On the way out of Celestic Town, the friends ran into Cynthia, and she asked how Ash was getting on with his Gym Challenge.

"It's been fun so far!" Ash replied. "I had a bit of a problem doing the Hearthome Gym because Fantina's been away, but why she's away is all understandable and she should be back soon."

"I heard about that, yes," Cynthia said. "I just wish she'd told me first… I could have sorted something out."

She shrugged. "But that's not actually what I wanted to talk to you about. Celestic Town has a historical research centre, and they've got the Lustrous Orb there to study – and since I saw you, I wondered if you actually had any idea what it was for."

"An Orb, huh…" Ash repeated, thinking. "Well, I know the Blue Orb and the Red Orb help Kyogre and Groudon turn into their Primal forms, and they also help Rayquaza transform, but I don't know if the Lustrous Orb works the same way… I wonder if Giratina has an Orb? I'll have to ask him."

"Exactly the sort of thing I was hoping you'd be able to do," Cynthia told him. "Is there any chance you could do the asking in the Celestic Town research centre? That would be helpful."

Celestic Town's research centre turned out to be built just in front of a large, old temple with four smaller shrines around it and surrounded by columns.

"Huh, there's four shrines," Whitney observed. "That's not actually very common, is it? Most Legendary Pokémon come in threes… maybe it's Dialga, Palkia, Giratina and Arceus?"

One of the researchers stared at her.

"We've been trying to work that out for six months," he admitted. "There's no direct evidence to indicate what set of Pokémon could have been honoured by-"

"Or maybe the fourth one is humans?" Ash asked. "You know. So if the main one is Palkia and something associated with Palkia was here, then you'd have Palkia's three friends and humans as the other four. Or it could be the Lake Guardians and humanity?"

He got the mirror out of his pocket. "Giratina, do you have a moment? Have you been here before?"

The antique old mirror's reflection went hazy, but Giratina didn't appear.

"Huh, he must be busy," Ash decided.

Dawn was looking at a triangular inscription.

"The Lake Guardians are on here," she said. "I don't recognize if the middle is meant to mean anything though."

Pikachu leaned out from Ash's shoulder. "Huh. That rings a bell… Ash, do you remember that time Arceus showed up? Didn't they have a golden wheel?"

"It could be," Ash conceded. "It doesn't quite look right though. It could just as easily be something else."

"Did you just say that you'd seen Arceus?" Another one of the researchers demanded. "That's… that hasn't… how does that even make any kind of sense?"

"They were hiding in this," Ash explained, taking out the GS Ball. "Then they came out and flew off."

The Lustrous Orb was under guard, and Cynthia got involved in authorizing Ash to go through to look at it.

As he entered the room, though, his bag made a rumbling sort of sound.

"Oh, hi Giratina!" Ash said, taking the mirror out again. "Was something up?"

"I was settling into my lakeside house," Giratina explained. "Sorry about the bother."

"No, it's fine," Ash told him. "What do you know about the Lustrous Orb? Some researchers are curious."

"The Lustrous Orb is connected with Palkia," Giratina said, and two of the researchers nearly collided trying to get to the nearest computer and start taking notes. "It gives him more power when he possesses it, but usually he does not need that power, and so instead it is left in the world to allow humans to summon him if there is some kind of emergency."

"Does that mean you have one as well?" Ash frowned. "Wait, is this one?"

"Sort of," Giratina hedged. "I have the Griseous Orb. That is not the Griseous Orb, but it is something a lot like it; think of it as a backup Griseous Orb. It makes it possible to call me by creating an association with my world. Dialga's Adamant Orb and Palkia's Lustrous Orb work in the same way, but are different in the details."

Ash leaned closer, and the Lustrous Orb activated.

For the briefest of moments, Palkia was compressed inside the glass case the Orb was kept in, then space warped and the glass case got bigger.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, looking around him. "Why am I in a glass case? The Lustrous Orb just got activated, didn't it? Who activated it?"

"Maybe it's because Ash uses Aura, or something," Giratina pondered. "Normally they don't activate without direct contact…"

"Actually, this might be really helpful!" Ash said. "Palkia, these researchers are wondering about how the Lustrous Orb works… any chance you can tell them anything helpful?"

"This paper's references are going to look ridiculous," someone sighed. "Source, personal conversation. With Palkia."

"And Giratina," Giratina pointed out helpfully.

"In that case, we should definitely give information about Dialga as well," Palkia suggested.

Cyrus listened to the report, then was silent in thought for several seconds.

"Well," he said. "At least we know it works."

"Why is it called Spectral Thief, anyway?" Swinub said.

"Hmm," Nickit replied, thinking, and rolled over on her back. "Just a guess, but I think Spectral Forced Loan is a bit of a clumsier and less snappy title. It's like how Soul Stealing Seven Star Strike doesn't actually-"

"Soul Stealing Seven Star Strike?" Swinub repeated. "That's a mouthful."

"Yeah, it actually doesn't steal anything though," Nickit told him. "Especially not souls. Though I suppose it usually involves hitting the opponent hard enough that it steals their being conscious?"

She flicked her tail. "As you probably noticed, though, I'm still working on it. It's tricky."

"I noticed," Swinub confirmed.

He raised his gaze to look at where Ash, Whitney and Dawn were trying to work out what to do about a friend's mistake.

"What was the thing here, again?" he asked.

Nickit shrugged.

"I heard about it, if that helps," Moltres said, flying over to land next to them. "But I can't really help, so I decided to see if I could help over here instead. I'm not sure how I could, but that's at worst no different to over here."

Swinub coughed. "So… what is it, then?"

"That girl who we met at the Summer Academy helps her parents run a daycare, but she accidentally evolved the Lickitung someone left into a Lickilicky," Moltres summarized. "Ash is wondering if they can find the Adamant Orb and get Dialga's help on turning Lickilicky back into a Lickitung, or if Celebi could do it."

"Isn't there some concern about how the Pokémon might have wanted to evolve?" Swinub asked.

"Well, Ash did ask, but Lickilicky said that he wants whatever his trainer prefers," Moltres replied. "So, you know. If his trainer is okay with being a Lickilicky, he's okay with it, but if his trainer would rather have a Lickitung that's what he'd prefer."

"I don't suppose Nickit could help?" Swinub said. "You can evolve, right? Can you steal Lickilicky having evolved?"

"I don't want to evolve myself," Nickit answered. "Not yet, anyway. Also I'm not sure if it'd work, or if that one would be temporary as well. So plenty of reasons why I can't solve it."

She gave a whole-body shrug. "Also I don't feel like it."

Fortunately for Angie, the trainer who'd left a Lickitung with her was delighted to hear that he now had a Lickilicky, and so no time-alteration or de-volution shenanigans turned out to be necessary.

Whitney said it was always nice when trainers and Pokémon wanted the same thing, especially when that thing could be managed without all that much trouble.

Then Celebi turned up and asked if she'd got the time right for when she was supposed to not be needed, which was quite a hard question to answer.

"Only a day or two until we reach Hearthome City," Whitney said, checking the map. "We go straight through this town coming up, though, this is the right road already. It's funny, because we've been there so often you think we'd know, but we keep coming in from different directions…"

"You've got a point," Dawn admitted. "We really have been to Hearthome City quite a lot."

She shrugged. "Maybe this will be the last time?"

"I know I'm hoping for a gym battle when we get there," Ash said. "I promised Aten I'd use him, but apart from him I'm not sure who to choose… I guess Zorua hasn't had a battle in a while, so maybe him?"

"That would be a fun combination," Pikachu said. "If it's three, what about Purrloin too? Or Zacian, Zacian hasn't had a gym battle in a while."

He flicked his ears. "Or me, but I know not to push my luck."

Ash patted him on the back, giving him a quick scratch. "It's so everyone gets the training they need to get stronger."

"I know, I know," Pikachu said, leaning into the scratch with a smile.

Then his ears perked up.

"Did any of you hear that?" he asked.

"I did," Zygarde agreed.

"I did as well," Lokoko said, and spread her tails out in a fan. "I think… it was the sound of an attack, but not the sound of a battle."

"That must be someone training, then!" Ash decided. "Let's go and see!"

There was, indeed, someone training, and that someone was specifically Aaron of the Sinnoh Elite Four.

There were plenty of people watching him as he trained, with his Vespiquen hitting targets with Power Gem and Air Slash, then he caught sight of Ash and sent his Yanma over to let Ash know where to meet him later.

"I wonder why it's later," Ash pondered out loud. "Couldn't he do it now?"

"Personally…" Whitney began. "I think it's because he's got plenty of fans to talk to! Talking to fans is something you should do unless it's too much trouble, because fans like you and talking to them just a bit really makes their day. If it's not too much hassle for you but it makes things much better for them, why not do it?"

She frowned. "On the other hand, though, if it is too much trouble, you don't have to do it. There's a difference between doing something to be nice and doing something because you feel you have to even though you don't actually want to."

"It sounds like something you've thought a lot about," Dawn said.

"Boundaries are important!" Whitney confirmed, with a thumbs-up. "So much of how you deal with Pokémon is… or should be… based on understanding that."

"Which is why Rapidash is having a day off," Lokoko said.

"Which is why Rapidash is having a day off," Whitney agreed. "He needs to stay rested to stay fabulous!"

Meeting Aaron was interesting, because everyone got to compare him to the other Elite Four or Champions they'd met in the past. Even Dawn had met Lucian and Cynthia before, albeit briefly in the former case, and Ash himself sort of counted, while Ash had met more Elite Four members than either of the others.

He was still the first Elite Four member who could understand what Pokémon said, even if it was only his Bug-types, which left Ash faintly puzzled.

"Once you can understand some Pokémon, you can understand all of them, really," he said. "Or that's the way it worked for me… unless maybe Aura is involved? Do you know if you're descended from Sir Aaron?"

"He lived, uh… I don't even know how long ago," Aaron admitted. "More than a thousand years, I think? How would I possibly know?"

"Family history?" Ash suggested. "If everyone in the family remembered it, then it'd start off as just remembering someone who lived a few years ago, and then you just need to remember the story."

Aaron looked like someone who'd tried to explain how to count to five, only to discover that he had more fingers than he had previously anticipated.

"Well… maybe?" he tried. "I don't know… and, to be honest, I don't really want to be thinking about this instead when I have my challenge battle against Cynthia later."

"So… the Elite Four can challenge the Champion, without needing to… well, I suppose it wouldn't make much sense for them to have to battle through the Elite Four or the League to prove they were capable enough," Pikachu said. "What happens if you win?"

"I become the new Champion," Aaron said. "And Cynthia becomes… well, probably an Elite Four member, though now that I think about it I've got no idea what her type speciality would be. She certainly doesn't have one at the moment."

"What about Pokémon that can Mega Evolve?" Ash asked.

Aaron blinked. "But… I can think of at least three of her Pokémon just on her usual team who can't Mega Evolve."

"Introduce them to Phanpy and wait long enough and that won't be true any more!" Whitney told him. "She's always delighted to find new Mega Stones. I'm a satisfied would-be-a-customer-if-she-needed-paying!"

"If you do do that, please do it after my challenge," Aaron requested.

True to Aaron's request, Phanpy didn't find any Mega Stones for Cynthia that day, though that was partly because she was in Kanto.

What did happen, though, was that Ash found Aaron's old Wurmple.

That was Aaron's first Pokémon, who'd left years ago after Aaron had said some harsh things, and who had evolved into a Beautifly. He'd also picked up a few moves from some migrating Butterfree, principally Flamethrower and Hydro Pump, and after a heartfelt discussion Aaron said that he'd been wrong to drive Wurmple away and asked if Beautifly would consider rejoining him.

"Oh, and what's it like evolving to suddenly have wings?" Whitney added. "Personal curiosity."

AN:

You may as well ask if you get the chance, after all.

As an advance warning, my output may drop from now on as I have a major real-world project.