Chapter Text
"And I think that's the mirror image of Mega Evolving your opponent," Steven said, watching as Charizard battled Froslass. "Ash has a Charizardite X, but he's not using it to Mega Evolve Charizard… which means there must be some advantage from it."
He looked to the side, at Drake. "I suspect you'll be needed soon."
"Was looking forward to it," Drake replied. "Sort of hope those winds will stop before then, though… I assume Glacia's run out of Pokémon who know Hail."
Steven counted up in his head, then nodded. "I think she probably has some left, but she's not using them," he determined. "They're not her strongest Pokémon and she needs them against Ash's Pokémon."
As they watched, Charizard smashed into the ground in what would have looked a lot like a crash had he not smoothly twisted into a spin and kept going.
"Like that," Steven added. "At least there isn't enough water around for a puddle."
After Glacia, the next and last Elite Four member was, indeed, Drake.
He had a whole suite of powerful Dragon-types, including two with Mega Stones, and Purrloin, then Latias, then Heracross all battled against him… right up until he sent out his Salamence and Mega Evolved it.
Which was the precise point when Zacian made a whining noise.
"Huh?" Ash asked, turning to her. "Is something wrong?"
Zacian adopted a begging posture, and pointed with one paw at the battle.
"Uh…" Ash began, confused. "You want to battle?"
Zacian lowered her paw, and sighed.
"You know, I don't understand why Raikou, Entei and Zygarde like doing that," she confessed, straightening with a quiet dignity that almost erased what she'd been doing a minute ago. "It is not for me, I think."
She let out a chuff. "But yes. I would like to battle Drake… I have learned a few new tricks since the Silver Conference, as well you know."
Ash frowned, thinking about which Pokémon he was planning on using, then nodded.
"Sure," he said. "You haven't had a turn yet, anyway."
"Your solicitousness is a great comfort to me," Zacian told him, then drew her Rusted Sword and stepped forwards as Ash recalled Heracross.
Between one pawstep and the next, she switched to Crowned Sword form.
"Good day," she said, bowing slightly.
Mega Salamence inclined his head in response.
"All right, all right, let's get on with it!" Drake called. "Swift! Fire Fang!"
Mega Salamence exhaled a wide blast of rippling air, one which spread out before converging back down again on a point about three metres to the left of where Zacian stood – revealing her actual position – and she countered with a sweep of her sword, forming a barrier of a dozen dancing Sacred Swords around her to block and parry the incoming attacks as she broke into a loping sprint across the floor.
Her opponent dropped down with his fangs blazing hot, and Zacian spun mid-sprint to bring her mighty blade to bear. It shone with bluish cold as she channelled an Ice Fang through it, then she used Behemoth Blade, and she hit Mega Salamence with it as though he were an oversized cricket ball.
Emphatically not baseball, though.
The Dragon flipped twice through the air, stabilized, and Drake grunted. "Hm."
He indicated a point on the ground. "Hyper Beam!"
A blast of pressurized air dug up a giant-sized Mud Slap, one that cannoned towards Zacian, and she enlarged her sword again as she swept it across in an arc from right to left. That cut the entire attack in half, saving her from most of it, and two Sacred Swords formed either side of her before shooting up at Mega Salamence.
Blue light shone around her muzzle, and the whole of her sword took on a numinous, ethereal light. She crouched, then threw her sword into the air, and howled. "Moonblast!"
Her sword aligned with Mega Salamence for a moment, and a pulse of Fairy light shot up the blade to hit Mega Salamence just as he blasted the Sacred Swords away.
"Now that's a sight to see, that is," Sidney declared, as Zacian whirled – her blade shining with frost – to fend off the attacks of Drake's Flygon. "Kid is one hell of a trainer."
"You're not wrong there," Steven said, smiling. "Trainers like him come along… I don't know how often, but it's very rare. But it's not about his strength, or… not wholly about his strength. Or his attitude. It's everything, all put together into a single overwhelming result."
Phoebe and Glacia were silent for a long moment, then Glacia spoke.
"I think I see," she said. "It's a combination of lots of things, because… Ash has an unusual relationship with probability, we know that much."
Zacian shouted something authoritative and punctuated by a very loud whung, and Flygon rose as high as the Elite Four box. She stabilized her flight path a little, fired a jet of fire back down, then had to dodge out of the way as Zacian used Behemoth Blade again.
"But that would just mean he met a lot of unusual Pokémon," she went on. "And he's befriended so many Legendary Pokémon because of who he is as a person… and then, on top of that, he's the kind of passionate, intuitive trainer who can bring out the best in his Pokémon. They can do things nobody else has ever seen a Pokémon do, because that's who Ash is as well."
"Exactly," Steven said. "It's why – and with all due respect to Drake – I'm really looking forward to our battle."
Flygon got hit with a very final sounding kerrash as Zacian demonstrated what a bicycle kick looked like if you used a sword instead of a foot, and Drake switched out to send out his Dragapult.
"...come to think of it, I should probably get ready," Steven added. "I need to make sure all the Mega Stones are ready."
Sidney started sniggering.
"You're using six Mega Evolutions, aren't you?" Phoebe asked.
Steven shook his head. "Three is enough," he replied. "Besides, the other three have tricks of their own."
Zacian let out a long breath with a sigh, then sheathed her sword.
"Good battle," she told Dragapult. "Thank you."
Dragapult mumbled something – he was embedded in the side of the arena – and Zacian listened carefully before deciding that it was probably a compliment.
"That was fun!" one of the Dreepy said. "Sometimes Pokémon don't realize we're an attack, not another Pokémon taking part. I'm glad you did!"
"I'm from Galar," Zacian told them. "There are Dragapult there, so I knew."
She loped over to Ash, intent on having Ibid send her Rusted Sword back to Galar… then have some hot food, probably.
There was a smell in the air from Brock's cooking, and you would have to look long and hard to find any of Ash's Pokémon willing to forego that.
"All right, Ash," Steven said, some minutes later. "I have to say, I've been looking forward to this for a while."
"I have too!" Ash agreed. "I kind of want to see what a Champion's like when they're not a Type Specialist as well… I know you have Rock, Ground and Steel, but that's much wider and more of a preference than anything."
Steven smiled. "Quite right, yes."
He raised his first Pokéball. "Are you ready?"
"Yeah!" Ash agreed, reaching for his belt.
Steven sent out his first Pokémon, an Armaldo, but instead of plucking a Pokéball from his belt Ash boosted Pikachu off his shoulder. The Electric-type landed with a roll, cheeks flaring, and faced Armaldo before cricking his neck.
"Not a Ground type, but they'll do," he said.
"Aerial Ace!" Steven called, and Armaldo's wing cases snapped open. The Bug-type charged, then swerved to the side before actually reaching Pikachu, and flew into the air.
"Bulldoze!" Steven added, and Armaldo dropped low enough to touch the ground. He avoided Pikachu's first blast of electricity with a sideways jink, slapped the ground with his tail, and a Bulldoze trace raced towards Pikachu.
"Surf!" Ash replied.
Pikachu clapped his paws together and summoned a bubble of water, which grew in less than a second into a shimmering surfboard bigger than he was. He jumped onto it as the Bulldoze approached, letting it pass beneath him, then flipped around and kicked it in Armaldo's general direction.
"Electro Ball!" he added, for completeness, and hurled a concentrated globe of electrical energy towards Armaldo. It detonated just close enough to score a glancing hit, and Pikachu darted forwards with Agility before leaping into the air and using Iron Tail.
"X-Scissor!" Steven called. "Block him!"
The crash of pincer-against-tail filled the air.
"Who do you think Ash is using next?" Zacian asked, taking a skewer in her muzzle and impaling two sausages on it. "Now, please, Hoopa."
"Hoopa is not a food delivery service," came the faint protest, but a golden Hyperspace Hole appeared in the air anyway. Zamazenta looked up from his morning drowse, startled, then realized what was going on and took the food from his sister.
"Is this thanks for getting you the sword at what felt like two-bloody-thirty in the morning?" he asked.
"No, just me being a thoughtful sister," Zacian told him. "Anyway, what do you think, Latios?"
"Well…" Latios began, thinking. "There's a few Pokémon he hasn't used yet, right?"
They looked up at the echoing bang as Pikachu attempted to discern just how conductive a Mega Aggron was, and Zacian considered before nodding.
"That's probably the best clue," she said.
"Does Hoopa need to keep the portals open?" Hoopa asked, leaning in from the space between the Hoenn-Dahara and Dahara-Galar rings.
"Just give me a moment to put the sword back through," Zacian requested. "Want some barbecue?"
"Hoopa is very intrigued by this suggestion!"
"Better now, Pikachu?" Ash asked.
"A little sore, that's all," Pikachu said. "I have to admit that I didn't consider the downside of Sky Uppercutting a Pokémon who'd just used Lock On… and who knew Heavy Slam."
He shook himself out. "I know I can't keep battling, though."
"Well, neither can Aggron, so good work," Ash told him. "Okay, ready for the next Pokémon?"
"I am," Steven agreed. He held up a Heavy Ball, and Ash took Clefairy's Moon Ball off his belt to send her out.
Steven replied with a Claydol.
A very, very big Claydol.
"Oh, is that the one from Izabe?" Ash asked. "It's great to see they're doing well!"
Claydol blinked at him.
"Yep, that's them," Steven agreed. "Claydol! Hyper Beam!"
"Gravity dodge!" Ash ordered.
"Plus facile à dire qu'à faire," Clefairy retorted, fingers twitching, and slid out of the way of the first attack Claydol directed her way. More came, and she began altering gravity wildly – flinging herself in different directions to avoid the Hyper Beams and Ice Beams coming her way, then using her wings as well to add in a bit of extra randomness to the attacks. "Jetons les dés…"
A glow built up around her fingers, then went away again.
A few seconds later, Clefairy was just starting to get impatient when a beam of steely light blazed down out of the sky.
"Doom Desire again," Max said, surprised. "Jirachi knows that move and he's used it less than Ash's Pokémon at this point, I think."
"That's probably a good thing, in all honesty," May muttered.
Then paused, thinking seriously.
"You should probably practice it, eventually," she said. "Just… carefully."
"Good idea," Max agreed.
"Wait, I know!" Ash said, suddenly realizing something. "Clefairy – reverse gravity for Claydol! As strong as you can!"
"Turn over if you have to, Claydol," Steven instructed. "Watch out in case she puts gravity back to normal, but focus on hitting her with Hyper Beams."
Claydol buzzed, flipping over smoothly as Clefairy warped gravity around them, and continued attacking Clefairy.
"Un plan serait sympa!" she warned, then took a glancing hit which flung her into the ground – though she only hit lightly, the distorted gravity fields in the arena pulling her back into the air.
"Smack Down!" Ash called.
Clefairy's expression was beatific.
She pointed a finger at the Ground-type, and made a pchoo noise as she shot a small rock at them.
Claydol promptly exited the area upwards at speed.
Steven stared, then started laughing.
"I didn't think of that!" he admitted. "...wait, is Claydol coming back?"
A golden ring appeared next to him, growing larger than a house, and Claydol flew through to bounce off the ground.
There was a little sticky note attached to them, and Steven read it.
"Even Though This Pokemon Went Into Two Hoopa Rings, Hoopa Says It Was Ring Out," he read. "I think that's fair."
He recalled Claydol, and Ash waved to Clefairy.
"Come on back!" he called. "You need some rest to deal with those Hyper Beams."
After a moment's thought, Ash picked the Safari Ball off his belt. "Suicune!"
"Cradily!" Steven replied.
"That is a weird thing to watch," May said, leaning forwards as Suicune tried to get airborne and all the water flowed away from her paws. "What's going on?"
"Cradily can have an ability called Storm Drain," Brock told her. "There's one at Pewter Gym, actually. It pulls in Water attacks and neutralizes them entirely, plus makes the Pokémon stronger. It's like Lightningrod but for Water moves."
"Oh, I get it," May realized.
Brock glanced down at something, and May tried to see what it was. "Is something wrong?"
"I just started a stopwatch," Brock replied. "I'm kind of interested to see how long it takes for Ash to get around a trick like that."
"Hydro Pump!" Ash ordered. "Keep it up – keep making as much water as you can!"
"...I wonder what his plan is," Max said, leaning forward. "I don't want to miss it, and he must have a plan…"
Cradily used Energy Ball, which shimmered with light and force as it went in, and Suicune winced slightly.
"That hurt a lot more than the previous one," she said, running around in a circle and raising her voice so Ash could hear – both through the distance, and over the roar of hundreds of gallons of water draining down into Cradily's Storm Drain like an accretion disc. "What are you planning?"
"Now!" Ash said. "Jump onto the water and use Extremespeed!"
Suicune jumped onto the water, and used Extremespeed.
Something that only Ash had noticed, until that moment, was that the water had been getting faster and faster as it got closer to Cradily – and the process had been increasing in speed as Cradily's ability had been fed with more and more water.
Suicune was tugged along by the current at fantastic speed, went supersonic less than a third of the way through the process, and slammed into Cradily hard enough to knock the Grass-type bouncing off three arena walls before finally rolling to a halt.
Ash hadn't even flinched. "Now, Aurora Beam!"
The Water-type had to shake herself out slightly to recover her wits, but recovered faster than Cradily, and blasted her opponent with Ice until Steven held up his hand.
"I'm recalling her," he announced. "That was impressive, if strange. Now for a battle in the sky – Aerodactyl!"
"Can you stay out there, Suicune?" Ash checked, as Aerodactyl Mega-Evolved.
"Now that I can actually take to the sky again, I'm eager to stay out," Suicune declared, and looked up at her opponent. "Now, this time it should work as intended… Hydro Pump!"
The floor was sodden like a marsh by the time that battle was over, and Suicune walked down an invisible staircase before stumbling slightly as she reached ground level.
"Okay, now I'm ready to have some food," she admitted. "And, most likely, a nap."
"You did great, Suicune," Ash assured her. "Now for my secret weapon!"
"Wait a moment," Steven requested, and sent out his Metagross – a shiny Metagross, gold and silver, with a Mega Stone held neatly by a band around their right forelimb.
"I don't doubt that your secret weapon is something special," he said. "And I know you still have more than one Pokémon slot left in this challenge battle. It's been all I could hope for so far, Ash… the only thing that's missing is a battle of Mega Evolution against Mega Evolution. Is that something your secret weapon can do?"
"Yep!" Ash replied. "Okay, Pikachu, you know what to do!"
He passed Pikachu his Mega Ring, and Steven frowned.
"You found a Mega Stone for Pikachu?" he asked.
"Nope!" Ash replied, and dropped his Illusion.
Orange light spread over him in the same moment, and Mega Ashbsol emerged from the light with his wings held high.
Steven blinked.
"That, I will admit, is a new one on me," he said.
"Yeah, Mew went and got the potion this morning in case she was too unconscious to do it now," Ash replied. "I looked up the rules once, just to be sure, and it's okay to do official battles as a disguised Pokémon because, uh, something about how they couldn't tell without checking and it'd be rude to check and it didn't hurt anything anyway."
"Ash, I choose you!" Pikachu said. "Use Razor Wind!"
He sniggered. "Sorry. Always wanted to do that."
Steven Mega Evolved his Metagross, and Ash lit up his horn with a swirl of wind.
"This isn't quite what I expected, but it's quite enough," Steven declared. "Metagross! Mach Punch!"
Mega Ashbsol ducked under the opening punch, warned by a vague danger-itch, then jumped and let the Razor Wind carry him into the air.
"Sacred Sword!" he called, using Night Slash.
This seemed to both damage and offend Mega Metagross.
By the end of the battle, the arena was a complete mess.
There were so many punch craters that it looked like you could probably have got Mega Metagross' complete fingerprints from them, assuming that Mega Metagross had fingerprints. There were slash marks, scorch marks, craters from psychic blasts, Absol-shaped craters, and one place where the crater was shaped like Mega Metagross after Ash had figured out Foul Play.
Somewhere a pipe had burst, and there was water flowing into one of the deeper holes.
There was also a Metagross, upside down in the wreckage, and – tired but triumphant – a Mega Ashbsol.
"Congratulations," Steven said. "You've beaten us all, Ash – and done it with style. My title is yours, if you want it."
Ash tilted his head, then shook it.
"I'd rather keep travelling," he said. "And – I know it doesn't have to mean staying in one place, but I think you're a great Champion and your Elite Four are great at their jobs too, and…"
He restarted. "It's a great offer, but I don't think I can say yes."
Steven laughed. "It's not really an offer, Ash… or, most people wouldn't see it that way, but I can see why you'd be different. It's there if you want it, but none of us would force you if you didn't."
"Now, come on!" Pikachu added. "I think this deserves a celebration!"