To the friends' surprise, it wasn't all that long after they left Twinleaf once more – heading for Sunyshore – that they found another incipient festival on their route.

"Yeah, my dad's organizing it," said Khoury, someone they'd met on the road. "It's about promoting Johto culture… it's old and slightly different and really interesting!"

"You're not wrong there," Whitney agreed. "Hmm… why don't we all go and take part! I know Dawn's a Sinnoh girl, but I'm sure she'd love to take part, and Ash has been to Johto while I'm from Johto!"

"And I've got some Pokémon from Johto, too," Ash agreed. "Even some Legendary Pokémon, which seem to be popular, so I bet it'd help out."

"Wow, that's…" Khoury said, almost lost for words.

His friend Lyra wasn't. "Absolutely, that would be wonderful – in fact, let's go straight to Khoury's dad and let him know. It'd make his day, it might even make his whole week."

"It's the best way to make people notice Johto, we think," Khoury's father said, handing each of them an ice cream.

He included the Pokémon in this, which won him instant approval from all concerned, though Zygarde did take their first lick a bit gingerly before deciding that it wasn't actually Super Effective in that form.

"Do you think people don't know enough about Johto?" Ash asked. "I can't really tell, I'm from Kanto and Johto is just next door."

"It's another region, and I… think that before we met, I'd only vaguely heard of it," Dawn admitted. "It was there, and I'd heard of people from there, but nothing unusual compared to other regions."

"Right," Khoury's dad agreed. "But I think there's nothing wrong with trying to show off… and if other people come to Johto to show off there, so much the better because it means more festivals."

"I like your style," Whitney told him.

"I agree," Pikachu said. "Though I should probably go and see if Pichu Big and Pichu Little have shown up, and if they're pestering Pichu and asking her to show off that trick she has."

"Go ahead," Ash nodded, holding Pikachu's ice-cream for him until he finished it off with a few quick bites, and the Electric-type jumped down from Ash's shoulder to scurry off.

Once that was handled, Ash got out Ibid. "So, I offered to have some of my Legendary Pokémon show up… unless they're not interested, what about all the ones I caught in Johto?"

"For most people that would be an empty list, but you're Ash Ketchum," Khoury laughed. "So, I know you have an adorable tiny Lugia-"

"He's so cute, isn't he?" Whitney interrupted, clasping her hands.

"No, I caught Silver in the Orange Islands," Ash said. "So, it's… right, I think that's the full list."

He began to read off, and Ibid turned into each one in succession. "Articuno, then I met Zygarde which isn't technically a capture but they are here…"

Zygarde waved. "I will greet you in the custom of my species. Woof."

"Are those Pokémon actually from Johto?" Lyra asked, a little confused.

"Well, no, Articuno is from Galar, and Zygarde is I think from Kalos?" Ash frowned. "It's a bit confusing because Zygarde is or are sort of from everywhere at once, but I met them both in Johto. Then there was Zacian, I met her there too… oh, Latias and Latios are definitely from Johto, they're from Altomare specifically. So that's got to count!"

"...I could swear I heard that Latias and Latios were from Hoenn, but I can't remember where from," Khoury's father admitted.

"Oh, and there's Ho-Oh," Ash resumed. "I first met him in Kanto, but I battled him in, actually I battled him after the Silver Conference. What side of Mount Silver is the Silver Conference held, and does that count as Kanto or Johto…"

"I think we need to rethink the whole idea of which Legendary Pokémon are from where," Khoury said, frowning. "Wait, don't you have the Legendary Beasts? Aren't there Legendary Beasts from Johto?"

"Yeah, but I caught Raikou in the Kanto Safari Zone and the other two came with her," Ash clarified.

"At this point I think we might as well just have any Pokémon with the least bit of connection to Johto come along," Khoury's dad suggested, after thinking it over with a puzzled frown. "It's not like anyone can really complain so long as there's a reason."

"Oh, that would be good," Ash decided. "That means… yeah, Lokoko can definitely come along, and she's got some great stories about how Johto used to be. It depends if she wants to tell them though."

Their day at the Festival was interrupted a bit by an encounter with a quite unpleasant Togepi, who had the distinction of being the first Pokémon Whitney had ever said was completely uncute in Ash's hearing, but after a cavalcade made up of multiple Pichu and several Legendaries had swept the Spike Ball Pokémon away the friends could enjoy the Johto Festival itself.

They hadn't managed to get hold of Professor Elm, so in lieu of that Lokoko gave a talk about how Johto had been hundreds of years ago – Ash close enough to help her out if she struggled with the topic, but far enough away to give her space. Then Whitney explained what it was like being a Gym Leader in Johto, and the Legendary Beasts all showed up specially to show off.

Since what they ended up showing off was flying around, it wasn't quite clear if they'd got the idea, but it was a good effort and certainly got the crowds interested.

Then Lyra did a demonstration about some of the slightly more common Johto Pokémon.

"Of course, people can have all kinds of starter Pokémon," she said. "It just means your first Pokémon, after all! But there are some Pokémon who are commonly considered starter Pokémon, and in Johto they're Totodile, Cyndaquil and Chikorita!"

She gestured Ash's Croconaw, Typhlosion and Bayleef onto the stage. "These are the evolved forms, though Typhlosion here has evolved twice and the other two have only evolved once. Still…" she added, as her Chikorita and Khoury's Totodile posed next to their evolved forms. "You can get an idea of what each evolutionary line is like, right?"

"I know a better way," Zacian said, and conjured illusions of the missing Pokémon in the set. "Three lines of noble Pokémon, indeed."

"Thanks!" Lyra said. "But I think this has been too much talking, so what about if we have a battle to show off instead? It might be interesting to see how Johto and Sinnoh starter Pokémon face off… hey, Dawn, what about if you give it a go? I know you have a Piplup. He could battle Totodile, right, Khoury?"

"I'd be just as interested in battling Chikorita," Piplup replied, folding his flippers and pointing at the grass-type.

"You sure?" Dawn asked, just to check, and got a nod. "In that case, Lyra, how about it? Piplup against Chikorita!"

"Sure," Lyra laughed. "But you're taking the harder battle deliberately."

Shortly thereafter, Lyra found out that Dawn's Piplup had a new trick he'd been wanting to show off.

"Curse!" he announced, and caught fire.

"Since when is that what Curse even does?" Lyra's Chikorita demanded, before ducking under a high-speed Sphenisciforme. "And how are you using Aqua Jet to travel around while still on fire?"

"Ash's Charizard can dig underground while still being Flying!" Piplup answered, banking around and doing a flipper roll that sent spray scattering in all directions.

It glittered in the firelight around his flippers.

"That's neither explanatory nor relevant!"

"I'm not quite sure what we saw just there," Khoury's father said, a little faintly, then rallied. "But I think Chikorita did a good job anyway. Don't you?"

There was a general sense that, yes, simply by not panicking and running away Chikorita had done quite a good job when dealing with such a high-speed and flammable Piplup.

"And, because you won, you get an egg!" Lyra added. "Really, I was going to give it to you anyway, but this seems like a good excuse."

Dawn's Riolu reached up and took the egg, holding it carefully. "Do you know what it is?"

"I'm still getting used to the idea of understanding Pokémon, at all," Lyra muttered to herself. "Anyway, uh, yes – it's a Cyndaquil! Unless I got them mixed up."

"Does that happen?" Ash said. "Pokémon eggs are kind of distinct, right?"

"Well, there's hundreds of types, some of them can blur together a bit," Lyra defended herself.

"I wonder what Cyndaquil is going to be like," Happiny said, that evening.

The Festival was just closing, with fireworks shooting into the air, and Ash's Typhlosion was staying out to help with the explosions. He seemed to be having a lot of fun, so Ash approved, but most of the rest of them had their attention on the egg.

"Maybe they'll hatch out and be really mature and serious," Zorua said. "Like I was."

Pikachu fell over laughing.

"Okay, okay, it wasn't that funny," Zorua protested. "I meant being grown up… no, really, stop laughing any time! … come on, you're worrying me now."

He huffed. "Anyway! My point is, he could be as little as Togepi, or as adult as… fine, as adult as an adult Pokémon is when they hatch. Like Happiny."

"By the literal definition, I'm a Baby Pokémon," Happiny pointed out. "But I'm glad you think I'm mature."

"I don't mind what they're like," Dawn said. "I've got a lot of Pokémon who are all different in their own ways, and I wouldn't have anything else."

"Aww, that's sweet!" Shinx said, with a leonine purr.

Then the egg hatched.

Everyone looked at the Pokémon that had been inside.

"Well," Riolu said eventually. "They're still a Cyndaquil."

That much was obvious, but at the same time Cyndaquil wasn't exactly a typical Cyndaquil. They were orange where a conventional Cyndaquil was bluish, which might have just been a colour variation, but on top of that they had a tangle of electrical thunderbolts instead of the flame quills of a Fire-type Cyndaquil.

"Oh, wow!" Mew gasped, popping up from where he'd been sipping a fruit drink. "That must be another one of those Delta Pokémon! Hi, what Type are you?"

Ash held up Ibid, and the living Pokédex scanned the hatchling.

"Beep," he said. "Pokémon species: Cyndaquil. Type: Electric."

"Well, welcome to the family, Cyndaquil," Dawn said, patting them on the head. "It's nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you!" Cyndaquil agreed, then sneezed and sent a burst of static everywhere. "Whoops…"

"An electric-type Cyndaquil," Professor Oak repeated. "Well, then."

He shook his head. "I don't even know at this point, Ash. You are literally making new discoveries on a nearly constant basis."

"So, does that mean Piplup using Curse to catch fire counts as a new discovery as well?" Ash checked.

Professor Oak let out a long sigh. "This is what I'm talking about."

His Growlithe jumped up, peering down the camera. "Hi! How are you today?"

"Great, thanks, Growlithe!" Ash replied. "We're getting to know Cyndaquil."

Even as he spoke, the little Electric-type was sitting back and patting his paws against Pachirisu's ones.

"Left, and, right, and, both, and, clap!" Pachirisu said. "Right, and, left, and, clap, and, both! That's right, you're getting the hang of it!"

"It's okay that I keep sparking up at the wrong time?" Cyndaquil checked.

"You'll pick it up, just keep trying!" Pachirisu advised. "Then you can try this with Dawn! Oh, and we can work on some fun electro-kinetic basics, and you can use them to work out what kind of style you want to do."

Cyndaquil gasped. "Ooh, I like the idea of having style!"

"It sounds like you'll fit in just fine," Dawn decided.

Lilypad Town was on the way to Sunyshore, and Dawn was looking for a Contest, and on top of that both Lyra and Khoury wanted to go to Lilypad for their own reasons. In a situation like that it was natural that the two other trainers joined Ash, Dawn and Whitney, so after the Johto Festival was cleared up they set off as a group of five instead of three.

"This is just wild," Khoury said, looking to his left at Zacian pacing alongside, then to his right where Articuno was hovering neatly next to the group. "How do you even deal with so many amazing Legendary Pokémon hanging around all the time?"

"Because they're friends," Ash answered. "And it's great to have friends around all the time, right?"

Lyra laughed. "That's a good point," she admitted. "But, still, it's… you know. Kind of astonishing."

She looked down at her Totodile. "Don't get me wrong, I love my Pokémon, but sometimes you get reminded that there are really astonishing trainers out there. And… I think that's okay."

"I should hope it is!" Whitney said. "If everyone was the same, it'd all be very boring."

Since they were going past again, they stopped off at the Valley Windworks to say hello to Paige and Marnie and Yveltal.

The Flying-type said that he was quite pleased with the fact that Ash had somehow managed to provide the Shiny Other Yveltal that he'd asked for – and very quickly, as well – and Ash mostly chuckled before saying that it was just how things had worked out.

"That is not how they normally work out," Yveltal said. "But, then again, I am starting to suspect that for you it is normal…"

"I made my Normal type joke too recently," Whitney lamented. "Though… wait a minute! I just realized – Zygarde, Yveltal, do either of you or Xerneas have a problem with learning Minimize?"

She clasped her hands. "I just had this idea of a miniature Aura Trio member."

"Am I one of those?" Riolu said. "I do know some Aura stuff…"

AN:

"Curse of the Flaming Penguin".