This is the first of two chapters today.
"So, did Misty reply?" Brock asked.
"Oh, yeah – she said she was just making sure her schedule was free, and she'd come as soon as she could," Ash replied. "Togekiss would rather solve things without having to stay there, but it's kind of more important to-"
"Bagooooon!" interrupted them.
"What was-" Max began, and then a Bagon came flying off a nearby cliff.
It hung in the air for a moment, arms windmilling frantically... then fell towards the surprised friends.
May reached out automatically, and caught the Dragon-type – and, just a moment later, discovered that he actually weighed over forty kilograms.
The net result was that she staggered under the impact, went over sideways, and landed in the stream running alongside the path with a startled yelp.
"Ow!" she said, coming back to her feet – having let go of the Bagon, who paddled to the streambank and began to clamber out. "Why did I have to catch the dragon?"
"...because he was headed towards you?" Max asked.
"Ash, couldn't you-"
"I thought Latias was going to get it!" Ash protested.
Latias decloaked with a blue flicker. "Why me?" she asked with a squeak. "Couldn't Lucario have done it?"
"...in my defence-" Lucario began.
"Oh, whatever!" May said. "Just get me out of this stream..."
Blaziken reached over and pulled her out, then snapped his fingers and produced a curl of flame.
May sighed, feeling the rush of warm, hot air blowing from Blaziken's feathers. "Thanks, that's so much better..."
"I'll keep it up until you're dry," Blaziken told her.
"That'd be nice..." May said, and looked into the blue sky overhead. "At least it's a nice warm day, too."
"You didn't ask if Blaziken could have caught it," Max pointed out.
"Oh, shut up..."
"Bagon, where are you?" someone called.
"Here!" the Bagon replied.
"Latias?" Ash asked, glancing over. "Can you check who that is?"
"Sure!" Latias said, shimmering back to invisibility and ascending into the sky.
"What was that about?" Max asked the Bagon.
"I'm trying to learn to fly!" the Bagon said proudly.
Glancing down at his Pokédex, Max frowned. "But... it takes evolving into Salamence to do that. You'll not be able to fly for a while."
The Bagon slumped. "Stupid Dragonair can do it, why can't I..."
Latias came floating back down. "Looks like a trainer, she's heading for the cliff."
"Yep, that's my trainer!" Bagon agreed. "She's smart!"
The friends exchanged glances.
"...so," Pikachu said. "Should I make the obvious joke about him needing the help, or...?"
"What obvious joke?" the Bagon asked.
"Hey!" came a shout from the top of the cliff. "That Bagon's not yours!"
"We know!" Ash called back. "He literally jumped off a cliff at us!"
"At me, you mean," May corrected.
"Do you need a lift down the cliff?" Brock asked. "I'm sure Flygon wouldn't mind."
"I'll come myself," the girl said, and proceeded to slide down the cliff in a shower of scree.
"That's pretty cool..." Max said, watching.
"Did you say you had a Flygon?" Bagon asked. "Neat!"
"...so, basically, these glasses predict movements," explained the trainer – who was, as it turned out, called Michelle. "I use them to help tell Bagon when to dodge."
Ash blinked. "I usually just do that by looking."
"Well, yes, but it's helpful for faster moving Pokémon," Michelle explained. "That's not all they do, either – there's a whole computer built into them."
I could be glasses if I wanted... Kris muttered.
"She's a Porygon," Max told her, forestalling the question. "So... I guess there's projectors in the side pieces or something?"
"In the glass itself, they're semitransparent LCD," Michelle corrected.
"So... your Bagon wants to evolve?" Brock said. "Would it be okay if we helped?"
"Oh, you mean by battling?" Michelle checked. "That would help, yes – my only plan so far is to make him a jetpack."
She showed it off.
"That's so cool!" Mawile said. "Hey, can Goomy give it a try?"
She turned to Ash. "Can you send Goomy out so he can give it a try?"
"Uh-" Ash began. "Well – first, I guess I should ask... can we borrow that for a bit?"
"I suppose that's alright, so long as you don't break it," Michelle decided after a moment.
"What do you think, Goomy?" Ash added, sending the Dragon-type out.
"Hi!" Bagon said with a smile, waving.
"Uh, hi..." Goomy replied. "A jetpack? What does that mean, exactly?"
"It's like a backpack!" Mawile said, walking over and pointing at it. "Here's the straps, and this is where the fire comes out!"
"Fire?" Goomy repeated. "That doesn't sound very safe..."
"Don't pressure him, Mawile," Ash admonished. "I guess we should start the battling – what Pokémon do you want to fight first?"
"What do you have?" Bagon asked.
"Well..." Ash frowned, then got Dexter out. "Can you display everyone who's available? It might take a while to say them..."
Michelle frowned. "Wait, now I'm sure – you were conversing directly with the Pokémon. How do you do that?"
"Aura," Ash replied.
"I prefer to call it 'crazy Ash magic'," May added.
"It's not magic," Brock cut in. "That would involve turning him into a Riolu again."
"Oh, right, my mistake..."
"Flygon!" Bagon said. He frowned. "Hey, does it sound to you like I should evolve into a Flygon? Bagon, Shelgon, Flygon?"
"...actually, it does make sense," Brock admitted. "And Trapinch, Vibrava, Salamence... hm, doesn't sound as good..."
Shrugging it off, he sent the Ground/Dragon type out. "Okay, you know what we're doing?"
"Yes," Flygon agreed. "Fighting to help someone else get stronger is something I'm fine with."
"That's the idea," Brock agreed.
"Okay, how does this work?" Goomy asked, looking at the jetpack.
"I think you put your arms into the... oh," Mawile blushed. "Sorry, I didn't think of that..."
She brightened. "I think the idea still makes sense, though! You know, rockets!"
"Ready, Pikachu?" Ash asked.
Pikachu nodded, cheeks sparking.
"Agility!"
Pikachu blurred forwards, and dodged around Bagon's clumsy headbutt before firing a crackling bolt of electricity into the ground just behind his Dragon-type foe.
Bagon yelped, and retaliated with a quick Ember attack. The flames missed, but got close, and Pikachu sent a near-miss bolt back in reply.
"Nice work, Pikachu!" Ash called. "Keep it up!"
"So the idea here is that it's as intense as a real battle, but because Bagon's not being hit they can keep it up for much longer?" Max asked.
"Right," Ash agreed.
Bagon flailed wildly with a Dragon Claw, and managed to clip Pikachu on the tail. The Electric-type responded by jumping away, skidding on the floor, and then dramatically falling over.
"How was that?" he asked, still lying on his back. "Was it better acting than Charizard does?"
"A bit," Brock said. "Right, who next?"
Bagon considered. "That big Blaziken!"
Blaziken looked to May for approval, got a nod, and advanced to give battle.
Not the kind of battle one would normally expect from such a veteran Pokémon, though.
"...so I think you could just Dragon Pulse straight down, and then you'd go flying up into the air!" Mawile explained enthusiastically. "See! Told you we'd find a way for you to be a flying dragon!"
Goomy nodded dubiously. "I guess that would work... how'd I steer, though?"
"Practice!" Mawile said. "Plus I'll come along on your back to tell you which way to go!"
Bagon jumped, head first, and caught Latias a glancing blow on the side.
She promptly cut her levitation and flopped dramatically to the ground, then started giggling uncontrollably.
"This is so silly it's hilarious!"
Bagon started to laugh as well, then stopped – looking uncertain. "Uh... I feel kind of strange..."
A glow spread across his fine blue scales, and then to the rest of his body – and he began to change.
"Bagon!" Michelle called. "No – Shelgon? You're evolving!"
When the light died down, the Dragon-type standing there was indeed a Shelgon.
"This doesn't feel like a step forwards," Shelgon said, a little indistinctly. "It feels like I've ended up less likely to fly in the near future than before, in fact..."
"Well, I guess it's something you should get through as quickly as possible," Ash admitted. "But at least you're nearly there!"
"Thank you," Michelle said with a smile. "You've probably saved me weeks or months of training."
"That's fine!" Ash replied. "We're happy to help out!"
Dexter beeped. Okay, Misty's on the way.
"We'd better get going," Max said. "Nice to meet you!"
"They were nice, huh, Shelgon?" Michelle asked, a few hours later. She leaned back against his warm shell in the late-afternoon light, and adjusted her glasses. "It's not everyone who would help out like that, especially not considering the Legendary..."
Shelgon made a sound of agreement.
"How are you doing?" she asked. "Everything okay so far?"
The Dragon-type began to reply, but then stopped.
"Shelgon?"
"Shellllll..." he said, and then erupted in light again.
"...okay, they saved us a couple of years," Michelle corrected, blinking at the sight of the now-fully-grown Salamence who emerged.
Salamence looked back along his big, sleek body, then rumbled and gestured towards his back.
The message was clear. Hop on!
"Nearly there," May said, as they passed a road sign. "That's the place, right?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Misty said she'd meet us here."
"Do you know how she's coming over?"
Ash shrugged. "She didn't say... well, Togekiss can carry her – just – but I don't think that's great for long distance stuff."
"She's got a Gyarados, right?" Max checked. "Could she come that way?"
"She could," Ash agreed, frowning. "But I'm still not sure-"
"Hey, Ash! Brock!"
They looked up as Misty waved, before coming running towards them.
"Or we could just ask her now," Max noted.
"Great to see you, Misty!" Ash grinned, as she slowed to a walk on reaching them.
"I second that!" Pikachu agreed, running down Ash's arm to say hello.
"How have you guys been?" Misty asked, looking around at the group and giving Pikachu a quick scratch.
"Well, you know," Brock shrugged. "The usual. There was a giant evil Groudon and a giant evil Kyogre."
"Yeah, that's pretty normal," Misty agreed. "Ash broken any gyms yet?"
"No, he's on a winning streak so far," Brock told her. "Just five to go!"
Misty's smile became slightly fixed for a moment.
"Anyway," she said, shaking her head. "I know you two already, but I don't know Max and May nearly as well. So, how's it treating you?"
"Great!" Max said. "I've got nearly a full team already!"
"Delta, Arc, Jirachi, Guy, Cinder and Kris?" May asked. "That is a full team."
"...yeah, Ash is a bad example," Max muttered. "Anyway, I've got three badges!"
"Good work," Misty told him. "What about you, May?"
"Only one ribbon so far," May shrugged. "I'm taking it a bit slow, I want to make sure everyone gets a go."
Misty nodded. "Yeah, I can understand that."
"So," May added. "What's it like being a member of the Elite Four?"
Misty snorted. "There's more paperwork than I was expecting?"
"You mean there was paperwork?" Ash asked.
"...well, yeah," Misty admitted. "But the battles so far have been interesting – there's been three or four people wanting to set up gyms already."
Brock frowned. "How many of them made it?"
"Two," Misty replied. "There was a nice Fairy-type trainer who managed to beat Karen – Togekiss told me all about that battle – and then a Dark-type trainer, he managed to beat everyone except Bruno and Lance."
"That guy must be pretty cool," Max said. "How'd he beat you?"
"Mega Sharpedo headlined his team," Misty shrugged. "Pretty amazing battle, it's a pretty good thing I had the battle take place in a giant lake – or I think Mega Gyarados might have broken something."
"Like your house?" Brock asked.
"Pretty much... anyway, should we get going?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Oh, I guess you've got Togekiss with you?"
Misty nodded. "She's in her Pokéball for now, though..."
"That reminds me," Max said. "How'd you get here?"
"Will gave me a lift," Misty told him.
"...oh, yeah, Psychic-types..."
"...this mission is one I entrust to you specifically," the Boss finished. "Do you understand?"
"Crystal clear, boss!" Meowth agreed.
"Yeah," Jessie nodded. "Makes perfect sense to me."
"Really?" James asked.
"...well, no, but we don't need to understand it, do we?" Jessie retorted.
"We'll get it done, boss," Meowth said.
"See you do," Giovanni said, and ended the call.
"Well, I guess we'd better go turn off da autopilot and get over dere," Meowth nodded. "Which way is it?"
"Well, we're somewhere north of Fortree..." James began. "Oh, don't forget we need to not run into the ash cloud from Mt. Chimney, too!"
"Right!" Meowth agreed, and disappeared into the cockpit. There was a building whine as the engine pitch and revs increased, and they began to turn to the left.
"Is there a good landing site?" Jessie asked, as James opened out a big map of Hoenn.
"Of course dere's a good landin' site!" Meowth replied. The engine noise declined slightly, then stabilized as they steadied onto a new course. "Dis plane could land on a hillside in a really big forest!"
"Once," James added. "Hey, Jessie, does it count as landing if the plane's on fire at the end?"
"Find us a proper landing site!" Jessie ordered.
"Right!" James agreed, spreading the map on the table. "...hey, it says there's a tennis club here!"
"That'll do!"
"I forgot how sandy it is around here," May admitted, as they trudged through the desert. "Thanks, Jirachi!"
My pleasure! Jirachi sent, floating along in the middle of the group and using his psychic powers to deflect the sand.
"This whole having-Legendaries thing is spreading," Misty laughed. "Who's next? May?"
"...actually, that's quite possible," Brock pointed out. "Remember? The thing with Manaphy?"
Misty winced. "Sorry, you're right..."
"It's okay," May said, smiling. "After what's happened so far... I really hope it's going to go better."
"Guys!" Ash called back. "Swellow says we're reaching the kingdom itself!"
"Great news!" Misty shouted to him. "I didn't come here to walk through a desert for half the day..."
"Flaps down... engines on low..." James said, moving the yoke to adjust their approach. "Jets ready?"
"Yep!" Meowth called back. "Three, two, one-"
There was a thunderous roar from outside as the eight VTOL jets blazed to life, and James feathered the piston engines at the same moment.
Their transport trembled, losing the rest of its forward momentum, and settled slowly to the ground in a plume of dust.
"Dere!" Meowth said. "Nice an' inconspicuous!"
"By what definition?" Jessie asked.
"Well..." Meowth had to think for a moment. "We didn't crash?"
"...true, that's not always something we could count on..." Jessie sighed. "Okay, how far do we need to walk?"
"About three miles," James said. "I'll leave Growlie here to protect the transport."
Jessie nodded. "Right, let's get going... where did the boss say those helicopters were?"
James indicated it on the map. "Just here."
"Good." Jessie reached for a Pokéball. "Okay, Dustox, see if anyone's waiting for us!"
"Halt!"
The friends looked around, surprised, as guards came doubling out of the side alleys. More came across behind them, and a third detachment hustled any spectators out of the square they were in.
"What's the big idea?" Ash asked. "We're just here to-"
"Silence!" said the man leading the guards – and wearing a very big hat, to make sure they knew he was an important person. "No outsiders are permitted during the state of emergency!"
"This is the Mirage Kingdom, right?" Max asked. "I'd have thought Togekiss alone would make Misty welcome at least..."
"You have a Togekiss?" the man asked, eyes flashing. "That changes things. Guards! Confiscate it!"
"No way!" Misty replied hotly. "She's not an it! Togekiss not anyone's and she's certainly not yours!"
"Att-" the man began, and then Ash punched him.
"Ouch, Ash," Brock said, blinking, as the man was only stopped from hitting the floor by two of his soldiers.
"You attacked me!" he said, stumbling back to his feet and touching his nose. "Men, protect your colonel!"
"Wait, are you Colonel Hansen?" May asked, taking a step back.
"Of course I am!" the colonel replied, as Pokéballs flashed and Pokémon emerged all over the square. "And you're guilty of high treason!"
"...you're a colonel, not a king," Max protested.
"I will be!" Hansen snapped. "Now!"
A Doublade swished in towards them, and Pikachu blasted it with a torrent of electricity – throwing it off – before being hit himself by a Shadow Ball from a high-speed Shedinja.
Latias decloaked, bathing a Ninjask in Dragonbreath to distract it, and then it all got a bit complicated.
"Anyone looking?" Jessie asked.
Meowth appeared next to her, and shook his head. "Nope. Nothin' movin'."
"Right," she said. "Go!"
She and James moved across the garden, as nonchalantly as possible without whistling.
Periodically, Jessie stopped and trimmed flowers from the flowerbeds, making them look a bit nicer by removing the dead-heads.
James took the simpler route of just hoeing everything remotely hoeable on their path.
It helped that they were dressed in spare gardeners' outfits.
After a few minutes, they reached the far side, and pulled the costumes off again once they were safely out of sight of the main building.
"So far so good!" Meowth observed, sticking his head out of a bush. "Now, it's dat way to da helicopters!"
"...are you wearing a page's outfit?" Jessie asked.
Meowth shrugged. "I ain't gonna disguise as much else."
"Quiet!" James hissed. "We're nearly-"
"Who are you people?"
James jumped about a foot in the air.
"We could ask the same o' you!" Meowth retorted to the speaker, who turned out to be a young girl. "What's a girl like you doin' out here?"
"It's our palace!" the girl said. "I am Princess Sara – and none of you are servants, I'd recognize you..."
She gasped. "Are you some of Colonel Hansen's troops?"
"Colonel who?" Jessie and James asked, in near-perfect unison.
Meowth frowned. "Da name rings a bell... nope, never mind, lost it."
"Then you can't be his troops," Sara said, frowning. "And you can't be that awful woman's mercenaries, either..."
"What awful woman?" James asked.
"Mercenaries?" Jessie repeated.
"She does look a bit like you do," the Princess went on, indicating Jessie. "But not quite the same."
James paled. "Uh oh..."
"You tink-" Meowth began, and then a loud, loud noise interrupted all of them.
Rising over one of the low garden walls, the first of a small fleet of helicopters faced them – with a very familiar face at the door.
"James, what a pleasure!" Jessiebelle said, with a cruel smirk. "I'm glad to see you still can't resist seeking me out-"
Jessie shook her gardening shears at the other woman. James joined in by shaking the hoe, making them look like a very small and unusually horticultural mob.
"-but I'm taken!" she went on, unfazed. "Have you met my new beau? No? Well, he's ever so rich and powerful – he's going to be a king!"
"Ew!" Princess Sara shouted, sticking her tongue out. "My father's the king, my mother's the queen, and Colonel Hansen's never getting our kingdom!"
"I beg to differ!" Jessiebelle called. "Get them!"
Both Rockets went for their Pokéballs, and the first two to emerge in flashes of white light were Wobbuffet and Moltres.
"Fire at the Moltres!" Jessiebelle ordered over the radio, and her whole helicopter fleet deployed rocket pods.
Then dozens upon dozens of missiles wooshed out, aiming for the Fire-type Legendary.
Moltres plunged towards them, wings flaring, and spat a blast of Flamethrower which blew three missiles to pieces. She gave it a moment longer, then dodged to the side and pulled up – the missiles following, their heat-seeking heads locked firmly onto her enormous thermal signature.
"...okay, so Moltres is kinda busy for now," Meowth noted, watching as the aerial chase continued. From the occasional bursts of flame which starred the sky, it was clear Moltres was trying to get a good angle to destroy a missile, but they were fast enough she was rarely able to get that angle.
Abra spread his hands, and a shimmering shield flashed into existence around the Rockets, their Pokémon, and Princess Sara – just in time to catch some incoming bullets.
"They're shooting at us!" the Princess said. "That's illegal!"
"Is it?" Jessie asked.
"It is if I say it is!" she pointed out.
"Good point," Meowth chuckled weakly.
"How long can you keep the shield up, Abra?" James asked him.
A while. Ignore the bullets, focus on the important stuff, Abra suggested.
Absol's horn flared with a Night Slash, and she swung it to block a strike from a steely Doublade.
She concentrated, dialling up the intensity of her senses, and as the other blade came in she adjusted for it – sensing that she would be in trouble if she stayed as she was, she took a step back and used a Dark-empowered paw to grip the blade she'd deflected.
That freed up her horn, and she smashed the second strike from the Doublade to knock it into the floor – digging a hole for a moment, before it simply phased out.
She sensed Keldeo approaching her from behind, largely by the abrupt warning that he had a small chance of accidentally knocking her over, and adjusted her position to allow for his presence – hearing the ring of horn on steel that suggested that he was fighting a second Sword Pokémon.
"Everything okay?" he asked, to the sound of more clashing attacks. "These guys are tricky – I think one of them used Sacred Sword! That's our move!"
"I know," Absol replied – having felt the probability of that happening. "I suggest Psycho Cut to block if they do."
"You know that?" Keldeo checked, and saw her nod in reply before batting away another strike. "Great!"
"Yes, I-"
The Doublade Keldeo was facing switched targets, and swung its off-blade towards Absol's rear.
"Look out!" Keldeo said quickly, lashing out with a hoof to try to turn the blade aside.
Fortunately, Absol had a reply ready. Her tail flared black with a Night Slash like that on her horn, and flicked across to deflect the swipe and prevent it from hitting her.
"You can fight like that?" Keldeo blinked. "Nice!"
"It's not exactly easy," Absol admitted, dividing her attention between keeping one Doublade busy to her front and moving her tail in the ways which would not result in her being backstabbed.
"Then I'll just make it easier!" Keldeo told her, and blasted the Doublade with a torrent of water from his hoof.
Ghostly it may have been, but the two-bladed Steel-type was knocked flying – and, as it began to recover, Cinder pounced and began worrying at it with her Crunch.
Glad that was being handled, Keldeo whirled and began to help Absol with the other Doublade.
"Yah!" Meowth said, forming a trio of coins between his claws and pitching them at his opponent.
The Purugly batted aside two of the coins with a paw swipe, and took the third blow on his haunch – giving an ill-tempered look to the other Normal-type.
"Get him, schnookums!" Jessiebelle told him.
"...ya what?" Meowth asked, taking a step back. "She actually calls ya schnookums?"
Purugly yawned, then charged – startlingly fast.
Meowth blurred away from the attack, kicking off one of the low walls, and swiped at Purugly's back as he passed overhead. That earned a discontented yowl, and he got free just before the long spiral tail managed to snag him.
The Purugly huffed, and let out a loud and resonant MROWL which produced a shockwave visible in the air.
Meowth jumped over it, doing a flip at the apex of his arc, and threw another brace of coins with each paw before landing and lashing out with his claws.
Purugly blocked with his right paw, then his left, and the two exchanged blows for several seconds – until Purugly managed to cuff Meowth in the side, sending him skidding off.
"Okay, not tryin' dat again..." Meowth muttered, as he came to a halt.
"Are you okay?" Princess Sara asked.
"Yeah, just peachy," Meowth told her. "Ain't it obvious from how I'm smilin' all the time?"
He shrugged. "What's da deal, anyway?"
"I think she's trying to get a Togepi," Sara said. "You need one to be eligible to take the throne!"
"Yeah, trust me, Togepi ain't easy to steal..." Meowth replied, remembering the times he'd tried.
Turning back to the fight, he found that Purugly hadn't moved to follow up his advantage – just sitting there, looking smug.
"Yeah, you ain't gonna look like you got into da cream for long," the Rocket feline said.
Purugly's expression invited Meowth to come and have a go if he thought he was large enough.
Meowth's response was to grin, and another Meowth burst out of the ground underneath his opponent. The Substitute managed to score a telling blow before being stamped on and dispelled, and the original produced two more before launching a coordinated attack with Fury Swipes and more Pay Day coins.
"...I'm being saved from our own army by ninjas," Princess Sara said, shaking her head. "Okay, that's not how I imagined today would go..."
"Look out!" Stantler called, and trotted forwards to lash out with a one-two kick at a Raticate.
The first blow missed, but the second told – knocking his opponent away, and preventing him from hitting Blaziken in the back.
A moment later Blaziken joined in the kicking, sending the Raticate hurtling off into the middle distance with a Blaze Kick.
"Thank you," he said, and Stantler grinned.
"Horn Leech!"
The ghostly horn of a Trevenant hit his side, and did nothing whatsoever.
"Geodude, to your left!" Stantler said, and the Rock-type forced a quick wall of earth up to block the attacking Ninjask – then gave the Normal-type a grin.
"Thanks, kid!" he said, and added to the earthy fortress he was erecting around the trainers.
Stantler smiled in return, half his attention on the illusions that were keeping quite a lot of Pokémon and soldiers distracted.
"Wood Hammer!"
The Trevenant's leafy limb smacked into Stantler's side, again doing nothing much.
Stantler spotted another situation that could use his help, and sped over to smack the Durant with a Jump Kick.
It staggered, but still managed to use Entrainment – and he spotted a Shedinja swoop in and do... something.
"Pay attention to me, damn it!" the Trevenant snapped. "Shadow Claw!"
Stantler's ears picked up. "Me First!"
The space between his horns twisted, in an eye-hurting way much more intense than his normal illusions, and he lashed out with both rear hooves cloaked in shadowy energy.
Empowered by several Sap Sipper boosts from the not-particularly-bright Trevenant, the attack hit hard enough to knock his arboreal opponent over with a crash of ethereal branches.
"Someone didn't study the type chart," Geodude chuckled. "Good work again, kid."
Stantler's ears heated at the praise, and he ducked away from an attack by one of the Ninjask before vanishing completely in another layer of illusion.
Latias gained height, avoiding the attacks of the Pokémon closer to the ground and knocking yet another of the considerable Ninjask supply off course with a Dragonbreath before breaking out into open air.
She noticed the explosions happening near another part of the palace grounds, and watched with some surprise as a Moltres emerged from the smoke cloud – followed by a number of highly manoeuvrable missiles which reached out to try to englobe her.
The Moltres blew two of them away with a Fire Blast, and turned on a wingtip to throw the rest off before vanishing back into the smoke.
Latias was about to go to her aid – recognizing her fellow Legendary as an ally – when she was rebuffed by more Pokémon being sent out from below.
Half a dozen Drifblim materialized, all sent out by a particularly specialized soldier below, and she considered them before attacking one with a blast of Dragonbreath.
It stood up to the attack for a moment, began to waver, and then the others sent blasts of Icy Wind her way and she had to dodge – towards her target.
Coming to meet her, it rammed her – and exploded.
"Ow!" Latias cried, not having expected the close-range blast – her wing had actually been slightly phased into the Ghost-type when it blew up – and feeling at her ringing ears underneath her feather coat.
"Latias!" Pikachu called.
She dodged a second barrage of ice and looked down – seeing Lucario picking Pikachu up, and the Electric-type seemingly steeling himself.
Then Lucario used Fling.
Realizing what was going on, Latias side-slipped lower and snagged Pikachu out of the air. "Are you here to help?" she asked.
"That's right!" Pikachu agreed, as she transferred him to her back. "I'll get those Drifblim out of the way for you, I've got longer range!"
"Right!" Latias agreed. "How long will-"
Pikachu's cheeks sparked, then there was a BOOM as he fired a Thunder.
It arced from Drifblim to Drifblim, and they lit up like fireworks before releasing great explosions of gas and slumping towards the ground.
"-it take?" Latias finished, impressed. "Nice work!"
She spotted movement on the ground below, and banked in a sweeping turn – one which became a high speed evasion as what she'd seen came rocketing up towards them.
"Target identified. Proceeding to obliterate."
Pikachu sighed. "Oh, great, a Golurk. And not a very bright one."
"Any advice?" Latias asked.
"Keep us on the move, I'll fight it!" Pikachu advised, and Latias complied – accelerating them away at speed, and drawing the Ghost-type robot after them.
"Ice Punch."
Latias spun in a broad loop, dodging the first attack. "Wait, does it have rocket fists!?"
"Looks like!" Pikachu agreed, and hit the other rocket-powered punch with a Thunderbolt. "Keep moving!"
"Magical Leaf!"
Cubone ducked under a blow from an enemy Floette, and the bone in her right hand blurred as it intercepted the return stroke.
Her left hand formed a fresh weapon with a crash of blue light, and it solidified as a great big thigh bone as big as she was just before impact.
There was an almighty crack, and the Floette was forced back at least four feet by the impact.
"Arbok!" Cubone called, dissolving the heavy bone, and reached behind her.
A snake tail snaked its way into her grip, and she gave Arbok a sharp tug which brought him forwards at speed.
"Poison Fang!" Arbok announced, grinning.
The Floette blanched – though as her flower was white it was hard to tell – and swung her implement at him to try to ward him off.
It kind of succeeded – the fangs closed on the petals, not the Floette herself – but left her with Arbok in close quarters and readying a Poison Sting.
Deciding her teammate could handle that, Cubone turned to the rest of the fight – and had to backpedal as a Teddiursa swiped at her.
Using the moment of extra time her backwards move gave her, she formed a Shieldon shield for her left arm and used it as a battering weapon.
"Ow!" the Teddiursa said, rubbing at his nose. "Meanie!"
"I'm not an idiot," Cubone sighed.
"But you hit me!"
Cubone's reply was to grab Seviper's tail and use him as a thrown weapon too, hitting the Teddiursa with about fifty kilos of snake.
"Must you do that?" Seviper asked, coiling back up again as Teddiursa picked himself up.
"It was quite satisfying," Cubone said blandly. She formed a handful of knucklebones and threw them at the recovering Normal-type. "Would you rather I threw you at that Snubbull?"
"Damn you!" the Colonel said, staying behind his guards. "Stop resisting and give me the Togekiss!"
"Sorry, did you think getting a Pokémon off an Elite Four member was going to be easy?" Misty asked, blinking. "It's not like you're doing well in forcing me..."
"You'll sing a new tune soon!" the Colonel snapped. "Gengar!"
"...sorry?" Max asked. "Is that supposed to-"
"Look!" May interrupted him, pointing. "That's a Mega Stone!"
"Ah, good, you're familiar with it!" Hansen said, and drew out a baton with a flourish.
"Isn't that the baton of a field marshal?" Brock asked. "Aren't you just a colonel?"
"I'll be whatever rank I want once I rule this kingdom!" Hansen replied sharply.
The stone set into the baton began to glow, and it was matched by the Mega Stone on its headband.
For a moment, the orange light was too bright to see. Then, as it faded, the friends saw Mega Gengar.
Surprisingly, the place the Mega Stone had been was changed – a ring of orange and gold on Mega Gengar's forehead, with a dark point in the middle.
The eyes were different – redder, with extra marks either side of the pupils – and spikes had proliferated all over his back and hands.
The biggest change, though, was that Mega Gengar had half-sunk into the ground. Violet-magenta energy crackled around the points of contact, a dire warning for anyone nearby.
"So what?" Misty asked, reaching for her bracelet. "Gyarados, let's make this a Mega versus Mega fight!"
Gyarados emerged, roared, and began to transform in his own right – flashing orange just as Gengar had.
Warning! Dexter said suddenly. That Pokémon has Shadow Tag.
"So that means Mega Gyarados is going to be committed to the fight," Ash said, then overrode himself. "Wait – Sceptile!"
The others followed his gaze, and saw Ash's Grass-type was just finishing off a Loudred right next to the Mega Gengar.
"Sceptile, look out!" Ash shouted.
"Pardon?" Sceptile asked, rubbing at his ear. "This Pokémon kind of deafened me..."
Ash reached for Sceptile's Pokéball to recall him, but the Mega Gengar chuckled and stamped a hand on the ground – resulting in a purple-violet pulse of light which deflected the return beam.
"Ah."
Sceptile turned, looking Mega Gengar up and down, and cracked his knuckles.
"Right, let's dance."
Mega Gengar lashed out with a blast of shadowy energy, opening with a Night Shade.
Sceptile stepped aside, tail waving for balance as he dodged the first blast of the attack, and rammed a Leaf Blade blow into the side of his Ghostly opponent.
As Mega Gengar was Poison-type, this did less damage than it might have done on another opponent. It didn't do no damage, though, and Mega Gengar hissed before launching a barrage of Shadow Balls.
Leaping backwards and into the air, Sceptile replied with a barrage of his own Bullet Seed. The attacks intercepted most of Mega Gengar's Shadow Ball attacks, blunting the potency of what had been a spectacular attack, though one got through and detonated against his thigh.
Sceptile only flew backwards a few feet from the impact, before hitting the invisible wall of the Shadow Tag with a thud and dropping to land on lithe hind legs.
Then he had to dive to the side to avoid a Shadow Sneak, and countered with a Leaf Blade that sprang off his arm-leaf and bit home.
"Stop him!" Hansen ordered. "Hit him, crush him! He's a Grass-type, not a Dark-type!"
Mega Gyarados rumbled. "Lucky you..."
"Wait," Ash said. "Keldeo!"
There was a shwiiing as Absol pinned down the last of their opponents, then Keldeo blasted it with a torrent of water and knocked it out.
"What is it?" he asked, galloping over.
"How's Sceptile doing at learning-" Ash stopped as Mega Gengar caught Sceptile in the side with a Shadow Punch, though the blow seemed to be only glancing.
"-Night Slash?" Keldeo guessed, and got a nod in return. "We were getting close. We weren't that far off on a lot of the blade moves."
"Do you think you can finish teaching him?" Ash went on.
"Yeah!" Keldeo agreed. "Absol, can you help me with that?"
"Of course," Absol said, padding forwards to do just that.
Colonel Hansen faced facts.
Whether his Mega Gengar managed to defeat this Sceptile or not, it was an open question whether Mega Gengar could defeat all the Pokémon arrayed against them.
Fortunately, like any good commander, he'd stacked the deck.
"Keystone," he ordered.
One of his men passed him a Pokéball, and he threw it at the ground.
What came out was, for a moment, a stone with odd markings on it. Then it began to awaken, a cacophany of voices merging into a single call.
"Spiritomb..."
"Shedinja, over here," Hansen added. "Now."
"Carnivine!" James called, pointing. "There!"
His Grass-type nodded, and a Vine Whip snaked out in the direction James had indicated.
Two of Jessiebelle's mercenaries raised their guns and fired – the bullets whipping around Carnivine's vine as it approached.
Always around, though. None of the bullets actually hit the vine, and they only had a couple of seconds before it reached them and a coil of tough plant material wrapped around the ankle of the one on the right.
"Whoa!" he shouted, kicking out. "Get it off me!"
His partner aimed his gun.
"No, don't shoot my leg!"
"Then what do you want me to-"
Carnivine pulled hard, making the right-hand man fall over with a thud and a shout of pain, and then whipcracked him the other way and knocked that man over as well.
While they were stumbling to get up, he relieved them of their guns and put them in the growing pile next to James.
"Victreebel!" James ordered next. "Get those three!"
This fire team had seen what happened to their allies, and readied themselves for a fight.
"Fire!" the one in charge said, and more bullets cracked out towards Victreebel.
They ricocheted from what seemed to be thin air as Abra exerted psionic force, and then Victreebel mounted his attack.
Rather than use vines, he simply blew a cloud of Sleep Powder at the group. They waved at it, trying to avoid the soporific effects, then slumped to the ground.
Now was when Victreebel sent out a Vine Whip – just to relieve them of their guns.
Cacturne contributed with a focused blast of sand, making a soldier drop her gun and rub at her eyes to try and clear them out.
"Great work!" James said. "Pity Weezing's not here, though..."
"This worked well," Weezing said, floating up and down.
Growlie barked his agreement. "Yes – nice work!"
Four well-armed men groaned on the floor, trying to get the incredible stench out of their nostrils.
"They're not going to get this plane any time soon," Growlie nodded. "What move was that, by the way?"
"Move?" Weezing asked. "I didn't have time to use a move. I just breathed on them."
"Wow..."
Silver watched with round eyes as a flaming light swept across the northern sky, with misty blue ice trailing it like a shadow.
There was an explosion, rendered soundless by distance, and the sources of the light emerged from it – the local Moltres, wreathed in flame, dove towards the flat-topped mountain with Articuno behind.
They wove in and out of a common base path, trading first place, and then took on a two-helix spiral as they plunged towards the ground.
A burst of lightning lit the sky from below, and Zapdos came out of a glacial crevasse.
Silver gasped. "So that's where he went!"
His parents smiled, exchanging a warm glance.
The family watched as all three Birds now formed a triple-helix, rising towards the low clouds that brooded overhead.
"When do you think your great-uncle will turn up?" the female Lugia asked, and her son frowned.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I mean-"
Red light speared out of the cloud, shooting off over the horizon and then sweeping up to vertical.
"-whoa!" Silver interrupted himself, as the three Birds broke apart and began to whip the clouds into a thunderstorm. "This is amazing!"
"Yes, my uncle is quite the showman," his mother agreed. "As are his friends."
"Do your friends Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres do this?" Silver asked.
Lugia shook his head. "They're more... recalcitrant."
AN:
This was one of the not-randomly-selected things to go kind of... over the top.
Before that there's an appearance of that Bagon who wanted to evolve, and succeeds.
And then... the Mirage Kingdom. With Misty!
Also Jessiebelle.
By the way, those Birds at the end – they're on Iceland.
