"How are you doing, today?" Ash asked, as the friends walked towards Mauville. "Feeling a bit better?"
"Less scared," Rayquaza admitted.
She peered out of Ash's jacket, head swinging back and forth, then ducked back inside. "It's all kind of… there's so much."
"Yeah, the world is like that," Ash agreed. "Just let me know if you're uncomfortable about anything, okay? You can go back in your Pokéball, or back to the ranch – I know Dragonite and the others would love to meet you – but it's what you feel okay with that matters."
Rayquaza reacted to that by curling a little tighter around Ash's waist, and he patted her on the head.
"You're doing great," he told her.
"I guess that's another Flying type for your list," Brock said. "Ever thought about taking Lance's offer? You've got even more Flying types than when he made it."
"Nobody would ever get to Lance again," Pikachu sniggered. "Even when I'm not allowed to take part…"
"Sometimes!" Ash replied. "But… yeah, it's not for me."
"Hey!" someone called out. "It's you!"
"It's me?" Max replied.
"No, not you!" the speaker said.
He came out onto the path, revealing himself to be a young boy with a Plusle and a Minun by his side. "Sis, look! It's him!"
"Thatcher!" a girl said, hurrying out after him. "I'm sorry about this… my name's Alyssa, and my brother's an idiot sometimes."
"Hey!" Thatcher protested.
"I know the feeling," May said.
"Hey!" Max complained.
May winked. "You've got to admit, it was an obvious joke…"
"Yeah, that's why I'm not more annoyed," Max griped.
Ash raised a hand. "So, uh, who's this him you mean?"
"It's you!" Thatcher said. "The legendary hero!"
Ash exchanged glances with Pikachu.
"I guess that vaguely makes sense, in a way," Pikachu admitted, thinking about it. "Honestly when I heard it was you they meant my first thought was 'Silver Conference winner'."
Thatcher stared. "Whoa… your Pokémon even talks!"
"Now that's amazing!" Plusle gasped.
"And Plusle talks?" Thatcher said. "Can all Pokémon talk now?"
Vulpix smirked.
"That's her doing," Max said, picking up the Fire-type. "But what do you mean, legendary hero?"
"It's an old story," Alyssa explained. "See, it's usually foggy around Misty Village, and we've got a lighthouse to help people find their way through the fog. And that lighthouse has a Light Stone, which was supposedly brought to the village by a legendary hero dressed in blue and accompanied by an Electric Pokémon."
She frowned. "Actually, it should be foggy around here right now, I'm not sure why it isn't. We'd normally be helping run the lighthouse."
"It should be foggy?" Rayquaza repeated. "Sorry about that… I think I can turn off Air Lock if that helps?"
"I guess the fog sounds like it's normally more of a nuisance than anything," Ash told her. "So you don't need to worry about it."
Alyssa did a double-take.
"Okay, now I'm starting to believe the story…" she admitted. "I guess having a Legendary Pokémon would count for being a Legendary Hero?"
Zygarde scratched his ear.
"What about having thirteen to fifteen, depending on definition?" Zapdos asked, emerging from her Pokéball in a flash. "I don't want anyone to be making assumptions based on incomplete information here."
Somewhat awed, Alyssa and Thatcher showed them to the lighthouse, and the Light Stone.
"It glows when it's charged up by Electric Pokémon," Alyssa said. "It throws a wonderful bright light… obviously that's kind of unneeded at the moment, though."
"It looks pretty cool!" Ash said, inspecting it closely, then touched it.
And it turned into a Reshiram.
The Dragon-type inspected Ash, hummed to themselves, then thumped their tail on the floor.
"Nope, I'd get a headache."
They turned to Thatcher and Alyssa. "Any chance I can stay on as the lighthouse Pokémon? Is that a thing?"
"There's one in Olivine in Johto," Ash supplied.
"Ah, good," Reshiram said, and sat back down inside the mirrors. "I… assume I just light my turbine? Is that how it works?"
"I think you need to use Flash?" Max asked. "I assume you can learn it… I'm starting to assume any Pokémon can learn anything around Ash."
They reached Mauville the next day, after helping Reshiram get Flash right, and Ash went straight to the gym.
"That's a really big building," May said, as they approached it. "Is that normal?"
"You normally have space for the main battle room, and space for your rooms and for the Pokémon to stay and train," Brock replied. "Then if the Gym does anything else as well, you have a room for that. But even by the standards of the largest gyms I've seen, that one is… big."
"There was that one built into a volcano," Ash pointed out. "That was bigger."
He knocked on the door, and it wobbled before falling to the ground.
"...wow, Ash, you broke the gym," May sniggered.
Ash took a step forwards, onto the door. "Uh, there still isn't anything in here, do you – whoa!"
The door zipped forwards, nearly knocking Ash off his feet, and Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder. "Careful, Ash, this could be a Team Rocket trap!"
"You're right," Ash agreed.
"Team Rocket?" Rayquaza repeated, nervous, and her head slipped out from inside Ash's jacket to watch. "Those Pokémon thieves you mentioned? I hope it's not them."
The door-platform kept going for several long seconds, then slid to a halt, and a Raikou sprang up and roared at them.
"Hey, what's going on?" Ash demanded.
Pikachu's nose twitched. "Ash, I think this is-"
Rayquaza sneezed.
This resulted in her using Dragon Ascent, and she hit the Raikou hard enough that it went flying the whole length of the hallway they were in and came apart into a shower of mechanical parts.
"...oh, so it was a robot," Ash realized, then caught Rayquaza with both hands as she sank back to the floor. "And I didn't know you could do that! That was impressive!"
"I feel dizzy now," Rayquaza announced.
"That's okay, you can have a rest," Ash told her.
"Well!" a man laughed, as an electric door slid aside. "I can't say I expected that! But perhaps I should have – welcome to my gym, Ash Ketchum!"
He frowned. "Didn't you have friends?"
"I guess they must still be at the front door," Ash mused.
By the time the platform had been sent back and had retrieved Brock, Max and May, plus their Pokémon, Wattson had already offered Ash the Dynamo Badge for Special Services to the Electric Type.
Ash refused, insisting that there had to be a battle or he'd get a firm telling-off from his Taillow, and after some thought Wattson declared that they'd be having a battle with three Pokémon a side.
"But don't expect me to go easy on you!" he added. "Pick your Pokémon!"
Ash's first Pokémon was Taillow, while Wattson's first Pokémon was an Ampharos, and the Electric-type glanced back at his trainer.
"Are you sure about this?" he asked.
"Hmm, maybe better not to go all out straight away," Wattson agreed. "Discharge!"
A blast of lightning flashed out, covering most of the room, and Taillow spread her wings and just drank it in.
"Not bad," she judged. "I'd give it a five out of ten, with a bonus point for presentation."
Ampharos blinked.
"What."
"Yes?" asked Wattson's assistant, Watt. "Sorry, did you want me for something?"
"Agility!" Ash ordered. "Then hit him with Quick Attack!"
Ampharos raised his arm to block as Taillow blurred in, wincing as her attack hit his arm, and Wattson stroked his chin. "Let's try… Power Gem!"
"Electrify!" Ash countered.
The gem dissolved into electricity as Taillow clapped her wings together, which meant that Taillow just ignored that attack too like she'd ignored everything else.
"I have to admit, I've never had to come up with a counter strategy for Electrify," Wattson admitted. "And usually the only Pokémon who can use it merely end up with the moves being less effective, not completely irrelevant!"
He nodded sharply. "Okay, Ampharos! It looks like we will be going all out!"
With a flourish, he pulled a watch out of his pocket, and threw an armband to Ampharos. "Let's go!"
Ampharos took another hit from Taillow's Quick Attack, then lit up with orange light as he Mega Evolved, and when the light faded Ash got his first in-person look at a Mega Ampharos.
"Shock Wave!" Wattson ordered.
A surge of electricity blasted out, passed over Taillow, and she paused before hovering in the air.
"That actually vaguely stung," she reported. "Huh."
"Mega Ampharos has Mold Breaker," Ash said. "So… that must mean that it's a bit an Ability, but mostly just… you."
Cranidos snagged Ibid out of Ash's pocket, flicked the transforming Pokédex into a book shape, and took some notes.
"Ampharos!" Wattson called. "Dragon Pulse!"
Mega Ampharos exhaled a jet of multicoloured light, and Taillow Electrified it before it reached her.
"Twister!" Ash ordered. "But be ready to Electrify!"
"Keep up those Dragon Pulses!" Wattson replied. "She's got to miss one of them sometime!"
Rayquaza watched the attacks go back and forth, Taillow dancing through the air of the gym as Mega Ampharos tried to make something (1) hit Taillow and (2) actually do anything, then looked over at Pikachu.
"This looks like fun," she said.
"It is," Pikachu agreed. "Probably best to work your way up to a gym battle, though. We can help you practice."
After a long, frantic battle in which Taillow had a ninety-five percent success rate at either dodging or converting Mega Ampharos, and Mega Ampharos had a much lower success rate at not being hit by Taillow's Twisters, Wattson held up his hand.
"All right!" he said. "I can see Ampharos is getting exhausted, so I'm going to call the battle here! You've got a remarkable Taillow there, Ash!"
Taillow hovered in the air for a moment, preening, then landed on Ash's shoulder and panted a bit.
"I wouldn't mind a rest," she admitted.
"Yeah, I'm switching to someone else," Ash confirmed. "Ready?"
"Of course!" Wattson agreed, and sent out a Magneton.
Ash's reply was his Clefairy.
"Sacre bleu," Clefairy muttered. "Tu n'aurais pas pu m'envoyer contre le dragon?"
She huffed, and Wattson chuckled.
"Begin!" Watt called.
"Flash Cannon!" Wattson decided.
Clefairy flicked herself into the air with a Gravity, wings glowing as she steered rather than stay on a predictable trajectory, and Magneton began throwing Electric attacks at her under orders as well.
"Gravity him!" Ash called. "Then use Metronome!"
Magneton went wham into the floor, and Clefairy twitched her fingers as she used a random move.
A little ball of light flashed upwards, and she took a glancing hit from a Flash Cannon before blocking it as best she could with a Meteor Beam from one hand and a Moonblast from the other.
Then the ball of light burst, turning orange.
Cranidos stared at it for a moment as it hung in the sky, then yelped. "Everyone get down!"
Seven streamers of orange energy, each as thick as a wrist, came slamming down in succession. Six of them formed a cage shape around Magneton, and the seventh slammed straight down the middle.
When the light faded, Magneton was two feet into the foundations, which was quite an achievement since the gym had a basement.
They were also no longer fit to battle.
"What was that, exactly?" Max said. "I've never even heard of a move like that before."
"Yeah, that's because you haven't personally annoyed Arceus," Cranidos replied, then shook her head. "Or… so I'm told."
"I think we might need to have you pick up a good coverage move against Steel, Clefairy," Ash said. "That was cool, but we can't rely on it every time… what about Meteor Assault?"
"Plutôt astronomique," Clefairy judged.
"Your turn, Cranidos!" Ash added.
"Well, I'll finish up by sending out Electrode!" Wattson said. "Okay, Electrode, let's show Ash that they're not the only ones with unusual tricks!"
"You know what to do, Cranidos!" Ash called.
Cranidos lowered her head. "Of course! Head Smash!"
"Teleport and Foul Play!" Wattson replied.
Electrode teleported out of the way of the attack, and bounced on Cranidos' head. That drove Cranidos to slam into the floor, hard enough to leave extra cracks on top of the ones that were already there, and Ash winced.
"Are you okay?" he checked.
"Yeah!" Cranidos agreed, pushing herself upright. "Let's try this, wise guy! Precipice Blades!"
Rocks punched up from the ground, knocking Electrode high in the air, and the Electric-type spun around several times as it flew into the air.
"Electrode, stay airborne!" Wattson called, and Electrode retaliated with a Thunder attack – then teleported back into the air before it would hit the ground.
Each teleport resulted in more speed, but meant it was no longer at ground level, and Cranidos considered.
Then began to glow.
"Get ready for another Foul Play!" Wattson ordered. "Rampardos are even more vulnerable to that!"
The glowing light intensified until it was almost blinding, then faded, and revealed that Cranidos had evolved into Aggron.
"...what," Watt said.
"That's what I was thinking!" Max agreed.
"Hey, I'm pretty sure fossils evolve into what you think of as modern Pokémon," Aggron replied.
"Not all at once!" Max protested.
"Hmph," Aggron said, and used Smack Down. It hit the flying Electrode hard enough to knock it to the floor, and she folded her arms. "See if I provide you with any more insights into prehistoric life!"
"Sorry about breaking the robot," Ash said, as Wattson gave him the Dynamo Badge. "It's a bit different to the real Raikou, though."
He rummaged in his pocket, and took out Ibid. "Can you show Wattson what Raikou looks like?"
"Of course," Ibid said, and transformed into a miniature Raikou.
"Excellent!" Wattson declared. "Watt! A camera – I'm going to work from photos this time!"
"Ready, you two?" May asked, a day's walk north of Mauville, and got two nods back. "Three, two, one… Twister, Dratini!"
Dratini flicked his tail around twice, building up momentum, then whirled the Twister off towards Azurill. It approached her, but instead of hitting her it did a coiling loop that surrounded the Fairy-type without quite touching her.
"Now, Bounce!" May added. "Keep that shape going, Dratini!"
The coils of Dragon-infused wind twisted and flexed, aiming to miss the bouncing Azurill instead of hitting her, and Dratini focused carefully on drawing an intricate shape that kept all the previous loops as the new ones were added. He managed it for five loops, then six, but after that he slipped and one of them got Azurill.
"Whoops, sorry," he said.
"Don't worry, silly!" Azurill giggled, bouncing back out of the Twister none the worse for wear. "That's why we're practicing with me! And it's fun, too!"
"I guess you're right," Dratini agreed, dissipating his Twister, and got ready to try again.
Something over where Ash was training caught his eye, and he frowned.
"Is that how Surf normally works?" he asked.
"Not sure, good question," Azurill replied, as Pikachu ran past in hot pursuit of a laughing Croconaw.
Pikachu was brandishing a large, shimmery, translucent-blue surfboard made entirely out of water.
"Come back here so I can see if my attack's working!" Pikachu demanded.
AN:
Just to be clear about the matter, Absol isn't following them.
Also, yes, that's an actual legitimate Pikamove.