As the names would suggest, Eterna City was not far from Eterna Forest, and when they arrived Ash looked around.
"So, where's the gym?" he asked. "It's, uh… Grass-type, here, right?"
"Correct," Cynthia agreed. "And we could go straight there, but there's also somewhere else that you might find interesting to visit."
"There is?" Ash asked, curious, then looked around for a second time to see if he could spot it.
"Eterna City is one of the older cities in Sinnoh," Cynthia told him.
She pointed. "And… if I remember correctly… over there is the Eterna Historical Museum. It's got several artefacts from the history of Sinnoh, some of them irreplaceably valuable, along with exhibits and displays about that history."
"Specifically including the Legendary Pokémon that people have paid homage to in the past of the Sinnoh region," Garchomp added. "Hint hint."
"Oh, I get it," Ash realized. "So, uh… well, we met Mesprit already, so I know what she looks like, and I could look up what they know about… well, Uxie and Azelf at least, but the others too."
Cynthia smiled. "Normally, I'd say it was a bad idea to get preconceptions from hearing about relatives before you meet them, but – well, I think you more than anyone know about how legendary Pokémon aren't always the same as the stories about them. So it's mostly knowing the right things to ask about."
"I think I came here once," Dawn said, thinking. "It was years ago, though, and I don't really remember any of it. It was a school trip."
"What's a school trip?" Piplup asked. "And is it a waste of time?"
"I've heard about them!" Koraidon told him. "It's when you want to show someone something and also get a day that's not quite like going to school, so you take the class to see something instead. It's like when we went to that museum in Oreburgh… actually, Dad, do you think they'll have a puzzle here too?"
"If they do, I'll make sure to get Miraidon so you can go through it together, okay?" Ash said. "I guess the Gym can wait!"
Pikachu blinked.
"Wow," he said. "Sometimes Ash says something that really brings home how much he's changed in the last few years…"
Outside the museum, there were two statues of Dialga and Palkia, and Ash stared at them for at least a minute.
"So… that's what they look like," he said, eventually. "Or what people think they look like."
"I wonder if they're uncles or aunts," Mew pondered, flicking up their tail to give it a tweak. "Or maybe something else, like I am and Miraidon is."
"Is there a word for that?" Ash asked. "Cynthia, do you know if there's a word for someone that's in the same place as aunt and uncle but not a boy or a girl?"
"I've heard auncle, but I don't think there's a standard one," Cynthia answered. "Hopefully you'll get a chance to meet Dialga and Palkia, and ask."
Ash nodded, then looked between the two statues again.
His expression changed slightly.
"Is there a museum map?" he asked.
Latias flew ahead, to a nearby rack of leaflets, then pulled one out and brought it back. Ash took it with Confusion and a nod of thanks, unfolding it, then looked at the map.
"That's weird," he said. "Look, there isn't a Giratina one… when Rayquaza said who my siblings were, he mentioned them in groups, and I know he said Dialga, Palkia and Giratina in a group."
"Yeah!" Koraidon agreed.
She frowned, raising a forepaw. "That's not really fair for poor Giratina. They deserve a statue too! Unless nobody knows what they look like, that could be why."
"I guess," Ash admitted. "But even so, just leaving them out like that isn't really… polite, is it?"
"That actually depends," Cynthia said. "There's several possible reasons why Giratina could be left out. It could be deliberate, either because when the museum was built Giratina wasn't thought of very well or because they had to pick just two. It could be accidental, where they don't realize Giratina is part of a set of three. It could be that they don't know what Giratina looks like."
"I had that idea!" Koraidon beamed. "Dad, did you hear?"
"I did, yeah," Ash smiled.
"Well done for coming up with the same idea as the expert," Latias added, then looked at the map. "Oh, it says they've got an exhibition including the… adamant orb."
"Adamant means being brave, right?" Ash said. "Is that to do with Azelf?"
"It's actually to do with Dialga," Cynthia corrected him. "Adamant is a word for diamond. Though that's a good guess without knowing that."
Dawn raised her hand.
"We should probably go in at some point," she suggested.
Sadly, the museum didn't have any activities specifically for kids, but Koraidon and Mew looked around with interest anyway.
"There have been several groups in Sinnoh, over the history of the region," Cynthia told them all. "Some of them older than others… the oldest group where we have a name that we know they used is-"
She paused. "Actually, now I think of it, the oldest group where we have that name is the Celestica, isn't it? Mesprit confirmed it when we met her."
"I'm guessing you forgot to write that one up," Lucario said.
"I haven't had time to submit it as a paper yet," Cynthia retorted. "Let alone have it go through peer review. But the reason why I bring this up is that, while there are older groups, the two groups who lived here when contact was permanently established from the outside world called themselves the Diamond tribe and the Pearl tribe. They each associated themselves with Dialga or Palkia – and yes, that does mean there was no tribe for Giratina."
"Diamond and pearl," Ash repeated. "That's – oh, that explains something, I think?"
"Diamonds especially," Latias agreed. "There was, uh… Lucario, and the Baltoy thing, and Celebi…"
"Me?" Lucario asked.
"No, not you," Ash replied. "So, this has happened several times, with diamond, a lot more than it has with pearls… sometimes I smell something really weird, and I kind of know that the smell is diamonds, even though I've never smelled diamonds before and I didn't know they had a smell. And every time that's happened it's had something to do with time travel."
He began to count off. "There was this time we met a girl's older self because she'd travelled back in time to inspire herself… then there was when Sir Aaron's Lucario had been in a staff for a thousand years and we freed him-"
"You did what?" Cynthia asked. "Is he okay?"
"Yeah, he lives in Pallet Town with my mom now," Ash replied. "That way, he can help her talk to Miraidon or her other grandkids, if they're there."
Cynthia's Lucario put a paw on her shoulder.
"No, you can't run straight there," he said.
"I wasn't thinking of doing that," Cynthia denied unconvincingly.
She shook herself. "Well… it sounds like you might be sensing time travel, because of the association of Dialga and diamonds, and perhaps it's being translated into something you can understand. Like how the words you see or hear get translated."
"Excuse me!" an Officer Jenny, stepping out in front of them. "I'm afraid you're going to have to stop there."
"We are?" Dawn asked, surprised. "Is something wrong?"
"Yes, this is a crime scene," Jenny replied. "The Adamant Orb has been stolen."
"It's been – what?" Ash said. "But – that's terrible!"
"That's a good word for it," Jenny replied.
"What do you know so far?" Cynthia asked.
At that point, Jenny actually focused on her instead of the various Pokémon and the girl who'd spoken first.
"Champion?" she said, blinking. "I – that was quick – well, so far we know the Adamant Orb isn't here any more. And there was someone who we detained for questioning, but we have reason to believe that he wasn't involved."
She coughed. "Mostly because of the giant Houndour robot that appeared outside, gave a rhyming speech about making whoever had done it cry nephew for mercy, then ran off…"
The trainer who'd been detained for questioning turned out to be Nando, who was quite pleased to see them again even if it was in slightly unusual circumstances, and said that he'd got both a Ribbon and the Forest Badge since seeing them last.
"It's been quite an experience," the bard said. "That is, in combining or separating the two styles of Pokémon training… I've been doing my best to coordinate my training, but it's a battle."
Koraidon giggled.
"Thank you," Nando winked. "In all seriousness, though, there are some places where the two styles differ, and there are places where they have a synergy that makes the result better than either would be on its own. It's been quite wonderful so far, and I thank you all for helping to convince me I could do both."
He strummed a glissando on his harp. "Though sometimes it's good to have a break from both. That's what I was doing here, actually – I was aiming to get some inspiration on the sounds of the past. There's a rather amazing flute in the museum, and even without playing it – were that possible – I was getting all kinds of inspiration!"
"That's great," Dawn said. "So, uh… I know Ash is going to ask this, unless he forgets, but what's the Gym actually like?"
"Oh, I'm sure Gym Leader Gardenia wouldn't want me to give away any of her secrets!" Nando chuckled. "And Ash is likely to face a much more serious challenge than I am, anyway. But I will say that the gym's one of those ones that reflects the style of the trainer, with an indoor forest."
"Hmm," Ash said, thinking about that. "I wonder who I should use…"
He considered, for several seconds, then nodded. "Yeah, I think I know some Pokémon I should ask to see if they're interested. So I guess we'll be going to the Pokémon Centre, once this is all sorted out."
It wasn't all sorted out, or at least the Adamant Orb wasn't returned by the end of the day, and Officer Jenny thanked them for staying around in case something came up.
None of the friends really minded, because they'd spent the day looking around the museum, but it was a shame Ash hadn't had a chance to look at the Adamant Orb and see if he recognized anything about it.
Though Ash did make sure to ask Lucario if he'd be willing to sit for an interview with Cynthia, and the time-displaced Fighting-type agreed that he'd be willing to do an interview as soon as one could be scheduled.
The scheduling itself was more of a problem, mostly because it was hard to find a schedule opening a week long.
AN:
I'm going through this a bit quicker at the moment, for… reasons.
Hopefully this won't result in a pause once I reach the reason for the reasons.
Anyway… Cynthia was going to find out eventually.