"Ash has reached the finals," Dawn said. "He's doing great!"

She glanced over at those of Ash's Pokémon who were spectating, along with Whitney who'd squeezed herself in between Entei and Raikou and had Dratini on her lap. "I know you've seen this before, but it's all new to me."

"Yep, that's Ash for you," Whitney smiled. "And his Pokémon. They're great Pokémon… though I have to say, I'm a bit more iffy about this person he's battling, Tobias."

"He is a bit of a mystery," Volkner agreed. "He beat me with just his Darkrai, and that's the only Pokémon we've seen so far."

"He beat me with just his Darkrai," Gardenia added.

The other six Sinnoh Gym Leaders exchanged looks, then double-checked verbally just to be sure, but it soon turned out that none of them had any idea what Pokémon Tobias had besides his Darkrai.

"Well, this should be interesting!" Whitney decided. "We'll get to see what Pokémon he has apart from his Darkrai! I wonder who Ash is using…"

"Good evening," Tobias said, nodding to Ash. "It's nice to meet the famous Ash Ketchum."

"Well, I'm glad you think I'm famous," Ash replied, with a grin. "I… mostly don't think about that much, really."

Tobias shrugged. "To each their own," he said. "I assume you have your Pokémon chosen?"

Ash nodded, and threw his Pokéball just after Tobias did.

Tobias' Pokémon came out first, his Darkrai, and the Dark-type laced his fingers together as he watched Ash's pick land. "Oho! An interesting choice!"

Opposite him, Zacian gave him a nod, then reached into her mane and drew the Rusty Sword. It flashed gold, then so did she, and when it faded she had transitioned into Crowned Sword mode.

"Begin!" the referee said.

"Dark Void," Tobias ordered, and Darkrai threw a Dark Void ball straight at Zacian.

The Fairy-type took a half-step forwards, then lowered her head and rolled her muzzle. Her blade swung up to the vertical, with the flat facing towards Darkrai, and there was a spang as the attack bounced off.

"Drat!" Darkrai cursed.

"Ice Beam," Tobias said. "Looks like this is going to be more of a challenge than you thought."

Zacian jumped into the air, rising over the first flash of the Ice Beam, then simply didn't come down – drifting through the arena instead, and swiping her blade as a signal to send a Sacred Sword at Darkrai.

"Double drat!" the Dark-type yelped. "Incinerate!"

Zacian blocked this one as well, sweeping her blade around to interpose it, then retaliated first with a Moonblast that glittered on the edge of her blade. Then she used Behemoth Blade, expanding it out to enormous size.

"Dark Void again," Tobias advised.

"Keep it up!" Ash called.

"I'll win this battle fair and square!" Darkrai seethed, gathering up a pair of Dark Void balls. "Even if I have to cheat to do it!"

He hurled both attacks, and Zacian swept her sword through them to slice them to pieces.

"I defend what was, and the dream of what could be," Zacian said, reversing her blade before swiping it at Darkrai.

"Wow, that's impressive," Maylene gasped. "You hear about it, and then you see it, and it's on a whole other level!"

"I know," Zacian agreed. "I have to say, my brother's style does have merit sometimes."

Maylene blinked, and looked from the battle going on outside to Zacian lying on the floor next to her.

"Um… is the you in here an illusion?" she asked. "Or is what Darkrai's battling an illusion?"

She winced as Darkrai got hit by Behemoth Blade, knocking him into the retaining wall with a crunch that left his legs sticking out. "I… well, it must be this one, then? But how did you hear me?"

"There's a simple answer," Zacian said, as Tobias said something and Darkrai melted into a puddle of shadow before springing out again mostly no worse for wear. "And that answer is… of course this is the real me. Why would I go and battle a Darkrai when Ash has a perfectly serviceable replacement able to take up my figurative sword, who knows all my attacks, and who also has the ability Insomnia?"

"Curses," Darkrai mumbled, one hand up. "Foiled again."

Then he fell over backwards.

"That was really good work," Tobias said, recalling the Dark-type. "And I can finally use another Pokémon… he bet he could beat the whole of Sinnoh himself, and obviously switching him out would invalidate the bet."

He frowned, looking at Ash. "How did Zacian manage that, though? I'm sure some of those attacks actually made it through."

In reply, Noctowl dropped his false-image disguise.

He was frozen down one wing, the other was on fire, there were several scorch marks on his feathers from lightning attacks and the yellow glow from his eyes indicated he'd been moving himself around by Extrasensory for the last minute or so.

"Ow," he said, to summarize.

"That would do it," Tobias agreed. "That's a really neat Pokémon you've got there… are you going to leave them out?"

"Nah, Noctowl needs a rest," Ash replied. "I'm pretty sure, anyway."

"That sounds lovely," Noctowl concurred.

"It's a pity this Latios can't use Minimize," Whitney said, a few minutes later, as Tobias' second Pokémon tried gamely to catch Ash's Clefairy. "Not because of the impact on the battle, just that you can't really have too many tiny cute Latioses."

"Is that the plural?" Lucian asked. "I'm not familiar with the rules of grammar around Latios and Latias. I know the collective term is Latis, but I don't think it sounds right for just Latias or Latios."

He adjusted his dark glasses. "Well, that aside… Ash's Clefairy fights like a Psychic type, in some ways."

The Fairy-type flicked her fingers to the side, and dodged out of the way of an attack. Then Latios came zooming in with his wings glowing white, for a Steel Wing, and Clefairy fired a Meteor Beam which knocked Latios just about off-course enough to avoid taking a direct hit.

Tobias' Pokémon still shoved at her with a Psywave as he went past, and Clefairy squeaked something just before bouncing off the ground.

"...did I hear that right?" Lucian added. "Because that didn't sound comprehensible, but it wasn't the word Clefairy either."

"Clefairy's like that," Whitney shrugged. "It's mignonne!"

"Did you just say she was a minion?" Gardenia asked.

"It is like none of you speak more than one language," Fantina huffed. "Zut alors…"

Ash called for Metronome, and Clefairy flicked her fingers. Then she punched upwards, straight at the sky, and Latios got knocked into the air with a slam from the Sky Uppercut but then just flew back down.

"Mimic, and flip gravity!" Ash called.

"Oui!" Clefairy agreed, inverting gravity with one hand and using Sky Uppercut again with the other. That time, the attack slammed Latios straight into the ground with a wham, and Clefairy folded her arms and looked smug.

That hadn't actually knocked Latios out of the battle, but it had looked good.

"You're up, Aten!" Ash called, holding up the antique Pokéball. "It's your job to finish him off!"

"Oh, one of your Pokémon has a nickname?" Tobias asked, watching as Aten coalesced. "That's nice. It can be useful to help tell your Pokémon apart from other people's Pokémon."

He shrugged. "I've never really had the need to bother, but it helps some people out."

Aten huffed. "You'd better explain," he told Ash.

"Yeah, I didn't nickname any of my Pokémon," Ash explained. "Aten and Lokoko both have nicknames, but they came with them. I just call them all by the name they prefer, because why not?"

Tobias chuckled. "That's fair," he admitted. "Don't you have dozens of Dragonite, though?"

"No, I only have one Dragonite, but I have a lot of Dragonite including Dragonite," Ash corrected him. "You just need to be able to distinguish Dragonite and Dragonite from Dragonite, and since those are the three most similar names once you've got them sorted out you're good."

"What is it with battling Pokémon immune to one of my primary types today?" Tobias' Latios asked.

"Are you ready to resume?" the referee checked.

"There's already been longer between my coming out of my Pokéball and the bit I was here for than I'd prefer," Aten said.

"Okay, Aten!" Ash called.

Aten slapped the ground with a paw, then darted back as Latios shot a Dragon Pulse at him. The black-furred Zorua narrowly avoided the attack, then skipped further backwards as Latios followed up, but a moment later he changed his mind and darted forwards with his tail flicking.

Latios darted in to meet him, went straight through Aten instead of connecting with the Quick Attack he'd been going for, and hit a Will-o-Wisp that Aten had set on the ground like a landmine.

"You activated my trap!" Aten said. "Bitter Malice!"

There was an explosion of smoky shadows, and Latios froze in mid-air despite still being on fire.

"How does anyone who isn't Ash even tell what's going on in his matches?" Flint asked. "Because I'm fairly sure that's a Zorua pretending to be a different Zorua, if only because it's that or the Zorua over by Dawn is pretending to be a different Zorua. Or one of them could be… nope, now I've got a headache…"

Tobias next sent out a Deoxys, and it was Ash's turn to be interested.

"Oh, that's unusual," he said. "I've met a Deoxys a couple of times, but I didn't realize they actually qualified as Pokémon that could be caught."

"It was a surprise to me as well," Tobias replied. "Darkrai was doing another of his little scheme things, and he got hit by a meteor, and, well, it turned out to be Deoxys. Which I found out when they bounced off and landed on one of my Pokéballs."

"Shouldn't that be meteorite?" Pikachu checked.

"Yeah, Pikachu has a point," Ash agreed. "Isn't the word meteorite, not meteor?"

"Meteorites hit the ground," Tobias said. "And, technically, none of the meteor did… it hit the Pokéball instead."

He waved his hand. "I did ask a scientist, just to be sure, but they just gave me a weird look and didn't answer the question."

"They do that sometimes," Ash agreed. "I'm never sure why."

"Ahem!" Aten coughed. "The pause in the violence has been of unacceptable duration!"

"Right!" Ash realized. "Let's get back to the battle – Night Daze!"

"Defence Form," Tobias replied, as the Dark energy swirled around Deoxys. "Attack Form. Speed Form. Psychic. Attack – no, Defence Form."

Explosions lit the ground around Aten, occasionally either hitting him directly or pelting him with debris that all passed right through him, and the half-ghost Fox Pokémon cackled with slightly unsettling glee.

"Hey, guess what!" he called. "Foul Play!"

Deoxys was in Attack Form at the time, and the impact knocked it half a mile into the sky. It came right back down, though, switching to Speed Form at Tobias' command, and swept a whip-shaped arm across to hit Aten with a Psycho Cut.

Tobias glanced up at Ash. "Why are you covering your head with your hands?"

"You probably should too," Ash replied. "Aten – Frustration!"

"I'm not entirely sure it's healthy for that Pokémon to be quite that angry," Cynthia observed.

"Honestly, he's really mellowed out," Suicune said. "He used to be much more angry, and it was much more generally meant. He doesn't really mean all the death threats any more, and when he does he specifies a time. Which is much better manners than not doing that."

"Well, that was quite a surprise," Tobias said, once the echoes had died down. "But I'm not out of surprises yet."

"Nor am I," Ash replied, returning the probably-concussed and definitely-woozy Aten and swapping out one Pokéball for another.

The referee signalled, and Tobias sent out Victini just as Ash sent out Pidgey.

Victini sniggered.

"All right, Victini," Tobias said, adjusting his cloak. "Get that Pidgey!"

"It's time to Pidgeyvolve!" Ash replied, holding up his Mega Ring. "Let's go!"

The instant the referee called for them to begin, Pidgey flashed into Pidgeotto in a flare of light. Victini threw a Glaciate attack at her, and Pidgeotto darted to the side before whipping up an Ominous Wind to strike back at her opponent.

"Oh, goodness," Professor Oak sighed. "Why are all of Ash's battles like this?"

"They're not all this much like… this," Tracey replied, waving a hand vaguely, then got back to sketching out a representation of Pidgey that took in all four of her forms. "But yes, this one raises certain important questions. Chief among them… what happens when a Victini's special powers meet Ash's complete nonsense?"

"I was trying not to think about that," Oak admitted.

Pidgeotto flashed into Pidgeot, flapped her wings to pick up a massive burst of speed, then flipped in mid-air and used Rock Wrecker. A hail of rocky projectiles slammed into the ground, some of them punching through to stay upright and others hitting before slowly toppling over, and Victini's sniggers sounded a bit forced for several seconds as he flicked back and forth to avoid being hit.

"Get ready!" Tobias said, as Pidgeot banked around, then spoke again just as she turned to attack. "Me First!"

Victini used Avalanche Crusher at the same time as Pidgeot did. The two ice attacks hit one another with a crash, briefly confused by which one had actually happened second and therefore which one was more powerful, then Victini's ears lit up and he forced his attack to overwhelm Pidgeot's – an overwhelming effect which meant the ice hammered into Pidgeot and sent her tumbling before she recovered.

"Mega!" Ash said. "Max Airstream!"

"Fusion Bolt through it!" Tobias replied.

The attacks produced a wham of colliding airstreams and electrical energy that made the air itself shiver, and Ash frowned for a moment before realizing something.

"Supersonic Skystrike!" he said. "And if you miss, come around for another pass!"

"Don't get hit by that!" Tobias countered. "Boost yourself – try to come around behind him!"

"So… question," Aaron said, watching the aerial battle. "That Pokémon went into that battle as a Pidgey, with a backpack consisting of a Pidgeotite, and clearly evolved on command. Has Ash ultra-trained a Pidgey for this very specific situation?"

"Oh, no, it's loads better," Whitney told him. "Pidgey can just pick which of her four evolutionary line positions she wants to be on a moment by moment basis, so she can be a Mega Pidgeot using Oblivion Wing and then drop right back down to being a Tiny Bird. It has something to do with Celebi, I think, but I wasn't really paying attention."

Aaron stared at her. "How was that something you wouldn't pay attention to?"

"Pidgey was hanging off Ash's finger like a Zubat while he was explaining," Whitney replied. "That took all of my attention."

"Okay, Pidgeot!" Ash said. "Listen carefully!"

"Victini!" Tobias called. "Agility to close in, then V-Create! Focus your power on catching up with her!"

"Supersonic Skystrike!" Ash ordered, watching as Mega Pidgeot looped around in her latest attack run, then spoke very quickly. "Dive!"

Victini was on her tail, enhancing his speed, and he was visibly getting closer – in fact, he barely hesitated as Mega Pidgeot plunged towards the ground – but Ash was still speaking. "Revert!"

Mega Pidgeot suddenly flashed and shrank back to being merely Pidgey, and slipped through a hole in the wreckage from her Rock Wrecker attack.

A hole that was barely big enough for her, and not big enough for Victini. His ears hit the sides of the crack, then the attack he'd been preparing detonated, and most of what Pidgey had left behind was smashed to pieces by the explosion.

When the ball of light and flame had ended, Victini was embedded face-first in the ground in the middle of the crater.

"Not many people work that one out," Tobias complimented, as Pidgey fluttered down to land dizzily on Ash's shoulder. "Nice!"

Ash swapped out Pidgey as well, because the Flying-type could technically battle but it would just be throwing her out to get knocked out, and both trainers switched to their fifth Pokémon.

"Oh, huh, I think I've seen one of those once before," Ash said, looking at Tobias' choice. "Only from a distance, though. Ibid, what is it?"

"That Pokémon is a male Zeraora," Ibid replied, turning into a miniature duplicate. "The Thunderclap Pokémon. It is supposed to be the only Pokémon who can learn Plasma Fists."

"Yeah, that bit doesn't sound accurate," Ash shrugged. "Anyway, Grovyle, good luck!"

Grovyle rolled his neck around slightly. "I'll do my best… does that mean I still need luck?"

"Beats me," Ash replied.

"Wait, hold on," Pikachu requested. "Before we begin, I absolutely have to ask. How rare exactly are Zeraora?"

"That information is not available," Ibid said. "I suggest asking Zeraora, if you get the chance."

"Wait, I recognize you!" Zeraora said, pointing. "You're always around when that stupid Hoopa drops me through a wormhole!"

"New information means they are rarer than I thought thirty seconds ago," Ibid added smoothly.

"Okay, so I'm familiar with how Ash works by now to know that that Grovyle probably has something ridiculous about him," Lucian began. "What is it?"

"Well, he's pretty good with baby Pokémon, if that helps," Dawn said, considering. "Or, a baby Pokémon. I think she's the only one he really interacted with. But she made a good student for him, so… there you go."

"No, he did meet your Cyndaquil," Whitney corrected. "Remember?"

"Oh, you're right," Dawn said with a snap of her fingers. "Yeah, now I remember. He gets on well with baby Pokémon."

"He also seems to be using a supercharged version of Thunder Punch," Volkner pointed out. "In fact, it's the same move that Zeraora is using… he knows Plasma Fists?"

"At the moment, probably," Zygarde shrugged. "Grovyle knows Mimic."

"He also knows Thunder Punch," Zapdos noted. "So he's starting from a good place."

The Grass-type took an uppercut that launched him into the air, then went fwoomp as the Grovyle that had been hit turned out to be a Substitute made out of twigs. The real Grovyle threw a swirling Grass Shuriken at Zeraora, who dodged – both the first one and the second one hidden in the shadow of the first one – then blurred in to engage in close combat, and feline fists flashed against a glowing Leaf Blade that Grovyle swept around in blurring arcs.

"He's a ninja, like me!" Zorua added, then glanced at Zacian. "Wow, there are a lot of Pokémon whose names start with Z around at the moment! Maybe we should ask this Zeraora and your brother to visit us when we go to Unova, then we can have a Z-reunion!"

He hummed. "Would a phone call to arrange one of those be a Z-ring?"

"Get back here!" Zeraora demanded, then slammed a blow into Grovyle. That one of Grovyle turned out to be a Substitute as well, but this time Zeraora immediately blasted the whole area with lightning – and, for once, managed to hit the actual Grovyle.

"Blaze KICK!" Zeraora added, spinning around and hooking Grovyle with his footpaw before slamming the Grass-type into the floor. "You're annoying, but I've got you now!"

"Careful, Zeraora!" Tobias called. "He's not taken as much damage as you think."

"Yeah, yeah," Zeraora said, then wound up for another attack.

Grovyle dropped into the ground, vanishing entirely with a faint swirling distortion.

The Electric-type blinked. "Huh?"

Zorua's ears perked up. "Ooh, here we go! I taught him that!"

Grovyle then rematerialized springing up out of the ground, hitting Zeraora with an uppercut.

"It's a move that I sort of learned by accident, or, not by accident but in unusual circumstances," Zorua went on. "It's Shadow Force! I learned it when I was pretending to be Purrloin so-"

Mew coughed.

"Oh, right, yeah, I wasn't meant to mention that bit," Zorua realized. "Sorry Mew!"

"I have so many questions," Latias said. "But right now, the main one is… how exactly are you a ninja? You're not great at keeping secrets."

"Sorry?" Zorua asked. "How is that relevant to being a ninja?"

The battle between Grovyle and Zeraora lasted almost twenty minutes, until finally Zeraora landed a stunning blow on Grovyle and went in for a follow-up.

"This is where it ends!" he yowled.

"I agree," Grovyle said, and used Shadow Force just as Zeraora's blow landed. The Electric-type's lunge took him right through Grovyle's dissolving form, and both Pokémon disappeared.

"...um…" the referee began. "What just happened? I need to know so I can call the battle."

Ash shrugged.

Several seconds later, Grovyle dropped out of the air.

"Sorry," he said, a little woozily. "I got lost on the road of life because a cat crossed my path under a ladder… or, something…"

He went thump onto the ground.

"Grovyle's been knocked out," the referee decided. "And… Zeraora is, somewhere?"

"I think he's stuck in the Reverse World," Ash said. "I can ask Giratina to come and get him… does that count as ring out?"

Giratina provided an exit for Zeraora, who was – very, very grudgingly – grateful for the lift.

"Don't worry, you'll get the first gym battle in our next region," Tobias assured the Electric-type. "Or – actually, Ash, is that a good suggestion? I think you've been to the Orange Islands."

"Yeah, not really," Ash admitted. "It depends on which gym more than anything, I think you'd need to check with Zeraora once you know the gym challenge."

"Good advice," Tobias decided. "Now, it's time for my final Pokémon."

He held up a Pokéball, and sent out a Celebi.

Professor Oak spat out his tea.

"Wow," Ash said. "Celebi are pretty amazing Pokémon. How long have you had yours?"

"Celebi is my Starter," Tobias answered. "I don't actually know if he was to begin with, but he is now and what matters is the current timeline. Right?"

"Right," Ash agreed. "Okay, so… Aten, do you feel up to another go?"

Aten promptly emerged from his antique Pokéball. "Of course I do!" he said. "Do you even need to ask?"

"Yes," Ash said. "Because if you'd wanted to say no, I'd respect that, and so even though I guessed what you'd probably think, I had to ask anyway."

Aten blinked a few times, then flicked his tail. "Tch. Whatever… I'm not going to turn down a battle either way."

He jumped out into the arena, the referee slashed his hand down, and Celebi flicked his hand. "Bullet Seed!"

The seeds went straight through Aten.

"Sorry, was that supposed to do something?" he asked, then used Night Daze.

The attack headed for Celebi, then stopped in mid-air with a faint blue glow around it.

Celebi raised his other hand, and the Bullet Seeds also lit up blue.

"Look out, Aten!" Ash called. "Dodge!"

"Huh?" Aten asked, then spotted what Ash had just as the seeds began to grow at hyper-advanced speed. They moved so fast that they looked more like Vine Whips, and a hail of Magical Leaves whistled through the space as Aten dodged with a lot more attention than he'd been showing before.

Celebi followed up with a Future Sight ball, that materialized over his head before hurtling towards Aten. The Zorua dodged, only to suddenly glow blue and unlope backwards until he was where the Future Sight ball was aiming – just before it hit with an explosion of white light.

"Ooh, I'm going to have to take notes for this one!" Dawn's Pichu said. "That was fascinating. Do you think he missed and then went back in time to make sure Aten was the target?"

"...I don't know if we'd ever be able to tell," Riolu replied, shrugging. "Maybe perhaps? Hmm, I don't think we have the words we need to discuss this."

"Don't be silly, of course we do!" Pichu said. "They're either Pi, or Chu, or Pichu, or Chupi, or some combination of those!"

"Oh, yes, how silly of me," Riolu admitted.

Ash recalled Aten without permission, but mostly because the feisty Ghost-type was too unconscious to either consent or object.

"All right, I know just who to use in this situation!" Ash declared. "Pidgey's time-warp thing might not work or even break if it's up against a Celebi, and most of the others I've used already are exhausted, so-"

Pikachu coughed. "Actually, Ash, I really don't think I'd do well here. I'm not really equipped to deal with this kind of battle."

"Well, yeah," Ash agreed. "That's why I'm using Croagunk!"

He sent the Poison-type out, who shuddered and then took a ready stance.

"...okay, that's fair," Pikachu admitted. "Wait, how many Pokémon do you have on you at the moment?"

Ash thought about that, then shrugged. "I'm not using more than six, so that's what matters!"

The referee indicated that they should really get on with it, and Celebi clapped his hands. The mass of plant matter ungrew, then regrew in a different direction towards Croagunk, and he waited until it was just about to hit before diving to the side.

The entire mass of plants vanished.

"...what just happened?" Celebi asked, glowing blue for a moment. "How did you do that?"

"I dodged," Croagunk replied. "I think they landed in the sea?"

"Dodging means that you get out of the way of the attack," Celebi complained, folding his arms.

"That seems to be very inefficient."

"All right, so, we're nearly at the point where one of these trainers is going to be battling us," Aaron said. "Specifically, me, to start with."

He looked across at the other members of the Sinnoh Elite Four. "Any thoughts?"

"I've got one," Flint said, as Croagunk backflipped in a way that somehow moved him directly behind Celebi. "What on earth are you going to do?"

"Well… quite a lot of Tobias' Pokémon are weak to Bug," Aaron said. "Also enormously strong, but I can at least plan for that kind of thing. In theory. But with Ash?"

He waved his hand. "There's no consistent rule. About anything."

"Technically the term is 'active areas of research'," Mew said, then put her paw up by her mouth. "Or I think it is. Is that a technical term? It sounds it."

"Psychic," Tobias called.

Celebi used Psychic, launching it out as a blur in the air, and Croagunk ducked the attack. Celebi glowed blue, and so did Croagunk, then suddenly Celebi shot forwards and got in the way of his own attack.

"Okay, what exactly was that?" he demanded, sliding to a halt in mid-air. "I was trying to do that to you, how did you do it to me?"

"Haven't you ever heard of Counter?" Croagunk replied. "It's a move that counters an attack, making it so that the originator of the attack comes off worst."

"That's nothing remotely like what just happened," Celebi protested.

"Well, your attack was to move me into the path of the attack," Croagunk said.

"Celebi, don't get distracted," Tobias told him.

"Okay, you know what?" Celebi asked, and a ball of light flew out of nowhere to slam into Croagunk. "As you probably guessed, I just went back and did a Future Sight a while ago."

He frowned, since Croagunk didn't seem to actually be there any more.

"What now?" he asked, then shook his head. "Okay, this is too weird, I'm going back to do the battle again."

Zeraora patted him on the shoulder. "That sounds like the best approach."

"Yeah, I – hey, wait, you shouldn't be out here," Celebi protested. "You'll invalidate the battle."

"No, it's okay for your opponent to be on the battlefield," Croagunk replied.

Celebi did a double-take. "Wait – but – that was, you were Zeraora! What is even going on?"

"Ooh, that was quite well done," Nickit said, leaning forwards. "Did you see that? I think he actually, ah, borrowed Zeraora's identity."

"Does he know Spectral Thief?" Dawn asked.

"I think he knows Ally Switch and has a very broad interpretation of ally," Nickit guessed. "But that's just me taking a wild stab in the Dark-type."

"I'm pretty sure wild stabs are something that Dark types do a lot of," Cynthia said. "It's one of the defining tactics of the Type."

"Hey, that's typist," Nickit huffed. "Specifically Dvorak, because it's meant to simplify things but there's a lot of disagreement about whether it actually works."

"Double substitute team: Draw Forth Every Shard," Croagunk announced, and there were suddenly forty of him.

"How am I the one who can time travel and I'm the one who doesn't know what's going on?" Celebi demanded. "You did something completely different last time!"

The battle was long, wearying, and intensely confusing, but eventually Celebi hovered over his opponent.

"Okay!" he said. "That is the most frustrating battle I have had in a long time, and I can travel through it so I know what I'm talking about! Have you got anything to say for yourself?"

A Future Sight Ball appeared overhead, and Croagunk held up a piece of paper.

"Destiny Bond," Celebi read, then did a double-take at the incoming attack.

It was definitely aimed for Croagunk. And this time, he wasn't dodging.

"Oh-" he began, then they both got knocked out at once.

"I think that means you win," Tobias decided. "I'm… actually not sure, but I think it's true."

"It was an amazing battle!" Ash said. "I didn't know some of my Pokémon could do those moves they did there, even with all the training I've helped them with… I guess sometimes a really good battle like this is just the situation where your Pokémon flourish!"

"I couldn't agree more," Tobias said, then frowned slightly. "Though I should probably ask you… is there a reason why you didn't use any Legendary Pokémon?"

Ash paused, counting under his breath, then shrugged.

"I didn't realize!" he admitted. "It just lined up that way, I guess."

"Well, Ash, you've been a phenomenal trainer to battle," Tobias summarized. "I hope to see you again in another Pokémon League, though I'm not sure how likely that is."

"That would be great!" Ash replied brightly.

AN:

And the Tobias battle, which went up as one chapter rather than two.

I've been planning some of this for a very long time.