"So, I should ask," Ash said. "Is it allowed to wait to pick a number so you get matched up with a particular trainer?"
The organizers of the Tag Battle Tournament looked confused.
"I… guess there isn't anything against it," one of them admitted. "Mostly because it shouldn't be possible, because they're assigned randomly. It's not really the point, though."
"Yeah, that's fair," Ash conceded. "I guess I'll just take one of the numbers and see what happens."
"You're just upset because it means you can't necessarily enter alongside Whitney and have a reversed-Pokemon-trainer-relationship double battle," Pikachu said.
"Well, yeah, that was what I was hoping for," Ash confirmed. "But I guess that's not really how it works."
Whitney was a bit disappointed as well, because she and Stantler and Chatot had spent a whole afternoon making sure they could pretend to be her voice and appearance between them with any kind of accuracy, but then she shrugged and said that at least this way they'd end up with a good chance to make new friends.
As if that had somehow tempted fate, Ash promptly ended up matched up with Paul.
"Why are you turning up everywhere I go?" Paul asked.
"I think that's mostly this thing that Suicune told me about once," Ash replied. "It's called confirmation bias! It means that people think I run into Legendary Pokémon everywhere I go even though I only really run into them a few times a month on average, because they notice the times when I run into Legendary Pokémon because they seem different. So those take on a, um, disproportionate share of what people experience."
"Or, to put it another way," Pikachu said. "You're not turning up everywhere Paul goes. He just notices when you do."
"Yeah, what Pikachu said," Ash agreed.
Paul waited for a few seconds.
"Which was?" he asked.
"Oh, right," Ash realized. "I don't turn up everywhere, you just notice when I do."
"It'd be hard not to," Paul muttered.
"So, first question," Whitney said. "Which Pokémon do you want to use first? I could use Stantler, or Rapidash, or Mega Chatot, or Snom, or-"
"Wait, hold on," Zoey asked. "Back up. Mega Chatot? Those exist?"
"I was surprised too!" Whitney said. "But when Chatot changed shape and became more powerful it was hard to disagree with him. I just want to check because if you want me to use Mega Chatot then I'll need to borrow Ash's Key Stone…"
Zoey considered.
"I think Rapidash to start with," she decided, after thinking about it. "And I'll use my Misdreavus?"
"No argument here!"
"How did she just do that?" Kenny asked, staring. "You didn't even have that Shinx last time I saw you, how is she already able to do that?"
"Training?" Dawn replied, slightly confused. "Why?"
"Your Shinx just turned into a giant Feraligatr made of water!" Kenny pointed out, not unreasonably. "How do you train for that?"
"Oh, no, that's a common misconception," Dawn said. "She didn't turn into the giant Pokémon, she's inside the giant Pokémon. Also she's currently Water type."
Kenny stared.
Then shook his head. "Uh… Prinplup, support her with Metal Claw?"
"That's a Zangoose?" Paul's Chimchar asked, going pale. "I… don't like Zangoose."
"You don't like them?" Heracross replied. "What kind of don't like them do you mean?"
"I really don't like them, I don't want to battle them!" Chimchar said, starting to babble.
"Hey!" Ash called. "Is it okay if Paul swaps his Pokémon out? His Chimchar's kind of freaked out by Zangoose."
"I didn't say-" Paul began.
"Yeah, but Chimchar's uncomfortable," Ash said. "Really uncomfortable. It sounds like he has trouble with Zangoose specifically. So if it's okay to swap Pokémon out, we can do that. Right?"
"Chimchar has to face it some time," Paul insisted.
"But there's loads better ways to do it!" Ash replied. "You could just ask my team for help! I've got at least four Pokémon who could give him fake Zangoose to get used to fighting, and then he won't get terrified like he clearly is!"
The referee interrupted, then, saying that unfortunately the only way to swap out Pokémon was by that Pokémon forfeiting and being counted as a knock out, and Paul folded his arms.
"All Chimchar has to do is unlock his Blaze," he began. "And-"
"Okay, no way," Ash said. "That's not fair to Chimchar! Referee, we're ready to begin!"
The referee called for the battle to start, and Ash pointed. "Heracross, Mach Punch Zangoose!"
Zangoose had just a moment to look aggrieved before Heracross slammed into it with a Mach Punch.
"I don't understand," Paul admitted, as Heracross jumped back to Chimchar. "Your Pokémon are all about having unusual strengths, and Chimchar's Blaze is what makes him unusually strong and powerful – why wouldn't it be just what you'd want a Pokémon to do?"
"Because Chimchar's scared," Ash answered, as Heracross kept Zangoose busy while also sparing some attention for the enemy Metagross. "That's not how you get a Pokémon who has control over their power… even if it works, and there's a good chance it wouldn't, the best you can hope for is a Pokémon whose power has control over them. The only thing they know how to do in a tricky situation is use their power. It's not good for them, it's not healthy… it's not right!"
Paul rubbed his forehead. "This is just… it clearly works for you. I don't get it. I don't know how to make it work for me."
He sighed.
"Hey, Chimchar!" Ash called. "Set Heracross on fire! Heracross, use Facade and add in the fact you're on fire!"
"And I think I'm glad I don't think like you," Paul added, taken aback. "How is that okay?"
"It's part of his talk about boundaries, or something," Aten contributed.
He yawned, as out on the battlefield Heracross hit Metagross with a right cross and left the Steel-type spinning like a top. "If I could manage it, I know I'd want Ash as a general. I wouldn't even need to worry about him usurping me… at least, not deliberately."
After that tag battle, and with the last two rounds still to go, Paul walked straight out of the arena.
"Chimchar," he began, sending the Fire type out. "I have literally no idea how to train you properly."
"Honestly, you're still better than Charizard's first trainer," Ash said. "You want Chimchar to do better, which is better than he did."
"This was meant to be private," Paul retorted.
"Oh, sorry," Ash replied, stepping back.
Chimchar made a nervous noise. "Chiim?"
Paul began to say something, stopped, and tried again before stopping for a second time. Then he fiddled with Chimchar's Pokéball, and cancelled Chimchar's registration as his Pokémon.
"I'm not doing this so you can come running back and join me again," Paul explained. "That's not what I want. I want… I don't know what I want. But if you do decide to join me again, the training isn't going to be different. I'll just know you chose it."
"Cha-a-a-aar, im?" Chimchar asked, looking at Ash now.
"What did he say?" Paul asked.
"He wants to know if you'd be mad if he joined another trainer," Ash supplied.
"No," Paul insisted. "I wouldn't. I wanted Chimchar because he was strong, but… if I can't unlock that strength, then it'd be stupid to complain if someone else can."
"Greetings," Lucario said, some minutes later, and a long way away. "Latias has told me everything."
"She has?" Chimchar asked. "How?"
"Her brother was with Ash, to help pretend to be him in case he decided to be an Absol," Lucario explained. "They can share experiences with telepathy. It is extremely useful in most cases, but quite annoying when they are using it during social deduction games."
He held up a paw, to forestall Chimchar's questions. "Never mind," he said. "You can certainly ask later, though. Now. Whether or not you train as a battle Pokémon – and it is your choice – it is important that you internalize that battle training will not be your only interaction with the Pokémon of Ash's team."
"So… what does that mean?" Chimchar checked.
"Are you aware of the rules of table tennis?" Lucario said. "I find myself quite a fan, and Xerneas is surprisingly good given that his paddle is tied to his horns."
After that had been sorted out, Paul switched to using his Elekid, which turned into an Electabuzz in the middle of the semi-final. For his part, Ash used Larvitar, who took care to shape his sand walls and constructs so that Electabuzz didn't get outright blocked by them.
That was actually quite a lot of what was necessary for the two Pokémon to work together, except for the times when Larvitar offered Electabuzz (or, on one occasion, Elekid) a sand platform to use to get out of the way of a ground-floor-level attack.
That was particularly useful in the final as Whitney was using her Miltank, who turned out to be a fearsome opponent, and rolled all over the place using Rollout and building up more and more momentum. It was all Zoey's Shellos could do to stay on top of Miltank sometimes, but eventually Larvitar managed to use carefully shaped sand-wall ramps to fling Miltank up into the air where Electabuzz could blast her with lightning.
Shellos got hit too.
"That was great!" Whitney announced, when she, Dawn and Ash met up again afterwards. "Miltank thinks so too, or at least that was what I got before she passed out."
"I hope she's okay after some time in the Pokémon Centre," Ash said. "Oh, and, Paul said he didn't want his Soothe Bell. Do either of you want one?"
"Hmm…" Whitney said, thinking, then Grovyle came out of his Pokéball.
"Do you mind if I borrow one?" he asked. "I've got a plan for training Happiny."
"Sure," Ash agreed, picking one out of the pair. "Here you go."
"Excellent," Grovyle said. "Happiny, your objective is to get this off me."
Happiny used Trick.
"That seemed to be the most efficient way to do it," she said. "Was that wrong?"
"Not at all," Grovyle told her. "Though now I need to think of another training challenge."
Since there was no sign of Fantina showing up any time soon, Ash and his travelling companions decided that the best thing to do was to move on to another city and come back to get the local Gym Badge another time.
"The good thing is that Hearthome has so many roads in and out," Whitney said, as they camped partway along Route 209. "So we could end up coming to the same place more than once, and not even end up following the same road in and out."
"Many journeys lead to the same destination, but sometimes many destinations have the same journey?" Stantler tried. "I'm doing my best to pick up timeless wisdom on this trip."
"I think that was pretty good," Ash told him, then stood up. "Pidgeot! This is a good time to try Rock Wrecker!"
The Flying-type dropped towards the ground, then flipped over. Her claws glowed, grasping at something invisible, and it solidified into a giant rock which she hurled upwards towards Ho-Oh.
Ho-Oh hit it with a Sacred Fire and blew it to pieces.
"I sometimes kind of wonder what these training sessions look like from the outside," Dawn chuckled, then winced as a nearby stone tower collapsed. "That… wasn't intentional, right?"
Pidgeot devolved back down to Pidgeotto with a flash, and flew over to investigate before circling back around to Ash.
"Sorry about that," she said. "I don't think that was either me or Ho-Oh, it just sort of happened…"
A Spiritomb rose out of the ruins.
"Aura Guardian…" they seethed.
"Ibid, can you get Zacian?" Ash requested. "We might need her help."
"I disagree!" Ho-Oh replied, landing next to Ash as the Spiritomb approached. "I will solve this!"
"Sorry, what?" Professor Oak said. "How many?"
Tracey read the text again.
"Twelve Exeggcute, six Dugtrio – three of them Alolan, five Magneton, a Cresselia, a Moltres and a shiny Yveltal," he said. "Though there was something… ah, the Moltres is both shiny and Galarian, so it looks like a more conventional Moltres. And the Cresselia is one of those giant Pokémon, but the Moltres is tiny so it sort of balances out."
"What was it this time?" Oak asked.
"A Spiritomb, apparently," Tracey replied.
Professor Oak counted under his breath.
"Well," he said. "At least they didn't miss any."
"The Yveltal wants to learn Oblivion Wing from Ash's Mega Pidgeot, when she's a Mega Pidgeot," Tracey added.
AN:
Well. They're not cats by any stretch of the imagination.