"You know," May said, looking down at Absol's ruff. "I think that actually works pretty well on you."
"Really?" Absol asked, touching her Mega Stone with one paw.
May glanced at Kris for translation, and nodded. "Really. I mean – you know, you're a girl, so you should be proud to have some nice jewellery!"
"It's hardly simple jewellery, but I take the point," Absol agreed. "Thank you for your kind words."
She frowned. "Hmmm, that's interesting..."
"Trouble?" Brock asked.
"No, not as such… or, rather, the trouble I can sense is what you'd call 'on schedule'. No, this is more..."
Absol searched for words.
"I think the closest analogy is the sight of a plate balancing right at the edge of a table. It's nothing important, but you know that something's going to happen very soon."
"We'll take your word for it," Brock said. "And I'll keep an eye out, I guess..."
"Thank you," Absol said with a nod. "It's sometimes tricky to interpret when I sense danger – especially if it's minor but unpredictable, like this is."
"You've really never been tempted?" Ash asked.
Pikachu shook his head vehemently. "No chance! I know that a lot of my friends live there – but you're the most important one, Ash!"
He paused. "Don't tell Ivysaur I said that."
Ash laughed, and Lucario let out a slightly more dignified snigger.
"Anyway," Pikachu resumed. "My place is with you, Ash – you're my oldest and dearest friend. I know that means that, ironically, I get less battle practice than I would back at the ranch – but it's worth it."
His trainer smiled, and ruffled Pikachu's fur just the way he liked it. "Thanks, Pikachu," he said – then counted in his head. "Hang on… nearly three years after… and five before… yeah, I think it's only a few years away from my having had more time with you than time without you."
"We should have a cake for it," Lucario said solemnly. "Pokémon love cakes."
"Well, some of us do," Pikachu replied. "A lot, admittedly… well, most… okay, there's very few Pokémon who wouldn't enjoy at least one cake of some description."
"Told you," Lucario noted.
"Actually, you've not been back to the ranch much either," Ash pointed out. "Is that okay?"
"It is absolutely fine," Lucario said, clearly. "I have spent over half my life with you, Ash, and as far as I am concerned that is precisely where I should be."
His muzzle quirked. "Besides, I'm pretty sure I'm the only reason you're still in one piece."
"That's not nearly true," Ash denied. "Pikachu's important for that too."
"Yeah, I am," Pikachu nodded.
"And modest, too..." Lucario said with a chuckle.
Pikachu stuck his tongue out.
"By the way, Ash," Lucario went on. "I'm not quite sure of the schedule. I know that around now is when both the events with Rayquaza and the events surrounding Groudon and Kyogre took place – but that is about it. Are we prepared for them?"
"I think so," Ash said, frowning. "Well, I mean – I didn't have any Legendaries or Mega Evolving Pokémon last time, and I've got you as well, but I'm just not quite sure… since things have been more powerful than before this time around."
He shrugged. "I guess I plan to take things as they turn up, and in an emergency get Gary to bring that Lucarionite over from Kalos."
"Is that more or less of an emergency than the one which makes you call on the Beasts of Johto, the Great Guardian, the Storm's End and the world's most powerful Pokémon?" Lucario asked. "In addition to the Guardians of Altomare, of course."
"...probably about the same level," Ash replied. "But yeah, having all those Legendary Pokémon available to help out is really kind of comforting. There's something safe about having a Legendary ready to help."
"Thanks!"
Lucario blinked. "That… wasn't Latias..."
"Nope!" agreed a squeaky voice, and the owner accelerated a little to appear between Ash and his Lucario. "Hiya!"
"Mew?" Pikachu asked, startled. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh..." Mew frowned. "Does it matter?"
The Psychic-type did a flip. "Hey, can you take that hat off? It's kind of boring to speak out loud..."
"Ash?" May asked. "Is that Mew by your shoulder?"
"Apparently?" Ash said, with a helpless shrug. "I didn't ask for… him? Her?"
"Either's fine," Mew told him with a giggle. "I know other people have gender, but that's kind of boring..."
"Are you the one who lives with Mewtwo or the one from the Tree of Beginning?" Ash asked, removing his hat as requested.
Thanks! And I'm the one who hangs around with Mewtwo, when it's interesting, Mew told him. The Psychic-type looked around, tail coiling, then zoomed over to May. Hiya!
"Hello?" May asked, a little warily. "Are you-"
She was speaking to empty air, as Mew zipped off to wave hello to Max – floating upside down as he did so. And hiya to you too!
One of Ash's Pokéballs flashed, and Mawile emerged. "Hi Mew!"
The Psychic-type teleported back to Ash's side, and leaned forward to examine Mawile. Oh, I remember you! You're really cute!
Mawile blushed, and did a curtsey. Then she grabbed one of Ash's other Pokéballs, and opened it. "Hey, Sliggoo – meet my friend Mew!"
Sliggoo tilted his head, antennae extended. "Is Mew the floating one?"
Mew waved, then frowned, then turned into a Sliggoo with a flicker of Transform.
"Oh, no, I forgot!" she said, and flashed back to Mew. Sliggoo can't see!
The Legendary floated down to ground level, and shook Sliggoo's paw. It's nice to meet you, Sliggoo – are you one of Mawile's friends?
"That's right," Sliggoo agreed.
Do you know Mawile's little brother? Mew asked, looking around. As he did, his tail formed into a question mark for a moment before going back to flirting idly around.
"Oh, Tyranitar?" the Dragon-type asked. "Yes, I-"
You didn't tell me he evolved! Mew accused Mawile.
"I only met you again a minute ago," Mawile pointed out, with a frown. "And you should let Sliggoo finish talking."
Mew blushed. Um… sorry…
Ash crouched down. "Sorry to interrupt you guys," he said. "But it's only mid-morning, and we've got a long way to walk today. Do you mind if we keep moving?"
"Sure!" Mawile agreed, glancing over at Sliggoo to see he was comfortable with the idea.
The Dragon-type nodded. "I think that's okay."
Great! Mew giggled. We can walk and talk!
"Why do I get the feeling this is going to be a long day?" Max asked.
"Don't worry," Brock said. "Mew will go away as soon as she's bored."
"Yeah," Max agreed. "Which means she'll go away as soon as she's bored of meeting between one and two dozen new Pokémon from Hoenn between the ones all of us have."
"...you're right, Mew could be here a while..."
So you can Mega Evolve? Mew asked, tilting his head at Arc.
"Yep!" Arc agreed. "It makes me a bit bigger and gives me lots more fur – and it means my attacks are much more powerful!"
Cooool, Mew said, cooing. Can I see?
Max thought about it. "Well, I guess if Arc's okay with it..."
"Yeah!" Arc nodded, tail wagging. "I'd really like to show Mew what it's like!"
"Okay, then," Max agreed. "Where's that Key Stone..."
He rummaged in his pocket, and pulled out the powerful energy conduit. "Here we go! And you've still got your Mega Stone, right?"
Arc's paw went to his neck, and he took in a startled breath. "No! It's missing!"
Max blanched. "Guys!"
Ash, May and Brock stopped walking, and a moment later so did Lucario and Absol.
"What is it?" Ash asked.
"Arc's Mega Stone is missing!" Max explained. "I don't know where it could have gone… it could have been-"
"Okay, calm down," Brock said, a hint of firmness in his voice. "Do you remember putting it on him this morning?"
Max thought for a moment, then nodded.
"That's a good sign," Brock told him. "It'll be somewhere we walked so far today."
"I think it was still on when Mew arrived," May volunteered. "I remember comparing Arc's Mega Stone to Absol's, and that was about when Mew turned up."
Stand by, ready, Kris said. Set up.
Max picked up his Pokédex, and looked across her screen. "Can you find it?"
I am already scanning.
As Kris spoke, the scan window materialized – showing the bright stars of Absolite, Latiasite and Steelixite, then zooming out and hashing into static.
"Can I borrow Flygon, Brock?" Max asked. "I guess it's the only way I'm going to find it quickly..."
"Wait," May said, pointing. "Look there – that's a dot, right at the edge of the scan."
It didn't pop through my noise filters, Kris told her, a little dubiously. Are you certain?
"Well, let's head that way," Brock suggested. "We can check quickly."
Mew flew through the hologram, giggling. This is fun!
"Mew, can you not do that?" Max asked, as she took another run-up. "That's interfering with the scan."
The Psychic-type sighed, tail drooping. Sorry…
After a moment, she zipped over to the Swablu perched on May's shoulder. Hi!
"I guess Mew doesn't have the best attention span," Brock chuckled.
"Well, I guess May was right," Max said, looking down at the now rapidly flashing icon.
All right, all right… Kris grumbled. Distance about five metres – it's just the other side of that brush.
Lucario went through first, smashing the brush aside with his heavy form, and trampled down a path for the humans to follow him.
"Thanks," May said, ducking under an overhanging branch. "Hey, guys, do you hear that… bouncing?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed.
As Brock and Max followed, the source of the bouncing came into view.
It was a Spoink, bouncing around in a worried circle, with-
"That's Arc's Mega Stone!" Max said, recognizing it. "Hey, that's not yours!"
Spoink bounced in place, rotating to look at them. "Hello? Who are you?"
There was a yelp and a zzzzrt as Arc bulled his way through the brush, electrified twigs falling around him.
"We're trainers," Ash said, to sum it up as quickly as possible. "I guess you're missing your pearl?"
"Yeah," the Spoink admitted. "I've got this, but it's not really a great substitute..."
"It's ours," Max told him. "Arc needs it to Mega Evolve."
And I really want to see someone Mega Evolve! Mew said, teleporting to between Spoink and the group. Hiya!
Spoink blinked, still bouncing. "Um… are you Mew?"
Yep! Mew confirmed, nodding his head and waving his tail. Well, I'm a Mew, not the Mew, because there's more than one of us – hey, have you met my new friend Sliggoo? He's kind of anxious, but really sweet!
"Can I have Arc's Manectite back, please?" Max asked, to try to get the discussion back on topic.
Spoink looked downcast. "But… I mean, sure, but I won't have a pearl..."
"We'll find it!" Ash promised. "Don't worry, you'll have your pearl back as soon as possible!"
He thought for a moment, then took the GS ball out of his bag. "Here – you can use this until we find it for you."
"Uh… is that a Pokéball?" Spoink asked, head tilting as he bounced and making him move gradually to the right.
"Yeah, but it doesn't work," Brock shrugged. "Nothing anyone's tried has been able to open it or make it trigger."
"I've not heard of this," Absol said, looking at the gold-and-silver 'ball with interest. "Where did you get it?"
"Philena told me that it was found in a dig site or something like that," Brock shrugged. "But I don't know much beyond that."
"Interesting."
Absol reached forwards and tapped it with her paw, closing her eyes, then exhaled and shook her head. "Nothing. Whatever else this ball is, it is not a source of calamity or destruction."
"I guess that's good, I've had it in my bag since we broke time," Ash said off-handedly. "Want to borrow it?"
Spoink nodded. "I guess so..."
Max held his Key Stone, and began to breathe in and out evenly.
Arc, he thought, remembering how Ash had described triggering Mega-Evolution deliberately.
The name brought a whirl of affectionate memories to mind – the long period when Arc wasn't sure what name he wanted to use, the moment of catching him, teaching him to use his electricity…
...but before long, Max focused on a single memory. The moment, in the Petalburg Gym, where Arc had evolved to his current form… then, less than a minute later, Mega Evolved.
Coooool, Mew said, and Max opened his eyes.
"I forgot how great this feels!" Arc said, bouncing from paw to paw. "Hey, Max, want a ride?"
"Sure!" Max agreed. He clambered on, smiling at the faint prickles from Arc's stiff fur, and then felt the muscles bunch and compress and spring-
-and then they were running, in a broad circle around the group, with both trainer and Pokémon laughing at the sheer joy of it all.
You're really fast! Mew said with a giggle, zooming alongside. Are all Mega Evolutions fast?
"I don't know!" Max called, then frowned. "Wait – no, I can think of at least one who isn't! Mega Heracross is kind of slow!"
I wonder if there's a Mega Mew, Mew pondered. Oh, or maybe Mewtwo's just a Mega Mew?
Arc slowed again, tongue lolling out as he came back to a walk, and Max jumped off a few yards from the others.
"I guess we need to look for that pearl now," he said, and scratched Arc on the shoulder. "Any ideas?"
I bet I find it first! Mew announced, flitting off into the trees.
"Why don't you try it?" Cinder asked, glancing over at her fellow Dark-type.
Absol nodded, a little dubiously, and sniffed.
"...no, not getting it," she said. "I mean, I can smell as well as most canines or felines, but I can't tell a one day old trail from a three day old trail – nor do I normally need to."
"Okay," the Mightyena said, and shrugged. "Just keep an eye out, then – and let me know if something's about to try to ambush us."
"Fine by me," Absol agreed. She stepped back a pace, and let Cinder sniff busily around for any sign of Spoink's scent.
She chuckled. "Honestly, you're lucky that poor Spoink let you get the scent..."
"He wasn't scared of Arc," Cinder said, a little hurt.
"Arc is large and a bit goofy. You're large and have entirely too many teeth to pull off the same effect."
Cinder looked up long enough to give Absol a look, then snorted and went back to sniffing.
"Anything?" Absol asked, after a moment.
"Give me time, give me time..."
"So… why do you bounce all the time?" Ash asked.
"Oh!" Spoink said, looking up to make sure the GS ball didn't fall off. "Uh – well-"
You could just ask me, you know, Dexter said, with an electronic sigh. Their spring pumps their heart.
"Actually-"
"That's… ouch," May winced. "That sounds like tripping over is a terribly dangerous thing for a Spoink to do..."
"That's not right!" Spoink protested.
Dexter let out an indignant beep. Are you saying my information is incorrect? I know that your circulatory system is linked to your spring. There have been scans and everything.
"It is – but – it's kind of the other way around," Spoink said. He bounced higher and higher, until he was spending almost a second in the air each time and the GS Ball was pinging around crazily. "Look!"
Dexter's scanner flashed brightly, and there was a long pause before he spoke again.
...that's bouncing when you're in mid-air, isn't it, he said. What?
"My heart works my spring," Spoink explained, bouncing back down again and panting. He glanced skywards as he bounced, and caught the GS ball neatly between his ears. "They're connected, just… the other way around."
Thank you for the information, Ethan said. We'll update Professor Oak's records, and correct that little misunderstanding.
"Okay," Spoink said, accepting that. "Do you do it a lot?"
"With Ash around, I bet that Dexter does it all the time," Brock chuckled. "I mean, how often do you run into Pokémon no-one else ever sees?"
"...not that often," Ash said. "But I guess compared to everyone else it happens a lot."
"We're not going to have another talk about the whole 'normal' thing," May said. "You've heard it before."
She changed the subject. "So – Ash, can you see anything on Aura Sight?"
"I can't tell," Ash apologized. "I don't know what Spoink's pearl looks like – I'm looking every so often to see if there's a thing I'm not used to, but it's not really getting any results so far."
Mawile bent over. "I think there's something here."
Sliggoo hurried over, and came up beside her.
"Is there?" he asked, after several seconds.
"I don't know, I've not looked!" Mawile said, with a giggle. "Hmmm… can you Rain Dance just in front of yourself?"
Sliggoo's horns glowed faintly, and it began to rain around the whole area. A few seconds passed, and the rain focused in closer – and intensified, until it had soaked Mawile and water was running off her skin.
"A bit tighter," she said, shaking her head and making droplets fly off her false-jaws.
Sliggoo nodded, and frowned. The rain focused in closer still, until finally it was a torrent about one foot across pouring down onto the patch Mawile had indicated.
They let it go for about a minute, and then Mawile tapped Sliggoo on the shoulder. "You can stop now," she told him.
Sliggoo nodded, and the rainstorm abated. There were a few final drops, and then clear air.
Mawile waded into the muddy puddle that resulted, rummaging around, and then held something up. "Got it!"
She brushed some of the mud off, then took a good look.
"...I don't know what this is," she admitted. "It doesn't look like a pearl."
"What's it like?" her friend asked.
"It's kind of… well, it's a bracelet-y thing, made of heavy metal. It's got all funny patterns on it, and there's a shiny gem in it." Mawile looked at it, then shrugged. "Well, I guess it's pretty!"
Sliggoo smiled. "Yeah, I guess that is a pretty good result. Should we keep looking?"
"Yeah!" Mawile agreed. "Pick a direction!"
A pink blur went past overhead, not that either of them noticed.
Hey! Hey! Heyheyhey! I found it!
"You found it?" Ash asked, as Mew zipped into the clearing and skidded to a halt in mid air. "That's great!"
Yep! Mew agreed, with a giggle. She handed over the spherical orb, and kicked back to hover with her back to the floor. It was all shiny!
"That's… not a pearl," Brock said, looking at it, and Mew's eyes popped open.
Eh?
"Look," Brock told her, holding it up to the light and giving it a rub with a handkerchief. "It's a bit cloudy on the outside, but that's a Mega-Evolution fleck. Looks… cream and pink."
He paused, and gave Mew another look. "Did you just find a Mega Stone lying around on the ground?"
I don't know, did I? Mew asked, scratching his head.
"Sorry, Spoink," Ash said. "I guess we'll have to keep looking."
"It occurs to me that this may not be the best way to look," Crobat said, looking aside at his fellow fliers.
"You know, you're right," Flygon agreed. "Unless the pearl got stuck in the top of a tree, we're not finding it up here."
"That's… not as silly as it sounds," Latias muttered thoughtfully. "How high do Spoink bounce?"
They thought about it.
"We'll have to stay up here, won't we," Flygon said, with a wing-waggling shrug. "Oh well."
In the crook of a low tree, a pearl glittered in the sunlight streaming through the leaves.
There was a huff sound, and a pair of cream paws reached for it.
Another huff, and the paws reached a little higher.
There was a long pause.
Then a pink tail with three prongs reached up, and managed to snag the pearl out of its resting place.
"Like, easy," Skitty said, ignoring how she'd taken at least two minutes to think to try her tail. "Now, time to, like, get this back to Spoink..."
She glanced around, getting her orientation, and batted it. It rolled across the forest floor, and almost before it had stopped Skitty pounced on it again.
Again, and it rolled a little faster. Skitty followed, and pawed at it from the side – knocking it in a different direction.
Purring, she batted it across the forest floor again, no longer really trying to make it go any one direction.
This was fun!
About ten minutes later, Lucario padded into the clearing on light paws.
He saw what was going on, assessing the situation in a heartbeat, and turned around to head away again – moving with purpose.
Skitty rolled over onto her back and batted the pearl into the air, doing it a second time as it came down on top of her, then rolled back to her feet and flipped it into the air with her tail.
"Like, this is the best toy ever!" she said, running after it.
"Ahem."
The feline glanced up at Lucario, then shrugged it off as unimportant.
"You know that's Spoink's pearl?"
Skitty pouted. "But… like, I'm only borrowing it..."
Lucario nodded gravely. "I see."
He knelt down, and waved something fluffy and feathery about from one paw. "Wouldn't you rather have… this?"
Skitty looked at the fluffy, fuzzy thing, then back at the pearl.
Then back at the fuzzy thing.
"Like… omigod, this is such a difficult choice!" she said, tail flicking. "Can't I, like, pick both or something? That's usually, like, how these stories go..."
Lucario waved the fuzzy thing again, and Skitty trembled for a moment. Then she sighed, and jumped at the fuzzy thing.
"I've got the pearl," Lucario reported.
Spoink bounced faster, smiling. "You have? Great! I was so worried!"
"Where was it?" May asked.
"Well..." Lucario looked down at Skitty, who was still chasing and batting at the feathery cat toy in his left hand. "It's not a long story, but it's one which Skitty might not like my telling you."
"...yeah, let's just ignore it," May agreed.
As Ash retrieved the GS ball and May swapped in the Pearl for a delighted Spoink, Brock took a closer look. "Where'd you get that toy?"
"Oh, here and there..." Lucario said.
"It looks like it's made with really shiny feathers, actually," the Gym Leader went on.
Lucario looked a bit shifty.
Brock glanced at Ash's staff, then back at the toy. "Where'd you get Lugia and Ho-Oh feathers?"
"They're the spares," Lucario replied. "The ones to use if Ash's ones get broken."
He shrugged, and Skitty managed to grab onto his paw. "Fortunately, I just needed a bit of string – and there we were."
"Like, this is the best toy ever!" Skitty declared.
"It sounds like you might need to get more spares," Brock chuckled.
"Perhaps. Or perhaps… Mew?"
Mew flitted over. Ooh, what is it?
"I imagine you're a pretty agile Pokémon," Lucario said.
Mew nodded, doing a forwards flip. Yep!
"Can you keep Skitty from catching your tail for ten minutes?"
The Legendary's eyes went wide, and he waved his tail just over the mountaineering Skitty.
Skitty did a flying leap, missed, and landed in the grass. Undeterred, she turned around and jumped for the Mew-tail again, emitting a happy purr.
"There," Lucario said, replacing the spare feathers. "Easy."
"All better?" May asked.
Spoink nodded, pearl wobbling a little, and bounced lower so May didn't have to keep moving her head up and down so much. "Yeah! I feel so much better now!"
May smiled, then went silent for a moment.
"Spoink?" she said. "I was wondering about..."
She shook her head. "Never mind."
"What?" the Psychic-type asked. "What is it?"
Behind May the fliers came down to land, then set right off again in order to go and retrieve everyone else still spread out and searching.
"Well, I was wondering if you'd want to come with me," May explained. "But… yeah, I guess I'm not sure if that's what you'd want. But I felt I should ask."
Spoink's eyes widened, and he blushed slightly. "Well… I'm touched! But..."
There was a long pause.
"Sorry, I'm not sure," he said eventually. "But thanks for the offer!"
"That's okay," May replied. "It was just an idea."
So… Mew pondered, floating in a circle around the group. Watcha doin' now?
"There's a town just up here which has a sport called Pokéringer," Ash told her. "It's great fun!"
How do you play that? Mew asked.
"Well-"
Swellow butted in, hovering in front of the group and flying steadily backwards. "It's great! You have a ring, and you need to get it through the goal – however you want, there's no restrictions on it pretty much – and it's Flying-types and other flying Pokémon only, so it's really frantic and fast paced!"
She glanced behind herself, reoriented to avoid a tree, and kept going. "Last time we were here, I rocked the whole tournament – and evolved, too!"
Cooool. Mew frowned briefly, then there was a flash and he turned into a Chatot. "Does that mean I can play?"
"Actually, that's a good question," Brock admitted. "Maybe we should ask..."
"Welcome to Crossgate!" said a man with a Swablu, catching their attention as they entered. "I'm Shane. I've not seen you around before – I guess you're new?"
May's Swablu waved a little shyly, and the other one gave him an encouraging smile.
"Yeah, we're new," Ash agreed. "And – well, I guess I should just ask. When's the Pokéringer tournament?"
Shane blinked. "...two days ago," he said, slowly. "Why?"
"We're late?" May asked. "But I could swear-"
"Yeah, they had to move it this year," Shane nodded. "The announcements went up a couple of months ago, though."
"We must have just not checked," Brock said, with a wince. "Whoops..."
"Does that mean I can't take part?" asked Mew, currently a Chatot. "But I've been waiting whole hours for it!"
She thought for a bit, then brightened – flapping her wings. "I know! I'll just become a Celebi, and then-"
There was a flicker of blue light, and Celebi materialized in front of them – making both Shane and his Swablu jump.
Ignoring them, the Legendary Pokémon of Time Travel pointed a stern finger at the disguised Mew.
"No."
Celebi then vanished again.
"...I guess it's a bad idea," Ash shrugged.
"Wait, are you Ash Ketchum?" Shane asked. "I thought you looked familiar..."
"Did you mostly get that from the Legendary appearing out of nowhere?" May chuckled.
"Pretty much, yes," Shane agreed. "Though now I'm a bit glad you weren't here in the tournament – I was proud enough of getting to the last eight with a Moltres competing, and…"
"Well, I guess we found out where Jessie and James were," Max shrugged.
Ash was counting to himself. "Uh… Brock has two… I've got Swellow, Pidgeot, Noctowl, Latias, and possibly Ho-Oh and Lugia if they want to… May, you've got Swablu and Beautifly if they want to… and Max has got Delta..."
He looked up. "Any idea if we can borrow the stadium?"
"Well..." Shane looked lost. "I suppose it's not being used, but I don't run it… you'd have to find whoever does."
The trainer pointed. "Town hall's that way, that's your best bet."
"Thanks!" Ash said, shaking his hand. "Okay, guys, let's go!"
"Beautifly, turn right!" May called.
Her Bug-type flier slipped around and to her right, turning inside Noctowl, and dove for the ring.
"It's not going to be that easy," she added, reminding Beautifly of Noctowl's speciality, and was vindicated a moment later when the Bug-type phased right through the falling ring.
"Any ideas?" Beautifly called.
"Yeah!" May replied. "Send out a sweep of Sleep Powder – as fine as possible – and blow it in all directions!"
Beautifly duly did so, and the sparkling green-yellow dust pulsed outwards… then stopped, running into something moving in the air.
"Over there!" May instructed, and Beautifly corkscrewed into a dive.
Against Swellow or Pidgeot, she'd have had no chance – they were faster than she was. But Noctowl was much more of a technical flier than a fast one, and Beautifly's dive steadily closed the distance.
"This is bally inconvenient," Noctowl muttered, and broke his illusion in favour of a new one – six Double Teams spreading out in all directions at once.
Beautifly took the simple expedient of a bright Flash, dove on the one which had reflected properly, and snagged the ring out from Noctowl's claws.
"You absolute bounder!" Noctowl called after her, as the Bug-type evened out her dive and toss-bombed the ring into the objective.
"All right, Beautifly!" May called. "Great work!"
"Flying-types," Marshtomp shrugged.
Geodude looked over at him. "What about Flying-types?"
"Just Flying-types," Marshtomp replied. "Them and their flying."
Brock's lone Rock-type considered that. "And what do you suggest they do instead?"
"I'm not saying instead," his friend corrected. "Just that they fly low enough to punch."
"Oh, I see what this is about," Geodude said, nodding in realization. "You're still sore about that practice battle from the night before last, aren't you?"
Marshtomp looked mulish. "So what if I am? I only had to run around in circles hoping Swellow would come low enough to attack… for half an hour..."
"You have ranged attacks, Marshtomp. Get used to using them, is my advice."
"Hey, I'm no Seadra, I can't shoot that well." Marshtomp flexed. "Pick your moment and punch, that's what I always say."
"And that worked how well two days ago?" Geodude pressed.
The Water/Ground type sighed deeply.
"Oh, hey, look," Geodude added. "At least this one's got a Ground type in it."
"He's a dragon who flies with wings!" Marshtomp replied. "I know he's not technically Flying-type, but it's hardly a big difference."
"What, you think they should have me in this?" Geodude made a throwing-away gesture. "No fear. This is a Flying Pokémon contest for Flying-types and other flying Pokémon."
They watched as Flygon buzzed into the air, and faced off against his opponent.
"Is the Cresselia real?" Marshtomp asked, glancing over at Geodude.
"No, I think it's Mew," Geodude replied.
"Ah."
Mawile sat a little straighter on her seat, and sighed wistfully.
"What is it?" Sliggoo asked. "I know about the game, but what specifically?"
"Oh, just..." Mawile shook her head. "I really, really want to fly. And for you to fly too – you're going to be a flying dragon!"
"I'm pretty sure my evolution doesn't have wings..."
"No, I mean the other kind of flying!" Mawile told him earnestly. "Keldeo's flying!"
"Ah, right." Sliggoo frowned. "Well… I hope you get that working, I know how much you like the idea."
"I've been thinking of how!" Mawile explained. "I think if I can learn a move that makes a big jet of something, I can fly into the air that way! And I'm almost sure I can learn one!"
Sliggoo gave her a pat on the shoulder. "That's great news, Mawile."
"Yeah!" Mawile agreed. "But… I still wish you could learn a move like that."
Uh… actually, I think I might be able to do that one, came Jirachi's psychic voice.
Mawile turned, face falling. "Sorry, Jirachi! I didn't know we were sitting so close to you – that was really, really rude of me!"
No, I think this one's… Jirachi said, and then his tags flashed.
"...didn't realize you had legendaries with you!" came Shane's voice. "I – whoah!"
Mawile and Jirachi looked up-slope, to see that Shane had tripped over a seat. His bag burst open, and a TM came bouncing down the steps of the arena.
It hit Sliggoo square on the forehead, flashed, and then Mawile grabbed it and lifted it off. "Are you okay?"
"Ow," Sliggoo said, then blinked his sightless eyes. "And… huh, so that's what I was doing wrong..."
Mawile turned the TM around to look at the label, and read – 'Dragon Pulse'.
A moment later, Shane's Swablu came down. "Sorry about that!" he said, flaring his wings to slow down. "Did it hit anyone?"
"It hit Sliggoo," Mawile told him, handing it over. "But I think he's okay – are you okay?"
"I'll live," Sliggoo confirmed.
"Sorry if that means it's used up," Mawile added. "I think my trainer knows a way to make them work again..."
"You know, he's pretty good at this," Venusaur mused.
"We've been working on training together," Guy replied, leaning back on his thick tail in lieu of a seat. "Does it show?"
Delta flipped forwards, dodging out of the way of a beak-swipe, and used his big wing area to recover quickly before diving in from another direction.
"Yeah, looks like," Venusaur agreed. "How did you two train?"
"I trained in kicking things in the air, he trained in not being kicked," the Breloom replied. "And then, for a change, he trained in hitting moving ground targets and I trained in not being dive-bombed."
Venusaur nodded to herself. "Yeah, I guess that you have more reasons than most Grass-types to be wary of Flying-types."
"That's about the shape of it."
Delta's nose pitched up, and the agile delta-winged Mantine pulled into a brutal wingover which wrong-winged his opponent.
"You know," Guy added, in contemplative tones. "I think Ho-Oh might be a bit big for the arena."
"He's certainly got less manoeuvring room," Venusaur agreed, as the Storm's End flapped his wings frantically to avoid crashing into the goal. "But that long beak could be useful for grabbing the ring… I think it's still up in the air."
She blinked, then winced. "Oh, sorry – I honestly didn't mean that one."
With a whoom and a wash of hot air, Ho-Oh used his instant-thermal trick, and rose faster than Delta was expecting. Unfortunately, he misjudged slightly, and the surge of upwards motion carried him past the falling ring so he couldn't just grab it.
"Now's your chance, Delta!" Max called.
"...did Ho-Oh just call that move 'Phoenix Ascent'?" Venusaur asked, with a blink.
"I assume so," Guy shrugged. "Wouldn't put it past him..."
"Is he jealous of Rayquaza?"
"Ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer called. "We've had a lot of great Pokéringer today, but now it's time for the final – between Brock's Crobat and Ash's Swellow! Both agile Pokémon, so this should be a great match!"
Mawile tugged on his leg. "Excuse me? Lucario?"
Lucario lowered the microphone. "Yes?"
"You know your aura thing doesn't work like that?" she asked.
The Fighting-type put the microphone down. "…I knew that, yes," he said, a little too quickly.
Swellow blasted through the turn, wings humming, and her tail pushed her into a roll which was half to confuse Crobat and half just for the sheer joy of it.
Interrupting her own airstream for a moment, she stalled to shed speed – beak clenched in a smirk as the resulting forces pulled at her – and then blew past Crobat at speed and interrupted his climb.
Flaring all four wings, Crobat checked his forwards momentum for a moment – then recovered, and snap-rolled to try and regain the initiative.
"Get that ring, Swellow!" Ash called. "He's too far to grab it!"
Not needing to be told even once, Swellow was already coming back on her own path. She yawed into a skidding airborne turn and reached for the ring – then blinked as it jumped in mid-air and got out of her reach.
"What the-"
It jumped again, spinning out of her way as she tried to grab it with her talons, and then Crobat nabbed it instead.
"Was that Supersonic?" Ash asked. "That's clever!"
"Yeah, Crobat just blasted the ring with ultrasound," Brock confirmed, as Swellow yawed through a hairpin turn and dove like a comet. "It was – look out!"
Crobat's wings split into an X-formation, and he rolled out of Swellow's path. Undaunted, Swellow adjusted her own dive, pulling up to interpose herself between Crobat and the goal so that he couldn't just dive on at full speed.
"Up and left!" Ash said a moment later, and Swellow twisted around with her tail flagging left-right-left to keep her in her flight envelope.
Crobat chose that moment to surge forwards with all four wings, and the two Flying-types collided with a thump.
The ring slipped from Crobat's claws, and he tried to disentangle himself for a moment – then changed tack, and re-entangled himself by snarling up Swellow's wings.
She thrashed, pulling clear in a moment, and then watched helplessly as the ring bounced – and a blast of ultrasound shot it straight into the goal.
"Nice one, Crobat!" Ash said. "Bad luck, Swellow – but that was great!"
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Mega Absol asked, about half an hour later.
The crowds had mostly dispersed, or were watching Ho-Oh fly northeast back towards Honshu – but they weren't quite done with the arena yet.
"Yeah, I think it is," Ash confirmed. "I mean – it's worth trying, right?"
"Yes, I suppose," Mega Absol confirmed. "And thank you, Latias, for being ready to catch me."
"No problem!" Latias squeaked from thin air.
Mega Absol smiled at the reminder, then took a deep breath – and jumped from the starting balloon.
Her wide wings of furry materiel waved back and forth in the wind as she began to fall, and she started to concentrate on them.
Trying to work out what muscles to move to adjust them – or just hold them stiff, if that was all she could do.
It wasn't easy. Like a human learning to waggle their ears, the hardest bit was simply identifying the muscle in the first place…
After several seconds of trying, Mega Absol felt the warning in her danger sense amplify to dangerous levels as she approached the ground – and then Latias caught her.
They went down another ten or twenty metres as Latias slowed her gently, and then touched down light as a feather on the ground.
"Any luck?" Latias asked.
"Not really," Mega Absol replied. "But… hm. I'm wondering about how my danger sense was acting..."
Latias' expression suggested she wanted to know more.
"I was… it's a little hard to describe," Mega Absol admitted. "But – I feel like if there's no way to fly like this, or to arrest my fall, then it should be a constant danger of impact. But it was increasing."
The Legendary considered that.
"Do you want a lift back up to the balloon?"
"Yes, thanks," Mega Absol agreed.
Wind whistling in her fur and around her ears, Mega Absol concentrated.
There was something – there!
A tiny flex, and a tiny blip in her catastrophy sense – but to a chance-dancer it may as well have been a neon sign. She concentrated on it with all her might, focusing and following up on it with everything in her.
It was hard to tell how well it was working – she had no physical feedback from the fur of her wings – but not impossible, since it altered probabilities around her as she did the right or the wrong thing.
And it was working! She was-
Mega Absol discovered she'd forgotten about the ground.
"Ow."
Shaking her head and clearing the stars from her vision, Mega Absol stood up and looked around. "Latias? What-"
"I tried!" Latias replied, sounding upset. "But I missed!"
"How could… wait." Mega Absol looked at her position – her position near one of the bleachers, instead of at the middle of the arena.
Then she looked up at the balloon, still floating centrally.
"...did I just glide?"
"Yeah!" Latias brightened. "You did!"
Mew materialized in a flash, and waved with his tail flicking back and forth.
After several seconds, he blinked, and waved closer to Mega Absol.
"...I'm Dark-type," Mega Absol said, deadpan. "And I've got Magic Bounce. You'll just have to speak out loud."
"But that's boring," Mew sighed. "Anyway – great work! Well done!"
"That was fun," May said, with a smile. "It's nice to be able to do something which is related to battling or performing, but which isn't quite the same."
"Yeah," Max agreed. "Especially since the next gym is that kind of thing, too..."
He frowned. "Actually, come to think of it, isn't that mansion along here? With Shuppet?"
"I think it is," May agreed.
Max turned to Ash. "Is Shuppet someone you can remind, Ash?"
"Sorry, Max," Ash said, shaking his head. "I simply don't know."
"It's great to see you again!" Shuppet announced, then grabbed onto Max's hand. "Oh! Can I come with you – I mean, you've got Pokémon, and so I can be one!"
"Slow down!" Max laughed. "And yeah, you can-"
"Great!" Shuppet said, waving to the Manectric standing next to his friend. "Hey, what's your name?"
"Arc!" Arc replied, tongue lolling out for a moment. "You're funny!"
"That's my job!" Shuppet agreed, then his eyes widened. "Wait… wait, your Pokémon have nicknames? Can I be Casper?"
"Of course!" Max smiled. "I wasn't sure what name sounded best, but if you've got one in mind we'll just use that one."
"Okay, let's go!" the newly-named Casper said. "Hey, can I meet your other Pokémon?"
"That… was surprisingly easy..." May said, blinking, as her brother sent out the rest of his team.
Cinder gave Casper a look, frowned for a moment, then licked him.
"Hey!" Casper complained, giggling. "How'd you do that? I'm a ghost!"
"I'm a Dark-type," Cinder replied, deadpan. "And Lick is a Ghost move anyway."
"Yeah, why is that?" asked Jirachi, and Casper's eyes went very wide indeed. "Does that mean you can't lick a normal type?"
"Max, why do you have Jirachi with you?" the Ghost-type asked.
"I'm on an adventure!" Jirachi announced proudly. "It's great fun – and Max and his friends are keeping me safe!"
"You get used to it," Pikachu sighed, drawing Casper's attention. He jumped from Ash's shoulder and landed in mid-air. "Meet Latias."
Latias pouted as she phased back into visibility. "You knew where I was?"
"Electrical currents," Pikachu replied.
Casper blinked again, then shook his head and grinned. "Okay! I can see I've got to step up my game!"
Guy waved. "Hello. I'm Guy."
"He punches things," Delta supplied.
"Yes," Guy confirmed. "I punch things. And my Water-typed compatriot here is Delta."
"And this is how I've been understanding you – this is Kris," Max concluded, showing Casper his Pokédex.
The Shuppet frowned, drifting closer. "Is it?"
Yes, the Pokédex replied, making him jump. I assure you, I am fully autonomous.
"Cool!" Casper said. "Are you a Rotom?"
No, I am a Porygon.
"Oh," Casper said, sounding disappointed. "I thought you were a Rotom."
A Rotom?
"A Rotom."
But I'm not a Rotom. I'm a Porygon.
"But if you were a Rotom-"
Brock's Ludicolo shook his maracas. "Then we'd have lots of fun!"
Everyone stared at him.
"...what, it wasn't a musical?" Getting no break in the stares, he coughed. "Ahem… adios!"
"I think I'm going to like it with you, Max," Casper decided. "This is great fun!"
Venusaur rolled her neck, sighing.
May looked over. "I guess you're enjoying the weather?"
"Oh, very much," Venusaur agreed. "It's funny, but I didn't realize how much I missed Hoenn weather back when we were up north..."
"I guess it is pretty sunny," May agreed.
She glanced over. "Which is why Glaceon's carrying a parasol."
"I'm an Ice-type," Glaceon said firmly. "It'd be nice if there were some clouds, though..."
May looked around. "Well, I guess you'll get your wish – look, it's clouding… up?"
The Coordinator raised her voice. "Guys? Is it me or is it getting dark really quickly?"
Brock, Ash and Max stopped walking, and looked around.
The clouds were growing even as they watched, becoming thick and black and covering the sky.
"Oh well," Venusaur sighed. "So much for sunbathing."
There was a crack, and thunder blazed down from the sky. One bolt came close to the friends, and Pikachu batted it right back up into the clouds with a sigh.
"Any idea if any Zapdos live nearby?" Ash asked with a frown. "This looks kind of… unnatural?"
"Yeah, with you Zapdos is the sensible explanation..." May sighed.
"Actually, there was this cold snap in Johto-" Ash began, then stopped as a chill wind blew through the trees.
Venusaur returned herself just before it started snowing.
"A thundersnow?" Max asked. "Was that on the forecast?"
At this point I think we're just going to have to agree the forecast doesn't know anything, Ethan contributed. Speaking of which – tornado!
"How can there be-" Brock began, then saw the tornado. "Okay, never mind – run!"
Before it reached the ground, though, the tornado melted away and was replaced by a swirling sandstorm.
"Okay, this is just getting silly," Ash said. "It wasn't this bad in Shamouti!"
With one final whoosh, the sandy clouds parted, revealing a sky full of fluffy cumulus – and, down on the ground, someone waved at them. "Hello?"
He coughed. "Sorry about that… we didn't think anyone was nearby."
Brock brushed sand off his shirt. "What was that?"
"Oh, Castform and I were practicing," the man said. "I'm Bart, by the way."
His Castform waved, having just finished going back to normal form. "Hi!"
"Castform are weather forecasting Pokémon, right?" May asked.
"Actually, I've kind of wondered about that," Max frowned. "It's not much of a forecast if you're just showing what the weather's like now."
"Oh, they don't just do that," Bart assured them. "Castform – what's the weather going to be like in thirty minutes?"
Castform frowned, then went Sunny Form, Rainy Form, Sunny Form again and Snowy Form.
"...I guess we'd better get indoors," Bart concluded. "This way – the institute isn't far."
"This is the Weather Institute!" Bart explained, opening the door as the wind got gusty. "It's where we study both forecasting the weather – and changing the weather."
"Like Sunny Day?" Ash asked, as they filed inside.
"Not just Sunny Day," Bart agreed. "It's like that, but we're also studying how to make a machine do it. It's still a little hard to tell how the weather will react after we change something – that's what Castform and I are trying to learn."
He shrugged. "Of course, part of that is making use of the move Weather Ball, which is a great move to take advantage of changes… in the..."
The scientist blinked, and looked closer at Ash. "Wait, now I recognize you!"
"It's the Pikachu, isn't it," Pikachu said, deadpan. "That's always the clue."
Casper sniggered.
"You're Ash Ketchum, aren't you?" Bart asked. "I saw your battles in the Silver Conference – well, not straight away, but my grad student Millie saw them and sent me a video of when you used Ho-Oh. Great use of Weather Ball!"
"Thanks!" Ash grinned. "I thought it was a great way to cover a lot of weaknesses, especially ones Ho-Oh has to worry about."
"Yes, and your demonstration set us thinking about all new ways to use Weather Ball!" Bart agreed enthusiastically. "I mean, what would happen if it was used in a lightning storm?"
As he talked, a little pink shape slipped past them and pondered the machinery.
Hmmm… Mew hummed, contemplating it. I wonder what happens if I do… this!
He pulled a lever, and the machinery crackled.
"What was that?" Bart asked, looking over. "...why is a Mew using the weather control machine?"
Oh, so that's what it is! Mew said, nodding to herself. You should really label it, or otherwise anyone might come in and push controls.
"I think maybe you should stop pushing controls, Mew," Ash said, and the Psychic-type pouted.
Meanie.
"Castform – what's the weather going to be?" Bart asked, glancing over at Castform.
Castform changed to Rainy Form, then did it again for emphasis.
"Rain, then," Brock guessed. "Lots of rain?"
Pleased that he was getting the hang of it, Castform gave him a nod.
There was a flash as Mawile emerged from her Pokéball. "Lots of rain?" she asked. "Lots and lots?"
Castform looked down at her, a little surprised, and nodded confirmation.
"Great! Uh…"
She looked at Ash's belt for a moment, then tapped one. "Hey, Sliggoo?"
The Dragon-type materialized, and turned roughly in her direction. "What is it, Mawile?"
"Can we have a quick battle outdoors?" she asked. "Please?"
Sliggoo looked uncertain for a moment.
"Go ahead," Ash said. "I won't need you in the next few minutes."
"Great!" Mawile said, tugging on Sliggoo's arm – gently. "Come on, it'll be fun!"
"So, uh..." Sliggoo began, as the rain drummed on the grass. "Why now?"
"No reason," Mawile said sweetly.
Sliggoo accepted that, and frowned. "Okay, uh…"
He drooped. "Sorry, Mawile. I know that you want to fight, but I feel kind of uncomfortable hurting you..."
"I know that," Mawile agreed. "But I'm helping you learn to battle. That's what friends do!"
Sliggoo nodded, and pulled himself upright. "Okay!"
He inhaled, aiming towards the sound, and fired. "Dragon Pulse!"
The moment he used the attack, he remembered that Mawile was Fairy-type.
The multicoloured blaze of light shot across the distance between them and hit Mawile – who, a moment later, fell backwards almost exactly as though she'd leaned back and jumped.
A muffled 'ow!' came as she landed, and then she went still.
"What was that?" Sliggoo asked, now completely baffled. "I heard an ow – did you get hurt? But – it was a Dragon-type move!"
Then a strange, swirling energy began to wash over him.
It pooled in his tail, making it lengthen and extend. It focused in his body, expanding it and exchanging his single slimy foot for a pair of strong legs, and extending his little nub-arms out into proper, clawed forearms.
And then, for the first time in over a month, he could see.
"I… evolved?" he asked, looking down at himself – taking in all the changes he could see. "I evolved!"
Then he saw the limp form of Mawile.
Gasping, he ran over – stumbling a little on his still-new legs – and knelt down to gather her in his arms. "Mawile!"
Mawile shifted slightly.
"Mawile, no!" the newly evolved Goodra said, and shouted to the pouring rain. "Mawile!"
For her part, Mawile was trying very hard not to either giggle or scratch her nose.
"You were such a good friend," Goodra sniffed. "I can't believe you're gone!"
Mawile's tongue lolled out with a 'bleah' sound.
Goodra's cheeks twitched, but he kept going. "You helped me out when I couldn't see, and you taught me how to- to-"
Finally, he lost it, and started laughing.
Mawile only lasted a moment longer, and then started to giggle as well.
Yay! Mew announced, joining in the giggles because that seemed to be what everyone out here was doing.
"Show some respect!" Goodra said, in between gasps. "Can't you see she's-"
He lost it again, and Mawile finished for him. "I'm dead," she informed Mew seriously – maintaining her serious expression for almost a whole second.
That is the most adorable thing! Mew enthused. I'll tell Mewtwo about it right now!
She vanished with a flash of pink light.
AN:
Chapter 151! The chapter of everyone's favourite super-powered psychic transforming kitten, Mew!
(It's not a big list, I'll be honest.)
So, here's Mew. Note that Mew considers gender binary pretty boring, hence the pronoun switches.
We also have a few notable events – Spoink, for example, as well as the appearance of Pokéringer, and finally a certain much-belated evolution.
(Mawile has been studying.)
EDIT - whoops, missed the é in Poké. Should be fixed.
And for more Mew madness, there's a fic I have called Master Pokémon mk. 2, in which Ash is a Mew.
