"Making Latias's nobility power work is going to be weird, because it actually hasn't activated yet," Ash said, thinking out loud as they headed for the Battle Pike. "Pikachu's did after he got it but before we knew it was possible, and since then he's learned how to do it, but… does Latias's even work the same way?"
"I don't know," Latias admitted. "Do you think I should do this battle, then?"
Ash thought about that.
"Not really," he replied. "We've been… kind of too busy to really focus on trying to get yours working. The next one could be a good one to try it out, though, by then either we'll have an idea how it works or we'll be so frustrated that a battle could help."
"So, business as usual," Pikachu said.
Ash sniggered, then glanced back at his friends.
May had Combusken out, pacing at her side, and was listening intently to Brock as he explained the pitfalls of the sheer amount of fluff that an Eevee had when it came time to get them into tip-top shape for a Contest.
"It sounds like we'll have to make sure we schedule extra time ahead of a Contest to get Eevee in shape," May said, nodding. "And does that matter during a Contest too?"
"It might," Brock answered, thinking about it. "If you handle their fur right, it shouldn't, but more than Skitty for example his fur could get messed up during the battle. It's important to watch out for that."
Max joined in. "So… watch out for Water moves?"
"A bit, but there's more than that," Brock said. "There's water-resistant shampoos out there, I used one for Vulpix when I had her. We'll have to see about getting some when we go back through Fuchsia… but don't forget to think about what moves Eevee should have, too."
"Dad?" Koraidon asked. "Do you think Miraidon has something like how I do that thing where I stand on my hind legs?"
"They could do," Ash answered, switching to thinking about that. "I… guess if you two are so similar in other ways, and so far it seems like you are, then that would make sense."
He considered. "Though I guess a full-body crash into someone really wouldn't work with their style of doing things… maybe there's something else there?"
"Huh?" Koraidon asked, then brightened. "Oh! You mean my new move!"
She pondered. "We probably don't need Primeape's help for that one, because she's a specialist in how things move. And I'm Fighting-type, but Miraidon isn't."
With that decided, Koraidon nodded firmly. "Great! So that means it's going to have to be Lord Pikachu who helps them work it out!"
"That's not-" Pikachu began, then stopped. "Actually that does make sense."
The Battle Pike turned out to be a temple-like structure, with a Seviper sculpture draped over the whole building so that anyone coming in had to go through the fangs.
"We… do know this isn't the Rockets, right?" Max checked.
"Oh, she built this months ago," Scott said, making Max jump. "I'm glad I got here at the same time as you did… anyone object to going straight in?"
"I'm ready!" Ash said, firmly. "I know who I'm using for this!"
"Very good," Scott said, pushing open the door, and the Frontier Brain just inside the door folded her arms.
"I am Lucy," she introduced herself. "I am the law here… for I am the Pike Queen. You already know it, but to advance, you must defeat me."
"Neat!" Ash said. "So, uh… I've been wondering this, and it might be a bit of a puzzle, but how is luck involved?"
"That's for me to know, and you to find out," Lucy told him. "Come."
She stepped back, allowing them entrance, then led them to the arena.
The arena was interesting. It was large, indoors, and had a wavy lake with land sections all around the edges and floating platforms in the middle.
"Are those bushes?" May asked, looking closely. "Grass would be easier… do you need to replant these after every battle?"
"Yes," Lucy answered bluntly. "But I don't have many battles in this version of the arena, there's several practice ones elsewhere in the complex. This is the one for people actually challenging the Frontier, and since I'm fourth not many do."
May nodded her thanks, and Lucy held up a Pokéball.
"My challenge, Ash Ketchum, is two single battles," she said. "You must win them both. You know one of my Pokémon will be my Seviper because it's very obvious, but which will he be?"
Ash frowned.
"I get it," he said. "Knowledge was about knowing if I could predict how the battle would go if I knew everything about it, Guts was about being able to tough it out in a long battle, Tactics was about teamwork… this is one where I have to get everything right, right?"
"That's the idea!" Scott said.
"Then… okay, I know who I'm using first and second," Ash said, raising two Pokéballs with Confusion, then trotted over to his podium and hefted one of them.
"Neither of those are mine, got it," Latias said, with a nod of confirmation.
Lucy sent out her first Pokémon. "Seviper!"
"Absol!" Ash replied.
The Poison-type raised his tail, and Absol rolled his neck.
"So, expecting a bad time?" Seviper asked. "You probably should."
"Well, what's a bad time?" Absol replied. "Seriously, if you can tell me that would actually help me out, thanks."
"Okay, begin!" called one of Lucy's assistants, acting as referee.
"Razor Wind!" Ash ordered, and Absol summoned a whirl of wind around his horn before flicking it forwards.
"Flamethrower," Lucy commanded.
Absol hadn't spent all his Razor Wind on the first attack, and the rest of it flicked out to blast the Flamethrower aside.
"In close!" Lucy said. "Poison Tail!"
"Iron Tail and block!" Ash retorted. "Don't let him poison you!"
Absol blocked with a whang of tail against tail, skipped sideways, then used Razor Wind to boost himself as he jumped across to one of the platforms.
"Good!" Ash told him. "Razor Wind from there!"
"Flamethrower," Lucy ordered again.
Absol dodged to the side, stumbled, and splashed into the water. The Flamethrower went overhead, and Lucy frowned for a moment as she tried to work out if that was deliberate or not.
Then she shrugged. "Seviper, get in close again! Poison Fang!"
"Absol, blast yourself to shore!" Ash called.
Absol's horn glowed, and he paddled determinedly at the water to turn around and face the rapidly-swimming Seviper – then a Future Sight detonated underneath him, launching him into the air not directly but from the water-splash.
He landed with a slightly wet splat, summoned a Razor Wind around himself, and began blow-drying himself at the same time as he slashed away some of the brush around him.
"Absol, try and predict where Seviper's going!" Ash said.
"This is an interesting battle so far," Scott said. "Sometimes it's hard to tell if two Pokémon who are being cagey are doing it because they don't know what to do themselves or if they know all too well how easily things can go wrong."
He watched as Absol flicked a Razor Wind at Seviper, then a Future Sight blew up the ground where Seviper had dodged to, and the serpentine Pokémon shook off the attack before retaliating with a Flamethrower. "I think this is one of those second ones."
"Absol!" Ash called. "Future Sight, but make it smaller!"
"Sol?" Absol asked, glancing back, then dodged nimbly out of the way as Seviper used Sludge Bomb and slapped it with a Razor Wind to complete his dodge. "AA-aab?"
"Make it smaller and more focused!" Ash explained. "Then try and concentrate it on your horn, like Night Slash but with that energy!"
"Seviper – coil up!" Lucy ordered. "Then spring forwards and use Poison Tail!"
"Block!" Ash warned quickly, as Seviper sprang forwards with his tail swinging.
Absol raised his horn to block, and there was a wham.
"Whoa," Max said, impressed.
Absol's horn was sheathed in a purple glow, the glow of Psycho Cut, and the blade shimmered for a long moment before Absol shouted and pushed Seviper away.
Then he demonstrated that he could make the Psycho Cut come out as a wave, as well, and hammered Seviper backwards with a series of swipes.
Lucy ordered Seviper to use Bite to break the attacks, and that worked – at least up until a Future Sight detonated underneath the Poison-type and knocked him into the air.
"Future Sight again!" Ash said quickly.
"Flamethrower-" Lucy replied, but Seviper had only just begun using Flamethrower when another Future Sight exploded and knocked him right back into the ground.
"If someone's in the air and they can't steer, it's not luck!" Ash said. "You know exactly where they're going to be!"
"Good," Lucy conceded. "Now, it's time for your second battle."
Lucy's second Pokémon was a Milotic, one who plunged into the water of the Battle Pike's battlefield before rising up again and coiling in a serpentine way.
"Huh," Ash said, thinking. "I get it, so because the Pokémon you use in battle are the same shape a lot of the same movement tactics work for them. Right?"
"Well, yes," Lucy agreed. "I'm impressed, I have to admit."
She eyed Ash's choice – Unown – and chuckled. "I'd say something about your Pokémon as a trash-talk thing, but I'm honestly quite worried about whatever they're capable of."
The assistant who was acting as referee waved her hand. "Okay, begin!"
"Twister!" Lucy ordered immediately.
"Fairy!" Ash replied.
The Twister lunged for Unown, then Unown released a flash of sparkling energy which dispelled and dismissed the part of the Twister actually aimed for them.
"Dive," Lucy said. "Twister again, waterspout."
Milotic vanished into the water, and the water began to swirl more intensely.
Ash frowned, prancing back and forth slightly as he thought. "Uh… Fairy then Electrical!"
The first Hidden Power disrupted the control of the waterspout-Twister as it came up, then Unown switched Types on their Hidden Power to fire a blast of electricity – but by the time they did, Milotic was already right there.
She'd ridden the watery tornado right up to Unown as part of her use of Dive, and Lucy clapped her hands. "Iron Tail!"
The impact of the Iron Tail knocked Unown to the ground, making a letter-shaped dent in the lakeshore.
"Dodge!" Ash said quickly, as Milotic came back down again, and Unown managed to evade in time – getting out of the way just before Milotic did another twirling Iron Tail that slammed into the same patch of lakeside.
"Electric!" he said, but Milotic dove into the water, and the electricity diffused through the whole lake and avoided hitting her hard.
"Into the air," Ash advised. "Higher than before, and fire down some Grass Hidden Power orbs!"
Unown complied, pulsing, and Ash nodded. "Switch to Alphabet Mode so you have more of them!"
"I was wondering when you'd do that," Lucy said. "Milotic, Ice Beam!"
The first Ice Beam hit Unown and splashed off, but the second froze them.
"Fire!" Ash ordered. "Quick!"
Unown dropped towards the lake arena, then exploded in flame and reversed their plunge. A Hydro Pump splashed up from Milotic, then another Ice Beam, and Unown dodged them both before returning to lobbing Hidden Power orbs into the lake.
"Wait…" Ash said, softly, then nodded.
He struck a hoof sharply on the floor. "Unown – she's hiding in the lake, so let's make sure that's not an option! Gravity, upwards!"
"Question – only inside the battle area?" Unown checked.
"Yeah!" Ash agreed.
Lucy had had more warning than Ash was hoping, but seemed a bit startled. "Um – what?"
"I don't like the sound of this," Milotic admitted.
The whole lake rose out of the ground and up into the air, and Lucy pointed. "Miltoic – keep swimming around inside the lake!"
"Pull it in half!" Ash said. "Gravity again, and Grass!"
Unown generated two gravity vectors, and pulled the lake in half.
"Twister!" Lucy called, and the whole of Milotic's half of the lake swirled up. It was impossible for Unown to aim their Hidden Power attacks, and they were back where they'd started.
"Uh-" Ash frowned, thinking. "Wait… I know!"
Words almost tripped over themselves as he tried to explain. "Unown – switch the gravity to outwards then cancel it and use Fairy at the same time, now!"
"Milotic, look-" Lucy began.
Unown did just as requested, and the Twister and the water both blew apart at the same moment. Milotic was left without any of the support she'd had before, sailing through the air without more than a little bit of momentum, and Ash pointed.
"Now, Hidden Power!"
Milotic got blasted four times before she hit the ground, and when she did it was on a battlefield without any actual water to hide in any more because it had gone everywhere else instead. She raised herself up, firing back a defiant Ice Beam, and Unown's fusillade of Grass attacks finished the job.
"Interesting," was Lucy's first response to that. "So… what do you think about luck?"
"I think it's really important, but usually someone can't blame it when they lose," Ash replied, thinking. "And… I think the other thing is that people often make their own luck, by changing the rules? That looks like luck from the outside."
"Well, I was hardly going to not give you the Luck Symbol, you did win," Lucy mused. "But that's a good answer-"
She stopped. "Why is your Pikachu getting out a Pokédex?"
"We're not sure what's going on, but usually I get a message or something when I take these," Ash explained, then took the Luck Symbol. "Uh… 'Heroes are lucky if they have one another', that time."
"...if they… have one another," Pikachu typed out. "Well, it's about luck… it's weird though, most of the badges weren't linked to their Types."
"I guess we'll find out," Ash said, shrugging. "Thanks for the battle!"
AN:
Luck is a slightly weird theme to work with for a big battle, especially in an anime setting. I went with "make your own" luck.