"All right, everyone!" Ash said. "So, today's lesson is going to be about something you might not realize is anything to do with how Pokémon work unless you think about it!"
"That's most things," Kiawe pointed out. "Oh, uh, sorry."
"Everyone gather round, class," Ash added. "We're going to start off by going outside. Okay, Cosmog?"
"Cosmog?" Lana repeated. "What's a Cosmog?"
Cosmog floated out of Ash's bag, and Ash held out a hand for them to rest on. "This is Cosmog," he said. "I met them a couple of days ago, and they've been learning how to teleport. I've teleported a lot, though, so I wanted to make sure everyone else was okay with it. Ready?"
Cosmog bobbed up and down.
"We're going to the beach just outside," Ash told Cosmog, and then they were outside with a flicker of movement.
"Whoa, that was weird," Mallow said.
"Everyone okay?" Ash checked. "It's better to find out it's a problem now when you can walk back, after all!"
Nobody seemed to be very dizzy, and Ash patted Cosmog and told them well done before spreading his arms.
"So, this is daytime!" he said. "And that means a lot of things! It's sort of the default because we're mostly out and about during the day, and asleep at night, but it's still useful to think about what it means for it to be daytime. Usually you can see things quite well, even if the weather's really dark, but some Pokémon are asleep during the day. It's also usually warmer, and louder because most Pokémon are awake."
He held out his hand in the sun. "Sometimes if you spend too long in the sun you can get sunburned, but that's easy to avoid with sun cream or if you just don't spend too long outside, right?"
"Yeah, that's important," Lana agreed. "And it's a lot safer to swim during the day, because you can see things way more easily."
"Plants mostly spend the day with their flowers open," Mallow contributed. "But some kinds of plant open at certain times of day, or even at night. And people usually eat during the day, too… though I guess it depends which meal?"
"It's also when people go to work," Lillie said.
"It's the only time you get natural Sunny Day," Kiawe's Marowak volunteered. "Which is good for Fire types."
"Right!" Ash agreed. "And because it's something we're used to so much, we usually just think of it as normal, but it's only day about half the time, and some of that is twilight. There's also half the time when it's night time… so let's have a look at that. Cosmog, let's go visit Kalos!"
"Kalos?" Sophocles repeated.
Cosmog pulsed, and suddenly they were in Kalos, under a calm and moonlit night.
Togedemaru immediately lit up with Flash, and Sophocles crouched down next to her.
"So, what's different?" Ash asked.
"It's hard to see," Lillie said. "It'd be hard to see anyway, because it's dark, but it's really hard to see because we were in the sun a moment ago."
"That's right," Ash nodded. "Well noticed. Normally your eyes get used to how light or dark it is, and although you can't see as well when it's dark you can usually compensate a lot – especially when the moon is out, because that gives you a lot of light. But when it's cloudy it can get really dark."
"And it's not safe to fly, right?" Kiawe said. "Unless your Pokémon can see in the dark or you've got a really good idea of how high you need to be to be safe."
"Oh, yeah, because if you're flying so high the ground's nowhere near, it's okay," Lana realized. "But landing you have to get close to the ground."
"Which is why it's often so much safer to land in towns or cities with street lights, if you're flying in the dark," Ash said. "It's safest of all not to do it, though."
He judged his own eyes. "I think you should all be able to see a bit better, now… but what's easier to see at night?"
"There are things that are easier to see at night?" Togedemaru asked.
"There are," Ash said. "You're one of them, actually!"
"Right, of course," Sophocles said. "Things that make light show up better at night, because there's not as much other light to drown them out."
"It's also cooler at night, and calmer," Ash told them. "Why don't you have a look around and see if you can spot any Pokémon? Don't forget to pay attention to where you're walking."
He crouched down next to Sophocles. "Are you all right?"
"Sorry," Sophocles apologized. "I'm a bit scared of the dark."
"That's not something to say sorry for," Ash told him. "Being afraid isn't anything to be ashamed of. You've got a great Pokémon who knows just how to help you out with it, too."
"Thanks," Togedemaru said.
"People can be afraid of the dark?" Cosmog said, worried.
"People can be afraid of a lot of things," Ash agreed. "Sorry about this, Sophocles, I didn't know about it but if I did I'd have done the lesson differently."
He stood up. "And, Cosmog? Eventually you might need to choose daytime or night time, but night time isn't scary. It's just different."
Cosmog bobbed up and down.
"After everyone's had a bit longer to look around, we're going to hear about how battling is different at night," Ash said. "Then we'll have a look at what it's like in the morning and the evening, around dawn and dusk. It's about that time in Johto and Kanto soon, so we should get a good look at what it's like halfway between daytime and night time!"
"Thanks again, Cosmog," Ash said, as they appeared on top of a hill. "So this is in Johto, and it's morning right now. The sun hasn't risen yet, but can you see how it's a lot easier to see things than it was in Kalos?"
"Yeah, it's… actually weird, I hadn't thought about this," Lana admitted. "The sun's not up, like you said, but the sky's still brighter. Why is that?"
"It's because the air sort of… bends the light?" Ash answered. "It can't bend it all the way, but it can bend it a bit. And because of how that works, along with how the sun being lower in the sky means it spreads the light out, there's time both before and after sunrise and sunset that you get light that's not quite full daylight."
He waved. "There's loads of different Pokémon which usually come out now, especially because it's bright enough to see but not yet really hot? Or it can be because they want it to be dark, but still warm, if they do it after sunset. It's like a mix between day and night."
"Who's there?" someone called.
"Hi, Molly!" Ash waved. "I thought this place looked familiar. Did we land in your garden?"
"Ash, it's you!" Molly Hale said, waving back. "I didn't know you were visiting!"
She reached down next to her, and picked up a Teddiursa. "You should meet my Pokémon! We were out for an early morning walk."
Teddiursa waved, blinked, then looked closer. "Wait, is that Ash? I thought he was just some kind of excuse for why your mom's a Mew."
"Hi there, Teddiursa," Ash said. "Molly, this is a class I'm teaching. Do you want to tell everyone why you decided to take an early morning walk? We're learning about times of day so it'd be great to hear!"
"Sure!" Molly agreed. "So, I can see where I'm going, and it's nice and cool. I don't mind playing during the day, as well, but doing it at night is difficult so this is like doing it at night."
"It's also a time that's different when you do Pokémon battling," Ash added. "At night then some attacks, like fire ones, tend to give away where the Pokémon using them is, while Pokémon that use other kinds of attacks can hide in the dark. Twilight battles don't have quite the same thing, but it's also more likely to be a bit misty – that can matter in big battles, but not so much in small ones."
"I'm sorry, are we just going to slide over the fact that Teddiursa said that girl's mother is a Mew?" Togedemaru burst out.
"Yeah, that happened the first time I met Molly, it's kind of complicated," Ash said. "It's mostly when she sneezes, right?"
"She's a lot better at not accidentally turning back into a Mew now," Molly replied. "But sometimes she does get surprised and it happens."
"This is not what I expected class to be like," Lana said.
"What did you expect class to be like?" Mallow replied.
"Good question, I don't know…"
"Some Pokémon only evolve during the day, and some only evolve during the night," Ash pointed out. "And some, like my Lycanroc, seem to be because of evolving right at the change between the two – but we don't actually know for sure yet. So I think… there's nothing wrong with preferring the daytime, or the night time, but you should make sure you think about what they're both like instead of just thinking of daytime as the only option. Right?"
"I swear, there's so much about this class where we keep learning new ways of looking at things," Kiawe breathed.
"Okay, Cosmog, let's head home!" Ash said. "Then we can talk about what we learned today."
"Right!" Cosmog agreed, and pulsed, and they appeared next to King Dragonite having breakfast.
"Morning, Ash!" the King said. "I didn't know you were coming back so soon!"
He sprang up from his table and gave Ash a hug, then considered Cosmog carefully and gave them a much smaller hug.
"Yeah, we weren't expecting to be here," Ash admitted. "It's nice to see you, though… let's try for home, okay?"
"Umm…" Cosmog said, tilting a little, then pulsed.
Suddenly they were inside a building, and everyone felt lighter.
"I guess that must be my fault," Ash realized, as Mirage Mew materialized in front of them. "Sorry, Cosmog, I wasn't concentrating on where we should be going."
"Where are we?" Sophocles said, jumping. "Wait… hang on, are we on the moon?"
"I didn't know the moon was like this," Cosmog admitted.
"That is my work!" Mirage Mew said. "Do you like it?"
"Sorry we can't stay long, Mirage Mew," Ash told the virtual Pokémon. "Cosmog, let's try to end up back on Melemele this time, okay?"
Kiawe's Charizard touched down at the ranch, and Kiawe got off.
"Thanks," he told the Fire-type, patting his neck, then returned him.
"Alola, Kiawe!" his mother called. "How was class today?"
"We did a field trip," Kiawe answered.
"Again?" she said. "You do do a lot of field trips with that class! Where did you go this time?"
"Kalos," Kiawe replied. "And Johto, and Kanto… and I think the moon, but that one was just indoors. It did feel a lot lighter though so it probably was the moon or something."
"...right," his mother frowned. "Well, did you learn some useful things?"
"I think so," Kiawe answered. "I might need to go and write some of them down though."
AN:
The best kind of lesson in this situation is a lesson which educates everyone involved.