"A bit more heat," Ash requested.
Latias nodded, and intensified her Mystical Fire. The chopped onions began to sizzle slightly in the pot, and Ash checked the recipe.
"Okay, uh… I guess we keep doing that for four minutes," he said. "Or until they go soft. Then we add the next bits…"
"At least we've learned to do all the chopping first?" Pikachu asked.
Ash groaned. "Are you going to keep bringing that up?"
"Probably," Pikachu judged. "I know it hasn't happened in a while, but… when it did happen, it had a big impact."
Ash shook his head, using Confusion to stir the onions as they sizzled, then looked out over the valley they were in.
They were on the eastern coast of Sinnoh, making their way south in a leisurely sort of way to give everyone time to train, and sure enough that was what was going on… at least, most of the time.
Ash could see Cynthia, for example, training her Jangmo-o with the help of her Togekiss and Lucario, while Dawn was working with her starter on getting Hydro Pump working to amp up his Whirlpool.
As for Ash's team, though, they weren't currently working on anything, because Ash was in the middle of cooking. Instead, there was a three-and-a-half-way game of tag going on between Koraidon, Miraidon and Mew, with Zorua sometimes taking part and sometimes just riding along on whoever he felt like.
Ash smiled, watching them race around, then looked back down at the recipe again.
"The herbed sausage, next," he said. "And then… another few minutes, before we add the rice."
Latias nodded.
"When do we heat up the bread pockets?" she asked.
"Not for a while, I guess," Ash replied. "It says the rice stays in there for twenty minutes… if we heated them up now they'd be cold again by the time it was time to eat."
"And nobody wants a cold sandwich," Pikachu said. "Actually, no, Koraidon and Miraidon would both find a cold sandwich just fine."
"A hot one is a bit better for this, though," Ash nodded. "I… think."
A few seconds later, when Ash looked up, Koraidon was hurrying over with the others behind her.
"This could go poorly," Pikachu said.
"Yeah," Ash replied. "Koraidon, uh… wait, who's it?"
"Nobody is at the moment, dad," Mew replied. "We called a truce because we could smell the food."
"Sorry, it's not finished yet," Ash told them. "It's probably going to be… maybe twenty-five or thirty minutes."
"That's a long time," Koraidon said, with a sigh, then perked up. "But it's going to taste good when it's time to eat it!"
"I hope so," Latias agreed. "Sorry for attracting you over earlier."
"Is that what Sweet Scent is?" Miraidon inquired.
Mew giggled.
"I don't think so," they said.
Zorua raised his paw.
"Tag again?" he asked.
"Maybe…" Koraidon said, but she sounded thoughtful. "I just got to wondering, Dad… I was thinking about how Brock did the cooking before, and one thing sort of led to another… what was it like, when you were human? Or thought you were?"
"I guess… just normal?" As replied, with a shrug. "It's what I was used to, so I just didn't see anything unusual about it."
He shifted the onions again, then added the next ingredient and mixed it some more.
"And, uh…" he began. "I don't know what to say, really. I didn't think about it as something to pay attention to, it was just… how I was?"
Koraidon nodded, looking slightly disappointed.
As she did, Miraidon tilted their head to the side.
"What do you think, Pikachu?" they requested. "You were with Dad before he knew what he was."
"Oh, yeah, that's a good point!" Pikachu replied, chuckling. "I could tell you a lot about what happened!"
"Wait, that's kind of worrying," Ash said nervously.
"What about the story of Ash's first gym battle?" Pikachu suggested.
"Pikachu!" Ash complained.
Pikachu looked innocent. "It's family history, Ash," he pointed out.
Mew started giggling. "I think I remember hearing about some of this," they said.
Koraidon and Miraidon both sat down on their haunches, looking attentive.
"I'd like to hear about it," Miraidon requested.
"Story time," Zorua said, helpfully.
About half an hour later, the food was done, and Ash suspected he was going to stop feeling embarrassed at some point.
It might take a while, though.
"Don't be upset, dad," Miraidion requested. "I think it is nice to hear about what you were like, then."
"You do?" Ash replied, putting some of the rice mix into a heated bread pocket for the Electric-type, and floated it over for them. "Because, I mostly just remember being really embarrassed."
"You were a kid," Miraidon pointed out. "And you did the important bits, right? The bits about being brave and kind. The other stuff is stuff you learn."
They sat on their haunches, taking a bite of what was close enough to a sandwich for their liking, and made a pleased electronic noise.
"I guess that's one way to think about it," Ash admitted. "I just… never really thought about it that way."
"Isn't that how it always is?" Latias said. "I know when I think about when I was young, it's mostly about how… I didn't really understand what it meant to be a Legendary Pokémon."
She took a spoonful of the rice herself, chewing and then swallowing. "But, uh… how do I put it… I think Miraidon is right."
Miraidon's eyes displayed pleased eyes-closed images, and Ash chuckled.
"I guess so," he agreed. "It's just, uh… maybe it's that, when I think about what I was like then, I'm thinking that from the point of view of someone who's had more time to think about it… someone who's realized my mistakes. Almost by definition. So… maybe that's why?"
He thought, then shook his head as he passed a bowl to Zorua. "No, that's not all of it… when you're on the inside, you know why you did a lot of things. So you know that, uh… you know all the things that you'd have to guess, for someone else, and if someone else would guess that you had a better reason then you look worse to yourself… and if someone else would guess that you had a worse reason, you look better."
"Like with Lugia?" Pikachu suggested, the teasing tone gone.
"Huh?" Ash replied. "But… I was scared."
"And you did it anyway," Pikachu replied. "But answer me this, Ash – did you think about how, if you didn't find the third treasure, then you probably wouldn't survive?"
Ash blinked.
"Uh," he said. "I don't think I ever did think about that, no…"
"Then that's a time when someone might have guessed you'd realized that, and you didn't," Pikachu said. "That makes you less thoughtful about it, but more brave – because if you think you can be safe, and you go into danger to help someone else, what else do you call that?"
Ash didn't answer for a long moment.
"I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it's just not something it's easy to realize about myself? Or for… anyone to realize about themselves, maybe."
Then Mew hugged him.
"You're great, dad," Mew said. "You – I remember what happened so well, and… you've been nothing but amazing to me."
"Us, too," Koraidon agreed, speaking for herself and her younger sibling with a wave of a paw. "It's only really now that I realize how, uh… unprepared you must have been? When I came along? But… it's like Mew said. You did really well. You, and Pikachu, and Latias… Brock and May and Max, everyone was really good at making me feel comfortable."
Then she joined in the hug, and Miraidon did as well.
Ash just closed his eyes, not resisting, and nodded slowly.
"Thanks, you three," he said. "It – it really means a lot."
Then, as Koraidon and Miraidon let go, and Mew floated around to sit on Ash's back, Hakamo-o coughed and raised a paw.
"Is it okay if I have some?" he asked.
"Oh!" Latias said, surprised. "You evolved?"
Hakomo-o nodded, and Cynthia patted the not-so-little Dragon-type on the head.
"We're going to try Dragon Tail tennis with Garchomp after dinner," she said. "Dragon Tail is a nice, useful move for getting a bit of breathing room."
"And being able to do it past Garchomp's defence is the real challenge!" Hakamo-o agreed. "But that smells really nice so I'd like some first please."
There was a kind of sploosh over in the middle distance, which suggested that Piplup had probably at least started finishing the process of learning Hydro Pump.
"Should I go and get them?" Mew asked. "I don't mind… I just think Dawn and her team haven't noticed that the cooking is done."
AN: