Iron Island was a place with stark, bare slopes, grey shading towards black, and they rose to a point over the island's sole port town. There was a factory high up on the slopes, still within the town but higher than just about all the other buildings, and Ash frowned as he looked at it.

"I'm trying to think about why it's there, specifically," he said. "Is it… hmm. Is it because the smoke rises, or is it because that's closer to where they get whatever it is they mine here?"

Then he shook his head. "Which… I guess is iron, huh."

"It can be both of those things," Cynthia pointed out. "And yes, the way the smoke from what they do here rises is part of why it's so high up on the slopes… while it's also close to the mines. And you're right, this is principally an iron mining town. It's supplied iron all over Sinnoh for decades."

She glanced at Dawn. "Centuries?"

"I don't think enough centuries," Dawn apologized. "If they were mining when I was in Hisui, there was so little of it that I never came here."

Cynthia nodded, agreeably. "It's always good to combine information from multiple sources," she said. "And what they actually do here, if you're curious, is that iron ore is turned into iron to transport it more easily. That's because iron ore is not pure iron."

"What's the difference between iron and steel?" Riolu asked. "I know one of them is a Type, but apart from that."

"What is the difference between iron and steel?" Ash said. "Maybe I'd know if I used the badge that makes me Steel-type?"

"Iron is the main ingredient in steel," Cynthia explained. "Steel is a mixture of iron and something else. It's a very complicated material, though… that's actually one reason why the fact the Type is steel and not iron is interesting to me. I'm sort of interested in asking why the Types are what they are."

She shrugged, a little. "But that's not the main reason I thought we should come here. It's a good place for a stop-off on our journey north anyway, since it's got lots of nice open spaces for training and it's convenient for Chocovine, but it's also because a friend of mine lives here."

"And a friend of mine lives here," Lucario echoed. "Actually two."

"If you count Riley and his Lucario, then, yes – two," Cynthia conceded. "I'm not sure, but I think he might be able to help you out, Ash."

Ash thought about what he'd been doing recently.

"You mean this Riley person can fly?" Latias said, beating Ash to it.

"He can't fly, no," Cynthia's Lucario told her. "At least, not last time we saw him. That might have changed."

"All right, you rascal," Cynthia said. "It's actually because Riley is an Aura adept… like Sir Aaron was. That means that he's a human who can touch Aura, and even use some kinds of Pokémon moves."

Ash nodded, to show he understood.

"I think I get it," Pikachu said. "You think it's because Riley has learned how to use Pokémon moves despite starting from not knowing any of them… so he might be able to teach Ash a trick that would help with that."

Ash translated that, and Cynthia nodded.

"That's correct," she said. "The fact that it also means we can visit my friend is a nice bonus."

On their way across the island, Koraidon looked around, first at the shallow downslope on the left, then up at the escarpment sweeping up to their right.

"I bet this would be a great place to run around and train!" she said. "Especially if I got to do it with Miraidon, we could race up and down these slopes and really have a run!"

She glanced up. "That would be fun, right?"

"Whee," Zorua agreed, nodding. "Good flying too."

"Huh?" Koraidon asked, looking around with a frown, and stopped.

Her wings unfurled, and she tilted her head a little to let them catch the wind. Zorua's mane billowed in the wind, as well, and the Fighting-type thought.

"I guess there's wind here… oh, I get it," she realized. "The ridges are going to make the wind bounce upwards, right?"

Zorua nodded.

"That sounds like fun," Ash agreed, as Koraidon got moving again so the group didn't leave her behind. "I guess that's something that would be more what Staravia or Noctowl could enjoy than what Latias or I could enjoy, though…"

"Updrafts?" Cynthia guessed. "I'm probably going to work on them with Rowlet while we're here, Togekiss can show him. Pressure waves and temporary winds show up a lot in Pokémon battles, but it's easier to train to use them when you're using a permanent one for practice."

There was a muffled ow from up on top of the escarpment, and everyone halted.

"Cynthia?" a voice asked, then a man wearing a dapper blue suit and a hat jumped down from the top of the thirty foot escarpment and landed in front of them – accompanied a moment later by a Lucario.

The dramatic image was somewhat curtailed by the fact that the man immediately began dabbing at his eyes with a handkerchief.

"Is that Ash Ketchum you're with?" the man asked, blinking several times. "I thought I was looking at an explosion when I tried scanning with Aura Sight!"

"You didn't get around to warning him?" Cynthia's Lucario asked. "We've known about that for months, you realize?"

"I wanted another data point," Cynthia answered. "It's nice to see you again, Riley. And yes, this is Ash – and his Pokémon."

"That's us," Ash agreed. "This is my starter, Pikachu, and these are Latias, Koraidon and Zorua."

Pikachu jumped up onto Ash's head as he was named, and Latias decloaked for visibility purposes. Since the other two were both already readily apparent, Koraidon sat on her haunches and waved, and on her head Zorua did the same.

"And you've definitely heard of Dawn," Cynthia went on.

"I have, actually," Riley replied. "But how do you know that? I don't follow the Contest scene in general."

"Your loss," Piplup shrugged.

Dawn looked thoughtful.

"I'm going to guess that Cynthia means you know me as Akari," she said.

Riley's Lucario had been attempting to do the unflappable thing, but that rather spoiled it.

"You what."

"That is only the beginning!" Riolu said, bouncing on his paws. "I can give you the full list! Her Samurott actually battled Volo's Lucario!"

"Really?" Riley asked. "...okay, I've got a few questions for Samurott, then."

"You can understand Pokémon?" Ash asked. "That's pretty cool! It'd be nice if more humans could do that. Is it hard?"

"You need to have the right kind of aptitude to make it possible," Cynthia contributed. "I've tried, but I don't have it."

"Oh for-" Riley began, rubbing his temples. "Cynthia. You tried for a week."

Cynthia looked politely puzzled. "Yes," she said. "I don't see how that's different to what I said."

"Cynthia, the fact you didn't make much progress is normal," Riley said. "You spent a week trying to learn… and you didn't learn this entirely new skill in a week. That's a normal speed of learning things. Every other skill you have ever tried to learn is the anomaly."

Once the specific problem had been explained, Riley paced back and forth for a bit, thinking.

During the same time, Koraidon started playing in the updrafts rippling up the side of the windswept slopes, extending her wings and gliding in a perpetual balance between flying and falling.

At least, in theory. In practice, it wasn't something she'd done very much, and so she did crash a lot. But they were quite gentle crashes, all things considered.

"All right," Riley decided. "So… I have exactly one idea of where to start."

"That's better than no ideas, I guess," Ash said. "What is it?"

"Well," Riley began. "One of the important steps in learning how to use Aura is learning to meditate, and while I'm not sure if what you do is the same… it's the thing I know how to teach, and it might even be useful."

"I've tried doing that, but I don't think I was very good," Ash confessed. "That was when I was trying to learn how to use Psychic moves."

He tilted his head. "How does meditating help you?"

"It lets me focus on myself," Riley told him. "Which is harder than focusing on someone else, because with someone else you can see them, and you can tell what is and isn't that person. But yourself is how you interact with the world, how you perceive the world. A substantial part of meditation is to be able to recognize that difference."

"I've never heard it put that way," Pikachu admitted. "But it does sound like the kind of thing that would be useful, Ash."

"Yeah, I'll give it a go," Ash agreed. "What do I need to do?"

"Ready, you two?" Dawn asked, half an hour later and some distance away.

Chimchar gave a thumbs-up, and Piplup waved his flipper in a vague salute.

"Okay, here goes!" Dawn decided. "Piplup – Bide!"

Chimchar bolted forwards, and punched Piplup.

The Water-type flipped through the air, glowing, then unleashed energy and knocked Chimchar backwards.

"Ow," the Fire-type mumbled, shaking himself out.

"That's okay," Dawn replied. "Let's keep going, okay? Try bouncing on your feet, first, so you're already moving – that should help you get the kind of speed necessary for Mach Punch."

Chimchar nodded, bouncing between one foot and the other.

"And – Bide!" Dawn instructed.

This time Chimchar went earlier, knocking Piplup into an easy backflip before his Bide was up, but Dawn frowned.

"I don't know," she said. "I think that was a bit too early… I know it's not easy, Chimchar, but I think you went before I called for Bide that time."

"I probably did," Chimchar admitted, nodding slightly. "Sorry?"

"It is tricky," Dawn agreed. "The whole point is supposed to be speed, so you can react to something faster than another Pokémon. Going before the signal isn't quite the same."

"Mach Punch, I take it?" Riley's Lucario asked.

"Yeah, that's right," Dawn confirmed, turning to look. "Do you know it?"

"I've not used it myself," Lucario replied, with an apologetic shrug. "I do know Quick Attack, though."

"That's a good point," Dawn admitted. "Sneasel and Pachirisu know Quick Attack, so maybe that would be a better starting point. How does that sound, Chimchar?"

Chimchar nodded, looking interested.

Dawn sent out her Sneasel, and the Fighting-type began limbering up in quick, springy movements.

"I can't actually decide whether this is a Dawn thing or an Akari thing," Lucario added. "I was hoping to ask you some questions about that time, but… now I find myself wondering about that instead. Mach Punch doesn't seem much like a move associated with Contests."

"That assumes Contests are a single thing," Sneasel stated, pausing in her exercise. "They're not!"

"I don't know quite what Sneasel's saying, but I can guess," Dawn began. "And it's… not really either of them. Dawn and Akari aren't different people – they're different names for me. And while I did have a different style in the past, I've been trying to include bits of Akari's style into my own."

She shrugged. "In this case – Mach Punch isn't an especially pretty attack, but it is a good way of throwing the other Pokémon off their rhythm."

Lucario nodded.

"Good answer," he said, then looked down at Riolu. "And what do you think about it?"

"I think that's a really cool answer and I'm going to try and use it when I get a chance to be the philosophical one!" Riolu declared.

"Very good," Lucario smiled.

Ash was concentrating.

Misty might have called that a novel experience, but Ash did concentrate on things – a lot. All the time, really.

The difference was how he was doing it. Ash was concentrating, but in a way that meant his thoughts weren't going a mile a minute, and he wasn't focused on some desperate situation, or on figuring out how one of his Pokémon could get a move right – except in a certain technical way, of course.

What Ash was concentrating on was himself.

How he felt. Everything about how he felt.

"How are you doing?" Riley asked, softly.

"I don't know," Ash admitted. "But I can feel… myself, I guess."

"All right," Riley replied. "Close your eyes, Ash. Keep focusing on how you feel."

Ash duly closed his eyes, and tried to feel everything about himself.

There was a faint sensation of movement, of being pushed, and Ash felt how things changed… then the feeling of being pushed went away.

"And now?" Riley asked. "Does it feel different?"

"A bit? Maybe?" Ash replied. "I don't think I can tell if it's the same as when we started."

He opened his eyes, shaking his head, and saw he was about six inches in the air.

"Did you feel it change?" Rily asked.

"This time, yeah," Ash agreed. "But I felt it change when Latias lifted me, and again when she stopped… I felt both changes but I can't tell if they're the same amount. Of whatever it is."

"You felt it when I lifted you?" Latias asked. "Or did you feel like you were pushed?"

"That's a good point, actually," Riley decided. "Close your eyes again, Ash, give me a minute to talk about this with Latias. I've got two ideas and I'm not sure which is the best."

"Sure," Ash agreed, closing his eyes again, and tried to focus on himself again.

He was getting better at it than when they'd started, but it was still difficult.

"This is going to be going back and forth between being pushed and not being pushed," Riley told him. "See if you can get used to the difference."

"Right," Ash replied, nodding, then felt that same sensation of movement again.

It started, then went away, then started again. Back and forth, and Ash kept his breathing even like Riley had said.

Tried to pay all the attention he could to the feeling of being pushed, and not being pushed.

The push came and went, several times, then the changes stopped.

"How about now?" Riley asked.

"I don't think Latias is pushing me at the moment?" Ash replied. "But apart from that, uh… I don't really know, I guess. I might be able to tell the difference now. Should I land?"

"Not just yet," Riley replied. "And keep your eyes closed, please, Ash. Let me know if you're not focusing properly."

"Give me a minute?" Ash replied, because doing this was hard.

He got his breathing back to normal, in and out as gently as he could, then nodded slightly.

Then something changed.

Ash felt his hooves rest on something below them, but that wasn't all that had changed. His legs had taken his weight, and something else had stopped taking his weight.

"I felt something that time!" he said, eyes opening, then looked down and saw that Latias had lifted a stone slab up underneath him.

"Good," Riley told him. "Can you identify it?"

After a moment, Ash shook his head.

"I think I can guess what's next," Pikachu said. "You're going to do that again?"

"That's right," Riley agreed. "Ash, it's going to be a cycle – Latias lifts you up, then stops lifting you, then lifts the slab up to take your weight. One-two-three. That should give you as many chances as you need."

Ash nodded, closing his eyes to focus again.

"Give me a minute," he requested.

The sun was setting by the time Ash felt ready to give it a proper try, and he took his Feather Badge off.

"Can you hold this, Pikachu?" he asked, and the Electric-type accepted the badge.

Then Ash focued on the feeling he'd carefully, carefully teased out, from practicing over and over again.

And, slowly, took off.

It wasn't nearly as easy or effortless as it had been with the Feather Badge. Then it had been unconscious, he'd discovered it by accident, but now it was… different. He had to make himself move.

But he could do it. And – that made him feel so much more comfortable about using his Ghost type, all by itself.

Latias applauded, and Pikachu joined in a moment later.

"Well done, Ash," Riley said, with a nod. "I can tell that wasn't an easy thing for you to learn – even with how you could already do it."

Ash nodded.

"Thanks," he said. "I guess – yeah, I don't know what else to say about it. Thank you for just… helping me out, I guess."

"It's what an Aura adept is meant to do," Riley told him. "More than anything else – help people."

Ash frowned. "...actually, now I think about it, I guess Sir Aaron's Lucario might not know there's any human Aura users left today. Maybe I should tell him."

Riley groaned, putting his hand on his face.

"Is the existence of Sir Aaron's Lucario something you knew about, Cynthia?" he asked.

"Honestly I thought the Lucario Kingdom would have told you that one," Cynthia replied. "Then I realized they hadn't told you about Ash, and I thought it'd just be distracting while you were helping Ash."

AN:

A common factor in the way I write someone learning something, I think, is learning to recognize how the existence of that thing feels.