"So," Giovanni said, looking calmly at Jessie and James. "That's your complete report?"
"Yes, boss," James confirmed.
"Right."
The Boss of Team Rocket nodded to himself, checking one of the pages of notes.
"I have a few questions," he went on. "Just to make sure I understand fully."
"Ask away, boss!" Meowth said promptly. "We ain't got no problems with dat!"
Giovanni's free hand reached down to run his fingers through Persian's silky fur, and he listened to the deep purr for a few seconds.
"So," he went on. "You said there was some kind of enhancement to Groudon and Kyogre?"
"Right," Jessie agreed. "We heard something about orbs and…" she frowned. "They said it was called 'Primal Reversion'."
"How inconvenient," Giovanni summarized. "That sounds a lot like it was a case of Cosmic Power. You mentioned Team Aqua and Team Magma?"
"Right," Meowth agreed. "Dey were each after dere Legendary, but got the other one."
"And then they got the right orbs, and-" James made a whoosh gesture. "Boom."
"Indeed," Giovanni agreed dryly. "And you saw Ash Ketchum using what Pokémon?"
"Well, uh – Lance and Misty Waterflower were there too," James hedged. "And I think one of them was Max Maple's Pokémon as well..."
"...but there were all the Legendaries Ash Ketchum's been confirmed to have," Jessie took up the list. "All nine – as well as several of his strongest Pokémon."
Giovanni checked the list again. "And you say that even Mewtwo, coupled with all these other Pokémon, were just enough to keep these… Primal Pokémon… occupied?"
"Yeah," James agreed.
"An' dat's when the volcano erupted, too," Meowth continued. "So-"
"I get the point," Giovanni interrupted. "So you evacuated them?"
"Yes," Jessie nodded. "Including Misty and Lance."
"Hm..." Giovanni said, smiling thinly. "It might be useful to have the Grand Champion owe me a favour… anyway, you mentioned something about Rayquaza?"
"...you did what?" Gary said, sitting down quite heavily. "Ash – are you telling me you blocked attacks by both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre? After they'd just shot down Rayquaza?"
"Well, yeah," Ash agreed. "I know it sounds kind of strange..."
"It sounds outrageous," Gary told him frankly. "I know why it didn't kill you, and I'm still surprised it didn't kill you."
"Wow, thanks..."
"In fairness," Brock said, "he did save Rayquaza doing it."
"Right!" Ash agreed. "And then – uh, I was a bit out of it, but I'm pretty sure that Rayquaza ate my meteorite and Mega Evolved."
Gary blinked.
"He… ate your meteorite."
"Yeah," Max confirmed. "Keldeo saw it happen, he told us."
"And then Mega Evolved? Was it just something that tasted really nice, or..."
Gary stopped, and shook his head. "Okay, we don't know enough to do more than speculate. So let's do that."
"That sounds like fun,"Umbreon volunteered from her seat, sipping an iced juice.
"Right," Gary agreed. "So – were you thinking about Rayquaza at the time, Ash?"
"Mostly I was thinking about how tired I was," Ash told him. "And trying not to drop the sword – and trying not to pass out, too."
Pikachu nuzzled his cheek, and he stroked the Electric-type for a moment. "So – not really, no."
"I'm pretty sure I saw your staff glow, though," Pikachu added. "So that might mean something."
"And – right, so if Rayquaza Mega Evolved without anyone helping him out, that might..." Gary began, then stopped. "Okay, we don't know enough to help there. But we do know he ate the meteorite first… and I guess he'd probably have done it before if he'd been able to before. Maybe meteorites are good for Rayquaza?"
Ash shrugged. "I don't know. The meteorite was in this bizarre machine when I grabbed it, though, does that count?"
"It might," Gary admitted. He rubbed his temples. "Right… maybe the meteorite helped him Mega Evolve. And if he did it without you or anyone else, Ash, perhaps that means he didn't need a Key Stone?"
Or a Mega Stone, Kris spoke up.
Gary blinked. "Pardon?"
I scanned him after he reverted, Kris supplied. Trying to make sure we hadn't forgotten a Mega Stone on the ground, and – no stone for him.
"Maybe you need to interview him," May suggested. "That might answer a few questions."
"Yeah, right, I'll just interview the… most powerful..."
Brock chuckled, as the young scientist took a reminder. "Yeah, it's actually kind of plausible, isn't it?"
Gary nodded. "It is… right, is that everything?"
"Well, except for mentioning that Mega Rayquaza was able to just blast the weather control away," Ash shrugged. "And – oh, yeah, I gave that Audinite to Jessie and James."
"...since when have you had an Audinite?"
"We don't any more, keep up!" Lucario advised.
Umbreon got the giggles.
"An Audinite..." Giovanni said, holding it up. "Very interesting. So this is something you plan to use with your medic?"
"Well, yeah," Meowth agreed. "If we get a Key Stone, dat is."
"Approved," Giovanni told them promptly. "I'm interested to see the results. Very well, I believe that is all."
"Right, boss!" James said.
"We'll tell you exactly what happens!" Jessie added, taking the Audinite back. "And… boss?"
Giovanni indicated she could continue.
"Where do we get a Key Stone?" James asked.
"The main armoury has them," Giovanni said. "I'm sure agents of your… resourceful nature... can find one easily."
Persian chose that moment to yawn, displaying a great deal of teeth.
"If that's all?"
Jessie, James and Meowth did not quite flee the room.
Gary lowered Dee's screen to the table as she went blank. "Well… that happened."
"Do you think you could have helped?" Umbreon asked, curious.
"I've got two Mega Evolutions," Gary pointed out. "I'm pretty sure at least one of Blastoise and Sableye have to be useful somehow."
"True," Umbreon agreed.
She stretched, tail lashing, then jumped down off her chair. "So, what now?"
"Now… I probably start drafting an article on Insights into Mega Evolution and related phenomena in Legendary Pokémon," Gary decided. "I can get stuff about Latios and Latias from Ash, which is a good start, and the rest of it… we can call it personal conversation with Ash, that's good enough for most people."
"It probably is," Umbreon agreed.
You could contact Keldeo as well, to compare-and-contrast with his Resolute Form, Dee suggested.
"Good idea, Dee," Gary said. "Now… where did Alakazam go?"
"I think I saw him going to get another ice cream," Umbreon mused.
Charla looked up at the sound of steady wingbeats, gradually rising over the background noise.
"Aha!" she said, snorting smoke out of her nostrils, and leaping into the air before taking her weight on two scaly wings.
Her mate noticed her, and waved – doing a roll, and blowing out a ball of fire which burst with a red-cored snap. Flying through it, he descended slightly and swung around to come alongside her.
"So, mister," Charla went on, the beginnings of a smirk on her face. "What's the excuse this time?"
"Excuse?" Charizard repeated, sounding interested. "I don't know what you mean."
"You vanished halfway through clearing out the lair!" Charla clarified. "So you'd better have a good reason for it!"
"Well, I always thought we should have set that bed on fire and made a new one-" Charizard mused, then got punched in the side. "All right, I know," he added, unfazed. "So, it was a wish."
"A wish?" Charla said, blinking. "Oh – of course, that Jirachi."
"Yes," Charizard confirmed. "It wasn't just me, either, Keldeo got pulled all the way from Unova."
"What would be that important?" his mate asked, as they passed over the boundary into the valley itself. "I mean – if you can't handle it, who can?"
"Well, I did have a bit of trouble with Primal Groudon," Charizard mused.
Charla looked blank. "With… what?"
"Mega Groudon, except more," the male Fire-type summarized. "He made a volcano erupt."
He snapped his tail, making a loud bang sound which startled Charla out of her shock.
"You… fought something that's like a Mega Legendary, except it was Groudon, and… more Legendary," Charla said, getting it straight in her head. She trimmed her wings, beginning a spiral towards the main area of the valley, and he followed her lead. "What was it like?"
"Well, I was lucky," Charizard admitted. "Basically, we all kept both him and Primal Kyogre too busy to focus on one of us – mostly. When we didn't manage that, then usually one of us got knocked unconscious."
They backwinged down to land, and a few of the other Charizard looked up.
"Hey, is that Ash's Charizard?" asked a Charmander, tugging on his mother's wing. "Mom, is that him?"
"I think it is," his mother agreed. "Do you want to see if he'll talk to you?"
"Here we go again," Charizard sighed.
Charla punched him in the shoulder again. "You deliberately landed right next to him, I saw you..."
"Foiled again," the male chuckled, then crouched down a little. "Hello, young one. I've not met you before."
"Hi..." the Charmander said, waving shyly.
As her mate began boasting – in a restrained way, of course – Charla smiled.
She noticed that quite a lot of the older, fully-evolved dragons were listening in too…
"No sign of him?" Terrakion asked.
"No, I fear not," Cobalion admitted. "Not since last night."
"Nor I," Virizion supplied. "I'd hoped to spot a hoofprint, or some other sign he'd been around, but… nothing."
"What do you think?" Cobalion asked. "You're closest to him, Virizion – you understand him a little better. Would he have gone off like this without letting us know?"
"I think it depends," the female Sword of Justice said, tossing her head. "If he were in a situation where Pokémon or humans would be in trouble if he dallied? He would absolutely gallop off as fast as his hooves could carry him."
"True," Cobalion admitted. "And none of us have trouble thinking of something that could call upon him with such urgency."
"Maybe he had to help save Meloetta!" Terrakion suggested.
"Like that, yes," Cobalion agreed. "So-"
"Hey, guys!" Keldeo called.
"Keldeo!" Virizion smiled, turning. "What called you away so early?"
"Uh…" Keldeo's gait slowed as he got closer. "A wish, superpowered Groudon and Kyogre, two submarines, two evil teams, and a volcano."
He frowned. "I think there was a tsunami, too, but I kind of lost track at some point..."
"That would do it, yes," Cobalion agreed. "How did events transpire?"
"We managed to stop Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre from hurting too many Pokémon," Keldeo said. "I helped Mega Rayquaza beat Primal Groudon!"
"An impressive feat indeed," Virizion said, with a nod.
"And I hope he felt it!" Terrakion contributed.
"Oh, yeah… Ash got Secret Sword working, too," Keldeo went on. "He had to use a metal sword to make it work, which I think is a lot like how we use our horns."
"Secret sword… interesting," Cobalion mused. "Thank you for informing us, Keldeo, and I'm sure we'll want to hear the full details as soon as you can tell us."
"Actually, I think it might help to go and watch the news," Keldeo said, frowning. "There was a speech that Lance -that's the Grand Champion of Kanto and Johto – gave, and I think there's probably some interviews of some sort too. Where's that Pokémon centre we saw a few days ago, there's probably a public computer there..."
Terrakion straightened. "I know where it is! Follow me, guys!"
He broke into a canter, and the other Swords of Justice followed.
"...wait," Cobalion said after a moment. "Mega Rayquaza?"
"Long story!" Keldeo called back. "It involved a meteorite!"
"This I've gotta hear," Terrakion chuckled. "What, did he eat it?"
"Yeah," Keldeo agreed. "After Ash blocked a giant wave and an Ancient Power aimed at him, so I guess maybe Ash helped catalyze the Mega Evolution too..."
Cobalion and Virizon exchanged glances.
"Does that mean that your trainer now also has Rayquaza?" Virizon ventured.
"Huh?" Keldeo shook his head, still cantering. "No, I don't think so. Maybe it'd be too crowded..."
"So," Ivysaur said, nodding to Sceptile and Meganium. "Another big Legendary battle?"
"Pretty much," Meganium agreed.
"I'm guessing you helped out healing?"
"Yep," the Grass-type confirmed.
"And did your boyfriend do well?"
"I'm not her-" Sceptile protested.
"How could you-" Meganium spluttered.
"It's not like-"
Ivysaur concealed a smirk.
A faint bang sounded, making the citizens of Altomare look up.
"What was that?" someone asked, looking around. "Someone have a Pokémon use Fire Blast or something?"
Shrugs answered him.
"Ah well," he said, returning to his meal.
"You get used to it," his date said, taking a sip of her drink. "Every few months there's a bang like that – never worked out what causes it..."
Overhead, invisible, a dragon flew past.
Latias flew into a side canal with no windows, looked around to make sure no-one was watching, and dropped near-soundlessly into the water.
A quick swim, and she emerged in the Secret Garden.
"Latias?" Bianca asked, at the sound of the splash. "Is that you?"
"Bianca!" Latias squeaked back, flying over and decloaking. "Sorry – I just had to go really quickly!"
"Where did you go off to all of a sudden?" Bianca asked. "Did Latios need you again?"
Latias nodded, as Bianca spread out the picnic blanket again and opened the hamper.
"I'm afraid it's all a bit wilted," she apologized, putting the fruit out again. "I didn't even notice you turn invisible, and I thought you were hiding – so I didn't put it back for too long."
"That's okay," Latias shrugged, taking some berry slices anyway and eating them with two bites each. "Latios – and Ash – needed – my help," she mumbled, between bites.
"Don't talk with your mouth full," Bianca chided, chuckling at the muffled squeak sounds.
"Bianca?" Lorenzo called. "Is she back?"
Latias waved.
"You gave us quite a scare, young lady," he said, shaking his head as he walked over from the door. "Bianca had me checking all the roofs – we even had Quagsire spray around in case you were hiding somewhere."
The Dragon-type waved her arms. "But there was a really good reason! There was a powerful Legendary – actually two – and it wasn't just me, everyone got called in!"
"...you really need to learn that thing Latios can do," Bianca smiled.
"And I hope you didn't fly too fast on the way there or back," Lorenzo added. "If it was Latios in trouble, he's all the way in Hoenn..."
Latias frowned, then concentrated and produced a wide-area illusion which showed the moment Ash's wish had Jirachi pull them all in.
"Huh, teleporting?" Bianca asked. "That's pretty-"
"What on earth is that?" Lorenzo interrupted, pointing. "That can't be what Kyogre's really like, can it?"
Latias tapped her Mega Stone and pointed to Kyogre, then dropped the illusion.
"Mega Kyogre?" Lorenzo said, and nodded slowly as Latias waved her clawed hand in a 'sorta' gesture. "Well, that does sound important. Sorry for doubting you, Latias."
Skimming a little closer, Latias gave him a quick hug. "It's okay!"
Lorenzo chuckled, patting her on the back. "I don't think that needs translation!"
He waited until she let go, then sat down. "Come on, Latias – you must be hungry. Let's have some breadsticks."
"Great!" Latias smiled.
Misty opened the door. "I'm home!"
And what time do you call this? Golduck asked, tapping one foot on the floor.
"Time for a swim?" Misty asked. "I've been infiltrating Team Aqua for months, give me a break..."
"Why would we ever do that?" Corsola chuckled, lying in the shallow end of the pool.
"Dunno," Misty admitted. "Golduck – any post I should know about?"
As she spoke, she took off the Aqua outfit she'd worn throughout the day's events and switched it for a swimsuit. "Because I really feel in the mood for relaxing."
Well, Golduck said, jumping up onto a stool and adjusting a pair of glasses. There's a few bills, but I paid them – you know, because I'm a duck and we do that kind of thing.
"You don't really have a bill any more, though," Misty said, frowning at the fit of the swimsuit. "I think I've put on a bit of weight..."
"She's got a point!" Seaking agreed, jumping out of her Pokéball and into the water with a splash.
Misty sent out Milotic, then followed her into the pool – diving underwater, staying down for several seconds, and coming back up in the living room.
"What's this?" she asked Chinchou.
"Some program about ancient civilizations," Chinchou shrugged, watching the TV. "Long story short, they're all Deoxys."
I wasn't finished, Golduck said, waddling through the door and adjusting his glasses. There's also a formal ball in a few days – I was about to send back a response that you're busy.
"I'll have a look," Misty shrugged. Milotic nosed up next to her, and she gave the sinuous Water-type a rub – then blinked, and looked at Golduck. "Wait, what's with the glasses?"
They give me an air of dignity, Golduck replied loftily. Besides, it's funny.
Misty gave him a strange look, then shrugged it off. "Oh – I should show Milotic the sun room, we've been down in Hoenn and it's warmer there."
"Hey, Misty?" asked Politoed, looking up from his book. "How'd you end up getting back here?"
"I borrowed Lance's Salamence," she replied. "He was going to talk to the police for a bit – and I think Steven Stone as well – but Salamence wanted to get home quicker, so I just flew him up."
Sculling over to the side of the pool, Misty pulled herself out. "I guess we should get something to eat before I spend too long in the pool," she said reluctantly. "You did get groceries, right?"
Of course I did, Golduck replied. The local shops recognize me.
Kabutops tapped the remote with a blade.
"Hey, I was watching that," Chinchou complained, as the Rock-type paged from channel to channel.
"You know how it ends," Kabutops replied. "Aha, here we are."
"That's… actually not that bad a reconstruction," Misty admitted, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself as she watched a virtual Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre having a slap-fight. "I guess they must have a Porygon."
That or they just reused footage from the trailers for that Fossil Park film, Golduck shrugged.
"Hiyah!" Staryu volunteered.
Golduck shrugged.
"Oh, yeah, I should let Karen know we're back," Misty realized. "And I really should get a picture of Mega Absol from Ash or something, she'd love that..."
Lugia's wings beat against the water, propelling him along above a surface that had never seen daylight.
He felt the water as it moved around him, judging it with all his experience, and decided that the currents of the seas were largely undamaged by Groudon and Kyogre's rampages.
A mental clock prodded at him, and the Psychic-type reached out with his mind to confirm his position. Two cool, singing points of reference that he knew as well as he knew himself sounded from above, and he smiled before gathering himself.
His wings beat once, twice, and then he focused into a swirling underwater tornado of froth and bubbles. His speed jumped, and he surged upwards towards the air far above.
Haunting, high-pitched song resounded across the slopes of Shamouti.
"Dad's back!" Silver announced, smiling. He crouched, ready for takeoff, then glanced back at Slowking. "Uh – is it okay if I leave?"
Slowking nodded. "That's fine," he replied.
As Silver launched himself into the air, then swept down towards the beach with wings held stiff to glide, Slowking nodded to himself.
"He's a good kid," he pronounced, to no-one in particular, and picked up the board. He'd already memorized all the positions in case they wanted to start again, so he just poured all the tiles back into place and separated out the cards into their decks to go back in the box.
Games like this were a great way to teach young Psychic types. They got to practice both telekinesis and complex reasoning.
"And it's better than monopoly," he added, rolling his eyes.
Anything was better than monopoly.
"Dad!" Silver called, flaring his wings to land on the beach as his father circled. "How did it go?"
"It went fine," Lugia replied, giving his wings a mighty flap to shake as much salty water off them as possible, then landed in front of his son and nuzzled him. "And I've got a great story to tell, now… did your mother manage to keep the Birds under control?"
"Uh..." Silver frowned, looking up. "Mostly. There was a bit where I think Moltres showed off with a really difficult acrobatic move, and then Zapdos tried to outdo him and crashed into the sea, but apart from that it's been kind of quiet."
"And where is your mom?" Lugia added, looking around. "Is she busy? I felt she was nearby, but not quite where."
"I think so," Silver agreed. "She borrowed a huge blanket and a kettle from Melody, but I don't know what she was doing with it."
Zapdos sniffed.
"I told you, drink more of the soup!" the Lugia chided, adjusting his blanket. "You've got a nasty chill."
She inspected the blanket with a frown. "Well… I suppose I'll just have to come up with a way to replace the blanket. There's just too many holes in it."
Zapdos dipped his beak into the cup of soup, and drank it up with a huff.
"Hm, I think you need at least one more cup," Lugia inhaled, then sprayed Hydro Pump into the air and caught some of it in the kettle. "Just a bit of power, remember?"
The Electric-type legendary grumbled something unprintable, and sent a gentle spark across the prongs of the kettle – which promptly bubbled, hissed, and sent out a jet of steam.
Lugia poured the kettle over another packet of soup. "There we go. Now, remember, no heavy exertion until you've recovered, or you might feel like this for longer."
Zapdos looked like there was a low chance of his following that advice.
"Oh!" Lugia added, tilting her head. "I think my mate is back – remember, drink all that soup before it gets cold!"
"I hate everything," Zapdos mumbled.
"Thanks," Ash said, smiling at Mewtwo. "That's a lot quicker than getting Pidgeot, Latios and Flygon to transport us."
I was taking plenty of Pokémon home, so I felt I may as well put you where you were going to go, Mewtwo replied with a shrug. It's not really very much effort.
"Still, thanks," Ash said.
He looked over at Max, who had the sleeping Jirachi in his arms. "Uh… do you think Jirachi is going to be okay?"
Probably, Mewtwo said, frowning. Yes, I can't see a good reason why not – it's just psionic overstrain. The chunk of comet I used might have been smaller than would have been ideal.
He thought back. I think I've suffered from it. Once. Just after I was born, when I was much weaker-
"Yeah, yeah, we know," Pikachu said, making his paw open and shut like a mouth. "You're all super powerful."
I do not appreciate being mocked, Mewtwo told him frostily.
Pikachu shrugged.
In any case – welcome to Mossdeep, I suppose, Mewtwo went on.
He paused, then shrugged. And don't forget to watch my documentary when it comes out.
The Psychic-type vanished between one breath and the next.
Well, he's unusually promotional, Dexter commented.
"Where next, Ash?" Brock asked. "There's a lot to do on Mossdeep."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Wasn't there a space centre here?"
"Of course there is!" Max cut in. "Jirachi wanted to see it, and..."
He looked down. "I hope Jirachi's all right."
"Actually, I wonder if they're going to be okay to launch," Brock said, glancing at the sky – where there was a gorgeous colour in the west, even though they were hours from sunset. "It looks like a lot of that ash and dust got into the air."
"I guess the gym's going to have to wait?" Ash asked.
"Yeah," Max said. "I'd kind of like to just go the one time, and – well, Jirachi's not okay. Besides, I'd like to make sure Casper's got a bit more training, I'd kind of like him and Cinder to do this one."
"I'll train against you," May volunteered. "I'd like to see if we can train Spoink up a bit, and get him working well with the others – see who he works best with."
"Well, let's go, then!" Ash decided. "The sooner we do all the space stuff, the sooner we can get training!"
"So, what do you think the odds are that he's going to get into the spinny thing again?" May asked Brock.
Brock shrugged.
"Okay, that's a Key Stone..." Jessie said, writing it down. "And… hey, look at this!"
"What's that?" James asked, peering over her shoulder.
Jessie held up one of the Mega Stones from the armoury drawer. "This is just the ticket!"
Meowth examined it. "An' what's dat?"
"It's a Mega Stone, twit!" Jessie snapped.
"Yeah, I can see dat," Meowth agreed, darting up and taking the stone from her hand before giving it a look-over with a jeweler's loupe. "But what kind is it?"
"It's on the label," Jessie said, tapping it. "Sceptilite!"
The three exchanged a knowing look.
"Yeah, this is what we need," James agreed.
"Wow," Max said, staring at the enormous crawling machine. "So this is what they use to get the shuttle to the launch pad?"
"Didn't you know that already?" May asked him.
"Well, yeah – but it's still huge," Max replied. "I mean – look at it, it's got to be taller than Steelix!"
Brock sent out Steelix.
The siblings watched as Steelix reared up, raising himself vertically so only a few feet of his length were on the ground.
"...okay, so I was wrong," Max admitted, as Steelix lowered himself again. "Still, it's big."
"It has to be," Brock said, tapping his foot on the ground. "It has to spread the weight of the rocket, even on the tarmac, or it'd just sink into the ground."
Jirachi stirred.
"Jirachi!" Max said, shifting him slightly in the hope he would be more comfortable. "Are you okay?"
I'm kind of tired, Jirachi yawned. I didn't realize it'd be that hard to do all that teleporting…
He looked around, blinking. Wait, where are we again?
"It's the space centre at Mossdeep!" Max told him. "Remember, I mentioned it? It's really cool!"
Oh, yeah! Jirachi agreed, brightening. So that's a space rocket? It's pretty big!
"It has to be," Max replied. "It uses lots and lots of thrust to get into space, and then more so it's moving around in an orbit."
He frowned. "I heard they tried using Psychic-types, but it was too hard for them to lift something that far and get it moving that fast for that long… so they have to use rocket fuel."
Pointing for Jirachi, Max went on. "So those big rockets there are just to get it up into the air. The fuel tank – that's orange – are for fuelling the shuttle's own engines, and it uses the whole thing in about eight minutes!"
Jirachi stared. I couldn't drink that much in eight years!
"Yeah, it goes really fast – it feels like a Donphan is sitting on you," Max told him. "I got kinda lost last time we came here, and ended up going up in the shuttle… we had to land it."
Cool! Jirachi giggled. You're an astronaut!
"I don't think I am," Max said, reluctantly. "I think I'm a pilot, though."
"...wait," Brock said. "Where's Ash?"
"And this is the training room," Jin explained, opening the door with a hefty push. "It's where I train – and the other astronauts – to be ready for spaceflight."
"Right," Ash said. "I kind of wondered if it was to train Pokémon in being able to do space things..."
He stopped, looking at Pikachu. "Why are you… floating?"
"I'm surprised you're not," Jin said, pushing on the floor with his suited feet and rising gently into the air. "There's a Metagross who can cancel out gravity in here by attracting people towards the ceiling."
He took a juice carton out of a rack by the side of the door, moving with just his fingertips as propulsion, and stuck the straw into the softened area of foil.
As he did, Ash took his hat off – and promptly began to float gently into the air as well. "Whoa, this is pretty cool!"
"Yeah," Pikachu agreed. He waved his tail, using the broad flat section as a form of propulsion. "I could get used to it."
"I wonder how Lucario would do here," Ash pondered. "Come on out if you want to see what it's like, Lucario!"
As the Steel-type formed, Jin tapped the juice with a finger – producing a series of ripples. "It used to be that we'd have to either go into space or be on a diving aircraft to show this kind of thing off – oh, you've got a Lucario, that's pretty cool!"
"I'm one of his signature Pokémon," Lucario informed the astronaut, floating a few inches into the air. He reached out a palm to the juice, and drew some of it in to form a ball on the end of one finger.
The ball flickered light blue, then turned into a donut-shape.
"Aura," Lucario explained. "I'm spinning it like an Aura Sphere, and in no gravity – it does this."
"Hey, Ash?" Max called. "We were looking for – whoah!"
He stepped across the threshold of the room, entering the null-g field, and suddenly no longer had any way to slow down.
Lucario left the juice floating where it was, briefly touched a paw to the floor to stabilize and gain a hold, then launched himself to intercept Max.
Grabbing the boy's arm, he twisted – neutralizing Max's momentum and imparting it all to himself – then let go and landed on the wall.
"Was that Aura too?" Jin asked, sounding interested. "Maybe we should train a couple of Meditite or Riolu as astronauts, being able to do that would be really useful in space."
"I think it'd be better to do a Medicham," Ash said, as Brock and May turned up. "Riolu and Meditite might evolve, and Lucario's got those spikes..."
"I would not do well in a spaceship," Lucario agreed.
Pikachu exited the null-G field, did a flip and landed neatly on his paws. "...I totally knew that was going to work before I did it."
Brock chuckled.
"Hey, uh… how long can we use this room?" Max asked, rotating a little.
"Probably another hour or two," Jin replied. "If you really want to. But the shuttle launch is fairly soon – I need to get going if I'm going to be in time."
Let's go see that! Jirachi said. This room's not really as interesting as I thought…
"That's because you're floating anyway," May pointed out.
"Okay, let's see if dis thing works," Meowth muttered.
He glanced between Jessie and James. "Which one'a you two is gonna be da human?"
Jessie held out her hand. "I'll do it."
"Good choice," Meowth agreed, tossing her the Key Stone. She caught it, inspected it, then shrugged.
"It doesn't look as impressive as I'd thought," James admitted, looking at it closely.
"I guess da important bit is on the other end," Meowth pondered. "Speakin' of which… ready, Audino?"
The Normal-type nodded, his ear-pieces shaking slightly. One of his hands went to touch his earring for a moment, and he took a deep breath.
"Okay..." Jessie said, looking at the Key Stone. "How do you do this again?"
"Just… think about him?" James asked. "I think that's something to do with it."
"Right," Jessie frowned, and began to think.
Audino had slipped easily into a role as 'team mom' – despite being male – and was always there with a comforting word, meal or even burst of healing power.
He was just a little bit clumsy at times, which had led to the odd accident, but that was just a quirk – not the only thing about him, or even the important thing.
And, of course, there was the lunchboxes. Everyone got them, at least three times a week, and Audino was always alert for what people liked so he could add to them and mix in something new.
Jessie was fortunate enough to look up just as the transformation began.
Audino's earring glowed, then flashed a brilliant white. The light spread out across his whole body, turning orange-golden as it pulsed, and then parts of it brightened enough to hurt the eye.
His ears perked up, flashing and gaining a second layer of frills. His earpieces coiled up the other way, bouncing once and then coming to rest in their new position.
The jacket-like pink coat on his sides expanded, fluffing up to form a distinct layer, and joined at the middle. His feet flashed, becoming ensconced in 'slippers' with fluffy sections to both sides.
And then a brooch formed where his jacket linked up, followed by a pair of spring-like coils just below the central point of the brooch – giving the whole thing the look of a bow.
"Wow," Meowth said, as the light died down and revealed his white-pink colouration. "An' your eyes are pink too..."
"The only thing that was missing was a twirl," Arbok opined. "And perhaps some music."
Meowth snickered.
"Hm," Mega Audino said, looking himself over. "It's definitely less convenient in the kitchen – these ribbons are going to get in the way on the stove."
"How do you feel?" Jessie asked.
"Not sure," Mega Audino replied. He bounced experimentally on the balls of his feet. "I feel a little lighter, but not much…"
Meowth relayed that, then added a bit of his own opinion. "Ya know, I think that he might just be a different Type ta before. It ain't like it'd be a surprise for him ta do dat, Pokémon do change Type when they evolve, an' all.."
"How would you find that out?" Mega Audino asked.
"Well, I guess the one to start with would be all the immunities," Meowth mused.
He gave Mega Audino another look, then shrugged. "But we can skip some of them."
"You don't look Dark type," James agreed.
"This is going to end with me being zapped, isn't it..." Mega Audino sighed.
The sound of the shuttle engines was incredible, a physical thing as much as sound in the conventional sense. It made the ground tremble, a crashing roar that came in on all frequencies at once.
Wow! Ash mouthed, his voice completely swept away by the wall of sound. This is incredible!
I didn't realize anything was louder than that volcano! Latios sent, his telepathy making it through much more easily.
For a few seconds, there was nothing but the roar and flames and a great plume of smoke. Then the shuttle began to rise – looking like it was barely moving from this distance, but once you remembered how tall it was you realized it was already travelling at the kind of speed only a few Pokémon could possibly manage.
A CRACK! sound, the sonic boom as the shuttle hit the sound barrier, was loud enough that it could be heard over the roar for a moment… then it was swept away, and the noise continued pounding in on them as the shuttle rose on a trail of flame.
It began to roll, changing attitude so the shuttle was below the fuel tank, and as it got further away it began to get slowly – gradually – less noisy.
Ethan produced a magnified window which hovered in mid-air, showing a zoomed-in version of the view which made it clearer what was going on.
"This is such a great view!" Max said, as loudly as he could so that the others could just about hear him. "I – wait, look!"
White smoke spurted from the side of the tank, and both boosters separated. They tumbled in the air, slowing as the shuttle ascended away from then, and then parachutes opened and began to carry them down towards the sea off Mossdeep – for cleaning, inspection, and ultimately repair and reuse.
"We never get-"
"-tired of this!" two of the other spectators said, smiling. "It's so-"
"-cool!"
"Liza and Tate, right?" May asked, looking away from the trail of white smoke.
"Tate and Liza/actually," the two Psychic gym leaders told her.
May blinked, confused, and Tate giggled at the expression she pulled.
"It's our joke," Liza explained. "Whichever someone says-"
"-we say it's the opposite!" Tate finished.
"I can see this is going to be an annoying gym battle to watch," May muttered.
"Oh, yeah, that reminds me," Ash said, snapping his fingers. "Do you guys have any special restrictions?"
"Apart from it being a double battle/not really," the twins replied. "We give extra points for/good teamwork, but it's not/a requirement."
Ash looked contemplative.
"And no/Latios and Latias," they added.
"Awww..."
AN:
A few people doing a few things. Either getting home from the chaos, or hearing about the chaos in question.
Also, astronaut training.
