On the Moor of Icirrus, Keldeo sighed before kicking out at a rock.
It cracked, and he kicked out with his other forehoof.
"This is boring," he grumbled.
"Keldeo, maintain your focus," Cobalion instructed.
"Yes, Cobalion," Keldeo agreed, before returning his attention to the rock.
Being told to maintain his focus was a useful reminder, sort of, but it didn't really help him actually maintain his focus. That was all about being able to concentrate, and if something was distracting you then it was distracting you.
And what was distracting Keldeo was that he never got a chance to do anything to show how good he was.
He trained, sure, but he'd been training for ages. And he wasn't as good as Cobalion, or Virizion or Terrakion, but those three were amazing and heroes and if Keldeo thought he was supposed to get as good as them then he'd have gone crazy, because that was impossible.
But some of the things the Swords of Justice did weren't even really dangerous, just hard. And Keldeo wouldn't mind doing something hard if he was able to do something.
"How come I can't come along when you're sorting something out?" he demanded, looking at the dent he'd left in the rock. "Or go out into the wild so I can train against Pokémon who aren't you three?"
"Keldeo, it isn't safe," Cobalion told him. "You need to be ready."
"But if I only train against you, all that happens is I keep being beaten," Keldeo protested. "If I could battle against other Pokémon who-"
Cobalion stamped his hoof.
"Keldeo, none of us want to see you hurt," he said, moderating his tone slightly. "We want to be certain you can take care of yourself before you get into any trouble."
"But-" Keldeo began.
"This discussion is over," Cobalion informed him. "Now, go and practice your Water attacks."
Keldeo grumbled, then cantered off to the pool.
"You shouldn't be so hard on him," Virizion said. "He respects you, Cobalion, but his heart is the heart of a Sword of Justice and he wants to help. Doing nothing is stressful."
"Perhaps," Cobalion replied.
Panting, Keldeo looked at the latest results.
The cliffside he'd been training on had water twenty feet up the side, now, and the pool was almost overflowing – nearly at the point of overwhelming the stream that drained it.
"I must be strong enough now," he said.
"You're definitely doing great, little guy," Terrakion told him.
From a distance, because he was a Rock-type.
Keldeo sighed. "I just wish I could have a few moments to myself from time to time, to show them that I can take care of myself."
"Allez-Hooparing!" a voice called, sounding like it was coming from behind a small rock.
Terrakion blinked. "What was that?"
Keldeo looked around as well, but didn't see anything.
"What do you think, Terrakion?" he asked, returning to the theme. "How much longer is it going to take before anyone trusts me?"
"I don't know, Keldeo," Terrakion admitted. "Cobalion's kind of stubborn, but – you know he has your best interests at heart, right?"
Keldeo grumbled something, and turned to leave.
"Don't go getting lost, or you'll never get back in time for supper, kid," Terrakion warned.
It was just the same thing as what Cobalion had been saying, but the way Terrakion put it did make Keldeo feel a bit better.
Just a bit.
True to what Terrakion had said, Keldeo didn't go all that far.
He wasn't paying much attention to where he was going, sure, but he only went for a few minutes. There was a weird bit where the trees changed a bit, and he noticed after he got to the next little clearing that the weather seemed to have got better, but he just shrugged and decided he hadn't been paying all that much attention to the weather anyway.
When he came out onto a little hill, though, he did stop and frown slightly.
"So the sun's that way," he said, looking at it. "And it's the evening, so that's the west. And I don't think I got turned around, but I could swear that way's east for some reason."
"Oh, hi!" someone called.
Keldeo turned, surprised to hear a human so close to the Moor of Icirrus, but even more surprised to see the Pidgey flying alongside him turn into a pink Mew with a visible pop!of psychic energy.
"Hello," he said, concentrating carefully on making sure he was understood. "Do you live around here?"
"Not far," the human boy said. "I'm Ash Ketchum, and I'm eight years old. What's your name?"
"Keldeo," Keldeo informed him.
And I'm Mew! Ash's accompaniment giggled. But you already knew that, right?
"Oh, you're one of the Pokémon who kind of speaks human, or speaks so humans can tell what they're saying," Ash realized. "That's pretty cool."
"Thanks," Keldeo said, puffed out a bit by that. "I didn't know any humans lived in this bit of Unova."
"Unova?" Ash repeated. "Um… is that another word for Kanto? We're in Kanto."
Unova's a reeeeally long way away, Mew told them both, flipping upside down.
"It can't be," Keldeo said, frowning. "I was definitely in Unova ten minutes ago…"
He turned around to look back the way he'd come. "Or maybe I was going for a bit longer than I thought. I must have come from those mountains way over there, because there were definitely mountains when I started…"
"Well, we're definitely in Kanto now," Ash told him. "Are you sure you're not from Johto?"
"I don't think that's right either," Keldeo said.
Ooh, I know! Mew said, brightening. Mew had already been bright, but now they were much more so. If you need to be able to get home quickly, I can teach you something!
About half an hour later, Keldeo waved at his two new friends.
"Thanks!" he said. "For all your help!"
That's okay! Mew said.
"Yeah, it'd be great to see you again some time!" Ash agreed. "You seem like a really cool Pokémon!"
Keldeo smiled, then turned and started trotting. Then he broke into a canter.
"And… teleport!" he announced, and vanished with a flash.