"When were you going to tell the rest of us about that?" Lorelei asked, as Agatha took her seat back up in the box. "I didn't know that was possible… and I'd have used a different strategy if I did."
"Don't get your knickers in a twist, Lorelei," Agatha replied. "I didn't see any of the rest of you trying to match his nonsense. And after so many days to prepare."
"It's Lance next," Lorelei pointed out. "I sort of wonder what tricks he's got left up his sleeve."
Bruno snorted. "Lance or Ash?"
"Both," Lorelei stated firmly.
"There's nothing like a good picnic," Zapdos said, adjusting her binoculars.
"And this is nothing like a good picnic?" Ho-Oh asked.
"What? No," Zapdos replied. "This is a good picnic. There's okonomiyaki and five different kinds of mochi."
"Four different kinds left," Ho-Oh corrected.
"True," Zapdos nodded.
She squinted slightly, then winced. "Ouch. I think that was a Hyper Beam."
Lance's Salamence hit the ground with a crash, staggered back to his feet, and spread his wings – then Ash's Dragonite landed on top of him with an Ice Punch.
"Huzzah," he announced, panting a bit, then turned to Ash. "Job done!"
"Congratulations," Lance said, sincerely. "Salamence takes a lot of defeating."
"Yeah," Ash agreed. "And you don't need to remind me that it took me two Pokémon, and you're only just about to send out your second."
He held up two Safari Balls. "Come back for a rest, Dragonite… Entei, your turn!"
Lance had already chosen his second Pokémon, an Aerodactyl, and pointed. "Up high."
"Okay, Entei, jump!" Ash said, and Entei accelerated into a run before launching himself into the air.
"Rock Slide," Lance instructed.
Aerodactyl conjured a Rock Slide, sending rocks hurtling down towards Entei, and just as they were about to arrive Ash gave a new order. "Double Jump!"
Entei used Lava Plume, blasting himself into the air, and the Rock Slide whistled past beneath him. He also got much closer to Aerodactyl, and the Rock-type retaliated with a Hyper Beam – one which caught Entei only a glancing blow, as the Fire-type used Extremespeed to blur out of the way of the attack itself.
"I wondered how you were going to deal with a flying opponent," Lance said, with a grin. "Aerodactyl – Ancient Power!"
"Sacred Fire!" Ash countered, and a surge of gold-and-rose flames exploded off Entei in a battle-aura shaped like the Volcano Pokémon itself. It surged up to pounce on Aerodactyl, connecting with an explosion of flame, and Entei dropped back to the ground just ahead of the Ancientpower rock.
Aerodactyl's wings clawed at the air, sweeping the fire aside, and Ash pointed. "All right – he's burned! That's going to help dealing with the next Rock Slide!"
"You know…" Misty began, watching as Clefairy wove crazily back and forth under attack from a particularly persistent Flygon pelting her with Boombursts. "It occurs to me that it can't be normal for a League challenger's travelling companions to spend several days discussing their Pokémon on and off."
She sighed. "I feel kind of… a bit guilty really, like we've given away some of Ash's tricks."
Clefairy's Metronome launched out an enormous gout of flame, which set Flygon on fire, but that didn't stop the Dragon-type from working up another Boomburst – wings humming for a moment to build resonance, then a mighty shout that formed a blastwave and slammed into Clefairy like a hammer.
Gravity inverted and held her from hitting the ground too hard, but she rolled a little before sliding to a halt.
"We didn't say everything, though," Brock pointed out. "And there is at least one Pokémon that Lance at least hasn't seen battle."
"True," Misty admitted.
They looked over at Clair.
"Oh, believe me, I have not shared anything about that battle," Clair told them. "I'm looking forward to Lance's reaction."
"Boomburst, finish it," Lance called.
"Ferme ta bouche!" Clefairy replied, supporting herself with one arm, and flicked the other like a musical conductor. "Photocopie!"
On the fourth beat of the bar, a massive pressure wave blasted out from Clefairy's position – matching and copying the one coming from Flygon – and the two sonic waves collided before reflecting back with a bang.
Exactly along the reciprocal of their previous courses.
Clefairy had expected it, but Flygon hadn't. She was out of the direct refocus point and already in the air, but Flygon had been hovering in place and so what was effectively his own Boomburst hit him in the chest.
"Moonblast!" Ash ordered.
He needn't have bothered. Clefairy was already using it, and the blast of sparkling light hammered Flygon hard enough to knock the Ground-type out of the air entirely.
"Very good," Lance said, as he recalled Flygon. "You're an extremely impressive challenger, Ash. But you have only one fresh Pokémon, I have two, and you haven't even seen my strongest yet."
He raised a Pokéball, and sent out Dragonite. Then held up a ring, and a gemstone on Dragonite's choker began to glow.
And, with a flare of golden light, Dragonite Mega-Evolved.
"Oh, hey, that's cool!" Ash said, looking at the result. "I didn't know there was a Dragoniteite!"
Lance blinked. "...well, first, please don't call it that. And second, it was your Dragonite who gave it to me as a symbol of my honorary membership, or… well, I think that's what he said."
Ash brightened. "Right, yeah, I remember something about that… I thought it was just a shiny gemstone though. It's cool that it's a Mega Stone!"
"Suddenly I'm less surprised that I've never found any mention of another Mega Stone for Dragonite," Lance said to himself. "Are you ready to resume battle, Ash?"
"Actually, I am going to swap Clefairy out," Ash said. "She's kind of exhausted, and this is exactly the situation I think my last Pokémon is ready for."
Lance's gaze went to Pikachu, but to his surprise the Electric Mouse didn't enter the field.
Instead, Ash took out a Repeat Ball, and sent out Zacian.
She reached to the side, and drew a rusted sword from her mane with a flourish.
"Just so you know, I went to a special effort for this one," she announced. "Went back to Galar for it and everything."
Zacian rose slightly off the ground, shimmers dancing around her paws, and transformed into Crowned Sword. Her braids lengthened, taking on the form of ribbons, and little tufts of fur on her shoulders grew out into wing-like armour running the whole length of her back, while a pointed mask of gold took shape around her temples and the rusty sword became a gleaming golden blade inlaid with pink enamel and encrusted with blue gemstones.
"And letters there were written in gold," Zacian said. "That said thus: whosoever pulls out this sword is rightwise king born… or queen, as the case may be."
She looked up at Mega Dragonite, and smiled. "It's been altogether too long. Shall we dance, dragon?"
Ho-Oh winced. "I think I felt that one. And I'm all the way over here."
"Yeah, Behemoth Blade is a hell of a thing," Zapdos agreed. "Normally you fly out of the way of a melee attack, but with Zacian that doesn't work because she's got a sword the length of a medium sized building and she can fly herself. Not much left you can do at that point, you are getting a headache whether you want to or not."
"...who would want a headache?" Ho-Oh asked.
"Misty's Psyduck," Zapdos answered immediately. "Long story."
Ho-Oh considered that, then raised his binoculars again.
As he watched, Zacian feinted with her sword – flicking it across in the same way she would to use Behemoth Blade – but instead sprang into the air, and hit Mega Dragonite with a Sacred Sword from her massively enlarged sword-blade. Then a pair of shimmering golden blades appeared beside her, one left and one right, and both shot forwards at her opponent before hitting with a crash that echoed off the mountains.
"I'm not sure which one to be more impressed with," he confessed. "Because Mega Dragonite is taking an incredible beating, and he's just keeping on going… and dishing it out, as well."
Even as he spoke, Mega Dragonite used Fire Blast. Zacian cut it in half with her blade, sending the two halves of the flame blast flying behind her to detonate on contact with the ground, but the moment it took her to swipe across had a cost – Mega Dragonite blurred around, coming at her from the side, and hit her with an overhead-sweep Iron Tail that slammed her into the ground.
Emerging from the crater, Zacian swept her sword across in a sky-cutting arc, and Mega Dragonite interrupted it with a Barrier of hardened air that cracked but didn't shatter.
"What's more impressive to me is that Mega Dragonite is stopping her from using illusions," Zapdos said. "I've been trying to work that one out for several minutes, and I think I've got it… it's those little sparkling flashes of light. That's a Fire Spin… dispersed and acting across the entire battlefield, all the time, disrupting her illusions before they can form."
Ho-Oh considered that, then winced as Mega Dragonite fired down a Hyper Beam and the arena floor exploded under Zacian.
"Do you think that counts as Ground-type?" he asked.
Ten minutes later, after a truly cataclysmic battle, Zacian paused for a moment to contemplate the state she was in.
Her sword was still immaculate in form, but it was smeared with the mud from what (by her count) had been eight distinct times Mega Dragonite had either slammed her with a Hyper Beam or blown up the arena. There were new scars along her flanks, to join the many that her countless battles had adorned her with, and her flanks were sheened with sweat from the effort of fighting first Mega Dragonite and now Haxorus.
Also, she was on fire, which was always worthy of consideration.
Opposite her, her opponent was taking stock as well. He had managed to sneak in four Dragon Dances over the course of the battle, and Zacian kept a wary eye on the Axe Jaw Pokémon in case he was going to try a fifth, but he didn't seem willing to try and sneak another one past her just yet.
The more troublesome problem, of course, was that he knew Shock Wave. It wasn't enough to do her much damage, but it was enough that a continuous little arc of lightning connected him to her and prevented her from slipping away under illusion.
She was tired, and aching, in a crater thirty feet deep that had been blown through explosions right next to her on every occasion, and (not to be forgotten) on fire, and it was one of the best evenings she'd had in decades.
"Shadow Claw!" Lance ordered suddenly.
Zacian adjusted her grip on her blade, just slightly, and lit it with the dark fury of a Night Slash. She swiped out, shattering the Shadow Claw as it came in, but Haxorus flipped around and slammed down an Earthquake.
"Behemoth Blade!" she announced, swinging her sword down for a hammer blow, and the ground shook.
"Zacian?" Ash called, squinting.
There was a long, singing pause.
Then Haxorus stepped out of the dust and smoke, claws shimmering, and a moment later Zacian was revealed – not quite unconscious, but reverted and exhausted and with her sword sunk up to the pommel in the ground next to her.
Ash thought for a long moment about Dragonite and Clefairy, both of them exhausted by the battle earlier on, then let out a sigh.
And grinned.
"That was amazing!" he said. "One of the best battles I've ever had – maybe the best! I can see why you're the Champion!"
He clenched his fist. "We'll just have to get better and come back next time!"
"...first, Ash, I have a serious question," Lance told him. "Do you want to become one of the Elite Four? We are missing someone, and you've easily qualified… and I could think of at least two Types you qualify for already, even if one of them is my own."
Ash thought about it, then shook his head. "I… kind of no, sorry. I've got more of a journey to do."
"I sort of expected that," Lance admitted. "And I look forward to seeing what you're going to be like in another few years… or six months, come to that."
Ash had clambered down into the crater and was helping Zacian out – tugging on the Rusted Sword to shift it from the bedrock, while she tried to watch without having to lift her head from her paws – when a glow of rainbow light lit up the evening sky.
Ho-Oh descended into the wreck that had been a stadium, alighting in front of Ash, and regarded him for a long moment.
"This has been quite a farce," he said. "Marshadow – for future reference, I meant the Tin Tower. The fault is mine, however."
"Oh, huh," Ash said, pulling the Rusted Sword free with an absent tug and passing it back to Zacian. "So I probably should have challenged you about four or five months ago…"
"Indeed," Ho-Oh confirmed.
Zapdos landed next to him, and Ho-Oh continued. "I will, however, want that challenge before you leave Johto; ideally tonight, but tomorrow is acceptable."
"What do you think, Pikachu?" Ash asked. "I know who I want to use, and you're one of them… then there's Charizard, and he's the only other one I'm sure about who's fought today. Do you two think you're up to it?"
"I wouldn't miss it for the world," Pikachu declared. "I bet Charizard's going to say the same thing."
Mew jumped out of Ash's backpack. Hold on a moment, just need to sort something out! she said, and teleported.
Then teleported back in. Start without me, it's cool!
"Before we begin," Ho-Oh said. "If you could convey this message to the head of the Elite Four."
He cleared his throat slightly. "I would not like this battle to be included in whatever recording you make of Ash's Elite Four challenge. This is a private matter that I would have preferred to take place atop Mount Tensei at the Rainbow Throne, but matters have conspired to prevent it; I do not mind spectators, but would prefer no recording."
"Uh… I think I got all of that," Ash said, and summarized it. "Ho-Oh would like you to make sure you don't record this, but spectating is fine."
"That will do," Ho-Oh decided, nodding, and Lance agreed.
The dramatic flow of the moment was then slightly spoiled by several minutes of delay, first as Ash swapped his Pokémon around to make sure he had the team he wanted – and to confirm that some of his other Pokémon were good with a second battle that day – then as Lance went to confirm that the cameras actually had been switched off.
Once that was done, though, Ho-Oh formally invited Ash to bring out the Rainbow Wing, and once Ash had retrieved it from his backpack it lit up with shining golden light and rose into the air.
"Let us begin," Ho-Oh invited.
"Right!" Ash agreed. "Charizard, let's begin this!"
Charizard emerged from his Pokéball and Mega-Evolved for the second time that day, his fire flashing over to blue and his scales to black, and hovered facing Ho-Oh.
"So," Mega Charizard began. "Going to try and set me on fire? Your children don't usually talk about what moves you usually use."
"Charizard, dodge!" Ash called.
Mega Charizard's trust in Ash was absolute, and he whipped across to the side as an explosion went off where he'd been.
"Future Sight," he said, recognizing it, then surged forward towards Ho-Oh. The Rainbow Pokémon countered with Extrasensory, sending out a surging wave of psychic force, and Mega Charizard slapped it aside with a Slash before exhaling a jet of Dragonbreath.
Ho-Oh endured the hit easily, parts of his body bursting into flame – then Mega Charizard grabbed him around the waist, and gritted his teeth as Ho-Oh used Sky Attack.
"Drill Run!" Ash ordered.
"You bet!" Mega Charizard agreed, twisting himself into a spin and plunging towards the floor. "Ha-hah!"
Another Future Sight exploded around them both as they were about to hit the ground, but the force wasn't nearly enough to make Mega Charizard actually let go. Instead they both hit the base of the crater together with an echoing WHAM that made the ground shake slightly even from up in the stands.
"In a way, it's kind of a shame that this isn't being recorded," Morty said. "I'd love to show Eusine… but in another way, it's amazing that this is happening somewhere we can see it at all."
"And in a third way it's amazing that it's happened at all," Vulpix said. "I think Ash and Ho-Oh could have ended up circling one another and taken a decade or more to line up for a challenge."
Mega Charizard and Ho-Oh burst back out of the ground again, with molten rock and glass raining off Ho-Oh's feathers as he burned away his injuries with Recover, and Mega Charizard beat his wings with a noticeable extra sluggishness – partly owing to the substantial amount of glassy material now lining his own body and wings.
"Ouch," Jasmine winced. "The temperature down there must have been incredible."
"Brick Break yourself!" Ash called. "Break the stuff that's slowing you down!"
After Charizard came Bayleef, who wrapped herself in sunlight and fought up-close and personal with Ho-Oh – ignoring every attempt to set her on fire, or for Ho-Oh to burn her vines away from him, because Leaf Guard meant that that just didn't work.
She went down as well, after managing to lasso Ho-Oh and yank him into a convenient wall, and Silver replaced her – promptly using Rain Dance, and using it again every time Ho-Oh attempted to dispel it, and managing to occasionally slip in an Aeroblast or Hydro Pump during Ho-Oh's bombardment of Fire Blast and Sacred Fire attacks.
Then he'd used Twister on all the water that his Hydro Pumps had left in the arena, which had blasted Ho-Oh with a lot of water, and the Rainbow Pokémon had used Recover yet again before slamming Silver with an Ancientpower.
Zorua came out fourth, used Beat Up once, and more-or-less fell over from exhaustion right then – though that single Beat Up attack had hit Ho-Oh with the collective strength of the entire Ryuunited Kingdom, which had helped out a lot.
Then, fifth, came Pikachu.
"So, first things first," Pikachu said, as he arrived at the bottom of the crater and looked up at Ho-Oh hanging overhead. "Thunder!"
Lightning blazed up, hitting Ho-Oh with a bang that sent electricity crackling over his feathers, and Pikachu was already on the move. A Future Sight exploded behind him, and he lashed out with a second electrical attack – this time forming a fizzing, crackling mass of lightning before hammering it skywards with his tail and letting it detonate overhead.
"Left!" Ash called, and Pikachu dodged out of the way – evading a Fire Blast – then whirled to launch another Thunder.
"Pikachu!" Ash added. "Head for that cliff!"
Ho-Oh heard as well, and so Pikachu used Agility – accelerating further for just a moment, enough to let him reach the cliff before a Future Sight would be ready to go off.
"Kick off!" Ash called. "Come back to the ground upside down and use Sky Uppercut!"
"Oh, right!" Pikachu realized.
He flipped upside down, evading the Future Sight blast that hit the ground where he'd just been, and used Sky Uppercut.
Since he couldn't knock the entire planet out of the way, instead he launched himself – and Ho-Oh was suddenly dealing with Pikachu at unexpectedly close range.
"Thunder!" Pikachu announced, lighting Ho-Oh up like a fireworks display, and the Rainbow Pokémon burst into flames again as he used Recover.
Sparks of lightning chased one another around the arena, then focused in as Pikachu drew them in for an attempt at Thunder That Breaks The Earth.
Before he could, though, Ho-Oh managed to snag the Electric-type's tail, and though Pikachu immediately used Iron Tail and began to twist out of Ho-Oh's grip the Flying-type flicked his head convulsively down.
Pikachu hit the bottom of the crater with a wet splat, comprehensively using Mud Sport on himself, then shook himself out and tried to use Thunderbolt.
There was a sort of wet sizzle, and Pikachu shook his head.
"Sorry," he said. "I think I'm out."
"In that case…" Ash began, but before he finished Mew popped in with a plastic bottle in one paw and a bag in the other.
Am I too late? the New Species Pokémon asked, then put her hands around her mouth. Hey, Ho-Oh! How many has he used so far?
"Five," Ho-Oh replied. "Counting Pikachu."
Great, I'm in time! Mew said, giggling, and put down the bottle. Ash, drink this.
She snagged something off Ash's wrist. Pikachu, hold this. Ash, hold that. Pikachu, think about Ash. We're doing original research!
Lance leaned forwards. "What on earth is going on down there?"
He did a double-take. "Did Ash just turn into an Absol? Why is his Pikachu holding a… Mega Ring…"
Whitney made a sound something like squeeee, and Clair began laughing.
"Somehow, I knew that was going to happen again," Misty admitted.
Down below, Mega Ashbsol crouched, then tossed his head. A swirl of Razor Wind built up around his horn, then erupted up around his wings, and he launched himself into the sky towards his badly startled opponent.
"Very well, Rainbow Hero," Ho-Oh said, ten crowded minutes later. "Congratulations; I concede, and you have bested me. But before you request your boon, I have one thing to ask."
He fixed Mega Ashbsol with a look. "I demand a Timer Ball."
"...honestly, I was just going to ask for you to be able to help out next time some kind of trouble came up," Ash admitted, looking to the side and twitching his wings slightly. "Maybe next time I battle an Elite Four…"
"No, you're definitely going to use your boon to ask to capture me," Ho-Oh replied. "I did not go to this much trouble for less."
"Hey, if it helps?" Mew said, speaking out loud now for Ash's benefit. "Ash, I got you a new Pokédex as a present for winning the League! He can help you teleport any of your Pokémon in if you need them."
He reached into the bag dangling from his tail and pulled out a small red block, which unfolded at the press of a button into a full-size but slightly odd looking Pokédex. "He's called Ibid! Take good care of him, okay?"
Mew paused. "Oh, yeah, and this is Ibid's."
He put a Park Ball down next to Ash, who switched back to human and picked it up.
"Huh," Ash said. "So… uh, Zorua or Zoroark, another Mew, a Porygon, a Rotom, a Ditto or something I didn't think of?"
"Yes!" Mew answered. "One of those."
"Ahem," Ho-Oh coughed.
"So… what now, Ash?" Misty asked, as they left the Silver Conference the next morning.
"I'm not sure, really," Ash admitted. "I know it was kind of a misunderstanding, but… Marshadow kept talking about Hoenn, and I do kind of like the idea of going there now I've been thinking about it for a while."
"What Legendary Pokémon are native to Hoenn?" Misty asked.
Brock chuckled. "I don't think that would be any kind of guide… not Kalos, though?"
"I do not wish Ash Ketchum to go out of his way to take me home," Zygarde declared. "I am also interested in Hoenn. It sounds like a nice place with only slightly too much water."
"Water, that's a good point," Misty said, then her face fell.
"Something wrong, Misty?" Ash asked.
"Yeah, you seem kind of upset…" Pikachu agreed.
"My sisters called me this morning," Misty explained. "I… was kind of trying not to think about it, but they told me that they want me to take over running the battle side of the gym."
"That does kind of…" Ash began. "It seems rude?"
"Yeah, though I kind of did the same," Brock mused. "And so did Misty, really, in one way – heading off and leaving a relative to handle the gym, anyway."
Misty sat down on the nearest convenient wall. "It… really kind of sucks, because I want to keep travelling with you guys. But Cerulean Gym is important to me, too, and I don't want to see it closed down or something – and that's kind of a possibility, apparently they haven't been doing very well."
She shook her head, chuckling. "It's kind of our fault, actually… now the gym inspectors can do a complete Kanto tour instead of avoiding Saffron City and not being able to honestly say what the grade curve is."
"I do wish you could stay with us," Ash told Misty. "Or that we could keep travelling together, I guess, because I don't know what Brock's plans are… but I know you'll be a really good Cerulean Gym leader. You can make it a place where trainers are kind of scared to go because of how hard the challenge can be!"
Misty thought about that, then grinned. "I do kind of like the sound of that."
"I'll miss you too!" Togetic said. "Ash, Pikachu, Brock, Vulpix… make sure you call and visit, okay? And I'll keep practising so I can translate properly for Mama too!"
They had one last big celebration together, at Pallet Town, and then Ash said goodbye to Brock and Misty – though in Brock's case it was potentially only for a few days.
"I promised Forrest that I'd visit the family, and look in on the gym before I headed off," Brock explained. "I might end up staying, if he really needs me, but otherwise I might just come down to join you in Hoenn!"
"He just likes the sound of the girls there wearing swimsuits," Vulpix said knowingly.
"Hey!" Brock protested. "That's just a coincidence!"
"Sure it is…" Vulpix replied, twitting him. "Still, I'm sure you'll find a girl sooner or later."
She stretched, tails splaying out. "I wonder what Ash's Pokémon will think of Hoenn."
"I'm wondering about the ones who are sort of halfway Ash's Pokémon and half not," Misty admitted. "Where's Marshadow?"
"Still here," Marshadow told her, slipping out of Ash's shadow for a moment. "I was told by Ho-Oh to guide the Rainbow Hero until he didn't need guidance any more. Do you think he doesn't need guidance any more?"
Misty thought about that.
"Point taken," she admitted. "So, how are you getting down to Hoenn? Ferry?"
"By my count, Ash has thirteen to fourteen Pokémon who could carry him, one way or another," Pikachu said. "And that's before counting Snorlax using Agility to run across the ocean, Unown using Hyperspace Hole, Zorua transforming into something, or relying on Ibid… and the count goes up by several if a Dragonair could take him."
He paused, considering his trainer. "Or, of course, if Ash is still an Illusion-ed Absol himself, in which case he could turn into something and fly."
"I've only really got a harness for Zapdos, so I guess she makes the most sense for a long distance flight," Ash mused. "If it's too far we could camp halfway…"
Meanwhile, in Goldenrod, Whitney put down a pile of regulations.
"So…" she said, out loud. "I need to either find a cute Pokémon that can speak and train them to take over running the gym for me, or I need to find someone who's free to do basically the same thing and who's qualified."
She tapped the end of a pen against her teeth. "I wonder when Lorelei's retiring…"
AN:
And Lance is extremely well equipped.
Still. Good showing.
Next time, Hoenn!