With not much further to go to Azalea Town, the friends stopped off at a training school run by a man called Muramasa.

"This sort of place makes a lot more sense to me than the academies we saw back in Kanto," Ash said, looking around. "You guys use actual Pokémon battles, instead of it all being about theoretical stuff that's mostly wrong anyway."

"Ash, you're half the reason why their theoretical stuff is being disproven," Misty pointed out. "But yeah, there were some weird things happening there."

"Right?" Ash asked. "Battle simulators and quizzes and stuff help you remember things, but they don't really prepare you for an actual battle."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say, because one of the students at the school promptly challenged Ash.

"This is Shingo," Muramasa said, introducing the student. "He's the top trainer learning here."

Shingo then sat down, opening his laptop.

"What's your name?" he asked Ash. "This laptop has a database with everything I could ever need to know about any Pokémon trainer."

Misty and Brock exchanged glances, then both started sniggering.

"I'm Ash Ketchum!" Ash declared. "Remember that name, because I'm going to be a Pokémon Master… once I work out what one actually is, but the adventure's the important bit!"

"Ash Ketchum," Shingo repeated, then found the entry. "Here we go. Top 8, Indigo League… defeated in a battle with someone who was using their weak team."

Misty stopped sniggering in favour of looking astonished.

"I'm sorry, what?" Pikachu asked, checking if he had something in his ears. "That was not Ritchie's weak team."

"What makes you say it was a weak team?" Ash asked, honestly confused.

"He used Larvitar, Bagon, Charmander, Beldum in the battle, but in the next battle he used Tyranitar, Salamence, Charizard, Metagross," Shingo told him.

"Those were the same Pokémon, though," Ash protested.

Shingo looked dubious, but kept reading. "In addition, my notes say you were carried by your Legendary Pokémon."

With a white flash, Silver came out of his Dive Ball.

Is that a bad thing? Silver asked Ash, first looking at Ash and then at Shingo. We're the only Flying type Pokémon he has, though, especially after Charizard left just recently. Is it bad for a trainer to ride on a Pokémon?

The young Lugia looked nervous. Is it making it so your legs don't develop properly?

"No, being carried," Shingo repeated. "The trainer wouldn't have made it as far without his Legendary Pokémon doing most of the work."

He adjusted his hair slightly. "I'll have to add a new note to the database, saying you have an undersized Lugia."

I'm still growing, Silver said, crossing his arms with a hmf and looking away.

"You realize that half the work on Ash's team had to be done by his Legendary Pokémon?" Brock said. "They pretty much make up half his team."

"That doesn't matter," Shingo replied. "All my analysis indicates that Ash Ketchum without his Legendary Pokémon is a much easier opponent."

"In that case, I'll beat you with Chikorita!" Ash decided, taking the Pokéball from his belt and sending the Grass-type out. "Ready?"

Chikorita glanced back at Ash, then nodded firmly. "Yeah!"

"Blade," Shingo said, sending out his Scizor, and tapped something on his keyboard to bring up a display of a Chikorita's typical moves. "You should have nothing to worry about. Swords Dance."

"Sunny Day, Chikorita!" Ash called, then winced. "Oops. I think we just wrecked the weather forecast again…"

The sun shone down strongly anyway, and Chikorita's leaf fairly glowed as it took in the sunlight.

"X-Scissor," Shingo ordered.

"Block!" Ash called.

Chikorita's leaf glittered, and she swished it around in a circle. "Magical solar strike!"

Her Solar Blade collided with Blade's X-Scissor, and though there was a burst of greenish light and her leaf was extinguished in an instant Chikorita wasn't actually knocked backwards very far.

"What was that?" Shingo asked, frowning. "That isn't something that Chikorita normally learn."

"Oh, you do not know the half of it," Misty said. "I've been living with this for more than a year now."

Shingo shook his head. "Blade – Agility!"

"Match him for speed!" Ash ordered.

"Ground hugs!" Chikorita announced.

Her vines flicked out, digging into the ground for just long enough she could use them as an anchor, and Shingo started looking between the battlefield and his laptop more quickly – trying to keep track of how things were changing.

"X-Scissor," Shingo ordered again.

Ash pointed. "And knock him back this time – vines on his elbows and use Sunsteel Strike!"

"Sunsteel what?" Shingo demanded. "Is that even a real move?"

It clearly was.

Chikorita's vines whipped out, avoiding Blade's pincers to wrap around his smoother joints, and she lit up a brilliant orange before pulling herself in at speed. She hit Blade with an echoing bang that sent the Scizor sliding backwards across the ground, and while the impact left Chikorita looking a bit woozy herself she'd remembered to release her vines just before impact.

"Now, before he can get up!" Ash said. "Finish him with Weather Ball!"

"Blade, False swipe!" Shingo called.

Blade's pincers came up, but what neither he nor Shingo had realized was that Chikorita had no interest in just delivering a head-on attack.

Instead, her left vine whipped out and wrapped around Blade, her right around a nearby tree, and she pulled the two of them together with as much force as she could muster.

"Special move!" she announced. "Kinetic solar hug!"

Then she used Weather Ball, unwrapped both vines, and left Blade to enjoy the explosion.

"All right!" Ash cheered. "Nice work, Chikorita!"

"Chikorita don't learn any of these moves except Sunny Day and Vine Whip," Shingo complained. "I don't think one of them was even a real move."

"That's okay, one of Ash's Pokémon wasn't even a real Pokémon," Misty said.

"That's Azalea town, right down there," Brock said, holding Vulpix up so she could see. "We should be getting there tomorrow morning."

"I suppose it's nice, in a rustic sort of way," Vulpix commented. "Oh, but if we're getting there tomorrow then that means I'm going to have to be properly groomed tomorrow. I hope you're not planning on doing it tonight."

"Sometimes I think you guys forget Ash is the only one who understands you," Brock commented, sitting down with the Fire-type and giving her a check over. "We should have enough time after dinner to get you properly clean."

Vulpix snorted, flirting her tails. "I should have known. Do it tomorrow."

"I guess you'd rather it be tomorrow than tonight, huh?" Brock asked. "I guess knowing our luck… or, Ash's luck… we'd probably end up getting it in a mess again unless you spent the whole time in your Pokéball."

At the sign that her human had got it, Vulpix completely changed her tone and gave Brock a nuzzle.

"All right, tomorrow it is, then," Brock decided. "How late in the day is the registration anyway…"

A little way away, Ash crouched down with Cyndaquil.

"Think you're going to be okay with a gym battle tomorrow?" he asked. "I know it's pretty early for you, but you really impressed me earlier!"

"Are gym battles dangerous?" Cyndaquil checked.

He looked at Pikachu and Zorua for advice. "What was your first one like?"

"Well, I invented what was either a new move or a new ability or something like that," Pikachu replied, visibly reminiscing.

"I'd only just hatched!" Zorua said proudly.

Cyndaquil blinked.

"What about you?" he said to Chikorita, in the hopes of a more sensible answer.

"I've not actually had one yet," Chikorita told him. "I think Zapdos has had… two, though? I want to say two. I'm still trying to keep track of everyone."

Zapdos had to be asked twice, because she was halfway through her dinner, but she swallowed her sushi roll and tilted her head.

"My first gym battle," she said, thinking. "I actually lost and had to try again, because it was a puzzle battle. Those are interesting."

She flared her wings. "But Ash knows what he's doing. If you want to stop, just tell him."

"Hey, Misty!" Ash called. "Zapdos says your gym battle was interesting!"

"I tried my best!" Misty replied. "I want to make really sure that Cerulean Gym is known for how good a challenge it is in future, though!"

"Oh, Misty is a Gym Leader?" Cyndaquil said, looking over. "She's nice."

He blinked. "Is her Goldeen levitating?"

"Yeah, I… honestly don't know how that started, but she seems happy with it," Chikorita replied. "Her Horsea's trying too, but last I saw the poor guy keeps falling over."

Vulpix was quite smug about her decision to defer her bath when it turned out that the whole town had a major problem and the friends had to sort it out.

This for some reason involved dressing up as Slowpoke.

After that, though, Ash went straight to the Azalea Town gym… only to find that Misty had beaten him there.

"I was just kind of wondering," she explained. "Do you find it's harder as a gym leader to provide a challenge for low level trainers, or high level trainers?"

She glanced back north. "I'd have asked Falkner after Ash battled him, but… he was kind of shell shocked. So I thought I'd ask you before Ash got to you."

Bugsy chuckled. "Falkner's kind of touchy about… wait, did you say Ash? As in Ash Ketchum?"

He spotted the Pallet trainer was waiting, and swallowed. "Okay, I guess I can deal with that… actually, it's kind of relevant here. What I do is that there's a second challenge with my gym, and I expect my opponents to follow it – any Pokémon you use must be capable of further evolution."

Ash frowned, and got out his Pokédex to check something.

"What kind of evolution?" he asked. "Or is it just anything?"

"Any kind of evolution at all," Bugsy confirmed. "So long as the Pokémon isn't in the final form it reaches."

"Right," Ash replied, paging through the Pokédex. "So… I guess since you're a Bug type leader, it's to do with that? I thought about Falkner's one and that one was about how Flying types get to pick their battles."

"Well done, yes," Bugsy agreed. "Bug types, or common Bug types,are some of the quickest ones to evolve. And that means that a strong trainer who rushes their Pokémon to their final stages is going to be in trouble here."

Ash nodded. "Right… okay, I've got my team worked out. Ready?"

Bugsy sent out his first Pokémon, which was briefly visible as a Spinarak before the Bug-type used String Shot and slunk off to hide in the gym's trees.

Ash sent out Cyndaquil.

"Please don't burn down the gym," Bugsy requested.

"It's okay, I'll make sure Suicune is around to put out any fires," Ash said, and sent out Entei.

Entei sat down and stuck out his tongue, lifting one paw.

"...in my defence, it's really hard to keep track of you three," Ash added.

"I'll handle the fire fighting," Misty assured Bugsy.

"Okay, Cyndaquil!" Ash said. "Start off by getting ready to dodge – in fact, stay on the move while you warm up!"

"String Shot," Bugsy ordered, and Spinarak slung a glob of silk from the trees. It went splat on the ground right in front of Cyndaquil, and the Fire-type's paws skidded on the ground as he swerved left to avoid colliding with it.

Spinarak launched a second String Shot, then a third, and Ash frowned.

"Keep going, but listen!" he said. "Spinarak is trying to trap you! How's your fire coming?"

"I'm trying," Cyndaquil said, then yawned, and shook his head before skidding away from another near-collision with a silk pile. "It's not lighting yet."

"Then – turn left!" Ash called, squinting. "Right! Jump, there's one in front of you!"

Entei considered, then cleared his throat.

"Yap," he said, very quietly.

Cyndaquil's quills immediately burst into flame.

"Huh," Pikachu said. "Neat."

"Burn the String Shot out of the way," Ash told his Pokémon. "Stay on the lookout for where Spinarak is!"

"Right!" Cyndaquil agreed, firing out a Flamethrower which set the String Shot globs on fire. Flames raced along them, outlining not just the visible globs but a whole network of strands that Cyndaquil had nearly run into several times.

"Try climbing into the trees!" Ash suggested. "Head for… that one to your left! And get your Flamethrower ready!"

Cyndaquil ran for the tree Ash had pointed out, with more confidence this time, then skidded to a halt as Bugsy spoke up. "Poison Sting."

A shower of poison sting attacks flicked out of the trees, some of them hitting Cyndaquil, and he yelped. "Ow!"

"Keep going for that tree!" Ash said. "The one I said!"

Cyndaquil looked at his trainer for a moment, nervous, then started moving again.

"And… Flamethrower the scorch mark in front of you now!" Ash said, as fast as he could.

The explosion from Cyndaquil's flamethrower blew him backwards, sending him through the air, and he tried to see where he was going before noticing that Spinarak was actually in one of the trees he'd been blasted towards.

"Tackle!" Ash ordered, not that Cyndaquil really had an option with the trajectory he was on. He hit Spinarak hard enough to knock the Bug-type out of the tree, and both Pokémon thumped to the forest floor.

"All right!" Bugsy said, recalling his Spinarak. "Well done, Ash. I won't make you actually knock Spinarak out, that one counts as a loss. But you'll have more trouble with Metapod."

Ash and Cyndaquil did, indeed, have more trouble with Metapod.

"I know it sounds tremendously hypocritical of me, given whose team I'm on," Pikachu said, as Cyndaquil wobbled a few times before sinking back onto his back with an exhausted sigh. "But I did not know you could teach a Metapod to give itself rock hard skin, sharp edges, and roll through the air like a scythed banana."

"Hey, to be fair, it turns out I never actually had a Metapod," Ash pointed out. "Given who Butterfree turned out to be."

Bugsy visibly restrained himself from asking.

"You're a good trainer with a fresh Pokémon, Ash," he said. "Which is honestly a little bit surprising given what you're known for. Not everyone who faces this team makes it to my Scyther."

Ash returned Cyndaquil, and switched to a different Pokéball. "Then let's go! Heracross!"

Bugsy raised a finger, frowning for a moment, then lowered it again. "Yeah, that counts, he can Mega Evolve. Good trivia knowledge."

"Thanks," Ash replied. "My Charizard's got a Mega Stone, but I left him in the Charific Valley."

Bugsy winced. "I… actually don't think I'd realized that a Charizard could slip in if Mega Evolving counts," he admitted. "I think I'm going to have to change that rule, but after this battle because you did ask first."

He sent out his Scyther. "Still, I know what Heracross can do!"

Misty coughed. "Am I allowed to give advice?"

"Aw, come on, Misty!" Ash complained.

"Entei gave advice," Misty pointed out. "Well, Entei barked but it apparently did something."

"Yeah, true," Ash conceded.

Misty pointed at Heracross. "Don't assume you know what Heracross can't do."

Bugsy thought about that.

"That is good advice," he said. "Okay, Scyther, steer clear – and begin!"

Scyther jumped into the air, blades flashing, and Ash pointed. "Okay, Heracross, open with Plasma Fists!"

Bugsy blinked. "With what?"

"Is that Fire or Electric?" Scyther asked.

The closest thing to a reply Heracross gave was to jump directly at the flying Scyther, his own wings snapping out from under their cases, and lash out with a punch. Guessing randomly, Scyther blocked with a Slash and then used Swords Dance – which went very badly, as their blades promptly exploded with electrical energy and made the Mantis Pokémon do a backflip.

"Great!" Ash said. "Now, Fire Punch!"

"Agility, stay clear!" Bugsy ordered, then turned to Misty and held up his hands. "What am I even supposed to do now?"

"I've not spent a huge amount of time actually at Cerulean Gym," Misty said. "But I suspect you'll need to give him the Hive Badge at some point soon."

As evening set over Azalea Town, Brock took a deep breath.

"Ready?" he asked his Fire-type.

Vulpix nodded, and he gave one last look at her coat – now smooth and immaculate – before returning her.

The announcer called them out a moment later, and Brock strode out to the middle of the Contest hall before bowing and sending Vulpix out again.

There was a whoosh and a cloud of smoke, which hung low to the ground for a moment before a swash of wind pushed it away – revealing Vulpix standing ready, with her tails splayed out instead of rolled up like they normally were.

"Introduce yourself, young lady!" Brock invited, and one of Vulpix' tails lit up with a flicker of fire. She swept it at the sky, and the letters V-U-L-P-I-X appeared one by one – each one lasting a moment before vanishing, to be replaced by the next.

The X stayed for longer than the others, and Vulpix jumped over it with a yip, flipping once before landing just beneath the X and touching that same flaming tail to the ground – producing a shower of sparks as a final exclamation point.

"I guess that one's Mystical Fire," Ash said, applauding. "That's a pretty neat one."

"How many moves did your friend teach Vulpix?" Misty asked.

"Well, she said only one," Ash replied. "Then she giggled a lot? So who knows what that means… it's probably not Metronome though."

Kelsie hadn't been listening to the conversation between Ash and Misty, but she was wondering much the same sort of thing.

In a different way.

"Watch out for the fire, Espeon!" she called.

Her Espeon jumped over a line of Mystical Fire on the ground, taking a glancing hit from a second line of fire that just sort of appeared, and Kelsie looked back and forth.

"Float turn and Zap Cannon!" she decided.

Espeon sped up a little, then began to briefly float himself along. The Psychic-type swung to face Vupix, still gliding along sideways, then shot out a Zap Cannon with a symmetrical four-tailed shape.

"Slash!" Brock called.

Both Kelsie and Espeon blinked, shocked, as Vulpix swished one of the tails that wasn't on fire and the Zap Cannon ball exploded only a foot from Espeon's muzzle.

"How did that work?" Kelsie asked, then shook her head. "Shadow Ball, then!"

"Gust!" Brock said.

Another tail moved, twirling this time, and the Shadow Ball was blown right back at Espeon – nearly hitting the startled Sun Pokémon.

"Close in, then!" Kelsie decided.

"Slash!" Brock ordered. "Then an Egg Bomb!"

"Okay, stop and get ready to block!" Kelsie interrupted. "Get ready for our Illuminated Reflect!"

Espeon's gem glowed as he stopped moving, and a multicoloured Reflect spread out between him and Vulpix – ready to resist the attack, or even fling it right back at Vulpix.

Which was why he was so surprised when a large cartoon bomb – complete with a fizzing rope fuse – appeared right next to him in a flash of smoke.

The explosion a moment later hurled him a quarter of the way across the arena, and left behind firework sparks and a cloud of multicoloured confetti.

"All right, I've been trying to work it out for the last hour," Misty said, accosting Brock, then took a moment to stroke the proud Fire-type in his arms – now adorned with a Contest ribbon. "What move did Mew teach her?"

"Sketch," Brock answered.

Misty thought about that.

"...okay, no further questions," she admitted. "No, wait, one further question. One move per tail?"

Both Brock and Vulpix nodded.

AN:

I mean, isn't it an obvious thing for Brock to do?

Also, more of the terrible things Mew has been doing to movesets.