‘Did people really wear things like that?’

She shook her head at Anabel’s question. Not at the confusion itself, but in shared confusion at why such clothing was ever a thing.

The two of them were lying on a couch while the video was playing. It was something she hadn’t had a chance to look at again in ages, and she had never seen it quite as high quality as it was right now.

Of all of the things that she had gained in traveling with Ash, access to higher definition and quality videos of her grandmother Ondine’s battles was not one of the benefits she could have ever expected. Professor Oak had access to vast amounts of video recordings for research use by himself and other professors, and that had included material on the first Cerulean Gym leader.

She had never noticed so many minute details about her grandmother: the fact that her eyes were the same shape as Lily’s, or that the curve of her nose was so much like Violet’s. Her hair, while a different color, looked a lot like hers when she had it long or Daisy’s.

It also made what she was wearing much more defined. She had once thought that her grandmother had liked black and white stripped dresses. She had never quite noticed enough details of the dresses make to realize it was some sort of dress swimsuit that must've been fashionable so very long ago.

The questions of why her grandmother kept to the traditional Water-type specialist attire when it was so unlike anything you’d expect of such dress aside, the tape was all about the competition that she had promised to meet Fergus at. The Whirl Cup circa many decades ago.

“In the name of the harmony between those who cherish the values of Water, of the potential for bonds between humanity and Pokémon-kind, we begin this finals match! From afar you both have traveled. Ondine of Kanto and Brooklime of Galar, let your battle today demonstrate all of the virtues of those who use the seas and rivers!”

From that declaration came battle: her grandmother starting off with a Lapras while Brooklime sent out a Pokémon called Barraskewda. She didn’t get a clear glimpse of the Pokémon before it went underwater, but it looked like a brown missile and the way that Lapras had to spend the majority of the battle that followed narrowly avoiding being struck by charging attacks did nothing to dissuade such an interpretation of the Pokémon.

“The dodges look a lot narrower in higher quality. A lot more alertness and swiftness than I remember seeing the first time.”

At Anabel’s questioning glance she weakly smiled back.

“I don’t think any of my Pokémon would be that quick, at least the ones that are like Lapras. Staryu or Wingull sure, but Blastoise or even Gyarados dancing around attacks like that? Forget it.”

She had done a lot of work with her Pokémon, even earlier today despite a few interruptions. Probably not as much as Ash had, but she had made plenty of progress. But compared to him or her grandmother…

Heck, she had caught Fergus’s battle with Jonwood. He was closer to that level of readiness than she was.

‘That’s experience more than effort. It also isn’t an optimal use of Lapras’s strengths, or that of Blastoise or Gyarados.’

Anabel’s point was emphasized by her grandmother returning Lapras. When she was a little girl she hadn’t really understood why her grandmother did that, but now she could see things a bit more clearly.

Specifically, the fact that the torpedo fish that was Barraskewda was not going to be able to be avoided. In less detailed video that hadn’t been as clear.

Her grandmother then sent out her Slowking, who was quickly told to use Psychic. The attack pulled the unfamiliar Pokémon of Brooklime’s out of the water before slamming it harshly into the arena’s islands. Barraskewda was swiftly declared unable to battle after that.

‘Your grandmother looks older than you here. She had more time to learn and practice things. Comparing yourself to someone with that much more time to do things isn’t fair.’

“She is older actually.”

Anabel nodded at her point being proven. Meanwhile in the video, Slowking was fending off attacks from above by a blue bird named Cramorant.

She knew the rest of the battle by heart, even if the higher detail let her see newer bits of the battle than before. Like the fact that the odd red attack that Cramorant would use to knock out Slowking after a long battle was actually it swallowing a Magikarp and shooting it like a projectile. How that was a legal tactic she wasn’t quite sure, but that wasn’t really important. Her grandmother would win the battle by defeating Brooklime’s Kingler with her Tentacruel after it had defeated her Lapras.

“The Whirl Cup is next year. I want to be as ready for it as I possibly can be. Whatever that actually looks like.”

‘You won’t get any more ready by worrying about it. You get more ready every day when your Pokémon work to get stronger either on their own or at your own instruction. Plus just because you aren’t as good as your grandmother when she was older than you, and thus more experienced than you could possibly hope to be, doesn’t mean you aren’t getting better. The Misty I first met wouldn’t have been strong enough to adore Wimpod, let alone work to train him like you’ve been doing.’

She blushed. That was strength?

‘Plus you don’t have to worry about rushing to get there. I’ll make sure you get to the cup no matter where we are. None of us have any problem to take a detour for you.’

“Thank you.”

Anabel was speaking for Iris and Ash, but she was quite sure that there was no reason either of them would complain about such a diversion.

‘Don’t mention it. Now don’t think as much about the fact that there are people more ready for a competition and more how you can make yourself ready. Well I guess you could also find one of those old swimsuits. That would probably make you less prepared.’

“Yeah, I don’t think I’ll dig up one of those things.”

…

He could hear the faint rumblings of late night watching and talking from Anabel and Misty. He was still winding down to fall asleep after a day of intense battles, training, Red being awkward, and a sneak peek at his next opponent. After which he had done a bit of skimming on the guy before he tried to go to sleep.

Cross was indeed from Alola, and he had a Fire-type called an Incineroar that was also a Dark-type, but he hadn’t really retained any more before tiredness had called him to bed. He’d look them over more closely in the morning. If morning would come of course: he was not drifting off to sleep at all despite his tiredness. He’d slept through far worse noise than Anabel and Misty, so that wasn’t it.

A darting and jump onto the bed heralded Pikachu’s arrival to his bed.

“Pikapi.” ‘You’re still awake?’

A light groan was his answer. It was fairly obvious and didn’t need anything more articulate. Pikachu looked towards the talking duo outside with a mischievous grin.

“Pikachu-Pi.” ‘You know if you need to sleep I do remember a time when you slept like a Snorlax. All you need are a couple of nice feminine bodies…’

“No.”

His blunt retort hung in the air for a bit before he elaborated.

“Pikachu, can you just lighten up on trying to get me together with someone? It has really gotten old. Can’t you just let me figure it out myself?”

And maybe tell Psyduck the same thing apparently.

“Pikapi.” ‘You’re actually getting older now. In four months or so you’re going to be sixteen. We had forever or something similar before, but we don’t anymore. I want you to be happy.’’

Pikachu matched bluntness for bluntness and it hung in the air amidst their following silence.

It was not helping all that much with his inability to fall asleep.

…

‘….so that is my idea for me and Ash tomorrow. Something to give him even more of a reason to smile after he beats Cross. And you are sure you are fine with it?’

She could hear Ash and Pikachu talking, but it was too faint to make it out. It certainly wasn’t anything that could make it hard to hear Anabel’s plan. It was even less hard to give her an odd thing for it.

“I’m sure. I trust you both to not do anything stupid.”

A blessing.

“And hey, if Red wants us to watch Yellow for him maybe I can take her for a bit of fun of our own. Nothing like your idea of course, but something nice for you. Iris’ll probably help in her own way.”

Anabel blushed.

‘You don’t really need to do that now. I didn’t mention it earlier for more than just…’

“Well nothing wrong with getting it done early. Tomorrow’s going to be great, don’t worry about it. Ash is going to win and we’re all going to have our own fun.”

…

Eventually the irritation with Pikachu gave way to sleep, which was finally upon him. However as was the way with him sometimes, he had odd dreams.

More akin to the dreams where the Ducklett came back to get him it was based on something he actually knew and was not host to strange accents or demons. In this case it was even something that came from the same region as the Ducklett of nightmares.

“Zrrr.” ‘I don’t remember this one, mind filling me in?’

Much more surprising than the normality of the dream was the fact that he had a fellow dreamer really being with him this time. It was Charizard, who was staring at the three decorated passages of the cave.

The left one a Golett, the center a Krokorok, and the right one a Darumaka.

“It’s something from Unova a long while before I brought you over. The place is called the Hero’s Ruins, but I suppose you could also call it the Black Ruins. It’s a place that was important to the legend of a Pokémon called Zekrom, which is the opposite of Reshiram. It’s near an electrical cave sort of like the White Ruins being near a volcano, and Zekrom’s an Electric-type while Reshiram is a Fire-type. Getting to this point got us nearly crushed by a boulder.”

Charizard nodded, remembering the clashes with Team Plasma before letting out a snort.

‘That was the legendary that sucked Pikachu’s electricity out, right? Sounds as pleasant as a rainstorm. So what path won’t lead us into the confusing aspects of your mind?’

There was an edge to Charizard after talk of that first day in Unova.

“Well, if you want to see how scared I am of anything that isn’t eating, battling, and losing you can try the Krokorok door. It squeezes you from all sides and trying too hard. Darumaka is a fire trap, so we’d take the Golett door.”

His tone was also filled with an edge, and the walk through the path was an awkward silence between the two of them. He felt an attempt to talk to Charizard die out in his mouth each time he tried to say something, and he caught signs that it was the same on Charizard’s end. Both of them wanted to say something, likely the same thing, but it wasn’t coming out. It was frustrating, and he’d like any ways of getting his mind off of it until words would come out of either of their mouths. So he looked around at the dark hall that awaited the next part of the ruin.

The edges of everything seemed to be covered in blurry clouds. Not quite what you would see in the sky, but not quite what hung in the air as a fog. It was something in between, like the edges of a fairy tale or storybook. That was not there the last time.

What was there was the next room: a room with actual stonework as opposed to a stone tunnel. It was painted a yellow and blue color that had faded little in all that time, and ornate cases lined the wall. They were important for some reason that was just escaping him.

The frustrated silence between the two of them continued as they both walked through the room in silence. The walk was making him grow tenser by the step…

“Look out!”

His shout came with the punch over Charizard’s shoulder. His first Fire-type stared at him in shock about the sudden attack at him, but was even more surprised to hear the clunking. There was a Pokémon behind them: a large Pokémon that resembled a case in the same color palette as the room. Not a case though, but a sarcophagus.

It was a Cofagrigus.

His fist hadn’t made direct contact with the Pokémon: that had been the work of a pair of white energy claws that had extended out of his fists. A Metal Claw attack. It was not a full-enough hit to do anything but knock the Ghost-type back, but it did give Charizard the time to blast it with Flamethrower.

When Charizard had let off the flames Cofagrigus was on the ground and not moving. Charizard took a long breath before speaking.

‘Thanks. I didn’t hear it at all. Good Metal Claw by the way, Lucario did a good job with you there. Never seen a Pokémon like it.’

He had to think on it for a moment, but it was true. Charizard had not encountered one while in Unova at all.

“It’s called a Cofagrigus. It’s a Ghost-type that lives in ruins. It’s creepy.”

‘You could say that about any Ghost-type Pokémon.’

There weren’t any words spoken for about a minute after that. He absently felt a weight in his hand and looked down to see a Pokéball had formed in his hand. It was a pink and purple ball he had never seen before.

No, he had seen it somewhere else: in the video on Ritchie’s battles he caught a few days ago. It was the Pokéball that Rose, his Taillow, had.

Where had it come from?

‘How do you handle having two pasts?’

Charizard’s question broke the silence. It was without any edge at all; in fact, it was almost soft in the way it was said.

“I’m not sure I get what you mean?”

Charizard stared not at him or the downed Cofagrigus, but into space.

‘You know what I mean. I don’t remember Elwood or Aideen being things the first time around, and you certainly have more years in Pallet Town than you did before. Kaia wasn’t part of anything with me before, or Melanie. I’ve had time to think of that more, and it bothers me. Who are we really?’

“We’re Ash Ketchum and Charizard.”

Charizard turned to look him right in the eye: a blazing fire in the eye directed not at him in a metaphorical or literal way but as the flames of unease itself.

‘Which Ash Ketchum and Charizard!?’

The question hung in the air like an eerie attack from a Ghost-type. After he was sure that Cofagrigus wasn’t using an attack on them he shook his head.

“I don’t think it matters. I feel like me even if I am aging and have a few more friends before I left Pallet Town. I’m sure I’d have met Goodra or Yanma for example if things had kept on: I think MissingNo even suggested that once when it comes to Goodra specifically. That’s the way I like thinking on everything: everyone who is different is just a friend who had a few different things happen to them. Misty and Iris aren’t the same people they were, but if we grew older they’d have changed. Not in the same way, but still changed. They are still my friends, or whatever they end up being in the end. Does anyone else feel the way you do? I can’t imagine anyone thinking like that and not being able to say anything.”

Charizard’s eyes narrowed his way.

“Zrrd.” ‘Not that I can tell. Butterfree has his own issues but I don’t think they are exactly like mine. He’s probably got a second love in progress, and soon he’ll be as lovey-dovey as those Tauros.’

Oh yeah, he’d have to remember to give the two that anniversary present at some point. He had actually found a Touga Berry the other day and would plant it for them as a personal favorite food source before he left for Lapras and Snorlax.

‘Of course, if we are airing what is bothering us now…’

“Can we not, please? I already got into a fight with Pikachu when I couldn’t sleep over it and I don’t need one when I’m asleep.”

Charizard didn’t shift his gaze at all, even as Cofagrigus stirred. He simply smacked a Dragon Tail down on it to keep it down.

“Fine…I’d really wish you guys would lighten up a bit on it. I stumbled into two dates and had a lot of fun on both of them. Misty and Iris aren’t going to hate each other or me because of them, and do I want one of the dates to go farther? Yeah, I do. I’d actually really like that. If Anabel wants to go on a date and go farther that would be great too. But the teasing and the pushing from you guys is really starting to get on my and Misty’s nerves. Can you guys just let us figure it out on our own? I somehow battled my way across five regions, a battle frontier, and two archipelagos in quite possibly less than a year so you really don’t need to push for the same amount of time for me and one of them to say ‘we are boyfriend and girlfriend now’.”

Charizard nodded.

‘I can work on that myself. I’ll pass it onto everyone else if you don’t want to, but no promises. We just want you to be as happy as you can be and do whatever we can to help you. That means winning, and helping you with your relationships. You can’t pretend you wouldn’t have needed any help at it or didn’t require it.’

No comment.

‘Still you are probably worrying over too much. If you are that worried about jealousy just do what half your siblings seem to do to avoid it.’

His face was Charmeleon red at that suggestion.

“It isn’t half of them! Far from it, even when you don’t count the ones more Yellow’s age than mine!”

‘You didn’t say no. You won’t know until you ask is all I’ll say on it. I’ll spare you more bad counters that couldn’t counter a Caterpie that hadn’t eaten in a day. Also are you going to catch the Cofagrigus?’

Charizard noted the ball that still sat in his hand even as he struck the stirring Cofagrigus with Dragon Tail again. He stared at the ball, then at the Pokémon in question, then at Charizard.

“You want me to catch a Pokémon in a dream with a ball that just appeared randomly in that very same dream? My dreams are weird enough without seeing what would happen. Also the only time I ran into one of those things they tried to eat Iris so I’d rather not risk that again.”

...

Charizard kept the Cofagrigus under his arm in case ‘he changed his mind’ as they continued into the ruins that melded memory and dream, eventually reaching the center room with a large opening to the sky and blue crystals jutting from the floor amidst similarly vibrant tiles. The great blue crystals vaguely made him think of Chargestone Cave again, and in the center of it all was a smooth round stone. However unlike in reality the stone was not gold but a solid black with a cracked pattern not dissimilar to that of an Odd Keystone.

‘What next?’

“A crazy old man took the stone, a Sigilyph and a bunch more Cofagrigus attacked; we fell into a lake and were saved from doing a Team Rocket by the power of friendship memories.”

Charizard looked at the stone for a moment, smacking the still struggling Cofagrigus for a moment before looking back his way.

‘Alright, so you take the stone then. I want to get pumped for the sixth round by beating up your memory-dreams. I’d do it myself but you are procrastinating on the whole trainer thing a bit and thus my arms are full.’

He gestured to the Cofagrigus, and before he could give any of the (about) sixty-four reasons he could think of in which doing that would either do nothing or do something even stranger than usual for them the memory-dream dissolved into nothingness and the only thing worse than nothingness.

“WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP WAKE UP!”

The random alarm setting of the Pokédex option fifteen. The worst of them all.

While they were at the league they had not let off on their personal exercise routine. Grueling morning runs for them all, though the term was no longer in use even by Anabel.

Rough sure, but grueling was at least a month out of date.

Being in a more populated area like Indigo did mean they had to go a bit farther afield, but Anabel made it easy to do. Bar the odd day where his mom went crazy or he had a match far too early they simply teleported off and, with Lucario, ran.

Their travel today had led them to an island surrounding by storms that seemed to only house Dragonite and its relatives. They had all watched them as they ran around the island in the murky morning light guided only by the hazy dawn sunlight to avoid tripping on any roots or shed skins.

It was at the end of several loops around the island that found her and her fellow girls, along with Lucario, resting against and among the trees standing and fallen.

'...It was after our naval expedition to the fabled islands that Sir Aaron and I found ourselves in the great storm. We'd have died if not for a Dragonite that had taken us here to recuperate...'

Lucario was telling the story of how he had known of this isolated island to an interested Anabel, who listened in with attentive focus.

Iris wasn't, and she was a bit worried about it. The only thing she could think of as to why she'd be a bit unfocused was a simple thing.

"Your family came here before, and it is bothering you?"

That did get her attention, and it wasn't the way she had expected it to. Iris didn't admit to that being the case, or even get defensive. In actuality she seemed confused about her conclusion.

"They did, but I am not sure why you felt the need to ask that. That was not what I was thinking. I was actually thinking that I had spotted some waterfalls while we were running and we could probably use them. Could probably fit a few of us they were large enough."

Well, she missed the mark there. Though of all the things she could have been deeply thinking about it was waterfalls? If Iris was anyone else, she'd wonder if she was just wanting to complete the 'walk in on everyone under a waterfall' challenge.

"We have a shower back at the league, and neither the Professor or Ash's mom would be up yet."

"It would still be a line and take a while. If we do it now we can save a lot of time. Also there is more space here."

The time part wasn't wrong. It came off as too good of an idea for some reason.

"Won't that disturb the Dragonite or something? I mean they were fine with us just teleporting here and running around, but showering under their stuff is probably pushing it, right?"

"No. They do not have a reason that would bother them."

She'd been around Iris too long as the idea seemed far too appealing. There was only one thing she had left to convince herself not to go through with it.

"Well, what if Ash really wants to get back really quick and we hold him up, or worse he walks in on us and sees u...me?"

She had to catch herself on the last front. She was quite aware that he had seen Iris naked twice and the dragon girl did not care. He hadn't mentioned the recent shower walk in to her out of embarrassment, but Iris had mentioned it to her.

The sound of a springing pair of bodies and a crash to the ground came from just beyond some nearby trees, followed by a happy declaration.

"I think Butterfree's gotten the net just right, and you are nearly there Dragonair!"

"Rooo!"

Just after finishing running Ash had come across a local Dragonair who had been struggling to fly like the rest of the ones on the island. Ash, same as with a boy and his Caterpie or other such situations, had thoughtlessly volunteered to help and had been doing so for a good few minutes with surprising swiftness of progress.

Lucario had declared it 'training for the mind like a riddle competition, as good for him as physical training' and let him do it with hours between him and his battle before he had started telling the story of how he knew the location of the island.

"He is going to be busy for long enough."

Oh, she had been around Iris for too long hadn't she? Ash probably did have a bit more in helping the random Dragonair he'd probably never see again (or even think of capturing if she'd have to guess) and that was probably enough time.

"I guess so. At least you won't surprise me like the others."

"I surprised you in suggesting it did I not?"

Iris's had a mischievous smirk as she pointed it out, and she chose to ignore it.

'Make sure you don't stand on any shed skins. They're slippery under waterfall-drenched stones. Sir Aaron learned that the hard way.'

...

With a bounce and a ricochet, he and the Dragonair he had noticed despairing bounced off the netting trampoline that Butterfree had managed to get just right for them. He landed on the ground with a satisfying thump, feet crushing the loamy soil beneath his feet with satisfying ease. It was a very different story for Dragonair, however.

Dragonair spun mid-air with the jump, glowing a blue in the process. The blue illuminated the dragon as the wings of the serpentine Pokémon extended outward. They remained as outstretched even when the blue faded away, leaving a flying Dragonair.

Said Pokémon looked around in astonishment at what it had managed to achieve, before spinning around in the air in a spiraling rotation much like a very happy wind chime. He grinned as he watched the display.

"That went perfectly, Dragonair!"

Said dragon ceased the spiraling dance to stare at him with large glittering eyes, before darting over to him and wrapping around his body like a limbless hug. Joyful chuckles escaped him at the wordless thank you, if a bit constrained in their escape as the Dragonair began to squeeze him a bit too tight.

Amiable chuckles came from Butterfree, Pikachu, Charizard, and Ambipom, though from the last Pokémon who had come with him for the run was a bit less chuckling.

"Pri?" 'Okay, I don't get it. You helped teach it to fly so, what? Not sure that is going to help you beat that Cross guy at the Pokémon League today. Unless seeing that Dragon Dance you helped get mastered will inspire ol' fire breath here to learn a new move or something.'

Charizard snorted, though there was a bit of confusion at the last one. Perhaps he was pondering if he could use Dragon Dance.

He could see Dragonair giving Primeape a curious glance as he gave his first Fighting-type his reasoning.

"Dragonair needed help and we were cooling off after all that running. I couldn't just not help it out. Plus, it helps me practice thinking of solutions to problems. I come up with them on the fly but I need to have practice with connecting the dots to make it happen."

It was really the former though. The latter wasn't wrong, but him giving Dragonair a hand was entirely because Dragonair needed some help. The other part was just what he thought up when Primeape wanted a reason.

He felt a drop in pressure and weight on him as Dragonair, still quite airborne, floated in front of him and giving off a curious cry. Dragonair pointed to Primeape, which gave him his best guess.

"You're asking about the Pokémon League?"

Dragonair nodded and he continued.

"Well, there are a lot of them, and you have to earn the right to enter them by traveling regions and earning badges. When you do that you can enter a specific tournament for each of them and battle other teams of Pokémon and their trainers until only one is left standing. I'm roughly half way through the one in Kanto right now and have a battle in a few hours against this guy named Cross."

At the mention of Cross Charizard snorted and Dragonair looked to said snorter.

"Roo?"

Charizard looked at the serpentine dragon for a moment before nodding.

"Zrrr." 'Yes, I'm going up against Cross, and we do have a Chansey who can patch me up after training.'

At the confirmation of the fact Dragonair let out a long, surprisingly intimidating cry before darting back a bit from Charizard. His own Fire-type grinned.

"Zrrr." 'You want to be my warm up battle? Well, I'm all for it and so is Ash.'

He nodded at Charizard's declaration as the other Pokémon gave the two some space, though Primeape looked a bit reluctant to not be involved himself. He did move though, leaving a open space for the two to duke it out.

Dragonair moved first with a spiraling Twister: the attack being blasted at Charizard like a great wind blast. Charizard blocked the attack with a Flamethrower, the two attacks meeting and cancelling each other out.

The collision that resulted created an obscuring wall of smoke that Charizard watched with alert focus, forming a Metal Claw just as he saw a shape speed through the smoke.

Dragonair flung itself at Charizard with a rapid flurry of Dragon Tail strikes. A lot like Serperior, the flying Dragonair began stabbing at Charizard with repeated jabs of its glowing tail. Charizard was blocking them with Metal Claw with each approach, but it was a stalemate for both of them.

"Use Flame Charge when Dragonair comes close!"

Which was where he came in. At the latest blocking Charizard engulfed himself in flames and the most recently jab of Dragon Tail came with a singing sound. Dragonair winced, and let out a gasping shout of pain as Charizard followed up the attack by taking flight and grabbing Dragonair.

The flaming lunge took the dragon and took a sharp turn downward, slamming Dragonair into the ground with something almost like a half-complete Seismic Toss. Charizard flew up for a moment before activating his own Dragon Tail and slamming it down at the still buried Dragonair.

However, before the attack landed Dragonair flew out of the hole and left Charizard to attack vacant soil. Dragonair used this to counter attack and slammed a Dragon Tail right into Charizard's face.

The tail slap caused Charizard to stumble back in a daze but he shook off the blow after a moment and countered with a Flamethrower.

The blasting attack that Dragonair used to counter it wasn't Twister but Hyper Beam. The two attacks met in roughly the same place as had happened first, but this time the beam clash was more in Dragonair's favor. The two attacks strained and pushed back at each other: he'd say the Hyper Beam got about-two thirds of the way to Charizard before the two attacks detonated in a thick smoke cloud.

Charizard blasted through it with a Flamethrower sweep to try and catch Dragonair on the rebound from Hyper Beam, but nothing hit. Dragonair must have gotten itself airborne to avoid any such counterattack.

"Prim." 'The Dragonair couldn't fly but it can kick all of this ass? That doesn't make any sense?'

"Broo."

He briefly glanced over to where his other Pokémon were watching the battle, and the Dragonite who had wandered over. With a pair of arms behind his back like a Slowking the Dragonite was watching the battle with a familiar understanding.

"Brooo."

Dragonite was probably also explaining exactly why Dragonair could kick a surprising amount of butt, but he needed a translation.

"Free." 'Yeah I guess you wouldn't have anything else to do when no one was in trouble.'

He was guessing it had something to do with passing time, but he'd have to ask the exacts of it later. Meanwhile Dragonair was visible again and spinning again for a boosting Dragon Dance. Charizard tried to stop it with a Flamethrower but Dragonair swerved out of the air with airborne serpentine ease and darted at Charizard with Dragon Tail once more ready to strike.

Charizard prepared Metal Claw and began to parry the even faster jabs of the attack. The attacks were blocked but with more effort from Charizard and he could see Charizard be pushed back by each blow.

It was not a situation that could be left alone for too long.

"Charizard, we need a new strategy. Dragon Tail isn't fast enough to hit Dragonair, so try and use the dragon power some other way!"

Still blocking the repeated blows on Dragonair's own Dragon Tail Charizard activated his own Dragon Tail, but the green glow of the attack vanished as Charizard took on a faint greenish glow all over his body. The green began to accumulate on his arms and, just as Dragonair moved in for a fresh attack, accumulated in a green version of Metal Claw.

Said attack, Dragon Claw, managed to properly deflect the Dragon Tail jabbing from Dragonair, who let out a surprised cry of shock before Charizard took flight with both claws glowing the sharp green.

The attack struck Dragonair, sending the serpent falling to the ground. With a spiraling spin Dragonair recovered before striking the ground and both battling Pokémon landed near each other and stared at each other for a moment, before both breaking out into a grin.

"Rooooo!"

"Zrrr." 'Dragon Claw huh. Pretty impressive. Thanks.'

Charizard held up a claw which turned metallic before nodding. Did Charizard have to see if Dragon Claw had replaced Metal Claw or if it had replaced Dragon Tail?

Regardless of that mystery he walked up to the bruised but grinning Dragonair and held a hand out. Dragonair didn't do handshakes, tail or no tail, and instead took to wrapping himself around him in a happy hug.

A hug with a bit too much squeeze, but a hug nonetheless.

"Thanks! I'm sure that Dragon Claw will be a great help for the battle today. I guess that makes us even."

At his declaration Dragonair let out a disagreeing cry. It didn't feel like it was a case of 'no, now you owe me human'. Quite the opposite really. He shook his head at the idea that Dragonair owed him anything else.

"Don't think anything about it. I help out people all the time for a lot less help than a new move for my Pokémon. You've got some good moves by the way, it's really cool."

At his compliment Dragonair squeezed him tighter in the friendliest constriction it could muster.

Eventually he was freed from the hug, said farewell to a saddened Dragonair, and after a bit of personal needs being fulfilled went into battle prep for today's battle.

"Analysis on your next opponent complete. I have all that you need to know about that Cross guy."

Ash sat in front of the Pokédex inside his room, with Pikachu, Charizard, and surprisingly even Muk and Kingler around him to keep an eye on the impromptu 'strategy meeting' for what would be their next opponent.

"Alright, tell us everything. I think he's Alolan, right?" Ash asked, scratching his neck.

"Correct. Cross Batsu, from Malie City on Ula'Ula Island, one of the four major landmasses of the Alola region. He's spent part of his journey in Alola building up his initial team before heading for Kanto to take part in the Indigo League Conference. His reasoning has not been disclosed, but he's known to visit libraries between matches and appears to be preparing for a full on excursion on Mount Tensei, part of the Raizen Mountain Range that separates Kanto and Johto, in geographical proximity of but separated from Mount Silver."

"Pika Pikachu." 'Seriously? He didn't really strike me as the cultured type, or the climbing one...'

Ash shrugged. "He must have his reasons, whatever they may be."

"To go back to the topic you actually care about, I have records pointing to Cross having used a grand total of twelve Pokémon so far." Twelve holographic images were projected by the Pokédex, rotating in front of Ash and his team. The first one was revealed to be a familiar bipedal red wolf. "The first one is his Lycanroc. You already know what you need about the species thanks to your battle with Alexander Silph, but interestingly enough Cross seems to always keep his Lycanroc outside of his Pokéball, even if it tends to roam on occasion. He's fearless in a fight, and ready to strike back against anything."

To accompany his description, the Pokédex played a short clip of Lycanroc tanking hits from an opposing Dewgong and then dishing the damage back, but Ash, already familiar with the species's fighting style, wasn't paying much attention to it, but rather another piece of information that puzzled him.

"He allows his Lycanroc to stay out?" Ash asked, blinking.

"Don't ask me, I can't elaborate illogical behavior." The images spun, bringing the attention to a red and black top-heavy tiger. "Next is Incineroar, a Fire and Dark-type and final stage of one of the traditional Alolan starter Pokémon. He's his secondary ace Pokémon and most reliably used one, with a tendency to overpower his enemies and leave them no chance to strike back."

Once again a clip played, this time showcasing Incineroar running against a Fearow like some sort of ape, before slamming him down with great power and defeating him with a nigh-unavoidable barrage of attacks. Charizard narrowed his gaze.

"Char." 'I can confirm it's all true. He defeated me in a single Flamethrower when I met him.'

Ash turned to Charizard with interest. "Oh, right, you battled him before. Was it with Kaia?"

"Zar." 'No, it was after that, with Damian. I only met him briefly, but he sure left an impression. He didn't just destroy me, he also had to call me a trash Pokémon for a trash trainer.'

Charizard's claws twitched slightly as he said that, and Ash was quick to regret his question. He preferred not to ask things that he knew would make his Pokémon upset, and he could tell from what he knew of Charizard and Damian that it was probably a bad memory from a bad period.

"Sorry to hear." Ash adjusted his hat, glancing down.

"Char." 'It's from quite a while ago, don't worry. Still, seeing him again, I'm wondering about something...'

Charizard grabbed his chin with his claws in an unusual attempt to be thoughtful. Ash tilted his head, unused to seeing one of his oldest friends put much real thought on anything. What had caught his attention so much?

"I have no idea what you're discussing with your Pokémon, but I put a lot of time cross-referencing my data and you should listen to it all." The Pokédex spun the images once more, now showing a blue-green insect that looked somewhat like a railgun. "Next up is Vikavolt, a Bug and Electric-type. It's a tricky opponent that's hard to predict. He doesn't appear to be very in-sync with Cross, however, which leads to Cross using him only sparingly."

The Pokédex then played a short clip from one of Cross' matches in the League so far, showcasing Vikavolt being slow to listen to Cross's orders, and sometimes flat out disregarding them, but still managing to triumph over the opposing Rhydon.

Ash looked at the footage carefully, noticing how both trainer and Pokémon seemed to be on different rails. "Wonder what happened..."

The Pokédex didn't, spinning the images once more to instead showcase a large bird with a just as large beak and a very angry scowl.

"Next is Toucannon, a Normal and Flying-type. This bird has a tendency to only move when necessary, but given how much power he can unleash with just one Beak Blast, he doesn't need to."

Once again, the Pokédex accompanied his description with a short clip, this time showing a Jolteon trying to defeat Cross's Pokémon only for it to not move, his beak slowly changing colors like a counter before unleashing a large blast straight ahead, defeating his opponent in one hit. Ash didn't need more to understand the threat, and thus the Pokédex spun images again, this time bringing up a pink mantis that Ash was already familiar with.

"You already saw what a Lurantis is, but there is information you aren't privy to. It's a Grass-type of a species known to be guardians of forests, with one of them even having been spotted in recent times as a Totem Pokémon in Lush Jungle, something the local Kahuna Olivia is looking into." Another short clip ensued, apparently taken from training Cross was having on League grounds, showcasing him trying out his moves, including a physical variant of Solar Beam that Ash found familiar. "He's a prideful one that's true to his species' demeanor, and good at both short-range and long-range offensive. You should look out for his Solar Blade, which you already learned about."

"A Grass-type guardian..." Ash emulated Charizard in rubbing his own chin, that specific description sounding strangely familiar, especially after what he heard before.

The image spun once more, this time showing a strange Pokémon that looked like a small hanging head attached to a giant half-opened cyan dome made out of sharp tentacles.

"This is instead Toxapex, a Water and Poison-type. A trap master Pokémon that prefers letting his opponent get poisoned rather than dish damage himself. He's fairly mischievous and a troublemaker, but Cross lets him be as long he brings results."

This time, the clip focused on the Toxapex nimbly rolling around the battlefield in its half-spherical shape, winking and giggling as he poisoned the opposing Jynx, acting like he was having the time of his life in complete contrast with his trainer. Seeing the mischievous Water type only made Ash's strange feeling grow more intense.

The pictures shuffled once more, this time showing an imposing panda-like Pokémon that Ash still quite clearly remembered.

"After this there's Pangoro, a Fighting and Dark-type. It's one Pokémon you don't want to mess with; so long as he sets his eyes on you, you're done, end of story. They usually have a soft side, but I highly suggest to not test if Cross's one does have it."

Once again a clip played, but much like Lycanroc, Ash didn't put much attention in it. Seeing a Pangoro was a nostalgic reminder of his last little adventure before his entire reality was literally turned upside down, but he remembered exactly how one behaved and how he should approach it in case. The Pokédex seemed to realize he didn't need the extra details, and thus moved to a familiar brown horse.

"Next we have Mudsdale. You already faced Lilo's, I don't think I need to remind you what this Pokémon's deal is."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I know how to fight one by now."

This time no clip played, and instead the presentation moved to a large, black and pink bear that looked fairly cuddly.

"More interestingly, there's a Bewear in there, a Normal and Fighting-type. Don't let its cute appearance fool you: the moment this fluffy menace gets its paws on you, you're finished. Many Alolans learned this the hard way."

The clip this time was made out of Bewear grabbing and breaking several Pokémon's backs by just grabbing them in a very tight hug. Ash, Pikachu, Charizard, and even his other two backless Pokémon could only wince looking at it.

"Wow..." Ash gulped, hoping not to have any of his Pokémon deal with that. It didn't look very pleasant.

Next, the spotlight moved to another very familiar manta Pokémon.

"I don't have the most data on his Mantine, but I'm listing it here for completion's sake." The clip played was short, and non-combat related, simply showing Cross allowing his Pokémon some time to not get rusty, swimming in a pool. "It's a speedy swimmer but it seems to be more of a utility Pokémon for Cross to travel through water than anything else. I'd advise to still take a careful approach with it, however."

Ash didn't expect Cross to have any sort of utility Pokémon, but he guessed coming from a region made out of islands could've had something to do with it. Still, a Pokémon mostly used for sea transport was interesting... and once realizing the implications, yet again very familiar.

The Pokédex moved to the penultimate image, this time showing a small, purple crab-like Pokémon that Ash could swear to have already seen before.

"We have a Crabrawler as well, which you might remember for their edible arms, and the one Pokémon of Cross to not have reached final stage yet, but I can't confirm why due to contrasting information on the topic. It doesn't look like much, but he's been able to pull off some impressive feats so far, including sweeping out Cross' first opponent in the preliminaries."

The video shown this time focused on a fast forwarded take on said preliminaries, with Cross's Pokémon managing to make short work of all his opponent's team. Yet again, a sight that Ash found very familiar, and so did Kingler, edging a bit closer to the screen, likely thinking what Ash already was.

Then, the image spun to the last slot, this time showing a Muk that looked to have just come out of a paintball fight, with some strange jagged dotting on its body. Ash's own Muk perked up, interested in seeing his kin.

"Finally, there's his Alolan Muk, a regional form that adapted to the climate by concentrating its toxins inside crystals all over its body, gaining the Dark-type as a result. This Muk is not much different from yours in temperament, except, you know, being much more of a threat and less of a hugger."

The final clip played, this time showing Cross's Muk making short work of an opposing Meganium, just as the Pokédex had explained. Muk was giving it the most attention, while Ash's own mind wandered elsewhere, furrowing his brow.

"Mhhh... Guys, am I the only one seeing a pattern?"

"Pi?" 'Which kind of pattern?'

Ash shrugged, trying to think of how to put his feeling into words. "I dunno, perhaps it's just a coincidence, but these twelve Pokémon reminds me of... us."

A team of twelve Pokémon with distinct behaviors and personalities, with even some types and events overlapping... it felt like looking at a distorted mirror of him and his team during his journey through Kanto and the Orange Islands in the original reality. Well, aside from Mimey, which he couldn't remember if he actually formally caught or not in the first timeline, but definitely didn't in the current one. Who knew, maybe Cross's mother also had some helpful goofy Pokémon at home, after all these uncanny similarities...

Charizard nodded alongside him, still looking as thoughtful as he had during the whole presentation.

"Char." 'I can see it.'

"Inaccurate. You have caught much more Pokémon throughout your Kanto journey than just these, with distinctly different parameters and species, and Cross didn't catch multiples of any of it."

"Never mind." Ash sighed, deciding to instead spin the hologram back on Cross's first Pokémon. "Point is... it's weird. Especially Lycanroc. The jerks I've met so far don't really keep their Pokémon out of their balls full time, that's what people who care for them do."

Pikachu twitched his ears, frowning at his friend.

"Pi." 'You think it means something?'

Ash shook his head, unsure. "I dunno. He's very much a jerk, but..."

"Zard." 'That's actually what I was thinking about. Before, he seemed to take offense at how Hala and Tapu Koko recognized you more than anything.'

"He was jealous of me?" Ash crooked an eyebrow.

"Char." 'I wouldn't say 'jealous', but he sounded like he wanted to raise above that, or something like that. I know a thing or two about wanting to prove yourself, so I can recognize that behavior.'

Ash's memories went back to how Charizard used to act right after his evolution, and then to his behavior after he caught him again, when he was reduced back to a puny Charmander who needed to recover his lost power. Was Cross truly somewhat like that? A trainer who had something to prove to himself to unpleasant levels, rather than someone like the Rookie Crusher and Joshua?

"So, in the end, Cross may not be as much of a jerk as he seems?" he asked, trying to hit the important question.

"Char." 'That I can't say for sure, but I think it's worth looking into.'

Ash nodded along. He could feel a sort of... strange connection, or perhaps a commonality, with that rude boy from Alola. Even Paul back in the first timeline had managed to prove to be a rival he wanted to surpass and to a degree could respect; maybe Cross could be like that, as well. It was something he wanted to get to the bottom of, as well. Pikachu, however, shook his head.

"Pika." 'Hold your Ponyta. I doubt he's gonna be in any chatting mood until you defeat him in the next round.'

"Yeah... he's still an opponent, in the end." Ash said, remembering that they were in a strategy meeting for their next opponent after all.

"Char." 'Whatever his motivations, I want a piece of him. I want to show him how much this 'trash' has grown stronger.'

Charizard grinned, preparing his claws, much more like how Ash expected him to act. Ash smiled at him, then at Pikachu, and even Kingler and Muk; all of them shared an interest in the coming match, and Ash knew what he needed to do.

Regardless of how much of a jerk Cross was and what his motives were, he was still an opponent on their way to the victory in the Indigo League Conference, and Ash had no intention to lose against him.

“The second battle of the Indigo Conference’s sixth round of battles in the Top 32 is about to begin! The winner of this battle will go on to the Top 16! In the red corner is the foreign fighter from Veilstone City, Paul!”

The crowd cheered, and he nodded his head in acknowledgement.

“In the green corner is Crimson City’s rich heiress beloved by all she meets! Give it up for Jeanette Fisher!”

The crowd cheered at a similar volume as a pretty girl in a perhaps too fancy kimono curtsied to the masses.

This led to even more cheering.

“The battle is a three on three battle with full range of substitutions and no time limit! Now, begin!”

“Hypno, stand by for battle!”

”Golduck, go!”

What followed was the appearance of both Pokémon, who stared down each other in a manner mirrored by their trainers.

“Signal Beam!”

They both yelled that as the first attack and both Golduck’s gem and Hypno’s pendulum glowed with a myriad of colors before firing.

The beams clashed in the middle of the stadium, exploding with equal power and creating a giant plume of light.

“You know what to do.”

Hypno did, and with Teleport Hypno vanished from sight.

He couldn’t see what happened next, but he knew what Hypno was trained to do, and the smack of a physical blow and the shocked gasp of Jeanette proved it had worked out as planned.

”Using the decreased visibility and coded commands, Hypno struck a sneak attack with Drain Punch!”

The announcer explained what happened in plain terms as Hypno returned to him via another teleport, and the light plume vanished to reveal a damaged, but still standing Golduck.

“Hydro Pump!”

Golduck spat out a gushing volley of water, which Hypno avoided with a Teleport before appearing again behind Golduck with a glowing Drain Punch.

Golduck however, was ready for it. Hypno swung, but Golduck avoided the attack and then swerved around to grab Hypno from behind.

Golduck’s arms gripped Hypno in a triangle-like bend from the armpits to the back of the neck. Hypno was struggling to get out, but to no avail.

“What!?”

What sort of attack was that!?

“Golduck is, like, actually performing a human battle technique known as a Full Nelson. It’s, like, a hold used in human martial arts, like kung fu and masked people like, jumping onto each other, though it is often totally illegal in tournaments. If you need somewhere it was used that doesn’t have screaming weirdos, you may recognize it from that Dragon Ball show. Which totally had screaming weirdoes too, come to think of it.”

He’d wonder why his Pokédex knew about such things another time, but he had more important things to do first.

Like getting out of that bind.

“Teleport!”

“Disable!”

Hypno had only a moment to flicker before Golduck’s gem flashed a purple color, and the flickering stopped.

“Hypno can’t escape Golduck’s bind. He’s stuck there, and completely at Golduck’s mercy!”

Jeanette snickered as the announcer finished.

“I’ll admit I wasn’t quite sold on this technique. I’m fonder of refined martial traditions like aikido than professional wrestling, but what can I say. A.J convinced me to give it a shot and it looks like it is paying dividends. Now Golduck, Zen Headbutt!”

Golduck’s head glowed a bright pink, before slamming it into the restrained Hypno. This was done again and again, and Paul could only grimace.

He had taught Hypno Toxic, which had replaced Poison Gas. It was a more effective means of leaving a stronger poison status and less prone to being blocked.

However, it was a better move than Toxic in this situation, and now he didn’t have it.

Damn it!

“Disable!”

Hypno’s eyes flashed, and with the Zen Headbutt petering out into a regular headbutt that didn’t seem to be the attack itself Paul saw an opening.

Teleport’s own disabling would soon end, and he’d be able to escape and get this match back on track.

“Encore!”

He growled from the back of his throat as the still binding Golduck shot a white light from the gem into Hypno, who began sputtering out Disables on repeat like a glitching water sprinkler.

“Now Fling!”

Golduck adjusted its hold on Hypno to regain range of movement and potential momentum, before throwing Hypno across the field.

The throw flung Hypno into the wall of the stadium, and Hypno slumped over in defeat with one last sputter of Disable flashing.

“Hypno is unable to battle! The winner is Golduck!”

He returned Hypno without a word as the crowd cheered louder and the announcer spoke above it all.

“The first battle goes to Jeanette and a quite unexpected battle technique. It is one thing to match up types and moves, but you don’t see martial arts that often!”

No, one did not. It was why he didn’t feel quite as angry at Hypno for the loss as he might in other circumstances.

Neither of them could have seen it coming.

He had seen the Pokémon that this girl had: a strange Bellsprout, a Bellossom, a Victreebel, Beedrill, Machamp, Rapidash, and Tentacruel.

He had not seen clear evidence of such implementation of martial arts, could've seen some evidence in Machamp's battles, but he had assumed that was just a species’ trait.

This battle would need to avoid anything like that again.

Nidoking had Thunderbolt, but it also had a neck.

“Starmie, stand by for battle!”

He threw out the Net Ball, which burst out to reveal the bluish-purple multi-layered Water-type.

He had caught Starmie on a whim while on his Magikarp hunt, and it was good enough to keep around for a bit to see how it would go.

He had brought Starmie as a backup in case Hypno faltered. He found Starmie weaker than Hypno, but it was faster and could probably clean up against a Machamp.

It could clean up a Golduck, with the benefit of not being vulnerable to holds.

“Thunderbolt!”

“Signal Beam!”

The electrical charge around Starmie flashed and fired at Golduck, who was slower to counter.

The resulting power collision was much closer to Golduck than Starmie, sending the duck to its knees.

“Golduck, are you alright?!”

“Thunderbolt!”

Not after the next attack, which flew into Golduck as it was standing back up and hit before it could respond to its trainer well and true.

Golduck collapsed back down after the blow, and this time it stayed down.

“Golduck is unable to battle!”

“With that quick counter the match is tied up! How will Jeanette Fisher respond!?”

She bit her lip in thought, and Paul could imagine what was going through her head right now.

He knew she had Pokémon that would have an advantage over his Starmie, but many of them were also vulnerable to Starmie at the same time.

“Beedrill!”

She eventually made her decision, and the buzzing bug was the second Pokémon she sent out, emerging from a Park Ball.

“Psyshock!”

Purple streams were shot out from Starmie right to the bug, who darted out of the way with a quick dodge before sweeping in towards Starmie.

“X-Scissor!”

“Gyro Ball!”

The green stingers of Beedrill clashed with the spinning blue-glow tips of Starmie, resulting in sparks and both being driven back with little knockback.

“Their attacks are equal!”

“Agility!”

Beedrill’s wings began vibrating faster and faster, before the Beedrill flew back towards Starmie with higher speed than before.

“Psyshock!”

Starmie shot out the super-effective attack right into Beedrill’s path, which avoided the attack with an effortless swerve and swung a purple stinger right into Starmie.

The attack landed, slashing at Starmie with what looked like a Poison Jab attack.

“Good hit Beedrill!”

The attack was a solid strike, he’d give her that. It did not however leave a poison status.

Beedrill continued to buzz and pester around Starmie, moving too fast for a clear strike.

“And Beedrill’s increased speed makes it difficult for Starmie to counter! What will Paul do in this situation!?”

That was the question.

Watching the bug flying circles around Starmie, counters began to come up in his mind.

The first thing that came to mind was trying to soak Beedrill’s wings. He had taught Starmie Rain Dance.

However, that would not work. He had tried to replicate Erika’s strategy, but it had not gelled with his own battle style and strengths. It was more coordinator than trainer.

“Pin Missile!”

From the spinning flight pattern of Beedrill dozens of barbs shot down towards Starmie, meaning he no longer had time to think.

Only act.

“Blizzard!”

Starmie began to spin, releasing a storm of frozen winds and solid snow particles upwards.

The stinging barbs from Pin Missile were frozen, but it went beyond that.

The wind blasted into Beedrill, blowing the bug up and away.

“And Paul blocks and attacks at the same time with Blizzard!”

The announcer’s comments did not fully give an idea of what that counterattack had just done.

Only he and Jeanette could see it, and she was gasping in concern over it.

He was grinning.

Beedrill was struggling to stay airborne and stable even after getting free of the Blizzard winds. Ice had covered its wings, and it was struggling to dislodge the ice and gain full control of itself.

“Psyshock!”

Starmie shot the super-effective attack right at the restricted bug, and struck it head on.

Beedrill fell like a lead weight to the ground.

“Return!”

Jeanette caught it with its Park Ball before it could hit the ground, but the result of the battle was still unquestionable.

“Beedrill is unable to battle!”

The judge agreed with his assessment.

“The raw power of two incredible attacks was too much for Beedrill! It floated fast and stung hard, but it didn’t take many stings itself! Now what will Jeanette use for her last Pokémon!?”

Jeanette looked introspective, considering her options in the time she had to make them.

He was curious what decision she’d reach.

In case she defeated Starmie, he still had Nidoking, Magmar, Torterra and Fearow with him. He had a good selection of types he could use, though if an Ice-type came out it could be tricky.

Eventually she made her choice, holding up a second Park Ball.

“Scizor, go!”

With that declaration a Scizor crashed down on the field in front of Jeanette, with red pincers snapping and ready to go.

He couldn’t help but get an early sense of victory.

“Scizor is the totally metal evolution of Scyther! It pinches things into dust!”

Not even the Pokédex saying things like that could lessen his somewhat premature sense of victory.

She seemed to notice that he felt like victory was his, though she didn’t seem to be going ‘oh crap he has a Fire-type!’ like he’d expect her to.

She seemed to only smirk more, as she took out a necklace from her overly fancy kimono and held it out to him.

“Do you know what this is?”

“Too much fashion for a battle.”

It was something that costed too much, made to resemble something from the depths of high society. A family crest or symbol or something.

“You underestimate how clothing and appearance affects battle, but it is hardly just a family jewel or a token of a daring warrior’s favor. It’s my secret weapon.”

He caught the gleam of a stone embedded on the trinket just as it burst into light, something that also affected the item holder on Scizor's upper left arm to similar effect.

Streams of light shot out from said trinket stone into the item holder on Scizor, and he found himself involuntarily taking a step back.

What was happening?!

The crowd’s surprised and confused mutterings at least assured him he was not the only one in confusion.

“Folks, don’t worry; I’m looking through the rule book right now…ah ha! Found it! Oh my, it’s a Mega Evolution!”

A what?

The light had engulfed Scizor, who was now changing like something that was an evolution, yet not at the same time. The color was wrong for that matter, not being a bluish white.

The pincers of the Scizor were growing longer and more serrated, with height gained as well. The legs became more uniform while the head shape changed.

Eventually the light faded away, allowing Paul to get a good look at his opponent: it was still unmistakably a Scizor, yet was completely unlike any Scizor he had ever seen.

"What the h..."

"Language!"

His frown only grew harsher as his opponent waggled her finger at him.

“Accessing files. Ohhh, Sycamore wrote them! Like, Mega Evolution is a thing where the bond between humans and Pokémon manifests further power from the Pokémon in battle! Also, something about meteors and wars and a fairy tale about a 3000-year-old man if you care.”

He looked at the Scizor, then at the Pokédex in his pocket, then back at the Scizor.

"That's not possible. A bond between humans and Pokémon triggered that?"

That information made no sense from what he knew. A Pokémon could trust you to know best, but that just meant trusting you’d bring them victory they would not be able to get themselves.

He was aware that friendship could bring certain species of Pokémon like Buneary and Riolu to evolve, but whatever happened to Scizor defied what he knew about that kind of evolution.

“Bullet Punch!”

The battle resumed, interrupting his own thoughts about the strangeness he witnessed.

The Scizor sped at Starmie faster than a Scizor should be able to, a red sheen on the elongated pincer.

“Gyro Ball!”

Starmie only had a bit of time to get spinning before the Bullet Punch struck, and was overpowered.

It blunted the blow a bit, but Starmie still took a lot of damage as it was blown away. It was barely able to stand after the blow.

“Thunderbolt!”

Starmie could not take another attack, he’d have to leave some damage to ensure a quick clean up by Magmar.

Starmie indeed shot the lightning bolt towards Scizor, who pointed its claws at the attack.

“Hidden Power!”

Bursts of light bubbles shot out of the claws and into the Thunderbolt. The attack sizzled out on contact, and a wave of unease came over him.

“Hidden Power is, like, an attack whose type varies between users. Like, that was probably a Ground-type Hidden Power.”

The Pokédex in his pocket hit the nail right on the head.

“Bullet Punch!”

Scizor sped forward and struck Starmie in the gem, bouncing back with Starmie slumping over in defeat.

“Starmie is unable to battle!”

“And with a surprise ace up her sleeve, Jeanette has tied this round with little effort! What can Paul do against it!?”

The crowd's amazed roar at the quick defeat fell into the back of his mind as he could only stare at the evolution of Scizor, his thoughts running faster and faster.

Magmar was the logical choice, but this wasn’t logical. It didn’t make any sense! Then there was that Hidden Power that could snuff out flames. Fearow would be neutral but against that sort of power. No, that would be foolish. That strength was something he had never encountered before. Nidoking and Torterra were vulnerable too. What was the right choice?! His hand was erratically reaching for the remaining Pokéballs he had, and it couldn’t seem to stick to one.

Eventually he managed to steel his nerves just long enough to reach for one Pokéball. He stared at it blankly. There was no perfect solution here, and each battle would come with risks. However, if he was going to make the best of the bad decisions, that was the best option he could pick.

“Torterra, stand by for battle!”

With that declaration he threw his first Pokéball high into the air, leading to it crashing down on the field with a tangible shaking and a near stumble for Jeanette and Scizor.

“Begin!”

“Curse!”

”X-Scissor!”

Not too soon after Torterra began buffing himself, Scizor struck with a super-effective strike. The defensive boost from Curse had softened the blow, but his first Pokémon had still clearly taken damage. Scizor was still close though, so he made a quick distinct finger snap. Torterra knew what to do with that response, and so a Seed Bomb struck Scizor at point blank range.

Such an attack wasn’t on paper the move to hit a Scizor with. Somehow he doubted that Mega Evolution changed that status. However, the impact was heightened by proximity and the boost from Curse, so the bug did feel the attack more than the strictest of science and logic might say.

“A quick and ferocious exchange of moves! Both Pokémon surely felt those hits, though my money is on Torterra taking the bigger blow this round than Scizor!”

He wasn’t going to put money against that. He had to keep up the pressure, so he gave a different finger snap. Torterra manifested the attack Stone Edge in response, and fired the row of rocks at Scizor. Scizor was still pretty close, so there was little space to dodge.

“Deflect them with Bullet Punch!”

Scizor began punching the Stone Edge as it came with the rapid blows, though due to how large the pincers were the movement was a bit sluggish and a few stones managed to strike Scizor.

Torterra took the reflected Stone Edges a bit better than Scizor did, though he doubted that they were at a point of having taken equal damage. They were still on a disadvantage.

“Curse!”

Torterra glowed again. As the second boost from Curse manifested Jeanette was looking at his first Pokémon with a thoughtful expression, before her eyes lit up, as if a flash of a plan went through her mind.

“Scizor, perform a feint.”

Feint? The attack for bypassing Protect abusers? An odd strategy but he would be ready for it.

Scizor flew in towards Torterra, and as the bug got closer he could see slight movement and tensing. It was preparing to attack once it got in close.

He gave the signal for Stone Edge and Torterra began firing stones once Scizor was in range. However, the attack came in a way he wasn’t expecting as Scizor, the moment Torterra began manifesting stones, suddenly swerved to the side in what he could tell was planned from the start. The bug flanked around Torterra too fast for the Stone Edge or Torterra to turn around, and formed up X-Scissor to slam down on Torterra from behind.

The damage from such a blow was severe and clear, and as Scizor darted once more away from Torterra his first Pokémon was barely standing.

He could see Overgrow flaring up, and he had the suspicion that without Curse that would have been the final blow right there and then.

“Watch out for wordplay! What is a feint and what is the attack called Feint!? Paul got the question wrong and he’s paying for it with severe damage! Can he and Torterra still get out of this jam!?”

“You should really appreciate the values of words. They can say so many things wouldn’t you agree? Almost as much as little snaps of your fingers, and I wonder how hard it was to train Torterra to such precise sounds, let alone yourself? Scizor here had to take grammar lessons to pull that move off.”

He grimaced. He was not going to lose to training in grammar.

“Hidden Power!”

Both of Scizor’s claws opened up and began blasting balls of energy at the still wincing Torterra.

“Leaf Storm!”

He blasted the balls apart with a billowing storm of leaves that slammed right into Scizor for pitiful damage even with Overgrow.

“Try a Flash Cannon!”

Blinding white light began to form in the open claws of Scizor this time, and Leaf Storm had already been used at its max. Would it still be enough to block it?

“Leaf Storm!”

The two attacks were fired into each other, clashing in the middle of the stage with explosive force. He glared into the blinding explosion looking for any sign of Flash Cannon, and he was pleased to see there wasn’t any.

However, there was nothing that actually prevented her from using Flash Cannon again and again until Leaf Storm was fully drained, and his only chance was keeping the disparity between them as low as possible.

“Light Screen!”

Torterra nodded as the yellow barrier formed around him. Would it be enough to bait her in? He’d have to be sure that she had no choice but to get in close.

“Rain down Stone Edge on the entire field outside of a small radius around yourself!”

Torterra, still glowing green with Overgrow’s power, nodded and manifested several rings of stones around himself before shooting them up into the sky and raining down from their final trajectory like a barrage of missiles.

The light explosion was starting to fade away, and that only was added to by the rain of stones causing burst of dust and stone pieces in their wake. The sound of stones hitting mobile steel showed that he was causing damage to Scizor. However, that was a side benefit to the real goal.

“Is that how you want to play it!? Scizor, finish this just the way he wants it!”

An acknowledging sound came from the nearly gone explosion, and with it Scizor flew out in a headline charge towards Torterra, who let off on the Stone Edge barrage after the insect was just about halfway out of it. The last of the stones teetered off just as Scizor was approaching Torterra, and the damage was clearly visible in dents and chips in the metal coat of said Scyther evolution.

However, the Mega was not as tired as Torterra was at this point, and as Scizor moved in closer he knew this was going to be close. His victory would be by a hair, and his defeat was still the most likely option. However, he was going to prove his strength one way or another, and this was just another test. He would not fall to friendship or grammar.

Power and strategy would defeat both of them.

With a finger snap he had Torterra fire a Seed Bomb at Scizor, but he didn’t expect it to hit. He expected Scizor to avoid it, which the bug did as it began to come around and charge at Torterra’s left side. Both he and his starter stared at the bug just as it came closer and closer, and he could tell his partner saw what he was also seeing. Scizor was tensing, an explosion of energy ready to either charge for a final assault or leap over a defensive move to get to the right side for a final blow.

Torterra began the process of forming a Seed Bomb to fire, and at that moment Scizor leapt into the air, flying over Torterra’s tree and coming in for the changing flanking strike. At that moment Torterra stopped the Seed Bomb, and oddly doing so made his tree glow with what looked like additional energy.

Unexpected, but not without benefit.

“Trap it with Giga Drain and fling it down in front of you!”

Green tendrils shot out of the already glowing tree and the stones near it and ensnarled Scizor like vines. The effect would not drain a lot from Scizor, but it did bind the bug well enough before slamming it down right in front of Torterra.

All seven-hundred and twelve pounds of him.

“Use Earthquake on Scizor!”

Said weight of muscle and earth slammed down right on Scizor in a single funneled blow of earth-shaking force. All of said energy that would normally shake the field shaking Scizor right to his core.

The single stomp still managed to shake the field, and Torterra let off the blow to reveal a Scizor that flashed orange again and returned to the form of a regular Scizor, many dents over its body including one shaped like a Torterra footprint.

“Scizor is unable to battle! The winner of the match is Paul from Veilstone City!”

The ref’s call seemed to cut a string from both him and Torterra, with both of them immediately slumping over in exhaustion and relief. Torterra shook the field again, and he was barely standing on his knees.

That had been too close.

“Now that was a brutal turnaround! Maximized power and timing precision turning around overwhelming efforts of speed and range! That battle hung on a knife’s edge, and yet somehow Paul did it!”

Somehow he did do it… yeah. He did.

He managed to stand himself back up and returned Torterra to his ball with a bit of praise. Torterra earned that much. Meanwhile Jeanette had come over to Scizor and was carrying the bug out herself, though via holding the bug up against her for support. She was either stronger than she looked, or that Scizor weighed less than he expected.

It didn’t really matter anyway. The match was over, and he was on to the next round.

“The sixth round of battles in the Indigo Top Thirty-Two is about to begin! The trainers in battle today are the wave-wandering battler from the isles of plenty Cross!”

On his spot in the red corner stood Cross, his arms crossed and a sneer on his face. The crowd cheered.

“Against him is the young man who has overcome determination and spite in near-equal measures so far! Ladies and gentlemen it is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!”

The crowd cheered for him as well, and he felt like he had even more cheers. Not even a ‘taffy cheat’ audible. It would seem that there weren’t any echoes of him being the bad guy in the last battle.

Though the epithet he was given…was that a pattern? He’d ask Pikachu but he wasn’t on the team for this battle.

Determination would be Pava (according to Anabel), Locke, and Kaia. Spite would be the Rookie Crusher and Joshua. Did Cross count as the third spite or was he determination?

“This battle is a three on three battle with full range of substitutions and no time limits! The winner is declared when one side’s Pokémon are all unable to battle! Begin!”

“Let’s get this over with! Go, Incineroar!”

“Kingler, I choose you!”

The two Pokémon were sent out at about the same time. Incineroar landing with a loud bellow and Kingler with a display of power with pincer snaps that shot through the air like gunshots. Cross was unimpressed.

“Incineroar the Heel Pokémon and a Fire and Dark-Type. Incineroar are battlers at heart who struggle at other calls to life, though despite their love of battle many are known to be soft at heart. Historically those not found in armies or battle arenas were drawn to guardian roles for orphanages and sanctuaries in rough areas. “

He was just as unimpressed by the Pokédex entry on his Pokémon.

“Type advantage? I hope that isn’t your only strategy. Will O’ Wisp!”

Incineroar started the fight with a ball of blue flames forming between his hands and flinging it at Kingler.

“Douse it with Mud Shot!”

The idea was clearly to burn Kingler and weaken any Crabhammer attacks. That was not going to work, as Kingler wafted his pincers up and down in a dousing wave motion. The resulting mud streams, swinging up and down like someone playing with a hose, caught and doused the blue fire ball before it could do anything.

“Bubblebeam!”

After the flame was doused Kingler’s ammo of choice turned to bubbles shot at high velocity. The bubbles flew at Incineroar, who dodged the blast to the left.

The fiery cat continued this motion as more barrages of bubbles were sent. Sometimes to the right, sometimes to the left, but neither of them were getting to put any damage on the other at this rate. One of them would have to do something to break the dead heat. He had his own idea for how to do so.

“Kingler, use Crabhammer with both claws and rush forward!”

Kingler ignited his claws in blue energy and scuttled forward at maximum crawl. Incineroar, just fresh off dodging the Bubblebeam, wasn’t able to get into a position to counter until Kingler had made a fair bit of progress towards it.

“Cute. Thunder Punch!”

Incineroar’s left arm sparked with static electricity before bursting into a full yellow glow. The cat grinned as Kingler came in, ready to avoid the two pincers and hit home with a super-effective attack. However, there was a bit of an assumption problem here.

Kingler wasn’t going to attack Incineroar with the Crabhammers.

“Now strike the ground at full power!”

Kingler’s Crabhammers swung down at the ground and struck it with such force he would not blame anyone from thinking Kingler just learned Earthquake. The entire stadium shook.

In the stands audience members shrieked in shock. At least two sounded cries at spilled drinks.

On the side the referee stumbled, just as Incineroar did the same. The cat stumbled, falling out of easy counter position and quite vulnerable to a Crabhammer to the face.

Kingler didn’t quite hit the face, but a Crabhammer to the stomach was a similarly effective blow that landed into the stunned Pokémon and caused it to stumble backwards from the impact.

“Ketchum landed a fast one on Cross! He managed to mask his true intentions and hit Incineroar with a powerful attack! He also spilled my drink the jerk….”

He blushed, scratching the back of his head at the announcer’s annoyed remark.

“I didn’t mean to. Sorry.”

The announcer didn’t say anything as Incineroar got back up, glaring at Kingler and himself for the fast one. Incineroar turned red and vanished as Cross returned it.

“Cute, but not the end of it. Not by a long shot.”

“Kook?” ‘If that was cute, maybe I should actually learn Earthquake. Can I learn that move?’

Ash shrugged. He didn’t think so. It was on his study guide for a question that wasn’t on the final test. ‘Which of these Pokémon cannot use Earthquake: A: Ekans, B: Kingler, C: Tyrogue, D: Venusaur’. Unless someone managed an Aura Sphere Squirtle since then, it was probably still the case.

With that question came Cross’s second Pokémon, and it was one of the ones that had come up when looking into him earlier.

“Lurrr!”

Lurantis, the guardian of forests, now loomed over Kingler.

“Cross switches his Fire-type for a Grass-type!”

“Lurantis the Bloom Sickle Pokémon. The colors of a Lurantis are considered difficult to keep vibrant and pink, which makes it an enjoyable challenge for some. The species evolves in bright sunlight and gathers powers from it.”

While instinct was for him to switch for a different type in the face of this threat he didn’t move to do so. Kingler’s snapping claws agreed with him on the call.

“Leaf Storm!”

Lurantis was illuminated in a green glow as the familiar tactic of Serperior started up.

“Block it with Rock Slide, then go for a Crabhammer!”

Kingler, claws open, shot out a few white shapes in front of him that quickly solidified into a pile of stones. He scuttered off while covered by the falling stones as Leaf Storm slammed into the rocks and shattered them in a neutralizing manner.

As a result of this barrier Kingler was completely free from any damage and was able to slam into Lurantis from the side with a Crabhammer. The attack caused the Grass-type to stagger, but it was far from a final blow.

Type advantage was still a thing after all.

“Solar Blade!”

Lurantis’s blade arms began to glow as sunlight began to be pulled into them. Kingler was already starting to backpedal away from the approaching attack and he was hardly going to disagree with it. He’d just offer up his own touch.

“Blast it with Bubblebeam as you get out of range!”

Kingler was a bit of a wobbly, ungainly sight scuttering backwards with his claws wide open and blasting bubbles, but it was doing what he wanted. The bubble barrage continued to blast into Lurantis as they got farther and farther from range of Solar Blade.

They should be able to completely avoid it…

Was what he was hoping for, but the blades that were charged up were a lot bigger at full charge than they expected and extended farther as it fell upon Kingler.

“Block it with Metal Claw!”

Kingler ceased his ranged attack and lifted both claws, glowing metallic white, upwards to intercept the slamming attack.

The two attacks struck with a clammering bang, a shock wave coming from their impact and dislodging his hat.

“You know there is a reason the best don’t wear hats. They get blown off too easily.”

His hat lying on the ground next to him, he could only look back at Cross and wasn’t sure if that was a joke or an insult. Maybe it was both.

“Well, I’m not that fashionable, but I like to think I’m the first on the look. Ash Ketchum, League Champion who makes hats in style.”

“Better than making having your head sucked on by a Psychic-type cool.”

He had no idea what Cross was referring to as their Pokémon disengaged their attacks and stared the other down, tense and waiting for the next attack. He used that moment of calm to recall his hat and put it back on his head.

“Leaf Storm!”

Leaf Storm got weaker every time it was used unless the Pokémon had Contrary. He had only met one Pokémon with that ability, and it was not a Lurantis.

“Block it again with Rock Slide!”

Kingler repeated the action that had gotten them the first hit: he shot out a few white shapes in front of him that quickly solidified into a pile of stones. However, that was the only thing that was the same.

The leaves struck the stone barrier faster than they had the first time, before Kingler could scuttle in another direction. When they broke the wall they had more momentum to continue forward and struck Kingler.

It was a weakened attack for sure, but it still sent Kingler crashing into the arena wall with a thump.

“Amazing, folks! Lurantis has become even more powerful and broke through Kingler’s defense!”

Kingler wasn’t out of the fight and was struggling back onto his many feet. A suspicion wafted over him as to what just happened.

“Can Lurantis have Contrary?”

“It can.”

With Kingler fully on his legs his gaze was now on Lurantis and the grinning Cross, a very smug grin across his face.

“Well, if you know how Contrary works I don’t have to explain it. You seem to know how Leaf Storm works with the ability, so let me demonstrate with another one. Lurantis use Superpower!”

The pink stripes of the grass-type flashed red as Lurantis surged towards Kingler, a powerful glow around it. Kingler managed to avoid the attack, which struck the ground with the impact to make a Bulbasaur-sized crater.

“Every time my Lurantis uses Superpower it gets stronger and tougher. Superpower again!”

Lurantis lunged again, and once more Kingler dodged the attack. The resulting crater was big enough for Glalie.

The attack was repeated again, and again, with Kingler each time only narrowly avoiding the attacks. Each time the crater got bigger.

Bayleef-sized. Leavanny-sized. Krookodile-sized. Charizard-sized.

They stayed that size in the following attack, but that was still a very big hole and Kingler was wheezing in exhaustion from avoiding them. Meanwhile Lurantis was far less exhausted and was staring at the tired crab with the patience of a predator and a red aura flickering around it in battle-ready anticipation.

“Lurantis’s power level is off the charts! Kingler can’t avoid those attacks forever, and with that power can Ketchum do anything to stop it!?”

What were his options? Kingler no longer knew Stomp, so he couldn’t use a Z-Move. That might not even work in current conditions.

Could he swap out? Charizard could probably avoid Leaf Storm and Superpower and use Flamethrower. It was an option, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to use Charizard that early.

Muk would struggle against all of that accumulated power, and Yanma would be taken out in one hit. Lurantis would struggle to hit Yanma first, but they’d have to win a game of time to get the required speed. Yanma was also going to go nowhere against those defensive boosts.

He’d have to break that defense wide open, and he had a few ways to do it. Several of the ways were ones that Kingler could do.

“Kingler use Crabhammer with both your claws!”

Kingler, still exhausted, did light both of his crushing pincers for the attack. Cross laughed at the display.

“Oh I get it. You want to try to get a critical hit with Crabhammer to get past Superpower’s defense boosts! I know how that tactic works, and that’s not going to work on us! Leaf Storm!”

The leaves began to brew up on Lurantis and he had his own laugh.

“Sorry, but you skipped a step. Kingler!”

And Kingler pulled off step one, which Cross should have really seen coming. He had already done so with Kingler this match.

He struck the stadium floor, shaking the entire structure with the sheer power behind the blows.

The audience in the stands screamed in shock, the ref lost his balance, and the announcer shouted something about ‘my refill!’, but most importantly for them Lurantis lost its balance and started blasting the leaves upward into the sky and not at Kingler.

Said crab of his being able to rush forward with reignited claws and slam Lurantis across its midsection with both claws. The attack landed with a lot of oomph, and he was sure he got what he was looking for.

Lurantis wasn’t down yet, but the blow did send the pink Pokémon stumbling back into one of the holes that Superpower had created. Cross growled in frustration as he saw his chance.

“Bubblebeam!”

From the edge of the Glalie hole Kingler blasted Lurantis with bubbles from both claws.

The ref, back on stable feet, darted over. Kingler ceased the bubble attack as the ref reached the hole and judged Lurantis for a moment before waving a flag.

“Lurantis is unable to battle!”

“And Ketchum, enemy of drinks, scores the first knock out of this round with determination and crazy if effective tactics!”

The announcer was still annoyed at them, but he honestly couldn’t care less.

…

At the stands, Misty kept her fists clenched, watching Ash and Kingler’s performance in expectation. Even though she’d always feel thrilled with the boy’s battles, she couldn’t help but get some additional excitement whenever he brought out one of his Water-types.

Especially being one she’d often train with for support and mutual learning. She was always pleased when her training turned out useful for them.

Though in this case, the excitement was somewhat marred by a tinge of worry. Sure, Kingler had pulled off a win even with a type disadvantage and gave Ash the lead, but didn’t come out unscathed.

“That was great, wasn’t it?” Ms. Ketchum asked, clearly more excited than any of them.

“Indeed it was, though we can’t rest easy yet,” Professor Oak replied with a serious tone. “Ash still has two more Pokémon to defeat. I’m especially worried about that Incineroar.”

“You know something about it, Professor?” Misty asked with interest.

“Mostly what my Alolan cousin and his colleague have told me,” Oak replied, “but I have the feeling Ash’s opponent might try to use it as his trump card in this match. I can tell how much power it packs just with one look to its physique.”

“Is that so?” Iris asked. “Then why use it from the beginning? Should not he keep it in store for surprise?”

Misty wondered the same thing. She’d watched with Ash a few videos of Cross’ previous battles, and he’d used Incineroar a couple times, enough for Ash to know what it was capable of. No matter how powerful it’d be, Ash should have been able to make a plan to face it.

“This is just my own guess, but Cross probably hoped to intimidate Ash with overwhelming power from the beginning. Of course that didn’t work, so he switched tactics,” Oak offered, as he pointed to the holes across the field.

Misty glanced at them, and a thought came to her mind. She recalled those holes made it more difficult for Kingler to move across the field, and thus to get in position to attack. That was… something she imagined Ash could have come up with, should he be in a similar situation.

And that thought bothered her for some reason. Either Cross was smarter than he looked despite being a jerk, or he had more in common with Ash than it seemed.

She decided to clear those thoughts off her mind for now. The battle continued, and she hoped Ash had planned for Incineroar beyond just using Kingler, since even she could tell the crab wouldn’t probably last much longer.

…

“Great job, Kingler!”

Kingler rose a pincer into the air in recognition of the win, clenching it loudly for a moment to a cheering crowd before dropping it back down.

“Kooky.” ‘Geeze, that thing was like fighting Serperior.’

It was like fighting Serperior, and it had a lot like Bulbasaur too. It was uncanny. But an uncanny win was still an uncanny win, and they had two more Pokémon to go.

Incineroar, and the third Pokémon that could be…

“Lycanroc, go!”

Lycanroc.

The red Rock-type was the final Pokémon Cross revealed, and one of his two remaining Pokémon. Its red eyes glared at Kingler, who tensed in tired readiness.

“Kingler, do you want to take a break?”

Kingler shook his head, snapping his pincers eagerly with a low gurgle.

“Kookkk.” ‘I’m not going to get enough of a break to make it worth it. Let’s see what this guy can do with what energy I have left.’

In that case they’d have to play around the holes that Lurantis had torn into the field. It would probably work best to attack with Bubblebeam as they’d limit Kingler’s already slow speed and tire him out quicker…

“Stone Edge!”

The battle began with Lycanroc slamming its fist into the ground. Nothing happened for a moment but in the following moments giant blue stone pillars rose up in each of the Lurantis holes. Each promptly exploded, sending hundreds of stone shards flying everywhere.

Kingler held up his pincers to block his face from the shard storm that followed, and he had to shield his eyes as well. While he couldn’t see anything he could hear, and what he did hear was movement.

Lycanroc.

“Kingler, use Crabhammer to protect yourself! Lycanroc is coming for…”

The sounds of an approaching Lycanroc were now very audible, and with the sound of sparks. Kingler didn’t have a chance to defend before Lycanroc struck him head on with a Thunder Punch.

The shock coursed through Kingler, and his crab fell over in defeat as Lycanroc stood over him. The dust storm from the Stone Edge faded, revealing that the holes that had once been present were now filled with grey stone.

“Kingler is unable to battle!”

“Wow that was a power play! In two moves Cross tied the match and repaired the terrain to minimize his own movement disadvantage!”

Altering the terrain of the field to be better for both Lycanroc and Incineroar, and with Stone Edge. He would not have thought of doing it that way, but the tactic was something he was familiar with.

“Good job Kingler, you deserve a good rest.”

…

For Delia Ketchum, watching her son’s battles on TV was one thing, but seeing them live was a completely different experience.

For starters, both excitement and tension increased tenfold. Less than a minute ago she was excited because her son took an early lead, and now she was worried because his opponent had managed to even up the score.

“That wasn’t too great for Kingler, was it?”

“Well, it wasn’t too bad, either,” Oak commented. “Kingler might have not scored any hits against that Lycanroc, but he got Cross to reveal his full team much earlier.”

Delia looked at the board, and realized what the scientist meant. Even if Kingler only defeated one enemy Pokémon, he held out enough to keep the rest of Ash’s team hidden. That gave Ash some element of surprise, a small but significant edge.

And considering how surprising Ash could get in his matches, she was certain he could capitalize on it all the way through.

…

Lycanroc’s red gaze stayed on him as he pondered what Pokémon to send out next. Charizard was going to be the final Pokémon, but that left his second Pokémon up to him.

With Pikachu in the stands his choices were Muk, Yanma, a Tauros he hadn’t used in round one, and Serperior.

Serperior wouldn’t do that well against Incineroar and he knew how Contrary worked, and he’d like to keep her in the wings for later if he could. Yanma would have to rely on taking both on with a lot of quick blows and swift moves which he could do, but it would be hard. That left Muk or the Tauros, and both were more defensive than his other Pokémon.

The Tauros he had brought with him today had both Rest and Sleep Talk, allowing him to battle and heal with Body Slam and a move called Stomping Tantrum. It was a strategy he was interested in using at some point, but this Lycanroc seemed a bit too aggressive for it.

That meant his next Pokémon would be...

“I choose you, Muk!”

With that and a splotch to the arena ground his Muk, fully purple to the rainbow of colors that was Cross’s own, made his debut for Indigo.

“And Ketchum’s second Pokémon is a Muk!”

Cross smirked.

“I hope you weren’t expecting me to not know a thing about fighting a Muk. I happen to know exactly what a Muk can do, as well as what a Kantonian Muk can’t! Snarl!”

Purple and black wisps of smoke built up in Lycanroc’s mouth for a moment before being spewed towards Muk. Given what he said, it made him wonder if an Alolan Muk could use Snarl while his Muk couldn’t.

But that was a later question, for the now that was at hand…

“Get flat!”

Muk transformed instantly from a standing pile of sludge to a large puddle, shedding most of his height and letting the Snarl fly right over him harmlessly.

“And Muk avoids the attack by escaping into the second dimension!”

“That’s not what happened.”

Oddly both he and Cross rebutted the announcer’s declaration at the same time.

The announcer didn’t explain why he felt like describing it that way, perhaps it was just the first thing that came to mind for him, but Muk reformed into his usual appearance.

“Sludge Bomb!”

“Avoid it and strike back with Crush Claw!”

Horking up the sludge attacks Muk fired them with a rapid pace. Lycanroc, however, avoided them each time and got in close with glowing claws ready for a slashing attack. However, Muk was able to avoid the attack in the way only Muk could.

His body morphed to have the slashes hit empty air and not physical sludge.

“What?!”

Cross seemed surprised that Muk could do that. He had a Muk so why did that surprise him?

“The Alolan Muk accumulates such concentrated toxins in its body that they are more solid than the ones found in Kanto. Their solid crystals of poison make it harder for the Muk to morph its body to avoid attacks.”

“Brick Break!”

Muk swung both his arms forward, striking the side of Lycanroc with twin elastic blows. It was a solid hit.

“Snarl!”

So was the point blank Snarl to Muk’s face.

Both of their Pokémon had taken damage, and both staggered back and shook their heads to clear them from the blows before glaring at each other.

“Dig!”

Muk slammed his hands into the ground and turned himself into what he’d probably describe as churning liquid. Said liquid burrowed into the earth and vanished from sight, leaving Lycanroc unable to tell where Muk would come from next.

“Muk goes for a stealthy assault! It’s already hard to land a hit on Muk, but now Lycanroc can’t even see the slime in question! How is Cross going to get around that!”

“Stone Edge!”

Lycanroc punched the ground, and second later the stone pillars of Lycanroc’s take on Stone Edge appeared. Though instead of going out towards a target above ground, they came out of the earth as if striking a target below instead.

And it was exactly what Lycanroc was apparently aiming for.

“Stone Edge can be done in a few ways but this is one way that is useful for defense! Did Muk get skewered!?”

The answer came from a purple fist emerging from behind Lycanroc and whapping the Rock-type in the back of the head.

Muk fully formed back for all to see, but two more stone spikes emerged from the ground and struck Muk simultaneously much like the Brick Break attacks had.

Lycanroc was closer to him and he could see the wolf smirking, fist to the ground for the counter-attack.

“Sludge Bomb!”

Lycanroc avoided the spewed sludge, which splattered against the base of his platform before turning around to face Muk. If anyone was fresh to the fight it would almost look like he was battling with Lycanroc and Cross with Muk.

“Crush Claw!”

“Brick Break!”

Such a person would be confused as to why the opposite Pokémon reacted with Muk’s elastic arms moving towards Lycanroc as a glowing claw moved to strike Muk.

From his perspective his attack would hit first.

“Thunder Punch!”

The other arm sparked with electrical force before moving to strike the extended and thin arm. The new attack struck first, and the shocks from the attack ran through Muk’s stretched arm and to the rest of him. The attack stunned Muk, though for less time than one might expect.

Mostly because Muk used his thicker, un-stretched arm to cut his thinner arm off and then used Dig to go underground. The only sludge that was visible was the still sparking severed arm.

“And Muk… I hope Ketchum didn’t teach him to do that technique.”

He was aghast at the idea that anyone would think it was a planned move.

“I did not!”

The arm eventually stopped sparking, at which point the limb suspiciously slurped down into the earth where Muk most likely had reabsorbed it into himself.

“So that Muk of yours made the call to temporarily lose a limb to limit the damage from our attack. That’s a pretty good trick, I’m not going to lie. I might actually respect that Muk more than its trainer.”

He’d take the compliment for Muk and glare at Cross.

…

Once they’d gotten over the shock of Muk (temporarily) losing a limb, Delia focused once more on the match itself. Ash seemed to have the upper hand so far, but there was a worrying feeling she couldn’t quite shake off.

“You know, there’s something really strange about that Cross boy,” she finally said. “I can’t put my finger on it, but it’s bothering me for some reason.”

“So you noticed too?” Misty intervened, grabbing the woman’s attention. “That guy is kinda like Paul; a jerk who puts more emphasis on power. But at the same time… he’s also like Ash.”

Delia’s heart almost skipped a beat at the words, but Misty had just hit the nail. So that was what bothered her.

“While their battling styles are different, I can’t deny there are similarities too,” Oak nodded. “Ash is the type of trainer who’d use his Pokémon abilities in unusual and creative ways, and he’ll also take advantage of the terrain to turn the tide if he has the chance.”

“You mean like that time in the Fuchsia Tag Tournament?” Delia asked.

She still recalled how Ash turned around what seemed like an unwinnable scenario, by having Pikachu use the field itself to damage his opponent. Similarly, Cross had altered the field to hamper Kingler’s movements, then restored it for his own Pokémon when he had to.

Not quite the same, but it played along the same lines.

Oak then continued. “When two trainers whose battling styles are different but similar enough, victory can be uncertain. Sometimes it takes power, speed, cleverness, creativity and even luck. While I don’t doubt Ash has a plan for this match, Cross has a similar level of skill and cleverness, so the result might come down to something else.”

Delia turned her attention back to the battlefield, first on Ash and then on Cross. While comparing her son to a boy who seemed far from nice, she couldn’t deny their similarities when it came to battling. She wholeheartedly believed her son could win, but against an opponent like Cross, that would be no easy feat.

…

Lycanroc hopped into the air, avoiding the surfacing Muk’s rise from the earth in full force for a super-effective Dig.

Lycanroc was ordered to use Crush Claw and flew right back at Muk for a counter-blow, but Muk slithered back into the ground to avoid it. It put the two back where they started.

“Stone Edge!”

Lycanroc again struck the ground, attacking the tunnels Muk was using with pillars of stone that one take of Stone Edge used.

The battlefield was motionless for a moment before Muk resurfaced a distance away from Lycanroc.

“Muk.” ‘That’s getting annoying.’

It was, and Lycanroc was avoiding Sludge Bomb. Getting close for Body Slam was going to be tricky. Maybe with Dig.

“Kkkk.” ‘Let me try something. Just managed to get it working the other day and it will at least surprise them. Surprised me.’

What could Muk have up his sludge? Only one way to find out.

“Muk go!”

At his general command Muk formed a ball of energy in his hands. It was sort of like Focus Blast, but blue and pink and sparkling. Whatever the fifth move Muk was using was, it was not one he recognized.

“Snarl!”

The two attacks were blasted into each other, but the odd attack by Muk tore through it and slammed into Lycanroc. The attack pushed Lycanroc back all the way to Cross’s platform, but at that point Lycanroc was given the leverage to crush the attack and stop taking damage from it.

“The hell was that?”

That was a good question. Muk didn’t even know what it was supposed to be.

“And Lycanroc takes that Moonblast. This battle is a knock on drag on brawl!”

Oh it was Moonblast….

“What?!”

He, Cross, and Muk all let out the same baffled declaration at the attack’s identification. Lycanroc let out a similarly confused whine, so it might be all four of them being just as baffled by the entire thing. The only one on the battle level who wasn’t confused was his Pokédex.

“I’m surprised you’d be surprised. I told you months ago that Grimer, and thus Muk, were created in part from moon energy.”

“Yeah but… Moonblast. Muk. It doesn’t…it doesn’t seem right. Like, if Squirtle started using Flamethrower or something, it is just that… that that.”

He couldn’t even finish his sentence properly.

…

Sometimes being the only professor in a stadium meant that everyone was looking at him in the same sort of confusion. Even those of them who weren’t with him.

Perhaps it was the lab coat. If he hadn’t brought it with him he’d probably be incognito.

“Pokémon, are strange. Muk, are strange. Strange does as strange does.”

“Samuel, that doesn’t explain anything.”

“I know.”

…

“Stone Edge!”

“Moonblast!”

Lycanroc punched the ground and sent the stone pillars surging forward. Muk tossed the mystical energy ball into the pillars, shattering them just as they were about three quarters of the way to Muk.

It was bizarre to see that move, and he was never not going to think that, but it did give him an idea.

“Muk, use Dig and then Moonblast!”

Muk drained himself into the earth as Lycanroc and Cross smirked at once.

“You going to try and hit us from behind or something? Nice try, skewer the blob with Stone Edge!”

Lycanroc swung his fist down to the ground, ready to turn the ground below treacherous. However, before Lycanroc could complete the defensive combination a bright blast of light burst from the earth. Lycanroc let out a shocked whine as the intense light hit with blinding intensity.

“What!?”

Slithering sludge slipped around Lycanroc as it stumbled back in a blinded stir, right into the fully raised form of embracing sludge that was Muk. However, this embrace was not going to be that friendly.

“Muuu!” ‘Got you now!’

“Body Slam!”

Lycanroc, eyes still wide and motions erratic from the blinding light, was promptly crushed under Muk’s sludge form in smothering ferocity.

Muk lay across the field in a suffocating coating, Lycanroc pounding at the sludge to get out.

“This might be it folks! First Muk blinded Lycanroc and now it is all smothering action! What is Lycanroc to do!?”

“Stone Edge!”

Cross’s shout went unanswered, for a few agonizing seconds. Then Muk’s body bulged. Muk’s eyes widened in shock, before an explosion went off under him as the stone pillar detonated.

Muk was sent flying into the air as Lycanroc escaped, panting heavily from more than just being caught under the sludge. The Alolan Pokémon was still blinking heavily, being trapped under the sludge not contributing to any recovery from a Moonblast flash bang in the face.

Muk meanwhile landed several feet away in a heap. Muk was motionless, and the call was made.

“Muk is unable to battle!”

“And now Ketchum is on the ropes with only one Pokémon left to face against Lycanroc and Incineroar! Muk gave the fight its all, and look at Lycanroc. It’s all was a lot it would seem.”

“You did great, Muk, take a long rest.”

With Muk thanked and given a rest he looked at Lycanroc. Lycanroc was not stable in his footing from disoriented eyes, panting heavily in exhaustion, and even looked a bit purple tinted. Did Muk poison from sheer hostile contact, or was that some sort of end result of smothering?

Whatever it was the next move was going to almost be a formality.

“I choose you, Charizard!”

With that his first Fire-type made his debut at the Indigo Conference: appearing with a massive roar that shook the stadium and wing beats that shook the air itself.

Lycanroc tensed, head erratically struggling to actually pinpoint where Charizard was in the sky. Lycanroc’s eyes were still squinting and pained looking.

“Ketchum’s final Pokémon is a Charizard! It’s up against a Rock-type, which seems a bit odd of a plan to me but maybe he has an incredibly complex and nuanced strategy to win?!”

“Flamethrower!”

Lycanroc tried to avoid the attack, but Charizard was quicker and engulfed the Rock-type in intense flames. This cooking lasted for a quick second before Lycanroc collapsed to the field and Charizard let off the flames. As Lycanroc lay in defeat and the status of being defeated was announced Charizard landed back on the field and looked at him in concern.

“Zzr?” ‘That wasn’t it was it? If that was his last Pokémon I’m going to have words with Muk and Kingler. That was too easy.’

“Hitting a Rock-type with Flamethrower isn’t a strategy worth writing home about, but it got the job done for Ketchum! It’s now a tied game of Fire and Fire battle action! Charizard or Incineroar!? Who is going to come out on top in what is sure to be a fiery battle!?”

Charizard snorted in relief at the confirmation there was still more battle to be had.

…

The final bout would be fire against fire. Each of them would use a Fire-type starter in their final evolutionary stage.

That just seemed to highlight even more the parallels between Ash and Cross, uncomfortable as that was, but they'd come to light over the entire course of the battle. That last ditch move Lycanroc used to defeat Muk when it seemed on the verge of losing looked a lot like one of Ash's miracle recoveries from his toughest battles; he'd tried something in the heat of the moment just on the oft chance that it would work, trusting his instincts.

And it worked, just like it usually did for Ash.

Anabel thought that, with the odds so evenly matched, none of the factors Professor Oak mentioned before, power, speed, or luck, would determine the result.

'No, in this case, it'll be a battle of willpowers,' the telepath thought to herself, as Misty and Delia voiced out loud their support for Ash and Charizard. 'The one with the strongest drive to win will come out on top.'

That was it. While nothing was written yet, Anabel was certain that Ash's determination would be stronger in the end.

Plus, it wasn't like Charizard didn't already have experience facing a super strong opponent in a battle of fire against fire.

…

“Incineroar, go!”

Incineroar. It was a Pokémon he remembered from their first battle, though to call it a battle was a bit much on his end. He was pretty sure that the girl in yellow back in Johto had put up more of a fight against him than he had against Incineroar.

The cat, much like his trainer, took a moment to study him before shaking his head.

“Cer.” ‘It really is that weakling’s Charmander all trained up into something halfway decent. Amazing what actual talent can do for a Pokémon.’

He snorted back in derision as the battle got underway

“Flamethrower!”

Their battle started the same on both of their sides with each of them launching fire at the other. He let it loose from the depths of his being as a great river of flames. Incineroar shot it from the fiery core of its belt.

Their two attacks collided mid-stadium, run off sparks and spews of their flames going outward in all directions but forward as they matched each other firepower for firepower.

“This final battle starts with a fiery clash of Flamethrowers! They are equal in power!”

The announcer said what was clearly obvious for those watching. That of course didn’t mean he was wrong. They were still not going to overpower each other at range so it would come down to their other qualities. Strength, endurance…

“Use Flame Charge!”

And speed.

He flapped his wings a few times and surrounded himself in fire as he sped towards Incineroar. The cat’s fist sparked with a Thunder Punch but he swerved out of the way before it could hit him. He was now behind the other Fire-type, who was already turning around to match him.

“Throat Chop!”

“Dragon Claw!”

The dark attack clashed with his new move that had replaced Dragon Tail: a darkness clad hand sparking against the draconic green of his claws. Again they were equally matched in close range as they were at a distance. That left only two contests of endurance and…

“Flame Charge!”

Speed, though that would be no contest.

Both of them broke off their attacks moments before he flapped his wings and cloaked himself in fire once again. With the fiery cloak he charged at Incineroar once again who once more started up a Thunder Punch to try and strike him on the counter.

However, Flame Charge made him faster each time he used it. He moved quicker, swerving to the side once more before crashing into the red and black enemy of his with his flame-coated wings.

The attack pushed his foe back, though it was more from the forces of momentum than any significant damage. His opponent even snorted in amusement as he let off the Flame Charge and returned a distance from him.

“Cin.” ‘Was that supposed to actually hurt?’

Incineroar might just have him in endurance, but there was no question he had greater speed. Ash was well aware of what Flame Charge’s additional effect on the user was and giving him the speed advantage was part of their ‘incredibly complex and nuanced strategy’ as the announcer would call it.

“Use Will O’ Wisp!”

His opponent formed the blue fire between his paws and he was confused as to why. He was pretty sure that wouldn’t actually hurt him. Unless the idea was to do something other than direct damage.

He flapped his wings and took off, getting distance from his opponent before the trap could be sprung.

Doing so only got him into his opponent’s trap: Incineroar threw the flames at him like one might lob an Aura Sphere and the flames struck him in the face. The bright light blinded him for a moment, his world only intense blue light before a hot force struck him in the chest and knocked him to the ground.

A Flamethrower.

The blast to the ground shook off his blindness and he probably took more of a hit from the crash landing than the Flamethrower.

“Both sides exchange strategic blows to damage the other! That damage is small but it’ll add up, especially as I doubt Incineroar has forgotten the bout with Kingler!”

The cat snorted.

“Incin.” ‘Oh that crab actually packed a pincer, I can’t deny that, but that handicap isn’t enough to let you win. You might have a better trainer, but Cross and I are still superior to you and him.’

“Flame Charge!”

He flapped his wings and ignited the attack once more, his speed increasing as he flew at the arrogant cat.

Cross ordered Will O’ Wisp again: the blue flames being held up like a spherical shield against his oncoming attack. The flames burst like a flash grenade and that would have been a possible problem for him.

“Flamethrower!”

But Ash was clever and had an idea of his own. Mid-flight he stopped and took a deep breath, sucking in all the flames of Flame Charge in for an extra boost of force, and blasted the feline with a super-charged Flamethrower.

The blue explosion was entirely subsumed and the fire slammed into Incineroar. The attack didn’t leave a particularly solid hit, but it was probably equal to the previous combination of fire and gravity he had been hit with.

“Zrrr.” ‘You’re going to have to rethink that ‘superior to us’ idea of yours. I’d say it is the other way around.’

Incineroar growled at him.

‘Cute Growl. I guess you can learn that move. Not really much a shell for you to Withdraw into.’

“Flamethrower!”

Cross’s shout gave Incineroar a valve to let out some anger in a torrent of flames. He avoided it by taking off into the air, the flames pouring harmlessly beneath him.

“Flamethrower and get in close with Flame Charge!”

He fired his own attack back that Incineroar also avoided though without flying. However, he followed the flames and ignited the fire around himself as he did so. The reversal of his earlier move came right at Incineroar with more power than the previous ones.

He was not going to shrug this one off as easily as the last one.

“Iron Head!”

The fifth move engulfed Incineroar in a metallic-grey aura as their attacks collided. The two of them clashed, their heads inches apart as they glared and pushed back at each other.

He flapped his wings for more push, Incineroar dug his toe claws into the ground for additional leverage.

Eventually both of them shot their arms forward and both their arms clenched the other in fierce grips. Their attacks had let off at the moment and the two were now both on the ground, arms locked in struggle as they glared at each other.

Their arms strained against each other as they pushed against the other, and for a moment he could feel himself being pushed back by Incineroar. The cat did have larger and bulkier arms than he did. However, he did have a means of countering that advantage and flapped his wings in rapid succession. The wind pressure he created pushed the cat’s advantage back and by the time he stopped they were just about even again.

“Zzrrr.” ‘Why don’t you give up now? I have more limbs than you.’

Incineroar glared right at him.

“Oa!” ‘I won’t nor can I. You might be stronger now but we’ve still worked harder for this than anyone here. We are not going to lose to trainers and their weak Pokémon without goals.’

He snorted at that declaration.

‘You’re a bit late on the idea that my trainer doesn’t have a goal. This the part where you snark that ‘being the best’ isn’t a goal or something, right? Well let me let you in on a bit of a fun secret. My trainer has the task of saving the…’

“Cin!” ‘Intangible! Nothing but a vague end goal. You know what we want to do? My trainer has one singular goal he seeks to achieve, and our power is going to make it happen. We’re going to beat Ho-Oh into the dirt and prove his worthiness as a trainer of legend! And what, you and your trainer just want to ‘be the very best’ or ‘save the dying town’ or whatever? The latter is cute but the former is just stupid! All that matters is being the strongest, nothing else and no one else!’

He beat his wings to give himself a bit more push, forcing the cat to bend its arms to hold him back before he snarled his response to that dribble back.

“Zrrrr!” ‘Oh what, and that’s all that matters? The mouse is going to laugh at me for thinking there is more to life than being the best, but you know what there is? A Pokémon and their trainer have so much more to matter to themselves than strength alone! We learn together! We grow together! We help each other in things far more than just being the strongest! Ash helps us get into better places, and we help him with stuff he really needs help with. Sometimes to a point it actually annoys him honestly. Other than being stronger do you even help your trainer with anything in life?! What are you all going to do when he accomplishes that goal and doesn’t have a clue what he’s going to do after it? Fine and dandy you beat Ho-Oh, but what’s after that. My trainer has something in his life after that now, but yours doesn’t.’

Incineroar didn’t give a rebuttal to his point, though his surprise attack by his eighth limb did catch the cat off guard so that probably didn’t help.

His limb he only just remembered he had, his neck. With it his impromptu-headbutt to Incineroar the cat let go and stumbled backwards vulnerable for attack.

“Slash!”

Said attack struck the cat mid-stumble, compounding the blow and knocking the cat down.

“Now Dragon Claw!”

Ash was keeping up their breakthrough and with two claws now green with draconic energies he was ready to slam both down on the cat and do some severe damage to his opponent.

“Will O’ Wisp then Thunder Punch!”

From the ground the cat quickly formed the blue flames and once more threw them into his eyes. He yowled at the bright burning blinding blast, and was then struck in the stomach by a sparking punch, bending him over as he clenched his chest.

“Charizard!”

“And the two Fire-types are exchanging blow after blow! This is intense folks but as it stands it doesn’t seem like Charizard had a super-effective blow he can land while Incineroar does!”

“Thunder Punch again!”

“Use Metal Claw!”

He quickly stabbed the ground with his metallic claw even as he felt a fierce blow strike him between his wings. It hurt, and the area around where the blow struck tingled for a moment but he could see all of the electricity taper down into the earth.

”What!?’

Both Cross and his Fire-type were surprised by his technique, and he used that shock to his advantage. With a strong wing flap he rocketed off from the ground, dislodging the cat and putting him off foot. He slapped the cat under the chin with a Metal Claw, the attack dissipating as the blow was landed.

“Flame Charge!”

He then ignited the fiery aura around himself once more and slammed into his opponent, sending the cat tumbling and boosting his speed once more.

“Flamethrower!”

The two-attack combination was used again as he sucked up the excess fires of Flame Charge and blew them right into the stumbling cat. Type advantage or not that made his enemy wince.

“Though it looks like Ketchum and Charizard won’t let super effective attacks get the better of them without a fight!”

Incineroar was able to get up after a good bit of cooking and dispel the flames with a burst from its belt. The cat glared at him.

“Eroa!” ‘You aren’t going to beat us like that! You can pull off all the tricks you want, but nothing you have will save you. Not even a Z-move.’

The cat was too confident about that. They probably had some way of dealing with a Z-Move, perhaps like how that Silph guy used Substitute. The reason, whatever it was, was irrelevant.

They both wanted to beat this guy without any room for him to say it wasn’t a proper defeat. That meant no Z-Moves. He would go down without them even using one ideally. Neither him or Ash were against using one if there was no other option but that time wasn’t now.

Now they had the space to beat their foe without any room to pretend it wasn’t a devastating defeat.

“Flamethrower!”

“Counter with your flames, Charizard!”

They once more exchanged fiery torrents, their attacks colliding mid-field and clashing with each other harmlessly. He ignited Flame Charge with a wing flap to break the deadlock, powering up Flamethrower with additional fire and pushing back Incineroar’s flames.

Eventually the two attacks detonated, filling the entire arena in a blinding, burning light. He and Ash squinted trying to see through it, but eventually something became clearly visible.

A charging dark figure that was nearly on him.

“Get out of there!”

He didn’t need Ash to tell him to do so. He extended his wings for flight, only to be slammed all the way to the edge of the arena.

He was pinned against the wall, his wings held against the hard wall. He glared at the cat who was pinning him: his fur singing and smoking a bit from being in that giant fire ball.

“Oar!” ‘No getting away this time, and that’s two of your limbs you can’t use. None of that Metal Claw stuff either.’

“Thunder Punches!”

Both of Incineroar’s fists sparked and while not punching him live electricity still flooded his system without any way of getting rid of it.

It hurt.

“Zoorrrrrr!”

It hurt a lot. The fact it didn’t hurt as much as it could hurt was little consolation because it was still rather painful.

“Charizard is pinned down by Incineroar’s bulk and he can’t get away! It’s more of a ‘Thunder Grapple’ than a punch right now, but it’s working and Charizard can’t get free. Is there anything Charizard can do that works?”

What he was trying wasn’t working. He tried to headbutt Incineroar again but the cat was ready for it. He slammed his tail against his legs like a whip, but he didn’t fling. He tried to form Dragon Claw but it didn’t seem to have space to manifest. He blew fire into Incineroar’s face.

“Ra ra ra ra!”

The cat just laughed at him. Come on, Ash, have an idea already!

“Charizard use Metal Claw and do Dragonite Island, but in reverse!”

Dragonite Island? What, turn Dragon Tail into Dragon Claw? What was the reverse of…

Oh!

He activated Metal Claw but the normal step of unleashing it in full didn’t happen. Instead the metallic force spread all through his body, and it wasn’t without a bit of extra sting from the electric attacks.

But it was worth it as he felt what Ash was going for in his tail, which began to glow metallic white. It got heavier too, and he knew what to do with it.

With a single mighty stab, he slammed his tail into the earth, and he could feel the effects immediately as the electricity began to ground itself into the earth via his tail. The pain decreased, the damage lessened, and Incineroar’s face was astonished.

“What?!”

As was Cross.

“Way to go, Charizard! We’ve got this fight now!”

“And Ash Ketchum manages to inspire Charizard and change the move style to counter Incineroar’s devastating assault! What ingenuity!”

He grinned as he was able to use the shock to move his arms a bit and actually grab Incineroar safely. He had his claws firmly around Incineroar’s wrists and there would be no more electric contact.

“Flamethrower!”

“Use Flame Charge and get into the air! You know what’s next Charizard, get ready for the big one!”

He did.

Just as fire began to brew from Incineroar’s belt he took off, a fiery aura igniting around himself as he got faster and faster. The flames from Incineroar only fed his attack and he began to spin in the air faster and faster. His speed was incredible, and the moment he got the final order he was going to let it all out in the only way to finish this battle.

Incineroar let off the flames and was looking a little dizzy from the high-altitude spinning.

“Charizard let’s end this right now with Seismic Toss!”

He had climbed to a peak height before Ash gave the call and he was all too happy to oblige. He shot down to the Earth, Incineroar helpless in his grasp.

He then slammed the cat right into the ground, shaking the stadium with all the force he could muster.

The shaking let off as he landed, his gaze hard on the dust cloud where he had tossed the cat. He didn’t move as the dust cleared away, revealing a cat. He flicked his tail in readiness for battle, but the cat didn’t move.

“Incineroar…”

Cross’s stunned words heralded the ref’s call.

“Incineroar is unable to battle! The winner is Charizard and the match goes to Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!”

The crowd burst into loud cheers in celebration of an intense battle finally done and he gave his own show with a victorious burst of fire into the sky.

He let off his show of victory as he felt someone hug him from behind, and he knew who it was.

“Charizard that was awesome! You did a great job out there! Thank you!”

He smiled at the praise.

“And with that the battle is over! Ketchum has won an intense battle, and spilled three of my drinks on my pants in the process. He should be very proud of himself.”

“I can’t tell if he’s actually congratulating me for winning or he’s angry at me.”

Charizard would've hazarded a guess about it, if his attention didn't go back to Incineroar still laying on the ground. Cross was silent, shock on his face as he observed his Pokémon in concern, grabbing the Pokéball and recalling him instantly. He then turned around and left the battlefield with nary a world, lost in his own thoughts.

It should've been satisfying, seeing a jerk being dealt with like that. Yet, even if he was happy to have shown that overgrown cat who's boss, he still felt like things weren't quite finished between them. As he turned to Ash, he found his Trainer similarly conflicted, probably reminiscing about their pre-battle talk.

"Zrrr." 'You still feel that kinship, right?'

Ash nodded, scratching his head in confusion. "I could feel his desire to win... but I still don't get why. Who does he have to prove himself to?"

"Rrr." 'His overgrown cat spilled the beans during our talk. Turns out you're even more similar than it looks like.'

Charizard told his Trainer of Incineroar's words, of their drive to challenge Ho-Oh, the spirit uniting the two in wanting to win. Ash was surprised at the reveal of yet another uncanny similarity, but that turned out to be the final bit of information he needed to be sure of what to do.

And so, he followed after Cross, driven to finally deal with that Donphan in the room. Charizard followed after his Trainer, curious of where that story would end now.

...

As Ash raced through the corridor, it didn't take long for him to catch up to Cross, his previous opponent still lost in his thoughts as he walked away.

"Hey, Cross!" he called, loud enough for the orange-haired guy to turn around. He sneered, hardly happy to see the guy who just beat him again.

"What do you want? You won. You don't need to rub in how much I suck."

"That's not why I'm here."

Cross didn't appear convinced, wearing a scowl as harsh as his Lycanroc's. "If you're here to tell me I put up a good fight or whatever, save it. It's easy to say that when you're the one that came up on top."

Even without being the sharpest tool in the shed, Ash could tell towards whom Cross' frustration was aimed, and it wasn't him. He sighed, and took a tentative step forward. "You're looking to face Ho-Oh, right? I saw it too, when I started my journey."

"You did...!?" Cross flared with anger once more. "Of course. Of course, you did! And what, you got a Rainbow Wing, too?"

"No, I didn't get anything."

His candid statement gave Cross pause, the Alolan Trainer utterly out of words at that claim. Ash seized the moment to press the topic further.

"This Rainbow Wing... is it important?"

"It's a sign that Ho-Oh has recognized you, chosen you. That you're worth something." He balled his fists, scowling in confusion at Ash. "But how... you got recognized by Tapu Koko, by Kahuna Hala. Then why not Ho-Oh...?"

There was a need in his tone, a desire to be acknowledged, just as Charizard had suggested before. As Ash thought back about his first sighting of Ho-Oh, way back in his previous life, he wondered if getting such an acknowledgement by Ho-Oh would've made him obsessed with gaining Ho-Oh's favour, with all the similarities he shared with Cross. He swiftly reached his conclusion with a headshake.

"I don't know, and honestly, I don't think it matters. I may not have been acknowledged by Ho-Oh, but I have been recognized as many things, I have done a bunch of stuff, but the reason I got there was because I worked for it, because I wanted to. Isn't that the same for you? For Incineroar? For Lycanroc?"

Cross fell silent once again, his confusion only growing greater at that remark. He stared emptily back to Ash, almost as if his whole claim made no sense whatsoever. Ash's words had clearly struck a chord, and not just with the Alolan, as both of Cross' aforementioned Pokémon burst out of their Pokéballs, looking over their Trainer.

That surprised Cross, moreso as he noticed the still visible scratches and injuries over their bodies. "You are tired, you should-"

"Arrroh."

"Incin."

Both Pokémon shook their head, making clear that they wanted to be there, shaking their heads to their Trainer. From the way Cross and his Pokémon were looking at each other, Ash found the answer to his question obvious. For all his issues, for whatever reasons he acted the way he did... there was genuine care, somewhere deep down.

"I can't say that I know you, what your deal is and why you act like you do... but during our battle, I could feel it. You wanted to win, show the effort of your training, and that's something I know well." He gave Cross a thumbs up. "So, thanks. This was one of the most fun battles I had in a while."

The orange-haired guy remained silent, still elaborating what Ash was telling him. He knew that it was easy saying stuff like that as the eventual winner of their match, and wondered if Cross was going to reject his words on those grounds. From the way he was reacting, Ash had to wonder just how unused he had to be to compliments to act that way.

"Why are you being like this?" he asked, his anger subsiding and replaced by genuine bewilderment.

"I guess I felt a sort of... connection, maybe? Like, I get you. You act like you have to show the world what you're made of, that your strength is all that matters... yet, you let your Lycanroc out and about, and you were just worried for them. That's not something a jerk does."

He offered Cross a smile, and extended his hand. "Ho-Oh acknowledgement or not, you're a strong Trainer. And I'd love to battle you again."

Cross stared at Ash's hand for what felt like a very long time, still pondering over Ash's words. He turned over to his two Pokémon and then Ash. Just as the Pallet Trainer expected Cross to accept the handshake, however, the orange-haired guy stared back at Charizard intensely, then back at him. He could swear to see Cross smiling back at him, for all of a second.

"... If you managed to make that trash Charmander into a worthwhile Pokémon, you must have skills." He turned around, walking through the corridor again and away from Ash. "Hope you'll be in Johto, after I'm done with the old bird."

The Alolan Trainer didn't wait for Ash to answer, and soon after disappeared from sight with his two Pokémon as he took a turn, leaving Ash and Charizard to contemplate the results of their attempted talk.

"Wonder if he got it, now..."

"Zrrr." 'Oh, he did. He just doesn't want to admit it. I know a thing or two of those prideful and stubborn types.'

"Oh, I'm sure you do," Ash smirked, elbowing Charizard in good humor, his draconic Pokémon chuckling in kind.

Ash looked back where Cross vanished. He probably didn't dissuade him from still trying to face Ho-Oh, but if Charizard was as right as he had been until then, he wanted to hope that something may have changed for him. Perhaps, if they eventually met again, he would've let go of his worst side. He wanted to hope so, at the very least.

With such confidence, he gave Charizard another good look. "Let's rejoin the others, shall we?"

Charizard agreed, and Trainer and Pokémon left as well, ready to enjoy their hard-earned rest.

To be continued...

OMAKE 1 (Probably) CANON: THE BETTING POOL

As has been passed on via Charizard, Ash’s will be indeed respected. He wanted the teasing to be lightened up on, and all of his Pokémon obliged. They passed the request onto Misty’s own team, and they too obliged.

However, you cannot keep shippers down in the end, and they always find a new avenue to express themselves. If one road is closed to them, they travel another.

Such a path travelled would lead you into a remote corner of the Oak Ranch: just easy enough to get to if one needed but not so easy to stumble on as to attract those who might cause mischief and ruin the fun.

Said fun was handled primarily by a third party: a ranch resident known as Blipbug. A little bug type that ended up here from the Galar region, the little bug was constantly learning and retaining information. It made him the ultimate record keeper from them.

He himself was not partaking, but he was keeping an eye on what was going on for ensuring peace. No one wanted a riot if something was misplaced.

He approached the centre of the fun with an unusual partner in tow. Professor Oak’s Dragonite had volunteered to assist him with the gathering of the required materials. Their manner of handling it was a bit odd, but it was a necessary end as they did not nor had use for money. Money was how these pools were usually handled by humans.

“Bulb!” ‘Alright Blipbug, we’ve got the double-ups. Mind making sure we didn’t miss anything?’

Dragonite gently put the bag down in front of the hole in the ground that had been dug by a team of Sandslash and then given an icy-interior by several Ice Beam users for preservation purposes. Within the hole lay the berries that all participants had put into the pool. The pool on Ash and company’s romantic resolutions. The rules were probably a bit convoluted, but it was simple.

You could put down any number or variety of berry on how it would all go, and your berry bet would be doubled as to ensure you would get something even if all of the other bets were berries you didn’t like. You couldn’t bet on the same thing as another, and you could be as vague or as specific as you wanted. However, a more specific bet would win over a more general bet if they were both applicable.

He wove his vines into the top of the pile and pulled out a single Cheri berry. Blipbug looked at it for a second before identifying it.

“Blip.” ‘Alright that is Spearow for ‘they don’t until they are eighteen’.'

Spearow had made the bet less because of desire for two Cheri berries and more out of boredom. Also, in a case of ‘no one else will bet on that so might as well.’

He put the doubled up Cheri in the vault before pulling out a quintet of Sitrus berries.

“Blip.” ‘That’s Togepi for ‘tomorrow!’’

He sighed at that mimic of Togepi’s happily said bet that had already been rendered a loss. Togepi was too young to gamble if anyone asked his and Pikachu’s opinion, but Charizard had pushed for it. In his own words ‘children need to learn to be responsible with their food and the best lesson is failure’.

He disagreed, but it was too late now and now someone else would claim the berries. It was too late to really change it now, so the berries continued to go in.

Psyduck had put five Watmel berries down that the four of them would get together at the next ‘Mewtwo level craziness’, which would probably be the thing with Lugia at Shamouti.

Fraxure had sent his request for four Yache berries down on Iris making the first move and doing it within six months. Both of those were safe and reasonable bets.

Misty’s Wingull putting a Wacan berry down for Ash and Misty to get together ‘in a romantic boat scenario’ was a bit less reasonable, especially given that Lapras was not a boat.

Pidgeot put four Pecha berries down on Serena arriving into their lives and becoming a romantic X factor that accelerated things. It was a bet that had been made after talking with Pikachu about a late night conversation and her own encounter with her, and as she was the only one who had a Serena bet down, she had that entire scenario cornered

If May or Dawn showed up, they would be covered by the two Pamtre berries that Ambipom put in. Of course, as the bet was ‘an unspecified additional romantic partner’, which could cover a lot more than just them…

Charizard had six Figy berries for the current level of tension to build up until ‘another kidnapping incident’, which Charizard had confided as being the Unown incident with Molly Hale.

Squirtle had a bet that covered the Orange Islands in general (or as he put it officially down as the next region), and he put down two Lansat berries for it. If it didn’t happen on Shamouti or a boat, Squirtle would take the pot.

Well, those or Starmie’s Tanga berry bet of an ‘underwater romantic confession for Ash and Misty’. That was the sort of thing that could happen in the Orange Islands.

Gary’s Blastoise had put down two Oran berries that Gary’s sister Daisy, who was Ash’s childhood crush, would return and steal him away for herself. His fellow Gary teammate Arcanine had also put down two Oran berries on the idea that Daisy would return to Ash’s attention, but would not steal him. The Fire-type was instead betting that Daisy Oak would share Ash with Misty, Anabel, and Iris.

Gary's Nidoqueen had put a Kee berry down for Ash and a Oak, though it wasn't Daisy. It was for Ash and Gary getting together.

He stumbled on his vines as he took out a Salac berry. Who had bet it?

A glance at Blipbug showed confusion and panic, as the little bug was wracking his brain for whoever put that one down.

“Brooo.” ‘Oh, I ran into Slowpoke earlier. She had finally decided what to bet on. This is for a third date with Ash for Misty.’

Took her long enough. They had asked her hours ago. Now, where were they?

Muk had a Durin berry that it would happen by the end of the Indigo conference; bar it being on a third date with Misty per Slowpoke’s bet.

Primeape had a Sitrus berry that it would be Ash and Iris in the aftermath of a personal combat training session.

Chansey had three Aguav berries that the romantic breakthrough would be in the aftermath of one of them helping the other in a medical emergency. She didn’t know about the Spearow or the Vileplume incidents, but something like that was basically how she was betting.

Professor Oak’s Dragonite, unlike himself, was not neutral in the bets and had two Aspear berries on it happening at the next of Pallet Town’s parties that were born from the lack of other things to do in town. Such a party was surely the after Indigo party repeating the first time around’s Top Sixteen party assuming the worse for both Gary and Ash.

He had a chance to look at the berries involved after that bet was put in, and he felt a wash of fear come over him as he saw just how many more bets, and berries, they had to go.

The fact that berries constantly regrew, and the expansion of the commentary on their Trainers love lives from just their own teams to the entire laboratory, meant that there were bets after bets after bets.

And there would only be more bets surely. The betting pool would only get larger and if it did even a Snorlax might not be able to eat it all in one sitting.

Would it be worth putting his own bet down of ‘it happening before it gets to a point it would take two Snorlax eating at once to empty it in one go?’