N was currently pondering the conversation he had last night with Infernape and Charizard. After the group hauled off Chili from the two fire types, N had asked for a private audience with Charizard and Infernape leaving Zorua with the group to impersonate him. N asked them why they still bothered to follow Ash or to be a trainer's Pokemon despite their first-hand experience on being maltreated.

"Oh, you can communicate with Pokemon? That's cool. Just the kind of people I expect Ash attracts," blurted Charizard. N was exasperated that that was what Charizard caught from all that he said.

"Wait, what do you mean kind of people?" asked N.

"If not crazy people, then quirky people, you know? Weird stuff that I can't explain," said Charizard simply as if that explained everything perfectly. N had to wonder how worse Charizard really was before if this brashness was what Ash and Misty considered mellow.

"I think what he says is that Ash meets people from different walks in life in his journey and most of them are cool people," explained Infernape as he side-eyed Charizard.

"That's what I said, but in fewer words," the dragon said confusedly. Infernape just stared blankly at N.

"Alright, I think I get it, thank you," placated N. "But about my question…"

"Yeah, truth is, I don't get it. Why wouldn't I want to be with Ash when he's much better than my crappy previous trainer was? And I want to get stronger," asked Charizard, genuinely looking baffled.

"Couldn't you get strong without a trainer?"

"We could, but it would have taken longer," Infernape answered. "Look, like him, I'm also confused where you want to go with this but Ash offered friendship and companionship, and I took that."

"Couldn't you do it without getting caught and imprisoned in a Pokeball?"

Infernape and Charizard looked at each other before laughing. N only stared blankly.

"Oh, man. You think Pokeballs are a prison? You're like the human version of Pikachu," chortled Charizard, wisps of smoke coming out of his nostrils.

"Seriously, if Pikachu told you that, don't believe him. He just doesn't like Pokeball, and that's okay. But I don't have any qualms with mine nor does Charizard. I think it's rather convenient," answered Infernape.

"Convenient?" repeated N, the word rolling out of his tongue like a vomit or food being regurgitated. How can a Pokemon say that a Pokeball is convenient when they are literally being used to prevent their emancipation?

"Yes," said Infernape confidently. "If you want to talk about it, you can talk to Professor Oak, he's knowledgeable about these things. But I will say that the interior of Pokeballs are designed to the Pokemon's liking when they are caught."

Seeing as what they have said are final, N thanked them for the conversation despite him only having more questions from the conversation rather than answers.

"No problem. Though I do wonder what's with all this privacy? We could have had this conversation inside, just saying," rumbled Charizard.

N hesitantly answered, "Well, they don't exactly know I can talk to Pokemon."

After he finished the sentence, N felt the air grow cold as he noticed Charizard and Infernape not slouching anymore. Their postures indicated they were being vigilant and were assessing a threat – threat that they identified as him. N knew not to mess around when Pokemon got like this and kept from raising his hands to avoid more agitation.

"What do you mean they don't know? Why are you trying to keep it secret?" growled Charizard, calmly. His tone was laced with a threat to N, promising him pain if he tried anything with Ash. And wasn't that a strange concept – Pokemons so loyal to their Trainers that they would hurt anyone that would cross them.

N certainly hadn't been faced with such hostility from a Pokemon before – wild or trained. Now, N knew why that would seem suspicious but he has his reasons. "I don't know how they'll react if they'd find out."

As if on cue, the tense atmosphere vanished and Charizard looked at him as if he were dumb, "You're weirder than I thought."

N didn't know if he should be insulted by that remark.

"Honestly, if anyone would accept you or your quirk without hesitation, it would be Ash and Misty, and those two new companions he had because Ash has always been a good judge of character."

"If that's so, why did you get apprehensive at me?"

Charizard looked at him dead straight in the eye. "One can never be too sure. Ash is my Trainer, I care about his safety."

It was certainly a new experience, being threatened by a Pokemon to protect humans. Usually, it's him threatening other human beings to protect the Pokemon. But this just left him pondering and confronting his preconceived notions which admittedly was a difficult thing to do.

N was broken out of his pondering when he heard Zorua yipping his agreement to Misty that Cilan was a marvelous cook. N took a bite out of the cake and N had to agree that it was delicious. Ash and Iris immediately rush for seconds only to find out nothing's left. Iris pointed out the moving grass and they followed the trail to find a Snivy eating the cake.

Snivy's eyes recognized N and N recognized the Snivy. The Snivy that destroyed her Pokeball and ran away from her previous trainer. Ash threw a Pokeball at the Snivy but she released herself from the Pokeball. However, Ash was determined to capture the Snivy which was why they found themselves on another clearing with Ash sending out Pikachu.

"Ash, Snivys are smart Pokemon. They could be tricky to catch," said Cilan. Just as he said this, Snivy taunted Ash with her eyes interpreted by Iris. N couldn't believe it but the trainers he was traveling with had a semblance of understanding Pokemon, and he thought he was the only one that could…

N was surprised, and he could see that Snivy was too after seeing Ash take the hit of Vine Whip to protect Pikachu as the latter had been incapacitated by Attract. Using Leaf Storm, Snivy made her escape.

"I wonder if she abandoned her trainer," Iris said out loud.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Ash.

"Ash, that Snivy used Leaf Storm, which is a high-level Grass type move," added Misty to the conversation. "Which means she had a Trainer before that helped her reach that level or…"

Misty's eyes locked with Ash and Ash nodded in understanding before saying, "Or she has undergone a stressful situation and learned that move in a pinch."

Despite himself, N added his position on the discussion. "Zorua and I have met that Snivy before and she did have a trainer before."

"You have?" the other four chorused.

"Wait, how do you know she had a trainer before…" said Misty before her mind concluded something and pointedly glared at N. "Aha! You were that Snivy's trainer, didn't you?!"

"What?!" Iris, Cilan, and N chorused while Ash asked, "Is that true, N?"

"What? No! Zorua and I met Snivy here, we've been here before and—" N stopped, weighing in his choices of divulging the truth now and the ramifications it might bring. Charizard had assured him that Ash and Misty would accept him but he wasn't so sure about it.

"And?" asked Misty impatiently, her suspicions growing by the minute.

N decided it was worth the shot. "Okay, this might be unbelievable to hear but I can talk to Pokemon."

The four stared at him with blank looks, with Iris breaking the uncomfortable silence with, "N, are you okay?"

"Yeah," Ash supplied. "Everyone can talk to Pokemon, y'know? It'd be weird if they didn't."

"Pika pika." "Axew yew."

N's eyes comically widened as he realized his blunder. "No, what I mean is that I can understand what they are saying."

"OHHHHH," Ash and Misty both exclaimed while Cilan shot him a dubious look. Iris remained silent.

"That's cool, N!"

"Er, thank you? You're taking this quite well. This reaction was unexpected," replied N, but he felt light that most of them were taking this in stride.

"Yeah, why are you believing him just like that?" seconded Cilan, clearly the only one showing disbelief at the notion.

"Well, it's not my first time meeting people that can talk to Pokemon, right Misty?" stated Ash which piqued the interest of Cilan and N. There are others like me, N's mind whirled as Misty nodded in support of Ash.

"Wha—how? That's scientifically and linguistically impossible! People can talk to Pokemon, Pokemon can communicate with other Pokemon, we can understand our Pokemon at the basic level but we could not comprehend their exact speech," Cilan rambled, his scientific knowledge shining through.

"I don't know about you Cilan, but it's true! There was Simon in Johto, Anabel in Kanto, and Sheena in Sinnoh, oh and Damos of ancient Sinnoh! So, you see, not as strange as it might seem," said Ash. N became quite contemplative but Cilan wasn't easily deterred. Misty mouthed Ancient Sinnoh to herself with bitterness.

"Give it a rest, Cilan. It's not too far from the truth," Iris interjected for the very first time since they started this discussion. "In my village, everyone grows up connecting with Dragon-type Pokemon although some are better than the others, our elders more so, especially in speaking with them."

"Really?" asked N while Cilan said, "Seems far-fetched to me though."

"We could all agree to disagree, I guess. But the Old Matriarch can stop a dragon out of its rampage by just speaking to it."

Ash put a stop to the discussion saying, "There are mysteries in the world that can't be explained by scientific means, y'know."

"Uh, guys?" said Misty. "I think we've digressed too far from the conversation. For Cilan's sake, we'll add hypothetically when speaking. Alright, so N, hypothetically, if you really do understand Pokemon, what's Snivy's story?"

"She left her trainer because her trainer wasn't respectful towards her Pokemon. I don't know if it's unheard of but she said she destroyed her Pokeball before she left."

The four of them exchanged glances with Cilan reluctantly saying, "That is unheard of. I've heard of Pokemon running away from their trainers but never one that breaks their Pokeball."

N shrugged, not knowing the statistics of how often Pokemon breaks their Pokeballs. "It's not the first time someone had expressed their interest to catch it, but as you can see, she keeps on running away."

"Well, if that's true, this just makes me want to catch her even more!" Ash untucked a Pokeball from his belt and called out Rufflet to find Snivy. Moments later, Ash was running to follow Rufflet while the four of them lagged behind.

"So, Ash still after Snivy?" asked Cilan after they hauled Ash from the muddy water.

"You bet!" Ash answered cheerily despite being covered by dirt and water.

"Come on, Ash? Why don't you just give it up? It's not as if Snivy would let you catch her! So accept the fact that it's not happening," Iris countered.

N, on the other hand, was glad that someone was discouraging Ash to capture a Pokemon because he couldn't find himself to—one of the reasons is because he was still catching his breath from all the running. He still maintained that catching Pokemon was paramount to imprison them but then again, Ash was not most trainers. Was that also a reason why he couldn't bring himself to?

"Telling Ash not to do something is just as good as telling him to do it," muttered Misty, before modulating her voice to be heard clearly. "Okay newbies – Ash Ketchum 101, don't tell Ash not to do something unless you have a good alternative!"

Ash laughed. "Sorry, but I'm not just giving up. That Snivy is as good as mine!"

Snivy hadn't felt this kind of thrill for a long time. The trainer and his friends have yet to stop trying to catch her. He seemed like a good trainer and genuinely cared for his Pokemon, taking the hit of her vines for that yellow Pokemon – Pikachu? – and despite Oshawott being a water-type, he was considerate of the otter's feelings to let him try.

The group finally caught up with her and the trainer challenged him once again. Snivy smirked.

"Sni vy!" Come and get me.

N couldn't believe it. Snivy was actually relishing the fact that Ash was constantly challenging her and seemed like she wanted Ash to actually capture her. But knowing Snivy, N knew that despite her wanting Ash to catch her, she wouldn't willingly go without a fight.

Tepig didn't fare well with Snivy as he was once again incapacitated by Attract. N watched as Snivy taunted Ash with a "come-at-me" gesture, further emphasizing that she was enjoying the fight. Rufflet squawked at Ash and Ash called him to battle.

Iris shouted, "Ash, you do know all Rufflets are male right?"

"Don't you think I know that?"

"Then why are you using him? If Snivy's using Attract, it's all over!" retorted Iris. Misty laid a hand on Iris' shoulders and Iris turned to Misty shaking her head. "Have faith, Iris. Ash got this in the bag."

Iris was still doubtful but she knew that it was time to keep her mouth shut.

"Alright, Rufflet! Show them what you learned from the other birds!"

Snivy was powering up her Attract but before she could send the attack, Rufflet came swooping down with speed that she couldn't see and the Aerial Ace hit her.

"Alright! Hit her with Aerial Ace again!"

Snivy registered that the trainer meant to hit her once more with Aerial Ace but Rufflet hit her two times, rendering her unable to attack with Attract. The trainer hit her with a Pokeball but she struggled against it, she's not yet satisfied with her performance.

Immediately after being released, Snivy hit Rufflet with Vine Whip but the avian retaliated with Slash, as ordered by Ash. Snivy was hit squarely and landed on the ground. She managed to still get up and smiled contentedly knowing that the trainer throwing the Pokeball was worthy and competent.

The warm red light of the Pokeball engulfs her, she reduced her size and fit snugly in the spherical ball that will be her room, allowing the trainer – Ash – to catch her. She was sent out almost immediately and came face to face with the trainer.

"Glad you're on board, Snivy! Let's win the Pokemon league together!"

Snivy cheered, as did Pikachu and Rufflet. Meanwhile, Larvitar, Gible, Oshawott, and Tepig let themselves out of their Pokeball and cheered alongside them. Giratina, Ash can hear, rumbled happily in the Distortion World. Zorua and Axew immediately bounded together to celebrate with the Pokemon while the trainers approached Ash and express their congratulations.

Misty piped up almost immediately. "Hey Cilan, N, if it's not too much of a bother can you check on the Pokemon and tend to their injuries?"

Cilan and N, albeit being confused, nodded. "Of course, it wouldn't be a problem, Misty."

"Great! You can use Ash's supplies, it's in his bag. Meanwhile," – said Misty, turning to Ash menacingly – "you, mister" – Misty glared at Ash and barked an order:

"Strip."

I didn't make the reveal of N's ability too dramatic since looking back, it isn't even the weirdest thing Ash has encountered in his journey.