With the screening rounds over, Ash was one of the forty-eight trainers who advanced to the round robin stage. That meant battles against different trainers in a mini-league, with the top scorers from all the round robins plus the four highest scoring runners up progressing to the finals.
It also meant the trainers could use three Pokémon per battle, and react to what their opponent was doing.
Not that that necessarily helped.
"Gravity!" Ash called. "Triple!"
Clefairy flicked her fingers out to the side, then pointed down with both of them, and the enemy Golbat went slam down into the ground.
"That won't stop us!" Golbat's trainer announced. "Sludge Bomb!"
"Non, cela ne fera tout simplement pas l'affaire," Clefairy replied, dodging backwards with her wings flicking. She didn't go as far as she otherwise would, but it was far enough to avoid the attack, and Golbat's trainer frowned.
"Razor Wind!" he said. "Give yourself some speed to get at her – then, use Toxic!"
"Metronome while the Razor Wind is charging," Ash replied.
Clefairy used Metronome, humming to herself, and a swirl of air built up around her just the same as it was building up around Golbat. Then both Pokémon unleashed Razor Wind at the same time, Golbat to fling himself forwards despite the high gravity and Clefairy flicking an attack out that caught her opponent a glancing blow.
"Gravity normal – now reverse!" Ash called, and Clefairy completely flipped the direction of her artificial gravity-field over the course of about two seconds. Golbat's Toxic went entirely off course, thrown by the period of varying gravity, and Clefairy dropped into the sky before pointing both fingerguns at the startled Golbat trying to work out how to fly upside down.
"Fais toi métérroriser," she said, and used Meteor Beam.
Twice.
"I'm worried about battling that Clefairy," Lance admitted. "I mean, a bit, anyway."
He watched the Clefairy vanish into her Moon Ball, then his jaw dropped as Ash sent out his second Pokémon from another Moon Ball.
"That's a Latias," he said. "He's got another Legendary Pokémon? How many Legendaries does that make?"
"That depends," Misty told him. "How do you count Pokémon who share the same Pokéball?"
Lance gave her a look. "What?"
"How do you count Pokémon who have been captured in more than one Pokéball?" Brock added.
"How do you count Mew?" Vulpix asked. "Because he's been captured by Ash, what, five distinct times now I think? Counting the Lapras and the Clefairy thing?"
"How do you count Pokémon who just tag along but who are not registered as his?" Zygarde inquired. "I am not the only one who is doing that."
Lance looked over at Clair. "Why is a question like that so complicated?"
"You do not want to get me started," Clair declaired. "I do not want to get me started."
"There's three Legendary Beasts, who share the same Safari Ball," Misty began counting. "And I think so do Latias and Latios only it's a Moon Ball. Mew is another weird one like Vulpix said. Then there's Zacian, Articuno – both from Galar – and Silver the Lugia, plus Shaymintwo and Zapdos you saw during the Indigo Conference."
By this point Misty had run out of fingers. "And then Zygarde and Marshadow are both Legendaries but Ash hasn't caught them, though Zygarde did pull a cart with him on once."
"Woof," Zygarde nodded.
"With literally any other Pokémon trainer it would be a smaller number and one that was easier to calculate," Lance said. "I… kind of wish Agatha was here right now, she'd make a comment about how it wasn't like this back in her day."
He shook his head, and looked back at the television. "Oh, and now he's switched to a Dragonair."
"Shouldn't we at least pretend that we're paying attention to the other battles?" Morty said.
"Not while Ash is battling," Jasmine replied. "We need as much as we can to understand that boy…"
"Light Screen, Mr. Mime!" Ash's opponent called. "Don't let that Dragonair close!"
"One Light Screen coming up," Mr. Mime agreed, spreading his hands and pushing outwards first in one direction and then another.
"And Reflect," the trainer added. "Make sure he can't come in and punch you."
"Dragonair!" Ash called, as Mr. Mime formed his barriers. "Dragon Breath!"
"What?" the other trainer said, baffled, as Dragonair coiled around in a spiral before jetting out a wave of fizzing Dragon-type energy. "But Mr. Mime's immune to Dragon moves… what's going on?"
The energy splashed off Mr. Mime's shields, some of it getting through but having no effect, and Ash gestured. "Okay! Now use Hydro Pump!"
"Deflect any water that gets through with Psychic!" Mr. Mime's trainer called. "And use Dazzling Gleam!"
Mr. Mime mimed a waiter carrying a tray with one hand, the water that got through the weak points in his psychic screens simply splashing away, and with the other he rummaged in an invisible pocket before bringing out a mote of light. He threw it into the air, and it flashed with a brilliant pink-and-blue flash which made Dragonair yelp and recoil.
"Now!" Ash called. "Thunder Wave!"
Dragonair's tail flicked, and a blast of Thunder Wave jetted down. It hit Mr. Mime's shields and splashed off… but it also hit the ground, which was covered with standing water from the Hydro Pump, and Mr. Mime flinched as some of the electricity flashed across into him.
"Brick Break!" Ash added. "The weak points!"
Dragonair twisted into a spiral, and his tail crashed into the point where Dragon Breath had leaked through the psychic barriers earlier. They shattered with a crash, and Dragonair stretched out like a releasing spring as he used Bullet Punch.
Then, just to make the point, Bullet Punch again.
"I'm not sure what's more worrying about that," Morty mused. "The fact that we can't tell which of his Pokémon are the most absurd, or the fact that he doesn't need to explain his weird plans with half of them."
"I'm more worried about the fact that Dragonair didn't evolve," Misty said. "I wonder if he's ill today?"
By the time Ash's second round-robin battle came around, Bruno had arrived.
"Oh, isn't that the kid you've been talking about?" he asked, taking a seat. "The one whose Dragonite adopted you or something."
"Pardon?" Misty said, surprised. "I didn't hear about that."
"It was his Dragonite," Lance provided. "Apparently they've got a kingdom going on, and the Dragonite appointed me an honorary citizen. I swear I explained this when it happened."
"You probably did," Bruno admitted. "Oh, hey, here we go."
Ash started with his Snorlax, and his opponent sent out a Tauros.
"This should be good," Bruno declared. "Tauros are really fast, so this should be bulk against speed."
Misty began coughing.
"Bulk against speed," Jasmine repeated. "That's one way to think of it."
For her part, Vulpix coiled her tails around her body, and began tapping them with her nose one at a time. "Six, five, four, three, two, one…"
"Close Combat!" Fernando said, pointing.
"Agility and Extremespeed!" Ash countered.
Snorlax broke the sound barrier.
Snorlax also broke the retaining wall by means of a blunt instrument; to whit, a Tauros.
"Zero," Vulpix concluded. "Never assume one of Ash's Pokémon is going to do what you expect. Even if you think you know what their thing is."
She flicked her tails back to where they'd started, then scratched her chin. "I'm feeling a bit thirsty. Are there drinks in here?"
"I'll get some," Misty volunteered, spotting what Ash was sending out next. "I've known Zapdos for years, I'm fairly sure about most of what she can do now."
"Oh my word," Jasmine winced, as she spotted Zapdos' opponent. "That poor Nidoqueen."
"Come back for a rest, Zapdos," Ash called.
"Yeah, still need to work on being fit for battle after doing that," Zapdos agreed, panting heavily. "I don't know how you do it, Pikachu."
She dissolved in a flash, and Ash switched to his third Pokéball for the battle. "Okay, Phanpy, it's your turn!"
"Poliwrath!" Fernando replied. "Ready and go – Bubblebeam!"
"Spin up, Phanpy!" Ash called. "Gyro Ball!"
Phanpy began to spin rapidly, a glitter of steely energy around the edge of her body as she deflected the white Bubblebeam projectiles away, and hovered slightly in the air as she built up speed.
"Rollout!" Ash said suddenly. "Build up more speed with Flamethrower!"
Phanpy used Flamethrower, and a disc of flame boosted her movement speed as she used her trunk to rocket-boost. Her steering was a little wild, but she avoided Poliwrath's first Hydro Pump attack before skidding around in a turn and hitting the Water-type from the side.
The impact didn't faze Poliwrath much, and he swiped out with an Ice Punch that caught Phanpy a solid blow – one dampened by all the fire, but which still hit her hard – and Phanpy bounced across the ground before sliding to a halt that took half the length of the arena.
"Are you doing okay, Phanpy?" Ash called.
"I'm fine!" Phanpy replied. "I found this weird thing though. It looks like another of those Mega Stone things?"
She put it down carefully, then used Rollout and Flamethrower again to close in.
"Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered.
Phanpy's trunk switched from Flamethrower to Thunderbolt, and she bounced up on a stone to become a whirling disc of Thunderbolt. The attack hit Poliwhirl six times in a single second, none of them individually very powerfully but coming in almost invisibly quick succession, and Poliwrath raised both arms to block before bringing them back to a ready position.
Meanwhile, Ash's Pokémon had switched back to fire for extra speed, and she curled away at the edge of the arena before setting up for another attack run.
"Is anyone here a Ground type expert?" Morty asked, watching Phanpy in electro-disk mode. "I'm taking notes and I want to know how unusual that is."
"I… think they learn Fire and Thunder Fang," Bruno supplied. "When they evolve."
"In her case she's only a few months old," Misty added. "If that helps."
Ash had a chance to look at the Mega Stone, after the battle, but it wasn't one he recognized and so it went into his bag with the rest of them.
"You're really doing great at finding those, Phanpy," he told the Ground-type, and she bounced on her feet.
"Thanks!"
"I think I know what we should work on, though," Ash added. "But that can be after the Conference. Don't forget to cheer everyone else on, though!"
"I won't!" Phanpy promised.
"I will say this for Ash Ketchum," Clair mused, as the third round-robin match began. "As well as being a very successful Pokémon trainer and apparently some kind of savant when it comes to befriending unusual Pokémon, he always puts on a show."
She watched as Ash's Heracross fenced back and forth with a Magmortar, alternately dodging away from an attack that might hit him and waiting for the perfect moment to strike without getting blasted by Magmortar. "You wouldn't normally expect a Heracross to be quite so graceful."
Vulpix suddenly leaned forwards a bit, ears twitching.
"That's amazing," she said firmly. "This is a TV picture, right?"
"Well… yes, of course it is," Bruno agreed. "Why?"
Vulpix pointed at the picture. "Watch what happens when he next uses Rock Tomb."
Everyone watched closely, waiting for the moment, until Magmortar levelled his arm cannon and fired out a ball of rock for Rock Tomb. Heracross avoided the attack, but there was also a little flicker of purple light around Magmortar for just a moment.
"That's not Heracross," Vulpix said, with the air of an expert. "Firstly he'd have punched that, not dodged it, and second I just saw a Spite."
Ash called something out, pointing, and Heracross cloaked himself in electrical energy before charging forwards.
Magmortar accepted the invitation to a direct engagement, and charged forwards as well while readying a Fire Punch. When they reached one another, though, Magmortar stumbled as he discovered the Heracross he'd been fighting to be an illusion all along – and a Ninetales appeared in a shimmer of light behind him, before using Extrasensory and blasting her opponent forwards so he couldn't recover from his stumble before falling.
Magmortar's trainer called for Rock Tomb, and the Fire-type spun around to fire – only for his cannon to not fire at all.
"One day I want to be able to make illusions that good," Vulpix declared. "I can do voices with Hypnosis but that was amazing."
After Lokoko had finished with her opponent, Ash recalled her and replaced her with the actual Heracross.
His opponent sent out a Pokémon as well, an Aerodactyl, and thought for a moment before pointing. "Aerial Ace!"
"Surging Strikes!" Ash replied, and Heracross adjusted his stance before delivering a one-two-three combo to Aerodactyl as the Rock/Flying-type came in for an attack. All three blows managed to catch Aerodactyl precisely on the chin, in an impressive display of accuracy, and Aerodactyl shook her head for a moment before continuing with the attack and knocking Heracross into a wall.
"Double Iron Bash!" Ash added.
Heracross began to spin like a top, holding his arms out, and a steely glint lit up on both of his fists. His wings snapped out as well, and he rose into the air at speed before colliding with Aerodactyl with a concussive double crash of metal on rock.
"Bruno?" Lance asked, as the fight continued and Aerodactyl tried to work out what to do.
"Haven't even heard of some of those moves, boss," Bruno replied. "Any of you heard of Plasma Fists?"
"I think Bugsy mentioned it to me once," Whitney said, putting a finger to her lips. "He said it made his Scyther get electrocuted by his own Swords Dance."
Aerodactyl eventually managed to get the upper hand in the battle with a massive Head Smash attack, thanks largely to sheer persistence, but that had left her weak enough that Lokoko had hopped back out of her Pokéball and used Mystical Fire to defeat Aerodactyl… while making it look like Aerodactyl was actually battling Suicune.
After that, though, Ash switched Pokémon again, and his opponent elected to use a Quagsire.
"Surf!" the trainer ordered immediately. "Let's find out what this Suicune really is!"
Quagsire's tail slapped the ground, and water came surging out before crashing over Ash's Pokémon.
As it turned out, Suicune was actually Suicune.
"Toxic!" Ash's opponent ordered. "Then Dig – try and wait her out!"
"Water blast!" Ash replied.
Suicune used Hydro Pump, manifesting it as a burst of water that washed out from her in all directions, and the glob of Toxic poison was overwhelmed and washed away by the water.
Quagsire still dove underwater, though, and Ash frowned for a moment before pointing.
"Rock Smash the ground!" he called. "And hit it with Water Pulses!"
"Well, you've got to admit, he's making Ash work for the win," Lance said, considering. "Under normal circumstances we'd be considering calling time on this battle, but Ash is clearly up to something."
Quagsire popped up, already using Scald, then dove back into the ground again with Dig. Suicune got there just too late, then listened to Ash for a moment and used Rock Smash again.
Then Water Pulse.
Then she jumped into the air, and when she landed half the arena dissolved away in an instant to be replaced by sparkling clean water.
Water with a very confused Quagsire in it.
"...what?" Bruno asked, baffled, as Suicune used Extrasensory and lifted Quagsire into the air before hitting the Water/Ground type with an Aurora Beam. "Where did the ground go?"
"Oh, I recognize this," Misty said. "Last time Suicune did it was to Blaine's gym. It's about making the ground enough like very impure water that Suicune's purifying powers work on it… I've never seen Ash and Suicune actually practice that, though, and I think I probably would have done…"
AN:
And the round-robin battles! Which may not follow exactly the same format as the anime, but this way it was slightly easier to give everyone a go. (except all the Dratini and Dragonair, they get grouped together as voting blocs)