Not far from Floaroma was a large valley, and as the companions crested the lip of the valley's side they stopped to take it in.

"Wow," Ash said, looking back and forth. "There must be dozens of windmills… maybe hundreds?"

"I'm not sure of the number, but it's certainly a lot," Cynthia agreed. "There's an odd quirk of the landscape around here, I… think?"

She shook her head. "I'm not really an expert in that, you'd have to ask a geographer. But this has been known as a place of strong wind for decades or centuries, no matter the time of year, and it's said that a breath of wind elsewhere becomes a strong breeze here, and a gust becomes a gale."

Then Cynthia frowned. "Now I think about it, I wonder if the four winds are associated with this valley… it's certainly a question I'd love to ask if we ever meet one of them."

"I'll try and remember," Ash said, recognizing what that could mean. "So, uh, there's all these windmills because the windmills always have wind to drive them?"

"I think they're technically called wind turbines, but yeah," Dawn agreed. "It's sort of like… oh, I think Barry talked about this once while he was focused on it… uh, a dam can store up power, but a wind turbine can only get power if there's wind. So it's helpful to have somewhere it's always windy."

"The really remarkable thing about it is – look," Cynthia said, pointing. "All the turbines are pointing into the wind."

Ash frowned, trying to see what she was getting at.

"Oh, I see!" Latias said. "They don't all point the same direction. The wind's going in a circle?"

"The wind's going in a circle?" Ash repeated. "Oh, yeah, now I see it! Wow, that really is impressive… I wonder how that works?"

Starly came out of his Pokéball.

"I wonder if it's a great place to train?" he asked. "You could fly upwind all day and end up back where you started!"

"I think you'd better stay away from the wind turbines, Starly," Ash said. "But apart from that, I guess that probably wouldn't be a problem… we should stop off at the Pokémon Centre first, though, right?"

Cynthia nodded. "Yes, that's probably a good idea… I want to check on Gastrodon and make sure she isn't slacking off, so I'll swap her in for a bit."

"I wonder if I'll end up having to think about that," Dawn mused. "Actually, Ash, what do your Pokémon think of switching in and out?"

"I think… it's just normal, for most of them?" Ash replied, thinking. "Right, guys?"

"Not for me," Pikachu replied.

"Not for me either," Latias giggled. "But I know she meant everyone else."

"It's nice to visit Pallet Town and get to know everyone," Mew declared. "I sort of want to visit Lapras, Butterfree and Primeape some time, if I get the chance…"

"I know where Primeape is, but the other two are travelling, so that's probably harder…" Ash admitted, thinking. "Does everyone else think about the same as Mew?"

"I concur," Miraidon stated.

Zorua yawned. "Friends," he said.

"So it's more or less that it's… nice to visit friends and have a break, I think," Ash summarized, then glanced at Cynthia's Eevee trotting by her side. "Is it the same for you?"

"You've got an enormous team!" Eevee said. "A lot bigger than Cynthia's. I haven't spent a long time off the team yet but I guess it'd be a lot like a holiday. Sometimes a change is as good as a rest, right?"

When they got to the Pokémon Centre, it looked old – like nobody had been taking care of it.

"This isn't very good," Cynthia frowned. "This is an official Pokémon Centre… I hope the nurses haven't abandoned it."

She reached down to her belt, then sent out Garchomp. "And I'm not ruling out foul play at the moment."

Pikachu shifted his stance slightly, cheeks sparking, and Ash glanced at Miraidon and Zorua.

"Everyone ready in case something's wrong?" he checked.

Zorua stood up, stifled a sneeze, and nodded firmly.

"I hope nothing's wrong, dad, but I'm ready if it is," Miraidon agreed.

Latias drifted forwards, cloaked and invisible, and pulled on the door handle. Four Gastly came out, and Ash frowned for a moment before refocusing and using Foresight.

"Oh, I get it!" he said, relaxing. "It's okay, guys, it was a prank – the Pokémon Centre's fine."

"Spoilsport," one of the Gastly huffed.

"Honestly, right now you should probably be saying thanks?" Cynthia's Garchomp said. "I do know what restraint is but I also know what Outrage is, so, you know."

"What's going on?" a girl in Joy family asked, leaning around the door. "This is the side door, you're not meant to use this one!"

"We thought it was the front door," Dawn said. "Are these Gastly yours? They confused us."

She looked at Ash. "It was the Gastly, right?"

"I think so," Ash agreed.

"No, they're friends of our Pokémon," the girl replied. "I've got a Drifloon and my older sister has three. And we've got-"

She paused, then frowned and leaned forwards to look carefully at Cynthia.

"You look familiar," she said.

Cynthia's Garchomp moved to stand next to her, and the girl brightened.

"Oh, now I recognize you!" she said. "You're Cynthia, right? I'm Paige! And my sister's Marnie – but I need to ask her something!"

"What do you need to ask, sis?" Marnie asked.

"Do you think we can tell them?" Paige asked. "I know you said I couldn't tell just anyone about my friend, but that's not just anyone, that's Cynthia! And I think that Pokémon with her is the one who's a trainer, with a Latias like our second cousin, and-"

"Your second cousin has a Latias?" Latias asked, decloaking in amazement.

Ash translated that, which also gave Marnie enough time to think.

"I don't know…" she said. "But I guess… um."

She looked at Dawn. "Cynthia's the Champion, and you're right, that's Ash, but I don't really know who you are… that's not an insult or anything, I've just never met you."

"That's okay," Dawn replied. "It's at least a month too early into my Contest career to expect everyone in Sinnoh to know who I am, after all."

Marnie looked puzzled for a moment, then giggled.

"That's funny," she said. "Oh, I almost forgot, you probably came here to visit the Pokémon Centre, right? You should get that sorted out while I think…"

Paige and Marnie were the two young daughters of the local qualified Nurse Joy, both of them wanting to do what most Joys did and follow her into the nursing profession, and they helped their mother check over the various new Pokémon while Cynthia sorted out exchanging her Roserade for her Gastrodon.

As that happened, meanwhile, Paige explained about how their father worked at the Valley Windworks power station itself, and how Marnie used her Drifloon to travel around on the winds.

"It's really helpful!" she explained. "Because the winds are usually going in a big circle, so she can go downwind all the way and get back home!"

"That's clever," Ash said. "I guess I'm more used to the idea of riding a Pokémon by having them go there, rather than having them float in the wind."

Paige looked at his hooves.

"How do you ride on a Pokémon?" she asked. "Do you need a special saddle? Or do you stand on top?"

Latias giggled.

"I wasn't always a Pokémon," Ash answered. "But I did do water racing once, where my Totodile towed a water sled I was riding on…"

"I remember that!" Latias said. "Um, I'm still sorry about messing that up for you…"

"It's fine," Ash shrugged. "But Paige, Marnie, if you've got a Pokémon friend then it'd be great to meet them! I could even translate, so you could have a conversation."

Marnie looked torn.

"I… guess it would be okay," she said, eventually. "But you'll have to make sure you keep it secret, okay?"

Once the Pokémon Centre business was sorted out, and once Dawn had promised that she'd keep whoever their friend was as secret as another Pokémon they'd met who she couldn't tell them about because of the bit about it being a secret, Paige and Marnie led Ash, Cynthia and Dawn to a lake.

"Are you there?" Marnie called. "Please – we'd like to introduce you to someone!"

"Oh, is this going to be like that Dragonair in the lake?" Latias wondered. "That would be nice… this isn't one of the Sinnoh lakes, is it?"

"I guess we'd know if this was lake Valor or Acuity," Ash mused. "Right?"

"Yes, Valor is much further southeast and Acuity is to the far north," Cynthia replied. "But, well, there's plenty of mysteries-"

Then there was a massive splash.

"What was that?" Dawn asked, worried.

Then she fell silent, watching in amazement, as a beautiful, ethereal and dripping wet Suicune pulled itself out of the lake over where the splash had happened before loping towards them. Mist drifted off their mane as they approached, then they slowed down and stood on the water in front of the friends.

"...um," Suicune began, uncertainly. "I… don't suppose there's any chance you didn't see that?"

She looked ruefully behind her. "I will be honest, I was not expecting to see you here."

"I guess now you know," Ash replied. "Thanks for the help before! You're the same one I met in Johto and Kanto, right?"

Suicune glanced up at Pikachu. "I… am, yes. Though it's one thing to hear about how you look now, and another thing to see it."

Ash looked confused. "It is? But didn't you see me in Kanto recently?"

"Not since this happened," Suicune answered. "Maybe it was my younger brother?"

"You've met Suicune before?" Marnie asked, impressed. "When did that happen?"

"Uh, well… I guess saying when we met is easier, because that was before I turned out to be a Pokémon," Ash said, still puzzling over what Suicune had said. "That was when I was keeping a Celebi safe, back in Johto. But I guess Suicune's got a younger brother and I might have seen him instead sometimes."

"You have a weird life," Paige declared.

Cynthia coughed.

"I don't suppose you'd be willing to consent to an interview?" she asked. "I understand that it might be a sore topic, but I would love to hear about the events that resulted in the legend of the Burned Tower from an eyewitness."

Suicune blinked. "This is… not the usual reaction."

"Actually, I don't know how busy you are, but if you've got the time, I'd like some advice?" Ash said. "I can walk on water with the right Badge, but I can't move nearly as fast as you can…"

Dawn sniggered.

"Now I have to resist asking for help of my own," she said. "You're so effortlessly graceful, I'd love to know how you do it!"

In a way, Ash ended up having four conversations with Suicune. One from himself, which was where he found out how Suicune had been doing since they'd last met and gave a quick summary of what had happened in turn, then one each with Dawn, Cynthia and the Joy girls where he was the one making sure the conversation could happen.

Suicune seemed to be the most bemused about Cynthia's interview, though it was also a little surprising to Ash when she was completely on board with the idea that he'd created Miraidon.

Apparently it gave Miraidon something in common with her, though she was closest in basic concept to Mew.

And Dawn came away with some tips that sounded halfway between platitudes and incomprehensible to Ash, but Dawn seemed quite happy with them and said that she was sure she'd find a way to add grace, poise and power to her Pokémon performances.

Then complained about how she should have started with another word that began with P.

Probably.

AN:

Reacting quickly to things should really be a Legendary Beast speciality.