"Welcome to the Pokéball Factory!" said the man at the door. "This is where we manufacture a huge fraction of the world's Pokéballs. I'm glad you agreed to come and visit, Mr. Ketchum."

"I don't really know why you wanted us to visit, but I don't mind," Ash replied. "How old is this place?"

"It's several decades old, but we're continuously updating and revising it," the man told him. "Both to improve the cost-effectiveness and the efficiency of the process, and also to add in all kinds of new speciality items. In fact, that's exactly why we wanted to ask you to visit."

He spread his hands. "You see, we've noticed that you use a lot of varied Pokéballs, and that's always a good sign for us – but in particular we wanted to see about doing a kind of sponsorship deal!"

"What would that mean, then?" Clemont said. "You'd give him Pokéballs and he'd have to talk about them?"

"Not… so much," the man explained. "Instead, we'd like to be able to include some special edition Pokéballs which are based on Ash, his Pokémon, or his experiences."

"Hmm," Ash said, thinking about it. "So I've seen a lot of things which are like Pokéballs but which aren't actual standard Pokéballs. Do you think that would do?"

"Oh, that sounds interesting," the man admitted. "We're all passionate about Pokéballs here. What kind of things?"

"Well, there were the enchanted devices from Pokémonopolis," Ash said. "Those acted a lot like Pokéballs except they were more like Dynamax Balls and they weren't ball shaped… I think that's how they worked? Anyway, they were sort of shaped more like a themed thing for the Pokémon, rather than being shaped like a ball."

"Do Pokéballs have to be ball shaped, actually?" Pikachu asked. "It's a weird question to ask, but I just realized that all of the ones I've ever seen are ball shaped."

"The core containment unit does have to be shaped like a sphere, for the best efficiency," the man answered. "But that's the core containment unit, and something larger could include the containment unit without actually being shaped that way… it wouldn't be shrinkable, though, unless we did something clever."

While the Pokéball Factory guy started thinking about something clever, Ash knelt down to put a hand on Lokoko's back and kept going. "There was this pretty old fashioned Pokéball that Lokoko used to have, but that was a really bad design because it kept her stuck there. So it'd be a bad idea to use that one."

Lokoko nodded, slightly, and Ash stood up again.

"Then, uh… oh, there's this staff that a Lucario was kept in, from thousands of years ago," he said. "And the Light and Dark Stones, but those only really work for Zekrom and Reshiram if you're keeping with a theme. Wait, can you make a Pokéball transparent?"

"We don't usually, I might need to check?" the man said. "Or-"

"Then there's all that PokéAtlantis stuff, which was mostly about having giant Pokéballs or Pokéball shaped things made of stone," Ash said. "Oh, that reminds me, I should mention that I went back in time thousands of years once and that might be part of why the Pokéball symbol was all over the world for a long time before it was invented."

"That…" the man began, stopped, and thought about it again. "Actually, that explains more than I was expecting."

"Hey, excuse me?" asked Mew, hovering in. "What about Pokéballs that can hold more than one Pokémon at the same time?"

"That's not… possible, is it?" the man said. "I don't think it is. What fits in a Pokéball is the definition of a single Pokémon, in a lot of cases…"

"Nah, it's easy, I'll show you!" Mew replied. "Now that's a special edition Pokéball!"

They reached Dendemille a couple of days later, by which point Ash had mostly finished sorting through the eclectic collection of Pokéballs he'd been given by the Pokéball Factory, and Serena went to get registered for the next Showcase.

That done, she had an important question to answer.

"Who do I take in?" she asked. "I could use all three of you, if I make it to the second round."

"I think it's best if you make sure to take Pancham, if he's ready for it," Ponyta told her. "Then base it on which performance you've got ready."

"We could do the magic show," Braixen suggested. "The only problem is, it might get misinterpreted the same way as that last one we did."

"I know," Serena sighed. "I know. But we can't really just perpetually avoid doing that kind of thing."

"That is a good point," Ponyta said. "Inherent in comedy is the possibility for misunderstanding."

"What do you think, Pancham?" Serena asked.

Pancham had been visibly thinking hard, but he looked up.

"I want to give it a go," he said. "I'll do my best!"

"I wonder how they choose what kind of round comes first in a Showcase," Ash said. "In a Contest it doesn't really matter, you can do anything, but for a Showcase it's always themed. Like this one where it's about making Poképuffs."

"Maybe they have a big dartboard," Dedenne suggested. "Would that work?"

"It'd let you choose, but it seems a bit pedestrian," Clemont replied. "I bet with a bit of work I could design the Showcase Objectively Best Entry Round chooser."

"Translation Complete," the Translation Gear informed him helpfully. "Musical numbers."

"I'm not even sure how to tell what way that was malfunctioning," Clemont admitted, then looked up. "Oh, here we go…"

Serena, Pancham and Braixen made some Poképuffs.

They all had a specific job to do, and they all did it. Pancham's job was to use Arm Thrust to mix the ingredients and knead the dough with a series of high-speed blows from three or four feet away, Braixen's job was to float the ingredients over with gestures from her wand spaced in between giving instructions, and Serena's job was to hold the blobs of dough in her hands as they sizzled with magical heat to bake them into Poképuffs.

Also, they ended up with a rainbow patterned collection of seven Poképuffs on a tray around a central one with a coloured swirl on it.

"I'm a little confused," said Monsieur Pierre, the announcer. "I would have expected the Fire-type to handle the cooking…"

Serena made it through to the final, and while she did have a chance to switch out her Pokémon she decided to stick with Braixen and Pancham.

When it was their turn, she brought out a cloth-draped table, then stepped back a pace and sent Braixen out with a flourish.

"Hello, everyone," Braixen said, doing a curtsey and adjusting a pair of white gloves. "This is my assistant, Serena, and with her help I'd like to demonstrate some magic for you today."

She flicked her paw, producing her wand twig, and took off her pointy hat before reaching inside. "There's nothing in my hat…"

She stopped, then pulled out a deck of cards. "Oops."

"I think that's the wrong hat," Serena said, handing Braixen a top hat.

"Thank you," Braixen replied, putting the old hat down on the table and the deck of cards next to it. "Now, as I was saying, there's nothing in my hat, and nothing up my sleeves because I don't have any…"

"It's funny, even with how long I've spent trying to fix the Translation Gear I'd forgotten that most people aren't used to talking Pokémon," Clemont said quietly.

"Huh, yeah, I guess," Ash frowned. "That's weird to think about by now."

"I get what you mean," Pikachu said. "Except that as a Pokémon I've always been able to understand all Pokémon, if you know what I mean. I wonder how many wild Pokémon just don't realize that humans don't automatically understand everything they ever say?"

There was a ripple of applause as Braixen finished sorting a shuffled deck of cards without being able to see them, working entirely on information from Serena who could see them, and the Fire-type took her blindfold off with a flourish.

"Thank you," she said. "Now for one of the classic tricks, I'm going to pull a Pancham out of a hat!"

She took the top hat off to put it on the table, twirled her wand with a motion that left a little trail of flame behind it, and tapped it on the brim of the hat. "Presto!"

A large block of stone came out, and Braixen caught it.

"Hmm," she said, before putting it down on the ground. "No, I don't think that's right. I wanted to pull a Pancham out of a hat."

"You could try again?" Serena suggested.

"That's probably a good idea," Braixen agreed, doing another twirl of her wand in a more emphatic movement this time. "Hocus Pocus!"

There was a tink-tink-tink sound from inside the hat, and then a crude stone statue of a Pancham came flying out.

"What about that?" Serena asked, catching it and putting it next to the table. "That looks much more like a Pancham to me."

"You're right, but I really did want a Pancham to come out," Braixen said. "Maybe there's something wrong with my hat today."

She picked the top hat up again and turned it upside down, then tapped it, and a little shower of glitter came out. Pancham, meanwhile, came out of the pointy hat, then looked around in confusion.

"There he is!" Serena said. "I'll get him!"

Pancham jumped off the table, doing a twirl on the way down, then dodged under the table. Serena followed, and Braixen tapped her wand against her side with a little flicker of sparks before replacing the top hat and trying one more time.

"Abra-kazam?" she said, then pulled a Buneary out of the hat.

"I think that was the wrong spell," Serena complained.

Pancham had started laughing, and Braixen put Serena on her shoulder before lifting the table with a flick of her wand.

"Well?" she asked. "What do you have to say for yourself?"

Pancham pondered, then went over to the stone block. He hammered it with a barrage of Arm Thrusts, and produced a statue of a Braixen with both paws held high, then jumped onto it and posed.

Serena jumped off Braixen's shoulder, and landed on Pancham's head, then Braixen made a whoosh of flame come up like fireworks around them.

"I wonder if Serena and her team will move on from risky showcases like that," Lokoko wondered, as Serena accepted her Dendemille Princess Key after winning the vote. "It was definitely high quality, but there's always the risk that not enough people will realize how much skill it takes to pull off something like that."

She shrugged. "But, then again, if victory was guaranteed by always doing a particular thing then everyone would do it, it'd all be very boring, and everyone would win everything. Which has certain… logical problems."

AN:

Serena and Braixen are very sympathetic, which is part of how she can do that thing with the cooking.