"We can probably save you a lot of time and effort, miss," Brock said, nodding respectfully. "Your little Snubbull is a bit overwhelmed by all the pampering."

Snubbull looked up at the trainers, and then nodded to her owner.

"Oh!" Madame Muchmoney blinked, and looked down at her Pokemon. "Really? I thought... but you've had everything you wanted, sweetums."

Snubbull shook her head, and started talking. "I've not! You've given me everything you think I want, but most of it isn't what I want, it's just what you guess I want – and you don't bother to see if I actually like it!"

She gestured wildly. "I don't actually like Winthrop much! I mean, he's alright to play with, I guess, but you've engaged me – and Pokemon don't normally even do weddings! I'd rather have rice balls than the kind of too-complicated food you give me! And I just want to play fetch, rather than have my nails painted and my teeth shined to a high gloss!"

Snubbull finished, and stood there panting.

Everyone blinked.

"Lot of rage bottled up in there..." Pikachu said, slightly stunned, and Snubbull stuck her tongue out at him.

"Um... sorry, schnookums, but I didn't understand that," Madame Muchmoney said.

Misty hummed. "Summarized... she'd rather play and have simple food than be pampered and have gourmet food, and she'd rather you checked whether she liked something before doing it."

Snubbull nodded her grudging approval of the summary.

"Oh, my..." The rich woman's hand went to her mouth. "I had no idea!"

She knelt down, extending a hand to Snubbull. "I'm so sorry, dearest. Mummy does love you, though – and I'll try to make sure you get what you want."

Snubbull considered that. Then she looked up at the friends. "Can you tell her that I'd like a doorflap? That would help a lot."

Ash relayed the message, and added his opinion. "I think she mainly wants it so she's got the choice – what she really wants is the freedom to do what she wants sometimes. Perhaps you should organize a battle with that other Snubbull?"

Seeing how her Pokemon reacted to that prospect – with great interest – Madame Muchmoney avoided voicing her first reaction, and thought about it. "I see. Well... I'll put Jeeves on it."

Snubbull nodded, and walked over. She put her hand in Muchmoney's. "If I go missing, you know why."

Ash decided not to translate that.


"Not far to go now," Ash commented.

"Yeah, we're only a few days walk from Violet City," Brock agreed.

"No, something much more important." Ash smiled. "Pretty soon, we're going to see a little wild Chikorita..."

"Who will then promptly turn into a Bayleef and attempt to flatten you," Pikachu sniggered.

"I may have not heard about this?" Lucario asked.

"It is hilarious," Pikachu assured him.

"Yeah, why did she keep doing that..." Ash mused. "I'm sure we can ask her."

For reasons Ash was unable to fathom, Pikachu found this positively uproarious.

"Hey, look!" Brock interrupted, pointing. "A Stantler. It's a little fawn, I think."

Misty peered at the bushes. "I remember this. Wasn't it hurt?"

"Yeah, I think it is," Brock agreed. "We should try not to startle the little guy, though."

"Why?" Ash asked. "I can't quite-"

The fawn looked up suddenly, hearing the approaching humans. Its antlers glowed slightly, and a horde of stampeding adults appeared out of the trees.

Ash gaped. "Whoa! Run!"

"Not so fast," Brock said. "Stantler produce illusions if they feel threatened."

The herd ran towards them, hooves drumming on the ground and making it tremble slightly.

"I really hope you're right, Brock!" Ash said, closing his eyes as they approached. "Oh. Huh, yeah, you are."

The lead stag reached them – and phased right through.

"Couldn't see them with Aura Sight?" Brock asked.

"Couldn't see them with Aura Sight," Ash confirmed. "Now, how do we convince him that we're here to help?"

Misty hummed. "I think I've got an idea. First, we should give him some space..."


Stantler peered out of the bushes, looking out for trouble. At least the humans had left, though they hadn't been scared off by his illusions – he didn't think so, anyway.

But they had left. Perhaps that meant they had been scared off?

With a faint rustle of leaves, he moved further back into the undergrowth and nibbled at some of the nearest twigs. They didn't taste great, but they helped him feel a bit less hungry.

He'd been feeling all kinds of aches since yesterday. The ache of loneliness, because he was lost and away from his herd. The ache of fear, without the protection of the adults. The ache in his leg, from an injury he'd gotten trying to climb a steep slope. And the ache of hunger, the one he could at least deal with.

"Excuse me?"

He looked up, startled, and saw a strange Pokemon gliding overhead, threading a path between the trees.

"Hello, I'm Togekiss. Are you alright?"

The Stantler shook his head. "No – no, I'm not. I'm lost, and hurt, and... I'm afraid."

Swallowing, he looked up at the Togekiss as she came down to land. "I've never seen a Pokemon like you before."

Togekiss smiled. "That's a pity! Togekiss are nice. You can trust me about that, because I'm a Togekiss, and we're nice."

"That doesn't make sense," Stantler said, frowning. "If you were lying, then Togekiss wouldn't be nice."

"You're a clever one," she told him with another smile. "Oh, dear, that leg looks awful."

At the mention of his leg, Stantler drew it up against his body, instinctively trying to protect it.

"Don't worry, some of my friends can help with that. Would you be willing to let them?"

"Your friends?" Stantler asked, dubiously. "Who are they?"

"They're the humans you saw earlier. They're nice, really – one of them knows Pokemon medicine, and he said he'd give you some food if you wanted it."

Food. That sounded very tempting.

Like all Stantler, this one was quite wary and suspicious. But this white-and-coloured Pokemon seemed to radiate trustworthiness.

Anyone she liked couldn't be too bad, could they?

"Alright," he said, eventually. "But – just him, okay? I don't want to be trapped."


"There we go," Brock said, voice calm and soothing.

For once, he was using his small talent in Aura to help the Pokemon understand him – such a young one wouldn't have had time to learn the language without the extra cues Aura granted. "That should have cleaned the wound – luckily, not much dirt got into it."

The fawn nodded, legs trembling just slightly. "What now?"

"Now I'm going to apply a potion. Sorry, this is going to sting a bit."

Stantler nodded again, face set in anticipation.

Brock adjusted the angle of the spray bottle slighly, then pressed the trigger. Stantler hissed with pain, and one leg involuntarily kicked a little, hitting Brock's knee.

"Oh no!" the fawn said, gasping. "Sorry, I-"

"Don't worry," Brock assured him. "It's fine, it doesn't matter. You don't kick hard enough to make me stop."

The Big Horn Pokemon swallowed, and let Brock investigate his shin a little longer.

"That looks like it's healing nicely," Brock pronounced, and pressed a dressing on it before adding a bandage and winding it on. "That should hold until it's healed, as long as you don't try and scrape it off."

Stantler examined the white cloth, amazed. The pain was already fading, replaced by a deep, slow heat which felt... clean.

"Now, you've got a choice," Brock said. "You can choose any of these. Either I can give you your food now, and you can leave and we won't follow you. Or you can get your food and eat it here, and then leave. Or you can stay the night, get breakfast, and leave in the morning – or we'll help you back to your herd as much as we can. Ash – my friend – has a Pokemon who can fly, so he can help search."

The young Stantler absorbed that choice.

"I... I guess I'm not sure. Can I give you an answer later?"

"Of course," Brock replied. "The important bit is that we won't keep you if you want to leave. But I do have to call my friends over now, is that okay?"

Stantler nodded. "I think so."

"Thank you – and let me know if you're worried, so we can help with that." Brock stood, and waved. "Okay, guys, come on over!"


Hesitantly, the fawn licked at the outer coating of a rice ball.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Togekiss asked.

"Yeah, I guess it tastes nice..." Stantler agreed, and took a small bite.

His eyes widened. "Yeah, this is good!" The ball of seaweed-wrapped rice and bamboo vanished in the twinkling of an eye.

"...well, someone's hungry!" Togekiss said. "Do you want more?"

"Yes, please!" The Stantler blushed. "Uh, that is, if you've got some to spare – I don't want to be too... too... well, impolite, I think."

"Don't worry." Togekiss passed him her dinner. "I can get more, Brock's still cooking."

Stantler looked up, chewing the second rice ball, and watched the interactions of the other Pokemon with the humans of this group.

"What's that big orange Pokemon?" he asked, swallowing his mouthful. "The one that – the big human... Brock?"

Togekiss nodded.

"The one he's cooking with."

"That's Ash's Charizard," Togekiss supplied. "He's very strong, and a little arrogant – but he's got a good heart."

"A little hotter, please?" Brock asked, putting more oil in the frying pan, and Charizard hrumphed before making his tail flame heat up more.

Brock laughed. "You're going to be the one eating about a third of this, you could be a bit more enthusiastic!"

"I'm not a cooker," Charizard grumphed.

The Stantler surprised himself with a giggle.

"And the big blue one – whoa!"

The souce of Stantler's surprise was clearly evident, as Ash and Lucario bowed, took stances and started sparring.

Small pulses of Force Palm slapped out as they went back and forth, dodge-parry-block-riposte-high-low-body blow, and the occasional flash of green showed Protect shields snapping up on short notice.

"They do this most nights," Togekiss informed him. "The blue Pokemon is a Lucario. They're usually found in Sinnoh, which is a long way to the north. The human is Ash, his trainer – and, as you can see here, training partner."

"Wow. I didn't know that any humans knew Pokemon attacks." Stantler watched for a couple more minutes, as Ash and Lucario clashed repeatedly, before turning away with some effort to look over the remainder of the camp.

"I know what a Heracross is, and what Pikachu are," he said, after a moment. "But what are they?"

Togekiss followed his gaze.

"The green one is Ivysaur, another of Ash's Pokemon. The brown one with all the legs is Kabuto – he doesn't talk much."

Stantler nodded.

"And the human there is my mother, Misty," Togekiss finished.

At that, the fawn turned to look at her. "Your what?"

"Oh!" Togekiss blushed slightly. "She hatched my egg, and raised me. I think of her as my mother."

That, too, Stantler took in – not without a slightly startled expression.

"I think most of the others are off looking for good wood, so that we can set up a campfire for the night without relying on Charizard." Togekiss pointed. "Look – there. There they are. That's Psyduck, and Politoed, and Ninetales."

She shrugged, making Stantler look over at her again.

"Going to a new region is always strange," she said. "We leave old friends behind, and we meet new ones – but we're travelling with our friends, too, and never truly leave anyone behind."

Stantler returned to his food, looking thoughtful.


A few minutes later, footfalls made him look up.

"Hello," Ninetales said, keeping her lips carefully over her teeth to avoid startling him. "I understand you use illusions."

"Uh – yes, I do." Stantler nodded quickly. "Why?"

"Well, Ninetales use illusions as well, sometimes." She smiled again. "I was wondering if you could give me a few tips? I'm a bit rusty."

Stantler blinked, then stood up – finding it easier already, the pain in his leg becoming a distant memory. "Sure! Uh... what do you want help with?"

"I find it hard to do more than two or three images at once. How do you do that?"

"Well..." Stantler moved his antlers, making the air resonate in them. "I guess I never thought about it very much. I just... picture the herd, all as one lot."

"Fascinating," she said. "Can you show me?"


Brock smiled, seeing Ninetales helping to keep the fawn's mind off his injury.

It was nice of her to be so considerate.


Charizard banked, roaring, and a flock of Pidgey scattered in all directions.

He chuckled, a little lick of flame coming from his mouth, and rolled with wings folded in. Three entire revolutions, and then he brought them out again and went from precipitous dive to steep ascent in a few powerful wingbeats.

"All right, you've had your fun!" Ash called, laughing. "Now, take us up a bit!"

"Spoilsport." Charizard rocked left and right a bit, chuckles reverberating in his powerful chest, and then rose further into the air.

From this high, Ash could see for miles. There, in the distance, was what had to be Violet City – their next gym destination.

It was a little too high to see something as small as a Pokemon, though, unless it was something enormous.

Ash steadied himself, and held up the projector. "Dexter?"

Set up. Dexter materialized, and began pacing the dragon and his rider. This could take a few minutes.

"That's fine," Charizard replied. "Ash – I was meaning to ask, and this is as close as we're going to get to being alone..."

What am I, a tuning fork?

"No, you're usually in his pocket." Charizard shrugged, introducing a small hiccup in their flight path. "Like I say, as close as we're going to get."

I suppose.

"What is it, Charizard?" Ash asked, worried. "You're kind of making me feel a bit apprehensive..."

"Yeah." Charizard cleared his throat. "Ash... I want to go to the Charicific valley again, when we get there."

Ash blinked.

"That's it?"

Charizard made a confused noise.

"Charizard, of course!" Ash assured him. "I wouldn't dream of trying to stop you."

"But – I wasn't sure if you were going to be safe," Charizard said, wincing. "And without me, and without Pidgeot, you'll be groundbound again. For the first time since Viridian." Charizard sighed. "But I wanted to see Charla again, so... I don't know."

"If you ever need to ask, the answer's still going to be yes, Charizard." Ash patted him. "We can get along without you."

He paused. "If you insist, though, take one of the transciever beacons, like Butterfree and Lapras have. That way, if I absolutely need your help, I can get you."

"I'd actually feel a lot more comfortable with that, to be honest," Charizard agreed. "Thank you."

"Thank you, Charizard," Ash replied.

If I may? Dexter interrupted. I have located a herd of Stantler. Location fixed – they're about two hours' walk away from where we left the others.

"Thanks," Ash said. "Okay, Charizard, back down we go."


"I keep telling you guys to learn some of this stuff," Ash said, walking blithely along the surface of a pond next to the road.

"Yeah, but neither of us have much Aura at all," Brock pointed out. "I mean, we can translate Pokemon just fine, but you've got crazy amounts of the stuff."

"Water walking doesn't take much, really," Ash replied. "Besides, the airslip trick Riolu worked out is even cooler – and just as useful, especially in a sandstorm or something."

"Alright, I guess," Misty said, hesitantly. "I doubt we'll ever be able to fight, but if these tricks are easy, I suppose we should learn them."

"Are all humans like this?" the Stantler asked, blinking.

"Ash is not like all humans," Lucario replied proudly. "He's a little nicer than most, stronger than almost all of them, and brave to the point of insanity."

Stantler nodded. "I see."

After a moment, he spoke up again. "What's Sinnoh like?"

Lucario walked on for a few seconds before answering, trying to come up with a good answer. "When I was there, I was quite young. I was a Riolu, not a Lucario. And... it's colder, generally. The air is crisp and clear, even in autumn, and in winter there's heavy snow which covers the land in a blanket of white."

His voice became a little faraway. "There are mountains on the horizon in all directions, from the kingdom I was born, and it seems like every day was a new challenge, bright and full of promise." Lucario smiled, in a melancholy way. "I've not been there in a while, but I do look forward to when we eventually go. I love travelling, especially with Ash, but it'll be nice to see home again."

"So you know you're going there?" Stantler queried.

"Yes," Lucario confirmed. "After travelling around Johto, then we're going to Hoenn, and eventually Sinnoh."

"Hoenn?" By now the fawn was a little awed. "Where's that?"

Pikachu hopped off Ash's shoulder, and took up a position next to Stantler. "I can answer that for you, if you want."

"Are you from Hoenn, then?" Stantler was amazed to be around so many exotic Pokemon, and probably would have believed Pikachu if he said he was from the moon. (It wasn't completely ridiculous, after all.)

"No," Pikachu replied, shrugging. "But I've been there. It's further south, and a lot warmer. There's a lot of Fire types there, and only the highest mountains have snow on them."

"I look forward to it," Lucario said with a smile.


"Here we are," Brock said, as they emerged onto the coppiced field. "There's your family."

"Thank you," the Stantler said, peering forward and seeing the horns of some other Stantler. "I was so lost..."

"Not a problem at all." Brock bent down. "If you don't mind, I'll take that bandage off now."

The fawn offered his leg, and Brock cut it away with a pocket knife, taking care not to catch any of the fur.

When the scrap of cloth came away, the dressing was a little dirty, but the skin was healed and already regrowing some fur.

"There you go, little guy," Brock told him.

Stantler looked back at him for a moment, then cantered off.

"Well, that's that," Brock said. "Nice to know all that studying was worth it."

Ash smiled. "Yeah, helping people and Pokemon is really worthwhile."


"Momma! Momma!"

The doe Stantler looked up, astonished. "Dear one! I thought we'd lost you!"

"I thought I'd lost you, too," the fawn said, nuzzling his mother. "But – some really nice humans helped me!"

He glanced back quickly, then took a longer look.

A mixture of frown and smile crossed his face, and he very visibly thought something over for a few seconds.

Then he looked over to the largest buck in the herd. "Excuse me!"

The stag, who had looked up along with the rest, nodded slightly. "What is it you want, young one?"

"I..." Swallowing, the fawn looked up and straight at his father. "I want to go with the humans."

"Why?" The question was simple, and asked in tones of brassy strength.

"Because... because, talking to them, I've learned so much about the world. About other places, other regions – I've heard about a place where it never snows, I've seen a human who walks on rivers, and I've met a Pokemon who's from hundreds of miles further north." Stantler's eyes shone. "I want to go there. I want to meet more Pokemon from everywhere in the world."

The stag considered that, calm expression giving no clue to his thoughts.


"Wait!"

The friends turned around, and saw the young Big Horn Pokemon galloping down the path towards them.

Slowing to a stop, Stantler panted for a bit, and then faced Brock. "I want to come with you."

Brock broke into a smile. "You do?"

"That is – if you'll have me," Stantler added, sounding a bit unsure.

"If you're certain you want to," Brock said. "If you are, we'd love to have you."

The watching humans and Pokemon made their agreement fully clear.

"I'm sure." Stantler nodded firmly. "You're going to all these amazing places – I want to see them."

"Fine by me." Brock rummaged in his bag, and retrieved a Pokeball. "Just touch the button on the front," he said, placing it on the floor. "We won't mind if you decide not to."

Stantler advanced the last few steps, wavered for a moment, then pressed his hoof against the button.

With a white flash, the Pokeball activated, and caught him.

Brock waited only long enough for the capture to register before releasing him again. "You alright?"

"Fine," Stantler insisted, head swaying back and forth slightly. "Does that always feel like that?"

"Not sure." Brock glanced at Ninetales, who flirted her tails.

"Just the first few times."

"Well, there you have it." Brock smiled, and rubbed Stantler's head. "We'll take good care of you."


AN:

A new team member!

This is one of those episodes where the Pokemon in it was so close to joining the team. And I though I'd take the chance to show what the average campsite looks like for these guys.