AN: Hey guys, what's up.

K: This time, we've got an onslaught of chapters that require very little battling, to give everyone a break from the two almost back-to-back gym battles that we had before.

T: Which is good, because I'm getting a little battled out.

P: I assume there's stuff to talk about, right?

SV: Yes, but we'll save that until the end. We don't own Pokemon, so let's go!

Chapter 26.

*One week later.*

As promised, the group spent a week at the Cerulean City gym, helping get everything cleared up. Mia had done a lot of work with the Pokemon in the gym, helping to get them back into a somewhat decent shape to be used in battle, though the replacement leader would need to do the rest themselves. Having to do it from scratch annoyed her to no end, though, as she'd privately admitted to Ash on one of the nights where they'd escaped to a Mew Game for something to do.

'It's not even like training them from scratch is bothering me that much.' She'd told him, flying together underwater on their island. 'It's the fact that they're having to be trained from scratch again. Those girls didn't know what they were doing, so they abandoned it to do their shows instead. And it's not like I can just drop them all into a Game to get them back up to where they should be, either. Our Pokemon could have a massive spurt of power, and we could just not use it for a while to make it look natural. I can't have that happen in a week.'

But now, the week was over, the replacement leader would be here in just less than an hour, and they would be moving on. The group was making a quick trip around the gym building to check that everything was fine and ready. Mia and Misty were checking over the Pokemon to make sure they were alright and ready to work with the new, unidentified trainer. Brock was wandering in and out, checking if they needed anything. Ash, however…

Ash wasn't taking part in the final preparations. He was sitting with Bolt in a room on the other side of the gym, just waiting.

'Ok, can you tell me what's bothering you?' Bolt finally snapped. 'I wasn't going to ask about it, since I thought you'd tell me eventually, but you've just been sitting here for ten solid minutes!'

"It's nothing." He said quietly. "Just… I can feel something strange on the edge of my senses. It's probably nothing, and Mom would just tell me to stop worrying about it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's there."

'What do you mean?' Bolt cocked his head, but someone softly knocked on the door, stopping his trainer from answering.

"Ash? You in there?" Mia asked through the door.

"Yeah, I am." Psychically opening the door, he let in the Mew pretending to be his cousin without a second thought.

"Hey Bolty, run down to the others and give them a hand, ok?" She requested. "I want to talk with Ash."

'Ok.' He ran off down the corridor, leaving the two Mew alone.

"What do you need, Mia?"

"I need you to calm down." She said firmly. "I don't know what's up at the moment, and I'll wait for you to tell me. But whatever it is, try not to broadcast it so much. You might even end up alerting our human friends to the fact that something's wrong."

"Ok." Ash chuckled quietly. "I'll do my best."

"Thank you." The both of them stood up and headed out, looking for their friends. "Say, how good do you think this replacement leader's going to be?"

"Dunno." He shrugged. "They've gotta be pretty good, though, since the League is happy to send them to work with Pokemon they've never met."

"I guess. I'd like to think we'd do just as good a job, though."

"You, maybe. You've got billions of years of experience over anyone they could possibly send to do the job." Ash laughed. "Me, not so much."

"Give it some time. Eventually you'll be just as powerful as the rest of us, and we can work together on that. Heck, maybe when you're older, you'll be able to help me do my duties, few as they may be."

"Really?" Ash's childish excitement came back in a storm, and Mia chuckled.

"Sure, I don't see why not. Arcy wouldn't mind, he doesn't have a reason too, so I'd happily bring you along to help me."

"Thanks." The two shared a grin, before quickly wiping them away to join their friends. "How's everything going, Misty?"

"I'm almost finished with everyone in here." The leader replied. "We'll have to leave the rest of it to the trainer that coming down, but at least it's a start."

"That's good. Since it's a League trainer, hopefully they'll be able to finish fixing them up."

"Yeah." The girl stood. "Should we go and wait for them, then?"

"Alright. Let's just go find Brock and Bolt, then we'll wait around."

At the end of the hour, the group's patience was rewarded. The five of them spotted a trainer walking down the road, heading straight towards the gym. From the distance, he looked to be about twenty five, and had light blue hair. Both Ash and Mia frowned slightly, feeling like they should know this trainer from somewhere. A little blue blob bounced next to him, revealing itself to be an Azumarill when the two got closer. Misty had started fidgeting, clearly worried about what this League sanctioned trainer would think of the gym, so Mia had sent a reassuring thought to the Water trainer after a quick few seconds of conversation with her child. By the time the trainer arrived, she had calmed down a little.

"Good morning." He greeted them. "I'll assume you're Misty, correct?"

"Yes, that's me." She replied. "It's good of you to do this for me."

"It's not a problem. I've had a full explanation given to me by the official who came by last week, and I've heard how badly your sisters were managing the place, though I've also heard how good you are at the moment, so I'm happy to take over to give you the chance to get better." He assured her. "My name's Kai, by the way. This Azumarill was my starter, so she's almost always with me."

'Hello!' She waved.

"I'll wish you luck with the place." Misty told him. "Some of the Pokemon in there are in terrible condition thanks to my sisters, and while we've done what we can, a week isn't much time to fix the damage."

"Will your sisters be an issue?"

"I don't think so. They moved out the day after the decision was made to pass the gym over to you to let me continue travelling."

"Well, that's handy. I was thinking I might need Mew's help to get them into shape otherwise, though maybe Kyogre would be better."

"Kyogre?"

"Water type Legendary from Hoenn. She normally fights with Groudon."

"How do you know it's female?" Mia asked. The older trainer froze for a fraction of a second, just long enough that Mia's experienced mind caught it, before he replied.

"I had the honour of seeing her once, near the start of my journey. She just struck me as female, you know?"

"Yeah. I've seen something like that once. Just seemed like a male Pokemon, though whatever it was struck me as quite Childish." The inflection she put on the word caught his attention, and his eyes widened slightly before he nodded.

"Well, I suppose you all want to get a move on with your journey. Good luck with it all." Misty and Brock nodded, starting to walk off. Both Mia and Ash followed slowly, and Kai muttered under his breath as she passed. "You?"

"Ash." She replied, just as quietly.

"Who?"

"Mew and not so Mew." She said, pointing to herself and her child. Kai's eyes widened even more. "I felt like travelling with my child, so I made up a disguise. The other two don't know, but our Pokemon do."

"Right. I'd wish you luck, Lady, but I doubt you need it. Maybe we'll see you again."

"Most likely. I'll assume Kyogre for you?"

"Yeah. We kept running into each other when I was travelling, and I got transformed in the end. It's why I'm here, since the League knows me as a Water trainer."

"Hey Mia, hurry up!" Misty called.

"I'll just call a meeting at the end of the year and get all the Children and Legends together to let the rest of you get to know each other properly." Mia promised, before smiling and running after the group. Kai stood outside for a second, watching them go, before heading inside with a grin.

"That was the most unexpected thing to happen to me in the last fifteen years." He told his partner quietly.

'It's the same here, don't worry.' She replied. 'Well, let's get started with the gym, then.' Back with the group, Mia and Ash were having a private conversation.

'So, Kyogre's Child, then?' Ash asked.

'Yep. I didn't honestly know her's was that old, but I guess time really does fly.' Mia admitted. 'Did you hear what I suggested?'

'About a meet and greet in the Hall? Sure sounds fun.'

'We'll wait until the end of the League. Both of us are competing, and I'd hate to miss out. Maybe I'll tell the Legends and see if they can watch from the viewing pool.'

'Viewing pool?'

'Another time kid.'

"Where the heck are we?" Misty complained. "I don't recognise this place."

"Then we're dead lost." Mia threw her head back and sighed. "Great."

"Don't panic Mia, I'm sure I can find the way out." Brock told her. "Just give me a few minutes." Misty went and walked over to a river, and Ash followed, not really having anything better to do. A little blue Pokemon was drinking at the lake on the end, and Misty's eyes lit up.

"Oh! Look how cute it is!" The Pokemon jumped, and Ash recognised it as an Oddish.

"It's an Oddish. They're Grass Poison types." Misty absorbed that.

"I see. I know you're not as good as your cousin, but could you ask if it wants to join me? I don't want to scare it away."

"I think Bolt's beaten me to it." He nodded, showing that his starter had jumped down when Misty had first spoken, and was now talking with the Oddish.

'I wouldn't mind, honestly. What other Pokemon does she have?'

'Two Water types; Staryu and Starmie. She was a Water gym leader, but she never really got a chance to make her own team, since she started travelling after she qualified.' The Oddish thought about it for a moment, then nodded.

'I think I'd like to, even if her speciality's not my type.'

'That's nice.' He glanced over to them and gave a thumbs up. Misty took this as a good sign, so she went over and knelt down.

"Hey Oddish, I'm Misty. I'm not sure what Bolt told you, but I'm a Water trainer-"

'He did say, yes.' She nodded, interrupting her. 'And I'd be glad to be a team member.' Ash went to translate, but the redhead had gotten the gist.

"Thanks." Misty held out a Pokeball, letting Oddish tap the center with her leaves. The capture was complete a few moments later, and Misty released her new team member. "We're a little lost at the moment, so we've got some time to talk. Starmie, Staryu, come out and meet our friend." She swapped Pokeballs and released her other Pokemon, and Oddish waved at them. The three started a conversation, one that Bolt was quickly invited to join, and the two trainers left them to talk.

"Say, can your Starmie use telepathy?" Ash asked.

"I don't think so." Misty admitted. "It'd be nice to know that it could, but I think it would have used it before now if it could."

"Hey Mia!" Ash called to his 'cousin'. "Any idea how to teach a Pokemon to use telepathy?"

"Not really!" She called back. "Try pushing thoughts towards the other person and see if they hear it!"

'Do you actually not know?'

'Seriously. The others had the knowledge of how to do it instantly, and so did I. You picked it up from me, so I've never really had to teach someone.'

"Well, if Starmie wants to try it later, we can." Misty decided. "It might be useful."

'Hey!' A shout came from the bushes. 'Oddish! Where are you?!'

'Oh! That's my friend, Bulbasaur.' Oddish told the little group, before raising her voice. 'Bulbasaur! I'm over here!'

'Finally.' The Grass type starter ran through the bushes, still talking loudly to his friend. 'Come on, we should be heading back, Melanie will be… worried?' He finished making his way through the bush, only to halt mid step and take in the sight of the four trainers, plus three other Pokemon. 'Ummm… what?'

'Bulbasaur, I've found a trainer!' She said cheerfully, hopping over to her friend. 'It's the red haired one. The Staryu and Starmie are hers, and she's a Water type trainer who's qualified to be a gym leader!'

'That's… great.' He replied awkwardly. 'We should go and tell Melanie then. She might get worried if you just vanished for no apparent reason.'

'Alright. But all of the others need to come too!' Oddish smiled. 'They're my new team now, so they need to come and meet Melanie!' She looked back at the group, who were already prepared to follow them, Bolt having faked an explanation while they were talking.

'Fine. I just hope they won't try to capture anyone if they don't want to join.'

"Don't worry Bulbasaur, we won't." Ash promised, stepping forwards.

'You understand us?' Bulbasaur asked, stepping back as he did.

"Sort of." Ash paused. "Mia does it better, but we can both figure out what Pokemon mean, even if not the actual words."

'Liar!' Bolt coughed out quickly, then proceeded to innocently meet the Grass types confused gazes with an awkward smile.

'...Right.' Bulbasaur said, after a moment of silence. 'Well, I'll take them all over there to meet Melanie, I suppose. Follow me.' He walked off, Oddish hopping along cheerfully behind and the rest of them following after. Misty quickly returned her Water types for the trek, since they would tire easier on land than they would in water. Mia shot Bolt an angry glare, looking over at him from Ash's right.

'Don't go doing that.' She snapped. 'You never know who's listening, and you never know who understands.'

'Right, sorry.' He whispered, dropping his gaze to the ground awkwardly. 'I… I really don't have an excuse.'

'Damn right you don't.'

'Mom, please stop now.' Ash sighed. 'Let's just go meet this Melanie person, promise to look after Oddish well, then get moving again.'

'Actually…' Mia looked contemplative, still carefully following the Pokemon in front of them. 'We might be meeting another Child.'

'Really?'

'Well, I remember one of them was called Melanie, though I don't know how old she is now.'

'Jeez, two in one day? What're the odds?'

'Pretty low. They tend to stick with their Meema's, or actual human parents if they still have them, and that normally means staying in the region the Legendary stops in. I'm actually the only Kanto Legendary, and we tend to roam.'

'Wait, but aren't the Birds...?'

'They're Kanto, but live in the Orange Islands. There's also ones in Johto, but neither of them have Children. They're not the only ones either; the Beasts don't, nor the Lake Trio. I don't think any of the Golems do… but that might be it.'

'Huh. There's something I didn't know.'

'Oddish, do you mind running ahead to tell Melanie?' Bulbasaur asked, drawing the duo from their conversation. 'This is about you, after all.'

'Sure. Don't be too long though, or Melanie will be getting worried about you instead.' Oddish laughed, sprinting through the bushes up ahead. Bulbasaur glanced back at the five of them and frowned, speaking carefully.

'I know you said before, but please promise me that you won't capture any of the Pokemon here.' He pleaded. 'Some of them are quite sick or injured, and more haven't had the best time with trainers.' Two humans and a hybrid looked at a Mew, who passed the jist of the message along.

"We won't." Ash assured him. "We promise. If someone wants to come with us, we'll let them, but otherwise we promise not to catch anyone here." Bulbasaur scanned their faces for a moment, as if searching for a sign of dishonesty, but eventually nodded and relaxed slightly.

'Thank you for being sincere. Too many trainers have tried to betray Melanie's trust after coming here with false promises. Come on, they're just over here.' The small group stepped through the same bushes Oddish had passed through moments before, and into a large clearing. In one corner of the clearing was a building, just big enough for two people, and opposite that was a lake. Pokemon of all kinds were scattered around the area, with birds sitting in nests on the trees at the edge, Grass types near a patch of bushes that took up most of one side, and a few Rock and Ground types near a rocky patch. Other types of Pokemon were wandering between the areas, and some were talking with the Water types in the lake. Among the Pokemon near the lake was Oddish, talking to a girl, about twenty, who was crouched nearby.

'Wow.' Ash commented, looking around as they followed Bulbasaur over. 'It looks like the Children's segment of the Hall!'

'Well, if we're meeting another Child, then she looks old enough to have been to the Hall a few times, so maybe she got inspiration for this place from there.' Mia reasoned. 'We can try and drop a few hints about you and me, but if she doesn't get them then that's that.'

'...And here they are now!' Oddish seemed to be finishing an excited rant, leaving Melanie looking amused. 'Thanks for helping me bring them over here Bulbasaur!'

'No problem Oddish.' He waved at Melanie. 'I'll leave you to talking.' The other Grass-Poison type quickly made himself scarce, heading over to the other side of the lake to sit on his own.

'What was that about?' Bolt asked, to carefully hidden shrugs from Mia and Ash.

"Sorry about him." Melanie said. "He's a little nervous around… well, most new people in general, but mainly trainers."

"Did he have a bad experience before?" Ash asked.

"I don't know. I've never gotten him to say anything about it, so maybe."

"Poor thing." Mia replied sympathetically. "He looks like he's just a Child; who would do something so bad to a Child?" As with Kai before, the inflection on the word child caught Melanie's attention, and her eyes widened as well. Ash and Mia shared a private high five telepathically, since they'd been hoping for that sort of reaction to confirm whether or not they were talking to a hybrid. 'I think we've just found ourselves a method for figuring out suspected hybrids.'

'I still think you should know who they all are.' Before Mia could snap at her Child, Melanie chose to reply, halting their mental conversation.

"He is quite young, though I'm not sure I'd call him a Child, though for your information quite a lot of people." Seemingly taking the cue from Mia, Melanie implied the same inflection to the word, and got two minor nods in return, signalling that they picked up on it. For a fraction of a second, she grinned, probably glad to see a fellow Child, but she crushed it down to continue with her sentence. "Although, there's quite a lot that I don't know about the Pokemon that stay here."

"They aren't yours?" Misty asked in a surprised tone. Melanie shook her head.

"No, I just find them in the wild and take care of them if they're sick or injured, then let them leave when they're all better again. I think a couple of them have had really bad trainers, since they seemed so wary of humans when I first got them, but a few calming words and I've managed to get them to trust me."

"Really?" Brock seemed just as surprised as Misty had been.

"Yeah, I've always been good with Pokemon. In fact-" Melanie's sentence was interrupted by a small yell at her feet.

'Hey! We've supposed to be talking about me travelling with Misty, not your life story!' She shouted. Melanie laughed.

"I know, I know. But honestly, there's nothing to really sort out. You're not my Pokemon, you're wild, so she can catch you at any time, so long as she takes care of you."

"I will."

'Anyway, she already caught me. We were just coming to make sure you knew.' Oddish said nonchalantly. Melanie looked down at the smaller Pokemon, startled, then laughed and shook her head.

"I should've known. You never were one to do things by halves. At least you did come and tell me." While Melanie started talking with Misty and Brock, Mia noticed something out of the corner of her eye. Closing them momentarily to swap to a Psych Scan, she confirmed what she'd seen, and lazily drifted over to the side.

"Hello Meloetta." She whispered to the air, hiding her face with the shoulder length pink hair of her disguise. The air to her right shifted, as though something was there, and she grinned. "No need to hide. I'd already spotted you." Absolutely nothing happened, and after a few seconds, 'Mia' gave a breathy laugh. "Seriously Minette, I didn't realise you'd become so cautious over the years. You could at least reply." At this point, she started walking again, heading to the treeline.

'How did you know my name?' The telepathic voice of her friend, shaken slightly with carefully concealed worry, questioned.

"Weren't you listening when we spoke with Melanie?" She paused, then shook her head. "No, you would have been further away to hide from the humans, so you missed the hint we gave about Children."

'So you are one? Who is your parent?' Minette's tone of voice relaxed, clearly slightly calmer in the presence of a Child of one of her friends.

"Nah, it's Ash who's the Child." 'Mia' finally passed through the treeline enough to hide herself, and took a moment to check that her friend was there too, before dropping her Transform. 'It's me!'

'Mew?' Minette said excitedly.

'Yep!' She smiled, as her friend went visible and floated down to her level. 'Long time no see Min! How's things?'

'Great, thank you. I've been managing to balance my time between my 'job' in Unova and spending time with my Child here in Kanto.' The Meloetta replied, settling onto a branch. Mew followed her up, picking a higher branch and hanging from it with her tail. 'How've you been?'

'Pretty good. I officially made Ash my Child, and we spent a week travelling to see some of our friends. I went to visit you, but you weren't around.'

'I've spent the last two months here with Mel.' Minette admitted. 'If I'd have known where you were, I'd have sent a message across.'

'I was living in Pallet Town with Ashy. I never told any of the others because I didn't want to risk you being found out since only the hybrids can hide properly.' Mew took on a thoughtful expression, one that was quite out of place on the normally playful cat's face. 'Well, Ilex knows, but that's because we literally ran into her and Celeste in the woods near Pallet and invited them over for a while.'

'Well, now I know.' She laughed, poking her friend in the side. 'So, who's the human form?' Mew dropped out of the tree, flipping as she did, and Transforming back when she hit the ground.

"Mia Mauller, a new trainer from the Faraway Isles. I started travelling about two weeks ago, and made this form up to stay with Ash. As far as anyone else is concerned, I'm his cousin."

'Fair enough.' Minette levitated out of her seat and turned invisible. 'I'll let Mel know that you can stay, and tell her who you two are.'

"The humans don't know." Mia told her quickly, the two leaving the forest and heading back to the group.

'Ok. I'll warn her.' Minette's invisible form hovered over to her Child, while Mia joined her own in talking to the Water types in the pool.

"Who is it?" Ash asked quietly, barely sparing his 'cousin' a glance.

"Meloetta. Her name's Minette. I would have had you meet her before, but she's been here for the last few months and I didn't know."

"Right. Nice to meet a few more." The hybrid looked around, noting where everyone else was. "So, what do you think about this place?"

"It's amazing. Now we know who Melanie is, we know for sure that she based it off the Hall rooms, but being able to make all this without a creation power of some kind is brilliant."

"I think so too." Any more of that conversation was cut off by Bulbasaur.

'What do you mean, who Melanie is?' He asked suspiciously. Ash flinched, while Mia glanced up to look at who was around, weighing the benefits of just dropping her Transform momentarily to show Bulbasaur that they weren't a threat.

"Bulbasaur, calm down. They're friends." Melanie told him, coming over.

'Sure?' The little Pokemon was quite cautious, inclining his head to the elder girl.

"Ash is like me, and Mia's a parent." She replied. Bulbasaur's eyes widened, and he nodded.

'I apologise for my rudeness, then.' He nodded respectfully to the pair, then left the three not humans to their talk.

"Sorry about him. Every Pokemon in here knows, though none of them would ever say anything, but Bulbasaur tends to get nervous when people come around, like he thinks someone's going to let it slip."

"That's alright." Mia assured her. "He has a good reason to."

"Memma told me you two were travelling." Melanie sat down next to them. "Meet any other Children yet?"

"Kyogre." Ash answered. "His name's Kai, and he's taking over Cerulean gym while Misty travels with us."

"Huh. I've never met him before. Me and Meema will need to go and introduce ourselves." She decided. "I guess he'll be here for the rest of the year?"

"Until the League's over." Mia confirmed. "Although, I was thinking of organising a bit of a party after the League, when Jasmine's awake, to let everyone meet each other so we can all recognise the rest of the Children."

'That's a good idea.' Minette told them. 'I'll tell the others when I head back to Unova.'

"Thanks." Mia smiled at her friend. Bolt, who had been sitting at the side watching the conversation, froze, ears twitching.

'Ash?' He called. 'We might have an incoming problem.'

"What sort?" He asked, concerned.

"Prepare for trouble!" As one, Misty, Brock, Bolt, Mia and Ash all facepalmed when a flying stadium with a hose arrived.

"Oh. The stupid sort. Good. I'm glad." Bolt leapt into position, Crimson was released and followed him a moment later, and Onix and Starmie joined them.

"Brock, have Onix protect the house. Melanie, get yourself and all the Pokemon inside." Mia ordered. "Arch, Dart, join in."

"You too Sarie, Flutter." The four Pokemon were released as well, and started helping the Meloetta hybrid in getting the Pokemon to safety.

"Meowth, that's right!" The trio in the air finished their motto, only to realise seconds later that no one had been paying any attention.

"Hey! You could at least pay attention, you know!" Jessie yelled. "That motto took a long time to think of!"

"Eh, they probably can't comprehend how doomed they are from it." James reasoned. "Maybe we need to simplify it for them."

"Why bother? Meowth, hit the hose!"

"Some flying Pokemon coming up!" The cat Pokemon hit a lever, and the hose attached to the stadium began blowing out air. "Hehe… oops." Another flick, and it started sucking instead, pulling at the Pokemon and people around. Melanie used a small Psychic to push the rest of the Pokemon inside, and a small purple flash told Mia that Minette was safe as well.

"Onix, use Rock Throw!" A large rock went flying at Brock's command, and was caught in the air flow for a few seconds, before dropping out of the sky.

"Hydro Pump!" The Water attack pushed the rock back up, causing it to knock into the hose. Unfortunately, it went towards the house, and Bulbasaur, who had been with the rest of the group protecting it, was sucked up. Onix lunged, but was too slow to grab him, and he went spiralling.

"Arch!" The predator bird took off in a flash, blurring slightly as he used Quick Attack. He was also caught in the air flow, but grabbed Bulbasaur with his claws. "Whirlwind!"

'Mia, can we use strategies that make sense, please?' He sighed.

"Just do it!" He used the attack, which to his surprise helped counter the gale, giving him time to drop down and out of the way. He blinked.

'Ok, nevermind. That did make sense.'

"Thank you. Now get out of the way." Both Pokemon headed back to the house, while the two starters, guessing what their trainers were about to say, stepped forwards. "Misty?" Starmie stepped forwards as well.

"Starmie, Hydro Pump!"

"Flare Shock!" The three attacks flew together, hitting the hose dead on. A few sparks flew off and hit the engine, which also began sparking.

"Uh oh." Meowth said, backing away. Both of the other Rockets glared at him, and Jessie seemed ready to start yelling at him before the machine exploded.

"Team Rocket's blasting off again!" Everyone involved ignored the small sparkle that followed, and the Pokemon all started to drop their defensive stances.

"Thank you for the help." Melanie stated, coming out from the house with a stream of Pokemon behind her.

"It's not a problem. Those three have been following us around for a while, and they haven't been a threat any of those times." Mia replied, recalling Arch and Dart with a telepathic word of thanks. Beside her, Ash did the same, and her human friends recalled their own Pokemon.

"But still, you protected the Pokemon here from them." Next to her, Bulbasaur was fidgeting, and she looked down. "What's wrong?"

'Is it ok if I go with them?' He blurted out. All three of the 'humans' who understood him blinked, caught off guard, and he hurried on. 'With the girl, I mean. I like them, and I'd like to travel with another Child like you.'

"Of course you can, Bulbasaur. Like I said to Oddish, you're all wild Pokemon, so there's nothing stopping you from going with a trainer if you want to." Melanie smiled. "I'm sure you've picked a great trainer in Mia." Mia nodded, holding out a Pokeball for the other Pokemon to tap. He was released again almost immediately, and Crimson patted him on the back.

'Welcome to the team. Expect things to be very hectic.' She announced, making them all laugh. Brock and Misty joined in, once they'd had the sentence translated. 'Mia'll think of a nickname for you as we go, then you'll be a proper member of the team.'

'Then you'll have a training session and rethink your decision.' Bolt muttered with a wince.

'That bad?'

'No. Just don't annoy her.' Crimson advised.

"I'll be sure to watch your League battles." Melanie promised.

"Thank you." Ash smiled.

"Now, let's get moving. There's a gym waiting."

"Maybe this time Brock won't get us lost." Misty grumbled.

"Hey!" As the group of seven left, laughing, Melanie turned to the air and smiled.

"So, Meema, there's another Child over in Cerulean." She said, as Minette made herself visible again.

'And maybe a reunion at the end of the year, too.' She continued. 'It's been ages since I've seen Jasmine, and I'd like to introduce her to you.'

"Well for now, we should go and introduce ourselves to our new friend then, right?"

'I'll come too. I might as well.'

Further along the road, a blue haired boy was walking towards a Pokemon Centre.

"Stupid Pokemon doesn't do a thing. What was I thinking, catching it. Stupid, useless Pokemon…" His muttering faded to an inaudible jumble of words, before he sighed. "At least the dumb thing's gone now."

AN: Let it never be said that I can't make filler chapters fun.

K: *Glancing at the first five chapters.* Right. Definitely.

SV: Anyway, we all know what chapter's coming up next. I'll be ending the poll for the Alolan Pokemon replacement in about a week, so if you haven't voted do so now. You'll be able to see which Pokemon's in the lead as well.

P: Now, if you're wondering where we've been, we lost internet access for two days, and we write on google docs, which needs internet.

T: Apologies for that, but it was out of our control. Now, the thing you've been mentioning across all the fics.

SV: In most of these chapters that I write, there's little things that seem inconsequential, but are more important than you'd think. The ones in this fic are much more prominent than the others, but they're there all the same, on a list so I remember the plot threads. Have fun decrypting them, I like mysteries and I like seeing what other people think is happening during those little plot threads that I've made.

K: This chapter's pretty much devoid of any of those, since we all know what's coming next at this point, so it's pretty much only a mystery because no one knows what the Pokemon is yet. Not even us.

SV: Staying on the topic of this chapter, we need a nickname for Bulbasaur, so leave those in a review if you have a suggestion, and I'll pick one out for next time.

T: Also, Ki's corrupted her into having a Naruto obsession, so future delays may be due to that. Or bad internet, one of the two.

SV: Right, you two be quiet. Don't forget to vote, profile is now up to date, go read our other fics if you haven't, and we'll see you all next month!