"It's a pity we can't do this more often," Brock said, inching his arm around Philena's back.

She noticed, but let it go with a tolerant smile. "I said I was sorry... something came up with a couple of poachers trying to steal-"

"Don't worry," Brock interrupted her. "It's fine. I know."

He rolled his eyes. "I travel with Ash. Believe you me, I know things can come up at short notice."

Philena Ivy chuckled. "Fair point. I did catch his semi final match on TV, though..."

She shook her head. "I'm sometimes amazed how powerful trainers are – I mean, I know there are some really powerful Pokémon, and intellectually I know the Elite Four can fight Legendaries on some sort of level pegging, but to see two trainers of that kind of level going all out..."

"Just wait, we'll get you that Shinx and you'll change your mind," Brock teased. "I can see it now, in two years you'll be challenging Zapdos to a duel or something..."

"You're teasing me," Philena stated.

"Doesn't make it incorrect."

Holding in a giggle, the researcher leaned forwards a bit. "...who's that in the other box?"

"I saw his battles," Brock filled in. "Well, the last few. He's quite good."

"What does quite good mean here?" Philena asked. "Good, great, or knowing the signature moves of Legendary Pokémon?"

There was a pause.

"Poor guy," Brock mused. "Oh well, at least since Ash has won a league before-"

"There we go," Philena pointed. "A Feraligatr?"

"He calls it Floodwater," Brock supplied. "He gives all his Pokémon nicknames, I think – most people do all-or-nothing."

With a second flash, they watched as Ash sent out his Snorlax.

"That's one of the ones Ash caught in the Orange Islands, right?" Philena checked. "Okay, should be interesting."


"Good work, Floodwater!" Fred Farrell called, as his powerful Starter grappled with Snorlax. "You're doing great – keep it up, keep low so he can't topple you!"

Floodwater's growl was a little strained, but seemed hale enough. He opened his mouth and fired out a blast of water, then got hit by a burst of Hyper Beam from the Snorlax in return.

"Wait – I know!" Fred realized. "Fire at his feet! Hydro Pump, then Ice Beam!"

Floodwater let out a roar, then fired Hydro Pump at Snorlax' big feet. The blast drove through the grass and into the earth below, making it a kind of soup, and the big Normal-type's feet slipped.

"Hold the Ice Beam!" Fred decided. "Just twist-"

With Snorlax losing traction, Floodwater was finally able to get a good enough grip. He lifted, muscles straining, and slammed Snorlax over onto his side before finally unleashing the Ice Beam.

A torrent of ice roared out, covering the Normal-type's chest, and by the time it ended there was a thick layer of frozen water pinning Snorlax to the ground.

"Don't let up!" the trainer called.

"Fire Punch!" he heard Ash shout, and winced.

"Wait – Focus Punch!"

Floodwater drew back his fist, which glowed, and volleyed it forwards as the ice shattered.

It met a Fire Punch coming the other way, and Snorlax clearly came off much the worse – skidding backwards, rolling over in a somersault before coming back to his feet.

"Good!" Fred called. "Okay, Floodwater, finish this! Hydro Cannon!"

Floodwater's spines began to light up – the ones at the tail tip first, then rapidly going up to his head. He inhaled, then fired – just as Snorlax unleashed another blast of light from his Hyper Beams.

Water went everywhere, some of it hissing to steam.


"I see what you mean," Philena admitted, as the two attacks petered out and both big Pokémon lunged forwards for another bout. "Good, but..."

Brock nodded.

"Okay, Floodwater!" they heard Fred call. "That's enough for now – Fuchida!"

The Feraligatr was replaced in a flash by a Forretress.

"That might be quite a bad idea," Brock frowned. "Snorlax knows Fire Punch, after all."

As he said that, Snorlax did indeed lunge forwards with his fist glowing with orange-red flame.

Just before it connected, Fred raised his voice. "Explosion!"

There was a BANG, and Snorlax staggered backwards from the concussive blast.

"Or he might do that," Brock admitted.

"Don't you have a Forretress?" Philena asked.

"That's right!" Brock confirmed. "I was thinking about what I'd do in this situation, but the answer is I'd send out Steelix so I wasn't really in the right mindset."

Below, Fuchida followed up his Explosion with a Flash Cannon. Snorlax wobbled, then seemed to rally, and fired off another Hyper Beam – this time at the grass, aiming to flip the Forretress into the air.


"You asked to see us, boss?" Jessie said, as the trio entered the room.

"Indeed I did," Giovanni confirmed. "Sit down."

The three sat.

Meowth looked up, and noticed that Giovanni's attention was mostly focused on a screen rather than them. "Uh... boss?"

Giovanni glanced up. "Go on."

"I was kinda wonderin'... uh... what you're watchin'?"

The Boss of Team Rocket nodded to himself. "Understandable. Observe."

He pressed a button, and the big wall-screen to their left lit up.

It showed a Snorlax attempting to play soccer with a Forretress, trying to kick it into the air hard enough that the Explosions wouldn't hurt him.

"Wait a sec..." James said, looking closer. "That Snorlax looks familiar."

"Indeed it should," Giovanni smiled thinly. "That is the Ash Ketchum you've been following."

He steepled his fingers. "Unfortunately, I'm going to be pulling you off the task of following him directly – not merely to handle some singular other task, that is."

"Why's that?" Jessie asked.

The image of the battle onscreen shrank down to fill a single quarter, making it a little harder to see as Snorlax threw the Forretress straight upwards before launching Hyper Beams at it.

In two of the other quadrants, symbols appeared.

"There are two groups in Hoenn who worry me. They seek Cosmic Power – specifically, they appear to be attempting to gain control of Groudon and Kyogre respectively."

Giovanni contemplated his agents. "Most of my other cells would be incapable of matching a Team which seeks to control a Legendary. You, on the other hand, have the resources required."

"You got it, boss!" Meowth grinned. "Uh... what's da plan?"

"Find out what they're doing, and how far along they are. Slow them. Stop them, if you can. And..."

Giovanni paused.

"If all else fails, at least be visible trying to help things out. If the world is heavily injured but not destroyed, then that will make us prominent in the rebuilding."

"Right!" Jessie and James nodded, and Meowth jumped off the chair.

"Oh, and James?" Giovanni added. "I don't know how you managed to obtain that Moltres, but take good care of him or her."

"Don't worry about that," James said fervently.

Once they'd left, Giovanni glanced over at his Persian.

"This is so much less effort than trying to recapture Mewtwo would have been," he observed, then hit another button on the remote control and returned the screen to full size.


"Keep it up, Totodile!" Ash called, as his little Water-type twisted to keep Fred's Flareon in his sights.

Water sprayed out, some of the droplets hitting the Flareon's side, and the Fire-type yipped before accelerating and coming around in a blazing Flare Blitz.

"Aqua Jet!" Totodile announced, waddling forwards a step and then diving into a charging head-first water-cloaked headbutt.

The Flareon, however, didn't play ball. He continued charging in until nearly the last moment, then jinked aside – letting the plume of fire and heat slap into Totodile on a slant.

The Water-type had turned to follow, but the sideways Flare Blitz knocked him off course. He hit, rolled, and another burst of Aqua Jet got his momentum under control.

"Good one, Flambé!" Fred encouraged his Pokémon. "Just like we practiced! Now – Dig!"

Flambé vanished underground, and Totodile looked around warily.

Ash closed one eye. "Totodile, Aqua Jet straight up!"

Totodile did so, and a moment later the ground blew open in a fair-sized crater.


"This might be lower-key than that battle Latias was in, but that's only a very relative thing," Bianca said, one eye on the television and one on the canvas as she painted busily away.

Latios squeaked, and frowned.

Bianca's brush stilled as she paid attention, and got a transmitted sensation from Latios. It wasn't telepathy, nothing close yet, but it was progress.

"I know," she admitted, going back to painting – but moving slower. "She was amazing, and it's a bit frightening that she got that good that fast."

Another sensation.

"But mostly good, yeah," Bianca agreed. "I'm pretty sure it would be much harder for those Rockets to get her if it happened now. She'd just shoot into the air and turn invisible."

Bianca switched colours, loading more red and blue paint onto her brush to get just the right purple, then dabbed most of it on her pallet to save it and got to work. "I'm kind of wondering what you'll be like at the other end of your first time with Ash..."

She frowned, then made a correction. "There."

Latios looked at it, bobbing gently up and down, and shrugged.

This time, Bianca got an image of – purple. Expanses and expanses of it. And a distinct puzzlement.

She guessed the meaning, and chuckled. "Yes, you are that colour when you go Mega. Same as Latias."

Latios didn't seem to like that.

"I know... but you do still look different."

A confused sound.

"Watch."

Bianca painted busily, one eye closed as she concentrated. Her brush swished back and forth, drawing out the shape of a Mega Eon, and adding in the fins with exquisite care before going back over the body of the Pokémon with a pale alabaster highlight.

"There," she said, some minutes later.

Latios stared at the result. His dear friend hadn't done the eyes, so the most obvious indicator of who was whom hadn't been done, but...

That is Latias, he said softly. It's as clear as-

"I heard you that time!" Bianca smiled. "Well done!"

Latios looked up, startled, and squeaked happily. He concentrated, and after a moment Bianca shook her head.

"Sorry, missed it that time..."

She smiled as Latios gave a more disappointed sound. "Don't worry. We'll keep practicing."

She looked back over at the television, just as the tired-looking Totodile managed to catch Flambé a direct hit on the nose with an Aqua Tail.


"Nice shot, Totodile!" Ash called. "Watch out, though, he's still a threat!"

Totodile nodded firmly.

As he turned back to his opponent, Flambé dug himself out of his crash scar. He shook his head, grumbling, then crouched down and charged forwards again.

"Fire Blast!" Fred called suddenly.

The Flareon dug in his paws, skidding slightly as he came to a halt, and unleashed a jet of flame which roared towards Totodile.

"Now!" Ash ordered. "Counter Shield!"

Totodile dove forwards, tucking into a half-roll and firing a burst of water forwards.

He splashed into the water he'd just created a moment later, and began firing at full Hydro Pump power – tilting his head a little to the side, so he began to rotate and spin with increasing speed.

The spinning cascade of water was about half-established by the time the Fire Blast reached it, and it wasn't quite ready for it – but the effect was already there, as the Fire Blast was eroded and sprayed from the side and front with successive waves of water droplets that drank away the heat.

Totodile was still knocked out of his spin by the explosion, but with most of the force gone he endured it easily before twisting and coming to a halt.

He inhaled, then launched a tiny blue sphere forwards.

"Flambé, run!" Fred rapped out.

The Flareon tried, he really did. But Totodile's Hydro Cannon was just a little too fast, and he was caught by the abrupt eruption of water and hammered to the floor.

Thanks to a quick Endure, he was still able to get up – just. But clearly not in fit shape for battle.


Fred winced. "Okay, not sure how a Totodile did that..."

He returned Flambé, and switched Pokéballs. "Okay, Felicity, your go!"

Felicity, his Flaafy, landed on the battlefield with a crackle of ready electricity. The Everstone pendant around her neck shone in the stadium light, and her tail flashed twice as she took her stance.

There was a thrack as she fired off her first move, an Electric Terrain which spread throughout the stadium, and then a Charge Beam caught Totodile as he readied an attack.


"And... there!" Bianca said with a smile, finishing the eyes. "How does that look?"

Latios contemplated it.

So far, there was no background, beyond a few pencil marks indicating where things would go. But – there she was, alright.

Mega Latias, a cheeky grin on her face, with a shimmer along her wing indicating she was just emerging from stealth. She was full of life and verve, and somehow Bianca had managed to capture his sister's pure joy at flying free – safe in the outside world at last.

Latios had no reservations sending his approval.

"Glad you like it," Bianca chuckled. "Now, let's see... should I do the trees or the grass first?"

An image of a Sudowoodo insinuated itself into her mind.

"Trees it is," she agreed, then looked back at the television. "Oh, there's that Ivysaur. He seems to be doing well..."


Backpedalling, Ivysaur's vines whipped out and grabbed at the leek.

"Okay, Fowler!" Fred called. "Fury Cutter!"

The leek glowed, cutting slightly into the vines, and Ivysaur withdrew them before they took more damage.

Firing out a storm of leaves from his flower, he grunted as the avian swung his glowing plant and blocked leaf after leaf.

"Ash, any thoughts?" he called.

"Uh – yeah!" Ash said. "Okay, Whirlwind!"

Ivysaur inhaled, and blew – hard.

The wind caught his opponent by surprise, and tugged at the leek in his hands.

Ivysaur renewed his leaf-based assault, stepping to the side and trying to stay out of range.

"Gust!" Fred called, and Fowler's wings hammered. They didn't quite lift him into the air, but it was close, and the wind clashed with Ivysaur's Whirlwind and negated much of the air movement.

Fowler swept his leek around and pointed it like a wand at Ivysaur, and a beam of light came out.

It swept across Ivysaur, who blinked as it did nothing whatsoever. "Eh?"


"I wonder what that was," Delia said. "Do Farfetch'd get moves like that? I thought they were mostly about hitting things with the leek..."

"That's correct," Professor Oak agreed, glancing between the two TV screens. "Farfetch'd are Pokémon who really do only one thing well, as a rule, and that's hit things very hard with their leek. A skilled trainer is one who can work with that."

Ivysaur lashed out with his vines again, and Fowler blocked with a down-to-up swipe before flaring one wing and producing a cloud of feathers.

"That's odd," the Professor blinked, leaning closer.

"The feather thing?" Delia asked.

"No, what feather-" Oak switched screens. "Oh! Ah, that's a Feather Dance. It weakens the enemy – shouldn't have worked that well, though," he added, as Ivysaur hauled in his vines with a great deal of effort.

"Maybe that beam did it?" Ash's mother suggested. "Sorry, I'm not great at recognizing all the moves..."

Ivysaur volleyed out another shower of leaves, but these ones were much more sluggish than the previous one. They barely reached their target, and he swept his leek in arcs to intercept them all with ease.

Oak nodded. "Hmmm... could be..."

As the battle went on, Delia spoke up again. "Professor?"

"Yes?" Oak asked, as Fowler went on the offensive and Ivysaur barraged out attacks to keep the duck at a distance. "What is it, Delia?"

"Well... I know you won the Indigo League in the past, but... what did you do after that?"

Oak leaned back. "Ah, now there's an interesting question! I actually did several things at once. I was quite the traveller in my misspent youth, you know..."

Delia chuckled. "I'm sure. But what were they?"

"Well." Oak sat back. "I'd been travelling for a few years before I won the Indigo League, and after that I went abroad for a year... Kalos, it's a nice place." He frowned. "Though, actually, that's quite confusing... I remember two quite different gym battles against the same person..."

He shook his head. "Anyway. I came second in that league, then I won another, and after that my qualification path took too much time."

"University, you mean?" Delia checked.

"That's right."

Oak smiled. "I was going to go back and carry on travelling, but... then I met her."

"And then your son came along, and..."

"That's right," the professor confirmed. "After that, it was too hard to justify going away for months on end."

He shrugged, a little melancholy. "These things happen."

After a moment, he glanced at the television. "Ouch!"

Delia looked over at that one too, and blinked. "Is that allowed?"

"Apparently."

The moment passed, with the referee not raising his flag, and Oak nodded to himself. "Well, well... anyway. If you're wondering what Ash should do... that's up to him. I've already gathered from our conversations that he's certainly not someone to just stomp someone's dreams flat – look at the team he's using here."

Ash's mother nodded, understanding. "Right. Because he's not using, say, Pikachu, it's still an interesting match."

"That's right – and Ash's Pokémon are all strong, but not all of them are as strong as one another. He's giving the weaker ones a chance to-"

The ground ripped open, as roots came surging out of it. They were slow and sluggish, though, and Fowler hopped from root to wooden root and cut his way out with a series of Air Slashes.


Ivysaur panted, as his Frenzy Plant collapsed.

What was wrong with him today?

"Ivysaur!" Ash called. "I think I worked it out!"

"Good, because I haven't!" Ivysaur replied. He pulsed out a Grass Whistle, just to see if he could knock the Farfetch'd out and gain an advantage that way, and was rewarded by Fowler's eyes drooping until he fell asleep.

Then he started using Sleep Talk.

"Gah!"

"He used Simple Beam on you!" Ash explained. "It meant his Featherdance affected you much more strongly than normal!"

"That would explain a-" Ivysaur ducked under a swish of the leek, "lot!"

"Ancientpower!" Ash told him.

Ivysaur's vines snapped out and snarled up Fowler's legs, making him trip. He lurched back to his feet and cut the vines with a quick swipe, but the time that took gave Ivysaur a change to use his Rock-type attack.

A momentary glow of light as the rock formed, then it fired forwards.

Fowler might have been able to block it if he'd been awake. He wasn't, though, and the rock hit him on the forehead.

Blinking, Fowler awoke. He rubbed his stinging forehead with his free wing, and promptly got hit by another Ancientpower.

As the duck slumped, Fred recalled him. "Okay, Flambé!"

"Ivysaur, you'll be no good out there!" Ash called. "Have a rest!"

"Gladly!"


Fred thought for a moment. Should he call Flambé right back and switch to Floodwater? Both Pokémon had had a rest, but...

He'd see what Ash sent out first.

With a burst of white light, a Muk formed on the battlefield.

"Muk, huh?" Fred asked. "Interesting – okay, Flambé, remember, don't let off the Flare Blitz! You can burn off poisons that way!"

Flambé nodded firmly back at him, then engulfed himself in flames once more and charged at Muk.


Tracey blinked, looking up at the computer from his paperwork. "Wait, is that-"


"...what just happened?" Koji asked, glancing at his new friends. "Seriously, what?"

Casey shook her head. "This happens all the time with him. He told me this story about how he basically brought down the roof of the Cianwood gym..."

"But – what?" Koji looked to Pietra for advice. "What moves did that Muk just use?"

On the battlefield, Flambé rolled to a stop, heavily bruised from his encounter with Muk's everything-and-the-kitchen-sink approach to TM moves. Shaking his head, he inhaled and switched to Fire Blast.

Pietra counted on her fingers. "I had... Hidden Power, Shadow Ball, Venoshock, Sludge Bomb, Rock Tomb and Focus Blast, but there were a lot more in there. A Fire move as well, at least."

"Isn't the Fire move a bad idea dealing with a Flareon?" Casey asked, and got shrugs.

"It's not like he was only using the Fire move," Pietra pointed out.


"Is it me, or is this surprisingly close?" Bruno asked. "That Muk was pretty impressive, but then again I didn't know they could be diluted out of a fight."

"I know," Lance admitted. "Especially after the previous match... I was worried that either Ash would use one of those Pokémon and it'd be one sided, or..."

He realized he hadn't thought of an or yet, and shrugged.

"That's kind of deliberate, I think," Brock said, as Tauros and Floodwater clashed with a slam. "He's used everyone in his entire team this conference."

"Oh, I see," Bruno admitted. "That's kind of a nice idea... hey, I didn't know his Tauros had that move-"

"He's got three, remember," Lorelei said.

"Actually five," Misty told them. "All pretty different."

"Right," Bruno nodded.

There was a WHAM as Tauros slammed home with a Wild Charge, then followed up with a Spite as Floodwater began to charge his Hydro Cannon.

"Good!" Ash shouted. "Great work! Now – Thrash!"

Snorting, Ash's Wild Bull stampeded forwards. His horns glowed briefly, and then the impact resounded around the arena.

Floodwater was bowled over by the impact. He pushed himself up on one side, then slumped back with a sigh.

"Well, that's that, then." Lorelei smiled. "A well-fought final, both of them."


Fred sighed, shaking his head. "That was... ah well."

It had been closer than he'd been fearing – Ash's Raikou and Latias had scared him, the Charizard, Heracross and Lucario had worried him more, and the Pikachu was frankly terrifying if only because of howmuch firepower had been crammed into a small volume.

He recalled Floodwater. "Good work, bud," he said, sincerely. "It wasn't our conference, but... good work."

After that, Fred sat down for a moment, breathing deeply to try to let the adrenaline wear off.

"Hey."

Looking up, Fred saw that his opponent was at the edge of the box.

"I just wanted to say," Ash began. "Great work. Really – I know what it's like, believe me."

"Really?" Fred asked, a little startled. "When?"

"...I guess not in tournaments," Ash admitted, realizing his five heartbreaking losses had technically never happened.

"Ah, here you both are!" Mr. Goodshow said, entering. "Wonderful show, both of you, wonderful show!"

He nodded to the runner-up. "Mr. Farrell? Just so you're aware, you have Elite Four challenge rights too."

Fred blinked. "I do? But-"

"Mr. Ketchum has that right already, so you get it too," the organizer smiled. "It's for exactly this situation. Now, come on – there's the podium in a minute."

He frowned for a moment. "Unfortunately, Mr. Steve has left the country, so there's no third-fourth playoff. Your opponent from the semi-final will be in third place on the podium. Now – come on, come on! A marvellous conference, all of it!"


As the cheering died down, Lance stepped up to the microphone.

"Now that the Silver Conference is over, I have a few announcements to make," he said. "Firstly – there's been rumours about it, so I'll confirm several of them. Some of the Kanto-Johto Elite Four are stepping down."

He waited for the muttering to subside. "It was a hard series of decisions to make, but we've come to them after a lot of thought – and we hope they're good decisions. Firstly, my colleague Lorelei will be retiring to work on her secondary career as a writer."

Lorelei waved, as a groan of disappointment ran around the stands. "I'm glad everyone's so upset!" she quipped, producing some laughter. "But I'll still be around – Lance and the others are friends, not just co-workers, and I'll stay in touch with them."

There was general approval of this.

Lance waited for a moment. "Secondly, Agatha – a staunch veteran and one of the longest serving members of the Elite Four on record – has decided to retire to spend more time with her sisters."

Agatha looked offended the disappointment was more muted. "Oh, you all like the young one..." she said darkly. "Well, see if I write a book!"

The laughter that followed, and the applause, seemed to mollify her somewhat.

"And, finally, I will be-"

Lance had to stop for a moment at the shock that spread through the stand.

"-I will be moving to the position of Grand Champion only, as we have recruited three new members for the Elite Four from what was a close-fought and hotly contested field. We'll be introducing them tomorrow-"

He let the relieved cheers build and peak, then subside a little.

"-and I'm sure you'll love them. First, though, we've all decided on a grand sendoff for Agatha and Lorelei, and Mr. Ketchum – this year's winner – has kindly agreed to waive his usual challenge in favour of battling each of us – with, in all cases bar one, a single Pokémon."

He smiled at the clear bafflement. "Everything will be clear tomorrow, ladies and gentlemen."


"Man, now I feel really nervous..." Ash admitted. "When I fought Lorelei, it was pretty much solo..."

"It'll be fine, Ash," Pikachu assured him. "Really."

"I hope so," Ash said. "I wonder how-"

Dexter beeped.

Incoming call.

"Huh, wonder who-"

It's from Dee, Dexter interrupted, as Ash flipped him open.

"Oh, right... hi, Gary!"

There was a pause.

"What do you mean, snap?"


"I mean snap!" Gary repeated, adjusting the trophy in his off hand. "We got bored and won the conference here in Kalos!"

"That's overstating it just a bit," Umbreon rolled her eyes. "It was a lot of work..."

"Yes, very much," Furfrou agreed. "But – well, a grand challenge indeed!"

"No, I don't feel threatened by you!" Gary said, shaking his head. "Whatever, Ash – I'm only one behind you now! And no, Orange doesn't count."

"That Pyroar was tricky," Arcanine admitted. "Good thing he made that mistake right at the start with Flash Fire."

Indeed, the whole team was quite remarkable, Alakazam nodded.

Furfrou rolled her eyes. "Umbreon could not hear you," she pointed out.

"Sorry."

"It was totally as much of a challenge as you had!" Gary insisted. "So what if you had to face some crazy nutjob with three Megas, you have Legendaries!"

"This argument is going to take a while," Umbreon predicted. "Who wants coffee?"


AN:


Poor Fred.

At least he gave a pretty good showing for himself.

In addition, I took the chance to catch up with a few other people. There'll be more catching up next chapter.

And this is what Gary Oak has been doing. In Kalos.

(I wonder if anyone's spotted the theme for this NPC finalist...)

Incidentally, sorry for the longer than usual wait – a bit of fatigue over the length of the tournament. I don't think it'll be feasible to give everyone a go any more, when Hoenn rolls around...

Incidentally also, this story seems to be the number one most reviewed Pokemon fic on the site. Thanks everyone for the feedback!