As everyone was enamored by how pretty Altaria was now, Winona looked down at Ash's face, and he wasn't worried even now. Right now, she didn't feel frustrated; it had been a long time since she'd felt like this. She was having fun battling.
Winona's lips curved faintly, "Altaria, [Dragon Dance]."
Mega Altaria let out a soft, melodic cry as it began to glow purple and grow stronger.
Ash shot his arm out, "Oh no, you don't! [Bullet Punch]."
Metang dashed straight up, charging its fists again, closing the distance in a second, ready to hit the dragon traitor across the face.
But Winona quickly called out, seeing this coming, "[Moonblast]."
Metang's fist connected with Altaria, hitting it hard, but Altaria's head didn't snap back. Instead, it turned and fired a point-blank [Moonblast] directly into Metang's head, sending the Steel-type flying back and crashing into the ground.
Metang floated up from the crater it was in, but after a hit like that, and the damage from the previous battle, it was visibly starting to slow down. Still, it let out a metallic sound.
Ash understood what he meant and jabbed his arm toward the sky, "Alright then, let's keep going! [Zen Headbutt]."
Metang's head flared with purple energy, and it launched itself upward, pushing off the ground with its arms and heading directly toward Altaria.
But Winona was ready as she yelled out, "[Cotton Guard]."
Mega Altaria quickly put its wings together, and the cloud-like feathers on its body puffed up as Metang crashed into it, cushioning the hit and sending Metang bouncing back.
Then Winona didn't waste a second as she sliced her arm forward again, "[Fire Blast]."
Altaria's beak opened as it charged up fire, then spat it out, shooting a giant blast of fire toward the Steel-type, hitting it dead on, exploding, and sending Metang spiraling to the ground.
But as it spiraled, it quickly opened its eyes and gathered psychic energy in its arms. Ash saw it and whistled, "[Psychic], now!"
Pieces of the ground started glowing purple as Metang picked them up and hurled them into the air toward Altaria.
Winona saw this and waved her arm, "Finish it with [Earthquake]."
Mega Altaria flapped its wings and dove down, trying to dodge the incoming chunks of rock and earth. A few hit its sides, but it didn't stop as it closed the distance between itself and Metang.
When Altaria was close enough, it used its feet to slam down on Metang's body, sending the Metal Pokémon back into the ground and using a point-blank [Earthquake] directly on it.
The shockwave drove Metang deeper into the ground and cracked the field beneath it once, then twice. On the third impact, Metang lay in a small crater about the size of its body, spirals in its eyes.
Ash gave a short sigh, returned Metang to its ball, and gave it a twirl, "Alrighty then, seems about right. He actually did better than I thought he would." Ash smiled as he looked at the state Altaria was in.
Ash grabbed his next Poké Ball, "Alright then, it's about time we finish this. The rest is up to you."
As the ball flew out, it opened up, and Swellow emerged wearing Choice Specs. Ash had decided to use a special attacking set today because it seemed fun.
Of course, he still took a bit of chip damage from the spikes, but he shrugged it off, puffing out his chest against not only this Dragon traitor, but also the Flying traitor.
For those of you who don't know, the reason Altaria is called a Dragon traitor is that when it Mega Evolves, it becomes Fairy-type, the natural enemy of Dragon-types. But a lesser-talked-about fact is that it trades the Flying-type for it, making it a Flying traitor too.
Winona raised an eyebrow upon seeing Swellow since, well, for what Ash had just said, she expected something else. Nothing against Swellow, she loves a good Swellow, but it doesn't even have a Mega Evolution as far as she knows anyway.
But Ash didn't waste time as he smiled and reached for something on his belt, "Well, since you decided to Mega Evolve, I figured we should bring our own thing to even the odds. So, Swellow," Ash said as he pulled out a certain crystal-like ball, "ready for this?"
Swellow let out a screech and gave the best grin a bird could give. Meanwhile, everyone else was confused, since the thing Ash pulled out was a Tera Orb. As for how Ash charges it, it's pretty simple: he just gets Abby to teleport to Paldea to recharge it.
And no one here had really seen one of them before, well, except for Winona. When she saw it, it took her a second to remember, but then it hit her.
"Wait a minute," she tried to say, but it was too late now.
Ash held his hand out, and energy rapidly started gathering around it, nearly blowing his hat off his head, but he grinned as he threw the ball and it exploded into sparkles.
Swellow's body began glowing like crystals, and crystals formed around his head, shaping into three crystal balloons as he went into Tera Flying.
As the light faded, everyone was looking at Swellow just flying there proudly.
Over by the stands, everyone looked at the scene in shock too, except for Pikachu and Vee, and Molly just thought it was cool and that it reminded her of Entei back during the whole crystal castle stuff.
"So cool!" Molly said, her eyes shining, and Max was also looking at the scene with stars in his eyes.
"Since when did he have that…" Brock felt his eye twitch, since, remember, Ash never brought up the fact that he had a Tera Orb.
May looked at him as he said that, "Wait, he didn't have that before?"
Brock put his face into his hand and shook his head. Just when he thought he got used to Ash's Ash-ness…
"Huh, and here I was thinking I was the only one who felt left out. Good to know I'm not the only one," Flannery said with a thumbs up and a small smirk.
Meanwhile, Winona looked at Swellow, "…So that's your answer."
Ash rolled his shoulder, smirking, "Figured I'd match you. You go Mega, I go Tera. Fair's fair, right?"
Swellow beat its wings once, giving a smirk at Altaria like he was saying, 'What? Don't say this is unfair.'
Winona exhaled, then smiled faintly again. She couldn't help herself from getting excited, "Then let's see which sky is stronger."
Her arm cut forward, "Altaria, [Dragon Pulse]!"
Mega Altaria opened its mouth, a sphere of swirling draconic energy forming before it fired downward in a spiraling beam.
"Avoid it and go in, [Boomburst]!" Ash snapped immediately.
Swellow blurred sideways, the beam barely grazing past as it carved through the air. Then he let out a screech, firing a [Boomburst].
The blast of air shot out and slammed into Altaria, and it hit way harder than they could have expected. Since, remember, [Boomburst] was originally Normal-type, Swellow's Aerilate turned it into a Flying-type move, which then got a x2 STAB bonus, plus the Choice Specs boost.
Mega Altaria's eyes widened as the soundwave slammed into it, its cloud-like body rippling violently as it was blasted backward through the sky.
Winona's eyes widened, "Altaria!"
Altaria spiraled but managed to recover and flap its wings to steady itself in the air again. Then Winona continued, "Don't let it fire again! [Fire Blast]!"
Altaria surged forward despite the damage, its beak glowing as flames spiraled outward, forming that fire sigil once more before launching straight at Swellow.
Ash snapped his fingers again, "[Boomburst]."
Swellow flapped his wings and unleashed another [Boomburst], colliding head-on with the incoming [Fire Blast]. The two attacks exploded, creating a massive shockwave of smoke that covered the field in thick black clouds.
Winona couldn't see anything through the smoke, and neither could Altaria. They were going to wait, but then they heard the sound of a single snap.
Through the smoke, another [Boomburst] shot through, cutting across the field and slamming hard into Altaria, making the bird screech as it fell toward the ground, while Swellow emerged flying through the now-dispersing smoke.
Winona was about to give another command, but Ash didn't let her. He raised one hand, "Sorry, but I'm not letting you do that." Then he snapped his fingers.
At the snap, Swellow flew over and fired another [Boomburst]. When the soundwave reached Altaria, it detonated point-blank, slamming Mega Altaria hard back into the ground.
Altaria tried to lift its wings, but then Ash snapped again, and the next [Boomburst] hit before the motion could even finish, smashing into its side and driving it back across the battlefield.
Winona's eyes widened, "Altaria, guard—!"
Ash snapped again.
A third blast tore through the air and slammed Altaria back into the ground once more, this time cracking the earth underneath it.
Then it kept going.
Snap.
Another [Boomburst].
Altaria tried flying up, but the soundwave sent it crashing back down.
Snap.
Again.
Snap.
Again.
The next [Boomburst] hit even harder.
Altaria cried out, its body trembling as the accumulated damage began to show, its cloud-like wings losing their form.
It tried to open its beak, but Ash snapped again.
The soundwave slammed into its face, cutting off the attack entirely.
Then Ash kept snapping his fingers over and over again, and Swellow kept firing down attack after attack as Altaria was pushed farther and farther into the ground.
When Ash finally felt like it was enough, he stopped, though he still held his hand out in a snapping position just in case.
As the dust over the battlefield cleared, everyone held their breath.
In the crater left behind by all the [Boombursts], Altaria lay motionless. Then it reverted back into its base form, knocked out.
"Yesss!" Molly cheered from the bleachers, throwing her hands into the air as she gave Pikachu a high five.
Flannery put a hand on her chin and nodded to herself, "I always wondered about that snapping thing he does. Yeah, I'm not curious anymore."
Winona stood there quietly for a moment, looking at Altaria's Poké Ball in her hand. Then she smiled softly and returned Altaria to its ball as she looked over at Ash and Swellow.
Swellow reverted back to normal, and as Ash walked up to him, Swellow slapped his wing against Ash's hand in a high five. Ash grinned, "Good one. Guess you showed them, didn't you~"
Swellow huffed, puffing out his chest, "Swell-! [A flying traitor like that could never beat me!]"
Ash rolled his eyes but gave him a lopsided smirk and a light smack on the back of the head, "Sure, bud. Anyway, get some rest," he said, pulling out Swellow's Poké Ball and returning him.
Then Ash looked up and saw Winona walking toward him, "I have to admit, I wasn't expecting that."
She didn't even notice when she stopped feeling so stressed. She just felt calm now.
She pulled out a badge and held it out to him, "Well, I see no reason why you shouldn't receive this, the Feather Badge," she said.
Ash picked up the feather-shaped badge between his fingers and grinned, "Alright, that's number six down, two more to go."
Before they could say anything else, Molly tried to jump down to run over to Ash, but Brock obviously wasn't about to let her jump off the railing. Instead, he picked her up and carried her down the stairs.
Only then did he set her down, and Molly ran over to Ash happily, "Big Brother, you did it again!" she said, jumping into Ash's arms.
Ash, of course, caught her and picked her up, "Of course I did. Didn't I tell you your big brother is the strongest?"
"Well, I dunno about strongest~" Flannery's voice cut in as she walked down too. She put her hands behind her head, "But he sure is fun to watch, especially after I was his last victim."
"Wow, so you really didn't have any faith in me winning the entire time?" Winona asked, though she said it with a small smile.
Flannery just tilted her head, grin still in place, "Oh, I had faith," she said lightly, "Just not in your odds. Trust me, if I had to suffer, I'm gonna make sure you suffer with me."
Winona let out a quiet laugh, shaking her head, "You're unbelievable."
"Takes one to know one." Flannery stuck her tongue out.
Brock finally caught up, a little out of breath, while May and Max followed behind. Pikachu hopped back onto Ash's shoulder, giving a proud "Pika!" while Vee bounced up beside him, clearly pleased.
Max, meanwhile, was staring at Ash excitedly, "Since when do you have a Tera Orb?! That's so cool!"
May pushed Max's head down, "What Max means is, that's not something you just forget to mention."
Ash put a finger on his chin like he had to think really hard, "…Oh yeah."
Brock deadpanned, "Oh yeah?"
Ash shrugged, "Guess it just didn't come up."
Brock stared at him for a long second...then just sighed, "…I'm not even surprised anymore."
Flannery snorted, "You really should be."
Molly, still in Ash's arms, tilted her head, "Does that mean you can make everyone sparkly?" Molly asked, since that was still the most interesting thing in her mind, "You know, like—"
Ash quickly put a finger to her lips to stop her, "Hmm, Molly, remember, we don't talk about Molly lore." Then he pulled his finger away, "But pretty much."
"Oh, ok, ok!" Molly nodded twice.
"I will find out what Molly lore is if it's the last thing I do," May said, pointing accusingly at Ash.
"Nope."
"Trust me, it might be better if you don't know," Brock said, scratching the back of his head.
"That's not ominous at all. You're acting like it's some weird subplot of a shonen manga," May said, crossing her arms.
"No comment," Ash and Brock said in unison.
"Wait, what—" May tried to say, but Ash put his finger up.
"Anywayyyy, moving on," Ash said, and May huffed and crossed her arms.
"Oh yeah, well, as much as I'd love to hang out with you guys more," Flannery started as she put an arm around Winona, "I need to take care of Winona here to make sure she relaxes."
"You don't have to," Winona tried, but Flannery gave her a blank look.
"Yes, you do," she said, making Winona look away.
"Right, well, in that case, I'll leave you to it. I still promised my little sister here more candy for being a nice little cheerleader," Ash said. But he and Flannery already had this stuff planned out. Later tonight, Ash would send Abby over to let Flannery get back to her town, but no one else needed to know that.
"Yay!" Molly raised her hands in victory and hugged Ash again, "You're the bestest big brother!"
Meanwhile, Max was looking at Molly with a totally not jealous expression on his face as he huffed and looked away. He had to change his plans if he wanted it to go faster, and he still needed to determine if Molly would be an ally or an obstacle.
No one else seemed to notice Max's change in expression, so they didn't question it, and with their plans made, the gang walked out of the Gym.
Meanwhile, Winona and Flannery waved them off. Flannery grinned as she looked at Winona's face, "Soooo…"
"So what?" Winona asked.
"What did you think? I told you he was interesting, didn't I?" Flannery said.
"Well, he is a good trainer, and he cares about the people closest to him."
"Not what I meant~" Flannery said, elbowing her softly, "After that battle, you're smiling again."
Winona blinked owlishly and realized Flannery was right, "I-well, he was just a fun opponent to battle. He pushed me to my limit."
Flannery patted her on the back, "Don't worry, he has that effect on people. Anyway, let's go. I said I'm making sure you keep that smile, and I'm not breaking my promise," Flannery said, taking her hand and dragging her along.
Winona stumbled to follow along, but she did, and for once, she thought maybe things weren't as chaotic in her life as she thought. After all, things can only get better. So she'd deal with the Association tomorrow. For now, she'd humor Flannery.
—
{Meanwhile}
Taka was walking through the base with the documents he had from D. This was about an hour after D called him and told him to start the plan.
Not because of anything, he had everything ready, he was just too lazy to do it right away, and he had just taken a nice nap. But anyway, he might as well do this now.
He yawned as he turned a corner, barely dodging a grunt rushing past with a crate of something that looked vaguely explosive.
"Careful," Taka muttered, not even looking back, "If that goes off, I'm clocking out early."
The grunt didn't respond.
Taka flipped through the top page as he walked, eyes half-lidded, "Man...D really went all out on this one…"
To be honest, Taka tried to read through the documents, but there was so much, and he couldn't be bothered.
He reached the elevator and hit the button, leaning against the wall as it slowly creaked its way down.
"Wonder if this counts as treason," he said to himself. After a moment, "…Eh, probably."
The doors opened with a ding, and he went inside as the elevator started going up.
When he got to the top, Taka stepped out, stretching his arms over his head as he walked.
"Alright," he muttered, glancing down at the folder again, "Time to ruin everyone's day."
Two guards stood outside the main chamber. They straightened slightly when they saw him, but Taka just gave a small wave as he approached.
"Hey," he said casually, "Solaris in one of his 'end of the world but make it philosophical' moods, or is this a good time?"
The guards didn't even flinch at Taka's way of speaking.
"He's inside," one of them said.
"Cool." Taka pushed the door open and walked in.
When he entered, he saw Solaris standing at the far end of the room, back turned, looking over a holographic computer, probably checking what new plan he would carry out. After the whole D situation at the volcano, he had slowed down a lot.
But Lin was there too, just sitting casually in a chair with her head resting on her hand as she stared at Solaris.
Taka walked in with a lazy half-wave, "Hey. So, good news, bad news situation."
He didn't get a response, but that was normal, so Taka walked forward anyway. He flipped the folder open like he was about to present a school project.
"Good news," he said, "some of the spies found something interesting." Of course, he didn't take credit, since if Solaris heard that he, the lazy one, got restricted information, that would raise some questions, and frankly, he didn't want the hassle of coming up with an explanation.
Solaris didn't turn, "Speak."
"Bad news," Taka continued, "it's interesting in a 'someone else might be trying to "liberate" the world before we do' kind of way." He said "liberate" with heavy quotation marks. He knew how he would define it, but Solaris was kind of a zealot.
Solaris didn't move at first, but Taka knew his dad well enough to notice he had a visible reaction.
"Explain," he said at last.
Taka hummed, flipping a page like he was skimming notes he barely cared about, "Right, so...short version? There's another group. Big ambitions, bigger ego. Thinks they've got the whole 'reshape reality' thing figured out."
Lin didn't move, but her eyes shifted slightly toward Taka, squinting at him. Taka tried to ignore her.
Taka continued, "Name's Team Galactic. Ring any bells?"
There was a pause before Solaris spoke.
"No," Solaris said.
Now that one was different. Taka couldn't tell if he actually didn't know of a team like that, or if he just saw them as so far beneath Team Meteor that he didn't care.
"Yeah, figured," Taka shrugged, "They're not exactly advertising. More...behind-the-scenes apocalypse types."
He stepped a little closer, holding up the folder, "But they've been moving. And from what we pulled…" he tapped the page, "…they're not fans of competition."
That made Solaris turn slowly, "Competition?" he repeated.
Taka gave a small, apologetic smile, "Their word, not mine. Something about 'universal balance' and 'removing irregularities.' Real poetic stuff. You'd probably get along, honestly."
Lin almost let out a short breath, maybe a laugh, or maybe a sigh. Taka couldn't tell with her, especially with those bags under her eyes. He didn't know if it was official or not, but he thought she might be narcoleptic.
Solaris' gaze sharpened, "You are suggesting they would oppose us."
"I'm saying," Taka replied, rocking slightly on his heels, "if they find out Team Meteor is trying to do...well, all this…" he gestured vaguely around the base, "they're basically trying to do everything we're doing before us."
Solaris narrowed his eyes, and his knuckles tightened, "Then they will be dealt with."
There it was.
Taka resisted the urge to sigh in relief. He kept his expression neutral, scratching the back of his head, "Figured you'd say that."
Solaris' gaze bore into him, "We will need everything we have on them."
Taka lifted the folder slightly, "Already got it here. Even a probable name for the one in charge."
Solaris took the folder and opened it.
"Cyrus," he muttered.
Solaris' eyes narrowed just a fraction.
Taka shrugged, "I know, right? Not exactly intimidating. I was expecting something cooler. Like...Apollo."
Lin actually let out a quiet laugh at that.
Solaris ignored it, "Prepare a full briefing," he said, "We will not allow another faction to interfere."
"Got it," Taka said easily, "I'll send everything over."
He turned slightly, already half-facing the door like he was done there. Then he paused, glancing back, "Oh, one more thing."
Solaris didn't respond, but Taka continued anyway.
"Mind if I sit this one out? You know, since I got the information for you." Of course, Taka wasn't expecting him to say yes, but it was a habit, and if he didn't ask, that would be way more suspicious.
And, just like he thought, Solaris didn't even answer him, and Taka sighed, "Figured. Finnneee." He pulled on his scarf and walked out.
As the door shut behind him, he walked off, intending to not do what he was told and instead find another place to nap.
"Man," he muttered under his breath, rubbing the back of his neck, "that's definitely treason."
Then he stopped and thought about it a little more, "Or, like...pre-treason."
He yawned again, shoving his hands into his pockets as he headed back down the hall, "Eh," Taka said to himself, "Same difference."
He pulled out his phone and texted D that his part was done. Then he put it away and muttered under his breath, "Milkshakes better still be on the table," he added quietly, already looking for somewhere to nap.
Meanwhile, back inside the room, Lin looked over the documents where Taka had left them. She didn't trust Taka's words, but this could also be an opportunity.
After all, Lin wasn't exactly the most patient or sympathetic toward whatever Solaris talked about. She had her own reasons. In fact, she chose to come here, she lied about her age and everything just to get in, and ever since she heard about Taka's failure on the last mission he went on, and Solaris admitting that he lost to some other kid, she had been growing more impatient.
She couldn't help but think that Solaris was becoming too incompetent, and that Team Meteor would be better off without him.
But then again, there was this new group apparently. Maybe she could use this to her advantage. After all
Numbers will not help.
Tactics will not help.
Friends will not help.
Nothing beats pure, unbridled power.
Soon, she would make Solaris fall before her.