"Have you thought much about giving Contests a go this time around?" Dawn asked.
"Well, a bit," Ash replied. "Did I mention the time Ho-Oh did one? That was kind of… well, one of the guys I faced didn't really like it."
"I'm not really surprised, but I think I'm still a bit disappointed," Dawn said, shaking her head. "That doesn't seem very polite."
"Yeah, he's not a very polite guy," Max agreed. "He said I had a hormone problem."
The Twinleaf trainer held in a chuckle, then looked over at where Togekiss was flying alongside. "You two doing okay?"
Togekiss waggled her wings slightly, and Ambipom nodded from her position astride Togekiss' back. "Just fine, thanks," she said. "I'm impressed you're so good at flying inside this cave."
The Fairy-type replied in a cooing voice.
"I know a lot of Contests are indoors, I just hadn't made the connection."
"Hoenn doesn't have this many routes inside mountains," Max noted, checking a map on Kris. "Nor does Kanto, really, but it seems like a third of the big routes in Sinnoh go through tunnels."
"Well, yeah," Dawn replied. "There's a giant mountain range running up the middle of the region, so anyone going from one side to the other has to go through the Coronet Range somewhere. I think there's a few places near Snowpoint where you can go over instead, and my history lessons said they used to use mountain passes a lot more, but the tunnels are just easier and don't have bad weather."
"And, of course, we're going to a mining town," Lucario volunteered. "So it makes sense there would be a tunnel dug by them."
He looked around. "I'm surprised there's no vehicles, though."
"There's other tunnels for that," Brock told him. "Two for trains, two for cars and trucks, and I think there's a bicycle route one as well."
"And everyone knows you need to keep bikes as far from Pikachu as possible," Dawn smiled.
Pikachu shook his head.
"Who do you plan on using for the next gym, Ash?" Lucario asked. "I'm interested in volunteering."
"I'm not sure, Lucario," Ash apologized. "I know you're eager to, but I think I'd rather give some of the newly-reminded team members a go instead – you're already one of my strongest Pokémon, so you wouldn't get as much benefit as you do from sparring."
"That does remind me, I wanted to test out my reactions on Suicune," Lucario mused. "I'll have to remember to ask her some time."
"So, Infernape, Staraptor and Torterra?" Max counted off. "I saw you testing that new fighting style with Torterra."
"Yeah, it'll probably be a good chance to try it out," Ash agreed. "Looks like the end of the tunnel's coming up, though."
"Is dere light at da end of itu?" Zorua asked, then went cross-eyed.
"Still having trouble with your accent?" Brock said.
"I'm just having trouble with some of the phonemes," Zorua sighed. "I'll get it eventually. The problem is really making it natural, so I don't have to concentrate."
"And yes, there's light at the end of the tunnel," Max pointed. "It looks like the sun came out while we were underground."
The friends took a deep breath of fresh air, looking around at the sunlit city of Oreburgh.
"This air's less fresh than I was hoping," Max coughed.
"Yeah, they have a lot of factories here," Brock agreed. "It's not that bad, but it can be a bit smoky if the wind's in the wrong direction."
"No kidding," Max said, waving a hand in front of his face. He looked back down at Kris, who had switched her map to show the city itself and the immediate environs. "Looks like the gym's a little way out of town, so we'd better get over there if that's our first stop."
He looked up at Ash. "Is it?"
"Good question," Ash admitted. "I-"
"Attention!" a PA system boomed. "There has been a major incident at the Oreburgh Museum. Everyone please remain calm and remain indoors where possible."
"Or we could go there," Brock added. "Which way's the museum?"
"That way!" Max pointed.
They broke into a run.
"You know," Dawn huffed, "with most people this would be unusual."
"What, running towards the danger?" Max checked.
"Yeah, but also the danger in general."
I am checking the news and other media, Dexter announced. There are several discussions on what is going on. It appears that several Fossil Pokémon have been revived in the museum and have escaped.
He paused. It says a lot about us that the word 'again' goes on the end of that sentence.
"No kidding," Brock agreed. "Crobat, go have a look!"
"Togekiss, you too!" Dawn ordered. "Ambipom, go with!"
Dawn's Pokémon soared upwards alongside Crobat, before the two groups split to look in different directions. Ash sent out Infernape as well, and Max added Roland to the mix.
"Fossil Pokémon are all Rock type," Brock said out loud. "But there's a lot of them with different other types, so watch out."
Pikachu's cheeks sparked, and he jumped from Ash's shoulder to Lucario. "Boost me!" he called.
"This feels familiar," Lucario observed, skipped a step, and threw Pikachu high into the air.
Lightning pulsed around the Electric-type, and he fired down a bolt of lightning into the streets a little way ahead of them. Something roared, then there was a whump.
Pikachu did a double flip and landed next to his trainer. "Tyrunt," he explained.
Crobat came flying down a moment later. "I don't think they're trying to attack, or anything," he supplied. "Not deliberately, anyway. They look lost."
He shrugged. "But they're still doing damage, because they're confused."
"I think that means we'll need to knock them out anyway," Brock decided.
"Can we stop running now?" Max asked. "I'm not entirely sure why we're running, we know the Fossils are in the city."
The friends and their Pokémon slowed to a halt, a little sheepishly.
"That's a good point..." Ash admitted. "Stop the Fossils, then, I guess?"
He sent out the rest of his available Pokémon, and the others did much the same.
I see one! Roland called, and vanished in a flicker of motion.
"Did this happen last time, out of interest?" Lucario asked.
"You're asking the wrong Pokémon," Infernape replied. "I wasn't with Ash yet when we were at Oreburgh."
He ducked under a torrent of water fired by a Carracosta, sprang back into the air, and summoned flame from his wrists to produce a Counter Shield. It burned quickly, intensifying to the point that Carracosta's second Water attack hit the shield and was largely neutralized, then vanished just as Infernape reached his target.
He waited a breath, long enough for Carracosta to swipe at him, and dodged to the side before striking the fin as it slowed. That knocked the Rock-type off balance, and Infernape followed up with a flurry of quick Mach Punches to stop Carracosta recovering.
After half-a-dozen punches, Carracosta growled and used Surf – flooding the area, though Infernape jumped away with a taut grace. He landed on Carracosta's back, crouched, and used two Mach Punches at once to knock Carracosta out.
"Not bad," Lucario observed, finishing off an Omastar with a Close Combat. "You might want to work on the water thing, though."
"I'm interested in the water walking," Infernape admitted. "Can you do that with your hands as well? It'd be cool to be able to catch incoming water attacks and throw them away."
An Aerodactyl came swooping down at them, shouting something incoherent, and both Fighting-types ducked out off the way.
"...was it me," Lucario began, as the fossil flew off, "or does it have something on its tail?"
"What are you doing?" Crobat asked, wings flicking up and down as he followed the Aerodactyl through the streets of Oreburgh.
"Mfffff!" Rockruff replied, voice indistinct, and continued Biting on the Aerodactyl's tail.
"I don't understand you!" Crobat called, thought very quickly, and amended that. "But don't stop biting! Keep holding on so you don't fall off!"
Rockruff answered with an affirmative sort of yip-growl, then was whisked off as Aerodactyl rolled to one side. The Fossil Pokémon flew almost directly at one of the smokestacks from the town's factories, and Crobat shouted a Supersonic at it to knock it off course.
Wobbling in the air, Aerodactyl missed that one, then the next as well when Crobat used another blast of concentrated sound to warn it off that stack.
Screeching in rage, Aerodactyl turned about to attack Crobat – but the heavy weight of Rockruff on its tail threw it off, making it understeer and then oversteer in an attempt to correct. By the time it was on the right vector, Crobat had managed to get out of the way and the hasty Ancientpower missed entirely.
"Nice one!" Crobat called to his teammate. "Just keep doing what you're doing – and if I do tell you to let go, then don't hold on any more because there'll be a really good reason!"
"Hey, what wiped out the Fossils?" Glalie called.
A herd of Shieldon and their Bastiodon leader looked up at the sound of his voice, confused, and then a wave of bluish Ice-typed energy swept over them all as Glalie used Blizzard.
"The Ice Age!" Glalie supplied smugly.
"Uh… no, it didn't," Geodude said.
"What?" Glalie asked, looking down at his fellow mostly-spherical Pokémon. "Of course it did. Haven't you seen any movies?"
"Movies?" Geodude repeated. "My trainer's done geology courses, and I can assure you it was not an ice age. At that time period there were no ice ages – there was less ice on the planet than there is now, by a long way. Heck-"
One of the Shieldon broke out of the coating of ice, and Glalie froze it right back into the ice again with an Ice Beam. "Is this important?"
"I'm just saying, it's a stereotype which doesn't reflect the science. And it wasn't a good pun to begin with, so if it's not even true then you've really not got a leg to stand on."
Glalie rotated down, then back up again.
"Neither do you."
"Look, dude, you could at least try something like 'you should cool off' or 'freeze company' or 'try some Neogene weather'. There should be some style to this."
Geodude waved a hand, absently backhanding an approaching Armaldo with a rock fist the size of a car. "But, hey, it's your thing."
"Everymon's a critic," Glalie sighed. "Cold, man, real cold."
"There you go!"
Look, can you try to listen to me? Roland asked, backing a step before switching his Psycho Cut out for a Leaf Blade.
Forming a Fury Cutter in the other hand and fusing them together into a single weapon, he blocked one of the scythes of a Kabutops and dodged away from the other by the width of a finger.
Manifesting a Night Slash and keeping it short, giving him a striking blade and a defending blade, he went on the offensive. I know there might be a few translation issues, because you've been in there for, like, ever, but I'm using psychic powers! Can't you at least listen when I mention the concept of property damage?
"We are out of time, but the laws of combat remain the same," the Kabutops said, knocking Roland's Night Slash aside before bringing both scythes down on the fused blade. It shattered, green and brown fragments glittering for a moment before it collapsed, and Roland teleported away ten paces to reforge his weapons before coming back in.
His renewed sequence of attacks gave Kabutops pause, but the Fossil kept talking. "The strong take, the weak stay out of their way. How else could it be?"
"You have a lot to learn," Roland replied, hands glowing. He fused both blades together into a single two-handed weapon which shone brighter than either of the ones he'd been fighting with already, used it to smash Kabutops backwards, then peppered him with Magical Leaves.
"There's this thing called the social contract, I don't really get the details, but it says you're not supposed to do this kind of thing."
Roland broke his fused weapon back into two, and teleported away just before the other Kabutops tried to run him through. Appearing inside the guard of the overextended Fossil, he delivered a pair of Leaf Blade attacks which knocked that Kabutops out as well.
"I really hope they change their minds like some of the other Pokémon we beat," Roland muttered, then teleported up to the roof to see if anyone else needed help.
"Hey!" Quilava called, ruff blazing up as a threat display. "Yeah, you over there! The Bug and Grass types!"
Three Lileep turned to look at him, followed by a Cradilly. Then they were all overtaken by an Armaldo, which promptly got hit by a Fire Spin tornado.
"And there's more of that!" Quilava added, not letting up with his large flames. He spotted an Omanyte, and hit that as well, but then the Armaldo swept both claws out of the flames and dispelled them.
"Ah," Quilava muttered. "Excuse me one second."
He cleared his throat, then hit the Armaldo with an Ember and ran.
Armaldo let out a chilling howl, and followed after Quilava – drawing in several of the other Fossils, as well, until a stampede of them was chasing Dawn's Fire-type along the streets.
Togekiss flew overhead, barely noticed by any of them, and then soared back up into the sky.
For his part, Quilava ran along with a bounding step – forelegs first, then hindlegs, like an extended series of long jumps. While fast enough to keep ahead of the marauding Rock-types, it wasn't enough to actually outrun them, and as Quilava ran back towards one of the main streets of Oreburgh the whole collection of fossils followed him.
Dawn squinted, looking down the street, then pointed. "There he is!"
Quilava skidded a little as he came around the corner, then balled up and used Rollout to get extra speed – approaching his trainer at speed, before coming to a peeling skid-halt right next to her.
"You all right?" Dawn checked, spotting
Quilava threw her a salute.
Then the ground shook slightly, as the whole collection of Rock-types – including a couple of Bastiodon they'd picked up somewhere – came rumbling around the corner and charging towards them.
The tarpaulin next to them shrugged, and turned out to be Mamoswine. As he scraped a paw on the road, the stampede of Fossil Pokémon turned into more of a sidle, and then stopped and tried to go into reverse.
"All right, go for it!" Dawn ordered, and Quilava jumped up onto Mamoswine's back. Pachirisu followed him, and so did Piplup, and then the whole assemblage picked up speed towards the now-retreating Fossil Pokémon.
"Roland said he'd seen the police getting into the battle!" Max reported. "Over on the other side of the city. I think that means we're getting the situation under control… right?"
Ash did a quick check with his Aura Sight. "Uh, well… it does look like there's not nearly as many Pokémon moving around any more. But there's quite a few of them coming this way."
Corona set herself, ready to defend her trainer. "Where?"
"There's some coming from that direction, but they're all pure Rock types," Ash told her. "I think Lucario just got the last of the Shieldon."
He reached for his waist, hesitated, then drew his sword and swept it up. The blade shivered as he used it to block the Head Smash of a Cranidos, and Ash's feet flared blue with Aura as he stopped the attack pushing him backwards.
Then he punched the Rock-type into the side of a building.
"I hope we don't have to pay for that," Brock mused, as the Cranidos fell to the floor in a shower of brick fragments and Ash shook his stinging hand out. "Is your sword okay?"
"It should be," Ash replied, checking it anyway. "Yeah, not a scratch."
"That's not normal," Brock muttered.
He shrugged. "Okay, how do things look now?"
"Well, there's some more coming from that direction as well," Ash pointed.
The only Pokéball he hadn't used yet opened, and Meganium rolled her neck. "Right, which direction was that?"
"Aren't you a healer?" Corona asked.
"I heal, yes," Meganium agreed readily. "That's because I have moves which do it. It doesn't mean I can't fight."
She looked up, frowning, then used Vine Whip. Her vine lashed forwards and hit an Aerodactyl square in the forehead as it came swooping down on an attack run, just before Pikachu was about to shock it.
"Now!" Crobat shouted, and caught Rockruff as she let go of the Aerodactyl's tail. The concussed Fossil Pokémon did a cartwheel, passing just over their heads, and crashed into the base of a lamp-post.
"We should do these battles out of town more," Max suggested.
A swirl of petals rose up around Meganium, and she turned to orient herself towards the Fossils heading towards them.
"Okay, I make it six Rampardos," Pikachu said, coming up beside her. "How many do you think you can get before they reach us?"
"I don't understand the question," Meganium replied, Ingraining herself, and used Power Whip.
Both vines scored direct hits, one on the head Rampardos – directly in the nose – and the other on the one next to him, tripping him with a blow to an ankle.
The two stumbling Rampardos disrupted the rhythm of the entire charge, and Meganium prevented them from getting up speed again by the simple expedient of firing a storm of dense Petal Blizzard down the street and knocking them all out.
"What?" she asked, catching Pikachu's eye. "It's almost like you expect me to be domestic or something."
Pikachu considered that, then nodded. "I did, you're right. My apologies."
There was a rustle of brick pieces as the Cranidos Ash had punched began to pick itself up.
"Okay, that was not a good plan," she muttered. "Hey, strange bipedal thing that speaks complicated words!"
"Me?" Brock asked.
"Not you, the one who's strong!" Cranidos replied, pointing at Ash. "Fight me again!"
The Rock-type lowered her head, and Ash raised a glowing hand warily. "We don't have to fight."
"But fighting and striving is how you get stronger," Cranidos countered. "That's why we bang our heads into one another all day!"
"Hold on," Ash frowned. "So you think the only way Pokémon get stronger is by going directly against difficult and painful problems?"
"No, because I don't know what a Pokémon is," Cranidos replied, head going back up again so she could squint at Ash. "Is that what you are? A Pokémon?"
"Actually, that's what you are," Brock said. "Most intelligent creatures on this planet are Pokémon. Ash, Max and I are all humans – they're not Pokémon."
"That sounds very complicated," Cranidos muttered dubiously.
"Cranidos, there's someone I know I think you might get along with," Ash suggested. "He's a human who has Pokémon, like we do – like most people do now. He can't talk to Pokémon, but he trains the Pokémon he has in a very hard-driving way that doesn't compromise."
Cranidos considered that, glancing to the side as her herd leader screeched in defiance – only to be clonked on the forehead by another Power Whip from Meganium, knocking him out for the second time in as many minutes.
"Sure, why not," she sighed. "Can't go any worse than that did."
"Okay, so by the sound of it you have everything under control here," the Jenny said, turning over a page of her notebook. "What about the one over there?"
"Oh, the Cranidos?" Brock checked. "She's actually interested in joining a friend of ours. Ash is talking it out with her."
"Right, I'll just put that one down as a Ketchum," Jenny determined. "And how many Legendary Pokémon were involved?"
"I… actually don't think any were," Brock answered, after some thought. "Max has Jirachi with him, but I think he's asleep. He does that a lot."
He frowned. "Out of interest, what actually happened?"
"The museum's lab was testing their new upgrade to the revivification machine, or so I'm told," Officer Jenny replied. "It turned out to be a much more powerful effect than they were anticipating."
"If it revived half the museum, I'd say so," Brock agreed. "We once had an entire island revive under us, and there was another time some odd machinery created Fossil Pokémon zombies, but this one wins points for variety."
He was struck by a sudden thought. "What happens to the museum?"
"Good question," Jenny admitted. "I heard one of them talking about a petting zoo for fossil Pokémon, and maybe getting a Porygon so people can ask questions about what the past was actually like, but I don't know if they'll have the budget..."
She finished writing, and flipped the page over. "Okay, I think that's everything we need. Thanks again for your help."
Brock looked around for his Rockruff, finding her staring at Jenny's Arcanine.
"What's up?" he asked her.
"I know I can't grow up to be one..." Rockruff explained. "But I kind of want to try."
Crouching down, Brock picked her up. "I've looked up what Rockruff evolve into," he said. "You've actually got a bit of choice."
"Yeah, but neither of them can set things on fire," Rockruff sighed. "...can they?"
"I think you might want to see if Cinder can teach you her Fire Fang and variants," Brock suggested.
"I know, it's kind of inconvenient," Ash shrugged. "But we don't see Paul all that often. At least you'll get a chance to get used to how the human world works."
"It's probably the best offer I'm going to get," Cranidos mused. "It works for now."
"Good," Ash smiled. "Okay, do we have everyone?"
"I think Mawile's missing," Pikachu said. "But she can take care of herself."
"That's true," Ash agreed. "But I still want to find her, in case we move on. Dawn, can you have Togekiss look for her?"
Dawn nodded, and waved for Togekiss to come down.
As the Fairy-type came into earshot, however, Dexter emitted a ringing noise.
You have a call, he announced.
"What's that?" Cranidos asked. "Is that another of the machine things?"
I'm actually a Pokémon, so far as I can tell, Dexter replied, as Ash flipped him open. Yes, it's a video call.
The screen booted up, then displayed a cream-coloured nose.
"Whoops," Keldeo said, stepping back from the camera.
"I thought Aura Speech didn't work over things like that?" Max asked, leaning in to see what was going on.
I'm translating, Dexter told him.
"Ash, is this a good time?" Keldeo asked. "I wanted to ask something."
"Did you leave something here?" Ash checked. "I thought we made sure you were going back with everything."
"No, I checked on this end," Keldeo replied. "I actually ran into someone in the street."
His hoof nudged the camera, and it moved smoothly to the side – revealing Iris.
"Uh, hi?" Iris tried, waving slightly. "This has been the oddest day..."
"Iris!" Ash grinned. "Hey, has Keldeo told you what's going on?"
Iris glanced to her side at Keldeo, who smiled encouragingly, then back at the camera. "Well… he said you were better at explaining it."
"Okay, so… I became a friend of yours, but it was in the future," Ash began. "It's kind of complicated, yeah… the problem is, I really need to talk to you in person to be able to prove it."
"How are you going to get to Unova quickly?" Keldeo frowned. "Is Mewtwo around?"
I already tried his phone number, Dexter reported. It went to voice mail. Apparently he won't be available for the next few days.
"Hmmm..." Ash frowned. "Well, I do have a few really fast Pokémon… I think Mega Latias or Mega Latios would be the quickest, or-"
"I like that option," Iris said quickly. "Would I get to meet them?"
"I guess?" Ash replied. "It wouldn't be very soon, though, there's some stuff to sort out here in Sinnoh first."
"I can wait," Iris said. "Only… how long? Because some of my shopping needs to go in the fridge..."
"I'll come with you," Keldeo volunteered. "Then I can lead you to the Moor of Icirrus – that's where we'll be for the next few days, Ash."
"Right," Ash nodded. "I'll be there – uh, once we've got this sorted out."
"Mawile, there you are," Togekiss called down. "And who's your friend?"
Mawile looked up, waving. "Hello, Togekiss! Sorry if everyone was worried, I wanted to help him."
She took a step back, giving Togekiss a little more room to land, then indicated the large Pokémon next to her. "This is Tyrunt, Togekiss. And this is my trainer's friend's Pokémon Togekiss, who I think is my friend too."
"Of course," Togekiss smiled. "One of the Fossils from the experiment?"
"Yep," Mawile confirmed. "I think he's a bit lost, more than anything. He says he got hit by a rock and woke up in a strange place, and I think he's a bit shy."
Tyrunt nodded shyly.
"Well, now," Togekiss said softly. "I wonder if there's a way to handle this… will he be all right going back to the museum?"
Mawile looked at Tyrunt, encouraging him to speak up, and the Rock-type did so after a moment. "I… think so," he decided. "If the loud noise and the shouting have stopped."
"I think they probably have," Mawile judged. "But if they haven't, I'll make sure they do."
She put a hand to her mouth, considering. "We may need a pen and paper, so I can write them letters."
"Shouldn't we pick Mawile up?" Dawn asked.
"Like Pikachu said, Mawile's tough enough to take care of herself," Ash replied. "If she thinks it's important, then I'll trust her to know what she's talking about."
Dawn thought about that, then nodded. "Okay, I understand – I'm just not really used to thinking that way. I know a lot of your Pokémon go around on their own, but they're generally the ludicrously tough ones or the ones with families. Or… both, which is surprisingly common."
"If any of my Pokémon really wanted to leave, I wouldn't keep them," Ash said. "But by letting them do what they want, it means they know I wouldn't stop them doing what needs to be done."
"That's either really deep or really, really simple," Lucario observed. "I wonder which one it is."
"So, I had a question," Cranidos spoke up. "How long is it before we meet this Paul you said would be a good human partner for me?"
"I don't actually know," Ash admitted. "We run into him every so often, but I'm not sure when the next time will be."
"Right..." the Rock-type muttered. "That's as good as I'm getting, isn't it?"
"There's a lot of people in the world," Brock said mildly. "There's even a lot of people in Sinnoh."
"What, fifty thousand? A hundred thousand?"
Brock waved his hand. "Try… five and a half million in Sinnoh, and about a thousand times that in the world"
Cranidos stopped, staring at him.
"How many!?"
She gaped for a moment, then ran to catch up. "What do they all eat?"
"We invented logistics," Brock informed her. "And… largely rice."
Seeing her blank look, he elaborated. "That's a species of grass grain."
"What's grass?"
Max looked up from Kris, who'd been giving him subtitles. "This conversation raises interesting questions about how Pokémon understand humans."
"It's very simple," Pikachu told him loftily, waiting to continue until Max looked at Kris again. "We do it by – hey, look, the Oreburgh gym!"
"You did that on purpose," Max accused.
As they approached, the doors hissed open.
"Paul?" Dawn said, totally blindsided. "But… how?"
"He is doing the Sinnoh gym challenge as well," Brock mused. "But still..."
"That did not seem very hard," Cranidos noted.
"Paul!" Ash called. "Do you have a moment?"
Paul looked up, then nodded. "Yes."
Ash jogged forwards a few steps, and began talking. "You know what I said about finding a Pokémon who'd be a good fit for you?"
The other trainer indicated he had not forgotten.
"Well, there was this Fossil Pokémon thing earlier-"
"Wait," Roark interrupted, revealing he was standing just inside the door to see Paul out. "What Fossil Pokémon thing?"
"You didn't know?" Max said. "How?"
"...Paul's gym challenge battle was quite loud," Roark frowned. "That was probably it."
He put up his hands. "But I'm interrupting, sorry."
"Right, uh… oh, yeah," Ash remembered. "So I explained it to this Cranidos, and she seemed interested."
"Those are pretty good Pokémon," Roark contributed, then winced. "Sorry, I'm doing it again..."
"I just battled a Cranidos," Paul nodded. "I'll give her a go."
"...so what happens now?" Cranidos asked, after a few seconds. "Does he just tell me to headbutt a rock until it breaks, or..."
"You may need to explain to her how Pokéballs work," Ash added.
"Go on and have your Gym Challenge, Ash," Brock told him. "I'll handle this."
"Right!" Roark said, once they were in the gym. "So obviously you've got lots of badges, and I don't need to ask. I'll just use one of my strongest lineups."
"Probably a good idea," Lucario mused.
"How many Pokémon?" Ash asked, opening Dexter.
"Two," Roark decided. "Any two you want to use."
"Right," Ash nodded. "Okay, Dexter, can you bring Staraptor and Torterra over?"
They were already waiting, Dexter stated, and the two Pokéballs appeared only a few seconds later.
Ash sent out Staraptor first, and the Flying-type took a moment to orient himself before chuckling. "Hey, that's pretty cool. Kind of hoped it'd be me, after last time."
"Last time you didn't really have the moves for it," Ash said. "Sorry."
"Nah," Staraptor waved off. "It made sense. Just great to redress the balance."
"Your first opponent will be my Cranidos," Roark decided. "He's already had a battle today, but he seemed pretty energetic afterwards."
He threw the Pokéball, and his Rampardos landed with a faint crunch of pebbles splintering on the floor.
"...didn't you say Cranidos?" Max asked.
"He was a Cranidos five minutes ago,"Roark mused. "So either I caught a Rampardos without noticing, or..."
"It's a surprise to me as well," Rampardos muttered.
"No, it's definitely yours," Ash supplied. "Pokémon just evolve around me. Uh… ready, Staraptor?"
"You bet!" Staraptor agreed, taking off and hovering by Ash's end of the battlefield.
Rampardos shook his body back and forth, taking a few steps to get the feel of his larger size, then gave his trainer a nod of confirmation.
"All right!" Roark said. "Begin!"
Staraptor immediately plunged forwards with a mighty wingbeat, then half-furled one of his wings and swept the other around in a fore-wing chop. Steel Wing shimmered faintly on the leading edge, and Rampardos blocked Staraptor's attack with his head to produce a shower of sparks.
The impact knocked Staraptor back a bit, and Roark raised his voice. "Avalanche!"
"Look out!" Ash snapped.
Staraptor promptly got nearly buried in a sudden wave of ice, dodging back just in time to avoid being flattened, and soared up to near the ceiling. "Remind me what that does?"
"It's much more powerful if the user's hit by an attack first!" Ash reminded him. "So make sure to fall back after attacking!"
Staraptor took that in, doing a quick circuit around the gym arena, then dove back in and manifested Steel Wing again.
Just before making contact, however, he flared his wings and stopped in the air – and Rampardos used Avalanche.
Rolling to the side, Staraptor avoided the next burst of the Ice-type attack and hit Rampardos with a Close Combat to the side – knocking the Rock-type staggering sideways, but not managing to knock him either out or over.
"So," Cranidos began. "What's training like?"
"Depends," Magmar replied with a shrug. "Yesterday, we did a thing where we had to drag our own weight in rocks up a mountain."
"Really?" Cranidos asked.
"Yeah, it was a short day because Paul hadn't decided who was going to face the gym..."
Cranidos considered that.
"This could work out," she decided.
Staraptor rolled, flicking a wing out of the way of the Headbutt from his opponent, and did a three-quarter spin before opening his wings again so he was facing Rampardos' side.
"Gust!" he shouted, wings hammering forwards as hard as he could, and the burst of wind impacted on Rampardos' side.
The sheer force of the gust made Rampardos wobble a little, but he recovered quickly and swiped his tail at Staraptor – not hitting, but making Staraptor dodge to avoid being hit.
"Try a Smack Down," Roark instructed.
Staraptor ducked under the return swipe of Rampardos' tail, pulling up as soon as he was clear to go back up near the ceiling. Circling twice, he waited as he saw Rampardos use his tail to dig up a lump of rock from the floor.
The Rock-type's tail tossed it into the air, then he adjusted his stance, and Staraptor broke for the corner of the room as the rock came back down to within batting range.
Instead of the sharp crack he'd expected, though, the rock just made a faint twik sound as Rampardos bounced it forwards.
Then Rampardos headbutted the rock, sending it flying at Staraptor at great speed, and the Flying-type crossed his wings to block the Smack Down. He was mostly successful, thanks largely to a quick Steel Wing, but the interruption to his flight left him much closer to the floor than before.
"Rock Polish!" Roark ordered quickly. "Then GO!"
Staraptor didn't have time to react as Rampardos accelerated suddenly. The Head Butt Pokémon slammed into Staraptor as Ash's Pokémon tried to pull up, and the impact produced a flash of energy and sent Staraptor flying into the wall.
"Are you okay?" Ash called, worried, and the door clicked behind him as Brock entered the room.
Staraptor slowly peeled off the wall, revealing a vaguely bird-shaped dent in the surface.
He dropped towards the floor, then spread his wings and flew back up into the air – a little unsteady now.
"I'm fine, thank you, Ashley," Staraptor replied, shaking his head, then nodded firmly. "Okay!"
"Do you want to come back?" Ash checked. "You look pretty beat up."
"I can pull this off," Staraptor answered firmly. "Leave me out, Ash, I've got this."
"All right," Ash decided. "If you say so. Just don't get hit again!"
"Hit him again," Roark ordered.
Rampardos charged, and Staraptor wove out of the way – flight muscles pulling at his wings to haul him bodily out of the way of the Head Smash attack. Fortunately, it looked as though the impact had slowed Rampardos down a bit as well, as the Rock-type was moving slower and Staraptor had it a little easier trying to dodge.
"You just need to get him once," Roark said. "Ancientpower!"
His Fossil Pokémon roared, thrashing about with red energy starting to cover his body, and Staraptor ducked away from that attack as well. He tucked in one wing and dropped, using the remaining wing as a sail to swing him around a little, then opened them both again and dove between Rampardos' legs fast enough to avoid the kick Rampardos tried to hit him with.
A faint current of air began to swirl around Staraptor as he soared back up into the air, using Tailwind to enhance his manoeuvrability, and he evaded the Avalanche attack Rampardos used next by scant inches.
"That looks… unusual," Max observed. "It doesn't really look like how Flying-types normally fly."
"I know what you mean," Brock agreed. "I think it's because Staraptor's not really flying in the normal way – he's not using his wings like wings, he's using them to sort of throw himself around the battlefield as much as anything."
He glanced to his side, where Latias and Latios weren't, then remembered they were both in Altomare at the moment. "It's kind of… Lucario, does it remind you of how the Eon twins fly?"
"A little bit," Lucario agreed. "They're much smoother about it when they're doing this kind of thing, and they usually rely on zoom-and-boom. But yes."
"Zoom and boom?" Max repeated. "Is that what it's called when you rely on speed to make slashing attacks?"
"I may have gotten the words the wrong way around," Lucario shrugged. "But yes, it's not my terminology, that is the actual way to say it."
"I think we're getting distracted-" Brock began, and then there was a wunch as Rampardos headbutted the wall.
The wall came off distinctly second best, cracks radiating out from the impact point, and Rampardos shook his head a little before charging off after Staraptor again.
Staraptor looked back over his shoulder, then did a reverse wingover – diving forwards into a half-loop and rolling to bring himself back upright.
Halfway through the roll, he furled his wings and passed just in front of Rampardos – prompting the Rock-type to kick out, and connecting with Staraptor's Steel Wing with a loud clang.
The impact jarred Staraptor, making him wobble a little as he spread his wings again and banked sharply around – his Tailwind aiding him – before he came plunging down to pass just in front of Rampardos again.
As he was about to reach Rampardos, however, he brought both his wings across his chest – then opened them, hard, and hit Roark's Rock-type right in the thigh with a Close Combat.
The impact echoed through the gym, and Rampardos staggered to one side. He tried to recover, only to take a second Close Combat as Staraptor threw himself into the continuation of his attack, and finally slipped over.
Rampardos came down like a felled tree, and measured his length on the gym floor – his tail flicking up and nearly hooking Staraptor out of the air, though the burly Flying-type managed to evade it.
After a few tense seconds, Rampardos started to snore.
"I guess that means you win that one," Roark said, returning Rampardos. "But that was really close! Shouldn't you have recalled your Pokémon already?"
"I asked him," Ash explained. "He didn't want to."
"I think I would like to go back in my Pokéball now, though," Staraptor reported. "My wings ache."
"You got it," Ash replied. "Nice work, Staraptor, but I think we might need to work a bit on not getting hit in the first place..."
"That's fine by me," Staraptor said, as Ash raised his Pokéball.
"Have you chosen your second Pokémon?" Roark checked.
"I have," Ash agreed, holding up the other Pokéball. "Torterra, go!"
"So, um… you knew me, right?" Iris asked.
"A bit," Keldeo replied. "You helped me out, along with Ash and Cilan. And-"
"Cilan?" Iris interrupted. "That Gym Leader from Striaton?"
"I think that's what he did before he joined Ash," Keldeo nodded. "We… didn't really have time to talk all that much, there was some late lunch and that was pretty close to it."
"Still..." Iris shook her head. "It's such an odd thought."
She frowned. "What Pokémon did I have?"
"There was an Axew, an Excadrill, and… an Emolga," Keldeo answered.
"An Axew?" Iris repeated. "But… I could swear I got Fraxure as a Fraxure. How much got changed?"
"Well, the first time around Ash didn't have a Lucario," Keldeo replied. "Or a Suicune, Entei, Raikou, Latias, Latios, Mawile, Ho-Oh..."
He stopped. "Actually, that list could go on for a while."
"It's really odd to think of Ash Ketchum without his Lucario," Iris said. "It's like imagining… I don't know, Drayden without Druddigon, or Alder without Braviary..."
Keldeo tossed his head. "He wasn't any different, really – I mean, his Pokémon were different, and he didn't have any ability to use Aura consciously that I saw, but it was definitely the same Ash."
Iris paused. "...honestly, the things you've listed are kind of the things I think of as Ash."
"But what makes Ash into Ash isn't that he's a trainer with a lot of Pokémon," Keldeo replied. "It's his attitude. And that hasn't changed."
"I guess… I'll probably see what you mean when Ash does what he was talking about," Iris decided.
Torterra adjusted his footing a little, making sure he was ready for battle, and looked up at his foe – a Tyranitar, sent out by Roark a few moments ago and just getting ready for battle herself.
"Any advice?" he asked Ash.
"Mostly just stick to what we talked about," Ash replied.
Torterra nodded, then turned back to his opponent.
"Begin!" Brock called.
Both Pokémon began moving – Tyranitar firing a Flamethrower, while Torterra quickly ate an Energy Ball to give him a boost before hunkering down to let the Fire-type attack wash off his energy shield.
"Why are you refereeing?" Roark asked, looking over at Brock with a confused frown.
"I'm not taking part," Brock pointed out. "And I'm a Rock type gym leader."
The moment the Flamethrower stopped, Torterra used Earthquake – making the whole building shake, and causing Tyranitar to take a step back before steadying herself with her tail.
Shifting her weight, she took a step forwards, and then another – accelerating quickly, her fangs shining with an Ice Fang attack.
"Sure," Roark agreed, still not looking at his Pokémon. "It was just a surprise."
Torterra used Energy Ball, targeting Tyranitar's lower jaw. The attack hit a little further down, but still had enough momentum to check her speed – which became much more of a problem when Torterra charged, slamming bodily into Tyranitar and knocking her backwards several lumbering steps.
Roark focused back onto the battle again. "Stone Edge!"
The ground cracked as Tyranitar forced some stone pillars up through it, and then she made them collapse down on top of Torterra. They crashed against his shell and tree, throwing off splinters, and the Grass-type shook himself to throw the debris off.
"Fire Blast him!" Roark added, and Torterra boosted himself again before using Earthquake for a second time.
This one wasn't much stronger than the first, but it made the building shake a lot more. Tyranitar dug her claws into the floor, pressing down with her tail to keep herself stable, and launched a roaring Fire Blast down at Torterra.
Torterra fired his charged-up Energy Ball just as the attack was about to hit, and the two of them detonated on one another in a cloud of smoke and dispersing flame which went everywhere – but which didn't particularly harm Torterra himself.
"Torterra, fall back a bit!" Ash called. "And boost, then use Energy Ball!"
"Don't let him!" Roark ordered. "Dark Pulse, then close in!"
Tyranitar roared, a Dark Pulse flashing out at the same time as her shout, and the attack made Torterra flinch. He still swallowed his Energy Ball, however, producing the now-familiar green glow, and promptly pulled together a second Energy Ball.
As Tyranitar approached, Torterra shifted his head – tracking where Tyranitar was going to be, so the attack would fit as soon as he fired.
As he was about to, though, Tyranitar's gait changed and she jumped – pushing off hard enough to produce a foot-shaped crater in the ground, and soaring clear over Torterra as she twisted around to attack him from behind.
"Eat it!" Ash called quickly. "Then turn and fire!"
Torterra swallowed that Energy Ball, the green glow of his boost getting brighter, and scrabbled on the floor to turn as fast as possible. He was about halfway around when Tyranitar leaned down and used Ice Fang, making the Grass-type hiss in pain, and Roark pointed.
"Flamethrower!"
"Synthesis!" Ash ordered, prompting Torterra to heal himself. The flames washed over him as he did, and healing warred with damage for several seconds as Torterra spun to face Tyranitar properly.
When the flames subsided, Torterra stopped healing – though he was clearly still damaged from the earlier clash.
"Again!" Roark called.
"Load!" Ash instructed, and Torterra readied an Energy Ball.
Tyranitar jumped, ready to go over Torterra a second time, and Torterra's head tracked up as he realized Ash's plan.
A doubly-overcharged Energy Ball hit Tyranitar right as she reached head height, and knocked her through the wall.
Roark did a double-take, looking at the rectangularish hole in the wall, then back at the long skidmarks Torterra's recoil had left in the ground.
"That wall was made of solid rock..." he said faintly.
"How solid was it after two Earthquakes?" Dawn asked.
"Good point," Roark admitted. "Yeah, that does look like it broke along some fracture lines."
The ceiling shifted ominously, as Ash recalled his tired Torterra.
"And what we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is the Gym Destroyer in his natural habitat," Lucario announced. "How attached are you to the building?"
"I could do with it not falling down," Roark said frankly.
Max swung his bag off his shoulder. "Jirachi? I think we might need help!"
Huh? Jirachi asked, poking his head out of the bag.
"Were you asleep again?"
No, I got this new handheld console-
"The building's collapsing," Dawn explained. "Quite slowly, but it's still a problem."
Oh, got it! Jirachi agreed, brightening up. I wish the building wasn't about to fall on anyone!
"Well, she looks healthy," the Nurse Joy said, putting her scanner away. "Is she one of the ones who was running through the city earlier?"
"I assume so," Paul replied, using Cranidos' new Pokéball to return her.
As he turned to leave, there was a flicker of light and several people and Pokémon appeared in the Pokémon Centre lobby – Ash, the people who had been with him, all their Pokémon, a Tyranitar, and a pile of two dozen Pokéballs and a dozen or so Rock types.
"We really need to work on phrasing things better," Max sighed.
Oops? Jirachi asked.
In the distance, the Oreburgh Gym collapsed in a shower of dust and rock fragments.
"We… can probably fix that," Ash said awkwardly.
"I didn't expect that," Dawn admitted, checking the calendar again. "Is this right? The Indigo League starts in a few days?"
"Yeah, that's going to cause a problem," Ash agreed. "I think I have to be there while Max is taking part, so I'll have to stay in Kanto until that's over or until Max is defeated."
"We don't have to win, right?" Arc asked. "Just take part?"
"That's right," Brock supplied. "Placing anywhere is enough to finish the mentorship. They don't expect Pokémon Leagues to be cancelled like the one in Hoenn was."
"So you're heading off to meet Iris, and then you're… what?" Dawn asked. "Just going to go back to Kanto?"
"I'll probably have to meet Ash at the Indigo League," Max suggested. "It'd be good to get a couple of days of last-minute training, though."
"It is kind of a pity that I'll miss… what, one Contest of yours?" Ash checked. "I don't think you've got many scheduled..."
"At least one," Dawn said. "But it's fine, you two have your own things to do. What about you, Brock?"
Brock gave Max an apologetic shrug. "I'm probably going to stay up in Sinnoh to keep Dawn company, but I'll come down if Max makes it to the last couple of days. What do you think, Dawn?"
"Yeah, that sounds like a plan," Dawn agreed.
She shook Max's hand. "Good luck in the League!"
"Well, thanks," Max said, a little awkwardly. "But, uh, I'm staying in Sinnoh until Ash is done in Unova..."
AN:
Ash and co. have a lot of experience with fossils now.
Also, some Iris (though not much) and a Roark battle.
Cut Ash some slack, he's not done one of these in a while.
