"Are you recording this one?"
Of course I am, Dexter replied.
"Right." Lucario's knees bent a little as the swell passed under him, and he turned to look out at the sea. "Okay, here we go."
Spinning on one footpaw, he began to run towards the distant shore. Behind him, the wave he'd identified mounded up – developing into a crest, then beginning to foam as it rushed shorewards.
Lucario slowed marginally, letting the wave catch up with him, and his paws flashed blue – and he began to surf.
"Woo!" he whooped, arms out to either side for stability, and turned left-right-left as the wave began to curl over into a roller.
"Lucario's having fun," May said, looking out of the shadow of her umbrella. "What got him into surfing, anyway?"
"I'm not sure," Ash replied, thinking back. "It was when we were thinking of going to the Seafoam Islands, and we decided not to..."
He shrugged. "He was Riolu, back then, and he'd worked out the Aura trick for walking on water months before. He wanted to see if it could be used to surf, and – well, you can see the result."
"Yeah," May agreed, as the Fighting-type rode the waves in towards the shore. "How come the Orange Islands have such good surfing, anyway?"
"That's because of the geography," Philena told her, from underneath her hat – and Shinx, currently sleeping on it. "Like Alola, there's thousands of miles of sea for the waves to build up momentum – so they're very large when they come in and break on the shore."
"Neat," May decided.
She reached out and stroked Glaceon's cool fur. "This has been pretty relaxing..."
"Yeah," Ash agreed, looking along the beach in both directions.
Pikachu was happily sunbathing, on top of the snoozing form of Houndoom – who had no problems at all with the heat his black fur was picking up from all the sunlight. A little further along in that direction, there was a group of Pokémon working on the same sandcastle they'd been working on for the last three days – Mawile, Goodra, Tyranitar, Totodile, Heracross… the Pokémon involved changed every so often, but they were working on the same castle.
By this point it had a wide moat, a wall with reinforcing buttresses, and dozens of buildings sculpted inside it.
In the other direction, several Pokémon – Skitty, Glalie, Ninetales, Marshtomp, Arc and Cinder at the moment – were playing a game of beach volleyball.
Absol was snoozing on the touch-line, a whistle around her neck as she theoretically acted as referee.
Ash smiled at the backdrop – Charizard and Charla, lying wings-spread in the sun and occasionally growling at the Pokémon playing in the surf.
It looked like Grumpig was winning the water fight, actually.
And in the distance, Ash could see Lugia circling over the water near one of the stacks.
"I think Max is going to have another go," May said. "This looks really dangerous..."
"That's why Lugia's watching him," Glaceon pointed out. "I've seen him catch Max if he even slips off course towards the shallower water. The whole point is that that's the deepest bit, so it's the safest place to dive."
"I know," May agreed, and poured herself some more squash.
In the distance, Max jumped off Delta's back. Pointing his arms, the young trainer hit the sea with a little splash – managing quite a clean dive.
"He's good at it," she admitted. "Well, now, anyway. Remember the first day?"
"Yes," Glaceon agreed, wincing. "That was… painful even to watch."
Altaria came gliding down to join them. "Hello, May, Ash, Professor. It's a lovely day, isn't it?"
"It sure is," Ash agreed. "Did you see Brock?"
"He's heading back to the beach now," Altaria supplied. "May, did you choose the slogan on your sun shade?"
"What slogan?" May asked, then frowned.
She got up, putting her drink back in the cooler for now, and stepped back far enough to look at the slogan.
For a moment, she didn't react.
"Blaziken?" she said. "Can you let Casper know I noticed his trick slogan?"
"On it," Blaziken replied, getting up from his own sunbathing position. He put his sunglasses down, then shot off – making sure the rooster-tails of sand went nowhere near his trainer or her friends.
"Okay, we're ready!" Mawile announced. "Let's do this!"
"What's that?" Ash asked, curious, and got up. "Mawile?"
As he walked over, he got a better view over the sandy wall. The interior of the castle was even bigger than he'd thought – full of properly-dampened down sand sculpted into miniature buildings, especially office blocks about as high as Ash's waist.
"This is pretty cool, Mawile," he told her. "It's almost a pity to leave it behind."
"That's fine," Mawile replied. "We're not going to leave it – we're going to destroy it!"
She jumped up to the top layer of the main castle section – now at one side of the construct – and cleared her throat. "Right! Ready?"
Goodra nodded, legs sliding in the sand and arms together in a fisticuffs pose. "I'm ready!"
"Me too!" Tyranitar replied.
"Great!"
May came walking over. "What's… wait, is this what I think it is?"
"Yep!" Mawile nodded. "Mega Destroyer Goodra versus Rebirth of Tyranitar! Giant monsters all-out attack!"
"Ethan, can you record this?" May asked. "I think this is going to be pretty cool."
Recording, Ethan confirmed.
"Go!" Mawile said.
Goodra roared, badly, and lumbered forwards. His tail smashed one of the sand-skyscrapers aside, and it crumbled to the ground in a shower of sand grains.
"Oh, no!" Mawile cried, hands either side of her open mouth (and her head jaws open as well). "It's destroying the city! Stop it, Tyranitar!"
Tyranitar roared as well, and stomped towards Goodra. His tail caused much more damage than Goodra had, and the shifting of the sand as his foot landed made one of the other sand buildings fall down as well.
"Tyranitar is doing more damage to the city than Mega Destroyer Goodra!" Totodile said. "What do we do?"
"We'll have to use the Super Destroyer Robot!" Mawile replied, pointing. "That'll stop the city being destroyed!"
"Are you sure?" Totodile asked, one claw under his chin. "That doesn't sound right..."
Then Heracross came flying in, landing on two 'skyscrapers' and flattening them both, and the answer came.
No, it wasn't going to stop the city being destroyed.
It was fun, though.
"Ah..." Ivysaur sighed, extending his petals and fronds. "Sometimes it's nice to have a chance to just soak up the rays."
"Yeah, it's great," Guy agreed.
He scratched the top of one foot with the claws on the other, and groaned happily at the feeling of scratching that itch. "And this is some quality sunlight, too."
"There's something special about Shamouti," Ivysaur concurred. "Don't you think so, Venusaur?"
Venusaur nodded.
"It's the first time I've been here, but after a week I'm pretty familiar with it," she said. "I can see why it's one of the climate's focal points."
Donphan and Quilava went past at speed, weaving in and out of their paths as each jockeyed for position with the other.
"Hey, careful," Guy called. "Watch where that sand's going."
"We'll be careful," Quilava told him, before they vanished into the distance.
"Of course, some people prefer to spend their holidays doing off-road," Venusaur added. "And that's fine, of course."
A blur came darting along the beach, stopping at some of the groups of Pokémon. It paused in front of the three Grass-types, and resolved into Swellow.
"Hi, guys," she said, hovering in mid-air. "Quick version is, we're getting ready to go to Kanto."
"Thanks for letting us know," Guy said, inclining his head as she sped off. "Hm, Kanto will be interesting. I haven't been to Kanto before."
"I have," Venusaur reminded him. "So, let's see… it can be a bit colder than Hoenn, nothing major but the summer's less hot on the hottest days and the winter can get a lot snowier."
"Snow," Guy repeated. "Well, I didn't mind it when we went up that mountain, so I'm sure I'll be fine with it."
"We could always ask that Articuno to stop by and see what you think," Ivysaur suggested. "Or I could give it a try."
"You know Ice type moves?" Venusaur asked, a bit startled.
"I've never tried, but I do have a great-uncle who's a Swinub."
"This was a great idea, Brock!" Ash said, putting some mustard on his hot dog. "Your cooking's always nice, but a barbecue on a beach as the sun goes down just makes it way better!"
"I'm glad to help," Brock replied, turning over some of the burgers. "Okay, who wanted one with cheese?"
Grumpig put his hand up.
"Right, yours will be next," Brock told him, taking a bun from where Sceptile had cut them open a minute or two ago and using the tongs with his other hand. "Just remember, the gorgonzola's tastiest when it's hot – but not too hot!"
As the Psychic-type claimed his meal, Ash sat down with Max.
"Okay, Max," he began. "Are you ready for the Indigo League?"
"I think so," Max nodded, swallowing his latest bite. "Yeah, it'll be interesting to do another League – especially when I've got everyone with me, this time."
"Actually, I did want to talk about something to do with that," Ash said, sitting down. "Okay, so you didn't get one of the normal Hoenn starters – but we are going to have to go to Pallet Town anyway, because of May's Wartortle."
"Oh, yeah, her," Pikachu said. "Yeah, it'll be interesting seeing her again."
"Why, what's her thing?" Ash asked, distracted. "I know Squirtle's a nut for Gurren Lagann, but you must have heard her talking about her own thing."
"Yeah, but I don't want to spoil the surprise," Pikachu assured his trainer. "You'll see."
"Right," Ash shrugged, accepting that. "Anyway – Max, I was thinking you could get one of the Kanto starters as well, I'm sure Professor Oak wouldn't mind."
Max thought about that, taking another bite of his burger to give him time to think. That reminded Ash to keep going with his own hot dog, and they sat companionably for a minute or so.
"Well," Max began. "I guess I'm not sure. May's Venusaur's a pretty good Pokémon, and so is her Wartortle – they're both pretty great. I'm kind of scared of your Squirtle, though.."
He shook his head. "And your Charizard's pretty cool too, so… I really don't think I know what Pokémon I'd rather pick up. I mean, there's a lot of choice, and I guess it depends more on the specific Pokémon and their personalities."
"That's fine," Ash agreed. "I'm really bad at making that kind of choice too – I mean, I've somehow managed to pick up all three of them in the wild!"
Max chuckled. "Yeah, that's a good point."
"The other thing I wanted to point out," Ash went on. "Is that we've got the morning free before Professor Oak can see us, so we could just stop by at Viridian and challenge the gym there."
"That could be cool," Max said. "But why would we not?"
"Just… you know, it's whether you'd do it now or later," Ash tried to clarify. "Basically if you feel ready for it tomorrow morning or if you'd rather another day or so to get back up to speed."
"Who is the Viridian gym leader, actually?" Max asked, frowning. "It's all a bit confusing."
"First time I got my badge there it was Jessie, Meowth and James – no, both times I got a badge there," Ash replied. "And I think once Agatha was in charge."
"That one was a bit odd," Pikachu agreed.
Their conversation was cut off for a moment as Arc flumphed down across Max's feet.
Max reached down to scratch the canine Electric-type, smiling at his rumbling purr of contentment, then opened Kris with one hand. "Kris, who's the current Gym Leader of Viridian?"
Giovanni.
"Giovanni?" Ash repeated. "The leader of Team Rocket?"
He paused, then shook his head. "Now I get why the Rockets were there, at least."
"You seriously never questioned that?" Pikachu asked, finishing his ketchup with chips.
"Not really," Ash replied. "I mean, they've been literally everything else."
Pikachu raised his paw, ready to give a counterexample, then lowered it again.
"Actually," Ash added, thinking hard. "Now I think about it… a lot of the things Team Rocket did which were bad last time were… not bad this time. Either they didn't do it, or they actually helped to stop it."
He shook his head. "I mean, I know that Jessie and the others aren't really going to do something nasty, but… well, they didn't go after Mewtwo, and I'm not sure why not."
"Perhaps it depends on if he's doing anything questionable when we visit the gym this time," Pikachu suggested. "I mean, Brock has a girlfriend, maybe Giovanni's stopped being so nasty."
"Yeah, maybe," Ash agreed, frowning. "I guess I'll have to think about that… anyway, Max, did you decide?"
"I'll think about it too," Max told him. "It might be a good idea, though."
Giovanni picked up a clear glass, and sipped at the sweet Amakuchi wine he'd poured earlier.
"I think this is a good style," he said. "I'll have to let Proton know I approve of his recommendation."
Persian flicked his tail.
Replacing the glass, Giovanni sat back in his chair and examined the documents.
Most important was an assessment from a Rocket insider at the Mossdeep Space Centre, who made it clear that the end of the threat from the meteorite did not mean an end to the space operations taking place. In fact, they were picking up the pace, with large freight launches planned within the next few months for both orbital and lunar expansion.
"Perhaps..." Giovanni began, musing, then went on. "Yes, that will do."
Persian raised himself from the couch, purring a question.
"It's simple," Giovanni explained. "We simply need to make our services available to people working to make the deadline for these freight launches. As we can offer better prices, we'll get folded into the supply chain – and, of course, that means certain people of influence will owe us."
The feline considered this, then lay back down.
"Yes, it's hardly any different from our normal means of operation," Giovanni agreed. "The difference here is, fundamentally, a chance to get in on the ground floor. If we're the standard way things are done… well, then, we're too valuable to get rid of even if some fool does go after us."
He chuckled. "Besides, there's some interesting provisions in the international treaties on space. I find nothing that would preclude Team Rocket – or a suitable front company – negotiating for a claim on large chunks of real estate on uninhabited sections of the solar system."
There was a knock on the door.
"Enter," Giovanni requested.
As he did, Persian jumped to his paws – flowing smoothly over the leg of the couch, and taking up a position from which he could ambush the entrant if need be.
"Sir?" the secretary asked. "There's a challenger for you. And – he's accompanied by Ash Ketchum."
Giovanni nodded. "I see. Thank you for the warning, Warren."
Warren nodded to him, and pulled the door closed again.
"Ash Ketchum..." Giovanni mused. "Well, this should be interesting."
He reached for the tray of Pokéballs by his desk, and selected five of them. Then he pressed a key on the desk itself.
"Sir."
"Have Golurk ready," he instructed. "Room three. Usual code."
"Yessir."
"This gym's weird," May said, looking around at the gloom. "Is it supposed to be like this? It's going to be hard to battle here..."
"Don't know," Ash replied. "When I got my badge here it was better lit."
Lucario tensed slightly. "Someone has entered the room."
Ash followed his gaze, and checked with Aura sight. "You're right."
"Aura again," Max sighed. "I should work that one out."
"Mr. Ketchum," Giovanni said, as the lights flashed on in stages – revealing a gym arena full of broken terrain, spires of rock and miniature scarps and valleys. "I'm impressed – clearly the reports of your Aura capabilities are not exaggerated."
His gaze swept the group, lingering for a moment on Lucario and Brock before settling on Ash.
Pikachu's cheeks sparked ever so slightly, and Giovanni turned his attention to Max. "I assume you're the challenger? Mr. Ketchum already has a badge."
"That's right," Max confirmed.
"We'll get to that in just a moment," Giovanni told him. "Firstly, however, we should clear the air – Mr. Ketchum, I think it is likely you are aware of the role some have accused me of. Rather than bother protesting my innocence, we will instead entertain the hypothetical."
Ash looked lost. "Pardon?"
"I think I get it," Max said. "So… you were saying that you're going to talk as if you were the leader of Team Rocket, without saying you actually are?"
"You are, of course, correct," Giovanni said, inclining his head. "So, to the crux of the matter. Doubtless you are aware of Team Rocket primarily through the actions of those members you have met."
"It'd be kind of hard to get an idea otherwise," Brock pointed out.
"Indeed," Giovanni allowed. "And of those you've run into, it should not escape your attention that the ones who are held in the highest esteem by Team Rocket are the ones who cooperate with you."
"You mean Jessie and James," Lucario said. "They do not seem typical of Team Rocket members."
"They may not seem it, but that's largely due to negative stereotyping," Giovanni answered, with a slight smile. "Rocket operatives have been seen in the news acting with the full assistance of their organization as a whole, and Rocket operatives have been seen going rogue. Of the two, I think I trust the ones who have the full support of Team Rocket to be doing what the organization as a whole – and their leader – approves of."
He waved a hand. "In any case, anyone with a moderate amount of knowledge on the subject could tell you that most of all, what an organization like Team Rocket does is – it runs on favours. Team Rocket does something to help a mayor, or a businessman, and then he does something to repay the debt."
"You mean you approve of what Jessie and James have been doing?" Ash asked, wanting to make sure he understood. "And that the rest of what you're doing isn't illegal?"
"Not me," Giovanni corrected. "The head of Team Rocket, who I'm defending for the purposes of this conversation. I'm sure he'd be willing to live and let live."
"But… that is you..." Ash said, slowly. "Oh, never mind..."
"Now, I believe that the young Mr. Maple wanted a gym battle?" Giovanni went on. "The rules will be simple. Both trainers will use three Pokémon, one at a time, and the first to have two Pokémon defeated will be the loser."
In room three, underneath the main gym arena, Golurk watched the security monitors.
If his master signalled, he knew his duty. Phase right through the floor, collect Giovanni on the way up, punch out of the roof and get to the safe house where a teleporter was waiting.
It was normally a boring duty, but evacuation drills could get very exciting.
"Before we begin, I should check," Giovanni said, raising a hand. "Are you planning on using either a Legendary Pokémon or a Mega-Evolution during this battle?"
Max shook his head. "No, I've only got one Mega-evolving Pokémon and he's an Electric-type."
"Very well," Giovanni nodded. "In that case, I will decline to use my own Mega Stone."
He took his position, opposite Max in one of the larger valleys running through the arena. "Do you understand the rules?"
"Yes," Max replied. "Either of us can switch at any time, and it's whoever has two Pokémon knocked out first who loses."
"Correct," Giovanni confirmed. "Begin."
"Casper!" Max called, sending the Ghost-type out.
"Okay, here we go!" Casper said, watching as his opponent materialized – a big, burly Rhyhorn. "Shadow Ball!"
"Interesting," Giovanni noted, as the Ghost-type attack hit Rhyhorn's carapace and splashed off. "I see you're not a trainer who orders their Pokémon much."
"Well, I only do it when I think they need to do something unusual," Max replied, as Casper switched to Night Shade and fired a burst of Ghost-type attacks along Rhyhorn's spine. "Isn't your Pokémon going to do anything?"
"Of course," Giovanni replied. "Rhyhorn, Dig."
The Rock-type turned, charged at one of the rock faces, and smashed straight into it – vanishing underground in a shower of earth.
"Watch out, Casper, he might be planning something," Max warned. "Stay high and keep an eye out."
"Got it," Casper agreed, floating higher into the air.
For several seconds, nothing seemed to happen. There was the occasional faint tremble as Rhyhorn moved underground, sending a few pebbles rolling down their slopes, then nothing.
Giovanni tapped his foot on the floor, watching as Casper turned first one way and the other.
Then Max pointed. "Look out!"
As Casper turned, a small rock on the side of one of the hills crackled with electricity. Max's Pokémon got caught in the fringes of a Thunderbolt, making him yelp with surprise, and then the whole miniature hillside collapsed as Rhyhorn shouldered his way out of the ground.
"How did he know what to-" Max began, then interrupted himself. "Tapping on the ground!"
"Correct," Giovanni confirmed. As he did, Rhyhorn slammed a broad foot into the ground and sent a salvo of rocks upwards in a Rock Blast. "The more you know about an opponent, the more you can plan for them."
"I can do that too," Max countered. "Casper, use Curse!"
"Sure?" Casper asked, dodging away from the Rock Blast. "It's kind of painful."
"I know," Max agreed. "But if you use it and then hide underground, he can't get you!"
"Right," Casper winced. "Okay… take this!"
A dark aura formed around the Shuppet, then flashed down to hit Rhyhorn. Both staggered from the sudden energy drain, though Casper was hit worse at first – nearly falling out of the air, before rotating back upright and shaking his head. "Ow, that's never fun..."
"Rhyhorn, return," Giovanni instructed. "Kangaskhan. Comet Punch."
Max reached for his Pokéball. "Look out, Casper!"
Kangaskhan bounced once, feet coiling, then lunged into the air. Her left arm whooshed past Casper, missing him, then she punched with her right as well and knocked him halfway across the arena.
There was a flash of red light as Max recalled his Ghost-type, and then Guy exploded out of his Pokéball with a Mach Punch.
Kangaskhan blocked, then volleyed a Fire Punch into him. The blow knocked the Grass-type backwards, then he sprang off one of the rock spires and launched himself forwards again.
"Hm," Giovanni mused. "Curse is an interesting trick, but you should probably have saved it."
"Right," Brock agreed, as Guy and Kangaskhan accelerated their back-and-forth. "Because it's a great way of crippling a Pokémon, but Max should have used it on a Pokémon he didn't have another way of dealing with – when he could just have sent out Guy to deal with Rhyhorn."
"Well put," Giovanni said, with a small nod. "Kangaskhan, Mega Punch."
The Normal-type switched from Fire Punch to Mega Punch, spending a moment to line up as Guy chambered a Dynamic Punch, then met his punch with one of her own.
The force of the explosion as their fists met knocked them both backwards, but the lighter Guy got knocked much further – and slammed into the side of a hill. Kangaskhan, for her part, skidded backwards along a dusty section of earth before coming to a halt much more smoothly.
"I see your Breloom has Poison Heal," Giovanni said, nodding at Guy as he extracted himself from the scree slope – the burns left by the Fire Punches already healing. "It's a pity Kangaskhan's Fire Punches didn't burn him before he started to heal – that would have made the battle much easier."
"Is that why she started with Fire Punches?" Max asked.
Giovanni nodded. "It's always important to look for any advantage you can – whether from the terrain, from information you get from elsewhere or just from the way the battle unfolds. I would have Mega Evolved Kangaskhan, but that would not test you adequately."
Kangaskhan's child waved from inside her pouch. "I get to fight too if we do that!" the little Pokémon said. "It's kind of neat!"
"That does sound interesting," Ash agreed. "I imagine that would be hard to cope with."
"Fissure," Giovanni said suddenly.
Kangaskhan's fist slammed into the ground, producing a white-glowing crack which raced towards Guy, and the Grass-type jumped into the air just before it reached him.
"Now, aim a Focus Punch for where he lands," Giovanni added.
"Guy, Seed Bomb!" Max called.
Guy fired a Seed Bomb straight down, the explosion changing his trajectory and meaning that Kangaskhan's Focus Punch missed. The concussion knocked his landing trajectory off, however, and he rolled once before springing back to his feet with the air of his thick tail.
"How do you think it's going?" May asked, as the two punchy Pokémon squared up again.
"Well, Guy's faster, but I think Kangaskhan has more tricks," Brock replied. "And definitely more experience. So I guess it's still a bit up in the air. As for the gym battle as a whole – both of them have one Pokémon who's tired, but Casper's more tired than Rhyhorn is… so I'm not sure. I think it's too early to say at the moment – we don't know enough."
"Let's see..." Todd mused, adjusting the focus wheel on his camera. "Anything?"
Sneasel scanned the skies, eyes alert, then yapped a confirmation. "'easel!"
Todd nodded, and brought the camera up to his eye. He kept a close focus on the Metagross, photographing it repeatedly as it stood up straight.
The Psychic-type swivelled slightly, tracking an incoming Staraptor, and its eyes glowed faintly. As Todd zoomed out quickly, he managed to get the Staraptor veering off to land nearby – warned away from the Mossdeep airspace.
"Good!" Todd said, with a firm nod. "A few more of those and we should be done."
His normal stock-in-trade was amazing scenes – Pokémon doing things most people never got the chance to see.
But sometimes it was good to show a normal day at work, too.
Sneasel whistled warning, and Todd put the camera down for a moment to get out some ear defenders. One pair went over her ears, the other on his, and he picked the camera up again – turning this time to focus on the main launch pad.
A thin, icy mist was wafting off the side of the big boosters… then there was a flash of yellow and red light down by the base, and a huge plume of smoke.
Todd managed to take about ten pictures before the sheer sound of the boosters at takeoff made it impossible to concentrate.
Guy's claws dug into the dusty ground, halting his backward slide, and he looked up in time to dodge out of the way of a Comet Punch.
The attack was delivered with enough force that Kangaskhan overextended slightly, and Guy capitalized on that – spinning with his tail as a counterweight, he volleyed a one-two Mach Punch into Kangaskhan's side and sprang back before she recovered.
When the Grass-type landed, however, he stumbled slightly – the much stonier section of ground giving his claws less purchase, so he nearly fell backwards before recovering.
"That kind of reaction is why this gym has different surfaces," Giovanni noted. "Kangaskhan, Dizzy Punch."
"Jump!" Max called.
Guy sprang into the air, avoiding Kangaskhan's punch entirely, and managed to reach high enough to snag the roof rafters – which let him adjust his trajectory, so he came down some distance away from Kangaskhan herself.
"Now, Superpower!" Max added.
Giovanni frowned, about to give an order, then changed his mind. "Mega Punch."
"Hi-YAH!" Guy shouted, charging forwards. Stones went flying from the ground behind him as he pushed off hard, and Kangaskhan wound up a punch to meet him.
The two collided with a bang, froze for an instant, and then both Guy and Kangaskhan went flying backwards from the point of contact.
Guy smashed through a small ridge, came to a stop, and sat down hard on the reverse slope. "Ow-"
Then there was a bright green flash, and an explosion which sent Kangaskhan sprawling forwards from the scree slope she'd landed in.
"All right!" Max cheered. "It worked!"
"Seed Bombs," Giovanni said, recalling Kangaskhan. "I assume you'd discussed that earlier?"
"Yeah," Max confirmed. "Well, it was something we thought up for the Ever Grande conference, but it worked here!"
"Yes, sometimes the best terrain of all is the terrain you make," Giovanni mused. "Very well. Nidoqueen."
"Hang in there for now, Guy!" Max called, as Giovanni's third Pokémon appeared on top of the ridge Guy had been punched through.
"I will," the Breloom agreed, the marks on his skin already fading as his biology used the Toxic poison to heal itself.
"Bullet Seed!"
Nidoqueen raised her forearm, wincing as she blocked the barrage of glowing green seeds, then slapped her tail on the floor.
"Water Pulse," Giovanni told her. "Then attack."
"Just attack?" Max said. "Wait..."
Guy dodged to one side as the Water Pulse came in, then lunged forwards.
"Guy, look out!" Max called.
Nidoqueen swept her tail around, firing a burst of needles at Guy. Most went wide, but two connected – and there was a bright green flash, making Guy stagger suddenly.
"What just happened?" he asked. "I knew Giovanni was doing something-"
"I think that was Venoshock," Brock said, as Guy pushed himself back upright and then had to dodge out of the way of a claw swipe from his opponent. "Crobat has it."
"One of the downsides of a Pokémon which has to be poisoned to be effective is that you will always be poisoned,"Giovanni stated.
"Right – Facade!" Max ordered.
Nidoqueen peppered Guy with more needles for Venoshock as he came in, and the high-powered punch that Facade was supposed to be just hit without any extra impact.
"Max, remember, you can switch out," Ash said.
"Oh, right!" Max agreed, and fumbled at his belt. "Guy, back here for now! Roland!"
"Booster separation," Guidance reported, looking up from his screen. "They're on the way back down, and we're making the adjustments for orbital insertion."
"Destiny, we can see SRB sep," CAPCOM radioed.
"Roger, Mission Control."
"After how easy it was with Mewtwo, this seems almost tedious," Control replied with a chuckle. "It's ten minutes just to get into low earth orbit, and we burn almost all our fuel."
Guidance nodded, then turned back to his screen. "CAPCOM, we are negative return."
CAPCOM relayed that. "Destiny, you are negative return. Do you copy?"
"Roger, mission control," Jin replied, from the cockpit of Destiny. "Negative return, out."
"It's a pity we can't do the booster section without using up the boosters," Control said, in the next quiet period. "That much thrust would be very useful for orbital transfer."
He frowned. "Hmmm..."
"Okay, keep alert!" Max said, as Roland materialized. "Don't let her catch you off guard!"
"Right!" Roland agreed, and almost immediately had to teleport out of the way of a barrage of Poison Sting needles. "Whoa, okay, more stings than I was expecting!"
Concentrating, he charged up a Confusion, then teleported again to hit Nidoqueen with it.
"Down the slope," Giovanni instructed. "Keep using Poison Sting."
Nidoqueen obediently lumbered down the side of the ridge, tail flicking to send a burst of needles towards Roland – which missed once more, as Roland flashed to a position ten feet away and let the needles clatter to the ground at his former location.
"Whatever you do, don't let her hit you with a Poison attack!" Max reminded Roland. "And – okay, use Confusion to scatter the poison sting!"
"Sludge bomb," Giovanni countered.
Ralts did a double-take, and teleported out of the way before the bomb hit him. "I can't block that!"
"Yeah, probably not," Max agreed. "Uh – okay, attack when she's distracted."
"Forwards," Giovanni said. "Stop – now, turn to face north. Water Pulse."
Max watched Nidoqueen's turn, trying to divine what Giovanni was planning. "Uh… okay, so she's facing a certain direction..."
Roland flicked out of the way of the Water Pulse, landing behind a small rocky spire to protect him from the attacks Nidoqueen was sending out, and glanced at Max. "Should I just keep doing what I'm doing?"
"I guess so," Max agreed. "Sorry I can't think of anything."
"Four," Giovanni said, clearly. "Seven. Eight. Twelve."
Max glanced at the others. "Those aren't moves, right?"
Lucario shrugged.
Giovanni continued. "Nine. Nine. Sludge Bomb."
Roland teleported before the attack hit, and fired a Confusion at Nidoqueen.
"Stone Edge," Giovanni concluded.
Nidoqueen's left foot slammed into the floor, which trembled and shook as if there was an earthquake going on. Rock spires came slamming out of the ground, one of them just next to Roland, and he dodged with a gasp before teleporting out of the way.
And, almost before he'd finished appearing, Nidoqueen slammed her tail into the side of a spire right next to her.
Rock fragments sprayed out in a broad fan from the force of the blow. Some of them went almost as high as the ceiling, others bounced off the far wall – and several of them peppered Roland as he materialized, including one almost as big as he was which slammed him into a scarp face.
"Roland!" Max shouted.
"It's fine, he's just knocked out," Giovanni said, looking over at the Psychic-type for a moment.
Max sighed, then returned him. "That was… what was that?"
"It's called a forced error," Giovanni told him. "If you give your opponent several choices and no time to choose, they will often take the best one they can see. In Roland's case, Nidoqueen used Stone Edge so that most of the places he could see to teleport were being hit by Stone Edge as well as where he was standing."
"Right," Ash said, realizing. "So those numbers were commands!"
"Yes, clock numerals," Giovanni confirmed. "The only place Ralts was facing that was not being hit by Stone Edge was the area on the other side of the pillar next to Nidoqueen – the one in the number nine position."
"I'm impressed," Brock said. "So… it's one all?"
"Correct," Giovanni nodded. "So, Max. Which Pokémon will you send out?"
Max gulped. "Guy's in a pretty bad shape… but so is Casper, and he doesn't really have a good move. I guess… Guy, try to finish this quick!"
"Apollo, are these calculations right?" Control asked.
Assuming the psionic boost is successful, the curve presented is correct, Apollo confirmed.
"Right, so if we can get this working – and it's a big if," Control stressed, then went on. "If we can get this working, then we could manage lunar insertion flights with two boosters for the whole shuttle mass… and with a lot of spare, actually, if I'm reading this right."
Correct. The boosters would each provide sufficient delta-V for approximately 300 tons to undergo a complete lunar insertion orbit, less the requirement to propel the boosters early in flight – which does cause a substantial reduction.
"And that's without the fuel in the main tank," Guidance pointed out. "This could be a pretty big breakthrough."
"If we can make it work," Control repeated. "We're still talking about lifting hundreds of tonnes of spacecraft, so let's not get ahead of ourselves. And we can't reuse the boosters if we send them off into space."
He glanced at the clock. "We should check in with Destiny – but after that, let's sit down with the TK power/distance curves and work out what kind of psychic muscle it'll take to make this work."
"I like that plan," someone agreed from the control pit.
"Venoshock," Giovanni ordered.
Nidoqueen brought her tail around, firing a barrage of needles in Guy's direction. The Breloom dodged left, avoiding most of them, but took a hit in the tail which made him yelp.
"Tail," Max said, then nodded. "Guy – use Iron Tail! Use it as a shield!"
For the first few seconds Guy was too busy with climbing a small scree slope to comply – then he stepped backwards onto the summit and spun, tail glowing with a silvery light as he activated Iron Tail, and managed to block the next salvo.
"Great work!" Max praised. "Now-"
"-Earthquake," Giovanni interrupted.
Nidoqueen stomped on the floor, making the ground tremble, then cracked her tail into the floor with a wham of an impact.
All over the gym, unstable rock spires collapsed, and the whole upland Guy was on gave way as a block – sliding down a hidden fault, upsetting his footing as the friable earth turned to fragments under him.
"Guy, look out!" Max called.
Guy jinked away from a patch of particularly unstable ground, staggered forwards a few steps, and then Nidoqueen hit him with a tailswipe of an Aerial Ace which knocked him into the wall.
The Breloom bounced off, still springy, but hit the ground and rolled to a stop.
"Guy, come on!" Max called, hoping to see him get up, then sighed. "I guess that's it."
"Indeed," Giovanni confirmed, recalling Nidoqueen. "With your Breloom defeated, and with both Rhyhorn and Nidoqueen still able to battle, you have been defeated."
He waited as Max recalled his Pokémon, then continued. "As for how you did – well, if you were halfway through your gym challenge I would consider that sufficient for a badge. But as it is, this is not your first challenge – you are already an eight badge trainer – and as such you will not be earning the Earth Badge today."
"I guess… yeah, that makes sense," Max agreed, thinking back over the fight. "I did that Seed Bomb trick, but almost everything else was me reacting to how you were using the terrain than anything."
Giovanni nodded a confirmation. "Good. It's important to assess yourself realistically."
He turned his attention to Ash. "Mr. Ketchum. I can see you were noticing things before Mr. Maple was – why didn't you speak up?"
"Well..." Ash stopped for a moment, trying to work out how to phrase it. "I guess… it's because your way of battling is about hidden challenges, so spotting the hidden trick is what you're about."
"It would be a bit silly if Ash was essentially giving Max's Pokémon orders," Lucario contributed.
"Yeah, I can see that too," Max said, after a bit of thought. "But – was it close?"
"Not especially close," Giovanni told him. "I try to give a challenge calibrated to the challenger, but in extremis I had a few tricks I did not use – for example, Nidoqueen knows Flamethrower. Pokémon are very versatile, so always prepare for the worst."
Max winced. "Yeah, that would be a problem for that Iron Tail trick..."
"Nevertheless," Giovanni went on. "Your performance was better than many of the trainers who challenge me; I simply have very high standards. I wish you luck on the rest of your journey."
After the friends had left, Giovanni sent out a Dugtrio.
"Let's use the fourth map this time," he said. "Rift valley."
"Trio!" the Dugtrio agreed, nodding in three-part harmony, and got to work sculpting the terrain as Giovanni had requested.
It would never do to become predictable, after all.
"You sure you're okay?" Brock checked, as they climbed the first of the hills between Viridian and Pallet. "I know you had a pretty good run in Hoenn, Max."
"Yeah," Max replied, then shrugged. "Yeah, I know… but he was right, so I don't mind."
"Think you're going to come back later?" Ash asked.
"Not sure, actually..." Max said. "I mean, we had a pretty complicated route last time, and that's going to take us close to plenty of Gyms – I think I'd rather try for variety!"
"Variety's good," Pikachu agreed. "I use variety."
"You mean you electrocute things," Lucario replied. "All things."
"That's not really fair to Pikachu, Lucario," Ash said. "I mean, he punches things too."
"True, we mustn't forget the punching."
"Pikachu has a good line in punches," Brock said. "Almost a-"
"Nope," Pikachu interrupted, holding up his paw. "That joke's too bad. Maybe Glalie might make it, but don't belittle yourself by making it too."
"That's me told," Brock said, shaking his head. "Okay, so… Pallet Town next, right?"
"Right," Ash agreed. "We've got to sort out lots of Pokémon there, and say hello to Mom, Molly, Tracey and the Professor."
"Busy day," May smiled. "I can't wait to meet Wartortle again."
"Did you let Misty know we were going to be in Pallet then, actually?" Brock asked, turning to Ash. "I mean, she does need to pick up Azurill."
"...no, actually," Ash admitted. "Dexter, I think I need to make a call..."
Don't worry, I long since started just making some of these calls myself, Dexter told him. It saves time.
"When did you say we'd be there?" Brock asked.
Three in the afternoon. Which reminds me, you had better hurry up.
"Maybe we should go back to Viridian and rent bikes?" May suggested. "I mean, they'd get destroyed by Pikachu, but we might get about halfway to Pallet first."
AN:
So, first off, we see the holiday Ash and his friends... kind of deserved. I especially like Mawile's way of relaxing.
And then - well, Giovanni's gym battle.
Giovanni is one of the gym leaders who we never get to see in action in the Pokémon anime itself (just a different version of him in Origins.) I hope I did him justice as someone able to balance a role in charge of the Yakuza, a role as a Gym Leader, and a role as a Legitimate Businessman.
