23: (Hoenn)
"Ah, here we are!" Brock said. "Lilycove city!"
He sniffed the air, and made a face.
May chuckled. "Don't do that in a port unless you know it's not used for fishing, Brock..."
"So, where's the gym around here?" Ash asked, looking for a sign.
"Pika!" Pikachu agreed, enthusiastically.
"It doesn't have one," Max informed him. "It's famous mainly for Pokeblocks."
"...oh," Ash said, deflating slightly. Pikachu mimicked his disappointment, then perked up.
"What is it?" Ash asked, and got a reply. He looked down the street, and saw what Pikachu was getting at. "Oh, hey!"
May followed his gaze. "Who's that?"
"It's Latias," Ash explained. "Well, I guess that's basically Bianca - one of Latias' friends. She makes herself look like that to blend in."
"Sounds familiar," Max snarked.
Some minutes later, they were all sat around a picnic bench as they ate their packed lunch. (Latias had some of Brock's spare food he made for the Pokémon, which was tasty enough she polished it off in minutes.)
"So, what brings you here, Latias?" Brock asked.
"Well," Latias said, her accent still a little strange. "I've beeen trying to work out what are some good clothes - to blend in," she clarified. "I don't think humans wear the saame thing all the time."
May sniggered, glancing over at the boys - none of whom noticed her unsubtle jab.
Latias nodded over towards the department store. "And I heaard that that's an important place to shop."
"You've got that right!" May agreed, nodding. "Lilycove department store's famous all across Hoenn!"
She stood. "Come on, I'll help!"
"But..." Latias frowned. "I'd raather Ash helped me."
"Me?" Ash asked. "Why's that?"
"You're good at blending in," Latias started. "And... you know how to do that. And I trust you."
"Well... sure!" Ash agreed. "Let's go!"
Max, May and Brock watched them go.
"That could go horribly wrong-" Max began.
"Wait a minute," May interrupted. "She just took him clothes shopping. And he agreed without complaint."
She and Brock shared a slightly startled look.
"...actually," Brock said, in tones of deep thought. "I don't think either of them have noticed what that means."
"What does it mean?" Max asked.
They told him.
"...okay," he said, blinking. "Whoa."
"I think-" Latias looked mortified, and shook her head. "I think this," she restarted, this time in the correct language. "How does it look?"
"Nice, actually," Ash said, answering honestly. "But, uh... how would that work? Isn't your illusion a bit less solid than mine?"
"I know," Latias agreed. "But it feeels right that I should buy something if I'm going to preetend to wear it."
Ash nodded. "I guess that makes sense."
He took the latest item of clothing to add to the pile, and weighed it. "I think that might be enough," he said. "It's... what, four outfits?"
"Yes," Latias nodded. "Okay - um... what now?"
"I think there's a checkout over there," the trainer said, nodding.
Latias looked a bit startled. "What's a checkout?"
"It's where you buy things from a shop like this." Ash thought for a moment. "Wait - do you have any money?"
She started. "No! I-"
"Latias!" Ash hissed, and the disguised Psychic-type looked startled.
"Sorry," she said, a bit more quietly and less squeakily - fortunately the sales assistants were used to sounds like that from teenage girls trying out new outfits. "And - I don't have any money, no. We'll have to-"
"No, it's fine," Ash reassured her, adjusting the pile and reaching into his bag with one hand. "I'll pay - I never really spend my winnings on anything, so I should have enough..."
"Thank you," Latias said, sighing in relief. "I'm so sorry-"
"Really," Ash interrupted her. "It's fine."
24: (Between Indigo League and Orange Islands)
"Why didn't you let me fight?" Charizard demanded, the evening after Ash's party for coming in the top eight of the Pokémon League.
"Charizard, you are the absolute-" Pikachu began, and Ash waved him down.
"No, Pikachu, I-"
"Is it because you're afraid? Because I scare you?" the Fire-type asked, severely. "Because if you are scared of me... well."
"It's not," Ash told him. "There's a much simpler reason."
Charizard waited, smoke curling from his nostrils.
"It's because you asked me not to."
Charizard frowned. "What?"
"Months ago. You accused me of just caring for you for your power - so I stopped using you in battle. Remember?" Ash asked.
There was a pause, then a shake of the head from Charizard.
"But... you used me in Cinnabar."
"You asked me to," Ash pointed out. "You came out to fight Magmar yourself. I never wanted to stop you battling, but you didn't want to be misused."
Charizard considered that.
"I always wanted you to battle," Ash went on. "Not because you'd win, so much as... you like to battle as much as I do. You want to battle. But I didn't want to force you."
Another snort of smoke, this time more contemplative.
"FINE!" Charizard roared, and stomped on the ground hard enough to make Ash nearly lose his footing. "You win! Use me as you want - I've been bored out of my skull!"
25: (Mid-Sinnoh)
"Well, here we are in Sinnoh," Delia said - artfully concealing her nervousness, as she stepped off the plane stairs ahead of Professor Oak.
"That's right," Oak agreed. He moved a little closer, and pitched his voice lower. "You know you can still-"
"No, I have to come back here sometime," she sighed. "Ash is here - has been here for a month - and nothing's gone wrong. So maybe I was wrong."
She looked around. "This place has hardly changed."
"Hearthome city is said to be the eternal jewel of Sinnoh," Oak commented, and Delia chuckled as they walked across the tarmac towards the city proper.
"Everywhere says that. Now... where's Ash-"
A voice interrupted her.
"You... I don't know you. But your Aura..."
Delia paled, then shook her head with a sigh.
"Five minutes. Five minutes I've been in Sinnoh, and it's like I never left."
She turned.
"Hello again, Gaheris."
The Lucario blinked. "How do you know my name? I-"
His jaw went slack. "Tamamo?"
"I go by Delia, now," she told him. "But you're right. It's me."
After a moment, the Lucario closed his jaw. "How - but... how are you here? Why? Why now?"
"Should I leave?" Oak asked.
"No, you're as much a part of this as-" Delia cut herself off. "Look, give me a moment."
Her hand waved, a kind of ripple following it. The air seemed to follow suit, wavering like a heat shadow.
"There. Now no-one can overhear us, and you're not standing around like a Slowbro."
"Excuse me for being a little startled when the one I loved appears out of thin air after over a decade!" Gaheris said, stung somewhat.
"I had to go, Gaheris," Delia said. "Please understand that - I didn't know if it was safe. And I couldn't take any risks."
The Lucario chuckled involuntarily. "That's a laugh, given what we got up to..."
"Leap before you look, that was us," Delia agreed.
Gaheris nodded, then sighed. "Well, the man who was after you hasn't been seen in years," he reported. "Neither I nor my trainer have seen hide nor hair of him. Couldn't you have come back?"
"Not for a decade at least after I left," Delia said. "And after that..."
She kicked the floor. "It's a hard habit to break, hiding."
"Why so long?" the Lucario pressed.
Delia hesitated, then dropped her bombshell.
"Because that's how long it took for our son to become a trainer."
It was fortunate that there was an illusion around the three. Otherwise, a Lucario collapsing in a startled faint might have drawn comment.
"You don't care how many Pokémon get hurt!" Ash said hotly, staring Paul down.
Paul blinked. "Your point? What matters is winning, not making sure your own Pokémon are okay. If a Pokémon gets hurt but wins, that's preferable to-"
Brock subtly made ready to grab Ash if he reacted too badly to that.
Fortunately, he merely seemed really, really annoyed rather than ready to get in a fistfight. "I've never heard something so-"
"Ash?"
"Wh-" Ash tripped over his own tongue, train of thought completely derailed. "Mom? What are you doing in Sinnoh?"
He blinked. "And why's the professor with you?" A double take. "Wait, you have Lucario with you? I thought he was-"
"Wrong Lucario," Cynthia said with certainty. "That's my one."
Ash watched, increasingly perplexed, as the Lucario stared him up and down. (It was a bit unsettling. Ash knew from his friend Lucario that his Aura was unusual, but this Pokémon seemed to be trying to memorize it.)
After a few seconds, the Fighting-type spoke. "Cynthia, there is a private matter to discuss. You, these two, and the boy - Ash."
Even though his speech was being translated by Aura, the word sounded strange in his mouth. As though he was trying it out.
"But these are my friends," Ash said, indicating Dawn and Brock. Then he nodded at Paul. "He's not, though."
"Ash, that's not very polite of you," Delia pointed out.
"Like I want to hear what you're going to talk about," Paul dismissed.
"Why don't you just go into the Pokémon centre," Cynthia suggested.
"I don't-"
"I insist," the Grand Champion of Sinnoh insisted.
It was actually quite strange - there wasn't any one thing that was different, but all of a sudden everyone in the garden remembered that this woman was considered the number one trainer in Sinnoh.
Paul went into the Pokémon Centre.
"I am not comfortable with others here," Cynthia's Lucario said a minute or so later, as they sat under the shade of a tall tree.
"It'll be fine," Delia smiled. "Really. He's got good taste in friends."
"What's the matter, then?" Cynthia asked.
Delia clapped Cynthia's Lucario on the shoulder. "Ash, meet your father. Gaheris."
There was dead silence for several seconds.
"...my what?" Ash asked, eventually, in a brittle voice.
Cynthia looked closer at Ash, then at Delia. "...oh, my word. Tamamo?"
Delia waved her hand, the air rippling in a wide circle around them, then dropped her illusion. "Yes, it's me. Though I go by Delia now."
"I have a father?" Ash said, still trying to get his head around that.
"Most people do," Professor Oak said, trying to inject some humour into the moment.
It didn't work.
"Ash..." Gaheris said, quietly. "I was as surprised as you to learn I had a son. I..."
He shook his head. "It will not be easy for us to work this out. But I am willing to try."
26: (Fuchsia Gym)
After Ash had left, Koga stared at the wall for several minutes. The only movement he made was with a single kunai, which meticulously cleaned out any dirt under his fingernails - one nail at a time.
"Aya," he said, eventually. "What did you think of him?"
"Inexperienced," Aya began. "Brave, certainly, and unusually strong, with a rapport with his Pokémon that was almost frightening... but he's still learning. I'd say, about right for if this was his fourth or fifth gym."
"And what about his skills with the ninjutsu you taught him?" Koga pressed.
"Not very good," Aya summed up. "He's got the strength, and maybe the agility, but he doesn't have the mindset. He's much more visible than invisible, and I don't think he could pull off a disguise."
Koga considered that.
"An interesting assessment, considering how well he fooled you," he said.
Aya stopped her fidgeting. "What?"
Turning, his cape swishing, Koga began to tick off points with the kunai. "His clothes were travel stained, yes, but all in the same way. No particularly prominent grass stains, for example, just a uniform green. His cap was the only thing that was different. As for his eyebrows - he got flamethrowered in the face by that Charmeleon of his, but his eyebrows remained a few minutes later."
"Aren't you going to count that he handled being flamethrowered?" Aya asked, trying to follow as her brother rattled off observations.
"No, that in itself makes sense. I may not have Aura but I know how to tell when I'm in the same room as an adept, he's probably so durable he'd barely notice being hit by a Thunderbolt. But as to the eyebrows - they should have been scorched off, but they weren't."
Koga paused, then tapped his last two fingers with the knife. "Finally, he understands when Pokémon talk - as in their real languages, not just body language and an argot - and, most of all... how terrible he was at concealment."
"...sorry, I don't follow," Aya confessed.
"He's an absolute master at the art of concealment," Koga explained, with a smile. "And the best way to avoid suspicion is to be really inept at something. Aya - he's not human. He's just very good at pretending otherwise."
"You mean he's... what?" his sister asked. "A Ditto? A Mew? A Zoroark?"
"I think Zorua," Koga decided after a moment. "It's only a guess, and I'd love to know how he managed to avoid his illusion bursting, but I'm pretty sure Zorua's the answer."
AN:
I'm kind of using this fic as a way to practice writing a relationship. Of course, the two I picked for it are kind of oblivious...
Meanwhile - oh, look, I just explained Ash's parentage in this fic.
Yes, the Lucario's name is carefully chosen.