"Is this what being a Pokémon trainer is like?" May asked, some way along the coast from Petalburg to Rustboro. "I don't know what I imagined, but it was never like this."

Max looked troubled. "I… don't think our experience is normal."

He looked over at Brock, who'd rejoined Ash after, in his words, 'finding out that everything was actually fine at home'. "Is it normal?"

"I've only ever travelled around with Ash myself, so I couldn't tell you," Brock answered. "But as a Gym Leader, I did see a lot of trainers come through."

He began to check points off on his hands. "A lot of trainers who came for the first badge only had one Pokémon, or maybe two. Even trainers who came for their fourth badge often didn't have a full team, and by that point the number of trainers really started to drop off. Ash is just really good at befriending Pokémon, not even capturing them in the normal way, and that started well before he became a Pokémon… and I'm mostly sure that he's particularly good at encountering unusual Pokémon, as well."

"You mean like Unown and Taillow?" May said. "And Latias? I guess I can see how they're unusual, but… is that really typical for him?"

They looked over at where Ash was coaching Latias through a kind of corkscrew movement in the air, having Taillow demonstrate as someone who knew it already.

"Taillow being so resistant to electricity is like Pikachu, who can do some strange things with electricity," Brock told them. "I've never met an Electric-type as strong as Pikachu before… maybe that Zapdos we met once."

"Zapdos?" Max repeated. "That's a Legendary Pokémon!"

"Yes," Brock agreed simply. "Pikachu is strong, don't forget it. But even the Pokémon he met in Kanto are unusual as well… I think being with Ash has always meant, and will always mean, that things are a little strange."

Not long afterwards, they got another example of how things were a little strange.

"Who are those guys?" Max asked. "May, did you meet them before?"

May shook her head, but Brock scowled and reached for a Pokéball.

"It's Team Rocket," he said.

Jessie laughed. "That's what you say," she said. "Behold, our Trevenant mech!"

"It's perfection!" James agreed. "Or, almost perfection, because there's only one source of perfection in this world!"

"To present the world with imitations!" Jessie announced.

James put his hand over his heart. "To embrace our own purification!"

"To denounce all senseless exploitation!"

"And excuse another's illumination!" James agreed.

The two of them put on large hats. "Jessie!"

"James!"

"Everyone's welcome to the congregation," Jessie continued.

"But Jirachi should wish for inspiration!"

"Meowth, that's an oration!" Meowth concluded.

"What's Jirachi got to do with it?" May asked.

"Ah, you must be new!" James said grandly. "Don't forget to make a donation!"

"Taillow, let's handle this!" Ash decided. "Unown, come on out! Letter form! Taillow, carry them into the mech!"

"You're not beating us that easily!" Jessie said, raising a mechanized arm to bring it down onto Taillow and Unown, only for the arm to stop in mid-air.

"Great work!" Ash called, to the invisible Latias. "Now, Taillow! And Unown, use Hidden Power! Start with Electric!"

After several different kinds of Hidden Power had made the mech malfunction, then Onix's tail had made it explode, and that plus Pikachu had sent Jessie, James and Meowth hurtling off into the distance, a Treecko dropped down in front of them.

"You're not a human," he said, pointing at Ash. "But you were giving the orders. Why?"

"I'm a Pokémon trainer!" Ash replied, indicating himself by curling a hoof up. "And my friend Brock is one too! May's not sure what kind of Pokémon trainer she wants to be and some of them have different terms for them, so I guess she could be one or not. And Max isn't one."

"Interesting," Treecko frowned. "Your Pokémon did some strange things. Can any of them help us? Our tree is in trouble."

"Can we help with an injured tree," Ash said, repeating Treecko's question for the humans.

Unown pulsed. "That is within our capabilities," they stated.

"Oh, great!" Ash brightened. "Sounds like we can, Treecko, so lead the way!"

Ash had to give Unown the instruction to heal the tree, which was something to do with root access – the exact wording was a bit unclear – but once it was sorted out the Treecko who'd approached Ash was so impressed that he volunteered to join Ash's team.

"I think I'm starting to see what you mean," Max told Brock.

"That's Ash for you," Brock agreed.

"Show me again, Pikachu?" Ash asked.

"Sure!" Pikachu agreed, loping back to Ash, then turned around and used Quick Attack again.

Ash watched as Pikachu darted off, then focused and tried to do the same.

That just resulted in him galloping along, which worked for a few seconds until he realized what he was doing and stumbled, but – while he didn't trip over entirely – it wasn't the move he'd used before.

"Maybe we're doing this wrong," Pikachu considered. "You're trying to run fast, but instead what you need is a sudden discrete burst of lots of speed."

"Right," Ash replied, thinking. "Right! So when Latias uses Headbutt she's flying as fast as she normally does, it's just she's controlling how she hits the target so she doesn't get a big headache, but when you use Quick Attack then you speed up because of the attack."

"And when you used whatever that was, you just blurred forwards," Pikachu agreed. "So it's something different."

He tapped his paw on the ground. "Maybe we should try this, Ash… hey, Latias!"

Latias put down her plate, and flew over. "Yes?"

Pikachu tossed her Ash's spare hat. "Go and put that somewhere that we can see it a long way away on the ground."

"Hey!" Ash complained.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Pikachu said, as Latias zipped off to put the hat on a stump a couple of hundred yards away. "Now, try to go and get that hat, but you're not allowed to run or even trot."

He raised his voice again. "And Latias, pick up the hat again when Ash is halfway there!"

"So, what's it like cooking for so many different Pokémon?" Max asked. "I never really thought about it before."

"Well, usually I start with generic flavours, but you can get some quite varied mixes once you know the specific needs of the Pokémon," Brock replied, stirring a big pot of curry. "And it's always helpful to add in something that's more human-food styled, especially for Pokémon like Latias, and for Ash too – but everyone likes some variety."

He showed off some notes. "Really, it's like cooking for lots of younger siblings, all of whom have different tastes!"

"Another way Pokémon are different," May said, then threw a small ball of yarn for Torchic.

Her Fire-type ran for it, snagged it before it had stopped moving, and threw it up into the air to bounce on his head. "Toor!"

She smiled at how proud he was. "Looks like that was especially effective on yarn… should I be teaching him a move, though?"

"Moves can come in time," Brock said. "A bond between trainer and Pokémon is really important to build, though."

Then there was a sort of bang noise, and Taillow took off to see what was going on.

"I've done that move again!" Ash called.

Since Ash didn't really know what it meant to ease off on something, the next half hour or so was notable for how many times he went rocketing across Pikachu's impromptu move learning area until he was finally able to get it to fire off when he needed to.

"It's tiring, though," he added. "My legs ache a lot now."

"Well, if it's a move that's draining to the Pokémon who uses it, that would explain it," Brock said. "Actually, let's see what it is…"

Latias got out Ash's Pokédex, passed it to Pikachu, and Pikachu stepped back a bit to check the updated information.

"There is a new one on here," he said. "It's, actually is that a move name or a description?"

The phone rang.

Norman picked it up. "Hello – May! It's great to hear from you, sweetheart. How are you doing?"

Pause.

"Rustboro, huh? That sounds like… oh, you saw a Contest?"

Norman laughed. "It sounds like you had a lot of fun! Well, it's definitely something you could do, May – no, I wouldn't mind at all. And how's Torchic doing?"

Another pause.

"Torchic and Wurmple, sorry! It sounds like they're getting on great… anything else you want to mention before-"

Norman stopped.

"May," he said, after a longer pause. "I'm going to hand you to your mother in a moment. That's not because I don't want to hear from you, I really do. I want to hear how Max is doing as well. But I'm going to have to spend some time first getting over the idea of Ash being a Normal type with Extreme Speed because that is practically the Mew of the Normal type."

He passed the phone over to Caroline.

"...dear?" Caroline said, after a moment. "What does May mean, she mentioned that to Ash and he said he saw one once?"

"This looks like the right place," Ash said. "Brock, that's right, right?"

"Well, I thought the right place was the gym, but more fool me," Brock replied. "I wonder if there's a Rock type gym leader out there who doesn't have to take care of lots of kids."

"You were a Rock type gym leader, weren't you?" May asked. "Or you still are?"

"I am," Brock agreed. "I'm not on duty now… but, then again, I am still around lots of kids. Three, anyway."

"Hey!" Ash protested, then knocked on the school door.

"Are you here to challenge Roxanne?" the receptionist asked, through an intercom. "We get a lot of people doing that… you should go back to the gym, she'll be there in half an hour."

"That's quick," Max replied. "Or, slow, depending on if she's supposed to be available right now."

"She's teaching Pokémon classes anyway," the receptionist replied. "It just gets turned into a practical lesson. Oh, how many badges do you have?"

"Twenty-one, but four of them are from the Orange Islands and only one is from Hoenn," Ash answered. "I'm planning on using one of my new Hoenn Pokémon and one of my veterans from Kanto first!"

"Thank you," the receptionist replied. "I'll make sure Roxanne knows that."

"That seems efficient," Pikachu said. "Actually, so far Hoenn gyms seem very well organized."

"I guess they are," Ash agreed, as they turned to head back to the Rustboro Gym. "So far we haven't had anyone whose Pokémon was sick, who refused to battle… who was just giving away badges, who refused to let boys in-"

"Ash, she was fine letting boys in, she just didn't like it when you insulted her perfume-" Brock countered.

"-who hid their gyms, got Team Rocket to handle the gym battles, or turned challengers into dolls," Ash concluded. "So, you know. Great so far!"

"I'm glad I don't want to do the Gym Challenge," May admitted softly.

"I'm worried," Max replied. "I do want to."

At the Rustboro Gym, Ash pranced back and forth a bit as they waited in the lobby.

"You're okay with this, right?" he asked, glancing back. "Latias, you know which one's which?"

"Yep," Latias confirmed. "I'm sure it'll go great, Ash."

"True!" Ash agreed. "It's like with Harrison, right? Even if I don't win the badge today, it's just a reason to improve for next time!"

He chuckled. "Of course, it's easier to remember that if you haven't just lost a battle…"

The doors opened, and Ash went ahead.

On the other side of the arena was a young woman in a dress, and seated on the rows of seats behind her was what looked like a whole school class.

"Greetings, challenger," the woman said. "My name is Roxanne. I have to say, you're very young for a Pokémon gym veteran… you should know that you're not meant to send out two Pokémon at once, especially before the match rules are given. Can I see your trainer card?"

"Oh, sure," Ash said. "But, Pikachu's my friend and he doesn't like Pokéballs so he never goes into his Pokéball, and my other Pokémon is here to help me send out my team not to fight. I haven't sent any out yet."

Roxanne blinked. "Wait, you're the challenger? I thought it was that kid next to Brock."

"I'm Ash Ketchum!" Ash introduced himself. "I don't know what Pokémon I am yet but I have a valid trainer card if you still want to check that. What are the match rules?"

"It's going to be two Pokémon a side," Roxanne said. "And no, I don't need to check your trainer card. When you're ready, send out your first Pokémon."

"I think I just got insulted somehow?" Max whispered to Brock. "Why does she recognize you?"

"Rock type gym leaders, probably," Brock replied.

While they were talking, Latias took a Pokéball from Ash's bag and dropped it for him to take. It went clink as he tapped it with his hoof, then he held it out. "Go, Treecko!"

"Graveler," Roxanne responded. "Rock Throw."

"Dodge, Treecko!" Ash called. "Then, use that rock to change direction and use Pound!"

Roxanne nodded. "Interesting," she said. "Keep using Rock Throw, Graveler. Class, what can we learn from Ash's orders?"

One of the kids put their hand up.

"Gracie," she invited.

"Why is that trainer a white Stantler?" Gracie said.

"Is that ring real gold?" another asked.

"Did that Pokéball float out of his bag?"

After several minutes, Graveler was swaying on his feet a little, Treecko was unhurt but exhausted from all the dodging he'd been doing, and Roxanne had finally managed to move the questions off Ash to Ash's Pokémon.

"Is it that he doesn't know a Grass move?" Gracie eventually asked.

"That's correct," Roxanne said, trying not to sigh in relief. "Using Pound against a Rock type, which is a not-very-effective move, is a sign that a Grass-type doesn't have a strong or even neutral move. That goes doubly when the Rock type is also Ground type as there's a shared weakness there."

"Come on back, Treecko!" Ash called. "Great work! Bulbasaur, your turn!"

Ash recalled Treecko, then sent him out again to watch. Bulbasaur appeared on the field as well, rolled his neck a bit, then used Razor Leaf and slammed Graveler backwards.

"And that's an example of a Pokémon with a Grass typed move," Roxanne went on. "While Graveler was tired out from being hit so many times with Pound, you can see the difference."

She recalled Graveler and sent out a Nosepass instead. "Nosepass doesn't have a double weakness to Grass, though… Sandstorm!"

"Dig!" Ash called, squinting and using Foresight to make sure he could see what was going on.

Roxanne blinked. "Dig? Really?"

"Now!" Ash continued, once Bulbasaur was underground. "Use Vine Whip up through the hole!"

"Ooh, this should be good," Pikachu said, leaning forwards. "Latias, watch this!"

"You know, I'm not entirely sure that Vine Whip should be able to do that," Roxanne complained, once Bulbasaur was done. "But I can't say you didn't do well. You've won my Badge."

She held it out, and Ash took it – his ring immediately changing from gold to bronze, and the gems set in it changing to a sort of creamy topaz colour.

"It gathers power from the plates, listening for the flute's song," Ash recited. "Uh… that sounds like it's out of order. What's the it?"

"I guess we'll find out eventually," Brock decided, as Pikachu typed that one into the Pokédex.

"And, Treecko," Ash went on. "I think you did great, but Roxanne's right – you really do need a Grass move. But you could probably do with that other move… Iron Tail, I think? And you and Pikachu could learn together!"

AN:

Ash saw a Mew at the end of the first movie, post-mind-wipe.

In case anyone was wondering.