There was a jingle, and Delia Ketchum looked up from the counter.

"Oh, hello!" she said. "I think I recognize you… aren't you the Viridian City Gym Leader?"

"I have that honour," Giovanni replied. "I've been away, but when I got back I heard about this cafe and felt I simply had to drop in for a visit."

"Well, you're in luck," Delia told him. "For a week or two Lokoko was in Sinnoh, so she couldn't provide the translation that normally happens here, but she got back a couple of days ago so that's back to normal."

Giovanni smiled. "I'm glad to hear it."

"If you could follow me, please?" an apron-wearing Dragonite asked, bowing. "I will show you to a table, and bring you a menu. Please feel at liberty to order for your Pokémon as well, we have a wide variety of available drinks and snacks."

Giovanni did as requested, then unfolded the menu and sent out his Persian.

"Hmm…" he mused. "The bruschetta, I think… and the iced coffee. What about you?"

Persian considered the menu, then tapped the mix au lait.

"Agreed," the Gym Leader decided.

Their waiter was a Mr. Mime, who noted down the order with his pen before heading off to the back of the cafe, and Giovanni chuckled.

"I don't even know if that's one of his Pokémon," he said, quietly. "But it wouldn't surprise me."

"A lot doesn't surprise you these days," Persian replied. "I enjoyed Alola."

"That's good," Giovanni replied.

Then the bruschetta slid onto the table in front of him with a clink sound.

Giovanni looked up, seeing nothing, then exchanged a wary glance with Persian.

"That's very good service," he said, into the air. "How did you do it so quickly?"

Lokoko revealed herself, complete with a small red hat, tie, and name tag. "She's not always here, but sometimes Delia hires on an excellent time and motion manager," the Ninetales explained.

She sent a fond look over to the kitchen, where an Absol in a toque was giving Giovanni a steady regard.

"Acquiring a reputation for being late would be a disaster, you see," Lokoko added.

"I suppose you must be Ash Ketchum's Ninetales, then," Giovanni decided. "Is it true that he's gone to Sinnoh?"

"Quite correct, though most of us are still here," Lokoko confirmed. "Don't let me interrupt you, though. Someone will be over with your drinks shortly."

Giovanni watched her leave.

"That was interesting," he said, and tried the bruschetta.

It was very good.

At around the same time, just outside Oreburgh, Ash crouched down.

"So this was the highest quality one I could find," he said, putting down a Luxury Ball, then put a purple Cherish Ball next to it. "And there's always loads of variety in these, but this one's the closest I could find."

"And the one next to it?" Aten pressed.

"That one's actually an antique made with an apricorn," Ash explained. "It's just a regular Pokéball in design, but it's hand crafted rather than manufactured in huge numbers like a lot of them are… I think Magearna is involved somehow? I don't really know the details though, I haven't met Magearna to ask her."

He thought about that for a bit. "Or to ask them, depending on what Magearna prefers."

"Hmm…" Aten pondered.

"You don't have to, just as a reminder!" Ash pointed out. "If you want to take part in a gym battle, yeah, it kind of is required, but that's the only real situation when it's needed."

Aten grumbled something inaudible, then raised his voice slightly. "This would be a lot easier to cope with if you were more inconsiderate… rrgh, right!"

He put his paw down, and vanished in a flare of white light.

"This is going to be interesting!" Whitney said, a little later, as they reached the Oreburgh Gym. "I've only seen Ash fight one Gym Battle so far, and it was my one so I was a bit involved."

"I know I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone does," Pikachu agreed, then paused. "Do I mean everyone? I mean Ash and whichever Pokémon he ends up using. I doubt that the challenge will involve using everyone."

"It could, though!" Whitney gasped. "That would be an amazing challenge! A Pokémon Royal Rumble!"

"I think that would involve Aten or one of Ash's Dragonite," Dawn said, thinking. "Or Zacian. Is Zacian royal?"

While they were talking, Roark waved up. "Greetings, challenger – wait, that's Ash Ketchum."

He chuckled. "I guess I drew the short straw… well, welcome to Sinnoh!"

"Thanks!" Ash replied. "I've enjoyed it here so far… what are the challenge rules?"

"Well, that depends," Roark said. "Are you using Pokémon you caught in Sinnoh, or Pokémon who came here from somewhere else?"

"Pokémon I caught in Sinnoh," Ash answered. "One of them I met in Kanto, but I didn't catch him until just now."

"Of course the answer would be like that," Roark sniggered. "And in that case… this will be a battle with two Pokémon on each side. The only restriction is that you can't rely solely on Pokémon with type advantage."

Ash nodded. "That's fine! In which case, I know who I'm using first!"

He held out a Pokéball, and Roark did the same. "Onix!"

"Starly!" Ash replied.

Whitney leaned forwards, one hand on Rapidash's mane. "This is going to be great!"

"It is, indeed," Rapidash said. "It will be Starly showing how well he has learned an important lesson."

"It will?" Dawn checked.

"Spite is a valid friendship motivator."

"Onix, Stealth Rock!" Roark began, and the Rock-type slapped the ground with his tail. Several rocks rose into the air, forming a combination of a defensive barrier and weapons to go on the offensive, and Ash pointed.

"Force Palm!"

"Force what?" Roark blinked.

Starly flew forwards, held out a wing to twist in mid-air, and slapped the other one open-winged into a Stealth Rock. There was a spike of blue light and the rock exploded into gravel, showering Onix and making the Rock-type blink his eyes, then Starly closed in and used Metal Claw with the talons on his feet.

"Slam!" Roark said, and Onix slapped Starly backwards before sending the Stealth Rocks flying at him. That didn't stop Starly, who flicked his feet out to either side and conjured a Bone Rush.

The blue staff of Aura flicked back and forth as Starly smashed each rock in turn, delaying some of them with the Bone Rush while others got simply destroyed by his Force Palm attacks.

"I don't feel like I'm fighting a Starly right now," Roark admitted. "Uh… Head Smash!"

"Fly out of the way!" Ash retorted. "And use Aura Sphere!"

Starly flared his wings, cupping them as he drew together a massive blue sphere of light, and fired it down at Onix. The impact went crackawham, throwing up a cloud of dust, and when it faded a significant fraction of Onix was in a hole.

The rest of Onix was draped out of the hole, and the whole of the Onix was unconscious.

"Well, that's a victory," Roark decided, recalling Onix.

"Great work, Starly!" Ash told him. "Come on back!"

He switched that for an Apricorn Pokéball that made Roark do a double-take.

"That looks… incredibly strange," he said. "In fact it looks antique."

"Yeah, it is!" Ash agreed. "Or, actually, I got it an hour ago and it was made last year, but after my Pokémon chose it he said that it was the best choice there but it wasn't nearly antique enough. So he got out of it again, and I asked Mew to ask Celebi to take it a few thousand years back in time and retrieve it today, and it still worked! Which is honestly good craftsmanship."

Roark's mouth worked for a moment.

"I'm going to just… gloss over the fact you can manufacture antiques," he decided. "Rampardos, your turn!"

Rampardos set his stance, then looked down at Aten as the Zorua materialized.

"...um, are you sure you're the Pokémon your trainer wanted to send out against me?" he asked. "You look kind of… small."

Aten bared his teeth, then shook his head and stopped doing that. "You're a Fossil," he said. "Based on what I have heard, some of those are directly reanimated from fossilized remains, while others are born in the modern day. Which are you?"

"Weird question at the start of a fight, but whatever," Rampardos replied. "Yes, I was reanimated directly. Why?"

Aten flicked his tail. "Just curious if you've had experience with being destroyed."

"As novel as it is to be able to understand Pokémon trash-talk," Roark said. "I'd like to begin the battle. Are you ready?"

"I was born into this form so weak I could not begin to exercise the vengeance I wished to enact," Aten replied. "I have been very, very motivated."

"I'm pretty sure that means yes!" Ash said.

"Rampardos, Headbutt!" Roark ordered.

"Dodge!" Ash replied.

Aten crouched for a moment and leaped aside, fur rippling. He flicked his tail at the ground, producing a momentary shimmer, then loped around in a half-circle as Rampardos slowed from his failed charge.

"That's a quick Pokémon you've got there," Roark commented. "Faster than I was expecting. I didn't know shiny Zorua looked like that, either."

"Zorua can sort of look like whatever they want to, if you think about it," Ash replied. "But he's only really mine on a legal basis. It's a bit like with my Ninetales, Lokoko, or with legendary Pokémon – I let everyone choose how much they want to be my Pokémon or if they want to be free, but-"

"Ash," Roark interrupted. "I know you've got a really good philosophy, and honestly it's making me realize I should take the opportunity to talk to all of my Pokémon while this translation thing is going. But we are in a battle."

"Right!" Ash agreed. "Aten, Night Daze!"

"Focus Energy and Headbutt!" Roark said.

Aten crouched down as Rampardos got closer, then jumped right at the Rock-type. His Headbutt passed through Aten without doing any damage whatsoever, and Aten used what was quite a good Night Daze all things considered, before fumbling the landing and rolling over a few times.

"So adorable," Whitney whispered, as Aten picked himself up and shook his fur out.

"What just happened?" Roark said. "That… was that an illusion? I know Zorua can do illusions… but is that even a Zorua?"

He banged on his helmet. "Was I secretly fighting a Lucario before? Is this what it feels like to battle you?"

"Honestly, not really!" Whitney said. "You just have to roll with what happens."

"Right," Roark replied, thinking hard. "Ah… Rampardos, nothing's immune to the Rock type! Head Smash!"

Rampardos charged again, at full-speed this time, and passed over where Aten had been at the start of the fight. The ground crumbled underneath the Rock-type, sand surging up to engulf him, and Aten smirked.

"You activated my trap," he said. "Now you're in trouble."

"Revenge!" Ash suggested.

Aten, as Roark and Rampardos both found, was good at Revenge.

"So, how was that?" Ash asked.

"I don't know what to think about it," Roark replied.

"No, I meant Aten," Ash clarified. "How was that?"

"Invigorating," Aten informed him, crouching and then jumping up to his bag in an oddly floaty motion. "I demand to learn more moves."

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," Ash smiled.

"Well, you've earned the Coal Badge," Roark decided. "And I've earned a long sit down while I think about that battle."

"Oh, don't forget to have that talk with your Pokémon first," Dawn suggested. "You don't want to forget now and lose the opportunity later."

"And… there we go!" Dawn said, as her Pokétch beeped and she took the Poffins off the heat. "Thank you so much, Typhlosion!"

"Hey, I don't mind," Typhlosion replied, with a shrug. "I get to take partial credit for nice food and it's basically just from sitting there, so you won't find me complaining."

"These are the first batch," Dawn explained. "They're made using the recipe I learned with my mom, and her Glameow likes them. I'm going to do some others for different flavours, though, so there's going to be some no matter what Pokémon prefer."

"That's neat," Whitney said, leaning closer to inspect a Poffin. "I'm more of a cake girl myself… do you mind if I see whether my Pokémon like them?"

"Go ahead!" Dawn agreed. "It's best to find out what recipe each Pokémon likes early on, that way you can make what they like."

"So… are these things that humans can eat as well?" Ash said, inspecting one. "Or are they just for Pokémon?"

"Well…" Dawn began, thinking about it. "I think humans can, but it's best not to eat too many."

"Oh, okay," Ash said. "I guess I'll try a few then."

He reached into his bag, got out a bottle, and measured a little bit into a spoon. Then he drank it, and went poof into Ashbsol.

Then swiped the ground with his paw.

"I should have remembered to taste one before changing," he said.

Whitney's eyes shone.

"I've never seen that up close before!" she said. "That was really cool! So if you're an Absol now, how come you can still talk?"

"It's because learning to talk is a skill, I think," Ash replied. "I'm not sure about that, though… usually when I speak Pokémon I speak Mew because that's the one I know best. It sounds like this. But it's easier for everyone to understand me if I don't."

"That was so squeaky!" Whitney added. "This is the best thing! Do you know the name of the witch who did that, because I want that to be my supplemental gym challenge!"

Dawn had been a bit surprised, but then she'd put together a few comments. "So I guess you're your Absol, right?"

"He's an Absol with Illusion, when he's done that," Zorua said. "Which is actually really helpful for training because it means he gets being four-legged or a bird like other trainers don't. I assume."

Ash went to try out one of the Poffins, but stopped when he saw a Pachirisu was already snacking on one.

"Oh, uh… hi?" the Electric-type said, swallowing nervously. "You weren't planning on eating these, were you? I'll be honest, I did not expect to be this intimidated up close, and weren't there more trainers here a moment ago?"

"They're Dawn's, not mine," Ash told Pachirisu. "Ask her if you can have some… it's usually polite to ask first though."

"These are a thing you can make?" Pachirisu said, surprised. "What were they made from?"

"Bluk and Nanab," Dawn told the Electric-type.

"Can you make one with Liechi?" Pachirisu asked. "I really like those berries."

"Sure!" Dawn agreed. "Do you think you can find me a couple around here?"

Approximately half an hour later, Dawn had an extremely grateful and not-quite-overstuffed new Pachirisu.

She also had a long list of which Pokémon preferred which Poffin flavours, with an asterisk for Ashbsol in case he only liked them in his current form.

AN:

What? Starly's moveset is perfectly sensible and in fact taken from a real movelist.