Anonymous Review Replies!

LoneGarurumon: Shhh! That is...totally not what MIGHT be happening. Yeah. As for what exactly IS happening...well, only one way to find out, of course! Thanks a lot for your reviews, as always! :D

MetalScizor: Heh, no worries about this story dying as long as there's interested commenters! :D And also of course, no tournament without attack moves ;P Read on to find out what our heroes can come up with! As for Sonic's character...well, so far he's expressly held himself back from fighting Pikachu in the beginning, for example, because he knew he'd be strong enough to hurt it if he did, and because he's generally really not looking for conflict. Also, he casually raced halfway across the map to get Amy, and then went and orchestrated a museum heist with his friends, so I think he's pretty non-orderly, tough and laid-back already, no? :) But of course, how exciting would this story be if he wasn't also pushed to his limits a little regarding those qualities...;p

lane the infinus: heh, that would be pretty funny :p

Anonymous: Head-canon - males' fur is somewhat thicker, and Mobians like Sonic and Co have lived with humans for so long, there's some bleeding over of social norms regarding how females 'are supposed to' cover up more than males.

Anonymous: could be cute in a different setting but here Tails would rather be a contributing, capable member of the team rather than be dropped off at any daycare - maybe look for fics with a younger Tails, rather than this one?

Last Time: Well, when we last left our heroes, they had just learned the Emerald they're looking for is now being offered at a prize at a Pokemon tournament! (Shocking, I know). It's a tournament where only trainers with exotic Pokemon are allowed to participate, so Ash has now registered with Sonic (after Knuckles made it VERY clear what he thought of the idea...). Now all that remains is for Ash and Sonic to become a working team in time for the Xeno-Cup - SURELY not a problem, riiiiight...?

Chapter 19: Battle Buddies?!

"Alright," Ash said while they were having lunch, after they were back again, "If you'll be fighting in the Pokémon tournament, you'll have to have some attacks I could order you to do."

"Um," Sonic managed, glancing up at the human now rather warily over his Poké-puffs-with-custard for dessert. "Y'know, I've actually never needed someone ordering me about in a fight."

"But this time it's not a real fight, it's a Pokémon tournament," Brock pointed out. "People would likely break the battle off if it seemed like you were completely out of the control of your trainer and you would be contained."

Sonic's eye ridges furrowed, the hedgehog obviously not liking the sound of that word.

"…contained."

"Trapped in an official's Pokéball, I mean." Brock explained. "They do have some on hand now, to stop rampaging pokemon if they stop listening to their trainers and could become a threat to the audience."

"Do they." Sonic said, slowly, tone noticeably cooler now. From his perspective, Ash could also see the Mobian's fingers closing somewhat more tightly around the glass they held, the entire hedgehog tensing up subtly. Ash supposed he couldn't blame him. After all, from Sonic's perspective, this had to sound uncomfortably close to being treated like an animal.

"Well," Ash cleared his throat, trying to sound as friendly as possible. "I don't think that would be a problem, if I could give you an order from time to time and you followed it."

The hedgehog frowned. "Why don't I just do what I want and you call what I do?"

Misty winced. "Sonic, you move too fast for us to see anything you do."

Sonic didn't reply to that, but his frown deepened. Reading the thoughts behind his expression wasn't too difficult – So I either follow your orders or I get captured, huh?

The enthusiasm earlier from the tournament seemed to have largely vanished as it became clear what his position in it would be really like. There was a moment of awkward silence descending on the table - Knuckles' expression speaking volumes while everyone else was mostly looking slightly lost at how to salvage this - everyone, that was, except for...

"Maybe...think of it differently?" Amy asked.

Sonic glanced up at her. "Different? How?"

"Like...don't think of Ash as your trainer or your owner, but as your – I dunno, coach? Battle advisor?" Amy suggested. "You're likely to go up against opponents he knows far better than you and if you tell him what kind of attacks you can do he'd likely be able to tell you the best strategy to deal with them. Right?" she asked, giving hopeful glances to both Sonic and Ash.

Sonic blinked. "...huh."

"That's a great way to put it, Amy!" Misty smiled at the pink hedgehog, who lit up at the praise. "Y'know, I tend to put Ash down but it's true that he has learned a lot about Pokémon battling ever since we started. I think he'd be a great advisor."

At her words, Ash could also feel his cheeks flush ever so slightly, but he quickly hid it with a wide grin and an almost embarrassed rub of the back of his head. "Hah, oh wow, thanks, Misty!" Turning to Sonic, he added, "Well, what do you think, Sonic? Would you like to have me as your trainer...I mean, advisor?"

"Hmm." For a moment, there was a silence in the kitchen, all eyes on the hedgehog who was currently giving Ash a hard stare, looking thoughtful...until everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief as his face relaxed into a small grin "Okay, then." Sonic poked his tongue out. "S'long as you don't expect me to jump through hoops or anything."

Ash laughed. "Sounds fine by me," he said, right before crossing his arms, "- as long as you can keep up with my training that is."

"Oh?" Sonic had stood up now, quills raised in challenge, but the grin on his face belied the theatrical threat. "I'd like to see you try and exhaust me, kid."

Amy, shooting a side glance at Misty, snorted. "Yeah, I have a feeling they'll get along wonderfully." The human girl giggled.

"Okay, then." Ash smiled, feeling as eager and ready to help as he had beforehand. To be honest, commanding someone as fast and strong as Sonic did sound like a really cool challenge. "But if I'm going to advise you during the battle, I also need to know what you can actually do." ("Almost kill himself" was Knuckles' comment here, which went ignored.)

"Pika pika!" Pikachu (who had been peacefully nibbling on its own Poke-puff) piped up at this point, but since it also helpfully mimed stretching out a hand, giving a threatening "Piiii-ka!" call and then pretending like something fell on its head and knocked it unconscious, Ash felt he was fairly certain what his friend wanted to convey.

"…that's right, when you fought against Pikachu, you used this sort of...energy attack?"

At his words, Sonic frowned. "Yeah, that would have been an attack called Sonic Wind. I don't like using it, though, you saw what it did." Sonic grimaced. "That's more Shadow's thing, though. I've never been able to control that stuff particularly well..."

"Right. So no calling that one, then." Ash re-fastened his cap. "But I did see you running around pretty fast so we couldn't see you anymore, which would be a move that's usually called 'Quick Attack'. So that's something. And then...what do you usually do?"

"Er?" Sonic looked for a moment a bit taken aback. "Well, I guess I usually use the spin dash-"

"That's when he curls up and shoots really fast across the ground!" Tails supplied, namesakes wriggling cheerfully, as Sonic continued,

" - or the homing attack -"

"That's when he curls up and shoots really fast through the air!" the fox exclaimed, excitedly. Then he scratched his head, apparently thinking hard. "Also, he can kick. And, uh...punch? I think? And he bounces a lot."

Ash blinked. "Wow, er, that's...that's some variety..."

"Look, what I do works, okay?!" Sonic snapped, looking slighty peeved at both the human and his kid brother. "Anyway, it's not so much about the attacks themselves but more about timing, speed, pizzaz and style." He turned his nose up.

"Oookay," Misty managed, the girl apparently trying not to giggle a little at Sonic's snooty expression and Ash's general look of having a stomach ache. "I think that can work. Sonic dealt with Pikachu, after all, and Pikachu's pretty strong as well. 'Spin Dash' and 'Homing Attack' are good move names already, so let's call the other two, uh...'Sonic kick' and..."

"Falcon Punch! Falcon Punch!" Tails jumped up and down. "That would be so cool!"

"Falcon Punch, huh?" Sonic chuckled at his kid brother's enthusiasm, apparently forgiving him for earlier. "Alright, then. Let's go outside and...show me your moves."

There was general groaning, but at least it made for a good one liner to start their first battle.

xxx

"Okay," Brock said as they walked out onto a large, grassy field behind the farm ground, surrounded by forest on the other three sides. There seemed to be a definite design to the landscape, because the grass seemed to have been cleared away in an artificial rectangle pattern of lines, the effect akin to chalk sketching out a basketball-like playing field.

"This is a standard normal-type practice arena, usually in use by the people living here in the village," Brock explained, pointing out the middle line separating the field into two halves. "I think if we're going to try and participate in a tournament, the best preparation for Sonic would be us having a practice fight, simulating a tournament situation. As in, two trainers, one referee and two competing Pokemon – or, well, Sonic and a Pokémon."

"Okay," Sonic nodded. "Then who's gonna compete?"

"Oooh! Ooh! Can I play Sonic's trainer?! I know all his attacks!" Tails bounced up and down.

"Uh..." Brock blinked for a moment, as if not having expected that development.

A few steps away, Misty leaned over to whisper into Ash's ear. "Uh, Ash? I thought you would practice making a team with him."

"Yeah, I know," Ash replied equally as quietly, "But maybe this is for the best? If he has to get used to fighting with someone else calling his attacks, he might be more comfortable if it's his friends at first." He bit his lip. "I'd really like him to enjoy the battles, not feel like he is somehow forced into something he doesn't really want."

"Hmm. I think he knows that," Misty said, thoughtfully.

"Really?" Ash asked, hopefully. "I did try to catch him like a Pokémon..."

"And you apologized. I think they can see we're trying," Misty gave him an encouraging nod. "And besides, I actually think you and him might work really well together as a team." She smiled. "Maybe it wasn't the worst thing you were the first guy he met."

For a heartbeat, it looked like Ash was going to say something else, but then the serene atmosphere of the moment was abruptly shattered as Amy apparently seemed to disagree with the role division for their first practice fight.

"Wha-? No FAIR! If anyone, I'm gonna be Sonic's trainer! Tails isn't even old enough to be a trainer in this world! Isn't he, Brock?!"

"Uh..." A few metres away, the oldest human was finding himself in a somewhat difficult situation as Amy was now glaring up at him, pointing an accusing index finger at Tails. The fox sputtered, indignant.

"What, what does that have to do with anything?! I'm totally smarter than her, too!"

"Excuse me-?!"

"Hey. Hey." Brock (who, Sonic was beginning to realize, was apparently used to splitting up squabbling younger members of the party) finally stepped forward, gently separating the pair. "How about you both be Sonic's trainers? That way Ash would be able to see his full potential, right?" he asked (also shooting a help-seeking glance at Sonic at this suggestion, but only receiving a clueless shrug in return.) The younger Mobians, at least, seemed to deign that suggestion with haughty assent.

"Okay."

"Fine."

"Great," Brock smiled, "So, in the first fight Amy can be his trainer-"

"What? No!" Tails had immediately puffed up the fur on his namesakes. "The first fight will be me!"

"Uh, no, it won't," Amy shook her head in irritation. "Like, what if he faints in the first round already? Then I won't have had the chance at all!"

"Great amount of confidence you have in me, guys," Sonic commented dryly, which immediately let the two Mobians flinch.

"Oh, uh, yeah. Sorry, Sonic!" Amy immediately squeaked and Tails vigorously nodded,

"Yeah! We'll share, okay?"

"Anything as long as it gets this fight started," Brock muttered under his breath, but before any of them could really compute what he'd said, he had already unrolled and raised two small flags he had brought from the house, shouting with a grin, "ALRIGHT! Then I hereby declare the first inter-planetary championship fight open! Standard tournament rules apply, one versus one fight, loser is the one who faints first! Opponents are Ash Ketchum versus Tails and Amy, may the best team win!"

"Awesome!" Ash called out, starting to run to one of the sides of the field, coming to a skidding halt behind the brown line cutting through the grass. "I take this side! And I choose...you, Pikachu!" He grinned, thrusting one hand forward, index finger extended. Pikachu leapt into the field like it had only been waiting for that command, shiny black eyes as excited as its trainer's.

"Pikachu!" Its expression was definitely one of cheeky challenge now, electricity around it crackling as it crouched, and Sonic found that, when faced with the almost twin expressions of Ash and his pet, it was kind of hard not to let himself get infected with their giddiness.

"Heh. Looks like someone has been waiting for a rematch, huh?" he remarked with a raised eye ridge at Pikachu as he sauntered into the practice arena. It was good to see a Pokémon corroborating what Brock had said – Pikachu wanted this fight and was looking forward to it. In response Sonic gave a nod to Amy and Tails, as well as Ash, before he grinned. "Alright, then. Let's step it up!"

xxx

"Alright!" Amy shouted with a bright grin. In front of her, Sonic stood with his back to her and Tails, arms crossed as he was facing down Pikachu and Ash at the other side of the tournament practice field. Up above, a brilliant afternoon sun was shining, and the grass around their feet was swaying in the light breeze, the individual blades seemingly as impatiently waiting for the fight to begin as its participants were. Amy was glad to oblige. "If you wanna strike fast, strike first! Sonic! Attack Pikachu with a spin dash!"

"Gotcha!" Sonic called, at once curling up and revving on the ground for a second (moderate speed – Ash had assured him Pikachu was far, far tougher than it looked, but there was no reason to go harder than he had to) and was just about to release his momentum and shoot toward his opponent when -

"Sonic, NO!" Tails cried out (and Sonic nearly hurled himself into a tree as he aborted the attack) "It could be a trap! Just dodge their first few attacks until we can work out their strategy!"

"Uh...right..." Sonic threw him a frown, but nevertheless leapt back onto his feet and started to run around Pikachu (who also seemed to have been startled a bit by the cancelled spin dash). Now it seemed to shake its head, though, trying to lock onto Sonic again as he circled.

"Alright, Pikachu!" Ash also called out, "Let's show them what we got! Thunder-!"

"You have no idea what you're talking about, Tails!" Amy somehow effortlessly cut off Ash's command (the human seemingly a bit taken aback by this) and instead cupped her hands around her mouth as she yelled, "Offence is always better than defence! Homing Attack, Sonic! NOW!"

"Uh..." Sonic shot a brief glance over at Ash and Pikachu, then leapt into the air and curled up for another attack. That was, until -

"No it's not! SONIC! Stop the homing attack!" Tails yelled, and Sonic ungracefully dropped to the ground again, having been startled at the exact wrong time and therefore landing flat on his face. In front of him, Pikachu now looked baffled. As Sonic heaved himself onto his elbows with a very annoyed expression, it was just in time to see his kid brother completely ignoring him and instead having whirled around to face Amy, hands frantically gesturing, somehow now holding pens and paper.

"Amy, we know barely anything about Pikachu, we need to carefully plan this and analyze and not blindly-!"

"Tails, there isn't time for an Excel-chart here, you nerd, this is a battle-!"

"HEY!" Ash shouted, trying to make himself heard on the other side, waving and pointing at Sonic and Pikachu in the middle. "Amy! Tails! Don't you think you should concentrate on-!"

"Ash! Quiet!" Amy snapped at him, Tails also shooting the human a frown,

"Yeah, we're talking here, interrupting people is really rude!"

"Uhm..." Sonic tried to raise a finger (privately feeling rather apologetic, because Ash right now looked like he'd just been slapped) but the very next moment the boy seemed to blink, frown, and then seem eerily composed.

"Pikachu," Ash said, calmly. "Thundershock."

"CHHHUUUUUUU!"

"AH!" Sonic yelped and leapt in panic as the thunderbolt impacted right at the spot where he had just been. "Amy! Tails! Will you pay attention, Chaos dammit!" he roared as he landed at the edge of the field, tips of his ears actually burnt. To their credit, the two of them now actually looked embarrassed.

"Oh. Right. Sorry, Sonic!"

"It won't happen again, we swear!"

The hero of Mobius resisted the urge to run a hand across his face.

"Are you ready to fight now?" Ash shouted from the other side and Tails and Amy nodded quickly.

"Uh, yeah! Sorry!" Amy rubbed the back of her head. "Just getting used to this tournament thing..."

"And, uh, sorry we snapped at you," Tails added, also looking apologetic now (which could also have had something to do with Sonic impatiently tapping his foot and meaningfully indicating Ash with his eyes while giving his kid brother The Stern Glance – a technique the hedgehog had perfected long ago ever since deciding to adopt a three-year-old-Tails and quickly learning that the kit had had the manners of a feral wolf cub.)

Ash shook his head. "That's okay. I'm not mad. But you gotta remember that when you aren't paying attention to the fight, it's your Pokémon that suffers for it. I mean, I thought Sonic would probably dodge Pikachu's thunderbolt, but if he had been an ordinary Pokémon, he would be hurt now." Ash frowned at Tails and Amy. "Your Pokémon trusts you to make the best decisions possible, so it's really not okay to let them down like that."

"Oh. Yeah, I see. That would be kind of bad," Amy winced, she and Tails both looking at the floor, seeming a bit chastised now. Tails looked up, biting his lip.

"Yeah. I'm sorry. We'll take turns with the commands from now on. We both don't want Sonic hurt, honestly."

"Yeah, sometimes I wonder," Sonic muttered dryly (though far enough away from Tails and Amy that only Brock standing at his referee post heard it, trying to suppress a snort), but at least, it seemed evident enough that the apologies had been sincere.

"Alright," Ash nodded, giving them a smile again. "I know Pokémon battling isn't easy. But try to give it your all, okay?"

"Yes!"

"Promise!"

"Okay!" Brock called as soon as Amy and Tails had nodded, raising his flags. "Then let's start this again! Ready, set – GO!"

"Right!" Tails called out, perking up again with new vigour. "Sonic! Run around Pikachu and modulate your speed to confuse it!"

"Can do!" Sonic shot forward, circling his small opponent with ease, going slower and faster at intervals to leave after-images in his wake. It was an old technique of his, the effect being similar to an illusion of clones lasting only for a second, mostly something they used when Robotnik had some sort of rapid fire systems set up. Here, the effect was similar – no matter whether Ash shouted for Pikachu to attack with bodily tackles or lightning attacks, for the little Pokémon it was impossible to get a hit on him.

"Pikachu! Blind him again! Flash!"

"Pika-!" Pikachu gave a triumphant squeak at the command, bunching its small paws into fists as it released the electricity in its body as a brilliant, dazzling rush of light.

Then it blinked when in front of it, the blue hedgehog still stood, unperturbed, only now he was wearing sunglasses.

"Pi-pi-pi-pika?!"

"Oh. Yeah." Sonic gave Ash (who, interestingly, seemed to be wearing the exact same flabbergasted expression as his Pokémon) a lazy grin. "The second you said 'Blind him' I ran over into the doc's house and grabbed those. You didn't think you'd get me with the same trick twice, didja?"

"You...ran over...but we didn't even see you leave!" Misty exclaimed, wide-eyed, while Sonic's grin turned only noticeably more smug. The hedgehog folded his arms across his chest, looking at her over the rim of his sun glasses.

"Sonic speed. Oh yeah."

Tails pulled a face. "...if there was such a thing as 'psychic damage' in this Pokémon world, I'm pretty sure we'd be suffering it now."

"Yup." Amy nodded with a grimace. "I mean, I love him, but if Pokémon Evolutions were triggered by ego size, he would have evolved to his final form two seconds after birth..."

"But...you can't just use outside things in battle!" Misty protested. "If you did that during the tournament you'd be disqualified!"

Sonic shrugged, putting the glasses away somewhere in his quills. "Eh, in a proper battle I'd probably just turn my back or shade my eyes or something. But you gotta admit the sunglasses had more style."

"Of course they did," Brock shook his head. "Well, then, shall we let this battle resume, or-"

"Yeah, sure." Sonic nodded. "Only, can we maybe make it 'first one hit loses' instead of 'first one fainted'? It's just, y'know, this battle seems one-sided enough as it is, I don't want to have to use more force than necessary..."

"Um. Sure. If that's okay with you, Ash?" Brock asked.

"Yes. Fine," Ash managed through gritted teeth (Tails and Amy once again exchanging non-surprised glances, neither of them ever having been completely sure whether Sonic was actually trying to be this condescending at times, or whether that was occasionally just what the world looked like in Sonic-vision).

"Okay! As long as my 'trainers' don't order me to attack, you've got five more minutes to hit me, kiddo. Good luck," Sonic gave Ash another grin before he zipped off again, back to zig-zagging inside the perimeter of the arena as soon as Pikachu's peeved thunderbolt uselessly hit the spot where he'd just been.

"Um. He's not always this smug, honestly," a (slightly embarrassed) Tails said in reply to Misty's raised eye brows. "He, uh, usually just gets this way when a battle is too easy..."

To his surprise, the red-head cocked her head with a small grin. "Hm. Actually, if I were Sonic, I'd watch out," she said, nudging her head toward Ash, who was currently trying to encourage Pikachu not to give up, even if the small Pokémon appeared more and more exhausted (but just as unwilling to quit) as the hedgehog danced rings around them. But the human's eyes were definitely narrowed in thinking.

"Like I said, I think Ash is a pretty good trainer," Misty said, winking. "He might surprise him yet."

"Oh, really?" Amy asked, a challenging grin on her face. "Let's see about that, then, shall we? Sonic!" She turned around to shout at the combatants. "Time to stop giving them chances! Spin-dash NOW!"

"Aw. Okay, then," Sonic screeched to a halt before throwing himself forward and curling into a ball with practiced ease, not even bothering to revv on the ground to gather that much momentum. One, he didn't want to barrel into Pikachu like a steam train anyway, and two, even if the little mouse was definitely exhausted by now, he still didn't want to be a sitting target for its attacks. Still, at least the battle had been somewhat fun – even if he had to wait for someone else to give him permission to attack, it had still been entertaining to show off his skills and enjoy the flutter of adrenaline when dancing through the lightning bolts. Now he was pretty sure the tournament could be a pretty cool thing, actually.

Just after I finish this off...

Sonic shot forward, Pikachu near-frozen in his path, Ash gaping...

Right until Amy's eyes went wide as the human's expression suddenly transformed into a wide grin.

"Gotcha! Alright, Pikachu, IRON TAIL!"

The first thing Sonic thought was that this had to be remarkably close to how a baseball had to feel at a homerun.

"UNGF!"

He hadn't seen the way Ash's fist had closed in triumph as he attacked, hadn't seen the way Pikachu's tail had suddenly glowed sheer white, and hadn't seen how at the last second before collision the small Pokémon had twisted itself around with pin-point precision. Sonic had, in fact, only felt how something had hit him with the force of a fatally attracted sledgehammer and then apparently attempted to launch him into orbit.

Ah! What the hell?! Dizzied, shocked, Sonic uncurled himself instinctively in mid-air, head ringing from the impact, and immediately became uncomfortably aware that he was some sixty feet in the air above the arena, rapidly about to reach the apex of his involuntary flight.

Sonic very emphatically said a word he hoped he was too high up for the kids to hear.

The next thing he heard made him want to repeat it.

"YES! He can't manoeuvre in the air! Pikachu, Thunderbolt NOW!"

"WAH!" Sonic instantly felt like panicking, limbs uselessly flailing in the air the second he'd realized Ash's sneaky plan. This was so not good. The impact on the ground he would have been able to survive effortlessly if he curled up, but curling up would do bugger all against being roasted again by Pikachu, and getting hit now would also mean losing, because you really had to go there and goad them, you IDIOT, a voice at the back of his head commented, and also, getting electrocuted really, really friggin hurt-

"CHHHUUUUU!"

Sonic saw the lighting lance roar toward him from below and closed his eyes.

To be continued…

Well well well, avarice does come before the fall, and in Sonic's case it may do so now literally - or will it? :P Hope you liked! And if you read, please review - with the current world situation, any cheering up from a comment will go a long way for me...^^;