"This brings back memories!" Staraptor called down to Infernape, swooping overhead as the Fire-type ran forwards.
"It does," Infernape agreed. He ducked away from a high-speed punch by Max's Breloom, dropping low to the ground for a moment, then sprang back up and delivered a hefty punch to the Grass-type.
Arc came darting in, using Aerial Ace, and Infernape kicked out to fend him off before switching targets and using Close Combat.
"Not bad, Arc!" Max called, as the Manectric rolled once before skidding to a halt. "Just try the other side next time!"
"Of course," Infernape added. "It's not like those memories are from very long ago."
"Yeah, I know," Staraptor agreed. "Some Pokémon had much longer waits. Why else do you think Swellow and I kept doing those sprints?"
Infernape was about to reply again, but then Guy fired a stream of Bullet Seed at him. Raising his arms, the Fire-type showed off a little – using his arm guards to deflect the seeds, sending them flying off in little explosions of orange light as they caught fire.
Then the Breloom had something else to deal with, as Staraptor dropped down and started Wing Attacking him. Guy quickly switched to Bullet Punch, his fists blurring out to block most of the impact of Staraptor's kung-fu wings, but had to retreat when Infernape jumped in to attack – only for Staraptor to soar back into the sky as Arc ran over.
Infernape turned, ready to block whatever Arc had for him, only for Arc to dart right past him.
Guy bent over backwards, feet uppermost, and coiled like a giant spring as Arc arrived. Then Guy uncoiled again, launching Arc into the air like a rocket, and Staraptor found himself dealing with an airborne Manectric.
Thunderbolts flashed out, and Staraptor gritted his beak as they lashed through him before Arc dropped back down to ground level.
"Okay, that's it!" he decided. "Infernape, jump - we're going duplex!"
"This feels weird," Roland confided, holding his hand out ready to conjure a weapon.
"Why?" Piplup demanded. "Are you saying I can't join your exclusive sword club?"
"Well… you're using your beak," Roland replied. "And you're only asking to fence a bit."
"Absol uses her horn," Piplup pointed out reasonably. "Anyway."
His beak glowed as he used Peck, elongating to twice the normal length, and he stabbed with it towards Roland. The Gallade backed away, forming himself a Leaf Blade, and blocked the first attack before deflecting the second.
"Change!" Absol called, and Roland conjured a Fury Cutter in the other hand so he could use that one instead. He had to use it a lot, as Piplup promptly began a stabbing attack pattern with his beak which alternated between high and low.
Halfway through, he jumped into the air so Roland had to quickly shift his focus.
"Join!" Absol said.
Spinning both blades for a moment to work up momentum, Roland clapped his hands together and formed them into a single weapon – a larger, glowing blade which had one edge tinted green for Leaf Blade and the other the duller green-brown of Fury Cutter.
With the resultant weapon, he blocked Piplup's third sequence of strikes, then swept it around to knock the Water-type away.
Piplup bounced back in moments, turning his momentum into a spin and then turning that into a Whirlpool. It swirled for a moment, then he launched himself back out aimed at Roland's face.
"Change!" Absol said.
Yelping, Roland split the combined weapon again into the two individual blades. He crossed them in front of his face, and managed to avoid being hit in the forehead by Piplup.
"You're getting better," Absol complimented. "Change!"
Dawn nodded to herself.
"Yep," she said. "I still find this a bit odd."
"Why?" Ash asked, then had to dodge back as Keldeo nearly hit him with Sacred Sword. The Aura adept brought up his off hand, glowing blue with Aura, then adjusted his grip on his sword and went back on the attack.
Keldeo was forced back two steps as Ash's sword flicked through a strange-looking combination, each impact followed by a bounce and a change of direction back to the attack less than a second later.
It sounded like a high-speed hammer, and Keldeo endured it for a few seconds before thrusting his Sacred Sword forwards and breaking Ash's rhythm. He flicked forwards a Sacred Sword beam which hit the ground just to Ash's left, then stopped.
"That could have been a three-beam one," he pointed out.
"Yeah, you're right," Ash agreed, lowering his sword. "You win. Good one."
As he was about to re-sheathe the weapon, though, Keldeo looked closer at it. "Um… Ash?"
"What?" Ash said, looking at the sword himself. "Is it damaged?"
"No," Keldeo replied. "And that's the odd thing. I felt some of those impacts, they were a lot stronger than I'd have expected it to handle without some kind of scratch."
"Maybe it's just Aura," Dawn suggested. "I understand that's the explanation for just about everything."
"Now you're getting it," Pikachu chuckled. "When in doubt, Aura."
"What about when someone gets cloned?" Buneary asked him.
"That's different," Pikachu waved. "That's Science."
"Human into a Pokémon?"
"Magic."
"What about..." Buneary began, then had to think hard. "Um… let's see… parallel universe?"
"That is a good one," Pikachu admitted. "No, wait. Ghosts."
"Oh, yeah, Giratina," she agreed. "This is hard."
"This is the right place, right?" Ash checked.
Can't you tell? Dexter replied. Your Aura sight should be able to answer that question.
"Yeah, but I wanted to make sure Turtwig wasn't coincidentally near another house where the person won't know what I'm talking about," Ash explained.
Fair point. Yes, this is the place.
"Good," Ash said, and knocked on the door.
There was a long pause, and then an elderly woman opened the door.
"Who is it?" she asked.
"Hi," Ash said. "Sorry to bother you, but do you know a Turtwig?"
The woman examined him, interested. "That's not the usual way to put it," she said. "Most people would ask if I had a Turtwig."
Ash nodded. "Yeah, but I don't know if you consider him yours."
"That's another interesting way to put it," the woman said. "Well, then. What might your name be, young man?"
"I'm Ash Ketchum," Ash said. "I'm from Pallet Town, down in Kanto."
"Clara," the woman told him.
"And I'm Pikachu," Pikachu said, then put a paw to his chin and dipped one ear. "Though, on further consideration, I could have just said my name and it would have had the same effect."
Clara looked at Pikachu, now talking to himself, then shrugged slightly. "Well, now we know one another, what brings you to my house?"
"I wanted to have a chat with your friend Turtwig," Ash explained. "It's kind of complicated…"
"By the sounds of things, you think you're going to get a proper response," Clara noted mildly, stepping back to let Ash into her house. "How might that be?"
"I can understand Pokémon," Ash told her. "It's something I learned a while ago, now… actually, I'm kind of surprised you don't know that already, most people seem to these days."
"I don't pay a great deal of attention to the news," Clara said, spreading her hands. "There's more than enough to be doing around here. Tea?"
"I'd rather go and talk to Turtwig," Ash said. "Sorry."
There was a flash as Lucario exited his Pokéball.
"I'd quite like some tea," he said. "If you don't mind?"
"Not at all," Clara replied. "Do you prefer it with sugar, milk, or neither?"
"That doesn't seem like the kind of tea I'm used to," Lucario said. "I prefer Ginseng… so, well, whatever you think I'll like."
"Let's try it without, then," Clara decided, as Ash left through the back door.
"Turtwig, is it okay if we talk?" Ash said.
A nearby bush rustled.
"And I know that's not the one you're actually in," he added. "It's okay if you don't want to come out, though. I'd just like to talk, and I want to know you're going to listen. To give me a chance."
The bush stopped rustling.
"Go on," Turtwig said.
"Okay, so… this is something I've explained a lot of times already, and I know it's going to sound a bit rehearsed," Ash began. "But the fact of it is… I've travelled in time, from a couple of years in the future, and you were one of my Pokémon."
"I don't think that sounds very likely," Turtwig replied. "Partly because of the time travel bit, and partly because I don't think I'd ever let any human catch me."
"I know," Ash said. "It's actually pretty much how Bulbasaur felt… and it's not all that different to how Treecko felt, either."
He frowned. "Huh."
"Chikorita wasn't like that," Pikachu pointed out. "Nor was Snivy."
"Yeah, but those two were pretty similar as well," Ash replied. "And now that I think about it, Charmander, Cyndaquil, Chimchar and Tepig all had the same kind of situation as one another."
"Sorry, but are you actually still talking to me?" Turtwig asked.
"Oh – right," Ash said, wincing. "Sorry. So… basically, there's a way I can prove it, but it's kind of bizarre – I can touch you, and transfer across your memories of our time together. It's kind of like… anything that was the same the first time to the second time you just remember once, anything that was different you remember two versions of, and then the stuff after now you remember normally."
"You're right," Turtwig agreed. "That is kind of bizarre."
"I didn't make the rules," Ash protested. "Actually, I'm not sure who made the rules, though Uxie said they had something to do with it..."
Turtwig was silent for a long moment.
"What would happen if I did accept your offer?" he said. "Would I be able to not join you?"
"Well, yeah," Ash said, frowning. "But… well, I'd be upset, but it's your choice."
He thought about it, then went on. "There's something you should know, though," he said. "You'd evolved, all the way to Torterra, and I kind of messed up. I didn't really think through how you'd work with your new fighting style, and it was a big problem for the rest of our journey together in Sinnoh. And if I did do this to you, you'd just evolve to Torterra straight away."
"That sounds like a good reason to not take the offer," Turtwig said, stepping out of the bush Ash had been looking at for the whole conversation. "Why are you telling me?"
"Because I don't want to have a reunion with any of my Pokémon because of a lie," Ash said. "Or even because of leaving something out. I've done this to a lot of my Pokémon by accident, but I'd rather they take the offer. And with you in particular… I've been thinking a lot about how to solve the problem, but I just don't know if it'd work."
That made Turtwig think hard.
"Did I just let you catch me?" he asked.
"No, you let him battle you," Pikachu said. "We did win, but it was a pretty hard fight."
"Okay, then," Turtwig decided. "Here's the plan."
He fixed Ash with a look. "Assuming you're telling the truth, then once you've done this to me I'll be a Torterra. Then, you'll have a battle with me against one of your Pokémon, and you'll be giving me instructions – and you'd better hope you have worked out how to solve the problem."
"So this is when you add the tea first," Clara said, placing a cup on the table. "And this is when you add the milk first. See the difference?"
Lucario picked up the first cup and took a sip, then the second.
"You say this difference causes a lot of arguments?" he said.
"Of course," Clara agreed. "Nobody wants to make tea wrong. I'm sure you can see why."
Lucario nodded. "I can indeed," he said. "And, on a completely different note, there's a Torterra in your garden."
"Well, you're right so far," Torterra said, shaking his tree. "That was odd."
He looked at Ash. "Nice clothes."
"Yeah, they're… well, not really new any more, but I picked them up after the time travel," Ash confirmed. "Everything all right?"
He paused. "Did you notice the new Type?"
"What new – wait, the Fairy type," Torterra realized, comparing two sets of nearly-identical memories. "Okay, got it. Nothing to do with me, really, just good to know."
He shrugged. "Okay, let's do this. Who do you have back so far?"
Fortunately, we have prepared a list.
Dexter's projector activated, and a holographic table of Pokémon appeared in the air – sorted by capture date if one measured from the moment Ash came back.
"Huh, that's new," Torterra observed. "There's a surprising number of Legendary Pokémon on here."
"Yeah, it's a thing," Pikachu agreed.
"Well, I'll get to know them all later," Torterra decided. "For now… well, I'm never going to be a fast Pokémon, so I'm not expecting to beat a Pokémon as fast as Pikachu or Buizel right off the bat. And I want to stand a chance, so Glalie's out. What about this Lucario of yours?"
"Bad idea," Pikachu said delicately. "He's got all kinds of elemental attacks, including ice. Perhaps later."
"Right," Torterra agreed. "Okay, so not a particularly small or fast Pokémon, one which doesn't have Ice attacks everywhere..."
He tilted his head. "Huh. Charizard is on here? Lapras? I thought they'd left."
"They did," Ash agreed, sitting down. "There's a thing Professor Oak has – it's like how they transfer Pokémon from one Pokémon Centre to another, but we do it to where the Pokémon live now. Lapras moves around, so it's a bit harder for him, but Charizard's got one in his cave at the Charicific Valley."
"Plus, you missed when he came back anyway," Pikachu said. "He joined us in Unova."
Torterra made an interested noise. "The things you miss out on…"
He continued to look down the list. "Keldeo?"
"Yes?" Keldeo asked.
Torterra gave the Water-type a look, then shook his head. "Nope, doesn't look right."
"Sorry?" Keldeo said, a little hurt.
"I don't know what Ash has in mind, but you're a Legendary and you've clearly been with him for a while," Torterra explained. "I'd rather start just a little bit smaller."
"Oh, okay. Sorry for misunderstanding."
"What about Goodra?" Ash suggested. "He's pretty tough, he's got a few tricks, and I think what I do have in mind might work well."
"Goodra… Dragon type, right?" Torterra checked. "Sounds good, then."
"Okay, Dexter, can you get that set up?" Ash said.
Doing it already.
"When did you get the Rotom, by the way?"
You're the second person to think I'm a Rotom, Dexter said. Would it help if I said Porygon2 a lot?
"Oh, okay."
"What is going on out there?" Clara asked.
"By the looks of things, Torterra and Goodra are going to battle over whether Torterra joins Ash," Lucario said. "This kind of thing happens. You know… Butterfree, Raikou..."
"So that's one of your trainer's other Pokémon, then," Clara realized. "Does he know he's standing at the wrong end of the battlefield?"
"You know what to do, Goodra?" Ash said.
"Right!" Goodra agreed, one foot going forwards and the other steadying him – his tail flicking slightly left and right.
Then he glanced up at Ash. "Just to be clear, this is not one of those times when I try to dramatically lose?"
"No, it's not!" Ash replied. "Do your best!"
"Got it," Goodra agreed.
He glowed faintly, and it began to rain.
"Okay," Ash said. "So Goodra can sense what the raindrops are hitting, so we're not going to surprise him that way."
"I hope whatever your plan is works," Torterra said, shifting his weight so he rested more firmly on the ground.
"Begin!" Pikachu called, refereeing by default.
"Prepare an Energy Ball!" Ash said straight away, and Torterra did so – his leaves rippling with energy as he got to work, building a ball of green light in his mouth.
Goodra started as well, inhaling for a moment before firing out a Dragon Pulse. It hit Torterra in the flank, making him wince a bit, but he endured it just fine.
"Okay, now eat it!" Ash called, prompting Torterra to do just that – and resulting in a brighter green energy surrounding his Grass-type as he recalled the energy he'd put into the attack. "Get ready to use Stone Edge!"
"...that could present some problems," Torterra admitted. "I don't actually know that one."
"Right, uh… okay, this can still work," Ash said. "It won't be as good, but once you do have Stone Edge it'll work better-"
Goodra hit Torterra with another Dragon Pulse, which largely splashed off the glowing energy but did knock Torterra a few inches to the side.
"What next?" Torterra asked.
"Razor Leaf, all around Goodra!" Ash replied.
Torterra used a shower of Razor Leaf attacks, sending them spiralling out at Ash's Dragon-type, and Goodra responded by inhaling briefly before launching himself up into the air with a torrent of Dragon Pulse.
The Razor Leaves largely missed, but Ash continued to give instructions. "Now, get another Energy Ball ready!"
Almost as soon as Torterra began building it, however, he pointed towards a clump of bushes. "Fire!"
Torterra's head tracked around, and he fired the Energy Ball. It intersected the falling Goodra with a wham, knocking him at least ten feet, before he rolled to a halt and sprang back up.
"Charge up with another Energy Ball," Ash instructed, and Torterra did so – the green glow surrounding him again, so Goodra's retaliatory Dragon Pulse just hit and produced a scorch mark on the ground nearby.
This time, however, Goodra just kept the attack up for several long seconds – forcing Torterra back, and making his hind legs move onto the area of wet ground created by the rain.
Once his back legs were off the section his body had shielded, Torterra skidded back faster. His Synthesis kept him from suffering any damage, but he was forced entirely off the patch of dry ground he'd been using for traction by the time Goodra's Dragon Pulse finally ran out.
"What now?" he asked Ash, looking to the side.
"Rock Climb!" Ash replied.
"Whenever I try that I get knocked out," Torterra pointed out. "That seems like a bad plan."
"Try it anyway," Ash told him. "Just don't make the rocks, use it along the ground!"
"Fine," Torterra decided, and used Rock Climb. His feet glowed and dug into the mud, and he got moving – much faster than he'd been expecting, though he quickly adjusted and came storming down on Goodra ready to Bite.
Goodra jumped, then used Dragon Pulse to boost himself, and flew clean over Torterra. The jet blasted Torterra for a few seconds, making him wince, and then Goodra landed again and turned to face his opponent.
"Okay, use the Rock Climb to turn instead," Ash decided. "And power up with another Energy Ball – actually, do that whenever you're not powered up."
"That does make sense," Torterra agreed, forming the Energy Ball, then ate it and boosted himself again.
Goodra hadn't been idle, however, and came running forwards. Unleashing a bout of Dragon Breath, he kept it up until the green flames entirely hid his position – then emerged from behind his cover, almost skating on the wet grass, and spun into an Aqua Tail.
Torterra spun with his Rock Climb, trying to catch Goodra's tail with a Bite, but barely missed and the Dragon-type dodged back again with a jet of Dragon Pulse.
"Fire!" Ash called, and Torterra put together a quick Energy Ball before firing it out. The attack moved fast enough to hit Goodra despite his attempt to evade, and Torterra nodded to himself.
"Right!" he said. "So against fast opponents… I don't really need to be fast myself."
He used an Energy Ball to replenish his boost, then continued. "I just need to be able to endure attacks, and fire back with attacks which move fast even if I don't."
"That's the idea!" Ash agreed. "Go for it!"
"I intend to," Torterra said, and this time he fired something other than an Energy Ball.
Goodra began to glow red, and the attack hit him and exploded – knocking him back in a skid along the muddy ground, but also making the glow brighter.
"Hold on a moment!" Ash said. "He's using Bide!"
"Right, that one," Torterra sighed. He adjusted his position a little, and used Synthesis to heal himself up a bit.
Goodra unleashed the energy he'd absorbed – not very much, thanks to Ash's quick call, but enough to make Torterra wince and step backwards. Then the Dragon-type took off in a flare of Dragon Pulse, making Torterra's second Seed Bomb go wide, and vanished into the Rain-Dance clouds overhead.
"...um..." Torterra said, a little confused, as the thunder of Goodra's Dragon Pulse faded into the sound of the rain. "What help is that?"
"I don't think I've seen this tactic before," Ash replied. "Maybe he and Mawile worked it out recently..."
He went quiet for a moment, holding his hand out and feeling the rain, then looked up and closed his eyes.
They snapped open again, wisps of blue Aura dissipating, and he pointed. "Dodge that way!"
The roaring sound of the Dragon Pulse came back, with a different note to it this time, and stuttered for a long moment in a series of short bursts. Then Goodra dropped out of the clouds at high speed, fist first, and Focus Punched Torterra so hard it drove his shell six inches into the ground.
"One! Two! Three!" Pikachu began counting, as Goodra staggered off.
"We don't do count-outs in Pokémon battles," Ash replied. "...do we?"
"Now you mention it, I can't think of any," Pikachu replied. "Maybe I've been watching too many human battles."
"I think," Torterra said, his mouth muffled by his buried lower jaw, "that that probably counts as a defeat."
He tensed, then prised himself out of the muddy crater and gave Goodra a nod. "Good match."
"Thanks," Goodra replied. "I'm glad that trick worked, it took ages to master."
"You were using the rain to tell where you needed to go, right?" Pikachu checked.
Goodra nodded.
"Well, I think that does answer my concern," Torterra decided. "It's good to be back, Ash."
"All right!" Ash replied, taking out one of his Pokéballs.
Before he could confirm the capture, though, Staraptor came out of his Pokéball.
"Are we going to do the pose?" he asked.
"The pose?" Ash repeated. "...oh, right, yeah! I keep forgetting to do that."
"It's probably because most of your captures or recaptures aren't battles," Pikachu suggested, as Ash held out the Pokéball and Torterra nudged it with his muzzle.
The Grass-type vanished in a flash of white light, and Ash struck a pose – though it was promptly ruined by Staraptor practically knocking him over by giving him a wing to the face.
"Oops," the burly Flying-type said, looking down. "I think I forgot how much I've grown since last time we did that..."
"Was it the last time?" Pikachu asked. "I can't remember."
Staraptor shrugged.
"Are we going to do anything about the crater?" Goodra asked.
"Yeah, good point," Ash agreed, getting back up. "I think Ivysaur knows Grassy Terrain, that should be most of it."
"Hey, Ash!" Brock called. "Good news!"
"What's that?" Ash replied, looking up from where Ivysaur was just finishing up with the landscaping. "Oh, hey, you found Croagunk!"
"Celebi dropped him on us," Dawn supplied. "Does she do that a lot?"
"Depends if she's running late, I think," Ash replied.
"How odd, a time traveller running late," Torterra said, as Croagunk offered his hand and Ash shook it.
"Okay, now that's not normal at all," the Poison-type said, blinking. "We're back in Sinnoh, then. Should have realized this place wouldn't let us leave."
"The rest of us spent a pretty long time elsewhere," Brock pointed out. "Well, except for Dawn."
"Celebi did not explain remotely satisfactorily," Croagunk muttered. "But then, what do you do if a Legendary tells you to do something? Ask for more details?"
"Oh, are you done?" Clara said, opening the door. "Would anyone like tea?"
"That would be nice," Goodra decided. "If anyone else wants some, I'd like some too."
Croagunk eyed the woman, glancing between her and Brock, and discreetly got his Poison Jab ready just in case.
Paul's phone rang.
Opening it, he answered. "Hello?"
"Paul, hi," Reggie said. "I just wanted to ask, because I checked to see if you'd caught any more Pokémon. You… seem to have cancelled the registration on your Chimchar?"
"Yes," Paul agreed. "That was deliberate."
"Paul, if this is another one of those times you think a Pokémon's failed you-"
"No, it was not that," Paul replied. "I am not entirely sure I understand the situation myself, but at some point in the future I am getting a Pokémon who will work better with me."
Reggie didn't reply for several seconds.
"Pardon?"
"That was an interesting battle you had out there," Clara told Ash. "I don't think I've ever seen someone catch a Pokémon by ordering it around before."
She took a sip of her tea, then put the cup down again. "What Pokémon was that you sent out, by the way? I don't think I'm familiar with the type."
"That was Goodra," Ash replied. "He's a Dragon-type from Kalos, though he's been with me for a while now. I picked him because he was a good match-up for Torterra, and they'd be able to have a nice fight that was nearly even."
"That's a good reason," Clara replied. "And what about this Croagunk?"
"He's new," Brock told her. "That's kind of a complicated story, though."
"It sounds like you're picking up quite a lot of Pokémon," the old woman said approvingly. "Are they all by battles?"
"Actually, a lot of them aren't," Ash replied. "We were thinking about that recently. Max only really caught Delta with a battle, and two of Brock's recent Pokémon were because his girlfriend recruited them."
There was a dull thump as Croagunk passed out.
They all stared at where his chair had been.
"I… suppose we should have expected that," Dawn said.
"I'm surprised he only passed out," Pikachu added.
"He hasn't seen her yet, so that might change his reaction," Piplup pointed out.
"Well… that's good," Clara said, deciding to ignore the bit with Croagunk. "Your Lucario said that you recruited several Pokémon with battles. Is your Pikachu related to your Raichu?"
Ash looked puzzled. "But… I don't have a Raichu."
"I should hope not," Pikachu added, looking over at Lucario. "What did you tell her?"
Lucario held up his paw, trying to suppress an undignified giggle.
"You don't?" Clara asked. "But… what did your Lucario tell me, then?"
"I suppose it did sound a lot like Raichu," Lucario said. "I wondered why you didn't think it was unusual."
After thinking that over for several seconds, Clara stood up.
"Would anyone like some biscuits?" she asked.
"Okay, what?" Croagunk said, once he'd been given the appropriate Chesto Berries and they were back on the road. "You said a lot had changed, right. You said you had more Pokémon now, sure. I'm glad to meet Ninetales. But a girlfriend?"
"I'm not sure why everyone treats that as if it's so surprising," Flygon confided. "I mean, Brock and Philena have been together for years now."
"Even if I didn't know you were new, that would confirm it to me," Croagunk informed him.
The Poison-type stretched, working out a few kinks, then frowned.
"Does she actually exist?"
"Hey, uh, that's kind of a touchy topic..." Geodude advised. "You might want to ixnay."
Croagunk gave him a puzzled look. "Why?"
"Did we never tell you about Philena?" Geodude asked. "Wow, man, we need to catch you up on the facts."
He took Croagunk's arm. "Hey, Brockster, going to take this guy and get him up to speed. Dig?"
"That's fine," Brock agreed.
He turned to the Aron walking alongside. "Okay, Ferris, Max asked me to give you some advice, and I've got a few options for you to think about for fighting styles. Remember you don't have to pick just one, and you can do whichever one will work best for whatever opponent you're fighting."
Ferris nodded his understanding.
"So, one of the common tricks Rock types use is to focus on sheer durability," Brock began. "Your types make you vulnerable to Fighting and Ground type attacks, but apart from those and Water type attacks you're pretty well set up to resist a lot of damage – especially physically. And with moves like Metal Burst, you can hurt your opponent worse than they hurt you."
The little Steel-type nodded again.
"That's quite a passive style, though," Brock added. "The more active one is based on using Rock Polish to speed up, which means you can move a lot faster than your opponents often expect. That lets you use close-in moves like Headbutt, Iron Head or Head Smash, and because you're a heavy Pokémon you can really knock your enemy around."
He glanced back. "Are you following this, Max?"
"Yeah, it's really interesting," Max agreed. "If that's the best way to land hits on an opponent, should that be what I focus on for Ferris' coverage moves like Shadow Claw?"
"Yes, if you can move fast enough to hit the enemy like that it can be quite a surprise," Brock said. "I'd also recommend learning Magnet Rise, specifically because it means you can avoid those nasty Ground attacks."
"Wouldn't that mean Ferris can't move normally?" Max asked.
"Depends how good he gets with magnetic levitation," Brock answered. "Steel types can sometimes get themselves moving that way as fast as they normally would on the ground. Or you could just ask Mawile for help… but really, just being able to use it in bursts would be good enough to avoid a lot of the dangerous Ground attacks like Earthquake or Magnitude."
He grinned. "Now, the third way is… to trick everyone."
"I knew you couldn't resist it for long," Ninetales chuckled.
"How would Ferris be able to trick everyone?" Max asked. "I mean, he's an Aron, and they kind of have the durability thing."
"I can be sneaky," Ferris said. "I assume. Or Brock would not have said it."
"The way you can be sneaky with an Aron is to have them rely on their coverage moves," Brock explained. "And, just as importantly, Sandstorm. An Aron who uses Sandstorm to hide and focuses on Water Pulse, Shock Wave and Aerial Ace is so different to what people expect that it has to surprise them."
He was about to continue, but Croagunk came back from where he'd been talking to Geodude.
Putting his hand on Brock's shoulder, he gave his trainer a solemn nod.
"I now understand," he said. "Geodude told me, and I'm glad you're happy."
He straightened up. "Now, if you look at any other women too long, the Poison Jab comes right back out."
"How would you tell?" Flygon asked.
"I have my ways."
"Thank you for helping me out," Delta said, giving Dawn's Piplup a nod. "I tried to learn from May's Wartortle, but I have trouble getting my voice right for a song."
"I'll assume that makes sense," Piplup decided. "So, what are you after?"
"I want to make my water attacks more powerful," the Mantine said. "Ideally, I want to be able to shoot a really powerful water blast down from overhead – but any other tricks you have would be good as well."
Piplup nodded, stepping back, and spread his flippers. He pantomimed doing turns and dives, and after a long moment Delta hesitantly spread his own wings.
"No, don't," Piplup told him. "I'm thinking."
Then he jumped into the air, spinning, and performed an intense lasted for several long seconds, until it ended and Piplup landed gracefully back on the grass.
"Now, do that," he said.
"I… don't think I have more than the first clue how," Delta admitted. "Most of my training's focused on fighting things well below me, or occasionally fighting things flying alongside me."
Piplup sighed, rolling his eyes, then gestured for Delta to move forwards. "Okay then. We'll try from first principles. Do a barrel roll."
"Do you mean like you were doing? Because that's not a barrel roll..."
"Fine, do a whatever-else-it-is roll," Piplup corrected himself.
Delta took off, climbed to a safe height, then did a spin with his fin-wings held out.
"Now do it with a single wingbeat, and hold them in until you do two rolls," Piplup went on.
"Um… how does this help me?" Delta asked, a little puzzled as he circled overhead.
"Once you can do the move without water, we're going to get you to do a Whirlpool at the same time," Piplup answered promptly. "We want it to be so you'll just bounce off something you hit, which means you'll have to have a lot of force behind it, and you can even use the water as a propellant to make you spin faster and faster."
"Okay, I think I understand," Delta replied, and gave it a go. He promptly crashed into the ground head-first, tail twitching a little before he managed to dig his head back out of the grass, and spat out a dandelion.
"Let's try that again," Piplup decided. "Maybe a bit higher up first."
"Hmmm..." Jirachi mused, turning the page. "I wonder which one to pick first..."
"What's that?" Cinder asked, loping up. "Anything important?"
"Oh, it's a TM catalogue," Jirachi replied, holding it up for her. "International version. Apparently a lot of different regions number their TMs differently, so there's a lot you can only get from other regions. Max told me to see if I could find a few I liked."
The Mightyena hummed appreciatively. "Sounds like a good plan," she decided. "I mean, no offence but… you have no offence that's not either Dazzling Gleam or blowing things up with your Future Sight. And they're both cool, but… yeah, you need more variety."
Jirachi nodded, setting his tags jangling a little, then flipped over a few pages.
"That doesn't look like part of the same book, even," Cinder observed.
"It's the Move Tutor index," he told her, then frowned. "Wait a moment… you know how Pokémon can learn moves more easily if they have a connection with the move?"
"Yeah, that's pretty obvious," Cinder shrugged. "Barely worth saying."
"Well, I just thought!" Jirachi explained. "What's the thing you know about Jirachi?"
"They… grant wishes?" Cinder tried. "They snore?"
"No, not – I snore?" Jirachi asked.
"Yes, you snore!" Cinder confirmed a little testily. "Whenever you're sleeping on your back. I'm surprised you haven't woken yourself up with it before, actually!"
"Why didn't anyone mention-" Jirachi began, then stopped himself. "We might be getting off topic. Uh, what's the thing you know about me as a Jirachi specifically?"
"...you like candy?" Cinder suggested.
"I'm related to the Millennium Comet!" Jirachi announced. "That's the thing, okay? So shouldn't that mean I can learn Comet Punch, Meteor Mash, Draco Meteor and Cosmic Power?"
Cinder considered the question carefully.
"I'm not sure I can see a flaw in your conclusion," she said carefully. "Your logic might be a bit less sure..."
"Good enough for me!" Jirachi pronounced. "Now, what do you think about my learning Thunderbolt?"
"Sure, if you like the sound," Cinder decided.
"What about doing the Cinnabar gym?" Max asked. "What was that one like, Ash?"
"Cinnabar..." Ash mused, saying the name out loud to remind him. "Well, the Gym Leader likes his puzzles and quizzes, that kind of thing. So he might make you do a logic puzzle or something before you challenge him."
"I guess that might be fun," Max said.
He threw a large bouncy ball, and it pinged off the ground into the air. Ferris jumped after it, landing a glancing blow with a Headbutt that sent the ball flying off into the middle distance – where Staraptor caught it, doing an easy wingover and throwing it back.
"I think you went a bit early there," Max said. "But that was good aim! Let's try another one."
This time, he threw the ball straight off. Ferris jumped for it again, this time trying for Iron Head, but the attack stuttered out before actually connecting.
It was knocked in Infernape's direction, and the Fire-type jumped for it to make a fine catch – with his feet.
"What about the other gyms I've not looked at..." Max considered, managing not to fumble the catch as Infernape returned the ball. "Isn't there a Flying gym somewhere up north?"
"I don't think we ever went there, so we can't tell you anything," Ash shrugged. "Brock might know. But… have we talked about the Vermillion City gym?"
Pikachu flicked his tail contemplatively. "That might be fun. I wonder how he'd react to a Mega-Evolution."
After a moment, the Electric-type shook his head. "Wait, no, it's too late for us to really surprise him."
"Disappointed?" Ash asked.
"I'm just picturing how he'd have reacted if Arc went all the way from Electrike to Mega Manectric in a battle in his gym," Pikachu explained. "It's funny."
Ash watched as Arc went for the bouncy ball again, then cleared his throat. "Hey, Torterra, Infernape, Staraptor?"
The three indicated Pokémon all showed they were paying attention to him.
"New training mission," Ash told them. "You have to collect Ferris and get him to the other side of the clearing without him escaping. Ferris, you have to escape – and Max, you can send out one other Pokémon to help Ferris. Ready?"
"Wait, what?" Max asked. "Um, can I think about it?"
"No," Ash answered. "Go!"
Ferris promptly returned himself.
Infernape, who'd already been breaking into a sprint, skidded suddenly to a halt. "Um… what does that mean?"
"That I need to be more careful with how I phrase things," Ash said ruefully.
"Okay, so this is a bit different from Flame Wheel," Ash's Quilava began, adjusting the pointer in her mouth and using it to tap at a large poster. "You're familiar with Flame Wheel, I hope?"
"Yes, I've used it several times," Dawn's Quilava nodded attentively. "It's good for combinations because of the speed."
"Of course," the female Quilava confirmed, tapping again at the diagram she'd drawn – showing a Quilava, curled up in a ball and enshrouded by flames. "As you can see, when you use Flame Wheel you're both using the flames as propulsion and using them as a shield, in addition to simply striking objects to mean you've hit them with fire."
She flipped the chart over to show the next diagram. "Now, with Rollout, you're doing something completely different. You're curling up in a ball and not setting yourself on fire."
"...I don't follow," Dawn's Quilava said.
He scratched his head. "Isn't that just Flame Wheel but done wrong?"
"No, there's a bit more to it than that," his teacher clarified. "You're also toughening your body."
"Oh, so it's Defence Curl, got it," he nodded.
"No, not Defence Curl either, it's a different kind of toughening," Ash's Quilava told him. "It's a more Rock-type toughening, intended to let you bash into an opponent."
There was a pause as the younger Quilava considered that.
"...okay, so, I roll up in a ball, I don't catch fire, and then I roll at the opponent," he said. "Sounds good."
He waved a paw to get Mamoswine's attention. "Hey! Think we should try that thing we talked about once?"
Mamoswine nodded.
"What thing?" Ash's Quilava asked, confused. "Um… no, seriously, what thing?"
To answer her question, Dawn's Quilava rolled into a ball. Then Mamoswine jumped on top of him.
"...this requires further practice," the Fire-type said, voice strained.
"Actually, that could work pretty well, it means you should be able to pick up a lot of speed from Mamoswine running on top of you," Ash's Quilava mused.
"Please can we do that later? I think my spine is about to collapse… can we practice with Pachirisu instead?"
Mamoswine shrugged, and jumped off again.
"Thank you," Quilava gasped.
Hmm… Mewtwo pondered. I think this will do.
He exerted his psionic senses, reaching out through the icy terrain, and confirmed that the area he had selected was solid enough to serve his purposes.
The view was excellent, as well – Jupiter hung perpetually near the horizon, several times larger than the sun or moon were from Earth, and even from here he could see the Great Red Spot.
Making up his mind, Mewtwo tugged gently on the package of equipment he'd brought with him. Shifting a little, so he was in the Jupiter-shadow of a small hill, he triggered it.
With a whumph, the compressed-air reservoirs emptied themselves. The Clemontic Shelter (mark IV, hard vacuum) puffed up to full size in the space of about eight seconds, forming a bubble-like approximation of a house.
Excellent, Mewtwo declared, and anchored it by six tether points to the icy surface.
Floating back up into the tenuous atmosphere, he nodded to himself.
It was small now, but this was just the beginning. While he would be too busy to work on it most of the time, the hope was that he would soon have a holiday home on Callisto – one which his friends could visit safely, even without the benefit of phenomenal psychic powers.
Hey! Mew said, popping into existence next to him. Are you done?
With what I plan to do today, yes, Mewtwo replied. There is a launch in two hours that I will need to be present for.
The pink Psychic-type flirted her tail. Okay, so where's the swimming pool?
Mew, I set up less than ten minutes ago. I have not created a swimming pool yet.
Mew pouted. Awww…
He raised a paw to his chin, then nodded. I'll do it for you! I heard a lot about what it's supposed to be like going swimming in low gravity!
Where did you hear that? Mewtwo asked, curious. I imagine it is interesting, but I didn't know you'd been hearing about it.
Oh, it was from some of those Pokémon who were on the moon base! Mew answered, rolling onto her back and kicking her feet. They loved it! You know one of them did a dive in reverse? And the nearest Clefairy were coming to visit too!
I am sure there will eventually be a swimming pool, Mewtwo said. But it will not be this week, if things remain on schedule.
Then I'll-
And do not make one without asking me, Mewtwo added. If you melt the wrong part of the surface you will end up making my house here float away.
"So… you had another vision," Palkia said.
"That's right," Aaron agreed. "It's getting quite bizarre. And it was about some kind of green gear."
He looked around at the three Dragon-types. "Any idea what that is?"
They all shook their heads.
Okay, clearly I have not thought this through, Arceus announced.
"Hello, My Lord," Aaron called, greeting the Creator. "It's nice of you to visit."
I'm always here, Arceus replied. Just, you know, not always the local here.
"The royal here?" Giratina suggested.
"We may be getting off topic," Palkia warned.
Okay, so the visions are what's called a Dimensional Scream. The name's not important, Arceus added, seeing Aaron about to ask a question. They're basically my attempt to give you hints. But I just realized how ridiculous it would be for you to learn this bit of information by talking to other Pokémon, given what it's about.
"What bit of information?"
The bit of information about how that was a Time Gear, Arceus told them. Time Gears are what keep time working.
"No they're not," Dialga replied. "That is not how time works. I am how time works."
Not in this game. Anyway, that's what's going on.
"So that Grovyle was trying to steal time..." Aaron mused. "Okay. So… this would be silly because it would be Dialga being told how time works?"
Partly. So, now you know that part of the plot, and you know to pay attention to random visions.
"You realize we still have no idea what to actually do, right?" Giratina checked.
You will work it out. Eventually.
AN:
Just so people realize, my average output of words to this fic is 1000 words per day, six days per week. This has been "my schedule".
Similarly, anyone asking questions while not signed in should realize that unsigned interviews are impossible to reply to. This is how the site works.
Now that that's over, the chapter itself. So obviously early Sinnoh is lousy with Pokémon to be reminded, but Torterra is one that has to be treated with a certain delicacy because he's effectively an example of Ash's training style failing – he never really managed to get Torterra working properly with the new body shape and size. Ash has been thinking about this for a while, though.
Apart from that, the biggest shock Croagunk's ever had and a few bits of training and seeing where everyone else is going and what they're doing. Callisto is a good place for a holiday home, as it has a reasonable (read: safe) level of radiation and a good supply of ice to turn into water.
Plus, it's where Federated Telepath and Teleport set up in the Pegasus books, so it fits what I'm doing to Mewtwo.
