At a hot spring between New Bark Town and Mount Silver, a young Pokémon trainer called Nelson shaded his eyes and looked at the Pokémon standing by the water.
He knelt back down behind the bush he was in, and waved over the other trainer he'd met.
"Jimmy," he said, in a hushed voice. "It's right here – Entei is right here!"
"Really?" Jimmy replied. "Last time it was an Ursaring."
"No, I saw it this time," Nelson replied. "And I've got a plan ready – Misdreavus knows Mean Look, and that way Entei won't be able to escape."
He peered through the bush again, and his eyes almost popped out.
"Jimmy," he whispered, beckoning. "Jimmy! Come and look!"
Jimmy moved slowly up behind Nelson to see, and rubbed his eyes before looking again.
"That's Raikou!" he said. "And Suicune! All three of the Legendary Beasts are right there!"
He blinked. "I… didn't know if I'd even see Raikou when I set out, and they're just… there…"
"Good afternoon."
The voice made both Jimmy and Nelson flinch.
"Keep it quiet, mister!" Nelson said in a strangled tone, looking around at the oddly well-dressed man sauntering towards them. "There's Legendary Pokémon just over there and we don't want to scare them off – not until I get a chance to try and catch Entei!"
The man smiled a little.
"That's a dream I can hardly tell you is wrong," he said. "But… I don't think you're likely to succeed."
Nelson scowled.
"I'll show you," he said, and pulled his Pokéball from his belt. "Entei, I challenge you to a battle! Go, Misdreavus!"
The man and Jimmy both watched as Misdreavus used Mean Look, then Jimmy looked up at the man. "Why don't you think Nelson is going to pull it off?"
The man smiled. "Do you think he's going to?"
"Well…" Jimmy began, looking conflicted. "Not really, because he's got a Misdreavus, and an Entei is much, much stronger. And Mean Look only works while the Pokémon who used it is able to keep it up."
"Very good," the man said. "But there's another reason too. Watch this."
He took a Pokéball of his own from his bag, and cleared his throat. "Suicune, if I might demonstrate?"
Suicune bowed, and the man threw his Pokéball. It hit Suicune with a clunk, bounced off without activating, and fell to the floor.
"I've been fascinated by Suicune for years," he said, as Suicune picked up his Pokéball and threw it back to him. "In that time I learned several things about Legendary Pokémon."
There was a thwack as Nelson threw a Pokéball of his own, which hit Entei and didn't activate.
"But I never learned so much in a year as I did in ten minutes when a young man visited Ecruteak," he went on. "The greatest lesson is this – a Legendary Pokémon, more than any other Pokémon, consents to a trainer. You can win their approval by skill, or by power, or by friendship. But you're unlikely to do it by ambushing them and trying to win a technical capture first."
"What's going on?" Ash asked, coming over from another one of the hot springs. "Oh, all three of you in one place, huh? Wait, is that Eusine? I didn't know you were over here!"
"And, of course," Eusine went on. "If you want to know how to get a Legendary Pokémon as a member of your team, you should ask him."
Ash considered the question.
"...honestly, based on my experience, the way to get an Entei is, uh…"
He ticked it off. "Chat to Suicune a few times, pull a fish hook out of Raikou's paw, go to the Safari Zone, throw a Safari Ball at a Tauros, hit Raikou, and don't pay attention to the Safari Ball. Sometimes it'll have Entei in it instead."
Nelson stared at him.
"What."
"Is it always like this?" Larvitar asked.
"I don't actually know," Latias pointed out. "I've been with Ash only a week or so longer than you, though it kind of depends how you count. But… I think it sort of is."
"If it's always like this, then that's good," Larvitar judged. "This is good."
He nodded. "Helping people is what Ash does."
Down below, Ash was looking at a group of Slowpoke, and Latias drifted lower so they could hear.
"So the Slowpoke are in trouble, and they need one of them to get that King's Rock up there," Ash said, thinking out loud. "And just getting it down would mean the Slowpoke weren't doing it themselves, so…"
He snapped his fingers. "I've got an idea! Let's teach the Slowpoke Agility!"
"This is normal," Larvitar announced.
"That was fun!" Togetic said, several hours later. "Don't you think so, mama?"
"It was kind of cool to see a Slowpoke do a double backflip," Misty admitted. "I guess it counts as fulfilling the prophecy if the one who learns Acrobatics first after they all learn Agility is the one to get the King's Rock and evolve into a Slowking."
She frowned. "Though, hmm… I actually had an idea…"
A couple of days after Ash had helped the Slowpoke, Casey followed her Elekid into a clearing. "What have you found, Elekid?"
Elekid pointed.
Casey looked up, just as Misty gave an order.
"Okay, Gyarados, let's see how this works! Acrobatics!"
An enormous Red Gyarados did a double backflip through the air, moving so fast it left afterimages, and hit Raikou hard enough that she went sailing over a hundred feet before landing nimbly on her paws.
Casey considered her options, then turned around.
"Nope."
"This is an impressive place," Articuno said, as they topped a rise.
She tilted upwards and floated through the air, held up by psychic power, then dropped back down to the rest of the group. "I haven't exactly measured it, but I think that mountain might be higher than any of the ones in Galar."
"It is pretty big," Ash agreed. "Are there lots of mountains in Galar?"
"Well, it's more rolling hills, as a rule," Articuno replied. "There's definitely some fine mountains, but they're mostly not all that tall… something tall enough to really define how you fly is more of a different experience."
She pointed with a wing, ignoring how most birds needed to flap them. "And there's what looks like a good camp site over that way, maybe a mile or so."
"Thanks," Ash told her. "Want to stay up there?"
"Oh, rather."
Ash smiled, then turned his attention to Larvitar. "Anything looking familiar yet?"
Larvitar shook his head. "No."
"That's fine," Ash told him. "I just want to make sure. We'll keep looking until we find your mom – that's more important than the Silver Conference."
Late that night, over the camp, there was a flicker of energy.
A portal opened in the sky, then snapped closed, and left behind a single G-unown. It wobbled about, disoriented by the unusual landscape, then headed for the nearest source of identifiable energy.
This turned out to be contained within a backpack.
Also within the backpack was a snoozing Mew, tail curled absently around the GS Ball.
The next morning, Ash yawned.
"Phew," he said, blinking a few times. "Ready for another day of travel?"
He sat up, then noticed the Unown sticking out of his bag.
"Hey, uh, are you okay?" he asked.
"Is who okay?" Togetic said, poking her head out of her sleeping bag. "I'm kind of tired… hey, who's that Pokémon?"
"I think it's an Unown," Ash replied, reaching over. "I'm not sure why it's in my bag though."
"Maybe it just wanted somewhere to spend the night," Brock suggested, then yawned. "Or it could be lost?"
"Could be," Ash agreed, reaching out to shake the Unown awake.
"Ash, are you sure that's-" Pikachu began.
- and suddenly, Ash was in an old temple.
"What just happened?" he asked. "Mew?"
"Ooh, that's me!" Mew announced, flitting in through one of the windows. "Or, you said my name, anyway. Hi Ash!"
"Morning, Mew," Ash replied, as the Psychic-type joined him. "Any idea where we are?"
"Hmm…" Mew said, curling his tail around in a spiral and resting his chin on one paw as he floated in mid air.
The New Species Pokémon slowly spun around like a top, humming to himself, then pointed. "Okay, so, we're in the Hall of Origin! So that means it's probably not a real place."
"Plus, you're speaking in human language, not Mew dialect," Ash pointed out. "So it's either a mystical understanding-y sort of thing, or you're just doing it for fun."
"Fun is fun," Mew nodded sagely. "But I think mystical understanding-y sort of thing, because I don't think I'm doing it."
He spread his arms. "Speaking of which, since I've been to the Hall of Origin and you haven't, we're probably in my mind! Let's go and look around!"
Mew took Ash's hand and dragged him through one of the windows.
"Oh, yeah, I remember this one!" Mew said, as Ash walked and Mew floated through a city with stepped temples reaching up towards the sky. "This place is fun! I turned up and they started worshipping me as a god! Or goddess, they were actually super nice about that and asked which I was all the time. Then they asked me for my opinion on what they should do to ensure a good harvest, that was weird."
"What did you say?" Ash asked.
"Something about domesticating Tropius, I think?" Mew mused. "I forget the details. But it seemed to work so they built statues of me and stuff. Super nice place."
He shrugged. "I mean, eventually I got bored, but I did get this nice Landorus to take over first. It was cool, he even turns into a cat! I think they noticed the difference though… oh, what about this one?"
The third one was just a ball pit, where all the balls were made of yarn.
"Oh, yeah, this…" Mew said, sounding slightly embarrassed. "Ever heard of this thing called a Destiny Knot?"
He scratched the back of his neck. "I heard it had something to do with Attract, forgot the details, filled a swimming pool with them and had the best three months…"
"So yeah!" Mew announced, as they came back through one of the windows into the memory Hall of Origin. "That was how my Amazing Under The Sea Adventure went! It took eighteen months but that's sort of the shortened version."
Ash looked back through the window. "That was really neat… there's really Pokémon down there who don't have a Water type at all?"
"Yep!" Mew agreed. "Lileep and Cradily, Inkay and Malamar… there's all sorts really! Grapploct and Pincurchin too!"
She sat on his head. "Just don't forget, it's usually kinda helpful to have a Pokémon who knows Dive go down there with you, 'cause trying to breathe water doesn't always work. Ask me how I know!"
Ash was about to, but another one of the windows flashed and a question-mark Unown came out.
It wobbled in the air, going upside down for a long moment, then spotted them and levitated quickly over.
"Please tell me you know what is happening!" it begged. "I have no idea what is going on! I used to be a G!"
Ash and Mew exchanged a glance.
"Okay, I think we can help you out," Ash said. "We're kind of in Mew's mental world, so either we can get you out ourselves or Mew can turn into something that can help. But did you say you used to be a G-Unown?"
"That's right!" the Unown agreed. "This place is so confusing – there's an entire reality I was in that's just full of some strange human machine with reels in it!"
"Oh!" Mew said. "I think I know what that is. Did the reels all have type symbols on them? You know, a flame, a rock…?"
The Unown bobbed up and down in a nod.
"That's Metronome!" Mew told them proudly. "You found the Metronome room! We should go and see that, Ash!"
"Maybe we should sort out Unown first," Ash suggested. "So… uh… you know how Unown normally have to work together to do anything big, because they're each only one type of energy? Because… if you can change letter then you might be able to do it yourself, and then you can just use, um, Uproar would do! That stops sleep!"
"Soooo…" Zorua said, drawing the syllable out with a long zooooor. "I'm gonna poke him to see what happens."
"That might not be safe," Togetic pointed out.
"Yeah, and if it's psychic nonsense, I'll be fine," Zorua said. "And we can start trying to work out what type it is. You know, since an Unown is involved – it's got to be Hidden Power, right? That's got a type."
"Ah, I see," Vulpix replied. "So this is science, is it?"
"I'm not sure how much science there is in poking something to see what happens," Misty said, a bit dubiously.
Brock coughed.
"That's actually at the core of what science… sort of is," he admitted. "There's plenty of things to object to about Zorua's plan, but that isn't one of them…"
As the discussion went on, Larvitar tugged on Pikachu's tail – not hard, just to get his attention.
"Is there something up, Larvitar?" Pikachu asked.
"Is Ash okay?" Larvitar said. "I'm worried."
"In all honesty, it is impossible for him to go through something weirder than he already has," Pikachu told the Rock-type. "Or… difficult, anyway. And Ash is tough. I'm sure he'll be fine."
At which point Ash sat up.
"It worked!" he announced. "Or I think it did – Mew, Unown, did you two wake up as well?"
The Unown floated out of Ash's bag, alternating between ! and ?. "I think this is awake. It is marginally less strange."
"Less strange but still fun, right?" Mew asked. "Hey, try a move, like we showed you, let's see if it still works!"
Unown hovered there, spelled out O-K, then floated over to a small sapling.
"Try a move?" Misty repeated. "And, hold on, aren't Unown usually a single letter? I… don't remember much about them but I think I'd have remembered if that was different."
Unown spelled out C-U-T, each change taking several seconds, then there was a shwing and the top half of the sapling fell over.
"You know, I wonder if that's how magic works," Ash pondered. "Why else is it called a magic spell?"
Brock groaned. "I can't tell if that's a pun from you or from the universe."
After that, Ash introduced Unown to everyone, and in turn introduced everyone to Unown.
The Symbol Pokémon was a bit overwhelmed, and after introductions were over opted to just rest in Ash's backpack where there were fewer Pokémon.
That sorted out, or at least as sorted out as was necessary, the friends got back on with the business of trying to find Larvitar's mother.
"And, umm… I recognize this bit, too!" Larvitar said, the next afternoon. "And over here, too… I think Mom must live just over this river!"
He hurried across the ford, jumping from stone to stone with Latias hovering overhead, and the friends followed him up a path towards the top of a cliff.
As they got there, though – Ash first, just after Larvitar himself – there was a worrying sight.
A Tyranitar caught in a steel net, being lifted off the ground by a crane.
"Momma!" Larvitar cried.
Ash thought quickly, and reached into his bag. "Larvitar – here, hold this, and think about your momma, okay?"
Larvitar looked down at the bracelet, completely baffled, and Ash vaulted up over the lip of the cliff.
"Mrs. Tyranitar!" he called out. "Catch!"
Winding up, Ash threw a little spherical gemstone.
"That's not a Pokéball!" one of the poachers said. "What's going on?"
The gemstone bounced off Tyranitar, then lit up with a brilliant orange-rainbow light. So did Tyranitar, and the crane arm gave an audible creeeeek before bending downwards.
And Larvitar's mother Mega-Evolved.
"I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" Professor Oak asked.
"I gave Larvitar my Mega Ring and threw something I was pretty sure was a Tyranitarite at his mom," Ash duly repeated. "And it worked, she Mega Evolved! Then she managed to really beat up the guys who were trying to poach her!"
He frowned as a thought suddenly struck him. "...I should have asked to borrow an Absolite from someone, then maybe I could have found out what it's like to Mega Evolve! Pikachu could have held my Key Stone!"
"How do you keep making scientific discoveries which I can't write up because they're too absurd?" Professor Oak asked.
Unown floated out of Ash's bag, and slowly spelled out B-E-A-T-S M-E.
"...did that Unown just change Form?"
AN:
In fairness, the discovery itself with Larvitar isn't too absurd, but writing up how it was first found out kind of is.