"Here's your Pokémon back!" the Nurse Joy said, passing Max three Pokeballs. "They were a bit strained, but no harm done."
"That's good to know," Max replied, leaning up a little to take the Pokeballs.
"You're nearly tall enough to reach without doing that," May commented. "You're definitely growing."
"Huh," Max said intelligently, looking down at himself. "I hadn't noticed."
"That's because you're the one who's doing the growing," Brock told him. "You'd only notice by becoming more clumsy."
"Right..."
Max frowned, then took one of the Pokeballs he'd gotten back from the Joy.
"I think… yeah, I'll start with Arc," he decided.
Looking over his shoulder, he waved. "Thanks again!"
"Should we stay here and wait for Ash?" May asked.
"With his sense of direction, we'd have no chance of uniting anyway," Brock said, then shook his head. "Okay, that's not quite fair. And if Pidgeot gets him close enough he can see Aura. But we should probably stay near here."
"We can fly to the next place we need to be anyway," Max pointed out. "Once Ash is back, at least. But I've got a few chats to have, so I think staying around here would be good."
He sent out Arc with a flick of his wrist, and sat down on the bench.
"Hey, Arc?" he began. "I wanted to tell you – great work in the gym."
Arc barked happily, tail flicking back and forth – now out of Mega form, his Manectite was dangling from his neck and jingled with the movement. "I'm glad to help out!"
He tilted his head, then frowned. "Are you upset?"
"Well… not really – and certainly not at you," Max explained. "But you got really beaten up out there, and I wanted to make sure you were okay."
"Of course I was!" Arc replied, licking his trainer. "It's you showing how confident you are in me – you trust me to fight that many Pokémon at once, and to keep going all the way through."
Max chuckled, rubbing Arc's fur. "Thanks, boy – I'm glad I'm not asking too much of you."
Leaving his Electric-type out, he sent Corona out next.
The Charmander looked up at him, then down at the bench – her tail curling around slightly as she took it below the tip.
"That was..." she began, swallowing.
"Was it okay?" Max said, concerned.
"It was such a rush!" Corona finished.
Her eyes shone. "I didn't realize that it was that much fun to face a difficult challenge – and to feel that you, personally, were so important in defeating it!"
Flicking her tail and leaving a little fire trail, she looked up at Max for a moment. "I'm almost eager to ask when the next Gym Battle is!"
She paused. "Wait… we did win, right? I sort of assumed..."
"That's right, we did – and you were very important," Max told her. "That was a great battle."
He thought. "I think the next gym we'll have a chance to visit isn't for a while, but I'll be sure to keep you in mind for it – and we can keep training at what you think went well, and work out how to handle what you thought was a problem."
"That would be a good idea," the Charmander agreed, starting to think about it. "I think I would have had a lot more trouble without Roland's help."
"Speaking of Roland," Max said. "I was going to discuss something with him – do you want to take part?"
"I'll watch," Corona decided. "I mean… if he doesn't mind, then I'd like to. He is my teammate, so what's important to one of us is important to all of us."
Accepting that, Max sent out his Ralts.
"Hey, Roland," he said.
Roland turned to Max, and smiled – though the smile was a bit nervous.
I guess I know what this is about… he said, and took a deep breath.
"Yeah, it's going to be a bit awkward," Max agreed. "But it's something we should discuss."
He took a moment longer, then went onto the big issue. "May spotted that you were about to evolve, and you stopped yourself."
Raising his hand, Max headed off the first question. "I don't think it was a bad idea," he explained. "It's your choice whether to evolve at all, not mine, and if you wanted to think about it then you should."
Well, May was right, Roland confirmed.
He glanced at Max's belt, and switched to speaking out loud in case Cinder wanted to listen. "I did feel like I was about to evolve, and… it didn't feel right to make the decision then."
He shrugged. "It probably sounds really silly."
"It's not," Brock volunteered. "Evolution is about you – it's about a big change in what you are, on the outside, and even though that doesn't change who you are it's still important to think about it."
"Right," Max agreed. "It's your choice."
"Yeah..." Roland agreed, relaxing slightly. "And if that was the only problem, then I'd have either evolved or not evolved. But I'm not sure what I want, which is the problem!"
He waved a hand. "Firstly because my sister's a Kirlia, and… they seem kind of girly."
Max opened Kris, and looked at her entry on Kirlia.
"...I can see what you mean," he admitted. "I mean, it probably depends a lot on how the Pokémon moves and stands, but there's a bit of a girly feel to it."
"Isn't that what Squirtle calls… bishonen?" Corona asked.
Roland blinked. "I don't think I've heard of that."
"Well, if that is the only problem, we do have a Dawn Stone," Max pointed out, then saw Roland's expression. "But I guess it's not the only problem?"
"You're right, it's not," Roland said. "I did kind of think about that one as well… but I'm not sure if I want to be a Gallade or a Gardevoir, either. Or if I wanted to go straight to being one."
He kicked at the bench. "I feel like I've only just got used to being a Fairy type, and then to change again to being a Fighting type… would be odd."
"I think Tate and Liza said they could help with that side of things," Max mused. "Maybe we could go over there?"
"How would we do that?" Roland asked. "I don't think I can teleport that far."
I can! Jirachi reminded him. It'd be kind of tiring to do a lot of times in a row, but I can!
"That's good," Roland said, then frowned. "But… that's not actually the person I'd like to talk to most. It's Mom and Kirlia."
I am a phone, you know.
"There's something about watching a Flying-type – especially a bird – flying," Ash said, looking to his left as Pidgeot beat her wings in a steady rhythm. "The way the wing unfolds and moves… it's hard to get tired of it."
"I'm glad you appreciate it," Pidgeot chuckled, sailing down towards Twinleaf. "Okay, anywhere in particular you want to land?"
"Not really," Ash replied. "Just aim for the front of Dawn's house, I guess?"
"And try not to brake too fast," Pikachu added, from his perch on Ash's shoulder. "I don't want to end up bouncing off the grass this time."
Pidgeot rolled gently back and forth and chirped, then flared her wings. She hovered for four wingbeats, slowly easing down, then touched the grass with her claws and came to a gentle halt.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome," Pidgeot said, furling her wings. "We hope you fly Pidgeot Airlines again."
"It's that or walk."
Sliding off her back, Ash patted her. "Thanks, Pidgeot – it's always a pleasure."
Pidgeot nodded to him, then reached down to peck the Pokeball on his belt.
A somewhat startled Suicune emerged, woke up, twisted in mid-air to land on her feet, and tried to look like that had been intentional – then gave up. "What just happened? I'm fairly sure I was asleep five seconds ago."
"...I think I missed," Pidgeot told her. "Ash must have moved, I certainly didn't confuse my Pokeball with a Fast Ball."
Shrugging, she returned herself without bothering with the button.
"Well, I'm awake now," Suicune pronounced. "Isn't this Twinleaf?"
"Yeah, it is," Ash confirmed. "Dawn found her Pachirisu hanging around nearby."
He rummaged in his pocket, and retrieved a pair of Pokeballs. "And she asked me to get a couple of these, too… okay, where's the doorbell?"
Suicune reached up and pressed it.
"It was quicker to do it myself," she explained, sitting back on her haunches.
After a few seconds, the door opened.
"Hello, Ash," Johanna said. "And – I see Suicune's visited as well."
She shook her head wonderingly. "A year ago – six months ago – I never would have believed I'd say that."
"Yeah, you get used to it," Ash shrugged. "Is Dawn in?"
"She's upstairs," Johanna said. "It's just up there."
"Right," Ash nodded. "Let's go, Pikachu."
"If you do all the walking, sure," Pikachu agreed.
Johanna watched as Ash took the stairs two at a time, then turned back to Suicune.
Who, it transpired, was no longer on the doorstep.
"Good afternoon," the Legendary said, her voice coming from the dining room.
Johanna took a few steps in that direction and looked around the door – only to see Suicune in interested contemplation, examining a plate of scones, and a Pokémon it took her a moment to place levitating the kettle to pour some tea.
Excellent provision of beverages, the odd Pokémon stated. Must remember to contribute financially to defray costs. Accepted manners.
"...is that Mesprit?" Johanna asked, finally placing it. "Why is Mesprit making tea in my kitchen?"
Coffee not preferable, Mesprit informed her matter-of-factly. Too strong. Not enough subtlety. Needs grinding. Already had three cups this morning.
"Would I be able to try one of these scones?" Suicune requested. "I'm sorry if you were planning on having all of them, but they do smell nice..."
"Okay, just hold still," Ash requested.
"Aren't you going to ask me not to shock you?" Pachirisu asked, tilting her head.
"Not really, no," Ash replied. "Pikachu's my starter, I'm kind of resistant by now."
Pachirisu shot a glance at Pikachu, who waved, then watched as Ash's hand approached.
There was a little flash of blue light.
Then Pachirisu shocked Ash.
"Pachirisu!" Dawn chided, as Ash shook his head and smoothed over his static-touched hair. "Why did you do that?"
"It's not a problem," Ash assured her.
"Four seconds ago I was trying to scare off a pushy Croconaw!" Pachirisu said, unfluffing her tail. "And that feels odd even by the standards of that time we got stuck in the past with Arceus!"
She frowned. "We're stuck in the past, right?"
"This is the new now," Pikachu told her. "Yes, it gives all of us headaches too, we don't think about it too hard."
He suddenly looked nervous. "Wait, I just realized..."
"Oh, right," Pachirisu nodded. "She's asleep at the moment – lots of training yesterday."
"Phew," Pikachu exhaled. "That's good-"
"Hey, Buneary!" Pachirisu shouted. "Pikachu's here!"
"...I forgot how much you like jokes," Pikachu sighed.
"So… that's the first important thing," Roland explained. "I don't know if I want to be a Gallade, a Kirlia, or to stay a Ralts."
"I understand," Gardevoir replied, and Kris translated her words for everyone as she spoke. "And, dear – Roland – I don't know what the answer is, because I'm not you. Any solution you decide to use should be a solution for you, not for anyone else."
"I think I get that," Roland nodded. "I just don't know what the solution for me should be."
"Well..." his mother began, then stopped and came at it from a different angle. "I think the best way to look at it is like this. What can you see yourself as – a Ralts, obviously, but apart from that? Can you see yourself as a Kirlia, a Gallade, a Gardevoir?"
Roland paused, thinking carefully about that one.
"I think… all of them?" he said. "But not so much Gardevoir – sorry, Mom."
"That's not something to apologize about," Gardevoir chuckled. "And what that suggests to me is that you'd rather evolve into a Gallade than a Gardevoir. But – like you say, it's a big decision, so go and talk to those trainers and Pokémon who Max mentioned."
There was a slight pause.
"Excuse me, your sister would like the phone," Gardevoir warned him.
A moment later, Kirlia's voice replaced her. "Hey, Roland! If you do evolve to a Kirlia, stay one for a bit please? I'd like to have pictures of us the same!"
Roland smiled. "That sounds nice."
"And I can get these old ribbons and dresses that were cleaned out of May's room, and-"
"No thanks!" Max's Ralts said quickly.
"Here's that other Pokeball I got," Ash said, passing the spare to Dawn. "Do you think it's likely you'll need it?"
Dawn wordlessly indicated her bed, where three of her Pokémon were sitting in a row – one using his flippers to juggle his own Pokeball and that of his two friends, the other two watching and occasionally applauding.
"That's a good point, Ash," Pikachu noted. "It's not as if Dawn could have predicted two months ago that she'd have more Pokémon than you now have Frontier Symbols."
"After I reminded her she had more Pokémon than I had Frontier Symbols," Ash pointed out.
"I meant three," Pikachu clarified, just to be sure. "Anyway… we should be getting back to Kanto, right?"
"That's probably a good idea," Ash agreed. "I wonder where Suicune is… well, I guess she can run home if she needs to."
"So… I was thinking," Roland said, looking up at the twin Gardevoir and Gallade that Liza and Tate had used against Ash. "You two do that thought sharing thing, right? So both of you know what it's like to be both a Gardevoir and a Gallade..."
He shuffled his feet. "So I was hoping you'd be able to help me make the decision of… which is best, really."
Gardevoir and Gallade exchanged a blur of thoughts and impressions at the speed of thought.
"Well..." Gallade began. "Firstly, it's important to realize that when I evolved from Kirlia to Gallade, there weren't really things that I stopped being able to do – it's just that there are different things I could learn after evolving than the things that Gardevoir could."
"My own specialities after evolving – the things that turned out easy for me – were essentially shields, mild precognition, Fairy attacks, and some gravity manipulation," Gardevoir supplied. "Gallade can still do them, but he sucks compared to me."
"Hey!" Gallade protested. "I don't need shields, I have swords."
He paused. "And I can do the precognition thing too. It's called Detect."
"Remind me what your Mega form looks like," Gardevoir teased. "Doesn't it have a cape which you use as a shield?"
"That's different."
"As you can see," Liza chuckled, "these two have a certain style to them."
"I'm really reminded of May and me," Max said. "Sorry – I mean May and I."
"I think you're the only person who would care enough to make the correction." May pointed out.
"What about you, Gallade?" Roland asked. "You said that Gardevoir's better at Fairy attacks and the kind of general psychic power stuff… so what about you?"
"I'm much better in close," Gallade told him. "From speaking to other Gallade, and reading about them, I know we're capable of being just as fast at teleporting as a Gardevoir – and there's the Fighting-type, too, which helps."
He raised a blade to his chin. "But… I think you're probably trying to answer two questions, and one of them is if you should evolve to being a Kirlia."
Roland nodded. "That's right..."
"Well. My advice is – go ahead," Gallade said. "You can make the decision about using a Dawn Stone later. And you can give kendo a try as well, to see if the idea of fighting with a sword style works for you."
"Are you trying to recruit him into the Gallade side of the argument?" Gardevoir asked suspiciously.
"No, just trying to make sure he has all his options open," Gallade countered. "And it's a lot easier to picture how Gardevoir powers work as a Kirlia than it is to picture Gallade ones, so I'm just levelling the playing field."
Roland frowned, and Max crouched down to be on the same level as him. "What do you think, Roland? Do you have your decision?"
"I… well, I'm not sure," he said. "Can we go to visit Mom?"
"I think we can," Max agreed. "Jirachi, is that okay?"
I've still got a lot of energy, so sure! Jirachi agreed.
Roland faced Jirachi, and cleared his throat. "I wish that everyone here except Liza, Tate and their Pokémon could go to Max's house."
That works! Jirachi said, and they vanished.
What a polite young Ralts, Gardevoir opined.
What do you think he'll pick? Tate asked.
Kirlia, Gallade said. Be more specific next time!
Roland felt for a pair of familiar psychic signatures.
It took him a moment to find them, and he was surprised at how much Mom and Sis had changed in so little time… unless it was just that he'd changed.
Deciding that probably wasn't important, he sent a mental pulse to alert them.
Dear? Mom sent back. Yes, you can come in any time.
"It's okay for us to go in," he told Max, who opened the door of the room the two Psychic-types shared.
Hello, dear, Gardevoir 'pathed, picking her son up and giving him a hug. Did you make your decision?
One of them, Roland replied, as she put him down again.
He reached back for Max's hand, then closed his eyes and concentrated – feeling for a sensation of energy unleashed, of freedom and of choice… and, this time, he took that choice.
Light rushed over him, and he grew – getting taller, more graceful, as his horns drifted out towards the side of his head.
When the flash of white light faded, Roland looked at his arms with interest.
"That feels a lot more normal than I was expecting," he said. "I'm not sure I like the skirt, though."
The newly-evolved Kirlia looked back at his trainer. "And… now you look shorter."
Max sniggered. "Is that what you got from it?"
Roland shrugged.
"Roland!" Kirlia called. "You evolved! Great – now I can see if these dresses fit you!"
Roland's expression changed, and then both he and Max vanished.
There was a thump from the roof.
"Well, no prizes for guessing where they went," Brock observed neutrally.
"Welcome back, dear," Caroline said, smiling at her husband. "Good day at work?"
"That's the last time that trainer tries to just use Ghost types to breeze through my Normal-type gym," Norman replied, smiling. "It's like some of these people have never heard of Bite."
Caroline matched his smile. "Well, hopefully they do learn that lesson."
She lowered her voice a little. "Oh – May and Max have teleported over, but I think it's mostly for Roland."
Norman nodded. "I see. Do you think I should go and see how they are?"
He spotted something, and chuckled. "Well, never mind. I don't think I'll need to."
Caroline turned, and as she did the door opened.
"Mom? Dad?" May said, then saw them both just a few feet away. "Oh – never mind."
"Hello, May," Norman said.
"I guess you heard I was here, huh..." May said, seeing how unsurprised her parents were. "Well..."
She cleared her throat. "This might be kind of… an odd thing. But I wanted you to meet someone."
Caroline gave Norman a knowing nod, as May took a Pokeball from her belt.
"Here they are, Manaphy," May added, sending the Legendary Pokémon out. "These are my mom and dad – so I guess, in a way, they're kind of like your grandparents."
"Hello mama's mom and dad!" Manaphy waved.
"And hello to you as well, Manaphy," Norman said, giving him a hand to shake. "We've heard a lot about you."
"You have?" Manaphy said, then saw the hand and took it – giving it a shake, and taking great care to get the details right. "Mama said you had a lot of Pokémon!"
He raised his free flipper to his chin. "She also said you were a really good dad and that she wanted to know if she got things wrong..."
"Manaphy!" May hissed, blushing.
Caroline laughed. "Oh, dear… clearly you need to learn that children are always saying things that surprise you."
She tapped Manaphy on the nose. "He's just fine."
"And, of course," Norman added, chuckling as well. "This does mean that I don't need to do the stereotypical thing and intimidate some boy just yet..."
"I wonder where we'd be by now if this hadn't happened," Pikachu said, tail flicking back and forth.
"Well… I don't know," Ash admitted. "I don't think I'd be able to guess – we came back over three years ago."
"Doesn't that mean – wait, hold on," Pikachu said.
He counted on his paws and tail.
"Isn't your birthday in less than a month?"
Ash glanced up for a moment. "I – yeah, it is."
"We'd better do something for it, then," Pikachu decided. "Latios survived this time – and you've got a lot to celebrate."
"You're right," Ash agreed. "I… yeah, I was just thinking about all the changes that have come since we came back in time. Pokémon like Mawile or Goodra who I never had a chance to meet last time – or like Lucario and Houndoom, who we only met briefly."
He shook his head. "It's kind of odd to imagine who we might have run into by now…"
Ash?
Ash looked down at Dexter. "Hey, Dexter. What is it?"
Just letting you know that we're getting close to the daycare.
"Right," Ash agreed. "Okay, Pidgeot, can you see it?"
Pidgeot chirped an affirmative, and dropped out of supercruise. The ripple of their shockwave fell away, and she shed altitude in preparation for a touchdown.
"Looks like they're already there," Ash added, pointing.
Pikachu raised his tail as a sunshade, then nodded. "Yep, that seems about right."
Corona dodged backwards, flicking her tail across to cover her retreat, and fired an Ember.
Her opponent, a Vileplume, blocked the attack with a quick Bullet Seed.
"That's good!" May told her and her trainer. "Contest judges like seeing a defence like that. Now, follow it up with a good attack!"
"Petal Dance, Vileplume!" ordered the trainer, Nicolette. "Have them come in from all directions – don't let her block them all!"
Vileplume nodded sharply, and fired a burst of petals from the centre of her flower. They peppered the area Corona was standing in, and she found herself forced to cloak herself entirely in flame just to avoid taking too many nasty hits.
The flame shield lasted perhaps three seconds, then faltered enough for Vileplume to get the attack through.
"And stop!" Brock said, from his refereeing position standing on Steelix' head. "Good work, both of you."
Corona sighed, letting the tension bleed out of her, and rubbed her side.
"That kind of stung," she informed the general area.
"Thanks so much!" Nicolette said, shaking May's hand. "For giving me an idea of what being a Coordinator is like, I mean – I never thought I'd get a tutoring session from a Top Coordinator!"
"Glad to help," May replied. "We all have to start somewhere, and it's always good to help someone new get started."
"And thanks to your brother, too," Nicolette added.
She snapped her fingers. "I know what to do! I'll ask my parents if it's possible to get you-"
Pidgeot flew overhead with a whoosh.
"Ash!" May shouted. "Don't fly so low!"
"Hey, I'm just the passenger!" Ash called back, as Pidgeot banked around in a sedate turn and alighted.
"...is that Ash Ketchum?" Nicolette asked. "I didn't know you two knew each other!"
"Yeah, we travel around together," May informed her. "It's kind of a funny thing… we met ages ago, and since then it's just sort of made sense that we go the same places for months at a time."
"You okay, Max?" Ash checked. "You look a bit odd."
"I'm just nervous," Max replied, as they walked up to the room Nicolette's parents kept the eggs. "Well, I think that's what it is – you and May have handled eggs before, you know what it's like to hatch them. But this would be my first, and I'm not sure if it's going to go well."
He shook his head. "I know it's probably stupid, but I just feel… nervous."
Ash took that in.
"Would you like Absol to do a scan to make sure you take the right choice?"
"...yes please."
Absol emerged from her Pokeball, having overheard.
"Right," she began. "Lucario, could you translate?"
Lucario also emerged from his Pokeball.
"That's pretty cool," Nicolette said, then blushed slightly. "Sorry, I know I sound really kind of silly..."
"Don't worry," Lucario assured her. "I am totally hip, man, so it's cool and swinging for me to throw off your jive."
Nicolette looked utterly bemused.
"Lucario," Ash chided. "Don't try to confuse her."
"Okay, let's see..." Absol said, pacing up and down the rows of eggs. "Destruction, disaster… apocalypse… literally the moon crashing into the planet… a spontaneous meteorite strike… and, for some reason, death by cheese."
Then she smiled. "I'm joking. It looks like it doesn't matter much which egg you pick – it depends how you feel about someone who wouldn't be interested in combat."
Lucario passed on that second part to Max, having decided the first part was unlikely to be important.
"Right," Max said, thinking. "I… well, I think that it'd be good to make sure a new Pokémon was at least willing to get in a battle, because if they don't then it'd kind of make them uncomfortable – you know, feeling like they're not pulling their weight, even if I don't ask them to."
"That sounds wise," Absol agreed.
May came around the side of the shelves with a bright yellow egg. "What about this one?"
Absol glanced up. "That one would result in… well, hair disasters. That's all I'm getting."
"That's an odd one," said Nicolette's father – Christopher. "We got that one in from someone from overseas – they were just visiting, I think. Didn't say what it was."
"That sounds interesting," May said. "Well… I think I like the sound of that."
She checked Ethan's translation, and reached up to her hair. "I can live with hair disasters, I think."
"Don't say that until you know how bad they are," Absol muttered.
Max looked down the rows. "Are any of these close to hatching?"
"Not especially," Christopher said. "There's a Vulpix egg which is about to, though."
"Maybe Nicolette could have that one?" May suggested. "A Fire-type would be a good contrast, and Vulpix are very sweet Pokémon."
"That sounds great!" Nicolette said. "Dad, can I?"
"We'll see," Christopher decided. "We don't have to put that one out for adoption while your mother and I think about it, though."
"Absol?" Max asked, getting the attention of the Dark-type, and touched a white egg with black spots. "This one?"
Absol focused, reaching for her disaster senses.
"Good choice, unless you have a problem with being tackled hard enough to knock you over."
"Is that a concern?" Lucario asked.
"Well, it might be," Absol clarified. "My disaster sensing power gives probabilities. The probability of being tackle-glomped to the floor increased markedly."
"Where are we going now, Momma?" Manaphy asked, as they left the daycare.
"Well..." May began. "I was wondering if you'd be interested in a Contest – I'm pretty sure the next place we visit does Double Contests sometimes, and it'd be a good chance to have a go if you worked with another one of my Pokémon."
"That sounds great!" Manaphy smiled.
"Then just think who you'd like to work with," May advised. "Let me know who you think would be the best fit."
"Okay," Manaphy said, already thinking. "Hmmm…"
"High Jump Kick!" Naomi ordered.
Her Ponyta skidded to a halt, hooves sparking on the floor, and reared forwards. At the same moment, Naomi's Grovyle jumped forwards from the other side of the room and spread his arms to glide – getting just enough distance that he could land on Ponyta's hooves, right as she fired off her powerful kick.
Launched by both his own strength and that of his partner, Grovyle went flying into the air – at least halfway to the ceiling, where he sent a storm of wind outwards that curled and recurled without ever actually escaping as an attack.
Dropping back through his wind, he landed squarely on Ponyta's back with a flourish.
"A fine finish there from Naomi, Grovyle and Ponyta!" Nurse Joy said, applauding. "Top marks for teamwork!"
"That's right," the mayor agreed, nodding firmly. "A Ponyta doing no damage to a Grass-type like that means very good teamwork."
"And next we have a visitor from Hoenn," Joy added, checking the list as Naomi returned her Pokémon and left the stage. "And she's no amateur – so, everyone, please put your hands together for May Maple!"
As the audience applauded, Joy kept speaking. "She's promised us something new today, so I'm sure we're all watching with interest!"
"Go!" May called, throwing her first Pokeball.
Beautifly formed with a bright flash, did a spin, and began trailing Silver Wind from her wings.
May watched carefully as Beautifly danced in the air for several seconds, then threw her second Pokeball as she reached the crest of her flight.
Water splashed out in all directions as the Splash Seals activated, then stopped in mid-air and began to glow a faint blue. And, inside the complex double-shell of hovering water bubbles, Manaphy spun once before opening his eyes.
"Beautifly, Fly!" May said. "Manaphy, get ready!"
Beautifly ducked down before arrowing up through the watery formation, and she caught Manaphy gently on her back as he began to fall. Manaphy took that as the signal, and his water bubbles flattened out into a ring with a graceful movement.
"Let's start slow," May told him. "Two and one!"
Manaphy frowned a little, concentrating, and fired a Water Pulse out ahead of them.
The Water Pulse distorted as it flew, slowing and flattening out, until it formed a disc of water just ahead of Beautifly's flight path – one she promptly blew apart with a Gust, opening out the centre into a ring of water that afforded just enough of a gap to fly through.
As soon as she did, Beautifly was met with a new challenge – the water from Manaphy's original appearance onto the battlefield, reshaped into a pair of bubbles coming towards one another to splash her between them.
Rolling over on her side, Beautifly shot between the two bubbles with inches to spare – carrying Manaphy with her, who quickly shot a glance down at May to make sure he was doing okay.
"That's just fine!" May assured him. "Now, let's try four and three!"
The blue glow suffused Manaphy's water again, and he added to it with a Water Pulse and a powerful Bubble – creating a veritable midair obstacle course, one which Beautifly wove and dodged through with consummate ease.
"Morning globe!" May ordered. "Let's make it a good one!"
Still trailing Silver Wind from her wings – the proof she hadn't hit anything once – Beautifly spiralled towards the floor of the arena, moving faster and faster as she shed height and her spirals got wider and wider.
Overhead, all the water Manaphy had produced so far hung in the air, occasionally dripping – then it expanded out, seeming to balloon to the point it half-filled the arena.
Beautifly swerved sharply in, then pulled up – rising straight towards the watery globe, and punched through into the interior.
Then she used Morning Sun, and the whole of the Contest arena and stands were lit by shifting, shimmering rainbows.
They lasted for perhaps five or six seconds, refracting and slowly progressing upwards as their source dropped back towards the floor, then the globe all collapsed at once into a misty rain which drifted downwards.
Still glowing softly, Beautifly floated down as well – carrying her passenger, who looked torn between nervousness and excitement.
As the judges gave their opinion, May reached up and took Manaphy from Beautifly's back.
"Good work," she told him, giving him a hug.
"Thanks, Mama," he replied, and returned the hug with one of his own. "I'm glad Beautifly was there, I was really nervous..."
"You'll do fine," May assured him, as they cleared the stage.
"Manaphy, use Water Sport!" May ordered. "Hit that Ponyta with water!"
Manaphy duly did so, spraying water from his mouth and using his flippers to direct it.
"Stop him, Grovyle!" Naomi said. "Use Ponyta for a boost, and hit him with Leaf Blade!"
Her Grovyle jumped up to his teammate, and kicked off her with a powerful push – then brought his arm blades around in a swipe at where Manaphy had been before Beautifly snatched him up.
"Thanks!" Manaphy said, then quickly used Bubble to block a Flamethrower from Ponyta.
"Good work, Manaphy!" May said, thinking hard. "Okay – I know! Beautifly, get a Bug Buzz ready!"
"Watch out, Grovyle," Naomi called.
"Manaphy, heart swap!"
"Razor Wind," Naomi said. "And Ponyta, use Fire Spin as soon as-"
Manaphy's antenna flashed, and a pink light danced between the two Pokémon.
Then Ponyta fell over, abruptly trying to manage a different arrangement of limbs, and Grovyle's attack went completely out of control when Ponyta found herself trying to manage it without either preparation or experience.
Beautifly's Bug Buzz flashed down through the mixture, and Manaphy supported her with a Bubblebeam that resonated in the pulse of sound.
"What just happened?" Nurse Joy asked, as Naomi's team fell apart completely in seconds. "What does Heart Swap even do?"
"I thought it just moved around things like Quiver Dance!" Naomi protested. "That was completely different!"
"Manpahy using it does something different to normal," May volunteered.
"Time out, please," the mayor called. "We need to make a ruling on this one."
"...does that mean something good?" Manaphy asked, looking bewildered as Beautifly put him down again.
"I'm not sure," May admitted. "I didn't realize it might be this much of a problem..."
"Okay, we've checked the rules," Nurse Joy said, some minutes later. "It looks like this falls into a grey area – some moves aren't allowed in contests because they make it not about actually performing, but this one isn't listed."
She smiled apologetically. "I think the best thing we can say is that the result stands, but you'd better not use it unless you're told it's okay in future."
"Sorry," Manaphy said, blushing.
"It's my fault," May reminded him. "I gave the order."
"Well..." Naomi sighed. "I can't really feel upset about that..."
She shook May's hand. "I'll just have to beat you in the grand festival!"
Johanna sighed.
"Glameow?" she began.
The feline Normal-type looked up, and purred at her trainer.
"I wonder if you've got any ideas for how I can help with Dawn," she explained. "It seems as though it's just hard for me to connect with her – I'm not her age, obviously, and..."
Johanna shook her head. "Dawn's just used to things like Suicune showing up for tea, somehow. And I'm not, and it feels different..."
Glameow regarded her, then rolled over on her back and toyed with her tail.
Johanna chuckled. "Of course, it's not as if you have the same problem. I mean, your father was a Floatzel..."
The trainer realized something, and lay back in her chair. "And now I'm asking my Pokémon for help."
After a few seconds, she blinked. "Wait… maybe there is someone who could help."
"I see," Caroline said. "Yes, Johanna, I know what you mean – Norman and I had to deal with it after May and Max came back. We found that it helped a lot that Max and May had one another to talk to – not just because they shared this time travel experience, but because they were both quite close in age. We knew about the time travel too, but it was good for them to have a sibling to discuss with – it's easier than talking to an adult."
"That's a good point," Johanna admitted. "But I'm not sure what to do with that information, I'm afraid – Dawn does have Barry, but he's really not someone to spend a long time talking to."
"Why not?" May's mother asked.
"He's hyperactive and a bit scatterbrained," Johanna clarified. "He's the sort of person who's run off before the end of the sentence."
Caroline smiled. "That sounds… yes, I can see why that wouldn't be relaxing at all."
She hummed, thinking.
"Well, obviously you should ask Dawn if she does feel like things aren't going well," she hedged. "It might just be that Dawn's more used to being an independent young woman than you realize and hasn't worked out how you feel. But I did have another idea, if you'd like a plan B."
There was a long pause as Johanna mulled it over.
"I think I'd like to hear what the plan B is," she decided. "Even if I don't go for it."
"That's fine," Caroline nodded – by sheer force of habit, as Johanna couldn't see her. "I was thinking of putting you in touch with an old friend of mine from my Contest days – she moved overseas, but I've still got her address."
"Um… I'm missing something, I think?" Johanna said.
"She's got a daughter, about May's age," Caroline clarified. "Maybe a pen-pal is what Dawn needs."
She chuckled. "I know, it's a bit unconventional-"
"No, I think that might be a good idea," Johanna agreed. "If your friend went overseas, then that's something different – and I imagine Dawn's going to get sick of Twinleaf by the time she's on schedule to travel again, even with all this training."
She sighed. "It's not like school is challenging her – she's breezing through it, because she's done it all already."
"We had that with May and Max as well," Caroline assured her. "That's normal. If any of this is."
Shinx yawned, then gave a pleading look to her trainer.
Professor Ivy shook her head. "No, Shinx. You're not a kitten any more."
Shinx gave her the full-bore baby-doll eyes.
"No," Philena repeated. "We're out here for you to get exercise, not for me to carry you around."
The Electric-type considered that, then coiled like a spring and jumped at her trainer.
Ivy caught her reflexively, then chuckled as Shinx purred victoriously in her arms. "You win again."
Giving the feline Pokémon a scratch, she shook her head. "Minx."
Shinx flicked her tail.
"Seriously, though, you are getting pretty hefty," Philena added. "I wonder how long it is before it's time to think about your evolution."
Adjusting her grip, Philena glanced at the watch on her left wrist. "It's getting late anyway," she decided. "Maybe we should head back to the lab, there's paperwork waiting."
Shinx thought about that, then yowled in resignation and flowed out of Philena's arms. "Shiiii-nx!" she said, padding off and tossing her head to indicate her trainer should follow.
"Or we could stay out here a little longer," Philena allowed, as Shinx's tail lit up in a Flash. "Bit more exploring to do?"
Shinx's tail waved lazily from side to side, throwing shadows across the little forest – then stilled, and dimmed.
"Shinx?" Philena asked, much more quietly. "Can you smell something?"
She followed her Pokémon, trying to be as quiet as possible – and probably still making a lot of noise compared to the prowling Electric-type, but she got only mildly disapproving glares so was probably doing okay.
Then Shinx froze, almost too far ahead for Philena to see, and the Professor froze as well.
There were several seconds of tense silence, and then Shinx pounced on something Philena couldn't see. "Inxshi!"
"If you're frightening Pidgeys again..." Philena muttered, coming up to see what was going on.
As it turned out, however, Shinx hadn't found a Pidgey at all.
Instead, when Philena made it to the clearing there was her Electric-type on one side and a stocky canine Pokémon on the other.
Shinx growled, and the canine Pokémon growled right back.
"Wait..." Philena said, looking closer. "Shinx, can you turn up your Flash?"
The Electric-type did so, tail brightening to light up the whole clearing, and Philena nodded to herself.
"That's a Rockruff," she said. "I didn't realize there were any on Valencia Island..."
The Rockruff in question looked at her, seeming slightly puzzled for a moment, then shook it off.
"Hold on a moment..." she added. "Rockruff are Rock-types..."
Shinx shot her a confused look this time.
"Think about it," Philena said. "Brock's always joking about how he needs more Rock-types, and how his real thing by now is being deceptive instead of being a Rock-type trainer – but Rockruff is a Rock-type that doesn't look like it."
There was a muffled yip from Rockruff's direction.
Shinx seemed to get the idea, though, and her hackles lowered.
"Shiiin-in-nix," she explained to the Puppy Pokémon. "Inx-shin-shiii!"
Rockruff barked a question, which Shinx answered, and the canine Pokémon rubbed his belly for a moment before nodding.
"Look at you!" Philena chuckled, patting Shinx on the head. "My cute little diplomat!"
She rummaged through her pocket, and brought out a slightly scratched Pokeball. "I think this is the only one I have spare..."
Rockruff padded over, gave it a sniff, and then pressed his paw against the button.
When the ball registered the capture, Philena smiled to herself.
"Well done," she told Shinx, picking her up without complaint. "I'd better fix something for both of you when we get home – and I'll be sure to give you some extra treats, too!"
Shinx purred, happy with this state of affairs.
"Okay, we're spinning up the gestalt generators now," the technician said. "Mr. Mewtwo, let us know if you're getting a good signal."
In the newly installed building to the south of Mossdeep Space Centre's runway, several large generating stations began to spin up one by one.
Mewtwo reached out to them, touching them lightly at first. It seems as though they are still tuned.
"That's a good sign," the technician nodded. "Okay, we're going to put them up to full normal power now."
Full normal power, Mewtwo repeated. Understood.
He tapped into the generators more fully, using their energy to augment his own psychic powers, and expended it in a harmless pressure directed downwards across most of the runway surface.
Holding, he stated. I am drawing full normal power.
"Full normal power," the technician repeated. "RPM is steady, I'm not seeing any fluctuations."
She tapped a control. "Okay, hold that for five minutes."
Mewtwo complied, arms out and a faint glow surrounding his paws.
As the seconds ticked by, he contemplated the real effect the generators were having – they wouldn't really make him more powerful, so much as mean he could handle transmission losses more easily and prevent him from using too much of his own psychic reserve.
And, more importantly, mean that he could sustain thrust for much longer.
"Okay, full power test over," the technician reported. "Stepping down to idle. Tower, this is Gestalt – we report full function."
"Confirm, Gestalt," the tower reported back. "Are we go for launch on schedule?"
The technician looked at Mewtwo, who nodded.
"We are go," she told them.
"Understood. Go on scheduled launch. T minus twenty minutes."
Mewtwo lifted himself out of his seat, and examined the launch vehicle waiting on the pad.
It was nothing like the launches that had been going on even a few months ago – with the confirmation that Mewtwo could maintain full psionic shield right through to the exosphere, it was an ungainly thing and was even secured in space with throwaway struts rather than wasting mass on takeoff fairing.
Of course, every component still had a parachute for emergency breaking, because the Mossdeep Space Agency wasn't stupid.
Is all in readiness? Mewtwo asked, reaching out with his mind to touch the only two passengers onboard the thousand-tonne spacecraft.
It is, one of the Kadabra replied. Our module is ready.
Good, Mewtwo stated. Remember, be ready for an emergency teleport in case problems arise.
He turned his gaze to look at a nondescript shed, barely visible almost three miles away.
There was a man in there who had never met the two Kadabra who were going to launch today.
His job was simple – if today's launch looked like going off course sufficiently that it endangered those on the ground, he would destroy it by sending a coded radio message.
Launch is in five minutes, Mewtwo reminded them, turning away again. Be ready.
He switched his attention to the launch tower. Establishing air shield. Prepare for pressure gauge readings.
"Five," Control counted. "Four. Three. Two. One. Launch!"
Out on the pad, the launch stack glowed a faint blue… and rose smoothly into the air, with neither the flame of an engine nor the thunder of the rocket motor.
Instead, just at the edge of hearing, Mewtwo's generators hummed – and the mighty Psychic-type lifted the entire stack straight upwards at a steady thrust of thirty metres per second per second.
"Acceleration track is on path," Guidance announced. "Tower clear."
"No resonances developing," FIDO reported from his station. "The struts are doing fine, I don't see any undue strain."
"It's the lack of vibration," Engineering said.
"T plus twenty."
"Air shield holding, no pressure adjustment recorded."
Jin watched as the huge stack rose – silently, smoothly, and efficiently.
A white shock formed around it as it passed the sound barrier, but that meant almost nothing – Mewtwo's rock-solid psychic shield kept a thousand tonnes of spacecraft completely aloof from the atmosphere slicing past, and the stack just kept steadily accelerating.
"Mewtwo, status?" he checked.
Mewtwo here, the Legendary answered. I am not suffering any strain so far.
"Good," Jin nodded. "We're reaching the fifty kilometre altitude mark – initiate shield vent."
"Shield venting commencing," one of the engineers reported almost immediately. "We're seeing a steady drop, thirty seconds until equalization."
"Fifty-five kilometres up, three hundred fifty downrange."
I am approaching the point of strain, Mewtwo reported. I anticipate no problems continuing the launch until the scheduled handover.
"Understood, Mewtwo," Jin said. "Good work."
"T plus two hundred. Speed is now six kilometres per second."
"Thirty seconds to handover."
"Running final checks on booster."
Jin took a long look at the big board Apollo was throwing up on-screen.
By now, they were high enough there was almost no air pressure – and far enough downrange that they were approaching the limits of Mewtwo's easy projection range.
On the screen, the handover point flashed a gentle green – indicating that they were on profile to reach it just as planned.
"Kadabra reporting they are ready for boost assist," FIDO said.
"Ten seconds to handover."
"Boost ignition sequence… start."
"Three, two, one-"
Mewtwo released his hold, and the generators squealed for a moment as they ran back up to their cut-off speed before the governors slowed them back down to nominal.
At almost the same instant, a small rocket motor activated a little over five hundred miles downrange and two Kadabra reached out their own telekinesis to enfold their vehicle.
"Stage one disengaged, stage two online," Control said. "Good work."
Shading his eyes, Mewtwo looked up into the darkening sky and saw the light of the booster – only just visible at this distance, as it was a low-powered burn intended to operate outside atmosphere only.
"Good work, Mewtwo," Control repeated. "Everything is on profile and it looks like we're going to make orbit. Congratulations, we've launched an entire space station in one day."
I am more interested in the PCM, Mewtwo replied, leaning back in his chair. If the Psionic Catchment Module works, we will be able to supply the station instantly by teleport relay.
"We know, Mewtwo," Control chuckled. "Believe me, we're all eager to see it work. So, how's the shiny new office building?"
Mewtwo reached down to touch the generators on the floor below, and felt the burble of energy they provided.
Then he took in the whole of the room – dozens of books in the four bookshelves lining one wall, all the electronics and workstations over in one corner, and enough space for far more inhabitants than were currently using it.
I think it's all fine, Mewtwo told his friend. It still feels new, but I'm sure that before long it will feel like home.
Bonus: Mewtwo's book excerpt, chapter two
Education and Instinct
Humans are not like Pokémon, in many ways. One of the most crucial, however, is how they learn.
To be a human is to learn mainly by deduction and induction. To follow patterns, and apply the fruits of past experience to recognize places these patterns could be followed.
The best way to view how humans learn, and how it is atypical, is to explore more fully what it means to be a Pokémon
A Pokémon tends to learn most of their moves by way of a kind of active discovery. Having experienced the phenomenon myself, on two occasions – it is as though you have just seen the solution to a magic eye picture, or realized which way up a book must be held. It goes straight from barely comprehensible to making perfect sense. And since this often occurs in the middle of a battle... the usual result is to use the move straight away. (Often it will be a useful one for the current situation, in fact.)
It is rare a Pokémon will half-learn Ice Beam, at least on their own. Once they have this new move, though, there does tend to be a period of more conventional, 'human' learning about the capabilities and shortfalls of the technique.
A similar process occurs when a technical machine is used. While I have not used one myself, a dear friend of mine has never found one she cannot learn – and she has shared with me the common threads that she has found in all of them.
A Technical Machine is a device which delivers that sudden realization artificially. The method by which this is done differs, certainly, but the core effect is the same – the Pokémon gains the ability to use the move, in basic form, but no understanding of when or deep conception of the methods beneath.
And this, perhaps, is where humans most differ. When a human can be said to know something, they know it because they understand it.
Pokémon do learn some things in a similar way, and many of them apply human tools of thought to even those things which are most intuitive – whether by learning the tools by observing them, or being coached through the process by a trainer or friend. This is one of the reasons trained Pokémon are stronger – a Pokémon who has been taught Ice Beam by a trainer has a much higher chance of understanding the best times to use the move, and how to get the best from it.
At least two ways of learning moves blur this line. One is where another Pokémon – perhaps a relative – has taught the Pokémon the move by example. This is still a case of intuitive learning, but it is sped along substantially by the tutor's help.
Another is what are called 'egg moves'.
These can be genetic, or they can be learned by observation – through the peculiar, instinctual means by which a Pokémon can learn whilst still in the shell. Since egg moves are literally learned pre-birth, they are often not so much instinctual as ingrained – they are as much a part of the Pokémon, at birth, as walking or talking.
Mention of walking and talking brings up the issue of language. All Pokémon are born able to communicate coherently, though they do undergo a developmental period similar to humans – their ability to articulate outstrips their ability to form concepts or understand them, at first.
As for myself, and those like me – the created Pokémon – we are different and yet similar. Since we were created from genetic templates, we had the same instincts as our templates and also had some memories from the templates.
These are not merely moves, either. Sometimes, late at night, I see flashes of memories not my own, from the Mew whose hair provided the genetic material to create me.
It is an interesting and pleasant experience – he clearly liked to travel, and I have memories of continents from long before humans touched them.
I will examine four case studies this chapter, covering a wide range of scenarios. The first covers primarily the issue of moves learned through training with a human against those deciphered mid-battle. The Pokémon in question is one of my friend Sabrina's primary gym challenge team, and is...
AN:
So this is entirely not a gym.
In some ways, this could be seen as a filler chapter, but in other ways it's really not.
And to answer a few possible questions in overly-cryptic ways:
The man is the Range Safety Officer.
A governor is a "mechanical governor".
She wasn't disqualified because the rule's one they hadn't made until just then.
They've seen Heart Swap come up from Metronome.
It was because he was hungry that clinched it.
And I've decided what both eggs are.
Next up – the Battle Dome! (Well, there's a matter of a Brockruff first.)
