This is the second of two chapters today.
Heracross set himself, crouching down slightly, and stared across the battlefield at his opponent.
Poliwrath did the same, clapping a fist into the opposed hand, and focused his energy.
Then the Tadpole launched himself forwards, fist cocked back for a powerful blow.
Heracross stood ready, waiting, and then ducked his head just as Poliwrath approached. His horn slipped underneath Poliwrath's charging form, and he brought it up in a swift motion, sending the Water-type hurtling into the air.
Despite the unexpectedness of Heracross' throw, Poliwrath recovered quickly. He hit the roof, punched through with a quick Mach Punch, and clung on rather than dropping straight back down.
He fired a quick Water Gun down at Heracross, who dodged and began charging an Aura Sphere.
"This is kind of silly," Ash observed, as Heracross and Poliwrath exchanged a few long range shots. "I mean, they're both melee battlers..."
"Poliwrath!" Chuck called. "Attack the floor! Maximum power!"
Ash blinked. "Pardon? Do you even – but – that's going to blow a huge hole in your gym!"
Chuck shrugged. "What? It's just a building."
As he spoke, Poliwrath began to glow with Focused Energy, and then leapt off the rafters with his fist shining like a star.
His Focus Punch hit the gym floor about ten metres from Heracross, and blew a gigantic hole in it.
Water fountained up out of the hole.
"Yes!" Chuck said, as Poliwrath swam to the surface of the deepening pond. "You hit the pipes! Just as I expected of you!"
Misty's jaw dropped.
Brock patted her on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Misty, he's crazy..."
Molly cleared her throat. "Uh... mister Chuck? My feet are wet."
Chuck blinked, glancing at her, then he nodded. "Oh, sorry – I forgot. We should move to the raised viewing area!"
Heracross held up an arm against the fountaining water, then lowered it as the pool got deep enough to prevent the water spraying from the pipes actually going anywhere.
"What was that in aid of?" he asked, shaking his head. As the water thickened, he began exerting Aura to walk on it – preferring that to being thigh deep in water.
There was a quiet splash from the direction of the pool.
Then a large, high-speed Tadpole Pokémon punched Heracross in the side.
With a splash, Heracross came to a halt halfway across the gym, and came back to his feet while rubbing his side with one arm. That Focus Punch had hurt!
He ducked a Water Gun attack, and threw another Aura Sphere back – but Poliwrath had already vanished back underwater.
Keeping his eyes peeled, Heracross tried to spot the ripples caused by a high-speed swimmer.
"Heracross!" Ash called. "I'll keep track of him! Just be ready to fire!"
Heracross nodded.
"Left-!" Ash called abruptly, and Heracross was swinging to defend his left when Poliwrath erupted from the water again and delivered a Dynamic Punch.
Both Pokémon went skidding away from the explosion.
"Heracross, are you okay?" Ash asked.
Heracross stumbled a bit, looking dizzy. "I... think so," he said, looking not quite at Ash.
"Right!" Ash called. "Turn around – now use Hyper Beam!"
The blast of white energy went nowhere near Poliwrath. It did, however, trace a line of explosions across the floor and then blow a hole in the corner of two walls.
The water filling the gym began to drain out, leaving Poliwrath exposed.
"Good!" Ash said, as Heracross panted and recharged. "Down!"
Heracross threw himself to the floor, hurting himself as he landed badly but also avoiding the Water Gun.
One of Ash's Pokéballs burst open, revealing Quilava. She began to speak urgently to Heracross. "Heracross – listen! What you need to do is to gather together energy based purely on swiftness of movement – the same kind you've seen Pidgeot use. Then..."
Heracross listened to Quilava's explanation, frowning as he tried to follow.
It all seemed a bit muddled. Though maybe that was the mild concussion.
Another Water Gun hit him, this time in the face, and he reeled back sputtering before countering with a Fury attack.
"No, don't – okay, did you understand?" Quilava asked, a bit exasperated.
Heracross nodded, then frowned. Did he understand?
"Do it now!" Quilava said very quickly.
Heracross gathered energy into his horn, energy which glowed white and seemed to be trying to escape the horn to go flying off in all directions, and spun towards Poliwrath.
By sheerest chance, he managed to hit instead of missing and banging his horn painfully into the floor. The result instead was that the somewhat-incoherent Aerial Ace connected with its target, checking Poliwrath's attack.
"Grab on!" Ash called quickly.
The blow seemed to have cleared Heracross' head a bit. He managed to take both of Poliwrath's slimy arms in his, and held on grimly as Poliwrath tried to get away.
"Now, use Giga Impact!" Ash ordered.
Heracross turned to face the nearest wall, and charged at it – carrying Poliwrath along with him, despite the kicks and blasts of water Poliwrath employed to try to escape.
"What's going on at the gym?" asked Kirk, nodding.
"Oh, my husband's having a battle again," his guest smiled. "I heard it's quite a strong trainer – the one who rode into town yesterday on a Suicune, can you believe it?"
"Is that why the place appears to be flooded?" Kirk asked.
Chuck's wife turned, and blinked at the sight of a small river coming out of the gym.
"Oh, what's my husband done-"
The side wall exploded, as a large Bug-type rammed Chuck's Poliwrath through the wall and then slammed him to the floor in a diving Submission.
"...now?"
"Good job, Heracross!" Ash called, returning him through the hole.
"Well!" Chuck laughed. "Looks like you've won my badge! But where's the fun stopping now! Machoke!"
Chuck turned to Ash as the Fighting-type hit the heavily damaged floor. "Now, let's see who you've left for last?"
Ash winced. "You may not like this."
"What's to not like?" Chuck demanded.
Ash sent out Butterfree.
Machoke laughed theatrically. "This? This is who you send out?"
Butterfree wafted a little higher in the gym, wings catching the slightest currents. "I resent that, you know."
The burly Fighting-type shrugged, then blocked with both arms as Butterfree sent an Air Cutter at him.
Lowering his arms, the Machoke frowned. "I see. So, you're one of those tough Butterfree I've heard of."
"I was on the winning League team at last year's Indigo," Butterfree clarified. "I'm the tough Butterfree you've heard of."
He swept higher, and fired out another Air Cutter. This one skirled around Machoke's feet, making small furrows form in the muddy water still draining out of the gym through the hole.
"Machoke!" Chuck called. "Do not underestimate this foe! Use all your strength!"
Machoke nodded, wincing as another Air Cutter hit, and bent down to the floor. With a quick, hard strike, he snapped the stone underfloor of the gym and began to excavate it.
"You have by far the least regard for your gym building of anyone I've met so far," Ash said.
Chuck shrugged. "We can always build a new one. Actually, that sounds like a great form of training! When this battle is over, then my students and I will rebuild my gym!"
As he had been speaking, Machoke – under attack from repeated Air Cutters – pried up a large piece of the underfloor, and hefted it.
Then he threw it at Butterfree.
Ash blinked. "Can Machoke learn Rock Throw?"
Pikachu shrugged. "It's not exactly complicated. Pick up rock, throw it."
"True."
"Whoa!" Butterfree yelped, slipping sideways in the air, and the hunk of rock sailed past him to smash into the wall of the gym – making a large hole, which allowed the rock to tumble through to the other side.
Machoke was already preparing another rock.
"Okay, I didn't expect that," Butterfree admitted. His eyes began to glow. "Time to show you something my lady friend taught me."
Machoke shrugged, and threw this rock.
It sped towards Butterfree, halted halfway to him, and exploded.
Eyes shining with a soft blue-white light, Butterfree flapped his wings and accelerated. "Psychic," he explained, rolling and leaving a sparkling trail of dust behind him as he began to Quiver Dance.
For lack of better options, Machoke picked up two rocks at once and threw them both. The first went off-course as Butterfree exerted telekinetic force on it, and the other one halted in mid-air before flying straight back at its thrower.
"Machoke!" Chuck called. "Break through your limits!"
Machoke responded to the incoming rock by punching it full-on. It shattered, bits of rock going everywhere.
Butterfree wasn't going to let the moment of distraction pass without capitalizing on it. He flew directly over Machoke, exerting more telekinetic force and pushing him down – hard.
The floor under Machoke dried rapidly as the water was forced out of it. It cracked in a circle, trembled, and sank slightly.
Machoke's pose was that of someone trying to hold up a great weight on their shoulders.
"Don't give up!" Chuck exhorted. "Push through!"
"Yes, sensei!" Machoke replied, an expression of intense concentration across his face. With a mighty kiai, he stood, and launched himself skywards fist first.
Surprised, Butterfree was slow in dodging, and got hit on the wing by the Brick Break. He fluttered back a bit, refocused, and caught Machoke in a bubble of psionic energy.
"As I was saying," Butterfree went on. "Psychic!"
Machoke hit the floor of the gym with an almighty bang, sending rock slabs heaving up all around the impact point.
"Did that-" Ash asked, then closed his eyes to look. He sighed. "Oh, you're kidding..."
Butterfree looked closer, to try to see through the dust cloud. "Did that get it?" he asked, then remembered there was an easier solution and drove the dust away with a telekinetic slap.
Revealing that all four arms of his newly-evolved opponent had rocks ready to throw.
"Gah!" Having barely enough warning, Butterfree dove frantically to get out of the way of what seemed to be far too many bowling-ball-sized rocks.
Sparing a look as he sped around the gym in an evasion pattern, Butterfree saw what was going on.
The new Machamp was using a series of heel strikes to break up the rock below him into appropriately sized chunks. He was then picking those rocks up two at a time with two of his arms, while the other two were throwing the previous batch directly at him in a staggered sequence.
The overall effect was a continuous stream of large, heavy rocks flying at him, and he was having to keep dodging constantly.
"Butterfree!" Ash called, as the Bug-type went past.
Molly's Espeon prevented rocks from striking the spectators, directing them to the floor – well away from Machamp, of course – with a calm efficiency.
"Thanks, Espeon!" Molly smiled brightly.
Ash was speaking. "...out the holes!"
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Butterfree asked, accelerating. He had to abandon his attempt to go through the first hole because a rock got there first, plugging it up, but managed to slip through the much larger hole Heracross had made ahead of the rocks sent in that direction and get outside the gym.
Chuck frowned. "Isn't that leaving the battle?"
Ash shrugged. "No, I don't think so..."
There was a crack sound from overhead, and Chuck glanced up.
"Did the roof just move?"
Another crack. Then the roof shifted slightly, cracks running along the middle.
"Espeon?" Ash went on, in a surprisingly calm voice. "You might want to make sure we're protected from overhead, too."
Misty's eyes widened as she worked out what that meant, and sent out Psyduck for backup.
As he formed and took in the situation, the roof heaved, cracked, and caved in.
Mostly on top of Machamp.
"...I think he's unconscious," Ash supplied, once the rumbling sounds had stopped.
Chuck blinked, then laughed. "Ha! Serves me right for underestimating a Butterfree! Well, well, well... congratulations, Ash Ketchum!"
As Butterfree wafted back down, somehow managing to flutter smugly, he stroked his chin. "Hm... we may have to do this outside..."
"Do what?" Ash asked, puzzled.
"Well! I've also heard that you can fight!" Chuck chuckled at the blank expression on Ash's face. "Not your Pokémon, you!"
"...oh!" Ash blinked. "Wait, how did you-"
Chuck tapped his ear. "Heard it on the radio! You're an Aura adept, travelling with a Lucario, and I can tell just from watching you walk that there's barely an ounce of fat on you – so of course you train! And that just makes those rumours I heard perfectly plausible! So, how about it?"
"I'm still not sure what it is," Ash admitted.
"Oh, fine! Ash Ketchum, I challenge you, personally, to a spar! Five minutes or first fall!"
Ash swallowed, looking at just how tough Chuck was, and winced. "Uh... sure, I guess..."
The two humans stood across from one another, in one of the relatively clear patches in the otherwise heavily damaged gym.
"Right!" Chuck said, a grin on his face. "Ready?"
"Actually..." Ash raised his hand. "I have a question. How hard can I hit you?"
At Chuck's look of polite confusion, he elaborated. "I've been training with Lucario for months – and Riolu before that – and, while I do get the sense he's holding back, I can certainly hit him hard enough to hurt. And he's a Steel-type."
Chuck shrugged. "I've trained with Machoke for some time! I'm sure I'll be fine!"
Ash considered that, then nodded. "Okay – if you say so."
He took a deep breath, focusing. Despite what Chuck said, he was still leery of actually hitting someone – well, someone who wasn't earnestly trying to kill him or others, anyway.
So he made the decision to focus mostly on using his Aura for internal enhancement.
Chuck bowed, and Ash returned it. Then the Gym leader looked back up. "Begin!" he said, and came running forwards.
Ash took a moment to think of his next course of action. He stepped back as Chuck came close, kicked out a leg, and hooked under Chuck's left foot as it came forwards, pulling him off balance.
That made the big man stagger for a moment before he recovered. Chuckling, he lined up on Ash and aimed a textbook punch.
Ash was no longer there. Moving surprisingly fast, he dodged aside and hit the extended arm with a palm strike – the brief flash of blue showing that he'd made it a Force Palm instead of a simple attack.
Chuck retaliated with his other hand and a kick at the same time, and Ash skipped back out of the way before coming in again a moment later.
Brock frowned. "That looks... familiar, somehow..."
"What's that?" Molly asked, glancing up for a moment from watching.
"Well-" Brock began, then stopped as Chuck managed to grab Ash's wrist.
Ash retaliated with a clearly practised move, rotating his wrist and bringing his forearm sharply back towards him, and pulled on Chuck's grip. That didn't quite work, but he was already using the grip as an anchor point for a scything roundhouse kick which caught Chuck on the elbow.
The burly man let out a muffled ow, and released Ash's wrist automatically. Before he could make another grab, Ash had opened the range again – one hand up in front of him with the palm nearly vertical, the other below and behind.
"It's Riolu's old style," Pikachu volunteered. "That's where you recognize it from."
Brock blinked. "Really?"
He looked closer, watching the next exchange, and comparing it to the last few times he'd seen Lucario fight before his evolution. "...yeah, I see what you mean."
"It's good for handling bigger, tougher enemies," Pikachu went on. "All about mobility and not getting hit, while hitting in return. I guess it's a lot like how all of us on his team fight, in general..."
"Actually, I can see that," Misty agreed. "He's-"
There was a crash as Chuck tried an overarm blow, missed, and drove several inches into the floor of the gym.
Both Ash's friends noticed that he got a bit quicker and more cautious after that.
Unnoticed by either participant, the pace of their battle – and the power they were using – was steadily creeping up, as both Ash and Chuck became more comfortable that their opponent could handle it.
Ash ducked swiftly away from an incoming punch, began to counterattack but noticed Chuck was following up with a kick and switched plans – Chuck blinked as his kick crashed into a Protect shield, then wound up a powerful blow to go as soon as the shield failed – Ash blocked Chuck's punch and redirected most of the force, pulling him out of position – Chuck stepped forwards, recovering his balance and endangering Ash-
Neither was really able to do much to the other. Ash was considerably faster, but Chuck was big enough that he couldn't do any significant damage without putting in a sizeable amount of Aura – and he still felt uncomfortable doing that.
For his part, Chuck was just plain unable to pin Ash down long enough. He was also a bit reluctant himself to try to suplex such a young kid – more used to sparring with very big Pokémon, that was how he in turn thought.
Eventually, though, the unstable equilibrium broke. Chuck managed to catch Ash with one of his kicks, sending Ash staggering back with the wind knocked out of him.
Ash reacted on instinct.
A blue Aura Sphere shot out and blew a hole in the floor just before Chuck stepped there, tripping him up.
Ash's hands went to his knees as he fought to get his breath back into him, and Chuck hauled himself out of the hole – he'd landed a little awkwardly, and even once he was out he still favoured that ankle a little.
"Chuck!"
Both trainers looked around.
An angry-looking woman was standing in one of the holes blown in the wall.
"What have you done to your gym?"
Chuck blinked. "Dear, I-"
"Don't give me that!" she snapped. "I know how this always goes! I mean, this is worse than usual-" her rant stopped as she noticed the huge pile of debris. "Did you bring the roof down?"
"Actually, ma'am, that was my Butterfree," Ash wheezed.
"Oh, and have you been beating up this poor challenger?" She shook her head. "This is a new-"
"It's fine," Ash said, raising a hand. "Really, it is."
Chuck had such a hang-dog expression Ash had to stop himself from laughing.
"Well, so much for this," he sighed. "Oh well. It was fun fighting you, Ash – here!"
Ash caught the Storm Badge out of the air.
"Congratulations," Chuck went on seriously. "Now, you'd better earn the others, too!"
"I'll certainly try," Ash agreed. Breathing more easily now, he glanced at Chuck's wife. "Uh... do you want us to help with the clearup?"
Chuck waved him off. "No, don't worry, I'll handle it. Off you go!"
Outside, Ash asked Pidgeot to carry Molly back home – together with her Flareon – and set off for the Pokémon centre.
He hadn't got more than halfway, though, before a voice made him turn around. "Excuse me?"
Ash and his friends turned.
"Oh, you're – Chuck's wife, I guess?" Ash asked.
The woman nodded. "I'm Rita," she introduced herself. "Sorry if my husband gave you any trouble-"
"Oh, it's no problem," Ash replied, shaking his head. "Really – it was fun, I guess."
Rita grimaced slightly. "He does get carried away," she said, in a tone of long-suffering. Then, to show she didn't mean it, she smiled. "But it seems like he enjoyed it too, so – thanks. He does like a good battle."
She snapped her fingers. "Oh, that reminds me – he told me just after you left that he'd forgotten to give you something. Stop by there once you can."
Ash knocked on the door. As he did, it creaked open without prompting – making Ash notice that the doorframe was ever so slightly askew.
Chuck looked up – already, he and several Pokémon were hauling blocks out of their holes into neat piles. "Ash! Good to see you!"
"I've only been gone ten minutes," Ash protested. "My Pokémon are all still at the centre."
"Right!" Chuck boomed, then glanced over at his wife – who gave him a look. "Sorry."
More quietly now, he turned back to Ash. "Sorry – I just came up with the idea, just as you left. Here!"
He rummaged in his pocket, and took out a spherical stone made of a bright yellow material.
"I won it many years ago!" Chuck said. "From a man who told me it was a powerful stone, connected to a powerful Fighting-type. But I never found what Fighting-type it was, and I've got all the Fighting-types I wish."
He sighed, then grinned. "But you, Ash, I think will find out what this is!"
Ash took the stone, and turned it over – then looked more closely, as the turning stone revealed a fleck of blue and orange within. "I – Chuck, is this a Mega Stone?"
Chuck shrugged. "If you think it is, then probably. I don't really follow all this geology stuff!"
Ash blinked. "I – thanks, Chuck. I'm honoured. I guess – well, if I don't have the Pokémon this is for, then I'll try to make sure someone who does gets it."
"Excellent!" Chuck said, impulsively embracing the young trainer.
There was a slight cough from Rita.
"Sorry," Chuck said, releasing Ash and stepping back a bit. "Are you alright?"
Ash wheezed. "My ribs..."
There were rumours that the Elite Four lived atop Mount Silver. There were rumours that they lived in a cavern, miles beneath the surface of the Indigo Plateau.
There were also rumours they lived on the moon, conspiracy theories being what they were.
In actual fact, though, the Elite Four lived in separate, fairly-well appointed houses within relatively easy reach of the League Headquarters for Kanto and Johto.
They didn't meet atop the Tin Tower, either, or in a howling blizzard once a year. They met in a conference hall in a hotel near the Indigo League building, because the hotel had a nice selection of refreshments.
"I'm glad you could all make it," Lance said, sitting down. "How are you all doing?"
Agatha lowered herself into her chair. "I've been better," she sighed. "It's these old bones."
"You've been complaining about those for as long as I've known you," Bruno pointed out. "And I knew Malcom."
"I tutored Malcom!" Agatha riposted. "I've been saying it for the last forty years because maybe one day people will listen!"
Bruno held up his hands. "I can see I'm not going to win this."
"You never do," Lorelei smiled. "Ghost is immune to Fighting."
Two groans, and a glare from Agatha.
"We all know the type jokes, Lorelei," Lance said. "We've heard them all a hundred times."
Lorelei smiled slightly.
Lance waited a moment, to see if there was anything else to be said, and then cleared his throat. "Right, I asked everyone here to discuss matters. How's the scouting going? Lorelei, you first."
"Right." Lorelei stood. "There's three I originally noticed, as you recall – I was looking into Courtney, Karen and Rosie. Of the three, Courtney has officially declined – she sent us a letter informing us of this decision."
"Shame," Bruno said. "Would have been nice to have a Fire-type member."
Lorelei shrugged. "Not much we can do, really – it's her choice, after all. Anyway – I believe Lance can inform us of the details, but Karen is proactively seeking her Legendary challenges."
Lance interrupted. "She was sighted by Lola heading for Shamouti Island. That suggests she's going to seek a challenge from Lugia, which would fulfil her second requirement."
"Interesting," Lorelei said. "Heading down to my old stomping grounds."
"That's right," Lance agreed. "After that, not sure but I suspect she'd be most likely to seek out the Legendary Golem, Registeel."
"Makes sense," Lorelei nodded. "As for Rosie, I'm not sure. She's been training, but no sign of any move towards the challenges as of yet."
"What's she again?" Agatha demanded.
"Grass," Lorelei supplied. "Any questions?"
None were forthcoming.
"Thank you." She sat down.
Bruno rose next. "As for me, the only person still seeking the position is Layton – a Ground-type specialist-"
Agatha shook her head. "I don't like Ground-type users."
"That's only because you and Bertha had that argument two years ago," Lance said with a smirk.
"So? Still don't like them."
"Well, it's a good thing you won't have to get on with him, isn't it..." Lance shrugged. "How's he doing, Bruno?"
"Your dragonriders tell me he's been seeking information on where the Golems are as well."
"Most people pick the Golems," Lorelei mused. "Probably because it's easier to find them – well, relatively speaking."
"That and they're mainly tough to beat, not tough to survive against," Lance pointed out. "Well, Regice and Registeel would qualify on that score. What about helping Ground-type Pokémon?"
"He's actually done that one already," Bruno said. "Big herd of Piloswine he saved from poachers, and then taught four of them Ancient Power so they could lead the herd and protect them."
Lance nodded. "Not bad. Agatha?"
Agatha refused to stand, and none of the others made an issue of it. "Koga's doing just fine," she said. "Relocated a lot of Pokémon from Gringey City to the Safari Zone after it got unpolluted all of a sudden."
The dragon master nodded absently, remembering the report he'd received from the dragonrider Maurice about that incident. "And his Legendary challenges?"
"Still looking for that Shaymin who lives there now," she said brusquely.
They waited.
"And the others?" Lance prompted.
Agatha shrugged. "Nah, they're layabouts."
Deciding no further data was likely to be forthcoming, Lance stood. "As for the ones I looked into, all three of them are progressing nicely."
"Showoff," Lorelei quipped.
Lance gave her a quelling glare. "Firstly, Will of Saffron. Sabrina wasn't happy about us potentially poaching one of her most promising trainees, but Will has been throwing himself into it – I believe we got word he's actually teleported all the way to Unova to challenge the Swords of Justice."
Bruno blinked. "What, all of them?"
"I didn't get the details. In any case, Sabrina says he picked up a Solosis there as well and is training it up by all accounts." Lance shrugged. "By my guess, he too is likely to challenge Registeel – that or try and find Giratina up in Sinnoh."
At their incredulous glances, he smiled thinly. "Remember, he doesn't have to win. I'd be inclined to give him points for just finding Giratina, let alone challenging the Dragon of Symmetry to a meaningful battle."
"What about Isaac?" Lorelei prompted.
"He's doing the worst," Lance admitted. "He has been working on helping Pokémon at the power plant over near Cerulean, but at least three of the clan have reported him having trouble finding information on the whereabouts of a Legendary of the appropriate type."
The others nodded, understanding how difficult that could be.
"As for Misty..." Lance chuckled. "Well, I wasn't sure to include her, but-"
"Why did you include her, actually?" Lorelei asked. "I saw her down in the Orange Islands, and she seemed alright, but..."
"Remember the Greenfield incident?" Lance queried.
All three nodded.
"Well, we in the clan got the full version – Suicune brought the three newly-created Beasts to Blackthorn a few days later, to confirm they were Pokémon we should watch out for and vice versa." Lance paused. "And what they told us was impressive – in particular, the newly-made Entei."
His voice took on a slightly lecturing tone. "Molly Hale used the power of the Unown – without direction – to create more powerful versions of Pokémon, and battle Pewter leader Brock as well as Misty."
He paused.
"Misty held her more powerful versions of Pokémon to a draw. Both the Entei and the Suicune were highly impressed with her – from the point of view of having been her opponent, or at any rate not on her side – and that was what decided me."
"Not bad," Bruno allowed. "And that she's going around with that kid had nothing to do with it?"
"Well, that was the rest of it," Lance allowed. "She's been in four incidents by now – New Island, Shamouti, Greenfield and Lake of Life – and those involved spoke well of her. In any case, it was worth the try, since we're looking into no fewer than a dozen candidates this time."
He shrugged. "And she's already handled one of her Legendary battles – and very nicely too – so it looks like that was a good choice."
"Where'd you get that from?" Agatha asked. "More dragonrider patrols?"
Lance shook his head. "From the Raikou she fought and came close to defeating."
There was silence for a moment.
"We've got another Malcom on our hands, haven't we, Lance?" Bruno asked. "He fought Beasts, as I recall..."
Lance shrugged, and cleared his throat. "Okay, that's the basics. Now, in more detail – we do have some reports on their current team compositions, so I'd like to look at that for a little..."
AN:
That poor gym...
Heracross is surprisingly hard to write for, I find... it's the horn. Butterfree was easier, and the Ash bit was harder again.
Congratulations getting the Mega Stone, Ash! Now... what is it?
Also - the Elite Four being all elitist. And foury.
Of the mentioned E4 members and candidates, only Malcom and Layton are not from a Pokemon game.
Layton is a random Ruin Maniac (i.e. Ground specialist archaeologist) hugely amped up in potential and power, and is probably a Professor. Malcom is the one who fought Entei and Suicune for his qualification, a little over four decades ago, and was Grass.
