After saying goodbye, the next person they met on the road was Sanpei, the trainer who'd had a Frogadier the last time they'd met and had helped with training Ash and Zorua in ninja techniques.

Well, technically it would be more correct to say that Sanpei met them by the side of the road, where he'd been waiting in concealment for Ash to come along, but that wasn't really relevant.

"Ash," Sanpei began, before bowing. "I was wondering if you would like to discuss training for our ninja Pokémon."

"Actually, yeah, that would be great!" Ash agreed. "Zorua's a Zoroark now, so it must have helped! Or it probably helped, anyway, but moving together and training together might have something to do with how he can now do this weird thing where he takes on the same sort of colours as my clothes and gets more powerful… any ideas what that might mean?"

Sanpei considered, then shook his head.

"No," he replied. "In the Ninja Village we don't have any Zoroark."

"You mean you probably don't have any Zoroark," Pikachu corrected. "Like you'd be able to tell."

"That is an excellent point," Sanpei conceded. "But my Frogadier has evolved into a Greninja now, and while that has given us an excellent boost there is still much to learn… I will be doing a mission tomorrow for my master, Saizo, and when I was wondering how to improve our skills I saw you were on the way."

The ninja spread his hands. "And it seemed like a good way we could both improve."

"Then that sounds like a great idea!" Ash decided. "Hold on, I'm going to check which of my Pokémon have advice… Ibid, can you take a message?"

Ibid went back to Pallet Town, then came back with some passengers after several minutes, and Ash's Froakie, his Fletchinder and Sanpei's Greninja all crowded around to hear the advice.

"Just use lethal force," Aten said, simply. "Am I the only person who has even considered that ninja are supposed to be assassins?"

"That's not all they are, though," Ash replied. "Right? Because they blend into the outside world until they strike, and then when they do act they do it by doing things that normal Pokémon trainers can't do… right?"

"I'm not even sure what you're trying to say, so therefore I reject it," Aten sniffed. "I have accepted, after considerable persuasion, that murder is not the answer for all problems, but that does not mean there are not still many problems it can solve."

"I don't think that would work for us," Sanpei said. "The rebel ninja's whole motivation for leaving is that he didn't like how our village leader's philosophy is to use ninja abilities for the good of Pokémon."

"Oh, so he's the one who's got the spine to do things properly?" Aten asked. "Interesting."

"You currently qualify as Pokémon," Ash pointed out.

"You make an excellent point," Aten admitted grudgingly.

He flicked his tail. "I tire of this discussion. Have the others take over."

"Well, all right," Ash said, raising Grovyle's 'ball. "Do you want to go back in, or listen to see if something's useful?"

Aten opted to make a long floaty jump onto Ash's head, step around in circles for a bit, ostentatiously yawn and curl up.

"I guess that means you'd rather stay out!" Ash decided, sending out Grovyle.

Torkoal also came out.

"My hip and cool rival!" he said. "I will teach these junior ninja how to be more senior ninja before you, or I will run a hundred laps!"

"A hundred laps of what?" Serena asked.

"I will only have to decide that if I fail!" Torkoal insisted. "So I will not fail!"

"Huh?" Grovyle asked. "Did you say something?"

Torkoal made a sort of kettle sound.

"Anyway, here's a lesson for you," Grovyle said. "It's way easier to defend against an attack you see coming."

Sanpei's Greninja raised a webbed hand.

"What about if the attack is one that's intended to look like a decoy but actually isn't?" he asked.

"Also a good start," Grovyle declared. "Now, let's test that out. I'm going to throw a Grass Shuriken at you, and I'm also going to throw Torkoal at you. Good luck."

"Excuse me?" Greninja asked. "But I'm not sure I see how that follows from the lesson."

"You will," Grovyle replied.

"So I'm not entirely sure about how to ninja," Fletchinder confessed. "But it seems like a lot of the important bits involve speed and hitting power?"

"It's hard to tell what the important bits are, even when you're told," Froakie replied. "Because the person could be lying. That's very ninja."

Then a Grass Shuriken hit him, making him dissolve into a pile of bubbles.

"That was a clone," the actual Froakie said, then ducked as Grovyle launched Torkoal at him. "And I was expecting that."

Torkoal hit Greninja from the side, which Greninja hadn't been expecting.

"I would like to request clarification," Sanpei's Pokémon said, shaking his head a few times and blinking repeatedly. "How exactly is being hit in the side of the head by a flame-spewing turtle conducive to learning ninja arts?"

"Well, firstly, you were surprised," Grovyle replied. "And, secondly, that's the way of the ninja. You have a combination of sneaky bits, tricksy bits, and powerful special moves which you can use from ambush."

He shrugged. "Or it could be that that's just one way of the ninja, and there are others."

"You are wise indeed," Greninja admitted.

"I mostly get it out of books of quotations," Grovyle replied, flipping one open. "For example: what is the only thing where there is more of it, the more you take away?"

"Lessons," Froakie answered.

"That's not what I have here, this must be defective," Grovyle mused. "Hmm, what about this one? What's the sound of one hand clapping?"

Froakie evolved to Frogadier.

"Not bad, but it's more like this," Grovyle said, then backflipped gracefully out of the way as Torkoal zipped through the space he'd been occupying only a moment ago.

"After how well that battle competition went, I'm wondering if we should name our special effects services," Serena said, watching. "Any ideas?"

"I like the idea," Fennekin said. "If that includes Clemont and Ash, what about calling it Industrial, Flight and Magic?"

"I think I've got it," Frogadier decided. "How does this look, teacher?"

He held out his palm, and a whirling ball of leaves appeared in it.

"It's very good," Grovyle said. "What is it?"

"Huh?" Frogadier asked. "I thought I was aiming to do this. It's like your Grass Shuriken, isn't it?"

He threw it, and it dissolved before it had gone more than a few inches.

"...yeah, that's going to be a problem," he admitted. "Do you think that's what Leafage is?"

"It could be," Grovyle judged. "Still, I think it's going to need a lot more work before you can get it to where we want it to go."

"I had an idea!" Ash said. "What about if Frogadier learns Bubblebeam? Could he do Frubblebeam and make clones everywhere with all the Frubbles?"

"That sounds excellent!" Torkoal answered, before Grovyle could say anything. "That is a good plan! I will help you with it, or I will fly around the world on my bare feet!"

Greninja had actually got Water Shuriken working properly, and tilted his head. "Why would you do that?"

"To make sure I put my heart and soul into the training!" Torkoal answered. "It is my way to fan my flames of youth! Tortoises are long-lived anyway so clearly any flames I have are youthful ones, after all."

"Hmm," Grovyle said, shading his eyes and looking up. "Fletchinder, I think you've got the wrong idea of what ninja arts means… but you're doing quite well, so keep it up."

Overhead, a flicker of flame signalled that Fletchinder had just gone slashing past. The flames scorched a line into a pine-board, which was starting to look like a recognizable piece of pyrography.

"Is what Fletchinder and Frogadier are doing… training?" Luxio asked, the next day. "It looks more like Fletchinder is trying to knock Frogadier out and Frogadier isn't bothering to do anything about it."

"It's sort of different to that," Ash replied, taking over answering. "So Frogadier's following us, obviously, and he's trying to do it without touching the ground."

"Right," Luxio said, looking up. "And that's because… ninja?"

"Partly!" Ash agreed. "And partly because it's just generally a good way to test accuracy."

He shrugged. "Then the rest of it is just making sure that he can use Frubblebeam to make a Frubble Double and swap with it at will; Fletchinder's trying to dive down on the real Frogadier and then fly through the double once the swap has happened, but to get as close to that point as possible. It's about prediction."

There was a sort of splashaboom, and Frogadier and Fletchinder landed ahead of them in a cloud of flame and water and steam and bubbles raining down everywhere.

"And sometimes something goes wrong," Ash said. "Hey, guys, what happened?"

"I think I was moving slightly too fast," Fletchinder replied. "Or Frogadier switched slightly too slowly. I'm not sure which but it could be either."

"Or both," Frogadier replied.

"I'm still not sure I follow how this is helpful training," Luxio confessed.

"Actually, it's very useful for double battles," Fletchling said. "I can Flame Charge our opponent, except they think they're going to be attacked by Frogadier and then suddenly, boom, it's me instead."

"Plus I'm getting better at aiming a Doublebeam," Frogadier said. "Or is it a Frubble Double Boil and Trouble?"

"I think that's if you were one of my Pokémon," Serena suggested.

Luxio shook his head. "This is all a bit beyond me…"

"You could try following it with my Fire Control Gear?" Clemont suggested. "After some testing with Chespin I've made it so you have to specifically invoke the danger close setting."

"So, want to try again?" Ash asked. "This time we could try with Frogadier trying to keep more doubles going at the same time, and switch it around so that Fletchinder is trying to hit all the doubles at once… that might be a good test of steering!"

"What about if I'm racing Fletchinder to burst my own doubles?" Frogadier suggested. "That might add some competition to it."

"I'd complain about you having the advantage, but, Gale Wings," Fletchinder replied.

"You might want to delay your training," Arc stated. "Baa de mer ranch is up ahead, which is a Skiddo ranch, and while it is N who is the expert on legal matters I do not think that they would appreciate supersonic Pokémon training taking place in the immediate area."

"Can you really call N an expert?" Pikachu asked. "He did usually get the law names wrong."

"But he did know them," Arc countered.

"Who's N?" Luxio said. "Did I lose track of some of your Pokémon?"

"No, N was around while we were in Unova, but he wasn't anyone's Pokémon, except sort of Reshiram's, because he was Reshiram's Hero of Truth and a Keldeo," Ash rattled off. "He was a human originally, but had a magic potion that turns humans into Pokémon, the long term version not the short term version, because he was in hiding from his dad who wanted to take over the world or at least Unova and N's friend Zorua was faking being N but obviously it'd give it away if there were two of N running around looking like N."

Luxio's eyes had glazed over slightly.

"Why do I keep asking questions when the answers are so often like that?" he asked, plaintively.

There was a Skiddo racing event going on at the ranch, and after Ash, Mew and Clemont went off to meet them – Ash and Mew saying something about how it'd be interesting to see if you could combine Grassy Glide and Grassy Terrain into a combination that sped up the whole sport so it was still fair, while Clemont mostly wanted to get user experience data for the Translation Gear on a consistent set of Pokémon – Serena met a familiar face.

"Hi, Mom," she said. "I didn't expect to see you here…"

"Well, then, it's just a pleasant surprise," replied her mother, Grace. "Are you all right?"

"I'm okay?" Serena said. "I've got a good Pokémon team, now, there's three of them and I think they're all great. And I think I've got an idea about what kind of trainer I want to be, as well as what I want to do with my life."

"Of course you have," Grace agreed readily. "You're here to get started with becoming a Rhyhorn Racer, right?"

Fennekin blinked, glancing up at her trainer. "...what?"

"No," Serena answered. "That's not why I'm here. I'm here because my friends are, but what I'm actually doing is-"

"Serena," Grace interrupted. "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

Serena tried to work out what to say, but Ponyta and Pancham both came out of their Pokéballs.

"She's not being difficult!" Pancham insisted. "You're more the one being difficult than she is, because you sound just like my parents did when I was into dancing instead of beating people over the head with bamboo sticks!"

"And-" Ponyta continued, then stopped and looked at Pancham. "Why bamboo sticks?"

"I think there was some kind of rivalry thing with a Farfetch'd, I'm not sure the details," Pancham admitted.

"Fascinating," Ponyta said, then shook her head. "Anyway, I… I lost where I was going completely, sorry."

"Why are your Pokémon shouting at me?" Grace asked. "Is that Ponyta the Pokémon you ride on?"

"No, Mom, I don't ride any Pokémon at the moment," Serena said. "Unless it's one of Ash's Pokémon when we need to get somewhere fast. But if you'd let me finish…?"

She said it a bit more harshly than she'd intended, and held up a hand. "Sorry. I mean…"

Fennekin had had enough of this, and said so.

"Just because Serena doesn't want to do the thing you wanted to do when you were younger doesn't mean she's doing it wrong!" she said, jumping up and down. "She wants to do Showcases and she's learning actual magic and I'm learning it right along with her and, and, there's so much to it, and that doesn't mean Rhyhorn racing isn't interesting because I bet it is but it's interesting to you and, and…"

Fennekin gasped for air a few times, but Grace was staring.

"Did she just talk?" she asked. "Properly talk?"

"It's magic," Serena said, picking Fennekin up and cuddling her close. "Or, it's something she's been learning because we're learning magic, and she's my familiar. We can do things like that… and I know you hoped that I'd take up Rhyhorn racing. I'm not going to, Mom, but I'm doing something I want to do."

She paused, then kept going. "I might still practice. If I have time? But… if I wanted to do Rhyhorn racing, I'd already be doing it."

"I have a question," Ponyta said. "If I don't ask before I forget about it it'll bug me all week… Serena, are you named after the Ability Serene Grace?"

Then a whole litter of Skiddo went past, along with what was presumably Mew mostly because normally a Rhyhorn wouldn't be able to stay on a Skiddo for a number of reasons.

"Hey, Ash, can I borrow Lokoko?" Serena called, looking in the direction the Skiddo had come from. "Ponyta wants to ask Mom something."

The Ninetales answered that herself, appearing next to Serena as if she'd just stepped out of thin air.

"The wonderful thing about illusions is that you can appear to have arrived before you actually have," she confided. "Anyway, I'm happy to help. Family is important."

Grace seemed to be in the right state of mind to accept that magic was a thing, and possibly that Serena could fly and had a hidden identity as a superheroine.

Admittedly she was only one region off.

AN:

No, Grace, you're hypothetically thinking of Iris.