Croagunk said that he was interested in finding out what travelling with a trainer was like, and that sticking around for a bit would be fine by him.
"Though I didn't know you'd be able to understand me," he added. "My belief is that it's completely the other way around and that humans can't understand Pokémon."
"They can't, usually," Lokoko told him. "That's my work."
She waved a tail. "I'm teaching Rapidash. He's a quick study."
Croagunk flexed his shoulders.
"So… is there anything else I need to know about how this group of trainers is different?" he asked.
Pikachu whistled.
"Where do I begin?" he mused.
"You could begin with asking Croagunk how many Legendary Pokémon he's familiar with," Whitney suggested.
"I'm… how is that relevant?" Croagunk said. "None of them?"
"Then that seems like the first thing to change!" Ash replied, crouching down. He held out his hands, and Zygarde loped over to jump into them.
Straightening, Ash held Zygarde out to Croagunk. "This is Zygarde! They're a Legendary Pokémon who I think is technically from Kalos, or possibly everywhere."
"Le Woof," Zygarde told them.
"Are you doing them in reverse alphabetical order?" Croagunk said.
"Loath as I am to admit it, this is amusing," Aten chuckled.
Ash was still going through the list of his Pokémon for Croagunk – it had taken him quite a while to get out of Z, but he was now on L which was also quite well populated – when there was a bing sound from Whitney's direction.
"Oh, huh!" she said. "Hold on a moment."
The Gym Leader rummaged in her pocket, fishing out a phone, and checked it. "Yep, I got a text."
"What is that?" Stantler asked, flickering into visibility for a moment so they could see where his hoof was pointing. "A small thing you keep in your pocket which goes bing?"
"That's a phone, all right," Whitney agreed. "So the idea is, someone somewhere a long way away can send me a message. This time it's from the people who are running my gym while I'm away."
"Oh, how's that going?" Ash asked. "I ran Jasmine's gym for a bit while she was getting help for her Ampharos."
"Yeah, she told me about that," Whitney agreed. "She said you were great! Anyway, uh… so there was a gym battle with someone with a Haunter who was trying to exploit type immunity, but I guess they hadn't heard that Normal types can know other moves, or that gyms don't have to be strictly typed… it might have worked against some Skitty. But just them."
"So, I assume that trainer didn't get the Plain Badge?" Pikachu asked.
"Not this time," Whitney confirmed. "And… huh! Anyone up for an errand? Apparently there's a summer house around here with a Pokémon in it."
"I am completely lost," Croagunk said. "A summer house? Is that… a house that you live in when it's warm, but then you leave it and live outdoors when it's cold?"
He scratched his head. "That's completely against how houses work, unless I'm misunderstanding the very concept."
"I think a summer house is the sort of thing a rich person has," Dawn guessed. "It's so you can stay somewhere like Sinnoh when the weather's nice, then go somewhere else and avoid the winters. And the winters here can be cold."
"If it does get snowy, I'd probably have Ho-Oh or Articuno help out," Ash said, thinking out loud. "Or just let Froslass enjoy it."
"How would an Articuno help with cold?" Croagunk asked.
"You know, I'm surprised you're not asking some of these questions," Rapidash said.
Stantler flickered. "He's doing such a good job of it though."
After visiting the summer house, and picking up a Carnivine – who was promptly sent back to Goldenrod Gym by Ibid – they got back on the road to Jubilife.
"Am I going to be expected to remember all of the Dragonite?" Croagunk asked. "I appreciate that you got their names right, it's quite a linguistic feat for a human. But I'm afraid they are blurring together a bit."
"I think it's okay to ask," Bayleef said. "If it helps."
"And that means we've got to the last one on the list," Ash said, and picked Aten off his bag.
He held the Normal/Ghost type out in both hands, heedless of the annoyed growling. "He's a different sort of Zorua, but his name is Aten and he's an ancient king who got reincarnated by Ho-Oh."
"That is… you have a very strange life," Croagunk decided.
"Well, Aten is at least the fourth person who got reincarnated by Ho-Oh since I started my adventure," Ash admitted, using one hand to put Aten back on his backpack. "So I'm not sure how strange it really is if it happens that much. But Rayquaza's the only other one who travels with me."
"At least the fourth?" Pikachu checked.
"Well, one, I might have missed one," Ash explained. "I have met Uxie a couple of times. And two, I don't know what Ho-Oh does when he's not with me. I know Xerneas doesn't count though."
"True," Pikachu admitted. "So, Croagunk, what moves do you know?"
"I'd just learned Parting Shot, but it seems to be a bit… strange," Croagunk said. "Apart from that, Poison Jab and Brick Break."
"That's a pretty good start, but I guess your biggest problem would be with Psychic types," Ash mused.
"That was the point of Parting Shot," Croagunk said. "But it doesn't actually seem to be a damaging move, so more fool me I suppose."
Ash thought about that. "Well, you could always learn Beat Up, or Foul Play?"
"Why are you teaching more Pokémon Dark type moves?" Aten asked. "You know I'm Ghost and Normal type."
"They're because the other Pokémon can use those moves to battle more effectively," Ash told him.
"Yes, but those are other Pokémon," Aten sniffed. "And the more Dark type moves are known about, the worse it is for me specifically."
"I think it's too late to make people forget about Dark type moves," Ash shrugged. "You'd need Uxie to do it, and even then I think the memory wipe is Psychic based so all the Dark types would remember it."
He considered. "Or you could learn Detect, as well, that helps you dodge…"
"Okay, let's give it a try," Ninetales suggested. "Ready?"
She flicked her tails. "Now."
"Is this working?" Rapidash asked, his horn lighting up slightly. "One two. One two."
"That's great, Rapidash!" Whitney enthused. "I can understand you now!"
She pointed. "Hey, Stantler, you say something! That way we can test it further."
"Something, that way we can test it further," Stantler dutifully repeated.
Whitney giggled. "That's great! I'd never have got that pun without your help, Rapidash!"
"It's a worthwhile use of psychic power," Rapidash said. "Because what's friendship if it's not being able to laugh about something with a friend?"
"Zorua usually says friendship is being able to beat someone up with the help of over sixty friends," Ash contributed. "Fifteen of whom are Legendary Pokémon."
"Hmm," Rapidash considered. "I'll allow it!"
Dawn giggled.
"Can he actually do that?" she asked.
"It's Beat Up!" Whitney told her. "I saw it when he did it at the Silver Conference."
"And three, and two, and one, and… there we go!" Dawn said. "Well done, Piplup!"
The Water-type stopped spinning, slowly descended to ground level, and bowed.
"That's looking good," Ash said. "Uh… actually, Ibid, do you know if the rules for Contests are different in Sinnoh to what I'm used to?"
"Competitors are expected to dress up," Ibid told him. "That's the humans, not the Pokémon. Pokémon can dress up, but they don't have to."
"I guess I'll stick with Piplup being as he is, at least for now," Dawn decided.
"In addition, it is not required for the same Pokémon to do the Appeal and Battle rounds," Ibid added. "Some Contests are double battles."
"Oh, so they can complement one another!" Whitney said. "That's neat. It's kind of… the more advanced theories of being cute."
"Advanced theories?" Ash repeated. "Is that like with Regigigas?"
"That's part of it," Whitney concurred. "But there's complementary styles, as well. So Piplup's got a very tuxedo-ish feel, which is great because that's honestly adorable, but at the same time he's got a grace-based style at the moment. All twirls and spins. It's juxtaposition, see? So you could have a Pokémon who's the opposite, and who looks graceful but battles with power first and foremost… and a lot of that is about how a Pokémon acts, but in this case how they look is about appearance."
Dawn nodded, following along. "So… what kind of thing would fit with Piplup, again?"
"A Pokémon who was all cute and fluffy!" Whitney said.
"Like this?" Dawn replied, holding up a Buneary.
"Yep!" Whitney confirmed. "That's a cute Buneary, all right!"
Dawn turned the startled Normal-type around. "What do you think? Want to join in Contests?"
Buneary blinked a few times. "Umm… this is a bit of an unusual audition…"
When they finally reached Jubilife City, Dawn got herself a Pokétch and got herself registered as a Coordinator.
That also involved getting an outfit, something which Whitney helped with, and then Dawn ran into someone who was already an experienced Coordinator not long before the Jubilife Contest.
"Something about you looks familiar…" the girl said, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, I get it! You look like Johanna! Has anyone ever told you that before?"
Dawn went red. "That's my mom's name…"
"Oh, wow, you're Johanna's kid?" the girl asked. "That's cool. What's your name? Mine's Zoey."
"Dawn," Dawn said. "And, I… really kind of hope you don't end up remembering me as 'Johanna's kid'."
Zoey blinked. "Yeah, wow, now I think of it that was kind of insensitive. Sorry!"
"That's today's lesson!" Rapidash declared.
The Coordinator did a double take. "Did you just say something?"
"No," Rapidash told her, seriously.
Whitney patted him on the neck.
"So, uh… anyway, good luck in the Contest?" Zoey tried, rallying. "I guess it's your first time… don't worry about it, just do your best."
Dawn and Piplup did their best, which involved a whirlwind of water and ice.
"I knew it!" Mr. Sukizo said, in the judging panel. "I told you, Raoul, Xatu are perfect for people in our position!"
"All right," Contesta agreed. "I suppose this means we're commuting between Johto and Sinnoh."
"Exactly!" Sukizo confirmed.
For the Battle Round, meanwhile, Dawn used her new Buneary.
The Normal-type had started out already knowing Bounce and Ice Beam, and combining the two gave her a trick which drew audible gasps from the crowd – breathing out a quick flare of Ice Beam which detonated under her feet, giving her just enough of a platform to Bounce off in mid-air and letting her fling herself around the arena at high speed.
Buneary's opponent for her Battle Round debut was none other than Nando's Roselia, and the Grass-type didn't let Buneary have it all her own way – he even performed literally in concert with Nando, with Nando using his harp to play notes that acted as battle signals without actually alerting Buneary what they were up to.
"Buneary, keep moving!" Dawn called. "Do a flip – and – wait, I know! Freeze your paws!"
Buneary Bounced again, did a forwards tuck-and-roll, and used Ice Beam – freezing the cottony puffs on her hindpaws, producing larger puffs of frozen snow and fur around them.
"Now, keep them pointed towards Roselia!" Dawn added, as Roselia used Solar Beam again.
The Solar Beam hit the frozen puffs, sending rainbow light refracting all around the Contest Hall instead of doing any actual damage, and there was a ripple of applause.
"Dive down on him!" Dawn said quickly, and Buneary did a flip. Halfway through the flip she kicked, hard – sending a blast of ice flying in the other direction – then flipped the rest of the way and used Ice Beam at the same time, slamming Roselia into the ground and Bouncing off.
"That was fun!" Whitney said. "Don't you think so?"
"Yeah, that was a good trick!" Ash agreed. "I guess Bayleef's going to have to work out how to counter it, now."
"Ooh, yeah, good point!" Whitney agreed, nodding. "Counter-counters like that are tricky. Right, Chatot?"
"It's half what you taught me," Chatot chirped. "Maybe more."
"And it looks like… yep, she's going through," Ash added. "Which means she's going up against Zoey next."
Zoey's Contest Pokémon, a Glameow, turned out to know Iron Tail.
She also turned out to be an absolute monster with it, spinning her tail around to gain momentum before delivering a powerful attack one minute and whirling it as a defensive move the next. Then she wrapped her tail around Buneary's leg and flicked the Normal-type into the air, which was something Buneary could recover from but which lost Dawn points anyway.
What really became more of a problem though was that Glameow also knew Shadow Claw. That didn't actually hit Buneary, but it meant that Glameow could slice away at the ice formed by Buneary's attacks and flick it back at the Normal-type – which was the same kind of reversal that had won Dawn her battle against Nando, and in this case when the time ran out it was a narrow loss.
"That was really good work, Buneary," Dawn told her Pokémon afterwards. "And you too, Piplup – I guess we'll just have to get better!"
"You're right," Buneary agreed. "What do you think I should learn, though?"
Dawn thought.
"Well, Mega Lopunny are Fighting-type…"
AN:
Dawn's fitting in well.