"Ready for this, kid?" Wattson asked.
"Sure am!" Ash replied, stepping up to the battlefield. "So – three a side, right?"
"Right!" Wattson confirmed. "And it's the first one to have two Pokémon knocked out who loses – so the one who keeps their team a team the longest wins."
"That's an interesting rule," May said. "What's the justification for it?"
"You need two ends for an electrical current!" Wattson told her. "Besides, once I'm down to just one Pokémon they're unlikely to be able to fight well..."
He turned to Ash. "Okay, send out your Pokémon!"
"Got it!" Ash said. "Come on out, guys!"
"Two of us are girls," Meganium pointed out as she materialized.
"But I'm not!" Totodile added, drawing a chuckle from Quilava.
"Huh," Wattson said. "All three Johto starters! That's certainly enough of a theme for me!"
He expanded out three Pokéballs. "Go!"
Ash watched as they materialized. A Plusle, a Minun, and an Electric-type that looked vaguely...
"Is that a fat Raichu?" Pikachu asked, blinking. "No, wait, I heard about these..."
"Hey!" the Electric-type replied. "I'm not fat or a Raichu!"
"So you're a Dedenne," Brock said.
Ash flipped open Dexter.
Do you want me to tell you about the Plusle and Minun?
"No thanks, just the Dedenne," Ash requested.
Dedenne. The antenna Pokémon. They get great radio reception.
"Really?"
Yes. But only to other Dedenne. They communicate with others over long distances.
"Huh," Ash frowned. "Anything else?"
Yes. They can have the ability Plus. And this one does.
"Uh-oh..." Ash winced, realizing what that meant as the Plusle, Minun and Dedenne all began to crackle.
"Begin!" Wattson said. "Thunderbolt!"
"Totodile, look out!" Meganium said, snagging him in a vine and hauling him out of the way of the electric blasts.
Quilava balled up and bounced herself into the air, avoiding the one aimed for her, and uncurled again before sending a blast of Flamethrower spearing at them.
They dodged, but that was good enough for now.
"What's the plan?" she asked, landing to Meganium's right.
"Stop them getting too powerful!" Meganium said, and petals swirled around her before lashing forwards.
"I think they're already plenty powerful enough," Quilava muttered, before frowning. "Hey, can you do a Sweet Scent?"
"How can I help?" Totodile asked.
"I know!" Ash said. "Totodile, use Brine – straight at Dedenne!"
"Don't get hit, Dedenne!" Wattson called. "He's planning something!"
Totodile fired his stream of salty water, and Dedenne hopped aside before launching a crackling Parabolic Charge out to hit the brine. It connected, flashed up the salt water and connected to Totodile – who yelped – but before it could come back to complete the circuit Meganium and Quilava unleashed their combination attack.
Meganium produced a pulse of Sweet Scent. The nice-smelling pollen was caught up in the ongoing barrage of petals from her Petal Blizzard, and all of it whipped out at the Fairy-type.
"Yah!" Quilava said, balling up and spindashing down the stream herself – with Rollout, not Flame Wheel. As she approached Dedenne, she partially uncurled and blew a scatter of flames. "Ember!"
The whole pile of leaves, petals and pollen exploded with a whoosh.
When it faded, the two female Pokémon sighed – Dedenne was a bit flash blinded from being in the middle, but he was clearly still in the fight and so were Plusle and Minun.
"That was a good combination," Wattson nodded. "But I prefer this – Shockwave!"
Bolts of crawling electricity crackled between the three Electric-types, then speared forwards – going up and over Meganium and aiming for Totodile.
"I've got two of them!" Meganium announced, and her vines whipped out to intercept a pair of the Shock Waves. Both electric attacks ran back down her vines, grounding into her, and she grimaced from the force of the electrical attack – these little Pokémon were surprisingly strong like this...
Quilava was about to intercept the third, but Totodile beat her to it – he fired a jet of Muddy Water which smothered the final Shockwave.
"We've got to stay on the attack," Meganium said, a little breathlessly. "Those attacks of theirs are too strong."
"On it!" Quilava replied, and darted forwards. "Get planning!"
"Wait-" Meganium began, then sighed. "Okay, I guess you can take care of yourself."
Totodile waddled over and hopped onto her back. "Is it okay if I stay up here?"
"Sure, you're easier to defend," Meganium replied. She exhaled a breath of healing pollen and sniffed it in, then another which she sent over Totodile to make sure he wasn't too beaten up.
"Thanks!"
Meganium smiled, then looked back to the battle. There were blasts of electricity trying to catch Quilava, who was bouncing off the walls as often as the floor, and the odd skirl of fire reached out.
"What should we do?" Totodile asked. "...hey, I know!"
Meganium looked over, and he whispered in her ear.
"...I like it," she said. "Quilava! Head back over here!"
There was a bang and a yelp, and then both Plusle and Minun jumped back before Quilava skidded to a halt next to the Grass-type – looking a little worse for wear.
"I'm here," she said. "What's the plan?"
"Well-" Meganium began, then interrupted herself. "...what are they doing?"
Plusle and Minun began to cheer. "De-de-Dedenne! He's the mon who gets his way!"
They gestured, and each formed a crackling hula-hoop of electrical energy.
"...is this Helping Hand?" Quilava asked.
"Kinda!" Totodile said. "But-"
"Meganium, look out!" Ash called, as the two Cheering Pokémon finished their routine and threw the rings to Dedenne.
He caught both of them, one on each antenna, then drew a third circle with his tail.
"That looks familiar-" Quilava said, and then there was a BANG.
"Was that Volt Crash?" Max asked, waving away the smoke with a cough.
"Kind of," Ash said, peering through closed eyelids. "Meganium looks pretty badly off..."
"Yes, I saw your move and thought I'd give it a try!" Wattson laughed. "We're still trying to get the power-gathering to work, though!"
Petals swirled, drawing the smoke along with them, and then banished it in the side-breeze from a Petal Blizzard as Meganium made clear she was still in the fight.
She looked much the worse for wear, though. There were scorch marks all down her side, where she'd shielded the others, and her antenna and petals drooped.
The Electric-types she peppered with petals were rather better off, though not great. The effort of performing such a powerful attack through sheer brute force rather than gradually charging it had taken its toll, though they were clearly powering up again quite fast.
"Quick!" Wattson said, pointing. "Finish that Meganium off! Electro Ball!"
Ash thought quickly. "If – okay! Meganium, Totodile, Quilava, all use your most powerful attacks! Totodile, aim lower than the others!"
"Right!" Totodile agreed, and inhaled. The other two did as well, trying to charge their attacks before the Electric-types could.
One of the smaller petals in Meganium's flower flashed into a gentle golden flame, consumed in a moment but leaving the scent of thyme, and then she finished charging a Solarbeam.
She fired it, just as Totodile fired his Hydro Pump and Quilava unleashed a Fire Blast.
The three Electric-types combined their attacks into a single giant Electroball, and Meganium's vines whipped out. She grabbed both her teammates, and threw both of them as far away as she could.
Then the attacks hit.
Dedenne ducked under the Fire Blast, but the Hydro Pump carried him backwards in a sputtering torrent of water before hooking under him and forcing him up into the Solarbeam – and, when it faded, he was flat up against the wall and upside down.
Meganium, for her part, nearly vanished into the huge globe of electrical energy, and when that faded she was out for the count.
"Looks like you've lost a Pokémon first!" Wattson said with a chuckle – then a ballistic Totodile head-bashed his Dedenne and knocked him out too.
"Both sides are down to two Pokémon..." Brock noted. "That's going to make their teamwork have more problems, but it also means neither side has a sudden advantage."
"Speak for yourself!" Quilava said, shaking herself out and giving Totodile covering Fire to let him retreat. "We lost the one who has a healing move!"
"It must have been hard to recreate that attack," Max said, as the battle settled down to a wary stalemate. Totodile spat out a blob of water every so often, and the Plusle and Minun between them blasted it hard enough to shatter it in the hopes that he'd leave a connection to himself at some point.
"What's that?" Wattson asked, glancing up from the battle.
"I don't think it's turned up that often on TV..."
"Well, no," Wattson said, shrugging. "I actually got my final clue when Raikou messed it up at the Silver Conference!"
Raikou said something defensively.
"What was that?" Wattson asked.
"He said it still worked," Brock supplied. "And to be fair, it did..."
"Yes, well, that's what really made it clear to me what was going on," Wattson said. "Dedenne's ability to charge electricity in his pouches let him handle the backstop bit, but he can't do three rings of electricity at the same time – so my other two rodents give him a Helping Hand!"
"So it spreads the difficulty out over three Pokémon," May said, nodding. "It's a pity there's not three-Pokémon contests, that would be a pretty good combo."
Wattson chuckled.
"Don't flood the gym, by the way," he added. "I mean, that's a lot of water attacks Totodile's doing. What's your plan?"
Ash shrugged. "Not sure. I've got a guess..."
"Plusle!" Wattson decided. "Use Thunderbolt, get past that Quilava! Help him, Minun!"
The two Electric-types began to clap in unison, and then a flash of electricity flowed from Minus to Plus.
Quilava frowned. "Look out!"
"Right!" Totodile agreed. "Okay, let's try this!"
He fired a burst of water directly at Plusle, who gestured and launched a bolt of electricity back up it.
As the bolt hit, though, the water froze. Instantly.
Perturbed enough to crystallize as it was blown apart by the lightning bolt, the supercooled water exploded into a shower of ice shards which peppered the startled Plusle.
"Nice use of Rime," Quilava noted. "So, why have you been-"
She broke off, rolling up and bursting forwards into a Flame Wheel to deflect an electrical attack from Minun.
"Don't use any more fire attacks!" Totodile said quickly.
"What?" Quilava asked, blinking. "Uh – okay..."
She shook her head, coming to a stop next to the Water-type for a moment, then nodded. "Fine. I'll trust you on this one... Rollout, then!"
"Thanks!" Totodile called after her, then skipped aside away from one Thunderbolt and used a blast of Aqua Jet to dodge a second. "Hi-yah!"
Water sprayed towards both Plusle and Minun.
Totodile launched himself into the air, avoiding an Electroball which shot across the battlefield towards him. It detonated where he'd been standing, and the Water-type cut out his Aqua Jet to avoid the electricity conducting right up to him.
That left him unable to dodge the Thunderbolt, though, and a powerful blast of electricity slammed him into the wall for the moment it lasted before Quilava clipped Minun with her Rollout.
"Ow!" Totodile said, shaking his head as he dropped, then used another burst of water to slow himself to a safe velocity. "Hey, Quilava, over here!"
Quilava skidded to a halt, both forepaws and hindpaws digging in to make sure she stopped in the right place. "Yeah?"
"Thanks for not using your quills!" he said. "Now, Solarbeam!"
"Give me a moment to charge..." Quilava asked. "Meganium only found one Power Herb, and she used it..."
Totodile was about to reply, but then a pair of powerful Thunderbolts came his direction and he dodged before heading off in another direction.
Quills extending and glowing slightly, Quilava gathered energy together in her mouth.
It would have been a lot harder to do if Totodile wasn't keeping her opponents thoroughly busy. The doughty Water-type was taking an awful beating as both Plusle and Minun tried to catch him in an inescapable web of electrical attacks, and occasionally one hit him before he managed to get free.
"Quilava, target Plusle!" Ash said suddenly, just as she finished charging.
Trusting his judgement, she fired – and the rush of green-yellow energy washed over Plusle, knocking him over and sending him rolling back to hit the wall.
Totodile took the opening and escaped, dodging an attack by Minun and rolling to a stop next to Quilava.
"Now – everyone put your hands over your ears!" Ash added, somewhat strangely.
Wattson blinked. "Wait – you don't-"
"Ember!" Ash said.
Quilava used Ember.
There was a kind of whoomph. Like a squeaky little pop amplified a thousand times.
"Did your Water-type just electrolyze enough hydrogen to make an explosion?" Wattson asked.
"What?" Ash asked.
"What?" Brock said.
"What?" Wattson replied.
"Pardon?" Max asked.
Oh, of course you have to be different... Dexter said, as his Reflect screens went down.
"What?" Pikachu asked.
As the spectators waited for their hearing to come back, Quilava slowly uncurled.
"Ow," she said.
She glanced over at Totodile, who'd happened to be encased in an Aqua Jet at the moment of the explosion. "Hydrogen?"
"Yep!" Totodile replied. "I remember Pikachu told us about when it freed that Moltres! But I had to get the Electric-types to make it..."
"Quilava!" Ash called. "Quick, get Minun before she recovers!"
"Right!" Quilava said, crouching before springing forwards.
Minun replied by rolling over, managing to avoid Quilava's first attack, and sent a Thunder Wave her way – which the Fire-type dodged with a jump before using Aerial Ace to launch herself right back at the Minun.
Uncoiling, she fired down a Fire Blast from directly overhead, and when the five-pointed star of flame faded it was to reveal a second knocked-out Electric-type.
"Enough!" Wattson said, a little too loudly. "That's enough! A fine battle, Mr. Ketchum!"
"Thank you," Ash said, also a bit loud.
"Your Pokémon are very creative!" Wattson added. "And they worked together well – very impressive!"
"Thanks," Ash repeated. "I'm just glad that your gym's tough enough to take that blast..."
"If the doors had been closed it would have blown them open, most likely," Wattson muttered. "Anyway! Now that that's over with, it's time for the other lad!"
Max nodded.
"Now, I'm sure you know all about type advantages and disadvantages," Wattson said. "So how does that affect the Electric type?"
"Well..." Max frowned. "Weak to Ground, strong against Water and Flying, weak at attacking Grass and Dragon, usually unable to damage Ground, and strong at resisting Flying and Steel."
A chuckle. "That's right... so! Send your first Pokémon out! You will have three Pokémon to battle my one, so you can probably tell this is going to be a tricky one..."
"Right," Max nodded. "Okay, Arc, your go first!"
"I'm ready!" Arc yipped.
"You've got good taste, I've often wanted to catch an Electrike," Wattson chuckled. "Anyway. Eelektross!"
"Ash?" Max asked. "What's an Eelektross?"
"Ask Kris," May reminded him.
"Oh, right," Max nodded, and flipped her open. "So – Eelektross?"
Eelektross. The EleFish Pokémon – don't ask me. It locks its mouth onto opponents and delivers an eelectric shock.
"A what?" May asked.
Now it's got me doing it. Anyway, it is an Electric-type which uses the ability Levitate by way of magnetic currents.
"...so it doesn't have a weakness," Max finished. "Uh oh..."
Arc looked back at him. "Don't worry!" he yapped. "I'll be fine!"
Eelektross clapped his arm suckers under his body, and electricity buzzed between them for a moment.
"Right!" Max said. "Okay, let's start with a Bite!"
Arc barked, and then jumped forwards with his jaws ready to bite. He dodged away from a Poison-type attack – it looked like Acid – and bit onto Eelektross' left arm.
"This tastes terrible..." he muttered, and was then flung off towards the wall. A blast of electricity followed him, and he yelped as he hit the side of the arena – then the electricity hit as well, crackling over his fur.
He brightened – both figuratively and literally – as his fur drank down the energy of the attack and used it to charge up. "Thanks!"
Eelektross frowned for a moment.
"It's Lightningrod," Wattson frowned. "Okay – no Electric attacks now!"
Eelektross nodded, and hovered forwards, tail waving from side to side to increase his speed.
Somehow.
Arc fed electricity to his legs and kicked off, curving around the Eelektross before cutting in behind and biting his tail.
"Let go... now!" Max called, and Arc released his Bite a moment before Eelektross sent him flying towards the wall again.
It was hard to feel glad about that, though, when Eelektross simply Fire Punched Arc towards the wall anyway.
"I think that was a bit better!" Max said. "Okay, now, use Quick Attack!"
Arc feinted one way and pounced the other, and nipped at Eelektross' skin with another Bite attack before retreating – fast enough to avoid being hit, this time.
Using more of his stored electrical power, he kicked off a wall and attacked from an unexpected direction – slowly wearing him down, one attack at a time.
"That's enough of this!" Wattson said. "Dragon Tail!"
As Arc came in for his latest Bite, he got smacked in the chest by a glowing green tail which sent him heading towards Max.
Ash's hand whipped out and caught him, then put Arc gently in Max's arms.
"Thanks," Max said, with a quick smile. "Arc, are you okay?"
"I'm feeling kind of tired..." Arc admitted.
"Right, we'll switch you out for now," Max decided. "Okay. Guy, your turn!"
He sent out the Shroomish, returning his Electric-type for now.
"How am I doing?" he asked.
Ash shrugged. "Alright, actually... one against three is tricky when a gym leader sets it up, because they pick tough ones!"
"I guess so," Max agreed.
"You seem a bit... small," Eelektross said, blinking down at Guy.
"I am," Guy agreed, shifting on his small feet.
"Bullet Seed!" Max called.
Guy inhaled slightly, and sent out a stream of the glowing pellets – which Eelektross deflected with his arms, first, then dove away from in what looked a lot like swimming through shallow water.
"Fire Punch!" Wattson instructed.
"Look out!" Max called. "Run that way – and then use Mega Drain to get the energy back!"
Guy turned and ran, as quickly as possible – managing to at least roll with the blow, though it still hit hard and knocked him most of the way to the wall – then fired out a bubble of glowing green energy which washed over Eelektross and pulled in some energy.
"Healing?" Wattson asked, chuckling. "We can't have that! Eelektross, use Toxic!"
"Look out!" Max repeated. "Don't let it-!"
Guy turned out to not have much choice about letting it hit him. The blast of Toxic which Eelektross fired was impressively large, splashing off the rubber-impregnated walls and splattering down Guy's side.
He glowed purple, and then a kind of bright green.
"...oh, yeah, that's right," Wattson said, in more subdued tones. "So much for stopping him from healing..."
"Max!" Guy called. "I feel great!"
"But you're-" Max stopped. "Why did we never check if he had Poison Heal? Dad gave me a Toxic Orb, for goodness' sake... anyway – this is awesome! Okay, Guy, let's try close-in!"
"What with?" Guy asked.
"Headbutt, that's what!" Max replied.
"Fire Punch!" Wattson said.
The coil in Eelektross' right fist hummed as it heated up from heavy current load, and snapped into fire. He punched, and the punch met Guy launching himself forwards.
Flame skirled out from the impact, and Eelektross – not able to brace against the floor – skidded backwards from the impact.
Guy hadn't come off unscathed either, but the faint glow that had announced his Headbutt began to strengthen.
"Wait – he's evolving!" May said, realizing it first.
"All right!" Max enthused. "Way to go, Guy!"
The light became a soft white glow, and then spread – carrying Guy's form with it. His dome expanded slightly, flattening out, and a whole new body expanded in short order... until, when it faded, there was a Breloom standing on the gym floor.
A faint purple glow still covered his skin, but that was hardly a bad thing – even as they watched, the scorch marks remaining from the Fire Punch slowly shrank and vanished.
"Huh," Guy said, looking himself over for a moment. "I have arms."
"Do you have any Fighting-type attacks?" Max asked.
The new Breloom considered, then nodded – and flashed forwards with a whiff of displaced air.
The Mach Punch knocked Eelektross backwards into the wall, but he rallied and fired a Thunderbolt back.
"He's still weak to Poison!" Wattson said. "Use an Acid Spray!"
Eelektross used Acid Spray.
"Ew," Pikachu winced.
Guy frowned, brushing the acid off – it was clearly doing damage, but just as clearly his Poison Heal and condition were combining to heal the damage with accelerating speed.
"Hey, Brock?" May asked.
Brock looked over. "What is it?"
"Well-" Guy used Mach Punch again, and got Zap Cannoned in return- "I was wondering who you think's going to win this battle, I guess..."
Mach Punch collided with Fire Punch.
"Your brother's doing well," Brock said, considering. "But I think Wattson's too skilled to count out this quickly."
"Acid spray was working..." Wattson considered. "And he's Fighting-type now, too. Eelektross!"
Eelektross nodded.
"Bounce!"
The Electric-type nodded again, and both arm-suckers hummed loudly. He placed them such that they were parallel with the floor, their axis pointing straight down, and pulsed them – flying into the air with a sudden crack of electrical energy.
"Look out!" Max said. "Above!"
Guy took a step back, sliding one foot along the floor and readying his fist for a Mach Punch.
As Eelektross came down again, Guy launched himself skywards. There was a boom of impact, and Guy hit the floor hard – driven by both recoil and the impact of the Bounce.
Eelektross went up again, swivelling in mid-air, and used his magnets to affix himself to the ceiling before firing another shot – a Zap Cannon, this time.
Coming on top of the double impact from before, that gave Max cause for concern. "Remember, Guy, you need to stay out of trouble until you heal!"
"Right!" Wattson said, pointing. "Another Bounce!"
"Mach Punch again!" Max decided – on the grounds it was the best of a number of bad options.
Eelektross' magnets thrummed, and he fired himself down at the Breloom.
There was a wham which produced a small blast of air, and a spray of gunk.
"Did... did Guy just punch Eelektross in the chest?" May asked.
"I didn't know Eelektross had one," Brock said.
The Eelektross fell to the floor, hitting it for a moment before rising up and hovering at normal altitude once more. He coughed, then let out a spray of something which hissed on the arena floor.
Abruptly, Guy collapsed.
"What just happened?" Ash asked, blinking.
It seems that liquid is Gastro Acid, Dexter volunteered. It disabled Guy's ability, and the Toxic instantly became as damaging as it would have been had it been working all this time.
They considered that for a moment.
"Sounds kind of strange," May said.
"You did great, Guy," Max said, recalling him. "We'll get you set up with that Toxic Orb as soon as we can. Now, uh..."
He took a few seconds to think about this one.
That lack of weakness was being a real problem for them. Delta was right out, and there wasn't really much to recommend Cinder here either – most of her attacks involved getting too close.
And using Jirachi would be going too far.
"...oh, wait," he realized. "Kris?"
Agreed.
He took out the armoured projector that was her body for combat – a small, octagonal medallion that seemed to be made of bronze.
"Time for your first proper battle," he told her.
Stand by, ready. Set up.
As Wattson watched with interest and his Eelektross watched with something of a lack thereof, Kris drew herself out of vectors and polygons.
"A Porygon!" Wattson chuckled. "Interesting, very interesting. I've not actually seen one up close..."
"There's three in this room," Ash told him. "All our Pokédexes."
Indeed, Dexter said.
"Nice!" Wattson nodded. "Well, let's see how a Porygon fights, shall we?"
Max nodded, Pokéball ready. "Okay, Kris!"
Engaging.
"Start with a Tri Attack!"
Kris' vectored head seemed to split open, the 'beak' hinging open, and three lights spun in a circle inside before flashing blue/yellow/red and launching beams of light.
Eelektross levitated hurriedly away from it, then raised his magnets – which thrummed again, trying to drive the attack off course. They bent it, slightly, and the result was that it only grazed his tail.
"Good!" Max nodded. "Okay – Gravity!"
Eelektross had just enough time to look surprised before being driven into the floor with a WHAM.
"Good thinking, lad!" Wattson praised.
His Eelektross managed to give him a seriously unimpressed look, and his arm-coils whined as they tried to overcome the gravitational effect.
"Okay, how long is that going to last, Kris?" Max asked, all his attention on the battle.
Approximately twenty seconds, power output lowering over this time.
"Right!" Max said. "Arc, your go! Dig!"
Kris collapsed back into her projector as her trainer switched Pokémon, and Arc yapped once before digging into the ground.
"Oh, I see," Wattson nodded. "Good plan, kid. Just one problem...
There was a rising hum, and then Eelektross floated back into the air – and a moment later Arc broke through the soil before looking disappointed.
"Aw..." he whined.
"...Eelektross was powering up too fast," Wattson explained.
"He was, huh?" Max asked. "Okay, new plan! Kris, back out there!"
"You're using a lot of switching," Wattson observed. "I like it!"
"Why?" May asked.
"Electrical circuits have switches, of course!" Wattson replied with a flourish.
"...that was bad," Brock told him.
"How does the battle look?" Ash asked, looking down at Absol.
"Interesting, certainly," she mused. "I see why Pokémon have trainers – if I focus only on the Pokémon, then when a human gives an order the potentials and probabilities snap into a new path and usually one which is better for the ordered Pokémon."
"That must be a pretty interesting way of seeing things," Brock said.
"It's what I'm used to," Absol replied. "Though admittedly it's a skill I've nurtured."
She frowned, focusing on the battle. "Ah, there we are!"
"Psybeam!" Max instructed. "Push him back a bit!"
From the weapons compartment of Kris' head, an antenna with three rings around it appeared. It glowed briefly, then fired out a blast of multicoloured light and knocked Eelektross skidding through the air.
"Now – Gravity!"
Kris used Gravity, and Eelektross slapped into the floor again. Wasting no time, Max switched to Arc. "Dig!"
"This again?" Wattson asked. "It's not going to work this time either, you know – think of something else!"
"I did," Max replied.
Wattson looked confused, and then the Dig attack hit Eelektross from below.
"Again!" Max said, noticing how injured Eelektross already looked. "Just one more!"
"Eelektross, what's wrong with you?" Wattson asked. "You're not usually this groundbound!"
"That's because usually he hasn't landed in a pool of Gastro Acid!" Max replied. "Levitate is shut down by Gastro Acid just like Poison Heal is!"
"...ah," Wattson said, and then Eelektross finally fainted as Arc burst out of the ground again.
"Did I do it? Did I do it?" Arc asked, turning in a circle.
He saw the slumped Eelektross. "...does this mean I did it? Or are there more?"
"You did it alright, Arc," Max smiled. "Great teamwork!"
He gestured, and Arc ran over to jump into his arms and be scratched.
Wattson chuckled, returning his Eelektross. "Well, I can't argue with that! Impressive work handling an unusual Pokémon – thinking on your feet will do you good! Now, where do I keep the Dynamo badges..."
"So I guess the theme here was teamwork?" Brock asked. "Three on three, and then that single Pokémon which usually requires teamwork to battle."
"Yes, that's it exactly," Wattson agreed, rummaging around in his pockets. "Where did I put those badges?"
"But – why just one Pokémon?" Max pressed. "I mean, if I'd had a different team – like if I'd had a Pokémon with Mold Breaker or something like that – it could have been easy."
"Did you see how much pounding Eelektross took?" Wattson chuckled. "Ah, here we are... anyway, Eelektross is actually one of my high tier challenge team, he's quite the tough one."
"I guess that makes sense," Max agreed, catching the first badge. Pikachu caught the second for Ash, who cased it.
"Of course it does!" Wattson beamed.
"To be honest, I'm kind of glad their teamwork didn't break the gym..." Ash said. "Sorry about the scorch marks."
"Oh, it's no problem," Wattson waved off. "Not a problem, not one whit! Least said, soonest mended, after all – now, there is one thing I would like, though."
"What's that?" May asked.
"Simple!" Wattson chuckled. "When else am I going to get an opportunity to have a good long look at a Raikou? Would he mind?"
"Raikou?" Ash asked.
"Of course!" Raikou agreed readily. "At least this way maybe the dashed robot will be a better likeness..."
"So I guess we go back there in a few hours?" May asked, glancing over at Brock.
"Yeah, I guess so," Brock agreed. "Ash is going to be there for a while... we should give him a while first, though."
Max nodded, then frowned. "Wait a moment... remember last time?"
"Last time?" May repeated.
"Yeah, last time – you know, there was that Electrike we helped Wattson meet. I wonder if we should try and make sure they meet again!"
"Well, he did say he wanted one when he saw Arc," Brock agreed. "But how, that's the question..."
"I know how," Max said. "Jirachi-"
"Max!" May said quickly. "Are you sure this isn't a frivolous use of the ability to get wishes granted?"
"...May?" Brock said, drawing her attention. "The first wish Jirachi granted was for candy."
"...point taken," May sighed. "Okay, go ahead."
"Right," Max said. "Jirachi?"
Yes? Jirachi asked, hovering up out of his place in Max's bag.
"I wish we could find an Electrike who would like Wattson!"
There was a poof of smoke, and Arc vanished from his position by Max's side before landing on Max's head.
"...what happened?" Brock asked.
I guess Arc liked Wattson? Jirachi asked, as Max lifted Arc down from his new perch. Sorry, my powers can be a bit literal...
"I did like him!" Arc agreed. "He sounded smart!"
"That's one way to put it," Brock said.
"I'll try to think of a better wish," Max decided.
"While you do..." May looked around. "Yep, there's a contest hall here. One of you guys feel like having a go?"
"I'll have a talk with my Pokémon," Brock said. "Maybe one or two of them will want to show off..."
"Okay!" Gary said, glancing down at his map. "This is where the seam is supposed to be – somewhere around here."
He sent out Sableye. "Ready to give this a go?"
"I guess so," Sableye agreed, and waved a hand through an outcrop of rock. "This feels different from where I used to live... it's harder."
"I think that's because it's metamorphic rock," Gary said. "That means it's been heated and compressed underground – though this area's all blueschist facies which means it's been compressed at a lower than normal temperature when you consider the adiabatic curve. That means it's been involved in a mountain forming-"
Sableye yawned extravagantly.
"...the rock's harder than before and it has large blue crystals," Gary summarized.
"Oh, why didn't you say?" Sableye asked, reaching into the rock with most of an arm. "Hey, there's... ugh..."
The rock cracked, sending out a shower of stony shards. Dee formed a Reflect screen to protect her trainer and continued translating, letting the little bits of rock clatter off.
"I was saying that," Gary told him. "Just in more detail. Okay, you eat this stuff, how are you not interested?"
"Can you bake a cake?" Sableye asked, tossing a lump of blue glaucophane into his mouth. There was a crunch, and he chuckled. "Delicious."
"We're not just here for you to have some gourmet food, you know," Gary said. "I'm hoping to get some good crystals using your phasing powers, because that way we can trade with the Geosenge stone merchants in return for some info on Mega Stones they might have heard of."
"Isn't this close to Geosenge?" Sableye asked. "Why haven't they already cleaned the place out?"
"It's an island," Gary pointed out. "Besides, they probably got most of what's on the surface – but I'm fairly sure there's got to be some underground still."
"Right," the Ghost-type agreed. "Okay, I'll see what I can find."
Putting his hands together, he 'dove' into the rockface as though it was a swimming pool.
There was the sound of an avian throat being cleared.
"Oh, fine," Gary said, popping out a Pokeblock and tossing it into the air. "Usual fee to bring us back across once we're done, too..."
Fearow snatched it out of the air, nodded once while swallowing, and set off to terrorize some hapless Starly.
"Why are so many of my Pokémon big eaters?" Gary asked the air.
"...wait," Ash said. "Weren't we headed back to Slateport?"
Pikachu shrugged. "Probably wasn't anything important."
There was a crackle-BANG from across the room.
"And that's what it looks like when I use Nuzzle!" Raikou explained.
Dexter repeated what he'd said, with a little less enthusiasm.
"Excellent!" Wattson chuckled. "And what about the signs?"
"Wood Hammer, of course!"
"Hey, Absol?" Ash asked, looking down. "Was introducing those two a terrible idea?"
In reply, the Dark-type frowned and concentrated- a faint glow coming from her red eyes.
"...probably not your best," she said. "Just make sure you leave fairly soon."
"Why?" Ash asked.
"I agree with her!" Pikachu said suddenly.
"What's that?"
"I just heard Wattson mention the idea of powered armour."
AN:
Most of this is two gym battles. One of them being the Teamwork battle (Plus and Minus have good synergy, and the result is a Dedenne that hits like a truck) and the other being... well, fighting something with no weakness.
Note the Triple Finish, Johto version. And I know that in reality the hydrogen explosion would have been a lot worse or completely unworkable... but this is exactly what happens in Power of One when the protagonists break out Moltres.
Also – Guy upgraded to Fight Guy. And he's pretty much instantly become the heavy of Max's team – just wait until he picks up Facade. (In at least one generation, Poison Heal healed the Toxic damage tick – increasing every turn!)
Meanwhile, in Kalos, Gary Oak is doing some quite carefully researched geology.
