"So, what comes next?" May asked, as they walked down the road towards Terracotta Town. "I know you've already done the gym challenge here, Ash…"
"I was thinking about that," Ash admitted. "I'm not really sure yet, but I've got a few ideas!"
"I've got a few ideas as well," Pikachu said. "Galar would be nice one of these days, but maybe not yet."
"Yeah, maybe," Ash agreed. "It's a tricky question."
"Well, I know where I'm going," Brock told them. "Unfortunately, it's not really somewhere I think Ash is going to be following me… I'm staying right here in Kanto, at least for a while."
He took a deep, steadying breath. "I'm going to see if I can make this whole girlfriend thing work out, and that's going to be… weird. But it means staying in one place until I'm sure."
"Well, I'm sure you'll pick right up with being a Gym Leader in Pewter like you were never gone!" Ash said. "You could even put a new theme on the gym!"
"Why would I need to do that?" Brock began, then remembered what his team was like now. "...good point. Still, my Pokémon don't have to be part of the Gym Challenge."
"And I think we're going to Johto," May's Eevee said.
"Eevee!" May hissed. "I hadn't decided about that yet!"
"But you said that Drew told you he was going there, and then you started looking up the Johto Contest circuit," Eevee replied, innocently. "Was that wrong?"
May grumbled something, her ears turning a bit pink.
Ash smiled a little sadly. "Then that means that this might be the last time we're all travelling together, at least for a while," he said.
"I hadn't thought of that," Latios admitted.
"Wait, what are we going to do for food?" Pikachu asked. "This is genuinely worrying me all of a sudden."
"That at least isn't a problem," Latios told him. "A couple of the Dragonite have become competitive chefs, something about ambassadorial luncheons, but they do good work."
"Do you only keep me around for the food?" Brock said, trying not to laugh.
"Ask me again after lunch," Pikachu suggested.
Terracotta Town happened to be holding a Contest, and they were delighted to have May there – though it was explained that because May was a Grand Festival winner then if she did win whoever came second would be getting a Ribbon as well.
It was also that rare Contest which was open to anyone, whether or not they had an official Kanto Contest Pass, and Max suggested that maybe the others should all take part before they split up – perhaps for good, but certainly for a while.
"That sounds like a great idea!" Ash agreed. "I guess I'd need to work something out, though… hmm, an Appeal…"
Brock said he already knew what Onix could do, and May had a plan as well, so all three of them duly entered.
That left Max in the audience, on his own apart from more than a dozen Pokémon.
"I think this is the furthest I've been from Ash in years," Pikachu observed. "Of my own free will, anyway."
"I was going to say," Zygarde agreed. "You have been observed to be launched away from him on multiple occasions. Some of them during battle."
"Yes, but since I clarified those therefore don't count," Pikachu said.
He rolled his neck. "This should be interesting!"
The Appeal rounds came first, and May used Manaphy – her only Pokémon who'd missed out on her Grand Festival performance.
She made good use out of his current way of being in two places at once, opening the bottle with him in and letting him jump out, then showed off Manaphy's new trick – the ability to not merely control water but to freeze it on command.
That resulted in a chaotic dance of an Appeal as Manaphy flicked his water back and forth between fluid and solid, jumping between platforms and dancing in the air as much as on the ground, until he finally finished it by drawing out a long thread and turning it into an icy trail – like a curling, looping sculpture made of a glittering material as fine as floss.
Brock was the second of the friends to give his Appeal, and he used Onix. His Starter had picked up a new trick as well, the same thing that Geodude did to levitate himself, and the Rock-type spun around like a top with Gyro Ball before working Dragonbreath into the routine as well.
"The impact of these is slightly spoiled because we've seen them before," Vulpix chuckled. "That's how it is with Appeals, though."
"That's true," Max agreed. "But I still think they look good… ooh, Onix just did the flashy colour thing. I think someone's been getting advice from Dragonite."
He paused. "Uh… you know which Dragonite I mean."
"From context, yes," Vulpix agreed.
Brock bowed, recalling Onix, and his score went up.
Then Ash went out, used Secret Sword, swung it at the air, and it went clang against a Steel Beam being wielded by Latios.
The two then had a sword fight. Each time their weapons hit one another, Latios' eyes glowed and there was a crash of light flying out from the impact, while when they missed a Razor Wind or Psywave flicked off and formed a visible shwing through the air.
About halfway through Latios used Reflect, creating a visible shield of distorted air for himself.
"...of course Ash decides to take part," Max sniggered.
Ash's Appeal actually resulted in a period of confusion, as the judges had to stop and check whether it was legal for a Pokémon trainer to use attacks during a Contest.
As it transpired, a Pokémon trainer who was a Pokémon wasn't allowed to, for the same reason they were allowed to use themselves in battle, but since Ash wasn't (currently) a Pokémon he fitted into something of a grey area and Mr. Sukizo decided it could be allowed.
From there, the Battle Rounds began. Latios got to show off by using Minimize, and again with Dragon Energy (which looked impressive), while Brock's Onix did some very impressive work with a flying back-and-forth dance that made him look like one of those dragon puppets you got at festivals.
May and Manaphy beat Onix in the semi-finals after a hard fight involving Gyro Ball, and then it was Manaphy against Latios for the final.
"So, there are two Legendary Pokémon having a battle in the Contest Hall," Raoul Contesta said. "I just want to make sure we're not forgetting that."
"I know!" Mr. Sukizo agreed, full of delight. "I knew this was going to be a good Contest to attend!"
"How did you know?" Contesta said. "I thought I was as keyed into the rumour mill as you, but I didn't hear about this."
"Xatu," Sukizo explained. "Remarkably useful Pokémon."
"Water dance!" May said, and Manaphy did something that was a lot like a Rain Dance but wasn't quite.
It began to rain down blobs of water that were a lot like raindrops but not quite, and Latios used Extrasensory and Reflect to shield himself. Manaphy melted into the water, though, then a lot of the blobs took on a very Manaphy-ish shape, and as they waved their flippers in unison Latios found himself inside a quickly-growing sphere of water that was actively in the process of freezing into ice.
"My goodness, that's an impressive move!" Joy gasped. "That's got to be worth some points… let's see if Ash can counter it!"
"Steel Beam!" Ash said. "Break your way out!"
"Clever, but inelegant," Sukizo judged. "A few points but not many."
Manaphy was already doing something new, this time raising up a kind of cage-shape of water. That by itself wasn't as much of a problem, as Latios could break any of the strands of the cage with a blast of psychic energy, but Manaphy's Acid Armor was letting him ride along inside the cage and throw out a misty trail of Fairy Wind attacks – switching directions to route around any breaks in the cage while knitting it back together, and giving the whole of the structure a shimmering blue glow.
"This is such a treat to watch!" Contesta said, smiling. "Oh – a few points off there, I think Manaphy slipped and got hit…"
After all was said and done, May and Ash both walked away with a Ribbon.
It had been a close-fought battle, which May had ultimately won not by defeating Latios in battle but by being that bit better at scoring and denying points, and Ash told her straight away that it had been a great battle too.
"Thanks!" Manaphy smiled. "I'm glad to help Mama any time! It's a lot of fun!"
"And I guess you might be helping her understand her other Pokémon, too," Ash pointed out. "Max has got Ralts, but you're her version of that if she has trouble listening properly – so just keep an ear out, okay?"
Manaphy nodded.
They met back up with Max – and Brock – just a moment later, and there were more goodbyes to say.
It was always sad, but they all knew they could meet again if they wanted to.
"So, Ash," Pikachu began. "Have you decided where we're going yet?"
Ash frowned, thinking.
"Well, I thought maybe Sinnoh?" he suggested. "Sinnoh sounds like a nice place. I think it's where Arceus is from."
That made Aten give Ash an astonished look.
"That was entirely too casual, even for you," he said. "Do you actually know Arceus personally, or something?"
"We've only met once," Ash replied. "That I can think of. But I've spoken to Dialga, Palkia and Giratina a few times – Giratina more than the other two – and they're adamant about it. Or, I suppose it's mostly Diagla who's adamant about it."
"How would that work, then?" Aten said. "Arceus is supposed to have created the entire universe."
"Right!" Ash agreed. "And if he did that, then before it happened he wasn't from anywhere, because anywhere didn't exist. But the moment he created everything then there was an anywhere for him to have come from, and it's wherever he happened to be standing once the universe existed."
Aten thought about that, visibly, then shook his head.
"Sinnoh sounds interesting," Zygarde said.
"Oh, that's great!" a familiar voice called, sounding very happy. "I got here before you left!"
Ash turned around, and waved. "Hi, Whitney!" he replied. "I wasn't expecting to see you here!"
"Well, I finally worked out how to sort out handling my gym, long-term," Whitney explained. "See, first I tried asking Misty for help, but she said she couldn't do it long term anyway. Then I trained up a Chatot to do it, but he was just too gosh-darn cute so I couldn't leave him while I went on an adventure! Eventually though I hired some trainers who had just the ideal combination of talent and cute Pokémon. They said they'd love to hear about how I get on in as much detail as possible!"
"So this is what you guys do?" an Aipom said, interested. "You're substitute Gym Leaders? It's an interesting career."
"Yes," Meowth agreed. "Dat's us! We definitely battle trainers with all kinds'a Pokémon when we do it, too."
He grinned. "Of course, I got one of da cushy jobs as trainers, so that's cool and all. But you better bet we're gonna be training an' stuff… we gotta keep up with the Pokémon Whitney left us, after all."
"And the best thing is, it means we've got the perfect excuse to get hold of Pokémon, train them up as gym Pokémon, and then take them from the gym when we leave," Jessie added. "It's the perfect crime!"
James coughed. "Figuratively."
"Of course," Jessie agreed quickly. "We're not doing actual crime and this definitely isn't a way to gather information on the twerp Whitney's going to be travelling with."
"Why would you even think that?" James asked.
Aipom glanced at Meowth.
"Your trainers are a bit odd," she said. "I didn't even say anything, let alone have you translate something."
Meowth shrugged. "Eh. After livin' with a whole tribe'a Wynaut in a floating fortress you kinda start to get odd anyways."
"And who's this?" Whitney added, crouching down to rub the chin of an extremely surprised Aten. "They look so cute! Kind of like an ice cream Zorua!"
"He is a Zorua," Ash replied. "A sort of different kind, though. He's called Aten."
Whitney's eyes shone. "He's so adorably fluffy!"
"Perish," Aten instructed. "Preferably immediately."
AN:
This should make things interesting.