"Here we are," Dawn said, inhaling. "Floaroma Town!"
She smiled. "It's easy to see where it got the name."
"It's a good thing there isn't anyone in our group who gets hayfever," Cynthia said. "But yes, Floaroma is a beautiful place… did you know, there's actually a legend about it?"
"Oh, really?" Ash asked.
He glanced back at Pikachu and Latias. "I guess… actually, come to think of it, do either of you guys remember us running into a legend about somewhere that wasn't true?"
"I think there might have been one or two where it was a misunderstanding?" Pikachu said, meditatively. "But no, I can't come up with one where it was just… outright wrong. At least not at the moment."
"The Sir Aaron one turned out to be a lot more complicated than we thought, does that count?" Latias asked.
"Maybe," Ash said. "So, uh… what is this legend?"
"Well, the legend is that Floaroma used to be a barren and desolate hill," Cynthia said. "That one there, actually."
She pointed at a hill that was neither barren nor desolate.
"And people tried planting flowers to cheer up the place, and crops to eat, but nothing would grow, until one night someone found a single pink flower in a small patch of greenery," Cynthia went on. "And the person who found it said their thanks for the blessing of nature, and within seconds the whole of the landscape had bloomed at once."
"Wow," Dawn said, looking around. "And it's been like that ever since?"
"That's what the legend says," Cynthia agreed. "Now, personally I think that could be one of several Pokémon, but there's a possibility that Enamorus was involved – the goddess of Spring and the herald of the new year's growth. Then again, it could also have been a Shaymin, known as the Gratitude Pokémon, or perhaps it could have been inspired by the Pokémon also known in Galar as the High King or the Old King."
Ash was amazed. "There's a lot of different Pokémon it could have been, huh… what about Celebi? They're Grass-type, right? And the one I met could do things with plants, I… think?"
"That big vine thing," Pikachu agreed.
"The big vine thing, yeah," Ash confirmed.
"I don't think I even heard about that one," Cynthia admitted. "Would you mind explaining?"
"Sure, I can explain," Ash agreed. "So, this was back before I found out I was a Pokémon…"
They went through that as they headed down to the Floaroma Contest Hall, for Dawn to register. Ash had to summarize a lot to get through it that quickly, just about managing to reach the end before they actually reached the Contest Hall.
"Wow," Dawn said. "Suicune sounds like such a graceful Pokémon."
She glanced ahead to the Contest hall, then did a double-take.
"Kenny?" she asked. "Fancy meeting you here!"
"Oh, hey, Dee Dee!" Kenny retorted. "I'm surprised to see you here, too. Small Sinnoh, huh?"
"Dee Dee?" Ash asked, curious.
"Don't call me that," Dawn protested. "Uh, guys, this is Kenny, we grew up in Twinleaf."
"Yeah, and that means I have some great stories about Dawn," Kenny replied. "Like, you know I called her Dee Dee there? That's because of this thing with a Plusle and a Minun and-"
"Hey, Dad?" Miraidon interrupted, speaking much more loudly than they normally did. "Can I ask a question?"
"Uh, okay, Miraidon," Ash replied. "What is it?"
"I do not have experience of it, but bringing up embarrassing childhood stories is not polite, correct?" Miraidon asked.
"Yeah, it's… not really very polite," Ash agreed. "Unless the person's actually okay with it, which you need to base on what you know about that person."
"And what's the word for someone who does it without permission?" Miraidon pressed.
Zorua put a paw over his muzzle and yawned slightly, then shook himself.
"I guess there's a lot of words for it, but they're mostly a bit rude?" Ash said, trying not to glance at Kenny too obviously. "But, uh, it's something you shouldn't do."
"What shouldn't I do?" Miraidon asked. "To make sure it is completely clear."
They weren't being subtle about looking at Kenny, and Cynthia covered her mouth for a moment.
"If something that embarrassed someone happened and they don't want you talking about it, then talking about it is, I guess… it depends on who you're with and how well you know them, but if you're in doubt you shouldn't do it," Ash summarized.
Kenny was turning red.
"Thank you, Dad!" Miraidon replied. "I am glad to have avoided that confusion."
After a bit, Kenny apologized, and Dawn said that that was fine and there were no hard feelings and she'd probably share the stories herself when she felt like it.
But the important word there was herself.
Then Kenny said that he was actually going to be registering for the Floaroma Contest, and Dawn replied that she was planning on doing it as well, then they exchanged information about their starter Pokémon.
It turned out that they'd both picked Piplup, and Cynthia chuckled.
"Did everyone from Twinleaf choose Piplup?" she asked. "Your friend Barry did as well."
"Barry got a Piplup?" Kenny asked. "Huh. I haven't actually met him yet – wait oh no I just recognized you-"
While Kenny tried to process that he'd been next to the reigning Champion of Sinnoh for several minutes without noticing, Dawn went up to the desk to register for the Floaroma Contest.
"Let's see…" the organizer requested. "ID?"
"I've got a Pokétch app for it," Dawn replied, flicking through to find it. "...there we go!"
The organizer held up his scanner, and it went beep. "Thank you. Now, which Pokémon are you going to be using?"
Dawn looked down at her Piplup, who had his flippers on his hips and was glaring at Kenny's Prinplup.
"Pip-pip-luplup," the Water-type muttered, which – though Dawn didn't know it – was mostly about how Prinplup had evolved and that was a very tacky thing for a Piplup to do.
"I guess Piplup," she said. "He's got something to prove… for the Battle Round, though. And then for the Appeal round, I'd like to use Pachirisu!"
The organizer blinked, then looked at his screen.
"...Pachirisu?" he repeated.
"Pachirisu?" Pachirisu asked, popping up over Dawn's shoulder. "Pachi-ri-su?"
"Oh, that Pachirisu?" the organizer asked. "Whose Pokémon are they, then? We need to register the loan."
Dawn looked confused, then exchanged a glance with Pachirisu.
Then she groaned.
"Oh, right, actually catching her," she said. "I missed that bit… I'll just be a moment."
"Miraidon," Ash began quietly, as an Appeal took place on the stage. "You did that on purpose, right?"
"Mostly," Miraidon replied, just as quietly so they didn't get shushed. "I could see that Dawn did not look happy with having that talked about, and I wanted to make sure he wouldn't. But I couldn't tell him."
The Electric-type looked nervous. "Was that okay?"
Ash was silent for a long moment.
"I don't know?" he admitted. "I think it wasn't very polite, but I can't really think of a way you could have done it that would have stopped Kenny, at least, if it wasn't asking me to tell him off directly."
He considered. "Maybe there was a way to do it, but I guess it's hard to think of one quickly… just watch out for that, okay?"
"Got it, dad," Miraidon confirmed. "Doing the right thing is harder than it sounds."
They pointed. "It looks like it is Dawn's turn now."
Sure enough, Dawn was coming onto the Appeal stage, and sent out Pachirisu with a flash.
The Electric-type looked around at the crowd, then gulped slightly.
"Spark!" Dawn called, and Pachirisu visibly shook herself before using Spark. It flashed around her, forming a pattern, but it was a lot more wobbly than when the Electric-type had been using it in practice.
Ash fretted, then realized that the audience hadn't seen the practice. They could only see what Pachirisu was actually doing, and her wobbly pattern didn't look obviously like a mistake.
"Seed Bomb," Dawn prompted, and Pachirisu formed a Seed Bomb by clapping her paws together. "Now, up!"
"Hup!" Pachirisu agreed, throwing the Seed Bomb into the air and batting it higher with a tail flick.
Dawn called for a Sweet Kiss, then another tail flick, and finally a Discharge. Pachirisu didn't quite get that right either, making little static discharges go to places they probably shouldn't, but the Seed Bomb's detonation was a nice punctuation at the end of the Appeal and Dawn went through.
Though it was quite close.
"Stage fright, huh?" Dawn asked, backstage.
Pachirisu looked nervous.
"Don't worry, Pachirisu," Dawn assured her, giving her a hug. "I don't mind. I wouldn't have minded if you lost, either… now we know, and it's something to work on, okay?"
The Electric-type nodded, wriggling out of Dawn's grip a bit, then reached up and discharged Dawn's hair with a fzzrt.
"Oh, huh," Dawn said, wincing. "I… yeah, I'm lucky I didn't notice that, or I'd have ended up with stage fright… it's funny what happens, huh?"
She patted Pachirisu on the head. "Thanks… and we'll work on Discharge later, okay? But now I need to make sure Piplup is ready…"
"You seem preoccupied," Lucario said, between Battle Rounds.
"Yes, I am," Cynthia replied. "I started thinking about something and now I can't seem to stop trying to puzzle it out."
Lucario made an inviting gesture, and Cynthia tapped her fingers on her thigh.
"It's because of what Ash said, about Celebi," she explained. "And of course the fact that Dialga isn't just a Pokémon mentioned in old accounts and legends but actually Ash's literal sibling, which he heard about from their brother Rayquaza. And it got me thinking a bit about… history, and how consistent it is."
She shrugged. "The Celebi thing sort of brought it home, but… how often has time travel actually resulted in something that doesn't make sense without time travel? And could we try and actually detect that? Are there instances of time travel already in recorded history, we just haven't been looking properly?"
"I'd have thought some people would have been looking," Lucario replied.
"Yes, but the ones I've read have all got plenty of false positives," Cynthia said. "Things which don't need time travel or even really imply it… there's far too many explanations for the Pokéball symbol appearing before the invention of the Pokéball, and even if I might find that convincing there's the little problem that the study dated the invention of the Pokéball to the modern Silph Co. mass-produced model, not the Apricorn variants that had been around for hundreds of years at that point."
Lucario winced.
"The sad thing is, that was one of the better cases in that article," Cynthia replied, then looked up as the next Battle Round began.
It was Dawn against Kenny, and the two Twinleaf trainers sent out their Piplup and Prinplup respectively.
"Ah, this should be interesting," Cynthia added. "I wonder if Kenny's noticed what the Everstone might mean?"
"Bubblebeam!" Dawn called, to open, and Kenny countered that with his own order for Bubblebeam. That led to the two attacks hitting one another, cancelling one another out, and Dawn and Kenny both lost points.
Dawn lost more points, because Prinplup's attack had been larger and more dramatic, but she rallied and called for Piplup to use Peck.
Kenny's Prinplup used Metal Claw in response, but this time it was Piplup's turn to get the upper hand… or upper beak, or flipper, whichever was more correct for a Piplup or Prinplup. He was smaller and more agile, and able to fence back and forth with his Peck attack to keep both Metal Claws away from him.
Despite that, though, Kenny's Prinplup was looming over Piplup, and the smaller Water-type backed away as he demonstrated his skill with Peck.
"Piplup, ready!" Dawn said. "Now – Whirlpool!"
Piplup deflected away one last Metal Claw attack, rising onto the tips of his feet as he spun from the recoil, then turned that into a Whirlpool.
"Mist!" Kenny prompted, and Prinplup cloaked the arena in mist.
"Don't worry!" Dawn said. "Make it spin faster, and use Bubblebeam!"
The result of that got an appreciative ooh from the crowd, as this time Piplup's Bubblebeam didn't go wild. It sprayed out in a spiral pattern instead, first inside the Whirlpool from where Piplup waited in the middle and then flicking out as it reached the edge.
The speed of the spin gave the Bubblebeam bubbles extra force, too, and even though most of them were going flying in other directions the ones that hit Prinplup knocked the other Water-type back a step.
"Don't give up, Prinplup!" Kenny instructed. "Jump into the whirlpool to fight as well – Drill Peck!"
Prinplup's Drill Peck went the other direction to Piplup's Whirlpool, shredding them both and cancelling them out in a shower of water. The result flung Piplup into the air, as well, and he tumbled for a moment before managing to wave his flippers fast enough to stabilize.
Dawn glanced at the score. "Whirlpool again!" she said. "And Bide!"
"Bide?" Kenny repeated, confused, as Piplup landed and did a twirl that turned into a kind of waterspout. "Prinplup, don't attack!"
He frowned. "Bide is an attack that charges up when the other Pokémon's hit… wait…"
The whirlpool began to glow red inside, then exploded as Piplup unleashed his energy.
Energy from the whirlpool, that had been hitting him while he was inside it.
The blast knocked Prinplup over, giving Dawn the advantage, and she pointed.
"Now, Whirlpool with the end towards Prinplup!" she said. "And Bubblebeam!"
"Phew," Dawn sighed, some minutes later, looking at the Floaroma Ribbon. "I did it."
Piplup huffed.
"We did it," she amended. "Well done, both of you… it's just, it feels weird to actually have a Ribbon now, after so long waiting to get one."
"Yeah, I bet," Kenny agreed, making Dawn look up in surprise.
He stopped, looking awkward. "I mean… uh… I haven't got my own first Ribbon yet, but I'm hoping to get one soon. But I bet it'll be like that for me, too."
"Right," Dawn said. "That makes sense. I was thinking in terms of… you know, how it's something I've been thinking about for years."
"Yeah," Kenny agreed. "Same as me."
Dawn blinked. "...huh?"
"Wow, you really didn't notice," Kenny said, shaking his head. "I guess you were so into Contests as a girl you didn't realize I was into them too."
Pachirisu giggled, and Dawn tried not to snigger as well.
"I guess so," she agreed. "Well, uh… we'll probably meet in another Contest, right?"
"Yeah," Kenny confirmed. "I'm looking forward to it… Dawn."
Then he paused.
"...is it that story specifically you don't want me to share, or-"
"Hey!"
AN:
I'm not quite sure what move that is that Miraidon was demonstrating, but Constructively Being A Child is probably a good description of the effect.