"Stop!"

At Kricketune's cry, the Jigglypuff trailed off, the first notes of the song she'd been planning to sing disappearing into nothingness. "What?" she asked angrily. "Do you not want to hear my music?"

"It's not that," said Kricketune placatingly. "As a connoisseur of the musical arts myself, I would like nothing more. It's just that, when untrained, the musical talents of a Pokemon such as yourself are rather…sleep-inducing."

"Oh." Jigglypuff looked crestfallen. "No wonder everyone falls asleep at all my concerts. I always thought they just hated my music, so I drew mustaches on their faces." She held up a black marker proudly. "Very good ones, too, if I do say so myself."

"I do hope that isn't a permanent marker," Kricketune said warily.

Jigglypuff glared at him. "What do you take me for, a monster?"

"Okay, good." Kricketune sighed with relief. "If you want, I can ask my Trainer to catch you, and I can give you a few lessons on how to control your music so it doesn't induce sleep."

Jigglypuff shook her head. "Not interested in being caught, thank you very much. But I'd love to take you up on those singing lessons. Maybe I'll just…follow you around for a bit until my singing doesn't put people to sleep."

Kricketune smiled. "I believe that could be arranged."

Having averted potential fake mustache-related disaster, Ash and his friends (plus the now tagging-along Jigglypuff) soon stepped into what looked like some sort of archeological dig. There were quite a few people littered around the walls of a sizable canyon, swinging pickaxes and shovels at the rocks around them. "Huh," said Ash. "Seems like your kind of place, Clay."

"Yeah, seems it," Clay agreed. "Though I usually dig for rare ores, not fossils."

"Fossils?" Ash asked.

"Indeed," said Cyrus. "As Clay has clearly noticed, this is obviously a fossil-finding expedition. The location they are digging at seems too high up for rare ore deposits, their packs are filled with Pokeballs which are dominantly used in the transport of fossils, their tent over there is labeled 'Fossil Finders Expedition'…Ash, what are you looking at?"

Indeed, Ash's attention had wandered away from his traveling companions and the various workers, and to a familiar-looking blue-haired girl who had quite clearly just caught sight of him as well. "Miette!"

"Ash!" Miette smiled broadly. "What are you doing here?"

"I was gonna ask the same thing to you," said Ash. "You don't strike me as the kind of person to be swinging a pickaxe around."

Miette giggled. "Looks can be deceiving, Ash. Grandpa wants to study some Kabuto and Omanyte - you know, them being Water-types and all - and, since this expedition was in roughly the same area I was in, he asked me if I could obtain a couple of each! And the expedition said I could only take the ones I found myself…though they didn't say I couldn't use my Pokemon instead!" She gestured to where a Blastoise was slamming a pickaxe into the wall next to her over and over again - it seemed her Wartortle had evolved.

"So, uh, Miette…" Ash hesitated. "I…um…"

Miette sighed. "Okay, I think that's enough. You and I both know what has to happen now."

"Wait, really?" Ash asked. "Now? Didn't you just say you were on a mission for Professor Archie?"

Miette smiled oddly at him. "Oh, Ash…you should know by now that rivalries are above all else. I've got a defeat to avenge, and let's be honest, it's not like you don't want to battle, right?"

"…fair," said Ash, grinning back at Miette. "All right, let's do this!"

It turned out that the rest of the archeologists agreed with Miette; as soon as she and Ash began squaring off, all of them stopped working entirely in favor of turning to watch the fight. Ash was totally not nervous about battling with such a big audience. After all, he'd have to battle in front of much larger crowds once the Indigo League came around. (And he definitely wasn't even more nervous for that, no, not at all!)

"Time for a battle, Meowstic!" Miette called, releasing first. "Give me a perfect performance!"

Ash frowned as the Psychic-type appeared on the battlefield - clearly her Wartortle wasn't the only Pokemon that had evolved. Last time, he'd used Palpitoad, then a Tympole, against her; this time, he didn't have that luxury. He did, however, have two Bug-types with him at the moment. He almost went for Scizor's Pokeball, but then he remembered Miette had also had a Slurpuff and a Roselia on her team, both of which Scizor would be useful against.

So he reached for the Pokeball of his other Bug-type. "Go, Kricketune!"

"Tune!" The Bug-type landed on the field, clacking his pincers and glaring at Meowstic. The Psychic-type matched him with a haughty glare of her own.

"Begin!" Clay yelled; since Cyrus had refereed the last match between Ash and Miette, he'd agreed to do the same for this one.

"Fake Out!" Miette called instantly.

Ash remembered the technique from their first fight; indeed, just as he remembered had happened to Tympole, Kricketune stumbled slightly as his mind was assailed by an abrupt burst of energy. "Follow up quickly, Meowstic!" Miette pressed. "Charge Beam - make yourself stronger!"

"Don't get hit by that, Kricketune!" Ash warned. "Dodge it and get close - use Fury Cutter!"

Kricketune leaped out of the way of a crackling beam of electricity and lunged, bladelike arms glistening green as he bore down on Meowstic. Miette giggled. "Aren't you forgetting something, Ash?" she asked. "Meowstic, block it with Protect and blast him away with Charge Beam!"

Crap - I forgot she had Protect on that last time as well! Ash watched helplessly as Kricketune's Fury Cutter rammed straight into an impenetrable barrier. His call for Kricketune to dodge was just as useless; Meowstic was already bringing her arm up, and Kricketune had put too much into the strike to adjust properly. The second Charge Beam caught him square in the face, sending him reeling backwards; Ash saw Meowstic beginning to glow and realized that the Charge Beam had additionally enhanced the power of her subsequent moves.

"Psybeam!" Miette called with shining eyes.

"Slash that apart with Fury Cutter!" Ash cried. Kricketune recovered in time to do just that, ripping through the Psybeam with ease, but Meowstic simply launched another Charge Beam his way and forced him to dive to the side. Meostic kept firing, unleashing Charge Beam after Charge Beam that skittered over the earth inches from Kricketune's feet as he ran.

Sooner or later one of those is gonna connect. Ash frowned. Bide could work, but it would run into Protect…I'd rather save that for a last-ditch effort. And I think I've got a plan to get past that Protect anyway.

"Get back in there!" Ash ordered. "Fury Cutter again - don't overcommit this time!"

Miette raised her voice. "Don't let him get close! Blistering Beam!"

Wait, what's that? Ash's answer came soon enough as Meowstic raised both hands; a combined Psybeam and Charge Beam lanced out towards the onrushing Kricketune. Kricketune raised both arms in a cross and took the attack, digging his feet into the ground to try and stand against the powerful blast; even so, he was sent skidding backwards as both electricity and Psychic power tore at his guard.

"Surprised, Ash?" Miette asked. "I've been practicing quite a bit! Hold that beam, Meowstic - keep him at bay!"

"Stic!" Meowstic cried, leaning forwards and pushing even more energy into the beam. Kricketune's feet were digging small furrows in the earth as he was pushed slowly but surely back. As realized with a jolt that there was no way Kricketune was going to win this exchange. He was already sweating, the energy upon his pincers flickering as he tried desperately to hold against the powerful combination attack; as soon as his strength failed him, the beam would hit home, a powerful strike that Kricketune would almost certainly be knocked down by if not knocked unconscious entirely.

But if there's no way to avoid Kricketune getting hit…then I'll just have to take advantage of that.

"Kricketune, use Bide!" Ash yelled.

Kricketune winced in anticipation and dropped the Fury Cutter.

A loud screech of agony erupted from Kricketune as the Blistering Beam sent him flying backwards. Jigglypuff cried out from the sidelines. Somehow, despite the clear pain, Kricketune remained on his feet, narrowing his eyes at Meowstic. Ash saw an opportunity. "Charge her!" he cried. "Get as close as you can before the Bide goes off!"

"Knock him away with another Blistering Beam!" Miette cried. "The Bide doesn't matter - you can Protect against it - but don't let him get close!"

Clearly Miette had figured out Ash's plan, but even wounded, Kricketune was too fast for Meowstic. Instead of trying to contest the power of the next Blistering Beam, the Bug-type simply dove out of the way and continued his charge, the white glow around his body growing almost blinding.

And then the energy released in an ear-splitting boom that nearly drowned out Miette's yell of "Protect, now!" A second boom sounded as the Bide slammed into Meowstic's hastily-raised barrier; the Protect held, and the energy of the Bide scattered everywhere as it found nothing but an unyielding wall in its path. But Ash had known that would happen.

"Now use Sing, Kricketune!" he yelled, and Kricketune opened his mouth and Sang.

"Blast the soundwaves away with Psybeam!" Miette cried desperately.

But Meowstic had clearly been straining to keep up the Protect against the awesome power of Kricketune's Bide, and she simply couldn't adjust in time to block the Sing. Her eyelids drooped, her posture slackened, and she crumpled to the floor, sound asleep.

Ash saw Jigglypuff cheering and clapping out of the corner of his eye, and smirked even as Miette gulped. "Meowstic, get up! Charge Beam again - it has to be low!"

"No chance, Miette!" Ash retorted. "Kricketune, finish it off with a flurry of Fury Cutters!"

"Krick!" Kricketune leaped for the prone form of Meowstic, Fury Cutters at the ready, and this time there were no Protects raised in defense, for Meowstic was still fast asleep.

Three Fury Cutters slammed into Meowstic's body, each one causing her to jerk a little more, before Miette finally bit the bullet and recalled her, pouting slightly.

"That was quick," Psyduck noted from the sidelines.

"That was amazing, is what that was!" Jigglypuff cried. "Go, Kricketune!"

"You know," said Drilbur, "things like that are why the Indigo League adopted new rules on sleep in battling this year. Apparently, in the tournament, once a Pokemon is put to sleep, they'll instantly be treated as being unable to battle, so that opposing Pokemon can't just wail on sleeping Pokemon like that."

Zubat side-eyed Drilbur. "You can't be serious. What about Sleep Talk? Or Snore? Or Rest - how does Rest even do anything if you're treated as unable to battle the instant you use it? And what if the Pokemon that got put to sleep is vastly superior to their opponent? And what if someone shows up to the league with a whole team of Pokemon that spam Hypnosis and Spore and all those other sleep moves? Do they just automatically win? Seriously, who in their right minds came up with that bright idea?"

Drilbur shrugged. "Yeah, actually, when you put it like that, I'm a little confused too. Maybe I can get Genesect to ask Clay to talk to the League about it. Oh, look, Miette's already sent in her Blastoise."

"Ooh." Psyduck was clearly excited to watch a fellow Water-type battle, judging by how he scooted a little closer to the fighting.

"Blastoise, use Surf!"

"Break through the wave with Bullet Seed!" Ash yelled as Blastoise unleashed a miniature tidal wave from his twin cannons.

Kricketune opened fire with a barrage of flying seeds, shredding the wave before it could even come close to touching him. "Sing!" Ash ordered. "Take him down quick!"

"Not so fast, Ash!" Miette retorted. "Block it with Protect!"

Ash glared at Miette as Blastoise deflected Kricketune's Sing with the barrier. "Do all your Pokemon have Protect?"

Miette shrugged. "It's a useful move. Maybe you'd be doing better if you taught it to some of yours."

"Says the Trainer who's losing," said Ash. "Bullet Seed, Kricketune!"

"Not for much longer," Miette replied. "Blastoise, use Ice Beam!"

"Blast!" Blastoise bellowed, raising one of his cannons. A jagged beam of pure ice surged from the mouth of the cannon, tearing through Kricketune's Bullet Seed with ease. The Bug-type was forced to dive to the side, and even then the Ice Beam was travelling so fast - faster than even Meowstic's Charge Beams - that it only barely missed him.

"Again!" Miette yelled, and once more Kricketune was forced onto the defensive, dodging away from Blastoise's rapidly-fired beams. He needs to get in close, Ash realized. Bullet Seed is useless against those Ice Beams.

Ash opened his mouth. "Kricketune, use-"

But before he could get the rest of the order out, Blastoise finally got lucky. Kricketune was a hair too slow to evade an Ice Beam, and the frost-formed shot caught him in the foot as he tried to leap out of the way. Kricketune fell; on the sidelines, Jigglypuff cried out in horror.

Miette grinned. "Rime Crash! Finish it, Blastoise!"

"Toise!" Blastoise eagerly obeyed. An even large wave of water poured from his twin cannons, swiftly surging across the battlefield towards the stricken Kricketune. As it swept forth, Blastoise followed up with a pair of Ice Beams at his own Surf; the wave froze over even as it kept going, forming a cascade of ice coming down upon Kricketune like an avalanche.

Another combination attack? There's no way Kricketune can block that with Bullet Seed, and no way he can escape from it while prone like that. There's only one option.

Ash made a decision in an instant. "Kricketune, hold on! Use Bide - you can take this!"

"Tackle, Blastoise!" Miette ordered immediately. "Don't let him get that off!"

Kricketune stiffened, calling upon Bide as the Rime Crash came crashing down upon him, burying him in ice. Blastoise hurled himself forwards even as the attack hit, pounding across the battlefield, ready to unleash a full-force Tackle on his opponent. Tackle wasn't exactly the strongest of moves, but coming from something as burly as Blastoise, Ash knew it would easily be able to finish off Kricketune given the state the Bug-type was in.

And that was if Kricketune managed to even stay conscious after that powerful combination attack.

Come on…Ash clenched his fists in anticipation.

And then the ice exploded upwards as Kricketune burst out, his entire body trembling with effort even as it glowed bright white. "Krick…"

Blastoise lunged at the now-glowing Kricketune.

"…e…"

Ash saw Kricketune exhale.

"…tune."

The Bide erupted outwards just as Blastoise's skull connected with Kricketune's face, and the two Pokemon were both engulfed in the resulting explosion of energy.

When the smoke cleared, Blastoise was lying on top of Kricketune, both of them clearly unconscious. Ash smiled and recalled Kricketune; Miette did the same with Blastoise, her expression somewhat less pleased.

"Awesome job, Kricketune," Ash murmured. "Taking out two Pokemon like that…I'm definitely glad you're on my team."

A brief pause later, the two Trainers had sent out their next Pokemon. Miette had chosen her Roselia, which unlike her previous two Pokemon had not evolved any further; Ash, for his part, had elected to send out Primeape.

"Begin!" Clay called as soon as the two Pokemon had exchanged intimidating glares, though Primeape's was quite clearly more effective than the slighter Roselia's.

"Charge her, Primeape!" Ash yelled. "Use Mega Kick!"

"Dodge and use Magical Leaf, Roselia!" Miette countered.

Roselia was fast and lithe; she swiftly darted out of the way of the charging Primeape, sending a spray of glistening leaves at him even as she dodged. Primeape charged through the leaves; cuts adorned his body as he skidded to a halt and lunged for Roselia again, this time with a fist drawn back.

He and Ash were both completely unprepared for Roselia to reach up and catch Primeape's punch.

Primeape's eyes widened as his fist sank into the flower that was Roselia's hand. "Mega Drain!" Miette commanded; Primeape's entire body seized up as Roselia began to drain the energy from his form. "Get away!" Ash yelled; with a grunt of effort, Primeape yanked himself away from Roselia.

"Sludge Bomb!" Miette called; Roselia brought her other hand around, unleashing a glob of poison at Primeape's staggering form. "Duck it!" Ash yelled; Primeape dropped, allowing the Sludge Bomb to pass over his head, and leaped forwards in a diving tackle. Roselia lunged out of the way, but this time Primeape was prepared for the dodge; as soon as he landed, he whirled and lashed out with a backhand, catching Roselia across the face and throwing her to the ground.

Snarling, Primeape rushed Roselia once more. But Miette raised her voice - "Through his legs, Roselia!" - and Roselia swiftly rolled, diving between Primeape's legs and rapidly rising up behind him. Another Magical Leaf raked at Primeape as he twisted. "Thrash!" Ash yelled; Primeape roared as he kicked off the ground, hurtling towards Roselia once more.

Miette's face split into a grin. "Sleep Powder!"

Ash grimaced - Primeape was far too close to dodge the attack, even if he hadn't been in the middle of Thrash. Roselia raised a flowery hand, unleashing a cloud of spores straight at the charging Primeape, who promptly threw himself headlong into the spores and fell asleep.

At which point Miette, Roselia, and Ash all realized that just because Primeape had fallen asleep didn't mean his momentum had stopped at all.

"What - dodge, Roselia!" Miette wailed, but Primeape was already on top of the Grass/Poison-type. She disappeared beneath her opponent's sleeping body as they both fell to the ground with Primeape on top. Ash couldn't help but chuckle as he saw Roselia's flowery fist tugging at Primeape's fur; she was clearly trying to shove the much heavier Primeape off her, something that was quite clearly failing.

Miette's face was slightly red. "That wasn't…I didn't mean…Roselia, just return." She recalled the Grass/Poison-type before Primeape could wake up and actually take advantage of having Roselia pinned down, then shot a half-teasing glare at Ash. "Come on! I didn't even get to show off Roselia's combinations! Did you plan that?"

"Uh…yeah, totally!" Ash replied. "All part of my plan!"

Clay snorted loudly.

"Shut up, Clay."

After a brief pause to allow Primeape to wake up, the battle resumed. Though, in hindsight, Primeape would probably have been better off just staying asleep, since as it turned out, the Fighting-type was thoroughly unequipped to handle Miette's next Pokemon.

Unlike Roselia, Slurpuff could match Primeape physically, and could do it with type advantage to boot. Not to mention Cotton Spore, which was just as annoying as last time, except unlike Hisuian Growlithe, Primeape had no way of burning the fluff off. After a few Cotton Spores, Primeape was far too slow to land any hits on Slurpuff, who effortlessly wove around the Fighting-type's wild punches and pummeled him with Play Roughs while using Wish to erase all the damage from the single punch Primeape did manage to get in.

So it was that, a scant two minutes after Roselia's fall, Ash was forced to recall Primeape without the Fighting-type having done any damage to Slurpuff, and Miette was back to smirking. Ash sighed - he really needed to do some training with Primeape. The Fighting-type was strong - stronger than Kubfu, at least in terms of raw muscle - but fought with very little skill.

He thought about using Hisuian Arcanine - after all, he'd beaten Slurpuff last time as a Growlithe - but thought better of it. Slurpuff had used Cotton Spore, Play Rough, and Wish - that left one more move, and Ash knew Miette well enough to know that she'd likely have a way to counter Fire-types as her fourth. Their resistance to Fairy and ability to burn away the Cotton Spores was just too big of a weakness otherwise.

"Go, Scizor!" Ash cried instead, throwing out the Bug/Steel-type to face Slurpuff.

Miette's expression dipped slightly but noticeably. As soon as Clay yelled "Begin!" she cried out a quick order. "Slurpuff, use Surf!"

Ash was profoundly grateful he'd chosen not to send out Hisuian Arcanine; Surf would have completely washed him away. As it was, though, Scizor didn't exactly have a ready counter for Surf. "Get back with Quick Attack!" Ash decided. "When the wave crashes down, jump over it!"

Scizor dove backwards, Quick Attack enabling him to easily evade the wave as it came crashing down upon the spot where he'd been standing. Then, fluidly, he crouched and leaped, sailing artfully over the Surf and landing back down on the ground. "Now Bullet Punch at Slurpuff!" Ash yelled; Scizor was off in an instant, rushing the Fairy-type with one claw drawn back.

"Catch it with Cotton Spore!" Miette cried.

Slurpuff opened fire, blasting out waves of fluff at the charging Scizor, but Scizor was too fast; Quick Attack surged across his body as he dodged and sidestepped every Cotton Spore Slurpuff sent at him, all the while getting steadily closer. Slurpuff stepped forwards, raised both hands, and unleashed a dual Cotton Spore from both palms; Scizor ducked, smoothly diving under the wave of fluff, and came up with an uppercut to Slurpuff's chin.

"Surf him away!" Miette cried as Slurpuff reeled. "And use Wish to recover!"

"Dodge!" Ash yelled; Scizor leaped to the side, but against such a widespread attack not even he was able to evade in time. The Surf caught him in the side as he attempted to run; Scizor was sent spinning to the ground as the wave washed over him, and Slurpuff took full advantage of the opportunity to complete the second part of Miette's command. Energy washed over her as she used Wish, and the bruise left by Scizor's Bullet Punch disappeared before Ash's eyes.

As Scizor hauled himself to his feet, dripping wet and gasping, Ash frowned in contemplation. Scizor still only has melee attacks, which means all he can really do is rush in just like he just did. I just need to figure out how he can do that without leaving himself open to getting blasted with Surf.

Maybe if I just don't let her get an attack off…

"Scizor, Bullet Punch again!" Ash yelled. "This time don't let up!"

"Cotton Comber!" Miette ordered as Scizor began his second charge.

Extending both arms in front of her again, Slurpuff unleashed yet another combination attack, this one a clear mixture of Surf and Cotton Spore. A tidal wave of fluff exploded out of her palms, surging towards the charging Scizor. He was far enough away that he might be able to evade if-

No, wait! I've got an idea!

"Fury Cutter, Scizor!" Ash yelled. "Slice right through that wave!"

Scizor glanced at his Trainer for a moment as if Ash were insane, but nevertheless followed through. His claws took on a greenish glint as he skidded to a halt, staring down the wave of cotton descending down upon him. Raising his arm, he waited until the Cotton Comber was almost on top of him…

"Now!" Ash yelled, and Scizor thrust his claw forwards. Energy exploded outwards as the super-effective attack tore right through the center of the wave. Cotton flew everywhere, none of it touching Scizor; the remnants of the waves flew past Scizor on either side, and the Bug/Steel-type wasted no time in hurling himself at the shocked-looking Slurpuff, Fury Cutter still at the ready.

"Surf again!" Miette yelled.

But Scizor was still fully intent on following through on Ash's earlier command. Don't let up.

His second Fury Cutter slammed into Slurpuff's face, sending her staggering, and Scizor pressed. Slurpuff tried to fire off another Surf, but Scizor's third Fury Cutter doubled her over before she could. Scizor twisted and flung his fourth Fury Cutter into the back of her head, knocking Slurpuff to the ground, then hauled back. With a yell, he plunged his fifth and final Fury Cutter into Slurpuff's back, hard enough that the impact drove her a couple inches into the ground.

Scizor rose, breathing heavily, to the cheers of the audience as Miette recalled her fourth Pokemon.

"I wonder what her fifth is going to be," said Houndour. "I remember those first four Pokemon from their last fight, but this one will be new."

"Who cares?" Jigglypuff asked. "Ash has basically already won. He's got a pretty healthy Scizor plus two more Pokemon to take on that girl's last. There's literally no way Miette can come back from this."

Houndour chuckled. "While I'm inclined to agree, there's a popular saying in Pokemon battling: 'It isn't over until it's over.' Ash may be winning, sure. Pretty handily, in fact. But he hasn't won yet. And quite frankly, the fact that you said something like that is practically inviting Miette's last Pokemon to be something ridiculous."

"Now that's just dumb," Jigglypuff began, and then Miette sent out a floating girl with a knife.

"…and there it is," Houndour murmured, suddenly sounding a lot more nervous.

"Hello, Ash…" The specter smiled. "It's been so long…playing with you last time was so much fun!" She raised the bloody knife in her left hand. "Ready to play with me again?"

Ash did the only thing he could think of in this situation, which was scream. Very loudly. "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! GO AWAY! WE'RE NOT EVEN CLOSE TO MAIDEN'S PEAK! WHY ARE YOU HERE? AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!"

The ghost grinned, then transformed into a Gastly; the knife dissipated as well. "Well, that's that settled," said the now-Gastly-shaped Ghost of Maiden's Peak. "Pay up."

Miette sighed, rummaged through her pack, and tossed an Oran Berry to the ghost. "I thought 'scream like a little girl' was an exaggeration…"

"Hey!" Ash yelled. "I did not scream like a little girl!"

Cyrus cleared his throat. "Actually, yes, your scream was quite feminine."

"Shut up, Cyrus."

Cyrus raised his hands. "I am just saying."

"Are you…actually the Ghost of Maiden's Peak?" Ash asked, fervently hoping that this was just another random Gastly. A random Gastly who could speak to humans and perform ridiculously powerful illusionary work. Yeah, that was looking less likely every second.

"Yep," said the Gastly. "Though you can call me Maiden. That's what Miette refers to me as. It's a lot easier to say when you need to quickly give an order. Imagine if she had to yell 'Ghost of Maiden's Peak' every time she told me to use an attack - we'd never win anything!"

"But…" Ash swallowed. "How…are you speaking, if you're a Pokemon?"

Maiden chuckled. "I realized pretty early on that it's a lot easier to pretend you're an actual ghost and not just a Gastly when you can speak human. So I learned how to do it. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but when you've got a couple thousand years to invisibly follow humans and listen to their language, sooner or later you get it down. It's the same with Legendaries - have you met any Legendaries?"

Ash had to stop himself from chuckling despite his still-present fear. "Yeah, a few."

"It's the same with them," said Maiden. "Most of them have been living since this world was first created, so naturally they've taken the time to learn how to speak to humans. But enough about that. I do have a battle to win, after all."

"You say that like it'll be easy," Ash retorted. "I've still got Scizor and two other Pokemon. Do you really think you can beat all three of them?"

Maiden giggled in what was a surprisingly close imitation of Miette's own laughter. "I'm a couple thousand years old, little boy. I didn't spend all that time floating around and jump-scaring people." She glanced over at Clay. "Can we start now?"

"Uh…sure." Clay clearly still hadn't quite recovered from Maiden's initial appearance.

"Great!" Maiden summoned a flamethrower from out of nowhere and unleashed a spray of fire at Scizor.

"Wait, what?" "Zor, Sci?" Both Ash and Scizor were taken aback; Scizor wasted no time in leaping out of the way of the flames, landing smoothly on the ground and twisting to face Maiden - only to meet a pair of Shadow Balls coming his way.

"Pursuit - punch them out of the air!" Ash yelled, finding his voice.

Scizor lashed out as fast as he could. Darkness spilled off his pincers as he ripped through one Shadow Ball, but the other one was already too close. The explosion sent Scizor stumbling backwards, waving his arms frantically as he struggled to keep his balance.

And that was when Maiden lunged forwards, a large hammer forming in the air above her as she did so. Scizor, still reeling, couldn't defend in time; Maiden swung the hammer directly into the top of Scizor's head, knocking the Bug/Steel-type to the ground. Scizor hit the earth hard. "Back on your feet, Scizor!" Ash yelled. "Bullet Punch!"

Scizor rolled as best he could and began to rise - and took a Hypnosis straight to the face. He dropped again, this time with no control whatsoever, and Maiden promptly swooped down, Psychic power glowing around her body. A feeler of energy lanced out from her form, connecting with Scizor, as she used what was clearly Dream Eater. Scizor's sleeping body convulsed horrifically as Maiden inhaled his dreams with the air of hungrily devouring a bowl of delicious ice cream.

"Get up, Scizor!" Ash screamed. But Scizor was deaf to his cries, and Maiden evidently decided she'd had enough of enjoying Scizor's dreams, because she promptly summoned two more Shadow Balls and slammed them down upon his sleeping form one after the other. After the first he was barely twitching; after the second he wasn't even doing that.

"Dear Arceus," Krokorok muttered. "How strong is that Gastly?"

"More to the point," said Murkrow, "wasn't that five moves? Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Shadow Ball, that flamethrower, and that hammer thing…"

"Night Shade." Maiden was suddenly floating right next to them. "Both the flamethrower and the hammer are just illusions made by Night Shade. Honestly, half of what I do is just different forms of Night Shade. Don't tell anyone - I like to preserve my mystique where I can, and also I'll devour your souls if you do." She gave them all a grin.

For some reason, they did not return it.

Maiden shrugged. "Oh, well. Guess I've got two more Pokemon to beat anyway. Talk to you after the battle, okay? Okay." And then she was floating back onto the battlefield as if nothing had happened.

One of the watching archeologists spoke up. "So…is this some new species we haven't documented yet? Because I've never seen a Gastly capable of doing this before."

"Obviously you haven't been inside Lavender Tower, then," one of the other archeologists murmured. "The things I've seen…"

"Begin!" Clay yelled.

"Hisuian Arcanine, use Flamethrower!" Ash ordered immediately; he'd chosen his Starter for this next bout, and Hisuian Arcanine certainly seemed eager. He wasted no time in unleashing a powerful burst of flames from his jaws at Maiden, who looked unconcerned in the face of the oncoming jet of fire.

It wasn't until it was halfway across the battlefield that Maiden even bothered to respond. Looking supremely dismissive, she summoned a fire extinguisher out of thin air and activated it. The spray slammed into the Flamethrower, blunting it completely before it could come close. After a good five seconds of sustaining the Flamethrower, trying to force it past the spray of foam, Hisuian Arcanine gave up and dropped it, gasping for breath.

Maiden smirked, dismissed the fire extinguisher, and conjured up a squirt bottle. "Puppy want a bath?"

"Nine…" Hisuian Arcanine snarled his retort, his voice laden with fury. Of course, Ash realized. Maiden sent him running with that exact technique last time we encountered her. No wonder Hisuian Arcanine's so angry - he's looking for revenge.

Maiden squirted the bottle slightly, sending out a small spray of water. Hisuian Arcanine eyed the spray warily, clearly thinking about how weak he was to the substance.

"Don't worry!" Jigglypuff's small, frantic voice arose from the sidelines. "It's just an illusion! She's using Night Shade!"

Maiden glared at the sidelines. "Boo! Spoilers! Didn't I tell you not to spill that to anyone? I'm gonna haunt your dreams for the next week for that!"

Ash grinned. "So it's an illusion, huh? Get close with Extreme Speed, and use Bite! That should get rid of those illusions!"

Hisuian Arcanine let out a loud bark and blurred forwards, surging towards Maiden at an incredibly fast rate. Maiden conjured up a sizable shield in his path, but Hisuian Arcanine simply lowered his head and rushed right through it, the Night Shade dissipating against his Extreme Speed. Maiden swiftly lunged into the air; Hisuian Arcanine's jaws scraped against the bottom of Maiden's form as she rose, and she flinched in clear pain, but kept going regardless.

"Now use Rock Tomb, Hisuian Arcanine!" Ash ordered. Hisuian Arcanine twisted, hurling a spray of rocks upwards at the rising Gastly; Maiden responded with a swift Shadow Ball, intercepting the attack in an explosion of energy.

"Random question," said Maiden, "have you considered giving that Arcanine a nickname? Like me with Maiden - Hisuian Arcanine just seems like a bit of a mouthful to say all the time."

"Are you seriously lecturing me about how I name my Pokemon in the middle of a battle?" Ash asked.

"Yes," said Maiden. "I'm also distracting you, by the way."

Ash jumped and looked down at Hisuian Arcanine just in time to see a massive wave of water, even larger than the Surfs both Blastoise and Slurpuff had been using, surging towards him. "Hisuian Arcanine, look out!"

"Arc!" Hisuian Arcanine let out a terrified bark and hurled himself away from the rapidly-moving wave. Ash stared, wide-eyed, at the wave. Does everyone on Miette's team know Surf? First Blastoise, then Slurpuff, now-

Wait a minute. Gastly's already used Hypnosis, Dream Eater, Shadow Ball, and Night Shade. Even if it did know Surf, it wouldn't be allowed to use it, which means…

"Stop, Hisuian Arcanine!" Ash yelled. "That's not a wave, that's-"

But before he could finish, he saw Maiden swooping down, a bolt of Psychic power streaking from her body at Hisuian Arcanine, who was too busy fleeing the wave to see it coming. "Look out!" Ash cried, but it was too late; the Hypnosis struck Hisuian Arcanine in the back even as he turned, and the Fire/Rock-type tumbled to the ground, snoring loudly.

Maiden promptly started using Dream Eater; the slight scratch Hisuian Arcanine's Bite had left on her body healed right in front of Ash. "You know," she said, "if he'd had a shorter nickname, you might've gotten that order out in time."

Ash glared at Maiden.

Maiden shrugged. "Just thought I'd mention it." Then she flung a barrage of Shadow Balls down at Hisuian Arcanine's sleeping form, finishing him off.

Ash huffed as he recalled his starter. "That is a ridiculously powerful Pokemon. How is that even fair?"

Clay let out a loud succession of coughs that may or may not have included the word 'Zygarde'.

Miette smirked. "Does that mean you're giving up, Ash?"

Ash vehemently shook his head. "I don't give up, Miette! Go, Aegislash!"

"Aegislash?" Drilbur asked. "He has Legendaries and he's trying to win with Aegislash?"

"I guess he wants to make this a fair fight," Zubat guessed.

"That Gastly is anything but fair," Krokorok murmured. "I'd certainly say he's got cause to use a Legendary in this situation."

"To be fair," Murkrow pointed out, "Aegislash is easily his strongest non-Legendary, he's got a type advantage, and I'm really not sure how well Ash's Legendaries can stand up to Hypnosis. All the power in the world doesn't matter if you're too busy sleeping to use it. Whereas Aegislash has King's Shield to counter it. I'm actually not all that surprised Ash went for Aegislash here."

"I suppose," said Krokorok. "Even if I'd just send out Zygarde to step on it."

Aegislash was quite glad Ash had chosen him for this battle. This Gastly seemed as if it would present a highly interesting battle. Any Pokemon who had felled not one but two of his teammates was deserving of respect, at least. So Aegislash resolved to treat Maiden with exactly that respect.

"I greet thee, fair maiden," said Aegislash, bowing respectfully. "I am Sir Leopold VI of the House of Olivine, at your service."

Maiden's eyes lit up. "And I greet you in return, good sir knight," she replied, switching to Pokemon-speak in an instant. "I must say, I did not expect one of your stature to allow yourself to be wielded by that boy."

"That boy hath proven his worth to me," said Aegislash defensively. "Just as thine Trainer hath clearly proven her worth to thee."

"More like she offered me a business deal," Maiden replied. "Though I guess you could count that."

"Maiden?" Miette called. "Why are you suddenly just saying 'Gastly' over and over again?"

"Pokemon speech," said Maiden, speaking Human once more. "Private conversation. Sorry." Shifting back to Pokemon speech, she continued, "Sir knight, it is truly an honor to meet you. But I must confess a secret to you, one that I hope you will not repeat."

"I shalt respect thine wish, fair maiden," Aegislash promised.

Maiden shook her head. "You should probably stop calling me that. You see…I'm not actually the Ghost of Maiden's Peak. The real Ghost of Maiden's Peak is…well…still back in Maiden's Peak. She just requested I ask like her in order to keep her legend alive."

Aegislash frowned. "That is nothing to be ashamed of. Thou art honorable for fulfilling the true maiden's request. And Maiden is thine name, is it not? So I shalt call you as such, fair maiden."

Maiden smirked. "Then I have only one thing left to say to you, sir knight."

"And what is that?"

Tapping into Night Shade, Maiden materialized a beautiful curved blade in front of her. "En garde."

"Wait, what?" Ash asked as Aegislash and Maiden came together in a rapidly-moving clash of blades, exchanging blows at a rate that he could barely keep up with. "Clay didn't call for the battle to begin!"

"Honestly," said Miette, "I think it's better to just leave them to it. They're obviously interested in fighting - I say we let them fight."

Ash shrugged. "All right. Come on, Aegislash! You've got this!"

Maiden was quite good with a blade, as it turned out, even if it was a Night Shade-formed illusion. Her sword whirled and twisted and came at Aegislash from every conceivable angle, gyrating in ways that a normal blade held by a normal person could never possibly achieve. Several times Aegislash could have sworn the blade bent or extended to stab at him at a point he hadn't expected at all, and more than once it came mere inches from his body.

But at the same time, it was clear that for all her skill, Maiden was just not as experienced with a blade as Aegislash was. That was to be expected - after all, Aegislash was a blade, and additionally wielded a shield that came into use more than once to deflect some of Maiden's strikes. And so, as the battle wore on, Aegislash slowly pressed Maiden backwards across the battlefield, slowly wore down her guard until she began to flag. Before too long, a lucky cut ripped a small piece of ectoplasm out of Maiden's side; several seconds later, another sliced open her scalp.

Unexpectedly, Maiden formed a Shadow Ball at her side and flung it forwards. "Slash!" Ash yelled, raising his voice for the first time; in an instant Aegislash summoned the requisite energy and sliced right through the roiling sphere of energy, then just as quickly twisted to deflect another sword-strike from Maiden. The two fell into a blade-lock, glaring eye-to-eye at one another.

"How old are you, exactly?" Maiden asked.

"I doth not know," Aegislash admitted. "I hath been buried on a beach for quite a while. Time hath very little meaning for me there."

"Eh," Maiden grunted. "I don't really care how old you are, come to think of it. I just like you. You're a lot more fun to fight than those other two I beat."

She summoned another Shadow Ball, this one on her other side. Again Aegislash managed to Slash through it in time; this time, Maiden instantly pressed the advantage, swinging a whirlwind of sword-strikes at Aegislash that forced him to backpedal, in mere seconds giving ground he'd spent the past minute or so taking.

"I hath realized something," Aegislash grunted as he deflected yet another swipe of Maiden's blade.

"Oh?" Maiden asked, lashing out with an overhand strike. "And what's that?"

Aegislash's eye gleamed. "That thine blades are mere ethereal facsimiles. And thus darkness banishes them." His blade lit up with a clear Night Slash. "I win," he stated, and in one smooth motion sliced straight through Maiden's sword.

Then he bashed his shield into Maiden's face while she was caught off-guard.

Maiden fell to the ground, landing hard on her back, and looked up at Aegislash as he floated down towards her. "All right," she said, "I know when I'm beaten. Any chance you'd be willing to go best two out of three?"

Aegislash scoffed. "I am not a fool, fair maiden."

Maiden sighed. "Well, I suppose HYPNOSIS!"

Aegislash ripped through the oncoming bolt of Psychic power with another Night Slash.

"…yeah, I should've figured that wasn't going to work," Maiden admitted, a second before Aegislash brought his blade down upon the crown of her ghostly skull.

"I suppose that means you win again," said Miette. "Great battle, Ash! You've certainly raised a strong team."

"Yeah, same to you," said Ash. "How did you even manage to recruit that Gastly?"

"I just offered her a deal," Miette replied. "She battles for me, and in return I spread her legend. I was doing a big show with her in Fuschia - did you miss it?"

Ash shivered. "I saw the poster. That was you?"

"Yep!" said Miette. "I actually quite like performances, it turns out. It gave me all sorts of ideas for combination moves I could try!"

"I noticed," said Ash. "So-"

Before he could continue, a loud rumbling arose from one side of the clearing. Several of the archeologists who had been watching the battle ran into view, waving their arms. "Help! All the fighting awoke a bunch of prehistoric Pokemon sleeping beneath the earth!"

Behind them, a large horde of Omanyte, Kabuto, Omastar, Kabutops, and even an Aerodactyl hove into view, letting out a cacophony of intimidating roars.

Ash eyed the swarm for approximately half a second, then tapped his sixth and final Pokeball. "Zygarde, stop them!"

RUMBLE.

The entire army of fossils stopped dead at the sight of the titan that had appeared in their path. All except for the Aerodactyl, who screeched furiously and dove straight at Zygarde's face.

Zygarde used Thousand Arrows.

Aerodactyl was swiftly disabused of any notion of superiority.

"Zygarde, huh?" Miette cocked her head as the army of fossils swiftly turned and ran back the way they'd come. "You were holding back on me, Ash!"

"Uh…" Ash looked up at the towering colossus. "Yeah, a bit…"

Miette pouted. "What, so I'm not worth your best?"

"I'm…I'm not…that's not what I'm saying…" Ash stammered.

"I'm kidding," said Miette. "But don't think I'm just gonna take this lying down, Ash. I'm gonna do some serious training before the league. Let me put it this way - you've beaten me twice." She leaned closer. "There isn't gonna be a third time."

Then she turned and began to skip away. Clay stepped over. "You know, that Gastly's a good fit for her," he admitted. "It kinda feels like she's got a little of that ghostly mischievousness about her, too."

"Indeed," said Cyrus. "I will admit, after seeing that display, I doubt you will have much trouble with the next Gym."

"Cool!" said Ash. "Then I guess we'd better get there as fast as possible. Oh, by the way…"

He looked up at Zygarde. "Hey, Zygarde?" he called. "if what Maiden said was true…you should be able to communicate with me, right?"

RUMBLE.

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Wait…are you just rumbling, or are you literally saying RUMBLE?"

Zygarde looked down at Ash and rumbled: RUMBLE.

"That…doesn't answer my question."

RUMBLE, Zygarde rumbled insistently.

"You know what?" Ash asked. "Forget it. I don't really care."

Zygarde relaxed, and let out a rather amused-sounding RUMBLE.

Whoops - another double-length chapter snuck up on me. Somehow, I doubt you all will be too upset.