"How's it going, May?" Ash called, cupping his hands around his mouth as Pidgeot adjusted course.
"Great!" May replied, a little too quickly.
Altaria banked a little, flapping his wings to gain speed, and she clung onto his neck a little more tightly than she'd been doing.
"You look kind of… nervous," Brock said, looking sideways from Flygon. "Everything okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine!" May replied. "I'm just – no, I'm fine, okay!"
"Sure?" Altaria asked, twisting his neck around to look.
"Keep looking where you're going!" May yelped.
"...but there's only a few little clouds, and we're half a mile up," Altaria protested. "Were you this scared with Latias or Latios? Or Flygon?"
May shook her head, eyes closed. "No," she admitted. "But with them… well, I kind of knew they were good. I've known you since I helped mend your wing, and… I remember when you were a Swablu, and somehow I can't believe – deep down – that you're as good at flying as..."
Her voice trailed off. "I know it doesn't sound very nice."
"I see, I guess," Altaria hummed. "That's kind of sad."
He thought about it, then brightened. "Maybe it'd help if I used Sing?"
"I think that'd make me feel even worse..." May said, shaking her head.
"Should we go lower?" Ash asked. "Until you're comfortable, I mean..."
He looked down. "I guess we're kind of too high for Delta, anyway."
"Okay," May decided, still holding tightly to Altaria's neck. "That sounds good."
"I'm sorry about scaring you, May," Altaria trilled.
"We'll think of something," Brock assured her. "Don't worry."
The phone rang.
Misty looked up, and put her pen down. "Wonder who that is."
As she got up, Kabutops leaned out of his chair and flipped the phone into the air with the flat of a blade. He balanced it about halfway down his scythe for a moment, then flipped it towards his trainer, and she caught it out of the air.
"Nice," she complimented, and answered the phone. "Who is it?"
A pause, then: "Ash! Hi – everything going okay? If I turn on the news I'm not going to see you riding Rayquaza again, am I?"
Misty sat back down, and began toying with the pen in her free hand. "Yeah, I know it's not likely – but with you likely has a whole different meaning… pardon?"
She listened, then nodded – not that Ash could see her. "Right, I get the idea. I'll see if he's in. And if not… well, I bet Bruno has Clair's number."
Golduck handed her a notepad.
"...oh, never mind, Golduck just reminded me that I have Clair's number," Misty chuckled. "Thanks, Golduck… right, so should I call her or do you want me to give you her number?"
"Okay," Ash said, putting Dexter down as the Porygon ended the call. "Clair said that she'd send someone down to help out."
"That sounds good," May agreed, scratching Altaria behind his plume. "I guess they do have to have thought of this kind of thing."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "It would have helped back when I started flying with-"
There was a huge splash, interrupting them.
"That was Max, right?" May asked.
"Yep, that was Max," Lucario agreed. "Delta got a bit too low."
"Is someone making sure he's okay?" the girl asked. "I mean, he did just crash into the sea."
"No need to be worried," Lucario assured her. "Totodile's treating it as a challenge."
They watched as Totodile towed Max out of the surf, moving with a purposeful rhythm which got the crashed trainer out onto the sand within moments.
Max coughed and spluttered, and then Jirachi gave him a little burst of healing with Wish to help him out.
"It's kind of good that Max suggested this kind of training," Brock said. "I mean, it does mean that he occasionally hits a wave."
"Yeah, I know..." May agreed, still sounding a bit uncertain. "I'm glad Flygon's looking out for him, though."
She lay back, sighing, and stroked Altaria's cloud. "I wonder how that trainer's going to show up..."
"It might not be for a while," Brock reminded her. "Perhaps I should ask for you guys to help me with lunch."
"Sure," Ash agreed. "I guess it'd be good to know."
"So long as someone keeps an eye on Max," May said, then nodded. "Oh – I was going to ask. Either of you two interested in the next Contest?"
Ash frowned, then shook his head. "Nah – you can do it."
"More than one of us can enter at once, you know..." May muttered.
Brock whistled to get their attention. "What do you think of the idea of a burger lunch?"
"Sounds great!" Ash agreed. "So, what's my job?"
Brock looked Ash over, remembering past incidents with burned thumbs. "I want to say buttering the rolls..."
"What about me?" Pikachu asked.
"Power supply," Brock replied.
He chuckled, seeing Pikachu's expression. "No, I'm joking. Ash, you'll do the first batch of burgers and I'll make sure you don't burn them. Pikachu, I think you should make sure the condiments are ready."
May coughed. "Ketchup!"
"...except that one," Brock amended. "We'll take the ketchup out when it's time for lunch."
"This is a stereotype," Pikachu muttered.
"So… you're from Johto?"Altaria asked, tilting his head.
The Dragonite nodded. "That's right," she said, stretching in the warm sun. "The weather there's nowhere near as nice as this."
"Yeah, Hoenn's kind of neat," Altaria smiled. Something pinched his down, and he turned his neck. "That stung."
"Can you loosen that one a bit?" May asked. "Altaria said that-"
"I got the gist," the dragonrider interrupted. "Okay, let's try tightening it here instead… that better?"
Altaria nodded. "Much, thanks."
"Right..." the Dragon Tamer went on, and tugged a few of the important straps. "It looks like it's fairly secure."
"Thanks, Lola," May said, inspecting it herself. "I'd never have known where to start. Uh… so I have to wear the belt, right?"
"Right," Lola agreed. "There's two straps for every connection point, a short one and a long one – that's so you can be tight into the saddle, for when you're first learning, and then the longer one lets you get a bit bolder while still being safe."
"It feels quite snug," Altaria said, flexing his wings and tail experimentally. "But it's not pinching any more."
"This one's built for Altaria," Lola said, slipping her finger under one of the straps and checking it wasn't loose. "Okay, that's how it goes on… but we should make sure you can put it back on yourself, May."
May took another look at the complicated web of straps and connectors. "Uh… is there a quick version?"
"There is," Lola told her, undoing a clip. She went to a second one and undid that too, and undoing a buckle made the whole thing slide off. "That's the quick way – but you need to be able to adjust it, too, in case any of it slips."
The Coordinator sighed. "I guess it's worth it," she nodded. "Right – how did you do that?"
"How did you handle this, Ash?" Max asked, using a towel to get some of the salt water out of his hair. "The flying, I mean."
Ash frowned. "Well… to be honest, the first time I did it – I think it was Pidgeot – it was just… really easy, because Pidgeot controlled the wind so well that I barely noticed how fast I was going."
"Were you afraid of falling off?" Max pressed.
"...no," Ash said, shaking his head. "I didn't really think about it at all – I just trusted Pidgeot, and that was enough."
He shrugged. "But the second time was Charizard, and that was kind of… it went less well."
"Didn't Liza just basically tell you you had to do it?" Brock asked. "Oh, hold on, Max – I'll get Marshtomp to wash that salt out of your hair."
"...are you sure that's a good idea?" Max asked. "I mean, Marshtomp is kind of… big."
"I'll do it!" Totodile volunteered.
"That sounds more like it," Max said.
Totodile promptly used Hydro Pump.
"Gah!" Max yelped, the blast of water knocking him backwards onto the grass.
"Are you okay?" Brock asked.
Max spluttered, then shook his head with a sigh. "I really should have remembered how strong Totodile is..."
"Whoops," Totodile said, looking guilty. "Is your hair better?"
"Good question," Brock agreed. "Did that get the salt out?"
Reaching up to the hair in question, Max squeezed some of the strands. "Well, it's kind of hard to tell..."
He shook his head. "Anyway – what was that, Ash?"
"Right," Ash said, remembering their topic. "I kind of got the hang of it with Charizard, and after that it was kind of easy."
"What about Lugia?" Brock asked.
"...actually, I'm not sure that counts," Ash said. "But… huh, maybe it does count. I just assumed he was holding me on with psychic powers..."
"Do you think maybe it was you falling off and being okay that helped?" Brock mused.
That would have to wait, however, as Altaria came swooping low over them. He turned in a wide arc, skimming over the waves, and slowed to hover.
"Cool!" Max said, smiling. "How is it, May?"
May managed a smile, holding tightly to the straps. "It feels a lot more secure," she agreed, as Altaira gently beat his wings. "I'd still be a bit nervous about going too fast or too high, though."
"But it's safer if you're up high," Altaria pointed out. "It means more chance for me to catch you again!"
"...that's true," May agreed. "But it makes my knees go weak to think about it."
She shifted. "Can we land now? Sorry, Altaria – I'll make sure we go flying a bit every day, to get used to it, but right now I'd rather be on solid ground."
Altaria trilled gently, and stopped beating his wings. Holding them out as a bar of cloud, he controlled his fall so he landed as softly as a feather.
May forced herself to wait several seconds before undoing the clips and getting off his back, and the first thing she did after doing so was to undo the buckles and take his harness off. "We'll put it back on tomorrow," she assured him.
"I can't wait," the Dragon-type said, nosing into her shoulder. "Thank you for flying with me."
"Ready for this?" May asked, looking up at her brother.
Max shrugged. "I guess? I mean, I think I am – but I've never really done a Contest before, so I don't really know if I'm properly ready. How did you feel before your first one?"
May frowned. "...good question, it was a while ago… I guess mostly nervous."
"Oh," Max said. "Good?"
"Remember, what's important is taking part," May assured him. "For you, anyway. For me it's winning."
Max sniggered.
"...okay, yeah, there's no way I could have pulled that off," May agreed. "Of course it's about having fun."
She threw her Love Ball a few inches in the air, and caught it. "Remember, that, Spoink," May said gently. "It doesn't matter how well it goes – just try to enjoy yourself."
"It feels bizarre being up here without Max as well," Ash commented.
Pikachu shrugged. "Hey, it means I get a seat to myself."
"I'm not sure that that automatically follows..." Brock said.
Pikachu flipped an ear. "Well, I'm sitting here, right? Is anyone else sitting here?"
Ash was about to reply, but the start of the Contest interrupted them. "Okay, here we go – I wonder who's going to be first."
They heard who was going to be first.
"...oh, come on," Brock sighed. "Harley again?"
"At least you can't set his Pokémon on fire, Ash," Lucario pointed out. "At least, I don't think you can..."
They watched as Harley threw his Pokéball, which opened to… nothing.
"Hey, what's going on?" someone asked from the audience.
"It's simple," Harley replied. "My Pokémon is already here!"
A Banette burst out of the seats with a flash of ghostly flame, making everyone jump. As it moved, the Ghost-type upped the strength of its flames, making the blue fire swirl around in mid-air and coalesce to form a cloud.
Then, with a mighty BANG, a blast of Thunder stabbed up at the clouds and blew them away.
"Is his thing making people jump this time?" Brock asked. "I know I did."
"Three out of ten," Pikachu judged.
"Who gets a ten in your world?" Lucario asked.
"Arceus using Judgement," Pikachu told him. "Possibly."
"Does that mean that was actually pretty good?" Brock said. "I didn't realize."
"No, it doesn't," Pikachu said, before stopping and thinking. "I may need to revise my system."
"...I guess that means we're not going through?" Max asked, looking around at the underwhelmed reaction.
Guy got back to his feet. "I thought that went quite well..."
"Maybe they're just not ready for breakdancing," Max shrugged. "I thought it was good too."
May strode out onto the Contest floor, wearing a dress that was almost completely black. It glittered as the light struck tiny flecks of quartz, making it seem like a starfield as she made her way to the middle of the arena.
"May Maple!" the announcer announced, because that was his job. "And her Pokémon today is Spoink!"
Reaching into the pocket of her dress, May took out a bag of flour. She opened the top and hit it from below, producing a massive cloud of floury dust, and sent Spoink out as the cloud began to spread.
The seals attached to the Pokéball went off with a multiple-flash of stars, forming three concentric rings on different axes and causing the cloud of flour to swirl and ripple. Then Spoink landed on the arena floor, pearl bouncing atop his head, and he began to focus.
With a creak, the lights swung upwards so they faced the ceiling – casting the arena into shadow, so the main light was the softly glowing pearl on Spoink's forehead.
The pearl glowed brighter, and all the flour May had put into the air began to light up. The swirling movement it had already had took on a purpose, a single direction, and every glowing mote was soon moving in a single clockwise rotation.
Another flash of brighter light from the pearl, and the spherical cloud of flour began to flatten and elongate. The dust near the middle, moving slower, was not as affected, and before long a disc began to form – with a bulge in the middle, glowing more brightly as the denser cloud of psychically-controlled dust produced more light.
"Okay, Spoink," May said, softly. "Here we go."
Spoink nodded, and the disc began to collapse inwards.
Like a ballet dancer drawing their arms in, the shrinkage meant the whole cloud swirled faster. It contracted, growing brighter and brighter as it became smaller than Spoink – then smaller than his pearl – until there was a tiny sphere of brightly-glowing white powder that lit the whole arena in a diffuse white light.
Then Spoink used Shock Wave.
The tiny flicker of electricity sparked into being in the middle of the ball, and the flour caught fire. In fact, it burned vigorously – consuming the ball in a fraction of a second, then igniting the still-untouched majority of the flour that hung invisibly in the air.
There was quite a loud bang – and, at the end of it, a spark of light floated in the air above the porcine Psychic-type.
"We call it 'young star'", May announced into the stillness.
Unfortunately, no-one really heard her – the bang had made it quite hard to hear – but the applause started up anyway.
Spoink let the light drop again and revealed it to be his pearl. "Did that go well?"
"I think it went fine," May assured him.
"That was pretty good," Ash said, speaking slowly and carefully. "But I think next time she might want to have Spoink do some kind of psychic shield."
"What?" Pikachu asked.
No, we're not doing this, Dexter decided, materializing and forming subtitles.
"Thank you," Lucario said, calmly. "That does simplify things."
"So?" Venusaur asked, looking down at Spoink. "How'd it go?"
Spoink blushed. "I think I'm still not very good at the fighting bit… I lost lots of points and got eliminated."
Venusaur shrugged. "That's fine – seriously, it is, you'll learn. Who did you fight?"
The Psychic-type hopped in place, looking downcast. "It was a Banette… and the guy who had it was a Cacturne or something?"
"Hey, don't be, like, depressed," Skitty said.
Spoink jumped – more than usual, that is. "Skitty? Where are you?"
"Like… in the flower, you know?" Skitty asked, raising her tail over the tip of Venusaur's flowery plant. "It's, like, kind of cozy here."
The feline hopped up onto the edge of the petals, then down onto Venusaur's neck and onto the ground. "But… like… what you need to remember is that Harley's a total jerk."
Venusaur rumbled. "Are you sure that's the life lesson here?"
"It's totally my life lesson from dealing with Harley," Skitty said, waving a paw. "But… you know, you could, like, learn a good attack or two to… like… get his ghost?"
"Like what?" Venusaur asked, interested.
Skitty shrugged. "I dunno, something, like, ghosty or dark."
"You're a regular strategist," the Grass-type said. She shook her head, then frowned. "Actually… I know what you could do. Glaceon has Shadow Ball, and Casper could let you practice fighting Ghosts."
"Do you think that's a good idea?" Spoink asked, hanging on their words. "Could I really learn to battle well enough to beat that Banette?"
"Of course you can!" Altaria said.
Spoink jumped again. So did Skitty, yowling with shock.
Venusaur pointed a vine. "How did you sneak up on us? You're huge and you're wearing a jingly harness!"
"I've been practising flying really smoothly, so the harness doesn't jingle," Altaria told them proudly. "I'm getting help from Latios – he's great at it!"
"...oh, I get it," Skitty said, smoothing down some of her fur. "So he's totally going to appear out of, like, nowhere, and then we're all, like, 'argh' again?"
They waited several seconds.
"Guess not," Spoink decided. "Good thing too, I think another surprise and I might drop my pearl..."
"You know, this is so much easier to cope with than last time," Swellow said, tail flicking back and forth as she steered around Ash and Latios. "I mean, I got really, really bored when we were going through Hoenn the first time! All walking, walking, walking, and way too slow!"
She shrugged her wings. "I mean, it's still kind of slow, but this is a great improvement!"
Ash watched her as she did a roll over his head, then cut in underneath Latios and powered ahead of him to pull up and rise just in front of his nose. "I guess you're feeling… kind of energetic?"
"Yeah, pretty much," Swellow agreed. "It's kind of interesting flying alongside at such an icy pace for… oh, five minutes… but after that you just want to go do something else more exciting!"
Latios glanced back at Ash.
Ash nodded.
"What's that?" Swellow asked.
"Good question," Pikachu agreed. "Ash, what are you planning?"
There was a bright orange flash as Latios Mega-Evolved, and shot off ahead to the accompaniment of doppler-shifted complaints from Pikachu.
Swellow blinked, wings slowing for a moment, then her gaze hardened and she accelerated. "Right! You want to show off, you get showing off!"
She accelerated, following Mega Latios as he went into a curve up-and-around.
"Brock?" May asked, as Altaria dropped in alongside Flygon. "We don't have to do what they're doing, right?"
"No, May, there's no need," Brock agreed. "I think Ash is just keeping Swellow busy."
"Good," May said, glancing down at Altaria's back and making sure the clips were in place. "I'm still not sure we want to do that kind of acrobatics… yet, anyway."
"Should we test if the straps can hold you?" Altaria checked – before going on hastily. "I mean – just with me going upside down right next to the ground, with Blaziken there to catch you if things go wrong. It might help prove that this is going to keep you safe."
May nodded. "I guess that might help."
She glanced back. "Where's Max, again?"
Brock looked, then tapped Flygon on the side and had the Dragon-type bank to give him a better field of view.
"I can't see him either," Brock frowned.
"I saw them go ahead," Flygon supplied. "They're probably at the campsite by now."
"...okay, I guess maybe we shouldn't have gone ahead," Max admitted.
He shrugged. "Sorry, Pidgeot."
Pidgeot chirped.
She suggests that we go back to meet up with them, Kris told him.
"That does sound like a good idea," Max agreed. "Okay… ready?"
Pidgeot turned her back to let Max climb on, adjusting her wings ready for the return to the sky.
"At least we know the campsite's a good one," Max said, as he mounted up. "And that looks like a great place to train."
The big Flying-type shifted once, checking Max was secure, then jumped skywards with a clap of her wings.
"Okay, Latios, I think that's enough!" Ash called. "Pikachu's looking green."
Mega Latios adjusted his levitation, tilting so that the airflow began to brake him, and Swellow shot ahead to do a victory roll.
"Thanks," Pikachu said, waving his tail. "And it's only ten minutes after I asked you to stop."
Ash shrugged. "It wasn't that bad, right?"
There was an orange flash as Mega Latios went back to Latios, and he glanced back. "Sorry, Pikachu," he said, with the ghost of a grin. "But I do have to do what my trainer says."
"Yeah, yeah..." Pikachu muttered. "Where's the campsite? I feel like fighting Lucario or Blaziken or someone… Ash?"
Ash frowned. "Sorry, I just… this place looks familiar."
Pikachu looked down from Latios' back. "Well, yeah, of course it's familiar, we've been here before."
"No, not like that," Ash said, shaking his head. "I mean it looks familiar from here. We're half a mile in the air, and I didn't have Pidgeot or Charizard last time we came to Hoenn… so..."
He shrugged. "I don't know. I just feel like there's something..."
With a series of small hops, Pikachu ran along Latios' neck to stand on his head. "I'm not seeing it."
"Down there," Ash said, pointing. "Latios – just ahead and a little to the left. Can you land there?"
"I don't see why not," Latios replied, setting off. He folded his wings back slightly, increasing his speed at the same time, and Pikachu ran quickly back to Ash to avoid falling off.
Altaria drifted down, wings spread, and reached ground level neatly between two trees.
May slid off his back, unclipping herself from his harness but leaving it on for now. "Ash?" she called, raising her voice to try and reach him. "What's up?"
Swellow chirped something, waving a wing, and Altaria hummed back. "I'm sure he's got a good reason, Swellow," he said, then shrugged. "Well, at least I think he does."
Flygon came down to land next to Altaria. "Any idea why Ash landed here?"
Swellow chirped again, taking off, and Brock waved May forwards.
"Apparently this is the closest break in the trees to where Ash went," Brock supplied for May. "It's a good thing we saw where he landed, though, or we'd have lost him – maybe Ash forgot we can't see him through solid objects."
"Could be," May said. "Sorry, Altaria – can you wait there for now?"
"Sure," Altaria assured her, and turned to Flygon. "So… ever heard of Twenty Questions?"
"Of course I have," Flygon replied. "Want to go first?"
"Ash, what are you doing?"
"Oh – hi, guys," Ash said, waving back at them. "I'm pretty sure there's something hidden here – just under these vines."
"What makes you think that?" Brock asked. "It's pretty solid old forest here, and it's not that far from being a jungle."
"Well, I'm..." Ash began, then shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not really sure. But I feel like we've been here before. Or I have, at least."
"...that doesn't make any sense," May summarized.
"I still want to see if I'm right," Ash said. "Pikachu? Another Iron Tail!"
"I've already chopped off about twenty branches," Pikachu grumbled. His tail took on a silver-steel sheen nevertheless, though, and he ran forwards two steps before jumping and sweeping it around.
The steely, blade-like tail cut off a dozen vines in a single stroke, and a blank rock face was revealed.
"See?" Ash asked. "There is something here!"
"This is probably just a fault scarp," Brock demurred. "If they're hidden from weather, they can get so bright you can see your face in it – because the fracturing rock is so smooth."
Ash closed his eyes, looking at the rock, and then put his palm on it. "Uh… I think… here?"
Stone ground on stone, and a section of rock four feet across descended down into the ground below – exposing a corridor.
"Hey, Brock?" May asked. "Does this have a natural explanation?"
"...no," Brock admitted. "Unless the local Diglett are really dedicated."
"Okay, this is… basically a job for an archaeologist, right?" May asked, looking around at the carved walls by the light of Pikachu's Flash. "Ethan – any ideas?"
Several.
The Porygon2 materialized out of smoothly bevelled curves and rendered spheroids, hovering in front of his trainer and examining the walls. This seems to match most closely to the iconography of the PokéAtlantis culture.
"Pokéatlantis?" Brock repeated. "That sounds kind of… familiar..."
"Oh, I get it," Pikachu said, looking over at his trainer. "This is that king guy again, isn't it?"
"I guess it must be," Ash agreed. "I think he was here once, and I must have got part of that – it's why this is so familiar. Last time it was this strong it was back at the Pokémonopolis ruins..."
"Is it dangerous?" Brock asked. "I mean… didn't you get mind-controlled once?"
"It's not really him," Ash hastened to add. "Just… a few of his memories."
"Because that's not weird at all," Pikachu said, then frowned. "Mind you, I've got memories from my future self… who's sort of me, though, so it kind of makes sense."
"So, what was this place, then?" May asked.
"Well, it was an important place to attack Pokémonopolis from," Ash explained, looking around for a moment as they reached an intersection and then heading down one of the connecting corridors. "And… there was a Claydol, right? Team Rocket released it last time."
Ah, the giant Pokémon again, Dexter agreed. The giant, enhanced, genetically optimal Pokémon.
"Where are you taking us, Ash?" May said. "We're pretty deep underground."
Ash put his hand on the wall again, and another section of stone slid aside – letting in daylight.
"...or not," May added. "Where is this?"
"Looks like some kind of outpost," Brock opined. "There's those little windows with plants covering them… and there's the bay past them."
There are four controls on that panel, Ethan stated. I suggest none of you touch them… mapping…
His eyes flashed, sending LIDAR beams across the surface, then drew a holographic shape in the air several inches above the buttons themselves – restoring the pictograms on the buttons to legibility. The leftmost one releases the Claydol, the rightmost releases… it seems to be a Banette. And the two more towards the middle return them to containment. See how there's a Pokéball symbol.
"Maybe we should make sure that can't happen before we report this place to archaeologists," May winced. "Or at least ask if Sidney can be here just in case."
She blinked. "Wait, I'm way too used to this whole Ash-is-a-Champion thing..."
"There's another switch over here, though," Brock said, pointing. "What about this one?"
That one is… wait, that symbol looks familiar, Ethan said, floating closer. Look.
"That's… a circle and a fleck…" Brock began, then frowned. "You're right – that's the Mega Stone symbol."
"Do you think it belongs to Claydol or Banette?" May asked.
"Banette," Ash replied, then blinked. "Huh. I'm never going to get used to that..."
"Well, Casper's going to evolve into a Banette someday, so we should try and find that," Pikachu suggested. "Ethan, you're the one who keeps finding things about this place. Any ideas?"
It might be close to the stone Pokéball with the Banette in it, Ethan suggested. Which would be in a high location, visible from this control booth… location determined.
"I guess we're going there, then," Brock said. "Wait… that reminds me, did we let Max know we were going underground?"
"You can't see them either?" Max asked.
Pidgeot shrugged her wings.
It seems as though they have vanished completely, Kris concluded. This is inconvenient.
"I wonder if Jirachi can help..." Max mused. "Jirachi?"
The Psychic-type poked his head out of Max's bag. Morning, Max!
"Do you think I can wish to know where Ash, Brock and May have gone?"
Sure! Jirachi agreed. That should be easy! Wish away!
"Okay, here we go," May said, clipping herself to Altaria's harness again. "Ethan, you'll need to lead the way for us."
Of course, Ethan agreed. I will direct Altaria as required.
There was a flash, and Pidgeot materialized in front of them. She flared her wings, hammering the air, and came to a stop just before colliding with Flygon.
Max jumped down. "Guys? What were you doing?"
"...we're about to take off, actually," May admitted. "Sorry."
Max sighed. "Right… sorry, Jirachi, we kind of wasted that wish."
Why didn't you just call us, Kris? Dexter asked.
Kris beeped. Whoops…
"Wow..." Spoink said, bouncing softly in place as he looked up at the giant stone Pokéball. "Can I..."
"No, Spoink," May said firmly. "It's way too big."
"Awww..." the Psychic-type sighed.
Altaria trilled a giggle.
Well, there's something here… go to the left a bit, Kris requested. A bit more. Okay, forward a step… there we are. Just dig there and it should be fine.
Brock sent out Geodude, who raised his fist and made the ground part like the pages of a book.
Showoff, the Porygon muttered.
"I think this is it," Ash said, crouching down and picking up a clod of mud. "Uh… hold on, it might need a bit of cleaning..."
"We can do it at the campsite," Max suggested. "This giant stone Pokéball makes me feel kind of nervous… you know, like Ash might sneeze and make it break in half."
"Why would I do that?" Ash asked.
"Dexter?" Brock said. "Want to play the highlight reel of times Ash has made things-"
"No fair," Ash muttered, then shook his head. "Okay – let's get going. And work out what we're going to say to… whoever we report this to, as well."
"Maybe Steven?" Brock suggested. "He's a geologist, so he might know some good archaeologists. And he knows Sidney, too."
Sidney picked up the phone without looking. "Hey, yeah, Sidney here… what?"
He shook his head. "No way, boss. This is going to be another one of those times I go off and it's all sorted out by the time Sharpedo gets me there, right?"
Another pause, during which his Mightyena came trotting back over with a much-scuffed rubber ball.
Throwing the ball again, Sidney sighed. "Fine, you're the boss. Okay, I'll sort things out and head over."
Closing the phone, he whistled, and Mightyena came bounding back over.
"The boss had a job for us," he explained. "We're heading to Izabe Island – no rush, but we can't play catch any more 'cause I've got to pack."
Mightyena nodded, looking disappointed.
"I know," Sidney agreed. "But hey – Izabe has beaches!"
"Okay, let's try this again!" Ash said. "Tyranitar, ready?"
"Sure!" Tyranitar agreed, stamping a foot on the ground.
"Right!" Ash confirmed. "Okay – Torkoal?"
"Steam up!" Torkoal reported, white vapour oozing from his nostrils.
"Then let's see how you do this time!" Ash stepped back, raising his hand. "Go!"
Tyranitar's mouth opened, and flames seethed within. He took aim, and launched off a Flamethrower.
By the time he'd fired, though, Torkoal was somewhere else. The Fire-type fired a blast of steam from all four leg holes, the vectors cancelling to send him rocketing straight up in the air.
Tyranitar changed his aim, sweeping the flame up, then went left just as Torkoal went right – meaning that his flame crossed paths with the tortoise.
"One!" Ash called.
"Keep it up!" Mawile cheered. "See if you can get five this time!"
Tyranitar kept up his continuous stream of fire, stepping back with one leg and swinging his tail around for balance. He swung his jaws again, catching Torkoal just as the Fire-type let off a steam burst and blew the Flamethrower away.
"I think that's two!" Ash announced. "Make it hard for him, Torkoal!"
Torkoal tucked his head in and intensified his steam pressure, angling his feet so he rotated at speed before spinning across the training ground like a discus.
Tyranitar was by now visibly having trouble sustaining the Flamethrower, but rallied and pushed forward a lance of fire which clipped Torkoal as he changed direction.
"Three!" Mawile said. "Just two more!"
Torkoal launched himself straight up, getting a moment of thinking time, and in response Tyranitar reduced his stream – keeping it up so he didn't end the round, but still doing it.
A moment later, he intensified it again and produced a great roaring surge which caught Torkoal by surprise as he came down.
The explosion of smoke and steam sent Torkoal flipping through the air, and he vanished into the trees.
Tyranitar stopped using Flamethrower, panting hard, and coughed. "That's… harder… than it looks..."
"That was great!" Mawile told him.
She glanced up at Goodra. "That totally counts as two, right? It was a great big explosion!"
Goodra shrugged. "I don't know..."
Torkoal finally managed to flip himself back upright with his neck.
The Fire-type shook his head, looked around, and confirmed that the smell of smoke was only from smouldering leaves rather than an actual fire.
"Well, that went worse than it could have done," he muttered.
"Hi!"
He looked up. "Oh, hey Mawile. That kind of went wrong, didn't it..."
Mawile smiled sweetly at him. "I think it was kind of hot."
"Yeah, nearly set the forest on fire," Torkoal agreed.
"Torkoal?" Mawile asked.
Torkoal blinked. "Wait… that sounded like it was coming from behind me."
He turned around as Mawile came through the brush.
Then he looked back at Mawile.
"...there's two of you!" he said, blinking. "How will I tell which one is my teammate?"
"I'll be your teammate any time," the first one told him.
The second one put her finger to her mouth. "Hmmm… well, you could ask about a Pokémon we both know? So that way you'd be sure it was me. But maybe I should check if you're the real Torkoal!"
"That was easy," Torkoal concluded, nodding to the second one. He glanced over his shoulder, then winced. "Can you get Goodra? I think that might actually be catching fire now..."
"Oh, so you're the trainer of that other Mawile?" asked Samantha, putting her ribbons down for now. "I wondered – they're so cute, aren't they?"
"Yeah, Mawile's a great Pokémon," Ash agreed. "She's really good at including and socializing other Pokémon – and she loves teaching Pokémon like Goodra to fly, too."
"Flying?" Samantha asked, and smiled. "Well, mine's more… flighty, than flying."
Max winced. "That joke hurt."
The female trainer smiled more broadly.
"Um… excuse me?" Ash's Mawile asked. "Are you okay? You look quite dizzy."
"It's only love, darling," the other Mawile explained, looking with adoring eyes at Tyranitar. "Only love."
"Love?" Mawile repeated. "Uh… you know that's my little brother, right?"
That made Samantha's Mawile do a double-take. "Brother?" She looked back at Tyranitar again, and he waved a big, rocky paw. "Little?"
"He hatched after me, so he's a little brother," Ash's Mawile explained firmly.
"Wasn't she after you about three minutes ago?" Pikachu asked Torkoal.
"Easy come easy go," Torkoal shrugged. "If I wanted a romance, I'd rather it be with someone stolid, steady, dependable… and, preferably, heatproof."
Pikachu's paws moved as he tried to envision that. "So… a Bronzong?"
"What?" Torkoal asked, blinking. "No, not the ability. Just… not flammable."
"I didn't even know Mawile had a Mega Stone," Samantha admitted. "Shows how much I know, I'm afraid! No, we tend to do displays – I'm trying to work up the courage to do a Contest."
"What kind of displays?" Ash asked. "I get that it involves those ribbons, but..."
"I'll show you," Samantha decided. "Mawile!"
"Yes?" both Mawile said at once.
Brock chuckled.
Once that minor misunderstanding was sorted out, they spent the next few minutes watching Samantha and her Mawile as they did a ribbon-dance. It started slow, but took on a swirling whirligig character and left them both panting by the end of it.
"That is pretty neat," May said. "I did a fire dance with Blaziken, but there's something different about that."
"I'd like to give it a try," said one of Ash's Pokémon.
Everyone stared.
"Your Pokémon talk?" Samantha asked.
"Seriously?" Pikachu said, looking up. "Are you sure?"
"Of course."
Lucario's foot shifted on the water, throwing up a small ripple. He spread Aura over the surface of the water to increase surface tension and waited, watching out of the corner of one eye, until even that last ripple was still.
Then he began to move, gracefully transforming combat strikes and blocks into arcs of smooth continuity.
The long streamers tied to his spikes trailed out behind his paws – one red, one blue – and the green one attached to his tail formed the counterpoint in the pattern as he whirled and span.
Pikachu shook his head. "I'm torn between laughing and recording blackmail material."
As Lucario accelerated, his paws began to whip up spray despite the Aura he was using to still it. Working it into his routine, the Fighting-type used swipes of his paws to bring it up further, making the whole last minute of the performance a blur of motion shrouded by flying spray.
Then he tripped, and went into the water with a gigantic splash.
"Somehow that wasn't how I expected that to end," Torkoal commented to Goodra, who shrugged.
Picking himself up again, Lucario stripped sheets of water from his body with blue-glowing paws. "Tripped on a Magikarp," he explained.
"I don't see it," Pikachu said, leaning forwards.
"It went downriver," the Steel-type explained. "Sorry about your ribbons."
"That's okay," Samantha said, accepting them back as he untied them. "I'll just dry them out before next time they're used."
"I see," Lucario said.
He looked down. "Your Mawile seems to be hugging my leg."
"No, I'm your teammate," Mawile said. "I just think that was really nice of you to try that out. Her Mawile's over behind Goodra."
Goodra jumped. "What?"
Whirling, he gave Samantha's Mawile a freaked-out look. "But I thought… oh, no, I got mixed up..."
The other Mawile waved. "I don't mind… you're kind of cute."
Goodra looked too confused for words.
"Why aren't we just flying all the way across Izabe island?" Max asked, shaking a stone out of his shoe. "This is much slower."
"Altaria's back with his family," May supplied. "And I think Ash mentioned that Pidgeot's watching over Shamouti."
"Right," Max sighed. "Got it."
He hopped a few steps, leaning on a helpful Guy, then put his shoe back on. "Phew… that was a pain."
"You could have just stopped," Brock suggested.
Max shrugged.
"This is quite rugged terrain," Absol commented, loping along to the side of the path. She balanced for a moment on the tallest point of a large rock, then jumped to another and slid neatly down it. "Quite nostalgic, really, training for chance-dancing is a lot like this."
"Dangerous situations, right?" Ash checked.
"Yes," Absol agreed. She landed with a puff of dust on the path, a little ahead of her trainer, and paused to sniff the air. "Hmmm… there's something in the air…"
"Anything dangerous?" Brock asked.
"No… or, rather, what danger there is isn't immediate yet. I'll keep my senses sharp," Absol told him.
Ash passed her while she spoke, and she began walking again. "I think there's something just ahead, actually… wait!"
Brock and Ash stopped. A moment later, so did Max and May.
"What?" Ash asked. "What is it?"
"The bridge, there," Absol explained, pointing it out. "There was a distinct chance of it collapsing if one of you tried to step on it."
"I guess we need to get across some other way, then," Brock said, nodding. "And tell the town nearby about this – I think I remember this. There was a town, right?"
Correct, Dexter stated.
Swellow came down from overhead. "Hey, I heard you guys talking about a town? 'cause there's some people coming down the road."
"That's helpful," Ash said. "We can let them know how bad the bridge is. Was that what you were sensing, Absol?"
"No, it's not just that," Absol agreed. "There's something else as well – I'd need a look around to be sure, but it's got more chance of things going wrong… just a longer timeframe. A day or so."
"A day's pretty short," May said, reading the subtitles from Ethan. "But I guess it's better warning than five minutes."
"True, that's a lot of what being an Absol is about," the Dark-type agreed. "Making sure that you keep on top of what's the most immediate and high priority danger."
"Hello?" someone called. "Hey, that's that Absol!"
The friends looked up, seeing a group of a dozen or so townspeople headed down the road to them.
"Wait!" Absol called, eyes flashing. "Don't touch the bridge, it's unsafe!"
She glanced back at Ash. "Can you-"
"Stop!" Ash called. "The bridge isn't safe – it'll collapse way too easily!"
"Pardon?" the speaker said. "Another bridge that Absol has ruined?"
"Ruined?" Absol repeated. "Ruined? I certainly didn't touch your bridge – sort of the point, really."
As Ash translated that, leading to further confused arguments, Swellow spread her wings and banked down to the bridge. "I don't see what the fuss is about," the Flying-type admitted, landing on one of the ropes.
The entire bridge collapsed.
"Huh," she said, hovering in place where the bridge used to be. "I guess they just don't build 'em around here."
"I guess we'll have to make our own bridge," Brock decided. "Geodude!"
Geodude gestured. "Right!"
Stone and earth mounded up, compressing into a hard material made of tiny flecks of black and white crystal, then stretched over the gap with a large overhang both sides.
"That's much better," Absol said, smiling. "Now we just need to work out what that other problem is."
She took a step, then stopped and looked up. "Did I just..."
Everyone else followed her gaze, and then another black-and-white Absol appeared on top of a rock on the town side of the river.
"Are you people going to listen this time?" he asked. "I keep telling you, the spring's not safe – it's going to overflow sometime-"
The other Absol stopped, and his jaw opened slightly. It worked twice, no sound coming out, then he gave a strangled gasp.
Turning tail, the Disaster Pokémon began to run as fast as he could into the distance. He made it three steps, tripped, rolled over twice and ended up in a tangle at the bottom of the rock he'd used.
There was silence for a few long, awkward seconds.
"...I forgot what it was like first catching sight of you," Ash's Absol said, conversationally, glancing back at her trainer before looking at the heap of Dark-type starting to untangle his horn from his paws. "He took it well."
"So… hold on, let me hear that again?" the town mayor asked. "Absol are… not dangerous, you say?"
"They warn people of disasters, they don't cause them," Ash explained, for the fourth time.
"And they always seem to turn up at the same time as the disasters because they try to warn people," May continued. "It's just that they get mixed up with being the cause, and they get the blame."
There was a grinding noise as Geodude busily built a breakwater for the town, so that any future flood would be diverted to either side of their houses and avoid destroying the town.
"And you know this… how?" the mayor said, still puzzled.
Ash held up Dexter. "My Pokédex has information on just about every Pokémon in Hoenn – including Absol. And we've had several talks about how her power works."
"Right, right, you can talk to her as well," the mayor said, rubbing his temples. "Well, I suppose Gordon will be happy when he gets back to know that we actually do understand Absol better now."
"...you can do what?" the local Absol asked, looking at Ash's Mega Absol like she'd grown an extra tail to go with the wings.
"It's not that hard," she assured him, pacing over to a rock. "Like this."
She focused for a moment, putting a shimmer of energy on the tip of her horn, then began to carve.
"There," she said, after a minute or so. "Warning given."
The local traced out the lines with his paw. "...I never thought of that."
On the rock, in angular lines, Absol had spelled out: Beware Of Flood.
"I'm going to have to tell my friends and family about that one," the local said. "What gave you that idea?"
"My trainer's kind of unconventional," Mega Absol smiled.
"I thought the whole Mega-Evolution thing was neat enough..."
After shaking his head, the local sighed. "Okay, I get the point, I was being kind of… stereotypical."
"Just a bit," Mega Absol agreed.
Altaria's mother and father looked at him.
"You've grown," one said.
"Yes," the other agreed.
"Really?" Altaria asked, looking at his body. "I didn't notice..."
AN:
This is mostly some stuff about the things on the way from gym to gym.
Firstly, there's May and Altaria having some trouble with flight – and, fortunately for them, a solution readily available. (Not Lola's first appearance in this fic.)
Then there's some Contest for Max, and Spoink's first go. He's still got problems with the fighting side of the Contest, but he certainly passed the appeals stage.
As for the giant Pokémon - once again, I'm trying to tie that into the Pokémonopolis v Pokéatlantis cold war. There's something which I didn't have them realize yet...
...and then a couple of episodes spotlighting Pokémon. The Mawile One and The Absol One.
