It hadn't been much of a battle, to be honest. But it was a battle, Seeker's first, and Ash would treasure this memory forever.

Ralts had opened with a weak psychic blast, but Seeker knew better than to try to resist it. She trusted her instincts and let the attack fling her away, then fluttered back into the air without suffering any damage. Seeker may lack experience - except for whatever horrors she had seen with the Rockets - but her instincts guided her well.

She'd opened her mouth to unleash a high-pitched Supersonic that sent poor little Ralts stumbling, then flitted forward with a Quick Attack that knocked the tiny psychic on its backside. Ralts had managed to capture Seeker in a psychic prison for a moment, but she'd reacted perfectly by jerking her whole body at once to produce enough force to shatter the fragile shell.

Wally had cheered Ralts on and the psychic had gone for another attack, but Seeker ended it with a Wing Attack.

The other boy gently cradled Ralts' head in one hand while he sprayed the Potion onto Ralts' minor injuries, although his shaky hand ensured that only a small portion made it onto the actual injury. Seeker didn't have the mass to cause any real issues, but Ralts was so fragile that even a light tap counted as a full-blown attack.

Ash took pity and gently took the Potion from Wally. He held it close to the little psychic's wounds so that the full impact of the Potion would strike its mark.

"Like this, see?"

Ash didn't spray the Potion for Wally - that wouldn't teach the kid anything - but he did mime it before handing the bottle back. Ralts laid half-unconscious after the beating that Seeker had given him. She might not have actively trained with the team for the purpose, but you didn't spend over a year with some of the most talented and determined fighters in the world without picking up a few tricks.

Much like Wally himself, Ash mused.

"You did so well! You're getting stronger every day!" Wally whispered. Ash smiled at that. "This won't stop us. We'll learn from this, just like we did our last battle!"

Ash was glad that Wally didn't seem too bothered by the defeat. Losing stung, but it was a fact of life as a young trainer. You could either learn from it or rant against it. For all of Wally's physical frailty, he'd taken their defeat better than several grown adults Ash had fought.

"Excellent job, Seeker." Ash whispered to her, low enough that Wally wouldn't have an easy time hearing it. She chittered back happily, practically shaking with adrenaline, and nuzzled happily into his arms. "Do you want to keep battling, or was this a one time deal?"

Seeker waved one wing haphazardly. It told Ash enough.

"We'll train," he promised. "And if you do want to keep this up, just let me know, okay?"

She pressed her head deeper into his chest. Ash couldn't help but smile. He looked to Wally, who was still tending to Ralts' wounds. "Ralts has a lot of fight in him. He really loves you."

"I wish I could fight for him," Wally coughed into his arm. It was a dry, hacking sound that left Ash wincing in sympathy. "We still haven't won a battle yet. I have to be better for him!"

Ash glanced around the simple, sturdy training room. "Norman has some of the best under his command. Keep working. When you look beyond the Gym, you'll realize just how tough you've had it."

Wally smiled before he descended into another heaving fit. "Th - thanks," he coughed. "You really think so?"

"Keep working." Ash said. "You care. That puts you ahead of half the people you'll meet on the road. Work yourself to the bone every day. I know Ralts will. But it's a partnership. When you're a trainer, it's your job to give Ralts the best chance that you can. It's your job to make sure that Ralts doesn't waste his time. Study. Strategize. Plan. Hold up your side of the bargain."

The green-haired boy listened raptly, nodding along all the while. It made Ash a little uncomfortable at first, but he couldn't help but feel a bit of pride as well.

People listened to him. People wanted to know what he thought.

"I'll do my best. I promise that!"

Ash smiled. "Good. You know what?" He lowered his voice conspiratorially, conveniently ignoring the fact that there was no one around to eavesdrop. Wally leaned in. "Find me when you think you're ready. It doesn't matter where I am or what I'm doing. I'd like to battle you again one day."

Wally appeared more than a little starstruck. His jaw hung open, and he stammered back a quick response.

He knelt by Wally and Ralts. Seeker chattered to Wally, who smiled bashfully at her. "Let's talk about Ralts. I'm sure you know they typically specialize as empaths. They're naturally attuned to the emotions of others. It's not perfect, but you can work with Ralts to detect intent in battle. Precognition is better in my opinion, but this is more practical for who you're working with."

He looked at Ralts directly, who listened just as rapt. Ash smiled, and was glad it seemed to come off kind rather than savage. "Search for surges of aggression, fear, anxiety. Use your experience in feeling people in everyday life - the kinds of things that presage a particular kind of action, and cross-apply it. Anything that will give their game away and let you predict their next moves…"

XX

"Are you certain?" Norman folded his arms across his broad chest. His tone was light, but there was a spark of interest in his even gaze. "It won't be easy, not even for one of your team. I have no doubt that you've far surpassed me as a trainer, but still."

Ash nodded. Wally watched with wide eyes beside him. Quite a few of Norman's Gym Trainers had gathered as well, pausing their own training as whispers broke out.

"Both of them. Bruiser just evolved and doesn't know his own strength yet. I don't mean any disrespect, but I'm worried he'll hurt anything less sturdy."

"I understand. Very well then!" Norman glanced around at all of his Gym Trainers. Most watched raptly. "I can see that none of you will get anything done. Why don't you come watch and see if you can learn something, hmm?"

"Yes, Leader Norman!" A chorus of voices came crashing down. Like most Gyms, Norman commanded a force of roughly forty to fifty Gym Trainers. Some were gathering experience for future jobs in the League while others were similar to Norman himself: former Rangers or other agents who wanted a bit more stability.

They were Norman's eyes, ears, and hands in his territory. The police handled most matters, but the forces directly beneath Norman worked towards internal investigations, targeted crackdowns, and any other missions that went beyond the scope of a single town.

Most were competent, around the level of a trainer with five or six badges, but no doubt there were some nearly as strong as Norman himself. A Gym always needed a few heavyweights.

With that said, both Norman and Ash made their way to the trainer boxes in the arena. Dazed appeared at Ash's side - she'd been willing to help tutor Ralts a bit - and Ash saw Wally, Ralts, and a ton of other Gym Trainers lining up along the side. Every psychic available was pulled to reinforce the psychic barriers.

Ash tapped the button to release Bruiser and grinned as his friend manifested. Seeker chattered happily by his ear, squeaking to cheer on her friend, and Ash relished the praise that Bruiser received. There wasn't a Machamp alive that wouldn't command respect, but Bruiser stood head and shoulders above even the rest of his kind.

He stretched his four muscular arms, bent his knees, and dipped his head to Norman and the two Slaking that materialized across the arena. One was the fourteen foot tall behemoth that had greeted Ash and Steven earlier. It picked its nose as it measured up Bruiser, and huffed at him with a dip of its enormous head.

Bruiser returned the gesture and thumped his chest with one of his arms.

The other Slaking was a bit smaller, but that was like saying Sneasel's Mind Breaker was a bit weaker than Spiritomb's presence. Both were nasty in their own right. Ash thought it was female - he suspected that Norman had a mated pair - but it was nearly as muscular and powerfully built as the male.

Honestly, he was more concerned about the smaller Slaking.

"Meet Croissant and Cannoli. We go until surrender or unconsciousness. Nothing more, nothing less. Understood?."

Based on when the Slaking waved, Ash presumed that the male was Croissant and the female was Cannoli. The names were… questionable, but then so were half the names of his team. Presumably they'd been chosen by the pair themselves. Maybe they were just hungry at the time?

From what he knew, that described every waking second of a Slaking's life. They were fairly close cousins of the Snorlax line, and in this case it appeared that the apple hadn't fallen far from the tree.

"Understood."

Bruiser nodded along. Countless iron hard muscles rippled across his back as he readied himself in a fighter's stance.

"Careful," Ash said. "Don't slip into Rampage just yet. I want to test your baseline."

He didn't grunt back, but Ash knew that Bruiser had heard him. They'd managed a bit of training with Bruno when he'd stopped by to check in on Bruiser after the battle with Durand, but that wasn't the same as live combat experience. Bruiser was supposed to do all sorts of activities to train his control and dexterity - juggling was what Bruno had suggested, although Bruiser seemed interested in knitting as well - but that would take time.

Bruiser was just a physical monster right now. They had to know his limits.

A little experience wielding all four arms in battle wouldn't be amiss either.

"Begin!"

Thankfully, the Slaking duo seemed to understand this was meant to be a brawl, not a duel of Hyper Beams and Focus Blasts. Both grunted unhappily as they pulled themselves onto two feet, stretched massively, and unleashed a pair of fearsome roars that sent the ground trembling.

He craned his neck up to look at them. They were massive. Slaking seemed huge enough on the ground, an enormous pile of fat, bone, and an army's worth of muscle that dominated whatever space they occupied, but on two legs they were a sight to behold. It reminded him of the sheer terror unleashed by Michael's Snorlax when it decided to get up and move.

Every trainer watched in awe - Wally looked as if he were about to faint out of sheer excitement - as the pair charged. Each footstep unleashed a tremor in the earth that grew stronger and stronger as they charged. Both seemed to realize that Bruiser likely had them beat in the endurance department, and so relied on a blitz to overwhelm and break him down.

Bruiser held his ground, braced himself, and grunted as several tons of Slaking slammed into him. Cannoli had opted to abandon any finesse and simply tried to throw her entire body weight against Bruiser, while Croissant reared a meaty fist back and howled as he slammed it into Bruiser - or would have.

He didn't try to meet Cannoli's charge. Strength only went so far. At this point, Bruiser's biggest weakness was his inability to anchor himself in a way that could match his enormous strength. Ash had some ideas involving Rock Tomb that may help with that, but it was something they had to deal with for now.

Without the sheer mass of Snorlax or Slaking, foes that massive would always have something of an advantage against him. He may be strong enough to toss them around like ragdolls, but the environment around him may not be so durable. Muddy areas in particular could amplify that weakness.

But here, Bruiser just leapt forward… unfortunately, he miscalculated his own strength, and that sent him flying ten feet forward beneath Croissant's heavy fist. Two arms snatched out at Croissant as he shot by. One fumbled uselessly, but the other got lucky and snagged Croissant's wrist - Ash had never seen a panicked Slaking before, but the sight of Croissant's sleepy eyes suddenly bolting wide open was one that he'd never forget.

Croissant only had a moment to prepare himself before the sheer force behind Bruiser's jump yanked him behind. He was lifted off his feet and dragged behind the Machamp, roaring furiously as his arm was dislocated with the sudden jerk. He didn't just lay limp behind Bruiser as he came skidding on the earth, but immediately charged to bowl Bruiser over - Bruiser went tumbling, buried beneath piles of meat and fur.

The Slaking curled up in a ball on top of Bruiser in an effort to crush him, but snarled as Bruiser managed to orient himself and did a leg press to send the enormous normal-type flying off of him. Croissant groaned as he crashed heavily into the psychic barriers and scared the living hell out of all the Gym Trainers standing there - a Slaking was not supposed to sail through the air like that. All the psychics, including Dazed, were strained to their limit to keep the psychic barriers from collapsing under the sheer force applied to them.

Croissant might have been the first Slaking to ever achieve flight.

Bruiser leapt to his feet (and again overshot by quite a bit, sending him stumbling) but Cannoli came blitzing him in defense of her mate. The giant's forearm glowed brilliantly with radiant white light as she prepared her Hammer Arm. He grunted as her own glowing arm slammed into him.

It was Bruiser's turn to go flying into the psychic barriers. They flashed, but he lacked the sheer mass of Croissant. He didn't strain the psychics nearly as much. Bruiser rose quickly, only a bit knocked around by the attack since he hadn't had time to brace against it, but Cannoli was out for blood.

She beat her muscular chest with both fists, lowered her shoulder, and charged in for round two.

Croissant shook off his daze as well, and clambered to his feet.

It took a moment for the beast to brace his semi-limp arm and pop it back into place - the sound was thunderous on its own - but he did it without complaint or hesitation before charging in with a growl like a grinding rockfall. He wasn't far behind his mate, and he was furious.

Norman called out various orders, largely encoded so that Ash couldn't tell what was going on, and the Slaking adjusted their course. Both hit from separate sides, each with a separate attack. A flickering silver aura consumed Croissant - Heavy Slam - as he exploited the mass differential between him and Bruiser for all it was worth.

Cannoli's enormous foot shone as she built up momentum - it didn't take a genius to recognize that she was going for a Mega Kick.

Had both attacks hammered into Bruiser, there was little he could have done to prevent being bowled over. Ash thought he was durable enough now to take the hammer blows without too severe of damage, but there was no point risking it.

Instead, Bruiser leapt into Cannoli. Croissant swiped at him as he went barreling by, but the enormous male Slaking had too much momentum to easily adjust course. Dazed groaned again as she and a dozen other psychics poured everything they had into the barriers to prevent Croissant from turning several trainers into a red smear on the ground.

Cannoli swept her Mega Kick up to send Bruiser flying, but one hand reached out and grasped her ankle, then twisted. The energy released in a shockwave, but Bruiser braced himself against it and maintained his grip. She snarled and flailed - her other leg was caught by a second arm while the other two free arms hammered down a blindingly fast flurry of blows into her gut - but it did little as Bruiser's two arms locked around both ankles.

Croissant was slowing. His strength was utterly absurd (unless you compared him to Bruiser) but the curse of all Slaking was a lack of stamina. It took a lot of energy to move all that bulk around. Ash could tell that Norman drilled his Slaking harder than most. It was rare that they fought continuously like this, especially when they were sprinting and swinging and constantly on the move.

Most Slaking stretched fights out. They would hammer enemies from a distance with their powerful techniques. A common strategy was to force a physical engagement by slowing a nimble opponent down or bringing them closer. As soon as the Slaking was in close quarters it stopped being a battle at all.

Unless you were Bruiser, that was.

Still, Croissant was slowing, and that meant he barely had any time to react as Bruiser clung to Cannoli's heels with all four arms and spun briefly. He gathered up a ton of momentum in an instant, his body finally accustomed to dealing with the insane forces he placed it under, and it only took a few revolutions before Cannoli was rather green.

And just as Croissant found his wits again, he found several tons of Cannoli flying at him as she howled - his lazy eyes went wide, and he oofed as his mate hammered into his gut with enough force to crumple steel. She collapsed, dizzied, and Croissant was flung back into the psychic barriers again.

Dazed's eyes blazed blue as she shot Bruiser a dirty look. One of the Grumpig who was assisting finally collapsed. Most of the other psychics didn't appear much better.

Croissant didn't rise again. Norman sighed as he returned the male, then continued to bark orders at Cannoli. She was still in the fight, although she did pause to vomit a bit after all those rotations.

Bruiser was kind enough to look away… which Norman leapt on, and Cannoli shrieked. Ash grimaced as the vicious sound waves of her Hyper Voice wracked them all. Most trainers squeezed their eyes shut and clutched their ears, but he didn't dare - Bruiser groaned, his enhanced durability doing little to protect against sonic attacks - and Ash barely had time to shout out a warning before Cannoli was on him.

She was furious at the loss of her mate, and Cannoli proved it by flinging Bruiser across the arena with a brutal backhand. He stopped just shy of the psychic barriers (to Dazed's relief) but rolled several times across the earth before coming to a stop. His fingers dug deep into the hard packed foundation, which stopped his journey short.

He leapt to his feet with a frown on his face. Two hands covered his ears as Cannoli charged one last time and unleashed a second Hyper Voice to disorient him. Bruiser's upper two arms readied themselves. His ramshackle defense against Hyper Voice wasn't perfect, but it provided some slight protection.

It let him focus, and that was all he needed.

One hand flitted down to adjust his Black Belt the moment before Cannoli came rushing into him with an upraised fist.

For a moment everything seemed to slow down. Ash felt nothing but sheer delight as Bruiser met her blow with a single open palm - her mass forced Bruiser back, but he properly braced himself. He would have shattered every bone in her hand if he'd met that punch with one of his own.

That would be a running theme, Ash expected. Grappling would be far safer for Bruiser to use against most opponents. Strikes carried too much risk while he didn't have his strength under perfect control.

A small shockwave burst through the arena and set the psychic barriers rippling beneath the force as Bruiser caught Cannoli's fist. It wasn't like it didn't hurt - Bruiser certainly winced, and he had no doubt that the hand would be fairly sore and useless for the rest of the day - but Bruiser was able to catch the fist.

Cannoli only had one moment to dread what was coming next. One of Bruiser's arms latched onto her other wrist and yanked her (gently enough to avoid dislocating or breaking anything) right into him. Few pokemon would ever consider bringing a furious Slaking closer, but that didn't stop Bruiser here.

Every bit of air was driven from Cannoli's lungs as Bruiser laid into her with his two free arms. Ash couldn't even track the sheer speed of the blows as they blurred into her bulky midsection again and again and again, but every single strike sounded like a thunderclap ringing through the arena.

She tried to fight back, but Bruiser refused to let go. Every time Cannoli opened her mouth to fire off a Hyper Beam or attempted to kick or squirm or break his hold, Bruiser just tightened the vice grip he had on her wrists. The one time she nearly broke free, a single one of Bruiser's fists shone white as he threw a Brick Break into her gut, and that was it.

Cannoli yanked back, and Bruiser finally released her as she did so. The sheer force she exerted flung Cannoli onto her back, and she could only stare blankly up at the ceiling as the battle took its toll on her. Ash winced as he saw her belly - Bruiser had left it little more than one enormous, blotted bruise.

Norman could only stare.

"Winner, Ash Ketchum!"

And just like that, the spell was broken and the shrieks and congratulations and awed stares broke down upon them like a tsunami.

Bruiser met Ash's eyes, then glanced at each of his four fists with something resembling shock.

Ash grinned, then joined in with his own cheers.

His friend deserved every last one of them.

XX

Ash glanced over the PokeNav's map of Hoenn as they plodded down a simple dirt trail. The paths between Petalburg and Fortree were lacking, to say the least. The fat raindrops that had begun to plop down against his skin didn't help matters. "Central Hoenn is a wasteland."

Everything east of the Piede and its surrounding mountains appeared more or less uninhabited. Oh, Ash had no doubt that there were tens of thousands (probably hundreds of thousands) of inhabitants in that vast expanse, but they were extremely decentralized. He only spotted a handful of towns, and there wasn't a single large city besides Fortree itself.

"I'm surprised that the prospect bothers you."

"Thousands of square miles without a hint of civilization? How dreadful." Ash said, deadpan. "No, I don't mind at all. I've been looking forward to exploring. It's just odd."

Steven shrugged. Armaldo stalked beside him, its enormous carapace blending in well with the grey mists that rolled across the grasslands which they'd entered. "The last century has been harsh on Fortree's territory. It's always been wild - part of the reason that Fortree has historically specialized in flying-types is so that they may oversee their vast lands. No one else had the infrastructure or capability."

It galled Ash that he didn't have the exact answers. He knew enough to make some basic assumptions, but to be honest he'd been more enthralled with recollections of the Volumo Empire's heyday and the recent calamity of the Last War. The squabbling city-states had their own fascinating histories, but at some point all the petty conflicts over minor differences, imagined slights, and the occasional affair all bled together.

"So what happened? The terrain's not that bad." Ash waved at the expanse of shoulder-height grasses that stretched out for miles and miles all around. It wasn't exactly appealing between all the thick vegetation and the grey clouds hovering over the flatlands, but at least it wasn't a rocky mess like most of western Hoenn. He knew some details thanks to his studies, but he hoped to hear more from someone who had traveled the area before. "The Last War? Conflict between city-states? Wild pokemon?"

"All of the above. Fortree maintained a loose control over the dozens of settlements that sprinkled their territory, largely demanding tribute in exchange for protection, but their lands proved a fertile battleground for those seeking to gain new territory. The city-states took what they desired, lost it, and then took it again."

"I'm sure the Last War incursions didn't help matters."

Steven looked pained. "No. No they did not. Some rebuilding has occurred, but Hoenn's population is still lower now than it was a hundred years ago. Our history was bloody long before the Unovans arrived."

Ash hummed along, well-aware of that from all the reading he'd done. To be honest, it was a miracle that Drake had managed to band everyone together. From what he'd read, the city-states had hated one another. Bitter rivalries had emerged after the fall of the Volumo Empire a thousand years ago, and time had only entrenched those divisions.

Things worked well enough now, but it sounded like some of the older generations still clung to those ancient prejudices, primarily those who hadn't gone to Unova together. War had a funny way of erasing those stupid ideas that had seemed so important in times of peace.

"And nowadays… well, we have a certain arrangement. We don't encourage too much expansion into this territory."

Despite Ash's prodding, Steven proved unwilling to say much more. That gnawed at him more than anything, his hunger for answers insatiable. That thought resonated within him, and for a moment Ash felt Steven as an extension of himself… but no, he wouldn't violate Steven's privacy like that.

Share, do not take. Dazed's words echoed in his mind.

As depressing as the thought of Hoenn's depopulated interior was, Ash couldn't help but appreciate the wild beauty all around them. It reminded him of Kanto more than anything - the fields were vast, the sky seemed endless, and the rain against his skin reminded him of sitting with Suicune on those nights on the road to Mahogany.

It would be perfect for training as well. All of his team needed time to work and hone their skills, and this would be the perfect opportunity. Ash wasn't looking forward to sleeping in the mud for the next six weeks, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make for the freedom of traveling. Plume could carry him to Fortree in a few hours, but that knowledge somehow made it all the sweeter to know the dirt beneath his feet.

They must seem so slow to her, earthbound as they were.

Of course, he'd also need to find a safe place for Infernus to get his pound of flesh from Bruiser. He'd spoken to Infernus briefly, but just long enough to keep him informed. The Magmortar was practically chomping at the bit to challenge his teammate.

Personally, Ash couldn't wait to see it. He just had to make sure that Infernus wouldn't burn down half the grasslands in the process.

But the wide expanse would be ideal for all sorts of team members: Infernus could train on outputting more body heat and work on resisting the discomfort of rain and water, Nidoking would have plenty of even ground to manipulate, Torrent and Oz would both make the most of the rainy conditions, and the plentiful water would be perfect for Tangrowth to begin working on his own regeneration technique.

Route 119 was often left untouched by trainers until they had several badges under their belts. It was one of the most challenging areas in Hoenn to traverse, and Ash knew that quite a few unprepared travelers had to radio for help, seek out the nearest Ranger base, or contact League-affiliated wild pokemon to be escorted out of the isolated wilderness.

That wouldn't be such a problem for Ash and Steven, although it would be interesting to see how Steven handled the road. He looked distinctly unhappy at the rain pounding down on them, even if his grey umbrella (with a Metagross' face pattern across the top) kept the worst of it off. Steven's finely groomed silver hair was already a lank, soggy mess and the rain only highlighted his pale skin.

All in all, it reminded Ash somewhat of Sneasel when he got wet.

Six weeks with nothing but the earth, the sky, and the rain around him and his family and Steven at his side.

Ash smiled, breathed the fresh air deep, and pushed forward even more eagerly.

This was just what he'd needed!

XX

Seeker's blue fur was soft beneath his fingers as he gently petted her. She lay content in his lap, almost purring with satisfaction, as they listened to the rain fall outside the small cave that Ash, Seeker, and Bruiser had taken shelter in for the next hour or so.

It was peaceful, and Ash couldn't help but smile down at her. She was so small, so vulnerable, and he felt so very proud of her courage. He couldn't imagine what horrors that Seeker had witnessed in forced servitude to the Rockets. They were cruel to humans, who they ostensibly saw as their equals.

To pokemon? Let alone one without the power to resist them?

She had been a weapon, and one easily replaced at that.

Ash's heart ached for her. She seemed to sense the darkness growing in him, for she rolled over within his hands to expose her belly - and the small bare patch where Golduck's Water Gun had struck her - for him to pet. He happily obliged.

It was still a little surreal to Ash that she'd chosen to fight.

Part of him found it easier to understand that she'd sought to protect their little family in the fight against Durand. The stakes were high, and it was easy to allow that emotion to override whatever fears or hesitation you had. Ash knew that well enough.

But she'd chosen. Seeker must have communicated her anticipation to Bruiser at some point, because Ash doubted that he ever would have called upon her for battle otherwise. But he was glad that she had. Somehow, Seeker seemed lighter.

A shadow still hung over her. Ash thought that it always would. He knew well enough that there was no reclaiming what was lost. All you could do was move on and attempt to kindle a new light for yourself.

"Was the fight what you expected?"

Seeker lazily stretched her wings out at the question. It didn't leave her shaking as it once would have. Her fuzzy purple ears twitched.

His eyes shut as he happily rubbed her soft belly again. At least he didn't have to worry about Seeker suddenly switching gears and attempting to tear his hand to shreds for the grave offense of touching her belly - which she wanted rubbed - like he did with Sneasel. The little dark-type could be mercurial.

Bruiser glanced up from his… well, even to call it an attempt at knitting would be generous. Ash had asked his mother for advice, and she'd given him all sorts of pointers and information on the topic of knitting. She'd spent several paragraphs espousing its virtues - and her dreams of all the accessories that she hoped for Bruiser to eventually craft for Ash's team - and it had Ash convinced.

So he'd stopped by one of the tiny, barely inhabited villages that they'd passed through a few days earlier, picked up a small stockpile of material (which ended up being the small shop's entire inventory, which had thrilled the previously-bored owner), and gotten Bruiser started with some yarn and several needles.

It was a little surreal to watch the mountainous, musclebound form of Bruiser attempting something so delicate as knitting, but Ash couldn't help but smile every time he looked at his clumsy friend hunched over the shapeless forms that he'd created. His face was constantly twisted with the raw effort of concentrating on his craft, and Ash thought that he might have become a little obsessed with it.

Bruiser's current project was a small hat for Seeker to keep her warm in the cold, wet nights,, although the shapeless heap he'd knitted looked more like a misshapen pillowcase than anything. At least his skin was too tough for the needles to break. Otherwise his clumsy fingers would've been pricked red a hundred times over by now.

The needles, on the other hand…

"Is it - do you want to keep fighting?" Ash asked after a minute or two of peaceful silence. Seeker nodded. "Is fighting something you enjoy, or something you feel like you have to do? You'll always be a part of our family. If your mind ever changes…"

Seeker waggled her wing, then squeaked briefly. He laid his hand against her belly, brushing over the empty patch of scarred skin, and allowed the bond between them to blossom. The undercurrent was tugged from the surface, and Seeker opened her spirit to his eyes.

Fear, fear, fear. Desperation. Pain. Black waters. Broken companions turned as savage as her captors.

Freedom. Kind words. Strong hands which cradled her.

Fighting was ugly, bloody work. There was no pleasure in it, but it must be done.

What was kind, precious, and gentle was weak and fleeting… all must be protected, or others would tear it away.

For her treasured family (even the annoying ones), she would taste blood again, although she would never savor it. She may always be afraid, but it would define her no longer. Not when she had something worth protecting.

Ash's eyes cracked open. "You're very brave, Seeker," he said. He glanced in Bruiser's direction, and thought of how he seemed so free and open these last few weeks. "You both are."

Bruiser grunted softly as he cocked his head at Ash quizzically. He just kept scratching Seeker's belly, at least until she flopped over so that he could get behind her fuzzy ears instead.

"We've all come a long way, haven't we?" Seeker squeaked and Bruiser nodded. The rain came down steadily beyond the cave's mouth. "But I've been so proud of both of you these last few weeks. It feels like you've crested some massive mountain, and now you can see the whole world laid out before you."

The musclebound Machamp smiled at that, although it twisted into a frown as his clumsy fingers accidentally flicked away the needle instead of making his next round of stitches. Ash couldn't help but admire him - it was as if Bruiser had been unchained.

"You're still feeling good?" He asked. Bruiser flexed his upper arms happily while his other two continued their fumbling attempts at Seeker's hat. Perhaps Bruiser would end up making his whole team a wardrobe… although it would be a nightmare to get most of them to wear the shapeless lumps of fabric.

Ash was soon distracted by the simple peace that radiated from Bruiser. For so long he'd been terrified of his own strength, always afraid of shattering everything in this fragile world that he might touch, and the act of embracing it had done more for his peace of mind than a thousand hours of meditation.

Bruiser was still wary of his own strength. It was a part of him as much as Sneasel's claws or Nidoking's spikes. But even though he knew that he must be careful, knew that he must always be in control, Bruiser knew that his power would serve him, not the other way around.

He would be no more a slave to fear than Seeker was.

It was odd to see them here side by side. One a living mountain of muscle, the other so delicate that a swift breeze might send her tumbling through the sky. One terrified of the damage they might inflict upon others, the other half-broken by the cruelty of the world.

But both were dauntless.

Both had come out the other side.

He was so, so happy for them.

XX

Boom!

Oz blazed with electricity as a true lightning bolt came crashing down upon her. Her dark shape was illuminated in the crackling surge and absorbed the power, fueling her muscles and reflexes to enormous heights. Twin tails swung madly behind her and sent a great spray of sparks cascading to the damp earth.

He winced as the various flowers that he and Oz had plucked together and woven into her fur were singed black. It was expected, but that would still take ages to fix up.

"Retain!"

As strong as an Electivire was, it wasn't any easy task to manage the full power of the lightning bolt. Most of the energy bled into the earth, or jumped off of Oz in a bright strand, but a significant portion was soaked up by her specialized fur and cells. An enormous crackling cloak whipped all around, scarring the vegetation and rock and soil wherever it danced, and Ash had quite a few plans to weaponize that in the future.

She roared beneath the strain, fighting every urge imaginable to unleash the power and free herself of the pain exploding along every nerve, and grew brighter and brighter as the lightning she'd summoned suffused every inch of her mighty frame.

Ash watched with a razor-sharp gaze. He kept his arms folded behind him. The rest of his team had scattered along the plain, generally with one of Steven's team to help mentor them.

Dazed focused on her remote teleportation and elemental synthesis under Claydol's careful attention. At the moment she had been tasked with teleporting various stones, clumps of moss, and other annoyances that Claydol flung at her at Bruiser, who was then tasked with juggling them to help improve his dexterity.

It was… not going well. Dazed performed admirably, used to this sort of training by now, but Bruiser kept accidentally crushing the rocks to dust in his grip. The less said about the moss and soil the better.

Bruiser was amazing at ripping up scrap metal that they found in the remains of some old, faded villages along the road into bite-sized chunks for Lairon, though. That had brightened his mood.

As for the others… most were all engaged in spars, although Torrent had cornered Infernus to test his ability to weaponize the rain with his water manipulation. It seemed to be going swimmingly so far, if the great roars and enormous explosions of steam was anything to go by.

Tangrowth was cheerfully testing Nidoking's patience in his own unique way - the sodden, muddy earth was not easy for Nidoking to move around in, while Tangrowth had fallen in love with the humid, wet mess the rain made everything into. There was less sunlight, but the tradeoff suited his abilities well.

Ancient Power was not as adept at shifting mud. In many ways, it was a similar skill to manipulating lava. Quite a bit of his mud piles were liable to fall apart mid flight, but they still made for delightful toys.

"Release! Six o' clock!"

Oz groaned in relief as the lightning coursed through her. She spun behind her and thrust her fist in a vicious motion. Enormous quantities of electricity rushed forth in a great current, lancing forward like a glowing spear as it shot out in a surging beam.

Boom.

Thunder rolled across the plain and silenced all the sounds of battle.

Oz's lightning spear struck a small boulder that Bruiser had helpfully lobbed over with one of his arms. It didn't shatter, but it was pockmarked with scars after all the lightning bolts hurled its way. Ash had wanted to use trees, but they were scarce on the plains and he didn't want to disrupt the ecosystem too much.

Besides, Steven hadn't been too enthusiastic with the idea. Something about splinters and shrapnel.

"Good! You were faster this time. Again!"

Oz was exhausted after an hour of training, but nodded. She was just as invested in mastering Storm Surge as Ash, if not moreso, and this was the perfect opportunity. The Electivire straightened and thrust her fist into the air. Her eyes flashed blue as she created the zone to attract the lightning's charge, and then it was just a waiting game.

This was one of the greatest weaknesses of the technique. Storm Surge was enormously powerful, but it wasn't practical unless Oz had time to charge it. She was still too slow when it came to summoning the lightning.

Right now she had a fantastic tool at her disposal, but it was only a fraction of what Ash dreamed. Storm Surge's most practical use now was to supercharge her body. An Electivire's physiology was built around retaining and processing electrical currents. The higher her charge, the stronger and faster she would be.

In a sense, absorbing the power of the lightning bolt acted as her own personal Rampage, but better. Oz wasn't pushed to the same heights as Bruiser, but it amplified every aspect of her fighting style. Her monstrous strength pushed to new heights, her terrifying lightning rendered stronger and more devastating than ever, and every blow infused with her element.

Training it improved her speed. It improved her ability to store and manage the current. It made her more efficient. In a sense, absorbing the lightning bolts acted as the most extreme form of the 'catch' game that many electric-types favored as a training method. Her sheer capacity should skyrocket.

Boom!

Lightning struck, Oz roared, and the process repeated.

"Retain!"

Right now it was really only useful as a way to enhance her standard fighting style, but Ash wanted more. He wanted Oz to be able to direct it to hammer down on distant foes. He wanted Oz to fork it to strike a dozen enemies at once. He wanted it to leap to Oz's command in a heartbeat.

He wanted Oz to become a living storm.

It would be a difficult road, but one that Oz was eager to pursue.

"One o' clock!"

She slung the lightning at a distant boulder and landed it with pinpoint precision.

Oz nearly collapsed.

"Let's head back. You need a rest."

She grimaced and shook her head. Oz cast his concerns aside as she raised her fist high to the sky and waited.

Ash could only smile.

XX

One week in the grasslands enabled Ash to form a basic routine.

He always woke up at least an hour before the crack of dawn. Normally he allowed most of his team to rest, although quite a few willingly woke to join him at the earliest hours. Dazed was the best alarm clock in the world.

Normally he'd pick two or three members of his team each morning to work with directly. They would spar, assess their techniques, and measure their progress before making a plan to better themselves each day and target their weak points.

This was also the time that Ash had devoted to preparing his team to work as, well, a team. He was starting small by pairing up different members at random to work together on various combat techniques. They'd sworn that they wouldn't be caught off guard again, and this was how they would do it.

Every day was filled with opportunities to enhance their teamwork, but this was where it all began.

Once Steven woke up, they would take a few hours to train or spar. They had to pull their punches since they were so distant from any Pokemon Centers. In a real emergency they could just ask Plume to fly them a few hundred miles or have Juliet teleport them to safety, but there was no sense taking undue risks.

After they'd grown tired, Ash and Steven would pack up and continue on the long, long road to Fortree. The rain beat down on them nearly every day, but Ash preferred that and the cooler temperatures to the days without rain when the sun shined. When the sun peeked out and baked the sodden plains it would raise the humidity to unbearable levels.

Ice kept him cool enough in a pinch, but he was wary of relying on it too much. Channeling the essence of Articuno through him as a way to beat the heat probably wasn't the wisest move, even if he was fairly confident in his ability to keep it under wraps.

Afternoons were spent debating with Steven as they walked. The former Champion would pose challenging scenarios for Ash to overcome, or ask him to come up with a unique technique or strategy for a hypothetical pokemon that he captured. Sometimes he would just quiz him on various figures in Hoenn and Indigo, or indulge Ash's endless questions about Hoenn's history and the people that Steven had met.

It was exhausting, but satisfying. There was something to be said about the appeal of a routine and the steady beat of progress as he worked towards a goal each and every day.

That wasn't to say that they didn't have fun. Their serious conversations often strayed, and Ash had begun a stockpile of Lance stories that Steven finally shared… most about Lance's many, many failed attempts to attract Glacia.

Poor Lance. If only he'd known then, it was for the best. Glacia would have eaten him alive.

When night fell, they'd find whatever campsite that Plume led them to. She ventured all over Hoenn during the day, and sometimes wouldn't return for a night or two after checking with Ash. Ash expected that she ventured far, far beyond Hoenn's borders on those days. Perhaps she visited Pallet Town, or circled Mt. Silver, or even soared north to Rota to skim the borders of the Dark World.

For all Ash knew, she flew across the ocean to the Western Continent, or dipped down to Orre and the wastes of the Southern Continent. The world was open to her, and part of Ash longed to simply fly forever on her back. He'd slow her down, but Ash knew that Plume loved their flights just as much as he did.

In the old days it had been the Wataru and various humans who had partnered with Pidgeot and Dragonite who had broken the isolation suffered by humans all over the globe. The people of Indigo were uniquely situated to explore the world on the backs of their powerful dragons and mighty birds. They would spread tales of their homeland all over the world and return with stories of distant kings and great wonders.

Trade proved nearly impossible across the sea - even the relatively short voyage from Indigo to Hoenn was challenging thanks to the thousands of unwelcoming water-types that filled the waters - but thanks to those explorers there was some sense of familiarity with those distant nations.

Ash daydreamed about what it would be like to act as one of those explorers yet again. Plume was indomitable, and on her back he could fly wherever he liked. Forget the distant regions where humanity had settled. He could map the depths of the Southern Continent and seek out its hidden treasures.

He could see the entire world with a distant eye.

Perhaps that would be his vacation one day.

"You seem lost in thought." Steven broke through his shell.

Hardly an unusual occurrence.

"Thanks, Claydol," Ash groused. The psychic cheerfully floated beneath Steven's giant Metagross umbrella. Metagross wasn't a fan of the rain, so Ash had seen precious little of them on the road. "Just thinking."

"About?"

"Traveling." He shrugged. "Training."

I believe you just summed up your entire personality in two words.

"Thank you, Claydol," Ash rolled his eyes. "Are you done?"

Perhaps.

Ash supposed that would have to do. "Mostly I'm just glad for this break," he admitted. "It's nice to move again. Forina was incredible, but I always feel an itch pop up when I stick around somewhere too long."

You truly are Lance's star pupil. Also, you should see a doctor about that.

"Claydol!" Steven rubbed his temples. Claydol telepathically whistled innocently into their minds. "I'm the opposite, I'll admit. I don't mind the road," Steven said in a tone that stated he very much minded it, "but I've always been more comfortable with a home base, so to speak."

Ash nodded along. "It has its perks. I miss the Indigo Plateau."

Steven brightened despite the light drizzle coming down. "I agree! The rock formations surrounding the Indigo Plateau are fantastic. The Ore Mountains are ancient, in fact…"

It could be a little overwhelming when Steven decided to drop an entire dissertation worth about geological facts on Ash's head, but he couldn't help but smile all the same. After all the stress and weight that Steven bore on his shoulders, it was nice to see him relax for a moment.

Perhaps Steven wasn't as enthusiastic about the road as Ash, but he suspected that it would be good for him all the same.

XX

Boom.

Lightning flashed. Thunder rolled.

Just another day on Route 119.

Nidoking was twitchy enough that he jumped every time that Oz trained Storm Surge, but Ash thought he was finally getting used to it after all this time. By now it was only his ears that perked up, although he was still a little worried about Nidoking accidentally firing off a Sludge Bomb or Poison Sting if he was truly caught off guard.

"We won't be taken by surprise again," he said to his friend at one point.

Both Nidoking and Sneasel nodded in agreement. It was an odd pair, but Ash had plans for them. They complemented each other fairly well in a fight: Sneasel could harass and outmaneuver opponents and open them to Nidoking's more powerful attacks, or his Mind Breaker would utterly lock them down to allow Nidoking to splash them with Sludge Bomb or attack physically.

They'd never been the closest in the past thanks to Nidoking's status as enforcer of law and order, which Sneasel was naturally diametrically opposed to, but Ash hoped that they'd come to appreciate each other more as they grew accustomed to fighting as equals.

But this was an entirely different avenue of training.

"Durand would have slipped us by entirely without your ability to sense Distortion," Ash directed at Sneasel. He preened beneath the praise and stuck his tongue out at Nidoking, who grumbled. "You did great, Sneasel, but we can't rely entirely on you. Nidoking, you're pretty handy with a Shadow Ball. Like I said the other day, my goal is for you to pick up that Distortional sensitivity as well. Durand, ghosts, dark-types… we'll peel back their veil."

Ash had been humbled again and again by Distortional tricks. His time was almost unchallenged physically at this point, but any wily trainer or pokemon knew how to circumvent physical defenses in one way or another.

It wasn't something to be bitter about. Victory should be attained by any method possible.

That didn't mean he would make it easy for them.

He brushed a lock of wet black hair out of his eyes. Sneasel had used a quick Ice Beam to freeze a little ceiling of ice over himself using the tall grass, so the little dark-type wasn't just a miserable little pile of soaked fur… yet. "You need to push it as far as you can, because you'll take it to the next level. I want more than to just be able to detect Distortion. I want you to be able to command it."

Sneasel's eyes gleamed in delight. He pointed a hooked claw at Torrent across the field, who had coalesced a vast downpour of rain into an enormous sphere that circled him. Little tentacles of water reminiscent of Tangrowth's many vines whipped about clumsily. They struggled to pick anything up, but Torrent proved adept at swatting lazy earthen projectiles tossed by Tangrowth out of the air.

It was a good start. Ash and Torrent had grand ambitions for his water manipulation, and he hoped to push it to its limits during their time on Route 119.

"Just like Torrent." Ash confirmed. "I want you to manipulate those dark energies as easily as Torrent commands water. Show Nidoking the basics," Ash told Sneasel, who looked devilishly pleased to have been placed in charge. Nidoking just snorted. "Hide in the tall grass and make him find you. Have Nidoking head somewhere and conjure up a Shadow Ball. You'll need to be able to track things that are in motion for you to get the most of this. Come up with whatever games might help you. Understood?"

Sneasel popped a mock salute. Nidoking just dipped his head in acknowledgement and looked at Sneasel with a long-suffering sigh. Ash patted his friend on the shoulder, promised him all sorts of goodies if he played nice, and headed off to work with another pair.

He'd have liked to do it all in the same place, but he suspected that these two training sessions might not play nicely together.

XX

The rain pounded down on the three of them. Steven stood a respectful distance away, looming like a grey scarecrow in the fog. His ominous appearance was a little ruined by his giant umbrella and Lairon, who wallowed in the mud nearby and kicked up all sorts of filth onto Steven's expensive suit pants.

Steven wrinkled his nose, but had seemingly given up on fighting the inevitable mud slide coming his way. The opportunity to view this particular training session seemed appealing enough to overcome his delicate sensibilities.

Ash didn't mind the rain. He didn't mind the wet clothes sticking to his skin, or the wind against his face, or the chill in his bones. No, this was a welcome reprieve from Hoenn's miserable heat and suffocating humidity.

He had faced far worse in Zapdos' Storm. Sometimes Ash missed those weeks trawling through northeastern Kanto with Surge and Brock, but then common sense reared its head and he remembered the frigid gales, the endless downpour that came down in sheets hard enough to bowl him and Brock over, and the omnipresent boom of thunder that rattled his bones without interruption.

Though Oz was doing her best to replicate that last one.

Plume had taken up residence in one of the scant few trees in the grasslands. Its great branches sagged beneath her sheer bulk, and she seemed comically large in comparison. Those trees had evolved to support Taillow, Swellow, and the odd Pelipper. Plume strained its limbs to their limits.

Gary's Pidgeot probably would've snapped it entirely.

Torrent hovered nearby as well. He'd considerately attempted to shield Ash from the rain until Ash had asked that he stopped. It was a nice gesture, but he needed to feel the elements for what was to come.

The grey sky seemed flat and endless above them. Ash stared up at it for a moment, longed to hop on Plume's back and soar off into the expanse, and at last shook his head.

It was time to focus.

Ash put the Flute to his lips and played the one tune he knew. The melody burst from the flute's tip and spread all across the plains. For a moment it grew still and quiet. Even the rain softened against its skin, and Ash had to force himself to not lose himself in the Song.

Even that brief exposure soothed the aches left over from his battle with Durand. His worries eased. The water soaking his clothes lost its chill, yet seemed to grow heavier and thicker, weighing down upon him like a comforting blanket.

He took a deep breath and allowed the steady beat beat beat of his heart to fill his ears and blend with the patter of the rain against his skin.

For a moment, Ash held his breath. Then he exhaled, and imagined it carried with it the mist and purity of Suicune, that cleansing gale which swept away impurities and left nothing but glassy serenity in its wake.

The North Wind cut across the plains of Hoenn. For a moment, Ash imagined he felt a cool breath against the nape of his neck and the scattering of light across a shining crystal crest. He smiled fondly at those recollections, and the wind howled fiercely and took all his worries away with it.

Torrent shuddered as the wind and rain swept across his thick plates of armor. His scarlet eyes shut and he turned his long snout longingly to the sky. The raindrops and sodden earth trembled, froze, and swirled about him as he recalled his own lessons at the feet of a Legend.

For her part, Plume listened and sang along with him. Her keening cry swept across the plains and seemed to merge with the wind itself. Plume's cry wasn't quite lost in the gale, but it was complementary, just as the howls of the Beasts proved complementary to the Song. They filled in the gaps, accentuated each element, and left it greater than the sum of its parts.

"You both know the North Wind well."

He received two nods. Plume had taken well to the serenity of the Concept and the sensation of the wind beneath her wings, and Torrent had taken its lessons into his very bones.

Ash held their gaze for a moment, then allowed the Feather to bite against his skin as Ice flowed through him. His blood ran cold. His emotions flattened, purged in favor of icy rationality. A great cloud of mist left his nostrils as he breathed again, and the water against his skin froze. The world seemed distant now, held at arm's length, and even the sight of two of his oldest, closest friends only managed to warm his heart rather than set it ablaze.

"It is only the beginning. A half-idea squeezed into an immortal package," Ash said evenly. The Beasts had been uplifted by Ho-Oh. They were impressive, beautiful, and glorious beyond belief, but they were only the tip of the iceberg. His fingers rested upon the pouch of Sacred Ashes granted to him by Ho-Oh back in Ecruteak. "Come closer. I will teach you what I know, and then we will learn together."

They did as he bid.

Ash placed one hand against Torrent's chest. His armored plates were a tad rough at points, crusted over with hard scales, and cool to the touch. A mighty heart beat steadily within, and Ash centered himself upon that.

Plume shivered as his hand rested over her heart. She was warm, so amazingly warm, and the influence of Ice within Ash yearned to steal that heat for himself, to pull it away and sap it until nothing but a frozen equilibrium remained. He was more than the Concepts, however, and his mind rejected the notion.

"Feel. Empty yourself of emotion. This goes deeper than the serenity of the North Wind. The North Wind calms. It's tranquil. It washes the turbulent sea away and replaces it with gentle waves. Ice goes deeper. It rejects. It absorbs. It is harsh and hungry, a starving beast. It's an absence. It takes."

He shared Ice with them as he once shared it with Lance. Torrent and Plume didn't have Fire burning them from within, and so it did not ease the kindling of their spirit. Instead, it froze them over.

Frost bled from his fingertips to collect over their chests. Ash felt their heartbeats slow. Torrent's was already glacial, and now it came only once every ten seconds or so.

Their countenances changed. They became remote, distant, cold. More than ever, they seemed wild. Inhuman. Plume watched him for a moment with the gaze of a raptor, not a beloved comrade, and Torrent's entire body grew icy to the touch. The rain froze against his scales and sharpened to jagged little icicles that rendered him more a frozen statue of a monarch than the loving friend that Ash knew.

Despite it all, Ash never worried for his safety.

"Remember this feeling so that you can draw upon it yourself. Remember the white wings of Articuno," Ash said, eyes flashing to the living blizzard that had ravaged Shamouti in its duel with its siblings. He remembered the frozen Ice Sphere in his grip and the ravage of the fractals that had threatened to subsume him. "Remember the bite of winter. Remember the blood frozen within your veins. It will always be with you. It's there, if you care to look for it."

And with that, Ash rejected Ice. It yearned to dwell within him still, to sap away the lifeblood of the world, but Ash had little patience for it. The Concept was a tool, nothing more. He was its master now, and he was ready to put this tool away.

The shift was immediate. Torrent and Plume both shivered and jerked as if woken from a deep slumber. The Kingdra rumbled something, which made Ash smile.

"Scary, isn't it? It's easy to lose yourself. It's even easier to rely on them," Ash rasped. They all knew he was speaking from experience. "Let them in, but don't let them stay. Remember who you are. You must do that above all else. Otherwise it gets easier and easier to let them control you rather than the other way around."

Torrent dipped his head, but Ash could see just how greedy he was for this knowledge. It was the same hunger he'd exhibited when Suicune had deigned to teach him water manipulation, and now it was centered upon Ash himself. He smiled at his friend, a deep love welling up within him, and he shared a glance with Plume.

The image of Moltres' obsidian wings filled with raging fire filled his mind, and so the frame of the Feather upon his chest came alight again with golden flame. Ash shivered as the cold was purged from him entirely. His blood ran hot and steam curled from his skin as his body temperature spiked.

"And there's even more! One Concept is only a single piece of the puzzle! I want you to know what I know," Ash surged, voice passionate and fierce. For a moment, he thought that he sounded like Lance. "There's Fire, Lightning, and they all work as one in harmony. Balance is key. Look at Lance. Look at Haukea. We're more than they are. So much more!"

Torrent flexed his will. All the rain around them froze and hung suspended as if locked in time. Ash smiled at him. "Master the Concepts and you master yourself. You'll learn to express them, given time, and eventually you'll express yourself as well."

He exhaled once again, and Fire left with him. Lightning channeled, sparking from the black glass of the Feather and interlinked with the golden fire of Moltres, and Ash's mind sharpened with it. The world seemed to slow, and for a moment he could track the trajectory of each and every raindrop in his mind.

Instead, he focused upon his friends. They were hungry, curious, and a little worried for him. Ash only smiled and opened his arms wide to embrace them.

"It's a long road, and a hard one." Ash said quietly, muffled as he pressed his face into Plume's feathered neck. She affectionately nipped his hat. It really was on its last legs. Torrent rumbled comfortingly and leaned into Ash's hug. His sturdy weight was reassuring like none other. The Kingdra may be reserved at times, but he was a bastion of strength and stability. "Lonely, too. You'll question your sanity. You might wonder whether you're still yourself, or if you've become a Concept masquerading as a mortal."

Plume cooed, nuzzled him, and Ash felt all his worries flood away.

He shuddered against them, impossibly relieved. Ash pulled away so he could look both of his dear friends in the eyes.

"Even knowing all that… will you join me?"

A bone-trembling rumble and a shriek that pierced the heavens.

Ash smiled. The Feather blazed, and when he blinked again he was something a bit more than human.

"Very well. Then let us begin."

XX

On the twentieth day of their journey across central Hoenn, Steven pulled Ash aside just when he had gone to work with his team. He frowned at Steven, impatiently waiting for him to get on with it so that Ash could go assist his team. Or continue his exploration of the Wataru journal gifted to him by Elder Yuri. He'd already read it cover to cover, but things only really began to sink in with a second glance.

As for his team…

Oz was still working on advancing Storm Surge, and Infernus had gotten testier and testier about challenging Bruiser. As Bruno had recommended, Bruiser had taken up juggling to rebuild his dexterity, but it was slow work.

Most pokemon (and humans) would understand that fighting something that may accidentally smash them like a bug-type with a love tap was a bad idea.

It only excited Infernus. He'd challenged each of Steven's team a dozen times now, and each loss only infuriated him more. But he'd also come dangerously close to besting several, even stymied by the unfavorable climate here.

Infernus would always be an odd case. Even the weakest of Steven's teammates was objectively superior to Infernus by a wide margin. They outclassed him in skill, knowledge, and experience.

Yet his natural advantages such as his extraordinary body heat, insane lust for battle and blood, and guile ensured that he stood a fighting chance. By no means was Infernus a proper Champion-level fighter, but he leveraged everything that he had into every single second of every single fight.

Infernus was a monster, and Ash hoped that Bruiser's evolution would only inspire the Magmortar to new heights. He and Torrent tested each other regularly, and Tangrowth had proven to be an adept sparring partner as well, but Ash suspected that Bruiser was perfectly capable of thrashing Infernus now.

It wouldn't be easy, and it would only work if Bruiser got close - Ash had plenty of ideas on how to enhance Bruiser's ability to close distance so he could exploit his absurd physical capabilities - but Infernus just might have met his match.

He was too wily to play to Bruiser's strengths, of course. Infernus was a fiend for battle and loved nothing more than a good fight, but victory was all that mattered in the end. Would he adore trading blows with Bruiser and feeling the crack of bones and the singe of flesh? Absolutely. Would he rather blast the Machamp from a distance and cook him to ensure he emerged triumphant? Absolutely.

But that battle was coming, and Ash figured it was better for it to occur in the isolated wilds of Route 119 than anywhere it may spill into vulnerable civilization. To be honest, he was a little giddy just thinking about that inevitable clash.

Ash snapped back as Steven came to a stop. The echoing roll of thunder left the plains trembling as Oz summoned another surge of lightning to saturate her body. Her capacity was growing by leaps and bounds now that she could force the lightning bolts into her own flesh.

He couldn't even touch her without channeling Lightning any more. It was a little inconvenient, but Ash had never been prouder.

"Yes?" Ash grew a little impatient as Steven stared blankly at him.

"Apologies," Steven said quickly. He seemed a little awkward as he fished a mirror from his pocket and motioned for Ash to sit down as they passed a few lonely boulders. "See this?"

"It's a mirror."

"Indeed."

"And…?"

Steven coughed. For once, Claydol wasn't present to offer a snide remark. "Lance brought to my attention that there are holes in your education."

"Such as?" Ash asked. His mind spun. "I seem to be doing pretty well on the battling front. And the training front. And the -"

"It's not that!" Steven waved his protests away. "Believe me, you're fine when it comes to performing as a burgeoning Elite Four. We're more concerned about you on the personal front."

Ash clammed up. He'd had a few sessions with Juliet now, and he'd thought that things had gone well. She was an excellent listener and never offered judgment. Juliet was content to hear him out and offer certain words of advice, although they were always carefully curated. It had grown easier and easier as he'd given time for Spiritomb to relax after the battle with Durand.

Part of him relished that his mind was his own again. Spiritomb ate at him, always took more than it could ever give, and working with it day after day was exhausting. He imagined what it would be like to toss the keystone aside and never worry about losing himself again… but no, that was cruel. He'd made a promise.

He wasn't Giovanni. He wouldn't use and discard. Spiritomb was a partner. It wasn't quite a friend yet, but Ash treasured it all the same. He'd leave it better than he'd found it.

"Not that!" Steven seemed to realize why Ash withdrew. He handed Ash the mirror, then pulled something else out of his pocket: a razor and a bottle of shaving cream. "You're growing up. You'll be a man soon. You don't need to shave yet, but you will, and Lance - I thought that it would be helpful to offer some lessons."

Ash gingerly took the razor. He'd seen enough TV to know the basics, along with the fact that shaving apparently left one's face a bloody mess covered with tissues. He looked at the razor doubtfully.

"So you're going to show me how to shave?"

Steven nodded as he took the razor back. He didn't look too confident himself, but he pointed at a few faint wisps of silvery hair that dusted his lip. "Yes."

And with that, Steven sprayed the shaving cream onto his hands. It came out as a watery mist, and Steven cursed as he quickly shook it up. When he sprayed it again, the shaving sprayed out as a proper foam.

"You have to… cover your face with it," Steven said with a degree of uncertainty. "Like this, see?"

He wiped it clumsily on his face. The blue foam was uneven and rough. Steven had layered so much of it across his delicate features that it appeared more like a crystalline blue beard than anything.

"And then you have to… scrape your face with the razor?" Steven eyed the tool doubtfully. He winced as he ran it down his face. Little specks of blood trailed from the razor and intermixed with the shaving cream. Even Bruiser, off knitting a shapeless little hat for Seeker from his position on a nearby boulder, stared at the man.

Realization struck Ash sooner rather than later.

Ash narrowed his eyes. "Metagross shaves for you."

Steven blinked. "I - no, of course not," he said unconvincingly. "I do this every day. Sometimes multiple times!"

"Metagross shaves for you." Ash repeated.

"Metagross shaves for me." Steven admitted, unwillingly to disguise it any further. He furiously wiped the shaving cream (and blood) away with a monogrammed grey washcloth. "It's so irritating!" He complained. "Why should I bother with this whole process? Metagross is perfectly capable… oh, never mind! You know the basics now, don't you?"

"And that you utilize the strongest trained pokemon in the world to cut your hair."

"No, Claydol cuts my hair," Steven dismissed easily. "Skarmory helps sometimes."

A shriek like steel on steel scraped Ash's ears from above, plainly in agreement. And a touch of pride too, if Ash interpreted the tone correctly.

He nodded as if that was the most normal thing in the world. "Right."

If only Dazed was here to hear this.

"Does Armaldo do your laundry?"

"Occasionally. Armaldo has a firm hand, however. Water Gun is fine for cracking open rock-types, but it can prove a tad excessive when washing delicates…" Steven looked up and blinked, his expression turning defensive. "To be fair, I also do a lot of their grooming for them, too. They get jealous if it's just one-way."

Ash learned all sorts of interesting facts that afternoon, but not a single thing about shaving he wasn't already peripherally aware of.

It would probably be best for him to pick that up from someone else, like Lance, Professor Oak, Bruno, or even Will… or Metagross, even if the metal psychic never deigned to speak with him.

Anything would be better than this.

XX

Sunny days were rare in the plains, but Ash had waited the last week for one to finally rear its head. The dawn peaked out over the vast stretches of green grass and its light cast the dew and lingering raindrops into a glittering field of diamonds.

They'd found the Vitulla River a few days ago, and had been following it since as they began the slow transition from the grasslands to the hilly regions east of the steep mountains which cradled the Piede desert. Cloying Earth grew weightier and weightier as they traveled closer to the desert - and to Mt. Chimney and the beast that slumbered beneath it.

Ash woke once in the middle of the night to a freak earthquake. He'd half-suffocated as memories of lava filling his veins burst through Dazed's efforts to eat his dreams. The panic attack had left with the sudden trembling of the earth, but neither Ash nor Steven felt particularly comforted.

Earthquakes in Route 119 were practically unheard of.

But he shoved it aside. His mistakes had been made. They wouldn't be repeated.

The Vitulla was a vast, winding feature that ran down most of central Hoenn, famed for its pristine beauty and for the enormous numbers of lesser streams that trickled off of its great current. A few villages had been erected upon its banks, but much of this area was unsettled despite the bounty of its banks.

Humanity had failed time and time again to venture deep into Hoenn's wild heart. Travelers were permitted and small settlements might survive, but any claim that Fortree and the League held to this land was nominal at best. This was the domain of pokemon, and they had suffered terribly in the Last War.

They did not forget so easily, nor forgive. In many ways, this land was like venturing through another world entirely. Were the wastes of the Southern Continent of this same unforgiving, unwelcoming nature?

If so, Ash dearly hoped to see what lay beyond the coasts and deserts of Orre one day. Humanity may be unwelcome here, but this felt like another home to him.

"It's time."

Dazed ceased her most recent attempt at elemental synthesis - a sputtering flame that would struggle to light a campfire - and watched him with worried, luminous eyes. She didn't ask him if he was certain, as she knew he wouldn't do this if he wasn't, but she still brushed against his mind with all the reassurance she could muster.

Be safe. We are here.

That they were. Steven had teleported off with Juliet for a bit to meet with Wallace - although he'd assured Ash that they'd be back in time for him to have his normal session with the friendly Gardevoir - but left Claydol with strict instructions to keep guard over Ash.

Claydol had taken it as an invitation to offer endless commentary, which Ash luckily found more amusing than grating. It helped that Claydol had only offered a few comments at the impending dread Ash felt at what was to come.

Nidoking sparred with Armaldo a short distance away. He clashed physically, his thick hide sturdy enough to weather Armaldo's pincers, but frequently supplemented his blows with Supersonic, and focused upon timely uses of psychic power to wrench Armaldo's vicious attacks away.

He only succeeded about half the time, but Ash hoped to see significant improvement soon enough. It didn't help that Nidoking was attempting to use his Distortion sensing to keep track of Sneasel all the while. The faint light of dawn was hardly enough to give an advantage, and whenever Sneasel spied a weakness he would come in, slash at Nidoking's ankles, and scurry away cackling.

Oz was off training her capacity again, this time with only a meager thundercloud overhead. Torrent had been courteous enough to share - he needed to train with weaponizing rain, and he and Oz synchronized their own training to practice various combinations for paired battles.

Storm Surge was coming fairly well, but she seemed to have hit a roadblock. Oz could summon it well enough to strike herself, but any attempts to direct the lightning elsewhere failed consistently. Without that, it would be only half the vision that Ash had imagined.

Still, it was an incredible tool and he was proud of her. Any failing was on Ash. He had to find ways to optimize their training. Otherwise they were just beating at the wrong section of a brick wall.

The others were all training as well - Infernus relished the sunny day, and worked off his sudden spurt of energy by brawling with Tangrowth and Cradily while they sat soaking up the sun's rays - but Ash knew that they'd come in a second if he called.

Dazed still watched him worriedly. More specifically, she watched the keystone on his belt.

Today was the day that he would speak to Spiritomb. He'd taken the time to give his spirit a rest and focus upon the rest of the time. Spiritomb undoubtedly needed time after the battle it had been hurled into, and to be honest Ash did as well.

He would do everything he could to help Spiritomb, but Steven, Juliet, and Cynthia had all impressed the necessity of taking care of himself above all else. There was no use trying to set himself on fire to keep Spiritomb warm. All that would do was burn him out twice as fast.

"Bruiser! It's time!"

His friend had often sat with him while Spiritomb's presence battered them both down, and he was levelheaded enough that Ash didn't think he'd overreact if Spiritomb lashed out. Nidoking had wanted to join him, but Ash wouldn't risk it.

That didn't stop him from ensuring Nidoking was nearby, though.

Bruiser strode up. Dazed was utterly dwarfed by his presence, but her eyes smiled up at him fondly.

The head-skin serves its purpose admirably. I would not be adverse to one of my own.

One enormous hand tapped the bright yellow hat atop his head. It was more of a beanie than anything, just a loose approximation of a hat knitted from yarn as an experiment, but it covered his head and crest. That made it a hat… technically.

It was altogether bizarre to see a seven foot tall Machamp wandering around with a shapeless yellow mass of yarn on his head, but Bruiser was proud of himself, so Ash was as well.

Perhaps it would serve some purpose in battle? It might cause confusion in an opponent.

They began their climb up a rocky slope that would take them to a small hilltop that overlooked the beautiful wilds of Hoenn. Except for Claydol, who levitated.

Green grass and saplings,, the azure of the water, violet and red and fuchsia from the flowers… it was all gorgeous. Ash wondered how much of this he'd seen from Plume's back when she'd taken him to Ever Grande City from Regirock's tomb in the Piede.

"Thank you for doing this with me," Ash said quietly as they climbed. Even from here the sound of his friends training diligently reached his ears, as well as the occasional shriek of Skarmory as the steel-type ambushed some of his teammates in the midst of their training. Skarmory steered clear of Infernus, however. She'd learned her lesson when Infernus grinned and teleported right up into her face the last time she'd tried this.

Bruiser just nodded. He reached to pat Ash on the back with one of his lower hands, but hesitated just in time. Ash smiled back and rapped his knuckles against Bruiser's. While he knew that it hurt Bruiser to be unable to touch them, he knew that Bruiser would get his strength under control soon enough. Until then, he'd make every effort to ease that burden.

"I'm worried," Ash confessed as he clambered over a tangled mass of roots that branched out from the hillside. Bruiser attempted to step over them as well, but was still growing used to his new body and plowed right through the brown roots instead. He watched them forlornly for a moment, but soon caught up. "Spiritomb has every right to hate me, you know? Back in Ever Grande, I told it that it would never have to do anything it wanted to do. And what did I do just a few weeks later? I dumped it into the middle of a battle!"

Self-flagellation is unbecoming of you. How are you ever going to get a girlfriend if you're such a stick in the mud? Steven is rubbing off on you too much.

Ash flushed red even as Bruiser rumbled out a laugh. "A what?" His eyes bulged, then narrowed as he realized Claydol was just messing with him. "Shut up!"

Shutting up now. My job is done.

He grumbled a bit, then turned back to Bruiser as they neared the peak. "What if Spiritomb won't forgive me?" Ash wrung his hands together. The Machamp assessed him for a moment, eyes serious, and he finally peeled his reptilian lips back into a smile.

Bruiser's thoughtful gaze drifted down to the black fabric knotted around his waist, then one of his arms thumped over his chest with enough force to shatter a tree to splinters. The thump was rather satisfying, and Ash returned the gesture.

His wasn't quite as impressive, but it made Bruiser smile wider.

"I feel better knowing that you're with me," Ash confessed. "I wish everyone was here, but I don't want to overwhelm Spiritomb. The last time it was conscious, it was released into a nightmare. What if it feels like it's reliving some of those old battles? The things I saw, the things it shared with us…"

He trailed off as he looked off into the rosy gold of the dawn. The scene was light as could be, the sun banishing the vestiges of night's shadow as it rose, and part of him hoped that might mean something to Spiritomb. Ash couldn't help but feel disgusted with himself as he reflected upon what he'd done that day.

No doubt Claydol and most of his friends would say that he was being too hard on himself. But Ash knew what he'd done. He knew why he'd done it.

Ash had tasted victory, and he'd been willing to do anything to attain it. He'd chosen to unleash the last member of his team, chosen to unleash its particular brand of hell upon Durand and her own family in a last ditch effort to claw a win back from the ashes of defeat.

He'd thrown everything he'd had at her, and when that wasn't enough he'd done the unforgivable.

At that moment, Ash had placed himself first. If he was being honest with himself, Ash wasn't sure how much of the decision had been colored by his desire to apprehend Durand. He doubted that capturing a dangerous vigilante had been much more than an afterthought, nor ensuring that her bloodstained hands would be prevented from hurting anyone else.

All that had mattered was winning for himself and for his team. They'd fought so terribly hard, and he would have done anything to fuel one last hurrah and obtain sweet, sweet victory.

He held Spiritomb's pokeball tightly as they reached the hilltop. It had a beautiful view, high above the flat plains beneath and on level with the gradually more rugged terrain ahead. Ash felt himself upon the precipice in more ways than one.

"It's nice up here, isn't it?" Ash said quietly. Bruiser grunted in affirmation. Two of his hands came up to shield his eyes from the bright sun while the other two hung loose and relaxed by his sides. The world seemed so tiny up here, so remote.

Perhaps it was simply weakness, but Ash wanted to relish the light before he stepped into Spiritomb's cloak of shadow.

He looked down upon all his friends.

Upon Nidoking as he dueled with Armaldo.

Upon Tangrowth as his eyes scrunched shut and vines regrew miraculously from where Skarmory had cut them. Too slow still, but it was progress. He'd discuss it with Steven later.

Upon Plume as she twisted through the sky, the purifying notes of the North Wind carried by her wings. Faint motes of frost danced beneath her wings and glittered like diamonds as dawn broke. Ash wondered if some poor villager in the elder days might have mistaken her for Articuno. He'd have to keep that observation to himself unless he wanted to puff her ego up even more.

Upon Infernus as he grew irritated with the frigid cold carried in Plume's wake as she circled above and teleported high into the sky in a fruitless attempt to blast her with scorching flame. She trilled playfully, hurled a frosty gust from her wings, and shot off into the distance in the blink of an eye.

This was the light he was leaving.

Ash treasured the sight, stored it away, and held it close to his heart as he turned to Bruiser. They both knew the procedure by now. Both sat upon small boulders opposite of one another. Once he knew that they were prepared, Ash released Spiritomb.

As always, the stone sat there unchanging. Apathetic. Numb to the world.

It seemed so mundane in the moments before Spiritomb's sluggish consciousness woke. The keystone seemed no more dangerous than a flat rock that he might skip into the pond.

And then, as always, the world seemed to drain of color. Ash gasped, though he had grown used to Spiritomb's dreadful presence by now. The sickly green light spilled forth from the small gap in the keystone, soon followed by a cloud of noxious lavender that hung suspended listlessly in the air, and the misery settled upon him twofold.

He hadn't faced Spiritomb in weeks, but in that time he'd grown stronger. Ash worked endlessly with Torrent and Plume, and so he worked on himself as well. The break since their duel with Durand had offered him much-needed time to rest and recover.

Despite the guilt gnawing at him, Ash felt stronger and more stable than he had in months.

Spiritomb was still a bludgeon to his mind, though. Everything seemed so slow. So difficult. Even his thoughts came as if swimming through molasses. To connect them and string a coherent thought together came as a great effort.

Ash groped within his mind and snared everything he could to weather the initial assault.

Seeker and Nidoking practiced Supersonic together amidst the grass - Torrent's touch froze a puddle - Steven's easy, wistful expression as he whispered tales of young Lance and Cynthia to Ash across the campfire - his mother mentioning a lab that she'd begun to work with - his own inward anger at his willingness to weaponize Spiritomb yet again.

And just like that, Spiritomb's oppressive aura was beaten away. Ash exhaled, and Bruiser wasn't far behind. They'd both learnt their own strategies to stand strong against Spiritomb's endless apathy.

"Spiritomb."

The keystone didn't even twitch. He wasn't certain the specter had fully awoken yet, but Ash knew that it could hear him.

His eyes scrunched shut as another wave of misery lashed out from Spiritomb. "I'm sorry. I failed you. You should never have seen that battle."

It froze for a moment, the gas seemingly locked in place despite the steady breeze whistling past, and then something broke in Spiritomb just as it had the night of the Origin Festival in Sudmauna.

Manacles chains linked one hundred and eight together - left in squalor, isolation, lick the rainwater from the stone with dry tongues and eat the scraps until even that was too much effort - darkness darkness darkness - silver fur and cunning red eyes - confusion freedom from flesh confusion confusion confusion UNITY -

Ash's fists clenched. "I'm sorry," he said through gritted teeth. Bruiser's eyes were squeezed shut as two hands clutched at his head. The others wrapped around the stone so tightly as to shatter the edges. Thankfully there was a good few feet of distance between them if Bruiser lost control, although Ash had more faith in his friend than that. "I'm sorry!"

And just like that, the maelstrom of visions vanished. Spiritomb's lavender mist settled down around its keystone like a thick fog. Had his apology meant anything, or had even that single display exhausted it?

Misery beat down upon him incessantly, though he stood strong. Lie down, it whispered. Close your eyes. Rest your weary head. Embrace the soothing darkness. It is soft and timeless and comforting. Drown yourself in oblivion.

But that was not Ash, and so he would never bend to it.

"I told you that I wouldn't make you do anything that you didn't want to. And what did I do? I tried to use you," Ash said scornfully. "I turned you against my enemies and hoped that you would share with them what you've shared with me. That was wrong."

The lavender mist roiled. Green motes of light flickered within it.

Apathy broke upon him like the tide against the shore, determined to sap him of everything he was and pulverize his stone will into sand. It raged for a moment, speaking of something more than simple misery, and Ash let it wash around him.

Lance smiled down at him as he set the Indigo Conference silver medal around his neck.

"I deserve any anger that you hold for me," Ash said. The keystone trembled. Sickly green and purple wisps spiraled forth, humming. He hesitated, then stretched out his hand. Bruiser jolted up, unsure of his purpose, but Ash shook his head. Spiritomb recoiled. "I'd hoped we might be friends, you know. You're no weapon, Spiritomb. I promise you that. If you would…"

He trailed off again, then steeled himself. This was the decision he had made. This was the only way forward. Spiritomb was forged of Aura, an amalgamation of a hundred and eight screaming souls stitched. It was emotion made manifest.

Why waste time on words when he could share himself instead?

"I don't blame you if you don't believe a word I say," Ash said. "I doubt I would either. If that's the case, I propose an exchange. Show me whatever you desire. Share whatever you want with me. Take what you will."

This was the first time that he'd ever had Spiritomb's full attention. Its gaseous form surged like an undammed river and flowed high and wide, spreading like a foul miasma that radiated despair and the same flash of old anger that Ash had first witnessed outside Sudmauna.

The Origin Festival had revealed that one last coal still smoldered within that stonebound apathy. If Ash had stoked it that night, now it was properly emblazoned. Whether his words had insulted it, or if the prospect of a willing outlet shook it loose of its long slumber, Ash couldn't begin to guess.

Bruiser rose, a worried grunt rolling from his throat, but Ash waved him back even as Spiritomb's power waxed like the moon, grew great and dark and the world slipped away, fraying at the edges like a tattered cloth, and Spiritomb's focus seeped through his mental walls.

Ash doubted himself for a moment, but opened the gates. His strength faded in an instant as Spiritomb's malign power scoured him clean of emotion and thought and logic and the world was emptied.

He felt a dull thud as he fell to the ground, but the world lost meaning to him as Spiritomb poured its very soul into Ash's.

Thousands of memories flickered through his mind in the blink of an eye, most half-forgotten and ruined by time and whatever horrible fates the originals had suffered. They made no sense! Some were fresh, others bled together into a mottled mess where time and space had no meaning, where men and women and pokemon separated by a century or more met and conversed or loved -

The immeasurable weight pressed down harder and harder, as if Spiritomb wanted to crack his mind like an egg. It was so odd to feel… well, feeling from the creature. It was often as much of a rock as its keystone. Spiritomb simply sat and waited, feeling the eons pass by. The most Ash ever received in acknowledgement during their one-sided conversations was an occasional wisp or a tremble of the keystone so subtle that he might have imagined it.

This was a different beast altogether. Spiritomb's power rushed through every cell, washing over it in a toxic green-lavender tide. Its choking mist strangled him from within, taking and taking and taking even as it gave a hundred and eight lifetime's worth of memory and emotion so distant but so raw -

It all raced through him. Spiritomb was its emotion, petrified as it was into the keystone. As it flooded Ash with its terrible power, he drank deeply of the poison. He could never know it fully otherwise.

He cradled his love's face in his hand, illuminated by Lord Cresselia's full face - what was her name?

She cradled her infant in her arms as the door came crashing down. A silver-furred Lucario smiled at her as men came and tore her child - was it a boy or a girl? - from her arms -

Warmth, then cold. Hard fingers. She cried as she was ripped from kind arms and a loving embrace. Red eyes met hers, nodded, and the bad men took her away and Mama wasn't far behind -

His tail sparked. His blue-black mane bled into darkness. His humans, those who he allowed to treat him like royalty and bring him food and pet his soft fur, were taken, he struck with all his might to preserve his servants. A white-garbed human caught it on his hand and laughed. Darkness.

Led into cells. Graves. Stone coffins. Open to hear the screams of their neighbors. Fed gruel. Water poured inside. No light. Blackness. Only screams. His breath was heavy. Families together, but unable to see. Whispered assurances. Babies and toddlers cried. Elders told stories, sang songs, cried for heroes to pass the time.

But time was meaningless in the void.

All went silent. The void was the only constant.

The Lucario - the Soul-Like-Gears - came.

No more whispers. No sight. No smell. No taste. Only stone and thoughts that looped in upon themselves.

Eternity. Gentle breathing. Food. Water. Waste. Cleaned. Repeat. Heartbeat, the only stimulus.

Go mad. Smash head into stone. Again and again. Helps. Head bound.

Not allowed to die.

She was a healer. She shared her eggs with the needy and hungry. She healed any who needed tending. She was loved. She loved in return. She sang. She shared the waters of life, her Life Dew. She was bound. She was alone. She cried. She raged. She finally went silent -

Only the beginning. Waste away. Only thoughts for company.

Mothers stopped comforting their children. The silver-tongued stopped singing. The elders stopped their songs of heroes, had no wisdom to offer. No advice to endure this.

He was a killer, a warrior in service to his Lord. His blade was wet with blood. His hands were stained with black deeds. But he was old. Too many died in defense of the mountain village. They needed another for the Metanoion, the Master of Change who he had pledged his service to.

"No! No!" Screams. "Not me! I've been a good soldier, haven't I? Never complained! Please, don't make me into one of those -"

In the pits, his curses faded to whimpers, then to nothing.

Countless memories and experiences and the mad blend they'd been reduced to after millennia of compression and unity swam through his mind. Ash gasped, clutching his head. Those disjointed flickers were only the beginning, and Spiritomb poured more and more of itself into him.

He felt its rage, buried so long beneath an ocean of memory, breach the surface like a newborn Gyarados. Beneath it all, it hated. It envied. It lusted. It wept. It devoured all that it could as a black hole devoured light and matter. There was nothing else to its existence but to take that which it could never have, to scoop out anything of substance and leave something as hollow as itself behind.

Worst of all, Ash realized, Spiritomb remembered. It remembered the legion it had once been, and it hated that. It was all of them, yet none of them. More, yet less. Everything, yet nothing. Many, yet one.

Alive, yet dead. A shambling monster stitched together from one hundred and eight lives.

More memories. Ash thought that Spiritomb was surprised - an emotion that he wasn't sure even Spiritomb believed that it could possess - that he hadn't gone mad yet. That he hadn't been devoured whole by the darkness. That was still aware.

He supposed he had a headache and a bad taste in his mouth, but that was it. At least his experiences were worth something, Ash thought.

And as Spiritomb's hollowing touch paused, Ash took advantage. He might have drawn on Fire to sear the corruption from his body and soul. He might have frozen Spiritomb's influence with Ice. If he hummed the Song or imagined the North Wind against his face, it might purify him of Spiritomb's presence.

Instead, he drew upon himself. Ash opened his mind to Spiritomb and brought his own lance to bear. Memories rose up within him. Some were happy. Some were sad. Some were seared into his brain forever. But all evoked some sort of emotion, anything that would crack Spiritomb's unfeeling armor.

If there was one thing Ash had learned, it was that callousness was not strength. A lack of feeling didn't make one superior, it only enabled them to hide from the tide that frightened them so.

So even as Spiritomb attempted to drain him dry, Ash attempted to pour everything he was back into the void. He had offered Spiritomb anything that it might take, and the moment it tugged upon that thread he fulfilled his promise.

He peered down at Nidoran, full of hopes. "Would you like to be friends?"

The moment he met every member of his team.

Brock handed him his first badge.

Jon, Amelia, and Ash sat around a fire with their teams.

Azure light sliced the St. Anne in twain. The dark, frigid waters greeted him.

Victory in Celadon!

Infernus' ambush in the night and the resulting battle that forced him to acknowledge Ash.

Memories came by faster and faster. He could barely process them, but Ash didn't need to. They weren't for him.

Ash opened his mother's gift and was delighted - he and Dazed pored over the massive tome together, its purple cover flattened on his lap -

He and Gary played, his mother called them both in to spray the laughing, muddy boys down with a hose - they fought, each went their separate ways with one half of a pokeball - anger, bitterness, satisfaction at crushing Gary in battle - the look on Gary's face after their Conference battle and the reconciliation that followed - trading Hyper Beam and Overheat - sitting in the Ice Path together -

Spiritomb's power recoiled, wisps of vile gas sucking back out from Ash's airways. The dark haze faded ever so slightly. It wavered.

Tangrowth found him in the Sevii Islands.

Pierce smothered them beneath a Muk.

He challenged Sabrina… and won!

Mewtwo, garbed in his black armor, crushed the League and prepared to end Lance.

Sneasel, freshly hatched, curled in Ash's lap.

His mother singing songs and whispering old legends into his ear as he faded into slumber.

The void cracked. Green wisps shuddered and pulled away. Ash felt himself again, and he drew upon more and more memories until he thought his heart might explode.

He descended into the bitter cold of the Seafoam Caverns, watched white wings and a frosted crest unveil themselves, fled the living blizzard…

He cradled Desire in his hands and, heeding Dazed's advice, gave back.

He crawled over the dead. Their mummified fingers raked his bare skin.

Nidoking's enormous head rested in his lap.

Lance laughed and hugged him - Karen took him shopping - Bruno guided him to listen to the silence of the mountaintop - Will guided him through the press conference -

He died. He was reborn. He mastered the Concepts. He claimed the Unown. He spoke with the dead. He shared his soul with the North Wind.

Ash gasped as the last of Spiritomb's terrible power fled from his own Aura. He felt strong. His limbs were weak and his head ached, but the surge of victory invigorated him. Bruiser stood watch over him, eyes locked on the keystone as the wisps rushed back into the safety of unfeeling stone, and seemed relieved to see that Ash was back.

Bruiser offered one of his lower hands to Ash, but quickly thought better of it. Ash smiled at him nonetheless.

Even as Spiritomb's waking influence faded, scalded and perhaps a little cracked by the awful scorch of feeling, Ash rose to meet the rays of dawn.

"You know me now," Ash murmured as he knelt by the quivering keystone. His voice was gentle. "I know you. Some of you, anyway. A pleasure to meet you, Spiritomb."

The quivering grew worse. Ash sat down beside the keystone. Bruiser joined him, finally relaxed, and they watched the sun rise as Ash chatted with Bruiser, shared stories of their journey with Spiritomb's unmoving shape, and embraced the day's warmth upon his skin as it fully illuminated the full reach of Route 119.

Spiritomb didn't rouse again, but that was okay.

Right now, it felt like they had all the time in the world.

XX

Rain fell on Route 119 as it always did. After an entire month of journeying across the plains and into the untamed hinterlands, Ash had come to expect nothing less. As grey and calm as it was, the gloomy weather somehow managed to escape being drab. It only highlighted the wildness of this place instead, reinforced its nature as a haven beyond the strangling grasp of civilization and humanity.

The rain may be a common sight, but nowadays so was steam.

Infernus' body shone brilliantly beneath the heavy rain, the weather only strengthened by Oz and Torrent as they conjured up storm cloud after storm cloud with Rain Dance. The clouds had darkened from grey to black beneath their touch, and with it the rain drops turned fat and forceful.

In other words, it was the perfect environment to train Infernus in. Nidoking had taken a brief break to hang by Ash's side, vaguely amused at Infernus' discomfort as the Magmortar sat disgruntled beneath a makeshift waterfall that Lairon had sculpted with Rock Tomb.

Greenery dominated the craggy hillsides all around them, layered thick with lush heaps of vegetation, berry bushes, fruit trees, and even a sleepy Tropius that blended in quite well with the native saplings. It offered one sleepy blink, then decided they weren't enough of a threat to bother with.

That might have ordinarily driven Infernus into a frenzy, but he was a tad indisposed at the moment.

Quite a few wild pokemon watched from a distance, no doubt certain that Ash, Infernus, and Nidoking were all terribly mad.

Ash checked the time. "Five more minutes."

Infernus snarled as hissing clouds of steam boiled off of his superheated skin. He was odd to witness without his normal cloak of fire and smoke. It wasn't the same pitiful state that Sneasel was left in when dunked in water or sprayed by Torrent, but it allowed Ash to see the incredible musculature that supported his madness in combat.

Whereas Bruiser was chiseled like a statue, Infernus more resembled the stoutness of a Hariyama. His body was thick and muscular, but built for power and endurance rather than the finely etched lines and definition of Bruiser's own frame. There was incredible might obvious at a glance, but it was hidden beneath thick layers of tissue and what passed as skin for a Magmortar.

"Four minutes."

Infernus hissed just like the steam that rushed off him. Ash nodded to Nidoking, who happily used Earth Power to open the waterfall wider. Enormous quantities of water rushed forward and dumped right on Infernus, who roared his fury as he forced his body temperature to greater and greater heights, burning right through his reserves of energy.

Once Infernus was properly drenched, Nidoking helpfully fired off an Ice Beam to freeze the moisture, although Infernus quickly melted it through his body heat. Yet another reason that Nidoking had been so eager to volunteer for this duty. Infernus snarled at him, but a look from Ash had him focused on his training once again.

The little hills that they'd borrowed for this purpose soon became reminiscent of a sauna thanks to the heat and moisture pouring off Infernus. Despite the incredible heat capacity of water, Infernus didn't relent. This was an exercise meant to train his control and amplify his body heat to even greater heights, and so far he was doing excellently.

"Three minutes."

"Two minutes."

"One minute."

"Now!"

After a seeming eternity of being battered by his least favorite element, Infernus burst forth. He was slow and sluggish compared to his ordinarily explosive movement, but he was still swift by any normal standard. Steam continued to roll off of him, but once he escaped the water's cooling effect his body temperature soon spiked to be hot and scorching yet again.

The last dregs of water boiled away in a cloud. Flames crackled around Infernus once more. He leveled his cannon at a distant target, a boulder heaped high with fuel to give Infernus some sort of satisfaction from this painful training.

"Arc sixfold."

Infernus grimaced, but it twisted into a grin as he saw the chance to prove himself yet again. He braced himself as an enormous gout of sustained flame shot forth from the opening of his cannon, searing everything around them and standing out brilliantly against the gloomy sky, and divided into six twisting streams that split apart as frail psychic shells led them to their target.

They converged once more upon the heap of dried grasses and dead wood, and Infernus' eyes glimmered as the finely manipulated streams of fire swept it up in one great conflagration. His control had increased by leaps and bounds these past weeks thanks to the ample time they had to focus upon that aspect of his training.

It was a relentless grind, but it paid dividends. Infernus already had the basics of psychically manipulated flames down by the end of their time in Forina, and now he was prepared to take the skill to the next level.

"Tephra!"

Infernus maintained the stream even as his foot came crashing down. He cackled - and Nidoking snorted - as the target suddenly exploded in a burst of lava and volcanic gas. It was a trap he'd set up early, but it was good to ensure that he could multitask.

Volcanic gas was helpfully dispersed by Plume, who appeared as if from nowhere to sweep it away with a few gusts of wind before she flitted off back to whatever she was doing. She always kept a careful eye on Infernus to ensure his techniques didn't cause too much collateral damage.

She was great like that.

"Good. Maintain. Mouth, horizontal."

Infernus' jaw dropped and a thick, crackling stream of white flame burst forth from his lips. It pierced the split arcs, then dominated their center to swallow up whatever they didn't touch. Smoke rolled off this one, unrestrained by psychic barriers as it was, and enormous amounts of heat radiated outward.

Inefficiencies. But that was what they were aiming to correct. That was what they hoped to evolve.

He glanced at Nidoking questioningly. Nidoking assessed Infernus for a moment, then nodded with a grunt. The poison-type's ears twitched suddenly, and he glanced suspiciously off at the bushes, perhaps sensing a flicker of Distortion from an attempted ambush by Sneasel.

Ash smiled at Infernus and called out the signal for him to drop his attacks. .

"Good. You're ready."

Infernus didn't show a hint of exhaustion as the flames sputtered out and the psychic shells faded away, although Ash knew it must have required immense concentration. He simply leered at Ash, hungry for what came next.

Both stood tall and straight. Ash had hinted at this evolution of their training to Infernus for some time, but hadn't wanted to go into much detail until Steven, Metagross, and Claydol (with some input from Fino, who had written a very long letter full of technical jargon that Ash could barely comprehend) had confirmed that it was possible.

Fierce eyes watched him raptly.

Ash paced back and forth in front of Nidoking, who relaxed easily on his strong haunches. "You've always had power. Now you have control. What's left except to hone it? You'll master yourself. This is only the first step."

The dark eyes turned hungry as flame licking its way across dry kindling. Infernus' lips twisted into a smile as he snarled his anticipation. Waves of steam boiled from the earth around his feet and the damp grass soon went up in flames, though Nidoking quickly opened up a thin chasm around Infernus to prevent the fires from spreading far, though Ash didn't fear them.

Wild Tailow fluttered away. A few Zigzagoon and their Linoone parent crept back into the bushes. The Tropius yawned, unimpressed.

For a moment, Ash's Feather pulsed with Fire. The little flames which covered Infernus' body surged with it, burning hot and bright despite the rain pattering down upon him, but Infernus soon growled and sneered as he rejected the foreign power.

It had belonged to him once, but he had not reclaimed it… yet. Ash didn't know if any mortal might reclaim the Fire Sphere from the Shamouti Moltres, but he'd learned not to bet against Infernus.

Still, the little display made Ash smile. The only flames Infernus needed were those that burned within himself.

"Steven? We're ready."

He didn't know which of Steven's teammates relayed it to the former Champion, but he appeared moments later courtesy of Claydol. The silver-haired man looked wet and miserable in the rain, but his eyes were still bright with his own curiosity.

No doubt Steven would find himself conveniently pulled away on a mission shortly. The rain and mud gnawed at him, especially when the sticky clumps adhered to his overly expensive shoes or lovingly maintained suit pants. Every few days, Steven would leave to go off on some League mission or another to other climates and return much, much happier that night or the next morning.

"Fantastic. After Fino's cursory explanation, I'm eager to see what it will look like in practice." Steven quickly released Metagross, who edged away from Ash. Infernus watched them hungrily. In the meantime, Ash released Dazed from her pokeball as well.

Ash's eyebrows rose. Cursory? Fino had written forty pages!

It was one thing if it was an essay on history or the legends of Lavaridge. Going into the minutiae of temperature spikes, velocity, convection currents, and psychic capacity was fascinating in its own right, but Fino's happy, carefully composed thesis had largely gone above Ash's head.

Steven did his best, but Ash was only just learning the finer concepts of physics. His cheat sheet only went so far. Still, he knew enough to gather the main ideas behind Fino's suggestions for the execution of Ash's idea.

More importantly, he knew that Fino agreed it was impossible.

Steven coughed into his fist to gather Infernus' attention. Infernus was still far more interested in Metagross, despite their disapproving glare. He still hadn't been given a go at Bruiser, so Ash knew he was raring for a good fight.

"Given your development of enhanced psychic control, I support Ash's theory that it will be possible for you to manipulate -"

Apologies, but the Brute has a limited vocabulary and a poor attention span. Unless it pertains to burning, killing, or some combination of the two, it does not exist in his lexicon. Friend-Trainer, if you would?

Infernus sneered at Dazed, flames sparking from his cannons, but it was a testament to his patience that he didn't strike. Of course Dazed decided to project that into Infernus' head as well.

He stepped forward despite Steven's worried words of warning. The heat pouring off Infernus didn't bother Ash. A feral grin spread across his face. "How would you fight a Steelix? An Onix? Mamoru?"

His friend wore a matching expression as his face twisted with concentration. They'd long since discussed strategies that they'd implement when they challenged Mamoru again in the future - the First's Rhydon was mighty, and Ash hoped that he would grow even stronger in the time before they met again.

There was only one move in Infernus' arsenal worthy to damage the titan through his stone carapace, and the earth quaked lightly, though Nidoking quickly canceled it out with his own control over the soil.

Steven yelped as he recognized the early stages of Earth Burn, and a quick psychic poke from Claydol and Dazed quickly put a stop to that.

"Exactly," Ash said. "I love Earth Burn. It's a spectacle, isn't it?"

Infernus nodded fervently in agreement, flames crackling all over his body as he belched out a bit of smoke.

"But it's slow. Messy. Sloppy." None of those things seemed to bother Infernus, so Ash changed his approach. "What if you could pierce right through that armor? Carve through any foe's defenses in the blink of an eye? You'd be unstoppable. Rock-types? You could cut their protections away. Steel-types? They'd melt into a puddle."

Oh my. Perhaps this isn't such a good idea after all.

Steven looked vaguely green. "I'm also rethinking this arrangement."

Ash ignored them. They just didn't get it. At least he knew Lance would appreciate it, although he wanted to send a video of a semi-functional version before he began bragging.

He stepped closer to Infernus. The Feather blazed as Infernus' heat stirred Fire. It remembered its old master. Ash bared his teeth, his voice almost manic. Infernus' eyes were hungry and heated, his claws clenched tight, and he practically trembled as Ash painted a picture of great victories and broken enemies at his feet.

"You're so strong, but so much of it goes to waste. Imagine it focused to a greater degree than ever before. Imagine it compressed. Imagine it conserved. Every scrap of your power would go to turning your opponents into ash. Think of how many more you could crush."

Infernus nodded eagerly, practically starstruck. His flames burned hotter and hotter until Metagross had to erect a shield to protect Steven from the steaming air.

Ash was so close that he could reach out and touch his friend. "With this, no one could escape your flames. I'm offering you Mamoru. I'm offering you the King. I'm offering you Metagross."

"Hey!" Steven protested from behind Metagross' psychic barrier. "I don't remember us -"

"We're so close that I can taste it!" Ash hissed. He glanced down at Infernus' cannons, then took a step back. Even he wouldn't want to be too close to the receiving end of those. "Project your flame. Compress it as tight as you can. Keep fueling it. Burn as hot as you can!"

Infernus nodded fervently. Ash had barely enough time to dash away to Nidoking and Dazed (whose expression was that of someone who had just seen someone hand the key to an armory over to a lunatic) before Infernus held his cannon erect and did as Ash commanded. Mighty psychic barriers, fueled with everything he had left, manifested into existence as a shimmering blue cone.

The edges condensed and tightened into something that was nearly flat, and then Infernus unleashed his full might with a roar. Air rippled and writhed beneath the sudden surge of heat. Every rain drop exploded in a rush of boiling steam. Mist rose from all around.

Blue flame matched the hue of his psychic power and rushed to fill the compressed space, then bled out the other end. Just at a glance, Ash knew it was absurdly hot. It was good that they were at a safe distance (and protected by several high-level psychics besides). Otherwise they would've suffered burns just from being in Infernus' proximity.

Well, Steven would. Ash still wasn't sure how he'd fare.

"It's not enough. Not yet," Ash said as Infernus grunted beneath the strain. His friend grimaced, but that only caused him to redouble his efforts. The whole scene burned blue, illuminated by his fire. "But you'll get there."

Steven cleared his throat as Infernus' attempt fizzled out at Ash's command. Dazed watched him warily, her thick yellow fingers clutched tight around her pendulum as she watched the blade fade away.

"Metagross and I have created a working model that you may attempt to imitate," Steven said, because of course they had. Metagross was just unfair. "The process may be different due to your ability to produce flame itself, meaning that confinement and circulation is the primary area of concern, but the core concept remains the same. Observe."

With that, Metagross' red eyes flashed azure. Ash felt the steady flux of psychic power as the mighty creature channeled enormous amounts of energy, then directed it with precision that perhaps no other mortal psychic could match.

That was Metagross' true power. It was amongst the strongest psychics in the world, but what made it special was the combination of its spectacular computing power and the unrivaled control it held over that strength. Psychic power commanded the world, manipulated what was already there on the finest scale, and the only limit to Metagross' ability was its own (and Steven's) creativity.

"First, ignition. Oz might be able to do this," Steven said as an afterthought. Metagross used Elemental Synthesis to spark a flame to life from nothing, using its fine control over the natural world to set a levitating fire ablaze.

The technique was essentially mimicry of a Delphox's natural specialty. It hung in the air, crackling, and was soon encased in psychic power.

"Infernus has better sustainability, but she has the capacity to create the plasma necessary, although I don't know if she's trained her psychic control to the point that she could hope to capture it. It might be impractical for her."

Yet far more practical for us, Friend-Trainer. I have my reservations about the Brute's willingness to restrain himself for the benefit of others.

So did Ash, but he still trusted his friend. Nidoking would keep an eye on him.

Metagross easily set the flame to spinning in a hyper accelerated loop, the temperature skyrocketing until the psychic constrained it within a solid blue core the shape of a donut. It blazed brightly due to the sheer power necessary to restrain the flame, and inside the loop Ash spied the brilliant glow of the flame generated by Elemental Synthesis.

"The core concept is somewhat similar to certain methods of energy generation, although you obviously lack the capability to mimic it entirely. There are limits for most psychics," Steven said, although Ash knew he was certainly not including Metagross in that statement. He wondered if Claydol ever felt a little inadequate in comparison. Or redundant.

Rude, but not incorrect. Sometimes I feel as if I'm only kept around for my charming personality.

Ash snorted, which drew an odd look from Steven, but he waved the former Champion to continue. Infernus looked like a starving man who had just found a buffet laid out before him. His claws scraped against one another as he restrained himself from rushing right at Metagross to taste that power for himself.

Metagross' condensed flame flowed faster and faster until its heat finally began to bleed through the psychic barrier, at which point it simply directed it to cleave through a nearby stone. There was some resistance, but in mere seconds it had bisected the rock entirely, at which point Metagross allowed it to fade away without blinking.

They all stared at the white-hot lines which seared across the two lines of stone as they slid away from each other and fell to the ground with a dull thud. Infernus slavered like a Houndoom, eyes greedy.

"Your psychic capacity isn't there yet," Ash stepped forward again. "Looks like you'll be spending plenty of quality time with Dazed, huh? She'll help get you in proper shape."

Infernus' face twisted into an expression that Ash had never seen before. He barked out a laugh as he realized that it was a pout. There really was a first time for everything.

Joy.

Ash smiled. "It's not too different to Starlight-Radiance-of-Chosen-Path's techniques - Lucille," he said when Steven gave him an odd look. "She just doesn't need this level of intensity, and I bet she'd have a hard time maintaining the temperatures you need. Where she's making a bunch of fire arrows, you're making a single blade. You invest more, but it will open up plenty of options for you."

His friend nodded, mind lost in the possibilities.

"Dark-types and ghosts might ruin it," he scowled. "With the kind of control required, any Distortion is going to throw you off. So it won't help much against Durand. But it'll be great for hardened targets, so we'll call it a win."

Infernus growled, obviously eager to throw himself into learning this addition to his arsenal. He unleashed another shimmering cage of psychic power for his blade, then eyed Metagross speculatively.

Steven's eyes narrowed even as Metagross' flashed once. Infernus roared when the psychic power fueling the cage was dispelled by the superior application of energies, but didn't try again. He'd wait until he really had it contained.

They'd have to wear Metagross out before this Plasma Blade would work on them. Ash suspected it would be far, far easier in a team battle. Quite a bit of their recent development - particularly Mind Breaker - had been engineered partially with the goal of earning their vengeance on Metagross for their previous defeat.

Metagross rarely deigned to battle them, preferring to act in concert with Steven at all times, but they would not be caught off guard again. Nothing would be sweeter than to see Metagross crushed, broken, and beaten beneath his team's efforts.

He craved that day, and he knew his family did as well.

"Claydol will remain to offer support," Steven said as he and Metagross turned to leave. He eyed the rain with disgust as it fell heavier and heavier, although Metagross soon manifested a flat plane of psychic power above Steven to prevent it from falling on him. No doubt they'd go off for a day trip soon enough to escape the miserable (for them, anyway) weather.

"The League needs me in Rustboro's territory for the day," Steven said, confirming Ash's suspicions. "A handful of surviving Rockets are causing trouble. We don't have the men to spare, so I volunteered."

Silver had largely been forced from Ash's mind as he threw every ounce of himself into training, but Steven's words drew his full attention. He hadn't spoken to him about his connection with the boy, but a burning curiosity drove him forward. "Is it…"

"The boy? No," Steven sighed. "There's been no sign of him. Rangers are keeping an eye out for him, but we suspect that he's fled into the archipelago. He's fairly low on our priority list, all things considered."

"A Gym Leader-level trainer?" Ash arched an eyebrow. Pierce had been propelled to that level of power by Metagross, although the rest of his team was quite formidable for most, and the League had devoted all sorts of resources to bringing him in. He was also a raging psychopath, though.

The League did not suffer rogue trainers of that level. If a dangerous trainer surpassed the level at which a single Gym Leader supported by their loyal Gym Trainers could not easily handle, there were often Ranger or even an ACE squad assigned to hunting them as a full time job. They were just too dangerous to tolerate, as any increase in strength would often lead to a disproportionate amount of resources required to bring them in.

"He's young," Steven dismissed. He ignored the look that Ash sent him. "Our evidence supports that he was largely used for brute force. The boy was muscle, not a killer. The Rockets seemed willing enough to preserve that much innocence, at least."

Ash didn't waver in his flat, unconvinced staredown.

Steven sighed. "Silver is strong enough to be of concern, but we doubt that he will stir up any more trouble. He's too busy running and attempting to survive in a hostile land. Perhaps he'll turn himself in, given time."

Ash snorted. Knowing what he did, that was unlikely. "I wouldn't mind hunting him down."

Nidoking nodded along, tail thrashing through the mud.

His teacher shot him an odd look, then shook his head. "We have larger threats to concern ourselves with. Murderers, terrorists, poachers. With Team Rocket largely broken, we can concentrate on finding Archer. And once we do, we can stabilize the region and turn our attention to more insidious threats."

Aqua.

Steven checked his PokeNav and frowned. "I'm afraid that I must be off, Ash. Would you mind saving me some dinner?"

Ash sent him a thumbs up, then turned to his teammates with a grin.

"Let's begin."

XX

Nidoking and Torrent faced one another, bowed their heads in respect, and then turned to face their respective partners. Infernus, Sneasel, Seeker, and Tangrowth all milled behind him, though Infernus was forced to keep his distance due to the scorching body heat which radiated off him.

For his allies, Torrent had selected Oz, Plume, Dazed, and Lairon. They were a closer group, all huddled around and communicating with a cacophony of chirps, whirrs, warbles, and all manner of noises.

Ash cleared his throat. He caught Nidoking's eyes. "Team…"

Happy-Floral-Cataclysmic-Explosion.

Dazed helpfully input into his mind. Ash blinked. "Team Happy-Floral-Cataclysmic-Explosion. Are you ready?" That was… something. Nidoking refused to betray his own thoughts regarding the name, although Ash knew he must be hiding an eye roll or ten.

Nidoking jabbed one of his claws towards Tangrowth and Infernus. The grass-type happily waved at Ash, who bemusedly waved back, and he couldn't help but laugh as one of Tangrowth's vines snuck over to wrap him in a quick hug.

A compromise, then. Well, at least Nidoking had been willing to mediate between Tangrowth and Infernus' own suggestions. He was too good of a leader to worry about something as minor as a team name when there was strategizing to be done. It was better to have a cohesive team with a dumb name than to have one squabbling over minor slights.

He was eager for Team Trainer-Friend-King-Ash at first, but was forced to give it up to ensure peace.

Ash narrowed his eyes at Dazed. She hadn't been sneaking around to telepathically listen to their plans, had she?

Dazed was suspiciously silent in regards to that, so he just sighed. He had told them to use every advantage at their disposal.

He looked over to Torrent, who levitated with his head held high and proud as a gentle rain came down upon them. "Team…"

Swift-Gale-Resplendent-Feathers-Radiant-in-Sun-Falling-Thunder-Seekers-of-Peace.

Torrent did roll his eyes. Ash suspected that Plume had demanded quite a bit of representation in that name. She preened happily as Ash announced it and seemed quite content with her contribution.

"This is a chance to implement what we've been working toward for the past month," Ash said softly. "You've worked with one another every day. Use that experience. Show what you can do. I'll be here to observe and record. Bruiser," he pointed his thumb at the hulking Machamp behind him, who cheerfully waved with one hand while two others worked on knitting something that vaguely resembled a scarf. "We will also be observing. I won't be guiding you during the battle, but if either of us signal that you're out, you're out."

Both stared pointedly at Infernus for that last one. He snorted a cloud of black smoke. The rest nodded understandingly enough, although Ash thought that most were just happy that they wouldn't have to worry about Infernus attempting to fight to the death in a rage-fueled effort to claim victory for his team.

He didn't miss that each team leader (elected by popular vote) watched each other for every potential twitch. Neither were willing to let a single advantage go to waste or a single opportunity be missed.

"Fight hard. I'll treat the winning team to whatever they want," Ash said, although he had plenty of backup food ready for the losing team as well. They all likely knew that he'd have something prepared, but he did want to make it worth the winners' while. "Take positions."

Both teams separated out to either end of the flat expanse of plains that Ash had commandeered for this purpose.

Most of Steven's team were off supporting their trainer while he was on his mission, but he'd left both Claydol (who hung near Ash and Bruiser) and Skarmory as support. Claydol had volunteered to ensure none of the attacks spread out of bounds, while Ash thought Skarmory just wanted to circle lazily above and watch the bloodshed.

He thought he'd been sufficiently placatory when he'd asked her not to interfere, but it would be a coin toss to see if she kept herself to herself.

The plains themselves were featureless and relatively barren - from a wildfire that passed through the area a few months prior, they'd learned from the locals. Perhaps a trainer had lost control of a fire-type and had seen the whole section of grasslands burned to the ground. Maybe they were a klutz and dropped a lit match. Might've been a lightning strike.

Ash might never know for sure. Pokemon threw a wrench into predictions like that. The locals hadn't figured it out either - they were more concerned with getting on with the healing process.

More people could benefit from that kind of pragmatism, he thought.

But, the present.

Ash crossed his arms and admired both teams as they readied themselves.

Team Floral Explosion did light warm-ups. Nidoking let electricity surge up his horn. Frost followed, then he spat a few cinders from his mouth which Sneasel struck with little flakes of ice.

They were a formidable mix. Nidoking growled commands, his communication supplemented by his psychic powers, and they took up a variety of positions. While he couldn't use proper telepathy like Dazed, Nidoking had developed his abilities to the point that he could give clearer instruction to his teammates than the normal rushes of impressions, visions, and emotion that pokemon normally used to communicate between themselves.

Infernus was isolated, of course. Steam boiled off him as his ravenous eyes traced all the members of Team…

He blinked, and frowned. What on earth was he supposed to shorten that to?

Team Torrent, he settled on, content that Plume wouldn't be bothered if she never heard it from him.

Good enough.

It was a good move to keep Infernus on his own. Teleportation enabled him to move across the battlefield in an instant, especially since Sneasel was on Team Floral Explosion as well. He was the only one who might be able to prevent Infernus' teleportation from working - Dazed might be able to if she gave Infernus her full attention and interfered with his psychic abilities, but she'd be more valuable elsewhere.

Team Torrent certainly would have planned for it, though. They knew Infernus too well.

Of course, Nidoking also knew that.

Ash smiled. Oh, the mind games. He loved them. There was nothing like peeling back layer after layer of a wily opponent's strategy, except perhaps crushing their hopes when they realized that you'd figured out their game.

He was particularly interested in seeing how Nidoking and Torrent commanded their respective teams. Nidoking had two of the strongest members of the team in Infernus and Tangrowth at his beck and call, but Team Floral Explosion also suffered from having several independent members.

Infernus and Sneasel worked best on their own. It was simply how they operated. Both were usually willing to put aside their independence to some extent in order to ensure victory, but it didn't come easy. Ash also worried for Seeker, who fluttered happily around Nidoking's head as she squeaked constantly.

"She'll be okay," Ash reassured Bruiser, who always kept one eye on his friend. Bruiser smiled halfheartedly, then gave a shrug. "We all have to start somewhere, right? They won't push her too hard."

With those words said, Ash glanced at Team Torrent. They communed, circled around Dazed as she transmitted information rapidly into their minds and exchanged plots and plans, and leaned in close as the time ticked by.

Torrent was a powerhouse on his own, and Ash wasn't surprised that he'd chosen Oz as one of his partners. They'd grown closer as they trained beneath the storm clouds, and both had a sense of pragmatism about them that melded well. Ash had no doubt that they'd synchronize well.

The Kingdra had selected Dazed first, however, and Ash couldn't blame him. Her telepathy was an invaluable asset. The sheer flexibility and utility of her psychic powers only reinforced that decision. Dazed was a powerful combatant one-on-one. In a team fight she was invaluable.

Nidoking had been resigned when that occurred, as if his entire strategy had been undone and he'd have to rely on a backup. It really was a shame, Ash thought. Dazed and Nidoking worked well together, although she and Torrent had a similar bond. They'd all been together since the beginning.

Torrent and Oz provided brute strength. Dazed provided coordination.

Plume? She opened the entire battlefield to their eyes. Dazed could receive information from Plume's perception and transmit it to the others. More than that simple utility, she could strike from anywhere. Nidoking had some defenses in the form of himself and Tangrowth, but they'd be wary of a sudden Hurricane or Plume's myriad of offensive techniques the entire.

Worst of all, there was little they could do to her. Unlike in a one-on-one battle, Plume didn't have to devote herself to destroying the enemy. She could harass and pick them apart without having to be the one to strike the final blow.

She could play it safe.

Lairon provided more than moral support. He couldn't fight on even terms with the titans of the team, but he was still powerful. The steel-type had a deceptive speed and had trained his Magnet Rise extensively, although he had to balance floating around with walking lest his muscles atrophy, so he would be a fantastic final layer of defense against harassers.

But more than anything, Torrent's greatest asset came in the form of the teamwork that he could foster. The personalities on Team Torrent were far calmer and less likely to strike off on their own.

Once they'd all had a chance to prepare themselves, Ash whistled to signal them to begin.

At first, nothing happened. They simply measured one another up. Infernus raised a pool of lava for Tangrowth to draw upon. Nidoking and Torrent exchanged cursory ranged attacks that strayed wide or broke upon some defense or another.

Plume shot off into the sky. Lairon placed himself Dazed. Torrent and Oz remained close, near the center of the great black cloud which hung above.

Nidoking took point for his own team, with Seeker fluttering nearby for backup. Tangrowth scurried to the back, gurgling happily, as he readied to rain the entire battlefield down upon his foes. Sneasel was already gone, having vanished the instant that Ash gave the signal.

"Who do you think will win?" Ash asked Bruiser, who paused his knitting for a moment to incline his head toward Seeker.

Claydol was silent for once, although the construct brightened when Skarmory crashed down next to them to watch the battle. The steel-type pointed one razor wing towards Torrent.

He almost asked if any of them wanted to bet on it, but had to pause to wonder if that could be considered bad faith given it was his own team.

Gambling? What would your mother think, I wonder?

A pause.

I'd wager 3:2 odds that Infernus commits some form of friendly fire before the end.

Ash snorted. "I'll take that bet, Claydol."

Bruiser laughed.

Of course, the stalemate wouldn't last for long. It was less than a minute before the battle began in earnest. Jets of water, bolts of electricity, and all manner of flame and draconic attacks were exchanged in the blink of an eye, shaking the battlefield and sending all sorts of spikes in temperature and sonic pressure their way.

Ash couldn't help but feel proud at how well-coordinated most of them were - opportunities were analyzed, identified, and taken to pierce gaps in defenses, pressure isolated teammates, and lean into their own strengths.

Tangrowth sculpted the battlefield as an artist molded clay. A hundred wriggling vines twitched excitedly and thrashed all about. Several dozen hurled Ancient Power around Team Floral Explosion's side of the battlefield seemingly at random, but it took only seconds for an intricate network of barricades, solid walls, and other defenses to manifest as Tangrowth forced the mud into his desired shape.

Soon Torrent's Water Guns simply cracked the barriers open, but they were simple for Tangrowth to reshape. With the attacks currently stymied, Nidoking took his opportunity to launch several Sludge Bombs into the midst of Team Torrent, although Dazed easily caught them and flung them back toward Tangrowth, though they splashed uselessly against several barriers that he'd erected.

The plains were reshaped constantly. When Tangrowth adjusted his defenses or pulled a random wall up between Team Torrent, they crushed it. Their attacks were relentless and unceasing, but perfectly coordinated.

Tangrowth was too busy to spare much thought to offense, but even so he managed to use Ancient Power to hurl several thick globs of molten lava right at Team Torrent, though Torrent himself expertly picked them out of the sky with Water Gun. Hissing lava splattered all over the battlefield, though it soon cooled to black stone due to the rain.

Meanwhile, Nidoking's eyes remained constantly aglow as he attempted to transmit every order he could to his team. If Dazed had been part of his team, she could have sent it out far swifter and with greater precision, but he was forced to make due. Despite that strain, Nidoking never ceased poking and prodding with Thunderbolts, Ice Beams, and Sludge Bombs to keep the opposing team on their toes.

Meanwhile, Infernus made his presence known. Rather than simply teleporting into the midst of his foes, he attempted to wrest control of the skies. Twin orbs of brilliant white light fired from his cannons and launched high into the sky, then exploded in a starburst, releasing a vast release of energy and heat and light that threatened to banish the clouds and rain away -

Oz whirred furiously and thrust her fist up toward the storm clouds, then pounded her muscular chest. Her twin tails thrashed . Torrent shielded her from attacks with walls of water coalesced from the rain, and Dazed supported him with shimmering psychic barriers that absorbed a Thunderbolt, deflected a glob of hissing lava, and the scattering of star-like projectiles shot forward by Seeker's Swift technique.

With every beat of her chest, the clouds darkened and surged. She could contest Infernus' Sunny Day, but they were evenly matched on this front. Both struggled, pouring vast sums of power into their weather altering techniques, but Torrent finally decided the victor as he raised his snout to the sky and focused his own will.

Oz alone had prevented the clouds from being dispersed by Infernus' powerful technique, but Torrent's addition dragged them back above.

The weather would not change while the two of them could prevent it.

Nidoking roared, fired off another Sludge Bomb, and then struck with another lance of electricity that Dazed absorbed with her psychic barriers. A Shadow Ball materialized on the end of his horn and shot towards the psychic, but Torrent simply manifested a water wall from the rain as it pounded down.

The Shadow Ball devoured Torrent's wall, breaking his control over it and sending it showering down in a wet cascade, but the barrier served its purpose. While Team Torrent couldn't manifest the thick layers of defense that Team Floral Explosion could, they were still quite capable of protecting themselves against projectiles.

Nidoking gnashed his teeth, frustrated, and snarled something to Tangrowth. More globs of lava hurled forth, though each rolled off a psychic barrier or was absorbed by a thick wall of rainwater. Every one of Torrent's protective walls exploded in a rush of steam that sounded like thunder, but it was enough to blunt the velocity of Tangrowth's assault and prevent them from landing anywhere near Team Torrent.

Plume swept down constantly, always speeding by with a shockwave and a violent gust of wind that would shatter the mudheaps which protected Team Floral Explosion, and deftly avoided Infernus' infuriated Flamethrowers or Nidoking's steady Thunderbolts.

This continued for several minutes. Whenever one side gained an advantage, the other was quick to negate it. No attacks landed, and it seemed as though it would fall into a simple war of attrition as the rain came down steadily.

Torrent was truly in his element. Whips of water coalesced to slash Nidoking, bat Seeker away, or launch into the lava pit in an attempt to break Tangrowth's concentration. His walls, which sometimes solidified into solid ice when facing a more physical attack such as a Nidoking-sized mud pile thrown his way by Tangrowth, absorbed attack after attack for minimal expense. Every attack tore down a barrier or forced Nidoking back.

He seemed to particularly enjoy keeping Infernus busy. Oz could harass their foes well enough with her Thunderbolts, but Infernus simply absorbed them with Air Lens. It was difficult to maintain the technique with fluctuating temperatures and high humidity, but he was adept by now.

So instead, Torrent directed his attention towards him. Infernus was restless and angry, ready to be unleashed, and Torrent constantly hurled little puddles at him, which would burst outwards in a rush of steam and blind Infernus for a moment, during which Torrent would fire a half-hearted Water Gun designed to intentionally annoy and frustrate the Magmortar.

The rain alone had Infernus irritable and ready to fight, so he jumped to the bait far quicker than Nidoking had hoped. One last puddle splashed him, his eyes widened with rage, and Infernus vanished with a crack.

Torrent rumbled a warning, and then Infernus was on them. He appeared right behind Torrent, flames spitting from his mouth, and bathed the Kingdra in a great rush of fire and belched clouds of black smoke that obscured the vision of his team. Infernus roared, a white star amidst the darkness, and Ash could barely make out the sounds and sight of fire and combat behind the blinding light.

Steam exploded forth, casting Torrent forward, and he was forced to turn to address the raging Magmortar. Infernus leveled one cannon at him and bathed him in flame while the other sprayed haphazardly at the rest. Lairon rushed forth and protected Dazed and Oz with a Protect, which freed Dazed up to defend against upcoming attacks, but it was impossible to strike Infernus as his deadly fires and noxious smoke blinded them.

Nidoking roared, and Team Floral Explosion's assault redoubled. Lava, Sludge Bombs, and Seeker's Swift all joined together in a mass of projectiles and crashed upon Team Torrent. They didn't care whether or not they struck Infernus - he had broken ranks, and perhaps this was what Nidoking had been forced to wait for.

Oh bother. I should have known he'd leap right into the line of fire.

Ash smirked. Really?

Well, yes. I suppose both outcomes were possibilities. Why wouldn't he dive into the heart of danger? Worry not. I'm an artificial construct of my word, dashing good looks and all.

He arched an eyebrow. "Do you even have money?"

Steven does.

Well, that worked.

Ash decided to dismiss the psychic from mind and turned back to the battle, squinting to parse the visual noise and make anything out.

Not much had changed yet: Torrent's thick plates protected him from what passed by Dazed's own defenses, although he had to be feeling the flames roasting him. He mustered his concentration constantly to pull vast quantities of water from the sky and soil to block the space between him and Infernus, but that only did so much as the air itself seemed to come ablaze.

Infernus himself, having taken a beating from sources multivarious, snarled and stared at the water. More and more came together to block his flames, and Ash and Bruiser saw the very moment that he made up his mind and decided to break the stalemate.

The Magmortar's body began to shine bright enough to blind as he mustered every ounce of power at his disposal, then leapt through the wall of water.

It exploded upon contact with his superheated body. Infernus roared as an enormous cloud of mist and steam rushed out and buffeted the rest, breaking Dazed's concentration and enabling some of Nidoking and Tangrowth's attacks to land, but even as Team Floral Explosion capitalized on the disturbance, Plume came soaring from nowhere to unleash her pale shadow of Lugia's technique.

Terrible winds scattered earthen walls and even managed to tear Nidoking from his feet and send him flying several feet back. He landed heavily with a grunt, but the mud was soft enough to absorb much of the force so he wasn't injured. Tangrowth only managed to escape being flung away by anchoring himself into the ground with a dozen vines acting as roots.

Nidoking and Tangrowth both hurled everything they had at Plume as they recovered, but she was nowhere to be seen. She might as well have been a ghost.

Even as Infernus hammered a blazing fist into Torrent and sent him spinning backward, helpless against the close assault, Plume swung back to harass Nidoking and Tangrowth in order to prevent them from splitting her team up further. They knew that they couldn't strike her - not while forced to split their attention and resources - but there was little else they could do since she would hammer them with a Hurricane the moment they attempted to refocus on Team Torrent.

The battle continued relentlessly as the balance shifted.

Infernus hammered his fiery claws into Torrent again, though Torrent's water manipulation was swift and natural enough to intercept nearly every blow. His own armor and physiology provided some measure of protection, but the additional layers of water ensured that he only suffered minimal damage.

This really was the worst place for Infernus to battle, although that didn't stop him.

It was a rather undignified spectacle since Torrent was constantly tossed around like a beaten pinata, but it kept Infernus hyper focused upon him. There was little Torrent could do from this close, but he gradually steered himself in the direction of Oz, angling his body so that Infernus' strikes sent him floating backwards toward support.

And when Infernus realized that, he sneered and wrapped Torrent up in a hug. Unfortunately, this hug came with scalding temperatures and an enormous cloak of flickering flame that encircled Torrent from all sides - whatever moisture he had summoned together was instantly boiled away, and Infernus cackled as he invested every ounce of his strength into crushing one of their most dangerous enemies.

Unfortunately, with Infernus' full attention on Torrent, he was left open to attack. It might have been a miracle, but it seemed like Infernus was actually trusting Tangrowth to cover him. And so the grass-type did - a dozen thick, powerful vines came lashing out to strike Oz and Dazed, although Dazed seemed to have anticipated the assault.

Just as Gary's Alakazam did in the Conference, Dazed recognized that Tangrowth's greatest asset was the sheer number of vines at his disposal, each fast as a whip and able to attack semi-independently.

So she removed them with a razor blade of psychic force, severing most of them with a single blow before they could come down and ensnare her, Oz, or Lairon. Tangrowth gurgled and yanked the vines back, though Ash was proud to see that their tips already shone a bright green, a tell-tale sign that Perfect Regeneration was working as intended… albeit far more slowly than Ash hoped for.

Even Dazed couldn't catch all of them, however. Tangrowth moved swiftly with two vines hidden amidst the muck, and Lairon warbled frightfully as the vines twisted around him, lifted him up as though he were skating around with Magnet Rise, and hurled him as far from the battle as he could.

Ash snorted as Lairon went spinning into the distance, although he had no doubt that the steel-type would be back before long. While whatever he landed on would suffer catastrophically, Lairon himself would be fine.

Nidoking snarled something as his eyes glowed blue. He spat a small pile of sludge from his throat back toward Tangrowth, who gurgled back cheerfully and doused the sludge with Stun Spore and Sleep Powder, which was quickly tossed into the midst of Team Torrent atop a heap of mud.

It landed near Infernus, and Team Torrent only had a moment to erect their barriers before ugly concoction exploded into a mix of poisonous gas and a bright flash as the conflagration erupted. Infernus laughed madly, still hugging Torrent, as Team Torrent was briefly distracted and forced to relent.

Unfortunately, Oz had had enough. She whirred loud enough to be heard above the din of combat, held her fist high, and Ash felt the surge of static and charged air as the cloud above stirred. Infernus was forced to relent and shoved Torrent away just in time to erect Air Lens - unfortunately for him, Oz and Ash had been working out specific counters to the technique.

Air Lens was delicate. While fairly simplistic overall, it required the ability to output and sustain extremely high temperatures. Just about any fire-type was technically capable of learning it, but it was only truly practical for fire-types with physiologies which lent themselves to the technique, such as the Magmar or Magcargo line.

It would function in rain, but it required additional concentration. Every fluctuation in temperature needed to be accounted for, and strong winds or uneven temperatures would result in fractures or failure of the technique.

Oz took advantage of that. Even as Torrent directed all the rain coming down to swirl around Infernus and weaken Air Lens, Dazed caught Infernus' rage-filled eyes and raised her pendulum as it shone a gorgeous blue. His fury left him for a moment, attention broken by Dazed's mental assault, and he was left exposed.

Oz leered and brought down the heavens upon her rival.

Boom!

Thunder rolled across the plains. Distant flocks took flight. Lesser pokemon quivered and hid.

Infernus was briefly stunned by the shockwave, forced to the ground and wracked by painful spasms as the arcing storm lanced from Oz's fist like a golden spear to shred through the remnants of Infernus' Air Lens. He stared blankly up at the sky for a moment, his control over his own body briefly lost as his entire body seized and twitched in the wake of her attack.

Torrent had disrupted Air Lens, but it hadn't failed entirely. Infernus was still conscious, even if he was barely cognizant of his surroundings. His strength failed him, but Infernus clawed his way to his feet on shaking legs. He leaned over, breathless, and caught sight of Oz in the aftermath of her Storm Surge.

While some of the Storm Surge's power had surged and leaked into that strike at Infernus, in truth it wasn't meant for him.

Oz stood tall and unbent like an old warrior queen as she reveled in the sheer power that suffused her body. A crackling aura of electricity coiled around her like armor, leaping out to lash the ground and anything that came to close with its surges. She was wreathed in a cloak of blinding light so brilliant that all that could truly be seen of her was her silhouette, black amidst the harnessed lightning.

She trembled with the contained power. What had struck Infernus was only a small jolt of it. Most still bled off in the wild strikes that crackled outward like striking Ekans, unable to be channeled and restrained for long, but Oz's work this past month had paid off. More and more was retained and put to her own aims.

Two of Bruiser's hands clapped together delightedly, though he shot a worried look over at Seeker, who had ducked down behind Nidoking to land on his tail as the air grew thick with the bitter tang of ozone.

"I'm sure Oz will be careful," Ash said to his friend in an attempt to ease his fears. "Seeker will steer clear of her."

Oz was resplendent. The Feather embedded in Ash's chest crackled with electricity as it shifted to favor Lightning. Ash's eyes never looked away, bright as she was. He could only admire her.

Still, she wasn't done. While Dazed and Torrent worked to prevent Nidoking or Tangrowth's artillery barrages from interfering with the duel, Oz paused only to crack her knuckles and thrash her twin tails before howling to the sky like a Primeape. Every one of her thick muscles clenched and flexed, empowered to unforeseen heights by the lightning strike she'd absorbed, and Ash swore that he heard another thunderclap as she leapt into the fray.

And despite the stars in his eyes, the ringing in his ears, and the weakness of his limbs, something came to life in Infernus' eyes. He grinned like a madman, flared briefly like a corona come to life, and met her charge with all the strength in his limbs.

Nidoking roared furiously at Infernus, no doubt demanding he retreat and teleport back now that the battle was surely lost, but Infernus would not back down. He ignored Nidoking's charge - and Nidoking's eyes grew black and furious at the blatant disregard - and charged forward with flaming claws even as Oz's own fist met his strike.

Thunder and inferno met, and the battlefield trembled.

Infernus snarled as he was hurled backward by Oz's brute strength. She punched toward him with her other fist and pierced right through the haphazard Air Lens that he manifested with an empowered Thunderbolt, the lightning meeting only some resistance before tearing past the defense and striking Infernus right in the heart.

He gasped, the breath knocked from his lungs, and sprayed a white-hot Flamethrower at Oz, but she charged through the flames, heedless of their bite. Oz backhanded Infernus with a strike that would've cracked stone. The weakened Magmortar stumbled to the side, though instantly lashed out with searing claws that scraped across her muscular chest.

For once, Infernus was the one to suffer from the aura of another. Lightning leapt from Oz through him, and his shocked muscles seized again, though he seemed utterly delighted at the novel sensation.

Flames and radiant heat exploded forth from him, redoubled as Infernus summoned the last dregs of his willpower, and he rose tall on his shaking legs, leapt forward -

Oz's tails whipped behind her, surging with unrestrained power, as her enormous palms caught Infernus' head midcharge and jerked his face down right into her knee.

Ash winced. That had to hurt. Infernus refused to teleport away (not that he was in great shape regardless) and no doubt wanted to fight Oz to the end, but she hastened the conclusion faster than he would've liked.

She socked him one more time in the face, no doubt experiencing the best catharsis of her life, and pummeled Infernus over and over again with her meaty, electrified fists. He was too dazed to muster much of a defense, although he managed bursts of flame and smoke and flashes of heat that no doubt injured Oz in some fashion.

But Oz would not let her chance slip away. She would not relent.

Every strike came harder and faster as she pushed her body to its limits. When Infernus attempted a last-ditch Earth Burn, she broke his focus with a brilliant flash of light and roll of thunder. When he hurled a desperate punch at her, Oz caught both of his cannons in her arms, brought him closer, and her tails rushed over her burly shoulders to pierce the outer layers of Infernus' burning flesh.

She grimaced, but bore the pain as she unleashed an incredible surge of electricity right into Infernus' system. Infernus was normally so hot that it would be impossible, but the rain and mud sapped his body heat at every turn. Oz knew that, so she took advantage of this moment.

Infernus twitched, wracked by unimaginable pain, and finally went limp. Oz cast his beaten body aside into the mud, pounded her chest with both fists again, and howled to the sky with every bit of relief, ecstatic victory, and fulfillment that she felt in that moment.

Oz turned her eyes to Ash. He dipped his head in respect, and she roared again, eyes locked upon Nidoking. Perhaps Infernus wasn't the only old rival that she hoped to work out her frustrations on today.

He quickly returned Infernus and watched the rest of the battle - Nidoking and Tangrowth more or less continued their previous strategy, although Nidoking relied more heavily on Shadow Balls rather than conventional elemental attacks. Dazed was proving to be a defensive menace, although she had to be growing tired.

Nidoking, obviously frustrated by Infernus' refusal to come back to them, spat a Poison Sting to spray the mud with toxic needles. One or two struck close, but were unable to penetrate either Dazed's shields or the solid water barriers manifested by Torrent. Perhaps they'd work on replicating the Distortion-wreathed projectiles that Durand's Shiftry was so fond of next. Nidoking had the perfect skill set for it now that he'd grown more comfortable with that style of technique.

Next, he launched a psychically guided Sludge Bomb to splash over Dazed, but she simply overwhelmed it with her own psychic might and spilled it uselessly above the battlefield. Nidoking snarled, but instead roared out a challenge to Oz, who locked eyes with him and bared her flat teeth.

A tiny arc of electricity jumped from Nidoking's horn to Oz, much more of an insult than a proper attack. She howled back, then charged forward while Torrent began to dismantle Tangrowth's layers of defenses with precise jets of water so that Oz could run right into Nidoking.

Over the next minute or so, there was too much to keep track of as Tangrowth increased the intensity of his own assault. His vines never stopped moving. Blocking them or shielding against his Ancient Power and the constant rain of mud and dirt and stone was a full time job for Dazed, occupying every bit of her attention.

Torrent could batter his defenses down from afar, but Tangrowth had an easy time molding the mud back into shape. They were cheap and simply to rebuild with just a tiny silver Ancient Power orb. Plume struck once or twice, but even she couldn't come close through the earthen storm which rushed through the air. She soon pulled back to await a better opportunity.

Nidoking struck out with Shadow Ball after Shadow Ball in an attempt to bleed Dazed's own strength, Tangrowth distracted them all, and Oz advanced relentlessly while Dazed and Torrent covered her.

Team Torrent worked in perfect unity thanks to Dazed's telepathy. It must have been unimaginably difficult, but she was able to coordinate Oz through the worst of the minefield as the juggernaut marched forward, still glowing with the enormous power of her captured lightning. Much of its energy had bled off in careless strikes or ejected from Oz's tails to maintain safe levels, but she'd harnessed an unimaginable amount of power with Storm Surge.

She was weakening as the lightning's energy faded, true, but she was still a nightmare. Oz's muscles would remain strong long after her electric armor had faded away. It wasn't long before her enhanced muscles brought her just a few dozen feet from Nidoking, the rivals matched evenly as she deftly ducked or swerved all of his attacks, and then all hell broke loose.

With Lairon and Oz gone, Torrent and Dazed had lost their bodyguards.

A void bloomed behind Dazed. She instantly fell to her knees, overwhelmed by the unexpected Mind Breaker, and all her psychic barriers faded in an instant. Dazed clutched her pendulum tight, cut off from her most important sense, and Sneasel yowled furiously as he rushed in with flashing claws.

He only barely managed to avoid the concussive burst of a Focus Blast as Dazed smacked the sphere into the dirt just behind her. It was enough to dissuade Sneasel, though his superior speed ensured that he simply leapt over her next attack and struck with a Shadow Claw.

Torrent immediately fired a Water Gun right at Sneasel, but he was too nimble and simply danced around it. The Kingdra's red eyes hardened. Great streams of water swirled together, all commanded by his will to snare Sneasel and leave him open to attack, and rushed forward like Tangrowth's vines to bind his limbs.

Unfortunately for Torrent, two things happened in that moment.

Firstly, a chunk of rock the size of Ash's head struck him courtesy of Tangrowth, who did a happy little dance at the sight of one of his attacks actually landing. Torrent spun a bit, his control over the water temporarily broken, and then a tiny figure fluttered by and shrieked.

Torrent's levitation faded for just an instant as Seeker's Supersonic burst disoriented him, but it soon returned. While Torrent recovered, Seeker and Sneasel traded opponents. Sneasel landed a quick Night Slash on Dazed to break her burgeoning recovery, then used a Quick Attack to leap forward onto Torrent and strike his scorched plates with Shadow Claw after Shadow Claw.

Sneasel hugged him tight, clambering about Torrent's large body with ease, and took more than a bit of pleasure in clinging on despite Torrent's frantic bucking. Even the watery threads which formed from the steady rainfall failed to snare Sneasel's nimble body, though he was forced to leap away as Torrent grew frustrated and simply fired a Dragon Pulse down at the soil beneath him.

It failed to damage Torrent through his thick armor, but the spray of dust and dirt and force launched Sneasel's light frame away, although he readied himself for round two even as Oz and Nidoking began to clash in the distance. Plume shrieked and rushed down to harass Tangrowth, although all she could really do was strike his projectiles from the sky with gusts of wind once he hid himself in a hastily constructed earthen fort.

While the others dueled, Seeker flitted into Dazed's chest with a Quick Attack. She was a whirlwind of flashing fangs and fluttering wings as she latched onto her opponent. A Supersonic briefly disoriented Dazed thanks to her sensitive ears, and it seemed like a monster had replaced Seeker as she bit and clawed and scratched.

Ash and Bruiser watched with a little horror as something else wore Seeker's skin. Old instincts had been awakened. Seeker seemingly fought for her life, taking advantage of Dazed's temporary lack of power to savage the Hypno with everything she could muster. Dazed swatted at her, but seemed unwilling to use a Focus Blast like she had against Sneasel.

Seeker was happy to take advantage of it.

Poison Fang. Targeted Supersonic bursts. Weak Confuse Rays. Anything and everything that might keep Dazed, still wracked by the Mind Breaker, off balance for another second. Seeker was relentless, frenzied, and vicious - she didn't hold back, and Ash had to place a restraining hand against Bruiser's side as the Machamp readied himself to go retrieve her.

But it could only last so long. She dealt a bit of damage to Dazed - and kept her distracted, most importantly - but Dazed eventually managed to recover just enough strength to snare Seeker in a psychic grip and wrench her away.

Dazed stared at Seeker. The little Zubat fluttered madly against her restraints, fangs bared, but soon realized that she was trapped. Instead, she squeaked pitifully at Dazed, who watched her warily with wide eyes.

Seeker chattered cutely, but Dazed wasn't buying it for an instant. She raised her pendulum and prepared to use Hypnosis to remove Seeker from the fight. Ash felt Bruiser relax at the gentle end, although Skarmory squawked with disappointment.

Yes dear.

Claydol sighed, then continued before Ash had a chance to question him.

Yes I know that was delightfully savage. You and Seeker can talk shop later. Focus on the present, hm?

With Seeker captured, Sneasel abandoned Torrent and fell upon Dazed with gleaming claws. He didn't draw it out or gloat, but simply carved away with hooked bone and sickly grey Distortion. Dazed was already fatigued from the battle and weakened by the Mind Breaker, and without the majority of her power accessible she failed to teleport away.

As such, Ash recalled her after a brief struggle. No doubt she'd be dealing with an awful headache when she woke up. Dazed had essentially acted as scout, communications hub, and a living fortress for her team. She'd been a vital piece, and that had been what ensured Sneasel would do anything to take her out of the fight.

It was just in time, too. Seeker fluttered away quickly and hid, unwilling to stick around long beneath Torrent's scarlet glare, and Sneasel readied to leave as well. Unfortunately, he'd tarried just too long.

Water coiled up around his leg and froze solid beneath Torrent, who grew colder and more regal than ever as he channeled Ice, and Sneasel hissed furiously at him. Lairon warbled from the distance, skating forward on Magnet Rise as quickly as he could manage, and no doubt eager to get a bit of revenge to make up for his absence.

Sneasel yowled back and attempted to copy a rude gesture that Ash knew he'd seen Gary once make with his claws.

Just as Sneasel's other claw came down and smashed the ice, he tensed and coiled like a spring, prepared to make his escape. Unfortunately for Sneasel, a shadow came from overhead.

His lanky limbs flailed wildly as Plume snatched him in her enormous talons and took flight. Plume shrieked at him as her mighty wings carried them higher and higher and prepared to release him from a few hundred feet up so that she could finally watch Sneasel take flight and put that feather of his to good use, but Sneasel wasn't going to just let her fly away unscathed.

No, he flared Mind Breaker instead. Sneasel wasn't built for long, drawn out matches. He'd poured so much of his energy into ensuring victory over Torrent and Dazed… but he had enough for this.

A sickening burst of grey light rushed over the battlefield and froze it for a moment. They all felt a terrible surge of nausea wash over them as their vision swam, although battle was soon rejoined.

Plume immediately toppled. Her wings fluttered in an attempt to catch her, but the point-blank range ensured that she'd been struck horribly by the disorienting rush of Distortion. She spun and spun and spun even as Tangrowth somehow managed to snatch Sneasel from the sky and secure him with a handful of vines.

Sneasel immediately laid flat on his back in the cool mud, utterly exhausted, but he seemed satisfied with his performance nonetheless. Ash didn't recall him quite yet, although he kept a close eye on him. He'd recall Sneasel if the little dark-type pushed himself too hard.

Still, his more immediate concern was Plume. She rocketed over the battlefield, half-unconscious, but Ash felt the moment she reawakened. Distortion still ravaged her mind and body, but Plume flared her wings to buy a few moments before she crashed into the plains and sullied her magnificent feathers with filthy mud.

And in those moments, Plume sang. Ash shivered as the North Wind swept in, strong and gentle and refreshing, and the remnants of his nausea from Mind Breaker were carried away by its mighty current and cool touch. It purged the impurity from the battlefield and Plume soon righted herself just in time to avoid crashing, although she was forced to land near Torrent for an instant and recover, skidding awkwardly along the uneven, slick, and sticky terrain.

Tangrowth's vines came rushing for Plume in her moment of weakness, but Torrent severed them with a whip of water. With Lairon at his side and ready to protect him from any future harassment, Torrent raised his snout to the sky and began his barrage in earnest.

The clouds darkened again. Rain came down faster. Thunder clapped from the clouds in time with Oz's strikes against Nidoking.

His first friend fought cleverly. Nidoking was no match for her in brute strength, but he used terrain cleverly. Every step that Oz took closer to him was plagued by misfortune: she would step into a hidden chasm thick with mud, or her foot would be yanked by psychic power to force her to misstep, and on occasion Nidoking would freeze mud with a brief application of Ice Beam to send Oz slipping and sprawling.

Whenever he did, Nidoking would charge away to put distance between them and poke at Oz mockingly with a light Thunderbolt. It didn't so much as sting her, but boy did it make her mad.

She whirred furiously and struck out with burst after burst of lightning, but Nidoking was quick to duck behind little fortifications constructed by Tangrowth or simply weather the lighter strikes. Even his thick hide wouldn't prove completely immune to Oz's empowered Thunderbolts, but it at least blunted the damage.

That didn't mean he would act recklessly, though. When Oz did come close, Nidoking would sometimes allow her to strike him so long as his toxic spikes would pierce her skin and inject a little poison into her. Poison Sting would often roll off a shimmering psychic barrier that she projected, but he seemed quite eager to punish her aggression.

"I was worried when Infernus was brought down, but they've done a good job regrouping," Ash commented.

Bruiser grunted back, obviously still worried about Seeker. They didn't have eyes on her, but Ash was certain that she'd made it to safety. Seeker had proven to have a vicious streak, but she wouldn't dare try to be aggressive without Sneasel to draw most of the attention.

Ash understood, but decided to try and distract him from his worry. The others would be careful. "Nidoking's going to kill Infernus when he's conscious."

Bruiser chuckled at that, visibly refocusing as he put the finishing touches on his scarf. Humming uncertainly, he offered it to Ash for his opinion.

"Oh, it's very nice," Ash said, though it took him a few moments to make out some of the… creative additions. A pattern had been roughly woven in from it in a shapeless zigzag of grey thread, and Ash dimly realized that it was supposed to be Bruiser himself. "I like the colors."

The Machamp beamed and tossed it over his shoulder so that he could begin working on his next project.

"Plume's going to be a problem," Ash continued observing. The BANG of several muddy boulders striking psychic barriers briefly made him flinch despite himself "Tangrowth can keep her away, but she'll be back. Sneasel only slowed her down."

Ash scanned the distant skies for signs of her - ideally she wouldn't be too far away, lest she lose track of the battle entirely, but too close and she'd be easy to pick out. The nearby skies were utterly devoid of passerby at this time.

Battle did that to an area.

"They don't really have a good option to attack her," Ash said, unsure if that was wholly good or bad. That was simultaneously Plume's greatest strength and greatest weakness. Even Metagross couldn't hit a (non-stationary) target from forty miles away, but Plume certainly had no options to attack while so far disengaged either.

He hoped the latter limitation would be alleviated somewhat by their attempts to reverse-engineer Lugia's technique. She was unrivaled on an open field, but Nidoking and Tangrowth were in the best possible position to nullify her advantages with their control over the earth and their wide-ranging coverage.

Skarmory scoffed, her steel feathers bristling as she eyed Plume far off in the distance, and looked like she wanted to join the fray herself. She was too competitive by half.

Ash smiled to himself. While Skarmory was a terror, Plume quite delighted in being able to (literally) fly circles around her. Most birds weren't armored for a reason.

Speaking of control over earth… Torrent had finally grown weary of their contest. Tangrowth's endurance seemed inexhaustible, especially as his severed vines slowly regenerated, and opted for another strategy instead. Great swathes of freezing air burst across the battlefield to swirl about Tangrowth, swirling past most defenses and occasionally redirected into a more favorable position by Plume, who would dart in from nowhere before fleeing just as fast.

Sneasel had rattled her. She'd managed to purify herself of the corruption which stained her, but Mind Breaker was a nasty trick. Part of Ash suspected that her head had grown a little too big thanks to her recent breakthroughs - what could little old Sneasel do to her, who had practically raised him from an egg?

While Torrent attempted to freeze Tangrowth and slow him to a point where the rest could bring him down, Oz and Nidoking continued their duel. She was spitting mad now, hurling vicious lightning strikes as if they were just little Sparks, and charged after Nidoking whenever possible.

Nidoking kept harassing her. Tangrowth's aid began to slow as the cold filled his area - which would have been fine if he had the lava to keep him warm, but he'd cast the last of it at Torrent long ago - and brought his body's metabolism to a crawl. It wouldn't happen immediately, but Torrent was patient. His advantage would only grow as he spat vast Blizzard after vast Blizzard, occasionally mixing in Ice Beams when he saw a spot that may require more precision.

If Torrent had wished, he could have simply poured his will and might into a terrible Ice Storm to ravage the battlefield and transform it into a field of icy mud. But it would be risky, costly, and run the risk of Nidoking, Tangrowth, or the barely conscious Sneasel finding some way to ruin the attempt.

Seeker would also be at risk from collateral damage, wherever she'd found herself, and even amidst the heat of battle Ash suspected Torrent wouldn't risk that.

Oz hammered Nidoking with a Thunderbolt from her fist as she thrust it forward. He stumbled backward, the concussive force enough to rattle him despite the protection of his hide, but did not miss his chance as Oz charged forward with a crackling fist raised.

His eyes flashed blue as he accessed his psychic powers. A glob of freezing mud leapt to his command. It quivered, then shot forward into Oz's eyes - she whirred, enraged, and swung wildly as she skidded forward on the slick mess as Nidoking fired a quick Ice Beam into the mud at her feet.

She instinctively erected a rippling green Protect to shield against whatever attack Nidoking had planned, but he had expected that. All he spat was a flurry of needle-like Poison Stings that caught uselessly against the Protect and fell away, then a hissing Sludge Bomb that washed over her barrier and soaked into the mud. It soon intermixed into a filthy, toxic mess that Oz inadvertently flailed in as she attempted to find her footing.

Some no doubt made it into her open mouth and nostrils, but that was only the beginning. Nidoking's fangs bared as he charged forward and slammed into her shoulder the moment that her Protect fell. His immense mass sent her sprawling again, half-buried in the mud, and Nidoking roared out to Tangrowth as he stamped his great foot and a golden fissure of Earth Power shot out.

Oz only had a moment to flail, frantic in her efforts to escape, but the moment one of Tangrowth's silvery orbs landed on the fissure to assist Nidoking in wrenching open an enormous chasm beneath her. The Electivire snarled as her massive arms flexed with incredible strength to help her claw out, the haze of lightning that she'd absorbed still lashing out like mad as the mud grounded her.

Nidoking's face twisted in concentration as he focused all his might into the Earth Power, and roared with victory as the combination of his and Tangrowth's effort created a successful pitfall that sent Oz tumbling ten feet into the chasm. They'd practiced this together.

She leapt out almost immediately, only to be buried in a massive pile of mud that two of Tangrowth's sluggish vines tossed atop her. Ash could hear her roars and whirrs as she no doubt attempted to dig her way out, but Nidoking had bought time.

He leapt up once, then unleashed a massive Earthquake that sent Ash almost to his knees, although Claydol was considerate enough to catch him with a brief flex of psychic energy.

"Thanks!" Ash gasped as he stood back up. Bruiser looked as if he'd almost reached out, and Ash just tapped his side with a smile. "The thought is what counts."

Bruiser didn't look completely convinced by that.

"I'll have to talk to Oz about that at some point," Ash said, pulling himself up to his feet and shaking his head. "Storm Surge made her cocky and she's pulling an Infernus. If she'd pulled back, she might have been able to protect Torrent and keep Dazed in the fight."

Sneasel and Seeker wouldn't have dared to charge in with Oz there. Plume could have harassed. It would've been a long battle, but one that would've ended in Team Torrent's victory for certain. But she'd grown drunk on power, charged in swinging, and taken the offensive in the worst terrain imaginable against not one, but two opponents adept at manipulating it.

It would've gone fine if she continued to have the support of Torrent and Dazed, but without their cover she was exposed. Alone, she likely would've defeated Nidoking. But now she was trapped. Ash didn't bother attempting to recall her yet. It probably wouldn't pierce the mud, and she still had plenty of fight in her.

Nidoking unleashed two more Earthquakes, unwilling to bet against Oz's ferocity and durability, and paused only to take a look at Tangrowth, who was slowly fading beneath the constant Blizzard which swept over his muddy defenses, to make up his mind. He bared his teeth as his horn leaked venom, eager to pierce it into Torrent and claim victory from the jaws of defeat, but cast a wary glance at the skies.

That invisible threat made up his mind. Rather than go for the source of the frigid gales and piercing jets of water, Nidoking rushed to Tangrowth's side and unleashed a great Flamethrower.

The crackling jet didn't wash over the grass-type, only being directed nearby, but it banished Torrent's chill and soon restored feeling and vigor to Tangrowth.

Torrent snorted nearby and gave up the effort, irritated by Nidoking's pragmatism, and raised his snout to the sky.

A thin, wavering Dragon Pulse fired upward, then exploded in pale green starburst. Lairon warbled at his side, his front foot pawing at the mud.

Although Tangrowth and Nidoking soon struck with a barrage of Thunderbolts and Ancient Power, Lairon charged forward and caught them all on a wide, solid Protect that stopped the attacks in their tracks. He soon proved that Nidoking and Torrent weren't the only one that could reshape, as as soon as the barrier fell he managed to yank up a sturdy stone wall with Rock Tomb that hid Torrent from their attacks.

It would succumb the moment a truly powerful attack hit it, but Nidoking didn't really have anything that could pierce it from this distance. Both he and Tangrowth were slowing, exhausted by the previous exchanges, and Nidoking seemed quite aware that time wasn't on his side.

Water pooled toward Torrent. It rose from the mud, fell from the sky, and twisted around him in an enormous sphere. Although it began with just a thin layer of water coating Torrent's heavy plates, more and more accumulated by the second. Soon it would fully envelop Torrent, and then it would grow vast and wide.

Nidoking growled, eyes flashing blue as he projected plans to Tangrowth, and bodily dragged Sneasel from the mud and held him clutched to his muscular chest where there was no risk of accidentally poking him. Sneasel yowled indignantly at the treatment, still exhausted and injured from his encounter with Plume, but Nidoking snarled once and put an end to his protests.

And just like that, the earth opened and swallowed them both as Nidoking used Dig. Some of Tangrowth's vines curiously tried to follow, but were soon trapped in the mud as it closed behind the pair.

From there, things moved quickly.

Ash had no clue where Nidoking and Sneasel had vanished to, but he could spot the mud where they'd buried Oz shifting. They'd best take their chance while they still could. She wouldn't be put down that easy, and when she clawed her way out of that mud pile she was going to be pissed.

With Tangrowth alone and isolated, Plume struck. She appeared from nowhere, going from a tiny black dot set against the thundering clouds to just a hundred feet away from Tangrowth in an instant. Sneasel's last trick had taught her to keep her distance and strike from afar, but even her Hurricane only managed to batter the thick earthen walls that Tangrowth had yanked earlier from the ground.

He gurgled, waved a vine at her, and half heartedly tossed another thick glob of cold mud her way. Plume effortlessly dodged it, of course, barely pausing to swerve out of its way before circling back around, and Ash felt the air shift and tremble as its queen took command of the skies.

Plume's beak opened wide, a gale coiled and ready to be unleashed in an epic rush of wind that would tear mud and stone and vines to shreds. The faint psychic funnel shaped, barely able to constitute itself as Plume swooped a hair lower…

And then it all faded away as Tangrowth happily presented Seeker, wrapped up securely in a few vines, to Plume from below. She was clutched close to Tangrowth, kept warm thanks to the wiggling cocoon that he offered, and her ears twitched as she waved a wing at Plume.

The skies shuddered, gasping as Plume released her hold. She shrieked, offended at the trick, but proved unwilling to land such a devastating blow against Tangrowth when Seeker may be caught in the billowing winds. Seeker chattered to Tangrowth, clearly pleased with their maneuver, and Tangrowth gurgled happily back and hugged her closer.

He was just along for the ride, really. Ash had no doubt that Seeker was the one who'd come up with that.

"She likes to fight dirty, doesn't she?" His lips curled up into a smile. Bruiser just sighed, two of his meaty hands rising to cover his face in exasperation. "I can work with that."

Skarmory squawked something. It sounded like a dozen razor blades scraping together, and Claydol spun lazily nearby.

Perhaps she and that fuzzy little nightmare of yours have more in common than either thought.

Ash snorted. "Maybe you're right. Speaking of the fuzzball…"

Lairon grunted a warning to Torrent moments before Nidoking exploded through the earth just beneath Torrent, his horn crackling with electricity as his will swept the mud away. The tip jabbed just into the massive sphere of cold water, the arc crackling while Torrent rested in its midst and jerked as the Thunderbolt jumped straight into his body.

His plates protected him from any serious damage, and Torrent's eyes glimmered with victory as he simply allowed hundreds of gallons of water to simply drop. Some stayed twisting around him, writhing with foam, but the vast majority simply fell right upon Nidoking and swept him back into the mud.

But even as he fired Dragon Pulse after Dragon Pulse into the pit, the water around Torrent's head smoothly slipped away so that his snout could blast it without interruption. Lairon barely had a moment to cry out another alarm before Sneasel struck.

The little dark-type was slower than before, ribs no doubt bruised by Plume's talons, but he easily ducked a precise Water Gun that drilled a foot deep into the mud. Before the next attack could come, Sneasel split into three illusory copies as he leapt at Torrent with claws coated with frosty mist, which slashed into the water covering the grand dragon again and again until the watery veil froze thick and solid… only for Torrent to shatter it with a rumble.

Sneasel's eyes widened as Torrent's snout came toward him and the beginnings of a Dragon Pulse manifested… only to swiftly fade away into sparks as Torrent spat an enormous cloud of thick, clinging black smoke into Sneasel's face instead.

The little dark-type hissed and scurried back in the mud, utterly blinded by Torrent's unexpected Smokescreen, only for Lairon to skate forward with Magnet Rise and slam into him with bone-crunching force. Sneasel was hurled deeper into the mud, and it only took Lairon choosing to land atop him and crush Sneasel for Ash to return his friend.

"You fought hard," he said, and the pokeball twitched once before going still. Ash patted it once as he clipped it back onto his belt. "Good fight, Sneasel."

Just as Sneasel was struck down, Nidoking unleashed an Earthquake from below. It had no effect on Torrent, but Lairon cried out as he was tossed to and fro, although he ultimately leapt into the air with Magnet Rise to avoid the light trembling. But without contact with the earth, he had no chance to avoid Nidoking as the poison-type shot up from the mud.

Lairon's eyes widened. He attempted to accelerate forward to meet the blow, but Nidoking was too fast. It was inconvenient that Sneasel had been defeated early, but Nidoking was relentless. As he burst out from below, he twisted and used the momentum to slam his tail right into Lairon.

Nidoking roared in pain as his tail was horribly bruised by the attack, but Lairon was utterly rattled as he was cast down into the mud with enough force to shatter every bone in Ash's body. It only stunned the steel-type.

Torrent moved to fire a Hydro Pump right into the back of Nidoking's head, but Nidoking closed the distance, twisted his upper body and with a blindingly fast motion grabbed Torrent by the snout and wrenched it to the sky, even as his eyes darkened. The jet of water went wide, caught by Claydol's psychic barriers, and Nidoking had just enough time to bathe Lairon in a cone of flame before Torrent recovered.

Despite being rattled, Lairon had just enough presence of mind to manifest one last Protect. Nidoking abandoned the attempt nearly immediately, well-aware of how quickly the tables would turn, and charged Torrent with incredible ferocity. A tidal wave was flung at him from the water all around, but Nidoking simply fired a flurry of weak Shadow Balls into it.

The Distortion devoured Torrent's control over the water. By the time it reached Nidoking, it struck with only a fraction of the force that Torrent had empowered it with. Nidoking was able to charge through, thrust his horn right into Torrent's chest, but was turned away by the thick plates and the veil of water which still clung to Torrent like armor. It had penetrated slightly and likely injected some small amount of toxin into Torrent's system, but Ash expected it to be some time before the venom would take effect.

Torrent levitated backward, carried more swiftly by the water he commanded, and then Tangrowth made his presence known.

While Nidoking dueled Torrent and Lairon, Tangrowth had bound several of his vines together and used them like stilts to carry him across the muddy wastes where the field had once stood. Oz managed to claw her way out of the mud heap, the borrowed power of her lightning bolt all but spent, and whirred with rage as she spied Tangrowth.

She reared back her filthy arm, crackling with electricity despite the earth clinging to her form… and hesitated.

One of Tangrowth's vines brandished Seeker at Oz as if it were a ward specially designed to counteract his fellow teammates. Ash supposed it was, even if the dirty tactic nearly gave Bruiser a heart attack. Seeker fluttered this way and that as Oz stared gobsmacked, leading Tangrowth's vines to move her in order to intercept the Lightning Bolt that Oz was no doubt eager to unleash.

Oz snarled and limped forward, barely conscious but willing to press onward. Even so, Tangrowth hauled himself across the battlefield far before she could have hoped to. Every one of his vines, now mostly regenerated, lashed out at Torrent in an effort to complement Nidoking's desperate strikes.

They struck forward and pierced through Torrent's veil. Tangrowth's vines encircled Torrent and squeezed as they shone a bright green and drained his energy with Giga Drain. Water shoved them away, slashing and cutting, but Tangrowth seemed to have an endless supply of vines.

Nidoking charged forth to end Torrent even as the mighty dragon struggled, but howled in pain as Lairon recovered and surged forth with incredible speed, accelerated by his control of Magnet Rise, and slammed into Nidoking with enough force to crack stone.

It sent Nidoking skidding and forced him to his belly, but Nidoking soon rose with murder in his eyes. He'd had enough.

Lairon warbled proudly at his feat and rushed forward for another tackle, only for Nidoking to meet his charge with one of his own. Nidoking roared, gripped Lairon with both claws, and with an impressive twist of his upper body, turned Lairon's momentum against him and hurled him aside with incredible strength. The gloves were off.

While Lairon attempted to flip onto his feet, Nidoking reared back. Fire, ice, and lightning all swirled together, a Thunderbolt and Ice Beam generated at the tip of his horn while he breathed a great Flamethrower right at Lairon, and consumed him utterly with the Triad.

Nidoking didn't just allow it as a quick burst. No, he had more respect for Lairon than that. He held it, and held it, and held it until Lairon didn't so much as twitch. The mud was dried and caked to his shape, all four of his feet up in the air and a rasping tongue hanging from his mouth.

Ash returned him.

Just as Nidoking turned to double team Torrent alongside Tangrowth, two things happened: Oz clapped her hands together and unleashed a blinding Flash, and Plume swept from the sky. While Nidoking and Tangrowth reeled, Oz shot forward with a Quick Attack to bowl into Tangrowth faster than he could adjust Seeker to protect against Oz's attacks.

Seeker squeaked as she was sent tumbling through the air, but caught herself and fluttered to safety even as electricity exploded from beneath Oz's second skin of mud. Oz and Tangrowth wrestled, her immense strength pitted against the cumulative power of dozens of vines, and Plume shot downwards.

Two vines grasped for her, ready to snare a talon or bind a wing, but Plume had waited until Tangrowth was otherwise indisposed. She was still nearly a hundred feet up when she shrieked to announce her glorious presence, opened her beak, and unleashed a shining Hyper Beam with pinpoint accuracy right into Nidoking's back.

He groaned as the detonation exploded and cast him forward - Seeker flitted around, looking for an opening, but Torrent had tired of her distractions.

For a moment, Torrent reared back to spit a gentle Water Gun to bat her from the sky, but then hesitated, no doubt remembering Seeker's previous experience intercepting Golduck's Water Gun to save Ash.

Ash could imagine the doubt warring within him, before it resolved itself. He was not as limited as Oz or Plume.

Torrent wasn't about to leave Seeker out of the fight and its just consequences - especially not after she'd made such an eager nuisance of herself - but he also wasn't about to treat this as anything but a glorified spar either. So a tentacle of water, modeled after Tangrowth's own vines, snatched her from the sky and held her. The Kingdra spared Ash a look, and he nodded back to his regal friend and returned her.

She wasn't unconscious, but fair was fair. Torrent could have made it so, and that was the point.

Bruiser exhaled in relief as Seeker was removed from the battle.

With only two members of Team Floral Explosion remaining, they ensured that they fought their hardest. Nidoking was a veritable storm of Thunderbolts, Sludge Bombs, and Ice Beams to push Torrent back and ward off Plume, though she danced away terribly casually and circled back seconds later after each attack.

Torrent held Nidoking away with his own command over water, largely occupying the poison-type so that Plume could strike with various ranged attacks to prick him. Nidoking was slower now, exhausted, and Team Torrent took advantage of that.

Meanwhile, Oz did not fare particularly well against Tangrowth. Her immense strength ensured that his vines could only stalemate her, but she had grown stiff and fatigued from her climb out of the mud as well. To hurl off several thousand pounds of mud after two battles and several Earthquakes was no mean feat, although Ash was certain she'd used some defensive technique to weather the Earthquakes.

But her tails were still free. Oz surged with electricity, crackling as little arcs snapped at Tangrowth's writhing vines, and both tails whipped forward to strike just as they had Infernus. Two vines from within Tangrowth's interior layers caught them and coiled around to prevent them from piercing his rubbery body, but Ash could see the discomfort in his eyes.

Tangrowth loosed a distressed gurgle - Nidoking turned to him, abandoned his fight with Torrent, and charged to his teammates aid… only for Plume to take advantage of Tangrowth's distraction and flit down with a Steel Wing. It hammered in Tangrowth, bent him nearly in half beneath the force, and sent him flying backwards from Oz.

Plume vanished even as Nidoking shot a storm of Poison Stings in her direction, but Tangrowth could only wriggle helplessly as he was crushed into the misshapen mud. Little silvery spheres burst from his vines, commanding the earth itself to come to his aid, but Team Torrent did not let this opportunity go to waste.

The moment he was knocked over, Torrent swept a great swathe of water onto Tangrowth to bury him and drown him within the mud. Tangrowth nearly pried himself out as the mud rose and shifted, but Oz leapt atop him and pummeled him with blow after blow, her tails finally striking past Tangrowth's rubbery vines and injecting electricity -

Ash recalled Tangrowth. While his friend likely could have taken the punishment and made an escape, this was meant to be for fun more than anything. He wouldn't put Tangrowth through that pain and confusion.

A fine show. Imagine how devastating he would be with a few more IQ points.

"Imagine how devastating you would be if you spent as much time training as coming up with commentary," Ash snarked, scowling in defense of his friend. He clutched Tangrowth's pokeball protectively. Bruiser glared at Claydol as well. His four fists curled into balls. Skarmory just yawned, her sharp gaze never far from the show.

Claydol didn't seem offended.

Touché. That was a bit mean of me. Apologies.

On the field, surrounded, Nidoking snarled, alone against three opponents who could contest Masters.

He did not falter.

While Oz stumbled into the pool as Tangrowth suddenly vanished in a flash of light, Nidoking rushed her. She groaned as his full body weight plowed into her from behind, his horn penetrating into the thick meat of her shoulder, and howled as she felt searing toxins explode through her system.

She'd gotten a full dose this time.

Nidoking rose with some effort, panting, and landed a solid kick that shoved her venom-wracked body deeper into the mud and water. He bellowed out a roar, shot a Thunderbolt at Torrent, and then went down in a heap as a Hyper Beam from Plume and a Hydro Pump from Torrent slammed into him as one.

Ash felt a pang of disappointment for his friend as he returned him. Nidoking had fought hard. So hard.

He doubted that they'd allow him to see it, but Ash had no doubt that the members of Team Floral Explosion were going to make their displeasure known quite violently to Infernus. Normally Infernus would welcome the battle, but Ash suspected that even the battle-mad Magmortar would feel chastised when he realized that his rashness had likely cost them the battle, or at least cut their chances to nil.

But that was for another day.

Ash smiled wearily as the members of Team Torrent expressed their pleasure: Torrent rumbled, water dancing all around at his command, Plume let out happy chirps as she circled above the battlefield, and Oz managed to raise her fist into the air before she passed out in the water.

…Actually, that might have been a desperate plea for help. Ash quickly recalled Oz before she could drown. That would put a dampener on their victory.

"Congratulations! Team Torrent - er, Team Swift-Gale-Resplendent-Feathers-Radiant-in-Sun-Falling-Thunder-Seekers-of-Peace," Ash somehow managed (with some telepathic help from Claydol) to remember the name and say it with a somewhat straight face. Bruiser clapped with all four of his hands, more for the miracle that Seeker had escaped without injury than for their victory.

If they'd hurt Seeker, Ash had no doubt that Bruiser would be having words. Or fists, in his case. Plus lots of disapproving expressions that would cut Team Torrent to the bone. Ash could hardly imagine a worse fate.

"I think we'll be postponing your battle with Infernus," Ash muttered to Bruiser. "I doubt he's going to be in fighting shape any time soon."

By that you mean we'll be waiting all day or two, no doubt. I can never tell whether that Magmortar is a sadist or a masochist.

Ash's lips twitched. "It varies by day."

Bruiser rumbled out a laugh, nodded, and the four of them went down to greet the happy victors.

They'd be eating well tonight.

XX

"The bout went well?" Steven asked, warming his hands against the campfire. The night was thankfully dry, which was just what they'd needed after yet another day of incessant rain.

"It did," Ash said, reclining back into Tangrowth's warm hug. Several vines wrapped around each limb. Sneasel had gotten snared in the embrace at some point as he had tried to sneak by to steal some food, but he didn't seem too upset about that since he was crammed close to Ash, who absentmindedly stroked his head near his feather.

Sneasel was still more or less a limp noodle from the fight yesterday. Most of his team were. They'd held back slightly, unwilling to really hurt each other (mostly), but they'd still thrown nearly everything they had into that fight. Each witnessed the rest growing stronger day after day. It was only natural that they'd seek out an opportunity to prove that strength.

Naturally, afterwards they were all out of commission. Ash had actually sent Juliet back to Ever Grande City with Nidoking, Oz, Dazed, and Lairon to get them some medical treatment. The rest were primarily just worn out, or had injuries light enough that they could recover with basic applications of Potion.

Tangrowth and Infernus were already in good shape, of course. Their physiology bounced back quickly. Infernus was still off soaking in a lava bath over to the side, eyes peeking out over the edge like a Feraligatr eyeing its prey.

"Their teamwork was better than expected," Ash said. He tapped Infernus' pokeball. "For the most part. Even Infernus' initial charge seemed like part of Nidoking's strategy, or at the very least Nidoking knew it was coming and planned around it. If Infernus had listened to the order to retreat instead of challenging Oz, things might have gone differently. Torrent's team had fantastic teamwork, though. They complemented each other perfectly."

Several of the vines tightened around Ash before loosening into their usual hug. Ash wanted to laugh. If Tangrowth was upset, then Infernus had a rough time coming his way. He patted his friend's vines affectionately, which earned a happy gurgle.

"A psychic to coordinate, Plume to provide an aerial perspective to share with the team, and a core group of fighters well-adapted to fighting in the rain. Even Lairon was able to escape the mud and move swiftly with Magnet Rise. A wise choice, particularly for a team focused primarily on ranged assaults."

"Nidoking's team did well," Ash said, which earned a pat on the head from one of Tangrowth's vines. Sneasel hissed in agreement, then generously presented Ash to scratch… but not too much, of course. "They compensated well for Infernus' absence, and he adapted. There wasn't a good answer for Plume, though. Dazed probably would've been best, although Sneasel managed to rattle her with Mind Breaker and Tangrowth did a great job of keeping her at bay."

Both teammates seemed content with that assessment. Steven, who sat upon Metagross, simply nodded along. As the campfire flickered and an easy silence passed over them, Steven seemed lost for words. Ash watched him out of the corner of his eye, curious as to what Steven appeared to be building up to, as he mentally reviewed the battle, picking apart each of his family's performance and using that analysis to formulate constructive feedback for each.

Not a single one of his friends had left him disappointed. Even Infernus had at least appeared to play within Nidoking's rules, although he'd broken whatever trust Nidoking had placed into him. But they would sort that out in time. The rest had played their roles to perfection, taking care to supplement their team and work as a whole rather than an individual champion wading into battle.

Oz might need to be reminded to reign herself in, though. She'd grown far too confident when given the opportunity to test her Storm Surge against her teammates. Perhaps it wouldn't be so severe without an emotional connection and a need to prove herself.

Otherwise, he was most impressed with Seeker. Ash couldn't help but be a little concerned with the uncharacteristic viciousness she'd displayed in battle, as well as the lack of regard for her own self-preservation, but perhaps it was just a relic from her time as a slave to Team Rocket. He doubted that she knew any other way to fight, even if she'd observed his team for more than a year now.

Still, she'd been clever. Seeker had weaponized everything at her disposal in order to help her team. She knew her limits and fought within them, but was more than happy to throw her entire being into whatever fight she was given. Her tactics were dirty, but effective.

Ash knew that fighting itself offered no thrill to her, but he could respect Seeker's commitment. The little Zubat had decided that if she was going to do this, she would give it her all.

While Ash's team had largely been left recovering in their pokeballs aside from Tangrowth, Bruiser, and Sneasel, Steven's team was fully present. Skarmory had stolen a perch in the cliffside that they had camped under, tearing huge limbs from nearby trees to make a haphazard nest. Armaldo and Cradily nestled under a tree together, listening in. Aggron was curled up in an enormous heap of steel.

After a few minutes, Steven cleared his throat. "Ash."

"Yes?" He looked up from petting Sneasel, although his hand continued its important work to ensure Sneasel had no reason to protest.

"We discussed shaving not too long ago."

Ash's lips twitched. "We did."

"Do you remember that trainer the other day? The girl with headband," Steven clarified as Ash raked his memories for any impressive trainers that his team had fought recently and came up blank.

He nodded. She was only a little older than him and had been very… smiley. Too happy to see him. The trainer had even tried to hug him after their bout, although thankfully Bruiser put a stop to that with a firm shake of his head. "What about her? She wasn't very strong."

Steven coughed. "Indeed. Well, I mentioned the occasion to Lance. He was very concerned that another part of your education might be… lacking, and that it was my duty to correct that."

"Okay."

"You see," Steven began, still atop Metagross. Every word came as if strained through a sieve. Ash listened attentively. "At your age, there are many changes going on in your body. A biochemical cocktail is resulting in all sorts of bodily and emotional alterations, many of which are… odd, if you don't know what to expect. As previously mentioned, you will begin to grow hair in strange areas, develop a pungent odor if you do not carefully wash, and otherwise notice confusing developments."

Ash blinked.

"It's an unfortunate reality, but as you age, you might experience some attention from the opposite sex, some of which will likely be unwanted or insidious. We do not want you to be taken advantage of. Some unsavory characters might attempt to manipulate you through sexual attraction or by toying with your emotions."

Ash opened his mouth, but no words came out. Was this real life?

"At your level of development, a Beldum would go in search of a partner to fuse with in order to become a Metang," Steven began. "Although I suppose a more accurate view would be a Metagross choosing to detach a limb or be dismantled for the sake of the colony…"

Metagross stared at Ash unblinkingly. Claydol's inanimate body trembled, its levitation under strain. Ash didn't need aura or psychic powers to feel the stifled laughter radiating from it. Aggron had literally shoved his enormous steel head into the dirt.

Steven trailed off, then refocused. "Unfortunately, despite its obvious utility and benefits, humans are unable to reproduce through budding or fragmentation. Many humans, although not all, experience a strong drive for a partner due to this. The mechanics are fairly simple, you see, although inefficient in comparison to the reproductive cycles of a Metagross. In order to fertilize the female's egg and create progeny, the male must -"

Whatever confusion he felt was wiped away.

"Steven, I know what sex is." Ash interrupted flatly, ignoring Sneasel's snickers. He patted Tangrowth in apology for breaking Steven's flow - Tangrowth had listened attentively, but Ash would explain it to him later if he was so curious.

Steven blinked even as Metagross continued to stare at Ash. His jaw dropped as he stammered. "You do?!"

He didn't miss Infernus' disappointed look, or the clawed cannon waving as if urging Steven to continue. No doubt out of sadistic amusement rather than any desire for Ash's education.

"My mom's a scientist. She told me years ago," Ash said as he recalled the straightforward, matter-of-fact explanation that she'd offered him and Gary when they were younger. She'd been happy to answer whatever questions he had, although Gary had been supremely uncomfortable during the whole experience.

There had been far fewer Metagross in her explanation as well.

The school had covered it as well. Between his mother and Professor Oak there was no way that Ash or Gary would have stepped foot out of Pallet Town without knowing the 'facts of life'.

"But Lance said -" Ash let Steven sweat for a moment as Claydol vibrated. Steven was some mix of pale, red-faced, sweaty, and probably experiencing horrible chills to boot.

Ash nodded, frowning as Sneasel stared off into the darkness beyond Steven's team with uncharacteristic intensity, a low rumble in his chest. Did he sense something? "Lance said."

Steven colored bright red. "I'm going to kill him!"

I've been waiting days for this! I told you, Steven, I told you!

"No you didn't!" Steven snapped at Claydol. He huffed. "You didn't say a word."

Claydol spun lazily.

Oh dear, it must have slipped my mind. My apologies.

The words were as insincere as any that Ash had ever heard, and he did his best to ease Steven's embarrassment. "Uh, you were doing fine, if it's any consolation?"

It did seem to leave Steven feeling a little better, though, so that was nice.

"I'm glad to hear it. When my father explained things to me, I was terribly confused," Steven admitted. "For a long time, I still thought that I'd have to sacrifice an arm or leg for my colony if I ever desired to reproduce."

Ash blinked. "I'm, uh, very sorry to hear that."

"Fino explained things far more clearly," Steven waved his concern away. He frowned. "Regardless, there are things that might be useful to hear regarding your new station…"

Just as Steven prepared to continue, a crack sounded in the distance. A Murkrow squawked from above. A Mightyena howled in greeting.

Steven's team rose as one, an uncharacteristic eagerness about them as they peered toward the darkness.

Only Metagross remained unchanging. Steven sat up more attentively, although he didn't drop down to the ground.

Ash's senses sharpened. His hand went to his team, but he didn't move. Sneasel alone leapt to his feet, hackles raised and claws bared. Infernus peeked over the rim of his bath, but didn't seem particularly worried or interested.

Still, he waited and watched raptly as four figures slipped from the darkness.

His interest piqued as a hulking, shaggy figure stepped forward. It was quadrupedal, big as an Ursaring on all fours but leaner, with thick grey fur upon its broad chest and a wild tangle of black running along its back and covering its legs. Pointed ears were upraised and alert, though the creature didn't seem particularly threatened as its red eyes ran across them.

A Mightyena, perhaps the largest that Ash had ever seen. Powerful muscles bulged beneath its luxurious fur, which was impeccably groomed, and its black paws carried it forward with lithe grace that Ash might have associated more with a Persian than a Mightyena.

It peered over them all with some familiarity. Not a drop of fear or apprehension colored it. The Mightyena was clear of scars or other injuries, a sign of either top notch medical treatment or unparalleled skill in battle.

Ash knew which one of those he would bet on. The easy confidence reminded Ash most of Durand. If his team and Steven weren't present, Ash might have been on edge.

As the hulking Mightyena drifted into their clearing, undaunted by the Champion-level fighters watching it raptly, several others followed in its wake.

The first was another Mightyena, close in size but clearly submissive to the lead.

The second was a Grumpig who moved silently through the forest, its black pearls shining with psychic power.

The third drew the most attention. It carried itself upon three long, vine-like feelers, dragging itself across the floor. Most pokemon would have found this uncomfortable, but the large Ferrothorn's steel carapace ensured that it was undaunted.

Steven's face erupted in a broad smile. Skarmory fluttered down from her perch. Aggron rose to his full height, eyes blazing with delight and an affectionate rumble shaking the whole clearing. Even Cradily and Armaldo clicked with a fondness that they'd never demonstrate to a stranger.

Claydol levitated closer. A psychic palm patted Ferrothorn gently.

"Alpha," Steven inclined his head to the Mightyena, which watched them silently. It eyed Ash the most, although its eyes flitted towards Infernus for a time. "Thank you for allowing us to travel across your lands. I hope that the medicine sent by the League has served you well."

The great Mightyena, this alpha, inclined its head by an inch. Its Grumpig companion stepped forward. Black pearls shimmered brightly in the darkness.

Greetings to you, Fractured-Stone. Storm-Tamer. The Alpha expresses her appreciation for your offerings and wishes to extend the continued friendship of the Pack.

"The League will always appreciate your friendship," Steven said. He kept glancing at Ferrothorn with something like desperation, and the steel-type seemed just as eager to make his acquaintance.

The Alpha huffed and the Grumpig's pearls flashed again. He wasn't quite sure how the psychic was interpreting for the Alpha, who gave little physical indication of her mood or desires. Whether they had arranged a sequence of events earlier or if Grumpig was just particularly attuned to the great Mightyena, Ash couldn't be sure.

The Alpha wishes to hold audience with the Storm-Tamer, should he be willing. Perhaps Greenborn-Steel might inform you of recent tidings in the south.

"Ash?" Steven's eyes never left Ferrothorn, his voice full of longing.

Claydol flashed with psychic power as its easy voice echoed in Ash's head.

The Alpha leads the Pack, a vast network of pokemon ranging throughout the land, seas, and sky of Hoenn. If the League rules humanity, she rules the wilds. She's not to be trifled with, though I'm certain quite a few of your brothers and sisters would find her beaten beneath their techniques.

We have a nice little symbiotic relationship, you see. The League would drown without her support, and we make certain concessions to ensure the Pack's own safety and future cooperation. Politics! What fun.

Ash understood immediately. The Mightyena was strong no doubt, perhaps even Master-level herself, though Ash couldn't imagine how a wild pokemon reached such heights. Had she been trained once and only turned her vast power toward the wilds in her later years? She bore few signs of age like Chinatsu or Mamoru, and he couldn't catch a whiff of a Concept about her save the vile pulse of Distortion that had no doubt alerted Sneasel to her presence.

No, she had claimed her position through raw strength, brutality, and cunning.

The Alpha may be little more than a hindrance to one of Steven's mighty teammates, but her web of influence made her the mightiest wild pokemon in Hoenn by far.

As for Ferrothorn…

An old brother. He did not enjoy the bounds of the Champion's mantle or the League's confinement. He serves in another way now, though no less vital.

Ferrothorn was at least high Master-level, then. Perhaps even Champion-level in his own right. With him at her side, the Alpha would be utterly unassailable by even a coalition of wild pokemon who were displeased by her rule.

All those lessons learned in the dusty pages of the Drake's journal and Cynthia's texts hadn't gone to waste. It was simple to make the connection.

He was the League's insurance policy.

If the Pack shifted away from the League's goals, Ferrothorn would likely leave and return to Steven's side. The Alpha would lose a powerful pillar of support, and if she went truly out of bounds, Ferrothorn would likely bring her in himself. It might not be easy, but he was both the shoulder upon which she could lean on and the guillotine hanging above her head.

A symbiotic relationship indeed.

Ash nodded. Steven exhaled, and he and his team vanished off with Ferrothorn in the blink of an eye.

He, Sneasel, Infernus, Tangrowth, Bruiser, and Claydol were left alone with the two Mightyena and Grumpig. Despite the Alpha's immense confidence, Ash wasn't too worried about their odds if things went south. Infernus alone would draw Steven back in an instant should a battle begin.

"Hello," Ash said. He didn't rise from Tangrowth's embrace. The vines were nice and comfortable as they wrapped securely around his torso and limbs. A few reared up to wave cheerily at the Alpha and her escort, although another had bound Sneasel's ankles so that he couldn't puff up quite as aggressively. "What are your names?"

The Alpha exchanged a glance with her fellow dark-type, then the Grumpig.

Pearls-Like-Tears and Black-Ruff at your service, Storm-Tamer. My Alpha offers her regards. She feared disaster when we felt your presence on her shores.

Despite himself, Ash laughed. "I can't blame her. But not today. Not yet."

I see. Our seers' vision has grown blotted and twisted by your presence. The future is lost to them, but we cannot miss the signs. Behemoth and Leviathan…

"They breathe. I've felt it."

Then dark days are upon us. But there is hope. The Alpha will begin the evacuations, then. There is no victory against those forces.

Ash thought of Jirachi cradled beneath Mt. Chimney, buried beneath a horde of desire-stricken corpses, with the Dragon Scale set near its chrysalis. "Perhaps no victory, but there is hope."

They exchanged more glances between themselves. The Alpha growled softly to Pearls-Like-Tears, who quickly re-established contact with Ash. It flinched, still unused to his presence, but managed it with some difficulty.

Sneasel still glared at them, but seemed to have finally given up the fight and just made do with sticking his pink tongue out. The Alpha paid him about as much mind as Ash did Gary when he was being a prick, which seemed to irritate Sneasel all the more.

Ash had no doubt that it was purposeful, although her stocky Mightyena companion seemed quite willing to throw down with Sneasel. It would end poorly for the canine.

We will not intrude for long, but the Alpha, in her grace, wished to offer you a warning as a sign of good faith. Beware the Harbinger. It stalks you across the land.

"Me?" Ash's eyebrows rose again.

The abomination who travels with you.

Ash unconsciously glanced between Infernus and Sneasel, who scowled at Ash, and then blinked. "You'll have to be more specific, I'm afraid."

The Many-in-One.

Ah. Spiritomb.

"What is this Harbinger?" Ash inquired. His face twisted into a frown. "It won't find us easy prey."

The Grumpig snuffled.

Indeed. But a word of warning is never amiss. It purges the darkness wherever it finds it, and now the darkness is with you. Be wary.

He would not allow any harm to befall Spiritomb. Never again. If this Harbinger wanted a fight, it would find out just how powerful his team had become.

Ash recognized the end of this conversation. "Thank you," he nodded to both Pearls-Like-Tears, Black-Ruff, and the Alpha, who stood black against the night. "I appreciate the warning. It was a pleasure to meet you all."

The Alpha huffed, turned upon her heels, and drifted away with her entourage. Infernus watched her longingly, but Ash shook his head sharply. Steven would kill him if he caused a diplomatic incident. They'd gone so long without any disasters…

He knocked on a nearby tree again.

But with the Alpha and Steven's own team gone, Ash had a moment to relax with his team. He curled deeper into Tangrowth's fire-warmed vines, relaxed into the embrace, and enjoyed the simple pleasures of relaxing alone with his team while he waited for Steven's return.

Life really was good.

XX

The next few weeks passed quicker than Ash expected.

Although at times the constant training and the brutal slog through the wilderness seemed to drag out an eternity, Ash couldn't help but think fondly of his time spent on the untamed frontier of Route 119. The land reminded him somewhat of Fuchsia with its vast forests and hostile nature, and Ash considered it all the more liberating for it. Fuschia had been good to them.

They'd only come across a few dozen travelers in their weeks on the road, and all of them had been seasoned trainers. None had managed to put up a serious fight, but that was to be expected. It was fun nonetheless, not to mention that the bouts were fantastic opportunities for Lairon and Seeker to put their training to good use.

Every day brought them closer to Fortree, and thus civilization. The roads grew busier and busier and small settlements began to appear in guarded little nooks, until Ash realized that they had finally left the rugged hinterlands of Route 119 behind them.

With civilization, although he appreciated the occasional properly-cooked meal, also came forgotten obstacles - Rookies and inexperienced trainers clogged the road and challenged Ash at every turn.

He humored them, though it delayed their travels a bit.

Steven always had a habit of temporarily vanishing to avoid attracting too much attention whenever the traffic got too thick, so it fell to Ash to deal with them as they came.

Quite a few of the trainers recognized him, which, while not quite new anymore, was still an unfamiliar phenomenon. He hadn't gone to great lengths to hide his identity, although he firmly moved on when their battles were over.

Ash did his part. He was happy to offer tips, hear out questions, and advise on techniques. Sometimes if they showed particular promise, or when he saw a strong bond just in need of some experience or counsel, he'd stay for a few hours and a meal and share a story or two.

But he never lingered for long, despite the occasional protest, and simply wished his opponents well before passing on.

The victories left him somewhat hollow.

It's lonely at the top, Ash.

As Ash felt the gulf between himself and the ordinary trainer widening day by day, Lance's advice rang truer than ever. He'd received a taste of that in the Conference, but since then he'd largely insulated himself from the training community outside his friends from Pallet and those affiliated with the League.

There was too much to do, too much to see, and far, far too much to learn. He would never feel anything but discomfort from their whispers, their stares, their fascinated expressions. Ash had become more than a simple trainer in their eyes.

He was famous. Practically an urban legend, if Gary's laughing words were anything to go by. Young trainers traded stories about him - often vastly inflated, despite a fair few being public record, easily viewed from the archives. The Conference had earned him some fame, but the revelation of his status in the Indigo Elite Four had propelled him into the international light.

There were expectations on him now. People talked plenty of the Champion's mantle, but even down the ranks to the level of Gym Trainer, there was a weight that came with being a public figure.

Ash wanted nothing of the adulation. He would do his duty, live up to the spirit of the position. That was all. The pageantry was just exhausting.

Unfortunately, his duty demanded he deal with people.

Ash found that he quite liked helping the young trainers learn. The slow transition of a quizzical expression to one of glorious understanding when some missing puzzle piece fell into place was satisfying, so satisfying. They were hungry for knowledge and he was happy to give it. It felt like karmic justice - he'd had his own mentors and assistance from on high, and it felt right to be that for others when the chance arose.

But even older trainers practically tripped over themselves. It was awkward when a boy nearly as old as Daisy looked at him with stars in his eyes, or a slightly older girl winked and waved as he passed by.

The latter had only happened once, at least. Ash had remembered Steven's… attempt at the sex talk and colored, quickly looking away and moving on without a word. He just felt uncomfortable.

Ash decided to steer clear of that line of thought for now.

He loved his team's strength. He loved the strategy, the ferocity, the raw power that they could unleash with every blow. They had transcended beyond the limits of ordinary pokemon and brushed upon the realm of Master. In Ash's opinion, quite a few had crossed that line already.

Even an inexperienced Master would likely conquer him at this point, Ash suspected. They had years on him, even if he clawed for every scrap of progress he could grasp each day. But that gap shortened swiftly thanks to his team's relentless efforts and the techniques that they had begun to hone.

Most still had years left to reach their physical prime. Ash and his team were still incredibly young for the most part. Until then, their skill and the power which they honed would compensate.

But he could contend, and that lit a fire in him like nothing before. Will and Karen wouldn't find him easy prey. Neither would Sidney or Phoebe, Ash suspected, though he shuddered with a mix of dread and gleeful anticipation at the thought of challenging them. Their techniques would be downright evil.

He couldn't wait.

Still, his strength was already something that separated him from others. He'd broken a barrier - broken so many barriers - and with each new threshold, he set himself further and further apart.

Sometimes he longed for the days in which every battle had been full of adrenaline. At the bottom, the only way to go was up. Every opponent he faced had offered the potential of a fantastic battle, evenly matched.

Nowadays he exists in an odd limbo. The trainers who surpassed him could be counted in the mere hundreds, and each new peak he climbed only made the highest seem that much more distant as he gained new perspective.

And even as he began the slow ascent to Master - a thrill ran through him every time the thought passed through his head - he realized just how far away the senior Masters such as Agatha, Bruno, Glacia, and other esteemed veterans were. Beyond them lay the Champions, who existed further still.

A rookie trainer could look upon Lance, Drake, Steven, Cynthia, or Wallace with abject admiration. They would watch, awed, as the great Champions unleashed wonders beyond the imagination. But it was all fantastical to them. Distant, like looking through a telescope at some celestial body.

Ash understood now. He knew just how incredible they were. He could see the leaps they had made, the innovations and brilliance that carried them beyond the reach of even Masters. They were geniuses, one and all.

And now that he'd closed so much of the gap, now that they were that much less alien and deific to his understanding, he also saw how mundane they were. How little separated him from them, but also just how meaningful that small gap was.

It's lonely at the top.

"You seem lost. What are you thinking of?" Steven asked, much happier now that they'd left the rainy interior of Route 119. He'd only taken a handful of assignments now that the sunshine greeted them each day. "You worry me when you're like that. I'm afraid some new disaster is going to strike."

He laughed, pulling out of his mood.

"Not today," Ash said, although both he and Steven paused by a nearby tree to rap their knuckles against it. There was no point tempting fate. "I'm just thinking about how far I have to go before I can catch up to you."

Steven smiled lightly. "First Fino, then Durand. Am I in your sights now?"

"From the day you saved us in Mt. Moon," Ash said seriously. Steven blinked. Their conversation was often light and easy, but Ash wanted Steven to know this. "You rode in on Metagross like a superhero, Steven. That leaves an impression. Not a day has gone by where I don't dream about facing you in a real battle."

"I - oh," Steven said, startled. "Thank you, Ash."

"You've been my benchmark for a long time," Ash said. Nidoking huffed in agreement as he plodded along at Ash's side. "I'll never forget that. You lit a fire under me. You showed me what I could be one day."

They walked another few paces before Ash found further words.

"It made a kid's dream more real. Tangible." Another few steps. "Thank you."

Steven turned and met Ash's eyes for a brief moment, then spoke. "I remember you telling me about your dream to become a Master when I escorted you and your friends from Mt. Moon."

"You still remember that?"

"Of course. You were so serious. You have know idea how many young trainers have told me that," Steven waved. "You'll surely hear it yourself in the coming years. They dream of becoming the best, but almost all are unwilling to work for it - or rather, they don't comprehend the amount of work it would take. Talent is no substitute for time. Greatness comes to those who devote themselves utterly to a task, and it takes a type to meet it."

They walked a ways more, and Ash allowed Steven the time he needed to put his thoughts into words. He took a little bit longer when he hadn't prepared his thoughts ahead of time.

Eventually, he found the words he wanted.

"I didn't know if you would make it - you can never tell until they start to stratify and the leaders start to separate from the pack - but I thought you would do your best. That is more than most."

Steven inhaled, clearly uncomfortable with the personal turn the conversation had taken, but powered through it regardless of his inhibitions. He looked straight ahead as he laid a cautious hand on Ash's shoulder. It was warmer than Ash would've expected, and he hid a smile.

Neither he or Steven were the best at this sort of thing, but Ash wasn't about to throw Steven off.

"Words have never been my forte," Steven said, strained. "They always came easy to Lance and Wallace. I can't tell you how many times Lance's told me just what I needed to hear to make it through the day. While Wallace molds himself into whatever shape he needs to be in any situation with a charisma that's irresistible. Cynthia can navigate the twists and turns of people as easily as breathing. She can read you with a glance and realize what you need before you're cognizant of it."

Steven fiddled with his PokeNav. "I plan. I anticipate. I imagine every path the conversation may take and prepare a response ahead of time. Metagross and I simulate it again and again," Steven admitted. "Otherwise I stick my foot in my mouth. If only people could be as easy as rocks and metal!"

He sighed. "I say this because, well, I wanted to say that I am proud of the trainer you've become, Ash. No," Steven corrected, face colored red, "I'm proud of the human you've become. Dutiful. Deliberate. Adaptive. Caring. You deserve better than the path I've ushered you down - it's a hard road, and long - but I'm grateful for the chance to have seen you grow into what you are, and eager to see where it leads."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Ash said, voice as tight as Steven's. But every word was honest, and he hoped that Steven could feel what he did in this moment. He touched the pokeballs on his belt, then the Feather blazing on his chest, and then toyed with the Unown tablet around his neck. "It has been a hard road, but I can't imagine one more rewarding."

Steven squeezed Ash's shoulder - gratitude - and then released him.

The quiet moment passed, and then Ash felt a shift, and glanced up to see Steven's eyes locked on a distant speck that came closer and closer by the second. The man squinted, and then a small smile curled across his pale face. "It can't be…"

Ash's eyebrows rose curiously. "Are we in danger?"

"No!" Steven said, aghast. "Goodness no. But fix your hat! Wait, no, that's beyond help. Take it off, perhaps."

"The hat stays on," Ash said. Even Glacia hadn't managed that. His eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Who is this?"

Steven brushed nonexistent dust off his suit. Metagross did a phenomenal job of keeping him clean despite the dirt road. It was only in the thick mud piles of Route 119 that the psychic had given up entirely until they'd reached a relatively clean place.

"Is my hair acceptable?"

Ash blinked. It was styled as always and full of gel, despite Steven's complaints of his sweat carrying it down into his eyes on hot days… in other words, every day. Metagross helped to manage that problem as well, of course.

"You still have hair, if that's what you mean."

That wasn't always a given around Infernus, so Steven should count himself lucky. Ash could only watch bemusedly as Steven's anxiety skyrocketed as the figure, a massive Tropius, descended. A grinning rider in a flight suit saluted them as the Tropius landed delicately against the dirt road.

He recognized Gym Leader Winona's face at once. They'd never met, but he'd grown familiar with the images of all prominent League figures over the last few months.

"Winona! It's good to see you," Steven said happily. "Ash, meet Winona - Leader Winona," he corrected himself. "Leader Winona, meet Ash Ketchum."

"A pleasure," she said with a wave. "I've heard quite a bit about you, Ash. May I call you Ash?"

He nodded, still a little confused about the whole situation.

"My scouts reported you coming in from Route 119 days ago," Winona said to Steven. She patted Tropius, who blinked slowly at the two. "I just couldn't wait any longer. Hop on! Let's get you both into proper beds. I've heard the plains have been positively nasty the last few weeks."

That was a bit of an understatement. Ash loved the wild, but he couldn't deny that an escape from the mud and hard ground would be a nice reprieve. He'd scratched his travel itch well enough with these lands, and a brief foray into civilization wouldn't be amiss.

"Yes! Let's go," Steven gestured for Ash to hop on behind him as they settled in behind Winona. Her enormous Tropius left plenty of space, and the equally large saddle atop its back had plenty of straps and handholds for multiple passengers to secure themselves. "I don't know if I can stand another night here."

Ash scoffed, but strapped himself in after he returned Nidoking with a wave.

This wasn't how he'd expected to end his journey here, but if it made Steven happy he supposed he shouldn't complain.

Fortree awaited them.

A/N: You do not want to know how much of this I wrote in the past week, but at least the 30 day challenge worked! I can't remember the last time I posted this much this fast. It was a really fun chapter to write for all sorts of reasons - don't expect another fight like that anytime soon, though! It turns out that writing a bunch of pokemon with complex fighting styles takes A LOT OF TIME.

Thanks so much for everyone's support! I hope that you had as much fun reading this as I did writing it! This is another one of those chapters that feels so easy and flowed right onto the page. Next chapter has some really fun stuff as well that I'm eager to show.

I need to give my wrists a few days to heal, but this seemed to work well this time… the next chapter will be out by April 19 at the latest, barring risk to my health. There are a few things I'm really excited to get to in Fortree, and from there the story will really pick up!

As always, thank you for reading! I would love to hear your thoughts!

And special gratitude for the mods who are so wonderful at giving feedback and greatly improving Traveler!