"He's been hours," Cobalion said, stalking up and down. "What happened to him?"
"You should calm down, Cobalion," Virizion told him.
The Grass-type shook her head. "I know you care for him. We all do. And it's sometimes hard for Keldeo to see that… but at the same time, he's much stronger than you give him credit for."
"Yeah," Terrakion weighed in. "He's a smart kid. And he's way stronger than a lot of wild Pokémon already."
Cobalion huffed.
"He'll get it out of his system, no matter how long that takes, and then he'll be back with us," Virizion soothed. "Remember, we were tearaways in our youth too."
A very long way away, Keldeo looked up at the building in front of him.
It was huge, and beautiful, with two halves curving around like the halves of a guitar.
It was also one he didn't recognize in the slightest.
"Where's Alamos town compared to Icirrus, anyway…" he asked.
Not every day could be a day when Mew was around.
Some days, it was a day when Mew didn't seem to be around and Ash met with another Pokémon outside, but then they turned out to be Mew anyway. Other times Mew was around, but another Pokémon turned up anyway.
And this time, Ash was outside just to enjoy the sun by the edge of the woods, but when there was a sort of soft whump sound and a cracking of branches he looked up to see what was going on.
There was a big Pokémon in the underbrush, with striped yellow-and-black fur and a stormy purple mane, and Ash got up carefully before waving.
"Hello?" he said. "That isn't Mew, is it?"
The Pokémon shook its head, then whined slightly, and Ash didn't really have to think before hurrying over to see what was wrong.
"Are you okay?" he asked. "I know that's a silly question because you sounded like you were hurt."
He was in the tree canopy, now, and the Pokémon nodded.
"Kou," it coughed. "Raiii."
Ash did his best to do what Mew had said, about listening properly, but he couldn't really tell what the Pokémon was trying to tell him.
"Rai-ai?" it tried, raising its fore paw, and Ash winced at the sight.
There was something sharp in there, something which looked kind of like a fish hook, and they'd be painful enough to have in your hand so he could barely imagine what it'd be like to have in your foot.
"You poor thing," he said. "Do you want help with it?"
The Pokémon nodded, and as Ash got a bit closer the Pokémon proffered their paw again so Ash could examine it more closely.
"Okay, it doesn't look like it's actually stuck in your skin," he said, squinting. "Just a little bit in there, and held because it's all tangled up in the fur. But it's going to hurt if I take it out. Is that okay?"
The Pokémon nodded, and Ash took a deep breath before yanking.
"Rrrrai-kou," his new friend gasped, clearly doing their level best not to howl, and tensed up all over before relaxing with a whimper of relief as the hook came loose.
"There you go," Ash said, putting the hook in his pocket. "I'll get Mom to get rid of that later, there must be a way to get rid of sharp things without just throwing them on the ground."
The Pokémon he'd just helped licked him with a big damp tongue, and he laughed. "Heh, it wasn't that big a deal… hey, are you friends with Miss Suicune? Mew introduced me to her once."
That got another lick, then the Pokémon went back a step and used a paw to touch its chest.
"Rai-kou," it coughed.
"Oh, so you're Raikou, right!" Ash said. "And are you a boy or a girl?"
Raikou shook its head at the first, then nodded at the second.
"It's nice to meet you, then, Miss Raikou," Ash told her. "And I'm really glad I could help! But I kind of need to head in for dinner soon… sorry."
Ash considered his TV, stretching, and looked out the window at the darkening night sky.
It was kind of late, but it was the Pokémon League finals in Galar tonight – which were always really cool to watch – and after only a bit of pestering Mom had agreed to let him stay up late.
It wasn't quite the same as being told he could stay up all night, she'd said he had to go to bed when he was tired, but there were snacks and he could watch TV… it was going to be a great evening!
At the same time, though, it was going to be kind of late. So Ash decided it'd save a bit of time if he got his pyjamas on now, went to the wardrobe, and opened it.
About twenty kilos of Pokémon fell out, and Ash was nearly flattened under an awkward white-and-blue shape.
Oof! announced the Pokémon who'd just sprawled out of Ash's wardrobe. Oh! Sorry, I didn't mean to do that.
Ash stepped back a bit, supporting the Pokémon's weight until it could get properly balanced, then had an actual proper look at it.
It looked a lot like the same Pokémon who'd lifted him back into the boat months ago, only a lot smaller.
"My name's Ash," Ash introduced himself, quietly, so he didn't disturb Mom too much. "I don't often find Pokémon in my wardrobe."
Is that what that thing is I fell out of? Ash's latest visitor asked, examining it, then stuck its head back in.
Yes, I was surprised, it announced.
While he'd been doing that, Ash had stepped back a bit to look at how big the Pokémon was.
It was bigger than Mew, but a bit smaller than Keldeo… and it wasn't all that heavy, either…
"Hey, I've got a suggestion," he said. "What's your name?"
Oh, right, sorry! the Pokémon said. Mom's always telling me about manners. I'm Silver, and I'm a Lugia!
"Well, Silver, there's the Galar Pokémon League finals tonight," Ash explained. "So why don't we watch them together?"
What's a Pokémon League? Silver asked.
"Well, what you have is you have lots of really good trainers," Ash explained. "Those are humans who help Pokémon get stronger. Then in the Pokémon League the best ones battle to see who's the best of all. You see some really amazing battles."
That sounds neat! Silver said, clearly fascinated, and Ash went over to turn on his TV before changing it to the right channel.
That done, he picked the Snorlax plush off his bed, and put it in his wardrobe so there was space for his new friend.
Silver was already staring at the TV.
So that's showing us what's going on a long way away? the Lugia asked.
He blinked slowly.
Why is it all about something called a tooth brush?
"Nah, that's just an advert," Ash explained. "The actual battles are going to be in just a few minutes!"