"Here we are, Serena," Grace said.
She glanced at her daughter. "I… know we've had our disagreements, but-"
"It's fine, Mom," Serena assured her, giving her hand a quick squeeze. "I know – and I appreciate what you're doing."
She smiled, and Grace returned it.
"Right!" she went on. "Now, this ranch has lots of different Pokémon that people can ride. It doesn't have everything, but there's quite a lot of Pokémon from outside Kalos here – and if nothing seems to work, well, we'll keep looking. Okay?"
"Right," Serena repeated. "Let's see."
As she spoke, a middle-aged man waved from the other side of a low fence. "Grace, if it isn't you!"
"It is me," Grace replied, smiling. "How have you been?"
"Tolerable, Gracie, tolerable," the man replied.
"Gracie?" Serena asked.
Grace sighed. "Tony, enough of that."
"Enough of what?" Tony asked, winking. "Now, now, it's good you've brought the young girl to visit me."
Grace sighed, though a smile threatened to creep across her face. "You never change. Anyway – we're here because we want to get Serena a riding Pokémon that's better for her."
"I don't really think the Rhyhorn work for me," Serena explained.
"Shame," Tony said, nodding. "Your old lady's a real star at that kind of thing – even did some work for me once, training the Rhyhorn I've got."
He stepped aside, opening the gate in the fence. "Come on in, then, and let's have a look around."
Serena was surprised by the sheer variety on Tony's farm – there were the Pokémon she'd expected, like Gogoat and Rhyhorn, but also some she'd never have thought of as being riding Pokémon at all.
"How's about this, then?" Tony asked, reaching into one stall and taking the reins of a Doduo. "They're an odd Pokémon by some accounts, Flying-types who don't fly, but they're fast and observant."
Serena made an interested noise, inspecting the Doduo. "So… how do I approach it? Mom told me how to handle Rhyhorn, but..."
"What you'll want to do is to be respectful," Tony told her. "Don't look them in the eye – look up. Shows you're more important than them, and they respect that."
"Right," Serena said, trying it. She reached out a hand, trying to keep track of what was going on out of the corner of her eye, but then one of the Doduo heads snapped at her fingers – not hard, but she drew it back with a startled gasp.
Tony considered her. "Maybe not," he decided, rehitching the reins of the Doduo. "They're not good with people they think are twitchy – probably 'cause if you flinch riding a Doduo they're going to fall over same as you. They're not heavy enough to be stable."
"Right," Serena said, a bit shaken.
"Now, let's see… over here's a steadier one. This is a Mudbray."
The girl looked at the Mudbray, which clopped a hoof on the floor.
"Braa-y," it said, giving Serena a look, then tossed its head.
Serena winced. "That's a Ground-type, right?"
"That's right," Tony agreed. "They're pretty low maintenance, and very tough – that one weights more than the two of us put together, and he could drag you if you were in a four-ton truck."
He frowned. "Though I should mention that they prefer to roll in the mud."
"I… don't want to be stereotypically girly," Serena began. "But… I think that'd be a problem."
The Mudbray shrugged, not seeming especially bothered by the dismissal.
"That's fine," Tony assured her. "There's others, now. Let's see… well, there's a young Skiddo in the next pen."
After nearly an hour going around the ranch, Serena was starting to wonder if the problem was her.
None of the Pokémon they'd tried so far was right, somehow. The Skiddo had tried to eat her hat, she'd messed up with the Ponyta in a way she still didn't quite understand… the less said about the Charizard the better… and she hadn't even wanted to risk the Tauros. After that they'd ended up with less conventional Pokémon, like a Kangaskhan or a Tropius, but none of those had worked out either.
Tony sucked in a breath, which made Serena look over in confusion. "What is it?"
"Seems we might have a problem," he explained, nodding towards one of the stalls. "Looks like one of the Pokémon's decided to leave."
Serena looked up at the stall, and saw it was ajar – and empty.
"There was a Pokémon in there?" she asked.
"That there was," Tony agreed.
Something touched the back of Serena's knee, and she looked around.
"Now, it's not a dangerous Pokémon," Tony went on. "Not that young. But you'll want to be careful not to startle him if you see him – it'll take ages to coax him back to the stall otherwise."
Half-listening, Serena bent down to the Pokémon who'd touched her knee – a small Blitzle, who seemed a little skittish but didn't run straight away.
"And what are you doing out here?" Serena asked, softly. "Are you the one who got out of that stall?"
Tony looked down, and said nothing.
"That's clever of you," Serena went on. "But I think you're safer if you come on back – don't you? Tony here is going to be feeding you fairly soon, and I bet you're going to be hungry."
The Electric-type nodded, jerkily – looking unsure, still half-ready to bolt.
Trying to remember everything she'd been taught about handling equine Pokémon, she sat down. Tony passed her a bag, which she looked at and saw it was full of Oran berries.
Opening the bag with slow movements, she held a berry out for the Blitzle, and he sniffed it once before eating it in two quick bites.
"Looks to me like you've made a friend," Tony said, as Serena got out a second Oran Berry. "Might not be big enough to carry you for now, but once he evolves he'd be a fine riding Pokémon."
Serena might have been imagining it, but she thought there was a spark of interest in Blitzle's eyes.
"Hmmm..."
Ash looked over. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not wrong, just… familiar."
Ho-Oh looked around again, paying attention not to the buildings but to the shape of the hills and mountains. "I've been here before – it was important, and a long time ago."
"Oh, right," Ash realized. "That must be the PokéAtlantis thing."
"...that sounds about right, yes," Ho-Oh realized. "I'm surprised you know about it, though."
"I'm sure we must have mentioned it," Pikachu supplied. "That was the time Ash got possessed."
Ho-Oh flopped back on the grass of the hillock, an odd sight to see for such a large Legendary. "I… yes, now that I think about it I do recall that being mentioned. In my defence, however, a lot happens around you."
"That must be a pretty interesting conversation," Max said mildly. "Is it?"
"We're talking about that thing with the King of PokéAtlantis," Ash explained. "Remember?"
"Yeah, I think I do," Max nodded. "Wasn't that the time when Pikachu had to electrocute you to get rid of him?"
"Let's be fair, I sometimes do that because I'm bored," Pikachu said.
Brock chuckled.
"Oh, I should check," he added. "Anyone want more lunch?"
Ho-Oh flexed, flipping back upright in a swirl of rainbow feathers. "I certainly would not decline it."
"That's one," Brock said. "Anyone else?"
May held up her hand. "I'd like some more."
"And everyone in my team should have some too," Max pointed out. "We're doing Pewter first, right?"
"Yeah, that's the plan," Ash agreed. "Well… I am going to go over and make sure the Pyramid isn't going to leave again, but apart from that we can do your Badge challenge first."
"I wonder who it's going to be..." Brock said, already dishing out more food. "My brother's a certified gym leader, and so are both my parents – though if it's my mom it's going to be a really odd gym."
"If it was you then I wouldn't know it really was a gym or a battle at all," Max pointed out.
"But then it wouldn't be an odd gym," Lucario pointed out. "It'd be an odd forest clearing."
"Got me there," Max admitted.
He frowned. "Well, I guess I can't make a decision on who to use until I know what kind of Pokémon I'm battling… I don't think any of my Pokémon are really unusually heavy hitters, at least compared to the rest of them. So… there isn't anyone who it's obvious I should include."
"That's a common problem for trainers with well-balanced teams," Brock assured him. "Don't worry, it doesn't mean anything bad that you have that problem."
"That's good to know," Max chuckled. "Thanks."
He sighed. "Still doesn't solve the problem, though. I mean, I don't know if there's going to be any rules on what I use, either..."
"I think 'no Legendaries' might be a good start," Brock said. "I mean, I know one of the ones you have is somewhere in space finding out how cinnamon buns taste, but-"
"They have cinnamon buns in space?" May interrupted, amused.
Brock pressed on. "Don't break my house," he summarized.
"Thank you, Forrest," Flint said, giving his second son a smile. "That was lovely."
Forrest replied with a smile of his own, clearing away the debris that had been used to make an awful lot of sub-style sandwiches.
"I think I'll do tonight," Flint added. "There's something I want to try out, and I think your brothers and sisters will like it as well."
"You do?" Yolanda asked. "What is it?"
Asking the question took her attention away from Litleo, however, and the Fire-type took her chance – jumping up and snagging the bit of sandwich Yolanda had been teasing her with.
"Hey!" the girl protested, as Litleo pranced away with a smug expression and the rest of the family laughed. "You weren't supposed to get that yet!"
Litleo tossed the scrap into the air and swallowed it in a single gulp, then stuck her tongue out.
"Cheeky little cub," Lola smiled.
She looked over at her husband, who was taking his well-worn boots out of the box by the door. "Going out, dear?"
"That's right," Flint agreed. "Forrest and I are going to go over and have a look at that new pyramid."
"Well, have fun," Lola told them. "Should I handle the Gym while you're gone?"
"No chance!" Forrest replied quickly. "You'll fill it with water again!"
"And is that a bad thing?" Lola asked, putting her hands on her hips.
"It is when Rhyperior can't swim," Forrest answered.
"Fine," Lola sighed. "If you say so, Mr. Gym Leader."
"We'll just close it up for the next few hours," Flint said. "If anyone asks, we're planning to be back by about three, so people shouldn't have to wait too long for a battle."
Forrest finished handling the cleanup, hung up his apron, and picked up his Pokéball belt from where it had been hanging. There was only one Pokéball on it – the rest of the Pokémon he used in the Gym were Gym-Pokémon rather than being his – but he fitted it on gratefully enough.
"Right," Flint said. "Let's go."
"Wait up, Dad," Forrest requested. "I need to get my boots on first..."
"Huh," Max said, as they reached the gym door.
"What's wrong?" Brock asked, then saw the sign. "That is odd."
He fished in his pockets for a set of keys. "I hope this doesn't mean my Mom is renovating the gym..."
"I don't think she is," Ash supplied. "I can see a couple of people in the gym, but there's Pokémon out as well."
After a few seconds, Brock found the key and unlocked the door. It swung open, and revealed the almost-literally cavernous space of the Pewter gym.
In the middle of the gym were two Pokémon – a Litleo, dodging to one side, and a Marill shooting Bubble at it.
"Brock!" Yolanda called, recognizing her brother. "Wow, and your friends!"
She had another look, noticing the Pokémon filing in as well. "...you've got a lot of friends."
"And my friends have a lot of friends," Brock agreed. "Giving Litleo a workout?"
"That's right!" Yolanda agreed proudly. "She's getting good at using Fire attacks!"
"There's something I don't get, about the whole idea of this flying pyramid thing," Forrest said, as they got closer to it.
"It is a bit strange," Flint agreed. "But, well, remember what Brock's told us about that Hunter J and Lawrence III. It's good to see that upstanding trainers have that kind of technology as well."
"You're right," Forrest said. "But what I was wondering was why it moves around. If Brandon the Pyramid King is the final challenge of the Battle Frontier, and the other Frontier stations don't move, why does that one?"
"Good question," Flint said, thinking. "Could be that he always has warning when someone's about to challenge him, and the rest of time he keeps up his hobby."
"I guess that sounds likely," Forrest mused.
He was about to say something else, but his foot slipped suddenly – making him gasp in surprise, as the ground abruptly gave way in front of him.
"Rhy-" he began, and Flint grabbed at his son's arm. They met with a thwack, and the tug nearly pulled Flint over into the hole himself.
"Hold on!" Flint said, feeling the ground shift below him. "Just a moment!"
Even as he spoke, Rhyperior finished materializing – in the hole below, rather than up on the crumbling path. Taking in the situation quickly, Forrest's tough Rock-type reached up and offered his arm as a support for both father and son.
"Thanks," Forrest said, shifting his weight to Rhyperior, then clambered up on top of the Rock-type's arm. He steadied himself, then quickly headed down from there to get onto the floor of the sinkhole.
Flint followed, lowered most of the way by Rhyperior, and they looked around at where they'd ended up.
"This isn't natural," Forrest said, tapping the wall. "It's made of sandstone, I think."
"I agree," Flint nodded. "Look – hieroglyphs."
"A temple?" Forrest asked. "Wait."
He looked up at the hole in the roof, which crumbled a little more even as they watched.
"I don't think it's going to be safe to head out that way," he pointed out.
"I agree," Flint said. "But there's light over there – I'd say we should look to see if there's another way out, before we have Rhyperior and Golem blast their way through the walls. This could be an important archaeological site."
Forrest accepted that with a nod.
"Now, then," Flint went on, and shrugged off his backpack. "We'll need these."
He passed his son a helmet, then put one on himself. Next came a length of rope, which he began to fit with a pair of clips, and a pair of small climbing hammers.
"Rhyperior should keep a hold of the middle of the rope," he said. "Rhyperior – if you end up falling into a hole that's deeper than the rope is long, Return yourself before you pull us in too."
Rhyperior nodded his assent.
"Good," Flint said. "We've got a couple torches as well, but no need for them yet. Let's get going."
Tyranitar slammed his tail into the rocky floor, sending a perceptible tremor through the whole building.
"Wow!" Timmy Slate said, as Tyranitar raised his tail again. "I've never seen a Tyranitar this close!"
Tyranitar waved, and Brock's brothers and sisters waved back.
"Are you going to battle Dad?" asked Tilly, the youngest girl. "Can we watch?"
"Sorry," Ash said, shaking his head. "I've already got the Boulder Badge – we're here for Max to challenge for it. But I'm going to battle Pyramid King Brandon!"
"I've heard about him!" Billy announced. "Dad says he's a really good trainer!"
"Yeah, I'm looking forward to the battle," Ash said. "I've not decided who I'm going to use, not yet – that depends how many Pokémon he's going to use, and a couple of other things too."
He reached for his belt. "One of those things is – I'm not sure if I should use the same Pokémon I used for some of the other Battle Frontier battles. Absol had one recently..."
Shrugging, Ash sent her out. "What do you think?"
Absol emerged, paused, then tilted her head as if she was listening to something far away.
"Wait," she requested, raising a paw, and moved her head in a slow roll – her horn-blade shimmering.
Then she nodded sharply to herself.
"Ash. We need to sort something out – as soon as possible."
"Is something wrong?" Ash asked, confused.
"It is," Absol confirmed. "Brock, we're going to need to borrow one of your Pokémon. Ash, bring Pikachu, Lucario and your hat. And Ho-Oh, but he needs to be in his Pokéball."
"Uh..." Ash began.
"Chance-dancer," Absol reminded him. "Come on, hurry up."
"You know," Flint said, as he followed Forrest along the corridor. "This reminds me of that legend about the King of PokéAtlantis."
"I… think I remember that one," Forrest replied, thinking. "That's the one about the king who wanted to trap Ho-Oh, right?"
"That's the one," Flint agreed. "According to the legend, he ruled a great kingdom, and he ordered his scientists to capture Ho-Oh. They built him a stone that could contain the mighty Fire-type himself, but Ho-Oh was angered by their presumption and brought their civilization low in fire and flame. The king trapped Ho-Oh in stone, then left his kingdom."
"...why?" Forrest asked, after a few seconds of silence. "Why would he leave Ho-Oh here if his whole goal was to capture him?"
"That's why it's called a legend," Flint answered. "But yes, it's probably wrong in a lot of ways."
"Doesn't Brock's friend Ash have Ho-Oh?" Forrest added.
"It could have been another one," Flint said. "Or it could be that it was another Legendary Pokémon, and that Ho-Oh was watching what happened."
Rhyperior muttered something, seeming unconcerned with any of these details.
"Is it me, or are we slanting downwards?" Forrest asked, changing topic. "I know we're heading towards the light, but this doesn't seem like a good way to get out."
"Well, the light could just be where there's a shaft down from the outside," Flint said. "But yes, we might have to go back the other way."
He chuckled. "Maybe I should pick up a Pokémon that can fly, like your brother's Flygon..."
"Excuse me?" Yolanda said, getting Max's attention.
"Huh?" Max asked. "What is it?"
"I wanted to ask," Yolanda explained. "What's it like, going on a journey with my brother?"
"Huh," Max said again, considering this time. "Let's see..."
He thought for a long moment. "Well, the first thing is that it's great to be able to eat good food all the time!"
Yolanda giggled, then looked disgusted at herself for having done so.
"Apart from that… well, he knows a lot about how the world works," Max went on. "Both, you know, the science stuff, and… and how gyms tend to do things. So that really helps."
"Okay," Yolanda said, half to herself.
She looked down, thinking, then back up at Max.
"What kind of thing do you think he'd like as a present?" she asked.
Max blinked. "...I'm not sure I understand..."
"Well… I was thinking about how he took care of all of us," Yolanda explained. "And now he does that for you and your friends. So I thought we should do something nice for him."
"Oh, I see," Max realized.
He glanced over at Brock, who was having Sudowoodo demonstrate Mimic by copying random moves from the rest of his team.
"Well… I can't really think of anything right now," he admitted. "But I'll see if I can think of something and let you know – Ash is going to be challenging the Battle Pyramid, so we'll be around, and I can always have Roland go pick something up from the shop if we decide."
That sounds like a boring way to use teleportation, Roland said.
"Actually, it's not," Max countered. "It means you can get to the shop much quicker and you don't have to carry stuff home – and you don't need a parking space."
True, Roland agreed.
"It's funny seeing people talk to Pokémon so much,"Yolanda told him. "I know Brock does, but you all do."
"Yeah, it's surprising how easily you can get used to it," Max agreed. "I do still need Kris to help me for Pokémon who aren't mine, though."
There was a shout of excitement, and they all looked over – seeing Sudowoodo holding his arms out so the youngest Slate children could climb on him.
Max chuckled.
"Hey, Dad?" Forrest began. "You know those hieroglyphs you're looking at?"
"Of course," Flint replied. "Why?"
"Because… I don't think they're important any more."
Flint looked up, then followed his son through the nearby door.
"...seems you're right," he said, looking up at the huge room – and the statue occupying it.
The room itself was like a temple, or perhaps like a shrine crossed with a throne room – columns stretched up to the tall ceiling, holding fires which seemed to have blazed to life as they approached, and more flames flickered on the walls to throw a bright yellow-orange light on the old stonework.
At one end of the room, opposite the entrance, two more pillars flanked a great throne – easily forty feet high – with a statue carved to sit on the throne, a man in robes and an oddly-designed crown. A staff was in one hand, and between the feet of the huge stone king was a much smaller throne.
This one was empty.
"You know what you were saying about PokéAtlantis?" Forrest said. "Because… it seems much more likely now."
"Indeed it does," Flint agreed. "Look on my works, ye mighty-"
"Pardon?" Forrest asked, confused.
"It's a poem," Flint told him. "An old one. It's about the statue of a great king, whose entire kingdom had decayed around it – all except the statue itself. The message was carved on the statue – look on my works, ye mighty, and despair."
"Right," Forrest nodded.
Rhyperior grunted, not being especially into Culture – and being more than a little irritated after having to use his rocky bulk to defeat several traps on the way here.
"But I was thinking..." Forrest went on. "I mean – that story about PokéAtlantis can't be properly true, but I wonder if part of it is true? Maybe this is the temple – or tomb, or something – of the King of PokéAtlantis?"
"That's a very good point," Flint said. "It would explain a lot… I just wonder why they left it. But they did build tombs years before they needed them, in ancient times – that was so the king could actually get a say in what the tomb would look like."
He frowned. "Now, the difficult bit is going to be finding a way out… maybe we can have Rhyperior drill a route up off one of the side passages."
Absol glanced behind her. "Come on, this way!"
"Why the hurry?" Pikachu asked.
"Because if we slow down too much we'll be late," Absol replied. "Being early isn't a problem, but being late would be a disaster."
She jumped down from the rock she was standing on, landing next to Ash, and began to lope alongside – keeping to a speed which meant Ash would have to work to keep up.
"Ash, your Aura lessons – did they include how to fight off mental attacks?"
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "It's kind of like the way I can use Aura to boost my strength, but applied to my mind instead."
"Is it me, or should that just plain not work?" Pikachu asked. "I mean, your mind isn't a physical thing."
"Makes sense to me," Lucario volunteered. "Partly because I've trained in it as well."
"That reminds me," Absol went on. "Pikachu's going to need your Aaron hat."
Ash frowned. "Why?"
"Because if he does wear it, it's only a fashion disaster."
"Ouch," Lucario winced. "I think that one had type advantage."
"I think this should do," Flint said. "What do you think, Forrest?"
Forrest looked up, seeing his father standing by one of the walls. "You mean for drilling?"
He nodded. "I think so..."
As he brought his hand up to shade his eyes, it brushed the stone orb he was standing next to.
Ancient mechanisms stirred, and then an ancient mind awoke.
"No," the King of PokéAtlantis said. "Rhyperior – drill there, instead."
Rhyperior looked back at his trainer, seeing where he was pointing, then walked over to the wall in question and spun up his drill.
"Forrest?" Flint asked, confused. "Why there, specifically?"
"Because it is where the weapons cache is, of course," the king answered. "Horn Drill, Rhyperior!"
Rhyperior slammed his horn into the tiles, shattering them, and the move ate into the rock behind. Cracks spread through the rock immediately around the point of contact, and more tiles fell off – then the Horn Drill spun down again, expended.
"Again!" the king said. "The walls are tough, but they can be broken through."
"Weapons?" Flint repeated. "What are you talking about, Forrest – is something wrong?"
"Forrest, hm?" the king asked. "Amusing. I think I will keep the name."
There was another grinding, shattering sound as Rhyperior got further through the wall. Chunks of gravel flew off, scattering in a broad arc around Rhyperior, and the Rock-type drew back his fist before slamming it into the wall.
"What's going on?" Flint demanded, scared now. "What's happened to you – where's my son?"
"He's still here," the king replied casually. "Unharmed – and if you want him to stay that way, you'll avoid annoying me."
"What are you?" Flint asked, shocked now.
"Has the world so soon forgotten me?" the king asked. "Feh. I shall teach them their mistake."
He fixed Flint with a glare. "And remember – if you give me a reason, I'll abandon this body and use yours to hurt your son."
Flint's next words died in his mouth, unspoken.
Some distance away, Ash dropped through a hole in the roof. He made a three-point landing, both feet and one hand absorbing the energy of his impact, and a moment later Lucario followed – using a brief burst of blue Aura from his footpaws to stop his movement.
"Why didn't you just use your boots?" he asked, as Absol jumped down behind them.
Ash shrugged. "If I make myself lighter it takes longer for me to fall."
"Come on," Absol said. "We need to get to the throne room."
"Right, I remember," Ash said, thinking. "Uh… I think it was this way..."
He paused, frowning, and concentrated. "The quickest way to the throne room is..."
Lucario watched as Ash went still. "Is there a-"
Absol raised her paw, interrupting him.
Then Ash reached out to the wall and tapped a few of the hieroglyphs. After the first two, each one he pressed lit up for a moment – resulting in the appearance of a code on the walls spelled out in hieroglyphics.
Then the whole floor lit up as well, and the group found themselves lifted an inch off the tiles by a bluish-purple glow.
"I don't remember this from last time," Pikachu said, looking around them. "What is it?"
"It's how they got around quickly," Ash replied. "I think I got it from the King of PokéAtlantis. Uh… it should be… this one."
One final tile press, and they shot off down the tunnel at high speed – zooming into the heart of the underground structure.
Flint swallowed, knowing he should be doing something and not sure if there was anything he could do.
His son was under the control of a monster – an ancient, evil king, one who had apparently left his whole country to die and fled down here to wait out the ages – and nothing he could think of was going to make one bit of difference what happened.
If he warned Rhyperior, it might help – but then the vengeful king would probably change to his body, or even to that of Rhyperior himself, and they would both be in even worse trouble.
"Forrest..." he whispered, feeling utterly helpless.
Then a bright blue-purple light lit up the hallway, throwing a different character of light onto the room.
"Oh?" the king asked, turning to look. "I didn't realize that was still working. Excellent – my artisans built to last."
A moment later, several figures arrived all at once. Flint recognized Brock's friend Ash Ketchum – wearing almost his full blue Sir-Aaron outfit, with his staff held ready and a blue glow extending along it from his gloved hands.
His Pikachu was on his shoulder, wearing the hat that completed the Sir Aaron outfit, and the Electric-type was suffused with electrical energy which was not only visible but audible as a faint buzz-crackle.
Next to them both, Lucario was in a combat stance. The glowing light of the transit system gave way as the Fighting-type stepped into the room, and Lucario's own blue-glowing Aura seamlessly replaced it.
As Lucario exploded across the room, Flint saw the final two figures – Ash's Absol, looking cool and collected as she turned the momentum of the transit into a four-pawed sliding stop, and the other boy.
Max Maple, that was it.
There was a crack of rock breaking as Rhyperior broke into a chamber on the other side of the stone wall he'd been drilling into. Then Lucario's paws hit the floor next to the Rock-type, and Rhyperior took a blazing-fast kick to the back of the head.
Rhyperior's solid rock body prevented that being a win right out of the gate, and Forrest's starter began to turn to counterattack Lucario – but the Fighting-type continued to turn, using the momentum of his blow to flick himself onto a new heading, before springing off Rhyperior's shoulder towards the wall.
Lucario moved like a coiled spring, bouncing off the wall with almost no loss of speed, and his second Close Combat attack knocked Rhyperior entirely off his feet to send him crashing to the ground.
"What?" the king demanded, sounding shocked. "A Lucario?"
"Lucario, use Aura Purge!" Ash called.
The king had a moment to react as the infuriatingly swift Lucario whirled, and began to think fast.
He had never heard of Aura Purge before, but in context it was not hard to work out – the Aura adept was here to stop him, and clearly knew a lot about the underground fastness to be able to activate the transit system.
That could only mean that this was an attempt to banish him.
But now he was awakened, the king had options – and used them. He abandoned the body he'd been in, leaving the Forest boy just before the Lucario reached him, and retreated for a moment to the soul stone – keeping it active, looking around for his next target.
A moment later, the adept did something with a red-white sphere on his belt. There was a brilliant flash of white light, and the king's spiritual heart flashed with sudden intense jealousy as Ho-Oh himself emerged into the air.
Ho-Oh! His target, his foe, the maiju he had sacrificed all to obtain – and the beast which had torn down his kingdom's great works of spell and stone, missing only scattered remnants and this very catcomb.
If the complex was at full power – but it was not, and the artisans who could operate it were long since dust. There was no way he could possess the Storm's End with only the power of his own mind.
The Absol said something, looking right at the soul stone – at him – and the adept nodded.
"Ho-Oh!" he called, getting the attention of the powerful Fire-type maiju. "Destroy that stone!"
Damn everything.
Ho-Oh began to inhale, an aura of rose-coloured light forming on his feathers, but the king was not going to die so easily. He examined everyone in the chamber, human and maiju both.
The Lucario was a non-starter – Aura users could shield their thoughts and protect their minds, and the minute it might take to worm through the defences would take far longer than the king still had.
The Forest boy was no use – still within strike range of the Lucario, who had caught him as he collapsed.
The Rhyperior was unconscious, and had no method of escape anyway.
The Forest boy's father was another thing – awake, upright, and vulnerable – but he was too far from the exit-
The exit!
The transit system was still functioning. All the king had to do was get to it, and use it, and he could escape. It would be frustrating to build up from nothing, but he could do it – he could do anything, in such a weak world.
But the Aura adept was another choice it would be foolish to make. To break through his defences would take time the king did not have – like the Lucario, he would be hostage to fortune.
The Pikachu was a marginally better choice, but it was a problem the artisans had been unable to correct that enough electrical energy could disrupt the connection – and there was a lot of electrical energy running through that Pikachu, enough to be visible.
Next to the adept was an Absol, but that would be an even worse idea than a Lucario – but behind the Absol, as if to protect himself, was a small boy.
The king acted instantly, and threw himself across the room as a surge of psychic energy just before the Sacred Fire destroyed his soul stone.
Then there was an odd sensation of dissolution-
The temperature in the underground chamber rose twenty degrees in a moment as Ho-Oh blew the stone orb into lava, sending droplets of it to pepper the far wall.
"Good riddance," he declared, settling to the floor with a soft click of talons on stone. "That monster of a man has caused far too much trouble."
"What just happened?" Flint asked. "Is my son okay?"
"He should be fine," Absol said, after a moment. "Ash?"
"Absol says he should be okay," Ash relayed. "I… think it might be a good idea to get a Psychic-type to look at him, though."
"I – how does he know?" Flint said, still trying to keep up with what had just happened. "Where did that person – the king – what happened to him?"
'Max' dropped her illusion, converting into an exceedingly smug Zorua. "We happened," she said. "Absol is a chaunce-dauncer-"
Chance Dancer, Dexter corrected.
"Sorry," Zorua winced. "Anyway – she told us what to do."
"Absol can sense disasters," Ash reminded Flint, as the Gym Leader bent down to check on his son. "This Absol is very good at it – she knew just what to do because she knew how to not cause a disaster. And the King of PokéAtlantis escaping would be a disaster."
He paused, then spoke again. "So would Forrest being hurt."
"I think I understand," Flint said, after a long pause. "And – thank you, then. I didn't know you were going to be visiting today."
"Max actually came to challenge Pewter Gym," Ash told him. "And I came to challenge the Battle Pyramid."
"We were going to have a look," Forrest spoke up, and Flint gave him a hug.
"Thank the gods you're safe..."
"You are welcome," Ho-Oh said courteously.
Forrest started to snigger.
"By the way," Zorua went on. "What are we going to do to this place now?"
"Probably tell the scientists at the museum," Flint decided, helping Forrest to get up again. "I don't know how dangerous it still is, but it is an important archaeological find."
"Dangerous?" Ash asked, then realized. "Right, yeah, the traps… hold on a moment."
He got up, examined the great throne for a moment, then tapped several spots on the armrest in quick succession. The transit system out in the corridor shut down, and then there was a kind of decaying hum throughout the structure accompanied by several clack noises.
"I think that should have turned everything off," he said. "Let's go find an exit!"
Forrest stared, then shook his head in resignation.
"Brock told me a lot of stories about you," he told Ash. "I think I'm starting to believe them."
"Ultimate water crasher!" Squirtle called, raising his hand. Water duly formed around it, spiralling in from the air itself to form a conical drill.
"How many times have you described an attack as ultimate?" Ivysaur asked him.
Squirtle looked back, distracted. "What?"
"I'm just saying. Ultimate means 'final', and you seem to have a lot of final things given that there's only one end to a list."
"It's not supposed to mean it's the end of the list," Squirtle said. "It's supposed to designate that it's a finishing move, something that ends a fight. Got it?"
Ivysaur nodded. "That explains it, thank you."
He pointed with a vine. "By the way, you forgot to stop charging your attack."
Squirtle turned his attention back to the drill on his hand, which was now considerably larger than he was.
The moment he gave it some focus again, it exploded.
Water rained down over a wide area, including on Noctowl.
"What, what?!" he asked, startled into wakefulness, and looked around with a twist of his neck. Seeing nothing especially out of the ordinary, he shrugged to himself and started to drop off back to sleep.
A blast of cold air hit him, and he opened his eyes again. "That's creating a bally draft," he announced. "Don't be a draft sort, so sort your draft."
"I'm an Ice type," Glalie countered. "How do I avoid being chill, if you're not going to be chill about it?"
"I'm sure I don't know," Noctowl said with a flap of his wings. "It's your Type, you sort something out."
Glalie considered, then hovered off.
"Excellent," Noctowl pronounced, settling back down to sleep again.
A few minutes later, the tree shook.
"What the-" Noctowl asked, startling awake again, and looked down. "Heracross! Get that blasted horn away from my tree, what?"
Next to the Bug-type, Glalie did a twirl. "How's this for a solution? We just move the tree away!"
"...couldn't you just move yourself away?" Noctowl asked. "It's not cricket, this!"
"Cricket, there's a good idea," Glalie agreed.
"You're awfully ball-shaped to be saying that kind of thing, bucko," Noctowl muttered.
"Don't be batty about it."
"Should I understand what they're saying?" Chikorita asked.
"Probably not," Sceptile replied, shrugging. "I think most of us sort of tune it out anyway."
He frowned. "Somehow, I feel like there's somewhere I should be today..."
Once they all got back to the Pewter Gym, it took several minutes to explain what had happened.
Brock's family were mostly in shock, and only asked the occasional question of Forrest or Flint, though it was sometimes Ash who ended up answering them – and then Absol had to explain that she'd felt her way through to a result which would keep everyone mostly okay and avoid the King of PokéAtlantis raising problems in the future.
"So… the moment you were sent out, you felt it?" Lola asked. "And it wasn't until then you realized?"
"Correct," Absol said, speaking via Dexter. "I had to move quickly, but it seems as though there are no long-term effects."
Speaking of which, I have sent a message to Mewtwo, Dexter contributed. He has the most ability to identify and contact a skilled psychic – either human or Pokémon – so it should be possible to find a therapist.
"That will help," Lola agreed. "Don't you think so, Forrest?"
"Mom, I'm not… drunk, or something," Forrest protested, though not very forcefully. "I know it's a good idea to have someone to talk to about this."
"Good," Flint said.
"Is Forrest going to be okay?" Tilly asked, looking worried.
"We think so, and we hope so," Brock answered her. "But that's why he's getting help – just in case. Like we get a doctor to look at someone if they hurt themselves badly, because it makes it easier to recover."
Tilly nodded.
Salvadore was about to say something when a shadow suddenly fell on the room, making it appear as though the sun had abruptly set.
A physical darkness formed in a pool on the floor, and out of it emerged a long-legged figure – clawed arms, shoulders wreathed in dark smoke, and a red-collared head from which white smoke plumed.
The Darkrai ignored almost everyone in the room, and drew a magnifying glass from nowhere at all before bending down to closely examine Zorua's fur.
After several seconds of finding nothing, it straightened.
"No sign," it stated. "Yveltal is not going to like this when he wakes up."
Then, in a blur of darkness, it vanished.
"...how often does this sort of thing happen around you?" Salvadore asked.
Let us simply say that Ash has not captured even half of the Legendaries he has met.
AN:
So there's a couple of things here.
Firstly is a little bit of a tweak to Serena's situation.
And second, of course, the whole of Brock's family showing up. (except his girlfriend, she is doing Science)
While, thirdly, something involving a certain monarchical madman.
