"I guess that must be the Battle Dome," Ash said. "I… don't remember that being there last time we were in Lavender Town, but I was a bit distracted."
"Yeah, that was a weird night," Pikachu agreed.
"A weird night?" Latias repeated. "Obviously it's before I met you, but what happened?"
"Oh, uh," Ash began. "Now I'm thinking about it, I sort of wonder if who I am had something to do with it, even though I still thought I was human. See, we went into this old mansion place, and a chandelier fell on us – that's, me and Pikachu, it didn't get Brock or Misty or anything."
"Oh no!" Latias gasped. "Well, you're still okay, so… it can't be that bad?"
"We spent the next few hours as, uh, spirits? Ghosts?" Ash wondered, glancing at Pikachu. "What's the word for it?"
"I thought it was some kind of weird experience that happened because of how we were knocked out, but… yeah, it could actually have been something else," Pikachu said, sounding worried himself. "We wandered around as spirits playing with some ghosts that lived there, and that made Haunter interested enough that she followed Ash back to Saffron."
"We were there to find a Ghost-type to battle against Sabrina with," Ash clarified. "It didn't work out how we expected, but it was better in the end."
May and Max exchanged utterly baffled looks.
"Sorry, I only got half of that, but – you died?" May asked, in a strangled voice. "How can-"
"It's okay, it didn't stick!" Ash replied. "We went back to our bodies, and, either we weren't actually dead or maybe I healed us without realizing it or something, but we were fine!"
"You have such a weird life," Max sighed. "And I say that as someone who's befriended Jirachi."
"Battle Dome," Pikachu prompted.
"Oh, yeah," Ash realized. "Yeah, maybe it's new or maybe it isn't? I don't know in what order the Battle Facilities got built, or how someone becomes a Frontier Brain actually. Or a Gym Leader."
"There's exams," Brock contributed. "And a family gym can give someone an apprenticeship, too. But it takes an official inspection or a resignation to stop someone being a Gym Leader, and it's all too easy for someone to claim to be one until the inspectors show up."
He pointed. "But, no, that's new. You can tell because it's not in the guidebook!"
"I guess that makes sense," Max said.
"Ask yourself, ask others, then find out," Torkoal advised. "There is much to be said for asking."
When they got close to the Battle Dome, though, it turned out that getting into the building was going to be a lot harder than originally anticipated.
That wasn't because of any kind of locked door, or a challenge, or an early return of Jessie, James and Meowth after the thing at Dragonair's lake. It was because of a press conference.
There were loads of reporters wanting to speak to Ash, about his being the winner of the Ever Grande Conference and about how he'd battled Sidney and then left, about how he was challenging the Battle Frontier, about how often people got this far and all kinds of other questions.
Ash did his best to answer all the ones where he actually knew the answer, though sometimes he had to sort of… simplify things a bit. Like saying he didn't know why he was a Pokémon (because he didn't really know all the details), or that he couldn't say where he'd caught Latias (because that was to keep Latios safe).
And, really, he had no idea if Koraidon and Miraidon counted as mutant Cyclizar or not. He'd have to ask Unown to find that one out, and even then he'd have to explain what a mutant was.
Eventually, Ash got into the Battle Dome itself, and found out that the Battle Dome was on the opposite end of the scale to the Battle Factory.
The Battle Factory had involved no spectators except for Ash's friends, and the Battle Arena had had Greta's students as the spectators, but the Battle Dome had a whole stadium full of attendees, and they cheered as Ash stepped out onto a platform.
A screen illuminated, showing facts about Ash and how he'd done in his four Pokémon Leagues so far, then there was a puff of smoke and a flash of lights as Dome Ace Tucker swooped down to land on the matching platform on the other side of the arena.
"Welcome, Ash Ketchum," Tucker said, posing, and showed off the Tactics Symbol. "This will be a two on two battle, and you will have the chance to switch your Pokémon after you see which Pokémon I will be using!"
"Got it!" Ash said, then watched carefully as Tucker sent out his two Pokémon.
There was a flash of fire and water, and an Arcanine and Swampert materialized on the arena floor to a chorus of cheers.
"Hmm," Ash frowned, thinking. "What do you think, Pikachu?"
"I'm up for it," Pikachu said. "I know that Swampert might be a problem, but I think we can handle it."
"Right," Ash agreed, floating Miraidon's Pokéball out of his saddlebags. "I won't be switching out the Pokémon I have, because I've already got the two I'm going to use!"
He threw Miraidon's Pokéball, and Pikachu sprang off his shoulder to land on the other Electric-type's back.
"Good luck, you two," Latias said.
Miraidon turned their head to look back, and gave a nod which was as confident as they could manage.
They looked ready for this, which made Ash more confident as well.
"Two Electric type Pokémon, if I'm not mistaken!" Tucker said. "Well, it looks like this is going to be a fantastic battle!"
He looked up to his side, and a hovering platform rose up to the side of the arena. The man on it adjusted his jacket, then picked up a microphone.
"The rules are known!" he said. "The stakes are high! Which one of these two trainers will be the winner? Will the Dome Ace end Ash Ketchum's challenge here, or will the Tactics Symbol join the Knowledge and Guts Symbols?"
He waited for the cheers of the crowd to subside, then slashed his hand down. "Begin!"
"Shield yourself with flame – Fire Spin!" Tucker ordered immediately, and Arcanine engulfed himself in a shroud of fire that concealed his exact position.
"Head for the flames!" Ash called. "Miraidon, Discharge!"
Miraidon's paws thumped on the ground, then their wheels energized and carried them towards the Fire Spin at maximum speed. Their Electric Terrain spread out over the whole arena, and lightning crackled around their antennae, then there was a flash of electricity which blasted away a whole half of the Fire Spin curtain.
"Explode with strength, Dynamic Punch!" Tucker said, and Swampert surged towards the other three Pokemon.
"Swerve!" Ash called, as his two Electric-types broke through the Fire Spin wall. "Pikachu, jump! Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu hit Arcanine with a Thunderbolt that echoed around the whole room, and Miraidon's swerve had their wheels almost parallel to the floor. They swept around in a curve that meant Swampert's aim was off, robbing their Dynamic Punch of much of the strength it could have had, though the blow still knocked Miraidon over into a painful skid.
"Move like the wind, Extremespeed!" Tucker commanded.
Arcanine used Extremespeed, blowing past Pikachu in a whoosh, and hit Miraidon hard enough to interrupt the Dragon-type getting back to their paws.
"Pikachu, Extremespeed!" Ash called. "Help Miraidon – Miraidon, Discharge again! It can't hurt Pikachu!"
Pikachu kicked off and blurred across the arena, crossing to help his teammate in a moment, and Miraidon fired off a second Discharge.
"Shake the ground, Earthquake!" Tucker said. "Leap high, Aerial Ace!"
"Jump, Miraidon!" Ash shouted.
Miraidon sprang into the air, then their antennae extended and generated a glowing hard-light flight surface. Pikachu jumped as well, and the crowd gasped with glee as he deflected Arcanine's Aerial Ace with an Iron Tail.
"Koraidon's going to love showing Miraidon the tricks they can do with that!" Latias squeaked.
"Yeah, you're right!" Ash agreed. "Uh – Miraidon, charge up a Solarbeam while you're up there!"
"On it," Miraidon reported.
Swampert fired a Mud Shot attack at Pikachu as the Electric-type fenced back and forth with Arcanine, then the glow building up around Miraidon's antennae peaked and Tucker swept his arm across.
"Bask in the sun, Extremespeed!" he said.
Arcanine broke off from battling Pikachu, whirling on his paw, and jumped to get in the way of the Solarbeam. It hit, but Arcanine was several times better suited to take the blow than his teammate and Ash frowned.
"Those commands he's giving," he realized. "I get it! Miraidon, back down and Discharge – focus on Arcanine!"
"Grit their gears, Mud Shot!" Tucker ordered.
"What about the commands, Ash?" Latias said, as Miraidon's antennae retracted from flight mode and they prepared a Discharge attack – then slid to the side, away from the Mud Shot that nearly messed up their wheels.
Pikachu jumped in, blasting a Thunderbolt at Arcanine, and Ash glanced over at Latias. "Oh, uh – instead of telling them what to do directly, he's giving those little poetic commands that tell them how to act and letting them fill in the blanks. So he didn't tell Arcanine to block the attack, he told Arcanine to bask in the sun."
"Oh, right!" Latias agreed. "That makes sense!"
"Pikachu, Miraidon, get ready to focus on Swampert from two directions!" he said. "Miraidon, prepare another Solarbeam and stay on the move!"
"At bay, Fire Spin!" Tucker said. "Conceal your positions!"
"Uh-" Ash began, thinking, as Arcanine whipped up a firestorm around the two other Pokémon. "Pikachu, when Miraidon's ready, both of you charge the Fire Spin together – then split off and Extremespeed on Swampert from another direction!"
"Got it!" Pikachu called back.
"He's still got tricks up his sleeve, right?" Latias asked.
"Probably," Ash replied. "Okay, now!"
Ash's Unown emerged.
"Information," they said. "A Pokémon has just crossed the threshold to become a Noble Pokémon."
"Not now!" Ash said, as Miraidon finished building up speed and charged the Fire Spin. They went into a skid, wheels-first, and Pikachu's cheeks sparked before he detonated a Discharge attack and blew a hole in the fire curtain.
That revealed both Swampert and Arcanine, and the moment it did Pikachu kicked off. He bounced from the floor, turning as Tucker called for Arcanine to bask in the sun again, and lined up for an Extremespeed.
"Stand like the earth!" Tucker said, and Swampert glowed greenish as he used Protect.
Pikachu's attack bounced off, doing absolutely nothing, and Ash gaped for a moment before shaking his head. "Uh-"
"Fusion of Fire and Water!" Tucker ordered, and Tucker's Pokémon combined a Whirlpool and Fire Spin to surround Miraidon in a sizzling fire-water-steam mix.
"Miraidon, get ready to Discharge yourself out of it!" Ash ordered. "I hope this works… Pikachu – Noble Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu's cheeks sparked blue, then gold, and Tucker looked down with confusion as a golden light surrounded Pikachu.
"Arcanine, fly like the wind!" he ordered. "What's a Noble Thunderbolt?"
"THIS!" Pikachu replied, and hit Swampert with a six-Thunderbolt barrage – one that hit hard enough to launch the Water-type flying into the air.
The crowd went silent as Swampert landed, sparks of electricity crackling over his skin, and raised himself for a moment before slumping back down again.
"I've never seen something like that!" the referee gasped. "Swampert is unable to battle after being electrocuted!"
"Phew," Pikachu said, shaking himself out with his tail drooping slightly. "That's still hard to do…"
"Discharge!" Ash called, and Miraidon blasted their way out of the Fusion of Fire and Water. "Get over to Pikachu and pick him up!"
"Blaze a trail, Flare Blitz!" Tucker said, recovering his aplomb a little, and belatedly returned Swampert. Arcanine burst into motion, aiming for Pikachu, and Miraidon did the same at full speed before doing another sliding skid that passed just next to their teammate at the same moment as Arcanine got there.
"Iron Tail!" Ash commanded, and Pikachu's Iron Tail blunted the worst of the Flare Blitz attack. It clearly hurt, but it got Pikachu out of the direct impact, and Miraidon swerved over the other way to let Pikachu grab on to one of their crests.
"What were you saying, Unown?" Ash added, now that the situation was under control for a bit.
"A Pokémon has crossed the threshold to become a Noble Pokémon," Unown repeated. "That Pokémon is: Latias."
Latias inhaled slightly. "Really? I… don't feel any different."
"Thanks for telling us, Unown, we'll discuss it later," Ash said. "I guess Pikachu and I didn't notice at the time either, we were too busy working on Extremespeed… wait, that's it!"
"It is?" Latias asked. "What is?"
"Pikachu, are you still up for another big attack?" Ash asked.
"Yeah!" Pikachu agreed. "Not one that big, but still big!"
"Right!" Ash said. "Miraidon, swerve at Arcanine and Discharge!"
Miraidon's antennae sparked as they spread them, and Tucker flourished.
"Explode the ground, Fire Blast! Turn aside, Extremespeed!"
"Now, Miraidon!" Ash called, and Miraidon used their Discharge early. The Fire-type attack got shattered, and Arcanine darted aside-
"Extremespeed the same way!" Ash called, and Pikachu leaped from Miraidon's back.
For a moment, Arcanine and Pikachu were blurs to everyone else – but to Pikachu, Arcanine was hardly moving at all. And he didn't need any orders to exploit that opportunity.
A Thunderbolt-storm hit Arcanine in a crackling volley of closely spaced Thunderbolt attacks, and Arcanine crashed instead of landing. He rolled over and over, slid to the edge of the arena, and slumped in defeat.
"A marvellous battle!" Tucker said, as the crowd's reactions mingled between screams and cheers.
Ash gave both his tough Electric-types some time to recover, using his Feather Badge to get from his platform to the arena and assure Miraidon and Pikachu they'd both done great work, then looked up as Tucker jumped from his own platform to the main arena as well.
This close, it looked like Tucker was using wires, but it was still cool.
"You're a fine tactician, Ash," he said. "Confusing the issue about which Pokémon Pikachu was targeting with that amazing Thunderbolt, especially! The Tactics symbol is yours."
Pikachu perked up, then scrambled up Ash's leg to his back as Ash reached for the Symbol.
"Many for battle, one for tactics," he said, repeating the words only he could hear. "That is how partners act together."
"All of it?" Pikachu double-checked, typing.
"Yeah, all of it," Ash confirmed. "It's definitely something about the Symbols."
"Ah, a mystery," Tucker said, smiling. "Well, discovering something like that is important, so I wouldn't tell you anything even if I knew it…"
AN:
Really, at least electrocuting a Ground-type has justification now.
Since some people might not have noticed, I'm going to mention (possibly again?) that I've done an updated and revised version of the opening ~40 chapters of Ashes of the Past earlier this year.