"Okay..." Steven frowned. "I suppose the best way to put it is that we still don't understand everything about Mega Evolution. It's been documented for a while, but it's only recently that it became something openly discussed – as I'm sure you know."

"Well, yes," Winona agreed. "I suppose. Well – thank you for the loan, anyway."

She passed the Aerodactylite over, and Ash gave Steven the Mawilite he'd borrowed.

"Thank you," Steven smiled, taking them. "I hope both of you get one of your own someday – and I'll keep a look out, since my travels often take me to places where unusual rocks come to the surface."

"Thanks," Ash said, with a grin. "I'm sure Mawile's looking forward to it!"

"I'll try not to disappoint her," Steven assured him. "Was there anything else?"

"Yeah, actually..." Ash rummaged in his pockets, and took out the Mega Stone Mew had found. "Do you know what this is?"

Steven did a double-take. "How long have you had that?"

"We found it at the same time Mawile found her bracelet," Ash supplied.

"And you didn't mention it when we talked… oh, never mind," Steven said, with a small smile. "I don't think arguing is going to get me anywhere."

He rubbed his Mega Stickpin, letting it spark into life and then glow brighter and brighter. There was a faint but audible thrumming, which intensified until they could all hear it clearly.

"I don't think mine does that," Winona volunteered.

"I think it takes a strong Mega Stone," Brock informed her.

Then Steven took his finger off the Key Stone, and pressed the pink Mega Stone to it. He blinked, looking down.

"I didn't know they had one… this is an Audinite."

"Don't we know someone with an Audino?" May said, blinking. "And I can't believe I'm suggesting giving it to them..."

"It is strange, yeah," Brock agreed. "Maybe we should let them know, if Gyarados hasn't eaten their phone again."

Winona didn't ask any questions, wisely deciding not to go down that rabbit-hole.

"Do they have a Key Stone?" Steven asked, politely.

"I don't know," Ash admitted. "Maybe they could get one from their work… anyway, thanks for identifying it."

"Steven?" Winona asked, into the silence. "Can I ask – do you know if there's a Pidgeotite available? Ash says his Pidgeot has Mega Evolved in the past, but..."

"I've not heard of it – that's news to me as well," Steven said, sitting back on Steelix' tail. "When did this happen, Ash?"

"In other Pokémon's mindscapes," Ash replied promptly. "It's kind of strange – it happened without a Mega Stone, but Misty and Brock said that it still made my Key Stone glow. It's actually how we found that this staff is a Key Stone."

"You know when I said there's a lot to learn about Mega Evolution?" Steven asked, glancing up at Winona. "How little I realized..."

He shook his head. "Well, I'll be interested in seeing this battle – which, I suspect, will involve fewer Mega Evolutions."

"Yes, I'd better get up there," Winona agreed. "We've kept young Max waiting long enough."

"It's kind of funny to hear my brother called that," May giggled. "I mean, it's really true, because he's young for a trainer… but it still sounds funny somehow."

"Misty and I discussed that once," Brock told her. "We were both called unusually young… but that was partly Agatha, and she calls everyone young. Even some people older than her…"


"Okay, let's do this!" Max said, taking a Pokéball.

"So, Max Maple," Winona began. "I'm interested – what did your father tell you about me?"

"Uh… mostly that you've been written up for balancing on places far too high for you?" Max tried.

Winona blinked. "He… does?"

She shook her head. "Well, nevermind. Uh… this battle will be a three on three, where the winner must switch out if possible. Send your first Pokémon out!"

"Okay – Arc!" Max called, sending out the Electric-type. "Let's show her what we can do!"

"Sure!" Arc agreed, licking Max's hand. "Ready?"

"Ready," Max agreed, reaching up to his Key Stone.

"Oh, not again..." Winona said, with a sigh. "Okay. Altaria, you handle this!"

Altaria formed, opening her wings as she did so and letting out a cry. She climbed with flaps of her white, cloud-feather wings, and rolled a little before circling as Arc Mega Evolved to his Mega Manectric form.

The Electric-type Mega set his stance and snarled, then glanced back at Max in a way which slightly ruined the intimidation factor. "How's that?"

Max chuckled.

"At least this one doesn't have wings," Winona said. "Unless it flies anyway?"

"No, he can't fly," Max confirmed. "Ready?"

"Begin!" Winona ordered. "Dragon Dance, Altaria!"

Altaria rose higher, flipping and whirling in the sky. A blast of electrical energy stabbed skywards from her opponent, the Thunderbolt whipping past a few feet away, and Altaria reacted by dodging higher and whipping her tail away from the next blast.

"Okay, Arc, stay calm!" Max called, as his Pokémon jumped down from the balcony to the battlefield below. "Don't waste an attack – aim and fire to try and hit!"

"Gotcha!" Arc called back, eyes fixed on the swift-moving blue-white shape as it wheeled and soared high overhead. "Let's try… Thunder!"

Lightning arced over his body, drawing together from all over to focus on his horns, then slammed out in a sky-tearing BOOM.

The incandescence made Max wince, blinking spots out of his eyes, and when he looked up again he saw – disappointingly – that Altaria was still up there.

"Sorry, Max," Arc said with a whine, looking down for a moment. "I missed..."

"What about a Discharge?" Max suggested. "That's a bit wider, right? You might hit Altaria!"

"Altaria – Kulbit on my mark," Winona instructed. "Mark!"

Altaria pulled up into an impossibly tight turn, doing a half-flip in stall before taking up the flight path again with seamless grace – and the Discharge punched into the air ahead of her, missing her thanks to the last-moment dodge.

"Hmmm..." Max said, frowning. "I guess the important bit at the moment is hitting… hey, Arc, try a weaker attack! You can do more of them at once that way!"


"A good step," Winona noted, as electricity began to spark around Arc's horns again. Rather than firing a single powerful attack, these ones relied on being quick to produce – and flicked into the sky fast enough that the Mega Manectric firing them could adjust his aim.

Altaria rolled, twisting once to avoid the line of attacks as they got close to her, and continued Dragon Dancing.

"But this isn't an ideal anti-flyer attack," she went on. "It's not a homing one, and it doesn't burst either – so you have to rely on getting the target exactly right."

The Flying-type gym leader glanced down at the audio link. "And yes, that's a hint."

"How come you didn't give Ash hints?" Max asked.

"He doesn't need them," Winona said bluntly. "Anyway… Altaria, jink right!"

Altaria banked, and Arc's continual stream of Thundershocks went wide.

"Good – now, use Mist!" Winona added.

Altaria rolled once, wings curling in, then sent them flashing out and surrounded herself with a broad cloud of wispy mist.

The mist spread, slowly but surely, and Arc's job of aiming became harder. Rather than aiming at the dodging Altaria, he was now trying to hit a fast-moving blur of blue almost completely obscured by the Mist.

"Stay calm, Arc!" Max called down. "Uh… keep firing for now, but I'll try to think of something!"

"Right!" Arc agreed, horns firing off blasts of lightning in a staggered one-two-one pattern.

"Uh… hey, did we cover Electro Ball yet?"

"Pikachu told me how," Arc said, frowning – his stream of attacks slowing as he thought. "I think I can-"

He was cut off by a keening shout of pain from Altaria.

"All right, you got her!" Max said, clenching his fist. "Great work – keep it up, then!"

Arc nodded, most of his focus on the sky, and held in an attack for a moment before firing it out surrounded by a spray of tiny Thundershocks.

That combination hit Altaria a second time, and she dropped below the Mist layer for a moment before rallying and pulling up.

"Roost!" Winona said, and her Dragon came curving in to land on the tower – the side of the tower away from Arc, of course.


"Hey, that's not fair!" Arc whined. "She's hiding!"

"Then run around and get her!" Max called down. "And make it a big attack – if she's going to stay still, use it!"

"Got it!" the canine agreed, much more happily, and broke into a loping run.

His fur snapped and crackled with stored electricity as he ran, surging up and down his yellow and blue fur, and then he had the enemy Altaria in view.

"Take this!" he called, as his horns began to blaze with electricity. "Thunder!"

Arc used Thunder.

The finger-wide bolt of lightning flashed up to the tower, and hit the Roosting Altaria right in the breast – knocking her backwards with an undignified squawk and producing some grey scorch marks on her downy blue feathers, but not knocking her out.

"Good!" Max called, looking at Altaria. "One more like that!"

Electricity built up on Arc's flanks again, and focused into his horns ready to fire.

"Takeoff!" Winona snapped, and Altaria's wings went out-up-down with a fluid grace. She was in the air in an instant, and the second Thunder went through empty air.

"Great..." Max sighed. "Okay, new plan… Arc, remember what we were saying about Electroball? Can you do that?"

"I can try!" Arc replied. "What were you thinking?"

"Overcharge it, then shoot it upwards and burst it with a Thundershock!" Max explained. "It'll hit a big area, so you don't need a direct hit!"

"Cool!"

Arc wasn't quite sure how to pull off an Electroball, but – he reasoned – he didn't need to be for this. He just had to make a good attack which exploded when destabilized, and he felt he could do that – so he began pacing around in a circle, muscles bunching and generating extra electricity to make this Electroball as powerful as he could manage.

As he watched, Max heard Winona mutter something.

"...not even against Ash Ketchum..."

"What?" he asked, puzzled.

"Altaria!" Winona called, voice loud enough for her Humming Pokémon to hear it. "Earthquake!"

"Earth – look out Arc!" Max shouted.

Arc looked up. "Eh?"

Altaria dove through the mist layer like a meteorite, cloudy wings and blue tail streaming out behind her. The mist cleared with a shoom as the wind of her passage blew it away, and then Altaria hit the ground with a sound like the breaking of mountains.

Earth heaved up in a ring which expanded out from Altaria's impact point, and when the shockwave reached Arc it knocked him ten feet into the air, before going away for long enough that it could hit him very hard indeed as he came down and it came back up.

When the dust cloud faded, Arc was back to Manectric – out cold in a crater shaped like his Mega-Evolved self.

Altaria let out a cry of victory, then sat down quite firmly.

"Arc!" Max said, shocked. "I didn't think – that..."

"An Altaria is dangerous in the skies," Winona said. "Especially when they have time to prepare. Unfortunately, I'll have to withdraw her for now – she seems to be having a bit of trouble seeing straight – so select your next Pokémon."


Max recalled Arc, did a double-check to make sure the Mega Stone wasn't left in the crater, then nodded. "Right, I think I know who to use."

He sent out Casper, and shook his head. "Sorry, Casper – I know you can float, but I don't think it's a good idea for you to battle so soon."

"Yeah, I guess so," Casper agreed with a sigh. "Can I watch?"

"Of course," Max agreed.

I'll watch too! Jirachi said, floating up out of Max's backpack.

"I did say no Legendaries," Winona reminded him.

"I know, he's just watching," Max assured her, idly tapping on his Pokédex. "Okay, Kris – you can float, so let's see how you do in the air!"

Affirmative, Kris confirmed. Stand by, ready… set up. Battleform.

Kris drew herself around her projector in a collection of vectors, then floated up into the air. I am prepared for battle.

"Porygon, interesting," Winona said. "So… Swellow!"

Swellow emerged with a flash and a cloud of sparkles, doing a slow roll and showing off her strikingly pale colouration.

"Begin!" she added.


Swellow flashed to maximum speed in a moment, wings a blur, and curved away on a long looping trajectory before coming diving right back in with her wings held stiff.

"Look out!" Max said, and Kris materialized a Reflect screen as quickly as she could.

The Aerial Ace hit it, smashing through, but Swellow lost momentum and her Aerial Ace only scored a glancing blow on Kris' side.

"Agility!" Max added. "As much Agility as you can – you need to be able to keep up with her!"

Confirmed, Kris agreed, beginning to pulse with patterns of arrows. Engaging Agility.

Swellow came around for another attack, beak shining, and stabbed it at Kris as she began to accelerate.

Ow.

Kris' vector head opened, and three lights flashed inside. Engaging point defence weaponry:Tri Attack.

Her head swivelled around, firing flashes of Tri Attack in all directions, and Swellow flew a respectful distance away – then swerved abruptly with wings flashing and plunged in closer.

The Aerial Ace hit Kris harder, this time, but Swellow didn't get away scot-free – a strobing flicker of power hit her wing, and she grimaced before pulling up and away with the remaining momentum of her attack.

"Good, you're making it harder for her!" Max said – then blinked, startled, as Swellow dove down under Kris before attacking from below and behind.

Kris couldn't fire there, opposite her beak, and this time she had to rely on a shaky and last-ditch Reflect shield. The Wing Attack broke through, hitting Kris hard and knocking her forwards, and she tumbled for a moment before righting herself.

Agility at 65 percent, Kris reported, and her blue feet began to shimmer. They broke apart, reforming into knife-like wings either side, and her tail followed by reconfiguring into a speed-based shape as well.

Her weapons compartment switched modes, ditching the Tri Attack for a Psybeam dish, and she spun to catch Swellow out as the swift Flying-type hit her with a Quick Attack.

The beam of psionic energy scored only a glancing blow, but Swellow had had to dodge with lightning speed to avoid anything more damaging.

"Swellow, stop her before she gets too fast!" Winona said, as Kris continued to adjust her form into something geared for aerial combat. "Hyper Beam!"

"Kris, use Conversion2!" Max said quickly.

Engaging conversion fields. Narrowing type… selecting…

Kris's whole body flashed as she switched type, her colour-scheme changing as she adjusted to a type better able to defend against Normal-typed attacks.

Conversion-2 complete, the semiavian reported as Swellow opened her beak.

"All right, Ghost!" Max grinned, seeing the resulting purple-grey highlights – a moment before the Hyper Beam speared out, and connected with Kris anyway.

The Porygon was blown backwards by the attack – fortunately it hit at an angle, so she was knocked out of the stream instead of carried along with it – and fell almost halfway to the ground before regaining control and pulling back up again.

"How did-" Max cut the sentence off. "Does your Swellow have Foresight?"

"No, Scrappy," Winona replied. "You got unlucky, there."

"Yeah, tell me about it..." Max said, wincing as Kris limped back into the air. "Recover, quick!"

Engaging healing subsystems.

The flickering, distorted panels marking Kris' battle-damage began to heal, solidifying and becoming more healthily angular.

"And just a bit more Agility!" Max said, keeping an eye on Swellow as she circled. That next Hyper Beam would be ready sooner or later…

Agility at one hundred percent.

With those words, Kris' form shifted further.

The blockiness of her basic form was entirely gone, now, replaced by sleek lines which seemed almost as though it was wrong for them to be standing still. There were swept, curling wings and a stubby tail, rising out of a body that was shaped almost like a dart.

There was also a trio of small intakes on the leading edges, and larger outlets on the back.

Sonic Form, Kris announced – and went.


Swellow tilted left, wings biting at the air, and swerved out of the line of fire. As her orange-and-green tail flicked left-right-left to steer her away from the three-coloured Tri Attack stitching through the air, she accelerated – powering away from the high-speed Porygon before turning and coming back around.

Windblades spun off her wings as she dove in, sharp eyes watching the minute movements of Kris' weapons module and adjusting her path to avoid being struck.

A moment before they would have collided, she feinted left then went down – sweeping past Kris close enough to get in a cheeky Wing Attack, and letting the Air Slash she left behind hit home as well.

She pulled up-around-and-down in a fast Immelmann turn, aiming to get on Kris' tail for a Hyper Beam, then clenched her beak in irritation as the currently-a-Ghost-type swerved away and the chance was lost.

Not one to waste a good beam attack position, however, she instead inhaled before sending a tightly-focused Heat Wave out to rake Kris from the side. The digital Pokémon took a hit to the side, then formed a Light Screen and pulled away again under its protection.

"Aerial Ace!" Winona called from below, and the Shiny Pokémon agreed.

Her wings blurred, pushing her harder and faster, and she swooped in on a complicated corkscrew path which gave her full freedom of movement until the last possible second – then she committed, and slammed into (and through) Kris with her talons outstretched.

Kris replied by going to full power, momentarily outpacing Swellow, and then turning back in and firing a stream of small Tri Attack blasts.

"Try another Hyper Beam!" Winona ordered.

Swellow complied, wings settling down to a fast but not frantic rhythm she could keep up for hours, and began letting the attack charge.

It would only take a few moments.


"Kris, Conversion2 again!" Max said, watching her colouration as she kicked in her afterburners.

Converting, Kris stated, loudly enough for Max to hear. Her colouration shimmered, cycling through several colours before settling on a lustrous silver sheened with blue and pink.


Swellow's Hyper Beam fired, a torrent of orange energy which flashed out across the sky like a flaming spoke of a wheel – tracking the evading Kris, with Swellow making small movements of her beak to adjust for Kris making large movements with her entire body.

This time, though, it was a lot less damaging to the Porygon. Not only was there a Light Screen up, but Kris was Steel-type – so the attack blazed off much of its energy, leaving Kris with scorch marks but still able to battle.

Then the newly-converted Steel-type charged in, tongues of flame behind her from all three of her Agility-born engines, and Swellow turned to evade.

Red lights flashed behind her, passing and then hitting her. Engaging lock… engaging… engaging…

Swellow turned, dove, climbed, spun and twisted, trying to make sure the Lock-on failed. Every time she pulled a particularly radical move, the lock broke – but then Kris turned in and reestablished it, and the next time Swellow used that trick the targeting system held.

Risking a look back as she stood almost on her tail to try and get away, Swellow spotted a glowing orb of yellow light on the tip of Kris' nose.

She had no illusions about what that was going to try and do.

Diving, Swellow spiralled around her trainer's tower, trying to lose her pursuer – and managed to put solid metal between herself and the Porygon, breaking the Lock-On and pulling up into clear air.

Then Kris fired the Zap Cannon, and burst it with a Tri Attack as it got close.

Caught by the fringes of the Electric burst, Swellow let out a keen of pain and wobbled a little in mid-air. She tried to gain distance, but Kris followed up with a further stream of Tri Attack which walked along her side from tail to breast and sent her plunging towards the ground.


"An impressive battle," Winona said, returning her shiny Swellow before she actually hit the ground. "And a much better handling of the problems of airborne battle than the previous one."

She picked up another Pokéball. "So – send out your third Pokémon."

"I guess the only option is Delta!" Max said, releasing his Water-type. "Okay, Delta, ready for this?"

"Sure am!" Delta confirmed, flapping his wings and climbing.

"A Mantine, interesting," Winona mused. "That does put a new spin on this battle. Pelipper, go!"

"Huh, okay," Max blinked. "I guess we're getting wet… Delta, get above him and use Surf! Try to make him crash!"

Pelipper's eyes shimmered green as the water came crashing towards him, and he deflected it with a pulsing green Protect shield.

"Keep it up!" Max ordered, and Delta dove with water spraying from his mouth. More of it spattered off Pelipper's shield, and then the Water Bird Pokémon pulled up in a sudden motion and opened his beak.

His shimmering green energy shield dropped, and he instead swallowed almost the entire rest of the Surf attack.

"Uh oh..." Delta said, wincing, and then Pelipper fired the water back – with interest.

"That doesn't work!" Max grinned. "Delta's got Water Absorb!"

"Yeah, but I'm still wet," Delta added, wings flapping as he pulled up. "This tastes salty..."

"There's more to an attack than damage," Winona said, as her Pelipper flew sedately towards the edge of the arena before making a wide, gentle banking turn. "And there's more to flying than just speed – sometimes going slow and steady is the best option."

"Delta, use Fly!" Max decided. "Get up and out of the way!"

"Shock Wave," Winona replied.

Pelipper's beak opened, and an electric light flashed inside.

The individual Shock Wave attacks that pulsed out were not very powerful, and would have embarrassed just about any Electric-type worth the name.

Unfortunately for Delta, he was a Water-type and a Flying-type, and was covered with salt water to boot. The stream of small Shock Waves hit him hard, and he flinched in mid-air before abandoning his climb to try and dive out of range.

"Right down to the floor!" Max said. "Try and use the ground for cover?"

Flying slowly and steadily, making sure that the Mantine couldn't dive out of the way, Pelipper kept up his remorseless stream of shocks. They didn't all hit, but there were so many of them that Delta was under near-constant bombardment, and only managed to avoid being knocked out by flying so close to the ground that his Water Pulse could knock up a muddy wave to fly through.

Thus plastered with mud, Delta was able to endure the next salvo much more easily, and climbed laboriously up to counterattack.

"Sky Drop," Winona added.

The Pelipper stopped firing, and closed in directly on Delta instead. His beak yawned wide, and he gulped up his startled opponent in one go before flying up-and-around in a slow loop.

Instead of levelling out at the bottom of the loop, Pelipper dove straight for the ground instead. His beak twitched and he grimaced as Delta fought from inside, but he held his prisoner in place – until they were close enough to the ground, when he used Hydro Pump and fired Delta straight back at the ground.

Delta hit with a thump, and twitched once before flopping back.


May blinked. "That was fast..."

"I guess that Pelipper's better than Delta was expecting," Brock said, thinking. "The Shockwave really made it so Delta was reacting rather than acting – and a Mantine's really not the Pokémon you want to use when there's Electric attacks around."

"So… that means it's Pelipper and Altaria against Kris, right?" Ash checked. "That's actually pretty close..."


"I'm sure you've noticed," Winona began, returning her Pelipper, "that this final battle is going to be a test of which Pokémon can set up the quickest. It is, in short, about takeoff."

"Okay, I guess that makes sense," Max agreed. "Okay… ready, Kris?"

Kris materialized once more, back to her base form. Confirmed. Preparing for abbreviated start-up sequence.

Winona pressed the button on her Pokéball. "Altaria… go! Dragon Dance!"

"Now!" Max said, pointing. "Ice Beam!"

Kris' beak hinged open and a blast of white-blue ice came out, racing towards Altaria and hitting her as she began to climb.

"I thought she might need this!" Max explained, as Altaria managed to break away from the Ice-type attack – though not without some frost on her side – and Kris aimed upwards to retarget. "So I told her not to use it before!"

"Clever," Winona agreed. "Change of plans, Altaria – Earthquake!"

"Gravity!" Max ordered.

Altaria flipped in mid-air, abandoning her dance, and turned to dive towards Kris.

She'd just managed to get into dive position when the Gravity reached out to her and pulled her down with a slamming, devastating force.

Kris determined that there had been a miscalculation somewhere.

...segfault.

Then Altaria – pulled down by a gravity field several times stronger than normal – slammed directly into her vectored form.

It was almost as large an impact as the one which had knocked out Arc, and both Pokémon were rendered hors de combat by the slamming blow.


"...ouch," Max said, wincing at the crater.

He pointed. "Does… does this mean you did most of the damage to your gym?"

"I must admit, it does..." Winona said, with a sigh. "Well, young Max Maple. It looks like you have lost this gym battle."

"I kind of figured," Max admitted. "Maybe I should have sent out Guy."

"What is Guy?"

"My Breloom," the young trainer explained, as he started down the ladder to get Kris' projector.

"A Breloom is not a good Pokémon in a Flying gym," Winona said. She sent out her Skarmory and flew down herself, returning Altaria as she did so.

"Yeah, but that kind of thing works for Ash..."


"An interesting battle, Mr. Ketchum," Winona pronounced, taking a Feather Badge and presenting it to Ash. "This badge is well-earned."

Ash took it, and started looking for the key to his badge case.

"And – here," Winona added, passing another Feather Badge to Max.

He was floored. "Wait – what? I… thought I lost?"

"You did," she confirmed. "But you showed that you could pick up the tricks of flight very quickly. And when I tested you on preparation you turned out to have been preparing for the battle from when you first sent your Porygon out… which was what made up my mind."

Winona closed his hand around the metal. "You have earned it," she clarified. "Well done – and I hope this is a reminder that badges aren't just about fighting."


"...hey, Max?" Casper asked, floating up a little. "I had an idea for a trick to play."

"Oh, yeah, you like those," Max nodded. "What kind of thing?"

"Well, I've already tried some of the classics," Casper mused. "Like the clappy thing in an envelope-"

"That was you?" Max asked, then chuckled. "Tyranitar stepped on it!"

"Yeah, I had to try really hard not to laugh before anyone else..." Casper admitted. "I couldn't do the custard pie thing because I ate it – Brock's a great cook – and… well, I wanted to do the shoelaces thing."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Max said, frowning. "I mean, Ash would be fine, but I'm pretty sure Brock or May could hurt themselves."

"It'll be fine," Casper said. "Let me explain..."


"I keep forgetting you were in a film, Ash," May said, watching as Elijah and his Camerupt rolled up their screen.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I'm kind of glad I was made up so much… I'm more famous than I'm really comfortable with anyway."

"Then maybe you should have thought about that before you did it," Pikachu said blandly.

"I wanted to do something nice for Lara and the others at the ranch," Ash shrugged. "They liked it, and… well, I got Muk back. That's kind of the important bit, for me."

"Actually, how did the film do for them?" Brock asked. "I never asked before."

"Lara said they've ended up with quite a lot of money," Ash replied. "It wasn't a blockbuster or anything, but..." he shrugged. "Apparently they get extra royalties when interest comes back after I do a League battle?"

May stood up. "Well, I guess we should get going… did everyone enjoy the film?"

Nods, roars, and squeaks from the couple of dozen Pokémon either sitting on seats or otherwise resting within line of sight of the screen told everyone who could hear that – yes, they had.

"I didn't," Swellow said, in the silence after everyone else had spoken. "Too slow!"

"Don't you only like films with airborne combat sequences?" Ash asked her.

"...yes?" Swellow asked. "I'm not sure I understand the-"

Blaziken fell over with an undignified squawk, catching himself with one hand just before he faceplanted.

"...what just happened?" Brock asked.

"Blaziken!" May called, hurrying over. "Are you okay?"

"Someone tied his shoelaces together," Lucario said, looking down as he stood himself.

"I'm wearing shoes?" Blaziken blinked, confirming it with a glance. "So I am… why am I wearing shoes? I wasn't this morning."

Casper sniggered.

"Whose are they?" Brock asked, bending down to help Blaziken take the unfamiliar items off. "They're not mine – I don't have any bright blue sneakers."

"Don't look at me," Ash said, raising his hands. "I've got a spare pair, but they're red and black – and I stick to the boots anyway."

"May?" Brock checked, and she shook her head.

Casper started laughing, and most of the people and Pokémon looked at him.

"They're kind of mine," Max said, speaking up. "I got a pair of really cheap sneakers last time we were in town – Casper asked for help with the prank."

"Aww, you gave it away..." the Shuppet said.

Yes, he gave it away, Kris agreed, speaking up so as to provide translation. But you were the one who started laughing.

"Oh, great," May sighed. "Was he the one who did the hair dye too?"

"I made sure it was wash-out," Casper defended himself.

"Was something wrong with the film?" Elijah asked, noticing the circle of humans and Pokémon.

"No, nothing wrong," Ash assured him. "Thanks for the showing."

"Not a problem!" Elijah smiled. "Hey, Camerupt – where do you think we should go next?"

Camerupt snorted out flame and grey wind-blown ash.

"Yeah, sounds good. We're headed off to Fortree – you said you'd come from there, roads good?"

"Pretty good," Brock supplied, taking the second sneaker off. As Blaziken rubbed his scaled instep with relief, he stood. "Just watch out for Kecleon, there's a couple of them who like standing in the way and waiting for people to bump into them."

"Thanks for the warning," Elijah grinned. "Okay, take care, guys!"


"A little warmer, please," Brock requested.

Torkoal nodded, took a breath, and let the fire burning merrily away inside his chest get just a little hotter.

Brock looked at the steam for a moment, then nodded. "That's fine. Keep it there, please."

"Got it," Torkoal agreed. "I'll try and make sure it doesn't boil over, too."

"Great," Brock said with a nod. "I'll go and get the beans."

Torkoal watched him go, and listened to the bubbling.

He was quite looking forward to this one, actually. There were the remnants of about six different kinds of pasta packet in the saucepan, and he hoped Brock had gotten it about right…

A peep alerted him to the presence of Swablu, and he cleared his throat. "Watch out, the water's hot," he said.

"I can see," Swablu agreed, coming to rest just in front of the Fire-type. "I'd kind of like to be able to help out cooking like you can."

"I guess it depends on your personal skills," Torkoal mused. "I mean, I'm someone who can do heat, and that works well for cooking. But your main thing is singing, and that's more… I don't know, accompaniment?"

"Only if you want everyone to fall asleep," Swablu joked. "And I think Brock would have to be a much worse cook for that."

He sighed. "I kind of wonder what it'd be like to be as strong as that Altaria we saw in Fortree..."

"I actually think that, if you did evolve, you'd be the first Pokémon May's had which would be able to carry her," Torkoal volunteered. He toned down his heat a tad until the pasta stopped sounding like it was boiling over, then returned it to the previous level. "How does that sound?"

"Oh, I'd love to do that!" Swablu smiled. "I think..."

He trailed off as Forretress rolled past.

"What?" Torkoal said, frowning.

"Is she… rolling uphill?"

Torkoal looked. "...you're right, I never noticed that before. How does she do that?"


Lucario's palm flashed forwards. "Ha!"

Ash blocked, both arms scissoring up to catch the Steel-type's fist between them and force it up, and there was a flicker of blue Aura as the trainer then twisted his right hand at the wrist and grabbed Lucario just behind the arm-spike.

In response to Ash trapping his wrist, Lucario jumped – taking both feet off the ground, but using a push so he didn't put too much weight on Ash's arm.

The reason for that was his feet – which went forwards into a double-strike into Ash's stomach, and pushed them both apart violently enough Ash had to let go of the wrist.

Ash braked on the floor, his boots raising a clod of turf as they dug in for a moment, and he wobbled – then turned that wobble into another quick backwards step, gaining space and making Lucario's next punch hit nothing but air.

Using the space, Ash spun up an Aura Sphere, and fired it – at low power, of course – at his fellow Aura adept.

Lucario dodged aside, moving fast enough that the Aura Sphere couldn't guide itself into him, and then did a rising kick which caught Ash underneath the jaw and launched him into the air.

There was a thud as Ash hit the tree.

"You know, if someone was watching, they'd think you'd gone berserk," May commented lightly, combing Glaceon's fine fur with a plastic currycomb. "Most people wouldn't be able to walk it off."

Ash shook his head, clearing the residual dizziness, and grinned. "Okay, that's a point to you!"

"It could hardly be otherwise," Lucario said blandly. "Unless the point system was to be the first to strike the tree."

Ash took his stance again, rolling his neck, and breathed slowly in and out.

"My turn," he said, and pushed up onto the balls of his feet. Springing just slightly, one hand up and open palm with the other tucked in close to his waist.

Then he darted forwards, striking with the forward palm in an awkward movement which overextended him straight away.

Lucario dodged, stepping smartly aside, and Ash fell forwards palm-first.

As it struck the ground, Ash's left arm bent and took the momentum of his stumble. At the moment he stopped moving, his other arm – the one he hadn't used – flicked out and up in a rising sideways punch, boosted by Ash launching himself back off the floor.

Caught a little off guard by Ash deliberately flinging himself straight at the ground, Lucario was slower to react than normal. His counter was late, and Ash's fist hit him in the chin on the way past with a crackle of electricity.

Coming back to his feet, Ash used the momentum to add in a spin kick. Twisting on his right leg, he lashed out with his left with Aura-boosted force.

Lucario blocked, a textbook motion, but the force Ash had put into it drove him back a step.

"And point to you," he said, with a nod, once he'd regained his equilibrium. "I suppose I should have expected something like that."

The bell rang.

"Okay, time's up," May said, picking up the repurposed egg timer and twisting it. "Who are you fighting next?"

"That'd be me!" Pikachu said, stepping forwards.

"Are you sure this is okay, Ash?" Max asked. "I mean, you don't normally do this long."

"We're nearly at LaRousse," Ash explained. "I'm nervous about it… after what happened in places like Forina and the Togepi Kingdom, I really don't want to mess up..."

"I wondered why you asked for Charizard," Max admitted. "Yeah… I hope we don't mess up."

"Me too," May agreed. She sighed, then scratched Glaceon behind one ear. "Still, I've got some great help!"

Glaceon's tail lashed happily.

"Okay, here goes!" Ash said, reminding everyone what had started the conversation. He adopted a slightly different stance – more tightly focused, on flat feet – and faced Pikachu. "Ready?"

"Sure am!" Pikachu said, cheeks sparking. "Take this!"

The Electric-type jumped forwards, tail flashing silver, and Ash met his Iron Tail with an Aura-enhanced punch.

Both of them went flying backwards from the impact.

"I'm on the phone!" Brock called from his tent. "Can you guys keep it down?"

"Sorry…" Ash said, blushing, as he picked himself up from the damp grass.

"Sorry, Philena," Brock went on, more quietly. "Just Ash being Ash..."

"I guess we should wait until he's done," Ash said quietly.


AN:


And Max's battle against Winona. Featuring some of the pitfalls that can strike someone not prepared for aerial combat, and some of the ways that you can make up for it.

As the ending suggests, I'm starting work on the Destiny Deoxys movie. That may cause a certain delay.