"Hmmm..." Max said, looking at a map. "I think that sounds like a good gym to do."
"What's that?" May asked, from the other side of the fire. "I didn't realize we were near one."
"There's a little gym symbol next to the city name," Max informed her. "So I think that means it's a gym… Dark City, it says."
"I remember when we went there," Lucario said. "I'm pretty sure we were involved in setting up the gym."
"You were, huh?" Max asked. "Neat. What's it like?"
"...well, I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise..." Lucario hedged.
He held a marshmallow out over the fire. "Quilava, can you blaze up a little?"
The Fire-type duly increased the power of her flames a little.
"Thank you," Lucario said, browning the marshmallow before taking it off the heat. "Besides, it was barely even starting to set up when we left, so I couldn't tell you much anyway."
"That's kind of a pity," Max admitted. "Well… I guess the big question is what Type of Gym it is. But if they're not giving that away then that's just one of the challenges."
"That's the best attitude to take, I think," Lucario agreed, spearing another marshmallow. "It's one reason I've trained to be able to beat… just about everything."
"Lucario kind of have an advantage at that, though," May said.
She looked over to where Ash was having a back-and-forth training battle with both Pikachu and Primeape – though it was pretty clear Primeape at least was significantly pulling his punches, because Ash hadn't broken any arms yet. "I mean, apart from the Aura thing… and the Aura thing can make a human able to take on most Pokémon… you've got some pretty amazing other abilities too."
"The big one is the metal skeleton," Lucario said. "Hmmm… I wonder when Brock's going to be done with the meal tonight. He said something about trying out a new cheese."
"Yeah, I smelled it," May agreed. "Which is why he's cooking a quarter mile downwind."
"That's fair," Max laughed. "Actually, that reminds me – Lucario, don't have too many marshmallows or you might not have room for dinner."
"I don't have to listen to you!" Lucario declared dramatically, waving his marshmallow skewer. "You're not my real dad!"
May started sniggering.
"Blaziken isn't," Max countered. "He's waiting for dinner like he should."
"He's doing pushups," Lucario nodded, indicating the other Fighting type. "That's not waiting. And I'm not waiting either, therefore there's no difference."
Then there was a sudden crackle of electricity, slamming into Blaziken where he sat and knocking him to his side – engulfed in the occasional crackle of lightning.
Lucario stood, dropping his marshmallow stick, and Quilava's flames blazed up.
"ASH!" the Lucario shouted. "We're-"
The blasts of electricity hit him as well, getting through his protective Aura with worrying ease and knocking him crashing to the ground. A second blast hit May, and then her Pokéballs all began to glow. So did Max's, just as he threw one to call out Arc – and the Pokéball just hit the ground with a thud, not activating.
Manaphy's Cherish Ball burst open in her bag, and the Water-type poked his head out. "Mama?"
Then the glow engulfed him, and his Pokéball as well, and May's Legendary wailed as he was suddenly tugged across the clearing.
"Got them!" reported one of the snatch team, slamming Manaphy into a cage and throwing his Pokéball in a bag. "Good work, Meowstics!"
The two Kalosian Pokémon shot him identical looks, then returned to their jobs.
"Okay, get out of here," the man in charge directed.
"Why are you kidnapping me?" Manaphy asked, flippers curling around the bars of the cage, as the pirate holding his cage sent out a Pidgeot and got on it. "Let me go!"
"Shut up!" the pirate demanded, rattling the cage sharply. "You're not getting out of that until you get back to Captain Phantom!"
Pidgeot took off, launching himself skywards with great force.
A moment later, a mighty thunderbolt crashed through the clearing. It hit the male Meowstic, hurling him backwards into a tree trunk.
"Farley, delay them!" the pirate commander ordered. "Everyone else, come with me!"
They began to run as fast as they could, as Farley sent out his remaining Pokémon – including a Wobbuffet – with the intent to delay as long as possible.
"Why this way, sir?" asked one of the other pirates. "I know we left the helicopter this way, but-"
"They've got tracking Pokémon," the pirate commander told her. "This'll make their job harder! Now, get to the 'copter before they can send their Pokémon out again!"
"We should have picked a time that Pikachu was in his Pokéball..." the last member of the team lamented.
"That never happens!"
Manaphy pulled on the cage bars, straining, then stopped and slumped to the cage floor.
He could see that they were rising into the air fast – and he needed to do something quick.
So, thinking quickly, he frowned. Concentrated.
The tips of his antennae glowed.
Then the Pidgeot let out an utterly baffled squawk, completely losing his flight angle and wobbling in the air.
The human was just as confused, shouting something incomprehensible and waving his arms about wildly.
Manaphy looked at how far it was to the ground, and decided that was probably safe – then his cage slipped, and he (and the bag with his Pokéball) began to fall back towards the ground.
Overhead, the Heart-Swapped Pidgeot and human continued to try to work out what was going on – and quickly went off into the distance, too far for Manaphy to see.
Thinking quickly, Manaphy realized what he had to do.
"I really hope I remember how this works..." he said out loud, clenching up his fins and concentrating. "Um… right… Acid Armour!"
There was a faint splash, and the substance of his body dissolved into water – water which flowed easily through the bars of the cage, then reconstituted back into being him... this time on the outside of the bars.
"Phew!" he said, wiping his brow, then looked down again at the ground – the ground which was getting closer very quickly.
Taking just enough time to grab his Cherish Ball, he pushed off from the bag and the cage.
Spreading himself out, he frowned – thinking hard about the lessons Wartortle had been giving him.
Then he waved, and a blob of water appeared. It formed a pair of butterfly wings, like Beautifly, and he tumbled for a moment before managing to aim properly.
Now the only problem was finding their camp...
Ash raised his hands in a cross-shape, blocking a burst of psychic energy from the remaining Meowstic, and next to him there was a whack as Primeape punched the Wobbuffet very hard indeed.
Jumping backwards, the Fighting-type took a hefty whack from the wobbling Pokémon, but it seemed to just make him more determined.
"Ash, look out!" Max called. "Your left!"
Ash turned to look, and saw a big Rhydon getting ready to punch him.
Lashing out with a Force Palm strike, he struck the Rhydon's own fist with a flash of blue light and a loud crack. Not stopping even for a moment, he stepped forwards – inside the angle the Rhydon could reach him – and drove his elbow into its chest with another bang of discharging Aura.
Hand going to his hip, he reached for his sword – and then there was a crackle-BANG as Pikachu electrocuted the Rock-type.
"That one didn't have Lightningrod," Pikachu explained, as Ash dodged out of the way of the falling Drill Pokémon. "Thunder Wave!"
Lightning hit the Wobbuffet, paralyzing it and freezing it in place.
"Finally!" Primeape said, lunging ahead and using Assurance. He hit again and again, each individual blow light enough that it didn't run much risk of a hefty counterstrike – but each one got more powerful, until the tough Psychic-type was starting to strain hard.
As that happened, Ash and Pikachu moved past – one going either side of the Wobbuffet – and Pikachu hit the Meowstic with a high-powered Thunderbolt.
Paws out to form a shield, Meowstic actually managed to cope with that one, but Ash punctured the shield a moment later and hit him with an Aura Sphere to knock him out.
"Uh-" Farley began, suddenly nervous, and then there was a huge white flash as everyone's Pokéballs opened at once.
"Where's Manaphy?" May demanded, Altaria hovering behind her. "What have you done with him?"
"He's gone!" the pirate said quickly. "I don't have him! Someone took him off with a Pidgeot – I don't know the rendezvous!"
"Where's the rest of your goons?" Max asked. "What happened to them?"
"They went to the helicopter," Farley answered, glancing to one side.
"What's that called?"
"Well, there's several parts to it," Brock answered, turning some of the meal over on the grille. "So this is made with cornmeal, and I've mixed in some stock – vegetable stock, mostly – to give it the density it needs. That was at lunch, so it had some time to set into a loaf – now it's being grilled, and I'm adding the cheese in a moment."
He unpacked the cheese, offering a bit to Zorua to smell. She did so, then her legs went rigid and she fell off the tuft.
"Strong, isn't it?" he asked, with a chuckle. "It's called Taleggio, and it's quite fruity – so I'm interested to see if it goes well with the Polenta as the main course..."
The cooking trainer trailed off, frowning.
"Do you hear something?"
"I certainly don't smell something..." Zorua groaned, rolling back upright. "Except that cheese! I bet even humans can smell it… I wondered why you smelled sort of like that today..."
"It's actually considered really smelly by us too," Brock confirmed, putting it back in the wrapper and taking the Polenta off the grill. "Ninetales, Stantler, can you put up an illusion around us?"
Stantler was first, horns glowing as he spread out an illusion to cover the clearing. Ninetales, however, was more subtle – she put an illusion of a single Pokémon standing in the middle of the clearing, a double of Stantler himself.
"Here's the clearing!" someone said, their voice getting closer quickly. "Ridley, you know where the escape chopper is – get the camouflage cover off and we'll get in the air!"
There was a crash of foliage, and three Phantom Pirates came through the line of bushes.
"Hey!" the lead one shouted. "Shoo! Get out of here, Stantler!"
Ninetales' illusion reacted beautifully – startling, then running away from them with a faint rustle of grass.
"Okay, boss, it was just over here," said another of the pirates – Ridley, presumably – and they began to head towards a thicket.
"Boss?" Geodude hissed. "I can stop 'em now if you want."
Brock thought for a moment.
"Do it," he decided.
Geodude made a sharp gesture, and then all three of the pirates shouted in surprise as they ran into an invisible wall.
"It must be the other one!" the lead one said, somewhat indistinctly with a hand to his nose. "Send out your Pokémon, look for them!"
Flashes lit the clearing as they each sent out two Pokémon.
Then there was a whack as four of the six Pokémon went flying from something giant and invisible smacking into them.
"What was that!?" Ridley asked, frightened. "Boss? I didn't expect this!"
"It must be – an illusion, of course!" the boss realized. "That Stantler must be the one belonging to Brock of Pewter! Find it!"
Nine Ninetales tails grabbed onto his ankles, wrists and waist, pulling him to the ground, and a snarling Rockruff appeared on his chest.
Then Ridley was snatched off the ground by a pair of clawed hands, and his panicked-looking Machoke got hammered into the ground by a Steelix tail that came out of nowhere.
The final pirate broke and ran for it, running into the trees.
Katy jumped over a log, turned away from a thorn bush, and hid behind a tree to collect herself.
"Damn it," she panted, peering around the treetrunk as the illusions dissolved – revealing that all six of the Phantom pirate Pokémon were unconscious, immobile, or in one case being beaten over the head with maracas. "I've got to get away..."
The tree she'd taken cover behind reached down and picked her up.
"Sudowoodo," it said smugly.
"Hey!"
May looked up, astonished. "Manaphy!?"
"Hiya, Momma!" Manaphy said, gliding down over the trees nearby. "I remembered all my lessons!"
He dropped his Cherish ball, looked down with a yelp, and lost control of his glide. The watery wings he'd made went everywhere, and splashed May with cold water as she dove to catch him.
"Did you escape all by yourself?" she asked, using one hand to wipe the water off her hair with a laugh.
"I did, Momma!" Manaphy agreed with a proud nod. "They kept me in a cage, so I just used Acid Armour to get out!"
"That's very well done," she told him with a smile, getting to her feet. "You're really getting good at this!"
"He has certainly had enough practice at escaping pirates," Blaziken said, stretching to try and get the last few aches out of his muscles. "Perhaps next time it will be a slightly less worrying process."
"I know," May agreed, giving Manaphy a hug. "These pirates are such pests… it's almost like back when there were Rockets to deal with."
The pirate and his Pidgeot flew on, soaring high over the mountains of northern Kanto.
After a long period of silence, the rider turned on his radio and called the pirate base.
"Boss?" he began, without preamble. "That Manaphy made me and Pidgeot swap minds. I can't handle this. I quit."
With that, he turned the radio off and dropped it over the side.
Pidgeot made an approving noise.
"So… I guess this is Dark City," Max said, looking around. "It's kind of… odd..."
"It seems fairly normal to me," Brock shrugged. "It's not as shiny as other cities, but this is what most of most of them actually look like – we just tend to visit the more shiny bits."
Max absorbed that, looking at the bland buildings around them.
"I suppose that does make sense… it's not as if everywhere is a skyscraper or a beautiful town like Petalburg."
"Too right," May agreed.
She frowned. "But I do have one question… where's the gym..."
Almost as soon as she'd finished speaking, a trainer dropped down next to them from the nearby balcony.
"You're looking for the gym?" he asked, adjusting his green armband. "That sounds like something I could help with!"
"You're one of the Gym trainers?" Max checked.
"Of course I am!" the young man said. "Now, come on – this way, before we attract their attention."
"Wait, hold up," Max frowned, waving his arms. "That's kind of sudden – why aren't we doing this the normal way?"
He glanced at Ash. "Is this how it was when you were here?"
"Not really," Ash replied.
Someone chuckled.
"Hey, look at that," said a girl wearing a blue armband, tossing a Pokéball up in the air and catching it. "Looks like someone's trying to recruit a newcomer for their fake gym."
"You're the fakes!" the young man replied hotly. "Get out of here!"
"Tch, it's not worth it," the girl decided, waving her hand and turning.
As she did, she shot Max a glance. "By the way, just so you know – it's our gym which is the real one."
With that, she disappeared back around a corner.
The young man slowly relaxed. "Sorry you had to see that," he said. "It's those crazy – gah! They're always mouthing off at us, saying that we're the fakes – but we're a properly accredited gym, and they're not willing to accept that because it would make their own scam of a gym sound less legit."
"I'm confused," May admitted. "I thought we were coming here for a gym battle."
"Yeah, and you found one," the teen agreed. "Okay, come on – before more of the Kaz guys show up."
"Kaz guys?" Max repeated, following more or less automatically as they headed down an alleyway.
"Yeah, the fake gym leader's called Kaz," their guide called back. "Boss doesn't want to ask the League for help, 'cause he's kind of concerned about not looking silly, but this is a pretty big thing and it'd make Kaz look too important if he faced many challengers."
"I'm totally lost," Max admitted. "How come it's like this here? Why isn't it sorted out?"
"If we called in help from the League, then we'd have to deal with a Pokémon League inspection team!" their guide replied, ducking down another alley and waiting a moment until they followed. "And, you know, it's something that makes the boss feel kind of nervous… it was a bit of a struggle getting our gym set up as it is, but a good challenge would really help out."
"I… guess that sounds reasonable," May said. "Doesn't it?"
She looked at Brock, who shrugged, then turned to Ash "Isn't this something you can help with? I know Misty's not the kind of person who'd hold this against people… right?"
"Wait, you guys know Misty?" the teen asked, turning back to look at them.
He whistled. "Wow, I guess this is a pretty high voltage group!"
Pikachu's cheeks sparked on cue.
That drew the boy's attention, and he looked closer – then blinked. "...you're a Champion, right?"
"I'm pretty sure someone else won the Silver Conference since me, so it's kind of former Champion," Ash clarified.
Lucario coughed. "The only reason we didn't win the Hoenn League was a large meteorite."
"I thought Ritchie had something to do with it," Ash countered.
"Semantics."
The young man chuckled. "I don't think I've met anyone who's won the League before," he said. "Anyway, the gym's in this building just here. I actually helped convert it – it used to be a fitness centre."
"You mean a gym?" May asked.
"No, it's a Gym now," he replied.
"I mean a gym, not a Gym," May reiterated, trying to get the stress right.
Everyone paused for a second, trying to disentangle that.
"Let's just go in," Pikachu said, jumping from Ash's shoulder to the door handle and using his weight to lever it down.
The interior of the gym turned out to be a bit more impressive than the exterior – the floor surface of the main hall was at least fifteen feet below ground level, allowing the gym to be unusually tall for the building it fitted in.
"Ah, Alan!" someone called. "And who's that with you?"
"A new challenger, Mr. Yas," Alan replied. "Along with his friends – including a Pokémon League champion!"
"A champion?" Mr. Yas replied, and this time they could see him – a tall, black-haired man with a scarf around his neck. "Excellent!"
He chuckled heartily. "Well, let's get everything ready for the gym battle! Pick your Pokémon, young man – here at the Dark City Gym we use two Pokémon each, and you have to pick before the battle begins!"
Max nodded, thinking about his choices.
"Okay," he said after a moment, taking two Pokéballs off his belt. "I'll use these ones."
"Quick choice!" the gym leader told him. "And these are the two Pokémon I'll use."
He took the Pokéballs out of his pocket, expanding them both out, and strode to the edge of the marked-out arena floor as Max descended the stairs to reach the other side.
"Hey, Mr. Ketchum?" Alan began, as they watched the two trainers take their positions. "Just so you know, we took that suggestion from last time. This is only half the challenge – just, don't let him know."
"Right," Ash agreed, remembering. "Working well?"
"Really well," Alan agreed. "It's caught loads of people out."
May stared at them. "...should I understand this?"
Max threw his first Pokéball. "Go!"
There was a bright flash, and Guy appeared – landing on springy legs – a moment before his opponent emerged as well.
"What's that, again?" Max said, glancing down at his Pokédex.
That is a Scrafty, Kris answered. The Hoodlum Pokémon, though that is simply a bad stereotype.
"Dark-type, huh," Max observed, as the lizardlike Pokémon did a forwards roll and sprang to his feet. "And fighting type, as well… hope I guessed right."
"We'll see, kid," Yas said, crossing his arms, and his Scrafty did likewise. "Let's see if you've got what it takes to fight here in Dark City!"
He grinned. "Here… we dance battle!"
Max's mouth fell open.
"...what?"
Scrafty sniggered, then dove to the floor and began spinning around on his back. Moving his limbs, he adjusted his speed, and after a few seconds he began to use his forelegs – first to push himself around, then to quickly crouch-walk in place to keep up his spinning momentum.
"I… don't think I've ever heard of a dance battle before," Max said, frowning. "...wait..."
He pointed. "Guy, stop him! That's Dragon Dance!"
Quick as a flash, Scrafty jumped back to his feet again – avoiding the first high-speed Mach Punch that Guy launched his way, though he had to move quickly to do it.
Spinning around, he kicked hard at Guy's extended arm – twice – before backflipping away from a vicious counterattack from the Breloom and sliding along the floor to brake.
"Bullet Seed!" Max said, and Guy complied – taking a quick breath, then firing out a barrage of the glowing seeds.
Scrafty's response to the attack was to advance – ducking and doging whenever Guy's head was pointed at him, not managing to avoid most of the attacks but certainly avoiding a lot of them – then duck under Guy's guard, narrowly avoiding a Mach Punch, and ram an Ice Punch into Guy's chest.
The Breloom let out a whoosh of air, pained, but he wasn't out of the fight yet – he kicked Scrafty in the chest with his long foot, sending the other Fighting-type spinning once through the air to crash down halfway across the arena.
"Keep it up!" Max called.
Guy did so, lunging, but as he did Scrafty rolled forwards – dodging – and got back to his feet, before countering the Mach Punch head on with an Ice Punch of his own. Little flashes of white-blue light pulsed out from the impact, and both Pokémon flinched back from the impact.
Max's Breloom recovered fractionally faster, and launched a one-two punch combination at Scrafty to try and force him to be hit by at least one – only the Dark-type was a little too slippery for that, dropping to the ground and kicking at Guy's knees in order to disrupt his movements. Then, springing back to his feet again, he hit Guy with an Ice Punch in the shoulder – an attack which he used to set up a second strike, this one launched against Guy's chin.
The second strike didn't connect – knocked off course by Guy's tail – but the movement cost Max's Fighting-type precious focus, and his foot came down on part of Scrafty's shed skin… and slipped.
Scrafty took the opportunity with both hands, winding up a big double-fisted Ice Punch, and knocked Guy clean across the arena into the wall.
"Whoah!" Max said, blinking. "I… didn't expect that!"
"Yeah, that's how we roll here in Dark City," Yas said, arms folded. "So, what else you got?"
Max looked down at his remaining Pokéball, then recalled Guy.
"I hope this works," he said, and sent out Cinder.
Cinder gazed levelly at her opponent.
"Oh, yeah!" he said, clapping his hands. "Who's the mon? That's me!"
Chuckling, the Fighting-type examined his opponent. "So, is your trainer out of ideas, or…?"
Cinder smirked, muscles tensing.
Then she howled, and a moment later several identical Mightyena darted out in all directions from where she'd been standing.
"Take them all on!" his trainer instructed.
Understanding, Scrafty dropped to his hands and feet – starting to spin around, breakdancing his way out of the tactical problem by trying to hit all the Mightyena at once as they came prowling in towards him.
One darted forwards, feinting, and then another went for his leg – only to reveal that it, too, was an illusion.
Scrafty backed towards the wall, still ready to lash out in any direction, trying not to let any of the Mightyena get an angle on him. Then three of them came at once in an arrowhead formation, and he kicked and punched at the same time-
Then a pair of jaws closed on Scrafty's tail. Not hard, just enough to let him know they were there.
"Play Rough," Cinder informed him, with a certain satisfaction in her voice.
Brock winced. "Ouch..."
"I agree," May said faintly, as they watched Max's Dark-type use Scrafty as if she were seriously mistreating a dog toy – slamming him into the ground, swinging him around in circles by his tail, and then let go only to pounce him hard enough to knock him to the floor.
That didn't actually knock the Dark-type out, and he hauled himself back to his feet.
Then he saw Cinder approaching, tail wagging and eyes glittering, and lay back down again with his tongue out in a comically exaggerated pose of defeat.
"Huh, look at that," Yas nodded. "Guess you aren't so bad after all, kid. Now, let's see how this goes."
He threw his second Pokéball, and Max stared – then shouted. "Hey!"
"What?" Yas asked.
"That's not a Fighting type or a Dark type!" Max protested, pointing at the Scyther now hovering in front of the Gym Leader.
"Yeah, tell it to Giovanni," Yas waved off. "Gyms can be kind of flexible. Anyway, you up for it?"
"This doesn't seem right..."
"Okay, seriously, what's up with this gym?" May asked. "I really thought they had to have a theme, but the closest thing is this… gang warfare with another gym."
"It's not gang warfare," Brock pointed out. "It's more like gang… posturing."
"I'm right here," Alan protested mildly.
"Okay, Cinder," Max decided. "I guess if we can win this one then it doesn't matter. Think you can manage it?"
Cinder shot him a grin, teeth white against the grey and black of her fur, then turned back to Scyther.
She rolled her neck, tail flicking from side to side. "Okay, so… I'm guessing you think you're a tough guy."
Scyther gave her a somewhat confused look, then gestured with his scythes – gathering himself, ready for an attack.
"X-Scissor!" Yas called.
Cinder darted into action, moving forwards towards the Scyther as he brandished his scythes at her.
Jinking to one side as she got close, she snarled – teeth clashing together, producing a little burst of flames from her heavily altered Fire Fang.
Scyther spun, scythes held flat, and used them to disperse the unexpected flicker of flame. That meant he couldn't attack on that pass, but he quickly came around in a turn and swiped at her again.
She wasn't there either, moving like a smoky blur, and a burst of Dark-type energy flicked out at Scyther. It hit him like a hefty punch to the chest, checking his advance.
"What was that?" Yas asked, as Scyther shook off the stunning impact. "I don't recognize it..."
"Payback," Cinder answered, and used another modified 'Fireshock' attack to keep Scyther on edge. "Yah!"
"Payback?" Scyther repeated, frowning – retreating a little, to keep out of range while he puzzled with the problem. "But I didn't hit you."
"I know," Cinder agreed. "But I've always believed that, when you can – retaliate first."
With that, she split off four Double Teams and sent them lunging in. Scyther easily dispersed the first one, ducked out of the way of the second, then spotted one of the Mightyena was hanging back a little.
Going for that one, he then got bitten in the ankle by the second Mightyena – who turned out to be the real one, delivering a Fire Fang as the rest of her doubles vanished.
Cinder let go as soon as the attack hit, jumping back, and got her distance to plan another attack. As she did, she turned a corner hard – too hard, losing her footing and skidding into the corner of the gym.
"Cinder, look out!" Max called, suddenly very worried.
The Mightyena sprang back to her paws, though, none the worse for wear – and darted at Scyther again, before halting and flicking her tail at him.
A cloud of dust came off the tail – dust that Cinder's fur had gathered as she skidded along the floor – and went into Scyther's eyes, blinding him with a well-aimed Sand-attack.
Scyther blinked hard, trying to get the dust out of his eyes.
"Thought so," Cinder chuckled. "Try rubbing your eyes with giant scythes..."
She shook her head. "Well, I guess that's just what you'd expect from someone without either the speed or the skill to fight like a proper Flying-type."
Her opponent stopped stock still for a moment.
"What did you say?" he asked, quietly.
"Well, what I implied was that you're-" Cinder began, and then jumped aside as Scyther fired a Vacuum Wave at her.
"Missed," she added, and stuck her tongue out.
Scyther couldn't see it, his vision still a blur, but her comment was like a red rag to his anger. He lunged with both scythes, flailing for her in an X-Scissor, and she flowed away like smoke – letting him slam into the wall with a painful-sounding thwack.
"...wait..." Yas said, as Scyther shook his head before running after the cocky Mightyena again. "How come he's glowing red?"
"Boss!" Alan called. "That Mightyena's got Swagger!"
"I can see that, but-" Yas began, then winced. "Wait – Scyther, stop!"
Scyther heard him, and began to turn – then Cinder lunged, slamming him to the ground and hitting him with a much more powerful burst of flames than before.
"Incinerate," she said, panting a little. Then looked down. "...huh. It looks like I managed to set him on fire."
Scyther groaned. "I hate everything."
"Well, kid, you're better than I was expecting," Yas admitted, handing over the Badge – a kind of curved teardrop shape, all in black with a little white dot in the middle of the fattest part of the drop. "That Mightyena of yours is really something."
"Thanks," Max said, rubbing the damp fur of his Dark-type – noticing that she was pretty tired, and guessing she was getting close to the end of her tether. "She was one of the first Pokémon I got, and she's always been a pretty cunning battler."
As he spoke, he examined the badge. Something about it seemed a little odd… the outer side of the curve was smooth, but the inner side had a few little ridges and dimples to it.
"So, what type is this gym?" he asked, putting the Badge in his case with the rest.
"Kind of Dark-type," Yas said. "Not strictly, but in the kind of – you know, foul play, that kind of thing."
"Foul play..." Max repeated, thinking about that. "Hmmm… and what does that other gym in town say their thing is?"
Yas shrugged. "I don't bother to listen to them."
Max nodded, thinking.
"Good work, Max!" Brock said. "And you as well, Cinder. That was a difficult matchup, but you made it look easy."
"It really wasn't," Cinder told him. "He got me at least twice, I just didn't let it show… ow."
"I guess we'll have to take you to the Pokémon Centre," Max told her.
He looked up, catching the eye of the teen who'd brought them here. "Hey, quick question – where's that other fake gym?"
Alan took a step back. "Why would you want to go there? They'll try and beat you up if they know you came here first..."
May started giggling, trying to hold it in but failing.
"What's so funny?" the trainer asked.
"I'm pretty sure they wouldn't succeed," May explained, with another chuckle. "Not with Ash's team..."
Alan shrugged. "Whatever, I guess."
He indicated the door. "Come on, I know where a couple of their trainers tend to hang out..."
"Right here," said the girl from earlier, waving Max towards a warehouse. "And you'd better not tell those guys from the other gym!"
"Yeah, about that..." Max replied. "I was kind of wondering something."
He glanced back at the others. "Is it me or is there something a bit off about this whole town?"
Brock shrugged.
"I think so too," May said. "Something's really off here, and I'm not sure what it is..."
The girl shrugged. "Whatever. Anyway, the gym's in the back half of the warehouse – the front half is just full of stuff."
She pushed the door open, and they walked in – bright striplights on the ceiling lighting their way through the boxes and containers.
"What kind of Pokémon does this gym use?" Max asked. "I never really got any sense of the type they use over in the other gym."
The girl shrugged. "Dark types, usually – but not always. We've got a Thing – you know, like Giovanni, or… like that Bruno guy from the Elite Four isn't really a type specialist either."
"I guess that kind of makes sense," Max admitted. "But I have to ask… what is your Gym's theme?"
As he spoke, they reached the second set of doors – passing through into the tall room of the Kaz gym.
"Alice!" called a burly man in a bright blue K-ensign shirt and a red cape, walking over. "Who is that?"
"A challenger, Mr. Kaz!" Alice replied. "He's already faced Yas!"
"He has?" Kaz asked, clenching his fist dramatically. "And why has he come here?"
"I think there's something odd about this city," Max answered. "And I don't think either of your gyms is the single legitimate one."
There was a moment of silence, and then Kaz – and the Gym trainers present – began clapping.
"Good work!" Kaz boomed, clapping Max on the shoulder. "You're absolutely right – there is no single legitimate Gym, we're both the Dark City gym!"
May's jaw dropped. "You can do that?"
"Apparently," Kaz chuckled. "It was your friend there who came up with the idea, actually… but the main challenge of our gym is that you have to not trust the first thing you hear. So – if you've won the badge from my fellow leader Yas, you've won half the Dark City Badge."
"How many people work it out?" Max asked.
"About half," Alice shrugged. "It's not exactly a secret, but some people just don't bother to look the gym up – we've already had a couple of people hurry back to get the other half after trying to turn them in at the Indigo League."
"Speaking of which!" Kaz added. "Young man, choose your Pokémon!"
He fixed Max with a glare. "By the way, as this is part of the same gym challenge you are not permitted to use the same Pokémon that you used in the other half!"
"How many?" Max asked.
"Just one," Kaz replied. As he did, an Electabuzz jumped down from the upper railing to land with a whoom next to him. "Pick well."
Max was about to pick his Pokéball, but paused. "Wait… is that Electabuzz the Pokémon you're going to use?"
"Now you're getting the hang of it!" Kaz chuckled. "No, Electabuzz is who I use for my first-half challenges."
"Right," Max acknowledged, thinking. "Okay, I think I know who I'm going to use..."
As he spoke, the others cleared the arena – Electabuzz heading over to a ladder to climb back to the upper railing, and Alice leading Max's friends over to the viewing area.
"You're ready?" Kaz asked, and Max nodded. "Good. Go!"
"Looks like he's using Roland," Brock observed. "Probably a pretty good choice."
Ash was paying more attention to the Gym Leader's Pokémon, a Krokorok who thumped her tail on the floor and smirked.
"Ash?" May said, waving her hand in front of his eyes. "You okay?"
"Sorry," Ash apologized. "Just thinking about Krookodile and Scraggy."
Seeing her realize what he meant, he waved a hand. "Never mind. Just… long wait."
May nodded in understanding, remembering her own long wait for Pokémon like Munchlax – and Manaphy.
"Right!" Roland said, getting his bearings, and balanced for a moment – then jumped, avoiding the shaking effect as Krokorok opened the battle with an Earthquake.
Landing for a moment, Roland flicked away from his current position – teleporting to one side of Krokorok, and firing a Dazzling Gleam straight at his crocodilian opponent.
She flicked one paw out as the attack came in, and there was a burst of rock and sand – one which faded to show a Sand Tomb attack swirling on the end of her forearm.
Krokorok's smirk revealed quite a lot of teeth.
Roland teleported out of the way as she sent the Sand Tomb roaring out towards him, and rematerialized back where he'd started – then had to jump again, as a Dark Pulse flashed towards him.
"I thought Krokorok were better at fighting up close!" he complained.
"I guess not?" Max asked. "Okay, let's try and think about this – and keep moving!"
Roland duly kept moving, jumping from place to place in a flicker of quick teleports. Sand crashed behind him as he moved, sometimes sweeping over a place he'd just been, and once he had to teleport quicker than normal to get out of the way of a Dark Pulse.
Then he emerged into a wave of sand, which knocked him back and against the wall. He got out of the way before the follow-up Bulldoze attack, but it had been close – so he took a new tactic, teleporting up to near the ceiling.
That led to a couple of seconds of hang time before he hit the ground, and that was long enough for him to charge up another proper Dazzling Gleam.
As Krokorok targeted him, he flicked out of that position – appearing behind her – and fired.
Quick as a flash, she blocked with an Iron Tail, which sent most of the Fairy-typed attack blasting off in all directions and missing her.
"...uh oh?" Roland managed, as the tail wound up for a blow.
He flicked out again before he could be counterattacked. "Max! Any ideas?"
"I don't know!" Max admitted. "Wait, do you have any Grass attacks?"
"I sure do!" Roland agreed.
"Then use them close in, so Krokorok doesn't have time to counter you!"
Roland agreed, teleporting close in to Krokorok's side and blasting her with Magical Leaves. She managed to use a Sand Tomb to block some of them, but the remainder of the attack bled through and hit hard against her side.
Flicking away from another swipe of her Iron Tail, Roland took a moment to catch his bearings. "This would be so much easier if I could fight better at close range..." he said to himself. "Maybe if I did evolve it would be..."
He paused, frowning. "Wait… I haven't heard an attack, but-"
"Look out!" Max called.
A pair of jaws burst out of the ground, aiming for Roland's leg, and he yelped before teleporting away just before Krokorok's Bite attack landed.
"This is like fighting Cinder!" he complained.
"So what happened here?" May asked Ash. "I guess you were involved?"
"Yeah, kind of," Ash agreed. "Basically, they were fighting over who got to set up a gym, so we helped to show them that the right answer was both."
"That involved punching things," Lucario reminisced. "It usually does, but that was back when I could punch people in the shin. Good times."
May chuckled.
They looked up, and saw Roland dancing backwards – jumping, teleporting, and landing for just long enough to jump again – as Sand Tombs detonated all around him.
"Roland!" Max called. "This isn't working! Try something else!"
"Like what?" Roland replied, ducking as a Dark Pulse shot overhead. "I've already tried most things, and I can't think of anything else that will work!"
"Just trust me!" Max replied. "Magical Leaf to your left!"
Confused, Roland did so – firing an attack which went nowhere near Krokorok, and then taking a glancing hit from a burst of Sand Tomb. "Ow!"
"Don't worry!" Max told him. "You're doing fine – jump!"
Roland teleported out of the way, then teleported a second time and managed to decoy an attack from Krokorok into hitting the now-bare wall.
"Psychic to your right!"
"That won't do anything at all!" Roland protested, but did it anyway – sending out a bolt of psychic force – then did a double-take as it produced a swirl of sand. Oooohhh…
Teleporting to another side of the arena, he fired a burst of Magical Leaves at Krokorok – which she largely blocked with her whirling ball of sand – before jumping away and winding up a Dazzling Gleam.
Krokorok reacted to that by turning her tail to steel, and kept a careful eye on Roland – ready to block the moment he teleported.
But he didn't. He just kept the attack charging up, pink-blue lights building up between his hands, and his horn glowed…
"Krokorok!" Kaz called. "Look out!"
Krokorok looked at her trainer, confused – then there was a sudden rush of yellow all around her.
The sand. Her sand, which Roland had been taking a hold of telekinetically all while he was charging up the attack!
She ran forwards to avoid being enveloped by it, and shot a Dark Pulse at Roland, who vanished – teleporting away, and into the sand.
There was no telltale thump of feet on the floor – just a series of flickering whooshes of teleportation so close together she couldn't tell which one was last. Then Roland's ball of pink and blue light smacked into her from the side, and she went flying.
"You've got some moves, kid," Kaz said, recalling his beaten Pokémon. "I like that – good to see a scrappy kid coming through the gym. Here's your badge."
He reached into a pocket, and flipped Max another teardrop-shaped badge – this one in white, with a black dot in the middle.
Max caught it, clapping Roland on the shoulder with his other hand.
"Nice work," he told the Kirlia, then opened his badge case again and took out the badge Yas had given him.
A moment of fiddling, and he fitted the two together with a satisfying click. The result was a single badge, a circle, with yin and yang on the front.
"Cool symbolism," he added. "I think that's a pretty neat badge."
"Glad to hear it," Kaz grinned, surprising Max with a clap on the shoulder of his own – one which nearly drove the young trainer to his knees. "Good luck in the rest of the League – and rest assured, you've got a badge not even everyone who beat this gym has!"
"So," Cinder said, slyly. "What was it about fighting that Krokorok that reminded you of fighting me?"
"Being all… Dark type?" Roland replied, spreading his hands. "I don't know..."
He looked up at his trainer. "Uh… Max? I wanted to ask something."
"Go ahead," Max agreed, looking over at Brock at the Pokémon Centre counter. "I think Zorua's checkup is going to take a bit longer, anyway."
"Right," Roland agreed. "Well… I was wondering about evolving, and… I think I'd like to be a Gallade. But not immediately!" he added, as Max began to get his bag down off his shoulders. "I mean… I think I'd like to learn a bit from Lucario first about what it's like being that kind of Fighting type."
"Well, go ahead," Max agreed. "I'm not going to stop you."
"Thanks," the Kirlia said, grateful. "I was kind of nervous about asking."
"Is this going to mean you'll try to punch me?" Cinder asked, smiling broadly. With teeth.
"That might be the advanced class," Roland quipped back.
Max chuckled, then heard a loud beep sound.
"Huh?" he asked, looking around. "Kris, was that you?"
It was not. However, I will take the opportunity to remind you that Ash Ketchum's birthday is in two days.
"It is?" Max said. "Uh… okay, I guess that means it's time to make sure I've got a present for him…"
Pondering that, he opened his bag to see what was making the noise.
Roland peered in as well, and did a double-take. "Isn't that the egg canister?"
"It is," Max agreed, taking it out and putting it on the table. As he did, May and Ash both hurried over to see what was going on.
"It's hatching?" May asked. "Great! I think this is your first egg, right?"
"Yeah," Max agreed, opening the canister.
The egg glowed, brighter and brighter, until the black spots on it were invisible… then the glow slowly faded, and revealed a bright-skinned Aron.
It reached up with a claw, and carefully tapped itself on the nose. Apparently satisfied at the clink noise that made, it waved up at Max.
Then the table collapsed, sending the tough lid of the egg container bouncing away and landing the cushion on top of Aron.
"Whoah!" Max winced, as Aron nosed out from under the cushion and sat down hard. "I guess they're not made for that kind of weight…"
Shaking his head, he crouched down and gave Aron a rub – one which would have been a stroke, except for the hard surface involved. "Nice to meet you, little guy."
"An Aron, huh?" Brock asked. "That's a pretty interesting Pokémon. They've got an unusual diet, too."
"I remember," Max agreed. "How much metal do they have to eat?"
"I can do diet supplements," Brock mused. "That might help. I want to say it's usually caused by iron deficiency."
May groaned.
AN:
Pirates! And an adventure with Manaphy.
Also, there's a Gym challenge.
Fair warning, the delay before the next update will be longer than usual because there's more to write.
