Dawn – who stayed a Plusle for the next two days, until the potion wore off – said that it was a bit strange to be one, but that it wasn't as bad (or as hard to come to terms with) as she might have expected had someone told her about it before she'd tried the potion.

That led to her explaining why she would have thought that, about something that had happened when she was at school and she'd hugged a Plusle and a Minun too hard so they'd shocked her. That hadn't actually hurt, but it had frizzed her hair up and the rest of the class had made fun of her, and so she'd ended up quite upset by the whole thing.

"And it feels a bit silly," she admitted. "To blame Plusle and Minun for it… they were just telling me to let go."

"It probably was a bit silly," Ash said, walking beside Rapidash. "But that's okay, because feelings are like that sometimes. And it's great that you've changed your mind… but what's not good is how the other schoolkids made fun of you about it. That's just rude!"

"I agree!" said Whitney, further back on Rapidash's back. "You're a good person, Dawn… and you make a great Plusle, too!"

She gasped. "Oh! And don't forget to take the chance to train with your Pokémon as much as you can! It's a whole different experience!"

A few days after that, and with Zygarde gratefully out of Ash's bag and back in 10 Percent Form, the friends reached Squallville.

"Oh, that's neat!" Whitney declared. "This place has a PokéRinger tournament this afternoon!"

"I remember doing one of those in Hoenn," Ash said. "Actually… I've got so many Pokémon that can fly, maybe we should ask if we can have a separate tournament instead?"

Dawn considered. "Well, Nickit might give it a go. It's about getting hold of a ring and hanging it on a goalpost, right?"

"That's what I remember," Ash confirmed.

"Oh, then Chatot can take part!" Whitney said. "But Nickit can't fly, can she?"

"Just wait until she gets close enough to a Pokémon who can fly, and she can borrow it for the day," Swinub suggested.

"Good point!" Whitney agreed. "So, we'll take part today, and then all of Ash's massive number of cute flying Pokémon can do it tomorrow!"

"Well," Nickit said, after the tournament was over. "I don't think much of that discriminatory attitude."

"It's okay, Nickit," Dawn told her. "I think that was great! You really took to flying well."

"Yes, I'll have to thank Zacian for the loan of her ability to fly around ignoring gravity," Nickit agreed, flicking her tail. "But really, they said that Pokémon moves were okay. I took two hits from Aerial Ace and a Boomburst in that semi final match! But when I steal the ring just when it's about to be hung up, suddenly it's 'against the spirit of the game', and 'not the intended purpose', and 'how did you even do that with your tail'."

She finished using her paws to make sarcasm quotes, and rolled over. "I'm still a winner in your eyes, right?"

Dawn giggled. "That's right," she said.

The next day, Shaymin adjusted his microphone.

"All right!" he said. "I'm expecting to see some awesome PokéRinger today, from all the Pokémon here! Or, at least, all of the Pokémon here who can fly, and who aren't therefore too slow!"

"Like Regirock," Tornadus agreed.

"Yeah, like Regirock!" Shaymin agreed. "And, first up it's Dragonite against Dragonite! Hey, how many Dragonites are there in this tournament?"

Tornadus shuffled some notecards. "Twenty seven," he said. "And one Dratini."

"Okay, okay, that's enough background detail for now!" Shaymin said. "Let's see some PokéRinger! Begin!"

Neither Dragonite began, mostly because they hadn't actually got the ring ready yet.

"This is taking ages!" Shaymin complained. "I came here to commentate on some action! I'm not being paid to wait around!"

"I'm fairly sure you're not being paid," Tornadus said. "Did I miss something about being paid?"

"Okay, okay, I didn't get Tornadus to bring me over here to wait around!" Shaymin corrected. "Now, get on with it!"

Silver beat his wings, and even as he did he used Extrasensory – knocking Dragonite away from grabbing the ring – before accelerating towards their mutual target.

"And it looks like maybe the slow Pokémon is going to get the ring!" Shaymin announced. "That's totally against how I understand anything to work, so what's going on here? You've gotta go fast, that's just how fast works. Right?"

Dragonite shot away, flying straight upwards – the place where she could go the furthest before going out of bounds – and Silver watched her leave, confused, before shrugging and approaching the ring.

Then, suddenly, he was much higher in the air than before.

"Oh, I get it!" Shaymin said. "That was an Ally Switch! Yikes, that's really thrown Silver out of the running, he's going to have to get down there really fast to have a hope of catching up!"

"Fortunately, I'm good at Diving!" Silver called back. "Geroni-me!"

"So, why aren't you helping with the commentary?" Aten asked. "I thought that was you at first."

Shaymintwo snorted. "Like I'd be doing something like that."

"It didn't take me a long time to realize my mistake," Aten said. "But if you were providing the cynical side, it might make other, less observant Pokémon less confused."

"Tch," Shaymintwo said. "Let them be confused."

Aten thought about that.

"Yeah, good point."

"You're looking down," Mew said, floating past Pikachu, then stopped and reversed direction to float alongside Pikachu instead. "Well, actually you're looking up. How come you aren't taking part?"

"Well, I can't actually fly," Pikachu replied. "I can come close, my Surf-board levitates, but it's not quite the same."

Shaymin whooped, and Pikachu and Mew both looked up to watch as Buizel pulled off a surprise ring-snatch on Torkoal.

"This is way better than when it's two birds doing it!" Shaymin said. "Sure, they can fly, but you expect it! This looks much faster because you compare it to what's expected!"

Several of the bird Pokémon around the arena shot dirty looks at the Grass-type.

"Why is he here, again?" Pikachu asked.

"I think he said something about having a vacation," Ash contributed. "Or maybe scouting out where Brandon was going to be. He talks kind of fast."

"Doesn't he just," Pikachu agreed.

"Anyway," Mew resumed. "Do you have any Alolan relatives?"

"...not that I'm aware of, but then again I was raised by Kangaskhan," Pikachu said. "So I'm not sure if I would know."

"It's okay, I can tell you categorically that you do if you go back far enough!" Mew replied. "Mind you, if you go back far enough in any family tree you get to me, which is convenient… anyway! Your cultural upbringing is all a bit Kantonian, and your tail isn't long enough, but fortunately you do know Surf so the only remaining thing to do is to get into the Alolan mindset."

She vanished, then returned with a brightly-coloured heart-shaped bean in one paw and a doughnut in another. "Here, try these!"

Shaymin nudged Landorus, who'd been Tornadus until a moment ago. "Is it me, or is that Pikachu zipping all over the place on an electrified water surfboard?"

"I don't think it's just you," Landorus said.

"Well, in that case, take over commentating!" Shaymin said. "Magical Leaf!"

A giant leaf grew out of nowhere, and he hopped onto it. "I'm the knight of the wind! Let's gear-up and break out!"

"That was fun," Ash said, as they left Squallville. "Everyone had fun, right?"

"Yes, I think so," Latias agreed. "Everyone I saw, anyway!"

"I did, eventually," Pikachu admitted. "Though there was a bit in the middle where I'd worked out how to use Fly but hadn't really worked out how to stop. And Shaymin racing me wasn't actually helping."

He shrugged. "Still, I've learned a new skill, so that's good. And I won a round, somehow."

"Mama!" Togetic called. "There's post!"

"There is?" Misty replied. "Anything good, or is it just bills and stuff?"

"Well, there's something that looks like a bill," Togetic replied, hovering into the main room. "But there's a parcel, too, and a card with it!"

Interested, Misty took the card first. The bill could wait.

"A late birthday present?" she asked. "Huh."

Around the same time, in Sinnoh, Piplup crossed his flippers.

"What's wrong, Piplup?" Dawn asked. "You don't look well this morning."

"I don't feel it," Piplup replied, wincing. "I'm in a situation I dislike intensely."

"You are?" Pachirisu said. "What's that?"

"I'm about to evolve," Piplup explained. "Which I am not a fan of."

"Then we should get you an Everstone," Ash suggested. "My friend Brock's Bulbasaur and Eevee both have them… hold on, I'll see if I can get one from Celadon City. Uh… actually, Ibid, can you ask Zorua to go shopping? He can pretend to be me… and let Professor Oak know it's an emergency and Zorua needs money for an Everstone, we'll sort out who owes what afterwards."

"Message sent," Ibid declared.

Not more than about ten minutes later, Zorua gave Piplup an Everstone and the Water-type sighed in relief.

"I feel like that's just one of the things that's way easier when Pokémon can tell you how they feel," Dawn said, with a smile. "What do you think, Rapidash? Another lesson?"

"Good communication is great for all concerned!" Rapidash agreed.

In Cerulean gym, in one of the smaller plunge pool rooms, Daisy looked around carefully.

There was no sign of any of her sisters.

She shut the door, then sat down on the steps and got out a bar of flaky chocolate.

"Aha!" Misty said, springing out of the water. "I knew someone was behind all that mess I had to keep cleaning up! And now I've caught you, chocolate-handed!"

Daisy stared.

"Why are you a Vaporeon?"

"This isn't about me," Misty replied firmly. "We have a dining room for a reason!"

"But if I eat there, Violet and Lily are going to know I'm cheating on my diet," Daisy complained.

Further northeast than Squallville, and with the snowy heights of Mount Coronet already visible in the distance – a detail which made Zygarde sigh wistfully and look south – the friends came to Sandalstraw Town.

While there was a Contest there, and one which Dawn was ready to enter, there was also a Pokémon Ping Pong Tournament which all three trainers entered, forming a team with their Pokémon.

Whitney joined forces with Miltank, who asked politely whether Mega Evolving was permissible and then put on a sweatband with her Miltankite on it. Dawn teamed up with Swinub, who wasn't great at high balls but made up for it with enthusiasm.

And Ash sort of stood back and let Latias single-dragonessly smash the entire tournament, including both his friends.

"How are you so good at that, anyway?" Zorua asked.

Latias twirled her ping-pong paddle between her claws, then tossed it from one hand to another and smashed a return serve past both her opponent and his Shiftry.

"Motion controls!" she replied. "They really are a great way to pick up life skills!"

AN:

More Legendaries would have shown up to the PokéRinger, but they'd be outnumbered by Ash-mon.