Edited 11/7/22

There is a level of irony that this chapter was originally late and the edit is also late.

Delia was sitting on the couch staring at the chair opposite her. Said chair was currently occupied by her Zorua, Ash who was doing a marvelous job of displaying innocence and a small amount of confusion.

This was the signature look of a child who was pretending not to know what was wrong.

She almost fell for it.

Truth be told though, he technically hadn't done anything wrong per se, other than the fight with Pikachu but he was already being punished for that. She was just processing the fact that she had a Pokemon who could talk back to her.

The little girl inside of her was squealing in delight. She didn't bother fighting it.

She stared at Ash for a moment longer, trying to find the words to start this conversation.

Her first proper conversation with him.

She had talked to him before and there were non-verbal ways of communication that she'd made use of for both him and other Pokemon but this was different. Since, well, he would actually be talking back to her.

Maybe it was because while on an intellectual level she knew that Pokemon could be just as intelligent (if not more so in some cases) than humans, hearing that intelligence made manifest was completely different.

Also, she kind of had this image in her head of Ash being her little baby Zorua and the fact he could speak actual words was kind of a shock to that concept.

Then again with that human illusion of his, it became a bit more fitting.

"So… how long have you been able to, you know." Delia gestured vaguely.

"Zor-" Ash coughed for a second, "Gah, sorry still not used to this, uhh do you mean correctly or just when I started getting some syllables down? Because it took months to figure out some of those sounds. How do you humans do it?"

Delia couldn't help herself, she started laughing. There was such ridiculousness to this that it was impossible to contain herself.

She wasn't upset, far from it! But Ash had apparently been practicing for months at the least and the only reason she noticed was that he spoke up and talked to her.

Tricky fox indeed.

"It's not funny!" Ash pouted at her, "I'm serious it was hard!"

After a moment she managed to collect herself, "I'm sorry, it's not that I just never saw something like this happening." She paused. "And to be completely honest I'm a bit embarrassed I never noticed."

"Well, I wanted to surprise you!" Ash explained. "And I think it worked."

That comment led to one last small chuckle, "I can say it certainly worked."

Professor Oak was probably going to get a kick out of this. Honestly, she couldn't remember the last time she heard of a Pokemon that could talk that wasn't already a psychic-type, and she was fairly certain they didn't speak, just communicate telepathically.

Maybe it had something to do with being a Zorua? She dimly remembered during her spit of research when she first got Ash that Zorua and their evolution Zoroark could use illusions to blend in with groups of both people and Pokemon.

Rather than just using the illusion to hide or surprise someone, they would infiltrate and adapt. It made sense they would need to sound like those around them in that case. She asked Ash about it, also wondering about his motivation for teaching himself to speak.

"I can't say I know anything about other Zorua or even Zoroarks…" Ash admitted looking thoughtful, "But I guess it makes sense, I decided that if I wanted my illusions to be perfect then I needed to learn more syllables so I didn't go around looking like a Blaziken but still talking like normal. If other Zorua can shapeshift then yeah it makes sense they would work on figuring it out too."

Of course, he hadn't thought about it. Ash had his intelligent moments but he had seemed somewhat absent-minded before.

Like he would seem to get a goal in mind, but skip some of the steps, still somehow achieve his goal and then get confused about the parts he missed. Now she could get a better read on him since he could express his thoughts out loud it sounded like her observations were correct.

"I don't suppose you teaching yourself how to talk has anything to do with your fight with Pikachu?" The sad look on his face made her feel a bit bad for bringing it up, but she wanted to clear the air there and she'd make it up to him later.

"It-it came up as part of the argument but it wasn't why we started fighting," Ash admitted, refusing to meet her eyes.

"Then what started the fight." Ash didn't say anything for a moment and she was about to tell him he didn't have to answer right now if he didn't want to but he finally muttered something, a bit too quiet and muffled for her to make out though.

Trying to sound as gentle as possible she said, "I'm sorry I didn't catch that Ash."

"He said I was just your pet. That you didn't really care about me." Ash finally said, looking very miserable.

Whatever answer Delia had been expecting, that certainly had not been it.

She had certainly never thought of Ash or any of her Pokemon as 'just her pet.'

Maybe when she was a really little girl she might not have seen Pokemon as anything beyond cute monsters she might have thought that way. But once she met some she realized that they were beings with thoughts and feelings of their own? Not a single time had it crossed her mind, they were her friends.

Desperately she searched for the right words to assuage the doubts planted in his head. "Ash I do not and have never thought of you as a pet, I've raised you for almost your entire life, and not once has the thought crossed my mind that you were a thing and not a person. Maybe you're not human, but you're a part of my family, as small as it may be."

Her words seem to have done the trick as Ash quickly looked very joyful and leaped across the room where had to move quickly to catch him. Understanding what he wanted she brought him in and hugged the little Pokemon.

"I love you… Mom." Ash said the last part quietly but considering his head was perched on her shoulder it wasn't hard for her to hear it. She wasn't about to refute him though, she'd meant what she said about him being family.

"I love you too Ash." She promised him. Meanwhile, she thought back to her other Pokemon, she'd never had too many. Of her old team, only one of them was technically still her Pokemon, that being Shelldon.

Her Clefairy did sometimes keep in touch, although being the mascot of a cereal brand kept her a bit busy. Then there was her Pidgeot, she wished he hadn't burned the bridges but there wasn't much she could do about it.

The thoughts of her old friends and the whole conversation with Ash certainly brought up some warm feelings of nostalgia, and a sudden desire to see some of them again.

Maybe it was time she brought Shelldon home, Ash might enjoy meeting his 'Big Brother…'

But for now, she just let the little fox know any doubts he may have had were for naught.

Months after Ash had let his trainer know 'hey I can talk by the way,' Summer had started rolling around again. It meant things were hotter, and the local kids were out of school. Now able to blend in correctly he had made a habit of showing up and playing with them.

It had been somewhat amusing as Gary initially had trouble reconciling the quiet boy he'd met almost eight months ago and the chatterbox Ash was now able to embrace.

Ash had also gained the unfortunate moniker of 'careful' which also translated to 'lame' in the language of children. This was due to his avoidance of the more exciting games some of the local kids played, such as Tackle Tag and Dodgeball, also known as the games the parents wanted to keep a close eye on.

This wasn't because Ash didn't want to play them, far from it. There were two reasons he avoided those games though. First, his illusion was fragile and no matter how fast he ran or how well he dodged, it would break eventually.

Second, human children were also fragile, he didn't want to accidentally hurt any of them.

As Ash had promised Pikachu he had taken a step back from the trainer thing and kept his few forays into it from encroaching on Pikachu's own time. There had been a little bit of a rough patch after their 'punishment' was over. Neither had quite known what to say to the other after the fight and the emotional make-up afterwards. But thankfully with a bit of time things had returned to normal.

Other things had changed beyond Pichu's evolution to Pikachu and Ash's ability to blend in with the human children. The biggest of which, literally and physically was Shelldon, who returned at last from Unova much to Delia's (and Ash's and eventually Pikachu's) delight.

The Zorua had never met a Blastoise in person, he'd seen pictures of course, and seen Squirtle at Professor Oak's lab occasionally. But the difference in scale between the little turtle and the giant tank that was Blastoise was stark.

He had been foretold of the older Pokemon's arrival and was incredibly curious to meet him. He had been Delia's only Pokemon for basically his entire life, she had mentioned her other Pokemon in passing but he hadn't met any of them in person yet.

When Shelldon had been released at home Delia had latched onto him with a hug and told him how much she missed him and calls weren't the same, she hoped he had fun and kicked butt and just generally had a very touching reunion.

Introductions were then made between the water-type and the dark-type and they inspected each other.

Ash summed up what he thought of Shelldon very quickly. "You're big."

"And you are small," Shelldon noted, his voice was deep but smoother than you might expect. Less gravely and more melodic. "Also you sound strange."

"I learned how to talk like humans. It was hard." Ash explained and struggled to think of what to say next. "What was Unova like?"

"Loud. Louder than Kanto at least. Lots of battles though! Enemies to defeat and glory to be won. I had a lot of fun. I actually met a few Pokemon like you. None of them spoke like that though, can you do the illusion thing too?"

"Yeah I can!" Always eager to demonstrate, he quickly did his best to match Shelldon's appearance and in a moment there were two Blastoise standing in the room.

The real one looked his duplicate up and down. "Not too bad but it needs work, especially around the eyes. They're a bit too far apart."

Ash dropped the illusion, not entirely comfortable being that big. "Oops, sorry, I feel like I always make a mistake when trying a new Pokemon."

"Meh, mistakes are for the weak. We gotta fix that, how much training do you do on average?" Huh, he didn't like being called weak, but following it up with a desire to fix it certainly lightened the blow.

"We don't train too often, sometimes Pichu and I will do some on our, so maybe once or twice a week?" That was being a bit generous, there were weeks that went by where they didn't do any.

"Unacceptable!" The Blastoise nearly roared, he scooped Ash up by his scruff and stomped his way towards that back door. "Training begins now!"

The suddenness of the reaction was enough to make the Zorua forget to use the human language. "I feel an odd mix of excitement and mortal terror."

Shelldon's laugh was as terrifying as it was musical. "Good! You're already in the training mindset!"

Delia had watched this whole exchange. There were enough context clues for her to get a rough idea of what was going on. She sighed with relief, "I'm glad they're getting along."

She had been a bit worried about that, there was no guarantee any two Pokemon would be compatible. Delia had never had any issues with it before but she had been a bit worried.

There may have been cause to worry that she didn't realize, although Ash quickly did when he was asked, "Quick question, how many Hydro Pumps can you take before being knocked out?"

Overall, the Blastoise was fairly friendly, although he did have a tiny bit of an ego problem. But he didn't take the time to rub it into people's faces, and from what Ash had seen of his strength it was fairly well deserved.

Then again, when Pikachu had mentioned that Shelldon might be able to fight Professor Oak's Dragonite on equal footing and win the big turtle had refuted it soundly and then started muttering about 'overpowered orange potatoes with wings.'

It should also be noted the water-type also had a pretty good sense of humor and happily brought amusement to Ash's everyday life.

Professor Oak had been intrigued by Ash's capacity for human speech, theorizing that perhaps all Pokemon may have had the ability and then pondering why more did not embrace it. He debated with himself about whether it was a matter of pride, mental blocks, or simple disinterest.

Of course, he also had theories that perhaps Pokemon like Ash who had a genetic talent for fitting in with other species may have a naturally increased affinity for it, perhaps that was why Ash had figured out speech so quickly.

The Zorua in question wasn't sure about that last part; it had taken him almost a year to perfect it to a reasonable level and he still made the occasional slip-up.

The most interesting event recently had been something the other kids had been talking about, Professor Oak's Pokemon Camp!

Obviously he was not signed up for any such activity but well he was a Pokemon, he could probably just show up and hang out. Also, the camp advertised itself towards perspective trainers so Ash had to go.

He'd even managed to get Pikachu to come along, although that phrasing may be misleading as Pikachu had already been planning on going. Either to mess with the kids learning about Pokemon or to meet the Pokemon that might be there and get their perspective on humans.

That was something else that had changed actually. Pikachu hadn't quite warmed up to humans, but he was more open to discussing them. Especially with Pokemon who had daily interaction with Pokemon from all walks of life.

It was a bit odd but Ash had come to accept it as part of who his friend was now. It wasn't hurting anyone and was giving some interesting perspectives, good and bad.

So Ash and Pikachu showed up at the camp sometimes and watched the proceedings, sometimes they'd do something sneaky to interact with the campers or secretly participate in the arts and crafts.

One day there had been a contest for the best finger paint drawing and Professor Oak had been so impressed with the person who had managed to perfectly recreate a Pikachu's footprints he'd given that one first prize.

A shame Pikachu hadn't owned up to his accomplishment, but he did seem pretty pleased with it.

Things had continued pretty uneventfully for a while and it was becoming apparent to both Pokemon things were getting a bit boring.

One day their boredom led to them wandering away from the main camp group and into the surrounding woods.

"Do you think it's a bit weird how humans focus so much of their lives around Pokemon?" Ash asked Pikachu.

"Not really, we're pretty awesome for the most part. I can't imagine not being able to shock people at a moment's notice." Pikachu was quick to rationalize it.

"Yeah I guess that mak-" A shrill shriek cut Ash off before he could finish, the two glanced at each other and quickly dashed off to find the source of the scream.

In a small clearing, a little ways away from them, was a human girl, maybe seven to eight years old. She was on the ground crying. Ash and Pikachu kept their distance for a moment, quickly discussing what to do.

"What happened to her?" Pikachu asked.

"I don't know but it looks like she's hurt." The Zorua pointed out.

"I could probably go and find Professor Oak and lead him over here." The electric mouse suggested, it was a good thing he was a bit more tolerant towards humans these days.

Despite his friend's apparent character development, Ash had another idea. "That might take awhile and we can't just leave her crying here." Pikachu opened his mouth for a rebuttal but Ash cut him off, "We shouldn't leave her crying here."

"What's your plan then?" Pikachu pushed, accepting Ash's point without any back sass.

"Alright just follow my lead, and please play nice." Ash pleaded and quickly applied his human illusion. Pikachu, understanding now, scurried up a tree a bit and hopped to Ash's shoulder quickly balancing himself out.

Walking out of the forest Ash slowly approached the girl. "Hi, are you okay?"

The girl was startled but looked up at Ash tears in her eyes. "I- no! I got lost from my group and then I ran into this Pokemon and it jumped at me and I fell and hurt my knee."

Ash glanced at the said knee and winced. He was no expert and it didn't seem awful but it was definitely scraped up a lot. A surprising amount for a fall in a forest clearing, she must have landed on a rock or something.

He wished he had something to give her for the knee but he should be able to help her up and lead her back to the camp at least.

"I know how to get back to camp, do you need me to help you up?" He offered and she quickly nodded as he moved forward with an outstretched hand but she gasped and withdrew her own. Ash was confused until he realized her eyes focused on the space next to his head.

"Oh don't worry! That's Pikachu, he's a good friend and I promise he won't hurt you." He made a glance at Pikachu who nodded, thankfully without glaring at the girl this time. Ash helped her get to her feet and although she stumbled she was able to stand straight in a moment.

"Thank you, it hurts though is the camp close?" She asked, her tears no longer falling quite so quickly but she still sniffled a little.

"The pavilion is a few minutes away so it shouldn't take us too long. My name's Ash by the way." he introduced himself. "And well you already know Pikachu's name."

"I'm Serena." She responded in kind as Ash led her back down the clearest path to camp.

"It's nice to meet you, Serena, come on your knee should be patched up too." And with that the trio of two Pokemon and a human head off back to the camp.

As Ash had told Serena, the camp wasn't too far away. You wouldn't know it though with how thick the forest was around here. There weren't too many campers at the main camp right now, although Gary was there which Pikachu noted to him glumly.

It was probably a good thing it was quiet right now, Serena needed to get to the first aid station and too many kids would probably come and crowd them as soon as they saw Pikachu on Ash's shoulder.

Professor Oak noticed them come into the main clearing and with a quick scan realized their destination and hurried over.

"Oh dear, Serena, are you okay?" He pulled out the first aid kit from the shelf as Serena sat down. Oddly enough she didn't let go of Ash's hand though.

"I hurt my knee." The girl told the Pokemon professor.

"That's quite a scrape? What happened?" The professor kept her talking as he spread the antibiotic on the injury, keeping her distracted from the string before applying the large bandage. She explained in a bit more detail than what she'd told Ash but it was generally the same story.

"...And then Ash found me and helped me get back." She finished as the Professor gave her a clean bill of health at this point though, the campers still around the pavilion had come over to see what happened and they were quickly moving to crowd Ash.

"Oh wow is that a Pikachu!" A boy with a darker complexion moved forward and got close to the poor electric-type. "I don't think I've seen one this close before! How'd you get him?"

"Easy there Goh!" Professor Oak chuckled nervously, very aware of Pikachu's temper. "Step back a moment and introduce yourself before asking questions."

"Oh, sorry." the child stepped back and did a proper introduction. "My name is Goh, what's your name?"

"I'm Ash," he told him and saw Gary move to the front, giving him a surprise once over.

"Wow Ashy-boy, didn't think you'd ever be out doing something official, I almost thought you lived in a cave in the park or something," Gary commented, somehow still coming off as insulting despite being so nonchalant. "That doesn't explain why you showed up to the camp three weeks late though."

Ash's eyes widened and he tried to think of a good excuse, fortunately, the boy's grandfather seemed to pick up on the situation came up with a good explanation for him.

"Ash is a bit of a late comer, his checkup papers got lost in the mail somewhere so he had to wait for them to be found before he could come. It seems to have worked out since he found Serena on the way in." The older man explained, shooting the disguised Zorua a quick wink.

Ash barely had time to enjoy his sigh of relief before a girl with brown hair stepped up next to Goh and leaned in, "Hey, you never did- oh right introductions. I'm Leaf, you never told Goh how you got your Pikachu!"

"I didn't get Pikachu," Ash explained feeling a bit annoyed at the insinuation. "He's my friend. I met him at the lab actually."

The kids (including Serena) seemed a bit confused at that explanation. Although Gary looked like he had swallowed something sour. He no doubt realized that this Pikachu and the one from his grandfather's lab were the same.

Thankfully, Professor Oak once again picked up the slack. "Yes, it may be hard for you to understand now but most trainers can tell you that when you meet a Pokemon who will join you on your journey you don't just drag them along, they join you, sometimes out of respect for a superior battler, sometimes out of a sense of gratitude and other times you just connect and they choose to come with you as friends."

The campers seemed to be processing that before Oak glanced at his nonexistent watch and said. "Oh look at the time, it's almost dinner time! Why don't you four get to the picnic tables while I make sure Ash is all settled in."

The four kids moved away and Oak sighed and turned back to Ash. "Thank you for helping Serena. I don't want to think how long she might have been missing if you two hadn't found her."

"We were happy to help," Ash told him with Pikachu muttering a rough agreement.

"Also I supposed I should officially welcome you to camp, I don't mind you two sticking around as long as you're careful." He paused. "Speaking of, Pikachu." He directed his attention to the yellow mouse. "Please don't shock my campers. You can shock me but I'm responsible for their safety while they're here."

"I wasn't going to! Much anyway." Pikachu defended and Ash smiled at the slight joke.

"Don't worry, we'll try not to cause any trouble professor. This camp seems like fun anyway!" The Zorua promised him.

"In that case welcome to camp! I'm sure the kids will be very interested to see Pikachu and maybe a Pokemon from a far-off region if he can find the time to make an appearance."

And that's the end of this one!

Serena, Goh, and Leaf oh my!

This chapter actually got a bit more added to it, originally I just skipped over Shelldon arriving because I was trying to get to the journey as soon as possible but now I can add a bit more detail to things.

Not much else to say really. Reminder I do have a discord server if anyone is interested I guess?

discord gg / kESdTfhAwG

Anyway let's do the reviews.

jurassicdinodrew: Quite a surprise for Delia, and yes you did actually ask before, but I'll say again, way too early for that to be a possibility. Maybe much MUCH later. (although I'm a bit more partial to Mewtwo myself…)

DRMAK: Sorry, that's a big spoiler.

mac349: Glad you think so!

Jonathan-Mandrake: I borrowed some of your ideas there with Oak just rolling with it so thank you for that! Also thanks for pointing out the Pichu thing, I'm not sure if I should go back and fix that or just let it lie for now.

Guest: I'm sorry I don't understand your first question and also I am not taking shipping suggestions right now. As for Serena being Ash's biological sister? Maybe in another story someday, it does feel a bit weird to work it in considering the romance aspect in the anime though.

CorruptHero: Happy to hear it!

Until next we meet! In another story or this one I will be your author!

~FriTik

R&R