"Sorry we can't just go straight back down to Hearthome, Ash," Dawn said. "I know you said it was okay, but it's been on my mind."

"It's fine," Ash replied. "We've been back there before, it's going to be fine to do it again, and after that we can go to Snowpoint or Canalave – whichever makes sense."

He shrugged. "And, uh… I'm interested in seeing Celestic Town, too, and Contests are scheduled."

"They're often, though," Dawn replied. "But I know one thing we should do while we're in Celestic Town is visit Lila – she's a fashion designer, and she's an old rival of my mother's."

"Oh?" Riolu asked, interested. "What kind of rival? A rival at what?"

"A rival at what?" Ash translated.

"Mom used to be a Coordinator herself," Dawn explained. "Lila was the first person who ever beat her in a Contest, ending her winning streak… then retired before she could get a rematch."

Cynthia looked interested. "Sometimes I've had battles with people who've retired, not long afterwards."

"Ah," her Roserade said, with a chuckle. "Like that Gym Leader."

"It might be a bit frustrating to not have the chance to return the favour, though," Cynthia added, thinking about it. "I don't see a reason why not, though. But I would like to visit my grandmother and the Celestic Town Historical Research Centre first – if neither of you mind?"

"That sounds like it'd be interesting," Ash agreed. "Historical Research Centre… what kind of history do they research?"

"I'm actually hoping Dawn can give some insight on some of it, though other parts of it are too far in the past," Cynthia replied. "Having one of your siblings visit would be amazing, but I've already got some of the notes… part of why I'm interested, though, is that they have the Lustrous Orb there. Under guard, naturally."

"After what happened to the Adamant Orb, it would have to be," Dawn nodded to herself.

"I wonder what Cynthia's grandmother is like," Latias mused.

Ash considered.

"I don't really know if you can tell much of anything about a person based on their relatives?" he said. "I know mine are really different from one another in a lot of ways… though I guess Gary is a lot more like Professor Oak now than he used to be. Maybe it's more to do with…"

He paused as they reached the hill crest. "Maybe it's more to do with how much someone gets a chance to influence their relatives?" he asked. "Anyway, uh, Celestic Town looks… kind of weird, somehow."

"I think I know why," Dawn said. "It took me a moment, but – there aren't really any suburbs, it's all either high-rise buildings or forests? So it looks a bit like the core of a city, but without any of the rest of a city, so it looks more like a town."

"Yeah, that makes sense!" Ash realized. "Now, uh… where's the Pokémon Centre? Then we can visit your grandmother and the historical research place, right, Cynthia?"

"You sound enthusiastic," Pikachu said. "Any reason for that?"

"I guess I mostly want to, uh… find out what people think about my family?" Ash began, pausing to actually try and think it through. "Because, uh, I think about them in one way, but other people think in a different way. And, uh, even thinking about how people think of Giratina is something that helped me understand her."

"I'm interested in seeing what she thinks about you as well," Latias contributed. "And the Lustrous Orb, actually… that's Palkia's, right?"

"I'm pretty sure it would be, the Adamant one was Dialga's," Pikachu replied.

"Wow," Koraidon said, looking past the actual research building at what was behind it – a temple complex, surrounded by half-fallen pillars and with several shrines still partly intact. "That makes it a good place to build a historical research place, right?"

"I'm guessing that's why they put it there, yes," Latias agreed. "There aren't many other places you can go out the door and see history."

Then she paused. "Wait, no, that's not right, is it? Ash, can you check with Cynthia?"

"Latias was wondering if you could say that… there's not many places where you can go out the door and see history," Ash summarized, glancing at Cynthia. "After Koraidon asked about if this was an especially good place to build it."

"Like so many things, that depends," Cynthia answered. "Because, yes, everything is affected by history, but not everything has the same insight. Celestic Town's great reluctance to do forest clearance is historically relevant to what kind of place Celestic Town is, but that's not the same kind of historical information as we can discover by excavating the old temple there."

"You might find some Origin Ore, but I think I used it all," Dawn mused.

Cynthia looked like she had even more questions.

Koraidon went up and knocked on the door of the Historical Research Centre, then backed away a bit.

"Thank you, Koraidon," Cynthia said. "Really we could just go in, but it's more polite to let them know we've arrived."

Koraidon nodded, seriously, then the doors swished open.

"Cynthia!" a woman said. "It's good to see you again – and I see you've brought along Ash and Dawn."

"It's more that I've come along with them because of the help they can give us, Grandmother," Cynthia replied. "Ash, Dawn – and your Pokémon, of course – this is my grandmother, Professor Carolina."

Dawn held out her hand, to shake, then Ash offered his hoof for the same reason.

Professor Carolina shook it, then blinked. "That's a remarkable sensation," she said. "Extremely fine fur, and that metal is completely smooth… sorry, but you must realize that it's always interesting to meet a Pokémon that's generally speaking new to science, especially one who can talk."

She looked at Koraidon. "That goes for you as well… Koraidon, I think?"

Koraidon nodded proudly.

"That's my name!" she said. "My siblings aren't here right now, though."

"Well, not that we'd be able to tell for some of them," Latias said, stifling a laugh. "Walking Wake might be hiding in the bushes over there, it's something he's done before…"

Professor Carolina returned her attention to Ash. "And Cynthia tells me that you're even connected to the legends that we research here!"

Ash coughed, a bit nervously.

"Connected," Pikachu repeated. "That's one way to put it."

"Yeah, uh, Cynthia hasn't told you the details?" Ash asked. "Because, yeah, I am connected, but… we actually do know a lot of the details."

"I wanted a chance to surprise you for once, grandmother," Cynthia explained, with a smile. "And I didn't want to send you my preliminary research, because without at least someone to vouch for me it sounds like the ravings of a madwoman."

She paused. "Though I do also have some photos."

"Well, don't keep me in suspense," Professor Carolina said, waving them into the institute. "It would be wonderful to have some insight into Dialga and Palkia."

"And Giratina," Ash pointed out. "People always say Dialga and Palkia, but they keep forgetting Giratina."

"...I'll be honest, most of the time when I mention Giratina people ask why I included them," Carolina admitted. "I'm still in show-people-around mode, I think. But yes, Giratina is certainly part of the same Trio – the evidence hasn't necessarily convinced everyone even in the scientific community, but to me it's convincing."

"Right," Ash said, a bit mollified. "It's just, if everyone forgets about her then she's…"

He shook his head. "Anyway, uh, I'm connected because I'm their younger brother. And the younger brother of the Lake Trio, and of Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza, and the original Mew because there's more than one, and Rayquaza said he thought there was Xerneas and Yveltal involved too, but he wasn't sure."

Professor Carolina looked at him, for a long moment, then transferred her gaze to Cynthia.

"Well, you were right," she said. "Coming at me cold it does sound like the ravings of a madwoman."

"Which is why I'm interested in getting a good base of evidentiary support," Cynthia said. "I'd also appreciate your thoughts on how to process the fact that Dawn is the Hero of Hisui because of time travel, partly mediated by two of Ash's children who don't exist yet."

"Oh, it's one of those kinds of mythologies," Carolina said, nodding to herself. "This should be interesting. I wonder if I'll make it as a supporting character?"

"...about mythology is, it's not always true, but it can often give insight," Professor Carolina explained, a few minutes later, as she led them through the building. "So, for example, there's an old Kalos legend that says that a Lucario was the first to Mega Evolve with the help of his trainer, but Draconid legend holds that it was Rayquaza who first Mega Evolved."

"Huh," Ash said, thinking. "I don't think Rayquaza Mega Evolved that I saw, though I guess it could have been outside while I was busy inside helping Deoxys."

"Now I wish we had footage of that one," Cynthia said. "Next time you see Rayquaza, can you ask him?"

Carolina shook her head. "I think I know why you're travelling with him now," she said. "But what I was getting at is that legends are like any other historical source, except that they usually deal with different topics – and what's recorded and what isn't recorded is even more important to think about."

"Speaking of which, that Lake Acuity deduction turned out to be correct," Cynthia told her grandmother. "We met the other two. We also got some insight on two different kinds of Legendary Pokémon, Pokémon who do things and Pokémon whose role is to simply exist as a personification of a concept."

"That doesn't mean there's only those two types," Ash hastened to add. "There might only be those two, but I don't know for sure."

He glanced at Latias. "Though, I'm pretty sure there are other kinds of Legendary Pokémon, too, who… I guess weren't created specifically?"

"This is all amazing insight," Carolina said, as a set of doors swished closed behind them and another set ahead didn't open at their approach. "Though I'm afraid we do need to stop for a moment."

She pressed her hand against a panel on the wall, which flashed.

The door opened in front of them, and Carolina waved.

"That's the Lustrous Orb," she explained, indicating a glass case. "We've put in some extra security measures."

"I think I know what that means," Cynthia said. "How many times have you been a co-author with Cyrus, again?"

"Please, dear," Carolina chuckled. "I know you have your hobby to support your academic career, but for us conventional researchers it's a great boon to have someone as rich as Cyrus actually interested in this kind of work."

"I'm not arguing!" Cynthia replied. "I'm looking forward to meeting him again. I'm just also interested in seeing if Ash has a reaction to the Lustrous Orb."

She glanced at him. "Speaking of… anything?"

"It smells of pearls, so that's definitely Palkia's," he told them. "Who's Cyrus?"

"Are you talking about me?" a man asked, stepping in. "Oh, this must be the Pokémon who's also a Pokémon trainer?"

He shrugged. "Or, the one that people know about, anyway."

Koraidon waved.

"Oh, this again," Dawn said. "I keep seeing similarities between people from the past and people around now…"

"You have an interesting team of Pokémon," Cyrus told Ash, once the basic introductions were over. "In fact, it's a lot larger than most trainers on the higher levels have – generally, a member of the Elite Four or a Champion will have between five and ten Pokémon who can really battle at their highest level."

Ash frowned, thinking about that.

"I guess… I don't know how that qualifies for me?" he said. "If I had to pick my strongest Pokémon, I guess I'd know where to start, but I'd have trouble too – it really depends what it's for. And I try to make sure a lot of my other Pokémon are good enough to take part, but that's… never something I'm really sure I'm doing well enough."

"It's hard to be sure," Cynthia contributed. "But I think… there's always questions about how much a trainer contributes to how well their Pokémon battle."

"Especially depending on the trainer," Pikachu said. "I know we met some trainers in the past who've actually been worse than useless."

Ash laughed, then looked uncomfortable.

"I'm not sure they were that bad, Pikachu," he said, frowning. "Maybe they were just having a bad day… but, yeah, I guess that's part of what makes a good trainer a good trainer. It's not just having good Pokémon, but being able to train Pokémon, inspire them, and help them out in the middle of a battle."

"Exactly," Cynthia agreed.

"I can see that Ash is good at the more thoughtful side of being a capable trainer," Cyrus said.

Pikachu sniggered.

"I've been getting better at it," Ash said. "Actually, I guess that really started when I found out I was a Pokémon, and especially since I found out who I was… I've got so much power, and I need to be careful with it."

Koraidon padded over.

"I know what you're about to start thinking about, Dad," she said. "It's about how you made a mistake, creating me, isn't it?"

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "And I know you don't mind, it's just… doing it since then deliberately has worked out too, right? And I'd rather actually know what I was doing."

"That would be good," Koraidon agreed, nodding.

"I assume you're talking about creating this Pokémon?" Cyrus said. "It's fascinating."

"That's certainly the right word!" Professor Carolina agreed. "If it wasn't for how obviously ridiculous the idea was, I'd ask you to create a Pokémon so we could watch – but that wouldn't be an ethical experiment."

"Quite," Cyrus agreed.

He frowned. "Though… what kind of Pokémon can you create? I know you said Koraidon is your oldest child?"

"Yeah, three so far, but all for different reasons," Ash explained. "My dad created a lot more Pokémon, but they were all for specific reasons, I think. I don't actually know exactly why, except that they all seem to have jobs, or, Rayquaza called them domains. But if Koraidon has a domain, that wasn't really a deliberate choice for me."

He thought about it for a long moment.

"Dad is supposed to be the Creator, and he created the whole universe," he said. "But he also created Pokémon to do specific things, and I think a lot of those things are about doing specific things… all the ones I know about are, sort of, to do with things you need for a universe, or for a planet, or for Pokémon."

"That's an interesting insight," Professor Carolina said. "Can you elaborate? It sounds like you have more information than us."

"Right," Ash agreed. "So… when things went weird in Alamos Town, my ring started glowing, and… I think I was sort of holding up that bit of the universe? It was tiring, though, and I don't think I could do it for long… certainly not days, or years."

"Oh, I think I see," Latias realized. "So you think Dialga, Palkia and Giratina were created so the three of them could do that job, and they'd be better at it because that was what they were for?"

"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "And, Mew would be because Dad could create Pokémon individually, but, uh, however Mew did it they'd be better at it… I don't really know any of the details of how that one works, I haven't met that Mew. And that kind of thing."

Dawn chuckled.

"Don't forget to translate, Ash," she reminded him.

"Oh, right," Ash realized. "I guess I got too excited…"

"The Lustrous Orb is a recent discovery, like the Adamant Orb was before it was stolen," Professor Carolina told them, as they got a closer look at it. "Obviously it's existed for a long time, and we uncovered it here."

"Hmm," Dawn frowned, obviously thinking carefully.

"Is something wrong?" Carolina asked.

"Oh, I don't think I was involved," Dawn explained. "I've not run into them before, and that's not one of the things I dug up around here. Though I suppose it might be related…"

She glanced to the side. "Professor? Do you think it's worth having Ash try touching it?"

"Hmm," the Professor replied, thinking. "I suppose it couldn't hurt, and it does belong to his… sister?"

She shook her head. "I'm still trying to get my head around that."

"You're not the only one," Cyrus said.

Professor Carolina deactivated the security, and Ash reached out to touch it.

It felt… odd. Like it was somehow… bigger and smaller than it should have been, both at the same time, like it was layers on layers on layers of something.

And it didn't just smell like pearls – being so close to the Orb made it feel even stranger. The touch of it tasted like pearls looked, and the shimmer of being that close felt like pearls tasted.

And Ash had never actually tasted pearls.

"Synaesthesia?" Professor Carolina said, once Ash finished explaining his experience. "That's… I wonder…"

"Grandmother?" Cynthia asked.

"Well, I'm thinking about – it happens sometimes with people who are blind," Carolina explained. "People can respond to visual information even if they don't consciously see them… but what that originally made me think about was that we know Ash is a member of a Pokémon species with powers that he doesn't fully understand. What if what's going on is that he has senses he doesn't fully understand, either, and the information he's getting is being interpreted in ways that he can process."

She looked disquieted. "Unfortunately, this is all speculation and I don't know how to conduct a fair test to prove or disprove it."

"Look on the bright side," Dawn offered. "If you are a minor character in mythology, then you're probably right."

"Yes, good point," Carolina admitted, brightening. "I should have thought of that. Thank you."

AN:

Yes, that is definitely an appropriate title for this Book.