"So that's Mossdeep," Ash mused as he leaned up against the railing of the Seagallop Ferry, Sneasel hugging his legs close. He stared out at the vaguely green shape of the large island with a thoughtful frown. The two mountains veiled in clouds that jutted out from it that held a few metallic buildings grabbed his attention for a moment but not for long.

"Aye," Captain Donald confirmed. "It's a nice little island. Good people, strong traditions."

Ash nodded and straightened up so he could shrug off his light jacket. Even the thin layer of fabric was uncomfortable in the sweltering heat of Hoenn's northernmost island territory. It had become hot in Kanto since it was entering the summer months, but this was just ridiculous.

Sneasel was feeling the heat too — his thick black fur was meant for the frigid mountainous climates of Johto and Sinnoh, not the tropics of Hoenn. He was panting and rubbing his paws — the only parts of his body that had many sweat glands — up against the railing and occasionally blew out a frigid blast of air that Ash appreciated almost as much as the dark-type did.

"You'll get used to the heat soon enough!" The Captain laughed as he started to meander back to his station. "This is gentle, boy. Just wait until August!"

Ash grimaced and wiped his slick face. He'd never been to Sinnoh, but it was seemed a lot more appealing than this oppressive heat.

It wouldn't have been so bad if it was dry heat, he mused. But it wasn't. Hoenn was more humid than anywhere Ash had been before — even the Sevii Islands hadn't been so bad.

He shut his eyes and let the Song flow through his mind, soothing his annoyance and banishing some of the discomfort that had consumed him. Its tones echoed through his entire being and he opened his eyes only to swear he saw a flash of white in the light green waters of Hoenn.

The Song had been omnipresent in him ever since he'd set foot on the ship and departed into Lugia's domain. He could always hear it in the back of his mind right next to the constant, icy pressure he had come to associate with Mewtwo, but now he could feel the melody caressing his every thought and action.

Lugia's Song was something that felt like it had always been present in him. He'd just been too blind to realize it before Lugia had revealed it to him.

Ash sighed and thanked Sneasel as the ice-type filled the air with billowing swirls of frost.

He wasn't sure how long he'd take to adjust to Hoenn's muggy climate but it couldn't come fast enough. Until that happened he wasn't sure he'd be able to concentrate, much less let Steven hone him into a weapon of the League.

Still, he had to take a moment to chide himself. He was acting like a spoiled brat.

Hoenn was hot. Hoenn was uncomfortable.

But this was where the road of life had taken him and he wouldn't complain.

XX

His first steps on Mossdeep were shaky. He'd been on the Seagallop Ferry for around eight hours as the ship jetted its way down south to Hoenn and the abrupt quieting of the Song discomforted him.

Nevertheless he continued onward and glanced around at the inhabitants of the port. Quite a few spared him a glance too since he had arrived in the section of the port reserved for League personnel and a few stared at him — he supposed that those were the ones who recognized him from the Indigo League.

Ash felt the slightest smile slip onto his face at the recognition. He wouldn't have enjoyed being mobbed by fans like he had after the Final, but people realizing who he was left a good feeling in his chest.

He'd almost say it was a warmth, but he'd rather not add to the heat.

The second thing he noticed was that everyone wore much less clothes than they did back home. Even in the port, a place of work, there was more skin shown than he'd ever seen back in Kanto…in normal areas, at least. Beaches had less.

Ash glanced down at his plain black t-shirt and jeans. He hadn't expected this to leave him overdressed, although he did feel that he'd be losing the jeans soon enough.

Still, he didn't pay much attention. Ash wasn't too interested in looking at burly men and sailors.

Sneasel raced around him and very nearly tripped him a few times in his excitement at exploring a new place, even if he was absolutely miserable in this heat. His nose twitched constantly and Ash actually had to chide him a few times when he tried to tear small parts of crates and bags open with his claws to discover its contents.

He couldn't help but smile, though. Ash was glad Sneasel was enjoying himself. The dark-type had had a brutal month of training and deserved a bit of happiness. Besides, it was nice to see Sneasel turn away from the raging ball of aggression he'd turned into since his most recent spurt of puberty. This curiosity was much more endearing than mean-spirited pranks and thieving.

When he'd finally gotten out of the port he withdrew from the mingling crowds and took a brief respite from the oppressively wet air and hot sun. Sneasel breathed some more freezing air that Ash relished in before it dispersed into nothingness, although he soon forgot about his discomfort as he pulled out his PokeNav and accessed the map of Mossdeep City he'd looked up.

"Store, museum, museum, store, space center, Pokemon Center," Ash read off as he scrolled around the map. He noted several locations he'd be interested in exploring tomorrow or the next day. He didn't plan on immediately leaving Mossdeep after he spoke to the Gym Leaders. "And Gym."

With his new route in mind, Ash headed off through the city and took note of everything around him. He found himself enthralled with the city, which was very similar yet very unlike any city he'd visited before.

He seemed to be in a commercial district at the moment and easily lost himself in the bustling crowds. Everyone was so busy that they had little time to even glance at the obvious foreigner in their midst, although a few workers at the stalls tried to sell him something.

Ash slipped away easily enough, however, and continued to stare at the city. It had a very unique form of architecture that seemed much more traditional than just about anything he'd seen in Kanto with the exception of Fuchsia.

Most buildings were built in an older fashion with simply decorated exteriors, heavily tiled roofs that actually did resemble Fuchsia's ancient styles now that he looked again, and were generally one-story. Only a small handful of stores had more than one level and those that did seemed to be either very old or high-end establishments.

The buildings and houses weren't built for pure functionality or in a hurried rush to match the rate of expansion like Saffron, Vermillion, and Celadon. They weren't built in the ancient, strong styles of Viridian and Pewter meant to convey strength and fortitude.

No, the only buildings of Kanto that even remotely resembled this style of architecture were in Cerulean. They were meant to serve their purpose but also be beautiful and pleasing to behold.

There were some conventional buildings such as skyscrapers he glimpsed between the gaps of buildings but most of the city seemed to have been built with the same style as the commercial district.

Ash found that he rather liked it. The city was airy and wide open with plenty of room for the sun to shine down on…even if that wasn't necessarily a plus in his eyes. There were parks filled with grass and flowers, some perfectly kept and others somewhat untamed and wild for pokemon to inhabit.

And the people seemed a bit more friendly than those he'd observed in Saffron. They actually bothered to acknowledge one another and exchange more than the most cursory of information if they were strangers with a reason to speak.

Mossdeep wasn't necessarily a very large city, but that was all the better in his eyes. Combined with its aesthetics and attitude he found himself regarding it as a place he wouldn't mind spending time.

It was much, much better than Saffron, at any rate.

Then again, just about anywhere was. Ash would rather spend the rest of his life in Celadon with Erika rather than the soulless steel towers of Saffron even if the company would be better with Sabrina.

So he wasn't in a rush as he meandered his way through the hot streets of Mossdeep, taking in the sights and breathing in the salty ocean air. The discomfort of the heat had faded somewhat as the minutes passed on despite the fact that it was still noonish.

Ash wasn't about to complain.

Sneasel seemed to be enjoying himself as well, even if Ash forcefully kept him from leaving his side with his tight grip. He'd rather not lose the mischievous and sometimes dangerous dark-type in the streets, even if a pokeball would solve that quite quickly.

After nearly half an hour of lazily strolling past hordes of busy islanders he found himself at the Mossdeep Gym, which was located on the northernmost edge of the city and was in a very different style than the rest of the city's buildings.

Whereas the buildings of the city focused on tiles and sharp edges the Mossdeep Gym looked as though it took inspiration from Sabrina's: it was simple yet elegant with a great, glass-like dome on the top and a large pink and yellow heart with a smooth red gem on the center placed above the door.

"Well, here we are," Ash grinned to Sneasel as the two of them shrugged off whatever minor fatigue they'd acquired over the long and hot walk. "Are you as ready as I am?"

Sneasel flashed his fangs up at Ash and unsheathed his claws with a small hiss Ash had come to know as his friend's laugh. He smiled lightly and stopped to return Sneasel before he started the long walk, sparing just a momentary glance at the great forests just behind the large building.

As he reached the door he felt a gentle presence touch his mind before it flitted away — too fast for him to really catch onto any concrete information about it. The door silently opened before he could try to reach for the handle.

Ash rolled his eyes at the show and stepped into the pristine building that seemed almost sterile. Psychics might pretend to be above it all but he got the feeling that they enjoyed putting on a show as much as any arrogant trainer.

He glanced around the interior. There were a few fountains quietly bubbling and plenty of smooth, modern chairs and seats but absolutely no other living organism in sight. It was as though they'd suddenly vanished — he saw half-done paperwork sitting out on the welcoming desk as well as a sign-in sheet for challengers.

The trainer shrugged it off and strode up to the desk. He reached for the pen only for it to levitate up to his hand. Ash rolled his eyes again until he looked at the sheet, which caused him to jerk in surprise.

There, right under several other names — he supposed there weren't more visitors since most trainers would be at or in the Ever Grande Conference, which had only just begun — was Ash Ketchum, 12:47, and his Trainer ID number.

"Psychics…" he muttered to himself fondly before he put the pen down and crossed his arms as he waited for someone to greet him. Ash couldn't say he was surprised that it was almost completely vacated since lesser human psychics tended to have a somewhat adverse reaction to him, especially now that he'd more directly interacted with Legendaries and renewed his Brands.

As it was he reviewed what he knew of the Gym Leader — Leaders, he corrected himself — of Mossdeep. They were a bit of an odd case. While it wasn't at all unheard of for multiple individuals to share the power and responsibility of a Gym Leader position the Mossdeep Gym Leaders were unique in that they always fought together, each controlling their own pokemon.

It was a style of battle that intrigued Ash, he had to admit. He'd used multiple pokemon before, such as in the battle against Pierce, but never in a controlled setting. Battles involving multiple pokemon on either side weren't something he had a lot of practice in. The only time he'd ever used more than one of his friends at once were in life-and-death situations where he didn't actually give many orders.

So he was intrigued. Ash wouldn't use any of his most powerful teammates like Infernus or Torrent, of course. He knew that the Mossdeep Gym Leaders were very young, around seven if he remembered correctly. It wouldn't be fair to bring that kind of power to bear against them, no matter how skilled they'd become.

They likely didn't actually take part in actual Gym Leader duties yet, he reflected. He figured they were just being groomed for the full station and had reached the point where they could battle with the gym's pokemon.

Ash held back a grimace at the thought of children that young bearing the full weight of a Leader's responsibility. Even the things he'd been involved with had been trying, to say the least, and he'd remained relatively sheltered from most criminal acts. He'd grown to the point where it was best to only call him in for very special instances such as Zapdos' Storm or the assault on the Viridian Gym.

But a Gym Leader was responsible for all the crime in their city. When there was an important raid they were expected to be there. When there was something horrible going on they were expected to stop it.

"You should cheer up!" A young boy's voice piped up from behind him. Ash took a moment to compose himself before he turned to see a pair of children standing behind him with bright smiles on their small faces. "You're making the gym quiet."

"Sorry," Ash said shortly, although he did his best to project friendliness. It was…ineffective, judging from the amused looks on the twins' faces.

"You don't have to fake for us, silly!" The girl giggled. She raised her hand and pretended to poke at him, although Ash had to admit he was moderately surprised when he felt a finger-like pressure tap him on the forehead. "We think what you think. And you think a lot!"

Ash snorted at that, much to the twins' amusement. He took a moment to take them in.

At first glance they were almost identical. They were young enough to have the same slim figure and even that was obscured by the airy silken clothes they wore that had a red Hoenn League symbol embroidered on. Each wore the same old-fashioned silken slips for shoes and shared matching hairpins that kept their inky hair tied up.

But when he looked closer there were differences. The boy — Tate, he knew — had shorter hair and softer features that just barely differed from his sister's sharper lines. He had an air of meekness about him, a quiet serenity that would hold even in the midst of a storm.

Liza held more of an energy to her. It was subtle, but her eyes shone with a fierce eagerness that her brother lacked.

He found himself distracted by Tate staring up at him with bright black eyes that were almost disturbingly aware.

"You're very bright," the boy whispered to him as they made eye contact. "I could see you before you even set foot on our island. Like Fire. And Lightning. But you're cold like Ice."

Ash found himself nodding down at the boy, lost within himself as memories of the Birds rushed through the forefront of his mind like an endless torrent. Fire, Ice, and Lightning raged — the Feather grew hot and the part that had been invaded by Zapdos sent unfamiliar tingles throughout his body as a gentle current emanated from it.

"Wow," Tate breathed and reached for the light on Ash's chest. He gently caught his small hand before he could touch the Feather, fearful of what its influence would do to the young psychic. "It's so pretty!"

"Lady Sabrina said not to touch him!" Liza cried out and rushed over to her brother. "Why won't you just listen?"

Tate shook his head at his sister, his inky black eyes burning with just a hint of a blue glow. "He won't hurt us."

"But what I carry within me might," Ash said gravely and knelt in front of the small boy so that they were on equal footing. "Listen to Sabrina. She knows what she's talking about."

Liza nodded, although both she and Tate seemed to have become entranced by a spot on his chest just next to where the Feather laid sealed to him. Ash froze as tiny fingers laced with just the slightest bit of psychic power traced over his heart.

Sharp scenes flashed through his mind and he was lost — memories he thought lost appeared to him clear as day.

His body stared at Mew as his basest being was assimilated into Mewtwo's infinity to be destroyed. The tiny Legendary was exhausted, broken by Mewtwo's terrible power.

Mew's eyes flashed pink — he saw a lance of vibrant light, a flash of pain, and —

He breathed sharply as phantom pain ghosted its way through his chest. His hand clutched to his heart and was held over the hands of the two children who stared at him with an unblinking gaze.

"You were hurt here," they echoed in unison. Ash nodded, drained of all feeling. "But you're better now. Brighter."

Ash nodded again and let his hand fall limply from his chest.

The twins' hands fell away soon after. He breathed again as the ghostly pain in his heart stabbed deeply and twisted one last time before it vanished for good.

"Sorry," Liza said shyly as she stared determinedly at Ash's shoes. "Daddy told us not to do that, but —"

"We couldn't help it," Tate finished seamlessly. His eyes were ink again. "You're just so bright! Even Lady Sabrina couldn't tell us what it was like and she's the coolest and smartest and prettiest person on the planet!"

"But you aren't far behind!" Liza beamed at him. "We watched you battle and you were really awesome!"

A genuine smile worked its way onto his smile as he regarded the twins. "Thank you. I appreciate that. Sabrina's a hard woman to keep up with."

The twins nodded vigorously before Tate's eyes widened — Ash hid a snort at that. Tate's inky eyes had grown so big they pretty much filled his whole face. If his mother were here she probably couldn't have stopped herself from wrapping the small boy up in a hug.

"She sounds really nice!" Liza chirped as Tate presented him with a card key. "Oh, she is nice! Just as nice as Roxy!"

"Mr. Steven told us to give these to you," Tate said solemnly. "Our Daddy was supposed to give them but he's at the Conference with our Mom. So we got to do it!"

"Well, thank you," Ash grinned as he pocketed the keys. "Why aren't you there?"

Tate and Liza shrugged as one. "Sabrina told us you'd be here and we wanted to meet you!"

Another smile tugged at his lips. "So you're all alone here?"

"Of course not! We have each other," Liza beamed. She paused for a moment. "And Solrock."

"Don't forget about Lunatone," Tate added. He looked at Ash and whispered, "They're really strong. Our Daddy gave them to us when they were little too."

"So you've been training for a while?" Ash cocked his head curiously, interested in the idea of such young Gym Leaders.

They nodded as one. "Yep!"

Ash smiled at the twins. "In that case, you want to give battling me a go? My friends could use a workout if you're interested."

"But you're Ash Ketchum," Tate mumbled as he stared at him soulfully. "My eyes can't see us beating you. You're way too awesome for that!"

"Sometimes you'll go up against opponents too strong for you to beat," Ash said after a short silence. "Just think of it as practice. If you go up against people that aren't a challenge how are you going to get stronger?"

Tate nodded hesitantly but his inky eyes averted as he kicked lightly at the smooth tile of the gym. Liza, however, grinned as her black eyes flared to life with psychic power and she gripped Tate's hand in her own.

"Let's do it, baby brother!" She egged on. "Who knows when we'll get to see him again? And you know Lady Sabrina won't tell us even if we ask."

"Okay," Tate relented before his soft features schooled themselves into a spectacularly unintimidating scowl. "And I'm not your baby brother! We're twins!"

Liza just stuck her tongue out at him and gripped his hand tighter. She smiled up at Ash with glowing eyes and offered him her remaining hand, which he took after a moment of deliberation.

"And here we go!" She chirped before they seamlessly warped through space and appeared in an elaborate stadium reminiscent of Sabrina's. Aside from the bare battlefield there were delicate metallic spires that twisted and turned in a way that appeared both natural and unnatural all at once guarding the sides, projecting the invisible walls he knew were there.

"And there you go," Tate murmured to himself before Ash found himself in the trainer's box on the opposite side of the battlefield. An instant later the twins seamlessly warped back to their own place, whatever fatigue they incurred nothing in the face of the excitement that had bled through their bond.

Ash withheld a smirk as he realized that their teleportation was far smoother than Will's. He might have to mention that the next time he saw Sabrina's apprentice.

"We're going to have a double battle!" Liza's voice projected as though she were standing right next to him. Tate spoke up next. "Two-on-two, the winner is declared when their opponent's pokemon have been defeated."

A moment passed by in silence.

"I did that right, didn't I?" Tate asked from beside him, even if his body was still several hundred feet away. Ash's mind flickered back to his former challenges. "Thank you!"

The twins' eyes flashed blue as they released their pokemon, a Lunatone for Liza and Solrock for Tate. Ash took note that both of their eyes were glowing too — Tate and Liza had established a psychic link with their teammates.

He was impressed. Psychic links were advanced material. Dazed could only just form the beginnings of one with Ash, and even then a moment's distraction would easily shatter it.

"It was really hard, but we did it!" Liza giggled. Solrock rumbled affectionately, even if its rocky exterior failed to betray any emotion. Lunatone just stared blankly at Ash. "I hope you're ready for everything else we can do."

"I hope so too," Ash grinned as he released Oz and Sneasel. Both were some of the weakest members of the team at the moment and could use the practice. Plus he felt that Sneasel needed to learn how to work with others. He'd gotten stronger but any real threat would brush him aside without a moment's hesitation. "Sneasel, Oz: this is a double battle. You need to work together."

Oz nodded and windmilled her arms to start creating her electricity while Sneasel just nodded and hissed at the twin rock-types ahead of him with his claws unsheathed. Frost coalesced around the sharp bones as electricity sparked from Oz's large fists.

Ash took just the briefest moment to review what he knew of the pokemon in front of him, very glad that he'd spent countless hours reviewing the National Pokedex upgrade that Professor Oak had given him.

Both were mysterious pokemon and tied to each other. Lunatone's eyes could channel psychic power to mentally affect a pokemon's mind and either take control of its body or put it to sleep. But he had no fear of that. Sneasel would be immune to the psychic power thanks to the alien energy coursing through his body and Oz's will with his dark-type techniques. strong enough to resist the mental attack.

Solrock drew its power from solar energy, so he wouldn't have to worry about it too much indoors. He was sure it was still a threat but it wouldn't be at its most powerful. As it was he knew that it could read minds, which would only be effective against Oz.

One thing he was wary of was the two mysterious pokemon working together to overwhelm Oz. She was the more immediate threat, especially since her powerful blasts of electricity would be excellent distractions for the swift, nimble Sneasel to dive inside of their guard and cause chaos for the twin psychics with his dark-type techniques that would neutralize their mental powers and levitation.

He also knew that Double Team, which would normally be quite helpful against two opponents, was useless. The psychics would be able to pick out the real Oz in a heartbeat thanks to their ability to sense her mind.

So he'd have to be aggressive. He doubted that either Lunatone or Solrock could match his friends on an individual level, but the advantage that their well-honed teamwork would give them could not be underestimated, especially if they were receiving direct input from their trainers.

Those were his immediate observations. He'd have to wait before he could determine anything else.

"Let's start," Tate whispered into his ear. The twins gave him a few seconds to gather his bearings before they began their attack.

Solrock and Lunatone moved in perfect unity born of months and months of training together. It was Solrock that advanced and used its powers to spin itself rapidly, heating up the air around it to extremely hot temperatures and creating a blinding light that left Sneasel hissing in agony. Oz, more used to that sort of intensity, just snarled and hurled a Thunderbolt at Solrock only for a shield from Lunatone to absorb it, although the barrier nearly shattered under the attack.

"Sneasel, focus!" Ash ordered as Oz was suddenly pummeled with a wave of psychic force and then locked into a prison of glowing blue energy, although from the constant jerks of movement it was just barely enough to hold her. "Ice Beam!"

The dark-type yowled furiously as his ears twitched, locating the two psychics with sound rather than sight. An instant later several arcs of jagged icy energy erupted from his fierce maw and slammed into Solrock, who spun into position between the Ice Beam and Lunatone in order to spare its ally the damage.

Solrock emerged relatively unscathed, although the heat that suffused the area was almost gone and the psychic had yet to start spinning again. It just groaned as Sneasel repeated the attack, although Lunatone raised a barrier just in time to save Solrock a second hit.

"Lightning Bolt!" He ordered as Solrock concentrated for a few seconds before releasing a massive Solar Beam straight at Sneasel, although the beam just barely clipped the dark-type as he lunged out of the way with Quick Attack.

Lunatone just barely erected yet another shield to cover both it and Solrock before Oz's body flared with electricity that coiled into one of her raised fists before she blasted it all into an arcing spear of bright white light.

Ash grinned as Sneasel actually took the initiative and blurred towards the stunned psychics with claws wreathed in shadow — Lunatone's shield had broken under the immense power of Lightning Bolt, although neither looked too badly harmed. Just surprised.

Still, that was enough for Sneasel to leap at Lunatone with his Shadow Claw at the ready to sever the psychic's abilities and give Oz time to recover.

Sneasel hissed as Solrock suddenly intercepted him by spinning into the dark-type's fragile body, which sent Sneasel crashing to the ground in a cloud of dust. Solrock groaned and took advantage of the situation by hurling dozens of small, sharp stones into the surprised Sneasel.

He winced as Sneasel tried to blur away only to be struck with several of the shards. Sneasel wasn't out, but he was in a bad position as Solrock tried to finish him with several more Stone Edge attacks. Only a few of the flurries of sharp rocks managed to hit him but the damage was adding up and Sneasel was slowing down.

"Oz, get in there!" Ash called out. Sneasel was in a bad situation and Oz had only just recovered enough stamina to actually fight. Lightning Bolt still took a lot out of her, which was probably a weakness that could only be rectified by her evolution into the vastly more powerful Electivire. "Put pressure on Lunatone."

Oz growled and shot forward with Quick Attack a moment later, although she snarled in annoyance when her assault was stopped inches away from Lunatone by a psychic barrier. She fired off several blasts of lightning to try and penetrate the barrier and cripple Lunatone but Solrock spun into her a moment later, knocking her to the ground with the force behind the blow.

Just as the psychics were about to capitalize on their advantage Sneasel shot forward in a black blur with his claws wreathed in warping shadow and carved into Solrock's mineral hide the best he could. The physical damage was negligible but Solrock rumbled piteously as its power failed it and its orange-and-yellow body collapsed helplessly to the earth.

Ash grinned at the display of teamwork from Sneasel and glanced at Lunatone. It was as unfazed as ever, although it had beat a hasty retreat when it realized that its physical protector was momentarily useless.

"Finish Solrock," Ash said as he watched Lunatone. "Oz, keep Lunatone on edge."

Oz whirred and rushed at the psychic, who managed to levitate just a bit above her lightning-encased fist and knock her back with a blast of telekinetic force, although the Electabuzz was on it again in a second.

Sneasel took a moment to fire a supportive Ice Beam at Lunatone, which distracted it just long enough for Oz to connect with a solid blow that sent the psychic spinning back even through its hastily raised barriers.

When the dark-type turned to knock out the helpless Solrock Ash had only a moment to warn him before he was bowled over by the psychic's large body, which was suffused in blue energy which held it aloft. Sneasel whimpered as he laid there, stunned, until he recovered long enough to get up and find the new battle.

Oz had heard Ash's warning, thankfully, and she'd managed to dodge the Solrock as Lunatone carried it with its own psychic powers to turn it into a very powerful projectile. Solrock was left casually spinning to gain speed, not bothered in the least at being turned into a living wrecking ball.

By the time Sneasel had stumbled back over to the battle Oz was on the defensive. She did her best to keep Lunatone on edge, but that was rather difficult when Solrock was hurled at her every few seconds only to be pulled back to attack her from the rear. Her body was pushed to its limits — they had trained with Lightning Bolt but she'd put a bit more power into it than usual in order to try and finish the battle decisively.

"Ice Beam!" He ordered calmly. Sneasel hissed and quickly followed Ash's command to fire the jagged arcs of cold which Lunatone's shields shattered under.

He smiled. Lunatone and Solrock had great teamwork that made them very formidable opponents, but individually they were still limited. Without Solrock to guard it Lunatone had been forced into using its shields more and more frequently, which sapped its strength. Levitating Solrock was a very effective strategy, but Lunatone just didn't have the power to maintain it for long.

It had been spread too thin.

Sneasel yowled and ducked under Solrock as Lunatone pulled its teammate towards it, just barely able to dodge the living weapon. He panted and had to dive out of the way once more, but Oz covered him with a Thunderbolt that finally shattered Lunatone's shields and stunned the psychic.

Solrock collapsed to the ground now that Lunatone's focus had broken but had managed to recover enough energy to send itself spinning towards Oz, who snarled and smashed a fist covered in electricity into the creature.

The Solrock groaned one last time before it collapsed. Tate returned it an instant later.

Just as Sneasel leapt at the crippled Lunatone with rage in his eyes his prey disappeared in a flash of light, leaving his claws to cut nothing but air. He hissed but sheathed his claws before he curled up to lick at his wounds.

Ash didn't pay Sneasel mind, although he approved of the relatively mature reaction. A few weeks before Sneasel would have been furious at the loss of his target and stewed over it for days.

Oz just sat down. She was breathing hard but hadn't actually taken any real hits. Mostly she was just tired from Lightning Bolt and the constant blasts of electricity she'd kept up almost the entire match, short as it was.

He went ahead and returned them. They could use the time in stasis to recover and he'd be letting them out soon enough anyway…well, maybe not Sneasel. Ash wasn't sure he wanted to risk letting the thieving dark-type out in Steven's house.

"That was awesome!" Liza cheered beside him. Ash blinked and realized that they'd teleported beside him in the instant he'd been glancing over to his friends. "Aren't you glad we battled, little brother?"

"We're twins," Tate's face scrunched up in annoyance. "But yes. That was fun! What'd you think?"

Ash grinned down at the twins. "I thought it was fun too. You two are strong. I never saw Solrock coming."

"We've been practicing that for weeks," Liza bragged before her face fell. "But Lunatone can't keep it up for long. She tires out really quickly."

"Just keep at it," Ash advised. "If you keep battling strong trainers Lunatone will catch up in no time. When you really come into your own I bet even I won't want to battle you — your teamwork is great."

"We know," they echoed. "We're best friends now!"

Ash smiled at that. "That's the way to do it. If you'll do anything for your team — your family — then they'll do anything for you."

"We know," Tate repeated solemnly. He reached up to tap the spot over Ash's heart, ignoring the Feather that crackled and burned at the proximity of his psychic energy. A stabbing pain twisted through his chest and he held back a gasp. "We see it in all of our aunts and uncles. Mr. Steven, Uncle Wallace. Phoebe and Sidney and Mrs. Glacia and Drake. But in you our eyes show us the truth."

"Tate, you're doing it again," Liza pinched her brother, who looked at her with annoyance. "You know Mom doesn't like it when we do that!"

"Mom's not here," Tate grumbled and pointed at Ash. "He is."

Liza pouted. "But what if she comes back from the Conference early today?"

"She won't," Tate whispered. "Her path does not lead here. It lies in Ever Grande, watching the challengers with eyes that pierce the veil and see the light. If she were here with us she would be blinded."

"Now you're doing it on purpose!"

Tate didn't deny it and just smiled softly. His inky eyes crinkled up with laughter that just barely remained hidden.

Ash had to hide his own grin. For whatever reason he felt very comfortable with these two — they pulled him in like nobody had in a long while. They could understand him like no other than his family and Sabrina, who probably knew his mind better than he did.

As he opened his mouth to speak, Liza looked up at him.

"Oh, you want to know where Steven's house is?"

He nodded and rolled his eyes. Ash really should have expected that.

"Hold tight!" Liza giggled as she held hands with Tate and grabbed Ash's. The twins' eyes flared blue and they were outside a surprisingly modest house for somebody with Steven's capital and influence. Then again, he shouldn't have been surprised. The former Champion didn't seem the type to have a mansion with marble pillars plated with gold. "Here we are."

"Thanks," Ash grinned at the two as they stood before the simple home. It matched the rest of the houses perfectly with its solid walls and tiled roof. "Do you come here often?"

"No," Tate frowned. "Mr. Steven's not here very often. But he always invites us when he stops by. All of his stuff is so cool!"

"I'd imagine," Ash commented with a light grin. "He's seen a lot, I bet."

"Yeah!" Liza cheered as Ash slid in the card key and opened the door to reveal the simple living room. It looked like it had just been cleaned and not a single item was out of place. There were several couches and recliners situated around a small fireplace but most of the walls were dominated with hundreds upon hundreds of rare stones.

"Wow," he breathed as he looked upon the collection. Some were mere gems: rough and uncut sapphires, rubies, and emeralds. Others were cut expertly and looked like they could be the crown jewel in some ancient king's treasure hoard. There were diamonds, topaz, opals…if there was a gem, it was there. "It's incredible."

But then there were the true treasures, at least to him. Rows and rows of Fire, Water, Leaf, Thunder, and Moon Stones. There were rarer stones as well: Sun Stones, Dawn Stones, Dusk Stones, and even an odd stone he didn't recognize that shone with an incredibly dazzling light. He even saw the odd Everstone, although very few featured prominently.

He looked at it in awe and almost completely ignored the sections devoted to more common samples of stone. Ash suspected that Steven probably valued the mundane stones as much as the rest, even if they weren't as flashy or valuable as the evolutionary stones or gems. If he didn't they wouldn't have a place here.

"Isn't it cool?" Tate asked as he stood before the Moon Stones. His eyes flared with psychic power as he stared at them. Ash felt his body heat and tingle as his eyes swept over the Fire and Thunder Stones.

"Wow, you're even brighter than before…" Liza murmured as she stared at his chest where the Feather burned. She held both a Fire and Thunder Stone in her tiny hands, which she interestedly held up close to his chest.

Curious as she was, he didn't bother to stop her. He froze when he felt Lightning rush through his body and flood into the Thunder Stone, which shook as the "bolt" inside of it seemed to tremble and grow.

Ash just barely managed to bat the Stone out of the little girl's hands before it exploded into hundreds of tiny shards and massive eruptions of lightning that was just barely contained by a psychic sphere formed by Tate and Liza before it could damage any of Steven's priceless collection.

He blinked and looked at the shards littering the floor. Small arcs of electricity jumped between the pale green-yellow stones, although they slowly began to die down.

"I guess I won't be using any Thunder Stones for a while," Ash muttered to himself as he stared at the wreckage. Liza very quickly pulled the Fire Stone away and put it back on the shelf. "And I suppose I owe Steven a few thousand dollars."

Tate and Liza just stared at him as they silently pulled the fragments of the Thunder Stone into a pile, which then disappeared into nothingness. Ash wasn't sure where they sent it and he wasn't sure he wanted to.

"So…is anyone else hungry?" Ash plastered a forced smile onto his face.

"You don't have to fake for us," Liza giggled, finally losing her shock. "That was really cool! Do you have any Stones? I want to see it happen again!"

"You should have seen it," Tate scrunched his face up in a smile to the point that his inky eyes were hidden. "It was so bright! My eyes couldn't even see what happened."

Ash nodded and let the tension drain from his shoulders. It was hard to say just how relieved he was that the twins weren't very disturbed — he barely knew how to react to the odd happening himself.

"But we know a really good place to go eat," Liza cut in and came to his rescue. Ash sent her a grateful look and left his pack on one of the sofas. He'd return for it later. "Take my hand!"

He took it.

XX

Ash took a sip of his water as he stared out at the glittering sea of deep green. Tate and Liza had taken him here after they teleported to a small stall they seemed to frequent quite often if the familiar greetings they exchanged with the aging cook and his young daughter, who'd stared at Ash in an unnervingly intense manner before her father had sent her off to fix their food.

So here they were, eating ramen and rice balls while sitting silently on the beach.

It was nice, he decided.

"I think so too," Tate murmured as his food lazily levitated itself up into his mouth. "Mossdeep is quiet this time of year. I like it."

"Stop being such a show off," Liza complained. Her eyes flashed and the noodles feeding themselves to Tate collapsed back into the small bowl they'd left the shop with. "And it's so boring right now! We haven't gotten to battle anyone in forever!"

"Forever?" Ash raised an eyebrow. "My memory must be off, then."

Liza pouted at him. "You know what I meant!"

Ash smiled.

With that Tate cut in with some incendiary comment — "That's not true!" — and Ash lost himself in the waves.

The sea had lost what terror it held over him. It had been a long time since he was truly afraid of the ocean, but now he almost embraced it. The Song was stronger here in the meeting place of land and water and if he closed his eyes he could almost feel himself with the Flute between his fingers.

"That's a pretty Song," Liza commented. Ash's eyes flashed open and he stared at the girl. "What?"

"You can hear it?" He asked in disbelief. "How?"

Tate looked at him blankly. "You."

Ash opened his mouth, thought better of it, and shook his head. He honestly didn't know what else he'd expected.

"I don't either," Liza confided in him. Tate stared, although Ash idly noted that the boy had begun to levitate food into his mouth again. "Tate!"

The two twins stared each other down, Ash's presence all but forgotten. He had no idea what was going on — their eyes were a fierce blue and both twins' faces were scrunched up in concentration.

Finally Tate's eyes lost their glow and he frowned. "That's not fair."

"Doesn't matter," Liza said smugly. "I win."

Ash looked to the twins for an explanation but neither offered him anything. He turned to look at the sea as he finished off his noodles, taking solace in its green depths.

That lasted for several minutes before Liza spoke up again.

"How'd you get so strong? I bet even Mr. Juan couldn't beat you!" Liza said admiringly. "You might even be better than Mr. Moore!"

Ash didn't answer for a few seconds. He recognized the names: Juan was the Sootopolis Gym Leader, who he'd probably be seeing in two or three days once he made his way to the ancient city. Moore was the aging Gym Leader of Lavaridge if he remembered correctly.

Moore was a figure of interest to Ash. His history mirrored Blaine's and he read that they'd worked together during the last war thirty years ago. Until about a decade ago Moore had been a member of the Ever Grande Elite Four before he took the Gym Leader post he currently held.

He hadn't bothered looking into the man's more recent history.

"The short answer is that I trained a lot, battled anyone who would let me, and got very, very lucky," Ash finally answered. "We spent several hours a day training once I got serious. On good days we had nine or ten battles. And we got opportunities most people can't even imagine."

"But in the end it came down to my team," he continued. "We trust each other with our lives and know that all of us would put our own on the line for the others. We'd do anything for each other and they prove that every time they go out to the battlefield."

When he finished he realized that Tate and Liza were watching him raptly, their inky eyes glistening with interest. He smiled at that — they'd known he wasn't done even before he did.

"But the long answer…that's quite the story," he glanced at the sun that hung brightly above them. "I hope you don't have anything to do for the next few hours."

"Nope!" The twins echoed. "We've got all the time in the world."

Ash smiled and tapped his chin thoughtfully as he regarded his avid listeners. "How to start…well, I'm from a place called Pallet Town…"

XX

He laid down in the surprisingly cool sheets of the bed with a tired sigh. Ash hadn't finished a somewhat abbreviated recount of his journey so far — it felt surprisingly good to tell in full, like he was lifting a weight off his chest — for nearly an hour. Tate and Liza hadn't run out of questions for an hour longer.

Ash only had to dodge around some questions about his encounters with Legendaries. Most he had happily answered since Tate and Liza already knew of his Brands and could even hear the Song, but he'd been unable to say a word about Mewtwo.

From the knowing looks he'd received from Tate and Liza they knew what was going on. Their eyes shimmered with energy and he thought they'd burn a hole in him from how intently they had stared.

After a short comment from Tate, "So that's your other light!", they'd let it go.

But once they'd finished and returned their dishes to the stall owner he'd found his way back, although he chose to take the scenic route rather than allow Tate and Liza to teleport him. Ash wanted to see Mossdeep for himself, not just a few select places of interest.

And he was glad he had. Mossdeep really was beautiful. It had an air about it that none of the cities of Kanto did. While they held an attraction of their own, Kanto's cities were too…modern, for lack of a better term, for him. They were built for efficiency, to hold a rapidly expanding population without encroaching upon the habitats of pokemon.

Mossdeep was simple. It was elegant. It was clean.

Hardly a city compared to the steel jungles of Saffron, but Ash found he preferred it by an immeasurable amount. Even Sabrina's presence didn't make up the difference, especially since Ash found he quite liked Tate and Liza as well. They were young but he could hold a conversation with them as easily as he could with himself, although he knew much of it came from their telepathy that they hadn't learned to restrain.

Ash shook himself out of his thoughts with a sigh and lightly pat the leathery hide of Nidoking, who had curled up on the bed beside him. His massive bulk — nearly four hundred pounds of muscle, hide, and bone — made the bed creak ominously but once Ash had gotten over the sensation of slipping toward his friend it didn't bother him.

He was mostly sure the bed could take his friends weight. It hadn't collapsed into splinters yet, at any rate.

The rest of his friends were spread throughout the house with the exception of Sneasel and Infernus. Ash just didn't trust Sneasel around this many valuable and beautiful objects and couldn't even lock him in the room with him since there were precious gems and samples of stone practically layering the walls.

Infernus was Infernus.

Torrent was already asleep in midair as he unconsciously kept himself aloft with his levitation. He'd required Dazed's help to fall asleep after Ash had told him where they were and promised to take him out to the ocean the next day — the regal Kingdra had an uncharacteristic mania in his scarlet eyes and looked like he was about to blast the walls down in his haste to return to the sea.

With the exception of Dazed, who lurked in the shadowed corner with her newly-polished pendulum, he had no idea where the others had placed themselves. Once they'd realized that Nidoking and Torrent's massive bulk left Steven's surprisingly small room rather cramped they'd left for unoccupied spaces.

The deep rumbles of Nidoking's breathing soothed Ash, who ended up opening his PokeNav to the messages. He couldn't sleep this early.

A smile found itself on his face as he saw the messages from most of his friends and family. His mother had practically overloaded the PokeNav with all of her good luck messages and information on her current circumstances.

He glanced over it. She was happy working at Professor Elm's laboratory and had already learned quite a bit, although he wasn't sure what. His mother had drifted off into a massive tangent full of long, scientific terms Ash wasn't in the mood to get lost in.

But she was happy and that was all that mattered.

Ash looked at the other messages. Professor Oak had sent him an address in Sootopolis he'd have to look up later and the date of two days hence, Amelia had sent him a good luck message from both her and Jonathan, and even Gary had sent him an expletive-ridden recounting of his battle with Falkner that ended with "If you need to rely on luck then you should have your Trainer's License taken away before Johnny-boy".

He snorted at the ending. Ash was relatively certain he'd need some sort of dictionary to go through the rest of Gary's letter but it seemed like it had gone favorably.

Not that he'd expect anything less from his former rival.

And — Ash's eyes lit up when he saw a message from Lance. He hadn't had contact with his mentor in quite a while and had hoped he'd get something from the Indigo Champion.

Ash,

Firstly, I'd like to apologize for not sending you anything sooner. Things have been rather hectic here at Indigo Plateau since Lorelei's left for the Sevii Islands and Agatha's formally renounced her position as a member of the Indigo Elite Four.

We've begun something of a tournament between myself, Bruno, Karen, Will, and Koga to establish the new pecking order, as it were. You should probably look it up in the databases later. I put in quite the impressive showing to retain my position as Champion, if I do say so myself.

Not that my competition expected otherwise. Even Karen isn't quite so arrogant as to believe she can match me, although she did put Dov on the ropes for a few seconds or so before we finished her sixth pokemon.

I would've invited you to scout out your future competition, but the timing was unfortunate. Perhaps you could have left a few days later but I would've heard no end of it from Steven. He's eager for you to experience every bit of Hoenn that you can before you meet up with him.

Not that I blame him. Hoenn is a beautiful land. I know that you've probably heard that from everyone who's even seen a picture of the place, but it's true. I went there when I was thirteen to train with Drake the Dragon Master — my title now, if you haven't heard — and those were probably some of the best years of my life.

Tell the old man I said hello if you run into him, will you? Steven will surely introduce you at some point. Drake's one of the most powerful trainers in the world even now. His Salamence can still take Dragonite on evenly, if that tells you anything.

Speaking of our mutual acquaintance, don't let him ruin all the good work I've done on you. I don't want to hear about you becoming a Steven, alright? There's too many in the world already, in my humble opinion.

On a more serious note, I wish you well. You were a good student, Ash, and you surpassed whatever expectations of you I had when I invited you to Knot Island.

So enjoy yourself. Live a little. Make some friends, maybe meet some pretty girls. Moltres knows that Hoenn's full of them. Well, maybe not. The Feather's burning a bit.

I suppose I'd best wrap this up. Gible's starting to eat the important paperwork.

Make sure to call, Ash. I want to hear more from you than those boring reports.

— Lance

By the time he finished Ash bore a slight smile and shut his eyes. He wasn't homesick. He'd gotten past that in the first week or two of his journey through Kanto. But he'd miss the people back home. He had more than just his mother and Professor Oak now.

He contemplated writing replies but decided against it. It would take him the better part of an hour to decipher and respond to his mother's jumbled mess of messages and he wanted to be at his best when he did so.

Besides, he really was tired. Today had been stressful, albeit enjoyable.

"Goodnight, Dazed," he said as he reached out to cut out the light. In the dark he could see Dazed's luminous eyes as her gem-like pendulum gently swayed back and forth. It glistened under the moonlight that pierced the window.

Sleep well, Friend-Trainer. You will need your rest for the dawn. The Torrent's heart yearns for the sea once more. His dreams are those of a Horsea.

Ash laughed softly at that, glad to hear of Torrent's excitement. It had been too long since his friend had showed this side of himself.

He shut his eyes, but the last he saw was a flash of red surrounding a hand before he fell into oblivion.

Sleep well, Friend-Trainer.

XX

This is a strange place. Humans pierce the sky here?

"They do," Ash confirmed as he leaned onto the rail to examine the rocket. Dazed stood beside him and stared dispassionately, although he could easily pick out the gleam of interest hidden within her eyes. "It's how we communicate and navigate. Satellites are at the source of it all."

Dazed blinked and idly polished her pendulum as she continued to look at the metal cylinder.

My mother told me of such feats when I was freshly hatched. I never paid heed to them.

"I don't blame you," Ash chuckled, although he almost turned to his friend in surprise. Dazed had never mentioned any family members. "It's incredible to think of what we can do nowadays. We've even put men on the moon, even if we've never gone back."

It is a barren place, or so it is claimed in the stories.

"Could you tell me more?" Ash asked, interested. He turned to look at Dazed curiously. "You've never said anything like this before."

There has never been a cause and I know precious little of what is recorded. My interest did not lie in such insubstantial tales. I did not believe they were relevant to myself…in light of recent events it is possible my disinterest was a mistake.

"I'll say," Ash snorted. Dazed's eyes smiled at him and she began her tale.

It is said that in the ancient times, when your kind and mine lived in stark separation, a great power threatened the world. The Origin did not wish this and manifested to shield its creations from their doom. As light filled the sky with death, the Origin appeared supported with the Pillars of Creation.

The Origin stopped the star-fire, but it was naught but a fragment of Creation and suffered. The Pillars it bore split and fell to the base earth. But others dispersed amongst the cosmos. Some appeared on the White, where they fused.

But as the Shards lay on the White's surface, one of those we share the world with gazed through them and saw the White, the reflection mortals may not survive in. It and its kind were changed by this, and the Shards fell to where they lived.

"And?" Ash prompted, thoroughly caught up in the legend at this point.

Ash wasn't sure he'd ever seen Dazed looked flustered before but it seemed like that just changed. Her eyes were closed shut and her pendulum absolutely still.

If I remember correctly I stopped paying attention at this point. I was young and hadn't imbibed sustenance in several hours.

He snorted in amusement, although he made sure to smile at Dazed so she knew it wasn't barbed. "Don't worry, Dazed. There are plenty of worse stories about me. I was a bit of a brat when I was younger."

She stared at him.

A difficult statement to believe. I require anecdotal evidence.

Ash smiled at her, amused. It looked like Dazed wasn't quite as above it all as she seemed…not that he hadn't already realized that. He could sympathize with her position more than most, after all.

"Well, there was this one time at Professor Oak's Summer Camp when I was seven. Gary and I were still friends, then…"

XX

"Dazed is really strong!" Tate whispered to Ash as Liza was engaged in a staring match with the bored Hypno. "When my eyes look at her they see so much."

"Like what?" Ash asked as he picked over his lunch of more ramen, although he'd mostly gotten fruit from another vendor to balance it out. The twins seemed to have an obsessive liking of the noodles, which were an import from Kanto.

He didn't bother asking Tate how he'd learned Dazed's name. It was a pointless question to ask a psychic.

Tate just smiled at him.

"So who should I go out of my way to meet once I leave Mossdeep?" Ash asked Tate, who'd taken advantage of Liza's distraction to start levitating her food into his own bowl. The boy looked up and stared at the Feather thoughtfully.

Ash was used to it by now and just waited for Tate's answer. He seemed to know most of the influential members of the Hoenn League quite well considering how he referred to them as his aunts and uncles.

The Hoenn League seemed quite close-knit. As much as Indigo was, for sure.

"Roxie is really nice — smart too!" Liza chirped while still locked in the competition with Dazed. Ash was fairly sure she was augmenting her eyes with psychic energy — they'd been going at it for nearly twenty minutes now. Dazed only rarely blinked, but no normal human could have lasted this long. "And stop stealing my food, baby brother!"

Tate grumbled and the pineapple slices dropped back to where they were, although he kept everything else he'd taken. Once that was done he answered the question that had been directed at him.

"Everyone's nice," he nodded sagely. At Ash's pointed look he deigned to continue. "Brawly's really cool. He taught me how to punch people. Maybe he can teach you too!"

Ash grinned at that and just shook his head. He couldn't see Tate hitting anyone.

"I can hit people!" Tate whined as his face scrunched up in displeasure. "Brawly said I can hit as hard as he can!"

"That's because you're a psychic, baby brother!" Liza giggled. "You're cheating!"

Tate shook his head. "Am not!"

"Am too!" Liza stuck her tongue out at him.

"Anyone else?" Ash cut in. As much as it amused him he would like to get concrete information.

"Flannery's really cool! And strong. And pretty," Tate added as an afterthought. "She helped teach us how to do our hair!"

"Don't forget about May and Brendan," Liza said, her voice wavering. It looked like the constant use of psychic energy around her eyes was starting to tax her. "They're only a bit younger than you!"

Ash nodded, grateful for the information. He turned to look out at the stretch of beach they'd claimed for themselves as he stewed over what he'd learned.

He couldn't hold back a smile as he saw Torrent out in the ocean creating vast whirlpools and twisters that reached a hundred feet high. Torrent's full strength was accessible to him in the water and he was making full use of it — he'd even created a massive ice floe for Sneasel to run around on.

The others were scattered all over the place. Tate and Liza had teleported them to an area very difficult to get to conventionally so they were the only inhabitants at the moment. Lunatone wasn't there since it was mostly nocturnal, but Solrock seemed to have struck up quite the camaraderie with Tangrowth, who'd occupied himself with trying to make a fort out of sand using Ancient Power.

Ash couldn't see the rest. Plume had flown away to scout out the area — with her speed Ash couldn't be sure she wasn't going to explore half of Hoenn — and all but Nidoking were out exploring with the exception of Infernus, who had opted to remain in his pokeball when Torrent had refused his challenge and promptly rushed out into the ocean.

"You'll see Mr. Juan next, right?" Tate spoke up as Liza finally broke away from Dazed, who almost seemed to smile before she went back to cleaning her pendulum. "He's kind of weird, but he's really funny! But don't let him talk you into getting different clothes — you'll be shopping for hours."

"I liked it," Liza frowned. "I don't think Mom or Daddy did, though. Why is money so important, anyways?"

He thought back to the picture of Juan on his Gym Leader profile.

No, he definitely wouldn't be discussing fashion with the Sootopolis Leader. It didn't quite fit in with his views, to say the least. Ash would rather not have to deal with Hoenn's sweltering heat in a long coat. As it was he'd abandoned his jacket and jeans.

Besides, if the lone picture of the man he'd seen was any indication Tate and Liza's parents were justified in wanting to avoid his influence. The man was very wealthy from a long Coordinator career aside from his League work and it showed.

"Phoebe and Sidney are really fun, too," Liza spoke up with a glimmer in her eye. "They hurt to be around, but they try to make it easier."

"Oh?" Ash asked, well aware of their status as members of Hoenn's Elite Four. They had only come into their position two years ago but were well-regarded from what he'd heard. "Are they bright?"

"No. Not like you," Tate said solemnly. "Phoebe bleeds darkness. She is Not. Where she goes the world cries. Sidney is a void. To us he does not exist, yet he walks. He breathes and laughs but he is silent. A tear in the world."

Liza sighed. "Tate."

The boy did not respond and stared into Ash's eyes intently. His own shone with raw blue that thrummed in time with Ash's heartbeat.

"Maybe your light will ground their darkness," Tate continued with the barest of hint of an echo to his childish voice. "A tear may be mended. A void may be filled."

Ash nodded slowly, his grip on Nidoking's heavy shoulder tight as he listened to Tate's words. He wouldn't say he was unnerved, but this was the side of psychics that he did not like.

It usually spelled bad news for him.

"It'll be okay," Liza reassured Ash before she turned to Tate. "Mom isn't going to like this! You know how she gets."

"Mom isn't here," Tate repeated his words from the day before. "He is."

Liza looked uncomfortable but nodded at last. "Well, it looks like everyone's almost done with their lunch! Where do you want to go now? You — oh, you've already been to the Space Center. That's where our Daddy works!"

"Really?" Ash asked, his interest piqued. The twins hadn't mentioned too much about their parents, although they referred to them quite often. "What does he do?"

"He's an astronaut," Tate informed him. The harsh blue glow was absent from his black eyes. "He would be going on a trip to the space station but it's been suspended."

Liza cut in before Ash could say a single word.

"Satellites being sent up aren't always making it," she said. When Ash glanced at her she smiled innocently. "What? I don't have to be psychic to know what you were going to ask!"

Ash rolled his eyes, although he couldn't resist letting a slight smile take hold. Nidoking, still asleep, grumbled as he stopped patting his armored shoulder.

"Could we stay here?" Tate broke the short silence. "I like the Song."

He shut his eyes and nodded. "Sure. Plume isn't back yet, anyway. Plus Torrent seems to be enjoying himself."

His heart is light.

Ash smiled at Dazed. "It is. He really loves this place."

It is the ocean. Wherever the abyss lies beneath is his home.

With that Dazed said no more and looked to stare at the sun that had only just begun to fall with shielded eyes.

"You know, if you like the Song so much…" Ash grinned as he reached inside his pack to materialize the Flute from one of the many storage compartments held within his new, rather expensive backpack. "I think you'll like this even more."

In that moment the attention of the world was on him.

XX

"What's this?" Ash muttered to himself as he pulled himself out of his bed. The last vestiges of sleep fled from his eyes when he saw a small badge in the shape of a heart with two halves and a red gem lying next to his hat. "The Mind Badge?"

He was a little confused as to why Tate and Liza had given it to him but went ahead and put it into his badge case. Ash honestly didn't even know if he was allowed to enter the Ever Grande Conference as an Elite Four trainee. But if he could he would — Ash would like to get one massive trophy to his name before he swore his life in service to the League.

So he kept the badge. It didn't matter whether Tate and Liza had given it to him for the unofficial battle they had his first day on Mossdeep or not.

What did matter was that they'd given it to him.

They came in the night. They would not cause you harm so I did not see it as necessary to alert you.

"It's fine, Dazed," he waved his friend off and started to get dressed. Ash took a moment to tap Nidoking hard enough on the forehead to wake him up, although Nidoking's tired grunt almost made him leave his first friend alone. "Come on, Nidoking. Time to get up. Can you lift the Hypnosis on Torrent?"

Of course, Friend-Trainer.

An instant later Torrent's eyes slowly slid open and his levitation stabilized itself. Ash flashed the Kingdra before his expression returned to its normal state and he opened his PokeNav to check for any messages his friends might have sent him.

The only indication of surprise he showed was a single blink.

Ash! that's not how you write it Tate!

It's Liza! And Tate but he doesn't know how to write letters.

Anyways I know we said we'd meet you before you left but we had to go to Ever Grande City for the day. Our Mom was upset about something. I don't think she liked that we didn't know where all the other psychics went. I'm pretty sure they'll come back.

So bye! Have fun!

From Tate and Liza

Ash smiled at the letter before he deleted it, although he did notice that they'd taken the time to add their information in. He appreciated that.

There were a few other messages but nothing important. Just another long letter from Gary where he glorified himself and his team and boasted of tearing apart Gym Leader Bugsy's team, some updates from his mother that he still didn't quite understand, and a furious, rambling letter from Jonathan about losing to Lance's cousin, Claire.

He couldn't say he was surprised about Jonathan's loss to Clair. From what Lance had told him about his cousin she was highly intelligent, vicious in a fight, and that she had the strength to back up her renowned arrogance. Apparently she stood just below Will and Karen, so Ash wasn't sure even he would be able to get a badge from her without a great deal of pain and planning.

Still, he needed to get moving. He wanted to be out of Mossdeep by noon and still needed to eat, get his friends their breakfast, get ready, and saddle up Plume.

Ash's face split into a grin at his last thought.

This was something he'd been waiting for ever since their time at Shamouti.

XX

"There it is!" Ash shouted over the howling din of the sky as Plume shot through the air. Her massive wings propelled them faster than he could keep up with. Guided by her Tailwind, they had already nearly finished the hundred mile journey to Sootopolis in about an hour. It was an easy pace for Plume.

Plume shrieked back and slowly began her descent toward the great white walls of the impact crater. He could only just make out the city within, although quite a bit was obscured by the wispy clouds that danced over the ancient fortress.

He stared at it curiously as Plume adjusted her course. It was too dark to see many details thanks to the goggles he'd bought to protect his eyes from the harsh sun and particles of the atmosphere but what he could see looked amazing.

Sootopolis was not an especially large city due to the limited space the crater provided, but it was one of the most influential and interesting in Ash's eyes. It was impossible to attack due to its natural fortifications and was a superpower in the olden days, playing host to an immensely powerful navy that created a trading and diplomatic empire that laid claim to all of the eastern Hoenn archipelago.

His mind flashed to the book his mother had given him. Ash had devoured it and thrown himself into the pursuit of history during his last week in Pallet. There was still a lot he hadn't gone over, but Alakazam had helped to fill in the gaps in his knowledge. But he'd made sure to read of Sootopolis, given its rather unique aspects.

And there were quite a few, as he'd quickly learned. Cynthia — he really had no idea how the Sinnoh Champion had the time to write such a monolithic text — had several chapters devoted solely to it, although he'd only finished the introduction.

He closed his eyes as his stomach lurched with Plume's descent and thought back to the words. Ash had read them so many times it seemed like they were burned into his memory.

In the year -33 BIL the sudden and almost entirely unexplained collapse of the Volumo Empire left almost the entire region of what is now Hoenn in shambles. Although chaos would continue to reign for centuries as the surviving city-states strove for power and influence one of the most prominent centers of the Volumo Empire remained untouched: the ancient city of what we know as Sootopolis.

Although weakened, Sootopolis quickly emerged as one of the most prominent of the new city-states and quickly claimed dominion over the islands of eastern Hoenn. In less than a century it had recovered from the collapse and maintained a booming trade network between city-states such as Lilycove, Slateport, Mossdeep, and Pacifidlog. Mossdeep was easily eclipsed and became Sootopolis' vassal, giving the leaders of the Rune City economic and military might unparalleled for centuries.

And that was just the introduction of its background with several more pages elaborating on its modern history and place in the revolution that shaped the Ever Grande League. Cynthia later went on to describe another fascinating discovery that had caught Ash's interest, even if he hadn't found enough time to investigate beyond the first few paragraphs before he'd had to leave for Hoenn.

"Easy," he called out to Plume as she neared the Rune City. She cried out in acknowledgement and slowed the descent, which had sped up to the point Ash's stomach was about to fly from his throat. Even with the saddle he was still having trouble adjusting to long flights. The saddle just seemed to make Plume think she didn't have to be as careful with him, although he'd set out on slowly disavowing her of that notion.

He took the moment to appreciate the view once more. Sootopolis' white stone had been shaped into countless ridges that held houses and buildings that had also been cut from the stone itself. It was a beautiful sight, like a gateway to another time.

There were modern designs too, of course. Pokemon had been employed to manipulate rock and earth to create platforms for new buildings that couldn't just be retrofitted for a new purpose such as Pokemon Centers. People had come up with ingenious ways to bring modern conveniences like electricity and running water — although that just improved on the ancient Sootopolitans' designs, really — but a Pokemon Center required too much modern technology to take any chances.

What buildings had been created in the new age still resembled the ancient designs of those hewn from white and grey stone. Aside from a few painted a dark blue they were almost entirely a light brown or grey so as to fit in.

"Do you like it?" Ash asked Plume, who happily shrieked and swooped low over the edges of the massive crater. She was alive in the air and ignored a few patrolling Swellow wearing the emblem of Sootopolis to spin wildly, which made Ash dizzy but also let her get away from the sentries. "I'll take that as a yes."

Plume cooed softly at him and finally opened up her wings to kill her speed. The winds around them slowly died down as she ceased her Tailwind and she was probably the slowest she'd been in weeks as she lazily drifted down over the city of stone. They'd already flown over the rather large port, although they'd been going fast enough that Ash doubted anyone had seen them.

"Do you see the gym anywhere?" Ash asked Plume, glad he didn't have to shout over the winds anymore. Ever since he'd battled Moltres with Lance it had been difficult to raise his voice to a shouting volume, although that had lessened after Shamouti. Lugia seemed to tried to heal some of the damage, which he appreciated.

The Pidgeot jerked him from his thoughts with a short cry of affirmation and she swooped toward a lone platform in the middle of Sootopolis' lake that Ash could just barely see. She seemed confident and he trusted her so he didn't say anything.

"Thank you," he grinned as he hopped off of Plume when she landed. She preened at the praise and affectionately nipped his hat as he started his work on the saddle. It would stay on Plume if he recalled her and he knew his friend would rather not deal with that if he released her for battle. "I know it wasn't quite the same as the last time we flew, but I enjoyed this. Maybe one day you won't have to hold back."

Plume cooed and lightly butted his shoulder with her head. He just laughed and took the last of the straps off her. The trainer spared just a moment to stroke her glossy crest before he pulled the saddle off and returned it to its storage compartment along with his goggles and the heavy jacket he wore for flight.

"I'll release you when I can," Ash promised Plume as he raised her pokeball. "I just need to battle the Gym Leader and check on that address Professor Oak sent me."

She bobbed her head up and down in understanding before she disappeared in a flash of light.

With that Ash turned to the building. It stood in stark contrast to the rest of the city in appearance and design. The platform dedicated solely to the Sootopolis Gym seemed to have been cultivated to reflect its Leader's personal tastes. Not uncommon, but gyms rarely differentiated from their city's standard architecture so much.

He stood at the entrance to a small courtyard surrounded by straight rows of trees that obscured the artificial island from the rest of the city's vision. Several hundred feet in front of him stood an absolutely massive building that looked more like an astoundingly extravagant mansion than anything else.

The gym was painted white and light blue that reminded Ash of the calm sea surrounding Sootopolis. Delicate pillars supported the front and above them was an intricate lattice of metal that appeared especially Kalosian in origin. A dark blue door held the entrance to Juan's palace.

Ash stepped forward. He ignored the courtyard and headed straight for the door — he wanted this to be quick. Professor Oak had given him a specific date, after all, and he wasn't sure how long he'd be able to go to the address.

Mostly he wanted to get a quick battle with Juan in to see how Torrent compared. Juan was well known for his incredibly powerful Kingdra, which served as the keystone of his team. It was said to rival an Elite Four's pokemon and Ash was certain it would serve as a very good opponent for Torrent.

He'd never gotten to face more than one of his own kind, after all. Torrent had fought plenty of other dragons but Ash hadn't even encountered another Kingdra in his travels aside from Mael. And Mael was hardly a good match for Torrent — he had reached his full physical maturity and was trained by Lance aside. It was just unfair.

But Juan's would be a fair battle. Ash hoped that he'd be able to pick up some tricks from the more experienced trainer. Strong as Torrent was, he lacked the experience and physical maturity that made Kingdra the forces they were under the command of trainers of mythical skill like Lance.

A tightly coiled ball of anticipation lurked in his stomach as he opened the door to the Sootopolis Gym and a battle Torrent had awaited for months.

"Hello!" A beautiful blonde woman greeted as he stepped in. She looked up from her computer to speak with him. "I'm Grace. How can I help you today?"

"I was hoping to battle Juan."

"Oh!" The woman frowned. She glanced at her monitor again. "I'm afraid Gym Leader Juan isn't present. He'll be staying at the Ever Grande Conference until its conclusion and there isn't anything on the schedule that suggests he'll be returning."

Ash sighed as the nervous energy within him faded. That was inconvenient. "Alright. Thank you for your help."

"I could schedule you a battle, if you'd like," the receptionist offered helpfully. "All I'd need is your Trainer ID Number and a time that's convenient for you. After the Conference, of course."

He hesitated before he made up his mind. "No, thank you. I'll just return later this season."

"Of course," Grace nodded. "Is there anything else?"

Ash's mind flickered to the address Professor Oak had sent him. He'd meant to ask Juan about it since he'd probably know about anything important for the Professor to take interest in.

"I don't think so," he shook his head. He'd rather not spoil the Professor's surprise. "Thanks for your help."

Grace smiled at him as he left.

XX

"A little further to the left," he instructed Plume as she glided over the water to a collection of platforms that held absolutely massive buildings. Most were plain and grey as the rest of the city, but the one they seemed to be heading toward was bright and tall, almost like a gym in size. "And that's it!"

Plume landed with all the grace he'd come to expect from her. Her claws dug into the soft earth of the platform but otherwise didn't cause any sort of disruption, although she did draw some ugly looks from the security guards outside. They didn't cause any uproar, however, so Ash ignored them.

Pokemon of Plume's size were generally frowned upon in cities, even if there weren't any laws against their release. It was only a problem if they were so large or temperamental that they caused damage, be it to property or people.

"Thanks, Plume," he grinned at the mighty Pidgeot. "I'll make sure you get extra Lum Berries tonight, alright?"

His friend chirped happily at that and nuzzled his shoulder before he returned her. Ash smiled at the pokeball as he clipped it onto his belt and put his PokeNav away.

"Sootopolis Event Center," Ash muttered to himself as he looked up at the large building. It probably had an enclosed stadium if its size was anything to by. The Event Center was probably larger than even the gym.

"Competition's over for the day," one of the guards told him. "You can probably get a ticket for tomorrow inside, if you want."

"Thanks," Ash nodded, even if he was inwardly confused. Regardless he stepped forward. There had to be some reason Professor Oak wanted him to come here.

The inside was nothing special. It was huge, but mostly bare of decoration. There were throngs of people hanging around, most surrounding individuals who seemed almost unnaturally cheerful and animated. They were usually standing by a pokemon, each of which looked very well groomed.

It wasn't until Ash saw the banner over what looked like a receptionist's desk that he caught onto what this was.

"Sootopolis Pre-season Contest Demonstration," he muttered to himself. Interested, Ash gave the area another glance. He wasn't close enough to see whether the pokemon were noticeably different from strict battlers, but the aesthetic differences were a bit more obvious now. They lacked some of the raw muscle that dedicated battlers possessed, although that only really came into play on physical fighters.

He honestly didn't know much about Contests. Gary didn't especially approve of the events, of course. His friend tended to be judgmental at the best of times, although he didn't quite understand his dislike.

Ash admitted that the idea of Contests — making pokemon look pretty, as far as his admittedly limited understanding went — wasn't exactly appealing, but he didn't see any reason to hate it. It just didn't mesh well with his philosophy.

But he'd heard that the sort of control that went into Contest training was incredible. It wasn't always easy to make a pokemon's techniques visually appealing. Awe-inspiring, impressive, powerful…those were easy. Beautiful to someone who didn't appreciate the raw effort and power that went into it like Ash did? Not always.

So he stepped further into the midst of coordinators and their fans, although he didn't step into one of the circles. Ash figured he'd have plenty of opportunity to examine one of the Contest pokemon and see if there were any subtler differences to pick out. It's not like they were under lock and key.

Still, he wasn't quite sure what Oak had sent him here for. To raise his interest in contests? Unlikely. The subject had never come up between them before.

Was there someone he was supposed to meet here?

He wasn't personally acquainted with any Coordinators. Ash knew that Champion Wallace and Juan were prominent coordinators but both of them were out at the Ever Grande Conference. If the Sootopolis Gym Leader wasn't here then there was no way the Champion would be.

"Thank you SO much for coming today, everybody!" A young teenage girl probably two or three years older than him announced suddenly. Ash looked up at the source of the voice who was on top of a strange flying-type with wings so fine and wispy they looked like they were clouds, which he recognized as — what in Mew's name was she wearing?

The Feather flared and crackled at his surprise and even the icy fire in the back of his mind chuckled in amusement before it receded.

He stared at the new arrival, who was wearing what might have been the strangest outfit he'd ever seen. Will's suit and cane looked positively mundane in comparison.

It was clearly modeled off of her partner's appearance, what with the large tufts of cloud-like material wrapped around her wrists and above her boots. She had on short tights that were utterly negligible compared to her skirt, which was basically one giant frill that extended outward from her waist.

Ash shook his head to distract himself. Once he got past the garish outfit the girl was rather pretty, although he decided to ignore that. He needed to listen — this was probably who Oak wanted him to meet. She had to be important if she was speaking at this sort of event at her age.

"Ali and I were SO excited to see all of you here — your performances were just fabulous! I can tell this year's Contest season is going to be awesome!" The girl cheered and was joined by the rest of the crowd. Her Altaria sang along with her with a tune that seemed to wrap every listener up in its cloudy wings. It was clear that both of them loved what they were doing as much as Ash loved battling. "We don't have a medal since this isn't an official event, but I still want to give a super special round of applause to our winner!"

His breath hitched as a young woman with long, light brown hair and a soft green dress stepped up beside the girl and her Altaria. An Eevee was curled up on her slim shoulders and seemed to grin out at the crowd of coordinators as the familiar woman graciously accepted the applause.

"She had an awesome showing and its great to see her back in Hoenn!" The girl cheered and took the older coordinator's hand to raise it up in victory. "So give Daisy Oak everything you've got!"

Ash didn't even hear the applause.

A/N: So here it is, the first chapter of Hoenn! I hope you enjoyed it. I know not a ton of heavy plot stuff happened, but it was more an introduction to the region than anything and sets the stage for the rest of the arc.

Next chapter should get into a bit more of the plot while continuing to introduce new concepts and ideas I'll be using in Hoenn. After that things will get much more serious and I'll get back to my normal length. These really short chapters probably won't be the norm for much longer.

I hope everyone enjoyed it! I changed a few parts of my writing style, so make sure to review and let me know what you thought!

Thanks for reading!