"So what is the best way to work out who fits on your team?" Dawn asked. "I've only seen a few trainers so far, but… every Pokémon on Whitney's team seems to fit really well with her, and I'm not quite sure how it's possible but Ash's ridiculously varied team just seems to gel together."

Ash hummed.

"I think I know!" Keldeo said, because he was walking with them for now after an offer of lunch. "It's because all the Pokémon who are on Ash's team want to be there, and because of that they all share that – and that's enough to be going on with."

"That's got to be part of it," Ash agreed. "But if you want to work out who is a good fit on your team, when you meet them… for me it's always been that a Pokémon wants to be part of what you've already got. Or, really early on, it was mostly because they were friends anyway… and yeah, your Pokémon wanting to be there is a great start to that."

"For me it's because they're really cute," Whitney said. "But you already knew that! And fortunately for me there's a lot of really cute Pokémon out there."

"It helps to have a wide interpretation of cute," Pikachu said. "Like, say, a Pokémon who has repeatedly said he wants you dead."

"But he's so adorable when he does it!" Whitney answered. "And his annoyance at being told that only makes it stronger!"

"I'm planning on learning Frustration, you know!" Aten said, from atop Ash's bag. "My annoyance will only make me stronger! Once I've learned it!"

"So what about me?" Dawn said. "A lot of Contests do double battles, so I know I don't want to have just Piplup, but I'm not really sure who would fit with him yet."

"I think… just about any pair of Pokémon can do well in a double battle, unless there's some kind of really massive incompatibility," Ash decided. "Like a Vaporeon and a Pokémon with Storm Drain, that would have a big… though I guess maybe the Vaporeon could use it like a slingshot? Anyway, uh, apart from things like that in principle any two Pokémon can work together… so it really is about what gels with you."

"This is correct," Zygarde said.

They looked up at the distant bulk of Mt. Coronet. "As an advance notice, I will probably want to be in Ash's backpack again when we are in the mountains. It looks cold."

"I've heard it's really cold, yeah," Dawn said. "And magnetic."

She flicked through her Pokédex. "Hmm… electric types… I guess you've got a Pikachu, right Ash?"

"And Zapdos and Raikou," Ash agreed. "Plus Purrloin's got Lightning Rod, and there's whatever Mew is because Dracozolt was Electric type."

"Ooh, you've got an unusual Purrloin?" Whitney asked. "I'd love to see them if you get a chance!"

"I'm sure we will," Ash said. "Actually, Keldeo, you could get some practice in with Purrloin! She's got a scythe-tail and a bit of a different style to Zacian, it's more tail-heavy."

"That sounds like a bit of fun around lunch," Keldeo agreed.

"Uhh…" someone said, uncertainly. "Are… they your Pokémon?"

He blinked a few times. "They're really weird."

"Just Pikachu and Lokoko," Ash said. "Keldeo's visiting, Piplup's Dawn's, Rapidash is Whitney's, and Zygarde and Aten are just tagging along for now! So is Marshadow but I don't know if you can see him."

"And I thought the guy with the harp would be the weirdest thing I saw today," the trainer admitted. "I don't know what half of those were, and if that's a Rapidash then it's not like any Rapidash I've ever seen."

"I got him specially from Galar!" Whitney explained, as the Fairy-type trotted up. "Isn't he just the best?"

"...I actually meant the other one," the trainer said.

"No, my name's Keldeo!" Keldeo said. "It's the same name as other Keldeo, if there are other Keldeo, you'd think I'd have a positive answer to that question by now but maybe they're just teleporting all over the world too. I know it's how I've learned a lot!"

Not long after that, they met the man with the harp.

The harp in question was Mew-shaped, which Mew was immediately impressed by – popping up out of nowhere to admire it, and then examine it more closely, before saying that it had made him look a bit too plump around the tail.

"That's so it can support the strings, revered one," Nando said.

Mew laughed. Ooh, revered one! I'll have to remember that, because, it's very polite of you so thanks but it really isn't me.

"Hey, I can revere you," Ash said. "Isn't that that guy who rode around giving warnings?"

"Oh, I've heard of that," Keldeo mused. "I think it's an Unovan story?"

"That's where I remember it from," Ash realized. "You told me once!"

"That explains it!" Keldeo agreed.

Nando smiled. "Well, I'm glad to have met you, Mew. And you as well, Ash Ketchum – you're a skilled trainer, after all – but I was wondering if you could give me some advice. You see, I'm not sure whether to challenge Pokémon Gyms or Contests."

"Both!" Whitney said immediately. "There is literally nothing stopping you from doing both!"

The minstrel considered that. "That… is true, yes."

He sent out his Budew. "I don't suppose we could have a battle anyway? I wanted to see how I fit better."

"That sounds like a chance for Piplup to have his first battle," Ash suggested. "And I'll use Turtwig!"

Nando's Budew was quite the skilled combatant, turning out to know Sunny Day, Bullet Seed, Solar Beam and Mega Drain. That meant that he could knock Piplup around with powerful Grass moves, and though Piplup used a halfway-there Whirlwind to defend himself it wasn't enough and he got knocked out.

Then it was Turtwig's turn, and the two Grass-types proved unable to do much damage to one another… at least until Budew evolved into Roselia, and Turtwig got poisoned.

Torkoal sent himself out. "Turtwig!"

"Torkoal!" Turtwig replied, looking back.

"Remember, you can get fired up!" Torkoal said. "Feel your strength!"

"Yes, Torkoal!" Turtwig agreed, and started to glow green. "Overgrow!"

Then he hit Roselia with a Bite, which exploded for no adequately explained reason.

"I'm not exactly an expert on Pokémon," Dawn began, as the dust cloud spread. "But doesn't Overgrow only affect Grass type moves?"

"That's what everyone says," Ash agreed. "But I tend to think that if a Pokémon does something that should be impossible, they know more about whether it's possible than I do!"

Nando chuckled, as the smoke cleared and revealed that Roselia was now out of the battle. "I suppose that's a good point."

He shook Ash's hand. "Good battle."

Then Turtwig fell over.

"Maybe we should have lunch now?" Ash suggested. "Dragonite, can we have something with Pecha berries this time?"

Mew got bored halfway through lunch and left, then Keldeo teleported away as well, and by the middle of the afternoon they were back on the road while Dawn assured Piplup that she knew he still had a lot to learn and that it was all about a learning experience.

"That's the idea, right?" she added.

"That's how I think of it," Ash nodded. "In a battle, either you learn something that works or you learn something that doesn't… it's the same as a gym leader, right?"

"Right!" Whitney said. "But it's a bit different as a Gym Leader, because you're trying to give juuust the right amount of challenge! Miltank is really really good at that, she can be a really tricky challenge for even an experienced trainer or she can be a puzzle that a trainer can beat if they think about battling."

She giggled. "There was one trainer who took four tries to realize that he could have his Pokémon dodge out of the way of Miltank's Rollout! I felt a bit bad about that one but he had to learn the lesson some time, and you can bet he'll remember it now!"

"I like to look at a battle and try to work out what I did right and what I did wrong," Pikachu contributed. "There's always more to learn."

"I know what I want to learn is a move that works on Grass-types," Piplup huffed. "Without having to get close, ideally."

Pikachu tilted his head, then jumped up on Ash's head, then used it as a springboard to jump into the air.

"Surf!" he said, giving himself a bit more height, then dismissed the board again and dropped back down.

"There's a forest ahead," he said. "Is that on the map?"

"Let's see," Ash said, checking it. "Uh… Bewilder Forest, it says. Ibid?"

"Pokémon known to live in Bewilder Forest," Ibid said. "Stantler. Pokémon suspected to live in Bewilder Forest: A much longer list but nobody is sure because of all the Stantler."

"Stantler are cute," Whitney mused. "And Normal type, too, which matters according to some people."

"This place is stupid," Paul said.

He looked at his Pokédex, then around at the trees.

"Oh, hi!" Ash called, and Paul turned.

"You again," he said.

"That's right," Ash agreed. "Have you seen any Stantler?"

Paul gave him a look. "How would I possibly know that? I keep seeing Pokémon who aren't there. Or not seeing Pokémon who are there… I did get an Ursaring out of it, though."

"Hmm…" Whitney said, thinking. "Ursaring can be cute, but I'd prefer a Teddiursa. They are cute… though it really depends on the Ursaring! So I guess I wouldn't mind one if it was the right sort of Ursaring."

She nodded, glad to have sorted that out.

"Well, if you just want a way out of the forest, then we can probably help," Ash suggested. "I could use Noctowl, he's got Foresight, or Zorua's a Dark type…"

"Absol is also a Dark type," Pikachu pointed out. "Didn't Mew get you spare doses?"

"Yeah, that's true," Ash admitted.

Whitney grinned. "Oh, yeah,now that was cool! Looking forward to when that happens again!"

"Should I understand what you're talking about?" Paul asked.

"Honestly… I don't, but I'm looking forward to," Dawn replied.

"I have an alternative solution," Zygarde announced. "I am able to track our position by reference to Cells both inside and outside the forest. May I see the map?"

Ash unfolded it, and Zygarde looked for about five seconds before nodding.

"North is this way," they said. "This will take us out."

"Thanks, Zygarde!" Ash said. "Coming, Paul?"

"There," Zygarde said, about an hour later. "We have reached the edge of the forest."

"That's great," Ash said. "You don't mind pats, right?"

"Pats are acceptable," Zygarde confirmed.

Ash crouched down, giving the canine Dragon-type a pat and a stroke, and Zygarde closed their eyes and smiled in response.

"That's so sweet," Whitney said. "Don't you think so?"

"I don't really understand why you did it that way," Paul replied. "Doesn't Ash have more than one Dragonite? Couldn't you have just flown?"

"Well, we could," Ash agreed, standing upright again. "We could do a lot of things! But the point of travelling around isn't to get there, it's to go there."

"...I think I missed where you were going with that," Dawn admitted. "Can you explain a bit more?"

"Well, getting somewhere is only half the reason I travel," Ash explained. "If I really wanted to get somewhere really fast, I could just ask Hoopa or Mew."

"Hoopa is happy to help!" Hoopa agreed, making Paul jump as a golden ring appeared next to him. "Or Hoopa is ambivalent about helping. Sometimes Hoopa does not want to help. It depends how Hoopa feels and when Hoopa last had a good sleep. And if Hoopa was having a good sleep before someone woke Hoopa up."

The Psychic-type gave a thumbs-up. "Hoopa is on the whole happy to help, generally speaking!"

"But just appearing somewhere means you don't get the chance to meet friends along the way," Ash elaborated. "Human friends or Pokémon friends. Like Stantler!"

"Stantler?" Paul repeated, now lost in a different way to the way he'd been lost a short while ago. "What do you mean?"

Whitney patted thin air. "This guy! He wanted to come along and see what was going on, then Lokoko mentioned some of the things that happen around Ash and he was really interested! He's such a cute little guy!"

She paused. "Or girl. I've been assuming guy, hopefully that's correct."

"Forsooth," Stantler said, shimmering briefly into visibility.

"I never actually understood what forsooth meant," Dawn said. "It just seems like one of those words people say to sound old."

Ash rubbed his chin. "I guess we could ask Zacian? I bet she knows, I haven't asked how old she is but I think it's lots."

He reached down to his belt, trying to choose who to switch out for Zacian, then frowned. "Huh. There's an extra one here."

Tapping it, Ash sent out a Croagunk.

"...wow," Croagunk said, blinking. "I think that's the first time I've nearly been knocked out by my Anticipation ability."

"How come you're here in the first place?" Pikachu checked. "Because I'm pretty sure I'd remember if you'd joined us in the normal way."

"That is an excellent question," Croagunk admitted. "I know I used Parting Shot, but after that it's a bit of a blur."

Paul had left, not wanting to stay involved with any of this.

AN:

It's hard to blame Paul on that one.