"It's kind of bizarre to be in the stands looking down at Max," May confided. "Well, you know what I mean… when Max is in one of the battles, and I'm up here."

"Yeah," Brock agreed, looking around at the jam-packed stadium. "I guess it shouldn't be surprising that this one's been the one that most people want to see."

He winced. "Actually, I'm not sure how many people are in the other three preliminary stadiums at all..."

"I think it's supposed to be stadia," May corrected. "Stadios?"

As they wondered about that one, there was a cheer.


Ash walked out onto the arena floor, a little surprised by the volume of the crowd, and saw his opponent coming out of his own tunnel.

"Uh..." the other trainer said, sounding startled. "Yeah, I'm just going to… hope this goes alright."

He expanded out a Pokéball. "Go, Rhyperior!"

"Pikachu!" Ash said, pointing, and Pikachu ran up his arm before jumping off his hand and somersaulting onto the floor.

"Now, remember!" the announcer called. "Preliminary matches are one Pokémon only! The loser is eliminated. As we have a full roster this year, there will not be the chance for high-performing defeated trainers to return to the tournament."

He paused. "Begin!"

"Fire!" called the other trainer.


Pikachu immediately darted forwards, sparks of lightning fizzling on his cheeks, and spun with his tail glowing white to shatter a Rock Blast that Rhyperior shot at him as soon as the battle started.

Keeping up his momentum, Pikachu pushed off the wreckage of the first Rock Blast and rose a little higher. Coiling, he landed on the second Rock Blast, and kicked off it towards Rhyperior – moving faster this time.

The third one exploded the moment he touched it, and the Electric-type was knocked high into the air.

"Electroball!" Ash called.

Seeing Ash's plan in a moment, Pikachu dumped power into a quickly-formed sphere of electricity and shot it downwards at Rhyperior. He added a little electrostatic kick to it, and the attack detonated on Rhyperior's forearm – the shower of sparks and little bolts of lightning ruining his aim, making the Rock Wrecker go wide.

A fissured rock exploded in the air behind Pikachu as he dropped back to the stadium floor, and he took a moment to see how much of an impact his Electroball had actually had.

Very little, as it turned out. Some of the sparks were still present, forming a glittering cloud expanding slowly outwards, but even as he watched they were sucked into Rhyperior's horns like the rest of the attack.

"Hm," Pikachu said, ears twitching. "Lightningrod."

He cracked his knuckles. "Okay, then."


"I still can't believe we're facing Ash Ketchum..." Ryan said under his breath. "Okay, Rhyperior – stay alert! You know he doesn't need Electric attacks to fight… I know! Earth Power and Fire Blast!"

Rhyperior nodded confirmation, and slammed his tail into the ground. A web of cracks spread out, aided by a stomp that Rhyperior drove into the ground in front of his position, and then he shot a Fire Blast down through one of the holes.

Flames and rock burst outwards from the Fire-type attack, which raced all around the ring Rhyperior had dug, and a glowing hot ring formed around the burly Rock-type.

Then he pointed one arm, and fired a Stone Edge.

By the time he fired, Pikachu was somewhere else. Blurring around in a circle with Agility, the Electric-type dodged Rhyperior's entire attack and pelted towards the moat.

"Earthquake!" Ryan snapped.

Rhyperior slammed down a fist, and the whole stadium area trembled – the shaking stopping short of the stands due to a pair of Reuniclus reinforcing the LinesPokémon for the battle.

As the shaking pulsed out, Pikachu jumped into the air. He landed just once, long enough to kick off again, and his second leap took him clear over the red-hot moat Rhyperior had put together.

"Metal Burst!" Ryan ordered, hoping that this would work.

Pikachu rammed home a blue-glowing palm, the impact sending Rhyperior staggering – absurd for such a small Pokémon – then his rocky skin pulsed bright silver, and Pikachu got blasted backwards as the attack reflected all the energy that had been put into it.

"Right!" Ryan cheered, as Pikachu bounced once before recovering and skidding to a halt. "That hurt him!"

Rhyperior rubbed his chest.

"...and you, I guess," Ryan added. "Keep it up! Uh… Rock Wrecker!"

The Rock-type attack took a precious second to work up, but Pikachu didn't take the opportunity to dodge. Ryan wondered what that meant, and then-

Rhyperior fired a boulder infused with Rock-type energy directly at his Electric-type opponent.

Then Pikachu countered the Rock Wrecker with one of the most powerful Electric attacks Ryan had ever seen. It hit the oncoming boulder like a lance of light, hesitated for a long moment, then punched right through the centre and blew it into a shower of rock fragments.

There was a blur of blue light, and then Pikachu was springing forwards. Gravel was raining down all over the middle of the stadium, and a shining blue Aura Sphere flashed forwards for Rhyperior to block it with a Water Pulse, and then everything got a bit too fast for Ryan to follow.

"Magnitude!" he called.

Rhyperior's tail slammed into the ground, harder than the last time, and Ryan nearly lost his footing from the ground moving underneath him. There was a squeak, a half-cut off cry of "Pika-!", then a slam.

After the shaking had subsided, Ryan looked up – and saw his Rhyperior slowly collapsing to the ground, hitting with a sound like an ongoing avalanche.

Standing on top of him was a small yellow dot.


"Wow, he was pretty good!" Brock said, applauding. "His Rhyperior reminds me of Forrest – he's got one, and it's pretty strong."

"That's the one you told me about, right?" May checked. "The one who fought a Latias?"

"Yeah, that's right," Brock confirmed. "He was really helpful when Forrest did the Gym qualification course, too..."


"Oh, hey, I recognize her," Misty said, pointing at the screen.

Karen followed her gaze. "The girl in the northern arena?"

"That's right," Misty confirmed. "She makes kind of a career out of beating Ash's most powerful Pokémon. I'm surprised she's in Hoenn, though, my sisters said she challenged their gym."

"I'm sure there's an explanation," Togekiss opined.

"Yeah, I think there is too," Misty agreed. "I'm just kind of wondering what it is."

As they watched, Casey sent out her Pokémon, and her opponent followed suit.

"Huh, her Elekid evolved," Misty said. "Lucky her!"

"And is that a shiny Riolu she's with?" Karen asked. "Wait… I think I do remember her – isn't she the one where most of her team's either black-and-yellow or has a scarf?"

"That's her," Misty nodded. "She's a massive baseball fan, too."


"Bladestorm, use Stealth Rock!" Gale ordered.

His Skarmory dove in a U-shaped arc, steely feathers scraping the ground at the low point of his dive, and the scrapes pulsed before flashing and producing a half-dozen large stones.

Electabuzz regarded them with irritation, and batted away the closest one with a Rock Smash which left it in fragments.

"Good start!" Casey told him enthusiastically. "Now, let's use a pinch hit!"

"Pinch hit?" Gale repeated. "What kind of Pokémon move is that?"

Electabuzz chuckled, a sound with an electric humm in the air behind it, and his antenna sparked. He drew back a fist, and hurled a bolt of lightning at Bladestorm.

"Autotomize!" Gale yelped.

The Skarmory flapped hard – shedding feathers, which got in the way of the attack and which made it discharge early. Electabuzz' Shock Wave attack went astray, sending a shower of sparks off in all directions, and Bladestorm swept around in an Immelmann turn before blasting back a flurry of Swift stars at his Electric-type opponent.

Electabuzz raised both arms to block them, then had to dive out of the way of a follow-up Rock Tomb.

"Electabuzz, you're the batter now!" Casey said. "Pick up one of those feathers!"

Moving fast, Electabuzz ran across the arena floor and snatched up one of Bladestorm's discarded primaries. Gripping it near the end like a baseball bat, he lined up briefly on the second Rock Tomb attack and sent it flying.

"Great!" Casey complimented.

"Great..." Gale muttered. "Right – Steel Wing! He can't block all of you!"

Electabuzz shifted his grip, looking like he was ready to try.

"...wait," Gale added, as Bladestorm lined up for his attack. "No! Abort!"

Bladestorm flared his wings, arresting his speed, and twisted hard right to get out of range. Electabuzz lunged forwards, bat whistling through the air, and a little spark jumped across the gap in the moment before Bladestorm made it back out of range and into the air.

"Your Pokémon was going to use the feather to conduct a Thunderbolt!" he accused.

Casey blinked. "...uh, yeah?"

She shook her head. "Okay, Electabuzz, let's hit this one out of the park! Electroball!"

"Okay, I see where this is going," Gale said. "Sandstorm, Bladestorm!"


The shield around the arena became visible, rippling from thousands of tiny sand impacts as the LinesPokémon kept the Sandstorm from affecting the crowd.

"You know Will's training some Mr. Mime to help with that?" Karen asked. "He's had Umbreon and Sneasel help test their barriers against Dark-type attacks – apparently if they make them out of hardened air it sort of works."

"And I bet you're trying to work out how to get through them," Misty added.

"Of course," Karen agreed. "Why wouldn't I?"

They shared a chuckle, then Karen blinked as the Electroball whistled past Skarmory.

"That was fast..." she said. "I suppose this is Electro Baseball?"

"I think that's what Casey's turned it into," Misty nodded.

She rubbed the back of Milotic's neck. "I think we might need to get you a bath soon," she said. "You're starting to dry out."

"What, again?" Karen asked.

"Water-type," Misty pointed out. "You didn't complain about the swimming pool yesterday."

"It was hot yesterday," Karen riposted, with a smile. "But point taken."


Rain pattered down all over the arena, driving the sand out of the air.

"Okay, her Electabuzz lost the last feather, that's good," Gale said to himself. "Uh… Bladestorm, try and get a Sandstorm going again!"

Bladestorm rolled, clattering his wing-feathers together, and then a blast of lightning leapt out of the cloud and sent him crashing to the ground.

"Bladestorm!" Gale said, almost as shocked as his Skarmory. "What did you do?"

"Thunder!" Casey explained. "Soaking wet and made of metal, you're kind of at risk – it's one of the reasons baseball games have to end if a thunderstorm's moving in."

"...oh, well," Gale sighed, returning Bladestorm once it was clear the Steel-type wasn't going to get up again. "Good match."

Walking forwards over the muddy grass, he shook her hand. "I knew I should have kept up the Kanto challenge..."

"Wait, you were doing that one too?" Casey asked, recalling her tired Electabuzz. "Huh – snap!"

Gale snorted. "Should have known..."


"Hi, guys," Ash said. "Oh, thanks for keeping a seat for me, Lucario."

Lucario crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out. "This is my seat, and I'm keeping it."

Shrugging, Ash sat next to the Steel-type. "So, what did I miss?"

"A couple of matches," May said. "Ethan says that Casey was in one of the other arenas – wasn't she the one who beat up Charizard?"

One of the Pokéballs on Ash's belt twitched.

"Yeah, and he's not really happy about it," Ash agreed. "This is one good thing about being right near the start of the schedule, though."

"We get some time to actually watch matches," Pikachu elaborated. "Hey, isn't that the guy who you helped with his Metang?"

"Yeah, that's Morrison," Ash agreed. "Let's see what he uses-"

"Of course it's the Metang," May asserted. "You'll see."

The first Pokémon to appear on the field was a Golem, sent out by his opponent, and then Morrison sent out his Metang.

It was a Metang.

"Okay, it was the Metang," Ash said. "You were right."

"So," Brock said. "Golem are… I have to admit, I'm a Rock-type… uh… I'm trained in Rock types, but I've never seen what's great about Golem compared to Geodude."

"Preach it," Geodude agreed, arms folded.

"...when did you come out?" May asked.

Geodude spread his hands. "Word."


"So, what do you think?" Max asked.

Cinder tilted her head. "I think I'd find this Metang a lot easier to fight than this Golem is."

They watched as the Metang's pair of clawed arms/legs went up, slowing Golem with a pulse of psychic energy, then grabbed his forearms and threw him over the Steel-type's shoulder.

"I mean, you know, it's doing a lot of psychic stuff, and..." Cinder shrugged.

"Yeah, but it's doing a lot of punching, too," Max countered. "And that-"

There was a thwam as Metang lashed out with a Meteor Mash.

"-like that," Max amended.

Cinder growled softly, a rippling rising-and-falling tone without any real threat or malice behind it. "I'm fairly sure I could fight it, though..."

"Hey, keep your voice down," someone asked.

"Sorry," Max winced.

"It's okay," the other trainer said, more quietly. "It's just kind of easy to forget that there's other people in here…"

"It's good of them to put in TV screens," Cinder opined. "It makes it easier for trainers who are going last to get as much of a look at the battles as the trainers who go first."

"You're right," Max agreed, softer this time.

"...wait, you can understand her?" the other trainer asked, surprised. "I thought that was really rare."

"It took a long time to learn it," Max said honestly. "But we kept it up, and now – yeah, it's pretty great."

"Cool," the other boy said. "Oh – I'm Yun, by the way."

"Max," Max introduced himself. "This is Cinder."

"Max!" Cinder barked softly, nodding at the screen.

They watched as Metang caught a Rock Throw in his metallized fist, then took a second one directly to the face.

"How did he do that?" Yun asked.

"I think… yeah, I see," Max said. "See, the Golem was using Earthquake at the same time, so he was making Metang concentrate on three things at once – the shield lost itself a bit. I guess he'll have to make sure he splits his attention more now."

"Like how Metang have two brains!" Yun realized. "That's pretty smart – I wouldn't have worked that out."

Max shrugged, a little embarrassed. "I try to spot tricks like that… it's important to know a lot about your Pokémon."

"I can agree with that," Yun said.

Both boys were now watching the screen as they talked, and so they saw when Golem peeled out into a Rollout and drove straight at Metang.

"So, what do you think it's going to do?" Yun asked.

"I'm not sure," Max replied. "With that much mass, Golem could be trying to break through the shield… or perhaps..."

A light began to shine from inside Golem's craggy exterior. Then there was a brilliant red flash, and the speakers relayed a faint bang just as the ground shook ever-so-slightly.

"Explosion, right?" Yun said, wincing. "That must be painful."

"Yeah, for both of them..." Max agreed.

As the dust cleared, both Golem and Metang were still up and fighting – though they looked quite beaten about by the explosion.

Metang turned slightly, listening to its trainer, then shot forwards – moving as fast as a speeding train, it headbutted directly into the startled Golem.

Chips of rock flicked out from the impact point, and Golem staggered. Then, as he started to recover, Metang grabbed him and pulled him forwards and upwards.

Then he used Meteor Mash repeatedly, keeping Golem suspended in mid-air on a cushion of punch.

"...I guess that's that battle," Yun said, wincing. "Ouch!"

Golem landed, rolled several times, and hit the arena wall with a thud – then collapsed backwards, no longer able to battle.

"Hmmm..." Cinder mused. "I think I'd need to start with a Fireshock..."


"Are you sure you're ready for this, Rose?" Ritchie asked.

Rose nodded solemnly, wings half-spread. Of course, she sent him. It's what I've trained for.

"All right, you know best," the Psychic chuckled.

Recalling the Flying-type, he popped her 'ball on his belt, then lifted up Sparky to rest on his shoulder.

"You're not getting any lighter," he said, with a huff of effort. "Come on, try a diet one of these days?"

"Not likely," Sparky replied. "Besides, I am getting lighter. I weighed myself today, I'm one pound lighter than I was last month."

"Fine, fine," Ritchie laughed. "Okay, let's get going!"


"Is that Ash?" asked Queen Ilene.

"That is not, your majesty," Lucario informed her. "That is another boy who looks very much like Ash."

"I see," the young ruler said, nodding. "Thank you for the clarification."


"Right, here we go," Hope said, clenching her fist. "Froslass, go!"

The Ghost-type flashed into being, and took in the environment before sighing and summoning a little snow cloud for herself.

Opposite her, Rose appeared on Ritchie's arm, and he sent her into the air with a gesture. "Go!"

"Icy Wind!" Hope ordered.

Froslass bundled up a ball of snow and turned it into a blast of frigid air, which reached out for Rose as the Taillow approached. Then there was a sudden BANG and the attack disintegrated.

"What was that?" Hope shouted, hands halfway to her ears. "What did that Taillow just do?"

Banking around, Rose made another pass – accelerating, then abruptly boosting past the sound barrier in a flicker of wings and air control. The thunderclap as she momentarily kissed mach one produced a shockwave, and that shockwave blew away the snowcloud Froslass was using to shield herself.

"Okay, concentrate..." Hope said to herself. "Froslass, that Boomburst can't hurt you! Just keep up the Ice attacks – make it Hail!"

Froslass raised her arms to the sky, exhaling, and a cloud of hail began to form.


Rose did a roll, speeding up and climbing into the sky, and crested at about the height of the seats.

"That reminds me of another one of Ritchie's Pokémon," Ash said, as the Flying-type dove and her shockwave shattered the hail all around her into fragments of diamonddust. "Remember Nagi? That Spearow?"

"I do, yeah," Pikachu agreed. "Didn't he fight Pidgeot?"

"I remember it well," Lucario said. "I was watching at the time after defeating Cid. Maybe that means that Nagi taught her."

He frowned. "Actually, though, something does occur to me. How's Rose going to harm Froslass?"

They followed Rose's movements as she punched a hole in the cloud, the crack-BOOM of her supersonic Boomburst pushing out and driving the hailstorm away before it began to reassert itself.

"I mean, she could do Flying attacks," he went on. "But she doesn't seem to be."

"Ice Shard!" Hope called, pointing.

Froslass shook out her hands, forming a half-dozen icy shards in them, and then flung all six upwards at the high-speed Taillow.

"One hit," Pikachu said quickly.

"Two," Lucario countered.

Caught somewhat off-guard with too much velocity to shed, Rose slammed into a corkscrew dive. That took her out of the way of the icy barrage, one just grazing her back, and then she went supersonic with a boom and smashed a second wave aside like kindling.

"Told you," Pikachu said.

"I was counting the second wave," Lucario replied unconvincingly.

"Wait, I know what's going on," Ash said.

"What's that?" Brock asked.

"I'm pretty sure Taillow can-"


Rose flicked an Air Slash downwards, one which narrowly missed Froslass, then accelerated straight towards her. She built up speed to the point her feathers rippled on her wings, and then-

She Boomburst right past Froslass, and this time the shockwave caught the Ghost-type and slammed her into the ground.


"Froslass!" Hope called, then sighed with relief when her Froslass floated back into the air. "What happened?"

The Snow Land Pokémon shrugged, then had to turn her attention back to Rose as the Taillow came down in another screaming dive.

"Hyper Beam!" Hope decided.

Froslass ducked aside, taking less of a hammering this time from the powerful shockwave of Rose's Boomburst, and spent a moment targeting before putting her hands together and launching a river of purple-pink energy upwards.

Rose wrenched herself through a tight turn, avoiding the attack's first component, but then being caught a glancing blow as the energy swept across to intercept her.

The shields rippled as they absorbed the excess energy.


"You know, I'm kind of glad those are there," Ash said, frowning. "Or that could have hurt a lot of people…"

"Yeah, no kidding," Pikachu agreed.

"Maybe that's one thing your rampage through the gyms of Kanto and Johto did that was good," Brock suggested.

Ash's retort died on his lips as he saw Rose take off again. Her flight was more laboured, and she didn't have the instant snap that she'd had before, but the Flying-type was still up – and able to fly through the hail and up to the top of the stadium.

Once there, she began to circle – getting faster and faster.

"I guess she's getting up speed for her next attack," May suggested.

"I think you're right," Ash agreed. "But there's something else, too…"


Ready? Ritchie asked.

I'm ready, Rose confirmed. Good plan.

As she reached attack speed, she dove down, wings beating as fast as they could without her hurting herself – and she just skimmed the top of the cloud layer, her dive helping her kiss the sound barrier just as she fired off a Defog attack.

The combination made the thick, black cloud tremble – and discharge all the moisture in it as a shattered mixture of hail and snow. The stadium below the hail cloud filled with white as it disintegrated, and Froslass was momentarily left without any way to see.

"What's going on?" Hope called.

Rose pulled up for a moment, gaining a little height, then dove through the storm. Her passage produced a swirling clear-air tunnel through the snow, and she dove right through Froslass.

As she did, she released all of her compression-heat as a single powerful Heat Wave, the superheated air washing out from inside Froslass and catching her in a curtain of flames.


To most of the audience, Rose vanished into a thick cloud of snow, and then there was an eruption of fire and sound which blasted all of that away and revealed the moment after the final clash.

Rose hovered in the air, panting – and below her, Froslass dropped slowly to the arena floor.

"Good work!" Ritchie said, raising his arm to let Rose land. "That was a tough fight!"

"I guess he's going though, then," May said, stating the obvious. "What happened, Ash? Lucario?"

"Why aren't you asking me?" Brock asked.

"I'm pretty sure you can't do the Aura thing," May explained.

"No, but I do know what happened," Brock said. "Rose used Flare Blitz."

"That's..." May stopped, and thought about it. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense..."

"I'm pretty sure it wasn't," Ash told them. "But it was a Fire-type attack."

"Close enough," Brock declared.

I can tell you what actually happened, if you want, Ethan suggested. As an aside, I am impressed with Brock's deadpan.


"...wait," Max said, slowly. "This means we're facing one another, right?"

Yun shrugged. "It must do."

"Okay, then," Max nodded. "I think that's okay. I mean… I've not actually battled anyone in a League before, it must just be bad luck it's someone I made friends with."

"I've not been to any Leagues before, either," Yun confided. "I was just assuming that if I looked like I knew what I was doing, it would work."

"It was working on me," Max chuckled.

He reached out a hand, and Yun shook it.

"Let's see who's got the better team," the other boy said.

"Actually, I don't think it's quite like that," Max admitted. "I think luck's important too. So… let's see who gets lucky?"

"Works for me," Yun agreed.


"That's Max, isn't it?" Johanna asked. "The other boy?"

"Yeah, that's him," Dawn agreed.

"He looks very young to be doing the Pokémon League… how old is he?"

"A couple of years younger than me, I think," Dawn hedged. "Maybe a year and a half? I think he was pretty close to getting his first Pokémon when, you know, Ash broke time. Again."

"I see," her mother said.

There was a thump from the other side of the couch.

"Glameow!" Johanna called. "Don't do that!"

Glameow let out an irritated grumble, implying by tone alone that Johanna couldn't possibly have seen whatever it was she was complaining about this time.

Dawn smiled, then turned back to the TV. "Okay, let's see how this goes!"


"Cinder, go!" Max said, throwing her Pokéball, and his Mightyena landed lightly on the springy grass.

"I'm glad they replace this every so often," she said, touching it, then looked up as her opponent formed.

Yun sent out a multi-limbed Octillery, one which took up a position with his two forelimbs curled up to improve his posture and the other six laid out in a row on the ground – then, as the glow died, Max did a double take.

"Wait – that's a shiny Pokémon!"

"That's right!" Yun confirmed. "Octillery's pretty cool, huh?"

Cinder stretched, rolling her neck, and kept her eye on Octillery as the judge raised his hand.

"Begin!" he said, bringing it down.

"Fire!" Yun ordered. "Octazooka!"

Octillery locked on and fired, a powerful burst of orange light, and Cinder bounded away from what was just about to become a crater.

Using her tail – briefly an Iron Tail – to counterbalance, the Dark-type skidded sideways a little and lunged. Her teeth flashed with lightning as she began a Thunder Fang, then she clamped them together to produce a shower of sparks – one which reached out towards Octillery, catching him a glancing blow.

Octillery turned and blasted Cinder with a Signal Beam.

"Whoa!" Max said, as she rolled to a stop halfway across the arena. "Cinder, are you okay?"

Cinder's reply was to nod, crouch, and disappear underground in a rapid Dig.


"So, what do you think's going on?" Caroline asked.

Norman frowned. "Well… let's see, now. Octillery are powerful Pokémon, especially on the attack – so if it's tough enough to take a few knocks it can make it very hard for an opponent to hit it."

I suspect I know how Roland would have sorted this out, Gardevoir pointed out. He's much faster than Cinder at moving around an opponent.

"That's right, teleporting would be a big help," Norman agreed. "But for Cinder… well, what they need to work out is how to avoid that happening the next time she comes out to attack."

He pursed his lips, thinking. "Or, rather, that's one way to do it. There's others."

"And I'm sure you've already decided which one you'd use," Caroline suggested.

Norman shook his head. "Not really, no, it depends on what Cinder's able to do..."


Several feet underground, Cinder flared her nostrils.

Right. So that meant that Octillery was over… there.

She took a moment to make sure her plan was ready, then lunged through the earth – bursting out in a shower of turf, and clamping onto Octillery's tentacle.

She bit down hard, another Thunder Fang flashing out, and the yellow cephalopod began shaking it to make her let go.

"Signal Beam!" Yun called.

Cinder swiped with a paw, and had the satisfaction of seeing her Sucker Punch connect before Octillery hit her with the Signal Beam.

This time she described a complete somersault, landing next to Max.

"Dig down just a bit!" Max instructed. "Get out of the line of fire!"

Cinder did so, making herself a hyena-hole about four feet deep, then turned to look back at her trainer. "What now?"

"Uh… hold on, I'm thinking..."

"Octazooka again," Yun said. "Aim it up a bit, try to land it on her."

Octillery's head swiveled, and tilted up a little. His mouth pinched up, then he launched out a slug of glowing water which dug a little crater next to Cinder.

"Think faster," Cinder suggested helpfully. She turned around, scraping up some more dirt into a little earthwork.

"...wait, I know," Max brightened. "You can tell where Octillery is from underground, right?"


"Good work!" Yun said, as Octillery's latest Octazooka hit – blasting a hole through the earth barrier in a shower of wet mud. "Now, more like that!"

Octillery's yellow tentacles drove an inch or so into the ground, and he fired five blasts in quick succession – peppering the ground where Cinder's hole was.

"...wait," the trainer went on. "Where did she go?"

He frowned. "Okay, Octillery, be ready for her to come at you from behind!"

Octillery moved forwards, neck swivelling, and did a quarter-turn to give better coverage behind himself.

"Now!" Max called.

There was a frozen moment, and then an almighty bark sounded from below ground. Earth went flying upwards, and a large hole formed next to Octillery – close enough that two of his tentacles nearly fell into it.

"Back, quick!" Yun ordered.

"Okay, aim a bit to the left… now!" Max said.

This time the effect of Cinder's Hyper Voice was less than the first, as the shout had a side path to lessen the force. Nevertheless, it blew another hole out of the ground, and Octillery wavered – then fell down, into the crater.

There was a snarl, a yelp, and the bright flash of a Signal Beam from inside the hole, and Yun stopped himself from running forwards. "I can't see what's going on!"

"Foul Play!" Max suggested.

"How can you tell what's going on?" Yun asked, exasperated.

"Guesswork!" Max replied. "Cinder, how's it going?"

Cinder barked something, which was nearly cut off by the fwoosh of an Octazooka blast.

Yun looked up at Max, and saw him wincing. "What was it?"

"Uh… it was kinda rude," Max admitted.


"Did he just blow up the arena?" Johanna asked, glancing at her daughter. "His Pokémon just made two huge craters in the arena!"

"Well, yeah," Dawn shrugged. "Why? It works..."


Cinder dug into the wall, getting out of the way of Octillery's latest blast, and angled up – getting herself almost up to the level of the turf, then springing out of the crater side and ramming both paws onto Octillery's squishy head.

The Water-type blasted the wall, then began reaching with both yellow tentacles to try to fling her away. Cinder was having none of that, and clung on to his neck.

"Damn it, just give up already!" she snarled, and hit him with a Thunder Fang.

There was a burst of smoke which made things worse for both of them, then Cinder shifted her weight and tilted Octillery to face straight upwards.

"Think of Seed Bomb," she instructed him, and gave him a sharp blow with her tail.

A green-brown glowing seed fired upwards, then Octillery shook her off and reoriented himself.

"Get her, Octillery!" Yun called, then paused. "Wait – oh no! Look out!"

"Foul Play," Cinder said.

The Seed Bomb landed right on top of Yun's Octillery, knocking him out in one loud bang.


"Man, I think we broke the arena," Yun winced. "That was a pretty brutal battle."

"Yeah," Max agreed, scratching Cinder as she emerged from the ground next to him. "And I think you need a bath..."

Cinder looked herself over, then sighed. "You're right..."

"Seriously, that was a good one," Max added. "It's kind of a pity you've been knocked out so early, I think you could have gotten a lot further."

Yun nodded to himself. "I guess-"

"Attention!" the announcer said. "Will the contestants please leave the arena, we are about to fix it!"

"Fix it?" Yun repeated, stepping back with his Pokémon recalled. "It's totalled! How are you going to fix-"

Three Diglett blurred into the arena, moving very fast indeed, and reconstructed the entire topography of the arena so it was back to flat and undamaged. There was a pulse of Grassy Terrain, and when that faded everything was nice, soft, springy grass.

"...like that?" Max asked.


Wow! Kirlia said. That was pretty cool!

"What did you think, Norman?" Caroline asked.

"Well..." Norman frowned, gathering his thoughts. "I think it went fairly well. You can certainly see Ash's influence in his style, since he trusts Cinder to handle some of the fighting herself – but he's still clearly helping out when he sees the need."

He reached up and idly scratched his chin. "As for the battle itself – that Hyper Voice trick was a good one, because it let Cinder redefine the battlefield. It was a bit brute-force, though, I think I would have tried something else like just digging up directly underneath him..."

But fairly good, correct? Gardevoir checked.

"Oh, certainly," Norman agreed. "That Octillery is quite a tough Pokémon to battle, like I said – you have to have some way of not being in the firing line, or if you try to attack it you'll just get blasted."

Oh, is that what you meant? Kirlia asked. That makes more sense when you say it that way.


"Great work, Max!" May said, patting the seat next to her. "Okay, I think we're nearly done with the first round – how was your first League battle?"

"It was kind of different to gyms, or to other battles," Max replied, thinking. "It's the whole way there's only one Pokémon – so you have to win it with that Pokémon."

He paused, looking at his Coordinator sister. "Well, I guess you do know that kind of thing..."

"Yeah, double battles are the rarity with me," May said.

"Oh, hey, that's Tyson," Ash pointed. "Funny, I never really ran into him this time..."


"That's a pretty cool looking Meowth," Arbok said, glancing slyly at his teammate.

"Hey, I'm cool!" Meowth replied. "I'm plenty cool!"

For a moment, they watched as the Meowth on the screen – Tyson's Meowth, equipped with a jaunty hat and a pair of boots – battled back and forth with his opponent, a fast-kicking Hitmonlee.

"No, I think he's cooler," Arbok decided. "Don't you think so, Audino?"

Audino raised his hands. "Come on, I'm just the cook."

Arbok's tail flicked. "Some Pokémon aren't willing to speculate," he sighed. "What about you, Marowak? Any opinion?"

Marowak contemplated the swashbuckler battling in the Ever Grande League, then their own teammate Meowth.

"Well..." she began, drawing out the syllable. "His outfit is very snazzy."

"I've got a snazzy outfit too!" Meowth said, stung. "It's a ninja outfit, remember?"

"Funny thing," Marowak replied. "I've never seen you in it."

Meowth did a double-take, then sighed. "Ah, whatever."

"Is this a pirate and ninja thing?" Dustox checked.

"A what?" Meowth said, confused.

"Well, you're both Meowths, but he's a swashbuckling pirate-y type, and you're a sneaky ninja-y type," she explained. "The two are mortal enemies."

"...I'm pretty sure there ain't no hidden martial art about hatin' pirates," Meowth said, dubiously. "Though come ta think of it, da whole class for me was about half an hour and then a load'a correspondence courses."

"Are you actually watching this match?" Audino asked.

"Well, I was until I got told I shouldn't like pirates," Meowth replied, turning back to it anyway. "An… huh."

Marowak looked closer. "I did not know Meowth could eat dreams."

"News ta me, too…" Meowth admitted, and started rummaging around in his bag for his dog-eared Prima guide. "An… let's see… yup, here we are! Turns out we can. Whod'a thunk?"

"Not that Hitmonlee, that's for sure..."

Carnivine came over with four bowls of popcorn. "Hey, guys, how's it going?"

"Not bad," Arbok replied. "Though I must say, this League has a lot more people in it than some we've seen. And participated in."


"So, back to the land of the awake?" Meowth asked, taking three steps back and sliding on the soles of his boots. "Let us see how well you fight like a mon!"

"You put me to sleep!" Hitmonlee replied, highly offended. "I'd like to see you fight when you're unconscious!"

"Rolling kick, Hitmonlee!" ordered his trainer.

Tyson's Meowth crouched, then sprang forwards. His claws flicked out, sharp and wicked, and he drew a M-shape in claw marks on Hitmonlee's side as he went past.

"Ow!" Hitmonlee yelped. "Right, that's it – Mega Kick!"

Coming up from his roll, the Fighting-type planted one leg and swivelled on it – bringing the other around with blazing force to hammer into Meowth and knock him out of the arena.

It missed.

"Aerial Ace," Tyson's Pokémon informed Hitmonlee, and his claws blurred in a move so fast they left a trail of wind behind them.


Hitmonlee staggered backwards, then hit the ground with a crash.

"Tyson and his Meowth win!" the judge announced. "They will go through to the next round!"

"That's right!" Mr. Goodshow agreed, voice coming over the PA. "And with that wonderful battle, we're moving on to the second round! These are doubles battles, so everyone should make sure to have two Pokémon ready which work well together!"

As the announcement cut out, Brock looked over at Ash and Max. "Do you guys know who you're using?"

"I haven't decided yet," Ash admitted. "I wonder if maybe Swellow and Corphish would work well together…"

"You could have Mawile and Goodra do it," May suggested. "They're great friends!"

Ash nodded. "You're right, that's another good option – or I could try using Noctowl and Absol, that could be interesting."

He chuckled. "I've got too many choices..."

Correct. You have 43 distinct Pokémon counting Tauros as separate and assuming everyone is available; thus your total choice is 903 combinations. Of these, 342 have at least one Legendary participant.

Dexter emitted an electronic shrug. Of course some of these are combinations like Keldeo and Absol, which would be hard to organize, or Mewtwo and Pikachu, which is simply unfair.

Pikachu looked smug. "Because of me, right?"

You are a statistically significant component of the unfairness, Dexter clarified.

"I'm going to treat that as a win."

"What about if it's Mewtwo and I?" Lucario asked.


"Well, that's it for today," Queen Ilene said. "That was very interesting – thank you for joining me for it, Lucario."

"It is my pleasure, your majesty," Lucario assured her, picking up the remote. "Now, which of these is the off button..."

He pressed one at random, and the channel changed.

"...I've not seen one of these before," Ilene said, watching the strange ball game on the screen. "Is that a Lucario?"

In a large, open stadium, a Riolu dribbled a spinning top forwards – passing it from foot to foot. As a Shinx approached, the Riolu took a run up and kicked it left towards a Lucario, who performed a startling backflip in mid-air and volleyed it over the head of a nearby Luxray.

The camera panned, showing the third member of the Fighting-type team – a Mega Lucario, pulsing faintly with the light of Mega-Evolution. It jumped ten feet into the air, lined up a punch, and hit the top.

The Mega Lucario was clearly aiming to knock the top into a floating pyramid, but the force of the blow simply made it explode into a thousand pieces.

"Foul by the Royal Blues!" someone shouted. "Penalty shot for the Fuego Lions!"

A pause. "And can someone get a new puck?"


AN:


So, a number of one-on-one matches, including so much commentary it's like an episode of Gogglebox.

...anyway. That's the first round of the Ever Grande conference done. I may need to streamline it a bit, there's two doubles rounds and then a last-32 elimination tournament.