There was a Pokémon Centre in the park, so getting Paul's Pokémon healed up was quick, and once it was done he sent out Chimchar again.

"Um," Chimchar began. "Sorry?"

He looked down. "I did my best…"

"I don't know if you heard what we were talking about, later in the battle," Ash said. "But I'm going to be helping make sure that you and Paul have a proper conversation, because I can translate."

Chimchar nodded slightly. "I get it," he said. "But, I'm not really sure what to say?"

"He's not sure what to say," Ash relayed.

Paul folded his arms, and began to say something, then stopped and reconsidered.

"Chimchar," he said, eventually. "I've told you before that your Blaze is powerful. It's a way you can fight much better. Why don't you use it?"

"That's-" Dawn began, then stopped.

Chimchar's tail twitched nervously as he thought about that.

"I don't like it," he said. "I don't want it. I don't know how to do it. It's scary, and I can't make it happen if I want to, and it made me feel terrible when it did."

Ash passed that on, and Paul frowned.

"But once you can use it, you'll be able to win battles much more easily," he said. "It happened before when you were in a difficult fight, but even Cynthia's Garchomp wasn't a hard enough fight to make it happen… so maybe it needs to be one where you're not defeated so quickly?"

Chimchar didn't say anything for a long moment, frowning and thinking, then looked at Ash.

"Is… is it okay no matter what I say?" he asked. "Can you ask Paul that?"

"Chimchar wants to know if it's okay no matter what he says," Ash said.

"Yes," Paul replied. "That's the point of this. If Chimchar doesn't tell the truth then there's no point."

Cynthia looked like she wasn't sure which side of that to leap in on, as a historian who understood source criticism and also someone who saw the value of clear communication, and Chimchar swallowed.

"Then why do I have to do hard fights?" he asked. "You're always making me do really difficult battles, and – and when I lose you tell me I didn't do well, but you're the one who put me in them…"

Ash opened his mouth to pass that on, but Chimchar kept going. "And I feel like I can't do anything right, and I'm letting you down, and Ursaring makes fun of me for it, but then when Murkrow and Torterra do something then – I'm sorry, I – I don't know what to say but I keep letting you down and I feel bad about it and like I should be able to do what I'm actually good at not this but I don't know what I'm good at because it seems like I screw up everything you want me to do…"

The torrent of words slowed, then ran out, and Chimchar panted a couple of times to recover his breath.

"Uh," Ash began. "I… don't think I can repeat all that, so, Chimchar? Is it okay if I try to… give the same thing, but shorter and not exactly the same?"

Chimchar nodded,

"Yes," he said. "I… yes, um. Sorry."

Ash thought.

"So… you feel like you can't do what Paul asks for," he said. "And you feel bad because of that, but you also feel bad because you'd rather do something you're good at, only you don't know what that would be?"

"Yeah," Chimchar said. "I don't want to let Paul down, but – but sometimes I wish I got to choose how to not let him down."

Paul looked like he was thinking hard.

"Do-" he began, then stopped, then tried again. "What do you suggest?"

Ash didn't say anything at first, as he thought about it.

"I guess… it sounds like maybe you and Chimchar just aren't good fits, as trainer and Pokémon?" he tried. "Maybe you could make it work if you tried – and, uh, I mean if Paul tried because Chimchar can't really try any harder – but maybe it's better to say that it doesn't really work out. Like…"

"Like Charmander," Pikachu said. "Though I guess that's different… maybe it's like Squirtle?"

"I was going to say, like Lapras," Ash replied. "Paul, my Lapras was a Pokémon that I really liked, and that got on with me, and we battled well together – but even with all of those things, it didn't work for him to still be my Pokémon, because his family was more important to him. I'm not-"

"I get it," Paul interrupted. "You're saying that… maybe there's something about what the two of us want that's different. It's not that Chimchar isn't listening, it's that it's like… like trying to teach a Pokémon a move that it can't learn. It's not going to work and trying that is just wasting effort."

"Actually, speaking of that," Lucario said. "I have some questions about the moves you teach your Pokémon…"

Paul looked up. "What?"

"There's something I want to say first, if that's okay?" Dawn requested. "It's to do with Chimchar, and… what you were saying, about his Ability. Though I guess it's mostly something to talk to Chimchar about, so if Lucario wants to ask Paul something that could happen at the same time."

"I want to know what Lucario has to say," Paul said. "So go ahead."

He, Lucario and Cynthia moved away a little, and Ash caught a bit of Lucario asking about whether he'd maybe considered teaching Weavile more close-in moves before Dawn crouched down in front of Chimchar.

"There's someone I met once, okay?" she began. "And he was… hurting, a lot. Because something bad had happened to him in the past. And I helped him, but because of that I got to thinking about how you deal with things like that."

She waved, vaguely. "Bad things in your past, that is."

Dawn stopped, waiting, and Chimchar nodded a bit to indicate his understanding.

"And one of the things I decided is, if you're going to go back to it, it's better if you accept it as just part of your past," she said. "Rather than just go back to it, because then you'll be feeling the same thing again. But there's another option, too, which is that you don't go back to it. You agree that it was bad, and now it's over, and it doesn't have to be anything about you any more – because it's only part of you if you want it to be."

Chimchar spent a bit of time thinking, then a bit more time talking quietly to Pikachu.

Paul, meanwhile, had been talking with Lucario, and Ash didn't catch a lot of it but the bits he did hear were mostly about the general idea of working within what your Pokémon was good at and what they wanted to do.

"Were you talking about Giratina?" he asked Dawn. "You didn't say specifically if you meant them or not."

"Kamado, actually," Dawn replied. "But it's not just him, either… it's something I found a lot, in the past."

She shrugged. "I guess that being back there where everything was different meant I was… thinking about how things were put together, a bit?"

"I… think I get it," Ash said, thinking. "Like how explaining things to Latias, Koraidon or Miraidon sometimes means I realize something myself. More than with other Pokémon, because Koraidon and Miraidon didn't start off knowing much of anything, and everything was so new for Latias too."

"It still is," Latias replied. "But I don't think that's all of it, either?"

She waggled her wings a bit. "Some of it, but… it's not just because of being in a new situation. Someone who's in a new situation doesn't automatically get good at this. Like… like Kamado, actually. Didn't Dawn say he was from somewhere else?"

"I think you did, right?" Ash asked. "You said Kamado was from somewhere else, I mean."

"Than Hisui?" Dawn checked. "Yes – a lot of the people in Hisui were from somewhere else."

"Then I guess Latias must be right," Ash said, smiling. "She said that someone who's in a new situation doesn't automatically get good at thinking about this, or Kamado and the others would have done it already. It helps, but it also needs you to be… well, the kind of person who got Mesprit's attention, I think."

"Thanks, Ash," Dawn said.

"...really fun to watch," Koraidon said, and Ash looked over to see that his daughter – his eldest daughter – was lying down next to Chimchar. "They do really clever things with the moves! There was this trainer who was May's friend but also an enemy at the same time, and his Wigglytuff would put leaves in the air and then punch them, it looked amazing."

"Wow," Chimchar said, then turned quickly at the sound of Paul approaching.

"Chimchar," he said. "Something Lucario said… I want to check."

Chimchar tilted his head.

"He asked if you knew that I was assuming you wanted to do this," Paul explained. "Not just… being a Pokémon. Being my Pokémon, that is. But specifically that…"

He stopped, and tried again.

"Lucario was talking about how Pokémon do better when what they're trying to do is what they want to do," he said. "And when we were talking about that, he asked if what I was trying to have you do was what you wanted to do. And I realized I didn't have a way to tell."

Paul frowned, looking annoyed, though who exactly he was annoyed at was unclear.

"And he asked if I was… just thinking that all Pokémon wanted my training, or that any Pokémon that stayed with me would like my training."

Chimchar looked nervous, now.

Paul huffed out a breath. "Chimchar. If you do want this training – the kind of training I do – then I'm going to do it. I think you have a lot of strength that could let you win even against really strong opponents, if only you could use it. And I'd hate to see that wasted. But… I can't just force you to do it. It has to be your choice."

Chimchar looked at Koraidon. "Do I have other choices?"

"Lots," Zorua said clambering up onto Koraidon's head. "Need any suggestions?"

Chimchar frowned, almost said something, then shook his head.

"No," he replied.

Zorua nodded, seriously, and lay down with his head on his paws.

Turning, Chimchar faced his trainer.

"I hope you give the same choice to all your Pokémon," he said. "And – and I hope that they say that it's okay for you to keep training them, because that way I'd be the only one who was unhappy with it. But I don't think I can make it work."

"He said-" Ash began, and Paul shook his head.

"No need," the trainer replied, still looking at the Fire-type – who was now almost stumbling with the release of nervous tension. "I can tell."

He took Chimchar's Pokéball off his belt. "I'm going to unregister you," he said. "Then you can do what you want."

"The difference is that a Battle Round does involve actually fighting other Pokémon," Pachirisu said, that evening. "But it still matters more that what you do looks good. A Pokémon can totally win by being showy!"

"She's right," Turtwig agreed. "Oh, and – don't worry, kid. You can stick to the Appeals if you want, just go through Ash to ask Dawn, but she'll probably get the idea anyway."

"Kid?" Chimchar repeated. "How old are you?"

"Nobody wants to ask those questions, because otherwise Sneasel is older than all of us put together," Pachirisu snorted.

Dawn smiled. "I'm glad you're getting on well," she said. "Hmm… Chimchar, do you want to help me cook some food in a bit? I've got some recipes to try out, and your help would be great!"

AN:

Dawn's turn to have the full set.