Watching Ash train was, like so many things around the kid, a very interesting experience.

"Okay," he said finally, as he finished driving the last stake into the ground. He'd set up sixteen long poles in the sand, four of which were short, while all the others were tied with red or blue ribbons. Pikachu didn't really seem to understand what was happening either, though it had obediently remained standing on the marker Ash had originally set for it, a field's length away. Ash stepped back to survey his work, apparently found it acceptable, and then walked back to take up position behind Pikachu. "It's power and target practice, buddy. Just like old times, only this time they're made of wood! You remember the old motto?"

Pikachu blinked at him, then at the poles, and then suddenly fell over laughing. Ash grinned and pointed to the two on the far right. "We're doing single-shot thunderbolts, aiming at the poles that match the words! That's line one over there, then line two, three, that's the grand finale in the middle, and then it's four, five, and the two short ones are six. Got it?"

"Pika!" it said, still giggling. It slowly calmed down, and clambered back to its feet, wiping away tears as it gasped for breath. "Pi- pika- pi- pikachu…"

"I do not understand this," Rotom noted, and Kukui slowly nodded.

However, despite their confusion, Pikachu seemed to have found meaning in Ash's instructions. Once it had fully recovered, it dropped back to all fours and lifted its tail at the ready.

"Pika!" it announced, and Ash immediately spun in place, flinging one arm out to point at nothing in particular.

"Prepare for trouble!" he yelled, and Pikachu lashed out a thunderbolt, striking the red pole on the far right dead-centre. Ash smiled slightly. "Make it double! Literally, too!"

The blue pole beside it was next, burning right through the middle to snap it in half.

"Nice job, buddy. Let's get a bit harder this time – surrender now or prepare to fight, fight, fight!"

This time it was the blue pole in the set second from the left.

"To extend our reach to the stars above!"

Blue yet again, second from the right.

"Wobbuffet!"

Kukui did a double-take, but Pikachu didn't pause, lashing out at the short pole, furthest from the left. Ash hummed.

"Don't forget the mirror coat, Pikachu. Try it again, only go for the ground in front."

"Pika!" it acknowledged, and sent out another thunderbolt that slammed into the sand in front of the now-charred pole. Both it and the sand went flying from the impact.

"Better. Now let's pick up the pace. To denounce the evils of truth and love! Jessie!"

Pikachu snapped off two thunderbolts in quick succession, but the second one veered and hit another blue pole, making both Ash and Pikachu grunt. Pikachu followed it up with a third thunderbolt that hit a red pole instead, and then spread its legs, panting slightly from the repeated power drain.

"You okay?" Ash asked warily, but Pikachu just tossed its head with a determined, "Pi-ka!"

"Thunderbolts are not typically used in such a fashion," Rotom said, completely ignored by everyone. "They require time to charge and aim, even for powerful and fully-evolved electric types!"

But while it had focussed on the attacks, Kukui had begun to notice something about Ash's call-outs. Team Rocket had a Wobbuffet, didn't they? And he was pretty sure Ash had referred to the woman as Jessie before…

"Okay, then let's try it again," Ash said, and pointed again. "Meowth, that's right! James! Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light!"

Three more rapid-fire thunderbolts, and both trainer and pokemon visibly ground their teeth when the second one hit an already burned red pole and the third overshot the mark to slam into the sand behind.

"To unite all peoples within our nation!" Ash called, and Pikachu hit another previously-charred pole, but Ash seemed satisfied with this one, because he swung his arm up like a Performer calling for the end of her routine. "Now it's time for the grand finale!"

"Pika! Pi… ka…" It leapt up into the air, curling in on itself so its ears and tail touched for a brief instant before it suddenly erupted with a frankly terrifying amount of electricity. "Chuuuuu!"

The lightning bolt slammed into the dirt directly in front of the middle four poles, and that was pretty much all Kukui saw before everything exploded in a wave of sand. Rotom dived down and under his labcoat, overriding Kukui's startled yelp with its own electronic squeal, while Kukui himself yanked his arms up in a fruitless attempt to shield himself from a veritable shower of gritty sand. Not that it mattered – the wave was almost over before they were finished reacting, and so he let his arms drop, sighed in weary resignation, and looked back up at Ash.

He barely seemed to have noticed the explosion, already looking up and over the water. It took Kukui a second to follow his gaze and find he was watching four poles gracefully spearing their way toward Akala Island.

"How…?" Kukui wondered, eyes dropping back down to Ash and Pikachu, but he continued to go ignored as Ash set a hand on his hip and met Pikachu's look with a wry grin.

"Looks like Team Rocket's blasting off again," he noted, and Pikachu panted out a laugh.

"Pi pikachu!"

"Nice job, buddy," he said, but then tilted his head. "But we have really gotta work on your quick shots. Remember, we don't always have time to go all out, and there are a lot of pokemon that can just ignore a Quick Attack."

"Pika," it agreed, and shoved itself up onto its hind legs. "Pika pika pikachu. Pika!"

"Nah, we'll come back to it. I need to find more poles first, and you should recharge a bit," he said, and then unhooked a pokeball from his back pocket. "Come on out, Rowlet! Let's test out that silent flying of yours!"

"Is it safe to come out yet?" Rotom asked, still hiding in the small of Kukui's back.

He hesitated, watching Ash explain his next training session to the two pokemon. Apparently he was going to give Pikachu a blind-fold, and make it try to avoid Rowlet's tackles. A hard task, given that rowlet were known for their ability to move silently, but Pikachu looked determined.

"Safe or not," Kukui said slowly, "I want photos of everything."

Ash had originally been shocked to discover Rockruff was wild, and although he adapted to it coming and going much more easily than Kukui had expected, he also seemed to quietly think it was only a matter of time before Kukui caught it. Which was kind of odd, given that he was the one actually feeding Rockruff these days, and definitely the one Rockruff cuddled up to when it could, and evidently ignoring the fact that the only reason Rockruff didn't crawl all over him the way it did Kukui was usually because Pikachu was in the way. So when they discovered Rockruff was trying to learn a move, Ash looked at Kukui first.

"This is the kind of thing you study, right?" he asked, as Rotom snapped picture after picture of the magmar soundly defeating yet another pokemon. "How pokemon learn moves and train and stuff?"

"That's right."

"So… you'd be mad if I helped out, huh?"

"Pika?" Pikachu gasped, grinning broadly. "Pika pikachu? Pika?"

Barely glancing at the excited pokemon, Kukui tilted his head toward Ash, one corner of his mouth lifting. "Helped out?"

"I think I can help Rockruff learn Rock Throw," he said. "If you don't mind."

"Rockruff's wild, Ash," he reminded him. "If you want to work with it, that's your decision."

"Really?" he asked, and pumped his fists. "Alright! Now we just have to ask Rockruff!"

"Pi pikachu!" Pikachu cheered.

He wasn't at all surprised when Rockruff enthusiastically agreed, or even when Ash reassured Rotom he wasn't doing it out of some twisted scheme to catch it. As much as he loved the little puppy, Ash seemed mostly oblivious to any returning adoration. He just wanted to help.

Besides, even if Ash had been trying to be sneaky, Kukui still wouldn't have minded, simply because it gave him ample opportunity to be sneaky too. Ash's training with Pikachu and Rowlet had been unusual – the way he trained Rockruff was fascinating.

"It's like watching one pokemon train another," he mumbled as he watched Ash physically act out a responding pounce for Rockruff to mimic. In these sessions, Pikachu wasn't just Ash's constant companion, but almost like an extension of him, doing everything he did but with a pokemon's size and power to give a better example. Rockruff's eyes flicked between them both, following Ash for the concept and then Pikachu for the proof. "The verbal commands and explanations are just an added bonus."

"This is not how conventional pokemon trainers work," Rotom said imperiously. "The accepted method to learn Rock Throw is to verbally instruct the pokemon in the correct movements, and then have them practise them repeatedly. A pokemon has a natural instinct to add power to it, which humans are not expected to understand. This is—"

"—probably a much more effective method to ensure the pokemon understands," Kukui finished, putting a hand to his chin. He grinned at Rotom's confused stare. "It's one thing to learn by memory and rote. Anyone can rattle off a fact if you drum it into them hard enough. But if you teach someone why something is the way it is, they're a lot more likely to be able to apply it later."

"I do not understand the difference," it said blankly. "Surely if you know the information, then you can apply it."

"It's the difference between, say, Kiawe and Sophocles," he explained. "Sophocles knows information about pokemon, and he can rattle it off almost as well as you can. But Kiawe has lived with pokemon since he was a baby, and understands them in a natural, instinctive way. So Sophocles will outstrip him in every written test, but Kiawe will always get much higher marks in a practical lesson." He nodded toward the training session. "What Ash is doing is teaching Rockruff to feel its power and strength, rather than just trying to copy what it's seen in battle. It might not learn Rock Throw as fast as it would with another trainer, but I'll be damned if it doesn't become a better battler for it."

"Does not compute," Rotom reported. "Knowing a move is key to defeating opponents in battle."

Kukui smiled and didn't answer, instead turning away. "School is going to be starting soon, so I need to get going."

"Should I tell Ash it's time to go?" it asked, and he shook his head.

"I think this is a better use of everyone's time today," he said, and started planning a whole new lesson.

When Kukui walked in and began class without bothering to acknowledge the once-again empty desk, Mallow was the first to raise her hand and ask, "Is Ash sick today?"

"No, he's not," Kukui said as he stepped into place. "But he won't be joining us for classes for the foreseeable future."

All five kids blanched, Lillie even slapping her hands over her mouth. "Ash is leaving?!"

"Is he going to challenge the other kahunas?" asked Kiawe. "Is that why he's been training so much lately?"

"He didn't even say goodbye," murmured Lana, and they all exchanged distressed looks.

Kukui, in turn, stared for a few seconds before realising how they could have misinterpreted what he said. Then he laughed and shook his head. "No, no, sorry. Should've phrased that better. It's just for the next few days. He's training Rockruff."

"Training Rockruff?"

"Did he catch it?"

"Ash did say it was wild," Kiawe pointed out, before they all looked back at Kukui. "But even he thought you were gonna catch it eventually."

"I didn't think Ash'd do something like that," Sophocles added, folding his arms behind his head. "Kind of a jerk move."

Kukui laughed again. "I'm not going to catch Rockruff. I was just studying it. I'm happy with the team I have, for now," he said vaguely. And besides, it would have been kind of a jerk move to catch a pokemon that seemed so set on a different trainer, even if neither of them were acknowledging it. "And Ash hasn't either, yet. Rockruff is trying to learn Rock Throw, and Ash offered to help it. Which brings me to our lesson for the next few days: training a pokemon for battle."

"For battle?" Lillie repeated nervously.

"Now, we've all seen a pokemon battle—a lot more recently, thanks to Ash and Kiawe—but we don't often talk about battle training specifically."

"Is it different from learning moves?" asked Lana, and he shrugged.

"Not for some trainers, but in this case, yes. As he so regularly points out, Ash is trying to become a Pokemon Master. That means he specialises in battle training, and he seems to have a preference for attack moves over stasis," he explained. "That means that when he trains pokemon, he trains them to fight. Now, part of that is obviously using moves, but there's a lot more to it than just that. Your job, over the next few days, is to figure out what that is."

"You mean like dodging and power levels and stuff?" Sophocles guessed, and Kukui offered up another vague smile.

"Could be. You need to find Ash and Rockruff, observe their training, analyse it, and then write me a report. Kiawe, as a fellow battle trainer, I want you to focus on how his training style differs from others you've seen. The rest of you should be looking into what makes battle training different from move training," he instructed, then paused and added, "If he asks, you're allowed to help him train, but you are not to 'correct' his methods or otherwise interfere. Remember, Rockruff is the one being trained and you should not disrupt its progress by interrupting Ash's instructions. Understand?"

"Yes," they all chorused.

"Excellent. We'll meet back here in the morning to discuss, but your reports are due on my desk two days after Ash declares Rockruff to have learned Rock Throw."

Everyone but Lillie—who still looked a little nervous about the whole 'battle' thing—seemed excited by the impromptu lesson, so Kukui inwardly declared it a success. And a lot more interesting than the cultural studies he'd originally had planned. No one really liked studying the theory behind regional training styles, and it had proved such a volatile topic with this class that he'd been doing it in short, sharp bursts just to keep them on track.

Besides, while he wasn't expecting them to discover anything earth-shattering, it would be a nice opportunity to get a bunch of more observational data from a variety of perspectives. He wasn't quite sure yet what the research paper he was gathering information for would be about, but if opportunities like this kept presenting themselves, it was definitely going to be one of his best. Maybe there was actually something to that joke about Ash being a researcher's good luck charm!

Then he heard his own thoughts and closed his eyes, shaking his head at himself. "You are such an academic creeper, Kukui," he muttered, but didn't mind overmuch.

Ash and his three pokemon stumbled into the house a little after sunset, practically inhaled their waiting dinner, and then slumped down in a corner with the brightly coloured balls Kukui always left out for pokemon to play with. Or, well, Ash and Rockruff did. Rowlet went upstairs to no doubt fall asleep in Ash's backpack, while Pikachu waited just long enough for Ash to settle before collapsing over his leg with a melodramatic, "Pika pikaaaa…!"

Ash ignored it with nothing but a wry smile, instead focussing on making sure Rockruff understood it was supposed to be trying to catch the ball he was batting between his hands.

Kukui was working on writing out a lesson plan to match the lesson he'd cooked up this morning, but he paused to watch for a few moments, trying to figure it out. In the end, he had to ask, "Playing or training?"

"A cool-down," replied Ash. "We've been working pretty hard today, and we'll keep going tomorrow. Gotta stretch out so Rockruff's not stiff in the morning."

He raised his eyebrows, surprised and impressed. "Most trainers wouldn't bother."

"Yeah, I heard that pokeballs do all that stuff for you, soothing muscles and whatever. I figure that's why you can usually use a pokemon again right after you've caught it," he pointed out. "Rockruff and Pikachu don't have that sort of thing. So we've gotta stretch it out."

Making a note on his papers, since that was probably the most comprehensive answer he'd get out of Ash about what a pokeball did for caught pokemon and therefore a better indicator than their eventual exam, Kukui glanced at him. "Pikachu doesn't have a pokeball? I didn't know it was wild… How did you get it to Alola?"

Pikachu paused its attempt to melt over Ash's knee just long enough to laugh. "Pika. Pikapi ka pika chu pika."

Ash smiled and picked up the ball to keep it out of Rockruff's reach as he used the other hand to scratch Pikachu's head. "Nah. It has a pokeball in my backpack. But it doesn't like to go inside it," he explained, then paused and looked up at Kukui. "Huh."

"What?"

"I just… I just realised I hadn't told you that yet," he said slowly. "It's kind of weird. I mean, normally I have to explain that right away."

Kukui gazed back at him quietly for a few seconds, suddenly reminded that Alola was different than most of the regions Ash had gone to – here, if a pokemon was small enough, they were generally left out of their pokeballs at all times. They were part of the family, after all. But in other places, where pokemon were more like… well… sentient tools or pets… it was almost considered rude to have them out of their balls without reason. You could get away with it while walking around or in an open space like a park or beach, but in a house like this…

Rockruff yipped for Ash's attention, and he blinked before going back to it with a smile. Kukui tried to sound casual as he said, "This is a pokemon friendly house. As far as I'm concerned, you can have everyone out of their pokeball. Who knows? They might provide some interesting research data!"

"Like on Professor Oak's ranch!" Ash chuckled. "Thanks, Professor. I bet you won't even notice Rowlet, since it's always sleeping."

He smiled and refocussed on his work. "Did the others find you today?"

"You mean Kiawe and the others? Yeah, a few hours ago. Kiawe and Turtonator were a—" He cut himself off with a yawn that quickly extended into an even louder one, ending on a hard blink before he continued, "—big help. Rockruff didn't really get the whole dodging thing."

"Hm?" he prompted vaguely.

"I think it's because of the um… is it the Midnight forme?" he asked Rotom, who had been hovering over Kukui's shoulder but swung around to acknowledge Ash's attention.

"You mean this one?"

"Yeah. That lycanroc uses Counter, so it doesn't dodge a lot. But since it had been watching them to learn moves, I don't think Rockruff understood that until you're actually supposed to avoid getting hurt," he said, and Kukui raised his eyebrows.

"That makes a lot of sense – I hadn't thought of that," he said, and noted it down as a discussion point for the other kids. "Of course Rockruff wouldn't know to dodge, if it's been mimicking the lyncanroc… Midday is all about attack, while Midnight will purposefully take damage so that it has a more powerful Counter. So a rockruff watching the two of them battle wouldn't realise dodging is actually part of a proper battle technique. Nice insight, Ash."

"Nah. It just makes sense. It's not like anyone would've—" He yawned again, then grunted. "Sorry. It's not like anyone would've ever explained the difference."

Kukui glanced over. Rockruff was still trying to get the ball, but it had dropped to the floor and was now just lazily stretching its paws out toward it. Ash, in turn, had started leaning on one arm to hold himself up, and had clearly abandoned his cool-down work in favour of just rolling the ball absently.

"Is there anything else special about training a wild pokemon?" Kukui asked, hoping to get as much of Ash's perspective down before he turned in for the night. "Or training in general?"

"Mm… not really," he said. "I mean, when it's basic training, then it's all basic training, right? Learning how to dodge, how to hit, how to—" Another yawn, and he shifted down to prop himself up on his elbow. He let Rockruff have the ball so he could reach out and pet it instead. "Rockruff's making it pretty easy. It gets the whole… you know… not taking it personally thing. And how you need to keep getting up again after you fall. It's so determined… it's so cool. You're amazing, Rockruff, you know that, right?"

It whined back at him, leaning up his hand. Kukui shook his head and went back to his lesson plan, wondering if the cheerleading was part of Ash's training style or just his encouraging personality.

"So for you, the basics are about dodging and aim," he summarised. "And you think you need to get that out of the way before you can really focus on the move itself."

"Mmhm. It doesn't matter how strong we get that Rock Throw if Magmar can throw off its aim with one Tail Whip, or knock it out with a couple of Flame Throwers," he mumbled. "Even if Rockruff doesn't win the next battle, it's gonna make it work for it. But you are gonna win. You're so strong, and you worked so hard today… no way you can lose this time. Tomorrow, we're gonna get it all perfect. Tomorrow, you're gonna show 'em all. Right, Rockruff?"

It rumbled back at him, and Pikachu sighed out a similar kind of agreement.

Kukui chuckled. "Tomorrow, huh? You really think Rockruff will have been able to learn all of that and Rock Throw in just two days?" he asked, but Ash's only response was a vague hum. He lifted his head again, only to find Ash had dropped all the way down, his hand still draped over Rockruff's back, Pikachu still lazing over his leg, and all three of them asleep.

Something warm curled up under his ribs, not quite amusement or pride, but something deeper. He hesitated, debating whether to make Ash get up and go to bed, or just leave him where he seemed happy and comfortable. He had a blanket around here somewhere, he was pretty sure…

"Rockruff did make remarkable progress today," Rotom reported, jerking him out of the moment. "I have several data points that map its improvement at an exponential rate! Would you like to review the data, Professor?"

Kukui stared at it blankly for a few seconds, but as Rotom began flashing graphs and information, he held up a hand to make it stop. "Not right now, Rotom," he said softly, and went back to watching Ash and the pokemon. "Let's just leave it for now."