"So…" Zorua said, inspecting Aten. "You're a ghost?"
"Do not remind me," Aten grumbled. "I had hoped for eternal life in an immortal body."
Zorua thought about that.
"Is it actually possible for Ghost types to die?" he asked. "I know a lot of Pokémon are really tough, but I don't actually know if Ghosts can die because if they could then it doesn't make sense, but on the other paw if they couldn't then there'd be a lot of Ghosts by now. And… some Pokémon are born as Ghosts? Or evolve into Ghosts, like Froslass."
Aten blinked.
"What are you babbling on about?" he asked. "I did not follow half of that."
"I'm wondering if you're immortal now, grumpyguts," Zorua said, flicking Aten's nose. "And besides, being a Zorua isn't all bad, even if it's a wispy one instead of a Dark type one. Right?"
"I am seriously contemplating adding you to the list," Aten informed him. "It is not a long list yet. You will be near the top."
"Sounds like fun," Zorua replied brightly.
"There's two Appeal rounds," May said, looking through the guide to the Kanto Grand Festival. "Ooh, that could be tricky, the first Appeal round you're only allowed to use one move… and then there's four Battle rounds."
"Are they Double Battles?" Combusken asked. "Or just singles?"
"All the Battle rounds are double battles," May replied. "But the Appeals are both single. So… um… one, two, four, six, eight… ten."
She looked at her belt. "I guess that means it's impossible for everyone to have a go, even if I make it to the final."
"Don't worry," Marill told her. "We know it's not to do with you… and we'll try and work out who makes most sense to battle together, right?"
"I think I not… should not go, in this one," Manaphy said. "I'm still new, and I did that last Contest!"
"That's very good of you, Manaphy," May told him. "You know you don't have to, right?"
"I know," Manaphy agreed. "But it's fine. It's fun, but…"
He frowned. "I would like to watch you, too!"
May smiled, and gave Manaphy a hug.
Then she got out a piece of paper, and began writing down the names of her other Pokémon. "I… hmm. I think Normalized moves might not count as the same move, so maybe Skitty shouldn't do the first slot…"
"Ash, are you sure this is a good idea?" Suicune asked, quietly. "I know you are an optimistic trainer with a pure heart, but… at the same time, that was a dangerous human and is a dangerous Zorua."
"I know he's dangerous," Ash agreed. "But the way I think, uh…"
He began ticking points off. "First, someone's got to keep an eye on him, and I don't mind doing it. Second, he is in a pretty difficult situation from his point of view, and I'm willing to sort of make allowances for that. Third, if he's mad at me then he's not as focused on anyone else."
He shrugged. "Besides, it'd be kind of hard to do anything fair to him that would keep him from being a danger to anyone else, except make sure he's always around Pokémon who can stop him causing trouble. And if he's with me, then there's Pikachu and Marshadow around at minimum and that seems like a good start!"
Suicune just looked at Ash for a long moment, then laughed.
"I should have known there'd be more going on than the simple answer, with you," she said. "Just do not be blind to the dangers you are courting."
"Right!" Ash agreed. "Now, what do you think of this team to battle Brandon with?"
He brought out Ibid, who said "beep" and shifted between six Pokémon in quick succession.
"I can see more than one Pokémon on that list who will be pleased," Suicune chuckled.
The Grand Festival was at Indigo Plateau, and after making their way there – and having some fairly serious trouble with a giant Slaking that turned out to be a robot, which made Zacian quite pleased in an abstract sense even if she was still annoyed with Team Rocket on a different level – Ash, Brock and Max waited around for long enough to find out which stadium May was going to be in for her first Appeal, then took their seats there.
Misty sat down next to them a minute or so later.
"Hi!" Togetic waved. "Were you surprised to see us?"
A golden ring opened over Togetic's head, and Hoopa threw a paper airplane out. Togetic caught it, unfolded it, and Misty read out the contents.
"Hooparight infringement notice," she said. "Well, that's a bit rude."
"It's nice to see you again," Max said. "I'm planning on challenging your Gym some time, once I'm allowed to train Pokémon."
"You're still not allowed to train Pokémon, huh?" Misty asked, amused. "So what's this young lady doing here?"
"I'm still technically May's Pokémon," Shroomish answered. "There's a lot of technically around Max!"
"I don't say that that much," Max protested, doing his best not to giggle. "But yeah, I'm grateful May's allowed it."
He frowned. "Oh, yeah, is it okay that you left your gym?"
"It's okay," Misty replied. "I can do it for a few days at a time, no problem. It's longer than that where I need to work something else out."
"Excuse me?" the challenger said, knocking on the door to Cerulean Gym.
It swung open, and a Wartortle greeted her.
"Toor!" he said, holding up a sign, and the challenger read it.
"Two Pokémon a side…" she read off. "My first Pokémon is Gyarados… wait, are you the Gym Leader?"
Wartortle shrugged.
"All right, then, I'll begin with my Jolteon!" the challenger decided, sending her Electric-type out, and following Wartortle into the main arena room.
There was a very large red Gyarados in the main pool, and several other Water-types lining both sides of the pool.
"Hiyah!" a Starmie announced, and Gyarados did a double-backflip that launched Jolteon smoothly through the roof.
"The only trick is making sure I don't trust my sisters with the job," Misty added. "Oh, hey, isn't that May who's up next?"
"That's her," Brock agreed. "I don't think she'd finalized her plans, last I heard, so this is going to be a surprise to us as well."
"I do not understand this," Aten complained, testily. "They come out on the field, and perform one move, and then they go away again."
"It's the first Appeal round," Ash explained. "It tests the ability of a Coordinator to use one specific move to do something beautiful. Then the second Appeal round is about all of a Pokémon's moves, and after that it's the Battle rounds."
"So there will actually be violence," Aten said. "That is a bit more interesting."
"It's like performance art," Ash said. "Appeal rounds are, at least. Didn't you ever see music performances or whatever when you were the King of Pokélantis?"
Aten hrumphed.
"Dragon Rage, Dragonite!" May called, throwing the Safari Ball into the air, and it burst open with a flash.
Dragonite emerged and used Dragon Rage, exhaling a wave of deep blue flames that carved a trench into the arena floor.
"Keep it up," May added, pointing roughly towards the north, then began to turn in a circle. Dragonite kept up, still using Dragon Rage, but every quarter-turn May snapped her fingers as a signal and the Dragon Rage changed.
It started out such a deep blue that it was almost purple, then turned to a lighter blue. Another quarter-turn and another snap, and it became a turquoise sea-green, then next it became a forest-green, before turning to a still slightly blue yellow.
Dragonite kept up the constant attack for two full turns and more, until he was breathing out a Dragon Rage that was so red it was almost black.
"And, reverse!" May said.
Dragonite did a flip in the air, avoiding hitting May with the attack, and fired it upwards this time. It went right through the colour range in reverse and in the course of only a couple of seconds, leaving a complete rainbow trail through the air, and he touched down next to May as he finally stopped.
"Well done, Dragonite," May told him, patting him on the back as he tried not to gasp for air too obviously. "That looked great."
"Two Zorua?" Professor Oak said, raising an eyebrow. "Interesting. And one of them is Ghost type."
His Growlithe barked, confused.
"Is something wrong?" Oak asked.
Growlithe barked again, then dashed out the door.
About ten seconds later, she was back along with Lokoko.
"You said that one of Ash's Zorua is Ghost type," Growlithe said, now translated. "Doesn't that mean one of them is not Ghost type?"
"There's a lot of notes on this," Professor Oak admitted. "Apparently this second Zorua wasn't a Zorua to begin with, and used to be an ancient king… you know, the usual Ash Ketchum nonsense."
Tracey laughed.
"But what I mean is, I'd been under the impression that Zorua were Ghost and Normal types," Growlithe said. "That's what I'm used to!"
"That is surprising," Professor Oak said, and brought up a picture. "So they looked like this?"
"That's right!" Growlithe agreed brightly.
"And you didn't think it was strange that Ash's Zorua never looked like this?" the Professor went on.
Growlithe gave him a look that did a small amount of damage.
"He's. A. Zorua."
"All right, point taken," Oak grumbled. "But, for reference, ah, normal Zorua aren't Normal and… oh dear, this is going to cause terminological problems… Ash's first Zorua is Dark type, which is what I would expect, and the reincarnated one is called Aten."
"I've got an idea for the title of the monograph," Tracey said. "Ahem… I Was A King Until I Got Reincarnated As A Fox And I Want To Kill Someone."
"That's a light novel," Professor Oak said.
"Right, but it'd sell better," Tracey agreed.
"So… now she can use more than one move," Ash said. "And it's still an Appeal round. And we still don't know who she's sending out."
"We know it's not Dragonite or Manaphy," Max pointed out. "Oh, and Ralts says his family are enjoying the show!"
Misty gave Max a confused look. "Huh?"
"Max is a little bit psychic," Pikachu explained. "Or something. He's got a mental link with a Ralts from Hoenn, and once Ralts and Max are old enough they'll be travelling together… I'm not sure what that means for who counts as his official starter Pokémon, though."
Max chuckled.
"You'll want to think about that decision," Misty advised. "Starters are special."
That led Max to nod.
"Even if he has about four or five Pokémon straight away?" Shroomish asked. "I wouldn't mind sharing you with another Grass-type, though!"
Max patted her on the head. "Thanks," he smiled, then pointed. "Oh, here we go… and it looks like May's using Bulbasaur!"
"All right, Bulbasaur!" May said. "Open up with Cherry Blossom Blizzard!"
Bulbasaur's bulb glowed, then shot out a solid pink-white stream of petals. They fountained into the air, rising to almost the top of the stadium, then collected in a big flat mass and began drifting down in dribs and drabs, small individuals and larger flurries.
"Now, Wind and Ice!" May went on.
Bulbasaur's vines flicked out, and the left-hand one whirled around at high speed. A flicker of pale white formed on the end, and she whipped out a mini-tornado that formed into a whirlwind about four feet across.
Her right-hand one moved second, forming an icy whirlwind in the same way as the windstorm one, and she combined them with a quick flex that forced both whirlwinds together.
There was an expansive whoosh, as the ice overwhelmed the wind, and suddenly the snowing cherry blossoms had been joined by glittering diamonddust that filled the air with sparkling beauty.
"Next, use Psychic and Dark!" May called.
Mr. Sukizo glanced at his colleagues.
"What exactly are we watching?" he asked. "I don't know of any moves that do that."
"I… think I've got an idea," Contesta said, hesitantly. "Do you remember how that Bulbasaur keeps using Pledge moves?"
"Ahh, I see," Sukizo agreed. "Remarkable! I suppose that Skitty must have helped."
The sky briefly went dark, as if there was an eclipse going on, then May called for Normal and Fighting and the light returned to normal.
Until a giant fist punched a crater in the ground.
"And… finish with Ground and Grass!" May said.
Bulbasaur whipped up a sand devil, whirled it into the air, then used Grass Pledge. The two combined, there was a whirl of clashing energies, and Grass Pledge won which unleashed a blaze of sunlight down from the sky.
When it faded, Bulbasaur was now Ivysaur, and the last of the Petal Blizzard rained down around her.
"Bing," Ibid said. "You have one new text from: Drew."
Ash looked at his Pokédex. "Huh?"
"Message reads: I don't have May's number, tell her to stop making us look bad," Ibid recited.
Brock chuckled. "I guess that's a fair concern for a Coordinator…"
AN:
I'm not apologizing for the light novel title.