"I hope you're ready for our next field trip!" Professor Kukui said. "This time we're going a lot further than Akala Island. We're going to where Ash is from!"

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "All the way to Kanto! It's a long way, so I've got one of my Pokémon involved to help make it quicker, and we'll be visiting some of my friends while we're there."

"I'm not sure if I'm ready for this," Mallow said.

"Really?" Steenee replied. "I am sure if I'm ready for this. Because I'm not."

"So, let's go to the plane, is what I would be saying if Ash's Pokémon weren't helping," Kukui went on. "But since they are, I'm not saying that."

"Ready, Unown?" Ash asked, and the Psychic type emerged.

Spelling out HYPERSPACE HOLE in the space of a few seconds, Unown opened a golden portal at one end of the classroom – where, on the other side, there was Professor Oak's lab.

There was also Professor Oak's back.

"Professor!" Ash called, which made Oak startle before turning around.

"Sorry, Ash," the Kantonian Pokémon Professor apologized. "I think these directions about where the portal was going to open were wrong."

Behind Oak, another portal appeared, and Hoopa threw a paper aeroplane through. It swooped right past Oak and into the Hau'Oli classroom, and Zygarde jumped up to catch it.

"Let me see," they said, unfolding it with deft paw movements. "Ah. Unown, this appears to be for you. It is a summons for a Hoopreme Court date about Hooparight infringement."

"Should I be worried?" Unown asked, changing to a questionmark.

"I assess that the answer is: probably not," Zygarde stated. "Hoopa has replaced the start of several words with most or all of the word Hoopa, and so this is not actually a legally binding document."

"Hoopa is a sovereign Hoopazen!" Hoopa shouted. "Hoopa knows Hoopa's rights!"

Hoopa held up their right hand to demonstrate this, then Gold dragged Hoopa off by Hoopa's tail.

"Thanks!" Ash called. "All right, let's go!"

"Wow," Kiawe said, looking around. "How many of these are your Pokémon, Ash?"

"Well, some of them!" Ash replied. "Gary has a lot, too, he's Professor Oak's grandson and he's doing… Pokémon research of some kind? I think he said something last time I met him about trying to look for a normal Legendary Pokémon but I don't know what he means by that."

Ash shrugged. "It can't be Normal because he wouldn't have to look far for one! Unless an Arceus counts as being all types instead of just one… in that case he could just ask Brandon though, Brandon's got Regigigas these days."

"Hmm, thinking about it…" Pikachu began. "I think he probably meant normal in a way that involves getting as far away as possible from both you and Brandon."

"If you say so," Ash said, sounding dubious. "Maybe he's looking for a Ratatta or something. Anyway, instead of just pointing out my Pokémon I'll introduce you to them! I haven't used everyone in the lessons yet, so this way you'll get to see all of my Pokémon, though I guess it might take a moment to get Goodra. He might be asleep."

"Are there other Pokémon that are different between Alola and Kanto, like Vulpix are?" Snowy said. "I've met Principal Oak's Vulpix, and I've met Lokoko, so I know what Kanto Vulpix and Ninetales are like. But I don't know what other kind of differences there are."

"Oh, you can meet the Dugtrio and Exeggcute," Ash said. "Those are two more kinds of Pokémon that are different in Kanto and Alola, though none of the Exeggcute have evolved so I guess it's not a great demonstration… most of them don't like battling, though you'll probably meet the Dugtrio who like having little competitions with themselves!"

Lana put her hand up.

"Is that one Dugtrio or more than one?" she asked.

"One trio," Ash answered. "I think last time they did who was able to use a move to get across the ranch in the shortest possible time."

"But…" Sophocles began. "They're… Dugtrio. They're incredibly fast moving, and they can't move apart from one another."

"That was part of the challenge, I think?" Ash said, shrugging. "I don't really get it, but they always manage to find an extra gear when they're all trying to do something at the same time while not technically working together."

"Yeah, and when they actually work together it ends up rubbish," Pikachu opined. "Ambitious, but… still."

"And over here is the garden!" Ash said, crouching down. "It's not really part of Oak's ranch, but it's to do with my Pokémon so I thought I'd mention it."

"I'm still trying to keep track of all those Dragonite," Sophocles admitted. "What's a dux?"

"Me," Zygarde supplied.

"Yeah, it's Zygarde," Ash said. "It's like a duke or duchess, but without having to be a boy or girl… ah, here we go!"

He crouched down. "See this?"

"Oh, that's a lovely flower," Mallow said. "There's at least a dozen there. What is it?"

"It's Gracidea!" Ash explained. "It's for Shaymintwo, who's a Shaymin who's actually a clone of an original Shaymin but he's the one who's on my team. Shaymin are one of those Pokémon that have two different forms, like how Oricorio does, only for Shaymin it's touching a Gracidea flower that changes them one way and it's night-time or being frozen which changes them the other way."

He shrugged. "Shaymintwo doesn't like using it much, but it's there if he needs it!"

"Hmpf," Shaymintwo said, jumping out of Ash's bedroom window and then making a three-point landing in front of them with a little flash of green light. "I don't need some kind of artificial help like that."

"Except if you're battling against someone who sets the ground on fire," Pikachu replied, then frowned. "Wait, no, that would actually be okay for you, you can skate on flames. I might need to think about this one."

"That's so cute!" Mallow decided. "I know you're one of Ash's Pokémon, but it'd be really nice to meet a Shaymin who might come with me! I'll probably be thinking about that for a while now."

"A faker, you mean?" Shaymintwo asked. "Hmpf."

"Shaymintwo's really quick moving, which surprises people who know what most Shaymin are like," Ash said.

"True, though there's also the… second order issue," Lokoko said. "Which is that your Shaymin is overwhelmingly the most well studied in the world, because there's so much battle footage of him. So most of the surprise about Shaymin these days is that they're not all like him."

"Serves them right," Shaymintwo said.

"Got it," Pikachu said. "Misty Terrain might prevent you from being poisoned, while Toxic Spikes would poison you. Either way there are situations where you might want to be able to fly."

Shaymintwo snorted.

"Ash," Lucario said, rising and bowing. "It is a pleasure to see you. And Pikachu, of course. Who are these?"

"These are Kiawe, Mallow, Lillie, Sophocles and Lana!" Ash introduced. "And Professor Kukui as well. I'm helping teach his class! Everyone, this is Lucario. He was actually from more than a thousand years ago, but he got stuck in a staff that was a lot like an early Pokéball until he got let out when I visited the Kingdom of Rota, he's been helping out a lot with how to meditate and telling Professor Oak about how things used to be, and things like that!"

"How many times are we going to get stories like that?" Lana asked. "In our old classes we never had to deal with meeting a Pokémon from a thousand years ago… now it happens all the time."

"I'm not from a thousand years ago," said the Onix on the other side of the copse, which made the Alolans all jump.

"Well done, Onix," Lucario said, bowing. "You've been improving in your ability to be truly still."

"Wow," Kiawe marvelled. "Is that a Kantonian Onix?"

"No, I'm an Orange Onix," Onix explained. "And yes. I know. It would be quite convenient if it turned out my variant actually was mostly orange, maybe topaz or something, and I was shiny. But it's quite hard to tell shiny sparkles apart from just… me."

Despite a few suggestions, particularly from Lillie, they weren't able to come to any decisive conclusion about what type Onix was.

Partly that was because explaining why she was at the ranch took some doing, because she'd been captured by Ash but not to be one of Ash's Pokémon, for research into how regional variants happened in the first place, and that that was the main reason why she wasn't either a battling or Contest Pokémon – because she wasn't interested.

Then Growlithe came hurrying over.

"Ash, I think we need your help with something!" she said.

"Is that another regional Pokémon?" Lillie asked. "A Kantonian Growlithe?"

"Huh?" Growlithe replied. "No, I'm a Growlithe, the Kantonian ones are the Fire type ones. I'm a Fire and Rock type – anyway!"

"Got it!" Ash said. "What's the problem?"

"It's to do with, well, you know how Professor Oak was exploring perception with all those VR games?" Growlithe asked. "You know, measuring how different Pokémon react to things by how well tuned different parts of a VR environment have to be? Well, he set Xerneas up with one today, but part of the screen was broken."

"That's not great, but I don't get it," Pikachu said. "That sounds more like it's time to get replacement VR equipment."

"Xerneas," Mallow repeated. "Isn't that that Legendary Pokémon that turns into a tree?"

"They do that, yes," Lokoko confirmed. "Though I think there's a standing request out that if it does happen to one of them they'll get fast-forwarded through it."

"I know, it shouldn't be a problem!" Growlithe yapped, back over on the other conversation thread. "But Professor Oak made the mistake of calling them dead pixels, and now Xerneas is trying to work out how to fix that by resurrecting the VR equipment…"

"I'd better help explain, then," Ash decided. "If he's going to fix it, it has to just be the dead pixels, right? They're dead in a way, and Xerneas has an association with colours anyway…"

"Is there a way of getting a legendary Pokémon that isn't completely… weird?" Sophocles asked, as Shiny Xerneas put his VR outfit back on with Professor Oak's help. "I've been trying to keep track of the ways you got your legendary Pokémon, and all of them sound crazy."

"I guess that depends what you mean by crazy!" Ash said, starting to count them off. "Mew and Zapdos were both Pokémon I made friends with when I was young, which is normal, right? I got Pikachu as my starter, which is a normal way to get a Pokémon… Suicune, Entei and Raikou are all because I caught Raikou in the Safari Zone…"

"Wow," Mallow whispered, as Ash kept going. "Hearing it all at once just makes it more amazing."

"Silver's another childhood friend, so are Latias and Latios but that's out of order… Articuno, well, she crashed in front of me and I helped her out, and she wanted a journey to begin with, then with Zacian she liked the experience of travelling with me so she wanted to do it again. Ho-Oh challenged me to a battle, and if a wild Pokémon does that and you win that's often a situation where the wild Pokémon was okay with being caught…"

Ash brightened. "Oh, maybe Rayquaza counts as weird? Wait, no, I got Moltres, Yveltal and Cresselia the same way, and if it's happened four times then it's just something that happens normally… Arc was a gift, and getting a Pokémon as a gift is normal, and Zekrom challenged me… I guess maybe Giratiny counts as weird, because he didn't exist until after I met him and it wasn't a reincarnation. I'll have to tell him that next time!"

"I, just…" Sophocles said, nearly lost for words.

"Did you say Pikachu?" Lana asked.

"Yeah, Pikachu's been in Legends, and Arceus One asked me what was up with him, so that counts, right?" Ash asked, giving Pikachu a scratch.

"I'm not complaining," Pikachu said, leaning into Ash's hand.

"And I am not Ash's Pokémon, and nor is Marshadow," Zygarde provided. "There is nothing abnormal about a Pokémon being close to a human in space and time. Woof."

"Arceus One?" Rowlet asked.

"I told him once that Arceus was the Original One, so Ash might think that that's xer surname?" Mew said, shrugging. "Or it could be to distinguish xem from Arc. You never really know with Ash."

"Huh," Rowlet decided. "You know, Toucannon would probably be less calm about this."

"Of course, it wouldn't be a proper trip to Kanto without everyone learning about how differently things are done in Kanto," Professor Kukui said. "What's the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Kanto?"

"Ash," Kiawe answered.

"Good answer," Kukui admitted. "Anyone else?"

Lillie put up her hand. "Is it Kanto specifically, or places outside Alola?"

"Very good question, Lillie," Kukui told her. "Yes, it is places outside Alola that I'm thinking of. What do you think that means?"

"Well… it's gyms, isn't it?" Lana realized. "Is that why we flew to Cerulean City?"

"That's not the only reason!" Ash provided. "Flying to Cerulean City means you get a great look at the geography of Kanto, because you get to see more of it at once – you can see how different it is to Alola, and the places where it's the same, too. Remember how I pointed out Cinnabar off to the south?"

He waved his hand ahead of them. "But this is one of the reasons, yeah. That's Cerulean Gym! It's got four Gym Leaders, and one of them is my friend Misty!"

"Gyms can have more than one Gym Leader?" Kiawe asked. "That feels weird. It's like having more than one Kahuna for an island."

"Well, it's more like having more than one trial for an island," Ash said. "You know, because you do the Island Trials before you can face the Kahunas, though it's not quite the same. Instead, there's at least eight gyms, except in the Orange Islands, and you have to beat eight of them to battle at the Pokémon League. And that's something else that's different, because most people don't complete the Gym challenge."

"Really?" Lana said, surprised. "But it always seems like everyone does."

"That's because you hear about the Pokémon trainers who spend a lot of time battling as battling Pokémon trainers," Ash said. "Like me! I spend a lot of time training my Pokémon to battle gyms, and we've beaten a lot of gyms. But most people don't beat all the gyms, and there's nothing wrong with that."

He waved his hands. "Most kids have a dream about winning the Pokémon League, but the way the gyms start out easy and get harder is a great way to see if you're actually up to the work that's needed. And if all that happens is that you go on your journey, make a few really great friends, and know who you're going to spend the rest of your life with… that's great!"

That said, Ash knocked on the door. "Let's see who's in!"

After a long pause, Misty's sister Violet opened the door.

"Oh, hey, it's you!" Violet said. "Hey, Misty! That friend of yours with the Pikachu's at the door!"

"She's still trying to get the pool sorted out!" Lily called back. "Hold on, I'll get Wartortle to yank her out."

"Oh, are these the other gym leaders?" Lillie realized.

"A pool?" Lana said. "Is this a Water-type gym?"

"Right!" Ash confirmed. "So it's got a big swimming pool for the battles, and a bigger swimming pool for the Pokémon, and they sometimes do underwater displays in the big pool."

There was a splash, then Wartortle came running up to the door.

"Pikachu!" he said, with a nod. "It's been a while."

"Ash, I didn't know you were coming," added a Vaporeon. "I would have left fixing the pool to tomorrow if I'd known."

"Sorry, Misty," Ash said, shrugging. "It was kind of last-minute whether we'd come here or go to Pewter first."

"Warning Brock," Arc announced.

Most of the Alolans stared.

"You're Misty?" Kiawe asked, eventually. "I didn't know Pokémon could be Gym Leaders!"

"Well, they can, but Misty's normally human," Ash said. "She's just using a magic potion to turn into a Vaporeon… I guess there's something wrong with one of the swimming pools and it's easier to fix that way?"

"Yeah, it's this or we take the gym out of commission for a week to drain down the pipes and get a plumber in," Misty said, flicking her tail. "Anyway, what brings you here?"

"I'm helping teach Professor Kukui's class!" Ash explained. "Any chance we can get a demonstration of a Gym Battle?"

Sophocles was still mouthing the words magic potion to himself.

"...my friend Serena could explain a lot more about it," Ash said. "She's able to make it herself, or, she and her Braixen are able to make it themselves, with help from her Ponyta – that's a Galarian Ponyta, so a Psychic-type not a Fire-type – and a few ingredients that have to come from elsewhere. But the basics are that… it's like it changes you into a fitting Pokémon, and then when it wears off it changes you back. So Misty's a Vaporeon because she's a really good Water-type trainer, and I guess also because she's adaptable because she doesn't just have Water types."

He pointed. "Like Togetic! She's a Fairy and Flying type, and Misty did a great job raising her. So, adaptable, like she'd been an Eevee."

Togetic waved.

"I've got an Azurill as well, but she'll be a Water type when she evolves," Misty supplied.

"You don't look nearly surprised enough, Mallow," Lana noticed.

"Yeah, I saw Ash turn into a Pokémon a few weeks ago, I just wasn't sure if I'd made the whole thing up," Mallow explained. "It is sort of nice to actually know how it works."

"So what is Ash, then?" Kiawe said. "When he turns into a Pokémon, I mean. Pikachu?"

"Absol," Ash explained.

"...oh!" Sophocles said. "So, Lokoko's wife isn't your Absol. You're your Absol."

"I'm not nearly as good at battling while transformed as Ash is," Misty said. "But I should point out that Ash has Illusion as an Absol, which is just weird… anyway, what about this? I'll show a top-tier gym battle, and then anyone who wants to can take part in other gym battles against some of the members of my team I don't use on really strong challengers!"

"That sounds great!" Ash agreed. "And I know just who I'm using, too!"

"Gyarados, go!" Misty called.

"Is that a Kantonian Gyarados?" Lillie said, looking at the big red Pokémon taking up a sizeable chunk of the battle pool.

"No, he's just a shiny Gyarados," Misty replied. "Though he is actually from Johto, so if he was a regional variant he wouldn't be a Kantonian one. Nothing stops people who are from one region having Pokémon from another region."

She rolled her eyes. "Ash met his Galarian Articuno in Johto when she appeared by teleport from Galar and crashed into the ground next to us. That's… actually not nearly the last time Legendary Pokémon have rained down from the sky around him."

"Hey, should I do the referee thing?" Lily checked.

"That would be great," Misty agreed. "Okay, Ash, send out your Pokémon!"

Ash sent out Croconaw, who waved happily.

"Great to see you all!" he announced.

"I will be honest, I'm surprised you haven't evolved yet," Gyarados said. "How long is it you've been a Croconaw?"

"About as long as you've been with Misty," Croconaw shrugged. "I might, some day, or I might not. Anyway, let's begin!"

Both Water-types looked at Lily.

"Oh, right," Lily said. "Begin!"

"Tail Slap!" Misty called, and Gyarados flicked his tail across to try and slam Croconaw into the wall.

The agile Water-type sprang smoothly over it, doing a double front-flip before landing, and started to do a smooth dance – one which incorporated a quick ducking motion, as Gyarados swept his tail back across the other way.

"Gyarados, use blaaa!" Misty instructed.

"What kind of move is-" Sophocles began, then shaded his eyes as Gyarados spat out an intense jet of light and energy. "Whoa!"

When the blast faded, though, revealing a smoking hole in the wall, Croconaw was still dancing.

"Okay, that was a Conversion 2," Misty decided. "Just our bad luck he got Ghost, I guess… right! Let's try something new, Acrobatics!"

Gyarados did a double-backflip, which hit Croconaw on the second flip and launched him up towards the ceiling.

"Hydro Pump up!" Ash called out, and Croconaw fired a blast of water upwards which braked his original momentum. A deft Conversion move also changed him back to Water-type, so instead of flying right through the gym ceiling he stopped himself and clapped his hands twice.

A cloud of petals rose up around him, shielding him from view, then expanded out to cover half of the gym.

"So the way that low level gym challenges work can be as simple as relying on type advantages!" Ash told the Alolans. "At that point it's like it's checking you understand the basics and that you can work with your Pokémon – the Pokémon who get used are weaker and the gym leader's more willing to forgive mistakes. Then as you get more badges, the Pokémon get tougher and so you need to have either stronger Pokémon or better tactics."

"Ice Beam that Petal Dance!" Misty said.

"Dive!" Ash retorted. "And when you get right up to the top level, Gym Leaders usually have lots of cool tricks they can use!"

Croconaw was still dancing around underwater, and Misty frowned for a moment before nodding. "Underwater, then use Hurricane!"

"Conversion 2!" Ash called. "Then Revelation Dance, let's see what it is!"

"Ulp!" Misty called, spotting Croconaw making a pair of pom-poms, and dove for her Key Stone.

Gyarados Mega-Evolved into Mega Gyarados, and the burst of electricity hit him hard but not as hard as it would have done if he'd still been Flying-type. Meanwhile the Hurricane flung Croconaw onto the ceiling again, where he left a dent.

"Victory Dance!" Ash said. "Sometimes Gym Leaders set extra conditions on their battles, like saying you have to only use Pokémon who haven't fully evolved, or Pokémon who are immune to something, while if a trainer's mostly using new Pokémon even if he's already got loads of badges they can tone their challenge down a bit to properly judge the trainer-Pokémon combination."

Croconaw spun away from a Hyper Beam Mega Gyarados blasted his way, then Ash snapped his fingers as Mega Gyarados recharged.

"Conversion yourself!" he said. "And Revelation Dance!"

"Use Blaaa again!" Misty called.

"Okay, Swagger!" Ash said quickly.

Mega Gyarados inhaled, looked briefly confused, forgot to exhale, and the Hyper Beam detonated in his mouth. Then Croconaw hit him with a dance that involved several high kicks.

"Acrobatics!" Misty countered, and Mega Gyarados did a double backflip.

Still confused, he launched both Pokémon smoothly through the roof.

"...huh," Misty said, as water rained down all around the arena. "Well, I guess maybe we should get the plumbers in after all?"

"This keeps happening," Daisy complained. "Last time you used your Psyduck in a gym challenge he set the pool on fire."

Ash jumped to catch Mega Gyarados as he landed, and Croconaw splashed smoothly back down in the pool.

"I think Croconaw and I got our stage directions mixed up," Mega Gyarados speculated.

"Hang on, I'll get Arc to fix the damage," Ash said. "It's only fair!"

"Ash!" Brock said the next day, opening the door to Pewter Gym. "Arc warned us you were coming! Then Misty complained that you hadn't warned her you were coming."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Ash admitted, as the Dragonite they'd flown over on unfolded a board and started setting up the cards.

"What is that?" Togedemaru asked. Sophocles took the hint from her upraised arms and picked her up, lifting her higher so she could get a better view, but it didn't seem to help much.

"Oh, I recognize that one," Ash said, leaning over to look himself. "It's called Penultimate Pokémon Trainer. The idea is, there's a Pokémon trainer going around doing all these amazing things like fighting to save Legendary Pokémon or beating whole criminal gangs, and the players are all following him around cleaning up afterwards."

"That sounds vaguely familiar," Zygarde declared.

"Yeah, the designers asked me for suggestions," Pikachu said. "I changed a lot of the details though because that way there's actual mess to clear up most of the time."

Ash nodded. "Yeah, I remember the meetings about it… I didn't really follow all of it, but Dragonite did, so I was happy about it!"

He turned back to the Alolans. "So! This is Pewter Gym, and it's not quite like Cerulean Gym for a few reasons. One of them is that, while it's also got lots of Gym Leaders, they're not all specialists in the same Type."

"Ash is right!" Brock confirmed. "Most of us are Rock type specialists, but my mom is a Water type trainer first and foremost."

Brock's eldest brother Forrest leaned out of the door. "And Brock's more of an everything specialist anyway," he added.

"I'm not-" Brock began, but Forrest began counting off on his fingers.

"Let's just go with the Pokémon that aren't gym Pokémon, right?" Forrest said. "Onix, Rock and Ground. Geodude, Rock and Ground."

"Wait, is that a Kantonian Geodude?" Kiawe asked.

"Yeah, actually," Forrest agreed, glancing over at him. "So far, two Rock and two Ground. Crobat… Poison and Flying."

"I am the night," Crobat said, leaning down from the door.

"Are you sure that's not Zacian, Crobat?" Ash frowned.

"Bulbasaur, Grass and Poison," Forrest resumed. "Eevee, well… more than half the type chart, she's kind of like that. Vulpix is Fire. Forretress is Bug and Steel."

"Oh!" Snowy said. "It'd be nice to meet another Kantonian Vulpix who's grown up here. Lokoko's nice but she's a bit… intimidating."

"Then Lombre is Grass and Water, Mudkip's Water, Swablu is Normal and Flying and Sudowoodo's pure Rock," Forrest finished. "So… if you don't count Eevee, that's three Rock, two Ground, two Grass, two Poison, two Flying, two Water…"

"All right, all right, you've made your point," Brock said, with a sigh. "I'm supposed to be a Rock type trainer, but that's not really how it worked out…"

He brightened. "Anyway, it's great to have you. What about if you come inside, and you can meet the whole family!"

This took some time.

"Normally a gym has to have at least one person who can handle eight badge challenges," Ash said, as they went into the main room of Pewter Gym. "Pewter's really lucky to have so many, but you need at least one. But there's usually more trainers who are looking for easier battles than looking for harder ones… can you see why?"

"Uh…" Lillie said, frowning.

Sophocles was the one to raise his hand first.

"It's because not everyone completes the Gym Challenge, right?" he asked. "So, if everyone tries for their first badge, but not everyone tries for their last badge, there's more people out there trying for their first badge. If a thousand people a year did the first badge, and only a couple of hundred got as far as doing the last one, you'd have five times as many challengers for the first badge."

"Yeah, exactly!" Ash agreed. "Which is why you sometimes have junior gym leaders or gym leaders who do smaller challenges, like Forrest is at the moment. If he has to do a harder challenge he can use some of the Gym Pokémon, though."

Lana put her hand up. "You've said Gym Pokémon a couple of times. What are they?"

"That's the Pokémon which aren't part of any of our main teams," Brock provided. "It's all right to move Pokémon around between the gym leaders, for a specific challenge, but it's usually better to use a gym Pokémon instead of one that's specifically worked mainly with a different trainer."

"There isn't anything like that in Alola, I don't think," Turtonator said. "Or if there is, I don't remember it."

"I think the Kahunas can sometimes call on the Totem Pokémon," Kiawe frowned. "But I don't know if that includes for trials."

"But there's two reasons why we're here, apart from meeting my friend Brock and his team!" Ash resumed. "Firstly, because it's a great chance for you to get a go at gym battles yourselves… we were going to do that at Cerulean but there were too many holes in the gym… and second, after that, I'd like to do a Contest demonstration!"

"Ooh, that sounds fun!" Eevee said, bouncing on her paws and floating into the air. "Wait, who's it going to be exactly?"

"I think that's one of the things that Brock's supposed to work out," Vulpix pointed out to her teammate.

"Well, that was interesting," Forrest's Rhyperior said, towelling himself down with Geodude's help. "I did not expect a water attack quite that powerful from a little Popplio."

"That's Z moves for you, you dig?" Geodude replied. "I've only seen one a couple of times before, but it was quite a thing… mind you, a few years ago I got shocked by a little Pikachu."

The Rock-type rubbed the towel over again, floated back a bit for a look, then nodded. "Yeah, I think that's most of it."

He turned to the arena. "And, hey, at least this place can flood for the mom-ster's battles, so the drainage isn't a big deal."

"Maybe what we need now is for that Turtonator to go again," Rhyperior speculated. "That would deal with some of the water."

"I don't think Kiawe's Turtonator can go again," Brock replied. "At least, not without getting completely dizzy."

He turned back to the Alolan class. "All right, is that everyone who wants to take part? Or is there someone who hasn't tried out a gym battle yet?"

Mallow held up her hand.

"I've got a question," she said. "Have you tried the potion? What did you end up as?"

Brock looked faintly embarrassed. "...yes," he admitted. "Apparently it's part of my basic makeup that I handled a lot of the map reading while I was travelling with Ash."

"Why?" Lana said. "Is there a map reading Pokémon?"

"He was a Nosepass," Forrest supplied. "I'm just afraid to find out if one of us comes out as a Deino."

"If you've got all those brothers and sisters, how old do they have to be before they can start working in the gym?" Lillie asked. "Is there a rule about it?"

"I don't think there's a rule," Ash said, frowning. "I've met some really young gym leaders, younger than you normally have to be to go on a Pokémon journey. I think it's more about skill than age that's whether someone can be a gym leader… I know they didn't ask how old any of my Dragonite were when they took over Gym Leading for a bit, mostly back in Unova! And Clembot was less than a year old as Lumiose City Gym Leader…"

He shrugged. "If my friend N was here we could ask him what the rules were."

"He would cite the wrong rule, but correctly," Arc agreed.

"Right!" Ash said. "Now, for that Contest battle… Brock, I'd like you to meet my Lycanroc!"

"Oh, that should be-" Brock said, then stopped as he caught sight of Ash's Lycanroc. "Ash, did you do it again?"

"That depends what it is!" Ash answered. "If you mean evolving a Pokémon in a way nobody knew could happen, yes, twice in the last week."

He crouched down, and ran his hand along Lycanroc's polished mane. "But that just means people didn't know about it, so it's a new discovery and that's great! We think they're a Dusk Form Lycanroc, because they evolved right at dusk, and I should probably ask Dawn to meet a Rockruff some time and see if she discovers a Dawn Form!"

"I wonder what a Dawn Form Lycanroc would be like," Lycanroc said, sitting down and putting a paw to their chin.

"They might be Electric-type," Ash guessed. "Okay, so, there's two parts to a Contest and we've already seen the Appeal side back in Alola, so this is going to be the Battle side. It's a lot like a normal battle, but there's also points for spectacle… so if one Pokémon is really tough and just takes a hit, and another Pokémon's much weaker but blocks the attack in a new and pretty way, the second Pokémon is going to do much better!"

"This should be interesting!" Mr. Contesta said. "It's not every day we take part in a demonstration Contest!"

"Indeed!" Mr. Sukizo agreed. "And what a remarkable cross-cultural event it is, demonstrating the Contest to Alola!"

Professor Kukui leaned on the desk. "I hope we're going to see some impressive use of moves, so that Contest battles make a good First Impression on my students!"

Contesta gave him a puzzled look. "Shouldn't you be a Joy?"

"She's dealing with too many hayfever cases at the moment," Kukui answered.

"Who are these guys?" Sophocles said.

"They're Contest Judges," Vulpix told them. "I don't get why, but it's pretty much always those two guys next to your Pokémon Professor when it's a Contest."

"All right, let's get this started!" Ash said. "Lycanroc, ready?"

"Ready!" they confirmed.

"Begin!" Mr. Sukizo invited.

"Stealth Rocks, Lycanroc!" Ash instructed.

Lycanroc made a whirling cloud of rocks, jumping up onto one, then another, then jumped off the second one to float in the middle of the cloud. Onix used Rock Throw, but Lycanroc zipped to the side a little and one of their rocks collided with Onix's rock to divert it.

"So, that's some points for Ash!" Mr. Contesta explained. "You see, Lycanroc's move is impressive, and they were able to deflect away Onix's attack."

"Dragon Breath infusion!" Brock retorted, and Onix slammed his tail into the ground. This time, a rock rose up for Rock Throw, but Onix breathed on it to light it up with fizzing purple and yellow fire. He bounced it twice, then hit it with a whack to send it rocketing towards Lycanroc.

It went through one of the gaps in the Stealth Rock cloud, then exploded in a cloud of Dragonbreath, and Lycanroc dropped before catching themselves on a Stealth Rock and kicking off from it again.

"While that is points for Brock!" Sukizo said helpfully. "That remarkable attack was a display of innovation, and it got through, plus of course Onix made a lovely production of it."

"Send out some Rock Throws," Ash decided. "Jump to each one, then curve them in!"

Lycanroc did as instructed, switching from outright flying around to jumping from rock to rock in mid-air, and each one they kicked off from curved through the air to come at Onix from a random-seeming direction.

"Dig!" Brock decided. "Hide somewhere Lycanroc won't notice you!"

Onix coiled, sprang into the air, and did a dive into the gym floor.

"Oh, now, this is interesting," Contesta said helpfully. "You see, that gains points, but staying underground for too long loses points. Let's see what Brock has planned."

"Ooh, I recognize this!" Eevee realized, then put her paws over her muzzle.

"Lycanroc, let's have some more Stealth Rocks!" Ash decided. "Take away the whole gym floor if you can! Let's not leave Onix anywhere to hide!"

The whole gym trembled, and Lycanroc lifted up layer after layer of rocks and stones from the gym floor.

Then one of them used Flash Cannon on Lycanroc.

"That was really cool!" Ash said, helping to lift Lycanroc out of the pile of stones that had resulted when their Stealth Rock cut out. "That was Autotomize, right?"

"That's right," Brock agreed. "Forretress taught Onix how to use it. It's a great surprise to everyone!"

There was a click-click-click as Onix reconnected himself, his head joining to his other body segments one by one until he'd been fully reconnected. "It's a bit disorienting, though," the Rock-type admitted.

"Sorry, Ash," Lycanroc said, shaking their head a bit to clear away the dizziness. "Is my fur okay?"

"Looks just fine to me!" Ash assured them. "That Rock Polish really did the job!"

"So… being knocked out means you lose a Contest battle, right?" Sophocles checked.

"So long as the points don't decide the battle first," Mr. Contesta confirmed.

AN:

Special much-longer-than-normal Kanto field trip update!

Featuring lots of discussion of regional forms, an example of how to use Acid Armour for very mundane reasons, and Onix doing a thing mostly found in the manga.