As Zacian reminded them, the next gym was the much-promised Dragon one in Blackthorn, and the friends set off for there without much delay.

Well, there was some delay when they had to sort out something involving a war between Vileplume and Bellossom, but Dragonite said that he'd take care of it and that the diplomatic summit should have everything worked out in a few days.

"So, uh… right, it's about four months until the Silver Conference," Ash checked, as they walked. "Some of that time is going to be training, but is all of it?"

Brock considered.

"There's some places I'd quite like to visit," he said. "It shouldn't be much out of our way, and it'd be a good break. Like Altomare."

Ash brightened. "Yeah, Altomare's nice, I've got friends there!"

Misty smirked. "And are these friends Legendary Pokémon?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Pikachu said.

The Water-type specialist was about to ask whether Pikachu's joke had been directed at her or at Ash, but they were interrupted as a Murkrow flew overhead.

"A Pikachu! A Pikachu!" it cawed.

"A Murkrow!" Pikachu replied. "See? I can state the obvious too!"

Then a girl came running over, delighted to have found a trainer with a Pikachu, and introduced herself as Lily – a Pokémon Magician.

"I've been searching for unusual ingredients," she explained. "My spells all need all sorts of odd things, and they have to be from specific Pokémon – so it's not a Thunderbolt, it's Thunderbolt from a Pikachu, that kind of thing."

Ash frowned. "So… it's all specific things from specific Pokémon?"

He rummaged in his backpack. "I think I know what might help!"

"...uh, the ingredients are usually kind of weird," Lily admitted. "How could you have something in your backpack that…"

She trailed off, looking at the pink Mew in Ash's hand.

Hiya! Mew announced. Ooh, do I get to be a magician's assistant?

To Ash's satisfaction, things went very quickly indeed after that.

Stun Spore from a Parasect took less than a minute, though they did have to dissuade Mew from seeing whether a Stun Spore from a Ratatta would work just as well, while getting tears from an Aipom was easy as well because Mew knew Fake Tears.

And the dirt from a Meowth's claws was quick enough as well, though first Mew-owth had to actually get his claws dirty.

It didn't take long for Lily to mix up everything they'd gathered, making a spell that would improve someone's understanding of their Pokémon, and Ash volunteered to be the first one to try it.

"Uh… Ash?" Misty said. "You're the only one who actually understands everything Pokémon say anyway."

"Yeah, but I want to understand better," Ash replied. "I'm… honestly, kind of worried that I might make a mistake with Lokoko, or something like that, and the better I understand her the less likely that is."

"I think the bigger concern here is that we might not even know if it's worked," Pikachu said.

"But we can do it again if it works, right?" Togetic asked. "I'd like for mama Misty to be able to understand me… I can't get Extrasensory to do it right."

Misty may not have understood Togetic, but she understood the tone of voice, and she gave Togetic a hug.

"If Ash wants to try, I can't see a reason why not," Brock said.

"In that case…" Lily said, and finished the spell.

Ash fell over, and everything suddenly seemed a lot bigger.

"Huh?" he asked. "What just happened?"

"Ash?" Brock blinked, as Ash examined his paws. "You turned into a Pikachu?"

Ash looked over at Pikachu, then at Mew, and changed shape again.

"Ooh, did you turn into a Mew?" Mew asked, floating down to inspect Ash's pink-kitten shape. "Heey! If you're a Mew you should be floating!"

She thwapped Ash lightly on the nose, and there was a puff of smoke as Ash's shape changed again.

"Okay, what exactly did that spell turn you into?" Pikachu asked. "Now you're an Absol."

"I… kind of think this is what it actually turned me into," Ash replied, shifting his weight a little. "That was an Illusion bursting, wasn't it?"

"So Ash turns into an Absol with the Illusion ability," Brock summarized. "Honestly, I can see it. But aren't Absol supposed to be able to detect disasters?"

Ash concentrated.

"...mostly I just think I've got a feeling about meeting new friends?" he said.

Misty giggled.

"It's really weird to see a Pokémon speaking in human language," Pikachu voiced. "I mean actually speaking in it, not doing that thing Lokoko does where she makes you think she said something. I'm used to Meowth, but…"

"Oh, sorry," Ash said. "Is this better? How's my accent?"

"You're speaking in Mew," Pikachu said. "Which is, admittedly, impressive for an Absol."

That night in camp, Dragonite returned. And was very impressed with Ashbsol.

"You can be all kinds of things!" he said. "That's great! The only sad thing is you can't be something like a Dragonite and fly!"

"You say that, but I've got this idea," Mew replied. "I'm going to teach Ash a move!"

"And what move might that be?" Pikachu asked. "Because there are some moves which honestly scare me there."

"Like what?" Ash asked. "Come on, Pikachu!"

"Absol learn Future Sight," Pikachu told him. "Normally, I mean, even without Mew's services."

"...okay, yeah, that one's probably a bad idea," Ash admitted. "Do you think I could learn a move, though?"

"You have the other stuff Absol can do!" Mew said, and flicked a Confusion attack at Ash. It made no impression on him whatsoever, but it did blow his hat off from where it had been resting on his head, and Dragonite caught it.

"There you go," he said.

"Thanks," Ash replied. "...uh, actually, that raises kind of a weird question. My hat's here, but what happened to my clothes?"

"...I think we're just going to remind ourselves that it was magic, and go along with that," Pikachu said.

"Anyway!" Mew squeaked brightly, folding her arms. "I've got the perfect move for you, Ash – it's called Secret Sword!"

She waved her paw. "I mean, Zacian knows it… or, is that Sacred Sword? Eh, I'll teach her Secret Sword too, but you first!"

"Before you continue, Mew," Pikachu said. "Are we absolutely sure this is a good idea, and also, sorry about the pun."

Ash sniggered.

"Wouldn't I be able to tell if it was a bad idea?" he asked. "With my new Absol senses and stuff. Because I can't pick up anything bad…"

He glanced up at his horn. "But I kind of want to try it out! I mean, when will I get another chance to learn a Pokémon attack?"

Despite Mew's best efforts, Ash had to spend a bit of time with Zygarde and Suicune first.

In particular, once he was actually thinking about how to walk on all fours – which he had to do when doing training – he tripped over himself a bit, and it took an hour or so to get to the point that didn't happen.

Then he spent a bit of time trying out Croconaw, and Suicune (which led to the conclusion that just because a Suicune could run at hundreds of miles per hour didn't mean Ash could steer at that speed, and a further five minutes extracting his horn from the tree).

After that, though, he could start learning properly.

"This is a whole new experience," Pikachu said, sitting on Ash's back. "I'm not sure I like it…"

"Well, this won't last forever," Ash replied. "I think that's what Lily said, right?"

"She said it'd last until the magic runs out," Brock confirmed. "So… who knows how long that is?"

"At least we managed to sort it out so that I could carry my backpack," Ash said, looking down at where it was slung under his body. "And leave space for Pikachu, too!"

He pointed. "Oh, hey, it looks like there's a lake down there!"

Giovanni contemplated the screen.

"So, you… saw Ash Ketchum's friends, without Ash Ketchum," he said.

"That's right!" Jessie agreed. "And at a lake with plenty of Electric type Pokémon! It was the perfect opportunity!"

"And I assume you do not currently have his Pokémon?" Giovanni added.

They shook their heads.

"Turns out he got a talkin' Absol now," Meowth supplied. "It cut our balloon in half with this orange glowin' sword blade, an' destroyed all the anti-electric protections we built in, too!"

"Which just meant the Zapdos got angry too," James finished.

"I see," Giovanni said. "Well, you're still doing better than anyone else who's encountered him, so I'm leaving you on Ketchum duty."

He turned off the screen without preamble.

Then he contemplated his Persian.

"In a few years, those three will probably be able to take on Lance," he said. "The only downside is where Ketchum will be by then…"

"There we go!" Ash said, with a grin. "Blackthorn Gym!"

"Yeah!" Pikachu agreed, on his shoulder. "I may not get to battle here, but I'm going to enjoy watching it anyway!"

"And well you should," Zacian declared. "I intend to do a fine performance of a battle!"

She chuckled. "Of course, what you see may be more than a little different."

"I actually wonder what the rules are for dragon Pokémon," Brock said, as they followed Blackthorn's main street towards the gym. "You've got Charizard back for this, and he's very much a dragon Pokémon even if he doesn't normally have the Dragon type."

"I think we've had this conversation before," Misty commented.

"It's still weird, though, mama," Togetic said.

Misty frowned, then shook her head. "Sorry, Togetic. I know you were talking to me, but only because I recognized that last word."

"That's okay, mama," Togetic told her, patting her on the arm. "We'll keep trying."

"I had a sort of feeling you'd be showing up," the Gym Leader said, after finding out Ash was at her door. "So, before anything else, here is the challenge for Blackthorn Gym."

She looked down at Zacian. "This is particularly relevant for you, my lady of Galar – you see, the challenge is that there must be no shared Types."

"Oh, that's interesting," Ash mused. "So… is that counting Mega Evolution or not? And what about Transformation and other abilities?"

"The same Pokémon sharing a type with itself does not count," Clair answered. "But otherwise, yes, you can't have one Dragon type and then another Pokémon that becomes Dragon type during the battle."

She chuckled. "It's mostly to make sure we don't have to deal with too many Fairy types, if you ask me."

"In that case, how many Pokémon is it on a side?" Ash asked. "Because I'm pretty sure I'm ready!"

"Three," Clair told him. "Right this way."

"For the record, because everyone asks," Clair added, as Ash took his place opposite her in the challenge room. "Dragon for this Gym means Type, Egg Group, and also how it looks. If any of us ever had a Lugia we'd probably be happy to use them here… though, admittedly, that's a bit unlikely, since you're not a member of the gym."

Misty shook her head. "The sad thing is, I agree with her, I'd use Silver too if I could."

"Well, I've got my first Pokémon ready!" Ash said. "Zacian!"

"Kingdra, you first," Clair said, sending out her Water-Dragon into the pool making up about a quarter of the marked arena floor – though less than a tenth of the much larger internal gym space. "And, just for the record?"

Kingdra looked over at her.

"Sorry in advance."

"That's a beautiful Kingdra," Misty added.

"Zacian is Fairy type, just so you know," Ash said, as Zacian padded out onto the arena floor. "She's got a Steel-type Forme but she's not using it."

Clair nodded. "Then begin."

Zacian sprang into motion, and Ash pointed. "Moonblast!"

A surge of ethereal light blasted out at Kingdra, and the Dragon plunged into the water so she wouldn't take the hit.

"Whirlpool," Clair called. "Keep a shield around yourself. Then use Flash Cannon."

"Get ready to dodge, Zacian," Ash called. "And – now!"

Zacian sprang into the air, and kept going. Glitters of light surrounded her paws as she flet into the air, evading the Flash Cannon attack, and Kingdra looked baffled for a moment.

"She can fly?" the seahorse asked.

"Treat it like you're battling Dragonair!" Clair called. "Keep using Flash Cannon!"

"Iron Head!" Ash responded. "Reflect the beam if it gets close – and keep dodging unpredictably! Don't let her know where you're going!"

Zacian flew gracefully to one side, then the other, alternating between floating and kicking off thin air, and waited for Flash Cannon to run out before shooting down another Moonblast on Ash's order. This one blazed down into the pool and hit Kingdra, hitting her hard despite the watery shield, and Clair frowned.

"Your other Fairy counter!" she commanded.

"Iron Head!" Ash called, but this time Zacian didn't quite react in time. She'd been waiting for the attack to come out, not realizing that Kingdra's Clear Smog was so refined that it was effectively invisible – and that it spread out across the entire upper part of the room, rather than just going for where Zacian appeared to be.

Almost by mistake, Kingdra had managed to hit the hidden Zacian as well – the illusion shattering as Zacian's true position was revealed – and Ash frowned as he thought.

"Close in!" he called. "Get back on the ground – then close in, and Moonblast the whole pool!"

"Smokescreen, Kingdra!" Clair replied.

The pool went black as Zacian landed, and she glanced at Ash for instructions.

"Into the water!" Ash decided. "Knock her out of it if you can, but if you can't just Moonblast in the pool!"

"Just what I hoped I'd hear!" Zacian declared, and charged. "The best defence is to beat your opponent first!"

She jumped, fairy-light sparkling around her paws again for a moment as she used them to kick off the air, and plunged into the inky pool with a crash. Then there were three or four crashing sounds from inside in the space of less than two seconds, a howl and a yelp, and the entire pool exploded up and out in a shower of Fairy-dust.

Also carried along with it was Kingdra, who hit the ground outside the pool and grumbled something about wet dogs.

"Are you okay, Zacian?" Ash called.

The Heroine of Many Battles hauled herself back out of the pool, paws-first but obviously supporting her weight with Fly, and huffed as she contemplated her coat.

It was extremely dirty.

"I believe so," she pronounced.

"I'll call you back for now," Ash added. "If Kingdra's out, that is?"

"Yes, Kingdra is out of the fight," Clair agreed.

Ash returned Zacian, then sent her out again so she could watch.

"My second Pokémon is Dragonair," the Gym Leader declared.

"And I choose me!" Ash countered, jumping into the arena and dropping his Illusion.

Clair stared.

"What."

She pointed.

"I mean. What?"

"Hey, when else am I going to get a chance to do a gym battle?" Ashbsol asked, bouncing from paw to paw.

"Didn't that wear off last night?" Misty said. "I swear you were human this morning."

"Well, yeah, I was using Illusion," Ash replied.

"...Absol can't do that," Clair protested.

"It's Magic, basically," Ash told her. "And Pikachu did say he preferred having a shoulder to rest on. Anyway, come on, I want to see how this goes!"

A little confused, Clair sent out her Dragonair, and the Dragonair looked a little confused as well.

"So… I heard the conversation," she began.

"Yeah, I got turned into a Pokémon a week or so ago by magic," Ash said. "It's kind of fun! I've got a whole new perspective on how battling works, and also on how walking on four legs works."

"What happens if you're knocked out, though?" Dragonair said. "Is it, uh… I don't even know what the rules would be?"

"I guess that would be kind of a problem," Ash admitted. "Maybe I should have gone third? I was kind of excited though."

Clair seemed to have recovered her aplomb a little, and clapped her hands for attention.

"Mr. Ketchum, are you actually registered as one of your own Pokémon?" she asked. "I have to admit, I've got no idea how that would even be handled."

"Actually, Professor Oak looked it up, once I asked him," Ash supplied. "In between talking about amazing scientific discoveries and being kind of annoyed we hadn't got the magician's phone number. Apparently it happens sometimes because of Zoroark, and there's some rule about how if you are a Pokémon you automatically count. He said it was easier than trying to track down anyone who was suspected of doing that, and because it didn't matter anyway."

Ash shrugged, a peculiar four-legged motion. "Are we going to start?"

"...yes," Clair decided. "Dragonair – Thunder Wave!"

"Secret Sword!" Ash replied, lighting up his horn with a flare of golden light, and blocked most of the attack. A little of it made it through, but Ash shrugged it off and loped forwards – then jumped, swinging his horn and slamming it into Dragonair.

"Twister," Clair said. "Try and catch him in it."

Ash kicked off from Dragonair, flipping over backwards, and stumbled a bit on landing. The Twister mostly missed him, though, and he looked at it for a long moment.

It was a move several of his Pokémon had used, so he had a fairly good idea of how long it lasted...

"It's going to run out… there," he decided, under his breath, and went darting back in for another Secret Sword.

"I don't even know what counts as safe to use on him," Clair admitted, as Dragonair used Iron Tail to try and fend Ash off before switching to a bright Flash – one that left Ash blinking and shaking his head for a moment, until he went right back in again.

"Honestly… I've seen Pikachu Thunderbolt him a few times," Misty told her. "As a human."

"In that – wait, that's that Pikachu, right?" Clair checked.

Pikachu nodded smugly.

"In that case – Dragonair, Thunder!" Clair called.

Dragonair flew up into the air, tail coiling, and snapped it down – sending a surge of lightning which hit Ash on the horn and flank, coiling and discharging around him.

Ash's fur all poofed up at once, and he went tense, then shook himself out.

"That was a pretty powerful attack!" he said. "That was great!"

Clair and her Dragonair exchanged a look of perfect understanding.

What.

"How did that one go – oh, yeah, that's right!" Ash said. "Razor Wind!"

He flicked his head as a swirl of wind built up around his horn, and a blade of air went scything up at Dragonair. She dodged to the side, but Ash already had a second Razor Wind glowing on his horn, and he sent it flying up to curve around and hit Dragonair from above.

"Dragonair, I can't believe this, but you're going to have to use Dragon Rage," Clair said.

"Hey, I think I'm doing pretty well!" Ash protested, skidding a little to look at her. "There's no need to be like that!"

"You were human two weeks ago!" Clair said, a little sharply. "Of course I'm surprised that you're battling Dragonair like this!"

"Well, it'd be easier if she were lower down," Ash said, then jumped aside as Dragonair's Dragon Rage came down and blasted a scorch mark on the floor. "Whoa!"

He broke into a lope, looking up, then used Razor Wind again.

This time, though, instead of summoning a blade and firing it up he summoned a whole windstorm around his horn – then flicked his head, and jumped, and the windstorm caught him from underneath to launch him into the air.

"Secret Sword!" he announced, doing a forward flip, and the golden blade knocked Dragonair back towards the ground hard enough that she hit with a crash.

Ash followed, ready to hit her as she got up, and about five feet off the ground he turned back into a human.

That didn't give Dragonair anything to be pleased about, though, as Ash did still land on top of her.

"Lance is never going to believe this," Clair said. "You just defeated my Dragonair… personally. It sounds like one of those Norman Facts."

She shook her head slightly. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Ash said. "Why?"

"I think it's that you just hit the ground after falling forty feet and landed on a Dragonair," Pikachu pointed out. "It tends to confuse people."

"Huh," Ash said. "It's kind of a pity the magic wore off, that was fun! Uh… I guess I should get my third Pokémon ready, right?"

Ash's third Pokémon was Charizard, who took off and cracked his knuckles.

As it happened, Clair's third Pokémon was her Gyarados, who came out of his Pokéball onto the arena near the pool and grumbled.

"There's supposed to be water in this," he said.

"That was me," Zacian confessed, holding up a paw. "I have to say, next time I do one of these I'm bringing my sword…"

"Gyarados!" Clair called. "Ready?"

She held up a Mega Ring, fitting it around her wrist, and Ash held up his own.

"Charizard!" he said. "Let's do this!"

Both Pokémon Mega-Evolved at once, in a flash of light.

"All right, this is going to be great!" Mega Charizard declared. "Hey, Gyarados! You're going up!"

"Shouldn't that be going down?" Mega Gyarados said.

"Yeah, eventually," Mega Charizard said.

"Gyarados, start with Hyper Beam!" Clair ordered.

Mega Charizard retaliated by diving straight for the ground, and didn't stop when he reached it – vanishing with a crunch as he used Drill Run.

"...of course there's something about the Charizard as well," Clair sighed. "The most normal Pokémon so far was the challenger. Gyarados – Earthquake!"

Mega Charizard burst back out of the ground before the Earthquake actually triggered, slamming Mega Gyarados into the air as well, and Mega Gyarados delivered a persuasive counterargument by using a Dragon Rush that slammed Mega Charizard into the wall.

"It's Water and Dark type!" Ash called. "Brick Break!"

Mega Charizard duly used Brick Break.

"Hydro Pump!" Clair ordered. "Fill the pool and get him into the water!"

"Drill Run!" Ash countered. "Then come back out with another Brick Break!"

Eleven and a half minutes later, both Pokémon were panting heavily. Mega Charizard was leaning on his forearm as well as both his hind legs, and Mega Gyarados was coiled up to conserve energy instead of charging around.

There wasn't a great deal left of the gym floor, though only about half of that was actually Charizard's fault. The other half was because when a Mega Gyarados used Giga Impact it left some serious holes in the local scenery, and he'd done it five times so far.

"Okay, Charizard, one more attack!" Ash called, and Mega Charizard took off with a hammer of wings. "Let's see how this goes – use Outrage!"

Mega Charizard's claws glittered as he flew up in an outside loop, then plunged down with a glowing red aura surrounding his whole body.

"Outrage as well!" Clair called in reply, then thought about the situation, then ducked behind the nearest bit of solid cover.

The impact when the two Pokémon met shook the building.

A little too hard.

"So, uh… do I get the badge?" Ash asked. "Because you're meant to get that from Blackthorn Gym, and there… kind of isn't necessarily a Blackthorn Gym any more. Does it count as a gym if it's not got a roof or a floor?"

Clair stared at him, then started trying her very best not to laugh.

"Ash," she said, quite seriously, and with only a slight hiccup. "If I didn't give you the Rising Badge, I'd have to take back all the other ones I've given out this year. Yes, you've got the badge; you're Lance's problem now."

"Great!" Ash replied. "I guess that means I'm ready for the Pokémon League!"

"What you're ready for is our week's holiday in Altomare," Misty corrected him. "Then you can get back to training."

AN:

.

Speaking of Point Wat, I think that one might qualify.