"I remember this place," Ash said. "Isn't this just after we traded Buizel and Ambipom?"
"Yeah, that's right," Dawn agreed. "This is about where I had my first training session with her – when she was still Aipom, of course."
Ash nodded. "Yeah, and that means… that over there is the tower with the Spiritomb in. So nobody use any Pokémon attacks!"
Lucario turned his head, closing one eye, and examined the tower in Aura Sight as he walked.
"I can see some very old Aura there," he noted.
"Yeah, according to the villagers nearby, an Aura guardian with a Pikachu sealed a Spiritomb here hundreds of years ago," Ash explained. "We accidentally hit the tower with Sonicboom, and it fell over, released the Spritomb and things got… kind of hairy."
"What is it with you and Pokémon that fit ancient Aura guardians?" Lucario asked. "I ask this question in the full knowledge that we're on first name terms with a living time machine, of course."
"I don't know," Ash admitted. "It might be a Chosen thing."
Lucario considered that, and nodded. "That might be it. Only..."
"What?" Pikachu asked. "This isn't even odd by our standards any more, right?"
"Well, I'm more thinking about what Ash said about knocking the tower over," Lucario explained. "If it was possible to knock the tower over with just a Sonicboom, which isn't an especially strong attack, how weak was it?"
"Is it," Dawn corrected. "It's just over there. And it's been standing for ages… plus, it was a Sonicboom from Buizel."
"I'm not a hundred percent sure that the Pokémon launching the Sonicboom changes much about how strong it is," Pikachu added his own two Poké. "Isn't that the whole point?"
"You could be right," Dawn agreed, smiling at the reminder that she could understand her friends' Pokémon now as well. "But it's still been around for ages, there's been earthquakes and stuff."
"That could mean it's well built and Buizel hit the only weak spot..." Lucario mused, examining the tower again as they reached the point the path ran closest to it. "Or it could mean it's been badly damaged over time and it's now..."
His voice trailed off.
"Is it me, or is it swaying in the wind?"
The tower rocked back and forth as they watched, the sway picking up strength with every oscillation. It went back and forth more, and more, and more, until suddenly it tipped past a balance point and came down with a craaaaash.
"That's… not good," Brock said.
A cloud gathered overhead, seething out of the blue sky in seconds, and a bolt of lightning struck the ruins with an ear-punishing bang.
Then a swirling, purple-and-green shadow came surging up from the wreckage of the tower. Voices came from it – dozens, hard to interpret, but one message did come through – more because several voices spoke it at once than anything else.
You… you… must… pay!
The shape of mist and malice howled, sending an Ominous Wind attack crashing towards the group, and Lucario's paws flared as he projected a shield to keep Dawn and Brock safe. Before anyone else could react, however, Spiritomb came surging towards them – specifically, towards Ash, and hurled its keystone at Ash's forehead.
Kari whispered out of her sheath and blocked the strike, settling into Ash's hand with a natural smoothness, and Spiritomb's one hundred and eight voices shouted and snarled before attacks began to flick out of it to try and harm the young Aura Guardian.
Ash took Kari's hilt in both hands, sliding into one of the guard stances she had taught him, and began to block with reflexive speed – backing up a pace every third strike, keeping Spiritomb at the distance where Kari's tip could interpose itself in the way of any attack without giving the two of them too little time to react.
Trapped in rock and held in stone! I/we demand you suffer like you made me/us suffer!
Rocks flashed out of the swirling vortex of mist, and Ash sidestepped away from one component of the Rock Tomb before slicing the second in half with Secret Sword. Focused through Kari it was much easier than before, and a little blip of energy right on impact turned the flying rock into a cloud of gravel energetically enough that it all ended up missing him.
That left him out of position to block the third strike – seemingly – but then Kari flicked right back up again, twirling slightly to convert momentum from one direction to another, and the third rock bounced off the flat of her blade to hit a tree some feet behind him.
The fourth rock hit him in the side, but it was only a glancing blow and didn't do more then bruise.
"I'm not the one who imprisoned you!" Ash called, raising Kari back up to a one-handed guard position in the slight pause as Spiritomb thought of a new strategy. "I know you were imprisoned by an Aura Guardian, but that's not me!"
Kari pulsed slightly in his hands. "Sir Ketchum, I fear words may not serve us well today," she said – softly. "Was this Spiritomb not imprisoned for good reason?"
"That was then," Ash replied, just as softly. "I have to try."
"You have a good heart," Kari determined. "That is the hardest thing to learn. Strategy, perhaps, may be something we need to focus on..."
Whatever reply Ash might have made was interrupted by a howl of rage from the Dark-type Ghost. Words! Words and nothing! I/we demand action! Repayment!
Pikachu came running up, cheeks sparking, and jumped onto Ash's shoulders. "Lucario's with the others, so they're safe," he reported. "Latias is here if you need her."
"Right," Ash said. "Thanks."
He raised his voice. "Spiritomb – I do want to help you, but not if what you're going to do with that is hurt others."
After about two seconds of consideration, Spiritomb howled. The Uproar hit like a physical blow, and while it still rang in Ash's ears lashes of shadow whipped out at him from the ghostly form of the Forbidden Pokémon.
Pikachu sent out a spike of Shock Wave, the current bouncing from one shadowy tendril to another, and Ash swept Kari across in an arc that produced a Night Slash beam and cut through over a dozen of them at once.
"I can't remember, what's our normal way of doing things in this situation?" Dawn asked.
"Pretty much wait over here for Ash to solve it?" Ambipom suggested. "I mean, look at him."
Dawn nodded, watching as her friend unlimbered his staff, crossing it with his living sword and creating a Protect wall to protect all three combatants from a surging Ominous Wind.
Some of the backscatter reached them, and Lucario slashed his paw out in a Wide Guard – blocking the attack from reaching the entire group – then returned to a ready stance, for the next possible attack.
"Didn't it wreck the nearby town last time?" Dawn added. "I thought that was what it did first."
"Yeah, but Team Rocket convinced it that Ash was the one who sealed it," Ambipom remembered. "Is that right?"
Brock gave her a nod. "That's how I remember it, at least. I don't really know why, though."
"Maybe it's just not a very nice Spiritomb?" Dawn suggested. "Or the majority of it isn't?"
"That's… a good point, actually," Brock realized, as Lucario used a Flamethrower and swept it across in a wall to burn away the Icy Wind that came at them. "Well, we already knew Spiritomb could be nice, because Cynthia has one, but if a Spiritomb is made up of over a hundred spirits and only some of them are nasty? The ones who are nice would just be stuck with them..."
He shook his head. "I… think maybe this is something we should ask an expert about, or something."
Spiritomb changed tack, firing a powerful Water Pulse at Ash to try and simply knock him over. The young Aura Guardian swept Kari across in a fast Slash, cutting the attack in half, and most of the attack missed – only the lower part splashing into his boots.
Then a Shock Wave flashed out of Spiritomb, hitting the pool of water Ash was standing in, and conducted up into his body.
The Ghost-type laughed in triumph for a moment, then paused. "What? Why?"
Ash frowned. "What? I get electrocuted every night in training."
A few stray sparks flicked off Kari's tip, and he brought her back to a guard position with his staff resting against the ground to his left. "I keep trying to tell you – I'm only going to stop you if you want to hurt people. If you're going to leave everyone alone, then you can go."
He kept one eye closed, watching Spiritomb's Aura, and frowned – there was a sudden ripple, as if dozens of sparks were swirling one way and then another, and then Spiritomb howled.
"No peace! Revenge! I/we will punish you as you punished me/us!"
The declaration was accompanied by a surge of tangible malice, a Dark Pulse which smashed into Kari's blade and forced them all back at least a foot – which was followed by another, and another, weaker than the first but still worrying because of their sheer number.
Pikachu's cheeks lit up brilliantly, a surging continuous current of energy feeding into Spiritomb, and the enraged and unquiet Ghost ignored the attack for several seconds – until it was about to reach the solid Key Stone, whereupon it screeched and slammed out a Disable that blew away Pikachu's attack for long enough to vanish behind a Smokescreen.
"I can see Spiritomb, but not the Key Stone," Pikachu reported. "Ash, can you see better?"
"Sort of," Ash replied. "But… I think we're doing this wrong."
He fed more power to his boots, feeling them respond as he increased his own grip, then transferred his staff to his back – still keeping an eye on Spiritomb.
Kari was transferred into a left-handed grip, and Ash crouched slightly.
"What are we doing?" Kari asked. "I fear we have not had the time for you to learn all the intricacies of the off-hand stances."
"Yeah, but I need my right hand free," Ash replied. "Hold on, both of you."
He launched himself forwards. Blue light glowing on the soles of his boots as he used one at a time for grip, Ash accelerated abruptly to an astonishing speed. It was kind of painful, but it was also something Spiritomb wasn't expecting – catching the Ghost off-balance for a second or so, long enough to reach them.
"Latias!" Ash shouted, sheathing Kari with a lightning-quick movement and then holding out his left hand to her, and she took it just before he made contact with Spiritomb's smoke-shrouded form.
Then there was an intense flare of blue light-
-and Ash tumbled to a halt on a dusty plain.
Rising to his feet, he looked around and saw Pikachu picking himself up, and Latias hovering in mid-air.
"Aura Purge again?" Pikachu asked. "I would have thought you'd at least warn us first!"
"I didn't know if Spiritomb would work it out," Ash replied. "Where did Kari go?"
"I am here," Kari answered from behind him.
Unlike the other three, her form didn't look more-or-less the same within the mental realm as she did outside. Instead, she was a knight in armour – a full plate harness, completely concealing her identity behind steel, with her more recent Honedge form worn on her belt.
"It seems I am as I once was, or a reasonable depiction," Kari mused, examining her hands. "What might Aura Purge be?"
"It's a mental technique," Latias explained. "I don't really understand the details, but it's kind of… Ash has taken us into Spiritomb's mind to help solve their problems?"
"A noble goal, then," Kari nodded sharply. "We should not tarry. How does this normally go?"
"To be honest, the problems normally show themselves," Ash replied. He reached for his hip, finding no blade, then shrugged and adjusted his gloves instead. "Just… keep an eye out for anything that seems odd, I suppose."
"Be fair, Ash," Pikachu said, jumping up to his customary place on Ash's shoulder. "With us, that could mean a perfectly peaceful summer afternoon."
"Yeah," Ash chuckled, then pointed. "But I mean something more like that."
Latias floated a little higher. "Is that… an army?"
"No," Kari replied instantly, shading her eyes. "That is eighty-three people. Scarcely a company."
"I guess we should have expected that," Dawn admitted, as the smokescreen cleared to reveal Ash and a pile of Pokémon.
"I did," Lucario said. "But I didn't say it because usually we try it on people or Pokémon who stay still for us to do it. I didn't think Spiritomb was going to be willing to try..."
"Probably right," Dawn agreed. "So what now?"
"Well, we could go in and help out," Lucario mused. "But I think in this situation the appropriate reaction is lunch."
"Actually, it's not," Brock replied. "All our food is in Ash's pouch, remember?"
Lucario stopped for a moment, then slumped. "You're right. I forgot."
"It's not all bad," Chansey reassured him. "I bet there's some berries to have around here. We could snack."
"Somehow snacking is less impressive than having lunch," Lucario lamented.
"You could always go in and help," Infernape suggested. "I'm not familiar with how this works. Is there a good reason not to go in and help?"
Brock spread his hands. "Don't ask me, Ash is the expert… and he's currently unconscious, so that's no help..."
"This is a mental world?" Kari checked.
"Yeah, that's how this works," Ash agreed. "A lot of what you find in a place like this is a representation of something about the person."
"So what does the – right, the company represent?" Pikachu asked, beating Kari to it.
"I'm not sure," Ash admitted. "They look angry, though."
"Hey!"
A voice came from the side, and all four intruders looked over.
"Who are you?" asked a woman with a purple armband, looking through a hole in a tall earthwork mound. "You're not familiar… wait..."
"We're trying to help," Ash explained. "This is Spiritomb's mind, right?"
"Yes, it is," the woman replied. "I'm one of the one-hundred-and-eight spirits. But – how did you get in here? Aren't you that Aura adept we were fighting?"
Kari's sword rose to a guard position, and Ash waved her down again.
"I am, yes," he replied. "This sounds kind of silly, but why aren't you trying to attack me?"
"I'm not one of the crazy ones!" the woman told him firmly. "Can't you – oh, right.. sorry, it's hard to remember you're not like everyone else."
She waved her hand around at the mindscape. "There's a hundred and eight of us in here. There's about two dozen of us who are… well, the way I would describe us is sensible – and everyone else just wants revenge. On everyone, for everything… and it's a constant struggle. One we keep losing."
Ash glanced over in the direction of the oncoming group of men and women, the ones the woman had called the 'crazy ones', and saw they all had some splash of green colour somewhere on their clothing. A green armband, a green hat, a green shirt…
"What happens when you lose?" Ash asked. It looked like they didn't have long now before the horde arrived.
"We do the crazy thing, the vengeful thing… the thing which keeps getting us in more trouble," the woman told him. "I don't know how you stopped us for now – how long can it last?"
"Spiritomb – that's all of you, right? – is kind of asleep, but only while I'm in here," Ash informed her. "How do you fight?"
"With whatever we have," the woman said, a bit bleakly. "We can't escape, but it's a struggle of pain and weakness and coming back-"
Her voice caught, and Ash waved a hand.
"It's okay," he said. "We'll work this out. Are the other sensible ones here?"
The woman swallowed.
"They're behind here," she said eventually.
"Ash," Latias warned. "They're getting close!"
"If you guys got control for a bit, would you have Spiritomb hold still?" Ash asked. "I think I can reseal you, and then we can ask Darkrai or Giratina or someone to try and help get you properly sorted out."
There was a babble of voices as the other twenty-four purple-marked spirits began arguing among themselves.
Kari's blade whispered as she raised it in a two-handed stance, and Pikachu's cheeks flared.
"What do we do, Sir Ketchum?" Kari requested. "I am not au fait with the subtleties of combat within the mind."
"I guess just follow my lead," Ash suggested.
Blue Aura swirled around him, forming glowing balls in his palms, and he slammed them together into a single huge Aura Sphere – then fired it.
The green-marked spirit who was right out near the front, howling and raving, got hit in the chest by a ball of Aura larger than he was. The explosion blew him backwards out of sight, and a moment later a Night Slash flicked out from Kari's blade to knock the entire first row over.
Pikachu launched out a Shock Wave, homing in on the ones which looked most dangerous and electrocuting them into insensibility, and then Latias used Mist Ball and the explosion launched the whole lot into the distance.
There was a moment of silence, punctuated by Kari sliding her blade back into the scabbard, and then Pikachu spoke up.
"Usually that's more difficult..."
"Um… we agree to your terms," the spokeswoman for the purple-marked spirits said, sounding distinctly in awe.
Back in the real world, Ash rose to his feet. He let go of Latias' hand, then unlimbered his staff and touched the head to Spiritomb's now-visible keystone.
Both hands glowed blue, light flowing down the staff to envelop the Odd Keystone, and Spiritomb watched with a not-entirely-resigned expression as the potent Aura flashed twice before forming a seal.
Spiritomb's form collapsed back into the keystone through the crack, which was then closed off by the last of the Aura Ash had assigned to it, and he picked the stone up with care.
"What just happened?" Brock asked.
"I got Spritomb's better… twenty-five hundred-and-eighths… to agree to a deal," Ash told him. "We're taking them back to Oak's lab, and then we'll send a Darkrai or Giratina over as soon as we get the chance to see if they can help more permanently."
"Wait," Zorua requested. "If you're going to take Latias back to the ranch… can you get out the material for lunch first? That way we can prepare while you're en route."
"That does sound like a good idea," Brock agreed. "You can butter the buns for the burgers."
"We're having burgers?" Zorua asked.
"Everyone else is having burgers," Brock corrected her. "You're having burger buns."
Zorua wilted. "Oh, yeah… stupid consequences."
"Excuse me?"
The friends looked up, seeing a Jenny approaching along the road in front of them.
Behind her was a young woman wearing a slightly altered Jenny uniform, who looked more than a little apprehensive about the situation.
"Is there a problem, Officer?" Brock asked.
"If you don't think there is, there shouldn't be," the Jenny replied with a smile. "I heard you were in the area – well, specifically I heard Sir Ketchum was in the area – and I thought I'd better check to make sure there was no sign of fireworks."
"Not that we know of," Ash replied. "There was a Spiritomb recently, but we took care of that without any trouble."
The young woman's attitude changed, and she sighed. "Kind of a pity..."
"Marble," the elder Jenny said warningly. "That's not an appropriate attitude to take."
"Sorry, ma'am," Marble backpedalled, hanging her head. "It's just… I'm not sure how to get Luxray back to trusting me again without something to help us out."
"Perhaps Pikachu could help," Lucario suggested.
"He could?" Marble asked. "How?"
"Usually lightning works," Pikachu shrugged. "I find a lot of problems can be solved with enough lightning."
Seeing Pikachu's confident attitude, Marble sent her Luxray out.
"Hey, Luxray?" Pikachu asked. "Quick question – what's the problem you and Marble are having?"
The Electric-type's ears folded down, and he sighed. "It's just… I've evolved, and since then I've felt listless," he explained. "I wish I knew why, but I don't – why are your friends all wincing?"
"...oh, yeah, that's right," Brock realized. "Max isn't travelling with us any more. Wish isn't a forbidden word."
"Should I understand that?" Luxray asked.
"It's not necessary," Pikachu assured him, cheeks sparking. "Now, let's solve your problem. If you'll just face… a bit more to the right..."
Luxray's head tilted, but he did as requested.
Then Pikachu hit him with a foot-thick lightning bolt, and Luxray reflexively pounced into a tree hard enough to leave a dent.
"What did your Pikachu just do?" Marble asked. "What were they saying?"
"Pikachu just charged him up, that's all," Ash explained, as Luxray staggered back out onto the path and shook twigs out of his fur. "Electric types sometimes have a charge problem."
"Is that what was the problem with Luxray?" Marble said. "Luxray? How do you feel?"
Luxray shook his fur out, which sparked violently, then drew his head back as if about to sneeze. After a moment of shaking his head, a bolt of electrical energy flashed back towards Pikachu, who caught it with his tail and nodded.
"There you go," Pikachu said. "You should be healthy now."
"That was Charge Beam!" Marble gaped. "You just taught him an attack we've been trying to sort out since he evolved into a Luxio!"
She turned her attention to her mentor. "Is this what Sir Ketchum is actually like to be around?"
"I think that's what his Pikachu is like to be around," Jenny corrected. "But it looks like… yes."
She shook her head. "I'm starting to see why there's official policy documents about him specifically."
"What do they say?" Dawn asked, interested.
"Mostly it's made up of warnings," Jenny told her. "Dire ones."
"That's about right, actually," Brock said. "It's not his fault, it's just his… I don't know, general zone of chaos."
"Sound like a comic book character," Croagunk commented.
"Weren't you supposed to be randomly stabbing me to check my situational awareness?" Ash asked.
Croagunk promptly used Poison Jab, which glanced off the side of Kari's blade as Ash brought it up to block.
"I was," he replied simply.
Marble and the other Jenny just stared.
"I don't remember it being this long between gyms," Buizel said, tails flicking as he walked. "Do you remember it being this long between gyms?"
"Neither of us was with Ash for the whole of the section between Eterna and Veilstone Gym," Infernape replied. "I think we might not be the best Pokémon to discuss this."
"Yeah, but you're available," Buizel shrugged. "So, think we'll get a good go at Veilstone?"
"Don't forget, Ash has a lot more Pokémon now," Infernape noted. "That's one reason why Ivysaur's got that event calendar back at the Ranch."
Buizel nodded. "Good point."
He looked up. "Hey, Dexter, what's that over there?"
We did go this way last time, you know. I remember, because I was there. And so were you.
Buizel twisted his tails, then untwisted them again. "Yeah, but that was lots of months ago."
Years ago for me… Dexter vocalized, sotto voce, then raised his voice. Those are the Solaceon Ruins. They're a temple to Dialga and Palkia.
"It seems kind of unfair that Dialga and Palkia get a lot more attention than Giratina," Ash said. "I mean, Giratina's friendlier."
"This is judging by the relative scale of 'times a Legendary nearly obliterated us'," Pikachu suggested. "But yeah, it is odd. Maybe it's that everyone sees Dialga and Palkia as a pair because they show up together a lot, and it sort of remains an association, while Giratina tends to work alone because he has this whole other world to himself that he spends most of his time in."
"That could be it," Brock agreed. "Or maybe Giratina's temples are all underground?"
"The temples to a less well known Legendary are underground. How philosophical," Lucario mused.
A blur of motion skidded to a halt in front of them, becoming Suicune.
"That was unexpectedly easy..." she said to herself, then shook her head. "Ash! I'm surprised but glad to see you here. I think the Unown are agitated in the temple."
"There's always something," Dawn groaned. "Okay, let's go."
"Suicune?" Ash asked. "Are you okay? You look tired."
"I… do," Suicune realized. "My foot stings. I hadn't noticed until you said."
"What do Unown do?" Tyrantrum asked.
"On their own they're pretty weak," Ash replied, checking his hat was in place. "But in groups they can do some pretty amazing stuff – and scary. Last time we ran into a lot of Unown they actually created Molly's Eevee and her second family."
"The ones who are all Legendary Pokémon?" Tyrantrum checked, getting a nod from Mawile. "I… wow. I didn't know that could happen."
"Let's see what the problem is," Ash decided.
"That's right, place the Splash Plate down there," Saturn instructed.
The two grunts under his command did so, the priceless artefact joining the two others already lying on the floor of the room – the Iron Plate and the Draco Plate, forming an equilateral triangle with the new one.
A thrumming resonance began to build, and the Unown floating in the air twitched before starting to move. Their chant built up, and Saturn shot a glance to the side at Charon.
"Is this what's supposed to happen?" he checked.
"Of course," Charon replied. "It's working fine, you don't need to worry."
"Good to know," Saturn replied. "I don't really understand most of this, but it's enough that someone does. Even if it is you."
Charon chuckled, then checked the readings on his computer.
"Order them now," he said.
"Right," Saturn nodded. "Bronzor."
Saturn's Bronzor began to glow a bright red, and the Unown stopped their haphazard swirling. They emitted three pulses, one each for the three Plates on the floor, and split up to begin following a three-looped path around each plate in turn.
"That's just… amazing," one of the tourists said. "I didn't know Unown did things like this."
"Yeah, it's amazing," his friend agreed. "Pokémon do a lot of things in the wild we don't yet know."
Saturn shot the tourists a mildly annoyed glare. "Are you sure we can't just kick these guys out?"
"I would not advise it," Charon replied mildly. "The Suicune was one thing, but these people can't possibly harm us even if they could see us."
"If you say so, Doc," Saturn shrugged. "How long is this going to take?"
"Only a minute or so," Charon told him. "We're just retrieving the key, we can't transform it yet."
The Unown shifted to a new configuration, and a small orange cube began to rise up from the floor.
"There we go," Charon noted. "We just need to wait until the containment is gone, and we can take it."
A clattering sound drew their attention, and Saturn's hand went to his Pokéballs in readiness.
"There's no need," Charon reminded him.
"Sorry, Doc, I'm still getting used to this whole thing," Saturn admitted, watching as three trainers and an impressive array of Pokémon came down the stairs – including the Suicune from earlier. "They do have a Legendary with them, though..."
"Hey!" shouted one of the trainers – who had a sword on his hip? "What are you doing with those Unown?"
Charon looked around, suddenly interested. "Well, now… continue as you were, Saturn."
Zorua loped down the stairs, having chosen to be in the form of a Mightyena this time.
It looked like there wasn't actually anything to do, though, just about three tourists standing around watching some Unown doing… something or other.
Then Ash asked what the tourists were doing with the Unown, and the one closest to Zorua gave him a baffled look.
"We're not doing anything," the young man said. "We're as surprised as you – wait, are you Ash Ketchum?"
"I mean you!" Ash said, pointing at… someone? No-one?
Zorua wasn't at all sure what was going on here.
"Ash, what are you talking about?" Suicune asked, looking up at her trainer. "Threatening them isn't going to help to calm the Unown down."
"That's not who I'm talking to!" Ash replied, sounding confused himself. "Isn't it obvious?"
The tourists backed against the walls, and Zorua turned to Brock.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Why is Ash threatening nobody?"
"It's Team Galactic," Brock said. "That's who-"
Then Zorua suddenly felt herself floating – for a fraction of a second, until something hit her very hard in the side.
Her illusion crumpled in a flash of light, and she realized with considerable surprise that what had hit her had been the wall.
But how…
She saw Pikachu fire a blast of electricity at nothing, and something happened which gave her a headache – the electricity was absorbed into nothing, briefly taking on the outline of a Rhyhorn, but there was no Rhyhorn actually there to absorb it.
What was going on?
"Sir Ketchum, what are you doing?" Kari demanded. "A knight should not draw steel so recklessly unless in training or battle!"
"But this is-" Ash began, his arm flicking out to intercept a second Focus Blast aimed at Zorua. In the state she was the attack might have done her a serious mischief, but she seemed too stunned to dodge. A bright golden light flickered on Kari's edge for a moment as Ash used Secret Sword, giving her the solidity to be sure of blocking a Fighting attack, and the attack burst powerfully enough to knock Ash about.
"Why are you swinging me about?" the Honedge queried. "This serves no purpose!"
Ash was about to reply hotly, but then he spotted the Rhyhorn in the back of the room – bright blue light glowing in its' mouth. It was aiming for-
"Suicune, look out!" Lucario called.
"Look out for what?" Suicune asked, turning to Lucario, and then the Hyper Beam struck her square in the chest. It blew her halfway up the stairs, shattering them, and one of the flying rocks nearly knocked Dawn over before Ambipom managed to intercept it.
Suicune got back to her feet, looking a little punch-drunk, and a pulse of purple light flashed from her paw. It collapsed under her, and she rolled once down the stairs again to come to a rest at their foot.
Lucario moved into a guard position, protecting Suicune from any further attack, and at that point Charon waved his hand.
"We have it!" he announced.
Saturn sent out his Kadabra, and a moment later all the Galactic members were gone from the chamber.
"What just happened?" Brock asked, checking on Zorua. "That was Team Galactic, right?"
Suicune raised her head, frowning, then sighed in relief as Ash began focusing his Aura and healing her a little. "Thank you… who are Team Galactic?"
"Have we really not mentioned them before?" Ash blinked. "Huh. Okay… well, they're kind of important, because they're the team of villains who we fought last time in Sinnoh. And they're the ones who – we don't really know how – managed to end the world, which is why we're all back here."
"They do seem important," Suicune agreed, now rising to her feet.
"The really odd thing is that you couldn't see them," Ash added. "And Kari couldn't either."
"This troubles me," Kari admitted. "Were you flourishing me to block attacks?"
"Yeah, and… wait, you didn't even feel the attacks you were blocking?" Ash asked. "Did Suicune feel the Hyper Beam?"
"What Hyper Beam?" Suicune began, then looked at the furrow she'd carved in the stairs – which, fortunately, hadn't been enough to stop all the tourists who'd been in the room fleeing up the stairs from the strange goings-on. "That is very concerning. I had no idea."
"I was expecting you to dodge, or use a Hydro Pump shield, or something," Ash explained. "So I didn't..."
"It's not a problem," Suicune assured him. "We must simply learn from it in future."
She sat down. "So… why?"
"That is a good question," Ash agreed. "Okay, so… who did see them?"
Dawn and Brock put their hands up. Several Pokémon did as well – Buizel, Lucario, Pikachu, both of Dawn's Pokémon who were out, and Croagunk.
I detected them, Dexter supplied.
"That's odd, yeah..." Ash frowned. "Maybe it's a four legs thing? No, I don't think those tourists had noticed them either..."
He shook his head. "It's too bizarre."
"Well, if they were doing what they did last time, they were just doing one step in a plan," Dawn suggested. "And… didn't they do something in Eterna City last time?"
"That means… okay, so we need to be on the lookout for when they turn up again," Ash decided. "And try to work out what they're doing. It's not a Psychic thing, because Zorua was affected but you guys weren't…"
"More to the point, it's something which was more than just seeing," Brock pointed out. "Suicune said she didn't realize she'd been hit by an attack at all, Kari wasn't feeling herself blocking the blows… did you even not notice the one which knocked you harder than Ash could compensate for?"
"Ash was just swinging me around in the odd ways he always does, surely," Kari dismissed.
"But that was blocking attacks," Ash protested.
"Attacks by who?" Suicune asked, politely. "Is that why all my feet hurt?"
"...you know, Team Galactic?" Pikachu hinted. "The ones we've just been talking about? The ones who just hit you with a Hyper Beam?"
"Who are Team Galactic?"
Ash, Brock, Pikachu, Dawn and Lucario all exchanged worried looks.
"This might be a bigger problem than we thought," Dawn decided.
"Maybe it was something about the Pokémon or the moves?" Brock suggested. "I think everyone who has the problem got hit by an attack at some point..."
"The Spear Key," Charon announced, placing it down.
"My thanks," Cyrus replied.
He walked over and examined it. "Yes, this is a fine piece of work. Everything about the great Legendaries is of a similar quality, from the Orb to their work in the universe itself. It's only a pity they had such poor vision."
Satisfying himself for now, Cyrus looked up. "Any complications?"
"Just the one," Charon replied. "We ran into the Aura Adept, Ash Ketchum, and his current companions. They tried to stop us."
"Interesting," Cyrus said. "Very interesting..."
He waved his hand. "Carry on, Commander. You have your duties. I have some planning to do."
Charon took his leave, and as the door shut he chuckled.
"...eesh, sir," one of the nearby grunts said, wincing.
"Oh, don't mind me," Charon replied pleasantly. "Just thinking about how good our position is now, that simply being fought is unusual… even if it doesn't work."
He laughed again, and the grunt looked like he was trying not to cover his ears.
"Sister!" Raikou announced, then his expression fell. "What the deuce happened to you?"
Suicune looked slightly confused, then remembered something and checked a note attached to her paw. "Team Galactic," she told both her brothers. "They did something that meant I couldn't see or feel them, and have trouble remembering them."
She went on to the second part of the note. "They're the ones who caused the universal damage that means Ash had to go back in time."
"It sounds like you need some rest-and-relaxation," Entei hazarded.
"That sounds like a good idea," Suicune agreed.
She hummed to herself, thinking. "Well, my paws hurt, so it's not really a good idea to have a run for now – I'll try that tomorrow. Seen any good films lately?"
"There's one I thought you might find funny," Entei said. "It's about some scientists drilling into the core of the Earth to restart it because it's stopped moving."
Suicune blinked. "I'm not an expert, but… isn't that not how you'd fix that problem? Wouldn't you just get some Heatran involved? Assuming, that is, that the problem happened in the first place."
"It's glorious nonsense," Raikou assured her. "That's why I think you should watch it too! It's the kind of thing where they didn't bother making sense if someone on the team had this really neat idea that made no sense – Entei knows more than me but… how did you put it?"
"At one point I asked myself what the stupidest possible explanation would be for what was on screen," Entei related. "And then they said it. Word for word."
"That does sound like fun," Suicune agreed. "When is that going to be on?"
"Why wait?" Entei suggested. "The TV's free."
Suicune smiled, following the other two Beasts.
A piece of paper stuck to her paw crinkled, and she gave it a mildly confused look before taking it off and putting it in the nearest bin.
AN:
Interesting stuff in this chapter. An event I barely had to tweak, as it involved Ash being mistaken for a wielder of Aura, and then one which had to be adjusted a bit more.
