Ash looked entirely perplexed by the concept of permission slips.

"But… we're just going to Akala," he said, staring at the signature line. "It's literally the next island over. Kiawe flies there every day."

"Yes, and he has permission from his parents to do so," Kukui explained, amused in a way he knew he shouldn't have been.

"We're only going for a week."

"It's still time away. This is to make sure that everyone's parents know where their children are."

Ash lifted his eyes to Kukui, looking even blanker. "Do I need to get my mom to sign?"

"No, you're different," he said with a grin. "For one thing, by giving permission for you to live with me, your mother essentially signed guardianship to me, so I would only really need to get permission from myself for you to go."

"Oh… Okay…"

"For another, according to International Law, a fully licensed pokemon trainer such as yourself is bound by the age laws of their home region," he pointed out. "As long as you remain a fully licensed pokemon trainer, you're an adult and responsible for your own wellbeing. So really, the only permission you need is your own."

There was a beat, and Kukui immediately regretted pointing that out. Despite the fact that Ash was probably more than aware of it already, he somehow felt he'd just damaged some future argument he was going to make, so he added, "But that doesn't mean you can just do whatever you want. Remember, part of going to school is that you're agreeing to be part of the school group. I need to know where you are and what you're doing at all times."

"What? Oh, yeah, sure," he said vaguely, and Kukui sighed. Now he was definitely going to lose Ash somewhere on Akala. But he seemed to have already lost the argument, because Ash was suddenly frowning, his eyes locked on the middle distance in front of him. After another moment, he looked up and over at the door, then twisted around toward the balcony, like he was expecting someone to come in. Sitting on his shoulder as always, Pikachu leaned around to stare at its trainer.

"Pika pika?"

When Ash didn't immediately answer, Kukui raised an eyebrow. "Something wrong?"

"N-no…" He paused again, and then slowly turned back to the permission slip, only to almost immediately look up again, brow furrowing further.

"Ash?" Rotom was the one to call this time. "Are you confused about guardianship rules? I can explain them to you in detail if you require!"

"What?" he asked absently, before he blinked and turned back. Then he made a face. "No, I'm fine, thanks, Rotom. I just forgot that it's different for people here. That's so weird. Does that mean that if I went somewhere with Kiawe and something happened, I'd be responsible for him? Like, for Officer Jenny and stuff?"

"Technically," Kukui said with a grin. "I don't know if anyone would hold you to it, though."

"So weird," he said again, and then suddenly flinched so violently that his eyes clenched shut, and he made a slightly choked noise when they opened.

By the time Kukui realised what he was doing, his hand was hovering over Ash's shoulder and he was halfway leaning down into the kid's personal space. "Ash? What's wrong? Does something hurt?"

He glanced up at him, mouth set in a surprisingly hard line, before he silently turned and walked over to the balcony. Pikachu murmured to him quietly, but Ash just muttered back that it shouldn't worry, focussed on something in the courtyard. Exchanging nervous glances, Kukui and Rotom hurried after him, and followed his gaze down to where Principal Oak was chatting with one of the teachers, a pokemon crouched between them and warily looking around the courtyard.

"See the lucario?" Ash asked Pikachu, who made a noise of understanding.

Kukui glanced at them, mildly confused, but Rotom was already on a roll, "Lucario, the Aura pokemon. Not only does it perceive auras, but it has also gained the power to control them. It employs them in –"

"Uh oh," Ash said suddenly, and grabbed Kukui by the arm. That was all the warning he got before getting violently yanked out of the way, mere seconds before something blue slammed into the balcony railing in front of them.

"What the he—?!" Kukui yelped, but Ash was already dragging him back into the classroom.

"That was an Aura Sphere!" Rotom cried. "It is a special fighting move, and the signature move of Lucario! It is created –"

"Not now, Rotom!" Ash snapped, as another blast slammed into the wall outside, startlingly close to where they were standing.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried, and Ash nodded.

"Yeah. Professor, stay here," he ordered, before sprinting back out into the hallway. Kukui blinked at the tone—he'd heard Ash use it once or twice before and it still shocked him every time, if only because it brooked no argument and actually made him want to obey—before ignoring it and running after.

"Ash! Hold on, wait up!" he yelled, but Ash didn't even pause. In fact, when he reached the railing around the far side of the stairs, he vaulted over it with no concern for the heart that jumped into Kukui's throat. "Ash!"

But when he reached the railing himself, it wasn't to find his boarder sprawled at the base of the steps with a broken leg – Ash was nowhere in sight. Kukui swore and rushed around, taking the stairs as quickly as he could and running for the courtyard.

By the time he got there, it was to find Ash squaring off against Lucario, Oak's Komala and Teacher Hanoi's Pangoro lying crumpled on the ground behind it, and Pikachu snarling between Ash and their opponent.

"Lucario!" Hanoi begged. "You have to stop! Please!"

"Pika!" Pikachu spat, but Lucario ignored them both, already charging up another Aura Sphere.

"Pikachu, we need to calm it down!" Ash ordered, before swinging out his arm. "Thunderbolt, but take it easy!"

"Pi-kachu!" it snapped, and blasted out its attack. Lucario leapt out of the way at the last second, before firing its sphere directly at Ash. Kukui snatched for the pokeballs he didn't even carry anymore, but Ash just dove out of the way, expertly tumbling back to a fighter's crouch to refocus on Lucario. Pikachu didn't wait for another order, already racing forward with a electroball forming on its tail. "Pikapikapikapika…!"

"Cari!" Lucario barked, a shining blue bone extending out from its paws as it raced forward itself.

"Chu-pi!"

The electroball was brighter and larger than Kukui had yet seen from Pikachu, and although Lucario's bone club batted it away, it obviously had to put a lot more energy into the swing than it had expected, and the bone snapped in half before fading into non-existence. Lucario stumbled, staring at the ruins of its attack, and Ash didn't wait for it to recover.

"Okay, Pikachu, let's do this!" he yelled, swinging his Z-ring up. As he and Pikachu swung through the motions, Lucario looked up, eyes visibly widening, and it skittered back in fear. While Ash obviously knew better than to pause at this point, he didn't give his usual half-speech, instead pointing out, "Pikachu and I are partners! Gigavolt Havoc!"

Like most of the Z-moves Ash performed, it wasn't nearly as impressive as it had been that first time against Tapu Koko, but it was more than enough to slam into the still frozen Lucario and knock it out flat. Even so, Pikachu was almost immediately back into a battle-stance, but Ash rushed past it without waiting.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu snapped, and he tossed a smile over his shoulder as he knelt down.

"It's okay, buddy, it can't battle anymore," he said, before gently levering his arms under Lucario. "Hey. Hey, Lucario, it's okay. No one's going to hurt anyone. It's safe here."

Lucario gasped as it came back to consciousness, jerking back, but Ash held tight.

"Hey… I promise you, everything's fine. You don't have to be scared," he said gently. "Pikachu, come over and tell it."

"Pika pikachu," it said mutinously, but still walked over to clamber up onto Ash's shoulder, where it glowered down at Lucario. "Pikapi pi pika, pikachu."

"Be nice," he said, and Pikachu glared at him.

"Pika."

Movement from the other side of the courtyard snapped Kukui back to himself, and he joined Hanoi and Oak in rushing over to Ash.

"Ash!" he cried. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, my goodness," Hanoi said as she collapsed to her knees beside him. "I'm so sorry, I have no idea what happened. You're okay, right? Kukui, I swear, I didn't –"

"It's fine," Ash reassured her, before looking back down at Lucario again. "We're all okay, right, Lucario?"

Lucario just stared at him for a few seconds, its wide eyes slowly welling up with tears. Ash smiled kindly, lowering his head until Kukui couldn't see his eyes past the brim of his cap, and gently petted Lucario's cheek, his fingers just barely missing the strange black appendages behind its ears with each stroke. "I meant it. We're all safe."

And with that, it lurched up and into Ash's chest, where it burst into what were unmistakably loud and painful-sounding sobs.

"It belongs to a friend of mine – Danny Midori. He's one of Kahuna Hala's disciples in martial arts," Teacher Hanoi explained. "But last week, there was an accident during training. Danny was squaring off against another disciple – Anthony Goldeen. It was the same as ever, and everything was fine, except they both misjudged a swing and… well, Danny hasn't woken up yet."

Once Lucario had calmed down enough to let go of Ash, they'd moved the conversation into Principal Oak's office to avoid the small crowd of staff and students that had stayed behind after school and were therefore still around to see it. Lucario was still sniffling a little, but Ash had released all of his pokemon and they were happily checking it out as a distraction, although Pikachu had taken up position in Ash's lap and didn't seem interested in forgiving Lucario yet. Ash himself had taken on that serious, hard-line expression he'd had when talking to DJ Leo last week, and seemed entirely focussed on the conversation. Kukui wasn't sure what to feel about any of it.

"It's okay – I mean, the doctors are sure he's going to wake up soon," Hanoi continued slowly. "But they're not sure how he'll be when he does. There's a bit of damage, and there's a chance he won't… well, he might not be himself for a while."

"Oh, man," Ash said softly. "That's terrible."

She smiled vaguely, acknowledging it as fact but not really responding. "Well, if he isn't, then everyone kind of agreed it might be a problem for Lucario – they have such close bonds with their trainers, and it's been with Danny since the year it was hatched. So his family asked if I would take care of Lucario until Danny's back to… well… at least until he's back on his feet."

"I had no idea you were going through this, Teacher Hanoi," said Oak. "Are you sure you're in shape to be at work?"

"Absolutely," she said, shaking her head to dismiss any idea otherwise. "Danny's a friend, but we haven't been close in years. I'm just the only trainer they know with experience with fighting-types that isn't involved in the dojo."

"Had anyone told Lucario what happened?" asked Ash. "I mean, it does know why it's got a new trainer, right?"

"It's hard to tell what a pokemon knows sometimes," she said awkwardly. "But we did explain that it's only temporary, and that Danny got hurt."

Ash frowned and looked over at Lucario. "I don't think it understands that it was an accident. It seemed pretty upset."

"Pretty upset?" Kukui repeated quietly, glancing at Ash's still-damp T-shirt. Not to mention the attack itself.

"Apparently Lucario can sense emotions from up to half a mile away," Hanoi continued. "I thought bringing it to the school would be a good distraction – all these happy kids, focussed on learning… I thought it would block out everyone's worries at the dojo."

"Ah, that's what you were saying before," Oak realised. "Just before it attacked."

"But that's not what you said, right?" asked Ash. "Lucario heard you talking, and it didn't think that's what you brought it here to do."

Kukui glanced at him again, curious as to why Ash would make such an assumption, while Hanoi and Oak frowned.

"Well… I kind of did," Hanoi said awkwardly. "I mean, I don't remember exactly what I said, but it would've been close."

Oak nodded. "It was… ah, that's right. 'It would be good for Lucario to be around the children'."

"Oh, and you misunderstood," Hanoi remembered, lifting a finger in point. "You mentioned how in the old days, Lucario were often used as guardians. Like a knight protector."

Ash beamed like that had cleared everything up. "Of course! So Lucario thought you brought it here to protect everyone from some kind of danger!"

"I suppose…"

Kukui, however, was not so impressed with such an argument. "That doesn't explain why it decided to attack us."

"It was scared," Ash argued. "Look at it from Lucario's point of view – it knows its trainer's been hurt by someone, so badly that it's not allowed to be with him. Then it gets taken to a place it doesn't know, and told to protect it. It probably sensed something and just lashed out." He lifted a hand to pet Pikachu's head, and Kukui raised an eyebrow, wondering if it was an intentional movement. Maybe he suspected Lucario had sensed Pikachu's power level – it was ridiculously strong, and probably the only battle-trained pokemon nearby. If Lucario really could sense auras, it would have known that. Pikachu probably had seemed like the most dangerous creature within its sphere of attention.

There was logic to the thought, and Kukui had to reluctantly agree Ash was probably right. He'd never seen a pokemon cry the way Lucario had earlier – it obviously hadn't been in its right mind. Which probably also explained why it had seemed to be attacking Ash – he was giving orders to the dangerous opponent, so getting rid of him was probably the most efficient method of stopping Pikachu's 'rampage'.

Kukui didn't like it, but it made a kind of sense.

"That's all very well and good," Oak said slowly, "but given what's happened, I don't think I can allow Lucario on campus, Teacher Hanoi. We can't risk it doing something like this again."

"That's not fair!" Ash cried. "This was just a misunderstanding – you don't know it'll happen again!"

"But we also don't know that it won't," he replied, and Hanoi nodded quietly.

"Before you made it downstairs, both Principal Oak and I attempted to stop Lucario from entering the school. It knocked out both of our pokemon in one move. It's too powerful to risk it going wild."

"Yeah, but…" Ash grimaced and looked over at Lucario. "This isn't Lucario's fault."

Kukui slanted a look at his fellow teachers, silently reassuring them he'd deal with that particular misconception later. "Are you going to be alright with it, Hanoi? They might both be part-fighting type, but lucario are nothing like the pangoro you've raised."

"I think so. I'll keep it at home, and there's only one trainer in my neighbourhood that uses Z-moves. I'll just talk to him and make sure he knows not to use his pokemon near my house for a while," she said with a sigh. "It's a shame that I'll have to keep it locked up, but hopefully it won't be for long."

Ash's frown deepened, but he kept silent, obviously aware that he was being overruled. Kukui just sighed and wondered if he could distract the kid with the promise of Akala and Kahuna Olivia.

Somehow, he doubted things would be that easy.

It was a late start to the school day the next morning, but Kukui wasn't altogether surprised when he got up to find Ash already on his way out the door.

"Training again?" he asked. "You know, Ash, sometimes there can be too much of a good thing."

"Huh?" Standing with his hand on the door, Pikachu on his backpack, Ash stared at him for a few seconds, then grinned broadly. "Oh! Right! Yeah. Um… but not yet! We've still got a lot of work to do. Right, Pikachu?"

Pikachu snapped an equally frozen grin onto its face. "Pika!"

"So we're gonna go train some more," Ash continued. "Me and Pikachu."

"Pika pikachu."

"Yeah. Now. See you later!"

And then he was zipping out the door, Rotom squealing as it had to rush to follow. Kukui lowered the mug he'd just collected from the cupboard, wearily debating whether he was getting too old to understand kids or if Ash was just that weird.

For all the 'training' he had supposedly been doing, Ash was only just on time for class, and he was walked to the door by Teacher Hanoi. Kukui watched from beside his desk, unable to hear what they were saying as she smiled and bowed to him, and Ash did the same in return. He supposed it could have been coincidence—Hanoi had apologised over and over again last night, and was obviously still guilty by the time they left—but somehow Kukui didn't quite believe that was why the two of them were together.

He didn't say anything though, just got through class as normal, and when it was over, he wandered down the hall to Hanoi's classroom. She was collecting papers on her desk, so he knocked on the doorframe as a warning before walking in.

"Hey, Hanoi."

"Oh, Professor Kukui, alola," she greeted. "Do we have a staff meeting?"

"No. I just wanted to see if everything was okay," he said. "I saw you talking to Ash this morning. You're not still feeling guilty over what happened, are you?"

"I was, but Ash told me not to worry. He's a good kid," she said, and paused for a moment before adding, "I went to check on Danny this morning – I guess I was kind of hoping I could find out he could take Lucario back. Ash actually found me there."

Kukui raised his eyebrows, less surprised than he'd expected himself to be. "Ash was at the hospital?"

"Mm. He said he wanted to meet Lucario's trainer, even if he wasn't awake," she said. "I don't know why. I'm not sure he knew, either. But he seemed sincere."

Kukui glanced over his shoulder, back toward his own classroom. The time with Leo, he'd kind of understood Ash's motivations. He was so passionate about relationships between people and pokemon, of course he'd wanted to make sure Leo at least got the chance to say a proper goodbye to his Dugtrio, and then when Team Rocket had been revealed as responsible, a battle just felt like the right thing to do. But this time… it wasn't like Lucario was never going to see its trainer again. And even if it had been reacting to Pikachu, that didn't change the fact Lucario had attacked Ash. If there was ever a time to distance yourself from something…

And then Kukui remembered his promise to himself to just go with Ash's weird habits, and sighed. "I'm sure it's fine."

Hanoi tilted her head, perplexed by what might have seemed a non-sequitor. "Professor Kukui?"

"Never mind. I'm glad you're feeling better. Have a good afternoon."

"Yeah, you too!"

He headed out, determined not to worry about it. That thought lasted all of an hour, when he was on his way home and heard voices coming from the path off route three. He paused, glancing over, and frowned as he recognised a lucario's bark.

"I'm really sorry, Lucario, but I don't know what you're asking!"

That was Ash.

Kukui hesitated, looking back on his own path. He'd told himself to just go with it. That didn't mean he had to completely stay out of whatever Ash was doing, right?

"Luca! Lucario! Lu-lu-rio lucario lu!"

"Pika! Pikachu pi pikachu!"

"Oh, man…!"

Kukui's reluctant interest promptly took a backseat once he arrived on the scene proper. Lucario had Ash backed up against the cliff wall, snarling into his face while Pikachu perched as far forward on Ash's shoulder as it could, warding it off with sparking cheeks, and Rotom flitted about in a panic. Kukui's hands twitched for his pokeballs again, but all he could really do was shout.

"Hey! What's going on here?"

Ash jerked and looked up, blinking wide eyes. "Professor Kukui!"

"Professor Kukui!" Rotom beeped, and then set off a quick alarm. "You need to help!"

Lucario snarled, but then blinked as Kukui's presence really seemed to register, before it flinched and stumbled backward. Pikachu snapped at it again, and it hunched in on itself apologetically, even placing its paws together like a child folding their hands. Ash sighed.

"Sorry about this, Professor," he said, and turned back to Lucario with his hands spread. "Really, Lucario, I get it. And I want to help, but I don't know how I can."

"Ash, get over here," Kukui ordered. "This lucario is clearly not in its right mind. It's not safe."

"That's what I've been telling him!" cried Rotom, but Ash glared at them both.

"It's just upset!"

Kukui gave him a blunt look, unimpressed by both the tone and the response, but Ash didn't seem interested in pandering to even professionalcourtesy right now, let alone any pretence about Kukui being some kind of authority over him. He turned back to Lucario. "You do want my help, right? With Danny?"

"Lucario," it mumbled back.

"I know you guys are close. I can see it, in all those things you showed me," he said gently.

"What things?" Rotom demanded, but Ash ignored it.

"You care about him a whole lot, right?"

"Luluca," Lucario said, and then jerked up and forward again. Kukui almost reached out to snatch Ash away, but Pikachu looked at him quickly and he froze. He couldn't really get on Ash's case about respecting the danger of pokemon while risking electrocution himself. Besides, Ash barely even reacted to Lucario grabbing his arms and barking, "Lucario! Luca lu-lu-rio lucario lu!"

"I – Lucario, I…" Ash grimaced and reached up to hold Lucario's shoulders in return. "I can't do what I think you want me to do. I don't know how."

"Lucario!"

"Easy!" he said. "You gotta calm down. You're scaring the professor."

Lucario flinched again, glancing at Kukui, then went back to Ash with another whimper, "Lucario lu-lu-rio."

"I can't, Lucario," he repeated. "I'm sorry."

Lucario stared at him for another few seconds, then slowly stepped away, eyes clenching shut as it whimpered again, obviously tearing up. Kukui watched it warily for a minute before looking at Rotom for answers. "What's going on?"

"I do not know!" it wailed. "We were walking home when Ash decided to come down here! And Lucario was here! And then they just sat together for a long time, before Lucario suddenly went crazy!"

"It's not crazy!" Ash insisted angrily, shifting as if to shield Lucario from them. "It's just worried about Danny. No one's telling it anything, but it knows he's hurt. It just wants someone to help him."

Kukui scowled back. "How do you know?" he asked, and Ash stared like he was being unreasonable.

"Isn't it obvious?"

Which, in a way, it was, but still. He rubbed his forehead. "Alright, fine. Let's… let's take it back to Teacher Hanoi and –"

"I'm taking it to the hospital."

"Ash," he said firmly, but Ash just frowned back at him.

"Danny is Lucario's partner. They're as close as me and Pikachu. It's not right for them to have cut Lucario out like this!"

Kukui wanted to yell. He really, really did. He wanted to point out that Lucario was a pokemon. It wasn't a human being. It needed a trainer, or to stay in its pokeball, because even if it was just because it was upset, it was still acting like a danger to everyone.

But at the same time…

"And fire!"

Something flashed in the corner of his eye, but Kukui didn't have time to look before Pikachu shrieked and Lucario yelped, and suddenly Ash's shoulder was empty. They both jerked to see the two pokemon now in a net that was being yanked up and over their heads.

"What –?!" Ash cried, and three strangely familiar cackles answered him.

"After all of this time, you'd think that he'd know," a woman said.

"But if the twerp asks, then we'll put on a show!" a man cried, and Kukui turned to find none other than Team Rocket standing on the cliff above them, striking dramatic poses that wouldn't have looked out of place on a stage.

"A beauty so radiant the flowers and moon hide in shame; a single flower of evil in this fleeting world!" the woman announced, flinging her arms wide before bringing them down to her hips. "Jessie."

"The nobly heroic man of our times; a master of darkness fighting back against a tragic world!" the man said, pulling a red rose from behind himself just to hold it near his cheek. "It's James."

"It's one for all and all for one," the talking Meowth said, doing a quick flip that brought it to the forefront of the trio. "A glittering dark star that always shines bright! Dig it, while Meowth takes flight!"

"Team Rocket," the two humans snapped out, "let's fight!"

"That's right!" Meowth replied, while the wobbuffet popped up from behind them all with a proper salute.

"Woo-bbuffet!"

"Team Rocket!" Ash snapped. "Give back Pikachu and Lucario!"

Some vague, absent side of Kukui came to the fore, looking between Ash and Team Rocket and asking, "Do they always introduce themselves like that…?"

"Ugh, looks like even Pokemon Professors can get in on the twerpy act," Jessie sneered, while James raised an unimpressed eyebrow.

"Complete with quibbling question quotient. But we don't have time for even the quickest of queries today!"

"That's right – we gotta grab these guys before Bewear breaks up the bag!" Meowth said, and leapt over to a machine attached to the still hoisting net.

"I wouldn't bet on it!" Ash snapped, lashing out with his arm. "Pikachu! Iron tail!"

"Pika-chu!" it replied, but although its tail shone and crashed against the net, it hit with a screech of metal, and Team Rocket laughed again.

"Oh, come on now, Twerp! What's the point in going to school if you're going to stay as dumb as ever?" Jessie cackled.

"Our nets are specially designed to cope with your electric rat! Shock proof and iron proof, the perfect combination!" James pointed out, and Ash growled, reaching behind himself for a pokeball.

"Well if I can't break the net, we'll have to go after the other targets!" he snapped, and pitched not one but two balls with the same hand. "Rowlet – leafage! Litten, I need you to get up to that machine!"

"Not this time, Twerp!" James shouted, flinging his own pokeball. "Mareanie, poison sting!"

"Litten! Dodge it!"

Somehow, Litten managed to bounce in mid-air, just barely avoiding the poison shot, while Rowlet (in one of its surprising displays of higher function) silently sped up into the air and unleashed a hurricane of glowing leaves. Team Rocket yelled in frustration as they had to shield themselves, and Litten took the opportunity to clamber up to the top of the cliff.

Ash clicked his fingers in satisfaction. "Nice work! Now use fire fang!"

"Sludge bomb, Mareanie, let's go!" James called, and Litten yowled as the attack hit, sending a wave of mud and dust over the edge.

"Litten! Are you okay?" Ash called, but he barely waited for an answer before gesturing to Rowlet. "Quick, use peck!"

"Not on my watch!" Meowth snarled, extending glowing claws, only to flinch and freeze up as Rowlet came shooting toward it. "Uh oh."

Rowlet slammed into it, and then the machine, so hard and fast that Kukui only really saw the explosion. But it did the job as the machine buckled, the clawed attachments that gripped the net coming apart before breaking off entirely. As soon as there was a gap large enough, Pikachu clambered out and leapt down onto the cliff, but Lucario was still tangled as it fell not only over the short cliff above them, but toward the sharp incline below. Not that Kukui was too worried, given Lucario's steel type, but Ash dove to grab it anyway. His hand snagged the net, but combined with Lucario's weight it dragged him to the ground and over the incline, though his other hand snatched at the ground just before he went over proper.

"Ash!" Kukui cried, running over to help, but Ash was already pulling himself back up somehow, teeth clenched as he glared up at Team Rocket.

"Ooh, looks like the twerp's in trouble!" Jessie crowed.

"I think we can help with that!" James agreed. "Mareanie! Poison sting once more!"

"What?!" Kukui was so shocked that he actually stopped, and the spikes shot past him to crash into the dirt Ash was just barely holding onto. He had a split second to see one actually slice across Ash's fingers before the kid lost his grip and slid out of view.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu yelled, and Kukui swung around to stare horrified at Team Rocket.

They were grinning at each other excitedly. "Did we just –"

"I think we did! Again!"

"This region is so great for us!"

"Uh, guys?" Meowth said, and both they and Kukui looked at it, before following its gaze down to Pikachu, Litten, and Rowlet. Kukui didn't blame the trio for flinching – with how those three looked, he was a little surprised they weren't already running.

"Piiiika…" Pikachu began, while Litten's mouth and back burst into flame and Rowlet leapt up into the air, feathers flared and leaves glowing hot white.

"We really need to stop counting our torchics before they hatch," James sighed, before all three lashed out with their attacks. Kukui braced himself against the explosion, but something big and black flashed, and when the dust cleared, it was to find Team Rocket, their meowth, and their wobbuffet all in the arms of a very large, unharmed, and extremely intimidating bewear.

As a whole, Team Rocket looked rather resigned.

"Oh, come on!" Jessie wailed. "The Twerp is gone! We can win this one!"

"Just give us one more minute!" cried James.

Bewear looked down at Kukui, then over at Pikachu and the others, before nodding once and sprinting off into the trees. Kukui blinked dumbly as Team Rocket called, "We're off with a new blast…!"

For a minute, nobody moved.

It was that kind of weird.

"Pikapi!" Pikachu gasped, and Kukui flinched before running over to the incline's edge. He couldn't see Ash anywhere, though there was a line of rubble and broken branches to show his trajectory. He would have landed in the woods behind the Pokemon Centre.

Rotom and Rowlet flew over, Rotom just pausing long enough to meet Kukui's gaze and say, "I will go straight down and look for him. I will send an alert to your device with coordinates!"

"Thanks, Rotom," he said, and it bobbed in the air before speeding down after Rowlet. Kukui looked up at Ash's remaining pokemon and gestured for them to come down. "Let's go – I know how to get down there."

Kukui was a very strong believer in the idea that if you looked for the good, it would come to you. But even so, as he ran faster and harder than he had in years, his mind began quietly preparing for the inevitable calls. First to the hospital, and then to Delia Ketchum, and then the police because those thugs needed to be locked up forever and a day, and then he was going to have words with every single person who had ever seen Ash interact with Team Rocket because this should never have –

And then Ash stepped out from behind a tree and Kukui had to spin on one leg not to run him over.

"Hey, whoa, Professor Kukui!" Ash cried as he stumbled and eventually fell to the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Pikapi!" Pikachu cried, and Ash immediately turned to catch it up in a tight hug that was soon joined by an enthusiastic Litten.

Kukui gaped up at him. Ash was laughing happily, looking perfectly fine. Rowlet was even asleep in his open backpack, like it often did on his way home from school. Lucario was standing a few feet back, its paws pressed together and soft smile on its muzzle, and Rotom was hovering over all of them, looking satisfied. Everything seemed… okay?

"Ash? Are you alright?" Kukui asked, and he pulled away from his pokemon with a broad smile.

"Yup! It was a pretty big fall, though. I hit my head and blacked out," he said, and then turned a proud look on Lucario. "Lucky you were there or I might've been in real trouble!"

"Lucario," it said, with a humble duck of its head.

"Lucario learned heal pulse!" Rotom reported. "It was super effective!"

"Heal pulse," Kukui repeated quietly. He was beginning to feel a little numb.

"It's so great!" Ash added, letting go of Pikachu to pump his fist. "I bet you could use it on Danny!"

Lucario jerked and looked up with wide eyes. "Luca?"

"Yeah!" he said excitedly. "Come on! Let's go to the hospital right now and try it out!"

"Hospital…?" Kukui repeated, but Ash had already lowered Litten to the ground and was holding out a hand for him to take.

"Come on, Professor!"

Very, very numb. But he let himself get dragged up to his feet and wasn't given time to question before they were off and running again, this time toward town.

It worked.

Kukui stood behind the observation window with a nurse, both of them staring blankly as the fully-healed martial artist half-fell out of bed to hug his crying lucario tightly. On the other side, Ash and Pikachu were grinning at each other while Rotom took picture after picture, and the doctor gaped because this wasn't possible.

Heal pulse didn't normally work on humans. Not without special adaption equipment and extensive training and certainly not on brain injuries because the human brain was such a complicated mess and…

"Isn't it great, Lucario?" he heard Ash say. "I knew you could do it."

Kukui blinked. At the warm, gentle smile. At the kindness and compassion Ash had shown these last two days. At how he'd refused to stay out of it, even though he'd been in danger. At the end result, with a pokemon and its trainer enjoying the best of happy endings.

Kukui felt his shoulders drop a little, something warm pooling in his chest.

"Good job," he agreed, not entirely sure who he was talking to.

"There is still something I don't understand," Rotom said as they headed home. The time had just slipped away from them, and now it was sunset, casting everything in a beautiful orange light that somehow felt warmer than the afternoon sun had.

"What's that, Rotom?" Kukui asked, when Ash's only response was a curious glance.

"This afternoon, how did you know Lucario was waiting for you on that side path?" it asked. "And you seemed to know what it was thinking."

"I'm more surprised at you, Rotom," Ash replied blankly. "Come to think of it, I've been meaning to ask. You're still a pokemon inside the pokedex, right? How come you don't know what pokemon are saying?"

"I no longer communicate as a pokemon does!" it said, sweeping an imperious wing through the air. "My databanks are programmed to accept human speech, and therefore prioritises your language over theirs!"

"That's kind of sad," he said, and looked at Pikachu. "I'd give anything to know what Pikachu and the others were really saying."

"You seem to understand them pretty well already," Kukui noted. "I've seen people that make real money translating pokemon speech that can't communicate as well as you do with Pikachu."

"That's just understanding what it means," he said. "I'd really like to know what it's saying."

"Pika pikachu, Pikapi," Pikachu replied, pushing its cheek into his, and he chuckled and pushed back in an armless hug. Kukui smiled fondly. Some things didn't need any translation.

They fell silent for a second before Rotom suddenly squealed. "You did it again!"

"What?"

"You changed the subject!" it yelled, and swung around to poke its wing in his face. "You always do that! Why do you never answer my questions?"

"What questions?" Ash demanded. "Rotom, you're not making any sense!"

"I ask you questions and every time you avoid answering!" it cried. "You always just say 'that's how it is' and that is not how it is! Life is not that simple and you are incomprehensible! I demand comprehension!"

"Well, so do I!" he said. "You make things too complicated, RotomDex."

"You make them too simple!" it snapped back. "But especially this time! How did you know what Lucario was saying?"

"I just said, didn't I?" he asked. "I don't know what pokemon are saying, but sometimes you can kind of get an idea of what they mean. It's not that special, right, Professor?"

Kukui raised an eyebrow. "Well, usually trainers need a close bond with their pokemon to really understand, but you're right; it's not that unusual. But I think you might have gotten this one wrong, Ash – I don't think you're understanding what Rotom means."

"And it talks like a human!" Ash responded cheekily. "Which just goes to show that you don't have to speak a different language to misunderstand sometimes."

Kukui narrowed his eyes, but couldn't help smiling back. It was rare enough that Kukui could admit he enjoyed it when Ash decided to be a brat. "Okay. So maybe I should translate then?"

"Aw, come on, Professor, aren't you a pokemon trainer?" he asked playfully. "You should know better than to just give pokemon what they want! They have to learn or they're never going to get stronger!"

Rotom beeped in frustration. "You cannot lecture anyone about spoiling pokemon when your pikachu is the most spoiled rat in Alola!"

"Mouse," Ash corrected. "Pikachu is a mouse."

"Pika," Pikachu agreed sagely.

"Rats don't have fur on their tails. Gary told me that once."

"You are doing it again!" Rotom screeched.

"Seriously, Rotom, you need to calm down. All that stress is going to overheat your circuits!" he said with a grin, and ducked under Rotom to start jogging backward. "You should burn off your energy in more productive ways! Like running! Let's make it a race home!"

"What?!"

"Come on, Pikachu! See you there, Professor!"

"Pika!"

"Stop avoiding my questions!"

The three of them sped off into the sunset, leaving Kukui alone on the road. He chuckled softly, amused despite his complete understanding of Rotom's frustration. It was altogether too easy to get swept up in Ash's joyful disregard for sense and clarity. To the point that Kukui kind of felt like he'd forgotten something himself. Like he'd been intending to do something before everything at the hospital overrode it.

Ah well.

"I better get going too," he told himself, breaking into a run after the group. "Or else I'll be needing to use Last Resort to get into my own house!"

It probably wasn't that important.