"Are you all right?" Ash checked, glancing at Miraidon. "I know it's cold up here… the next town we're going to reach is called Snowpoint… but because I'm not a Dragon-type at the moment I guess I want to keep an eye on you."

"I am fine, dad," Miraidon replied. "If Garchomp can handle it, so can I."

"I don't know, Garchomp is… ridiculous," Latias pointed out. "You don't necessarily want to compare yourself to her."

"Setting goals is okay, I think," Ash said, thoughtfully. "But I don't think you should think that you have to live up to what Garchomp can do."

"Yeah, I think that works," Pikachu said.

"Then I'll try and live up to Rowlet," Miraidon suggested. "He's just as weak but is considerably younger."

"That's a good point, yeah," Ash conceded, glancing over at where the owlish Grass-type was sitting on Cynthia's head – keeping up a pleasant, if slow, conversation with Cynthia's Eevee determinedly pronking her way through the snowbanks to the side of the path. "I guess a lot of training really is a mixture of… determination, and recognizing your own limits, anyway."

Miraidon evaluated that, nodding, then tilted their head. "Though I want to ask… who are you going to use at the next gym? That's Ice-type."

"Yeah, I've been thinking about it," Ash agreed. "Partly I think it depends on who wants a go… it was Donphan and Staravia in Canalave, so it's not going to be either of them again, but apart from that… it was Buneary, Absol and Sandshrew back in Hearthome, and Sandshrew's a good type for it…"

He frowned, thinking. "I guess maybe I should check with Sceptile and Swampert? It's been a while longer for them. Or I could send in you or your sister."

"Actually, if you want my opinion," Pikachu began, then sniggered. "Well, even if you don't, I'm going to say it anyway."

"Pikachu," Ash said, shaking his head.

"Well, what I was going to say is, I think it'd actually be a good chance for Sandshrew to really test herself. Right?"

"I guess, yeah!" Ash agreed. "Going up against an Ice-type gym with an Ice-type Pokémon – yeah, because it's an environment she's at home in but it's also an environment the Gym Leader's at home with. More at home with, too."

He rummaged around, sending out Sandshrew. "What does that sound like?"

"You were talking about maybe sending me in for the Ice gym?" Sandshrew asked, and Latias nodded a confirmation. "Well, I hadn't really been thinking about it, but – yeah, I guess that does make sense. Even if I wasn't involved in the battle I'd want to be watching it, to see what a trainer and their Pokémon who spend their whole lives working with the Ice-type can pull off with it."

Ash nodded, frowning as he thought.

"If we're going to do that, then… how's your traction on ice? Maybe we need to experiment with that."

"I would be interested in taking part, as well," Miraidon volunteered. "Or in doing the training, at least."

Their eyes flashed a wink pattern. "I need to make sure I keep up with Rowlet, after all."

Ash laughed.

"That's true, yeah!" he said. "Let's see, uh… Pikachu, do you still remember what it was like when we battled against Pryce?"

"Quite well, yeah," Pikachu agreed. "I might need a refresher on some of the details, but I'm all right at it."

"And…" Ash went on, thinking. "Even if I don't use them, it's probably a good idea for Buneary and Staravia to train in cold weather, if we do it, and it's also good for me so I get used to battling in cold conditions again. I kind of wonder how we're going to do it, though…"

"There's a lot of snow around us," Latias pointed out. "And I could use telekinesis to throw it around – and Cynthia's Eevee knows Ice Beam. So does Buneary, for that matter."

"Yeah, true," Ash agreed, already thinking. "So it's both dealing with being hit by Ice moves and moving around on a cold, snowy or icy terrain, and we can take turns-"

There was a sudden crash sound, and ahead of them Dawn and Cynthia stopped.

"What was that?" Dawn asked.

The ground shook slightly for a second time, and Cynthia reached for a Pokéball. Dawn did the same, taking Samurott's Pokéball off her belt, and Riolu took up a ready stance as Ash prepared to send out Staravia.

Then something burst out of a mass of ice and snow, a huge feline Pokémon with snow-white fur and a pair of giant jagged tusks sticking down out of its muzzle. It turned, focusing on them, and then Ash noticed something.

A hatch on the top of its head.

Just as Ash realized, the hatch opened, and two very familiar shapes emerged.

"Prepare for trouble, if training's your wont!" Jessie said.

"And make it double, in italic font!" James agreed.

"Oh, good, it's just them," Latias said, relaxing.

"To provide a source of precipitation!" Jessie said, as the feline mecha began emitting snow.

"And set the temperature for glaciation!" James added, hitting a control and making the fangs glow bright blue with focused cold.

The two swapped places.

"To announce our purpose in cryptic rhyme," James continued.

"And give you all preparation time!" Jessie said, to finish the couplet.

Ash sent out Staravia and Latias, and Eevee tilted her head for a moment before bounding forwards.

"Jessie!" Jessie said, swapping back to the first side of the hatch, and put a hand up.

"James!" James added, striking a pose alongside Jessie.

An ejector seat fired, and Meowth landed on their outstretched hands.

"And the cat with the fame!" the Normal-type added.

Both humans lowered their hands, then flung Meowth into the air again, and he landed between them with a flourish.

"If you're wondering at our perfect timing," Jessie began to explain.

"Meloetta's grace inspires our rhyming!" James concluded.

Cynthia raised a hand.

"Have you actually met Meloetta?" she asked. "Do you have any contact details? I'd be very interested in a conversation."

"We ain't, but we'll keep dat in mind!" Meowth called back, as their seats lowered into the mecha. Then it made a prrf noise, swiping a paw, and shot out a wave of snow and ice.

"Staravia, Extremespeed through it!" Ash called. "See if you can avoid getting too cold if you do that!"

"You know, I actually wonder how they manage this," Cynthia said, watching as the robotic feline swiped a paw – mustering a wave of snow that moved like a living thing, as if Miraidon and Lucario were dealing with a particularly unusually typed Muk. "That Pokémon is reminding me of an obscure reference I read once – and it's not one in the Laventon Pokédex."

"They've always known a lot, I guess," Ash replied. "Miraidon, pulse your levitation and jump over it! Then use Discharge!"

Miraidon did just that, launching out a burst of electricity that disrupted whatever it was that was controlling the snow, and it slumped to the ground as a mere snowdrift.

A moment later, Sandshrew burst through it at speed, and used Iron Head to hit the robot with a clang.

"Great work!" Ash called. "Now – see if Rollout gives you more speed or not!"

"Known a lot?" Pikachu repeated, sounding perplexed. "Team Rocket?"

"I mean, uh, they know a lot of things they shouldn't?" Ash tried. "And they miss out on things too, I guess…"

He nodded. "Staravia, Extremespeed in and Close Combat!"

"I'm also not really sure how it's doing that ice controlling thing," Dawn said. "It seems like the sort of thing that normally would take a Pokémon."

"Yeah," Ash agreed, frowning.

"You're worried about something, right?" Latias asked.

"Yeah," Ash agreed. "I guess… I've got these questions about why they're doing this in the first place, and these days they always show up on a giant robot so I don't get a chance to ask. Maybe I need to ask during the battle?"

The icy robot lashed its tail, sweeping away snow to produce a flat snow-space with all the drifts removed, then its fangs glowed and it froze the flat space all at once.

"Lucario – Metal Claw," Cynthia instructed, crisply. "Eevee, Mimic and use them for traction."

"Got it!" Eevee said, bounding forwards with her claws shimmering silver, and there was a scraping sound as she used them to control her movement on the ice lake.

The downside was that she couldn't use another Mimiced move without losing her traction, but she could still use Swift, battering the robot.

In reply, it half-turned, tail lashing back and forth across the ice rink, and snow followed the tail in waves. Eevee and Miraidon and Buneary all had to jump over it, making sure to get their timing just right so the snow didn't catch them, and Sandshrew popped her head out of the snowdrift.

"I don't think Rollout works great," she said.

"Then use Ice Ball to build up speed and switch to Rollout to attack," Ash decided.

Then he stepped forwards.

"...yeah, I'm going to go and ask!" he said. "And I need some practice too, right?"

"Do I have to be involved with this?" Pikachu asked, with a sigh.

"You don't have to, but it'd be nice!" Ash replied.

"I guess," Pikachu admitted. "I'm just being negative – go ahead, Ash."

Ash nodded, firmly, then trotted forwards.

When he actually reached the ice rink, it took him a few seconds to get his hooves sorted out properly – the ice was slippery, but he could tell his hooves to ignore that and stick to the ice the same way as they stuck to everything else. That was something he could do, and after so much practice with other things it wasn't even all that hard.

The tricky bit was getting it so he could slide over the ice unless he was trying to use them for grip. He could move a lot faster on ice if he got it right, but he had to get it right.

Watching Eevee helped, actually, because she was doing almost the same thing with Metal Claw.

Then Ash accelerated, building up speed with his hooves and sliding across the ice, and raised his voice.

"So – why are you doing this?" he called.

"Oh, you mean da tail swipes?" Meowth asked, leaning out of a hatch. "It's actually dis concept of an attack that's properly… te-le-graphed! It means you gotta pick up what's gonna happen!"

"I don't mean that," Ash said, then frowned. "Or, uh, maybe I do mean that-"

"Look out!" Pikachu called, and Ash jumped into the air as a wave of snow approached.

He did the thing he'd learned on Iron Island, hovering in the air before dropping back down again, and James made an understanding noise over the speaker system.

"Oh, I see what you mean!" he realized. "You're testing us!"

"Are you sure?" Jessie replied. "Didn't we agree that this was all meant to be some kind of mystery?"

"Mystery, history!" Meowth said. "If he wants to see if we got all of dis worked out, he's da one who gets to say it!"

"So obviously the scriptures foretold that you'd be along," James declared. "And while everyone else said that you'd be a Pokemon-"

There was a whunnng as Staravia hit the mecha with a Close Combat attack, then used Extremespeed to boost away just ahead of snowy retaliation.

"-we realized that it's so you could relate to humans!" Jessie continued. "Being a heavenly fount of light!"

"Of course, we kinda didn't realize dat until after you'd revealed your true form-" Meowth said, helpfully.

"We don't need to go into that!" Jessie protested.

"Really?" James replied. "Isn't he going to know anyway?"

"There's people around who aren't him!" Jessie pointed out.

Miraidon skidded to a halt next to Ash, and emitted a kind of electronic whining sound for a moment.

"Doing that many electrostatic jumps is tiring," they said. "I am enjoying it, though."

Ash nodded, listening as Jessie, James and Meowth had a whispered argument over the PA system about how much they should be telling to Dawn and Cynthia and also whether each set of two humans and their Pokémon were epistles, apostles or epicycles.

James was arguing quite eloquently in favour of the third option, on the grounds that they did go around and around in circles while they were getting anywhere.

During the lull in the fighting, Ash struggled with himself over what he should say.

Ever since he'd found out what the Rockets were doing, he hadn't really been sure if he should… try and stop them, when they might go back to stealing Pokémon. Or if it would be better to just let them keep on with this.

"Pikachu?" Ash asked, quietly, after thinking over it for several minutes as the Rockets kept trying to define words without a dictionary. "You're the only one who really remembers how bad they used to be… do you think I should try and explain?"

Pikachu frowned, twitching an ear.

"I think… I actually don't know?" he admitted. "Because they kept trying to steal me, sure, but it never actually worked. And they caused a lot of trouble, but… they solved a lot of problems, too."

"I know," Ash agreed. "I just think…"

He sighed, then raised his voice. "Hey!"

The argument stopped.

"Yes?" James asked, eventually.

"You guys should know," Ash said, a bit awkwardly. "I know that your Pokédex includes a Pokémon who looks a lot like me, but that's not actually me. That's my dad. He's the one who's the creator of the world."

There was some much quieter muttering.

"So… your mom actually is your mom?" Jessie asked, curiously.

"Yeah," Ash agreed, frowning. "Uh… that's a weird question to answer, now I think about it."

He glanced at Miraidon. "Right?"

"You are speaking to the wrong Pokémon to know that, dad," Miraidon pointed out, and Latias giggled.

"Oh, yeah," Ash realized. "But – yeah, my mom is Delia Ketchum, and she really is my mom. I didn't actually know I was an Arceus until, well, until I changed shape."

More muttering that Ash couldn't quite make out.

"And them Pokémon what keep calling you dad," Meowth said, this time. "Is that right?"

"I created Koraidon and Miraidon, yeah," Ash agreed. "And, some others, too."

"Well, now it all makes sense," James declared.

"Yeah!" Meowth agreed. "It's all one big mystery, dat's what it is!"

"The best kind of mystery!" Jessie concurred. "The kind which makes sense only to those who understand it!"

"...huh?" Ash said, glancing at Latias. "What's that meant to mean?"

"An' it totally fits, too!" Meowth went on, possibly not having heard him. "It's about, what's da word, understandin'! Of course it's gotta be the son of the big boss guy who understands how mortals work!"

"And there's no better way to understand it than to live it!" James agreed. "That's how I know so much about rich people with atrocious parents!"

"So we're agreed!" Jessie declared. "The fundamental principle is that the Son of God came to this world, born in the guise of a normal person, to experience a humble life!"

"An' he died and came back, too," Meowth contributed. "I remember dat bit, though I'm a bit vague on how I'm pretty sure dat did happen, an' he was passionate about it! An' he made it so that everyone who was dere stopped bein' sinful, too!"

"So by being defeated it's a symbolic dying, but – importantly – one that doesn't hurt as much," James concluded. "And because we're blasted off but without suffering permanent harm, that means that we're doing exactly what we're supposed to!"

"Don't forget the food," Jessie said. "The food's important as well."

"That's right!" James and Meowth concluded, and the giant robot feline's tail lashed.

"...I can't tell if this is a good outcome, or a bad one," Pikachu said. "But at least they haven't gone back to crime, presumably."

"Yeah – but I realized something," Ash said, as the tail lashed towards them and everyone jumped. "Look – when it controls the snow those fangs are glowing!"

"I see it!" Latias agreed.

Ash pointed. "Miraidon – bounce a Solarbeam off the ice and shine it at them to dazzle them! Sandshrew, Ice Ball to build up speed and then Iron Head the left fang, Buneary, get ready for a High Jump Kick on the right fang – then, when those attacks have just hit, Staravia, use Close Combat on the fangs!"

Miraidon's eyes briefly showed a pair of progress bars, then they fired out a Solarbeam, and Ash's Pokémon launched their barrage of attacks. Staravia's hammerblow Close Combats smacked into the fangs, producing a cloud of splinters, then blue energy began to crackle around them.

"Latias, Dragon Pulse!" Ash instructed. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

Both powerful attacks hit at once, resulting in an enormous explosion, and when the snow flurry faded Ash could just about spot Jessie, James and Meowth as they vanished off into the distance.

A lot of his Pokémon were missing, though, at least until Miraidon's head poked up out of the six feet of snow that had fallen as a result of the explosion.

"If I have a snowshoe mode, I have not yet discovered it," they said.

"So… what do you think about that?" Dawn asked Ash, once they'd dug everyone out. "I heard some of that, but not all of it, and – it sounded like a big topic."

Ash nodded.

"Yeah, it… kind of is," he agreed. "But I guess – I don't not like it, if that makes sense. Even if I'm not sure I could say I like it."

"Makes perfect sense to me," Latias giggled. "I've got a brother, after all!"

Ash thought about his own siblings, none of whom he'd really known for very long, and frowned… then he thought about Max and May, and that turned into a nod.

"Yeah, I can see that," he said. "I hope I get to know my own siblings that well."

He tapped a hoof on the snowy ground. "But what the Rockets were saying… I guess it sounds like they just kind of decided to worship me, and the way they're worshipping me mostly involves running around with giant robots and…"

Ash paused, trying to think of how to phrase it.

"Committing random acts of benevolence, I guess," he decided. "Because, thinking back about it… if what they want to do is to help me out and then get blasted off after a battle, that really does explain most of what they've been doing."

He turned, to check with both Latias and Pikachu. "Right?"

"Yeah, I think that checks out," Pikachu agreed, nodding.

"It sounds a lot like having a fan club," Cynthia contributed. "I've had a few of those… my general rule with them is that you set boundaries, and make sure they know that you don't approve if they're doing harm, but otherwise… if it's harmless, and it's fun, there isn't really much of a problem."

"You've had a few fanclubs?" Dawn asked, impressed. "I know one of them is probably for being Champion – unless all of them are?"

"Milotic got a lot of attention when she was a Feebas," Cynthia replied. "I am interested in seeing the reaction to the papers I intend to write, though… I wonder how many people will want to co-author with me if I publish a piece of work where you're a co-author, Dawn?"

She chuckled. "Actually, if I make my resultant Laventon number clear, and why, you might end up with an academic fanclub yourself."

"That would be weird," Dawn admitted.

"I guess Jessie, James and Meowth aren't really hurting anyone," Ash decided, thinking about it. "Not even themselves. And they do seem to be careful about when they turn up with a giant robot."

"Remember, Ash, if you don't want them to be doing something, you don't have to accept it anyway just because they're not actually harming anyone," Cynthia said. "That's what I mean by setting boundaries. If you want someone to stop, you can ask – and if they refuse to stop, and they don't have a good reason beyond that they want to do it, that's when it becomes a problem."

Ash nodded.

"I get it, I think," he said. "And if they do cause a problem… yeah, I'll work out what to do then. I don't think they're a problem right now."

He stood there for another few seconds, thinking about how weird the whole situation was, then looked up and around at his Pokémon.

His friends.

He wasn't sure if he'd have ever met Latias without finding out who he really was, and Miraidon wouldn't even have existed… and he'd never have been able to have conversations with the others.

Maybe the Rockets were onto something when they were talking about understanding.

"Okay, everyone!" Ash decided, shaking the thought off for now. "Let's go to Snowpoint! I've got just two Types to go and Ice is one of them!"

AN:

Yep, it's a Mystery Faith.

If you Gnosis, you Gnosis.