"Day four," Max said, writing in a notebook. "We have not seen another human being since ending up on this island. Strange noises echo and I'm not sure what's going on. Our food supplies are running out."
May tried valiantly not to laugh. "We flew here by Dragonite, Max! And what do you mean, our food supplies are running out?"
"I'm trying to make it sound as dramatic as possible without actually lying," Max replied. "Plus, we're going shopping tomorrow."
"Ooh, if there's shopping tomorrow can you get some peas?" Shroomish requested. "I like those."
"I'll write it down on the list," Max said. "Just… not next to the dramatic stuff, it wouldn't fit."
"Okay, I think that's working out pretty well," Pikachu said. "Great work, Croconaw!"
Croconaw beamed.
"Pikachu's right, that bit with the sweeping movement has really added to the control," Ash said.
Hey! Mew called. Do you have a moment?
He zipped over to Ash's bag. Don't worry, nothing urgent, I just need to borrow your mirror to teach Purrloin something.
"Oh, is it something involving Giratina?" Ash asked, as Pikachu looked back and forth between Purrloin and Mew and then tilted his head slightly. "Or just a mirror?"
About halfway between the two, really, Mew told him. Aha, here we are!
He plucked out the mirror, and tilted it a bit. No, don't worry, nothing urgent.
Giratina swam away from the other side, and Purrloin inspected it. "So that's the Reverse World?"
Yep! Mew agreed. So to do this one, you're going to want to travel there… hmm, actually we might need Giratina's help to give you some experience with that… anyway, you want to sort of dip into the dimensional boundary just a bit. Then you'll get ejected really really fast when it springs back, and that's how Shadow Force works! It's great for dodging attacks too… they can't hit you if you're not in the universe!
Purrloin giggled, tail flicking. "I bet that'd be a surprise! Especially if I was pretending to be Charizard at the time..."
"So I'm guessing it's my turn to work on the mysterious shield, then?" Snorunt said, a couple of days later – with three intensive training days to go before they left to go to the Ever Grande Conference. "I've heard a lot about it."
"Yep!" Ash agreed. "I wanted to make sure you'd got some options first, it is more advanced and you need to have a good handle on the basic move… but the idea is that you have a move that creates some kind of effect, like fire, water, ice, wind – it can be a lot of things – and you continuously manipulate it, so it forms a shield around you."
Snorunt exhaled a puff of Powder Snow, waved her hands at it, then tried Icy Wind. That had a bit more of a curve to it, but she huffed before using Powder Fire.
"You don't have to get it straight away," Ash assured her. "There's more to learn about how it's used, and then we can talk about what move to use as a basis."
"No, no, I want to work out what move to use by experimenting," Snorunt replied, and did a spin. This time she exhaled a cloud of shimmering mist, which hung in the air even after she stopped… and when she used Icy Wind, it set the mist moving.
"All right, that's great!" Ash told her. "It's sticking around and you're moving it, so we just need to work on directing it a bit more… and having it so you don't disturb it when you use Fire moves too, I guess. What move's that?"
"Sheer Cold," Snorunt replied. "I wondered about trying to turn it into Sheer Hot but that's probably something to only try when we're not near something flammable."
"Yeah, like this island," Pikachu agreed.
The setting of the Ever Grande Conference was a beautiful sight from overhead, and the friends circled once on their various flying Pokémon before coming down to land somewhere convenient.
"Does this particular Pokémon League have a sacred flame?" Ho-Oh asked, as Ash slid down off his back. "And if so, what Pokémon is it for? I know the Indigo League has Moltres, while the Silver Conference has good taste and the Orange Islands have a Dragonite…"
"The schedule mentioned a torch relay to open the event," Brock told him, getting down off Zapdos. "But I don't actually know."
"I was wondering if Entei wanted to be the patron of a Conference," Ho-Oh explained. "Hmm. I wonder if a Victini has lit the flame for any of the Pokémon Leagues…"
"Aha!" a voice called. "There you are!"
Steven waved. "I was wondering if you'd show up, Ash… I suppose I should have known you'd be here on time. Though I think a few other competitors were hoping you wouldn't be."
"You are the Grand Champion, correct?" Ho-Oh asked. "I'd like to see about a job for my son… do you currently have a patron for the torch flame?"
Steven shook his head. "I'm afraid we do, it's the flame of a Moltres."
"Moltres again," Ho-Oh grumped. "I'm made of flame as well, it's just normally shaped like feathers… and, you know, on a conceptual level rather than being visible all the time."
"Sinnoh doesn't have a patron, if that helps?" Steven suggested.
"It does," Ho-Oh told him. "Thank you. I shall have to ask someone in authority before Ash challenges that one."
Steven nodded, glad that that was sorted out, then turned to Ash. "I'm expecting to see you really impress!" he said. "And I heard about the Mega Castform. You've been doing a lot to advance Mega Evolution science."
He rubbed his hands together. "This is going to be a very interesting Pokémon League!"
"Are you… allowed to be biased like that?" May asked.
"That's a very good question," Steven said, frowning. "I should probably ask Wallace."
It was another day until the start of the Conference, and Ash didn't get his first battle until the afternoon.
With so many trainers taking part, the first part of the League was a preliminary round. That meant a one-on-one battle between trainers, each only allowed one Pokémon, and the loser was automatically eliminated while the winner could stay in the competition.
"All right," the referee said. "Pick your Pokémon, and send them out!"
Ash's opponent sent out a Manectric, and Ash retaliated with Swellow.
"Hah," Manectric snorted. "Easy pickings."
"Easy, Manectric," his trainer said. "That's Ash Ketchum. There's got to be something strange going on."
The referee swiped his hand down, giving the order to begin, and Manectric opened with Shock Wave as Swellow flew to the side.
Swellow lit up like a fireworks display… and kept lighting up, the electricity blasting over her wing but not actually doing her any harm.
"What's going on?" Manectric demanded.
"Try something stronger!" his trainer said. "Discharge!"
This time Manectric howled, electricity exploding out from him in all directions, and when he finished Swellow was…
...gone.
"...okay, I didn't hit them that hard," Manectric said.
"Look at Ash!" his trainer said. "He's not worried about it-"
Manectric was slugged into the air by a powerful blow that came from directly below.
"Ow!" he yelped.
"Magnet Rise!" his trainer said. "Damp out the landing!"
The air turned greasy as Manectric used Magnet Rise, preventing the impact from being as bad as it could have been, but then all the electricity drained away towards his opponent and both Pokémon and trainer saw what they were actually fighting.
"Huh, I didn't think Purrloin looked like that," the trainer said. "And it didn't look like that before, that's really weird… wait, maybe it's the Zorua or something?"
Purrloin flicked her tail, now coated with the stolen lightning from three different electric moves.
"Dark Pulse!" Ash ordered, and Purrloin's tail swiped across like a blade. It came nowhere near Manectric, but a wave of Dark energy hit Manectric anyway, and Ash's opponent clenched his fist.
"Hyper Beam!" he ordered.
Manectric opened his mouth, charged up, and had just enough time to wonder why Purrloin wasn't even trying to dodge before opening fire.
The feline Pokémon ignored his attack, then used Moonblast.
"...so, Ash's opening move is a Pokémon where even after seeing it fight an entire battle we've no idea what it is or what type it is," Sidney summarized. "Seems about par for the course."
"Personally, I think it was a Ghost," Phoebe said. "I can't explain the electricity ignoring though, unless it was a Marowak or… hmm. Golett? Yamask?"
"Knowing Ash, it could have been his Noctowl," Steven suggested.
"What's it like running a double battle, sis?" Max asked. "You've done it a few times, I know."
May thought about that before replying.
"You need to think a lot more about interactions," she said. "Firstly because you can end up causing yourself trouble – like that kid we just saw, his Wailmer using Surf really didn't help his poor Slugma… but also because there's a lot you can do with combining moves and attacks. So… it's a lot more work?"
"And there are some moves that normally only work in double battles," Brock said. "Not that that's stopped Ash's Pokémon from using Ally Switch en masse."
"Did you hear the way he told those Dragonite off?" Vulpix asked. "It's been several months and I'm surprised any of their ears have stopped ringing…"
"There he is," Max said, pointing. "I wonder who he's using today?"
"Thanks for coming along, Larvitar!" Ash called, sending the Rock-type out with a flash, then added Snorunt to the mix a moment later.
"Morning," she said.
"It is a nice morning, isn't it?" Larvitar agreed.
Ash's opponent – Luke – sent out a Skarmory and a Camerupt, and Ash thought for a moment before nodding.
"Okay, Larvitar, you know what to do," Ash said. "Snorunt, listen out for reminders!"
"Begin!" the referee called, and Luke pointed.
"Skarmory, Fly!" he called. "Lava Plume!"
Camerupt's two cones detonated, sending a rain of flaming fragments all over the arena, and Larvitar used Sandstorm to form a sand shield around himself.
"Sheer Ice shield!" Ash called, and Snorunt did much the same – using Icy Wind to shape it and Sheer Cold to fuel it, meaning that when the first flaming rock crashed down it didn't knock Snorunt out for the count but instead just splattered some water everywhere with a hiss.
"Steel Wing!" Luke ordered. "Camerupt, Earthquake!"
"Jump!" Ash retaliated. "Fire Beam!"
"Sorry, what?" Luke said, looking at Larvitar to see what was about to happen.
He almost missed it when Snorunt swept aside her battered shield and launched a beam of orange light at Skarmory, who yelped in shock as he heated up cherry-red – then abruptly froze solid, as Snorunt cut out the beam and Skarmory went crash into the ground.
Most of the ice broke on impact, and Snorunt hadn't escaped unscathed – she hadn't timed the jump right and had taken a hit from the Earthquake – but Skarmory's wings were clogged up with ice and his take-off attempt failed.
"Ember your teammate!" Luke said.
"Now, Larvitar!" Ash called. "Stomping Tantrum!"
"What now?" Luke demanded, then saw what Larvitar had been doing with the sand he'd been producing.
A Tyranitar statue, made entirely out of sand, stamped a foot before charging towards Camerupt.
"Icethrower!" Ash commanded, and Snorunt made a pass with her hand.
This time, a stream of ice and snow came out, which made sense right up until it hit Skarmory for five seconds and at the end of it Skarmory was somehow on fire.
"...please don't have any of your Pokémon learn those moves, lass," Drake requested.
"No promises," Glacia replied, smirking. "Assuming I can figure out what on earth is even going on myself…"
The second match saw Ash's opponent – a trainer called Sarah – send out a Shiftry and a Wigglytuff, while Ash sent out Dragonite and Snorlax.
"Oh, you're kidding," she said. "A Dragonite?"
Sarah blinked. "Why is it wearing a crown… oh, that's a King's Rock."
Shiftry and Wigglytuff turned to her, and she clenched a fist. "Right! Wigglytuff, get ready with Ice Beam – focus on the Dragonite. Shiftry, Low Kick on Snorlax."
Both her Pokémon nodded.
"Begin!" the referee called.
"Agility!" Ash ordered, and Sarah did a double-take as suddenly Snorlax was standing where Wigglytuff had been a moment before.
Wigglytuff bounced off the arena wall with a squeak sound, then Dragonite beat his wings as Ash called for him to use Hurricane.
"Counter that Hurricane!" Sarah ordered.
Shiftry whirled up a Hurricane of his own and threw it at the approaching air disturbance, but much to his surprise the Hurricane hadn't been a slap of air aimed to blow him away. Instead it was an air current blowing from Shiftry to Dragonite, and Shiftry's addition had just made it all the stronger as it whirled the Grass-type into the air and yanked him towards Dragonite.
"Hello!" King Dragonite said brightly. "How are you enjoying the battle?"
"Let me go!" Shiftry demanded, flailing his leaves.
"That's not really how hugs work," Dragonite replied. "That's okay, though, I'm happy to give you a demonstration!"
"Bounce!" Sarah called. "Dazzling Gleam!"
"Steel Wing!" Ash replied.
Because he was a nice dragon, Dragonite used his Steel Wings to shield Shiftry from the attack as well as himself.
Then Snorlax slammed Wigglytuff into the ground hard enough to leave a crater, because he wasn't quite so nice.
"So, I've been taking notes," Phoebe said. "In case he ends up making it through and we have to battle him. How would you deal with a hyperspeed Snorlax?"
"Hmm…" Steven mused. "Trick Room? I assume you'd use a Ghost type, of course."
"Well… that's the thing," Phoebe admitted. "I don't know if that Snorlax has a way to damage Ghosts, but if it does it would be hard to stop with just one Pokémon…"
She considered. "Maybe Sableye would work?"
"Do you think we're allowed to sit up here?" Suicune said, peering down from the stadium roof. "It feels like if it were allowed there would be a lot more people up here."
Raikou blew upwards, ruffling the fur around her muzzle. "I think if they cared about that they'd have noticed by now."
"Perhaps," Suicune conceded. "I wonder if the rules are stricter in the main stadium, though…"
She shook her head. "In any case. It looks like Ash's third battle is about to begin, and his opponent is using… Sealeo and Exploud, while he's using Heracross and Bayleef."
Raikou gave her a look. "Are you doing audio description for the vision impaired?"
The Water-type blinked. "That is a very good question, to which I will have an answer once I think of one."
A minute or so later, in the Elite Four's viewing room, Glacia's jaw dropped.
"What," she said. "That Bayleef just turned a Blizzard attack into water!"
"It doesn't make any sense, it's true," Drake agreed. "But you seem to be taking it pretty hard."
"Of course I am!" Glacia replied. "I had tea with Lorelei three months ago! She said Ash used Bayleef against her! She didn't warn me!"
AN:
Of course she didn't. She had to experience it mid-battle.