Later that afternoon, Ash was sort of surprised to find that Paul was in Snowpoint.
He'd already got his own badge from Candice, but he was still around, largely because Brandon was around and Paul wanted to challenge the Frontier Brain.
"...so, uh," Ash said, with a frown. "We were just talking about this – you know you need to challenge the other six Frontier Brains first, right?"
"I know how the Battle Frontier works," Paul replied, with a frown.
"Right, right," Ash nodded. "Just checking, because, uh… I know I'd be pretty embarrassed if I'd forgotten that or hadn't known it, especially if nobody bothered to tell me."
Paul frowned, then slowly exhaled.
"I guess – yeah," he said.
He glanced at Ash. "How's Chimchar?"
"Monferno, actually," Dawn put in. "I think he's doing well – he helped me win a Ribbon, that was the Chocovine Contest."
"He's confident," Ash supplied.
"This is a bit awkward," Latias said, with a thoughtful frown. "I'm not really sure what to say."
"I don't know what to say either," Ash concurred. "Except, uh… I don't think what happened between you and Chimchar is forgotten, but I think… it's not something that worries Monferno any more. If that makes sense."
Paul was silent for a long moment.
"That's… good," he said. "I think."
Then he glanced up, and shook his head a little.
"Should I be thinking about it this much?"
"Now there's a difficult question," Pikachu said.
"I guess… that might depend how much you think about it?" Ash asked. "Because, uh… if you think about it and that's what reminds you not to do something, that's good, I guess… but if you keep thinking about it and that keeps you distracted from doing what you should be doing, then it's not."
"And it's easier to say that sort of thing from the outside," Dawn put in.
"It is, yeah," Ash agreed. "And even then it's not easy. It's…"
"Easy to see," Zorua volunteered, head tilting slightly. "Hard to say."
"Yeah, I think that's it," Pikachu agreed.
"You can see something isn't right, but saying what it is or how to solve it… that's the harder bit," Ash supplied, for the humans.
There was a period of silence between them.
"You know both of them, right?" Paul asked, pointing at Cynthia and Brandon. "How long is this going to go on for?"
"...been wondering, lately, since I've encountered cases of time travel," Cynthia said. "Whether it would be possible to identify examples of time travel from the historical record alone."
Brandon hummed, clearly thinking about it.
"Possibly?" he said. "But it would take some comprehensive evidence to be sure of it. You'd need to be able to identify something that couldn't have happened the way it did without time travel – and, what's more, we're not just talking about having a true account of events. We're talking about the historical record. So there's always going to be unreliability there."
"Oh, obviously," Cynthia conceded. "I wouldn't want to stake my reputation on time travel just because someone said that A happened before B, when it could just be the result of a garbled recollection… no, it would have to be something more comprehensive and more difficult to…"
She slowed. "I'm not sure of the right word. Fake? Fake doesn't sound right, if you ask me… the records are accurate as far as the people recording them are concerned, we're just misinterpreting them."
"I think I see what you're getting at," Brandon nodded, thoughtfully. "So it would have to be… something which indicates that the source had information which was true, but which we have reason to believe wasn't otherwise available at the time."
"And that just causes further problems," Cynthia agreed. "There are true prophecies out there – and those don't count. You'd need evidence of something going physically back in time. An object or artefact, or an account of someone who had an object like that, would do nicely."
Ash looked at Dawn, then Latias and Pikachu, then across at Koraidon.
"...hours?" he guessed. "It could take hours."
"I almost feel like coming back tomorrow," Paul grumbled.
About an hour later, Cynthia and Brandon were moving into the Snowpoint Temple, taking notes and talking about the construction of the building around them.
Ash wasn't really sure if this technically counted as a new conversation, or if the same conversation had been going on all this time and had just moved. Either way, though, he followed, as did Dawn, their Pokémon, and Paul who still seemed hopeful of getting a battle at some point today.
"...so something I've been wondering, based on what you said, is whether the Regis are the Giants," Brandon was saying. "What do you think of that hypothesis?"
"I'm not sure," Cynthia demurred. "I can see where the idea comes from, since they're definitely sizeable Pokémon and each with only one Type, but the idea sort of founders on how there's not one Regi for each of the Types. Instead, there's many Regirock, Regice and Registeel, and I've seen a paper describing Regieleki and Regidrago. And of course there's Regigigas, but that still leaves about two thirds of the Types not covered."
"That is an issue, I concede," Brandon nodded. "Don't forget that they're sometimes referred to as Legendary Giants. Though – since Ash is around, I'm hoping to do an experiment, actually. The legend about the Snowpoint Temple is that a Regigigas slumbers in the temple, protected by pillars that are Regirock, Regice and Registeel… I'm hoping to ask Regigigas how much of that is true."
He touched his belt. "And, case the Giants are required for Regigigas to awaken, I've brought mine."
"I see," Cynthia said, nodding thoughtfully. "And if Regigigas doesn't awaken?"
"Then Regigigas doesn't awaken, but it was worth trying," Brandon shrugged. "Does that sound all right, Ash?"
"Uh," Ash said, glancing at Latias, then Pikachu. "I guess it sounds okay, but it also reminds me a bit of how some of our more… risky… adventures have gone. Right, Pikachu?"
"Yeah, I get what you mean," Pikachu agreed.
"Oh, I think I see," Brandon said, thinking. "Going into a temple and trying to awaken an ancient Pokémon… yes, I see your point."
He frowned. "I'm not sure, but I think this should be okay."
"Is it possible that I could get my battle, if you're trying to decide whether to awaken an ancient Pokémon or not?" Paul asked.
Brandon looked thoughtful.
"I'm afraid not," he said. "Because I might need all three of Regirock, Regice and Registeel to awaken Regigigas, and having one of them knocked out would be a problem with that."
Paul frowned, but had to concede the point.
When they actually reached the heart of the temple, Cynthia immediately began sketching.
"A pillar of rock, a pillar of ice, and a pillar of… do you think that's galena?" she asked, glancing up. "It's got a crystalline structure with long squarish pillars, I don't think galena acts that way but I don't think anything else does either…"
"It's going to be steel, right?" Dawn asked. "If these represent Rock, Ice and Steel."
"That's what I'm wondering about," Cynthia answered. "We can assume that these two pillars are Rock and Ice, and the fact that the Ice pillar is standing like that suggests it's been kept in place by something supernatural… but that third pillar might be Steel, or it might be something else that represents.. oh, the Dragon-type. Or the Poison-type, for that matter, if the third Giant represented here is one of the ones that's not well known."
Dawn looked thoughtful, then nodded slowly.
"How can we check?" she asked.
"I've got an idea how," Brandon volunteered. "Magnetism – this isn't going to be haematite, at least, and there's so few materials that are magnetic that it's practically diagnostic."
"What about stainless steel?" Cynthia inquired. "Some of those aren't magnetic."
"Yes, there's some edge cases," Brandon replied. "I'm aware of those, but it's more that magnetism would almost amount to proof that this was Steel. Otherwise we'd need to keep looking… speaking of which, is it all right to approach?"
"I've nearly finished the sketch," Cynthia replied. "The pillars are connected by lines on the ground, and in the middle of the triangle is a different kind of rocky structure that contains a spherical blue gemstone."
She paused. "Probably a gemstone. All right, I think that's finished."
They moved closer, and the pillars began to glow – all at once, lighting up and beginning to pulse in unison. Faintly at first, but once a second, and more brightly with each rhythmic pulse of light.
"Ash, your ring!" Pikachu warned.
Ash moved his head slightly, and saw that his ring was starting to pulse faintly, in time with the pulses from the pillars.
And with the pulses of the spherical gemstone.
Then, all at once, the spherical gemstone transformed into a big white-and-gold Pokémon with black patterns on its arms, and the three pillars became recognizable Regirock, Regice and Registeel.
The Reigsteel was shiny, though, with a much more greenish colour than Brandon's one – a colour closer to the pillar that it had been shaped as a moment before.
"Oh, that explains that," Brandon said, quietly.
"Is there a task that must be done?" Regigigas asked, walking slowly up to Ash before halting. "I am ready. My retinue is ready. Command us."
"...uh," Ash began. "I don't… actually have anything for you to do. Or any commands."
The many eyes of Regigigas flashed in a complex pattern.
"Is there a problem?" Regigigas inquired.
"No, no problem!" Ash replied, hastily. "I'm just, uh… you might be thinking that I'm my dad? But, I didn't know you were going to wake up because I was nearby."
He glanced at Brandon and Cynthia. "It's more like… my friends wanted to ask some questions? And I guess it would help if you knew what Giants were, or something like that. But we're here to find things out, not to give you something to do."
Regigigas rotated in a complete circle, looking at Regirock, then Regice, then Registeel, then around at the room they were in, and surveyed Ash's friends as it finished rotating back to the starting orientation.
"Understood," they stated. "Reframing: you are asking me to construct knowledge. Is this correct?"
"I guess," Ash replied. "Is that the way you think about things? Or, prefer to think about things?"
That got a long, contemplative silence, and more complex patterns.
"Yes," Regigigas decided, eventually, having clearly given the question a great deal of thought.
Paul sighed.
"When should I come to the Battle Pyramid tomorrow?" he asked.
"So… this is something I've been wondering for a while," Cynthia said, while Brandon was writing down the response to his question about whether there were any more types of Regi. "Our legends tell us that Regigigas – singular, or plural – pulled the continents into place. Is that correct? And if so, how does it work?"
Regigigas was silent for several seconds, and Ash raised a hoof slightly.
"Uh," he began. "Is there something you don't understand about the question, Regigigas?"
"Regigigas is thinking," Registeel stated. "About the question."
"Regigigas prefers to think about things for a long time, rather than make a mistake," Regice added.
Regirock's eyes flashed in a pattern. "Regigigas is very strong. To act hastily is to destroy accidentally."
"I guess… Cynthia, is your question basically about what Regigigas's domain is, as a Legendary?" Ash checked.
"That's a good addition, yes," Cynthia confirmed.
Regigigas flashed their lights for several more seconds, then nodded slightly.
"I have determined the correct answer," they stated. "It is not correct that the function of Regigigas is to pull continents into place. That is simply a legend with no basis in fact."
Ash translated that, then frowned.
"So, uh…" he said. "What do you do, then?"
"We push," Regigigas stated. "It is the task of Regigigas to sculpt the world. That means to push the continents, to begin the convection of the world, to form mountains and carve them down."
Regigigas folded its arms. "We do not pull. That would require an exceptionally strong rope."
"Huh, that is a good point," Latias admitted.
Ash translated that as well, then as soon as he was finished Regigigas went on. "Pushing continents takes a long time. They have a lot of inertia. It is part of our nature that the longer we push for, the more force we use."
"...um," Koraidon asked, tilting her head. "Where do you stand, when you push a continent?"
She glanced down at her paws. "I know that when I run around, I have to push against the ground to move."
There was another long pause.
"I stand on the ground, and I push," Regigigas said. "Then I step forwards, and keep pushing. The force of my push stretches the ground behind me, and I leave behind a shallower section. It splits. It rifts. It becomes the sea. Sometimes Groudon and Kyogre argue about that."
The huge Pokémon shrugged. "I am mostly concerned with the push side of things."
"...very insightful," Brandon said, that evening. "I know it was a slow conversation, but the perspective is just… invaluable."
He looked back at the temple. "I'm sort of inclined to stick around, but I'm not sure how I could get any translation going on – not with neither you around, Ash, nor Cynthia's Lucario."
"I guess you could ask Lucario from Rota?" Ash suggested. "Or ask the Lucario Kingdom if they were willing to send someone…"
"That might work, but I'm just speculating," Brandon said, with a slight shrug. "I know that you, Ash, are probably… well, the best way to make sure that Regigigas is willing to answer questions."
He shook his head. "I think I'm going to be satisfied with what I've got. It's the kind of thing where I'd feel satisfied if I spent six months finding out this information, and I got it in a day. So – thank you, Ash."
"I second that," Cynthia volunteered. "When your Sinnoh journey is over, Ash – and I know it's going to happen at some point – I'm going to have so much to process and organize that it's going to keep me busy for years."
She paused.
"Though I may sometimes text you further questions."
"Sometimes?" her Lucario asked.
"Often, then," Cynthia amended. "There's no need to rub it in, you rascal."
"There very much is."
Latias giggled.
"So – where are we going now, then?" she asked.
"Yeah, that is a good question," Ash admitted. "I've got seven Badges, but there's no Ground-type gym leader in Sinnoh, just a member of the Elite Four like we said… so I need to get an eighth Badge from somewhere. And we do need to visit Lake Acuity, too…"
He looked at Dawn. "And you still need a Contest, right?"
"Yes, that's right," Dawn agreed. "But there's plenty of Contest towns, right?"
Cynthia had got out a map.
"What about this?" she suggested. "We go to Lake Acuity, because that's nearby, and then – well, we've actually got months before the Grand Festival, so we don't need to rush, but..."
She moved her finger down to Lake Valor. "This is where the Sinnoh Grand Festival is going to be held… and that's not far from Sunyshore, which has an Electric-type Gym Leader called Volkner. There's several places with Contests around that peninsula, as well, so Dawn has options too."
Ash shrugged.
"I guess that makes sense!" he said. "And, like you say, we've got lots of time!"
"So, you can make decisions between two equally good options for other people, huh?" Lucario asked.
Cynthia shrugged.
AN:
Because Regis.
And because geeks.