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Azelf crouched down low in the tall grass, keeping his tails as still and flat as possible while he waited for his moment. A little ways up the road walked his target: a human boy with a red hat and an electric mouse riding on his shoulder.
He'd come up with this plan during a day he spent invisibly watching the owners of the Seven Stars Restaurant have battles with their customers, as he did… well, honestly, most days. He was really glad Roman and Kylie had decided to implement that whole 'battle us and you get a free dinner' thing after Roman had inherited the restaurant from his father, battling was so cool and being a 'mysterious' and 'dignified' legendary was just… so boring.
Even if he didn't get to participate, he still really enjoyed watching their matches and eating the extra food left out that, just in case anyone ever asked about it, there was absolutely no proof was intended for him and it was just a coincidence that the chefs had only started that practice after they noticed that all of Azelf's favorite foods kept going missing right in front of them in broad daylight because he hadn't considered that making himself invisible didn't make the food he was picking up invisible.
The thing that led to this plan actually occurred when he heard very loud cheering for Cynthia on his way home from the restaurant and got curious. Uxie was a big fan of Cynthia's, they tended to like historians a lot, and the three siblings had actually met her a while back. It didn't take long to find the source of the cheering, where Cynthia was up on a huge TV screen, and her opponent was…
Ash Ketchum. The kid that Azelf had connected to way back during the first Team Galactic fiasco, and then met again during the second Team Galactic fiasco. The kid's determination and cool battles had stood out to Azelf, and he'd watched him and found himself agreeing with just about everything Ash ever said.
… So maybe the whole choosing him thing had been less about him representing willpower and more because Azelf thought it would be really nice to be Ash's friend. He still stood by his choice, Ash was the perfect human to connect with willpower because he was just like Azelf and Azelf was willpower! He wasn't the first human Azelf had ever chosen, but none of them had ever been quite like Ash.
Azelf stayed out to watch the battle – sadly, despite his best efforts, he hadn't managed to get TV reception in Lake Valor's pocket dimension yet – and stuck around long enough to hear that Ash would be having an even bigger battle against another trainer soon. At that point, Azelf made plans to sneak back up here and watch that battle, too.
It was while watching Pikachu and Charizard fight in the single most incredible battle that he'd ever seen that Azelf came up with the idea. Their whole lives, the triplets had lived in hiding from humans unless they were needed. That was simply how things were for Pokémon of legend… But what if it didn't have to be? Ash's Pikachu was in legends, just like Azelf, and he got to ride around on Ash's shoulder and battle all the time! Why couldn't Azelf do the same thing?
Uxie would probably have an explanation about why Azelf shouldn't do it. Usually, Azelf would listen to them, because they were pretty smart unless there was a Pokémon they considered 'beautiful' around. So, in all of his infinite wisdom (never mind that 'wisdom' wasn't the domain of him or either of his siblings), Azelf decided that the best way to proceed was to not ask them for permission or let them know he was doing this, because he couldn't listen to their well-meaning and reasonable older sibling advice if they never actually gave it. Besides, they weren't actually older, even if they acted like it, he and his siblings had all hatched from a single egg at the same time.
All he had to do then was find Ash, and then do… whatever it was humans and Pokémon did to become partners. He didn't really know much beyond that the Pokémon would jump out of the grass and that throwing Poké Balls was involved. With that decided, Azelf had taken some supplies from the local Poké Mart (he left money for it, he wasn't a criminal!) and just left. Without telling anyone where he was going. Surely it wouldn't be that hard to track down Ash.
As it turned out, it was actually that hard to track down Ash, something Azelf only consciously realized about three weeks into his search. Sure, there were rumors and sightings, but nothing ever made any sense. It was like Ash had some sort of supernatural ability that made his path impossible to track, and trying to predict how long it would take him to make any journey was futile. Azelf, however, had never been one for giving up once he set his mind to something (he was the Being of Willpower, after all). It took several months of searching, but he'd finally managed to actually spot Ash (entirely by chance, as it happened) walking down a path with a suitable amount of tall grass at the sides. He'd scrambled for a hiding spot, and that's how he ended up lying in wait as he watched Ash and Pikachu walk down the path.
Once they were right in front of him, it was time for the second part of his plan. Hiding in the tall grass was done, now it was time for the challenge and ball throwing and partnership.
Azelf jumped out of the grass with a battle cry, and chucked the Poké Ball he'd been holding straight at Ash. His aim was true, and the device hit the human directly on the forehead.
He learned a very important lesson from this action. Namely, what Pikachu's response to a random Pokémon jumping out of the grass and immediately attacking his trainer was.
Thunderbolt.
The answer was Thunderbolt.
Suffice it to say, it was painful.
As the Willpower Pokémon lay on the ground twitching, Ash picked up the Poké Ball and looked at him. "… Is that Azelf?"
Pikachu winced. "Oops… Sorry, Azelf…"
Once Azelf had managed to recover a few minutes later, with the help of Ash and Pikachu (and several apologies from the latter for semi-accidentally shocking him silly), he was finally able to explain what was going on.
"So I was thinking it's really boring being a mysterious legendary and I saw you battling! You went zap and kapow and wow! So, I choose you!" Azelf gestured, hoping to get the message across to Ash.
Wait, he could use telepathy. And they had a telepathic bond. He should probably turn that on, that'd make the conversation a lot easier. Though it wouldn't help with what he already said, he supposed.
Ash looked to Pikachu for an explanation. "Buddy? What does Azelf want?"
Pikachu shrugged and shook his head.
"I jumped out of the grass and threw the ball," Azelf explained. "That's how it works, right?"
"… Wait, are you trying to ask Ash to be your trainer?" Pikachu asked.
Azelf nodded eagerly.
Pikachu shook his head, smiling. "Well, I'm sure he'd love to have you. But that's not exactly how it works."
"The Trainer's supposed to throw the ball," Ash helpfully supplied, as he held up the ball Azelf had thrown at him. "And usually there's a battle."
"Where the Pokémon fight each other," Pikachu clarified helpfully. "Not the trainer fighting the Pokémon."
Okay, Azelf… probably should've figured that out. Now he was second-guessing the way he'd 'tested' the willpower of Rei all those years ago… He rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment.
For some reason, Ash did the exact same thing. Pikachu was giving his trainer a smirk. Azelf wondered what the story there was.
"I mean, if you want to battle Ash yourself, wait until after he's caught you," Pikachu said. "He's actually pretty good at it for a human!"
Ash groaned. "Pikachu…"
"It was your idea," Pikachu pointed out. "It's good training and a lot of fun, too!"
Azelf was definitely missing some context, but he did want to battle Ash. All the more reason to be a part of this training thing! "It sounds like a lot of fun! When do we start?"
"Ash hasn’t even caught you yet," Pikachu said. He paused a moment. "… And I'm not sure it's a good idea to catch an important one-of-a-kind Legendary like you."
"Ash caught you, and everything's fine," Azelf pointed out.
Pikachu didn't have a response to that beyond just staring at Azelf.
"Did it say something weird?" Ash asked.
Pikachu just nodded.
… Hey! Azelf wasn't weird! He was a perfectly normal one-of-a-kind living embodiment of willpower. Nothing weird or mysterious about that.
(okay maybe there was but he was too stubborn to admit it)
Ash, of course, took it in stride. "Well, okay! Azelf, if you're sure, it'd be great to have you on the team!"
Azelf's eyes sparkled. Yes! New friends, new battles, training to be the best, this was exactly what he needed! "Yes! Let's do this!"
"Do we want to do a battle, first?" Pikachu wondered.
"Yes!" Azelf said. "I've wanted to battle you ever since I saw you fighting Charizard! I'm so psyched!"
"… Charizard?" Pikachu muttered. "How long have you…"
Ash laughed. "Well, okay! That sounds like a yes to me!" He looked down at Pikachu. "You wanna fight, buddy?"
Pikachu snapped out of whatever train of thought he was in and nodded, eyes narrowing as he dropped down to a quadrupedal stance. "Hope you're ready, Azelf!"
Azelf grinned. "I hatched ready!" Pikachu was a worthy opponent, just as determined as his trainer, so this battle would be awesome! Legendary, even! He floated into the air and matched Ash and Pikachu's confident and determined grins. He was ready for Pikachu this time!
He was not ready for Pikachu this time.
"Sorry," Pikachu said again, as he helped his trainer tend to the damage Azelf took during the battle. "I was kind of expecting…" He paused, looking kind of sheepish. "Well… a longer battle."
The battle had lasted less than two minutes, and Azelf had barely been able to do anything against Pikachu. Everything he tried, Ash had a plan to counter. Pikachu was too fast to outrun and could not only take Azelf's attacks without much trouble but also hit back harder. "You're super strong," Azelf complimented. He'd known that, from watching him battle on TV, but it was so much different to battle Pikachu himself. "That was fun, but… boy, do I got a lot to learn."
"Well, you're in the right place for that," Pikachu reminded him.
Ash held up the Poké Ball that Azelf had brought with him. "You ready?"
Azelf nodded, and Ash touched the ball to his head. The feeling of being inside of it was difficult to describe, but unpleasant. He tried to bear it as long as he could as the ball shook, but the moment the ball stopped and made a weird sound, he popped back out.
"Gah! That thing's awful!" Azelf tried to brush himself off to get rid of the feeling.
"Finally, someone who agrees!" Pikachu threw his arms up. "No one ever believes me!"
"Did we have to do that?" Azelf asked.
Pikachu sighed and nodded. "Yeah… It stops anyone else from catching you. As much as I hate to say it, it's worth it."
"I wonder what it's like in a Poké Ball…" Ash mused, as he inspected Azelf's new Poké Ball.
"Nope!" Pikachu shouted, as he jumped to Ash's shoulder. "Nuh-uh, I'm not letting you put yourself through that!"
"Yeah!" Azelf agreed, as he floated up next to Ash's head. "I'm never going in that… uh… tiny round doom room, ever again!, and neither should you!"
Ash may have only been his trainer for two minutes, but Azelf already felt the need to protect him… Nothing could possibly stand in his way! Not even the terrible spheres…
He settled down onto Ash's shoulder opposite Pikachu, and very quickly decided he didn't want to get up again. He wasn't used to being so high up without having to concentrate on using his powers to float. It was more-or-less second nature by now but it was nice to take a break anyway. "This feels great."
"This is why being small is the best," Pikachu explained. "That, and there's no need to worry about not being in your ball."
The way Pikachu said that reminded him of Mesprit. He should probably tell his siblings where he was at some point.
Ash nodded vaguely as he began picking up his stuff. He stopped after only a few moments. "Oh! Azelf came out so fast that we forgot to pose!"
"Pose?" Azelf asked, curious.
Pikachu slapped himself on the forehead. "That's right!" He jumped down. "Every time we catch a new Pokémon, we do a pose!"
Azelf floated away from Ash's shoulder, intrigued. "Like, a heroic pose?"
"Sure," Pikachu said.
"… I'm in!" Azelf exclaimed. "Let's do it!"
Pikachu nodded. "Ready when you are, buddy!"
Ash grinned and held up Azelf's ball. "I just caught…" Ash thrust the hand holding the ball into the air, striking what Azelf felt was a very suitably heroic and determined pose. "Azelf!"
Pikachu jumped up next to Ash to pose, holding up one of his arms (… forelegs? How did Pikachu work again?) with two of the fingers up in a gesture Azelf didn't know. "Gotta Catch 'Em All!" Pikachu exclaimed.
Azelf, not to be outdone, decided to strike his own pose by spinning in midair and punching towards the sky. Somehow, he managed to overbalance and fall to the ground in the middle of this, which would've been more embarrassing if Ash didn't also overbalance and fall to the ground at the same time.
Pikachu looked back and forth between the two for a moment. "There's two of them now," he laughed. "This is either the best or worst thing that's ever happened to me." He placed a paw on his chin. "Or both. Probably both."