"I don't really know how to explain it," Latias said, looking frustrated. "I mean… I just levitate. That's an ability."

"Right," Ash agreed. "But – I know how Pidgeot and Staravia and Noctowl and the others fly with wings, and that's not something I can copy. But I should be able to fly, and I guess… you're the one I thought of to do that, because your way of flying doesn't involve wings."

He paused. "Though, I guess it would be hard to teach it if you don't know it yourself… and I don't actually know if you know the move, Fly."

"Maybe it's one of those things where it's something that an Arceus can do?" Miraidon pondered. "Like how Aunt Palkia and Uncle Dialga can fly, or… hover, at least."

"Maybe," Ash said. "But, uh… I guess my first thought is that, based on what I can do, the easiest way to fly would be to make a Pokémon to do it? And that doesn't seem… right. Right?"

"I get what you mean," Latias said.

"You could always try to teach Latias how to use Fly?" Pikachu suggested. "The move, I mean. If what you work out works for her, it should work for you as well – and it might even mean you work it out yourself."

"That's a good idea," Ash agreed, thinking. "Though I guess I still need to know who to ask… what about Garchomp? She can fly and she's not Flying-type…"

He frowned. "Does that seem like it would work?"

"It might," Latias said. "Actually – Gible can't fly, right? And Garchomp can. So that's something she's learned to do… it's a place to start, anyway."

"This is such a weird situation," Pikachu decided. "That's not bad or anything, I'm just keeping track."

He tilted his head, flicking an ear. "Do you think Rayquaza might have an idea, actually? He's been able to fly for a very, very long time."

"Maybe, but I can't really get in touch with him at the moment," Ash replied. "I wouldn't know how to start… I guess if it still isn't working by the time we visit Uxie, maybe Uxie can help. I feel like they'd know."

"Why's that?" Latias asked, then frowned. "Oh, right, yeah… because it's a thing, and knowing things is something they do."

She looked perplexed. "Is that how it works? Or are they a being Legendary, not a doing one, so they're just associated with knowing things without actually knowing anything."

"It's worth a try, right?" Ash asked. "But I want to try doing it before then, first."

While they were working that out, with Latias trying to work out how she flew so she could try and explain it to Ash, Riolu went to sit down next to Absol.

"That was really cool," he said. "In the Gym! I never thought of doing some of that before… I didn't know Magic Bounce could work that way. How did you come up with that?"

"It was Ash's idea," Absol said.

"I mean you and Ash," Riolu clarified.

"Oh, right," Absol realized. "Yeah, okay, that makes sense, my answer was terrible at answering your question."

He shrugged, a little. "The idea of Mega-Evolving for a short time is something we'd thought about, because at first Ash could only do it for a couple of seconds anyway… and he still has trouble doing it for a long time, so it was partly because of that. So we thought about it, and Ash realized that every moment Mega-Evolved had to count – which is completely different to how Mega-Evolution is normally used."

"I get it," Riolu decided. "Because it's something that you can't do for long, it has to matter – and that means you got to thinking about how to use that time and how to use the time reverted?"

"Exactly," Absol confirmed.

"That's really amazing," Riolu breathed. "So you and Ash – mostly Ash because of what you said – worked out this whole new way of battling because of a restriction."

He sat there, thinking about that, and Absol looked over at his trainer and teammates.

After a minute or so, Riolu spoke up again.

"I've got another question," he said, sounding vaguely embarrassed about that. "Sorry?"

"It's not like I'm going to be able to stop you," Absol replied. "What is it?"

"Why do you have a trainer?" Riolu asked. "I'm not saying it's a bad thing, I'm just… curious why."

Absol was silent for a long moment.

"There's a lot of reasons," he replied. "All kind of mixed up together. It's a fun experience, and it's a way to see the world, and I like Ash – and his team. And going with him felt like the right thing to do. But really, I think the most important reason is…"

He trailed off.

"...I really thought I was going to have something at the end of that," he admitted.

Riolu put both paws over his muzzle to avoid a snigger.

"I'll get back to you?" Absol tried. "No, wait, I've got something that sounds profound enough… the most important reason is that I feel like I'm making a difference. Doing something that matters. My trainer's powerful, and sometimes he needs help knowing when to use that power – and sometimes he needs other people to know he can use it, precisely so he doesn't have to."

"Right…" Riolu said. "And is that why?"

"It's a reason why, and right now that's good enough," Absol said. "If you give me a bit, I might come up with one I like more, though."

"So flight is about speed and momentum," Garchomp advised. "But that doesn't have to mean that you move faster when you're flying than when you're not flying."

Ash looked baffled.

"...I would have thought it did," he said.

"It can do, but it doesn't have to," Garchomp said. "It's more about the concept of speed. By embodying speed, I can fly even if my actual movement over the ground is not very fast."

Ash's expression didn't change.

"I can see this isn't helping," Garchomp said, clicking her talons on the ground one after another. "Maybe it's one of those things where what you need is to have a way of doing it which works for you, and it won't necessarily work for someone else."

"Quite," Cynthia's Togekiss agreed, floating in. "Because that wasn't at all how I do it."

"...huh," Ash said, frowning. "I didn't think about that before… Togetic, like Misty's one, they've got wings, but they don't really use them to fly in the same way as a bird Pokémon does, do they? And it's way more obvious with a Togekiss… it's weird how much there is about Pokémon that we don't think about because we just think, hey, of course a Togetic can fly, it's got wings."

"A Dragonite is another example, right?" Pikachu asked. "Dragonair and Dragonite, they've got wings, but they just fly by floating around… actually, it's a pity we don't have a Dragonair to ask, they might be able to help because a Dratini can't fly and a Dragonair can."

"A Dragonair would be a good example, yeah," Ash mused. "There's so many Pokémon who can fly in so many different ways."

He jumped into the air and floated there, but that was because of his Feather Badge. "I wonder if it's going to suddenly make sense to me…"

"What I wonder is if you should think about teaching yourself, or teaching a Pokémon who's like you," Latias wondered. "Does thinking about it that way help?"

"It… might," Ash said, frowning. "Though, uh, normally I'd know a bit more about how it works for a Pokémon than I do for me… I guess I can try and think about it?"

There was a whoosh over on the other side of the place they'd stopped for the day, and Absol barely avoided being drenched by Piplup's Whirlpool going wildly out of control.

"Sorry!" Dawn called, specifically for Riolu who hadn't avoided being drenched. "Chimchar and Piplup were working on a combination move, but it got out of hand!"

Absol looked vaguely smug, and Ash chuckled before thinking.

"Maybe this would help, actually?" he said, and used Sky Attack, shaping the glowing fire that resulted into a pair of wings. "If these can lift me, that's great!"

They couldn't.

After extracting Ash's ring from the ground, he heard from Spiritomb about what it was like to fly, then Zorua about what it was like to float, and then from Rowlet about what they were having for dinner.

Over dinner, meanwhile, Eevee raised her paw.

"What about if you learn a move copying move?" she asked Ash. "Like Mimic, or Copycat, or Me First? Then one of your Pokémon who does know Fly could use it, and you'd get an idea of how to do it that way?"

"That could work," Ash said, thinking. "The only problem is that I'd need to know how to teach myself one of those moves, and – I guess what I'm worried about is that it might take longer than just teaching myself Fly."

He sighed. "I know this is just because it's something I can't do, like how it took months to learn Confusion and carry things again… and it's kind of silly that I'm feeling like this because it isn't working yet."

"I don't know if it's silly," Cynthia said. "The feelings are certainly real. And it's perfectly reasonable to decide that something is more difficult than you're willing to put in effort to deal with – that's something you can do."

She shrugged. "But it's a decision that's up to you to make."

Ash nodded.

"That does help, yeah," he said. "Thanks. And… I'll see if I can work something out?"

Zorua raised his paw.

"Can help, if stuck," he said.

Then sneezed, and fell over backwards.

"Are you all right?" Miraidon asked, looking up from what had once been a plateful of sandwiches.

Zorua rolled over onto his front.

"Yes," he declared.

AN:

Being an aloof mystic requires a lot of behind-the-scenes work, you know.

If you're wondering about the… less regular… update schedule, it's because Heir to Myth (on AO3) is taking up much of my time, and because of some sicknesses too.