"So… there's a Contest at Fallarbor, and a Gym at Lavaridge," Max said, on the north road out of Mauville. "We knew that, but did you guys decide which one we're doing first?"

"Yeah, we're doing Fallarbor first," May replied. "Right?"

Ash nodded. "Mudkip's probably ready now, but I'm not certain, and it's always good to get more work on stuff like that."

"Who are you using, actually?" Max checked.

"Probably not Koraidon, not at the moment," Ash replied. "I could change my mind there, but… we don't quite know what type she is, but she doesn't seem to be Fire type."

Max winced. "Oh, yeah, I remember when you were going through the tests, Ash…"

"Right," Ash agreed. "But since she causes sunlight, she'd just make the Fire gym leader's Pokémon stronger. I might use Phanpy instead, but apart from that I'm not sure."

"What about if they set up sunlight anyway?" Pikachu asked. "Then there'd be no downside to using her, right?"

"That's a good point," Ash said. "Uh oh."

He skipped to the side, making more room on the other side of the path for the person cycling the other way.

"Sorry I didn't see you before!" he apologized.

The person just sort of stared, wavering a bit before finally returning their attention to the road.

"Oh, Ash?" Brock said. "I checked the forecast, and it's sunny this morning."

"That's good, then!" Ash decided, and muttered something to Latias. She helped, and after a moment juggling the Pokéball on the road Ash sent out Koraidon. "You've had some time to think about it, now, what did you think of your first gym battle now we've got time to properly talk about it?"

Ash stopped for a second, sticking the Pokéball to the upper edge of his right hoof – putting it several inches off the ground – then trotted a bit faster to catch up with her.

"It was fun," Koraidon decided, nodding. "The bits where I got hit were painful, but… it's a lot more than just Pokémon hitting one another until one gives up, isn't it?"

She tilted her head. "So… um, I actually did the battle myself and I'm trying to make sure I understand what happened. Firstly, um, it's okay I didn't always dodge properly, right?"

"That's fine," Ash told her. "The more you can dodge the better, and it's always better to not be hit, but you don't have to avoid all the attacks to win a battle. It's just making sure that you dodge enough, right Pikachu?"

"Which for me is almost all of them, but yes," Pikachu confirmed. "You did a lot better than Absol."

"I heard that, yeah!" Koraidon said, giggling and trying her best not to. "It sounded like he had a bad time… poor him…"

"Yeah, hopefully we can improve his ability to handle it," Ash said. "But what else?"

"Umm… the floor was all slippery, at first," Koraidon told Ash. "Did you know about that?"

"I didn't realize until you were out there," Ash replied. "Otherwise I would have warned you. But yeah, and your sunlight helped get rid of the slippery bits."

He hummed for a moment. "Then your attacks, especially the big one with the jump, that was great! But we did get lucky, too, do you know how?"

Koraidon brightened at the first bit, then frowned at the question. "Umm."

She thought about it for several seconds, as they walked along.

"What types are Magneton?" she asked. "Are they the same as Magnemite? I heard him say that Magnemite was Steel and Electric."

"That's right!" Ash agreed. "Magnemite evolves into Magneton, and they stay the same type. And your attack, which is Fighting type, was strong against them because of that."

"I get it," Koraion said.

She thought a bit more. "And, I heard you talking about the fire gym… so, it'd be a bad idea for me to go out early in that one, because I'd make all their fire attacks stronger?"

"You're picking this up quicker than I did!" Latias told Koraidon. "I'd spent ages not picking any of it up, and Ash still has to help me sometimes."

"There's always more to learn!" Ash replied. "But that was a great first battle, Koraidon. Do you want to work on something else today?"

Koraidon thought about it.

"Dodging?" she asked. "If I don't dodge properly it hurts and that's bad. I don't like being hit."

"Few Pokémon do," Pikachu said.

"Three, two, one… and go!" May counted off.

"Now, Treecko!" Ash ordered.

Torchic did a twirl, and orange feathers floated outwards. Treecko's Razor Leaf attack came in, and got deflected, and May clapped.

"Great!" she said. "And that was a lovely twirl, too!"

"It might be a good start to move into Fire Spin," Max pointed out. "Is that something that works in Contests? Having one move that goes straight into the next?"

"Why is he asking us?" Pikachu said. "Does he think we have extra Contest experience?"

Latias giggled.

Then she stopped, for a moment, and flew higher into the air.

"Is something up?" Ash asked.

Latias came right back down again. "Ash, I think Misty is up ahead!"

"Really?" Ash replied. "Huh, now that's a coincidence! Let's go and see her!"

"Go and see who?" May asked.

"Hmm," Brock frowned, thinking. "Unless… well, the only person I can think of who Latias might recognize like that is…"

It was, indeed, Misty.

"It's great to see you guys!" Misty said, waving. "How are you doing? And who's this?"

She leaned back against a tree. "Come on, I want to see all your new friends!"

"Well, I've only got the one new Pokémon," Brock replied. "He is a Water type, though."

He sent out Corphish, and Misty crouched down. "Oh, huh, they're really hardy Pokémon. What's yours like?"

"He's friendly," Brock summarized. "Though, not everyone agrees."

Max giggled. "Sometimes he tries to be friendly just after doing something without thinking it through…"

"Well, it's good to see you've got a Water type at last," Misty decided. "What about you, Ash?"

"There's Mudkip?" Ash said. "He's a Water type too."

Latias provided Ash with the right Pokéball, and Ash sent out Mudkip. Treecko came up to stand next to him, and Ash pointed the two Pokémon out. "Mudkip's a Water-type, obviously, and Treecko is a Grass-type… Treecko is still working on building up to Extremespeed, and Mudkip's got a great mix of Water and Ground moves already!"

Taillow came out of his Pokéball. "Speaking of Extremespeed!"

"Yeah, Taillow is better at Extremespeed," Ash agreed, as the Flying-type landed on his head. "He used it really well in my most recent gym battle, he's really tough."

"What Ash means by really tough is that Taillow has made it a speciality to ignore electric attacks," Brock supplied. "Taillow outlasted a Magnemite in a gym battle."

"Yeah, that's… about the kind of thing I was expecting," Misty admitted. "You do seem to get a lot of starter Pokémon, Ash. I'd ask if you had a Torchic but I can see one there. Is that yours?"

"He's mine," May supplied. "He's my starter Pokémon, and apart from that I've got Beautifly as well, he's fully evolved already, and Octillery, I caught her as an Octillery."

Misty smiled. "Octillery is a good choice! But I'd say that about most Water types… is Beautifly as beautiful as it sounds?"

She looked a bit apprehensive. "I wouldn't mind seeing him, but… from a distance? I'm not a fan of most Bug types. Oh, I just realized I didn't get your name!"

"I'm May," May introduced herself. "I'm a Coordinator, or, a bit of one at least. This is my little brother, Max."

She sent out Octillery, then Beautifly, and held up her arm for the Bug-type to perch on… far enough away that Misty didn't mind, which was good.

"And how have you been getting on, Ash?" Misty checked. "And Latias and Pikachu?"

"Latias is really improving!" Ash replied. "And I got that move where I go really fast working, but I can't do it much before I'm too tired to keep going – that's Extremespeed, I taught Taillow and I'm teaching Treecko. And, it turns out I have a really powerful attack, but…"

Ash looked uncomfortable. "I don't really think I should use it…"

He brightened almost straight away, though. "Oh, but I didn't finish going through the Pokémon who are new to you!"

Latias was getting good at recognizing the cues, and put the last two Pokéballs where Ash could retrieve them.

Absol came out first.

"Aren't they a sign of disaster, or something?" Misty asked. "Which, uh, fair enough? The last few months of my life were the quietest since we met."

"Actually, no!" Ash replied. "They can sense it, but Absol says his job now is to be an expert and tell everyone that there isn't disaster around me."

Misty gave the Dark type a look like he might be quite badly confused, or possibly deaf. "What?"

"Be not afraid," Absol advised.

"We met him when someone was trying to make a wish granting Pokémon called Jirachi make the wrong kind of wish," Ash explained. "It's complicated! But then Absol decided to travel around with me."

"So far I only have a few regrets, mostly related to gym battles," Absol nodded.

"And this is Koraidon!" Ash finished, sending her out with a flash. "I think I said the wrong thing and Unown created her by accident, and nobody's ever heard of her species either, but she's a great friend now!"

Koraidon sat on her haunches, looking pleased with herself as the sunlight got stronger.

Misty blinked.

"Created her by accident?" she asked. "I didn't… you mean a proper one, right? She's not like that Entei from Greenfield?"

"No, she's a real Pokémon!" Ash confirmed. "So far she's learned Rock Smash, and we're thinking about what to teach her next."

"You accidentally made a Pokémon," Misty said. "And she's a bike? Really, Ash?"

"Huh?" Max asked. "Really?"

He stepped back, looking at Koraidon. "I can sort of see it, but why is that something special about Ash?"

"This should take a while to explain," Brock said. "Let's have lunch while we go through it? Koraidon. I got some bread in Mauville that we haven't tried yet, let's see what you think of it…"

Koraidon enjoyed her sandwich a lot.

Everyone else also enjoyed their lunch, and at the end of an hour or so Misty had introduced all her Pokémon to Max and May – and a big, burly Gyarados to Ash and Brock – and had told several stories about Ash before he'd changed shape.

Despite Ash's best attempts to drown them out with groans.

"...really, it was kind a relief to find out?" Misty laughed. "It meant we knew how he'd lasted this long."

Ash groaned, again.

He'd been doing it a lot lately.

"So, what brings you to Hoenn, Misty?" May asked.

"Oh!" Misty brightened. "It's actually because of Togepi. I got an invitation from the Togepi Kingdom to come and visit them."

"...the where?" May said.

"It's like Rota in Kanto," Brock said helpfully. "Wait, you won't know that one either… it's one of the little kingdoms that are still around in some of the big regions. The Togepi Kingdom is in Hoenn, well, not far from here I think."

"Hmm," Absol muttered. "I think there's something wrong."

"Are you actually sensing a disaster?" Pikachu asked. "Or did you have lunch too quickly?"

"It's a bit vague," Absol assessed.

"You're a bit vague," Pikachu replied.

The Dark-type huffed. "Rude. Well, I'm sure Ash will sort it out."

"Brock?" Koraidon said, skidding to a halt suddenly.

She'd been running around the camp to burn off energy, but the way her head tilted made it look like something had completely distracted her.

"Something up, Koraidon?" Ash asked.

"A bit!" Koraidon replied. "I, um, can you ask Brock what a fossil fuel is? I heard the word before in Rustboro but I didn't really think about it until now."

"Koraidon's wondering what a fossil fuel is," Ash passed on to Brock.

"Oh, well, that's a word for old trees and other plants that got buried millions of years ago," Brock explained. "They're burned to make power sometimes. Why?"

"So… it's not sandwiches, then," Koraidon said. "I was wondering because I remember you saying about how I might be a fossil, and I thought fuel was something you eat…"

Since the Togepi Kingdom wasn't far, Ash, May, Brock and Max decided to go with Misty to see what it was like.

"Did your invitation say where to go?" Brock asked, checking his guidebook as they approached the palace.

"Not really, no," Misty admitted. "It said I'd be met once I got there…"

She looked around. "Hmm… which way is Cerulean City? I wanted to look wistfully in that direction but I don't know which way to look."

"I'm sure you won't have to worry about that much longer," said a man with a moustache, stepping out from behind the gate.

"...what?" Misty said, thrown. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that one of two things will happen," the man said, as he signalled and several more men in uniforms came out from behind the gates. "Either you'll be going home, and you won't have anything to worry about… or you won't give me Togepi, and you'll be far too busy worrying about something else."

He raised a Pokéball. "So, which is it going to be?"

"What are you talking about?" Ash asked. "Giving you Togepi? Does Misty even know who you are?"

"Probably not," the man conceded freely enough. "But she should soon. I am Colonel Hansen, future ruler of the Togepi Kingdom."

"Future ruler?" Max repeated. "You're way too old to be a – wait, shouldn't a prince be called a prince?"

"There's no way I'm handing Togepi over to you!" Misty insisted. "Especially not when you haven't given me a single reason, let alone a good one! You're just demanding her without any sign you'd take good care of her!"

At a signal from Hansen, his men sent out a mix of Houndour, Mightyena, and one each Sneasel and Umbreon. Hansen himself sent out a Ninjask, and May sent out Octillery while Brock sent out Crobat.

Misty looked like she was seriously contemplating using her fists.

"What is it with jerks having Mightyena?" Max asked. "Or any Pokémon, I guess, but Mightyena in… particular…"

His voice trailed off as the ground rumbled and shook, and everyone looked down in confusion.

Then a mechanical Granbull burst out of the ground, knocking down one of the palace compound walls, and the jaw hinged down to reveal Jessie and James.

"Prepare for Snubbull!" Jessie declared.

"And make it Granbull!" James agreed.

Jessie stood on one of the fangs, somehow. "To perfect our style of intervention!"

"To talk in vague terms about redemption!

"To appear from within a nearby mine!"

"And do so at the perfect time!" James enthused.

Colonel Hansen's eye twitched, as Jessie said that she was Jessie and James clarified that he was James. "What is this?"

"Everyone's welcome to participate!" Jessie declaimed.

"And Regigigas can arrive late!" James added, magnanimously.

"What does Regigigas have to do with it!?" Hansen roared.

"Oh, you must be new!" James said brightly. "But we're not communicating with you any more."

"I think that's right!" Meowth nodded. "Let's get those guys tryin' to take that Togepi!"

Togepi giggled. "Again, again!"

"Taillow!" Ash said. "Keep that Ninjask busy!"

Hansen's soldiers may have only had one Pokémon each, but they were well trained in working as a group. The fighting got confusing, and Ash did his best to keep the whole battle in view as Taillow found himself being bothered by the Sneasel and one of the Houndour while May's Octillery did her best to shake off a Thunder Fang attack and Crobat battled in mid-air with the Ninjask.

Misty had one of her Pokémon out, too, her Politoed, but after less than a minute Ash noticed that her Togepi was chanting something.

"Again, again!" she said, her hands waving back and forth. "And… yay!"

Then there was a flash, and they all appeared in a sprawling pile in a green landscape with trees marked with triangle patterns.

"Ow," Ash said; most of the others had landed on top of him, and his ring was digging into the ground. "Guys…?"

"Sorry, Ash," May winced, getting off, then Brock and Misty did the same thing and Latias helped pull Ash upright.

"Where are we?" Max said. "There's something about those trees… and look!"

Ash looked.

There were almost a dozen Togepi watching them, and Misty's Togepi waved. "Hi! You look like me!"

"Is that Hansen guy around?" Ash checked. "Or any of his goons, or Team Rocket? Latias, can you check?"

"On it!" Latias agreed, going invisible with a flicker of light.

"You check too, Crobat," Brock said. "Where are we?"

Max checked his Pokénav. "I… think we're not far from where we were? It's weird though."

"Why would that Hansen guy want my Togepi, if there's so many Togepi here?" Misty fretted. "I don't get it…"

Asking the local Togepi let them know that this place was called the Togepi Paradise, which made sense of the Togepi-marked trees, but apart from that there wasn't a great deal that they could find out from the local Pokémon.

A lot of that was because the Togepi seemed to be a bit unclear on the details. They knew that they were kept safe, that sometimes people from the Togepi Kingdom turned up, and that often the ruler of the Togepi Kingdom had a Togepi for a friend, but apart from that they had no idea – and Latias went zipping off to check, before returning a few minutes later to report that there was a sort of barrier around the forest that she couldn't get through easily and didn't want to push.

Misty's Togepi promptly started playing with the rest, and Misty sat down to watch with a smile that turned into a frown.

"Is something up?" May asked.

"Oh, just… wondering about how Togepi is going to do," Misty explained. "And what's going to happen to her."

She waved her hand. "See, Hansen is the one who brought me here, but I don't know why. And Togepi's been with me for a while… since she hatched… and I love her, but I don't know what's best for her. Sometimes I really feel the downsides of being a Water specialist trainer."

"What's it like being a specialist trainer?" May said. "Brock isn't really one any more, so I can't ask him."

"Aww…" Brock protested. "I'm still a Rock specialist! I have two Rock types!"

"Which is less than half your Pokémon," Max said helpfully.

Brock grumbled something, then Misty looked down as Togepi patted her leg.

"Huh?" she asked.

"Don't feel sad!" Togepi begged her.

"She said, don't feel sad," Ash passed on.

Misty smiled, and picked Togepi up to cuddle her. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I'm just worried about adult things."

Togepi seemed to consider that acceptable, and hugged back.

Then there was a sort of tremble, and the Togepi all gasped. So did Misty's, and Misty looked at her with concern.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"Feel sick, mama," Togepi wailed. "There's a bad man coming!"

"A bad man coming?" Ash repeated. "Do you think she means Hansen?"

"We'd better get ready," Misty said. "Togepi, just stay safe, okay?"

There was a kind of fizzing crash, and Ash sent out Absol.

"Do you have any idea-" he began.

"Yeah, this way," Absol interrupted, loping off.

"Towards the crashing sounds, I see," Pikachu observed.

Ash started cantering, and the others hurried behind.

"Hey, I don't know if you've noticed, but there's something wrong with the trees!" Latias squeaked.

"The trees?" Ash repeated, looking to each side, then had to swerve away from following Absol's path because two of the trees were too close together.

The trees looked like they were visibly fading. Losing their leaves moment by moment.

"That can not be good," Pikachu summarized.

Ash spotted Absol up ahead, and the path looked clear. He focused used Extremespeed just for a moment, and skidded wildly to a halt right next to the Dark-type.

And next to a crack in the air, at the edge of the forested landscape.

"What is this?" he asked, backing up a bit. "Latias, maybe Unown can help us work it out?"

Latias had only just caught up. She reached into Ash's bag, and Unown came out of their Pokéball, but then just as Ash's friends arrived the air broke open completely.

And Hansen was stood there, along with his goons, and a big yellow Bug-type like a fuzzy Ariados that made Misty take a step back.

"Finally," he said. "I am king now, but the people will not accept my crown unless I have a Togepi. Hand one over."

"No way!" Misty said, holding up one of her Pokéballs, and Hansen signalled. His Ninjask buzzed up close, and for a long moment there was a tense standoff.

"Unown?" Ash asked, quietly. "I could use that attack from Forina again, right? It's been a while…"

"Energy reserves determined to be available," Unown agreed. "Is it your judgement that Hansen be destroyed?"

Ash didn't know how long he thought about it. It felt like just a moment, but it felt like ages as well.

"No," he said. "Latias, you go for the Ninjask on the right. Pikachu, in a moment we're going to be right there with the Ninjask, shock them both."

He pointed a hoof. "Latias, Headbutt!"

Latias darted forwards, and Ash used Extremespeed. He hit Ninjask hard enough to knock the Bug-type flying, and Latias slammed into her own target about as hard, then Pikachu shocked them both.

The yellow spider turned out to be an Electric-type as well, and hit Ash with a painful electric shock, but then Misty threw her Pokéball and sent out Gyarados.

"Shedinja, deal with them!" Hansen ordered.

"Unown-" Ash began, but didn't have time to finish.

"Flamethrower!" Misty ordered, and Gyarados blasted Shedinja with a Flamethrower.

"What kind of Gym Leader doesn't have an answer to Shedinja?" she demanded.

"Galvantua, get them!" Hansen ordered. "Men, attack!"

Absol ducked underneath Galvantula, avoiding a stomp from the Bug-type, then faced down all three of the Pokémon Hansen's goons sent out.

"Attention!" he said. "I am an Absol! I can sense disasters, and right now there are no disasters incoming for me! That means I'm making it out of this battle in a state where I can be healed!"

He swished his horn blade. "Be afraid! The same is not true for you!"

"Torchic, Fire Spin!" May called, throwing out her Pokéball, and her Torchic materialized in a flash of light. Galvantula immediately fired an Electroweb at the Fire-type, but his Fire Spin swirled into a cloud of feathers instead, and the Electroweb arced across the Feather Dance without finding purchase.

Then Brock's Onix hit Galvantula very hard indeed with his tail.

Once Hansen's defeat had been confirmed, and a combination of Absol waving his head blade around and Gyarados looking very crossly at them had convinced his goons to stand down, they eventually managed to get the whole story from the actual rulersof the Togepi Kingdom.

Hansen had been the captain of the guard, and he'd launched a coup, but he was now extremely fired and they were trying to work out what to do with someone who had so thoroughly betrayed every single trust placed in him.

The Togepi of the Togepi Kingdom were a sort of combination of symbol, protectors, and protectorate, in that their little realm hidden away by a mirage was intimately linked with the pure hearts of the kingdom's rulers – which was why all the Togepi had got sick, and why the forest itself had begun fading away.

It was considered mandatory for the ruler to have a Togepi companion at at least some point, and Princess Sara was grateful to them all not only for saving the kingdom and the Togepi but for giving her a chance to find her own Togepi companion.

And, just as a final point, the King announced that they would all be receiving the highest awards the Togepi Kingdom was capable of giving.

"It is the least we could possibly do," he said. "You have saved the Togepi, you have saved our kingdom… Hansen made the worst mistake he could by trying to lure you here, for you are all pure of heart."

"Uh…" Misty began, sounding embarrassed. "That… really doesn't sound like me?"

"I assure you, it does," the King replied. "You may not realize it, but your Togepi would not stay with you if you were not."

"You're the best!" Togepi agreed, then began to glow. "Whoooaaah-!"

When the glow faded, Togepi had evolved.

"And if there was ever a proof, it is that," the King said, as everyone else looked on in amazement. "Togepi will only evolve into Togetic for someone who truly cares for them. It's been said that they are never found in the wild."

"Then… I'll have to make sure I take care of my Togepi as well as you've taken care of yours, Misty," Sara declared. "I know you and Togetic will have to leave, but before you do… can I get some tips?"

"They'll have to stay for long enough that we can actually give them the medals," the King chuckled.

The actual medal giving took place in a ceremony that afternoon.

It was a bit rushed, but at the same time it gave Ash a sort of funny, solemn feeling.

It was like… he'd just done the same sort of thing as usual, helping people out. All his friends had. And it was so important to them that he was getting given a medal out of it?

"Ash Ketchum, approach," the King requested, and Ash trotted forwards.

"Really, I should probably change the law so all the Pokémon can get medals as well," the King said, quietly. "But until then, please, accept this medal."

Ash bowed his head, trying not to be too overwhelmed, and the King put the medal around his neck.

And, instantly, Ash's ring turned pink.

"...that's not something I expected," the King admitted, turning to the palace caretaker. "Miranda? Was that medal different than the others?"

Pikachu came bounding up. "Ash, quick, did you hear anything?"

"Yeah," Ash agreed, and Pikachu scrambled up his leg to reach his Pokédex. "It was, uh… the Original One is in all things, the Original One is nowhere at all."

He frowned. "I wonder what the Original One is? Isn't Mew supposed to be the oldest Pokémon… maybe it's them?"

AN:

Well, that's convenient. Would have meant waiting until Kalos otherwise.