"Did the battle go well?" Miraidon asked, that afternoon.

"Yes!" Koraidon replied. "It was exciting!"

They were down by the shore, waiting for a boat that was going in the vague direction of Sootopolis and hopefully one that was going specifically to an island with a Contest for May, and Ash turned his attention from listening to Noctowl.

"It's a shame you couldn't watch, Miraidon," he said. "It was a really interesting battle, it was a lot of fun!"

"Yeah, it looked it," Pikachu agreed. "I was sort of following what was going on."

"What kind of battle is interesting?" Miraidon asked.

"Hmm," Ash said, thinking about that. "Well… I think the kind of battle that's interesting is one that's a lot like a puzzle, where you have the tools to win it, but you need to put them together in the right way."

He tapped a hoof on the ground. "So… by turning her ability on and off, Koraidon could make herself stronger, but she was also making it much easier for one of the other Pokémon to attack Marshtomp. That's just one of the things that was going on."

"I believe I understand," Miraidon decided.

They sat down, legs folding together, and made a vaguely electronic sigh noise. "It is causing me problems to try and turn off my electrical ability. How did you manage to do it, Koraidon?"

"Well, it was when Rayquaza was around, his powers meant that my sunlight stopped working," Koraidon said. "That was my first time really having a moment when it was being… suppressed, I guess? Then when that stopped happening again I noticed the change."

"Is there a way I can do that?"

"There might be," Ash frowned. "I… think there's a way to block abilities, but I'm not sure if it would work with yours… or there's some ways for Pokémon to absorb electricity, maybe they could use it to pull in the energy of your ability…"

"Ahem," Noctowl hooted.

"Oh, right, sorry," Ash winced. "So, you were saying about… I need to concentrate?"

"That's right," Noctowl agreed, prompting Ash to return his attention to the berry in front of him. "You need to focus on it, and make sure your focus is about the berry as an object. A different object from the rest of what's around it."

"Right…" Ash muttered, doing his best to focus.

He should now be actually able to learn Confusion, because he was Psychic at the moment, but that wasn't the same as saying it was going to come easily.

"It's going to feel strange when you get that right," Latias said, about half an hour later.

"Huh?" Ash asked, blinking and looking up from the berry. "Oh, right… yeah, I guess so."

He shrugged, a sort of quadrupedal rocking motion that came naturally. "But it's still nice to have you around… it would mean you could go home to Latios for a visit more easily, but you don't have to – I wouldn't want to force you."

"That's a good point," Latias admitted. "But… well, it's good to know I can stick around, Ash. I like travelling with you."

"And it's made you a lot stronger," Pikachu said. "...though…"

"I know, I know, I had a long way to go," Latias admitted.

"Ash!" Max called, hurrying over. "Ash – Swablu and I were training on something, then this guy came up and gave us some tips on how to do Dragon Dance!"

"Yeah, which was really interesting," Swablu agreed, flying alongside Max, then landed on his head. "But tiring."

"He wanted to speak to you," Max went on. "And – I think it's Drake!"

"Oh, yeah, I know Drake!" Ash realized. "I'd better go and introduce myself, though."

Max looked perplexed. "...what?"

"I beat him back when I was human," Ash said. "Well, my team did, you know how that works… he might not recognize me now."

"No, he did ask if you were the Pokémon," Max frowned. "So, I guess he must recognize you?"

"Maybe he saw me on TV, then," Ash decided. "Come on, Pikachu – let's ask if anyone else has beat him since then!"

"...huh," Ash said, once he arrived.

"Well, that's odd," Pikachu agreed. "Maybe he's just really let himself go?"

"Ah, you'd be Ash Ketchum, then," the trainer said.

He didn't look much like the Drake Ash knew at all. He had a black jacket on, with gold trimmings and blue lining, and it had gold rings on the sleeves which were probably meant to look like something, and he was also wearing a peaked cap.

"Um," Ash began. "Did you change your outfit design a lot after we met you last time, or…?"

"We haven't met, lad," Drake said. "At least, not that I know of."

"I was human at the time," Ash tried. "I beat your Dragonite?"

"I don't have a Dragonite," Drake replied. "Salamence and Altaria, yes."

"Ash, he's an Elite Four here," Brock said, clearing up what could have gone on for good couple more minutes.

Ash blinked. "Oh, okay… I never found out who the Hoenn Elite Four members were, I just assumed you had to be the trainer called Drake that I beat in the Orange Islands."

"Oh, him," the naval-looking Elite Four member said. "I know the Dragonite you mean. I tried the Orange Crew once, but I got frustrated with the ice mountain challenge because I'm a Dragon Tamer and it's on top of an ice mountain."

"...huh," Ash frowned. "Now I think about it, I wonder if getting the right badge would let me climb mountains without feeling the cold…"

Drake looked a little confused, then shrugged. "Lance mentioned he'd run into you. Nasty business, that, with the Team Magma and Team Aqua… we should really have handled it ourselves."

"Is that what Elite Four members do, between Pokémon Leagues?" Ash asked. "I've met some, but I've never really got a good sense of what they do…"

"It's not a demanding job, but we do need to train to keep our skills up," Drake said. "But, then, I'm sure you've done the same kind of thing with your own Pokémon… Lance also mentioned you had several Dragon types. Is that right?"

"Latias, can you go and get Koraidon and Miraidon?" Ash asked, prompting Latias to zip off in the direction of the shore. "We can't quite prove what types they are yet, but Lance thinks Koraidon and Miraidon are Dragon type, and Miraidon's also Electric type while I'm fairly sure Koraidon is also Fighting type."

"It's much easier working with Pokémon where you know their type, I suppose," Drake said, then sighed. "Sometimes I envy gym leaders in Paldea."

"Where's Paldea?" Pikachu asked.

"Where's Paldea?" Ash repeated.

Drake chuckled. "Ah, I spent some time in my youth there, doing raids and beating the Paldean main Pokémon… but it's complicated. Some Pokémon in Paldea can sometimes take on a different type, for a brief time."

"Whoa," Ash said. "That must make it even harder to tell what types Pokémon are. It sounds a bit like what I can do, but mine doesn't involve time…"

Then Koraidon and Miraidon arrived.

"Now those are some unusual Pokémon," Drake admitted. "My word, lad. I can see why you say Electric type for this one here…"

"What kind of advice would you have for training Dragon types?" Ash asked. "I've been handling Latias, Koraidon and Miraidon, but I don't know if I'm doing it well."

"That's a good question to ask," Drake said. "But, honestly… dragons are powerful, and majestic, and – just as importantly – Pokémon. Remember that and you're most of the way… dealing with Fairy and Ice types is the rest of it."

He crouched down, inspecting Koraidon closely, then chuckled as she offered her paw for him to shake. "And, for a trainer in general… what's important is to avoid becoming overconfident. That happened to me once, and I lost far too many battles."

Ash nodded.

"That… makes sense," he agreed. "Even if you're not trying your hardest to win, you should still be making sure you're using as much effort as you mean to. Right?"

"I'm in the Elite Four, I don't often battle a different way," Drake said. "Now, then… which way are you going?"

Ash looked at his friends, confused. "Uh… which way? I guess… towards Sootopolis, eventually?"

"I'm going that way," Drake said. "Ever travelled on a tall ship, before?"

Travelling on a tall ship was… interesting.

That was for all of them, because it was a way of moving around the world that was old fashioned enough it mostly wasn't done any more, but you could see how it could move lots of things a long way… slowly, but without needing lots of Pokémon to do it.

Of course, there was an engine below decks, but that was cheating. And strictly for emergencies.

And maybe not even the best emergency option either.

Ash closed his eyes, feeling the wind blowing through the gaps in his ring, and smiled.

It was… still not something he thought about a lot, but he was a bit more understanding now – or, accepting, or however you wanted to put it – of how his dad was probably responsible for the existence of the wind.

Or… was that the right way to think about it? There might be Pokémon for the winds, Ash didn't know for sure, but it didn't seem like this wind was being made directly.

"You all right, Ash?" Latias checked.

"Yeah," Ash agreed, opening his eyes and looking around. "I was just thinking about how much Dad is or isn't responsible for things, directly or… less. He made Kyogre, so the sea is him, but – well, I'm not sure if plants count or not. Or wind."

"Tricky," Latias agreed.

She reached into Ash's saddlebags, and took out both his latest Badge and an empty Pokéball. "Want to give your Confusion another try?"

"Sure," Ash agreed. "That sounds like a good idea."

He could hear some conversations going on behind him, where one of the sailors was talking to May about Octillery and two others were discussing Corphish with both Brock and Max, and he could just stand here at the bow and listen in… but getting Confusion working seemed like a good idea as well.

Latias stuck the badge to his ring, then held the Pokéball in her claws, and Ash tried to focus on it.

He was supposed to be thinking about it as something that was separate from everything else…

...the problem was, it was hard not to think about other things at the same time, no matter how Ash tried to do that. Meditating just wasn't something he was very good at.

"What are you doing?" Drake's Altaria asked, making Ash startle slightly.

"Oh, uh – wow, you're really quiet when you fly," Ash said, looking up at him. "I didn't hear you there."

"Yeah, when we're on the move the wind's going past the ship faster than the ship's moving, so going up to the bow is just letting the wind take me," Altaria said. "But you just seemed to be staring very hard at a Pokéball."

"I'm trying to learn how to pick things up without using my hands," Ash said.

Altaria looked confused.

"You don't have hands," he pointed out.

"Yeah, that's the problem," Ash replied, and Latias started giggling.

"Oh, right, you used to be human," Altaria realized. "Wow, okay, yeah that would be hard to deal with."

"I actually do know Confusion, but it's not really working out yet for Ash to learn it," Latias said. "I'm not sure why."

"It's a weird move name," Ash frowned. "I think we might have said something about that before? But trying not to think of anything else while trying to lift something is just… hard."

Latias put her claw to her chin. "Hmm…"

Then she lobbed the Pokéball at Ash. "Look out!"

"Gah!" Ash yelped, catching it before it hit him in the forehead. "What was that for, Latias?"

"I know you, Ash," Latias said. "Now, at least… and you're really getting better at thinking things through. But you still learn best by doing something."

She pointed, and Ash looked at the ball – which promptly dropped over the side of the ship as soon as he noticed he wasn't holding it with anything.

"...I'll go and get that," Latias added, but she was giggling as she dived into the water.

AN:

Latias is getting the hang of how Ash works.