"Have you ever thought of evolving your Onix, Brock?" May asked, as Morrison sent out a Steelix and Ash switched from Croconaw to Raikou. "I know he wouldn't be a Rock type any more, but he'd still be a Ground type."

"It's a good question," Brock agreed, thinking. "It's something I've considered, in the past, but neither Onix nor I am sure about it."

Steelix Mega-Evolved with a flash of light, and May pointed. "Plus, you could do that. Onix adores you, so I think you'd find it easy."

"I'm fairly sure there are Megas for Venusaur and Swampert, too, so there's a few Pokémon Brock could Mega-Evolve if they evolved," Eevee contributed. "And maybe there's a Mega Eevee! Ooh, what if Mega Eevee is just Ditto?"

Max sniggered.

"Raikou!" Ash called, down on the field. "Electric Terrain!"

Raikou jumped over a tail sweep by Mega Steelix, Steel Wings shining on her back as she stayed in the air to avoid the follow-up Earthquake, then blasted the whole arena with electricity.

"Great!" Ash added. "Now back down!"

Landing with a thump of her paws, Raikou channelled all the electricity right back into her. Her storm-cloud fizzed with stray charge, and she raised a paw.

Mega Steelix rumbled towards her, using Bulldoze, and she blurred forwards to tap him on the nose.

"Boop," she said, and used Thunder That Breaks The Earth.

"Boop?" Pikachu repeated. "Boop? Now everyone's going to think the move is called boop."

"At least she got it right this time!" Ash replied. "Great work, Raikou!"

"Thank you!" Raikou said, loping back over. "Did I get it right?"

Pikachu turned his gaze to the electrocuted and offended-looking Steelix, then back to Raikou.

"Yes," he said. "Good work."

Ash gave Raikou a scratch, and she made a sound halfway between a woof and a purr.

"Just three battles to go," Steven said. "First we see whether it's Ash or Marcus making it to the finals against Tyson, then the third-fourth playoff, and then we find out who's challenging us this year."

"It's been a good year," Glacia mused. "Don't you think so?"

Sidney sniggered. "You mean Ash keeps doing nonsense on schedule."

He nodded into the arena. "Look. He's sent out his Noctowl."

Phoebe frowned. "I'm not sure that is his Noctowl. Given what we've seen so far, it could be any of his Pokémon with the ability to look like something else and fly. Or any of the Pokémon which haven't shown off the ability to do that yet. Or a Pokémon he hasn't been seen using yet."

"This stuff does your head in, eesh," Sidney grumbled. "At least a Ninjask is a good fast Pokémon."

Down below, Ash waited for the referee's signal – then raised his voice.

"Sky Attack!" he said.

"Toxic!" Marcus replied. "U-Turn!"

"Ooh," Phoebe whistled. "Risky."

Ninjask blurred in, hitting Noctowl, then flipped around and hit him again. The Bug-type moved fast enough to get in both hits before Noctowl's Sky Attack charge was ready, and when he went back into his Pokéball he was replaced by a Xatu who spread her wings in a flare of psychic energy.

Noctowl's Sky Attack formed a screeching Moltres shape which went diving down towards Xatu, but Ash swiped his hands out. "Don't use it!" he said. "Keep it ready – use Fiery Wrath!"

"Light Screen!" Marcus replied, and Xatu formed a screen of psychic energy to deflect herself from the incoming flames. They went straight through, however, turning out to be Dark type rather than properly Fire type, and Xatu shook her head in irritation.

Sidney snorted. "Tough Xatu," he observed.

"Psyshock!" Marcus said.

"Night Daze!" Ash retorted.

Phoebe snapped her fingers. "So it must be Zorua… right?"

That theory was disproved a moment later, when the Psyshock knocked Noctowl backwards a bit even as the Night Daze hit Xatu through her shield for a second time.

Steven stroked his chin. "Is it possible that that's just Noctowl?"

They considered it.

"Could work," Drake said.

"Left, Latios!" Ash called, towards the end of the battle. "Fly!"

The Psychic-type zipped up into the air, avoiding Marcus' Gardevoir's attacks, and Ash frowned as he thought about how to get at Gardevoir.

"Shadow Ball again!" Marcus instructed. "Spread them out high – try to bring him down!"

"Down!" Ash called, straight away. "Stealth and hit her with Fly!"

Latios shimmered as his feathers bent the light around him, turning him invisible, and Marcus waited a second or so before suddenly giving his next order.

"Dazzling Gleam!"

Gardevoir used Dazzling Gleam, and a brilliant pink flash lit up the whole area.

What it didn't do, though, was reveal Latios. He was still there – he hit Gardevoir less than a second later with Fly – but the Dazzling Gleam didn't have any effect.

"Thought so!" Ash said. "Latios, stay invisible – and use Steel Beam!"

Steven frowned. "Steel Beam?" he repeated. "That's a move which uses steel from the Pokemon's body…"

Latios clapped his hands together, nearly-but-not-quite invisible, and a silver glow shone between them. Instead of firing it out at Gardevoir, however, he pulled his hands apart and revealed an I-crossbeam structure which he flipped into one hand before throwing it at his startled opponent.

"...well, that's me told," he added. "It's not how the move works, but… I suppose it is a steel beam if you look at it that way?"

Marcus' Gardevoir gestured, forming a Reflect shield, and started moving it around so it was always pointing in the direction of the Steel Beam Latios had picked up again… he was still invisible, but that didn't mean the girder was invisible.

"Latios, Dragon Claw!" Ash said. "She's a Fairy but her shield isn't! So break it and then use Steel Beam!"

"What I don't get is why he doesn't just use Steel Wing," Drake grumbled. "It's good enough for other Dragon Tamers."

"Is Ash a Dragon Tamer?" Phoebe asked. "How many does he have?"

Drake muttered under his breath.

"At least thirty," he said.

Phoebe did a double take. "That's a bigger number than I was expecting."

"Every time I see that guy's Meowth, I keep wanting to check his hair colour," Brock admitted, as Ash's finals opponent entered the arena. "I actually wouldn't put it past Team Rocket to do an entire League Challenge and reach the final just so they could steal Ash's Pokémon."

"No, don't worry," Vulpix assured him. "He isn't either Jessie or James in disguise… I spotted them doing the catering over on the other side of the stadium yesterday."

"How?" Brock asked.

"I borrowed May's binoculars," Vulpix said. "Admittedly I'm not sure what they're up to, but they haven't disrupted things yet. Maybe they need the cash?"

The big screen flashed up that the two trainers were Ash and Tyson, and asked them to send out their first Pokémon.

Ash opened with Zapdos, whose feathers sparked with lightning, and Tyson began with a Sceptile who he immediately Mega-Evolved.

"Oh, that's going to be interesting!" Max said. "I've never seen a Mega Sceptile up close before – he's been keeping that secret this whole time!"

Tyson called for Swift, and Zapdos snap-rolled away from the attack before summoning an electrical Counter Shield around herself – only for Mega Sceptile to immediately jump directly into the shield, bathing himself in lightning which drained down into his tail and sent sparks fizzling all around himself.

"Careful about shielding, Zapdos!" Ash called, as Mega Sceptile resumed his Swift barrage. "Steel Wing instead!"

Zapdos duly used Steel Wing, sweeping her wings across to deflect the Swift stars, and Ash frowned.

"That's right, Mega Sceptile is Dragon type!" he realized. "Zapdos, Twister!"

"Razor Wind!" Tyson retaliated. "Blow that wind away – then…"

Mega Sceptile hit the Twister with his Razor Wind, resulting in a whoosh as the swirling winds cancelled out, and Tyson gave the second half of his command. "Leech Seed!"

"Instant Thunderblock!" Ash replied, and there was a fizzle-bang as Zapdos tried her best to block the Leech Seed without letting Mega Sceptile absorb any more energy. "Now Drill Peck!"

"Dragon Pulse!" Tyson countered.

A little later in the battle, Tyson frowned.

"There's something wrong with that Treecko," he said, as his bipedal Meowth pressed an attack and Treecko retaliated with a Bullet Seed. "Hmm… Meowth! Thunderbolt!"

Tyson's Meowth lashed out with a Thunderbolt attack, pointing his clawed forepaw to direct it, and Treecko staggered backwards as his Illusion broke – revealing him to actually be Zorua.

"Dig!" Ash called, prompting Zorua to drive underground.

"Earthquake!" Tyson retaliated.

Meowth bounded up in the air, twisted, and slammed down in a three-point landing which made the ground quiver and shake around him. Zorua didn't come popping straight back out, though… then, two or three seconds later, he blurred past Meowth in an attack that made Meowth jump and only barely missed.

"Aww," Zorua complained. "Right, new trick!"

He bit the air, and a small, thin sword appeared in his jaws – specifically, the slim shape of a ninjato. "Sacred Sword except it's being used by a ninja!"

"Copycat, Meowth!" Tyson ordered.

Meowth made another sword appear, this one more of a rapier, and the feline and canid exchanged stares before Zorua pounced forwards.

Halfway to Meowth, he shifted from his base-form into the shape of a Riolu. He flicked the sword into the air, caught it in his paw, and lashed out – Meowth blocked, then thrust back – the blow narrowly avoided Zorua's Riolu-chest and he flipped back away from the attack, sliding a little before charging right back in again.

"So… which one of them is more likely to draw a Z shape on their opponent?" Marill asked. "They could both do it, sort of, and have it make sense."

"Suddenly that old series makes a lot more sense," Brock mused. "The Legend of Zorua? Someone must have thought of that before now."

Back at the Oak Ranch, Zacian alternately nodded and frowned.

"Good measure," she said. "A little too close – good, he's opened the range again… stop blocking and start parrying instead… that's a move for when you're a quadruped…"

"Lesson notes?" Lokoko asked. "You might want to write them down."

"I'm planning on remembering them quite well, thank you," Zacian replied. "Though I wouldn't be entirely averse to taking physical notes as well. He's doing fairly well, considering that he's got about eight different styles to learn."

On the television, Zorua switched into being a Skarmory.

"Nine," Zacian corrected herself. "Still, it's a hobby…"

Then Zorua switched from being Skarmory into a Cosmoem for about a second, drastically changing his course, and switched back to base-form just in time to catch the Sacred Sword he'd dropped and knock Meowth's weapon out of his paw.

"And that is more like it," Zacian added. "Good disarm."

Towards the end of the battle, Tyson's Hariyama jumped into the air.

"Whirlwind!" his trainer called. "Knock Ho-Oh into the ground!"

"Not again," Ho-Oh managed, before Hariyama made a pushing gesture and created a whirlwind which hurled Ho-Oh bodily into the floor.

The Fire-type hit with a wham that sent a few sparks and embers flying away from the impact point, then shook himself out and exhaled a roaring blast of fire at Hariyama.

Hariyama clapped his hands together, producing a wave of air that dampened down the Fire Blast, and his Thick Fat helped reduce the damage further.

Grumbling something, Ho-Oh took off and lit himself on fire – burning away the damage and injuries of the battle, restoring him to a pristine state with Recover – and used Extrasensory instead, firing a burst of psionic force at Hariyama and making the Arm Thrust Pokémon wince.

"Seismic Toss!" Tyson said.

Ho-Oh knew exactly what that was going to mean, and cloaked himself in Sacred Fire. It helped a bit, in that Hariyama had to reach through the fire to grab hold of Ho-Oh's leg, but the Fighting-type still flung Ho-Oh against the ground anyway.

"I think I am glad I can regenerate," Ho-Oh mumbled, golden light forming around his wings… but not bursting into flame this time.

He sprang upright, and swept his right wing at Hariyama like a giant club."Sky Attack!"

"Brine!" Tyson ordered, as Hariyama slid back. "Keep up the pressure!"

"That's the best fight I've had this tournament," Ash told Tyson, shaking his hand. "Your team is really good."

"Thanks," Tyson said. "It means a lot to me that you said that… Champion."

He snorted. "I sort of wish I was the first person to call you that, even if it's not Grand Champion, but it's the first time for Hoenn I think! So, good luck against the Elite Four!"

"Yeah, this is the first time I've faced an Elite Four with a separate Regional Champion," Ash realized. "I fought Drake – uh, not this Drake, the other Drake, in the Orange Islands. And I battled Lorelei, Bruno, Agatha and Lance, but that's only four. It's going to be a new experience!"

"Good luck with it, then," Tyson said. "So, uh, I've not placed in a League before, where do we go now?"

Pikachu pointed. "I assume it involves the podium."

"Oh, yeah," Tyson realized, who couldn't understand Pikachu but could see his paw. "You first, then, Ash, you did beat me!"

AN:

Forensic experts are on hand to try and work out what Pokémon Ash just used.

Well, they're not, but they probably should be.