This is the first of two chapters today.
"Pikachu?" Ash called, looking around. "Pikachu, where did you go?"
"Is something wrong?" Misty asked, looking concerned.
"Pikachu was right here a few minutes ago," Ash said, frowning. "He just... I don't know."
Coming to a decision, he released Houndour. "Can you find Pikachu for me, Houndour?"
Houndour sniffed the air. "I'll try."
The canine Pokémon took another deep sniff, and then barked softly. "Okay, I think I've found his trail. This way."
"Wonder why he left..." Ash mused.
"I don't know," Keldeo said, looking around himself. "I'll let you know if I see anything."
"Thanks," Ash nodded, as they followed Houndour into the woods. "So, how are you finding Johto?"
"It's a little warmer than I'm used to," Keldeo said, stepping carefully over a fallen branch. "But we crossed a couple of deserts on the way here, so I can't complain."
"Yeah, you mentioned something like that..." Ash shook his head. "You walked from Unova?"
"It was the best way I could think of," Keldeo muttered in protest. He tossed his head. "How does this work, by the way? The whole... gym, thing?"
"Right." Ash nodded. "Okay, so you've heard of the Pokémon League?"
"Vaguely."
"It's... well, kind of like the whole single combat thing, for trainers." Ash groped for the best way to describe it. "First off, people face eight gyms to earn badges, which represent their ability to battle against individual types. The goal is to make sure that people have a diverse team, or a strong one."
Keldeo nodded. "So... you'd have a water gym, for example?"
"Yep!" Misty said, waving. "That's my speciality!"
"Oh, okay." Keldeo gave her an appraising look. "Right, I think I understand that bit. Does everyone do it?"
Ash waved a hand. "Most people start, but not everyone gets all eight. The idea is partly so that people get a chance to build themselves a good team, one they can work well with."
He shrugged. "That's one reason the gym leaders tend to try and give better trainers bigger challenges. Guys?"
Brock looked up. "Yes?"
"Well.. how would you give someone an easy go at your gym? If it was their first or second?"
Brock hummed. "...well, I'd probably use just Geodude, if it was someone's first time. Or perhaps Steelix as well, but what would change would be the style – I'd be very defensive, let them take the initiative. Whereas if I was facing someone with several badges already under their belt, I'd have Steelix – or, Onix then – be more aggressive and use his weight to knock their Pokémon around." Brock winked. "And Geodude would use Bide, which is a good way to mess up a tough trainer."
"I see you've put a lot of thought into this," Keldeo agreed. "It sounds complicated. What about you, Misty?"
"Well, for a new trainer, I'd use Goldeen and Staryu," Misty said. "For better trainers, I'd do something to try and throw them a curve ball – so a Dewgong if they use Grass types, or a Chinchou if they use Electric types."
Ash chuckled nervously.
"I haven't forgotten," Misty said pointedly. "And for people who've already got six or seven other badges, I'd probably try something like Gyarados or Starmie on top of that – and possibly the gym Vaporeon, he's quite hard to fight for people who don't know about Acid Armour."
Keldeo nodded. "I see. And once someone has all eight badges?"
"The Pokémon League conferences," Ash said. "There's several hundred trainers tested a year, and they fight one another in elimination or bracket matches until there's just one left. That person is the League Champion for that year – I'm currently Indigo Champion – and they get to challenge the Elite Four."
Misty took up the story. "The Elite Four are like gym leaders, but much tougher. They have to have a counter for the normal way to fight their element, usually several." She winced with memory. "Even using some Pokémon I rented for the battle, and knowing exactly what they had, earning my qualification as Gym Leader was hard."
"Oh, yeah," Ash said, nodding. "Brock mentioned that, but I never actually asked..."
"I got lucky and managed to beat Lance," Misty explained. "I had a Quagsire for his Dragonite with Thunder, and just used a lot of ice beams. Bruno was a bit easier, but he still managed to beat two of the three Psychic types I brought along."
"Lucky you!" Brock called back. "They both flattened me. I just about beat Lorelei – thanks to a Magcargo and an Aggron..."
"You... have to fight the Elite Four?" Keldeo asked. "Wow. That doesn't sound easy."
"Like I say, we get to rent Pokémon." Misty shrugged. "But yeah, they want to make sure that a gym leader can get the best from Pokémon of their intended Type."
"If someone beats all four of the Elite Four," Ash said, "Then they get to fight the Grand Champion. Currently, that's Lance."
"Didn't you say he was one of the Elite Four?" Keldeo asked, frowning.
"Yeah, the Elite Four have been a bit messed around recently – I heard Agatha's considering retiring." Misty shrugged. "Hopefully they'll fill out the ranks again someday."
Houndour barked from up ahead. "Found him!"
"Pikachu!" Ash said, gathering the woozy Electric-type up. "How are you?"
"Dizzy," Pikachu said indistinctly. "I have had a very strange ten minutes."
"Really?" Ash asked, absently stroking Pikachu's spine and feeling the mouse settling down a bit. "What happened?"
Pikachu cleared his throat. "Okay. So, I was lagging back a bit, because I'm still tired from yesterday."
Keldeo made an upset noise. That had been largely his fault – keeping Pikachu up for several hours asking about Ash's time in Unova, as well as what had happened before and since. "Sorry, Pikachu."
"No, don't worry." Pikachu waved it off. "Anyway, someone threw an apple core at me, and I caught a glimpse of a Pokémon in the branches of a tree."
A sigh. "So, I sent a warning zap, and got beaned by another apple core in return. So up I went to ask questions, and who do you think I saw?"
No-one had an answer.
"The Pichu brothers," Pikachu revealed.
Ash blinked. "Who?"
"The... Pichu Brothers?" Pikachu repeated. "I keep running into them... I've never mentioned this before?"
"Not to me," Ash said. Misty shrugged.
"Right." Pikachu glanced down at their belts. "Guys? Back me up here?"
Several Pokéballs opened.
After a few minutes of testimony – from Ninetales, Togekiss, Totodile, Quilava, Psyduck, Bayleef, Politoed, Staryu, Steelix, Geodude, Forretress, Ivysaur, Noctowl and Crobat – Ash raised a hand.
"Yes?" Pikachu asked, tapping his foot.
"I concede the point. Apparently this does keep happening, we just never notice. You were saying?"
"Right. Anyway, I was surprised to see them, and they were so surprised to find they'd been spotted that they let go of a rope which was tied to some kind of elaborate lift system. That knocked me into a hidden grotto," Pikachu sighed, "again. After that I got caught up in about three dance numbers, got hit by at least two electric attacks, nearly carried off by a Jumpluff, and helped the Pichu Brothers discover the value of hard work."
Pikachu shrugged. "And that's about when Houndour managed to find me."
Keldeo blinked. "Is it always like this around you, Ash?"
That prompted a barking laugh from Houndour. "I've been asking that for a while now... the answer's yes."
That dealt with, the friends continued on their way.
It was only a mile or so further on that Houndour's ears perked up, and he started to emit a faint growl.
"What is it?" Ash asked, concerned.
"There's a Houndoom around here..." Houndour said, eyes scanning back and forth across the foliage as the group came to a halt. "Getting nearer."
Ash exchanged a glance with Misty.
Not seeing that, Keldeo took a breath and flashed over into Resolute Form. "Don't worry, I'll-"
"Nah, it's not a problem," Misty interrupted. "If this is the one we met last time, he's nice. He helped make sure Togepi didn't get lost."
She shrugged. "Togepi got lost a lot. Even compared to the rest of us."
I didn't know that was possible, Dexter quipped.
With a soft padding of paws on road, a large Houndoom appeared around the nearby bend in the path.
It stopped for a moment, looking them over, and then paced forwards again with purpose.
Keeping one hand near the softly snarling Houndour, Ash gestured him and Keldeo back into the trees on either side of the path. Misty and Brock did so on the other side, making way for Houndoom to pass through easily.
Instead of doing so, though, he stopped just in front of Misty. His spade-tipped tail curled out and opened a satchel resting on his back, and retrieved a letter which it held up to Misty.
"Oh," Misty said, blinking. She took it. "It's addressed to me."
Satisfied, Houndoom loped off the way he had come.
Frowning, the Water-type gym leader opened the envelope. She drew out a letter written on thick white paper, unfolded it, and gasped.
"What is it?" Ash asked.
With a slightly unsteady hand, Misty passed it over.
Misty Waterflower of Cerulean,
It is my pleasure to inform you that you have been selected for consideration to replace Lorelei of Mandarin South. This letter is a guarantee of consideration, not a guarantee of position.
You have one year to provide the appropriate references. These include:
A complete team of Pokémon of your chosen type or who specialize in same. Minimum is four, though five is preferable.
A battle record of facing a Legendary Pokémon who has an advantage against your chosen type.
A battle record of facing a Legendary Pokémon who has a disadvantage against your chosen type.
Evidence of at least one feat connected to aiding Pokémon of your type who are not part of your team.
Additional supporting evidence may be provided, but is not mandatory.
We look forward to seeing your application progress.
Yours,
Lorelei of Mandarin South
Member, Elite Four
Bruno of Dewford
Member, Elite Four
Agatha of Cherrygrove
Member, Elite Four
Lance of Blackthorn
Grand Champion, Kanto and Johto.
Brock had been reading over Ash's shoulder. "...wow, Misty. This is pretty big stuff."
Misty nodded, and opened her mouth. She was able to speak on the second try. "Big stuff? This is huge!"
She blinked. "Wait, how am I going to – but – I'm not ready-"
"Calm down!" Ash said, clapping her on the shoulder. He passed the letter back. "Come on, Misty. I know, it's a big thing."
"That's an understatement," Misty muttered.
"But you can do it!" Ash went on. He smiled. "You're the best person I've ever met at working with Water types!"
"Ash is right," Brock weighed in. "They sent you this, so they must think you've got a chance."
"And we'll help out," Ash continued. "Of course we will."
"Can I see?" Keldeo asked. "I..." his voice tailed off as he read the folded letter. "Okay, that is a pretty huge thing."
He thought for a bit, transiting back down to Ordinary Form as he did so, and then stamped a hoof on the ground. "Misty! I know!"
"What is it?" Misty asked, looking over at him.
"You can help me get better with my water attacks!" Keldeo said. "The other Swords weren't able to teach me very well, but you can – you're a specialist! That way, I can get stronger, and you can help a Water-type!"
Misty chuckled despite herself. "That could work."
"See?" Ash asked, grinning. "We're started already!"
"Ah, Ecruteak," Brock said, as they cleared the treeline. "It's so quiet now, it's hard to believe it used to be the capital."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Hey, guys, I'm going to go to the gym and see Morty. I don't know what rules he wants for our battle, so if I can check ahead of time then I can sort things out at the Pokémon centre."
"Good thought," Brock commented. "Okay, we'll wait there."
"Thanks!" Ash said, jogging off.
"Wait. Seriously?" Suicune asked.
"Yep!" Raikou agreed, nodding. "Just saw him."
Suicune came to her feet in a flowing motion, and loped up the stairs of the Burned Tower. She came to a halt on the battered first floor, glanced over at the Tin Tower to be sure there was no-one watching, and looked out over Ecruteak.
Some moments later, Suicune padded back down the stairs of the ancient building.
"Good eye," she said simply. "Do you think he's here to challenge the gym?"
"What else?" Raikou rolled his shoulders in a shrug.
"Where's Entei? And the others?"
"Training a few miles away." Raikou looked at his sister for a moment. "Tell you what. I'll go and get them."
That said, he darted away, sprinting off to the north and east and disappearing in a moment.
Suicune paced in a small circle while she waited. Once, she darted back up to the first floor to scan Ecruteak again.
In a surprisingly short amount of time, Raikou was back – together with his brother, and the shiny Suicune, Entei and Raikou created by Molly Hale.
"Raikou told us," Entei said without preamble. "Ash is here."
"He is," Suicune confirmed. "I saw him heading for the gym."
Entei hrumphed, and absently rubbed at his rear left leg.
"What's that?" his doppelganger asked, nodding at the leg. "I don't think any of us got you there..."
"No, that was Ash's Pokémon." Entei chuckled softly.
"I thought you said you were still fine at the end?" the shiny Raikou said with a frown.
"No," Entei corrected. "I said Ash didn't press the issue because he decided I was still too fit to catch."
The big Fire-type chuckled again. "What I didn't mention was that I deliberately misled him into thinking that."
The five other Legendaries exchanged glances – shocked in three cases, amused in one, and slightly smug in the last.
"Misled?" Raikou repeated, slowly. "How?"
"I said Eruption and blew his Houndour away, then shot down his Pidgeot," Entei explained. "But I actually used Lava Plume. I was barely fit for combat, and pretending I was using Eruption made me seem fitter than I was."
"How much fitter?" the shiny Suicune asked, softly.
"I'm not sure if two attacks or three would have knocked me out."
"...wow," Molly's erstwhile papa said.
"Told you he was good," Suicune pointed out, with perhaps a trace of smugness.
"Yes, fine, you were right and I was wrong," Entei muttered. "You've only reminded me four times."
Several chuckles.
After a momentary lull, the shiny Raikou raised a paw. "Perhaps... we should watch his gym challenge?"
"That sounds like a good idea!" Suicune agreed readily.
Ash knocked on the large front door of the gym. "Hello?"
He exchanged a glance with Pikachu, who shrugged.
"Perhaps you should knock again?" Keldeo suggested.
"Hang on." Closing his eyes, Ash looked into the gym. "Huh. It's empty. That's kind of annoying."
"Ash!"
Ash turned to look back towards the Pokémon centre.
Striding towards him were Brock, Misty – and Morty.
"We met him in the Pokémon Centre," Brock explained.
"Right." Ash waved. "Hello – Morty?"
The young Gym Leader walked up to Ash and shook his hand. "Ash Ketchum. I've been expecting you."
He nodded. "Come this way, we've got an outdoor arena a little way into the forest. I like my gym, and I don't want to see it get broken."
Ash grinned. "Fair enough! Oh – any restrictions?"
Morty considered that. "Not particularly." As they walked, Morty gave a slightly confused look at Keldeo – who waved back brightly.
"Right." Ash started thinking out loud. "Ghost type... okay. Hey, Dexter, do you have anything that works on ghosts?"
Not very well, Dexter admitted.
"Okay. You can still transfer Pokémon, right? Even in the field where we're going?"
That is correct.
"Good. Let Professor Oak know I might want to call someone in, please."
Sending.
Ten minutes of walking got them to a tree-lined glade, with a few bleacher-style seats around the edges of a chalked Pokémon battle arena.
"Choose your end, please," Morty invited.
Ash looked at the glade for a few seconds. It was... lightly sloping down towards the centre, which was helpful.
Apart from that, there were no particular advantages he could see.
"Over here, I think," Ash decided.
Morty acknowledged with a nod, and the two trainers moved to their sides of the field.
"This match will have four Pokémon on each side," Morty stated. "Either side may switch, but only when their opponent is defeated. Is this understood?"
"Yeah, that's fine," Ash agreed. "Okay, I'm ready to go!"
There were a series of whoosh sounds behind him.
"Oh, hi!" Keldeo said. "Nice to meet you."
Morty dropped his first Pokéball.
"What?" Ash asked, blinking with surprise at Morty's expression. "What's so surprising? Keldeo does that, you know."
Morty pointed.
Ash turned.
On reflection, he had to admit that Morty's startlement was understandable. Keldeo was shaking hoof/paws with a shiny Suicune, with the original Suicune, Entei and Raikou already climbing the bleachers and the shiny Entei and Raikou waiting in line to greet Keldeo in turn.
As he watched, Suicune sat herself down across two seats, and held up a small flag with Ash's name on it in one paw.
"Mr. Ketchum..." Morty said, blinking. "Why are there several Legendary Pokémon taking seats in the bleachers?"
Suicune started giggling.
Ash shrugged. "Maybe they're bored?"
The giggling intensified, and Raikou's booming chuckles joined it.
About at that point, Keldeo was finished with introductions. He cantered up the steps behind the shiny Beasts, and took his own place.
"Entei," Suicune said, voice clearly holding in mirth. "Can you do us some popcorn? I think this is going to be good."
"You've not started yet, have you, Ash?" Misty called from the path. "Sorry, we were a bit... late... huh. Hi, Legendary Beasts."
Suicune, Raikou and all three shinies waved. Keldeo did too.
"Oh!" Misty added, snapping her fingers. "Can I talk to you guys after the battle? I've kind of got a request..."
Ash waved a hand in front of Morty's face. "Uh, the gym battle?"
Morty blinked, shook his head, and visibly decided to ignore the peanut gallery. "Right. Uh... Gengar!"
"Houndour!"
"This is all a bit easy so far," Sir Aaron commented, as they strolled along the high road in Terrera.
"Tell me about it..." Giratina agreed, floating along in Origin Form. "A Samurott instead of Kyogre? Dad, I thought this place was challenging!"
Well, excuse me for trying to include some actual plot! Arceus huffed, his voice imposing itself on reality without need for anything so crass as speaking. At least they were interesting fights, right?
"Only the one against Servine and Serperior." Giratina shrugged, rolling his levitating body from side to side. "And then only because I think you were letting them use Vine Whip as Metronome."
Vine Whip sometimes seems like it can do anything, Arceus muttered.
"That's only because of how it's used," Palkia cut in. "And Dad, when I don't have trouble beating up the Electric-types then there's something up. Where the heck was Zekrom? I wanted to have a fight with Zekrom!"
Dialga muttered something.
"Dialga's got a point, guys..." Sir Aaron said. "He deserves the next fight."
"...fine," Palkia muttered. "What element's that, again?"
"Ground," Dialga supplied.
"HO!"
All four of them looked up.
"I am Takeda Shingen, master of Rhyperior!" announced a large man riding on the back of a slightly larger Pokémon. "I challenge you to battle!"
Sir Aaron nodded, and pulled out the appropriate orb. "Dialga, you're up!" he called, throwing it.
Dialga caught it, and flashed silver with power. His fins extended and glowed indigo, and a blue glow formed on his chest-crystal.
Takeda grinned. "Rhyperior, attack!"
There was a heavy feeling in the air for a moment, and then Dialga fired his signature attack.
The blast of intensely warped time slammed into Rhyperior, sending it sliding backwards
"...huh," Sir Aaron said, blinking. "I kind of expected that to defeat him."
"Rhyperior are super tough!" Shingen stated. "Now, Rock Wrecker!"
Dialga kicked out at the ball of rock, smashing it, and skidded backward a little. He then used Flash Cannon, and Rhyperior collapsed.
"Is that it?" Sir Aaron asked.
Arceus muttered something about critics. No, it's not. Try this one on for size.
"Okay, Groudon!" Shingen called, and the big Ground-type stomped forwards. There was a flash of light overhead, and the sun shone brightly down on the battlefield.
"Use your Precipice Blades!"
Groudon roared, and slammed his tail into the ground. Dozens of spears of rock smashed their way out from underneath, and wobbled back and forth before falling towards Dialga.
The thousands of tonnes of rock buried Dialga completely.
Then a light shone from beneath the pile.
"This is awesome!" Dialga roared, the whole pile exploding outwards. "Okay, you, me, first one to fall over loses!"
Sir Aaron dove for cover as Dialga started charging another Roar of Time.
"Well, I have heard a rumour about one of these... mega-stones," the girl said. "But I could not tell someone so uncouth."
Gary's eye twitched.
"Uncouth?" Umbreon repeated. "This place is..."
With a flash, Furfrou emerged from her Pokéball. She gave the situation a look over, and then sighed. "Right. Master, if you could follow me?"
Gary looked up. "What is it?"
"Observe, and learn," she told him.
Gary blinked. "How much?"
"Five hundred," the groomer repeated.
"Fine." Gary dug in his pockets, and pulled out his card. "Here."
"Marvellous," he said, scanning the card. "A pleasure doing business with you, m'sieu."
"Yeah, I bet it is..." Gary agreed. "Are you sure this is going to work?"
"But of course," Furfrou said, tossing her elaborately styled ears. "The way that my unusual colour plays off the style is magnificent, and as such it is exactly what we are after!"
"Right." Gary shrugged. "I guess you're the expert."
"I am," she agreed with a nod.
"Oh, she's so lovely!" the girl exclaimed. "She's so very, very stylish!"
Furfrou curvetted around in a circle, flashing Gary a smug look as she did so.
"Well, my apologies," the girl went on. "I can see you're a man of taste, even if your clothes do suggest otherwise. Very well. There is a man who sells many gemstones of various types in the Avenue Vernal. I believe I heard that at least one of those is a Mega Stone."
"Well, thanks," Gary said, swallowing his pride. "I'll go down there and see what he's got."
"Told you," Furfrou pointed out as they left.
Gary nodded. "Yeah, you did..."
AN:
Merry Christmas, everyone!
Because the Pichu Brothers are the elemental manifestation of random Heath-Robinson contraptions and dance numbers.
Oh, yeah, the Misty thing... well, it seems like a fun place to take her.
The Legendary Beasts... they've got to get their entertainment somewhere. And an outdoor gym battle is a good place.
Meanwhile, the Sinnoh Dragons and Aaron are continuing their curbstomp of most of Ransei, and Gary Oak Is Back In Kalos.
