1. Ash's Story (Part 10: Galar)

Chapter 88: No Holding Back

After our last walk across the Isle of Armor, Alice and I returned to the Master Dojo with Max Honey safe and both Urshifu watching the kitchen more closely than they wanted to admit.

The student on soup duty met us beside the stove. Honey had already helped prepare the Max Mushrooms, and the moment the Max Honey was stirred in, the heavy mushroom smell softened into something warm, sweet, and rich. Even my Single Strike Urshifu leaned closer before pretending he had only been checking the pot.

Single Strike Urshifu glanced at the bowl, then at me with a guarded snort, "The honey makes the strength smell less like a test and more like a promise."

"Then we will treat it like one," I said.

Alice's Rapid Strike Urshifu accepted her bowl with both hands. She drank more slowly, eyes closing as the Max Honey settled into the soup's energy. Her shoulders relaxed first, then tightened with new awareness.

Rapid Strike Urshifu rolled her shoulders beside Alice, eyes bright toward the Battle Court, "The soup settled like a current. Now I want to know where it flows."

Alice smiled. "We will find out together."

The student stirred the bowls with a wooden ladle that looked older than some of the dojo beams. Honey watched the color, Mustard watched the two Urshifu, and I watched the way the sweet scent slowly changed their posture. Yesterday, Max Soup had been an idea. Now it felt like another door opening under our hands.

I remembered how each tower had demanded something different before the scrolls answered. The soup was doing the same thing. It was not granting a shortcut. It was asking whether the strength already earned could stretch wider without losing its shape.

Alice seemed to be thinking the same thing, because she did not push her Urshifu to drink faster. She waited while Rapid Strike Urshifu took one careful sip, considered it, then drank the rest with a calm nod.

The energy did not explode around them. It sank in, quiet and deep, the same way the towers had changed them from inside before the outside followed. When both Urshifu finished, Mustard was already waiting near the door with Honey beside him.

"Woo-hoo!" Mustard called. "Ready for another battle with little old me and your first battle with Ms. Honey?"

"We are ready," I said.

Alice nodded. "As ready as we can be."

Honey chuckled. "That is exactly what I want to hear."

Mustard led us to the Battle Court out back, where the dojo students had already gathered. Hop had returned too, notebook in hand and eyes shining like he had run all the way back just to avoid missing the opening command.

Mustard faced us across the field. "I have been thinking about how fortunate we were to have you join the dojo, even if it started by the queen's orders. You reminded this old heart why battle is the most fun time in the world."

Honey folded her hands, but her smile was sharp with excitement. "And it has been far too long since my heart danced like this."

Mustard's jacket came off. His Champion uniform appeared beneath it, and the whole court seemed to wake up with him.

Honey stepped beside him, still smiling sweetly. "Try not to underestimate the wife, dears."

I took my first Poké Ball. "Never."

The students gave us space, but I could still feel their attention. Some were cheering already. Others were quiet, the way people became when they understood they were about to watch something they might remember for a long time. Klara and Avery stood together near the side, trying to look uninterested and failing badly.