How does one introduce a Legendary Pokémon to a group of trainers? Turns out, when Ash is involved, you can literally walk up to them and say, “Hey, this Legendary Pokémon is my friend.”
Bringing Diancie to the group was exactly that simple. All I had to do was exit the villa’s back doors and say literally that. It made the brief moment where I paused to stress about the exchange feel ridiculous in hindsight. I should have known Ash and everyone else were used to Legendary Pokémon at this point.
“So...” Iris said as Diancie happily floated around to wave and shake hands in greeting with all of the Pokémon here. “Diancie is a Fairy Type Pokémon, right?”
“Yup,” I said. “I met her through sheer random chance when I was in Kalos. After helping her take care of some ‘squatters’ in her home—”
“Wait, Kalos?” Ash asked, interrupting me.
“A region filled with wonderful locales and even more wonderful foods!” Cilan replied, holding his hands together while he stared off dreamily. “Croissants, crepes, ratatouille, escargot—”
“Wait, escargot?” I asked. “Like, with snails?”
Cilan blinked at me in confusion. “What do you mean?”
I shook my head. “...Nevermind.”
As we talked, Diancie continued to meet and greet the Pokémon here one-by-one, receiving a lot of respectful nods and bows in recognition of her royal position. Carbink stuck to her side all throughout it, serving as both a bodyguard and a friend, intent on protecting her from any untoward advances. I'd like to say that it went uneventfully, but Ash's Dewott went beet red when Diancie approached, and it had to turn away from her just to save face.
Carbink kept a close, careful eye on Dewott after that.
Honestly, as Diancie was friendly, and as everyone else was open to having a new friend, the Pokémon here mostly just treated her as a new companion. Not even a minute passed, and it was already like she was another member of the group. It was nice.
But then, I saw it.
While lowering herself closer to the ground to talk to Ash’s Pikachu and the much larger Dedenne, Diancie paused for a moment, and her eyes flicked up to the sky. She casually went back to greeting the other Pokémon, but I noticed how she kept glancing at nothing at all. Once everyone had been greeted, Diancie paused, and she stopped right in front of an empty spot of air.
"What's wrong, Diancie? Is everything alright?" Ash asked.
I stayed silent. If she was looking at who I thought...
"Hello!"
Her telepathic voice seemed to echo out over the area. Most of the Pokémon here were confused as there was no one in particular who Diancie was talking to.
However, she was speaking to someone, and a faint, somehow cautious, shimmer unfolded to reveal another surprise Pokémon here.
It was white, human-like, and had flowing green hair. Two bright blue eyes stared with curiosity as Diancie bowed her head in greetings. A moment’s pause, and Diancie smiled at the new Pokémon floating in front of her as she tilted back up.
"Dia, Diancie!" she said, actually communicating out loud.
The newly revealed Pokémon blinked, stilled for a second, and then it smiled as well.
"Melo, Meloetta!” it said with a flowing, melodic voice.
Everyone here froze at the sight of a second Legendary Pokémon. Ash actively gaped.
"Meloetta?" he asked in surprise.
The little Legendary Pokémon, with a height no longer than an arm, lit up when Ash acknowledged her. She rushed away from Diancie, pausing for only a moment to wave goodbye, then she finished her dash to go right up to Ash's chest and give him a big hug.
"What are you doing here? I thought you were going home,” Ash said, hugging back.
Meloetta smiled and spoke her name several times over, as Pokémon tended to do. Despite all the other humans unable to process her words, Ash nodded along as if he completely understood.
"So you told your friends you were heading out then followed me because you wanted to," he said, rubbing his chin.
Iris shared a look of exasperation with Cilan. I had no clue how Ash got any of that.
Out of all of the other Pokémon here, Dedenne was the first to approach. Moving alongside Pikachu, he scurried over to Ash, but he stopped at the teen’s feet instead of climbing up his clothes.
"De!" Dedenne squeaked. He then brought up a paw to give Meloetta a two-fingered salute.
Meloetta blinked then floated down to greet him as well. Of course, he then started to flex as if to show off his own power.
Then, a squeaking shout. Within a moment, Ash's Dewott was there, pushing Dedenne to the side. The Pokémon froze at its own action, blushing furiously, but it forgot all embarrassment as Dedenne hopped to his feet to snarl at Dewott out of anger.
It took Pikachu to hop down and break up the fight. The pair of Pokémon crossed their arms and faced away.
"That was—"
"Really dumb?" Iris offered.
For once, we were in agreement.
However, their little exchange was enough to break everyone out of their surprise.
As the Pokémon here began to talk again among themselves, sharing their surprise at the two new Pokémon, Diancie moved over to Meloetta’s side. She gracefully took up one of the Normal Type’s hands to sweep her over to the side. Rather conspiratorially, the two fell into an exchange of giggling whispers. Carbink looked perturbed as the two began to repeatedly glance Ash’s way.
"I'm surprised to see they're getting along so well," I said.
"I'm surprised Meloetta's here at all, let alone Diancie!" Cilan added.
It took only a half minute for the pair to pull back apart. A wide grin formed on Diancie’s face as she leaned down for one last whisper. Meloetta nodded along, still giggling slightly, then she paused, looked at Diancie, almost aghast, but that expression gave way for a mischievous smirk as the pair turned to both Ash and I.
"What are you two..."
In unison, both Diancie and Meloetta struck a pose, putting a hand on their hips and using their other hand to point forward. Meloetta aimed at Ash, and Diancie aimed at me. While they spoke their names, their intent was clear:
"You're challenging us to a match?" I asked.
Of course, Ash wasn’t one to turn them down.
"Alright! Let's do this! I'm always up for a Pokémon battle!"
Off to the side, Iris called Ash a kid as Ash immediately ran to move to where one of the free fields was set up behind Cynthia’s villa. Meloetta chased along, and Diancie followed. The Fairy Type Legendary paused briefly to wave me along, and I moved to follow after a sigh.
I could tell I had no choice in this matter, but a battle against a Legendary Pokémon wasn’t one I could justifiably turn down, either. However, with the threat of Team Rocket looming above us, jumping into a fight that could potentially weaken these two would be a dumb move without proper preparation.
Silent signals were passed along to my Pokémon. Ninetales subtly moved off to the side of this space to keep an eye on the surrounding forest, and Gardevoir casually walked over to the center of this area, where his telepathic senses could cover the most area to detect anyone approaching.
Dedenne tried to move to the edge of the area, too, but I held out a hand.
"Stay near the rest just in case, alright?" I whispered.
With my current team composition, I had two of my "weaker" Pokémon with me: Togetic and Eevee. I wanted to make sure they wouldn’t be threatened.
Moving to the field, for this match, Ash shouted for his Krookodile to come over, and I let out a whistle to summon Altaria from the sky. A cloud of dust puffed up from where the draconic bird almost crashed into the ground, but his wings flapped hard to let him come to a last-minute, surprisingly soft landing.
"Ready you two?!" Ash shouted excitedly as both Meloetta and Diancie positioned themselves across from us. Ash's fists were clenched in excitement while Krookodile crossed its arms to act like it didn’t care.
For most battles, asking the other side if they were ready usually didn't lead to much, but, here, Meloetta actually held up a hand to ask for a short delay. While everyone watched, she seemed to focus, and then she cleared her throat and opened her mouth.
Music. At least, a song. It started with humming, but that humming changed into a melodic tune. As she sang, the Mythical Pokémon floated to the ground, where she landed and began to change form.
Green hair turned to red, wrapping itself around her head. Her natural dress folded up into a twisted skirt to give her legs a better range of movement, perfect for kicking. Not only that, but blue eyes turned red, and what psychic levitation she had before disappeared as the notes resonated around us in a song that continued even after the transformation ended.
When it ended, though, a few Pokémon let out noises of disappointment. Meloetta, however, looked pumped, and she sent forward several rapid-fire punches and kicks into the air.
Information from a faint memory flashed in my mind.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
"Pirouette Form," I identified. Her original appearance was called her “Aria” Form.
Meloetta was a Normal Type Pokémon, but her secondary Type and her capabilities depended on what form she was in. Aria Form was part Psychic Type and carried exceedingly strong special capabilities. For this battle, she chose to take part in her Pirouette Form, becoming part Fighting Type and gaining great physical strength.
"Melo!" Meloetta shouted, telling us she was ready.
At her side, Diancie nodded to show she was ready, too.
With that, Ash grinned beside me, and he thrusted a pointed hand forward.
"Alright, let's do this!” he yelled. “Krookodile, use Stone Edge!”
The large, red crocodile on the field was the first to move. It uncrossed its arms to adjust its glasses before drawing back its claws and letting out a roar. It conjured forward a set of jagged stones that levitated in the air, and when it pushed its hands forward, the Stone Edge shot right at where Meloetta was waiting, bouncing on her feet.
The Stone Edge was clearly well practiced. Diancie, however, looked unimpressed. She watched the incoming attack without a speck of emotion on her face, and a simple thrust of a hand down caused every single stone to drop to the floor.
She huffed, smug.
"Me, me, Meloetta!"
The other Mythical Pokémon in the battle acted immediately after. In her Pirouette Form, Meloetta leaped over Diancie's head with a spin, and then she yelled her name in a resonating shout.
The Hyper Voice carried itself forward like a piece of classical music, turned up to 11. The very air itself visibly vibrated from the sheer volume of the noise. Krookodile, shocked still from the sight of Diancie negating its attack, was caught by the move and clutched its ears in pain.
Altaria didn’t move. He wasn’t even under attack. He only stared at where the battle was taking place and cocked his head to the side in a way only a bird could do.
"Want to try that yourself?" I asked as the other three Pokémon fought.
He squawked and flapped his wings in response, agreeing with me as he continued to sit on the ground. With everyone distracted, none noticed as he pulled his head back and opened his beak. This time, the Hyper Voice that came out was neither melodic or music. It was a chaotic mess of noises that shook rather than resonated, and the sound waves managed to catch both distracted Legendary Pokémon.
Despite his Hyper Voice being pure, chaotic sound, Diancie managed to resist the attack just fine thanks to her Rock Type. Meloetta, however, was much less happy about the noise.
"Meloooo!" she screamed.
From where the air was shaking under Altaria's shout, Meloetta jumped up to escape the attack's bounds. Krookodile tried to get in an easy blow with another use of Stone Edge while the Pokémon was busy moving, but Diancie showed why such an act was pointless once more with another simple flex of her hands.
Upon landing on the ground, Meloetta rushed forward into a jog, her tiny legs bringing her towards him at an incredible pace. Altaria didn’t fly, but he flapped his wings for the start of a new move. As he prepared his Hurricane, Meloetta crouched for what was likely a powerful Fighting Type attack, and I had an idea to win us this match.
"Altaria, try—”
It didn’t happen. For a moment, it was like we were in the eye of a storm. The area went perfectly still, but every tree in the forest shook, and both Altaria and Meloetta froze where they were about to unleash their attacks.
An explosion. One too far off for Gardevoir to detect before it happened. The ground shook as a shockwave pulsed through the trees, and all of our heads snapped to its origin.
A plume of smoke began to rise up in the distance.
Was that... Cynthia?
"Altaria, to the sky! Dedenne, join him! Eevee, Togetic, I need to return you two for your own safety. Everyone else, be on guard!"
Ninetales immediately stood up and began to much more intently stand on guard. Gardevoir moved from his position in the center, using Teleport to quickly bring Eevee and Togetic to me to let them be returned to their balls. As for Carbink, they immediately rushed over to protect Diancie, who lingered on the field and stared at the smoke rising into the sky.
"Alex! What's going on?" Iris shouted. I was the only one making explicit moves as it stood.
"Team Rocket. They're up to something, and we have two Legendary Pokémon here!"
Her expression hardened, and Ash looked absolutely enraged. I continued to call out commands, and many of the other Pokémon here were returned for their own safety as well.
I turned to my partner on this field, Ash.
"Ash. Meloetta. Can you—"
CRK!
Diancie shouted and pushed Carbink to the side, a complete reversal for Carbink’s intended role. Her arms jerked to the sky as giant, pink crystals burst from the ground in a conjured wall. Several loud explosions rang out on the other side of them, Cilan let out a shout as Diancie braced herself to ensure her sudden defenses remained in place.
Ninetales ran over to move to my side, ready to defend me if needed. As she did, from the other side of the wall, I heard a gruff, unfamiliar voice shout out a command.
"Bring those walls down with Earthquake, Golem!"
"Can anyone use Grassy Terrain?!" I tried to quickly reply.
It didn't matter. Whimsicott and Florges weren't here. When the ground shook, it was at full force, and many of us lost our balance and fell to the floor—me included.
"Take Meloetta and run!" I yelled at Ash.
The walls didn’t completely surround this area, leaving a small gap for someone to run through right where Ninetales had been previously standing. With Ash constantly getting up to encounters like this, he was in better shape than me, and he hadn’t fallen at all.
He was able to take this moment of delay to rush forward and scoop up the surprised Meloetta in his arms. The pair disappeared into the forest as I pointed after him, telling Ninetales to use Agility to give chase. If Team Rocket was attacking here, it was best to send Ash and Meloetta off where they couldn’t be found. Ninetales’s illusions would help with that.
"Diancie!" I called out next. "Carbink! Stall our foes! Don't let them follow!"
Cilan and Iris shouted commands at their own Pokémon as the crystal barricade fell only a second later. Three coarse, stone Golem sauntered forward with uniformed individuals marching behind them.
Dust was in the air from the three Golem’s heavy attacks, causing the approaching trainers to initially appear as only silhouettes. However, it was blindingly clear what organization this group belonged to. Only Team Rocket would so brazenly display those giant, red R's.
"Golem. Explosion,” one of the grunts ordered.
I didn't get a chance to shout.
Intent on eliminating us before anything happened, one of the Golem curled up into a ball and rolled forward with surprising speed. From between the stones that made up its body, light began to glow in a slow build up, preparing itself to use an attack that would take out everyone here.
Carbink was faster, somehow. Failing to protect Diancie earlier, they were more than prepared to throw themselves forward to stop the Golem where it was trying to roll forward. Carbink hastily put up a Reflect around the pair to cover the attack. Diancie let out a shout right when the Golem released all its built up energy, and then the other two Golem began to roll forward as well.
"We have to—!"
"CAR, CARBINK!" my Pokémon yelled.
They weren't done just yet. Two more sets of Reflect came forward, enclosing the space around both themself and the incoming Pokémon once more. They were halted in place, sealed by the conjured Reflect. Upon hitting the walls, a click, and then the area within the screens turned white.
It was simply too much, but Carbink’s plan worked. The last two Golem failed to get any closer, and the three aggressor Pokémon became nothing more than charred boulders. As for Carbink, unfortunately, even though they resisted the moves, Carbink hadn't had any time to set up their usual levels of defense. While Carbink had protected the rest of us, with attacks as powerful as Explosion, three of them had been enough to take the little Rock Type out.
The arrogant expressions on the approaching grunts faded at the sight of their failed bombardment. They started to reach towards more Pokéballs at their belts, but they never got the chance.
Altaria served as the perfect aerial delivery mechanism for Dedenne. The yellow rodent, riding on the bird’s back, jumped down and released all of his electricity. The three grunts shouted in pain and locked up from the electricity. With the lightning striking their bodies, they fell to the ground, paralyzed, and no further Pokémon were sent out.
Iris had her Axew out, and it, alongside Cilan’s Simisage, moved to collect the grunts’ Pokéballs before they could recover from Dedenne’s attack.
I pushed to my feet.
"They're after Meloetta," I called out as I moved over to where Carbink lay fainted on the ground.
Carbink lacked any serious wounds, but taking those attacks had caused serious exhaustion. Diancie drifted over after creating crystal prisons that bound the trio of Rocket Grunts to the floor, and she stared down at her fallen friend.
Silently, she ran a hand through Carbink’s fluff. They didn’t stir.
"We'll get revenge," I said to her. "I promise."
Diancie looked me in the eyes and gave me a single, firm nod. An accord was struck.
As I turned to the rest of the group, they stared at me, bewildered. To be honest, that had happened extremely fast, and my team had been far more prepared than they expected. Thankfully, no other Team Rocket grunts arrived, but with Ash hiding and my displayed confidence, both Iris and Cilan looked to me for directions.
"We should check to see if there are any other grunts nearby," I said. I did my best to pretend I wasn’t scrambling to come up with a plan.
"Are you sure we shouldn’t go find Ash? You just sent him off with Meloetta!" Iris said.
"Yeah, but I trust Ash. He’s been able to travel this long for a reason. He should be able to get away if we occupy everyone else.”
Iris rolled her eyes at my words, crossing her arms as she did. The sheer level of disbelief in her stance was impressive, and I actually shrunk back out of unsure embarrassment.
"Alex," she said slowly. "I understand your reasoning, but I think you're missing something."
I felt my throat tighten up at her words.
"...Yeah?"
"You sent Ash to escort Meloetta. Do you understand? Ash. Do you really think he’s going to be able to escape without anyone chasing him?"
I froze.
"Oh, no."
I yelled Gardevoir’s name as soon as I could, and, detecting my panic, he appeared at my side.
“To Ash,” I said as fast as I could.
Understanding the rush, he disappeared, and I only caught the briefest glimpse of both Cilan and Iris ordering their Pokémon to seek out and capture any other Team Rocket grunts before we were gone.
A flash.
An instant later, and Gardevoir and I appeared in the middle of a forest. The air was chilled as if ready for cold weather, but no snow fell from the sky. I quickly identified a battle playing out in front of us, as both Ninetales and Pikachu fought off a pair of Pokémon going after Ash in the back.
I did not see Meloetta. She was likely invisible.
"Power Gem," a completely new voice spoke.
Ash's Pikachu, one of the strongest Pokémon I knew, took a crystalline laser beam right to his face, and he was knocked back to bounce over the forest floor, landing feet away from Ash.
Ninetales let out a growl, and I glared at the Pokémon she was facing. A strong-looking but heavily injured Rhydon stood with its horn crackling with static and body covered in frost. It panted, close to fainting, and I could tell that if it was alone, Ninetales would have easily won. Unfortunately for her and us in general, right next to the burly Ground Type was a slender, tan cat confidently licking its paw. A red gem in the center of its head sparkled from the lingering energies of Power Gem, and it casually looked at where Gardevoir and I just appeared.
That same voice spoke again, and I craned my head up towards the sky.
"Guests? You'll do fine as hostages. Tell me, Meloetta, do you really want your friends to be hurt just because you refuse to comply?"
The voice was surprisingly normal. It itself didn’t carry any special volume or noise. However, the tone used with the words was that of complete confidence. The man knew for a fact he would win in the end. After all, he wasn’t one to not follow through with his threats.
"Giovanni," I said.
A middle-aged man with a permanently furrowed brow imperiously stared down at us from above. His gaze was harsh, as if he was staring down at mere ants, and he was dressed in a neatly kept suit that had an emblazoned “R” on one side of its chest. His position in the air came from a strange, floating device he stood on, hovering via the use of powerful fans. I could tell the floating platform was incredibly hi-tech, and he stood on it as if it wasn’t anything special at all.
Since I had said his name, Giovanni’s eyes flicked towards me for just a second before he returned to looking over the forest’s impromptu field.
"Ah, now I see who it is. The unexpected variable—a member of the League’s so-called ‘Wandering Elite.’ You have my thanks for bringing Diancie here. Once I've collected my prize, Diancie will serve as a decent tribute."
I signed a command behind my back towards Gardevoir, and I could feel him stiffen as he prepared himself to go along with my plan.
"...You're kidding, right?" I said.
Giovanni paused.
"Excuse me?" he said with a frown.
"Are you even hearing what you sound like? I mean, come on, man. This is just so... generic! There’s nothing original at all about you! You’re acting like such a cartoon villain that you’re coming across as kind of pathetic."
The clearing went utterly silent. Everyone, and I mean everyone turned to me as if they couldn’t believe what I just said. Ninetales, however, snickered, and Giovanni almost seemed to inflate with rage at the sheer gall I was displaying here.
"You dare?! I work to protect the world! Team Rocket is—"
"A criminal organization directly under your thumb whose whole purpose is to increase your own power. Yeah, yeah. You don’t have to lie to me. I get it."
The Persian was openly gaping at me right now.
"Like, did you really need to monologue at us like that?" I asked, continuing. "You're not even clever. I'm really unimpressed."
“Yeah!” Ash then chimed in. “I’ve heard that kind of speech at least five times before!”
"Urgh, you...” Giovanni clenched a fist. “Persian! Power Gem! Do not let their words persist!"
The nimble cat leaped forward, and the red gem on its forehead glowed once more. Pikachu just barely managed to push to his feet in time, releasing another Thunderbolt Persian's way. Ninetales did the same with Ice Beam, but their combined attack was unable to block the incoming move.
Rhydon’s presence and injuries were made clear; despite it being a slow, lumbering Pokémon, it was somehow just fast enough to move in the way of the attacks. Not only that, but its Lightning Rod ability meant the Thunderbolt was attracted to its horn, and Persian was able to completely avoid our Pokémon’s moves.
The beam from Power Gem carved across the ground. It struck Ninetales, then Pikachu, and both Pokémon were knocked back.
Ninetales especially suffered from the move, as the Rock Type energy was super effective to her Ice Type. At her cry of pain, Persian licked its lips. It seemed to enjoy seeing her suffer.
"Is this the power of a so-called Wandering Elite?” Giovanni said. “And your Pikachu? Have all the stories I heard about it been false? Pathetic. Disappointing. You’re just average trainers like everyone else."
I grinned. Ash must have caught on my plan, because he confidently swiped a thumb under his nose.
"Actually..." I said, drawing out the word, "You’re missing something rather important."
Giovanni's resting frown deepened at my words.
"Oh?" he said, leaning forward on the handle that controlled his floating platform.
"You're a guy who likes to hear himself talk. It’s pretty obvious with how you like to monologue. Unfortunately for you, it’s clear you don’t get out enough. After all, you’re just dumb enough to not recognize a distraction when it's happening."
"What?!"
There was a reason I had given Gardevoir those silent orders at the start. Meloetta was invisible, and Gardevoir had been using the delay granted to him by my taunting words to locate her where she hid. He Teleported over to what seemed to be a random point before scooping up nothing at all in the air. Meloetta flickered back into visibility, and Giovanni’s eyes widened.
"Get out of here!" I yelled.
Gardevoir didn’t bother to acknowledge my words. One second, he was holding Meloetta, and the next second, the pair were completely gone.
Giovanni looked stunned, but only for the briefest of seconds. He schooled his expression with an annoyed click of the tongue, pressing his lips together out of annoyance a moment later.
"No matter. We have her song. It seems Dr. Zager was right. We will have to resort to spoofing, after all."
"...Spoofing?" I paused. "Her song?!"
Of course, Giovanni didn’t linger. He quickly returned both Rhydon and Persian, and he took off on his weird, floating platform far faster than Ninetales could give chase or attack. Ash and Pikachu cheered as if in victory besides me, but my gaze tracked Giovanni as he disappeared to the east.
“We did it!” Ash said. “We saved Meloetta! We win!”
He and Pikachu laughed, but when they noticed my stiff expression, any sense of merriment faded.
“...Alex?” he asked.
“We didn’t win. Giovanni is still going to go through with his plans.” I silently cursed. “We might have saved Meloetta, but if he goes to those sunken ruins...”
"Is Meloetta safe?" he asked nervously.
I stared at the gap between the trees Giovanni had escaped through.
"If Giovanni succeeds with his plans, no one will be."