"Hmm," Max said, checking the Pokénav, then looking up again.
Down to the Pokénav, and up.
"I think we're here!" he announced. "This is the Battle Tower!"
"Really?" May said. "Are you sure? I mean, it's a big tower, so it could be the Battle Location or something."
She stepped back, frowning. "Actually, why is it such a big tower? That's got to be dozens of floors, and how could you possibly need that much space for a single battle? It's almost as big as the Battle Tower in LaRousse City!"
"I guess, yeah," Ash said. "But then again, it's called the Battle Tower, maybe it has to be that high."
He waved a hoof. "It's got to be that wide for a proper battlefield, and a bit of extra space so you don't have to go through the battlefield to go upstairs, and if it's called the Battle Tower then you need to make it tall enough that it's not just the Battle… Hall… or something."
Brock chuckled. "I wouldn't be surprised if that is the reason," he agreed. "Shouldn't Scott be around here somewhere, though?"
He looked around, and so did Ash, then Miraidon perked up and pointed.
"There," they said.
"Oh, yeah, there he is," Ash agreed.
"Who is?" Zorua asked, from his perch on Miraidon's head, then the Ghost-type frowned. "Seen him before."
"That's Scott," Ash explained, as Scott came over from an outdoor seating area. "He's in charge of the Battle Frontier, so we keep meeting him at each of the places the Battle Frontier is running."
He looked around. "How are you doing, by the way?"
Zorua considered.
"Less fluffy," he said. "But warm. It's nice."
Miraidon's eyes displayed pleased closed-eye images for a moment. "I'm glad to be warm."
"Ash, it's good to see you arrived," Scott said. "Two Frontier Brains to go, and I think you'll find the challenge won't be getting any easier."
"I wouldn't want it to!" Ash replied. "This is the… Ability Symbol, right?"
He tapped a hoof. "Does that mean knowing how to get past Wonder Guard, or something?"
Scott laughed. "No, not quite like that," he replied. "Come on in, I'll introduce you."
Inside the Battle Tower, the main battle floor turned out to be almost the entire size of the tower footprint – and tall, as well, several storeys high.
A man with green hair greeted them, and nodded. "Good day. I am Maron, I am the Battle Judge here."
"The head of the Battle Tower is called the Battle Judge?" Ash asked. "Isn't that a bit easily confused with actual Battle Judges?"
Maron chuckled. "No, no, I am an actual Battle Judge, though I also help administer the tower. The Frontier Brain here is Salon Maiden Anabel."
May raised her hand.
"No, I don't know why she's not Tower Maiden Anabel," Maron admitted.
"I do," Scott said. "We were considering Tower Tycoon and Salon Maiden, but things got mixed up when it went to press and she was Salon Maiden of the Battle Tower. Very embarrassing, I've only got myself to blame… anyway, we had to add an extra fifteen floors on the building to make it a Tower, but fortunately they've all ended up used."
"What with?" Max asked. "There isn't office space up there, is there?"
"I… actually don't think I can tell you, specifically," Scott admitted. "In general, though, Interpol rents most of the space."
"Ah, there you are!" called a young woman, from one of the doorways. "So, this is Ash Ketchum, huh?"
She approached at a fast walk, then slowed down. "I… um. I'm… actually having trouble concentrating."
"You are?" Brock said, lighting up. "Is that because of a deep romantic affection caused by a moment's glance? I knew it was something that happened to other people too!"
"No, I'm – oh, it's part of the challenge but I should explain it anyway," the woman said. "I'm Anabel, the Salon Maiden of the Battle Tower, and I'm an empath but something's going on that's making it harder than I was expecting for me to focus."
"Oh, that's… probably me, yeah," Ash said, frowning, and used Confusion. He picked Sidney's bracelet out of his bag and stuck it to his ring, changed colour, then returned his attention to Anabel.
"Does that help?"
"You just… what just happened?" Anabel asked. "That did help, but… what happened?"
Pikachu tried not to snigger.
"I changed into a Dark type," Ash clarified, which was helpful in some theoretical sense probably. "How many Pokémon is the battle meant to be?"
Anabel clarified that it was meant to be three Pokémon on a side, with no particular restrictions, then Ash went over to the challenger's side of the arena and Anabel took her place on her own side.
Ash thought for a moment about swapping to a different Type, then decided to stick with Dark-type, and held up his first Pokéball. "I'm ready!"
"Begin!" Maron told them, and Ash sent out Noctowl. Anabel's own first choice was an Alakazam, and the Psychic-type's eyes and spoons both glowed as he readied himself.
"Noctowl, illusions!" Ash called. "Don't wait for me to tell you – and Twister!"
Noctowl did a roll, wind swirling around her wings, and used Twister. Alakazam opened with a Psybeam, and Ash frowned slightly.
"Hmm," he said, thinking.
The Twister attack hit home, but a moment later Alakazam raised both his spoons and unleashed a radial burst of psychic energy. The Twister fell apart, and Noctowl turned out to have been some way further back in it than it had seemed at first – then she got hit by a Psybeam, and staggered backwards through the air as Alakazam followed that up with a second one.
"Whirlwind yourself!" Ash called out.
Noctowl swept up a whirling, chaotic windstorm around herself, and it flung her high into the air. That got her out of the area of Alakazam's next Psybeam, and she took the chance to roll and recover before shooting down an Extrasensory attack.
Alakazam promptly fired back at her, but she'd re-illusioned herself, and the attack missed.
Anabel leaned forwards, watching the battle intently, and Alakazam fired again – and hit Noctowl, disrupting her illusion and sending light flashing off her wings.
"Ow!" she complained. "How did-"
"It's Anabel!" Ash answered, realizing what was going on. "Alakazam's comparing what she sees with what he sees! Can you make your illusion consistent?"
In reply, Noctowl whirled up a Twister around herself, and when it was gone she'd vanished completely – at least, as far as anyone else was concerned.
Ash could still see her, from Foresight or because Noctowl's illusions were based on Hypnosis, he wasn't sure. And he kept looking at Alakazam, as the Psychic-type considered before sending out a shockwave-like Psychic pulse.
That didn't catch Noctowl, at least, but then Alakazam began healing with Recover.
"Okay…" Ash said, frowning. "I need to think about this… so Alakazam was tracking where the attacks came from, and even if you hide part of the beam of an Extrasensory or Twister or whatever then he can still compare what he's seeing with what Anabel's seeing, so he'd be able to target pretty well anyway…"
He struck the ground decisively. "So that means you need to change the answer as soon as the question gets asked! Noctowl, stay invisible and use Whirlwind to throw yourself around after every attack!"
Saying it wasn't as easy as doing it, and Noctowl had trouble managing to get the attacks that closely spaced. Sometimes she whirled up a Twister only for the escape Whirlwind to disrupt it, or her Extrasensory beam wasn't followed by a Whirlwind closely enough. But she kept attacking, keeping up a regular enough drumbeat of hits that Alakazam couldn't Recover his strength effectively, and as the battle went on Ash frowned.
"There's something I'm missing," he muttered.
"Like what?" Pikachu said. "Something Alakazam's weak to? I don't remember Noctowl's moves but I don't think you'd forget one."
"No, it's something else," Ash replied. "Something about… Noctowl, come over here!"
The Flying-type smacked herself across the room with a Whirlwind, orbiting Ash invisibly, and Ash took a moment to compose his thoughts.
"Make an illusion of a Twister coming in and falling apart, then attack from a different direction," he said, quietly enough that Anabel couldn't hear. "With Tackle or a move like that, you know, a direct physical hit. Catch them by surprise!"
"Got it," Noctowl chirped, then whirled up another Whirlwind around herself and blew herself back across the room. She banked around to the right, focusing, then a Twister whirled out of thin air and Alakazam fired Psybeams back in the direction the faux-Twister was coming from.
He missed as it fell apart, but Anabel was frowning. Ash could see when she sent a warning to Alakazam, as the Psychic-type suddenly whirled, but it came too late and Noctowl hit Alakazam hard enough to knock the Psychic-type to the ground.
A lot harder than he'd been expecting, actually.
"Feint attack!" Ash realized. "Keep it up, Noctowl!"
Alakazam fired out a Psychic pulse into the air, trying to knock Noctowl back, but she punched through with an Extrasensory jet. She rolled right, a copy of her wake rolled left, and then she hit Alakazam with another Feint Attack a moment later.
"Alakazam is unable to battle!"
"Impressive," Anabel said, as she recalled her Alakazam. "I take it Feint Attack was new?"
"Yeah, it just clicked right there," Ash agreed.
Anabel sent out her next Pokémon, a Metagross, and Maron waited a few seconds to give Ash time to switch before slashing his hand down. "Begin!"
Metagross used Swift, a cloud of golden stars raising into the air before focusing on Noctowl through her illusion, and though none of them was individually very strong they came in a continuous stream that outlined her in impacts for at least three seconds.
"Look out-!" Ash called, but by the time he'd said it Metagross had jumped into the air. The Steel-type hit Noctowl with a Meteor Mash, punching her the length of the room, and she went whap into the wall in a spread-owl position before falling off.
Latias caught her before she hit the floor.
"Noctowl is unable to battle," Maron said. "The score is one all. Ash Ketchum, send out your next Pokémon!"
It was a hard choice, and Ash asked if he could have a minute to think.
"What are you thinking?" Latias checked.
"Type advantage isn't a problem," Ash replied. "It's more… is this going to work better going for speed, or strength against strength?"
"That's a very strong Pokémon by the looks of it," Pikachu judged, considering. "It sure would be nice to have Charizard right about now."
Ash nodded. "Maybe I'll have to get him for the next battle or something…"
He considered, then shook his head. "I don't think speed is the way to go, here," he decided. "That Swift attack wasn't very strong but it was great at homing in… which means you're up, Marshtomp!"
The Ground-and-Water type emerged onto the Battle Tower's arena, and faced Metagross down levelly.
"Anything specific?" he checked.
"Use your new move to counter their punching attacks," Ash said. "Otherwise – I'll let you know."
"Got it."
"Begin!" Maron called, and Metagross stomped forwards.
"Mud Shot!" Ash called, and Marshtomp fired out a glob of mud at the advancing Metagross. It used Psychic, slapping the attack away and making it burst on the ground with a splatch, and Ash pointed.
"Now!" he said.
Metagross punched. So did Marshtomp, and the impact between Meteor Mash and Marshtomp's fist made the floor jump.
A shockwave ripple spread out in both directions, and Anabel frowned – then Metagross used Swift, sending a cascade of golden stars into the air to rain down on Marshtomp.
"Mud Shot upwards!" Ash said, and this time the glob of mud got shredded to bits by the Swift stars. It absorbed a lot of them, though, so what hit Marshtomp wasn't very damaging, then Metagross used Psychic to pick Marshtomp up and hold him in place for a Meteor Mash.
Marshtomp responded by simply using Bulldoze again. The two attacks collided with a wham, knocking Marshtomp back down onto the floor, but he'd hit Metagross hard enough that it was on his terms rather than just ending up in a crater.
"That's…" Anabel said, out loud, then shook her head and went back to concentrating.
"They're going to try to outlast you, Marshtomp!" Ash warned. "Mud Shot!"
The Mud Shot hit home, this time, and a moment later a retaliatory Psychic by Metagross knocked Marshtomp rolling back across the floor. He rolled over three times, used Mud Shot to give himself friction to brake to a halt, and huffed out a breath – then used Muddy Water, firing out a jet of water that splashed into Metagross and sent cascades of murky water spraying everywhere.
"That's going to take a while to clean, isn't it?" May asked.
"I think worse things have to happen to the Battle Facilities most of the time," Max said.
"Bulldoze!" Ash called, and Marshtomp charged forwards. Metagross met him with a Psychic, then a Meteor Mash, and Marshtomp's Bulldoze punch crashed into the Meteor Mash again with a crash that sent shockwaves across the ground.
Latias leaned closer to Ash.
"I didn't notice it before, but… Metagross is slowing down, isn't it?" she asked. "That wasn't quite as quick as before."
"Yeah, that's something Bulldoze and Mud Shot do," Ash agreed. "Marshtomp's doing great, but I'm thinking strategically too."
Metagross stepped back suddenly, X plate glowing, and Ash pointed. "Marshtomp, Dig!"
Marshtomp crashed into the floor, breaking though, and evaded the Hyper Beam Metagross fired his way.
Ash grinned – Metagross had already been slowed down just enough that it was messing with their ability to charge a Hyper Beam!
"Now, come out and hit!" he added. "Then Bulldoze!"
Metagross raised a leg, and used Meteor Mash as Marshtomp came out of the ground again. Marshtomp met the punch with a punch of his own, Bulldozing, and shockwaves pulsed out yet again.
"Bulldoze!" Ash called.
Marshtomp panted, then slugged at Metagross. The Steel-type blocked with a Meteor Mash, slower moving but with almost as much momentum, and this time Marshtomp didn't quite get the strength right. The impact knocked him sliding backwards, and he rolled over and bounced once before coming to a halt next to Ash.
"Are you okay?" Ash checked.
Marshtomp mumbled something about there being an earthquake on the way, and Ash recalled him.
"The challenger is down to one Pokémon!" Maron said. "Send out your final Pokémon!"
"I will!" Ash replied, and sent out Cyndaquil.
The judge called for them to begin, and Ash pointed. "Flamethrower!"
Cyndaquil's flame quills flared up, then he blasted Metagross with an intense jet of Flamethrower. The attack bathed Metagross in flame, and they retaliated with a Swift attack.
"Agility!" Ash called, and Cyndaquil darted to the side. He took some hits from the Swift stars as Metagross sluggishly turned to follow, then Ash's Pokémon fired another Flamethrower, and Metagross made a sort of rumbling noise before crashing to the ground.
"...huh," Latias said. "Marshtomp nearly won their battle, then."
"Hmm…" Ash frowned, watching as Anabel sent out her Espeon, then reached back with Confusion and plucked his Pokédex out of his saddlebags.
Flicking though the entries for Alakazam, then Metagross, then Espeon, he looked contemplative for a moment.
"Something up?" Pikachu asked.
"Kind of," Ash replied. "I might need to change plans slightly… yeah, that should be okay."
"Are you ready to resume?" Maron asked.
Ash nodded. "Yeah, sorry, had to check something."
"That's all right," Maron said. "I believe it is, Anabel?"
"Yes, that's fine," Anabel agreed. "During the actual battles you have to think fast, but the time between battles is for checking things like that."
"In which case… begin!" Maron called.
"Agility!" Ash said, straight away.
Espeon responded with a Quick Attack, speeding up so that Cyndaquil didn't have the speed advantage, and Ash pointed. "Keep going past Espeon – then use Smokescreen into the air!"
"Yah!" Cyndaquil said, jumping into the air and curling into a ball, then his flame quills stuttered and sent out an enormous blast of smoke. It hung in the air between Anabel and her Espeon, and Brock gasped.
"I get it!" he said. "So Anabel can't help Espeon out with two viewpoints!"
"Flamethrower!" Ash added, and Cyndaquil bounced before uncurling and shooting out a jet of flame.
Espeon dodged to the side with blurring speed, still using Quick Attack, then darted in close.
"Paws up, Wild Charge!" Ash snapped, spotting the electrical glow taking shape on Espeon's forehead gem, and Cyndaquil reacted just in time.
That wasn't the same as saying the attack didn't hit home. Espeon's Zap Cannon was simply a more powerful attack and blasted straight into her opponent, knocking Cyndaquil bouncing across the floor, and he rolled over twice before sliding to a halt.
"Agility!" Ash prompted, and Cyndaquil got moving again to avoid a follow-up Signal Beam that hit the floor where he'd been a moment ago. "Swift!"
Cyndaquil spat out a shower of stars, sending them homing in on Espeon, and Espeon blocked some of them with an Iron Tail. The rest hit home, and Espeon winced, then whirled around to face Cyndaquil and fired another Zap Cannon.
Ash's Fire-type got blasted away, but half of Ash's attention was on Anabel. The Smokescreen had dissipated enough that she could see what was going on again, and he pointed. "Smokescreen again!"
"On Espeon?" Cyndaquil asked.
"No, between her and Anabel!" Ash replied. "Espeon's got Magic Bounce!"
"Well worked out," Anabel said, speaking up during a battle for once. "Hidden Abilities. It made it so Metagross was affected by Bulldoze, but for Espeon it's going to make it harder for you to deal with her."
Cyndaquil had kept moving while Anabel was talking, and puffed out another blast of Smokescreen – then Espeon used Psychic, reaching out and grabbing him in a glowing field of energy, and Cyndaquil yelped in surprise.
"Flamethrower!" Ash called, and he bathed his opponent in flame. Espeon vanished inside the stream of flame for a moment, then let Cyndaquil go and switched to using Psychic to protect herself, and Cyndaquil bounced once before sprinting away with Agility.
Ash glanced up at Anabel, and saw that the Smokescreen was already fading away. Too quickly.
"What-" he said, then spotted Espeon's gem and eyes were still glowing. "Espeon's clearing the smoke away! Use Smokescreen again-"
Espeon wasn't done, either, whirling on her paws and hitting Cyndaquil with a Zap Cannon that blasted him backwards into the wall. There was a big puff of smoke when he was most of the way there, obscuring the impact, then the smoke was replaced by a keening sound of intense flame and a Flamethrower attack came right back out of the smoke to hit Espeon.
And, when the smoke faded, Quilava was standing there with both sets of flame quills flaring.
"Keep up your smoke!" Ash called. "If you need to know where Espeon is, let up only for a moment – but make it hard for them to tell where you are!"
"Got it!" Quilava said, pawing at the ground, then used Agility. He puffed out smoke three times on the way, each time hiding himself for a moment, then hit Espeon head-on with a Flame Wheel.
Espeon's eyes glowed, and a wind rippled away from her. Now each time Quilava used Smokescreen it plumed away from him, only holding him for a second or so, and the air in the arena as a whole began to get smokier and smokier.
"Flamethrower!" Ash called, and Quilava launched out a jet of flame. It was distorted by the psychic wind as well, curving and rippling, and only a bit of it actually reached Espeon – then Espeon retaliated with a Zap Cannon, and Quilava hurried to get out of the way.
"If ranged attacks aren't going to work, you'll have to get close in!" Ash realized. "But keep up the smokescreens so she has to focus on deflection! Then switch and close in before she can react – don't give any warning!"
Anabel leaned forwards, and she and Espeon watched as Quilava ran around in an irregular circle. Sometimes slowing down, sometimes speeding up, sending out puffs of Smokescreen smoke or turning to use Flamethrower before returning to his run. He even caught Espeon out, once, when she mistook one of his turns to attack for the time he was going to go in for a physical attack and she switched away from using Psychic too soon.
That let him get in a Flamethrower, but he was still working hard – maybe too hard – and he'd tire out soon.
Then-
WHAM.
Quilava crossed the space between his position and Espeon's in a bar of flame, hitting the Psychic-type so suddenly that she had no time to react, and Espeon flipped over once before using Psychic to slow herself down.
It still meant she hit the wall very hard, but points for trying.
Maron watched as Espeon landed on the ground, waited a moment, then waved his hands. "Espeon is unable to battle! Ash Ketchum is the winner!"
"That was Extremespeed!" Max said. "When did he learn that?"
"I've seen it used enough," Quilava said, shrugging, then loped over to Ash. "How was that?"
"That was great, Quilava!" Ash told him. "Well done for giving her no warning! How do you feel?"
"Stronger?" Quilava decided, rolling his shoulders a bit, and stood upright before going back down to all fours. "More stable, too."
"Very good," Anabel said, approaching. "It's surprising how much some trainers have trouble with it when their opponent isn't giving verbal orders."
"Yeah, it is," Ash agreed. "It took me a bit to work it out, but – it's a lot like battling a wild Pokémon, or doing training when you're only giving orders to one side, you just need to remember that they've got someone else who's able to see through tricks. When you're battling a wild Pokémon they can hear it when you give an order!"
Anabel nodded, considering. "A good way to think about it, I think," she said. "Here is the Ability Symbol."
She paused. "Why is everyone leaning forwards?"
"We want to hear what it is this time," May said.
Ash took the Ability symbol, listened, then repeated. "Skill and instinct combine to make ability."
"That's an interesting one," Pikachu said, typing it in. "Whose is the skill and whose is the instinct?"
"I think it's a bit of both?" Ash suggested. "Sometimes it's a trainer who knows what to do from experience, and sometimes the Pokémon does, but then again sometimes a trainer just… knows what they're supposed to do in a given situation. And I guess it's the same for the Pokémon."
"Well, there's good news, Ash!" Scott said. "With six Battle Facilities beaten, you can now challenge the Battle Pyramid! It's currently near Pewter City."
"Currently?" Brock repeated.
"It flies," Scott answered. "Brandon's an archaeologist and he wanted a flying base camp. I hope to see you when you challenge the Pyramid King, Ash!"
"You bet!" Ash agreed.
AN:
Six out of seven.