Lugia and Ho-Oh

"I'm here on a peninsula about two kilometres east of Pallet Town," the reporter said, speaking clearly into her microphone. "This is where the amazing sights have been taking place for at least half an hour now."

Her cameraman panned left, sweeping out over the sea, to show two colossal shapes moving as silhouettes through low cloud.

Bright rose-red flame erupted, burning off the cloud in a trice, and the huge Storm's End keened with his tail ablaze before stooping down towards his equally massive opponent.

The Great Guardian plunged towards the water half a mile below, fins folding in, and crashed into and through the water surface without slowing.

For a few seconds, the camera showed only a dissipating plume of water and Ho-Oh slowing to hover over it, watching warily.

Then a huge whirlpool of water and wind burst out of the sea, reaching to smash Ho-Oh aside, and only a deft move involving an eruption of omnidirectional flame saved the Fire-type from a soaking.

Capitalizing on the breathing space he'd gained, Lugia broke out of his roll and beat his mighty wings once. His mouth glowed red as he built up the full force of his Aeroblast, and he fired it – almost directly away from Ho-Oh.

Red light traced a curving loop in the air, and slashed back at Ho-Oh – whose reply was somewhat unorthodox.

He vanished into a swirling white sandstorm which seemed to come from the very air itself, and the Aeroblast had to quest around for purchase rather than boring unerringly in – and, it was clear, mostly blazing out the other side rather than striking Ho-Oh's feathers.

The moment the Aeroblast faded, all that white sand compacted back into a ball and fired at Lugia like a cannonball – before the Weather Ball hit a shield and smashed into a thousand pieces.

"Hey, Roxy, look!" Oli said, pointing. "There's loads of Pokémon watching the battle!"

"We can only guess why these Pokémon are fighting with such determination," Roxy said into the microphone. "Or why all these other wild... Poke..."

Her voice trailed off.

"Wait, I recognize some of those Pokémon from the Silver Conference!"

Brock looked at Ash.

Ash shrugged helplessly. "I don't know either."

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-Ashes of the Past, Chapter 143