The next day, dozens of colorful fireworks popped in the marketplace, signaling the beginning of the festival. Countless booths selling various snacks and souvenirs were aligned on the town square, with the statue of Togekiss on top of the fountain.

"Let's PARTY!" "Pikapi!" "Ninjask!" "Marill~!"

Ash, Halley, and their Pokémons were wearing hats resembling Togekiss, and the two trainers were holding a cone of ice cream. Ash was excited to the maximum about the festival, but Halley's face seemed dull.

"Halley?" "Pika?" Ash looked at Halley, remembering why he seemed so nervous. "Hey, come on, Halley. You don't have to be so nervous."

"Yeah, but... It's so strange. Why does Elysia know the starter Pokémon of a common newbie like me?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Though, it's not like you did something bad to her. Maybe she lost her Pokémon and it was coincidentally sent to you, and she wants to see it?"

"That... would be a problem too. Do I deserve to have the champion's Pokémon as mine?" Halley said. Oddish quietly approached him, worried about him feeling so nervous about it.

"Remember Myla?"

"Myla?"

"The girl who took care of Marill before we found it."

"Oh, her... yeah. Why?"

"Was Marill Myla's Pokémon when she took care of it?"

"Not at all."

"Does anyone despise her for being with a Pokémon that's not hers?"

"No one."

"Exactly, Halley. Who says you need to own a Pokémon to be with them?"

"..."

"Does Oddish not accept you?" Just as Ash spoke, Oddish looked up to Halley, its eyes full of trust.

"...!"

"Look, I know, you might think you don't deserve to be Oddish's trainer, but Oddish does think so! As long as you and Oddish accept each other as friends, there's no reason to doubt your bond with your Oddish! No matter what, you're Oddish's friend, and there’s no doubting that."

"Right... Oddish is my friend. That fact will not change, even if Oddish turns out to be a Pokémon of others."

"Yeah, now, it's time to see why Elysia called us. Let's go!"

----------------------------------------

Ash and Halley went to a flat field behind the back hill, where a large circus tent resembling a pyramid was placed. The tent was overall purple with gold highlights and had a large sun and moon structure on the top.

When they entered the tent, hundreds of people were already seated, waiting for the show to begin. They found their seat and quietly sat down, with Oddish sitting on Halley’s legs and Marill sitting on Ash’s. Pikachu was standing on Ash’s shoulder as usual, and Ninjask was on the seat next to Ash.

Some minutes later, the lights shining upon the tent's interior turned off, shrouding the place in darkness. Ash and Halley quietly looked at the stage, waiting for the magician to come out.

After a few seconds of silence, the display screen behind the stage showed a large purple portal. A young wizard girl came flying out while riding a broom with a purple lantern hung on it. She had purple and orange hair, one eye purple and the other orange, and wore a brown wizard hat, a pale purple robe under a purple cape shawl, along a black circular pendant with an orange outline.

“Who… is she?” “Pika…?” Ash wondered.

“She’s Elysia! She rarely puts on her magician suit when performing, and instead has a concept costume that differs for every concert she does.” Halley explained.

“It worked… It worked!” Elysia exclaimed, looking around the tent. “The realm-leaping magic worked!” Then, looking at the audience, she said: “Oh, heya! Do you guys live in this world?”

“Her magic show is a combination of magic show and musical, which makes it a special one,” Halley explained.

“My name’s Elysia! I live in a world where magic is widely used in our everyday lives. Now that I’m here in this parallel world, let me show you what we’ve got in our world! Well, just give me a minute, and I’ll bring some.” Elysia then flew to the portal at the back of the stage and disappeared into it.

Some seconds later, Elysia flew out of the portal again with a small purple sack. “Here it is! Now, now… Where was it…” Elysia wondered, putting her hand into the sack and looking for something.

Just then, from the space below Ash’s chair, Elysia’s hand secretly came out and placed a letter on Ash’s foot.

“?” Ash noticed the letter on his feet and picked it up. “I don’t remember having this…” He opened the letter immediately, and it read out:

Dear Ash

Yoo! You’re actually here!! I can’t believe it!!

Can you wait still in your seat after the show is over?

Yeah, with your friend next to you!

Elysia

Later, when the show concluded and the audience left the tent, Ash and Halley were waiting in their seats, staring at the stage where Elysia flew into the portal after finishing her show.

However, instead of showing up from the portal on the stage, the wizard poked her head out from behind the chair on the edge of the row Ash and Halley were sitting on, from Ash’s side.

“Oddish!” Oddish happily jumped out of Halley’s legs and ran to Elysia, as if it reunited with someone it had not seen for a long time.

“Hey, how are you, Oddish?” Elysia asked, embracing Oddish in her arms.

“Uh…” Halley looked at them from his seat, trying to interpret what was going on. Did she just say, ‘How are you’? Not something like ‘I’ve been looking for you’ or ‘I’ve missed you so much’?

“And… Oh!” Then, noticing Ash’s Pikachu, Elysia went straight to Ash. “Ash?”

“Yeah?”

“May I pet your Pikachu?”

“Sure, go ahead!” Ash said, and Elysia slowly put her hand on his Pikachu’s head and petted it.

“Aww…”

“Pika…” Pikachu gave off a contented sigh, just as expected from a pat from an experienced trainer.

Meanwhile, Halley stood frozen in his seat, feeling the pressure of two top-tier trainers being next to him.

“Odi!” Oddish tilted its head while in Elysia’s arms to look at Halley, making her notice him.

“Oh, so you’re Oddish’s trainer!”

“Oh, yeah…” Halley answered with a paralyzed smile while sweating intensely.

“Hmm… I gotta know more about you later… But for now.” Elysia took out her flying broom and tossed it to the edge of the row where Ash and Halley were sitting, where the broom hovered some inches above the ground. “Hop on!”

Ash, Halley, and Elysia got on the broom, with the latter sitting at the front to control it. Halley was holding Marill tightly in his arms, and Ninjask was flying next to them.

“Hold on tight, everyone. We’re taking off!” The next moment, the broom flew up and quickly charged itself into the portal on the stage.

And instead of going outside the tent, the broom took them to a deserted island in the middle of the wide ocean.

“WHAT?!” “PIKA?!” Ash gasped, not expecting such a place to come out from behind a display screen.

Elysia’s broom carefully landed on the island's center, where a massive tree was in the middle of grass plains. Hundreds of smaller trees surrounded the center.

“By the way, Ash. Do you know why I brought you here?” Elysia asked, getting off her broom.

“Hmm… Wait, you said you wanted to battle against me, right?” Ash replied.

“Jask?” Ninjask, who hadn’t seen the letter Ash received, gasped.

“Correct! Though, that Ninjask, is it your Pokémon?”

“Yeah, I recently caught it.”

“Mmm… Alright then. This won’t be easy.” Elysia nodded.

“What do you mean?”

“You know, I assumed you only had your Pikachu, but… Yeah, this would be a hard fight.” Then, bursting into a smile, she said: “Which would spice up this battle even more!”

“Elysia, are you sure you can win him?” Halley interrupted.

“Who says I’m trying to?”

“Huh?”

“To be honest… I don’t really care about how this battle turns out. As long as I can battle with you, Ash, I’m satisfied.”

“I agree. Let’s have some fun together!” “Pi-ka!” Ash said as he stretched out his fist, doing a fist bump with Elysia.

They then stood on the opposing sides of the plains, facing each other from far away. Halley was riding the flying broom, spectating the battle from above.

“Wait, before we start…” Elysia clapped her hands twice, summoning two brooms from the portal from which they arrived on the island

“Huh?” The two brooms stopped right next to Ash and Elysia, which the former looked at curiously.

“Just in case you don’t know, we’ll be battling on this entire island. Not just this grass plains around that tree.” Elysia explained, pointing at the tree at the center of the island. “You’ll need this to keep your eye on your Pokémons.”

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“Oh, got it!” Ash said, getting on his broom and floating up into the air while Elysia did so too.

“Do I have to be the referee?” Halley asked.

“Oh, not really. Enjoy the fun.” Elysia said, taking out two Pokéballs.

“Yeah, be careful though, it’s gonna be a little dangerous if you fly too low!” Ash warned, which made Ninjask nervous about being in a battle of champion-class Pokémons.

“Don’t worry about that, my broom will be carrying you safely here, so just get comfy! Ash, can we start now?”

“Oh, right. I choose you, Pikachu, Ninjask!” Ash stretched out his arm as he commanded, and his two Pokémons advanced to the battlefield.

“Show them the flamboyant we can show, Meowscarada, Mimikyu!” Elysia shouted as she tossed her Pokéball. From one ball, the humanoid cat Ash and Halley had met before came out, and from the other, a Pokémon covering its body with an old rag resembling Pikachu was summoned.

“Who’s that Pokémon? Doesn’t look like it’s Pikachu.” Halley asked his Rotom Phone, pointing at the new Pokémon.

“You’re right.” Halley’s phone replied, scanning Mimikyu. “Mimikyu: Disguise Pokémon, in Disguised Form. Ghost/Fairy Type. A lonely Pokémon who disguises as Pikachu to not scare others, which instead makes it look creepier.”

“Disguised Form?”

“There are some Pokémons that have different forms, and Mimikyu is one of them. You’ll see as this battle goes on!”

“Ninjask, Double Team, and Aerial Ace!” Ninjask created a dozen clones around it, and they all charged at an immense speed at Meowscarada and Mimikyu in a V-shaped formation.

“Meowscarada, use Protect!” While Mimikyu got on its head, Meowscarada stretched out its arm, creating a blue barrier made of hexagons around it that easily blocked the attack and protected its team.

“Mimikyu, use Taunt!” A sharp black hand came out of Mimikyu’s rug and moved to under Mimikyu’s chin, and the Pokémon let out cynical laughter at Ninjask.

Ninjask fell for the taunt and got angry, pushing itself against the shield with even stronger force. At the same time, orange energy rose around it.

“Meowscarada, Night Slash!” From Meowscarada’s other hand, three long black claws emerged. The Magician Pokémon swung it to Ninjask out of nowhere, just as it removed its barrier. But right before the attack hit, Elysia heard something dangerous coming and retreated her command. “Cancel the attack and use Protect again, Meowscarada!”

“Now, Pikachu! Thunderbolt!” Just then, from the trees far from them, Pikachu, covered in overflowing electricity, flew out to the field. Some sparks of electricity shocked the ground as Pikachu charged at its enemies in a second. Ninjask safely got away while its clones still pushed themselves at Meowscarada’s shield to help their ally break it, even if it may have been a very slight amount.

As the strongest Pokémon collided with Meowscarada and Mimikyu, a massive electric explosion occurred, incinerating nearby trees in mere seconds and cracking the ground.

“Holy…” Halley gasped as his broom automatically propelled him far away from the impact.

Pikachu slid on the ground with one arm scratching the floor to slow down and carefully observed the battlefield.

“Why didn’t Ninjask just Baton Pass to Pikachu while it was attacking? It could have broken the shield faster if it did so.” Halley asked.

“Oh, you thought about that? How smart.” Halley’s Rotom replied. “It’s because it can’t. Taunt makes the Pokémon only able to use moves that deal damage for some time, and Ninjask currently fell for it.”

“Those kinds of moves exist…? I’ve still got a long road to go.”

When the dust from the explosion sank, Meowscarada only had its shield shattered, nullifying all the damage from the attack.

“That was… So awesome!” Elysia said. “Reminds me of a quote: ‘True art is an explosion’.”

“Someone actually said that?” Ash chuckled, then looked at the devastated plains on the island. “By the way… Did I go too far? There must be Pokémons living here…”

“Not at all. This island is not real, after all.”

“What? Not real?”

“Let me show you.” Elysia took out her Zetta-Zone device with a magenta gem with a cube drawn on it and tossed it upwards. The device started to spin, its speed increasing until it released a while light covering the background.

“It’s time we turn the tables! Zetta-Trick!” When the light disappeared, the sky turned into a magenta night sky with countless stars. From the sea behind Elysia, a tower of enormous flat bowls with small exotic trees growing on it emerged, with a large tree on top of it with translucent cube leaf bushes, glowing in blue and pink colors.

“Yoo, that’s your Zetta-Zone? I wonder what it does?” Ash asked.

“Watch.” Meowscarada and Mimikyu lowered their body as if they were about to jump, and disappeared the next moment.

“Huh? Where did they-” From behind Pikachu, Meowscarada suddenly appeared with three long dark claws jutting out of its hand, about to slash at Pikachu. “...Pikachu, behind you! Iron Tail!”

“Meowscarada, Night Slash!” Pikachu’s Iron Tail and Meowscarada’s Night Slash collided, with the former defending itself from the attack from above.

“Now, Mimikyu, use Curse at Pikachu!” Mimikyu appeared behind Pikachu and summoned a large purple nail in front of it.

“Wait… Stop Mimikyu, Ninjask! Aerial Ace!” Ninjask tried to dash out to Mimikyu as fast as it could, but it instead moved as slow as a snail. “Ninjask?!” Just then, orange energy rose around it, which made it charge even slower than before.

Instead of hammering the nail on Pikachu, Mimikyu hammered it on its own body. But Pikachu could feel something was going wrong with its own body, as its heartbeat was heard way too clearly at that moment.

“Pi…?”

“Why’s Ninjask so slow?… Wait, Zetta-’Trick’, you say?” Ash asked Elysia.

“Yeah.”

“I get it. This is just like Trick Room.” Ash said. “Pokémons with slower speeds can outspeed faster Pokémons inside it.”

“Correct! Do you know what your Zetta-Zone does, though?”

“Not really,” Ash said, taking out his Zetta-Magic. “Guess I’ll find it out, even though it may be too late.” Then, he tossed the device into the air, which spun as usual.

“This is so fun though! I haven’t been in a battle this intense for a long time, to be honest. Would you mind if I go further?”

“Sure thing!”

“Welp, no turning back!” Ash grabbed the visor of his hat and turned it backward. “Let’s fight with all our might! Zetta-Magic!” Ash’s Zetta-Magic device released black energy, which disappeared to summon his Zetta-Magic monolith from the sea behind him: A silver-blue pyramid and a gray planet above it, with dozens of moons revolving around it. The sky around it turned blue in the process too.

“Now, what does this do, though…?” Ash wondered.

“Oh, that one! Zetta-Magic is quite a formidable one.” Elysia answered with a surprise. “It disables the effects of all other Zetta-Zones active.”

“So that’s why I didn’t see any change in Pikachu's back then!” Ash remembered the day when he battled with Team Rocket in the Terra region for the first time.

“Well, that may be the reason too, but your team isn’t specialized for Zetta-Zones with strong effects. Whoever gave you that made a brilliant choice, I’ll admit.”

“Welp, thanks for the info!” Ash replied. “Pikachu, use Electroweb on the ground!”

Pikachu, clutching its chest for a moment, created a yellow electric orb on its tail and slammed it to the ground. The orb was transformed into a massive electric net scattered across the island.

“Use Quick Attack right after!” It then glowed its body silver and charged at Meowscarada at ludicrous speed.

“Mimikyu, get on Meowscarada! Meowscarada, use Protect!” Mimikyu quickly hopped on Meowscarada’s head, while the latter expanded a blue shield made of hexagons around it.

“Now, use Iron Tail!” Pikachu hopped and swung its glowing tail down at full force, colliding with Meowscarada’s shield.

“Tank it, Mimikyu!” As soon as Elysia heard the sound of the strike, Meowscarada intentionally disabled its shield and Mimikyu jumped out and got hit by Iron Tail, getting slammed to the ground as Pikachu swung its tail.

“Pikachu, Thunderbo-”

“Now! Fling: Iron Ball!” Just then, Pikachu noticed something purple glowing in front of it. When Pikachu raised its head, the only thing it could see was purple and destructive light.

…

A second later, what was in front of Meowscarada, the grassy plains, and the trees, were no more. What was there instead was a long pit going all the way to the beach. The Electroweb that was on the island disappeared, too.

Halley had his jaw dropped from the shocking impact of the mysterious attack, and Ash was no different. “Wh… What attack even is that?”

“That’s Fling.” Halley’s Rotom explained. “It’s a move that tosses the user’s held item to its opponent, and it seems like Meowscarada was holding Iron Ball. It slows down the user’s speed by a large amount.”

“Really? An Iron Ball? That looked like Meowscarada just used some high-tech cannon.”

“Yeah, Fling using Iron Ball has immense destructive power. It would’ve been even stronger because Meowscarada is a Dark Type, and Fling is a Dark Type move.”

From the pit, Mimikyu was found lying powerlessly on the ground, unable to battle. Ash’s Zetta-Magic monolith glowed white and shattered into light shards, and the sky was completely magenta again.

“Welp, that was unexpected… Mimikyu fainted before I could explain to you its other form.” Halley’s Rotom sighed.

“Yeah, I know but… She deliberately attacked her team?”

“Oops… It was intended, but that would’ve hurt a lot.” Elysia said, taking out her Pokéball and retreating Mimikyu. “I gotta buy this guy some sweets later. But for now… Use Flower Trick at Ninjask!”

“Not over yet! Ninjask, Baton Pass to that direction!” Ash pointed to the long pit made from Fling, which was still covered in dust clouds.

Ninjask recklessly formed a green baton on its arm and tossed it to the dust clouds, while a pollen bomb turned up above it to bombard the Ninja Pokémon. A moment right before the bomb touched Ninjask, a yellow arm came out of the cloud and caught the baton.

However, Ninjask couldn’t be saved in time, as the explosion from the bomb made Ninjask get knocked away to the tree nearby and make it faint.

“You did a great job, Ninjask… Now, let’s leave it all to Pikachu!” Ash cheered, retreating Ninjask to its ball. The Zetta-Trick monolith shattered into light too, turning the sky to a regular sky-blue color.

From the pit, Pikachu walked out heavily wounded from the Fling and the effects of the Curse. But it was still smiling, confident about its victory. Orange energy shot out around it violently, informing that its speed had drastically increased.

“Welp, I don’t have much time…” Ash said. “Let’s get this over with.”

“Sure thing. Meowscarada! Use Protect!” Meowscarada expanded its shield for the last time, determined to survive until Pikachu faints from the curse.

“Pikachu! Use Thunderbolt!”

“Pi-ka…” Pikachu breathed in as electricity gathered around it, which it absorbed and glowed its body yellow. “...Piika- CHUU!!” The accumulated electricity was released from Pikachu’s body to the sky, which rather looked like a bolt of lightning had struck it.

Then, with its boosted speed, the Mouse Pokémon charged at Meowscarada at a ludicrous speed. Meowscarada focused on its shield, making it glow brighter than before.

Pikachu’s Thunderbolt and Meowscarada’s Protect collided, creating the biggest explosion in the entire battle.

When the dust clouds sank, Pikachu and Meowscarada were standing back to back each other, and the former was clutching its chest in pain.

But the next second, Meowscarada lost its balance and collapsed to the ground, deciding the winner of this battle.

“A… Ash Ketchum’s victory!” Halley reacted.

“Pi… pi?” Pikachu looked back and saw its opponent unconscious, realizing its victory. “Pi… Pika! Pi…” But the next moment, Pikachu collapsed too from the aftereffects of the curse damaging it.

“Congrats, Ash! I knew you would win this!” Elysia clapped her hands, then retreated her Meowscarada into her ball.

“Awesome! Another victory in this new region, and it’s from the champion? Not sure if this is right…” Ash scratched his head.

“Don’t worry, you’re the strongest trainer in the world officially, after all. Our Pokémons must be quite tired from this battle. Let’s give them some time to recover, while…” Elysia turned to Halley, who gulped in anxiety. “Oh, I’m telling you, it’s nothing too serious! I’m not gonna scold you or anything!” Elysia calmed him down with a smile.

“Y- You’re honest, right…?”

“Of course! I just wanted to talk with the main character of my experiment.”

“A… An experiment?”

Some minutes later, Halley and Elysia sat at a table in a café in Marey town. Ash was already enjoying the festival in the town square, and his Pokémons were given to Pokémon Center to recover.

“So… what was the thing you wanted to tell me?” Halley asked.

“That I intended Oddish to be your Pokémon.”

“What? Me? Why me?”

“I meant, I intentionally let Oddish be sent as a Starter Pokémon, and you are the receiver of it.”

To Be Continued