This is the first of four chapters today.
"And there we go," May said, framing the view out of the window with her forefingers and thumbs. "LaRousse City."
"Wonder why they built it on an island," Ash frowned. "I mean, isn't it harder to get to?"
"I guess it makes it easier for boats," May shrugged.
"And it makes it easier for them to do experiments," Pikachu added. "That way things can't… uh… well, I was going to say escape..."
"Actually, that's probably the right word," agreed Max. "Remember the robots?"
"I don't think we can forget the robots," May winced. "What are we going to do about it, actually?"
Ash frowned.
"I don't know," he admitted. "I can remember some of the really important bits, like having to find that other Deoxys and help it out, but I can't remember what caused it all..."
"I guess we'll just have to make it up as we go along," Max decided. "It does kind of seem to be what we're best at."
He glanced down. "At least this time we've got extra help – right, Arc?"
"Sure thing!" Arc agreed. He looked up, taking in the view with a smile, then laid his head back on Max's lap. "I'll protect you from all the evil food machines. They're tasty, right?"
"No, it wasn't the food machines, it was the… security robots, right?" May asked.
Ash shrugged. "The main thing I remember is... cubes bad."
He considered, then brightened. "Oh, yeah, and – don't forget to get your passes."
"Right, they're going to be important," May nodded. "Or… could be?"
"Well, it's that or we can't use anything in the city," Brock volunteered.
"So… how does this city work, then?" Latias asked, floating safely above their heads as transparent as air.
"It's all electronic," Ash explained. "There's robots everywhere – even the bins can detect when you're throwing something away and open to let it in – and you get cards which are used for everything from security to shopping."
"And there's these… moving road things?" Max said, trying to remember. "I think so… those were just a bit inconvenient, though."
"Yeah..." Ash agreed.
"That looks like one of the robots, up there," Pikachu said, getting their attention.
Ash followed his gaze, and nodded. "Looks like! Okay, let's get our passports!"
"And don't forget to make sure you get a good picture," May added. She winced. "I had to live with that stupid gasp-face for a week..."
"Got it," Max agreed.
Welcome! The robot said, in a pleasant electronic voice. You are now in: LaRousse City!
Mine's better, Dexter muttered.
Welcome again! Smile!
Forewarned this time, May smiled properly, and the camera flashed. Once for her, once for Ash, once for Brock and once for Max… then it shifted slightly.
"I'm not sure I'm the right kind of person for that," Lucario said, inspecting the camera.
It flashed anyway, and then tilted up about forty degrees.
"Wait, is it-" Latias began, then there was a sixth and final flash.
In the main LaRousse control station, the head Jenny looked up from her control panel. "Eh?"
Visitor data confirmed. Citizenship and point of origin recorded.
The six new pictures flashed up on the screen – showing four humans, one Pokémon, and a patch of the station roof.
"That's strange..." Jenny said, and highlighted the Pokémon first.
Identity: Lucario. Origin: Sinnoh. Known associates: Sinnoh Grand Champion Cynthia.
"Override," Jenny sighed. "I knew it was a bad idea to use the quick workaround when Cynthia visited..."
Override accepted. Please enter new identity and point of origin.
Jenny frowned, looking at the other photos taken at the same time.
After a moment, she brightened. "Oh, I know whose you must be!"
She tapped on her console. "Identity… Lucario… and Origin… well, best assume Pallet Town for now..."
Linking his data file with Ash's, she confirmed the change. Then sat back, looking at the blank image.
"...shouldn't the passports have come out by now?" Ash asked, as the robot displayed an hourglass for a mouth.
Lucario shrugged.
"Hey, any idea what did this?" Jenny asked, glancing over her shoulder. "This one's blank."
One of the techs hurried down, and typed a diagnostic into a control panel.
"Well, it looks like the robot saw something," he said, frowning. "But there's no way to tell what. It uses body heat to find who to check on, it's usually good at not picking up Pokémon… what did it say?"
Jenny played the file.
Identity: Ceiling tile. Point of origin: Shinagawa Glassworks.
"Well, that's no good," the tech said. "Uh… hold on, try this."
He tapped out a new identity on the keyboard, and glanced at Jenny for approval.
"I like it," she agreed.
Hitting the enter key, he confirmed the change.
The robot's hourglass vanished, and one of the cubes slid open. These are your passports! it stated cheerfully. Keep them with you whenever you are in LaRousse City!
Ash took his, then passed the others around.
Your passports can be used for shopping and other things, the robot went on.
"Not bad," Ash said, showing them his picture. "Nice smile, Pikachu!"
"Of course!" Pikachu agreed, tail pressing gently against Ash's arm.
"Aww..." Max sighed. "I guess Arc's not tall enough to fit."
"I didn't even try to fit Steelix in… the building, let alone the picture," Brock joked. "But I guess-"
"I'm not from Pallet Town," Lucario said, looking with some bemusement at his card. "I was born in the Lucario Kingdom, or Rota – depending which version you count – but neither is Pallet Town."
"I guess they just need something to fill in," Ash shrugged.
"But if they do, what explains this?" Latias asked.
She handed down her card, and Ash took it from what looked like thin air.
"Let's see..." he said, then snorted.
"Ash?" May asked, concerned.
"That's kind of cool," Pikachu said. "So, Latias, you're the Mysterious Stranger from the town of Who-Knows-Where?"
"I think I'd have preferred a normal picture," Latias huffed. "Do you think we can change it?"
"It's not really important enough," Brock judged. "I think it'll be okay to just use this one – it presumably works just the same."
"You might want to find somewhere to put that," Ash said, looking over his shoulder. "It looks kind of strange to just be floating in midair."
"What, you mean like have one of you carry it?" Latias squeaked. "I guess so – but I'll want it back if I need it!"
"Of course you can have it when you want it," Ash agreed, reaching up a hand.
"Ash," May said, warningly.
"What?" Ash asked, still walking, as he took the Mysterious Stranger pass. "What's – whoah!"
"...you're about to reach the moving walkways," May finished, with a sigh.
Lucario blinked. "Who here didn't expect that to happen?"
"I thought it would," Max said.
"Same here," Brock agreed.
Latias just sniggered.
"This is stupid!" Ash said, running against the travelator. "How come you have to cross this bit to get to the bit that goes the other way?"
"No idea," Pikachu admitted. "Is there an underpass we missed or something?"
"I can't see one..." Ash replied, speeding up a little and making some headway. "These are really fast!"
"You're on the fast one," Pikachu pointed out.
Ash glanced down, blushed, and switched to the slow one. That let him run against it faster than it was moving, and he made his way back to his friends before jumping off and panting. "Phew..."
"Hey, Ash?" Brock asked. "You might want to look behind you."
Ash did so, and did a double-take. "Entei?"
Entei jumped from one fast-moving track to the other, twisting in mid-air and breaking into an easy lope to hold position relative to the friends. "This is actually quite a good exercise regime, you know..."
Just to check, Ash looked down at his belt – confirming that it wasn't just another Entei entirely. Or a robot. "When did you come out?"
"Well, you said something about really fast, and it piqued my interest," Entei replied, still running. "These don't seem very practical… which way are we going?"
"That way," Ash said, pointing. "The Battle Tower."
Entei considered.
"I could help you get across the moving walkways so you're on the right one?"
"That'd be great," Ash smiled. "Could you?"
"Holy-" someone said, biting off what could have been a curse word. "Is that an Entei?"
Ash turned to see who it was, and watched as a group of trainers – two older boys and a pair of twin girls – went gliding past on the walkways headed towards the Battle Tower.
"Wait, that's got to be Ash Ketchum!" the other boy said. "And who's the lovely lady with him?"
"None of your business," May muttered.
"Max?" Brock asked, quietly. "Was that what I-"
"Yes," Max said simply.
"...I feel like saying sorry to half a country."
"How come you're in LaRousse?" the taller of the two boys asked, stepping off the travelator so they could talk for longer. "I'm Rafe, by the way."
"Sid!" said the shorter. "And these are Rafe's sisters."
"Hi!" both girls waved.
"Hi," Ash replied, a little awkwardly. "And yeah, we were just passing through on the way to Lilycove."
"Then I guess you're here for the Battle Tower," Rafe said. "I'll show you!"
"Thanks, but – I think the main thing we need help with is how to use the walkways," Ash said with a shrug.
"You just… stand on them?" Sid asked. "It's not hard."
"Then how do we get to your one?"
"Oh, that's easy too!" said Audrey, one of the twins. "You go around that corner, there's a stair in the lobby of the third building on the right, you go under the street and come up on this side!"
"That's… easy?" May blinked. "What's difficult?"
"I see you shan't require my assistance," Entei said. "I will amuse myself running the wrong way up the high speed section."
"Just remember to move if someone's coming the other way," Brock said.
"Mind if I join you?" Lucario asked.
"Not at all."
"I guess that Legendaries really are a lot like other Pokémon..." Rafe said, blinking, as the Fire Beast of Ecruteak ran the wrong way up the travelator.
Max and Arc jumped carefully over the wrong-way sections of the walkway. "I guess we'll just have to do this… okay, that's the right one. Ready?"
"Yep!" Arc agreed.
They jumped on, and promptly fell over.
"It's harder than it looks..." Max muttered, as he got back up.
"We'd better follow him," May decided. "Come on!"
She and Brock got onto the slower walkway going in the right direction, using Max's trick to get between them, then switched to the faster one.
Ash just jumped straight to the faster one and began to run up it. "Did you hurt anything?"
"No," Max said, rubbing his knee anyway. "Just a bit bruised."
"I'm okay, too," Arc said, shaking his fur out. He took an experimental step, landed on the fast section, and yelped with shock as he shot off.
"Can you-" Ash began, looking up, and Latias swooshed by overhead.
She reached out with invisible claws, steadied Arc so that he could get his footing, and then – still invisible – ran into a girl with a laptop and knocked her over.
Latias trilled in surprise as the weight landed on her, and she managed to grab the laptop before it hit the ground.
"...how many times has this guy won Leagues?" Rafe asked, blinking.
"No, he's good," May defended. "It's just… this kind of thing happens all the time."
"That about sums it up," Ash agreed, as the girl got up.
"What did I run into?" she asked.
Latias decloaked, and gave a shy little wave. "Um… hi?" she squeaked.
Forgetting her irritation, the girl stared. "Are… are you a Latias?"
"She sure is!" Ash said. "She's still a bit shy sometimes, though."
"I've never seen one in person before," the girl explained. "Oh – I'm Rebecca, by the way."
"She's a battle expert," Sid explained. "Her laptop has all her strategies."
"How does that work?" Ash asked. "I mean, if you have to look them up… I guess it seems like that would take way too long."
"It's simple," Rebecca said, taking the laptop back and beginning her explanation. "I store information on possible counters and the appropriate resolution to that kind of opponent, so for example how to handle Fire-types with Metagross, and..."
She stopped.
"Is that an Entei?"
Entei loped past, going faster than them despite being on the high-speed travelator going the other way, and Lucario followed with a ground-eating stride.
"Let me guess, you've never seen an Entei in person before either," Max chuckled.
"Well… no," Rebecca said. "I guess I've just never been in the right place before."
Should I- Jirachi asked Max.
"No, I don't think so," Max replied quietly.
"So… right, I remember seeing something about you having a Latias and all three of the Ecruteak Beasts," Rebecca added, missing the byplay. "And you clearly have your trademark Lucario and Pikachu with you… who else should I expect at the Battle Tower?"
"I'm trademark?" Pikachu asked.
"I'm more surprised that I am," Lucario said, dropping back to jog alongside.
"Hey, is that Ash Ketchum?" someone asked.
"I think it is!" another trainer said. "Hey, can we have your-"
"Is that his Entei?"
"Whose is the Latias?"
"...this could take a while," Ash sighed.
"Poor Ash," May sighed.
"Yeah," Max agreed, as they leaned on the railing and looked down into the lobby. "He's been delayed five minutes already."
"Should we just head up to the gallery?" May asked. "That way we can watch the match."
"Sounds good," her brother agreed. "What do you guys think?"
Swablu peeped agreement, and Arc yapped. "Sounds great!"
"Hey, Brock!" Max added. "We'll be in the stands!"
"All right," Brock agreed. "Just make sure you've got your passes!"
Max checked his pocket. "Yup!"
"Okay, enough is enough!" Ash said, shaking his head. "Sorry, guys, but I'm kind of here to do stuff myself."
"Aw..." someone sighed. "I was looking forward to..."
"I didn't think I was this famous," Ash muttered.
"To be fair, Ash," Pikachu began. "There's very good reasons for you to deserve being this well known."
The Electric-type pointed. "One of them's over there trying to explain why he can't do autographs."
"...simply can't hold a pen," Entei was saying. "I'm able to scorch something, and my brother can both read and write, but his penmonship isn't great..."
"Can you bite the edge of the book, then?" asked the fan.
Entei focused on the small book, then shrugged his mane. "...oh, whatever, let's give it a go."
"I guess," Ash agreed. "Sorry, everyone, I'm going to head off now."
"But-"
"Come on!"
"So, how do you plan to get to the escalator?" Lucario asked, inspecting the crowd. "There's a lot of people."
"I don't," Ash replied. "Hold on, Pikachu."
"Wait, you're not going to-"
Ash crouched down, and jumped with a flare of blue Aura. He reached twenty feet into the air, dropped slightly, and grabbed onto the edge of the mezzanine rail.
Taking a breath, he clambered over the edge and let out a sigh of relief.
"That works," Lucario agreed. "Entei? I think we're going."
Entei's eyes crossed as he tried to push some paper out of his mouth. "All right, just give me a moment..."
"Thanks!" the autograph-hunter said, carefully writing Entei's name next to the toothmarks.
"How come the battle tower's so big?" Ash asked, lost already. "I could understand if there were dozens of arenas, but I saw the floor plan. There's only about five."
Pikachu crossed his arms.
"Sorry about jolting you," Ash added, chuckling. "It was that or get Latias to pick me up, and that would have just made it worse."
"What, and jumping that high didn't?" Pikachu asked, before remembering he was supposed to be sulking.
Ash shook his head. "It was… uh, well, it seemed more sensible at the time."
He presented his card to a scanner, which beeped. Hello, Mysterious Stranger!
"Whoops, that's Latias' card," Ash said. "Uh… okay, I guess we should go up the escalator?"
Pikachu shrugged.
"I think there was an escalator..." Ash said, getting on. "You'd think they'd have better signposts to the entry route for the Battle Tower."
"Do you honestly think you'd have seen them if there were any?"
Ash was about to retort, but the escalator reached the top and he stepped off onto one of the walkways just inside the Battle Tower outer wall.
"Hey, look," Pikachu added, pointing.
Ash followed his gaze, seeing the library – and a familiar-looking boy.
"Hi!" Ash called. "Do you-"
The boy looked up, did a double take on spotting Pikachu, and began to back off.
"Pikachu – bag," Ash said, remembering what the problem was.
Pikachu didn't argue with Ash's tone of voice. He pulled the zipper open and jumped in, getting out of sight.
"Sorry about that," Ash added. "I'm just so used to having Pikachu on my shoulder I forgot it can make some people nervous."
The boy's hand went on one of the bookshelves, but he stopped and stood there for a moment.
"I'm… well, thanks," he said. "I'm Tory – Tory Lund."
"Ash Ketchum," Ash replied. "Nice to meet you."
"Oh, I think I've heard of you," Tory said, frowning. "Aren't you that kid who keeps winning Pokémon Leagues?"
Pikachu muttered something from the bag.
"What was that?" Tory asked.
"That was Pikachu saying it's mostly him and the others who do the work," Ash supplied. "I guess I could ask whether I can fight myself next time..."
"Isn't that… dangerous?" Tory blinked.
"I'm tougher than I look," Ash summarized. "So… if you're not okay with Pokémon, what do you do all day?"
"Read, mostly," Tory said, glancing over at the library shelves. "And sit in a garden dome. And… well, my Dad works at a lab here in LaRousse."
Ash nodded. "Professor Oak lives in my hometown," he supplied. "And my friend Gary's a researcher as well as a trainer."
"How old is he?" Tory asked.
"About my age – thirteen," Ash replied. "He's kind of smug sometimes… hey, you said a garden?"
"Yeah," Tory agreed.
"What do you think, Latias?" Ash asked, looking up. "Sound interesting?"
"There's another Pokémon here?" Tory asked, looking nervous again.
There was a blue-white shimmer in the air, and Latias appeared – some way behind Ash, and in human semblance.
"This is Latias," Ash said, indicating her. "Cool trick, huh?"
Latias waved, making a squeak noise.
"She doesn't look like a Pokémon," Tory said, his breathing slowing again – apparently, whatever had made him scared of Pokémon, a human-looking girl slightly taller than him didn't set it off. "That… yeah, that is cool."
"Let's go see that garden, then!" Ash said. "Which way is it?"
"Uh… this way!" Tory said, setting off.
"Any idea who we'll be watching?" May asked, addressing her question at the twins sitting one row down.
"Oh?" one asked. "Isn't it obvious?"
"We're here to watch our brother!" the other said. "And Sid, too – they're great friends!"
"Does that mean they'll be facing Rebecca?" Max frowned. "Is it just who enters in what order that determines who faces who?"
"If you go in the same entrance, then yeah," Kathryn nodded. "They scheduled it. But it's got this automatic system – it kind of assigns you a level, I guess."
"We've never been," Audrey added. "Surskit and Masquerain aren't experienced enough yet."
"I know the feeling," Max agreed. "I was just trying to help Arc get better at moving for a while before I started properly."
"It's tricky to get-" Kathryn began, then pointed as one of the lifts hissed up from the floor. "Hey, look, there they are!"
"Go Rafe!" they chorused.
"Neat trick," Brock said. "Some of my brothers and sisters can do that too."
"What Pokémon do they use?" May asked.
"Oh, Rafe has a Blaziken," Audrey supplied. "I guess he'll use that?"
"I've got a Blaziken too," May smiled. "They're great, aren't they?"
"Sure are!" Kathryn giggled. "He gives me lifts – and Sid has a Blastoise, so he might use that."
The other lift rose out of the ground, and May's jaw dropped.
"What's Drew doing here!?"
"Where's Ash, you mean," Brock pointed out. "I thought-"
"Drew's a Coordinator!" May interrupted. "Why's he in a Battle Tower match?"
"You know him?" Audrey said, glancing back. "I've seen him once or twice… never really met him, though."
"He's kinda cute!"
Max let out a sigh. "Girls..."
Then the Pokémon came out, and all four trainers got ready to battle – Roserade and Metagross against Blaziken and Blastoise.
"Hey, cool, he evolved Roselia," May said. "Neat."
Rebecca opened her laptop, holding it with one hand, and directed the camera at all four participants. "Search for battle simulations, constrained by available Pokémon."
SEARCHING… flashed up on the screen. A moment later, the screen blinked and switched to MATCHES FOUND.
"What's that?" Drew asked, glancing over.
"Tactics," Rebecca replied. "Let's see… the primary problem is the Blaziken. Ignore the Blastoise for now unless something unexpected happens, and try to hit it with status effects."
"That, we can do," Drew agreed. "Right, Roserade?"
Roserade gave him a firm nod.
Three! Two! One! Begin!
As the announcer's voice echoed, Rebecca pointed forwards. "Metagross, use Confusion!"
"Gross!" Metagross declared, raising two legs and hovering with only the support of the remaining two and sheer psionic might. It slammed both forelegs forwards, sending a pulse of energy, and Blaziken darted to the side before lashing out with a Blaze Kick aimed at Metagross.
"Fourth dance!" Drew ordered his Roserade.
"Fourth what?" Sid asked, confused. "Blastoise, Hydro Pump!"
Roserade hopped aside from the stream of water, cape swirling, and pointed her blue flower cluster at Metagross. The swirl of green and purple which resulted formed a layer a little above the Steel-type, hovering there without actually drifting down.
Roserade took another step, her red cluster up, and another swirl of coloured dust emanated from the end.
Then she did a little pirouette, used Petal Dance, and the whole mix went spiralling towards Blaziken.
Blaziken raised his arms to block, flaring them up to destroy the petals, but that didn't work as well as it could have – the Stun Spore got past, and he coughed before slowing down drastically.
"Not bad," Rebecca said, as Metagross lunged and engaged Zen Headbutt mode. "Contest move?"
"Of course," Drew confirmed. "We use it so the opponent doesn't realize it's aimed at them until too late."
"I guess he's been upping his game," Max said, watching as Roserade dodged between streams of water with a subtle, flowing grace. "He fights like it's a Contest, but that's kind of working."
"Yeah," May agreed, nodding. "He is pretty good – whoa!"
Sid's Blastoise switched strategies with startling speed, and managed to catch Roserade with a Blizzard that knocked her halfway across the room.
"Great!" Sid said. "Now, uh – get the Metagross!"
"Thunderpunch!" Rebecca ordered, and half a tonne of Metagross finished the fight quite convincingly.
"Hey, Drew, long time no see," May said, with a smile. "I see you've got some new tricks!"
"Still working on that one," Drew admitted. "It's one you kind of have to learn for every single attack, and we've not got to Blizzard yet."
"I thought it was pretty good already," Max told him. "So, what brings you to LaRousse?"
"That thing from last time?" Drew said, sounding surprised. "I mean, it is my hometown that's about to get-"
"You're from LaRousse?" May interrupted. "I never knew that!"
"I don't talk about it much," Drew shrugged. "It's kind of a silly place to be from, really – the first couple of weeks you're all confused about why none of the bins work like they do here, and after that you're just thankful you can cross the road without being hit by a family of five. And a robot."
"...huh," May said, faintly. "I guess that does explain a lot."
"Did you see Ash anywhere?" Brock asked. "He seems to have pretty much vanished."
Drew exchanged a glance with Roserade, who shrugged. "No, nothing," he said, confirming it. "Maybe he got lost?"
"That sounds likely," Brock admitted. "Ash could get lost in a parking lot. I guess we'll just have to go looking for him..."
As Max and May sighed, Drew snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah, I said I'd introduce my teammate to you guys – I saw you in the crowd, and said I knew you."
"Did you point us out?" Max asked. "'cause we've kind of already met..."
"...oh," Drew said, deflating slightly. "No, I haven't."
"So you know her from somewhere?" May asked. "Is that why you branched out into battling?"
Drew blushed. "...actually, no," he said, shaking his head. "I met her once or twice before, but I… didn't mean to get into that match. I was trying to find the spectator stands."
"If it's that easy to get lost Ash might be on the moon by now," Brock joked.
"What, really?" Rebecca asked, having overheard that part of the conversation.
"No, it's just a joke," Brock explained. "It's not… you didn't know?"
"I looked him up after getting here," Rebecca said. "He's shot down a giant sky fortress, saved a city, helped defeat three evil versions of the Beasts of Johto, and I think there was something about an incident with a meteorite as well."
"The sad thing is that that's an incomplete list," Max sighed. "We'd better go find him before he breaks something."
AN:
Welcome to LaRousse City. Vancouver through the filter of Japan.
We have Ash's Fame causing problems, and the computers being a bit… suboptimal.
Also, note Drew! He is from here, after all.
And there's Tory, too. He's got a Pokémon phobia.
