"In truth, there's not a lot different about Mystical Fire compared to normal fire moves," Articuno said. "At least, that is certainly the impression that I have from talking about fire moves with others, since I'm an Articuno and even though I'm a Galarian one and not the Ice-type you'd expect from the name Articuno I'm still a bit short on Fire-type moves."

"Are you sure that that's what Articuno should mean?" Ash asked. "Couldn't it just mean that you're actually a bear?"

"Yeah, whatever," Articuno said. "Anyway, the really neat thing about it is how controllable it is. So that's what to work on… actually, it might be easier for Ponyta if she gets started with some of Fennekin's fire? I dunno, I'm not an expert on things being on fire."

"Hmm," Serena frowned. "So we need to work with associations of fire… what about starting with music?"

"I've heard that magic spells are sometimes poems," Ponyta volunteered. "Is that so they can be sung, or is it just a coincidence?"

"Or dancing," Serena added. "Actually… let's try that! Fennekin, you use Ember, then try and match what your fire does to how I'm moving instead of how you're moving, okay?"

"Is this sympathetic magic or the principle of contagion?" Fennekin wondered.

"It's a Pokémon move, is what it is," Articuno replied. "Now, let's see how you do… no, not like that, you'll burn the whole bloody forest down…"

Serena pointed left, and the flames swept left.

Then she pointed right, and the flames whooshed right.

Then she pointed up, and the flames went down and blasted a scorch mark into the grass.

"Stop!" Articuno called, and Serena stepped back a bit from the blast mark as Fennekin opened her eyes.

"What were you trying to do?" Fennekin asked. "I got mixed up…"

"Inverted controls," Latias said. "Must be."

She scratched her chin. "Have you played computer games? That's a problem that happens a lot in those so I assume it happens in real life too."

"I actually think you might be right," Fennekin said. "Serena's facing me, so when she points to her left I have to make the flames go to my right, and I was remembering that bit okay but I got confused about the details beyond that… I think the blindfold thing is a bit too difficult."

"You got the first two right, though," Serena encouraged. "And the fact you can tell what I'm doing is great, too!"

"She was blindfolded?" asked a Pancham from one of the nearby trees. "That's… I mean, um… nobody here but us trees?"

"I don't think you're a Sudowoodo or a Trevenant," Bonnie said. "And normal trees can't talk!"

"How do you know?" asked the Pancham, now hiding behind a small branch. "Have you asked all of them? I don't think so!"

"We can actually hear what you're saying," Fennekin said. "And you're saying Pancham a lot."

"That's not any kind of proof… oh, fine," Pancham sighed. "I just wanted to watch, but…"

He huffed. "Normally you don't know how to interact with humans, right? And you want to watch someone doing pretty stuff, but you want to keep it secret from your own relatives because it's not very masculine and from humans and trained Pokémon because-"

"Hey!" Ash interrupted. "And I'm not saying hey to you but hey to all those Pokémon who think that performing isn't masculine! Because what really matters is if you enjoy it!"

Pancham absorbed that.

"Okay, that's inspiring, but at the same time, I seem to remember that humans can't understand Pokémon?" he said. "Did I remember that wrong?"

"You're mostly right, but there are exceptions," Serena said. "And there's also Pokémon who can do translation. Both are in this clearing."

"Translation complete," Clemont's Translation Gear said. "Nobody here but us trees."

"That just said what Pancham said, in Sudowoodo!" Dedenne sniggered.

"...I really need to fix that," Clemont sighed. "The problem is, if I knew how I'd have already done it…"

While Clemont worked on his Gear – which had started with trying to puzzle out the workings of the Translation Gear, but quickly turned into working on a machine to quickly teach a person and a Pokémon how to dance – Pancham hung around all day, watching as Serena refined Mystical Fire for both her Pokémon… and, in a way, for herself.

She wasn't making any progress with learning the move, not on her own, but it turned out to be a good way to deepen her connection with her Familiar for them to work on making it so that Mystical Fire reacted to her movements while Fennekin watched and concentrated.

Ponyta wasn't to be left out, and got the move to the point where she could make patterns under Lokoko's careful tutelage, though she was still behind Fennekin in being able to synchronize with her trainer… something which Pancham pointed out just as Dragonite was starting to cook dinner.

"Wait, wait, what just happened?" he asked. "I get the idea where Serena is making gestures and that's making the flame go that way, because Fennekin's watching and she's copying it. But that bit there where it made a circle, Serena didn't do anything for that one? And neither of you said anything about it?"

He scratched his head. "I don't get it."

"Actually… now I think about it, I was wanting the flame to do that," Serena admitted. "That's why it didn't feel surprising. But you're right, I didn't make a gesture for it because I wasn't sure what the gesture should be."

She turned to Fennekin. "Does that mean we had the same idea?"

"Not really," Fennekin replied. "Because I definitely got the idea that you wanted to do it, even without you saying anything… wait, hold on, let's try that again."

She conjured more Mystical Fire with a flick of her tail, and it formed a ball just in front of Serena's cupped hands. "Now, try thinking what you want it to do!"

Serena frowned, focusing, and the flame danced in a flickering windy pattern. Then it formed a question-mark, before dissolving again.

"So I still have to do a lot of it, but it's like you can use Mystical Fire!" Fennekin cheered. "Because you don't need to tell me in advance, or signal. It's going to look great!"

Pancham held up a paw.

"Is it actually necessary to be able to use magic, or Mystical Fire, to be part of your team?" he asked. "Because I can't, but I'm interested anyway…"

"Let's see if this still works!" Clemont said, the next day.

"Uh oh," Chespin gulped. "I don't want to test that one."

"You actually can't, it's for Electric-types," Clemont told her. "It's a machine that provides an electrical shower, which Electric-types can use to get the electricity they need. Electrically."

"That actually sounds like quite a useful one," Pikachu said. "How does it get power, exactly?"

Clemont looked confused. "Huh? No, it provides power to Electric-types."

"Well, if it's doing that, where does the power come from?" Pikachu pressed.

"Oh, I see what you're asking," Clemont said, his face clearing. "It uses multiple different frequency phase currents to combine through a heterodyning process, which generates very large current spikes."

"That's not actually what I… you know what, never mind," Pikachu shrugged, ears flicking. "Arc knows that if I started complaining about that kind of thing I'd have to start with myself."

"Correct," Arc said.

While Clemont began setting up the Clemontic Shower, Serena knelt down and sent out her newly-recruited Pancham.

"I was meaning to ask, what moves do you actually know?" she said.

"Oh, well, I know these ones," he replied. "Stone Edge!"

He stamped the ground, and a stone went thoonk up into the air.

"Arm Thrust!" he added, slamming his palm into the stone and smashing it into four smaller pieces.

Then he stopped.

"The third one's Dark Pulse, but I don't have a target any more," he said. "And… that's it."

"That's still good," Serena assured him. "But what might help is having a bit of a theme to them… any ideas, Fennekin?"

"Not yet, give me some time to think," Fennekin requested. "Hmmm… maybe something to do with punching? Is there a reason why Stone Edge has to come up from the ground? Don't forget, Lucario made it come down from the ceiling!"

"Oh, good point!" Serena agreed. "How does that sound?"

Pancham considered, but then there was a buzzing sound from Clemont's direction.

"I've got it set up!" he said. "Activating the Clemontic Shower!"

Dedenne came out of Bonnie's bag, then did a twirl as electricity fizzed up and down his tail. "This feels nice!"

Then a woman turned up, saying that she'd been Clemont's teacher at a nearby academy and it was nice to see him again.

"And I see you've met Ash Ketchum!" she said. "Would you like to come and visit? And we could organize a guest lecture, if you're interested!"

Miss Éclairesse, Clemont's old teacher, led them to the academy and talked about the kind of place it was.

It was principally focused not just on Pokémon in general but on Electric-type Pokémon in particular, and Clemont said that he hadn't really been sure about the whole thing when he first went to the academy – it had been his father's idea – but he'd got a lot of experience of several different kinds there, and that was where he'd really picked up his passion for projects.

Along with a Shinx friend, though they'd lost touch since.

"That's actually why I built the Clemontic Shower," Clemont said. "I heard that Electric-type Pokémon were suffering from lack of electricity, a lot of them I mean, not just Shinx, and so I built the Clemontic Showers so that they'd be a good way to give all those Pokémon the electricity they needed."

"That's a very positive thing to do, Clemont," Ninetales told him. "You should be proud of it. Though I have to ask – why did you lose touch with your friend, Shinx?"

"I don't know if he really was a friend," Clemont admitted, frowning. "Not for sure, because I couldn't talk to him like I can to you, but…"

He shook his head. "I met Shinx a lot, but then – well, I wanted to ask him to be my partner and my starter Pokémon. But it all went a bit wrong, because when I was going to visit him at the usual time the Mayor got me to come to a party celebrating the Clemontic Shower. And I think Shinx assumed I'd abandoned him?"

"That sounds terrible," Dedenne gasped.

"I didn't know about this!" Bonnie agreed. "It is terrible! Did you say sorry? Did he run away?"

"I never saw him again," Clemont said, as they reached the Academy's grounds. "That's why I think Shinx thought I'd abandoned him, really… but I never worked out how to find him again."

"Hmm," Lokoko pondered. "I might need to ask Absol for help here."

Then someone walking by did a double-take.

"Ash Ketchum?" he said. "But – aren't you giving a lecture?"

"I said I was!" Ash agreed. "Why are you surprised, though?"

"Because I helped you set up?" the assistant replied. "You should still be in there… right?"

"Giant Pokémon," Ash said, waving a big stick and pointing at a picture of a giant Pokémon at the front of the lecture hall. "These are usually found in Galar, but it's surprising how often you see them in other places. They're stronger and tougher, so the best way to battle them is…?"

"By making your own Pokémon giant as well?" someone suggested. "That's how you usually beat Dynamax, right?"

"No, it can't be," someone else said. "He said it was about beating giant Pokémon all over the place, not just Galar, and you can only Dynamax in Galar."

"That's a good point," Ash said. "You can only Dynamax in Galar, usually. But one of the ways you can beat a giant Pokémon is to have a fast fighting style that relies on dodging! A giant Pokémon is often less able to hit smaller Pokémon, so-"

The stage-side door opened.

"Hi, Zacian!" Ash said, waving at Ash. "Are you doing a lecture for me?"

The Ash who'd been doing the lecture shimmered and vanished, replaced by Zacian. "I thought I'd talk about a topic of special interest to me," she said. "Is that all right?"

"You were talking about giant Pokémon, right?" Ash checked. "Did you get to how a great way to beat a giant Pokémon is to turn gravity upside down and use Smack Down? That's a fun trick!"

"Attention," Arc said. "I have searched social media. I feel I should point out that this is not the only lecture hall allegedly occupied by Ash Ketchum giving a guest lecture."

"Dooos," Zapdos said. "Zap! Zapzap! Dos."

She swept her wing across, and the Pollen Rain focused together into a ball before gently erupting into flame with a whouf sound.

"Ash Ketchum's got an unusual lecturing style, but the demonstrations are really useful," said one of the students in the second row. "I'd never thought of doing that with weather before."

"I don't think anyone knew it was possible with weather before?" said the person sitting next to her. "Except maybe Ash Ketchum…"

"All right, next step!" Dracozolt said, bounding up on top of the desk. "Who can give me an example of a Pokémon and a move it can't learn?"

Someone put up their hand.

"Wrong!" Dracozolt declared.

"But I was going to say Magikarp and Spacial Rend!" the student protested.

"That just means you haven't met the right Magikarp," Dracozolt said firmly. "At most."

Eventually they did get all the scheduling sorted out, though Ash then gave a long talk about Mega Evolution from the point of view of the Pokémon.

Which was an odd enough experience for most of the students that it was hard to tell if sorting out the real Ash Ketchum from his Pokémon had actually helped make the talk less confusing.

While that was going on, though – and while Ash was safely in a specific room for a block of time – Lokoko led Clemont over into an angle between two buildings.

"Don't worry, this shouldn't take long," she said, then a golden hole opened in mid-air.

An E-Unown floated through it, followed by an Absol, and Lokoko smiled before nuzzling the Dark-type.

"It's good to see you, love," she said. "And can I just say how well you do that?"

"My pleasure," Absol replied, returning Lokoko's gesture of affection. "Getting the time or place wrong would be a disaster."

She closed her eyes for a long moment, then stepped back. "Now, what was it you wanted?"

"Apart from the rest of the afternoon with you?" Lokoko said, eyes dancing. "Well, Clemont here had a Shinx companion who he lost track of, around here. He was made to go to a party, and Shinx assumed that Clemont had abandoned him."

"I see," Absol replied, nodding, and tilted her head a little.

Then she turned her attention to Clemont.

"Hmm," she said.

"Translation complete," the Translation Gear said. "Absol."

"Sometimes I think I should hit this thing against a rock until it starts working," Clemont grumbled.

"Oddly enough, that was accurate, just in the wrong direction," Lokoko told him. "I know that humm, love… you've got an idea?"

"I have, you're right," Absol agreed. "What's on that side of the campus?"

"I think that's the electronics lab, unless they've moved it?" Clemont said.

"Then let's go and visit the electronics lab," Absol said. "And while we walk there, tell me about Shinx."

"…it was so awkward at the time," Clemont explained, as they got closer to the electronics lab. "And I just… did what the mayor said because he was the mayor and he was pushing me into the car, and I didn't know what to do, but if I had the chance again I'd have told him no. Because Shinx was more important, but it's hard to think when you're trying to be polite and someone else is trying to get you to do something."

"And what would you tell Shinx if you had the chance?" Absol asked, then whispered something to Lokoko.

"I'd say sorry," Clemont replied. "And thank him for all our time together. And then… then I'd ask him what he wanted me to do as an apology."

He stopped. "No, that's not… what I should have done is invite him to the party as well! I didn't even think of that, but I couldn't have made the Clemontic Shower without him!"

Lokoko's tails fanned out, and caught a falling Luxio as it dropped out of a nearby tree.

"No curses, don't worry," she assured him.

"What do you think, Luxio?" Absol asked, switching back to Pokémon speech. "And thank you, dear one. Marvellously done."

"I – what – I don't believe this," Luxio said, deeply baffled. "How could you have not thought of something like that?"

Clemont's Pokémon came out of his Pokéballs to defend him.

"Hey, I've known Clemont for weeks now!" Chespin protested. "Possibly months! And if there's one thing I know, he's incredibly absent minded about the consequences of what he's doing!"

"I have to say, she's not wrong," Bunnelby agreed. "Meaning no offence, sir, but Chespin has a long list."

"Wow," Clemont said. "That's… I'm not sure what to say."

Luxio blinked a few times.

"...well, you're not wrong?" he admitted. "I just… I just… I can't understand how someone can be so… so… so Clemont!"

He blinked. "Actually now I say it out loud it makes a lot more sense."

Clemont knelt down. "I'm sorry, Luxio. And… and thanks for all our time together-"

Luxio bowled him over and started licking him.

"There," Absol said. "Now… let's have lunch. It'd be a disaster if there wasn't a nice cafe in the direction I'm walking… so there is one."

"I love when you do that," Lokoko said.

"I know," Absol replied, smirking.

AN:

It's very hot in the UK again. Blegh.