"All right, challenger," Sidney said, the next morning. "You know all this stuff. Tremble before the Hoenn Elite Four, I'm Sidney, Dark Types yada yada. You've fought an Elite Four before, it's pretty much the same, except that we've actually got a proper Elite Four plus a Champion. Any questions?"
Ash raised his hand.
"Eesh, just ask, there's nobody else who could be asking," Sidney snorted.
"Are there any limits on who I use?" Ash said. "I'm not planning to use anyone twice, I think, unless I missed someone, but is there a rule about that?"
"Nah, if you've got a strong team you've got a strong team," Sidney replied. "So! Let's get this started."
He sent out his first Pokémon, a Houndoom, and Ash replied with Shaymintwo.
"Tch," the theoretically-a-Gratitude Pokémon said, pawing at the ground slightly. "Now, witness my true power."
"Fun!" Sidney declared. "Okay, Houndoom, straight off!"
Houndoom howled, a Mega Stone lighting up, and Mega Evolved in an explosion of orange light.
"Roar of Time!" Ash called.
Sidney blinked. "Who to the what now?"
Shaymintwo used Power Gem, firing it at Mega Houndoom, and the glittering green gemstone went spang off the Fire-type's bone armour. Then Shaymintwo darted forwards, bouncing into the air, and caught the gemstone again.
"Roar of TIME!" he shouted.
What happened next was a bit hard to follow, and while to Shaymintwo it would have appeared like everything else was in slow motion to everyone else Shaymintwo simply sped up into a greenish blur. He used Rollout five times in less than a second, kicking Mega Houndoom all over the place, then skidded to a halt and pulled a blue-glowing sphere from his fur.
"Aura Sphere!" he declared, throwing it, and Mega Houndoom shook his head before blowing up the sphere with a Dark Pulse.
"Will-o-Wisp!" Sidney added, commanding Mega Houndoom to shoot out a wave of purple flame, and Shaymintwo dodged away before they landed.
"That's a feisty one!" the Elite Four trainer added. "Flame Burst!"
"I'm not very experienced with Shaymin," Phoebe admitted, as Ash recalled Shaymintwo. "But I get the sense that that's not their normal fighting style under any conventional circumstances."
Steven chuckled.
"Probably not," he decided. "They're normally considered fairly slow, I believe."
Sidney was switching out as well, recalling his no-longer-Mega and deeply dazed Houndoom and replacing him with an Absol to counter Ash's Ninetales.
The Absol promptly bolted for the side of the arena with a yelp of shock.
"Uh… sorry?" Ash called. "Absol kind of do that around me, I don't know why, I'm not that surrounded by disaster… I guess you can send in a different Pokémon instead, if Absol doesn't want to battle?"
Phoebe giggled.
"I'll go get his reserve Pokémon," she said, as Sidney sent out a different Pokémon entirely – a Scrafty.
"Hypnosis!" Ash called. "Dancing Flames!"
"What's he doing?" Glacia asked, as flames sprayed all over the place and Lokoko sent out illusions to hide their positions. "That Ninetales doesn't have Miracle Eye, does she?"
"Foul Play!" Sidney ordered.
The flames roiled, and then – abruptly, as he ran in to attack – Scrafty changed briefly into a Zoroark.
"I did wonder," Steven said, then leaned forwards a little as Zoroark began using illusions as well. Those ones were more solid, but Lokoko began using her flames like needles and spikes to punch through them and keep the space around her clear. Or it seemed to be what was going on, because there were more than a dozen Lokoko and hundreds of flames at any one time.
"...oh, I see what's going on," he said. "Clever."
Steven pointed. "I don't know if Ash could tell that Scrafty was really Zoroark, but either way he knew that those illusions won't be bothering a Dark type. But Sidney isn't a Dark type, and that means Zoroark isn't getting any benefit from Sidney's direction… while Lokoko can leave Ash out of the effect of her illusions."
"Solarbeam!" Ash called, and Lokoko stopped to begin to charge up. Flames swirled around more than half of the Ninetales on the field, hiding them, while the others simply stood out in the open.
"Go after her!" Sidney instructed.
Zoroark charged, presumably, towards one particular Ninetales and with a Night Slash fizzing on his claws… until Lokoko's tails flared up with light as she swept the fire aside, and nine separate Solar Blades blazed around the tips.
"Crap – Night Daze!" Sidney yelped, but Lokoko shielded herself with the same fire from before and then pounced.
"Do you think it's Ash's Legendary or non Legendary Pokémon who are more ridiculous?" Max asked.
"Under the standard I was used to before meeting Ash, a trainer just having a single Legendary Pokémon would be very strange," Brock replied. "But that's not the answer to your question… and I think it's the ones who aren't Legendary Pokémon."
"I concur with this assessment," Zygarde said. "Suicune purifying water is expected; it is part of her portfolio of abilities. Any Suicune can do it."
He pointed. "A Treecko teleporting out of danger is not."
"That's putting it lightly," Brock chuckled, as Treecko blurred in to hit Sidney's Greninja with a fizzing Thunderpunch – only for Greninja to counter with an Earth Power, which wasn't much effect against Treecko but did shift Greninja to Ground-type.
"Leaf Blade!" Ash called, immediately, and Treecko swiped out at Greninja. This time he hit, knocking Greninja back, and Sidney considered for a moment.
"Ice Beam," he said.
Treecko used Substitute again, and this time instead of a bundle of sticks an entire large log appeared out of nowhere.
Grovyle landed next to Greninja and used Close Combat, hammering the other shinobi into the air, and gestured to the side as he powered up his Thunderpunch in one hand and his Leaf Blade in the other.
"Uh-" Sidney began, trying to think what type to switch to, and Grovyle darted up before hitting Greninja with a second Close Combat attack.
Then he punched out, and an electric Boltund-shape darted off his fist to pounce on Greninja and explode.
"Nice," Pikachu declared. "I see you evolved, then."
"Of course," Grovyle replied. "And I got Lightning Dog working, as well. That's going to be helpful."
"Most Pokémon would just call it Shock Wave," Ash said. "I think that's what it is. Anyway… I guess it's Phoebe next? Ibid, I'd like to swap my team out."
"Teleporting," Ibid said, and vanished along with several Pokéballs and Grovyle.
"It's a bit weird that Ibid just teleports them to the stand," Pikachu chuckled. "Then again, it means they can watch, and if the others were already in the stand it'd give Phoebe a clue about who you want to use."
Ibid reappeared. "Teleports complete."
"Thanks!" Ash said, watching as Phoebe took her position.
Her first Pokémon was a Dusknoir, and Ash began with Swellow.
"Interesting," Steven said. "I wonder what that Swellow's trick is… they can have Scrappy, that must be it."
"Does there have to be a trick?" Glacia asked, then remembered who they were talking about. "Sorry, stupid question."
Phoebe called for Dusknoir to use Charge Beam, which splashed off Swellow's feathers, then the Normal-type called out and charged in closer to use Twister. The whirl of draconic energy hammered into Dusknoir, and Phoebe's Pokémon retaliated with a close-range Blizzard.
Which turned into a close-range electrical storm, which flowed over Swellow's feathers and discharged into the air without landing.
"How many Pokémon does he have that can ignore Ice attacks?" Glacia said. "That isn't even a type you can be immune to."
"I don't think that Swellow is immune to anything other than Electric attacks," Steven replied, watching closely as this time Dusknoir used Rock Tomb and Swellow burst through it as it turned into a cage of lightning. "I just think she's turning everything into an Electric attack…"
"You next, Mismagius!" Phoebe said. "Good luck!"
"Stay out if you want, Swellow!" Ash called, and Swellow let out a confident cry before swerving in on the attack.
"...Destiny Bond!" Phoebe added, just as Swellow got there and used Pursuit.
"Electrify!" Ash said.
Swellow's electrical immunity divided by zero, and the entire arena was filled with a mighty explosion of sparkling light.
"Whoa!" Ash yelped.
When the detonation had finally, reluctantly, faded away, there was a gigantic and unfamiliar Pokémon over on one side of the arena.
"Task complete," said Zygarde's voice, and then they dissolved into green blurs which left the familiar dog instead. "Woof."
Ash recalled Swellow, and considered who to send out next. "Uh..."
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen that Butterfree before," May said, as Phoebe's Chandelure launched enormous spikes of flame into the air and Butterfree's wings lit up in response.
A thousand shimmering beams of light crashed down as Butterfree used Origin Pulse, and Brock coughed.
"Ash doesn't have a Butterfree," he said. "And that's not Purrloin, or Noctowl, or Zorua, or any of the other Pokémon Ash has who can use illusions."
Brock paused.
"Including himself," he said. "No, that's the Butterfree he used to defeat my Onix at Pewter."
"Which… he doesn't have," May said, just to make sure that was clear.
"Which he doesn't have," Brock confirmed. "That's – almost certainly – Mew."
May watched as Chandelure used Fire Blast, and Butterfree countered with Rock Wrecker.
"Makes sense," Max admitted. "In that light, that's one tough Chandelure."
"I can see I'm going to need something special to deal with your Butterfree," Phoebe said, recalling her Chandelure. "Sableye!"
Her Sableye appeared on the field, first a pitch black mass before gaining definition, and Mega-Evolved a second later.
"Power Gem!" Phoebe called.
Mega Sableye threw his gem shield, which hit Butterfree with a whack, and she bounced upwards into the air before recovering enough to use Fairy Wind.
Mega Sableye phased into the ground, avoiding the attack, then emerged again and threw his gem shield at Butterfree for a second time.
"Brick Break!" Ash ordered.
Butterfree kicked the shield right back at Mega Sableye again, but the Ghost caught his shield and used it to block Butterfree's follow-up.
"Huh, that's going to be tricky," Ash admitted. "Try Doom Desire!"
"Ooh, good idea!" Butterfree said.
Then got beaned by Mega Sableye's shield again.
"Well, that's Phoebe out," Glacia said, standing up, as Ash's Torkoal finished demonstrating that his lack of Foresight could be compensated for by sufficient extremely fast Fire Punches and a battle aura shaped like a peacock.
Steven held up his fingers, counting down from three, then Drifblim's Aftermath triggered and slammed Torkoal into the ground.
"Kooooooal!" he bellowed.
"Now Phoebe is out," Steven corrected. "Who do you intend to use first?"
"I think… Abomasnow," Glacia decided. "Or Vanilluxe. I'll make my mind up on the way down."
"It is so strange for the two of us to be outside Altomare at the same time," Latias said, watching as Glacia sent out Vanilluxe and Ash countered with Bayleef.
It began to snow as Vanilluxe used Hail, and both psychic dragons wrapped themselves in psionic shields to keep the cold away – mostly focusing on the battle down below.
"I know," Latios said. "Altomare is almost certainly safe – Dad's almost certainly safe – I know that, there's four Dragonite in the Secret Garden right now. They're probably playing one of our video games, actually."
Latias giggled.
"But it's… a different thing, for us to be together and not be in Altomare," Latios added. "Thank you for suggesting it, sis."
"Signal Beam!" Glacia ordered.
Her Vanilluxe started firing beams of light out at Bayleef, and the Grass-type retaliated by using her vines to tug herself out of the way – lensing together what little sunlight she could spare from her sunshield into a focused cone.
As they watched, Bayleef used Sleep Powder as well, and blew it through the cone which formed a spark and turned the move into a wash of flaming air.
"Now that's Elite Four stuff, right there," Latias said. "If your opponent knows how to counter something, approach the problem in a different way!"
She glanced at her brother. "That makes sense, right?"
"I told you already, I wanted to beat that boss that way because of a challenge," Latios retorted. "I know about the better approach, you told me about the better approach, I was doing it that way because I wanted to do it that way."
He coughed. "That is. Yes. It does make sense, under most circumstances."
"Great work, Bayleef," Ash said, recalling her. "Now-"
"Wait," Glacia requested. "I'm recalling Beartic as well. Just be aware of that."
"Oh, okay," Ash decided. "Rayquaza!"
"Abomasnow – sorry, what?" Glacia asked, as the Dragon-type uncoiled from underneath Ash's jacket.
She looked closer. "That's… your Rayquaza. Is that a thing that can happen? Because even if you did somehow meet and capture Rayquaza, I thought he was green."
"It's a bit of a long story!" Ash said, as the snowing stopped. "She's a shiny Pokémon, though, plus she's a girl. Oh, uh… what are the rules on weather abilities in Elite Four battles? I know Abomasnow makes it snow."
Glacia put her fingers on her temples, then chuckled. "I suppose I should stop trying to work out what to expect. Yes, they are allowed."
"Great!" Ash said. "Okay, Rayquaza, I'll give you advice if you need it!"
Rayquaza Mega-Evolved.
It began to snow for about a quarter of a second as her Air Lock vanished, then the snow was ripped to shreds as strong winds began to blow around the battlefield.
"Ancient Power!" Mega Rayquaza said, throwing a big rock at Abomasnow.
"Every time I see Ash pull out another trick, I'm torn," Steven said. "I'm glad I'm not facing that trick, but worried about what I will end up facing."
He turned to Drake. "What do you think? New Mega? Legendary nobody's ever heard of? A Mega evolved Legendary?"
Drake considered the question, as out on the battlefield Mega Rayquaza tossed Abomasnow up in the air and hit him with an Air Slash.
"I'd be more worried if he sent out a Wingull," Drake decided.
Several minutes later, Glacia had recalled her long-suffering Abomasnow after the Grass-type had taken one too many Dragon Ascents – that being one Dragon Ascent, which was too many for him – and swapped him for a Glalie who she'd promptly Mega-Evolved.
"Hyper Beam!" she called, and a massive foot-wide blast of cold and frost slammed into Mega Rayquaza.
She dodged and weaved as best she could, avoiding being caught in the full beam for too long at once, and slid to a halt in the air next to Ash.
"What should I do?" she asked. "Ice attacks still hurt!"
"Change to something else," Ash suggested. "You've got options!"
"Right!" Mega Rayquaza realized, reverting with a flash. She reached into her backpack, tongue sticking out slightly in concentration, then changed into Primal Groudon.
Glalie used Refrigerated Hyper Beam again, but it just hit her magma-hot hide and evaporated off in a cloud of steam.
"That's better!" Primal Groudon declared. "Flamethrower!"
"I'm not much of an expert," Sidney said, back up in the Elite Four box. "But do we normally see people trying to beat Glacia by changing the entire global climate?"
"Not so's you'd notice," Steven said, as the tiny Primal Groudon used Precipice Blades to launch herself into the air and get a better angle for her Flamethrower. "I hope Ash is going to ask her to put the climate back when she's done."
He looked up. "Oh, or maybe this Pokémon will do it for her."
Drake stood up as well, watching as Rayquaza – the big Rayquaza, the one they thought of as Rayquaza – came gliding down from the sky in sinuous and unhurried motion.
He was carrying a large chunk of rock in one hand.
"RAAAAAYYY," he said, in a sound that wasn't a roar but certainly didn't avoid counting as a roar for reasons of volume.
"Oh, hi!" Primal Groudon said. "Sorry, I'm a bit busy at the moment!"
"No you're not," Glalie said, no longer Mega and embedded deeply enough in the ground that only the back of his head was visible. "You're not occupied at all. Please, don't wait around on my account."
"If you're sure!" Primal Groudon replied, then reverted to merely Rayquaza. She carefully put the Red Orb back into her backpack, using only her claws, and the extremely harsh sunlight faded away.
Taking off with a whoosh, she went up to hover about two feet over Ash and six below Big Rayquaza. "Is something wrong?"
"No, not at all," Rayquaza told her. "Groudon and Kyogre have been surprisingly well behaved recently, it's been quite pleasant. There was a large meteorite coming to hit us, but I shot it down, and it turned out there was a Deoxys inside!"
Mini Rayquaza gasped.
"That doesn't sound very polite of it," Ash said. "What happened?"
"Well, fortunately I explained that this was an inhabited planet, and they were mostly all right with that," Big Rayquaza told them. "I directed them to LaRousse City, so hopefully that should have sorted things out… anyway!"
He brandished the chunk of meteorite. "I thought, since I had some meteorite anyway, I should bring you some for lunch. It is important for a growing Rayquaza to have plenty of space rock in their diet."
Big Rayquaza turned his attention to Ash. "I hope that's not a problem? You seem busy."
"I can spare Rayquaza!" Ash said.
"Thanks," Mini Rayquaza told him, then glanced up at Big Rayquaza. "This won't take too long, right?"
"Your trainer will have you back well before sundown," Big Rayquaza assured her. "In fact, we can probably just go over to that bit of the stands and have lunch there."
Mini Rayquaza nodded, then crossed her eyes and went Mega. Strong wings swirled around the arena again, and she followed Big Rayquaza over to have a picnic.
"Sorry about that," Ash said, turning back to Glacia. "Where were we?"
Glacia thought visibly about the answers she could give to that.
"Froslass," she decided, sending the Ghost-type out.
"Got it!" Ash replied. "Charizard!"
Charizard flared his wings as he emerged. "Right! Let's do this!"
AN:
Ash is conscientious about making sure as much of his team gets a go as possible.
I'm sure the Hoenn Elite Five appreciate it.