Johanna checked the time as she headed back home, wincing.
One thing had led to another, and she'd helped the shopkeeper sort out a problem with his shelving – but now it was getting later than she'd hoped, so it would be a rush to make dinner.
Looking up, she spotted something whoosh overhead at treetop height – then turn, slowing, and revealing itself to be a pink-and-cream Latias.
There was a now-familiar boy on her back.
"Right," Johanna said to herself. "I think that answers that question..."
"I thought you caught him over near Hearthome City," Ash said, puzzled. "It's definitely him, but..."
Dawn shrugged. "Honestly, at this point I'm not questioning it – it's good to have so many of my Pokemon back early."
"I know what you mean," Lucario agreed. "This is very preferable to meeting you both in… several months from now."
Swinub grunted at them.
"Sorry." Ash held up a hand. "You're right, we should explain. Basically-"
"-we've all come back by time travel," Pachirisu interrupted. "You're one of our teammates!"
Swinub didn't respond for a moment, then gave a visible shrug.
"I can give you the memories," Ash told the Ice-type. "That'll let you remember everything that happened."
A nod.
"Should we do it in here?" Dawn said, looking at the height of the ceiling. "Mamoswine are kinda… big."
"Yeah, good point," Ash agreed.
He picked Swinub up to carry him out of the door, and then Lucario snatched the Pig Pokemon from his trainer and threw it out of the window.
A moment later, there was a bright flash, and a Mamoswine thumpedinto the ground outside.
"Ash..." Dawn sighed.
"Whoops..." Ash admitted. "I guess we should go out and see how he's doing..."
Latias rotated, floating sideways so she could look at the sideways Mamoswine face-to-face. "Hi!"
Mamoswine grunted. "Hello…"
"Do you need some help?" Latias offered. "I think I could help roll you back upright."
"No need to bother," Mamoswine replied, rocking back and forth once before bringing himself up to a standing position. "It's happened before."
He looked her up and down as she rolled back to her normal posture. "So. Time travel. You too?"
"Yeah," Latias agreed. "It's kind of a long story, but I'm sure your trainer will explain to you."
"What the heck?"
Mamoswine rolled his eyes. "Not him again."
Latias looked to see who'd spoken, and saw a boy heading their way – Barry.
"Another Legendary Pokemon?" Barry asked, skidding to a stop in front of her. "I bet this means there's some kind of conspiracy – I mean, conspiracies sometimes involve UFOs, and I can't remember what this Pokemon is so it must be an unidentified flying object, and therefore-"
Mamoswine snorted at Barry, knocking him over.
"That's not very nice," Latias said, shaking her head. "And I'm a Latias, by the way."
Barry bounced back upright, none the worse for wear. "Okay, so you're not unidentified any more – hi! Oh, hold on, aren't you one of Ash Ketchum's Pokemon?"
"Barry," Johanna said, walking up to her door. "Please don't pester my guests. You can ask Dawn about this later."
"Sorry, Mrs. Berlitz," Barry said, looking down at his feet for a moment. "Is one of your guests Ash Ketchum?"
"I think it is," Johanna answered, opening the door, then stopped as Ash, Dawn, Pachirisu, Lucario and Pikachu came crowding out.
Dawn held up a Pokeball, and Mamoswine lumbered over – touching his tusk to the ball, letting himself be captured.
"Thanks, Ash," Dawn said, then noticed Barry. "Okay, I guess that's everything for now-"
"Did Ash Ketchum help you catch a Pokemon that's not native to this part of Sinnoh?" Barry asked. "By making it want to be caught? With his mind? Is he the Pokemon Whisperer?"
"We've known he can talk to Pokemon for years," Dawn pointed out.
"Oh, yeah..." Barry mused.
"Dawn?" Johanna said, getting the attention of her daughter. "I appreciate you want to spend time with your newest Pokemon, but I'd like you to make sure you only let Mamoswine out of his Pokeball outside. It's not any fault of his, it's just that my roof is too low."
"Right," Dawn agreed, reaching up to give Pachirisu a scratch as the Electric-type took up a position on her shoulder. "See you later, Ash."
"That was interesting," Mega Latias said, as they shot southwards. "We're heading to Fuchsia, right?"
"That's right," Ash agreed. "The others said they'd just head there while we were handling this."
He looked down, seeing the water between the two northernmost Home Islands give way to land, and smiled.
"So, how's things in Altomare?" he said. "Any problems?"
"No problems, no," Mega Latias told him. "Latios and I have been starting to show ourselves a bit more around Altomare – not showing where the garden is, but trying to make sure people are used to the idea we're actually here. I kind of hope that, once we're really sure of ourselves, we can just go out in public without any problems..."
"That's a nice dream," Ash agreed. "But really, you're both doing well. You and Latios are probably safe against most possible threats by now, but I guess if you still want to train to feel comfortable then that's the best choice. Is that what Latios thinks?"
"Latios… well, Latios is still training," Mega Latias said. She giggled. "Actually, I think it's to impress this other Latias who visits sometimes… they're really cute together."
Ash looked vaguely puzzled.
"Basically, he's got a girlfriend," Mega Latias clarified.
"He has?" Ash asked.
"Ash, did you not get that when Latios asked to go jewellery shopping for something a little too small for him?" Pikachu asked, poking his head out of Ash's bag.
"No, not really," Ash replied, shrugging.
"I kind of wish I'd taken a picture..." Mega Latias said. "They're kinda cute together..."
She shook her head. "Anyway… where are you going next?"
"The Battle Pike, I think," Ash said. "We were going to go and get Max his next Badge, but he already did it."
"...that sounds odd."
As they skimmed closer to Fuchsia, Latias transitioned back down from Mega. She touched her Mega Stone on its necklace, making sure it was still there, then dropped a little lower.
"I think I can see the others," she reported.
"Great!" Ash said. "Let's land by them, then!"
Latias squeaked an affirmative, and they did a little half-circle movement to shed the rest of her speed – spiralling down to come to rest just outside the Pokemon Centre.
"Thanks for getting him back here safely, Latias," May said. "He didn't try to send you to Murmansk, did he?"
Ash looked affronted.
"I could see that happening," Latias said, putting a claw to her chin in contemplation. "But we didn't have any problems – so that's good!"
"It is, you're right," Ash agreed, then noticed the other person. "Oh, hello… Lucy, right?"
"That's me," Pike Queen Lucy confirmed. "Shall we?"
"I guess so," Ash said. "Kind of glad that I've got Dexter to bring my Pokemon out, though..."
Lucy nodded. "So I have heard. This way."
After a few steps, Ash was already frowning.
"Uh..."
Lucy stopped. "Yes?"
"Well… I'm not an expert," he began, pointing. "But isn't your Battle Pike that way?"
They all looked at the serpent-shaped building, off in the distance – and almost directly behind where they were going.
"Correct," Lucy allowed. "But I like my building and do not want to see it broken. We are going to the Battle Tent."
Max looked confused. "Can she do that?"
"I'm pretty sure it's her decision," May replied. "She has a big Seviper shaped building, she can choose who goes in it."
"Right," Max said. "Hm… I wonder what shape my building would be if I had to build a building."
"Why would you have to build a building?" May asked, a bit baffled.
Max shrugged. "It's a useful thought experiment?"
"Blaziken shaped," Blaziken suggested.
"Oh, I know!" Arc piped up. "You could build it like a Manectric! Or a Mega Manectric!"
Lucario raised his paw. "I suggest a Pikachu."
That made everyone stop to stare at him, including Pikachu.
"What?" he asked. "It's different."
"I can see you are all as odd as Noland said you were," Lucy mused. "At least we're not close enough to the Safari Zone to start some kind of stampede."
"Don't bet on it," Brock advised her.
After a few more minutes of walking, during which time they left the city proper and entered the green belt around it, a clearing opened up.
Within the clearing, some Pokemon – a Snorlax, a Makuhita and a Seviper among them – were busily checking on the guy ropes for a large tent, one which leered towards them over an open Seviper mouth and one with a gravel path all around it.
"The Battle Pike Tent," Lucy introduced it.
"...actually..." Max said, looking it up and down. "This never occurred to me before, but… why is it called a pike?"
Lucy sighed. "That's marketing for you. It was originally the Battle Tube, but apparently that simply does not sound dramatic enough."
"Well… yeah," May agreed. "They're right. But couldn't it have been called the Battle Snake?"
"Too many letters," Lucy dismissed. "Now, Mr. Ketchum – here are the rules of our challenge."
She counted them off on her fingers. "Rule one – only one Pokemon at a time. Rule two – only three Pokemon total. Rule three – last one standing wins. Rule four – no harming the spectators."
May and Max exchanged a glance.
"Hey, Brock?" Max said, speaking for both of them. "Can you have Geodude make a wall for us to hide behind?"
As they discussed that, Ash frowned – tapping his foot on the floor.
"Okay, so… I guess that means that technically I could use Legendary Pokemon?"
"You could," Lucy confirmed. "But it would disappoint me. That is the simple way."
"Then I won't do it," Ash decided. "Dexter, I think I know who I'm going to be using for this battle..."
Lucy checked on her three Pokeballs, ready for the battle.
"Mr. Ketchum, are you ready?"
As she asked, the fabric of the tent rippled in the breeze – giving an eerie sound as a backdrop.
"Sure am," Ash replied, not really noticing. "Okay, on three?"
Lucy inclined her head in confirmation.
"One, two, three – go, Heracross!" Ash said.
His Bug/Fighting type flashed out of his Pokeball, and took a ready stance – fists poised, horn in balance, and ready to move ahead.
Facing him was a Seviper, which coiled – then pounced, fangs flashing as it dove forwards.
Heracross took a backwards step, ready to use his position to hit Seviper's side as it went past, but then the Poison-type unleashed a blast of flame at him. Caught by surprise, the Bug-type took the first burst of the attack before punching out hard – the sheer wind of his attack blowing some of the flames away and reducing their effect.
"Good work, Heracross!" Ash called. "Keep it up – and stick to Normal attacks!"
"Flamethrower," Lucy said. "And Bite – latch onto him."
"Heracross, jump back!" Ash countered. "Fly up in the air!"
Wing cases snapping open, Heracross did so. He got high enough that the Bite attack missed, but Seviper still launched another gout of flame at him – hissing off his arm, scorching it, and some of the flames reaching the tent.
"Heracross!" Ash said. "Are you going to be better at dealing with heat if you Mega Evolve?"
"It can't be any worse!" Heracross said, punching down with a Mega Punch to prevent the next Flamethrower from hitting him – though Seviper just followed that up by launching itself upwards, latching onto his foot at the apex of the jump.
"Okay!" Ash agreed, reaching for his staff and unlimbering it.
"It's an interesting choice to Mega Evolve," Lucy noted, as Heracross lit up with a burst of golden light. "Seviper, Flamethrower!"
The wave of flames that spilled out of Seviper's mouth washed over Mega Heracross as his changes concluded, making him wince. Then he kicked to try and get Seviper off his leg, whiplashing the Poison-type around without actually making him release his grip.
"Forget trying to get him off!" Ash said. "Grab him with one hand and use the other to Rock Blast!"
"Got it!" Mega Heracross agreed.
"Let go and use Poison Jab."
Twisting, the Seviper managed to stab its tail into Mega Heracross' side – a few drops of poison oozing out around the point of impact.
Then Mega Heracross got a grip, and used Rock Blast to launch Seviper back to the floor hard enough to leave a small crater.
Lucy recalled Seviper, having already seen he was out cold. "One down. Do you want to withdraw your Pokemon?"
"Um… your, uh, Majesty?" May said, not sure how to address the Frontier Brain. "Your tent's kind of on fire."
"That's why there's a firebreak around it," Lucy told her.
"Do you think you can keep going?" Ash checked.
Mega Heracross began to nod, then winced and clutched his side.
"Poisoned..." Ash winced. "Okay, return for now!"
The Mega-Evolved Pokemon disappeared back into his Pokeball, and Ash frowned.
Which of his two remaining Pokemon should he use…
"Donphan!" he decided, sending the Ground-type out.
Donphan landed, slamming down all four feet onto the ground, and looked around.
"Ash?" he asked. "Why are we in a burning tent?"
Ash shrugged.
"Milotic," Lucy instructed. "Hydro Pump."
Donphan rolled to one side to avoid the first blast of the attack, then twisted so he was facing the way he was going and spun up. The next wave of water sluiced over him without getting traction – sending water skipping off in all directions, and making big drops of pseudo-rain fall all around the battlefield as Milotic kept up her barrage of Hydro Pump attacks.
Lucy's eyes narrowed, watching Donphan as the Armor Pokemon executed his Rapid Spin. Then he got faster still, and out of the arc of fire Milotic could achieve on short notice.
"Keep him under attack," Lucy told her Water-type, which coiled up like a spring to allow herself to better aim at Donphan – only for the Ground-type to bounce into the air with a flick of his trunk, neatly dodging the attack again.
"Great work, Donphan!" Ash called.
"Hydro Pump – keep him in the air," Lucy told her Water-type.
"Use Rapid Spin to block!" Ash countered.
More water showered in all directions as Donphan's high-speed spin threw it off in great sheets – incidentally extinguishing most of the fires – but the blast was working, keeping Donphan from coming down to land with the force of his high jump.
"Stalemate," Lucy said. "But Milotic has a bit more water power than that – full blast!"
"Now!" Ash promptly ordered.
Donphan's tusks lit up, and then a Thunder Fang blasted back down the Hydro Pump. It hit the unprepared Milotic hard, making her scales flash as they absorbed some of the impact, and her Hydro Pump lost force as her concentration flagged.
Donphan promptly came down on her with a wham, using a Head Smash attack to augment his landing and driving Milotic into the ground, then rolled off and turned to face her.
"Thunder fang," Lucy noted. "Interesting."
There was a faint creak, and then the ground underneath Donphan split and burst apart as water forced it to disintegrate into hundreds of little chunks.
"Hydro Pump. Twister, anticlockwise," Lucy said, as her Milotic came surging back out from her crater – looking wounded, but still ready to battle.
Donphan began to Rapid Spin again as the next Hydro Pump surged at him, ready to use the same tactic again. "Twister?" he repeated.
"Twister," Milotic agreed.
Her tail flicked around, and with it came a shimmering tornado – one which began as a vertical one, then quickly turned horizontal and gouged out a gigantic furrow from the ground as it swept towards Donphan.
The Ground-type began to turn away, but too late – he was caught in the swirling energy of the Twister, which picked him up and flung him halfway across the battlefield… and which negated his rotational momentum.
Milotic was on him before he could react, flowing over the ground like a racing river and hitting Donphan with a Water Pulse.
"Donphan!" Ash called. "Thunder Fang!"
The Ground-type's tusks sparked as he powered up his Thunder Fang again, but this time Milotic was sticking to Pulses – shorter attacks which didn't let the electricity flow all the way to her.
"It's not working!" Donphan reported, then stopped using Thunder Fang. Instead he dove forwards towards Milotic as she drew back, doing a half-spin on his back so his trunk was facing towards her, and a light began to glow inside it – brighter and brighter.
"Hyper Beam!" Lucy said.
Donphan and Milotic both used Hyper Beam, sending out rivers of energy which collided at the midpoint between them. The energy built up for a fraction of a second, then exploded – and Donphan was sent hurtling out of the arena, passing through one of the few remaining segments of damp tent fabric before slamming hard into a tree.
"Good work, Donphan," Ash smiled, recalling him, then switched Pokeballs. "Go!"
Mega Heracross reappeared with a flash of white light, already several feet in the air. He dodged aside from a surging Twister which thrashed up towards him, then pointed both arms straight down.
"Bullet Seed!" he said, unleashing a storm of glowing brown seed-pellets.
Milotic twisted away, agile as could be, and batted away the first rush of projectiles with a powerful Surf that swept them out of the battlefield entirely. That blocked her vision for a moment, though, and when she could see again it was with the sight of Mega Heracross punching her very hard in the face.
Then he fired another wave of Bullet Seed, intermixed with Pin Missiles, and enough of them made their way through Milotic's final Twister that she – at last – went down.
Ash recalled Mega Heracross again almost immediately, and reached for his third Pokeball.
"Not going to leave your Heracross out?" Lucy asked.
Ash shook his head. "He's poisoned – he has to be out for as short a time as possible to keep him in fighting condition."
"Hm," Lucy said. "Well, then – send out your last Pokemon."
Ash did so, and Muk appeared on the battlefield with a sort of splutch sound.
"I don't think this rock wall is big enough," May said, measuring the thickness with her forearm.
Geodude duly clenched his fists together and brought them upwards in a weight-lifting gesture, and the wall rose by a foot before thickening by about the same amount.
"Thank you," she said to him with a nod.
"I think Lucy was probably right to not want to hold this in her Battle Pike," Max winced. "Wonder what she's going to send out..."
They looked.
"That's odd..." Brock began, frowning.
"Begin," Lucy said. "Shuckle, Shell Smash!"
Shuckle's shell promptly flashed bright white as he sundered it, giving up the protection it offered to boost his own attack power and speed.
That still didn't make him fast enough to avoid the wave of energy that came out of Muk's mouth, as the Sludge Pokemon used Thunderbolt, Focus Blast, Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball all at once – but even with his shell Smashed, Shuckle was still tough enough to handle it, coming out the other side only a little worse for wear and taking a quick sip of Berry Juice before moving away a little.
"Power Trick!"
Ash winced. "Uh oh… Muk, look out!"
Muk presumably looked out.
Then a giant Stone Edge slammed out of the ground, coming up right through his centre and turning him into a purple ring-shaped blob.
"...Muk?" Ash asked, a little startled. "Are you okay?"
The purple goop twitched, then sluuurped back together with a very strange sound.
Completing the task of reconstituting himself, Muk glared at Shuckle. Then he opened his mouth, and fired out a blast of multityped energy from at least half a dozen attacks at once.
All of the attacks missed, as Shuckle went soaring upwards accompanied by a Rock Slide. The tide of rocks reached ten feet up, then performed a U-turn and suddenly slammed back down towards Muk – who blasted them away with a Focus Blast, which happened to be fired at the same time as a Flamethrower, a Thunderbolt and a Sludge Bomb.
"Muk!" Ash called. "You need to change your strategy – that's not going to work by itself!"
The Poison-type gave him a glance, indicating that it was listening, then went back to focusing on stopping the torrent of rocks that came down at him.
"By using so many attacks, you're not able to aim them right," Ash said. "You're mixing up the types, and that's great when you can hit an opponent but not so good for-"
Shuckle Bulldozed Muk into a crater, launching himself off with a Gyro Ball before Muk could retaliate.
"-that," Ash went on, as the Poison-type pulled himself together again – noticeably slower, this time. "Because he's used Power Trick he's really vulnerable – but your attacks aren't hitting him!"
He pointed. "Protect!"
Muk used Protect, Toxic and Shadow Ball. A greenish-white sphere formed around him, protecting him from Shuckle's Rock Tomb barrage, but there were several zong sounds as the Shadow Ball bounced around the inside of the Protect shield.
"Is it me or is Muk having trouble using a small enough number of attacks?" May asked.
"It's not you," Brock told her. "He's definitely having trouble."
They looked out through the Barrier that Ethan had set up as a windshield.
"What do you think Ash's next tactic's going to be?" Brock asked.
"Find a way to turn the arena inside out?" Max suggested.
"You're doing great, Muk," Ash said. "Now – Rain Dance!"
Muk used Rain Dance, Sunny Day and Rain Dance, and the Rain Dances won out – so, after not more than a few seconds, it began to rain. That didn't stop Shuckle, who was too busy bouncing around the place propelled by his sequence of Rock Slides, but it made Lucy frown.
"Shuckle, Earthquake!" she decided. "Don't let him electrocute you!"
Shuckle changed direction, slamming his curtain of rocks around onto a new angle, and blazed down towards the floor.
"Explosion!" Ash announced.
Shuckle immediately reversed course, turning away from Muk to get of the Explosion attack.
Then Muk detonated, and anything else he might have been planning to use was integrated into and subsumed by the sheer force of the eruption.
Stinging sideways rain pelted both Ash and Lucy for a moment, then subsided.
A moment later, Shuckle rolled to a stop some distance away.
"Hm..." Lucy said, nodding. "I see now. Since it was raining so heavily-"
"-there were plenty of raindrops everywhere!" Ash finished. "And when a Shuckle uses Power Trick, it gets so much weaker that it's vulnerable to anything that actually hits it!"
"Impressive," she decided. "Is your Muk okay?"
Ash looked around at the little globs of purple material.
"I… think so," he said. "Uh… Muk?"
The globs of Muk trembled, then began to move. Inching across the rainy ground, they flowed together – forming a puddle that grew larger and larger, until it produced the complete Pokemon again.
Then he promptly collapsed backwards, clearly out for the count.
"Since you still have Mega Heracross, you win," Lucy declared. "Thank you for this battle, Ash Ketchum. It's been very illuminating."
She looked around – ravaged ground, water and flaming debris everywhere, tree slowly falling over from where Donphan had hit it…
"And I'm vindicated in my decision not to use my real Battle Pike," she added. "Good."
Reaching into a pocket, she pulled out her Luck Symbol and tossed it to Ash, who caught it.
She inspected the case as he fitted the new Symbol into place. "So – only three left. Spenser, Anabel and Brandon. Any plan for who to face next?"
"I was thinking Spenser," Ash told her. "That's best for where May and Max are going as well."
"A good choice," she judged. "Don't lose to them too easily, it would make me look bad."
Then she favoured him with a small smile. "Anything else?"
"Not especially," Ash admitted. "I'd better get Heracross to a Pokemon Centre, though."
"Then don't let me stop you," Lucy said with a shrug.
"You know, all things considered… she probably got off lightly," Pikachu said, as they walked out of Fuchsia again – Pokemon healed up. "I mean, even considering that that was a field. If it had been someone like Lucario or I, it would have been a lot more destructive."
"Or Charizard," Brock pointed out. "I mean, it was pretty bad-looking already, but that's mostly because a lot of the damage was small but visible. If Charizard blew a giant hole, it'd look simpler and maybe not quite so bad – but there'd be a lot more damage."
"I think you're right," Ash mused. "So does that mean the best way to do a lot of bad-looking damage is to spread it out over time?"
"Why are you trying to learn these things?" May asked.
In reply, Ash just shrugged. "It's good to know. It might be a good Contest act."
"Most Contest acts don't involve destroying the arena," May muttered.
She brightened up. "Oh, speaking of which – there's a Contest in Wisteria we're about to reach, so I was thinking about what Pokemon I should use. What do you think, Manaphy?"
"I think it's someone else's turn, Mama!" Manaphy said.
Everyone jumped.
"Manaphy's here?" Max asked. "Where is he – I don't see him..."
"That's because I'm hiding!" Manaphy answered, giggling. "I'm in Mama's bag, because I'm a ninja!"
Brock chuckled. "I like it – good plan, Manaphy!"
Another giggle rewarded him.
"No sign of the Manaphy, boss," one of the pirates reported, looking through his binoculars.
"Damn it," the boss in question sighed. "Well, we'll have to try again tomorrow."
"Right, let's give this a go!" May said.
She pointed to Ethan. "Let's see some good, strong Reflect screens – and remember, we want to bounce the attacks."
I am familiar with the tactic.
"Good, just checking," May nodded. "And Grumpig – you're going to need to charge, aim and fire attacks pretty quickly. Think you can do it?"
"That's why we're training," Grumpig noted. "I'll stick to weak ones at first."
"Great," May smiled.
She waved at them. "Okay, let's go!"
Ethan manifested a trio of shimmering screens, Reflect and Light Screen mixed together and forming a kind of opalescent effect.
May looked at the two dozen numbered targets set out on the field, then pointed at Grumpig. "Shockwave, four!"
Grumpig fired a Shockwave, which went straight at the numbered target and blasted a hole in it.
Not really in the spirit of things, I would have thought, Ethan noted.
"No, it isn't," May agreed, putting her hands on her hips. "What do you have to say for yourself?"
"It's a move that doesn't miss," Grumpig said. "So I didn't."
May chuckled. "Okay, maybe… but still, you should have made it a bit more of a trick shot. That's kind of the point of a Contest, after all."
Grumpig nodded, hands already up for another attack.
"Psybeam six!" May instructed.
Grumpig looked up, taking a moment to select the screen he was after, then fired a Psybeam at it and let it bounce off to hit the number six target.
"Now do two and eighteen!"
That took the Psychic-type a little longer, and he did them one at a time – the first hitting home on target eighteen, but the second missing by quite a way.
"That's not bad," May told him. "We just need to practice, is all."
"Okay," Grumpig said, shifting his weight back and forth fluidly from foot to foot. "But this doesn't seem much like a routine or a good battle style. I mean, Ethan's not really doing anything."
"That's the tricky bit," May told him with a grin. "Once you've got it worked out with the screens in one place, we're going to start moving them around!"
Grumpig's eyes widened. "That… would do it, yes."
Wait until you see my other contribution. This is going to be quite a laser light show.
"The other tricky bit is hitting a moving Pokemon," May said. "Though Ethan's been working on it for a while, so it can be done. Let's see..."
She pointed. "Ethan? Low power Lock On, but I think we can show Grumpig a few trick shots..."
Grumpig snorted with laughter.
"Muk, let's try and do this again," Lucario said, crouching down cross-legged. "Sometimes, you will be fighting a Pokemon who is most vulnerable to a single particular attack."
Muk nodded, signalling that he understood this.
"And sometimes," Lucario went on, "you will be battling a Pokemon for whom the attack used does not matter so much… but other times you will be fighting one which is actually helped by one of your moves. For example, if you attacked a Chinchou with the wrong attacks it could actually make them stronger."
He indicated himself, and held out a glowing palm. "Now, try and use a Poison typed attack on me."
He was promptly hit by Sludge Bomb, Mud-slap, Thunderbolt and Dark Pulse.
"That's… well, there was a Poison type attack in there," Ash said, as Lucario went off for a quick Totodile shower. "But Lucario's right, you need to focus down what you're using."
"Only one attack?" Muk asked, slowly. "That sounds hard."
"I know, but-" Ash began, then stopped himself. "Wait a moment… Dexter, was it me or did Muk use Rain Dance and Sunny Day at the same time?"
Affirmative, Dexter reported. However, he used more Rain Dance than Sunny Day.
"So… Muk, can you use the same attack more than once at the same time?" Ash asked.
Muk thought that one over for a long time.
Then he shrugged.
"Fine, let's give this a go," Pikachu said, sighing. "Okay, Muk. Try and Thunderbolt me, Thunderbolt me, Thunderbolt me and Thunderbolt me all at once."
Muk's mouth opened, and a glow appeared in it.
"I already regret this decision," Pikachu said quickly, then got knocked backwards by Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt, Thunderbolt and Shadow Ball.
"That's really good, Muk!" Ash told him enthusiastically. "That's much more like it – the big problem was just that Shadow Ball there at the end..."
Muk nodded, a thick gloopy movement.
"Okay, I'm done," Lucario reported, finishing up using a Suicune-themed towel. Spinning on his heel, he threw the wet towel into the distance, and it landed square on one of Charizard's horns.
"I don't know why I visit," Charizard rumbled, taking the towel off. "Can I at least incinerate it for the insult?"
"Better not, it's part of a set," Max reminded him.
"Can I just ask about that way of using Flamethrower for all around coverage?" Corona said, raising a claw.
"Fine, let's go over it again..."
As the fire-types got back to practising, Lucario examined Muk again.
"Would it be easier, perhaps, if we focused on a continuous blast? That might let Muk get better at restricting his attacks..."
Skitty yawned, blinking as she shifted from one nap position to another.
As she did, something caught her eye – a little red dot.
Remaining fixated on it, she slowly uncoiled from her nap position. Her paws went under her, her tail twitched, and she pounced – and the light darted away from her, teasing her and making her yowl before darting right after it.
The dot went left, then right, and she nearly tripped over her own paws before going back to moving in the right direction again. Then the right direction became the wrong one as the dot doubled back, passing briefly over her before pausing.
Letting out a war-cry of triumph, Skitty pounced on it – only to find that the sneaky little red dot had managed to hide on top of her paws!
"Wow," Grumpig said.
You see, grasshopper, Ethan replied sagely, eyes moving this way and that as he continually adjusted for the shifting of his own screens. I am the master, you are but the learner.
"Of course, sensei," Grumpig nodded. "I see now the true ways of the Skitty Distraction Art."
"Drew!" May said, surprised. "I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"May!" Drew countered. "Why not?"
May paused, raising a finger. "Um… not sure, actually. Somehow it just didn't occur to me to expect a fellow Coordinator at a Contest."
"That's your mistake, right there," Drew nodded sagely.
May sniggered.
"Have you picked up any new Pokemon?" Max asked, peering around his sister. "Oh – and how are the Growlithe doing?"
"Pretty well, actually," Drew told him. "I guess they really like talking to Professor Oak's Dragonite, now, because last time we headed over to visit they pulled him into the conversation with Arcanine."
"That's nice," May smiled.
She looked back over her shoulder, trying to see where Ash and Brock were, then shook Drew's hand. "Well – I'd say good luck, but I hope you understand that I'm really hoping for you to come second..."
"Of course," Drew agreed. "And the same to you!"
"Doesn't that mean a draw at the top?" Max asked.
May shrugged.
"Oh, yeah," she added. "Max, can you take care of Manaphy? He said he'd want to watch my Contest."
She passed him the Cherish Ball, and a moment later Manaphy emerged with a flash.
"Good luck, mama!" he wished her with a smile.
May smiled back. "I'll try my best! And remember, be good for Max..."
Manaphy nodded seriously.
"What took you so long?" Max asked, as Ash and Brock sat next to him.
"Well..." Brock began. "Long story short, there was a wacky scheme going on."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "So there was a man looking for his Furfrou, which apparently had a habit of running away, and we agreed to help look."
"But then we found a woman looking for her Furfrou," Brock took up the story. "Which kept running away as well."
"Oh, I think I see," Max nodded. "So the Pokemon had become friends and kept running away to be with one another?"
"Nope," Brock answered. "Actually, we found out that there was only one Furfrou – it kept switching between owners, because it liked them both."
Max blinked. "What?"
"I know," Ash agreed. "So Zorua turned into a Furfrou and lured the woman to a clearing, and the real Furfrou lured the man to the same clearing… and I think that's probably sorted it out."
Manaphy looked puzzled. "Uh..."
Ash glanced at his shoulder. "That sorted it out, right Pikachu?"
Pikachu gave a shrug.
"But why-" Max began, then the announcer interrupted him.
"Please welcome our first Coordinator of the day – Drew, from Hoenn!"
With a double-flash of light, Drew sent out both Leafeon and Arcanine.
"Quick Attack!" he instructed, standing in the middle of the Contest hall floor.
Leafeon began to move – quickly speeding up to a fast, bouncing lope which had her almost a blur of green-brown around her trainer.
Razor Leaves swirled out from her tail, their path curving to follow the same trajectory as she was taking. They spread upwards and outwards, creating a kind of tornado right in the middle of the arena – one marked out by greens and yellows and browns, coloured by the occasional more vivid Magical Leaf that girdled the formation.
Arcanine also darted into motion. Larger and heavier, but also even faster than Leafeon, she took a course further out towards the edge of the arena. And, just as Leafeon's formation of swirling leaves was complete, Arcanine began to weave her own trail of flame and sparks.
It reached up towards the roof, pulled behind her like a ribbon, and then lazily flicked inwards.
Leafeon darted outwards, Arcanine ran inwards, and the two Pokemon crossed over one another as Leafeon jumped clean over her teammate.
Every single leaf in the tornado caught fire in less than a second, forming an inferno which lasted for but a moment before dissolving entirely into a fine scent of lavender and mint.
Drew, at the eye of the tornado, was not even singed.
"I guess they've been training hard!" Brock said, applauding. "Given how he and Arcanine met, that's a real expression of trust!"
"You're right there," Max agreed. "What did you think of that, Manaphy?"
"Kind of cool," Manaphy judged. "Not as good as mama's one, though."
"...May hasn't even done hers yet," Brock said weakly.
Manaphy crossed his arms. "Well… I think Mama's one is better anyway!"
He pointed. "Look!"
Glaceon appeared in a shower of snow, the Splash Seal on her Pokeball instantly converted by a wave of Ice-type energy she released the moment she emerged.
Landing daintily on her pawpads, she exhaled a breath of frosty air, then fired her Ice Beam at it to create a kind of ramp out of ice.
May waited a moment as Glaceon built two more ramps, then sent out Munchlax – the Normal-type Pokemon appearing without much fanfare at all, indeed almost lost in the spectacle as Glaceon skated up on one of her frozen-ramps and used Ice Beam to build a pole and hoop from crystal-clear ice.
Turning to skate back down, Glaceon did a quick circle around Munchlax. Her Frost Breath flicked out, and then Munchlax was surrounded on all sides by a kind of spherical ball of ice.
Job done, Glaceon crouched down for a moment before pouncing – batting at the ball with her paws, and encouraging it to move along with her Frost Breath as well.
Gathering speed, she slalomed from the first ramp to the second, and then towards the third – ready to send it right into the hoop.
As she lined up, though, the ball stopped – and darted to the left, making her miss.
Glaceon did a pratfall, skidding along the ice, then rose back to her paws and pounced again – only for Munchlax' ball to roll out of the way a second time.
Then it bopped her on the nose.
May's Ice-type flicked her tail as the crowd began to laugh, and crouched down. She crawled closer to the ice ball, then pounced – and found herself standing on top of it, paws continually slipping off and having to be put back on top again.
Glaceon and Munchlax skidded back to the beginning of the course – then took it again, faster this time, as Munchlax's Rollout made them skid through the whole thing with incredible speed.
Launching into the air, Glaceon kicked off from the ball and sent it towards the hoop before twisting so she would land on her paws. Even as she did, though, the ice ball began to glow with a bright green-yellow light.
Hitting the base of the hoop, Glaceon crouched before springing to her hind legs. Her tail flicked out and wrapped around the pole, letting her stand with her paws up in the air just as-
-Munchlax's Solarbeam burst out of the ball in all directions just as it passed through the hoop, shattering it into ten thousand drifting flakes and freeing him. He dropped about two feet, then landed on Glaceon's forepaws.
The general opinion of the crowd was that this was good.
"Well, ladies and gentlemen!" the announcer said, as May and Drew stepped up to the arena floor. "I've been told this is a grudge match between these two trainers, who-"
"No, it's not," Drew interrupted. "We face one another a lot, but we're friends."
"What he said," May agreed.
"Fine, then," the announcer grumbled, before waving his hand. "A friends match! And we're going to see that on full display now-"
He stopped abruptly, and looked down. "I think I need a different set of cue cards..."
The microphone caught his voice, drawing laughter, and he looked back up. "Anyway! This is the final, and it's for the Ribbon – so, begin!"
May sent out Glaceon, then Munchlax, and the Normal-type appeared at just the same moment that Drew's two Pokemon both materialized.
Leafeon jumped atop Arcanine again, and the two of them loped forwards at speed – Leafeon sending out a wave of dried Razor Leaves, which Arcanine set fire to so that May's Pokemon found themselves confronted by a brown-and-red spear of dancing flame.
Glaceon stamped her forepaw on the arena floor, creating a little six-sided snowflake shape out of ice, and then a spike of ice rose up – taking the impact of the combination attack, dividing it and making it flow around the two Pokemon in hiding.
"Go!" she said, ears glowing faintly, and she glanced back at Munchlax as he began to use Metronome.
"Three," Munchlax stated. "Two. One."
Glaceon dodged aside, shattering the icy pillar, and created a gap for Munchlax to use for his attack.
What happened instead was that Arcanine's Fire Blast roared through the gap with a hiss of steam, exploding onto Munchlax and knocking him backwards. The Normal-type did a complete backflip, then landed back on his feet none the worse for wear whatsoever.
"…I'm not sure what just happened," the announcer admitted.
"Follow up!" Drew said. "Magical fire!"
May took only a moment to realize what that could mean. "Magical – Glaceon, ice domes!"
Glaceon darted into action, pouncing to her side towards Munchlax. An Ice Beam built in her mouth, then flashed out towards Munchlax and surrounded the other Pokemon with an ice shield that covered more than half of his body.
The moment she did, a dozen multicoloured orbs of flame shot towards the Normal-type, spreading out wildly before coming back together as a continuous rainbow explosion for at least a second.
Munchlax emerged from the explosions with a few scorch marks, but otherwise looking okay.
"What a combo!" Nurse Joy said, applauding. "Magical Leaf and Ember, put together as a very useful attack combination!"
"Indeed!" Mr. Sukizo agreed.
"Munchlax, use Blue Smoothie!" May instructed.
"That's not even trying to be an attack!" Drew protested, as Munchlax began to glow. "Stop him!"
Arcanine shrugged her shoulders, launching Leafeon forwards, and the Grass-type's tail began to glow a bright green as she readied herself for a Leaf Blade attack.
Then a line of ice interrupted her, and Leafeon saw as her daughter pushed Munchlax out of the way of the attack – dodging it herself, but much more tightly – and then Munchlax unleashed a wave of Surf water which hit Arcanine in the side.
Leafeon landed with a splash on the now-wet floor, and rounded on Glaceon.
"All right, young lady," she said, bristling. "I don't know what your problem is, but I want you to get over it!"
"...get over what?" Glaceon asked, confused.
"Well, I haven't seen this in a while," Raoul Contesta said. "Does this count as a time out?"
"Perhaps we should pause the clock," Nurse Joy agreed.
"Indeed," Mr. Sukizo said sagely, hitting the button on the clock.
"Mr. Sukizo?" Raoul asked. "You seem a little off today. Are you ill?"
"I know you should have attacked us at least twice so far," Leafeon said. "I was watching you, I know you knew it was possible – so get on with it!"
"...you're actually asking me to attack you, mom?" Glaceon blinked.
"I'm asking you to not avoid attacking me, that's what," Leafeon clarified. "Now, are you going to do as I've asked?"
"...yes?" Glaceon said meekly.
"Good," Leafeon said, with a smile.
She patted her daughter on the shoulder. "Remember, dear, I'm in this battle because I want to – I won't mind if you hit me. I know how you feel about doing it, but I wouldn't want your feelings to affect how you battle – it's just no fun otherwise."
"Right," Glaceon agreed. "And – right, I think that does help."
"Good," the Grass-type said.
She crouched, then sprang into the air – taking one extra land-crouch-spring to reach Arcanine again.
The Fire-type gave Leafeon an amused look. "Done with your talk?"
"I am, thank you," Leafeon agreed. "Well, let's get back to it."
"Are you done?" Drew asked.
All four Pokemon nodded.
Then Glaceon slammed both forepaws onto the wet arena floor, and the whole thing froze at once.
"...this is your fault," Arcanine pointed out.
"Glaceon!" May called, wincing as one of the Blizzard attacks hit a storm of leaves and fire head-on and sent droplets raining down all over the place. "End run!"
Glaceon nodded, and skated over to Munchlax – snagging him out of the icy shield he'd been firing the occasional Metronome from. "Come on, let's go."
She began to build up a store of blue-glowing Ice-type energy on her paws, and skated carefully along – Munchlax clinging to her tail.
A barrage of leaves hit around her, which she largely ignored – then dodged to one side as Arcanine fired a Flamethrower.
The Fire-type adjusted her trajectory to aim for Glaceon's new position, but at that point the trick in the tail was revealed – Munchlax was far heavier than Glaceon, so when her tail was tight it was her who got pulled along in his wake.
The upshot was that Glaceon went backwards, tugged out of the way of the attack entirely, so all it did was melt a small section of floor.
Flicking around to face her opponents again, Glaceon launched a blast of Blizzard at them – then began to build up speed, using a quickly-crafted icy ramp to change the direction both she and Munchlax were going in.
When they were going directly away from Arcanine, Munchlax let go of Glaceon. He tucked in his arms and legs, then used Rollout – speeding up, just as Glaceon unleashed her stored energy.
A Blizzard roared out from her mouth, at one and the same time propelling Munchlax along and going past him. It formed a snowdrift which rose into the air, curving upwards, until it formed a kind of giant scoop reaching over ten feet into the air.
Munchlax just about reached the apex.
Then he began to roll downwards again – using Rollout to boost his speed.
Glaceon's Blizzard continued to pour onto his body. The slightly sticky snow attached well, and before three seconds had passed she was running along behind a ball of ice and snow almost as large as Arcanine was.
The Fire-type in question launched a Fire Blast at the ball, trying to disrupt it, and dodged aside – only for Glaceon to jump onto the iceball and block her Fire Blast with a surge of Frost Breath.
Too late, Arcanine discovered that she'd just run into one of the sections of ice that was more slippery than the rest. She faceplanted onto the icy surface, her first attempt to recover just resulting in her falling prone, and then she was hit by a gigantic snowball with a Munchlax core.
As the bits rained down all over the place, Glaceon landed daintily atop the pile.
"And that's time!" Nurse Joy announced. "And it looks like it's a fairly simple decision to us – for that last combination, the victory goes to May, Glaceon and Munchlax!"
The main engine burn cut out, and the shuttle Destiny began to float serenely in Low Earth Orbit.
"All right, gentlemen," the captain said. "If this is your first time in space, remember – it's easy to get disoriented. Try to focus on moving a little at a time."
In the third row of seats, Scott looked out the window with a frown.
There didn't seem to be any sign of Ash Ketchum up here either.
AN:
Two battles, this time! Firstly the Battle Pike (with Firepower being the operative thing) and then a Contest.
It's always interesting to come up with Contest appeals – and, for that matter, specially designed flashy tactics...
