"Uh..." Misty said, nervously. "Gyarados?"

Gyarados looked at her, tilting his head.

"Can you use... uh, Water Pulse? Over there," Misty added, hastily.

Gyarados frowned, then turned to Ash with a quizzical look.

"I'll show-" Ash began.

"No, don't!" Misty said sharply, before Ash could change. "I'll just show him with Goldeen. Later. Um... do you know Dragon Rage?"

The big Water-type nodded, then opened his mouth - which began to glow.

"No, don't use it!" Misty protested. "That could hurt someone! Like... us?"

"Maybe I should turn into another Gyarados," Ash mused. "You know, to help teach him."

"Help teach-" Misty began, then stopped - lost for words.

"Probably not a good idea, Gyarados are very territorial. You'd just enrage him."

"Oh, okay," Ash said, accepting that.

"What was that?" Brock asked.

"Who was that?" Pikachu added. "A Bulbasaur? Where is he?"

"Hello?" asked the Bulbasaur in question, walking out of the woods. "Sorry, I was listening, and... well, I didn't want the forest set on fire..."

"Would that happen?" Ash asked, surprised. "That would be bad, I guess..."

Spearow and Pikachu exchanged glances.

"We're recruiting him as soon as possible," the Flying-type said quietly.

"Agreed," Pikachu nodded. "Excuse me? Bulbasaur?"

The Grass-type looked up, and his eyes followed Pikachu as he jumped down from Ash's bag. "Yes? Pikachu?"

"I was wondering if you'd like to come with us," Pikachu said, without preamble. "You seem kind of sensible, and our trainer needs all the help he can get..."

Bulbasaur shook his head. "Sorry, I'm not really interested. As it is I'm a lot closer to humans than I'm really comfortable with, and having one as a trainer - even one who can turn into-"

"That's okay, I'm actually not a human," Ash interrupted.

"...a... Pokémon?" Bulbasaur trailed off. "I... huh, I thought you were just a wizard or something..."

At their surprised looks, Bulbasaur shrugged. "I knew someone who met one once," he told them. "So, what are you? Zoroark? Ditto?"

"Mew!" said Ash, as a Mew. His hat fell past his face, and he caught it before putting it firmly back on.

"...and this is why we'd like your help," Spearow added, indicating his floating trainer with a wing. "He's not precisely discreet."

"He's got a good heart, though," Beedrill said, throwing in his two Poke. As he buzzed higher, Misty took a few steps back and behind Gyarados, which only the Water-type noticed. "He taught me how to use Needle Arm!"

Bulbasaur blinked. "But... uh..."

He shook his head. "I was going to say I didn't think Beedrill could learn that, but..."

"Why shouldn't they?" Ash asked, tail flicking as he scratched his head. "I mean, their arms are needles..."

After a few more seconds of contemplation, Bulbasaur thumped his forefoot on the ground. "Okay, I can see where this is going. I'm a move collector, you show up able to teach Pokémon moves they shouldn't be able to learn, it's pretty much fate."

"Great!" Ash said, popping back to human and grinning. "Uh... what's a move collector?"

"I collect moves," Bulbasaur said, deadpan. "I've already got Whirlwind and Dig as well as most of the standard ones."

"Oh, cool!" Ash beamed. "What other moves would you like to know?"

There was another pop, and he was a small green fuzzy thing with grass on its back. "Seed flare? I could probably-"

"Later," Bulbasaur told him. "We can do it later. I don't mind waiting."

"This was a great decision," Spearow said, in no uncertain terms.

"Hey."

Damian ignored the voice.

"Excuse me?" the voice went on.

There was a creaking sound, and the trainer finally turned around. "What? Look, if this is about that..."

The word "Charmander" died on his lips as he stared.

Hovering there about five feet from him was a long-tailed pink thing with bright blue eyes... which looked an awful lot like a Mew.

But it couldn't be. Everyone knew Mew - besides being mythically rare - were carefree, bouncy Pokémon without a care in the world. And the one which seemed to be in front of Damian now had sharply narrowed eyes and trembling forepaws, a lashing tail, and a surprisingly menacing bright blue glow around its entire body.

There also seemed to be a backwards baseball cap.

"Yeah, it's about Charmander," the voice said, and it was obvious that it was the Mew speaking. "I spoke to him."

"So?" Damian asked, trying to hide his apprehension. "He's just a-"

"You left him there to die," said the Mew, tail lashing faster.

There was another creak sound, and out of the corner of his eye Damian noticed that the ground underneath the Mew was sinking slightly.

It wasn't an earthquake. It was just a perfectly circular depression gradually deepening as he watched... and the grass around it was compressed in a radial pattern.

Two trainers came hurrying up the path, accompanied by Pokémon - including his Charmander cradled in the arms of the young man - then stopped short on seeing the confrontation.

"You're the worst trainer I've ever heard of," the Mew said, voice trembling slightly.

For a moment, Damian wondered if that meant that the Legendary was afraid.

Then it bit him between thumb and forefinger.

"Ash, what were you thinking?" Misty asked, as her friend washed his mouth out and spat again.

That I wanted him to never hurt another Pokémon! Ash replied, as he rinsed and spat again. I hate that he'd even think of doing things like that to Pokémon!

Brock and Misty exchanged a silent glance that spoke volumes.

"I guess... sometimes people just aren't nice," Brock said, as tactfully as possible - trying to come up with a way of easing Ash into how not everyone was good and not everything worked out for the best.

Ash picked up a towel and rubbed his face, then sighed - seeming to deflate. "Yeah, I guess," he said, and transformed back to human. "I just thought that kind of stuff only happened in TV shows and stories..."

Both the Gym Leaders winced.

"Um... Ash?" the Charmander asked, in a small voice.

Ash looked up, a smile returning to his face. "Yeah?"

"That was kind of scary, but... it was really cool," Charmander told him. "I wish I knew how you stood up to him like that."

They could almost see the gears turning in his head.

"I know, Charmander!" Ash said. "I'll help teach you how to stand up to anyone. That's a promise!"

Charmander dashed forward and hugged Ash's knee. "Thank you!"

Ash laughed. "Hey, I need that to walk... unless I can just-"

"No, no more Mew today," Misty said.

"She's right," Bulbasaur agreed. "Otherwise people will realize it was you who did it sooner or later."

"...telling you!" Damian said, gesticulating. "A rabid Mew! It attacked me - I barely got away!"

"Yeah, right," one of the other boys said, rolling his eyes. "A talking, hat-wearing Legendary Pokémon attacked you. Not, say, the Charmander you abandoned on a rock. Moron."

"You know," a girl frowned. "I hope that poor thing's got a better home now."

"Why don't you believe me?" Damian asked.

"Because you told us you had fifty Pokémon, and you've only shown us a Shinx and a Growlithe?" someone said, with a laugh. "Come on, guys, it's getting lame over here."

"...seen it on TV!" Ash said. "When they need to cut something underwater - there were these divers, in suits, and they had a cutting torch and the flame worked underwater!"

Charmander nodded, eyes big. "Wow. I didn't know humans could do such amazing things!"

"Neither did I!" Ash agreed. "Cool, isn't it? And I bet you could do it, too - that would be such a surprise to a Water-type trainer!"

A few paces behind them, Brock glanced over at Misty. "Are you okay with this?"

"I'm resigned to it," Misty clarified. "We should probably be glad he's not teaching Bulbasaur how to breathe fire..."

"Great idea!" Ash said, and Misty realized her mistake.

Hurrying up to come level with her scatterbrained friend, Misty gave him a look. "Ash, you're supposed to not be drawing attention to yourself."

"But I'm not, Misty!" Ash protested. "I'm just helping my friends become better at fighting and fulfil their dreams!"

Charmander nodded earnestly.

Misty was lost for words for a moment, and looked at Pikachu. In a moment of shared understanding, the Electric-type shrugged - conveying the sense of between us, we might get him to Indigo.

"At least remember not to show your Pokémon how to use the moves when there's other people around," Brock advised, from Ash's other side. "Can you please remember-"

Any further reply, however, was abruptly cut off as Misty and Brock fell into a hole.

Ash looked down and blinked, adjusting his carry of Charmander. "Why did you guys..."

"Stop levitating!" Misty hissed.

At that point, Ash realized he'd automatically started levitating.

Remembering what his Mom had told him about not levitating in public, he promptly cut it out.

There was a muffled ow as he landed on Brock and Misty.

"Not that quickly," Brock said, voice a little pained.

"Hmmm..." Spearow opined, having been completely unaffected on account of being in mid-air. "Perhaps Bulbasaur could pull you up?"

"I hope Bulbasaur can lift enough weight," Ash said, thinking seriously. "I could turn into something big and climbable?"

"What I'm more worried about is who dug the hole," Misty said, pushing Ash off her. "And no transforming!"

"Mis-ty..." Ash whined.

"There's a load of Squirtle up here," Spearow added. "I think they might have done it."

"I'll look!" Ash said. "Come on, Pikachu!"

"I said no-" Misty began, then stopped and stared as Ash jumped clear out of the hole.

"...that's new..."

The Pokéball wobbled... wobbled... and clicked.

"All right!" Misty said, picking it up. "I got a Krabby!"

"She is crabby," Spearow said, though quietly enough that no-one who could understand him heard it.

"Great work, Misty!" Ash said, impressed. "Is that your first new Pokémon in a while?"

"It's not the first I've caught," Misty shrugged, tossing the 'ball to her other hand. "I'd only just caught Goldeen before I met you."

"I wondered why she seemed used to land-going Water types," Pikachu mused.

"Don't all the best Water-types go on land?" Squirtle asked, shrugging.

"I guess Water-type trainers have to think about that kind of thing," Ash said, with a frown. "Unless they just flood the battlefield... I wonder if a Wailord could-"

"Don't test it," Bulbasaur warned automatically.

"A Wailord would be fun," Misty admitted. "I could pretty much fill a standard gym arena..."

"Weren't we heading to that lighthouse?" Brock asked. "Maybe we should get a move on."

"There it is!" Bill said, as the light flashed out into the fog. "It's coming - oh, I wonder what it is..."

Ash tilted his head, listening.

"Dragonite," he said, after a couple of seconds. "Really big one, and I think he's kind of sleepy..."

Bill stared at him.

"And he's asking you to turn the light off," Ash added. "It's waking him up."

"...oh," Bill said, in a small voice.

"Hold on, I'll see if he wants to chat."

Brock, Misty, Bulbasaur and Pikachu all got ready to shout at Ash, but instead of transforming he ran out the door.

Then a familiar voice came echoing through the area. Hey! Hey, uh, Mr. Dragonite? I know you're kind of grumpy, but this guy in here just wants to chat... is that okay?

A draconic grumbling was the reply.

Yeah, I know, but he's nice! He was wearing a kind of silly costume when we met him, but apart from that I guess he's fine...

"How is he doing that?" Bill asked.

Bulbasaur, pragmatic as ever, switched the light off with a vine since none of the humans seemed like they were getting to it.

"He's-" Misty paused, then realized that they'd just been given a great cover story. "-psychic!"

"Oh, like Sabrina," Bill said, accepting that completely. "That makes sense."

When the Pokemaniac wasn't looking, Brock gave Misty an impressed nod.

"Wow, Bill was happy!" Ash said with a grin.

"I guess that's what happens when you get an answer to one of your biggest questions," Brock agreed. "I still can't believe he gave you an Eevee, though."

The Normal-type in question wagged his tail a little uncertainly.

"Do you think you're going to evolve him?" Brock added. "Any idea what to?"

"Whatever he wants," Ash said firmly. "It's his choice - I'll help you decide, okay?"

"I guess that'd be nice," Eevee said a little shyly, tail wagging a bit faster. "But... uh, what kind of help?"

"I'll show you what they all look like," Ash replied. "Misty, can I..."

Misty looked around, as did Brock.

"Looks like there's no-one nearby," Brock said. "Spearow? Zubat?"

Spearow fluttered down to land on a nearby branch, and nodded. "Looks fine."

"Great!" Ash said, taking that for permission. "Hey, maybe you'd like to be a-"

Pikachu jumped clear of Ash's shoulder, by now a well-honed reflex.

"-Sylveon?" Ash continued, waving his new ribbons.

Eevee took several steps back, hackles rising for a moment. "...what!?"

"So," Squirtle said, glancing at Bulbasaur. "How long do you give it until the new guy gets used to it?"

"Eh, a few days."

AN:

No gym battle this time, but lots of new Pokémon. Including Ash seeing that not everyone's nice.

(Caution. Aim Ash away from hands.)