"Okay..." Ash said, frowning. "Not bad, but I think it needs to be faster."
Understood, Lugia nodded, looking down at the craters. I'll keep working on it.
"Good!" Ash called up. "And Ho-Oh – that curtain of fire?"
"Getting better at setting it up," Ho-Oh reported. "It's certainly helping me out, but-"
"Hey!" a voice called.
Ash turned. "Who is – oh, hey Wes!"
Wes nodded. "Yeah, it's me alright. Don't know if you've been checking the matchups..?"
"Nope, he hasn't," Pikachu chuckled.
"...yeah, Pikachu's right," Ash admitted. "I've got no clue."
"Right," Wes said. "Anyway. It's basically me, and... well, I had this idea."
Ash blinked. "I didn't know you'd entered..."
"Rui insisted," Wes sighed. "Disobey her at your peril... I basically got Celebi to take me around the gyms of Johto and got the badges in a day. Anyway... this idea."
"Oh, right," Ash nodded. "What is it?"
"Well..." Wes paused. "Actually, I don't think you know this stuff. Those jerks in Orre who I stopped had a load of Pokémon they turned into Shadow Pokémon, including the three local Beasts. And I totally stole them back."
He tapped his belt, and an Entei and a Suicune materialized.
"...huh," Ash blinked. "I knew you had a Ho-Oh, but I didn't realize you had Legendary Beasts too."
"It was on the news... in Orre... when you were, what, nine?" Wes shrugged. "Doesn't matter."
"So this is who Ho-Oh mentioned?" Wes' Suicune asked, in a deeper voice than Ash was used to. "Interesting."
"Now now, brother," the Entei smiled. "Ho-Oh was quite impressed – be more positive!"
Suicune looked skeptical.
"I apologize for my brother," Entei chuckled, shrugging at Pikachu.
"Hey, I'm trying to have a conversation here," Wes said without much heat. "Right. So, the idea was – both of us have all three Beasts, so we both use those for our match. It's a three-on-three anyway, so..."
Ash blinked. "Oh, right. Yeah, the idea sounds pretty neat – I'd like to check with them, though."
"Go ahead," Wes shrugged. "I've got a couple hours until Rui's done shopping."
He blinked. "Wait a moment... hey, where's Raikou?"
"Probably asleep," his Entei said, rolling her eyes.
"So, what do you think?" Ash asked, some minutes later.
Suicune smiled. "It does sound like an interesting match – certainly a spectacular one! That Mr. Goodshow might like it a lot."
"Yes, it'd be great to see if this other Raikou has any moves I can learn!" Raikou agreed.
"Question," Entei said, frowning. "How, exactly, will the spectators know which one is which?"
"...good question," Ash admitted.
"Well, I know exactly what I'm doing!" Raikou announced. "I'm getting that scarf out of where I left it and putting it right back on! And, not only that, I'm going to take my signs to battle!"
Suicune blinked. "Well... that will, at least, be distinctive..."
"Would Wood Hammer – well, your version – work on another Raikou?"
"Don't see why not," Raikou muttered defensively.
"Ash, can I borrow your hat?" Suicune asked. "Either one."
"That'd be pretty good," Ash nodded. "What about you, Entei?"
Suicune and Raikou exchanged a glance. Then they both grinned.
"Oh, no," Entei said, shaking his head and backing away. "No, no, no. Not again!"
Ash held something out of his bag. "You'll get this if you agree."
"...fine, then."
"Hi!"
The Houndour pack looked up. "What was that?" the alpha female asked.
Her mate frowned. "Not sure – but it might be-"
A Houndoom came pelting over the crest of the hill, skidded to a halt, and wagged his tail. "I'm back!"
There was a pause.
"Wait," said one of the younger Houndour. "Did you evolve?"
"Sure did!" Houndoom nodded, happily. "I feel all tall now, and it's kind of funny, but at the same time – I feel great! Really strong!"
"Son," the alpha said, looking up – then stepping back, so he didn't have to look up quite so much. "...I'm proud of you. Well done."
Houndoom's tail wagged faster. "That's really nice of you, Dad – thanks!"
"You'll have to tell us all about it," his mother added. "Was this at the Silver Conference you mentioned?"
"Yeah! Okay, so I was fighting this Slugma to start with..."
"Thanks for inviting us into the box!" Molly said brightly, sitting down next to Misty. "It's really big..."
"It's usually less crowded than this, though," Lance said, amused, as he watched the three shiny Beasts sprawled over two or three chairs each. "Don't they have jobs?"
"Most of the Legendaries in Johto are actually within a mile of this building," the shiny Entei said, and Molly translated for him.
"That's quite... wait," Lance said, counting to himself. "That might actually even be true."
"It probably depends where the various Legendary Birds are," Brock volunteered. "I assume there'd be a warning if there was anything major going on."
"That's a point..." Lance muttered. "I think I'm going to just make sure the patrol schedule's up to date, though..."
As he got out a phone, Eevee jumped up onto her trainers' lap and shifted to Sylveon. "This should be fun!"
"Will both competitors send out their first Pokémon!"
Ash chuckled. "Suicune, go!"
The blue-white-and-purple Legendary materialized on the battlefield, a wind whipping around her but not touching her snazzy-looking hat, and there was a ripple through the crowds.
Lance blinked, lowering his phone. "That's quite a bizarre sight, even though-"
Then Wes's first Pokémon materialized too.
"-what the heck!?" he gaped, seeing the Suicune there too. Then he looked between the field and the other Suicune, who craned her neck slightly to watch the battle.
"...this is not a normal day..."
"Well noticed," Misty said, with a chuckle. "I think maybe we'd have been happier if this was the finals..."
Lance recovered a bit, and smiled ruefully. "One of the perils of an elimination tournament, I... think..."
His voice trailed off.
"Didn't you have an Eevee?"
Molly's Sylveon waved, shifting back to Eevee and then through all her other forms in a display of Shininess.
"If you're wondering," Brock added, "She's why there's such a thing as the Fairy-type."
Lance sat down heavily.
"He's funny," Molly said, then turned back to the stadium. "Oh, look, they're starting!"
"May our battle be productive and closely-fought," Wes's Suicune said, bowing his head.
"Indeed, and may both profit from the day," Ash's one replied. Then she chuckled. "Dear me... I hope that sounded formal enough."
"Passable," the male Suicune said, his own lips quirking in amusement. "Right."
He pounced forwards, his wind-swirl abruptly tightening and focusing into a Gust which slapped forwards at Ash's Suicune.
Her reaction was swift. She turned on the ball of her forepaw and pelted to one side, dodging the immediate threat, then strafed him with Bubblebeam – not that it did much damage.
In reply, Wes's Suicune fired forwards a pair of Air Slashes, and Ash's Suicune accelerated away from them – running a complete circuit of the arena in a breathtakingly short time, before coming back in from the other direction entirely and firing an Aura Sphere.
"Interesting!" her opponent said, bursting the incoming Aura Sphere with a blast of Extrasensory – then blinking, as it went on to not affect her at all.
Before he could recover from his surprise, Ash's Suicune bowled him over and got in a quick Stomp before jumping free ahead of a Swift retaliation.
The sparling stars of the Swift attack followed her around the arena, chasing her and giving their master time to stand up, and as they finally arrived she launched out a huge spherical pulse of water to block them.
After that explosive ten-second exchange, the two Water-types went back to circling one another looking for an opening.
"Impressive," Molly's friend Raikou said, watching closely. "They're clearly both very quick – and quick-thinking, to boot."
He glanced aside at his fellow. "What would you do differently?"
"Well, I'm not as good as these two," the shiny Suicune said thoughtfully. "I think I'd just rely on straight-line speed, and use my wind from a distance – but I'm not sure how that would go, with how many ranged attacks these two have-"
The battle erupted into high gear again.
Ash's Suicune darted in, firing another Aura Sphere, and this time her opponent blocked it with a Hydro Pump. She shot a blast of Ice Beam at the attack, realized that meant she was now about to be hit by a lump of ice, and jumped out of the way before volleying in two Air Cutters to keep her opponent occupied.
He grinned, and batted them away with a Gust before retaliating with a Signal Beam. The burst of reddish, Bug-type energy played over her side for a moment, and then she released a big blast of water to diffract and dilute the energy of the attack.
Aside from making the ground more sodden, all this water wasn't filling the stadium like last time – though buried by earth, the cracks left by the Fissure remained, drawing away the water and avoiding flooding.
Which was nice.
Suicune's paws dug into the muddy ground, and she put on a burst of speed before shooting an Icy Wind at her opponent. He gave her a vaguely disappointed look and took the attack, not really bothering to dodge, and used the time to charge up something much more potent.
Ash's Suicune recognized the incoming Hyper Beam just in time.
She dropped the attack she was charging in favour of a massive, overloaded water-shield, then pivoted on one foot and ran for it – using the sudden cloud of steam as cover, so by the time the Hyper Beam burned through her watery defence she was somewhere else entirely.
"She's to your left!" she heard, over the roaring of the attack, and hissed – of course, Wes was helping his Pokémon.
As he should, of course... still, it gave her a problem, as her opponent promptly swung the Hyper Beam in her direction. She jumped over it, taking a nick to the ankle, and watched it finally fade out with some relief.
Then she tripped over.
"Ow..." she muttered, then scrambled to her feet and got out of the way of an Air Cutter.
"That wasn't very like Suicune..." Misty said, looking closer. "Wait-"
"I saw it too," Brock interrupted.
Ash cupped his hands around his mouth. "Suicune, look out! He's using Grass Knot!"
"That explains that!" Suicune said, noticing another one forming and jumping over it. "Thanks!"
Another Extrasensory hit Suicune in the flank, and she ignored it completely – feeling very grateful indeed for the hat she'd borrowed. The next attack missed, and ironically did more damage – blowing a hole in the ground ahead of her and making her break stride to avoid the hole.
She skidded around, shedding momentum as she did, and fired an Aura Sphere before breaking back into a blisteringly fast sprint.
Wes' Suicune dodged the Aura Sphere and broke into a run after her, and for several seconds the two of them jockeyed back and forth in a run so fast the wind snatched at the sleeves of people in the front rows.
Eventually, something gave. Ash's Suicune was forced a little too close to the retaining wall, scraped into it, and bounced off in a complicated skid which knocked her opponent over. Both came rolling back to their feet in an instant, mud streaking their pure white-blue coats, and Gusts exploded between them.
Ash's Suicune followed that up by charging up another white-frosted, icy attack, and her streamers whipped in a powerful wind. Her opponent, for his part, charged up a purplish Shadow Ball.
"That's not going to-" he began, and then Suicune fired.
Much to his surprise, it turned out she'd used Freeze-Dry. The ball of cold exploded as it reached him, drawing out moisture from him and from the air, and he went skating backwards on an instantly-icy floor before regaining his footing.
The Shadow Ball whipped out in reply, and Suicune ran forwards – not avoiding it, but rather aiming directly for it.
"Mirror Coat!" she announced, and her body briefly flashed silver – sending the Shadow Ball right back at Wes' Suicune.
That, finally, was too much.
Misty glanced at her watch. "...that took a lot less time than it seemed to."
"We're kind of fast," Molly's Entei said, shrugging his head. "I suspect it would have taken longer in a more open space, though."
"Good point."
Eusine glanced over at Morty.
Morty glanced back.
They both looked around at the various Pokémon also spectating from the Ecruteak Gym.
"...that was cool," Morty said after a moment.
"Please tell me you recorded that," Eusine said suddenly. "That was one of the most amazing-"
"Suicune vs. Suicune, eh?" Morty chuckled. "Why Suicune especially?"
"...grace, I think," Eusine said, after a moment's thought. "Entei and Raikou are fast and sleek, but Suicune has an air of indefinable... precision. Purity."
He nodded at the screen, which showed Ash's Suicune walking back over to her trainer's box. "Look at her! She's been battling another of near-equal power to herself, and she looks gorgeous!"
"Okay." Morty raised his hands in surrender. "Fine, I get it..."
Ash took his hat back. "Nice work, Suicune. We should probably have you work on Grass Knot, it's one of those useful moves."
"Very true," Suicune nodded. "Who next?"
Ash plucked the second Fast Ball from his belt. "Raikou," he said. "Wes and I worked it out."
"Right." Suicune dipped a paw into his pouch for a moment, and withdrew a small flag. "I think I'll go spectate from the box."
With that, she darted back out onto the field, and loped quickly up the central rail of one of the flights of steps before leaping into the box.
Thus positioned, she began waving the small flag with Ash's name on it.
"Okay, here goes!" Ash said, then glanced over at the referee. "By the way, Mr. Referee? We worked this out first."
With that, he sent out Raikou. As did Wes.
"Here we go," Ash's Raikou said, rolling his neck around and adjusting his scarf. "That's better – now, time for a right rollicking battle!"
His counterpart blinked. "...why do you have a bundle of signs across your back?"
"Why not?" the first Raikou asked. "Anyway, let's get on with this!"
He pawed the ground, then pounced forwards. "Bulldoze!"
The other Raikou's tail snapped across. "Reflect."
Raikou ran into a wall of force.
"Ow!" he said, shaking his head. "Right, take this!"
Electricity snapped out, a great crackling blast of it which enveloped his opponent completely and turned the nearby grass brown and black from proximity.
"...was that supposed to do anything?" Wes' Raikou asked, blinking.
"...not really, no," Raikou replied, shaking his head. "Right!"
He pounced forwards again, this time ready for the Reflect. Wes' Raikou jumped away as Ash's one broke through the wall of force, and the two darted back and forth for several seconds exchanging physical blows or the occasional ranged attack.
This time, it was Ash's Raikou who brought out something new. He skidded to a halt, paws slipping a little on the muddy ground, and – as Wes' Pokémon came in for an Extremespeed – swung his sign bundle off his back.
"Wait, what the-"
Wes' Raikou had just enough time to realize what was about to happen before it did.
"Wood Hammer!" Raikou called, and smacked his opponent in the side with the signs.
"...is that legal?" Lance asked, blinking.
Bruno shrugged. "Gurdurr can use their, well, their girder. And Marowak can whack their enemies with their marrows."
"It's certainly... inventive... of my brother." Suicune shrugged, twirling her little 'Ash' flag. "It does give him options."
"I wouldn't want to be hit by it," the shiny Entei said, to general agreement.
"Is it actually Grass-type?" Brock asked with a frown, and got shrugs.
"...what the heck was that for!?" Wes' Raikou said, shaking his head and feeling his fangs. "Phew, you didn't knock one of them out..."
"It's Wood Hammer, of course!" Ash's Raikou replied with a chuckle.
"That makes very little sense." Sighing, Wes' Raikou formed Double Team images and charged forwards – making the images overlap and swap places with his real body to obscure his location.
Ash's one replied with a much simpler expedient. He dug a hole.
The doubles fizzled out, and Wes' Raikou looked annoyed. "...oh, now that's not-"
He jumped backwards, and fired a burst of Extrasensory which hit the ground just as Raikou burst out of it.
"Whoops!" Ash's Raikou chuckled, not particularly bothered by the psychic attack due to the shielding effect of the ground. "Right, take this!"
He pounced forwards again with the Wood Hammer ready to go.
Unwilling to be hit by it, the other Raikou darted away and formed Double Team doubles again, using the confusion caused by them to refocus and pick a new attack method.
As the Wood Hammer smashed another illusion and went for him, he snapped out at it with a Crunch.
This may have been a mistake, as he got a mouthful of splinters. Then he was forced to let go as the indignant wielder snatched it back and slapped him in the muzzle with a Rock Smash.
"This is so cool," a young trainer said, watching with amazement as the two Electrical beasts blazed back and forth across the battlefield. "Raikou are amazing!"
"Again with the Raikou," his friend chuckled, shaking her head and sharing a glance with Little Miss. "You weren't like this over the Suicune."
Jimmy shrugged. "Raikou are better."
"Okay, we're pretty evenly matched," Ash's Raikou said, some minutes of slogging, snarling battle later. "I'll give you that! But! This is my newest move!"
Electricity began to collect in front of his muzzle, and he focused half on it and half on his opponent – wary for a surprise attack from the other Electric-type.
Slowly, gradually, a ring of lightning formed. Then another.
Misty blinked. "Wait, is that..."
"...oh, dear," Suicune sighed. "This could get loud."
"Is this that move he wanted to throw the fight just to learn?" the shiny Entei asked. "I didn't know he'd learned it yet."
"Well, last I heard..."
Frowning, Raikou managed to complete the third ring. "Aha!" he said, and set them independently rotating around one another.
The magnetic field within began to twist up into a complex coil, holding more and more energy stored within.
"What, exactly, is that?" his opponent asked, looking a bit closer. "There's a lot of power going into it..."
"Volt Crash," Raikou said absently.
"What?" Wes' Raikou replied, blinking. "I've never heard of that before..."
Ash's Pokémon didn't answer for a moment, as he twisted the fields tighter and tighter until they were wound up like a spring. "Hold on, nearly got it..."
Suddenly getting a sinking feeling, Wes' Raikou formed a Light Screen and crouched – ready to dive for cover from whatever this was.
Pikachu blinked. "Wait, that's not quite how it works. He's not doing the backstop step."
Ash put his hands over his ears, and after a moment Pikachu followed suit.
"HA!" Raikou grinned, deciding it was charged up enough. "Volt Crash!"
The rings locked together, allowing all the coiled potential to escape at once.
Unfortunately, in his eagerness, Raikou had forgotten one of the steps.
When Pikachu used it, he made sure that there was one path that was much easier than the other one – usually by charging his own body up to the point that it repelled the charge and made the other route the easiest.
As Raikou had forgotten this, the Volt Crash fired in both directions at once. Both he and his opponent were hit by an earsplittingly loud horizontal lightning bolt, hurled against the wall of the stadium nearly at the top, and slid limply down opposite walls.
"...ow," Wes said faintly, blinking away the flash blindness. "What just..."
He squinted through the flash, and saw that both Raikou were unconscious.
"Huh," he said, shaking his head. "That's a new move on me."
Ash recalled Raikou, and switched to the third and last Fast Ball.
"Okay, we've probably got this," he said, remembering Suicune was still available. "But let's make it a good one."
With that, he sent out Entei.
As Wes sent out his own Entei, the people in the stadium realized that – yes – they were watching a match that was one hundred percent Legendary Beast.
There were some cheers, though not many – most were a bit stunned.
Lance craned his neck. "I think Charles Goodshow is about to explode."
"Well, I suppose this is certainly a spectacular match," Brock chuckled. "What do you guys think?"
"It's been good so far – wait, what exactly is my double wearing!?" Molly's friend Entei said, staring down into the arena.
"I helped do them!" Molly announced proudly.
Wes' Entei held a paw to her mouth, trying to stifle her laughter.
"Not. One. Word," Ash's one growled, as the ribbons tied on his mane, spikes and tail fluttered in the wind.
"I'm sorry, I just-" the female Entei began, then broke down in giggles.
"You realize I'm the girl here, right?" she asked, between fits of sniggering.
"It's a long story," Ash's Entei muttered. "Anyway."
He took a deep breath, then pounced forwards – opening matters with a Stomp.
The female Entei replied by feinting left and jumping right, avoiding the paws aiming to hit her in the flank, and skidded around to swipe with her paws at him in turn.
She followed that up with an Incinerate attack, producing a plume of smoke and flame as it licked along his side – not doing anything in particular to him, though, being nowhere near hot enough to do serious damage.
"Whoops!" she said, then avoided a sudden darting Rock Smash and gained some distance.
The male Entei grinned, charging an Aura Sphere, and fired it out as he ran after her.
As it spun after her, the female Entei reached the side of the arena. She jumped, using it as a springboard to pounce off in another direction entirely, and produced an almighty BOOM as she fired off an Eruption in the middle of the arena.
"What was that in aid of?" Ash's Entei asked, suspiciously, as the cloud of smoke roiled skywards. "That wasn't even trying to hit me..."
"You'll find out," she twitted him, before jumping at him in a spark-strewing Flame Charge and snapping with Bite.
Ash watched the pure-white smoke cloud rising into the air. "Hold on a moment... that looks familiar. Isn't that what the smoke-cloud looks like when Charizard uses the full version of Blast Burn?"
"It does," Pikachu agreed. "And I guess that means-"
Ash's Entei jumped back, firing a Lava Plume to cover his departure, and the Orrean one glanced skywards.
"Ah," she said, satisfied. "It's ready."
"What's that?" Ash's one asked. "What's-"
A water droplet landed on his nose.
"No," he said, with a sigh. "You're kidding."
"What is the problem?" the female asked, cocking her head and shaking her fur out as the rain began to fall out of the steam cloud. "I happen to like how I look in the rain."
"I don't like you," Entei informed her. "Not one whit."
"That's okay, then," she replied. "It's a battle, after all."
With that, she dug in her claws and darted forwards.
"Silly Entei!" Molly said, shaking her head. "She summoned rain! Why would a Fire-type do that?"
"Well, her opponent's a Fire-type as well," Suicune pointed out. "So maybe she felt the disadvantage was even."
"I suppose that's possible," her doppelganger mused. "How did she do it, though?"
"I think it's hydrogen," the shiny Raikou said.
They looked at him.
"It's simple – hydrogen explodes, and it creates water vapour – which cools to form a raincloud," he explained. "She just did it that way. Interesting form of Rain Dance, if you ask me."
"Yeah, that could be it," Brock agreed, listening in.
From the drumming rain that filled the stadium and nowhere else, flash-bangs of Fire attacks and the occasional sign of something else could be seen.
"Aura Sphere!" Entei announced, firing it off into the rain. It curved, hitting his opponent as she dodged, and he followed up on that by pouncing in and hitting her with a Crunch.
One of his ribbons came off in tatters as she retaliated, her paws raking down his side, and he grunted before being blasted away by a Lava Plume.
Skidding to a stop, he took stock.
Fire moves were being weakened by the rain.
Aura moves still worked, but they didn't have much punch – and he needed to win this fairly fast, she was more used to the rain than he was.
That left...
"Right," he said, shaking his fur out. "Still not very good at this..."
His opponent pounced forwards, and he went flat before rolling and kicking out as she went overhead. That staggered her slightly as she landed, buying him time.
The ribbon tied closest to his forehead pulsed slightly, and he launched a barrage of rocks at his opponent with a Stone Edge.
They hit Wes' Entei hard, and she skidded backwards on the slick earth.
"I see this isn't working too well," she said, then formed a Smokescreen before the second Stone Edge came crashing in. "Right, let's change this up!"
Another huge explosion covered the battlefield. This one blew the entire Rain Dance cloud away, and made everyone in their seats feel a bit overwarm.
"What was that?" Ash's Entei asked, blinking in the sudden light, and frowned as the scorched grass disintegrated.
He looked up for a moment, and saw that there was a lot of ash and dust spiralling skywards as the heat drew it out of the stadium roof.
More air rushed in at ground level to replace it, and the quickly-drying earth of the stadium floor began to flake up.
"I love this," Mr. Goodshow said, in tones of great joy.
"Did she just use Sandstorm?" the shiny Entei asked, blinking. "That's new..."
"I wonder why she did it," Misty frowned. "Maybe it's to hide in?"
In a Pokémon centre a little north of New Bark, Nelson was glued to the television.
"This is so cool!" he said, and his Croconaw chuckled.
I guess at least he's seeing Entei on TV...
In the swirling, growing sandstorm, Entei emitted a subsonic growl.
He'd hoped the Expert Belt-boosted Stone Edge would take the edge off her – no pun intended – and this sandstorm was quite unwelcome.
As he considered, she loomed up out of the dust in a shower of sparks. She pounced at his ruff, he retaliated with a quick, half-formed Aura Sphere, and they shared ten seconds or so of snarling combat before she bounded off back into the Sandstorm.
"She'll be making it hail next..." Entei muttered, then frowned – struck by a thought.
This whole thing was one big cyclone – hot air fuelling a vortex.
But so was that move of Lucario's he liked to show off – the Dragon Uppercut or whatever it was.
So perhaps he could intensify it and hijack it.
Entei saw a shape prowling in the sand, and fired an Aura Sphere to keep her honest. It popped, revealing itself to be a Double Team, and he hissed.
Better make this quick.
Flame sparked around his paws and along his back as he charged up and inhaled. A heavy feeling developed in the air.
Karen's Absol blinked, from where she and her team were watching the match on television half a mile away. "I just got some very mixed messages," she muttered.
"What's that?" her teammate asked with a caw.
"It felt like there was about to be a very small volcanic eruption-"
Entei roared, using Eruption.
The column of fire that normally distinguished the move, however, did not form. Because he had used Eruption underground.
The whole surface of the arena trembled, then burst upwards at the centre in a shower of pebble-sized lumps of hot rock. All that extra heat fed into the Sandstorm, hijacking it, and Ash's Entei directed the majority of the wind by heating it in specific places.
The practical upshot of which was that Wes' Entei was hurled into the air, pelted by lumps of rock, then crashed back to the ground as it rained rocks in all directions.
Ash's Entei did not escape unscathed, either. Two or three of the smaller ones hit him in the sides and back, then a particularly large piece of glowing stone bounced off his chest and made him cough, winded.
It seemed, though, as if that had been as much as his opponent could handle. Entei waited a moment longer, to give her the chance to stand again (and get his breath back) – then roared again, this time in triumph.
"Well done, Entei!" Ash called. "That was pretty cool!"
He looked at the smouldering crater, the piles of rocks, and the irritated Alakazam levitating the debris down to ground level. "I think you might have overdone it, though..."
The referee coughed in the smoke. "Uh... I guess... Ash Ketchum wins?" he said, questioningly. "Why were there so many Legendary Beasts?"
"Some of them are Orrean!" Wes shouted. "Long story!"
"That was great fun!" Molly said with a smile. "Are you that powerful?"
"Not quite, Molly," her friend Suicune told her. "Not yet. We're working on it, though, when we get the time. A lot now, actually, since most Legendaries of Johto and Kanto are in the building."
"I do wonder who's taking over their duties, though..." the shiny Raikou mused. "Lugia, especially."
"Oh, not again..." Lugia sighed. "Silver?"
"Yes, momma?" Silver replied, looking up from playing a game of polo with Slowking.
"Stay here for a bit, okay? Ask Slowking to call Melody over if you're bored. I've got to go and teach some naughty Birds a lesson."
She spread her wings, and took off into the sky over Shamouti Sound.
"It's good of her to do this," Slowking said placidly.
"I guess..." Silver nodded, and swung his neck. "Hey, look, it went through the hoop that time!"
"You've got good aim," Slowking smiled.
There was an explosion out over the sound.
"Momma's powerful," Silver said, glancing up at the very one-sided battle. "Lots more since that time she got all scary."
Overhead, another Shadow Blast cannoned out and smacked into the fleeing Moltres.
"And stop setting fire to the other islands!" Lugia shouted after him as he dove for safety on Fire Island.
Professor Oak sat back. "Well," he said, shaking his head. "That was impressive..."
A roar sounded outside.
"Oh, what is it now..." he asked the air.
A Charizard, Damos replied promptly.
"Thanks," Oak nodded, and stood. "I wonder who that could be..."
He opened the door, and was confronted by the Charizard Damos had mentioned.
"Hello-" he began, then stopped. "...I know you, don't I?"
The Charizard nodded, looking a little shame-faced.
"Oh, dear me..." Oak said, shaking his head. "Don't be ashamed, Charizard! I knew you were going, and I gave my blessing. I'm glad you've come back at all – it means a lot to me."
He stepped back from the door. "Do come inside – I'll get some of that pocky you like."
Charizard perked up, and he growled a question.
I can translate for you, Damos volunteered. Free of charge.
AN:
And we start getting into the chapter-commanding battles. The remaining five are all six-a-side, so might take a while...
Speaking of which, I've been asked several times in the last couple of days what my update schedule is. The answer is – as soon as the chapter's finished.
Every single day since last October, without fail, I've written 1000 words or more on this fanfic. And I've got a full time office job. I am getting the chapters to you as soon as I can be sure they're better than random smackings on the keyboard, and I don't really have a schedule per se beyond "write all the things!".
So... asking me what my schedule is makes me annoyed, please don't, be assured that if I know when I'm posting a chapter it's because it's about to be posted.
Anyway. The actual chapter.
Wes was a late entry, mainly made possible due to Celebi. Yes, that means there's two Ho-Oh in the region. Of his beasts, I had the Entei be the girl, because it amused me.
The Suicune battle was mainly about speed, the Raikou battle about trying not to be hit by a Ground-type attack, and the Entei one about weather and weather conditions and the occasional explosion.
Also – that is not how you Volt Crash.
As for the subsidiary stuff, Lugia's mate is taking over his job for a bit and has an unusual way of purging lingering corruption from her Shadow sojurn, while Houndoom is reconnecting with his family after a short hiatus and Professor Oak has an old friend visit.
And all three Beasts have their own fans.
