"Ash," May began. "So far, I've been really impressed with the beauty of your home region. It's just as amazing as Hoenn in its own way."

She pointed at the lake they were next to. "Except that bit."

"That's strange," Brock said, frowning, as he checked his guidebook. "This says that the lake's an excellent fishing spot, and very popular. But there's nobody in sight."

"...how old is that guidebook?" Max asked. "There's no way this is a good fishing spot."

Ash looked out into the lake. "Yeah, the water's pretty… terrible, but there are a couple of interesting Pokémon in there. Like a Crawdaunt!"

"That's the evolved form of a Corphish, like Brock's one," Max said. "But I can't see one."

He looked at Ash, then back at the lake. "Are you… seeing through the water?"

"I guess I must be," Ash said, shaking his head slightly as he lost his focus. "Yeah, I can't see through it now, but I think I caught sight of a Dragonair."

"A Dragonair?" someone repeated. "That's… well, there's a rumour that there's a Dragonair in the lake, but obviously it's something people don't believe so much now."

Ash looked around, and saw that the speaker was an old woman with a Vaporeon by her side.

"What happened to this place?" Brock asked, looking up from the front matter of the guidebook. "This book says it's a great fishing spot and very popular, and it's only a year old!"

"What happened," the woman repeated. "Mr. Saridakis happened."

She tutted. "Last year, he tried buying up all the land around the lake to turn it into a resort. But I didn't sell up, and after that… well, after that a Crawdaunt appeared and began terrorizing everyone."

"Then… maybe he's responsible?" May asked.

"Hah!" the woman laughed. "Seems likely, but it's not an easy thing to prove. Unless you think you can do something?"

"I… think we might be able to?" Ash frowned. "I don't want to promise anything, not just yet, but I'm thinking…"

"Always a worrying sign," Pikachu said, sniggering.

"Hey!" Ash protested, trying not to laugh, then looked back out into the lake again. "So… Latias, are you okay to help?"

"Always, Ash," Latias replied. "What do you need?"

"Well, that Crawdaunt might be involved, but I don't think the Dragonair is," he said. "And it'd be good to hear what the Dragonair has to say."

"Oh, I see," Max realized. "You want Latias to go and get the Dragonair's attention?"

"Kids these days," the woman said. "I don't understand 'em."

"Really?" Ash asked. "I didn't notice I'd started speaking Pokémon. Am I?"

"You're not," Pikachu assured him.

The water was murky enough that Latias needed directions on where to start, but after skimming through the canals of Altomare by night a lake wasn't an insurmountable problem, and a few minutes later she returned to the lakeside along with a Dragonair.

And, as a separate problem, a Crawdaunt chasing her.

Brock's Corphish came out of his Pokéball, pointed at his eyes, then at Crawdaunt.

"You what, mate?" the Crawdaunt asked. "Come and have a go if you think you're hard enough!"

"Mud Slap," Brock instructed, and Corphish splattered mud over his opponent.

That mostly made the Crawdaunt angry, but as the battle commenced Ash trotted a little way to the side so they weren't going to obstruct it.

"What happened?" he asked. "With the lake, I mean."

"I don't know!" Dragonair said, sighing. "That Crawdaunt has been causing mayhem, but I don't want to scare him off because… well…"

The Dragon-type shook her head. "I just feel like I might make things worse, again."

Pikachu's ears pricked up. "Again?"

"There was someone who used to fish here, and he fell in the water," Dragonair said, curling her tail. "I saved him, but after that he never went fishing again, I don't know why. And sometimes he walks along the shore, but he always seems so bitter and angry."

Ash translated that, and the old woman – who'd given her name as Galea – frowned, thinking about it.

"I don't think Dragonair did anything wrong, so you know," she said. "But I'm mystified by what's going on here, and no mistake."

There was a whack as Brock's Corphish and the Crawdaunt exchanged blows, then Brock ordered Corphish to use Crabhammer on the ground and Crawdaunt suddenly sank up to his belly in the now-softened mud.

"Foul!" Crawdaunt grumbled. "The boss is going to sue you for this!"

"What's going on here?" a man asked, and Dragonair ducked back into the water. "That's my Crawdaunt!"

"Your Crawdaunt's been terrorizing fishers!" Max said.

"I'd like to know how you can prove that," the man said, returning his Crawdaunt with a Pokéball before walking right up to Galea. "What do you call this? Hiring thugs?"

"You can forget all these pressure tactics, Saridakis," Galea told him. "My grand-daughter and I aren't selling, so you can forget any plan to turn this lake into a resort."

"Into a resort?" Dragonair repeated, still almost entirely submerged. "But… why?"

Then there was a crash.

A Suicune robot stomped out of the nearby trees, and halted not far from the waterline.

"It's time to make a sensation!" Jessie said, from behind one of the two eyes of the robot.

"And provide purification!" James agreed, from behind the other one.

The streamers of the Suicune mech began to light up from the head on down.

"To protect this lake from gentrification!" Jessie said.

"And unite the locals in conservation!" James agreed.

The mech's posture changed, turning into one that was ready to pounce.

"To avoid a human-Pokémon schism!"

"And provide a wide-area baptism!" James said.

Dragonair rose a little way out of the water, head tilting to one side. "What the…?"

Her tone of voice was enough for Max, who began to explain. "That's-"

"Jessie!" Jessie introduced herself.

"And-" Max went on.

"James!" James finished the sentence.

"You might think this robot's a fake," Jessie warned.

"But Mesprit knows about a clean lake!" James concluded, and the Suicune robot sprang into the air before plunging into the lake with an enormous splash.

Water went everywhere, and Dragonair got washed into landing on top of Mr. Saridakis.

Then the robot Suicune floated back to the surface, and began firing icy water blasts at them from its mouth.

"Marshtomp!" Ash called, sending out the Water-type. "Try and freeze it in place with Avalanche! May, Max, take my saddlebags, I'm going to use my Rain Badge to help out."

"Got it, Ash!" Max replied. "Swablu, can you help if that Wobbuffet shows up?"

"Sure!" Swablu chirped.

Battling the Suicune mech was especially difficult because so much of it was underwater and because it kept firing water cannons at them, but between Octillery, Marshtomp, Snorunt and Cosplaychu the friends managed to freeze enough water onto it to float it much higher. Then Latias went underwater and slammed it into the air with a Headbutt, and Ash finished the job of destroying it with a Dazzling Gleam.

Once Team Rocket had Blasted Off Again, though, it turned out that the robot had actually purified the entire lake in the process of drawing in water for ammunition – turning it from sort of messy and grotty water into a pure, clean state.

It also, and entirely separately, turned out that while the battle had been going on Mr. Saridakis had been having his own private revelation. It seemed that he was the fisher who Dragonair had saved, but the whole experience had been so traumatic that he'd forgotten about her – and he'd instead focused his energies on trying to destroy the lake where he'd had such a bad experience.

Maybe that would have worked for him? Ash wasn't sure. But now that he'd remembered being saved, his whole plan had changed and he wanted to keep the lake as close to how it now was as possible.

Also, he was very sorry about trying to force Galea and her granddaughter to sell. Which was better than if he hadn't been sorry, at least.

AN:

One of those things that's a lot easier when someone understands Pokémon.