"There he is!" Brock called, waving. "Hey, Ash!"

Mega Latios swept overhead, banking into a spiral, and landed neatly next to the path for Ash to get off.

"Thanks, Latios," Ash smiled, as the Dragon-type reverted. "Do you want to stick around?"

"I think I'll head back to Altomare for now," Latios decided, and Ash returned him for Dexter to transfer over.

"We saw how Max did on TV," Brock volunteered. "But it missed some of it. How did it go?"

"I think he did really well," Ash said, thinking. "He had a few close battles, but that's OK, and he didn't do that thing where someone with a Legendary Pokemon just steamrollers their way right through."

Dawn nodded. "Yeah, it did look like he was being careful to use everyone. What was up with that Pokemon at the end, the Decidueye?"

"A Grass and Ghost type with a really strange ability," Ash summarized. "And that move he did… I don't really know what to think about that one!"

"The League didn't either," Brock supplied. "They just did an official ruling on them after that match, not sure if you saw it. Only one per match, I think, unless there's an agreement, but it doesn't count the same as being your Legendary Pokemon or your Mega-Evolved Pokemon."

"So you could have a Mega-Evolved Pokemon use one of those attacks?" Lucario asked, interested. "I wonder what-"

"Nope, sorry," Pikachu interrupted. "I saw Decidueye was carrying something. You can't carry both a Mega Stone and a whatever-that-was at the same time."

"Ah well," Lucario sighed.

"Why is that, actually?" Buneary frowned. "Why can't you carry two things at once?"

Pikachu, Brock, Ash and Lucario exchanged mystified looks.

"It's just… how it works?" Lucario said, a little lamely.

"You could still have a Legendary Pokemon use one, though," Brock pointed out. "And- doesn't Mega Rayquaza not need a Mega Stone?"

They all thought about that idea, then winced.

"Probably best to find out more before speculating," Pikachu decided.

Ash nodded his agreement. "Sure."

He then looked over to Mawile, who was waiting with Tyrunt over to the side. "Are you two all right?"

"We're fine, thank you!" Mawile replied. "Or I am. Are you fine, Tyrunt?"

"Yes, thank you," the Dragon-type Fossil confirmed.

"I'm glad you've made a friend," Ash told him. "Remember, you can ask if you have any problems. Uh… hold on."

He glanced down at Pikachu. "Wasn't there some Pokemon dress up competition or something in Sinnoh? Or have we gone past it?"

"We haven't gone past it," Brock answered. "It's the other side of Eterna Forest, and we haven't got there yet either."

"Right," Ash remembered. "So… you've done a Contest in Floaroma, right? Then after that is those girls Suicune knows."

Suicune emerged from her Pokeball.

"What was that?" she asked. "Sorry, I wasn't listening."

"I think we're getting close to those two Joys you befriended," Ash explained.

Suicune gave him a baffled look. "What two Joys?"

"Last time around, we met two young Joys," Pikachu began, attempting to explain. "They were called Paige and Marnie, and they'd befriended you – or a Suicune, at least – in the forest."

"That would have to be me, then," Suicune said. "There were no other in the Home Islands, and from what you and my -father have said, when he created another trio they were Shiny. But I do not know either girl."

"So that means that you must have met them after Ash did the Silver Conference challenge," Dawn realized. "Or after he started it, anyway, because that's when you challenged him and things went differently for you."

"So it would seem," Suicune agreed. "It's an odd thought, certainly – to think that in another world, another time, I had friends who I now do not even know."

"It is odd, yes," Brock agreed. "And all of us have friends we didn't even meet the first time around – at least, I think we all do. Dawn?"

"I do, yes," Dawn agreed. "I know what you mean, you kind of wonder about what you've missed."

"But that's always been true, I suppose," Suicune noted, pacing back and forth a little. "It shouldn't need time travel to demonstrate. Stop for half an hour and have lunch, and you meet different people on the road – get lost, and the people you run into are those you might never have seen otherwise."

She halted for a moment, then turned to face down the road. "But now I'm curious to see what they're like – to see who I might have known, in another world you all remember."

"I don't!" Mawile volunteered, holding up her hand. "And nor does Tyrunt!"

"I don't either," Zorua pointed out.

"Fine, then. In another world some of you remember."


"You had to fly on a Drifloon?" Suicune asked, looking at her trainer as they descended into a small valley.

"Yeah, but everyone else went by car," Ash clarified. "That's how Marnie gets between the windworks at one end of the valley and the Pokemon Centre nearer the main road. But there was a storm, and Pikachu and Paige got blown away so I had to go and help them – then I think Marnie went to get you, and you caught us as we fell off a log."

"Then I am glad I could help you even then, Ash," Suicune told him. "The weather looks fine, though, so I hope I won't need to catch you this time."

"Sounds like a good idea," Ash chuckled.

As they walked down towards the valley floor, however, the Water-type paused and sniffed the air.

"That's odd," she said, half to herself. "Dexter, can I have a look at a map?"

Generating, Dexter stated, and his projector created a map of the area in thin air.

"No, more zoomed out… there we go," Suicune said, looking it over. "No, this doesn't look like it's en route from anywhere to anywhere..."

"What's up?" Ash asked.

"I have the feeling my brother's been this way," she told him. "Not long ago. But I can't see why..."


"Come on, Marnie!" Paige called, looking back to see where her sister was. "We don't want to miss-"

"I don't know," Marnie replied, hurrying along anyway. "I know it's amazing and all, but I sometimes think I could do with missing a meeting. It can be kind of tiring."

"But he's a Legendary Pokemon!" Paige protested. "That's so cool, right?"

"Well… yeah," Marnie admitted, smiling. "And he's got some really cool stories."

"Aha!" a boisterous voice shouted, as they rounded the corner in the path. "There you are!"

Raikou shook himself out, and smiled at Paige. "It's lovely to see you both. Are you well?"

"I am," Paige answered. "But Marnie said she is a bit tired."

"Paige," Marnie hissed.

"But you did," Paige protested.

"Tired, is it?" Raikou asked. "Well, then, I'll try not to take too much of your time!"

He seated himself. "Do you remember what I said last time? About the gyms?"

"I do!" Paige agreed. "You said you had battled the Fire type gym in Kanto. Did you battle another one?"

"Better than that!" Raikou announced. "I battled two other ones! First there was the Psychic gym in Saffron City."

He coughed. "That did not go very well."

"Why didn't it go well?" Marnie said, confused. "You're a Legendary Pokemon."

"That doesn't help when my opponent is also a Legendary Pokemon who can turn into any Legendary Pokemon, now, does it?" Raikou demanded, a good-natured chuckle in his voice. "Yes, I quite forgot Sabrina has a good friend in a Mew, and Mew turned into a Kyogre and attacked me."

"Isn't a Kyogre a water type?" Paige asked.

"Well, yes, and Sabrina was only too quick to point that out, wasn't she?" Raikou said. "So Mew realized her mistake, and turned into a Groudon instead. And while it was a fine fight, it was one I lost. So no badge there for me!"

He tapped a paw on the ground meditatively. "Probably for the best that one took place on a deserted island in the middle of the ocean… anyway, after that, success!"

With a flourish, Raikou showed them his scarf and the little black comma-shaped badge pinned to it. "That's put me ahead of my clone, the cad!"

"Brother!"

Raikou jumped.

"Suicune?" he asked. "What the blazes are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Suicune replied, pacing into the small cleared area. She halted for a moment, and inclined her head to both girls.

"I'm sorry for interrupting," she said. "I'm glad my brother has friends like you. You seem sensible."

That said, she turned to Raikou. "That is, if you're not pressuring them?"

"Of course not!" Raikou replied, sounding hurt. "That would only happen if we were in a battle, surely?"

"Not what I meant," Suicune said.

She looked closer at Raikou's scarf. "Is that half a Dark City badge?"

Raikou gave her a puzzled look. "Half?"

"Whoops," Suicune muttered.

"You mean to say that I missed something?" the Legendary demanded. "I'm falling behind? I'll have to-"

Suicune stepped on his tail, not hard, but enough to warn him he might have trouble if he ran off.

"Finish talking to your friends first," she chided.


As the two Legendaries talked rapidly back and forth, Marnie looked carefully at the person who'd followed Suicune into the clearing.

"Are you Ash Ketchum?" she asked. "Raikou's trainer? He says you can punch oceans, but I don't know if he's exaggerating or something."

Lucario knelt down and put his paw on Marnie's shoulder, though since she was actually taller standing than he was kneeling it looked a little silly. "Anyone can punch the ocean," he told her. "The trick is doing anything other than ending up with a wet and slightly salty hand."

Paige giggled.

"I'm sorry if we're making things difficult with your Raikou, Mr. Ketchum," Marnie said.

"It's fine," Ash replied, waving his hand. "Seriously, I agree with Suicune – it's good for him to have people he knows. When I caught him, and when I caught Suicune, and a lot of my other powerful Pokemon, it was clear from the start that if they wanted to go I'd let them."

"Is that like Drifloon?" Paige asked. "They fly all over the place, but they keep coming back to us."

"It sounds like it," Brock told her. "Well done for understanding that. The best way to treat a Pokemon is whatever makes you both happiest – and it's only polite to let them choose."

Paige nodded, proud of herself.

"Well, I'm definitely going to go and get that other badge half as soon as possible!" Raikou announced, drawing their attention. "Marnie, Paige, hold on! I'll be right back!"

He vanished with a whoom of displaced air, and could be seen for a moment loping off to the south before passing entirely out of sight.

"You can probably go and get a drink or something," Suicune advised. "My brothers and I are very fast when the mood takes us, but even Raikou will take an hour or two to run clear back to Kanto and win a League Badge."

She glanced up at Ash, then put her paw over her muzzle. "I don't think he remembered Ash could just send him right back to Pallet Town..."


Pikachu twitched his ear, looking back at the valley as they headed out of it. "That was… quite a coincidence."

"I know," Suicune agreed. "I wonder if Celebi's responsible – and if she is, whether she's laughing at us now."

"I don't think you have to say someone did it deliberately," Brock disagreed. "This is something that happened around Ash, after all. It could just be his luck at work."

"Maybe Absol could tell us," Dawn mused.

She shrugged. "Anyway, we should think about who's going to enter the Pokemon Dress Up Contest, because we can't have everyone do it."

"I could enter, and then someone who could be everyone could enter," Zorua suggested to her.

"If you want to enter, go ahead," Brock told her. "But don't you think there's not much of a challenge?"

"Which is why I'm going to win, unless the judges are blind," Zorua replied, flicking her tail.

"Dress up contest means no fighting, right?" Tyrunt asked. "Just dressing up?"

He swallowed. "Because… if it is, I think I would like a go."

"That sounds like a good idea," Brock smiled.

"Then I'll enter too, to keep you company!" Mawile decided. "Um… hold on. Dexter? Can we borrow you to decide what to be?"

Brock chuckled.

As the Steel-type and the Dragon-type watched Dexter go through his catalogue of Pokemon shapes, Pikachu sat back on Ash's shoulder.

"Psst," a whisper reached him.

Looking down, he saw Buneary hopping along just behind his trainer.

"Can we talk?" the Normal-type asked, and after a moment Pikachu jumped down to join her.

"Sure," he said, though his actions had already made that clear. "What is it?"

"Well, I was wondering..." Buneary began. "Would you mind if I entered the dress-up contest with you?"

That gave Pikachu pause, and he was silent for several moments as he thought about how to respond.

"Sure," he decided. "It is, and I say this in full understanding of the consequences, a date."

Buneary tried not to squee.


"All right, let's give this a go," Lucario said, checking his armband for the Lucarionite. "This is definitely a held item."

"I'd agree with that," Pikachu agreed.

"And so is this," Lucario added, tying Ash's Expert Belt around his other wrist.

"That's a bit slack," Buizel pointed out, inspecting it closely. "Is that what you were planning, or what?"

"Of course it's what I'm planning," Lucario replied. "I'm going to get bigger when I Mega Evolve."

"If you say so," Buizel shrugged.

Lucario took his stance, then threw a few practice punches. He did a series of one-two-three attacks, high-low-middle, then brought his other paw around and used Aura Sphere.

The attack burst in a flash of blue light on a nearby rock, and Lucario nodded in satisfaction.

"That worked," he said. "I definitely felt the Expert Belt."

"What about the Mega Stone?" Pikachu asked. "You just used one item, the other was just… there."

"Fine, then," Lucario said, crossing his arms. "Ash!"

"Huh?" Ash responded, looking up from what he was doing.

He went flying less than a second later as Infernape punched him in the cheek, and managed to brake himself to a halt with a sliding skid rather than hit the nearest tree.

"Sorry!" Infernape winced. "I thought you were going to block that one."

"I probably was," Ash said, straightening up. "Don't worry, Infernape, that was my fault."

He looked over at Lucario, one gloved hand rubbing the injured area absently and channelling a witchfire flicker of healing Aura. "What is it?"

"...sorry," Lucario sighed. "I didn't check before interrupting you. I was hoping you could Mega Evolve me so we can test this."

"Oh, sure," Ash agreed readily, swinging his staff off his back and concentrating.

Lucario's Lucarionite lit up with a brilliant golden-silver flash, and a second or two later Mega Lucario stood there.

"Thank you," he said, as Ash sat down to watch. "So now I'm definitely using the Lucarionite-"

Buizel coughed.

"What now?" Mega Lucario asked, turning to him.

"You're not really using it," Buizel pointed out. "It's just sort of part of your body."

Mega Lucario stuck his tongue out, then whirled and threw another Aura Sphere at the nearest rock.

This time, it exploded – collapsing in a rush of splinters, though not onto anything or anyone important.

"That doesn't really prove anything," Pikachu said. "You're Mega-Evolved now, your attacks are much stronger."

Mega Lucario thought about that for a long moment.

"Okay," he decided. "New plan. Pikachu, are you okay with being attacked a couple of times?"

"By you?" Pikachu clarified, and got a confirmation. "Sure, but not full force. I'd just go flying."

"Seekers?" Mega Lucario checked. "You can counter shield."

"Go for it," Pikachu decided, loping out into a clearing.

Mega Lucario's paws glowed, and he produced a pair of Aura Spheres. He built them until they were both about four inches across, compared their size to Pikachu, then slammed them together.

A cascade of seeker spheres came crashing out, then converged upon Pikachu and hid him in a cloud of dust – which faded a moment later, showing him unscathed and surrounded by a Counter Shield.

"Okay, that's one," Pikachu said. "What about the other one?"

"Well, I didn't feel the Expert Belt, but it's still on there..." Mega Lucario said. "Let's see how it works with one effective item first."

Mega Lucario walked over to Ash's mostly-empty backpack – the pouch containing all their things being over where Brock was cooking – and retrieved a small gemstone.

"Fighting gem," he explained. "I'll use this while wearing the Expert Belt and we'll see what happens."

He was about to begin, but Staraptor came flying backwards into the clearing.

"Torterra has a mean Energy Ball on him," the Flying-type reported, then looked down at what was going on. "Hey, what's this?"

"Science," Pikachu informed him.

"Cool," Staraptor decided, and alighted on one of the trees that was relatively intact. "I am down with science. Go ahead and science some science."

Do you understand what science is? Dexter asked.

"Something about experimentation," Staraptor waved his wing dismissively. "So, are we going to do this?"

Mega Lucario turned back to Pikachu, and they exchanged a shrug. Then the Fighting-type took his stance again, checked his Expert Belt, and held the Fighting Gem in the palm of one paw.

"Here we go," he said, and began charging his Aura Spheres.


"So a Goodra walks with their tail all coiled up?" Tyrunt asked. "Like this?"

He took a step, then frowned. "No, not like that..."

"Yeah, it's more of a curl," Mawile said. "Hold still a moment?"

She stepped forwards, and carefully took the tip of Tyrunt's tail. "Let me know if this hurts."

Slowly, the Steel-type began to twist the tailtip upwards, until Tyrunt suddenly yelped. "Ah!"

"Sorry!" Mawile apologized immediately, letting go. "Okay, that one probably won't work… what about trying a Dragonite? I bet we can make some wings!"

Tyrunt considered that, and was about to nod when there was an explosion that made the ground jump under his feet.

"What happened?" he asked, nervous. "Is there something wrong?"


I think we will classify that one as an important negative datum, Dexter said, as Mega Lucario sat back up in a smoking crater.

"Are you okay?" Ash said. "I saw you were starting to charge up, and then..?"

"I lost control," Mega Lucario summarized. "I've used a Gem once before, it was nothing like that. I think they must have interfered with one another."

"But we've seen Pokemon using lots of items before," Pikachu said. "Now I think about it. Remember that Tropius Winona had? The whole thing it did was based on using lots of types of berries!"

"You mean a Flying type owned by a Flying type gym leader, one of her specialists, whose whole focus was on using multiple items, can use multiple items," Staraptor summarized. "Well, hey, that must mean anyone can do it!"

Everyone in the clearing, including Ash, gave him an odd look.

"What?" Staraptor asked. "I can sarcasm as well, can't I?"

"Ash!" Brock called. "Can you bring your Pokemon, it's dinner!"

He paused for a moment, as Ash picked up his bag, then went on. "And Buneary wants me to ask if you're done with Pikachu for now? Something about discussing a theme."

"Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"I think I'm done for the night, yeah," Pikachu agreed. "If we keep training Lucario might blow himself up more, and this time the expert belt might be on the hand which explodes."

He tapped his tail against his paw, meditatively. "Maybe we should see if Gary needs something to do?"

"You just want him to make his Pokemon explode," Staraptor accused, flitting from one branch to the next.


"Eterna Forest," Dawn said out loud. "I remember this being kind of awkward… there was someone we found who was looking for… for..."

She snapped her fingers. "That's right, it was Amber Castle."

"Amber Castle?" Quilava asked. "I don't remember this."

"Amber Castle is a place where a royal Vespiquen lives, deep in the forest," Brock supplied.

"Oh!" someone else said, surprising them all.

A green-clad woman bowed, then walked closer down the track. "I am sorry for interrupting you. I was going to ask for your help in finding Amber Castle, but I hear you are already familiar with it."

There was a rustle of branches as Crobat landed on a nearby one.

"Someone's coming," he reported.

"We noticed," Brock told him, dryly.

"Really?" Crobat said, tilting his head. "She's still about five minutes away, so that's very – wait, who's she?"

"Sorry about this," Dawn apologized. "Why don't you tell me while they sort things out."

"I thought the point of scouting was to see things before they arrived," Lucario said.

"There are trees, okay?" Crobat replied. "I can only do so much with echolocation when trees bounce most of the echoes back!"

"I'm sure Crobat does fine generally," Brock vouched. "I did ask him to sweep wider today, that might have done it."

As that conversation went on, Dawn shook the woman's hand. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you," the woman said. "My name's Cheryl – and, like I said, I'm hoping to find Amber Castle. Do you know where it is? It's supposed to take a Mothim to find it."

"Well-" Dawn began, then stopped. "Hold on. Why a Mothim? They're not the male equivalent of Vespiquen."

"I… don't think I ever questioned it," Cheryl replied. "But there must be something to the story. Do you think you could help?"

She shrugged. "My grandfather used to say that it's better to ask for help and not get any than to not ask when you could have gotten help."

"I think I can agree with that," Dawn replied. "I know both my friends here can understand any Pokemon, and I'm pretty good with my own Pokemon, so perhaps-"

"Oh, look, a Burmy!" Cheryl pointed. "Sorry, I'm listening, I just want to see if this one's male. Chansey, use Attract!"

Her Chansey emerged from her Pokeball, and gave Cheryl a slightly confused look. "Really?"

"I need to know if it's a male," Cheryl explained to her Pokemon. "That way I'll know if it can evolve into Mothim."

"You could just have Ash or Brock ask it," Dawn said. "That's what I was trying to point out – but you might not even need a Mothim at all, because of Ash's Pokemon. He's got one who I'm pretty sure most other Pokemon will listen to."

She shrugged. "But if you want a Mothim anyway, that's fine. It just seems like it might not be a good idea to catch a Pokemon for just one job."

"I wouldn't do that!" Cheryl protested. "I'd take care of Burmy and Mothim! I really like Pokemon like that, actually, though I love Chansey too."

"Well, maybe you can ask Ash – where did Ash go?" Dawn asked. "Lucario?"

Lucario looked over. "He went off with Staraptor to see who else was coming, I think."


Staraptor landed on Ash's arm, shuffled a bit, then peered at his trainer. "That's pretty cool. Didn't know you could do that."

"He holds Hippopotas on his head, this is nothing," Pikachu pointed out. "Did you see whoever it was?"

"Yep. That Grass-type gym leader, Gardenia," Staraptor provided. "She's got an Eevee with her."

"Oh, I know what she's doing!" Ash realized. "This is where Eevee evolve into Leafeon, because of the Mossy Rock."

"Makes sense," Pikachu agreed. "Should we go and say hello?"

"It seems polite," Ash said. "Actually, Staraptor, can you go and lead her here?"

The Flying-type took off again in a cloud of dust, and Pikachu scrubbed at his eyes for a moment.

"Itchy," he explained. "Wasn't there something happening back with the others?"


Some time later, Brock checked a list.

"Okay," he said, tapping it with his finger. "So you want to evolve your Eevee into a Leafeon."

"That's right," Gardenia agreed. "There was a girl who visited my gym a while ago with a lovely Eevee who could be just about any one of Eevee's evolutions, and I really liked the look of the Leafeon so I decided to see if I could get one. But it took me a while to find an Eevee who was okay with the idea."

"Oh, you mean Molly?" Ash said. "Yeah, she said she was doing the Sinnoh League. How did she do?"

"Well, she set fire to the gym," Gardenia replied. "But… honestly, I was going to renovate anyway, so I don't mind all that much."

"How does that even work?" Lucario asked, giving Ash a sideways glance. "You've never actually given her any training tips, how did she pick up the Gym Destroyer thing?"

"The what?" Gardenia blinked. "Is this something I should know about?"

"Hopefully not," Ash winced. "I'm going to try my best in Sinnoh as well, but I haven't started great..."

Gardenia shook her head. "Anyway… so you know Molly?"

"Yeah, I sort of saved her," Ash said. "She moved in pretty close to my mom's house, too. So we know each other pretty well, but I'm travelling a lot so I don't spend as much time with her as I probably should."

Brock tapped the notepad, bringing them back on topic. "All right, so that's Gardenia. We should be able to get to the Mossy Rock, I don't think it's far. Dexter?"

Correct.

"And you want to find the Amber Palace," Brock continued, indicating Cheryl.

"And evolve my new Burmy," Cheryl added. "But yes, that's about right."

"There's a spot in Eterna Forest where the Combee form Combee Walls," Gardenia supplied. "It's not very far from the old Chateau, near Eterna City, so it's on my way home."

"Then it sounds like we've got a plan," Brock said. "As for evolving Burmy into Mothim, I think I know how we can do it… just keep him near Ash, it'll happen."

"You don't want us to engage in definitely useful training?" Lucario asked.

"Yeah, I could go for some training," Staraptor chimed in.

"I've seen you doing 'useful training'," Crobat commented. "It involved shouting 'Mango Chutney' and falling over."

"Oh, right, that kind of definitely useful training," Staraptor realized. "Yeah, that probably works better..."

"This is such an odd experience!" Cheryl said, glancing across at Gardenia. "Don't you think so?"


"All right, this looks like the place," Ash said.

"I'm impressed, you're getting better at map reading," Brock smiled.

"Not really," Ash admitted. "It's just that the Mossy Rock showed up on Aura sight from two miles away. It's really pretty, actually."

"Well, whatever works," Brock chuckled. "All right, Gardenia, we're here."

Eevee ran past them, slipping through Ash's feet, and placed a paw on the Mossy Rock.

There was a flash of bright light, and when it faded there was a Sylveon standing there.

"That was into odd," the Sylveon said, inspecting her paws. "I expecting was that-"

"All right, Zorua," Brock interrupted. "We know it's you."

Zorua pouted, switching back to her base form, as Gardenia sent out her actual Eevee and gave the fluffy Normal-type a quick cuddle. "Was it the accent again?"

"Afraid so," Pikachu agreed. "I think you need to work on Pokemon voices before you do them."

"I don't always have advance warning of what would be a good prank," Zorua shrugged.

She stepped away from the Mossy Rock, and Gardenia approached it.

"All right, Eevee," she said. "Ready?"

Eevee nodded, and hopped towards the moss-covered rock. He slowed as he approached it, until by the time he was within a few inches he was barely moving.

Slowly, he reached out a paw, and pressed it to the stone.

Ash closed one eye, watching in both visible light and Aura sight, and saw as a little ripple of reaction ran through the stone's shimmering Aura when Eevee touched it.

The light pressed in slightly, as though Eevee had touched the surface of a pool without breaking it, then abruptly the boundary broke and green Aura flowed into Eevee's paw and up his leg.

It filled him to the same level as the stone in a few seconds, pausing there, and then the changes spun out through his whole body as the evolution took place.

His tail flattened, taking on a leaf-green aspect as the Grass-type Aura settled into it, first warping his form and then fixing it in a new shape. His fur shortened, his ears perked up, and a spring-green curl developed on his forehead to match the half-dozen others across the rest of his body.

When the light of the evolution faded and Leafeon took his paw from the rock, there was still a glow of grassy green Aura in his system – much fainter now, almost blending into his new Grass-type, but not gone completely.

"That's pretty impressive," Ash said out loud. "It's kind of like the Aura of the Mossy Rock spread into you, but there's still just as much as before."

Leafeon gave him an odd look. "You could see what was happening when I evolved?"

"Yeah," Ash confirmed. "I don't think I've seen an Eevee evolve before from that close – not expecting it to happen, at least."

Gardenia spread her hands, and Leafeon crouched before jumping up into them.

"How are you doing, dear?" she asked her new Grass-type.

"It's still odd, but I'll get used to it," Leafeon summarized, tail twitching.

Ash promptly translated.

"So next is the Amber Castle, right?" Cheryl asked. "It's going to be so cool, especially with a proper hero along!"

She frowned, thinking. "I wonder if it'll be a quest to go and retrieve some important item – or maybe to save her castle from invaders?"


"Greetings to you, your Majesty," Suicune said, bowing one foreleg down and inclining her muzzle. "I wished to ask of you whether one of my party might be permitted some of your Enchanted Honey."

The Vespiquen regarded her carefully, a buzz sounding from all the Combee around.

"That'll be four hundred Poké," she said eventually.

"Very well," Suicune said respectfully. "If you will allow me a moment?"

She paced back three steps, then turned and padded over to the humans and their other Pokemon.

"Well?" Cheryl asked. "Do we need to drive off a Rhydon?"

"It's a little simpler than that," Suicune replied. "This may seem at first like an odd question, but… how much money do you have on you?"

Cheryl's jaw went slack.

"That's a little less epic than I was expecting, I know that," Gardenia said, blinking. "Money? But… they're wild Pokemon."

"I don't think that necessarily means they have no use for currency," Suicune replied. "For example, I noticed that the Queen has a small gas burner, a kettle, and a supply of coffee grounds."

"Hold on, I'll… where did I put my purse?" Cheryl asked. "How much is it supposed to be?"

"Four hundred Poké," Suicune relayed.

"That's not bad, actually," Gardenia mused. "I mean, regular honey is a hundred Poké."

"I know," Cheryl sighed. "But I'm still disappointed, in an odd way. Why didn't she tell us to do something impressive?"

"Perhaps she doesn't need anything done around the house," Lucario mooted. "It looks well built."

"Here we go," Cheryl announced. "Okay, time to get this sorted out."

As she walked forward with Suicune, the Combee buzzing slightly louder, Dawn looked around.

"How many of these Combee could evolve into Vespiquen?" she asked. "Ash, you evolve Pokemon a lot, right? Is this a problem?"

"It shouldn't be," Gardenia replied, sounding a little dubious. "What do you mean, Ash evolves Pokemon a lot?"

"She's right," Brock chimed in. "Ash's Porygon2 says it's statistically significant."

I believe my precise terminology was totally ridiculous, Dexter clarified. But I may have mentioned statistical significance in there as well, yes.

"Maybe we should step back a little, then," Gardenia suggested.


"All right, that's that done..." Brock ticked off. "And so is that… so it looks like we just need to see if Cheryl's Burmy can be evolved, and head to Eterna City."

"What's the best way to evolve a Pokemon?" Cheryl asked.

"Normally, battles help," Lucario suggested. "Pokemon also evolve because of strong emotions, or things like that."

He considered. "Suicune, I think you're the strongest Pokemon here overall. Would you mind giving that a go?"

"I suppose not," Suicune agreed.

"Is that… really safe?" Cheryl said.

"I'll do my best to make sure it is," Suicune assured her with a smile. "Let's find a clearing on the way, so we can stop for lunch."

"I think the nearest clearing is actually most of the way to Eterna," Gardenia told them."But it's quite close to the old Chateau in the forest, and that's supposed to have ghosts in it."

"I am an accomplished ghost puncher," Lucario shrugged. "I think we will be fine."


"How's that?" Brock asked, smiling. "I decided to try something new today."

"If this is what your cooking is like when it's your first try at something, I'm amazed!" Gardenia answered, then took another bite out of her cheeseburger.

The trick with this one was that the cheese wasn't on the outside of the burger, but had been layered into it before cooking so the burger was full of still-molten cheese.

"I think I might add a bit more chives next time," Brock said, turning over the second batch so they hissed over the flame. "A bit hotter, please, Quilava."

Dawn's Quilava made his fur blaze up a little more, and the hissing got slightly louder.

"I'm going to need another twelve buns in about two minutes," Brock judged, and Ash got to work with a knife and some butter. "Good work, Ash… can someone check Pikachu hasn't gone off with the ketchup bottle?"

"I've got it," Lucario reported. "And Pikachu's in Ash's bag until we're done."


As the cooking continued, Suicune cleared her throat.

"Burmy, if you have a moment?" she said. "I was wondering if you'd be able to give me a quick battle."

Burmy looked her up and down, mostly up given their relative sizes.

"But… you're… you're a Legendary Pokemon," he pointed out. "How can I possibly stand a chance of beating you?"

"You might surprise yourself," Suicune smiled. "You get the first go. Don't worry, I won't attack too strongly."

Burmy considered, then reached out hesitantly and tapped Suicune.

The Water-type looked surprised, then collapsed to the floor.

"Um..." Burmy began, and tapped Suicune again. Then he pressed harder. "Are you okay?"

Taking a nervous step back, he gasped. "Oh, no… did I do something wrong? What should I-"

There was a bright flash of light, and he evolved into Mothim.

"...what?" Mothim asked, distracted by feeling his wings for a moment, then refocused. "-ah! Hold on, I'll get help!"

Flaring his wings, he was about to fly over to try and get one of the humans for help… then he heard a snore.

Mothim's panic drained away, to be replaced by incredulity and then annoyance. "What."


"You know, that's not how you're supposed to do it," Lucario said, some minutes later, as Suicune ate her first burger.

The Legendary put the bun down after her third bite, and got to all fours before stretching. "Why not?" she asked. "It worked."

"Regulations say you're supposed to overact," Lucario chided her. "Make a production out of it."

"I didn't want to overact," Suicune said reasonably. "So I just acted."

"You have to admit, it did work," Pikachu supplied. "But I don't think I could be that convincing…"

He took another dollop of ketchup, and ate a single piece of fried sweet potato with it.

"Are you going to have anything other than ketchup?" Buneary asked.

"Obviously, because I just did," Pikachu replied.

Buneary giggled.

Then there was an electronic shout of annoyance, making them all look up.


"This is ridiculous!" shouted a small glowing ball of plasma, electrical energy fizzing off it in little sparks. "What kind of human has a device on their wrist, which tells time, but doesn't have so much as a tiny motor!"

Dawn looked at her Pokétch, then up at the irate Rotom hovering in front of them. "Um-"

"Aren't they Ghost types?" Gardenia asked, leaning over to Brock.

"I think so," Brock replied. "Yes, dual typed Ghost and Electric."

"Oh, good, I was wondering why I was feeling worried..."

Leafeon jumped up, standing in the way to keep his human safe, but the Rotom didn't even seem to notice. "I go to all the effort of sneaking up, and… um..."

The Ghost-type trailed slowly off, noticing that everyone was looking at it.

"Uh..." it began, looking back and forth, then seemed to shrink slightly. "I… forgot I was shy… um… bye!"

There was a pop of disturbed air, and Rotom vanished from sight.

"Where did that come from?" Cheryl asked. "I didn't know there were ghosts around here!"

"It must have come from the Old Chateau," Gardenia realized. "I knew that place was haunted! Well, now I know never to go near it again!"

She reached down and gave Leafeon a stroke, feeling him arch happily up into the stroking movement, and smiled. "And thank you, Leafeon."

"What did Rotom mean about a motor?" Ash asked. "Dexter?"

Rotom is motor backwards, Dexter pointed out. It's generally believed that a Rotom can only possess a machine with some kind of motor, though normally that is not very hard as even something like a digital watch has a motor in it.

He paused. Of course, the research on Rotom is not very thorough. There is a difficulty in locating suitable subjects willing to not just phase through the lab wall when they are bored.

"I wonder where the Rotom went," Dawn said, looking down at her Pokétch in case it was going to develop a pair of electronic eyes. "I hope this isn't damaged..."

Ash raised his hand. "Can I just check something?"

"Go ahead," Brock agreed.

"When we get to Eterna City, are we going to have a gym battle?"

Gardenia got ready to agree, visibly rethought, then looked around for a moment. "Actually… maybe we should just do it in here or something. I like my gym's new layout and would not like to see it broken."

"Can we at least see it, though?" Dawn asked. "And… I think that dress up contest is fairly soon, so unless you can have the battle right now we'd need to go on to Eterna City first…."

"Oh," Gardenia frowned. "You're right, I don't have most of my most powerful Pokemon available with me. We'll have to do it later, then."

She looked down at her plate. "I was sure I had half a burger left… and why is there another Leafeon here?"

The Leafeon who was next to her plate snickered, then darted away.

"Zorua, you can just ask for seconds," Brock sighed.

"Can I?" Rockruff asked, poking her head up next to the grill. "That was tasty!"

"Of course," Brock agreed. "Can you take this over to Gardenia, and then I'll make you one with mustard – you like mustard, right?"

"Yes!" Rockruff nodded. She took the plate carefully in her jaw, tail wagging, then trotted slowly over to Gardenia.


"Okay, uh..." Pikachu checked his list. "Bounce is okay, punching things is probably okay… you can learn Thunderbolt, right?"

"Yes, I can learn Thunderbolt," Buneary replied.

"Good, that makes this a lot easier," Pikachu sighed.

"Speaking of easier, aren't you going to put on some kind of costume?" Buneary asked. "I know Dawn made one."

She adjusted her own costume, which included the pointed, black-tipped yellow ears of a Pikachu atop her own. "And I think this one looks all right."

"Yeah, though the thing on the tail looks kind of odd," Pikachu replied. "I think you've got too much tail to fit inside."

"It's not that bad, is it?" Buneary asked, twisting around to look at it. "It seems fine to me..."

Shaking her head, she went back to checking her own list. "Are you sure all of these are moves Pikachu know?"

"I know them or have seen other Pikachu use them," Pikachu assured her.

"I trust you," Buneary said quickly. "But how many of these do the judges know about?"

As Pikachu was contemplating that, there was a flash in front of them and two Pokemon and one human appeared.

"...am I in the right place?" Jessie asked, mystified. "That looks like Ash's Pikachu, but I didn't know he had a girlfriend..."

That's for you to work out, Abra informed her bluntly, as Buneary quietly looked her costume over again and tried not to blush.

"She's actually Buneary," Pikachu supplied. "She's dressing as a Pikachu for the contest."

He paused. "Wait, you're one of those humans who doesn't speak me..."

Don't worry, I translated, Abra told him.

"Oh, that's right, you met up with the other twerp-" Jessie began, then stopped herself. "With Dawn."

"Old habits die hard?" Pikachu asked.

Abra nodded.

"So, I… assume you're the one who's here for the dress up contest," Pikachu went on, indicating Jessie's Cosplay Pikachu.

It was actually a bit of a guess that it was her at all. All that was actually there was a silver-foil spacesuit outfit, with a mirrored visor and a tail.

"Roger," Cosplaychu confirmed, sliding up the mirrored later on her visor. "I think I'm going to be a sure-fire winner with this one. Over."

"We'll see," Pikachu shrugged. "Okay, let's go over that move list again… and, Buneary, if they complain I'm going to just handle that myself by demonstrating the moves..."


"All right, everyone!" began the presenter, Rhonda. "I'd like to say hello to all of you who are watching the Pokemon Dress-Up Contest, here just outside Eterna City!"

She adjusted her outfit a little, which portrayed her as a Cherrim. "For those who don't remember or who are tuning in for the first time, the goal is for Pokemon to dress up as another Pokemon and show a great understanding of their moves, their character and their style! We'll be looking for the Pokemon who stays in character the best, and our judges are Mr. Sukizo, and the local Officer Jenny and Nurse Joy!"

The camera swept over to show the judges, all of them dressed up to fit the occasion.

"Mr. Sukizo, I don't remember you wearing a costume last time," Rhonda said, with a chuckle. "What brought on the change?"

"Remarkable! Remarkable!" Sukizo replied with a smile, adjusting the fine Honchkrow hat atop his head.

"I see," Rhonda nodded knowingly. "It looks like our judges are really getting into the swing of things. All right, let's meet our first contestants!"

Jessie stepped out to the stage, along with her Pikachu.

"That's an interesting costume," Rhonda noted. "I don't think I recognize what you're going for, though."

In explanation, Cosplay Pikachu put her helmet on. She jumped, a tiny little movement of her paws, and floated into the air in total defiance of gravity – ending up several feet in the air, using little jets of compressed air from a backpack to control her movement.

"...I don't know how to handle that one!" Rhonda admitted. "Judges?"

"Well, I'm afraid we don't think it's a very good Pikachu," Jenny replied. "We've checked through the list, and Pikachu don't learn the Gravity move – so the costume itself is-"

"Remarkable!" Sukizo supplied.

"Yes," Joy nodded. "We can't tell what the original Pokemon even was, we thought it had to be a Pikachu at first, but no Pikachu knows the Gravity move."

"But she is a Pikachu!" Jessie complained.

"Oh," Joy winced. "In that case, we think you might have been confused about how this competition is supposed to work. Sorry, but your Pokemon needs to dress up as another Pokemon – not an astronaut."

"Even if she has gone to the trouble of ignoring physics," Jenny agreed.

Jessie sighed. "All right… maybe we should have dressed you up as Arceus."

"Piii..." Cosplay Pikachu sighed, expressing the opinion that that might have ended badly.


"Wait, wasn't Mr. Sukizo at most of your Contests?" Max asked, looking up from Kris' screen. "How come he's doing this in Sinnoh?"

"He gets everywhere," May shrugged. "I think he probably has a teleporting Pokemon or something… though there is this one theory online about him being a Pokemon trapped in human form."


"Let's see, who's next – oh!" Joy said, recognizing one of the trainers. "Ash Ketchum?"

"That's me," Ash agreed. "We've got a question, though..."

"Well, go ahead," Rhonda invited. "I'm surprised you have one, though."

"It's one our Pokemon brought up," Dawn supplied. "See… Ash's Pokemon especially has a lot of moves which really aren't the kind of thing most Pokemon of their type can manage. So he's asked if… how did he say it, Ash?"

"If one of our Pokemon seems to have made a mistake and used the wrong move, to ask," Ash supplied. "To see if we can prove it's possible."

"That's an interesting question, all right," Rhonda said, looking over at the judges. "What do you think?"

"I think it's only fair to let them have a chance," Jenny supplied. "After all, if a Pokemon uses a move they've seen the other Pokemon use, how unfair would it be to disqualify it because we haven't seen it?"

"All right!" Ash said, turning. "Come on out!"

The first to come out was a very Bunearyish Pikachu with his fur coloured a warm chocolate brown, with a pair of fluffballs on both ears and the right one folded down at a jaunty angle. There were fluffballs on both legs as well, stretching up to roughly his waist, and he did a twirl halfway from the entrance to the middle of the stage. His tail was coiled almost in on itself, making it look as though a little Buneary floofball was all he had.

Following him, with a perhaps slightly clumsy scamper, was an extremely Pikachuish Buneary. She'd relied on a full suit-type costume instead of dye, with her tail bouncing back and forth as the spring inside it kept it swinging back to upright, and as she took up her position the lights concealed behind her cheeks flashed intermittently.

"Very interesting!" Joy said, as the two Pokemon took up a pose together. "It's not often teams of two Pokemon come on, especially not when they're dressed as each other!"

Pikachu kicked off from the ground, launching himself into the air in a good imitation of a Bounce, and did a forwards flip before landing on the other side of Buneary. He threw a series of punches, Fire then Ice then Thunder, and followed it up by curling into a ball with a squeak.

As soon as he was done, Buneary launched into her own little routine. She shook herself a little, making her tail wave back and forth, and produced a little bolt of lightning which hit Ash square in the face.

"Goodness!" Rhonda gasped. "Are you all right?"

"That's actually really in character," Ash shrugged, totally unconcerned by the shock.

Buneary tried to avoid looking too relieved, then did the second part. Her paw glowed a faint blue as she used Ice Punch inside the suit, then did a three-move Force Palm routine, and followed that up with a quick burst of Agility to do three laps of the area.

As she came back to where she'd started, Pikachu's own Buneary-painted paws fizzed and he threw a weak Thunderpunch at her.

The attack made the fur of her suit stand on end, and also made the little wires woven into it spark and the cheeks light up. They kept going for about a second, then Buneary threw the strongest Thunderbolt she could – at Ash again.

Joy and Jenny broke into applause.

"Wonderful!" Joy pronounced. "It's very rare someone manages to recreate such a combat-based ability as Lightningrod!"

Buneary and Pikachu stood next to one another, and both bowed.


After they'd left the stage, the next to appear was James of Team Rocket.

"I might be missing something," Lucario said, pointing, and Jessie jumped. "How come he's here?"

"Abra went back to get him," Jessie replied. "Did you have to surprise me like that?"

"Technically not."

As they spoke, James put down his own Pokemon.

It was a large stuffed Komala, with a faint snoring sound coming from it.

"...I'm not sure I understand," Nurse Joy admitted.

"Why not?" James replied. "He's definitely in character."

"You mean asleep?" Jenny checked, getting a nod. "Well… he's right. What do you think, Mr. Sukizo?"

"Able! Rem-arkable!"

"I… think that means he likes it," Joy ventured, and Mr. Sukizo gave her a happy thumbs-up. "Good enough for me, and very creative. What Pokemon is actually in there?"

"Abra," James explained, picking up his Pokemon and carrying him off stage again.

"Well, if you want a Pokemon to stay asleep the whole time, it's a good choice..." Rhonda admitted.


After a few more contestants, including a Mightyena who was dressed up like a Suicune and a rather creative Weepinbell painted to look like a Seedot, Rhonda checked her list.

"And next is… that's odd," she said. "There's two Pokemon listed, but nothing on the trainer entry."

Before she could ask why, however, a little theropod Pokemon dressed as a Groudon came stomping into the arena.

His costume wasn't quite as sophisticated as some of the other ones that had been displayed, with the hands and feet being dealt with by large painted foam hands and monster slippers and the tail being attached to his real tail by a strut, but Tyrunt did his best to roar and sound as intimidating as he could reasonably manage.

Before he'd been doing it for more than a couple of seconds, however, another Pokemon came up behind him with a bubbly giggle.

'Groudon' immediately stopped roaring, and looked over his shoulder at the pink-suited 'Mew' his friend was dressed as.

He roared again, more questioningly this time, and Mawile giggled before running in a circle around him and tapping him on the shoulder.

As soon as that was done she ran away about four feet, before stopping and looking back at him – twitching her horn jaw from side to side to make the weighted pink 'tail' of her own costume swing from side to side.

She tilted her head, and 'Groudon' grumbled something before shaking his head.

'Mew' dodged in again, tapping him on the other shoulder, before pouting and crossing her pink-painted forearms.

As soon as Tyrunt looked away, however, Mawile did a twirl and fired a little jet of Flamethrower at him. It was a tiny thing, one which didn't actually reach him, but Tyrunt turned back anyway and stomped one slippered foot before growling.

'Mew' bent in and booped him on the nose, giggled, then jumped up onto his back before he could react.

The faux Ground-type sighed theatrically, then walked around in a circle for a bit with 'Mew' giggling atop his back.

The panel exchanged a few glances as both Pokemon reached the end of their performance.

"Do we have a Legendary expert on hand?" Jenny asked. "I'm uncomfortably aware that those Pokemon have probably spent more time with Legendaries than I have..."

"The Mew is pretty much spot on," Suicune supplied from the audience, making about three quarters of the spectators turn around to see her sitting in the back row. "Groudon I don't know as much about, but he might act like that – a Mew is relentless in making friends and most of us just go along with it."

"Remarkable," Mr. Sukizo pronounced.

"I agree," Joy nodded. "And a fine pair of costumes, too!"


Brock walked to the edge of the stage, and waved his hand with a flourish to invite the Pokemon with him into the room.

The Mewtwo accompanying him walked on as well, turned – tail waving – and struck a pose for the cameras. "How's that?" she asked. "Bet you've never seen any Pokemon costume this good!"

She turned to the judges. "Let's get the first round thing over with, okay? It's obvious how it's going to go."

The judges put their heads together to confer for several seconds, and then Jenny looked up.

"I'm afraid you're disqualified," Jenny said.

"What?" Mewtwo demanded, hands on hips. "This is discrimination! Just because I'm a Legendary Pokemon? Or is it because I'm a shapeshifting Pokemon?"

"Actually it's for sass," Jenny replied.

"That is in character, though," Mewtwo protested. "Brock, tell her it's in character!"

"I met Mewtwo last year, he was a guest judge," Rhonda volunteered. "He's really not arrogant like that, at least not in day to day conversation."

"Or on TV," Brock added.

"Sorry," Suicune threw in her two Poké. "I can't vouch for that one."

"I thought you were supposed to be on my side," Mewtwo sulked. Turning back into a Zorua, she trotted off in a huff."And I spent so long working on speaking good, too..."


"I thought that went pretty well," Dawn said, some time later. "What about you guys?"

"It was nice to be an expert witness," Suicune smiled.

"About that," Lucario raised a paw. "You do remember that Aura translation doesn't work over TV connections, right?"

Suicune froze mid-pace.

"...oh, dear..." she sighed, shaking her head. "Does that mean my opening speech at the Indigo League didn't get translated either?"

"Afraid so," Lucario replied. "I don't know why they didn't tell you. Maybe the people in charge of making sure the transmission was okay didn't realize there was supposed to be understandable words?"

"Maybe they managed to put in subtitles in time," Dawn suggested.

She looked down at Tyrunt. "And what about you two?"

Tyrunt looked automatically at Mawile, but she gave him an encouraging nod back to tell him to speak his mind.

"Okay, um..." Tyrunt began, as Ash passed Dexter to Dawn for translation purposes. "It was… really nice, actually, to be able to compete with other Pokemon without anyone getting hurt."

He shook his head a little. "I don't mind competitions if it's just about things like that, but actual battling is… not really very nice..."

"That's okay," Ash told him. "And you did really well, I thought – you seemed confident enough to make it work."

"Thank you," the young Rock-type said. "I don't really know what Groudon is like, except what Mawile told me, and he sounded scary so I tried to seem scary too."

"You must have done a good job, though," Brock smiled. "You two won the competition!"

"I still think that Chatot shouldn't have reached the final," Pikachu muttered. "How did it go last time, again?"

He flicked his tail. "I don't remember the finals being a face-off."

"Last time Team Rocket attacked," Brock reminded him. "Croagunk won for staying in character even during the attack."

He sighed. "I was worried, though, especially after James and you two were knocked out."

"...oh, that's right!" Buneary said suddenly. "I forgot this was when you got your Happiny, Brock! Sorry!"

"Wouldn't Celebi have sorted it out?" Ash asked.

"I think it'd be dangerous to rely on that," Brock said.

He checked the egg case, which he'd been carrying since they left the contest. "Is this the right one, Ash? It looks it, but..."

Ash closed one eye, and nodded immediately. "Yeah. Should I sort it out now?"

"Go ahead," Brock invited.

He took the egg out of the case, checked it quickly for any injuries, then handed it to Ash.

Less than a second later, Ash was struggling to hold a Chansey up at about head height.

"Brock?" Chansey asked, pleasantly surprised. "Ash? Dawn? Pikachu? Buneary?"

Her tone changed from happy surprise to pure bafflement. "...Tyrunt? Mawile? Lucario? Suicune? What happened?"

"It's a long story," Lucario said, helping his trainer put Chansey down without dropping her. "The short version, though, is time travel."

"What, again?" Chansey blinked. "I suppose we were overdue."

"Tyrunt time travelled more than anyone else did," Mawile pointed out, a giggle in her voice.

"Does it count if it's forwards?" Tyrunt asked, confused. "I thought what I did was just waiting."

"Maybe it counts as sleeping in?" Suicune suggested.


Dusknoir bowed.

"My thanks to all of you," he said, and indicated the bound-up Grovyle next to him. "With Grovyle in custody, we can now take him back to the future and avoid any further problems."

Aaron raised a paw, looking at Grovyle as the Grass-type struggled to escape. "I have a question."

"You do?" Dusknoir asked. "Go on, then..."

"Well, there's two parts to it," Aaron elaborated. "Firstly, how does time travel work in this world? I've been seeing visions that are of the future, but at the same time it seems like you're saying the future is both a distinct place and one which can be altered."

Dusknoir shrugged. "I don't understand it, I just use it."

"And second," Aaron went on, "I've just looked at you and Grovyle side by side in Aura sight. He's not the one who looks evil."

"Good catch," Palkia noted.

"Well, now," Dusknoir began. "There's a very sensible explanation for – Sableyes!"

Half a dozen Sableye came charging out of the time portal, grabbing Aaron and the rest of his exploration team.

Giratina roared, paused, then began speaking in tones of puzzlement. "Why didn't I just use Shadow Force?"

"I'm trying to pause time and it's not working!" Dialga complained.

"Spacial Rend!" Palkia shouted. "Spacial Rend!"

"Arceus, what's going on?" Aaron demanded, as the Sableye dragged him towards the portal.

It's called a cutscene, Arceus replied, and then Aaron was at the portal.


When Aaron came to, he found himself in a cell.

"At last!" Palkia called. "We were getting worried about you!"

"Did anything happen after I was pulled into the dimensional rift?" Aaron asked.

"A lot less happened than we were trying to make happen," Giratina volunteered. "Our powers are still off."

Do you have any idea how difficult it is to create drama when you can do the things you lot are capable of? Arceus demanded, without much prompting. You're staying in cutscene mode until I'm finished with the execution scene.

"The what!?" all three dragons demanded.

Aaron held up his paw. "I think he's got a plan," he explained. "What is it?"

I want you to escape from your execution, and then you'll find out Grovyle is actually a good guy, Arceus explained. He's working for Celebi. It's… complicated.

"If he's a good guy, why didn't he explain any of this to me?" Aaron asked. "I'm a Riolu. They're still understood to be good guys as a rule, right?"

...okay, so I didn't think the plot through… I was mostly focused on…

Arceus stopped.

Wait. Damn it, that's a plot hole too. Um… Dialga, pretend you're not really a Dialga for the purposes of this storyline.

"What am I supposed to be, a Skitty?" Dialga asked.

That would do, thank you.


AN:


Back to the day to day... happenings, I suppose.