"Ah! That seems to have worked," Professor Oak said. "Well done, Rotom!"

The Rotom buzzed pleasantly, and Professor Oak double-checked the results of the test. Since it looked like the information had all arrived correctly, he smiled.

"Now, let's see about working on the sensors," he decided. "How do they feel at the moment?"

With an electrostatic glow, the Rotom-possessed phone lifted itself off the table and peered around the room with a camera.

"Can't I just look out of the screen, Professor?" it asked.

"That will always be useful," Professor Oak told Rotom. "But so will being able to use your screen to look at someone while also taking pictures of what they can see!"

"Ah, I understand," Rotom realized.

Then a blood-curdling scream filled the air.

"That sounds like Ash is back," Professor Oak said. "I hope you don't mind if we wait a bit."

"Welcome back!" King Dragonite said, embracing Ash. "It's good to see you again!"

"It's great to see everyone at once again," Ash replied, patting the regal hugger on the back. "Everything going okay?"

"Absolutely!" Dragonite replied. "Or, you know. Absol isn't worried so we're not worried."

He let Ash go, and stretched. "Do you know where you're going next yet?"

"I do, actually!" Ash said. "But I should wait until everyone's here, so they can all hear it at once… or as many as I can, at least. I know there's got to be someone at Altomare."

"It's Latios at the moment," Latias supplied, flying over and waving. "I can sight-share for him, so we can let him know straight away. It'll take a while to get everyone here, but I should show you, I've been working on Dragon Dance!"

She floated back a bit, and demonstrated.

"Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, left arm, right arm, star shape?" Pikachu said. "Something about that seems familiar, but I'm not sure where from."

"You don't know where it's from?" Latias repeated. "...oh, yeah, you grew up without the benefit of a collection of video games. Most Pokémon don't have them. I sometimes have to remind myself of that."

She shrugged. "Anyway, it seems to work for me!"

"That's great, Latias," Ash told her. "Well done!"

"Ash is back?" Rayquaza asked, then dove into Ash's jacket.

"I missed you!" she told him.

"Don't be silly," Ash said. "You clearly didn't miss, you got me!"

The Dragon-type tried not to giggle.

The rest of Ash's team trickled in by ones and twos, some asking what Decolore had been like and others just glad to be there along with everyone else, and it was several minutes later when Professor Oak finally turned up.

"Ah, there you are, my boy," he said. "I hope you'll be here for long enough to say hello to your mother, before you head out on your next adventure?"

"Of course!" Ash replied, looking up from the Exeggcute he was scratching. "Though, actually, I think almost everyone who isn't here is working in the cafe, so I might have to tell everyone in two groups unless I wait for a few more hours."

He frowned. "Or, would it be three groups? Is anyone else not here? Where's Aten?"

"Aten's actually working at the cafe," Chimchar provided. "He's the manager in charge of spurious customer complaints."

He giggled. "Sometimes someone has a really stupid complaint, like being annoyed that they're not getting something for free, and they ask to see the manager. So Aten just glowers at them. Usually they stop being such meanies."

"Yes, it's quite amusing," Professor Oak chuckled. "Now, Ash, what I wanted to know was where you planned to go next. Mostly because I want to give the local Pokémon Professor as much warning as possible."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "So what I was thinking was that I'd go to Kalos next!"

"Ah, la Ville Lumière," Clefairy sighed happily.

"Kalos sounds interesting," Croconaw said. "I hear they have fashions there! And nice food!"

Snorlax immediately looked interested.

"Kalos," Professor Oak repeated. "Well, that's actually going to work quite well… you see, the local Pokémon Professor there is Professor Sycamore, and he specializes in Mega Evolution. I think simply dropping by to visit could teach him all kinds of things about Mega Evolution that he hasn't seen yet."

Absol looked pensive, then took a deep breath and let it out.

"Perhaps I should come along, for long enough to take part?" she suggested. "I may not actually be your Pokémon, but I think we've worked together enough that that Absolite you have probably would work on me, and that would be helpful information."

"I don't know…" Ash said, but rummaged around in his bag anyway.

"Found it!" Phanpy told him, passing it over.

"Thanks," Ash told her. "I wonder if this is the same Absolite or a different one… anyway, here you go, Absol."

He passed it over, then took his Mega Ring and threw it to Lokoko.

"Wait, what-" Absol began, startled back into speaking Absol, then Mega-Evolved with a flash of light.

"Thought so!" Ash decided. "That's a much better demonstration of something Mega Evolution related!"

"Only you, Ash," Professor Oak said, shaking his head.

"Since we have a chance to talk, I wanted to ask," Ash's Yveltal began. "You see, I understand how it is that Xerneas and I are related Legendary Pokémon. Life and Death is an obvious dichotomy."

Shiny Xerneas bowed. "I am glad to be an obvious relative."

"Heh," Yveltal said. "I mean, it's hard not to be with shiny colouring like we have… but that's not the point. The point is, and I'm asking because you're here and I was wondering… how are you associated with that, Zygarde?"

"There are several reasons," Zygarde began. "One reason is that, as you correctly identify, life and death are a dichotomy. However, there is also a balance between them. Other examples of this relationship include: Reshiram, Zekrom and Kyurem. Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza."

"That's a fair point," Yveltal agreed. "Though I'm not… entirely clear what you are, from that point of view."

"I am a manifestation of the land, broadly defined as including the ecosystem," Zygarde told them, but mostly him. "In addition, as a hive mind, life, death and rebirth is something which conceptually differs for me; I can experience death without changing into a Ghost and without ceasing to be, though in practice it is quite rare on human timescales."

"Shouldn't that be normal Pokémon timescales?" Yveltal asked. "Oh, hold on, no, I tried to define what a normal Pokémon would be for the purposes of a timescale and immediately got a headache. Good point."

"Correct," Zygarde said. "In addition… yes?"

Xerneas lowered his hoof. "I was wondering," he said. "What would happen if Ho-Oh reincarnated one of your Zygarde Cells?"

"I do not technically know, as it has never been tried," Zygarde replied, lying down and rolling over onto their back. "However, I am able to designate individual cells as not being associated with the hive mind under the jurisdiction of this core, so there would not be a case of multiple personalities unless all involved agreed there should be."

"That is totally going to happen in Kalos now," Yveltal said. "Anyway, uh, why are you doing that?"

Zygarde twisted, still on their back, giving Yveltal a slightly baffled expression. "Why not?"

"Good enough for me," Yveltal admitted. "Well, I kind of look forward to seeing what Kalos is like. What about you, Xerneas?"

"I'm not actually one of Ash's Pokémon," Xerneas reminded him. "I just hang around here because Professor Oak is helping Lucario and I get used to modern technology."

He shrugged his head, antlers waving. "I'm sure it'll be over as quickly as Zygarde's trip back to Kalos."

Yveltal sniggered. "Yeah, fair enough… well, I think I'm out of topics. What were you planning on doing later?"

"Silver wanted to show me something involving motion controls," Xerneas told him. "Don't let on that Latias already did that months ago, Silver's really charming when he's teaching you something."

"Look at you, Ash!" Delia said, then gave him a hug.

Stepping back after a long moment, she smiled. "You know, Ash… I'm very proud of you. And… it's a bit hard for me to explain all the reasons why, but, please let me try. Okay?"

"Sure!" Ash agreed.

"It's… well, first, there's how good you are as a Pokémon Trainer," his mother said. "That sounds obvious, but – you're the latest Orange Champion, and you've won four other Pokémon Leagues, and for two of them you'd be the Grand Champion if you hadn't said no."

She shook her head. "But that's another bit… which is that you're not just someone out to win. You're doing what you enjoy and having a great time doing it, and… honestly, that's wonderful."

"Thanks, Mom," Ash said, but Delia wasn't done.

"The other thing is just… your Pokémon," she said. "And your friends, and your attitude to… everyone you meet, according to everything I've heard and seen. You're a wonderful person, Ash."

"I think it's just that that's how everyone is," Ash tried, and Delia shook her head.

"No, it's not," she said, sincerely. "Ash, have you forgotten that I know about Aten?"

She chuckled. "I've seen – and heard about – how much he's changed. That was your doing, Ash, even before getting into how much you've just been a friend to so many Pokémon you've caught, and I bet a lot of Pokémon you haven't caught as well."

"Can absolutely confirm," Pikachu said.

Ash went slightly pink. "Uh, Pikachu agrees with you…"

"Then I must be right," Delia chuckled, then shook her head. "Now. There was something else I wanted to say… are you planning on staying the night?"

"Yeah, at least," Ash confirmed. "Arc says that he could do something to help with jet lag, but I want to give Professor Oak time to let Professor Sycamore know I'm on the way."

"Well, then… that's the thing," Delia said. "Your room. I don't know who it is, and I don't much mind normally, but at least one of your Pokémon has developed a soft-toy habit. There's not much space in the room."

"Oh, huh," Ash said. "I guess I could move the toys?"

"No, I don't mean there's not much space on the floor," his mother told him. "There's not much space in the room. Mimey got lost in there for three hours last week, he's not sure how."

There was a faint chime and a sort of metallic grating sound, and Arc's manifested muzzle leaned down from the stairs.

"I have solved the space problem," they said. "I was unsure how much Spacial to Rend, so I opted for 'tennis court'. I hope this works?"

"That sounds great!" Ash agreed. "Uh, though, could you make the TV bigger somehow too? I'd like to introduce Zekrom to this two-player space fighter game and it'd be great if we could see it from the bed."

"As you wish," Arc said, and the metallic grating sound came again. "I am also fixing the marks my ring left on the walls by making them unhappen."

"Thanks!" Ash called.

AN:

Not quite at Kalos yet, but still. Phones are very useful.