X
Ash let out a long and untamed yawn, stretching his arms out far before leaning back against a sturdy tree. At his side, Pikachu did the same, curling up for a well-deserved nap.
On any other day, the two of them would be rip-roaring and ready to go— After all, there was always another mile to trek, another town to visit. Shalour City was awaiting them!
For now though, the journey could wait. It was nearly lunch.
"995, 996, 997~"
Ash cracked an eye open, glancing over the clearing the gang had settled in for the day. Clemont was making food by the fire, Bonnie had stepped out to explore the nearby area, and the source of the counting, Serena, was sitting there by a tree across from him.
On her lap was her trusty Fennekin, as the two partook in a mainstay of their regular routine: A grooming session.
"998, 999~" Serena giggled as she dragged out the penultimate brushstroke, much to the annoyance of Fennekin. "Aaaaand, 1000! See, I told you I'd make it to double the brushes eventually."
Picking Fennekin up, Serena gave her partner a big squeeze before letting her go. Fennekin huffed at that, but couldn't help but smile all the same. With a strut, she showed off her shiny coat, much to the delight of her trainer.
Ash smiled before closing his eyes once more, content with what he saw. While Serena's way of caring for her Pokémon wasn't exactly his style, he couldn't deny it made the two of them happy. He was glad they had a way that worked.
Now, back to his pre-lunch nap.
"Do you guys hear something?"
Or maybe not.
"What's up?" Ash sat up and looked to Clemont, who had been the one to stir him. He was over by their encampment's fire, searching around for whatever had caught his ear moments before.
"Listen. It sounds like… Well, I'm not sure what." It looked like he barely believed it himself, as he turned.
"What's going on?" Serena called out, rising to her feet. After a moment, Ash joined her.
"Not sure." Going quiet, Ash put his ear to the air, trying to catch what Clemont was hearing. Then, it came to him. "I hear it! It sounds like it's getting closer!"
Ash turned to the direction of the sound, taking a stance as Pikachu jumped onto his shoulder. Whatever it was, it was going to be on them in no time.
Serena stepped closer, as she listened in.
"Does, that sound like roller skates to anyone else?"
"Look out below!" Bursting from the treeline, a figure appeared, flying above Ash with her visage cast in a silhouette. Taking a flip and a dive, she quickly crashed down behind the group, sending all but him and Pikachu falling back in shock.
"Whoa!" Ash jumped, watching the party's sudden guest slide against the ground and come to a controlled stop. As she stood straight, indeed wearing a pair of roller skates, one feature above all else stood out to him: Her cocky grin.
"You! I've decided you're going to be my 100th!" she declared, throwing a fist out before doing a twirl in her skates. It was clear she was well-practiced.
"Can, we help you?" Clemont was the first to respond, readjusting his glasses as he got a good look at their lunchtime intruder. While he was never one to dress very well for an occasion, this girl was something else entirely. She was wearing what looked like a cross between a cheerleader and a roller derby contestant.
"And what's this '100th' thing about?" Ash asked then, incensed as he took the lead and a step forward all at once.
"What's it sound like?" the girl replied, smirking and rolling across Ash's view. "I want a Pokémon battle!"
Now that changed things.
"You're a trainer!" Ash's disposition turned as he kept his eyes locked on their guest. "Now you're speaking my language! A battle sounds awesome!"
"Pika!"
"That's the spirit!" Taking a sharp turn, the girl shot into the group, orbiting around Ash and incidentally forcing the others back. "I love it when my challengers have a kick to them. Makes it extra satisfying when I beat them."
"Ohoho! Getting ahead of ourselves, aren't we?" Ash didn't blink as he matched the girl's cocky demeanor tit-for-tat.
"Nah, I don't think so," she replied, a pronounced smirk aimed right at Ash's face. "No offense to you, but you looked like easy pickings."
"Funny! I could say the same thing about you."
The two were practically head-to-head now, with Ash's sudden challenger coming to a stop and eyeing him up. Between her roller skates and natural height advantage, she was nearly half a head taller than Ash was.
Her grin softened.
"Oh, I liiiike you."
For a moment, Ash and the girl were in their own little world, a fact that struck Serena as the bantering exchange went on.
"Clemont— Clemont, what's happening?" she asked with a panic, shaking his shoulder. He took a moment to readjust his glasses before chuckling.
"Two trainers have locked eyes, as they say," he explained. "Now their fates are intertwined!"
"Eh?!" A shot of hysteria went through Serena, as she turned to Clemont and grabbed his shoulders. "It sounds like you're describing soulmates!"
?
"I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, and this is my partner, Pikachu!" Ash declared, taking a stance on his side of the field. After their sudden encounter back at the camp, they and their mystery visitor had found a good grassy knoll for their battle.
"You can call me Korrina! And I'd like to congratulate you and Pikachu on being my 100th win," Korrina announced, skidding to a stop across from him. Even on the bumpy, grassy surface, she smoothly glided with her roller skates. "You've already been the most fun I've had since coming out here."
"I don't know when you got it into your head that this'll be an easy battle, but me and Pikachu are gonna knock the idea right outta ya!" With a wide grin and a fiery look, Ash laid it into his opponent, who only seemed to get more excited with every word he spoke. He couldn't blame her. With every jab she sent his way, he was getting fired up just as well. "So, who're you going to send out for your first loss?"
"Pika!" Pikachu was quick to call out in agreement, static already building in his cheeks.
"Reciting the questions you ask yourself in the morning, aye Ketchum?" Korrina stuck a tongue out at Ash as she held up a lone Poké ball. "Let's get this show on the road. Say hello to my partner!"
With a toss of the ball and a flash of light, a new figure joined the battlefield.
"A Lucario? Now I'm really getting excited!" Making a fist, Ash faced his opponent with blazing vigor, as Korrina's Lucario let out a fierce battle cry. "Let's do this!"
"You're so on!" Korrina cried out.
"Pika!"
Between the two roaring trainers and their Pokemon, Clemont pursed his lips, his head cocking as he muttered to himself.
"Do they even need me here?" Clemont glanced back at Serena, who was watching Ash with a fairly unhealthy level of stress, and Bonnie, who made it back to the campsite in time to watch this battle. "Well, might as well leave them to it."
Clemont raised an arm into the air and, with that, the battle was on.
"Quick Attack!" At Ash's command, Pikachu shot forward, the distance between him and his opponent melting in an instant.
"Block it, Lucario!" Unfortunately striking first didn't mean drawing first blood. Holding a firm stance, Lucario took the attack head-on, skidding back only a few inches as Pikachu bounced off. "Rush in, don't let him recover!"
"Lu!" In a flash, Lucario disappeared from view, startling Pikachu as he tried to find his footing. Before he had even a moment to breathe, his opponent was at his side, delivering a devastating kick that sent him flying across the field.
"Pika!"
"Pikachu! Iron Tail, on the ground!" Ash knew they couldn't be left on the back foot for too long— They had to recover fast.
"Chuuu—!" Delivering a powerful Iron Tail straight down, Pikachu did just that, halting his momentum and skidding himself to a stop. "Pi-Ka!"
There was just one problem, however. It looked like his tail was stuck to the ground!
"While he can't move, Lucario, go in with a Bone Rush!" Korrina and Lucario's moves played in parallel, each slamming their fists together and pulling them apart. Lucario was only slightly more impressive, as when he did so, a staff of glowing blue energy was left in his wake.
"Cario!" Sprinting forward, Lucario went on the offensive, aiming straight for Pikachu. It looked to be a direct hit.
Ash smirked.
"Now, Iron Tail, Pikachu!" he called.
With a proud cry, Pikachu ripped his tail from the ground, launching it straight up just as Lucario was on top of him. He nailed his opponent in the jaw with a wicked strong blow.
The pinned act was a bluff!
"Dive back, Lucario!"
"Keep it up, buddy— Continuous Iron Tails!"
Pikachu swiped once then twice, trying to rack up damage, but Lucario dodged with a flip, somersaulting away to regain his footing.
"Again, Bone Rush!"
"Match them with Iron Tail!" At Ash's command, Pikachu shot forward, swinging an Iron Tail down until it met the hard resistance of Lucario's Bone Rush. First block. The two threw each other off, before colliding once more. This time Pikachu stopped Lucario's swing. Second block.
With each crash, the two traded blows, each just barely missing a direct hit before separating.
It was time to break the impasse.
"Quick Attack, hit him from behind!" Pikachu grinned with Ash's words, disappearing from sight as Lucario's Bone Rush swung uselessly through open air. With a little quick footwork, he skidded between Lucario's legs, jumping and slamming into his back next. Ash cheered. "Iron Tail!"
"Hey batter-batter-swing!" Korrina's command was perplexing but no less effective. Turning on a dime, Lucario swung with a full force Bone Rush, slamming Pikachu in the gut and launching him like a baseball.
"Pika!"
"This is our chance, Lucario— Swords Dance!"
As Pikachu flew through the air, Lucario began a rhythmic dance, turning his body and the staff of Bone Rush in time. With a proud cry to cap off the performance, Lucario's power doubled upon completion of the move.
"We're not outta this yet! Pikachu, Thunderbolt!" Still flying through the air, Pikachu spun, building up a vicious charge of electricity and letting it loose all at once.
"Block it with Bone Rush, Lucario!"
Unfortunately, Pikachu's bolt-from-the-blue petered out into nothing, completely nullified by Bone Rush's Ground-Typing. Electric moves wouldn't work!
"Now, Lucario! Keep him flying!"
"What?!"
Lucario was ready: When Pikachu finally fell to Earth, he dashed forward and landed a second violent strike, sending his opponent back into the air.
"Pi— Ka!"
"Hold on Pikachu!" Ash gritted his teeth, the desperation of the situation setting in. "Block his next hit with Iron Tail!"
Pikachu was too disoriented, however, unable to find his balance before approaching the ground once more. With another cry, Lucario slammed him with a Bone Rush, sending him flying straight up.
"Now to finish this, Lucario!" Dismissing the staff from Bone Rush, Lucario took a stance and began powering up a plume of energy at his fist. All the while, Pikachu reached the peak of his final flight.
"Lu-cario!" With that cry, Lucario leapt into the air, aiming for a full force strike to end the match.
It was now or never!
"Pikachu— Thunderbolt!" It was too late to dodge, too late to block. This was their last trump card. At Ash's command, Pikachu reoriented himself, charging his biggest store of electricity yet.
"Piiiika-Chuuuuu!"
"Luuu-cario!"
The collision of Electric and Fighting-Type energy erupted into a powerful explosion, filling the air and blowing back both trainers as the battle came to a close. Through the ensuing shockwave, Ash and Korrina called out their partners' names.
When the dust and debris began to clear, two figures stood alone: Lucario and Pikachu. The fighters stood opposite of one another, facing their respective trainer, physically exhausted as they tried to remain upright. Lucario stumbled as Pikachu nearly tripped over his own feet.
Neither wanted to give in first, but they had little choice in the matter. With a final pant, one of the combatants fell over, knocked out.
"Pikachu is unable to battle!" At Clemont's signal, the battle had begun, and with Clemont's call, the battle was drawn to its end.
Ash rushed to his partner's side, scooping Pikachu off the ground and immediately showering him with assurances.
"You did amazing there, buddy, absolutely awesome!" he called out, giving Pikachu a moment to stir awake. "We got caught a little off guard with Bone Rush there— But we'll get 'em next time!"
"Pika… pi." Pikachu groaned before nodding his head, slowly coming to. At that, Ash breathed a sigh of relief.
"I gotcha, buddy. I gotcha."
Approaching, Korrina and Lucario met Ash in the center of the battlefield, catching his attention with a wave. He straightened up for a moment, before beginning.
"That was a great battle, but I guess in the end you two were just tougher," he confessed, an abashed tone to his voice, before he offered his hand forward.
Huffing, Korrina smacked it away.
"Oh shush! That match was a coin flip!" she declared, putting her hands on her hips. "Do it again, and we could've easily lost!"
Ash was stunned, but didn't lose his cool. Not fully, at least.
"What was that for! You talked all that smack and now you wanna be humble?" he fired back, depositing Pikachu onto his shoulder as soon as he was stable enough.
"You're one to talk! Weren't you the one who was gonna kick my butt and show me my place?" Korrina did a spin in her skates as she began to orbit around Ash, a self-satisfied smile growing on her face. "My butt's still unkicked— So where do you get off, trying to act so modest!"
She was egging him on, baiting him, and Ash knew it. Yet, as a smile grew on his face, he was happy to fall for it.
"Why don't you bend over and I can take another shot!" he shouted, bringing her to a stop as she pulled out Lucario's Poké ball.
"You wanna go again?!"
As the two devolved into their endless back-and-forth of competitive jabs and haughty jeers, the rest of Ash's party just watched on with a mix of confusion and exasperation. Serena in particular pursed her lips as she saw Ash and Korrina butting heads, yet never losing their smiles in the process.
"Now what's going on?" Bonnie asked Clemont then, pulling Serena from her train of thought. The older of the two siblings gave an awkward laugh before he answered.
"It's said that trainers can speak through a battle— And I think Ash and Korrina have just had a whole conversation," he explained, his metaphors annoying his little sister. He clarified. "It seems to me that those two are cut from the same cloth, and this is their way of connecting to each other."
Serena looked back at Ash and Korrina, watching as they bantered and jabbed at one another, never too aggressive, yet never too coddling either. Clemont was right, she thought. This was their way of communicating, of connecting.
Her heart panged for something, but she wasn't sure what.
X
After a while, Ash and Korrina's head-to-head had come to an end, for no better reason than it was lunchtime and the two of them were starving. Good thing Clemont had made a big meal too, because they would need it to feed the two Ash-sized appetites they had on hand.
So with the party all sitting around the picnic table and the Pokémon dining on a batch of Serena's Poképuffs, it was time to dig in.
Korrina and Ash tore through platters of sandwiches and soups, barely pausing for air let alone to say please when grabbing seconds. To the rest of the group, it was like they were seeing double, the way the two seemed to have mirrored table etiquettes— infinite appetites and near-zero manners.
Eventually, Ash broke from the impromptu eating contest, pausing to breathe while Korrina continued. He couldn't help but chuckle at that— Now he'd been beaten twice by her today. Ah well, he'd just have to repay her the courtesy at some point.
Before Ash could return to his food, his gaze fell on something— Something he'd been eyeing for a little while now: The glove on Korrina's hand. He took a moment of pause before speaking.
"That's a Keystone, right?"
Korrina stopped, alongside the rest of the party as they looked on.
"Yep, you're on the money!" she said, after taking a moment to swallow. "Surprised you recognized it."
"Heh, yeah, I got an up-close-and-personal look at one pretty recently." Ash glanced to the side, recollecting his face-off against Diantha. He'd nearly pushed the Champion to Mega Evolve her Gardevoir, or at least, she said as much.
That thought brought another question to Ash's mind, one Clemont managed to beat him to.
"So you must use that to Mega Evolve your Lucario then?" Giving a smile, Clemont posed the question whilst looking over to where Lucario and the other Pokémon were eating.
"Nah, not yet," she answered, perching her chin on her hand and gazing over the Keystone affixed to her glove. "We still gotta get our hands on the Mega Stone first."
"Right, cause Mega Evolution needs a Keystone and a Mega Stone." Ash nodded, the lesson on Mega Evolution he had gotten from Professor Sycamore playing in his mind. Before long he found his eyes turning to her Keystone as well— The two of them transfixing at that same sight. "So, where did you get yours?"
"Oh, this old thing? My grandpa gave it to me!" Korrina sat up in her seat, putting her food down then before she got ready to regale her tale to the table. "See, the very first person to ever Mega Evolve a Lucario was an ancestor of my family! And since then, we've kept the tradition of Mega Evolution close to home!"
"That sounds so cool!" Bonnie seemed excited, the image of Korrina's powerful Lucario getting even stronger playing in her mind.
"What're you doing hanging out in this forest then?" Then it was Serena who joined the conversation, speaking up for the first time since lunch began.
Korrina opened her mouth to answer her, but was swiftly cut off.
"It's because you and Lucario want to grow stronger first, right?" Ash answered, surprising Korrina with his assertion. After a moment, though, she smiled and nodded.
"Before we went looking for a Lucarionite, my grandpa said we needed to grow stronger," she explained, looking down at her Keystone. "So, we set out to defeat a hundred challengers in a row!"
"And I was number 100!"
"Yep!" Korrina snickered, and flicked a finger beneath the bridge of her nose just to make the point. "Once we're done here, me and Lucario are heading up to Geosenge town to find the Lucarionite."
"Oh hey, we're going up that way too, aren't we?" Perking up, Serena pulled out her PDA to confirm just that.
"Yeah, we're heading through there on our way to Shalour City! I want to challenge the Gym Leader there," Ash added, getting a look from Korrina he couldn't quite parse. It almost looked like she wanted to laugh. Overlooking that, he continued. "Hey, Korrina, if you don't mind, could we come along with you?"
The rest of the party was surprised by Ash's sudden request, Serena in particular. Korrina, however, took the solicitation with a self-satisfied smirk.
"Oh? Why's that?" she asked, already having a pretty good idea of the answer. "Are you itching that badly to hang out with me?"
Ash laughed, her teasing demeanor bouncing off him without much effect. Shaking his head, he looked down at her glove one last time.
"I'll be totally honest— It's because I want to learn how to Mega Evolve my Pokemon too."
Author's Note: And with that, we officially begin the Korrina Arc! The next handful of chapters will be following Ash, Korrina, and the XYang on their journey, as Korrina pursues her birthright, and Ash seeks to learn the secrets of Mega Evolution! Will he get his hands on a Keystone and Mega Stone? Find out next time!