The Draconid Mountains, Hoenn Region

She heard the distant call before she saw the caller.

When one lived in the north, you needed to be aware of what made that call.

The call of a Skarmory was never a good thing in the north. The Skarmory who lived within the range of the Valley of Steel were highly aggressive and were a danger to humans.

Particularly the young and the infirm.

"W'as that?"

The former being on the mountaintop meadow with her, unaware of the danger approaching them both.

She tensed further as the gray shape of Skarmory appeared on the horizon, and she prepared to grab Aster and run for somewhere a bit less prone to being abducted by a carnivorous bird before she'd move to actively repelling the menace.

However, just as so often happened in these situations, the moment she noticed a good place to avoid swooping attacks she managed to get a better look at the Skarmory.

Namely the fact it had a rider. One whose hair she could pick out even from that far out, the way it shone in the light and stood out in the dark was very distinctive.

She relaxed a bit, even if not completely. She might have known the man to be better than many of his kind, but that didn't mean she could fully relax her guard.

"Se'ven!"

Aster's cheerful greeting was met by the landing of the Skarmory and the arrival of the titular visitor, who adjusted his collar briefly before speaking.

"Been a while hasn't it? Sorry to drop in like this." (*)

"If you are sorry, then why do you do it?"

Steven Stone, Hoenn Champion and 'rich silver-haired dreamboat' as a few of her tribe called him, chuckled.

"Normally I'd prefer to send a heads up that I am arriving somewhere, but your tribe doesn't have phones so I couldn't call or text."

"We have email, you could have just contacted us that way before flying in on a predatory species."

Zinnia couldn't help but be a bit amused by the dumbfounded look on the Devon Corp heir's face. The amusement, she noted, had her guard drop on its own.

"You do?"

"Of course. We aren't savages, though it is Ranger based. So unless you want to go to prison, we don't."

So in all truths, for all he was concerned, they didn't have email.

Skarmory let out an annoyed call for the sake of its Trainer, whose annoyance at the truth of the matter quickly faded away as he entered business mode.

"Well, in any case the reason I am here is a follow up on a few oddities that we've noticed in the last few days. As experts in the subject, I figured you might be able to give some additional information."

She raised an eyebrow at his reason.

"What could a mountain tribe have that would be of any concern to the Sootopolitans?"

They were hardly the ones to ask why there were a surge of tsunamis striking coastal cities after all, or whatever was bothering them so badly.

"Your Lord being agitated."

Both she and Aster stared at the champion in surprise.

Not at the news, but that he had noticed such a thing.

"You picked up on that?"

Even far away from his roost in the ocean, the Draconids had noticed something being off with Lord Rayquaza. Disturbances in the upper cloud layers and more rapid flight movements gave hint to distress, much like someone who sensed approaching issues and paced in anticipation of having to deal with them.

It was only through centuries of learning and rare artifacts they could tell this. How did the Sootopolians know?

"Reports from the Weather Institute west of here noted Rayquaza's flight path being unusual in the last few days. We have a general idea of where Rayquaza is at what times and try not to fly planes through the same area for all our sakes. Planes may not fly as high as Rayquaza, but we'd rather not have planes get randomly blasted by a Hyper Beam. It's not really weather if I have to be honest, but it's a vital service that they perform for the Hoenn Region as a whole and they are a bit better situated for getting the data than the people who you'd think be in charge of such a task over in Mossdeep City…"

Zinnia had the oddest suspicion government nonsense was the reason for it, and that people probably argued about it extensively when they hashed it out. It probably was still argued about, given politics.

"…However in the last few days his movements have diverged from the norm and have remained abnormal since. Less so than on the first day we observed this, but still enough that the flight control agents have had to drink more coffee."

"So I take it they can't figure out what might be bothering him, so you've come to the Draconids for a second opinion?"

Steven nodded.

"Our first thought was that maybe something had happened with Groudon and Kyogre, but the lack of apocalyptic weather suggests otherwise. Our second, and only other thought for that matter, was that some bonehead had gotten thousands of Pokémon to use some weather move all at once to mess with the climate, but no one seems that determined to make it snow in the desert at the moment."

All reasonable reasons to incite Lord Rayquaza. The Sootopolitans weren't being stupid today. If the champion had popcorn she'd ask for it for celebration purposes.

"If I'd have to speak as the official Lorekeeper, and I will because I feel like it, I'd say the second reason is the most likely. This bit of irritation Lord Rayquaza is experiencing is not the reaction to the awakening of Groudon or Kyogre, or an invader in the skies. Something is disrupting the weather, or perhaps something had. A brief moment of disturbance that has since ended, but the Lord can still sense the perpetrator and feels the fact the incident can be repeated."

"The way you are saying that makes me think it isn't a school group really trying to get a snow day."

Zinnia shook her head at the Sootopolitan fondness for snow. Snow was cold and it got everywhere before melting and making you even colder.

"Unless millions of Pokémon are all using Hail, that isn't what happened. No, something stronger played with the weather to agitate Lord Rayquaza, and it probably wasn't near here. If it was the Lord would have flown there and blasted it. The problem came from somewhere farther away in another region, and it wasn't for long enough for the Lord to fly there and deal with the problem personally and leave the Hoenn Region unguarded. Moreover, I am fairly certain it wasn't a Pokémon that typically does so. This was a reaction to an atypical actor."

That didn't seem to be what Steven was hoping to hear. Somewhere in the world, most likely beyond his direct influence or ability to personally resolve, there was something or someone with a power akin to a Legendary Pokémon messing with weather patterns that did not typically do so.

It wasn't Thundurus or Tornadus in the Unova Region, or the first of the birds in the Orange Islands. It wasn't the activity of a Lugia, nor the ecosystem watcher Zygarde.

It was something else, and it was anyone's guess if there was anything someone could do to better the situation.

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

Elsewhere

Giovanni didn't particularly like to see his plans and operations blow up on his face, even more so when it led to one of his best laboratories being completely destroyed and an unspeakably powerful force let loose on the world and ready to do who knows what.

He tried not to think of what had just happened, or too much of what might happen next, as he and a team of scientists and grunts worked on estimating the damages and made sure the problem couldn't grow worse from there.

Even in the face of what happened, the threat didn't concern him as much as it should've had, a man in his position ended up getting on the bad side of many powerful people that wanted him dead over and over, and the fact their new addition had psychic powers made him just a bit less of a concern than the self-professed Bloodline King usually was, especially with how it pretty much gave him lead time. One way or another, he could find a method to deal with it alongside the science division.

Unfortunately, he couldn't say the same of the other unusual problem he was taking care of at the same time.

"You are kidding, I hope," the leader of Team Rocket said, clutching the phone tightly.

"Unfortunately no, Boss. The boy is heading for the Viridian Gym for his eighth badge."

Talking with the agent known as James, Giovanni felt the urge to toss the phone on something. After giving another glance around at the ruined laboratory and the millions it would take to put everything back in working condition, he quickly decided against it, kicking a piece of ruined armor out of the way instead.

"I'm in the middle of far more pressing matters than being a Gym Leader. Can't you get him to not come? He doesn't even need more badges."

"We can't stop him, he already teleported in Viridian."

The Boss of Team Rocket didn't reply, but he did squint his eyes and grit his teeth. The boy was definitely going to be a useful pawn as a Bloodliner hero, but at times like these he definitely wished to have a tighter leash on him.

"Maybe you can close the Gym just for today?" his underling suggested. Giovanni tsked loudly at that.

"Just so, out of the blue? The League doesn't accept that except for unforeseen and justified circumstances." He shook his head, observing a few estimates from the scientists' pads regarding structural damage. If this had been a legal operation, he might have been able to get away with declaring this a justified circumstance, but the simple problem is not being legal was an impossible hurdle to overcome there. "They would question such a sudden change in my schedule, and I'd be forced to explain myself, which could lead to a whole host of problems the respectable Gym Leader of Viridian City shouldn't have."

Giovanni had spent a lot of years cultivating the image of the demanding, but competent and well-liked Gym Leader of Viridian City as he furthered the reach of Team Rocket's operations for a variety of reasons, and he sure wouldn't let one of his secondary projects clash with all his efforts in that area. He might've been the Boss of Team Rocket first and foremost, but he needed to maintain his record as immaculate as possible to not raise any suspicion among his colleagues.

"Do you want us to block him on his path? Team Rocket does have quite a few robots we can employ for this-"

"Those are only for very specialized and authorized usage. They're not the kind of machines you can use over and over for the most minor of operations, and it'd grab too much attention."

James didn't say anything, maybe disappointed to not be able to use one of their mechas. Giovanni found that mental image amusing enough in the current situation.

"For the moment, keep a close eye on him. I'm going to think of something," He said simply, sharpening his gaze.

"Understood."

The call ended, and the ensuing silence was a welcome relief for Giovanni's ears. He observed once more the flaming remains of the laboratory around him, trying to think up of the best way to get things in check and return to the Gym for the match.

Thankfully, one pro of being the leader of a vast criminal organization was having a lot of underlings ready to do his bidding whenever he needed them, and he knew just who was best suited for the job.

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

Viridian City

"Hold it right there!"

In the ongoing question of 'was the Viridian Gym still controlled by Team Rocket', the fact that he was stopped within sight of the place by a R-less Cassidy and …. 'Not James' was a fairly damning statement to the fact that it was still controlled by a crime syndicate.

Particularly when the two were doing the same guard thing that Lt. Surge had in front of his Gym.

"Yeah, can we help you?"

At Misty's question Cassidy pointed right at him.

"Clearly the kid there who hasn't found a Thunderstone yet wants to challenge this Gym. The Leader is far too busy to bother with someone with a Pokémon like that. So run along now, or do we need to prove it?"

"Yeah, because if you can't even beat us, you are light years from facing him!"

The smack talk from 'Balon', or whatever his name was, confused him somehow. He wasn't sure why, but that statement just seemed off somehow.

'Light years measure distance, not time.'

He gave the mental equivalent of a nod to Anabel for the clarification.

"I've taken a lot of steps to get here, and I'm only a few more steps from challenging the Gym. That's hardly a light year."

'Bepo' seemed put off by the confidence in his words. He liked to think he had earned it. He'd done a pretty good job of things, bar the two kidnappings of his person.

He could probably improve on that, but small things like that were hardly important.

"Prove it kid. Just to warn you, we aren't a bunch of idiots who can be beaten by a Caterpie."

He was honestly amazed he didn't hear Jessie, James, or Meowth sneezing somewhere nearby. They mustn't be stalking him today.

Or were Cassidy and 'Bart' covering for them today as temps? Team Rocket probably got days off from stalking him, assuming Team Rocket obeyed local labor laws.

Regardless of if the three got their legally allotted time off, Ash had just the thing to handle this without being a problem later.

"Hey kid, drop the baseball mitt."

Any need to retort to 'Balto' about what the H.O.P.E was actually found itself handled perfectly handled by Cassidy whacking him in the back of the head, even as a Great Ball transferred back.

"If the Gym Leader is really as busy as you said he is, it just wouldn't do to battle him with a team that had already battled you guys."

"No actually, it would actually do a lot. It would be very much do if you got so tired you couldn't bother him."

"He could just go to the Pokémon Center and come back in that case."

'Basil' had no retort to Iris's point, and Cassidy held a Pokéball up.

"Alright kid, let's get this over with."

As the ball he requested popped in, he threw it in agreement.

Cassidy, if he had to remember, had a Raticate, a Granbull, and either a Houndour or Houndoom, he couldn't quite remember which. There had been that Drowzee too, but Ash wasn't entirely sure whose it was.

He never really saw Cassidy and 'Dutch' that often, so it wasn't like he memorized it the same way he had with Jessie and James's teams.

He didn't remember her having a Tentacruel, but the Pokémon was before him and Gigalith regardless.

"Let's figure out what that thing is, Tentacruel Bubble Beam!"

The Tentacruel lifted its blue beak to spit out a barrage of bubbles. Super effective, if they hit of course.

"Rock Blast!"

Gigalith slammed her front limbs down, shaking the concrete and cracking it a bit as she fired off four white streaks of stone.

The bubbles were shattered, and the two Rock Blasts that followed the bubble's wakes struck Tentacruel with a lot of power.

Tentacruel was sent flying before crashing against the wall of the Gym. Probably unable to battle, if he'd have to guess.

Pikachu let out a whistle at the aftermath, and Ash had to agree with the evidence. Gigalith seemed pleased too, and she seemed to be giving off an aura of pleasure at her new power.

An aura that he felt a bit conflicted about, even if he was clear she was happy with the choice she made.

Yet his thoughts were pushed to the side as 'Bronko' sent out the Primeape he remembered him using that one time James dressed up like a Moltres.

"Dynamic Punch!"

The Primeape lunged forward, fist glowing a burning red as it came towards Gigalith.

Gigalith looked ready to use Iron Defense and take the hit, but that wouldn't do.

Ash wasn't entirely sure of the exact meaning of 'pride before the fall', but this seemed the moment that phrase might apply.

"Get out of the way!"

Gigalith seemed to take a micromoment to register the statement, but regardless of the lag hopped out of the way of the lunging attack.

Ash thought he saw a blue shimmer flash across Gigalith as she made the dodge, but he filed that way for later.

"Do it again!"

As Primeape turned around for another attack, Ash knew he had to take the initiative.

IF he didn't, this could easily turn into a game of dodges.

"Return!"

Ash had to admit that, while he was expecting the white coated attack to hit Primeape, the attack moved much faster than he thought.

Faster than he thought Gigalith could frankly.

It was by no means Pikachu-level fast, but the attack from Gigalith still landed right into Primeape, knocking it down just as quickly as she had Tentacruel.

'Bor' and Cassidy just stared at Gigalith in shock that, underneath it all, had a sense of resigned

…

Giovanni wasn't sure how he should be feeling right now.

Should he be annoyed that his two minions were being so trounced, or should be impressed they were doing as well as they were.

They were in the end after all, thugs. Elite thugs to be sure, but thugs none the less.

A thug being trounced by someone who knew what he was doing was not unexpected, and there was something approvable about how they kept throwing everything they had at the boy to give him as much time as they could.

Quite possibly destroying their self-esteem and pride as they did so, but did so without hesitation or visible sign of breaking.

He'd have to sit on how he'd handle them when this was over, to see exactly what he'd do with them.

Certainly not fire them, for anyone who was willing to have their Hitmontop by spun around by what he was pretty sure was a baby Pokémon not known for violence was too loyal to dispose of recklessly. Loyalty was something valuable in his illegal business, to have people who were willing to do anything you asked without question was a commodity that was always in need.

Talk of a Pokémon he'd have to be really distracted to not accept from his underlings aside, the two had managed to give him just enough time that, if he couldn't get the challenger to leave, he could battle him without having an immediate issue go haywire without him.

Plus, he had one more idea to try and avoid a battle that frankly, neither he nor Ash Ketchum needed.

…

Serperior's Great Ball replaced Togepi's Pokéball in the H.O.P.E glove, and now the team he had brought with him before Cassidy and 'Brett' had shown up was now complete.

Technically he had seven Pokémon on him, but that was only possible because technically he didn't have Pikachu's Pokéball on hand. It was back at home with Professor Oak, and he'd be trusting him to the others for the battle.

In fact, as they walked into the building the now slumped in self-pity duo were once guarding, Pikachu hopped over to Misty's shoulder.

Misty stumbled with the additional weight, pausing them for a moment as she tried to re-right herself.

At the moment she just looked like a kid with a really heavy backpack slung over one shoulder. A comparison that made Ash glad Pikachu swapped shoulders whenever requested, even back in the early days.

"Geeze! How do you carry him on your shoulder all of the time Ash? I can barely stand up straight with him on me."

"Broad shoulders and a lot of practice?"

It couldn't be a case of muscles, Iris wasn't exactly letting any of them not have them.

"I guess they are nice in ways not just to look at."

He only sort of heard Misty mutter that, and that was always something a bit odd to him.

Girls found broad shoulders attractive? Of all the physical features he had that the three might find appealing, his shoulders were among them?

That seemed a bit random to him, like fine wrists or something.

Of course going into the minefield of 'they like him and have no idea how to approach it, he probably liked them the same way but had even less of an idea' was something to do later.

Much later, quite possibly when any of them had an idea of what they were doing.

"I can take him."

Iris's offer was met by a look from Misty that Ash could only describe as some mix of relief and self-frustration, but she none the less nodded and Pikachu hopped over to Iris's shoulder.

She had less trouble taking Pikachu's weight on her shoulder.

Misty took a moment to rub her shoulder, and he moved to ask if she was okay.

"I'm fine."

Ash didn't press it further, lest he try finding out how far it took to get to that side of Misty that liked yelling at him and calling him an idiot.

Eventually though, Ash found himself fully in the battlefield, which as always was poorly lit, which Ash had never quite got the point of.

Was it for an 'underground' motif, which from his personal experience wasn't all that well lit. Clay did have a mine motif; perhaps this Gym was going for a normal cave sans lighting.

A light eventually did flare up, but it was only behind the raised seat on the balcony that hung over the arena like the throne of an ancient emperor, waiting to pass judgment down with a single thumb.

The only finger fit to decide the fate of a man.

In all seriousness though, the light might have shaded him, but Ash recognized the body build of the man who he had encountered in Unova after forty-four Gyms and seven Frontier Symbols of being stalked by his underlings.

At his side was a Persian, the sight of which made Pikachu spark. Probably in memory of what had happened the first time they had met.

"So you are the one who challenges me. Tell me, why have you come here?"

The question wasn't one that Ash would normally think a Gym Leader would ask. It was generally pretty easy to figure out why someone came to a Gym.

If they didn't come with boxes of cookies, they were there for a Gym battle. IF they came with boxes of cookies, they were trying to sell you them.

"I'm here for a Gym badge."

After all, he'd probably eat a box of cookies before selling them to Team Rocket. Even if May made them.

Though in that case it would be somewhere between not helping criminals and not being cruel to the criminals.

"Yes, it would seem that you did come for it. Though tell me, why do you need my badge? You have long qualified for the League, and this battle does nothing to enhance your status. It is a battle without meaning or purpose."

Was he trying to not have a battle happen?

Oddly by asking him why he wanted the badge in the first place. One would think that a criminal mastermind would just lie for a reason.

An ill mother, a closed sign, being somewhere else, why go and try and get him to leave?

"I might have earned the right, but only legally. I knew that the win I got didn't mean I was ready, and I wanted to see if I was ready."

Framed in shadow by the light, his reasoning did not seem to resonate with the criminal Gym Leader, whose name Ash was pretty sure was Giovanni. Persian meowed in a display that carried with a display of annoyance.

"It was my understanding that you already had such a test over in Cinnabar? If you can conquer a Mega Evolved Pokémon, let alone Saffron, I fail to see what my Gym badge would get you beyond that. At this point, is it not just excess?"

For some reason Ash remembered Gary flashing him with a case of ten badges. If he had to guess why, it was probably a combination of that happening just before his battle here, and the fact that it was the point Giovanni was raising.

He long ago had more than eight badges, and there was a similarity between what he was doing, and what Gary had done.

For a moment, he felt a spark of fear try and set his very being alight. Was he going to have a second evil Gym Leader know about time?

Given he only had fought two Gym Leaders that were evil (being nuts, jerks, or self-absorbed did not count as evil), that would not be a good record to have.

He quelled the spark before he got too carried away. Thinking about 'what if' was not going to change anything.

There was only what he could do in the meantime, and that was have an answer as to why what Gary did was excessive, and why what he did was not.

Hopefully in a way that would not make Pikachu roll his eyes at him.

"It would be excess if I was sure that I was ready, and was just getting badges because I wanted to completely fill a mantle or something. I want to be absolutely sure that I am where I want to be. I want to go into the League with confidence, not fear."

He always went in with confidence, however earned it was. There was no reason to change that now.

Giovanni sighed in what sounded like resignation.

"Seeing as convincing you that you are as ready as you actually are is not my job, it would seem that I cannot convince you otherwise. Very well, though I expect you are prepared for the trial that you shall now endure. I do not appreciate those who waste my time needlessly, and if you cannot defeat my six Pokémon your fears of being not ready for the League will prove correct."

So it was going to be a six on six? Well, good thing he left Pikachu's ball at home then.

Misty, Iris, and Anabel quickly got off the field, and the moment they did Giovanni tossed a ball into the air.

It burst open to reveal a Rhydon, which was what many would call a 'good first impression'.

It was after all, generally the case that a Gym Leader hid their most powerful Pokémon until later. Elesa may start with Zebstrika, but Whitney did not start with Miltank nor Norman Slaking.

"Squirtle, I choose you!"

Emphasizing the point the moment that Squirtle hit the field and looked at the Rhydon, he muttered something about 'cleaning up someone's mess.'

"Begin this match with Thunderbolt."

Without a ref showing up Giovanni began the match with crackling electricity on Rhydon's horn.

"Rhydon can do that?"

Misty's disbelief was something he felt too. He'd have never pegged Rhydon as able to do that.

But it would not do to be let that surprise catch him off guard, especially when the Thunderbolt was forming into a more solid shape than a normal energy attack.

"Counter-Shield!"

Squirtle spun the defense up just as Rhydon fired the Thunderbolt, which as he thought wasn't a stream.

Instead it was a solid ball of electricity, which was blocked by the Counter-Shield and detonated safely out of harm’s way for Squirtle.

It didn't reflect, but as the effectiveness of electric attacks on Rhydons was a coin flip in his experience it was possibly no loss.

"Squirtle, Water Gun and keep your distance!"

Squirtle disengaged the Counter-Shield and began running around the field while continuously firing off Water Gun.

The water attack, despite the movement, kept a general target right around the upper part of Rhydon's lighter stomach. The attack was met with a pained grunt from Rhydon.

Getting up close with Rhydon was not an option, and by keeping up movement it would be harder for Rhydon to counter attack. The downside of course was that it would tire Squirtle out quicker, but Giovanni had said nothing about substitution rulings.

He didn't say much in general, beyond trying to guilt trip him to go away.

"Rhydon, Horn Drill."

Giovanni's command was followed by the entire field shaking as Rhydon charged towards Squirtle, head lowered and the drill spinning intensely.

The Water Gun was deflected by the Horn Drill several times, though it did manage to get into Rhydon's eyes a few times.. This seemed to do more damage than the previous hits, but Rhydon charged through regardless.

Squirtle was of course still running and Water Gunning, but Ash wasn't sure who would win in a stamina fight between a turtle spraying from within himself, and a charging bipedal rock monster.

And he would not be finding out the answer. He'd instead go for the safer option.

"Brine!"

Squirtle ceased the narrow, longer spray of Water Gun and moved onto the saltier spray, which struck Rhydon right in the lowered head after a momentary blocking from Horn Drill.

The salty water struck right in Rhydon's eyes, leading to a scream from the charging Pokémon. Combined with the continued Water Gun strike it had taken already, and Brine's additional damaging tendencies did the job.

That being Rhydon collapsing in a wet heap on the ground, a sight that made Squirtle stop spraying and take a few very deep breaths.

"Squirt." 'That….really makes me glad I took those breath holding exercises. I would have burst without them. Well, hopefully that puts us back on track. How many of them are left?'

Giovanni returned the downed Rhydon before he could answer Squirtle telepathically, mostly because he had words to say.

"So, you know what you are doing with unevolved Pokémon. Of course, with five Pokémon to go, I hope you don't think you've won yet."

To make his point he threw a Pokéball into the air that exploded downward to reveal a Dugtrio, even as Squirtle gasped in surprise at Rhydon having just been the first Pokémon.

Dugtrio shot down into the ground, out of sight yet far from out of mind.

Squirtle tapped his tail to the floor, eventually setting it on the ground. The intent was clear, an attempt to detect Dugtrio's movement underground by feeling for vibrations.

However, there was a problem with Squirtle taking this method.

"Squir?" 'Do I need to wait for it to be closer to feel something?'

Namely that sensing things moving underground wasn't something that Squirtle had actually trained for.

"Pikapika." 'What did you think would happen? If it was that easy to listen for things with a tail anyone could do it! Honestly, I am not even sure our tails can do that!'

That was a good question. Could one use any tail to try and sense incoming underground attacks, or was it just certain tails? Was it just a matter of training, like Iris had forced on him that one time…?

Said memory actually gave Ash an idea, and he reached down for his right shoe and yanked it off, shortly followed by his sock.

"What, exactly, are you doing?"

He ignored Giovanni's question as his foot rested on the bare earth for a moment before he felt a distant vibration.

One that was coming towards Squirtle.

"Jump back towards me!"

Squirtle stopped his own attempt at feeling for Dugtrio and did as he was told, moments before the space in front of him was shattered by a rising Dugtrio, heads gleaming with a charge attack.

Squirtle however avoided the attack entirely.

He'd need to remember to thank Iris for that training. He'd have to keep it in mind going forward against other opponents who used underground attacks.

"Tri-Attack."

Each head of Dugtrio began glowing red, blue, and yellow, before a glowing ball of each color formed in front of each head and fired towards Squirtle.

"Water Pulse!"

Squirtle flung the water sphere attack, intercepting the attack and creating a smokescreen.

"Fissure."

Giovanni's command rung through the arena as both Squirtle and Ash tensed.

That was a move they really didn't want to be hit by if they could help it, but with the smoke he couldn't see it.

Squirtle might have, given his old firefighting training, though with his foot on the ground he might have been able to sense it before…

Squirtle let out an acknowledging grunt just as he felt the vibrations of what was probably the Fissure attack.

It oddly seemed to increase after a few moments, but there was no time to try and figure out why.

"Dodge!"

Squirtle jumped out of the way of the attack just as a white stream of force sliced through the ground and Squirtle began landing out of the way of that attack.

Right into the path of a second stream of Fissure, with a third one flying off in the opposite direction at the same time.

Three entirely separate Fissure attacks.

"The Dugtrio was able to use the same attack three times, once for each head."

The Pokédex's observation was not followed up on.

"Squirtle!"

His worried shout for his friend was followed moments later by Squirtle turning towards the wall and blasting at it with Water Gun.

The water stream hit the wall and propelled Squirtle out of the way of the second Fissure stream. He let off on it and Squirtle landed in between the two streaming Fissure attacks, completely safe.

The dust cleared at this point, revealing an entirely absent Dugtrio.

"Squirt." 'It's going to try and attack from underground again? How does he think that is going to work any better?'

Ash would respond, but he felt what Dugtrio was doing underground, and it wasn't a charge upwards with Dig.

It was an entirely different attack.

"Squirtle, Dugtrio is using Fissure from underneath you, and it's coming up now!"

Squirtle quickly darted, moments before a Fissure attack erupted from just where he had been standing.

The Fissure eruptions kept going off in the field, with Squirtle only avoiding them by detecting them and sheer luck.

The barrage of white was relentless, while Squirtle's ability to avoid it forever was not limitless.

He'd need to take a step, or that was going to end badly.

He reflexively reached for Squirtle's Pokéball, but something caught his eye before he made the substitution.

The cracks in the field that were left by the Fissure eruptions.

"Squirtle, jump in the air as evasively as you can, then blast into the ground!"

Squirtle, who was at this point panting heavily, duly jumped and fired, the turtle lunging over the field as he did so.

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A blue aura flickered over Squirtle as he fired the attack, the ability Torrent active entirely from exhaustion and not damage.

Just as the Water Gun flew into the crack with perfect accuracy however, a white surge of Fissure energy shot up from below moments later.

As far as he could tell the Water Gun did hit, moments before Fissure shot up and struck Squirtle with a burst of intense energy.

The impact of this sent Squirtle spinning into the air before landing on the field with a thump and clearly unable to battle.

Moments before a soggy Dugtrio surfaced just to wilt in defeat.

Both he and Giovanni returned their Pokémon. Giovanni did so without a word.

"Good job buddy, you did an excellent job."

He did the exact opposite.

…

The battle had barely begun, and Anabel was unsure whether she should feel excited, or worried.

On the one hand, it was impressive for Ash's Squirtle to defeat that Rhydon, and despite the obvious handicap on being unevolved and tired he still managed to take the Dugtrio down with him. On the other hand... she could see this Gym Leader wasn't pulling any punches, and he most likely was saving his best cards for the finale.

"Wow, that was tight," Misty commented. "Good thing you gave Ash that earth-sense training, Iris."

"I did not expect him to use it this way, but I am glad he found it useful." Iris nodded in approval. "Although your training with Squirtle helped too, he might have not lasted that long otherwise."

Misty couldn't help but smile with a little bit of pride. Anabel couldn't blame her; they had all done their best to help Ash and his Pokémon grow stronger in any way they could, and seeing him put what they gave him to good use always filled them with satisfaction.

"I see the rumors about the Viridian Gym Leader are true," Misty said as she focused back on the battlefield. "If he's really this tough, no wonder he only takes challenges from worthy opponents."

"Is that so?" Iris asked. "Then why is it he did not seem to want Ash's?"

Both Misty and Anabel glanced at Iris. "Now you mention it, that's weird alright. Unlike my sisters, this guy would hardly be desperate for a victory."

Anabel didn't add any comment of her own, but she agreed. Ash had more than enough credentials to be considered a 'worthy' opponent, but it was clear the Gym Leader wanted to be elsewhere, and thus he was trying to end the battle as soon as possible.

Which could explain why he had Dugtrio spam Fissure the way he did, and why he took the chances with Rhydon's Horn Drill previously.

There was something else, though, she could sense a sinister aura emanating from the man. It was different from Sabrina's, but there was something similar.

'As if he knows who Ash is, and has some interest in him...'

She was tempted to peek into his mind, while at the same time she feared what she could find inside. Somehow, she felt she wouldn't like what she'd find there.

…

"I choose you!"

The next set of Pokéballs flew out, bursting open to reveal the choices of Pokémon on each of their sides.

On his side was Kingler, who snapped his pincers in anticipation.

The other was a Pokémon he knew, but hadn't seen since his return in time.

Hence the Pokédex had a comment.

"Marowak, the Bone Keeper Pokémon and the evolution of Cubone. Marowak use their bone weapons to strike down their enemies with almost human-like ferocity. In Alola, they come in a different form evolved to better combat their jungle originating predators."

Mention of an Alolan form for the bone-using Pokémon made Ash imagine a Marowak with a bone that was on fire, and Ash had to admit the image was cool.

Hopefully he'd get to see one, but in the meantime he had another sort of Marowak to defeat.

Part of himself wished he had brought Farfetch'd for this, as he was aware that the Pokémon did want to fight a Marowak. However he couldn't find him, so that would be another day.

Otoshi's day perhaps, they were due for a League battle.

"Kingler, Bubblebeam!"

As it was not the League yet Kingler began with claw originating bubble barrage the bubbles shooting towards the Marowak.

Said Marowak promptly spun the bone, the bone shattering the bubbles on impact and before they could strike it and do damage.

"Double Edge!"

Giovanni's command was then followed up by Marowak charging forward, a yellow glow on the skull mask upon its head.

"Marowak can possess the abilities Rock Head and Lightning Rod in most situations. This may be a hint that this Marowak has the former, which allows it to shrug off recoil damage moves."

He knew what Rock Head did, and Lightning Rod for that matter. He also had an idea on how to handle this.

"Block it and then strike back with Crabhammer!"

Kingler gargled in acknowledgement as Marowak drew in closer, one massive claw glowing brightly as it swung right into Marowak's head.

The strike met the charging Marowak evenly, the two attacks equal in strength as Kingler's other limb glowed and struck into Marowak from the side.

The blow sent the Bone Keeper Pokémon tumbling along the ground, though the Marowak got back up from the blow to the side without any sign of debilitating damage.

Ash did notice something though, the bone of the Marowak. It seemed thicker than usual. Was it a different type of bone than what a Marowak usually had?

Of course bone questions were for if he ever decided to find out what his leg bones were called, and that day wasn't today.

"Bone Club!"

"Crabhammer!"

Both attacks were swung at the other, and Ash was prepared for a similar outcome to the clash of Double Edge and Crabhammer.

What he wasn't expecting was for the Bone Club to truly win out over Crabhammer, swinging Kingler's arm widely to the side.

"Koo!?" 'Wha?'

Kingler was similarly surprised to what just happened.

"Double Edge!"

Marowak then lunged right into Kingler, striking right in the center of Kingler's body and sending him crashing back.

Kingler's legs dug into the ground, slowing him down and allowing him to regain control of his body.

There was now space between the two again, returning the two into ranged combat once more. When a Marowak or Cubone were going to fight ranged, there was only one possible move.

"Bonemerang!"

Throwing their bone, though after Bone Club Ash wasn't interested in seeing what that attack did at a range. Something was off about the bone, and he was going to stop it.

"Use Mud Shot and protect yourself!"

Kingler did as ordered, and fired a stream of mud shot out of his claws. Kingler swung his arms upward, creating a ribbony wall of mud in front of it, like how a hose might create the same effect when spraying and swinging.

The mud ribbon slowed the bone down, and the weighted down bone clattered to the ground harmlessly in front of Kingler.

"Mar!?"

The Marowak seemed stunned at the loss of the bone, and Ash knew what moment this was.

Time for the finishing blow.

"Alright Kingler, let's end this with Bubblebeam!"

No need to get Kingler into range where Marowak could counter with Double Edge.

As Kingler began to fire bubbles towards the weaponless Marowak, Giovanni was silent. Perhaps, like Paul, he had accepted the loss here and would stop giving Marowak commands.

"Screech."

That simple word however, proved that thought wrong. Marowak did have an additional attack on hand, and it was a wailing shriek of agony.

The sound popped the bubbles, and crashed into Kingler with paralyzing force.

Clutching his own ears Ash couldn't really hear either, and didn't catch what Giovanni ordered next, but regardless Marowak charged forward, still screeching into Kingler as it grabbed the fallen bone and struck Kingler.

The blow flipped Kingler into the air, before crashing down headfirst into the field.

Kingler was defeated, and the battle was now tied two to two.

"You did great Kingler, take a good rest."

Returning Kingler, Ash looked at the still standing Marowak with a thoughtful look.

Something about it was off.

"The Marowak's club is a rare variety of bone known as a Thick Club. Marowak that possess a Thick Club are considerably more powerful in their bone based strikes. The use of Thick Clubs is completely legal."

The Pokédex prompt explanation was followed up by Giovanni, who had a little snark of his own.

"But of course. I would never dream of violating the rules."

So said the criminal mastermind who was only not being called that because 'future knowledge' was not admissible in court of law, and Ash had no idea how to nudge the Pokédex to go hack his stuff.

Normally the Pokédex just did that on its own.

Reaching for the Park Ball, Ash put Giovanni's crimes out of his mind for a moment to focus on the battle.

"I choose you, Yanma!"

The speedy Bug-type was the third Pokémon out, and as he sped around the field Marowak narrowed its eyes.

Perhaps considering how to hit it with Bonemerang. Sure, it was generally agreed upon that trying to hit a bird with Earthquake was a bad idea, but a thrown bone was a bit different.

"Bonemerang!"

To prove the point Marowak flung the spinning bone towards Yanma, and there was no reason to try and disprove the hypothesis.

"Detect!"

Yanma's eyes flashed blue as he avoided the bone, both as it came towards Yanma, and flung back towards Marowak.

Yanma flew in the trail of the returning bone, right towards Marowak. Marowak held out its bone-wielding hand, with the other one curled into a fist.

"Thunder Punch."

Said fist then sparked and began glowing with intense electricity. The intent was clear.

Marowak was aiming to catch the bone, then strike Yanma with the punch for super-effective damage.

A clever idea, but Ash had his own clever ideas.

"Aerial Ace!"

Yanma flashed green from Speed Boost, before vanishing in the wake of the bone.

Marowak retrieved its bone and stared at the blank space Yanma once held in confusion, before Yanma sped right into Marowak from behind.

The blow sent Marowak flying, and Marowak didn't stop flying until Yanma came right up behind it and snagged its torso with all of his limbs.

Yanma then flew into the air before sharply looping downwards. Much like a Seismic Toss.

"Error. Yanma cannot learn Seismic Toss."

"Well if it can't, then I can't believe that it's not Seismic Toss. Alright Yanma, go!"

Yanma flashed green the moment Giovanni started to call for Screech, and moments later Marowak was slammed into the ground, sending up a plume of dust.

Moments later Yanma flew out of the dust cloud, none the worse for wear.

Marowak was only visible when the dust cloud faded away, revealing that Giovanni was now down three Pokémon.

"Way to go Yanma!"

Yanma buzzed in appreciation for the compliment as Giovanni returned Marowak.

Giovanni then flung down the next Pokéball, which Ash noticed was actually a Heavy Ball.

That meant that whatever Pokémon was next was going to very large…

"Grahhhh!"

And Steelix fit the bill, the massive Pokémon staring down at both him and Yanma.

He noticed that Yanma had a bit less enthusiasm for this fight than normal. Completely understandable, given the size difference.

"Steelix, the Iron Snake Pokémon and the evolution of Onix. This Pokémon metallized after long periods underground consuming minerals and being exposed to intense pressures. A martial artist once tried to train himself by punching his Steelix. He never was able to use his hands again."

Good to know? Regardless of what the random facts and trivia said, he did know one thing.

This was not the best fight for Yanma. He also knew there was no rule against substitutions.

"Yanma, ret…"

"Use Block!"

Steelix roared loudly before shooting a red light from its eyes. The red light struck Yanma before the Pokéball beam could, which bounced off the bug-type without any effect.

"Block, a move akin to Mean Look. Yanma cannot be returned until Steelix leaves the field."

"Iron Tail!"

Roaring, the Steelix kept up the pressure by swinging its tail up towards the still unenthusiastic Yanma.

"Dodge!"

He probably should have shouted Detect instead, but Yanma still flickered out of the way of the attack safely.

"Now Feint Attack!"

He thought he heard something about that not having issue with Steel-type Pokémon, and it was the best hope they had.

Yanma avoided a lunge from Steelix and performed the attack, striking right into Steelix.

The attack didn't phase Steelix, who roared in defiance, and likely an equivalent of 'puny attacks do nothing to The Steelix!'

He assumed that in this case 'The Steelix' would be what it would call itself.

"Stone Edge!"

"Detect!"

This time he said what he probably should have said, and the barrage of stones that flew towards Yanma was avoided by more than just Yanma's speed.

With blue eyes Yanma was able to avoid each and every projectile, before beginning to circle around the large and imposing Steelix.

The Steelix stared into Yanma, growling.

Still, this battle wasn't going to go anywhere, and there didn't seem to be any moves. Steelix's hide was too tough for Yanma to damage in any manner that wouldn't require him to stop the battle to shave, and Yanma would eventually tire and be easy prey for the steel behemoth.

Did he have any options but retiring Yanma? The only way he could see to damage Steelix was to attack it from inside, and unless he had Yanma enter Steelix's mouth he didn't see how that could work.

A solution came to Ash like a band snapped against his head.

"Yanma, land right on Steelix's head!"

"Ya?"

Yanma was confused, but none the less Yanma sped towards Steelix, who glared at the approaching Yanma and lunged forward with fangs flickering with flames.

Yanma avoided the Fire Fang and landed on Steelix's head as instructed, wings fluttering in anticipation.

"Now vibrate! Strike Steelix with all your wing power and shake it up!"

Yanma began rapidly fluttering his wings, the sonic wave striking right into Steelix's head and shaking the entire Pokémon like a maxed out stereo.

Steelix roared, much like an old man might in pain at loud rock music. The entire body of Steelix was vibrating from the intensity of Yanma's wing power.

Just like his teeth, but Ash's teeth were only getting a light take of the force. Steelix was getting the full blow of it.

"Grahhh!"

Steelix wasn't liking it much, especially as Yanma remained perched on Steelix's head regardless all of Steelix's attempts to shake it off.

Stone Edges fired and only struck the ceiling, futile attempts to bite the air around Yanma with Fire Fang, Steelix struggled for minutes against the constant sonic assault.

He could just hear Giovanni's annoyed breath at the turn of events over said result, before he eventually sighed and stated his order.

"Explosion."

Steelix's eyes went wide, before glowing bright yellow. Before Yanma could try and get away, Steelix lit up the battlefield in a bright light.

…

It was without thinking that Misty caught the prone form that was flung their way from the desperation attack performed by Steelix.

It was probably the only reason she'd touch a Bug Pokémon like she was when she intercepted the slightly crispy Yanma.

The twitchy, still alive, but sort of smelling like a barbeque Yanma.

Her arms stiffened, feeling almost numb in trying to avoid recognizing what exactly she was holding. Her eyes almost felt like they were rolling back into her head, her throat dried up like a desert, and her stomach lay as still as a calm lake.

Her mind avoiding any recognition of what was going on, lest she fall into hysterics.

"Oh, thanks for catching Yanma Misty. We both appreciate it. Now Yanma, take a good rest. You really earned it."

Ash, as far as she could tell in her pre-freak out state had walked over and returned Yanma, overwhelming the part of her that was making her forget what exactly had just been in her arms.

"Bugs!"

Before she could fully let out every horrible feeling she felt from being in such contact with one of the things a pair of large, comforting hands rested on her shoulders.

From them seemed to spread a warmth across her body that made everything seem less horrible and buggy.

"Misty."

Things were clearer, and she found herself staring into Ash's warm brown eyes.

"Yanma's not going to hurt you. None of my Pokémon, regardless of what type they are, are ever going to hurt you."

That was true, wasn't it? A rational corner of her mind knew that Ash didn't have any of the really bad Bug-type Pokémon.

None that stung or sliced or drained body fluids, she shivered as she listed off everything wrong with them in her mind.

Despite the comforting hand, she felt a wave of shame come over her. This fear of Bug Pokémon, it was really pathetic, wasn't it?

It couldn't be a trait that anyone, even Ash, found likeable. Ash could be doing anything else right now in a Gym battle other than trying to make her stop feeling unclean from touching a Bug-Pokémon.

From the corner of her eyes she noticed Iris looking at her thoughtfully, as if considering ideas for helping her get over it.

Thankfully before she got too far Anabel made sure she sent a look, and probably more than that mentally, at her that read 'no' quite clearly, even as Pikachu chirped something at her to similar effect.

She knew that if Iris did that she'd have meant well, but she could think of a hundred different things she'd rather do than, say, be made to stand still covered in only honey while bug types swarmed all over her.

That included, if she had to be honest, looking up her sisters and trying to talk to them, and going up to Ash's mother and bluntly saying 'I like your son, help me'.

"Are you done being histrionic so this battle can avoid further delays?"

There was something she appreciated in how everyone, not just Ash, turned to glare at the Gym Leader for the remark, even if she was pretty sure Iris had no idea what histrionic meant.

As Ash's hands left her shoulders and he returned to where the battle was, likely to see the leader eat his remark, Misty wondered if there was something she should have done as he left.

"You've got this Ash," which she had declared, just didn't seem to be enough.

Perhaps something more personal than such a simple statement, or even something non-verbal.

Would a kiss to the cheek or something, as she probably would be more up for touching Yanma again than going for the lips, have been the best motivator she could have done, or just distracted Ash?

Perhaps it was best to just let Ash focus on the battle, as that was something he knew how to do.

When it came to their own personal feelings, she was pretty sure the closest of them to having a clue was Iris, and that was a scary thought.

…

"The girl's fear of Bug Pokémon is irrational."

He felt some of his irritation shift from the crime boss who insulted Misty, to the machine in his pocket that did, and he was fully aware that Misty's fear of bug-types wasn't exactly as easy to explain as Brock's own issues.

He was pretty sure that he could play psychologist, say that Brock was driven by his family issues to flirt with everything, and not be wrong.

"Not everything needs to be rational."

"The human flaw of irrationality will get in the way of her interests. Tell me what will happen when her quest leads her to a Golisopod?"

As he had once thought, that would lead to a lot of screaming. But Misty liked terrifying Gyarados and Tentacruel well enough, so maybe it could win through in the end.

Unless Golisopod, or whatever Pokémon it evolved from, did one of the buggy things that even he could see Misty's fear on the subject, like fluid draining, of course. Then Misty's ability to find Gyarados charming would not win out in the end.

But that was later, and now was now, and Giovanni had just sent out a Nidoking as his fifth Pokémon.

One that had an item holder on with a purple thing in the center.

Ash had no idea what it was, but it was probably not 'Nidokinite' or something.

"Tauros, I choose you!"

Regardless of the item, his fourth Pokémon landed on the field with a snort and a foot stomp. The charge was ready to begin, and Nidoking tensed in anticipation of it.

"Fissure!"

Ash had to admit, that was probably a case of him being a bit petty, but after the Dugtrio he felt he earned the right.

Tauros reared up, hooves glowing brightly with the attack ready to strike with all the force Fissure could muster.

"Confusion."

Ash was sure he had misheard what Giovanni had just declared, but the purple orb on Nidoking's holder flashed as Nidoking extended his arm.

Tauros was then surrounded by a blue aura and frozen in place, the attack halted.

"Broo?" 'Nidoking can use Psychic attacks?'

It was news to him too.

The blue aura around Tauros flared up, before seeming imploding. The strike sent Tauros to the ground, but he got back up before he could be flung around the room like many would use such attacks.

"Double Edge!"

Tauros, shimmering yellow, charged towards Nidoking.

"Confusion."

"Swerve!"

Swerve unlike Confusion was not an attack, but it was a simple idea really. Tauros, the moment Nidoking looked ready to grab it with Confusion, skidded to the side.

A blue have hung where Tauros had originally been, and Tauros was able to continue to charge unperturbed.

Nidoking slammed his tail into the ground before winding up for a punch.

"Ice Punch."

Said punch came with a frosted finish, and the two moves clashed with both Pokémon holding against each other.

Again a flash of light from Nidoking's holder.

There was something else Ash noticed as the two moves clashed, the Ice Punch didn't seem to be spreading ice from contact.

That seemed odd for an Ice Punch.

"Strike with Poison Jab!"

Giovanni's order was followed by a flash of purple on Nidoking's other arm. A second strike with a second limb, where Tauros could not hit back with a single head.

"Double Team!"

Though if one was going by a different definition of head, a single one was all that was needed. Tauros flickered for a moment before vanishing, sending both fists of Nidoking clashing into each other in a somewhat silly manner as a ring of Tauros formed around the great behemoth.

Tauros snorted in anticipation, mirrored a dozen times by the ring of dupes in such unison only the Pokédex could pick up the lag.

"Fissure!"

Tauros stamped into the ground, streaks of white shooting towards the surrounded Nidoking. Nidoking tensed, unsure of what to do and how to avoid the strike.

"Bulldoze!"

The result that Giovanni offered, and Nidoking provided with a harsh stamp to the ground, was a wave of energy and disrupted earth blocked the Fissure attack.

It then surged into Tauros, and sent the lead of the herd flying.

"Tauros!"

What was going on wasn't good. Tauros did not really do 'fighting in the air' like some Pokémon of his could. If Nidoking had a ranged attack to fire, it would be bad.

Ash hoped that Confusion would be brought out, because at least …

"Focus Blast!"

His hopes were crushed as a fifth move was thrown at Tauros, a blue sphere flung much like a curveball.

It struck Tauros, and as Tauros crashed into the ground he could almost hear the words in his mind.

"Strike, you're out!"

He returned Tauros, conceding the battle having been tied up with two Pokémon remaining.

"The purple orb and the ability of Nidoking are causing you problems."

At the Pokédex's comments Ash's gaze rested on said purple object.

"Nidoking's abilities are Poison Point and Rivalry, aren't they? They were on the test."

It certainly didn't have Swift Swim as an ability, though he did admit to wondering about Sand Veil and Poison Touch as a possible answer. Though it had turned out that he had gotten the question right by answering B, not A.

"Those are the most common abilities yes. However there are less common ability varieties that aren't as easy to find, and thus the old man would not put it on a test. Serperior's own ability would be like that. Nidoking's ability in that regard is Sheer Force, an ability that powers up moves with the potential for additional effects at the cost of removing them."

So that was why Ice Punch didn't seem able to freeze Tauros.

"Okay, so what is the purple thing?"

"A Life Orb. Life Orbs are items that can boost a Pokémon's power at the cost of a chunk of stamina. They are controversial in some circles, but Sheer Force can negate the effects of Life Orb when they stack on a move affected by the ability. To use Nidoking as an example the Life Orb would damage Nidoking if used on a Double Kick attack, but Confusion is powered up twice with no negative side effects."

On top of that Nidoking could have even more moves up its sleeve. He'd have to be ready for anything. Fortunately, he had an idea of which Pokémon to rely on

It wasn't quite where he'd want it to make a debut, but it would have to do.

"I choose you!"

A second Safari Ball flew up and exploded, revealing the Exeggutor who he had done some battle training with.

The walking tree stomped threateningly at Nidoking, who stared back without fear.

"Confusion!"

Nidoking's hand shot wide open, ready to grab Exeggutor.

"Teleport!"

Exeggutor flickered away, a blue haze grabbing at the space once occupied as Confusion missed. Behind Nidoking appeared Exeggutor, a blue glow in all of his heads.

"Show him your Confusion!"

"Ex!"

Nidoking glowed blue and floated upward, squirming before Exeggutor began spinning Nidoking around like a pinwheel.

It was damaging, and likely to render Nidoking quite nauseous when it was all done. A super effective attack if there ever was one.

It still wasn't quite how he preferred to battle, but the Exeggutor had not been interested in dropping the move so he'd make do with it.

"Sludge Wave!"

As a purple veil surrounded Nidoking he called for Exeggutor to teleport. Exeggutor did so, teleporting back over to him.

However Nidoking still spun on for a few minutes after Exeggutor let off on the move, and while the dizzy purple Pokémon eventually did stop, the Sludge Wave flew off as Nidoking was spinning.

The spinning also turned Sludge Wave into a scattershot of purple sludge bullets.

"Exeggutor use AGH!"

Ash had to stop giving an order because of one of said bullets nearly hit him, and he had to roll out of the way as the poison splotched down where he was standing. Two of the sludge bullets struck Exeggutor, sending the tree stumbling back.

A hiss from Persian suggested that the sludge got too close.

Nidoking was now wobbling, dizzy from all of the spinning. It was the time to strike.

"Sludge Bomb!"

Exeggutor stomped down and fired a bolt of sludge from atop itself. It struck into Nidoking, even if not the best move choice it still damaged the dizzy beast.

It would've probably be a good time to finish off Nidoking with a big attack, but that would require a Z-Move, and Exeggutor was the last Pokémon he had on him who could use one theoretically, seeing as he couldn't see it working with Attract.

He had three options, but he hadn't managed to get it to work with Exeggutor the couple of times he had tried. True, he hadn't tried in a week, but it seemed a bad time to see if that week had made a difference.

Plus he probably shouldn't flash the ace in the hole in front of the criminal mastermind, seeing as it was entirely possible Jessie, James, and Meowth hadn't mentioned stalking him during his use of them yet, and he'd like to hold onto the hope they hadn't said anything about it.

He probably shouldn't try and make a new crystal either, while he was thinking of it.

In all honesty if he was going to use a Z-move in this battle, he probably should have used the Normal Z-move with Tauros earlier. Of course, it was no use crying over what ifs.

"Bulldoze!"

Still wobbly, Nidoking moved to slam a fist into the ground and trigger the ground-type attack.

"Grass Knot!"

Exeggutor stomped in response, which resulted in a binding pair of grass blades to rise up and snare Nidoking's arm, stopping it from finishing the attack.

Nidoking pulled against the grass, trying to yank the arm free.

"Sludge Bomb!"

The moment that the arm was freed a sludge blast struck him in the face, and the king stumbled backwards, nearly tripping before a tail slam got him stable again.

As Nidoking stood firmly again, Ash had to make an observation.

Nidoking had used six moves so far, something that only Charizard had managed on his end. As things tended to go, he could only assume that the final Pokémon Giovanni would use would be the same.

One reason he had kept on going after Gyms was to get an idea of what he would have to expect going forward.

If Pokémon having more moves was to be expected, it was a reminder that they still had work to do.

"Sludge Wave!"

The surge of purple gunk surged towards Exeggutor, this time no longer a dizzy scattershot.

"Confusion!"

With a blue glow the sludge was sent back towards Nidoking, who stood firm in the face of the pollution tsunami.

"Confusion!"

A second blue glow now held the purple sludge completely still, both Pokémon glaring at the other as their psychic powers clashed.

Eventually the blue auras flared up around the sludge, and an explosion of blue light and purple sludge flew all over the place.

He barely avoided being splattered, and a sound on indignant and a 'Pika!' suggested a similar near miss for his companions.

Exeggutor and Nidoking weren't so fortunate, and both found themselves struck by the attack.

…

Both of the Pokémon were down, though at the moment she was not quite thinking of the battle.

She was partially trying to not smell the poison that had crashed near them earlier, as it was an intense and unpleasant odor. The major thing though was the Gym Leader.

Something about him was off, and she could not give it a name.

Anabel had noticed it too, and it was possible that Ash had as well. This Gym Leader was hiding something.

"You know, in the event of a tie I am under no obligation to give a badge. It is the Gym Leader's choice, and if you insist on having a badge you do not need, I am not feeling generous. If you cannot defeat this final Pokémon fully and utterly, you will leave having wasted both of our times."

That something the Gym Leader was hiding being what he would rather be doing than allowing Ash to see the strength of his Pokémon and his mind at once.

What the Gym Leader was hiding was hard to say, as it could be anything and likely was not of any of their concern, though her attention was soon caught by the Pokémon he sent out to face Ash and she did not have time to really think of what that might be.

…

The confirmation that Giovanni and Maylene had absolutely no similarities, a fact that probably never did require confirming, was followed up by the appearance of a massive brown and reddish-orange Pokémon.

"Rhyperior, the Drill Pokémon and the final evolved form of Rhyhorn. Rhyperior possess incredible defensive fortitude, and are used in volcanic eruption zones to handle magma flow."

The Rhyperior stared right into Ash's soul, or at least it was how the gaze felt. It was an intensity that Ash had rarely seen, and it was a clear indication that this fight would not be an easy one.

His Great Ball in hand, Ash was ready to take the challenge.

"Serperior, I choose you!"

In a burst of light she appeared in front of him, uncoiling herself in preparation for the battle ahead. She hissed slightly as she looked over Rhyperior.

"Ser." 'I take it that you can tell that this isn't a regular Rhyperior.'

He nodded, assuring her that he had indeed picked up on that.

"As far as you've come, I'd like to think you don't think that type alone settles battle. This Rhyperior has battled far more impressive evolutions than yours."

"You do remember I beat over half of your team with two Pokémon who haven't evolved, right? I'm the last person who needs to be told evolution doesn't decide everything. Serperior, use Attract!"

The battle would begin with him being smart, and that meant incapacitating. With a wink Serperior sent a storm of hearts flying towards Rhyperior.

He remembered his studying days enough that he knew the Rhyhorn family had gender differences based on their horn sizes, and this Rhyperior's horns looked large enough to be male.

"Sandstorm!"

Rhyperior shot a storm of billowing particles out from his arms, which shattered the hearts and filled the arena with a general haze of dust.

The coarse grains of sand struck his face, though Ash had to admit it didn't feel as painful as it should have.

It did make it a bit harder to see Rhyperior clearly though, and the wincing Serperior was doing suggested that the lack of irritation and pain was more a him thing than intended.

"Zap Cannon."

"Serperior, block it with Leaf Storm, it's coming right at you!"

Serperior fired the Leaf Storm as pointed, and as the leaves billowed in the storm they seemed to blow a brief gap in the sandstorm, letting both of them see clearly.

The attack clashed, with the little yellow ball of Zap Cannon being overwhelmed by Leaf Storm. The attack slammed into Rhyperior.

The sand filled the gap in and Rhyperior returned to being obscured from full sight.

"Hammer Arm."

This time he didn't need to tell Serperior what direction the attack was coming from. Even with his shoe back on, he could feel the shaking battlefield as Rhyperior charged, and Serperior was no different.

"Leaf Blade!"

With a glowing green tail Serperior jabbed forward, right into the glowing arm of Rhyperior who had charged in from the side.

The two attacks collided, sparking as they competed against each other. As green sparks flew from Leaf Blade, Ash made two observations.

Rhyperior still had a free arm, and a free mouth and head. That could be bad if he didn't do something.

So he'd do something.

"Serperior, Leaf Storm!"

Serperior didn't do any fancy movements, but her collar glowed brightly as a storm of leaves shot out and struck Rhyperior in the face.

The massive form of Rhyperior stumbled back, tripping over itself and plopping down on the ground.

Serperior followed up on gravity's assist with a Leaf Blade stab, striking the armor of Rhyperior with another solid hit.

Rhyperior pushed himself back up after that, aided by a momentary surge of damage from Sandstorm. It was at that point that Ash, in the brief lull in sand created by Leaf Storm, noticed something.

Rhyperior didn't seem as damaged by Serperior's attacks as he had expected, even with Solid Rock. He might have missed something though.

"Serperior, use Aqua Tail to wash out the Sandstorm!"

"Block it!"

Serperior shot her tail up, glowing blue as water spewed out of it.

However a thick arm blocked the water, spattering it harmlessly against the ground and not clearing anything up for him.

"Hammer Arm!"

The other arm of Rhyperior then slammed down on Serperior, a solid hit that definitely did damage.

"Now Megahorn!"

Rhyperior's horn started glowing, and Ash wasn't interested in seeing the end result of it.

"Leaf Storm!"

Rhyperior swung his head down just in time for a barrage of leaves to blast him in the side of the head. The blow knocked him away, stumbling away in the sand as Serperior shot back up to full standing.

Again through the bit of clarity Leaf Storm brought up, Ash could see that the attacks still weren't doing what they should have, even with Solid Rock.

"Zap Cannon!"

Not that he could really get a chance to clear the air, as Rhyperior was firing off the electrical shots and requiring Serperior to weave around them to avoid damage.

"Flamethrower!"

"Block it with Aqua Tail!"

The electrical blasts were switched out for flames shooting out of Rhyperior's arm cannons, which were blocked by the water gushing out of Serperior's tail.

However, even with his sight blurred by the sand, he could see that the flames were growing more intense. Rhyperior was walking forward as he blasted the flames, clearly eager to get close to Serperior for a powerful physical attack.

Up close Rhyperior could strike Serperior with all the power the ground type could muster, while at range the sand blocked Attract and Leaf Storm, even as the latter didn't seem to be doing anything to it.

At the same time Serperior's close ranged attacks were being hampered by Solid Rock. There had to be a way around it.

After a moment of watching the flames slowly grow closer to Serperior, an idea came to him.

"Serperior, break off to the side and use Aqua Tail to wash the sand away!"

Serperior, he could tell, wasn't entire sure why he had her repeat something that was blocked the first time. However she didn't hesitate to do so, and slid out of the direct line of fire.

The fire spewed harmlessly into the sand as Serperior aimed her tail upwards.

"Block it once more, then Megahorn, and don't let Leaf Storm throw you off again!"

Again a solid arm jabbed over Serperior's tail, taking the water without a care as a horn flared in the blur.

Just close enough where Ash was sure it couldn't be blocked by the sand when he repeated the move.

"Stop Rhyperior with Attract!"

He could hear Giovanni's gasp of surprise at this, even as Serperior winked and sent a barrage of hearts.

The sand barraged at them, but they hit Rhyperior head on before they could be destroyed.

The horn glow vanished, and Rhyperior seemed to be woozily wobbling.

"Snap out of your delusions!"

Giovanni's command was in vain.

"Wash the sand away!"

Third time was the charm as Serperior shot Aqua Tail into the air, the water hosing the entire field in a light spray.

The sand vanished, clumping to the ground and clearing the field for everyone.

Neither Pokémon reacted to now being damp, but it was probably a question of if Rhyperior even noticed it.

"Now Leaf Storm, one more time!"

Serperior glowed bright green, even as Rhyperior made a giggling sound that Ash hoped he never would make around anyone.

He couldn't imagine it being appealing, and it sounded more like what he'd have thought the hot spring peepers would have been making if left alone.

The laughing remained even as Rhyperior was blasted with leaves, sending the massive Pokémon flying.

Rhyperior was blasted past him, the wind of it blowing his hat off, and crashed into the Viridian Gym's walls.

Rhyperior was no longer giggling, but the way Rhyperior did look showed it wasn't because the Leaf Storm convinced him that Serperior wasn't his type.

"We won?"

He asked the question quietly, in case Rhyperior did stir. A half minute later, his face shot into a grin.

"We won!"

Forgetting his hat he dashed to Serperior and hugged her around her neck, and she tensed at the hug for a moment before he felt her relax in the show of affection.

"Ser." 'Yes my idiot, we did.'

Moments later he was joined in the celebratory hug by a weight on his shoulder, which would be Pikachu, before he felt a body press into his back.

"You won!"

Misty repeated his statement, her arms wrapped around his back. The feeling was quite nice.

Very nice.

Anabel was next into him, coming in at his side. He noticed that she seemed a bit surprised at her entry into the group hug, as if pushed, but quickly smiled and got into it just as much as the rest of them.

He briefly glanced Iris behind him, with an approving look and a stance that made him wonder if she had pushed Anabel into it. Moments later she quickly plucked something out of the air, thrown from Giovanni's seat.

An Earth Badge.

Ash briefly saw Giovanni, standing up and looking at him for a moment. He didn't walk away immediately, and Ash felt like it was for a deliberate reason.

He didn't leave until Iris joined in the group embrace, popping in on the opposite side of Anabel instead of pushing through between her and Misty.

He'd wonder the exact reason why later, but for right now he was enjoying the hug a bit too much to try and piece it together.

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

Back home

There was something impressive about a Gym badge collection.

No matter how many times you stared at one badge, or two, or even remembered that one badge was all you needed, a full set of badges just made you grin.

He wasn't entirely sure his mom had to go through all of the trouble of moving the badges into a frame though, or why she was so insistent on keeping it in her lap as they talked at Oak's lab.

"You can't lose them if I have them on our wall until you go to the League, honey. Plus Mr. Framer had to pay off his tab and offered to do this for me."

The only argument he'd have against that statement is that he had not suffered from badge theft in this timeline yet.

"You know, I was always proud of you dear, but this is just the icing on the cake. No matter what happens at the League, you'll always be amazing, dear."

Ash blushed, not sure how to respond to that.

"Of course, that's in a while. The League will be in two and half months, give or take a few days. Though I do reiterate your mother's statements."

That long?

Wasn't it two months the last time? Sure, dates escaped him, but did he really shave half a month off his previous time?

Sure he did avoid a few things, no giant robots or ghost girls or freezing. No Santa Claus either, but that might have just been a really strange dream.

Even as he avoided some things, he also got into new troubles. Shouldn't that have cancelled a few things out, or even taken up more time.

"Pik?" 'Anabel did teleport us out of a few times of being lost. Of course by a few I mean quite a lot of times we got lost the firsts time. '

Yeah, but they couldn't have been so lost that Anabel teleporting them back on track could shave that much time off, right?

They only got lost that one time, in the apple forest. Then that time in the pear forest, and the orange forest, and the great plains, and the lesser plains, and the moderate plains, and the jungle, and the other jungle, and the coast, and the rocky coast.

No that didn't count, he didn't have Pidgeotto then. Or did he?

Getting lost wasn't exactly a rare occurrence, if he had to be honest.

"Oh, that means we get to have even more parties. Those are fun!"

His mother's enthusiasm was met by a phantom pain in his shoulder joints, as if two people were yanking on them.

"Maybe right before the League, I don't think I could put up with another party."

Misty's comment led to Professor Oak chuckling a bit.

"Neither could I, truth be told. I'm still hearing kazoos in my sleep. Still, you will need to find something to do in the next little while before we get back to the party question."

Ash agreed, and the first answer to that question was training. Of course, there was a problem with first answers, and that they tended to miss a few things.

Among them was the fact that he had already been doing a lot of training, and that breathing in between training was also important.

It was also inconsiderate to always assume that what he wanted to do was everyone's first pick either. They had given him permission sure, and he was sure they wouldn't blame or berate him for wanting to do more of it.

Iris certainly wouldn't, even if she'd train him just as much as he trained his Pokémon.

However just because there would be no problem did not mean he should go in without asking first.

"I've gotten plenty of training done already, and there is plenty of time to get more done before the League. What do you three want to do?"

Attention was now on Misty, Iris, and Anabel.

Anabel scratched her head in a show of uncertainty.

Iris shrugged, not really having an idea. In his experience, that meant she didn't see any change from how things usually went.

She'd continue to train him in a state that really would have been less distracting before either of them went through puberty. Probably.

The only other thing he could see her wanting to do was finding Hunter J, and unless someone took a photo of J on vacation in Pummelo that trail was a cold one that Iris kept in the back of her mind.

"Think we could make a trip back to the beach?"

Misty's suggestion was followed by approving nods from Anabel, Iris, and himself.

That was a fine idea. She could see if there were any Pokémon for her to get to keep up her goal, they'd all have fun, and he'd get to see them all in swimsuits again.

There was no downside, even if it was still somewhat weird to admit to himself he liked the latter as much as he did.

"Splendid idea!"

Professor Oak's approval was followed by his mom giving her own approval, but in a more subdued way.

Was she worried about him being alone with three attractive girls in swimsuits?

Sure, given the fact that he now did think about swimsuits a bit more, it was probably a bit more relevant a concern than it used to be. However Ash couldn't see it going into anything that moms had anything to worry about.

Unless he missed something between the punk with the Donphan and being at the harbor, which given he couldn't recall anything nothing interesting must have happened, nothing bad happened before the League that involved the coastline.

Bar happening to find a Pokémopolitan sand bucket, nothing could possibly go wrong.

…

Anabel had to admit that she was surprised by how much attention her blog had gotten so far, even with the Pokédex's efforts to give it visibility. Sure, it wasn't all positive attention, what with at least twelve different messages telling her to kill herself, others that she was a monster, more than a few attempts at doxxing, and a message from the 'Pokémon Mystery Club' about what was the connection between Bloodliners and extraterrestrial Pokémon. But thankfully, there were also just as many people that were supportive of her attempt at activism, and actually interested to know more about Bloodliners. Certainly enough to convince her that little idea could actually go somewhere.

And if it could go somewhere, that meant she needed to write another post now, to keep the momentum of the blog going and people interested. And the question was now which of the hundreds of questions to answer. Sure, it was easy to parse out the ones asking her to die or to buy someone's car, but even beyond those, the wealth of topics to cover was more than a little overwhelming.

At least, until her eyes fell on one question in particular as she did a pre-beach trip check.

Why would a Bloodliner like you even want to get along with normal people? Aren't you better than all of them?

Seeing that question gave Anabel pause. She had a lot of time to ponder such a question herself, and the answer had always felt simple to her. She smiled, deciding to take a stab at it, and slowly began to type.

You know, this is an interesting question. A lot of people would think that, due to how Bloodliners have powers, they would rather not get mixed up with regular humans. That they would just want to do bad things, pretty much, or rule over humans, or generally outside of their laws, thinking we're different than them. I've met Bloodliners with this exact same mindset, too. However, I disagree.

It's obvious that some people would be afraid of what's different, to be hated for what they are not considered to be on the same levels as other people. To be jailed, killed, maybe even tortured just because of who you are. It's also obvious that someone afraid to be hated for said power would embrace it to prove themselves superior, unable to be hurt. It's a tragic conclusion to reach, but one I can to a degree understand.

As for me, I think this is just a way to enforce differences, to further the divide, rather than trying to solve anything. Humans and Bloodliners both made mistakes that all brought us here, I think, but if we keep talking about the past, when will we actually move towards any future?

There are lots of stories, after all, of heroes of ancient past that would've been called Bloodliners today. Like the Aura Guardians of Rota, with Sir Aaron among them, and even rumored ones like the ancestor of Crimson City's Fisher clan, Utsubotto Fisher. People whose moral fiber and skills were considered unquestionable, and no one tried to claim otherwise. They were valued for what kind of person they were, rather than what they could do.

Maybe it's because I was raised by a very good uncle, but I feel there's no need to push for the differences, when we can instead look at what brings us together. We are all on this same world together, so why should we not try to live in harmony and peace?

Even if we're hurt, even if we're sad, even if we're afraid. Together, we can find a way to overcome any adversity. No man's an island, as they say, and trying to rise above the rest or refusing to live alongside others is just the recipe for even more sadness and despair. And don't we have enough as it is, even without our divides?

So, to answer your question, I want to live, meet others, know more than I already do. Because I'm not better than anyone else, and my Bloodline doesn't make me so. I just want to love, and be loved in equal amounts.

And this is something I hope we'll all be able to do, together, one day.

I hope this answer will satisfy you, and if there are any others you want to share, I'll always be happy to answer them.

With love, your Salon Maiden.

And with a smile, she pressed the 'Send' option, a sense of pride swelling inside her.

Maybe it was different than how she imagined it when she started traveling, but she definitely felt like her voice would be heard now. And that was enough to put a smile on her face.

…

There was nothing wrong with that. Really, Ash just wanted to enjoy a beach day or two with his friends. There was nothing to worry about.

Then why couldn't she get that thought off her mind? Maybe because she understood the implications. Going to the beach meant the sea. The sea meant going swimming. Going swimming meant... her son and his friends wearing swimsuits.

Unless they were in Kalos, but that was a topic she didn't want to touch.

The fact that her son had accepted Misty's proposal to go to the beach so eagerly didn't escape Delia. She was currently in front of Ash's room door, and she overheard some rustling noises inside. Perhaps he was packing his stuff, since Anabel would take them there and back, they didn't have to worry about ferry tickets, and he was taking just what he'd need to have fun for one day.

"Say, Pikachu, which one do you think they'd like? Red or blue?" She overheard him ask.

After hearing Pikachu's reply, sadly untranslated for her, she couldn't help but giggle. 'You could have asked me about it.'

Since he returned, after that hug she could tell how much her baby had grown. His Trainer achievements aside, the fact he was taller and stronger didn't escape her… neither the fact that his new friends, all of them attractive girls, would get an eyeful of him.

And at the same time, he would get an eyeful of them.

Ash clearly wasn't clueless anymore; she could tell he appreciated his friends' physical appeal. She had sometimes asked, jokingly, if he'd bring a nice girl for dinner sometime. Now he'd brought three of them, even if they were just friends.

Admittedly though, she wouldn't mind if he went a little farther with either of them. They were all nice, charming girls, each in her own different way, but she couldn't see Ash choosing one over the others. In fact, she'd never thought of asking him about his type, and the fact those three were so different, both in personality and physicality, from one another certainly didn't help narrow anything down.

Yet somehow, he seemed to be attracted to all of them to a degree.

Then there was also Serena, but Delia could not see Ash handling a long distance relationship, he liked seeing things and people face to face too much. Perhaps if they met again and Serena decided to travel with him sometime…

'What am I thinking?'

She wasn't thinking about pushing her son into a relationship, was she? True, he was in that age, but… being in the middle of so many pretty girls who actually liked him back, that would probably do nothing but confuse him and make him a mess of feelings.

So, she knocked on the door, trying to not to evidence she had been eavesdropping. "Ash?"

"Hold a sec!" He replied, and five seconds later Ash opened the door. "What's up, Mom?"

Delia struggled to avoid reflecting on the fact he was wearing a white T-shirt with a zigzag orange stripe that evidently he was dangerously close to outgrow. Instead, she gave him her brightest smile.

"Do you guys have lunch for your beach day? I can make some for all of you, if you want."

Ash's delight for tasting her homemade lunch helped the woman forget about her worries. She could only trust Ash and his friends to hold back their hormones and have fun as good friends and nothing more. They deserved a break for all their hard work.

"Say Mom, do you still have your old surfboard?"

"My surfboard?"

Oh yeah, she used that often in summer when she was younger. Speaking of, the Weather Channel had reported the coming of big waves to shore, like every twenty years. But... Ash wasn't planning on trying to ride those, right? Surely he wouldn't be that reckless.

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

Currently on the Coast, being far less reckless

"Pikachu, Thunder Punch!"

"Pika!" Reaching across his body, Pikachu covered his right wrist with its left paw and thrust his right paw down towards the ground. This caused a yellow ball of electricity to form over said right limb. Extending his arm out, the punch sliced the field apart as Pikachu ran towards the Machamp.

It was a move that they had done many times before, and in all likelihood would do many more times.

The Machamp tensed, both lower arms forming a green aura as a Protect formed up. The barrier shimmered as Pikachu drew in closer.

Now, he could've easily looked at his victory odds and follow the most logical and effective way to victory possible. However, it wasn't particularly necessary.

"Go into Feint, then finish with Thunder Punch."

Even if Pikachu hadn't learned the technique recently, Red sought to not crutch on it as much anymore.

Pikachu's tail shot forward, shimmering slightly, and struck the Protect. The barrier cracked open, as Pikachu lunged forward with a slightly diminished Thunder Punch.

He could afford to not use it against opponents like that one.

Machamp was sent flying, hitting the ground in defeat as Pikachu landed on the ground no worse for wear.

"Nooooo!"

He nodded absently at his victory, before turning around, Pikachu in tow, to the picnic blanket he had previously been resting on.

Said blanket had an open basket, and a waving Yellow.

"Well, that was fast."

He nodded at her observation, idly hearing the would-be lunch crasher scurrying off as he took a seat once again, mirrored by Pikachu.

It was a nice little gathering, a celebration of his recent victory and eighth badge.

The Pokémon he had on hand with him were already eating, Pikachu darting to his own plate to join Charizard, Persian, Sneasel, Poliwrath, Clefairy, and Haunter.

He felt a bit bad that it wasn't as personally made as the sandwiches he and Yellow were having, but he hadn't any idea how to make Pokémon food and his recent steps towards more socialization had enough bumps without unintentionally poisoning them.

Still, there was no need to dwell on what steps he still needed to work on, only what steps he had taken.

He had achieved several of his goals, found several more on the way, and even found himself as a hero once or twice.

He took his first bite of sandwich as Yellow finished her first one, and raised a question.

"So Red, do we go back to the trap or what?" (**)

He didn't raise an eyebrow at the fact she was still calling it a trap, even after they didn't get attacked or abducted.

They knew what that was like after all.

He finished his sandwich before answering, even if he likely didn't need to wait.

You weren't considered rude to shrug with your mouth full after all.

While it wasn't something that, even after braving powerful old women, freezing temperatures, and reflections of himself, he liked to admit, he wasn't sure.

There were plenty of options, and just saying 'train' wasn't quite enough. Train how being the question.

He'd think about it later, after eating all the sandwiches.

"Being back on dry land and all, there are plenty of places we could go. We could even go to Horiwood if we really wanted to."

Who would want to go there? Why would he want to go there? Why would Yellow want to go there?

He looked at her, wondering if she decided that 'the trap' wasn't a trap enough so they should go find some hoodlums to find a new trap.

She shrugged, clearly not having a reason and just throwing it out at random.

Poliwrath looked a bit disappointed at the lack of hoodlums to fight in the future, before perking up and looking into the sky.

This act had already been done by Pikachu, Charizard, and Persian, and was quickly followed by himself, Yellow, Clefairy, and Sneasel.

A shape was descending from the sky, blowing wind down as it came.

Charizard and Poliwrath quickly stood up on opposite corners of the picnic blanket, keeping it place as Yellow darted for the lightened basket.

She saved it, but several bowls of food were toppled in the process.

The shape landed in a plume of dust and Pikachu darted forward, sparking cheeks at the ready.

The sparks only slightly diminished when a Dragonite with a black bag landed ahead of them, revealing itself to be surprise visitor and disrupter of picnics.

"Broo."

The Dragonite, not seemingly to mind the wary looks all of them were giving it, reached into the bag and pulled an envelope out. Said envelope was held out his way, clearly meant to be taken by him.

"That letter doesn't have any stamps on it."

Yellow's observation was correct, but the lack of stamps was the least of Red's questions. The first was exactly who would send letters by Dragonite of all Pokémon.

He somehow doubted that was how they made same-day deliveries.

He took said letter, even as Pikachu let out a concerned hiss, and opened it. The letter opened easily, and he pulled out some sort of metal device.

Smooth and rectangular, the device center bulb glowed blue before shooting up a light and revealing a hologram of a woman on it, dressed like she was a few centuries out of fashion.

The fact that Red knew that was not a good sign for the timeliness of this hologram's appearance, and the message it had to say.

"Greetings Pokémon Trainer, I bear an invitation. You've been selected to join a select group of Pokémon Trainers at a special gathering. It will be held by my master, the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer."