"Hey, I was wondering," Ash called, as Suicune ran through the sea ahead of her brothers. "How do you actually navigate?"
Suicune chuckled, bounding from wavetop to wavetop with spray curling away either side – running in a single constant flowing motion, seeming to almost fly across the waves. "That's an unusual question," she said. "And, well, there's several ways. The easiest one is just to know the area, that's how we tend to do it on land – so much of what we do involves travelling up and down the country, so we tend to know most of the best routes and how they join up. Then, from that, we can use landmarks as well, like Mount Pyre in Hoenn."
"So kind of like you've memorized the local town map," Ash said. "That sort of thing?"
"Exactly, it's just like you'd know your way around Pallet Town," Suicune answered. "That is, if you weren't… well, Ash Ketchum."
"I'm getting better at that sort of thing," Ash said a little defensively, then shook his head. "But yeah, that makes sense. But what about on the water?"
"When we're close to land, we just use the same landmarks as we would otherwise," Suicune answered. "Near Iron Island, we use the peak of the island's main mountain; that sort of thing."
She turned sideways a little. "As for when we go out on the open water, and especially when I do, I tend to make my best guess at the route to take – based off my memory of where my starting point and my destination are. I know how fast I run, and so normally that works quite well – the wind does not affect my course as much as it would a boat."
"Right, but what if you're not sure?" Ash asked. "If you go around a lot on the water, or something."
"Well, for that I do learn from what humans used to do," Suicune said. "Though from memory it was a Lapras who actually told me the trick. I have simply travelled around the whole coastline, so when I reach the shore I know roughly where I am and can correct then. I understand Raikou and Entei do that more than I do, though Raikou may be able to navigate another way."
She tossed her head slightly, indicating the shoreline coming up ahead. "For example, that is outside Canalave. We're going to follow the shoreline for a bit, then strike out for Chocovine."
They blurred over the waves, Suicune leading her brothers around the curve of the coast towards Canalave harbour, then Suicune spoke up again.
"Is it me..." she began, "or is that a lot of Wailord?"
"It looks like it is," Ash agreed. "And they're blocking the port… right, I remember this. Can you take me over so I can talk to them?"
The head Wailord looked at Ash, her eyes nearly crossed.
"We don't often see humans standing on the water," she said. "Or Pokémon, really."
"Yeah, Suicune can do it because she's a Water-type Legendary, and I can do it because of Aura," Ash explained. "Um… just so I know for sure, why are you blocking the harbour?"
"One of our children is in the port, we don't know where," she told him, the water shaking a little at the sound of her voice. "We don't know where, and we're too big to go in and look, but we're all very worried..."
"I think my trainer could help," Suicune suggested. "He does that sort of thing a lot."
That made the Wailord do a double-take. "You have a trainer? But… you're a Legendary Pokémon..."
"Ash has more than a full team of Legendaries," Pikachu volunteered. "Those two are his as well."
Wailord's gaze lifted, and she looked at the two Legendary Pokémon running in circles in the shipping channel.
"Why are they doing that?" she asked.
"My brothers cannot stand on water when they are still," Suicune explained. "They need to keep moving, and that's the easiest way."
She frowned. "Though I can't imagine it's all that easy on Brock and Dawn..."
"Okay, so we're looking for your lost Wailmer," Ash checked. "Right?"
The Wailord nodded. "If you are willing to help, then of course."
"And, until I get back… can you at least let the ships out?" Ash added. "I'm pretty sure there's a deep channel they need, and you just need to stay out of that bit. It'd really help."
"Until you return, then," the pod leader said, then turned and called to the rest of the Wailord and Wailmer waiting outside.
"That made me feel really dizzy..." Dawn muttered, some minutes later. "Okay, I kind of remember where that Wailmer was… in the sewers, right?"
Entei sighed. "This sounds like it means something that… I don't like the sound of. Would you mind terribly if I avoided another excuse for Suicine to try and get me a bubble bath?"
"But you're so clean after you've had them," Suicune smirked. "Dear me, though, brother, you've forgotten one of my abilities. We won't have trouble with the mess, at least not in the water."
"That is a good point..." Entei allowed. "But I think I'll have to decline."
"That's okay, I know just who to use to sniff out where a Wailmer is," Ash replied.
"It's not going to be Houndoom, is it?" Brock asked. "Or Rockruff? I'm pretty sure they might object, the smells down there are going to be pretty bad for a Pokémon with such a strong nose."
"I agree," Zorua said. "I would also like to not have to deal with those smells, actually."
"Yeah, that's why I asked Dexter for the specialist," Ash replied, and sent out Muk.
Zorua returned herself.
"Sure," Muk agreed, a 'mon of few words, and began glooping around to try and pick up some scent molecules.
"That works," Dawn admitted. "But, um… wow… it'd be kind of nice to have a Leafeon right about now..."
"Sorry," Muk replied, and the smell shifted. It was still just as strong, but now it was an incredibly potent aroma of lemon. "Better?"
"...it's an improvement, yes," Dawn replied, after blinking for a few seconds. "That's new."
"Thanks."
In the sewers under Canalave, three Pokémon moved briskly along dimly lit tunnels.
The leader, a Luxio, peered around the corner from ingrained caution, then yowled softly to signal to his fellows that they could keep going – each Pokémon carrying a bag of food with them, as they approached the Wailmer they'd left some twenty minutes ago.
"Hey, Wailmer," Luxio said, pacing over to the Water-type and setting down his bag. "How are you doing?"
"Tired..." Wailmer groaned softly.
"I know, I know," Luxio agreed. "We brought you some food..."
Unbidden, the male Nidoran opened one of their stolen lunches and took out some of the contents. He examined the sandwich inside, a little dubiously, then passed up so Wailmer could eat it.
"I hope it's okay that we're having you rest here," Luxio added, pacing back and forth a little with his tail lashing. "I don't know if Water types are okay like this… but if we put you in the water then you might float away, you can't swim..."
His tail tip lit up with a soft yellow light, helping him inspect Wailmer's underside more closely. "It would help so much if I had a Water type move… if any of us did, really..."
He glanced at the last member of their little group, a Whismur. "Did I forget about any Water types who can help?"
Whismur frowned. "Um… isn't there a Shellos over in the east part of town? No, she moved months ago..."
She shook her head. "I can't think of any, sorry. There's Swampert, but he's not likely to help anyone."
Luxio sighed, lying down and resting his head on his paws for a moment. Then he forced himself to get back up again, and thought hard.
"How good is your Uproar at blowing water around?" he asked.
Whismur thought about it, but before she came to a conclusion Luxio suddenly frowned.
"Can you smell something?" he asked.
"I think I smell it too," Nidoran said. "Kind of like… lemons? Really strong?"
"Do you mean a Nomel berry?" Luxio asked. "It's kind of like that, right?"
"I'm not sure how to tell the difference," Nidoran replied, wrinkling his nose a couple of times.
Luxio turned suddenly. "Someone's coming! Several someones!"
His claws came out slightly, giving him better purchase on the material of the sewer floor, and Nidoran moved up to stand on his side. Whismur moved back a bit, ready to call for whatever help the other sewer Pokémon might give with an Uproar.
For now, whatever was coming was only dimly lit by the overhead lighting, but it was getting closer.
"I'm about to use Flash," Luxio added, tail raising a little, and it flickered once before lighting up intensely so they could see what was coming.
Nidoran blinked, head tilting to the side. "...za?"
The first thing coming up the waterside path was a purplish blob, which they thought was a Muk. Behind it were two humans, and that would have been enough to make Luxio worried… except for the third human walking along the water next to them, and the Lucario next to him.
Then there was a bright blue flash as a Pokémon none of them had ever seen before just appeared out of thin air, and came flying slowly over towards them.
"Hello," the blue-and-white Pokémon said. "I'm Latios – well, a Latios, but you know what I mean. These humans are my friends. Do you mind if they come closer?"
Luxio blinked. "Um-"
"Wait, Latios?" Whismur asked. "You mean, as in the legendary Pokémon Latios?"
"I'm one of those, yes," Latios agreed.
"Well… I guess if you can help Wailmer," Luxio decided, glancing back at the Water-type. "It's probably okay, yeah."
"Ash, it might be a good idea for you to stay back," Lucario suggested.
"Huh?" Ash asked, frowning.
"This is a Wailmer in a sewer," Lucario pointed out. "It might be a good idea to make sure it doesn't become a Wailord in a sewer."
"He's got a point," Pikachu agreed. "Didn't this Wailmer evolve last time anyway? It might be best to stay away in case you kick it off."
"Good idea, yeah," Ash agreed. "I think this bit would fit a Wailord, but it'd be pretty uncomfortable."
He jumped up onto the path by the side of the water, looking around for somewhere to sit down.
As he did, Brock crouched down by Wailmer and gave the Water-type's skin a feel.
He frowned. "It looks like this Wailmer needs some more hydration."
"Right," Dawn said, sending out her Piplup. "Think you can help out?"
"I could," Piplup agreed, thinking. "Is fresh or salt water better?"
"I'm not sure," Brock admitted. "But salt water can't hurt."
"Wait, did you just have a conversation?" Luxio asked, confused. "But one of you is a Pokémon and the other isn't."
"That's right," Dawn agreed. "But my friend Ash over there has been helping teach Brock and I how to understand Pokémon, using Aura."
Piplup did a quick spin, working up a swirling Whirlpool of water, then added Brine to it. As the local Pokémon watched, astonished, Piplup sent the whole swirling water construct into the air – where it began to rain down droplets of cool, salty water as it slowly disintegrated.
"Can you make it a bit warmer?" Brock suggested, and Piplup rolled his eyes before spinning up a second Whirlpool. This one was visibly steaming as Piplup constructed most of it out of Scald, and he sent the two colliding together with a sploosh which drenched both Brock and Wailmer.
"That was… pretty cool," Luxio admitted. "No, scratch that, it was really cool, except for the whole nearly getting me all soaked thing… I didn't know you could make Pokémon moves do that, most of my stuff is really basic..."
"It's how a Pokémon Coordinator tries to train their Pokémon," Dawn explained. "Though Brock and Ash tend to work on interesting things too."
Muk yawned.
"And then there's Muk, who just basically uses every attack at once," Brock pointed out, shaking the worst of the water off his hair. "All right, that should handle the worst of it… now, how are we going to get this Wailmer back to her parents?"
Part of Luxio's attention was on the recovering Wailmer, who was clearly reacting well to the spray of warm salt water that Piplup had provided.
The rest was on the humans and their companions, as they listed off one method after another and he got more and more astonished.
"If Wailmer is okay with ice, then Piplup could make an ice platform and pull him," the girl suggested. "Do you think that would work, Brock?"
"Well, I don't think it would be too dangerous," Brock replied. "But you might need more than just Piplup to tow it."
"I could tow it," the floating Latios volunteered. "We'd need a rope or something, but that's easy."
"Yeah," the girl agreed. "Though Wailmer might fall off if we go too fast, so perhaps it'd need to be big enough to fit someone to hold on as well?"
"If you're doing that, why not just have Latios use telekinesis – or pick her up?" Brock suggested.
He looked at Wailmer. "How does that sound?"
"I don't know," Wailmer replied with a sigh. "Sorry, I'm.. I'm having a lot of trouble concentrating, so I don't know."
"All right," Brock told her soothingly. "We'll get you back to your family soon."
He glanced over to where the third human was. "It's a pity we don't want Ash to accidentally evolve her, or we could just have him carry her outside."
Luxio's jaw dropped.
"...but, um… Wailmer weigh a lot..." he said, a little weakly.
"Yeah, Ash is pretty strong, though I guess he could just put her in his bag," the girl said, then blinked. "Oh, hey, I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Dawn."
That done, she went back to thinking. "I guess we could just ask Giratina to help?"
Luxio heard an audible thump as his Nidoran friend fell over.
"Giratina!?" he asked. "Even I've heard of Giratina! Isn't there supposed to be only one of them?"
"Yes," said a voice.
Luxio slowly turned, looking into a hole in the wall next to him.
A glowing red eye looked back, set into a face almost covered by golden armour.
"You're right, this is amusing," Giratina added, drifting backwards a little to reveal a Torterra stood on a little earth platform next to him. "But yes, I would be quite willing to help this Wailmer… hmm, I may need to find some water."
"I'll help look," the Torterra volunteered.
"Or it might be quicker to just ask Mewtwo to help," Brock added, as Luxio sat down quite hard.
"What about if we try something I thought of, first?" Latios asked. "Piplup, can you give me some more warm salty water?"
Piplup began spinning up again with an audible grumble, sending water showering out like a human garden-sprinkler, before pulling it all together into a whirling disc and passing it off to Latios. The Psychic-typed dragon collected it into a watery blob which swelled as more and more water arrived, then refashioned it into a kind of water disc about three feet deep and big enough for Wailmer to sit in.
"This should let us carry her through the tunnels," Latios explained. "And it'll be less disorienting than a teleport."
Luxio nodded, somewhat jerkily, then got up again and nudged Wailmer. "How does that sound?"
Wailmer nodded a bit, accepting the idea, and Latios split his attention enough to lift the Water-type onto the 'platform'.
"All right, which way's the sea?" he asked.
Luxio stared for a moment, then shook his head. "Oh – right, it's this way..."
"How many Pokémon live down here?" Brock asked the Nidoran. "It's interesting to see a community like this."
"There's quite a lot," the Poison-type replied. "I don't really keep count, and it changes a bit, but there might be hundreds. I know there are sometimes meetings, and Luxio actually taught loads of us how to use Shock Wave at those meetings."
"You're making it sound really impressive..." Luxio sighed. "I just got the idea from knowing there was a human TM thingy for it, so lots of Pokémon must be able to learn it."
"TMs?" Muk asked. "They're tasty."
Luxio gave him a concerned look. "...tasty?"
"That's just Muk," Pikachu said. "He's like that. So, what kind of Shock Wave did you teach them?"
"Well… you know, the normal one?" Luxio asked. "An electrical attack which can go around corners."
Pikachu flicked his tail. "Yeah, that's a good standby, but you really need variants. Want to demonstrate, Pachirisu?"
"Oh – sure!" Pachirisu agreed. "Let's see..."
Her tail fizzed a little with sparks, and she flicked it to the side before firing off one of Pikachu's Shock Wave variants. It spiked out in a series of branching-tree doublings, turning from one line of sparks to two, four, eight… when it hit the far wall it was up to over a thousand, and then all the current blazed down the one route which had made contact first.
"Now that was cool, and in a way I could actually understand," Luxio declared. "Not like, you know, the ghost following us..."
"Oh, Giratina's fine," Pachirisu assured him. "He's just kind of, you know, messing around. A bit."
She was about to throw another Shock Wave, but Whismur held up her hand. "Wait."
The Normal-type listened carefully, then groaned. "Oh, no… it's Swampert again."
"I should have realized we were going to go past his territory," Luxio said, tail lashing. "Okay, uh…"
"Why is that a problem?" Latios asked. "We'll just ask politely to go through."
"Swampert is kind of a jerk," Nidoran volunteered.
"Then we'll ask politely," Pikachu said. "And if he is a jerk, I'll just shock him a little bit."
"I… no, I'm not going to bother asking," Luxio decided. "I'll just assume you can do it, despite how you shouldn't be able to."
"Good call," Pachirisu commented.
There was a quick flash as Marshtomp came out of his Pokéball, stretching a little just after landing.
"I think I might come along, if you don't mind," he said. "Maybe I'll be able to convince a distant relative not to object."
"...aren't you from Hoenn?" Pachirisu asked.
"That's distant, isn't it?" Marshtomp shrugged.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you," Pikachu said. "I'm Pikachu."
"I can see," Swampert muttered. "Is this important?"
"We'd like to come through your territory," Pikachu requested. "We're just passing through, and we don't want to cause you any trouble…"
"Then no," Swampert declared. "It's my territory, and that means I'm not letting anyone else through it. That's how it works."
"It doesn't have to work that way," Brock's Marshtomp said. "We've gone across Hoenn, Kanto and Sinnoh now, while I've been around, and we've passed through the territories of a lot of Pokémon. Most of them have been completely fine about it, and only a few have really wanted to argue about it much."
"Then that just means most Pokémon don't bother to defend their territory properly," Swampert insisted. "Now get out or I'll make you leave."
"Normally we would respect your decision," Pikachu said, and Swampert grumbled something. "But we're trying to get a lost Wailmer back to her pod, and this is the quickest route."
"Don't care. Get lost."
Swampert wound up a swing, then paused as Pikachu sparked his cheeks threateningly.
"...what? Really?" he asked. "Water and ground type, doofus."
"I think I could persuade you I understand my own abilities better than you do," Pikachu said, then paused as Marshtomp stepped past him.
"I'll handle this," he said. "What say you we settle this the old way? Put up your fists."
A ripple of tense guitar music echoed through the tunnel.
Pikachu glanced behind him at Ludicolo. "...where did that guitar come from?"
"I am always ready for a Mexican cultural reference," Ludicolo declared.
"All right, just you and me," Swampert declared. "One on one. And when I knock you out, you're going to go away and not come back – all of you!"
"Fine by me," Marshtomp said. "And if I win, we all come through?"
Swampert snorted, but nodded.
"Good," Marshtomp said, then punched Swampert hard enough that the bigger Pokémon hit the roof and bounced off – then landed in the water with a sploosh.
"All right, problem solved," Marshtomp declared. "Now let's hurry through before he comes back to argue about the rules."
"I'm just kind of realizing, I don't think I ever met any Contest trained Pokémon before," Luxio admitted. "I knew they existed, but I mostly thought it meant looking pretty instead of fighting or anything like that."
"That's not the way I see it," Quilava told him. "I think of it as more a set of different priorities. Fighting qualities are still important, but so is looking good while doing it and especially teamwork – it's much more common for a Contest to be a double battle situation than a conventional battle. As well as that, you have the Appeals, which are just all about showing off… but with moves."
He shrugged. "I think that on average a Contest Pokémon would lose more often than not to an equally talented pure-combat Pokémon who had spent the same amount of time training, but it certainly doesn't make you weak or anything."
Luxio nodded along with that. "Okay, and… you said about double battles? The name sounds obvious, is it?"
"Yeah, and in a Contest double battle we just work together for moves," Quilava explained. "So when Piplup is working with someone else, he'll often set up a Whirlpool and someone else will add something to it. Fire, say, or a Fairy Wind."
"Brock, trouble!" Dawn called, getting everyone's attention.
She pointed at Wailmer, who was starting to visibly shine with light as her evolution began.
Brock glanced around at the tunnel, which looked barely big enough to hold a Wailord, then at Ash – still a long way behind them. "What do we-"
"I have an idea," Dawn began, fumbling in her bag. "I know we got some Pokéballs, I can catch her until we reach the sea – where did I put-"
Wailmer's glow brightened as she evolved to Wailord, swelling out hugely, until she nearly filled the tunnel. Then she dropped abruptly through the floor.
"What happened?" Luxio asked. "Wailm – well, Wailord – are you okay?"
He raced forwards, to where Wailord had vanished, then skidded to a halt just before he would have fallen into a large hole.
"Don't worry, I got her," Giratina's voice came, from somewhere underneath Wailord – who was now floating in a large pool that drifted forwards a little as he watched. "I kept track of where you were and I was carrying this along… admittedly I am not sure how it got into the Reverse World, but it seems fortunate indeed."
Ash came jogging up. "Good work, Giratina – can you get her through to where the sea is?"
"I can, if you can walk there so I know where to go," Giratina told him. "Otherwise it more or less amounts to guesswork."
Luxio blinked, watching as most of the floor became just floor again, then shook his head.
"Um… so what were we talking about?" he asked Quilava. "Contests?"
"Yeah, so I often work with Mamoswine," Quilava explained. "I tend to be the one who rides on his back when we do that… I tried it the other way once and I think my spine wanted to collapse."
Luxio tried not to laugh at that, and flicked his tail. "So… you guys go all over the place?"
"Well, all over Sinnoh so far," Quilava replied. "Dawn's got four ribbons, and we were going to head to get the fifth but we noticed a lot of Wailord blocking the harbour mouth. So we came in to get it sorted out."
"All right, you should be cleared to head out," the harbourmaster said, looking out his window at the freighter he was talking to. "Pay attention to what your pilot says, she knows the channel, and make sure you don't get too close to the Wailord."
Just as he finished speaking, an entire Wailord came flying out of nowhere about ten feet above the water surface. It hit the sea with a fwoosh, water surging away from its flanks, and blew a water spout as it stopped rocking back and forth.
"...on second thought, maybe you'd better wait a bit."
"That's quite a good solution to the problem of opening the bridge," Nidoran said. "Where did the Rotom come from?"
"It lives in our fridge," Pikachu replied, cheeks buzzing as he made sure Rotom had the raw energy to keep the system running. "Thanks for your help, by the way."
Rotom replied with a sizzle of spark-gap interference, and the bridge finally creaked high enough to let the huge Wailord though underneath it.
"That's great!" Ash called from down below. "Just keep it that open for another minute or so while we go underneath!"
"Got it!" Pikachu called down.
"Um… quick question?" Luxio said. "How are you doing that? I can feel how much power you're using, but… you're not a Raichu or anything, and I didn't know any Pikachu were that strong..."
"Oh, that's because this is Ash's Pikachu," Pachirisu supplied brightly. "He's not just any Pikachu, he's a top percent Pikachu!"
"...please never say that again," Pikachu requested. "It just doesn't sound right… and yeah, I credit Ash. I've been training for years, getting stronger and stronger, and he keeps coming up with these ways to get me another power boost in a pinch. Though we haven't really needed one of those recently… anyway, yeah, it's just something which came about over time."
Luxio nodded slightly, his attention turning to the Wailord sailing through the channel, then back to Pikachu and Rotom as they slowly lowered the bridge back down into position.
"I wonder if they're going to need to fix that," Whismur mused. "It kind of blocks the harbour almost as much as the Wailord would."
"I guess maybe it's just something they think can be sorted out later, unlike the Wailord," Pikachu shrugged, then shaded his eyes with his tail to watch as Wailord drifted closer to shore – letting her passengers disembark into the shallows. "Okay, we'll head back down and join Ash."
"We'll come with you," Luxio decided. "I want to say goodbye properly."
"Thanks for showing us around," Ash said to the three local Pokémon. "And for being really kind to that poor lost Wailmer."
"We were just doing what's right," Nidoran shrugged, head dipping for a moment in pleasure. "She was lost and in trouble, who wouldn't help out?"
"...Swampert?" Whismur suggested innocently.
Luxio chuckled, then shook his head and frowned for a moment.
"Nidoran?" he said. "Under my bed in our sleeping place, there's a Moon Stone. I was going to tell you about it when you evolved into Nidorino."
Nidoran and Whismur both blinked.
"What?" Nidoran asked, more than a little confused. "What changed?"
"I'm-" Luxio began, hesitated, then took the plunge. "I'd like to go and travel with Dawn… and I wanted to tell you about it first. So it didn't feel like I was rewarding you for not complaining, or something… I don't know, it just felt right to tell you first."
"That sounds great," Dawn told him, coming over and crouching down.
"Oh, yeah, the speaking Pokémon thing," Luxio realized, blinking. "That's going to take some getting used to… you don't mind?"
"Not at all," Dawn replied. "I could see you were interested, and I'm glad that interest has turned into wanting to come along. And if you do change your mind, then we can just bring you back here – it won't be a problem."
"That's… well, thanks," Luxio summarized. "I'm really looking forward to seeing how this is going to work out."
"Still sure about this?" Dawn asked, about an hour later. "I know there's a lot to take in… it was a lot for me."
"Actually, it's kind of… less than you'd think?" Luxio admitted. "I know I only have your word for all this time travel stuff… but you've got some really good witnesses."
"I am glad you consider me a reliable witness," Giratina stated placidly.
"Are you going to keep just floating around in that pool that way?" Lucario asked.
"It was difficult to locate and purchase, so I am going to get as much value out of it as possible," Giratina replied.
"Even if Legendary Pokémon do turn out to be a bit weird..." Luxio added. "And, well… maybe it's just that so many surprising things have happened today that it's not really possible for me to judge. But I think it's fine, and it's something I'm glad you told me first."
He reached his paw out to the new Pokéball next to him. "And I haven't changed my mind."
There was a red flash as the Pokéball pulled him in, and registered his capture.
A moment later, Luxio came back out again. "Huh… I'm actually surprised how easy it is to get out of those things."
"There's a reason why people who want to capture Pokémon usually battle them first," Dawn chuckled, giving him a stroke down his spine. "Thanks, Luxio."
"I'm glad to be here," Luxio reiterated. "And I think this Appeal stuff is going to be fun."
"This involves a lot more running than I expected," Luxio admitted, claws digging in with a skeee sound on the ice-rink around him.
"That's actually not bad," Dawn said, interested. "If you could make it a bit less harsh, it'd be a good bit of sound accompaniment to the routine."
"That does sound interesting," Luxio agreed, sliding to a halt and examining his claws. "I think I want to make sure I have the basic idea ready first, though… so I need to run at one of the ramps?"
"That's right," Dawn agreed, indicating the vertical ramps Mamoswine had formed with his ice. "They go all the way to vertical, so you should drop right back down onto the same ramp – or a different one, if you put enough sideways on it. But let's try the same one for now."
Luxio gave a nod, claws extending, and used them to grip onto the surface of the ice. He pushed off, sliding faster and faster for four or five pushes before sliding up the curve and up into the air.
He turned slowly, and flicked a Shock Wave at Mamoswine – who absorbed it stoically, not flinching – then came down sideways and rolled over twice before sliding to a stop.
Dawn reached him as he stopped, picking him up and brushing him down. "That was good! There's still a lot to work on, but that's definitely a good step."
"Yeah, I think maybe we should work on landings for a bit," the feline Pokémon said, flicking his tail a bit. "Any idea how to make that easier?"
"I did have one, actually," Dawn replied. "It'd mean you'd need to get your speed right, but we could have you going up a gentler ramp and then landing on another one – that seems like a good start, anyway."
"I do like that plan," Luxio agreed. "Though I have to admit, despite what your Pokémon told me I was expecting a lot more worrying about how I look."
"That's something that's easy to sort out, comparatively anyway," Dawn answered. "We'll do it, but it also helps if you're confident, and this is the best way to build up confidence in my opinion."
Luxio nodded his understanding. "I think I get that, yeah… okay, let's try this again."
"Who are you going to be using for this next Contest?" Togekiss asked. "At Chocovine?"
"I was thinking about that," Dawn replied, watching as Luxio continued practising – not quite getting his speed right, and overshooting the landing ramp before sliding quickly to a halt with a skreee of ice, just about managing to not fall over.
"I don't think Luxio's ready for it," she said. "But that's not surprising, he's not really had any time to train, and what we're working on here is a two-Pokémon Appeal. I'm pretty sure Chocovine is a single-Pokémon contest."
"That's a good point," Togekiss agreed. "So who were you thinking of?"
"Well, you know how you can use different Pokémon in the Appeal round and the Battle round?" Dawn asked, waving her hand. "I was thinking of using that to give two Pokémon a go anyway… partly because double routines take a while to work out compared to single tricks."
"I can understand that," Togekiss agreed, remembering the trouble it had been to get used to working with one of her teammates – just ingraining the ability to react to a move thrown by a different Pokémon. "So, who were you thinking of?"
"For the Appeal stage, I was thinking Quilava," Dawn replied.
Almost as soon as she finished, there was a fwoosh sound. Quilava came rocketing off the front of one of the new ski ramps, doing a triple forwards roll, then landed next to Dawn.
"And for the battle phase," Dawn went on, "I was thinking Ambipom really deserves a solo go as well."
There was a crash as the ramp Quilava had used exploded into shards of ice, Ambipom behind it after using a double Double Hit Focus Punch hit on the ramp.
Luxio came skating in to stop next to her, and gave her and both Pokémon a confused look. "...did you choreograph that?"
"Just a bit," Quilava chuckled. "Dawn gave us the wave, and at that point we were basically making our own entrances."
"I've got so much to learn," Luxio said, a little bit awed. "How do you get a natural instinct for drama?"
"Give it time, it'll turn up," Togekiss chuckled. "It's not really something that has to be natural, you can earn it."
She tweaked his nose with the tip of a wing. "By the way, did you notice that you stopped quite nicely there?"
"I… no, actually," Luxio admitted.
"There you go," Dawn smiled. "Improving already!"
"Dawn?" Brock said. "Do you have a moment?"
"Well, I don't have long, but I've got a few minutes," Dawn answered, checking how long she had until she had to be signed up for the Contest. "Is something wrong?"
"I hope not," Brock replied. "I just wanted to remind you… you don't have to stay exactly on schedule. We can skip Chocovine, or wait around for a week – I don't think we have anything urgent."
Dawn frowned, then realized what Brock was getting at.
"This is about the Iron Island stuff, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, it is," Brock confirmed. "I'd have said the same thing if Ash was having a gym battle about now. There's nothing wrong with waiting a bit until you get back on top of things."
Dawn nodded, making sure to think about the subject properly rather than just reacting automatically, and after a few seconds she nodded again.
"I think I'll be okay," she decided. "What happened was awful – it really was – but I want to be able to prove to myself that I can just keep going afterwards."
"And if it doesn't work out?" Brock asked.
Dawn took a breath, then let it out. "I… that wouldn't be good," she admitted. "But I think that not taking part in a Contest, deciding to wait, would be almost the same as if things went badly. It'd be letting them get to me."
"All right, Dawn," Brock said. "Just remember that you don't need to prove anything to us – we know how good you can be."
"Right," Dawn replied, smiling. "Thanks."
She checked her Pokétch, and turned to hurry and register in time.
"There's… quite a lot of people watching," Luxio said, sitting on one of the seats in the area Ash and Brock had claimed. "Is this normal?"
"Fairly normal, yes," Lucario told him. "For battlers a large live audience usually comes in a League battle or a demonstration battle, but for Coordinators performing in front of an audience is pretty much the norm."
He waved a paw. "I understand your concerns about being noticed and public, but… well, honestly, there are several ways to deal with it. The way that I tend to use is just to focus on the job at hand, though I've been doing this long enough that I've gotten used to it."
Luxio nodded along. "Thanks, that was what I was worried about, I'm not really used to people."
He tilted his head a little. "Ah, that looks like Dawn!"
Dawn threw her Pokéball, and Quilava emerged with a flash of smoke.
The Fire-type dropped to the floor, adjusted his stance a little, then cleared his throat and used Eruption.
A shower of almost smokeless flame rose into the air, taking the form of glowing gobbets which rained down all around Quilava, and before the first set had quite finished landing he sent out a second pulse that was just as bright – lighting up the interior of the tent with a kind of flaming, orange heartbeat.
Each successive Eruption was a little more powerful than the last, showering the floor with sparks, until Quilava abruptly stopped between one blast and the next.
He took a step forwards as the last burst dimmed, then rolled over onto his back and began to use Ember. The flames gathered in his mouth, then seemed to roll out onto the floor, and this time Quilava's careful, careful control produced an entirely different effect.
His flames flowed outwards in all directions, alternately quickly and slowly on any given front of advance, and by the time that part of the routine was finished there was a slowly dimming layer of flame across half the stage.
At a signal from Dawn, he flipped over onto his front again and waited a moment. The last embers of the fire display ended, and Quilava crouched slightly – then used Eruption.
This one was completely different to his previous use of the same move, a loud bang which sent ash and smoke fountaining into the air. A second Eruption a moment later added to the effect, and sent up a plume of smoke which hid Quilava completely and spread out into a kind of flat-topped tree shape.
Glowing fragments began to fall from the cloud, more Embers which formed a kind of bright rain, and Quilava's Eruption simmered away for a short moment longer until it suddenly burst out sideways – away from the core of the smoke plume that had been hiding him, as Quilava came sliding out with cinder-laced smoke pouring off his fur.
Brock nodded as he clapped. "I appreciate an appeal like that."
"Why, what was it?" Ash asked. "Some of it seemed kind of familiar?"
"That's because you've been close enough to an erupting volcano to recognize a pyroclastic flow and a Plinian eruption," Brock told him. "A very thematic set of moves for a Volcano Pokémon."
"I think I might be missing something," Luxio said, glancing at Pachirisu. "Why were you so happy that that girl defeated that other girl?"
"We have a bit of a history with Ursula," Pachirisu explained. "She's got it into her head somehow that Dawn, specifically, is unworthy of having so many Ribbons. I have no idea how it works out in her view, just that she doesn't like Dawn."
"That doesn't sound very nice of her," Luxio muttered. "Is this Ursula any good as a coordinator?"
"She's not bad, per se," Pachirisu answered, giving the question some thought. "I don't think she's as good as Dawn, partly because she sometimes gets quite underhanded when we face off, but she's fairly good."
Luxio nodded. "Right. And so this Zoey is better?"
"I think so, yes, but we do like her," Pachirisu told him. "So, you know. Maybe a bit biased."
The ex-feral flicked his tail. "Heh, I know what you mean. I'm sure Swampert back in Canalave was nice to his friends, assuming he had any."
Pachirisu chuckled.
"Okay, so, um… we've seen Dawn and Ambipom twice, and we saw that Zoey girl twice… so that means this next one's the final," Luxio said, glancing aside to check that he was following properly.
"That's right," Pachirisu agreed. "Let's see how it goes."
"Summer," Zoey instructed.
Her Mismagius did a twirl, producing a swirl of purplish-grey smoke, and vanished into it.
The Ghost-type was hidden for a few seconds, somewhere inside the diffuse cloud her setup had made, then the shadows formed into leaf shapes which came buzzing out towards Ambipom.
Ambipom's hand-tails glowed as she charged them up with attack energy, batting away some of the leaves, but others got through and hit her – revealing themselves to actually be Magical Leaf attacks, not a Ghost-type move at all.
Dawn frowned as she watched, trying not to dwell on the way Mismagius' shadowy means of fighting was so similar to what she'd seen on Iron Island. "Retaliate with some Shadow Balls!"
Ambipom's hands glowed as she charged up a Shadow Ball, then threw it into the air to bat around quickly between both tails and amplify its force. It quickly developed into a powerful attack, but it took time – time in which Mismagius cast another shadow-spell of her own, one which formed into a lightning bolt and flicked out at Ambipom.
The Normal-type flicked her ball up into the air, sending it spinning fast enough to hold it in mid-air, and powered up a Thunder Punch on one tail instead. That let her block the attack, sending it fizzing into the stage, but Ambipom had missed the second bolt of lightning which hit her in the side and flipped her over backwards.
Landing on one tail and both feet, Ambipom jumped up to regain control of her Shadow Ball attack. She flung it at Mismagius, then sighed in frustration as the slippery Ghost-type blocked it with a tendril of shadow that formed into a Power Gem in mid-air.
Not stopping there, Mismagius produced another shadow mass with a flourish, sending Power Gems flying at Ambipom. Most of them got blocked or dodged, Ambipom pushing off from the ground to avoid where the attacks had been aimed, but one trick-shot which had deliberately been fired later hit her in the side.
Ambipom rolled to a halt, annoyed, and looked up at the points for a moment – which showed that Zoey, and Mismagius, were on course to win the battle when the time ran out. Then Mismagius attacked again, sending a shadowy cloud forwards which abruptly burst to reveal a Dark Pulse.
Dawn winced again, not sure how to turn the battle around.
Everything that Ambipom was doing didn't seem to help – her attacks were blocked as Mismagius brought another attack out of the swirling Ominous Wind she was using as defence, and that same shadowy influence meant it was almost impossible to tell what was coming until it was too late.
Ambipom's timing was getting worse, as well, and Dawn could see she was affected as well. That meant they needed to work quickly – needed to act in a hurry, before the shadowy Pokémon managed to-
"Double Focus Punch!" Dawn called.
Ambipom's tails lit up orange, and she lunged at Mismagius to deliver a two-fisted Focus Punch. Both tails were coiled up, to let her hammer home a total of four attacks in a short space of time-
-and Ambipom passed straight through Mismagius.
Her attacks hit the floor, sending splinters in all directions and shaking the ground slightly, and a moment later the time ran out.
Some minutes later, Zoey hurried out with her ribbon – having made her excuses as soon as possible – and hunted around for a moment before spotting her friend.
"Dawn!" she called. "Dawn, are you okay?"
She sat down next to the other Coordinator on a low brick wall. "Just wanted to check things are going all right."
"Well, I feel a bit of an idiot," Dawn answered, a little indistinctly. "I can't believe I did something that foolish."
Ambipom said something, and Dawn poked her. "Hey, I was the one who gave the order..."
"There's obviously more to this than I know," Zoey pointed out. "You're not someone who would just screw up something like that… there has to be some reason. And I saw you were both looking worried."
Dawn was silent for a moment, then swallowed.
"You know the Galactic thing?" she checked. "That's silly – of course you do. But we had another run in with them two days ago, and… and..."
She took a deep, steadying breath, and continued. "They tried to kill Ash. No warning, just tried to shoot him, and it's only because Absol was around that it didn't work. And, and a moment later this Zoroark attacked, only it's a Shadow Zoroark, so it was way more powerful and nearly impossible to stop."
"Ambi..." Ambipom contributed.
"Yeah, it kind of… it was using illusions, we think?" Dawn waved a hand. "But they were solid, and they could hurt people. It would just send out this wave of darkness, and the darkness turned into spikes or flames..."
Zoey put her arm around Dawn's shoulder and gave her a squeeze. "I see now… Mismagius was doing exactly the right thing to make you think about that. And if Ambipom was there, you're both worried about it."
"Yeah," Dawn agreed. "And it was… that Shadow stuff really scares me, because it's torturing a Pokémon until it breaks, and there's how most people can't even remember Galactic is a thing so we can't get help..."
She shook her head. "There are days I really kind of wish I was just a normal Coordinator."
"Yeah, but then we'd be in real trouble," Zoey said. "Okay, I… well, one thing that tells me is that I should really keep up with the stuff that those Porygon are discussing, I could have known about that ahead of time and maybe I'd have worked out what was troubling you.
She gave Dawn another squeeze. "That's kind of special circumstances, so I think you can consider yourself to have deserved this ribbon-"
"No, I want to earn the next one myself," Dawn replied.
"That's fine," Zoey told her.
"Hey, what are you doing with her?"
Dawn looked up, seeing Ursula walking towards them, and tensed up again.
"I thought you'd have realized that Dawn just isn't a very good Coordinator after that display in the final," Ursula went on. "Is this-"
"Shut up," Zoey told her firmly. "You don't know what this is about, so shut up. Dawn is a good Coordinator, and she's already looking at what went wrong, but you don't-"
"Zoey, don't," Dawn interrupted. "Ursula's right, I did screw up… but that just means I need to get back on form to get my next ribbon."
She sighed. "And maybe I should have waited, like Brock suggested..."
"Dawn," Zoey said firmly. "Stop. You shouldn't blame yourself for something like this – nobody thinks you need to be a superwoman or something. This is the exact difference between you and… well, between you and Ursula-"
"What's that supposed to mean?" Ursula demanded.
"Ursula always tries to find a way to shift blame away from herself – like just today, when she told me that Mismagius being immune to Ground type moves was the only reason why she lost. She made exactly the same kind of mistake that you did – and yes, it was a mistake, I'm not denying that – but she considers it to be your fault that you made a mistake but not her fault that she made a mistake."
"But everyone knows that Ghosts are immune to Fighting type attacks," Ursula said, waving her hand irritably.
"Doesn't that mean-" Dawn began.
"Sorry, but I need to finish first," Zoey told her. "Ursula shifts blame away from herself, but you're shifting blame onto yourself – and you're wrong about it."
She deflated slightly. "I… don't really know how to prove that or anything, beyond just telling you firmly, but… it's true, okay?"
For her part, Ursula seemed almost lost for words.
"That's so unfair," she said, after several seconds. "I… I can't believe you're so clearly biased in her favour!"
The Coordinator left in a huff.
"Seriously, though, Dawn," Zoey went on. "You were holding the score really close, and that's impressive working on the wrong side of a type disadvantage like that even before you consider how Mismagius' new style – the whole situation – was almost designed to try and freak you out. I know that tactic works because Ursula does it, but I hate it, and all it means that you had trouble with it is that you're human."
Dawn was silent for a moment, then nodded. "I… yeah, I think I understand it when you put it like that."
"By the way," Zoey added. "Did I see a Luxio in the crowd? Yours, Brock's or Ash's?"
"Mine, he's new," Dawn confirmed, smiling now. "We're still working on a routine or two, but I think he's going to fit in well."
"Good for you," Zoey told her. "Now, come on – let's go get you some ice cream therapy."
"So, this is Brine Cave," Aaron said, looking around. "I can see why it's called that. It is, indeed, full of brine."
"That's just salty water, right?" Dialga asked.
"Yes, more or less," Aaron confirmed. "I'm not certain quite how salty the water has to be to qualify as brine, but that's what it means."
"And we're here for… a pattern, right?" Palkia checked.
"That's right!" Wigglytuff agreed.
"Actually, why are you helping us?" Giratina asked. "I think I missed that bit."
"He's helping us because we convinced him that we have noble goals, bro, keep up," Palkia said. "Remember? Aaron pointed out that he's a Riolu, and that… was more or less the end of the discussion, if I remember properly."
"We did explain the plot," Dialga reminded him, adjusting his Skitty hoodie a bit. "Though I think Dad more or less just dictated that bit."
"I know, I screwed that bit up," Arceus groaned. "Oy… I am working on post game content now too, though."
"That's helpful," Aaron noted. "Though we'll need to finish this first. There's a relic fragment somewhere in here, right?"
"Yes, that's exactly correct," Chatot said. "I'll show you where it was last time we saw it."
"Everyone else, this way!" Wigglytuff called, turning in a different direction.
"Why's he going that way?" Giratina asked.
"It's Wigglytuff, who knows," Palkia muttered. "Okay, so… this way, right?"
Chatot nodded a confirmation. "We're going to need to take a passage that goes left, then doubles back to the right-"
Palkia walked into the wall, breaking it down with a crunch.
"Oh, yeah, Super Mobile," Aaron remembered. "I guess we just follow him to the stairs?"
"Monster House!" Palkia called suddenly. "Tentacool! Lots of Tentacool!"
AN:
Mostly about Dawn, one way or another.
