"Three, two, one… now!" Ash said, swiping his arm down, and Rockruff barked.

Their rocky ruff glowed, and sand clumped together into small pieces of sandstone.

"Is that all right?" they asked. "I'm not sure if that really counts as rock."

"I think it's still rocks," Ash judged. "Zygarde could tell you for sure, but I think there's hard rock and crumbly rock. You just need to keep in mind what kind it is… but the plus side is, they're more stealth even if they are less rock."

"Oh, good point!" Rockruff admitted. "Thanks, I didn't think of that. Okay, so… now I make them float…"

They kept concentrating, and the rocks started orbiting.

"Great!" Ash said. "Now, Rowlet, ready?"

"Ready!" Rowlet agreed, and came swooping down.

Rockruff tensed, then jumped forwards. They kicked off one floating rock, then another, and spun one around in front of them to act as a paw-hold to spring off and up at Rowlet himself.

The Grass-type did a roll, holding out his wing, and Rockruff's paw slapped into it. The Rock-type then started to fall, concentrated, and one of the sandstone rocks slid underneath them to catch them.

"Well done, Rockruff!" Ash praised. "Let's see another one… this time get ready to defend! Rowlet, do your best to keep your Leafage weak!"

"Will do!" Rowlet chirped, as Rockruff balanced on their Stealth Rock rock.

"Come back down," Ash decided. "Let's focus on moving the rocks around when you're not also balancing on one, for now."

"Right," Rockruff said, jumping down to ground level again. "Okay, ready!"

Rowlet did a roll, then flapped both wings abruptly forwards. He stopped, but several leaves didn't, and Rockruff yelped and hid behind one of their floating rocks.

It disintegrated in a cloud of sandstone, leaving Rockruff covered in sand, and Zygarde came walking over to sniff the next Stealth Rock.

"Hmm," they said. "Not very well welded, but that's loosely consolidated sandstone for you. Don't worry about it."

"Did I make that too powerful?" Rowlet asked. "Maybe I should go and unsunbathe to weaken myself a bit."

"It sounds like it should be fine, don't worry," Ash told him. "Maybe we should try again with another rock?"

"Maybe," Rockruff considered, shaking themselves out to remove the sand from their fur. "Or… hey, wait a minute."

Their paw thumped into their breast. "I just realized something. Stealth Rock lets me make and move rocks around. And I'm rock."

"That sounds like a great idea!" Ash agreed, enthusiastically. "Hey, maybe that's how Rock-type Geodudes do it, they're stealthy rocks…"

Further exploration of autolevitation had to wait, though, as Litten came hurrying up.

"I need help," she said. "Stoutland needs help, he's… can you? Please?"

"Sure," Ash agreed. "Should I turn into Absol again?"

"I – no, I don't think so," Litten answered, dancing on her paws with tension and impatience. "I, he might need help, I know I can trust you that's why I came to find you… please help!"

Ash pulled Arc out of his pocket, starting to run, and Litten turned around to scamper off.

Rockruff and Rowlet exchanged glances.

"Think we'll be needed?" Rockruff asked.

"Probably not," Rowlet decided. "Let's see if we can do more rock moving."

"He's been getting weaker and weaker for a while," Litten explained, anxiously. "But today he was really tired… I don't know what to do."

"I think I'm going to ask for help," Ash decided, as Dr. Agonite placed a stethoscope on Stoutland's chest. "Arc, I don't know if my Yveltal is fully up to date on the rules, so we might need experts. Can you get the non-shiny Xerneas and Yveltal?"

"Sending request," Arc said.

Litten stopped bouncing on her paws with nervous energy, mostly because she was staring at Ash instead.

"Did you just say…" she began. "Really?"

A golden ring appeared, and Yveltal flew through. Then another one, which Xerneas used to carefully enter the building.

A third deposited Tapu Fini.

"Oh, hello," she said. "Your golden one contacted me. I heard from Tapu Koko that you were in our islands. How are you enjoying them?"

"They're nice places," Ash told her. "Most of my time's been on Melemele so far, but Cresselia really enjoyed Poni so I'm looking forward to visiting."

Litten had dropped into a bow.

"What seems to be the problem?" Yveltal asked.

"It's Stoutland," Litten explained. "He's so old, I'm worried about him… I don't know what to do."

Xerneas examined him, the points of her horns lighting up.

"You are right to worry," she said. "Stoutland's life is nearly spent. He could last a little longer, without help, but a major intervention would be necessary to do more."

"Then help him!" Litten demanded.

"It is not that simple," Yveltal told her. "But you are a friend of Ash, so we will explain in full. Death is the end of life, but it is not the end of the person."

Stoutland had heaved himself up on one paw, and was watching carefully.

"There are many fates that await, after someone has died," Yveltal added. "Those who feel their business unfinished can come back as ghosts; those who wish to try again can be reborn; those who desire neither may pass on into the worlds beyond, according to where they truly believe they will go."

He gave Ash the side-eye. "Including, though I did not know this before, 'conga'."

"What?" Litten asked, then shook her head. "But – what about – can't you help him?"

"Litten," Stoutland said. "I am old. I know that, and you know that. And there are Pokémon and people who I miss, those who I lost before ever I met you."

He smiled. "I haven't regretted any of our time together. But there are Pokémon waiting for me."

"I don't want you to go," Litten said, softly.

"If it would help, I can arrange a visit," Tapu Fini told her. "That is why I am here, in fact."

She held up a palm, which swirled with mist. "I can breach the bounds between this world and the next, but… it is not something that is healthy for a living being, for long. Nevertheless, Stoutland will be able to visit you."

Litten looked at the Legendary Pokémon, one by one, then at Stoutland.

"Why does it have to be this way?" she asked, turning back to Yveltal, then Xerneas. "Why can't you make him live longer?"

"Because he does not want to," Xerneas said.

"For a hundred reasons, many of them too technical to explain, but the simplest is to say that that is not the purpose of this world," Yveltal explained. "It is the purpose of the many next worlds."

"And because if Ho-Oh got involved he'd probably end up as a Cyclizard or something," Xerneas said.

"Well, then, it seems my time has come," Stoutland said, and closed his eyes. "Goodbye."

Xerneas coughed.

"When I said that your life was nearly spent…" she began. "I meant that you could have a few more quite painless months with human medical centre help. Just to be clear."

"...oh," Stoutland said. "That is a bit embarrassing."

Ash helped get Stoutland to the Pokémon Centre, and explained the situation, and Nurse Joy nodded sadly before saying (both to Stoutland and to Litten) that the old Pokémon would get the best care possible and that everything should be all right for him.

"Thank you," Litten said, swallowing. "I… thank you for that."

She looked up. "But what am I going to do now, Stoutland? You've always been there to help me out… what now?"

Stoutland chuckled gently. "Litten," he said. "There is a Pokémon trainer who you already trust enough to get help from, literally standing right there."

Litten looked at Ash, then back at Stoutland.

"...oh yeah."

"You don't have to join my team to get help!" Ash said. "It'd be nice, but Zygarde isn't part of my team, they just travel around with me. And I was helping Rockruff before they decided to join my team, too."

"I think I'd quite like to join," Litten decided, in a rush. "Stoutland's right, I do trust you, and… I think if I changed my mind you'd just let me go? And that's really… good," she finished. "It's good. I like it."

"Then I'm glad to have you on the team," Ash said. "Let's go back to Kukui's house, and I'll introduce you properly to some of the other team members… and I can get back to that training session Rockruff and Rowlet were in the middle of."

"It's a fine thing to meet you!" King Dragonite said, offering his hand to shake. "I'm King Dragonite. I'm the elected monarch of the Dragon-type Pokémon on Ash's team, plus anyone else who is by royal appointment."

Then he gave her a hug.

"Whoof!" Litten gasped, a little flicker of flame coming out of her muzzle, then managed to wriggle free. "Warn a cat before you do something like that!"

"Sorry," King Dragonite said, looking sad. "Hugs are nice, though, right?"

"That wasn't a hug, that was a Move!" Litten protested.

"Of course it was!" the King told her. "It was Hold Back. That's safe! But when using hugs in combat I often prefer to use Bind or Constrict, especially because then I can do a backflip."

Litten's tail flicked a bit.

"Is that something you can teach?" she asked. "Stoutland gave me a lot of help, but he didn't know how to do any of that kind of thing and it feels like the kind of thing I should learn, even if only for my evolutionary line's pride."

"That could work!" Ash agreed. "It might be good to learn how to set your fur on fire, too, Ibid says Litten fur is flammable."

He turned back to the other Pokémon. "Okay, Rockruff, I think I've got an idea here… Pikachu, you were helping Rockruff on Stealth Rock, right?"

"Yep," Pikachu agreed. "Once I finally woke up this morning."

"Then let's try this," Ash said. "Do a pose like a Geodude!"

Rockruff and Litten both took an astonished step back.

"That is… very convincing," Litten said. "How is he doing that?"

"Now you try the same thing, Rockruff," Ash told him. "Not now, Giratina… see?"

He held out a mirror, and Rockruff stared into it before twitching their ears a bit and trying to screw up their muzzle in the same way Pikachu had done.

"Let's see another one, Pikachu," Ash said. "This time Rockruff… now Litten… and now a rock, any kind… there, see the idea, Rockruff? If you can look like a rock it makes the stealth side of stealth rock better! Plus it can help you just apply the same part of Stealth Rock that lifts rocks to lifting you as well."

As Rockruff was working on that, Rowlet fluttered down to Litten.

"Hey," he said. "Want to do a secret wingshake? I think they're cool but I'm still coming up with what one could be."

"Would that… help?" Litten asked.

"Ing hand, probably," Rowlet shrugged his wings. "Mostly they're cool though."

As Rockruff tried to learn two related things – how to control their Stealth Rock flying and how to handle being upside down and not in contact with the ground – Professor Kukui came out to see how Ash was doing.

"Oh, good, you've got Litten," he said. "I wondered when that would happen."

"He knew already?" Litten asked, taking a break from trying to set herself on fire. "How did he know that?"

"I met him in the past, his past, my future," Ash explained. "Don't worry, it's got to be a stable time loop because if I hadn't had you with me then I wouldn't have had you with me and he wouldn't remember it. I think it's something to do with density… no, destiny, I'm getting mixed up with how Rockruff is flying."

"Right," Litten decided. "Is it like this all the time?"

"Usually," Lokoko said.

"But what I wanted to tell you is that there's a school open day coming up soon," Kukui told Ash. "Since you're not a student, it's up to you if you go ahead with doing a presentation, but if you want to I thought I'd let you know. You could invite your mother to come and see how you're Coaching the students!"

AN:

Yes, the existence of an afterlife is anime canon.