"All right, class!" Professor Kukui said. "You've got a special project today!"

"And I decided it'd be a great chance to work on some of what you've been learning!" Ash agreed. "Professor Kukui told me about his first idea, and I decided to suggest some changes, and he thought it was great!"

He stood back. "So, first, do you all remember when I told you about the difference between Pokémon Battles, Contest Battles and Appeals?"

Kiawe held up his hand.

"So Pokémon Battles are about beating your opponent," he said, frowning as he tried to get the description right. "Contest Battles are about… not just beating your opponent, but looking good while doing it. And Appeals there isn't an opponent at all and it's just about looking good?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "They're all different ways of working with Pokémon, and I mostly like battles but adding some Contest flair into how you approach things is actually a great way to help out everything you do… but the reason why I mention that is because that's part of what you're going to be doing. And another part of what you'll be doing is about getting to know a new Pokémon."

Ash put four Pokéballs and a Level Ball on the table. "What you're going to be doing is, you're going to be taking home one of my Pokémon who volunteered for this – and one of the Pokémon from one of your classmates, unless they have a big problem with it – and working together on a Contest routine. That way you've got something to work on together to really show how you can get to work with two new Pokémon!"

Snowy immediately came out of her Pokéball.

"Does that include me and Lillie?" she asked. "There's five new Pokéballs there. Is Lillie going to be okay?"

"All the Pokémon here know about the problem Lillie has," Ash said. "They're ready to allow for it. But it's fine if you want to just take a new Pokémon instead of swapping Snowy out, Lillie."

"I understand why you're worried, Snowy," Lillie said, reaching out and stroking her Vulpix. "But… I want to try this. Even if I can't actually touch them, I can still work with them."

She swallowed, but nodded firmly. "And… thank you for being so worried, too."

"We can swap Snowy back any time if it becomes necessary," Professor Kukui said. "Don't hesitate to mention it to Ash's Pokémon, either of you."

Snowy inhaled, then sighed.

"You're right," she said. "It's your choice, Lillie. And I hope we both have a great time."

Sophocles looked at Charizard.

Then at Starly.

"I… actually don't know where to start," he admitted. "Not just in the Contest thing, but in general."

He frowned, then dug out his laptop. "I guess… umm… wait, it just occurred to me. Since I won't have Togedemaru…"

Sophocles trailed off.

"Is something wrong?" Starly asked, glancing at Charizard.

Kiawe's Fire-type shrugged. "Not sure."

The movement made Charizard's tail flick from side to side, though, and Sophocles brightened. "Oh! That's going to work, actually… do you mind staying out of your Pokéball overnight, Charizard? It'd be nice to have the light in my room."

"Fine by me," Charizard nodded.

"Good," Sophocles decided.

Booting up his laptop, he flicked back through his class notes. "Let's see… um… ah! Asking questions, right… and to make a routine, the first step is to know what moves you can do… would you mind showing me your moves?"

The Flying-types exchanged a look, then Starly decided to take the lead. He spun up an Aura Sphere, and blew a crater in the ground.

Then used Bone Rush.

"Are you sure you're a Starly?" Charizard asked.

"I have the heart and soul of a Lucario," Starly answered. "That's what my teacher tells me, at least, which I think is the important part of being a Lucario. Functionally though I do also benefit from having wings, so yes."

"That's a really nice smell, Steenee," Lana said. "I like it… I wonder if Contests can include smells?"

Swellow shrugged her wings. "Low."

"Oh, if you don't know – you don't know, right?" Lana asked, then shrugged. "Well, that's fine. But, hmm… what moves do you know? I know you're a Flying-type, so you can fly, but apart from that…"

She thought for a moment. "Wait, didn't Ash mention you as a Pokémon with a really neat trick? What was it again…"

"Low, well-Swellow!" Swellow chirped.

"Teen?" Steenee asked, tilting her head on her side.

"Swell-ell!" Swellow piped, puffing out her breast, then hovered into the air. "Low!"

Steenee used Magical Leaf, and the leaves poured towards Swellow. They bent slightly in the air so they could hit the Flying-type as she hovered there, impacting and detonating in a flash-flash-flash of electrical energy, and Lana gasped.

"Wow, that's amazing!" she said. "We have to use that somehow!"

"Sis, what are you doing?" Harper asked, peering around the door. "Wow, is that a new Pokémon?"

"Is that two new Pokémon?" Sarah asked. "Where's your old Pokémon?"

"Did Popplio fall down a hole?" Harper asked.

"Girls," Lana protested, as her younger twin sisters came in and started peering closely at Steenee and Swellow. "It's for a school project, okay? I have to work out a Contest routine with two borrowed Pokémon – someone else from my class is borrowing Popplio."

"What's a Contest routine?" Sarah said. "Can we help?"

"Stee," Steenee sighed.

"I didn't expect that it would work out like this, but I'm not complaining," Mallow told Talonflame. "Thanks for the help!"

She cut up some mushrooms, then put them onto the frying pan Talonflame was keeping warm, and turned her attention to Togedemaru – who was using her tail to chop at a leek.

"And you're being helpful too, Togedemaru," she said. "Thanks!"

"Togeto!" Togedemaru smiled.

"Flaame?" Talonflame asked.

"Hmm," Mallow said, putting down her knife as she thought. "I wonder… are you asking how much longer we'll be?"

Talonflame shook his head, then wiggled a wing a bit.

"Hm, not far off, but not right," Mallow frowned. "So maybe… if it's got something to do with…"

She brightened. "Oh! Is it about when we're going to start practising?"

That got a nod.

"Well, I'm thinking about ideas for what to do while we're working, but maybe I should say them out loud," she decided. "One idea was to have Togedemaru spinning around, and having Talonflame dropping and catching her?"

"Maruu," Togedemaru said, sounding interested enough by that one, and Mallow smiled before going back to the mushrooms.

"That's a really big bubble," Lillie said, stepping back a pace and watching as Popplio bounced it on the end of her nose. "Showing that off would work really well."

"Popp!" Popplio cheered, clapping her flippers together.

"Aaart?" Articuno asked.

"Sorry, I don't know what you mean," Lillie admitted. "Can, um…"

She frowned, and Articuno did her best to look encouraging.

"Can you show me?" Lillie asked.

Articuno drew out a swish of mystical fire, and showed Popplio inside the bubble, then the bubble suddenly being cut in half.

"Oh, that could work!" Lillie said. "But… how would that work, being inside the bubble? Can you do that, Popplio?"

Popplio blew herself another bubble, and went inside it this time. It immediately rose into the air, floating up into the sky, and Articuno swiped at it with her wing.

The bubble popped, and Popplio fell out – straight towards Lillie.

"Ah!" Lillie yelped, then Popplio stopped in mid-air just before landing on Lillie.

"Lio?" Popplio asked, confused, then they both looked over to see Articuno's eyes glowing. She made a sweeping gesture, and Popplio slid six feet sideways before dropping to the ground next to Lillie.

"Oh… thank you," Lillie said, exhaling in relief. "I didn't expect that."

She frowned. "But, if Popplio can fly like that, it would be good to use it… if your bubbles are bouncy, Popplio, can you land on one and bounce? Like it's a trampoline?"

"Pop!" Popplio said, nodding and looking interested.

"Then let's try that," Lillie decided. "I might just… stand back a bit though…"

"I'd be completely lost without all these notes I took," Kiawe admitted, looking at the various scattered bits of paper. "Instead I'm, uh… mostly lost."

He frowned. "So… I saw you getting really big before, in that lesson, but you can't do it right now?"

Pidgey shook her head. "Pid-gey-pig," she said. "Pidgey pidge-pid."

"And the only moves you really know at this point are Ice moves?"

Snowy nodded. "Pix!"

"Okay," Kiawe said. "Okay, so… it's probably going to have to involve that snow breath move from Snowy, because I know you showed me Ice Beam but I can't really think of a good way to use that. But Pidgey is really agile, so maybe… can you blow the snow around?"

Pidgey nodded.

"Right, it could definitely involve that," Kiawe decided.

"Kiawe, there's a delivery to make!" his father called. "Do you have time?"

"I've got the time, but I don't really think I have the, uh, Charizard," Kiawe called back, looking at Pidgey and Snowy. "I got a lift back from one of my teacher's Pokémon, Charizard is with someone else for the day… Sophocles, I think."

Latios decloaked directly overhead.

"Whoa!" Kiawe said, staring. "I thought you went back to Ash after dropping me off!"

Latios shook his head, then flashed blue as he created an illusion. It was of a Latios holding a Substitute Delivery Pokémon sign in his claws, and the Psychic-type floated through the door to where Kiawe's father Rango had been asking for him.

"Kiawe, is this a new Pokémon?" Rango called.

"No, it's one of Mr. Ketchum's," Kiawe replied. "I guess he's invisible sometimes?"

He shook his head. "Yeah, now I think of it, the thing Mr. Ketchum keeps teaching us is about paying attention to everything because all of it could matter some day. I guess he must have remembered when I said I do deliveries with Charizard!"

There was a shoom as Latios took off at speed, and Kiawe glanced back before returning his attention to the two little Pokémon he was working with. "Okay, so… what about making a shape with the Powder Snow?" he asked. "Actually, couldn't Snowy make a hole in a wall of falling snow and then Pidgey flies through the hole?"

"And… Flamethrower!" Sophocles called. "Starly, do that blue sphere thing!"

The fifth and final routine reached its end, as Starly flung an Aura Sphere into the jet of Charizard's flamethrower. The blast of fire caught the Aura Sphere, carrying it along like it was a ball in the stream of a hose, then both Flying-types launched themselves upwards as it began to destabilize.

Starly was faster, and got there first, so he took the overhead position. Charizard was slower, so he was still climbing when the Aura Sphere burst with a crack, but the blue flash illuminated his wings.

"Great!" Ash said. "Well done, everyone!"

Sophocles practically slumped back onto the ground in relief, and Ash turned to the whole group.

"What do you think the most important lesson you learned was?" he asked.

"How to practice moves until you get them just right?" Lana asked. "It's one thing to think about a neat combo, but to actually get it right is really hard when it can't just be a Magical Leaf but has to be just the right Magical Leaf."

"I know I learned a bit about how much attention you pay to everything," Kiawe admitted. "You thought about the deliveries thing before I did, I'm way too used to having Charizard with me."

Lillie put up her hand.

"It's how much we already know about our partners," she said. "Because we had so much trouble trying to understand these new Pokémon, but that's just because we don't know them – we know our normal partners already, so we don't have to do that every time."

"That's a great answer!" Ash agreed. "They're all good answers, but Lillie's is the one I was thinking of. It was hard for you to work things out, but so much of that is because you're already understanding things about how your normal partners think and act without even realizing it."

He sent out Lokoko, with a flash. "Now that you've done the hard part, I think you should all talk to the Pokémon you've been working with, and see what they thought!"

AN:

If everyone gets a regional bird, it's more standardized.

Kind of.