So this chapter turned out to be about twice as long as my usual fare.

Whoops.

Maybe I should've split it into two chapters like I did with Mount Moon.

"Okay," said Drake, "I'll admit that we might have rushed that one a bit."

"A lot," Liza corrected.

"Yeah, all right," said Drake. "Lesson learned. But still, we do need to keep tailing the kid."

"Is dat why we're attendin' dis stupid race?" Aron asked.

Drake nodded. "I've heard the kid's competing. We might be able to learn a thing or two about him."

Liza nodded. "And we're also still a little short on funds after all the vehicles we broke. I've got another idea I want to try out with regards to-"

"Excuse me?"

All three members of Team Rocket whirled to see a younger-looking man, with hair as black as that of both Liza and Drake, standing next to a Dodrio. "You're members of Team Rocket, right?" the man asked. "The red 'R' on your uniforms kinda gives it away."

"What do you want?" Drake asked aggressively. "Get lost!"

"I want to make a business proposition," said the mysterious man. "Nothing more. My name's Dario. I'm competing in the Big P Pokemon race tomorrow, and I want you to help me sabotage it to ensure my victory. In return, I'll make sure you get a cut of the prize money. How does that sound?"

Drake, Liza, and Aron thought for approximately half a second. "No," said Liza.

"No?" Dario yelled incredulously. "What do you mean, no?"

"We're part of a criminal syndicate," Liza explained. "A syndicate with enough funding to build a frankly ridiculous amount of giant robots. Why would we need the prize money from a random race?"

"But…you said you were short on funds!" Dario cried.

"Personal funds," said Drake. "We could just call our boss and ask him to lend us some more money if we wanted. We just don't want to do that. And anyway, even if we are low on personal funds, we wouldn't resort to some hairbrained race-sabotaging scheme that's unlikely to even work."

"Yeah!" Aron piped up. "We've got our own plans, dat are probably gonna work much better dan yours!"

Dario's face purpled. "All right," he growled. "I wanted to do this the easy way, but if you're gonna force my hand, then so be it. Dodrio, beat them-"

He and Dodrio both stopped short as a Lunatone, a Dragonite, a Haunter, and a purple Dodrio materialized in front of the Team Rocket trio, all glaring at Dario and his Dodrio.

Liza smirked. "Now do you really want to finish that sentence?"

The Big P Pokemon Race had been quite eventful. Which was somewhat strange, because it hadn't even started yet.

First had come the reveal that Ponyta manes burned the hands of anyone who touched them that they didn't trust (Tympole had been forced to put out the fire). Then he'd met Lara Laramie, who he'd barely gotten to know before some guy named Dario had alerted them to a Tauros stampede. During that stampede, Lara's Ponyta had been spooked, and Ash had tried to rein it in, with predictable results (Tympole had again been forced to put out the fire). One thing had led to another, and Ash had ended up tasked with replacing Lara in the race, which had thrown pretty much all his plans completely out of whack.

Oh, and Litleo had gotten overexcited at the pre-race festivities and decided to try and demonstrate his flamethrowing capabilities. (Tympole had, yet again, been forced to put out the fire.)

Chito showed up a few minutes after that fiasco, his Spectrier just behind him. "Well, well, look who it is," the man said. "I figured you wouldn't even bother to show up."

"Of course I showed up!" Ash retorted. "I don't back down from a challenge!"

"Well, that Kubfu of yours certainly does," Chito mocked. "So I do hope you're using a different Pokemon this time. One that's actually willing to fight instead of running away like a scared little baby."

Noctowl chose this moment to intervene, stepping in front of Ash and glaring at Chito. "Noct," she snarled.

It had apparently been a signal, because the entirety of Noctowl's Hoothoot flock flew in front of Ash and began hooting loudly and aggressively at Chito.

"I think it would be prudent to depart," Spectrier advised.

"Yeah, all right," Chito muttered. "But rest assured, kid - you're gonna lose tomorrow!" With that, he whirled and stalked off, Spectrier trotting after him.

Ash watched the man and his Ghost-type Legendary go, fuming. "I refuse to let that jerk beat me."

Gladion arrived soon after, cutting quite the spectacle as he swooped down upon the ranch perched atop Crobat.

"So, you've been busy," Ash's older brother noted as he stepped off Crobat. "Nine Pokemon already, plus that Hoothoot army - the professor's already getting quite a workout from your catches."

"You must be Gladion." Cyrus stepped forwards, Clay just behind him. "Ash has told us quite a bit about you."

"He's also mentioned you a couple times," Gladion replied, shaking Cyrus's hand and then Clay's. "Good to meet both of you."

Introductions were quickly made to the Pokemon Gladion hadn't met yet. Then Gladion released his own team - Umbreon, Silvally, Zoroark, Crobat, and Lycanroc - and more introductions were promptly made.

"So, you're racing, right?" Gladion asked as the Pokemon continued to introduce themselves to one another. "How exactly are you planning to race?"

"Well, I was going to use Genesect," Ash answered. "Seeing as none of my other Pokemon are big enough to carry me. But then Lara asked me to use her Ponyta instead and race in her place. So I brought in Kubfu from the ranch; he was happy to race in my place, and Litleo's big enough to carry him, so…yeah."

Kubfu and Litleo grinned, clearly excited for the race.

"Why not Hisuian Growlithe?" Gladion asked.

"He needed to recover a little after the Power Plant," Ash explained.

Gladion nodded in acceptance. "Well, I can't wait to watch you race. Please don't crash out in the first segment."

"I won't!" Ash called as Gladion turned and began to step away.

With Gladion, Clay, and Cyrus all splitting off to enjoy the festivities, Ash wasted no time in heading over to the Pokemon-oriented area and releasing his team.

"Go and enjoy yourselves," Ash urged. "Kubfu, Litleo, don't exert yourselves too much. Save your strength for the big day. And Litleo, please don't set anything else on fire."

Nodding, the team (including the Hoothoot flock) all dashed off to follow Ash's command. Aegislash, however, stayed behind, and Genesect, seeing Aegislash staying behind, promptly did so as well.

"What is it, Aegislash?" Ash asked.

Aegislash swiftly spoke. "Slash. Slash. Aegi."

Genesect translated, equally swiftly. "HE - WOULD - LIKE - TO - COM-PETE - IN - THE - RACE. HE - SAYS - THAT - HE - KNOWS - YOU - HAVE - BEEN - WAI-TING - FOR - A - CHANCE - TO - PROVE - YOUR-SELF - TO - HIM. HE - SAYS - THAT - THIS - IS - YOUR - CHANCE."

Ash's eyes widened. "So if I beat you in the race, Aegislash, you'll be willing to join me for real?"

"Aegi," Aegislash said with a nod. "Slash."

"YES," Genesect translated. "THOUGH - HE - WOULD - STILL - PRE-FER - A - DUEL - OF - BLADES - IF - POS-SI-BLE."

"I get it," said Ash, smiling. "Thanks, Aegislash - but I'm warning you, I'm not going to lose!" His expression changed as he realized something. "Hang on, how are you going to get a mount? Seeing as I doubt Genesect will let you ride him…"

"Slash."

"HE - WILL - FIND - A - WAY."

A short time later, Ash was wandering the pre-race festival grounds, scanning the stalls for anything that might be useful to him. Like food. He was quite hungry at the moment. But all the stalls he could see were selling stuff like saddles, reins, and stirrups. Lara had provided all of those, so Ash had no need of them, and besides, the prices looked rather exorbitant.

His eyes fell on one stall in particular, which was manned by a small woman with dark hair, a large man with equally dark hair, and an Aron, all of whom were wearing rather large trenchcoats.

"Team Rocket?" Ash paled. "What are you-"

"Shh!" Liza hissed. "Don't cause a panic!"

"Relax, we ain't here to steal your Pokemon," said Aron. "We're here to recoup our losses."

"Evil plans are expensive," Drake explained. "And what better way to satisfy those expenses than hawking inordinately expensive merchandise?"

Liza glared at Drake. "You literally just copied that line from when I said it to you."

"So?" Drake asked. "It's not like the kid knew about that until you mentioned it."

"So what are you selling?" Ash asked curiously, forestalling the inevitable argument.

Drake grinned. "A whole bunch of stuff from the…ah…Team Rocket overflow storage system!"

"Garbage dump," Aron clarified, drawing glares from Liza and Drake.

"Anyway," said Liza, "we've got used Pokeballs, leftover held items, some giant robot parts, and a few weapons which we really can't understand why they were thrown away."

"Yeah!" Aron cried. "Wanna buy an illegal poison dart gun?"

"I don't want to buy anything illegal," said Ash.

"That makes sense," Drake admitted. "Liza, do we have anything that isn't illegal?"

Liza frowned. "Let me check." She began to rummage through the pile of items behind them.

It was at this moment that a wild idea slid into Ash's head. He couldn't stop himself from grinning as he spoke. "So, when you say weapons…do any of those weapons happen to be swords?"

Drake glanced over to Liza. "Liza, can you check?"

Liza quickened her rummaging. "Let me see…Drake, can't you do this? You're better at heavy lifting than I am…oh, wait, there we go!"

Smirking, Liza pulled out a sword very similar to the one Ash had seen way back in Viridian Forest. "How does this look?"

It looked very good, and soon enough a now widely grinning Ash had parted with a substantial sum of Pokedollars for the blade. As he trotted off with his newly acquired weapon in hand, Aron glanced up at Drake and Liza. "So…either of you see dat comin'?"

Drake and Liza shook their heads. "I'm not asking questions," said Drake. "I'm just glad he was willing to pay that much money for it. That alone refunds half of the gear we've broken trying to chase him down."

"Maybe we should sell swords more often," Liza remarked.

"Ahem." A new voice broke into the conversation. Drake, Liza, and Aron all turned to see a man standing in front of their stall.

"I thought I heard you mention an illegal poison dart gun," said the man. "Name's Chito. How much are you asking for that?"

Most of the team was having a blast in the Pokemon areas of the pre-race festivities. Kubfu and Litleo were practicing riding in preparation for the big race, Tympole and Genesect were competing in a Pokemon shooting gallery (which probably wasn't going to remain standing much longer), and Scizor was proudly showing off his methods of negotiation to the Hoothoot flock, with Noctowl standing by to cut him off anytime his language got too harsh.

Aegislash, on the other hand, was uninterested in such trivial distractions. He was far more concerned with a specific nearby building; the Big P Pokemon Ranch Stables, which were currently being used as a sort of hotel for the racers' Pokemon.

He had seen his quarry trot in minutes ago, and so he had chosen this moment to detach himself from the others. It was likely he would only get one shot at this.

He did not want his quarry's Trainer seeing him, and so he ducked against the wall and peered into the stables through a window first. Thankfully, his quarry was alone, crunching on some carrots, and so Aegislash took a deep breath and floated in through the door.

His quarry looked up from his carrots. "Hello. I am Spectrier. To what do I owe the pleasure?"

"I know who thou art," said Aegislash. "I am Sir Leopold VI of the House of Olivine, though thou mayest call me Aegislash."

Spectrier blinked. "My apologies, sir knight, but I do not know of your house. I am from Galar, you see; my knowledge of the old Houses does not pass Galarian borders."

"I understand," Aegislash replied. "I simply came because I recently challenged my Trainer, Ash Ketchum, to an honorable duel-"

"Oh, you're one of the kid's Pokemon," said Spectrier. "My Trainer really hates him, you know."

"Doth thou hatest him?" Aegislash asked.

Spectrier shook his head. "It was Chito's own fault he lost. I told him he could've just admitted I was a Spectrier, but he'd already convinced himself that he had to cheat. To be quite honest with you, Aegislash, I really don't like Chito that much. I like Trainers who show me strength, and while Chito initially seemed as if he would satisfy me, now…not so much."

"So," said Aegislash, "if thou hatest him, why dost thou serve him? Thou art a Legendary, art thou not? Surely thou can simply leave."

"Oh, I could," Spectrier admitted. "In fact, I've considered it. But he feeds me a lot of carrots." Spectrier licked his ghostly lips. "I like carrots."

"Ah," Aegislash grumbled. "So it is bribery."

"I guess you could say that," said Spectrier. "Anyway, why are you asking me these things? Did your Trainer send you to try and deny Chito a mount? Because I really didn't think-"

"No, no!" Aegislash hastily stated. "He is far too honorable to do something like that. No, I have come for a different purpose. Since my Trainer hath challenged me in the upcoming race, I desire a steed to race upon, in order to provide him with proper competition!"

Spectrier looked bemused. "I do already have a rider, you know."

"Yes, I know!" Aegislash exclaimed. "But thou hatest thy rider! He treateth thee like a common mount, when thou art Spectrier, bearer of knights and kings!"

"Just kings, actually."

"Okay, but still!" Aegislash continued. "My point stands. Thou can do so much better than such a worthless knave. And besides, would it not look extremely cool?"

Spectrier looked at him strangely.

"What?" Aegislash asked. "I keep up with modern slang. Anyway…what sayest thou?"

Spectrier heaved a sigh. "I'm gonna get denied carrots for a week because of this…but yeah, you're right, I'm really not looking forward to carrying Chito through this race. And besides, the look on his face will be worth it. So you've got yourself a deal, Sir Leopold."

"Very good!" Aegislash cried, leaping upon Spectrier's back. "Let us sally forth, my noble steed, and begin our practice!"

"I'd appreciate it if you refrained from calling me your 'noble steed'," Spectrier remarked.

Half an hour later, Chito returned to the stables to find that Spectrier was nowhere to be found. Understandably, his reaction wasn't what one would call 'delighted'.

In another area of the stables, a villainous plot was being hatched.

"So what if those Team Rocket fools refused to help?" Dario asked his Dodrio. "We've handled ourselves quite nicely so far. Now all we have to do is race, avoid the various traps we've set, and victory is as good as ours."

Dodrio nodded with all three heads.

"Of course," Dario continued, "if anyone does catch up to us, don't be afraid to give them what they deserve. A few Pecks should be enough to knock them back, or out of the race entirely. So-"

WHANG.

Dario dropped face-first into a pile of manure. Dodrio stared impassively at the fallen form of his Trainer, then turned to look at the man who had clocked him over the head with a crowbar.

"My name's Chito," the new man snarled. "And you're gonna be my mount in the race, or else. Got it?"

Dodrio saw nothing wrong with this. After all, Dario had caused a Tauros stampede, arranged for an accident to injure Lara Laramie, and arranged several obstacles on the race course itself, and that was all just in the past twelve hours. In Dodrio's mind, this was just a case of 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss'.

Dario, Chito…Dodrio didn't care who was riding him. He'd get his share of the prize money anyway. But, Dodrio thought, it at least made sense to appear nervous, considering the circumstances. So he made a show of nodding hastily.

"Good," said Chito with a nasty grin.

The following morning, the racers - finally - lined up on the starting line. The race announcers proceeded to introduce them one by one, going down the line, including a Tauros, a Rhyhorn, and an Electrode whose rider looked more terrified than confident.

Eventually, the announcers reached Ash.

"Ash Ketchum and Ponyta, racing for Lara Laramie!"

Applause.

"Kubfu and Litleo, racing for Ash Ketchum!"

Confused applause.

"Kitanai Chito and Dodrio, racing for Dario!"

Very confused applause.

"Aegislash and Spectrier, racing for Kitanai Chito!"

Extremely confused applause.

A few more traditional pairings later, the announcers began to count down for the start of the race. Ash leaned forwards on Ponyta, keeping a firm grip on the reins and eyeing his competition. He locked eyes with Aegislash, who gave him a mock salute; Ash was too busy grasping the reins to return it.

"Begin!" the announcer shouted.

The entire horde of racers and Pokemon exploded into motion. Or, in the Electrode's case, just exploded.

"Wow," said Gladion, lowering his binoculars (purchased at great expense from one of the many nearby vendors). "Who could've seen that one coming?"

"Who even enters a race on an Electrode?" Cyrus asked. "That seems like a rather counterintuitive decision."

"I guess it's fast?" Clay offered.

"It is fast," Gladion murmured. "Explosively fast, in fact."

Any response was drowned out by the shrieking laughter of an army of Hoothoot.

"Darn it…" Ash muttered as Ponyta charged forwards. He'd decided to pace himself, not wanting to exhaust Ponyta too early, but as a result both Chito and Aegislash had charged ahead, and neither of their mounts seemed to be going all out yet either. (And no, Ash still didn't know how Aegislash had managed to get himself a ride on Spectrier; he supposed Chito was a little more reasonable than he'd thought, since from what he knew there was no way the man would have consented to it.) The rest of the pack was surrounding Ash, a stampede of Pokemon and riders all around him, all of them far larger than he was. He couldn't see Kubfu or Litleo in the mix, either; just unfamiliar bodies pressing in on all sides.

Ash gritted his teeth and looked forwards; in front of him was a broad-shouldered Nidorina, but over her shoulder Ash could see that the raceway was about to start sloping upwards. Spectrier and Dodrio had already started climbing the hill, and Ash was already starting to feel a hollowness in his stomach even as he raced.

I'm already falling so far behind…is there really any way I can win?

And then Nidorina tripped right in front of him.

Ash reacted instantly. "Jump!" he called; Ponyta tucked his hind hooves and leaped, sailing right over the tumbling Nidorina and landing back on the ground without breaking stride. Ash risked a glanced back and realized that Nidorina wasn't the only racer that had tripped; several other racers, including the Tauros rider, had also fallen over in pretty much the exact same spot.

Huh, Ash thought. Must be a bumpy area.

But the resulting pileup had shot Ash back up into third place. And better yet, he could see Kubfu and Litleo racing just behind him. Ash smiled at them. "Ready to make some ground?"

"Fu!" "Leo!" Both nodded excitedly.

"Then let's go!" Ash spurred Ponyta upwards, and Kubfu did likewise to Litleo. The two Fire-types raced up the hill, while behind them the rest of the field tried to disentangle themselves from one another.

"Some sort of concealed tripwire," Clay remarked. "Looks like someone's out to sabotage this race. Good thing Ash was behind that Nidorina, otherwise he might've been caught in it too."

"They should stop the race," Gladion muttered, still watching through his binoculars. "I mean, this is blatant cheating."

"Are there actually any measures put in place to stop the race?" Cyrus queried. "Because I am not seeing any."

"Well, that's ridiculous," Gladion growled. "Why is Ash even competing in this sort of unregulated event?"

"Impulsive bet."

"Ah."

"Hoot!" "Hoot!" The entire Hoothoot flock erupted in cheers for Ash, once more drowning out all other conversation.

"Whoa!" Ash cried as the racecourse reached the top of the uphill and promptly turned into a downhill, sending him and Ponyta careening down the slope at an uncomfortably fast speed. Kubfu and Litleo were already a little ways down, their smaller size and thus lighter weight having enabled them to get ahead of Ash.

Thankfully, Ash's exclamation, by pure accident, just so happened to be Ponyta-speak for 'slow down', so Ponyta was quick to do just that, allowing Ash to regain at least some semblance of control.

Unfortunately, the other racers were far from out of the race, and now the Tauros rider was rumbling down the slope behind Ash. "Out of the way, kid!" the man atop the Tauros yelled. "I've got a race to win!"

"I've got a race to win, too!" Ash yelled back.

"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," the man admitted. "Come on, Tauros! You can handle this Ponyta!"

"Taur!" Tauros seemed to agree, judging by his enthusiasm and the fact that he was suddenly right on Ponyta's tail.

"Faster!" Ash cried; Ponyta broke into a full sprint for the first time this race, his speed aided by the downward slope as he streaked forwards. Even as he pulled away, though, Ash spotted a strange-looking patch of ground at the bottom of the slope. He peered closer, seeing Kubfu and Litleo pointedly skirting around it in the process.

"Is that…a painted sheet covering some sort of pit?" Ash rolled his eyes and, as he and Ponyta reached the end of the downhill, quickly spurred Ponyta to the side, avoiding the trap. "Come on. Who would be stupid enough to fall for that?"

There was a large crash behind him as the Tauros rider plunged straight into the pit, a loud scream leaving his lips as he tumbled out of sight.

"Guess that answers that," Ash muttered as he urged Ponyta forwards in pursuit of Kubfu and Litleo.

Up ahead, Ash could see Aegislash and Spectrier hopping over a series of stones crossing a river, with Kubfu and Litleo coming up behind them. However, he couldn't see Chito and Dodrio; that duo must have already crossed the river, he realized with a frown.

Ash grumbled to himself. "Chito must be so far ahead by now…I can't think of much that could possibly slow him down at this point…"

"Why does this race even have an eating competition?" Chito demanded as, beneath him, his hijacked Dodrio's three heads fought over who got to actually do the eating, wasting untold amounts of time in the process.

A nearby member of the audience spoke up. "It's so that the race isn't entirely decided on who has the fastest Pokemon. Oftentimes the fastest Pokemon have the smallest mouths for some reason, so this provides a way to let others make up lost time and make the race more interesting."

Chito glared at the audience member. "It's a race! The entire point of a race is that the fastest competitor wins! No, Dodrio, stop eating out of the other competitors' plates, you're just giving them an advantage!"

The stepping stones had been fairly easy, and now Litleo was in the midst of the eating competition portion of the race, with Spectrier on one side and a squabbling Dodrio on the other. Litleo couldn't help but be grateful for the Normal/Flying-type's eating troubles; he'd been getting worried about the lead Dodrio and Chito were building over the other racers.

Much to Litleo's relief, Ash had also arrived soon after, and Ponyta had been surprisingly well-prepared for this, for he was eating faster than any of the other three competitors. It made sense - Lara had probably trained Ponyta specifically for this race - but it was still rather surprising to see Ponyta vacuuming up food faster than a Legendary twice his size.

Still, with their head starts, Spectrier and Litleo both finished before Ponyta. But Ponyta only had a little bit of food left as the two turned and made a dash for the final leg of the racecourse, a sprint to the finish. Spectrier was a little ways ahead of Litleo as the two ran; a few seconds later, Litleo heard the clip-clop of hooves and realized Ponyta had just finished. Litleo turned to see Ash pushing Ponyta hard as the Fire-type came up behind Litleo, clearly moving faster than the Fire/Normal-type.

"He's certainly determined, isn't he?" Kubfu remarked from Litleo's back.

"That's for sure," Litleo murmured as Ash and Ponyta raced past the Pokemon duo.

"I don't understand why he's still trying to use Aegislash, to be honest," Kubfu admitted. "Sir Leopold or whatever he calls himself seems to have made it pretty clear that he's not interested, and quite frankly, he doesn't really seem like Ash's type."

Litleo shrugged, which was fairly impressive considering he was also running at top speed down a fairly bumpy dirt track. "Trainers will be Trainers, I guess."

Up ahead, Ash and Ponyta were closing in on Spectrier and Aegislash. Litleo saw Aegislash glance backwards, his single eye widening slightly as he saw Ash. "Onwards, my noble steed!" he called.

"I did mention I didn't want to be called that, right?" Spectrier replied as he picked up speed.

He wasn't even running as fast as he could? Litleo could hardly believe what he was seeing as Spectrier seemed to kick into a higher gear, immediately beginning to pull away from Ash. I guess it makes sense - he is a Legendary - but still!

"Aegislash!"

Ash's yell successfully brought Aegislash's attention back to him. Litleo, once more, found himself gobsmacked as Ash reached into what he'd thought had just been another part of his saddle; now Litleo could see it was in fact a sheath as Ash drew a sword and brandished it at Aegislash. "You wanted a duel of blades?" Ash asked, grinning. "You've got one!"

Aegislash's eye gleamed as he pulled on the reins; to Litleo's continued shock, Spectrier drew back, allowing Ash and Ponyta to catch up. "Your challenge is accepted!" Aegislash bellowed gleefully, twisting so that his tassel was holding Spectrier's reins and his body was facing towards Ash's blade. "En guarde, Ash - may our battle be legendary!"

Gladion gaped. "Is…is Ash fighting an Aegislash with a sword?"

"AF-FIR-MA-TIVE," Genesect stated.

Aegislash, still holding Spectrier's reins by his tassel, swung his body at Ash, who just barely managed to deflect it with his blade. The force of the impact nearly sent Ash tumbling right off Ponyta's back, but he swiftly reached out with his other hand and regained his grip on Ponyta's reins, dragging himself back astride the Fire-type's back.

"Ah-ha!" Aegislash cried enthusiastically. "Now this is a proper duel!"

Kubfu, still racing some distance behind the dueling duo, put a hand to his face. "Okay, I've changed my mind. Aegislash is perfect for Ash…they're both completely insane…"

"Hey, isn't that Chito?" Litleo asked.

Kubfu's head whipped around; indeed, it seemed Chito's Dodrio had finally finished eating, for the Normal/Flying-type was now dashing up behind them with Chito on top, its long legs sending up clouds of dust as they impacted against the raceway. "Left!" Kubfu cried; Litleo skidded to the side as Dodrio went flying past, Chito hanging on with a manic grin on his face.

He was heading straight for the continuing bout between Ash and Aegislash; even as Kubfu watched, Ash lashed out with a wild swing that missed Aegislash entirely. "Adjust your grip!" Aegislash advised. "A blade that large is better used with both hands!"

Even if Ash could understand him, it was very likely he wouldn't have been listening, what with everything else going on - not to mention that he'd just seen Chito as well. The man was smirking as he pulled up alongside Ash and Ponyta; quickly, still keeping a grip on his reins with one hand, he reached into his pocket with the other.

"What is he doing?" Kubfu frowned; then his eyes widened as Chito withdrew what looked like an honest-to-Arceus gun. "Ponyta, look out!"

Too late - Chito pulled the trigger, and a dart shot out and impacted Ponyta's flank. Instantly Ponyta stumbled, losing ground, and let out a cough. He's been poisoned, Kubfu realized with mounting fury.

"Too bad, kid!" Chito cackled as Dodrio pulled ahead. "Looks like I'm the better of the two of us after all!"

Ash glared at Chito. "You dirty cheater! You'll never get away with this!"

He wasn't the only one who was furious; from atop Spectrier, Aegislash was bellowing in sheer rage. "Thou dishonorable cur! How darest thou interfere in another man's duel! I shall slash thee to ribbons for this insult, thou craven beast!"

Kubfu looked down at Litleo. "We have to do something!"

"Like what?" Litleo asked. "Ponyta isn't going to be able to race much longer poisoned, and neither of us can carry Ash, last time I checked!"

"Maybe we can't get him the win," Kubfu said with gritted teeth. "But I'm not going to let Chito win after this. Litleo, trap that stupid Dodrio with Fire Spin!"

Litleo grinned. "Oh, you've got it, Kubfu." Inhaling, Litleo unleashed a fiery tornado down the path straight at Dodrio. Chito was too busy gloating to see it coming; he only realized Dodrio was under attack when the ground-bound Flying-type shrieked and stopped short as flames arose all around him.

"WHAT!?" Chito bellowed as both Spectrier and Ponyta sped past him, the latter laboring but still trying as hard as he could to forge ahead. "Who did that? That's cheating! Dodrio, break through the flames with Jump Kick!"

Dodrio obliged, lashing out with a leaping kick that blasted a hole in the Fire Spin and broke him and Chito free of the trapping move. But the delay had given Litleo and Kubfu enough time to catch up. "Litleo," Kubfu murmured, "when I give the signal, run ahead. Don't worry about me."

Litleo blinked. "Wait, what do you-"

"Hey, you!" Kubfu called out.

Chito didn't understand him, but he certainly heard him. The man turned to see Kubfu and Litleo racing alongside him; Kubfu was now standing on Litleo's back, crouching with hands outstretched.

"You think that's cheating?" Kubfu asked with a grin. "I'll show you cheating."

Kubfu leaped off Litleo, reaching out with both arms. Dodrio was too shocked to respond, and Chito too shocked to give an order to do so. Before the Flying-type could even adjust to the sight of the small Fighting-type jumping straight at him, Kubfu's arms were clamped in a tight hug around Dodrio's central head. Kubfu had judged his leap perfectly; Dodrio's central head was forced to the ground as Kubfu dropped. The Fighting-type landed on his feet; immediately, he dug them into the ground, steadied his hips, and bent over backwards at the waist, still keeping a tight grip on Dodrio's neck.

Dodrio's own momentum did the rest.

Gladion gaped. "Did…did Ash's Kubfu just suplex a Dodrio by the neck?"

"AF-FIR-MA-TIVE," Genesect stated.

"I do not think that was actually a proper suplex," Cyrus remarked. "Proper suplexes are done from behind and generally involve the body rather than the-"

"Oh, shut up and enjoy the moment," said Clay.

"I guess that's the signal," Litleo murmured to himself as Dodrio (plus a screaming Chito) slammed into the ground, most certainly out of the race. Fixing his gaze upon Ash and Ponyta, Litleo dashed forwards determinedly.

He was gaining ground on the now flagging Ponyta, while Aegislash and Spectrier were pulling further ahead. The Steel/Ghost-type was staring sorrowfully back at Ash. "I do not blame thee," he murmured, so quietly that Litleo could barely hear it, "for the unworthy actions of another. I do hope we may truly have a proper duel someday, but it seems fate has decided against it today. Farewell for now." Turning, Aegislash smacked Spectrier's flank with his tassel; the Ghost-type Legendary put on another burst of speed and began to pull away.

"Come on, Ponyta!" Ash urged - he still had his sword in one hand, and was trying to pull on the reins with the other. "You've got this!"

Ponyta did not, in fact, have this. As Litleo moved up to only a few inches behind the other Fire-type, he could see Ponyta was more stumbling than running now as Chito's poison flowed through his system, barely able to run without tripping over his own hooves. Litleo realized what was going to happen a split second before it actually did; Ponyta's training failed him, one hoof hit another, and the larger Fire-type overbalanced and fell, sending Ash flying off with a shout of alarm.

Flying directly towards Litleo.

Litleo didn't really know what happened. Perhaps it was survival instincts, the drive to not get crushed beneath the tumbling body of his own Trainer. Perhaps it was something simmering, waiting for the right opportunity to surface. Perhaps it was sheer desire not to watch his Trainer fail because of Chito's cowardly actions.

All Litleo did know was that, as Ash fell towards him, Litleo's entire body exploded in a riot of blue light as he felt himself abruptly swell in size - and it wasn't Litleo Ash landed on, but Pyroar.

Who, as it happened, was more than big enough to carry Ash.

Gladion gaped. "Did…did Ash just jump from a falling Ponyta to his Litleo…who evolved in that exact moment so that he could carry Ash?"

"AF-FIR-MA-TIVE," Genesect stated.

Gladion rounded on Clay and Cyrus. "Did you two teach him any of this? Because I certainly didn't."

Clay and Cyrus both shook their heads. "It would seem," said Cyrus, "that Ash has been cursed with a momentary bout of insanity, and simultaneously blessed with an equally momentary bout of Arceus's own luck. How curious…it seems my decision to tag along with him may very well prove useful in my ultimate goal of creating my own perfect world."

"He always says the funniest things," Clay said with a smile.

Ash, to his credit, adjusted to his newfound mount quickly. Twisting, he managed to drape his legs over either side of Pyroar and lean forwards after only a few seconds of scrabbling. He no longer had reins to grab onto, so he put both hands on the hilt of his sword. "All right, Pyroar!" he cried. "You ready to catch up to Spectrier?"

Pyroar nodded even as, mentally, he wondered why he had to get the Trainer who fought Aegislashes with samurai swords.

Breaking into a full sprint, Pyroar now realized that with his new form had come a marked increase in speed and energy. Calling upon reserves that definitely hadn't existed until about five seconds ago, Pyroar lunged forwards, swiftly making ground on Spectrier. "Aegislash!" Ash bellowed. "I'm not done yet!"

Aegislash twisted, his single eye shining once again as he beheld the oncoming Ash. He shifted, once more grabbing Spectrier's reins with his tassel and brandishing his body towards the Trainer. "Come, then!" he yelled back. "Come and test your blade against me!"

As Pyroar drew up alongside Spectrier, Ash hauled back and let loose with a two-handed swing of his sword. Aegislash blocked, but this time it was he who was jarred loose by the impact. Ash grinned. "Guess the sword works better with two hands, huh?"

"Indeed!" said Aegislash, likely thinking in his fervor that Ash had taken his advice instead of coming up with this on his own. "But let us see how thou shalt handle this!"

Aegislash whirled and swung himself down at Ash; Ash barely managed to bring up his sword to block the overhead strike. A grunt left Ash's mouth as he pushed Aegislash away; Aegislash twisted with the shove and came back around, angling for Ash's chest. Pyroar realized in the blink of an eye that Ash wasn't going to get his sword down in time; swiftly, he lunged to the left, losing ground but allowing Ash to evade Aegislash's swing.

"Back to the right!" Ash commanded; Pyroar skidded, his paws sending up a spray of dust, and lunged obediently back towards Spectrier. Ash raised his sword above his head and swung it down hard, adding the momentum of Pyroar's leap to his own attack. Aegislash was forced to shift into his Shield Forme to block the attack, and in doing so let go of Spectrier's reins, enabling Pyroar to dash ahead as Ash's blade hit Aegislash's shield with a loud clang.

Even as Spectrier raced to catch up to Pyroar, the Fire/Normal-type rounded a corner and saw the finish line in sight. Ash grinned. "Come on, Pyroar! Let's win this race!"

"I am not finished yet!" Aegislash cried, shifting back to Blade Forme and regaining his hold on Spectrier's reins. "Go, my noble steed!"

"Please stop calling me that," Spectrier requested politely even as he blurred after Pyroar.

The fight was forgotten; Ash leaned forwards, one hand on his sword and the other on Pyroar's mane, while Aegislash too focused entirely on Spectrier. The two pounded forwards; Pyroar was slightly ahead, but Spectrier's Legendary-level speed was slowly but surely overcoming Pyroar's new energy reserves, and Pyroar was already feeling his breaths coming out ragged. "You can do this, Pyroar!" Ash screamed.

"Thou shalt not defeat me!" Aegislash retorted. "Spectrier, if thou beatest him, I shalt givest thou all the carrots thou can eat!"

And suddenly Spectrier was right alongside Pyroar. "For carrots!" Spectrier bellowed, instantly reinvigorated. Pyroar pushed harder, grimacing at his screaming muscles; he and Spectrier were neck and neck as they neared the finish line.

"One final exchange!" Aegislash yelled, readying himself for another swing. "One final clash to decide it all!"

Ash saw the challenge for what it was. "You're on!" Grasping his sword in both hands once more, he hauled back as Aegislash did likewise.

They shouted.

They swung.

And as their blades slammed together, Pyroar and Spectrier leaped across the finish line side by side, tearing through the banner with paw and hoof alike.

The sheer force of the impact jarred both riders loose; as Spectrier and Pyroar landed, Aegislash and Ash tumbled off, landing hard on the grass with near-identical huffs. As the crowd roared around them, Ash looked up towards the fallen Aegislash. His breathing was heavy and his face and clothes dirty, but his eyes were gleaming as he held up Aegislash's Pokeball.

"So, how about it?" Ash gasped out. "You want to become one of my Pokemon properly?"

Aegislash took a deep breath of his own. "I doubted thee," he admitted, "but thou hast shown me the spirit of a true knight. Very well, Ash Ketchum…I shalt serve thee."

That alone, Pyroar thought as he struggled to draw breath, was worth the entire experience.

"No, you don't get to keep the sword."

"Aww…" Ash groaned.

"Don't you aww me," Gladion growled. "You are far too young to wield any sort of deadly weapon, and I'm sure your traveling companions will agree with me!"

Clay and Cyrus both nodded, eliciting a sigh from Ash. "All right," he murmured, handing it over to Gladion.

Gladion quickly tossed it to Officer Goh, who had been standing in the crowd to treat injuries from the finishers. "Thank you," said Officer Goh. "I'll make sure this goes into the vault."

"I guess I don't mind losing the sword, actually," said Ash. "After all, next time I need a sword, I can just use Aegislash!"

It was Gladion's turn to groan as pretty much every Pokemon around them - and there were a lot - either looked amused or erupted in gales of laughter. Since the entirety of the Hoothoot flock were in the latter category, the laughter was quite loud.

But not quite loud enough to drown out the sudden outbreak of yelling.

"HEY!" Ash and everyone with him turned to see a red-faced, dirt-covered Chito striding up to him. "Your Pokemon attacked me! That wasn't a fair race! I demand a rematch!"

Clay stepped in front of Ash. "You bet that wasn't a fair race. What was the big idea, poisoning his Ponyta like that?"

"I - well - he cheated more!" Chito pressed.

"What's all this about cheating?" Truth be told, Ash had completely forgotten Officer Goh was still standing nearby.

Chito rounded on Officer Goh. "This kid's Aegislash stole my Spectrier! And then his Litleo and Kubfu had the audacity to assault my Dodrio and knock me out of the race! I demand he be arrested!"

Officer Goh glared at Chito. "Mr. Clay here is not the only one who has said they saw you shoot the kid's Ponyta with an illegal poison dart gun. So before you accuse the kid of cheating, perhaps you can explain what the deal is with that."

Chito paled. "Uh…well…the kid's Aegislash stole my Spectrier! That's the important part!"

"Excuse me." All heads turned towards the telepathically-speaking Spectrier as he strode up to the group. "Actually, Chito, I willingly went with Aegislash, because I have decided that you are no longer worthy of being my Trainer. No matter how many carrots you feed me, it doesn't change the fact that you're a dirty cheater who whines and cries and blames everybody else whenever you don't get your way. Aegislash was a much better rider than you will ever be. Now, I think I'm going to head back to Galar. I still don't know why I let you convince me to come all the way over here, the climate sucks. Goodbye." With that, Spectrier turned and raced away, disappearing into the woods in seconds.

"…well, that was something," Officer Goh remarked. "All right, Mr. Chito, I believe you're under arrest for possession of an illegal poison dart gun and several other charges."

"This is ridiculous!" Chito yelled. "I demand that kid be arrested as well!"

It was at that moment that yet another new arrival entered the conversation. "Hey!" yelled a black-haired man with a large bump on his head. "That's the guy who knocked me unconscious and stole my Dodrio!"

The nearby crowd erupted into whispers. "Wait, what?" "Hey, isn't that Dario?"

"Yeah!" said the newly named Dario. "I was going to sabotage the race in order to win it by any means necessary, but that guy knocked me out before I could! I demand he be arrested, and I demand the race be immediately rerun!"

Officer Goh nodded slowly. "All right, Mr. Dario," he said. "If you'll come with me into the back of this police car, I'll be sure to collect your statement. Come along, Mr. Chito."

As Officer Goh and his Alolan Persian led Chito and Dario towards the police car, Clay stared after them, chuckling to himself. "What a pair of idiots. Anyway, Ash, they just came back with the results of the race - you won!"

"Awesome!"

"I'll admit, that wasn't what I expected," said Gladion as he climbed onto his Crobat, the Hoothoot flock and Noctowl gathering around him. "But I'm proud of you nonetheless, Ash."

"Thanks, Gladion," said Ash.

"Now don't ever do anything like that again," Gladion ordered. "Got that?"

"Yes, Gladion," said Ash.

Gladion gave him a nod. "Come along, all of you," he said to Noctowl and the Hoothoot flock. "Time to head to your new home."

"Bye, Noctowl!" Ash cried, waving.

"Noct!" Noctowl dipped her head. Her voice was drowned out by all the cries of "Hoot!"

Gladion's Crobat rose up into the air, Gladion atop it and Noctowl and the Hoothoot flock flying alongside it. Ash watched as the group flew off, keeping his eyes on them until they disappeared over the horizon.

"So," said Clay, "now that all that's over, what now?"

"Now?" Ash turned to his two traveling companions. "Now I think I'm heading back to Celadon and giving Malva a fight she won't forget."

A huge thank-you to Luckenhaft, whose review I owe a large part of this chapter to. I was not originally going to have Spectrier in this chapter at all, (which meant this chapter would have been significantly smaller), but when he got randomized as one of the mons for the Fighting Tournament, I remembered the review and decided, 'oh, what the hell'.

Next time: Malva rematch.