"Hey, Zorua?" Ash said, looking to the side at the little Normal-type on Koraidon's head. "Just so you know, I'm going to be having an official battle soon."

Zorua nodded, then yawned.

"You've already seen some Contest battles, but the kind of battle I'm going to be having is a bit different because it's focused so much on trying to beat the other Pokémon," Ash went on. "And… I guess I want to make sure you understand what's going to happen, so you don't get worried about seeing Pokémon you know being attacked."

"It's like play fighting," Koraidon volunteered. "It feels really important while you're doing it, but everyone knows you don't actually hurt someone. Right?"

That got another nod.

"Good," Ash pronounced. "I wanted to make sure you knew what was going on."

"I think I can see the Battle… Battle Palace, right?" Latias asked. "There's a big stone building that doesn't look like a house or a Pokémon Centre and at that point I'm out of ideas."

Ash sniggered. "Yeah, it's the Battle Palace on this island, so that's probably it… how far is it?"

"Not far," Latias replied. "A few minutes."

"Sticking to the Pokémon you decided on already?" Pikachu checked.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Yeah, I had some second thoughts for a bit, but I'm back to what I was thinking of. Unless something really major is different, like if all the Pokémon have to be the same type or something, I know who I'm using."

"Contests are fairly similar that way, I guess," May said. "Or, what I mean is, they're the same every time or nearly. What about Gym battles?"

"Sometimes the rules are different, but not as often as in these Battle frontier battles," Ash answered. "At least, that's how I think it works… Brock?"

"As a Gym Leader, I can impose conditions," Brock told them. "Normally it's just setting how many Pokémon, because I'm supposed to adjust how tough my Pokémon are to fit with the challenge the other trainer is meant to get, but adding conditions can help me fine tune it or avoid someone avoiding the tricky parts."

Max was looking contemplative.

"Now I'm wondering where I should start my journey," he admitted. "I guess it depends where May goes, more than where you go, Ash."

He pointed. "Though I don't want you to forget-"

"-about Jirachi," Ash finished. "I know, Max. I haven't said much, but I am thinking about him – I just…"

He shook his head. "I don't want to rush something like this."

"That's fair, yeah," Max agreed, then pointed. "Hey, look, it's Scott!"

The Battle Palace had an area of cleared, stone-floored terrain around the building itself, and a sort of old-fashioned stone-built style, and there was a table out the front with several chairs around it. Scott was in one chair, someone they didn't recognize in another, and the rest were empty.

Scott stood up from his chair as the friends approached, and nodded to Ash. "I see you found the Battle Palace," he said. "What do you think of it?"

"Well, I guess I'm glad Latias realized it was the Battle Palace, because if I'd seen it from a distance I'd probably have thought it was an old temple or something," Ash replied.

The other man chuckled. "That's exactly what I was going for," he said. "See, Scott?"

Scott shook his head. "I never said nobody would get it," he replied. "Ash, this is Spenser, the Palace Maven of the Battle Palace."

"What's a Maven?" May asked.

"An expert," Spenser answered. "It's a good word, isn't it?"

He smiled. "Now, Ash… my rules are. Three Pokémon a side. Only you may switch out Pokémon. And though we will begin on a regulation arena, the battle is permitted to spread throughout the whole of the island."

"It is?" Ash said. "Uh… hold on a moment?"

He concentrated, opening his badge case, and switched to the Feather Badge.

"Okay, that should help," he decided. "And… yeah, I know all three Pokémon I'm using then. Sorry, Cyndaquil."

"How are we going to watch the battle?" Max asked. "How is anyone going to judge the battle?"

"I have just the solution," Spenser replied, holding up a Pokéball.

What came out was a kind of Pokéball-shaped… thing, with two flags on extending arms, three legs to support it, and a pair of fans.

"This is Jamero," Spenser explained, as Ash stared. "Jamero can hit high speeds in the air or underwater, make judging decisions in a split second, and even has camera feeds which Scott's laptop can connect to… though you'll probably want to use the hot air balloon."

"It's a Pokémon, right?" Max said. "If it goes in a Pokéball, I mean… wait, is Jamero a Porygon or Rotom?"

Spenser pointed at him. "Good work, that man," he said. "Yes, Jamero is an experimental Rotom Drone body. I'm very satisfied so far, so there'll probably be more of them made."

"How much space is there in the balloon?" Ash asked. "If Zorua wants to watch, then I guess it depends whether Koraidon can fit or if she'd be better off running along the ground…"

The solution, in the end, was that Koraidon stayed at ground level but was ready to take flight in a hurry, if needed. That gave Zorua a nice platform on her head, and a minute or so later Ash was ready to go.

"Ready?" he asked the Pokéball in his psychic grip, and it wobbled slightly.

"Begin," Jamero stated, and Ash threw his Pokéball.

So did Spenser, and a Venusaur emerged onto his side of the field only a moment before Ash's Muk came out on the challenger's side.

"Hello!" Muk waved.

"Interesting," Spenser said. "Venusaur, Tackle!"

"Mud Shot, Muk!" Ash retorted.

Venusaur hit Muk with a splat, and Muk's Mud Shot could hardly have missed, but the impact also sent Muk flying in several directions.

Undaunted, Muk pulled himself together, then threw another Mud Shot attack at Venusaur.

"Hmm," Spenser said, as Jamero zoomed around them taking video. "What do you think about this, then?"

"It's a battle of endurance!" Ash replied. "Neither Pokémon is easy to hurt, but I think Muk's got the advantage – Muk, Body Slam!"

Muk went gloop, launching himself into the air and landing on Venusaur, and the Grass-type shook himself to try and get Muk off.

"Mud Shot at close range!" Ash called.

"Venusaur, Sunny Day," Spenser replied, prompting the sun to blaze down more strongly. "Solarbeam."

"Wait – Muk, look out!" Ash realized. "Jump off!"

Muk reacted fast enough – just. The Solarbeam that flashed out from Venusaur wasn't quite at point-blank range, but it was close, and Muk's glutinous body sizzled a little.

Ash took a look at how Muk had handled the Solarbeam. "How are you feeling?"

"Quite hot," Muk replied, then got hit again.

"I'm calling Muk back," Ash said, once the second Solarbeam had ended. "That's something I can do, right?"

"Indeed it is!" Spenser agreed. "And you can use him later in the battle, too."

"Then – Bayleef!" Ash decided, recalling Muk with one Pokéball and sending Bayleef out with the other.

"Tackle!" Spenser commanded. "Use your greater mass!"

Ash waited a moment, until Venusaur was moving at full speed, then pointed a hoof. "Turn it against him, Vine Whip!"

"You bet, Ash!" Bayleef called, vines lashing out. They grabbed on to Venusaur's forelegs, and Bayleef set herself in the ground before yanking hard. That pulled Venusaur forwards hard, harder than he'd been planning, and Bayleef used the recoil to yank herself over Venusaur and leave the other Grass-type to tumble over the lip of the arena.

There was a tremendous craaash sound as Venusaur slid down the slope, then halted, and Spenser toyed with his beard.

"Vine Whip of your own," he said. "Pull her over the slope as well."

"Bayleef, use your momentum!" Ash called. "Body Slam!"

The two Grass-types impacted one another with a crack that made everyone watching wince, and Ash cantered to the lip of the slope to watch as both Bayleef and Venusaur shook themselves out.

"Keep up those physical attacks!" he said.

"Solarbeam," Spenser retorted.

The flash of solar energy dazzled Bayleef, but she didn't need prompting about how to fix it – she whipped both vines out to make contact with Venusaur, giving her a target, then yanked herself forwards and hit with another Body Slam.

"Now, Synthesis!" Ash ordered, and Bayleef drew on the very same sunlight that had let Venusaur use his Solarbeam attacks. She glowed with vitality, the injuries of the battle so far vanishing in a wave of green light, and Ash whooped.

"Great!" he said. "Now, keep it up – you know what to do, I'll watch for Venusaur trying something!"

Venusaur tried several things over the course of the next few minutes, but none of them actually worked out for him. Bayleef's sheer determination and Synthesis let her wipe away the effect of his moves like Tackle and Razor Leaf and Solarbeam, her initiative and skill let her redirect an attempt at Giga Impact so that the main one taking any damage was Venusaur when he crashed into the base of the slope, and as a Grass-type she was simply immune to Poison Powder.

Finally, Spenser held up a hand, then recalled Venusaur.

"Venusaur has been withdrawn!" Jamero announced. "Spenser is down to: two Pokémon! The challenger still has: three Pokémon!"

"Well, that Bayleef certainly has spirit!" Spenser said, giving the panting Grass-type a nod. "Do you want to call her back before my new Pokémon comes out?"

"Leave me out, Ash," Bayleef requested, between pants. "I don't know if I'll be a good choice, but you can decide after you see what they are."

"If that's what you want, Bayleef," Ash said, thinking about Swellow. "But I don't want you to hurt yourself by pushing too hard."

Bayleef nodded. "I know, and… I'm not being stubborn," she said. "I think this is best."

Spenser smiled slightly, then sent out his second Pokémon. "Shiftry. Air Cutter."

Shiftry blurred as the sunlight beat down on him, and whipped both arms across one after another. A gale of scythed wind crashed into Bayleef, and she staggered back before using Vine Whip to grab at Shiftry's arms.

"Body Slam!" Ash called.

Shiftry reacted first, using X-Scissor, and the swipe-flash of blades knocked Bayleef out. Though Shiftry did still have Bayleef land on top of him, which was some compensation.

Ash glanced to his side, frowning for a moment, then made his decision.

"Muk, back out!" he said, recalling Bayleef and sending Muk out. "Toxic Spikes!"

"To the jungle-!" Spenser called.

Shiftry followed orders quickly, but not quite quickly enough. Muk flung out his Toxic Spikes with great enthusiasm, and Shiftry yelped.

"Ouch!" the Dark-type said. "That's not fair!"

"You're a Dark-type," Muk pointed out, which was fair enough.

"Good point, well made," Shiftry admitted, then Spenser gave his next order.

"Extrasensory!"

"Sludge Bomb!" Ash called.

The Extrasensory hit the Sludge Bomb and blasted right through it, showering Muk in goop, but since Muk was made of goop that wasn't a problem. A lot of the actual attack got through as well, though, and Muk grumbled before spitting another Sludge Bomb at Shiftry.

"Shadow Ball," Spenser instructed. "Extrasensory. Don't let him get a good shot at you with Sludge Bomb."

Ash pranced back and forth a little, hoping that Muk could last long enough.

Shiftry was a Dark-type, and he had X-Scissor and Shadow Ball, and that combination was one he wanted to be out of the fight before he moved on to his third Pokémon. It was bad enough that he didn't know what Spenser's third one was.

"Smelly," Zorua said, sniffing.

"That's Muk, I think," Koraidon told him, making sure to stand far enough away from the battle that she couldn't get in the way by mistake, and Ash chuckled.

"Yeah, Muk have a weird smell," he agreed. "It's… really strong. But Muk's a good friend, and if he was trying to smell bad it'd be way worse!"

Zorua clearly tried to imagine this, and then just as clearly gave up.

"I have a report to give!" Muk said, saluting with a pseudopod. "Shiftry's out of the battle!"

Ash looked at Shiftry, now covered in globs of toxic sludge, and nodded. "Yeah, I can see. Good work, Muk!"

"Also wish to report, I'm on fire," Muk added, before slowly collapsing backwards.

Ash recalled him.

"That's two each out, and one each left," Spenser said. "All comes down to this one, and I've chosen who I'm using, so… what about a break?"

"Each side has: one Pokémon left!" Jamero told them.

"We know," Spenser said. "Context, remember?"

"Challenger Ash Ketchum recalled his Pokémon without the Pokémon having been officially knocked out," Jamero said. "I am providing official confirmation."

At Spenser's suggestion, they had a snack break.

Spenser had some quite nice smoked fruit slices for them, then smiled. "Ahh. That was nice. Now, shall we resume?"

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "Latias, you're up!"

"Ah?" Spenser chuckled. "Interesting."

He sent out a Claydol. "Well, I'm sure this will be a spectacular battle… Claydol, you know what to do."

Jamero displayed a countdown, three-two-one, then Claydol used Signal Beam.

"Dodge left!" Ash said quickly, kicking off and rising into the air so he could follow what was going on. "Curve around and-"

"Signal Beam," Spenser ordered again, and Claydol fired Signal Beams from two more eyes. One of them hit Latias, making her yelp in surprise, and Ash scowled and tried not to grit his teeth.

"Stay on the move!" he decided. "Make it hard for Claydol to hit you – now, Dragon Pulse!"

Latias flipped around in mid-air, shooting out a Dragon Pulse, and Spenser waved his hand. "Light Screen!"

Claydol used Light Screen, and Latias's attack hit the shield with a splash and crackle of energy instead of actually striking home on the Clay Doll Pokémon itself.

"Mystical Fire?" Ash suggested. "Wait – use Mystical Fire like a wall to hide where you are so Claydol can't hit you, then stealth!"

Flame whooshed up in a sheet, then dissipated, and Latias was invisible. Ash could still see her, slightly translucent, but to everyone else she wasn't at all visible any more.

"Attack with… Mystical Fire, but don't make it come from you!" Ash ordered. "Don't give any clues about where you are, don't make a sonic boom!"

Latias didn't reply, because even that might have given her position away, and Ash did his best to not look right at her in case that gave Claydol a clue.

Mystical Fire lashed out, splashing into Claydol's Light Screen and bouncing off, and Ash frowned. "Uh… okay, then-"

"Over there," Spenser pointed, and Ash looked down to see what he meant.

He was directing Claydol towards a patch of ground that didn't have any trees or many plants either, and Claydol floated in that direction – then, at Spenser's command, used Rapid Spin.

And dropped down onto the ground, turning the dryer, dustier ground into a sandstorm.

Latias suddenly found herself flying through a cloud of fine dust and sand, which made her cough, but more importantly she was suddenly leaving a trail through the sand.

A trail which Claydol could see.

"Signal Beam!" Spenser ordered, and Claydol fired. The attack hit Latias despite her invisibility, making her yelp, and Ash shook his head.

"Safeguard!" he called. "Being invisible isn't helping, instead try going faster!"

Latias went faster. She rocketed past Ash, who lost some altitude so he'd be out of the line of fire, then Ash noticed out of the corner of his eye that Koraidon was flying past.

She had Zorua on her head, seemingly wanting to give him a closer look, and Ash spared some attention from the battle for a moment. "Koraidon – make sure you stay low, okay? And don't clear away the sandstorm or it'd be cheating!"

"Got it, dad!" Koraidon replied.

"High up," Zorua marvelled, then Ash returned his full attention to the battle.

"Latias is dodging pretty well," he said, watching as she snap-rolled away from an attack and conjured more Mystical Fire. "But there's something about what Claydol's doing that-"

"Hyper Beam!" Spenser commanded.

Now the beams of light flashing out at Latias were much stronger – and, because Claydol was using Rapid Spin, they were coming in a continuous staccato wave instead of the single separated beams that were much more normal for Hyper Beam.

"Whoa!" Pikachu said, sounding impressed.

"It's because they're spinning!" Ash realized. "Each eye's recharging as it goes around the back!"

A Hyper Beam crashed into Latias's Safeguard, disrupting it and knocking her away, then two more hit one after another and Ash sprinted after Latias with Extremespeed – little concussions of air bursting away from his hooves as he boosted his speed in mid-air, just like they had when he'd been catching up with Pidgeot.

"Latias, Mystical Fire around yourself!" he called, and after a moment Latias parsed what he meant and did it. Conjured flames wrapped around her at a distance, making it harder to see where she was, and the Hyper Beams went wide.

"What do I do now, Ash?" Latias asked, as the Hyper Beams stopped. "Those are powerful attacks and I can't even seem to hit Claydol!"

"You need to get at them from behind, I guess?" Ash wondered, glancing back and forth between Latias and the spinning Claydol. "You'd need to do it really fast, though, or they could react, and even then… well, Spenser only called for Light Screen, so a Headbutt should be fine, but-"

"I've got Steel Wing, would that work better?" Latias asked.

"Dodge!" Ash called, as Claydol opened fire again, and Signal Beams flicked through the area. "And, uh, ground and psychic… there's no difference, I think?"

"Right," Latias said, then rotated, and blurred forwards. A trail of flame surrounded her as she used Mystical Fire – and another trail of flame shot off at an angle, coming around Claydol in the other direction, so that Claydol couldn't tell which of the two Mystical Fire comets was the real Latias.

Ash followed, quickly, not going directly behind either of them, and Claydol split their focus to fire Hyper Beams at both Latiases – then the real one swerved, and hit Claydol with a high-speed Headbutt.

Claydol staggered in the air, and Latias darted away before turning around and coming right back in for a second attack. Then a third.

"Reflect!" Spenser ordered.

The fourth attack Latias made bounced off the newly-raised Reflect screen, then she took a direct hit from a Hyper Beam and went crash into the trees in a cloud of splinters and falling branches.

"Latias!" Ash called, worried.

There was a flash of golden light from inside the wreckage.

Latias burst out of it again, a shimmer of gold outlining her form, then began flying directly for Claydol – quickly picking up speed – and Claydol began to Rapid Spin, firing out Hyper Beams.

Latias impacted the Hyper Beams, which slowed her down, but kept coming – then the golden light flashed, and she vanished.

And reappeared, on the other side of Claydol, inside the shield and pointing directly at her opponent… and moving at full speed.

There was a wham a sliver of a second later, leaving Latias hovering exactly where Claydol had been a moment before, and Claydol went crash into the ground hard enough to leave a Claydol-shaped dent.

"I… did it?" Latias asked, looking down at Claydol, then the Ground-type vanished back into their Pokéball. "I did it!"

"Great work, Latias!" Ash cheered, sliding to a halt mid-air next to her. "That was Teleport – that was great aim!"

"Yeah, it was tiring," Latias admitted, as the light drained out of her and she drooped a little in the air. "I think I need more practice at doing that."

"Is that the point you officially become Lady Latias, then?" Pikachu asked.

Ash had been drifting downwards as they spoke, and as they reached Spenser Jamero delivered the official verdict.

"Spenser has: lost!"

"And I'm going to be checking the camera to see how, I have to admit," Spenser said. "But that doesn't matter about what happened just there. You've certainly earned the Spirit Symbol."

Pikachu pulled out Ash's Pokédex as Ash reached for the Spirit Symbol, and Latias did her best to focus as Ash took it.

There wasn't any sign of anything unusual she could detect, but Ash spoke anyway. "To trust in the bond between two beings is a celebration of the spirit… which means I guess it's about the symbol again."

Spenser looked interested, but then Koraidon touched down next to them.

"Shiny," Zorua announced, paw waving at Latias. "But loud."

Latias giggled. "Sorry about the noise."

AN:

Featuring a Dragon battling a Hapan Battle Dragon, for some reason.