There were several choices of where to go, after Hearthome, but because they'd kept going out of the city on different routes before returning that meant that Ash's three remaining gyms in Sinnoh were all over the region – and in different directions.

Still, that wasn't really a problem – per se – and before long Ash, Dawn and Whitney were heading west towards Canalave City. Crossing over the spine of Mount Coronet, heading through Oreburgh and then Jubilife, and finally crossing a bridge over the mouth of a large bay.

"This is something Pokémon would never think of," Articuno said, looking at the bridge as she flew alongside it. "Maybe a Regigigas would just… move the ground so that the bay is closed off, but I don't think Pokémon would do something like building a bridge. It'd be going around or swimming."

"Or flying," Buizel pointed out, tails whirring as he flew next to her. "That's also an option."

"I think even Pokémon that can fly don't always have the ability to fly an unlimited distance," Articuno said. "I mean, I'm guessing, because I fly with psychic powers. But isn't there a limit to how far you can fly, for example?"

"And I can swim," Buizel said. "But it doesn't matter anyway because this bridge is short enough that most Pokémon who can fly would be able to cross to the other side."

Articuno and Buizel flew in silence for a minute.

"This was not a productive conversation," Buizel said eventually.

"That's all right, I don't think it was intended to be one," Articuno shrugged. "I wonder what Canalave is like."

What Canalave turned out to be like was… a little stressed out.

Apparently there was something up that was making it so people were having terrible nightmares.

"We don't know what it is," said the Nurse Joy, before yawning. "Someone's been selling Lunar Wings, in case a Darkrai is involved… half the city's got them."

She shook her head. "But I tested them, and they didn't help out at all, so maybe it isn't a Darkrai."

Another yawn, and she winced. "Sorry. It's so hard to get properly rested."

"Wow, maybe someone's got a Cresselia as big as yours, Ash?" Dawn suggested. "If someone's been trying to sell Lunar Wings to a city this big, then you'd need a lot of them, right?"

"That's a good point," Ash said. "And, well, Cresselia's power is about making sure people sleep well, not just avoiding Darkrai's powers. So maybe that's something that she can help out with even if it's not because of a Darkrai."

"Well…" Whitney pondered. "The Lunar Wings don't help, if they really are Lunar Wings, but a whole Cresselia would work better? Can Cresselia help out?"

"I'll ask her," Ash said, as Nurse Joy blinked slowly a few times.

"Sorry, you have a Cresselia?" she asked, before covering her mouth as another yawn escaped. "That might help…"

"Beep," Ibid said. "Cresselia has been contacted. She is on her way."

The Moon Ball appeared a moment later, and Ash sent Cresselia out.

Everyone in the room except for Ash, Dawn, Whitney and their Pokémon fell asleep.

"I wasn't even doing anything yet," Cresselia said, surprised.

Pikachu jumped onto the counter, then picked something up.

"This looks like the Lunar Wing that Nurse Joy had," he said. "Does it look like yours, Cresselia?"

The Psychic-type leaned down to look closely.

"...this is a Starly feather that's been painted," she decided.

"Oh, so that explains why they weren't working," Ash realized, glad that that was cleared up.

Cresselia nodded. "I think so," she said. "Does anyone have a shaver? I want to test if Recover heals shaved feathers first…"

As it turned out, covering the city in a light dusting of Lunar Wings did sort out the nightmare problem.

They had a bit of trouble with a couple of scam artists who'd been making the fake Lunar Wings, and then a bit more trouble with the Darkrai who'd been actually causing the nightmares in the first place, and by the time that was all sorted out it was far too late at night for Ash to challenge Canalave Gym.

Quite apart from anything else, there was no reason Gym Leader Byron would have been immune to the nightmares, so battling him after a good night's sleep was probably all for the best.

"Ah, there you are," Byron said, around lunchtime the next day. "Thank you for your help, but don't think I'll be going easy on you."

"I wouldn't have wanted you to!" Ash replied. "So, do you have some kind of gym challenge? Fantina didn't."

"Normally I don't, but I'm curious about your Pokémon," Byron said. "What I want to see is some variety… so, I'd like to battle your oldest and youngest Pokémon!"

"Uh…" Ash began. "How are you counting youngest?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Byron asked. "Generally you compare dates and see which one is the most recent."

"Yeah, but how do you work out which dates to compare?" Ash said. "Because if it's based on the first date of birth, then the answer might be different to the second date of birth."

He got Ibid out of his pocket again. "Can you grab as many Pokémon as there are available? I think we're going to need to compare some notes."

Byron blinked. "Second date of… well, I suppose there's ghosts, but…"

He rubbed his temples. "Okay, I've got a research room downstairs, I'll get some notepaper."

"Right," Ash said, some minutes later. "So the first one I think is easier, because that's the oldest Pokémon. And I don't mean to be rude, but I think it's one of you four?"

"It is a fair guess, in all honesty," Zacian agreed. "Though I would have thought that the clear champion was Mew?"

"I'm asking because I don't know for sure," Ash clarified. "Because you're the Heroine of Many Battles, and I think you're the only Zacian out there. I know Ho-Oh isn't the only Ho-Oh out there, but he could be one of the first Ho-Oh. And I don't know how age works for Unown… so it depends on whether there were other Pokémon around when Mew was born."

"Well, there was Arceus when I was born," Mew said. "But then again, I was there when Arceus was born! It's the paradox about which came first, the Mew or the Egg!"

She giggled. "But no, Ho-Oh and Zacian weren't around yet… some Unown were, I'm not sure if you were?"

"That depends how you count one Pokémon becoming two," Unown said. "Though in truth we were all part of the Unown Gestalt until the event that led to my gaining full individuality."

They turned into a question mark. "It was… I believe the term is a journey? Or perhaps a trip."

"So, it's either Mew or Unown," Ash said. "And, honestly it sounds like it's Mew!"

He wrote that down. "Now, about the youngest Pokémon… uh, that's tricky as well."

"Do you count from when a Pokémon is first born, or when they're reincarnated?" Moltres said. "And which one of us was the last one to get reincarnated?"

"That's… hmm," Ash said. "Ho-Oh, do you remember?"

"Not very well," Ho-Oh confessed. "I was too busy first doing it, and then wondering if anyone was going to notice that they could call all the resultant Pokémon the Spiritmob. But nobody did."

"Don't I count?" Aten demanded. "I was reborn as well, and this is definitely my first time as a Pokémon."

"Yeah, how does that count?" Ash said. "Aten was a human, then got reborn as a Pokémon, and it was only… what, a bit less than a year ago, I think? So is he less than a year old, or is he more than a thousand years old because that's when he was born as a human?"

Byron looked like he had no idea how to answer those questions.

"I'm not actually very old," Starly piped up. "I'm not sure exactly how old, though, because I didn't really keep count."

Ash wrote that down as well, with a question mark. "Right, or maybe… well, the most recent Pokémon I hatched from an egg was Larvitar, I think, so we know how old he is… but then again Meta Groudon was definitely created after that even before Ho-Oh reincarnated her as Rayquaza."

Then there was a knock on the door.

Byron opened it, and was confronted with a Zekrom.

"So I'm not Ash's Pokémon yet," the Electric-type said. "I was wondering if I qualified to take part in this gym battle, because of having been his Pokémon for a negative amount of time."

Byron blinked a few times, not sure how to react to that, but the mention of negative time made Zorua look distinctly interested.

"I think we're counting youngest Pokémon, not the Pokémon I've had for the least time," Ash told Zekrom. "Otherwise the oldest one would be my starter Pokémon, and that's Pikachu, and that would be worded differently. Right?"

Zekrom nodded, and went away again.

"Oh, if we're talking about hatching an egg…" Zorua said, ears perking. "Do you count from when the egg is hatched, or when the egg is laid?"

"I think it counts from when the egg is hatched," Ash replied, and Zorua nodded to himself.

"Okay," he said, accepting that without further comment.

"Where are we at this point?" Pikachu asked, looking at Ash's not-exactly-neat notes.

"So, the oldest is Mew, we're sure of that," Ash replied. "But for the youngest, it could be Aten if it's the time when he was made into a Pokémon, or it could be Starly if he turns out to be young enough when we count, or it could be any of the Pokémon who used to be Spiritomb, or it could be Rayquaza. Or maybe Pidgey, because she turned into a Pidgey just a day ago and the fact she was a Pidgeot before then could just be details!"

"We should have a big race to work out which of them is actually the youngest," Victini suggested.

Everyone looked at him.

"Well, never mind then," he said, sniggered, and zoomed off out of the gym.

"Welcome to Pewter City Gym," Forrest said, standing up to greet the latest challenger. "Do you have a preference about who you battle?"

The trainer blinked. "There's a choice?" she asked.

"Of course," Forrest said. "You could battle my dad, my mom, or my older brother. Unless you've got less than two badges, I can do challenges for a first or second badge."

"Well, then I'll battle your older brother," the trainer decided. "I've got three badges, but I'm not going to pass up the easiest option I can get."

"Your choice," Forrest said, trying not to smile, and the trainer went through into the main room of the gym.

Sitting back down, Forrest opened his book again.

It was at quite a good bit, where the detective was explaining all the evidence and how it had been put together to frame someone, and he was focused mostly on keeping track of how it all fit together for a few minutes.

Then there was a crash, followed by a wham, and a dazed Blastoise prised itself halfway out of the crater it had left in the lobby floor before flopping back with a groan.

"Careful, Mudkip!" Forrest shouted. "That one went the wrong way!"

The closest thing he got to a reply was the unmistakable veeeEEEEE sound of Eevee using Extreme Evoboost, and Forrest chuckled.

Assuming Brock was the easier battle could be a bad decision.

AN:

Brock's theme is now "Landscape" or something. Which is wonderfully versatile.