"Well, here we are," Ash said, looking around. "Sinnoh."

He sent out Koraidon, then Zorua, and Mew stood up on Ash's back to have a look around.

"What's this town called?" Latias asked.

"It's, uh…" Ash frowned. "Well, it's supposed to be Sandgem Town, and that's where the airship flight said it was going to, so I guess it's probably Sandgem."

"That does check out," Pikachu agreed.

"And, Professor Oak said that I should go to Professor Rowan's lab," Ash went on. "Which, uh… I guess is that building over there."

"I wonder what Professor Rowan is like?" Pikachu said, thinking. "We know Professor Oak, of course, then there's Ivy, Elm and Birch."

"There's only one way to find out," Ash decided. "...well, uh, there's probably more than one way to find out. But there's one obvious way to find out, so let's go!"

"Hmm," Professor Rowan said, a few minutes later, taking notes on a pad of paper. "So… one of a kind Pokémon, yes?"

Koraidon nodded.

"Miraidon is similar, but not quite the same," Ash provided. "They're siblings."

"Ah, like those two from Galar, I shouldn't wonder," Rowan said. "Do you mind letting me have a look at your foot, young…?"

"She's female, if that helps," Ash said.

"Yeah, I'm a girl!" Koraidon agreed proudly.

"Young lady, then," Rowan decided, then observed the base of Koraidon's paw. "Similar to Cyclizar… I'll definitely have to think a bit more about this one."

Koraidon nodded, putting her paw down, and Rowan turned his attention to Zorua. "And, well… it's really quite a treat to see what the Hisuian variation of Zorua looks like."

Zorua wagged his tail.

"Uh… Professor?" Ash asked. "I was here to meet someone?"

"Ah, yes," Rowan realized. "I do apologize, young man, I was quite distracted. Yes, she's due to arrive shortly – you turned up early, very good habit to be in."

Someone knocked on the door.

"Ah, that might be her now," Rowan said, walking over. "Come on in!"

It wasn't Cynthia.

Instead, a young girl came in, saw Ash, Koraidon, Zorua and Pikachu, and stared.

The staring only increased when Mew poked their head up over Ash's back.

"Uh," she said. "Are… you guys the starter Pokémon?"

Pikachu sniggered.

"Young lady – you're Dawn, correct?" Rowan checked. "Don't you recognize Ash Ketchum?"

Dawn looked blank.

"...I… don't think so?" she tried. "The only Pokémon I recognize there is Pikachu… can't they learn all kinds of crazy moves? May's one can."

"Oh, I get it!" Ash realized. "You're into Contests, right? May's a friend of mine!"

Dawn looked quite impressed.

Professor Rowan brought out three starter Pokémon for Dawn to choose from – Piplup, Chimchar, and Turtwig – and Ash checked his Pokédex for information about each of them.

"That's neat," he said. "Hey, Pikachu, look… Torterra's a Ground type, which means it can use Ground moves against both Infernape and Empoleon. But Infernape's a Fire and Fighting type, so it can use Fighting moves against Empoleon and Fire ones against Torterra… and Empoleon can use Water moves against Infernape, so I think the only one who can't…"

He stopped. "No, wait, loads of Water types learn Ice moves, and that's a double weakness even if Empoleon isn't Ice type. I've never seen three starter Pokémon choices that are that good against each other before."

"It is a funny thing, yeah," Pikachu agreed.

"Hmm…" Dawn mused. "Does it help to make my decision if I'm going to be working on Contests…?"

Turtwig sniffed. "Well, with that attitude it does. I'm out."

"I don't know…" Chimchar wondered.

"Contests?" Piplup asked. "Well, I'm sure I'd be the best, because everyone would be clamouring to see me! So I'm the obvious best choice."

He puffed out his chest, fell forwards, and rolled back upright.

Dawn giggled.

Piplup huffed, brushing himself off. "I meant to do that."

"Sure you did," Pikachu said.

"Hmm…" Dawn frowned, then crouched down. "What about it, Piplup?"

Piplup nodded, then there was another knock on the door.

"Maybe it's Cynthia this time?" Latias guessed.

Latias had, in fact, guessed correctly.

Cynthia came in, favoured Dawn with a smile, then gave her a second, slightly more puzzled look.

"...this might sound like an odd question," she began. "But how far back can you trace your ancestry?"

Dawn frowned.

"I know my grandparents?" she tried. "And I assume I must have had great grandparents."

Cynthia made an expansive gesture. "Don't worry," she explained. "Just a few old sketches making me curious. It's nothing to worry about."

She turned to Ash. "Ash, it's good to meet you at last. And this is Koraidon, I think?"

"Yeah, that's right," Ash confirmed. "How much did Professor Oak tell you? I guess it'd be silly to repeat anything he's already said."

"Hmm," Cynthia said. "Who your father is, about your children and siblings, about your record in the Battle Frontier and what your Badges can do… though Brandon actually mentioned something interesting."

She got out an old book from her pocket, and opened it. "Does your ability to translate ancient languages reach to this?"

Ash looked at the book.

"Huh," he said. "That's really weird. I don't understand most of it, no, but there's some bits where I can tell they don't mean anything. They're like… spaces, I guess?"

Cynthia turned the book around to look at it. "Spaces?"

"Yeah, so, that symbol with a circle and a dot in the middle of it," Ash explained. "That doesn't mean anything. The symbol with a circle without a dot, that does mean something, but I don't know what it means…"

"Ah, I see," Cynthia realized. "That's a cryptographic null, which means Volo really must have wanted his notes kept secret… that's going to be an interesting puzzle."

She put the book away again. "Now, then… if we're going to be travelling together, and I hope we are, there's one important question I need answered first."

"There is?" Ash asked, worried.

"What kind of question?" Latias said.

"Can you cook?" Cynthia checked. "Because I'm not great, and we might need to stock up on ready meals otherwise."

"I… don't think I've tried in ages," Ash replied. "Not since I turned out to be a Pokémon. I probably could do, now, with Confusion, but that doesn't really mean I'd do it well."

"I helped Brock with Koraidon and Miraion's sandwiches, so I can probably do those," Latias said.

Koraidon exhaled. "Phew!" she said. "I was worried!"

Dawn raised her hand.

"I can do a pretty good Poffin?" she volunteered.

As they left the lab ten minutes later, Cynthia was introducing the others to her Eevee.

"She's almost ready to evolve, we think," she explained. "But the real question is, to what…"

"I'd like to be a Leafeon or a Glaceon," Eevee said, dangling an Everstone off her tail. "But every time I think about it, I can't decide."

"I don't suppose I can get one of those?" Piplup asked.

"An Everstone?" Ash checked. "Where's a good place to get an Everstone?"

"I'm sure we won't have trouble," Cynthia said. "Now… do we go west to Lake Verity, or north to Jubilife first?"

AN:

Learning to cook can be helpful.