A day later, and on towards evening at that, snow crunched under Ash's shoes as they walked.

"How are you doing, Zygarde?" he asked, looking halfway back over his shoulder.

"This is acceptable," Zygarde replied, from where he was sharing Ash's backpack with Dunsparce. "It is a pity there is not a move that prevents freezing. It would be preferable."

"I should think about that," Dunsparce mused. "There's moves that thaw a Pokémon out… hmm… thing is, they'd all mean you'd need to be on fire all the time and that's a bit tiring. Can I get back to you?"

"I am not likely to go anywhere."

"I'm not sure we're going much further, not today," May said. "Walking across Izabe Island made a lot more sense when we thought of it."

"It's been fun, though, right?" Ash asked, then looked slightly worried. "We are still going to be on time for getting the Rain Badge?"

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Pikachu assured him. "We've got time."

He shook himself. "But today, specifically, I'd like to find somewhere to rest! It may not be snowing – thanks, Rayquaza – but it's still too cold to spend a night in the open."

"Hmm…" Ash frowned. "Zorua, can you go and see if there's a good place to stop around here?"

Zorua came out of his Pokéball, nodded, and changed into a Wingull before taking off.

"You could have asked me," Swablu piped up. "I wouldn't mind."

"Zorua's not weak to Ice," Ash pointed out. "I actually think he's the only Pokémon we have available who can fly and isn't weak to Ice. So if it's snowing outside Rayquaza's Air Lock, he can deal with it better."

"Or we could have more than one Pokémon look?" Max suggested. "I'd say Jirachi would be a good idea, but he went back to sleep mode this morning."

"I'm not weak to Ice!" Dunsparce said, poking her head out of Ash's bag. "I know the wings make it seem like I'm Flying-type, but I'm not!"

The discussion about who they had who could fly, and how weak they were to ice really, took quite a long time.

They were at the point of discussing if Swellow could Electrify the weather around herself and ignore it that way when Zorua got back and sort of rendered the whole exercise superfluous by telling them there was a Pokémon Centre about a mile away.

"Yes, we don't have all that many visitors, but it's cozy," Nurse Joy said, smiling. "And we do important mountain rescue work too at times! I've got some Pokémon who aren't the usual Pokémon Centre Chansey around to help out with it."

Brock beamed. "Such a selfless task – and so humble to go with your great beauty!"

Bulbasaur and Mudkip both sent themselves out, but before they could deal with their trainer a blast of icy wind froze him in place.

"And then there's Snorunt," Nurse Joy added. "They're not one of my Pokémon, they just like playing tricks…"

"Okay!" Zorua announced, jumping off Ash's shoulder. "So, first thing, I like the playing tricks motif, of course I do, it's genetic, but that was actually a bit dangerous. Secondly-"

"What do you mean, it was dangerous?" Snorunt asked. "Actually, what do you mean, it's genetic? I didn't know Wingull were genetically tricky."

"Exactly my point," Zorua declared. "And it's dangerous because-"

"Actually, I think Snorunt has a point," Vulpix volunteered, as Brock defrosted. "Bulbasaur and Mudkip both hit Brock with something every so often. It's not dangerous so long as you know what to do."

"Fine!" Zorua said. "But furthermore, and anyway, as I was saying-"

"You're trying to come up with a new second point, aren't you?" Snorunt asked, crossing her arms and grinning. "This is actually pretty entertaining."

"I'm still not sure how that worked out to Snorunt joining your team," Max said, the next day. "I remember the game of tag, and when she stole your Badges, but then there was something about philosophy and apples and then Dunsparce talked to her? And I lost track at that point."

"I'm just glad to have her along!" Ash replied. "She's not sure what to evolve into yet, so we're going to start with Will O Wisp and Shadow Ball as well as some Ice moves. Freeze-Dry is a pretty neat move, so that might be on the list too…"

"...so there's this great idea I had," Ash told Snorunt, at lunch the next day. "You know how we were working on Will-o-Wisp?"

Snorunt nodded. "Right! I'm having a lot of trouble getting the heat working, though."

"Well, I asked May and Skitty about it, and I was able to get Skitty's help," Ash said. "What I was thinking is – so Mega Glalie have an ability called Refrigerate which turns Normal moves into Ice moves. So maybe you could learn Ice-ified versions of Fire moves, and then you could use that to learn a Fire version of an Ice move!"

The Ice-type visibly contemplated that.

"Seems legit!" she said. "So how does that work?"

Ash beckoned Skitty over, along with Lokoko. "Are you both ready for this?"

"Indeed I am," Lokoko agreed, with a quadrupedal bow, as Skitty nodded an affirmative.

The Fire-type blew a flicker of flame, purple and subtle, which Skitty watched before twitching her ears. "Copycat!"

Skitty's tail lit up with a flame as well, but this one was bright blue.

"Ooh," Snorunt said. "So that's an Ice type Will-o-Wisp?"

"Yep!" Skitty agreed. "You could touch it if you wanted, but you'd catch fire. I haven't because I haven't thrown the attack yet."

Snorunt coated both her arms in ice with a blast of Icy Wind, then reached out to it and watched as it didn't melt the ice on her hands… until it made contact, where the ice promptly lit up with bluish flame. "That's really weird."

"And I had this other idea," Skitty added, dispelling the Ice Will-o-Wisp for a moment. "Lokoko, I'm going to be hitting you with a Fire-type attack in a moment, okay?"

"By all means," the Fire-type agreed.

"Great!" Skitty told them. "Use Powder Snow, Snorunt!"

Snorunt complied.

"Copycat!" Skitty announced, converting the Powder Snow to Fire, and it hit Lokoko. Her fur lit up with faint traceries of orange and gold as her Flash Fire drank it in, then suddenly she stopped moving as she froze solid… for about two seconds, until the ice lit up blue and burned away again under the ongoing influence of the Powder Fire.

"Maaay!" Max called. "Your Pokemon's helping Ash invent Fire Ice and Ice Fire!"

"I do wonder what Kyurem would think of this," Lokoko said.

"Maybe we can show him next time we meet him," Ash mused. "What do you think, Snorunt? Want to learn some Glaciated or Deglaciated moves?"

"In all honesty it's going to make most sense for Snorunt to learn the individual moves, rather than the general theory," Skitty told him, flirting her tail. "The ontological conversion from Ice to another element is complex and chaotic, and she can't rely on her Ability to do the heavy lifting because she doesn't actually have it, just the potential for it. But I see no reason why she couldn't learn Ice Will-o-Wisp to start with, and move on from there one move at a time."

Ash took that in, nodding, then waved over at where Dunsparce was taking notes.

"Want to join in?" he asked.

"Don't mind me, continue what you're doing," the Land Snake said.

Then Max looked up. "Wait, who said that?"

"...you mean me?" Dunsparce asked.

"No, there was a voice!" Max replied. "Calling for help! Did none of you hear it?"

Dunsparce put down her notebook, sneezed, and turned into Mew.

Okay, now I hear it too! Mew announced. This way!

The cry for help turned out to be from a young Ralts, sick and weak from falling into a lake, and Brock listened carefully before nodding.

"They need to go to a Pokémon Centre," he announced. "Do you know what that means, Ralts?"

The Psychic-type took a breath, then coughed, and Max nodded.

"He's telling me he knows about Pokémon Centres," he explained. "He's hungry and confused… I think he's saying he was trying to reach his mom and his sister, but he can't right now. I don't know why it's only me."

I do, Mew told him. Ralts is connecting with you because you're really similar… psychically, I mean. It's like a key fitting a random lock – it doesn't mean you're psychic, but it means you can communicate really easily. It takes Ralts hardly any energy.

She pointed at Brock. Where's the nearest Pokémon centre? We should get there right away, if Ralts is this sick.

Brock unfolded the map, and as he did Pikachu tapped Mew on the shoulder.

"Weren't you pretending to be Cranidos, then Aggron, then Dunsparce for most of Hoenn so far?" he asked.

Yeah, but that was for fun, Mew replied. This is important.

It was a tense wait in the Pokémon Centre, but eventually Nurse Joy came out and announced that Ralts had made a full recovery.

"Thank you," Max told her. "Thank you so much! Ralts is – he feels so much better now!"

Yep, definitely attuned, Mew said, half his attention on paging through Ibid's catalogue of Pokémon. Hmm…

"But… what do we do now?" Max added. "Ralts says he doesn't want to say goodbye, but he says that his mom and his sister are going to be looking for him… I don't know what to do…"

"I don't want to say goodbye and then never see Max again," Ralts agreed, sounding like he was about to cry. "Or even not see him for months until I'm old enough!"

Oh! Mew said, brightening. Actually, here's an idea!

He put Ibid down, and floated over to Ralts.

Mm-hmm, he hummed psychically. Yep, already knows Teleport, bit short ranged though… okay! So Max, Ralts, hold still!

His tail lit up, and he pointed one paw at Ralts and one at Max before crossing them over and back again.

Heart Swap twice!

Light flicked back and forth between Max and Ralts, then swapped places a second time.

"...I feel weird," Max admitted. "It… felt like I was Ralts for a second?"

"I felt like I was you!" Ralts replied. "That was weird!"

That's Heart Swap for you! Mew said, floating sideways. There's all kinds of things that make psychic bonds stronger, stuff like use and proximity and that, but feeling like you're in the other one's body is a really big boost because it's all about empathy. Totally skipped to the end! Now you should be able to talk even if you're miles apart!

"Wow," Max blinked a few times. "I… that's amazing!"

Ralts did start crying then, hugging Max, and Max knelt down to give Ralts a hug too.

Now… Mew added, returning to Ibid. Do you have a shuffle setting?

"So… you met a human," Gardevoir said, that evening. "Who you could talk to just… automatically."

"Yep!" Ralts agreed. "He's really nice, and so are his friends… I can feel it! It's like when we use our telepathy, but… different? But not completely different… I don't know how to describe it."

Gardevoir smiled. "I never thought you'd end up with a friend like that… I'm perplexed, it's true, but it's nice that you're happy."

"Max says thanks!" Ralts added. "I'm not talking to him all the time, but this bit seemed important… he says that they're about to fly to Sootopolis now? I've never heard of Sootopolis."

"I haven't either," Kirlia said. "What's it like?"

"...umm, I think I might have to repeat what Max says about it?" Ralts tried.

And, back in Blackthorn after a successful mission, Lance sat down on his sofa with a sigh.

"It's nice to be home," he said, and his Jangmo-o bounded up onto the sofa with him.

"Jan!" she said.

Lance chuckled. "I know, I missed you too," he said. "I couldn't take everyone with me on an undercover mission, though."

He scratched the hatchling dragon under the chin, then picked up one of the magazines Clair had left for him and opened it.

Stopped.

"...twenty-seven Dragonite?"

AN:

And now Lance knows.