Chapter 31: Festivals and Final Preparations
They made their way back to the Pokémon Center and Nurse Joy called Officer Jenny. May had to lie a bit, saying that she'd escaped and Harley was still out there. They got a description from her and were satisfied at least. But they'd never find Harley no matter how long they searched, because he'd died centuries ago. That almost made the couple want to laugh and it took all their self-control not to do so.
Once their questions were finally answered, Ash and May relaxed in the trainer lounge. Their Pokémon were taken to recover while they did so, and looking at the TV in the room they saw it showing the final day of the Grand Festival was underway. Ash spotted Serena among the final participants along with Drew, a woman with blue hair, and several others.
"Hey, that looks like Akari!" May exclaimed as she saw the woman with blue hair who indeed bore a striking resemblance to her former lady in waiting.
"And the final eight contestants for this years Grand Festival are Serena from Kalos, Dawn of Sinnoh, Solidad of Kanto and a few coordinators from our own fair land Hoenn, Drew, Janet, Chaz, Anthony, and Robert!" the reporter Vivian announced. "And now, the final matchups will be determined!"
The screen showed the board setting the trainers against each other. Janet was up against Anthony, Drew would face Dawn, Chaz against Robert, and Serena against Solidad.
"And now that we have our final results in, let the final set of matches begin!" Vivian announced.
And they did so with each trainer going into double battles. They couldn't hear the trainers command their Pokémon since they weren't in the actual stadium, but they saw the action nonetheless. Ash watched as Janet defeated Anthony with her Beautifly and Ninetails against his Swallot and Pinsir. Psybeam and Fire Spine Attacks flew from Janet's Pokémon, hitting Swallot and Pinsir respectively. Though Anthony did his best, the type advantage was too much and his Pokémon were defeated in the first minute.
"And Janet takes the first win!" Vivian reported. "Very quickly I might add!"
Next came Drew and Dawn. Drew's Flygon and Roserade against Dawn's Piplup and Buneary. That had more action to it. Piplup, the little blue Penguin Pokémon was at a bit of a disadvantage due to one his opponents in Roserade having the advantage of type. However, he had another trick up his sleeve, or fin. He used Bide, and absorbed the damage thrown at him when Drew's Roserade hit him with Magical Leaf. Now all the damage he took from the Super Effective move was paid back double! Drew tried to attack with Mega Drain, but it didn't really improve his situation since Piplup didn't go down, and Roserade hadn't taken much damage. Flygon meanwhile was facing Dawn's Buneary who shot a super effective Ice Beam at it, causing the dragon type to fall to the ground. It looked bad for Drew in that moment.
"Wow that Dawn is pretty tough," May said, impressed.
If she was a descendant of Akari, May had a feeling her old friend would be proud.
Piplup then unleashed the energy he'd gathered against Roserade and brought the grass type down, its own advantage proving to be its undoing this time. Drew then had Flygon aim a Dragon Claw attack at Piplup, which was enough to bring the penguin Pokémon down. Then it was just down to Flygon and Buneary. The latter shot an Ice Beam attack at the dragon, who countered with Flamethrower. For a moment it was unclear who would win, but soon the Flamethrower pushed back the Ice and hit Buneary who fainted. That grave Drew the win.
Next came Chaz and Robert. Chaz's Pokémon were Venomoth and Furret against Robert's Milotic and Arcanine. Though his Pokémon put up a valiant effort, Chaz was defeated and Robert advanced to the Top 4.
Finally came Serena who brought out her Vileplume and Delphox against Solidad's Lapras and Butterfree. Ash and May watched as Delphox called upon Sunny Day, which put Solidad's Lapras at a disadvantage since its water type moves were weakened by the immense sunlight. Lapras blasted Delphox with Hydro Pump, but it was too weak to do serious damage.
"And Serena turns up the heat with Sunny Day and weakens her opponents water type moves!" Vivian announced. "Smart and beautiful!"
"Go Serena!" Ash cheered raising a fist for his friend. "Way to take away her advantage!"
Butterfree used a Gust attack on Vileplume, which was still super effective and unaffected by the sunlight. However, Serena ordered her Vileplume to use Toxic, badly poisoning Solidad's Butterfree. Serena had certainly raised her Pokémon well and grown from when she and Ash parted ways. Butterfree soon took some poison damage that would get worse with every turn. Solidad tried to have Lapras counter the Sunny Day by using Rain Dance, just in time too as Delphox unleashed a powerful Fire Blast which was extinguished as the rain replaced the sunlight. Ash grit his teeth as he watched the screen. Serena's Vileplume also shot out Stun Spore that was washed away by the rain at the same time.
"And both attacks are washed away by the rain!" Vivian announced on her microphone. "The tide turns with the weather!"
Solidad's Butterfree took more damage from the Toxic and didn't look good. Serena ordered another Sunny Day from Delphox, and just in time as Solidad has Lapras use Hydro Pump. The rain vanished, but in that moment the weather changed back to sunny, the Hydro Pump was fully powered, doing significant damage to Delphox. Vileplume however, left off another Stun Spore at Lapras and made contact, slowing the large water type down. Butterfree shot a Psybeam at Vileplume and took out the grass type, before it too fainted from the poison. Now it was down to Delphox and Lapras. Delphox looked like it could barely stand, however, it also began to glow. Its ability Blaze was kicking in.
"Oh wow!" Vivian exclaimed. "Blaze and Sunny Day! That will make Fire type moves extra extra hot! But will it be enough for Serena to win?"
This was the moment of truth for this battle!
Serena ordered Delphox to use Fire Blast. Solidad tried to weaken at least one of the power boosters by calling Rain Dance again, but Lapras was paralyzed from the Stun Spore and unable to move as Delphox threw out its attack, a blast of fire that resembled a human body flew at Lapras and made contact. Thanks to it being part Ice type, Lapras's damage was not reduced and it took the full double powered up attack.
"And Serena wins!" Vivian stated. "Talk about a battle between dry and wet!"
The final four rounds occurred. Drew was beaten by Robert and Serena defeated Janet. That left Serena against Robert in the final match.
Ash and May watched in anticipation as the two finalists battled. Robert's Milotic and Claydoll against Serena's Sylveon and Pancham. It was hard battle for both sides, Sylveon being a Fairy Type was immune to Claydol's Psychic attacks which were also super effective against Pancham. It was hard battle with Milotic hitting Sylveon with an Aqua Tail and Claydol's Pyschic sending Pancham flying against the wall. But fortunately, Serena had some aces up her sleeve as well.
Sylveon sent out a breath of Fairy Dust at Claydoll and Pancham struck with a Thunder Punch against Milotic.
"Come on Serena!" Ash tightened his grip once again.
It was the moment of truth. Milotic sent a Hydro Pump at Pancham and Claydol used Mud Shot on Sylveon. For a moment it seemed they would be hit, but then Pokémon leapt over the attacks and at their opponents, landing their own super effective moves once again. Thunder Punch and Fairy Dust finished it and…
"Serena wins!" Vivian announced.
And so, Serena was presented with the ribbon cup on a grand stage and she bowed to the audience.
"She did it!" Ash said proudly.
"Yeah," May said, happy for her friend.
The event on TV was over, and Ash and May both felt their stomachs rumble. They had their evening meal and soon got an alert.
"Incoming call for Ash Ketchum," Nurse Joy's voice rang over the Pokémon Center Intercom.
Ash headed to the center phones and opened one of them to find Serena looking back at him. He smiled.
"Hey, congratulations on becoming Top Coordinator!" he said.
"Thanks! I'll be on my way to…" Serena stopped as she caught a glimpse of May behind Ash. "May! But… I thought?"
"It's a long story," Ash told her.
"But I'm safe now," May assured her.
Serena let out a breath of relief. "Well, that's good. I guess me and Drew can just come down to Ever Grand City and join you guys there or in Sootopolis. Are you going to be going there now or wait a while?"
Ash wondered. It was just one fairy ride to Ever Grand City now, and the competition wasn't for another couple weeks. Besides, there was one person he might like to wait for a little bit.
"I think I wait a little bit. May and I really spent a lot time hussling to make sure we this done quickly. I'm impressed we actually finished with some time to spare!" Ash said.
"Yes, and this city isn't so bad!" May said. "Plenty of beaches and water shows!"
Ash nodded. "I think we can probably explore what else it has to offer as well!"
Serena smiled. "Well, care if me and Drew come and join you?"
"Not at all!" Ash said.
"Oh, and we might bring a new friend along!" Serena said. "Dawn, one of the coordinators that made it into the Top 8! We really hit it off when we met before the competition."
"Great!" Ash said. "I look forward to meeting her."
"Yeah," May said. "That will be fun."
"Great! See you then!" Serena said. "Glad we'll have a chance to relax now and not have to search for a way to time travel!"
"Yeah, amen to that," Ash agreed.
The call ended. Ash and May went to their room and fell asleep, glad to be back in the comforts of this time. Serena, Drew and Dawn would take a couple days to get to Sootopolis by boat, so the couple went out and explored the city. They went through museums and watched another of Juan's Water Pokémon shows.
…
After a couple days, Drew and Serena arrived with their new friend Dawn in tow.
"Hello," Dawn greeted. "You must be Ash and May! Good to meet you! Serena told me all about you."
"All?" Ash asked nervously.
"Well, not quite everything," Serena putting a finger to her mouth to show she'd kept their secret.
"Oh, and that haven't you told me?" Dawn asked. "If it's a secret no need to worry I'm great at keeping those!"
May giggled. "Thanks, but I think I need to ask you something first. By any chance would you happen to have someone named Akari as your ancestor?"
Dawn's eyes widened. "Uh, yeah. She lived a few centuries ago and spent some time here if I recall correctly. She actually served under the royal family back in that time. After a big war happened, she returned to her home land, and mine in Sinnoh. She met her husband and they started a family, and eventually it led to me."
"Well, talk about a coincidence…" May said with a smile. "I'm from the royal hoenn family myself."
"What?" Dawn exclaimed.
Serena and Drew looked at Ash who ran two fingers over his mouth in a zipping manner. Understanding the silent message to play along, they remained silent.
"So, you're a descendant of the royal family my ancestor served?" Dawn asked.
"Yes," May replied.
"But… how do you know about my ancestor?" Dawn asked.
"I… did my research into my family. And especially my namesake Princess May," May lied.
She felt a bit of regret at all these lies, but it was necessary to maintain her cover in this new timeline that would now be her home forever. Nothing would ever take her back to her original time now.
"Wow, that's amazing!" Dawn said. "Talk about coincidence. Our ancestors were best friends as well as servant and mistress."
"Oh, it's no coincidence, but fate I think!" May declared.
"I like your attitude May!" Dawn said with a smile.
Ash smiled with the others as they saw the two forming a fast friendship.
"So, Dawn you up for some battling?" Ash asked. "I could use all the practice I can get with the Hoenn League coming up."
"Sure," Dawn said.
"We'll be happy to help as well in any way we can Ash!" Serena said.
…
And so the next couple weeks were spent enjoying the sights around the city, exploring everything it had to offer, and training amongst themselves. Ash's Pokémon learned some new, more powerful techniques to prepare them for the upcoming tournament. Castform in particular made good progress as it learned several different elemental attacks.
Ash smiled as he greeted a new day.
"Alright Castform time to put these past couple weeks training to the test."
"Cast!" the Weather Pokémon affirmed.
"Show me your new Bubblebeam!" Ash ordered.
Castform took a deep breath and shot out its new water type technique of multiple rapid bubbles. It had practiced that with Ash's Corphish as well as Dawn's partner Piplup. Took some time, as did the other techniques, but the end result had been well worth it.
"Good, now Fireblast!" Ash said.
Castform now threw a blast of fire that took on a similar shape to a human. A fiery pair of arms, legs, and a head at the top flew outward and eventually dissipated. That had been a gift from training with Delphox.
"Solarbeam!"
Castform reached up and gathered sunlight. It took a moment but soon it unleashed a bright yellow beam of energy.
"And Ice Beam!"
The final technique that it had learned from Glaceon. Castform blew out a blue beam that froze the water on the beach they were on.
"Excellent!" Ash said. "Looks like we got them all down. With your weather powers and these new moves being magnified, I think you can handle just any type of Pokémon you encounter Castform!"
"It certainly is useful to be able to call upon so many different types of attacks and power them up," Dawn agreed. "Most Pokémon can't use both water and fire attacks!"
"Yeah, you've really mastered them Castform," Serena praised.
"And just in the nick of time," Drew added. "We only got a few days till the league begins. Better think about leaving soon or we might not make it."
Ash sighed. "Well, I was hoping a certain someone would arrive here to get his badge by now. But I guess he was too injured to-
"Hey!" a voice called.
Ash and May looked in the direction of the voice. Ash grinned as he saw Morrison, the man they'd met on the ship to Mossdeep City, appear. His arm looked good as new now.
"Hey, you made it Morrison!" Ash said.
"Yeah, and with just enough time for a gym battle and then on to Ever Grand City!" Morrison said.
Ash nodded. They broke for lunch and then Morrison headed to the Gym as the last challenger Juan could possibly face before the ferry to Ever Grand left tomorrow in time for the league. Ash kept training, and when he and his friends got back to the center and they found Morrison.
"I got it!" he said presenting his own final badge to them.
"You did it!" Ash said proudly. "I was hoping to be able to face you again in the league."
"Well, you'll get your wish!" Morrison said. "You may have beaten me before but it won't happen again!"
"We'll see about that," Ash said recalling how May had helped with her encouragement.
With Morrison's final badge secured, the group of friends boarded the ship the next day. It was time for the Hoenn League to begin. All of Ash's hard work would hopefully pay off and he would become the Hoenn League Champion.
Sorry for skimming over some of the battles but they weren't really important for the chapter and we'll have plenty of those upcoming in the Hoenn League.