109: (Keldeo movie)

"I knew Keldeo could do it!" Ash said loyally.

The ground trembled.

"...uh..." Cilan began. "Is that a good sign?"

"The mine is collapsing!" Virizion said. "We need to get out of here!"

She turned to her fellow Swords. "Cobalion, Terrakion! We'll need to-"

There was a whoosh.

"I think they don't need our help," Terrakion said, watching as a pink-white form carried two humans out of the cave - one in each arm.

"Did we miss the bit where one of them was a Latias?" Cobalion asked.

"Come on, Keldeo!" Ash's voice said, and the Swords turned to look.

A Garchomp lifted the exhausted Keldeo into a ruck-sack carry, supervised by a hovering Pidgeotto.

"I think I've got him!" the Garchomp said, after a moment.

"Great!" said the Pidgeotto. "Come on, follow me!"

Cobalion, Virizion and Terrakion watched as the Dragon-type blurred out of the mine.

"...and now we're the only ones it's about to fall on," Cobalion said. "I suggest we run."

110: (Early-mid Kalos)

"A-ha-ha!" announced a shiny Hawlucha, looming ominously over a Snubbull. "You're mine now, my-"

"Hey, stop it!" Ash shouted. He reached for a Pokéball, but before he could send out his Water-type someone ran over and waved his hands.

"What's wrong?" Clemont asked. "Isn't this-"

"It's a rehearsal!" the man explained. "You nearly wrecked it!"

"Good thing we followed my plan," Laura pointed out. "Or we'd have just flattened him with Pikachu and Boldore."

"I know..." Ash agreed, sighing. "You were right. But I was going to use Garchomp too..."

"What are you rehearsing for?" Bonnie asked.

"Oh - it's a Pokémon Super Battle Show," the man explained. "There's a script, and there's a Pokémon battle - it's great! Really dramatic!"

Ash and Laura exchanged glances.

"Sounds fun!" Ash agreed. "I bet - actually, what Pokémon would you really like to have taking part? I've got quite a lot..."

"Well," the man smiled. "I'm sure you won't be able to get what I really want."

"Try him," Laura suggested.

"Well - oh, sorry, I'm Carl -" the man said. "And - what I'd really like is to have another Hawlucha to go with my shiny one."

"I can do that," Ash agreed.

"Good," Carl smiled. "And it'd be nice to have a dragon-type or two as well."

"I can-" Ash began, thinking of Garchomp.

"Two powerful Dragon-types, for a spar in the air!" Carl continued. "And then - and then, for a conclusion, the rarest and most powerful Pokémon I can manage, to come down and call an end to the fighting!"

Both disguised Pokémon exchanged another glance.

"Yeah, I think we can do that," Ash said. "But it might take a while to get hold of them. An hour or two."

"If you can do it by this evening, we'll have time to rehearse!" Carl said, with a smile.

"Ash, you're not seriously thinking-" Serena began.

"Yeah, actually," Ash replied. "Okay, Laura - what do you think? Do you want to take part?"

"Sure!" Laura agreed. Looking around, she cancelled her illusion. "It sounds fun!"

"But won't it be obvious you're missing from the crowd?" Clemont asked.

Ash gestured, making a shimmering pattern in the air behind his hand, and an illusory Laura appeared next to him.

"I can do this pretty well now," Ash explained. "It's so I can send out Latias when Laura's in the crowd."

"...your idea of how words work is a bit strange," Clemont sighed. "You know they're the same-"

"Of course they're not!" Latias giggled. "I'm Latias, and Laura is Ash's pretty girlfriend!"

Bonnie nodded. "Makes sense to me!"

"Okay," Clemont said, blinking.

"I'm still not sure where to get the other Dragon-type, though..." Ash admitted. "Maybe I should ask N if he knows where Zekrom is..."

"...the point is, you're only supposed to make it look like you're defeating him," Laura explained patiently.

Zekrom's head tilted.

"But it is very obvious that I have defeated him if he is in a ten foot crater," he said.

"Yes, but then you're actually defeating him," Laura said, as behind her Lucario and Hawlucha prised Gallade out of the ground. "Just... tone it down, okay?"

She smiled. "We are glad you're here, though - it's lucky that you turned out to be so close."

"That is absolutely what it is," Zekrom agreed quickly. "So... you want me to just hit him not very hard?"

"Or just look like you're hitting him," Laura amended. "That would do too."

Zekrom gave a slow - very slow - nod.

"Okay, let's try again!" Laura added. "Uh... is Gallade ready?"

The shiny Hawlucha examined his fellow actor with care.

"Maybe?" he said, shrugging. "We may want a ten minute break."

Gallade's blades shone with righteous fury. "Foul beast and your dread master! Begone!"

Dark Hawlucha stood up and posed, as Zekrom swept down out of the sky. "I am master here now, Gallade - either get out of the way, or face the consequences."

Gallade just set his stance, and behind him Snubbull took several prudent steps back.

"So be it," Dark Hawlucha announced grandly, gesturing. "Deal with him."

A Draco Meteor hammered down, blasting a series of huge craters in the stage.

Thankfully for the performer, Zekrom had finally got the idea, and the explosions formed a semicircle around Gallade which obscured him from the audience without actually hitting him. The blast was still enough to hurl him off his feet, but overall it looked quite good.

Dark Hawlucha laughed theatrically, then jumped off Zekrom's back and flew down to the ground. "And now that he is dealt with..."

"Flying Press!"

The Shiny Hawlucha jumped back, just avoiding being hit by a high-speed attack from Ash's own Hawlucha. "What?"

Ash's Hawlucha jumped right back into the air, and Latias swept through to pick him up. "Your evil reign ends here!"

"Oh, come on, give me five minutes at least!"

the Shiny called, to snickers from the Pokémon in the crowd. Then he jumped back onto Zekrom, and the two Dragons began to rise into the air and exchange very powerful attacks which all exploded before arriving on target.

After three or four passes, both Hawlucha got in on the act - jumping off and fighting in mid-air for a few seconds, before their respective mounts picked them up again as they separated.

It was all very impressive.

Snubbull watched, dabbing her eyes with a handkerchief, then raised her voice. "Stop!" she called. "Please - let it all stop!"

All four flying Pokémon stopped, looking down, then up at the sky as the clouds parted. (Courtesy of a Sunny Day from Bulbasaur.)

"I kind of hope this works," Ash muttered, then changed.

Unfezant placed his pendant around his neck - and, just a moment later, Ash felt Latias' telekinesis catch him.

"Okay, here goes!"

Jaws dropped all around the audience.

Two Legendary Pokémon had been astonishing enough - but this was something else entirely.

Slowly, with a floating gait as He 'walked' in the air, Arceus decended from the heavens.

The dragons drew back as He passed between them, and Arceus landed with a soft click of hooves on the arena floor.

"LET THERE BE NO MORE FIGHTING!" He said, in a loud voice.

After a moment, the Dark Hawlucha took off from his dark mount.

Flying down in a slow spiral, he landed before Arceus' hoof and bowed.

Arceus examined the shiny Pokémon, then looked up at his non-shiny counterpart - who, after a pause, flew down as well.

As both bowed together, Arceus examined them. Then He looked up, and vanished like a dream.

The crowd went wild, and no-one noticed the Diglett scoot off near ground level.

"Marvellous!" Carl pronounced. "How did you do that?"

"Special effects," Laura summarized.

111: (A Special Day in Kalos)

"...really?"

"Yeah!" Ash said. "Why not?"

Serena frowned. "Can't you get someone else to do it?"

A pause. "Anyone else?"

"Well, I'm going to be busy," Laura said. "And so is Ash."

Sawsbuck's hoof tapped on the ground as he shook his antlers.

"What about... uh..." Serena searched for options. "Do you two seriously not have any Pokémon who can look right?"

"Not apart from us," Ash replied. "And Clemont's going to be here."

Serena sighed. "Fine," she said, and took the bundle of furs.

Bonnie looked up. "Clemont?"

"What is it, Bonnie?" Clemont asked, putting down his Blizzard Gear - a machine to make it snow on command, theoretically, but which was currently producing clouds of fine white sugar instead.

"I can hear something," Bonnie said, frowning. "It sounds kind of like... uh... bells?"

As she said the word, her face lit up. "Bells! Quick, let's go see!"

Clemont stood, and by the time he had his sister was already gone.

"Woooow..." Bonnie said softly, looking at the sight on the snow-covered lawn.

A pair of cervine Pokémon - a Sawsbuck in full winter coat and a Stantler - stood tapping the ground with their hooves, harnessed to the traces of a small but ornate sleigh.

Behind the sleigh were runner-marks in soft, crisp snow, stretching back all of ten feet before abruptly vanishing, and a thickly padded red suit which probably had someone inside sat next to a large bag of presents.

"Ho ho ho," said a comically deep voice. "Have you been a good girl?"

"...kind of," Bonnie said, clearly thinking hard. "I try my best, but sometimes I make mistakes."

The Stantler snickered.

"And I see you have a friend Dedenne as well," the red suit continued, reaching down to take a parcel a green-suited Cinccino passed up. "So this is for you, and this is for your friend."

Bonnie reached out her hands, breath steaming in the chill air, and took both wrapped parcels.

"And Merry Christmas!" the suit added, shaking the reins.

Both the deer looked up, and then began to walk forwards. The sleigh slid into motion just a moment later, rising into the air, and off into the crisp night.

"Wow," Bonnie said again.

"...can't believe how warm this is," Serena complained, stripping the second layer of red suit off. "I was boiling in there!"

"You think you had it bad?" Laura's voice came from thin air. Then there was a shimmer, and the sleigh vanished to reveal a Latias in a scarf. "I'm elementally weak to Ice! And I had to run my hands along the ground to make the runnels!"

Sawsbuck shrugged off the traces, and muttered something to Ash - who had already shed them by going through the form of a Joltik.

"He's got a point," Ash agreed. "It wasn't that bad."

He glanced up. "Okay, Glalie, you can stop now."

Glalie's horns stopped their gentle glow, and the snow began to thin.

"I bet Bonnie enjoyed that, though," Latias added.

AN:

Interesting chapter, here, since it's all post-Sinnoh.

We've got a look at the escape section of Keldeo's movie, and two cases of Ash And Co Do Disguises.

(Latias being able to levitate Ash when he has his pendant makes it a lot easier.)