"The tricky thing is working out what topic to do," Ash said, next to lunch.

The only one of them who was over lunch was Rockruff, who was still getting used to being able to fly and was hovering over their bowl of pasta as they ate.

Fortunately, there was plenty of pasta if they needed more. Dragonite had cooked up a massive pot of it, complete with cheese and mushroom sauce, and they weren't even halfway through the supply.

"There's a lot of choice," Pikachu agreed. "You could talk about one of those things you said might be good to do? Like fire."

"Fire is something that would be good," Ash agreed. "It's one of those Types that's really versatile even though people don't usually think of it that way. But it might be a bit fiddly, because everyone who's attending a lecture like that needs Flash Fire, and I don't want to burn down the school so perhaps it's better for it to be a field trip."

"Good point," Pikachu agreed. "Dragonite, is it okay to have tomato ketchup with this?"

"I suppose I'm not actually allowed to hit you for doing it," Dragonite said, which served both as a technical answer and an answer which conveyed his opinion of the idea.

"In that case, I'll use the ketchup as a dip and have some crisps on the side," Pikachu said. "That's almost the same thing and it's less likely to make Dragonite resent me."

"What about flying?" Rockruff asked. "I know I'd like to take part in a lesson on flying. I'd like to get some tips, Rowlet's tips all involve wings and I don't have any."

"Maybe Rayquaza can give you some help," Ash wondered. "But flying might be good, yeah… it's so useful in battles and outside them I should do a lesson on it some time."

He had another mouthful of pasta, thinking as he chewed.

"What do you think, Litten?" he asked. "Rowlet? You don't have to help with any of the lessons, but it'd be good to know what you think anyway."

"I think I'm still too busy learning myself," Litten said. "Thank you for the offer, though."

Rowlet made the sound of an owl who was very full of pasta.

"What about me?" Rotom asked. "I could do several lessons! Many of them are from information which Ash has not yet explicitly disproven in front of me, and Ash explicitly disproving my statements would be both informative and lend structure to the lesson."

"That might be fun to watch," Litten decided, licking one of her paws. "But wouldn't it just be you being proven wrong a lot?"

"That's science!" Rotom answered. "In fact, science consists mostly of trying to prove things wrong. It is only if you have failed to prove something wrong despite trying that you can begin to say it is right."

"That would be a good topic," Ash pondered.

Then a Pokémon came out of the trees, and skidded to a halt in front of them.

"Oh!" Rotom said. "Scanning… Tapu Bulu. My data says that Tapu Bulu is a Land Spirit Pokémon and is the Guardian of Ula'Ula Island. We are on Melemele Island. Is that data incorrect?"

"Your data is correct," Tapu Bulu said. "About that specifically, at least. I'm here on business."

He sniffed. "That smells nice. Is it available?"

"There's plenty!" Dragonite answered. "Take a bowl if you want!"

"Excellent," Tapu Bulu said. "I've already done a lot of work today. Well, you know. Come over here. That's enough work, right?"

There was a sort of squeak from back in the trees.

"Oh, yeah, I should probably get on to that," Tapu Bulu grumbled. "Seriously, can't a Guardian Deity get some rest around here…"

He slammed his armour closed for a moment, then opened it up again.

"How much do you know about how Totem Pokémon work?" he asked.

"I know they're bigger than most Pokémon," Ash said. "And they give out Z crystals to trainers to defeat them, and there's something about how I got a different one from Totem Gumshoos to the one they'd normally give out?"

"Yes, we did set that up," Tapu Bulu confirmed. "Still are, actually. Make sure to do another Totem battle at some point… but, anyway. Totem Pokémon are specifically charged with energy, and that's what makes them bigger than normal."

"Maybe Zacian should know about this," Pikachu said.

"No, for her it's usually Pokémon getting a lot bigger than normal, Totem Pokémon aren't much bigger than normal," Ash shrugged. "Actually, Rockruff, maybe Zacian can work with you. She's also a canine Pokémon and she also self-levitates instead of flying through wings or some other way, so you'd have a lot in common."

"That would be nice," Rockruff said.

There was another squeak, this one more insistent.

"I'm getting there," Tapu Bulu grumbled. "Anyway. It doesn't always work out, and one of those times was just recently… a Pokémon got upgraded into being the enhanced size, but it isn't working out for him."

"Wow, that doesn't paint me in a flattering light at all," came a grumble from a Salandit, and the Fire-type came out of the treeline.

He was definitely about twice as big as a normal Salandit, and looked Ash up and down before making a full-body shrug.

"Yeah, I was really looking forward to it right up until I met the Pokémon who was going to be my mentor, and… I don't know, it just did not work out from there."

He hissed. "She was very pushy."

"Anyway, normally this would be a bit weirder, but fortunately you're here and Koko requested that I sort this out," Tapu Bulu explained. "So it's up to you two what happens now I guess."

"I hope what happens now is that I have something to eat," Salandit admitted. "I've been nervous all week."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "And the only big Pokémon I have, bigger than normal anyway, is Cresselia…"

"I will be honest, I think that knowing about her and the general oddities around you is part of why Koko suggested this," Tapu Bulu said, flopping back on the sand. "It's not like anyone is going to assume the unusually sized Pokémon has to be a Totem Pokémon, they're just going to assume it's part of you being you…"

Despite how Tapu Bulu had been the one to bring him over, Salandit was not precisely lazy… though he could have given that first impression, from how he made it so Dragonite's large pot of pasta was entirely justified.

Once lunch was over, however, he flicked his tail a bit before looking up at Ash.

"So… I will be honest, I don't really know how trainers work," he admitted. "How do trainers work?"

"Well, it's a bit more complicated than – that's it!" Ash realized, then shook his head. "Uh, anyway, a lot of it depends on you, on if you want to get stronger and how."

"Getting stronger would definitely be nice," Salandit said.

"Then… okay, so Salandit are Poison and Fire type…" Ash began. "But that's just the start of it… actually I feel like I should be taking a couple of notes about this, I'm going to need it in a couple of days…"

A couple of days later, at the open day for Samson Oak's Pokémon School, parents and guardians (and some of the pupils) took their seats in front of an open-air stage.

"Alola, everyone!" Professor Kukui said. "There's some things that my class has got set up to show you all, but first I'd like to introduce someone who's been helping me this school year. We're going to have a quick talk from Ash Ketchum."

"Hi!" Ash waved, practically bouncing up onto the dais. "It's nice to have you all here. Hi, mom!"

Delia smiled, waving back, and Ash continued. "So I had a lot of trouble deciding what I should talk about, but I thought it might be best if I talked about how to get to know your Pokémon!"

Pikachu jumped down from his shoulder, and stopped in mid-air on a shimmering bluish Surf-board.

"And this is Pikachu, if you didn't know that," Ash added. "But I don't mean the way I got to know him, not really, because speaking Pokémon is something that you do need to learn and not everyone has the time. Instead what I want to talk about is how you should get started with a new Pokémon."

He scratched his head. "I was going to say how you can make a Pokémon into a friend, but that's not really right… because it's not how you make a Pokémon into a friend. You can't do that, not in a way that's guaranteed, because every Pokémon is different. That's a big part of what you need to remember – every Pokémon is different, just like every human is different, and just like how there are some people who just can't be friends the same can happen with some Pokémon. Especially if they don't want to be."

After that, Ash crouched down to pick Pikachu up again.

"I'm sure a lot of people here know a Pokémon where they really know a lot about their personality," he said. "About the kind of food they like, a silly thing they do, ways they really try their best. Things like that. That's part of what makes a Pokémon who they are, and it's something where the more you know about them the better. But what's sometimes a bit harder to remember is that every Pokémon is like that."

With Pikachu now perched on his shoulder, Ash went on. "If you're not someone who can understand them, it can seem a bit daunting to try and work with a new Pokémon you meet, but what's usually happening is that the Pokémon is trying to help you out there too. If they want you to know something, they're going to try and communicate, and don't forget that almost all Pokémon can understand what you're saying even if you can't understand what they're saying. So whether that's nodding to agree with you, or shaking their heads to disagree…"

Ash began patting Pikachu on the head, and Pikachu's cheeks sparked. "Or giving you a warning to show that you're not doing the right thing-"

Pikachu used Thundershock.

"...you should pay attention," Ash finished, then shook himself. "Thanks for the demonstration, Pikachu!"

"Pika!" Pikachu said brightly.

"A Pokémon wants you to understand what they're trying to tell you," Ash resumed. "You can ask them if you're not sure, and over time you'll learn what they mean – even what some words mean if you pay just a bit of attention. Knowing what your Pokémon calls you is really helpful even if you don't get all the words."

"Pika, pi, Pikapi!" Pikachu chirped.

"That's me," Ash agreed. "I'm Pikapi, to Pikachu. Things like that help you understand when you should pay attention to what a Pokémon's saying."

He shrugged. "And, sure, sometimes they want something that's not good for them. I'm not saying you should just do whatever your Pokémon wants without thinking about if it's a good idea. I mean, if you work out that your Pokémon wants a giant bowl of tomato-ketchup flavoured ice cream, you don't just have to go and get it!"

Ash turned to Pikachu. "Especially if you don't even know if that flavour ice cream exists yet. Who would even make that?"

Pikachu sniffed.

"But that's… really the basics of it," Ash said. "Remember that a Pokémon is an individual. Pay attention to what they're trying to tell you. Don't forget that you can ask them for details. And… sometimes it just won't work out, but the more you pay attention to what a Pokémon wants and needs the more likely it is to work out."

He grinned. "Thanks for listening!"

"That's a nice way of putting it," Salandit said, once Ash was backstage again and Lillie had started talking about Snowy. "Nice to hear I could be an inspiration."

He exhaled a little puff of flame. "Hmm. What do you think of that?"

"I think it's going a lot better," Ash told him. "I can see you've been working on it."

"Litten gave me some tips," Salandit replied. "She got some good ones on Ember from Stoutland, apparently."

"That's good," Ash nodded. "Now the next bit is to add in the Sweet Scent. Which one first?"

"I'll admit, I'm not quite sure what the idea is, here," Salandit confessed. "You explained it but I think I lost track."

"It's because Sweet Scent can do lots of scents," Ash explained. "Including berry ones, and berries make things happen when they're used up in Natural Gift. So it's worth a try to see if burning the scent of a berry can do the same thing!"

"I'll take your word for it," Salandit decided.

AN:

Alpha Pokémon are something else, presumably.