"Hmm," Cynthia said, checking a map. "Now, do we go this way, or that way…"

"Does it matter?" Dawn asked. "If we're going to Jubilife anyway, I mean."

"It does matter, yes," Cynthia replied, showing her the map. "So the direct route to Jubilife goes through Bewilder Forest, a little way up ahead. You see?"

She pointed, and Dawn leaned closer.

"Oh, yeah, I see it," she agreed. "What's that red exclamation mark?"

"It means that the location is considered dangerous, beyond just having Pokémon in it," Cynthia explained. "In this case, Bewilder Forest has a large population of Stantler, and they've got a reputation for using their illusion abilities to confuse travellers. So the alternative is that we take a longer route around to the east, like that, which… well, is longer."

Ash frowned.

"Would it help if I got Noctowl?" he asked. "I have Foresight, and so does she, and it might be more convenient if there's two of us?"

"Well, if you have Foresight, we may as well go through Bewilder Forest," Cynthia decided. "It's the shorter route and there might be some interesting Pokémon we meet there."

"That's useful," Lucario said. "Something that makes one choice clearly a better one. It's a pity more situations aren't like that."

"Hush," Cynthia chided.

"Wow!" someone called. "That's a really cool Pokémon!"

"I know that voice," Dawn realized. "Barry?"

The sandy-haired young trainer came running down the Sandgem road towards them, and went right past Ash, Latias and Cynthia's Lucario to focus particularly on Zorua.

"I've never seen one like that before!" he said. "Dawn, is this one of yours?"

Zorua shook his head, then sneezed and fell over backwards.

"Zorua's part of my team," Ash said. "You're one of Dawn's friends, right?"

"Yeah, I grew up in Twinleaf with her!" Barry said, still inspecting Zorua. "So, uh, this one looks a bit like a Zorua, are they shiny?"

"He's a regional variant," Cynthia told him, sounding amused. "They're actually the type that's native to this region, though it's been a long time since anyone's seen one."

"Huh, that's sad," Barry declared, as Zorua picked himself back up and sat down on his haunches. "Because he looks really fluffy! It'd be great to have one of those to go with my Piplup, but I can't have him obviously so I guess I'll have to go and look for one myself."

"You got a Piplup too?" Dawn said. "That… somehow seems weird to me, I don't know why."

"I know what you mean, but I guess it just means we both picked the same kind of Pokémon because we both have the same kind of taste in Pokémon!" Barry said firmly. "Or maybe it's some other reason, but either way it's nothing to complain about… oh, wait, I recognize you too!"

He stepped back and pointed at Koraidon. "You're Koraidon, right?"

Koraidon nodded, glancing at Ash. "Dad, does it feel this weird when someone recognizes you? I know I'm a unique Pokémon, but it still feels a bit strange."

"I guess you get used to it over time?" Ash guessed. "I sure hope that happens for me…"

"Correct me if I'm wrong, Barry," Cynthia said. "But you're Palmer's son, aren't you? He's got good taste in Milotics."

"Yeah, but I guess I don't like thinking of myself that way," Barry replied. "I think of myself as Barry, and I hope one day that Dad will be thought of as Barry's Dad! By people who aren't me, I mean… though if I'm going to make that happen, I need to get a move on! It was great to catch up with you, Dawn!"

"Somehow I don't think anyone's ever going to be able to catch up with this kid," Latias said to Pikachu, who tried not to laugh hard enough to fall off Ash's back.

"It was great to see you in person, Miss Cynthia!" Barry went on. "And Miss Koraidon, and Pikachu who I've heard so much about, and Sir Heavenly Fount of Light!"

Barry ran off, straight towards Bewilder Forest, and Ash began looking around.

"Uh…" he began. "He meant me, right?"

"I don't think he meant me, I was invisible," Latias said. "Also I'd be a Dame, right?"

"I think we're both Nobles, so I don't know how that counts," Pikachu opined.

"He could mean me, but I was hiding behind Dad," Mew said.

Ash looked troubled. "Why did he call me that, then? That's a weird term."

Cynthia frowned.

"It's ringing a faint bell somewhere, but I'm not sure where from," she admitted. "It could be that someone used those words in that order in an account or diary I read years ago… it's a pity I can't go back to check."

At lunch, Latias split open some bread with a knife, then turned to Koraidon.

"What do you think, today?" she asked.

"Something spicy?" Koraidon asked. "I feel like spicy would be a nice one today."

"Can do," Latias agreed, and began slicing some Cheri Berries before adding onions and cheese.

Koraidon licked her muzzle, and a little way away Dawn hummed to herself as a seething mass of swirling, malevolent spirits used Will-O-Wisp to heat some Poffins.

"Just a little longer," she asked Cynthia's Spiritomb. "And… there we go."

Dawn lifted the Poffins off the heat, then there was a splatterplash sound.

"Piplup, was that you?" she asked, looking up.

"I was using Bubblebeam, if that's what you mean?" Piplup replied. "I missed, because Zorua is surprisingly agile."

Zorua wagged his tail.

"Probably," Ash summarized.

Then a damp Turtwig advanced out of the underbrush.

"What's the big idea?" he demanded. "Which one of you is responsible for this?"

Zorua pointed at Piplup.

Piplup looked offended.

"You got wet because of Piplup, right?" Dawn checked, guessing what was being said. "Sorry about that, I should really have been supervising him during training."

She held up a poffin. "Want one?"

Turtwig considered.

"...if I can get dried off, this will be acceptable," he decided.

"Are you Cynthia's starter?" Latias asked, curious, as they had lunch.

"No, I'm not," Lucario answered. "Actually, if you were human I'd ask how you could think that, because I'm pretty sure Cynthia's actual starter Pokémon is very famous for it. But since you're not human… wild capture?"

Latias shook her head. "Actually, I grew up in a city, but we were supposed to stay out of sight. I really didn't learn much at all about human Pokémon battling, certainly not about Cynthia. And I guess I never picked it up after joining Ash."

Lucario took a bite of his Poffin, then finished it before resuming. "The basic answer is, Garchomp. You've seen her at meals, there's no way she'd ever leave Cynthia behind, but I'm the usual choice to be out for research situations because I can translate – and even though Ash can as well, it's not really fair for all the translation effort to fall on him."

"I get that, yeah," Latias agreed.

She tilted her head. "I wonder if I could learn how to speak with telepathy, like some Psychic Pokémon do? You know, like Mesprit did, or Jirachi, that kind of thing."

"It's probably not impossible," Lucario said.

Latias looked a bit disappointed. "How come you didn't react when I mentioned Jirachi? I'm pretty sure he was really rare."

"Yeah, but Cynthia got told about it during the period when Professor Oak was trying to find out what Ash was," Lucario explained. "Sorry."

"Tackle, Razor Leaf, Bite and… Synthesis, is what my Pokédex says," Dawn listed off, once she'd finished drying Turtwig and checking that he was healthy. "Is that right?"

Turtwig nodded, then returned his attention to a bright yellow Poffin.

"Hmm," Dawn frowned. "Now I'm wondering how you could use those for a Contest… without just copying something someone else has done, that is."

She tapped her chin. "I guess… well, the important bit is being able to execute something well and flexibly, not necessarily being completely novel, but if… if I came up with an Appeal based on pushing Razor Leaf attacks through a Sunny Day, that would still be copying what May did, right?"

Ash frowned, thinking about that. "I guess… maybe? But there's nothing wrong with taking some of an idea, so long as you don't use all of it."

"What's a Contest, anyway?" Turtwig said.

Ash relayed that, and Dawn considered how to explain it quickly.

"The idea is, there's two parts," she said. "Appeal and Battle. Appeal is the more purely-Contest side of things, it's about a Pokémon showing off creative and beautiful ways to use their moves."

She waved her hand. "So, Piplup's Bubblebeam would be used not to do damage, but to look impressive, and… probably combined with another move, sometimes it's one Pokémon each and sometimes it's two. He's got Bide which has potential there, but we're still working on the details, it might involve using Bubblebeam to make patterns. But anyway, the top scoring Pokémon in the Appeal round go through to the Battle rounds."

Dawn tried to use complex gestures to convey the concept, and didn't do especially well. "Which are… they're Pokémon battles, but they're Pokémon battles on a time limit and where you try to impress the judges rather than focus everything on winning. So it matters a lot that you look cool when doing it."

Turtwig looked interested. "I could do cool, I think," he said.

AN:

I'm sure it's nothing.