Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Well, here we are!" Ash said, looking around and adjusting his backpack. Zygarde crawled out, then reformed into Dog Mode, and Ash hoisted his backpack onto his back. "Melemele Island!"

He held up a Safari Ball. "Thanks for the help with the last leg of the journey, Dragonite!"

"My pleasure!" King Dragonite said, then gave Ash a big hug before returning himself.

Ibid sent the Safari Ball back to Kanto, and Ash got out Arc. "So, uh… we're in Hau'oli City, right?"

"Correct," Arc confirmed. "The Pokémon School is also in Hau'oli City. But Hau'oli is quite big. I recommend following this waypoint."

A map appeared on Arc's screen, with a route marked out that went along the roads and the beach.

Pikachu leaned forwards slightly, balancing with his tail to get a good look. "Are you sure that's a good way to get to the Pokémon School?"

"I am not, because it is not," Arc denied. "I am sure that it is a good way to meet someone who knows where to find the Pokémon School."

"Sounds good to me!" Ash decided. "Then let's go!"

Hau'oli City was built right along the coast, with sky scrapers and a beach road barely metres from the top of the fine, sandy beach that spread in an arc along the whole inside of the bay, and Ash looked in every direction at once to see what Alolan life was like.

There were several Pokémon he'd never seen so up close before, and it seemed like there were a lot more Pokémon fitted with riding harnesses than he'd seen in Unova or Kalos or anywhere else.

"I smell pancakes, I think," Pikachu said. "Or, whatever it was Mew called them when she taught me how to Fly."

An Alolan Raichu materialized next to them with a pop.

"Did someone mention me?" she asked. "I'm going to assume yes!"

"If you're Mew, then yeah," Ash told the Raichu. "Otherwise, kind of."

"Yep, that's me," Mew confirmed. "Thinking about it, Alolan Raichu is one of those ones where it's a little bit harder for me to break my cover by mistake… instead of on purpose, anyway. Or do I mean it's harder to break my cover on purpose?"

He did a kick-flip off his own tail. "Long tail, gets around by flying, psychic… anyway! Welcome to Alola! I'm not technically native but I lived here really early on. I could show you around! So, this is Hau'oli City!"

"Yeah, we know!" Ash said. "King Dragonite did a really good job landing us here!"

"I am Kalosian," Zygarde pointed out. "Would it help if I swapped out the active core of the Ash Node for a core from Alola?"

"Eh," Mew shrugged. "It's more fun to show people around!"

"A Hisuian, two Kantonians, a Kalosian, a Sinnohvian Probably… where's Ibid from?" Pikachu asked.

"I am a citizen of the world, probably," Ibid decided.

"Anyway, so, Hau'oli City on Melemele Island," Mew resumed. "Melemele is a neat place, there's some fun wilderness, the island guardian here is a real laugh…"

"Hey, Move Kahuna!" someone called, waving to Ash and then jogging along the beach. "Quick question, have you done the bit where you met me when I was five yet?"

"Don't think so!" Ash replied. "What's a Kahuna?"

"Yeah, that answers that question," the man replied, then thumped his thumb into his chest. "Professor Kukui! Alola to Alola, Ash, Oak tried to spring it on me as a surprise but he forgot that I check class schedules. So we'll be colleagues?"

"Seems like it!" Ash agreed. "And this is Pikachu, Arc, Ibid, Mew, Zygarde, Marshadow and Don't Know."

"Don't Know?" Kukui asked, looking at the backpack Ash was holding out. "Is that a joke name or do you not know? Wait, I did hear you have a Ditto with a funny name, is that Ibid or Don't Know that's the Ditto?"

"Ibid's the Ditto," Ash clarified. "I don't know what's in the egg Professor Oak asked me to deliver to Headmaster Oak, though, so I didn't want to be committal."

"I'll have to introduce you to my Pokémon, then," Kukui said. "They're back at home, though, I was walking along the beach to try and work out how to solve a problem I've got… it's a technical thing, don't worry about it."

"I might be interested, but I don't know yet," Ash shrugged. "Did I really meet you in the past?"

"Yeah, you were a real inspiration," Kukui said. "A Kahuna is an expert, master, wise man, shaman, someone who's good at something and demonstrates it by example. That's the Alolan way! You even knew a whole collection of Z-moves."

"Oh, yeah, Gary showed some of those off," Ash nodded. "I've only used one with Mew, I think, but I can't do that any more because I had to give the Z-Crystal to Sammy so he could become Professor Oak and give them to me. They're kind of like Bond Phenomenon, I think? You need to sync up with your Pokémon and that means doing poses to make the bond stronger."

Kukui nodded, seeming to get what Ash meant about the bootstrap paradox associated with the Z-crystal, then brightened. "Oh, yes, I think I heard about the Bond Phenomenon, there was a paper on it… was that what you did with your Greninja in the finals of the Lumiose League? I didn't see the actual battle, though, something else interrupted it."

Ash looked slightly embarrassed.

"Yeah, but… I just remembered I forgot to go back and finish that battle," he admitted. "Who won the League?"

"Alain," Kukui answered.

"Well, then I maybe didn't go back to finish the battle, so I won't bother asking Dawn for help," Ash said. "By now it'd be kind of rude to."

"This kind of thing is why I'm so glad we met," Mew said, lounging on their hovering tail. "Any ideas for the first lesson plan, Ash?"

"Yeah!" Ash replied. "Meet everyone first!"

"If you don't have somewhere worked out to stay, Ash, I can put you up," Kukui offered, as they turned towards the Pokémon School. "My house is on the outskirts of Hau'oli itself, and it'd be nice to get to meet your Pokémon."

"That would be great!" Ash agreed. "Lokoko's still on her honeymoon, so you won't be able to have a conversation with most of the team just yet without a translator, but I bet you'll get on with them! Even Aten, he's a bit touchy but you just need to know how sincere his threats are."

"Hah, I know the feeling," Kukui laughed. "Incineroar always wants to make sure I'm in good shape, whether or not he remembers that I'm a scientist…"

He held out a hand. "Watch out, there's some Tauros coming through."

Three Tauros went thundering past, all with riders, then Kukui judged that it was okay to keep going.

"We've got a lot of Ride Pokémon in Alola, you've probably already noticed," he said. "You get used to it."

"Yeah, riding Pokémon are a lot safer than cars, they can actually see you themselves to stop," Ash said. "Hey, who are those guys?"

Kukui looked ahead, shading his eyes, then grimaced. "Team Skull," he said.

"Hey, that Charizard of yours is pretty cool," Zipp said, looking between Kiawe and his Charizard.

"No, man, it's not cool, it's warm!" Tupp corrected. "Because it's a Fire-type, yeah?"

"That's so right!" Rapp said. "It's a Pokémon that's full of Fire!"

"Can you get off?" Kiawe asked.

"Hey, now, you want us to go away, yeah?" Tupp asked. "Then what about a battle for it?"

"Yeah!" Rapp agreed. "That's a great idea! A battle, and if you win, we stop bothering you!"

"But we've got to get something too if we win, right?" Zipp asked.

"Exactly!" Tupp agreed, sending out his trio of Salandit. "So, you win, and we go away, but we win, and we get your Charizard!"

"That's so fair!" Rapp announced, sending out her three Zubat with a flash of white light.

Zipp's three Yungoos came out as well, and Kiawe released his Turtonator in self-defence.

Then Zygarde came padding over.

"Excuse me," they said. "Is this an official battle?"

"What?" Zipp asked. "What's this Pokémon saying? Does it know we don't understand Pokémon, yo?"

"Zygarde was asking if this was an official battle," Ash supplied. "And I guess I've got a question too! How were you expecting it to work if you won?"

Tupp made a gesture with his hand that probably wasn't meant to be rude, just for general emphasis. "We win, and we get this Charizard, yeah?"

"That's what I mean!" Ash replied. "Because, first, it's really weird conditions for a battle, and second, that's up to Charizard! If they like their trainer they don't have to leave for a new one, and it'd be unfair to do a Pokémon trade like that but if you're talking about winning a Pokémon in a one-sided thing then… it just doesn't make sense!"

"What do we care?" Rapp asked. "You're just saying stupid nonsense!"

Kiawe had been looking at Ash, and he frowned. "Wait…"

"And no, this isn't an official battle," Zipp said. "We're Team Skull! We don't do things officially!"

"Excellent," Zygarde said. "Bonjour. Je m'appelle Zygarde."

They nodded their head, respectfully, then used Thousand Arrows.

This turned out to work quite well.

"I hate Z-moves!" Tupp declared, returning his Pokémon to run along with the rest of Team Skull.

"That wasn't-" Ash began, then stopped. "Hey, Zygarde, do the moves you use count as Z-moves because you begin with Z and you're the Z-Pokémon?"

"Good question," Zygarde stated. "I will get back to you on that."

"You're Ash Ketchum, right?" Kiawe asked.

"That's me!" Ash agreed. "I'm still getting stuff sorted out just now, but if you're a student in Kukui's class here I'll see you in class!"

"Seriously," Kiawe insisted. "Ash Ketchum told me he was in our class!"

"Ash Ketchum?" Mallow repeated. "Is this the same Ash Ketchum I'm thinking of?"

Kiawe threw his hands up. "I don't know what Ash Ketchum you're thinking of, but he had the Pikachu and stuff so he's got to be the famous one."

"What would he be doing in our class?" Mallow asked.

"Maybe he's going to be learning the basics of how Pokémon work with humans on Alola, and then he'll have even more ideas about how to do crazy things," Sophocles suggested.

"Or maybe he's just here for a break?" Lillie suggested. "It's got to be tiring doing so many Leagues in a row."

"Could be," Mallow admitted. "Or… maybe he's trying to be incognito, and just not very good at it?"

"I'm still not sure it's the same person," Lana said. "Or maybe he just got mixed up? There's not enough desks, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Kiawe admitted. "Still, he did say Kukui's class… and he got me out of a tight spot with Team Skull, too. Maybe the chairs thing is still being sorted out?"

The door opened, and Kukui came in.

So did Ash.

"Hi, everyone!" he said. "My name's Ash Ketchum, from Pallet town in Kanto! And this is Pikachu, he's my starter Pokémon, and this is Zygarde!"

Pikachu waved, and Zygarde cleared their throat.

"Zy," they said.

"For today's class we're just getting to know everyone," Ash resumed. "That means everyone gets to introduce themselves, and their Pokémon!"

"Pikapi, pi," Pikachu pointed out.

"Oh, yeah, and that includes translating things so everyone can ask the Pokémon questions too," Ash said. "It'll be a bit awkward without Lokoko but that's just a great way to break the Ice-type, right?"

"Wait, wait," Mallow said, waving her hand in the air. "Shouldn't Professor Kukui say what the class is? He's the teacher, right?"

"I'm teaching you too!" Ash explained. "Who wants to go first?"

Chapter Text

"Well, here's my house," Kukui said, opening the door and standing back. "What do you think?"

"It's really different to how houses are built in Kanto!" Ash replied, looking around. "So, it's all one big room?"

"That's right," Kukui agreed. "The kitchen's over there, and… well, you can see most of the rest, right?"

"Yeah," Ash agreed.

Then a Rockruff came skiding around the corner.

"Hi!" they said. "You're back! Who's this?"

"I'm Ash!" Ash introduced himself. "Is this one of your Pokémon, Professor?"

"No, Rockruff is a wild Pokémon, but they stay around here," Kukui explained. "Most nights, anyway."

"Oh, so a bit like Zygarde, then," Ash decided.

"That's right," Kukui agreed.

Rockruff was looking puzzled. "What's a Zygarde?"

"I am," Zygarde explained. "It is probably best to consider me one of Ash's Pokémon by association."

They inspected the chairs, then jumped up on one.

"Zygarde used Dibs," Ibid reported.

"What's dibs?" Rockruff said. "Is that a move? And who said that?"

"Dibs means you're being the first to ask for something, so you get priority over it," Ash told the Rock-type. "It's not a move, it's just a thing that people do kind of… half as a joke and half because it's a way of deciding who gets something."

Now Rockruff looked very confused.

"You understood me?" they asked.

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "Mew taught me how to listen properly, you know, like Pokémon know how to do! I guess it must be a bit harder than I thought, because of how long it takes people to get it, but I didn't know how hard it was when I learned and maybe that helped. Oh, yeah, and this is Ibid, he's the one who mentioned dibs."

Rockruff inspected the red cube Ash put down, sniffing it, then jumped back as Ibid used Transform and turned into a miniature Rockruff.

"Rockruff," he said. "The Puppy Pokémon. Other examples of Puppy Pokémon include Lillipup, Growlithe, Yamper and Fidough. This Rockruff uses gender neutral pronouns."

"Oh!" Professor Kukui gasped. "Sorry, Rockruff, I didn't know."

"Well, uh…" Rockruff tried, tail flicking as they tried to work out what to say. "I mean… apology accepted?"

"Rockruff says apology accepted," Ash relayed, and Kukui sighed in relief.

"That's good to know," he said. "I'd hate to offend a Pokémon so much without realizing, and even more to not fix it as soon as I knew. Thank you, Rockruff."

He clapped his hands. "Now, let's get dinner sorted out. Can you help out, Ash?"

While Ash was helping Kukui cook, Pikachu held out a paw to Rockruff.

"Nice to meet you," he said. "You'll probably meet Ash's whole team eventually, so, word of warning… some of us can be a bit weird. If you're overwhelmed or whatever just say, though."

"Thanks," Rockruff decided. "That's nice to know."

They tilted their head a bit. "How weird is a bit weird?"

"Um," Pikachu began, thinking. "Well. A good starting point is probably that the first Pokémon Ash caught as a trainer was a Mew in disguise as a Caterpie. Then he caught her again as a Mankey, again as something she called a Dracozolt, and after that it all gets a bit complicated."

He shrugged. "Then you've got his childhood friends, which, you'll probably meet most of them sooner or later. Just, watch out in case one of them is actually Zoroark, he likes pulling that kind of thing."

"Is Mew the strangest?" Rockruff asked. "Because that sounds a lot more than a bit weird!"

"Depends how you count, really…" Pikachu said, half to himself. "Arc might be. Actually, come to think of it…"

He did a half circle. "Marshadow, Ibid, me… against Zygarde, Arc, and you… yeah, I think half the Pokémon in the room right now are non-binary. Neat coincidence. Of course, it wouldn't work if Ash was a Pokémon today."

"A what?"

"This is nice!" Ash announced. "What's it called?"

"Well, technically it's called a plate lunch, but we're having it at dinner," Kukui explained. "So you could say it's a decreased priority lunch, with an Avalanche of flavours!"

"Interesting," Arc said. "I do not think there is a lunch element, but I am missing my complete set of plates. May I have some?"

"Sure," Ash said, sectioning off a bit.

There was a burst of golden light as Arc swapped into Arceus Mode, took a bite, then changed to Steel Form.

"Thank you," they declared, swapping back to Phone Mode.

"It's always important to have the complete set of options, just to try them out," Kukui voiced, as Rockruff scrubbed their eyes and tried to work out if they'd just seen what they'd seen. "You know, I was going to sort out a new Pokédex for you but I really don't think you'll need one."

"No, Ibid does most of my Pokédex stuff, and Arc handles the rest," Ash agreed, then looked around at a knocking sound. "Huh?"

There was an orange and black face with a high orange crest looking through the back window.

"Is that…" Kukui began. "Tapu Koko? I swear that's what Tapu Koko is supposed to look like."

Then the Tapu drew back an arm and threw something through the window, before running off.

"Hey!" Rockruff yipped. "Rude!"

Pikachu caught the flying object, and Arc's ring glowed as all the glass froze in mid-air. Then the glass all flowed back together into the window pane, resealing with a flash of golden light, and Arc dimmed again.

"Thanks!" Ash told them. "What's this, Professor?"

He took the bracelet from Pikachu and held it up.

"That looks like a Z-ring to me," Kukui declared. "And it's got a Z-crystal in it already. Well, normally people get them by passing the trials, but that was much more direct! I'm Thunder-Shocked!"

"All right, class!" Ash said, at school the next day. "Today we're going to be learning about the weather! Everyone to the railing!"

He waved in the direction of the open-air classroom wall, which had an overhang in case it rained, then vaulted over it. "Come on!"

Once everyone had come to the railing, with expressions ranging from the enthusiastic to the puzzled to the worried, Ash waved up at the sky.

"What kind of weather is this?" he asked.

After a moment, Kiawe put up his hand.

"It's… well, it's sunny, but I don't know if it counts as Sunny Day," he admitted. "I never really thought about it before."

"Yeah, there's a kind of weather we don't normally think about because it's just the normal one," Ash agreed. "It's sometimes called clear skies, I think, but the important bit is that it doesn't have any special effect. You can usually tell because there's at least some clouds in the sky, like there are here, or because the sunlight doesn't feel way too hot."

Then he waved in the direction of the sea. "But natural weather sort of bounces back and forth a bit! That's because when it's sunny, that makes water evaporate, like a puddle dries up faster in the sun, and that water rises into the air, and eventually it gets cold enough up there that it turns into clouds and finally rain! That's called the water cycle."

He sent out Zapdos. "But if we want to see more kinds of weather without having to wait too long, we need some help! This is Zapdos, I first met her when I was seven, we're great friends!"

"Did you say seven?" Mallow asked. "Really?"

"Zaaap," Zapdos nodded, then took off with a sweep of her yellow-and-black wings to hover just overhead.

"Let's get a look at how the water cycle works, first," Ash decided. "Pikachu, Surf!"

Pikachu formed a surfboard out of water, took it in both paws, and smashed it into the ground.

"So now we've got a puddle!" Ash said. "Sunny Day, Zapdos!"

Zapdos did as instructed, making the sun blaze brighter over that place in particular, and little wisps of mist came off it.

"Normally it takes hours for this to happen, so the water in the air isn't really visible," Ash clarified. "It's like how you can dissolve a bit of sugar in water and you can't see it, but once there's enough sugar in there you can see some because it won't fit… and it rises up until it gets cold enough, and suddenly it makes clouds!"

Zapdos made clouds, each about a foot across and hovering neatly in the air not much above the head height of the students.

"And then raindrops get bigger and bigger inside them until they fall out as rain, and make more puddles," Ash concluded. "Then there's hail and snowstorms, which are really just cold rain, and there's sandstorms which happen because you get wind in a place where it's sandy, but that's enough about how natural weather happens. Let's look at the kind of variety you can get in weather made by Pokémon… Zapdos, start us off with a Storm Cell!"

This time, Zapdos swept her wing across, and a curl of dark, sooty mist wafted off her feathers. It formed a black layer that sparked with internal lightning bolts, and Ash pointed.

"This is a lot like Rain Dance, but instead of being full of water it's full of electrical energy," he explained. "It doesn't have big enough droplets to fall like rain, but instead they all fizz around and charge each other up and so there's enough to make really big thunderbolts… it's like a thunderstorm, but without the rain bit, so it's more of a lightning storm."

Sophocles held his hand up.

"How did she make that?" he asked. "I haven't heard of Storm Cell before."

"It's like how a lot of Pokémon moves are equivalents of one another in different types," Ash said. "This is just an electric-type weather move. Like this one – Zapdos, show us some Pollen Rain!"

This time the air around Ash filled with a kind of pink-yellow haze.

"This is really bad for hayfever, if you've got it," Ash said. "It's Grass-type! And that's interesting, isn't it, because Sunny Day and Rain Dance help some Grass types – which just goes to show that it's not as simple as thinking that some Pokémon are helped by weather that fits their Type. It's a lot more complicated than that… and even though it makes Grass types stronger, it's also kind of dangerous!"

Zapdos compacted the Pollen Rain into a Weather Ball, then used Sunny Day and set the pollen-ball on fire.

"Is everyone following so far?" Ash checked.

"No, but keep going please," Lillie requested. "This is amazing!"

"Actually, maybe I should talk about weather abilities!" Ash decided. "First there's the ones like Leaf Guard!"

He sent out Meganium, who waved.

"Meganium's got Leaf Guard, which means that she can't be affected by status conditions so long as it's sunny," he said. "That includes being set on fire! Then there's abilities like Snow Warning or Drought which make the weather be a certain way, and finally there's abilities like Cloud Nine or Air Lock which stop weather from happening at all and turn it back to clear skies… let's demonstrate that, okay? Zapdos, let's see some really cool weather!"

Zapdos spread her wings dramatically, and used six weather moves at once. The green fire of Dracorocco sparked off every available surface, a Sandstorm whirled in the background, it started to rain honey, strong winds seethed in a neat little bundle, dense fog formed near the ground and darkness began to drift down like snow.

Then Rayquaza peeked out of Ash's jacket, and the weather all stopped at once.

"Well done, Rayquaza!" Ash said. "Do you want to meet everyone?"

Rayquaza gave it serious thought, then nodded, and floated out from under Ash's jacket. He put the jacket down, and began going along the row of students. "That's Mallow, there…"

"In my old class, I never got Legendaries visiting," Kukui said.

He shrugged. "This is better though."

Chapter Text

"Alola, Ash!" Kukui called, the next day. "See that Morning Sun!"

He held out a Pokédex. "After I contacted Professor Samuel Oak about what you're doing, he suggested that I should record your lessons! So this guy's going to be doing it."

He stopped, and looked at it. "Well, I say this guy, but I haven't actually installed the guy yet."

"A Rotom, right?" Ash checked. "Did you ask what device he's from?"

"No, actually," Kukui admitted. "I've not studied Rotom very extensively… this is one of Samuel Oak's Rotom-Dexes, though, so he should have a great place to stay once he's loaded in."

He waved. "Come on, I've got the actual Rotom in my office, I wanted you to be there when it happened."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "I'll do my best to give emotional support, or, whatever kind of support it's supposed to be!"

The Rotom in question was buzzing around impatiently, and lit up both literally and figuratively when he saw Ash and Kukui come in.

"At last!" he said. "I've got a chance to do what I'm meant to do – provide information!"

"To Ash or to everyone else?" Pikachu checked.

"To everyone, right?" Rotom replied. "That's the point of being a Pokédex! And then I'm going to record some lessons or something."

Pikachu shrugged. "You'll learn."

Rotom looked mystified, then dove into the Pokédex and booted it up.

"Wow!" he said. "There is lots of data already in here! Evaluating… Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon. An Electric type. It raises its tail to sense its surroundings."

Rotom buzzed happily. "This is fascinating! I can look at things and all this information appears!"

"Question," Pikachu said. "How complete is your data?"

"Well, I think it is complete, or almost complete," Rotom replied. "All the Pokémon I can think of are in here! I can help advise on what moves Pokémon can learn, as well."

Pikachu used Fly, by using Surf.

Rotom stared.

"Correction," he said. "I have a lot of data to fill in. It is not complete at all."

As Ash headed out to school, talking with Pikachu and Zygarde about his plans for another lesson, a mysterious shape watched him from the underbrush.

"Pikachu," Mimikyu said, their voice full of malice. "I'll get you soon."

They moved silently forwards, keeping pace with Ash and Pikachu, then ducked under a log.

And bumped into something.

"What," Mimikyu asked, glowering at the blue shape in front of them. "Get out of the way."

"Why?" Wynaut asked.

"Because I told you," Mimikyu hissed. "I'm not here to argue."

"Why not?" Wynaut said, head tilting.

Mimikyu hissed, then smacked Wynaut with a Shadow Claw.

Wynaut wobbled backwards, then bounced forwards again.

"Tag!" she announced. "My brother's it!"

"What?" Mimikyu asked, then suddenly they were yanked off through the forest into a nearby clearing.

"It worked!" a human said, as Mimikyu hit another Wynaut and bounced off. "At last!"

"Finally, our luck has turned!" agreed the other human.

"What are you on about?" Mimikyu said.

"Did someone ask something?" a Meowth said. "We're here to find out!"

The woman struck a pose. "Noble answers are what we're all about!"

The blue-haired man pulled a rose from pocket. "The beauty so radiant, the flowers and moon hide in shame. A single flower of evil in this fleeting world."

"The nobly heroic mon of our times!" Meowth declared himself. "The master of darkness fighting against a tragic world!"

"It's all for one and one for all," the red-head took over. "A glittering dark star that always shines bright! Dig it, while Meowth… takes… flight?"

Man, woman and Pokémon all looked at one another, confused.

"Did we get da scripts mixed up?" Meowth asked.

"We didn't have much time to prepare for the move," James lamented. "Maybe there was a misprint."

"Just what's that supposed to mean?" Jessie asked. "I'm the one who handled the printing!"

"I'm leaving," Mimikyu said.

"Oh, no you ain't!" Meowth said. "We ain't givin' up on a chance to finally steal Pikachu!"

Mimikyu stopped, mostly from surprise.

"What?" they asked. "You think… what?"

"Well, yeah!" Meowth agreed. "Of course you're Pikachu!"

"We know Pikachu when we see one, so it's no good trying to make us think you're not Pikachu!" James agreed.

"That's right!" Jessie said. "And this time we've got a perfect way to deal with any move you could possibly have!"

Mimikyu tilted their head.

"What?" they asked. "I… am actually having trouble processing this."

"Yeah, obviously it ain't all that easy to process us actually stealin' a Pokémon," Meowth concurred. "Especially you, Pikachu."

"Is he making fun of us?" Jessie asked.

Mimikyu's Shadow Claw reached out. "Don't call me that!"

Wobbuffet came out of his Pokéball, blocking the attack with a boi-oio-oiiiing, and Meowth yelped.

"Okay, okay, no male pronouns for da Pikachu!" he said, waving his paws conciliatorily. "Wow, you tink you know a 'mon after interacting with, uh, 'em for so long…"

"Still not a Pikachu," Mimikyu seethed.

"Hey, Pikachu keeps sayin' they're not a Pikachu, what's up with dat?" Meowth asked.

"Well, isn't it obvious?" James said. "They're faking it! That's exactly what we should expect any of Ash's Pokémon to do, so his Pikachu shouldn't be any different!"

"Now that's almost devious!" Jessie said, in tones of dawning realization.

"Wow, you're dense," Mimikyu decided. "I've already used moves Pikachu don't learn."

"Yeah, that doesn't actually mean anything," Tympole said. "You're going to need better evidence than that."

"Better evidence?" Mimikyu repeated. "But that kid – that Pikachu is still there! Doesn't that count for anything?"

"I can think of four ways to fake that with Pokémon Ash has without even needing to think about it," Seviper declared. "I bet I could come up with more if I had a minute."

"I can't use Electric moves!"

"That's not a thing that's any kind'a proof either!" Meowth retorted. "Dat's just self control!"

"...ergh," Mimikyu hissed. "And if I say I am Pikachu?"

"I knew it!" Meowth crowed.

"This is ridiculous."

Ash decided that it would be good to have a field trip for his next lesson.

"We're going to go and meet some wild Pokémon!" he said.

"Are you sure that's all right?" Lana asked. "And, are we going to have to get close to them? Only, someone in the class has a bit of Poképhobia."

"Lana," Lillie complained softly.

"Oh, okay," Ash said. "And no, you won't have to! It's up to you, in fact, and it's up to the Pokémon too, because part of what we're going to be learning about is how to interact with wild Pokémon – and that includes knowing when to not interact with them… but while we're heading out into the woods, I'll tell you all about my Larvitar and how I met him. He had something kind of similar…"

It took them about half an hour to get out into the wild parts of Melemele Island, with Zygarde leading the way, and Ash told everyone about the things he'd done to keep Larvitar happy while coaxing the Rock-type out of his shell.

"It sometimes works to shock someone out of things like that, but that's not really very kind," Ash added. "It's more important to make sure someone's comfortable with how they're stretching themselves, that way it's like exercise – you keep it up and stretch a bit more each time, and you end up able to do what you were aiming for!"

"That's a way of thinking about it I hadn't heard of before," Mallow said. "Did you learn that from someone?"

"Not really, it's just obvious?" Ash replied. "Though I guess I learned a lot about how to think about how other people and Pokémon feel from Mew, when I was growing up, so kind of with him?"

"I think we are in a good place," Zygarde reported.

"Thanks, Zygarde!" Ash told them. "Okay, so, what's the first rule about how to catch wild Pokémon?"

"You battle them, right?" Kiawe asked.

"Almost!" Ash replied. "That's a good step, sometimes, but it's not the most important bit. Anyone else?"

There was a short pause, then Sophocles' Togedemaru raised her arm.

"Can I answer?" she asked.

"Sure, if you want!" Ash agreed. "But none of the humans are going to understand you yet… unless Sophocles has a good bond with you, then he might get what you're trying to say."

"Then I think it's what you were talking about while we were coming here, isn't it?" she said, waving in Lillie's direction. "It was because of her, but it wasn't just because of her, was it?"

"Oh, I get it," Mallow's Bounsweet realized.

Sophocles looked down at Togedemaru, then shook his head.

"Sorry," he apologized. "I don't get it."

"I think I do," Lana said. "She was waving at Lillie. It's the same kind of thing, it's about making sure the Pokémon is comfortable. Right?"

"Yeah, exactly!" Ash agreed. "So battling a Pokémon is fine if they've challenged you to a battle, because a lot of Pokémon do that exactly because they want to be captured by trainers if the trainer's strong enough to beat them in the first place! But you don't need to do it, and it's not enough to have battled a Pokémon – even if you've beaten them, they might still not want to be your Pokémon and they might not accept it. It should always be an offer… and they should always be able to leave if it's not working out."

"I'd really hate to have either of my Pokémon leave," Kiawe said, looking troubled. "But… I guess if they really wanted to, I'd have to let them. Or it wouldn't be fair."

His Charizard came out of his Pokéball, and gave him a one-armed hug.

Then a Rowlet came swooping down on Mallow's Bounsweet, who yelped and ducked.

"Oh, this is interesting!" Rotom buzzed. "Bounsweet has the move Sweet Scent which makes them smell like a berry! Many flying Pokémon mistake them for berries. I am seeing this happen in person, which makes it evidence!"

"What should I do?" Mallow asked. "Does that count as trying to attack?"

"I guess maybe not," Ash said. "Hey, Rowlet!"

"What?" Rowlet asked, turning to look at him.

Since Rowlet was in the middle of diving down on Bounsweet again, this entailed turning his head away from the direction he was travelling, and he missed, bounced off the ground with a faint squeaky noise, rolled, and stopped against a tree.

"Ow," he said, faintly.

"Huh," Ash frowned. "I guess you're kind of young, right? Are you okay?"

"I'm hungry if that's what you mean," Rowlet replied, flapping a wing a few times before rolling back upright. "Also dizzy. Who moved that berry I was looking for?"

"That was actually Bounsweet," Ash explained. "Hey, Marshadow, I think we've got some berries?"

Marshadow's hand reached out of Ash's shadow, and Ash took the bag of Oran Berry slices. "Here, try some, and see what you think."

"Ooh," Rowlet hooted. "Where did these come from? That's a really funny looking berry pod."

"And that's how you get a Pokémon to join your team!" Ash said, some minutes later and after talking to Rowlet's family.

Which, oddly enough, were all Pikipek, Trumbeak and Toucannon, something that had left Rotom very confused.

Mallow stuck up her hand.

"How close does it have to be to that?" she asked.

"You kind of end up improvising, but the really important bit is where you ask if they want to join you and they say yes," Ash replied. "Marshadow is optional, just remember to bring extra food if you're going to try feeding wild Pokémon or otherwise you might run out."

He shrugged. "Apart from that, it's just really important to remember that every Pokémon is their own person with their own thoughts and preferences! So if you don't get on well with one Pokémon, you might get on well with another Pokémon of the same species."

"Correct," Zygarde agreed, nodding. "I have met two Giratina with very different attitudes."

"There is only one Giratina," Rotom protested. "Isn't there?"

"Well, there was, but then a Musharna made a fake second one to try and scare me," Pikachu declared. "It didn't work, but Ash made the fake one into a real one and now he's one of my teammates."

"Uh," Sophocles said. "I didn't understand that, but why is Togedemaru looking at Pikachu like she can't decide how scared to be?"

Chapter Text

Not all the lessons were handled by Ash, and not even all the school trips. Professor Kukui suggested a fishing trip, to take place the next day, and said that because Lana was the Water-type trainer it'd be a good idea for her to take charge.

"Really?" Lana asked, surprised. "I'm not… well…"

"Can I help?" Ash asked, and got a nod from Professor Kukui. "So, the first thing about teaching is, if it's something you know about, you're trying to make sure that the people you're teaching learn the same thing as you. And it's important to remember that just because it's obvious to you it might not be obvious to them… right?"

"I guess that makes sense," Lana admitted. "But it's hard to think of what to say, and standing up in front of everyone…"

"Hmm," Ash said, thinking about it. "Maybe it's best to just remember that you're telling your friends something. You wouldn't mind if it was just telling them something cool, right?"

He shrugged. "I don't know! I've been doing Pokémon Leagues for a long time and that involves going out against lots of people in battles, so I don't really mind that kind of thing much any more. But I can try and help."

The morning of the fishing trip, Lana did her best to follow Ash's advice.

She told everyone about how you get the attention of Pokémon, and how it was best to fish from a Ride Pokémon like her Lapras or a Wailmer, and said that it was important both to attract the Pokémon in the first place and then get them in close enough to battle or catch – even if you weren't going to do either of those things, it didn't really count if you didn't reel them in.

"And, um… sorry, I have to ask," Lana added, after doing that bit. "Lillie, is that a protective suit?"

"I want to do the lesson," Lillie replied, from inside her thick outfit fitted with a round dome. "I don't want to freeze up from touching Pokémon… I'll get over it eventually, but today isn't eventually. And this way I can catch Pokémon properly."

"Well… thank you," Lana said. "You're right, that should work, and it'll keep you safer if you fall in the water."

"Speaking of that!" Ash remembered. "In case anyone else falls in the water, I'm going to make sure a couple of my friends are around just to keep people safe. Okay?"

With the preparation complete, Lana took them down to the pier with the Ride Pokémon.

"You can pick between a Wailmer or a Lapras," she explained. "I'm going on my Lapras here, but either of them is fine – you can see how they're wearing special harnesses that give you more support if you're fishing from them…"

She trailed off. "I don't recognize that Pokémon."

Suicune waved a paw.

"Oh, that's Suicune!" Ash said. "I used to have a Lapras but it turned out that he wasn't really a Lapras, and I don't have a Wailmer, so I asked Suicune and she's happy to help out. That way there's more Ride Pokémon available for everyone else!"

"Suicune," Rotom reported. "The Aurora Pokémon."

He made a querying buzz sound. "Does this one's ability Pressure relate to water pressure?"

"Maybe it does," Suicune said. "I don't think I've actually checked that before."

"Isn't Suicune another legendary Pokémon?" Lillie asked. "I know I've heard about Ash before, but it's one thing to hear about it and completely different to keep seeing them all."

While she was talking, Ash had knelt down by the side of the pier.

"Okay, everyone's ready!" he announced, putting some balls back on his belt. "So, let's go fishing!"

"A lot of how you fish is that there isn't just one way to do it," Lana told them all, as they floated in the sea. "You need to think about what kind of Pokémon you're attracting with your lure, and then when you reel them in you need to think about that."

Her lure twitched, and she pulled hard for a second before slacking off a bit, then pulled hard for a second again. "Like this!"

Kiawe watched, then cast his own lure into the sea for the third time.

"I don't get it," he said, glancing at Sophocles. "What am I doing wrong? Isn't the lure supposed to, you know, lure the Pokémon?"

"Don't ask me," Sophocles replied. "I'm trying to work out how to attract a Water-type… would they be more interested in something with flavour, maybe?"

Kiawe shook his head, then went back to casting.

"I think you could be doing it too often," Lillie guessed. "It's not spending long enough in the water to attract attention? Maybe?"

"That's a good point," Professor Kukui said. "It might not be the answer, but there's nothing wrong in trying it out – you've got to remember to Bide your time!"

"I guess," Kiawe grumbled, shading his eyes. "Hey, is it me or is Pikachu fishing by himself from that water surfboard thing he does?"

"Oh, yeah," Sophocles agreed, his irritation forgotten. "He's just using his tail. How would that work?"

There was a splash, then Pikachu flicked his tail into the air and out came a Keldeo.

"...huh," Sophocles said, as Keldeo used Hydro Pump to make sure he didn't crash back into the water, then hovered there on four fizzing hydro-jets. "Maybe that does work. Hey, Togedemaru, can you dip your tail in the water?"

Togedemaru squeaked at him, waving her tail and then scratching her head.

"If you're asking how that would work, I don't know, but it just worked for Pikachu," Sophocles said, as Suicune loped over and Ash began having a cheerful conversation with the newly arrived Water-type.

Down under the water, Latias rolled on her back and looked up.

"So this is a fishing minigame, right?" she asked, speaking out loud for the benefit of the other two Diving Pokémon next to her. "Do we take part as well?"

"I don't think so," Charizard replied. "Otherwise it'd be a tug of war minigame. We're more like the people who stop someone falling out of bounds."

"And if too many of them do it at once, I get to try out Twister!" Silver said. "It's like resetting the whole thing. Dad showed me how to control it really well, he's actually used it to rescue ships in trouble before without being noticed."

He scratched his head with a wing. "At least, without being noticed as a Lugia. I think the giant waterspout that deposited a ship on dry land got… you know, noticed in general."

"Do you have a list of the Pokémon that you'd expect to find around Melemele?" Lillie asked, looking up at Rotom as he hovered overhead. "Is Keldeo on it?"

"Keldeo is not on the list," Rotom replied. "However, after overhearing their conversation, I am starting to think that Keldeo should be on every list. That specific Keldeo, in fact!"

"Oh, okay," Lillie said, nodding to herself, then looked back down at her lure.

It twitched slightly.

"Was that a bite?" Lana asked.

The lure didn't move again, after that, and Lillie shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Well, keep an eye on it," Lana advised.

"I was wondering what it could be," Lillie went on. "Maybe a Magikarp? And, well… I should be all right in my suit, but I don't want a fish Pokémon in my lap anyway."

"That's right," Lana realized. "You don't have one to deflect a Pokémon away, apart from what Lapras can do."

A girl's head popped up above the water.

Or what I can do, supplied a mental voice. Hi! I'm Latias, but I heard that you had problems with Pokémon so I'm looking like I'm not a Pokémon.

Lillie thought about that.

"I'll try not to commit that to memory, in case I end up paranoid of everything," she decided.

Oops! Latias said, and ducked back under the water.

Then Lillie's lure twitched again, this time much more emphatically.

"All right," Lana said. "Looks like you've got a Pokémon on there, now, reel it in!"

Lillie pulled her rod upwards, and the sea bulged upwards as an enormous pink-and-white shape emerged.

Palkia floated into the air, soaring much more slowly than anything normally would, and Lillie gasped.

"What Pokémon is that?" she asked. "I don't recognize…"

"I think that Pokémon is Palkia," Rotom replied. "I do not know for sure, but the images seem to match!"

Palkia was now hovering in mid-air, moving his limbs around almost as if he was swimming, and slowly looked around as he did so.

"The Spatial Pokémon," Rotom went on. "It appears in mythology. It is said to live in a gap in the spatial dimension parallel to ours."

"PAAAL," Palkia rumbled.

"Oh, hi!" Ash called, and Suicune bounded across the water. "Giratina passed on my message?"

Palkia nodded.

"Great!" Ash replied. "See, I had this idea for a lesson demonstration, and Clefairy could do it but it'd be good to have extra help…"

"Is that… just going to pass without comment?" Mallow asked.

Rotom put an arm against his screen. "Hypothesis: Palkia is Water type and that is why this is not unexpected."

Meanwhile, in Kalos, Serena held up her hand with five fingers raised. "Ready? And… four and three and two and one and now."

Pyroar crouched, then sprang into the air, and landed with a splash of blue-green flames which rippled outwards like water. Curling in her own length, she turned to jump towards Serena, and her trainer ducked down so that Pyroar went just overhead.

Flicking her wrist, Serena threw the wand she was carrying upwards, lighting it on fire at the same moment, and caught it again as if she'd caught one of the embers from Pyroar's mane. It had the same colours, bright yellow and red, and she drew a wide circle before stepping to one side as Pyroar turned to jump again.

This time, Pyroar went through the circle, and as she did it collapsed inwards. Wings of fire with alternating red-yellow feathers materialized, and Serena gestured up as Pyroar sprang upwards this time – then began using the sympathetic connection between the two flames, holding her wand in place to allow the wings to support Pyroar, and turning her wand in another big circle so that as it moved upwards it could let them tug Pyroar higher.

Finally, she put her hands in the air, wand held out in one of them, and Pyroar landed with her hindpaws on Serena's hands and her flaming wings spread wide. They acted as a support as she reared up, roaring, then sank back to a crouch.

They held it for three seconds, then Pyroar jumped off again and Serena let out a sigh of relief.

"I think you need to have another lesson in Psychic," she judged. "I think that went well, but you're heavy now."

"Fair," Pyroar admitted. "Still, at least you weren't a Buneary."

"True, but we should remember that idea, it'd be funny," Serena said, then turned her attention to Palermo. "What did you think? How can we make that the kind of routine that would work to win Kalos Queen?"

Palermo considered.

"Well," she began. "It's a good basis – it's a one-Pokémon routine, though really what you need is something for three or four Pokémon. You overloaded your final routine, remember."

"I remember," Serena nodded, thinking. "What about if the whole Master Class set has the same theme, like, circus events?"

"That could work, but watch out," Palermo warned. "If you commit to a theme too early in planning, you can end up accepting sub-par individual routines because they fit the theme."

"We have had to work hard to avoid being too focused on magic," Braixen agreed, from the sidelines. "Still, I thought that was good!"

Chapter Text

"How does that sound?" Ash asked, during lunch outside Kukui's house. "I know Palkia could do a lot of it, but it'd be great to have you both involved because it'd show how much it doesn't depend on mass."

"And showing that you don't need to be a Legendary to do things with moves," Pikachu added.

"Yeah, I guess," Ash nodded.

"Ça me paraît bon," Clefairy judged.

"Thanks!" Ash replied, then looked over. "Huh? Oh, isn't that a Litten?"

The Litten looked plaintively at Ash's sandwich, and Ash held it up. "Oh, huh, you're hungry?"

A nod.

"Hey, Dragonite?" Ash said, looking around. "Do you still have all the things ready to make another sandwich?"

Dragonite gave a thumbs-up, and Ash turned back to Litten. "How much do you want?"

"Just let me get a bite," Litten said.

"Oh, sure!" Ash replied. "Nice to meet you!"

Litten looked confused, then jumped up and snatched the whole sandwich out of Ash's hand.

"Hey, that's rude!" Ash protested, as Litten ran off with it. "I'd have given you the whole thing if you asked!"

"You want another sandwich, right?" Dragonite checked.

"Maybe not just yet," Ash replied. "I want to find out what was up with that Litten, because that was just rude."

"Litten often do not trust people at first," Rotom supplied. "She may have thought you wanted to trick her."

"It's still rude," Ash said. "Hey, Zygarde, Pikachu, shall we go and teach her a lesson?"

"That sounds uncharacteristically vengeful," Pikachu worried.

"Huh?" Ash asked. "No, I meant teaching her how it's better to ask people, and explaining how she just needs to ask in the right place and she can get food even if she's still a wild Pokémon. Why?"

"Oh, right, you meant literally," Pikachu said. "Never mind. I thought you meant more in an Aten way."

Litten padded through the gardens, head turning left and right as she kept an eye out for any threatening humans or Pokémon.

She could tell by the smell that this would be a great meal, but she needed to get it home first, and that very same smell might mean she'd get herself in trouble.

Turn left, then right, along the path… Litten built up speed slightly to take the steps at a run, but before she reached them there was a mrowl from in front of her and a Persian stepped out into her way.

"That looks tasty, little kitten," Persian said, tail lashing. "Why don't you drop it so I can have some? It's too big for you to have on your own."

"Go away!" Litten retorted, dropping the sandwich so she could fight. "Or let me through! Either's fine by me, but don't stop me!"

"Why not?" Persian replied, pacing closer, then darted in to snatch the sandwich.

"Hey!" Litten snarled, then inhaled and used Ember.

Persian promptly threw the sandwich directly into the path of the Fire attack, blocking it and incinerating the food, and Litten's ears went flat.

"No!" she protested. "That was – but…"

"Silly little kitten," Persian said smugly. "It's a good thing I didn't need that, isn't it?"

"Hey!" a voice called, from behind Litten, and she stepped to one side almost automatically so she could look back without taking her eyes off Persian.

There was an Absol loping down the path, along with a strange, vaguely-familiar canine Pokémon and a Pikachu riding a surfboard.

"What was that all about?" the Absol demanded, skidding to a halt, and Litten blinked.

She'd never properly met an Absol before, but she was sure that wasn't how they sounded.

"Persian!" a human called, and Litten froze for a moment before jumping up on the nearby wall for safety.

"Persian!" the human repeated. "Come here, sweetie!"

Persian flicked his tail, then turned around, and Litten watched in bafflement as the Absol and his companions just… followed the Persian.

Except for the canine Pokémon, who stopped for a moment to sniff at the burned ex-sandwich, then a weird antenna thing lifted up on their back and flashed green for a few seconds.

"Excuse me, miss?" a voice said, from around the corner the Persian had taken. "Did you know your Persian was bullying a wild Pokémon?"

"What?" Persian yowled. "How can you – but – what?"

"You can speak!" a woman marvelled. "That's very clever for a Pokémon, and polite too! But I'm sure my Persian wouldn't be such a bully, he's a softy really."

"He stole a sandwich a Litten was carrying, then tricked her into setting it on fire," the voice explained. "I guess he's keeping behaving like that secret from you, but that doesn't make it right, so, can you make sure he can't get out and do that? If he's not doing it it won't cause a problem."

"Why you-" Persian said, then went oof.

"What move even was that?" he complained.

"Persian!" the woman's voice said, now shocked. "What do you think you were doing! We were talking! You're a naughty boy, mister!"

Litten had no idea what was going on, even when the Absol came back with his friends. Especially when that Dragonite came swooping in a few minutes later with several sandwiches, and gave one to Litten before asking where she wanted the rest of them.

"He's sick," Litten said, hovering over Stoutland as the elderly Normal-type started in on one of his sandwiches. "He's taught me so much, but… he's not able to go out for food himself, like he used to. I don't know what to do…"

"Well, I'm sure Dragonite wouldn't mind delivering food to keep you from having to get in trouble yourself," Absol suggested. "I could ask him to do that, and it wouldn't be much trouble – right?"

Dragonite shook his head. "Not at all, Ash."

Litten tried to relax, but tilted her head. "So… why did he call you that? Not Absol? And why don't you speak the way I imagine an Absol should? Your voice doesn't sound like your name at all… unless I'm just really confused about a Pokémon I've not properly met?"

"Actually, I'm speaking Mew," Ash explained. "That's because that's who taught me to speak like a Pokémon. I knew it was going to be awkward, because you were so scared, but… well, once I changed to track you down and find out what was going on I realized that it'd be wrong if I wasn't careful about this. And now I can see you were just helping a friend."

He stood back, then turned into the human Litten had stolen a sandwich from.

"What," she said. "What?"

"What?" Stoutland asked, raising himself up with a huff of effort. "Something wrong?"

"That Absol just turned into a human!" Litten said.

"Right sentiment, wrong way round," Pikachu provided.

"Litten, I know you might not trust humans," Ash said. "And that's okay. Trust is weird and awkward sometimes, and you can't really force it. But if you want help, for yourself or Stoutland, just ask, okay? I'll understand."

"And, because she might not know it's an option, I'll ask Dr. Agonite to come around later," Dragonite added. "Just to check on Stoutland. Okay?"

Litten could only nod, mostly through lack of any idea what else to do.

"Okay, class!" Ash said, the next day. "So today we're going to be talking about gravity! What do you know about gravity?"

"It's a Pokémon move, isn't it?" Sophocles asked. "It's one that stops flying Pokémon from flying?"

"That's one thing it can do!" Ash told him. "But that depends. If you make gravity stronger then it stops flying Pokémon with wings from being able to fly as easily, because they fly by having wind flow over their wings or by pushing down, and it means Pokémon who use psychic powers to fly have to work harder to fly. But for Pokémon like Drifloon, they fly because they're lighter than air, and so stronger gravity actually lifts them up more."

"...what?" Lana asked. "How does that work?"

"It's because if you make everything heavier, you make everything the same number of times heavier," Ash explained. "And the difference between how heavy Drifloon is and how heavy the air is gets bigger. It's like how the difference between two and three is one, but if you double them both then the difference between four and six is two."

That made some of the students, and their Pokémon, nod in a sort of confused way.

"But that's not all you can do with the move, Gravity," Ash resumed. "When you're on this planet without any moves going on, gravity's always basically the same strength, and it's like everything's being pulled downwards based on how much of it there is. But when there's gravity alteration going on, then suddenly you can make things pull in different directions!"

He sent out two Pokémon, Clefairy and Rowlet, and Clefairy twitched her fingers before pointing them upwards.

Rowlet fell onto the ceiling, and bounced with a sleepy sort of chirp.

"Rowlet's demonstrating which direction is down for him," Ash explained, as Clefairy twitched her fingers again and made Rowlet orbit Ash's head. "And Clefairy's showing how you can use Gravity to make things lighter as well as heavier. In fact, which direction do you think Rowlet is feeling gravity now?"

"None at all?" Kiawe suggested. "He's floating."

"No, then he'd just be not moving, right?" Mallow replied.

"I think I know," Lillie said, holding up her hand. "The only direction he's feeling gravity is towards your head."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "So Clefairy's actually doing two things to gravity right now, one of them is cancelling it out for Rowlet, and the other is making it so Rowlet's feeling gravity towards my head, but that one's changing all the time."

He signalled, and Clefairy switched to making the whole class feel lighter.

"This is what it's like in about a third of normal gravity," Ash explained. "But watch out, because even though you feel lighter you still have as much mass – it's easier to lift something up, but it's still just as hard to stop it if it's moving."

Rowlet took off, making pleased chirrups about how easy it was to fly, then Ash waved over to the open side of the classroom.

"Another thing that gravity can do is make things curve!" he said. "In fact, that's why something curves down when you throw it, because it's being pulled by gravity, we just think of that as normal. But if gravity is in unusual shapes, you can get some really cool things happening – okay, Palkia, go ahead!"

Palkia returned to normal size. His gemstones flared, then he fired a blast of water into the air.

It curved upwards, then downwards, did a half-loop around a particular point, and splashed into the ground behind where Palkia had apparently been aiming.

"It's usually hard to see the shape that gravity makes things go into," Ash explained. "That's why we're using water, but just about anything can do it so long as it doesn't weigh the same as what's around it. The tricky bit is that things that move faster have less time to be pulled around by gravity, so their paths bend less."

"It was a lot simpler when Gravity just pulled things down," Sophocles said.

"What does down mean?" Ash asked him. "Because, if you think about it, it's just a word for the way gravity points."

He pointed. "Now, let's go and get an idea of what changing gravity's like! And don't forget to thank Palkia afterwards!"

Chapter Text

Principal Oak assigned Kukui's class the task of looking after an egg – one of two, with one of them being the one Ash had brought from Kanto and the other from a mountain on Ula'ula island – and said that he was sure taking care of whichever egg they picked would teach them all an important lesson about Pokémon.

"What do you think?" Mallow asked, looking at her classmates. "Which one should we pick?"

Sophocles shrugged.

"I don't know," Kiawe said. "Which is which?"

"That's up to you to decide," Principal Oak said, with a chuckle. "If you can't tell, you're just picking at random, right? And there's nothing wrong with that."

"What about if Lillie's the one to choose?" Lana suggested. "Pokémon eggs are less scary than hatched Pokémon, right?"

Lillie nodded. "I… well, I think so?"

She looked at the two eggs for a long moment, then pointed at the white one dappled with blue and green markings. "That one, if that's all right."

"Of course it is," Principal Oak confirmed. "That's the whole point of the lesson you'll be learning. Now, what do you know about Pokémon eggs?"

"Oh!" Sophocles realized, holding up his hand. "Is it that they can learn things while they're still in the egg?"

"Well done," Oak said. "Keep that in mind. That means you can introduce yourselves to this Pokémon before they're even born."

Lillie nodded, then knelt down.

"I'm sorry," she began. "I'm not very good at touching Pokémon, but… I'm going to try my best with you. Even if I can only do it when you're an egg."

She reached out and touched the egg, then pulled her hand back quickly.

"Well done, Lillie," Ash told her. "That's an important step."

"Then you'll be having that egg," Principal Oak said. "Congratulations, and take good care of them."

"Sir?" Sophocles said, raising his hand. "Um… I have a question."

"Go ahead," Samson Oak invited.

"Why are you dressed as a Chansey?"

Apparently it was because an Exeggutor wasn't quite as relevant to giving away eggs.

With the egg back in the classroom, Ash went to the front of the class.

"So today we're doing introductions again!" he said. "This time they're different, though, for two reasons. The first is that it's going to be everyone introducing themselves where the egg can hear it, so that they learn your voice and even what you look like."

"Eggs can see as well as hear?" Kiawe said, amazed.

"That's right," Ash agreed. "My Larvitar was stolen when he was an egg, but he remembered what happened to the egg before he hatched from it, and that's a lot of what he had to work through. It's hard dealing with something like that."

He smiled. "But the second reason is that everyone will be introducing themselves."

Lokoko came in through the door, and waved a paw – the one with her anklet ring glittering on it.

"Good afternoon, everyone," she said. "My name is Lokoko, and I am a Ninetales."

"Wow!" Sophocles said. "She can speak human?"

"Yes, but that's not what I'm doing," Lokoko replied. "Actually, what I'm doing is providing simultaneous translation."

"She's using psychic powers," Ash explained. "The way it works is, it's sort of like you're getting the meanings of the words at the same time as the Pokémon says them. And it works on any Pokémon."

"It does?" Togedemaru asked. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"Did you just say what I think you said?" Sophocles asked, looking down at his starter. "That's so cool!"

"That's amazing," Mallow agreed. "So we can talk to any Pokémon, as long as Lokoko is around?"

"That's right," Ash agreed. "Sooner or later I'll try teaching you how to understand Pokémon yourselves, but it's better not to have you waiting most of the term until you can do that so this way's better for now."

"So when you say we're all introducing ourselves," Kiawe began. "That means our Pokémon, too?"

"Correct," Arc stated.

"What does that bracelet mean?" Lana asked. "I don't think I've seen one like it before. Is that a Mega Stone?"

"No, it's not," Lokoko told her. "It's my wedding ring. The reason you haven't seen me before now is mostly that my wife and I were on our honeymoon."

"Oh, wow, congratulations!" Kiawe said. "...wow, it's weird how much understanding what Pokémon say makes you react differently, even though it shouldn't."

"So long as you notice it, it's okay!" Ash supplied. "It means you know what you can work on and do better, right?"

Kiawe nodded.

"Now, who wants to go first?" Ash asked. "If you've got Pokémon, let's hear from them too. This is sort of like their first chance to say hello to you!"

Lillie ended up taking the egg home herself, to keep it safe at night, and Ash accompanied her home because she didn't have any Pokémon to protect herself.

That meant seeing her house, which was really more of a mansion, and Ash also met her butler – a man called Hobbes, who welcomed Ash, Pikachu, Rotom and Lokoko into the building separately.

He even had some cakes ready.

"I'm sure you're aware of the young lady's difficulties," he said. "And, if you'll forgive the impertinence, I must say that I'm grateful for the opportunities offered for her to work through it."

"Taking time to heal is important," Lokoko opined. "And that means not working an injured muscle too hard, or that can make the injury worse. The same is true of an injury of the heart."

"Well said," Hobbes decided.

"I have exhaustively checked all my files on Poképhobia!" Rotom announced. "I have decided that the files I have on Poképhobia are not helpful, because they are all about how Pokémon do not help with it."

"What about soft toys?" Ash said. "One of my Pokémon's got a big collection of soft toys, and you could probably borrow some."

"We already did that bit," Lillie told him. "It's a nice offer, though."

"That's good," Ash decided. "I would have to work out whose the toys actually are…"

Aten sneezed.

This disrupted his attempt to go for the jugular on a life-sized plush Wailmer.

"How can I have a cold?" he demanded, of the air. "I'm not even alive!"

The plush Wailmer fell over, and he huffed. "I bet this wouldn't happen if I was a Ho-Oh."

"So, Ash, I was wondering," Kukui said, at the start of the weekend. "I know you've done great work at teaching my class, so far, but would you like to help out with different research?"

"Oh, sure!" Ash agreed. "What kind of research!"

"You'd think you'd ask before that bit," Rockruff said, looking up from their breakfast.

"Yeah, but… my trainer," Pikachu replied.

"Well, it's actually related to Z Crystals and Z-moves," Kukui explained. "You see, what Professor Oak and I want to find out about that is whether there are any Z-moves we haven't heard of before – new Z-moves that simply haven't been discovered because nobody's had the right combination of Pokémon and crystal."

"Well, I guess that's possible," Ash mused, thinking out loud. "How are you counting Genesis Supernova? That's Mew's one, but Professor Oak saw me use it a couple of years ago, only it was more like forty and a bit years ago for him because of time travel."

"That sounds amazing!" Kukui said. "Can you demonstrate?"

"No, I gave the Z-crystal back to young Sammy Oak," Ash explained. "So he could give it to me to give to him, so it was there when I needed it."

"Right," Kukui decided. "Well, I think we can probably say that that Z-crystal won't wear out, but under more normal circumstances they can be damaged. There's ways to get replacements, we think, but usually they come from the Totem Pokémon and the Island Guardians, and then down to us. So the true source of the Z-crystals isn't really known – something else you could help with."

He brightened. "Still, if Tapu Koko is willing to give you a Z-ring the first time he sees you, maybe doing the island trials will mean your Z-crystals let you do extra research?"

"Accessing available data on the trials," Arc said. "There are Totem trials, which involve defeating a Totem Pokémon, and there are Grand Trials involving battling a Kahuna."

"Then I guess we should do a Totem Trial!" Ash decided.

"A challenger!" Gumshoos declared, springing into view as Ash entered their cave. "Aha!"

"Hi!" Ash said, waving. "Hey, Ibid, is it me or is that one of those Pokémon that's bigger than normal?"

Ibid turned into a miniature Gumshoos.

"Yes," he said. "Gumshoos is normally smaller than this."

"Of course, I'm a Totem Pokémon," Gumshoos grumbled. "Do you not get how this works?"

"I'm new to Alola," Ash said. "But I've got a Pokémon who's interested in examples of Pokémon being bigger than normal, it's kind of a hobby she has. So Totem Pokémon are bigger than normal?"

He frowned. "Is that something to do with the same reason you have Z-crystals? Is it like Dynamax?"

"I have absolutely no idea what Dynamax is," Gumshoos said. "But, anyway, are you actually here to do a totem challenge, or just a chat?"

The Normal-type thumped both forepaws on the ground, and a smaller Gumshoos plus three Yungoos appeared. "Just asking."

"Totem challenge!" Ash said. "What kind of rules are there?"

"One Pokémon at a time, unless I call in reinforcements," Gumshoos said. "If I do, you get two at a time. You can use up to six Pokémon, because this is about worthiness and strength and stuff. If you beat the challenge, well… hang on a sec."

The Totem Pokémon held up their forepaws, making a frame shape around Ash, then ducked back into the rear of the cave.

"I wonder what that is about," Zygarde said.

"I wonder if we're going to have a battle," Rowlet chirped.

Gumshoos came back with a photocopied sheet containing a picture of Ash, and compared it to him.

"Yeah, that's you," they decided. "Okay, I've got special instructions for this one."

They whistled, and all three of the Yungoos plus the regular Gumshoos formed a neat queue.

"Two at once," Gumshoos explained, as Yungoos number one loped forwards.

"Sounds great!" Ash decided. "Rowlet, ready?"

"Ready!" Rowlet agreed.

Ash sent out Meganium. "Ready?"

"Of course," Meganium confirmed.

"Yeah, I see why the bosses sent out special instructions," Gumshoos decided. "Right, let's do this!"

"Sunny Day, Meganium!" Ash called. "Rowlet, fly into the Sunny Day!"

Gumshoos kicked up a cloud of sand with Sand Attack, and the Yungoos darted forwards within it before springing into the air to use Hyper Fang.

Meganium's vine flicked out, and she yanked Rowlet out of the way of the attack.

"Careful," she warned. "How's your charge?"

"Still a bit sleepy," Rowlet replied, then ducked as Yungoos tried to hit him with a Take Down.

Meganium used Sunny Day again.

"And keep an eye out on everything that's going on," she cautioned.

"I'll keep my head on a swivel!"

"Gotta admit, that was some cool moves," the Totem Pokémon said, once the battle was over. "Never seen a Rowlet do that before."

Rowlet snored.

"Well, seen one do that before, but not the other thing," Gumshoos said, then reached down and tried to pull a Leafage leaf out of the ground.

It was embedded about a centimetre deep into the rock, and they had to lean back hard before it actually came out.

"Yeah, Rowlet's a bit dozy normally, but that's because he normally uses up energy a lot during the night," Ash said. "So he's naturally predisposed to sleep during the day, to leave him enough solar energy to do things at night. I'm going to work on having him learn Sunny Day himself, but until then if he's going to be in a serious battle he needs a charge-up! And if you're charging up, why stop too soon?"

"And then of course you did it that much," Gumshoos said. "Makes sense to me. Anyway… hey, Yungoos."

The one who hadn't got around to battling perked up.

"Go and grab the green crystal, okay?" they ordered.

Yungoos darted off, and Zygarde raised a paw.

"The green crystal?" they asked. "That implies there is more than one crystal and that you only have one green one. Does that mean Ash's reward is abnormal?"

"Yeah, special instructions," Gumshoos confirmed, taking the crystal when Yungoos got back. "Here you go. It's a Grassium Z with a bit of extra. Try it out some time."

"Thanks!" Ash replied. "Are the bosses the Island Guardians?"

"That's them," Gumshoos agreed. "Koko's a bit… koko… but he's got a good heart, probably."

Chapter Text

"Alola, challenger," Kahuna Hala said, then actually noticed who he was talking to. "Ash Ketchum?"

"That's me!" Ash agreed. "Hi!"

He waved. So did Pikachu, and Zygarde, and Rowlet sleepily waved a wing from where he was perched on top of Ash's head for better sunlight.

Rotom made a hand emoji appear on his screen, and wiggled back and forth a bit.

"So, what brings you here?" Hala asked. "Here to do the Island Challenge? Because, I'll be honest, I might need a bit more warning for something like that."

"Not really," Ash replied. "I was more asking you for some help with figuring something out. Professor Kukui wants to know what I find out about Z moves, and I've got a couple of Z-crystals, so I thought I'd see if you could help make sure I'm doing it right!"

Hala frowned slightly. "You've got a Z-ring?" he asked. "If you don't have one, you'll need one, and that does mean doing the challenge."

"Yeah, I've got one," Ash said, showing it off. "It came with what I think is an Electric-type Z-crystal, and then I got a Grass-type one from Gumshoos earlier. They said it had something extra."

"Well, that could mean anything," Hala frowned. "Can I have a closer look at that Z-ring?"

Ash handed it over, and Hala turned the Z-ring around before nodding.

"Yes, I thought so," he said, looking up and fixing Ash with a frown. "Where did you get this?"

"Tapu Koko threw it through Professor Kukui's window last week!" Ash replied. "Then he ran away."

"Well, that does explain the mystery of where this one went," Hala decided. "I make Z-rings, and one of them went missing a week or so ago. That's this one. Still, if one of the Tapu decided you should have it I'm not going to argue."

He straightened up. "Now. What do you know about Z-moves?"

"I've seen them a few times," Ash said. "Mostly when Gary used them on me, and I did Mew's special one once. How do you tell what pose goes with what Z-move?"

"That's actually what I was getting at," Hala replied. "So, the basic idea behind a Z-move is…"

He trailed off. "Mew has a special Z-move?"

"Yep!" Mew agreed, appearing with a pop. "It's called Genesis Supernova! It's a big explosion!"

"When I did that one, I just knew what to do, but there was a bit of a time loop involved," Ash clarified. "Or a predestination paradox, I don't know which one offhand, Dawn and Pichu know the exact wording… anyway, I've done that one, but if I wanted to use one of the other ones, how would I do it?"

"Well," Hala said, deciding to go back to what he was about to say. "A Z-move is made out of a normal move, just making it stronger. That can mean any move of a specific Type, or for the special Z crystals unique to certain Pokemon it can mean a particular move."

"Oh, okay!" Ash said. "And the poses… I guess if you're properly synced up with your Pokémon they just come to you, right? Rowlet, want to give it a go with the Grass one?"

Rowlet made a snoring noise.

"I guess we'll let him sleep," Ash decided. "Meganium, you're the other one who helped win this, so let's try it out!"

"Are you sure that's a good target?" Hala asked.

"Yeah, it'll be fine," Ash replied. "The GS Ball's been through a lot with me, it's indestructible!"

Hala looked again at the gold-silver Pokéball propped up on a sizable rock, then decided not to press the issue.

"Since Meganium is a four legged Pokémon," he began, "the poses work differently."

"I guess it's because if you have a Pokémon who can't do the pose, it still works, but if your Pokémon can do the pose they at least have to try, right?" Ash asked. "Because not doing something because you can't is way different from not doing something because you can't be bothered."

"...yes, actually," Hala confirmed. "I should really stop being surprised when you jump ahead like that."

"That's Ash for you," Pikachu said, not that Hala could understand but the sentiment came across.

"The pose is different for each type," Hala resumed. "Not for each move. There might be a couple of exceptions, but for example the pose for Shattered Psyche is like this."

He struck a pose, and Mew brightened. "That's the one Ash did when I blew up the time vortex!"

"Let's try this, then, Meganium!" Ash said. "What's the Grass pose?"

Hala raised his arms, and Ash copied him.

Then Meganium opened her petals fully, gathering sunlight, and brilliant energy surrounded them both.

"I don't know what, but something is vaguely familiar-" Mew began.

"What just happened to your crystal?" Hala asked.

"Huh?" Ash said, but then a blast of intense light slammed down from directly overhead onto the GS Ball. It shone so brightly that everyone except Meganium either flinched away or yelped in shock, and when it faded the rock had lost about an inch of surface everywhere except directly underneath the GS Ball.

And there was a riot of greenery around the base of the rock, where the grass that was already there had grown by at least a foot.

"That was not Bloom Doom," Hala declared.

"I have no data on this!" Rotom announced. "I have a recording, though, which means that I now have data!"

Ash looked down at his Grassium Z, which wasn't a Grassium Z any more. Instead of a diamond it had a six-petal shape, and the leaf had been replaced by a pair of antennae.

"Oooh!" Mew gasped, as Meganium panted for breath. "That must have been a special Meganium-exclusive Z move! Like a really supercharged Solarbeam… hmm… Solar Flare? That sounds like a good name!"

"I hope you don't make a habit of this," the Kahuna said. "Or, if you do, the crystals at least turn back again. We don't actually have all that many of them."

"That was really cool!" Ash said. "...wait. Meganium, I guess you're tired, right? I heard Z moves do that… but once you're rested, maybe tomorrow, we should try having you Mega Evolve and do that! Let's see if we end up with a Mega Meganiumnium Z!"

"I want to file a complaint," Rotom said. "I do not know who to, but I know there's probably someone."

"Running BlameSearch app," Arc provided helpfully.

"Results returned," Arc said.

"Huh?" Ash asked.

"BlameSearch completed," Arc explained. "From yesterday. It turns out that BlameSearch takes an extremely long time to conclude."

They made a disappointed beep noise. "Unfortunately it also runs a root cause analysis. This means that all BlameSearch results can be traced back to Arceus and Mew at the same time. Deleting BlameSearch App."

"Huh, that's not great," Ash admitted. "Are you going to do anything else?"

"I am not," Arc told him. "I would like to send a message to whoever created the app, but I have no viable way of determining who that is."

Ash thought about that, then shrugged.

"Well, anyway!" he said. "Okay, class, it's time for another lesson about physics! This time it's about a different thing, which is momentum. Who can tell me what momentum is?"

Lillie was the first to answer, this time. "It's how hard it is to stop you."

"That's a great answer!" Ash agreed. "It's how hard it is to stop you, and it's also how hard you can shove someone else. It's different from how hard you're hitting someone, though, that's energy."

He waved his hands. "So, a really fast small thing can still make a big crater, or do a lot of damage, because it's got a lot of energy, but it's much harder for it to push something backwards. Something that's heavier can be moving slower, so it has less energy, but still have more momentum… let's show some examples!"

Ash sent out Cresselia, who waved, then Pidgey.

"So, this is Cresselia!" he introduced. "She's a big Pokémon – a heavy Pokémon, really, but I'm saying big because otherwise it sounds a bit unpleasant – so it takes a lot of work to give her momentum, and she's also really tough. And this is Pidgey, she's much smaller and lighter so she's got less momentum. Which means that when Pidgey battles, she can move around a lot, but her hits aren't all that hard – she can dodge a lot!"

Pidgey began demonstrating, zipping past in one direction and then turning to go in the other direction.

"Small Pokémon have to rely either on hitting really fast, or on using attacks that don't rely on speed so much," Ash explained. "Which is to do with momentum. But if you've got a bigger Pokémon…"

Pidgey flashed white and turned into Pidgeotto.

"Whoa!" Kiawe said. "Did you plan that?"

"Yeah?" Ash replied. "Why? It's part of the lesson."

"How do you train a Pidgey to evolve on command, that's amazing," Mallow breathed.

"Pidgeotto can just evolve in both directions, that's all," Ash shrugged. "But watch, because Pidgeotto's bigger now and so she's got more momentum. It means she's got to do more work to make the same kind of turns, but it also means that if she hits a Pokémon at the same speed it hits harder and shoves them back more. Ready, Cresselia?"

Cresselia nodded.

"Quick Attack!" Ash called, and Pidgeotto slammed into Cresselia. The impact sent the floating Psychic-type backwards a bit, before she slewed to a halt and moved back to where she'd started.

"So Pidgeotto's attack hit quite hard, because of how fast she was going, but it also moved Cresselia backwards a bit," Ash pointed out. "That's momentum. Now, Pidgeot, Quick Attack!"

Pidgeot hit Cresselia, as well, and this time drove Cresselia back a lot further.

"Error!" Rotom said. "My data indicates Pidgeot is only a bit heavier than Pidgeotto. Explain?"

"Oh, yeah, someone told me this once," Ash said. "They only measure one Pokémon to get how heavy it is, and sometimes they don't get it right. Pidgeot's a lot bigger than Pidgeotto, which is why she's that much heavier… by the time you've got a Pokémon like Pidgeot, or another big one, they've got a lot more momentum so it's harder for them to steer. And they hit a lot harder, but it's harder for them to score hits like that. Thanks, Pidgeot!"

Pidgeot reverted back to Pidgey, and landed on Ash's arm.

"Now, what about a Zorua or Zoroark?" Ash asked. "How do you think a Pokémon like that could use what we've already talked about?"

"I guess they could pick if they're being heavy or light?" Lana guessed, uncertainly. "Is that something they can do?"

"Right!" Ash agreed. "And because of that, a Zorua can turn into a light Pokémon to change course and then a heavy Pokémon to hit. It means it breaks their illusion when they hit, but it's a great trick to use, especially because they can also turn into a heavy Pokémon to not be knocked around. What about a Rhyhorn?"

"They're heavy, so they've got a lot of momentum, and it's hard to knock them about," Sophocles said. "And when they charge, they hit hard."

Ash gave him a thumbs-up. "What about Cutiefly?"

"Really light," Lillie said. "They need to watch out for it."

"And Snorlax?"

"They're super hard to move!" Kiawe said. "I get it, so a Snorlax doesn't need to worry about being hit by a light Pokémon much at all, at least not from momentum and stuff."

"That's true!" Ash said, sending his out. "But there's something else, too."

Cresselia checked a map, then slid sideways a bit. "I'll bring back a souvenir from Poni."

"Snorlax, Extremespeed!" Ash ordered, and Cresselia was abruptly replaced by Snorlax. There was a faint sort of blur in the distance for a moment, though.

"See, if a heavy Pokémon like Snorlax is moving really fast, they have so much momentum they can knock another Pokémon a really, really long way," Ash concluded. "That can be helpful for all kinds of reasons!"

Chapter Text

"So, Ash, did you hear about the next big event on the Melemele calendar?" Kukui asked. "It sounds like the kind of thing that would Attract attention from you and your Pokémon!"

"I don't think I did," Ash replied, frowning. "What is it?"

"It's called the Pokémon Pancake Race!" Kukui replied. "It's a special event that celebrates Alolan-style pancakes, and… well, it's a bit silly, really. But it's good fun!"

He waved inland. "The way it works is that a team has to complete the whole course with a complete stack of about ten pancakes… it could be ten, it could be twelve, I don't remember exactly. But the important bit is that you can't drop any of them, because dropping a pancake results in elimination. Same thing for using attacks to mess with opponents."

"Oh, I get it!" Ash realized. "So it's a test of speed, but also of your ability to control something awkward while moving fast!"

"Hmm," Pikachu said, already thinking about it. "I could enjoy doing that."

"There's three steps to the race," Kukui explained. "The first step is that the trainer goes alone with the stack, then the second step has the trainer pulling the Pokémon along by wagon, and the third stage is Pokémon on their own."

"Query," Zygarde stated. "What are the restrictions on how teams are formed?"

"I… actually don't know that," Kukui confessed, once Ash had relayed the question. "Why do you ask?"

"I think Zygarde's asking for the same reason I'm asking, which is that it'd be great for some of my Pokémon to enter as a team," Ash said. "I guess it might not be fair if they're racing against humans for the first two bits, though… who organizes it? Maybe we can sort something out…"

"All right, everyone!" Anna the announcer said. "Welcome to the Pokémon Pancake Race! I'm Anna, and I'll be handling commentary for this event… and this year something new is being tried out! That's right, the Pokémon Pancake Race is now open to two kinds of team!"

She waved down at the starting line. "As you can see, there's some Pokémon at the start line as well! All-Pokémon teams are scored separately, and they have pancakes with cocoa powder mixed in so they're all dark brown and delicious in a different way entirely."

"Hoopa is looking forward to trying out those pancakes!" Hoopa added, the moment she took a breath. "Hoopa has Hoopa-rings ready to catch pancakes that would otherwise fall on the ground!"

"Hey, who are you?" Anna asked. "You're a Pokémon?"

"Hoopa is Hoopa!" Hoopa clarified. "And Hoopa is joining in in doing the commentary-ing, because Hoopa was bored which is Hoopa's normal way of being. Now, when is the race starting?"

"Phew," Kiawe said, sighing in relief. "I was getting worried seeing there were Pokémon to race against. It's a good thing we don't have to keep up with your Suicune, Ash."

"Yeah, they were really nice about it," Ash agreed. "It does feel weird, though, Pikachu's waiting up ahead and I think that's the furthest I've been away from him in months."

"Wow," Lana blinked. "That's a really impressive bond you have there, Ash. I… shouldn't be surprised by it, but I somehow am."

She adjusted her pancake plate. "The problem with this race is that you're not allowed to eat the pancakes, they really seem tasty…"

"Why not just go ahead and eat them?" asked a competitor in a trenchcoat a few places down, holding up their own light coloured pancakes.

"Huh?" Lana asked. "Did someone say something?"

"Drat," the trenchcoat-wearer muttered.

"All right, everyone, we're starting in three!" the announcer said. "Two! One! Go!"

Suicune smoothly picked up speed, the wind diverting around her to avoid blowing her chocolate pancakes off her back, and Ash's Zapdos took off in a whirl of wings. Next to them Bianca (who'd arrived from Altomare) stumbled slightly but managed to save her pancakes, and the trenchcoat guy ran ahead with a flapping sound from the moving trenchcoat.

Ash's Torkoal was doing the course on his front legs only for some reason.

"Wow, this is hard!" Bonnie said. "Hi Ash, Hoopa dropped me off and I didn't have time to say hello before!"

"Don't overdo it," Ash told her, jogging alongside instead of racing off into the distance. "Remember, you want to keep your pancakes, so it's better to go a bit slower and not drop them."

"Right!" Bonnie agreed with a nod. "It's hard but fun!"

"Hold on, did I just…" Anna began, then tried not to laugh.

"Zapdos has been disqualified!" she announced. "Cause of disqualification, eating own pancakes!"

"Hoopa thinks she should have eaten more breakfast," Hoopa said sagely. "Hoopa could have given her a lot of breakfast! And look, the first Pokémon are reaching the carts!"

Torkoal ran right past the cart where Grovyle was waiting for him.

"Hey," Grovyle said. "Are you forgetting something?"

"I will do the course on my front legs!" Torkoal replied, huffing. "And if I do not, I will do the course eight times on my front legs!"

Grovyle considered that, then shrugged. "Well, whatever. I guess if I went now I'd have a blue cat crossing my path…"

"Here!" Suicune called, braking just as fluidly as she'd accelerated. "One set of pancakes, ready to deliver."

"Incorrect," Zygarde stated. "The pancake stack required is ten pancakes. You have four and two of them have a large bite taken out of them."

"I do?" Suicune replied, then twisted her head to look back at herself. "Oh, so I do. I wonder how that happened?"

At about the same time, a few metres away, an almost invisible length of fishing wire shimmered in the sun.

An actually invisible Munchlax swung on one end, and from the invisible anchor on the other end came some distinctly Victini-like sniggers.

"Nearly there!" Glastrier said, cantering up towards the change-over station, then slid to a halt.

His pancakes kept going, and went smash on the ground.

"Oh," he said. "Oops."

Calyrex gave him an unimpressed look.

Bianca huffed her way past them, spotting her own cart, and put the pancakes in the cart before starting to pull.

"Remember!" she said. "Don't give me any help! That'd be cheating."

"I know, I know!" Latias replied, sitting in the cart herself. "And don't worry, I can make up time for us when we hit the second change over!"

In the woods off to the side, Dastardly Darkrai held a frying pan out over Victini.

"Are you sure you tied that Munchlax up properly?" he demanded.

Victini nodded, ears glowing as he heated the pan, and Darkrai poured some batter into the pan.

"We should be at the front by now," he grumbled. "Instead we're making replacement pancakes… how long is this going to take?"

Victini's ears twitched, and he sniggered.

"This tastes terrible," Munchlax complained.

"Don't eat the fishing wire!" Darkrai seethed. "Victini, do something!"

At that, Victini promptly zipped off to help sort out Munchlax. This left the frying pan without a source of heat, and Darkrai stared for a moment at the pancakes.

He was trying not to think the word congeal.

"Let's go, Turtonator!" Kiawe said, passing Turtonator the pancakes, then grabbed onto the handle and started pulling.

It took a lot of effort to even get the Fire-type to start moving.

"I don't think I thought this through," he admitted.

Honestly, I don't think I understand the rules, a voice said beside him.

Kiawe looked to the side, huffing as he tried to slowly build up speed, and saw a weird Pokémon floating next to him with a stack of outsized pancakes.

A stack of three pancakes, which turned into two as she ate one with a large fork.

Still, the pancakes are nice, Newtwo added. Good luck.

"Turrrt," Turtonator said.

"I know, I know," Kiawe replied. "I should have at least checked if you or Charizard was heavier…"

Torkoal went past for another lap.

"Thanks for the lift!" Latias said, scooping up her plate. "See you in a minute, Bianca!"

She zipped off down the course with a whoom of displaced air.

"Phew," Bianca sighed. "Maybe they should have got the Pokémon to tow the humans? No, that wouldn't work great either…"

Ash arrived next to her, and Pikachu hopped off the cart. There was a splash as he summoned a watery Surf-board, took the pancakes, and then began steadily accelerating off into the distance – pursued a few seconds later by an Alolan Raichu, who hopped onto his tail and zipped after Pikachu.

"Hi, Bianca," Ash said. "Latias went ahead, right?"

"That's right," Bianca agreed. "How are you doing here… wherever here is?"

Ash brightened. "Oh, right, I should tell you where we are. This is Melemele Island, in Alola!"

"Sorry, but what?" Raichu's partner asked. "How did you get here without knowing where you were?"

"Hoopa!" Hoopa said, sticking Hoopa's head through a Hoopa-hole. "Hoopa has taken over the role of joint organizer! Hoopa is accepting payment in pancakes – oops!"

Hoopa went back through the Hoopa-hole in the other direction, and several pancakes came flying into the air behind Hoopa. Hoopa caught them, took one off the stack and ate it in a single bite, then held the stack out to Anna. "Want one?"

"Ah, I need to be faster!" Servine decided, watching as Torkoal went past her. "Lunar Blessing!"

She threw the pancakes into the air, did a twirl as she powered up, and caught the whole stack again as it came down. "Marvellous, non?"

Nobody said anything, so she just shrugged and kept going – at least until a pancake landed in front of her, making her slip and sending all her pancakes flying forwards.

Hoopa caught some of them just before they'd hit the ground, and Servine curled up a leaf to shake in the direction the pancake had come from.

"Rude!" she called, then sighed. "Ah well. It was good exercise."

"Faster, Victini!" Darkrai called, running alongside and with his trenchcoat on the wrong way round. "We're neck and neck with the leaders! You can't lose now!"

He picked up one of his spare pancakes and threw it in front of Pikachu and Raichu, but both Electric-types just sailed over the obstruction.

"Drat!" Darkrai snapped. "Victini, do something!"

Victini ate a pancake, and Darkrai put another one of the spares on top of the stack to replace it.

"Are you sure we're the front runners?" Pikachu asked. "Ignoring for a moment the blatant cheating going on here, I'm quite sure Latias went zipping off ahead before Ash and I got to the second changeover."

"I don't want any more of that from you!" Darkrai said, snidely. "Now stand still so I can scheme!"

"Finish line's coming up," Raichu reported.

"And it looks like the leaders are coming into sight!" Anna announced. "There's Pikachu, Raichu, and a Victini! I didn't know that was one of the competitors!"

Darkrai threw a pancake, aiming to actually hit Raichu this time, but he missed. It hit the track, skidded to the side, bounced, and slid directly into Darkrai's path.

He stepped on it, and the inevitable happened – his trenchcoat came off, he cartwheeled forwards, and bumped into Victini. Then there was an almighty tangle as they slammed into the crash barriers to one side of the actual finish line, and Anna began trying to work out if Pikachu or Raichu had actually flown over the finish line first.

"Curse," Darkrai grumbled, glowing as he powered up. "Foiled again."

Meanwhile, in a forest clearing on the other side of Melemele, Latias scratched her head.

"Navigating on a race course is a lot easier when there's big glowing arrows which tell you which way to go," she said. "I may have been spoiled by video games."

Chapter Text

Bonnie, and Bianca, and the other guests for the Pancake Race, went back to Kalos and Altomare and the other places they'd been before Hoopa signed them up for the race (with complimentary mandatory transportation). The Alolans stayed in Alola, though, and so did Ash, and two days later it was time for him to do another lesson.

"So today we're talking about water!" Ash said. "And ice, a bit, too, but mostly water. What do you know about water?"

"There's fresh and salt water," Lana said. "I hope I know enough about it because Popplio's a water-type and my family have several Water-type Pokémon!"

"Oh, you don't just mean the Type, right?" Kiawe checked. "Uh… I guess it rains?"

"We already did that one, didn't we?" Mallow said. "You get… salt water in the sea, and fresh water in rain, and they act differently I think? You can't drink the sea, but besides that. It's not safe for most plants either."

"Good," Ash told her. "Yeah, Grass types can usually cope with salt water okay in a battle, but it can be bad for them if they have to deal with it for a long time and they're not used to it. But there's a few other things to know about water before we really get started. Anyone else?"

Sophocles raised a hesitant hand.

"It's used for cooling things down, right?" he asked. "That sounds really silly now I say it."

"It's a good answer!" Ash replied. "You see, water takes a lot of heat to warm it up. A really massive amount, actually, it's harder to heat up water than a lump of iron or stone that weighs the same. That's one reason why it's good against the Fire type."

"Oh!" Lana said. "It conducts electricity! Especially salt water, which is why it's weak to Electric attacks!"

"Right," Ash agreed. "But there's special cases there."

"Ice floats," Lillie said. "That's unusual."

Ash nodded. "Well spotted! Yes, that is unusual, we're just used to it because there's so much water and ice in the world. But if you melt something else, then the solid sinks to the bottom of the liquid instead of floating on top."

Popplio came out of her Pokéball. "I've got one! I've got one!" she said. "Can I give an answer?"

Ash nodded, and Popplio formed a bubble before bouncing it on her nose.

"It's see through!" she said. "Nearly, anyway. And it's got currents in it, too."

"It is see through, isn't it?" Kiawe realized. "It's not like, uh, lava. Even if you could swim in lava."

"We might do volcanoes in another lesson," Ash replied. "Maybe if Lokoko can learn Entrainment..."

He thought for a moment, then held up a Dive Ball. "Let's start by having a look at water!"

Silver came out with a flash. "Hi, everyone!"

"This is Silver," Ash introduced the young Lugia. "He's going to show us some of how water works. Okay, Silver, Hydro Pump!"

"Shouldn't we-" Lana began, then stopped and watched in surprise as the Hydro Pump didn't blast the whole classroom. Instead, Silver took control of it with Extrasensory only a moment after the attack came out of his mouth, and it formed into a giant spherical water-globe.

"Ooh," Popplio gasped. "That's the kind of thing I really want to do! Only, as a bubble with air in it, not a giant water blob by itself."

"So, this is water!" Ash said. "And it makes a really good shield, if you can move it around, because it's heavy – a lot heavier than air, after all! - and you can see through it, plus if someone tries to get rid of the water by burning it away or freezing it it'll take a lot of energy to do it."

He sent out Buizel next, and the Water-type took a run-up before jumping into the bubble with a splash.

"Buizel's showing how you can swim around underwater," Ash added. "That sounds obvious, but it's good to think about it when you get a chance, since battling on water or in water you sometimes can't see what your Pokémon is doing. Underwater you can be attacked from a lot more different directions, but you can also dodge in more different directions, so it's a trade off… and, even though a lot of attacks have to push through the water and lose their power, you can use the water to hit someone and it's different. A move like Whirlpool can really cause a Pokémon trouble if it hits them underwater… but now let's see something else cool. Buizel, Aqua Ring!"

Buizel swam to the top of the bubble, sprang out, used Aqua Ring, and dropped right back in again.

"Suicune!" Ash added, and got Suicune (which was a bit of a novelty). "Suicune has a special power where she can make water pure. That changes how it works, but first, Pikachu, Thundershock!"

Pikachu directed a jet of electricity at Buizel, and the attack lit up the whole sphere. Buizel's Aqua Ring dropped out of him with a muffled brring sound, and he let it hover there for a few seconds before going to pick it up again.

"So that's an Electric attack against normal water," Ash said. "Now, if Suicune makes it so the water is super-pure, so it's just water and nothing else at all…"

Suicune tapped the water with her paw, and Pikachu used Thundershock again.

This time the pattern of lightning was different, fizzing around the outside instead of going into the middle.

"That's because water conducts electricity, not because it's water, but because of other things in the water!" Ash said. "Salt water conducts electricity more easily, and really pure water doesn't, but it has to be really pure."

Then the egg by Lillie's desk hatched into an Alolan Vulpix.

"Good afternoon, little one," Suicune said, with a nod. "It's nice to meet you."

Vulpix looked at her, then at the giant bubble of water.

"Are you going to stop the lesson?" she asked. "I was learning things. Are you going to do ice next?"

"We'll get started again in a bit!" Ash said. "But I think we all want to say hello to you first!"

"Hello," Lillie supplied. "You have good manners."

"You haven't seen me when I'm annoyed," Vulpix replied. "I haven't seen me when I'm annoyed. Maybe I do?"

Everyone said hello to Vulpix, and she said hello back, and after that Ash resumed by talking about surface tension.

"Water likes to cling together," he explained. "It's why when a window or floor gets wet, but not too wet,you see drops on it instead of a sort of flat layer, because the water pulls itself together. It's like there's a bit of a skin on it, and it's how Surskit skim across water… it's not very strong by itself, but Pokémon can make it stronger and so you can do some neat things with it. Like how my Greninja uses a lot of his water attacks!"

"Your Greninja?" Sophocles asked. "Oh, are you going to send him out?"

"I bet he's already in here," Togedemaru guessed, looking around. "They're ninja, so they can be really sneaky."

"Or maybe that's just what they want us to think," Bounsweet said.

"But maybe that's what he'd want us to think, and so he really is hiding," Mallow frowned. "I'm confused."

Greninja came in through the door.

"Grovyle said that as a ninja I should arrive late," he said. "And say that it's because a Litten crossed my path or I was helping someone with groceries. I don't really get it myself."

"Hi, Greninja!" Ash waved. "Great timing!"

"Oh, I must have got it wrong, then," Greninja decided. "If I'm not late or early, maybe I got ninja confused with wizard."

He used Water Shuriken, and left it spinning on his palm for everyone to see.

"So it's not just surface tension making the water attack shaped like that," Ash explained, to everyone. "Otherwise it'd just be sort of a blob. But surface tension's involved in making sure it has definite edges, and also in making it so it hits instead of just splashing."

"There's a lot more behind Pokémon moves than I thought," Kiawe admitted.

"Now, let's move on to ice!" Ash said. "Like Lillie said, ice floats, but ice is a weird substance by itself too. Let's have some, Buizel!"

Buizel used Ice Shard, resulting in a dozen little pieces of ice floating around inside Silver's water bubble. Then the Psychic-type extracted them, and Greninja put one each on everyone's desks to pick up.

"So the first obvious thing about ice is that it's cold," Ash said. "And even though Ice is weak to Fire, it actually takes a lot of heat to melt ice, so an Ice-type can use ice to shield itself from fire if it's careful about it."

Vulpix nodded.

"Should I take notes?" she asked.

"I'll do it," Lillie said.

"But that's not all there is about ice," Ash explained. "You can freeze other things into the water that ice is made of, like air bubbles, and if you make ice colder it also makes it harder to damage. That's because a lot of how ice moves about is because it's sort of… squishing around a bit, and the colder it is the harder it is to make those happen. Ice can also block electricity if it's cold enough that there's no water channels for the electricity to go down… oh, yeah! So, here's a question for everyone – what do you think would happen if Silver froze this ball of water?"

"It'd get colder?" Mallow suggested.

"If it's still moving, it would freeze in a weird way, right?" Lana guessed.

"Oh!" Kiawe said. "He'd drop it, because it'd be slippery now!"

Vulpix raised her paw.

"I think I have a guess?" she said. "Lillie said that ice got bigger when it froze, so if he froze it from the outside, it'd build up pressure as more of the ice froze. And then it'd explode."

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "Now, Silver, send that water ball outside and let's demonstrate!"

After the bits of ice shrapnel had finished falling, they sorted out what to do with Vulpix by going to visit Principal Oak.

He explained that he'd had it planned that one of the members of the class would get Vulpix as their Pokémon, and that he'd be keeping an eye on her to see how she was different from his own newly-hatched Fire-type Vulpix, but that it really was up to them who got her.

"It wouldn't make sense for me to decide," the Principal added. "I've already had my pix today!"

"Hmm," Kiawe said. "I say Lillie gets first pick!"

"I agree!" Lana agreed. "Lillie, it's up to you."

"And Vulpix," Ash reminded them.

"I think…" Lillie began, then clenched her fists.

"I want to be able to say yes," she said. "If Vulpix wants to be my Pokémon, then I want to be her trainer, but I don't know if I can be."

"Then let's give it a try," Vulpix said. "I can be patient. I think. I don't know that about myself yet."

She scratched her head. "Should I have a name? Greninja is Greninja, but Lokoko is Lokoko."

Everyone looked at Lillie, who went red.

"The only name I can think of is Snowy," she admitted.

"I'll take it!" the new Snowy declared. "Looks like you're stuck with me."

"Then let's get back to the lesson!" Ash said. "We can talk about how skating works, because it's something where nobody quite knows how it works but they've got a good guess…"

"Isn't it just that ice is slippery?" Silver said.

"That's right, ice is slippery," Ash agreed. "But the big question is why it's slippery!"

Chapter Text

Rockruff glanced around, floppy ears doing their best to twitch, and glanced towards Professor Kukui's room.

Nothing beyond the sound of a sleeping human.

From Ash's room there was no sound at all.

Getting out of their bed, Rockruff slowly padded across the floor, then slipped outside.

It was a bright night, with the moon three-quarters full and only a little bit of wispy cloud, and Rockruff sniffed the air before nodding.

It was time to go to the Clawmark Hill again, and-

"Hi!" Ash said.

Rockruff jumped a foot in the air.

"Don't do that!" they complained, after landing and managing to avoid falling over. "What are you doing up? It's nearly midnight!"

"Yeah, but Rowlet's an owl, remember?" Ash said. "And I'm trying to help him get better at battling when it's not sunny to charge him up. I know he spends a lot of time sleeping, that's not really a thing I can change, but if he can sleep most of the time and be full of energy the rest of the time, even if it's not sunny, then he's in a really good position."

He waved overhead, and Rockruff squinted to see a sort of misty blur overhead which Rowlet went swooping through.

"Noctowl's helping," Ash explained. "He's making illusion targets for Rowlet to practice against, we're going to keep going until Rowlet is completely exhausted, then see how much sunlight charging it takes to get him ready to go again. That way we'll be able to tell how much of Rowlet needing rest is psychosomatic and how much is just how much charging he needs… then we can set him up so he can charge himself, maybe, but that's a longer term project. For now that's what we're working on."

Rowlet went through another misty shape, this one close enough to see as a faux smoke ring, and Noctowl passed soundlessly overhead.

"So, what wakes you up?" Ash asked. "Are you going off to meet other wild Pokémon?"

"Sort of," Rockruff replied, a bit evasively.

"Well, I'd like to meet them!" Ash said. "If you think they'd be okay with it."

"I…" Rockruff began, then thought about it again. "Actually, I honestly don't know what they'd think – look, when are you planning on sleeping?"

"Eventually," Ash replied. "I don't have a lesson tomorrow, so I can spend all night working with my Pokémon if I want. I'm also thinking about what do to in the next lesson, so I can give anyone who's going to get involved enough warning…"

He shook his head. "But, anyway! Noctowl can train Rowlet wherever, so how about if I come along? If your friends wouldn't want a human to be around I can deal with that…"

"When you said you could deal with it, I was not expecting it to be that way," Rockruff said, glancing back. "In hindsight I'm not sure why I wasn't expecting it to be that way."

Ashbsol shrugged.

"Okay, we're nearly here," Rockruff added. "Just… stay out of the centre area if you don't want to get involved, I guess."

With that, they stepped forwards, and joined a collection of other Pokémon around a claw-shaped rock.

"Attention!" called a Midday Lycanroc. "What is the first rule of Clawmark Hill?"

"We talk about Clawmark Hill to Pokémon who might be interested," the assembled Pokémon replied.

"What's the second rule of Clawmark Hill?" a Midnight Lycanroc asked.

"This is about fighting, so don't be surprised if you get in a fight!" the Pokémon answered.

"Third rule?"

"Stop if you tell us to, stop if the other one gives up, stop if you think you might really hurt them, give up if you think you might be really hurt."

"Right!" Midday agreed. "Who's first?"

Rockruff raised their paw, and a Magmar put up her hand, so the other Pokémon backed off to let them fight.

"I don't get it," Rowlet said, landing with a flop on Ashbsol's back and making faint exhausted owl noises. "What's going on?"

"It's like Pokémon training, but doing it by having the Pokémon battle one another directly?" Ash guessed, in Mew. "It's great they've got rules like that to stop Pokémon from getting beaten up if they don't want to be."

"Are you all right?" a nearby Mankey asked. "It sounds like you've got a cold or something."

"I was taught to speak like this by Mew!" Ash replied.

"Huh," Mankey frowned.

Then Magmar fire-punched Rockruff, who went bouncing backwards with a yelp before getting back to their paws.

"That looked painful," Noctowl observed. "I wonder what they're planning to do… do they know any Rock type moves?"

"Not sure," Ash answered. "Maybe knowing a Rock-type move would help, if Rockruff doesn't know one yet… they're really determined, though."

"Bite!" Rockruff yipped, jaws opening and then slamming closed again with a tchack sound, and Magmar retaliated by hosing her opponent down with Ember. Then she used Feint Attack, and Rockruff went flying backwards to hit the nearest prong of Clawmark Hill.

"Rrrf," the Rock-type snarled, picking themselves up, but Midday Lycanroc jumped in front of them.

"No," the older Pokémon insisted. "If you keep going you'll be pushing yourself too hard."

"But-" Rockruff said, then swallowed their objection.

"Next!" Midnight called.

"I guess you want to get stronger, huh?" Ash checked, once they were on the way home. "It seemed like you were annoyed."

"I was annoyed," Rockruff agreed. "I am annoyed! I want to get stronger but this isn't working right, there's part of me that just demands that I improve but every time I go up to Clawmark Hill… I enjoy it while it's happening, but then I haven't improved enough and it feels like wasted time."

Ash hummed to himself, thinking.

"What about if you train with my team?" he asked. "The way Rowlet and Noctowl are working together now, that's still about improving, right?"

"I guess," Rockruff agreed. "It feels weird, but… I guess."

They frowned. "I… don't have to be your Pokémon or anything, do I?"

"Not at all!" Ash said. "Remember Zygarde? They've trained with my team, but they're still not my Pokémon mostly because they haven't asked."

"Then I want to be," Rockruff decided, all in a rush. "And – if I can get stronger, then – um…"

They looked at Ashbsol again.

"Is it weird that my instincts are saying that I'll get stronger really fast with you?" they asked. "Normally they just mean I have moods, but now it's like I'm getting a big flashing sign."

Ash shrugged.

"Don't know," he admitted. "Mew might, though… so, what about if we start you training alongside Rowlet? I'll go get some rocks and you can try throwing them at him while he flies overhead."

"You're not going to catch me first?" Rockruff asked. "...what about – I'm very confused."

"Well, aim helps with Rock Throw," Ash said. "And getting used to throwing rocks must help too! Plus it'll help Rowlet with situational awareness and stuff. And if you still want to be my Pokémon we can sort it out later, that way you have time to change your mind after I'm not an Absol any more."

"And… how much is that, Ibid?" Ash asked.

"Two hours of sunlight and rest, then four hours of sunlight while flying at speed," Ibid answered. "Then Rowlet was completely exhausted again."

"That's actually a good result!" Ash decided. "That means that Rowlet does use energy faster than he picks it up, even when it's sunny, but it also means that a full charge up will let him battle for almost a full night, right?"

"Correct," Ibid confirmed.

"He'd have to be more careful when it's cloudy, but… yeah, I think a lot of it really is just the difference between something being tiring and something exhausting you," Ash said.

Rockruff was watching in amazement.

"I'd never have believed Rowlet could do that," they admitted, as the Grass-type sunbathed to recharge. "How did you know he could?"

"A lot of what matters with Pokémon is how determined they are!" Ash answered. "And if Rowlet hadn't been willing to work that hard – hadn't wanted to work that hard – then that would have been fine. But doing something once is how you prove to yourself that that's a thing you can do, and after that you're just doing it again instead of trying to do something completely new."

"I think I get that," Rockruff said, frowning.

Ash pointed at Pikachu, who'd taken over from Rockruff in giving Rowlet something to dodge after breakfast – giving Rockruff time to catch a quick nap. "It's exactly how Pikachu turned Thunder That Breaks The Earth from a thing that happened one day into a consistent move he can even teach to other Pokémon… anyway, we've been working on you throwing a rock, so far, but the next step is going to be adding something more into it. Do you think you need more rest?"

"I think having a proper sleep would be nice, but… not yet," Rockruff decided. "Maybe this evening. I want to see what's coming next, first."

"This should be interesting," Pikachu said. "I'm trying to guess where this is going to go."

"Well, you know how Accelerock is a move that Rockruff and Lycanrock are known for learning?" Ash asked.

"You mean it's our exclusive move, right?" Rockruff said. "Even though I don't know it yet."

"Well, Buizel knows it, and I don't think there's any moves that aren't special Z-moves or things like that that are really exclusive," Ash replied. "But it's a move a lot of you learn, and that made me think that you could do really well from learning Stealth Rock!"

Rockruff's head tilted. "Huh?"

"Oh, I think I see," Pikachu said. "Hold on, I'll demonstrate."

He held out his paw, sparks flickering around it, and a Thunderstone came flying out of the door to Professor Kukui's house.

"Nice work, Pikachu!" Ash said. "You even made sure it wouldn't just smash right through the window."

"Tapu Koko's done enough of that to that house," Pikachu said, catching the Thunderstone. "What I think Ash is talking about, Rockruff, is like this."

He threw it away, then jumped in the air as it came back, and used it as a platform to jump off.

"Right!" Ash agreed. "That's half of it, and then the other half – use your Surf board to jump off, this time, but hit the Thunderstone with Sky Uppercut to launch it!"

Rockruff watched as Pikachu launched the Thunderstone high into the air.

"I… um…" they said, frowning. "Hold on, I think I get the idea… so if I use Stealth Rock like that, then I have platforms in the air to kick off, ride, and use as rock projectiles whenever I need them?"

"Exactly!" Ash agreed. "You can even hide behind them as shields! So, let's try and get the basics of the move working… oh, yeah, and now you can start throwing rocks at me!"

He switched back to Ashbsol. "Don't worry, I can dodge all right."

"...I'll be honest, I thought that potion had worn off," Rockruff admitted. "How did you do that?"

"Ash has the Illusion ability, as an Absol," Pikachu clarified, now juggling his Thunderstone with tail thwacks. "Actually, if you want to work on aim, you can use this one for Rock Throws and then work on trying to get Stealth Rock working while I retrieve it."

"Why are you not a Raichu?" Rockruff asked.

"Personal preference and something or other about Galar," Pikachu shrugged, then caught the 'stone and shaded his eyes. "Hey, Ash, look."

"Huh?" Ash asked, then tilted his head so his blade shaded his eyes. "Oh, yeah! Hi, Cresselia!"

Cresselia came in to land, and took a large cooler off her back with a faint glow of Extrasensory.

"Anyone want some shave ice?" she asked, opening the lid with an emblazoned Vast Poni Canape logo on it. "Technically the cooler's the souvenir, but these are nice."

Chapter Text

As part of what was either a class event or just several people deciding to do the same thing at the same time, the whole of Kukui's class gathered at the kitchen run by Mallow's father for a bite to eat.

"This should be interesting," Lokoko said, curling her tails around to give herself a seat. "I might have to ask for a little advice on how things are done, if the cooks are willing to give it."

"I didn't know you were a cook, Mrs. Lokoko," Lana replied. "Are you? It sounds like you are."

"I've sometimes helped Ash's mother at the cafe she's set up," Lokoko told her. "It's a nice way to spend a little time, especially with my wife, because she works as a time and motion consultant. And providing translation helps the guests connect better with their Pokémon, as well."

"That sounds helpful," Lillie said.

She looked at the seat to her right, where Snowy was snoozing while wearing a little hat, and reached out to brush her fingers along the hat – not quite touching Snowy's fur, but so close there wasn't much difference.

"I don't know if I'd have got on with Snowy as well without being able to ask her what she liked or didn't like," she added. "I – oh!"

Snowy had made a sort of mrfle noise, and nosed her muzzle gently into Lillie's hand. Lillie tensed, then – slowly – relaxed without pulling her hand away.

"I think you're putting in a lot of effort," Lokoko decided. "And that's important. It might even be more important than anything else."

She tilted her head. "Well. I'm not going to say that you wouldn't have it easier if you didn't have your fear of Pokémon. You probably would. But if you didn't have your fear, and also didn't have that determination to do what's right, then… well."

Mallow leaned out of the kitchen. "Ash, can I borrow Pikachu? I need something to replace an ingredient that's supposed to add spark."

"Hmm," Lokoko said.

"How much spark?" Ash asked. "Pikachu mostly does really powerful attacks. If you want a bit of electricity, you might be better off with someone else."

"I'm more concerned about replacing an ingredient with an attack," Lokoko admitted. "Fire and spice are closely related, but you wouldn't want to overcook something spicy and you certainly wouldn't want to overcook it instead of adding spice."

"Maybe it depends on if it's the right kind of spice?" Ash asked. "Like how you can use Natural Gift to do a typed attack, it could be reversing that… but Pikachu hasn't worked on that so we couldn't use it now, even if it worked that way."

"Probably," Mallow sighed. "It's a pity… it's a recipe my brother sent me, from an old manuscript, and the ingredient's supposed to leave a real shocking aftertaste! But I wouldn't want to ruin good food just to try and get something right for the first time."

"Well… we should go looking!" Ash suggested. "If it's an Alolan recipe, there should be some of it somewhere, right?"

"It's out of season," Mallow said. "Yellow Nectar is used, but not right now. I might have to wait months."

"Yellow nectar," Ash repeated. "Right, I get it, that's the one that changes Oricorio to their Electric-type style. Like how there's all those other nectars that mostly aren't around that change Oricorio to their Fairy-type style, and things like that."

"Fairy-type?" Sophocles repeated. "Oricorio doesn't have a Fairy-type form."

"That's right, because they can't get the nectar," Ash agreed. "The only one I've seen was when a Fairy-type Gym Leader took a magic potion that turned her into a Pokémon, that's what it turned her into, then Mew explained about how there were other Oricorio forms which don't have the right flower support."

Mallow had started nodding politely.

"Hmm," Ash added, frowning. "Hey, Mallow, it'd be a disaster if you couldn't make this recipe for months, right?"

"It would," Mallow said, with a sigh.

"Then let's go!" Ash decided. "We'll find that nectar, follow me!"

The others watched him leave.

"So… is this a lesson?" Kiawe asked. "I don't know if it's a lesson or not."

"I should… probably go," Mallow said, scooping up Bounsweet. "Aren't you coming, Lokoko?"

"I'm staying here so I can translate for everyone else," Lokoko answered. "You'll be with Ash, so he can translate for you."

She raised her voice slightly. "Excuse me? Would it be too much bother if we got a snack to tide us over until my trainer's finished hunting for a possibly impossible ingredient? I understand if it would be."

"You seem to know just where you're going," Mallow said, hurrying to catch up with Ash, Pikachu and Zygarde. "Did you hear about something secret? Did a Legendary Pokémon tell you?"

"No, it'd just be a disaster if you didn't manage to make the meal you're trying to make," Ash replied. "That's what makes it easy!"

"Right," Mallow decided. "I think I follow that… I think."

Ash turned one way, changed his mind, and went another. "Hmm… I guess I should send Rowlet out as well, it's a nice day and he can get some charge!"

The Grass-type came out of his Pokéball with a flash and began orbiting overhead, wings shimmering faintly as he took in sunlight, then he flew higher.

Came back down.

"There's a funny looking Pokémon up ahead!" he reported. "They look familiar."

"Familiar how?" Bounsweet checked.

"What did Bounsweet say?" Mallow asked.

"She was asking Rowlet for details about the Pokémon he'd seen up ahead," Ash clarified. "Which, well, he was looking left a bit, so they must just be down this way!"

Ash was right.

It was Tapu Koko.

"Hey, you!" Tapu Koko said, striking a pose. "Let's fight! I challenge you to a battle, to see you do a Z-move!"

"I guess it's time for us to try out that Electricium Z, Pikachu!" Ash declared. "Get ready!"

"Okay, so, watch carefully!" Tapu Koko said, once Ash had fitted the Electric-type Z-crystal to his Z-ring. "Pose like this!"

He struck three poses, one after another.

"What's Tapu Koko doing?" Mallow asked. "That is Tapu Koko, right? I think that's how they look but I can't remember for sure!"

"Yeah, I think that's Tapu Koko," Ash agreed. "And he told me to pose like that… so that's the Z-move poses, I think. Pikachu, ready?"

"Ready!" Pikachu agreed.

"Then it's a battle!" Tapu Koko said, and an Electric Terrain formed around them. Pikachu's fur promptly lit up as he drew in the currents of energy, and Zygarde raised their paw.

"I have a question," they informed the Tapu. "Do you actually know what you are getting into here?"

"No!" Tapu Koko replied, clearly. "Do you know another way I could find out first hand?"

Zygarde considered this.

"Activating multiplexing," they said. "Ash, please inform Mallow that she should take cover."

"Sure," Ash confirmed. "Mallow, can you hide behind Zygarde?"

"Behind Zygarde?" Mallow repeated. "How-"

Then Zygarde was the focus of hundreds of Cells pouring in on them from all over the area, and transitioned to 100 Percent Form.

"...oh," Mallow decided, then decided to do just as Ash had passed on.

"Let's do this, Pikachu!" Ash called, striking a pose. Pikachu did the same, and a flare of brilliant energy lit up around him.

Tapu Koko nodded, approvingly, then slammed his armour closed.

"Endure," he said, in a muffled sort of voice.

Then Pikachu used something which started out as Thunderbolt, went through Thunder That Breaks The Earth, and apparently kept going a bit further on the other side.

"This was a good decision," Tapu Koko said, opening up his armour again. "I definitely do not regret making sure I used Endure."

He couldn't see Pikachu any more, but that was mostly because he was now at the bottom of… quite a large crater.

"Very good!" he added. "Don't be discouraged if your Z crystal exploded, it does that sometimes."

"It hasn't exploded, but it did turn into a different one for a bit," Ash replied, padding to the edge of the crater, as behind him Zygarde degenerated back into 10 Percent Form. "I'll have to let Professor Oak know about that… did you know that two Pokémon could do Z moves together?"

"Of course I did," Tapu Koko said. "It has to be a very strong bond one way or another, at least. I did not know you were a Pokémon, though."

"Not usually, but it hasn't worn off yet after I helped Rockruff," Ashbsol explained.

Tapu Koko nodded, glad to have the explanation.

"Well, you've definitely got my approval," he said, rummaging around inside his armour. "I'll give you a Z… ah. Hm. I would give you a Z-crystal but the Normalium Z I was carrying appears to have been exploded."

He shrugged. "Well, I'll get back to you. So long!"

"That was neat!" Ash decided. "How was your first Z-move, Pikachu?"

"Tiring," Pikachu said, lying on his back. "I think it was a bad idea to use Thunder That Breaks The Earth as the base move for that… that's tiring enough even without it being a Z move."

Ash reapplied his Illusion, then picked up Pikachu and put him on his shoulder.

"Let's go look for that nectar!" he said.

"What just happened?" Mallow asked. "A Tapu just appeared out of nowhere and showed you how to do a Z move! The Z move blew a giant hole in the ground! Your Z-crystal transformed into one with a Pikachu tail on it! It turned you into a Pokémon!"

"Oh, no, that's just magic," Ash replied. "I don't know if you saw the Sinnoh Grand Festival… was it last year or the year before… my friend Dawn did the same thing, she turned into a Plusle. For me I just turn into an Absol, and the shockwave broke my Illusion."

"That makes less sense!" Mallow said. "Are you some kind of… magic superhero teacher?"

"I think all of those words apply to Ash individually, so yes," Pikachu said.

"Isn't Iris the superhero?"

"You are definitely the Rainbow Hero," Marshadow reminded Ash. "Which might count."

"I guess," Ash frowned. "Anyway, that's not the first Z-crystal I've had which does that. I wonder if they can all do that."

Mallow gaped.

"I don't-" she began, then stopped. "Why… I'm so confused."

"I can help," Zygarde said. "Among the data gathered during my gestalt was the location of a stand of yellow flowers which regularly have Oricorio visitors."

"Then that must be the source of the Yellow Nectar!" Ash said. "Let's go, Mallow!"

"Sincere note," Porygon said. "Pikachu continues to insist that they are really Mimikyu. Sarcastic addition: It is as if they think that this will somehow change the minds of the leadership team."

"You can shut up," Mimikyu grumbled.

"Self-evident statement: I clearly cannot," Porygon replied.

Mimikyu made a noise like a deflating balloon.

"Interested observation: It appears one of Twerp One's Pokémon has been 'pretending' to be Pikachu quite successfully," Porygon added. "Clarification: including the characteristic extremely large electric attacks."

"Then how can you not get it through your thick bulk-head that that's the real Pikachu?" Mimikyu demanded, kicking the Hikokyu internalwall in an ineffective sort of way.

"Amusement," Porygon said. "You assume I am also confused."

"Then why haven't you told them?" Mimikyu asked.

Their voice was sort of strangled, and Porygon let it fade before giving a simple reply.

"Amusement: Amusement."

"Alola!" Kiawe called, as they returned to the kitchen. "How did it go?"

"And didn't you have a Bounsweet?" Sophocles added. "That's a Steenee. Did she evolve or is that a new one?"

"Same old me, mostly," Steenee said. "I may have dreamed some of what happened though, I'm not entirely clear?"

"I don't even know at this point," Mallow groaned. "We got the Yellow Nectar, at least, so… I'll just go and finish your food."

Chapter Text

"Three, two, one… now!" Ash said, swiping his arm down, and Rockruff barked.

Their rocky ruff glowed, and sand clumped together into small pieces of sandstone.

"Is that all right?" they asked. "I'm not sure if that really counts as rock."

"I think it's still rocks," Ash judged. "Zygarde could tell you for sure, but I think there's hard rock and crumbly rock. You just need to keep in mind what kind it is… but the plus side is, they're more stealth even if they are less rock."

"Oh, good point!" Rockruff admitted. "Thanks, I didn't think of that. Okay, so… now I make them float…"

They kept concentrating, and the rocks started orbiting.

"Great!" Ash said. "Now, Rowlet, ready?"

"Ready!" Rowlet agreed, and came swooping down.

Rockruff tensed, then jumped forwards. They kicked off one floating rock, then another, and spun one around in front of them to act as a paw-hold to spring off and up at Rowlet himself.

The Grass-type did a roll, holding out his wing, and Rockruff's paw slapped into it. The Rock-type then started to fall, concentrated, and one of the sandstone rocks slid underneath them to catch them.

"Well done, Rockruff!" Ash praised. "Let's see another one… this time get ready to defend! Rowlet, do your best to keep your Leafage weak!"

"Will do!" Rowlet chirped, as Rockruff balanced on their Stealth Rock rock.

"Come back down," Ash decided. "Let's focus on moving the rocks around when you're not also balancing on one, for now."

"Right," Rockruff said, jumping down to ground level again. "Okay, ready!"

Rowlet did a roll, then flapped both wings abruptly forwards. He stopped, but several leaves didn't, and Rockruff yelped and hid behind one of their floating rocks.

It disintegrated in a cloud of sandstone, leaving Rockruff covered in sand, and Zygarde came walking over to sniff the next Stealth Rock.

"Hmm," they said. "Not very well welded, but that's loosely consolidated sandstone for you. Don't worry about it."

"Did I make that too powerful?" Rowlet asked. "Maybe I should go and unsunbathe to weaken myself a bit."

"It sounds like it should be fine, don't worry," Ash told him. "Maybe we should try again with another rock?"

"Maybe," Rockruff considered, shaking themselves out to remove the sand from their fur. "Or… hey, wait a minute."

Their paw thumped into their breast. "I just realized something. Stealth Rock lets me make and move rocks around. And I'm rock."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Ash agreed, enthusiastically. "Hey, maybe that's how Rock-type Geodudes do it, they're stealthy rocks…"

Further exploration of autolevitation had to wait, though, as Litten came hurrying up.

"I need help," she said. "Stoutland needs help, he's… can you? Please?"

"Sure," Ash agreed. "Should I turn into Absol again?"

"I – no, I don't think so," Litten answered, dancing on her paws with tension and impatience. "I, he might need help, I know I can trust you that's why I came to find you… please help!"

Ash pulled Arc out of his pocket, starting to run, and Litten turned around to scamper off.

Rockruff and Rowlet exchanged glances.

"Think we'll be needed?" Rockruff asked.

"Probably not," Rowlet decided. "Let's see if we can do more rock moving."

"He's been getting weaker and weaker for a while," Litten explained, anxiously. "But today he was really tired… I don't know what to do."

"I think I'm going to ask for help," Ash decided, as Dr. Agonite placed a stethoscope on Stoutland's chest. "Arc, I don't know if my Yveltal is fully up to date on the rules, so we might need experts. Can you get the non-shiny Xerneas and Yveltal?"

"Sending request," Arc said.

Litten stopped bouncing on her paws with nervous energy, mostly because she was staring at Ash instead.

"Did you just say…" she began. "Really?"

A golden ring appeared, and Yveltal flew through. Then another one, which Xerneas used to carefully enter the building.

A third deposited Tapu Fini.

"Oh, hello," she said. "Your golden one contacted me. I heard from Tapu Koko that you were in our islands. How are you enjoying them?"

"They're nice places," Ash told her. "Most of my time's been on Melemele so far, but Cresselia really enjoyed Poni so I'm looking forward to visiting."

Litten had dropped into a bow.

"What seems to be the problem?" Yveltal asked.

"It's Stoutland," Litten explained. "He's so old, I'm worried about him… I don't know what to do."

Xerneas examined him, the points of her horns lighting up.

"You are right to worry," she said. "Stoutland's life is nearly spent. He could last a little longer, without help, but a major intervention would be necessary to do more."

"Then help him!" Litten demanded.

"It is not that simple," Yveltal told her. "But you are a friend of Ash, so we will explain in full. Death is the end of life, but it is not the end of the person."

Stoutland had heaved himself up on one paw, and was watching carefully.

"There are many fates that await, after someone has died," Yveltal added. "Those who feel their business unfinished can come back as ghosts; those who wish to try again can be reborn; those who desire neither may pass on into the worlds beyond, according to where they truly believe they will go."

He gave Ash the side-eye. "Including, though I did not know this before, 'conga'."

"What?" Litten asked, then shook her head. "But – what about – can't you help him?"

"Litten," Stoutland said. "I am old. I know that, and you know that. And there are Pokémon and people who I miss, those who I lost before ever I met you."

He smiled. "I haven't regretted any of our time together. But there are Pokémon waiting for me."

"I don't want you to go," Litten said, softly.

"If it would help, I can arrange a visit," Tapu Fini told her. "That is why I am here, in fact."

She held up a palm, which swirled with mist. "I can breach the bounds between this world and the next, but… it is not something that is healthy for a living being, for long. Nevertheless, Stoutland will be able to visit you."

Litten looked at the Legendary Pokémon, one by one, then at Stoutland.

"Why does it have to be this way?" she asked, turning back to Yveltal, then Xerneas. "Why can't you make him live longer?"

"Because he does not want to," Xerneas said.

"For a hundred reasons, many of them too technical to explain, but the simplest is to say that that is not the purpose of this world," Yveltal explained. "It is the purpose of the many next worlds."

"And because if Ho-Oh got involved he'd probably end up as a Cyclizard or something," Xerneas said.

"Well, then, it seems my time has come," Stoutland said, and closed his eyes. "Goodbye."

Xerneas coughed.

"When I said that your life was nearly spent…" she began. "I meant that you could have a few more quite painless months with human medical centre help. Just to be clear."

"...oh," Stoutland said. "That is a bit embarrassing."

Ash helped get Stoutland to the Pokémon Centre, and explained the situation, and Nurse Joy nodded sadly before saying (both to Stoutland and to Litten) that the old Pokémon would get the best care possible and that everything should be all right for him.

"Thank you," Litten said, swallowing. "I… thank you for that."

She looked up. "But what am I going to do now, Stoutland? You've always been there to help me out… what now?"

Stoutland chuckled gently. "Litten," he said. "There is a Pokémon trainer who you already trust enough to get help from, literally standing right there."

Litten looked at Ash, then back at Stoutland.

"...oh yeah."

"You don't have to join my team to get help!" Ash said. "It'd be nice, but Zygarde isn't part of my team, they just travel around with me. And I was helping Rockruff before they decided to join my team, too."

"I think I'd quite like to join," Litten decided, in a rush. "Stoutland's right, I do trust you, and… I think if I changed my mind you'd just let me go? And that's really… good," she finished. "It's good. I like it."

"Then I'm glad to have you on the team," Ash said. "Let's go back to Kukui's house, and I'll introduce you properly to some of the other team members… and I can get back to that training session Rockruff and Rowlet were in the middle of."

"It's a fine thing to meet you!" King Dragonite said, offering his hand to shake. "I'm King Dragonite. I'm the elected monarch of the Dragon-type Pokémon on Ash's team, plus anyone else who is by royal appointment."

Then he gave her a hug.

"Whoof!" Litten gasped, a little flicker of flame coming out of her muzzle, then managed to wriggle free. "Warn a cat before you do something like that!"

"Sorry," King Dragonite said, looking sad. "Hugs are nice, though, right?"

"That wasn't a hug, that was a Move!" Litten protested.

"Of course it was!" the King told her. "It was Hold Back. That's safe! But when using hugs in combat I often prefer to use Bind or Constrict, especially because then I can do a backflip."

Litten's tail flicked a bit.

"Is that something you can teach?" she asked. "Stoutland gave me a lot of help, but he didn't know how to do any of that kind of thing and it feels like the kind of thing I should learn, even if only for my evolutionary line's pride."

"That could work!" Ash agreed. "It might be good to learn how to set your fur on fire, too, Ibid says Litten fur is flammable."

He turned back to the other Pokémon. "Okay, Rockruff, I think I've got an idea here… Pikachu, you were helping Rockruff on Stealth Rock, right?"

"Yep," Pikachu agreed. "Once I finally woke up this morning."

"Then let's try this," Ash said. "Do a pose like a Geodude!"

Rockruff and Litten both took an astonished step back.

"That is… very convincing," Litten said. "How is he doing that?"

"Now you try the same thing, Rockruff," Ash told him. "Not now, Giratina… see?"

He held out a mirror, and Rockruff stared into it before twitching their ears a bit and trying to screw up their muzzle in the same way Pikachu had done.

"Let's see another one, Pikachu," Ash said. "This time Rockruff… now Litten… and now a rock, any kind… there, see the idea, Rockruff? If you can look like a rock it makes the stealth side of stealth rock better! Plus it can help you just apply the same part of Stealth Rock that lifts rocks to lifting you as well."

As Rockruff was working on that, Rowlet fluttered down to Litten.

"Hey," he said. "Want to do a secret wingshake? I think they're cool but I'm still coming up with what one could be."

"Would that… help?" Litten asked.

"Ing hand, probably," Rowlet shrugged his wings. "Mostly they're cool though."

As Rockruff tried to learn two related things – how to control their Stealth Rock flying and how to handle being upside down and not in contact with the ground – Professor Kukui came out to see how Ash was doing.

"Oh, good, you've got Litten," he said. "I wondered when that would happen."

"He knew already?" Litten asked, taking a break from trying to set herself on fire. "How did he know that?"

"I met him in the past, his past, my future," Ash explained. "Don't worry, it's got to be a stable time loop because if I hadn't had you with me then I wouldn't have had you with me and he wouldn't remember it. I think it's something to do with density… no, destiny, I'm getting mixed up with how Rockruff is flying."

"Right," Litten decided. "Is it like this all the time?"

"Usually," Lokoko said.

"But what I wanted to tell you is that there's a school open day coming up soon," Kukui told Ash. "Since you're not a student, it's up to you if you go ahead with doing a presentation, but if you want to I thought I'd let you know. You could invite your mother to come and see how you're Coaching the students!"

Chapter Text

"The tricky thing is working out what topic to do," Ash said, next to lunch.

The only one of them who was over lunch was Rockruff, who was still getting used to being able to fly and was hovering over their bowl of pasta as they ate.

Fortunately, there was plenty of pasta if they needed more. Dragonite had cooked up a massive pot of it, complete with cheese and mushroom sauce, and they weren't even halfway through the supply.

"There's a lot of choice," Pikachu agreed. "You could talk about one of those things you said might be good to do? Like fire."

"Fire is something that would be good," Ash agreed. "It's one of those Types that's really versatile even though people don't usually think of it that way. But it might be a bit fiddly, because everyone who's attending a lecture like that needs Flash Fire, and I don't want to burn down the school so perhaps it's better for it to be a field trip."

"Good point," Pikachu agreed. "Dragonite, is it okay to have tomato ketchup with this?"

"I suppose I'm not actually allowed to hit you for doing it," Dragonite said, which served both as a technical answer and an answer which conveyed his opinion of the idea.

"In that case, I'll use the ketchup as a dip and have some crisps on the side," Pikachu said. "That's almost the same thing and it's less likely to make Dragonite resent me."

"What about flying?" Rockruff asked. "I know I'd like to take part in a lesson on flying. I'd like to get some tips, Rowlet's tips all involve wings and I don't have any."

"Maybe Rayquaza can give you some help," Ash wondered. "But flying might be good, yeah… it's so useful in battles and outside them I should do a lesson on it some time."

He had another mouthful of pasta, thinking as he chewed.

"What do you think, Litten?" he asked. "Rowlet? You don't have to help with any of the lessons, but it'd be good to know what you think anyway."

"I think I'm still too busy learning myself," Litten said. "Thank you for the offer, though."

Rowlet made the sound of an owl who was very full of pasta.

"What about me?" Rotom asked. "I could do several lessons! Many of them are from information which Ash has not yet explicitly disproven in front of me, and Ash explicitly disproving my statements would be both informative and lend structure to the lesson."

"That might be fun to watch," Litten decided, licking one of her paws. "But wouldn't it just be you being proven wrong a lot?"

"That's science!" Rotom answered. "In fact, science consists mostly of trying to prove things wrong. It is only if you have failed to prove something wrong despite trying that you can begin to say it is right."

"That would be a good topic," Ash pondered.

Then a Pokémon came out of the trees, and skidded to a halt in front of them.

"Oh!" Rotom said. "Scanning… Tapu Bulu. My data says that Tapu Bulu is a Land Spirit Pokémon and is the Guardian of Ula'Ula Island. We are on Melemele Island. Is that data incorrect?"

"Your data is correct," Tapu Bulu said. "About that specifically, at least. I'm here on business."

He sniffed. "That smells nice. Is it available?"

"There's plenty!" Dragonite answered. "Take a bowl if you want!"

"Excellent," Tapu Bulu said. "I've already done a lot of work today. Well, you know. Come over here. That's enough work, right?"

There was a sort of squeak from back in the trees.

"Oh, yeah, I should probably get on to that," Tapu Bulu grumbled. "Seriously, can't a Guardian Deity get some rest around here…"

He slammed his armour closed for a moment, then opened it up again.

"How much do you know about how Totem Pokémon work?" he asked.

"I know they're bigger than most Pokémon," Ash said. "And they give out Z crystals to trainers to defeat them, and there's something about how I got a different one from Totem Gumshoos to the one they'd normally give out?"

"Yes, we did set that up," Tapu Bulu confirmed. "Still are, actually. Make sure to do another Totem battle at some point… but, anyway. Totem Pokémon are specifically charged with energy, and that's what makes them bigger than normal."

"Maybe Zacian should know about this," Pikachu said.

"No, for her it's usually Pokémon getting a lot bigger than normal, Totem Pokémon aren't much bigger than normal," Ash shrugged. "Actually, Rockruff, maybe Zacian can work with you. She's also a canine Pokémon and she also self-levitates instead of flying through wings or some other way, so you'd have a lot in common."

"That would be nice," Rockruff said.

There was another squeak, this one more insistent.

"I'm getting there," Tapu Bulu grumbled. "Anyway. It doesn't always work out, and one of those times was just recently… a Pokémon got upgraded into being the enhanced size, but it isn't working out for him."

"Wow, that doesn't paint me in a flattering light at all," came a grumble from a Salandit, and the Fire-type came out of the treeline.

He was definitely about twice as big as a normal Salandit, and looked Ash up and down before making a full-body shrug.

"Yeah, I was really looking forward to it right up until I met the Pokémon who was going to be my mentor, and… I don't know, it just did not work out from there."

He hissed. "She was very pushy."

"Anyway, normally this would be a bit weirder, but fortunately you're here and Koko requested that I sort this out," Tapu Bulu explained. "So it's up to you two what happens now I guess."

"I hope what happens now is that I have something to eat," Salandit admitted. "I've been nervous all week."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "And the only big Pokémon I have, bigger than normal anyway, is Cresselia…"

"I will be honest, I think that knowing about her and the general oddities around you is part of why Koko suggested this," Tapu Bulu said, flopping back on the sand. "It's not like anyone is going to assume the unusually sized Pokémon has to be a Totem Pokémon, they're just going to assume it's part of you being you…"

Despite how Tapu Bulu had been the one to bring him over, Salandit was not precisely lazy… though he could have given that first impression, from how he made it so Dragonite's large pot of pasta was entirely justified.

Once lunch was over, however, he flicked his tail a bit before looking up at Ash.

"So… I will be honest, I don't really know how trainers work," he admitted. "How do trainers work?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than – that's it!" Ash realized, then shook his head. "Uh, anyway, a lot of it depends on you, on if you want to get stronger and how."

"Getting stronger would definitely be nice," Salandit said.

"Then… okay, so Salandit are Poison and Fire type…" Ash began. "But that's just the start of it… actually I feel like I should be taking a couple of notes about this, I'm going to need it in a couple of days…"

A couple of days later, at the open day for Samson Oak's Pokémon School, parents and guardians (and some of the pupils) took their seats in front of an open-air stage.

"Alola, everyone!" Professor Kukui said. "There's some things that my class has got set up to show you all, but first I'd like to introduce someone who's been helping me this school year. We're going to have a quick talk from Ash Ketchum."

"Hi!" Ash waved, practically bouncing up onto the dais. "It's nice to have you all here. Hi, mom!"

Delia smiled, waving back, and Ash continued. "So I had a lot of trouble deciding what I should talk about, but I thought it might be best if I talked about how to get to know your Pokémon!"

Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder, and stopped in mid-air on a shimmering bluish Surf-board.

"And this is Pikachu, if you didn't know that," Ash added. "But I don't mean the way I got to know him, not really, because speaking Pokémon is something that you do need to learn and not everyone has the time. Instead what I want to talk about is how you should get started with a new Pokémon."

He scratched his head. "I was going to say how you can make a Pokémon into a friend, but that's not really right… because it's not how you make a Pokémon into a friend. You can't do that, not in a way that's guaranteed, because every Pokémon is different. That's a big part of what you need to remember – every Pokémon is different, just like every human is different, and just like how there are some people who just can't be friends the same can happen with some Pokémon. Especially if they don't want to be."

After that, Ash crouched down to pick Pikachu up again.

"I'm sure a lot of people here know a Pokémon where they really know a lot about their personality," he said. "About the kind of food they like, a silly thing they do, ways they really try their best. Things like that. That's part of what makes a Pokémon who they are, and it's something where the more you know about them the better. But what's sometimes a bit harder to remember is that every Pokémon is like that."

With Pikachu now perched on his shoulder, Ash went on. "If you're not someone who can understand them, it can seem a bit daunting to try and work with a new Pokémon you meet, but what's usually happening is that the Pokémon is trying to help you out there too. If they want you to know something, they're going to try and communicate, and don't forget that almost all Pokémon can understand what you're saying even if you can't understand what they're saying. So whether that's nodding to agree with you, or shaking their heads to disagree…"

Ash began patting Pikachu on the head, and Pikachu's cheeks sparked. "Or giving you a warning to show that you're not doing the right thing-"

Pikachu used Thundershock.

"...you should pay attention," Ash finished, then shook himself. "Thanks for the demonstration, Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Pikachu said brightly.

"A Pokémon wants you to understand what they're trying to tell you," Ash resumed. "You can ask them if you're not sure, and over time you'll learn what they mean – even what some words mean if you pay just a bit of attention. Knowing what your Pokémon calls you is really helpful even if you don't get all the words."

"Pika, pi, Pikapi!" Pikachu chirped.

"That's me," Ash agreed. "I'm Pikapi, to Pikachu. Things like that help you understand when you should pay attention to what a Pokémon's saying."

He shrugged. "And, sure, sometimes they want something that's not good for them. I'm not saying you should just do whatever your Pokémon wants without thinking about if it's a good idea. I mean, if you work out that your Pokémon wants a giant bowl of tomato-ketchup flavoured ice cream, you don't just have to go and get it!"

Ash turned to Pikachu. "Especially if you don't even know if that flavour ice cream exists yet. Who would even make that?"

Pikachu sniffed.

"But that's… really the basics of it," Ash said. "Remember that a Pokémon is an individual. Pay attention to what they're trying to tell you. Don't forget that you can ask them for details. And… sometimes it just won't work out, but the more you pay attention to what a Pokémon wants and needs the more likely it is to work out."

He grinned. "Thanks for listening!"

"That's a nice way of putting it," Salandit said, once Ash was backstage again and Lillie had started talking about Snowy. "Nice to hear I could be an inspiration."

He exhaled a little puff of flame. "Hmm. What do you think of that?"

"I think it's going a lot better," Ash told him. "I can see you've been working on it."

"Litten gave me some tips," Salandit replied. "She got some good ones on Ember from Stoutland, apparently."

"That's good," Ash nodded. "Now the next bit is to add in the Sweet Scent. Which one first?"

"I'll admit, I'm not quite sure what the idea is, here," Salandit confessed. "You explained it but I think I lost track."

"It's because Sweet Scent can do lots of scents," Ash explained. "Including berry ones, and berries make things happen when they're used up in Natural Gift. So it's worth a try to see if burning the scent of a berry can do the same thing!"

"I'll take your word for it," Salandit decided.

Chapter Text

Litten yawned, then opened her eyes.

Rockruff was directly overhead.

"Ack!" she yelped. "Warn me before you do that!"

"I did that yesterday," Rockruff said. "Then you complained about me waking you up."

"Good point," Litten agreed. "Change of instructions. Don't do that."

"Aww," Rockruff sighed. "But it was funny…"

"It's best to try not to get on the nerves of one of your teammates," Zygarde recommended. "I am sure there are other Pokémon you can do this to, Rockruff. Like Rowlet."

"Rowlet just kind of rolls away when he's surprised, I don't know how he does it," Rockruff mumbled. "Especially without opening your eyes. Fine… but shouldn't you be on my side? Isn't that dog solidarity?"

"You are a solid dog, because you are rock type," Zygarde stated. "I am a less well consolidated dog, because of my multipart nature and because I am Ground not Rock type. Thus there may be solid dogs involved, but we are not on the same level of solidity in a geological sense."

"I want to argue but you're making good points," Rockruff sighed. "Maybe I'll go and argue with Salandit."

"It sounds like you're full of energy this morning," Ash said, as he finished breakfast. "Maybe you could help me out planning a lesson? There's a lot to say about how Pokémon can use the environment around them, and I'm trying to decide how many bits I should break it up into."

"Maybe," Rockruff said, tail starting to wag. "Yeah! That sounds like fun!"

"Then let's start with how you'd cope with the water," Ash decided. "I already know how you handle a beach, with sandstones and stuff, and obviously the footing isn't great, but it's still there with sand. But with water it's different completely, you need some way to either not go in the water or to fight despite going in the water."

"Oh, that sounds like it might be tricky," Rockruff admitted, tail still wagging but not quite as much. "Umm… I'd need to bring up stepping stones with Stealth Rock? That would work, right, there's always somewhere underneath the water…"

"Or hold yourself up," Litten pointed out.

"Oh, yeah!" they agreed. "I still need to keep remembering all the ways that changes things!"

"Actually," Ash began. "That's something you should work on, too, Litten. You'll have different answers for it, but it's worth thinking about even if you just decide that battling around deep water is something you're not good at."

Litten sighed. "I guess you're right," she admitted. "Well, now I need to think of what to do in that situation…"

After extensive testing, involving not just Rockruff and Litten but also Scrafty brought in as an assistant and Buizel as a target, Ash decided that Rockruff was good at batting over water but had real trouble dealing with an opponent who was in water. They simply found it too hard to aim and adjust for the diffraction at the water's surface, which meant that when they kicked a Rock Thrown down there it often missed, and while it was possible for Rockruff to use Stealth Rock to swim around underwater at high speed that was not the same as saying they liked it.

Litten, on the other paw, didn't currently work well with water at all. She was able to ignore her discomfort enough to swim there, for a bit, but it damped down her fire moves and she wasn't able to move fast enough to get in contact with her non-fire moves.

"Hmm…" Ash said, thinking, then looked over at the sound of Salandit's tail on the beach. "Oh, hi! Ready for your turn?"

"Water's annoying, but I can swim just fine and I have poison attacks," Salandit said, with a shrug. "But I'd be interested in any new tricks you've got for me there."

"I was thinking of one," Ash agreed. "It's the same idea with Sweet Scent and Natural Gift, but making it happen underwater… water can carry scents, right? I know you can make perfumed water and that's the same kind of thing!"

"...you know, every time you do something like this I understand why the Tapus have been making sure all the Totem Pokémon know what you look like."

"Hey, it's not all Ash," Pikachu said. "It's more like… he brings us all together. Technically Ash wasn't directly involved with my discovering Thunder That Breaks The Earth, even. And don't get me started on Skitty."

Salandit looked confused. "I don't think I've met Skitty yet."

"You wouldn't have, she's May's," Pikachu clarified.

Any testing of the underwater Sweet Scent burst, however, was interrupted as Snowy came running over.

"Hi!" she said. "Lillie's coming, and so is someone who looks all funny and mysterious and stuff! I'll go and let them know you know they're coming!"

She ran off again.

"I wonder who that's going to be," Pikachu said.

"I wonder if we're going to have to go swimming again," Litten muttered, shaking herself out again, then finally set herself on fire with a whoosh and steamed off the last of the water. "I am not a fan."

"Maybe I'll have to get Charizard in to give you some tips?" Ash wondered. "He started out digging through the water…"

"Ash, I wanted to introduce you to my brother," Lillie said. "His name's Gladion. I haven't seen him in a while, so that's why you haven't met him yet."

"Hi, Gladion!" Ash waved. "I'm Ash Ketchum!"

"I know," Gladion agreed. "You're a bit famous… well, actually you're a lot famous… what I didn't know is that you were actually teaching at Lillie's school. If I'd known I probably would have come to visit sooner."

"You would?" Ash asked. "Why?"

"It's one of my Pokémon," Gladion explained. "He's… got a troubled history, and I want to know if what I'm doing to help him out is what I should be doing. And I've been doing my best, but you're a known expert at helping and understanding Pokémon who can literally translate what they say, so if anyone's going to know what would help out it's got to be you."

"In that case, sure!" Ash agreed, readily. "Just, hold on a minute so I can check if Lokoko is up. If she's available then you and your Pokémon could have a talk…"

"We're going to get that Z-crystal, yeah?" Tupp said, hands on hips.

"Too right we are!" Rapp agreed. "You're so right, Tupp!"

"That's because it's Dark, probably," Zipp agreed. "And we're Team Skull! And Skulls are, like, like dark. Yeah? It's thematic and all that."

"So give up, unless you want to get wrecked!" Tupp concluded.

Jessie chuckled.

"If asked if we want to get wrecked," she said.

"We shall tell you our names!" James agreed, striking a pose.

Jessie did a twirl, sending out two Ekans to twirl through her hair. "A flower's face and a willow's waist, makes the moon abashed and flowers wilt. A single flower of evil blooming in this fleeting world: Jessie!"

James produced a top hat and cane. "An exquisite talent, and the perfect gentleman, a disciple of evil fighting back against this tragic world: James!"

"Walking the same path!" Meowth called out, lowering himself down on a ladder from something invisible. "The deeds of one are the deeds of all! Even among friends, the star of evil shines like gold. Meowth!"

"We are Team Rocket!" Jessie and James chorused.

"We are!" Meowth agreed, doing a backflip as he jumped off the ladder and landed between the other two.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet contributed.

"That didn't rhyme or even scan properly," Mimikyu complained.

Tupp held up his hand with three fingers, then two, then one.

"They say all the big gangs have a motto now," he said.

"But no one but us gets to put on a show!" Rapp agreed.

Zipp looked puzzled. "I don't think that actually rhymes," he hissed.

"It ends with the same letters, doesn't it?" Rapp hissed back.

"Who cares who fails some stupid test!" Tupp said, speaking louder to drown out the others. "I don't need that noise to prove I'm the best! I'm Tupp!"

"We're the best team, with the best team leader to boot!" Rapp praised. "We'll make trouble, and maybe take some Pokémon – if they're cute!"

She threw up a pair of hand signs. "I'm Rapp!"

"Forming these kinds of bonds is how we as a society evolve," Zipp declared, folding his arms. "And maybe we're causing problems to distract ourselves from the problems we can't solve."

He scratched his head. "Although if we get too distracted our original message might dissolve."

Tupp looked puzzled.

Rapp looked between the others.

Zipp waited a few more seconds, then coughed. "Uhh… guys? I think it's your turn again."

"Dude," Tupp groaned. "Just stick to the lines I gave you. We're never gonna make the official Team Skull motto if you ad-lib weird stuff like that."

"Shows how little you know!" James said. "Ad-libbing is most of what a motto's about!"

"If you can't tolerate how it works around here, then you should just get out!" Jessie agreed.

"Bellsprout!" James' Victreebel said, landing on his head.

"Hey, foul!" Meowth complained. "Dat ain't even the Pokémon you are any more!"

"It used to be," Victreebel said, as James made plaintive air-deprived noises. "At least it rhymes."

"How I got Silvally is a bit… complicated," Gladion admitted, once Lillie was – at his request – off training Snowy to use Ice Beam with help from one of Ash's Dragonite. "I don't actually know what kind of Pokémon he is, but Silvally is his name and he accepts it."

"That's good, sometimes it's hard to know what a Pokémon's called," Ash nodded. "Especially if they either speak in a way humans understand all the time or don't ever speak in normal noises. Regigigas doesn't usually say Regigigas, and Staryu wouldn't normally be called Staryu… anyway, what else can you tell me?"

"Sometimes he gets… stressed," Gladion said. "Lycanroc is good at bringing him out of that, but… well, he's wearing a helmet from where I got him from to try and keep that under control. That's why he has it."

"Got it!" Ash nodded. "Okay, let's have a look!"

Gladion held up his Pokéball, and sent out Silvally.

"Wow!" Ash said, inspecting him. "That's a weird helmet… and I don't think I've ever seen a Pokémon that looks quite like that before. How rare are they on a scale from Zapdos to Pidgey?"

"Uhh…" Gladion said. "Zapdos? At least?"

"Huh!" Ash decided. "Must be an Alolan Pokémon that I've just never heard of."

Gladion looked around for someone to empathize with him, and found that all was available was Ash's Pokémon.

"Master," Silvally said, reaching out a forepaw for Gladion, and when Gladion took Silvally's paw the Pokémon relaxed slightly at the contact.

"Hmm, maybe knowing what type of Pokémon he is would help?" Ash said. "I could ask Mew?"

"Mew?" Gladion repeated.

"Me!" announced a Diglett, sticking his head up from the sand, then turned back into Mew. Mew's tail flicked out in a sort of circle-and-stick shape, drawing a magnifying glass, and the Psychic-type picked up the magnifying glass before using it for Foresight.

"Hmm," Mew said. "This isn't one of mine… which is fascinating! Arc, do you know anything?"

Arc floated out of Ash's pocket, and pulsed gold.

"Who has been playing Me?" they inquired. "Gladion, did you not say that the helmet was a later addition?"

"Yeah," Gladion confirmed, mostly because it was a question and someone had asked it. "I don't know exactly why… I think Silvally might be involved in why Lilly's afraid of Pokémon, but she doesn't remember and I don't want to ask her."

"The helmet should, eventually, be removed," Arc stated. "But not until Silvally is all right with it."

"Yeah, actually… hold on, Arc, can you go and stand next to Silvally in your base form?" Mew requested, floating backwards. "Ibid, I'm going to need you to check something."

"Got it," Ibid said, turning into a Pikipek to fly over next to Mew.

Arc unfolded into their golden Arceus form, and Gladion nearly fell over.

"Lillie said you had a weird phone, I didn't think she meant that weird!" he said.

"Technically all of reality is defined in reference to a being almost identical to me," Arc objected. "By definition I am not weird."

"Okay, Transform!" Mew instructed.

Ibid changed into a miniature shiny Arceus, then into a miniature version of Silvally, then back to base form.

"It was modelled after a mighty Pokémon of myth," he said. "Its true power is sealed away beneath its control mask. Its trust in its partner would be what would awaken it."

"Trust?" Silvally asked. "I… thought I did… trust…"

"Trust is a funny thing," Ash said. "Because it's not that you do trust someone, or you don't. It's not something you can force. It's something that grows out of what you know about someone, and how you remember them acting in the past… and you shouldn't feel bad if you don't have enough trust yet. If you both want it to grow, then it probably will, so long as you give it time."

He frowned. "Though… have you tried a bonding activity recently? Not something to do with Pokémon battling, something more like dancing or flower arranging."

"Flower arranging?" Gladion asked. "Would that… how could that help?"

"It helps with Mega Evolution, so I assume this is the same kind of thing!" Ash said. "Like I say, keep working on it."

"Do not… understand," Silvally said, looking down at the board, then up at Dragonite. "Again? How do we beat you?"

"You don't, actually," Dragonite told Silvally. "It's not a game where one player beats another. This is what's called a collaborative board game. I'm here mostly so that you, Lycanroc and Gladion can work together and to make sure the rules don't confuse you."

He pointed to the board. "So, this is a map of an area of land, and each of you is someone working to turn it into a Safari Zone. You'll each have your own set of cards and tokens you can use to help that happen, but you're all working together to make it the best Safari Zone you possibly can."

A smile. "And that means sometimes that it's better for one of you not to solve a problem, because another player can do it better."

Gladion was reading the rules. "I… assume it's going to make sense once we start playing."

"I think so," Dragonite said, nodding in the royally-approved way to make sure that humans knew he was agreeing with them, then picked up the deck of starting cards. "So you get three each… there. And don't worry about showing the others what cards you have."

Lycanroc frowned. "What does this card mean? Hyperactive warden? It looks like it's no good, should I get rid of it?"

"Oh, that's actually a good card if someone tries stealing the Pokémon!" Dragonite explained. "Now, here's your first big choice. What kinds of Pokémon do you want to start making a habitat for first?"

He got Gladion's attention, then tapped the right spot on the fold-out play guide.

"Hmm," Gladion frowned. "Well… there aren't any bad choices, right?"

Dragonite gave him a claw-thumb's up.

"Then… what do you think, Silvally?" Gladion asked. "We can do grasslands, desert, forest, water, cave, mountain or roughlands."

"I think you went through them too quickly," Lycanroc said. "Silvally, do you need me to repeat them?"

Silvally considered, then carefully drew a water droplet in the sand.

"Good choice!" Dragonite said, as Gladion put down their first marker. "I'm a Water's-Edge Pokémon myself, so I approve!"

He pulled a card out of the random events deck. "And… ooh! While working on the habitat you find a whole cache of fossils!"

"Nice!" Lycanroc decided.

"This… will be the best park," Silvally declared.

Chapter Text

"All right, class!" Professor Kukui said. "You've got a special project today!"

"And I decided it'd be a great chance to work on some of what you've been learning!" Ash agreed. "Professor Kukui told me about his first idea, and I decided to suggest some changes, and he thought it was great!"

He stood back. "So, first, do you all remember when I told you about the difference between Pokémon Battles, Contest Battles and Appeals?"

Kiawe held up his hand.

"So Pokémon Battles are about beating your opponent," he said, frowning as he tried to get the description right. "Contest Battles are about… not just beating your opponent, but looking good while doing it. And Appeals there isn't an opponent at all and it's just about looking good?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "They're all different ways of working with Pokémon, and I mostly like battles but adding some Contest flair into how you approach things is actually a great way to help out everything you do… but the reason why I mention that is because that's part of what you're going to be doing. And another part of what you'll be doing is about getting to know a new Pokémon."

Ash put four Pokéballs and a Level Ball on the table. "What you're going to be doing is, you're going to be taking home one of my Pokémon who volunteered for this – and one of the Pokémon from one of your classmates, unless they have a big problem with it – and working together on a Contest routine. That way you've got something to work on together to really show how you can get to work with two new Pokémon!"

Snowy immediately came out of her Pokéball.

"Does that include me and Lillie?" she asked. "There's five new Pokéballs there. Is Lillie going to be okay?"

"All the Pokémon here know about the problem Lillie has," Ash said. "They're ready to allow for it. But it's fine if you want to just take a new Pokémon instead of swapping Snowy out, Lillie."

"I understand why you're worried, Snowy," Lillie said, reaching out and stroking her Vulpix. "But… I want to try this. Even if I can't actually touch them, I can still work with them."

She swallowed, but nodded firmly. "And… thank you for being so worried, too."

"We can swap Snowy back any time if it becomes necessary," Professor Kukui said. "Don't hesitate to mention it to Ash's Pokémon, either of you."

Snowy inhaled, then sighed.

"You're right," she said. "It's your choice, Lillie. And I hope we both have a great time."

Sophocles looked at Charizard.

Then at Starly.

"I… actually don't know where to start," he admitted. "Not just in the Contest thing, but in general."

He frowned, then dug out his laptop. "I guess… umm… wait, it just occurred to me. Since I won't have Togedemaru…"

Sophocles trailed off.

"Is something wrong?" Starly asked, glancing at Charizard.

Kiawe's Fire-type shrugged. "Not sure."

The movement made Charizard's tail flick from side to side, though, and Sophocles brightened. "Oh! That's going to work, actually… do you mind staying out of your Pokéball overnight, Charizard? It'd be nice to have the light in my room."

"Fine by me," Charizard nodded.

"Good," Sophocles decided.

Booting up his laptop, he flicked back through his class notes. "Let's see… um… ah! Asking questions, right… and to make a routine, the first step is to know what moves you can do… would you mind showing me your moves?"

The Flying-types exchanged a look, then Starly decided to take the lead. He spun up an Aura Sphere, and blew a crater in the ground.

Then used Bone Rush.

"Are you sure you're a Starly?" Charizard asked.

"I have the heart and soul of a Lucario," Starly answered. "That's what my teacher tells me, at least, which I think is the important part of being a Lucario. Functionally though I do also benefit from having wings, so yes."

"That's a really nice smell, Steenee," Lana said. "I like it… I wonder if Contests can include smells?"

Swellow shrugged her wings. "Low."

"Oh, if you don't know – you don't know, right?" Lana asked, then shrugged. "Well, that's fine. But, hmm… what moves do you know? I know you're a Flying-type, so you can fly, but apart from that…"

She thought for a moment. "Wait, didn't Ash mention you as a Pokémon with a really neat trick? What was it again…"

"Low, well-Swellow!" Swellow chirped.

"Teen?" Steenee asked, tilting her head on her side.

"Swell-ell!" Swellow piped, puffing out her breast, then hovered into the air. "Low!"

Steenee used Magical Leaf, and the leaves poured towards Swellow. They bent slightly in the air so they could hit the Flying-type as she hovered there, impacting and detonating in a flash-flash-flash of electrical energy, and Lana gasped.

"Wow, that's amazing!" she said. "We have to use that somehow!"

"Sis, what are you doing?" Harper asked, peering around the door. "Wow, is that a new Pokémon?"

"Is that two new Pokémon?" Sarah asked. "Where's your old Pokémon?"

"Did Popplio fall down a hole?" Harper asked.

"Girls," Lana protested, as her younger twin sisters came in and started peering closely at Steenee and Swellow. "It's for a school project, okay? I have to work out a Contest routine with two borrowed Pokémon – someone else from my class is borrowing Popplio."

"What's a Contest routine?" Sarah said. "Can we help?"

"Stee," Steenee sighed.

"I didn't expect that it would work out like this, but I'm not complaining," Mallow told Talonflame. "Thanks for the help!"

She cut up some mushrooms, then put them onto the frying pan Talonflame was keeping warm, and turned her attention to Togedemaru – who was using her tail to chop at a leek.

"And you're being helpful too, Togedemaru," she said. "Thanks!"

"Togeto!" Togedemaru smiled.

"Flaame?" Talonflame asked.

"Hmm," Mallow said, putting down her knife as she thought. "I wonder… are you asking how much longer we'll be?"

Talonflame shook his head, then wiggled a wing a bit.

"Hm, not far off, but not right," Mallow frowned. "So maybe… if it's got something to do with…"

She brightened. "Oh! Is it about when we're going to start practising?"

That got a nod.

"Well, I'm thinking about ideas for what to do while we're working, but maybe I should say them out loud," she decided. "One idea was to have Togedemaru spinning around, and having Talonflame dropping and catching her?"

"Maruu," Togedemaru said, sounding interested enough by that one, and Mallow smiled before going back to the mushrooms.

"That's a really big bubble," Lillie said, stepping back a pace and watching as Popplio bounced it on the end of her nose. "Showing that off would work really well."

"Popp!" Popplio cheered, clapping her flippers together.

"Aaart?" Articuno asked.

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean," Lillie admitted. "Can, um…"

She frowned, and Articuno did her best to look encouraging.

"Can you show me?" Lillie asked.

Articuno drew out a swish of mystical fire, and showed Popplio inside the bubble, then the bubble suddenly being cut in half.

"Oh, that could work!" Lillie said. "But… how would that work, being inside the bubble? Can you do that, Popplio?"

Popplio blew herself another bubble, and went inside it this time. It immediately rose into the air, floating up into the sky, and Articuno swiped at it with her wing.

The bubble popped, and Popplio fell out – straight towards Lillie.

"Ah!" Lillie yelped, then Popplio stopped in mid-air just before landing on Lillie.

"Lio?" Popplio asked, confused, then they both looked over to see Articuno's eyes glowing. She made a sweeping gesture, and Popplio slid six feet sideways before dropping to the ground next to Lillie.

"Oh… thank you," Lillie said, exhaling in relief. "I didn't expect that."

She frowned. "But, if Popplio can fly like that, it would be good to use it… if your bubbles are bouncy, Popplio, can you land on one and bounce? Like it's a trampoline?"

"Pop!" Popplio said, nodding and looking interested.

"Then let's try that," Lillie decided. "I might just… stand back a bit though…"

"I'd be completely lost without all these notes I took," Kiawe admitted, looking at the various scattered bits of paper. "Instead I'm, uh… mostly lost."

He frowned. "So… I saw you getting really big before, in that lesson, but you can't do it right now?"

Pidgey shook her head. "Pid-gey-pig," she said. "Pidgey pidge-pid."

"And the only moves you really know at this point are Ice moves?"

Snowy nodded. "Pix!"

"Okay," Kiawe said. "Okay, so… it's probably going to have to involve that snow breath move from Snowy, because I know you showed me Ice Beam but I can't really think of a good way to use that. But Pidgey is really agile, so maybe… can you blow the snow around?"

Pidgey nodded.

"Right, it could definitely involve that," Kiawe decided.

"Kiawe, there's a delivery to make!" his father called. "Do you have time?"

"I've got the time, but I don't really think I have the, uh, Charizard," Kiawe called back, looking at Pidgey and Snowy. "I got a lift back from one of my teacher's Pokémon, Charizard is with someone else for the day… Sophocles, I think."

Latios decloaked directly overhead.

"Whoa!" Kiawe said, staring. "I thought you went back to Ash after dropping me off!"

Latios shook his head, then flashed blue as he created an illusion. It was of a Latios holding a Substitute Delivery Pokémon sign in his claws, and the Psychic-type floated through the door to where Kiawe's father Rango had been asking for him.

"Kiawe, is this a new Pokémon?" Rango called.

"No, it's one of Mr. Ketchum's," Kiawe replied. "I guess he's invisible sometimes?"

He shook his head. "Yeah, now I think of it, the thing Mr. Ketchum keeps teaching us is about paying attention to everything because all of it could matter some day. I guess he must have remembered when I said I do deliveries with Charizard!"

There was a shoom as Latios took off at speed, and Kiawe glanced back before returning his attention to the two little Pokémon he was working with. "Okay, so… what about making a shape with the Powder Snow?" he asked. "Actually, couldn't Snowy make a hole in a wall of falling snow and then Pidgey flies through the hole?"

"And… Flamethrower!" Sophocles called. "Starly, do that blue sphere thing!"

The fifth and final routine reached its end, as Starly flung an Aura Sphere into the jet of Charizard's flamethrower. The blast of fire caught the Aura Sphere, carrying it along like it was a ball in the stream of a hose, then both Flying-types launched themselves upwards as it began to destabilize.

Starly was faster, and got there first, so he took the overhead position. Charizard was slower, so he was still climbing when the Aura Sphere burst with a crack, but the blue flash illuminated his wings.

"Great!" Ash said. "Well done, everyone!"

Sophocles practically slumped back onto the ground in relief, and Ash turned to the whole group.

"What do you think the most important lesson you learned was?" he asked.

"How to practice moves until you get them just right?" Lana asked. "It's one thing to think about a neat combo, but to actually get it right is really hard when it can't just be a Magical Leaf but has to be just the right Magical Leaf."

"I know I learned a bit about how much attention you pay to everything," Kiawe admitted. "You thought about the deliveries thing before I did, I'm way too used to having Charizard with me."

Lillie put up her hand.

"It's how much we already know about our partners," she said. "Because we had so much trouble trying to understand these new Pokémon, but that's just because we don't know them – we know our normal partners already, so we don't have to do that every time."

"That's a great answer!" Ash agreed. "They're all good answers, but Lillie's is the one I was thinking of. It was hard for you to work things out, but so much of that is because you're already understanding things about how your normal partners think and act without even realizing it."

He sent out Lokoko, with a flash. "Now that you've done the hard part, I think you should all talk to the Pokémon you've been working with, and see what they thought!"

Chapter Text

"Okay, let's try it again!" Ash called. "Litten, your turn!"

"I look forward to the point where I get to attack again," Litten said.

"Well, you can use your attacks," Ash pointed out. "You can even use them to defend yourself! It's just not going to be directly attacking Salandit because we're working on making sure this combination move works properly."

"I know, I know," Litten said, tail lashing. "Right, I'm ready."

"And… go!" Ash called. "Liechi!"

Salandit exhaled, sending out a waft of spicy, sweet scent which plumed out towards Litten.

"That's already faster than it was before," Rowlet observed. "You're doing great!"

Litten watched the puff of scented smoke approach, then paced to the side just as Salandit raised his tail and touched the cloud off with a whoom.

A pulse of green energy followed the path of the cloud for a moment, and Ash frowned.

"Huh," he said. "I wonder…"

"Something up?" Salandit asked.

"Don't worry, it can come later," Ash replied. "I was just thinking about maybe making the cloud have a different shape and making it make a spike of the energy that doesn't have to just be within the cloud! But that's for after you've really got the hang of it. Now, Starf!"

Another puff of scent, then a wham of telekinetic force. Litten easily avoided that one, too, and she smirked.

"Now, don't set them off just yet," Ash amended. "Kee first, then Ganlon – and keep an eye on how Litten is moving, see if you can make her run into one of the clouds!"

"I can hear you, you know," Litten yowled.

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "Which is the best way to practice because if it works on someone who knows it's coming it'll still have a chance of working after someone figures it out!"

Litten demonstrated the flaw in that thinking by setting one of the clouds off herself with an Ember.

"Good point," Ash admitted. "Hmm… we'll keep practising, but I'll need to think about that a bit. That's what the shaped explosion can be for… anyway, Litten, great idea, but let's not do it for now, okay?"

"Fine, fine," Litten said, rolling her eyes.

Pikachu shrugged. "Hey, at least we're not doing this underwater."

"Don't even joke about that!" Litten requested. "It wasn't a joke, was it. That's going to be… erf, well, at least I'll be ready for it."

She then found that she wasn't ready for a cloud of Watmel-smelling smoke to drift over her, and Salandit set it off with a whoosh of Fire-typed explosive energy.

"Good choice," Ash said, as Litten made a feline mrowl of disapproval. "It's a bit impolite, but I didn't say stop… okay, Belue!"

"Got it, boss," Salandit agreed.

"Hey!" someone called.

Ash, Pikachu, Litten, Salandit, Rockruff, Rowlet and Zygarde all looked along the beach, where there was a very annoyed orange-haired boy of about Ash's age storming along the sand.

"Alola!" Ash called. "Is something wrong?"

"Is something wrong?" the boy repeated. "Is something wrong? Of course there is!"

He stomped all the way up to Ash, and pointed a finger at him. "You took my chance from me!"

"Your chance for what?" Ash asked, confused. "I don't think I've met you before, but I do sometimes forget. What's your name, that might help?"

"Cross," the boy said. "And no, we haven't met, but… I spent years trying to prove myself! To show Ho-Oh that I could be the Rainbow Hero! Then I find out that you caught him, so I never could be the Rainbow Hero, and when I finally learn where you are it's right back here in Alola where I'm from!"

He clenched a fist. "And you even act like there's nothing wrong!"

"Uh…" Pikachu began. "To be honest, it's quite possible Ho-Oh just forgot or something."

"That does sound like him," Zygarde agreed.

"What's a rainbow hero?" Rockruff asked. "Because Ash definitely has a Ho-Oh, but is that the only Ho-Oh? Rainbows sound like the kind of thing Zapdos would do, too, she likes weather moves."

"Why aren't you saying anything?" Cross demanded, as his Lycanroc and Incineroar came out of their Pokéballs.

"I was listening to what my Pokémon had to say," Ash explained. "And Zygarde, they're not my Pokémon but I listen anyway."

"You do," Zygarde agreed. "It is usually woof."

"What kind of-" Cross said, then shook his head. "Whatever-"

"I could get Ho-Oh if you want?" Ash suggested. "And Lokoko, maybe? That way you could talk to him and try and work it out."

"So, uh… have we stopped training?" Litten asked. "I just want to be sure."

Salandit had left to go and get a snack.

"I don't really get why your trainer is the Rainbow Hero at all," Cross's Incineroar said, leaning down and sneering at Litten. "I remember being a Litten and I'm pretty sure I was tougher than you."

Litten tilted her head. "What, really? You don't get that I'm a new Pokémon for him?"

"No, I just don't get why he bothers with a weak Pokémon like you," Incineroar said. "That's why there's only two of us on Cross's team. He knows what a tough Pokémon is like and doesn't bother with the weak ones."

Litten hissed.

"That's not how it works with Pokémon at all, though!" Ash said. "I've got a Pokémon who's strong now, but when I first met him he was really weak because he wasn't used to being a Pokémon at all."

"How is that even…" Cross began, then stopped and folded his arms.

"Yeah, tell yourself whatever you want," Incineroar said, dismissively.

"Wow," Rockuff said quietly, looking to their side at Cross's Lycanroc. "I don't think I've had to actually say something like this before, but your teammate is somewhere between a prat and a douchenozzle."

"I wouldn't say that," Lycanroc replied. "I mean, not where he'd hear me, anyway…"

Ibid returned with two 'balls, and Lokoko came out of one.

Then Ho-Oh emerged from the Timer Ball.

"Just to be clear," he began, looking at Ash first. "This is not a reincarnation situation? Suicune would probably object."

"That's right," Ash agreed. "Cross is upset he wasn't the Rainbow Hero."

Ho-Oh turned his attention to Cross, and gave the Alolan trainer a careful look over.

"Well," he said, eventually. "It is, technically, within the bounds of possibility that you could have been the Rainbow Hero."

Cross turned to look triumphantly at Ash, but Ho-Oh kept talking.

"However, for that to happen there would have to be a significant event."

"A significant event?" Cross asked. "Like what? I'd have to take your feather to the shrine on top of Mount Tensei? I already knew that!"

"No, not quite," Ho-Oh replied. "It would have to be some kind of major incident… perhaps some sort of massive worldwide volcanic eruption?"

Cross looked blank.

"I apologize for the lack of clarity," Ho-Oh said. "I'm having trouble deciding exactly what kind of disaster would be significant enough to leave you as the best choice available."

"Do you think this is some kind of joke?" Cross demanded in a strangled voice, rounding on Ash. "This isn't some kind of game you can get out of with one of your stupid illusion Pokémon!"

"Ho-Oh's not-" Ash tried, but Cross punched Ho-Oh.

Ho-Oh's Illusion did not burst, mostly because he didn't have one. One of his feathers did come off, though, and began glowing a deep violet colour.

"Marshadow, do not touch that," Ho-Oh instructed, calmly. "We are probably going to need to get the Lake Guardians to sort it out."

"I'll call Dawn and see if she's got Azelf available to get the others," Ash volunteered.

Cross looked like he couldn't quite believe what he'd just done.

"You tell him, boss!" Incineroar said. "He hasn't vaporized you yet, that means he's weak!"

"Do you actually want Cross to get blown up, is that it?" Lycanroc demanded.

"No?" Incineroar replied, sounding honestly puzzled. "I'm encouraging him! You know, it's just like he always says!"

Lycanroc put his paw over his muzzle. "I think my teammate and trainer are a bad influence on one another."

The Lake Guardians appeared, and Mesprit inspected the simmering, corrupted Rainbow Wing.

"Yeah, good thing you called us," they said, and booped the Rainbow Wing. The corruption all discharged at once, negated by Mesprit's powers, and the Psychic-type brushed their hands off.

"Job done!"

Then Arceus appeared in a flare of golden light.

"My kohai informed me of a problem," xie stated, then examined Cross.

"What's a kohai?" Rowlet asked.

"Probably a pronoun or something," Pikachu replied.

"I believe you might do," Arceus said. "I have been looking for someone to go and get amnesia and become a Pokémon and save the world. Not this one, a different one."

Cross was silent for several seconds.

"That would mean being a hero, right?" he asked, in a sort of this-is-happening voice.

"Indeed," Arceus confirmed. "Assuming you were successful."

Xie considered Cross levelly.

"Charmander, I think," xie said. "Your Pokémon can come as well, if they wish it… in fact, perhaps this decision should be made in private."

Arceus vanished, as did Cross and both his Pokémon.

"Now let's try Mago!" Ash said. "Ready, Salandit?"

"I am a little bit in awe right now," Salandit replied, then took the last bite from his sandwich. "Anyway, uh, right, Mago berry…"

Chapter Text

"So," Professor Kukui said. "I hope everyone's Stockpiled for our field trip?"

"This is going to be a weird kind of field trip," Kiawe muttered. "I'm going back to where I live."

"Yeah, which means you can show everyone around," Ash pointed out. "Or, if you can't, instead you're finding out new things about Akala Island. Both of those are great results!"

"You've got a point," Kiawe agreed. "Yeah, I…"

He shook his head. "It's always so strange when you point out something like that and suddenly it seems obvious."

"Now, we're going to be staying over on Akala Island for at least a week," Professor Kukui reminded them. "Everyone's got what they'll need from home for the week?"

Lillie muttered under her breath, checking her pockets and then her bag, then sat back.

"I think I've got everything," she said.

"Anyone who thinks they're missing something?" Ash asked, waited a moment, then went on. "That's great! Of course we can come back to pick something up, but it's better to have everything the first time. Now… who wants to pick first?"

After a moment of confusion, Mallow raised her hand in a sort of vague way. "What do you mean, pick first?"

"How you're going to be getting to Akala," Ash explained. "You could take a normal Ride Pokémon, or have your Pokémon take you if they can do that, but a lot of my Pokémon have volunteered to be available to give you rides as well! So, well, I guess if you like the sound of riding one of the Dragonite you don't need to go first, because there's lots of them, but there's only one Suicune and only one Zacian and so on. And there's Zapdos, but I'm taking Zapdos because most people have more trouble with static electricity than I do."

Of the members of Kukui's class, it was naturally Lillie who had the most trouble with the journey.

Mostly that just meant she sat with Snowy in a seat and Zekrom carried the entire seat to Akala, declaring firmly that it would Not Be Ideal for anything to go wrong and therefore this situation was perfectly safe, which seemed to work well enough.

Kiawe elected to fly with his Charizard, as the Pokémon he was familiar with, while Mallow didn't have an option like that and decided that she quite liked the sound of meeting Noivern. Noivern quite liked the sound of meeting Mallow, which was in accordance with how he quite liked sounds in general, and Sophocles took the trip by Cresselia mostly because she seemed to hit it off with Togedemaru in a shared philosophy sort of way.

Lana just opted to be given a lift by Dragonite.

"In our old classes, we never got lifts like this!" she called across to Professor Kukui, who was sitting on Suicune's back. "It's still amazing to see a Water-type do something like that, too!"

"I know, it's great!" Kukui called back. "Between you and me, I'm quite glad that there's Zacian down there on catching duty, though… it's not you, Suicune, it's just there are some things about being on a Pokémon running through the air half a mile up that make part of my mind want to curl up and whimper."

He shaded his eyes. "There's Akala island, up ahead! Hey, Ash!"

Ash's Zapdos swooped left, then right, and fell in next to Suicune.

"We're going to meet Olivia at the Heahea City Pokémon Centre!" the Pokémon Professor said. "Do you need Suicune and I up front to help you find where to go?"

"I will ensure that where Ash lands is the right place," Arc told them. "Correction. I will ensure Ash lands in the right place."

"Sounds good to me!" Kukui said, with a thumbs-up. "Let's go!"

The procession of Pokémon, students and teachers all landed at Heahea City without much trouble, and the Island Kahuna came out to meet them.

"I've met Kahuna Hala before, but only once," Lana said. "It's nice to meet you, Kahuna Olivia."

"Alola!" Olivia said, giving them all a wave. "Wow, that's quite a collection of Pokémon you've arrived with there…"

She gasped slightly. "Oh, you poor girl."

"Is something wrong?" Kukui asked.

"Not at the moment, but there was," Olivia explained, stepping forwards towards Suicune and promptly tripping over her own feet.

Dragonite caught her with a forearm.

"Thank you," Olivia said, looking briefly embarrassed.

"If you mean what I assume you mean, then don't worry about it," Suicune advised. "You're right, it's something that has been part of my life for a long time, but because it has… well, as I say, it's not something to worry about."

"Well, if you say so," Olivia decided.

"Can you do the same thing as Ash can where he can understand Pokémon?" Sophocles said, seriously impressed. "We can't do that without one of Ash's Pokémon to translate for us."

"Do I count as one of Ash's Pokémon?" Rotom checked. "I do not think I do."

"You could be translating all this time?" Sophocles asked.

"I do not feel like it!" Rotom replied. "Besides, I would have no time for anything else!"

Olivia chuckled. "Well, it's not quite understanding what Pokémon say… instead, I look at them, and see how they are on a level that goes beyond just seeing them. It's also seeing what there is about them, and a bit about how they got that way."

"Oh, right, Aura!" Ash said. "That bit about knowing a Pokémon's history is a neat trick, I didn't know you could do that with it. But I guess it makes sense since Aura is about someone's personal energy."

"If you can see things about Pokémon, what can you see about Snowy?" Lillie asked.

"She's young, but she's definitely a companion of yours," Olivia judged. "That much is clear to see. It's very impressive, so well done to both of you."

"Now I want to know what there is about Ash's other Pokémon!" Mallow announced. "Mostly so someone else can get an idea."

"Um, wow," Olivia said, catching sight of Pikachu. "That's… a very strong bond. It's like that time I saw a Mega Evolved Pokémon, but not quite the same."

"That's because it's Pikachu who can Mega Evolve and Bond Phenomenon me, I guess!" Ash decided, rummaging in his pocket. "Hey, Arc, can you-"

Olivia shaded her eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Kukui asked.

"Am I the only person who can see the ineffable golden light coming from that phone?" Olivia asked.

"I would be hard to use if my ineffable golden light was continually shining forth," Arc stated. "I will attempt to tone it down. Would anyone who wishes to go home return to their Pokéballs?"

Zapdos, Zacian and Suicune all duly did so, as did Noivern, and Ibid vanished with them. A moment later the Ditto appeared again with the Pokéballs for most of Ash's Alola team, plus an antique Apricorn ball.

"I heard something about someone who could see the true nature of whoever she was looking at!" Aten declared, springing out of his Pokéball. "I demand recognition of my true status!"

Olivia duly looked at Aten.

"What's that smirk for?" Aten demanded. "What is that smirk for? That is not a smirk I enjoy."

"Maybe she can see what you actually think about your teammates?" Ash suggested.

"Silence!" Aten insisted. "I do not have to tolerate this!"

Then an Alolan Raichu zipped up.

This time Olivia fell over where she was standing.

"Are you okay?" Ash asked, worried.

"There's just… so much," Olivia said, a little faintly. "I wasn't ready for that."

"Ooh, that's cool!" announced the Raichu, scratching her head. "Hey, wait, if you can see a Pokémon' s history and stuff then where did I leave that cool shiny rock I found a while ago? I forgot where it was!"

Kahuna Olivia's first actual planned event came after she'd informed presumably-Mew that, no, she didn't actually get a sense of where the now-lost shiny rock might have been left, and after showing them around the city for a bit she took all seven humans – and their Pokémon – out of town to a barn full of Stoutland.

"The Stoutland around Heahea, and on Akala island in general, are experts at hunting down hidden treasures," she explained. "So we're doing a treasure hunt. And, yes, Raichu, that might mean they find whatever it is you're after. If it's here."

"Great!" Raichu said, doing a kickflip possibly just because he could. "Then let's go!"

"It's best to pick a Stoutland you get on well with," Professor Kukui said. "And you can search wherever you want, but you'll have to come back at the sound of the bell in a couple of hours. Understand?"

There were some nods, and Lana had already begun checking on the Stoutland one by one to see which one had the most fitting personality for her.

There was a flash as Snowy came out.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked her trainer.

"Oh!" Ash realized. "I should get Lokoko… that reminds me, actually, Kahuna Olivia – that thing you do where you look at a Pokémon and you know about them? My Ninetales, Lokoko, has a wife who can do something like that."

"She can?" Olivia asked.

"Well, I think so," Ash said, with a shrug. "It's similar, at least. Apparently I'm AAAAAA."

Ibid returned with Lokoko's Pokéball, and Snowy repeated her question.

"I… well," Lillie began. "I don't know, Snowy, but I want to be. And I know that maybe this isn't the best way to do it, but… I want to try. And maybe it won't work."

She drew in a breath, and let it out. "But I don't want to have not tried."

"Just so long as you know that nobody else is going to think anything bad about you if you can't," Ash said. "Except Aten, but he thinks bad things about everyone anyway."

"Not. A word. From you," Aten snarled, whirling to look at Olivia. "She's doing the smug smile again!"

"Well," Olivia said, that evening. "Let's see… Sophocles?"

Sophocles showed what his Stoutland had found, and Olivia smiled. "Ah, a Star Piece! This is a bit of a fallen meteorite, so that's very impressive."

"Huh, maybe I should have brought back the rock Rayquaza ate," Ash said, scratching his head, then shrugged. "Well, she was hungry."

"Kiawe has… two fossils!" Olivia went on. "A Skull Fossil and a Plume Fossil, both very well preserved. We might even be able to get these revived."

"They're both Rock-type, neither are Fire-type, so it's up to you, Kahuna," Kiawe said.

"And Mallow has a collection of ingredients," Olivia said. "Some of these mushrooms are quite rare… and I don't think I've ever seen a berry quite like that before."

"I have!" Raichu said. "It's an Enigma Berry!"

"Oh, that's an Enigma Berry!" Ash said. "I recognize the name because I've been working with Salandit and that's the one that makes the strongest Bug type Natural Gift attacks."

Salandit came out to inspect the berry, which made Olivia do a double-take. "That's… a very big Salandit."

"Yeah, he was training to be a Totem Pokémon but it didn't work out," Ash explained.

"That is a really unusual scent," Salandit said, waving his tail. "Sort of… fresh and earthy? Maybe a bit of sulphur?"

He gave a whole-body shrug. "I'll figure it out."

"Thanks, Mallow!" Ash said. "Sorry about interrupting!"

"Right," Olivia said. "Let's see… Lillie?"

"I found that I can touch Stoutland, eventually," Lillie said. "And I found a Pokéball belonging to Snowy, but only because I dropped it."

"That's great," Ash told her. "Really, problems like that are really hard to get over, so making progress like that is excellent."

"And I found this," Lana revealed.

"Ooh!" Raichu said, zipping over to have a closer look. "Hmm… it's not quite like I was thinking of, but that's really close! I wonder if there's more of them!"

"There certainly are," Olivia told him. "It's a Sparkling Stone – those are what we use to make Z-rings. Lana, if you want, I'll see about getting this turned into a Z-ring."

"That would be great!" Lana replied. "Thank you, Kahuna!"

"It's the least I could do," Olivia said. "Ash, I know you went off with a Stoutland and your Phanpy, did you find anything? Apart from the meteorite you mentioned before."

"Phanpy did find this," Ash replied, bringing out a crystal. "I think it's another Z crystal, do you know which one it is?"

Olivia looked at it, then looked closer. "I… don't, no. It's not quite any colour I'm familiar with, it's got a shape like Lycanium Z or Kommonium Z but with a different symbol… no, no idea."

"I think you'd best keep that one, Ash, you'll probably meet the Pokémon it's for at some point," Kukui advised.

"Yeah, probably," Raichmew agreed. "That's Ash for you!"

Chapter Text

"Okay," Litten said, setting herself on fire and sending the damp streaming away from her fur. "What was all that in aid of?"

"I got Arc to make a video while you were underwater," Ash explained, wrapping a towel around himself. "Specifically, of the bit just after you went into the water."

"Right," Litten replied, sounding like she was willing to at least give this idea a hearing.

For the second day on Akala, Olivia had taken them all fishing, and while Ash could have tried doing that himself it instead seemed like a good time to sort out Litten's problem with the water.

"Actually, isn't there meant to be a problem with phones going in the water?" Popplio asked, interested. "Arc is your phone, right?"

"That is correct," Arc stated. "Rotom for example would not want to go in the water while possessing a Pokédex or phone, unless specially prepared for it. I, however, have the benefit of a small soup dish."

"A what?"

"A Water Plate," they clarified. "Please wait, using High Definition movie playback."

Litten and Popplio both flinched back as Arc suddenly grew to three feet across.

"What just happened?" Popplio asked.

"Arc used Growth," Ibid said helpfully. "Arc's resolution rose."

"Observe closely," Arc requested, and played the film of Litten plunging into the water.

"I was going a lot faster than I was expecting," Litten complained. "I was really not expecting Starly to drop me from that high up."

Starly chirped helpfully.

"Did you see what I wanted you to?" Ash asked.

"Let's assume I didn't see the important bit," Litten decided.

"Right – well, it's to do with the bit just after you hit the water," Ash said. "Again, Arc?"

Arc played the impact in slow motion, with Litten plunging into the water in a cloud of bubbles, and Ash pointed. "There, see? There's bubbles coming off your fur, after the general air splash."

"I see it," Litten allowed. "Not the same as saying I understand it, though."

"Well, it's a proof of concept!" Ash said. "See, it means your fur had air in it, until it left. And all we need to do is stop that happening, or make it so you can replace the air, and then you can move around underwater with an air cloud over your fur stopping you from getting wet."

"That… might work?" Litten said. "I think? It's getting beyond what I understand, but it might work."

"Well, how is she going to do it?" Popplio asked. "I know how to blow bubbles! Really big ones, too. But Litten's not a Water type."

"It could be a Water move, but it could also be a Flying one, because that's the type that deals with things like tailwind," Ash said, mostly to himself. "Or it could be Grass, because of photosynthesis… let's start with Flying because that's the one that's probably going to be easiest for Litten to learn. Talonflame, can you help?"

Litten looked around. "Is Talonflame here?"

"No, he's in Kanto," Ash said, holding out his hand.

Talonflame appeared perched on Ash's arm. "I'm here," he said.

"And now Talonflame's here," Ash added. "That's Tailwind for you! Okay, so I was hoping you could work with Litten so she can carry a cloud of air on her fur when she goes into the water, it seems a bit like Tailwind."

"Hmm," Talonflame said. "It could be, or it could be something to do with surface tension. You know, like Greninja and Suicune use."

"Good point," Ash agreed. "Greninja, can you help?"

"Is Greninja here?" Litten asked, now not sure where to look.

"No, he's in Kanto too, but unlike Talonflame he can't come here in less than a second once Arc sends him a text," Ash explained.

Ibid appeared with Greninja's Pokéball.

"Thanks!" Ash told Ibid, then sent out Greninja.

"Well," Greninja began.

Then there was a brief interruption as Lana hooked a Wash Rotom.

"I think that move is going to work best," Talonflame decided, eventually. "It was working for me when I went into the water, and that's probably a good sign."

"Now that I think about it, I should probably say this," Litten realized. "Thank you for your willingness to repeatedly crash into the sea to help me solve a problem."

"That's the way of the ninja, I think," Greninja assured her. "It might be the way of the ninja. Possibly it's only Torkoal's way of the ninja, or Zoroark's, or something like that."

"I always thought the way of the ninja was to not be noticed, but more fool me, I suppose," Litten shrugged. "Okay, how do I actually do Aerial Ace?"

"Like this," Talonflame said, then did it.

"...um," Litten began.

"Talonflame, it usually helps if you do the move slow enough that the other Pokémon can physically see it," Greninja cautioned.

"Nobody mentioned that," Talonflame protested.

"Hold on, I think I have an idea," Pikachu said, scampered off, then came back with Arc.

"Let's see," he said, paging down quickly. "I think… I think you might want to start by basing it off a… corkscrew shooting star press."

"Oh!" Litten brightened. "So you use speed to hit your target no matter where they are, and any excess momentum goes into the flair of the move itself!"

"If she needs more translation, ask Hawlucha," Pikachu advised.

The next day, Olivia took them up from the shore and towards the volcano that dominated much of central Akala.

"This is Wela Volcano Park," Kukui said. "This is where the Wela Fire Festival happens, which is focused specifically on Fire-type Pokémon and on making them stronger."

"That's why I brought along so many of my Fire-type Pokémon!" Ash agreed. "Plus some others who were interested in watching."

"So, how does it work?" Aaaaaabsol asked, from next to her wife. "I have no idea how much Ash told everyone else what he'd researched, but I know I know next to nothing except that it's supposed to be a nice day out."

She tilted her head. "Which… seems accurate at the moment."

"Of course it is, we're here together," Lokoko smiled.

"Flatterer," Absol replied, with a fond look.

"So it's a festival which is a bit of a ritual, too," Ash explained. "There's a crown which is made out of cooled lava, which I guess is different to how the whole island's made out of cooled lava one way or another because it's a volcanic island, and it's symbolically associated with both the power of a volcano which springs into extra life from what you might think is just a mountain and how the volcano's ash and rock turns into rich volcanic soil, so in both cases it's about making Pokémon stronger. Possibly by the principles of sympathy and contagion, or that's what Serena would say if she was here."

"That's a different way of thinking about it than I remember, but I guess that's about right," Kiawe judged. "And, well, it celebrates the power and generosity of Wela Volcano and how it made Akala what it is today. Turtonator got crowned last year, and… I think it helped him out!"

"Hmm," Entei said, looking up at the volcano. "Would they like me to help make it stronger?"

"I doubt it," Suicune replied. "Brother mine, if you were to make that volcano erupt, it would perhaps be beneficial for the island in the long run, but in the short run then it would spoil the festival a bit."

"Oh, of course!" Entei nodded. "Thank you, that is a good point. But perhaps I could instead make the crown stronger? It is volcanic."

"I think if you did want to do that then you should ask first!" Ash pointed out. "I know Absol hasn't said anything but that could just be because you weren't going to actually do it, because I was going to point that out. But, actually… what about Pokémon who are sometimes Fire-type but not always? That's why I brought Rayquaza along."

"I've seen some Oricorio do it in Baile Style," Kiawe contributed. "So it's probably all right if they're Fire-type at the time. It shows dedication for them because Oricorio here are Pa'u Style so they have to come from Ula'ula and plan ahead."

He took a step back, actually looking at the collection of Pokémon Ash had sent out. "There's… kind of a lot of them, now I think about it."

"Yeah, we're going at the end of the festival," Ash confirmed.

"Except me, I already did it," Salandit said, waving his paw. "Yeah, speaking of which, if I suddenly return myself it's because of an awkward situation."

"Got it!" Ash said, nodding. "Huh, now I wonder if there's a Heatran down there as part of the volcano."

He looked vaguely downwards. "Well, I don't think so… anyway, anyone else who's here to take part or just watch?"

"I sort of want to join the queue," Moltres admitted. "I'm not a Fire-type, but I look it and I can sort of fake it. So could Zoroark but more convincingly, at least if they tried to set him on fire."

He looked pensive. "So could Meganium, now I think about it, though less convincingly, as long as it was sunny."

"I think they've thought of that," Ash shrugged. "But yeah, it wouldn't be good manners to rely on trickery like that in a festival like this, right?"

"I suppose," Moltres nodded.

"Well, I'm interested!" Typhlosion announced. "I don't know if there's something above going Mega Typhlosion, but if there is then we'll find out."

"Maybe there's Hyper Typhlosion?" Tepig asked. "Wait, no, that's the next upgrade after Super, for potions and things. Where does Mega fit in with that?"

Typhlosion shrugged.

"How many Pokémon of yours actually are taking part in this, Ash?" Lillie asked. "Typhlosion, Entei, Torkoal-"

"I will run up the volcano and personally demonstrate my dedication!" Torkoal announced. "And if I do not, I will run up the volcano as penance!"

"I can see certain logical issues there," Lokoko said.

"Lokoko," Lillie went on, counting off. "Chimchar, Rayquaza, Tepig, Talonflame, Litten… do you have a Charizard?"

"He's busy at the moment, but he might make it before the end of the festival," Tepig provided helpfully.

"So why is Snorlax here?" Lillie went on. "I know why a lot of the spectators are here, to watch, but… he's just asleep."

"I think he assumed food was involved in some way," Salandit said.

"Where?" Snorlax asked, looking around.

"Not yet, but Dragonite did say he'd make something," Salandit informed the Normal-type.

"Okay," Snorlax said, lying back down again.

"Kiawe," Olivia said, as the ritual neared its ends. "I assume it's your Charizard this time?"

"That's right, Kahuna," Kiawe agreed, sending out his Ride Pokémon. "Ready for this, Charizard?"

Charizard nodded.

"I'm not sure if I can make myself faster with it, but it's important anyway," he said, bowing his head.

Then an Alolan Marowak jumped in and snatched the crown from the Kahuna's hands.

"Hey!" Kiawe called, as Marowak ran off.

Then Snorlax used Extremespeed.

Since Marowak was a Ghost, Snorlax went straight through, but he did pick up the crown on the way past before doing an impressively tight turn and skidding to a halt next to Kahuna Olivia.

"Losing it would be a delay to the food," he said.

"Hey!" Kiawe called, pointing at the confused-looking Pokémon. "Marowak! Were you looking for a fight? A battle? Did you want a chance to wear the crown yourself, or were you just causing trouble?"

"How did that just happen?" Marowak asked. "How can such a big Pokémon move so fast?"

"Honestly, not sure myself," Kiawe admitted. "Still, same question!"

"This is very confusing," Marowak said. "I wanted to see if a trainer could handle me, that's what!"

"Then I'll-" Kiawe began, then looked at Charizard.

Looked at Turtonator's Pokéball.

"Give me a bit of time to get advice from my teacher, and I'll challenge you!" Kiawe said. "Just, uh… I think my Pokémon are going to need a speed boost."

Chapter Text

"So what I need to work out is how to get Turtonator faster," Kiawe said. "Is that right?"

He looked up at Marowak, who was waiting patiently some distance away. "That Marowak is fast, but… am I thinking about this right?"

"I think it's a great way to think about it," Ash assured him. "There's no type advantage going on based on raw types, because Turtonator's also a Dragon type and Marowak's also a Ghost type, but if Turtonator doesn't have a good move to attack Marowak then you might need to think about that as she might have the advantage… but then again, if you want to attack her you either need a good ranged move or a good way to catch up to her."

"I do have a Dragon type move," Turtonator volunteered, as over in the distance Chimchar began having a chat with Marowak. "But it's Dragon Tail, so I think it's up to Kiawe if he'd prefer me to work on close range or long range moves."

"That is a good point," Kiawe admitted. "Well… it'd be helpful if you were faster for more than just this specific situation, right? And it would let you dodge out of the way as well as letting you get into combat. So it feels like that would be more generally useful."

"Right!" Ash said. "Okay, so there's a few ideas, and I guess it depends on Turtonator. Actually – hey, Lana, Mallow, Sophocles, Lillie, see if you can help with this!"

The other four students crowded around, and Ash resumed. "So what we're looking for is a way to make Turtonator faster," he said. "A way that fits with how Turtonator works as a battling Pokémon, that is. And there's lots of ways I can think of that might work, but I wanted to see if any of you had an idea for one that you thought would work."

"Huh," Mallow frowned, thinking. "So he's a Fire type… can't some of them use fire to propel themselves around?"

Turtonator's eyes went a little glazed, mostly because of near-prophetic visions of repeatedly slamming himself against the ground, trees, other Pokémon and anything else that happened to be in the way, and Ash considered that before nodding.

"It's an option!" he said. "Though a lot of Turtonator's flame comes out of his mouth or from his back, so it's more really useful for going in directions he's not looking. It could work though!"

Sophocles went next. "There's a move called Shell Smash," he said. "It's for Pokémon with shells, or, mostly it is, and Turtonator has a shell. It makes the Pokémon faster and better at attacking, but it does also make it a lot easier to hurt them in return."

"Are you okay, Turtonator?" Kiawe asked. "You seem like you're a bit nervous."

"I am a bit, yes," Turtonator agreed. "You would be too if people kept making suggestions like these ones."

"Dragon Tail throws Pokémon around, doesn't it?" was Lillie's suggestion. "So maybe Turtonator can use it on himself to knock himself around?"

"I'm a Dragon-type!" Turtonator complained. "That would be worse for me than Marowak!"

"Or… hang on, what's it called?" Lana asked. "There's that one that makes fast Pokémon slower and slow Pokémon faster."

"Trick Room?" Steenee asked.

"That's the one!" Lana agreed. "Could Turtonator use that? That way he'd be faster than Marowak instead of slower."

"Well, it's the first one that's not sounded actively painful," Turtonator admitted. "Couldn't I learn whatever Snorlax does?"

"Hmm," Snorlax said, levering himself up on one arm and inspecting Turtonator. "How hungry are you?"

"Um… not especially? A bit?" Turtonator replied. "I'd quite like dinner some time today, but I'm ready for battle."

"Then probably not," Snorlax said, lying back down again. "You must learn to strive."

"What about Dragon Dance?" Sophocles asked. "That's less extreme than Shell Smash, but Turtonator is a dragon…"

"All right, Marowak, we're ready!" Kiawe called, some minutes later.

The rest of the festival had been completed to the point that the people and Pokémon not involved were getting started on dinner, but Kiawe's classmates were still all watching the battle that was about to happen – as was Ash.

"Very well, then," Marowak said, holding up her bone and lighting it on both ends. "Show me how skilled you are, Pokémon trainer."

"Turtonator, onto your back!" Kiawe said.

Marowak's stance changed from ready to confused as she watched Turtonator flip himself upside down. "Um."

"Now, Trick Room!" Kiawe added, and a shimmering field of energy pulsed out from the Dragon-type.

All of about six inches.

"That doesn't seem to have worked," she said.

"No, this is actually great," Kiawe countered. "Now, Dragon Tail!"

Turtonator used Dragon Tail, which meant he started spinning around very quickly indeed as Trick Room turned his normal slow solidity into blurring rapidity. He also began to wobble a bit, precessing around an axis instead of spinning straight up and down.

"And… Shell Trap!" Kiawe finished.

One of Turtonator's shell spikes exploded while it was facing mostly away from Marowak, catapulting Turtonator in Marowak's direction and forcing the Fire-type to abruptly pay a lot of attention to what was going on. She lit her bone up with Shadow Bone, holding it out in a blocking position, and it went whang whang whang as Turtonator's Dragon Tail collided with it three times before she was able to dodge out of the way.

"Where did this come from?" she asked. "You just talked for fifteen minutes and then this is happening?"

"It's applying what we've been learning in school!" Turtonator replied. "Though I will be level with you right now: I cannot see where you are. Or much of anything. It's all a bit of a blur."

"Then how are you-"

"Shell Trap!" Kiawe called, and another of Turtonator's spikes exploded. Again, it launched him spinning towards Marowak, and this time she wasn't able to use her bone to block all the blows – three got through, the combination knocking her halfway across the area to send her landing with a whud.

"Keep it up, Turtonator!" Kiawe praised.

"Better you than me!" his Charizard agreed.

"Thanks," Turtonator said. "Is she still battling? Am I sliding downhill? I assume you'd mention things if they were important!"

With Marowak not precisely defeated so much as conceding, partly because otherwise there was a serious danger that one of Turtonator's side-spins would land on her without him realizing it, she agreed to join Kiawe's team.

"Good to have you," Charizard said.

Turtonator made a slight noise of disagreement, but he wasn't very eloquent about it partly because as far as he was concerned the whole of Akala kept spinning.

"So, what is with that trainer with the Pikachu, anyway?" Marowak added, looking over and realizing for the first time just how diverse Ash's team was. "And the… um… everything else."

"If you know, please tell me," Kiawe said. "I think everyone in several regions has been trying to work that one out…"

He stretched, then shook his head. "It's weird in his lessons. You get the impression that it's like… hey, Charizard, remember that time we got a real scare at Brooklet Hill?"

Charizard shivered. "Yeah, not a happy memory."

"What happened?" Marowak asked.

"Flying's weird," Kiawe explained. "There was this one time – just once, just after Charizard evolved – that I went out flying in foggy weather without either staying slow and low or climbing way out of the fog entirely, and Charizard and I got ourselves turned around and upside down. We were doing a loop without realizing it, so I wasn't falling out of the saddle or anything, then we suddenly spotted a lake that looked like it was above us and managed to stop just in time."

Kiawe shrugged. "That kind of totally weird realization that the world's upside down compared to what you thought? That's a typical lesson with Mr. Ketchum."

Meanwhile, in Hoenn, Dawn checked through some notes.

"So… right, we know it's in between one and two years, right?" she said.

Pichu nodded. "Yep. Age makes that one easy enough."

"And we know that at least some of us went with you, but others didn't," Piplup provided. "But you didn't bother to leave any information on who."

"Yeah, sorry, I'd say I have to have left better notes but I didn't so I can't," Dawn shrugged. "I hope everyone comes with me, but I know that's not really going to be possible because it didn't happen, unless I fabricated the details in the notes we found."

"It's a delicate art," Pichu said, sagely. "You don't want to end up making something retroactively impossible because you gave too much information."

"We'll be ready for the challenge," Riolu said.

"Agreed," Quilava nodded. "Though if I go then I'll have to go thunderstorm chasing, it's far more convenient to tap into mains electricity which wasn't a thing in the past. Unless I've thoroughly misunderstood."

"Yeah, I don't think you misunderstood," Pichu confirmed. "That said, there's going to be a lot of Electric-types! Including our trainer, come to that."

Nickit cast a side-eye at Azelf. "Aren't you going to say anything about what happened? I assume you know."

"And interfere with the absolutely amazing display of willpower and determination on display?" Azelf replied, sounding shocked. "Besides, she'll have did great."

"I hate time travel verbs," Nickit said, paws over her muzzle.

Dawn patted her Dark-type. "Don't worry about it, it'll make sense once it's happened. I assume."

"That's a very big assumption given how some of our adventures have gone."

Luxio stretched. "I wonder if we'll invent the Contest."

"I think that's Hoenn, right?" Swinub said. "That's why we're here… mind you, what happens if we invent Contests in Hoenn and then invent them again separately somewhere else?"

Togekiss hummed. "I think at that point we discover how Mr. Sukizo does it."

Azelf drifted over and whispered into Nickit's ear.

The ear twitched.

"Really?" she said. "I wonder if I could steal that… anyone want to guess what Origin Nickit would look like?"

And, in Lumiose City, Paul sent out his Gabite.

"Get ready," he warned.

"Biiite!" Gabite called.

"J'accord," a speaker system said.

"What was that?" Paul asked, then shook his head. "No, never mind. What's your first Pokémon?"

"I'm using Dedenne!" Clemont replied, sending out the Electric-type from the Pokéball he already had ready. "He's sort of my sister's Pokémon, but we agreed it was all right because I'm the official trainer and she's not gone on her journey yet – she's too young."

Dedenne nodded, cheeks sparking.

"Hmm," Paul frowned. "Fairy type. Right. Watch out for Fairy moves, Gabite."

Gabite nodded, going down to a three-point stance with his talons making up the third point.

"Begin," Clemont added. "Sunny Day!"

"Bulldoze," Paul called. "Why Sunny Day?"

"Dedee!" Dedenne called, dodging out of the way with a flick of his tail before sending a flare of Sunny Day up into the gym room. His antennae sparkled, and some strange patterns began to form in the light.

"Zénith," the speakers said.

"Now, Gabite, Sand Tomb," Paul instructed. "Keep it around yourself to fend off the Solarbeam that's coming."

Dedenne didn't use Solarbeam, though, and Paul frowned. "Attack!"

Gabite charged in to use Metal Claw, and Dedenne used a brief pulse of electricity to jolt himself out of the way. Then Paul shaded his eyes slightly as Dedenne began to glow brightly.

"Denne-edeee!" Dedenne announced, tail flicking out, and lit up with Dazzling Gleam.

"Solaire thermique à concentration," the speakers said, over the sound of Gabite skidding rapidly backwards to collide with the nearest wall.

"Wait," Paul said. "I request a time out."

"Oh, sure!" Clemont agreed. "Is something wrong?"

"Well-" Paul began, but then Dark Clembot leaned around the door.

"Bonnie was playing fetch with Tyrantrum and threw the ball out the window by mistake," the robot reported. "Tyrantrum stopped before falling through the hole and they are both sorry."

"I'll fix it later," Clemont decided. "Sorry, what were you saying?"

Paul began to tick off on his fingers. "I don't think Sunny Day works like that, I'm fairly sure your gym's speaker system is translating Pokémon words into a language I don't speak, your younger sister has a Tyrantrum despite not being old enough to go on a Pokémon journey, and that's a robot. I just wanted to ask… how did you enjoy your journey with Ash Ketchum?"

"It was a lot of fun!" Clemont replied. "I never would have got the Translation Gear working without his inspiration!"

"Thought so," Paul muttered. "Okay, Gabite, get ready for us to resume."

Chapter Text

On a day when Kukui's class were all free to do what they wanted, Ash thought about how he was going to spend the day for a bit before brightening and picking up Arc.

"Do you have an idea where the Totem trials are?" he asked. "I don't know if that's readily available information or not."

"It is, but I have determined a useful method," Arc stated. "Contacting local support."

Their ring pulsed.

"How did they do that?" Tapu Lele asked, leaning out from behind a tree. "My head just went bing."

"Apologies, I will add an option to not disturb Pokémon in future," Arc said. "Do you know if there is a local Totem trial that is prepared for Ash Ketchum to visit?"

"Well, not at the moment, but I'll go and let the Lush Jungle one know," Tapu Lele said. "It's in the Lush Jungle."

"Thanks!" Ash called, then frowned. "Hmm, I wonder who I should use… Rockruff, what do you think?"

"I could get involved!" Rockruff agreed. "It'd be good to have a fight!"

They bounced on their paws. "I've been feeling really full of energy lately, it'd be great to burn some off!"

"And… well, Litten, Salandit, it could be either of you if you want," Ash went on. "Though I do also want to challenge Olivia some time soon, so you could wait until that one."

"I'd rather wait," Salandit said. "Knowing my luck the other Totem Pokémon around here knew about what happened with me…"

"Got it," Ash said, not prying. "Litten?"

The Fire-type looked at Rockruff, then let out an exaggerated sigh.

"I suppose I'll have to," she said. "Let's make it a good one, huh?"

"Yeah!" Rockruff agreed, nodding eagerly. "I'll do my best to provide loads of platforms for you! Feline Pokémon like having places to climb from, right?"

"Not necessarily, but… yeah, thanks," Litten decided.

In the Lush Jungle, not much later, Ash shaded his eyes to look around. "Hmm… so, what Pokémon is this one, anyway?"

"I know, but I don't think I'm allowed to tell you," Salandit said.

"Makes sense," Pikachu agreed, then formed his Surf-board and flew up into the air.

He hung there for several seconds, then dropped back down.

"In retrospect, I couldn't see the trial for the trees," he reported. "Does Aura help?"

"It might," Ash said, closing his eyes, and looked down at Salandit. "Huh, okay… so there's something that looks different for a Totem Pokémon, or an Alpha Pokémon, or however you want to call it. But it's a bit hard to spot compared to them just being bigger."

"Speaking of which, I should return myself," Salandit said, and did so.

Ash looked around, then Ibid made a throat clearing noise and changed into a miniature Luxray.

"Scanning," he said. "Scan complete. There is a larger than normal Pokémon that way."

"Thanks, Ibid!" Ash said.

"How did you determine that?" Rotom asked.

"I looked through solid objects and have an encyclopedic knowledge of how big a Pokémon is meant to be," Ibid stated. "The Pokémon I saw was larger than normal. This is prima facie evidence that they could be a Totem Pokémon."

"That would do it," Rotom decided.

Another ten minutes of trekking through the jungle, and a large Lurantis suddenly jumped down in front of Ash.

"Ash Ketchum," the Totem Pokémon said. "It is you, right? I want to be sure because Tapu Koko forgot to laminate the sheet he dropped off and, jungle."

"I did warn you he was coming," Tapu Lele pointed out.

"Sure, but I want to be certain," Lurantis said. "Do you mind confirming your identity?"

"Not at all!" Ash said. "How can I do that?"

Arc manifested.

"That'll do," Lurantis agreed, as Arc demanifested. "Now. I have three ally Pokémon lined up, all Castform. I hope that is acceptable."

"Sure is!" Ash confirmed. "Litten, Rockruff, ready for this?"

"You bet!" Rockruff agreed, emerging from their Pokéball. "Litten, let's go for it!"

"Begin," Lele advised.

The first of the Castform immediately swept onto the battlefield, and used Sunny Day. Lurantis gestured, forming a shimmering blade of solar energy from their arm, and swept it down towards Rockruff.

Litten got in the way, fur suddenly on fire, and did her level best to do a fireman's carry drop on a Pokémon about five times her height. It didn't work, and got her hit with a Solar Blade for her trouble, but it did mean that Rockruff didn't get hit.

"Thanks!" Rockruff yipped, rising into the air, and Lurantis did a double-take.

"Sorry, I got the warning, but – what?" the Grass-type asked.

"Yeah, this is presumably new," the Tapu replied. "Koko didn't mention it."

Several Stealth Rocks appeared, one of them directly underneath Litten to lift her into the air, and she glanced at Rockruff.

"Focus on the Castform!" she said, springing off and using Aerial Ace While On Fire.

"Sure – look out!" Rockruff interrupted themself.

"Litten, roll with it!" Ash called, as the Fire-type bounced off the floor after a Solar Blade had knocked her back. "Turn back and go after Lurantis!"

"Solar Beam," Lurantis instructed, then sent a Petal Blizzard whirling around the whole clearing. It eroded some of Rockruff's stealth rocks, but Litten snorted before blowing out a stream of flame and setting the Petal Blizzard on fire.

"Use the flames for cover!" Ash told his Pokémon. "Both of you! And – wait, swap opponents!"

"Really?" Rockruff asked, surprised, then formed a set of stepping stone Stealth Rocks for Litten and sprang down to ground level. "If you insist!"

"Aerial Ace!" Ash instructed Litten. "Rockruff, keep moving, use a rock shield against Lurantis' attacks! Litten – heat up Rockruff's shield, use the sunlight!"

"This feels very strange," Tapu Lele said, sitting down next to Pikachu.

"It does?" Pikachu asked.

"Yes, because I'm waiting for Ash to do something absolutely demented," the Tapu explained. "Koko said you two got on well, by the way. How did that go?"

"He threw a Z ring through the window, then the first time we properly met he demanded I try to blow him up," Pikachu replied.

"Sounds about right," Lele agreed.

"Litten, next to Rockruff!" Ash called. "Powerbomb the rock at Lurantis!"

A red-hot rock hit Lurantis and exploded, showering the Totem Pokémon with fragments, and Ash was already commanding Rockruff to throw another rock at Castform.

"Hmm, I wonder if that counts," Lele mused, as Castform switched out for another Castform.

This one used Rain Dance and began shooting Water Gun attacks at both Rockruff and Litten, but Litten just set herself on fire and jumped onto one of Rockruff's Stealth Rocks for support.

"Heat up your rock!" Ash called. "Rockruff, switch to Bite!"

"So I really don't get this!" Castform admitted, using Water Gun again, and Rockruff zipped out of the way – and Litten jumped into the way, sending up a flash of white steam from the Fire-type's fur. "Why does that Litten keep getting wet?"

"It's not because I like it!" Litten retorted. "I actually didn't realize Rockruff was dodging that time!"

"Not what she asked," Lurantis said.

"Not what I asked!" Castform agreed, shaking her raindrop. "I know I've hit you with lots of Water Gun and Weather Ball attacks by now and you've been in rain for ages, so how are you still going?"

"Four words!" Litten answered, springing from rock to rock before swiping out at Castform. "Because I can swim!"

"That doesn't – it doesn't work like that, does it?" Tapu Lele asked. "Just because she can swim doesn't mean she's not immune to water or whatever's going on."

"You haven't seen how she swims," Pikachu pointed out reasonably. "It's actually relevant, because in order to swim she carries air against her fur which protects her from the water."

"Right!" Rockruff agreed, then zipped behind one of their rocks to avoid a Solar Blade from Lurantis and another to avoid a Weather Ball from Castform. "And that works underwater, so obviously it works when it's just a bit of water at a time!"

Tapu Lele shook her head. "Yes, I think I'm getting a very good idea why Koko is so interested in you now."

"Rockruff, focus on Lurantis again!" Ash called. "Litten, get in close to Castform!"

Rockruff diverted enough of their attention to give Litten a staircase, moving it so that Litten had good paw-holds, then Ash glanced down at Arc's screen as Lurantis whipped up a Petal Blizzard.

"Uhh… I think this is the right word… Snapmare at Rockruff!"

"What?" Tapu Lele asked. "What move is that?"

It turned out to be roughly comparable to Circle Throw, and sent Castform crashing down right into the Petal Blizzard.

"And stop!" Ash called. "She's knocked out, so swap out."

Both Ash's Pokémon had stopped in place, and so had Lurantis.

"Good," the Grass-type said, as the rain ended and a third Castform floated in to retrieve their friend – before taking up position next to Lurantis, and the Weather Pokémon used Sandstorm as Lurantis made the signal to resume.

"All right!" Ash said. "This is great! Rockruff, Stealth Rock!"

Rocks rose back into the air, and Ash shook his head. "No, the whole sandstorm!"

Rockruff froze for a moment, then so did the entire sandstorm.

"What," Tapu Lele asked. "Okay, now that is impressive."

"Now, focus it on Lurantis and Castform!" Ash added. "Keep moving, make sure they can't see you and keep using Rock Throw! I know you're tired, you both just need a bit more of a lift!"

Pikachu nudged Tapu Lele.

"It's six Pokémon total for the island challenges, right? That's what Gumshoos said."

Tapu Lele nodded.

"Thought so, but Ash wouldn't be Ash if he wasn't having his Pokémon stretch their limits like this," Pikachu said, with a happy smile. "That's my trainer for you."

The Legendary accepted that, then frowned. "...why is that rock platform taking Litten so high into the air?"

"Now, Rockruff, Litten!" Ash called. "Powerbombing run!"

Litten set herself on fire again, Rockruff started pulling the Stealth Rock down instead of up, and Litten used Aerial Ace to provide the necessary terminal guidance.

"Ow," Lurantis said, succinctly, then reached up and extinguished their flaming ear. "Yes, I think you've won that one."

They whistled, and a Trumbeak flew over with a Z-crystal.

"Ghost," Lurantis explained. "I suggest trying it out in your Grand Trial."

"Oh, yeah, I could do one of those, too!" Ash said. "I wonder if Olivia's available today."

"I hope you're not planning on using us," Rockruff replied. "I'm… well, I'll probably have some more energy to burn off later, but not enough for a battle like that."

They looked over their shoulder. "Also I think Litten might be unconscious."

It turned out that Olivia actually wasn't available that day, but she'd have the time for a proper battle the next morning.

Since it was only a little after noon, then, Ash decided everyone on his Alola team – plus the other Pokémon he had around at the moment – should have a nice big meal, partly to celebrate the finished Island Trial and partly because it was just about lunchtime anyway.

"So… how was it?" Rowlet asked.

"Ask me again later," Litten replied, taking a bite of the top pancake in her stack. "I think I want to get a lot of rest before I try to do something as demanding as explaining it."

"That's okay, I can," Rockruff volunteered.

"Ugh, fine, I'll do some of the explaining," Litten griped. "So first there was a Lurantis…"

"Not first, all the way through!" Rockruff replied.

Litten elected to just have her pancakes and jump in if Rockruff said something wrong.

While that was going on, meanwhile, Giratiny was examining the new Z-crystal.

"Hmm," he said, doing a spin. "So it's ghost type? I wonder what it would do to Shadow Force!"

"That would be an experience," Pikachu decided. "You couldn't even dodge something like that, at least not normally."

"Hmf!" Aten huffed. "Of course you can! You simply have to be a Normal-type. Or move in a way that Giratiny cannot predict, so therefore I am the best Pokémon to evade such an attack in two ways!"

"Let's try it out, then!" Giratiny suggested.

"I did not say that that was going to happen," Aten said firmly. "Are you considering treason?"

"Actually, I think I'm technically a prince?" Giratiny said. "Maybe? I don't think Giratina actually said anything about it, though, so maybe not… but it only counts as treason if it's your king, doesn't it? And I think that mostly applies to if it's Dragonite anyway."

"I suppose in hindsight you are not from PokéAtlantis, much as I would have liked a Pokémon like you at my beck and call," Aten conceded.

He looked up. "What kind of Pokémon does this Olivia have?"

"She's a Rock-type specialist," Ash answered. "I was thinking of using you and Salandit!"

"You do know what type advantage is, right?" Salandit checked, looking up from his plate. "Not complaining, just asking."

"A great way to surprise people!" Ash replied.

"...yeah, fair enough."

Chapter Text

"So, this is your second Grand Trial?" Olivia asked.

"Actually, it's my first," Ash admitted. "When I went to see Kahuna Hala I mostly just tested how my new Grassnium Z was working."

"Oh, he mentioned that," Olivia realized. "I should have known it was you who'd used Mega Meganiumnium Z… anyway, this is going to be a battle with two Pokémon on a side. Is that all right?"

"Sure is!" Ash confirmed. "I'm all set!"

"In that case…" Olivia began, then sent out her Lycanroc and Probopass.

Ash replied with Salandit and Scrafty.

"Watch out for the Scrafty," Olivia warned. "Begin – Magnet Bomb! Accelerock!"

"Salac!" Ash called out. "Build it up!"

Scrafty dodged to the right, avoiding the high-speed barrage of rocks from the Accelerock, but Probopass' Magnet Bomb homed in to hit anyway – resulting in a cloud of smoke as Aten's illusion burst and sent him rolling over before skidding to a halt.

"Thought so," Olivia said. "I recognized him from before."

"Ow," Aten growled, then focused his attention on Probopass. "Revenge!"

Apparently it was specifically not just Probopass but the nose of Probopass which was coming in for Aten's ire, as he bit on and made the Rock-type float backwards with their mini-noses flailing to try and get Aten off.

"Help!" the Compass Pokémon called. "Ow! How is he biting so hard?"

"He's angry," Ash replied. "Just generally, but also specifically about this! He's that kind of Pokémon."

"Lycanroc, help Probopass," Olivia directed. "Rock Slide, he can take it and the Zorua can't."

Aten let go, pounced through Probopass in time to avoid the actual rock barrage, then looked back and forth for a moment and slapped the ground with his paw. That done, he darted to the side and hit it again.

"Stealth Rock," Olivia commanded. "Keep up the Rock Slide, Lycanroc. Magnet Bomb again."

Probopass flung out a Magnet Bomb which chased Aten around the arena, then Aten did a sliding skid and slapped the ground behind him with a paw- prompting a Fire Spin to shoot up around him, trapping him in place for a moment but also detonating the Magnet Bomb orb before it could reach Aten himself.

"Back in!" Ash said. "Keep it up, Salandit!"

"Keep what up, I wonder…" Olivia said to herself, frowning. "Lycanroc, Probopass, Salandit might be slowing you down. Are you feeling okay?"

Both Pokémon turned to their trainer and nodded, and Olivia thought hard.

Then Aten used Shadow Claw to slice an incoming rock in half, jumped up at Lycanroc, and hit them with Foul Play. That knocked the Rock-type to the ground, where one of Aten's traps detonated in a Sand Tomb.

"Now, Salandit!" Ash called.

Salandit smirked, flicking his tail up, and touched off the cloud of Salac-scented scent he'd been building up for at least the last minute.

The explosion made the whole battlefield jump, and more than that it was Fighting-typed – which meant it hit Lycanroc hard, hit Probopass very hard, and passed right through Aten as if nothing was there at all.

"Acceptable!" Aten called, as Lycanroc picked himself out of the shattered ground that had been the Sand Tomb. "Now do it again!"

"Stop Salandit from doing that again!" Olivia instructed.

"Protect Salandit!" Ash told Aten. "Smaller explosions now, Salandit, keep yourself safe!"

"Excuse me?" Aten asked. "I do not protect my teammates, they support me!"

He still attacked Lycanroc anyway, knocking their Accelerock off course, but that was presumably just a coincidence or something.

"She's giving me a smug smile!" Aten complained.

"That Salandit just blew up the whole landscape and you rigged part of it to turn into sand, why are you complaining about a smile?" Lycanroc asked, rolling over once before flinging a Rock Slide in the direction of Ash's Pokémon.

"He tried to bite my nose off!" Probopass added, flinging out a Zap Cannon.

"Disruption," Olivia commanded. "Probopass, Magnet Bomb, keep the Zorua from being able to defend."

"Aten!" Ash called. "Get ready!"

He held up his Z-ring, and Aten brightened.

"Go for Probopass!" Ash clarified. "They've got better battlefield control!"

"Probopass, get a Giga Impact ready to counter it," Olivia ordered, then blinked – because Ash wasn't doing the Dark or Fighting poses. "Wait-"

Aten pounced forwards in a swirl of spectral energy, and hit Probopass in an almighty explosion of rage.

Also ice. Quite a lot of ice.

"Huh, this one changed shape too," Ash said. "Hey, Aten, your one's got a little wispy flame symbol on it, so I guess that move is based on Bitter Malice specifically!"

"Good," Aten replied, wobbling around in a circle before falling over. "Nobody told me that would be that exhausting."

"Did you not hear me mentioning when I was exhausted after doing one?" Pikachu asked.

"That was you, not me," Aten answered, rolling onto his back and splaying his legs out.

Lycanrock and Olivia were both looking between Aten and Probopass, largely because the Compass Pokémon was frozen solid.

"Data observed!" Rotom said. "The Z-move acted like a Ghost type move but also like an Ice type move! I would like to suggest a name!"

"It's my Z move, I get to name it," Aten mumbled.

"Oh, my apologies," Rotom said, shrugging. "I thought you would appreciate the name Ice-Cold Royal Fury."

"...acceptable."

Probopass was out of the battle on account of being frozen entirely, since neither of Olivia's Pokémon had a fire move – it was actually up to Salandit to melt the Rock-type out again, whereupon Probopass went to sit on the sidelines – and Aten could technically still battle but he was almost completely exhausted.

"Tell you what," Salandit suggested. "Slap down some traps for me and we'll call it done."

"I accept," Aten decided. "I will technically have done more than half the work in this battle, and therefore the win is mine alone!"

"Sure, whatever," Salandit decided, shrugging.

"Ready to resume?" Olivia checked.

"Yeah!" Ash agreed.

"Rock Slide!" Olivia commanded, and her Lycanroc fired a barrage of rocks at Aten.

The Ghost-type just about managed to dodge from the first one, then Salandit set off a cloud of Fighting which burst the rest, and Aten gamely laid down two or three more traps to go with the ones he'd already made – then Lycanroc used Accelerock, and knocked Aten off the battlefield.

Ash recalled him, already deciding to ask Dragonite to make one of those old Pokemon-shaped flavoured loaves that Aten didn't admit to liking, then returned his attention to the arena – where Salandit was blowing out clouds of scented smoke and trying to catch Lycanroc in them.

It wasn't going well, but at least it wasn't going well for either Pokémon.

"Salandit, try making a differently shaped cloud!" Ash called, frowning. "Um… right, yeah! So make a cloud of Pamtre in a half-sphere shape!"

"A half sphere?" Salandit repeated. "Wow, uh… okay, I'll give it a try-"

"Look out!" Ash interrupted, and Salandit ducked as Lycanroc pounced just overhead.

The Rock-type summoned a Rock Slide, flinging it at Salandit, and Salandit darted inside a cloud of Salac he'd already set up and touched it off. The explosion shattered the incoming rocks, and Salandit exhaled a sigh of relief before spinning out a replacement Liechi cloud and getting to work on the Pamtre.

"What are you planning?" Pikachu asked.

"I don't know how well this works, but I think it will!" Ash replied. "Actually – make a whole sphere, that'll be easier! Then line it with Watmel, and get ready to do some Lansat!"

"I don't want to see what this is going to be," Olivia decided. "Lycanroc, Continental Crush!"

She struck the first pose, then the second, and Lycanroc began glowing with energy before leaping into the air and using Rock Slide.

"Chop the top half off your sphere with Lansat!" Ash said, as the rocks began to gather together into Continental Crush, and Salandit did just as he was ordered – slicing the sphere so only half of it was left. "Now, underneath and light the Watmel there!"

Pikachu put his paws over his ears.

The explosion of the Watmel turned into fire, which lit off the Pamtre-flavoured scent. Since it was being pressed on from all the directions below it, it turned into an upwards facing jet of silvery Steel-typed light, and smashed into the descending Continental Crush with a massive wham sound.

That didn't destroy the incoming attack, even though it shattered it into pieces, and the air filled with dust and rock flour as Lycanroc sent what was left crashing down on top of their opponent.

"Wow," Rockruff said, seriously impressed. "I wonder if I'll be able to do that!"

Then one of the rocks heaved aside.

"Well," Salazzle said, inspecting himself as he put the rock down. "That's odd. Didn't know that was possible."

"Huh, that is weird!" Ash agreed. "Ibid, any ideas?"

"Checking," Ibid replied. "Some of the files I have available say that male Salandit do not evolve because they give the females most of their food."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Salazzle grumbled. "Just because I wasn't interested I got so much shade from the others… you would not believe."

He shrugged. "Still, there you go. We going to keep going?"

"You weren't interested?" Lycanroc repeated, trying to shake off post-Z-move exhaustion. "I… it says a lot about how today has gone that… that's the thing I'm questioning."

"Yep, that's me," Salazzle said. "The aromatic aromantic. Are we going to keep battling?"

"I think that's it for our battle," Olivia decided. "Mostly because I don't think Lycanroc can keep battling, partly because Professor Kukui should hear about this…"

Chapter Text

"Okay, everyone!" Ash said. "Today I'm going to be giving a lesson about evolution!"

He looked back and forth. "What's the first thing you think of when you think of evolution and what it's like?"

"It's something I can't do?" Togedemaru asked.

"Probably," Ash agreed.

"Probably?" Togedemaru repeated. "What do you mean, probably?"

"We'll get to it!" Ash answered. "But to me the most important thing about evolution is that it's something that happens to a Pokémon. That means it's a really big change for them, and not all Pokémon want to evolve."

He shrugged. "It's a lot like other things where humans have to remember to pay attention to what their Pokémon want, and it's especially important because evolutions almost always can't be reversed."

"Almost always?" Lillie asked. "Oh, yeah, your Pidgey…"

"Right!" Ash agreed. "That's one example, but there's probably others out there… but it doesn't change how important it is to listen to your Pokémon and pay attention to whether they want to evolve. And if they don't want to evolve, that's when you might need to get them an Everstone."

He sent out Dratini, who waved her tail at everyone. "This is Dratini, and she doesn't want to evolve, so she's got an Everstone to make sure she doesn't. That's because Dratini evolving into Dragonair is one of the kind of evolution that just happens when a Pokémon's body is ready for it, so since she's not ready for it but her body might think differently the Everstone stops it happening by accident. Pokémon can make themselves not evolve if they realize it's happening early enough, but without an Everstone it can be uncomfortable and it doesn't always work."

"That's right!" Dratini confirmed.

"Another kind of evolution is the kind that happens when a Pokémon faces a specific experience," Ash said. "Like Lokoko, because she's a Ninetales. Fire-type Vulpix evolve to Ninetales when they're exposed to a Fire Stone, and Ice-type Vulpix evolve when they're exposed to an Ice Stone."

Snowy put up her paw.

"Do we need to be ready otherwise?" she asked.

"No, actually!" Ash answered. "A Pokémon can evolve that way even if they're really young and definitely wouldn't be able to evolve the first way. For a Pokémon like Snorunt, they evolve into Glalie if they're ready for it, but female ones – so far – evolve into Froslass if they use a Dawn Stone. Same thing with a Kirlia evolving into Gardevoir or Gallade."

"So," Kiawe began. "Snowy could become a Ninetales today, but it depends on a lot of things if she should."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "It's usually better for a Pokémon to not evolve that way until they've done a bit of developing, because otherwise it can leave them with problems… but that's a general thing, not a rule."

He nodded at Togedemaru. "And because of how some Pokémon only evolve in specific conditions, we don't know whether Togedemaru can evolve or not. All we can really say is that they probably don't evolve… lots of people forgot that Stantler can evolve, for a while, but they can and my friend Whitney's companion did!"

"Oh," Togedemaru said. "That makes sense. Thanks!"

"No problem!" Ash replied. "And there's one kind of special circumstances evolution that I want to mention because it's… well, more special than usual? Which is evolving from friendship, or from having a good relationship with their trainer. Like Riolu evolving into Lucario, or Eevee into a Pokémon like Sylveon or Espeon. And… I want to mention it because it's something people often don't know about."

The class leaned forwards a bit.

"It's that a Pokémon not evolving doesn't mean that they don't have a good relationship with their trainer," Ash said simply. "That kind of Pokémon evolution happens without trainers involved in the wild, but it coming from a friendship makes it a lot easier… but either way, the evolving Pokémon also has to feel good about what they'll evolve into. My friend Dawn's Riolu hasn't evolved because he prefers being a Riolu instead of a Lucario, not because he and Dawn don't get on well."

"And I want to mention something about what evolution is like," Pikachu added, jumping to the front. "I wouldn't want to be a Raichu instead of a Pikachu, but apparently I can't – so, no loss for me! But I'm okay with being a Pikachu instead of a Pichu, and especially for that kind of evolution that comes when your body is ready… it's sort of like realizing something new about yourself."

"I agree," Steenee said, nodding. "I didn't realize it at the time, but afterwards. It was like… like an important birthday, maybe? I'm still the same but something's changed too."

"The thing about evolution is, the only really important rules are the ones that affect the Pokémon," Ash summarized. "Because they're the ones experiencing it. Everything else is just patterns that we've seen and that we think will work, but you never know when one of them will end up turning out to not be a rule."

Salazzle sent himself out.

"Like Salazzle!" Ash said. "Because we only know about a male Salandit evolving once, and this is him, we don't know for sure what caused it and we won't until it's happened lots more times. So all we can really say is, sometimes it happens."

"Which makes me a test case," Salazzle agreed. "Eh, I'm not in love with the idea but that's just me."

"Food's nearly ready, shouldn't be long now," Dragonite said.

"Great!" Ash replied. "Okay, everyone, you'd better have a wash if you want one before dinner!"

Litten set herself on fire in lieu of a wash. Salazzle had no such compunctions, dousing himself in flavoured mist that turned into boiling hot water when he touched it off, and Rowlet flew down to land on Ash's shoulder.

"Phew," the Grass-type said. "That was a lot of work."

"You kept it up great, though!" Ash replied. "Isn't it so amazing to think about how far you've come from how you were doing when we met?"

"You're right," Rowlet agreed. "It's amazing to think about… even if I do still appreciate having a good bask."

"Nothing wrong with that!" Ash agreed, then looked around. "Huh… oh, there you are, Pikachu!"

Pikachu flipped upside down, cancelled his Surf, and doused himself with water to cool off. "Well, I think that was productive."

"How's Rockruff doing?" Ash asked.

"I think they're grasping the concept of Thunder Fang," Pikachu replied, but he looked puzzled. "Didn't they say?"

"Huh? No," Ash said. "I thought Rockruff was training with you."

"They were, but then they headed off back to you a few minutes ago," Pikachu said slowly. "I… hope this isn't a problem."

"It might be, yeah," Ash worried. "Maybe Team Rocket is around!"

He scanned the area, then looked closer. "Wait – Gladion? Hi!"

"Ash, I thought I saw the signs you were here," Gladion said. "Mostly all the jets of flame and so on… but there's a problem, and I hoped you could help. Lycanroc is missing."

"That sounds like it could be Team Rocket up to something," Ash worried. "Rockruff isn't where I thought they'd be either. We'd better go and find out what's up!"

There was a bright green flash from behind a nearby small hill.

"What was that?" Gladion asked.

"I was changing for dinner," Zygarde replied, padding their way over the hillock. "Specifically I was cancelling and reforming my 10 Percent Form from a new set of cells which were not dirty. But if Rockruff and Lycanroc are potentially in trouble this should take priority."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "Gladion, do you have a Pokémon who can follow Rockruff's trail? Pikachu can take us to where they were only a few minutes ago."

"Umbreon can do it," Gladion said, sending out the Dark-type. "Right, Umbreon?"

"It's narratively convenient, so yes!" Sandile announced.

"I'm pretty sure you're not actually supposed to be here right now," Pikachu frowned. "Did you get a lift from Ibid?"

"I'm pretty sure that I'm supposed to be a Krookodile at this point," Sandile countered. "And yeah, I'm two generations out of position but it's not like that kind of thing has stopped Squishy, here, has it?"

"Who's Squishy?" Umbreon asked, deeply confused. "And yes, I can probably track a Rockruff… where should we get started?"

"This way," Pikachu said.

"I must be missing so much of the conversations that are going on," Gladion sighed.

Umbreon led them along the coast of Akala Island in the red-golden light of sunset, then waved a paw. "I hear something nearby. All I can smell is Lycanroc, Rockruff and another Lycanroc though."

"She can hear something nearby," Ash passed on. "But there's no sign of Team Rocket or anyone else who might put them in danger."

"Just over there," Umbreon went on, and Ash, Gladion, Pikachu and Zygarde crept up to the crest of a rise.

Gladion's Midnight Lycanroc was there, and so was Ash's Rockruff, and another Midday Lycanroc which Ash recognized after a moment as being Olivia's.

"You are ready?" the Midday Lycanroc asked.

"I'm ready," Rockruff agreed. "I don't know which I want to be, though… just that I want to evolve."

"That is why we are here now," Gladion's Lycanroc stated, as the sun descended behind the sea. "If you would be happy with the day or the night, then we will let chance decide."

"That feels right," Rockruff nodded, then raised their head and howled.

Both Lycanroc joined in, and Rockruff lit up with light just as the last of the sunlight faded – and there was a green flash.

"Wow," Ash breathed. "I've never seen one of those so bright before."

The glow faded, revealing Lycanroc.

Who was… not exactly as expected.

"Okay, what?" Gladion's Lycanroc asked. "Was that even an option?"

"I didn't know it was an option," Olivia's Lycanroc replied. "Two legs by night, four by day. That's how my family's always remembered it… I thought doing it at sunset would just be random. Not a third one."

"Is something wrong?" Ash's Lycanroc said, inspecting themselves, then looking up over their head. "Ooh, I'm orange… Hey, is it me or do I have your rock ruff as well as yours? Both of them?"

"Lycanroc, that's amazing!" Ash said.

His Lycanroc turned, surprised. "Ash? What are you doing here?"

"We came to check if you were okay!" Ash explained. "And you evolved – you look great!"

"Oh, wait, that explains it," Olivia's Lycanroc decided. "Yeah, no further questions here."

"Why not?" Gladion's Lycanroc asked.

"Let me tell you about what happened when I used Continental Crush yesterday…" the Midday Lycanroc began, then stopped. "Actually, hold that thought. I'm technically on an errand. Hey, Ash, we were all too baffled by the whole Salazzle thing to remember to give you this!"

Darting back over to the side, Olivia's Lycanroc carefully picked up a Z-crystal.

"It's a generic Rock one, though honestly I would not be surprised at this point if you found out it was also a unique one," the Rock-type explained. "Be careful when you practice Continental Crush, though."

"Sure!" Ash agreed, already engaged in trying to find out the best way to hold Lycanroc on his lap. "Thanks!"

About ten minutes later, Professor Kukui looked up.

"Ash!" he said. "It's nice to see you by Moonlight – what's up? We're planning to head back tomorrow, does that have to change?"

"No, Professor!" Ash answered. "It's just, I thought you should know, that whole thing where an evolution happened that nobody had ever heard of before?"

He held up Lycanroc. "It happened again!"

"Of course it did," Kukui agreed.

Chapter Text

"I hope you're ready for your lesson on how to be a Bigger Dog," Entei stated.

"I think so," Lycanroc replied, looking at themselves in the mirror Entei had brought along. "Some of what I can do works the same, but other things are different and awkward and stuff."

They were back on Melemele, with the field trip over, and Ash had a lesson scheduled to give in a couple of hours – but, for now, there was time for his Pokémon to train and learn from one another.

"All right, so, here's step one," Entei said. "What you need to do is to smile slightly."

"Smile slightly," Lycanroc repeated.

"Stick your tongue out."

"Stick mf tnge out," Lycanroc mumbled.

"Look straight ahead," Entei concluded. "There we go. That's the blep… no, you need to look a bit more vacant than that. Tongue out a little further… that's more like it."

"Is this really an effective move?" Lycanroc said.

"Depends what you want to do," Entei shrugged. "Personally I find it very effective in getting extra food… now, something you will have to work on is that you've got more inertia. And longer legs, I think. Fortunately, there's a help there… I think you can fly?"

"That's right!" Lycanroc agreed, lifting themselves slightly off the ground with Stealth Rock. "It's harder than before, though."

"That's okay, I'm thinking about using it to corner faster," Entei explained. "If you're having trouble turning a corner, you can use your petrokinesis to…"

"Oh, right!" Lycanroc realized. "I can use it to turn corners faster, I see what you mean!"

They tilted their head. "Did you not say that so I would work it out myself and learn better?"

"No, I'm just distracted wondering if it's petrokinesis," Entei explained, sitting back on his haunches with a thump and patting his chin with a paw. "Maybe it's a word like television… Mm. We might need to ask a geologist."

"Oh, like Gigalith?" Lycanroc checked.

"Lith, that's it," Entei decided. "Lithokinesis. Litholifting. Litho-something or other."

He looked deeply puzzled. "I think we were talking about going in circles, right?"

"Turning corners, yeah," Lycanroc agreed. "I'll try it out!"

They paced a little distance away, built up speed in a run along the beach, tried to make a tight turn, and went out to sea.

"Not bad, though," Entei said. "Three skips."

"My fur!" Lycanroc yelped, bursting back out of the waves with their fur plastered against their sides and their eyes glowing. "I don't know who's responsible for that but it was someone!"

"Hey, Lycanroc, calm down!" Ash asked, running over from where he'd been talking Rowlet through the difference between sniping and barraging. "Are you okay?"

"I'm not happy, if that's what you mean!" Lycanroc growled, and Ash nodded.

"Right," he said. "What do you want? If you want to get angry at whoever caused it, we can work on that. If you want it fixed, then it's probably going to mean a shower but we can do that. And if you want to pace around and growl for a bit, I'm not going to stop you."

"Don't know," Lycanroc grumbled. "I really like this fur. It's unique and it makes me feel handsome… when it's not got stuff in it."

"Then come over here and I'll help you wash it, okay?" Ash asked. "We can get Salazzle to help, too, so that the water's hot – or we can use sand instead?"

"It's a lot harder to stay angry when you're asking questions like that," Lycanroc said, shaking their head a few times. "Rrf. I should… try not to get so mad about things."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up over it," Ash advised. "It's okay to feel bad about something like that happening, it's just making sure you don't take it out on anyone. Okay?"

He held out his arms, and Lycanroc padded over to settle into them.

"Thank you, Ash," the Rock-type said. "I think… I think I was the one who screwed up."

"Then we'll just have to make sure you don't screw up the same way again, okay?" Ash asked. "Come on, let's get that fur of yours back to being how it should be."

"Today's lesson is about flying!" Ash began, a couple of hours later. "Flying is… well, you all already know what flying is, but what I'm going to try to do is to point out some things that you might not have noticed yet."

Raising one hand, Ash began to tick off points on his fingers. "So, firstly, flying is a thing that helps out a lot between battles. A flying Pokémon can look ahead to see what's up next, or fetch something that's out of reach, or go and get help if you're in trouble. Bigger or stronger ones can even carry you around, and flying from place to place is really useful – like, say, flying from Melemele island to Akala island!"

"I'm a bit jealous that Kiawe can fly around on Charizard, sometimes," Lana admitted. "If I want to do that I have to sort out a hire Ride Pokémon, or borrow one somehow."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, it's really convenient, which is why I'm grateful I've got so many Pokémon that can do that. And it's important to think about those ways flying is useful outside of battle, just because flying inside battle is really useful too but it's easy to get too focused on just one of them. Anyway, in a battle, a flying Pokémon who's battling a Pokémon that can't fly has an easy way to get out of reach of close-in attacks, at least. That's almost no matter how fast the two Pokémon are otherwise, unless the one who can't fly is really good at jumping or has some other trick they can use. Then there's how a flying Pokémon can themselves attack from directions that a non-flying Pokémon really couldn't… and there's more complicated tricks we're going to do later. But I'm going to talk about the different ways a Pokémon can fly, because there's a lot and they're different."

He sent out Rowlet, who hovered in mid-air with a cheerful smile. "Rowlet's a winged Pokémon, specifically he's a bird. That means he uses his wings to fly with, and so he has to move them to take off but doesn't have to move them nearly as much to coast along or even steer. Winged Pokémon can bank around, like this-"

Rowlet demonstrated, flying from one end of the classroom to the other and then banking back around in a sharp turn. "Ta-dah!"

"And banking around is a way of changing direction more quickly than Rowlet could do otherwise, and without slowing down nearly as much," Ash went on. "Without banking, Rowlet could still go from going this way to going that way, but he'd have to brake to a halt in the middle and it'd take longer."

"I think I get it," Lillie said. "Slowing down makes Rowlet vulnerable, right?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "Which matters in a battle, plus, getting back up to speed after stopping is more tiring. If you've ever been on a bike, it's like that."

"Ash, how often have you been on a bike?" Pikachu asked.

Ash shrugged. "Most winged Pokémon can also take off straight up, but some of them need a run up, and that's unusual," he finished. "The next kind of Pokémon who can fly are the ones who ride something – like Pikachu!"

Pikachu used Surf, and thus Fly.

"You've probably seen an Alolan Raichu too, they've got the same kind of thing going on in a way," Ash said, waving his hand a bit. "These categories are a bit fuzzy! But with a Pokémon who rides something, they're controlling the thing they're riding on. That means they can swing it around and bank a lot like a winged Pokémon, and even fly it if they're paralyzed better than a winged Pokémon could, but it also means that if they lose concentration or get hit then they can lose what they were riding on. That can be bad if they can't get it again – if a Pokémon's using Stone Edge to ride on a rock, and they lose the rock, they can have a lot of trouble getting the rock back again."

He nodded at Pikachu. "Pikachu can make his waterboard again nice and quickly, so he can even use it as a shield! And Pokémon who ride things can also go as fast as they can make their riding board move… so long as they can stay on, at least."

"Yeah, that can be awkward," Pikachu agreed.

"Then the third kind of big category is the Pokémon who can levitate, or something like that," Ash resumed, sending out Lycanroc.

The Rock-type's fur was immaculate again, shimmering vibrantly after some careful work by Ash that morning, and they floated into the air before snagging onto Ash's outstretched hand and sitting on it.

"It's a really responsive way of flying, even if it can also be more awkward to do things like change direction," Ash said. "It's also the one which usually means you have the most control over what you do, because you don't need to worry about the aerodynamics of a board or your wings – so long as you can push yourself in a direction, you can move that way. Thanks, Lycanroc!"

Lycanroc showed off what they'd learned that morning, and did a blep.

"Then there's at least two more types," Ash said, putting Lycanroc down. "Can anyone think of what one is?"

Mallow's hand went up.

"There's recoil, isn't there?" she said. "Like Turtonator used at Wela Volcano, but to fly."

"Exactly!" Ash agreed. "That's the fourth big type of flying, which is where you have a move that lifts you up and you do it over and over again or continuously to fly. It usually means you have the least control over where you go, because you need to aim an attack in the opposite direction and it can be really awkward. And the fifth one is one we've already seen thanks to Clefairy and Palkia, which is where what you're actually doing is falling but in a direction you pick."

He clapped his hands. "Who can think of any special cases that don't fit those?"

"Thanks for that, Lycanroc!" Ash said, as they reached Kukui's house again after the lesson. "You were a great example – all of you were!"

"It was a hoot!" Rowlet announced.

Lycanroc gave Rowlet a suspicious look.

"What?" Rowlet asked. "Was it something I said?"

"Now, I was thinking about this, and I've got a few ideas," Ash told Lycanroc. "It's about your fur… I have a few ideas about what would work. Does that sound okay?"

"Yeah," Lycanroc agreed. "I don't… ah, I don't know what to say, Ash. Sorry about how angry I got."

"You being angry is something we need to deal with, but the way you feel is important," Ash told the Rock-type. "And the first thing is to do with how angry you got."

He sat down, patting the sand next to him, and Lycanroc sat down as well.

"What I'd like you to try and remember, Lycanroc, is that if something's wrong with your fur we can fix it," Ash said. "I know it's not easy to remember something like that, in the moment, but it's true. If you can just take a moment when it gets messed up to remember that, well, I think it'd help. Right?"

"I'll try," Lycanroc promised. "I don't… we should probably test it, even though I don't like the idea."

"I was actually going to ask about something else related to that," Ash went on. "See, just telling you to be calmer about it is one thing, but it's much better if we can mix that with helping you, and I said I had a few ideas. Okay?"

Lycanroc nodded.

Ash patted their neck spikes. "So, the first move I thought of was – Rock Polish! You're a Rock-type, and polish helps protect things from getting dirty or cleans them up when they are, so using it should make sure your fur is all nice and neat… how does that sound?"

"I'd like to try that," Lycanroc agreed.

"Great!" Ash said. "So that way, if we do test how you react when your fur gets wet, we're testing two things at once."

Bonus omake: The Arceus Arceus Agender Agenda

"So," Arceus said, His golden ring shining in the void. "Agender?"

"The term will suffice," Arceus allowed. "I did not wish to limit myself."

Xey made an expansive shrugging motion. "Of course, that is what I felt at the time. You may have felt differently; our worlds are different; we are thus different. I will not judge."

"Of course," Arceus agreed.

He considered. "Would it help if I went Shiny to differentiate us?"

"It would not," Arceus replied, tapping xer hoof on thin air. "Mew already made one. They are Ash's phone now."

"You have an Ash as well, of course," Arceus realized, then brightened. "Excuse Me. I will be a moment."

There was a faint change to reality.

"That should be better," Arceus decided. "I hope this adds clarity."

"It does," Arceus agreed. "And yes, of course I have an Ash. My world still exists, does it not?"

"Good point," Arceus admitted. "So, how did your Ash do with the Galactic incident?"

Arceus blinked. "The what?"

"The Galactic Incident," Arceus repeated. "The attempt by Team Galactic to remake the universe in the Spear Pillar. I had to reset the whole of reality to get Ash in the right position to sort it out."

"I do not know what to tell you," Arceus said, furrowing xer brow. "I do not remember a Team Galactic."

"Cyrus?" Arceus asked. "The Red Chain? Is this not ringing a bell?"

"Is that who left the duplicate Red Chain and computer equipment in the Spear Pillar?" Arceus wondered.

As Arceus looked increasingly ineffable, Arceus came to a decision.

"Yes," xey said. "It must be. Ash left a note when he closed the Spear Pillar, but I did not know where the Red Chains there had come from."

"If that is what happens from including the Fairy-type right from the start, then I clearly missed a trick," Arceus mumbled to Himself.

Chapter Text

"Oh, it's you again," Kahuna Hala said. "I heard about what happened on Akala, Olivia told me about it."

He sighed. "I assume you're here for a Grand Trial?"

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "I tried to work out who I should use, and I think this should work great!"

"I'm not really sure what to think of that," Hala admitted. "You've got a reputation, as I'm sure you know."

Ash nodded in a vague sort of way, then held out a Pokéball. "Okay, Hawlucha, come on out!"

Hawlucha emerged, adjusted his purple mask, and posed.

"You know you don't have to tell me what Pokémon you're using first?" Hala checked. "Though, then again, I don't really know what it does for the Island Challenge when you're so favoured by the Tapus. Have you met all four of them by now?"

"Yep!" Ash said. "Koko asked me to test Pikachu's Z move, Bulu brought Salandit – he's Salazzle now but he was Salandit then – Fini visited when I was sorting out Stoutland, and I met Lele on Akala."

"Those aren't their full names," Zygarde noted. "Not a criticism, I'm just saying."

"Right, but we were already talking about the Tapus!" Ash said. "So, are the rules the same as Olivia's one?"

"It's not a double battle, if that's what you mean," Hala replied. "This is sort of a formality in some ways, but don't think that means I'll let you off easily, Ash. Show me what you've got."

He sent out a Hariyama. "Begin! Fake Out!"

"Aha!" Hawlucha said, springing into the air as the attack flashed in. "You thought I, Hawlucha, could be surprised!"

He took off his mask, revealing he was wearing a different one underneath with a stone motif, and landed again. "But it is actually I, Hawlucha! The Unflappable One!"

"Mega Kick, Hawlucha!" Ash said, and Hawlucha raised a leg before slamming his heel down into the ground. It tore up fragments that went flying in all directions, and Hariyama used Arm Thrust to deflect the ones that were heading towards it.

"Now, Wing Attack!" Ash continued.

"I cannot!" Hawlucha said. "I am the Unflappable One!"

"Right, right," Ash realized. "Then use Earth Power!"

"Knock Off!" Hala said.

Hariyama's Knock Off knocked off Hawlucha's mask, revealing another mask underneath it.

"Now you see!" Hawlucha declared. "In truth, I am Captain Unova!"

He punched Hariyama hard enough to knock him backwards, then sprang into the air and flapped his wings for extra height to transition into a Flying Press.

"Knock Off again!" Hala decided, and another one of Hawlucha's masks went flying.

"Tremble as you face Hawlucha: terror of the night!" Hawlucha said.

Over by the sidelines, Absol giggled.

"Oh, dear," she said. "I wonder how many of those he's wearing."

"You can't tell?" Lokoko asked, laying down on her front and offering one of her paws to Absol for a pillow.

"Not at all, dear one," Absol answered. "If there's one thing that's not a disaster, for Hawlucha at least, it's having one of those knocked off."

She lay down next to her wife, taking the offered headrest.

"Everything going fine back in Hau'Oli?" Lokoko asked.

"It would seem so," Absol replied, making a contented noise.

"You thought you were facing Hawlucha! But in fact I am Hawlucha: the Mountain!"

Whack.

"Bad choice against a Fighting-type!" Hawlucha amended quickly. "A twist! In fact you were battling Sir Hawlucha all along!"

"Thank you so much," Mallow said, chopping away at her board. "It's… weird, really, I never thought it'd be possible for our shop to be too successful. And Dad's busy giving an interview… if you hadn't shown up I'd be having to cook for everyone who turned up, and I'd be totally overloaded."

"That's not a problem at all!" Dragonite replied, zesting a berry. "When a food place has a good reputation, especially if that happens suddenly, it can get overloaded and you need to prepare for trouble. If one of the people who normally works there is busy talking to reporters, why, then you need to take that trouble and make it double."

"To protect a stall from desecration, we unite Pokémon from across the nations," Buizel said, blurring from one station to another with bowls of finished ingredients or going to get new ones.

"We don't normally work here, but it's our way, learned from Ash's mom in her cafe," Leavanny agreed, swiping through some spring onions before putting them neatly into a bowl.

"How are you cooking over there?" Steenee checked. "The oven's on the other side of the kitchen."

"Tepig," Grovyle explained, nodding, and shifted to the side so she could see.

"Flames," he clarified, as Tepig blew some out to heat up the bottom of a pot.

"We know our cooking's not quite the same style, but that's why we're learning from you all the while!" Dragonite explained.

"Zoroark," Zoroark said. "Wait, hold on, was I supposed to be translating all that?"

Eventually, it turned out that actually today Ash was using Hawlucha, and that Hawlucha knew Aerial Ace. That was enough to knock Hariyama out of the battle, though Hawlucha had also run out of alter egos and had masks scattered all over the floor.

"I'm calling you back for now!" Ash announced. "Want me to return you or are you going to watch?"

"Watch, I think," Hawlucha replied.

"Well, here we go," Lokoko said. "I assume your plan hasn't changed, Ash?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "Good luck, Lokoko!"

"Good luck, love," Absol agreed, as Lokoko rose to her paws.

"This should be interesting," Hala decided, sending out his own second Pokémon – a Crabrawler. "Now… begin. Bubblebeam!"

"Double Team!" Ash called, and Lokoko dissolved into an overlapping cloud of dozens of Ninetales. Her tails flashed with flame, and the Bubblebeam attack whizzed through thin air without connecting with anything.

Presumably.

"Oh, it's one of this kind of Pokémon," Hala said. "Hmm. Crabrawler, start spraying that Bubblebeam everywhere, keep an eye out!"

"Mystical Fire!" Ash instructed. "Don't give away your position!"

"Of course," Lokoko agreed, flicking out spirals of flame from her tails – both real and fake – in their dozens, so that two or three times a second a fake flaming vortex descended on Crabrawler from any one of half a dozen different directions.

Some of them turned out to be real, and Crabrawler coated one pincer in water and used it to punch out at the incoming attacks – mostly to try and get the real ones – while the other one continued spraying Bubblebeam at the place where Lokoko, presumably, was.

Mostly by spraying Bubblebeam everywhere.

"Hey, Ash?" Pikachu said. "Couldn't you tell where Lokoko was by looking using Aura?"

"Probably, but then I'd know, and I might give it away," Ash answered.

"An interesting thought!" Hala said. "I'll admit, I was keeping an eye on you to see if you had an idea, but now I suppose I'll have to try something else. Crabrawler, Chilling Water straight down!"

"Huh," Ash said, thinking. "Maybe that's to keep the Mystical Fire off. Lokoko, switch to Extrasensory!"

All the many copies of Lokoko around the arena stopped, then their fur glowed with a faint swirl of gold, and a psychic pulse flashed out from all of them towards Crabrawler.

The Fighting-type swung both pincers around violently with Brutal Swing, flailing in every direction and deflecting most of the force of the beams, then Hala judged that Crabrawler had fired out enough water.

"Hit the ground!" he said, and struck a pose.

"Lokoko, look out!" Ash called, as Crabrawler copied Hala's pose. "He's Z-moving the water! Solar Blades!"

Lokoko's tails lit up green, and a whole overlapping wall of solar energy formed. Then Crabrawler smacked his pincers into the pool with an All-Out Pummeling, and a wave of water crashed out in all directions.

Ash glanced to his side just as the attack went off, towards Absol, and relaxed – then got hit in the face by the wave of water.

"Nice work, Lokoko!" he called, as the water settled out.

"What?" Hala asked, shading his eyes, then saw.

Absol was completely dry. Ash was soaked, and Hala was wet, but the water blast had been off centre and a whole quarter of the arena had been completely unaffected.

A quarter which included Lokoko – and Absol.

"Sorry," Lokoko said, with a smile. "The pool of water you were aiming at wasn't quite where you saw it."

Crabrawler considered that.

"You're translating, right?" he asked, got a nod, then turned to Hala. "Do we have to do the bit where I probably get set on fire now?"

A couple of days later, and with Ash now equipped with a Normalium Z after Hala decided that he 'was just going to pick randomly', Sophocles came up to Ash at the end of a lesson.

"Mr. Ketchum?" he began.

"Just Ash, please," Ash asked. "What is it?"

"There's a race coming up soon," Sophocles explained. "The Charjabug Race! It's a race where you make electric cars and drive through a race course with them, and I really want to take part! Only, it's only open to Charjabug, and I don't have a Charjabug… do you think you can help?"

Ash stepped back a pace, looking Sophocles up and down.

"Hmm," he said. "Pikachu, what do you think?"

"I don't think he's quite right?" Pikachu replied. "Electric maybe, but somehow I'm getting more of a Yamper vibe. Not sure but that's my first guess."

"I get what you mean," Ash said, nodding. "Probably best we go looking for one, then!"

"Huh?" Sophocles asked, as Ash headed for the door. "What did that mean?"

He looked over at his friends, who were mystified or in the case of Mallow resigned. "What does he mean, a Yamper vibe? Am I about to get a Yamper instead?"

"No, that's not what he means," Mallow provided.

"Coming, Sophocles?" Ash asked. "We're going to go looking for a Charjabug!"

Sophocles collected up Togedemaru and hurried to follow.

"So how are you going to find a Charjabug, anyway?" Sophocles asked. "I tried looking myself but they're hard to find, it seems like."

"Well, we can either find a Grubbin or a Charjabug, either would be okay, because you could evolve a Grubbin!" Ash said. "It'd have to be a Grubbin who wanted to evolve, though, or who didn't mind evolving… but what's really important is to find one who's interested in being your Pokémon!"

He sent out Phanpy. "All right, Phanpy?"

"Yep!" Phanpy agreed, raising her trunk and taking a sniff. "The air here smells nice!"

"It does!" Ash agreed. "Now, did you hear what we're after?"

Phanpy nodded. "A Charjabug that would like being Sophocles' Pokémon!" she agreed. "Is that spelled with a j or a g?"

"J," Ash told her. "And they're sort of blocky shaped. Like this."

He took Ibid out of his pocket, and Ibid reformed into a miniature Charjabug.

"Charjabug," Ibid explained. "It buries itself in fallen leaves and barely moves, munching on humus. This duplicate Charjabug has a reduced energy capacity compared to a real one."

"There you go!" Ash said. "And, like Ibid said, Charjabug usually bury themselves in leaves!"

"Got it!" Phanpy said, rolling off.

"Is that going to work?" Sophocles asked.

"At this point I think you know the answer to that," Togedemaru chided her trainer.

"Found one!" Phanpy said, coming back with a Charjabug who was trying to shock her – an attempt which was unaccountably failing, possibly because Charjabug wasn't a Pikachu. "One potentially friendly Charjabug!"

"Thanks, Phanpy!" Ash said. "Charjabug, do you mind if we have a talk? It's okay if you want to leave afterwards, don't worry."

Two days later, at the Charjabug Race, one of the officials frowned.

"I think I'm going to have to disqualify you," he said. "Firstly because your team doesn't have three people on it, secondly because oversized Charjabug are banned from this competition because their battery life is so much larger, but mostly because your Charjabug is made of cloth."

"Drat," Darkrai grumbled, throwing off the cloth and stomping off, stopping only long enough to disconnect Victini's ears from the electrodes.

"Say hi to Tobias for me!" Ash called. "Okay, Sophocles, everything ready?"

"Yes!" Sophocles confirmed. "Kiawe?"

"Car's all set!" Kiawe confirmed. "Charjabug?"

"Charj-ed," Charjabug buzzed.

"Then let's go!" Ash declared.

Chapter Text

"I hope you're ready for our next field trip!" Professor Kukui said. "This time we're going a lot further than Akala Island. We're going to where Ash is from!"

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "All the way to Kanto! It's a long way, so I've got one of my Pokémon involved to help make it quicker, and we'll be visiting some of my friends while we're there."

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this," Mallow said.

"Really?" Steenee replied. "I am sure if I'm ready for this. Because I'm not."

"So, let's go to the plane, is what I would be saying if Ash's Pokémon weren't helping," Kukui went on. "But since they are, I'm not saying that."

"Ready, Unown?" Ash asked, and the Psychic type emerged.

Spelling out HYPERSPACE HOLE in the space of a few seconds, Unown opened a golden portal at one end of the classroom – where, on the other side, there was Professor Oak's lab.

There was also Professor Oak's back.

"Professor!" Ash called, which made Oak startle before turning around.

"Sorry, Ash," the Kantonian Pokémon Professor apologized. "I think these directions about where the portal was going to open were wrong."

Behind Oak, another portal appeared, and Hoopa threw a paper aeroplane through. It swooped right past Oak and into the Hau'Oli classroom, and Zygarde jumped up to catch it.

"Let me see," they said, unfolding it with deft paw movements. "Ah. Unown, this appears to be for you. It is a summons for a Hoopreme Court date about Hooparight infringement."

"Should I be worried?" Unown asked, changing to a questionmark.

"I assess that the answer is: probably not," Zygarde stated. "Hoopa has replaced the start of several words with most or all of the word Hoopa, and so this is not actually a legally binding document."

"Hoopa is a sovereign Hoopazen!" Hoopa shouted. "Hoopa knows Hoopa's rights!"

Hoopa held up their right hand to demonstrate this, then Gold dragged Hoopa off by Hoopa's tail.

"Thanks!" Ash called. "All right, let's go!"

"Wow," Kiawe said, looking around. "How many of these are your Pokémon, Ash?"

"Well, some of them!" Ash replied. "Gary has a lot, too, he's Professor Oak's grandson and he's doing… Pokémon research of some kind? I think he said something last time I met him about trying to look for a normal Legendary Pokémon but I don't know what he means by that."

Ash shrugged. "It can't be Normal because he wouldn't have to look far for one! Unless an Arceus counts as being all types instead of just one… in that case he could just ask Brandon though, Brandon's got Regigigas these days."

"Hmm, thinking about it…" Pikachu began. "I think he probably meant normal in a way that involves getting as far away as possible from both you and Brandon."

"If you say so," Ash said, sounding dubious. "Maybe he's looking for a Ratatta or something. Anyway, instead of just pointing out my Pokémon I'll introduce you to them! I haven't used everyone in the lessons yet, so this way you'll get to see all of my Pokémon, though I guess it might take a moment to get Goodra. He might be asleep."

"Are there other Pokémon that are different between Alola and Kanto, like Vulpix are?" Snowy said. "I've met Principal Oak's Vulpix, and I've met Lokoko, so I know what Kanto Vulpix and Ninetales are like. But I don't know what other kind of differences there are."

"Oh, you can meet the Dugtrio and Exeggcute," Ash said. "Those are two more kinds of Pokémon that are different in Kanto and Alola, though none of the Exeggcute have evolved so I guess it's not a great demonstration… most of them don't like battling, though you'll probably meet the Dugtrio who like having little competitions with themselves!"

Lana put her hand up.

"Is that one Dugtrio or more than one?" she asked.

"One trio," Ash answered. "I think last time they did who was able to use a move to get across the ranch in the shortest possible time."

"But…" Sophocles began. "They're… Dugtrio. They're incredibly fast moving, and they can't move apart from one another."

"That was part of the challenge, I think?" Ash said, shrugging. "I don't really get it, but they always manage to find an extra gear when they're all trying to do something at the same time while not technically working together."

"Yeah, and when they actually work together it ends up rubbish," Pikachu opined. "Ambitious, but… still."

"And over here is the garden!" Ash said, crouching down. "It's not really part of Oak's ranch, but it's to do with my Pokémon so I thought I'd mention it."

"I'm still trying to keep track of all those Dragonite," Sophocles admitted. "What's a dux?"

"Me," Zygarde supplied.

"Yeah, it's Zygarde," Ash said. "It's like a duke or duchess, but without having to be a boy or girl… ah, here we go!"

He crouched down. "See this?"

"Oh, that's a lovely flower," Mallow said. "There's at least a dozen there. What is it?"

"It's Gracidea!" Ash explained. "It's for Shaymintwo, who's a Shaymin who's actually a clone of an original Shaymin but he's the one who's on my team. Shaymin are one of those Pokémon that have two different forms, like how Oricorio does, only for Shaymin it's touching a Gracidea flower that changes them one way and it's night-time or being frozen which changes them the other way."

He shrugged. "Shaymintwo doesn't like using it much, but it's there if he needs it!"

"Hmpf," Shaymintwo said, jumping out of Ash's bedroom window and then making a three-point landing in front of them with a little flash of green light. "I don't need some kind of artificial help like that."

"Except if you're battling against someone who sets the ground on fire," Pikachu replied, then frowned. "Wait, no, that would actually be okay for you, you can skate on flames. I might need to think about this one."

"That's so cute!" Mallow decided. "I know you're one of Ash's Pokémon, but it'd be really nice to meet a Shaymin who might come with me! I'll probably be thinking about that for a while now."

"A faker, you mean?" Shaymintwo asked. "Hmpf."

"Shaymintwo's really quick moving, which surprises people who know what most Shaymin are like," Ash said.

"True, though there's also the… second order issue," Lokoko said. "Which is that your Shaymin is overwhelmingly the most well studied in the world, because there's so much battle footage of him. So most of the surprise about Shaymin these days is that they're not all like him."

"Serves them right," Shaymintwo said.

"Got it," Pikachu said. "Misty Terrain might prevent you from being poisoned, while Toxic Spikes would poison you. Either way there are situations where you might want to be able to fly."

Shaymintwo snorted.

"Ash," Lucario said, rising and bowing. "It is a pleasure to see you. And Pikachu, of course. Who are these?"

"These are Kiawe, Mallow, Lillie, Sophocles and Lana!" Ash introduced. "And Professor Kukui as well. I'm helping teach his class! Everyone, this is Lucario. He was actually from more than a thousand years ago, but he got stuck in a staff that was a lot like an early Pokéball until he got let out when I visited the Kingdom of Rota, he's been helping out a lot with how to meditate and telling Professor Oak about how things used to be, and things like that!"

"How many times are we going to get stories like that?" Lana asked. "In our old classes we never had to deal with meeting a Pokémon from a thousand years ago… now it happens all the time."

"I'm not from a thousand years ago," said the Onix on the other side of the copse, which made the Alolans all jump.

"Well done, Onix," Lucario said, bowing. "You've been improving in your ability to be truly still."

"Wow," Kiawe marvelled. "Is that a Kantonian Onix?"

"No, I'm an Orange Onix," Onix explained. "And yes. I know. It would be quite convenient if it turned out my variant actually was mostly orange, maybe topaz or something, and I was shiny. But it's quite hard to tell shiny sparkles apart from just… me."

Despite a few suggestions, particularly from Lillie, they weren't able to come to any decisive conclusion about what type Onix was.

Partly that was because explaining why she was at the ranch took some doing, because she'd been captured by Ash but not to be one of Ash's Pokémon, for research into how regional variants happened in the first place, and that that was the main reason why she wasn't either a battling or Contest Pokémon – because she wasn't interested.

Then Growlithe came hurrying over.

"Ash, I think we need your help with something!" she said.

"Is that another regional Pokémon?" Lillie asked. "A Kantonian Growlithe?"

"Huh?" Growlithe replied. "No, I'm a Growlithe, the Kantonian ones are the Fire type ones. I'm a Fire and Rock type – anyway!"

"Got it!" Ash said. "What's the problem?"

"It's to do with, well, you know how Professor Oak was exploring perception with all those VR games?" Growlithe asked. "You know, measuring how different Pokémon react to things by how well tuned different parts of a VR environment have to be? Well, he set Xerneas up with one today, but part of the screen was broken."

"That's not great, but I don't get it," Pikachu said. "That sounds more like it's time to get replacement VR equipment."

"Xerneas," Mallow repeated. "Isn't that that Legendary Pokémon that turns into a tree?"

"They do that, yes," Lokoko confirmed. "Though I think there's a standing request out that if it does happen to one of them they'll get fast-forwarded through it."

"I know, it shouldn't be a problem!" Growlithe yapped, back over on the other conversation thread. "But Professor Oak made the mistake of calling them dead pixels, and now Xerneas is trying to work out how to fix that by resurrecting the VR equipment…"

"I'd better help explain, then," Ash decided. "If he's going to fix it, it has to just be the dead pixels, right? They're dead in a way, and Xerneas has an association with colours anyway…"

"Is there a way of getting a legendary Pokémon that isn't completely… weird?" Sophocles asked, as Shiny Xerneas put his VR outfit back on with Professor Oak's help. "I've been trying to keep track of the ways you got your legendary Pokémon, and all of them sound crazy."

"I guess that depends what you mean by crazy!" Ash said, starting to count them off. "Mew and Zapdos were both Pokémon I made friends with when I was young, which is normal, right? I got Pikachu as my starter, which is a normal way to get a Pokémon… Suicune, Entei and Raikou are all because I caught Raikou in the Safari Zone…"

"Wow," Mallow whispered, as Ash kept going. "Hearing it all at once just makes it more amazing."

"Silver's another childhood friend, so are Latias and Latios but that's out of order… Articuno, well, she crashed in front of me and I helped her out, and she wanted a journey to begin with, then with Zacian she liked the experience of travelling with me so she wanted to do it again. Ho-Oh challenged me to a battle, and if a wild Pokémon does that and you win that's often a situation where the wild Pokémon was okay with being caught…"

Ash brightened. "Oh, maybe Rayquaza counts as weird? Wait, no, I got Moltres, Yveltal and Cresselia the same way, and if it's happened four times then it's just something that happens normally… Arc was a gift, and getting a Pokémon as a gift is normal, and Zekrom challenged me… I guess maybe Giratiny counts as weird, because he didn't exist until after I met him and it wasn't a reincarnation. I'll have to tell him that next time!"

"I, just…" Sophocles said, nearly lost for words.

"Did you say Pikachu?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, Pikachu's been in Legends, and Arceus One asked me what was up with him, so that counts, right?" Ash asked, giving Pikachu a scratch.

"I'm not complaining," Pikachu said, leaning into Ash's hand.

"And I am not Ash's Pokémon, and nor is Marshadow," Zygarde provided. "There is nothing abnormal about a Pokémon being close to a human in space and time. Woof."

"Arceus One?" Rowlet asked.

"I told him once that Arceus was the Original One, so Ash might think that that's xer surname?" Mew said, shrugging. "Or it could be to distinguish xem from Arc. You never really know with Ash."

"Huh," Rowlet decided. "You know, Toucannon would probably be less calm about this."

"Of course, it wouldn't be a proper trip to Kanto without everyone learning about how differently things are done in Kanto," Professor Kukui said. "What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Kanto?"

"Ash," Kiawe answered.

"Good answer," Kukui admitted. "Anyone else?"

Lillie put up her hand. "Is it Kanto specifically, or places outside Alola?"

"Very good question, Lillie," Kukui told her. "Yes, it is places outside Alola that I'm thinking of. What do you think that means?"

"Well… it's gyms, isn't it?" Lana realized. "Is that why we flew to Cerulean City?"

"That's not the only reason!" Ash provided. "Flying to Cerulean City means you get a great look at the geography of Kanto, because you get to see more of it at once – you can see how different it is to Alola, and the places where it's the same, too. Remember how I pointed out Cinnabar off to the south?"

He waved his hand ahead of them. "But this is one of the reasons, yeah. That's Cerulean Gym! It's got four Gym Leaders, and one of them is my friend Misty!"

"Gyms can have more than one Gym Leader?" Kiawe asked. "That feels weird. It's like having more than one Kahuna for an island."

"Well, it's more like having more than one trial for an island," Ash said. "You know, because you do the Island Trials before you can face the Kahunas, though it's not quite the same. Instead, there's at least eight gyms, except in the Orange Islands, and you have to beat eight of them to battle at the Pokémon League. And that's something else that's different, because most people don't complete the Gym challenge."

"Really?" Lana said, surprised. "But it always seems like everyone does."

"That's because you hear about the Pokémon trainers who spend a lot of time battling as battling Pokémon trainers," Ash said. "Like me! I spend a lot of time training my Pokémon to battle gyms, and we've beaten a lot of gyms. But most people don't beat all the gyms, and there's nothing wrong with that."

He waved his hands. "Most kids have a dream about winning the Pokémon League, but the way the gyms start out easy and get harder is a great way to see if you're actually up to the work that's needed. And if all that happens is that you go on your journey, make a few really great friends, and know who you're going to spend the rest of your life with… that's great!"

That said, Ash knocked on the door. "Let's see who's in!"

After a long pause, Misty's sister Violet opened the door.

"Oh, hey, it's you!" Violet said. "Hey, Misty! That friend of yours with the Pikachu's at the door!"

"She's still trying to get the pool sorted out!" Lily called back. "Hold on, I'll get Wartortle to yank her out."

"Oh, are these the other gym leaders?" Lillie realized.

"A pool?" Lana said. "Is this a Water-type gym?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "So it's got a big swimming pool for the battles, and a bigger swimming pool for the Pokémon, and they sometimes do underwater displays in the big pool."

There was a splash, then Wartortle came running up to the door.

"Pikachu!" he said, with a nod. "It's been a while."

"Ash, I didn't know you were coming," added a Vaporeon. "I would have left fixing the pool to tomorrow if I'd known."

"Sorry, Misty," Ash said, shrugging. "It was kind of last-minute whether we'd come here or go to Pewter first."

"Warning Brock," Arc announced.

Most of the Alolans stared.

"You're Misty?" Kiawe asked, eventually. "I didn't know Pokémon could be Gym Leaders!"

"Well, they can, but Misty's normally human," Ash said. "She's just using a magic potion to turn into a Vaporeon… I guess there's something wrong with one of the swimming pools and it's easier to fix that way?"

"Yeah, it's this or we take the gym out of commission for a week to drain down the pipes and get a plumber in," Misty said, flicking her tail. "Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I'm helping teach Professor Kukui's class!" Ash explained. "Any chance we can get a demonstration of a Gym Battle?"

Sophocles was still mouthing the words magic potion to himself.

"...my friend Serena could explain a lot more about it," Ash said. "She's able to make it herself, or, she and her Braixen are able to make it themselves, with help from her Ponyta – that's a Galarian Ponyta, so a Psychic-type not a Fire-type – and a few ingredients that have to come from elsewhere. But the basics are that… it's like it changes you into a fitting Pokémon, and then when it wears off it changes you back. So Misty's a Vaporeon because she's a really good Water-type trainer, and I guess also because she's adaptable because she doesn't just have Water types."

He pointed. "Like Togetic! She's a Fairy and Flying type, and Misty did a great job raising her. So, adaptable, like she'd been an Eevee."

Togetic waved.

"I've got an Azurill as well, but she'll be a Water type when she evolves," Misty supplied.

"You don't look nearly surprised enough, Mallow," Lana noticed.

"Yeah, I saw Ash turn into a Pokémon a few weeks ago, I just wasn't sure if I'd made the whole thing up," Mallow explained. "It is sort of nice to actually know how it works."

"So what is Ash, then?" Kiawe said. "When he turns into a Pokémon, I mean. Pikachu?"

"Absol," Ash explained.

"...oh!" Sophocles said. "So, Lokoko's wife isn't your Absol. You're your Absol."

"I'm not nearly as good at battling while transformed as Ash is," Misty said. "But I should point out that Ash has Illusion as an Absol, which is just weird… anyway, what about this? I'll show a top-tier gym battle, and then anyone who wants to can take part in other gym battles against some of the members of my team I don't use on really strong challengers!"

"That sounds great!" Ash agreed. "And I know just who I'm using, too!"

"Gyarados, go!" Misty called.

"Is that a Kantonian Gyarados?" Lillie said, looking at the big red Pokémon taking up a sizeable chunk of the battle pool.

"No, he's just a shiny Gyarados," Misty replied. "Though he is actually from Johto, so if he was a regional variant he wouldn't be a Kantonian one. Nothing stops people who are from one region having Pokémon from another region."

She rolled her eyes. "Ash met his Galarian Articuno in Johto when she appeared by teleport from Galar and crashed into the ground next to us. That's… actually not nearly the last time Legendary Pokémon have rained down from the sky around him."

"Hey, should I do the referee thing?" Lily checked.

"That would be great," Misty agreed. "Okay, Ash, send out your Pokémon!"

Ash sent out Croconaw, who waved happily.

"Great to see you all!" he announced.

"I will be honest, I'm surprised you haven't evolved yet," Gyarados said. "How long is it you've been a Croconaw?"

"About as long as you've been with Misty," Croconaw shrugged. "I might, some day, or I might not. Anyway, let's begin!"

Both Water-types looked at Lily.

"Oh, right," Lily said. "Begin!"

"Tail Slap!" Misty called, and Gyarados flicked his tail across to try and slam Croconaw into the wall.

The agile Water-type sprang smoothly over it, doing a double front-flip before landing, and started to do a smooth dance – one which incorporated a quick ducking motion, as Gyarados swept his tail back across the other way.

"Gyarados, use blaaa!" Misty instructed.

"What kind of move is-" Sophocles began, then shaded his eyes as Gyarados spat out an intense jet of light and energy. "Whoa!"

When the blast faded, though, revealing a smoking hole in the wall, Croconaw was still dancing.

"Okay, that was a Conversion 2," Misty decided. "Just our bad luck he got Ghost, I guess… right! Let's try something new, Acrobatics!"

Gyarados did a double-backflip, which hit Croconaw on the second flip and launched him up towards the ceiling.

"Hydro Pump up!" Ash called out, and Croconaw fired a blast of water upwards which braked his original momentum. A deft Conversion move also changed him back to Water-type, so instead of flying right through the gym ceiling he stopped himself and clapped his hands twice.

A cloud of petals rose up around him, shielding him from view, then expanded out to cover half of the gym.

"So the way that low level gym challenges work can be as simple as relying on type advantages!" Ash told the Alolans. "At that point it's like it's checking you understand the basics and that you can work with your Pokémon – the Pokémon who get used are weaker and the gym leader's more willing to forgive mistakes. Then as you get more badges, the Pokémon get tougher and so you need to have either stronger Pokémon or better tactics."

"Ice Beam that Petal Dance!" Misty said.

"Dive!" Ash retorted. "And when you get right up to the top level, Gym Leaders usually have lots of cool tricks they can use!"

Croconaw was still dancing around underwater, and Misty frowned for a moment before nodding. "Underwater, then use Hurricane!"

"Conversion 2!" Ash called. "Then Revelation Dance, let's see what it is!"

"Ulp!" Misty called, spotting Croconaw making a pair of pom-poms, and dove for her Key Stone.

Gyarados Mega-Evolved into Mega Gyarados, and the burst of electricity hit him hard but not as hard as it would have done if he'd still been Flying-type. Meanwhile the Hurricane flung Croconaw onto the ceiling again, where he left a dent.

"Victory Dance!" Ash said. "Sometimes Gym Leaders set extra conditions on their battles, like saying you have to only use Pokémon who haven't fully evolved, or Pokémon who are immune to something, while if a trainer's mostly using new Pokémon even if he's already got loads of badges they can tone their challenge down a bit to properly judge the trainer-Pokémon combination."

Croconaw spun away from a Hyper Beam Mega Gyarados blasted his way, then Ash snapped his fingers as Mega Gyarados recharged.

"Conversion yourself!" he said. "And Revelation Dance!"

"Use Blaaa again!" Misty called.

"Okay, Swagger!" Ash said quickly.

Mega Gyarados inhaled, looked briefly confused, forgot to exhale, and the Hyper Beam detonated in his mouth. Then Croconaw hit him with a dance that involved several high kicks.

"Acrobatics!" Misty countered, and Mega Gyarados did a double backflip.

Still confused, he launched both Pokémon smoothly through the roof.

"...huh," Misty said, as water rained down all around the arena. "Well, I guess maybe we should get the plumbers in after all?"

"This keeps happening," Daisy complained. "Last time you used your Psyduck in a gym challenge he set the pool on fire."

Ash jumped to catch Mega Gyarados as he landed, and Croconaw splashed smoothly back down in the pool.

"I think Croconaw and I got our stage directions mixed up," Mega Gyarados speculated.

"Hang on, I'll get Arc to fix the damage," Ash said. "It's only fair!"

"Ash!" Brock said the next day, opening the door to Pewter Gym. "Arc warned us you were coming! Then Misty complained that you hadn't warned her you were coming."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ash admitted, as the Dragonite they'd flown over on unfolded a board and started setting up the cards.

"What is that?" Togedemaru asked. Sophocles took the hint from her upraised arms and picked her up, lifting her higher so she could get a better view, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Oh, I recognize that one," Ash said, leaning over to look himself. "It's called Penultimate Pokémon Trainer. The idea is, there's a Pokémon trainer going around doing all these amazing things like fighting to save Legendary Pokémon or beating whole criminal gangs, and the players are all following him around cleaning up afterwards."

"That sounds vaguely familiar," Zygarde declared.

"Yeah, the designers asked me for suggestions," Pikachu said. "I changed a lot of the details though because that way there's actual mess to clear up most of the time."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I remember the meetings about it… I didn't really follow all of it, but Dragonite did, so I was happy about it!"

He turned back to the Alolans. "So! This is Pewter Gym, and it's not quite like Cerulean Gym for a few reasons. One of them is that, while it's also got lots of Gym Leaders, they're not all specialists in the same Type."

"Ash is right!" Brock confirmed. "Most of us are Rock type specialists, but my mom is a Water type trainer first and foremost."

Brock's eldest brother Forrest leaned out of the door. "And Brock's more of an everything specialist anyway," he added.

"I'm not-" Brock began, but Forrest began counting off on his fingers.

"Let's just go with the Pokémon that aren't gym Pokémon, right?" Forrest said. "Onix, Rock and Ground. Geodude, Rock and Ground."

"Wait, is that a Kantonian Geodude?" Kiawe asked.

"Yeah, actually," Forrest agreed, glancing over at him. "So far, two Rock and two Ground. Crobat… Poison and Flying."

"I am the night," Crobat said, leaning down from the door.

"Are you sure that's not Zacian, Crobat?" Ash frowned.

"Bulbasaur, Grass and Poison," Forrest resumed. "Eevee, well… more than half the type chart, she's kind of like that. Vulpix is Fire. Forretress is Bug and Steel."

"Oh!" Snowy said. "It'd be nice to meet another Kantonian Vulpix who's grown up here. Lokoko's nice but she's a bit… intimidating."

"Then Lombre is Grass and Water, Mudkip's Water, Swablu is Normal and Flying and Sudowoodo's pure Rock," Forrest finished. "So… if you don't count Eevee, that's three Rock, two Ground, two Grass, two Poison, two Flying, two Water…"

"All right, all right, you've made your point," Brock said, with a sigh. "I'm supposed to be a Rock type trainer, but that's not really how it worked out…"

He brightened. "Anyway, it's great to have you. What about if you come inside, and you can meet the whole family!"

This took some time.

"Normally a gym has to have at least one person who can handle eight badge challenges," Ash said, as they went into the main room of Pewter Gym. "Pewter's really lucky to have so many, but you need at least one. But there's usually more trainers who are looking for easier battles than looking for harder ones… can you see why?"

"Uh…" Lillie said, frowning.

Sophocles was the one to raise his hand first.

"It's because not everyone completes the Gym Challenge, right?" he asked. "So, if everyone tries for their first badge, but not everyone tries for their last badge, there's more people out there trying for their first badge. If a thousand people a year did the first badge, and only a couple of hundred got as far as doing the last one, you'd have five times as many challengers for the first badge."

"Yeah, exactly!" Ash agreed. "Which is why you sometimes have junior gym leaders or gym leaders who do smaller challenges, like Forrest is at the moment. If he has to do a harder challenge he can use some of the Gym Pokémon, though."

Lana put her hand up. "You've said Gym Pokémon a couple of times. What are they?"

"That's the Pokémon which aren't part of any of our main teams," Brock provided. "It's all right to move Pokémon around between the gym leaders, for a specific challenge, but it's usually better to use a gym Pokémon instead of one that's specifically worked mainly with a different trainer."

"There isn't anything like that in Alola, I don't think," Turtonator said. "Or if there is, I don't remember it."

"I think the Kahunas can sometimes call on the Totem Pokémon," Kiawe frowned. "But I don't know if that includes for trials."

"But there's two reasons why we're here, apart from meeting my friend Brock and his team!" Ash resumed. "Firstly, because it's a great chance for you to get a go at gym battles yourselves… we were going to do that at Cerulean but there were too many holes in the gym… and second, after that, I'd like to do a Contest demonstration!"

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Eevee said, bouncing on her paws and floating into the air. "Wait, who's it going to be exactly?"

"I think that's one of the things that Brock's supposed to work out," Vulpix pointed out to her teammate.

"Well, that was interesting," Forrest's Rhyperior said, towelling himself down with Geodude's help. "I did not expect a water attack quite that powerful from a little Popplio."

"That's Z moves for you, you dig?" Geodude replied. "I've only seen one a couple of times before, but it was quite a thing… mind you, a few years ago I got shocked by a little Pikachu."

The Rock-type rubbed the towel over again, floated back a bit for a look, then nodded. "Yeah, I think that's most of it."

He turned to the arena. "And, hey, at least this place can flood for the mom-ster's battles, so the drainage isn't a big deal."

"Maybe what we need now is for that Turtonator to go again," Rhyperior speculated. "That would deal with some of the water."

"I don't think Kiawe's Turtonator can go again," Brock replied. "At least, not without getting completely dizzy."

He turned back to the Alolan class. "All right, is that everyone who wants to take part? Or is there someone who hasn't tried out a gym battle yet?"

Mallow held up her hand.

"I've got a question," she said. "Have you tried the potion? What did you end up as?"

Brock looked faintly embarrassed. "...yes," he admitted. "Apparently it's part of my basic makeup that I handled a lot of the map reading while I was travelling with Ash."

"Why?" Lana said. "Is there a map reading Pokémon?"

"He was a Nosepass," Forrest supplied. "I'm just afraid to find out if one of us comes out as a Deino."

"If you've got all those brothers and sisters, how old do they have to be before they can start working in the gym?" Lillie asked. "Is there a rule about it?"

"I don't think there's a rule," Ash said, frowning. "I've met some really young gym leaders, younger than you normally have to be to go on a Pokémon journey. I think it's more about skill than age that's whether someone can be a gym leader… I know they didn't ask how old any of my Dragonite were when they took over Gym Leading for a bit, mostly back in Unova! And Clembot was less than a year old as Lumiose City Gym Leader…"

He shrugged. "If my friend N was here we could ask him what the rules were."

"He would cite the wrong rule, but correctly," Arc agreed.

"Right!" Ash said. "Now, for that Contest battle… Brock, I'd like you to meet my Lycanroc!"

"Oh, that should be-" Brock said, then stopped as he caught sight of Ash's Lycanroc. "Ash, did you do it again?"

"That depends what it is!" Ash answered. "If you mean evolving a Pokémon in a way nobody knew could happen, yes, twice in the last week."

He crouched down, and ran his hand along Lycanroc's polished mane. "But that just means people didn't know about it, so it's a new discovery and that's great! We think they're a Dusk Form Lycanroc, because they evolved right at dusk, and I should probably ask Dawn to meet a Rockruff some time and see if she discovers a Dawn Form!"

"I wonder what a Dawn Form Lycanroc would be like," Lycanroc said, sitting down and putting a paw to their chin.

"They might be Electric-type," Ash guessed. "Okay, so, there's two parts to a Contest and we've already seen the Appeal side back in Alola, so this is going to be the Battle side. It's a lot like a normal battle, but there's also points for spectacle… so if one Pokémon is really tough and just takes a hit, and another Pokémon's much weaker but blocks the attack in a new and pretty way, the second Pokémon is going to do much better!"

"This should be interesting!" Mr. Contesta said. "It's not every day we take part in a demonstration Contest!"

"Indeed!" Mr. Sukizo agreed. "And what a remarkable cross-cultural event it is, demonstrating the Contest to Alola!"

Professor Kukui leaned on the desk. "I hope we're going to see some impressive use of moves, so that Contest battles make a good First Impression on my students!"

Contesta gave him a puzzled look. "Shouldn't you be a Joy?"

"She's dealing with too many hayfever cases at the moment," Kukui answered.

"Who are these guys?" Sophocles said.

"They're Contest Judges," Vulpix told them. "I don't get why, but it's pretty much always those two guys next to your Pokémon Professor when it's a Contest."

"All right, let's get this started!" Ash said. "Lycanroc, ready?"

"Ready!" they confirmed.

"Begin!" Mr. Sukizo invited.

"Stealth Rocks, Lycanroc!" Ash instructed.

Lycanroc made a whirling cloud of rocks, jumping up onto one, then another, then jumped off the second one to float in the middle of the cloud. Onix used Rock Throw, but Lycanroc zipped to the side a little and one of their rocks collided with Onix's rock to divert it.

"So, that's some points for Ash!" Mr. Contesta explained. "You see, Lycanroc's move is impressive, and they were able to deflect away Onix's attack."

"Dragon Breath infusion!" Brock retorted, and Onix slammed his tail into the ground. This time, a rock rose up for Rock Throw, but Onix breathed on it to light it up with fizzing purple and yellow fire. He bounced it twice, then hit it with a whack to send it rocketing towards Lycanroc.

It went through one of the gaps in the Stealth Rock cloud, then exploded in a cloud of Dragonbreath, and Lycanroc dropped before catching themselves on a Stealth Rock and kicking off from it again.

"While that is points for Brock!" Sukizo said helpfully. "That remarkable attack was a display of innovation, and it got through, plus of course Onix made a lovely production of it."

"Send out some Rock Throws," Ash decided. "Jump to each one, then curve them in!"

Lycanroc did as instructed, switching from outright flying around to jumping from rock to rock in mid-air, and each one they kicked off from curved through the air to come at Onix from a random-seeming direction.

"Dig!" Brock decided. "Hide somewhere Lycanroc won't notice you!"

Onix coiled, sprang into the air, and did a dive into the gym floor.

"Oh, now, this is interesting," Contesta said helpfully. "You see, that gains points, but staying underground for too long loses points. Let's see what Brock has planned."

"Ooh, I recognize this!" Eevee realized, then put her paws over her muzzle.

"Lycanroc, let's have some more Stealth Rocks!" Ash decided. "Take away the whole gym floor if you can! Let's not leave Onix anywhere to hide!"

The whole gym trembled, and Lycanroc lifted up layer after layer of rocks and stones from the gym floor.

Then one of them used Flash Cannon on Lycanroc.

"That was really cool!" Ash said, helping to lift Lycanroc out of the pile of stones that had resulted when their Stealth Rock cut out. "That was Autotomize, right?"

"That's right," Brock agreed. "Forretress taught Onix how to use it. It's a great surprise to everyone!"

There was a click-click-click as Onix reconnected himself, his head joining to his other body segments one by one until he'd been fully reconnected. "It's a bit disorienting, though," the Rock-type admitted.

"Sorry, Ash," Lycanroc said, shaking their head a bit to clear away the dizziness. "Is my fur okay?"

"Looks just fine to me!" Ash assured them. "That Rock Polish really did the job!"

"So… being knocked out means you lose a Contest battle, right?" Sophocles checked.

"So long as the points don't decide the battle first," Mr. Contesta confirmed.

Chapter Text

Not long after they got back to Alola, Ash vaguely realized that there was fog all around him.

"Huh?" he said, confused. "This is weird…"

"Ash?" Pikachu said, appearing out of the fog and bounding up to him. "Any idea where we are?"

"No, sorry," Ash replied, reaching down to his pocket, then frowned. "Huh, no sign of Arc or Ibid… this is weird. Something about it is familiar, though."

"I kind of get what you mean, but not quite," Pikachu said, then shrugged, and used his Surfboard to rise up into the air a bit.

"I can see mountains all around us, through the fog, but it's all a bit vague," Pikachu reported. "There might have been something different that way, though."

He waved his paw, and Ash nodded.

"Let's go and see what it is, then!" he invited.

The mountains around them moved, slightly, as they walked, and the fog seemed to recede a little to reveal pillars of rock around them – some of them carved into unusual or special shapes. And ahead of them, a flight of stairs.

Then, at the top of the stairs, a flat topped construction built out of stone.

Light swirled overhead, and two Legendary Pokémon appeared from the mist in swirls of multi-coloured light that formed tunnels to infinity.

"Hi, Solgaleo!" Ash waved. "Hi, Lunala! Hey, where are we?"

"Hi, Ash!" Solgaleo replied, waving, then Lunala coughed and the Sunne Pokémon shook his head slightly. "Right, sorry."

Then a third Legendary Pokémon appeared.

Unlike Solgaleo and Lunala, the third to appear just sort of dropped herself into the space overhead.

"Ahem," Cresselia said. "Yes, hello, do come in, welcome to the dreamscape, I accept your apology for not giving me advance notice."

"That's what I forgot to do," Lunala said, hovering overhead and contriving to look embarrassed.

"And, speaking of," Cresselia added, and turned off the fog. It vanished in an instant, giving a perfect view of an ancient temple surrounded by sandstone spires and the edge of a canyon, and Lunala coughed.

"You do realize we're going for something approaching ceremony, here, don't you?" the Moone Pokémon asked, with a sweeping beat of her wings. "I'm just saying, we did put in a lot of effort to do this."

"So, if you're in a dream, I guess that explains why Arc isn't here!" Ash decided. "Should I get Giratiny in here? He's sort of made of dream… or is that not relevant?"

"This is why I love how Ash deals with things," Solgaleo said, in what was theoretically a quiet voice. "It's just great."

"Ash, is this a nightmare in any way, shape or form?" Cresselia checked.

"Not at the moment!" Ash said. "If Solgaleo and Lunala want a bit more spectacle, could you do some?"

Cresselia waved her hand in a vague sort of way, and the sky overhead split neatly in half. Solgaleo's side became a blazing sunlit day, and Lunala's side a starry nebula with the full moon shining down.

"Ooh," Solgaleo said. "I am seriously impressed."

Lunala coughed again, and Solgaleo nodded. "Right, right."

"Ash Ketchum," the Moone Pokémon said. "We have a job we would like you to do."

"It is not something you have to do, but it would be really good if you could," Solgaleo agreed.

"We can think of none better," Lunala continued. "Your task, should you choose to accept it, is to take care of Cosmog. The Guardians will show you the way."

"Cosmog evolves into Cosmoem, right?" Ash asked. "Mew showed me both of them once, then giggled a lot. The lightest and heaviest Pokémon, or something?"

"Yes, though a lot of that weight doesn't actually exist a lot of the time," Solgaleo said. "It's Ultra. I'm not sure the details but it's Ultra Ultra."

"I have questions," Pikachu said. "Firstly, when you say take care of, that's basically to the same extent Ash takes care of any Pokémon, right?"

"Honestly, nothing I've ever seen from him suggests we'd want anything more," Lunala nodded.

"Secondly, now that I get a close look at you two… Cosmog is your kid?" Pikachu said.

"...you actually weren't meant to work that out until Cosmog was old enough to evolve to their final form, but yes," Solgaleo conceded.

"Thirdly," Pikachu concluded. "Which Guardian?"

"Tapu Koko," Lunala said. "Why?"

Pikachu shrugged. "Just curious."

"Sure!" Ash decided. "Of course I'd take care of them anyway, but I'll make it a promise!"

"Morning," Rowlet chirped. "Litten's off visiting Stoutland. You took a long time to wake up this morning!"

"Turns out they were involved in a dreamscape," Cresselia provided. "A dreamscape run by Pokémon who could do with a bit more imagination, too… still, no harm done."

"Thanks for checking on us, Cresselia!" Ash said, yawning and stretching.

Then Tapu Koko threw Cosmog through the door and ran off.

"Hi, there," Ash said, once he'd caught Cosmog in the no-actual-Pokéball-involved way. "It's nice to meet you, Cosmog."

Cosmog floated up and down, waving their nebulous arms. "Cosmog! That's me!"

"That's right," Ash agreed. "Do you know a lot about what's going on?"

That made Cosmog look puzzled. "Umm…"

"It's okay if you don't," Ash assured them.

"Oh," Cosmog said. "No then."

"Well, I got asked to look after you," Ash explained. "I'll do my best, okay? If you're not sure about something, you can say, and I'll try and work out if I can tell you how it works."

Lycanroc padded over, and sniffed Cosmog.

"Nope," they said. "I have nothing useful to contribute."

"I have no idea what kind of Pokémon Cosmog is except that it is Cosmog!" Rotom announced, floating over, and leaned in close – which made Cosmog bob backwards a bit.

"Careful you don't startle them," Ash advised. "Ibid, do you have anything?"

"Cosmog," Ibid reported. "Psychic type. Its body is very light, but it doesn't seem to mind being blown away. When it's in trouble, it warps to a safe place to hide."

"I don't know what a lot of those things mean," Cosmog admitted.

"That's okay," Ash smiled. "That just means you have more things to learn, that's all."

Litten came in through the door.

"Morning," she said, then stopped. "Wait, is that new or not? I legitimately have trouble remembering."

Cosmog waved, then giggled as Litten jumped up to get a closer look at them.

"Hmm," Pikachu said, thinking out loud. "Warping to a safe place… that sounds like teleporting to me. Maybe they can learn to teleport?"

"That sounds about right," Ash agreed. "That means that Cosmog could learn from Ibid, right?"

"Or Raikou or Shaymintwo," Pikachu pointed out. "Well, Raikou mostly uses thunderbolt riding to do it, so that might not work so well for a Pokémon that's not Electric type, and Shaymintwo… I guess we can always try it."

"Teleport?" Cosmog repeated. "What's a teleport?"

"It's when you move without having to go through the space in between," Ash told them. "So if I could teleport, I could vanish from here and appear somewhere else without walking. But because I don't, I have to walk."

"Oh!" Cosmog said.

Then there was a flash, and suddenly they were in a seaside cave.

Gladion jumped. "Where did you come from?"

"Professor Kukui's house," Ash said, as Cosmog looked around. "Just now, anyway. If you count further back then Pikachu and I are from Kanto-"

"I meant just now," Gladion said, relaxing slightly. "Ash, that was… so strange. You just appeared out of nowhere – and what is that Pokémon?"

Silvally came out of his Pokéball with a flash, and gave Cosmog a long, measuring look.

"Nope," he said.

"Silvally, don't do anything hasty," Gladion said.

"I wasn't… going to," Silvally replied, sitting back on his haunches. "I was made to… fight Ultra Beasts. But…"

He shook his head. "If this little one… is an Ultra Beast… then I feel no need to fight."

"Oh, huh," Ash nodded. "Silvally says that he was made to fight Ultra Beasts, but if Cosmog does count as an Ultra Beast then it's not one he feels he needs to fight."

Ash paused. "What's an Ultra Beast?"

Gladion did explain everything he knew about Ultra Beasts, and so did Silvally – in his halting way, as best he knew – but there wasn't really much to say.

Ultra Beasts came from Ultra Wormholes, and they were in some way dangerous. Silvally had seen one only once before, in something that he didn't really want to talk about all the details of, and it was so obviously making him uncomfortable that Ash didn't want to ask.

"So… I guess we know some Ultra Beasts are dangerous, but we don't have a reason to think they all are," Ash decided. "Even if just because it's way more likely that one would come here if it wanted to cause trouble."

"That is a good point," Gladion said. "What do you think, Silvally?"

"Your words make sense," Silvally agreed. "I will do what is needed… to protect my friends."

He shook his head. "Not… endanger them."

"That's good," Ash agreed. "Keeping friends safe is important, but causing trouble that could hurt friends is an easy way to make a massive mistake."

He turned back to Cosmog. "So, since we know you can teleport, what about making it work better?"

"Teleport?" Cosmog asked.

"Making sure you know what you're doing, and that you don't do it by accident," Ash clarified. "Does that make sense?"

"What's an accident?"

"It's when you do something you didn't mean to do," Ash told the Psychic-type. "Usually you want to make sure you only do the things you want to do."

"Oh, okay," Cosmog decided.

"What made you decide to teleport here?" Pikachu asked.

"It's what that orange one was thinking about!" Cosmog explained, waving vaguely in Lycanroc's direction. "They were thinking about walking to go and visit their friend, and then we came here."

"Oh, that must be Gladion's Lycanroc," Ash said. "That's neat, but it's best to only do that when someone asks, okay?"

Cosmog nodded, a sort of bobbing movement.

"So, what about if we go back to Kukui's house?" Ash suggested. "Then you can meet some of my other Pokémon, and we can work on teleport!"

He paused. "Actually, hold on. Let's walk, okay? Lycanroc, if you want to have a chat with Gladion's Lycanroc let me know, and you can come back on your own later."

"That would be nice," Lycanroc agreed. "Thank you."

"Walking takes a long time," Cosmog decided, as they reached Kukui's house again. "Why doesn't everyone just teleport?"

"Because most people can't," Ash said. "Arc can, and so can Ibid – they do it different ways – but if you do things the easy way it sometimes means you miss about out on things you could find along the way."

Cosmog looked puzzled, so Ash decided to go into more detail. "So early on my Pokémon Journey I went from Cerulean City to Vermillion City, and I could have just teleported there, but if I had then I'd have missed meeting my Charizard. And he's a great friend."

"Oh, okay," Cosmog said. "So… it's sometimes okay to teleport, but not always?"

"Right," Ash agreed. "There's no one rule for when it's okay, but it's something you have to learn for yourself. It's also okay to ask if you're not sure."

"Got it!" Cosmog declared. "Is it okay if I practice, then?"

"Try teleporting just over there," Ash said. "Hey, Litten, mind going over there to show Cosmog how far to go?"

Litten raced down to the palm tree Ash had pointed at, then skidded to a halt.

"See where Litten is?" Ash asked. "Think you can go that far?"

"Alola, Ash!" Kukui called, waving from up the beach. "I thought I'd come back here for lunch… how's it going?"

"Tapu Koko dropped off a baby Pokémon called Cosmog after I met I-guess-the-parents in a dream!" Ash explained. "They're learning how to teleport and how not to teleport!"

"The second one is more important sometimes," Kukui confirmed. "You're next doing a lesson… day after tomorrow, right?"

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "I've got a couple of ideas about what to do!"

Chapter Text

"All right, everyone!" Ash said. "So, today's lesson is going to be about something you might not realize is anything to do with how Pokémon work unless you think about it!"

"That's most things," Kiawe pointed out. "Oh, uh, sorry."

"Everyone gather round, class," Ash added. "We're going to start off by going outside. Okay, Cosmog?"

"Cosmog?" Lana repeated. "What's a Cosmog?"

Cosmog floated out of Ash's bag, and Ash held out a hand for them to rest on. "This is Cosmog," he said. "I met them a couple of days ago, and they've been learning how to teleport. I've teleported a lot, though, so I wanted to make sure everyone else was okay with it. Ready?"

Cosmog bobbed up and down.

"We're going to the beach just outside," Ash told Cosmog, and then they were outside with a flicker of movement.

"Whoa, that was weird," Mallow said.

"Everyone okay?" Ash checked. "It's better to find out it's a problem now when you can walk back, after all!"

Nobody seemed to be very dizzy, and Ash patted Cosmog and told them well done before spreading his arms.

"So, this is daytime!" he said. "And that means a lot of things! It's sort of the default because we're mostly out and about during the day, and asleep at night, but it's still useful to think about what it means for it to be daytime. Usually you can see things quite well, even if the weather's really dark, but some Pokémon are asleep during the day. It's also usually warmer, and louder because most Pokémon are awake."

He held out his hand in the sun. "Sometimes if you spend too long in the sun you can get sunburned, but that's easy to avoid with sun cream or if you just don't spend too long outside, right?"

"Yeah, that's important," Lana agreed. "And it's a lot safer to swim during the day, because you can see things way more easily."

"Plants mostly spend the day with their flowers open," Mallow contributed. "But some kinds of plant open at certain times of day, or even at night. And people usually eat during the day, too… though I guess it depends which meal?"

"It's also when people go to work," Lillie said.

"It's the only time you get natural Sunny Day," Kiawe's Marowak volunteered. "Which is good for Fire types."

"Right!" Ash agreed. "And because it's something we're used to so much, we usually just think of it as normal, but it's only day about half the time, and some of that is twilight. There's also half the time when it's night time… so let's have a look at that. Cosmog, let's go visit Kalos!"

"Kalos?" Sophocles repeated.

Cosmog pulsed, and suddenly they were in Kalos, under a calm and moonlit night.

Togedemaru immediately lit up with Flash, and Sophocles crouched down next to her.

"So, what's different?" Ash asked.

"It's hard to see," Lillie said. "It'd be hard to see anyway, because it's dark, but it's really hard to see because we were in the sun a moment ago."

"That's right," Ash nodded. "Well noticed. Normally your eyes get used to how light or dark it is, and although you can't see as well when it's dark you can usually compensate a lot – especially when the moon is out, because that gives you a lot of light. But when it's cloudy it can get really dark."

"And it's not safe to fly, right?" Kiawe said. "Unless your Pokémon can see in the dark or you've got a really good idea of how high you need to be to be safe."

"Oh, yeah, because if you're flying so high the ground's nowhere near, it's okay," Lana realized. "But landing you have to get close to the ground."

"Which is why it's often so much safer to land in towns or cities with street lights, if you're flying in the dark," Ash said. "It's safest of all not to do it, though."

He judged his own eyes. "I think you should all be able to see a bit better, now… but what's easier to see at night?"

"There are things that are easier to see at night?" Togedemaru asked.

"There are," Ash said. "You're one of them, actually!"

"Right, of course," Sophocles said. "Things that make light show up better at night, because there's not as much other light to drown them out."

"It's also cooler at night, and calmer," Ash told them. "Why don't you have a look around and see if you can spot any Pokémon? Don't forget to pay attention to where you're walking."

He crouched down next to Sophocles. "Are you all right?"

"Sorry," Sophocles apologized. "I'm a bit scared of the dark."

"That's not something to say sorry for," Ash told him. "Being afraid isn't anything to be ashamed of. You've got a great Pokémon who knows just how to help you out with it, too."

"Thanks," Togedemaru said.

"People can be afraid of the dark?" Cosmog said, worried.

"People can be afraid of a lot of things," Ash agreed. "Sorry about this, Sophocles, I didn't know about it but if I did I'd have done the lesson differently."

He stood up. "And, Cosmog? Eventually you might need to choose daytime or night time, but night time isn't scary. It's just different."

Cosmog bobbed up and down.

"After everyone's had a bit longer to look around, we're going to hear about how battling is different at night," Ash said. "Then we'll have a look at what it's like in the morning and the evening, around dawn and dusk. It's about that time in Johto and Kanto soon, so we should get a good look at what it's like halfway between daytime and night time!"

"Thanks again, Cosmog," Ash said, as they appeared on top of a hill. "So this is in Johto, and it's morning right now. The sun hasn't risen yet, but can you see how it's a lot easier to see things than it was in Kalos?"

"Yeah, it's… actually weird, I hadn't thought about this," Lana admitted. "The sun's not up, like you said, but the sky's still brighter. Why is that?"

"It's because the air sort of… bends the light?" Ash answered. "It can't bend it all the way, but it can bend it a bit. And because of how that works, along with how the sun being lower in the sky means it spreads the light out, there's time both before and after sunrise and sunset that you get light that's not quite full daylight."

He waved. "There's loads of different Pokémon which usually come out now, especially because it's bright enough to see but not yet really hot? Or it can be because they want it to be dark, but still warm, if they do it after sunset. It's like a mix between day and night."

"Who's there?" someone called.

"Hi, Molly!" Ash waved. "I thought this place looked familiar. Did we land in your garden?"

"Ash, it's you!" Molly Hale said, waving back. "I didn't know you were visiting!"

She reached down next to her, and picked up a Teddiursa. "You should meet my Pokémon! We were out for an early morning walk."

Teddiursa waved, blinked, then looked closer. "Wait, is that Ash? I thought he was just some kind of excuse for why your mom's a Mew."

"Hi there, Teddiursa," Ash said. "Molly, this is a class I'm teaching. Do you want to tell everyone why you decided to take an early morning walk? We're learning about times of day so it'd be great to hear!"

"Sure!" Molly agreed. "So, I can see where I'm going, and it's nice and cool. I don't mind playing during the day, as well, but doing it at night is difficult so this is like doing it at night."

"It's also a time that's different when you do Pokémon battling," Ash added. "At night then some attacks, like fire ones, tend to give away where the Pokémon using them is, while Pokémon that use other kinds of attacks can hide in the dark. Twilight battles don't have quite the same thing, but it's also more likely to be a bit misty – that can matter in big battles, but not so much in small ones."

"I'm sorry, are we just going to slide over the fact that Teddiursa said that girl's mother is a Mew?" Togedemaru burst out.

"Yeah, that happened the first time I met Molly, it's kind of complicated," Ash said. "It's mostly when she sneezes, right?"

"She's a lot better at not accidentally turning back into a Mew now," Molly replied. "But sometimes she does get surprised and it happens."

"This is not what I expected class to be like," Lana said.

"What did you expect class to be like?" Mallow replied.

"Good question, I don't know…"

"Some Pokémon only evolve during the day, and some only evolve during the night," Ash pointed out. "And some, like my Lycanroc, seem to be because of evolving right at the change between the two – but we don't actually know for sure yet. So I think… there's nothing wrong with preferring the daytime, or the night time, but you should make sure you think about what they're both like instead of just thinking of daytime as the only option. Right?"

"I swear, there's so much about this class where we keep learning new ways of looking at things," Kiawe breathed.

"Okay, Cosmog, let's head home!" Ash said. "Then we can talk about what we learned today."

"Right!" Cosmog agreed, and pulsed, and they appeared next to King Dragonite having breakfast.

"Morning, Ash!" the King said. "I didn't know you were coming back so soon!"

He sprang up from his table and gave Ash a hug, then considered Cosmog carefully and gave them a much smaller hug.

"Yeah, we weren't expecting to be here," Ash admitted. "It's nice to see you, though… let's try for home, okay?"

"Umm…" Cosmog said, tilting a little, then pulsed.

Suddenly they were inside a building, and everyone felt lighter.

"I guess that must be my fault," Ash realized, as Mirage Mew materialized in front of them. "Sorry, Cosmog, I wasn't concentrating on where we should be going."

"Where are we?" Sophocles said, jumping. "Wait… hang on, are we on the moon?"

"I didn't know the moon was like this," Cosmog admitted.

"That is my work!" Mirage Mew said. "Do you like it?"

"Sorry we can't stay long, Mirage Mew," Ash told the virtual Pokémon. "Cosmog, let's try to end up back on Melemele this time, okay?"

Kiawe's Charizard touched down at the ranch, and Kiawe got off.

"Thanks," he told the Fire-type, patting his neck, then returned him.

"Alola, Kiawe!" his mother called. "How was class today?"

"We did a field trip," Kiawe answered.

"Again?" she said. "You do do a lot of field trips with that class! Where did you go this time?"

"Kalos," Kiawe replied. "And Johto, and Kanto… and I think the moon, but that one was just indoors. It did feel a lot lighter though so it probably was the moon or something."

"...right," his mother frowned. "Well, did you learn some useful things?"

"I think so," Kiawe answered. "I might need to go and write some of them down though."

Chapter Text

"I know I've sort of talked about this a lot, but because Cosmog is so young I've been thinking about it again," Ash said. "Which is… about how you treat people and Pokémon who are afraid of something, or scared of something, or can't do something right. Or just when they do something which isn't the way you meant it."

He patted Cosmog. "And it's just to do with how… you shouldn't feel bad for getting something wrong. Sometimes you do anyway, but you shouldn't feel like you have to feel bad, and if you do feel bad anyway that's not wrong either."

Lillie put up her hand.

"This is something you've talked about before, but that's because it's so important, isn't it?" she asked.

"Right," Ash agreed. "Even making mistakes can lead to learning great new things! A lot of the ways we do things happened because of accidents… can you imagine how different things would be if nobody had ever decided to do dance moves along with their Pokémon as part of doing an attack?"

"...how do you keep doing this, seriously?" Kiawe asked. "It really must have been such an amazing realization the first time anyone did a Z-move, I never thought of that before."

"If I recall correctly, most Pokémon researchers think that the Tapus passed on Z-moves to humans," Kukui said. "It must have been quite a First Impression!"

"Didn't you do Genesis Supernova without needing to be told?" Pikachu pointed out.

"Yeah, that is a good point," Ash agreed. "Maybe there's something about synchronizing just right with your Pokémon, and with a Z-crystal, that you get the idea of what to do without needing to be told? I know so far Meganium, Pikachu and Aten's special Z-moves have all gone off with the first attack they used to try out the new Z-crystal… it's still amazing to think about, though, either way."

"Is that related to the kinds of evolution you talked about before?" Snowy checked. "I know that Pokémon like Eevee can evolve because of different kinds of friendship?"

"Yeah, Pokémon who evolve from friendship are related," Ash agreed. "A lot of it is about… understanding, and accepting. For the Pokémon, that means themselves and their trainer and knowing their trainer understands and accepts them. That's how it works best."

He shrugged. "But sometimes things take time to work out! Like Lillie's brother Gladion, he has a Pokémon who we think would evolve from that, and the Pokémon wants to get all that sorted out, but it takes a lot of things all fitting together to turn that into actually getting it sorted out. Just knowing you're afraid of something is, at best, the start of working out how to not be afraid of it… and there's no shame in not being able to get it worked out."

"Like my being afraid of Pokémon," Lillie said. "I've put so much work into it because I don't want to be, but…"

She held out her hand, and after a long moment Cosmog drifted over. Lillie tensed up, then slowly relaxed as Cosmog alighted on her hand.

"Wow," she murmured. "You really don't weigh anything, do you? Like a cloud."

"My data indicates that Cosmog does weigh something!" Rotom announced. "It is just that that amount is extremely small."

Lillie giggled. "And you're kind of ticklish!"

"Is that a good thing?" Cosmog asked.

"I think it can be!" Ash told them.

"You're doing really well, Lillie," Kukui said.

"Yeah," Sophocles agreed. "I'm not nearly that good with the dark."

Lillie sighed. "It's a pity Gladion's Pokémon still isn't sorted out, then."

"Gladion!" Cosmog agreed, and then with a flash they were suddenly on top of a hill.

"Ash!" Gladion said. "What was-"

Lillie gasped, pointing at Silvally. "I – that was-"

She sank to the ground, and Ash pulled Ibid from his pocket.

"Get Lokoko please," he said.

Ibid teleported away, and Gladion held out Silvally's Pokéball. "Silvally, you should-"

"No!" Lillie interrupted. "I don't-"

She took a deep breath. "I don't know what's going on, but I don't know if it's their fault. I want to ask."

Snowy nosed into her side, and Lillie trembled.

"Everyone stand back," Ash decided. "Snowy, you too – Lillie might need you now, but it's up to her to decide that."

"But-" Snowy protested, then stopped. "I… rrf! You're right but… I want to help her."

"Did I do something wrong?" Cosmog asked, worried.

"I think maybe you made a mistake," Ash said. "But it's okay, we'll sort it out-"

Lokoko appeared, yawning, and her tails lit up.

"What Pokémon is that?" Sophocles frowned.

"No idea," Togedemaru admitted.

"What's even going on?" Mallow asked. "Lillie, are you okay?"

"Please be okay," Snowy said anxiously.

"There was something that happened," Lillie said. "Before. With that – with Silvally."

She waved in Silvally's direction, not looking at him. "I was scared – I am scared. But… what happened, Silvally?"

"It is… not a happy memory for me," Silvally told them, slowly. "It is hard for me to remember. Part of me remembers things too… vividly."

He lay down. "I had been created by… Professor Faba… to fight Ultra Beasts. I saw one, threatening the girl Lillie, and I… tried to save her. I think I did."

"Professor Faba?" Lillie asked. "He works with my mother. I don't…"

She stopped. "I just remember something scary happening. And then you."

"Then Professor Faba… took me away, and…" Silvally shook his head, raising a paw to his mask. "He put this mask on. Then Gladion rescued me."

"It sounds like we need to ask this Professor Faba guy about what happened!" Ash decided. "Cosmog, don't teleport us, I might need to get some other Pokémon ready."

"You think this Professor Faba might be like that guy with the Mega Wave, from Kalos?" Pikachu checked.

"Maybe, or maybe it was all some kind of big misunderstanding!" Ash said. "That's why we need to ask him what happened. It just sounds like we might need to teach him a lesson about taking care of Pokémon properly!"

"And, because it's Ash, he means that literally," Lokoko chuckled. "The same lessons he's been teaching everyone else, I think."

The doorbell rang.

"Really?" Burnet asked, tutting, then got up. "It's not like tracking Ultra Aura is easy, there's always an interruption…"

She opened the door. "Yes, what is… um."

"Hi," Lillie said. "You work with my mom, Lusamine, right? Professor Burnet?"

"Yes, that's me," Burnet agreed, distracted by the large number of rare Pokémon outside, and said the first thing she could think of. "Um. Shouldn't you be at school? It is a school day, right?"

"There was a bit of a mistake," Ash said helpfully. "And it turns out we might know why Lillie's afraid of Pokémon. Do you know if Professor Faba is busy?"

"He's probably too busy to talk today," Burnet replied. "I'm too busy to talk today, really. We've been trying to track down a source of Ultra Aura that's been appearing all over the place – first here in Alola, in several different places, then just when we were sure about that it appeared in Kalos, then Johto… it even appeared on the moon."

"Oh!" Ash said. "So what is Ultra Aura anyway, is it to do with Ultra Beasts? Is that like normal Aura? I could help with that, I can see Aura and my friend Lucario's an expert at it! My Starly's a trained Lucario too."

"How can a Starly be a trained – what?" Burnet asked, now completely lost.

"He's been trained by a Lucario and he's an honorary Lucario as well," Ash clarified, in a way that didn't actually clarify much. "So that's almost everything you need to be a Lucario except having evolved from a Riolu."

Burnet blinked.

"I think I might know what meant you were detecting Ultra Aura in those places, but the problem is that either it's not really very good at working out what's an Ultra Beast or if it is good at working out what's an Ultra Beast it's not good at working out what kind of Ultra Beast is the kind of Ultra Beast you need to worry about," Ash went on. "Do you know where Professor Faba might have left his notes about Silvally? I want to check with someone who knows about putting artificial Pokémon together, I know some experts, but he might not have done a great job with Silvally especially if he had to put a weird mask on him. And it'd be great to know what Silvally was reacting to years ago when he accidentally scared Lillie."

"Artificial Pokémon?" Burnet repeated. "Silvally? What's Silvally?"

"Oh, right, that's a nickname, right Gladion?" Ash checked, glancing over his shoulder. "I don't think we ever got his species name."

"Ibid informs me that his species name as originally built was Type Full," Arc said, floating out of Ash's pocket and giving Burnet even more to deal with. "However, with the addition of the mask his designation has changed to Type Null."

"Type Full and Type Null?" Burnet repeated. "That reminds me of something… hold on a minute, I need to see if I can make sense of any of this."

She went back over to her computer, switching from the Ultra Aura model, then stopped.

"And how did you get to the Aether Paradise anyway?"

"We flew," Ash's Pikachu said. "Really, you'd think the Latias, Latios, four Dragonite, Noivern and Charizard would be a clue."

"I will level with you," Burnet said. "I think I saw them but immediately got overwhelmed by everything else."

She flicked through the drives, then nodded. "Ah, here it is, I thought it was here somewhere. Type Full is described as a failed project to stop Ultra Beasts… a project which produced, specifically, no output. Not a failed output… and certainly not a Pokémon."

With that, Burnet stood up. "I'll take you to Faba's lab," she said. "Hopefully we can get all this sorted out."

"That would be great!" Ash agreed.

Aten sprang out of his Apricorn Pokéball. "I will not tolerate this any longer! You are letting a perfect opportunity go, and I have a much better suggestion!"

"Professor Faba?"

Professor Faba looked up from his desk. "What is it, Professor Burnet? I'm busy."

"Lusamine's daughter's here," Burnet replied. "She says she remembers something that happened a while ago, but not all the details. Do you think you could help her out?"

"Oh – of course," Faba agreed. "You should get back to work, Burnet. I'll deal with it."

"Thank you, Professor," Lillie said, putting her bag down. "It's so scary… I want to know what happened, but I can't remember."

"Then I'll sort it out," Faba told her. "You won't have to worry about that again."

He sent out his Hypno. "Hypno, Hypnosis. Remove her memories of the incident."

Lillie's bag burst open, producing Zoroark (who hit Hypno like a ton of Snorlax and sent him through the wall), Aten (who started snarling at Faba) and Moltres (who hovered overhead). At about the same time, Minimized Latios appeared about a foot over Lillie's head.

"What is this?" Faba demanded.

"That's what I want to know!" Lusamine retorted, walking in through the door. "Did you just order your Pokémon to wipe my daughter's memories?"

"I – but-" Faba began, then sent out his Alakazam. "Teleport!"

He and Alakazam vanished.

"Told you that was better," Aten said smugly.

Chapter Text

"What am I going to do?" Faba asked, in his secret lab.

Alakazam shrugged, on account of having immense natural powers of intellect but most of them having been focused in practice on learning how to do all kinds of psychic powers.

"Lusamine has to see that what I've done is worth it," Faba said, mostly to himself. "She has to. But I need results… that way it will prove that I'm the one who's been going about this the right way."

Alakazam made a questioning noise.

"If we can't control Ultra Beasts, we can't stop Ultra Beasts," Faba declared. "And a crucial step in controlling Ultra Beasts is to be able to make them appear."

He looked contemplative. "This is actually helping out a lot. I should remember to explain things to you more often. Anyway… if I want to make Ultra Beasts appear, I need to be able to generate an Ultra Wormhole, but without however Mohn did it I'm relying on guesswork… unless…"

Faba frowned. "There's something I was missing… I just need a moment to work it out."

"The nerve of that man," Lusamine said. "I wouldn't have believed he'd be that… well."

She shook her head. "Please don't let this give you a bad first impression of the Aether Paradise."

"It's an amazing place," Lana said, thinking out loud. "A whole floating island, full of researchers learning about Pokémon."

"Yeah, it's really cool!" Ash agreed. "I could see there were great Pokémon habitats, too."

"Thank you," Lusamine smiled. "We try our best to make sure that our research is ethical… well, except for Professor Faba, anyway…"

Her smile turned into a frown, then she shook her head. "Well, hopefully we'll be able to stop him causing any more trouble."

Lillie had picked up her bag again, and was petting Snowy, but then she turned to her brother.

"Gladion?" she said. "Can you send out Silvally, please?"

Gladion blinked, surprised, then did as she'd asked.

"Child-" Silvally began, and Lillie broke into a run before hugging Silvally.

"Thank you!" she said. "I remember now, you saved me from that Ultra Beast, and – and it's horrible you got put in this mask for it!"

Silvally raised his front paw, touching Lillie's back in return, then began to glow. The mask shattered and dissolved into shards, and a wave of light spread down his body from the mask to the tips of all four legs and to the twin-forks of his tail.

The light went upwards, as well, as his crest spread out to full size with the upper portion of his mask gone.

"Silvally, you evolved!" Gladion gasped. "Or…"

He looked puzzled. "Does that count as evolution? Or not?"

"He looked like this before," Lillie said, stroking Silvally's mane, and after a moment Gladion came over to do the same. "He's beautiful."

"Thank you, Lillie," Silvally said, touching first Umbreon and then Lycanroc as Gladion's other Pokémon came out to lend their support too. "And thank you, Gladion. You trusted me when I did not trust myself, and Lillie forgave me when I did not forgive myself."

Arc manifested, which, even given everything that had happened in the last ten minutes, was a bit much for Professor Burnet to just accept.

"Is that your phone?" she asked.

"Correct," Arc stated, trotting over to Silvally and inspecting him closely. "Hmm. It is my opinion that you should now be healthy. Ibid, do you agree?"

"Silvally," Ibid agreed. "It is not clear if Silvally is a Type Full or not. Its RKS system is activated. This Pokémon can employ specific memories to adapt its Type and confound its foes."

"I know I am designed to do that, but I do not know how," Silvally admitted.

"I will help you with it when there is time," Arc declared. "We are cousins, presumably. I can also add you to a mailing list for human created Pokémon, after I have created one, because it is apparently more common than I had anticipated."

"So…" Snowy began. "Just to be clear, you don't have any problems touching any Pokémon any more, right?" she said.

"No!" Lillie replied.

"Excellent!" King Dragonite announced. "Snowy, I give you royal authority to call a cuddle pile!"

"...wait!" Faba said. "That's it! That's exactly what I've been missing!"

He turned to Alakazam. "Quick, teleport me to the research centre!"

Alakazam scratched his head.

"Room 22," Faba clarified. "And hurry!"

Once the cuddle pile had taken place, Silvally raised his paw.

"Lillie," he said. "Do you remember where the attack happened? And why?"

"Why," Lillie repeated. "Oh – that's right! Mother, Professor Faba has a secret lab, I know where it is! That's where it happened!"

"Then that's probably where he went," Lusamine decided. "We should get down there."

"I will take both you and your sister, Gladion," Silvally declared. "We should hurry."

They did, and after a moment's preparation it was Lokoko who sliced open the doors to Faba's secret lab with half-a-dozen Solar Blades at once.

"You're just in time to see the proof of concept!" Faba said, from behind a control console. "I worked it out! I worked out how to open an Ultra Wormhole at will!"

The room had a haphazard mess of equipment, humming with power – and more than a dozen Cosmog, all piled into a sort of glass bowl thing which was directly connected to the central mass of cables.

"Where did they all come from?" Mallow asked. "I've never seen one before the one Ash brought to school a couple of days ago."

"Of course you haven't, it's an Ultra Beast!" Faba retorted. "But that was my breakthrough – it takes Ultra Beasts to make Ultra Wormholes! And this facility has a whole supply of Ditto!"

He stabbed down on a key, and the Cosmog in the bowl all trembled a bit before turning back into Ditto.

"I'm exhausted," one of them complained.

"Ditto," the rest chorused.

The one remaining Cosmog in the room, however, pulsed once, and a shimmering gateway opened in space.

"I've got a cloudache," Cosmog complained, then evolved to Cosmoem. "Oh, that fixed it!"

"At last!" Faba said. "See? I've made an Ultra Wormhole! My methods do work!"

"Uh," Ash began, raising his hand. "So, if you're trying to stop Ultra Beasts, and that's why you made Silvally, and step one is making an Ultra Wormhole… don't Ultra Beasts come through Ultra Wormholes? Wouldn't you need to be ready to stop them?"

"Don't blame me, I tried to point out that flaw," Alakazam said.

"You did not!" Faba retorted.

"It's not my fault you don't know sign language."

Then something looking like a weird transparent ghost-type Tentacruel came through the wormhole.

"That's one of the Pokémon that attacked me!" Lillie said.

"Go-Go-Nihilego!" the Ultra Beast declared, diving at Lusamine, and vanished with her into another Ultra Wormhole.

"Mom!" Lillie gasped. "What happened – we need to get her back!"

"We do," Gladion agreed. "Silvally… I know it's a long shot, but do you have a way to track down where that strange creature took her?"

"I do not," Silvally said. "I am sorry."

"I think I might, though," Burnet announced. "I'm going to need to double check to make sure, but we've been working on how to track Ultra Aura. That's energy which is especially associated with dimensional shifts, and that was definitely an Ultra Wormhole."

Ash was frowning at the place where Lusamine and the Ultra Beast had vanished.

"Hmm," he said. "Hey, I just thought of something… Professor Burnet?"

Faba began trying to sneak off, then stopped when Aten put a paw in front of him.

"Please, keep going," Aten invited. "I'd like a chance for some personal involvement in violence today."

Faba did not keep going, and Aten sighed. "It was probably too much to hope for."

"Ultra Beasts is a word for creatures that are from other dimensions, right?" Ash asked. "Or, other universes, because a dimension is just a direction like up and down. So there's a specific dimension and moving in it is what Ultra Beasts do to get here?"

"That's a surprisingly in depth understanding of cosmology for, well, anyone," Burnet admitted.

Ash patted Cosmoem. "I wish I could say I learned it to help Cosmoem, but it's actually something I already knew," he explained. "I've had a friend who lives in the Reverse World for years-"

"Meaning, Giratina," Pikachu supplied.

"-so I asked him about how it worked, and it didn't mention this specifically but I got a pretty good idea of how a lot of it works!" Ash resumed. "Anyway, I'm pretty much certain that Cosmoem is from this world, not another world, but I'm also pretty much certain that they can make Ultra Wormholes once they're fully grown – and decide where they go, too."

"I'm not really sure I follow how that would work," Burnet said. "But it sounds like you do. How could an Ultra Beast be from this world?"

"Well, Cosmoem is about a week old, and they've been learning really fast!" Ash explained. "Which is because they're a Pokémon, I guess, Pokémon seem to do that a lot. But whatever that Ultra Beast that took Director Lusamine was, it can make Ultra Wormholes, and if they're coming here then they can still make them even if they're at home. So for one of those Ultra Beasts, at home, it's just a regular creature but it can still make Ultra Wormholes. Same thing."

"That's… actually brilliant," Burnet said. "You're right, there's no reason why there couldn't be an Ultra Wormhole generating Pokémon from our world. How did you come up with that?"

"I kind of had a bit of a head start, because before Cosmoem was a Cosmog their parents appeared to me in a dream and asked me to look after them," Ash related. "And they appeared in the same kind of space distortion that that Ultra Beast appeared in, but I've met them before and they're definitely from this world. So there you go!"

"I was in the same dream, and so was Cresselia," Pikachu said helpfully.

"Hmm," Arc said, furrowing their brow slightly. "Silvally, I believe you are trying too hard."

"Too hard?" Silvally repeated.

"The RKS System is an attempt to recreate Multitype," Arc reminded him. "I have most of my collection of Plates sorted out now, but my grandprogenitor carries all xer plates with xer and has since the moment of xer hatching, excepting when they were specifically removed. It should be instinct."

Arc considered, then pulsed for a moment.

"I believe I have the solution," they said. "Silvally, please repeat after me. Get Volume."

"Get Volume," Silvally repeated, then blinked. "Um. Now I have letters in my mind. What does it mean that it says R RKS System?"

"Eject R," Arc said.

"Eject R," Silvally repeated, and a little disk drive opened up.

"There," Arc said. "You will be able to learn how to do it more naturally with time."

Gladion nodded, rummaging through a box and taking out a black disc. "And… there. Is that working?"

The RKS System closed, then activated, and Silvally's eyes, spikes and fin all changed colour.

"I believe I am now Dark type," Silvally said. "I also have quite a vivid memory of a documentary episode about the Dark type."

"Finding that was a huge time saver," Faba admitted, then realized that by saying that he'd reminded everyone he was there.

"Cosmoem, I don't want to rush you," Ash said. "But I think you can help rescue Lillie's mom… I'd guess it'd mean you'd be evolving, but it's up to you. If you don't want to, we can ask one of them to help instead."

"I want to help," Cosmoem said firmly. "And… I was thinking about the things you said. I know it's my choice. You've made it so clear that it's my choice. And I know what I want to do."

"How does Cosmog evolve, then?" Kiawe asked. "Do you know?"

"Maybe it has something to do with those Ultra Aura signatures," Burnet guessed. "The first ones we saw were at the Altar of the Sunne."

"Then let's go there!" Cosmoem decided.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, the Hikokyu crossed invisibly over the Sinnoh coast.

"Why are we going this way, anyway?" Mimikyu asked, glancing up at the nearest camera.

"Background statement: Designate Twerp visited several locations he has been in the past as part of lessons," Porygon informed them. "Apparently reasonable inference: He will choose Sinnoh at some point."

"So you're going to guess that some time he's going to visit somewhere in this whole region, which is massive, and that that'll let you ambush him," Mimikyu said. "How did I even get roped into this mess if that's your way of doing things?"

"Obvious rebuttal: Are you claiming we were intending to acquire you?" Porygon inquired.

"You can shut up."

Chapter Text

Cosmoem pulsed, and they were on a giant altar in the middle of a canyon.

"There!" the Psychic-type said, then wobbled a bit. "That was a lot of people to teleport at once…"

Ash reached out to hold them up. "Wow, you're a lot lighter than Zoroark is when he turns into a Cosmoem."

"I'm pretending to be lighter, don't tell anyone," Cosmoem whispered.

"Hey, Ash," Pikachu said, getting his attention. "Is it me or is this exactly like that place we dreamed about?"

"Oh, yeah, it is!" Ash agreed. "Where is this place, exactly?"

"This is the Altar of the Sunne," Burnet answered. "Lusamine, Faba and I were here only a week or so ago to track some Ultra Aura signatures… maybe that was related to the dream you mentioned?"

"Oh, come on!" Tapu Fini said from atop one of the spires, drawing their attention. "You're early! Hold on a minute, I need to get the others."

She vanished.

"Early, huh?" Ash asked. "Well, I guess we should look around while we wait for Tapu Koko, Tapu Bulu and Tapu Lele to show up."

"You're-" Burnet began, then stopped. "I was going to accuse you of taking this far too calmly, but then I remembered that the creator is literally your phone and I have to admit that I would have no idea how to handle that situation. Let alone the rest of your… you."

"Well, Arceus One isn't my phone, my phone is Arc, a shiny copy of Arceus," Ash corrected. "Arceus One was actually really surprised that Mew managed that!"

He looked down at Cosmoem. "Let's have a look around! Oh, wait, if this is the Altar of the Sunne, is there an Altar of the Moone too?"

"There's stories about it, but nothing confirmed," Gladion provided.

Ash nodded. "Right… well, let's see what the Altar looks like, right, Cosmoem?"

Ten minutes later, everyone was sat around the upper level of the altar and Ash was taking some star bit sweets out of a bag.

"You liked these, right?" he asked.

"Yep!" Cosmoem agreed, and pulsed happily as Ash gave them one. "They're stellar! Is that a joke? I tried my best with it!"

"It sure was," Ash confirmed. "Well done!"

Then Tapu Fini came floating back, along with the other three Guardians.

"See?" Tapu Fini asked. "I told you they were early."

"Fine, fine already," Tapu Bulu complained. "I listened, didn't I?"

"I don't know why you thought he was predictable in the first place," Tapu Lele said, as Tapu Koko landed and sprinted ahead to inspect Ash.

Then he nodded. "Just as I thought!"

"Just as you thought?" Fini asked. "Did you have some kind of warning about this?"

"No!" Koko replied. "I just sort of guessed. Anyway, let's get on with this!"

"We probably should," Fini conceded. "Cosmoem, are you ready?"

"I'm ready," Cosmoem agreed.

"Ash, you are the one who was assigned to take care of Cosmoem," Lele announced. "Are they ready?"

"Could you, for example, now throw them through a window?" Koko asked.

Bulu gave him a look. "What kind of question is that?"

"Mostly personal curiosity," Koko replied.

"Cosmoem says they're ready, and I believe them," Ash answered. "And I'll be there to help them out!"

"Well said," Lele decided. "Place Cosmoem on the focal point of the altar."

Ash did so, and Cosmoem pulsed. The stone of the altar changed, the slight imperfections from sun and wind vanishing, and all four Guardian Deities began humming.

Their Terrain moves mixed into a single combined whole, and the ground began to glow.

"Child of the stars," the Tapus chorused. "Pass into your inheritance."

Cosmoem flared with light, then with a massive flash of silver energy turned into Lunala.

The humming stopped.

"Um," Koko said. "Was that supposed to happen?"

"I'm pretty sure this is the Altar of the Sunne," Lele frowned. "Fini? We didn't get lost, did we?"

"Hmm," Lunala said, then furled her wings. The whole of her silvery form collapsed back into her starry face plate, which reverted to Cosmoem, then Cosmoem lit up with a golden light and instead evolved into a Solgaleo.

"I was thinking!" Solgaleo said, landing with a four-pawed thump. "About what it takes to evolve Pokémon, and I decided to do science. Science means doing experiments! So I teleported the base plate of the Altar of the Moone to swap it with the one from the Altar of the Sunne."

He sat on his haunches, looking very smug. "And it turns out that just the base plate and the ritual is enough to enable me evolving into a Lunala, and just the rest and the ritual is enough to enable me evolving into a Solgaleo! So I chose both!"

"That's great!" Ash said. "Well done, that's a really useful experiment!"

"...do you think his parents planned this all along?" Fini asked Bulu quietly.

"I mean, who knows, but it is a bit of a trend apparently," Bulu replied.

After changing back and forth a few times, Lunala decided that it might make things simpler if she had a nickname just so that everyone could tell her apart from her parents.

"I know my name's different to Solgaleo and Lunala's, but it'd be easier for humans if there was a way to talk about me, right?" she asked. "And I have human friends!"

"What about Nebby?" Lillie suggested. "For Nebula… it's sort of like Snowy's name."

"Oh, that could work!" Lunala agreed. "I'll think about it and probably say yes! Now, um… how do I open an Ultra Wormhole to somewhere specific?"

"You'll need help, at first," Tapu Fini said. "Koko, I know we were going to help evolve Cosmoem into Solgaleo specifically, but did you-"

"Of course I brought both Z-crystals!" Koko replied, rummaging in his armour and bringing them out.

"Good," Fini decided. "Now… Ash, in order to allow you to-"

"Already did it," Koko interrupted. "That's how Ash and Pikachu nearly blew me up with the custom Electric crystal. Why would I not give them a Z-power ring?"

"You really don't know what restraint is, do you?" Bulu asked.

"Umm…" Koko said, seeming to actually consider it. "I've heard of it, but I don't think I can come up with an example."

"How are you not-" Lele began, then stopped. "Okay, I'm going to try to forget I ever had that idea in case you hear it."

"In order to allow you to help Lunala, or Solgaleo, to form an Ultra Wormhole," Fini tried again. "You will have to help them perform their special Z-move. For Solgaleo it is called Searing Sunraze Smash and for Lunala it is called Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom."

"Oh, I get it!" Ash said. "Steel and Ghost type… well, I know the Ghost moves already so that's the one we should start with, okay?"

"Right!" Lunala agreed. "Also, I decided, I'm Nebby now."

"Everyone, form up!" King Dragonite decreed. "Whoever's going through the wormhole should be able to fly at high speed, and anyone who isn't should either ride or return themselves."

"Can you fly, Silvally?" Gladion asked.

"Eject R," Silvally replied. "Let's find out."

Gladion realized what Silvally meant, and took out the Flying-typed Memory from the case – swapping it with the Dark one.

Then Silvally rose slightly into the air.

"Apparently the answer is yes," he said. "I would be honoured to have you with me, Gladion."

Ash and Nebby struck their poses together, then Nebby blew a hole in the universe with her Z-move.

"Wow," she said. "That was easier than I was expecting, to be honest. It's sort of like teleporting but you wedge it open in the middle."

"Let's go!" Ash called, swinging up onto Latios' back. "It's time to rescue Director Lusamine!"

Latias went swooping through first, without a passenger, and Latios tilted to the side a bit as he listened to his sister.

"Apparently it's not all that turbulent," he reported. "It's weird on the other side though."

Noivern began humming a catchy song about going through a wormhole, and one by one he, several Dragonite, Nebby and Latios all went zipping through.

The inside of the portal was glowing and pulsing with energy, starting to visibly close off behind Nebby as she flew through, and Latios twitched his wings a bit before accelerating to overtake Nebby and get out of the Ultra Wormhole in front of her.

"Thanks, Latios!" Ash told him, sliding back onto the ground, then helped Zygarde out of his bag. "I think you'll have to go through last in future, Nebby."

"Got it, Ash!" the Lunala agreed.

She looked back at where the Ultra Wormhole had been, then switched to Solgaleo and had a look around. "Wow. This place is weird."

"It's like we're at the bottom of the ocean, but there's air," Lana frowned. "Wait – there's lots of those Ultra Beasts around!"

"Burnet said they were codenamed UB-01, Symbiote," Gladion said. "But these ones aren't attacking… you might be right, Ash, we only see the aggressive ones in our world."

"It's a pity we can't talk to them," Kiawe frowned. "Wait, can we? The one that kidnapped Lusamine, when it said something I just heard gibberish."

"Yeah, their accent was really weird," Ash agreed. "I didn't get it."

Lokoko jumped out of her Pokéball. "I didn't understand it and couldn't translate," she admitted. "I feel like it's not really very polite of them, somehow, but that's unfair of me."

"I am working on the problem," Arc advised.

"Wait – look!" Lillie pointed. "There!"

One of the Symbiote Ultra Beasts floating in the middle distance had a human contained inside it, with her head and torso inside the main bubble-like body of the Ultra Beast and her legs hanging down outside.

"I think that's mother," Gladion agreed. "Her hair's changed colour, but… it's her."

"Go away!" Lusamine said. "They're mine!"

"Woof," Zygarde announced. "Attempting pawshake."

They frowned. "Hmm. I appear to have forgotten to bring sufficient Cells here into an entirely different universe. Aura Break is not available."

Then suddenly Lusamine vanished from inside the Symbiote, and tumbled out from just behind Lillie.

"Spectral Thief," Marshadow added, helpfully.

"Mother," Gladion said, crouching down to pick her up. "It – how did that work?"

"I stole her," Marshadow explained. "It's actually quite a simple process."

"Give her back!" the Symbiote demanded. "I took her, she's mine now!"

"Oh, huh, we can understand you now!" Ash said. "That's neat! Hey, would you mind explaining how to translate your language?"

The only answer he got was a hissing sound, then the Symbiote used Venoshock and spewed out a whole lake of poison.

Nebby crouched down so as many humans and Pokémon as possible could get on his back, Gladion swapped out Silvally's Flying Memory for a Steel one, and Ash grabbed Zygarde to get them both into the air on Latios again before the hissing poison arrived.

"I guess we're going to have to fight," Ash decided, double-checking that all his Dragons were airborne. "Salazzle, don't set it off but it'd be nice to have some Pecha mist!"

"On it, boss," Salazzle confirmed, sending himself out and exhaling.

"Rock and Poison type," Lusamine murmured, from Silvally's back. "I… think that's the right type. It was so hard to think, but…"

"Requesting permission to handle this," Zygarde stated.

"Sure!" Ash agreed.

The dragon-dog jumped from Latios to Latias, and cleared their throat. "Ahem. Thousand Arrows."

Once Thousand Arrows had taken place, and with the Symbiote flattened into the floor, Silvally paced over through the Venoshock to look closely.

"That is the same one that attacked before, that I protected Lillie from," he said. "I recognize them."

"And none of the other Symbiotes… we should really learn their real name… none of the other ones are coming over to help this one," Ash pointed out. "I guess that means it's only really this one who's trouble… and they know that we can come and sort things out if there's trouble again! So we should head back home, now. Does anyone know the Steel-type Z-move poses?"

"Sorry, but is nobody else going to comment on this?" Lusamine's Salazzle said, pointing at Ash's. "He's a Salazzle! That is not a sentence I expected to ever say!"

Ash's Salazzle shrugged. "Eh, it is what it is."

Burnet looked up as an Ultra Wormhole opened, then started counting under her breath as a procession of dragons came through. Then Silvally, with her boss on his back along with her children – then Nebby, who came through last and closed the Ultra Wormhole behind him.

"That was impressively quick," she said. "You were only gone about fifteen minutes."

"I insisted we stay long enough for Ash's phone to take some readings," Lusamine said, then practically fell off Silvally as the Synthetic Pokémon touched down.

"Sorry," she added. "It's… been a day."

"So, what happens now?" Burnet added. "We definitely know where Ultra Wormholes come from, or some of them at least, and we know that Nebby can create Ultra Wormholes… what does that do to our direction of study?"

"I'll have to think about it," Lusamine said. "After I've had time to think, anyway."

She rested her hand on Silvally's neck. "And I think we really need to have that talk with Doctor Faba about what he's been doing without my approval…"

Arc went bing.

"I am finished," they said. "I considered several possibilities for how to fulfil the objective of: talk to Ultra Beasts, and I have decided on the ideal approach. Please check the home screen."

Ash did so.

"Oh, huh, a new app," he said, tapping it. "There's something about a learning curve?"

"Correct," Arc agreed. "This new language app will work to add translation based on known information. There is also a digital Hoothoot which provides helpful facts."

"A Hoothoot?" Ash's Rowlet asked, peeking out of Ash's bag. "Why not a Rowlet?"

"I decided it would avoid confusion," Arc explained.

"Oh, fair enough," Rowlet decided. "It might be confusing to have two Rowlets. Hi Solgaleo! Where did Cosmog go?"

"That's actually me," Solgaleo provided. "I evolved. Twice."

"Congratulations!" Rowlet said, perching in Solgaleo's mane, and evolved to Dartrix.

"Does that work on all Rowlet, or just yours?" Sophocles wondered. "They do charge up in sunlight…"

Ash was still looking at Arc's screen. "Oh, huh, so the Symbiotes are actually called Nihilego! That is a helpful fact, great work Arc!"

Chapter Text

The next morning, Ash woke up with Nebby sprawled at the foot of his bed, and chuckled.

"Morning," he said. "And good morning, Pikachu!"

"Morning, Ash," Pikachu replied, stretching. "Phew. That was a busy day, yesterday."

"And it will be a busy day today!" Rotom agreed.

"It will?" Nebby said, a bit groggily, then shook his mane out. "It will? What's going to be happening?"

"There is the wedding of: Professor Kukui and Professor Burnet this afternoon!" Rotom told them. "Did you forget?"

"I don't think we got told in the first place," Ash admitted. "Congratulations to them, then! I'll get my Pokémon to help out, they've got experience with helping with weddings!"

"I don't, but I'll help out too!" Nebby agreed, and turned to the door.

Looked down at himself.

Looked up at the door.

"Ash?" he asked. "Is it still okay if I ask you questions and things?"

"Of course it is!" Ash agreed. "What do you want to know?"

"Would it be better to go through the door by teleporting, by making Ultra Wormholes, or by just turning back into Cosmoem to fit through?" he asked.

"I think Ultra Wormholes might be overdoing it a bit," Ash advised. "But either of the other two would work fine!"

"Got it!" Nebby said, then reverted to Cosmoem and floated out through the door.

"I feel like Nebby probably could have worked that one out themselves," Pikachu mused. "But guessing wrong might have been bad for the structural integrity of the building, so… you know, no complaints or anything."

"This brings back memories," Lokoko said, watching as the wedding preparations took place – with an extra injection of enthusiasm from several members of Ash's team, who now Had Experience with that sort of thing.

Fortunately, they also Had Experience with not breaking something someone else had already set up, so it seemed to be going all right.

"So, what do you think?" she added, glancing at her wife. "Anything you need to get involved with?"

"Mostly no," Absol replied. "Ah, hold on a moment."

She cleared her throat. "Don't plug anything else into that socket, it'll damage the fuse."

"Huh, really?" Sophocles asked, then counted again. "Three, four… yeah, there are too many things plugged in. Thanks!"

"My pleasure," Absol said. "It's one of the nice things about being an Absol charged with managing safety… you get all the credit, and you don't need to do most of the inspections."

"It's wonderful to watch," Lokoko smiled.

"So, what's it like, having evolved?" Litten asked.

"Well, I can shoot out more leaves at once than before," Dartrix replied. "Downside, I'm bigger, so I don't fit in Ash's bag quite as well."

"Or at all," Litten countered, then reconsidered. "Actually, that is quite a big bag, and you do seem to compress well. Have you tested it recently?"

Dartrix nodded. "It was fun! My blade quills spring back into shape nicely, so-"

"Wait, they're called blade quills?" Litten interrupted. "That's a neat name. Do you have any other things with names that cool?"

Dartrix considered, raising a wing to his beak.

"...nope, don't think so," he decided.

"Well, blade quills are still neat," Litten summarized. "Actually, we should see if my being on fire means I can just ignore grass type moves… later, though, it might annoy the people here for the wedding."

"Ash, do you have a moment?" Lusamine said.

"Oh, sure," Ash replied. "I don't really know how to help out with getting things ready at this point, so I'm mostly waiting for the wedding itself. It was a lot easier when I knew both Pokémon involved, rather than knowing Kukui much better than Burnet."

"Fortunately, I do know them both," Lusamine replied. "Albeit, I know Burnet better than Kukui."

She sat down next to Ash.

"I've said thank you already, Ash, but I want to say it again," she said.

"It's what I'd do for anyone in trouble like that!" Ash replied firmly.

Lusamine nodded. "You know, I believe that," she said. "But, at the same time, I want to say thank you anyway. To you, and all your Pokémon, and to Nebby. And that's for helping my children, as well as for rescuing me personally."

"Thanks!" Nebby said, currently in his Solgaleo form again because there wasn't really anywhere sturdy enough to dangle from as a Lunala.

"There's something else I wanted to discuss, though," Lusamine went on. "I wanted to make sure I wasn't springing it on you as a surprise. You see… while we now know that a lot of the incidents we detected over the last few weeks were Nebby, and that the Nihilego attack was partly Faba's fault… the fact remains that there are Ultra Beasts that might come to our world, and that we might not be ready for them."

"That's definitely a good point," Pikachu said. "If Nihilego had come after just about anyone else, anywhere else, we wouldn't have known about it."

"So, how do we get ready for them?" Ash asked. "Is that something Nebby can do?"

"Sort of, though I don't think they're necessarily required," Lusamine said. "It depends if they want to get involved."

"Oh, I should mention," Ash realized. "Solgaleo is male and Lunala is female, while Cosmog and Cosmoem aren't either. So you can say he if Nebby's Solgaleo, and she if Nebby's Lunala. We talked about it last night."

"Thank you," the director said.

She looked across to where Gladion was, with all his Pokémon out – Silvally, Lycanroc and Umbreon – then back at Ash. "What I was planning on doing was forming a team of Pokémon trainers to respond when Ultra Beasts show up. Because that way the trainers know what they're getting into, they're already aware that Ultra Beasts might be hostile or just confused, they're in touch with us at the Aether Foundation to sort out the problem, and it would be very, very cool."

"Coolness is an important consideration, so long as it does not become coldness," Zygarde opined. "We do not want there to be too much Ice."

"Would you like to be part of that team, Ash?" Lusamine said. "I'm not announcing it until after the wedding, but I wanted to check with you first."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "I'd love to help!"

"So would I!" Nebby declared.

"And me!" Mew said, zipping out of Ash's bag with a few blade quills dangling off his tail, then frowned and turned into an Alolan Meowth. "Whoops, forgot my disguise."

"You're still floating," Pikachu said.

"So?" Mew replied. "Alolan Meowth, of which I am totally one, can have Pickup. I'm just picking up myself. That's my story."

"Was that a Mew?" Lusamine asked.

"I thought so, too, but he says he's an Alolan Meowth," Ash said. "So… who knows?"

Nebby began giggling.

"But seriously, I want to check these ultra beast things out and see what I can learn," Mew added. "Should be fun!"

"So, did you think this was going to happen?" Burnet asked.

"When you say this," her new husband began. "Do you mean specifically or in general? Because I definitely thought something like this was going to happen in general once the Move Kahuna got to Alola."

He smiled. "Or, if you mean what happened between us… no, I had no idea. It's all been an adventure."

"I'll take that," Burnet replied. "But, actually I meant what happened yesterday. And what's still going on today."

She waved vaguely over at the other side of the wedding reception, where Ash and an Alolan Meowth were talking Nebby earnestly through how she could use Steel Wing. "I mean, really. How do you even cope with something like that?"

"I think you mostly have to learn not to mind about most of it," Kukui judged. "That's a guess but it's my story and I'm sticking to it."

He hummed. "Do you think it's okay to discuss work here? Or would you Block me from doing it?"

"I'll allow it," Burnet decided.

"What are you going to be doing about Ultra Beasts?" Kukui asked. "Is there anything?"

"Well, Lusamine already talked to me about something she has planned," his wife replied. "To be honest, she's so enthusiastic that I think it's good for her. I know she wasn't gone for long, but it must have been a nasty experience."

She sighed, then smiled. "But, well… I heard she wanted to ask Ash if some of his Pokémon wanted to evolve here, in Alola. She's got something planned for them… I've never seen her so enthusiastic."

About half an hour later, as Dragonite and Dragonite were clearing away the tables and chairs while Noivern hummed a song about clearing things up, Lusamine steepled her fingers and looked at the group in front of her.

"I spoke to each of you about the idea of the Ultra Guardians," she said. "I know you've only had a little while to think about it, but how did it sound?"

"It sounds like it'd be fun," Lana announced. "I'd need to check with my parents, just to make sure, but… it's helping out people and Pokémon in need. Or Ultra Beasts in need, if they're just lost. And that's important anyway, so it's the right thing to do."

"Right," Mallow agreed. "I need to check with my dad, myself, but I don't think he'll disagree about how important it is."

"How would it work?" was Kiawe's question. "Would we have to be there all the time?"

"Not at all," Lusamine said. "We'd want you to come to the base I'm setting up for coordination, but that's only when there's an alert."

"Do we get cool uniforms?" Sophocles asked.

"Why would I go to all this effort without doing cool uniforms?" the Director asked. "Of course there are cool uniforms. I'm trying to get some ride Pokémon lined up as well… actually, Ash, I wanted to ask."

"Oh, sure!" Ash agreed. "What is it?"

"How many Pokémon do you have who are, one, birds," Lusamine began. "And, two, can use the move Thunder in some way?"

Ash counted off on his fingers. "Zapdos is one… Noctowl knows it, so that's two… Swellow can turn moves into electric moves, does that count?"

"That's three," Lusamine replied.

"And I think Zekrom is an honorary bird," Ash concluded. "So that's four… oh! And Silver can use Thunderpunch."

"That sounds excellent," Lusamine decided. "If you could bring all five thunder birds to the base, that would be great."

"I'd like to join in," Lillie said. "What about you, Gladion?"

Gladion nodded.

"I'm sure Silvally wants to," he said.

"This is going to be so much fun," Lusamine declared.

"Wait, before I forget!" Nebby realized. "Ash, do you have a spare Pokéball? And is it something meaningful?"

"We are working on a Pokéball for Ultra Beasts," Lusamine contributed. "It's going to be keyed specifically to Ultra Aura. But that's not something available right now."

"Well, uh…" Ash frowned. "There's a Moon Ball and a Dusk Ball, both of those are to do with the night, but that might not really fit… maybe there's a Cherish Ball?"

"Ooh, hold on!" Mewowth said, and swiped at the air with her claws before jumping in and teleporting away.

"Was that an Ultra Space Meowth or something?" Sophocles asked.

Mewowth reappeared a moment later. "Got it!" he said. "I got one of these ready just in case – here, it's a Dream Ball!"

"I love that choice," Nebby said, unfurling her wings. "Let's do this!"

About half a minute later, Professor Oak looked up as a Legendary Pokémon materialized.

"Ah, good morning," he said. "Ash, I assume?"

"Luuu," Nebby confirmed with a nod. "Lalala!"

"Sorry, I can't understand you at the moment," Oak apologized. "If you're new to meeting Ash, I can give you the orientation?"

Nebby shook her head, then teleported back to Alola.

"Well, at least I don't need to get the slides out," Oak said cheerfully. "Now, the Exeggcute should be finished with their questionnaires…"

Chapter Text

"Good morning, everyone!" Ash said. "So, I had to think a lot about when to put this lesson, but I think now is a good time. Do you remember when we visited Kanto last week?"

"That was only a week ago, yeah," Lana realized. "Wow."

"And you remember my friend Misty?" Ash went on. "That's because of a magic potion, which is meant to allow humans to understand Pokémon better – and it does, by letting them understand what it's like to be a Pokémon. It really helps out a lot!"

"Is that how you can understand what Pokémon say?" Kiawe asked.

Ash shook his head. "No, I learned that before I started my journey, I didn't encounter the witch who showed me this potion until I was on my third region. But it's still helpful – so for example I have a much better understanding of how you move on all fours now. It's not like walking on two legs, where there's just walking and running really – instead you've got different patterns of how you move your legs-"

"Ash," Pikachu said.

"Oh, right," Ash realized. "Thanks, Pikachu! So I don't know the exact details of how the potion works, my friend Serena does because she can make it and she learned a lot about it, but it sort of… turns you into what you'd be as a Pokémon, I think? And then you turn back when the potion runs out again."

Sophocles put his hand up. "When you say magic, do you really mean, literally, magic?"

"Well, it could be science," Ash conceded. "Or it could be psychic somehow. But the person who makes it calls it magic, and Serena learned a lot of what she called magic, so it probably is magic!"

He rummaged around in his pocket, and brought out a thermos. "I made sure I had enough, so everyone can give it a go if they want. You don't have to, though!"

"What Pokémon would I end up as?" Lillie said.

"I bet it'd be a great one!" Snowy yipped.

"It's actually quite hard to tell in advance," Ash replied. "There's a lot of Pokémon! And usually you end up with something that fits you really well, but it's not always something you could work out in advance. Sometimes it's not even something that makes sense until you find something out later, like how my friend Dawn was a Plusle and that only properly made sense when we found out that there's someone else who looks just like her and who's a Minun. Right?"

"I think so," Lillie agreed. "So there's no real way to be sure unless we try it?"

"Uh," Sophocles said. "I wondered about that, but is that why you and Pikachu looked at me and tried to work something out? Before you went and found Charjabug?"

"Yeah, if you'd been your Charjabug that would have been neat, but it didn't seem likely to me," Pikachu shrugged. "I'm not apologizing if it turns out you would work as a Charjabug, though – if Ash had turned out to be a Pikachu then that wouldn't mean I'd have to leave, or anything."

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "So, who wants to try some?"

"I have no idea how to record this information!" Rotom said.

"I do," Mallow replied. "I'd like to see what happens."

"Great!" Ash said.

Rotom thought for a moment, then made a split screen appear where one side showed the pupils, and the other side a set of question marks.

"I will record this under observational data," the Ghost-type asserted.

"Huh," Mallow said, a minute later. "Chikorita. That's weird… I don't know what I expected, though, so…"

She shrugged.

"It feels so strange to see a Pokémon talking in a human voice, especially a familiar one," Steenee admitted. "Why isn't she speaking in Chikorita?"

"That's getting a bit into the lessons we'll be doing later, but it's because language is something you learn," Ash said. "Mallow's getting used to a differently shaped mouth, so her accent is a bit different, but apart from that she's just speaking in the same language she already knows. She doesn't forget all that just because she's changed body, like how she doesn't learn a Pokémon language instantly… that's why Lokoko's here today."

"I should try some, see what I get," Kiawe decided, then.

"Yeah, I want to see what I end up as," Lana agreed.

"What kind of Pokémon have people ended up as?" Kukui asked. "Is there any rule to it?"

"Not so you'd notice," Ash replied. "There's been, Absol, Nosepass, Vaporeon, Snom, Plusle, Minun, Zoroark, Kecleon, Keldeo, Buneary…"

"Isn't Keldeo a Legendary Pokémon?" Lana said. "Wow, there really isn't a pattern."

Before long, everyone in Ash's class had taken the potion – including Ash, though he'd done it before turning up – and there was only Professor Kukui left.

"Hmm," he said. "So, what do you think each of these tells you about yourself?"

Lana examined her feathers. "Well, Quaxly is a Water type, and apart from that I don't really know," she admitted. "It feels funny to have wings, especially because I can pick things up with them now… am I one of those water types that can breathe underwater, or not?"

"Probably best not to test it," Ashbsol said. "But, hmm…"

He checked Ibid. "Maybe it's because you get on well with Popplio, and she likes performing? Quaxly's evolutions like performing as well, so that could be it."

"It could," Lana said, considering.

"And I think you called this one, right?" Togedemaru asked, pointing at her trainer. "Boltund, I mean."

"Being on all fours is weird," Sophocles said.

"Growlithe for Kiawe… I have to admit, I don't get that one," Mallow frowned, scratching her head with a vine. "At least not in detail. But there's all kinds of things to say about why Lillie is a Togetic."

Then she noticed she was scratching her head with a vine, fell off the table, and Steenee caught her.

"That's actually a good chance for me to talk about something," Ash said. "See, sometimes someone turns into a Pokémon that can evolve, or has evolved, and what Lily says – that's the witch – is that based on asking around she thinks that the Pokémon that humans magically turn into depends on who they are, and so evolving is the same thing as changing something about themselves. My friend Iris is a Zoroark, not a Zorua, and it might be because her realization was about connecting properly with her Excadrill and it had already happened before she took the potion. But it's hard to be sure!"

"So, uh… how long does the potion last?" Kiawe asked. "We could have trouble taking notes like this."

"Oh, it usually lasts a few days," Ash answered. "There is a version that goes the other way, though, that reverses it."

"Phew," Kiawe sighed. "I was worried…"

Then Kukui turned into a Hawlucha.

"That's a weird one," Lillie said. "I would have expected you to turn into an Oranguru or something, Professor."

"Uh, yeah, no idea why this one happened," Kukui agreed.

The next morning, when she got back to school, Mallow sat down next to Lana.

"That was such a weird night, last night," she said. "Even though I'd only been a Chikorita for a few hours, I kept reaching for things with the vines I didn't have any more."

"I didn't have that, at least," Lana replied. "Though I did get a bit wobbly at one point… but we were mostly worried about Harper and Sarah, they got lost… fortunately they were saved by a Pokémon, but they couldn't tell us anything about it."

"Really?" Mallow asked. "Nothing?"

"Well, not quite nothing," Lana amended. "Apparently it was 'big', and 'nice', and gave them some berries."

"Berries…" Mallow repeated, frowning. "Something about that is familiar, but I can't quite remember it."

"Now you say it, I know what you mean," Lana realized. "But how can we work out what we're missing?"

"Sure, we can help!" Ash agreed. "So, what kind of berry was it?"

He sent out Salazzle.

"Afternoon, boss," the Poison-type said, with a nod. "Something up?"

"I wanted to see if there was anything special about the berries Lana's sisters got given," Ash explained. "What were they like?"

"Rounded, and red," Lana answered. "With a stalk. And there was a sort of spiky bit at the bottom, the other side from the stalk… apparently they were mostly bitter and a bit sweet?"

"Hmm," Salazzle said, rubbing his chin. "Try this?"

He waved his tail.

"That's Haban Berry," he explained.

Mallow gasped. "That's – I remember that smell! Remember Grandpa Forest, Lana?"

"Oh, yeah!" Lana said. "Wow, it's been years, but you're right – it must be! That must be who my sisters met!"

"Who's Grandpa Forest?" Ash asked. "Is that an older version of the junior Pewter Gym Leader?"

"What?" Mallow asked. "Who would… why would you think that?"

"Because it could happen!" Ash replied. "My friend May once travelled back in time and had to make it snow so she could make it so that things had happened the way that to everyone else they'd always happened, if I remember that right, it was a while ago, but May obviously came from the world before everything had changed so she remembered differently."

"Am I done?" Salazzle checked. "Because if I am I'm going to go and make myself some pancakes."

"I think that should be fine, yeah," Ash agreed.

"Grandpa Forest is a Pokémon," Lana said. "And I don't think it was an older Pokémon version of Forrest from the Pewter Gym, but I don't remember what it looked like so… I can't actually rule it out."

Mallow gasped. "Wait, wait! If you can bring Lokoko, Ash, we can go and say thank you to Grandpa Forest for saving us, and for saving Lana's sisters too!"

"That sounds like it'd be really polite!" Ash agreed.

Nebby flew over from the nearby trees.

"I was having an afternoon nap," she said. "But I heard what Salazzle was saying, and then I heard what Mallow was saying, and I'd like to come along!"

She landed with a crunch on the sand of the beach. "That's okay, right?"

"Well, you are only a couple of weeks old," Ash agreed. "So it's important to get adventures in!"

"...I just imagined what it would be like if I met Pichu and Pichu while you were around, Nebby," Pikachu said. "I'm not sure if I want to panic or not."

Looking for Grandpa Forest wasn't something that Lana and Mallow had never done before. They'd tried looking many times in the past, partly because they were curious and partly to say thank-you, but no matter how hard they tried they'd never come across the whatever-Pokémon-it-was again.

"Maybe what we need to do is to get lost," Lana wondered. "That way Grandpa Forest might turn up and help us out?"

"If you want to do that, you're with the right trainer," Lokoko chuckled. "But, hmm… it might work."

"I've got an idea," Nebby said. "I'm a Ghost-type right now, right?"

She landed, and furled her wings. "That means I should only hit other objects when I want to! So I can fly through and search the whole forest without actually hitting any trees!"

"That could work!" Ash agreed. "It might still be hard to see this Pokémon, though, especially as you're not sure what it looks like… but maybe that's what we can do when we get closer. For now, Lycanroc and Litten can help! So can you, Zygarde, if you want to."

"Ah, I see," Zygarde realized, as both the other Pokémon Ash had named came out of their Pokéballs. "Finding a source of Haban Berries as a useful starting point."

They nodded. "That is a good plan. It makes scents."

"Ow," Mallow said, wincing. "Did you have to do that?"

"Do what?" Zygarde asked innocently. "Woof."

"You know what she means," Litten snorted. "Okay, Haban Berry… I guess that's whatever Salazzle waved around you before… right, let's go looking, Lycanroc."

"Yeah!" Lycanroc agreed. "Hmm, I wonder if I could get Salazzle to touch up my scent a little… there's probably something that compliments it."

Shaking that thought off, they began sniffing for a fresher source of Haban Berries.

"And… just through here," Nebby finished, swooping overhead through the trees and guiding them around a turn.

The trainers followed, then both girls stopped in their tracks.

"That's them!" Lana gasped. "Grandpa Forest!"

"That's a Drampa," Ash recognized. "I think the last time I saw one is when that's what Iris's Zekromreshiramandkyurem came out of their Pokéball as."

"Iris's what?" Steenee asked, as Mallow hurried forwards to say hello. "I've never heard of that Pokémon."

"Yeah, that's because they're actually three Pokémon but when they come out of their Pokéball it's as one Pokémon," Ash clarified.

"Important information has been obtained," Zygarde stated. "Drampa is hugging Lana and Mallow. This therefore means that as a Dux I have a report to deliver."

They sat down.

"What kind of report?" Nebby asked, dropping to the floor and switching to Solgaleo. "Is it something important?"

"I think Zygarde's mostly focusing somewhere else," Ash told him.

"Oh, right, of course," Nebby realized.

Then a Hyperspace Hole appeared, and King Dragonite came through.

"Hello!" he said, waving. "I wish to grant you a royal medal for services to helping small children get home. Is chocolate acceptable?"

"I've heard of chocolate," Drampa replied. "Do you think I'd like it?"

"I'm going to assume probably yes," King Dragonite decided, then patted Drampa on the head and gave him a hug. "It's wonderful to meet you! I am a big fan of hugging dragons in all their shapes!"

Chapter Text

"I just want to check, Ash, are you sure this is the best way to do it?" Kukui asked. "It'll definitely work, I just want to make sure."

"Yeah, I think it's fine," Ash decided. "Right, Nebby?"

"Right!" Nebby agreed, nodding firmly. "I need practice at making Ultra Wormholes!"

"In that case, let's get moving with Agility!" Kukui said.

He turned to the class. "All right, everyone! We're going to Mount Lanakila today, and Nebby's agreed to give us a lift! Mount Lanakila is the tallest mountain in Alola, and it's on Ula'Ula island. It's also where the egg that hatched into Snowy was found, so for at least one of our little group it's going to be like going home."

"That sounds nice," Snowy said.

"And, while we're there, we'll be learning about several things," Kukui told them. "Firstly, there's how to stay warm in cold environments – and don't worry if it takes a while, we've got things set up for that. Then there's the difficult things about moving and battling in the cold, but once that's done we'll be doing something else entirely."

He twirled his finger in the air. "We'll be doing a Sled Jump tournament!"

"I've heard of that, but I've never actually done one before," Kiawe admitted. "Huh, I wonder which of my Pokémon would be better at helping with that…"

While he wondered, Ash was checking Zygarde's cold weather gear, then stood up and turned to Nebby.

"You've got Sunsteel Strike ready, right?" he checked, getting a nod, and slotted the Solganium Z into his Z-ring. "Let's go!"

He struck the Z-move poses for the Steel-type, and Nebby blew a hole in the universe.

"Hmm," he said, peering through and sniffing. "Yes, I think that's going to the right place."

Mallow put her hand up. "I know it's obvious, but I want to point out that in our old classes we didn't make wormholes for school trips. It meant we had to actually go there."

"What a massive waste of time," Nebby said, flicking his tail. "If you're going somewhere for the journey, that's all right, but if you're going somewhere for the destination it's all kinds of boring at once!"

"Hey, it's not all kinds of boring," Ash pointed out. "Just some!"

"Oh, yeah," Nebby agreed, then lay down. "All aboard!"

"Okay, so, it's cold!" Ash told them, as the class leaned back against the massive white flank of their friendly neighbourhood Solgaleo for warmth. "And that's something you need to think about, first for yourself and second for your Pokémon. For you, it's because it's easy to lose track of how much energy you're using in the cold, especially if you're not wrapped up warm… but what you really don't want to do is work hard and then stop, because that means you sweat and then all that water gets really cold."

He patted down the cold weather clothes he was wearing. "My friend Dawn's mom got me these back when I visited Sinnoh, which was really nice of her, but it's always worth thinking about. And it's usually best to make sure you've got at least one Pokémon with you that doesn't mind the cold much for one reason or another – that way, if you get in trouble, your Pokémon can help you out."

"And there's lots of reasons why a Pokémon might not mind the cold," Lokoko said.

"Exactly," Ash agreed. "There's lots of reasons, but you can't just assume any Pokémon won't have trouble with the cold. Ice-types are almost always great at coping with it, while Fire-types are usually warm enough to handle themselves unless it's really, really cold or they're quite small, but even with them you need to think about it. Pay attention to the Pokémon you have with you and make sure you know if they're struggling… and that goes double for Pokémon like Grass or Dragon types, because they're weak to ice. A lot of Pokémon of any type are able to cope in most weather better than you are, if they're in good shape, but never take it for granted."

Ash sent out Croconaw, who did a bow. "Now, if you're going to battle somewhere it's cold, there's a few things to watch out for. First, your Pokémon can end up tiring out faster than normal… secondly, there's usually snow, and if you can't tell what's underneath the snow that could cause problems. You don't want your Pokémon to run into a rock hidden under the snow by mistake."

Lana winced. "Yeah. Ouch?"

"And one of the things it's especially important to look out for is ice," Ash said, as Croconaw began dancing around away from Pikachu's zaps. "Croconaw here is paying a lot of attention to what Pikachu's doing, but he's deliberately not paying attention to the ground, so-"

Croconaw's foot came down on a patch of ice, and he slipped. Being Croconaw, he twisted in mid-air to turn it into a Triple Axel, and came down on one knee with both arms spread.

"Tada!" he announced.

"Right," Ash agreed. "Slipping on ice is something you can recover from, or cope with, but you need to know it might happen. Because Pikachu's in mid-air he doesn't have to worry about it, but if it was colder he might need to worry about the water in his Surf-board freezing during the battle."

He nodded at Kiawe. "It's especially something Fire-types need to watch out for in really cold weather, because they can melt something and it can freeze over during the battle itself. At the same time, watch out, because melting ice can make something get less stable, and you really don't want to be inside an avalanche…"

Once the talk about the cold and snow was over, and everyone was dressed up in their warm weather gear, the Sled Jump training and competition could get started.

"I hope we're going to see some great Sled Jumps today," the Sled Jump Master said. "There's a prize for the first place!"

"How do you enter this competition?" asked a voice from next to him. "Hoopa wishes to know if you are discriminating against Hoopa! Or Pokémon."

"It's a Pokémon Sled Jump Competition," the Master replied, looking to his left. "Why? Do you want to take part?"

"Hoopa wants to take part!" Hoopa agreed. "Hoopa wants to take part in a very specific way. Vicariously!"

Hoopa took a ring off their horn. "Allez Hoopa-ring!"

Gold poked their head through another Hoopa-Ring. "You did remember to ask if they were interested first, right?"

"Hoopa did something like that," Hoopa answered. "Hoopa assumes."

"Well, they'll have to go in the queue like everyone else," the Master decided. "Let's see who's first."

"Let's go, Pikachu!" Ash said, pushing off. "Remember, we need a big boost to get a good jump!"

"Got it!" Pikachu replied, cheeks sparking. "Hey, why don't we make it even bigger!"

"Sure!" Ash agreed, getting out his Z-ring. "Ready?"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked, while behind Ash Marshadow quietly dove out of the sled.

"Oh, and that's definitely an impressive performance!" the Master said. "That's the best jump time I've seen in forty years!"

He shaded his eyes. "It's a shame it went backwards."

"Hoopa is already amused and that is a bit that Hoopa did not even help with!" Hoopa announced, opening another Hoopa-ring to get some popcorn. "Oh, and it looks like Regigigas and Regice are next!"

Five minutes later, everyone sort of mutually decided to just skip Regigigas for now.

Lillie went next, and Snowy used a combination of Hail and her new Aurora Veil to create a rainbow-coloured swirl around the two of them. That was followed by a Powder Snow, managing to help them land just right, and they slid to a halt in a cloud of snowy mist.

"That was great!" Lillie told Snowy, rubbing a glove along her back. "It reminded me a bit of that project with the Contest performance we did before."

Snowy yipped, then they listened to the Sled Jump Master, who said that it was an excellent use of a technique he'd seen people using for fifty years.

"Oh," Lillie sighed. "Well, I hope we do well anyway."

"Piix!" Snowy said, with a firm nod.

"Oh, hi Ash!" Iris waved, behind Regigigas. "I didn't realize you were here. Are you next?"

"We already did our run," Pikachu replied, shaking his head. "Oh well."

"Yeah, it's just something to work on," Ash said. "I'm not in the queue, so you should go ahead."

"Huh," Iris frowned. "Shouldn't you be down there, though?"

"No, turns out our boosted Z move is a bit harder to aim than we were expecting," Ash replied. "My jump didn't go great."

"It happens," Iris said. "It took me two tries to beat the Striaton Gym because I forgot to be ready specifically for Cilan, you know how it is… the Vertress Conference is coming up soon and I'm only one badge short!"

She sent out Zekrom, then recalled him, then sent out a Dragapult.

"All three of us this time," one of the Dreepy said, and Iris recalled them before trying again.

This time she got White Kyurem, gave a thumbs-up, and jumped into the back of the sled.

"Let's go!" she said. "Ice Burn on my mark!"

"I haven't seen such a good combination attack of two different elements in sixty years!" the Sled Jump Master enthused. "And who's this coming next?"

"Oh, Hoopa arranged this one!" Hoopa said. "Just like Hoopa arranged the last one. Hoopa got Calyrex involved, and so Calyrex went to get the perfect Pokémon to partner with for an ice competition!"

"That is not Glastrier, though," Gold objected. "That is Spectrier."

"Yes, Hoopa has been unreliably informed Glastrier was busy," Hoopa replied. "And here they go!"

Calyrex swept their arm across as the sled, with Spectrier on top, with Calyrex on top, slid down the slope. There was a sort of grim neigh, and then a hundred tiny ghosts appeared and carried Calyrex, Spectrier and the sled upwards on an entirely different trajectory to the way they would have gone without the move.

And out of the stadium.

And off into the distance.

"I don't think I've seen anything quite like that happen in ten minutes," the Master judged. "Not since that kid with the Pikachu did his run."

"I don't think that worked," Kiawe decided. "It was a great idea, but… yeah, the execution kind of suffered."

Turtonator shuffled on his feet, which was in danger of turning into a stagger followed by a faceplant, because he'd been spinning upside down on his shell again.

"Not your fault," Kiawe assured him, then they watched as Gladion took his turn.

"Whoa," Sophocles gasped, as a beam of ice flashed out from Silvally – then solidified into an icy rail that the sled went grinding along. "What was that?"

"That's Multi Attack," Lillie explained. "It's Silvally's special attack, it depends what Memory he has installed. I think Ash's phone once said it was like a… judgemet? I think that's the way they said it."

The Sled Master told everyone that that was the kind of thing he'd last seen ninety years ago, and Nebby looked confused.

"I don't even recognize the guy who's up next," Lana frowned. "Any of you?"

Mallow shook her head, but Nebby took off with a sweep of her wings and teleported.

She was back with Ash a few seconds later, and he waved. "Hi, everyone! How do you think it's going?"

"It's an experience," Kiawe decided. "Fun, kind of. Who's that guy up there?"

"Oh, that's Nolan," Ash answered. "And, yeah, he's using his Articuno…"

"Well, this was a spectacular performance!" the Pokémon Sled Jump Master said, once everyone had had their go. "I've not seen such a great combination of moves in a hundred and forty years!"

"A hundred and forty years? Hoopa wants to know where you get your skin cream," Hoopa said, distracted.

"I judge that the winner is Kahuna Hala!" the Master went on. "And he wins this ninety-nine-year-old sled!"

Then Regigigas sped past on Regice and did an absolutely flawless 5,040 degree spin ending in a three-point landing.

"Was there a move there?" Kukui asked.

"I think one of them used Gravity," Ash replied. "It's just a guess but I think that's how they hung in the air for twenty seconds!"

Chapter Text

"...really useful about it," Ash was saying, "is that Noctowl's illusions don't get broken if he's hit. That's different from a Zorua and Zoroark, for example, and it means that Noctowl can fake being another Pokémon for an entire battle if he's careful. He could even fake being two different ones if he goes back in his Pokéball for a break in the middle, but that's tricky because people might end up thinking you used more than the normal number of six Pokémon. Or however many it is in that battle."

Sophocles' hand went up.

"Are battles with less than six Pokémon normal, if you have six?" he asked.

"It depends, but they're common," Ash replied. "So in a gym battle sometimes they'll keep it to fewer Pokémon on both sides to make it a better test, and so that the gym leader's team doesn't get wiped out too fast if a few strong challengers come through. In Pokémon Leagues they save time by not having every single battle be six Pokémon a side, and it's just the final rounds that are like that – that sometimes makes the League less than half as long as it would be otherwise. And when people meet in the wild they don't usually battle down to the last Pokémon because otherwise one of them might have to rush straight back to the Pokémon Centre… or just not be able to do the next battle they get a chance for! So it varies."

There was a beeping sound, and Ash looked towards the side wall. "Huh?"

Half-a-dozen pictures had been hung up there, one for each student in the class and another for Ash, and the eyes were all flashing.

"Oh, no," Lillie sighed. "Mother went there."

"Ah!" Kukui realized. "This is the alert that the Ultra Guardians are needed! Everyone go and stand by their picture, and any Pokémon you have should go over… there, I think."

He pointed to a corner of the classroom.

Noctowl returned himself, and after a minute of shuffling around everyone was in their spots.

"Right," Kukui went on, checking a sheet of paper attached to the desk, then pressed a button. The sections of floor underneath the pictures all descended with a whirr, and music started playing.

"Really?" Lillie said, sounding like she was trying to decide whether to sigh or giggle.

Five minutes later, all six of the Ultra Guardians – and their Pokémon – were in snazzy new uniforms and deposited in an underground base.

"Wow!" Kiawe said. "This is amazing! Your mom did all this, Lillie?"

"Apparently she did," Lillie agreed.

"I know we're members of the Ultra Guardians now, but what are we supposed to do?" Lana asked, then a screen came on. "Oh!"

"Welcome to the Ultra Base, Ultra Guardians," Lusamine said from the screen. "And thank you all for agreeing to join the special team intended to find and solve Ultra Beast problems. It's helpful if you think of yourselves as an Ultra Beast Rescue Team as much as anything else."

"A rescue team," Ash repeated. "Right, I get it."

"Aren't you going to say international?" Lillie checked.

"Well, if any Ultra Beasts appear outside Alola, of course you'd have to be an International Rescue Team," Lusamine said firmly. "So I won't rule it out."

"You're enjoying this a lot, aren't you?"

"Immensely," Lusamine confirmed. "Ash, how many of your thunder birds do you have with you? All the Pokémon taking part in the Ultra Guardians are going to get badges that will let us keep track of them while on operations, and signal if they're in trouble, but those ones are getting special numbered ones for… no particular reason."

"I've got Noctowl," Ash volunteered. "And Zapdos, too, I was going to have Noctowl show how he can battle like Zapdos."

"Then please give Noctowl the five badge, and Zapdos the two badge," Lusamine requested. "Clefable will bring the badges in in a moment. As for Ultra Guardian operations in general, there's medical equipment for all of you and some Beast Balls for Ultra Beasts. Again, Clefable will bring them in."

"So, where are we going?" Mallow said. "Or, are we going somewhere? Is this just to make sure we know about the base?"

"There is an Ultra Beast incident going on," Lusamine confirmed. "And you'll be getting there by Ride Pokémon. Each one of you has already had one assigned, but we can change that around a bit if you want… Ash, that means there might be one spare, if you've got Zapdos with you."

"No, it's fine," Ash replied. "Pikachu can use that one! So, where is this Ultra Beast, and what is it?"

"We don't have any good pictures yet, but it appeared in Melemele Meadow," Lusamine told them. "It doesn't seem to be acting aggressively, but apparently it lifted up a car and… the report says posed with it."

"Let's get going!" Kiawe decided. "We'll go rescue that Ultra Beast, or people from the Ultra Beast, or possibly both!"

Downstairs, Clefable handed out their equipment and pointed each of the Ultra Guardians to their respective Ride Pokémon. Sophocles had a Metang, Mallow was paired with a Flygon, Lana got pointed at a Dragonair, Lillie (to Snowy's delight) had an Altaria, and Kiawe's Charizard waved hello.

"Huh, I guess that makes sense," Kiawe admitted, swinging astride his Fire-type. "So, Pikachu gets the Garchomp?"

"What about-" Garchomp began, then took a step back as Ash sent out Zapdos – already equipped with her 2 badge – and began fitting her harness. "Whoa, um, okay."

"Nice to meet you," Pikachu said, waving. "I've worked with a Gible before. Word of warning – if I'm about to use a really big Electric attack I'll jump off you, that's intentional."

"No, no, that's a common misconception, I'm immune to electricity," Garchomp said. "I know we can fly, unlike Gible, but we're still Ground and Dragon."

"Pikachu's right," Ash replied, as Zapdos tried not to snigger. "My Gible can fly, and Pikachu's electrocuted Ground types before. He even taught Zapdos and Raikou how to do it!"

"What is your team," Garchomp asked.

"Ultra, obviously," Zapdos replied. "That feels like it's on right, Ash."

Not far from Hau'Oli city, half-a-dozen Exeggutor stood to attention along the banks of a river.

A concealed light flashed, and the Exeggutor all bowed down away from the river. Then seven Ride Pokémon came bursting out of the nearby waterfall, one by one, led by a Zapdos and tailed by a severely baffled Garchomp.

"This is the best thing," Lusamine declared, watching the whole scene from her monitor on the Aether Paradise.

"Okay, we're nearly there," Ash said, checking Arc's screen just to be sure. "Hmm… Director Lusamine, are you getting this?"

"Well guessed, Ash," Lusamine replied. "Yes, I've got several camera feeds. We're just about to get a good picture of Melemele meadow now."

Zapdos banked around, leading the others as they rose over the treetops, and Ash pointed. "There!"

"Got it," Lusamine confirmed. "Designating this new Ultra Beast as UB-Expand."

"Why Expand?" Lana asked, as her Dragonair flew closer. "I understand why the Nihilego was Symbiote, but Expand?"

Zapdos flared her wings, touching down, and Ash patted her in thanks before getting off. "I guess maybe it's because it's got lots of muscles?"

That was an understatement. The Ultra Beast had four legs and a pair of wings, plus a proboscis, but that was almost an afterthought compared to a pair of massive arms and an enormous upper body, like a Machoke turned up far past normal.

"Buzz!" it announced, posing.

"Any ideas, Ibid?" Ash said.

Ibid changed into a miniature version of the Ultra Beast.

"It communicates through muscular poses," he said. "The meaning is unclear, however."

"Working on it," Arc stated.

Ash's Litten sent herself out.

"Hmm," she said.

"Buzz!" the Ultra Beast stated, striking another pose.

"Weird flex, but okay," she decided. "It's something about… being confused?"

"Okay, so… we're here now, and we're just looking at a Pokémon I've never seen before," Garchomp said. "Striking weird poses?"

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "We're trying to work out how to communicate! Because that's always the first step if a Pokémon isn't being aggressive."

The Ultra Beast made struck a different pose, this time with one arm up and the other pointing at Charizard, and Litten made a worried noise.

"I think that was something about being hungry?" she said. "It's a really bizarre dialect."

"How exactly are you able to understand any of-" the Ride Metang began, but then the Ultra Beast sprang forwards with their proboscis extending.

"Pikachu!" Ash called, and Pikachu used Thunder. The result was a bang that knocked his opponent back, and Ash's two Electric-types exchanged glances.

Then Zapdos took off, wings snapping and crackling with electricity, and Pikachu blasted Zapdos to power her up. She sent a Thunder Curtain down, forming a complete circle of lightning bolts around the Ultra Beast as it got upright again.

"Updated," Arc said, and Ash checked their screen.

"Oh, right, they're a Buzzwole!" he said. "Thanks, Arc… and their language is a mixture of poses and words, right…"

He crouched down, so Litten could see. "Does this help?"

"I can't actually read," Litten replied.

"That is all right," Arc stated. "I will read out the descriptions for you."

Five minutes later, they were more-or-less ready, and Ash and Kiawe were ready to make contact.

"Okay, here we go!" Ash said. "And… flex!"

"This really doesn't feel like how first contact should go," Sophocles admitted, as the other two boys struck synchronized poses.

"Yeah, that's good," Litten said. "Now the next one!"

Buzzwole watched through the thunder curtain that Zapdos was still maintaining, then struck a pose of their own. "Zwole! Buzz!"

"That means, um… that sounds bad (sarcastic)," Litten interpreted. "Then that next one is, I'll be sure to wait (sincere)."

"Great!" Ash decided.

"Well done, Ultra Guardians," Lusamine said. "We'll come over to reopen the Ultra Wormhole Buzzwole used and send them home."

"I've got a better idea!" Ash replied, taking the Dream Ball off his belt, and sent Nebby out. "How are you feeling at the moment?"

Nebby floated in place, a considering look on their starfield, then evolved to Solgaleo.

"Ultra!" he said. "Let's get this Buzzwole home!"

"That went well," Lusamine decided. "It's a pity that it didn't involve us deploying any hyper-advanced equipment, but you can't have everything."

"That's true," Burnet agreed. "Director, I do want to point something out, though… Ash has a Flying-type that's also a Fire-type, that can fly incredibly fast."

"That is a good point," Lusamine said. "Do they know Flash Fire?"

"No, but I think it's close enough," Burnet shrugged. "Fireflash, Flash Fire… you can't have everything."

As the Ultra Guardians left, their mission successful, a purple Ultra Beast made a sort of curious buzzing noise.

"Poiiiii," it said, deeply impressed by the tiny Pokémon that had done all the bright shiny electrical things.

Then it realized it had no idea which way they'd actually gone.

"Poi!"

Chapter Text

"And… three!" Ash said, slashing his hand down, and Dartrix sent a shower of half-a-dozen leafy feather-blades whipping out from his wings towards Litten.

The Fire-type dodged to the side, two of them hitting her anyway and prompting her to set herself on fire, and she skidded to a halt.

"How did you do that, exactly?" she asked. "That was weird."

"It's about firing a spread!" Dartrix explained. "I send some of them towards where you're going now, and some of them towards where you might end up if you change your mind."

He shrugged his wings. "I don't always guess right, but when I do it's a real hoot!"

"I'm now even more sure you do that on purpose," Litten grumbled. "Is that it for those tests?"

"That's right," Ash agreed. "Is there something you wanted to work on yourself, by the way?"

"Hmm," Litten said, considering. "I'd really like a chance to see where I'm aiming. I want to evolve, all the way, and it's been a while since I had a really good look at an Incineroar – or even a Torracat."

"Well, there is that Masked Royal guy who sometimes turns up on TV," Pikachu said. "He's got an Incineroar."

"Yeah, that would be good," Ash decided. "Maybe we can challenge him or something. You could take part or watch, up to-"

"Take part," Litten interrupted. "That sounds just like what I'm after!"

"Checking availability," Arc stated. "The Masked Royal is available at the Battle Royal dome tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah, that's that thing where…" Ash frowned, trying to remember. "Four Pokémon in one arena, and the last one standing is the winner?"

He crouched down. "Litten?"

Litten looked up attentively. "Yeah?"

"Don't take this as an insult, or anything," he said. "But I want to make sure you're okay with the idea that you might end up beaten. Maybe not even by Incineroar, depending on what the arena is like."

Litten nodded. "I get the idea, Ash," she said firmly. "This is so I can tell what I need to learn. If I win, great, but if I don't… I'll just have an idea of how much more chance there is for me to get stronger."

She shrugged. "That or we get contacted before the battle to learn what the kayfabe is. Either or."

"What's kayfabe?" Lycanroc asked.

"Oh, um… how to explain it," Litten began. "You know what Contests are, right?"

"Nope!" Lycanroc replied. "Not in any great detail!"

"Then… imagine if there was a battle, right?" Litten began.

"On it!" Lycanroc replied.

"But the people who were in the battle already knew roughly what was going to happen, who was gong to win, and what they were going to do," Litten went on. "It was scripted ahead of time."

"...no, I think you've lost me…"

Regardless of whether or not Lycanroc grasped the basic concept, they still wanted to come and watch what might or might not be a battle with kayfabe, and the next day Litten challenged the Masked Royal's Incineroar.

Then Ash did it on her behalf because that way it was easier to tell what was being said.

"Huh, it's funny to see a Litten again," the Incineroar mused, looking down at her. "Mostly just hard to believe I ever used to be that tiny."

"All right, we accept!" the Masked Royal declared. "But a Battle Royal has to have four competitors, not two! Who else will step into the ring?"

Fortunately, Kukui's class was there – it wasn't a school day – and Kiawe asked Turtonator and Marowak, before deciding that Marowak seemed more interested and entering her. For his part, Sophocles considered his own team and then said that he was much more sure that Charjabug could evolve than Togedemaru, so Charjabug should get some experience.

"It's sort of funny how many of our Pokémon are weak to an Incineroar," Lillie noticed.

Then the Battle Royal began, and Litten paced forwards.

"Shadow Bone!" Kiawe called.

"Charjabug, Discharge!" Sophocles commanded.

"Suplex!" Ash decided.

"What kind of move is suplex?" Sophocles asked, then watched as Litten did her level best to suplex Incineroar despite the drastic difference in size and leverage. "Wow, that's not a move I've seen before but it's pretty cool."

"A four way battle is hard to keep track of," Lycanroc decided, as they watched. "Even though all three of the others are focusing on Incineroar, it's not really a three on one battle. They all have to watch out for everyone else, and if one Pokémon has a big lead then they're more likely to focus on that one just to stop them being in a dominant position."

"Yeah, that's about what I think too – look out behind you!" Ash interrupted himself, and Litten dodged to the side while setting herself on fire. It sort of worked to give her a boost, but then Incineroar kicked her up into the air.

"String Shot Litten!" Sophocles said. "Reel yourselves together – now, let go and Discharge!"

Charjabug went off like an electrical bomb next to Incineroar, who grunted before shaking off the impact, and the Masked Royal pointed flamboyantly.

"Now, Darkest Lariat!" he said.

Darkest Lariat was aimed not at Litten or Charjabug, but at the easiest of the three Pokémon Incineroar was battling to actually Lariat in the first place. Marowak was by far the best choice for the move to target, being tall enough for Incineroar to hit with his arm, and the Dark-type slammed them both into the ground before twisting over to hold Marowak in a pin on top of him.

Litten cleared her throat, then jumped into the air.

"Corkscrew shooting star press!" she announced, and phased straight through Marowak to hit Incineroar underneath in what was presumably some kind of Flying Press equivalent.

"Ooh, nice," the Masked Royal declared. "Just what I was expecting from you! Incineroar, Bulk Up!"

"So, was that like you thought?" Ash asked, after the battle.

"Yeah," Litten agreed, nodding. "I think I need a better mobility move when I'm not battling alongside Lycanroc or someone like that, though."

She shook herself out, took a few steps, and fell over.

"It would be very helpful if I had a way to not be thrown through the roof," she added, a bit more indistinctly.

"Pay attention," Shaymintwo advised, and began trotting along.

"Right, so, move along the sand," Litten replied, with a nod. "Following you so far."

Shaymintwo's paws caught fire.

"Okay-" Litten went on, turning to keep Shamyintwo in view, then quickly found herself turning around as fast as she could just to keep the Grass-type in view. His flame-skating turned a wider and wider circle, and Litten wobbled a bit before sitting down firmly.

"Were you paying attention?" Shaymintwo asked, skidding to a halt. "I hope you were."

"I saw your paws catch fire, then after that it got a bit confusing," Litten admitted. "And now the world's spinning a bit."

"I guess learning it all in one go isn't working so well, so let's try something else," Ash suggested. "Dartrix, this is going to be a good test of your accuracy, too, actually."

"Is he going to his me with quills again?" Litten asked, as Dartrix perked up.

"Not really, but almost," Ash said. "What's actually going to happen is that you'll be hitting the quills, or going just past them. And Dartrix is going to be flying overhead, putting down markers for where you should be. If we get this right, it's going to be a new quill each time you pass the previous one, but if you're not going fast enough there's going to be several quills stuck in the sand."

"I think I get it!" Dartrix said.

"Then what about if we make it a race?" Shaymintwo asked. "That way Litten has extra encouragement."

About an hour later, Shaymintwo had S-ranked the course and begun doing it backwards, while Litten's time was steadily improving and Ash had moved her on to the next step – which was her setting herself on fire and running through each of the quills.

"Dartrix is doing great at getting the time right!" Ash said. "And you're getting faster every time, so let's see it again!"

Dartrix flapped his wing, sending a pair of quills out, and Litten started running.

She aimed right at her quill, set herself on fire, and ran through it just as Dartrix sent two more down. Another pair, and another, and Litten was actually managing to keep up with Shaymintwo.

Admittedly he was still going backwards, but still.

Then she lit herself up again to go through the next quill, and hit two at once.

"All right!" Ash said. "Great work, Litten, that's Flame Charge!"

"Phew!" the Fire-type said, skidding to a halt with relief. "That was not easy."

"Now let's try doing it in the air!" Ash added. "How do you want to get up there?"

Litten's ears flicked. "Well… I suppose I did ask for more aerial mobility, so I should have known this would happen…"

"Aha!"

The Masked Royal came over one of the nearby sand dunes. "I heard the sound of Pokémon Training, and I wondered if it was you!"

"Hi, Professor!" Ash replied.

The Masked Royal froze for a moment, then laughed. "What do you mean, Professor?"

"I didn't tell anyone back at the Battle Royal dome, don't worry," Ash said. "I didn't know you were a wrestler, but it made a lot of sense once I saw you doing it – it's like how Hawlucha wears a mask to separate the different parts of his identity, and it also makes sense of how we never really see your Pokémon team around the house because you don't want to associate the Masked Royal with yourself, right?"

He waved his hand. "Plus your aura's kind of familiar. And of course your Pokémon form when you took the potion was a Hawlucha, which was just confirmation. Anyway, it's great to see you!"

"...well," the Masked Kukui said. "I suppose I should have expected that from you, Ash… but I came to see how Litten was getting on, actually."

"We've got Flame Charge down, now we just need to test flying Flame Charge to give Litten aerial mobility!" Ash replied. "It's a lot like normal Flame Charge but you just do the boosting effect without being able to rely on paw movement… actually, Litten, if Incineroar's your rival, what about if he throws you into the air and your motivation is to get revenge?"

Litten's tail began lashing. "That would be good… though I think I'm about to test if cats really do land on their feet."

"I did have an idea about that," Ash replied, reaching for his belt. "Salazzle, can you make clouds of Lansat smoke? That way if Litten falls too fast she can ignite one and bounce herself off it…"

Incineroar sent himself out.

"Is this a bad sign for masked heroism?" he asked.

"I don't think it's a bad sign for masked heroism," Ash frowned. "People keep saying I notice things that they don't. But Litten also told us about something called kayfabe where people know the truth but don't talk about it, so that could work too…"

As it happened, at no point that evening did Litten get her Flame Charge rocket-boost right.

Torracat did, though, because apparently bouncing around between three different Lansat clouds in succession was good for her aerial ability or something.

Chapter Text

"All right, Torracat?" Ash asked, as the Fire-type turned up to lunch the next day.

"Yes, thank you," she replied, then set herself on fire to clean up before her meal.

"I'm starting to notice that's your solution for a lot of things," Lycanroc said, inspecting their plate, then crossing their eyes.

A rock cake slowly floated upwards.

"You're one to talk," Torracat replied.

"Oh, I'm not complaining," Lycanroc shrugged.

They took a bite out of the floating cake, chewed in a contemplative sort of way, then swallowed.

"I'm sorry, Ash, it turns out I don't like these," they said. "The floating thing is neat but it doesn't make up for the texture for me."

"No problem!" Ash told them. "I'll just send it to Snorlax, unless Salazzle wants it."

"I'll give it a go," Salazzle volunteered, and Lycanroc levitated the rest of the cake over to them.

"How did the visit go?" Ash added. "Unless you don't want to talk about it."

"Talking about it is fine," Torracat said. "I…"

She swallowed. "Maybe not? I… he was so proud of me."

"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, Torracat," Ash said. "Sometimes there are things where it's important to say them, but you don't have to force it if you don't want to. We know he's a beloved friend of yours."

Torracat nodded, swallowing, and Ash moved a bowl of food over to her.

"Dragonite left this with specific instructions it was for you," he explained. "Now… it's up to you guys, but does anyone want to help with my next lesson? Pikachu's going to be a really big help, but apart from that I can use just about anyone else…"

"Okay, everyone!" Ash began, about an hour later at the school. "So, today we're talking about talking!"

He grinned. "How Pokémon talk, that is. I'm not going to be able to teach you everything about talking, but I can definitely get you started! So, who do you think I'm going to be using for this demonstration?"

"Lokoko?" Lillie asked. "That would make most sense because she can translate Pokémon speech for us."

"Actually, no, I'm specifically not using her," Ash replied. "Anyone else?"

Nobody else quite got where Ash was going with it, and he held out his arm for Pikachu to run along. "It's Pikachu! That's because he knows how to speak two Pokémon languages, because of something that's a sort of quirk – all the bits of Pichu are in Pikachu. That's not the only one, too, because Azumarill has all the bits of Azurill and Marill in, and there's others too… but because Pikachu's who I've got with me, he's who we're learning this with."

"Oh, huh," Kiawe said, in a wondering voice. "How do you even notice that?"

"It's one of those things you spot if you pay attention, I guess," Ash shrugged. "Anyway, Pikachu, what do you call me?"

"Pikapi!" Pikachu said brightly.

"Exactly," Ash confirmed. "So that's what Pikachu calls me. There's three syllables in it, but you might have noticed something about it?"

This time it was Mallow who put her hand up.

"One of the syllables is ka, isn't it?" she asked. "That's the one that's not in Pichu."

"Exactly," Ash confirmed. "What would you call me in Pichu, Pikachu?"

"Pi-pipi!" Pikachu said.

"There, did you catch that?" Ash asked.

There were several head shakes.

"Again?" Ash asked, and Pikachu repeated both of them.

"So Pokémon language is all about tone and inflection and details of how the syllables are said," Ash explained. "The two pi syllables in my name are shared between both versions of it, but the closest fit for the middle syllable is ka, said ka, when Pikachu has the option of all three of them. Otherwise it's another pi syllable, with a little pause in front of it to change the sound."

"Wow," Lana said. "You must have amazing hearing."

"It's not all that hard, actually," Ash replied. "Well, uh… it took me a couple of years, but it took me longer than that to learn my first language so it depends how you think of it! And all Pokémon get it, too, even ones with Soundproof…"

He shrugged. "It does probably help that Mew taught me, because they could take all kinds of shape to help out and because Mew's natural dialect is all the same sound. Me-mwww-eew-me-eeew. But just listening to it you can tell there's a difference."

Snowy began giggling.

"I know, I said the same sentence twice," Ash agreed. "It's kind of funny how different they sounded, right? But if Pikachu says the same thing…"

"Pi, pikka-piii, pika-kaaapi!" Pikachu provided.

"They've got the same kind of pattern to them," Ash said. "Now, I know teaching you a whole language at once would definitely mean you were late home today, but what we're going to work on is your names. To start with, can everyone's Pokémon partner tell them what they're called? Then we'll swap around, and keep going until everyone's heard their own name from all the partners. After that it's time to start trying to recognize whose name is being said!"

"It still amazes me that you learned this before your journey even started," Mallow admitted. "Okay, uh… Steenee? How do you say my name?"

It took a while, but eventually everyone in the class did get to the point where they could recognize their own names when Pokémon said them.

Most of the time.

It was definitely something that was harder than Ash made it look, mostly because Ash made it look effortless, but after noticing that they were struggling a bit he did the starting example again switching between each of their names in Mew (courtesy of Ash), Dartrix (from Dartrix), Torracat (provided of course by Torracat), Solgaleo (via Nebby) and Togedemaru (which, confusingly, was the result of Zoroark's help).

As Dartrix said, it was all to do with Ash's school syllables, which earned him another suspicious look from Torracat.

The next day, there was a visit from Ilima – one of the previous graduates of the Pokémon School.

He said that what he wanted to talk about was Pokémon Ping Pong, a game that used a different style of skills from either Contests or Battles.

"Contests are great, don't get me wrong," Ilima explained. "They're a real demonstration of how creative a Pokémon and trainer team can be, and how they can craft that into a combination that shines forth and demonstrates their skill. And Battles, well, everyone knows how battles demonstrate skill, I think."

His Eevee nodded firmly. "You bet!"

"Er," Ilima blinked. "Pardon?"

"What is it?" Eevee asked. "Is something wrong?"

"You seem to be… speaking?" Ilima asked, waving his hand. "Don't get me wrong, I'm quite impressed, I'm just surprised."

"That's Lokoko," Ash provided helpfully. "She wasn't here yesterday because the lesson was about understanding Pokémon speech, but today she's back because it isn't."

"Oh!" Eevee realized. "So I get to talk to you? So Smeargle gets to talk to you as well? That's great!"

"It is," Ilima agreed. "But, um… right, I was talking about Pokémon Ping Pong."

He waved a hand in a flourish. "You see, with Pokémon Ping Pong, Pokémon and trainer work together, but it's all about precision and accuracy. Power barely matters, but accuracy, that's very important because what you want is to land the ball in just the right place."

"I took part in a Pokémon Ping Pong tournament once," Ash remembered.

"That doesn't really count as taking part, Ash," Pikachu pointed out.

"Why doesn't it count as taking part?" Lana said. "Did you get knocked out in the first round?"

"No, I just didn't really do anything," Ash explained. "I was on a team with Latias, but she's really good at Pokémon Ping Pong because of motion controls so I just gave her my spare bat and stood back. She won the competition by herself, really."

Eevee's ears were twitching in interest. "That sounds great!" the Normal-type said. "A rival!"

"I agree with Eevee," Ilima said. "I'd be interested to meet this Latias. What kind of Pokémon is she?"

"A Latias," Ash answered. "Oh, uh, maybe you're not familiar with that Pokémon… she's a childhood friend, actually, I met her before I set off on my Pokémon Journey. Hey, Ibid, can you see if Latias is awake?"

Ibid teleported away.

"Awake?" Ilima asked, looking at the window in case something had changed. "It's the middle of the day."

"Yeah, but it's morning where she lives," Ash replied. "I'm not sure how early morning, but depending on what time zone she was synchronized with she could either be up already or have only just got to bed…"

"I guess that makes sense," Ilima decided. "I know there's a huge time difference between here and Kalos."

Latias didn't appear in the middle of the classroom, but that was mostly because she was invisible. Her ping-pong bats did, though, and she waved one of them. "Hi!"

"Not many Pokémon can go invisible," Ilima said, then blinked as Latias decloaked. "Oh, right, now I remember. In hindsight, it was obvious… she's a Legendary Pokémon."

He rubbed his temples. "I actually forgot that that's the most likely explanation for any Pokémon you have. You'd think I'd remember, given how involved you were in the creation of the Giant Dog of Lumiose."

"I am always glad to hear of news of my theoretical cousin," Zygarde said, from where they were drowsing in the sunlight near the window. "Of course, the Lumiose Node passes it on anyway. Ouaf ouaf."

"So, what's this I hear about a ping pong tournament?" Latias asked. "I'll go up to bat for the honour of motion controls!"

"Oh, well, I'm sure Smeargle and I will have to show you the benefits of practical experience," Ilima replied. "In fact, why don't we demonstrate now? Then everyone else can take part, too – and then there's a tournament in a couple of days, so I can face my rival Ikari there!"

The series of games played at the school had a series of mixed but overall positive results.

Ash and Pikachu had a go, which worked out well for them overall because of their good teamwork, though Lana turned out to have a sharp tactical mind and eventually managed to score a point against them after a long-running rally. Then Mallow and Steenee pulled off a tricky Magical Leaf bounce against Lillie and Snowy, and Latias went up against Ilima and Smeargle in a blurring exchange of back-and-forth rallies and ball strikes that went on for several minutes and ended when Latias overdid it and the ball exploded.

Lokoko went next, going up against Sophocles, which resulted in a quick loss for her and a clarification that it wasn't actually sporting – or within the rules – to camouflage where the ball was.

"That's fair, I admit," Lokoko said, stepping back. "Perhaps I'll try with my tails next time… though that might curse the ball. I wonder what happens to a cursed ball?"

"They go in a match between Latias and Ilima!" Ilima's Eevee suggested, giggling.

"I think that's a good answer," Lokoko smiled.

Kiawe took part in the last of the sequence, with his Marowak alongside him, and lost almost immediately as a blazing serve went past both of them too fast for trainer or Pokémon to react.

"At last!" declared his cloaked opponent, somehow managing to do that while sniggering at the same time. "Finally, Victini! We've won something!"

"Are you in this class?" Kukui said. "I don't think I remember you from before."

"Of course you don't, Victini made an avalanche come down on top of us before the sled jump!" Kiawe's opponent declared.

"Hi, Darkrai!" Ash said. "How's Tobias doing?"

"We've been found out! Drat!" Dastardly Darkrai cursed, and stomped off.

That Sunday, at the Ping Pong tournament and at Latias' insistence, Ash entered with her as his Pokémon.

Latias promptly declared that this would let her find out which of her and Ilima was better at Pokémon Ping Pong without being interrupted by an exploding ball.

As it turned out, though, that didn't happen.

Nobody got to see Latias versus Ilima. Or Latias versus Ilima's rival Ikari, or for that matter Ikari versus Ilima.

There was a wide audience to watch as James (wearing a sundress, because it was a hot day) and Ambipom – mostly Ambipom – defeated all three in succession to win the whole tournament, though.

She seemed to have something of a natural talent for it.

Chapter Text

"So today I thought I'd talk about Pokémon categories," Ash said. "There's a few related types of Pokémon, like owl Pokémon, and then there's some more closely related ones like Tiny Bird Pokémon. But because I've got Noctowl and Dartrix, we're going to start off with the wider category!"

He was about to continue, but the portraits by the side of the classroom started flashing.

"Oh, that's a shame," Kukui said. "I was interested in that one – next time, Ash?"

"Sure!" Ash confirmed. "I'll be sure to pick up where we left off."

He was already heading over to the lift that would take him down to the Ultra Guardians' base, and the students followed suit.

One ride later, and in their uniforms again, Lusamine appeared on the big screen.

"We detected some Ultra Aura a while ago," she said. "The signal wasn't very large, but we've been refining our scans, and we think we've narrowed down the area enough to send you out. Ash, do you have Zapdos with you?"

"No, but I do have Zekrom!" Ash replied. "Is he one, three or four?"

"One, I think," Lusamine answered, after some consideration. "Your Lugia is four, that one is obvious, but I wasn't sure which of Zekrom or Swellow should get one."

"It'd be ideal for me to get one!" Zekrom announced, coming out of his Pokéball.

"You should make a six badge for Ash's Raikou," Lillie suggested. "She's got optional wings and she's like a tiger."

"That's a very good point," Lusamine smiled. "I'll have to use that. Now, Ultra Guardians, ready for launch!"

The Ultra Guardians launched from their base, Zekrom leading the way, and as they flew Kiawe came alongside Lillie.

"Why Raikou?" he asked. "You seem like you know what she's getting at."

"She's a big fan, she showed both Gladion and myself the whole series when we were younger," Lillie replied. "The sixth one is actually a biplane… it's amazing what things stick with you."

She frowned. "Hold on. This looks familiar… are we just going down the beach?"

"I'll ask," Kiawe decided, and Charizard accelerated until they were alongside Zekrom instead. "Mr. Ketchum, are we going the right way?"

Zekrom rumbled something draconic, and Charizard gave the Legendary an extremely dubious look.

"What was that?" Kiawe asked, after a few seconds.

"Oh, Zekrom said that it wouldn't be ideal to go to the wrong place," Ash explained. "And Arc would tell me if we were going in the wrong direction, anyway.

They flew over Professor Kukui's house, with a shoom, then Zekrom circled and came down for a landing at a sandy inlet where waves broke over a sandbar and left the inner lagoon almost free from the waves of the wider sea.

"Kroooom," Zekrom considered.

"Huh," Ash decided, then raised Arc. "Hey, did Zekrom take a wrong turn? Director, are we close to where that signal is?"

"You're close, Ash," Lusamine replied.

"Then let's have a look around!" Ash decided. "Hmm…"

There was a thump-thump-thump as Lycanroc ran up, skidded to a halt, and jumped up at Ash.

Since it was Lycanroc, they didn't fall back down again, and just sort of floated there in mid-air as they Stealth Rocked their way out of having to do so.

"I thought that was you going overhead," they said, tail wagging. "Why are you so close? It's nice but confusing."

"We're looking out for an Ultra Beast," Ash explained. "Any idea where one might be?"

"Near the tree line," Arc said, a map appearing on their screen.

"Let's go, everyone!" Ash invited. "Be on the look out for that Ultra Beast!"

"Are we absolutely sure that's an Ultra Beast?" Sophocles asked, looking at the little purple Pokémon that was the result of their search.

"Poi!" the purple Ultra Beast said, waving. "Popoi-pole… poiii!"

It pointed at Pikachu. "Poi poi!"

"Any idea what that means, Arc?" Ash asked, then the Ultra Beast tackled Pikachu.

"That is not ideal!" Zekrom said, turbine lighting up, then had to shut their turbine down again in embarrassment when it turned out that the main thing the Ultra Beast wanted to do was to snuggle close to Pikachu.

"Poiii-poi!" they said, and Pikachu started giggling.

"I don't think this Ultra Beast is as unhappy as the other ones," Pikachu said. "Though maybe they're lost?"

"Let's see if Arc can work out a translation," Ash decided. "Does that sound like it'll work, Director?"

"That's as good a plan as any, Ash," Lusamine replied. "Maybe you can sort this out quickly once you can talk to them."

"So, what do we do in the meantime?" Kiawe asked. "We're out here instead of in class… is it bad that I just want to spend some time with the Ride Pokémon? I want to see how Charizard gets on with that Garchomp Pikachu uses."

"Oh, that would be nice," Lillie said. "Altaria, how does that sound?"

Altaria made a humming noise. "Fun!"

"I'll see if Lokoko's available," Ash decided. "Then… hey, Pikachu, what about teaching our new friend how to play Tag? Lycanroc, you and I can start it to show how it works!"

"I'm not entirely sure why this went the way it did," Lusamine admitted, taking a sip of coffee, and watching the view from the cameras.

Lana was having her Popplio blow bubbles in the air, and the Ride Dragonair was trying to balance as many as possible on their tail without having any of them pop. Then, right next to her, Mallow was trying to teach Flygon how to hover nose-down and tail-up, which meant starting with a flat hover and slowly pitching forwards a bit at a time, and Sophocles seemed to be playing chess with Metang.

She wasn't quite sure where they'd got the chess set.

Kiawe and Marowak were racing Garchomp up and down the beach, swapping Pokémon after every run, and all four of them seemed to be enjoying the competition. And Lillie and Snowy were just snoozing in the shade, curled up in Altaria's fluffy wings.

Lusamine smiled. "But, on the other hand… well, I suppose beach episodes are traditional."

"Oh, huh, so that's what's going on," Ash said, watching as the helpful digital Hoothoot pointed at diagrams. "I can do my best to understand that, I think… hey, what's your name?"

The Ultra Beast looked up, confused. "Piiioi?"

"Me-mew-ww," Ash explained.

"Okay, I didn't understand that," Pikachu said. "What was that?"

"Poi-pole!" the Ultra Beast said, clearly, pointing at itself.

"There's a weird tonal shift with how Poipole speaks, that's what," Ash explained. "It's, uh, all the frequencies are reversed, but frequency changes are still the same?"

"Wow, okay," Pikachu said. "No wonder they're hard to understand."

"Can you tell us about how you got here?" Ash asked.

Poipole scratched the side of their head. "Poole?"

"I suspect this could take a while," Pikachu said. "I wonder why they don't understand you?"

"It could be the same kind of thing," Ash pondered. "Maybe it's just hard to make the connection and Poipole will make sense of it eventually? It took Arc a while to get it worked out."

He cleared his throat. "Me-ew, eeew!"

Poipole brightened, and launched into an explanation.

"So, we've got good news, Director," Ash said. "We've asked Poipole about how they got here, and why, and what was going on, and with help from Arc we've managed to get most of the story."

"That sounds like excellent news," Lusamine replied. "If we can work out what's causing Ultra Beasts to end up here by mistake, we can hopefully find them sooner and send them back – or even stop them coming here by mistake in the first place."

"Right," Ash agreed. "So, they lived in a nest with lots of other Poipole and another Pokémon… I think Poipole evolves into them? I'm not certain because the word they used is a bit weird and I don't have Pidgey with me at the moment so I can't demonstrate. Anyway, there was also a Pokémon that provided lots of light to the world? Sort of like a sun, but different… but that Pokémon got badly hurt, and that sort of… broke the world, so it went all cold and dark. Poipole and the other Pokémon all huddled together to try and keep the last of the light safe, but Poipole eventually left and came here through an Ultra Wormhole."

He shrugged. "I didn't get whether that was one that was made by Poipole, one that happened naturally, or one that was made by something else. But once it ended up here, Poipole was fascinated by how bright the world is, and especially by Pikachu when we did the mission to send Buzzwole home! I guess it's because his cheeks make sparks of light a lot."

"That's… worrying news, Ash," Lusamine admitted. "I'll have to study to see if there's any clues about how to fix Poipole's world, but… hmm. How long ago did that injury to the light causing Pokémon happen?"

Ash made some mewing noises, then Poipole made Poipole noises back.

"They say it was, a while ago?" Ash passed on. "I guess Poipole isn't great with telling time."

"Now that I think about it, if their source of light was injured it's not easy to tell the time," Lusamine muttered. "And if Poipole came here that long ago, we probably can't find the Ultra Wormhole they used… they might be stuck here."

"Oh, that's not going to be much of a problem," Ash replied. "When I sent out Noctowl to have him use illusions and test something, Poipole asked how that worked, and they want to join my team! So I guess if we find out a way to get them home I can ask then, but before then I've got a new team member!"

"Really, I should have expected that," Lusamine decided. "So, what are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to finish explaining about Pokémon with closely related type names," Ash answered. "I think this Ultra Guardians mission is probably done."

"Ultroger," Lusamine responded, signing off.

"Ultroger?" Burnet repeated, smiling. "That's a new one."

"I didn't like the look Gladion gave me when I tried F.A.B," Lusamine said. "Hmm… I wonder if solving this problem of a light source would mean we could call ourselves Spectrum?"

"So this is Poipole," Ash introduced. "They're from another world, but they've agreed to join the team. Say hello, everyone! Me-ew, ew."

"What did you just say?" Torracat asked, padding over. "Hello, Poipole."

Poipole poked Torracat's fire bell. "Poi!"

"...do they have a speech impediment?" Torracat guessed.

"No, they're just young and have a different dialect," Ash replied. "I don't think I was able to properly explain the gender question, so I'm using they for now."

"I can respect that," Salazzle said, crouching down. "So, what type? Any idea?"

"Ibid?" Ash asked.

"Analyzing," Ibid stated, then turned into a miniature Poipole.

Poipole looked deeply impressed, especially when Ibid did a little dance and threw out a glob of poison.

"Poison type," Ibid announced.

"Neat," Salazzle summarized. "Hey, kid, want to learn how to use Venoshock?"

That made Poipole look mystified.

"Oh, right, language barrier," Salazzle realized. "Boss, any chance you can translate?"

"Shouldn't that wait until the hellos have finished?" Lycanroc checked. "There's a lot of hellos to get through."

"Yeah, fair," Salazzle agreed. "Actually, I'm going to go get some snacks, let's see what Poipole likes..."

Chapter Text

"Poi," Poipole said, looking down, then back up at Pikachu. "Poii?"

"I don't think he understood me," Pikachu frowned. "What did I miss? Was I at least close?"

"Almost there," Ash said. "What you want to do is to swap the sounds over."

"Okay," Pikachu decided, clearing his throat. "Pika-ka?"

"Poi-pole!" Poipole said happily.

"There you go, see?" Ash asked. "It's the same sort of language, just different. Me-ewe-eemew. Meww-ew!"

"That's amazing to watch, Ash," Kukui chuckled, from the kitchen table. "I'm sure Rotom's recording everything?"

"Naturally!" Rotom agreed. "These lessons will allow us to teach Pokémon how to understand Ultra Beasts!"

"Poipole's kind of Ultra Beast," Ash corrected. "But what I think would be great is if some of my Pokémon learn Poipole's version and Poipole learns our version. That way none of us will depend on any one person to do the translating – Poipole could do it, then, so could I, and so could Pikachu or you or whoever else learns."

"Relying on a single translator is sometimes necessary but often inefficient," Zygarde yawned, pressed up against Dartrix as they both lounged in the morning sunlight. "I have had an update from the Lumiose Node, who informs me that the Giant Dog of Lumiose has become popular with children. They like climbing them."

"That's sweet," Ash smiled, then turned to Kukui. "I'm still working on the next lecture, Professor, is that okay? I don't remember the schedule."

"Well, today, the class is actually going to be doing work experience at a Pokémon Centre," Kukui answered. "So while the schedule is safe, I think you might want to get involved with that anyway."

"Yeah, that would be fun," Ash agreed. "I'll get Dr. Agonite for emergency care, and probably Cresselia as well… she mostly heals herself, but she can still help out."

As it turned out, when Ash actually got to the Pokémon Centre, there were problems that none of the students had expected.

"Mr. Ketchum, thank goodness you're here!" Kiawe said, with a sigh of relief. "We were supposed to come here and meet up with Nurse Joy, but Nurse Joy's in the back room and Comfey and Blissey aren't letting us in!"

"That's weird," Ash decided. "I guess it's time to find out what's going on!"

"I wonder…" Pikachu began, thinking, then shook his head. "Well, it could be some kind of Team Rocket plan, but I don't think that's likely if the Pokémon are going along with it."

"That's a good point, Pikachu," Ash agreed. "Both of them… hey, Blissey, what's going on?"

The Blissey leaned around the corner. "Joy is sick, and it's contagious," he reported. "We've washed up since last time we went in, but it's not guaranteed to work and so we're staying out of the way of other patients."

"Oh, got it!" Ash replied, with a thumbs-up. "Make sure Joy's okay, I'll get some help in from my other Pokémon!"

"Nurse Joy is sick?" Lillie asked. "That sounds… it doesn't sound likely, really. I don't know why."

"Well, she's just like anyone else, right?" Ash replied. "You're right, though, it does sound unusual, and a lot of that is because she knows about taking care of herself so she's less likely to get sick. But just because something isn't likely shouldn't mean it doesn't happen… I mean, I've met wild Pidgey before!"

"That's not an analogy that helps," Mallow sighed.

"Okay, everyone!" Ash added. "So instead of finding out how a Pokémon Centre works by watching Nurse Joy do it, we're going to be finding out how a Pokémon Centre works by doing it ourselves! Dr. Agonite, you're in charge!"

The qualified Dragonite came out of his Pokéball, nodded, and went to put on a medical hat.

"Ibid, can you find Butterfree?" Ash asked. "Wherever he is, he's probably got some moves that can help. And let's get ourselves dressed up so people know that we're here to help instead of being in the queue… I'll go behind the counter first, then I'll get changed once everyone else is!"

Everyone else getting changed took several minutes, then Ash went off and got changed himself, and while he was in the middle of doing that Mew arrived.

"Hi!" the psychic feline-type said. "What's up?"

"We're taking over a Pokémon Centre for the day because the Nurse Joy's sick," Ash explained. "You know some healing moves, right?"

"Yep!" Mew confirmed. "Oh boy oh boy do I know healing moves! Hmm, though… what to be while I'm doing the healing moves?"

She brightened. "Oh, I know!"

There was a pop, and she turned into a Sprigatito.

"Cats are good for helping people and Pokémon alike heal!" Sprigamew declared. "Let's go and do this! Love the outfit by the way, Ash, it's important to make it clear when you're working in a medical field!"

"Uh…" Kiawe began, deciding to ask. "Ash? Why are you wearing a dress?"

"It's the outfit I found first," Ash shrugged. "I didn't want to spend ages looking for a male nurse outfit and leave Dr. Agonite trying to talk medical details when the person he's talking to can't understand! He's the only qualified doctor here, though some of the Pokémon like Sprigatito and Cresselia can help out a bit."

"I didn't know you had a Sprigatito," Mallow said, scratching the Grass-type under the chin. "They look so cute!"

"Definitely some of my best work," Sprigamew purred. "Oh, hey, look, someone's coming in!"

"Welcome to the Pokémon Centre," Lana said, as the doors opened. "There's a few problems today, but we'll do our best to keep normal service going. How can we help you?"

"I've got two Pokémon who've been through a battle today," the man answered, presenting Lana with two Pokéballs. "I'm afraid I've got things to do, so I'll be back to pick them up later."

Then he blinked. "Um. Sorry, I just noticed… is that a Dragonite behind the counter?"

"That's Doctor Agonite," Ash said. "He's a qualified medical expert! Your Pokémon will be in safe paws!"

"Plus, Jungle Healing is a thing," Sprigamew added. "They'll be fine."

A day in the life of a Pokémon Centre was quite tiring, especially the one in Hau'Oli City because that was the main one for the island, but fortunately between Dr. Agonite, three other Dragonites as orderlies, all five students of Professor Kukui's class, Ash, and Sprigamew they were mostly able to keep on top of things.

Then, towards the middle of the afternoon, Tupp, Rapp and Zipp of Team Skull came in.

"My Garbodor's sick!" Zipp wailed.

"And you'd better help him out, or we'll leave him here!" Tupp agreed, menacingly.

Rapp did a pair of finger-guns. "That's such an incentive, Tupp!"

"An incentive?" Mallow repeated. "Are you threatening to leave your Pokémon here if we don't cure him?"

"Yeah, yeah!" Tupp confirmed. "My friend's Poison-type has such a smell, it makes all the trainers nearby yell!"

"And unless you make sure that he's well, we'll leave him here and make it hell," Rapp went on.

"So you'll fix him, if you've got a braincell," Zipp concluded.

"We'll go ahead and help anyway, but give us a moment." Ash reached into the quite inadequate pockets of his outfit. "Ibid, if we're going to deal with a Garbodor I'm going to need… Salazzle, and Shaymintwo too."

"Shaymintwo in a tutu, or just Shaymintwo?" Ibid checked. "I feel I should ask."

"Just Shaymintwo," Ash clarified. "And Salazzle. Maybe Meganium as well if she's awake."

"How do you know Shaymintwo's awake?" Sophocles asked.

"Brooding schedule," Ash shrugged.

Ibid vanished, returned with Salazzle, then vanished again and returned with Shaymintwo.

"Hey, boss," Salazzle said, doing what was kind of a salute.

"That's one big Salazzle," Rapp said. "Where did you get her?"

"Him," Ash corrected. "It's kind of a long story… let's go with some Pecha berry scent, okay? Then Shaymintwo, you're on air cleaning duty."

"Fine, whatever," Shaymintwo snorted.

"Actually, maybe we should do this by the door," Ash amended. "And, face up… that's right. Make sure your Seed Flare goes into the sky and doesn't hit anyone. Okay, I think we're ready!"

Zipp sent out his Garbodor, and the smell immediately filled the room. It was battling with a very strong scent of Pecha, however, and a moment later the smell began to sort of drain down into Shaymintwo in the doorway.

His flowers immediately turned black, and he fired out a jet of green energy that started out as a spear-shape but turned into a sort of continuous beam.

"There we go!" Ash said. "Now, let's find out what the problem is. Doctor, you're up!"

"Actually, I think I might know," Lillie suggested, a bit nasally as she had one hand over her nose. "Isn't this poison clog?"

"You're right, well spotted," the medical Dragonite agreed. "Someone fetch me some large ear cleaners."

"Ear cleaners coming up!" Ash said, hurrying off.

Shaymintwo was much in demand for the next half hour or so, not only sending the stench jetting off into the sky as a Seed Flare but also going to the trouble of clearing up the poison that had dribbled onto the floor as Salazzle worked.

That didn't seem to satisfy him, though, as then he pointed at Rapp. "Send out your Zubat."

"Huh?" Rapp asked. "What's this little shrub saying? If they want a battle they'd better get praying!"

"He wants you to send out your Zubat," Ash explained. "I don't know if he means one of them or all of them, you had more than one, right?"

"I've got three bats, but what's that to you?" Rapp asked. "I, um… something something who?"

"Hey, don't start a rhyme if you don't have the time!" Tupp chided.

Rapp winced. "Sorry, boss! It's my loss!"

"Just come out already," Shaymintwo demanded. "The one in the middle Pokéball."

That Zubat came out, confused, and Shaymintwo crouched momentarily before pouncing the Poison-type and knocking it out of the air.

"Is something wrong, Shaymintwo?" Ash asked.

Shaymintwo's flowers turned black, and he got off Zubat.

"Hmph," he said. "There. Nobody's going to out-brood me around here."

"I'm not brooding, I have intrusive thoughts!" Zubat protested squeakily.

"Had," Shaymintwo corrected. "Mental pollution still counts."

"So why did that Pokémon attack my Zubat?" Rapp asked. "I don't get it?"

"I guess Shaymintwo does therapy now," Ash judged. "It'd have been nicer for him to explain first though."

Shaymintwo skated over to the window and fired off another Seed Flare.

Just as they were packing up that evening, with Nurse Joy recovered and everyone exhausted from more experience of how a Pokémon Centre worked than they'd ever expected that morning, the door opened again.

"Oh, no," Kiawe groaned. "Do we have to do this one too?"

"Mother?" Lillie said, worried. "Is one of your Pokémon ill?"

"No, they're fine," Lusamine replied. "I've just had the Ultra Guardians alert going in your classroom for the last two hours. I only just thought to come and actually check…"

"Oh, there's an Ultra Beast?" Ash asked. "Has it been causing trouble?"

Lusamine considered that, putting her hand to her chin.

"A bit?" she said. "Mostly it dug a hole, then launched itself into orbit. I'm not technically sure if that was planned or not but it's actually quite hard to go to space by mistake, so it probably intended to."

"That's probably okay, then," Ash decided. "Maybe I'll ask Nebby to go up as a Lunala and ask if they're where they want to be, she's Ghost type in that form and Steel type as Solgaleo but Lunala can probably get around in space better…"

Chapter Text

"Sorry I'm late, Professor," Kiawe said, one morning. "What are we doing today?"

"I'm in the middle of talking about riding different kinds of Pokémon, because it's something you've already got experience in," Ash said, which made Kiawe groan.

"Sorry, Mr. Ketchum…"

"Well, maybe you don't need to apologize," Ash shrugged. "Why are you late, exactly?"

"Oh, there was an argument with some developers this morning," Kiawe explained. "These guys want to buy out the ranch land, to turn into some kind of resort hotel to attract tourists… and my dad said no, but they were being persistent and I felt really nervous about leaving to come to school."

"That's okay!" Ash assured him. "So, as a quick thing, it's important not to abuse it but there's definitely times when adults would have to decide that what's going on at the moment is more serious than making it to a specific event, so it's the same thing with you. It's the same thing if you're sick, for example. And you know school is important, and you made sure to come over as soon as you can, so it's not really a problem."

He shrugged. "Of course some things are more important than other things. That means that you have to make difficult decisions! But that's nothing unusual, that happens… and, since you're here, I know a great way to sort out that problem! First…"

Ash sent out Silver. "So, just to get you caught up to speed, what do you think you'd need to think about for Silver being used as a ride Pokémon?"

"Hmm," Kiawe frowned. "I guess… he's quite small? So is there a problem about how much he can carry?"

"I'm stronger than you'd think!" Silver replied.

"Yeah, Silver's psychic and he can use that to help his physical carry weight, but he's also not very heavy," Ash said. "That means that adding a rider is a big change to how much he weighs, and it can mean he's clumsy because he weighs more than he expects. Since it's easier for a person riding him to remember that than for him to remember that, it's good for a rider to remind him about it when it looks like they might need to change course in a hurry."

Lillie put up her hand. "Is that a lot of what training a Ride Pokémon actually is, then?" she asked.

"It's some of it!" Ash agreed. "I don't know the exact amount because I've mostly worked on my own Pokémon, and that means we can talk a lot more easily than most ride Pokémon can communicate with their riders. So a lot of it would probably be to do with making sure ride Pokémon know how to react to what humans do… my friend Serena and her mom could probably explain that better, at least for Rhyhorn because that's the kind of racing they do."

Next, Ash sent out Zapdos. "And then Zapdos is an example of a Pokémon who's more specialist for riding, I've talked about why before. Who remembers why?"

"It's because you're ridiculously resistant to electricity, right?" Sophocles said.

"Exactly," Ash agreed. "There'd be a lot of extra work to make sure Zapdos could take passengers who weren't me without occasionally giving them static shocks, and honestly it doesn't really seem worth it at the moment… anyway, a lot of this lesson doesn't actually have to be done in class, so let's head over to Kiawe's ranch!"

After the last time they'd been out of class, and because it was relevant, they took all the Ultra Guardians gear and Ride Pokémon with them on the way to Paniola Ranch.

With Ash bringing Silver along as well as Zapdos, and with Pikachu able to join him, that left Garchomp and Silver both free at first, and Ash had Silver help the students swap between different Ride Pokémon on the journey to feel the difference first-hand.

Kiawe said he was seriously impressed with how Ash was able to just work out how Metang was going to be different to Flygon to fly just from first principles, which led Ash to shrug and say that it was just obvious from thinking about it – about how Flygon's four wings meant that the Dragon-type had a lot of control over the direction of their thrust, while Metang was just using raw psionic levitation and so could mostly only push in one direction at a time but that direction was arbitrary – and how both of those were different to Zapdos, who flew like a conventional bird and so needed to either fly with airflow or flare her wings to land.

Then they reached the Paniola Ranch itself.

"What the…?" Kiawe began, shading his eyes. "What happened to the river?"

"I can see a dam upriver!" Silver gasped. "Someone's built a dam to block off the water to the river?"

"It must be that Viren guy," Kiawe simmered. "He's trying to force us to sell. That's the only thing that makes sense!"

"It could be a coincidence, but it doesn't sound great," Ash agreed. "Silver, swap Lillie back to Altaria, okay? Then get ready to use Hydro Pump and we can help out with that water shortage!"

"Got it!" Silver agreed.

"Then, Arc, let's go with a soup plate!" Ash added. "Unless… hey, maybe Nebby can help too and we can set up an Ultra Water Supply!"

"It feels so wrong to watch my family ranch being hit by so many Water attacks," Kiawe said.

"And, Silver!" Ash called. "Put an ice dam at the bottom of the Paniola Ranch bit of the river with Ice Punch! That's going to be temporary but it'll mean we don't need to put too much water in while we get this sorted out!"

Quick work from Ash's Pokémon, excluding Nebby (because, as Lana pointed out in time, you couldn't use seawater in a fresh water river) until they included both Nebby and Suicune (because, as Ash countered, salt was one of those things that could be defined as impurity if Suicune wanted) resulted in the Paniola Ranch river being filled up to make it a sort of impromptu pond.

"This can't be right," Lillie frowned, looking upriver at the dam. "Maybe they got the water rights, but you're still not allowed to just dam a river and stop it flowing completely. Otherwise water rights would be water wrongs."

She stopped, and groaned.

"What's wrong, Lillie?" Snowy asked.

"I should avoid telling my mom about that one," she said. "It just slipped out."

Snowy giggled. "I thought it was funny."

The water crisis over, Kiawe started helping with the next part of operating the ranch – part that had been on hold due to the water problems – while Ash had the others follow along so he could talk about how Tauros worked as ride Pokémon.

"It depends on their attitude," he said. "Tauros can be touchy, but they don't have to be. So there's a difference between a good ride Pokémon for general use, which is a Tauros who doesn't have many problems with any random rider, and a good ride Pokémon for a specialist, because they have more time to devote to getting a good relationship with their Pokémon."

"What about Miltank?" Mallow asked. "We're moving Miltank to the water, are they good as ride Pokémon?"

"Not sure!" Ash admitted. "Maybe some are, but most of the ones I see tend not to have a great posture for it. They're also more useful for other things, like providing milk."

Then something roared off to the side.

"Aah!" one of the Miltank yelped.

"Scatter, it can't get all of us!" another one said.

Half-a-dozen of the Miltank fled through a nearby hole in the fencing, and Ash pointed. "Dartrix, stop them!"

Dartrix flew off into the distance, flinging out a Leafage barrage from both his wings at once to head off the panicking Miltank, and Lillie cleared her throat.

"Ultra Guardians ride Pokémon, help out!" she said.

That was apparently good enough to get all the Ride Pokémon involved, and Silver and Zapdos did too, which helped to prevent a wholesale disaster.

It was likely that at least some of the day's milk would be milkshake, though, with how much the Miltank had used Rollout.

"That's not right," Kiawe frowned, looking at the broken section of fencing. "This was cut, deliberately."

He looked back. "What was the roar sound?"

"The roar sound is an exact match for: a Pyroar," Rotom informed them.

"Pyroar?" Kiawe repeated. "If there's one of those causing trouble I could catch it, but… they're not native to Akala, are they?"

"Wild Pyroar can be found on the Paniola Plains." Rotom waved their arms. "However! The roar sound was an exact match for a Poketube video called Pyroar Roaring. This is not a coincidence! The sound file of the roar has a hard cut off."

"So that was someone playing the sound of a roaring Pyroar," Sophocles said. "That means it's got to be sabotage."

"Watch out with those words, brats," someone snorted. "Anyone would think you were trying to accuse me, Viren, proprietor of the Rainbow Happy Resorts, of underhanded dealings!"

"Hmm," Lillie frowned.

"Well?" Kiawe said, over the top of his friend's voice. "I don't hear you saying you're innocent!"

"Of course I'm innocent!" Viren said. "I'd like you to sell, of course! But it's nothing to do with me that you've got a difficult time making this ranch of yours work. It'd be much less work, and much more profitable for all of us, for you to just go ahead and sell the land!"

"Are you the one who built the dam?" Lillie asked.

"So what if I did?" Viren demanded. "Who do you think you are anyway, kid?"

"She's a schoolkid!" Ash pointed out. "And so's Kiawe. But if that is your dam, how did you build it so quick! When we built a dam to stop our replacement water all flowing away too fast we made it out of ice, how did you build such a big dam so quickly?"

"Huh?" Viren said, confused. "Why would it take a long time to build a dam? You just shove stuff in the river until it's blocked."

"It's not easy to make one that works!" Dartrix said cheerfully. "In fact, it's dam hard!"

"Yeah, you need to work out where the water's going, and say how much it's going to reduce the flow downriver," Ash pointed out. "That's just polite! And safe, otherwise the whole thing could collapse."

"What's it to you, kid?" Viren demanded. "I oughtta battle you lot and stop you from making a fuss!"

He reached for a Pokéball at his belt. "My Electivire will show you the error of your ways!"

Three things stopped Viren's Electivire from showing them the error of their ways.

The first was that there wasn't really much of an error for them to be shown.

The second was that Viren sent out Electivire to battle the first Pokémon available, which was Ash's Pikachu.

The third, which was related to the second in a way, was that Electivire was very shortly too hurtling-into-the-sky to do anything like that.

Viren stared after his disappearing Pokémon, then clenched his fist.

"Right!" he said. "That's it!"

He pulled a walkie-talkie. "Change of plan, guys! Go now!"

There was a vroom sound as a set of engines started nearby, and Nebby quietly vanished as they teleported away.

"What was that?" Kiawe demanded.

Silver took off with a whoosh of wings, flew high enough to see, then dropped back down.

"Bulldozers!" he said. "I think they're heading for your house!"

Nebby appeared again, this time with Officer Jenny.

"-sure what you-" she said, then stopped. "Ash Ketchum? What just happened? Aren't you Kiawe?"

"This guy Viren just ordered his goons to attack my family ranch with bulldozers!" Kiawe said quickly.

Viren, and his goons, were extremely arrested.

Chapter Text

"Okay, guys!" Ash said. "Today we're doing a lesson on foreshadowing!"

He grinned. "You should already know all of this."

That announcement just left everyone baffled.

Mallow held up her hand, and waited until Ash called on her. "What?"

"So, uh, maybe foreshadowing isn't the right word," Ash admitted. "It's tricky to summarize it in a single word, though… it's about how much you can know about how someone's going to battle based on what you already know about them."

He held up Ibid, who turned into a miniature duplicate of Cynthia.

"So what do you know about how Cynthia battles?" he asked.

Lillie was the first to volunteer information. "She has a Togekiss? But her whole team isn't either Fairy or Flying."

"Right," Ash agreed. "So Cynthia's a generalist rather than a type specialist, and her top level team consists of about seven or eight Pokémon… Zacian?"

Zacian nodded, and formed images of Togekiss, Milotic, Spiritomb, Roserade, Garchomp, Glaceon, Gastrodon and Lucario.

"For a lot of trainers, especially famous ones, you can tell most of this by the information about them that's available anywhere!" Ash explained. "What Pokémon they have is just the start… you can also find out things like what moves those Pokémon have. That's the kind of thing it's possible to know going into a battle, but it's always possible for it to be out of date because trainers don't stay static – they keep training their Pokémon, after all!"

"Right, I get it," Kiawe realized. "So what you're saying is that we're talking about what you can work out about your opponent."

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "Both before you battle them, and during the battle too. It's always possible for someone to come in with a complete surprise, but it's actually really hard for someone to train up a very strong Pokémon without using them against other trainers at all. Even then if the only thing a trainer's used their Pokémon against is other ones of their own Pokémon, it can be a tricky experience for that Pokémon shifting into doing major battles elsewhere."

Sophocles tapped on his laptop for a moment, then looked up. "I think I just realized something…"

He waved his hand. "That's a big part of how strong you are, isn't it, Mr. Ketchum? You've got such a diverse team of Pokémon, just, so many of them, that it's way harder for someone else to work out what you're likely to do."

"Exactly!" Ash said. "So with Cynthia, she's got some really strong Pokémon, but since three of them are weak to Ice attacks then having a Pokémon that's good at those is a useful start. And for someone like Steven who has only one team he doesn't really rotate, you've got enough information to do a lot of planning… it's one of the reasons why some trainers have lots of Pokémon at high levels and others don't, because it can get harder to make sure everyone's at the top of their game."

"Now I'm thinking about that, your team's even more impressive," Lana blinked. "Wow."

"There's also how it works out during a battle," Ash went on. "Especially a League type of battle, where you don't know the Pokémon your opponent has but they have to lock them in ahead of time. What it means is that trainers have a limited set of options available and they have to balance between using the best solution in this situation and hiding their best solution for later."

Zacian moved Cynthia's Pokémon images over to one side of the room, putting questionmarks over all of them, and Ash nodded.

"So, let's say that I just beat… Cynthia's Spiritomb, with Dragonite," he said, and Zacian made the illusions react appropriately. "And the best choice for Cynthia here would either be Glaceon or Togekiss, but instead she sends out Milotic. Think about what that could mean."

Kiawe's Marowak was the one to put her hand up first this time.

"Sure, go ahead, Marowak!" Ash said.

"It could mean she didn't bring Glaceon or Togekiss," Marowak said. "But that would be surprising because those are her two best ways to battle Dragon types."

"Yeah, exactly," Ash agreed. "It'd be unusual for her not to bring those two Pokémon, so you can't really plan based on that until you have better proof. But you might be able to be more confident that she doesn't have both of them, because if she had both then sending out Milotic is instead cutting into her ability to stop the things Milotic is best against."

He grinned. "She wouldn't want to end up with both Glaceon and Togekiss left as her last two Pokémon, if my next one to send out is Salazzle! But she might try to make me think I'd think that, so you can't be sure about this. You can just sort of… see where it's all pointing. And maybe it turns out Milotic actually knows Dazzling Gleam or Ice Beam now so it was a good choice anyway."

Ash then waved his hand, prompting Zacian to make the Cynthia illusions disappear, and replaced them with a different diagram – this time Cameron's team from the Vertress Conference.

"So I battled Cameron in the semi finals," Ash explained. "And this is what his team was like."

Then Zacian tweaked the image.

"And this is what I could have found out by watching all his battles before the one we had," Ash went on. "It's not a complete picture and it's missing some important Pokémon, like Reshiram, but it's a lot better than nothing. That's why I thought foreshadowing was a good word, it's hints, but it's not explaining exactly what's going to happen! Then you can put that together with what happens in the actual battle and use it for strategy."

He folded his arms. "Does anyone have a good example of another trainer where we can look at what we can find out about their team from what's been on TV and stuff?"

The next morning, Ash didn't have a lesson to do. And he wasn't going to be doing one for the next few days, either, because he wasn't sure how long his trip to Ula-Ula to do the Trials there would take.

"Isn't it just expected that we go there and win easily?" Pikachu said.

"That depends who's out to get experience, don't forget," Ash replied. "It's the old thing with spreading experience around!"

"Good point," Pikachu admitted. "Hmm, so, who's it going to be… well, now I think about it, you do have two new Pokémon since last time you did a trial."

"Right!" Ash agreed. "How does that sound, Poipole?"

Poipole tilted his head. "Poi… polle…"

He put a hand to the side of his head, then did a twirl. "What?"

"There you go!" Ash smiled. "Would you like to take part in a battle? Mew-meee-w-w-ew?"

Poipole brightened. "Poiii!"

"Now, uh…" Ash checked Arc. "First it's an Island Trial, right? Then a Grand Trial?"

"Correct," Arc confirmed. "Island trial location identified."

"That sounds good to me!" Ash declared. "Let's go!"

In an abandoned shopping mart on Ula'Ula island, a Totem Mimikyu whistled to himself as he arranged magazines.

"Hmm hmm~" he said, disguise tail flicking from side to side, then glanced back. "Hey, Haunter, think I should try a different disguise again soon?"

"Try a dragon!" Haunter suggested. "That way someone might try and hit you with a Dragon type move!"

"Try a Tyranitar," a Gastly retorted. "Or an Aron or something like that, you know. Make the next trial guy try to hit you with a Fighting move."

"Or you could be a Zorua," Gengar said, clapping her hands. "Then even if they do hit you they might think they didn't… hmm, can you disguise as a Zorua disguised as something else?"

"Steady on, guys, there's only so much I can do with this," Mimikyu laughed. "But that would be a fun prank if I could get it to work."

He stopped. "Huh?"

Then a hole opened in the world halfway down from the ceiling, and a trainer fell out.

"Gah!" Mimikyu yelped, startling back, and the other Ghosts dove for cover. "Warn a Pokémon before you do something like that!"

"Thanks, Giratina!" the trainer said. "That worked great!"

The hole in the world closed, and he turned to Mimikyu. "You're the Totem Pokémon, right? Or is it one of the others?"

"I'm the Totem Pokémon, yes – what was that?" Mimikyu replied, waving at where the Reverse World portal had been. "You just fell out of… did you say Giratina?"

"Yeah, Giratina's an old friend," the trainer replied. "There was a big queue at the ferry station so this seemed quicker. He's really nice."

"Hang on…" Mimikyu asked, and went back to his magazine collection before flipping through one of them. "Let's see… and… there we go. Orange Islands champions of the last ten years. Ash Ketchum, nobody else. That's you, right?"

"It's a tricky little league!" Ash confirmed. "Drake was really nice about it though, and his Dragonite's a sweetheart if you're not in a battle."

"Right, well, if you are Ash you're the one the Tapus warned me about," Mimikyu decided. "All right, then. I assume you're here for a trial?"

Ash gave a thumbs-up.

"Poi poiii!" agreed one of his Pokémon, presumably.

"I did not understand that," Mimikyu admitted. "What is that Pokémon?"

"This is Poipole!" Ash introduced them. "He's an Ultra Beast, he's still learning the way Pokémon talk in this world."

"Pokémon!" Poipole confirmed. "I'm Poipole!"

"So, what are the rules?" Ash checked. "I guess you have Pokémon helping you out, like the other Island Trials?"

"That's right," Mimikyu said, deciding to focus on what was actually important here. "Well, technically the first step is meant to be finding me, but that's sort of been skipped here… anyway, don't damage my magazine collection, and you get to use two Pokémon at once."

"That's great, I can have both my newest Pokémon take part!" Ash said, sending out Nebby with a flash of light.

"Hi!" they said, floating in space. "Hi, Poipole!"

"Poipole!" Poipole agreed happily.

"What Pokémon is that?" Mimikyu asked, confused. "Something about it is vaguely familiar but I don't quite recognize it."

"That's Nebby," Ash introduced them. "Nebby, did you hear the bit about being careful about the magazine collection?"

Nebby bobbed up and down. "Got it! Which form should I be?"

"Let's go Solgaleo," Ash decided. "That way Poipole can use his attacks without giving you trouble."

Mimikyu blinked. "Did you just say Solgaleo?"

"Tapu Bulu didn't give you much in the way of details, did he?" Pikachu asked, sympathetically.

"Not really, no…"

About ten minutes later, Ash was taking notes.

"Poipole could probably do with a move that works well on Poison-types," he said. "And Steel-types. Toxic and Venoshock works really well if you can use the combination, but against Pokémon who can't be poisoned it leaves him without many good options."

Nebby sat down in the middle of the abandoned store, raised one of his paws, and began petting Poipole. "We made a good team!"

"Poiiii!" Poipole cheered, spinning around as Nebby pet him.

"Well, it's good you're continuing to progress," Mimikyu murmured, now marginally less two-dimensional than he'd been after being caught by a Sunsteel Strike – one that had followed several Venoshocks to soften him up. "And it's a good thing that my assistants didn't do structural damage when they got knocked through the wall. I think you've definitely completed this Island Trial though… where did I put that special one you're supposed to get…"

Boxes rustled, and Mimikyu flicked one open with his busted tail. "There we go! Honestly I'm glad I'm immune to it."

"This one's, uh… Dragon, right?" Ash asked. "It's that or Fighting or Normal, and I've already got Normal and it doesn't look Fighting coloured."

"Correct," Mimikyu confirmed. "Oh, and if you get a chance, mind sending me some more recent magazines?"

Chapter Text

With an Island Trial under his belt, Ash moved on to find the Kahuna of Ula'Ula Island and challenge him to a Grand Trial.

This proved harder than expected.

"So… I need to go to the police station?" Ash checked, looking down at Arc.

"Correct," Arc confirmed. "However, further details will not be provided. There is something of a challenge element to it."

"Oh, got it!" Ash confirmed. "If part of the challenge is finding out who the Kahuna is myself, it'd be disrespectful to skip it…"

He looked up, confirming on Arc's map that he was actually at the police station, and then knocked on the door.

There was a long pause.

"So, who are you?" an Alolan Meowth asked, licking her paw as she balanced against the window.

"I'm Ash Ketchum!" Ash introduced himself, thumping a thumb into his chest, just as the door opened.

The guy who'd opened it dropped his mug of coffee.

"You're real!?" he asked. "I thought Gio was making things up!"

"Gio?" Ash repeated, thinking. "Oh, yeah, the Viridian Gym leader! He said something like that during our gym battle. Are you friends?"

One of the other Alolan Meowth just inside the building began to snigger.

"Are you the Kahuna?" Ash added. "I'm here for a Grand Trial!"

"You'll have to wait, kid," the man replied. "It could be a while until the Kahuna comes back. What about if you play with my Meowth while I see if I can find him?"

Now more Meowth were sniggering, and the man rolled his eyes.

"Plus, I need to make a phone call," he added.

A phone rang.

"Yes?" Giovanni asked. "What. Really?"

He chuckled. "I told you, Nanu. He just appears. Honestly I'm glad he only came back to Kanto occasionally in the last couple of years."

Giovanni listened to what Nanu was saying, then shook his head.

"No, the solar lion is new in specific," he replied. "But that's just what he's like… it could have been a Zorua. Did you check if it was a Zorua? Apparently he's got several."

Pause.

"No, I don't have any advice for how to battle him, Nanu. He beat my Ground type gym with an all electric team on his first gym challenge. But whatever you do, don't dismiss that Pikachu."

Another, longer, pause.

"Nanu, his Pikachu electrocuted my final Pokémon. My best agents have been keeping track of his team for years, that Pikachu is the strongest thing on it."

Giovanni shook his head again. "No, I'm not going to do the Grand Trial for you. Just get around to it before he starts getting curious."

"You're a big cat!" one of the Meowth giggled. "I can't get over that! Really big cat!"

"That's me!" Solgaleo agreed. "But I can also be a big bat! Does that sound fun?"

"Cats are better," another Meowth retorted.

"I've got some other cat Pokémon," Ash told them, sending out Torracat. "I don't have one of the Beasts with me, though… I also don't have Noivern, he's another bat Pokémon. And I guess Pikachu doesn't count as a rat."

"Cats, bats, rats… it could be a themed team," Pikachu said, thinking about it. "The tricky thing is keeping it all to a single type. Can you think of a Dark or Normal Pokémon that's like a bat?"

"Not really," Ash replied, with a shrug.

"You've got a bell!" a Meowth said. "What's that for?"

"It's full of fire, that's what," Torracat answered, looking a little nervous, then one of the Meowth pulled on her tail.

Torracat picked the Meowth up and did a fairly comprehensive fireman's carry headlock elbow drop, mostly through reflex.

"Wow…" the other Meowth gasped, in unison.

"Again!" the dropped one said, flipping up onto his paws again. "That was fun!"

"Huh, not the usual reaction," Torracat admitted. "I guess it's something to do with landing on your feet? Okay, anyone else who wants to form a queue?"

A few hours later, someone turned up.

Ash asked if she was the Kahuna, and she said that – no, she wasn't the Kahuna, Nanu who Ash had met earlier was the Kahuna, and Ash brightened.

"Oh!" he realized. "So it's sort of like a challenge… the things he said are all still true even if he is the Kahuna?"

"No, and if they were that's probably just a coincidence," the woman said. "I'm Acerola… it looks like Nanu just left you playing with his Meowth? Sounds like him."

She stretched. "I'm actually here to talk to him, but I know some of the other places he might be. Tell you what, come back to the library and that'll give you something to do while I find him and drag him back."

"Pooi?" Poipole asked, looking up from making a Meowth drawing on the floor. "What?"

"A library is a place where there are books," Ash explained. "A library is a place where there are books. Me-eew-w-wmew!"

"...that's so weird, but also kind of endearing," Acerola said. "Was that mewing sound you speaking to your Pokémon?"

"Poipole's learning our languages!" Ash clarified. "And Pikachu's learning his. So I said the same thing in three different languages, two of them using Mew sounds."

"I swear Nanu should learn to do that, he spends enough time with his Meowth," Acerola muttered. "Okay, the library's this way."

Poipole was very interested to see all the books.

"Poii!" he said, floating in front of one and slowly turning the pages. "Poooi-pole!"

"That's right, some of them have pictures in," Ash agreed, turning another page. "Huh… hey, Nebby, this picture's got a Solgaleo and a Lunala. And something else, too-"

"Poooi!" Poipole interrupted, excited. "Poole-pole-poipoi! Poiii!"

"I'm only getting about a third of that," Pikachu said. "Something about light?"

"I think Poipole's saying that that's what their light source looked like, before they got hurt," Ash replied. "The Blinding One, huh…"

Nebby looked down at the book from where she was hanging off the ceiling.

"Well, I don't know much about that, but I'm still only little," she said. "You know, in age. Not in size. I'm quite big."

Ash, Pikachu, Nebby and Greninja were each about two books into a research session when Acerola came back, accompanied possibly involuntarily by Nanu.

"I found the Kahuna for you," Acerola explained. "Oh, what's this? I didn't take you for a book guy, no offence."

"I'm usually not!" Ash replied. "But this Blinding One seems kind of important to Poipole's home, and if we could work out what was going on and why they're linked to Solgaleo and Lunala it might let us save the world!"

Nanu snorted. "I do not believe the secret for how to save our world is in a Maile City public library."

"No, no, it's not this the world, it's the other the world," Ash explained. "Poipole is from another planet, or another something anyway, he got here by Ultra Wormhole. And it's like his world's sun got badly injured, or source of light at least, so we're trying to work out how to cure it."

"Or at least what it is," Greninja said, as one of their Frubble clones turned another page for Nebby.

"Yeah!" Ash confirmed. "But anyway, we can do more research later, I'm here for a Grand Trial!"

"You need to do an Island Trial first," Nanu denied.

"Already did that!" Ash replied, holding up the Draconium Z. "I didn't get a chance to work out if it's got a special mode, though."

"...special mode?" Nanu asked. "What do you mean, special mode? They're… Z crystals."

"Yeah, and a lot of mine have special modes that we've noticed!" Ash replied, rummaging around. "Uh… well, maybe it should wait until the trial, or afterwards, but this Electricium Z can change into a Pikachu specific one and use a special Z move! We decided it was called Ten Million Volt Thunderbolt, I think? And this Ghost one can change into a Hisuzorium Z which lets Aten use Ice Cold Royal Fury, that kind of thing… still don't know what this one does… this one's attuned to Meganium and Mega Meganium, so it can turn into a Mega Meganiumnium Z…"

"At this point I think I should probably hurry on to the trial," Nanu sighed. "Okay, trial rules, I get to set them… so, the rule is, you have to use only one Pokémon, I get three. Don't like it, tough."

"That's fine!" Ash replied. "What other rules are there on what Pokémon I use?"

"...no Legendaries," Nanu decided quickly. "Okay, let's go somewhere to properly do this."

Nanu took them to a set of ruins in the desert, which he introduced as the Ruins of Abundance.

"I think this should be far enough away from anywhere that we don't want to break," he said.

There was a sort of annoyed grumble, and Tapu Bulu made a rude gesture at them from the top of one of the nearby masses of rock.

"Like I said," Nanu added.

"Hmm," Ash frowned, thinking. "Is there some kind of connection between how the local Tapus act and how the Kahunas act? I'm mostly noticing it with you and Tapu Bulu but now I think about it trying to avoid doing something unless it's urgent is exactly the kind of thing Tapu Bulu would do!"

"I'm going to do my best not to treat that as an insult, kid," Nanu decided. "Anyway… you asked about the Blinding One, so I thought I'd better use this sacred place to explain it. The Blinding One is a figure of reverence in Alola, because it's said that the Blinding One along with their assistants Solgaleo and Lunala brought light to Alola. Before then it was nothing but darkness."

"Hmm," Ash frowned. "I guess maybe that means Nebby should speak to their parents about it, maybe that would give us a clue about what's going on. And… I wonder if I can get some information from Arceus about whether Alola really was pitch black before the Blinding One appeared… I don't think xey'd have wanted to leave somewhere that dark, not if they'd created the rest of the world. I mean… thinking about it, Mew came first, and Arceus came first, and while maybe Arceus doesn't need light to do anything I'm fairly sure Mew does unless he's turned into something that doesn't need it… but then again you need Dialga to be created for there to be any real concept of time, and Palkia for there to be any real concept of space, and both of those guys glow a bit at least."

Nanu and Tapu Bulu were both giving Ash concerned looks now as he free-associated. "And, the Reverse World always seems well lit, maybe Giratina never came here either? But then Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, I think you'd need the sun to be there for Groudon to use their sunlight powers to help create the land, so I sort of think there must have been… oh! Maybe there was some kind of volcanic eruption and then the people of Alola were visited by a source of light from another world? That might be it!"

"Kid, what is your life?" Nanu asked. "How do you know all this stuff?"

"Oh, yeah, I should cite my sources, but loads of it is just personal conversation with Mew," Ash admitted. "I think you can say personal conversation as a source? It's just harder to check…"

"So," Dartrix said, yawning. "You didn't go to Ula'Ula?"

"You are correct," Zygarde confirmed. "It is not impossible that Ash will require my assistance, and in that case I will ask for assistance from Hoopa. And Hoopa is reliable when you want Hoopa to do something."

"Hoopa is always reliable!" Hoopa said, sticking their head through a wormhole.

"What about when someone wants you to not do something?" Zygarde inquired.

"Hoopa is sometimes reliable!" Hoopa amended Hoopaself.

"I actually meant him," Dartrix clarified, waving at Salazzle.

"No chance," Salazzle said. "I might get into a massive argument. It's the old thing about going back where you didn't fawn over a female, you know."

Hoopa, Dartrix and Zygarde exchanged glances.

"I don't think we have the least idea, no," Dartrix said, on behalf of all of them.

"Fair," Salazzle admitted. "Who wants lunch?"

Chapter Text

It took Ash a long while to pick which of his Pokémon to use for the Grand Trial, especially since it was going to be one against three, but a combination of timing and wanting to test something out led him to pick Lycanroc.

"Good luck, okay?" Ash asked, giving the Dusk Lycanroc a scratch under the chin. "Let's do this!"

"You got it!" Lycanroc agreed, with a flick of their tail, then turned to face Nanu's first Pokémon.

Which turned out to be a Krookodile.

"Begin, or whatever," Nanu called. "Mud Slap."

"Stealth Rock!" Ash instructed. "Dodge into the air – then use Rock Polish!"

"Into the air?" Nanu asked, then watched with some disquiet as Lycanroc jumped over the mud-slap and didn't come down again. "Okay, huh. That's weird."

"Just a bit," Krookodile agreed.

Lycanroc was accelerating already, their Stealth Rock lifting up rocks for them to kick off of, then Ash pointed. "Okay, now use Rock Throw!"

"Counter," Nanu instructed, and Krookodile blocked with a straight-arm block, grunted, then threw the rock right back at Lycanroc.

"Okay, huh…" Ash frowned, thinking hard. "Counter is going to be tricky… use your Stealth Rocks to shield against the counterattacks!"

"Got it!" Lycanroc replied, bouncing from rock to rock, and randomly kicking some of them down at Krookodile using Rock Throw. The second Counter missed, then the third slammed into a shield of rocks, but the fourth one did make it through and hit.

"Whoops," the Rock-type muttered. "Hey, what about this?"

Lycanroc jumped from one rock to another until there were six of them faintly glowing at once, then launched them all down at once. Krookodile blocked, managing to catch one and Counter with it, but the other five knocked him onto his back.

"Back up," Nanu instructed. "Sand Tomb."

"Look out!" Ash called.

Lycanroc was already dealing with Sand Tomb, and it surged in to trap them in place. Then it trembled, and Lycanroc burst out of the sand again with Accelerock.

"What is it with my fur getting messed up?!" they howled, eyes glowing red, and kicked off three rocks before arriving right in front of Krookodile. Ash's Rock-type grabbed Krookodile by the tail, then took off again to drag Krookodile into the air, and Ash watched with care.

"Huh," he said, softly. "Pikachu, is it me or…?"

"I think you're right," Pikachu agreed.

Ash got the Rock Z-crystal out of his pocket, turning it over for a moment, then plugged it into his Z-ring.

The two combatants were almost too high to see for several seconds, then Krookodile came crashing back down and made a crater in the ground with a wham.

Lycanroc followed, eyes going from red back to green, and touched down gently. "I think I'm all right now," they said, shaking themselves, and the sand went dusting away in all directions.

"Careful, Lycanroc," Ash advised. "You did great there, but there's two Pokémon to go. Or, uh, still all three? I'm not sure."

"Yeah, two," Nanu said, returning Krookodile. "Sableye, you next – Mean Look!"

"Dodge!" Ash called, realizing that a move like that had to have a reason.

"No, wolf!" Lycanroc corrected.

They dodged anyway, but Mean Look connected and outlined Lycanroc in a fizzing corona of dark energy that held them stuck in place.

"Now, Shadow Claw," Nanu ordered, prompting his Sableye to run forwards and start slashing.

Ash's thumb rubbed over the Z-crystal, then he raised his hands to his mouth instead.

"You can do this, Lycanroc!" Ash called. "Stay strong, don't let those Shadow Claw attacks get to you! Me-wwwew!"

Pikachu giggled.

"...what?" Nanu asked, completely confused. "Are you trying to imitate one of my Meowth?"

A Stealth Rock beaned Sableye in the face, knocking them away from Lycanroc, then the Rock-type gave a sort of convulsive all-over shudder and broke free from the Mean Look.

"Accelerock!" Ash said quickly, and Lycanroc whirled on one paw before darting after Sableye. "And I was speaking Poipole in Mew! That's because Lycanroc has been around when I was explaining how to speak that, because it's an alien language, but you couldn't get it from what I said and Sableye couldn't either. That meant I could order Lycanroc about what to do without you or Sableye realizing!"

Nanu shook his head.

"Kid, you're weird," he said. "Sableye, Shadow Ball!"

Sableye duly threw a Shadow Ball, then used Shadow Sneak as well to try and hide away from Lycanroc's latest barrage of stones.

One of the stones was Lycanroc, who believed in being paws-on.

"Okay, new plan, same as the old plan," Nanu muttered to himself. "Mean Look now!"

Lycanroc froze halfway through a pounce, went thump into the ground next to Sableye and bounced, then half-a-dozen Stealth Rocks pressed in around them and lifted them out of Shadow Claw range.

"Blinding One, but that's infuriating," Nanu grumbled. "Well, then, Shadow Ball!"

A barrage of shadowy orbs hammered into Lycanroc, the Rock-type not able to dodge them all just with Stealth Rock pressure steering, and twice there was a crackle as the Shadow Ball drained away Lycanroc's ability to endure the attacks pummelling them.

Then Ash pointed. "Now! Accelerock!"

Lycanroc pushed off from the rocks around them, revealing that the Mean Look had worn off already, and slammed into Sableye with a blistering-speed pounce.

Then used Bite, just for emphasis.

"Okay, two down," Nanu said, as Lycanroc panted. "One to go, and I think you'll have some trouble with this one."

He held up a Pokéball, and sent out an Alolan Persian.

A very big Alolan Persian.

"Oh, is that a Totem Pokémon?" Ash asked. "I've got one of those, I think he's from around here."

"So much for shock value," Nanu grumbled. "Okay, Persian – he's weak, use Dark Pulse!"

"Not a he!" Lycanroc replied, then ducked just under the Dark Pulse and began taking off again. The follow-up Power Gem that hit them on the rump spun them around, though, and after that Nanu called for a Shock Wave which hit the Rock-type hard as well.

"Lycanroc, get ready!" Ash called, and began posing. "We'll have to do this at maximum speed!"

The Z-crystal transformed with a flash into a Lycanium Z, and Lycanroc whirled in the air to face Persian.

"Ready to dodge," Nanu murmured.

"Mew!" Ash said firmly, finishing the pose, and a burst of light flashed around both him and Lycanroc. Persian darted to the side… then stopped, confused.

Because Lycanroc hadn't come smashing down to attack. Not in a Continental Crush, not in a Splintered Stormshards.

Instead, the clinging, corruptive energies from the Shadow Balls had gone completely, and the Z-crystal in Ash's ring was back to being a Rockium Z.

"Z-Rock Polish," Nanu realized. "Clever, but… Gunk Shot!"

Persian fired out a Gunk Shot, covering Lycanroc with gunk, and their eyes flashed into red.

They charged down to ground level, moving with blazing speed, and Persian darted out of the way just in time.

Now it was Nanu's turn to start posing, and Lycanroc's blazing red fury meant they were just attacking over and over again without stopping to consider what that could mean.

"Lycanroc, focus!" Ash called. "Look out!"

Lycanroc howled, sliding across the stony arena, then charged.

Persian used Black Hole Eclipse, aiming directly at Lycanroc.

And the Rock-type vanished just before the attack hit.

"...what?" Nanu asked, as the Black Hole Eclipse knocked out the rock formation Tapu Bulu was resting on and sent the Tapu falling to the ground in a cloud of annoyance. "Where did the Lycanroc go?"

"Oh, yeah, that!" Ash said. "So, you know how Lycanroc gets really mad when someone messes up their fur?"

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking between the panting Persian and Nanu. "Turns out, actually, they don't get mad enough to not listen to instructions! Also, they were going really fast there."

"Blep," Lycanroc said, from their position hovering directly above Nanu. "Oh, sorry, I meant Accelerock."

The Rock-type smashed into Persian, knocking them out.

"Funny thing," Lycanroc added. "Once I connected messed up fur to having a nice comb afterwards, it was much easier to deal with."

Ash gave Lycanroc a comb with the special rock-fur rated metal comb, along with brushing off their fur in general, then when Nanu made an annoyed sigh and started looking at his watch Ash decided it'd probably be polite to actually finish the part Nanu had to be here for.

"Sorry," he said. "I wanted to make sure Lycanroc knew they were appreciated."

"I guess that makes sense," Nanu admitted. "But I've got to ask, kid… why did you use Lycanroc? I mean specifically, he's a tough Pokémon but-"

"Still not a he," Lycanroc grumbled.

"Lycanroc's not male or female," Ash explained. "I get you didn't know that, it's fine, but now you do!"

"Right," Nanu said. "Anyway, uh, they're a tough Pokémon but I only said no legendaries and you knew it was going to be a tricky fight. Why not that Pikachu of yours?"

"You said no Legendaries," Ash pointed out.

"Does that technically count?" Pikachu asked.

Ash scratched him, and Pikachu made a sort of chirping purring noise. "When we were going around Sinnoh, a while ago now, there was this weird thing where we went to the past? And Pikachu blocked a direct attack from Arceus, so he ended up in legends as the Thunder Beast of Michina! It's really cool, but because he's in legends it feels like a grey area so I didn't want to use him without specifically asking."

Ash shrugged. "Besides, it was good for Lycanroc's development. It was them or Torracat, and she's still working on being able to do Battle Royales herself… I could have used Salazzle, but he didn't want to come here, and nor did Dartrix because he was too busy sunning himself."

"...he?" Nanu repeated. "Oh, whatever. Okay, kid, time for the Z-crystal…"

He rummaged around in a bag, then stopped, and looked up at Ash.

Lycanroc slowly rose into view over Ash's head, the canine Rock-type's head pillowed on their paws and their tongue out.

"...yeah, I don't think you should have the Dark-type one," Nanu decided.

"Actually Dark would be pretty good!" Ash said. "Or Fighting. Hey, Pikachu, want to see if you can do Z move poses?"

Nanu blinked. "What. Why would that. What."

He rubbed the bags under his eyes. "What are you even talking about?"

"Well, I know Secret Sword, Night Slash and Foul Play, so those would be good moves to try and Z-move, but I also know Razor Wind and Twister so it's not necessarily required," Ash shrugged. "Though I guess it'd be especially good to have a Fighting one because Pikachu can do that one too… do you have a Fighting one?"

"I might," Nanu said, deciding to just gloss over the whole I know thing, and also ignore how much Pikachu was now laughing.

It was a lot.

The moment that Nanu had confirmed Ash was safely off Ula'Ula – not that that meant anything – he practically ran for his office.

"You didn't warn me," he said, without preamble and as soon as his phone had connected. "Yes, I know what you said. I remember every conversation we had while you were hiding from a young boy here on Ula'Ula. I know what you said when I told you he'd arrived. You didn't warn me. His Pikachu blocked an attack from the creator god, how is that not something you think I should know?"

After more than a minute, most of which had just been listening to the sound of a bottle being opened and a glass being poured, Nanu blinked. "What do you mean, you don't know that? You know everything else! How would you not know this one just because it happened so long ago it's a legend?"

Chapter Text

"The pose is almost like that," Ash said. "Then you need to punch with one paw, then the other one… yeah, that should be about right."

"You know, even after everything you've already done, I did not expect this interpretation of teaching one of your Pokémon to do Z moves," Kiawe told Ash. "I'm not sure why-"

There was a pop, and everyone looked up.

"Looks like the fireworks have started!" Ash realized. "Okay, Pikachu, we'll give that a try later, let's watch these for now!"

"Sure," Pikachu agreed, relaxing. "So… I don't think I've ever explicitly looked into it. How do shaped firework displays like that work anyway?"

Another pop went off overhead, this time a relatively simple shape, then there was a crackle and a recognizable Rowlet-face appeared.

"So, it's a guess," Ash admitted. "But I think the way it works is to do with having lots of little fireworks, and they're all arranged carefully so they go up in a pattern. So long as they all go straight up the same distance, or things like that, they're likely to end up in the pattern you want?"

He shrugged. "But I've not done things like that before! So it's a guess."

After the next volley, a purple shape came up to Ash.

"Po-ioioi?" Poipole asked, worried, and waved at the sky.

"Oh, right…" Ash smiled. "Me-ww-wew. Does anyone know what the fireworks display is celebrating?"

Professor Kukui didn't seem to have any idea, and nor did anyone in his class.

"The display may be celebrating: having a lot of fireworks," Arc suggested. "Or: not wanting to have a lot of fireworks any more."

"Yeah, that sounds worth celebrating!" Ash agreed. "If you don't want to have a lot of fireworks, the best way to celebrate having managed it is a fireworks display!"

"I-" Lana began. "Yeah, actually, that does work now I think about it."

Ash passed that on to Poipole, mostly that they didn't know what the fireworks display was for, then everyone settled in to watch.

The display lasted for most of an hour, as the evening turned to full night, then Arc informed them all that the finale was about to happen.

At that, a double-V formation of ten Dragonite went rocketing out over the water, all of them using different attacks to make a cascade of overlapping explosions in the air, and Arc manifested into their true glittering golden form before changing over to a plate that made their ring a sort of dark brown. They struck the beach with a hoof, and a rain of meteors plunged down out of the sky towards Hau'Oli bay.

The Dragonites all veered upwards, each one intercepting one of the meteors, and they all vanished at once inside balls of fire and light.

"Wow!" Lillie gasped. "Are they okay?"

"They are fine," Arc replied. "That was a Ground Typed Judgement. That was just a matter of good judgement about types."

The explosions faded, revealing that the Dragonite were indeed all fine, and they returned to formation before flying back inland.

"I guess they'll go and get a lift from Ibid to get back to Kanto," Ash guessed. "Thanks for helping arrange that, Arc, and that was a great performance!"

"It was my pleasure," Arc replied, then returned to phone form.

"You have the best phone," Kiawe said softly. "So, the display's over, right?"

"Correct," Arc said.

Then there was a multi-coloured explosion out over the bay.

"Huh," Ash frowned. "Maybe they decided they should, I don't know, use the spare fireworks or something?"

He leaned forwards. "That looks a bit familiar… Arc, can you let Ibid know? Entei should be awake, I want to check something with him."

Another similar explosion went off, a multicoloured pink and blue one, and Poipole gasped. "Poiiii."

Ibid appeared, along with several Dragonite, then Ibid vanished again.

"Evening, sire," a Dragonite said brightly. "Did you like the flypast?"

"It was great!" Ash said. "You really steered well! It didn't end up with two of you going into the same meteors, that was really good coordination."

"Thanks!" another Dragonite smiled.

Then Entei appeared, along with Ibid.

"Oh, Alola, right," the Fire-type said. "What's the matter?"

"Hi, Entei!" Ash waved.

He pointed out to sea, where another of the strange explosions was happening. "Does that look familiar to you?"

"I will never get used to how casual he is about this," Mallow murmured to Lana.

Entei watched, then nodded gravely. "Yes, it does," he said. "That reminds me of something I can do. Mew taught me once."

"I thought so!" Ash agreed. "That's the thing you did in Gardenia's Gym, that's where I remember it from. So that must be a Pokémon doing that!"

He shaded his eyes, but the display seemed to be finally over. "Well, I guess if we do find out what Pokémon was causing it we'll know where the move came from!"

Arc went beep.

"You have a text from Lusamine," they informed Ash. "Text reads: Are you up for the fireworks display? We're detecting Ultra Aura, and it doesn't seem to be the same type as Nebby does."

"Let's do a video call!" Ash decided, and Arc manifested a video window in front of them.

Or possibly an area of warped space. It was a bit hard to tell and the result was the same.

"Hi, Director!" Ash waved. "So I just checked with Entei, and he says the last fireworks look like a Pokémon attack. It could be an Ultra Beast attack because Mew isn't sure where it came from, or wasn't last time I checked… do you think we've got time to go and find the Ultra Beast now, or is it better to do it tomorrow morning?"

"That depends," Lusamine replied.

She wasn't at her desk on the Aether Paradise, and seemed instead to be sitting at a kitchen table wearing a dressing gown.

"Do you have access to transport? The Ride Pokémon are all off duty at the moment."

"That's okay!" Ash replied. "About half the Dragonite who were helping with the fireworks display are still here, so we should be good to go!"

"Silver's out in the bay, too," Dragonite volunteered. "He was there in case one of us crashed."

"I should give him that number-four badge," Ash decided.

As it was getting gradually darker, Sophocles' Dragonite used Flash, flying up over the others to provide them with illumination and make sure they didn't end up going thump into the ground.

It wouldn't be very polite to their passengers.

The rest of the formation spread out, on the lookout for the source of the explosions, and Lillie shaded her eyes.

"Can you see anything, Snowy?" she asked. "This is a lot harder now."

"Piiix," Snowy replied, and Dragonite reached back with one arm. Snowy got into it, and Lillie tried not to gulp as Dragonite held Snowy out underneath them so the Ice-type could get a better view.

She knew the only way that would be happening was if the Vulpix asked for it, and Dragonite agreed it was a good idea, but it was… um… unsettling, maybe?

Unsettling was a good word to describe it.

"Vul-vul!" Snowy called, excitedly, and Dragonite waved. There was a sort of whoosh sound behind her, and Lillie looked back to see that Dragonite's tail was on fire.

She didn't know what move that was, but it seemed to be some kind of signal, because the other Dragonite started converging on them – only to dodge out of the way again as another one of those big explosions happened.

"Well, I guess we found the Ultra Beast!" Ash said, as Silver swooped into place next to Lillie's Ride Pokémon. "They're running across the sea, huh…"

He frowned for a long moment.

"I wonder why they started doing those explosions in the first place… maybe it's to do with seeing the fireworks?" he guessed. "It's worth a try- hey, Silver, let's test it out!"

Silver nodded, then Ash spread his arms out to the side, and Silver changed colour.

"Huh?" Lillie asked, baffled, before Silver inhaled and fired out a red beam of light with a sound like tearing cloth.

The beam flashed down until it was just above the sea, then curved upwards, making a kind of spiralling loop in mid-air. Then it kept looping around, three more times, then formed a sort of flower pattern with more than a dozen petals, and finally exploded.

Another of those explosion attacks happened in response.

I think it's working! Silver's psychic voice announced, full of excitement.

"Yeah, now we need to work out how to speak explosion!" Ash replied. "Arc, any ideas?"

"Perhaps try that again," Arc suggested. "Or use Thunder or Fire Blast."

Good idea! Silver concurred, then used Fire Blast and shaped it into a kind of overlapping river of flames that sparkled and popped.

"How are you doing that?" Kiawe asked from the back of Charizard, asking the question that a lot of the class were probably thinking. "Why is your Lugia a different colour now?"

"He's Ash-Silver!" Ash explained, not that that helped much. "When a Pokémon does this they sort of get an extra unique little thing they can do? And for Silver it's that he can control his attacks even after they're fired, which is really useful for Aeroblast!"

"That is not a little thing," Sophocles complained.

"Pika-pikachu," Pikachu pointed out. "Pikapi, pika-ka!"

"Oh, right, yeah, I should probably do a lesson on Mega Evolving and Bond Phenomenon some time soon," Ash agreed. "That would be fun! But for now… right…"

He reached for Arc. "Let me know when you've got enough to be working on, Arc! Silver, let's try one with Blizzard now!"

Eventually, after several more air-to-air and sea-to-air explosions, Arc had enough information to work from to convey the message that they had been learning how to say things and now wanted to talk (which involved Silver making a big plume of water with Hydro Pump, then freezing it with Blizzard, and Pikachu blowing it up with a massive Thunder attack).

The Ultra Beast promptly veered for the nearest bit of shoreline, allowing the Ultra Guardians to land nearby, and as soon as Silver touched down Ash got off him and got out Ibid.

"Can I have… Tepig and Salazzle?" he requested. "They should be good with explosions."

"Fetching," Ibid confirmed, vanishing in a flash of teleport.

The Ultra Beast's head exploded.

"Translation," Arc provided. "We are here to talk. Where am I."

"Thanks," Ash said, checking Arc's screen. "And… right, so their name is Blacephalon! Thanks, Arc… okay, we need to say, you are in another world, and, we would like to send you home."

Silver leaned closer to look, then Salazzle and Tepig did the same once they'd arrived.

"So we need to start with a big red and gold explosion shaped like a disc," Ash summarized. "Tepig, can you do the gold part? The red part should be doable, right, Silver?"

"I can do my best!" Tepig said.

"I wonder what the fireworks display meant, then," Lillie pondered. "What do you think?"

"I think-" Lana began, then stopped. "Hey, is it me or is there something over there?"

Ash looked, and they saw another Ultra Beast advancing – something that looked a bit like a tangle of wires, with some of them sparking.

"Well, that's a bugger," Salazzle said. "How do we talk to them both, boss?"

"Arc, what's Blacephalon for 'we'll handle this'?" Ash checked. "Pikachu, that looks like an Electric-type!"

Arc provided the translation in diagrams, and Salazzle and Tepig quickly got on providing it. For his part, Pikachu jumped off Ash's shoulder, so in tune with his trainer that he didn't really need the plan explained.

Nobody else had that benefit. "What are you going to do?" Mallow asked.

Ash adjusted his hat. "We need to make sure that that Ultra Beast realizes we could beat them, but we're not going to unless they make us!" he said, slotting the Electricium Z into his Z-ring. "Pikachu, let's Z-pose to assert dominance!"

Lillie made a sort of heartfelt groaning noise, then Ash and Pikachu struck three poses together and Pikachu blasted a line of holes in the beach.

The other Ultra Beast turned out to be called a Xurkitree, and while they'd never met a Blacephalon before the two of them seemed fascinated by one another. Xurkitree's electrical displays of communication and Blacephalon's head-detonating ways of speech turned into a sort of impromptu overhead display as the two Ultra Beasts tried to impress one another, which the Ultra Guardians let happen because neither of them were violent and both seemed to be enjoying themselves, then Nebby showed up to help and used her special Z-move to send both extra-terrestrial Pokémon back to their home worlds.

“I’m going to talk to Professor Kukui about this,” Ash pondered. “But it might make sense to start school late tomorrow…”

“Oh, no, you’re right, we have school tomorrow,” Mallow realized. “It’s really late…”

Chapter Text

It was the following Monday when Professor Kukui organized a field trip to Hokulani Observatory, on the very top of Mount Hokulani on Ula'Ula Island.

Naturally, a field trip to an observatory meant going at night, and that in turn meant that the trainers had very unusual sleep schedules. Except Ash, because Arc had a function for that.

Ash wasn't fully clear on the details, but he wasn't complaining either.

"What kind of thing can observatories see?" Mallow wondered, out loud, as they climbed towards the observatory itself. "Are there Pokémon in space?"

"There's Deoxys, they're from space!" Ash said. "And some Clefairy are on the moon. My nephmew is, too, remember, we met them once? And I think there's some Cresselia up there… things like that."

He snapped his fingers. "Right, so Lunatone and Solrock are meteorite Pokémon, they come down from space sometimes, but I think there's local populations here now and have been for a while – you can never really tell with Pokémon like that that can teleport… and Elgyem and Beheeyem sometimes fly around in UFOs, I've met some in the past."

"Don't forget, there aren't just Pokémon in space!" Rayquaza said. "My cousin lives near space, and you could probably see him with a telescope if you got lucky!"

"Oh, yeah, that's a good point!" Ash agreed. "There's Pokémon who live up near space, too, in the ozone layer or the ionosphere or places like that. Big Rayquaza is one of them, just one of them because the only other Rayquaza I know about is my Rayquaza and she mostly lives either in Kanto or in my jacket."

"She's so cute," Lana said. "But really, Rayquaza lives up that high?"

"That's part of their job," Ash explained. "Some Legendary Pokémon, especially, are there to do things, and Rayquaza's jobs are to keep Groudon and Kyogre from causing trouble and to stop meteorites from hitting the planet and doing damage. So for one of them it's good for him to be up near space, so he has a good view, while for the other one it doesn't matter how high up he is because he can just come plunging down to say hi to both of them."

"It's funny that it's called Dragon Ascent when he spends most of the time he uses it on the way down," Rayquaza giggled.

"Those are all good examples of Pokémon from space, or near space," Kukui told them. "But there's another one as well, and that's why we're here in fact."

"Huh," Ash frowned. "I guess that must be-"

"Minior!" Sophocles announced. "I know a lot about them, I met one when I was younger! It landed but its shell didn't break, so I helped it."

He looked downcast. "It dissolved, though… that was really sad. I guess Minior just don't last long down here."

"Don't they?" Pikachu asked. "But they do fall out of the sky, right?"

"Ibid, do you have any ideas?" Ash asked, reaching for his Pokédex.

Ibid turned into a Microor, which was a smaller Minior than usual.

"Minior," he said. "It lives in the Ozone Layer. Though the outer shell is durable, the shock of falling to the ground smashes the shell to pieces. The colour of its core varies depending on the dust it eats. A Minior which is out of its shell will dissolve over time, and either the core or the dust will return to the ozone layer."

"So I guess it's a cycle of life thing," Ash wondered. "If they form in the ozone layer, then either they're really young and they just don't live long or they're really old because they keep falling down and returning!"

"Then maybe I could talk to that same Minior, if they're still around," Sophocles decided. "If they turn up, that is."

"Yeah, it's not likely but it's worth asking," Ash agreed. "Let's go and see whoever's in charge of the observatory!"

The person in charge of the observatory was, as it turned out, Sophocles' cousin Molayne. He showed them the telescope, pointing it out into space, then at a group of Minior expected to fall the next evening, and finally at the moon.

"Hmm," Ash said. "Hey, have you seen Mirage Mew's house?"

"...what?" Molayne asked, confused. "Who's that?"

"That's my Nephmew, but it's okay, you might not know exactly what I mean," Ash realized. "Look near that really big bright crater on the left… okay, zoom in… left a bit, and… there!"

"Wait," Molayne asked. "You mean you know the cause for the Procellarum Lights?"

"If that's what the telescope's pointed at, sure!" Ash confirmed. "It's where Mirage Mew set up their home. It's a nice big place now, I think they've got some people living up there permanently, and there's a water park. There's some extinct Pokémon, too!"

"How can you have extinct Pokémon there?" Kiawe asked.

"Well, actually, is that the right word?" Ash asked himself. "Conway's got one, so maybe not… I was thinking you could say they were extinct because there weren't any on earth any more, but there is one, I just hadn't thought of Conway's one. But yeah, it's a big building project Mirage Mew is doing as a hobby!"

"I think I'm going to have to write that one up," Molayne decided.

"Hey, look!" Lillie gasped. "There's a shooting star!"

"That's a Minior!" Sophocles said. "Let's go and see them!"

There were dozens and dozens of multi-coloured Minior there already, along with one that was still stuck in its shell, and Ash hurried ahead.

"Hi!" he said. "So, we had a technical question… how old are you guys?"

"It depends how you count time," one green Minior answered. "If you count this body, about a year. If you count experience, as old as the world. If you count mental age-"

"About three minutes," another Minior said, this one violet.

"Hey, I'm not that bad!" Green protested.

"That's great!" Ash said. "Thanks! So, you mean that a Minior sort of remembers things from all the dust of the Minior that that Minior was before?"

Rotom began taking photos and talking about science.

"Does that mean that one of you remembers Sophocles?" Pikachu asked. "Or all of you?"

"Sophocles?" the Minior asked themselves, turning to look at each other.