"Let's see…" Ash mused, tilting Arc a little. "Uh… apparently the next good place to stop off is a few miles down the road."

"A few miles down the road?" Bianca repeated. "What about that place? Do the owners not like someone visiting?"

The others turned to look, and Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's head before using Fly to get a better look.

"Looks like a mansion to me," he decided.

"Searching," Arc said. "Records found. The mansion was abandoned decades ago."

"It doesn't look it," Bianca frowned. "That's odd. How recent is the information you're using?"

"Decades old, since it is simply a mention of the building being abandoned," Arc said. "Either my information is wrong or reality is wrong. Fortunately, either can be corrected."

"We're not correcting reality," Ash frowned. "Are we?"

"Hmm," Lokoko said. "Ash, can you get Noctowl? I think we might need his help…"

"Welcome to our home," one of a group of Litwick said, as the friends entered the manor. "Please, why won't you be our guest?"

The others gave him a look.

"Really?" a second one asked.

"And how often do I get a chance to make that joke?" Litwick asked.

"So, does anyone else live here, or is it just you?" Ash checked. "Bianca wants to ask a few questions about Pokémon living in abandoned human buildings, but if this place isn't really abandoned that would be scientifically inaccurate of her."

"No, it's just us," the second Litwick confirmed. "Though our friend keeps saying we should invite a Polteageist."

"Oh, I should check what information the Pokédex already has on Litwick," Bianca suggested, reaching into her pocket and taking hers out. "Let's see…"

"Litwick," the Pokédex said. "The Kindle Pokémon. Litwick appear to… be…"

It went bzeeow and shut down, and Bianca sighed in distress. "Oh, no… I forgot to charge it!"

"Allow me," Ibid said. "Litwick shine lights to guide people, but some leech off the life force of any who follow them."

"Why isn't it working?" one of the Litwick whispered. "We shut down that first Pokédex!"

"I am technically a Ditto," Ibid said, before turning briefly into a Lickitung to blow a razzberry at them.

"So, I guess some Litwick are bad, but most aren't," Ash summarized. "But if you didn't want us to hear that, then you wouldn't want us to get suspicious, and so you're probably the ones who would want to drain people!"

"All right, and what if we are?" the first Litwick said, apparently abandoning the pretence. "That's just how we have to live!"

"Incorrect," Arc declared. "My notes say that Litwick were given access to the Ghost World as a supply of an energy gradient to fuel their candles without any need for draining humans or Pokémon, living or otherwise."

"Your notes?" another Litwick said. "What are you, a Porygon?"

"No," Arc said. "My notes come from my grandprogenitor, who set the world in motion, and from my direct progenitor, who has just finished dragging your friend Lampent over."

True to Arc's words, Delta Purrloin appeared through the wall with her tail wrapped around a protesting Lampent.

"Hiya, everyone!" she said. "So turns out there was an actual Ghost World portal in here! Which is, you know, really rude… anyway, Bianca, want to do that research?"

"Well, if the Litwick don't mind?" Bianca replied, trying to keep up with what was going on. "I guess it'd be bad manners to come into their home and interfere, but then again they're trying to…"

She frowned. "I think I need to ask Professor Juniper for some ethical research help."

"Placing call," Arc said, helpfully. "Meanwhile, can someone find out if this house has any intact dinner plates? I wish to see if they count as spooky."

Professor Juniper picked up the phone. "Hello?"

A long, long silence followed.

"How?" she asked. "How have you managed to get my assistant into a situation where she's doing original ethics research?"

They left Bianca to do her research, along with the four Litwick, one Lampent, her own team, and a borrowed Dragonite who'd picked up Moongeist Beam somewhere.

She was glad for the chance to spend time camping in Unova, and had a large board with a pointer for the Litwick and Lampent to spell out messages with in case they had anything to say. But with that sorted out, the friends continued on their route for Nimbasa… along with training on the way.

"Okay, Axew, here we go!" Iris called out. "Dragon Rage!"

Axew inhaled, forming a big ball of energy in his mouth, then bit it and it exploded.

"Ah, I see the problem," Zacian decided, coughing slightly. "You're trying to eat the move."

"Isn't that how you do it?" Axew asked.

"Not at the beginner's level," Zacian said. "At the very least, you probably need to learn Bite first."

There was a loud roar, and Iris brightened. "Oh, I think that's a Druddigon! I wonder if it's wild!"

"A Druddigon?" Zacian repeated. "Well, it's fortunate that I'm around."

"Is that because you're the Sword of Galar, the Heroine of Many Battles, the sword that banishes dragons?" Oshawott asked, bouncing on his paws.

"Not really," Zacian said. "It's more of the fact that I'm a Fairy type. Observe."

A plume of energy flashed out from the trees, and Zacian jumped across to intercept it, which would have worked extremely well were it not for the fact that the blast was actually a Flamethrower. As it was, though, it left Zacian with smouldering fur and an aggrieved expression.

"Suddenly I'm jealous of my brother," she said.

"That Druddigon must be angry somehow," Iris decided.

"Zygarde, do you have any idea what's annoying them?" Ash said. "Marshadow?"

He sent out Larvitar. "And could you shield us, please, Larvitar?"

"On it," Larvitar agreed, forming a sand-shield, and the next attack – a Focus Punch – hit it with a whoom but didn't actually break through.

"I'm kind of glad sand counts as Ground and not Rock," he added.

There was a crash as a tree fell over, and the Druddigon emerged.

"Marshadow!" Iris called. "Look – there's a cord around its leg!"

Marshadow cut the cord with a quick swipe, and the Druddigon skidded to a halt.

"...ooow," he sighed. "Sorry about that, couldn't think straight."

Zacian tilted her head, interested. "Is that a Galarian accent I hear?"

"It is indeed, milady," Druddigon agreed. "Hammerlocke born and bred, traded a few months ago. Tell me, you don't happen to have seen my trainer, have you? She's a little taller than that girl with the Zoroark hair over there."

"We haven't, no," Keldeo said. "Um… you are okay with being traded, aren't you?"

"Well, I should say so!" Druddigon confirmed. "I was part of a happy family, certainly, but I was never on my old trainer's first team, and she did ask that I was okay first. Now I'm the pride of Emmy's team, even if my training is still something of a work in progress… and she doesn't actually have any other Pokémon."

"Then I'll help out!" Iris declared. "I'm a Dragon Master in training, and that means training others to master their connections with dragons is… well, probably a good idea? Honestly it involves dragons and there's not that much more I need to know…"

Mew got involved.

This led to Druddigon learning Draco Meteor, as he was trying, but also Meteor Beam, Draco Beam, and Light of Ruin although he said that one was far too Kalosian.

Emmy was grateful for the help, both from Mew and from Iris, and then after they'd all said goodbye Mew floated down to Axew.

"Okay, Axew, here's how you do Dragon Rage!" he said. "Listen very, very carefully."

Axew nodded.

"Firstly, gather the energy, like you've already been doing," Mew said, ticking the point off on his tail. "Secondly, and I know this is the difficult bit for you, so I need you to listen very, very carefully…"

Axew frowned seriously.

"Don't. Eat. It."

The little Dragon-type brightened. "Oh! Well, why didn't anyone say?"

"...Axew, I swear to Ash's phone…" Iris groaned. "Well, so long as you've learned it that's the important thing."

She picked out another Pokéball. "Emolga, do you feel like learning anything?"

The Electric-type emerged from her Pokéball, and considered visibly.

"...not today," she said, shrugging. "Sorry."

Iris looked a bit disappointed, but shook her head. "That's okay. It's up to you."

Then Cilan's Pansage came out of his Pokéball. "If she's not, I'd like to learn something!" he said. "I've even got an idea about what!"

"Ooh, that sometimes helps," Mew told him. "Sometimes it's a hindrance though, and a lot of the time I just sort of discard it and go with whatever. But what's your idea?"

"Oh, is this what we were talking about before?" Cilan asked. "Because I approve!"

"Hyper Beam!" Pansage said, tail flicking.

"I… um, I think that's a violation?" Keldeo asked, sounding upset about it. "Pokémon who aren't fully evolved can't learn Hyper Beam."

"What rule's that?" Mew asked, sounding amused.

"It's not a rule, it's something to do with the universe," Keldeo said. "I didn't want Pansage to get disappointed by trying to do something with moves that are normally impossible for him."

"Clearly you haven't known me long enough," Mew replied. "And, honestly, who are you to talk about impossible things?"

"...you make a good point," Keldeo agreed. "But I still don't see how this is going to work."

"Keldeo, I'm Mew," Mew said. "And over there is Ash Ketchum. At some point you need to accept that while the word impossible is in our vocabulary, that's mostly because it's a great word to be preceded by other phrases like 'previously thought to be' or 'isn't that' or 'not'."

He patted Keldeo on the mane. "Besides, I think I see where this is going, but it'd be good for you to see how the reasoning works. It'll help you later. So, Pansage, why do you want to learn Hyper Beam?"

"Because of how my leaves work," Pansage answered. "Cilan and I came up with it while you were helping Druddigon. Pansage leaves help cure exhaustion, and I'm covered with them!"

Mew turned to Keldeo, making an encouraging gesture. "Can you see how that works?"

"Hyper Beam is a move that tires the Pokémon who uses it out… but, hold on," Keldeo mused, raising a hoof so his knee nearly touched his chin and frowning. "Hyper Beam isn't the only move like that. There's lots of them, like Giga Impact and Hydro Cannon. So how can it…"

He stopped, and swallowed.

"Oh. Is… is that how Ash thinks all the time?"

"It's one of the reasons I consider him Best Human!" Mew said. "Except when he's not one, before you ask. But yes, which is why we're definitely doing this."

AN:

Oops, another Pokémon became broken.