After their meeting with Professor Rowan, the friends – Ash, Whitney, and now Dawn – set off together to reach the next town.

"So… which is the next town, then?" Ash checked. "I know in Kanto there's lots of different routes you can take, and it's almost the same in Johto and Hoenn… and on the Orange Islands we just did a vague and wobbly circle. What's it like in Sinnoh?"

"I think… Jubilife is the closest," Dawn replied. "Yeah, after Jubilife it opens out a lot, but Sandgem is only really connected to Jubilife and Twinleaf."

"Then Jubilife City it is," Whitney said.

She sent out Chatot. "That makes sense, right?"

"You're asking me?" Chatot replied.

Dawn raised a hand. "That Pokémon sounded different," she said. "I know that thanks to Lokoko I can understand Pokémon when I'm near her, but – I didn't realize it until Chatot spoke, but I could hear the Pokémon's actual voice too. I can't hear it with Chatot, does that mean Chatot isn't being translated?"

"She's sharp," Lokoko said. "I'm impressed."

"Thanks," Dawn replied. "I remember hearing that a Coordinator needed to have a good eye, so that's a good sign, right?"

"Oh, that's right, you want to be a Coordinator," Whitney agreed, as Chatot landed on her shoulder. "I know enough about battling that I trained Chatot to run my gym for me – you can see how well that worked, he's just too sweet to leave behind! - but I'm not sure I'd be the same with Contests. What about you, Ash?"

"Well…" Ash began, thinking. "I think a lot of the practice you can do is the same, which is working on good moves and getting good at using them. It depends what moves Piplup wants to learn, though."

"What about it, then, Piplup?" Dawn said. "What moves do you think would be good?"

"Only the best moves!" Piplup said. "Ones that no other Pokémon knows!"

Dawn laughed slightly. "That… might be a bit hard to teach?"

"Well, I don't know about moves no other Pokémon knows, but what about moves that only a few other Pokémon know?" Ash said. "Or moves that are a real surprise?"

"I suppose I could be happy with that," Piplup judged.

"You know what you could do?" Whitney said. "You could make him into a secret agent! You know with the tuxedo. Agent Piplup, licensed!"

"Licensed to what?" Pikachu asked.

"You wouldn't want to be that adorable without a license!" Whitney protested, sounding shocked.

A little way down the road, they met a trainer with an Elekid. The Electric-type was just battling a Starly, and even as he came into view the trainer threw a Pokéball which hit the Starly and drew it in.

"Good afternoon!" Whitney called. "Oh, Elekid are such cute little Pokémon!"

She frowned a little as she got closer. "Hey, wait… I recognize you! Didn't you challenge me a while ago?"

The trainer looked up at her. "Yes – if you're Whitney, that is."

"Yes!" Whitney agreed. "That's me! And I remember now, you're Paul, you had that Sneasel!"

"Sneasel is a neat Pokémon," Ash agreed. "I've not had one, though."

For his part, Paul had taken notice of Ash. "Aren't you… the current Hoenn Champion?"

"No, I didn't want the job," Ash replied. "Oh, do you mean Champion or Grand Champion? I did win the League, and I did beat Steven, but I don't know if there's been another Hoenn league since then. So maybe?"

Pikachu had started sniggering.

"Well, I'm not challenging you, then," Paul decided. "Not until I've got stronger Pokémon."

"It's good to make sure your Pokémon are ready for a challenge," Ash agreed.

Paul took out his Pokédex. "Starly, Starly… that one."

He took the Pokéball he'd just used, sent out the Starly inside it, and then released him.

"Hey, wait, what was that for?" Ash asked. "You didn't even ask if he was interested in staying as part of your team!"

"I'd have thought you'd understand," Paul replied. "Don't you only train powerful Pokémon?"

"All of my Pokémon are strong, but that's because of training them!" Ash replied.

Pikachu coughed.

"I mean, the Legendaries started out strong, generally, but they've got stronger," Ash amended. "And anyway, if you battle a Pokémon to catch it then you should commit to that! Imagine how the Pokémon feels, being beaten and caught and then thrown away!"

"I don't see what the problem is," Aten said. "Why waste your time on a weak Pokémon?"

"Aten, you're one to talk," Pikachu pointed out.

"Excuse me?" Aten bristled. "You said that my Shadow Claw attack yesterday was getting to be quite good!"

"Right, because you've been trained," Pikachu said. "Training a Pokémon makes them stronger, no matter who that Pokémon is – the only thing you need is the determination to put in the effort."

"Pikachu's right!" Ash said. "And if a Pokémon doesn't want to be part of your team – that's fine! But you should ask them first!"

"If you think that Starly is so strong, you should train him," Paul suggested.

"What do you think, Starly?" Ash asked, glancing up at the Flying-type.

"Well, I was a bit indifferent about having a trainer," Starly admitted. "I didn't fly away because I thought it might be interesting. But now I'm absolutely furious and want to show exactly what I can do!"

They stopped to camp early, partly so Ash could properly catch Starly (who then demanded that Ash do a proper pose for catching him, to give the whole situation a bit of flair) and partly to give them enough time for training.

"All right!" Whitney said. "So as a gym leader, I see all sorts of Pokémon, and you know what I've learned?"

She tapped her nose. "The thing that most trainers expect is that you'll do what's normal for a Pokémon."

"How do you tell what's normal for a Pokémon, though?" Ash asked. "I tend to just teach my Pokémon what they seem to be good at or what would make them better… so, I guess with Piplup I'd be thinking about something to deal with Grass type moves?"

"Right!" Whitney agreed.

"Well…" Dawn began, inspecting her Pokédex. "This says that Piplup evolve into Prinplup and then Empoleon, and that they're Steel type. So could he use Steel type moves?"

Whitney pointed at Dawn. "I like the way you're thinking! That's a better first idea than mine, let's do that!"

Piplup examined his flippers. "Like what? I'm not saying no, but do you have an example?"

"Steel Wing seems obvious," Ash said. "My Raikou uses that to fly. And Zorua knows it, too."

"Neither of those Pokémon have wings," Starly pointed out.

"Like an old friend of mine says, I don't see why that should stop anyone!" Ash answered. "So… with Steel Wing, the first step is that you kind of hold your wing really stiff, and – actually it might be better to start explaining that after we've worked out what to have you learn, Starly."

He thought for a long minute.

"You're a Normal type and a Flying type," he said. "So you're going to have trouble mostly with Pokémon that resist those moves… like Rock and Steel types. Rock types especially because they're super effective against you too."

"Electric types as well, don't forget," Pikachu pointed out. "Just saying."

"Yeah, that's true," Ash admitted. "But for now I was thinking… I could borrow someone to teach you a move or two. I'm sure he'd be glad to visit Sinnoh!"

Some minutes later, Starly was hovering in front of his new tutor.

"Land on my palm," Lucario said, holding it out, and Starly alighted as requested. "Now, close your eyes, and wait for a warm sensation."

Starly closed his eyes, and a blue glow built up on Lucario's palm.

"That is Aura," Lucario told him. "It is known as the Wave, because it is never still but always in motion, and it thrills with the very life force of the person who uses it. And yes, it is not limited to Pokémon."

"Can Ash use it?" Starly asked, still with his eyes closed.

"Yes, but if he needs to battle he prefers using it indirectly," Lucario answered. "Or turning into an Absol."

Starly's eyes opened. "What?"

"Perhaps it would have helped you concentrate if I had declined to mention that…"

"I have a difficult conversation to begin," Aten said, late that evening, once they'd trained and then eaten and trained some more.

Piplup was still doing the occasional twirl as he tried to get Whirlwind down – that had started as learning Whirlpool but then Dawn had asked whether there was a reason Piplup couldn't learn Whirlwind, since he did know Peck, and that had set him going – but apart from that and from Lokoko quietly walking Rapidash through more aspects of subtle psychic powers most of the humans and Pokémon were getting ready to settle down to sleep.

Starly might have been meditating instead though. It wasn't clear.

"What's that, then?" Ash asked, looking at the reincarnated Zorua. "Is something wrong?"

"This is not going to be easy," Aten grumbled, then shook his head. "Look. I am not a fool. I understand why you have been wary of allowing me to take part in battles."

"Huh?" Ash replied. "I didn't know you wanted to take part in battles."

"I have been demanding violence for weeks!" Aten insisted.

"Yeah, but in a more sort of general way," Ash pointed out. "You know, like trying to kill me, and stuff like that… I thought if you wanted to take part in a battle, you'd say so. Do you want to?"

"Once I am confident enough that it will not be an extremely embarrassing defeat, yes," Aten said.

"That's good," Ash told him. "But, I guess it would have to not be official battles, mostly anyway. A Pokémon has to be registered as caught before they can be used in an official battle like a Gym Battle, and there's a few weird exceptions but I don't think any of them apply. You're not me, after all."

"...what?" Aten asked.

"Pokémon who can look human, or humans who can temporarily be Pokémon, can battle as themselves," Ash clarified. "Without capturing themselves. It's easier that way, apparently."

Aten shook his head. "Irrelevant. Anyway. I… see. I'm going to need to think about that."

"Just let me know if you still want a battle when you've decided!" Ash told Aten.

The next day, they met a Turtwig.

Torkoal was on rotation as part of Ash's team, at the time, and immediately took to Turtwig. He declared that he would make sure Turtwig didn't become 'too cool', and that he would be a 'genius of hard work', then beamed and held up a paw.

There was a flash from his beak, and Ho-Oh flew overhead.

"What just happened?" Dawn asked.

"You… you mean it?" Turtwig asked. "You want to teach me?"

"Of course!" Torkoal agreed. "You will be my finest student!"

"Torkoal!" Turtwig gasped.

"Turtwig!" Torkoal wept.

They embraced, and Ho-Oh landed behind them.

"Ash, I was wondering if you knew where Entei was?" he said. "I wanted to take him to find one of the local Elite Four."

"Sorry, no idea," Ash replied.

"Worth a try," Ho-Oh said. "I'll see if he's back at Oak Labs."

Ho-Oh took off again, having provided a kind of backdrop to Torkoal and Turtwig for the whole of the time they were embracing, and Ash smiled.

"So I guess that means you've joined the team too, Turtwig?" he asked.

"Of course!" Turtwig agreed. "I'm going to be king of the turtles!"

Torkoal coughed. "I may have to train him for a bit first."

"Pokémon… meeting one another… by hugs!" Whitney said, writing it down. "I'll have to remember that!"

Then Keldeo appeared.

"Hi Ash!" he said. "Oh, are these new friends?"

He held up a hoof, paused halfway through taking a step. "Are Brock, Max and May okay?"

"They're fine," Ash replied. "I'll tell them you asked!"

"And why did that girl on your left just fall over?" Keldeo added.

Whitney was mumbling something about ponies.

AN:

Starly has acquired Motivation.