With not much further to go until they reached Striaton, the friends kept going, and the night before they got there Ash decided to set up an important meeting.

"Iris?" he said. "I'd like to introduce you to one of my Dragonite."

Iris looked conflicted. "So, uh… it's absolutely great that you have so many Dragonite," she began. "I'd never argue otherwise, but… are you going to introduce me to all of them? Because I'd do my best, but I don't think I can keep that many Dragonite straight."

"Yeah, don't worry about it," Ash told her. "The Ryuunited Kingdom all know about that, but knowing as many of them as possible is-"

"They're called the Ryuunited Kingdom?" Iris interrupted. "That's amazing. Who came up with that?"

Ash sent out King Dragonite. "I think there was a vote about it, but it was because of him."

"Hello!" King Dragonite said, crouching down. "You're Iris, aren't you? I've heard about you. Would you like a hug?"

He spread his arms.

"Uh…" Iris began. "Is that normal?"

"It is for him," Ash said. "King Dragonite really likes hugs! He's the first of my Dragonite to evolve into a Dragonite, so they elected him king."

"If you don't want one, just say so," King Dragonite added, still with his arms spread. "But if you don't answer, I'm going to assume you do."

Iris didn't reply, and as promised King Dragonite took that as assent. He gave her a hug, and Axew popped out of Iris' hair to return the favour.

"I hereby appoint you both honorary citizens," King Dragonite added. "By royal decree, even. I can do that because I'm king. Dragonite."

He let go, and Iris was grinning in a bit of a silly way. Then she shook her head.

"I'm grateful, really," she explained. "But, I just thought, Excadrill might not take that the right way? And I'd hate for him to feel even more like he was excluded."

"That's okay, I got someone who can relate to him, too!" Ash said, holding up a Pokéball this time. "Excadrill's thing is moves like Drill Run, so I got the best Pokémon I have at using drilling moves – come on out, Charizard!"

Iris' Excadrill burst out of his Pokéball.

"What?" he demanded. "A Charizard? How does that make the least bit of sense?"

"I can demonstrate if you want," Charizard said, and used Drill Run.

Excadrill peered down into the resultant hole.

"Okay, I was not expecting that," he confessed, as Charizard popped right back out again. "But still-"

Iris cut him off by picking him up.

"Excadrill, please listen to me," she said. "I really want to know what's wrong with how we work together. I want to make sure that I'm being the kind of trainer you want… but I can't do that if you won't even say anything to me."

"Why should I bother?" Excadrill asked. "You only care about winning anyway."

"That's not true!" Iris insisted. "I…"

She sat down, hard, and would have landed on the ground except that King Dragonite offered his tail for her to land on. "This is about that battle with Haxorus, isn't it… I'm so sorry about that, Excadrill. I should have known you knew when you were being pushed too hard."

Iris let her Pokémon go, and he landed back on the ground with a thump.

"Is there any way I can make it up to you?" she asked.

Excadrill visibly considered the question.

"I think Excadrill really trusted you," Ash volunteered. "That might be why it's so hard for him to get over it, because he feels like you broke that trust."

The Ground-type looked up at Ash. "What do you think would help?"

"I do have an idea," Ash said. "Iris, what about if I teach you how to teach Excadrill a move that would help him out? You'd have to pay a lot of attention, but if it works then Excadrill's learned a great new move – and it helps prove you're willing to put in the effort. And in the meantime, what about if Zapdos shows Excadrill how to do Drill Peck?"

"I don't even have a beak," Excadrill protested, but he sounded interested.

"You'd be amazed how little that matters when you get right down to it," Dragonite commented.

Iris didn't get it down that first day, partly because it was already evening, but she worked for hours and Excadrill seemed sort of reluctantly impressed when she puffed her exhausted way into camp.

"It is just bizarre to be taught how to dance like that," she muttered, and fell asleep as soon as her head touched the pillow.

Axew examined her, confused, and poked her.

Then he looked up at Excadrill.

"Is she okay?" he asked. "Did someone use Yawn on her?"

"I think she's just tired," Excadrill guessed. "What was she doing, anyway?"

"Ash was showing her how to dance, I think?" Axew said. "I was a bit bored so I didn't pay all that much attention, but it seemed to involve a lot of running in circles."

He gasped. "Oh, how was your go with Charizard and Zapdos? Did you learn anything new?"

"I learned that Piloswine can use Peck, and therefore, I can use Drill Peck," the Ground-type replied. "It's as much of a surprise to me as it is to you."

"Really?" Axew said. "Makes sense to me!"

"It's more of a surprise to me than it is to you," Excadrill corrected.

The next day, they finally reached Striaton Gym.

"Wow, the gym's a restaurant," Ash said. "Most gyms in the places I've already been are just gyms, though Misty's Cerulean Gym is also a water ballet place and Blaine's Cinnabar Gym is also a volcano."

"That's a different kind of thing, though, right?" Iris checked. "A water ballet place sounds sort of interesting, but it's definitely a thing that a building can be. A volcano is just where the gym's built, isn't it?"

"Well, Suicune did break the volcano for a bit," Ash remembered. "So it was definitely a thing that the building did and then stopped doing…"

Keldeo's jaw had dropped slightly, but he shook his head.

"You broke a volcano?" he said. "That's got to be a violation of some rule or other."

"Only of a local Cinnabar ordinance which was written since Ash's gym battle," Arc supplied. "With him in mind."

"Oh, okay," Keldeo said. "That's fine, then."

A Pidove chirped next to his ear. "Isn't there supposed to be food?"

"That's a good point," Keldeo admitted, looking back. "...wait, since when were there eight of you here? I thought there were only two."

"Food is a good argument," the first Pidove said.

"Ah, hello," a waiter said, appearing in front of them. "Are you ready to order? And, once you've ordered, are you here for a battle?"

The waiter gestured to the side, where two more similar-looking waiters were standing. "I am Cress. My brothers are Cilan and Chili, and we are the Gym Leaders here at Striaton… which is, also, a restaurant."

"For the food, uh… surprise me!" Ash decided. "My Dragonites know loads of food in general, but I don't think much of it is specifically Unovan so it'd be good to have a change. And for the Gym Battle, is it an option to battle all three of you?"

Cilan, Chili and Cress exchanged glances.

"That would be really cool," Chili admitted. "I know it spoils the whole professional facade to say so, but that's Ash Ketchum and we're probably going to get completely destroyed in a really uplifting way… so we may as well enjoy it!"

"All right," Cress said. "So, normally our way of handling gym battles is to offer to let our opponent pick which of us to battle – to see if they can use type advantage properly. But that's not going to work here, so instead-"

"Actually, I could use type advantage!" Ash suggested. "In reverse, I mean… just, uh, is that the type that the Pokémon is when it's sent out, or the type it is during the battle?"

"Normally they're the same, aren't they?" Chili asked. "I'm getting the feeling this is going to be weird."

"It's going to be really amazing, you mean," Cilan amended.

"That as well," Chili admitted.

"I'll leave that up to you," Cress decided. "So, send out your first Pokémon!"

He sent out a Simipour, and Ash sent out Tepig.

"Are you sure this is going to be okay?" Tepig asked.

"Tepig, I don't mind if it's not," Ash told him. "I don't mind if you decide you don't want to battle, even if that means forfeiting this part of the battle. I want to let you know that it will always be okay to refuse to battle."

"Wow," Tepig said, blinking, and swallowed a lump in his throat. "Okay. Okay, I think I can do this, Purrloin showed me something cool!"

"Plus, for ease of reference, I loaded his moveset onto Arc," Purrloin added, materializing just over Ash's head. "I know Ibid can do it too but it's more of a smartphone thing."

"Oh, yeah, I see it," Ash said, as the screen changed.

"Ready?" Cress checked. "In that case, begin! Simipour, use Scald!"

"To your left, Tepig!" Ash called.

"Now, close in for an Aqua Tail," Cress continued.

"Iron Defence!" Ash ordered.

Tepig flicked a pencil up from behind his ear, drew an old-fashioned metal clothes-iron, and held it up just in time so that Simipour collided with it with a loud whunnnng sound that echoed throughout the room.

"Oh, huh," Ash said, paging down the move list. "You taught him Sketch?"

"It was the quickest way to give him a lot of moves, but I think he got the wrong idea," Purrloin said. "The awesome wrong idea!"

Cilan was next, sending out a Simisage, and Iris frowned.

"Do you all have one of those?" she asked.

"They're technically gym Pokémon," Cilan replied. "It's a distinction that matters to us, at least – gym Pokémon are quite strong enough, but they don't have the full bouquet of a personalized connection with the specific trainer."

Simisage shrugged. "It's a living."

"Oshawott, go!" Ash called. "Ready?"

"You bet!" Oshawott agreed. "Strengthen my heart, Scalchop!"

His Scalchop flashed with a purple light as it ignited, and he examined it for a moment. "I'm not sure I can work with this one?"

"Analyzing," Ibid said, turning briefly into a miniature version of Oshawott. "Move identified. Transferring data."

"Thank you," Arc replied.

"Okay, yeah, I can see a way to use that," Ash decided. "Let's go! Oshawott, keep moving as fast as you can and don't slow down for a moment!"

"Seed Bomb," Cilan instructed. "Blow that Oshawott away with an explosion of flavour!"

"Cut it in half!" Ash called.

Oshawott just about managed to hit the Seed Bomb, which detonated off-centre and knocked him over, but he got back to his feet and kept running like Ash had ordered.

"That's great, Oshawott!" Ash said. "Keep it up, I'll tell you when to block!"

"Let's try a Vine Whip," Cilan decided.

Several minutes later, Oshawott was nearly collapsed with exhaustion and had taken several near-misses along with one or two direct hits, and Ash pointed.

"Now's the time to use it!" he said. "One last attack, and use Psycho Shift!"

Oshawott stumbled back to his feet, then threw his Scalchop at Simisage.

The Grass-type got hit and immediately collapsed onto his front in exhaustion. Oshawott, meanwhile, seemed perfectly fine all of a sudden – though mostly concerned about whether he'd damaged his Scalchop, as he scurried over to pick it up and breathed a sigh of relief when it was okay.

"How did that work?" Cress asked.

"Well, Psycho Shift transfers problems the user has to the opponent!" Ash said. "And Oshawott wore himself out, then transferred it to Simisage! And the reason he knew it in the first place is that his Scalchop is kind of like Metronome, we think… it sort of gives him one move he knows really well, but it's different each time. So it's kind of like a puzzle!"

"I see!" Cilan said. "It's like being challenged to make something with only the ingredients that are left in the fridge!"

Chili groaned. "I told you, the delivery was late that day…"

"And it was a test of our culinary skills," Cilan replied, winking.

"Okay, so that means it's Chili next, right?" Ash checked. "Okay, Oshawott, come on back – Arc, you didn't actually get that battle, right? Want one now?"

"That sounds good," Arc agreed, and manifested.

Keldeo raised his hoof. "That's a violation!"

"What, because it's a direct copy of the creator of the universe?" Iris asked.

"No, because he came from a phone," Keldeo replied. "Unova Pokémon Gym Battle Rule 42b!"

"Rule 42b," Arc said. "The trainer may either hold up or throw their Pokéball when they send out their Pokémon. I am registered as Ash's Pokémon but I do not actually have a Pokéball."

"And I never go in mine," Pikachu added.

"Still," Keldeo said. "I got the number right this time so I have to insist!"

"What about if I hold up a Pokéball?" Ash offered. "It's Pikachu's one, not Arc's, but if I hold it up and then send Arc out from their phone, does that count?"

"That would fulfil the requirements," Keldeo agreed.

Chili picked his Simisear to battle, and Arc unmanifested before remanifesting in accordance with the rule Keldeo had pointed out.

"Begin," Chili said. "Simisear, Will-o-Wisp!"

"Change type, Arc!" Ash called.

Arc darted over to one of the tables that hadn't been cleared away just yet, and picked up a plate with the remains of a hot curry in it. Their ring turned bright orange-red, and the Will-o-Wisp bounced off.

"That-" Iris began, then turned to look at Keldeo. "Don't you have anything to say about that?"

"No, that was fine," Keldeo replied. "Arc changed form with the expected item, I don't see a violation there."

Since multi-tasking wasn't as much of a problem, Arc battled Simisear to a defeat quite quickly, though it did require the Multityped Pokémon to switch to a soup plate in order to allow their Judgement to hit with a super-effective type.

"It's kind of amazing that you can control how powerful that attack is," Ash observed. "That precisely, I mean."

"Before Keldeo mentions it, there is a rule that damage to gym facilities should not be excessive," Arc said, trotting back over to Ash before folding themselves back into phone form.

"Hey," Keldeo protested. "Still, the important thing is making sure everyone's aware of the rules. Breaking the rules is against the rules!"

"It'd be weird if it wasn't," Ash said, frowning. "How would that work?"

Everyone looked contemplative for a few seconds.

"Weird," Iris summarized. "It'd look weird."

"So I was meaning to ask," Cilan said, as Cress handed Ash the Trio Badge. "How is it that you understand Pokémon?"

"I learned how from Mew, when I was young," Ash replied. "And some other Pokémon too, but Mew was the one who taught me. This Mew."

He tapped Purrloin on the tail, who turned into Mew with a flash of Transform.

"Aww, you gave it away!" Mew complained, then giggled. "But yep! It's not all that hard to learn, if you put in the effort!"

"Because I'm a Pokémon Connoisseur," Cilan explained. "That means that my focus is on making sure that a trainer and a Pokémon are good fits for one another – and it'd be oh-so-much easier if I could understand the Pokémon as well, because I'd be able to make the most precise matches in the history of the field!"

He spread his hands. "So, what I'd like to do is to join you on your journey! Well, it's for that reason and at least three other reasons, two of which are Dragonites with the culinary experience of different regions and another being that I'd like to come back to Striaton with the kind of experience to make me a top-flight gym leader!"

"Can you just do that?" Iris asked. "Leave behind being a gym leader, I mean?"

"If there's someone else to take over, it's fine," Ash replied. "Every region I've been to so far I travelled with at least one Gym Leader, and they just made sure their gym was covered while they were gone – and obviously Cilan has Cress and Chili, so it depends if Cress and Chili are okay with it I guess?"

He frowned. "Or maybe King Dragonite could ask someone to be the third member of the Striaton Trio for a bit? I think Dragonite and Dragonite were working in Mom's cafe, so they've got relevant experience."

AN:

This is a recipe for success. Or disaster.

I also want to please ask people to not nag me about Ashes of the Past. Yes, I know it's been a while since I updated that, but people reminding me actually makes me feel worse about the idea of resuming the fic - which is a bad situation when my writing is driven by inspiration.