The friends set off back to Lumiose City, since Ash now had four gym badges, and at their first camp on the way Clemont began frowning.

"What I'm not sure about is… well, two things!" he said. "Firstly, I'm not sure whether I should handle the battle myself or have Clembot do it. And, secondly and separately, if I do do Ash's gym battle then I'm not sure if I should head right back there now so I can practice with Magneton and the others. I'm an Electric-type gym leader, after all, and even if Bonnie lets me use Dedenne I still only have two Electric-types here to work with."

"I fear I should point out, sir, but if you do go back to Lumiose then you won't be able to benefit from miss Lokoko's wonderful translation service," Bunnelby cautioned. "And you'll instead have to rely on the Translation Gear's translation service."

"Translation complete," the Translation Gear said.

They waited.

"Is it going to say something?" Serena asked.

"Hold on," Clemont requested, picking it up and tapping at a few controls. "...oh, I see. It translated silence."

"Few teething problems, I think, sir," Bunnelby said.

"Yes, thank you, you've made your point," Clemont admitted. "Still… I should really decide about that at some point."

"Well, if you do head off, we'll understand," Serena said. "But it'll be weird without you. Would you take Bonnie with you?"

"That depends what she wants," Clemont judged.

Ash was out in the middle of the clearing working with Frogadier, but then there was a beeping sound and Ibid sprang out of his pocket.

"Incoming," he said, and spat out a Pokéball which in turn sent out Goomy.

"Oh, hi!" Ash greeted the little Dragon-type. "What brings you here?"

"Rayquaza told me I should," Goomy replied. "She said, umm… that it was important to face your fears, but that it was also important to face your fears somewhere where you had friends who could help you hide away from them again."

"That sounds great," Ash told him. "It's all up to you, okay?"

Goomy nodded.

"I've got some things I learned to show off, as well!" he went on. "Everyone in the Ryuunited Kingdom helped me out, except the ones who weren't there then."

He rummaged around and pulled out a piece of laminated paper, then put it down. "So, first there's this one!"

"Hold on a second," Ash requested. "What type of move is this?"

"It's a Dragon type move," Goomy explained.

"Then I'll have Zacian or Clefairy be there so you can demonstrate it first, okay?" Ash said.

"This is pretty amazing to watch," Serena said, as Ash selected Zacian and sent her out. "Just… being able to be so supportive to your Pokémon."

"You're great at it too!" Fennekin told her. "Really! But Ash does have a lot more Pokémon he does it to, so there's that."

"I'm mostly impressed he can keep track of them all," Clemont said. "I guess it's things like this that let him do it. I'd need some kind of spreadsheet, myself."

"Well, your memory isn't all that bad," Luxio pointed out, inserting himself into the conversation. "Despite what I used to think."

"I know my brother," Bonnie giggled. "I think it's worse."

"Hey…" Clemont protested weakly.

"You know, it seems like Goomy's used a lot of moves so far," Serena said, glancing at Ponyta. "Ponyta, is that right?"

"I've counted eight so far, of which eight have been Dragon type!" Ponyta supplied. "I am not sure how Goomy was able to us that move where he swung his tail, when he does not have a tail. Or how he was able to clang his scales together-"

"When he doesn't have scales, yes," Zygarde confirmed.

The Dragon-type considered. "I should see if Sliggoo can use Core Enforcer."

"Don't you mean-" Serena began, then looked up. "Oh, yeah, he is Sliggoo now."

"That was quite a quick evolution," Fennekin said. "Does anyone else think that was quite a quick evolution?"

She sneezed, and evolved into Braixen.

"...darn it," she sighed. "Now I can't complain about that."

"You evolved!" Serena said.

"I noticed," Braixen replied, smiling, then got hugged by Serena. "Oof!"

"Congratulations!" Pancham told his teammate. "I don't really think I'm in a hurry to join you, though, I like being small."

"Maybe we should get you an Everstone?" Serena wondered, letting go of Braixen. "That way you'd be sure."

"Hmm, maybe," Pancham considered.

"And this one got taught to me by one of the Exeggcute!" Sliggoo said, raising his hands into the air and forming a giant hammer out of glowing green fire. He brought it down with a slam, sending out a swirl of energy before it dissipated, and Zacian considered the crater she was in.

"I wonder how they held the hammer?" she asked.

"I wonder how Sliggoo aimed," Luxray said, then went cross-eyed. "Did I just… wow. Sometimes it really sneaks up on you."

"Everyone's doing it today!" Bonnie giggled. "Who's next? Can Dedenne evolve?"

"I don't think I can," Dedenne answered.

"Maybe it'll be me?" Chespin said.

Then Zygarde lit up, transforming into 50 Percent Forme.

"I wanted to be included," they said.

This was promptly followed by Sliggoo evolving into Goodra, halfway between using Dragon Pulse and Dragon Rage.

Then Ash's hat glowed white and turned into a Hattrem, but a tide of giggles and Ash wearing another hat underneath revealed that that was because of Mew's involvement.

Around two days later, and closer to Lumiose, Clemont unveiled his latest invention.

"I call it the Clemontic Cleaner!" he said, proudly. "It seeks out and cleans up dirt!"

The Clemontic Cleaner made a sort of buzzing noise, and exploded.

"That was unusually direct," Chespin said, picking bits of Clemontic Cleaner out of her quills. "What happened?"

Lokoko chuckled.

"I think I have an idea," she said. "It tried to work out what dirt to clean up… outside."

"...right," Clemont realized. "Yes, that wasn't a very good idea…"

He sighed. "Oh, well. Back to the drawing board… though maybe I could improve this when I get back to Lumiose Gym, at least it probably wouldn't immediately explode if I used it there…"

"I'm not putting any money on it," Chespin sniggered.

"Hey," Clemont huffed, waving his hand, then shrugged. "Well, anyway… what time is it? And are we stopping for lunch and then keeping going, or are we going to spend the afternoon training?"

"Beats me," Lokoko said, glancing up at the sky. "But I'd say it's not long before noon."

She flicked her tails. "Mostly based on how we've stopped for lunch, of course. Telling time by the sun is all well and good, but you can also pay attention to what's going on around you in other ways."

"Hmm," Serena mused. "Okay, let's try that together?"

She held out her hand, and Braixen held up the forepaw that didn't have her new branch-wand in it. They stepped towards one another, then Braixen stumbled and had to catch herself.

"Ow," she mumbled. "It's weird how easy it is to just walk somewhere, even when you're new to walking on two legs, but when you try and think about what you're doing it all goes wrong…"

"I don't have enough experience to know," Serena replied. "And Mew has too much… we could ask Ash about it, or…"

"Or?" Braixen replied, straightening up and doing her level best to not think about how she wasn't thinking about walking, without also thinking about how she was walking without thinking about it, which mostly involved confusing herself enough that she stopped thinking about it. "That sounds like you've got an idea."

"Well…" Serena began. "Do you want to try making the potion? That would still mean we'd need Mew's help for the ingredients, but if I end up shaped differently to how you are now then we'd be learning together."

"Oh, that sounds like a great idea!" Braixen decided.

Ponyta sent herself out. "And I'm definitely going to watch," she agreed. "And help, if you want, but mostly I'm going to be taking notes. This is such an interesting bit of magic, I want to see if I can tell something about how it works by how it comes together."

"And it'd help us make sure we get it right," Serena admitted. "I think the two of us need to be doing most of the assembly, if not all of it… right?"

"Because we're familiar with it," Braixen said. "One of the odder things about magic is that puns actually can have some impact on how well something works…"

"Right," Serena agreed, more confident now. "But you can double-check what we're doing, and it's always good to hear if we're making a mistake… actually, here's a good first project. Can you go and find Mew?"

"Are you ready to learn?" Zygarde asked.

"I'm ready!" Goodra agreed, nodding and making his tail bounce slightly with the motion. "I'll do my best!"

"Good," Zygarde replied. "The first step is that you connect to all of your Cells. The second step is that you exhale a beam of multicoloured light that draws a Z shape underneath your opponent. The third step is that the beam explodes."

Goodra visibly drooped.

"Oh," he said. "Um… what was that first bit again?"

"The first step is that you connect to all of your Cells," Zygarde repeated patiently.

"Okay," Goodra said. "Now, two questions. One, how do I do that, and two, what's a Cell?"

"You raise good points," Zygarde stated. "Please wait, I am attempting to use Ash Logic."

"What about-" Ash began.

"I will be willing to take suggestions if I require assistance," Zygarde interrupted. "However, first I wish to try it myself."

"Sure!" Ash agreed.

Zygarde pondered, pacing back and forth for a minute, then sat down.

"I am Zygarde," they introduced themself. "At the same time, the I that is speaking is a controlling node of a gestalt intelligence which maintains distinct personas, and the I that is sitting in front of you is a gestalt entity that is formed out of one Core and multiple Cells."

To demonstrate, Zygarde switched to Core Form, then into 50 Percent Form.

"When I am in 100 Percent Form, I have connected to all of my Cells," Zygarde continued. "Or at least all of my Cells that can be maintained in a single mesh network at once. This is a necessary requirement for using the move Core Enforcer."

"Oh," Goodra said. "So… I won't be able to use it?"

"Incorrect," Zygarde stated, returning to 10 Percent Form in a flash of green light. "Have you at any point been larger than you are now, and if so did you do this by pulling together additional parts of yourself?"

"I was a bit larger after dinner yesterday evening because I ate too much of it?" Goodra tried.

"Very good," Zygarde stated. "And are you a biological organism?"

Goodra scratched his head.

"Yes?" he said. "I think so."

"In that case, you are already connected to all of your cells. Congratulations," Zygarde told him. "Now, the next step is to exhale a beam of multicoloured light to draw a Z shape under your opponent."

Goodra was about to try that bit, but Tierno walked up and they decided to stop training for the moment.

"Hi, Ash!" Tierno said. "Hey, long time no see… well, actually short time no see, I guess. How are you doing? Wait, is this a new Pokémon?"

Goodra waved.

"Yeah, this is Goodra!" Ash introduced him. "He knows loads of Dragon type moves, plus also Sunsteel Strike because Meganium thought he'd appreciate it. And some of my friends have new Pokémon too!"

"I'll have to meet them!" Tierno decided. "But I also want to show you the new Pokémon I've got, because I've got a much fuller team now – and Squirtle evolved!"

He sent out his Wartortle, then a Ludicolo, a Politoed, a Hitmontop, and a Raichu.

"Raichu was actually caught especially so I could battle the Lumiose Gym," Tierno explained. "Of course, she was a Pikachu when I caught her, but she was happy to evolve for the battle!"

"Not something I'd do myself, but it's up to her," Pikachu said.

"Wait, aren't you that one from the Vertress Conference?" Raichu asked. "The one who – I'm sure I saw this – was using a Thunderstone to beat up other Pokémon? That was amazing! How did you not evolve?"

"Actually, that's a good question," Pikachu admitted.

"To which I know the answer," Zacian replied, deciding she probably wasn't needed for Core Enforcer practice for now. "Or I'm quite sure I do, at least… we'll find out for sure eventually, though."

"We got it working!" Braixen called, running over. "Look!"

She held up both paws, with a Buneary balancing somewhat precariously on them.

"...honestly, it fits," Pikachu said. "Now all you need is a hat for Serena to hide in."

"That would be great!" Serena agreed. "Oh, hi Tierno! Do you think Dancing would help Braixen get used to being on two legs?"

Tierno visibly decided to just roll with it.

"It could," he said. "Let's find out!"

AN:

Yes, I compressed the evolutions from about five episodes down into one go.