raikou clashing with Entei.

"What the heck?" he asked.

"We got here as soon as we could, once we heard!" Suicune told him, Bubblebeaming the illusory Entei and knocking him back. "Well done for holding them off so long!"

Feeling strangely vindicated, Charizard decided it was time to take a bit of a nap, and slumped forwards.


Ash reached up, and got his fingers over the lip of the crystalline ledge protruding below Molly's window.

Grunting, he swung himself up onto the shard itself.

"Thanks, Noctowl," he said.

Brock looked up from Lucario's unconscious form at the voice coming from nowhere. "Ash?"

Noctowl took flight, and the illusion lapsed. "Well, that was thrilling. I think I'll go have a bit of a sit down, now. Anyone got a kettle?"

Ash gave Lucario a worried glance. "Yeah, it's me. Is he okay?"

"Just exhausted, I think," Brock said. "He needs a rest, but he'll be fine."

"I kind of wish I could have a rest, right now," Ash agreed ruefully. "Who do we have who can help me?"

"Not a lot," Brock admitted. "Misty said she didn't use Togekiss, but she might have to do."

Ash considered it. "Yeah, that'll.. wait a second. Do you still have your crowbar?"

Brock nodded, tapping it. It clinked against the crystal. "If I knew where the Unown were, I'd go try and stop this."

"Well..." Ash nodded to himself. "Okay, Brock, you're coming with me as well. With this few team members, I need all the help I can get."

"Got it." Brock stood. "Lucario should be okay. How's Pidgeot?"

"Don't know," Ash admitted. "I sent Dexter off to make sure she's okay."

"Right." Brock fell in behind as they walked in, approaching Molly.

"Molly?" Ash asked, softly.

The girl looked up, her cheeks faintly tear-streaked. "What do you want?"

"I want to help," Ash said. "You know the crystals and stuff?"

Molly nodded. "Yeah..."

"They're because of the Unown. They're trying to help you, but they're confused. They don't know what you want." Ash tried to think what to say. "I know a way to help sort that out."

"You do?" Molly looked dubious.

"I do. It's why we came in here." Ash waved a hand around at the crystalline castle. "Please."

Molly frowned. She looked out the window, at the devastated landscape and the ongoing battle, and remembered the Pokémon who'd battled so hard today.

She glanced across at the television, which showed another view of the fight – focusing in on the downed Pidgeot, and a Light Screen which sprang up to protect her from a wayward Flamethrower attack.

Then she looked quickly up at Brock, who smiled, and back to Ash.

"How can you help?" she asked, curious.

"Take my hand," Ash replied, holding it out. A faint blue glow shimmered along it.

Molly bit her lip, and nodded. She reached out, and the aura flashed across to her.

Both she and Ash slumped slightly. Brock took Ash's shoulder, and then Misty released Togekiss who reached out to touch Brock in turn.


The two humans and the Pokémon appeared in an ornate entrance hall. No lights were on, and they could only see by the faint beams filtering in through the heavy curtains across all the windows.

"Where's this?" Brock asked, looking around as Togekiss used Safeguard to emit a faint glow.

"Oh, right, you've not done this before," Ash remembered. "This is Molly's inner world – kind of a representation of her mind. Remember, like happened with Larvitar?"

Brock nodded, and unlooped his crowbar from his belt. "Look!"

Ash squinted into the darkness of the corners. "Is that... are they Unown?"

Straining his ears, he heard a faint chanting. U~nown, U~nown...

One floated over to them, still chanting harmoniously, and then others started to follow.

Brock tossed his crowbar a few inches into the air, adjusting his grip, and then thwacked the Unown with a one-handed blow.

The H-Unown went flying, bounced off a pillar, and fled. Other nearby Unown turned to look in surprise, then backed off.

"Wow," Ash said. "You really got a good swing on that."

"I used to play baseball in school," Brock replied with a grin.

"Where should we go?" Togekiss asked, her voice not needing translation in this mental realm.

"I guess... upstairs?" Ash suggested, pointing at the stairs leading up into the manor.


For some reason, the stairs seemed longer than they should have been. Ash and Brock ran up three full turns in near silence, Togekiss floating alongside and Brock occasionally crowbarring another Unown which got too close.

Then they rounded a bend, and saw a huge shaggy Pokémon standing patiently on the final flight of the stairwell.

"Entei?" Ash asked.

Togekiss floated up to speak to him. "Ash, he's not attacking, but if he does I don't think I can-"

Entei interrupted them. "Why are you here?"

Remembering how Entei had behaved last time, Ash thought hard about his response.

"I'm here to help Molly," he began.

"I, too, am helping Molly. I am the one who is her father, now her true father is gone."

"He's not gone," Ash said. "Well, he is gone, but he's not dead. He fell into the Unown's dimension."

As if on cue, Brock hit another Unown for a home run, and turned. "The Unown pull people into their dimension, and it's easy to get the idea they're dead. It's happened to a friend before."

Entei tilted his head. "He's... not dead?" he asked, sounding uncertain.

"No," Ash replied. He considered, and decided to go for it. "My friends and I have come back in time from the future – that's how we know for sure. It's why we came here to help Molly."

Entei considered that. "If Molly has a father, then I am no longer needed," he said, and faded like a dream.

"...well, that was strange," Togekiss commented.

"Yeah, no kidding." Ash walked up through where Entei had been, and along a corridor. "I think there's stairs at the other end of this."

"Ash!" Brock called. "The lights downstairs just came on!"

"Really?" Ash looked back down the stairwell. "Oh yeah..."

He exchanged a glance with the other two. "Think that's good?"

"Probably."


AN:

I did say the battle was huge. And yes, that was Charizard Mega-evolving. A lot. Over and over. For several minutes, until he could no longer hide his fatigue and lost the connection.

He won't be able to do it again for a while, though. He's not got the Mega Stones, though Ash does have a bodge-job of a workable Key Stone.

And the return of Aura Purge! Ideal for situations where you have someone with superpowers and severe mental problems.

This is a distressingly common situation.