Ash grinned as he drank down his cup of lemonade.

"Ahh," he said as he put his cup down. "Nothing better than something sweet to drink after winning a badge!"

"Yup," Meowth said as he grabbed another Poke Bean. "It sure feels great!"

McAdam chuckled as he watched the gang enjoy their snacks and beverages.

"Congratulations on your latest victory, young Ash," he said with a smile. "I'm pleased to see you get stronger as you continue your quest."

"Thanks, McAdam," said Ash. "You just watch as I win the Pokemon League!"

McAdam chuckled at this.

"Well, I hope that you're right," he said. "It's not going to be easy, especially with Team Rocket out there."

"Yeah, Team Rocket is a problem," said Sam. "It's kind of worrying that we keep running into them."

"Yeah, but we always beat them," said Mikaela. "I don't think they're that much of a problem."

"Vee!"

"Chu."

"I'd be wary about underestimating them," McAdam cautioned. "Team Rocket is much more dangerous than you would imagine. Rumor has it that they have a top-secret project that could have massive ramifications for the whole world."

"Really?" said Maria. "That sounds ominous. Is it for real?"

"Possibly," said McAdam. "It's only a rumor, but it certainly sounds plausible."

"I see," said Sam. "Well, we'll try to be careful about them."

"Aren't we always?" said Meowth."

"Ratta!"

McAdam couldn't help but smile.

"Well, I wish you good luck. And good luck with your contest, Maria."

As the old barista walked off, the gang looked at each other in confusion.

"Did you sign up for a contest, Yellow?" said Maria.

"I didn't," said Maria. "I don't know what he was talking about."

"Maybe he thinks it's something you could do while traveling with us?" Ash suggested. "You know, like Mikaela, Sam, and I have our own goals that we're trying to achieve?"

"I dunno," said Meowth. "That kind of sounds like something that the writers would do with the female companions over and over again because they're not good at coming up with other ideas."

The rest of the group stared at him.

"What?"

"Rattata, rat-rat."

"Chuu…"

"Vee!"

"No, I'm not crazy!"

Not too long afterwards, Ash and his friends called his mother, telling her everything about his latest gym battle.

"And now we're going to go onto the S.S. Anne, because we got tickets from Bill when we visited him."

"My, that sounds wonderful," Delia said as Ash showed her the tickets. "I've always wanted to go on a cruise. I'm a bit jealous of you, Ashy!"

"Aw, Mom," Ash said bashfully. "You're making me feel guilty!"

"Oh, don't be, sweetie," Delia said with a smile. "I'm happy for you, honestly. This sounds like a great opportunity, and I really hope that you enjoy it."

"Thanks, Mom," said Ash.

"Yeah, thank you, Mrs. Ash's mom!" said Mikaela. "We'll have lots of fun!"

"Of course we will," said Maria.

"Well, I'm happy for each and every one of you," said Delia. "Make sure to have lots of fun! And don't forget to wear clean underwear!"

The gang all collectively groaned.

"Well, I need to get going," said Delia. "I hope to see you soon!

"Bye Mom!" said Ash.

"Bye Mrs. Ketchum!" said the rest of the gang.

"Bye Mrs. Ash's Mom!" said Mikaela.

Delia waved as the call ended. As the screen went blank, Ash began to type another phone number.

"I really hope Cody's doing okay," he said as he dialed his best friend's number.

"Me too," said Maria. "It sounds like he was having trouble last time."

"Yeah," said Mikaela. "His dad sounds like a jerk."

"Veee!"

"I… don't know if I'd say that," said Sam. "They probably had some sort of disagreement or something. But I don't think it's too serious."

"Chu. Pika."

Ash sighed as he finished inputting Cody's number, hoping that Sam was right. He really didn't want his best friend to be in any serious trouble.

After a few moments, the familiar sight of Ash's best friend appeared on screen.

"Cody!" Ash said as a smile took over his face.

"Ash!" Cody said excitedly. "How are you? Did you fight Surge? Does he have an Electabuzz? Was it as cool as Team Electabuzz?!"

"Hey, calm down, dude," Ash said with a chuckle. "We just battled Surge today. I didn't see an Electabuzz, but we did get to battle against his Elekid."

"Awesome!" said Cody. "I'll bet it was a real power hitter!"

"It sure was," said Meowth. "But Riolu was stronger!"

"Huh, Riolu sounds really cool," said Cody. "Too bad she's blue instead of yellow. That would have been awesome!"

"That would be weird," said Mikaela. "Can you imagine a yellow Riolu? It would look kind of like Yellow!"

"Eeveevee!"

Maria rolled her eyes at this, although she did look down at her clothes as she did.

"I guess it would kind of match," she admitted.

"Rattata-ratta!"

"Yeah it would," said Cody. "Your clothes are great!"

"Thanks, Cody," Maria said with a smile. "I bet you'd look good in them!"

Cody chuckled nervously at this.

"Uh, maybe not," he said. "My dad wouldn't like me wearing girl clothes."

Upon hearing this, Sam frowned.

"Has that ever been a problem?" he asked.

At this, Cody froze. Ash frowned as he saw his friend's reaction to Sam's question.

"Are you okay, Cody?" he said.

Cody shook himself and looked back at Ash.

"Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm good."

Ash and his friends looked at each other, worried about what was happening. Ash then thought back to their previous call, and remembered what they had been talking about.

Could it be…?

"Hey, Cody?" he said. "Last time we talked, you were gonna talk about why you got grounded. Do you… still want to talk about it?"

Cody winced.

"I… don't know," he said with a frown. "It's… complicated."

"Oh," Ash said with a frown. "I mean, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. We can talk about other stuff if you want."

"Thanks, Ash," Cody said as he looked at Ash nervously. "Um… you really won't laugh at me?"

"Of course not, Cody," Ash said as he gave his friend a reassuring smile. "You're my best friend, and I want to help you."

"Same here," Sam piped up. "Whatever your problem is, we want to help you, not make fun of you. You can count on us."

"Totally!" said Mikaela. "We're not meanie-pants like that! You don't have to worry about anything!"

"That's right," said Mikaela. "You can tell us whatever you need to."

"Rattata!"

"Vee!"

"Chu."

"What they said," Meowth said as he pointed at the other Pokemon. "Say whatever you want. We won't judge you!"

The purple haired boy still seemed reluctant to open up to the gang. But hearing their words seemed to reassure him, and he smiled as his cheeks turned slightly pink.

"O-okay," he said. "I… can tell you."

He then took a deep breath and began to speak.

"So, it started back a couple years ago," he said. "In fact, it was a few weeks before I went to Summer Camp."

"Really?" Ash said in surprise. "You mean the one where we met?"

"Yeah, that one," said Cody. "The thing is… I didn't really want to go there."

Ash stared at his friend in surprise.

"You didn't want to go to Professor Oak's Summer Camp?" Ash said, unable to comprehend the idea of not wanting to go learn everything about Pokemon.

"Yeah," said Cody. "You see, A few weeks before that, I got into a really big fight with my mom and dad. And it got really bad. I got grounded for a month, and part of that was that I had to go to Professor Oak's summer camp."

"Really?" said Ash. "You had to go to that camp because you got into a fight with your parents?"

"Yeah," Cody said quietly. "They were hoping that… it would set me straight."

"What do you mean?" said Ash. "Why did you fight with them?"

For a moment, Cody didn't answer. Ash looked at the purple haired boy with worry, wondering what could have caused such a big fight between him and his parents.

Then Cody finally answered.

"I told my parents that… I wanted to be a girl."

Whatever Ash had been expecting, that was not it.

"You… what?"

"You heard me the first time!" Cody snapped, causing Ash to recoil. "And don't try to pretend it's not weird, because I know it is!"

Ash and his friends stared at Cody in shock.

"You really said you wanted to be a girl?" said Meowth.

Cody sighed and continued to speak.

"Yeah, I told my parents that I didn't like being a boy, and that I wanted to be a girl instead. And my dad got really angry at me, telling me that I was a boy and that I needed to act like one, and nothing I could do could change that. I tried to argue with him, but it just made things worse, and then I got grounded."

"And what did your mom say?" Ash asked.

"She told me that it was probably just a phase, and I'd grow out of it," said Cody. "And she said that if I tried hard to make friends at the Summer Camp, I'd probably get over it."

Ash and his friends looked at each other, unsure of how to respond. The only exception was Sam, who had a thoughtful look on his face.

He then spoke up.

"And did you get over it?"

Cody squirmed, clearly uncomfortable talking about the feelings that were now coming up. However, he swallowed hard and began to speak once more.

"Uh… yeah! Totally!" he said nervously. "I mean, it would be weird if I really wanted to be a girl, right?"

He then looked downwards with a sad expression.

"And besides, it's not like I can actually be a girl for real…"

"Well, at least not biologically," said Sam. "Anyway, I'm just asking because most people in the transgender community realize that they're trans from a very young age, even if sometimes they can't quite put their feelings into words."

The rest of the gang turned towards Sam.

"Trans… gender?" said Cody. "What the heck does that mean?"

"It refers to someone whose gender doesn't match the body they were born with," Sam explained. "Like, a person could be born with a boy body, but then realize that they feel happier living as a girl, or vice versa."

"Really?" said Mikaela. "That sounds weird."

"Mikaela!" Maria yelled. "Don't say that! You'll hurt Cody's feelings!"

The brown haired girl gasped, then turned to the video phone.

"Ohmigosh, I'm so sorry, Cody!" she said quickly. "I didn't mean it!"

"Veevee!" Eevee said as he waved at the screen.

Cody chuckled, though it sounded rather awkward.

"It's okay," he said. "Honestly… it is weird."

"But you're not weird!" Ash said quickly. "You're just… um…"

"Trapped in the wrong body?" said Meowth.

"Yeah! That!"

"Yeah, that about sums it up," Sam explained. "I mean, it may be hard to understand if you're comfortable with the gender you were assigned at birth. But for transgender people, it really does feel like they're trapped in the wrong type of body."

Ash and his friends took a moment to process what Sam was saying. They then looked at Cody.

"Is that how you feel, Cody?" Ash asked. "Like you're a girl who's trapped in a boy's body?"

Cody squirmed uncomfortably at this. For a moment, Ash was worried that he had said something wrong, or that he had offended his best friend. Seeing the nervousness on the purple haired boy's face, he decided to interject.

"I mean, if you don't want to talk about it, it's fine. You don't have to tell me anything you don't want to."

Cody looked at Ash in surprise, then sighed. He then gave Ash a nervous smile.

"Uh, thanks, Ash."

For a moment, there was silence. Ash just looked at his friend on the video screen, thinking about everything he had just learned. And as he looked at his best friend, he began to realize just how scared Cody was, and how vulnerable he (she?) must have felt talking about his (her?) feelings.

He then made up his mind.

"Hey, Cody?" he said. "You're my best friend, and I don't care if you want to be a boy or a girl, because nothing is going to change that. And if you're trying to get your mom and dad to see you as a girl… then I'll help you!"

At this, Cody's eyes widened, and then began to water.

"You… mean it?"

"Yeah he does!" said Meowth. "And I'm gonna be there for you too!"

"Riolu!"

"And we'll all be there for you too!" Mikaela declared. "Boy or girl, any friend of Ash is a friend of me!"

"Eevee!"

"It's 'a friend of mine,'" Sam corrected. "But yeah, we've got your back, Cody."

"Pika."

"I mean, it's kind of hard to understand," said Maria. "But I'll be there to support you too!"

"Rattata!"

"You see, Cody?" said Ash. "If you want to be a girl, we'll make sure the whole world treats you like one!"

Cody stared at Ash and the rest of the group in shock. Then, he gasped as he tried to hold in a sob, though he was unable to stop tears from flowing down his cheeks. Finally, he wiped his eyes and smiled.

"Guys… Thank you. Thank you so much!"

"Don't sweat it, Cody," said Ash, "we're not your friends for nothing!"

Cody smiled, though it looked much less awkward than before. He then winced as he heard a noise coming from outside his room. He looked away for a moment, and then turned back to his friends.

"Uh, I have to go," he said. "My parents will be angry if I take too long."

He gave Ash an apologetic look.

"Sorry about that."

"No, it's okay," said Ash. "You go make sure everything's fine with them."

"Yeah," said Meowth. "We can talk later if you want to!"

"Of course," said Sam. "And if you want to talk about… you know, we'll be here to help you."

Cody smiled, then the screen went blank. Ash and his friends looked at each other.

"Well, that was… different," said Maria.

"Rattata!"

"I mean, it's… not something you deal with every day," said Sam. "The trans community is relatively small, but there are definitely people out there who have similar experiences to Cody."

"Chu-pika."

"Huh," said Meowth. "That's interesting."

"Well," said Ash, "if Cody is trans… um…"

"Transgender," said Sam. "Or just trans, for short."

"Uh, that," said Ash. "We're going to help him! Or her, if that's what Cody wants!"

"Yeah!" said Mikaela. "We'll make Cody the best girl he or she can be!"

Ash grinned, now determined to help his best friend. He didn't really understand why Cody wanted to be a girl if he'd been born as a boy. But he was his best friend, and he was going to help him no matter what he wanted.

And if being a girl truly made Cody happy, then he would help her become the girl that she truly wanted to be.

A/N: Merry Christmas! ...Sort of? I mean, Christmas is pretty much over, but it's still technically December 25th, so... yay?

Anyway, my gift to you guys is... yeah. I've been building up to this chapter for a long while now. Yes, Cody is in fact Casey; her being trans is a headcanon of mine, which I've used in another story of mine. Unfortunately, in this story her parents didn't accept her, so she's forced into the closet... for now. Hopefully Ash and his friends can help her somehow!

As for this chapter, I'm really hoping I've done a good job at portraying Casey's struggles with her gender identity. As a cis-het male I can only work with my own experiences, so it does take some difficulty to put myself in Casey's shoes. If anyone thinks I messed up somehow, please let me know so I can improve my portrayal of her!

(If, on the other hand, you want to bash me for being "woke" or whatever, then don't bother reading my story. It's not for you.)

Anyway, I'll do my best to get the next chapter out ASAP!