The next day, as Dawn and Chimchar were familiarizing themselves with one another, they ran into a friend.
Specifically, one of Dawn's friends – Zoey – who waved before hurrying over to say hello.
"Hey, Dawn!" she said, slowing to a halt. "It's been a while, huh?"
"Yeah, it really has," Dawn agreed, with such fervency that Zoey stopped and blinked.
"Uh, I meant it's been, what, a month?" Zoey said. "Maybe a bit more, I wasn't really keeping track of the time."
"It's a long story," Dawn answered. "Turns out, when we met you were right, but not for the reason you thought. Anyway, how have you been?"
Zoey looked faintly confused, then shrugged and smiled.
"I guess I don't really get what you mean," she confessed. "But I've been good… I've got some more Pokémon, obviously, and that's both because the Hearthome Contest has a Doubles format and because… you know, the usual reason why a trainer catches more Pokémon."
"What is the usual reason, actually?" Latias asked. "Ash, what would you say it is?"
"I guess… the trainer wants to have the Pokémon on their team more than the Pokémon wants to not be on their team," Ash said. "That's probably it, right?"
He waved a hoof in the air a little as he thought. "Because, that includes all the times the Pokémon wants to be on the team, unless the trainer doesn't want them. I… think? And for… for my Primeape, for example, at first she didn't listen to me but I wanted to have her on my team more than she wanted to not be on my team. Because otherwise she'd have just left."
"That's an interesting answer, and I like it," Cynthia said. "But, unfortunately, it's probably a bit too general."
"What did Latias ask?" Zoey said, frowning.
"Well, I'm guessing that she asked what the usual reason was," Cynthia clarified. "But it seemed like a good guess, given the conversation and Ash's answer."
"That's a lot of listening to Pokémon," Dawn agreed. "There's no secret to it, but you can pick up a lot by paying attention and remembering that they don't always know the same things you know."
"You've-" Zoey began, then stopped and shook her head. "Okay, no, that was going to be way too condescending… I was going to say you've grown up, Dawn, but that sounds really trivial…"
"There's a lot of growing up you can do, right?" Dawn asked. "Zoey… I know Samurott is going to roll her eyes at me the next time she gets a chance, but I think it's way more important to be able to grow up without having to take the boring bits. Being able to have fun and being able to understand how things work are both good things, you shouldn't have to pick."
Ash thought about that, and decided that… yeah.
He hadn't put it in exactly those words before, but… Dawn was right, and in ways that fit with how he thought about some things himself. Or maybe it was that Dawn had got the idea from things he'd said or done, and then refined it over the months she'd spent in Hisui, and now she had the chance to say it herself.
It was part of why he liked having Latias around. She was old – over a hundred years – but she'd never lost that happiness, and she wasn't losing it now either. Even as she learned and grew, into a powerful Pokémon and a great friend.
And… it was part of why seeing Mew and Koraidon and Miraidon enjoying themselves together mattered, too. And his other Pokémon, but those three… he felt responsible for them, and for making sure they could enjoy that side of things for as long as possible.
Their whole lives, if he could.
As for Walking Wake and Iron Leaves… Ash didn't know them very well yet. They hadn't even been created, yet. But it seemed like they'd already learned a lot of that lesson… being happy, and carefree, and at the same time able to deal with important responsibilities.
Ash was looking forward to knowing them better.
Dawn introduced her new Pokémon to Zoey, next, and her friend was quite impressed – especially that Dawn now had a full team, even if Samurott did indeed roll her eyes at her trainer and Dawn explained that Samurott wasn't interested in Contests.
For her part, meanwhile, Zoey introduced her own new Pokémon to them all. Her Misdreavus and Glameow had been joined by a very feisty Buizel, and a somewhat more sedate Shellos, though the moment Cynthia saw Shellos she crouched down and began cooing over the Sea Slug Pokémon.
"Shellos and Gastrodon are one of those times when we think we're seeing how a new species of Pokémon could come about," she said, looking up from patting Zoey's Water-type. "There's even ongoing study into whether they have different strengths and capabilities and whether the form difference is more than just cosmetic."
Then Cynthia gave a rueful smile. "But I haven't been kept up to date on how that research is going, ever since they kicked my Gastrodon off the project for being… how did they put it… a slithering outlier."
"I want to be an outlier when I grow up," Jangmo-O declared.
"Who do you think is going to turn out to be the next Noble Pokémon?" Latias asked, that evening. "I was thinking about it… so far it's been a surprise. It certainly was for me!"
She watched as Staravia hit Marshtomp with a Steel Wing, then did his level best to get out of the area again before Avalanche happened. "You know?"
"I do know," Pikachu agreed. "And… well, that's the thing, isn't it? It's something that makes sense in retrospect."
He waved over at Miraidon, who was in their Ultimate Mode and experimenting with how to move faster without their legs for traction. "It could be one of the kids? They're close to Ash, of course – like I am, and like you are, and like Charizard was and is. But does that count?"
"Miraidon, I've got an idea," Ash said. "Maybe you could try, uh… you've got those jets, right? Well, isn't how long they take to power up causing you problems?"
"It is, dad," Miraidon agreed.
They pointed one jet down and whirled it up to a higher power, which bounced them lazily into the air, then cut it back down to a lower thrust again. "It's… hard, because Koraidon can push off from the ground but I can't. So I'm sliding around a lot."
Ash frowned, thinking, then got out the Badge he'd won in Mauville Gym.
"You think that might help?" Latias asked.
"It can't hurt, right?" Ash replied, shrugging, and switched to Electric type. His ring and gems changed colour, and he began trotting back and forth as he thought. "So, uh… okay, like you said, you have trouble with making your jets stronger quickly. I guess that might get better with exercise and practice?"
Miraidon considered.
"Like how Staravia's working on being able to steer more easily, or how Chimchar's making sure his fire can ramp up faster," they said. "I can see that being logical."
"Yeah, but that's just the first idea," Ash replied. "In fact, uh… can you control how it is that you're floating at the moment?"
"Yes, but I cannot move quickly and it is limited," Miraidon replied.
As a demonstration, they leaned forwards slightly, and went gliding across the ground – then stopped, and went backwards.
"Right," Ash said, thinking. "I guess it's a bit like Magnet Rise… which lets you move around, but not necessarily quickly."
"Some Pokémon can use it to go quite fast," Cynthia said, looking up from her notebook. "I've been thinking of looking for a Tynamo, that's the main way they get around. But I think they need to do something else with it, as well."
"Do you know Magnet Rise, Pikachu?" Ash checked.
"No, sorry," Pikachu shook his head. "Though… hmm."
He glanced at Latias. "I'd ask if you have advice, but you're very fast and you throw yourself around with psychic powers, or… however that works. And Dragonite just fly by… floating?"
"Can you fly, Miraidon?" Latias asked. "I don't mean with your antennae and wings, just… like I do?"
"I do not know," Miraidon said. "I have not tried."
The electricity pulsing over their body got stronger, and they relaxed their hold on Electric Terrain. That led to an immediate pulse of further amplification, and they floated higher into the air before activating their jets.
The answer, as it turned out, was… yes, but only a bit.
Miraidon could hover quite high up with just electromagnetic levitation, and use their jets to fly, but they couldn't fly without the jets and they had the same problem with the jets as they'd already been talking about.
Then Ash's face cleared.
"Wait, I think I've got it," he said. "Miraidon, back down here, okay?"
Miraidon braked to a halt, jets spooling down, then floated slowly down to join Ash.
"You have to work harder to push yourself away from the ground the further you are from it, right?" Ash asked, and got a nod. "Then – try this, okay? Point your jets up, and power them up, while keeping yourself off the ground with levitation… then you can change which way the jets are pointing, and they're already at full power. And keeping yourself just off the ground should be easy because you're close to it so the effect is stronger!"
"And there we go," Pikachu said. "I know it's not actually any closer to the answer for that question we had before, but it's still great when something like that happens."
Miraidon was already experimenting with Ash's suggestion, holding themselves balanced between jet power and electromagnetic power before twisting them both and zipping off into the distance, and Ash went cantering after his second child with a laugh.
"Clever," Cynthia pronounced. "Balancing two forces and then pushing them out of alignment… I like it."
"This is the kind of thing I really like about Ash," Latias said. "Or… there's more than one thing… this is a thing I really like about Ash. He's got this way of solving problems for the people he knows."
"I forgot how lovely Altomare was," Ash said, looking down the main canal.
The stars twinkled overhead, and Latias nodded.
"I forgot, too," she said. "Or… it's always been nice, but now it feels nicer."
They stood, or floated, for a long minute. Maybe more, as Altomare slept.
"I think… what makes it better is that you're here," Latias said. "Maybe that's why I've had such a good time travelling with you."
"Then I guess that's a good thing," Ash answered. "Because I want to keep travelling with you, Latias… wherever we go, we go together. Okay?"
"Yes!" Latias agreed, delighted by the idea.
She reached out, and Ash raised a hoof to touch her paw.
Then-
- there was a flash of gold-
- and Latias woke up.
"Wha?" she asked.
"Where did the ketchup go?" Pikachu mumbled, sounding mostly asleep, and Latias looked back and forth.
They weren't in Altomare. They were exactly where they'd camped the previous night. And Unown had emerged from Ash's bag, swirling into alphabet form.
"Unauthorized access attempt detected!" they said, then Hidden Power pulsed, and a Mismagius materialized.
"What happened?" Ash asked, unfolding his legs from under his body and getting up. "Unown?"
"This Pokémon was attempting unauthorized access to your dreams," Unown explained, their Alphabet making angry patterns of letters. "Access was denied."
"But I was only trying to show things that you wanted!" Mismagius protested.
"How delightful," Samurott said, a Seamitar in her paw. "Because what I want right now is for you to go away and stop messing with our minds."
Dark energy crackled over the Seamitar's edge. "Also, violence, but that bit's optional."
Ash started trying to get more of an explanation, and Dawn and Cynthia began to help, but Latias didn't really notice much of what they said after that.
She had something else to think about.
AN:
Access denied.