Ash decided to challenge Brawly now, to see how his Hoenn team was getting on, and after getting his attention – he was in the middle of a surfing session – Brawly came in along with his Makuhita and examined Ash.

"Hmm," he said. "Well, I guess a Pokémon as a trainer isn't a completely silly concept… how are you at balance?"

"Balance?" Ash repeated. "If you mean staying on things, my hooves can attach sort of like they're magnets, but I can still fall over. If you mean something else, I've got the Balance Badge!"

"In that case, you could try surfing," Brawly judged. "But, well, I guess we should do this. How many badges do you have?"

"Hoenn, two," Ash answered. "They're the ones which matter because I'm only using Pokémon caught in Hoenn – that's how that works, right?"

"Yeah, that'll be right," Brawly decided. "Okay, two Pokémon a side. Let's get this sorted quick, the waves are great today!"

"Let's go with…" Ash began, then whispered. The first Pokéball came out of his bag, and he sent out Treecko with a flash of light opposite Brawly's Machop.

"Begin!" Brawly called. "Cross Chop!"

"Dodge out of the way!" Ash called. "Stay mobile, and use Razor Leaf!"

It turned out that Treecko had Razor leaf down perfectly, but he wasn't up to turning that into Razor leaves.

"Hmm." Brawly said, frowning as he watched. "Machop, Karate Chop! Be ready to defend and counterattack!"

Treecko stayed on the move, avoiding Machop's attacks and flinging Razor Leaf attacks back at Machop, and May frowned.

"Hmm," she said. "I'm trying to see if I can tell how the battle is going… Treecko isn't in a great position, right?"

"Not really, no," Brock confirmed. "He's able to stay out of the way of Machop's attacks, but his only options of attacking are a weak Grass attack or coming in and using Pound. And he can do it, but it exposes him to attack and means he has to work a lot harder… and can get tired out more easily."

"Treecko, you're starting to get tired," Ash called, a few minutes later. "I can leave you out or swap you!"

"I want to keep going," Treecko insisted, flinging a Razor Leaf, then charged in to attack.

Machop hit them with an uppercut, then used Cross Chop as Treecko came back down again.

"I have changed my mind," Treecko stated indistinctly.

Ash recalled Treecko, then switched out for Taillow. "Good luck!" he called. "Remember to stay mobile – open with Wing Attack!"

Taillow opened with Wing Attack, followed up with Wing Attack and finished with Wing Attack, and Machop went wham back into the ground.

"Feisty Pokémon," Brawly allowed. "Makuhita, your turn! Arm Thrust!"

Taillow dodged the attack, retaliating with Wing Attack, then whirled around through the air out of Makuhita's reach.

"Use an accelerated Wing Attack!" Ash called, and Taillow whirled around in a banking turn again then struck out with his wings at a greater speed. The impact hit Makuhita hard, but unfortunately the Fighting-type was using Vital Throw and snagged onto Taillow's wings as he tried to escape.

Makuhita's shoulders rolled, and he slammed Taillow head-first into the beach.

"Taillow, are you okay?" Ash asked, starting forwards, then Taillow struggled back into the air.

"I'm not out yet!" Taillow insisted.

Then a hissing, steaming robo-Emboar came stomping up out of the surf, flames curling around its neck.

"Prepare for trouble, of a ritual kind!" Jessie said.

"And make it double, we're running behind!" James concurred.

The Emboar put on a kind of weird hat with a stylized capital letter A or R or something on it.

"To protect the gym from retaliation!" Jessie said.

"To unite disciples in cineration!"

"Is that a word?" May asked.

Max looked puzzled, fiddling with his Pokénav. "I can't tell…"

Jessie raised a tablet with writing on it. "To keep the commandments from above!"

"To miss out on the finer points of love!" James sighed.

The two introduced themselves.

"How often does this happen?" Taillow asked, breathlessly.

"A lot," Pikachu replied.

"Everyone's welcome to join the flock," Jessie advised.

James waggled a finger. "But Lugia should keep an eye on the clock."

"That's right!" Meowth agreed, then looked offended. "Hey, did you guys change the script?"

"I guess we'll have to cancel our gym battle," Ash decided. "Right?"

"Who are these guys?" Brawly asked.

"They're probably here to steal your Pokémon!" Ash replied. "Latias, take Bulbasaur, try and pull the mech over backwards with his Vine Whip!"

Team Rocket didn't so much blast off as float off, but Ash reiterated that it'd probably be best to count that as a loss.

"It sucks," he admitted. "And I believe Taillow could maybe have pulled it out… but I'd rather win because my Pokémon are strong enough, rather than because they're close and work so hard that they get hurt."

Ash looked down. "I'm responsible for them," he said. "That's important."

"Well, I think that's a mature attitude," Brawly told him. "Nice. Want to take up surfing? It might help you, and your Pokémon too."

"Really?" Ash asked, interested. "How would that work?"

"It's how I toughen up my Pokémon!" Brawly explained. "So, it teaches things like balance, and strength, and awareness, all at once! It's how my Machop and Makuhita are so durable, you get it?"

Ash frowned, thinking about it.

"Are you really considering it?" Max asked. "What if you fall in the water?"

"Well, Latias is able to swim," Ash replied. "And so am I. And I've got this ring that means she could pull me out of the water… I wouldn't want to go a long way that way, but if it would help then it'd be nice!"

As it turned out, though, Ash was not very good at surfing at all.

There was something about it he simply could not get, and he spent a lot of time splashing into the water before being towed out again by Latias.

Koraidon gave it a go as well, mostly discovering something of a natural talent for swimming by puffing up their throat for buoyancy, but ultimately decided that surfing probably wasn't for them.

Conversely, Treecko enjoyed it quite a lot. And Taillow considered it a bit slow but interesting in an odd way.

"Let's see how this goes," May said, the next morning.

She and Max had heard about fishing for Pokémon from someone in the Pokémon Centre the evening after Ash's battle, and it sounded like it was worth giving it a try at least.

As was the way of such things, the idea of doing something while Ash was training his Pokémon turned into the whole group gathered at a fishing spot to watch as May and Max cast their lures.

"Now, remember, the way it works is that you haul the Pokémon out of the water," Max said. "Then you battle them. Or, you battle them and I don't, I guess… is it okay if one of you battles any Pokémon I fetch up?"

"I'll try," May decided. "That way they both count as me doing the fishing, right?"

"I guess," Max conceded, after serious consideration. "But which Pokémon are you using?"

"Torchic has a good Peck, but against Water Pokémon he's a backup," May said, glancing at Ash for confirmation. "So it'll be Wurmple instead."

"That's the best choice, I think," Ash agreed. "It'd be good if you had a more diverse team, but that's exactly why you're hunting for more Pokémon."

"How did you develop your Pokémon team, actually, Ash?" Max asked. "I know you keep running into Pokémon who want to join you one way or another, is that just how it's been the whole time?"

"...kind of?" Ash shrugged. "Or, no, my first two caught Pokémon were my Caterpie and Pidgeotto. They're both fully evolved now, but they left to do their own thing… hopefully I'll have a chance to see them again some day. Or, Butterfree, at least, because Pidgeot I know where to look."

He looked apprehensive. "Will they recognize me, now?"

"I'll help by explaining it!" Latias volunteered.

"Thanks, Latias," Ash replied. "That's really helpful… anyway, uh, I caught Caterpie and Pidgeotto by battling them, but after that a lot of my Pokémon really did just want to come with me…"

He looked troubled. "I hope that's not why Pidgeot and Butterfree left?"

"It's just coincidence, Ash," Brock assured him. "Remember, Squirtle ended up having something else to go and do too, and he's the most obvious case of a Pokémon wanting to join you from your whole first region!"

Ash brightened. "Thanks, Brock, that is a good point!"

He turned to look out to see. "Good luck, guys!"

May sent out her Wurmple, telling them to get String Shot ready, then cast her lure. Max did the same, then about a minute later one of the lures bobbed up and down.

"Oh!" May gasped, then pulled back.

An Octillery came flying out of the water, landing with a plop, and glowered at them. "Hey, what's the big idea?"

"Did you not think the lure float being a Pokéball was a good sign there might be a battle or trainer or something?" Latias asked, puzzled. "I'm still really sheltered and I got that."

"Uh, well-" Octillery began.

"String Shot!" May ordered. "Try and get Octillery's mouth!"

Octillery made a sort of murfle mrf sound, then May called for a Tackle. The blow knocked the Water-type backwards, then Octillery jumped up onto Ash to hide behind him.

Pikachu cleared his throat.

"Do you want to get back down and back to the battle?" he said. "Or are you going to bring more than one Pokémon into it at a time by getting more than one trainer involved at a time?"

"What are you talking about?" Octillery asked.

Pikachu demonstrated.

While the lightly frazzled Octillery was being checked over by Brock – and getting a bit of an explanation-or-lecture from May about what a Contest was, checked by Max – Latias floated sideways through the air to Ash, frowning.

"Ash, how many times have you battled Team Rocket?" she asked. "It's a lot, right?"

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "They're mostly leaving us alone in Hoenn so far, which gives more time to do stuff without them getting in the way!"

"I was just wondering," Latias explained. "They were talking about the same thing the last few times, right? Is that normal?"

Ash thought about it.

"Huh, I guess not," he admitted. "I hadn't really noticed that until you said. Weird, I wonder if it means anything."

"Maybe they've got some kind of religious experience, now," Pikachu wondered. "Or maybe it's just their new thing. I wouldn't put it past them to accidentally sign up for a cult for the free meals."

"Could be," Ash agreed. "We'll probably never know, though. Even if they told us something they could be making it up."

"So, take me through how this whole contest thing works again?" Octillery requested. "I'm still not sure I can credit it."

"Well, I haven't done one myself," Wurmple said. "But, the way I understand it working for you is… step one, you spray water in the air. Step two, you fire interesting beams at the water spray. Step three, applause."

"That's an Appeal, I think," Ash informed them. "Battles are about actually, um, battling the other Pokémon, but you need to look good too. I think?"

"It's mostly about looking good," May frowned. "I think. But we'll see how it works when I do my first Contest, right?"

She glanced at Ash. "It's like with that Gym Battle Ash did. Winning is great, but taking part shows you where you need to work."

"I see, I think," Octillery decided, pressing on her chin with an arm. "Well, may as well give it a go."

Competitive practice – which meant that Treecko, Octillery and Wurmple were competing to hit Taillow as she flew in and out of the group, and Torchic was trying to protect his fellow bird – meant that the miles passed by quickly, and before long they reached one of the main attractions on Dewford.

"This is Granite Cave!" Max said. "There's supposed to be some rare Pokémon and rare gemstones here!"

"Rare Pokémon, huh…" Ash considered. "Well, I don't know if I'm going to add to my team or not, but that depends who we meet. Right?"

"Makes sense to me!" Latias chirped, then floated higher. "Oh, hold on, speaking of meeting someone… there's a person over there, I think?"

At about the same time as Latias was pointing out, a distant shape waved to them. Then reached down to their belt.

A Skarmory flew over, flared their wings, and hovered in front of Ash.

"You're the one who my trainer's dad told him about, right?" she asked. "Ash Ketchum?"

"That's me!" Ash confirmed. "Who's your trainer?"

"Steven Stone," Skarmory told them. "He's very interested in meeting you, I have to say."

"Then let's go over and meet him!" Ash suggested. "What do you think, guys?"

"We literally don't know who you're talking about," Brock pointed out, and Latias giggled.

Ash thought back for a moment, then nodded. "Right," he said. "So, uh, Skarmory's trainer is Steven Stone, and his dad told him about us. I guess that's mostly about me, but Max is the one who got the tour, so maybe Mr. Stone mentioned him too?"

"Steven Stone?" Max repeated. "He's the champion of Hoenn!"

Ash looked puzzled. "Huh? I thought it was that Wallace guy."

"No, he moved on to Coordinating last year," Max said. "After Steven beat him, I don't think it was a League match, it was something that got organized somehow."

"That was a good fight," Skarmory reminisced, rattling her wings. "Anyway, are you coming over or what?"

"Sure!" Ash confirmed. "Well, I will, the others can-"

"We're coming too, Ash," Brock told him. "I'm not missing up a chance to talk to someone who knows what geology is."

"So… what does it take to become a Champion?" Ash asked, as they followed Steven's Aron over the hillsides. "I just realized, I didn't really ask Lance much about it, and since you've only recently become one…"

He waved a hoof vaguely. "It'd be nice to know, you know?"

"That's certainly a good question," Steven replied. "Sorry, hold on a moment… I will get back to your question, I've just noticed something. How did you do that?"

"Do what?" Ash asked, then looked down at his hooves. "Oh, yeah… they can stick to things, I'm not really sure of how but it happens. It doesn't seem to matter what, it just has to be a bit solid. It's actually really helpful because otherwise I'd probably be a lot less stable than before."

"I can imagine," Steven said. "Actually, I suppose you wouldn't even need your centre of gravity to be over the space between your hooves, if they do stick in place… anyway, what you were asking."

He looked off into the distance for a bit.

"There's a lot of things," he summarized. "I think the best way to put it is that… it's not enough to have a natural talent, because a lot of people are naturally talented. It's not enough to be dedicated, because a lot of people are. It's not enough to spend a lot of time training your Pokémon, because if that was all it took it would be something that a lot more people did than actually do."

"I… think I get it," Ash said, mulling that over. "So what you're saying is that… there's a lot of things you have to do."

"Right," Steven agreed. "It's almost impossible for someone to come in and win a Pokémon League straight away. They get better over time."

"Do you think it's wrong of me to be training up a new team, then?" Ash asked. "It feels like the right thing to do, but… is that just me getting things wrong?"

"I don't think it's wrong at all, Ash," Steven reassured him.

The veteran trainer waved his hand. "You see, that's another thing. Because there's no point in becoming a Champion if you stop doing what feels right for you to do it. Then you're not… well, Steven any more, for me, or Ash any more, for you. You're just a Champion."

"And it'd be a real shame if you ended up being boring because of that, Ash," Pikachu said. "You get better at commanding us, we'll get stronger. I'm sure Heracross and Bayleef and the others are making sure the Pokémon back at the ranch keep improving!"

A pause. "You should probably send Bulbasaur back there some time though."

"Good idea," Ash agreed.

"And seeing that, well, that makes me smile," Steven told Ash.

He waved. "It's… actually hard to remember you used to be human, which almost tells me that you're handling this well? Because I looked up your Indigo and Orange battles, then your Silver ones, and it really… obviously you look different, but your style doesn't."

"Thanks," Ash replied.

He looked embarrassed. "I guess my Indigo loss was… one of those things where anything is an improvement?"

"Ash, nobody starts out ready to go to the top," Steven replied. "Yes, you had trouble with Charizard, but you persevered and you turned him into a friend. An asset. That's a good sign. And you've been improving your battle performance, too."

Ash smiled. "Thanks… I guess I needed to hear that more than I realized?"

"My pleasure," Steven said.

"Ooh, I think there's something down here!" Aron reported. "It's faint, but… it could even be a Mega Stone or something! I'll try and find it."

"Aron says he might have found a Mega Stone," Ash translated. "He's going to dig for it."

"Well, in that case… would you mind if I got a chance to meet the Pokémon your Unown created back at Devon Corp.?" Steven asked. "I've got a passion for prehistoric Pokémon, and it'd be nice to see them."

Five minutes later, Koraidon was rolling on their back as Steven petted them.

"I was right, they're amazing," Steven said. "Maybe a little bit of Archen or Archeops in the feathers, but they're so cute!"

He looked up at Ash, then Brock. "What do they eat?"

"Well, a mixed sandwich goes down well," Brock answered. "I'll just put one together for them, and we can make a lunch of it!"

Koraidon rolled upright again, and looked very interested in the topic.

"You'll get your sandwich, don't worry," Ash laughed.

"Do you plan on using them in your Gym Challenge, Ash?" Steven asked.

"That's up to Koraidon," Ash replied. "If they'd rather be a Pokémon that mostly hangs around to be shown how the world works, that's fine… they're not like Treecko or Taillow who volunteered to go with me, they're like Phanpy… but even more so, really. I'm responsible for them, so they get to make the choices about things like that."

"And about things like lunch?" Koraidon asked.

"So long as you don't eat too much," Ash laughed.

Two days later, May was marvelling at something.

"It's just struck me," she said. "We've been on Dewford for, what, it's getting close to a week now? And we haven't even been in the same place twice."

She shrugged. "I know it looks small on a map, but it's funny how you just think of it as being smaller than Hoenn's mainland without realizing that, actually, it's a lot bigger than where you live."

"Yeah, I felt like that when I went around Kanto," Ash agreed. "It's amazing how easy it is to get lost, with how big places are!"

"I'm not convinced that what happened with you was altogether natural," Pikachu said, then looked as if he'd had some kind of vaguely uncomfortable thought. "Actually, if you are the Chosen One, then maybe it wasn't…"

"Oh, yeah, the thing with Arborville and the Lake of Life," Ash agreed. "What would have happened if I didn't have you or Bayleef there?"

"I don't know what those places are, but it feels weird thinking about Ash without Pikachu…" Latias admitted. "And, can you pass this on to May? I do know all of Altomare, but it took me ages and ages to find all the hidden places."

"Latias says that it took her ages and ages to find all the hidden places in Altomare," Ash relayed, then they turned a corner and stopped.

"Well," Max said, eventually. "Logically speaking, this must not be a dead end because the path goes here. So there must be a way up that waterfall."

"If we have a rope, that would help," Brock decided. "Latias, can you help?"

Latias took a rope up to the top of the waterfall, giving the humans something to use as a basis to climb up, but Ash decided that it would be a good chance to test just how good his hooves were at sticking to things and climbed up the rock wall that way.

It wasn't without its problems.

"Whoops!" Latias said, catching another Pokéball as it fell out of Ash's bags, then transferred them to Pikachu. "Maybe you should have taken your bags off?"

"Maybe," Ash admitted. "I guess that's a good point… this isn't the first time I've done this, though!"

"Last time you were human, and you had both Chikorita and Bulbasaur helping lift you," Brock replied. "Now you've only got Bulbasaur and Latias ready to catch you, which… isn't really the same thing."

"I can do this," Ash insisted. "I'm a Pokémon, and Rock Climb is a move!"

He reached up with a hoof again, then attached it to the rock and disconnected his trailing one. "Plus, I'm most of the way there!"

Then there was a yelp of surprise and panic, and a Mudkip went over the waterfall in the wrong direction.

"Latias, catch them!" Ash said quickly.

Latias blurred over so quickly that Pikachu had trouble holding on to her, and some of Ash's things on her back went flying, then Latias snagged the Mudkip before turning around in time to use Confusion and hold the flying things in place.

"This has gone really well," Pikachu said.

"What happened?" the little Mudkip asked, looking down at herself and then up at Pikachu. "Did you save me? Or did I learn to fly?"

"I'm only flying because the Pokémon we're both standing on is flying," Pikachu explained. "She's invisible though."

"Mudkip!" another Mudkip called, skidding to a halt at the edge of the waterfall, then did a double-take. "What – what Pokémon is that on the side of the cliff?"

Ash waved, using one hoof because the other three were holding him to the cliffside. "Hi! Mudkip's okay, Latias caught her!"

It turned out that at the top of the cliff was a sort of Mudkip colony, where lots of Mudkip lived until they were old enough to handle themselves, and other Mudkip came back there to start or raise families.

Ash, Brock, Max, May and their Pokemon helped out by building a set of nets across the outflow river to catch wayward Mudkip, along with transplanting some long strands of ropey weed to give them something to cling on to, and by the end of the whole process Ash had picked up a Mudkip who didn't know where this was going but said he wanted to see how having a Pokémon who was also a trainer worked.

Also, Brock had a Corphish now, but it wasn't entirely clear why.

"Okay, guys, let's try it again," Ash said, one warm afternoon when they were nearly back to Dewford proper. "Ready?"

Mudkip, Taillow and Treecko all nodded.

"Treecko, you first!" Ash instructed. "Remember, you're aiming to not hit Mudkip… and… go!"

Mudkip was under no instruction to not hit Treecko, and used Water Gun. Treecko dodged out of the way, then did a spin like he would for Pound – but instead of trying to land a blow on Mudkip directly, he threw out a Razor Leaf attack.

Most of the leaves missed, landing either side of Mudkip, but a couple of them hit, and Treecko stopped.

"Oops," he said, then got wet as Mudkip sprayed him.

"I can take it, keep going!" Mudkip said. "Come on, this is a mock battle not a target practice session!"

Treecko ducked under another Water Gun, then dodged to the side and began throwing Razor Leaf attacks on the move again.

"Switch to moving away from Mudkip!" Ash called. "Mudkip, switch to trying to get a close range hit!"

"Can do," Mudkip nodded, lumbering into motion, and Treecko demonstrated his ability to jump in the air, fling an accurate Razor Leaf attack, then land again and keep going without slowing down.

"That's great, keep it up!" Ash said.

"I would like to know," Koraidon requested.

Ash looked back at them, then returned to looking at the training session. "Sure, go ahead and ask!"

"Am I helping?" they asked. "You said I could, but I would like to know how."

"It's actually because of whatever your ability is, that means you're making it sunny," Ash explained. "I think we talked about that?"

"You did, yes," Koraidon agreed. "But how does that help?"

Ash tilted his head, thinking about how to summarize it.

"So… we talked about Pokémon types, right? Well, moves have types too. So Water Gun, that Mudkip was using before, is a Water type attack."

Ash raised his voice. "Switch back to dodging sideways! Mudkip, start using Water Gun again!"

"I see?"

"And strong sunlight makes water type attacks weaker," Ash resumed. "It also makes fire type attacks stronger, and some Grass attacks, and there's lots of other little things that change in strong sunlight. There's other types of weather too, like hail and rain, and they each do their own thing. So rain makes water moves stronger, and fire moves weaker. Right?"

"I think so," Koraidon nodded.

They tilted their head. "Is making it sunny the main thing my kind of Pokémon does?"

"We actually don't know!" Ash admitted, reaching out a hoof and giving Koraidon a pat. "It'd be nice to know, but right now all we know is that you probably benefit from it being sunny somehow."

"I would like to learn how to take part in battles," Koraidon decided. "It looks like fun."

They leaned into Ash's hoof. "I'd like to spend time training with you, as well."

"That sounds like something we can do, all right," Ash agreed. "I'll probably have to try and work out what attacks you might be able to learn, though… maybe we'll start with Tackle, okay? That's nice and simple, but even simple moves can take a while to learn."

He considered. "Honestly, we'll need to work on things like how to move around during a battle, too… I'll start explaining how it works in a bit, I want to swap out what they're working on. Mudkip, Treecko, time out!"

Both Pokémon stopped, Treecko stumbling slightly as he landed.

"That was going really well, both of you," he said. "Mudkip, your Water Gun's got stronger from training in the sunlight. Treecko, those dodges were looking great, and you've managed a lot of Razor Leaf attacks!"

He waved to Taillow. "But now, it's time for Taillow to get involved. What I want now is for the two of you to swap every so often which of you is the target and which one of you is calling out for Taillow to dodge – that's because I want to work with Koraidon a bit. We'll start with me calling out the dodges, okay?"

Ash smiled. "So, basically, Taillow – we've been working on Extremespeed, and whenever the one who's watching out for you tells you to dodge I want you to use it as quickly as possible. Not for long, just for long enough to get out of where you are. That way you can dodge even if the attack's about to hit you. Okay?"

"Got it!" Taillow confirmed.

"Mudkip, you attack first," Ash added. "Now! Taillow… dodge!"

Taillow blurred halfway across the campsite in a single crack, leaving the Water Gun attack hitting nothing at all, then turned around and flew at Mudkip again.

"Huh," Ash frowned. "Dodge!"

This time, Taillow went wham right into the ground, making all the other Pokémon wince, then stood up and shook himself out. "Ow."

"I wondered about that," Ash admitted.

He waved a hoof. "Because you're using speed boosts to dodge, until you get the hang of doing really short ones it's best to make sure you won't hit anything if you suddenly move forward quickly… it might make it a bit more awkward to come in to attack, but it's better than being attacked or Extremespeeding into the ground."

"No kidding," Taillow agreed, flapped experimentally, then took off.

"Let's swap out, now," Ash instructed. "Treecko, you do the attacks, Mudkip, give a go at commanding Taillow, okay?"

"Phew," Ash said, once they were in the Dewford Pokémon Centre the next day. "That's bad weather, all right…"

"No kidding," May agreed. "I think the only one of my Pokémon who could enjoy that kind of weather is Octillery. Beautifly wouldn't enjoy it, and Torchic definitely wouldn't enjoy it."

"I'm about the same," Brock said.

He counted off on his fingers. "Corphish, yes, definitely not Vulpix-"

"You have a Vulpix?" May asked. "I've heard they're really pretty."

"Well, she was a loan, I gave her back to her original trainer," Brock explained. "I suppose Crobat might like it, but then again it's not like it rains much in caves…"

"That looks a lot like a storm to me," Ash frowned, turning back towards the windows. "And a bad one, too."

He looked to his left, at where Latias wasn't visible, then turned so he could see Pikachu too (who was). "What do you guys think?"

"We never went out in the canals when it was this bad," Latias said softly.

"I remember storms like this, but not often," Pikachu concurred. "And when we were out at sea, it was usually bad."

"Ash, look out," Brock called. "You're in the way of the doors a bit."

"Oh – right!" Ash said, skipping sideways, and Latias moved invisibly over his head so she was on his right side instead and not in the way at all. Then a Jenny showed up, along with several bedraggled humans all carrying Pokéballs.

"One of the boats ran aground!" Jenny said. "There's some others that were still out there when the storm hit."

There was a faint rattle.

"Whose Pokéball is that?" Ash asked.

"Koraidon's," Pikachu reported.

Ash thought about it, but not for long.

"Latias?" he asked. "Let's send Koraidon out. They can help make the storm weaker, and that's going to stop people getting hurt."

Koraidon emerged from their Pokéball only a few seconds later, and the lashing rain outside immediately began to ease off.

"Great idea, Koraidon - and let's go and help bring in those boats in trouble!" Ash added. "Guys, come on!"

"Ash, wait up!" Max called. "Wait for us!"

AN:

Everyone who can have a Water type gets a Water type.

Nobody gets their canon one.