"Where are we going to find an Electrike who might like Wattson..." Max asked, frowning. "I wonder..."
Kris beeped. Wild Electrike are abundant in this area of Hoenn.
"...that does make things easier," he admitted. "Hey, Arc? Cinder?"
Arc looked up, and barked a questioning 'Rike?'. Next to him, Cinder emerged from her own Pokeball.
"Can you two see if you can find an Electrike around here?" he asked. "Just for a chat, that's all."
"Right!" Arc nodded, and set off. His teammate watched him for a moment, then set off to check a complementary section of the undergrowth.
Max watched them go for a moment, then unslung his backpack.
"I guess this is the time to sort it out," he said, taking out the box his father had given him. "Let's see... there!"
Holding it with one hand, he sent out Guy with the other. "Hey!"
Guy nodded to him.
"So, how is it having arms? ...and a tail... and a neck, now I think of it..."
"Well," Guy replied, waiting for Kris to start translating before going on. "It's certainly been an interesting experience gaining everything but a head and feet – and both of those have changed, too."
"I can hardly imagine..." Max said. "I kind of wish-"
Guy moved quickly, pressing the blunt end of his claws against Max's lips. He made a shushing gesture with the other hand, and nodded to the floating Jirachi.
Max giggled. "Yeah, good point..."
I wouldn't have granted it unless you were sure, Jirachi told him.
"Thanks," Max smiled. "But yeah... I guess you're getting on okay?"
"It's not been too hard," the newly evolved Breloom said. "What's the box for, by the way?"
"Oh, right," Max nodded. He put the box down, and took out a well-wrapped purple orb. "I was thinking – you should probably have this."
"I see!" Guy agreed. "A Toxic Orb, right? Yes, that'll help a lot!"
"Just watch out for Gastro Acid," Max cautioned, letting Guy take it and unwrap it.
After a few seconds of consideration, Guy tucked the orb up under his frill. "It should be okay there..."
"Great!" Max smiled. "Glad you can use it!"
He frowned suddenly. "I wonder if Dad could help teach you Facade, that move would really do well with this. Apart from that... well, I wonder if Blaziken or Lucario could teach you some moves too..."
"It'd be interesting to learn... you know, now I have arms..."
Jirachi giggled. That's funny!
Arc came loping back over. "Hey! Hey, we found someone!"
"Sounds good!" Max said. "Which way?"
"Follow me!"
I'll let Ethan know where we're going, Kris said as they set off through the brush.
A chitter interrupted them.
Looking ready for a fight, a Zigzagoon burst out of a nearby bush. "Intru-"
Guy punched it.
Max watched the Normal-type go hurtling off back into the bush. "Whoa, that was quick..."
Mach Punch is a very quick move.
"Okay, Brock!" May said, back at the contest hall. "Ready?"
"Yeah!" Brock replied. "And so's my partner!"
No response.
He tapped his hat. "Ready?"
"I'm ready," Crobat agreed, with a slight yawn. "I didn't see you up all night last night, don't expect me to be up all day..."
"Just long enough for this," Brock promised. "Don't want to miss the big debut, do you?"
"Hombre, are you sure this is a good idea?" Ludicolo asked. "I mean... you only know..."
A sigh. "Ah, whatever. Que sera, sera."
Crobat leaned out of the hat a bit. "That's French, not Spanish."
"It is both, señor."
"Oh, hey, May!"
"Drew?" May asked, turning a little to see her rival. "What's up?"
"I'm going to be competing, that's what!" Drew told her. "I've got a new Pokemon, too!"
"You mean Masquerain?" May asked, trying to remember the order Drew got his Pokemon in.
"No, a new Pokemon," Drew repeated, stressing the word. "Can't stand still around you, can I?"
"Oh, right," May nodded – realizing belatedly what he meant. "Okay – well, I guess I hope you're happy with him or her."
"I think so," Drew agreed. "She evolved just recently, but I'm pretty confident in her."
"I almost wish I was competing now," May said, shrugging. "Ah well – we can battle someplace else, right?"
"Right," Drew grinned. "I've got to flatten you every so often or where's the challenge?"
"Third up, Brock Slate – originally from Kanto!"
Brock bowed briefly, mustache wiggling, and straightened.
"This is a song about how my life was," he said simply, and began to shake his maracas.
Up in the audience, jaws dropped.
"What the heck?" someone asked. "Why is he just singing a Mariachi song about not being able to get a date?"
"Where's his Pokemon?"
Brock reached the end of the short song, and – with that being the only song he could actually do – started again.
At that point, though, Crobat revealed himself. Wings flaring, he jumped skywards from Brock's wide-brimmed sombrero hat – and began to chirp, bringing his sonar down into the normal human range.
The really tricky bit was to sing in time, though – flying in circles, curved wings slicing the air, and accompanying Brock while weaving in enough of a counterpoint that it sounded like something other than just the same music all over again.
As they reached the end of the second verse, Crobat pulled up with a swish of air and let out a burst of sound, fuelling it with a Sonic Boom and resulting in an abrupt BANG that punctuated the end of the song.
That done, he flopped back into Brock's hat.
"...well," May said, diplomatically. "Not bad for his first go, I guess..."
"Brock needs to learn more songs," Ludicolo said, and the Blaziken next to him nodded agreement.
"Oh, looks like it's Drew now," May added, leaning forward slightly. "I wonder what he's got..."
She watched as her rival stepped out on stage, and released his Pokemon.
What it was drew a blink of surprise. "A Leafeon?"
"Okay, Leafeon, like we practiced!" Drew instructed. "Magical Leaf!"
A swirl of glowing, multicoloured leaves formed around the lithe Grass-type, who whipped them forwards – though there was a pulse of green as she did so, and the leaves lost their multicoloured glow to revert to being simply shining new-grown leaves.
The wind that had carried them eddied, then died out – leaving a kind of quarter-circle arc out from Leafeon of springlike yellow-green leaves that carried the scent of spring to the whole audience.
"Right, now, Razor Leaf!"
The second wash of leaves that came out were more normal – rather than being fresh and new, they were more hardened and a little darker. The leaves were leaves of summer, this time, and a wash of Sweet Scent suggested new-mown summer grass and warm, lazy days.
They also formed a second quarter-circle, overlapping slightly with the first one.
"Razor Leaf and Solarbeam!" Drew continued, jogging around his Pokemon, and she turned to follow him before firing a third barrage of leaves.
These ones got hit by a localized – very localized - blast of intense sunlight, and browned and discoloured quickly in the influence of the effect, forming a third quarter to the circle made of brilliant reds and yellows and browns.
"...oh," May realized, as the smell of crisp autumn leaves and apples came to her nose. "I see what he's doing..."
"Now – one more Razor Leaf, Leafeon!" Drew ordered. "And Giga Drain!"
The energy-sucking attack hit the leaves before they'd really even been fired, making them shrivel up completely and producing a scatter of browned leaves to make up the final sector of the circle.
For just a moment, the fourth Sweet Scent tickled the audience – carrying the smell of winter snow and a hot fire.
"The four seasons!" Drew announced, coming to a stop back where he'd started – and with Leafeon surrounded by what amounted to a very crude calendar.
May smiled, applauding along with everyone else.
That was a nice trick, with a lot of unusual uses of moves. Just right for a Coordinator, and it should earn him a lot of points.
"Where was it?" Max asked, crouching to get under a low branch. "Through here?"
Arc barked, tail wagging.
"I got it," Max chuckled. "Okay, good boy... here we are!"
Emerging from the brush, he came out on a lakeside.
"...so, where?" he asked, after a few seconds.
"Oh, right!" Arc yapped, and sniffed. "This way!"
He loped off along the lakeshore, and the group – Max, Guy, Jirachi and Kris – followed.
About a hundred metres along the shore, they passed a copse of lakeside trees and Cinder came into sight.
She waved, tail wagging, and the Electrike she'd been talking to looked up in interest.
Now they were moving slower, Max went back to Kris's screen in time to see the conversation start again.
"So this is your trainer?" the Electrike asked, looking Max up and down.
"Yep!" Cinder nodded.
"He's kind of short..."
"...well, I'm kind of young," Max excused himself. "I'll get bigger."
That surprised her slightly.
"Told you," Cinder said.
"Yes, I see..." the Electrike agreed, then shook herself. "So – what do you want to talk about?"
"Well," Max said, sitting down. "I just had a gym battle with Wattson, and... well, he said he wanted an Electrike like Arc here."
Arc nosed up under his hand, and was given a careful scratch that made his eyes close in pleasure.
"Ah, I see," the female said. "I did wonder, since you already had an Electrike."
She paced, considering.
"I won't say yes now," she said, after a bit. "But I'll be okay to meet him, I think."
"Great!" Max smiled. "Is now okay?"
"Is he nearby?"
"Well, kind of, but that's not what I meant," Max said. He turned, and Electrike's jaw dropped as she spotted the Steel-type Legendary hovering behind him. "Ready, Jirachi?"
Sure!
"Okay – Jirachi, I wish we could go back to Wattson's gym!"
Jirachi's tags glowed, and he frowned in concentration.
Cinder looked up, and blinked – and, when she opened her eyes, she was alone on the shore.
"Oh, not again..."
She scented the air, then set off for Mauville at a ground-eating lope.
"Jirachi needs to learn Miracle Eye, he really does..."
"Aren't you a cutie!" May said, scratching along Leafeon's back. "Yes you are! You're such a lovely little Leafeon, aren't you?"
Leafeon leaned into the scratch, making cute little yips, and stretched. It was a big, long stretch, starting with her forelegs extended and her back bent down to allow her hindquarters in the air, then she reversed it so her shoulders were up and her hindquarters down.
That done, she emitted a chirping purr, and shook herself before demanding another scratch.
Blaziken covered a chuckle with his hand.
"Yeah, she's settled in well," Drew said. "I kind of wondered for a bit, after – you know... well, I wondered if I should catch any Pokemon I didn't last time."
He shrugged. "And I decided – yeah, I should. Not just to give you a better challenge, but so that I got to know more Pokemon and developed more as a trainer."
Roselia nodded, and spoke.
May couldn't understand the Grass-type, but Drew got the gist and smiled. "Yeah, we talked it over a lot."
"I think I should as well," May said, after a moment. "It's something I've given a bit of thought, but... you're right, it's okay to catch more Pokemon. Brock has, Max has, Ash certainly has..."
She frowned, continuing to pet the young Leafeon. "I wonder who might work..."
"Well, don't forget we have those transceivers now," Brock said. "So it's not an either-or choice for a Pokemon, and if you explain that then some might be willing to come along – because they can head home if they want to."
"Those sound really useful," Drew said, with a chuckle. "You guys are all kitted out for this save-the-world thing, aren't you?"
"Well," Brock said, with a shrug. "Since last time we met we did defeat two giant evil versions of Groudon and Kyogre."
"...wait, that was you?" Drew asked. "I... what?"
There was a flash, and Max materialized along with half-a-dozen Pokemon in the main room of the Mauville gym.
"What the-" Wattson began, standing, and then relaxed. "Ah, I see! A touch of the old teleport?"
"Yeah," Max agreed. "Oh – I know you said you'd like an Electrike, so I brought one to see if you two would get along."
"You don't exactly move slowly, do you..." Raikou chuckled. "Capital!"
"...right," Wattson said. "Excuse me a moment, Raikou."
Electrike was looking between Jirachi and Raikou, then shaking her head. "I have gotten in over my head."
Dexter translated that too, and Wattson chuckled. "No, this isn't normal, I normally only have the robot Legendary in my gym."
"Robots are okay. I can get behind robots."
Wattson chuckled again. "What about getting in one?"
"That worked out pretty well," Ash said, some minutes later, as Electrike showed off her stuff for Wattson. "Think she's the same one from last time?"
"You can't tell?" Max asked.
"Afraid not, it's mostly remindable Pokemon I can tell a lot about," Ash told him.
There was a knock on the door.
"Hold on, I'll get it..." Wattson said, and hit a control on his remote.
The door opened, revealing a dripping wet Cinder.
"The cart system wasn't there," she said. "I had to swim."
"Oh, no!" Max said, coming to his feet. "Sorry!"
He gave her a hug, and wrinkled his nose. "Gah, wet dog smell... uh, Ash, do you have a towel?"
"Jirachi?" Cinder asked. "Please learn Miracle Eye..."
"Okay, we've got a while before we need to get going..." Ash said. "I think we should spend a couple of days training by the lake – it's a good place to practice, there's brush, water and beach as well as open grass."
"I think that sounds like a good idea," Brock agreed. "Marshtomp and Ludicolo have some work to do, and I was going to work on... well, a better contest routine..."
May chuckled. "I know you did a good one in Johto, but you really need to keep innovating as a Coordinator – speaking of which, I want to perfect something Beautifly and Ethan have been working on."
"Max?" Ash asked.
"Oh, yeah – can I borrow Lucario's time to help with Guy?" Max requested. "Primeape too, if he's available."
Ash nodded. "I'll get hold of him."
"And I would be glad to help," Lucario added.
"What about your team, Ash?" May asked. "What are you planning to work with?"
"Well..." Ash counted to himself. "I'm already trying to think of who's going to battle at Lavaridge, which is Fire-type. I hope that Goomy can have his first go there, and Corphish as well... apart from that I'm not sure, but there's some other things to work on as well."
"I've got something I'd like to ask, too," Absol spoke up. "I'd like to learn Keldeo's blade-firing trick – and his moves that use it, too, if he's willing."
"Sure!" Keldeo agreed readily. "Let's get started!"
"And... oh, I know," Ash added. "Okay, Entei, we're going to help teach Goomy how to battle."
"I don't like the sound of this..." Entei muttered.
Ash frowned. "Wait, Flygon – are you available too? And do you have a Dragon attack or two?"
"I have Dragon Pulse," Flygon nodded. "And I'd be glad to help."
"Can I help teach Goomy too?" Mawile asked.
"Sure you can!" Ash agreed. "Actually, my plan for one of the next moves to teach him is Dragon Pulse, since Flygon has it, so you'd be a lot of help for target practice."
Mawile giggled. "I bet it'll be all tickly!"
That drew a chuckle from Entei. "Fairy-types..."
"Okay, everyone," Brock said. "We'll meet back here later – I'll send Crobat to get you all if there's a problem, but don't go too far."
"Right!" the humans and Pokemon agreed, and began to spread out to get some room for battle.
Entei let out a roar, and sent a stream of flame crackling along the ground.
Goomy yelped, and squelched to the side to get out of the way.
The very weak attack – which wasn't even very strong by non-Legendary standards – fizzled out, and Entei sighed.
"Sorry, Goomy," Ash said, crouching down. "That's not what we're after. Remember, we're just trying to get some, uh, live fire practice for now."
"Right," Goomy said, shaking his face. "Sorry, I... no, I wasn't thinking right."
"Shall we do another dry run?" Ash asked, and the Dragon-type nodded before turning.
"To the left!" Ash said quickly. "Ten yards!"
Goomy frowned, antenna tingling slightly, and a very small storm cloud appeared.
It rained down about where Ash had indicated, and the grass crackled before sagging in the miniature rainstorm.
"Right, that's it!" Ash said, as the raincloud slowly grew. "Okay, Entei, let's go back to sunlight."
Entei nodded, and his mane flickered as though there were sparks drifting in an invisible wind.
The cloud shrank to nothingness, and the sun seemed just a bit brighter.
Goomy seemed a little dehydrated, as well, which is why Mawile threw a bucket of water over him. "There you go!"
"Thanks, Mawile," Goomy said back, smiling – then turned, and took a deep breath. "Okay. Can we try again?"
Entei's tail waved, and he blew a thin stream of fire once more.
Goomy frowned. "Rain Dance!"
The cloud formed faster this time, and let out a small crackle before beginning to rain. The slow-moving Ember attack hissed, then went out under the pressure.
"There we go!" Ash beamed. "Much better!"
Goomy smiled shyly.
"Okay, let's try another use of Rain Dance," Ash said. "This time, you're trying to make it as big as possible!"
"Of course you are," Entei sighed. "Why does it always rain on me?"
Is it because you lied when you were seventeen? Dexter asked.
The others looked at him.
"What?" Flygon asked, speaking for all of them.
Sorry, sometimes I forget not everyone else knows all the songs. In the world.
"All right, no need to boast..."
"What do I need to do?" Goomy asked.
"Well, in a battle when the opponent uses Fire-type attacks, or just... generally – because you're a Pokemon who has an ability that works well in rain – then it's good to set it up so it's raining," Ash explained. "Sometimes it's not such a good idea because of allies or things like that, but as a general rule... anyway, because of the rain it makes Fire attacks less powerful and Water ones more powerful."
"I get it," Goomy frowned. "So I need to make it rain in a big space?"
Ash replied by spinning up an Aura Sphere. He threw it off to make a small divot, then did it three more times – describing a very rough rectangle.
"Just try to get all four holes with the rain as quickly as you can," Ash said. "That's about the size of a normal gym arena. Okay, Entei, over there – your job is to use Solarbeam."
"Why Solarbeam?" Goomy asked.
"It doesn't work as well when it's raining, and it gives a good idea of how long you're taking," Ash explained. "Don't aim for Goomy, by the way, Entei..."
"Right," Entei agreed.
"Okay, Goomy – Rain Dance!" Ash said.
Rain clouds spilled out from above Goomy, thickening and darkening, and they began to produce a spotty rain.
"Great!" Mawile said, feeling the first drops hitting her. "Keep it up!"
"And stop!" Lucario said, holding up a palm.
Both Primeape and Guy halted, and stepped back a pace from their battle.
"Good work, Guy," Lucario began. "You're getting used to fighting faster – that is, you're being more able to aim at targets moving faster, and so you're able to use the potential of Mach Punch more."
"Right!" Guy agreed, rolling his shoulder, and sighing as the poison in his body removed the bruises from the spar so far. "How was my technique?"
"Good, if a bit basic. No actual flaws, but no real complexity to develop on it. That's fine," he added. "No complaint here – but I think it's time for you to start working out an actual style."
Guy nodded seriously.
"I was thinking you might want to mix in your Bullet Seed to the style, because it means you can hit enemies who try to stay at range," Lucario said. "But you might also want to learn Aura Sphere, if you're willing to put the work in. The more important bit, though, is close quarters combat... you're clearly built for it."
"I agree," Primeape said. "Perhaps it would be best to work on a style that is all about strength and smashing the opponent with sheer force – not to the extent I rely on ending battles very quickly, but something which simply does not care much about taking blows in return in order to deal damage."
"Because of Poison Heal," Guy said, following along. "I see."
"I also recommend Sky Uppercut," Lucario said, after a little thought. "Your biggest problem by far is Flying-types, and that would at least let you get the height to hit them."
"Blaziken can probably teach me that," the Breloom said. "Can you show me what you mean by a style based on strength, though?"
Primeape considered, then nodded. "Lucario, if you would?"
"Just don't knock me into the lake," Lucario replied, and took up a stance. "Actually, we should go slow."
"...fine," Primeape agreed grudgingly.
Lucario stepped forwards – stepped, not moving with the speed of combat – and threw a slow, careful punch.
Primeape replied by sweeping up an arm in a rising block and – were it not for the slow motion nature of the combat – smashing Lucario's arm aside, not redirecting it so much as knocking it off course with main strength.
Guy watched, and continued to watch as Primeape then lashed out – slowly – with a kick, which Lucario evaded by a sweeping side movement which knocked the limb aside.
"The idea is that your blows have enough force that the enemy can't ignore them and has to put a lot of effort into avoiding them," Primeape explained. "And the blocks are hard enough to bruise the attacking limb – usually, anyway. It doesn't matter for you if you bruise too, your healing will handle it."
"Okay, here goes," Beautifly said, flapping her wings gently and rising into the air. "Ready for this?"
I have heuristically and algorithmically determined myself to be ready, Ethan replied.
Beautifly tilted her head. "Pardon?"
That means yes.
"Right," Beautifly said. She drifted a little south, into the shade of a tree, and Ethan followed her.
"Is it dark enough?" she asked, looking around.
Hopefully. If not then we can just use this as proof of concept.
"Okay!" May said. "Ready?"
Both Pokemon indicated they were.
"Right – Beautifly, off you go!"
Beautifly beat her wings once, and slipped off behind the tree trunk.
Before she re-emerged, Ethan produced three bright lights. One from each eye, and a third one from the tip of his beak.
All three were limelight-like, bright and a little harsh, and visible even in the midday shade.
As they began to wave around, searching the air, Beautifly came flying back out from behind the tree with a glittering cloud of Quiver Dance scales falling from behind her.
She slipped between two of the searchlights, and one of them caught the scales – which shimmered as the light struck them, sending light in all directions.
Ethan stepped up the speed of his searching beams of light, and Beautifly accelerated too – using the boost from the move to accelerate.
For about twenty seconds of gradually increasing tempo, the pattern continued. Occasionally one of the searchlights glanced off Beautifly's form, and once two of them did – though the Bug-type always slipped away, leaving a cloud of glittering dust in her wake.
Then all three caught her at once.
Lightning crackled over Ethan's body, and he fired a Zap Cannon which rose lazily through the air towards the 'caught' butterfly.
Her wings flapped wildly, producing a great cloud of iridescent scale-dust – then Ethan fired a second, faster Zap Cannon into the first.
The bright flash illuminated all the scale-dust in the air, making it seem as though there was a rainbow shimmering throughout the arena.
May blinked away the flash-blindness, and as sight returned she saw Beautifly land lightly on Ethan's back.
"Great!" she said. "I think we should try it again tonight, just to make sure the effects look right, but that's really getting there!"
"Okay, here's how this is going to work," Geodude said, cricking his fingers. "You're going to be learning how to use Ground-type attacks, because you really don't have enough."
"I've got Mud Shot," Marshtomp said, a little offended.
"Yeah, and while we're at it, you need some more Water attacks too," Geodude added. "And probably a Rock attack or two... apart from that, though, you can learn just about anything."
"Can't I just focus on using what I have?"
Geodude thought about it. "No. Now, we're actually going to start with a very important move for you."
"What's that?" Marshtomp asked.
"Dig."
The mudskipper blinked. "...why Dig?"
"Hombre, you can operate underground and underwater just as well, and if you use a powerful enough water attack underground then you can turn the whole battlefield to a kind of muddy soup," Ludicolo explained.
"...oh, I see," Marshtomp said. "So... how do I learn to Dig?"
"That's why I asked to borrow Arc and Cinder," Brock interjected. "They're both good users of Dig."
"Right," Marshtomp nodded. "So, how do I dig, then?"
"Like this!" Arc yapped, and dug a hole.
Marshtomp raised an arm against the flying clods of earth, then blinked at the neat little hole. "That was quick."
"That's the idea!" Arc informed him, head poking back out of the hole.
"Right... but that doesn't tell me much about how," Marshtomp admitted. "And.. I'm really not very sure about how to add these to my fighting style. Can't I just learn to punch things? I think I can work out how to use punching things."
"I still think you should learn Dig," Brock said. "And Hydro Pump, just because it's sometimes useful to produce a lot of water. But apart from that it's fine for you to learn what you want – Ice Punch would be good, because Grass is the only Type you're actually weak to."
"Darn Grass-types..." Geodude muttered.
"Hey!" Ludicolo admonished.
"I'll see if Lucario's available later," Brock said. "That okay?"
"Sure," Marshtomp agreed. He pressed on the ground, then began hauling out great chunks of it with his arms. "Is this the right kind of thing for digging?"
"A good start," Cinder said critically. "Now do it faster and without making a giant crater."
By the lakeside, Corphish looked at a rock.
Then he hit it.
The rock split in half.
Satisfied, he nodded to himself.
"Is that all the training you're doing?" Swellow asked, confused.
Corphish shrugged. "Don't mess with what works."
"Did you learn nothing in the last... year or two?"
Corphish shrugged again. "I watched a lot of Wuxia movies, if that counts."
His legs clicked as he scuttled into motion, and aimed both claws off to one side before firing a spray of Bubblebeam at a tree.
Only a few shots even hit it.
"...is that supposed to be impressive?" Swellow blinked.
"No, it's supposed to be distracting," Corphish held his claws up, and crossed them. "This is impressive!"
Snap-hiss.
"...what."
Swellow hovered down, wings beating up a storm, and examined the two blue-glowing blades extending from Corphish' claws.
"I am a lazer sword crawfish," Corphish informed her blandly.
"What the heck is... oh, right, that thing Oshawott has. Razor Shell. Huh, guess you do have a trick or two up your... exoskeleton."
There was a wumm as he swung the Razor Shells, then a shwwwwwwip as he deactivated them.
"...so, your battle strategy is?" Swellow asked, coming down to land.
Corphish shrugged. "Basically however I can get the enemy close enough to grab with my claws."
"I think I've nearly got it," Absol said, lighting up another Night Slash on her blade. "Let's see how this works..."
She took a deep breath, focusing on the crackling Dark energy, and felt for the edge. The point it was connected, like the half-moon of a nail.
Carefully, she teased it away until the connection was the weak point – barely there at all, and liable to come off at short notice.
Then she swung her head, and the Night Slash came off halfway through the motion.
"Right!" Keldeo said, as the blade curved through the air and hit some feet to the right of the target. "You're doing well – just aim now, and then we can get onto another one!"
"Thanks," she panted. "This is tricky, but it's really going to be worth it – especially if I can combine it with your other trick."
Keldeo frowned. "You should consider trying to do it with your tail as well," he said. "I mean, that looks almost as bladelike as your horn..."
"That might be useful," Absol agreed, shaking her head and readying to try again. "I mean-"
Her tail swept out with an Iron Tail glowing on it, and she hit Stantler in the leg with a thwack.
"Ouch," Stantler muttered, phasing back into visibility and rubbing his knee. "I guess I can't hide from your danger-sense, right?"
"You were doing okay until you got ready to attack," Absol confided. "I have to be concentrating harder when the danger's more indirect."
"Okay, how close are we to Fallarbor?" Ash asked.
A few days yet, Dexter replied. More importantly, you're getting close to the Togepi Kingdom.
"Oh, that's right..." May agreed, remembering. "Actually, how are we going to handle that? Are you going to get Misty to help, Ash?"
"I'll ask in case she wants to," Ash decided. "Hold on, I'll write her an email – hopefully she can spare the time to deal with it..."
"Wait until we stop for the night, Ash," Brock said. "It's getting towards evening, anyway-"
"Hey, look!" May interrupted. "I remember this place!"
"I wonder why..." Max sighed, noticing the sign.
Mawile tilted her head on one side, walking over. "Uh... let's see... Lake... May? Is this named after you, miss May?"
Brock relayed the question, and May chuckled. "No, it's not – and I'm not named after it, either. It's just a coincidence."
She looked out over the water as it came into view. "It's an appropriate coincidence, though – it looks elegant, doesn't it?"
"I'm not seeing the resemblance," Max twitted.
"Hey!"
"Come on, come on..." Brock said, sighing. "Let's just set up camp on the shore, okay?"
There were nods.
"Sounds great!" Ash agreed. "Hey, Max, this sounds like another chance to train Delta – I think he was starting to get the hang of Surf."
"Right," Max said. "I guess that's going to help at the Fire gym, too, since we can't always be sure of there being a convenient pool..."
"If there is one it'll be a hot spring," May noted. "How is Delta with hot water?"
"Good question..."
"That didn't look like it went well..." May said sympathetically, as the last Volbeat was finally retrieved from the water. "What went wrong?"
"Well..." the trainer sighed, also dripping wet. "I... no, I'm too nervous. It started well, but – whenever I'm around Juliet I'm too nervous. I just keep fumbling everything!"
"I noticed," Brock said. "Really, I think you still had a chance of recovering until they crashed."
The trainer – Romeo – returned his Volbeat and sat down with a groan. "What do you suggest?"
"Well," Brock frowned. "With my girlfriend, one of the important moments in our relationship was when I told her everything – you can't keep some things bottled up for too long."
"You think so?" Romeo asked, turning to Brock and hanging on his every word. "How did you meet your girlfriend?"
"She's a researcher – basically, I worked as a gofer for a couple of months..."
"...and?" Romeo asked.
"And then Unown invaded the lab."
Romeo looked a bit green.
"That's okay, though," Ash hastened to say. "That kind of thing doesn't happen to everyone... right? Seriously, I need to check..."
"No, it's not normal," Brock assured him.
"So just tell her how you feel!" May advised.
Romeo sighed again. "I don't... but how do I work up the courage?"
"Well, maybe we could dress up Ash like Juliet?" May suggested.
"What's that sound?" Max asked.
Everyone listened.
"It sounds like someone complaining," Cinder volunteered.
Corphish came into view around the corner of a hut.
He was dragging Juliet by the corner of one trouser leg, ignoring both her complaints and the attempts by her Illumise to get him to let go.
"Corphish!" Ash called. "What are you doing?"
"I'd like to know that as well!" Juliet said. "Call your Pokemon off!"
Corphish clicked determinedly up to Romeo, still dragging Juliet, and shoved her at him – sending them both tumbling to the grass.
Lucario coughed. "It strikes me that now would be a good time to tell her," he said.
"Tell me what?" Juliet asked, pushing herself upright. "Romeo? Did you have something to tell me?"
Romeo looked extremely nervous as he got up, and swallowed.
"I..."
He took a deep breath, and let it out.
"Juliet... I love you."
Juliet blinked.
"...wait," she requested. "How long has this been going on?"
"Several years," Romeo replied. "I've loved you for years, but I've never..."
"I thought you didn't love me anymore!" Juliet replied. "We promised when we were children, remember?"
"That was quick," Max observed, as the two trainers stared at one another.
"Welcome in," Tracey said, standing back from the door of the lab. "Todd Snap, right? Ash told us about you."
"Thanks," Todd replied, smiling. "Yeah, we've met a couple of times."
"What brings you here, actually?" Tracey asked, letting the door swing closed and leading Todd into the main room. "If you're looking for Ash, it's the wrong place – he's in Hoenn."
"No, it's not him," Todd shook his head. "There's two other reasons completely. First – well, this is Sneasel, who's a friend of mine."
Sneasel waved.
"And I was reminded recently – again – that I never actually registered her as being 'my Pokemon'."
"Can you speak Pokemon, actually?" Sneasel asked, curious. "I remember hearing that Ash's friends could..."
"I can, yeah," Tracey confirmed. "But here it's kind of easier. Damos?"
I was wondering when you'd mention me, the speakers said.
Both Todd and Sneasel jumped.
"Damos is a Porygon," Tracey told them. "You can turn down the volume, Damos."
If you insist.
"So... the lab kind of is a Pokemon?" Todd asked. "I don't think I can photograph that..."
"Right, the photography thing," Tracey nodded. "But – hold on, we'd better handle this first. I guess you want to register her to you?"
"Yeah, it seems safest," Todd replied. "And I don't have any Pokeballs, so... I guess, is there a good choice for one?"
Tracey thought about it, rummaging in drawers. "Okay, here's the right form... and I'd say a Friend Ball would be a good idea. It's symbolic."
"That sounds nice."
"...did what she said just appear on the screen over there?" Todd asked.
"Testing... oh, it is – that's clever."
Thank you.
Tracey handed the form over, and they began to fill it out.
"So..." the assistant said, after a few minutes. "Photos, huh?"
"Yeah," Todd agreed. "I try to capture what's inside a Pokemon – what really defines them, based on the surroundings. To be symbolic."
Tracey chuckled. "...and that's exactly what I thought a photo couldn't do. It sounds like our styles are more alike than I'd really guessed..."
Todd grinned, then looked down at the paper with a frown. "Pokemon age... I don't actually know."
"I do," Sneasel said.
"Oh, right, I can just ask!" Todd grinned again. "That's pretty cool."
All three of them looked up at the sound of a knock on the door.
"I wonder if that's the Professor," Tracey said, standing.
"It'd be good if it was, I wanted to ask him something..."
As her currently-registering trainer continued with the paperwork, Sneasel watched Tracey head towards the door with interest.
Professor Oak was a famous person, and often wrote articles in the magazines that their photos got into – in fact, more than once they'd been commissioned to get photos of the subjects of his articles.
It would be interesting to meet him face to face, and she was looking forward to it.
"Hi!"
Sneasel blinked, and adjusted her gaze downwards a little.
"You're kind of cute," a young girl said, with an Eevee riding in her arms. "What's your name?"
"Sneasel?" Sneasel said.
The girl giggled. "It's funny when a Pokemon says their name in their language!"
She adjusted her grip, and the Eevee jumped out of her arms with a flowing grace – and, to the shock of both Todd and Sneasel, landed on the floor as an Umbreon.
"But..."
"It is still daytime, isn't it?" Todd asked.
Umbreon flirted her tail, then went Sylveon and looked cute.
"That's her trick!" the girl said. "Do you like her? Oh, I'm Molly – Molly Hale, nice to meet you!"
"Nice to meet you," Todd replied, falling back on politeness.
"And from me as well," Sneasel agreed.
"You're nice," Molly decided.
AN:
Brock wanted to do the song at least once.
Apart from that – well, there's Drew, who's got a new team member. Leafeon's an interesting one as Eeveelutions go.
Max shown recruiting a new friend for Wattson, and Cinder once more being left behind by a Jirachi-port.
Then there's... a lot of training. They have the time for it, so they're hashing some things out. Goomy in particular has yet to pick up an offensive move, while Guy has to completely redesign his fighting style.
And, finally, Corphish not caring about this whole romance thing.
Oh, and there's the arty duo.
