Enamorus gave them all a nice collection of Revival Herbs, saying that as the incarnation of Spring she had better be good at growing plants, and after a bit of a discussion about how the Forces of Nature actually worked Enamorus clarified that actually she was the incarnation of, in her own words, 'spring winds or something'.
Then they all went back to Driftveil.
"All right, Mr. Ketchum," Clay said. "If you'll just follow me underground?"
"This is a pretty cool place to have a gym," Ash told him, as he and his friends stepped into a big freight elevator that went down with a whirr into the earth. "Especially for a Ground type! What gave you the idea?"
"I'm a miner," Clay told him. "First and foremost."
"But you're way older than me," Ash complained.
"What?" Pikachu said.
"What?" Clay asked.
Lokoko chuckled. "I think that one's up to you to explain, Emolga. Care to give it a go?"
"All right," Emolga said. "So what just happened is that Ash thought that Clay said that he was a minor, as in, a young person, even though that makes no sense in the context of the conversation."
"But it might have done," Ash protested. "I don't know what Clay was thinking about, so he could have had a reason why it made sense and I'd have to ask about it, but first I wanted to object because what he said didn't sound correct and that's weird."
"Interesting," Zygarde mused. "Is it perhaps the case, Ash, that there are always thoughts going on in your head and you sometimes forget to inform people about the connections you are making?"
"Honestly, that would explain a lot about Ash," Pikachu admitted. "I thought your speciality was geology, though?"
"I am a simple countryside dog," Zygarde answered.
"You took that from me," Marshadow complained.
"I don't see how I could have done," Zygarde defended itself. "Firstly, you are not a dog. Secondly, I am a countryside dog because I am a dog who is Ground type and therefore shares a type with the countryside."
"Unless it's a forest," Ash said.
"There are very few letters different between woof and wood," Zygarde said.
"All right, here we are," Clay said, having decided not to bother keeping up. "This is the underground battle room of my gym. Now, here's my challenge for you."
He folded his arms. "No Flying-types."
"Right!" Ash agreed readily. "I can do that! How many Pokémon is it?"
"Three," Clay replied. "Pick your first, and let's begin."
Clay's first Pokémon was an Excadrill, who sharpened their claws against one another with a shwing before settling into a pose where they were ready to attack or defend.
In reply, Ash sent out Zekrom.
"Huh, interesting choice," Clay admitted. "It's not a Flying-type, I can say that much."
"Actually, I wanted to ask about that," N said. "Isn't banning an entire Type from your gym in violation of League Rule 54 subclause 4?"
He turned to Arc. "Come on, let's hear it. What was that one actually?"
"League Rule 54 subclause 4," Arc replied. "Gyms may not be filled to the brim with water by the gym leader."
"Subclause 3?" N tried.
"Gyms must be within the city limits of the city to which they are attached, unless special dispensation is granted or alternative transport is provided."
"Okay, which subclause is it?" N sighed. "I mean the one about how it always has to be possible for someone to attempt the gym challenge, you can't just set an impossible condition for them."
"While I can see how that one is relevant, it doesn't apply in this case," Arc said. "Impossible isn't a thing for Ash."
N thought about that.
"Fair enough," he admitted.
"Okay, Zekrom!" Ash said. "Let's do this!"
"I've been waiting for a chance to try this out!" Zekrom agreed, turbine keening as he charged up and sparks flying off his tail. "Hey, Reshiram!"
"What?" Reshiram asked, sounding wary.
"What's the Ground-type immune to?" Zekrom asked.
"I would normally say electrical attacks," Reshiram replied. "Why, what do you think the answer is?"
"Absolutely nothing at all," Zekrom replied, and used Thunder That Breaks The Earth.
Clay's Excadrill wasn't a fan.
"You know, if you're doing this for any kind of qualification, it's supposed to show you understand how to do Pokémon battles," Clay observed, as a Krokorok pried Excadrill out of the wall. "And I've got to say… this doesn't seem much like you understand how to do Pokémon battles."
"Well, I already know that Zekrom is a powerful Pokémon," Ash said. "But I wanted to make sure he could do the trick he learned from Pikachu!"
That made Clay pause.
"From Pikachu?" he asked. "I thought that was Teravolt."
"No, though I get why you're confused," Ash said. "Teravolt is like Mold Breaker, it ignores the effects of a Pokémon's ability, but the Ground-type resistance to electrical attacks is a type interaction. That's different. But it's one that Pikachu's trick ignores – he learned it back before I met him, possibly? I know I didn't teach him – but it took some training with Zapdos helping charge him up before he could do it reliably, and then he taught her."
"I'm going to go ahead and mark that one down as a maybe," Clay decided. "But you do know I can decide you're not getting the Quake Badge regardless if you just use a Legendary Pokémon to steamroll through? Like I say, it's about showing you understand how to do the battles."
"Right!" Ash agreed. "Which is why I'm swapping out for Sewaddle!"
Clay's Excadrill went thump as they hit the ground, and Clay watched for a moment before recalling the Steel-type.
Ash sent out Sewaddle at the same time, and Clay gestured for Krokorok to take to the field.
"Okay, little guy, here's the deal," Krokorok began. "I get that you've got the type advantage, and that's cool and all, but you might get hurt out here. Type advantages are-"
"I'm a girl," Sewaddle interrupted.
"Oh, eesh, really?" Krokorok asked, wincing. "Yeah, uh, so much for that banter I had prepared… look, do you mind waiting a bit while I work something else out? I guess we could just go straight into the battle instead…"
"Let's go ahead and straight into the battle!" Ash decided. "How does that sound, Sewaddle?"
"Well, I'm not a huge fan," Sewaddle said. "But I guess I do want to see if this works!"
"Great, that's the spirit!" Ash smiled.
"Begin, then," Clay said. "Since you all seem ready to go without me. Fire Fang!"
"String Shot!" Ash replied, and Sewaddle fired a stream of silk which latched onto the ceiling and pulled her out of the way.
"Tricky," Clay allowed. "Krokorok, Dig! Then launch yourself!"
"Now, Sewaddle!" Ash called. "Leaf Blade!"
"That ain't – huh?" Clay frowned. "She doesn't have anything to use as a blade! What are you playing at?"
Sewaddle certainly didn't seem to be using Leaf Blade at first, swinging all over the arena instead with String Shot going in all directions – until Krokorok burst out of the ground, jaws ready, and Sewaddle detached herself from her thread.
That released the tension on a String Shot string, which unleashed another String Shot, and that meant that several String Shot wires all pulled together at once to form a converging circle of green-glowing Pokémon attacks that caught Krokorok by the tail and hit him with eight Leaf Blades at once.
Flicking out another String Shot as she fell, Sewaddle re-connected to her web of interlocking wires, and this time she charged the lot up with X-Scissor. They whiplashed around and acted like pulleys, with Sewaddle's slight weight enough to pull Krokorok upwards with incredible force, and the Dark-typed crocodile got propelled straight upwards into and through the ceiling.
Landing, Ash's Pokémon took a bow.
Then noticed her arms.
"...I could swear I'm supposed to evolve through being a Swadloon first," Leavanny said. "Does this evolving thing happen a lot around you, my trainer?"
"All the time!" Ash agreed. "Professor Oak says that I'm going to evolve a new Legendary Pokémon some day! Though he usually doesn't sound all that enthusiastic when he says it, and I think he means into one that hasn't existed before rather than a new Pokémon being a Pokémon who's new. Like a hatched one."
He shook his head. "Anyway! Is Krokorok able to keep fighting?"
"Well, boy," Clay replied, folding his arms. "Your Pokémon there launched him through the roof, hard enough that he's not come back down yet. I'd say that even if he is still in one piece, he's probably gone through a ring out… you might want to consider not doing that with the next one, I can't have my Pokémon dig them all out."
Ash's third Pokémon was Tepig, who waved brightly, though his Sandile also came out and started checking through something.
"What's that?" Pikachu asked, as Clay's Seismitoad emerged from a Pokéball of his own.
"I'm checking the roster," Sandile replied. "I think I might be a bit mixed up. Shouldn't Snivy be going out against this Pokémon?"
"That would require Ash to be someone who cares about type advantage," Pikachu shrugged. "Or, rather, consistently cares about type advantage. He does inconsistently caring about it pretty well."
"All right, kid," Clay said. "This should actually be an interesting test of your ability to handle unusual situations. Begin – Seismitoad, Echoed Voice!"
Seismitoad's sound projectors began vibrating, quickly building up energy, and Ash considered for a moment.
"Sketch!" he called.
Tepig flicked a trotter up in an approximation of a thumbs-up, then pulled a pencil from behind his ear and drew a pair of ear defenders.
They went on, and he smiled brightly.
"Great!" Ash called, then began making gestures for Tepig as he spoke. "Now use Dynamic Punch!"
The little Fire-type drew a boxing glove as Seismitoad's Echoed Voice hammered the area around him, completely ignoring the ground-shaking vibrations, then took a hold of two little handles and pulled them together. The glove sprang forwards on a telescoping concertina-style arrangement, slamming into Seismitoad, and knocked the Water-type back.
"How exactly is that Tepig ignoring Seismitoad's attacks?" Clay wondered aloud.
"He's wearing ear defenders!" Ash replied, still waving his hands around. "Everyone knows that ear defenders protect you from noise!"
"That's not – we're talking about sound loud enough that it's physically damaging," Clay complained. "Also, what move even was that?"
"Sketch," Ash shrugged.
Tepig had been watching Ash as he spoke, and began scribbling away with his pencil again as Seismitoad got up.
"Muddy Water," Clay called.
"Keep going on that but also use Surf!" Ash said quickly, emphasizing his gestures again with big hand movements. Tepig replied by taking out a second pencil and drawing with that as well, sketching out a small rowing boat in moments, and hopped into it as the wave of Muddy Water came his way.
That hid him from view for a moment, and when he popped up again – now floating on Seismitoad's attack – he was holding an apple, which he threw through the air to hit Seismitoad.
The Water-type promptly fell upwards as gravity abruptly reversed for it, and went thump onto the ceiling not far from the hole Krokorok had made.
"Great Grav Apple!" Ash said, with a thumbs-up.
"I didn't hear you order that move," Clay observed. "Something you trained your Pokémon to know to do?"
"Actually, I told him!" Ash replied. "I just used sign language, because he can't hear. He's wearing ear defenders, after all!"
"I didn't know you knew sign language," Iris admitted. "Though, in hindsight, I'm not surprised."
"That's the weird thing," Ash admitted. "I don't, but Tepig does, and that seems to work. Pokémon can understand humans, after all!"
Iris blinked a few times.
"...whatever," she summarized.
Tepig had been drawing a balloon during the conversation, and used it to float up to Seismitoad with a gift-wrapped box in his other trotter.
"Candygram," he said, passing it to the upside down Pokémon.
"Oh, I do like candy," Seismitoad admitted, taking the box.
He opened it as Tepig let go of his balloon and dropped to the ground, only to find that what was inside was a Seed Bomb consisting of a round black sphere with a hissing vine fuse.
Then it exploded.
"So… I just need to check something, here," Clay said. "If I give him the Quake Badge, that means he's not coming back, right?"
"Probably!" Cilan replied. "I can't guarantee anything though."
"...I'll take it," Clay decided. "I'm a bit worried that otherwise the kid would try and cause an actual quake."
"Oh, yeah, that's easy," Ash replied. "What you do is, you get Suicune to make water that goes down a long way into the ground, and then you detonate it with Sheer Hot, and that forces the ground apart so you get-"
"Please, don't do that," Clay asked. "At all. Here's the Quake Badge."
AN:
Mew speaks Braille, if that helps.