Sometime later

"You know, I've decided," Ash declared to his gathered Pokémon suddenly.

Charizard let out an annoyed growl.

'That hippies suck no matter what?'

"No," Ash clarified, glad they were done dealing with that Snorlax hippie. Ash swore he was a better guy last time, and that the Snorlax was not the Hippie's mean to extort money out of people.

"I think we should see if we can pull off having more than four moves," Ash explained as all Pokémon present cheered.

Pikachu, Ambipom, Charizard, Servine, Pidgeot, and Butterfree specifically.

"Now….does anyone know how to do that?" Ash asked his Pokémon, who paused mid cheer.

The clearing was silent for a moment as they all tried to wrap their heads around the very serious question.

"Geot!" Pidgeot offered up to break the silence.

'We did so before, so I guess we just have to remember'.

Servine and Ambipom stared at the bird in confusion.

"Ser…." 'No, we did not do so before. I never had that,' Servine told the bird slowly.

Charizard gave a thoughtful growl.

'No, I definitely feel like I had that at one point, but then I stopped for some reason….'

"Pi." Same, though I can't remember why I'd ever forget how to do it. Electro Ball and Volt Tackle at the same time would have been fun. I feel like Snorlax still knew. I know he used more than four moves fighting Greta….'

"Ot?" 'Ash caught a Snorlax?'

"Free…." 'Let's blame this confusion on Cyrus. This is obviously his fault somehow….'

"You learn five moves by pushing your power with training, and then working on a move that does not overlap with what you possess. For example I'd highly suggest not having Charizard try to learn Fire Punch, lest you have Flame Charge morph into it," the Pokédex answered the question for them as Charizard looked at his hands wistfully.

Clearly the fact that learning to punch things and set them on fire would be difficult was a tough pill for him to swallow.

And so, as Charizard suffered under the sad truth of his lack of Fire Punches in the near future, training began.

And even after an hour it was….not going super well.

Pikachu was running around the clearing, half activating Thunderbolt to try and create an electrified running attack without using Quick Attack. The result? No Volt Tackle, but a few scorched patches of dirt and a brief grass fire.

Charizard flew into the air, ripping trees out of the ground and spinning them around in the air before throwing them to the ground. Each time Charizard would look at the wrecked tree, shake his head in self disappointment, and redo the process. Except that one time he reached for a tree and the Pokédex let out a loud beeping noise that was the unholy child of a fire alarm and chalkboard scratching, as he was about to grab a protected species.

The rock that Servine attempted to smash with a theoretical Iron Tail was undamaged. She was lying on the ground, grumbling in pain and indignation however.

Butterfree's attempt to manifest a Hyper Beam ended in a massive coughing fit.

Pidgeot was standing firm in the center of the clearing, the instant desire for shielding and protection racing through her mind as she tried to get a Protect to form around herself. Nothing formed as a result, except a single feather falling to the ground, knocked off her tail by an elm slammed into the earth by Charizard.

As for Ambipom….

"Ambipom has forgotten Astonish. Ambipom has learned Shadow Claw!" the Pokédex declared of the monkey Pokémon as she held up two shadow clad tails in embarrassment.

"Am..." 'I thought it was far enough away…,' she admitted of her flub.

"We…may need more time on this," Ash admitted as Charizard slammed a birch tree into the ground, shook his head once more, and ripped out an oak tree and taking off back into the air.

"Ser…" 'We'll also need more trees.'

That too….though it was starting to look more like a proper Seismic Toss.

Meanwhile, in a city near Vermillion

"I can't believe it, Sparky. Who enters a bug catching contest, and couldn't catch anything?"

"Pika."

Sitting on a bench, the Trainer and his partner commiserated on their mutual failure, half watching the battle that was ongoing in the nearby public battlefield.

Neither had seen that Paras when they had found the first Beedrill, Sparky had been off in dream land for too long, and the bell went off just as they found another Beedrill that was not close to the swarm.

Because of that, here they were with nothing gained but a chance to watch one of the winners of that tag tournament from earlier beat someone with his Persian, which was only useful if they met up in Indigo.

"And to think, after the Thunder Badge we got you and I felt like nothing could go wrong." Ritchie sighed as he felt a vibration in his pocket.

"Pi?" Sparky questioned as Ritchie pulled the PokéNav from his pocket and noted the message that was just received.

Hey Half-Pint,

Heard from an old rival of mine that you got spored. Tough break, mushrooms are the worst.

Ritchie rolled his eyes at that, but kept reading.

The worst luck ruins you sometimes, said old rival still insists he'd have beaten me that time if he hadn't sneezed. (For the record, the guy is wrong about that, very wrong.)

Still, he feels for ya loss. He has a place the next town over. He retired to do PokéRinger and demolition work after a while, but he still has his Pokémon and they do what they do when they aren't fighting.

One of them is a Tyranitar. Ever heard of it?

Ritchie paused as he tried to remember, and he could feel his eyes widen as he remembered what a Tyranitar was like.

Sparky clattered his teeth audibly, also aware of what a Tyranitar was.

Well, it turns out it has an egg that would one day be a Tyranitar, and he doesn't want to have another one around. He says you're free to take the egg. Think of it as a consolation prize.

Plus no Raylight should be without something capable of leveling houses. Here's the address.

Ritchie and Sparky looked at one another for a moment, before taking a look at the address.

They immediately marked it on the PokéNav and began making their way there.

Back with our intrepid heroes

"Bellossom, use Sunny Day!"

The battlefield was covered in bright light, blinding Ash a bit.

Across from him Elwood and Aideen, who they had run into randomly, were looking rather excited.

They had wanted to even the score after he and Red beat them last time, and he was always interested in a good battle.

It was good training after all. Plus with Misty out at a nearby lake with his H.O.P.E glove checking in personally on all her Pokémon, and Iris having conscripted Anabel to go retrieve some fruit from atop a nearby hill, he had nothing else to do right now.

"Solarbeam!" both shouted. At the call both Aideen's Bellossom and Elwood's Venusaur rapidly gathered light into their petals, before unleashing it in a massive beam.

"Servine use Leaf Storm!" Ash called. His Unovan serpent darted in front of Tauros and began forming the grass attack.

The Leaf Storm flew into the path of the two Solarbeams.

"Do you really think one attack can block two?" Aideen questioned. Ash could only grin back.

"Nope, but I do think it is good cover. Tauros!" Tauros darted off to the side of the two beams, charging forward with a glowing Take Down.

The same Take Down, from the same Tauros, who helped him win the Orange Islands and take down Anabel. It was good to have him back.

The Solarbeams broke through Leaf Storm, but Servine darted to the side to avoid them with the opening Leaf Storm formed. Meanwhile Take Down was about to land home on Bellossom.

"Stop it!" Elwood shouted to his starter, who obliged and sent a vine swinging at Tauros, ready to strike him in the head.

However unlike a Vine Whip, it was glowing pink. A Power Whip?

"Block with Aerial Ace!" Ash countered as Snivy darted at the Power Whip with a glowing blue tail.

Her slice struck it from an angle, sending the Power Whip flying away from Tauros, who successfully nailed Bellossom.

The Sun Stone evolution was knocked back, but it got back up.

"…..I can see why you won," Elwood commented as Venusaur retracted the Power Whip vine back into itself.

"That doesn't mean we haven't been practicing," Aideen added.

"Solarbeam again!" both shouted as the rapid fire sun attack was once more fired, this time much closer in range. The same strategy would not work again.

Sidestepping at least. He had his suspicions the other part would work.

"Alright Tauros, attack once I clear this, Servine, use Leaf Storm!"

Servine hopped onto the head of Tauros and used it as a springboard to fly right at the combined pair of beams.

"Wait, isn't this Pokémon the one with Contrary?!" Aideen exclaimed, apparently having seen the finals video with Paul.

"This is going to suck," Elwood observed as the powered up Leaf Storm flew right into the beams' path.

The two attacks cancelled each other, as Tauros burst through the lingering light and leaves, covered in a swirling purple light bordered by orange streaks.

Giga Impact. One of his moves at the moment, along with Take Down, Fissure, and Double Team.

The attack struck both Grass types at once.

Bellossom was sent flying, but Venusaur, with audible snarling, dug itself into the ground as it took the attack.

Elwood shouted something in the midst of the attack that started with S. Ash assumed it was probably cursing.

While Bellossom looked down for the count in Aideen's arms in the aftermath, Venusaur was still standing.

With Tauros right in front of it, unable to move due to Giga Impact.

"…Bash now!"

And with Elwood done giving a command, which turned out to not be cursing.

It was actually the move Skull Bash.

"Skull Bash is a move used to increase defense before attacking," the Pokédex observed as Venusaur shimmered, before slamming its head right into Tauros.

The wild bull Pokémon was sent stammering back from the blow.

"Now let's even this us, Sludge Bomb!" Elwood shouted as the inside of Venusar's flower glowed a sickly purple.

Tauros was still immobile, he'd have to practice more in the future with non-flying Giga Impact users. In the meantime though….

"Servine!" His call was met by a speeding green grass-type, who charged at Venusaur.

"Saur!" Venusaur shouted as it was just about to fire, only for Servine to run past it.

With a glowing green tail, powered by the force of Leaf Blade.

Venusaur promptly collapsed.

"No," Elwood said quietly as the twins accepted defeat.

"Great job!" Ash shouted to his Pokémon, a call Pikachu echoed as Tauros mooed in content. Servine merely nodded.

He approached his opponents as they returned their Pokémon with consolations for doing well and held out his hand.

"You wouldn't have won if you didn't win that tournament." Aideen took his hand while making a playful jab. Not serious in a 'Georgia losing to a non-Dragon' way, but in a playful tone.

"I don't know, I do have a Charizard, and a Goodra, and a..."

"A what?" Elwood questioned as Aideen retracted her hand, wincing a bit before holding it up to Ash.

"Ouch. Were you playing in sand before this?" she complained.

"Huh?" Ash asked as she held her hand up. Indeed, little sand like crystals were embodied in it, much as one would get with a palm into the sand.

However it wasn't the color of sand. It was instead green.

"Sis, sand isn't green," Elwood noted.

"Green sand feels like regular sand," she retorted.

"Sorry….honestly I don't know where that came from. Though if I have to be honest, something like that actually did happen before." The twins looked at him oddly as he continued.

"Right after I battled Lilo, my hand was also covered in sand. It was brown though, more look dirt than sand."

"Interesting," Elwood noted, before his gaze turned pointedly to the Z-Ring.

"And both of those, had a Z-Ring involved."

"A ring that makes sand huh….how interesting. A man of mystery behind the veneer of a loveable fool," Aideen teased. "Still though, please check for sand before you give people handshakes or hugs next time, would ya? What if I had been Serena and you hugged her with that sandy hand?" Aideen said in complete seriousness.

"Well if it had been Serena, I am quite sure she would not have been as furious, and would probably sound more surprised and physically hurt," Elwood snarked, before he rose a curious eyebrow.

"Have you been working out?" he randomly asked Ash, as Aideen looked at Ash inquisitively.

"You do seem a bit more muscular….you've always been more than him but you seem more so…." She jabbed at her brother a bit with that as Ash smiled.

"It's a long story, but I've been training myself too. It's sort of a new thing."

"Somewhere in Kalos Serena smiles, and she knows not why." Aideen grinned.

Kalos

Despite the cliché that she would in fact be smiling, Serena was not.

No one smiled in line at a pharmacy after all.

Kanto again, sometime later

"Thanks again for the advice, Professor." Ash finished his call with the Professor. Before him, the five Pokémon he had on hand waited patiently as Ash gave them a confident grin.

"Alright, now that Iris is done with having me climb trees, let's try getting to five moves again." Ash tried not to look behind him, where the tree she had him climb stood in the distance.

He liked climbing trees, but trees that were a hundred feet tall were a bit much even for him.

The view was amazing up there, but it was not worth the trip.

The five Pokémon, the same as his earlier attempt save for Charizard (who had pretty much figured it out and was currently back at the Professor's practicing on larger subjects. According to the Professor, Gary's Golem had probably given consent first), nodded as Ash threw up the sixth Pokéball he had on him today, releasing the Pokémon within for the following lesson.

"Now that I know better what to try and work with you guys on than whatever move we randomly want to try, I should be able to give better advice. In case I'm not enough, I have an expert with me today."

At Ash's compliment, Krabby bowed, before holding his pincers into the air.

From each flew a stream of bubbles. Bubblebeam.

Then Krabby held both claws forward as they glowed in a metallic sheen. Metal Claw.

Krabby struck the ground with them, sending Krabby into the air before crashing back down on the earth with glowing feet. Stomp.

With the landing stuck Krabby pointed each claw fully out, opening them wide as brown shots flew out of each. Mud Shot.

Finally both claws glowed blue with a water like aura around them. Crabhammer.

At this final display Krabby bowed once more, leading to Pikachu, Butterfree, Pidgeot, and Ambipom giving cheers to the River Crab Pokémon.

Servine merely rolled her eyes at the display, even as she couldn't help a grin form on her face.

And so an hour of work passed by once more, with more training with two instructors and one occasionally commenting Pokédex with the goal of breaking through the four move ceiling.

"Goooot!" Pidgeot yelled as one did when attacking, as two orbs of blue light gathered under her wing, before she flapped them intensely.

The blue air flew through the forest before her, shaking many leaves from trees, snapping branches, and sending a flock of Spearow flying away in the opposite direction.

"Awesome Pidgeot! That looked like Air Slash!" Ash told the flying type in amazement, who nodded in agreement.

"Yes, yes it was. However my scans show that it had evolved from Gust. Her move set is still only four moves," the Pokédex declared from a stump. Pidgeot promptly slumped over in shame.

"It's still good work," Ash reassured her.

"Geot." 'It wasn't the work I wanted though…'

"Back at it again huh?"

Ash's attention was drawn away from Pidgeot's self-induced shame as Misty called his way. She, along with Iris and Anabel, had arrived.

Anabel was panting and Iris seemed slightly sweaty (compared to Anabel's very sweaty). If he'd have to guess, Iris had been having Anabel running.

Misty seemed to have simply wandered over without taking a lengthy detour at full gallop, so to speak.

"Yeah, I thought it would be a good idea to try it. It'll take a while before we can get to Cinnabar, and I'd like to be ready for it," Ash explained.

"Cinnabar is a Fire-Type Gym. Wouldn't it make sense to be working more with Squirtle or that Rocky Roll…."

"Roggenrola," Iris pronounced.

'It is probably…..likely that the Gym Leader…..knows how to counter….best to have…..other options…..' Anabel even sounded winded in her thoughts.

"Ash was working with them yesterday. You cannot train nonstop. There is a reason I do not have you all do too much at once, and never for too long."

Misty blushed in embarrassment for forgetting those things, though he swore there was also some hint of a terror induced paling going on with her.

Ash suspected that there was a 'wait, this is her going easy on us' sort of thing going on about it.

That was somewhat terrifying if he had to be honest. This wasn't her doing the equivalent of plowing a field with their hands while wearing one-hundred pound weights?

"You know, I must admit a quandary," the Pokédex spoke up as Anabel telekinetically pulled a water bottle from his bag and began chugging it.

"A what?" Iris demanded in confusion.

"I think it's a way of saying 'I have a question' while sounding smarter," Misty offered.

That did sound about right.

"It is a generally accepted fact that Pokémon under the direction and care of humans are more able to pass the four move limit than wild Pokémon. Outside of a Legendary Pokémon, you will rarely see such a Pokémon without human influence."

"My grandfather said something about that once." Iris concurred with the Pokédex's statement.

"…I'll pretend I understand the context of that statement. Regardless of context, what I am curious of is….what of those who are something in between?"

Ash exchanged curious looks with Misty, Anabel, and Iris, expecting an answer. He only got back confused looks in turn.

"Good question," was all that Iris had to say on it.

...

"Ser…." Servine noted the conversation that was ongoing with some annoyance.

'Great, now we're going to be down an instructor as he tries to figure that out'.

She stepped to the side of Pikachu, whose continued attempt to electrify himself when attacking led to him tripping on his feet and dislodging several dozen grass stems.

Damn machine.

….

The good idea that had followed was not the result of the Pokédex having an idea again.

It was his own actually, trying to double up when possible. After all if one of them had a breakthrough, they could help the other.

After all, Lucario could do a lot of things beyond punching stuff.

'Now if I…if I had to guess, Psychic is basically a more powerful Conf…' Anabel was still exhausted, and cringed as she shifted in her exhaustion.

It was not helping her explain how to move things with your mind, which Ash had to admit would be neat.

Even if it wasn't the best help for her. Confusion would probably just be replaced by Psychic, not really the point of the lessons.

'You know what…..I feel too sweaty to focus…..' Anabel declared as Ash was about to tell her he could come back later after she breathed a bit.

What he wasn't expecting was for Anabel's shirt to glow blue, and the buttons to be undone. Said shirt fell off her body, the white being notably damp with sweat.

Now only clad on top in a purple bra, Anabel took a much more relaxed breath.

'Better….'

Her eye glanced over his way, where she noticed him blushing madly. A red hue came over her face as well, but not as much.

'What, you saw a lot more of Iris,' she told him simply.

"Yes, well, it's still…well a lot." He stammered as he tried not to look too much, though what he did see was still nice.

More traditionally female than Iris, but less curved than Misty. Pale, but in a nice way, not in a 'let me out of this cave' way.

Still, she was breathing heavily the rise and fall of her chest didn't do anything to help Ash's concentration. Neither did the fact that she was still a bit winded in her thoughts. Just getting rid of a sweat logged shirt wasn't alone in what she needed.

She needed something more, like Chansey. Something to make her feel better, and re-energize her after a lot of running and being thrust right into more work.

Before he could even begin to think about getting Chansey in here, he felt a surge of warm energy cover his hands.

Ash stared down at his hands, which were now glowing green and radiating waves of energy off them.

Um….did he suddenly become radioactive? That couldn't be good.

Concerns about his ability to be undetected by Geiger counters were dashed as he heard Anabel's breath become less ragged.

'That….that feels nice. Real nice….' she told him in a relaxed voice as Ash looked at his hands in surprise.

"Hey Anabel, is there some sort of move that heals that isn't Softboiled?" He struggled to remember as she spoke up.

'It's Heal Pulse. A Psychic move actually…how are you doing it?'

"I…honestly don't know," Ash told her as the healing energy continued to radiate out of his hands.

'Well however you did it, it is really making me feel better. Come closer,' she asked as he stepped closer to her.

He was asked to do so a few more times before he was basically right next to her.

'Try it directly,' she told him. Nervously he slowly moved his hands forward, close to her bare shoulders.

He lightly pressed his hands against them, as Anabel began radiating a calm feeling. He was pretty sure his mom would call it a calm vibe, whatever that was.

Her breathing was basically back to normal at this point, as his glowing hands rested on her shoulders.

'You know, I can actually sort of feel how the energy flows with this. Keep it like this, and I think I'll get it,' she told him as the healing hands continued to do their thing on her.

Ash kept looking ahead, trying not to look down. He might only be able to see the top tufts of her hair, but looking down at Anabel would have him looking right down at…..

Only now did he realize the benefits of Iris's face being pretty much at his eye level. Even when showering.

'I can't believe I'm still getting this tired from working with Iris. None of you guys are like that at all,' she mused quietly after a moment of healing.

"Well, I'm not exactly skipping around after she makes me climb giant trees or run from one of my Tauros, even with Chansey on standby to make it so I can definitely walk afterwards," Ash told her kindly, "Plus, we've all been doing this a lot longer. Iris and Misty have been traveling for a lot longer than you and me, and I did sports in school"

'I mean, I told you already I really do like the feeling of being stronger. Feeling more fit….but having to play catch up is just…..' She stopped from completing her words as Ash tried to send the most warm possible thoughts her way. She seemed to picking them up at any case, as she inclined to look his way as he spoke.

"You might not be the strongest in body, but who else can help me prepare for battles? Iris and her Pokémon may be strong, but you've got a pretty good mind for battle strategies. If you weren't here, how'd I prepare for people with strategies that aren't' just 'attack'?"

'That didn't help you with Janine. She was steps ahead of us,' Anabel moped.

"Well if it wasn't for your ideas, she'd have been even more steps ahead of me," Ash told her confidently. It was true after all.

"Anabel, you could easily be a Trainer if you wanted to be. You could get any badge you wanted, and you'd give me some really great fights whenever we met up."

He could tell her that quite confidently, after all he did have a nice Ability Symbol that was proof of that.

At least before Cyrus.

'You say that so confidently,' Anabel mused, and again Ash was glad she didn't try to get to the center of his mind.

What was there would be somewhat confusing after all, and more and more….irrelevant.

For as many things were similar, even more were different. The Eevee brothers were more complicated, Iris didn't call him a kid, Team Rocket didn't call him a twerp, and he had siblings up the wazoo.

Whatever a wazoo was.

"Because I know it's true. All I know is that one day, Misty might decide that she can be as good a Gym Leader as her grandmother was, get the Cerulean Gym back from her sisters and take it back to its former glory. It may not be her primary dream, but it is something she wouldn't mind doing and I think she'd be really happy to do it one day. And if that happens, I'd want to win a real Cascade Badge. If I was to do that though, I'd need someone really good to practice with for that day, and I know that person already," he told her truthfully as Anabel gave him a massive smile.

'That does sound nice,' she stated as her own hands flared up with the glow of Heal Pulse.

Clearly when you couldn't explain how you did something, let a person feel what it was like and they'd figure it out themselves.

Anabel looked at her hand in amazement, before lightly touching her bare stomach with it.

She left it there for a curious second before removing it, before turning around to Ash and placing it on his chest.

The moment she did so, a feeling of distilled warmth swamped his entire being.

'Interesting, it doesn't work on ourselves, only on others,' Anabel observed as the mutual healing continued.

"Well good thing then, if both us are hurt together we'll both be fine, even without Chansey," Ash told Anabel who nodded in agreement.

"So what about it Anabel? You ever think about trying for a League? It wouldn't be that hard at all to teleport around to get the badges you need, and I'd love another rival. There is hardly any reason only I'm allowed to try for badges among us," Ash declared as Anabel shook her head.

'I'm not good enough at pretending I'm not telepathic for that. I could do hand signals, but I'm pretty sure I'd be found out and I'd rather not cause you trouble. Plus, I'm not sure I'd really do that well in a League. All the shifting Pokémon possibilities, all aiming to a single spot….I'd rather do something where everyone just goes as far as they can without stopping anyone else from continuing. Something they could go up on without having to wait for a year to do again, all because of a bad call or a slip up.'

"So what, like every battle you win puts you up higher and higher until you can't go farther, like some sort of climbing tower?" Ash tried to understand what Anabel meant as she nodded.

'Yeah, something like that. A Battle Tower with the only rules being to go as high as you can….I think it sounds fun.'

It probably would be.

….

In the background he could hear Pikachu curse over another grass fire, which Psyduck put out with some grumbling about it being the third time.

But that wasn't what he was really focusing on right now.

What he was focusing on….

Was his hand, which was throbbing with the feeling one would get when they backhanded a tree.

While the source of said throbbing was more of a karate chop to a tree than a backhand, Ash had a lot more history of accidental slapping of trees than attempting to slash them down like an action movie, so that was what he'd compare his pain to.

Iris, who was standing beside him as he held his hurt hand, frowned as she held up her own, which shimmered green.

She then slammed it into the tree, carving a deep cut into it that any lumberjack would look at in envy.

"I have to say….this is odd. You should be able to do it, the machine is many things but wrong is not normally one of them." She took his right hand into her hands as she looked at it closely.

The feeling of Iris holding his hand was…..interesting, Ash had to admit. He didn't have a catalogue of 'what my friend's hands feel like' in his mind, and the only one who probably remembered that in great detail was Brock, and with him it would be for the female gender only.

Brock would probably give a soliloquy about how the hand of a Nurse Joy in Kanto felt different from a Sinnoh living Joy, but if asked about how the hand of Crasher Wake compared to Roark he'd have nothing to say on the subject.

Iris's hands felt worn, calloused by countless little things in her life and made to better grasp onto the wilderness without slipping.

"You were doing it right," she noted as she looked him right in the eye.

"I know how to hit things," Ash simply said.

"I said this about Goomy a while ago, Dragon-Types, and their moves, are powerful, but require a lot of it, and will, to push through. Will is not what you seem to be having issue with," she mused as Ash panicked a bit.

If it was power, did that meant crazier training? Harsher training?

Was he going to have to wrestle his Tauros next?

"Not sure what we can do about that now. It might work better if you have more practice with your abilities. I think you said before that you never really used yours until you left home, so time might give the power needed," Iris theorized as Ash felt an internal panic recede away.

Time, time he could do. No Tauros wrestling!

"You said something about leaving home to become a Pokémon Master, right?" Iris suddenly asked.

Behind them Pikachu was running about, Emolga clinging to his back and using Discharge as she did so. How that would recreate Volt Tackle was beyond Ash, but never mind that.

"I probably did at some point," Ash agreed.

"What will you do when you are one?" she asked with a bit of slyness to her tone, which was unusual for her.

"I'll figure that out when I'm one," Ash told her. At Iris's confused look he continued.

"Being a Pokémon Master isn't something solid. No one is ever is handed a diploma saying 'you are a Pokémon Master, you get to board planes early and get discounts at select restaurants. Honestly from what I've been told you are a Pokémon Master when people not only call you one, but when you think you're one."

"So…..it is nothing?" Iris surmised as Ash shrugged.

"It is nothing, yet something. At least that is what Professor Oak would call it. I have no idea what I'd call it, because calling something nothing but something is kind of pretentious sounding."

"How can something be nothing and something at the same time?" Iris questioned.

"I'm sure science has a reason," Ash joked as Iris looked at him with a ponderous expression.

Oddly the same one she gave his muscles under the waterfall. It was still a bit unnerving but not as much as it had been the first time.

"So what you want to do with yourself in the future is flexible. Very flexible."

"I guess….." Ash wasn't sure what she was getting at.

Iris's smile was starting to worry him. For some reason, it wasn't giving him the impression she wanted him to be able to touch his toes?

Could he do that?

….

He could, he checked.

But ignoring that feat, he and Misty were trying to pull off an entirely different one. The creation of Water Pulse.

"Hrrahhhh!"

It was not going well, for either of them.

Ash dropped the stance he was trying, given it was looking more like he was trying for a hadoken than Water Pulse, as Misty looked at her hands in frustration.

"Why isn't it working?" she growled as she again tried to concentrate on forming the move both of them were able to use.

Nothing happened, as Misty held her hands out and glared at them. However for all her glaring, no water sphere followed.

For either of them really, Ash had followed all of Misty's advice when it came to gathering water, yet his hands didn't even feel wet for the effort.

Not even sweat. That was more on his head and armpits, and neither could generate Water Pulse without looking really weird.

The sound of crackling electricity behind the two drew their attention briefly to Pikachu, who was standing proudly, arms crossed, as an electrical aura surrounded him with rough sparks all around it.

Emolga stood beside him, looking on with admiring eyes.

It was a nice move, but Ash wasn't sure that was Volt Tackle. It seemed a bit off, the electricity was more wild and spiking around him, while Pikachu in the aura seemed off in color.

Volt Tackle had Pikachu in a black and white color, while this one felt more gold and white.

"Pikachu has successfully learned a fifth move. Pikachu has learned Wild Charge," the Pokédex declared. Pikachu had an odd look on his face at the declaration of learning the other electrical recoil move.

However his attention was drawn from his partner's reaction to relearning the wrong move to Misty, who was glaring at her hands in annoyance.

"What's going on? I should know how to do this….I make giant whirlpools and waves whenever I want. How's a throwing sphere any different?"

Ash wasn't sure how they might be beyond scale, but he'd try and come up with something.

"Well, how did you learn those moves? Maybe that would help you out," Ash suggested as Misty looked at her hands with a thoughtful, reminiscing look.

"Well, I needed to know them, so I figured it out."

"Got any more context?" Ash inquired as Misty frowned.

"Well, I learned Waterfall because it was either that or hit the rocky bottom of one."

Ash looked at her, quite literally feeling concern change his facial features by the moment.

"I'm fine, obviously," Misty reassured him, a part of her was pleased to see the concern in his eyes.

"….Come to think of it, that's kind of how it works for me most of the time too." At Misty's confused and concerned look, he quickly added that he did not mean 'falling down waterfalls into rocky, painful death'.

"I seem to learn best either by accident or because I need to learn it. Getting attacked by Spearow, running on a treadmill too much, Anabel being really tired and needing some energy…I mean I can learn to do moves without it, but they definitely come easier."

"So, you're saying this would come easier if we were in a moment we'd really need it? I guess it makes sense, but not sure how much that helps me out," Misty admitted.

"We can probably think of something. Maybe Iris had some ideas…."

"No." Misty cut him off before he could continue down that train of thought. "As much as I really would prefer not running miles up hills, the only thing that harms is my shoe soles. Do you want her trying to get us to really want water to throw? She's liable to start setting things on fire!"

Or get Charizard to set things on fire for the same purpose, but that….wasn't entirely impossible. Probably best to avoid any well intentioned forest fires.

Celadon Battle Club

Gary had a grin the entire time the room was alight with blue light.

The light faded as the Don George nodded, shortly before the massive tongue of Arcanine licked Gary's face.

"Well, that'll do it. My patented 50 Trainer Challenge, formerly because of Erika but now just being there' is complete. You were the first to pass it of all who have tried it, and you've been rewarded as such!" the Don declared as holograms sprung up all around Gary of all the other Pokémon bar his new Arcanine he had used to accomplish it.

Blastoise. Golem. Seadra. Fearow. Pidgeot. Alakazam. Tangrowth. Magneton. Qwilfish. Pinsir. Porygon. Doduo. Machoke. Venomoth

Above all of them was a bold font of 'Congradulations!'

Gary stared at the spelling for a moment, before turning to Don George.

"You misspelled it. It's congratulations" Gary emphasized as the Don George blushed.

"Oh….well that's embarrassing. Hey….promise you won't say anything and I'll pop you over to a new town. I've got an Abra, and my brother over in Gardenia runs a pretty good training run himself."

Gary nodded as Arcanine barked in agreement.

After all the thinking he did, Gary had come to a conclusion.

He needed to fix what was wrong with him, and the best way to do that was practice battling.

Battle more, battle harder, battle longer. With everyone.

If he wanted to feel good, to really win an eighth badge, he had to push himself and his team farther and harder.

He needed to be sharper, faster thinking just as they needed to hit harder, move faster, and take more hits.

That eighth badge would be properly won!

A teleport later found Gary staring at a battle in progress as his Don George greeted another Don George and engaged in the traditional Don George muscular handshake.

Said battle had four defeated Pokémon on one side and a fifth one struggling to hold on, and four returned Pokémon on the other and a fifth one dominating.

Said returned Pokémon being a Magikarp (as there was a pool in the center of the battlefield), a Magnemite, a Lickitung, and a Shellder, with a small red Pokémon breathing fire on the other side's Pidgeotto.

"Magby, a Baby Pokémon that evolves into Magmar. Magby drips magma from within itself when sick, which creates severe home damage. They are not good pets," Gary's Pokédex informed him as the Pidgeotto was knocked out.

The winner smirked as Gary's skin crawled and anger swept through Gary, particularly as he saw the total number of badges displayed for both.

Five versus one.

The moment the owner of the five badges walked out, Gary was on him.

"You must feel so proud of yourself, beating up on some noob. I'm frankly amazed the kid even had a Pidgeotto, I'd have sooner guessed a Pidgey," Gary snapped.

Paul rolled his eyes at his response before giving him a response that sounded like his gramps explaining something to Ash back in his denser period.

(Seriously, a nine-year-old Ash was not a smart Ash. He grew out of it but sheesh….)

"If I wanted to knock that kid around for my amusement, I'd have used Torterra. You see, that was me training newer Pokémon that aren't quite up to snuff right now. I'd figure the Magikarp I was using would be proof enough of that, I'm hardly a member of the B-Button League, that's more of Ketchum's thing."

That would explain why there had been no Thunderstone action on Ash's end, but Gary was fairly certain something else was up with that.

"Of course, I haven't been slacking off with Torterra either," Paul stated simply.

"Well I haven't been slacking off either," Gary declared as Paul looked at his Arcanine.

"…..A waste of a stone," was his comment as Arcanine snarled.

"This 'waste of a stone' helped me win a Rainbow Badge!" Gary declared as Paul's eye twitched.

"Well, good for you then. Now you have six badges and a 'you entered the building' badge. As for me, I plan to take that badge last. It'll be sweeter that way."

"Well as someone who does have the badge, allow me to show you what you'll need to win it. Right here, right now!" Gary declared as Paul eyed both him and Arcanine, who was stilling growling.

"You've both battled today, as have I. While I would beat you, it would give you the ability to write off your loss as being tired, and I'd hate to allow you to lie to yourself that easily. Tomorrow will work much better."

"You scared?"

"I'm smart, you're just well read. Bring your six best Pokémon at nine o clock, here." Paul turned before walking away, leaving Gary and Arcanine glaring at his retreating back.

"That just gives me more time to plan on how I'm going to beat you, jackass!"

It was perfect really. What better way to really tell himself 'Gary, you've gotten out of the rut and once Indigo runs around you can take on Ash and Red' than by wiping the floor with the jerk.

"So Arcanine, you up for wiping his clock?" Gary asked his newest evolved Pokémon. Arcanine answered with a lick to the face.

On the beaten path again

Ash threw the Moon Ball up.

He caught it.

He threw the ball back up.

He caught it again.

"So if I used it on a Nidoran, it would still be more effective even though it's their evolved forms that evolve with a Moon Stone?" He checked with the device, who was currently sitting on a nearby stump.

"Correct. That stone is functional with a small range of Pokémon, including Jigglypuff, Clefairy, and Munna. The Yellow Apricorn the ball is made from has a notable connection to moon originating X-rays, not to be confused with the X-rays used in medical facilities, which creates the effect. Despite this effect, I have managed duplication of the ball, so you will in theory have limitless ability to capture one of these Pokémon for my data collection."

Neat, but Ash wasn't sure that would happen. He didn't just throw balls at every random thing around him. Plus, he didn't run into those Pokémon as often as one would think.

Outside of May's Skitty, the only frequent Pokémon that he dealt with that used a Moon Stone to evolve was Jigglypuff, and they'd been free from Jigglypuff's insidious songs since Hoenn….

"Jiggly!"

The dreaded squeak caused Ash to flail in horror, arms flailing wildly as the round terror jumped onto a nearby stump, a marker already in hand.

No no no, no no no, no!

No!

They hadn't even been near Neon Town yet.

No!

Where had it gotten….

No!

Ash plugged his ears, closed his eyes, and tried to drown out any noise that could possibly occur with the deathening shouting of his mind.

If people had an inner eye, did they have an inner ear? If so he'd scream into it random thoughts to drown out Jigglypuff and be spared.

His dreams of being a Pokémon master!

The horror of Brock's parents being dead!

His mother's cooking!

The sight of Iris naked….not sure how he exactly shouted those things in his head, but he had to drown out Jigglypuff's song somehow.

After five minutes, he sighed in relief.

No slumber.

No face doodle.

He was alright!

"Pikapi…." 'Ash….' Pikachu broke through his sound deflection attempt, as if it wasn't even effective, sounding like he had just done something horrifying.

Ash slowly opened his eyes, wondering what he could have possibly done to get Pikachu to sound that worried.

Did thinking to hear the sound of visual things make reality explode again?

When his eyes did widen in full, he saw what Pikachu was worried about.

And gaped in horror for what stood before him.

A vanishing Moon Ball, and no Jigglypuff.

"In your surprisingly terrified reaction, you flung the Moon Ball. In doing so, you have captured a Jigglypuff! Jigglypuff, a Balloon Pokémon, is able to float above the ground and move about via large air sacs within its body. Jigglypuff songs differ from region to region in flavor….and interestingly this Jigglypuff is rather fascinating."

"How…." Ash weakly asked as the Pokédex continued.

"It suffers from a condition affecting its Sing attack, which does not form as a series of musical notes that knock out on contact, but carrying the effect in general soundwaves. Such Jigglypuff are considerably more dangerous than the rest of their kind to people in general, and have caused car pileups in the past."

Ash was pretty sure that many Pokémon sang without creating musical notes that contained the effects, though then a lot of them that did so that way popped up at about the same time….

Cyrus? Not sure why'd he change Sing of all things…was it just more logical?

"This Jigglypuff is female, and knows Sing, Double Slap, Stockpile, and Disarming Voice. It is now at Professor Oak's laboratory, in case that was not obvious."

Jigglypuff was a girl? He was sure it was a boy….

Pikachu noted his confused face, and pieced it together quickly. His partner then looked at him strangely for assuming such a thing.

Meanwhile at Professor's Oak ranch…..

"Huh, a Jigglypuff? I must say, that was not what I was expecting to receive from Ash…..wait Bulbasaur, why are you running?"

The Professor stared at Ash's Grass-type, which had suddenly darted away into the research fields and far away from him and Ash's new Pokémon.

"Well, that was rude of him….." Was the last word the Professor said as the pink balloon began to sing, and he knew only the embrace of dreams.

Meanwhile in every corner he could find fellow Pokémon of the two-timeline club, Bulbasaur gave the dire warning.

A few questioned the legitimacy of it, but when two Tauros returned with marker eyepatches and sideburns they learned the wisdom to beware the song of Jigglypuff.

Later

"It was a bit of a walk to get there, but I think that cliff was good work for the both of us," Iris declared as Ash held his hands out, possibly trying to get back feeling in them.

It was nice to see that her efforts were paying off. Ash, already doing well for himself, was doing better for himself. Everyone was.

It was reassuring. Janine was enough of a wake up call, but if she had to be honest with herself, she had reason to do so earlier with them.

The Gringy City episode for one, and before that J.

Just….J.

Iris felt a snarl form on her face as she remembered that woman. When she ever would see that foul woman again, she would be dealt with.

"Iris, are you okay?" Ash asked in concern, Pikachu edging away from her. Clearly they could see her teeth and were concerned, unless she had started outright hissing.

"Just thinking," she stated simply.

Their walk, as Iris saw no reason to make it into a jog after scaling a cliff, passed by an open area where several other Trainers were gathering. Iris didn't pay them much thought, she had other things to think about.

...

"Believe me, I am trying to make this effective. That does not involve me trying to kill you." Iris told Misty a few days ago, a mound of acorns at her side.

"What is effective about throwing acorns at me!?" Misty demanded.

"I told you I was going to do it."

"That doesn't make it better! Look, I get that you got rattled by a ninja, but that doesn't mean you can…."

"The shadow girl," Iris simply said as Misty stopped complaining.

"It is not just Janine. We have run into threats before, and I expect to see more. You are my friend, I want you to live," Iris told Misty honestly as her annoyance at her dimmed.

It came back a bit as the acorns were thrown with the clear instruction to start deflecting them, at least until she remembered about Whirlpool.

Iris watched in confusion as Misty promptly began slapping herself in the head for some reason before picking another acorn from her pile and throwing it.

...

"Curses!" Iris heard someone shout in frustration, breaking her from her thoughts as Ash stopped.

He appeared to recognize the person shouting it. Was it the one in armor?

"Heh, you should know better than to use Bug Pokémon. A Bug Pokémon can never win anything after a while. How many badges did you say you have?" another voice questioned, a tone of superiority and arrogance to it.

Iris did not like it.

"Three! I just won a third badge, where my Paras and Pinsir were invaluable…."

"Well I have four!"

Iris would have just walked away, having no need to deal with whoever was making that racket, when she caught sight of Ash.

She might have had the same surprised look on her face as Pikachu, as Ash had a look of anger on his face.

Perhaps fury.

It was not aimed at the armored bug user, and he began marching over to the Trainers like a unrelenting force.

Iris followed, unsure of what was going on.

What she did notice when they did arrive at the group, was something she had never seen before.

A Shiny Human!

At least, that was probably why the human seemed unusually pale, even among the lighter pigmented. The possibly Shiny Human looked at their arrival and had a nasty look on his face that was something between arrogance and anger.

"Well well well, if it isn't Ketchum. It's been a while."

"Joshua," Ash growled. Iris noted said growl with surprise, Ash didn't take that tone with most, honestly the last time she heard it was in dealing with Paul.

It couldn't just be the arrogance of Joshua the Shiny Human. Something else was at play…did Ash ever mention a Joshua before?

"So, you actually made it this far? I was sure after failing that old coots little playtime that you would have cried back home before you even got to Pewter. Or did you aim to go there, but just got lost? Can't say that's not a possibility too."

"This human placed second behind Gary Oak," the Pokédex beeped from Ash's jacket pocket, causing Joshua to stare dumbfounded.

"You? Second best, only losing to that twat?"

"Unlike some people, I can study even if it makes me want to stab my eyes out," Ash declared back in a cold tone.

It was starting to all come back to Iris, Ash mentioned a kid named Joshua in relation to how he got the Pokédex and something called a Summer Camp, which was also related to those twins he knew.

She was missing something though….

"Well, so you somehow did. Proof the old man was on something I'd say. Still…." His gaze turned towards her, and Iris felt an odd feeling of nausea as he looked her over for a moment.

Misty had said something about 'checking you out' at one point. She was rather sure Ash did that once or twice while showering, though he seemed to be trying not to. A complexity of some sort she suspected.

The idea of that, even if not by Ash, didn't bother her. It was something else in what this Joshua was doing as he looked her over that was bothering her. There was something in his eyes that made her instincts give out a low level of warning, not saying there was any real danger but there was definitely something to be aware of.

'So this is the new Serena? Bit hard to top Kalosian eye candy, and I doubt she'd mess up Rhyhorn as badly, but really, even you could do better. You reach a point where height becomes too much, and this girl has long passed it."

Insulting her because of her height? Iris did not follow, though now with that comment the missing piece of memory came up as to why Ash was so angry jogged her memory.

Serena, as she recalled, was a friend Ash had made at the Summer Camp. They had been very good friends, which for some reason bothered Misty (did she think Serena would want to be Ash's mate too?), then Joshua had been responsible for getting her kicked out when she lied to protect Ash.

That would explain why Ash was acting the way he was, as he had with Paul the first time she had seen him.

Ash was looking even angrier now, and now Pikachu was sparking as well.

"Now, do be a good twerp and tell me how many badges you have? Don't be shy, I'm sure even Serena would understand why wouldn't have any…."

Ash shut him up by ripping his jacket open, revealing his five badges pinned to the inside of said jacket, and also the muscles that Iris had been helping further develop.

The Shiny Human became even paler as he breathed five repeatedly, and he also seemed a tad perturbed by the musculature of Ash.

He muttered something about him 'not having that much before', which made Iris feel a bit prideful. After all, she was the one who'd been working with him to add more.

Not that she would say all the change since he met the Shiny one was her doing.

"…How on earth did you get five badges…and from Celadon of all places!? What, did you have to disguise yourself in drag and let her feel you up to that get one!?" Joshua demanded as Ash pointed a Pokéball right in his face.

"Why don't I show you how I got it?" Ash declared as the crowd of Trainers stepped back, which Iris took to doing as well.

Joshua, to his credit, did not try and get out of it, but took a Pokéball out himself.

"I'm going to expose you, right here and now! I'm going to go all out!"

"Defeat him for the honor of all Bug-Pokémon, and also myself!" The armored one cheered for Ash, before muttering something about it feeling odd to cheer for Ash.

Did he also have history with Ash?

He cheered even louder when Butterfree was sent out to face an Arbok, Joshua dropping a few Pokéballs that were locked at his feet. Perhaps they were the ones used earlier.

She was pretty sure all out meant 'six on six'.

As the battle started Iris noted that Ash, again, was suffering from the same level of anger that was present in his first battle with Paul.

Though unlike that battle, which had its anger fed by the loss of a Primeape, possibly to death, by Paul, this was fueled by something more dormant, and older.

The Serena incident, specifically. A simple act of fate that separated two friends, and all that could have led to.

Perhaps a possible companion, and one capable of the rare skill that Humans shared with few Pokémon species, the ability to cook. An admirable skill, and one that even Misty, for all her odd bother at the idea of Serena being around, admitted to wishing to have around.

Perhaps a possible additional mate, with all that could lead too. Would she handle it differently than Misty had?

Would she respond to her training better, or worse?

As Arbok was defeated and the battle became one of Pidgeot against Onix, which required a few steps back by all watchers and someone to drag the cheering armored one back as he called for the glory to the Bug Pokémon lest a large tail of stone strike them by mistake, Iris couldn't help but notice a difference between the two fights Ash had fueled by anger.

In that fight, Ash's anger had caused him to not be as effective in his commands and calls, and that had made the battle swing a bit in Paul's favor before Misty snapped him out of it.

Here….while she could tell that Ash wasn't at the top of his game, again due to anger, Joshua simply wasn't as innately skilled as Paul.

So while Ash would probably look back at the fight and wince at missed openings, or sloppy calls like the one that led Onix to headbutt Pidgeot after an Air Slash missed, the battle would still go Ash's way.

The Steel Wing knock out was proof of that.

As the battle became Raticate against Pikachu, following three bouts in between of a Tauros against Magnemite, Squirtle against Dugtrio, and Muk against Nidorino (all wins by Ash), Iris made a note of herself to add something else to Ash's training.

Ways to control these episodes of anger, or at least how to channel it better.

While infrequent, and always with a stressor or cause that was reasonable….it was something that had to be worked on.

From what Ash had said of his confrontation with Belladonna, as well as how his argument with Red had gone, Iris suspected it was a nature thing, not a nurture. That would be harder to work on, but it had to be done.

Because it wasn't going away, and it needed to be worked on before it came at a time where Misty could not talk him out of it, or when the cause of it was unable to be defeated as easily.

It was a problem that even Ash seemed unfamiliar with having, as if he didn't have such things to induce anger in him before his journey, and he needed help with it.

More than just because it was a problematic trait that was more her brother's than her own. More than just the idea that it would be a mark against him being a good mate.

(It was bad sure, but she was not looking for perfection)

It wasn't even out of some concern that it could turn against someone who did not earn it. It was simply for the benefit of Ash's health and wellbeing to help him deal with it himself when it came up.

She was still gathering what human and human culture valued in mates, but caring for the others well-being beyond the physical needs of food and such was a big part of what she had noticed. It wasn't something she could rest on her laurels about, just like the risk of Ash or any of her friends being harmed by some sneaky threat.

The Wild Charge from Pikachu took the battle, and Iris ran to Ash and gave him congratulations, which seemed to calm him down in combination with winning.

….Though come to think of it, she probably should have tried calming him down earlier. Was that the wrong call?