"Really?" Ash blinked. "Never heard of... mega-evolution, before."
He heard Gary sigh into the mouthpiece of his phone. "Yeah, I know. I hadn't either. It's apparently something which was a legend even here in Kalos – until it happened for the first time in centuries, which was a bit over a year ago – the spring before last."
"Right," Ash nodded, then stopped. "Wait, isn't that-"
"Within hours of your coming back in time, yeah," Gary confirmed. He chuckled. "Figures it'd be you who did it first on TV, Ashy-boy."
"...yeah, that's already been kind of awkward. Last time through, I guess it just seemed like I was in the right place at the right time-"
"-which you were," Gary interrupted.
"-which I was, kinda," Ash agreed. "But this time... not so much."
"Shows what winning the Indigo League gets you, Ash," Gary said gleefully. "Rethinking that idea of becoming a Pokémon Master?"
"Not really," Ash replied quickly. "Besides, a Pokémon Master is whatever I say it is!"
Gary laughed.
"Seriously, though," he went on. "There's some stuff you need to know about mega evolutions. Firstly, they usually work with two catalysts – a Key Stone, for the trainer, and a Mega Stone for the Pokémon."
There was the sound of moving objects on the other end of the phone, and Gary muttering to himself.
"There we are," he said. "Your staff was glowing the whole time Charizard was in Mega form – both Mega forms. So that might have been acting as a key stone, but I didn't see a mega stone."
"Dunno," Ash admitted. "Charizard wasn't carrying anything. I guess I assumed it was because of the Unown and stuff."
"Right." Gary could be heard shuffling through papers. "Okay, I think I can get an appointment back at the tower... I'll take it to the experts, see what they think. And Ash?"
"Yeah?" Ash returned.
"Don't tell anyone about this. It's still unpublished research."
"Don't tell anyone. Got it!"
Gary paused. "Oh, and don't end the world when I'm not looking, Ash. Smell you later."
"Does that include us?" Brock asked, as the call ended. "Who you're not supposed to tell anything?"
"Probably," Ash agreed. "And don't tell anyone yourselves, of course."
"Well, hello," the woman at the day-care desk said. "Have you heard about our great deals for matching up trainers with their Pokémon personality... type..."
She blinked.
"Oh, no."
Ash frowned. "What is it?"
"Uh... nothing!" The woman shook her head, a little frantically. "No problem at all! Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to go... uh... get more copies of the book."
She vanished through a staff-only door.
Curious, Misty picked up a book off the huge pile at the counter. "Wonder why she needed more copies... huh, here I am. Gyarados."
She closed it with a snap. "Done. Already got that Pokémon."
"Doesn't that also mean your personality type is that of a Gyarados?" Ash asked.
"Well, Ash, you've got two possibilities, there," Brock pointed out. "Either the answer is no... or the answer's yes, in which case you're annoying someone who's got the personality type of a Gyarados."
"Point taken, shutting up."
Misty gave both of them suspicious looks.
Lucario raised a paw. "You do know those were members of Team Rocket, right?"
"Butch! Butch!" the woman hissed.
Her co-worker looked up from a pile of Pokéballs. "What is it?"
"That boy, Ash! The Indigo Champion! He's here!"
Butch gaped. "What? Here, here?"
"In the building!" Cassidy confirmed. "With that Pikachu, and that Lucario, and, and... we're doomed."
"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Butch reached for a Pokéball.
Cassidy picked up a clipboard and hit him on the head with it. "Idiot! We just saw one of his Pokémon fight three legendaries, what chance does your Primeape have?"
"So... what do we do?" Butch asked.
"Run for it, that's what!" Cassidy pointed to the fire exit. "Hurry!"
"...anyway, when we checked the back they'd gone," Ash finished.
"I see," the local Jenny said absently. She finished writing. "So, they were running some kind of scam using a Pokémon fortune telling book... I sometimes wonder why we can't just have normal thieves, it'd be a lot simpler."
"What's going to happen to all the Pokémon?" Misty asked.
"Well, the trades are legitimate, in the cases where people actually got new Pokémon," Jenny said. "Which makes it all a bit of a mess. About the best we can do is confiscate all the money they made, and use it to compensate anyone who's lost a Pokémon and can't get a new one they want or their old one back."
"That sounds like a... huge headache," Brock admitted.
"It is," Jenny agreed. "It's going to mean a lot of paperwork, too, to make sure we didn't miss anyone out. Obviously returning peoples' Pokémon would have to be first, but beyond that?"
"Guess things like this can't always be solved simply," Ash said.
"That's been my experience," Jenny confirmed.
"So, let me see..." Giovanni said, looking through his notes. "You encountered the boy Ash Ketchum, and promptly ran for it."
Butch nodded. "Yes, sir."
"I'll ask questions if I want answers, Blake," Giovanni told him, and Cassidy clamped her hand over his mouth to prevent an outburst. "As I was saying. You encountered Ash Ketchum, identified him, and abandoned your scam business without even attempting to battle him."
He let the silence stretch for several seconds, with Persian growling faintly in the background.
"Is that correct?"
"Yes, sir," Cassidy said, nodding. "We thought he was-"
"I only asked one question, miss Cassidy," Giovanni admonished. "Well, aside from your appalling manners... you at least took a sensible option. Good work there."
The two Rockets let out a sigh of relief.
"It would have been better if you'd just run the place legitimately, of course, since that might have avoided the loss of capital... but, well, I understand." Giovanni's smile was thin, and cool. "Dismissed."
Butch and Cassidy left hurriedly, closing the door behind them.
"Perhaps I should assign them to the good doctor," he mused, looking over at Persian. "He's been asking for some new pairs of hands..."
"Ah, Goldenrod City," Brock said, looking around. "It's the biggest city in Johto – and it has the best shops!"
"Do either of you guys have any shopping to do?" Ash asked. "I was wondering whether I had time to work out who to use at the Gym..."
"Go ahead," Brock decided. "I've got some shopping to do, at least."
"Me too," Misty added. "I heard they have Dragonbreath TMs here, and I'm getting Kingdra one to celebrate."
"Sounds good," Ash nodded. "I'll go work out who to use at the Pokémon centre."
"Who's not had a battle recently?" Ash mused.
Pikachu hopped down. "What about me?"
"No, you're already more than practised enough," Ash said, shaking his head. "Same with Lucario, though he's probably the best choice..."
"So the question is more who needs the practice," Pikachu clarified. "Right... let's see. Quilava just had a battle... Totodile hasn't, and nor has Noctowl."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "But what about the Pokémon back at the lab? Like Kingler? No, I guess he had... aha!"
He picked Dexter up. "Can you tell Professor Oak I'd like Muk, please?"
Sending.
"Muk?"Pikachu repeated. He began to say something, then stopped and thought about it. "Actually, that's a good point. She's got that Miltank, hasn't she? Rollout all the way..."
"Apart from that, Quilava and Bayleef are the next choices," Ash said. "I don't think it'll be a six-a-side, but if it is and we're losing, Lucario gets the go."
"Makes sense," Pikachu agreed. "But you'd better give me more than just one gym battle in Johto, Ash..."
"Welcome to the Goldenrod gym, Ash Ketchum!" Whitney said. "I hope you don't expect to have as easy a ride as you had with Bugsy and Falkner!"
Ash blinked. "I can think of a lot of words for what those two did, but easy ride isn't it... they certainly seemed to be trying very hard indeed to beat me."
"Oh, they were," Whitney agreed. "They're just worse at it." She winked.
Clapping her hands, she turned to the battlefield. "This match will be three Pokémon a side, with switching allowed! Gooo... Clefairy!"
Her Pokéball produced a flash of stars as it opened.
Clefairy bounced to the floor. "Ready!"
Ash sent out Totodile.
"Oh, you look nice!" Totodile said, bouncing from foot to foot. "Ready for battle?"
"Of course!"
Totodile opened the matter with a Water Gun.
Clefairy jumped away, and waggled her fingers.
The Water-type frowned. "Uh... hmmm... oh, right! That's Metronome!"
Four finger-strokes, and the Metronome triggered.
Light briefly engulfed Totodile, and then streamed into Clefairy.
"Dexter?" Ash asked.
Analyzing... Role Play.
"Uh oh... Totodile! Get her, quick!"
Totodile fired another Water Gun, and bounded forwards to use Slash on top of that. Clefairy jumped easily out of the way, and waggled her fingers again.
"Is she just going to...?" Ash asked, uncertainly.
"Pretty much, yeah," Whitney agreed.
Rocks cracked up from the arena floor, coming together into a ball between Clefairy's fingers.
"Oh, no..." Whitney winced. "I just had this resurfaced!"
"Hey, at least it's not my fault this time." Ash shrugged, as Clefairy's Ancientpower finished charging.
It hit Totodile in the side, making him yelp and rub his haunch, and he retaliated with another blast of water. This one caught Clefairy, and he quickly ran underneath and started juggling Clefairy with careful bursts of water.
Whitney frowned. "Wait, where did the energy go from- oh, you're kidding!"
Indeed. For once, Sheer Force has produced a disadvantage.
Whitney clenched her fist, as her acrobatic Clefairy was gradually juggled through the air. "Metronome again!"
Clefairy nodded, and waved her fingers.
The few seconds the attack took to charge ticked away, and then she shouted.
It was a huge shout. An echoing, ear-punishing shout which blew away the water plume and allowed her to escape, and which sent Totodile skidding backwards slightly on the slick arena floor.
"Keep it up!" Whitney snapped.
"Totodile!" Ash called. "Try using your water to launch yourself forwards!"
Totodile nodded, and looked over his shoulder. He fired out a stream of water, and used it as a jury-rigged form of jet propulsion.
His kick connected with Clefairy, concentrating on another Metronome, and she bounced away before coming back to her feet and completing the Metronome.
Vines lashed out from Clefairy's hands, wrapping around the unfortunate Water-type. Rather than hitting him, though, they began to squeeze him.
Ash winced. "Try and break the Bind with Slash! Then... uh..." he tried to come up with a way to explain Aqua Jet in the middle of a fight. "You kind of need to surround yourself with water and swim through it at the enemy!"
"I'll.. give it... a try!"
Totodile's claws dug into the vine, wearing it away, until it abruptly snapped and he dropped free. He began shooting water, trying to make enough of it to do what Ash instructed him to.
Clefairy's fingers waved once again.
Just as Totodile managed to produce a continuous bubble of water, the Metronome finished. Clefairy began to glow red, and lunged forwards before giving Totodile a terrific slap.
"That's Outrage!" Ash recognized. "Totodile, you need to get clear!"
Nodding, Totodile ran just ahead of Clefairy, and the two Pokémon went around in circles for ten seconds or so.
"Get to the roof!" Ash called.
Totodile frowned, concentrating hard. He jumped, and covered himself in water, then started swimming as hard as possible.
His Aqua Jet was slow and clumsy, taking him upwards at barely above walking pace, but it got him above Clefairy (and incidentally doused her in a huge amount of water).
After a minute or so, Clefairy stopped Outraging and began wobbling around, dizzy.
"Another Metronome!" Whitney called, seeing the tired Totodile. "He's on the rafters!"
Clefairy tried to aim upwards, and used Metronome. Despite a few wobbles, she produced a successful attack.
Unfortunately, this attack was Flame Charge, meaning she ran around in circles unable to reach Totodile and drew an unusual shape in minor scorch marks on the floor.
As the attack ended, another Water Gun hit her.
"Again!"
Yet another Water Gun hit her, as Totodile started to make better use of his convenient firing position.
"What's this going to be..." Ash said, watching the fingers wag.
Clefairy finished her Metronome, and got an evil grin.
Pikachu blinked. "Totodile! Jump!"
Just as Totodile jumped, Clefairy raised her hand. Electricity crackled, and she fired a Thundershock.
The Electric attack hit Totodile hard, making him cry out and land heavily.
"Get up, Totodile!" Ash called. "You're not beaten yet!"
Using his forelegs for support, Totodile pushed himself erect. He turned, slowly, and gave a somewhat unfocused stare to Clefairy.
He started to walk slowly forwards.
"Metronome before he gets to you!"
Everyone went silent, watching to see what this attack would be.
The sound of bells filled the air.
Whitney facepalmed. "Oh, you're kidding."
Heal Bell pulsed out, healing both Pokémon back to full health.
Totodile blinked, and jumped from foot to foot. "Hurrah!"
He released another Water Gun, making Clefairy jump away and slide to a halt at the far end of the field.
Her fingers wagged, and she used Metronome yet again.
Then exploded.
"...oh, no!" Whitney cried, running forwards as the smoke cleared. "Poor Clefairy! Are you alright?"
Clefairy said something unintelligible, in which Ash only caught the word 'waffles', and fell forwards into her crater.
"Nice work, Totodile!" Ash said, returning him. "Who've you got next?"
"That was..." Misty tried to find the words. "Random?"
"I'm just getting started!" Whitney took her second Pokéball. "Fluffles!"
"What kind of a-" Ash began, and then the Pokéball opened.
"Bidoof," the Bidoof said.
"Uh..." Ash blinked. "Pikachu? Is my Aura on the fritz, or-"
"No, he actually did say Bidoof," Pikachu confirmed.
"Oh. Well... Noctowl!"
Ash held up the Pokéball, and Noctowl materialized into the large main room of the gym.
Almost immediately, he dodged around some water still dripping from the ceiling. "I say, that's just not baseball. I mean, er, cricket. That's it. Cricket."
"Blame Totodile," Ash said with a grin. "He's the one who got the roof wet. Okay, Noctowl, you know what to do."
"I most certainly do." Noctowl flew around the perimeter of the room in a big circle, air disturbances curling at his wingtips. "Tallyho!"
The owl entered into a dive. About halfway to the ground, he spun in an aileron roll and swooped back up to the roof – leaving a circle of disturbed air, which accelerated and hit the ground with an audible shing! noise.
Fluffles was knocked about a bit by the attack. He shook his head, looking a bit downcast at the harshly trimmed fur on his tail, and turned to look up at Noctowl.
"Why are you wearing a top hat?" he asked.
Noctowl rolled his wings in a shrug.
"Oh well..."
"Fluffles, use Headbutt!" Whitney ordered.
Fluffles leaned back, standing on his hind legs. He blinked, slowly, and focused on Noctowl's circling form.
"Uh..." Ash frowned. "Why is he glowing?"
Now with red energy surrounding him, the Plump Mouse Pokémon kicked off the floor. Hurtling upwards, he aimed straight for Noctowl.
"I say!" Noctowl banked right to get out of the way, and was flabbergasted when Fluffles curved his flight path to strike Noctowl squarely in the chest.
"Ow!" Noctowl flapped his wings as Bidoof fell away, launching a Gust, and the attack drove his opponent into the floor harder than he would have landed anyway.
"How'd he do that?" Ash asked, sounding vaguely offended.
"Fluffles has the ability Moody, which means that in battle he has random affects increase his abilities – this time, accuracy!" Whitney explained. "He's also got Simple, which doubles the power of those boosts! Isn't it cute?"
Ash blinked. "...I'd say something, but since some of my Pokémon have all three abilities I can barely comment. Dexter?"
That's correct. I have all three – Trace, Download, Analyze. Speaking of which... Dexter's scanner traced across Fluffles. Analysis complete. It's not just boosts, there's random drops as well. In this case, the Bidoof is weaker to physical attacks.
"Thanks! Noctowl, quick, use Peck!"
Noctowol rolled in the air and dove down, beak glowing faintly. "Take this!"
Fluffles glowed again. He raised his head, fang glowing, and bit down just as Noctowl arrived.
The Flying-type's attack barely seemed to faze Fluffles. He got a mouthful of feathers in return, pulling a few of them out to the accompaniment of a pained squawk from Noctowl, who rose back into the air as fast as possible to avoid another Super Fang.
...well, that was unlucky. He got a defence boost just as Noctowl came down for the attack.
Ash winced. "Okay, Noctowl, keep your distance for now!"
"Don't need to tell me twice, old boy." Noctowl's flight wobbled slightly as he regained attack attitude, and started to spin off air slashes to keep up the fight at a distance.
Fluffles was bounced around a bit by the Air Slashes. He rocked back on his hind legs again, and launched himself into the air with another Headbutt. Strangely, his trajectory took him nowhere near Noctowl's circling form.
Ash gaped. "Wait, he's not – Noctowl! Dive!"
A flicker in the air resolved itself into Noctowl, and the illusion which had been circling faded. The real Pokémon shed height for speed, and only took a glancing blow from the ballistic beaver.
"This is getting on my nerves!" Noctowl panted, regaining height.
Fluffles hit the ground with a thud, and glowed yet again.
This time, he shouted upwards. "BIDOOF!"
The resultant shout distorted the air, cracked several windows, and knocked Noctowl up to bounce off the ceiling.
"Are you okay?" Ash asked, concerned.
"Abso-bloody-lutely not," Noctowl muttered, recovering and sitting on the rafters. "'scuse me, need a bit of a kip."
"What's your Pokémon doing?" Whitney asked, as another glow flashed through Fluffles and the Fat Mouse began bouncing back and forth on trembling paws – seemingly unable to stop himself moving, and far faster than he should have been.
"Roost, I think," Ash observed.
"Right!" Whitney pointed. "Fluffles, use Superpower!"
Fluffles shot off towards the wall, ran up it in a trice, and came charging along the rafters towards Noctowl. As he reached the Roosting Flying-type – now trying to take off frantically and avoid being hit – he glowed with the blue energy of his Superpower attack.
And missed.
The Noctowl he'd jumped at vanished in a flash of light, revealing it to be an illusion, and the real Noctowl decloaked still in mid-air.
His eyes glowed, and he grabbed Fluffles in an Extrasensory. "Right, young feller-me-lad."
Another red flash of energy. Fluffles started to wriggle, the Extrasensory holding him less tightly
Having none of that, Noctowl turned his beak and slammed the Bidoof into the ground with an audible crack.
Fluffles stumbled out of the crater, shaking his head.
"What does it take to stop that Bidoof?" Ash asked.
Do you mean now or in two minutes? Because at some point it's going to have boosts to everything!
Fluffles breathed in massively again, readying another Echoing Voice attack.
"Noctowl!" Ash called. "Use an Air Slash to break up the attack!"
Noctowl complied, hammering the air with his wings and producing a powerful ball of swirling wind. It went down just as the shout came up, and reduced the impact of the shout overpressure.
The Flying-type was still buffeted against the ceiling, and several windows shattered.
"Oh, no..." Whitney said, wincing. "Fluffles, please don't destroy the gym!"
Fluffles nodded, a little uncertainly, and focused in on Noctowl once more.
The Owl Pokémon's eye tufts glowed blue, and Fluffles blinked, shaking his head in confusion.
Then slammed his head very hard into the floor, knocking himself out.
Whitney ran out to Fluffles, shouting something about the poor little thing.
Noctowl wobbled back down to rest on Ash's outstretched forearm. "I've got an absolutely beastly headache."
"Nice work on the confusion, Noctowl," Ash said, giving him a scratch. "Hopefully you won't be needed for this next one."
"Don't count on it," Whitney said, walking back to her position with her Bidoof's Pokéball. She took out her third and final Pokémon. "Avenge your friends, Miltank!"
Pikachu blinked. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I'm kind of glad I'm not fighting this one..."
Ash nodded. "Right... Totodile's fine, so go Totodile!"
Totodile looked up at the big Miltank. "Ooh, you're a lot bigger than the Clefairy was!"
"Miltank! Use Rollout!" Whitney ordered.
Miltank rolled into a ball and started spinning, rumbling forwards.
Realizing she might be interested, Ash sent Quilava out. She settled down to watch the fight, head tilted on one side.
Totodile looked closely. "Take this!"
He fired a Water Gun at the top surface of Miltank, slowing her rotation slightly, but she kept rumbling forwards regardless. The Water Gun didn't have nearly enough force to stop her, and Totodile was forced to jump into the air and dodge with Aqua Jet to boost his jump.
Landing back on the floor behind her, he fired more Water Guns as she made a ponderous turn and came back towards him.
"Totodile!" Ash called. "Get over by one of the corners!"
"Nice," Quilava opined.
Jumping and using Aqua Jet again to avoid being run down, Totodile hurried over to the corner.
Miltank turned again and rumbled forwards, accelerating all the time.
"Okay, Totodile..." Ash waited, judging the moment. "Jump now!"
Totodile did so.
Miltank didn't stop.
"Hmmm..." Brock held up a Pokédoll. "This one looks nice."
"It does," Ninetales agreed. "Suzy does like Skitties, so that might be the best choice."
"It won't be enough by itself, but-"
There was a crash sound from outside the department store.
Brock and Ninetales both ran to the window, and watched as a large Miltank rumbled through the street, curving back on itself, and rolled back through the hole it had left in Goldenrod gym.
"...that was strange," Brock said. His eyes widened. "Wait, Ash's gym battle is inside?"
"That poor building," Ninetales said sadly.
Whitney clapped her hands to her mouth. "Oh no! Not the wall!"
Miltank came back in, moving faster still. This time she managed to clip Totodile as he jumped, sending him flying through the air and making him have to use another Aqua Jet boost to land softly.
"Well, at least Totodile's getting a lot of practice with that attack," Misty said. "It's a good one for him."
"Totodile, use your Water Gun to try to slow her down!" Ash called. "Make the floor wet, so she gets less traction!"
Totodile nodded, and sprayed the floor in front of the oncoming Miltank. This time he stopped earlier to give more time for his Aqua Jet escape, and Miltank skidded wide and smashed more holes in the wall.
Whitney winced. "I should really have listened to Bugsy..."
Misty put her hands on her hips. "You think? He wrecked Cerulean too, you know!"
"...actually, she's doing most of the damage," Ash pointed out. "So it's not quite the same..."
Miltank smashed through another wall, and this time Totodile was a fraction of a second too slow. Her attack clipped him, the powerful topspin sending him spinning skywards, and he landed hard.
Then got run over by Miltank.
Ash returned the unconscious Water-type. "Okay, Noctowl, see if you can help!"
"I'll do the best I can-" Noctowl began, and Miltank ramped off the sides of the crater left by Clefairy's earlier Explosion.
Her trajectory intersected Noctowl before he'd finished his sentence, and knocked him out.
"...oh," Ash said lamely. "Right... hope this works. Muk!"
"You've got a Muk?" Whitney repeated. "Ew!"
"Hey, he's alright," Ash said. "Muk, get that Miltank!"
Miltank rolled through Muk's indistinct body, producing a loud splat and getting purple gunk everywhere.
"Ugh!" Whitney shuddered, feeling some of the purple stuff get in her hair. "I need, like, five showers..."
Ash nodded. "Thanks, Dexter," he said as gunk dripped off the Reflect screen in front of him and Misty.
My pleasure.
Muk was not inconvenienced in the least, pulling himself together with only a minor loss of mass.
He turned to look at Miltank as she made another turn and headed towards him, and opened his mouth.
Then he began to glow.
"What attack is he using?" Ash asked.
Dexter beeped. ...uh oh. Get down!
Muk used Thunderbolt, Flamethrower, Shadow Ball, Rock Tomb, Shock Wave, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Secret Power, Dark Pulse, Sludge Bomb, Giga Drain, Hyper Beam, Ice Punch, Hidden Power, Double Team, Round, Payback, Rain Dance, Sunny Day and Toxic.
All three trainers, Quilava and Pikachu dove for the floor as Muk seemed to explode in a tidal wave of attacks and blasts of energy.
When the sound and fury died down, they peeked up at the devastation.
The Clefairy-shaped gym was a complete wreck. Two of the walls had collapsed, the roof had caved in, much of it was on fire, and the less said about the floor the better.
Muk stood on an all-but-untouched circle of floor in the midst of the devastation, with a thoroughly knocked out Miltank in a heap in front of him.
"I like cookies," he said simply.
"Uh..." Ash tentatively held out the Pokéball. "Return?"
Muk flashed back into the Pokéball without any fuss.
As Ash put the ball back on his belt, something bounced off his chest.
He bent down and picked it up. It was a Plain Badge.
"You..." Whitney seemed lost for words. "Get out."
Misty picked her way across the devastation. "Whitney," she said, clapping the Normal-type leader on the shoulder. "I want you to know, I feel your pain. He destroyed my gym too."
"...what do you want me to do?" Ash asked. "You started it!"
I advise leaving now, Dexter said. You are only making it worse.
"This is pretty cool," Keldeo said brightly. "What's this place called?"
Virizion bent down to look at the information plate. "This is the Statue of Thundurus at Olympia. That's the official name for it, anyway."
"Where's the statue, then?" Terrakion asked, looking suspiciously at the enormous temple. "All I see is pillars."
"I think it's inside." Virizion nodded. "We should have a look."
Cobalion frowned. "Isn't this a bit of a waste of time?"
"We're lost anyway, Cobalion," Virizion argued. "We may as well enjoy ourselves. Besides," she nodded forward at Keldeo, prancing up the steps ahead of them. "He needs a bit of time for fun. You know how he can sometimes get a bit obsessed."
"...I suppose you're right," Cobalion nodded. "He's dedicated, yes, but I forget he is still a child at times."
The three Swords reached the entrance to what was really quite a spectacular temple in the Ionic mode, pretending not to notice the tourists taking an interest in them.
"...wow," Terrakion said, as they beheld the statue.
It was, to put it simply, huge.
Fifteen metres tall, the statue was covered in amethyst and sapphire and represented the Therian forme of Thundurus bending down on one knee. His hand was held up to his face, with a tiny human woman standing on the palm.
It took the mind a few seconds to refocus, and to realize that the human was actually five and a half feet tall – normal sized. The scale of the statue made her seem tiny.
"It's amazing what humans can do, sometimes, isn't it?" Virizion asked, in a hushed voice.
"Indeed," Cobalion nodded. Then he frowned. "Where is – Keldeo!"
The Colt Pokémon was standing in front of the statue, posing with two tourists. There was a camera flash, and he smiled at them.
Hearing Cobalion, he trotted back over. "Hi, guys!"
"What were you doing?" Cobalion asked.
"Oh. Er..." Keldeo scuffed his hoof on the floor, looking embarrassed. "I kind of wanted a souvenir photo, and we don't have the money for a camera, so... I got them to take one."
"How does that work?" Virizion asked. She frowned.
"Yeah!" Terrakion put in. "Are you going to go back over and get an instant photo or something?"
"No, it was a digital camera." Keldeo shrugged. "Look, I know I want to become a Sword of Justice, but... I'm cute. I know I am. And that means that a photo with me in it is going to be all over the internet by the time we get home."
"And?" Cobalion pressed.
"And so we can find them when we get home," Keldeo completed. "Don't you guys want photo souvenirs too?"
The Swords exchanged glances.
"...oh, why not." Cobalion nodded. "We may as well. We are, apparently, treating this as a holiday."
As he led the others over, Keldeo sniggered. "Maybe I should have told you how I got the money to pay for the trip to Europe..."
AN:
Ah, Whitney. AKA the one who runs you over with a cow.
As it happens, I did in fact randomly generate the moves for Metronome and the stat boosts for Moody-Simple. The results were... interesting. As for Muk... yes, this is a thing now.
The Statue the Musketeers are visiting is a parallel to one which, in our world, was destroyed in antiquity – the Statue of Zeus at Olympia. And Keldeo has a point.
