It has been some time since I've prepared an Author's Note, so let me go over a few things first. This will end up being a longer one. It's not complete yet, but I didn't want to just sit on it. I hope you enjoy this, I will try not to be intrusive over the course of the story. You should also note that there are spoilers in this up through the current episodes of Pokémon Journeys, just due to the nature of how it's written.

Thank you to rinkirinka, pennypichu, and mezamun for beta reading Chapters 1 and 2 for me.

She hated to admit it, but Chrysa had a point. The words, still ringing in her ears after a few weeks, were beginning to feel like they held some weight.

'If you want tips on getting closer with Eevee, why not ask Ash and Goh for help?'

'N-No, thanks. They really wouldn't understand, I think…'

"They still probably wouldn't," Chloe concluded, feeling confidence in her refusal for only just a moment longer. From her experiences with them, she was beginning to realize there was just some stuff she couldn't do alone. Escaping that rock, dealing with Dugtrio... there were just some things that she couldn't do all by herself. "And besides, a little extra input never hurts, right?" she told Eevee, who was making a game of running between her legs back and forth, energetic after being stuck inside a Poké Ball all day. In the worst case, she could just dismiss it as unhelpful and go about her day.

It was with these thoughts that she approached Ash after school one day. Since he did have a better idea of what she wanted for Eevee, she thought he might be the best place to start, it seemed, from how he understood why she wanted Eevee to see Vaporeon.

As Chloe approached Ash in the field within Cerise Park, he stood giving commands to Dracovish and Sirfetch'd. The fossil Pokémon's jaws snapped at the leek carried by the Fighting-Type, but the Dragon-Type's snout met Sirfetch'd's leafy shield before it could take a bite out of the Wild Duck Pokémon's weapon. Pikachu stood next to him shadow boxing, getting into the mock battle. "Brutal Swing! Catch it with Ice Fang! Block with your shield and use Fury Cutter! Back up and try-"

Chloe cleared her throat, hoping that Ash would hear. It made him jump a little before turning to her, smiling. "Hey, Chloe! What's up? Looking for Goh?"

She shook her head. "Well, no, " she admitted. "I was hoping I could talk with you, if you didn't mind."

His eyes widened in surprise, but it quickly melted into a familiar grin. Turning to his battling Pokémon, he called out to them "Great work, guys! Take a break for now, okay?"

The two Pokémon looked over at Ash, nodded, and dropped from their fighting stances and the boy from Pallet turned around. "What's up? What'd y'wanna talk about?"

She looked down, seeing Eevee's tail wagging as the Normal-Type cheerfully approached Pikachu. "Well... you're really experienced as a Pokémon Trainer, and so I'd thought I could ask you for some advice. If you don't mind."

Ash shrugged, reaching down for Pikachu. "Nah, I can always help out. What's your question?"

"Well... You know how I want to help Eevee decide on her own path, right? That I want her to make her own decisions for her future?" She looked down at the Pokémon still energetically running around her. She smiled at Eevee, but the smile didn't reach her eyes. "I was thinking that there's still a lot I don't know about Eevee, and I was hoping you had some advice for doing that." She bent over and picked Eevee up as well, holding her to her chest.

Ash scratched Pikachu's chin. Chloe almost saw gears turning in his brown eyes. "Well... have you tried being one with Eevee?"

She blinked in his direction.

"Excuse me?"

"Be one with Eevee. You know, you both are like zing! - and then you burst out with a bang! - and you just let it erupt all over like kafroosh!"

This wasn't going how she'd hoped it would.

"Zing? Bang? Kafroosh? Are you sure about any of that?"

Ash frowned, a hint of frustration on his face. "Maybe it'd be easier to show you rather than tell you..." he admitted. "How about you and Eevee have a battle with us?"

Chloe nearly choked. "Battle?! With you? Aren't you like the 99th strongest trainer in the World Coronation Series?! There's no way-"

As she spoke, Eevee squirmed out of her arms and across the field. She cheerfully chirped out a "Vui!" and took a mock battle stance that got Ash to laugh.

"Seems like Eevee's excited to try."

Chloe whined. "Eevee. Do you really want to battle...?"

"Vui!"

The matter was settled. The girl hung her head in defeat. "Okay but you have to go easy on us if you want me to learn whatever you mean about zing bang kafroosh."

Ash pulled on the front of his cap. "Don't worry. I'm sure there's more power in you and Eevee than you're givin' yourselves credit for." Turning to his shoulder, he gave Pikachu a grin. "Ready to give them a test?"

"Pika pika!"

Ash tossed his shoulder and Pikachu sprung off of it, landing in front on all fours, matching Eevee's stance. Chloe crossed behind her Pokémon looking across.

"Alright, you can have the first move!" Ash offered.

"First move...? Got it..."

She was still unsure of what this was supposed to do. Unsure of even what Eevee's moves were, she took out her phone and pointed it at her. "Let's see... Okay, try Quick Attack."

Eevee focused her sights forward and charged herself with power before launching in a blaze of speed.

Ash grinned, baring his teeth. "You use Quick Attack, too, buddy!"

Pikachu began to glow similarly and shot forward. The two Pokémon moved so quickly Chloe was having trouble following them with her eyes. There was a crash, and a wave of pressure shot past her as the two Pokémon collided in the middle, skull to skull. Eevee and Pikachu bounced back towards their respective trainers, paws sliding over the grass.

Chloe was blown away as things calmed down. She peered over Eevee's back, thinking to herself. 'I had no idea she could do this... I wonder if Eevee knew...?'

Eevee, for her part, was focused ahead, tail raised. Chloe felt her pulse race looking at her, following her gaze up to Pikachu, who was in the same pose.

Then her eyes met Ash's. He was grinning, with a wild gaze, like he was taking in everything in front of him.

It was then she realized she was doing the same. She and Eevee were fully sizing up Ash and Pikachu, readying for their next move. One that would come quickly.

"Pikachu, use Electro Web!"

Ash's partner built up an electric charge on his tail before lobbing it ahead towards Eevee. The charge spread open, becoming like a net that threatened to ensnare the Normal-Type.

"Eevee, dodge it!"

When she looked at her Pokémon, Eevee seemed to be storing power of some kind. Her tail was raised up high and the tip was glowing yellow. It took her back to the day she met Eevee, and she copied Yamper's Spark attack. She nodded, sure that she understood Eevee.

She gestured out with her hand.

"Jump, and use Electro Web!"

Eevee leapt from the ground, jumping high into the air - higher than Chloe had ever seen her leap! She easily sailed over Pikachu's Electro Web. Doing the same motions as Pikachu, Eevee spun in the air, a blob of electricity coming from the tip of her tail as though it was a painter's brush drawing in the sky. Eevee launched the blob at Pikachu, and much like his attack, her's opened into a net to catch him and hold him in place.

"Dodge it, Pikachu!" he ordered.

Pikachu made a spinning leap upwards, gracefully evading the Electro Web.

"Eevee, Quick Attack!"

With Pikachu coming down, Chloe's mind seemed to fill in the space on her own, ordering the move. And Eevee was already ready to follow through, building up the power in her legs and shooting forward, aiming to catch the Mouse Pokémon where he fell.

"Pikachu, use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu continued spinning in the air, and as Eevee leapt up at blazing speed, Pikachu brought his tail - hard as metal - to bear, blocking the Quick Attack and forcing Eevee back.

Pikachu landed on all four paws while Eevee skidded backwards, throwing up blades of grass as her paws dug into the field.

Ash grinned as he made his next move. "Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Pikachu leapt into the air and smacked his squishy cheeks with his paws, making sparks come out, showing that he was good and ready to launch this attack. "Piiii-kaaaa-chuuuu!"

As Pikachu let fly the Thunderbolt, Eevee's tail was once again raised into the air.

"Eevee, use Thunderbolt, too!"

With the electricity crackling off her tail, Eevee's entire body became cloaked in electrical energy, which she launched from her right at Pikachu.

The two attacks collided in the middle, causing an explosion in the middle of the air. The pressure wave from the blast nearly blew Chloe off her feet., but she kept her eyes facing forward and on Eevee.

The smoke cleared, and Ash and Pikachu were standing there, grinning madly. But the boy exhaled, relaxing. "You did it!"

Chloe paused. "Wait… I did?"

"You totally did! You and Eevee were totally in sync just now! You were totally like zing bang kafroosh!"

"Zing bang kafroosh…?"

It hit her like a sack of bricks.

"When… I was focusing on Eevee during the battle… it was like we were both focused, looking forward. A-Ah! And! When we got in the rhythm of using moves, it was like the next one just came naturally! And then-"

"And then you let it just explode! Kafroosh!"

Ash was giggling as Pikachu made his way back and hopped onto the boy's shoulders, happy to get at least a little exercise today.

She understood it. That feeling where they put their entire selves into the battle and were pressing forward together. "I… I really was one with Eevee, huh?"

She knelt down at her Pokémon's side. Even after an encounter where she did nothing but trade blows, Eevee was exhausted and slumped to the ground.

Ash scratched the back of his head. "Guess we got too caught up in it, too, didn't we buddy?"

"Pika…"

Chloe scooped Eevee up into her arms. "Wow… I… thank you, Ash. I mean it! I really feel like Eevee and I got a lot closer today!"

Ash waved the praise off. "It was you and Eevee who put in the work. I just helped connect th' dots for ya."

"Still, thank you so much. I really owe you one!"

Ash shrugged. "You're welcome, Chloe. Glad to'have helped!."

Holding Eevee in her arms, she rushed off to tell her Dad, or Goh, or anyone else who would listen. Meanwhile, Ash turned back to Dracovish and Sirfetch'd.

"Alright, guys! How about we get back to training?"

A few nights later, and Chloe was sitting in the entry hall. And most significantly, it was late.

Professor Cerise was having a long distance phone call to another professor in a faraway region, something he wanted to do in the office while he had all his reference materials on hand. Which was just as well, since her Mom and Parker had treated themselves to dinner after Parker's dentist appointment that day.

Chloe had eaten with Ash and Goh and everyone had apparently gone to bed or gone home. She was waiting there, almost falling asleep with Eevee in her lap. The lab was so quiet that Chloe could hear the floorboards in her father's office creak as he stepped on them.

Suddenly, Eevee's ears perked up. "Eivui…?"

Nearly dozing, Chloe sat up, looking at her Normal-Type who was previously nodding off herself. "What's wrong, Eevee?"

Eevee sprang out of her lap but looked back as though she was asking Chloe to follow. And so, she did. She followed Eevee, who was following her ears as she picked up on some hidden sound. Eevee eventually led Chloe into Cerise Park.

She wasn't prepared for what she encountered there. She heard a gentle voice singing.

"Close your… tired eyes

The gentle breeze...

And the… twinkling stars…"

The signing was accompanied by a gentle chorus of "Pika...Pika pika…"

She picked Eevee up and walked towards the sounds of the singing. It was coming from a tree in the park. They walked over to it and looked up at what appeared to be a large cloth cocoon in the tree.

It was Ash's voice.

Chloe suddenly felt very self conscious, like she was intruding on something very private. But if she wanted to leave without being noticed, it wasn't meant to be.

"Pi?" The mouse's ears perked up and he looked over the edge of the sleeping bag. "Pikapi, Kakachu?"

The cocoon sat up and Ash looked over. "Hey, Chloe… Didn't expect to see you there." Ash looked tired, but happy, with Pikachu in his lap.

"That was you singing, wasn't it?" she asked.

"Heheh… yeah."

He laid back down.

"It's a lullaby my Mom used to sing for me. And Pikachu, when he came along."

Chloe giggled. "I guess I didn't take you for a singer." She bit her tongue after the words left. "N-Not that there's anything wrong with that. Sorry, I didn't mean to sound like that."

There was a sound from the bag, like shrugging. "It's okay."

There was a moment of silence as Chloe slumped against the tree. It was awkward; they hardly spoke to each other unless Goh was around or she had something directly to talk to him about. She decided that they needed something in the air to talk about.

"So… why are you out here?"

There was some rustling in the sleeping bag. "Oh. I uh… I guess I like camping."

He sounded a little embarrassed, like he was being weird, sleeping in a tree in a park when he had a warm bunk bed inside the lab.

"Before I came here, I used to camp out all the time, because I was traveling all over with some awesome friends of mine. I camped out less while I spent some time in Alola, but we were so surrounded by nature, every day felt like camping out!"

As if he felt himself getting excited, he sat up again.

"There's so many cool things in the forest at night. You can hear Pokémon all around you. You can see their shadows when they fly. And sometimes on nights with a full moon, you can see some incredible things! Entire flocks of Pokémon flying through the night sky, entire families. It's awesome."

He slumped back.

"Don't get me wrong. It has its downsides. Sometimes we ran out of food, or we'd get caught in the rain or snow, or somehow even worse, it'd be blazing hot even at night and you couldn't even really sleep in a sleeping bag. It was so hot at that time… But I kinda miss it. And so some nights I just spend the night out here with Pikachu and the rest of the Pokémon in the park. To kind of relive those days."

"Does Goh ever join you out here?" Chloe asked.

There was a chuckle. "Sometimes! Not often. I think it's 'cause he's from the city and I'm from the country. Have you been to Pallet Town before?"

Now it was Chloe's turn to reminisce. "Only once. My dad took Goh and I to Professor Oak's Pokémon Camp one year. You're right, it's nothing like Vermilion City. Everything is so quiet and it feels like there are wild Pokémon all over."

There was another laugh from Ash. "Yeah… I love Pallet Town. I've been to all sorts of places in the world, and Pallet Town and Melemele Island in Alola are the ones that feel most like home to me, you know? Man, I wish I knew you guys when you went to Oak's Camp. We'd have had a blast!"

She couldn't help but laugh. "Yeah, I can imagine how much trouble you and Goh would have gotten into if you guys met back then. You might have been able to convince him he even needed to make more friends!"

"He's a proud guy," Ash said. "But I guess he had you with him, so maybe you could have talked some sense into him."

"I wouldn't have had to," Chloe said, absolutely sure. "Goh loves Pokémon just as much as you do. He always has, ever since I've known him."

There's a snicker from the tree. "Yeah, I thought so. Goh's always talking about Pokémon with me. It just makes me want to get up and see whatever ones I can find!" He yawned, and laid back down on the branch. "Not tonight, though. I'm too tired."

"Well, you'll have Goh to talk to, as well," she said, not even really thinking about the words she said.

"You're fun to talk to, too."

The words Ash responded with surprised Chloe somewhat.

"I'm fun to talk to, too?"

"Yeah," he said. "I mean, we don't talk about Pokémon, but I feel like I can talk to you about other stuff. And talking about stuff feels good, you know? I got to think about Pallet Town. And camping. And all my friends I used to travel with, too." He paused.

"I guess it's fun that you ask questions," he concluded. "Goh doesn't, most of the time. But then he kinda keeps t'himself, so I get that he wouldn't wanna bug me, either."

She giggled. "Yeah, that's him alright."

"He's a great friend. Someone really on my level I can just hang out with. Even if he doesn't ask a lot of me, he makes it so that I don't have to ask a lot of him, either. We just click, I guess."

She nodded. "Yeah… I feel the same way."

She leaned against the tree, reminiscing. "Goh was always the one at school who didn't really bother me about who my Dad was or what I wanted to do. He just let me be myself."

"Goh's an amazing friend," Ash said with confidence. "He just doesn't like sleeping outside."

Chloe laughed. "I mean, yeah. Not that you're exactly outside here but I guess I get it."

"I can at least see the stars," Ash said, jokingly, which made him laugh, which made Chloe laugh as well.

"I mean it, though. You're easy to talk to," Ash said.

"Well, if you want," Chloe suggested, "I could give you my phone number and you could call me up if you want to talk."

Ash laughed again, but this time the nervousness in his voice was apparent. "I uh… yeah, that could work."

She could feel the smirk rising on her own lips. "I can do that for you if you want."

"...thanks."

Soon, Pikachu was crawling down the tree and with Ash's Rotom Phone in his mouth. He handed it to Chloe, who only took a few moments to add her phone number to it. "You can text me at that number, too," she said as she handed the phone back to Pikachu.

"Thanks but uh…" Ash said, nervously, "...I'm not used to the Rotom Phone yet. Goh's tried to show me so much but usually I just use it as a Pokédex or to call. Or for my ranked matches."

She stood up, holding Eevee in her arms. The little Pokémon had fallen asleep. "Well… I'll let you get some sleep," she said. "My Dad might be finished now."

"Right," he said. "Thanks again. Good night, Chloe."

"Good night, Ash."

And with that, she left Cerise Park to the gentle sounds of Ash once again singing the lullaby, wondering when she would have another conversation like this with him.