{At the Battle Frontier}
Today was the day. After the whole incident with the Guile Hideout, they all started training hard to get stronger, and during that time, Noland also put time into researching all the notes that Scott gave him on Jirachi.
During that time, Tucker put an idea forward: to hold the first Battle Dome tournament, with not just more guests, but with all of them entering as well to see their progress.
This idea was put to a vote. Scott stayed out of it, so they each voted to decide if they should do it. With the chance that Guile would show up, they didn't want to risk opening the Battle Frontier to the public and potentially letting people get hurt.
In the end, they were tied, but Anabel got the final call. So they would open the Frontier, and the Frontier Brains would take full responsibility for protecting everyone.
So today, all the people finally arrived. Three large cruise ships docked at the ports, and a lot of trainers, and people just there to watch the tournament, began to disembark, looking around at the large artificial island.
But all their attention was caught when they heard a whistle blow. When they looked over, everyone saw Lucy and Greta waving and putting on big smiles.
"Line up over here!" Greta waved a flag and pointed toward the Battle Dome while blowing the whistle again.
"The gate will open shortly, please be patient," Lucy said, though her smile seemed a little shaky.
As everyone almost robotically followed the girls, once the first wave stopped, they both slumped over.
"I'm the Arena Tycoon, so why…" Greta muttered.
"I'm the Pike Queen, so why…" Lucy did the same.
"Are we acting as ushers?!" Greta quickly flailed her arms in frustration.
Yeah, they weren't out here because they wanted to be. They were put on usher duty, not only to keep an eye out for Guile, but also because they needed someone to get people's attention, and admittedly, the girls were pretty, so they were elected.
Now, why wasn't Anabel here too, since she was also pretty? Well, it was her idea, so she immediately called "not it," leaving it to Lucy and Greta, even if they didn't like it.
Lucy let out a long breath, straightening up and forcing her usual composed expression back into place, "We drew the short stick. Accept it with dignity."
Greta groaned, dragging a hand down her face, "There was no stick, Anabel just said 'not it' and vanished! And I'll tell you what, if we face each other in the tournament, I'll show her—"
Lucy interrupted her, rubbing her head, "Stop...just stop. It's too early for you to have that much energy."
Before Greta could fire back, a loud mechanical rumble echoed across the area. Both of them snapped upright instantly, all traces of complaining gone.
The massive gates of the Battle Dome began to open.
A wave of excitement rippled through the crowd. Conversations spiked, people leaned forward, and cameras came out. Even seasoned trainers couldn't help but stare as the enormous structure fully revealed itself.
Greta clicked her tongue and grabbed her flag again, slipping back into her role, "Alright! Keep it moving! No pushing, everyone will get in!"
Lucy stepped forward, putting on her forced smile again and waving her hand, "Registration stations are inside. Staff will guide you."
—
Meanwhile, inside the Battle Factory, Noland was getting in some last-minute research before he had to leave to take part in the tournament, where all of the Frontier Brains would be competing.
As he looked through the data, Brandon walked in holding a cup of coffee and approached him, "Hey, how's it going, Noland? Is your head better?"
Noland looked back and accepted the coffee, "Oh, thanks. And yeah, I'm better, it doesn't hurt as much." He took a sip and turned back to the computer as Brandon leaned over.
"Hm, what have you got so far?" Brandon asked.
"Not much more than what we already know. The last time Jirachi appeared was a thousand years ago, and it's said that whoever catches Jirachi will have their wish granted, no matter what it may be."
Noland leaned back in his chair, "I wonder if Jirachi granted someone's wish back then too. What do you think, Brandon?"
Brandon stopped looking at the computer and began juggling some of his Poké Balls, since it helped him focus. As he did, he thought about it, "Well, if Jirachi woke up, it probably granted someone's wish."
"What kind of wish do you think it was?" Noland spun his chair around to look at his friend.
Brandon kept juggling, "Hmm, let's see...wealth...power...I guess there's beauty too…" Then he caught the balls and stopped juggling, "Oh, and of course eternal youth, immortality, eternal life would be a good one too."
"Hmm…" Noland took another sip of his coffee and turned back to the computer. Then he spoke, "What do you think it takes to be seen as worthy by Jirachi?"
Brandon blinked in confusion, but Noland continued, pointing at the computer screen, "There are several words I can't read here, 'awakening...eye opening...looking into the eye...eye contact.'"
"It's all about the eyes," Brandon said, leaning in, now more interested. Then he remembered something, "Wait, Jirachi has a third eye. Maybe to be seen as worthy, you need to stare Jirachi in the eye. That's how it decides if you're worthy."
"Maybe." Noland closed his eyes and thought it through, everything he knew, everything they had on Jirachi. There had to be a way to find where Jirachi would appear before Guile did.
Then it hit him, "That's it!"
"What's it?" Brandon asked, but Noland didn't answer right away.
He stood up and quickly put his jacket back on, "We need to find everyone, fast. I think I found a way for us to figure out where Jirachi is going to show up...and maybe even choose where it appears!" he said as he ran out of the room.
Brandon was confused, but he trusted his friend and ran after him.
—
Meanwhile, on the second cruise ship that docked, Gary stepped out onto the Battle Frontier. He looked around, taking everything in, "Interesting," he muttered.
As he did, he pulled out his phone and texted in the group chat he had with Ash and Green to see if they were there yet.
They replied that they were with each other but not there yet, though they'd be on the island soon. They also said that when they got there, they needed to talk to him about something important, and no, it couldn't wait.
Gary sighed. Of course. He hadn't seen his best friends in months, and immediately they had something that was probably going to make him regret coming here. But whatever, compared to the Arceus incident, everything seemed minor. He'd just start collecting some research while he was here.
Because yes, he had finally gotten his professor degree, so he was officially a researcher. And part of the reason Professor Oak gave him for coming here was to collect research.
Not that he knew what kind of research he'd find here at the Battle Frontier, but whatever.
Then he heard a familiar voice, "Hey, Gary, right?"
Gary paused mid-step and glanced to the side. Walking up beside him was someone he had met on the ship, Brendan. They had run into each other there, and that's when Gary found out his dad was Professor Birch.
He'd also learned that Brendan was kind of in the same situation as him, Professor Birch had asked him to come here to collect research notes, and Gary explained he was here for Professor Oak, his grandfather.
They had spent some time on the ship just talking and agreed to meet up again since they were both doing the same thing. Might as well share notes to make things easier for both of them.
Now, Brendan walked next to Gary, "Didn't think we'd run into each other this fast," he said, adjusting his glove, "Pretty cool place, huh?"
Gary hummed, slipping his phone back into his pocket, "It'll do. Bit flashy for my taste, but I guess that's the point," he said, acting like he hadn't spent his first year as a trainer followed by cheerleaders.
Brendan laughed, "Yeah, I guess! Still, it's perfect for training. Tons of strong Trainers, new strategies...honestly, I'm kinda fired up already."
Gary smirked slightly, "You always this enthusiastic?"
"Pretty much," Brendan said without shame, "Makes things more fun."
Before Gary could respond, his phone buzzed in his pocket again. He pulled it out and saw that Ash was calling. He held up a finger to Brendan, "Sorry, give me a sec." Then he answered, "What's up?"
Ash spoke quickly, "Okay, we got off our small boat. Where are you?"
Gary looked around, "I'm along the water next to where all the ships are. What about you—"
Gary was about to ask, but Ash cut in.
"Nah, I've got you. Stay right there. Aura, remember," Ash said before hanging up.
Gary looked at his phone and sighed, "I always forget he can do that."
"Do what?" Brendan asked.
"Oh right, so my friends are coming here, and...well, they are a bit of a circus, so I mean, if you want you can just-" Just as Gary was about to tell Brendan to go somewhere else, he heard Ash's voice.
"There you are, Gare Bear!" Ash said as he and the group rounded the corner. Then Gary heard Green's voice too.
"Oh my Mew, Gare Bear, I haven't used that one in so long, I almost forgot about it."
"And there it is," Gary muttered under his breath, "The circus."
"Aww, don't be like that," Ash said, stopping right in front of him, "You missed us, right?"
Gary gave him a flat look, "I was enjoying the peace and quiet, actually."
May laughed softly, "Yeah, that sounds like Gary."
Gary slowly turned to see May, "Really? He got to you too?" He sighed. Sometimes he really wished Ash wasn't as contagious as he was.
"You say that, but you'd be bored without us." Green stuck her tongue out as she went around and put an arm around Gary's head. If he wasn't taller than her, she would totally give him a noogie.
"Doubtful." Gary rolled his eyes, but he smiled. Then he was about to nod toward Wally, but he noticed Max and Nora, the two people he didn't recognize.
Before he could ask, Brendan blinked, "Oh, it's you guys!"
Ash looked over, seeing him, "Oh hey, my dude, been a while."
"Yeah!" May smiled too, "Didn't expect to see you here."
Wally gave a small but genuine smile, "It's good to see you again, Brendan."
Brendan laughed, clearly caught off guard but happy, "Same here! I had no idea you all were coming to the Battle Frontier."
Gary crossed his arms, glancing between them, "You all know each other?"
"Oh yeah, it's a long story. First time I met him, I actually saved both him and May from a Salamence."
May sighed, burying her face in her hands, "Don't remind me…"
Brendan scratched the back of his head with a sheepish grin, "Yeah...kinda hard to forget almost getting mauled."
"Last time we saw each other was back in Mauville," Ash tapped his chin, then lowered it, "Look, my guy, I'd love to catch up and ask how your progress has been going, but I really need to talk to Gary. And actually, you're pretty strong too, right?"
"You bet. Since the last time, I've been training nonstop," Brendan grinned, raising his arm and flexing his nonexistent bicep, "Why, you wanna battle?"
"Not exactly," Ash said, keeping up his usual tone as he moved behind both him and Gary, putting a hand on each of their shoulders, "Come on, let's talk about it while we sign up. We're gonna have lots of fun," Ash said in an exaggerated tone that Gary, after knowing him for so long, could immediately tell was fake.
So Gary let himself be guided, and Brendan followed along as usual. But when they got behind the nearest cover and Ash knew no one could see them, his smile dropped.
"We need to talk."
Brendan felt unsettled. The last time he saw that look on Ash's face was when he saved him and May from that Salamence.
Gary narrowed his eyes. This was serious Ash, the kind he only saw when something really pissed him off. So he knew something bad had happened. And based on the fact that everyone else in the group didn't look unsettled, it meant they already knew. So for now, asking who the kid and the green-haired girl were dropped to the bottom of his priority list.
"Fine. What happened? And don't think I forgot, we still need to talk about Courtney," Gary said, crossing his arms.
—
D was traveling through the woods. He really needed to finish something as soon as possible rather than later if he was going to succeed in his plan with Ash.
So after doing what he needed to, he took some more time off, which Matori didn't even question and approved, letting D go on his own again. Granted, his squad and Orm wanted to hang out with him, but he had more important things to deal with.
He went into an old, abandoned Team Magma base that he chose not to tell Team Rocket about so he could use it for his own experiments. One good thing about Team Magma was that they reinforced their buildings with lead so Team Aqua couldn't find them with radar. Team Aqua didn't bother with that since most of their bases were underwater.
Anyway, that wasn't important. What was important was getting the Pokémon he needed ready: Deoxys and Darkrai.
It was difficult. Deoxys was currently extremely crippled, and Darkrai was...well, it had the ability to turn people to stone. Unless he could earn its loyalty, it would probably try to turn him into stone. Thankfully for him, he was a clone, if this body turned to stone, he'd just make another.
So he had all the chances in the world to tame Darkrai, which he would need. If he was going to guide Malde to where he wanted, then he needed Darkrai's power, or at least for Darkrai to act as bait. The same went for Deoxys.
First things first: Deoxys would be easier. He had caught it, and if he healed it, it would probably listen. But there was only one way to find out.
D threw out Deoxys's Poké Ball, and Deoxys manifested, only to immediately collapse. It was still in a comatose state and missing nearly half its body.
Now, D had a few choices, but he figured there was a best approach. He took out Hypno's Poké Ball and released it. When Hypno appeared, it immediately saw Deoxys on the ground, then slowly looked at D.
"Just stand there, just in case," D said, rolling his eyes. After all, the main reason Hypno was out was so that if this clone body was destroyed, it could teleport away and retrieve another clone of Ash.
So D took off his Poké Ball belt, his mask, and his uniform, basically the things that weren't fake, then walked over to Deoxys.
"You better be grateful," D muttered, placing his hand on Deoxys's core. Then he began pushing all of his Aura into it.
D immediately started draining, his body weakening into little more than a husk, while Deoxys's core began to glow. Slowly, its missing body parts started to regenerate. But after it was about halfway restored, D dissolved into blue light and faded away.
Hypno rolled its eyes. At this point, knowing that D was a clone and seeing how he faded out every time, it knew the dramatic disappearance was a choice. It teleported away, and after a moment, it returned with another D/Ash clone.
"Alright, round two, mother trucker," Ash said, walking back toward Deoxys to continue the process, however many times it would take.
After that, he would start working on Darkrai. Now, he could just beat Darkrai into submission...and honestly, that might be what he ended up doing, but he'd deal with that when the time came.
For now, he placed his hand back on Deoxys's core and began channeling more Aura into it.
—
Back at the Battle Frontier, Gary and Brendan heard the entire story about what happened in LaRousse Town, about Damian getting kidnapped and Green and Wally getting strangled.
"I see…" Gary muttered, frowning.
"My goodness...are you guys okay?" Brendan asked, looking over at Green and Wally.
"Oh, we're fine. Ashy took care of us real nice," Green said with a smile. Then she pointed at her neck, "And we put on makeup to hide the bruises."
"He...can we not say it like that?" Wally asked nervously, since it felt like he was hiding a secret, and if his parents or his uncle and aunt found out…
"It's fine. No one will be able to tell, and Ash already said they'll heal soon anyway," Green said confidently. She had even gotten May to help apply the makeup so it looked natural.
"And you think he's coming here?" Gary continued, confirming what Ash had told them.
"Yeah," Ash nodded, "You noticed it too, from Professor Oak. He didn't tell us everything."
Gary nodded, "Yeah, I did. It seemed too convenient that he wanted the three of us here for no reason. Let me guess, something's here?"
"Yeah," Ash confirmed, "At least, I think Jirachi is going to show up here."
Gary narrowed his eyes, "Jirachi, huh? It would make sense, it is about that time," he said, like he had expected something like that.
"You don't even sound surprised?" May asked from where she was sitting nearby.
"It's not hard, it's basic math," Gary said, though he didn't mean it harshly. He genuinely meant it, "It's been a thousand years since the last time, so Jirachi was bound to show up this year. But I didn't think it would be here."
"Wait, you just believe him like that?" Nora asked. I mean, sure, she liked and trusted Ash's judgment, and he convinced her to at least consider the possibility, but Gary seemed to accept it immediately.
"Ah, I see, you're new," Gary said, looking at her. Then, without warning, he reached over and knocked lightly on Ash's head, "I know this idiot acts like a dumbass all the time, but if I had to say it, he's smarter than me."
"What? Nooo, I'm an idiot, you gotta believe me," Ash waved his hand.
Pikachu pointed at him with his thumb, "Pika [Get a load of this guy,]" he whispered to Vee.
"I swear, sometimes I want to hit you for having that stupid look on your face, Mr. Doctor at 11, but whatever," Gary sighed, "So we've got a maniac running around with your friend. Anything else I should know?"
"Considering the fact that this involves Jirachi, and any wish getting granted, I'm not sure, but I'm willing to bet there's at least one more idiot trying to get it," Ash said. At the moment, he wasn't sure if Guile Hideout was involved, but he wasn't going to risk it.
Brendan rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, "Uh...wow. That escalated fast."
"So what's our plan? Besides me calling Gramps to see if he can give us more to work with," Gary asked, slipping his hands into his pockets. After all, because of that guy, his friends got hurt, and he might act like this, but he was ride-or-die just like Ash.
"Right now, I think we should enter the tournament like normal, but we need to keep our eyes open."
"Okay, but how are we gonna know what these people coming after Jirachi even look like?" Brendan asked. He wasn't even asked if he wanted in, he was just on board 100%, since he liked helping people.
"Trust me, you'll know what he looks like," Green said with a grimace.
"Alright, so we go in like normal and keep our eyes open. Seems simple enough," Gary said as he looked at Ash, "Which is why I know that's not all of it. So what else is gonna happen?"
But Ash just gave a grin, "Are you really asking that when you know I'm not gonna tell you the best part?"
"I mean, yeah, that one's on you. What did you expect?" Green leaned in very slowly.
"I thought maybe one of you two matured," Gary said, crossing his arms.
"Ah, that's overrated," Ash and Green said at the same time.
Gary pinched the bridge of his nose, "I hate you both."
"You love us." Green stuck her tongue out.
Before anyone could continue, another loud mechanical sound echoed overhead.
A voice rang out from speakers all across the Battle Frontier island.
"Attention all Trainers! Registration for the Battle Dome Tournament will begin shortly!"
"Oh, we need to do that, right?" May said, worried she'd have to wait in another long line.
"Nah, we don't," Gary immediately cut in. He pointed to himself, Green, and Ash, "Gramps already signed us up, so it's just you guys. You might want to hurry."
"Oh...now he tells us…" May said, looking like she wanted to collapse on the spot.
"Okay, you guys have fun," Max immediately said, staying next to Ash since he didn't have enough Pokémon or training to enter. Plus, he was completely fanboying over the fact that Ash, Gary, and Green were all right there in front of him.
Brock scratched the back of his head, "I guess we better go now to try and beat the line."
"Oh wait, I just remembered," Brendan said as he opened his bag and rummaged through it for a bit. Then he pulled out two small boxes and held them out to May and Wally, "My dad wanted you guys to have one of these too, since, well...you know, everything we're going through."
May blinked, "Oh, I see...thanks," she said, slowly taking the box, confused. Wally took his as well.
When they opened them, they saw two stones inside. One was a Key Stone, and the other was a Mega Stone. May's was red, and Wally's was green. They both recognized them immediately.
"I know you guys probably can't use them yet, but I figured it's better to have them now and use them later than not have them at all," Brendan said, scratching his nose.
Just as May and Wally were about to respond, Green cut in, "Hey, I hate to be that girl, but you guys really should go, the line is getting really long," she said, pointing her thumb behind them.
When they looked back, the line was already at least twice as long as before. They could talk about this later.
Immediately, everyone started running to get in line.
All except Nora.
She glanced back and forth quickly, then took a breath, walked up to Ash, and gently took his hand, placing Shaymin's Poké Ball in it.
"I think you should hold onto this," she said softly, "I think it's what Damian would have wanted."
Ash blinked and looked down at the Poké Ball. He was going to say something, but he knew full well it wasn't going to work, so he didn't waste his breath, "Fine, I'll take care of it. You take care of the rest of his Pokémon too."
Nora smiled and nodded, relieved he didn't try to give it back to her. Then she took a step back and ran after everyone.
As they were left there, Green slowly leaned on Ash's shoulder, "Sooo, what was that about? And what's in the Poké Ball?"
Ash slipped out from under her and clipped the ball onto his belt, "Just a special Pokémon to Damian. We'll see what happens. But I'm gonna go wash my face in the bathroom," Ash said casually as he started walking off.
"Do you even know where the bathroom is?" Gary asked, watching as Ash headed in a random direction.
"Nope, but I'll find my way back. Take care of Max for me while I'm gone," Ash said, waving over his shoulder as he walked away.
The real reason he was leaving was because he could feel D requesting more clones, and they didn't need to know anything about that anytime soon. So he headed off to find a bathroom or somewhere private to make a few clones and teleport them over.
He just hoped he didn't waste too much Aura on those two. He still needed enough to rip the infection out of Malde's body with his bare hands.