At Veilstone, the friends quickly met the local Gym Leader Maylene.

More specifically, they met her when she went flying overhead and Ash's Croagunk jumped up to catch her.

"Wow, thanks for the save," she said, then did a double-take as Croagunk set her down. "Wait, aren't you Ash Ketchum?"

"Yeah!" Ash said. "Wait. No! I'm not not Ash Ketchum!"

Everyone exchanged perplexed glances

"He's Ash Ketchum," Rapidash said, to simplify things. "And that's Dawn, and this is Whitney!"

A Lucario appeared at the top of the nearest bluff. "Maylene, are you okay? Where did you go?"

"Wow, the rumours are right," Maylene said. "Humans can understand Pokémon around you."

She rubbed her side. "That Aura Sphere was kind of strong, Lucario… you might need to tone it down a bit more."

"I will do my best," Lucario promised.

"Thank you," Maylene said.

"This is extremely convenient," the Fighting-type added. "I think I do need to learn this myself some time."

"So, I guess you're busy training?" Ash added. "Is there any chance I could have a gym battle at some point? There isn't any rush though."

"Oh, yeah, gym battles," Maylene said, wincing. "Uh… yeah, I guess so."

"Is something wrong?" Ash checked.

"Not really," Maylene shrugged. "It's just the job, but… sometimes I feel I'm not a great choice for Gym Leader."

"Why's that?" Dawn asked. "I've mostly been doing Contests, and I've paid attention when Ash does a Gym Challenge but I don't really know how to tell someone who's good from someone who isn't."

Maylene didn't reply at first, and Ash thought about that before raising his hand.

"I'm okay with not having a gym battle until you're happy about it," he said.

Then someone who looked a lot like Paul leaned over the side of the bluff.

"You must be Ash Ketchum," he said. "Paul's told me a lot about you."

He slid down the bluff. "Actually, that's not quite accurate. He's asked me a lot of rhetorical questions about you, some of them mostly just the word 'what'."

"That's Ash, all right," Pikachu agreed. "So, you're his… brother?"

"Reggie," the older trainer introduced himself. "I did a Gym Challenge for a few years, but when Brandon beat me I realized that I was… not really enjoying myself."

Reggie shrugged. "So now I take care of the Pokémon I caught, and most of Paul's team too. It's much more relaxing."

"Taking care of Pokémon is the best," Ash agreed. "It's just… well, I guess battling is what I really enjoy, but if I had to stop doing that then I'd probably take up doing that. I've got too many friends to do anything else!"

"And they really are friends," Reggie said. "I could tell that from what Paul's said about you. He's…"

Reggie stopped, and sighed. "I don't quite know if he's got that yet. But I think he's getting it… I heard about what happened with Chimchar."

"Actually, I think I just had an idea," Dawn said. "Maylene, how long is it since you've had a battle that was just for fun? Not about training specifically to get stronger, as a Gym Leader, or an actual Gym battle?"

Maylene had to stop and think about that.

"It must be…" she began. "No… wait… I, actually don't think I've had one of those since I became a Gym Leader?"

Dawn smiled. "In that case, I have just the new skill for you to learn. Lucario, how do you think you would do at doing a Contest Appeal?"

"That doesn't sound like it would help out with gym battles," Lucario mused.

"That's the point!" Dawn agreed.

"Huh, really?" Reggie said, over lunch. "Literally just crashed into the ground next to you. That's a new one on me… you get your Pokémon in really weird ways."

"People say that a lot," Ash replied, thinking. "I don't really know any different way, but then I thought that maybe if it is as weird as everyone says it might mean we're meant to be together – if such weird things keep happening. So maybe it's a good thing."

"That's a positive way of looking at it," Reggie chuckled. "Seriously, Ash, you're a good kid. I think knowing you is good for Paul… and I sort of hope Paul has a few things to teach you as well, just so it's not one sided."

Ash thought about it.

"I think so, yeah," he agreed. "Even if it's just the way other trainers see me. That's good to know, because it's much harder to see how you see yourself."

"Unless you've got a mirror," Entei said, slowly rolling over on the grass. "Mirrors show how you see yourself. I learned that lesson."

Meanwhile, in the woods a little way, Dawn looked at the results of Maylene's Lucario's latest move.

"That's definitely getting there," she decided. "You've got all the bits, you just need to put them together right."

"It's giving me a bit of trouble getting the attacks off this quickly," Lucario admitted, glancing at Maylene. "After I use the Bone Rush, I need a moment to charge up the Force Palm, and that's long enough that even if I throw it into the air it's coming down by the time I'm ready… or I'm ready too soon. It's not variable enough."

"That sounds like a problem," Lokoko said – along so that they had translation. "I wonder what the solution is."

"That sounds like you've worked one out," Dawn pointed out.

"That would be a correct guess."

Maylene had been frowning.

"Is there any reason why I can't take part in the Appeal?" she asked.

"Nope!" Dawn told her. "Humans can take part, so long as they're careful not to be, you know. Hurt."

She shrugged. "Which is also a description of bowling."

That made Maylene snort.

"Then I'll hold the Bone Rush for Lucario," she said. "He can throw them to me, and I'll throw them back for him to hit with his other attacks!"

Lucario thought about that for a moment, then put his paw on her shoulder.

"You are a brave trainer," he said. "Don't let yourself forget that."

When the Appeal actually came, Ash had an idea about thirty seconds before Maylene started and had the three spectators – himself, Whitney and Reggie – sit behind the closest available substitute for a desk.

The closest available substitute in question was Entei, who took it well. Then Maylene and Lucario did their Appeal, a kind of half-juggling half-catch sort of game where Maylene caught the Bone Rush staffs Lucario provided before slinging them back for him to hit, and it started slow but quickly sped up until Lucario did a twirl and sent a glittering shower of Aura sparks washing out in all directions.

"Remarkable!" Whitney said. "Oh, wait, sorry, Ash or Reggie should have said that."

"Eight out of eight!" Chatot cawed.

Maylene's face was flushed with the speed she'd been going by the end, and she gave Dawn an impulsive hug.

"Thanks for the suggestion," she said. "I feel so much better now!"

Maylene was outright eager to have a Gym battle, now, and Ash asked just to make sure she didn't feel obligated but she insisted. So Ash picked his Pokémon – three of them, as she asked – and they headed over to Veilstone Gym.

"It's funny," Maylene admitted. "But even though I'm going back into a Gym Battle, I don't feel the same pressure I did before."

She shrugged. "Maybe it's just knowing that there isn't any kind of expectation that I have to win to prove myself… anyway! Send out your first Pokémon!"

Ash held up a Pokéball. "All right, Chimchar, go!"

"Machoke!" Maylene replied.

"I want to see a good, clean battle!" Whitney said. "Which is good, because that's what will happen! Begin!"

"Dynamic Punch!" Maylene ordered.

"Block!" Ash said, and Chimchar crossed his arms. Flame flashed up from both of them as he moved, and a shield-shaped mass of fire formed from his crossed arms.

Machoke's Dynamic Punch hit, detonated, and the whole of the explosion went backwards towards Machoke instead of forwards at Chimchar.

"Huh, that's really neat," Maylene said, thinking. "So it's a defensive fire technique… Machoke doesn't have any Water Moves, but – Brick Break!"

Chimchar dodged out of the way with a supple movement, skipping back two steps out of range of Machoke's attack before steadying himself again.

"Huh, that seemed familiar," Dawn mused. "Where have I seen something like that before…"

"Close the range!" Ash said. "Keep your guard up!"

"Cross Chop!" Maylene said.

Chimchar's arms swept up and his flames formed arm-bracers, which deflected most of the force of both Cross Chop attacks, and the moment his foot touched the floor again he made a lunging motion. One of the bracers turned into a stab of flame which flickered out, hitting Machoke on the leg, and Maylene raised her voice.

"Dynamic Punch again!" she said. "Bash your fists together to blow the fire away!"

Machoke used Dynamic Punch.

"Back out of range, Chimchar!" Ash called. "It looks like he's better close in, so use Flame Wheel!"

"Right!" Chimchar agreed, flipping back and crossing his arms. The flame-coils condensed again, and this time they formed an X-shape which lingered there for long enough that he could take hold of it – spinning it up so it became a disc, then flinging it at Machoke.

"Block!" Maylene said.

Machoke raised his arm for a Cross Chop, which sent the disc bouncing away. It pinged off two walls, Chimchar kicked it to redirect it as it came his way, and it bounced three more times before hitting Machoke from behind before he could react.

"All right, good aim!" Ash said. "Now try a bow!"

"Just so I can check?" Reggie asked, as Ash lifted a happy Chimchar up and gave him a hug. "That wasn't Blaze, was it?"

"No, Blaze would mean getting injured," Ash replied. "At least at the moment. But Chimchar liked the idea of evasive moves, so we focused on those."

"It's certainly effective," Reggie said. "And he's happy. That's what matters."

"It's a lot of fun!" Chimchar agreed. "It's a very thinky way of fighting, which is nice."

"Did it involve Zacian?" Dawn asked. "I think I remember where I've seen that before."

"She said a lot of things about measure," Chimchar agreed. "I met her brother too. He helped me with the defending bits."

Ash told Chimchar he could choose whether to have a rest or spectate, then sent out his second Pokémon – his Buizel, who would be going up against Maylene's Meditite.

"All right, I've been waiting for this," Buizel said, his tails coiling up and uncoiling a couple of times. "Let's do this!"

"Begin for the second time!" Whitney instructed.

"Detect!" Maylene called, as fast as she could, and the Psychic-type avoided Buizel's whipcrack-fast Aqua Jet.

Bouncing off the wall with a Flip Turn, he darted back in, and this time hit Meditite with a Shadow Sneak.

"Confusion!" Maylene said. "And Meditate, then keep using Detect!"

"Buizel!" Ash called. "Feint!"

"Look out!" Maylene called.

Buizel darted in, and Meditite got ready for whatever the feint was – only to discover that the initial attack had been the actual serious one after all, sending her bouncing backwards across the Gym main room.

"Feint is weird," Whitney said.

"Meditate, Meditite!" Maylene said, as Buizel kept bouncing around the room. "Recover! Now, Counter!"

Meditite caught the impact of the latest attack and sent it back at Buizel, hitting him with double the force of his own Extremespeed.

"Fly!" Ash said, and Buizel's tails whirred up to bring him to a halt in mid-air. "Extremespeed in circles, build up speed, and use your tails to stop yourself from hitting Meditite!"

The orange Pokémon began moving in a blur, half-flying half-jumping from floor to wall to ceiling and back, and Meditite hurled out psychic blasts in first one direction and then another as she kept her meditative focus.

"Aqua Jet!" Ash said, and a trail of water began following Buizel around. "Now, reverse direction and go as fast as possible!"

Everyone in the room got hit by spray – Chimchar yelped and blocked with a Flame Wheel – but Meditite was hit by spray from all directions at once, and then Buizel hit her with a Shadow Sneak as well.

"I can't actually see at the moment," Whitney admitted. "Did someone win?"

"I hope so," Buizel replied.

Whitney decided once she could see again that Buizel had probably won, a decision helped by how Meditite was now in the basement, and once a chair had been put over the hole Ash sent out his final Pokémon.

"Hi!" said his Dratini, waving an Everstone pendant around his tail. "So I decided that I liked being the baby of the group!"

"You've still got a Dratini!" Whitney said, beaming, as Maylene's Lucario stepped forwards. "That's great! All right, everyone… begin!"

"Dragon Dance!" Ash called.

Lucario took a ready stance, then exchanged it for a double-take as Dratini lit up with brilliant golden energy in the shape of a Dragapult.

"That's not even the Pokémon you evolve into," he complained.

"I know," Dratini said, a pair of flapping Steel Wings keeping him hovering inside the energy field. "But Dragonite said that I could aspire to be anything, and I took it literally."

"Ice Punch!" Maylene called.

"Dragon Darts!" Ash replied.

"That was a great battle!" Ash said, some minutes later. "Your Lucario's really strong, I thought he was going to win up until he stepped in the hole."

"Yeah," Maylene chuckled. "That was kind of embarrassing, but it's a good sign that your Dratini was able to force him to that… what was that Pokémon he took the shape of near the end, with the three heads?"

"I think that was a Hydreigon?" Ash mused. "Unless that's one of Zygarde's forms."

"Having multiple Cores does not mean multiple heads," Zygarde said. "Although, admittedly, a multiple headed canine form would be logical."

AN:

I think the correct way to put it, Maylene, is "those rumours are right". There's lots of rumours.