Ash smiled expectantly at me.

"Now?" I asked when the silence became too long. "I was just about to eat, besides my Pokémon are a bit tired.”

Ash turned red and laughed. "Ah, sorry. I was a bit too excited, wasn't I?"

"You know this individual?" Fay asked as she stared up at Luna.

"Oh wow, a Riolu." Ash recognized my new companion and he knelt down to meet Fay on eye level. "Nice to meet you, my name is Ash Ketchum."

"His Aura is very powerful," Fay said, ignoring Ash's introduction.

"Of course he has a powerful Aura," I murmured sarcastically, though I made sure no one heard it.

"Ralts!" Luna greeted Ash, probably worried about the lack of attention she was getting.

"Oh hey Ralts!" Ash smiled brightly at Luna. "Good to see you again!"

"Pikawicka!" Pikachu happily wagged his lightning-shaped tail at Luna. Luna nodded back at the rodent.

Ash got up and glanced around. He probably just realized we were blocking the hallway of the Pokémon Centrum. We both opted to move to the main lobby.

"So, what are you doing here?" Ash asked.

I shrugged. "I am traveling to Floaroma Town."

Ash's eyes widened, a grin spread across his face. "You too? Man the odds, Dawn has an upcoming Contest Battle there so…"

He kept talking so I zoned him out.

Of course, I already knew he was going to Floaroma town. I had planned it perfectly after all. Still, I pretended to be surprised.

"Really, damn that's a coincidence." I feigned surprise, "Talking about Dawn, where are your friends?"

"Oh, we just arrived, Brock and Dawn are still checking in ."

He scratched the back of his head. "I wanted to check out the battle arena and then I saw you and got distracted"

I nodded. "Yes, that sounds like something you'd do."

"Well, I am going to trai-"

A loud growl erupted from his stomach.

"I think I'm going to get something to eat first." Ash groaned.

I smiled, "Well, you could join me and the girls. We're about to get something ourselves anyway."

"That sounds like a good plan, wait! Let me get Dawn and Brock."

He turned around and went in a random direction, then he realized he was going the wrong direction and turned around. With an embarrassed look on his face, he made his way towards the lobby.

"His Aura is so big and powerful," Fay whispered in awe.

"You wouldn't say," I said sarcastically. I was definitely not jealous, nah ah.

"Come, let's find something to eat."

We left the hallway to find our food.

The dinner area was very luxurious and gave off this air of peace and warmth.

It was a very big square room but instead of having a normal ceiling, it had a glass ceiling with vines growing over the glass and creating a rustic nature feeling. Picnic tables were evenly spaced away from each other with colorful flowers planted into the ground. In the center of the room stood a majestic blossom tree that grew towards the glass ceiling.

I went to the food table and picked something that looked like pasta. As I scooped it up onto my plate Luna went to the desert table and teleported a slice of chocolate cake onto her plate.

I know I should probably say something about it being unhealthy but I had no idea if it was. Pokémon had a different metabolism from humans so maybe she could handle it. I dearly hoped there wasn’t a chocolate and dogs situation for Luna.

Luna hadn't puked her stomach out so I assumed it was at least safe.

Fay chose something I didn't recognize and we picked an empty picnic table to sit down.

A few minutes later Ash joined the table, holding his own plate, followed by Dawn and Brock.

"Sup?"

"Hi Dust, nice seeing you again!" Dawn greeted me with a small smile.

"Same."

Dawn's eyes drifted towards the blue Riolu.

"Oh is that a Riolu!?" Dawn stared at her, her eyes practically sparkling. "It looks so cute!¨

"Why does everyone say that?" Fay scowled at me.

"Aawww," Dawn practically squealed, unaware of Fay’s dry reply. "It sounds so cute."

"Her name is Fay," I informed Dawn.

She sat down and stared adoringly at Fay. "She really looks beautiful."

Personally, I had no idea why she thought that but Fay seemed to take it in stride.

"Hey, heard that?" Fay elbowed Luna with a grin.

This of course diverted Dawn's attention from Fay towards Luna. "And your Ralts is still looking lovely."

Luna smiled at Dawn while elbowing Fay back.

"You have 2 exotic Pokémon, Dust," Brock complimented, "Both are very rare in Sinnoh."

"Rare?" I asked. "I know that Riolu are rare but Ralts?"

"Yes," Brock put his hand on his chin, "I haven't seen a wild Ralts before in Sinnoh now that I think about. It has something to do about the climate in Sinnoh being too cold for the Gardevoir evolutionary line. Or at least in the wild."

Luna blushed a little.

"Huh, weird." I muttered, "Anyway...how have you all been doing?"

"Aaahh, you know," Ash answered, not at all bothered by the fact he was still chewing on his food. "Adventuring and training with my Pokémon."

Ash patted his Pikachu who was eating… ketchup?

"By the way, I totally beat Roark too!"

He bit his lip,

"Although he was really tough to beat, he fought me way harder than he battled you."

"I think you pissed him off," Dawn told me.

"Sucks to be him," I rolled my eyes, "But interesting. You Dawn?"

"Oh, Contest Battling, of course, I am preparing myself for the next one in Floaroma Town." She fixed her eyes on me, "Remember what I said last time about Contest Battles?"

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I thought back. "Something about me having potential and being very good in them?"

"I still think that you'd be really good at it," Dawn insisted. "You really should give it a chance, Dust. The way you fought Roark was really eye-catching."

"What is a contest battle?" Fay asked me.

I sighed. "Imagine a Pokémon battle but everything is focused around glamor and shit."

From the corner of my eye, I saw Dawn shaking her head in a disappointed manner.

"I can't believe you," she muttered, then turned to face Fay. "Riolu, Contest Battles are like Pokémon battles but you get points for how you battle. If you perform a move perfectly or if it's really eye-catching, or if you do something really outstanding. Instead of it merely being about who wins, it's all about style and beauty instead."

"Mmm, it sounds weird but also kind of interesting," Fay mused.

"Yeah, she's not impressed." I told Dawn, "My Riolu is trying to become an assassin anyway."

And that's how I single handedly managed to kill the conversation.

I truly have mastered the arts of socializing.

"So Dust, have you seen the Shine?" Brock asked after a long silence. "I heard it was visible from all over Sinnoh but we were asleep when it happened."

"Yeah, I saw it, from very close up." I answered mysteriously.

"Oh, did you see Rayquaza?!" Ash asked excitedly, "I heard it was Rayquaza who caused it."

"It wasn't Rayquaza," I answered.

They waited for me to elaborate but when I didn't they continued eating in silence.

"So…" I finally asked, "Ash, wanna battle tomorrow morning?"

Ash gave me a thumbs up.

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

"Speech time!" I declared.

"Why?" Fay deadpanned, "What's so special about this battle anyway?"

"This is Ash Ketchum we are going up against," I glanced at the boy in question who was talking to his Pokémon, loudly deciding who he was going to pick. "He's a very good trainer, or at least I expect him to be."

Ash had more Pokémon he could choose from and more experience, but in the end it came down to his Pikachu.

{We will win.} Luna shrugged.

"I don't know," I shared my doubts. "It really depends on how powerful Pikachu is."

Fay gave the Pikachu an unimpressed glance. "What's so special about that rodent anyway?"

"Don't underestimate your opponent Fay."

"Fine." She said unsatisfied.

I decided to ignore it for now. "Okay, expect Pikachu to use Blaster, Brute and Mover attacks."

{Noted.} Luna nodded thoughtfully.

Pikachu is in a lot of ways very versatile, being quite fast but also being able to use long range attacks while also being able to engage in melee combat, a very threatening opponent who seems to have it all. The only thing Pikachu lacked were physical prowess but considering my own Pokémon were also no powerhouse it wasn't too much of a disadvantage for him.

"Hey Dust!" Ash yelled, "I am going with Aipom and Pikachu!"

The monkey in question did a backflip and waved her hand like a tail at us.

I got up and gave Ash my best smile. "I choose Fay and Luna."

"Do you even have any other Pokémon?" Ash questioned.

I grinned.

Brock stood on the sidelines since he offered to be the referee.

Dawn had spread out a blanket on the grass and had a bowl of popcorn in front of her. A blue penguin sat in her lap and a brown fluffy bipedal bunny-like creature sat next to Dawn, waving shyly at Pikachu, probably cheering him on in Pokémon language.

"Fay you want to go first?"

She nodded with a fiery passion in her eyes. "I will win."

"Aipom I choose you first!" Ash pointed in front of him

Aipom made a big leap and landed in front of Ash, smiling like always.

"Ready you two?" Brock asked.

"You bet." Ash challenged me.

"I suppose."

"Then start now!" Brock swung his arm down.

"Metal Claw quick~" I yelled.

"Aipom Swift!" Ash yelled at the same time.

Fay disappeared in a flash while Aipom shot up in the air, using her tail to launch himself up.

Mid-air the monkey spun around and her hand-like appendage on the tail glowed yellow. Golden projectiles in the shape of small stars were manifested out of thin air.

Continuing the motion, Aipom continued her spin and the star-like projectiles shot toward the ground.

Swift supposedly always hits, or so it does in the games.

I was really curious to see how it works in real life.

Fay reappeared out of her Quick attack, her claws tore through the ground as she prepared herself for a second Quick Attack to cross the other half of the field.

The stars crashed down on Fay like a meteor shower. Despite only having just appeared she was hit straight in the face, like Aipom knew where she would reappear and had the precision of a sniper.

Fay let out a small whimper.

"Catch her landing!" I yelled.

Fay nodded and used Quick Attack once again. Luckily Swift wasn't as damaging as it looked but still, it would wear her down.

How does Swift work? And more importantly, how can it be countered?

Was some form of short-range combat precognition involved? Aipom had fired the Swift stars before Fay appeared out of her Quick Attack, there was no real way to determine where she would reappear.

Were those stars bending space to always hit? No, unlikely. They traveled in a straight line towards Fay.

Ash grinned, "Aipom, use Swift again on your way down. Keep her at a distance!"

"Fay retreat with another Quick Attack, brace yourself!"

Aipom fell down in a spinning motion, her tail magically lit up and a burst of stars shot towards Fay.

Once again Fay was hit by the Swift the moment she got out of her Quick Attack.

"Okay, I got it." I reassured Fay, finally having figured out how Swift functioned.

Swift always hits because the move is aimed at an opponent's future position, meaning it can't be dodged since every attempt to dodge it will be part of the mechanic that predicts where to strike.

It was a lot like Future Sight now I think about it. It did raise some questions about free will and other shit I wasn’t willing to spend time thinking on right now.

"Charge at Aipom now!"

Fay grimaced and ran towards Aipom who safely landed back on her feet.

"Swift!" Ash yelled, apparently believing he could keep Fay away with projectiles and having no issues with spamming moves.

Aipom swung her tail and shimmering stars shot in a straight line towards Fay.

Dodging would be useless, that left the other option.

"Metal Claw in front of you, four swipes!" I countered.

Fay kept running but a pair of shining claws appeared on her paws. Without slowing down she slashed the air in front of her. Striking with the left, then with her right paw.

Every swipe caused the stars to be deflected away from Fay, making them nothing but a nuisance.

Aipom took a step back in surprise. "Aipom!"

"She broke through." Dawn gasped from the side lines.

I shook my head, honestly it was just my inexperience with Swift that made it a roadblock. Now that I know how it works, I can work around its properties easily.

"Doesn't matter, Aipom, use Focus Punch!"

Aipom steadied her stance and retraced her tail. The hand on her tail started to give off a faint blue glow, ready to strike once Fay was in range, and there was no doubt that Aipom's tail had more range than Fay's Metal Claw.

"Spin attack!"

Fay shot forward, using Quick Attack to give her extra momentum.

Once she had gotten her momentum she canceled the blur of Quick Attack and instead dug one of her feet into the ground while her other feet scraped over the ground in a circular motion.

Like the ground had turned into ice, Fay slid towards Aipom while spinning around her own axis.

Once she was close enough she kicked her feet up and launched a barrage of dirt and sand towards Aipom's face.

For a brief moment Fay was in an almost ballerina-like position, one foot on the ground and the other airborne at a 60 degree angle.

Aipom staggered backwards to avoid the sand and shut her eyes instinctively.

And then Fay continued her spin like motion towards Aipom but this time sharp claws extended outwards and flaring with power.

As she passed the briefly blinded Aipom, she scratched him while still spinning rapidly, going fast enough to leave silver streaks in the air.

"Behind you, Mega Punch!" Ash cried out.

"Now!" I grinned.

Fay mirrored my grin.

Without looking, Aipom turned around and her tail flowed towards Fay. There was no technique behind the move, just trying to get Fay off her and having the power to do so.

The Pokémon in question stopped her spin and shielded herself.

A translucent layer covered Fay's body just as Aipom's attack connected. The energy field stopped Aipom's attack dead in its tracks, locking both of them in place for a brief second.

Then Fay glowed fiercely and an invisible force tossed Aipom to the middle of the battlefield. The energy field surrounding Fay's body dissipated and she chased after the monkey that was twirling through the air.

"Aipom, use Swift!"

"Quick Attack!"

Before Aipom could even start the attack Fay crashed into her with overwhelming impact.

Aipom fell down to earth and created a small crater in the process.

Fay landed on her two feet and carefully eyed Aipom for any signs of danger.

When it was clear that Aipom was out of it Brock raised his Arm. "Aipom is unable to battle."

Ash stared at Aipom.

"Come on, let's go for round 2,." I smiled at Ash.

"Pika!"

Pikachu looked at me and small sparks of electricity jumped around his red cheeks.

Ash wordlessly recalled Aipom. "Thank you for your efforts."

To my surprise, Ash returned my smile with one of his own. "Don't think this battle is over, now it's Pikachu's turn."

"I can't wait."