Ash waved. "Oh, hi Casey!"

The excitable young trainer turned. "Ash?"

She jogged over. "Fancy meeting you again! Who's this?"

Houndour barked a greeting.

"He's new," Ash explained. "I caught quite a few Johto Pokémon since we met."

"They're pretty neat," Casey agreed. "But you know what Pokémon I prefer!"

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "Black and yellow, right?"

"You know it!"

Houndour cocked his head. "She prefers Pokémon of a specific colour?"

"Yeah, but that's not all she uses," Ash assured the Dark-type. "It's just a preference. Like I prefer small and speedy Pokémon, but I still use Pokémon like Snorlax."

"Yes, I met the Snorlax," Houndour agreed. He shook his head. "That Pokémon is far, far too lazy for me."

Casey looked at him a bit oddly. "You understood that? I did hear that on the radio, but now I think about it... your Lucario talked to me, right? Was that Aura as well?"

Ash nodded. "Yeah, Lucario can do... that..."

He stopped, suddenly struck by a wild idea.

Casey was a good trainer, he knew – a bit energetic at times, but good.

And if...

He shook the thought off. "Sorry," he said, waving a hand. "I just had a thought. I was miles away. Have you ever looked up what Pokémon are coloured when they're Shiny?"

"Yeah, a few," Casey agreed. "You can't really count on finding one, though. It'd be nice to have a shiny Growlithe or Luxio, though..."

Ash nodded. "Oh – what brings you here? I'm heading through towards Ecruteak..."

"Oh, it's the bug-catching contest," Casey told him. "I'm going to see if I can catch a Beedrill!"

"Hope you do," Ash said. "I'm not sure what Pokémon to use, myself."

"I'm sure you'll work it out, you champion you," Casey grinned. She rummaged among her Pokéballs, and pulled one out. "I might use Pidgeotto."


"Hey, is that Ash Ketchum?" someone asked, as they entered the registry area.

"I think it is!"

"Oh, great..." Ash muttered. "This could take a while."

"I thought you wanted to be famous," Pikachu said to him.

He thought about that, and nodded. "Yeah, actually."

"Hey, uh, Ash?" one of the trainers said to him.

"What is it?" Ash asked.

"Casey said she beat your Charizard. That's made up, right?"

Ash rubbed the back of his neck. "No, actually... she did beat him."

Most of the contestants blinked.

"How?" someone blurted. "That Charizard fought three Legendaries! At once!"

"Yeah, he was surprised too," Ash agreed. "She did it fair and square, though – he was taking it a bit easy on her Ratatta, and let his guard down for a moment."

Several trainers reconsidered their plan not to have a Ratatta.

"Hey," someone said after a moment. "You said on the radio you can understand Pokémon, right?"

Ash nodded, blushing slightly. "Yeah."

"That's pretty cool."

"Can I ask something?" another trainer said. "My Croconaw's kind of down... can you tell me why?"

"Uh... sure," Ash agreed.

The trainer promptly sent out his Croconaw.

"What's the problem?" Ash asked the Water-type directly.

"Well," the Croconaw said, "He calls me Steve. I'm a girl."

Ash blinked. "Huh, that would do it."

He looked back up at the trainer. "She doesn't like her nickname."

Said trainer blinked. "Wait. She?"

"I tried to tell you!" the Croconaw said, throwing up her hands. "How hard is it to understand?"

She glanced back at Ash. "Thanks, by the way."

"No problem," Ash replied.

"Perhaps..." the trainer thought for a bit. "Terri?"

Croconaw mulled that over for a bit. "I can get behind that, yeah." Her nod made her agreement clear.

"Hey, can I register for the bug catching contest now?" Ash asked. "I'm gonna need to get to the desk, guys..."


"Ready?" Casey said.

Her Pidgeotto gave a determined chirp, and took off. Flying around in circles, using his wide, yellow-and-black tail to steer, he soared gradually higher looking for a good Pokémon for his trainer to catch.

Casey smiled, squinting up into the sky at her Pidgeotto. He'd become quite the fielder over the last month or so, and they'd even painted the red feathers on his tail black so he had the proper team colours. (Raticate and Chikorita had to make do with scarfs.)

Pidgeotto let out a cry, and came diving back down to his trainer. Circling her once, chirping an alert, he then flew off into the long grass – looking back and doubling back frequently, encouraging her to follow.


"Over there," Lucario said, pointing.

"Yep, I see it," Ash agreed. He pushed through the brush, and ducked as a Beedrill dove stinger-first at him.

His hand went out, crackling with tiny lightning bolts, and he hit the Beedrill on the side as it passed – delivering enough electricity to knock it unconscious.

"This seems backwards," Lucario commented, as Ash got his Park Ball out. "Isn't it supposed to be me who knocks the Pokémon out?"

"Probably." Ash threw the ball to him. "Want to do the other side, then?"

Before Lucario could do so, however, another Park Ball came sailing in from out of their line of sight and caught the Beedrill.

"Yes!" Casey cheered, running over. "I got a Beedrill!"

"Hey!" Ash said. "That was mine!"

"Five second rule," she told him impudently.

"Oh well." Ash sighed. "I was going to give him to you anyway if I caught a Beedrill and won... you'd better let me have the sun stone, though."

"Really?" Casey asked. "And why's that?"

"Because otherwise Lucario and I go find a Scyther?"

Casey gasped, clutching the Park Ball protectively. "You wouldn't! I need this Beedrill!"

Ash thought about his earlier idea.

"Tell you what," he said. "If you give me the sun stone, I'll try and get you another yellow-and-black Pokémon. No promises, but..."

Casey jumped at the face-saving gesture. "Sure!"

Her Pidgeotto chirped a question.

"I don't know what he means either," Lucario informed him.


"Well, that went well," Ash said, as they left the contest.

"You caught a sick Wurmple," Brock pointed out. "They had to give it potion before they released it again."

Ash shrugged, and tossed the Sun stone into the air. "Not what I was after," he said, catching it. "I'd have given Beedrill to Casey anyway, and this way she earned it."

"What are you going to do for her, anyway?" Misty asked, curious.

"Oh, yeah, about that..." Ash paused, then tapped Lucario on the shoulder. "Can I have a word?"


"What is it, Ash?" Lucario asked, now they were about fifty feet behind the others.

"Well..." Ash shrugged. "I was kind of wondering if you wanted to go back home."

Lucario shook his head. "Not with any urgency, no. We are going to Sinnoh eventually – that will be soon enough for me. Home is where you are, anyway."

That frank admission brought tears to Ash's eyes. He blinked them away. "Thanks, Lucario."

"It is the truth." Lucario shrugged, then offered his palm. Ash pressed his against it, recognizing the gesture, and for a moment felt the strength of Lucario's loyalty and love.

It was humbling.

"Wow," Ash said, blinking. "I kind of feel unworthy of that..."

"You have it because you are worthy." Lucario paused. "Why do you ask?"

"Well... that girl. Casey." Ash shrugged. "Crazy idea, but I wondered whether the Lucario kingdom was looking to foster another Riolu out. She's a good kid-"

"-who is the same age as you-" Lucario observed, deadpan.

"-except for time travel," Ash riposted. "And I happened to remember that shiny Riolu were black and yellow."

"...oh, I see where you're coming from." Lucario's head cocked over on one side, as he thought about that. "I may write a letter, actually. I assume you saw her several more times?"

"A few, yeah," Ash agreed. "Misty said she turned up in Cerulean once, and I think Mom mentioned her having helped out a baseball player, too... yeah, she's nice."

"Worth considering, then." Lucario nodded. "I'll see about it. It can hardly hurt to ask."


"Finally!" Gary said, sighing in relief. "Dendemille town."

"And you're sure this is where he lives?" Umbreon asked, clinging onto Fearow's back.

"Yep," Gary confirmed, adjusting his buckles – Fearow could get a bit enthusiastic, so both his passengers were clipped on. "Except it's her, I think." He patted Fearow's side. "Okay, down we go."

Fearow turned his head, giving Gary a gimlet stare.

"For the usual bribe," Gary added, and Fearow nodded, satisfied. The big Pokémon smoothly shed height, circling once before gliding down the town's river at barely above stall speed. He slipped sideways, flared, and touched down lightly as thistledown on the central square.

Gary unclipped himself, lifted Umbreon down, and tossed the Beak Pokémon a dry-flavoured Pokéblock. It vanished with the snap of his long, needle-like beak, and Fearow chewed once before nodding in satisfaction.

"That is one strange Pokémon," Umbreon said as Gary returned his Flying-type.

Gary's reply was slightly delayed, as he had to wait for Dee's translation through his earbud. "Well, yeah," he agreed. "But given that it downgrades his temperament from psychotic to merely rash, I'm fine with the bribery."

He stashed away the clips in his bag, keeping his ready to hand in case they needed a quick exit. "Right, where's that house she's supposed to live in..."


"You're kidding."

Gary stared at Madame Reminder.

"No heart scale, no move," the elegant woman said flatly.

"But it's Teleport. The move every other Alakazam knows since they're Abra!"

"No heart scale, no move."

Gary simmered for a moment. "Fine. Be that way. Come on, Umbreon, we're going to go find a heart scale."

"I've heard that someone living in Courmarine gives them out, if you have a Pokémon that can dance," she called after them.


"How far is Courmarine?" Umbreon asked, peering over Gary's shoulder at the map.

Gary measured it off against the map ruler, and blinked. "Two hundred miles away."

Umbreon winced. "Fearow?"

"Fearow," Gary confirmed. "I really hope one of you knows how to dance, too..."

He checked his Pokéblock case, and winced. "Oh, great. Time to go berry picking, I'm out of dry ones..."

"Why is it so hard to just teach Alakazam teleport?" Umbreon asked, exasperated.

"Don't ask me..."


"Oh, great, the bridge is out," Misty said. "I forgot about this. What was it we had to do?"

"Something about a Sudowoodo?" Pikachu asked.

Ash shrugged. "Dunno, and it doesn't matter much. Do you have a Pokémon who can carry Brock across the river?"

"That's cold..." Brock muttered.

"You're the only one who can't walk on water," Ash pointed out.

"Well..." Misty hedged.

"I'll do it," Lucario suggested. He stepped up to Brock. "With your permission?"

"Sure, I guess," Brock agreed. The Pewter trainer then blinked. "Wait. Why are you swinging me back-"

Lucario used Fling.

The moment that Brock left his grip, Lucario crouched down and launched himself forward in a blue burst of Aura. He went from his launch point to the river bank in two steps, hooked his toes over the lip, and pushed off in a flat, near-horizontal trajectory.

The water barely rippled as he used it to kick off, and he skidded to a halt on the other side of the river in good time to catch the hurtling Brock.

"Easy," Lucario summarized.

"Not to me it wasn't!"

"Why?" Lucario shrugged, putting Brock back down. "You had it even easier than me."

Misty and Ash splashed ashore.

"Oh, hello," Lucario added. "You didn't need a lift, Misty?"

"For some reason, my skill improved dramatically," Misty replied. "Call it motivation."


"Okay, good," Ash said. "So you've got Flash Fire, and... yeah, this looks like a good matchup for training."

Houndour waved a paw. "Nice to meet you, Quilava. I think my father spoke to you?"

"He did, yeah," Quilava nodded. "I didn't quite realize what he wanted the information for, though."

"So, Houndour, what moves do you know?" Ash asked.

"Mainly melee stuff," Houndour told him. "Fire Fang Thunder Fang, Faint Attack, that sort of thing."

"Feint, I think," Quilava corrected.

"Pardon?"

"It's Feint attack – because it involves feinting."

"Are you sure?" Houndour briefly faded into the evening gloom. "I seem fairly faint."

"Yes, but that's not the attack itself," Quilava contended. "It's just because you're well camoflaged-"

Ash waved his hands to forestall what looked like a long argument. "Never mind that now. Okay, so... if your attacks are mostly mêlée, you're going to need to be able to catch up to – and dodge – fast opponents."

Houndour nodded. "Makes sense to me. But why her? I get that we can practice without much risk of damaging one another, but..."

He shrugged. "She doesn't seem especially fast."

Ash grinned. "Want to demonstrate, Quilava?"

Quilava took a breath, and nodded. Her quills flashed up, and she jumped forwards – rolling into a ball and rotating gently forwards on momentum for a moment.

Then a rooster-tail of loose dirt went up as she spun up, and Flame Wheeled off at speed.

"That," Ash summarized. "She does, though, have problems with dizziness keeping it up. The best way to avoid that being a problem is basically practice. So – don't use any attacks that are non Fire type, but aside from that you two can basically spar pretty well together."

"Got it." Houndour turned, keeping Quilava in his sight line, and then pounced forwards as she came in for an attack run.

His fangs flashed with fire in a Fire Fang, but Quilava had spotted it coming and accelerated out of where he was going to land. She did a wide, looping circle and came back in, bouncing over an Ember attack and hurtling towards Houndour.

Houndour elected to use a Faint, or Feint, whichever it was called. He jumped backwards into a shadow, using it to drop out of sight, and ran to one side to avoid Quilava's incoming attack.

Briefly without a target, Quilava bounced off the ground and looked around for a target. Since she was still balled up and spinning, it was... not easy.


"Are you okay?" Houndour asked, some time later. Honours were more or less even between them – both had taken several hard knocks – but he was still in better shape to keep going, for one good reason.

Quilava stumbled over to the water bottles, and managed to pick one up on the second try. "The world is still spinning," she said, once she'd taken a long drink.

"Hmmm..." Houndour frowned, considering that.

"I think I've got an idea," Ash said. "You know Odor Sleuth, right?"

"Yes, father taught us," Houndour confirmed. "How to use it to pinpoint an enemy, anyway – we all learn the basics more or less instinctively."

A shrug. "Never saw much use for it – it's not like Dark types have any need to make it easier to fight Ghosts."

"Can you teach Quilava, then?" Ash asked. "It might mean it's easier for her to stay balled-up in battle, if she can use scent."

"Right," Quilava agreed. "That's the pattern, yes – I either plan out my attack runs ahead of time, not balled-up, or I have to reinterpret while I'm spinning – and trying to work out where to aim yourself when going around in a circle twenty times a second is not fun."

Houndour looked a little green, as he imagined what that would look like. So did Ash.

"Right. I'll see what I remember," the young canine said. He sat down. "Okay... I'm sure you've smelled things before. Pretty much all Pokémon can, because we don't have senses of smell as all-up terrible as those of humans."

"Hey!" Ash called.

"It really is, though," Houndour told him, shaking his head sadly. "Anyway. The way scent works is that it's kind of like... each human, each Pokémon, they have a unique combination of... well, almost like flavours. And colours. And sounds, all wrapped up together."

He tapped a paw on the ground. "You're not going to need to track enemies, though, just tell where they are. So you just need to be able to smell your target. And then... well, scent behaves as though it gradually spreads out from the source – but it's blown by the wind, and it lingers, so it gets complicated."

"...that didn't help much," Quilava admitted.

"Fine, here's the simplest version. Work out what your opponent smells like, head towards where it's strongest." Houndour shrugged. "We can try practising later."


Misty squinted into the sky. "What's that?"

Ash followed her gaze. "I think it's a Fearow – attacking something."

She and Brock noticed his fist clench. "What is it?"

Ash grabbed a Pokéball and threw it. "Noctowl, get that Fearow off him!"

"That's a bit of an overreaction, isn't it?" Misty asked, as Noctowl emerged in a flash of sparkles and flew towards the Fearow.

"He's attacking a Pidgey," Ash explained. "I take sides in Spearow or Fearow vs Pidgey or Pidgeotto battles."


"Right, now, what was it I saw once..." Noctowl mused. "Aha!"

His form wavered as he built an illusion, and then continued onwards.

A few seconds later, the Fearow noticed a Noctowl coming towards him.

"What are you doing?" he asked. "Go away, this is my prey!"

"Dashed impolite of you," Noctowl opined, flying close to the Pidgey and interposing himself between the two. As he did, he chirped a quiet instruction to the Pidgey and both began to bank towards the ground.

"Stop!" Fearow ordered. "You're not getting away from me, not after this much effort!"

He lashed out, long beak stabbing towards the Pidgey. Noctowl rolled, using his wings' downdraft to blow Pidgey out of the way, then slipped around to re-interpose himself.

"Why you little-" Fearow accelerated, still following the two other Flying-types as they swept lower to use the forest as cover. "I'll-"

WHUNG.

The illusions dissipated, revealing the real Noctowl – circling overhead, with the real Pidgey resting on his stiffly gliding wings and softly feathered back – and also revealing the tree Fearow had just flown into.

"And that is what we call croquet," Noctowl commented, as Fearow collapsed to the floor in a state of some unconsciousness. "Make a wooden object go right through a hoop."

Hooting, he turned back towards Ash and his friends. "Let's get you some food, old chap."


"That was pretty neat," Ash said, as Brock looked the carrier Pidgey over.

"Most glad you think so, Ash my boy." Noctowl brushed the top of his eye orbit with his wing-tip. "Yes, I was wondering whether making the illusion of no object where an object in fact was was more effective than the reverse. It increasingly appears to be so."

"Well, he seems fine," Brock reported. "Just a bit exhausted."

"Thanks," Ken – the Pidgey – said, gratefully gobbling down bits of a rice ball. "I'm glad you got that Fearow off me."

The Pidgey then did a double take, looking at his backpack. "Oh no! I'm going to be late!"

Looking uncertainly up at the friends, he shuffled his feet. "Uh... sorry to ask so soon, but... can you help get me back to my trainer? I'm supposed to be there by now."

"Not a problem," Ash informed him.


"That was quick," Ash said, as they left. "No Team Rocket really simplifies things..."

"Yeah," Brock agreed. "Maybe he'll follow your advice and try and train Ken up to be a Pidgeot, that would at least speed things up a bit..."


There was a crashing thud as an out-of-control Tauros succumbed to Bayleef's sleep powder.

"Nice," Ash said, nodding, and helped up the old man who'd been about to be run down. "Are you okay?"

Nodding, the man looked Ash over. "I'm Kenzo. What's your name?" he asked.

"Ash," Ash supplied.

As he did, Lucario hefted the Tauros out of the roadway. "Sleep it off," he suggested.

Kenzo nodded again, to himself this time. "Young man, I want you to be the new Shihan of my dojo!"

Ash blinked. "What."

"It seems simple enough..." Kenzo said, slowly. "I want you to be the new person in charge of my dojo. You're perfect for it!"

"In what way?" Ash asked. "I'm twelve!"

"Best to start young," Kenzo countered. "You've got a Lucario."

"He's my only Fighting-type! Anyway, I'm taking the League Challenge."

Kenzo shrugged. "I need someone to do it. My daughter wants it – but she's useless, she does ballet."

Ash frowned. "Really? Because I suspect someone who does ballet wouldn't want to become shihan unless they were actually using it for dodge training. What's her Pokémon?"

"A Hitmontop," Kenzo admitted.

"Dexter?"

Hitmontop. The Handstand Pokémon. One of the three evolutions of Tyrogue. Also the hardest to get, because it takes careful compensation for the nature and genetics of a Tyrogue to make them evolve that way.

Ash shrugged. "Anyway, I'm not going to stop travelling. Sorry, look elsewhere. Perhaps give your daughter an actual fight rather than just dismissing her."

As they left, Houndour looked up. "Was that one of those times you ran into a problem from last time?"

"Yes," Ash agreed. "I know, it seems confusing, but my life is a never-ending litany of chaos anyway."

"Look who's poetic," Misty snarked.

True, though. Calculating...

"What is it, Dexter?" Ash asked.

Dexter formed images. Ash – believe it or not, since coming back in time things have considerably calmed down for you. Under normal circumstances, you encountered Team Rocket an average of three to four times per week, with at least two close shaves with serious injury and often one near death experience – almost always one per fortnight.

"Whoa," Ash said, blinking as he thought back.

Approximately one rampaging wild Pokémon a week – very approximately. You saved the world roughly three to four times yearly, and you have ridden approximately thirteen percent of the Legendary Pokémon of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova combined.

Everyone, human and Pokémon alike, stared.

That means one per year, Dexter helpfully added. Minimum.

"Why aren't you followed around by an Absol?" Houndour asked. "Constantly?"

"Beats me..." Ash shook his head. "I know my life is and has been crazy, but putting it in numbers like that... wow."


"Give that back!" Totodile called up at a troop of Aipom. "That's our ball!"

Bayleef nodded. "Yeah! We didn't mean to knock it this far over here, but it's ours!"

One of the Aipom giggled at her. "Really? Care to take it back, then? It's ours now!"

"Actually, yes." Bayleef's vine extended behind her. "Say hello to our little yellow friend."

She brought Pikachu around, clinging onto her vine, and launched him at the Aipom.

Pikachu used Discharge.

The rubber beachball, being rubber, was undamaged. It did, however, rain Aipom for a few seconds.

"That was easy," Pikachu said, as Bayleef used her other vine to retrieve the beachball.

"Yeah!" Totodile said, already back to his usual good mood. "Now we can play with it again! Hey, can I carry it back?"

The two evolved Pokémon nodded.

Totodile hopped up onto the ball, faced camp, and started running backwards.

"That's not carrying," Bayleef observed.

"He has this thing for circus skills," Pikachu noted as they hurried after the beachball. "Perhaps he should take a course."


"Well, second place ain't dat bad," Meowth said with a sigh.

They'd been doing so well, too. Growlie and he had absolutely cleaned up in Hurdle Dash, and they'd all worked together really well on the pennant capture – he'd even gotten a nifty bonus for copious use of dodges and substitute-based mind games to mean he'd not lost a flag.

The relay run, on the other hand, hadn't gone so well. For the simple reason that Gyarados had accidentally swallowed the baton.

They'd had to lower Meowth in on a stick to fetch out the baton, to gales of laughter, and it had worked. It had worked well enough, in fact, that they'd made second place.

But it wasn't first.

Jessie and James, however, seemed happy enough. And the crowd had loved them.

"So," the scratch cat said, as he and the other two Pokéathletes walked back to their group training room. "Who's next up?"

He nodded at Abra. "You're awake, I see."

"Meowth," Abra said – said, not 'pathed, for a wonder. "Cubone's in a bad way."

"...oh," Meowth said, dropping his playful attitude out of concern. "Any idea where she went?"

Wordlessly, Victreebell pointed with his vine.


"Hey, ah... Cubone?" Meowth said, tentatively.

The Ground-type twitched at his voice, but didn't move. "What do you want?" she asked, voice a bit raw.

"Hey, I'm askin' if you're okay, okay?" Meowth pointed out. "'s kinda obvious. I'm worried about ya, Cubone. We all are."

Reaching out, Meowth tapped her on the shoulder. "Cmon, we didn't do dat badly-"

There was a blur of motion, and Meowth found himself on the floor with a sharp claw-bone at his throat.

Cubone stood there, breathing heavily for a moment – then let the bone dissolve back into what had made it.

"Why?" she asked. "Why can you be so... flippant about all this?"

"'cause with da kinda life me, Jessie 'an James have led, it's dat or go kinda nuts," Meowth answered, standing warily – then winced at his phrasing.

Cubone didn't answer.

"Look," Meowth said, starting over. "I ain't ever heard you tell me why you're so much stronger 'dan other Cubone. How you can do dat... dat..." he shrugged. "Ting. With da landscape."

The ground-type was silent for several seconds.

"Do you know why I wear this?" she asked, reaching up and tapping her exoskull.

"Well, I know da story," Meowth hedged. "But there ain't no way it can be true for all o' the Cubone, right? It just ain't logistically possible..."

"Normally they're passed down through families." Cubone sighed. "Normally. Not this one, though."

"...okay, ouch," Meowth said, wincing. "I can see why you'd be-"

"You can't begin to understand," Cubone told him bluntly. "I am the last survivor of my entire family. They all died, about three days before Jessie caught me. And I nearly did as well."

She forestalled Meowth's next comment before it began. "My heart stopped for twenty-eight seconds. I saw Darkrai-"

"A Darkrai," Meowth corrected, then shrank back at a look that could have been a Hyper Beam.

"I saw... a... Darkrai," Cubone continued, with a simmering heat to her words. As she continued, though, they seemed to lose that brief passion, returning to her listless near-monotone. "He informed me that, unexpectedly, it was not my time. I had to go back."

Meowth didn't know what to say to that.

"I lived, and my entire family did not," she stated. "And then I saw Ash Ketchum, the chosen one, die – and he came back. He was specially pulled back – and not for the first time."

Her club smacked into the floor, making a spider-web of cracks. "When we were training so intensively for the League I didn't have time to think about it, but – why? Why does he get to live and my family does not? Why do I have to live without my family, where he gets to live with his?"

Meowth saw a tear run across the white bone of her exoskull.

After about thirty seconds of silence, Cubone seemed to slump.

"So, that's me," she said, eventually. "No family, no... about all I'm worth now are my martial skills, and they're clearly not in much demand either."

Her teammate thought about that for a long while.

"You're wrong, ya know," he said eventually. "You're worth a heck of a lot more dan combat skills."

"I fail to see how you can think that."

"Over five hundred times," Meowth said, apropos of very little.

Cubone blinked. "...pardon?"

"Dat's da number of times I can count dat Ash an' his Pokémon beat James, Jessie 'an me. 'an they weren't always as good as dey are now, neither."

Meowth shrugged. "You, Abra, Gyarados... you guys are da new ones. You an' Growline, who weren't with us, are da only ones who ain't been beaten up, down an' sideways by a preteen kid an' a Pikachu... hundreds o' times. An' you might know dat, intellectually an'all, but we lived it."

He reached out, and patted her shoulder. She flinched, but didn't actually pull away. "So if we judged on combat skills, y'all would be in charge... but you're a friend. An' friends try ta help friends."

"...how could you possibly help me?"

"Dunno," Meowth admitted freely. "But I'm thinkin' first of all, you might just need therapy. Talk about stuff, 'an all, 'an with someone who's a bit better trained at dis kinda stuff."

Cubone sighed. "I dislike telling my story, it was painful enough once... but... did you have someone in mind?"

"Nope, not yet. I'm sure we'll tink of somethin'."


"My hooves hurt," Keldeo muttered.

"What's that?" Virizion asked, dropping back slightly.

"Oh – uh, nothing," Keldeo said quickly.

"It's okay, Keldeo," Virizion told him. "Really. We've cantered from the Nile to the Ganges in a week and a half, I'm not surprised you're feeling a bit tired."

"I'm not tired!" Keldeo said. "I'm just..."

The Grass-type smiled. "It's okay, Keldeo," she repeated. "Really. I'm a little tired myself."

Keldeo nodded. "Right. Sorry, I-"

There was an explosion in the jungle ahead.

"Oh, what now?" Virizion asked, exasperation clear in her voice.

"Virizion!" Cobalion called, coming back over with Terrakion in tow. "Another fight brewing. You and I must try and stop the ones on our right, Terrakion will deal with the left."

"Right!" Virizion galloped forwards, and her teammates turned in tight circles and formed up alongside her. Then, as they passed through into the trees, they split and headed in different directions.

"What about me?" Keldeo asked, not for the first time that trip.

Getting no reply, he cantered forwards, looking to see where he would be most helpful.


"Look!" Terrakion shouted, waving his Sacred Sword towards those Pokémon who looked about to advance. "This ain't helping nobody. We all just got to calm down!"

One of the Swampert growled. His friend, the lone Infernape in the group, slammed a foot into the muddy ground. "Shut up! Get out of our way, we were having a fight!"

"About what?"

"They're in our way, that's what!" Another of the Swampert slapped the ground with his rear leg, making it shake a bit. "So let us through!"

"...wow, you're kind of an idiot," Terrakion decided. "Whatever."

A clatter of hooves made him look over. "Oh, hey Keldeo. The boss send you over as reinforcements?"

"Not exactly..." Keldeo admitted, skidding to a halt next to Terrakion. "I'm using my initiative!"

"This?" the third Swampert said, pointing. "This is reinforcements? He's tiny!"

"Hey!" Keldeo snapped.

"Calm down, Keldeo," Terrakion advised. "He's trying to annoy us."

"I'm surprised you worked that out," the Infernape muttered.

"Hey!"

Keldeo held back a snigger. "Terrakion, I think he's trying to-"

"Yeah, I get it." Terrakion rolled his shoulders. "Right. Keep an eye on that Infernape for me, I don't trust him."

"Got it!"

When the four Pokémon facing them quietened down to irritated mumbles, Keldeo and Terrakion could hear snatches of the conversation going on at the other end of the clearing.

"...don't see why-"

"There's no need for conflict here." That was Cobalion.

"But they attacked us! How can we both be at-"

"Understanding is important-"

"Wait, what are you-"

"Stop!" Virizion shouted.

"Frenzy Plant!"

Keldeo turned, seeing the crackling roots lifting the ground over them as they raced towards one of the Swampert. The sounds of bedrock crumbling could be heard, a series of miniature explosions as the roots used them for purchase, and the incredibly fast-growing plant material periodically broke the ground surface before looping back down again.

"Damn it!" Terrakion ran up to the Swampert and body-checked him out of the way. Then he noticed where Keldeo had gone.

The Colt Pokémon slammed his hooves into the ground, making a small hole in the soft mud, and then blasted his water jets into it – producing a miniature volcano of mud which sprayed in all directions.

This interrupted the path of the roots. However, it meant that they locked onto the nearest target instead.

Enormous, spiked plant-roots at least three feet across erupted from the soil, reaching for Keldeo – and then exploded in a shower of wood and splinters.

Cobalion raised his head, debris raining down all around him.

"Keldeo!" he thundered. "Be more careful!"

His gaze swept around the stunned Pokémon.

"Go home."

Unwilling to try conclusions with someone who had just shattered a Frenzy Plant, the incipient battle dispersed.


"What do you think you were doing?" Cobalion asked. "You're not ready for this kind of battle yet!"

"Cobalion..." Virizion tried.

"You're not as strong as Terrakion, that could have seriously injured you!" Cobalion continued. "I need to know where all my team members are to plan properly!"

Keldeo looked down. "I guess I just-"

"You should have stayed back, that-"

The Water-type looked back up. "What, like the last few times? I can help! I have helped!"

He slammed a hoof into the ground. "I know I'm not a Sword of Justice. Not yet. But I'm not a foal, either. I can fight, and I can help you out in a fight!"

"Not if you rush in and get yourself injured!" Cobalion replied. "If you join in without my knowing, then you risk serious injury – and I can't then plan around you!"

"Hey, lighten up on the kid!" Terrakion interrupted. "He's helped us out, remember? The fire back in Kalos? The Heatran back near Ishtar?"

"He needs to-"

"All of you, stop!" Virizion shouted.

The three male Pokémon turned to her.

She took a deep breath, then looked at Keldeo. "Cobalion's right. You shouldn't act on your own initiative when doing so gets you into such great danger. You're still young."

Before Keldeo could react, she turned her gaze on Cobalion. "And you need to start remembering he's not just a foal any more, as well. If you give him orders, he'll follow them – you're just not giving him any. Remember he can contribute."

Terrakion declined to say anything.

If he did, Virizion might notice him.

"Now..." She tapped a hoof on the ground. "Where were we?"

"Oh, right." Keldeo frowned, remembering the map. "I think... from here, it's north-east. Roughly."


AN:

Quite a long chapter, here. A fair portion of it is with The Others – can't forget them completely, after all. And the statistics Dexter quotes are pretty much valid. (He saves the world about three times a year, even assuming he's nearly sixteen by the end of Adventures In Unova.)

Incidentally, this fic now has a Characters page on TVTropes – courtesy of Nyame.