"So this place turns wind into electricity," Ash said, looking out across the valley. "That's pretty amazing… I wonder how different it is from how plants turn sunlight into food?"

"Or how Pikachu turns food into electricity," Zorua said.

"Hey!" Pikachu replied. "Also, accurate, but still."

"I'm more fascinated about how Piplup turns water into more water, myself," Dawn pointed out. "It's a pretty amazing place."

Then a young girl came up to them. "Are you Ash Ketchum?" she asked.

"Nope!" Whitney replied. "I'm Whitney, the Gym Leader from Goldenrod City!"

The girl looked confused. "But I didn't ask you," she protested, pointing at Ash. "I asked him."

"I'm Ash Ketchum," Ash confirmed. "What's your name?"

"My name's Paige!" the girl said. "I heard about you from a friend. He says you're a nuisance!"

Whitney started giggling.

"My friend said that I'm not supposed to talk about him to just anyone," Paige went on. "But you're not just anyone… oh, but you might not really be Ash Ketchum! Can you prove that you are?"

Ash thought about that. "How would you like me to do that?"

"You could show me a Legendary Pokémon!" Paige told him. "And not one of the ones that other people have, like Latias, one of the ones that's unique!"

"One of the ones that's unique," Ash repeated, thinking about that. "Well, Rayquaza isn't around right now… and I think there's more than one Ho-Oh… I could ask Giratina if he's around?"

Paige thought about that, seriously, then nodded to show that that would be all right.

Ash put his bag down and got his mirror out. "Giratina, do you have a moment?"

Giratina did indeed have a moment, and his appearance was enough for Paige to decide that Ash was probably Ash.

She led them into the wood, accompanied by her Drifloon, and after about ten minutes of walking they reached a clearing.

"Look, Yveltal!" Paige said. "I met Ash on the road!"

Yveltal looked at Paige, then at Ash.

He waved.

"This is awkward," he admitted. "I hope she didn't bother you."

"She said you'd called Ash a nuisance," Dawn provided.

Yveltal shuffled on his claws. "That… I did say that, yes."

"It's okay, I understand what you mean," Ash said. "Does what Ho-Oh does cause problems for you as well?"

"It depends what he's done this time," Yveltal sighed. "Did he do another one after the King of Pokélantis?"

"No, that's the most recent one," Ash answered. "Aten's back at Pallet Town at the moment, I think he's having tea with King Dragonite and they're calling it a diplomatic summit…"

"How did you get to know Paige?" Whitney asked. "I met Regigigas when he crashed into my gym on a sled, but he left a few months later after I used him to battle Ash."

"Sheer fascination," Yveltal told the Gym Leader. "She and her sister fly around on Drifloon, it's very eye catching."

He stretched out a wing, then the other. "Besides, it's not every day you meet someone who will look past your status as the personification of death."

"I wouldn't know," Ash admitted. "I'm not the personification of death. Though I guess people do sometimes freak out around Absol, so there's that?"

"And there's how people react when you introduce yourself," Dawn pointed out. "Don't forget that."

"Oh!" Ash realized. "Is it, um, a problem that there's now another Xerneas back at Pallet Town? Unless he's moved, I mean."

"Not really," Yveltal replied. "Do let me know if you end up finding another Yveltal, though. It'd be nice to have a co-worker and I'm curious how I'd look Shiny."

"Yveltal was nice," Dawn observed, that evening – after a storm had started, and then Ho-Oh had stopped it again, and then it had been restarted a bit less strongly because Marnie did need to get around by air but at the same time the valley needed rain. "Actually, most Legendaries seem nice."

"That's been my experience," Whitney agreed. "Hmm… we're not all that far from the main bit of Eterna Forest. Think we should head through or go around?"

Dawn considered that.

"I guess going through would be a nice experience," she said. "Though… we don't want to get too stuck in there. Maybe we should decide how long we should take, and if we end up still in there by then we fly?"

"I like that idea," Buneary offered. "It's sensible."

"I'd say sensible is my middle name, but it isn't," Dawn chuckled, and took the latest batch of Poffins off Ho-Oh's wing. "Thank you."

"Since that was Sacred Fire, are these Sacred Poffins?" Ho-Oh asked. "It sounds presumptuous of me to assume it, but then again someone's got to ask."

"I think that mostly applies if it's the ingredients, not if it's the cooking method," Dawn said, then started mixing up the next batch. "This should be the last one and then everyone's ready… Pachirisu, you can have some now, but you'll need to go and get Ash when it's time."

"I'll do a lot for Poffins," Pachirisu replied, about half her attention on a cats-cradle of lightning bolts jumping between her paws, then jumped when it discharged. "Oops!"

"So that's the rest of it!" Mew said, demonstrating. "You do what I already told you, and you swap it over with the other side of the battlefield!"

As Croagunk watched, Mew swapped a pile of Toxic Spikes over from one side of the battlefield to the other – going from underneath her to underneath Latias, and then back again.

"Now that I can see it done, I'm all the more convinced about how useful it is," Croagunk said.

"Not so useful for a Pokémon who can levitate," Latias said. "Or a Poison-type, right? No, wait, I know this one, you set the spikes under yourself and then flip the field so they're suddenly under your opponent!"

"That's a good example, yeah," Ash said. "All right, Croagunk, let's try it!"

Mew flitted over to the side, and Croagunk took her place in the middle of the clearing.

There was a long pause.

"...shouldn't you have done it by now?" Latias asked. "Unless you're waiting for Ash to order you to, that is."

"Actually, I was waiting for this to turn into a battle, Croagunk admitted.

"All right, I can sort both out at once!" Ash decided. "Latias, use Steel Wing! Croagunk, Court Change!"

Latias' wings lit up with steely light, and she dove down on Croagunk. Croagunk did a backflip-dodge, avoiding the attack, then suddenly there was a blur of movement and the woods had gone missing.

So had Latias.

"Huh?" Ash asked, looking around. "What just happened? Are we on a hill?"

Mew flew upwards, then came back down.

"I don't know where we are, not exactly," she said. "A lot of this place looks the same to me. But there's a valley over there with some windworks, and that sounds like the place where you met Yveltal to me!"

"Did I do that wrong?" Croagunk asked. "It seems like a very efficient dodge technique to be in an entirely different biome to your opponent… was that not the idea?"

"Not exactly," Ash said. "But this is cool too! Just… a bit hard to use in a gym battle."

"Come over here and I'll teleport us back!" Mew suggested. "No, wait, hold on. Hoopa!"

Nothing happened.

"Hoopa, there's Poffins in it for you!" Mew added.

A portal opened. "Hoopa wants to know what kind of Poffins!"

"Whatever kind Dawn has made today," Mew replied. "Can you open a Hyperspace Hole to where Latias is and let her know we'll be on the way back?"

"Hoopa can do that," Hoopa said. "Hoopa wants to know why Mew is not doing it though!"

"Because I'm going to be using Mach Punch on Croagunk so he can dodge this clearing back to where it's meant to be," Mew answered. "Honestly, keep up! And they say I'm the scatterbrained one!"

In Eterna Forest, they met a treasure hunting trainer called Cheryl.

She was out to find the Amber Castle, somewhere in the depths of the forest, and this involved as the first step catching a male Burmy so that she could evolve it into a Mothim.

"So… the Mothim you want has a good sense of smell," Ash said, to make sure he understood. "And they'll be able to follow the scent trail to the honey at the Amber Castle, and once there you want to get some of the Enchanted Honey found there."

"That's right," Cheryl agreed.

"Is there any reason you can't start by finding a Combee?" Ash asked. "They might know. You wouldn't even need to catch them."

Cheryl paused, one finger in the air. "I… had not thought of that, no. That sounds easier, at least so long as I find a Combee first."

"Well, Combee and Burmy are both cute," Whitney pronounced. "So are what they evolve into, though don't you think it's a bit sad that a male Combee never has a chance to be a Vespiquen?"

"That is kind of sad, yeah," Ash admitted. "I guess if there's a Combee who's really sad about that they can try and see if a Pokémon with unusual powers can help? Can Heart Swap be permanent? Maybe I should see if Manaphy can help with an experiment."

There was a faint thumping, that turned into a louder thumping, and Entei skidded to a halt in front of them.

"Hello!" he said. "Sorry, I'm off schedule. Suicune left last night according to the rota."

"Actually, your Safari Ball is back at Professor Oak's," Ash replied. "Still, you could help us out! Do you know where the Amber Castle is?"

"Not at all!" Entei said promptly. "But I have an excellent sense of smell, so I will soon!"

"I feel like I should ask," Lokoko said, shifting her balance. "Can you actually pick up if Ash is likely to be involved in a disaster even from another region?"

"It depends on the disaster," Absol replied.

She lit her horn with a Solar Blade, and Lokoko did likewise – with only two of her nine tails, this time. "Something minor like falling in a hole, not at all. Something major like falling in a hole and hurting himself is easier, and something like a major altercation between Legendary Pokémon I can pick up some time ahead."

"And then he does something at the last minute which means it doesn't count," Lokoko finished. "That's Ash for you."

She stepped forwards, flicking her Solar Blades, and Absol blocked first one and then the other. The Dark-type evaded, jumping sideways, and counterattacked with a perfectly aimed swipe that caught Lokoko a glancing blow on the flank.

"Impressive," Lokoko declared, then brought up all nine of her tails in a swirling screen of fluff and bright green light. The two that had blades on them lashed out a moment later, and Absol parried one with a flash.

The second one she ignored entirely, and it faded away like mist as it turned out to be an illusion.

"I'll have to try harder to catch you out, I see," Lokoko smirked, then tried just that – moving half a step closer and running to the left. Absol moved to the left as well, both Pokémon chasing one another in a circle, and for a long moment their blades clashed in an intricate dance as quick as heartbeats.

"You're not using measure properly," Zacian criticized.

Absol sighed.

"Do you mind?" she asked, turning to face the Fairy-type. "We were having a moment."

"By all means, have a moment," Zacian replied. "But if you're doing it with swords, do it right. With swords."

"I know this is going to sound incredibly sappy," Cheryl said, embarrassed. "But even though I did get some of the Enchanted Honey, I think the real result was the friends I made along the way."

She looked up at the Mothim and Combee orbiting over her, and smiled, then nodded to the friends. "And thanks for your help."

"Thanks for yours, too!" Ash replied. "Without us following Entei to help you we wouldn't have met Gardenia! And she said thanks for the warning so she could get a proper battle ready in her gym, so that's going to mean it's a great bonus!"

He considered. "I'm not sure who to use, though. Probably Turtwig, but apart from him."

"I actually haven't had a battle since Johto at least, except in the Pokémon Leagues," Entei said. "If that helps."

"It might, yeah!" Ash agreed. "Oh, it does depend on what Gardenia's challenge is though…"

AN:

Even the bird of death can make friends.