Pokemon: Remix Hearts

by Seanzilla1988

During an expedition for a Grimoir, the girls of Team Remix Heart are caught up in a strange wormhole and end up in a world filled with creatures known as Pokemon. Will they find a way home, or will they be stuck here? (Contains elements from the Pokemon games, manga, and anime. Set after the end of the Blazblue Remix Heart manga)

50. Chapter 50

SZ *pokes out of some grass*shh…greetings again folks…we're here to celebrate the newest and 50th chapter for RH…and to celebrate the latest entry in the Pokemon franchise.

GT: Pokemon Legends Arceus. Finally decided on my Trainer gender and going with female and using La for it.

Z0: *lightning strikes as a Alpha Ursaluna suddenly appears behind both* All who cross the Shogun's land…oh hey guys! *I am dressed as a Samurai in purple armor themed after a tiger* Where have you guys been? I've already ruined history and become this timelines Nobunaga, only you know…less…murdery…

SZ:...yeah I…had a feeling that would happen with you…ahem! Anyways, readers…as we mentioned last time…what better way to celebrate the story's 50th chapter than going with one of the best battles from the anime.

Z0: It shall be awesome and fun and Garchomp…*jumps away suddenly*

SZ: Garchomp?*a growl goes off behind me and GT*...GT? Disclaimer before we fleece for our lives?

GT: We do not own Blazblue nor Pokemon. They are owned by Arc System Works and Game Freak. We only own our OCs in this story. *sends out a Hisuian Braviary and flies off* JA NE~!

Z0: I wonder how long 'till they realize the way home is back through the portal in the sky?

SZ: Wait wh-?!

Garchomp: *Roars*

---

Entry 048: Greetings. Kajun Faycott here again and…well. We had a rather interesting day yesterday upon arriving at Cinnabar. Upon arrival, we learned that Cinnabar Island's town…was a tourist spot. It had enough people visiting that we couldn't get a room in the Pokemon Center. Fortunately, we still had the tickets for free room and board at a hotel there known as the Riddle Inn. The owner of the Inn, Mr. Riddle, lived up to his name giving out a riddle to Noel and awarding her with a Fennekin of all things. He also gave us a clue on the whereabouts of the Gym…but as we were searching, Soren ended up running off after biting Ashton's hand, prompting us to split into groups to find him. While Noel, Makoto, and Tsubaki checked the abandoned mansion on the island, Ashton, Brock, and Misty ended up encountering Suicune who, with the ring of her Clear Bell, challenged Ashton to catch her. As for myself and Kajun, we went with Luca to see if his Aura sensing could help find Soren.

While we didn't find Soren, we instead found a group known as the Ultra Recon Squad…who had Iron Tager with them…and Mai learned that I'm part of an organization fighting against the NOL known as Sector Seven. It…It took quite a bit to calm her down and convince her to not French Kiss me to learn my secrets. I know that I messed up big time if Mai was willingly wanting to French Kiss. Luca…we had to explain quite a bit to him…and begged him not to reveal anything to Ashton…and then some more beggin on my end to not tell the others that…I may stay in this world.

As for Tsubaki and her group…from what they told Mai and I in our shared room, they investigated an abandoned mansion with some rather…interesting stuff they had found. Tsubaki brought with her notes from the mansion about the Mythical Pokemon Mew, how Blaine knows of the owner of the mansion, and…of the clone known as Mewtwo. It sounds…unnerving. So many questions pile up now. Who was the owner? Who was the one who funded the cloning research? Where is the owner of the mansion now? Are they even still alive? I can only speculate at this moment in time. What they also discovered was a new kind of Bulbasaur line with the first stage being a Burnasaur and the final stage being a Vulcasaur. May need to look into that later. The Vulcasaur thought Makoto and Tsubaki were intruders and fought them until she was knocked over onto her back by Soren, now a Lycanroc in its Midday Form. Noel, with three Burnasaur that turned out to be the children of the Vulcasaur, came…well, apparently she scolded them after they helped right the Vulcasaur and was given a key by one of the Burnasaur as thanks to Noel.

And while all this happened, Ashton, like I said earlier, ended up battling Suicune. From what Brock and Misty explained on the way to the Pokemon Center, Ashton passed out from the close proximity of being near a Calm Mind-empowered Hydro Pump and a Mega Charizard X's Blast Burn. Which would explain the explosion we heard. Still…second time Ashton has fought a Legendary Pokemon…I'm truly proud of how far he's come, especially since he figured out the riddle of where the gym is.

---

"Okay, I rotated my team again for this," Ash noted as the group sat in the dining room of the inn.

"Do you have your choices if Blaine has you only use a certain amount?" Kajun asked.

"I think so," Ash replied, "I've got Krabby, Squirtle, Charizard, Pikachu, Gengar, and Primeape."

"Two Water-Types, your Gengar for his surprise-based fighting style, and the last three because they're your heavy hitters, right?" Misty guessed.

"Yup! Just in case Blaine throws me a curveball," Ash answered.

"Oh? So you kids figured out his riddle?" Mr. Riddle asked, approaching to pick up their empty dishes to take to the kitchen.

"Yep! It's the volcano!" Ash beamed, "So I just gotta climb on up there like my friend Red did!"

"Hm? Red? Hmm…Oh, I remember that one. He spent the night here. Big fan of riddles and managed to get quite a few I shared with right," Mr. Riddle chuckled, "Hopefully, you'll do great if he's really up there."

"I know I will!" Ash nodded in excitement.

"Excellent," Mr. Riddle smiled with another chuckle, 'This kid's quite a beacon of excitement, isn't he? Hopefully, it doesn't get snuffed out by another's flames.' "Alright. Good luck out there, kid. Hopefully, I'll get to hear about it all later. I need to go clean the hot springs. Lot of Greedent fur in the women's bath for some reason." he frowned, "I really hope we didn't have a tourist be an idiot and release a male and female on the island like how Alola ended up with their Rattata and Yungoos."

'That better not be a jab at me!' Makoto thought, unable to raise a fist in indignation due to Luca and Tsubaki keeping a hand on his fists.

Mr. Riddle quickly walked out and into the kitchen. He placed the dishes down into the sink before going to the women's hot spring. He walked up to a statue of a Charizard's open mouth and tugged on its lower jaw, causing a part of the volcano base it was set to slide open, revealing a set of stairs. He grinned as the light glinted off his sunglasses and began to walk up the stairs.

---

Charizard roared as he landed on the top of the volcano. Ash slid off his back, Pikachu on one shoulder and Koko on the other. In the center of the volcano, he could make out a series of stone pillars all about in the volcano, acting as platforms that seemed to be easily jumped about on. But what stood out most were the two statues of the official Pokemon League symbol set up on the edge of the top of the volcano's center. Koko nodded before she Teleported. A few moments passed before she returned with the group.

"Looks like he really did make the volcano his new Gym," Brock noted in surprise.

"Oh geez…" Makoto muttered, already fanning herself as she sweated a little, "Anyone else starting to feel loopy…or is it just me?"

"I'm feeling okay, actually," Noel admitted…as Yuki hummed happily in her arms while her tails wagged.

"Fla~" Booster sighed happily, hopping out of Makoto's tail and basking in the heat of the volcano.

"Because of course Booster would like it," Mai giggled before the sound of stone sliding against stone made her look to the other side of the volcano to see a set of stairs being exposed.

Footsteps echoed until a bald head emerged. The bald head had their eyes covered in black sunglasses not unlike Mr. Riddle's purple ones and a white mustache. He wore a navy blue button shirt with a red tie with a silver clip, the end of the tie resembling a flame, and auburn slacks with brown formal shoes.

"A pleasure to meet you at last, Ash Ketchum," the man greeted.

"A…Are you the Gym Leader?" Ash asked.

"I am. I am Blaine! Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island! And I've spent quite a bit of time studying the videos posted about you, young man," he replied, "You are quite the interesting challenger this year. Only one other Trainer has gotten two Gym Leaders to use Pokemon from higher Badge challenges, but none from a Gym Leader using their Seven Badge team on a Five Badge Trainer. And now…I will do the same. You, a Six Badge Trainer, will be up against my Eight Badge Team." the group tensed on hearing that, "This will be a full Six on Six Pokemon Battle. You will be allowed to change Pokemon while I will not outside of Pokemon moves that will allow it, such as Baton Pass and the like. Should you be triumphant, I will award you with the Volcano Badge!" he looked to the others, "Ah, Brock. Would you be so kind as to referee this battle? I'd normally ask another, but she's one of my Pokemon for the Eight Badge Team!"

"Ahh. Of course," Brock nodded as he stepped forward.

"Excellent," Blaine smiled a bit before looking at Ash, "Now then…are you ready, my boy?"

"You bet I am!" Ash beamed, twisting his hat around as he adopted a determined look.

"Good."

"This is a 6 Vs 6 battle between Ash from Pallet Town, and Blaine of the CInnabar Island Gym!" Brock called out once he was standing on the referee's side of the arena, "No time limit! Let the battle begin!"

"Go, Rapidash!" Blain called out, tossing up the Pokeball as he released his first Pokemon for the battle.

"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash called out.

"Pika!" Piakchu called out as he hopped off his shoulder and onto the battlefield.

"Pikachu?" more than a few blinked.

"Huh?" Blain blinked at the choice to send out the little one first, "Surely something must be afoot…If I recall, Pikachu can learn dig…" he whispered to himself.

"(I can learn Dig?)" Pikachu pondered before looking over at Luca, "(Hey, Luca! Remind me to ask Ash to ask Eevee how to use Dig later!)"

"..." Luca's reply was a sigh as Rapidash just laughed at Pikachu admitting he lacked a move with a type advantage.

"Hey, don't underestimate Pikachu just because he's little!" Ash called at Rapidash, not getting the real reason and causing the horse to laugh harder, "Why you…Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pika! Pikaaaaaa…!"

"Rapidash, dodge with Agility!" Blain commanded.

Rapidash responded and with amazing speed got out of the path of Thunderbolt, letting it disperse across the battlefield harmlessly. Pikachu gawked before tensing as he felt a gust of hot air from behind him making him turn to see Rapidash had already moved behind him.

"Now use Flame Charge!"

"Ahh! Pikachu, dodge!" Ash yelped.

Pikachu moved to get away, but Rapidash cloaked itself in its flames and rushed right into Pikachu, slamming the side of its head into him and knocking him back. While not the strongest of moves, it was still far too fast for Pikachu to avoid at this point-blank attack range. Worst…the flaming blur that was Rapidash was now running all along the battlefield, picking up speed with each sudden stop and turn, further showing its speed and mobility to use it within this confined space.

"Yikes. That's some speed," Misty cringed.

"I don't think Ash has fought someone who uses speed before," Noel noted in concern.

"Normally speed is Pikachu's thing," Makoto muttered, "He's so fast and his Thunderbolts always land because…well it's a thunderbolt. But this guy is so fast he can outrun it."

"All its moves are meant to further boost its speed as well," Kajun noted, "At this point, it will always strike first."

"And it packs a big punch," Mai added as Rapidash skidded to a halt and kicked up some dust as it waited for its next command.

"Hey, don't sell Ash out yet," Makoto warned, "Don't forget speed ain't his only trick."

"Pikachu, Shroud!" Ash called.

"Pika!" Pikachu replied, glowing for a moment before shooting about the gym floor and along the stone pillars, leaving behind duplicates of himself that caused the horse to look around.

"Hmm…not bad, combining two moves to get the best of both traits," Blaine mused, "But if it's a battle of who's fastest, Rapidash can't lose! Agility and Flame Charge, hit each and every single one of 'em!"

Rapidash neighed as its body shined for a moment before flames engulfed it upon its charge. Before anyone could blink more than twice, the horse had managed to strike every single duplicate, dispersing them. And yet…there was something missing.

"What now?" Blaine raised a brow in surprise before noticing something on Rapidash's back; a shadow, "Hm?" he looked up in time to see a grinning Pikachu falling down towards the unaware horse, "What?!"

"Pikachu used his tail as a spring again!" Misty realized.

"Why do we keep forgetting he can do that?" Mai asked.

"Probably because he normally uses just Iron Tail," Makoto replied as Pikachu landed on Rapidash's back and grabbed on tight.

"Rapidash, shake it off with Flame Charge!"

"But how will…oh!" Ash panicked as Rapidash ignited itself and coated itself in fire…while Pikachu was hanging on, "Pikachu!"

"PIKA!" the tiny mouse pokemon cried as Rapidash galloped around and tried to buck him off.

"Use Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered.

"Don't give it a chance! Ignite your flames even brighter! Use Inferno!" Blain ordered.

Rapidash neighed as its flaming mane burst with power and blasted backwards along its back to blast Pikachu with even hotter flames. Pikachu cried out in pain as it tried to charge his electricity, but the flames ruined his concentration and caused the blast to be let off early, creating an explosion of flames and electricity. Everyone cringed as the smell of ionized air filled the stadium, rather overpowering given the location; but after a moment, they blinked to see Rapidash as Pikachu grunted and rolled across the stadium, bits of his fur singed black. Pikachu grunted, opening his eyes…and widening as the tip of his tail was now aflame.

"Pika pi!" he shouted, running around in a circle.

Rapidash shook its head as bits of static electricity discharged across its body.

"To think it could cause so much damage. This Pikachu is indeed stronger than it looks…" Blain noted, impressed by the damage one successful attack landing caused.

"Pi! Pi! Pi!" Pikachu managed to grab his tail and blow out the fire on the tip, "Cha~"

"You still good, buddy?" Ash asked.

"Pika!" Pikachu assured.

"Least we know Pikachu can do some damage," Makoto smiled, "That just means we need him to land a blast."

"But Pikachu needed to be pointblank for that last one," Noel argued, "And Rapidash also has stronger attacks it hasn't used."

"Yes, but look at Rapidash," Kajun pointed out, small sparks coming off the larger Pokemon.

"He managed to get a Paralysis off," Misty gasped.

"All Ash needs is for Rapidash to lock up at just the right moment," Kajun noted, "That is, if Pikachu can last long enough. It could be that or he may switch out now."

"Rapidash, let's play this a little safer, use Smart Strike!" Blaine shouted as Rapidash stamped its hoof, it's horn glowing with silver light before aiming it right at Pikachu, its eyes locking on as if with crosshairs for precise aim.

"Pikachu, block it with Iron Tail!" Ash shouted.

"Pika!" Pikachu swung his tail and just barely was able to clash with Rapidash's horn.

"Smart Strike!/Iron Tail!" the two shouted again as their attacks clashed with loud metallic rings as they filled the arena.

The two grunted as they began clashing back and forth like some sort of sword fight. The two clashed again as Rapidash pushed Pikachu back, the horse pokemon moved to thrust its horn, only for its body to lock up, Pikachu tried to swing only for its burns to flare up making him pause as well, the two Pokemon grunted taking a step back to shake it off. After a moment, the two rushed as their Steel type attacks clashed once more.

"Keep it up with Ion Tail, Pikachu!" Ash called.

"Go for an angle with your next Smart Strike, Rapidash!" Blaine advised.

The two struck once more, Rapidash's horn grazing this time…before Pikachu grinned. Before Blaine or Rapidash could react, the Thunder-empowered Iron Tail went off right through the horn and into Rapidash's body. Rapidash neighed in sudden pain as it stumbled back a few steps.

"What was…" Blaine began before he laughed, "Oh! Oh, I get it now! You said 'Ion' instead of 'Iron' just now! Creating combinations and giving them misleading names like that…that is quite the strategy, young man! And this is only your first year, is it not?"

"Yup!" Ash grinned.

"Remarkable talent indeed," he chuckled, "Well this might be the last strike you get, old friend, Rapidash…Mega horn!"

Rapidash stomped its hoof as its horn began growing with pale green energy…before it expanded in length, and became even sharper.

"Pikachu, Thunderbolt, aim straight ahead!" Ash ordered.

"PIKA!" Pikachu shouted, flipping forward and slamming his tail into the ground to spring himself up as his cheeks began discharging sparks.

A bolt of electricity shot forward as Rapidash rushed forward and rammed its horn into the bolt and seemingly tore through it while closing the distance towards Pikachu.

"Now, Thunder, give it all you got!" Ash ordered.

"PIKA!" Pikachu unleashed all his energy swapping from one move to another, using the same course of the Thunderbolt to guide it, causing the electrical leader of Thunderbolt to suddenly expand into Thunder as it fully blasted into Rapidash…and was absorbed by its horn. Everyone tensed as a flash from two powerful attacks more or less merging filled the stadium followed by the electrical thunderclap.

Everyone tensed as Pikachu grunted, falling on his rump, as Rapidash just…stood there. Pikachu panicked and covered his head best he could…only to look up as Rapidash stood there, unmoving. Pikachu stood up and gawked to see the swirls that replaced Rapidash's eyes. It gave a weak neigh as it finally stumbled over, making Pikachu panic and run away lest he be squashed under the much larger Pokemon.

"Rapidash is unable to battle! The winner is Pikachu!" Brock called.

"Well…that….was quite unorthodox…" Blain blinked as he returned his Pokemon, "You used Rapidash's horn as a conductor, your Pikachu guiding its Thunder to it like a lightning conductor within a storm…ha ha! Brilliant maneuver, my boy!"

"Does that…even work…?" Makoto panted a bit, both Berry and Cherry using fans to blow some cool air onto her.

"It's unorthodox…but it admittedly does," Kajun answered, "Rapidash was already too fast for Pikachu to keep up, so they needed to think of a way to get that win in…"

"I've lost all sense of trying to figure Pikachu's Electric attacks out the moment he KOed Geodude with a Thunderbolt in his rematch against me," Brock admitted.

"I'm still trying to question that to be honest," Tsubaki muttered…before the spectators all turned their heads slowly to Kajun.

"...What? I just put it up to them figuring out how Lt. Surge's Raichu could shut down the Lightningrod Ability and the Ground-Type's negation of Electric-Type Moves," Kajun shrugged.

Blaine laughed at that, "A fine head on that young lady's shoulders!" he then grinned at Ash, "Let's resume, shall we?"

"Right!" Ash nodded before looking at Pikachu and seeing him panting, "Pikachu, come on back and rest up for a bit."

"Pika…" Pikachu sighed in relief, stumbling a bit before Koko Teleported to beside him and then used Teleport again to bring him over to Ash before going back to Kajun's lap.

"Alright, young man…for your next test…" Blain began as he pulled out another Pokeball, "Is a test of both speed and power. Go Arcanine!"

"Arcanine?" Noel repeated.

The Pokeball opened and let out the Pokemon within. Noel's eyes widened on seeing the Pokemon that seemed to be based upon a lion-dog before cringing while moving a hand to the side of her head. For a few moments, she was seeing an Arcanine with a dopey smile carrying around a little girl with black hair like she was chasing after them in place of Blaine's before flinching at blood, blood, it's eating Bol-oh Arceus what is-

"Noel?"

"!?" Noel flinched, blinking several times before looking to see Mai looking at her in concern, "Is everything okay?"

"U-Uh…I-I guess Yuki's doing too good a job?" Noel replied before looking down at the concerned Vulpix, "U-Um…Could you help Makoto now, Yuki? I-I don't think she'll last through the whole battle."

"Yesh I will, you…weird girl with cool-blue juice waterfalls for hair," Makoto slurrered a bit, a dizzy look on her face as she swayed a bit.

"Vul…" Yuki whined but went with it and hopped onto Makoto's tail before hitting Makoto from behind with Powder Snow.

"Who?! What?! When?! Where?! Why?! How?!" Makoto yelped, looking around.

"You…were really acting loopy, Makoto," Misty pointed out in concern.

"...I didn't do anything weird, did I?"

"You almost did," Misty replied, "And Ash is sending out his next Pokemon."

"Speed and power…" Ash cringed before looking at his Pokeballs, "...Got it! Gengar, come on out!"

"Gengar~!" the Ghost-Type sang as he popped out before landing on the gym floor…before yelping and started hopping around, "Gar!? Gen-gen-gengar-gar!?" he reached into his shadow on one hop and pulled out a fire extinguisher and quickly blasted the gym floor, sighing in relief on the cooled spot he made for his feet, "Gar~"

"Ah, the one from Koga's video that can Mega Evolve," Blaine noted, "If I recall...I do believe this is the same Gengar that beat Sabrina, correct?"

"Yep! She just needed to laugh!" Ash grinned before flinching on hearing a head meeting ground, "Sorry for reminding you, Kajun…"

"It just doesn't make sense…" Kajun muffled out a whine from her spot on the floor.

"Uh…anyway…" Brock began as he held his hands up, "Begin the match!"

"Arcanine, Extreme Flame Wheel!" Blain commanded.

Arcanine howled out before it suddenly vanished from view. Gengar sniffed the air.

"(Hey, what's that smell?)" he pondered before turning his head around to see his tail on fire, "(Oh…It's just me. Eh-heh-heh. For a second, I thought it was…)" he jumped into the air, "(ME?!)"

"Now Fire Blast!"

"(Wait wh-)" Gengar began before noticing the massive blast of fired in shape of a kanji flying right towards him, "(AHH!)"

"Ahh! Gengar dodge!" Ash yelped.

Gengar looked around before moving an arm before him and used the shadow casted from the light of the oncoming attack to make a shadow on his chest. He used his other hand to quickly reach in and pull out a skillet that he quickly hid behind. The Fire Blast struck and caused a small explosion. A partially melted skillet landed on the floor and a soot-covered Gengar crawled out from under it.

"(Ugh…First the giant rainbow sludge and now a big ol' pupper that breathes fire and runs like the wind and ain't an Entei…)" Gengar grumbled…before grinning happily, "(I love being this kid's Pokemon!)" he hopped up as Arcanine landed before him, "(Alright! Let's get it on, big guy!)"

"Rather tenacious Gengar, there," Blaine noted with a chuckle, "But let us see how he deals with a move he cannot avoid...Arcanine, Aerial Ace!"

"Gengar, Banana!" Ash called.

"B-Banana?" Blaine blinked behind his sunglasses.

Arcanine howled as he shot off at Gengar, his body glowing bright. Gengar reached into his shadow and kept crouched down. Just as Arcanine was upon him, he went into the dog's shadow, leaving behind a banana peel. The dog yelped as he landed on the peel and slipped on it, flipping over and was sent back up into the air from a Shadow Ball from Gengar firing from his shadow.

"I knew I was forgetting something," Blaine groaned, facepalming, "But it does say a lot about how skilled that Gengar of yours is along with its age."

"Huh? His age?" Ash pondered.

"Yes. Gengar don't normally start thinking of this way of using their ability to connect to shadows for…" Blaine began before Gengar blow an airhorn while rapidly swiping an arm across his 'neck' in a frantic manner, "Ah, guess he's sensitive about his age, eh?" he shrugged, "Ah, that's fair, that's fair. Does help with the Bulk Ups."

"Bulk U…?" Ash trailed off before tensing, seeing Arcanine had gotten back up and had been using Bulk Up the entire time, "Ah! Gengar, watch out!"

"Gen?" Gengar pondered before Arcanine's jaws grabbed him…while they were coated in flames, "GAAAAAAAR~!-!-!" he screamed as Arcanine proceeded to rapidly shake his head while his Fire Fang continued to inflict damage to the Ghost-Type.

"Ahh! Gengar!" Ash yelped.

"Now Arcanine, toss 'em and go into a Flare Blitz!"

Arcanine growled out as he tossed Gengar into the air, the larger Pokemon growling out as he charged while covered in flames. Gengar tensed as he literally tried to swim away from the giant flaming dog coming towards him, only to grunt when Arcanine ran into him.

*BOOM!*

"GEN!" Gengar screamed as he was sent flying right into the walls of the gym, literally becoming flat as a pancake as he slowly slid down out of sight, "...gar…." a few moments passed before a sizzling noise went off and Gengar shot up right back up, screaming and holding his smoking behind, "ARRRRRRR~!-!-!"

"Pfft…O-Okay…I-I can't help it. We're on the top of a volcano…and I just want some dang popcorn for this," Makoto snorted in a laugh.

"Really, Makoto?" Tsubaki deadpanned.

"What? This is a good match," Makoto pointed out as Gengar landed on the gym floor and started scooting around on it to put out the flames, "Pfft! S-See?!"

'Note to self, prank her later tonight after I get some salve on my poor burned bum,' Gengar thought.

"You okay to keep going?" Ash asked, earning a thumbs up, "Alright! Let's…" he began before yelping as Gengar screamed, jumping up and grabbing his relit bottom, "Huh!?"

"Seems your Gengar got the Burn Status," Blaine noted, managing to keep a straight face at Gengar's shenanigans, "First time it was from the volcano itself."

"(Ugh…Okay…I am burned, I am sweaty from the dang heat…I have mutt slobber all over my body…and my butt keeps igniting itself!)" Gengar ranted before digging into his side, "(Okay, that's it! Time for Plan Spinach Ala Noel!)"

"...Huh…Now that I'm not loopy from the heat…Where's Gengar's Mega Stone?" Makoto pondered, noticing the Gengarite wasn't on the Ghost-Type's forehead.

"He must have swapped it out earlier," Kajun noted, her Pokemon League Rulebook open, "Only one Item can be carried in battles."

"So if he doesn't have his ability to Mega Evolve, what does he have?" Misty asked before Gengar pulled out a tin can…with the label showing a childish drawing of Noel on it, "...Oh don't tell me."

"Eh? Is that…me on that?" Noel pondered.

"Oh geez…" Makoto paled a bit as Gengar opened the container.

"...Was…was that c-" Blaine began before Gengar ate its contents in one bite, "?!"

Gengar chewed it up before swallowing. He grinned deviously as he hopped in place while holding his fists up like he was a boxer. Ash blinked a few times before pulling out Dexter and muttered under his breath while looking at it.

"Where did you learn all these?" Ash asked, "The Pokemon at Professor Oak's?" Gengar just gave a cackle, "Well that explains why you gave me back your Gengarite. Okay! Let's start off with Poison Gas!"

"Arcanine, be ready for whatever he might have in store!" Blaine commanded.

Gengar inhaled deeply before letting out a stream of toxic purple gas. Arcanine jumped out of the way with Extremespeed, using it to jump off several of the stone pillars that were part of the gym arena before looking back at where the gas hit and tensed, seeing part of the floor looked as if it were melting where the gas had hit.

"Sludge Bomb!" Ash called.

Gengar took in a longer inhale, a gurgling sound being her inside his throat before he began to unleash a torrent of sludge at Arcanine, one of its hands cranking at its ear as if it were a revolving lever.

"Eruption Defense!" Blaine called.

Arcanine howled before his body erupted in an upward blast of flames, hints of a green energy within the flames. The barrage of sludge struck and exploded with each shot striking the flames. Hidden vents were quick to start sucking in the toxic fumes being produced before they could reach Ash or Blaine while hidden fans kept it away from anyone and going upwards.

"Amazing. How was he able to even get these installed?" Kajun pondered, "The heat alone should have damaged any of the electronics here, and yet…"

"Kirl?" Hikari held up a notebook.

"Hmm…Advanced insulation? A good hypothesis," Kajun nodded as Arcanine dispersed his defense once Gengar stopped firing.

"Now Arcanine, Roar!"

"?!" Ash tensed as a loud roar filled the area, making Gengar freak as he quickly jumped into Ash's shadow...before tapping one of the Pokeballs on his belt and released Krabby, "Huh?! How did that…?"

"You've never seen Roar used in a Pokemon Battle between Trainers, have you?" Blaine asked, a bit of amusement in his hidden eyes, "While in the wild, Roar causes Pokemon to run away; Roar when used in Trainer battles has a unique reaction to the Pokeball system, forcing your Pokemon to return but will also cause another to be forced out."

'...That's right. Entei more or less did the same when he battled Ken and his Greninja,' Ash recalled, '...uh oh.'

Krabby blinked a bit as he looked around in confusion…before jumping in surprise at the large Arcanine towering over it, "(...You know Roar?)"

"(Eeyup)," Arcanine replied, popping the 'p' in his response.

"(Oh….you're gonna cook me, aren't you?)"

"(I dunno…maybe…Haven't had boiled Krabby in a few weeks.)"

"..." Krabby merely blinked before he began to unleash a torrent of bubbles into Arcanin's face, causing the dog to sputter and move back from the surprise attack as Krabby began to run away, "(I DON'T WANNA BE EATEN!)"

"(OH THAT IS IT!)" Arcanine snapped.

"Don't let that Krabby run, Arcanine!" Blaine shouted, "Thunder Fang!"

"Ahh! Krabby Dig!" Ash panicked.

Krabby barely jumped off the platform onto one of the pillars and quickly dug into it, the electrified fangs of Arcanine barely missing. Arcanine moved back and sniffed the air. He bit his teeth and another Thunder Fang crackled to life. Krabby shot out of another pillar, his claw glowing. Arcanine spun around and fangs met glowing claw, creating an explosion. Slowly, the smoke settled revealing Krabby twitching the floor, swirls in his eyes, while Arcanine was moving his mouth around before spitting out three teeth.

"Krabby is unable to battle! Arcanine is the winner!" Brock called.

"Down by one each," Blaine grinned a bit as Ash called back Krabby into its Pokeball, "So far you're holding up well, but as you can see…I have my own defenses to deal with Water Types."

"Meaning he might have the same for dealing with Ground and Rock Types," Tsubaki whispered.

"What's more, if Ash tries to send out Gengar again, he'll probably get a Roar and someone else will be brought out that won't be ready for an Arcanine," Noel noted.

"Meaning Ash has to deal with that big….huge….scary…" Makoto began to trail off, a nervous look starting to grow on her face as she began to shake, "Fire…breathing…."

"Yuki, Powder Snow please," Noel spoke quickly.

"VUL~!"

*FWOOSH!*

"Th-th-th-thank y-y-y-you…" Makoto shivered, now stuck in a mound of snow that was somewhat quickly melting.

"...Speed…and power…" Ash whispered as he tried to think up a strategy, "...Oh! I got someone in mind…"

"Hmm?" Blaine raised a brow at that.

"I choose you, Primeape!"

"PRIME~!" Primeape shouted as he came out, doing a few stretches.

"A Primeape?" Blaine blinked, "Such an unexpected Pokemon for a young boy such as you. Not many can handle them."

"Eh-heh. It was a complicated bit early on. He liked my hat a lot until we got him that belt he earned in the P1," Ash sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

"Ahh. I thought I recognized your hat," Blaine admitted, "Those are rare now these days ya know, so you're a truly lucky kid to have it."

"Thanks! I did a lot of work to get it!" Ash beamed.

"(Tried to fight me mono-y-mono for it, too. Lotta guts my Trainer's got!)" Primeape laughed.

"(I don't really get it. It's just a Primeape beating a Mankey to me)," Arcanine shrugged.

"?! (WHAT?!)" Primeape snapped.

"Arcanine, Extreme Speed!" Blaine ordered as Arcanine vanished from view.

"Prime!?" Primeape tensed before he was hit hard and sent flying into a pillar.

"Oh that was a critical…" Makoto winced…before blinking in realization, "...Oh…That was a critical…"

"Makoto?" Misty blinked.

"When I helped Ash train Primeape, we learned a few of its Abilities," Makoto explained as Primeape began to twitch on the floor, "...and Blaine inadvertently just activated its Anger Point…which pretty much raises Primeape's Attack to max if it's hit with a crit."

"?!" Primeape shot up, its eyes white in anger as a literal fiery aura of anger surrounded him, "(ASSHOLE!)"

"(What the…?!)" Arcanine began before he was hit hard in the face, "?!"

"And that…" Makoto trailed off as Arcanine was sent flying into the walls of the arena, "...was Dynamic Punch…"

"Arc~" Arcanine groaned as he lay embedded in the wall, his eyes replaced with swirls.

"...A-Arcanine is unable to battle!" Brock called out, "The winner is Primeape!"

"Wow…" Ash awed, "You're so awesome, Primeape!"

"Such a powerful blow…That must have been the Ability Anger Point. I've never seen it activated…then again, not many use such a difficult to work with Pokemon…" Blaine muttered as he pulled out another Pokemon, "However my boy…a Pokemon's physical prowess isn't as strong as its mental prowess when it comes to certain kinds. Go Ninetails!"

"Vul?" Yuki blinked at that as said Pokemon appeared on the field. However unlike La's, this one had more of a cream-ish yellow fur with the tips of its nine tails a fiery-orange color.

"Whoa~" Ash awed, pulling out Dexter on reflex.

=Ninetails, the Fox Pokemon and the evolved form of Vulpix. This Ninetails is of the Kantonian variety. Once known as Kyukon in ancient times, Ninetails are highly intelligent Pokemon that are capable of perfectly understanding human speech. However, they are a highly vengeful species known to cast curses upon those who touch its namesakes. There is an ancient myth that Ninetails were born when nine wizards became one being. It can live for 1,000 years due to the energy within its nine tails, each of which is said to have a different mystical power. Flames spewed from its mouth can hypnotize an opponent and its gleaming red eyes that are said to give it the ability to control minds= Dexter explained.

"E-Eh?! We can't touch its tails? B-But they're as fluffy as Yuki and Mary…" Noel slumped.

"Ken/Vul~" Noel's Fenniken and Yuki whined in agreement and equal disappointment.

"I keep forgetting that while Pokemon are pretty amazing…they're also terrifying," Mai cringed.

"Agreed," Tsubaki whispered.

"(FIGHT ME!)" Primeape snapped at Ninetails, punching the air rapidly as he blew steam out of his nose.

"It's lost in anger…but it seems it's still loyal to the boy. He really earned his respect as a partner," Blaine smiled in interest, "Still..I cannot falter here. Ninetails, let's give the boy our own surprise…Nasty Plot."

"Nine~" Ninetails mewled as it sat down, closing its eyes as its tails began to fan out.

"(...OI! ARE YOU IGNORING ME?!)" Primeape snapped.

"..."

"(YOU ARE IGNORING ME!)" he snapped, literally hopping mad now.

"Oh, that's not good," Kajun noted, her Pokemon Move notebook out and opened on her lap, "That's a Stat-boosting Move."

"Let's go for Dynamic Punch, Primeape!" Ash ordered as Primeape roared and rushed at Ninetails.

"(Let's play now, shall we?)" Ninetails giggled.

At that, Ninetails stepped aside and let Primeape's Dynamic Punch fly past and totally miss. The other fist glowed with a Mega Punch and he swung it, only for her to duck and tickle his nose with one of her tails. He sneezed and moved back only to tumble over from him tripping on a tail she laid out behind him, making him tumble away as she went back to fanning her tails out.

"Come on, Primeape!" Makoto cheered, "Don't let a fluffy fox fool your fists of fury!"

"Why do we keep missing?" Ash asked in concern, "Primeape is so fast…"

"But…all of his super powerful moves…have low accuracy~" Blaine smiled.

"Wait…what?" Ash blinked.

"...D'oh~!" Makoto facepalmed, "It was fine in the ring and against other Fighting Types, but this is a major flaw…" she rubbed the underside of her chin in thought, "I need to do some training with him and Ash of boosting that accuracy issue after all this is said and done…"

"PRIME~!"

"That scream just now was him cheering for that," Luca informed.

"So wait…all of his moves have low accuracy?" Ash blinked, "But how? It's just a punch."

"P…Prime?" Primeape muttered in equal confusion to this.

"It's a very telegraphed attack, my boy. It uses most of the body's power to even use effectively; anyone can see he's going for a big old punch," Blaine pointed out, "If you saw someone clearly move to throw a punch…wouldn't you move out of the way?"

"Well yeah…that does make sense," Ash nodded, grasping the concept now.

"Excellent! And I should thank you for all those misses," Blaine chuckled, "Ninetails…Psyshock!"

"Prime?" Primeape blinked before multiple ethereal purple lights shone around him, "Ape…?" the lights formed into spheres before slamming into him from every angle, "PRIME~!?"

"Ah! Primeape!" Ash yelped in surprise and shock.

"What was that move?" Misty gasped.

"Psyshock. It's a Psychic-Type Move that doubles as both physical and special," Kajun explained.

"(Is…is that all ya got…cause I can go a-all…all day!)" Primeape slurred as he stumbled around and pointed at a random pillar, "(Don't you laugh at me!)" he punched the pillar, making part of it fall on his head, "(HA! I showed him)!" and with that…he fell over in such a way his legs kicked up into the air.

"Primeape is unable to battle! Ninetails wins!" Brock called.

"Ouch…" Ash cringed as he returned Primeape before looking down at the Pokeball, "You rest up, Primeape. You did great out there." he looked out at Ninetails, "Okay, let's try this again. Gengar, I choose you!" A moment passed before he knelt down and tapped his shadow, "Uh...Gengar? There's no Arcanine out here."

"Gar?" Gengar asked, peeking out.

"Yeah. Primeape beat him up with a punch. So it's a Ninetails now," Ash assured, gesturing to said Ninetails that was simply tilting her head.

"OH~...Gengar!" Gengar grinned as he hopped out of Ash's shadow and returned to the field.

"(Oh, you're the one who won by pranking that Kadabra)," Nintails noted with a giggle, "(I do enjoy a fellow prankster's craft. Mayhaps later on we may trade ideas, no?)"

"(Ohh~ Tempting~)" Gengar grinned at that..

"And begin!" Brock declared.

"Shadow Ball!" Ash called before Gengar formed a Shadow Ball and quickly threw it.

"Psyshock Deuce!" Blaine declared.

The Psyshock appeared before Ninetails and quickly fired a barrage upon the Shadow Ball, causing it to go off before it could hit her. The smoke was dispersed by a second one that came at Gengar, who screamed in fright and quickly pulled out a top hat and cane and started to dance to avoid the hits. Luca facepalmed, earning the attention of the spectators.

"While he's dodging, he's singing that song that cartoon Palpitoad sings when no one but that one man is around," Luca explained with a sigh.

"Pfft…" Makoto forced in a laugh as Cherry and Berry, wearing a mountaineer-themed outfit, started laughing for her, 'Even in another world, Looney Tunes will never not be hilarious!'

"(Starting to see why that Kadabra had so much trouble with you…)" Ninetails muttered a bit, hiding her amusement behind a tail.

"Zauberei (Spellcraft)!" Blaine declared.

'German?' Tsubaki and Kajun thought in surprise.

Ninetails smirked as her tails fanned out. On each tip, purple flame erupted from them. Her eyes glowed and Gengar began to dance-dodge the Psyshock. As he landed after the attack ended, he yelped as the purple fireballs slammed into his behind, making him scream and jump into the air while grabbing his behind once more. She then did a small tap on the floor before the sun began to shine brighter.

"Interesting…She used Psyshock as an opening move to lull Gengar into not paying attention to the Will-O-Wisp and finished it with a Sunny Day," Kajun noted, her Pokemon Move notebook out once more, "It does explain why he named it 'Spellcraft' since doing all three of those at one time could be considered a spell finely crafted."

"Will-O-Wisp?"

"It's a Ghost-Type move that leaves a Burn on the opponent," Tsubaki explained, "I've been trying to do something with Izayoi with it."

"...As long as it doesn't spook Kenny," Noel muttered.

"Kenny?" Mai repeated.

"My Fennekin," Noel replied, said Fire-Type mewling at hearing their name.

"Don't worry. It's not that scary," Tsubaki assured.

"Kochen (Boil)," Blaine ordered.

Ninetails growled before slamming its tails down hard on the ground, letting loose a blast of scorching sands from the impact, landing underneath Gengar as he hopped around. He landed behind first on the sand…before screaming and shooting up into the air again as fire erupted from his behind.

"What was that?" Ash blinked.

"Was that…Scorching Sands?" Kajun pondered

"Scorching Sands?" Makoto repeated.

"A Ground Type move that can actually leave a burn," Kajun explained.

"Hey, Ninetails is doing something else," Misty noted, seeing Ninetails spread her tail out once more as fireballs with demonic faces erupted from the tips, "Gh!? Are those Fire-Type Gastly?!"

"Gastly?! Where?!" Luca growled, his eyes glowing as he looked around.

"Luca, Luca, calm down. No Gastly," Tsubaki comforted, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"Nine~!" Ninetails cried out before unleashing the fireballs at Gengar, all of them cackling as they collided and created an explosion on impact.

"I believe that was Mystical Fire," Kajun noted as a grilled Gengar fell flat on his face in the hot sand, "A Fire Type moved believed to be exclusive only to the Fennekin line, capable of lowering a Pokemon's Special Attack."

"GENGAR~!" Gengar yelped as he jumped up into the air again, holding onto his face, "(Oh, it burns~! It burns us~!)" he froze and looked at the laughing Ninetails, "(You are so gonna get it…)" he then yelped as he quickly pulled out a fire extinguisher from his shadow and blasted the fire on his behind, "(Especially for the butt burn! This is almost as bad as the chili the old man on the ranch makes!)"

"(Not my fault you fall to my tricks so easily, jester,)" Ninetails quipped.

Gengar did a dramatic gasp at that, stopping everything for a moment as he shot a aghast look at her, "(How…DARE you!)" he narrowed his eyes before slapping his behind hard enough that the burn marks vanished, "(Of course you realize…this means war.)"

"(Then come at me, jester,)" Ninetail snickered before firing a Flamethrower that parried the Shadow Ball sent at her, letting out an explosion that made a 'wall' of smoke between the two sides.

For a moment, it was nothing but silence. Then, Mystical Fire erupted from the smoke on one side as a Dark Pulse unleashed itself on the other, dispersing the smoke and forcing the two Pokemon to dodge and retaliate against one another with flames, ghastly energies, psychic bursts, and a myriads of poisons and toxins…and a random kitchen sink filled with dishes that Ninetail caught in a Psychic and quickly returned that went through Gengar and into the volcano's lava below.

'Was that my kitchen sink?!' Blaine thought, his eye twitching behind his sunglasses before Ninetails got Gengar into a corner on the field and unleashed a Psyshock.

"(...Hey.)"

"(What?)"

"(Destiny Bond.)"

"!?" Ninetails's eyes widened as she tried to cancel the attack only for it to collide with Gengar, letting out an explosion that settled, revealing Gengar flat on his face with a white flag on his back held in place with a suction cup.

"Gengar is…" Brock began before a black and red aura appeared on Ninetails and she collapsed, swirls in her eyes, "H-Huh?"

"Destiny Bond," Blaine noted, "Even in defeat, he got a victory."

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle! The round is a Draw!" Brock declared.

"Yikes…Both of them are down three," Makoto noted with a cringe, "Wonder what Blaine's gonna show next."

"Hm…seems you keep impressing and surprising me, kiddo," Blaine chuckled a bit as he pulled out another Pokeball, "Still, there are some Fire Types that are not normally native to Kanto. This one I got during my vacation in Alola, and he's a real blast too!" He laughed as he tossed it, "Go Turtonator!"

What came out was a large, rotund Pokemon resembling a bipedal turtle of sorts with a spiky shell. Its skin was a muted green and only visible on its limbs, tail, head, and neck. On top of its head was an additional shell with many points around the brim. This extra shell had a black center, yellow in the middle, and a red outer rim. Its eyes had black markings around the bottom, and it had a tubular, yellow snout with a single, large nostril. Turtonator had a wide mouth with the lower lip marked by a jagged yellow line extending from its nose. On each side of Turtonator's long neck were two short, triangular projections. Its front legs had mitten-like hands, while its hind feet had claw-like red growths around them. Most of its tail was also covered by red plating, which had fin-like projections. The shell that encased its body had a red underside with a star-shaped, yellow-rimmed hole in the center. The back of the shell had a yellow center with several spikes: four large spikes with red bases formed a star shape in the center with four smaller spikes around them.

"Turtonator!" the Pokemon bellowed as Ash took out Dexter once more.

=Turtonator, the Blast Turtle Pokemon. This Pokémon resides on volcanoes, where it camouflages itself among the rocks and waits for prey. In addition to hunting, Turtonator also feeds on sulfur and other volcanic materials. This diet rich in explosive material has contributed to a layer of explosive material in its shell. This diet also makes Turtonator's feces dangerously explosive= Dexter informed =When prey steps onto its shell, it strikes itself with its own tail to cause an explosion. The explosion is ignited by sparks from the spikes on its shell and released through the hole on its chest. This orifice also acts as Turtonator's weak point. Its explosive capabilities are dampened by the rain, however, so it takes refuge in caves on rainy days. It is also capable of spewing poisonous gas and flames from its nostrils=

"Turtonator," Ash repeated the name before grinning, "Alright then! Squirtle, I choose you!"

"Squirtle~!" Squirtle cheered as he came out before looking up at Turtonator while lowering his sunglasses, "(Well, ain't you a big turtle…)"

"(Why thank you. Neat sunglasses. Really like how pointy they are.)"

"(...Not gonna ask if they're from an anime?)"

"(What's anime?)"

"(...I think I like you a lot)," Squirtle grinned, "(But we're in a battle, ain't we?)"

"(Yep. No hard feelings on winning or losing?)"

"(None whatsoever.)"

"And begin!" Brock declared.

"Squirtle, Water Gun!"

"Squir…!"

"Protect," Blaine grinned.

"TUR!" Turtonator grunted as he stood tense, the Water Gun spraying right onto his shell…and yet it did nothing to it.

"What the…?!" Ash gawked.

"Hmm…I was afraid of such a twist…" Kajun muttered, "I believe this Pokemon is part Dragon Type."

"Dragon-Type?!" Ash gawked.

"That's correct!" Blaine declared, "Even if you got past my Pokemon's Protect, Turtonator would have barely felt a thing as they are amongst the tankiest Pokemon in the world! But before we continue…I have a question for you. Have you noticed how much brighter it is out here?"

"Huh? Uh…Yeah, come to think of it," Ash noted.

"My Ninetails had the Ability Drought and held a special kind of rock that was first discovered in Unova that, when a Pokemon holds it, can increase the time of a weather-affecting move," Blaine explained, "And tell me…what moves get enhanced in the sun that normally take time to charge?"

"Uh…Oh! Solar Blade and Solar Be-!" Ash began before it dawned on him, "...Uh oh."

"Turonator, Solar Beam!"

"Tur…!" Turtonator began as energy began to build up around his nose.

"GH! Squirtle dodge it!" Ash panicked.

"Squir?" He blinked as he jumped to the side just as a massive green-tinted beam fired at him, the beam grazing him and flinging him off across the field while it carried on and slammed into a wall of the volcano, "TLE?!"

"Whoa! That's insane!" Makoto gawked, "That was a lot faster than when Bulbasaur showed it when we saw all those Ivysaur and that Venusaur!"

"That's because when Sunny Day or when a Pokemon's Drought effect is out, Solar Blade and Solar Beam do not need time to charge in order to attack," Kajun explained, "It was how Erika's Lurantis was able to do the former after her Gloom used Sunny Day."

"Oh right…" Makoto recalled.

"So if normal Water-Type moves can't handle it…" Ash frowned, "...Ah! Squirtle, Shell Missile!"

"Squirtle!" Squirtle salted before going into his shell.

"Tur?" Turtonator pondered before Squirtle spun around and fired a Water Gun out, sending him right into Turtonator's face and nearly making him fall over from the impact, "NATOR?!"

"Now while you're in his face, Rapid Spin!" Ash called.

"Nice try," Blaine grinned a bit, "Shell Trap!"

"Shell Trap?" Ash repeated before he noticed Turtonator's shell beginning to glow, "?!"

"Turton…" Turtonator growled before he exploded in a fiery blast that sent Squirtle crashing into a pillar, "ATOR!"

"Oh! That's the Signature Move of the Turtonator line," Kajun gasped, looking at her Pokemon notebook and Pokemon Move notebook, "If a Pokemon delivers physical damage to Turonator when it activates, not only does Turtonator receive no damage, but the attacking Pokemon receives it instead!"

"Eh?! So he's basically an exploding tank!" Makoto gawked.

"Ash needs to figure something out fast, otherwise he's gonna be stuck on this Pokemon alone," Misty muttered.

"Gh…So a move that can block my attacks…and a Typing matchup that's bad for Squirtle…" Ash whispered, his face scrunched up in thought, "Mmm…Oh! I think I've got it! Squirtle, return!"

"Hm?" Blaine pondered, watching as Squirtle was brought back into his ball.

"Pikachu, I choose you!" Ash called.

"Pika!" Pikachu cheered as he jumped back onto the field and growled, his cheeks sparking.

"Wait…what's Ash doing?" Misty blinked as Togepi happily chirped upon seeing Pikachu, "Dragon Types are resistant to Electric Type Moves."

"Yes, but…" Tsubaki began as it began to click with her, "Considering how defensive Turtonator is…chances are it's really slow, too."

"Okay, let's go with Obscure!" Ash called.

"Pika!" Pikachu declared as he flashed before shooting around, leaving behind duplicates of himself all over that Turtonator was trying to look at all at once.

"Tir…tir! Tir…!" Tirtonator growled as he tried to catch up…only to groan as his eyes were soon replaced with swirls.

"Now! While he's confused on which one's you, use Zap Cannon on the star on his chest!" Ash called.

"Hm? Of course! Lt. Surge's battle showed your Pikachu capable of that!" Blaine recalled, "Turtonator, Protect quickly!"

"Tur…?" Turtonator groaned as he tried to shake off the dizziness, only to tense up when Pikachu blurred right in front of him, "?!"

"Pika-pika…" Pikachu spoke as his cheeks rapidly flashed with electrical currents before he let loose his Zap Cannon, "PIKACHU!"

The blast slammed right into the star-shaped opening on Turtonator's chest. For a moment, everything was still…before Turonator cried out as he was knocked into the air and slammed through a pillar before crashing into the wall, leaving him stuck in it.

"Tur…ton…ator…" Turtonator groaned as his head slumped, swirls in his eyes.

"Turonator is unable to battle! Pikachu wins!" Brock declared.

"My word…a single Zap Cannon did a one hit knockout?" Blaine asked, his eyes wide in surprise, "Wherever did your Pikachu learn such a powerful attack?"

"Um…Would you believe me if I said it was from a giant Dragonite that lives in Cerulean Cape after we helped him become friends with Bill?" Ash asked.

"Ah, so you were involved with that new Dragonite and Eevee sanctuary!" Blaine realized, "But the power behind that attack…" he rubbed his chin in thought, "It reminds me of old scriptures my old friend and I found when we went to Sinnoh and uncovered a time capsule from when Jubilife City was a mere village, speaking of two styles that could enhance a Pokemon's attacks if they had truly Mastered a Move."

"Really?" Ash blinked as Kajun paid close attention to this.

"Yes. In fact, Sinnoh wasn't even referred to as such back then," Blaine chuckled a bit, "From what we uncovered, it was once known as...oop. Silly me…I got lost in my thoughts there."

'Probably memories of his friend who had the mansion here…' Makoto thought, her ears drooping as she remembered the journal notes the girls had found in said mansion.

"Well, I'm down to two Pokemon left while you have three," Blaine noted as he took out the last Pokeball on his belt beneath his lab coat, "To be honest, it does an elder like myself good to feel this form of excitement." he expanded the Pokeball and tossed it out, "Come out, all the way from the Unova Region, Chandelure!"

The flash from the Pokeball soon was replaced by an eerie purple glow which soon faded to reveal a pokemon which resembles a black chandelier, its two curved arms having two torch extensions lit with ghostly purple fire, and its large rounded centerpiece flashed with the eerie purple flames which escaped from a crown like opening at the top, and two yellow eyes opening as it looked down at Pikachu, before they angled into a smiling expression.

"P-pika?" Pikachu blinked, feeling unnerved from the expression as the Pokemon stared him down.

=Chandelure, the Luring Pokemon, and the final form of Litwick. Chandelure's flames do not burn their victims physically; rather, they burn the victim's spirit. After hypnotizing its opponent by waving these flames, it absorbs the victim's spirit. It is said that any spirits that get incinerated by Chandelure's flames end up losing their way and are forced to wander the mortal world forever. Chandelure is known to reside in rundown mansions. There is a rumor that funerals were a constant occurrence for people that lived in homes that were illuminated by Chandelure in place of lights= Dexter informed.

'Well that's not…morbid at all…' Mai thought before squeaking, "M-Makoto…"

"I am freaking out…" Makoto whimpered, hands squeezing Mai's chest while her tail was sticking straight up and her squirrel duo hugging each other and peeking out with their own tails sticking up.

"Yuki," Noel sighed.

"VUL!"

*FWOOSH!*

"Th-th-thanks…" Mai and Makoto stammered in the pile of melting snow they were under.

"Alright, we got this right bud!" Ash cheered.

"Pika!" he replied after shaking off the scare the Pokemon gave him.

"Alright Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Night Shade!" Blaine shouted.

"Chande~lure~!" the Pokemon's eyes suddenly flashed purple before blasting out a beam of dark energy which struck the Thunderbolt and pushed it back, making Pikachu gasp before he was struck by the phantom energy; making him cry out in pain and stumble back.

"Pikachu!?" Ash shouted in shock as Pikachu grunted to get back up.

"What happened?" Noel asked, confused.

"Night Shade is a move which is only as strong as the user…meaning Chandelure is incredibly powerful, much more than Pikachu is," Kajun explained.

"(Ugh…I feel both hot and cold at the same time…is this a Ghost-Type thing)?" Pikachu groaned to himself.

"(Cha~chachacha…ara~ You are a strong little Pikachu. You must have been through some intense training if you can handle my signature opener~?)" Chandlure taunted floating around Pikachu, "(Either you have nerves stronger than a Steelix…or you're some kind of thick skulled dummy~?)"

"(It's the former!)" Pikachu declared.

"(Cha~chachacha~ My my~ You are fast to reply. You and your trainer sure seem alike? But you both seem to lack some class. Oh, but you make up for it with cuteness~)"

"Pika!"

"Are the Pokemon trash talking?" Makoto blinked seeing Pikachu getting riled up.

"You good to keep going Pikachu?" Ash asked in concern.

"Pika-pi!"

"Cha~chachacha~" Chandelur laughed.

"Begin the battle!" Brock declared.

"Pikachu, let's go for a big hitter! Try Zap Cannon!" Ash shouted.

"Pika!"

"Chandelure, use Shadow Ball!" Blaine shouted.

"Chande~!" Chandelure raised its arms as a massive orb of dark energy began forming over its head.

With that, both attacks were fired and collided into a giant explosion. Pikachu grunted as the shockwave pushed him back a bit. He opened his eyes only to blink as purple wisps of fire surrounded him. He looked around as the smoke cleared to show Chandelure now right in front of him.

"Will-O-Wisp!" at that, Chandelure's flames grew and shot at Pikachu, enveloping him in purple flames, "Now Hex!"

Chandelure raised its arms as it formed a mass of black energy with a red light in the center that almost looked like an eye. The Ghost/Fire-Type then swung its arms down and tossed the mass of dark energy onto the purple flames around Pikachu, causing them to suddenly turn into pitch black flames which exploded.

"Pika~!" Pikachu screamed as he flew through the air, repositioning himself a bit as he landed against the side of the pillar, only to grunt when a few of his brand new burn marks begun to act up., "(Ugh…I hate the Burn Status…Charizard kept giving them to me as a Charmander and Charmeleon…I still owe him for the last one! He ruined a perfectly good bottle of ketchup, dang it!)"

"(Cha~Chachachacha~! Even after all that, you're still standing. My oh my~ You are such a glutton for punishment, little Pikachu~ I must appraise your skill and power, though. I've burnt away sturdier Rock-Types with that combo! But if it comes down to it, you've struggled against the little pony, and wasted most of your energy already on two Zap Cannons, so let's see how much longer your charge holds out, no~?)"

"(Wha-what are you talking about…I…I can do this all day…)" Pikachu gasped as he shook his head a little.

"Oh no…Pikachu's starting to look like he might pass out," Misty whispered in worry as Togepi gave a worried chirp.

"Pikachu? Are you sure you're okay?" Ash asked out of concern.

"Pika!" he shook his head and stood at the ready.

"Seems that Pikachu is mighty confident, just like its trainer. But who are we to deny it the battle it wants?" Blaine cheered, "Chandelure, Flamethrower!"

"Thunderbolt, quickly!" Ash called.

"Chande~/Pika!"

With that, a stream of purple fire collided with a golden bolt of electricity. Both pushed back and forth against one another as a glowing mass of hot plasma formed between the two attacks. Suddenly, the flamethrower began gaining ground in their struggle before pushing the Thunderbolt back and swallowing Pikachu within the spectral flames. An explosion went off within before the flames dispersed, leaving Pikachu, covered in small burns, to stumble before collapsing, swirls replacing his eyes.

"Pikachu is unable to battle! The winner is Chandelure!" Brock declared.

"Oof…" Makoto cringed as Koko gently picked up Pikachu with Psychic and carried him over to lie in Kajun's lap as she took out some medical supplies, "That was intense. They're tied up again."

"Yeah…and who knows what Blaine's last Pokemon is," Mai added.

"I must admit, it's been a while since I was whittled down to two of my strongest partners left." Blaine spoke up, "You've impressed me so far, but let's see how you pull yourself out of this, young man."

'I gotta be careful with his Pokemon's moves…' Ash thought as he pulled out Squirtle's Pokeball, "Squirtle, go!"

"Squirtle!" Squirtle shouted as he landed on the floor.

"And begin!" Brock declared.

"Chandelure/Squirtle, Flamethrower/Water Gun!" Blaine and Ash ordered in unison.

With that, Phantasmal flames clashed with cool water filling the arena with steam as the two attacks gave out and negated one another due to one being stronger while the other was the natural elemental antithesis to the other. Beside Mai, Aqua popped out of her ball, surprising the bluenette.

"Aqua?" Mai pondered.

"Buizel. Zel-bui-bui."

"She says that she couldn't properly see it in her Pokeball. And that Squirtle better win against Chandelure or she'll call their former teammates to tell them about it," Luca translated.

"(Cha~chachacha, seems the audience is quite harsh, oh how I love spectators! It's so boring when Trainers come on their lonesome. There's no one to entertain or shock when we win, or gasp~! When we sometimes lose)!" Chandelure cheered as he spun around excitedly, "(So come on then, little turtle. You seem like you have just as much spunk as the Pikachu…that or you've used Skull Bash one to many times~)"

"(...Oh…it's on now,)" Squirtle frowned a bit before whipping out his sunglasses, "(You can insult me….but you may not disrespect my buds like that, you tacky lamp.)"

"(Gasp~ Tacky~?! How dare you! For that, I shall flambe you!)" Chandelure's flame puffed up larger and brighter than before.

"(Yeah right, in case you've forgotten, I…am a Water-Type!)"

"Chandelure, Energy ball!"

"Squirtle!?"

"Oh dang!" Ash panicked, "Squirtle, dodge!"

"Lure!" Chandelute formed a mass of vibrant green energy before blasting it at Squirtle.

"(YIPE!)" Squirtle yelped, quickly going into his shell and fired off a Water Gun at the ground, sending him over the attack and at the chandelier-like Pokemon while popping out with his tail glowing, "(Iron Tail to the crack on your face!)"

"(A crack?! WHERE?!)"

*BAM! CRACK!*

"(...Oh…that crack…)" Chandelure groaned, its face literally bashed in by Squirtle's Iron tail.

"(Haha! Got ya!)"

"(Hmm…yes…but…now that you're up close…how will you dodge a point blank attack?)" Chandelure asked as his arms quickly moved and trapped Squirtle in place, "(I believe the saying is…you done goofed~)"

"...(Or did I?)" Squirtle grinned.

"(Beg pardon?)"

"Squirtle, use Scald!"

"(Well, that's new)," Aqua noted in surprise as Squirtle unleashed a scalding blast of pressurized water into Chandelure's face.

"(Ugh…I think he said he…learned it from one of the Pokemon…Gary caught that's on the ranch)," Pikachu groaned.

"You alright?" Luca asked.

"(I got blasted…by ghost fire…what do you..think?)"

"...Point taken," the Lucario muttered.

"(It's wet and burns! It's an oxymoron! AH!)" Chandelure panicked as he quickly threw Squirtle away.

"(I'm surprised Ashton didn't have him use Hydro Cannon)," Koko noted.

"(It hurts…his throat too much…)" Pikachu explained.

"(Ahh…)"

"Alright, Squirtle! Let's give it everything we got!" Ash called out, "Water Cracker!"

"Squirt!" Squirtle shouted as he tucked into his shell, rapidly spinning in place as jets of water shot out of each of his holes, propelling him around the area as he did a u-turn right towards Chandelure. Just as Chandelure looked up from rubbing its face, it was smacked into by the spinning water-spewing shell, sending it rocketing towards one of the pillars as it crashed right into it.

"Todesschrei (Death Scream)," Blaine commanded.

Chandelure let out a Screech, making Squirtle stumble back, unaware of his shadow connecting to the Ghost/Fire-Type's for a moment.

"?! Oh crud that's…!" Ash began in realization just as Chandelure slumped over with swirls in its eyes…followed by Squirtle as he followed suit into unconsciousness.

"Both Pokemon are unable to battle!" Brock called out, "This round is a draw!"

"Wh…what just happened?!" Makoto gawked…peeking out from behind Mai as Noel and Misty hid behind Makoto in turn.

"I think that might've been Screech combined with Destiny Bond," Tsubaki noted, "...Meaning Blaine pulled what Ash did to him earlier in the match."

"And now they're both down to their last Pokemon," Kajun added as both Ash and Blaien called back their Pokemon.

"...You know, I never thought I'd be pushed this far with my Eight-Badge team from a Trainer who only started nearly a year ago," Blaine noted with a low chuckle, "Also been a good long while since the ol' boy stretched his legs."

"Ol' boy?" Ash repeated.

"My most powerful Pokemon, my trusted partner, and…my Starter," Blaine replied as he looked down at the lava in the volcano below, "During our trip to Sinnoh, we discovered a means to evolve him...and he's never been more powerful since he was a Magby." It's time, my friend!" he swung an arm up to the sky, "Come forth, Magmortar!"

"MAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGG!-!-!-!-!" a roar bellowed from within the volcano that made the area feel like it was about to erupt from its shakes.

The center of the hanging field glowed before the Pokeball emblem in the center opened, exposing a hole to the magma below within. A pillar of magma erupted from the lava below and shot through the opening that closed behind it. The now glob of magma crashed down into the field, quickly hardening into obsidian. Cracks formed in the obsidian before, with another bellow coming from within it, it shattered and revealed a behemoth of a Pokemon. It was a large, vaguely humanoid, red-and-yellow-striped Pokémon with an egg-shaped body. It had pink lips on its dark face with yellow, tubular arms sporting a black 'band' on both and three small claws on the black part of each 'hand.' Its legs were small in proportion to its body with pink thighs, red feet, and black shackles around the ankles. It had one large yellow flame on its head, as well as large red flames on its shoulders and tail. Additionally, it had four pink spikes on its back.

"MMMMMAGMMMMMORTARRRRRR~!-!-!-!" the Pokemon bellowed, pumping its arms while reeling its head to the sky above.

=Magmortar, the Blast Pokemon, and the final evolved form of Magby. Known in ancient times of Sinnoh as 'Booburn,' Magmortar have an organ that resembles a magma chamber within their bodies. When Magmortar prepares to shoot fire from its hands, the claws are capable of disappearing into its skin, forming a pressurized cannon. It blasts fireballs of over 3,600 °F (2,000 °C) burning foes to a blackened crisp, though avoids this method when hunting prey. Magmortar increases its body temperature by inhaling deeply, increasing the fire burning with its belly. When firing, its body can turn into a whitish hue from the intense heat. Its arm starts melting when it fires a whole barrage. It lives in volcanic craters, with a single pair of male and female Magmortar occupying one= Dexter informed = Magmortar is used in some factories in order to process metal=

"HOLY MILTANK!" Makoto yelped before groaning as she nearly collapsed from the sudden increase of heat, "Ugh…Too hot~"

"Vul~" Yuki whined as she was starting to sweat heavily.

"Toge…" Togepi whimpered, feeling just as bad as Yuki.

"O-Oh dear…" Noel gasped before Celsius and Umi popped out of their balls.

"Milo~" Umi sang as a tiny cloud appeared above the audience before Celsius fired a blast of ice into it, causing the cloud to start producing a snowfall on the audience.

"Pri~" Togepi chirped in relief when they felt the cool snow hitting them.

"What was with that heat…?" Mai whispered.

"His Magmortar must live in the volcano itself and brought the heat from down below up here," Kajun guessed.

"It's…It's a walking volcano Pokemon…" Tsubaki muttered, feeling the discomfort of the sudden rise in heat herself, "It must be his strongest partner."

"He did say this was his Starter," Luca added.

"And this thing evolved from something less literally hot?!" Makoto gawked.

"Magmortar are a rare evolution that requires a unique item for them to achieve this new form. Not unlike Eevee and some Pokemon needing a stone," Kajun explained.

"She is correct," Blaine nodded, "In this case, an item known as a Magmarizer is needed to evolve Magmar-the mid stage between Magby and Magmortar-into its final stage."

"Wow…I thought just stones could do that," Ash muttered, "Well guess this has gotta be strong, so let's go, Charizard!"

"Oh?" Blaine pondered in interest as Ash let out his most powerful Fire Type Pokemon, "This should be an interesting match."

"(A Charizard, eh? Heh…)" Magmortar began with a grin, "(Haven't fought one of those in a long while. Question is are you a matchstick…or a roaring fire?)"

"(You can bet your volcano I'm a raging inferno)," Charizard growled as Blaine narrowed his eyes upon spotting his former blanket-turned-scarf…and the Charizardite X peeking out of it.

"Oh? Quite the fashion statement your Pokemon has," Blaine noted.

"Thanks! And I get the feeling that if we don't go all to, we're gonna get beaten fast," Ash noted before holding his Mega Glove up, "So we're not holding back!"

"!?" Blaine's eyes widened under his glasses as Ash put two fingers to the Key Stone in it, 'That glove…!'

"Let's go, Charizard!" Ash called out as the Mega Stone and Key Stone resonated once more, "Evolution beyond Evolution! Mega Evolve!"

"Man…No matter how many times I see this, it never gets any less awesome!" Makoto awed as Charizard Mega Evolved before pouting, "We really need to get to Pallet Town after Ash gets his Badge. I wanna see a Mega Needles, dang it."

"(Now that's what I'm talking about!)" Magmortar laughed as he grinned in excitement, "(To go all out is an excellent way to battle! Have at thee, dragon born from evolution's evolution!)"

"And Begin!" Brock called…hiding behind Onix who was curled up around him as a shield of sorts.

"Flamethrower!" both Ash and Blaine declared.

With that, two streams of fire collided with one another, causing a massive explosion which set most of the arena ablaze. Both Fire-Types were unaffected by the blast as they stared the other down. With that, both rushed and collided, their claws clashing as they tried to overpower the other with brute force.

"Slash/Dragon Claw!"

Magmortar's 'claws' extended out and began to glow as M-Charizard's claws were engulfed in the green draconic energy claws. The two swung and collided their claws with one another, letting out a shockwave from the impact that cracked the gym floor and several of the pillars. The two jumped back before rushing and striking their claws back and forth, as the very arena around them began scratching up from their swings. A final strike from both resulted in them ending up grappling together as several pillars collapsed into the magma below. Magmortar grinned before releasing Charizard's claws and jumped over him.

"Behind you!" Ash called.

M-Charizard attempted to turn around, only for Magmortar to grab him from behind, wrapping his arms under Charizard's arms and grappling his hands together behind his neck, "(Not bad, young dragon. Should you prevail with what comes next, I highly recommend you going to Johto after the Indigo League. You may find yourself as you are as a Sharpedo in a pond surrounded by the vast ocean just past the ring of land.)"

M-Charizard grunted as he tried to get out of the hold, "(What comes next? Yeah, I think I know what comes next…Me kicking your ass!)"

Magmortar chuckled, "(I see…Well, let us see if that is true then!)"

"Magmortar, Body Slam!" Blaine ordered.

"(A Body Slam? That ain't much to m-wait, what are you…?)" M-Charizard began to ask before Magmortar jumped right over the edge, "(YOU SONUVA…!)"

"(BELLY FLOP~!)" Magmortar cackled as they fell into the lava below with M-Charizard first.

"Ah! Charizard!" Ash yelped, looking over the edge in shock.

"Calm yourself, young man!" Blaine called, "Don't you recall your Pokemon is a Fire/Dragon-Type at the moment? He'll be just fine. It's more of a nice hot springs to Fire-Types and a few Dragon-Types such as Dragonite or Salamence than an actual threat."

"...Is that true?" Makoto asked as she looked down at the relaxing Booster.

"Eon~"

"She says it feels very nice and she will Fire Fang anyone that tries to move her away from her spot here)," Luca translated and warned.

"...When did she learn Fire Fang?"

"Fla? Flareon-eon…"

"She asks 'What do you mean? It's just making fire cover your fangs while you use Bite, so it's not hard to learn it,'" Luca translated.

"...eh. Fair point," Makoto shrugged.

"Still, that was ingenious of Blaine's part," Kajun noted, "He's applied physics into that last attack. A normal Body Slam would be painful, yes, but he added several factors to it. First, the weight of Magmortar hitting Charizard. Then, the height distance between the top of the volcano where the gym floor is on and where the lava is. And finally, the impact site being a still liquid."

"Huh?" Makoto pondered.

"A still body of water or any liquid actually causes more injury instead of a surface that's been disturbed," Kajun explained, "What Blaine has essentially done is made Magmortar's Body Slam even stronger than a normal one."

"Kajun, you do realize that we'll have to come back to this place if Ash loses, right?" Mai asked, quirking a brow while pointing at Makoto, Togepi, and Yuki as Umi and Celsius made another snowfall on the group.

"Come on, Charizard…" Ash whispered, looking down at the lava below before it started to bubble in the area the two had fallen into, "Ah!" the lava exploded as M-Charizard roared, shooting up into the sky with Magmortar still grappling him.

"(Okay…That hurt…)" M-Charizard grunted, several bruises on his body, "(But it ain't no Sacred Fire from Ho-Oh or a Hydro Pump from a Suicune! HEY! BLUE BOY! Tell Ash that I learned some attacks from Primeape a little bit ago! Submission and Seismic Toss!)"

"I am not a blue boy," Luca grumbled before targeting his Telepathy at just Ash, "Ash, were you able to pick up anything from what he said just now? About Seismic Toss and Submission?"

"Huh?" Ash pondered, "Um…only a little bit, Luca. But what do you…" his eyes widened, "Oh! Charizard, go for Submission with a Fire Spin!"

M-Charizard grinned before unleashing a blast of intense spiraling blue flames that engulfed him and Magmortar before he started to spin rapidly within, making sure to 'press' Magmortar against the flames.

"Oh! What's this now?" Blaine pondered in shock.

"And now Seismic Toss mixed with Dragon Claw!"

"(Hope you didn't eat today! Because your lunch is about to come hurling out!)" M-Charizard warned as he began to, while still spinning in the Fire Spin, start performing loops in a single spot in the sky.

"(G-Gotta make…a counterforce…)" Magmortar grunted, managing to aim an arm ahead before his eyes widened as M-Charizard forced himself out of Magmortar's hold and grappled him with Dragon Claws covering his hands, the energy digging into the volcanic Pokemon's arms.

"(What goes around…)" M-Charizard growled before he threw Magmortar down towards the gym floor before shooting down and striking Magmortar in the chest with both his claws, causing their fall to speed up, "(COMES AROUND!)"

"MOR!" Magmortar grunted as he and M-Charizard slammed into the gym floor, shattering it, before going back into the lava once more, resulting in a big splash of lava as it rose up into the air. A few moments passed before both Pokemon shot up out of the magma and landed on the arena, glaring at each other down as they panted, "(...Not bad, young dragon…)"

"(Heh…Th-Thanks, ya old volcano…)" M-Charizard replied, weakly grinning, "(You said…Johto, right? Any reason…why?)"

"(When I was…a Magby, Blaine and I…found a valley of Charizard who…train to become Alphas…)" Magmortar replied, "(Charizific…Valley…)"

"(...Got it…)" M-Charizard nodded.

"(Good…)" Magmortar chuckled before he groaned and collapsed, swirls replacing his eyes, "Tar…"

M-Charizard panted before letting out a loud roar while firing a blast of flames into the air as he reverted back to Charizard.

"Magmortar is unable to battle! The winner of this Gym Battle is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!" Brock declared, peeking out from behind Onix as the rock snake scooted the partially melted Stone Edge he made to avoid the lava splash into the lava below.

"We did it…we did it!" Ash cheered.

"WHOO! Way to go Ash!" Makoto cheered on...before plopping back down in her seat to feel the cool air once more, "Now can we please leave..pretty sure I might get a cold from all these rapid temperature changes…"

"But of course," Blaine assured before sheepishly rubbing the back of his head while returning Magmortar into a Pokeball, "In my excitement at having a new Trainer finding my new Gym, I forgot to grab a Volcano Badge for said Trainer from my old Gym." he sighed, "I just had to toss the key for my old Gym into that abandoned mansion…"

"Key? …O-Oh! Um, excuse me!" Noel called, earning his attention as she pulled it out, "Do you mean this key?"

"Hm? Ah yes! That's it!" Blaine replied, "Thank you!"

---

"Hm? You called them Burnasaur and Vulcasaur?" Blaine asked, the group approaching his old Gym.

"Uh-huh! They look like Bulbasaur, but they're Fire-Types!" Makoto replied, "And we are not going back in there, Ash!"

"Aw~" Ash whined, a healed up Pikachu back on his shoulder.

"I'll have to check on them later on," Blaine noted, "A new type of Bulbasaur is quite interesting. Could they have been descendants of wild Bulbasaur that came to live on this island? What ramifications could this have? Ah…" he shook his head with a small fond smile, "It's been so long since I last enjoyed a good Pokemon study." he stopped before his old Gym and unlocked it, "There we go." he opened the doors, revealing an old stage resembling a game show of sorts combined with a Pokemon Gym floor, "I can't believe I forgot to restock from my supply that I keep stocked in here. I might be getting old. …Eh, I'll retire when I can't take the volcano heat anymore."

"Huh? This kinda looks like a game show," Makoto noted.

"That's because it was once," Blaine chuckled, "I'd ask Trainers five riddles and they'd have to guess three of them correctly before we would battle."

"Hah?!" Ash gawked.

"Yes. In my younger days, Gyms used to have a secondary task of sorts to them outside of the hidden one each Gym uses," Blaine noted as he approached the podium for the game show host, "Pewter used to have a maze of stones that would change every five minutes and you'd have to get through it in those five minutes."

"Now we just make the Gym floor pop out from the sides to surprise Zero Badge to Two Badge Trainers," Brock chuckled.

"Why the change?" Makoto asked, "Was it 'cause less and less people could get through them?"

"No. OSHA compliance changed," Blaine sighed.

"That was not the answer I was suspecting…" Makoto muttered to her friends.

"Nope/Nuh-uh/Agreed/Underwhelming almost," the girls from another world all nodded.

"It's kinda neat. I think I would've enjoyed seeing this Gym back in its heyday," Misty noted as she looked around before blinking twice upon spotting a photo hung up nearby, showing a younger Blaine with a Magmar doing a silly pose for a little amber-haired girl…with Mr. Fuji, having a full head of hair and a lab coat similar to Blaine's on him, an arm wrapped over an amber-haired woman's shoulders, "Huh?"

"What's up?" Ash asked.

"Isn't that…?" Misty pointed at the photo, earning the attention of the others.

"Ah! Here they are!" Blaine beamed as he poked his head out with a small box.

"MR. FUJI?!"

"H-Huh?!" Blaine jumped as he noticed the group looking at the photo, "Oh!" he sighed as he walked over, "That was from happier times, before that one Trainer found those hot springs. That mansion across the street was once owned by my late friend, Tobio Fuji. He was the one who created the prototype of the device the scientists here on Cinnabar now use to revive Pokemon from fossils." he sighed, "It was a tragedy for them."

"But…we've seen Mr. Fuji," Ash noted as he held up his Mega Glove, "He gave Makoto and me these Mega Gloves."

"Mine's over at Professor Oak's since he wanted to study the Key Stone," Makoto noted.

"What?! May I please see it?" Blaine asked, quickly looking at Ash.

"Yeah," Ash nodded as he took his Mega Glove off and held it to him.

Blaine quickly accepted it and looked inside, "...This is Tobio's." he turned it around and pulled the opening back a bit, showing an intricate symbol of a beak coming from a fireball, "When we went to Kalos, we had these personalized with a symbol of our friendship." he gulped, "W-Where did you find him?"

"Lavender Town. He takes care of the Pokemon Tower where Gastly and Haunter live and where I caught Gengar," Ash replied.

"He has amnesia and can't really remember much," Kajun added.

"...Lavender Town…" Blaine chuckled, tears welling in his eyes, "To think…h-he's still alive." he shook his head and handed the Mega Glove back, "Here. Tobio gave that to you, so it is yours to keep."

"Um…Thanks," Ash awkwardly replied, accepting the glove once more.

"Pika-pi? Pika! Pika!"

"Did Pikachu just figure out what Blaine was talking about?" Misty blinked.

"Pika!" Pikachu ran around in a panic.

"Nope…he thinks he's a ghost…" Makoto realized with a small smile.

"I may have to close my Gym for a bit to go see him, see…no," Blaine shook his head, "It's…probably better he never remembers."

"Huh? Remembers what?" Misty asked.

"About what happened to Mew and his family, correct?" Kajun asked, causing Blaine to look at her in surprise, "When we went in there to look for Soren, Tsubaki's Lycanroc that evolved yesterday after running off, we ended up finding old journal pages." Tsubaki took out the papers and offered them to the Gym Leader, "What we managed to salvage, it's…not a pretty tale and why you don't want to remind him."

"Mew?" Brock pondered as Ash pulled Dexter out and searched for an entry.

"...Please, keep this a secret between us," Blaine noted as he took the picture off the wall and out of its frame…before folding up a part of it, exposing Mew about to dump a bucket of coal on Magmar.

"!?" Ash, Misty, and Brock tensed on seeing it, Ash's Pokedex held up to the picture.

=Mew, the New Species Pokemon. No other data available= Dexter informed.

"We made sure to keep anything we learned about her quiet," Blaine shook his head, "Mew was able to use almost any Pokemon Move, even Transform. When we met her after a harsh storm sending us to the island we named New Island, she followed us back by turning invisible. Tobio's daughter, Amber, fell in love with Mew almost immediately…and then we had to start making rules about what she wasn't allowed to do with Mew." he shuddered, "Truly, never give Mew candy…"

"...Um…" Noel began before Blaine snapped out of it.

"It was honestly going spectacularly. But then…" he narrowed his eyes, his memories of a car in the middle of a bad storm, "...Things fell apart after Amber passed away. Tobio began to…he tried to bring her back, but…"

"But you tried to talk him out of it, but just decided to help him so he'd have someone there since his wife left," Tsubaki noted, earning a somber nod.

"After that, I learned that Tobio earned funding for his project to clone his daughter," Blaine went on, "I never met his new sponsor myself, but I did know that the next time I went to help after his sponsor came into the picture, he was planning on reviving another girl along with Amber."

"...Oh no…" Mai began in realization, "So then he…"

"The first attempt was a failure. At best, we managed to make their consciousnesses," Blaine replied, "Then a few days later, he had more chambers in his basement lab and told me he was going to try cloning Pokemon and see if he could use it for cloning the two girls to place those consciousnesses into. I decided to use that to try to get him to turn away from trying to bring them back, so I got him samples of a Bulbasaur, Charmander, and Squirtle. But then…"

"He tried cloning Mew," Tsubaki stated.

"Yes," Blaine nodded, "But while the clones of the three Kanto Starters seemed stable…the attempt to clone Mew utterly failed. More than likely, it was because you can't clone Legendary Pokemon…but you can modify that DNA by introducing a new sample."

"Huh? Um…I'm lost here," Ash admitted.

Blaine held up his bandaged hand, "Tobio was too far into it and I didn't want him to mutilate himself, so I offered some of my own DNA from my left hand. The DNA of Mew took to it and it created a new Pokemon. By the time it had stabilized, we now had more people that mysterious sponsor brought to assist in the project and more machinery to help with the cloning process. It seemed like everything was going well and the clones were all given the names BulbasaurTwo, SquirtleTwo, CharmanderTwo, AmberTwo, MuTwo…and Mewtwo."

"Mew…two…?" Noel repeated before cringing as she rubbed the side of her head, unnoticed by the others.

"Yes. Even in his infancy, Mewtwo had incredible psychic powers. His mind actually connected psychically to the other clones," Blaine noted, "It was as if they were all talking with one another. A few days went by, taking notes and studying this unusual phenomenon." he frowned somberly, "And then…BulbasaurTwo destabilized and died."

"!?"

"It seems that the process was…flawed. We couldn't get them to fully stabilize and after that, CharmanderTwo and SquirtleTwo died…Mewtwo's brainwave became erratic and only got worse when AmberTwo went next. We had to sedate Tobio when that happened," Blaine sighed, "MuTwo, however…it was a miracle in all honesty. She never passed on until Mewtwo was fully stabilized, as if she was doing everything she could, pouring all of herself into helping that one single clone."

"But…what happened to the mansion?" Ash asked, looking out a window at the ruined building.

"A day after Mewtwo stabilized and MuTwo passed, I went over and he was…gone," Blaine replied, "Everything was gone except for the original cloning machines we used. It looked as if the basement had been wrecked by something and there was blood and…and I was horrified and believed Tobio was now gone…that I'd never see him again…" he looked at the group, "Until all of you came here." he sighed again, "I'm honestly glad to hear that he's alive. Was he…happy?"

"You bet! He takes care of abandoned Pokemon in Lavender Town with some of the younger people that live there!" Ash beamed.

"He seemed to really love all the Pokemon there and the help he received from the townsfolk," Misty added.

"Good. That…that's honestly good to hear," Blaine weakly chuckled.

"...So what about this last clone? This…Mewtwo thing?" Brock asked.

"It's alive," Blaine replied, narrowing his eyes as he grabbed his left hand's wrist, "What none of us realized when I gave Mewtwo that sample was the connection we now have." he narrowed his eyes at his bandaged hand before unwrapping it…exposing a pale purple coarse fur on the back of it, veins in it throbbing and pulsing, "This hand of mine is connected, it lets me feel Mewtwo's existence in this world. When Mewtwo battles, it can feel the rush. What he feels, I can tell just faintly."

"Oh geez…" Makoto whispered with wide eyes.

"..." Luca narrowed his eyes at the hand before turning his head out to the north, "I can feel part of your Aura going to the north while another Aura is connected to your hand." he cringed as he stepped back from Blaine's hand, "Mr. Fuji wanted to clone a Legendary…and he succeeded."

"Huh?" Ash asked.

"Ash, close your eyes and hold my hand," Luca instructed before speaking again when Ash did, "I'm going to have you share my 'sight,' so focus on Blaine's hand."

Luca proceeded to close his eyes. His black growths spread out as Aura glowed in his shut eyes. After a few moments, Ash gasped and let go of Luca's hand before putting his hand to the side of his head as he cringed.

"Is that what you feel when around Legendaries like Suicune, Raikou, Entei, and Ho-Oh?" Ash asked in surprise.

"Yes," Luca replied, "But how did I not see this earlier?"

"I'm a Gym Leader. I worried about a Trainer fighting me with a Lucario or Riolu, so I made these bandages with a weave to hide Aura," Blaine explained as he covered his hand once more with them, "All of you…if your Lucario friend here ever senses that Aura again…stay away from it. The pains in my hand tell me it often fights with only small bits of time when he isn't. I fear that Mewtwo's creation…made a Pokemon that only cares to destroy."

---

"Master?" Serenade asked, looking up from the several chess boards she and Velvet were before and playing against the armored Pokemon that had turned their head to the south.

"Is everything alright, sir?" Velvet asked, "I'm sorry. W…Was that rude to ask?"

"...I'm alright. For a moment…I could have sworn I felt…a familiar presence," their teacher replied before rotation one of his fingers and the black chess pieces all moved a single piece on each board, "Checkmate on Boards 2, 5, and 11. Check on the rest."

"Ahh…well played once more, Master," Velvet nodded a bit.

'I know you're out there…Mu…' he thought, 'Soon…my friend…soon…'

---

SZ:...well that's not ominous at all…

Z0: Is it ever not?

GT: A lot of surprises this time. Bet none expected the Magmortar instead of a Magmar. Or that we had a full Party fight a full Party for this Gym Battle instead of it being 3-on-3 like the anime. But things have gotten a Roar of Time and Spacial Rend smashed against them.

SZ: Very much so. Also...possible tease for something involving the newest game~?

GT: Possible tease, yes. I mean, sweet bippy! I beat the main story so now I'm in post-game and still catching all the Pokemon to meet Arceus at the end. And fair warning, folks…the Cherubi mission sucks.

SZ: It really does…

GT: But aside from minor things, it's a pretty fun game and an interesting story. But we can do discussions on that on a later date. Things are building up now in this story.

Z0: Plot continues, let's see what happens next time.

GT: Aye, so please Read and Review, folks!

SZ: And to send you off..omake time!

---

Kajun's Pokemon Corner

The curtains rose up, revealing Kajun standing on the stage. However, instead of Hikari or Koko being there, Blaine stood beside her.

"Good day to you all. As always, I am Kajun Faycott and I am here to provide information on a Pokemon featured in this chapter. With me today is Blaine, Gym Leader of Cinnabar Island and researcher."

"Good day, folks," Blaine greeted, "I do hope I'm not causing any bother to you all, but the Pokemon today is a personal one of mine." he tossed a Pokeball up and Magmortar landed between them, "Magmortar."

"Mag~!" Magmortar beamed.

"You see…" Blaine spoke as he held up the remote and the screen showed a Magby, Magmar, and Magmortar, "Magmortar start off as Magby, the Live Coal Pokemon, before evolving into Magmar, the Spitfire Pokemon. Then, they are introduced to an item known as the Magmarizer and become Magmortar." he pressed a button and an x-ray machine lowered before Magmortar and turned on, revealing a series of organs with one beside the stomach resembling a magma chamber, "Magmortar have a unique organ to them that resembles a magma chamber. This chamber acts as a 'furnace' of sorts for Magmortar's power, which comes from consuming the lava of volcanoes that they inhabit." he pressed another button and the x-ray machine went back up, showing MAgmortar had been picking his nose with a law, where he quickly stopped and pretended he hadn't been picking his nose, as the screen changed, showing two Magmortar inside of a volcano, acting as a TV wedded couple, "Magmortar are quite rare because a single pair of male and female will ever inhabit the same volcano. This is meant to be a sign of their strength and should another come must defeat the one of their shared gender to live with the other Magmortar to breed."

Kajun pressed a button and the screen showed Magmortar firing attacks from his mouth and hands, "A Magmortar is capable of using Moves not only with its mouth, but its hands as well, acting as pressurized cannons of sorts. This is because the special organ in its body connects to not only the mouth, but the hands as well. Pokemon Nurses such as Nurse Joy are trained to make sure to avoid damaging the pathways that come from the organ to prevent any internal damaging to Magmortar."

"The one on Cinnabar has a lot of experience with that since she's been treating Magmortar since he had been a Magby," Blaine chuckled before the screen changed, showing Magmortar eating dug up alloys before his hands produced a liquid version of the allows, "Magmortar are often used to work at various factories, often used to process metals and alloys that are then used for other purposes."

"Very useful," Kajun noted as the screen changed showing Magmortar pulling off different moves, "As for how they are in battle, they are powerful Special Attackers with moves such as Flamethrower, Fire Blast and Lava Plume while learning moves such as Solar Beam, Psychic, Focus Blast, and even Thunderbolt."

"Most folks don't think about the chances that a Pokemon will know moves to deal with pesky Type Advantages," Blaine shook his head.

"Very true," Kajun nodded, "Magmortar also have two Abilities that it can use. Flame Body, which has a chance to leave a target with a burn should they use a physical move on them, and Vital Spirit, which prevents the Pokemon from sleeping. The former ability is also often used in helping Pokemon Eggs to hatch faster."

"Fortunately for everyone on the island, Magmortar has the former. The last time he became sleep deprived, we had to evacuate for a few days until he finally fell asleep," Blaine noted.

"TAR?!"

"Oh you know it's true, old friend," Blaine chuckled a bit.

"Tar-tar-mag!" Magmortart shook his head.

"I have videos of the moment with me and…" Blaine began before his eyes widened and he tackled Cajun off-stage before Magmortar used Lava Plume, destroying the scenery and camera.

---

Ash Ketchum: Pikachu [Starter], Pidgeotto(At Professor Oak's Ranch), Bulbasaur(Ay Professor Oak's Ranch), Charizard, Squirtle, Krabby, Eevee(At Professor Oak's Ranch), Gengar, Primape, Tauros(At Professor Oak's Ranch), Muk(At Professor Oak's Ranch)

Misty: Goldeen, Staryu, Starmie [Starter], Horsea, Psyduck, Togepi

Brock: Geodude, Onix [Starter], Zubat, Vulpix

Makoto Nanaya: Berry(Pachirisu) [Starter], Needles(Beedrill), Cherry(Emolga), Booster(Flareon), Honey(Buneary), Rumble(Tirtouga)

Noel Vermillion: Yuki(Alolan Vulpix) [Starter], Nymph(Sylveon), Umi(Milotic), Mary(Mareep), Kenny(Fenniken)

Tsubaki Yayoi: Luka(Lucario) [Starter], Astrea(Eevee, Izayoi(Honeedge), Soren(Lycanroc), Vale(Dratini)

Mai Natsume: Terra(Sandshrew) [Starter], Aqua(Buizel), Celsius(Glaceon), Ventus(Braviary), Raiden(Shinx), Nobel(Cubone)

Kajun Faycott: Hikari(Kirlia) [Starter], Koko(Espeon), Houdini(Zorua), Athena(Porygon), Confucius(Slowpoke)