"You again!" Harley declared, pointing at May. "You're following me around!"

"Well… not really?" May said. "Izabe Island is just on the route from Mossdeep to Sootopolis."

She smiled. "How are you doing, actually?"

Harley huffed. "I really don't understand why you think I'd be tricked by this pleasant attitude of yours."

"I…" May began, not really sure how respond to that. "Well, would it help if I wished you good luck in the Contest? I'd quite like to win, but you're a talented Coordinator too."

Harley scowled. "I'm sure you'd like me to think that."

May waited until he was out of sight.

"...did I handle that wrong?" she asked, looking at Brock. "I feel like there should be some way not to have him upset at me."

"With some people, you can't win," Brock said. "Except in Pokémon battling. You can win doing that."

"You know, it would probably have been a good idea to mention that I was available," Zacian mused. "To Keldeo, I mean, when he was in Hoenn. It's been a while since we've sparred, and I never did get the chance to battle his fellow Swords of Justice."

"You're right," Ash agreed. "Sorry about that."

He applauded as the latest Appeal ended – an impressive bit of work which had involved a Loudred juggling with half-a-dozen balls using Hyper Voice but with her voice focused so tightly that it seemed as though there was no sound at all involved. "I guess I'll just have to call you next time he shows up!"

"As I'm sure he will," Zacian decided. "Ah, there's May."

She paused. "How do illusions work with a Contest, exactly?"

Brock considered that.

"...I think we'd need to look at the rulebook?" he said. "Later, though."

"All right, Skitty, let's see what you can do!" May said. "Water Pulse!"

Skitty flicked her tail, then rolled onto her back, and shot a Water Pulse up into the air. It hung there for a moment, glittering in the lights, and she fired a second Water Pulse which hit it as it was coming down. They went splash as they collided, scattering droplets everywhere, and Skitty rolled back upright. "Skiitt-y!"

"Hmm," May said, adopting an exaggerated thinking pose. "I like it, but it could do with being more flashy!"

Skitty jumped forwards, this time, and rolled over halfway onto her back. She shot up a Water Pulse again, but this time what went up to meet it as it fell was a Fairy-typed version that detonated with a bright sparkly flash.

A few people in the crowd went oooh, because the Fairy Pulse had gone up faster than the Water Pulse was coming down at that point and it had looked a lot like a firework.

"Better," May judged. "But can you make it linger in the air?"

The Normal-type gave her trainer a look, crossed her forelegs, then shot a pulse of green flame into the air to hang there for a long second before coming down again.

It wasn't a normal Dragon Pulse, but it was a Dragon-type Water Pulse, and Skitty hit it with a Wind Pulse to keep it in the air instead of coming down. Then she fired a Fairy Pulse, which passed right through the Dragon Pulse and snuffed it out entirely, and used her tail to knock herself into a spin on the floor while using a larger-than-normal Water Pulse to trap the Fairy Pulse inside it.

"Ice!" May said, giving up her persona to direct the last few moves, and this time Skitty used Ice Pulse and froze the whole thing. It was still coming down towards her, and May pointed. "Wind!"

Skitty fired a long string of small staccato Flying Pulses to support the iceball, each one just enough to bounce it up for another half-second, before finally using Fighting Pulse to shatter her construct to pieces.

Glittery Fairy-infused diamonddust rained down around them both, collecting on the floor, and May bowed – reaching down to offer her hand to Skitty's tail, and let the Normal-type use it to clamber up onto her shoulders.

"...isn't there something in the guidelines about bonus points if you've got no idea how something was even possible?" Joy asked. "I swear I read something like that."

"Normally that applies to unusual combination moves," Contesta confided. "As in, there's bonus points if it's a mixture that's new to you. That was…"

"I'm not sure what moves they were, but they were quite beautiful," Mr. Sukizo said. "I've certainly never seen a move that shoots out a fist-shaped blast before, at least not one that doesn't require a fist to be involved somehow…"

Predictably, if not inevitably, May found herself up against Harley again.

"Good luck?" May tried. "And may the best Coordinator and Pokémon win."

"Oh, I see how it is," Harley replied. "You think I need luck, but you're assuming you're the best Coordinator and that you'll win anyway!"

He sniffed. "Such arrogance."

May blinked a few times. "...I don't even know what to say to that."

Then the hostess called for them to begin, and Harley unfolded a fan in one hand.

"Bullet Seed!" he ordered.

"Dark!" May said quickly.

"Me First!" Skitty agreed, and shot out a barrage of black bullets of her own. They came out at almost exactly the same time as Cacturne's, and the seeds collided in mid-air – each with a sprak sound and a fluff of leafy fragments.

"Needle Arm," Harley said. "Surround her!"

Cacturne used Needle Arm, sending a barrage of needles flying out of his arm. They spread out in all directions, then went through a series of turns to surround Skitty.

"Bug!" May said, just as the needles all turned to crash down on her Pokémon.

"Copycat!" Skitty said, and there was a burst of light. To the astonishment of most of the watchers, a swarm of miniature Beedrill came charging out from Skitty's position and knocked Cacturne's needles aside, most of them exploding and self-destructing as they shielded her but a few making it through to hit Cacturne.

"And May's Skitty shows a remarkable tendency to do what is probably turning her opponent's moves against them!" Mr. Sukizo said. "I certainly can't imagine how else this is happening."

"He's right, isn't he?" Harley said, and sniffed. "I should have known you'd rely on someone else's work. Did you get that Pokémon from your father?"

"...I thought you weren't allowed to attack the other Coordinator," Brock said.

"I want to attack him now," Max seethed.

"Don't get distracted," May said, as much for herself as for Skitty. "Fire Pulse!"

"Cotton Spore!" Harley replied, ordering his Cacturne to send out balls of cottony fluff. Skitty formed her Fire Pulse and bounced it a couple of times with her tail before throwing it, but Cacturne jumped into the air and kicked one of the Cotton Spores – and the Fire-aspected Water Pulse detonated on the cotton spore, rather than making it through to actually reach Cacturne.

"See?" Harley said, as a dense cloud of Cotton Spore surrounded his Cacturne to hide the Grass-type from sight. "You just don't train your Pokémon for varied situations… you should probably give up now."

He put his hands on his hips. "What do you say to that?"

"Fairy!" May replied.

Cacturne reappeared outside the cotton spore and kicked out at Skitty from behind, but a flicker of pink light pulsed around Skitty's tail before the entire Kitten Pokémon vanished.

"...what?" Harley asked. "Where did she go? There's nowhere she could have gone…"

"And… now!" May added. "Surprise cat attack!"

She pulled off her bandanna, and Skitty appeared out from underneath. Her Fairy-aspected Me-Firsted Copycatted Feint Attack let her catch Cacturne completely by surprise, and she added a Fairy Pulse just as she made contact – sending out a fireworks-blast of sparks which gave a special emphasis to the impact.

To May's surprise, Drew met her by the exit.

"Great work!" the other Coordinator said. "So you've only got one Ribbon to go, now, right?"

"No, I'm up to five," May corrected him. "You must have missed the one in Lilycove."

"...oh, right," Drew said, then chuckled. "Uh… I was going to tell you there's a Contest in Pacifidlog, near where the S.S. St. Flower is going, but I guess you don't need the hint now."

"What's the S.S. Flower?" May said, a little confused. "It's a ship, right?"

Drew brightened. "Oh, so I can help out! Yes, it's a luxury cruise ship that's open to Coordinators and their friends, it stops off at Slateport not long before the start of the Grand Festival. I've been on before, it's a real treat."

"Huh!" May nodded. "Thanks! Without that I probably would have just had Dragonite fly me there, but going to Pacifidlog to meet up with the cruise ship sounds like a plan!"

The other Coordinator held up a finger. "Did… did you say Dragonite?"

"Right!" Zacian declared. "That is it!"

She drew her sword from her mane, and flourished it. "I have had enough with this! Clearly someone around here is giving off Dynamax particles, and as soon as I find out who it is then I will be serving them with a Cease and Desist notice!"

"We do seem to run into an awful lot of giant Pokémon," Brock said. "The giant Claydol is new on me, I have to admit, but…"

"Hey, it just occurred to me to ask!" Ash addressed Zacian. "I know there's Dynamax, and some Pokémon can do Gigantamax instead, but do you or Zamazenta have Gigantamax forms?"

Zacian coughed.

"Actually, we cannot do either," she said. "Others may Dynamax, but I may not, and nor may Zamazenta; the power is not for us."

She shook herself out. "Still! That does not mean that other regions can take what is unique to Galar and make it theirs!"

Ho-Oh came out of his Pokéball, which made the woman they were with do a double-take.

"You've got a Legendary Pokémon?" she asked.

"...um, miss?" Max coughed. "Have you ever seen this program on TV… I think it's called the news?"

"That's rude," May told her brother. "Not everyone's into Pokémon battling the way you are."

"Ash has been using Legendary Pokémon in league battles for years," Max said. "I know I had to tell you his Zapdos was legendary, and Zacian is a Galarian Legendary so that's kind of different, but-"

"You're a Legendary Pokémon?" Sigourney said, turning her attention to Zacian.

"I actually came out for a reason, you know!" Ho-Oh announced in a voice like brass. "If I could tell you all?"

Silence fell, except for some muttered grumbling from Zacian about Galarian tradition which Ho-Oh pretended not to notice.

"Right," he said. "Now. I am not sure if I have mentioned PokéAtlantis to you before, Ash, but many centuries ago one of the first civilizations to come up with the idea of capturing Pokémon for battle also came up with a method of making their specially selected Pokémon larger, and more powerful, and compelling them to obey… or possibly they were making fake Pokémon, much like Rayquaza used to be, but better managed."

"...sorry, did you say Rayquaza?" Sigourney asked.

He could have said Jirachi too! Jirachi announced, from Ash's bag. I was involved… not with the PokéAtlantis thing, though. Never heard of them.

There was a metallic sound as Jirachi scratched his head. I wonder if I count as Rayquaza's dad? Or mom? Or maybe both?

"We are getting off topic," Ho-Oh said. "I believe the best solution for now would be to return the Claydol to their sealed stone Pokéball; they have been there for centuries and do not appear to be willing to listen to reason. I can organize a team of Legendary Pokémon to return later and see if we can solve Claydol's troubles."

"The Pokeball's broken, though," Ash pointed out.

"There's another one at the top of a nearby hill," Sigourney said. "If we could lure Claydol closer… the old texts say that Claydol either loves or hates eggplants, that might work?"

"I've got a better idea," Brock said.

"Mudkip, use Strength!" the Gym Leader said, some minutes later.

Mudkip picked up the giant stone Pokéball.

"Now, Rock Throw!"

The enormous Pokéball went sailing through the air, hit Claydol with a wham, and the giant Ground-type vanished inside it.

Everyone contemplated the result.

"...somehow it doesn't feel right that a giant Pokémon goes into a giant Pokéball," Zacian sighed. "Instead of coming out."

She stretched. "Still. At least I didn't have to pick up the Rusted Sword again."

About halfway across the rugged, beautiful Izabe Island, the friends came to a bridge.

"It's this way, right?" Ash asked.

"That's what the map says," Brock confirmed. "There's several bridges over this river, but this one's the one on the direct route."

He looked a bit closer. "The nearest town is Ridayo Town, we could stop off there, but it doesn't have a Pokémon Centre."

"Just so long as we're not behind schedule," Ash said. "We've only got about five weeks to fit in a Gym Badge before the Grand Festival!"

"Yeah!" Pikachu agreed. "I'm almost certainly not getting used for this one but I'm enthusiastic anyway! Plus I want to try out my version of the shield against a proper opponent!"

"You'll get your chance at the Pokémon League, I'm sure," Ash laughed, stepping out onto the bridge.

Which promptly collapsed beneath them, leaving Ash and Pikachu floating there.

"Thanks, Rayquaza!" Ash said, patting the Flying-type as she scooted them back to dry land. "Huh, that was weird."

"It's certainly not a sign of a well built bridge," Brock agreed. "Maybe we can use Onix to get over the river instead? The river looks a bit too strong to cross by swimming Pokémon."

"I know Surf, I'm sure I could do something with it," Pikachu declared.

"Holy flippin' Legendaries on toast!" a Pokémon yelped from the other side of the river. "Uh, that is – I can barely look at him what is – ahem – anyway – watch out, strangers! This is not a safe place for humans or Pokémon!"

The speaker, an Absol, jumped up onto a rock pile on the far side of where the bridge had been. "Please understand – you need to stay away! There's danger!"

"Another Absol!" May said, waving. "It's nice to meet you!"

Absol blinked. "Not the normal reaction," he said. "But it's kind of nice! Only, please stay away?"

"There it is!" someone announced. "It destroyed another bridge! I knew it was up to no good!"

A whole band of people came running up.

"Did any of you get hurt?" the leader asked.

"No, we're fine," Ash said. "But apparently there's danger?"

"Yes, that Absol's been up to no good," the leader informed them. "Destroying bridges! Haunting the town at night! It's been causing all sorts of problems!"

Ash frowned. "That's an Absol, though," he said, then snapped his fingers. "I know! I wish I knew more details about the danger!"

And promptly turned into an Absol – though he still had Rayquaza wrapped around his torso and Pikachu on his shoulder, plus his backpack, which left things crowded for a moment.

"...what just happened?" the local leader said.

"Wow, you're right!" Ash told the Absol on the other side of the river, as Rayquaza uncoiled from his torso and returned herself into her Heavy Ball. "It's kind of, um… yeah, there's definitely that danger itch, and it's… stronger that way?"

"Are you an Absol in disguise?" the Absol asked. "Is that why I can't look at you without feeling dizzy?"

"No, I think that's just me," Ash told him. "Anyway, I'm still a bit of an apprentice at working out what the cause of a disaster is… any clues?"

"I believe I can offer assistance," Zygarde announced. "There appears to be a minor geological anomaly in the area. Unusually high ground water pressure has been detected."

"Groundwater… that's what feeds rivers and streams!" Max gasped. "So if the rivers are high, that would destroy the bridges!"

"And it means the problem is going to be where those rivers are coming from!" Pikachu added, scampering over to the river. "Surf!"

He conjured a large surfboard made of glassy, shimmering water, then threw it down into the river. It hit with a splash, then bounced up to hover about a foot above the surface.

"Let's go!" he declared, jumping in. "I can make it bigger depending on who wants to come along, but I think Ash, Absol and Zygarde are needed at minimum!"

"...Absol isn't doing this?" the local leader said.

AN:

Of course it was going to happen again.