The first of the Battle Facilities was the Battle Factory, and rather than hurry there the friends decided to take their time.
That meant a walk across northern Kanto, past Pewter City and Mount Moon to Cerulean City, and on the way they all got plenty of training done.
For Ash, that included working with Pikachu to gradually develop his ability to draw on his Noble powers, as well as Grovyle and Koraidon working together on being able to use mid-battle gliding and Marshtomp expanding his repertoire to creating hot water.
In that case in particular, the Water-type's relentless training under Koraidon's sunlight was actually helping out.
But the thing which took up the most time overall was working with Pidgeot. Simply getting used to how her moves and battle style had developed over time, and adding little tricks that he'd come up with himself over the time since they'd separated… and developing his own ability to fly, working towards the point when it would tick over into having officially learned the move Fly and he didn't need the Feather Badge for it.
May, meanwhile, had a whole slate of new routines she was working on. Skitty and Octillery had already picked up new moves to help them out, and Bulbasaur was aiming for Weather Ball, while May and her Pikachu worked with Brock's help in the evenings to try out May's suggestion about costumes.
Whether it would count if May helped wasn't clear, so she was helping with one costume while Pikachu did all the work of sewing the other.
Then… there was Miraidon, who was trying to learn to glide.
Ash agreed with them that, since they were so similar to Koraidon, they probably did have a flight mode as well, and their way of experimenting was completely safe because Swellow or Latias could just return them before they crashed into the ground, but it was…
...unsettling.
Maybe this was how his mom felt sometimes.
"Ash! Brock!" Misty said, delighted, on opening the door to Cerulean Gym. "It's great to see you two, what brings you here?"
She looked past. "Oh, hey May, Max. How are you getting along?"
"I've got some Pokémon," Max said, patting Swablu on his head. "Technically they're Dad's, but… yeah. It's great."
"It is," Misty agreed. "And I did hear about your Grand Festival performance, May. Getting to the semi-finals is a great achievement on your first try, Ash didn't get that far until his third regional tournament."
"Hey, I won my third Conference!" Ash protested.
"Yeah, but you didn't reach the semi-finals on your second, did you?" Misty replied, waving a finger.
"We were passing through on the way to the Battle Factory," Brock said, interrupting what Ash belatedly realized could have been quite a long argument. "It's not far from here, it turns out."
"Oh, yeah, that place," Misty said, nodding to herself.
She frowned, clearly thinking, then turned back to call into Cerulean Gym. "Hey, Daisy! Take over any challenges we get for a couple of days! I'm going to do some spectating!"
"How?" Daisy called back. "You always say we're rubbish at this!"
"I'm leaving you Gyarados and Politoed!" Misty said, already out the door. "Just… if it's a tough challenge, have one of them deal with it!"
Togetic came out of her Pokéball, waving, and Latias touched her hand. "And how are you doing?" she asked.
"Great!" Togetic replied. "Mama was really impressed when Ash won the Pokémon League! But I didn't tell you that, okay?"
Max sniggered, and Ash did his best not to.
Misty led them to the Battle Factory easily enough, because it was close enough to Cerulean that (as she put it) she'd have to have been deaf to not notice it being built, and Scott greeted them not far from the Factory itself.
"Ash, it's good to see you," he said. "How much do you know about the Battle Factory?"
"...not much?" Ash admitted. "I know it's one of the Battle Facilities, but not a lot more than that."
"Well, allow me to give you a rundown," Scott requested. "The Battle Factory is-"
"Big," Max interrupted. "Really big, I mean, wow. Do you… need all this space?"
"Yeah, it's… huge," Misty summarized. "Is it an actual factory?"
"Sort of," Scott said. "You see, while a Gym is mostly for battles, Battle Facilities are mostly not for battles. They've got all kinds of extra facilities to allow our Frontier Brains to spend time indulging their hobbies."
He frowned slightly. "Now I think about it, though, Noland's one is very big even by those standards."
"What is Noland's hobby, then?" May said.
One of the factory's loading doors opened, and a robotic Venusaur came out.
"Prepare for revelation!" Jessie declared, standing on top of the Venusaur's head.
"It'll be a sensation!" James confirmed, standing in the mouth of the Venusaur.
"...seriously?" Misty asked. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but I somehow managed to forget about those idiots until now…"
"To inspect our mechs before they're complete!" Jessie said, spreading her arms.
James flicked a switch, making the eyes light up. "To add the flourishes we think are neat!"
Jessie jumped up and down on a springy leaf. "To announce the quality of Noland's craft!"
"And members' prices are off by half!" James advertised.
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"You might think our tithes are steep," Jessie warned.
"But Zacian's not chasing sheep," James concluded.
"What kind'a metaphor was dat?" Meowth asked, popping up in the Mecha Venusaur's flower. "Uh, I mean, dat's right!"
Ash sent out Miraidon. "Okay, Miraidon, let's get ready! Pikachu, I think we've got a target to test your new abilities on!"
"Got it, Ash!" Pikachu confirmed.
"Electric Terrain online," Miraidon said.
"Pikachu, you help out as well!" May advised.
"I'm not sure I can use Thunder Wave on that," the female Pikachu admitted.
"How do you not have a damaging electric move yet?" Ash's Pikachu asked, distracted for a moment. "Skitty knows Thunderbolt!"
He refocused. "I mean… let's do this!"
After Team Rocket had been sent blasting off (again), mostly due to what was probably a Noble Thunderbolt, Ash met Noland for the first time.
"...I did not expect them to do that," Noland admitted. "Sorry, I thought they were good people."
"How long have you been building mechs for them?" Ash asked, curious.
"About… three months now?" Noland said, then blinked as everyone shrugged. "...huh?"
"Oh, yeah, they've been using those for long before you started making them," Misty replied.
"Yeah, honestly, go ahead and keep doing it!" Ash advised. "At least that way you're the one they're paying, right?"
"I… guess?" Noland said, now very confused. "That's not how I would have expected you to react."
"Those guys are…" Ash began, then stopped as he tried to work out how to word it.
After a long moment, he decided he had it. "Not… harmless, but it's probably okay for them to do that kind of thing. If you see what I mean."
"I don't, but if you say so," Noland decided. "Anyway, uh… the actual challenge. Right?"
"Right!" Ash said, fully on board with that idea. "What's the Battle Factory challenge like?"
"It's a one-on-one battle, but with a twist," Noland said. "I raise lots of Pokémon, and a lot of them have tricks to them. So here's my offer to you – you can pick any Pokémon in the Battle Factory for a one-on-one battle, and we'll see if you have a good enough knowledge of that Pokémon's abilities to pick the right Pokémon as their opponent."
"Knowledge… yeah, you have the Knowledge Symbol, right?" Ash asked. "Okay, where are the Pokémon I should be looking at?"
"This way," Noland said. "I've got a big enclosed greenhouse I use…"
Noland did indeed have a lot of Pokémon, from Camerupt to Machamp to Breloom to Manectric, and as he showed them (and others) off Max started muttering under his breath.
"What is it, Max?" May asked.
"I'm trying to work out what their secrets are," Max explained. "I think… at a guess I'd say he's got about three or four Mega Stones, I think there's a Toxic Orb for that Breloom-"
"Hey, hey, no speculation!" Noland said. "Not going to confirm anything, but it would be part of the challenge."
"...I'm not sure how I'm supposed to keep this secret," the Machamp said, then tried hiding his elbow behind his three other elbows.
Ash frowned, thinking hard.
"I wonder…" he said. "Noland, what's the strongest Pokémon in the Battle Factory? If you don't count the ones that we just brought in, I mean?"
"The strongest, huh?" Noland asked.
"Is Articuno in?" Breloom said.
"Articuno?" Ash repeated. "You've got an Articuno? That's…"
He stopped. "I was about to say cool…"
"Ash, how could you?" Misty lamented.
"Hey, I didn't actually say it…" Ash defended himself.
"How did you-" Noland asked, then glanced at Breloom, who was looking embarrassed. "Oh, right… and sort of. Articuno isn't mine, but they're my friend, and they might be willing to battle with me. But I can't promise anything, and I don't know where they are at the moment."
"Then I'd love to battle them, if that's possible!" Ash said. "Though… should I pick one in case it's not?"
"Let's give it a day to see if Articuno shows up," Noland suggested. "In the meantime… since you can translate what Pokémon say, is there anything that mine have to say that's urgent?"
None of Noland's team could think of anything, which was probably a good sign, but some small talk did happen, and then it turned into a sort of afternoon of everyone's Pokémon spreading out to enjoy themselves – as, over to the side, Skitty, Pikachu and Miraidon tried to explain to Pikachu how to use Thunderbolt.
Ash wondered if Lucario had been on to something when he'd called Pikachu Lord Pikachu. Given that there were two Pikachu with the group right now, and each of them had their own name but their names were both still basically Pikachu, it would probably simplify things a lot to call him that.
At least, when there was any kind of possible confusion.
He was still thinking that over, though, when Noland waved for his attention.
"So, good news!" he said. "Articuno turned up and seems interested enough, so if you still want a battle with them we can get started."
"Great!" Ash replied. "Oh – I guess I should ask, there is a way of having the battle in the open air, right?"
"That's definitely possible," Noland agreed. "In fact, I've got a battlefield specially built for it."
"You do?" Scott said. "I don't think that was on the plans."
"Yeah, it's the top floor arena," Noland replied. "I built some retracting roofs into it."
Ash got out his Feather Badge, and Noland frowned. "I… should check. Am I going to be battling you? I know you were doing something with one of those before your battle with Sidney, I heard about it from… someone."
"This is just so I can fly," Ash explained, switching to Flying-type. "But who I'm using in this battle is Pidgeot!"
"That-" Noland began, then stopped. "I'm not going to insult you," he said, apologetically. "But Articuno is Ice-type, and Ice is strong against Flying-types like Pidgeot."
Ash almost reacted by laughing that off, and saying Pidgeot could handle it. But… that didn't seem like the right thing to do.
Instead, he thought about it. He thought about what Pidgeot was capable of, what she'd done in their training battles over the last several days.
About the strength she'd won for herself, and the ways she'd refined it since then.
"...yeah," he said. "I know this is going to be hard. But the whole point of this is to make sure that we improve, and I trust Pidgeot."
"Then let's get that battle set up," Noland said.
"Pikachu!" Ash called. "And anyone else who wants to watch, too!"
It was fortunate that the actual arena itself was more-or-less an afterthought, because it was quite heavily packed with Pokémon and trainers.
"All right, let's go!" Ash said, as the roof retracted, and sent out Pidgeot. The Flying-type spread her wings, taking off with a faint eddy of air, and Articuno took off as well – rising up with light trailing behind him, before hovering over Noland.
"Ready?" asked Sergio, Noland's assistant. "This is a one on one Pokémon battle! For obvious reasons, no switching is allowed, and if I determine that the battle is being stalled maliciously I will give one warning for that trainer; further stalling will result in disqualification."
"Isn't stalling that thing you can do with a defensive Pokémon, like Forretress?" Latias asked.
"That's why he said maliciously," Ash explained. "That's when you try to just waste time instead of taking part in the battle… like if Pidgeot hid on the ground or something?"
He raised his voice. "We're ready!"
"Articuno?" Noland said, looking up. "Thank you for your trust."
"Oh, I'm going to enjoy a good battle like this," Articuno replied.
Ash smiled, then Sergio slashed his hand down. "Begin!"
"Whirlwind!" Ash called, immediately.
"Mist!" Noland responded, and Articuno produced a plume of white, smoky mist. Pidgeot's Whirlwind hit it immediately, blowing the mist into a long plume, but there was enough of it to hide Articuno's position as the Ice-type followed the direction Pidgeot's Whirlwind had blown him.
When the mist dissipated, Articuno was some distance away, and pulled up in a climbing-and-diving turn to sweep back in towards them.
"Get some altitude! " Ash added. "Uh – can I follow her to give instructions?"
"Probably best not," Sergio said.
Ash resolved to raise his voice. "Pidgeot, you're faster, exploit that with Quick Attack!"
"Ice Beam!" Noland replied, and Articuno opened fire.
Opened ice?
Either way, he began shooting Ice Beams at Pidgeot, and the first one was a near miss but the second one connected.
Ash winced, but he could tell Pidgeot still felt okay, and she turned in a sudden sharp whirl that made the third Ice Beam miss. Her wings boomed as she beat the air, accelerating rapidly, and rolled around her base course so Articuno had trouble targeting her.
"Mist!" Noland ordered, and Articuno left off from attacking to cloak himself in Mist again. That made his location hard to see, and Ash looked more closely.
The way the sunlight was shining through it-
"He's on your left of the cloud!" he told Pidgeot, just as she arrived, but what he wasn't able to see was what Articuno was doing.
Pidgeot's high-speed Wing Attack went clang off a Steel Wing, throwing her off course, but she recovered in good time and swept past the Battle Factory at a speed that made both Ash and Noland's hats come off.
"I'll get that!" Latias said quickly, swooping over invisibly to catch Ash's one, and Max's Swablu took off to make sure Noland didn't lose his flat cap.
Ash's hooves clacked on the arena floor as he trotted around in a quick circle, keeping track of Pidgeot, then raised his voice. "Again, Pidgeot – this time, use a Gust to blow the mist away!"
Articuno hovered there, firing an Ice Beam after Pidgeot and scoring a glancing blow on her tail, then Pidgeot curved around and came in for an attack run.
"Mist and Gust yourself!" Noland said, as Pidgeot's flight path bent slightly – giving her the angle for a Gust attack, meaning that both Flying-types were using Gust at the same time and the two pillows of air collided.
White, smoky mist went everywhere, but it concealed the two Pokemon-
"Show him, Pidgeot!" Ash called. "He's in the middle of the cloud!"
"Ice Shard!" Noland said.
The cloud of mist went orange, and Articuno yelped in pain, then Pidgeot burst out of the cloud and rolled out high over the Battle Factory.
There were trails of fire bleeding off her wings, flickering out as she stopped using them, and Ash whooped. "Nice work, Pidgeot!"
He'd been sure that Heat Wave was a good idea!
"Articuno, after her!" Noland called. "Gust and Water Pulse!"
The first attack whipped the second into a rain of droplets, splattering Pidgeot with water, and Ash wondered what the point was for a moment – then he realized that the water was going to make it harder for Pidgeot to pull off another Heat Wave.
"Faster!" he decided. "Get fast enough to blow the water off!"
Both Pokémon were running out of new tricks, but they weren't nearly out of stamina. Pidgeot and Articuno both mostly knew what the tools the other had were, now, and they fenced back and forth across the sky for minutes on end – mostly dominated by Pidgeot's Heat Wave and Articuno's Water Pulse, now, as Pidgeot aimed to control the tempo of the fight with her Fire move and Articuno did his best to deny it to her.
But there was something else going on…
Pidgeot banked around for another run, wings rippling with white condensation, and Noland whistled sharply. "Mist!"
Articuno cloaked himself in Mist, and Ash leaned forward straight away – on alert for what Noland was going to try this time.
"Now…" Noland waited a moment, then made his decision. "Hurricane!"
"You too, Pidgeot!" Ash called out. "Match his Hurricane and more!"
The mist exploded away in all directions as both Flying-types used Hurricane, this time, a pair of much stronger windstorms than their earlier Gust duel, and windy echoes from the clash swirled all around them.
Pidgeot's wings beat steadily as she hovered in place, launching the attack forwards, and Articuno fought back with his own intense Hurricane. His wings were shimmering with frost, and Pidgeot retaliated by using her own Heat Wave to make her part of the clash simmer with a dry, summery heat.
"Pidgeot!" Ash said. "Aerial Ace!"
She immediately ditched using Hurricane, wings snapping out of Heat Wave, and the whole bundled-up mess of wind untangled and exploded outwards towards her. Hot and cold wind combined in a rippling, snarling mess of wind… and Pidgeot dove right into it.
And mastered it.
It was a turbulent windstorm, and it was a headwind for her, but Pidgeot had flown faster than that before and she slammed right through it to hit Articuno – first with Aerial Ace on the way past, then with a Heat Wave as she spun around to attack from behind.
Articuno turned, flinging Ice Shards at her as he did, and Pidgeot yelped as she took several close-in hits.
"Dive!" Ash ordered. "Get really low in the open area!"
Even after how long they'd been apart, compared to how long since she'd joined again, Pidgeot's trust in him brought a lump to Ash's throat. She dropped straight down to ground level, barely avoiding being slammed into the ground from a Gust, and whipcracked across the surface leaving a trail of dust and grit behind her.
"Now, around and back again!" Ash went on.
"What's he… Articuno!" Noland called.
It was too late. "Sand-Attack!" Ash ordered.
Pidgeot practically skidded to a halt in mid-air as she pushed all her momentum into a single massive wingbeat, blowing the dust she'd raised in a plume that engulfed Articuno, and the Ice-type suddenly couldn't see where Pidgeot was.
A problem Pidgeot didn't have, as she blurred up into the sky with a crack of displaced air.
"Look out!" Noland said. "She's above you – Ice Beam!"
Articuno did his best, but he simply didn't have the accuracy to respond. Without the need to dodge around her path, Pidgeot got to use a full-power Double Edge at the maximum speed she could, and the impact nearly knocked her out in one blow but drove Articuno into the ground with a sound like a meteor strike.
"Marvellous, Ash," Scott said, applauding. "And Pidgeot! That was amazing, truly a battle of power fused with skill!"
Pidgeot came down to land with a thump, drooping visibly but still upright, and Ash trotted closer before reaching out a hoof.
She took it with one foot, leaning on him a little, and Ash smiled.
"That was amazing, Pidgeot," he said, then used Confusion to lift her Pokéball. "You can have a rest now, if you want."
Pidgeot shook her head.
"Maybe in a minute," she said.
A moment later, Latias lifted Articuno over the edge of the platform.
"He's very cold," she reported. "Which… probably means he's okay? I don't know how Ice types work for that."
"Are Ice-types generally cold?" Ash asked, glancing at Brock and Misty. "Do either of you know?"
"There's enough Ice-types in Cerulean Gym, so I know," Misty said. "Well, for those at least. A cold Ice-type is fine."
She leaned over to look at the crater. "You… might want to consider taking him to the Pokémon Centre, though."
"I think that would be a good idea, yes," Noland decided, shaking his head slightly. "I'm impressed, Ash. How long have you had that Pokémon? I've not seen her on your team before."
"I guess you didn't look far back enough," Ash said. "I had her on my first Pokémon League run, she was a Pidgeotto then! But she had a flock to take care of – she sort of still does – but we got back together when I arrived in Kanto, and since then I've been making sure I know her new moves!"
Noland nodded. "Now I'm very impressed. My challenge is all about knowledge, Ash, and you've certainly shown that your knowledge of your Pokémon is very impressive… of course, I'd have to give you the Knowledge Symbol anyway, or my boss would be upset."
Koraidon giggled.
"I wonder what this one's going to be," Ash said, stepping forwards, and Noland looked confused.
"What this one's going to be?" he repeated.
"Yeah, my Badges all change my Type, and so did a couple of other things," Ash said.
He took it, and… didn't change.
"When two hearts know one another, they beat as one," he said, and Pikachu began typing it in. "But I don't think I've changed type. Maybe it's another Normal type one?"
"Is that something we can even test?" Max frowned. "Anything else, we could see if you were still Normal type, but… not much about that battle was Normal type, really."
He glanced at Noland. "Maybe it's because you're not a Type specialist?"
"What hit me?" Articuno asked, blinking a few times. "Ow."
"Most recently, I think…" Ash glanced at Pidgeot. "Pidgeot, and then the planet, unless that counts as you hitting it?"
"That is how Seismic Toss works, I think," Brock contributed.
AN:
Every one of Pidgeot's canonical moves got worked in here, along with some new ones.