It was the early morning, so early in fact that most were not awake yet.

He was, and it wasn't because he wanted to. No Pikachu, not even himself, would willingly be awake at this hour.

He stifled a yawn as he continued, more by memory than active thought, to Ash's bed which was much softer and warmer than the open air. His cheeks sparked with tiredness.

He shouldn't have been awake yet, and it wasn't even for what he'd call a decent reason.

He hadn't been enjoying himself.

He hadn't had a craving for something.

He didn't wake up for the resolution of the pointless teen drama that seemed to scare Ash and the girls more than alternate dimension madness, cyborg laser bugs, and Sabrina did.

No, he had heard the scutter and scamper of Team Rocket in the dead of night, and he had to spook them off so they didn't do anything that Team Rocket was wont to do when left alone for too long.

It had to be quiet, but he had driven them off. It wasn't that much work, but it had left him tired and nothing was going to distract him from getting back.

"....Well it is certainly good to hear from you Augustine. I'll admit I wish it was at a better time, but I understand your own constraints and fully empathize with them. Hopefully I was able to be of some help to the two of you, even when I'm basically being kept awake by the soft drink in front of me."

"Fro." 'I don't see what the big mystery is. The foreign venerable man just said what you already knew but keep falling into again and again. Not that, of course, either of you can understand me.'

That curt reply that only he could understand stopped him mid step, all thoughts of Ash's very pleasant body heat and his less than pleasant night sneezing the other night leaving him as he found himself peeking in on a video phone call.

On this end Professor Oak, and on the other end a certain Kalosian Professor and Froakie.

"No need to strain yourself on my behalf. It could probably have waited until morning; the answer was pretty obvious. I don't get how something that simple could have slipped my mind."

"Frok." 'Probably because you were so busy with that youth camp these last few weeks, and philandering with female politicians to not have to worry about your budget when you returned and before you had departed. Though seeing as none of you see the mouse spying on us you are probably both too tired to make the best decisions today.'

"It will be the morning when I get back to you with all the stuff I remember about that Serena girl, and the things only guessable in hindsight. I wouldn't offer her this Froakie though."

The tiredness seemed a distant memory as the full extent of what was going on registered in him.

'I'd say it was worth batting that old plunger into Jessie, but that would imply I hadn't enjoyed doing it in the first place,' he had to think to himself.

Froakie and Serena were both seemingly on the move.

How long would it take for either, if not both, of them to cross into his and Ash's path in a means other than video spying?

"I always enjoy reading your speculation Samuel, be it scientific or personal. Well, best let you get to sleep. Say goodbye Froakie."

'Pleasant dreams venerable human. Your insight was already known but well spoken. You should get to sleep too mouse, as you look just as tired as the venerable man.'

With that the video of Sycamore and Froakie vanished, and Professor Oak moved to get out of his chair.

"Now, to get some sleep....."

The words that came out of Professor Oak's mouth when another ring for him came in was something that he had not heard a human use, but if he had to figure out their exact meaning he'd assume that it had something to do with the removal of a limb and swallowing it.

An odd swearword of an odd old age most likely.

The Professor settled down and reactivated the phone, whose end communication was again a Professor.

Professor Ivy to be specific, tired as well.

"Oh Samuel, you are awake too. I must admit I am surprised you're still awake."

"So am I."

The Professor's snark, bordering on a self-frustrated growl, was accepted by the female Professor without complaint.

"Well, seeing as you are awake, I'd like to let you know about that request I had asked you about. I know it is a bit out your field..."

"I'm more familiar with ancient artifacts than Birch, Elm, or any of the others, especially in regards to ancient Pokémon and Human interaction. Whatever that ball is, it sounds like something I'd know about. I agreed to send someone to get the thing, better than having Boxer try something and open a wormhole by mistake."

Oh, the G.S Ball. He had forgotten that was a thing since it had last come up. Oddly cyborg Lapras stuck with him more than that ball that had just been left with Kurt and stayed there until the universe shattered, never to be heard from again.

It was about time for them to go and get it, wasn't it? See Lapras, Snorlax, and the eventual Politoed, beat Drake, try not to get mind controlled. Odd thing for Professor Ivy to bring up early in the morning though.

"I'd rather not see the accuracy of Mohn's speculations, nor ponder them at this hour so thank you for just sending someone in the near future for it. My assistants are great, but they don't travel well. I don't know how they got that lost last time. Actually what I'm calling about is the possibility of whoever you send picking up a second item at the same time. You see, I had sent my assistants Charity, Hope, and Faith to the island where the G.S ball had been found, and they managed to find something else there. A box..."

At that point the sharpness that had kept him awake vanished, no longer sustained by Froakie or Serena and the G.S ball and a box with no name (the R.S box? the D.P crate? B.W cube?) were replacement for them.

So he slumped the floor, surely snoring out cute little 'chus' that the Professors did not notice as talk went on about an odd box.

…

“Good morning.”

The Pokédex beeped the moment he woke up in greeting.

“Pikachu?”

The first question he had was the lack of his mouse buddy in the room with him.

“Your Pokémon left your room at some point in the night and did not return. I do, however, recall overhearing someone saying something about him sleeping on the floor somewhere in the house, so he isn’t lost.”

He idly nodded in acknowledgement to the point as he pushed himself out bed, yawning a bit and stretching.

“You’ll be happy to remember that today is a day off from battling, meaning you can relax a bit before planning out your upcoming match. You could let out your stress levels, or perhaps even work on new battle techniques. I recently got an update on training methods from the Galar region that you may wish to consider. Such moves include Goodra taking on Mud Shot, Farfetch’d mastering Solar Blade, and Charizard performing Heat Crash.”

He knew what two of those were, but the third was something beyond his familiarity.

“Solar Blade?”

“Think Solar Beam, but as a giant energy blade. Serperior could probably learn it, but I do not have any information to verify that belief at the present time.”

Fully hopping out of bed, Ash turned to the Pokédex as he looked around for clothes for the day.

“Charizard had a lot of training done yesterday with everybody who wasn’t here for the Locke battle. Today is a rest day unless anyone asks for any specific training, though if you could put a list of all the new move possibilities I’ll think on them. Something in there might catch my eye.”

“Already running the organization program, along with a side list for your companions own Pokémon. Also as a final morning update Gardevoir and company have reported in additional siblings of yours in Fiore. Though if you are wondering, as they are eleven, twelve, and thirteen in various numbers they are not known to be criminals, in unusual relationships, or dead.”

That was, at least, an improvement.

“Well good for them, now to not think of that for the rest of the day.”

…

The moment he stepped out of his room, a sense of danger and dread flashed all over him.

Not even a second after he felt like he was in the middle of Kyogre and Groudon having a dispute he started hearing what was setting off his alarm bells.

“Oh that’s my little boy just now! I want to hear all about your date! You didn’t give me nearly enough details yesterday, and I must know more!”

It was his mom, and she sounded very excited and worked up.

Was that what he sounded like as a child before being taken to a baseball game for the first time?

“Please Ms. Ketchum calm down… and is he really your little boy? He’s taller than you.”

Misty sounded like she was trying to defuse a bomb, and he couldn’t blame her. His mom was often ‘da bomb’ when it came to being a good parent, but if she got off in excitement or anger she was a human explosion.

“Oh he’ll never stop being my little boy! Now, I’m going to get him, so stay here will you dear!”

He immediately moved to hide in his room. It wouldn’t work, but it would at least buy him a few more seconds.

Maybe Misty could at least get away.

A hand gripped his wrist before he could get back in his room however, and he found Iris and Anabel at his side.

“We can get out the window. Your mother is a horrible runner.”

‘I’ll distract her.’

Iris and Anabel were in sync on this, and the first thing he could think of saying was…

“You don’t have to do that. I mean maybe it won’t be that bad…”

“I want to get out for a bit, and I can save you at the same time.”

‘Your mother’s been like this for a while. She had odd dreams and has been worked up since she woke up. Apparently trying to talk to her yesterday contributed to it, so it’s our bad. Plus hey, after this you’ll owe me and perhaps we can have a date.’

Before he could say anything about ‘they didn’t have a date’, all the while having a flush red face, Iris yanked him towards the window and darted out.

It was easier for Iris’s thinner frame than his, but he was off and running by the time he could hear his mother questioning Anabel about where ‘her baby’ was and other things that made him wonder just what his mother thought Misty and he did the other day.

“Think Misty’s going to kill me?”

Ash asked a dumb question.

“I do not see why she would. You did not do anything wrong.”

The two of them were walking through a part of the League facilities she had not seen before: though she was hardly the judge of what the place was like in full.

She had not explored it to exhaustion and had little interest in doing so. It was just too noisy and too busy for her to do on her own and get anything from it other than a desire to get far away from it.

“I did leave her to my Mom at her worst. That was kind of a jerk move.”

She could see what Ash was actually meaning. He was feeling guilty, and not expecting Misty to actually try and kill him.

He was still being dumb though.

“If only one has to suffer as to save another from the same fate, that is perfectly fine. Misty would not want you to suffer. Your mother should eventually run out of questions to ask just Misty, though come to think of it we probably could have just had someone put your mother to sleep.”

She had only just thought about that one.

“Knocking my Mom out with Sleep Powder to get out of a conversation is kind of rude.”

“As is running out the window to avoid the very same conversation.”

The Pokédex chimed in from Ash’s pocket, and Ash had a renewed look of unease on his face.

“You are thinking too much about it. Let us go on a date.”

Ash was certainly not thinking about what social issues he might have done to Misty or his mother now.

He was instead sputtering, and she could only somewhat figure out what syllables he was trying to form into words.

“Translation: Ash Ketchum believes he doesn’t know how to have a date. Apparently winning plushies and fishing up Luvdisc yet leaving the shiny one alone does not count as a date. Perhaps you have to say you are going on a date for it to actually count.”

She thanked the machine for clarifying.

“You and Misty had fun, and I have no idea what I would enjoy so we can try a whole lot of things. Plus if you and Misty really did not have a date, she has no reason to be upset if we have one so you do not need to fear her trying to kill you.”

Ash’s mouth was making motions a bit like that of a Magikarp, as if he was trying to convince himself that he should argue with her, but he stopped and his resulting slumped posture was only halfhearted.

“Well I already ran out a window once today, doing it again for Misty wouldn’t be that bad.”

She smiled, and she felt an upswell of joy overcome her.

“Good, now for my first date and your second!”

Ash did not even argue it was his first date this time.

…

He had no idea what he should even be doing on a date, but it apparently didn’t stop him the first time.

Apparently because he was still uneasy about calling what he and Misty had a date. They hadn’t said it was a date after all; they were just out having a good time.

‘Just have a date with Misty you two call a date, and then you’ll be fine with actually calling it what it is,’ said a voice in his head that sounded like Pikachu, who come to think of it he had left to his mother’s mercy just like Misty.

Hopefully he could sleep through it all.

Still on the thought that he had no idea about what to do on a date, it hadn’t stopped him and Misty earlier and not knowing what he was doing rarely stopped him before.

He had taken them back to the place he and Misty had been earlier, as there was plenty more than he and Misty hadn’t partaken in and it would offer him some options to try.

Though perhaps he was giving fun too much credit for being difficult to find as it didn't even take three minutes for them to stumble into something.

“Something is wrong with this mirror.”

Iris had stopped at a tent with a single mirror in front: said tent going deep into the back with more mirrors inside of itself.

The mirror that had Iris befuddled was one that distorted her body: taking off what looked like feet from her head and expanded her outward to comical exaggerations of obesity.

She was poking at herself, as if trying to see why she looked like that, when he walked over to said mirror as well and joined her.

He pointed at his rather rotund reflection.

“It’s a trick mirror. The idea is that these sorts of mirror distort the reflection.”

Iris looked at her deformed and inflated reflection again: it and his own nearly filling a mirror that could have been large enough to not only fit them easily, but also Misty and Anabel.

“Do they all make you look like that?”

“That would be boring: each of them does something else to your reflection. Watch.”

He darted into the tent with the mirrors and stood in front of the first one. The reflection also widened, but instead of making him look like he had a few too many eating contest championships under his belt it made his head massively larger in size.

“See, I look like a bobble head.”

To add to his comparison, he began bobbing his head up and down at a gentle pace. Not at a head pounding rate reserved for intense rock music, but enough to get the idea across.

Iris chuckled.

“If you say so. I am not familiar with bobble heads.”

She darted past him to the next one, which distorted her body to make her hips widen outwards.

He sort of thought the mirror might have been meant to get someone’s stomach instead of their hips and Iris’s height messed the effect up a bit, but the effect was still funny.

“Oh, this mirror makes my hips look like Misty’s.”

Even funnier in the way that Iris said it, that being in a matter of a slightly amused matter-of fact comment, and he couldn’t stop the laughs from escaping his lungs.

He covered his lips with his fingers to try and not laugh at that, but the blocked chuckles pushed his lips out and he was left with a few pangs of laughter before he could form words.

“I…wouldn’t have said that as the first thing that comes to mind about Misty, but I guess.”

In any context but the other person bringing it up, thinking about someone else like that during a date would be a faux pas.

He darted over to the next mirror, which made his body thin and pole-like. It probably added a foot or two to his stature, though he had no idea where the rest of him went in the reflection.

Iris poked her head into the reflection: which was only distorted a bit but did make her hair look oddly narrowed.

Sort of like that hairstyle that made a girl’s hair look like a roll of paper towels sticking out of their heads. He had no idea what it was called.

“That does not make you look like Misty.”

He had briefly expected Iris to make a joke about how the mirror could make Misty look like herself, but he would keep that to himself.

The conversation instead went in a different direction as prompted by Iris.

“There should be one in here that would make our chests gigantic that should make us look like her. Let us find it.”

He really shouldn’t be laughing at that, as some part of him felt like that was being a bit mean to Misty.

But maybe it was just because Iris didn’t have any bitterness when she said it, but he couldn’t help but let out more chuckles without even a finger to try and keep them under wraps.

…

“It was a bit disappointing we could not find a mirror to make our chests look like Misty’s.”

Despite the note of disappointment in her voice about it, she was still rather amused by the entire show with the mirrors, and he was smiling too. It had been all good fun.

“Do either of you young people have a good eye for the littlest of details?”

They had passed a few stalls without Iris expressing interest: they had been flashing stands of a couple of games of coin flipping, slots, and pinball. The stall with the caller this time was nowhere near as flashy, being a fairly simple stall whose back was devoted more to a set of prizes than anything fancier.

He noticed a few items he had seen around in the past: the Life Orb that Giovanni had used with his Nidoking was present, as was a Focus Band and King’s Rock. Other sorts of helmets, scarves, gems, and other items that would go into an item holder for battle were present. The man running the stall had a toothy grin and no hair on his head, but looked more mischievous than skeevy. In front of him on his stall was a line of teacups with a purplish drink in them.

“Eh, I guess?”

At his response the man nodded.

“Then perhaps you and your lady friend would like to partake in a game of observation? It’s very simple really: you just need to keep track of the one teacup I have that is in fact a cup of tea.”

“So like one of those ball and cup games, but with tea? That’s kind of weird, not going to lie.”

It seemed needlessly breakable for one. Balls didn’t break as easily as tea cups. As often was however, the Pokédex was able to explain a bit more.

“It’s less weird when you realize that most of those cups are actually the Pokémon Sinistea. Sinistea is a Ghost-type that possesses long-abandoned cups of tea and seeks to be drunk by people to absorb life force. However, the tea tastes like dishwater filtered through rotten meat and decaying tree leaves, so it is always spat out. Of those eight tea cups, seven of them are Sinisteas.”

On the explanation from his pocket seven little heads rose up from the tea: purple shapes and yellow eyes that blinked at him and Iris for a moment before retreating back into their tea.

Iris was just as surprised at this revelation as he was, though he was honestly more surprised at the description. What did they taste like to be compared to such things?

“I have never seen that Pokémon before.”

The bald man chuckled.

“Unless you are hanging around the tea loving parts of Galar, that being anywhere you can find a Galarian if you ask me, you won’t see them. Still they are rather neat little things, and make a fun game I think. Track them ‘round and ‘round, and if you can follow them right, bang! You get a prize. All for two.”

“Have the machine pay the man, and then mute it. I want to give it a try!”

Iris had a determined, almost anticipatory look to her eyes. It was a look of bravery and determination. The Pokédex didn’t object to his move to mute it, and with an audible ‘cha-ching’ going off from the stall owner’s pocket the Sinistea began to glow.

The move they were using wasn’t Psychic, but it did seem to be one that moved things around. In sudden shifts of glowing light, they were teleporting around the stall, swapping positions with each other in instantaneous swaps and changing their layout constantly. Sometimes they even vanished into the shadows via purple hazy portals before re-appearing a few swaps later to keep the order hard to follow.

After a bit they stopped and settled, and he had to give the little ghosts credit. They were completely still and he was having trouble getting a read on them just from watching for any sign of the tea being inhabited.

“The third to the right!”

Iris didn’t take that long to make her call, and at the call all of the Sinistea rose up to reveal themselves in full. Only one tea cup didn’t rise up to reveal that the contents were alive: the third tea cup to the right.

Iris had a smug look on her face as the owner looked rather astonished, but quickly composed himself and chuckled a bit. The chuckle, however, still exuded what he could only describe as shocked surprise.

“Well you’ve got some fine eyes there, young lady. Most people can’t track all of that Ally Switch and Phantom Force moves these little guys do. So, what do you want then?”

“The Dragon Fang.”

The old man handed over the item that was most definitely not the relic from Blackthorn to Iris, who grinned as she held it up.

“Fraxure is going to love this! So Ash, do you want to try winning as well?”

He was a tad nervous about trying to track all of that himself, but he nodded in the spirit of it all and stepped up to plate. Another beep came from the phone on the old man’s side, and with the payment the little ghosts began their mad dance of swapping.

First the tea was moved to the second from the left, then to the center right. It popped over from there to the farthest left, which was now missing the second from the left due to Phantom Force, before popping back to the third from the right and then going back to center right.

He was amazed he was able to keep any track of it, but he kept that amazement as far from his mind as possible. He barely had any room in his mind to think of anything but the item movement lest he lose track of it.

Eventually the tea cups stopped moving, and he made his call.

“The second to the left!”

Once again at his declaration all of the Sinistea’s rose up to reveal where they were situated after all of their swapping around. The only spot that didn’t rise up was the second from the left, and the old man slapped himself in amazement.

“Only got two people getting this correct all day, and it is back to back. Amazing. So what do you want to take with you for battling boostin’?”

He looked over the items on display, and eventually he settled on a yellow band that hung off a spare leak.

“The Muscle Band? Excellent choice for a physical fighter, it will boost any and all physical attacks! Here you go!”

He took the band and his mind wandered to which Pokémon might benefit from it most. Perhaps Kingler?

…

Ash appeared to be thinking on just what to do with the item he had won. His mind was overthinking it for the moment so her gaze turned back to the prize pool. It was a decent challenge, but she could see herself winning most of her tries at it.

Ash needed a bit of training to keep his mind focused on patterns compared to her, but this was a date and not training. It would not be quite in the spirit of fun. They could work on that later.

Some idle thoughts in her head about how to test Ash on being distracted left her mind as quickly as they came when she saw a small item glint on top a pile of items in the back. It was small and not clearly visible, but she was sure of exactly what she saw.

It was something to win.

“I am going again.”

Her statement got Ash to stop thinking for a moment, another sound of money transferring, and a chuckle from the old man.

“Very well: Sinisteas!”

The little ghost Pokémon began to swap around. The one tea that was not a Pokémon: the second to the left, quickly moved to the far right, then to the third to the left (now with the two Sinisteas to its side having popped off into the shadows and out of sight), and then back to the far right.

Her eyes were squarely on the cup that did not host a Pokémon, which was still moving. Third to the left, then second to the right, than the farthest right, then the center left.

Eventually the cups stopped moving and she pointed at the tea she knew to not be a living creature.

All but one cups had a spirit rise up from them, all but the farthest left cup she was pointing to.

“Bingo! Hope you two aren’t planning on clearing house, or I might have to raise my prices. But hey, that’s my reward if you win ten times straight. So, young lady, what will it be this time?"

She pointed to the box she had spotted in the back.

“The little stone atop of that box.”

He looked at the box in confusion, though seemingly more for the choice of item than anything.

“That little thing? I mean sure, I got it in a shipment of stuff that work with Pokémon that often includes odds and ends, but I couldn’t tell you what it is. Only time I ever got something like it… but hey if you know what it is knock yourself out. No refunds though.”

He stepped back to pick up the little stone between his fingers and passed it to her, which she held up to Ash.

She smiled as she showed it off, while he was staring at it in shock and surprise. For unlike the man, he recognized the little round marble for what it was: a Mega Stone.

The one he had, which Misty had given up a large chunk of her old wardrobe for, was greenish with a large bit of orange within it, while this stone was purple with a shot of red in the center.

“You are more likely to make use of it than me. Have it.”

Ash was in shock as she put the stone in his palm, though the moment it was firmly there he clenched his fist tightly. She was not sure why though, or why the Pokédex had not just said exactly what Pokémon the stone could empower, but then she remembered the thing was muted.

“The Sinistea are up for another round!”

Ash suddenly turned to the game and the Sinistea began to swap and warp again. It was a sudden turn around, though the old man running the game seemed to get a chuckle from it for some reason.

What made it so funny to him?

Ash seemed to have a bit more focus now, and his eyes were better at watching the Sinistea warp to not lose track of the goal.

When they eventually stopped Ash was quicker than the first time to declare the non Sinistea, and he was right on his target.

“That’s a Dragon Gem, right? If so I’ll take it!”

The old man chuckled the entire time as he fulfilled Ash’s request and handed him the gem, which he them gave to her with a massive blush on his face.

She felt her own face heat up a bit as the old man’s laugh seemed to get deeper and heartier.

“Oh this is just so adorable! You two keep this up and I’ll save the price hike until the fifteenth go around!”

…

They did not see if he would keep his word until that far along, and as they continued to wander around the noisy area she stared at the gem Ash had won.

She could feel it: crystallized power of Dragons in the palm of her hand. With just the slightest flush of power from within her, the gem would add to her strength all of the power within it.

It was a single extra boost, one that she would need to remember to save for when it was most needed.

Meanwhile with Ash, he had learned what Pokémon would use the Mega Stone, and seemed a bit surprised.

“Gengar?”

She would have personally preferred if she had spotted a Mega Stone that worked with a Pokémon Ash had: like Charizard or Serperior or someone else on his team. But there was a bright spot.

“You are more likely to find a Gengar than a Sceptile around here.”

Ash shrugged, seeming to half-hear her point but agree with it in general. Did he think he would get along better with a Sceptile than a Gengar? It was not a hard thing for her to imagine: Gengar had a tendency to be pests and menaces. You could find harmless enough Gengar, but they were less common.

There were trickier Ghost-types though: she did not envy Misty when it came time for her to seek out a Jellicent.

“Well this at least gives you an incentive to capture one, so I can hardly say the acquisition was pointless. Consider it an inspiration to capture more.”

The Pokédex’s words were followed by her and Ash’s stomachs growling loudly at once, which she doubted was what it wanted to hear.

“Well hey, maybe we’ll find a Gengar around some food. Surely someone is making cream pies this time of day.”

Ash was trying to make a joke, though she was not sure what he was trying to make a joke about. Was there something about those kind of pies that would make a Gengar want to do things with them?

“Gengar are not statistically more common in the vicinity of cream pies. There have been five studies on the matter. Also it is not even noon so no one will have time to make cream pies for sale at this point.”

A joke that the Pokédex was apparently aware of, as were quite possibly dozens of Professor Oak type people who felt the need to test that out.

Sometimes humans really did have too much time of their hands. Though she was hungry so she had no time to really dwell on that.

…

They did not take long to find food, though in truth it was more of a case of food finding them.

“Heeelllloo there! Tell me young mister and miss, are you hungry?!”

A man in white with shades approached them with a very upbeat, very loud voice. His sudden arrival and shout made both of them jump, that made both of their stomachs growl. Ash could not avoid saying anything after that.

“Well, can’t say we aren’t now.”

The man grinned.

“Do you like free food?! Free food that isn’t served around here like the rest of the free food you get!?”

Ash nodded along.

“Do you like free stuff that isn’t edible!?”

How was this guy breathing? He said everything in one rather fast take.

“As long as you don’t want us to eat the stuff that isn’t edible, yeah.”

The man snapped his fingers and pointed towards a large tent with a symbol on it: some sort of letter C with dots on it at random. Smoke was coming out of the back that smelled of a wide variety of berries and other foods mixed together in a combination of appetizing and strange smells that made her stomach growl once more.

“Then why don’t you come over to the Macro Cosmos Galar Promotional Couples ‘n Duos Curry Eating Contest!? Eat curry, get fabulous prizes that show you why you should visit the Galar Region as soon as you possibly can, or in five years because the stuff you can win has no expiration date if you can’t eat it!”

The man kept speaking without interrupting himself in breathing, all while talking in a tone that was so fast that he sounded like a Noivern who had just drunk all of the honey of a Combee hive. Only a bit more coherent.

“Curry?”

Though she wasn’t sure what curry exactly was. Fortunately Ash did seem to know what it was.

“It’s a rice dish with a mixture of spices and sauces that is often topped with something else. Mom sometimes serves it at the restaurant back home or as a meal. It’s not bad, even if it isn’t a Pizza Pot Pie, though it usually isn’t a breakfast food… but I’m hungry and I like free stuff and competitions. I’d be up for it if you are.”

She nodded and the man grinned.

“Splendid! That completes our competition just in time for the dishes to start flying. Ready your stomachs!”

…

Inside the tent the aroma of curry was pretty thick. There was a lot of curry nearby, if just out of sight, and it was fresh and constantly being made.

A single long table was mostly filled with teams of two already: only a single spot for another duo was left. That duo of course being him and Iris.

On the side was a circular table that held ten gift baskets: the wicker of each held the same logo as that of the tent. The largest and second largest of the two were nearly overflowing with stuff: a clear plastic package holding a pass labeled the ‘A Champion Time League Season Pass’ being what stuck out to him most personally.

Quickly looking back over the others there was only one team present that he recognized by sight, and it was A.J and Jeanette Fisher of all people.

What was the story behind that?

Regardless of what the story was exactly he and Iris took a seat at their assigned place, which caused a billboard at the opposite end of the tent to light up and the man from before to start speaking to them all.

“Welcome contestants to the Macro Cosmos Galar Promotional Couples ‘n Duos Curry Eating Contest! Brought to you by the Indigo League and the Galar Tourism Board! This contest has simple rules and simple win and lose conditions! The goal is to outlast your competition in eating a wide variety of curry being produced by our skilled curry chefs! You advance with each curry completed, but each team must alternate curry eaters each round! One contestant eats the odd numbered curries and the other the even numbered! No switching dishes aloud and if one person finds themselves unable to finish their dish you are eliminated! The last team standing wins, though every participating team will go home with a Macro Cosmos Galar Tourism Encouragement Basket, with the quality and size of each going up with each rung of the tournament placement you ascend! Now, begin!”

He was still talking fast, and just as he finished there was no time for questions as ten others dressed like him burst out of the kitchen carrying a plate of steaming curry. As they moved towards a contestant team each the billboard lit up with what sort of curry it was and a number that, being zero, seemed to represent consumed curries.

There were normal flavorings of curry like ‘Spicy Seasoned Curry’ and ‘Sweet Potato Curry’, but there were also some odd flavors.

Team three had ‘Bitter Cheese-covered Curry’ for example, and his and Iris’s team had ‘Bitter Leek Curry’.

Bitter Leek? Like what Farfetch’d carried around?

They were given a plate that was a curry covered by a few stalks of a thick, cooked leek that looked different from what his Farfetch’d wielded. It was a bit odd looking, though in the few seconds he took to look at it and get a sniff of how it actually smelled pretty good. Iris had already taken the plate and was tearing into it.

Her face lit up in surprise at the taste, which only seemed to drive her further in consuming more of it until the entire plate was cleared in record time. Fortunately, she had used utensils for the non-leek part of the dish. Iris licked her lips in the aftermath, looking elated yet with still clearly lingering hunger.

“That was better than I was expecting, though I am still hungry. Hurry up with yours so I can have more.”

Their billboard lit up with a score next to their team number, shortly followed by the team he thought was A.J’s and Jeanette’s, as their plate changed to ‘Sour Bean Medley Curry’.

He had no idea what ‘Medley’ was supposed to mean, but sour beans were something he could understand and, more importantly, could eat.

The plate was brought towards him quickly, and he took little time to think on the question of what music had to do with curry as he began guzzling it down.

He felt a smile break through what sourness the beans had like the sun rising on a new day, which was a pretty good metaphor of the warmth that followed the curry into his body as he ate it all. This was even better than his mom’s curry! And she wouldn’t kill him for saying that because curry was not among her specialties.

Hopefully the first place basket had a ‘how to do curry’ cookbook for her then!

He was finished with his plate all too soon as their billboard read ‘Dry Bone Curry’ and it was Iris’s turn once again.

He wasn’t sure why what looked like a ball of rice stuck through with a bone over a sauce made him want to eat it, but it did. Iris didn’t have any hesitation to start going into it.

In little time at all they ‘scored’, for lack of a better term, once again and were in a lead that only one other team seemed to be able to get near. Next up was his next dish of ‘Spicy Salad Curry’. Which sounded like an oxymoron, but it only made him hungrier to consume such a bizarre creation.

He was ready to start digging into the dish, which arrived a second after he was fully prepared to start tearing into the plate of curry covered in salad. It was a bit odd, but he could sort of get the idea of soaking lettuce in the curry for flavoring.

The crunch of the fresh greens had a spicy tinge to it: nothing like peppers or Tamato berries at full blast in your mouth but a zesty zing that went along with the crunch surprisingly well. He was also very hungry and had a contest to win.

The Spicy Salad Curry was soon gone, and their team now had four points. Next for them was ‘Sour Toast Curry’ for Iris.

…

Several rounds of curry eating later there were only two more teams remaining.

His team with Iris, who was currently polishing off a very large helping of fruity 'Sweet Tropical Curry', and the one made up of A.J and Jeanette, the girl tearing into a smaller, but still quite sizeable, 'Dry Mushroom Medley Curry'.

He and A.J were staring the other down as the contest continued.

“We’re way ahead of you guys: I don’t think you can catch up.”

He told A.J that with the same tone he would've used at the end of a Pokémon match: high on adrenaline and in a commanding lead. A.J had an uneasy stance at his seat as he stared back, with him wavering and tottering a bit: he was clearly feeling the effects of eating a lot of curry more than he, Iris, or oddly Jeanette were.

The woozy A.J was staring back at him with the determined look one would expect of a Trainer wanting to catch up from an opponent’s commanding lead. His somewhat woozy tone of voice kinda dampened the effect, but the determination in his words was still quite thick.

“The score doesn’t matter: when you give up we’ll win regardless of the score. This is an endurance match, not a leader board!”

There were probably words that would work better than ‘a leader board’ for A.J’s declaration, but A.J was struggling to hold on so he’d let it slide. Plus it was their turn to take point, as the next curry was brought in.

His smelled like sweetened coconut, while A.J’s was apple laden and did not seemed to be particularly flavored.

Both of them promptly began to dig into it with as much gusto as they could muster: he was moving the spoon in his hand as fast as possible to swallow as much sweet nectar as he could every second. Wordlessly Iris gave him her own spoon and he began to use it as well to dual scoop the curry.

There were probably hygienic reasons to not do that, but he didn’t really care. He had an eating contest to win!

A.J was only using his own utensils for single swallowing, but Jeanette had taken a helping role to the contest. She had her hands on his shoulder and was rubbing them, as if trying to relax him and free up space in his stomach for more curry.

His dual assault was soon enough to finish off his curry, and wordlessly he handed Iris’s spoon back to her. The billboard beeped and more curry was soon to go to Iris.

This seemed to spark faster eating by A.J, who went into overdrive to catch back up. His plate was cleared in double time, and soon there was only a single large decorative apple left.

He swiped it up with his bare hand and took a large bite out of it. It brought the apple a third of the way to being reduced to a mere apple core.

However in the aftermath of that A.J’s eyes almost seemed to roll back. He tried to steady himself on the table but his arms seemed to suddenly have the sturdiness of gelatin and he collapsed face first into the table.

Fortunately not into his curry, which would have added apple injury to insult. Jeanette gasped in worry for A.J as the billboard beeped.

“And we have a winner! Team ten is victorious in the Macro Cosmos Galar Promotional Couples ‘n Duos Curry Eating Contest! The victor’s Macro Cosmos Galar Tourism Encouragement Basket is yours!”

He turned to grin at Iris, who looked a bit put off. Was she not happy with winning for some reason? Had she wanted to be the one to win against Jeanette instead of him winning against A.J?

“Can I have the curry you were going to bring out? I am still hungry!”

The announcer seemed a bit surprised at that request, but just as quickly had a grin back on his face.

“No problem! You can enjoy the Macro Cosmos Galar Tourism Encouragement Basket AND one more curry!”

…

It was after all of that that the two of them found themselves back at their place of residence for the tournament.

They gained a fang, a band, a Mega Stone, a gem, a heavy gift basket, a lot of curry in their stomachs, and quite a few laughs and smiles.

“That was a good date.”

He nodded to Iris’s declaration with a smile on his face.

“Yeah it was.”

The words slipped out before he realized it, and shortly after that he felt something press against his cheek. It was brief, it sounded almost like a whistled click, and it made his entire body stiffen in shock.

Iris slipped in front of them just as it ended, a big smile on her face.

“I did that ‘kissing’ thing right, right? If I did not, there are always more dates for me to practice them on. This will not be the last date we go on after all. Hopefully Misty and Anabel also get some of those in. Well, I am off to find Fraxure!”

With that she entered the bunk house, while his body was not responding to his requests for it to move.

He was just standing there, basket in hand, and completely motionless.

He eventually was able to move again, and after he had time to apologize to Misty and Anabel for leaving them to his hyped-up mom’s antics (for which they genuinely seemed to have no issue with him at all) he took to ensuring that the thoughts of kisses and dates were as far from his mind as possible.

Strategy meeting!

Of course the plan was somewhat foiled by the various thumps up, grins, and other expressions of approval that the Pokémon on him at the moment (Pikachu, Charizard, Squirtle, Ambipom, Raichu, and Primeape) were giving his way, but he could ignore that. Probably. Or at least get what he probably should actually get done out of the way.

Fortunately at least the Pokédex was not up for messing with him today, and with it some sense of order.

“As of now the records available to the unversed in our Trainer would show that he possesses three Tauros, Yanma, Goodra, Ambipom, Raichu, an Exeggutor, Butterfree, Bulbasaur, and Squirtle and with it their battle capabilities and all observable data points including the Counter-shield strategy. Pikachu is also noted, but as of now is seen as a pet or mascot with only possible battle capabilities.”

Pikachu let out an annoyed whine over that, but Primeape waved his oldest friend off.

“Pri!” ‘Look, you all decided on using strategy this time around. Don’t complain now.’

As always the Pokédex couldn’t hear them, but he could see the Pokédex ignoring the chatter anyway as the breakdown began.

“Due to these factors, with the notable exception of any Trainer who actually has met you before and did not get their mind wiped by a clone, the fact you possess a Pidgeot, Charizard, Kingler, Serperior, several Vivillon, Muk, Farfetch’d, Gigalith, Chansey, and Primeape is not known. Also Jigglypuff, Vulpix, Togepi, several Zubat and Golbat, and Spearow if you cared to use them or Lucario if he could be convinced to participate. The fact you have more Tauros and Exeggutor is also an option you could consider.”

“Urtle.” ‘Or he could just use us again. Surprise the opponent after making it seem like you don’t repeat, maybe even trick a later opponent to think that he’s out of new Pokémon to rotate in.’

He shrugged over Squirtle’s point.

“Honestly what I’ve been doing since crushing Crusher: a team varied enough to go against anything I could possibly run into after doing a bit of research.”

The Pokédex’s images faded away, and he got the feeling of irritation from the machine.

“So the same as before? Then what was the purpose of this entire conversation: just focusing a tad bit on tomorrow and not on the fact you had a romantic interlude and are a confused and baffled teenager?”

He wasn’t sure on what he was choking on, but he suddenly found himself unable to respond in anything but a gagging curdle.

Charizard shook his head.

“Zrr.” ‘It’s amazing that the one thing he’s actually scared of is romance.’

All present Pokémon nodded, and the Pokédex seemed to pick up on the meaning with a flickering of light and releasing of a sound byte that fit well enough with Charizard’s snark.

…

Surprisingly there was a pool that wasn’t being used today. With it being a day off she’d have not expected it. It was a bit of an odd time of year for such things, but Kanto had a more stable climate than Sinnoh or Unova so she had no complaints.

She had staked a claim on it and had requested the others join her. So far Ash was the only one who had arrived, though she was quite aware that Iris and Anabel were on their way. They were just ensuring that Ash’s mom was not going to follow them and get worked up again. She was a wonderful person, if just perhaps too concerned about her only child at times.

The both of them were floating on provided pool floats, and so far it was mostly just a relaxing bit of downtime after the both of them had interesting mornings. However, there was something she was hoping to have some fun with here.

"So Ash, how'd Iris look with some grade-A Cerulean curves?”

It was funny to see how quickly Ash had gone from relaxing without a care on a float, his eyes closed with some internal little nothings, to falling over into the water in flailing panic. She couldn’t resist chuckling as he broke back onto the surface and splashed about in a flustered panic.

“How’d you hear about that?! Also it was entirely meant to be a joke so please don’t be angry at Iris she wasn’t insulting you or anything and I wasn’t either or anything…”

She adjusted her lounging pose on the pool float, which managed to further fluster Ash into silence. She could see his eyes involuntarily, though not unjoyfully, following her movements after all. In the pitch-black bikini she was wearing, it was quite easy for him to do so in quite a few ways. She giggled.

“Ash, if I had any problem with you and curves, do you think I’d be wearing this little thing? Also Iris told me, and I know it was just in the name of fun.”

As was teasing him, which was just as fun.

By this point Ash was no longer splashing like Psyduck and had taken a seat on the edge of the pool. It was a good view of him, even if he wasn’t deliberately showing off like she was. Of all the benefits of having a girl who hadn’t discovered deodorant joining them, she could certainly say she hadn’t expected a benefit in Ash’s appearance, but she was hardly complaining.

“You aren’t mad?”

The quiet question was not what she was expecting him to ask, but she had an answer for it without even thinking.

“No, why would I be?”

It was true. She really wasn’t bothered at all by the idea of Ash and Iris off on a ‘date’ like she and Ash had the other night. It was actually a bit surprising, but it was the truth.

Ash looked like he was about to offer a reason she’d be mad, but seemed to decide against offering her reasons he believed she had to be annoyed at him.

If what Ash got up to with her and Iris wasn’t a date, there was nothing to be upset about. If what they got up together were in fact dates… well, she and Iris were even so she had no reason to be jealous.

Ash’s unsureness of what to say next wasn’t gone yet, and he struggled to think of something to say. What he did say was not what she’d have expected.

“I guess they’re right. This does scare me more than losing.”

It was again quiet, and she had no idea what he was talking about. She could try and get him to clarify.

“Me in a black bikini is scary? Glad I didn’t buy that sling bikini on the Anne then.”

She was quite sure that it wasn’t what he actually meant, but it was too fun of a joke to not use. He blushed as he returned to a louder stammering.

“Oh no, it’s not the bikini. It’s not scary. It’s wonderful and gorgeous and hot and sexy and why am I saying all of that!? What is scary is…well anything more.”

He laid back on the cement, his feet fully rising out of the water in a splash that (unintentionally) sprayed her with water droplets as he continued.

“I know how to battle, and I know how to win. I know how to lose, and I’m not scared of that. Losing a League isn’t a nightmare, but all of this scares me. Attraction, dating, whenever I think of any of that stuff I’m utterly lost. Unlike a battle I can’t get a rematch if that goes wrong.”

Oh.

She righted herself off her lounging pose to look at the somewhat despondent young man from Pallet Town. The person she was closest to in the whole world. He seemed vulnerable admitting what he did, which had just escaped him all at once like a popped balloon’s air.

“It’s fun to tease you, I won’t lie. I get a kick out of seeing you try to not get a good look of all of me. I like that. But to be honest, Ash, I’m just as lost as what anything more than that would actually be.”

He was more clearly looking at her now, and there was no blushing over her choice of swim garment this time. The blush was for everything she was saying now.

“Between you and me, I think only Iris has any idea of what she’s doing, and that’s because she doesn’t get scared of the same things you or I or Anabel would. She doesn’t have an annoying duck being really pushy in his suggestions.”

“Who do you think told me I’m more scared of an actual date than losing?”

Obviously not Psyduck, but she got what he meant. It was another yellow friend.

“It’s perfectly fine when you just stumble into them, but the actual word is scarier than any bug or any loss.”

“I’m going to make someone upset no matter what I do.”

The scary thing, she kept to herself, was that it wasn’t necessarily that. Iris hadn’t any fear, and it was because she’d be perfectly happy to ensure that Ash didn’t have to worry about upsetting anyone of them. She and Anabel knew that quite well, but did Ash?

He certainly didn’t know just how much hearing about Iris’s date with him didn’t make her upset, as it surprised even her just how little it bothered her. Or how happy she was for both of them having a good time.

“Between you and me seeing you kiss Iris, and not hearing about her kissing you I might add, wouldn’t make me upset. Now going around kissing that Giselle girl in secret would hurt. But you wouldn’t do that.”

The two of them were looking each other in the eye from across the length of half a pool.

“No, no I wouldn’t.”

She smiled.

“I know.”

“You know, I really hate to interrupt whatever it is that you guys are doing, but OH MY! Ash! What are they feeding you!?”

Actual irritation came up when the pool was now no longer exclusive to them, but to the sibling pair of Elwood and Aideen. Aideen was the one who had so loudly interrupted their moment.

“It’s less what he eats and more what he does.”

It was very annoying to be interrupted in the middle of a heart to heart, and Ash was similarly giving her an annoyed look. To which her brother had only a single weak defense.

“Hey, how were we supposed to expect you guys were hashing out your issues in the public pool? We just wanted a break after a morning of training.”

…

By the time she and Iris arrived to the pool, they saw Ash and Misty weren't the only ones using it. It seemed the twins Elwood and Aideen had the same idea to spend their day off.

Not that she was bothered: the twins were very nice and chatting with them about the aftermath of their matches to exchange info and strategies was always fun.

Right then, as the twins challenged Ash and Misty to a swimming race from one end of the pool to the other, Anabel had sat with Iris by the edge, both of them enjoying a Pinap Berry shake while resting for a bit. Unlike when they went to the beach at the Seafoam Islands, there wasn't a bunch of horny men ogling at them, which made the place a lot more enjoyable.

Of course, she wouldn't mind one bit if Ash was the only one ogling them.

"So, have you already thought about it? About what to do on a date with Ash?"

Iris' sudden question snapped Anabel from her thoughts. She raised her sunshades (same ones she wore when she visited Pava) and glanced at the dark-skinned girl. By then she had given them the complete rundown about their date, how much fun they had at that mirror house, and the little teacup/Sinistea prize game. The curry-eating contest was unusual, but she probably would have enjoyed it just as much.

'Not yet, to be honest. Winning prizes in games with him sounds pretty fun, but I wouldn't like it if Ash gets bored of doing the same thing over and over. I'd rather do something different.'

"You have never had a date with someone before, have you?"

As usual, Iris went straight to the point. At this point she'd gotten used to that trait of hers, so it was hardly a bother, even with such a delicate matter like dating.

'No, never. Due to my condition I had very few friends, so I never thought about trying to date someone.'

"That means you will have your first date with Ash."

Again, she said it without any filter whatsoever, but Anabel could feel the joy and excitement in her words. Iris was genuinely happy at the prospect of her having her first date with Ash. Anabel couldn't say she didn't feel the same way.

Any girl would die for a date with a boy like him. Her heart was throbbing at the thought.

'I admit I'm a bit excited about it. But I'm still not sure of what I'd like to do with him.'

While they stayed at Pallet Town, and with those little parties Ash's mom threw for them, a few times she lamented not being able to join them in the karaoke, especially after Misty's rendition of “Catch Me if You Can”. Should she still have her voice, that would be plenty of fun for a first date.

"In Unova, there is a place very popular for dates, I think," Iris suddenly said. "Back then I was not interested, but I saw many couples riding that giant wheel. I think they wanted to see the city at night from up there."

'You mean Nimbasa City? I heard there's an amusement park with a Ferris wheel over there.'

"Yes, that must be it." Iris nodded. "We should probably take Ash there sometime."

'I'd love that. And I'm sure Ash would too.'

A Ferris wheel date. It was a shame that there wasn't an amusement park or carnival nearby with one of those: that would have been a very romantic spot for a first date with Ash.

Still, the conference was still on, and they had plenty of time ahead. If Misty and Iris found their ways to have fun and spend a good time with Ash, surely she could too. There should be plenty of things and places they had yet to visit.

In the meantime, after resting they could join the others in their little swimming race, even knowing they stood no chance against Misty. As poor, pouting Aideen had now learned and was demanding a rematch, while her brother tried to cool her off and Ash laughed.

After his Pokémon were done laughing at his expense and he had time to talk out his issues a bit with Misty before being interrupted by the completely innocent but still annoying twins, some of his Pokémon had requested some time for personal training with him, and he had put some time aside for it in the afternoon for it.

At that time, he was still trying to help Squirtle master Aura Sphere with some help from Charizard; even if by now he had mellowed out on his thirst for power ever since he returned to being a Charizard, he was still hardly one to shy from a challenge. The battle against Locke seemed to put them on a good track to find a workaround for their problem, and Ash wanted to capitalize on that momentum.

“Let’s go, Squirtle! Try to condense more energy into it!” Ash ordered, sweeping his hand in the air.

The Tiny Turtle Pokémon obeyed, trying to keep the aura concentrated into the Aura Sphere. Ever since the Avalugg fight they managed to get a clearer hang of the shape thanks to the repeated attempts, but the problem was still trying to keep it stable. And of course, realizing that the opponent would likely not wait for them to prepare a perfect Aura Sphere. And that was where Squirtle's sparring partner came in.

"Charizard, go for the attack! Keep Squirtle on his toes!"

Charizard didn't even wait for the end of the order to fly against Squirtle, claws shimmering white as he unleashed a flurry of Metal Claws on the smaller Pokémon. Squirtle managed to duck and jump all over the attacks, the Aura Sphere growing bigger by the second. Ash was trying to think which was the ideal size for it to be manageable, trying to think back to how Pikachu made use of Electro Ball formerly and Zap Cannon currently. There never seemed to be a recommended size for it, and knowing that Squirtle weren't as attuned to Aura as a Pokémon like Lucario was, it was probably that harnessing an uncommon energy that was causing Squirtle's issues. But how could they fix it, in the end?

However, it soon started to grow less focused and more unsteady, and on a snap decision, Squirtle tossed it, missing Charizard completely as the unstable attack flew way past the intended training area.

Dread crawling on his skin, Ash turned around, following the seeming path of the attack, and freezing on the spot as he noticed it heading for a girl walking on the street with what appeared to be a walking stick, with an Arcanine on a leash and a Squirtle with sunglasses at her side.

"Look out!" he yelled, running towards her to try and prevent the hit. Squirtle and Charizard weren't far behind, yet both of them stopped after a few steps, both going wide-eyed in shock. Ash would've wondered why, but that was not the moment for it.

Fortunately, the Arcanine alongside the girl was much quicker on the uptake, tossing its Trainer groundward and shielding her with its own body as the Fire type Pokémon weathered the hit. He let out a low whine, but it didn't appear to be injured, something that thankfully applied to the girl as well.

"Whew." Ash sighed in relief, before approaching the girl. "I'm sorry, I was so caught up on the training that I didn't notice what was happening to the Aura Sphere."

He offered her a hand, finally taking in her features: she was a girl that looked to be only a bit older than him, with long brown hair and a thick pair of black sunglasses over her eyes. She didn't take the hand immediately, only doing so after a nudge and a woof on Arcanine's part, a smile on her face as she shook her head.

"No no, it's fine, I should've made my presence known. Bad habit of mine." She laughed, before petting her canine Pokémon's head. "Thankfully, I can rely on Arcanine when it comes to paying attention."

The Arcanine smiled as well, enjoying the petting, all while her Squirtle got closer on the other side, almost acting like a bodyguard. All the while, Charizard and Squirtle still said nothing, looking like they had just seen a ghost. And as the girl's Squirtle locked gazes with his own, his Water type's reaction only got worse. He would've asked what was going on or even if the girl had any idea of what bothered his Pokémon so much, but upon looking at her, other things caught his eye; for one, how the girl didn't seem to be staring at him directly, and especially how she was still keeping Arcanine's leash, alongside the walking stick and how much it took her to actually grab his hand...

Feeling uncomfortable, Ash scratched his neck, looking away himself. "Sorry, but are you-"

"Blind? Yup. Quite sharp, aren't you?" The girl chuckled, as if it wasn't such a big deal, but Ash could sense some small bitterness in the remark.

Ash turned downward, guilt washing over him. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"Oh, don't. There's no need to use kids' gloves with me: I may not look like it, but I'm a Trainer just like you." She wore a prideful grin, before inching a bit closer to him. "From your voice, you're Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, right? Lovely place. One of the last places I saw with my own eyes."

She sounded happy, perhaps even nostalgic. Curious to learn more, Ash looked back at her, serious. "How did it happen? If it's not asking too much."

The girl seemed thoughtful for all of a second before replying, looking slightly resigned as she reminisced.

"It was the Spearow flock outside of town. They pecked my eyes real hard and nice, and it took a lot of prodding to be allowed to continue as a Trainer." She gave another good laugh, but Ash remained serious, realizing just want kind of experience she must’ve gone through. The girl quickly recovered her seeming enthusiasm, however, giving a good hug to both her Arcanine and her Squirtle. "It's not that hard, though. Arcanine and Thinker here are great to keep me from getting into trouble I can't see, and so long as I call to ensure I'm fine and nothing has happened once or twice a day, I can go on like any other Trainer."

Ash was sure that there was a lot more to the story, but the last thing he wanted was to make the girl even more uncomfortable in remembering her past. Thus, looking over her companions, another curiosity flashed in his mind as he tried to shift topic. "Isn't it hard to train like this?"

"Oh, like you wouldn't believe. But Trainers with disabilities aren't exactly unheard of, and we try to help each other. Like, there's this guy called Jesse, a deaf Trainer with a Jigglypuff called JP Roundpink with a very mean Sing.” As she remembered, her tone turned more competitive, yet her smile never faded. On the contrary, she seemed to get more excited by the second. “It took me forever to finally defeat him in battle, but he helped me see how even now, I could still be a Trainer."

She turned up, looking thoughtful once more, but with her smile never fading. "In the end, there's no 'right' way to be a Trainer. We all go at it in the manner we find works best, and somehow, we manage and grow along the way."

Ash didn’t know what to say, with all that information dumped on him. He was used to meeting all kinds of people during his journeys, but this was a kind of experience he never got much insight on. Even then, this girl sure looked to be taking her personal problems in stride, and a part of him could definitely admire that quality. And he had an inkling that the same applied to Charizard in particular, especially with how he now looked to be on the verge of tearing up.

Right then, however, the girl seemed to remember Ash and his Pokémon were still in front of her, immediately looking where she assumed the boy was, looking apologetic as she scratched her neck.

"Oh sorry, I didn't introduce myself!" She offered a hand and another bright grin. "Name's Kaia. Nice to meet you."

"Same here." Ash shook it firmly, accepting Kaia’s late introduction.

With that out of the way, Kaia’s attention went to the two Pokémon alongside Ash, touching ahead of her until she managed to pet them. She smiled, while both Charizard and Squirtle just vocalized wordlessly.

"Those are your Pokémon, right? What are they, a Charizard and a Squirtle?" Kaia asked, still testing out the two starters. Ash was a bit surprised at how she got it right, but he quickly assumed she must’ve learned how to identify things by now, and that it was probably better not to press that button further than he already did.

Thus, he simply nodded. "Yeah, they're some of my oldest companions."

Kaia continued to smile as she moved to Charizard, petting his head and chest, with Ash noticing how his Pokémon was looking almost bashful now. He would've questioned his friend's bizarre behavior further if the brunette didn't speak up again.

"I can feel quite a few little scars here and there. They must fight a lot." She pressed over Charizard's chest, her smile faltering. "Reminds me of someone... wonder how he's doing."

Charizard's expression turned more bitter as well, his arms stretching into an attempted hug before pulling back, almost if he was ashamed of doing so. Ash decided to try and break the awkwardness right there.

"Are you here for the League, as well?" he asked, adjusting his hat. Kaia's smile returned, turning back to him and pumping her fists.

"Oh, you bet. I'm part of it." She pointed straight across to him, grinning with confidence. "And you, mister, are my next opponent!"

Ash blinked in confusion. "Wait, what?"

"The girl is right. She's Kaia Sullivan, three Pokémon registered and used consistently throughout the tournament. Beyond the Arcanine and the Squirtle, there is also a Crobat to look out for."

Ash blinked quite a few times more, looking back to Kaia. Even with the current slate of opponents he had faced in this iteration of the Indigo League Conference, she sure didn't look like the kind of opponent he expected to face. The Rookie Crusher must've really skewed his expectations.

Hearing the device's voice, the blind Trainer turned around. "Looks like I'm famous, here. Was that a Pokédex?"

"Yeah, it speaks a lot, but it can be helpful."

"I am always helpful, I'll have you know."

"Neat." Kaia thus folded her arms, her attention back to Ash, a nervous giggle escaping her. "I'll be honest, I didn't expect to meet you up before the match. I sure wish I prepared some epic and meaningful speech for the occasion now."

"Hey, it's okay. Not every battle is a matter of life or death."

"For me, it kinda is." She looked back to the side, and even beyond her glasses, Ash could tell she was steeling her gaze. "Ever since the incident, I didn't want to give up. I always wanted to be a Trainer, and that desire never changed. My blindness, every Trainer and Gym Leader on my path; they're all just barriers to tear through. Me and our team made sure no barrier was ever too big for us, and we're not gonna let the golden boy of Pallet Town stop us now."

She had balled her fists, turning serious, with even her Arcanine and 'Thinker' sharing her seeming determination. Yet, she quickly relaxed with another smile, turning back to Ash as cheerful as ever.

"So, how did that go? Dramatic enough?" She rubbed her cheek, unsure of her little performance. "It's all stuff I really feel, but I'd like to make our battle feel special, in a way."

"It sure works." Ash chuckled himself, offering a fist bump ahead of himself. "I can't wait for our match. I'm sure we'll have a very exciting battle!"

Arcanine barked up again, and Kaia appeared to catch wind of Ash's intention, fist bumping him right after.

"I'm counting on it!" And with a wide smile, Kaia turned back, waving at her soon-to-be opponent. "See you on the battlefield, then!"

She departed soon after, with Arcanine leading the way, while Thinker gave out one last look and a seeming wink to Squirtle before turning back, the trio vanishing from sight soon after. All the while, Ash continued to think around her; she didn't look like a bad person, and she also seemed to be a fun opponent to go against, but something of what she said had stuck with him. He could definitely relate to her desire to smash through any barrier, but knowing that she was in a worse position than he was made that determination ring pretty different from his own. The boy smiled, curious to test himself against any strategy she might have in store.

But first, Ash noticed Charizard and Squirtle still muttering to themselves, the encounter with the girl still somehow leaving them speechless.

"I can't believe it. She made it this far..."

"He's alive..."

They both seemed to be thinking of different things, yet looked to be just as absent, as if that meeting did something far deeper than he could imagine.

Deciding that enough was enough, Ash went in front of his two Pokémon, staring at them. "So, guys, can you tell me what's wrong? Why are you acting so weird about her?"

That seemed to snap both of his old friends from their trance, but not enough to actually stop them from getting thoughtful. Ash was still confused, questioning just what could've affected them so much of that girl he never met before. After staring at the ground and sighing to himself, his loyal Fire-type stepped up, looking solemnly back at Ash as he spoke.

"Ash, that girl... she was my original Trainer."

Ash tilted his head, the statement sounding wrong. "I thought that was Damian?"

"Damian was my second, he got me by adoption when Kaia was presumed dead. You know the rest of the story." Charizard frowned, looking away from Ash. "She is a kind and sweet girl. I didn't think she could make it here in her state, but she did..."

"And that Squirtle is one of my comrades! A member of the Squirtle Squad!" Squirtle blurted out, looking just as nervous before he stared back in the distance, almost like he hoped to catch a glimpse of Kaia and her Pokémon. "Thinker was his nickname, but... I thought they all died..."

Ash couldn't help but keep looking after his Pokémon, both on the verge of tears for similar yet different reasons. He didn't know what to say, having seen neither of them in such a state before. Yet, thinking back to it, he did remember Melanie mentioning that Charmander hadn't been responding that well to being with her Pokémon, and Squirtle's declaration that the great rampage of the last of the Squirtle Squad would start when they met... it made sense that their time in the current timeline was far less rosy than it was before, given everything they had experienced until then.

The boy sighed. He couldn't know the extent of what exactly transpired for both of his Pokémon, and it was very unexpected that two of his Pokémon's source of trauma would find themselves in such close proximity, but before their Trainer he was their friend, and there was only one thing a good friend should do.

"It sounds like you both have some complicated histories in play here... I won't ask if it's stuff that pains you, but if you need to talk about it..."

The words seemed to have an effect on his Pokémon, both looking back at him, but clearly not enough to get them to open up. Ash could understand it; even if things were much better by now, adapting to their current situation was still far from easy, much less talking about it when the only people aware of everything were his Pokémon and a select few others all over the place on the morality scale.

Right then, the Pokédex decided to chime in. "While I still can't understand your Pokémon, I assume they've revealed something connected to your next opponent. You should really look out for your battle against her by the way, in spite of her blindness she's managed to breeze through the early rounds without much issue, mostly relying on the two Pokémon you saw to do the job, with a style of battling that appears to include little to no direct commands for some reason. They seem to be their most trusted three Pokémon, and her League run is already catching everyone's eye, especially in terms of visibility for Trainers like her. Pretty much, the public will likely be on her side, and you've got a big problem you really should be thinking about."

If Ash had been ruder, he would've probably told the machine that it was hardly the time to discuss of battle strategies when his Pokémon were feeling rather uncomfortable as it was. And the last thing Ash wanted was to make them worried of having to face friends while needing to unravel complicated feelings. Thus, he stepped closer to them both.

"Guys, if you don't want to fight with your friends, I'm not gonna force you. I can tell this is very personal stuff." He placed a hand over Charizard's shoulder and Squirtle's head, looking serious, yet determined. "But I won't go easy on her. Kaia wants a battle at our best, and we both made it this far in the League. It'd be wrong to not fight seriously at this point."

Both Charizard and Squirtle looked back at him, without saying much. Ash worried of what they could be thinking, but thankfully, they both smiled back at him, Ash's words seemingly having effect.

"We'd never ask you to." Charizard recovered some of his typical spunk, wearing a grin that quickly shifted into a sincere smile. "But... thanks, Ash."

Squirtle wiped his eyes, smiling as well. "Yeah. Thank you."

He gave both of his friends a quick hug, happy to have helped them at least a bit, even if he wasn't privy of all the details. But that could wait until both of them felt like talking about it. Perhaps he could arrange something with Kaia later, as well...

But first, Ash needed to think. Even if he wanted to respect Charizard and Squirtle's choices, he still would need to face Kaia very soon. And he had no intention to lose against her, no matter what.

It was the day of the fifth round of battles, and he was ready as he’d ever be.

In fact, he was probably readier than a lot of people would be. It was a comparison he had only realized after thinking about it for a while as he planned out what Pokémon he’d bring. Her success in the earlier rounds had come about not just from her own skills and drive, but the fact that her battle commands were a very different style.

It was like his original battles against Anabel: while Kaia was not telepathic she did not give them orders that often, while they were also a lot more controlled and disciplined than when Charizard, Mamoswine, or Dragonite went off on their own in battle. They acted on their own instincts and calls. It was what Anabel’s telepathic commands, in either timeline, looked like to the uninformed.

It was both a weaker and stronger counterpart to it in fact: weaker as there weren’t actually commands being given, but stronger in that he couldn’t win by removing Anabel’s own sight as he had to get the Ability symbol. To that end he had spent the last bit of the day training against Anabel and Alakazam.

The Timer Ball in hand was part of what he had come up with as a result of that practice.

“Are you sure that leaving Yanma at Oak’s was a wise idea? Loud sounds are as effective against a blind girl as water to a Charmander, or a Caterpie at Misty.”

The Pokédex’s advice left him as uncomfortable as he had when it was first offered up.

“Yeah that would be super-effective, but it would also be a really cheap shot. Super-effective attacks should be saved for battles, not the other Trainer. Plus, that is more a Joshua trick.”

“It isn’t. Unlike a Joshua trick it’s smart and legal.”

“Pika.” ‘Then it’s more a Paul move.’

A jerk move was a jerk move, regardless of the specific of the jerk.

Questioning of his choices aside he found himself entering the main stadium field. On the other side Kaia and Arcanine were also arriving, and the crowd was loudly cheering.

“Ka-ia! Ka-ia! Ka-ia! Ashhhh! Ka-ia! Ka-ia! Ka-ia! Ashhhh! Ka-ia! Ka-ia! Ka-ia! Ashhhh!”

Mostly for Kaia, but he heard some cheers for himself too.

“Welcome Pokémon fans to the eleventh match of this year’s Indigo Fifth Round competition! Many would find it hard to match the emotional highs and powerful moments of the last match, but this battle may manage it! In the green corner we have the country boy from Pallet Town who’s proven himself utterly unpredictable! Ash Ketchum! His opponent is the blind idol of millions, the ever lovin’ Kaia!”

Cheers went out for both of them, and once more there seemed to be more enthusiasm for the grinning Kaia than the bashful him. The lack of dedicated cheer squads and mobs like he'd encountered in the past was appreciated, however.

“Pikakaka.” ‘I feel like the M.C got that title from somewhere. I swear I’ve heard of an ‘ever lovin’ idol of millions’ somewhere before, and I’m not sure it works here. Or maybe it does and I’m missing it.’

“Each opponent will use three Pokémon with full range of substitutions and no time limits! The battle ends when one of the competitors have had three knockouts! The battle will take place on a plain dirt field! And begin!”

Kaia was the first to go and she grinned as she held up her ball and sent it out. She didn’t call Arcanine so it was probably Crobat or Squirtle’s friend…

“Kada!”

And he was wrong, as the Pokémon that landed was in fact a Kadabra.

“Well, I did say she most known for using Arcanine, Squirtle, and Crobat. She likely did have others and she just hadn’t used them yet.”

The Pokédex’s point was one explanation for this. It was also likely she had the same thought he did about not using Squirtle or Charizard in his possible team this time. Akin to him not bringing Yanma. However that didn’t change his strategy.

“Primeape I choose you!”

His Timer Ball unleashed his angry monkey who jumped a few times in anticipation for the fight to come.

At hearing the name of the Pokémon Ash sent, Kaia scrunched her face. "Avoiding type advantage? You really are as unconventional as I heard."

“You haven't even seen how much yet! Primeape, Throat Chop!

"Go for the initial pattern, Kadabra! Attack at your discretion!"

Primeape surged forward with his left fist glowing with purple energy. Kadabra dodged the attack with a teleport to the other end of the field, but Primeape immediately bolted to the end of the field where Kadabra reappeared.

This was repeated as Kadabra avoided a second lung by Primeape. Then a third and a fourth. Kadabra had as little time to avoid Primeape as Primeape had to pick up just where Kadabra was teleporting to.

“Well it looks like both Pokémon and Trainer are united in their disregard of type advantage! Though it doesn’t seem to keep them from keeping pace with Kadabra’s evasive tactics! Quite the contrary!”

Kaia’s head tilted as this dance continued. She couldn’t see it, but Primeape was not exactly a stealthy Pokémon. She could hear his movements easily. She remained on attention, perhaps trying to find a way to control the flow of battle, while Kadabra was ready to respond to any assault from Primeape.

“Primeape’s really fast, though it’s more than that.”

He really was. By what Ash understood, the key to handle Kaia was watching her Pokémon’s movements more than listening in on the Trainer or watching them for openings in their decision making. You could beat her by managing to anticipate her Pokémon. Primeape had plenty of practice in anticipating the moves of others from Fighting-types and fighters in general. Adding his speed and he was the right choice for this battle.

For another exchange Primeape surged towards Kadabra. This time however Kadabra adapted as his spoon and eyes both started glowing. This left Primeape frozen mid-air and bound with psychic power.

“Primeape’s as fast as a speeding bullet with his legs, but even he can’t outrun Kadabra’s powerful mind!”

"Great! Kadabra, capitalize on the advantage!"

Kadabra slammed Primeape down into the ground, though as the Psychic-type was doing it a mistake was made. The slam down did not shift Primeape around and left his feet being the first to hit the ground.

“Use Mega Kick to free yourself!”

Kaia was confused as to what he could possibly be going for, but it was quite simple. As Primeape’s feet were being slammed into the ground they glowed with the attack’s force. The energy from the kicks was more than the hold that Kadabra was putting on Primeape, and his first fighting-type shattered the hold.

This shocked the Kadabra and Trainer alike.

“What just…”

“Throat Chop!”

Kadabra teleported out of the way just as Primeape reached him. This, however, did not mean Primeape had to run across the field again. No, as when Kadabra reappeared so did Primeape, who finished the attack he was aiming for and sent Kadabra flying across the field.

The tailed Psychic-type skipped across the field like a throwing stone, but righted back up before going over the opposite lines.

“You’re going to make your hold stronger.”

At Kaia’s suggestion to her Pokémon Primeape began laughing at Kadabra, who was glaring back at his punchy Pokémon in annoyance for it.

“Pri Pri Pri!” ‘Oh what, are you going to spontaneously evolve or something from a pep talk? Don’t make me laugh! What can you possibly do to stop me you muddy…’

He ignored what word Primeape used to describe Kadabra, lest he try to understand exactly what it meant. He’d rather not. He’d rather dwell on Primeape’s lack of knowledge of a certain battle.

“Pikapi.” ‘That’s probably not going to happen again.’

Indeed, it did not happen again. However, Kadabra did telekinetically slam the spoon it used into the ground, and purplish energy burst from it. This energy covered the field in a purple fog that made the entire place look rather weird.

It would be good Halloween décor at least, but what sort of attack it was eluded him. It did remind him of Electric Terrain a bit…

Kadabra retrieved the spoon and once more bound Primeape with psychic power. Primeape grinned despite this restriction as Mega Kick flared up.

However this time his Pokémon's struggle did not break the bindings, leading to a still stuck Primeape, a grinning Kadabra beaming with vindication, and a rather stunned him and Pikachu.

“Kaia’s suggestion has paid off! Psychic Terrain’s power boosts the strength of Psychic attacks and makes sure that Primeape can’t break out again! Ash’s Primeape may be a little stuck right now, and he doesn’t sound happy.

Primeape was far from happy, and the stream of cussing did not improve as Kadabra continued to squeeze. He held up the Timer Ball and returned Primeape, not seeing a better strategy.

“And Ash Ketchum substitutes his Primeape! Hopefully he has a Dark-type on hand!”

“Not quite, but I do have the next best thing. Go Pikachu!”

With that his buddy hopped off from his shoulder and onto the Psychic-terrain affected field. The mist rose up and spun around Pikachu as he landed.

“Pikapi!” ‘Next best thing? What is that supposed to mean?!’

A few things that were not relevant right now.

"You sent out your partner, huh? I'm gonna take it as a sign we're giving you a hard time!" Kaia gloated, but Ash could tell her tone was more playful than insulting, more so when she gave him a victory sign, prompting even more support her way.

"You're a crafty Trainer, that's for sure. But me and Pikachu won't let this stop us!"

Kaia grinned, just as Kadabra prepared itself as it sized up Pikachu. "That's what I want to hear. Show me your best, Ash Ketchum!"

“A warning before you do something stupid and embarrass yourself. Psychic Terrain will muck up moves like Quick Attack and Mach Punch. So don’t embarrass yourself on international television.”

Before he could even consider making himself look a bit silly to millions of people around the world, Kadabra had bound Pikachu in a telekinetic hold. There was no chance for him to even go against the Pokédex’s advice.

However Quick Attack had never really been his plan for this match up.

“Thunderbolt!”

Pikachu’s cheeks sparked before the volts went flying at Kadabra. Kadabra vanished with a teleport before the strike could land, briefly freeing Pikachu from the hold and letting him fall to the ground.

Their favorite attack continued despite this let-off, and in fact he had an idea.

“Spread out Thunderbolt across the entire field!”

Pikachu obliged, and the bolt spread out from his body in not a single concentrated bolt, but a general flash of immense electricity. The sound of a Kadabra being struck in the corner drew both of their attentions, and Pikachu turned towards the now shaking figure.

“Kadabra are you alright!?”

Kaia’s question was possibly answered by a wave of static that made the Pokémon cringe. An energy shimmer appeared around Pikachu briefly, but it petered out just as quickly.

“Was that Synchronize?”

He remembered studying that. One of Kadabra’s abilities would let it pass on a status condition to its opponent, but it wouldn’t work if that Pokémon was immune to it. It couldn’t burn Charizard or paralyze Pikachu. Fortunately where he pondered there was a machine in his pocket to confirm or unconfirm.

“It is.”

“Alright this is our chance! Pikachu, use Iron Tail!”

His buddy charged at the paralyzed Kadabra, who was still cringing with paralysis. This cringing continued as Pikachu got closer and closer, and only just when his first Pokémon was nearly there did Kadabra seem able to move.

Kadabra’s fist ignited as a Fire Punch was attempted to counter Pikachu’s Iron Tail, but Pikachu slipped under the attacked block and slammed Kadabra with Iron Tail. The resulting blow sent Kadabra flying, and once more Kadabra skipped across the field like a thrown stone.

The mist from Psychic Terrain even rippled like the surface of a pond as Kadabra went through it.

Kadabra eventually stopped skipping along the field, however this time the Pokémon did not get back up.

“Kadabra is unable to battle!”

…

“Way to go Ash!”

Misty wasn't the only one cheering for Ash, far from it, but there was an undercurrent of disappointment at the outcome in the reaction of the stadium at large.

People cheered for the battle, but the wish for the lead to be Kaia’s was still quite thick in the air.

“Almost feels like Ash is playing an away game.”

She looked up to the contemplative Professor Oak, though it was not just her. Ash’s mom was looking at the Professor skeptically.

“If it was that they’d be booing him when he’s doing well. I don’t think either of them have the home field advantage. Honestly I don’t think you’d see any of that in any Pokémon match. Leagues aren’t baseball teams.”

“I’m afraid you underestimate the dogged devotion of sports fans. This sort of mixed atmosphere is what you get when the away team is filling a third of the seats of a game. Especially certain teams like the Electabuzz.”

Both adults shivered. Apparently they had met really zealous baseball fans and were much hoping to not meet any more of them.

”The screaming people in yellow and black stripes, right? Jeez don’t remind me. I lived through that championship game with the Cerulean Starmies. They were everywhere.”

Misty was in agreement with baseball fans being an entirely different sort than League fans. It was far from how she reacted to bugs or carrots, but it was hardly a beaming endorsement of such devotion.

…

“Pik.” ‘The crowd seems a bit underwhelmed at us winning that round. Are we in North Petalburg or something?’

He shook his head at his pal’s question. It was nothing like that place of madness.

The dampened enthusiasm for his win aside Kaia had been nudged in the direction of Kadabra by Arcanine and returned the Psychic type.

"Great job, Kadabra." She put it back in place, before turning his way, interest clear on her face. "You just used a Thunderbolt like it was a Discharge, right? A great way to deal with my strategy."

"If there's anyone who I can trust to pull that off, it's Pikachu." His yellow friend puffed his chest as a result, clearly basking in the well-earned praise.

"Complete trust in your partner, heh. I can relate." Instinctively, she pulled a hand over Arcanine's mane, seeming thoughtful for a second before grabbing another Pokéball. "Let me show you what me and one of my trusted friends can do, then!"

She then sent out her second Pokémon which was one of the Pokémon he had been expecting.

“And Kaia sends out her second Pokémon in Crobat!”

The four winged bat was flying over the field and above Kaia’s head. He could only faintly make out details in its eyes, but he could tell it was thinking and planning on how to handle them.

“Get ready, Crobat! Remain at your typical range and go for endurance! Crobat, I know that Pikachu’s not the best match-up for you, but it needs to be taken down. I know you can do it!”

Both Pikachu and Crobat nodded to their respective Trainers and sped towards each other. Crobat’s body was glowing a purple glow that looked like a Poison-attack of some sort.

“Pikachu, use Volt Tackle!”

Mid charge Pikachu was enveloped by a film of electricity. This completely covered him in the charge. Now the attack didn’t hit Crobat, who dove in towards the charging Pikachu and unleashed the poison attack. However it also completely shielded Pikachu from the blow and without any serious recoil as far as he could tell.

Crobat looked surprised at the lack of a purple Pikachu, and on her own end Kaia seemed similarly confused.

“It sounded like that Toxic hit, so why does Pikachu sound fine?”

“Ash Ketchum manages to use the powerful Volt Tackle as a defense against Toxic!”

The crowd showed a bit more support for him after his trick, though he didn’t miss how it got more cheer as Crobat flew back towards Pikachu, this time with a red aura surrounding it. It wasn’t a Toxic, but he wasn’t up for seeing what exactly it was.

“Quick, get away from Crobat!”

Pikachu dodged the dive bombing of Crobat, though Crobat was quick to curve back around for a second sweep.

Pikachu rolled right under the sweep, though with a third come around for Crobat it was time to change tactics.

“Block it with Zap Cannon!”

The heavy ball of electricity was formed in front of Pikachu’s paws and held up to the charging Crobat. It was a game of chicken on one end and a test of endurance on the other, but one that Crobat lost in first as it swerved away and dropped the red glow. The Zap Cannon fizzled out as Crobat fluttered out of immediate striking range.

“Two agile Pokémon duke it out to land a blow, but they are unable to land anything on the other!”

What they had done to take out Kadabra probably wouldn’t work. Kadabra was not flying above everything like Crobat, so it would be far easier to dodge. A Z-Move would probably miss too, and it would blow that ace in the hole for nothing.

There had to be something they could try.

"Alright, Crobat, time for a shift in strategy! Go for the offensive pattern!"

Crobat interrupted his thoughts by suddenly screeching at Pikachu. Pikachu did flinch, but it didn’t seem to be a Hyper Voice or Supersonic attack. Crobat then flew in towards Pikachu once more; again glowing purple with what was probably Toxic.

“Block it with Volt Tackle!”

Pikachu ignited himself in the electrical aura once more. Once more Crobat dive bombed at Pikachu with the sludge attack and the electricity fried the poison before it could do anything. Crobat flew past Pikachu and took a while to make a turn back. So much so that by the time Crobat came back at Pikachu with Toxic once more, Pikachu had to let off on Volt Tackle.

“You know what to do!”

Pikachu let out an affirmative as electricity flared up. An electric shield that quickly petered out to both of their surprise.

“Pi!?” “What!’

Crobat dropped the poison payload on Pikachu, leaving his pal in cringing pain and purple tint as both weren’t sure what just happened.

“My Crobat can use Torment as well as Toxic. That was a good defense you and Pikachu had, but we had the tools to break it!”

Kaia’s explanation was followed by a further poison damage from Pikachu as Crobat began to pepper Pikachu with blasts of what looked like a Venoshock attack. Pikachu managed to avoid the poison bullets, but the attacks were close and Crobat had the advantage of time. As the bat flew in for a second volley, it was time for a strategy change.

“Counter-Shield!”

He noticed that Kaia seemed to recognize the technique’s name by how her expression seemed more ready and tense than confused. She had probably checked out his battle with Crusher, even if she couldn’t see the technique. She did however know what it did.

“Crobat, don’t fire!”

This call came after Crobat fired three toxic volleys, which were promptly reflected back and charged with electricity. Crobat avoided two of them, but the third struck one of Crobat’s wings and sent the bat spiraling down.

He could tell what his buddy was thinking even without hearing it.

“Volt Tackle!”

Pikachu charged across the still altered terrain towards the uncontrollably descending bat. Poison stained the attack purple, and both of them knew there was a countdown on how long Pikachu could be part of this battle. They had to make it count and get as much done as they could.

It was looking like a perfect hit too: Crobat hadn’t managed to get under control and Pikachu was right and level for hitting it right on. Crobat was getting back bearings, but it wouldn’t be able to block it with an attack.

However, Crobat glowed that red he had seen earlier and released it in a pulse of red energy. It was only in a small area, but it did hit Pikachu. The purple stain that affected Volt Tackle now gained a red hue and the attack suddenly veered away from Crobat.

Crobat thumped down on the ground in a manner that was clearly painful but not a Volt Tackle to the face.

“Pikaaaaaaarrrrr!” ‘I smell Purple Surprise! May’s delicious Purple Surprise! I just need to break this thing, and I’ll have it all to myself! ALL MINE!’

Pikachu meanwhile was talking complete nonsense and smashed into the wall of the arena with the subtly of his entire Tauros herd trying to get a single patch of grass. The resulting stunned shouts and cries of the nearby stadium goers only made that comparison more apt.

The referee darted over to the now quite dented wall where Pikachu lay unconscious against.

“Pikachu is unable to battle!”

The cheers that went up for Kaia’s knockout drowned out what the M.C was saying about what exactly happened. But he did hear the word Swagger come up. Swagger was a move that installed confusion and additional power to enhance the damage that confusion could cause. It was certainly explaining why any sane being would want all of May’s Purple Surprise.

He ran over to pick up his buddy: a purple hue still present on him. He caught what was thrown to him without thinking, and he was surprised to see it was an Antidote.

“Thanks.”

The ref nodded, even as behind him Crobat returned to the sky and the Psychic Terrain finally petered out. He patched Pikachu up as he returned to his position.

"I hope we didn't overdo it," Kaia asked, concern drawn on her face. Ash guessed that being unable to see the effect of poison and confusion may have made her worried of the extent, with even Crobat showing concern. He sure couldn't blame them.

"I'm pretty sure that was more something about Pikachu than you..."

After gently setting Pikachu down he had a choice to make.

He had one more Pokémon he could choose to use, and his target was a Crobat. Primeape wouldn’t do that well there, nor would Kingler if he had to be honest.

He was hoping to save Kingler for Arcanine, but it wasn’t to be. To go against Crobat he’d have to choose from one of his other three Pokémon.

Ambipom. Butterfree. Pidgeot.

“Pidgeot, I choose you!”

He’d worry about Arcanine when it came to that.

…

When she was called out for battle she had only moments to look over everything.

Her opponent was a Crobat: fluttering around the field with plenty of energy left, though still showing signs of damage from a prior battle.

She could see the scoreboard that these battles used: Pikachu had been defeated and Primeape was recalled, with the defeated electric-type leaning against the edge of Ash’s platform of battle in unconsciousness. After the Crobat there was only one unknown Pokémon.

She could see the Trainer they were facing: a young lady with an Arcanine next to her. This was the blind former Trainer of Charizard and the Trainer of a friend of Squirtle’s she had been told about.

“And Ash Ketchum turns this battle into one fought in the skies!”

The announcer’s declaration was followed by the blind Trainer smirking in challenge. "A Pidgeot, huh? Crobat, stick to our Flying-type strategies. I'll trust you with movement and commands!"

Crobat took off higher, and her Trainer giving her a call.

“Follow it! Don’t be afraid to make your own calls if you feel you need too!”

She gave an affirmative chirp before taking off. She felt herself gain speed as she flew towards the Crobat, and per Ash’s own call she decided to start a Quick Attack.

Her speed accelerated even more and the Crobat only dodged it because of instinct. It was her own instinct, and a bit of detection via her Keen Eye, that let her avoid a follow up barrage of sludge.

She turned back around to glare at the four-winged bat, who glared right back at her.

“Watch out for that Toxic and use Air Slash!”

She could hear her Trainer down on the ground, though his was one of the only few things she could make out clearly from down there. She fired off the ranged attack: the air slashes homing in right at Crobat.

It swerved out of the way of them before firing a different sort of poison back at her than the earlier Toxic attack. She avoided them with her own dodge. Their agility in the air was going to make either of them getting hit difficult. This match would turn into an endurance battle. She’d win such a fight as she was fresher and she doubted that this Crobat had flown all the way to Kalos before. She had not flown that far since, but she did have a flight of a decent length every third training day for the last while.

She did a loop starting from Pallet Town and along the bay that Vermillion City was set in. She took it to Fuchsia and flew back to Pallet from there. She met quite a few other Pidgeots that way: some of them also training with their human partners, others wild. Also a few Dragonite and she was sure she had seen a distant Articuno once while flying over the ocean south of Fuchsia.

However, no one wanted a fight to last long enough to show off just how much endurance she had trained in. However how would she manage to get the Crobat in a place where it couldn’t dodge or counter-attack?

“Use Aerial Ace!”

Aerial Ace? Did Ash want her to do the fake out to trick Crobat? It was a plan at least. She flew at increasing speed toward the Crobat, who began to radiate a red aura.

She avoided it with the fake out part of the plan: she reappeared over the Crobat and out of the red aura’s range. She didn’t surge into the red aura, but she flapped her wings to blow Crobat back. Her tactic worked and the bat was batted away. She grinned before descending down at the falling creature with another Aerial Ace.

However, she wasn’t able to land an attack before the Crobat recovered and fired a Toxic right at her face. She only avoided it with the Aerial Ace fake out swerve, and it was early enough to let Crobat avoid her attack before she could land it.

Crobat attempted another Toxic spitting her way, which she blocked with a pair of Steel Wings. The poison splattered harmlessly against the fortified wings, and she kept them up as the Crobat flew at her with its own Aerial Ace.

The resulting blow didn’t hurt any of them, but then she saw red…

She immediately did something really reckless and stupid and folded her wings up and shut her eyes. She dropped like a rock, and she didn’t undo her reckless dodge until she was sure she was out of red range.

In unfurling her wings back up and doing a spinning rise she saw a few dozen hats in the audience blow away and heard the startled screams of a few watching people.

“And Pidgeot avoids a devastating confusion status with a death-defying stunt!”

“Good job Pidgeot!”

Ash approved of such reckless stupidity. She had heard tales of Thunder Armor so it was probably not the most recklessly stupid thing one of his birds had ever done.

“If you can’t trick Crobat you’ve got to trap it! You’re in the right place to do it!”

She stopped mid-ascent and held her position. Crobat was still well ahead of her, how did they have the bat in the perfect position?

“Use Hurricane!”

She’d see what Ash was possibly going for in a moment.

She began by flying in a circle around the Crobat, blowing her wings to create a powerful gust as she did so. The gust continued to build up and up before becoming a great titanic wind funnel that stood quite taller than her.

The sounds of astonished onlookers, amazed announcers, and the battering of a bat by the winds within were audible.

“Crobat!”

The shocked cry from Crobat's Trainer was followed up by a new command from Ash.

“Now fly up to the top of the Hurricane!”

She followed his call, spinning the Hurricane more and more as she ascended up the winds and to where the storm crested. There she saw the rising, if battered, form of Crobat ascending the winds. It would be on its last wings, but if she didn’t do something now the battle would not be over. The Crobat could still manage to get a Toxic off. It had to end now.

“Aerial Ace!”

She flew just over the storm before descending down at accelerating speed. The Crobat didn’t have any chance to avoid her as she pushed right on down through the storm. Her opponent was being driven down by her sheer force and speed, and by the time she let off and re-ascended flight the Crobat was slammed into the earth and her storm was fizzling away.

“Crobat is unable to battle!”

She landed on the ground as the call was made, as Ash cheered her for her victory.

“Geot!” ‘It is yours too, you should cheer yourself too!’

Really it was not just his. She’d have not thought of using Hurricane like it was a Fire Spin. It was something about the human mind. The Crobat was cleverer than the average wild Crobat, but there was a reason that Pokémon listened to humans. Their minds worked differently than theirs, and in such cases like improvisation better. Pokémon could be taught and Crobat had indeed been taught, but there was no replacing a human’s mind.

“Pi?!” ‘W’ah? What happened, and why do I have a headache and a desire to wash my mouth out?’

…

“Way to go honey! One more to go and you win!”

His mom’s cheers made it sound easy. Though it was impressive he could even hear his mother over the other cheers in the crowd.

“You can still win this! Go Kaia! It comes down to Arcanine! Go dog go dog! Kaiaaaaa!”

Kaia looked bashful, as if all that praise and support was embarassing her, but her attention was quickly redirected to Ash. "Your Pidgeot seems well-trained. Wish I could've seen it."

"Your Crobat was pretty good, as well. Was it hard to train him that way?"

"Like you won't believe... I did attempt to fight like a normal Trainer at first, but being unable to see means I had to devise some solutions." Kaia smirked, seemingly growing bolder. "And it's time to show you the best I can do, since the crowd is asking for it! Arcanine, you're in!"

Kaia adjusted her weight over the walking stick as she left Arcanine's leash, the great hound bounding down from her platform right after. It growled at Pidgeot, who began to take flight to prepare for the battle to come.

"Pidgeot managed to outmaneuver and outwit Crobat. We can't afford to let it happen again." Kaia swept a hand in the air. "Don't give it even a second to spare, let's avenge our friend!"

Golden light began to build up around Arcanine, though not a move he could quite identify. Arcanine leaped towards Pidgeot, moving extremely fast and was almost like flight. The golden beast slammed into Pidgeot, sending his bird falling from the blow and Arcanine rebounding away in a more controlled manner. Pidgeot stabilized herself before crashing while Arcanine landed softly on the ground.

“That was Retaliate. It’s a move that becomes more powerful in the immediate aftereffect of a previous teammate’s defeat. That attack was powered up by your defeat of Crobat.”

Arcanine blew a blast of fire, likely a Flamethrower, at Pidgeot. She avoided it easily.

“They can’t pull that Retaliate off again! Aerial Ace!”

Pidgeot flew up into the air and accumulated speed before sharply turning down towards Arcanine.

"If it's in range, Flamethrower!"

Arcanine blew the blast of fire at Pidgeot, but she avoided it more and slammed into the beast.

Arcanine was far from down for the count from that blow, but it did deal good damage. Pidgeot flew away from Arcanine as she continued to accumulate speed.

“Air Slash!”

The wind bolts were sent at Arcanine, who avoided them before firing another Flamethrower. Pidgeot avoided the attack with ease before descending towards Arcanine with a blisteringly fast Quick Attack. This was going to go rather well for them.

Arcanine followed the speeding bird as she approached, his jaws sparkling in electricity before leaping at the bird with a Thunder Fang. Pidgeot then changed the attack to Aerial Ace, leaving Arcanine mid-air and vulnerable.

Pidgeot then sped up from below Arcanine and slammed into the beast. Arcanine did manage to spin around and blast Pidgeot with a Flamethrower, but Arcanine was knocked back with much more force than Pidgeot was.

Both of them crashed as a result of the blow, and both were able to get up. However, it was Pidgeot that got up first.

“Let’s end this here and now! Brave Bird!”

Pidgeot let out a defiant call as she took up into the air. Her wings were flapping rapidly as fiery energy built up around her. With surging speed, she flew at Arcanine, who growled defiantly as his body was surrounded with fiery flames.

It spun around Arcanine like a spinning wheel, and Arcanine gave a counter-charge. The two attacks collided.

“It’s Flame Wheel clashing with Brave Bird!”

That was a more accurate statement than the announcer was probably going for. Said announcer probably was going more for the idea of the two users dressed in flames colliding with each other. That wasn’t true. What was going on was Flame Wheel was actually forming just beyond Arcanine: a few inches from any fur or hide.

Nothing of Pidgeot’s attack was actually hitting Arcanine, while flames were going up against Pidgeot. It was not major damage, but it was going to add up.

The two attacks eventually petered out, but Arcanine was the first to act before lunging in with a Thunder Fang. The attack got Pidgeot in the wings and sent shocks coursing through her body. Arcanine broke the attack only after tossing her aside, and in the aftermath of that…

“Pidgeot is unable to battle!”

The crowed broke into loud cheering for the victorious Arcanine. It was an uproarious cheer that almost sounded like the victory rings of a clenched match. However, he was far from done.

With thanks to Pidgeot as he returned her he sent the Timer Ball flying and set Primeape loose once again. The angry ape snorted in anticipation.

“Prime!” ‘Well don’t you seem tired? This won’t be any fun.’

Kaia furrowed her brow at Primeape's return. "Be careful of his attacks, Arcanine. Take advantage of any opening you see."

Arcanine growled an untranslatable retort, but the great beast was indeed breathing harder than normal. Arcanine was feeling the clash with Pidgeot, but that was no reason to get cocky. Arcanine should be the one trying to beat the two of them, they did not need to help Arcanine there.

“Get in close and attack with Mega Kick!”

Primeape’s feet glowed with the enhanced power of the move and launched at Arcanine. As the collision approached Arcanine flared up Flame Wheel again, but Primeape crossed his arms and powered up for Cross Chop.

Cross Chop slashed through the flames with the aid of the speed from the Mega Kick boost and slammed into Arcanine. The blow sent the great dog flying, though the Fire-type stabilized before potentially crashing into the wall for additional damage.

Arcanine blew a Flamethrower back in retaliation, which Primeape avoided with a rolling dodge.

“Miiiii!” ‘Missssed!’

Primeape was probably trying to goad Arcanine to do something stupid, but the Fire-type simply glared at Primeape. Such a tactic was not effective.

Primeape had not managed to go beyond four moves yet. He had Mega Kick, Cross Chop, Throat Chop, and Seismic Toss to work with. They had managed to do Breakneck Blitz in training, but hopefully he would not need to reveal that. He could make those four moves work.

“Get in close to Arcanine!”

Primeape darted towards the growling Fire-type, weaving in and out and approaching in rapid jabs-like motions. The fighter left no easily read pattern to be exploited by a Flamethrower, and Arcanine seemed to recognize the fact.

It was why Flame Wheel projected outwards instead. Primeape read the attack as it was coming and avoided getting singed, and also the follow up Flamethrower that came from it, but getting close without power was not going to be the way.

“Mega Kick and Cross Chop!”

"Defend yourself, Arcanine!"

Once again with glowing empowered feet Primeape launched himself at Arcanine. Once more the Legendary Pokémon (by designation) rose up an outward extended Flame Wheel as a means of deflection. It was differently timed this time, coming later and getting Primeape at the legs.

“RIIII!”

The painful screech was followed by a convulsing wince that disrupted the launching attack. This made it slower, and let Arcanine rush in and grab Primeape with electrified jaws right on the left arm. The crowd cheered loudly for the attack as Primeape shook violently from the continuous electric shock.

“And Arcanine disrupts Primeape’s speedy tricks and lands a powerful attack… but what is this!?”

Primeape making his own calls in a counter-attack was what it was. It started with a free and dangling leg which swung around and struck Arcanine in the side of the head. The blow was not as strong as it could have been, but it forced Arcanine to let go of Primeape. From there Primeape had gotten the chance to rush Arcanine and grab its chest fur. Arcanine used a more regular Flame Wheel to get Primeape to let go, but it wasn’t needed. Arcanine had already been flung by the Seismic Toss before the attack had manifested, and it just led to a Flame Wheel hitting the ground half a field away. Primeape then turned around to the Flame Wheel that was now racing back at him with intent to strike. Primeape avoided the attack with a sharp lunge and turn-around that put him right behind the de-cloaking Arcanine.

‘“Primeape, use Cross Chop!”’

He said it as a complete sentence, while the declaration of Cross Chop was said in a single ‘Pri’. Effectiveness of speech methods aside, they had the same idea in mind. Before Arcanine could react Primeape struck him up the backside with a Cross Chop. The attack sent Arcanine flying, and this time without a rebalance.

The shaking of the stadium wasn’t as intense as when Pikachu had hit it with intent of eating literal torture, but the effect was quite evident regardless.

“Arcanine!”

Kaia’s worried gasp was ahead of the judge’s own call. He had run over to the impact zone and was peering at the slumped over yet wedged in beast.

“Arcanine is unable to battle! The winner of this fifth round League match is Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town!”

“You heard it here live folks! In a clash of two crowd favorites only one can walk away victorious, and today it was Ash Ketchum going on to the sixth round!”

“Way to go, honey!”

He could hear his mom’s cheer quite distinctly. Familiarity played a role in it, but also the fact that a lot of the stadium wasn’t screaming off the top of their lungs. It was a more subdued sort of rumbling. Not boing, no rage, but not happiness either.

It didn’t matter to Primeape, who was cheering and hyping himself in the stadium with V symbols in his hands, but it was dampening things on his end a bit.

On her own platform Kaia was quite clearly saddened by her loss, though she wasn’t crying or running off. She was nervously looking around.

“Arcanine?”

He could only half hear her question as it was said lightly, but Arcanine was her assistant Pokémon. Would she be able to get out easily on her own? Could she find Arcanine?

He hopped down from his platform, startling Pikachu at his sudden action. He looked at the still stuck and tired-out Arcanine for a moment. A memory of a dangerous studying method came to his mind.

‘An Arcanine on average was two of his moms in weight’

He walked over to the stuck beast. His presence made the ref look at him in surprise, but with a single question his intent was made clear.

“Mind helping me get Arcanine out?”

The ref did, and the ref helped pull Arcanine out of the wall. He probably could have done it himself, but it was even easier, would keep people from questioning the easy manner of him doing so, and it was offered so there was no reason to turn it down.

The crowd was silent even as he pulled a Sitrus berry out of his bag (the ref had a potion which he bagged after seeing his berry) and put in Arcanine’s mouth. Each bite the downed dog took of the berry was faster than the next, and in an uneasy way Arcanine stood back up on all four legs and walked towards the lowering platform of Kaia. It was an uneasy walk towards the motionless Kaia, but eventually the guide Pokémon was close enough for Kaia to put a hand on him and both visibly relaxed at the contact. At that the crowd exploded into positive and loud cheers.

“That, folks, is evidence that good sportsmanship is far from dead!”

Primeape kept his own cheering for himself oblivious to it all.

…

As the match ended and Primeape finally realized it was time to stop bragging, Ash decided to accompany Kaia back towards the locker room: even if Arcanine seemed able to stand and help her out, he really didn't want to take any risks when he played part in defeating her. Her Squirtle, Thinker, seemed to be of the same mind, as he came out of his Pokéball to help out his Trainer.

"Well, this was a good match," Kaia said, turning towards where she assumed Ash was, shrugging with nonchalance. "A bummer that I was already kicked out, but hey, Top 64 is not too shabby for a first League."

For his part, Ash smiled. "It was a nice battle. I can tell you put a lot of effort in your training."

"Still not enough to beat you." Kaia's remark didn't carry any sourness; if anything, her challenging grin as she petted both of her Pokémon showed her determination. "Arcanine, Thinker, we've gotta do better for the next League. We had a good run here, but we can do even better!"

"Squirtle squirt!" Thinker said, thumping at his shell; Arcanine resorted to a more tired whine, but he still seemed to agree with his comrade.

Her determination was quick to be put aside, however, as she looked back to Ash. "You don't have to bring me all the way to the exit, don't worry. I know the way."

Once again there was no real malice in her words; Ash could just guess how being blind might've led some people to just see her as someone that needed protection and defense, while at heart she was a fighter who wanted to push on with her path as much as any other Trainer. It was something he respected, and clearly part of why she became such a darling for the crowd.

However, there was still another, more personal reason why Ash had decided to help Kaia around. As he traded a glance with Pikachu on his shoulder, he took a deep breath and decided to breach the subject.

"Well, actually, there was one thing I needed to tell you. A very important one."

Kaia quirked an eyebrow. "What would that be?"

"Well..."

...

Inside the locker room, both Charizard and Squirtle slumped as the television screen moved on to the next match. They asked Ash to be allowed to watch the battle in private, and he happily obliged, allowing him and his old Water-type friend to see how the battle against Kaia went. He continued to stare at the screen, lost in his own thoughts, while Squirtle grumbled to himself, crossing his arms.

"Man, I hoped Thinker could get to fight. I was curious to see how he was doing," he commented with a sigh.

Charizard continued to stare at the screen, still thinking of what they just saw. "Kaia still put up a great battle. I'm just glad she is doing well."

"Dude..."

Even without turning around, Charizard could feel Squirtle's worry in his voice, no doubt thinking back of when he first talked about Kaia to him, back in Vermillion City. He turned back to him, hoping to reassure him with a grin.

"It's okay, don't worry. I've got the Atrice thing mostly in check by now." He lowered his head, losing himself back in his thoughts. "It's just... that what could've been, you know?"

"Oh, I know that very well." Squirtle sighed, probably thinking of his own different set of circumstances in this lifetime. "Are you sure you didn't want to fight or meet her properly?"

"It's okay this way."

Squirtle seemed to want to press the argument further, but before he could get a chance to do so, there was a knock on the door.

"Guys? Everything alright?" Ash asked, opening the door before even hearing his answer.

Squirtle gave a nod and a wink. "Yo, Ash. Great battle as ever."

"Looks like we'll have to up our game for the next rounds' opponents. Let's train some more!" He suggested, trying to keep his mind elsewhere. He knew that Kaia was a closed chapter now, and should've stayed that way.

Ash, however, stepped forward with a smile. "Before that, I do have something for you both."

Both he and Squirtle tilted their heads, unsure what he could mean. Their Trainer continued to smile, turning back towards the corridor. "You can come in."

The 'something' walked inside the room, and both Charizard and Squirtle froze in place as they recognized it as none other than Kaia herself, accompanied by both Squirtle's comrade and her Arcanine. Both turtle Pokémon stared at each other, wanting to get closer and catch up probably, but deciding not to act on it yet.

Kaia tilted her head in clear confusion as she made tentative steps into the room. "So, what's the surprise about? You were mentioning something about your Pokémon, right?"

"Yeah... well, remember that Charizard and Squirtle you saw…. met when we met the first time?" Ash scratched his head, probably trying to make up a good reasoning for what he planned and catching himself mid-word choice. "I poked around, and it looks like you may be more familiar with each other than you think. And my Squirtle seems to know yours."

"Wait, is that true?" Kaia asked, her attention gravitating where she knew Thinker was.

The sunglasses-wearing Squirtle smirked with pride. "Squirt! Squirtle squirt!"

Even if Kaia couldn't see him nodding or anything, she still seemed to grasp the communication with her Pokémon as well as any other Trainer. She looked puzzled at the development, yet clearly intrigued. Charizard continued to look at her, unsure of what to do or say, as Squirtle continued to only stare at his old friend.

"Well, ain't that a coincidence..." She then paused, almost as if a thought crossed her mind, paling all of a sudden. "Wait, then your Charizard is..."

"Why don't you check yourself?" Ash smiled, turning back towards his friend. "I think this is between you two."

He took a few steps back, allowing Kaia and Charizard to have their time together. Squirtle and ‘Thinker’ seemed to be of a similar mind, as they scurried off on their own corner of the room, leaving him and his former Trainer some space only for themselves.

Charizard remained still, too many thoughts crowding in his head. Kaia seemed to be just as confused and unsure, only taking her first steps when Arcanine nudged her to get closer, before giving Charizard a nod. Perhaps he remembered that time they briefly fought, long ago?

His attention quickly returned to Kaia, however, as she tentatively took some steps forward to where she thought Charizard was. The Fire-type inched closer himself, until they finally met halfway, the blind girl passing a hand over his chest, sensing all the little scars on his body, caressing him slowly. She gave a smile as she moved up, closer to his long neck.

"It's... it's you, right? The Charmander I choose." She asked, finally reaching for his head. She was pressing on it just enough, as if she didn’t want to let go again. Charizard simply nodded, and he could see Kaia’s lips curling up into a sad smile.

"You've grown strong..." Even through the sunglasses, Charizard could see the tears in Kaia’s face, as he continued to caress him. "I'm sorry for what happened."

Charizard wanted to tell her many things, like that he was the one at fault, how happy he was to meet again, how strong she had become as well, and many, many more things. Yet, he instinctively hugged her closely, giving her all the warmth he could muster.

Kaia replied in kind, Pokémon and Trainer continuing to hug each other. And even without any other word spoken, in that moment, that was everything they needed.

…

"Really, Boss, I never thought we'd end up meeting here of all places," Thinker said.

Squirtle nodded. "Tell me about it."

While Charizard continued to spend some time with his original Trainer, Squirtle couldn't help but think at this unexpected, yet welcome turn of events. The Indigo League in this timeline was bound to be full of more surprises than he could imagine.

He figured now was as good time as any to ask that question he feared so much.

"What happened then?"

Thinker simply smiled and shrugged. "After we made sure you were safe, the three of us managed to clear a path for Joker. But the place continued to cave in, and we got separated. By the time I managed to get out, I didn't find anybody else.

"I was lucky; Kaia found me and took me for healing, and I couldn't leave her after that. I thought you and the others were dead, but I found Scout one time we passed in front of the city's fire department. He still had his leg injured since then, but he's otherwise okay. Says he enjoys his new job putting out fires. Another time, I could swear I saw Joker riding on Officer Jenny's sidecar. The same one who was chasing us all the time, can you imagine it?"

"Haha, I can't imagine he finds that funny at all." Squirtle chuckled. "And Heavy?"

"Haven't seen him since, but I heard some rumors around. About a shorty Squirtle who likes to get into strength fights, and always wins. That has to be him."

Squirtle smiled. His heart was relieved that his old gang had all made it out of there, and they were all safe and sound.

Then again, he thought for an instant, if he survived to reunite with Ash, it made sense the same was true for the rest. If they didn't die in that cave in, it was because they all had something to live for, and they all found something good to do with their lives.

The Squirtle Squad might have been dissolved, but the spirit still lived on in all of them. Except for the pranks, of course.

"Speaking of, what happened to your shades? Scout and Joker seemingly lost theirs in the cave in, did you too?" Thinker asked.

"Oh no, still got'em. Just like to keep them for special occasions. You know, when I want to get dangerous and all."

"Haha, that’s our Boss." Thinker highfived with him. "I'm lucky I could keep mine. This way I can show my support to Kaia."

Both turtles glanced at the girl once more. Right then, she was petting Charizard's head, who seemed quite delighted while Ash also smiled. She clearly was a nice girl, and he could see why Charizard remembered her so fondly. It was a real pity she'd ended up blind.

"Your Trainer's pretty cool too," Thinker added. "I mean, not even I would have thought of blasting that overgrown iceberg like you guys did. That was super awesome, Boss!"

"Oh yeah, that's Ash for you," Squirtle replied with a hint of pride. "He's not the type to stop and think things too much. He's more the spontaneous type, but it works well for us. Besides…"

Squirtle stopped for a moment before continuing. Obviously, he couldn't drop the most important details about his time with Ash (he doubted Thinker would actually believe it), but he could say at least part of the truth. The most important one.

"When that tunnel crumbled, I thought you all were dead. I knew it was my fault because I led us there in the first place, but I was so angry I blamed the humans, and I wanted to get revenge."

"Boss…"

"I know we were just pranksters and we never meant to hurt anybody, but at the time I was so furious I needed to make someone pay. Even if deep down I knew it'd been all my fault. If Ash hadn't found me when he did... I don't know what I'd be doing now."

Thinker nodded. "I never imagined us having Trainers again, but here we are. We were both lucky to find our humans, right?"

Squirtle agreed. And it applied to him on both timelines. And he was grateful for it.

Meeting Thinker not only relieved him for his worries, but also gave him the hope of seeing Scout, Heavy and Joker someday. And considering all the shenanigans they'd gone through, who said all their paths couldn't cross one day, and have a complete Squirtle Squad reunion?

Yeah, that was a nice thought, and it only made him more eager to continue supporting Ash in his journeys.

...

After spending some more time together, Kaia finally left for her room, wishing Ash and his team the best and hoping to meet them again in the future. Ash, Squirtle and Charizard left right after as well, with Pikachu walking a slight distance to allow his two teammates some time with their Trainer.

"Thanks a lot, Ash," Charizard told his Trainer, his eyes glimmering more than usual. Ash shrugged with nonchalance.

"You deserved it. I couldn't let you and Squirtle lose this chance." Ash’s smile faltered, trying not to think back of his own regrets on the matter, keeping his attention to two of his oldest Pokémon. "I also shared contact information with Kaia, in case she wants a rematch and we're close by... and if you two ever feel like talking with her or her Squirtle."

Charizard quickly realized how thorough he was being, however, shaking his head towards him. "You don't have to go this far, you know that."

"Just doing what I can." Ash took a deep breath, looking back to one of his oldest and most reliable Pokémon. "And... if you ever feel like returning to her, I can-"

"Don't even think about it." Charizard's stare was severe, not even wasting a single second to think about it. He then gave Ash a toothy grin. "Kaia is a great person, but she has her own team and she's doing fine as it is. She might've picked me as her starter, but... you are my Trainer."

Ash was taken aback, having already figured Charizard would reply otherwise after what he had learned. Even two lifetimes later, his Pokémon kept finding ways to surprise him. The reassurance made him smile back. "Thanks."

Charizard simply chuckled in response, as if to say it was no biggie. All the while, Squirtle scratched his head, an eyebrow raised in confusion. "Well, didn't expect you to go all sappy."

"I have many nuances." Charizard rolled his eyes at the Water-type, before his attention went back to Ash, his grin growing more challenging. "So, what about that training? My skills demand some sharpening, here!"

Ash replied in kind, just as determined as his friend. "Let's get to it, then!"

And thus, the Trainer and his Pokémon headed back for their cabin in the Trainer Village, ready to train some more for the upcoming rounds.

…

“Thank you for waiting. Your Pokémon are fully healed. We hope to see you again.”

The statement was followed by Pikachu hopping back onto his shoulder. He thanked Nurse Joy as he took back Pidgeot and Primeape’s Pokéballs. It was nice to have them back.

With Squirtle and Charizard handling their own business earlier and the other three being healed he had only Serperior on hand if something had come up. There wasn’t a ton that could have happened in that time, but it was nice to have his friends back in case something did happen.

He looked to the monitor which was currently showing Zippo and Ritchie fighting a Scizor (and one he thought he recognized. He was pretty sure Sceptile had fought it: a red something or another) and he turned to the curious trio of girls with an honest question.

“So is there anything you want to do? It is going to be a while before they announce the next round so is there is anything you all want to do?”

“Think we can do some training? I know it is kind of silly, but seeing all of the strategies and moves the other Trainers do here makes me want to try some of them out myself.”

At Misty’s question he quickly looked to Anabel and Iris and when neither had any objections to it he nodded back.

“Of course, and it is not silly at all. If you don’t learn from others, you don’t really learn at all. That’s a smart thing Professor Oak would say right?”

“Not really.”

Iris and the Pokédex said that at the same time, which was kind of weird.

He had never felt quite as nervous as he had today, and Yellow had noticed it quite clearly.

“Red, you’re really being silly about this.”

She was not the most sympathetic to his nervousness. She even seemed to find it a bit funny, as her tone was a bit light and teasing.

Walking through the woods he could hear the distant sounds of the person he needed to talk to. His voice was fairly distinct as he yelled out commands and praises, and the occasional sound of worry as the ever present pop of commands being executed. He could make out the distinct crackle of Thunderbolts, the tinkling cold of Ice Beams, and even the odd churning sound of energy that made up that attack called Aura Sphere that had won the person his fourth round victory.

That had been a few days ago, and tomorrow dawned the sixth round of the Indigo League. He had to talk about things now. After their wins tomorrow it would be too late.

Eventually the woods began to reveal gaps where they could see clashes of color and movement and hear even clearer sounds of attacks, and with a few more steps they pushed out of the woods and into the clearing where their person of interest was at.

As it were though, it was actually persons of interest, and as had been pretty obvious they had walked in on a training session. Said session had stalled out as all present were now staring at them in surprise for his arrival.

There was Anabel, who had an Alakazam and Eevee in the midst of duking it out with a Emolga, Fraxure, and Gible that were with Iris. Her other Pokémon, an Excadrill, had been doing a round with Ash’s Charizard, and around the clearing were others belonging to the person he had wanted to talk to: Pikachu, Squirtle, Yanma, Butterfree, and Togepi. Finally, Misty had her Blastoise, Staryu, Wingull, Slowpoke, and Psyduck, with a sixth Pokémon he didn’t recognize of hers darting behind her legs the moment it saw him. It looked like some sort of gray Bug-type.

His own Pikachu darted off his shoulder to face Ash’s, their cheeks sparking a bit but nothing too serious. It wasn’t however the way their talk really started.

“Hello! Red has a question for you and he’s being really silly about it!”

Yellow broke the ice, a little too well. He pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to not be that annoyed at Yellow. Sure, she didn’t seem to understand why this was a lot to ask of anyone, let alone someone like Ash.

They were half-brothers, but that wasn’t exactly like they were close. They respected each other as Trainers, but that was about it. Outside of their skills and thoughts as Trainers in a philosophical sense they knew little of each other. It was a bit much for them to ask anything of each other, let alone anything as important as what he was going to ask.

For as little as they truly did know each other, Ash was the only person he could possibly ask such a favor to.

With all the attention firmly on him there was no time for him to find the perfect way to phrase it. He’d just have to say it and hope that it didn’t go that badly.

“Look I know that… we aren’t really close or anything. This isn’t something that I’d ask anyone, but you are the only person I could possibly ask this. It is a lot to ask. You see, after we win tomorrow we are going to have really long matches. Six on six matches take a lot longer than the three on three matches we’ve had before now, and I’m worried about leaving Yellow alone for that long…”

“So you want us to watch her during your matches? I mean sure, I’m fine with that.”

“…Normally she sits in the ‘coaching stand’ even if she isn’t coaching me. That’s fine even in a longer battle but I’m worried about how long the fights might drag on. It might be hard on her to not be able to get any food or drink or anything else, even when there is a break between rounds. That’s not really a break for that sort of thing but a thinking break for changing strategies…”

“Red, he said yes. You can stop talking.”

“…If you aren’t for it I could probably just pack her a lunch, or maybe I’m over thinking how long a six on six match actually because of commercials and more strategy…”

‘Red, Ash said yes and none of us are objecting to the idea or anything like that. You can stop.’

Anabel’s voice rang in the back of his head and he stopped: his mind halted mid-thought on how long a full battle actually was and if he actually even had to ask. He heard Yellow and Misty giggle at him and felt his face heat up in embarrassment.

Even more so when some of the Pokémon were also laughing at him.

‘It’s great that you care that much Red. It’s funny that you sort of sound like Ash’s mom and not that you care’.

At that remark it seemed the greater round of chuckles were aimed more at Ash than himself, who seemed to take being the target of them better than he had. He was even chuckling back over it.

“Red doesn’t sound like my mom. Now if he reminds Yellow to brush her teeth or something before he goes win his matches then he sounds like my mom.”

The way Ash described that habit was with affection even in the bits about it that did clearly bother him, though he felt a bit annoyed that he was hearing it. Some people would love to have a mother remind him of those things.

Like himself.

Iris looked ready to say something, perhaps about Ash’s mother. But she seemed to hear something and any thought of further comments about Ash’s mom were out of the question for now.

Barely a second later Ash and the Pokémon seemed to pick that up as well.

The brush was shaking, and now everyone had attention set there. Shapes began to form in the brush, humanoid shapes of various sizes. Eventually the shapes cleared up, showing them surrounded by a couple of dozens of people. None of them being faces that he recognized from the tournament screens. They had no uniform bar what he could call ‘rebellious’ or ‘edgy’ or the like. He wondered if anyone here knew who these people were.

“Who are you guys and what are you doing out here?”

Ash’s question meant he wasn’t going to get an answer from them. One of those who had surrounded them was now pointing, rather rudely, at Ash while most of the rest were glaring at him.

“What, you don’t remember us, Taffy Cheat!?”

Taffy Cheat? What was that supposed to mean? As nonsensical as that sounded it did seem to cause Ash to realize who they were supposed to be. It wasn’t just a random stupid name, just a stupid name.

“Taffy...are you guys fans of that creep I beat in round two?”

“Oh, the Rookie Crusher you crushed. He had fans?”

Yellow’s realization and subsequent question made said ‘fans’ all bristle in anger and several to snarl the same thing, though not in perfect sync so there was word overlap.

“He was not ‘crushed’! He was robbed of his victory and his pride by you damn fake rookie! Him and his stupid Taffy Dragon! We’re his justice!”

Misty stepped forward, her eyes blazing with fiery fury at the gathered swarm of angry fans. He could see similar looks in anger in the eyes of everyone else except for Yellow, who was more shocked at this than anything else, and the bug that Misty had hiding behind her legs (who was still there even as she moved towards them.)

“Um, no, that creep lost. Get over it! What do you even think you are going to accomplish anyway?”

The angry fans glares were met with wicked smiles as they all promptly threw out Pokéballs. A large swarm of Pokémon appeared around them: Rattata, Raticate, Beedrill, Spearow, Fearow, Mankey, Primeape, Ekans, Arbok, Koffing, and one Jiggylpuff that was a bit out of place. The Beedrills made Misty flinch in fear though she seemed firm to not scream or run away from them.

“That’s not going to beat Ash. That’s just a training montage, and not even a good one.”

His quite correct observation, with just his naked eye, about what would happen when this large swarm of Pokémon tried to go at Ash in a futile attempt to rush him did not endear himself to the angry fans. One of them who hadn’t spoken yet gave him a similarly rude finger before explaining what their dumb plan actually was.

“Oh shut it you vampire! The fake rookie’s already on thin ice for punching that Fearow, if he gets into another big fight that’s going to be a shit load of trouble.”

Vampire?

“That’s really dumb. I mean ignoring the part where I have a recording device on hand that just recorded everything you just said; you kind of forget something important.”

Ash’s tone was that of annoyance, but with a bit of looming amusement on his end. An ace in the hole he was about to show off, and he wasn’t entirely sure what it was. However, he had a slight idea of what it could be, and it wasn’t even him.

“What, the guy who looks like you without a tan or training weights?”

Why did they think he wasn’t enough to beat them up? He was as far in this tournament as Ash was and he’d bet that when he got to the finals he’d find Ash waiting there for a rematch.

“I’m sure he could beat you easily, but actually I was talking about my friends here.”

Before any of the grade-A idiots around them could say anything Ash’s companions were on them. Twelve Pokémon versus a larger number they may be, but what followed was quality demonstrating itself against quantity.

Most of the Beedrill were telekinetically grabbed by Anabel’s Alakazam before being blown into trees with great force. One Beedrill flew at Misty, but the bug behind her flew at it with an Aqua Jet and sent it flying (a result of power that seemed to surprise even the bug).

The Rattata were being jumped on by the Eevee, each falling in single hops and bounds. The Raticate were being torn into by Fraxure, preventing them from getting to help the other rodents.

The flock of Spearow were being electrified by the Emolga that Iris possessed, while the Fearow were being taken out in an aerial slaughter by Misty’s Wingull who shot out an electrical attack at them with brutal effectiveness.

The Mankey were all restrained by a Confusion attack from the Slowpoke, while the Primeape were all battered by Staryu’s rapid attacks of both Rapid Spin and Bubblebeam.

In spite of its typing the odd Jigglypuff was among the punk forces was pulled underground by the Gible, while the Koffing in the air were blasted down by her Blastoise before they could do anything but float.

The Ekans were fairing as well as the Mankey against Psyduck, while the Arbok were falling to Excadrill even easier. It was a one sided affair, and he could only add a few more observations on top of that.

The first was that he was certainly completely assured of Yellow's safety with any of them, not just Ash.

The second was that at every one sided victory they unleashed, at every confident command they gave (with the harassers missing how Anabel’s were given), and even every victorious smile on their faces Ash’s own grin seemed to grow even larger.

How interesting.

He felt a beep in his pocket as he pulled his Poke-Gear out. He half watched the one-sided battle as the battles for tomorrow came in for everyone still in the tournament including himself.

On the left bracket were the following.

Gary versus Melissa

Paul versus Jeanette

Pete Pebbleman versus Tianna

Elwood versus Solidad

Otoshi versus Bartholomew

Ash versus Cross

Dan versus Ann Chovy

Corey versus Tom Ato

To the right were the following, which included himself.

Koga versus Manna

Marie versus Alex Davis

Ritchie versus Fergus

Aideen versus Assunta

Red versus A.J

Mandi versus Alexander Silph

‘Hiker’ versus Phil Ein

Thads versus Neesha

The name A.J was familiar. Had they battled sometime before? He was sure that Ash had gotten the update on his own machine, but he was too busy watching Iris glare the pack of idiots away to notice it at the moment. He made a reminder to himself to look up A.J for a possible refresher as he moved to put the machine away. However, it gave a second alert as another message came up. One from Naty.

He opened the message with a prod to the touch screen, wondering what it could be. Had something happened to one of his Pokémon at her place?

The email was short, and fortunately did not suggest that Sneasel had fallen down a well or something else horrible. However, what was said was worrying in a different way.

Mythical power has made its first tendrils of contact with Ash. Be wary.

It was a short email, but one that had made him remember the faintest memory from the back of his mind. A dream he had all the way back on the way to One Island. Back before he had met his Lapras, sought to master battling without Victory Sight, and made progress with Clefairy. A dream where Ash had used Pokémon against them in a battle.

There had been three Pokémon he hadn’t recognized in that dream. He had seen a Serperior and a Heracross since, but there was one more Pokémon in the dream. Was that what she was warning him about, or was it something else?

“Anyone know who’s Cross?”

Ash had finally had a chance to notice the update, and he got no answer from them other than shrugs from the others. It was as much of an answer as he had for what he was ‘supposed’ to be wary about.

…

Wimpod was nervously looking around the little clearing, a bit more nervously than normal. It was a bit hard for many to see that, but she had managed to pick up what Wimpod was like normally versus being particularly nervous. The unexpected arrival of Red and Yellow, and the unwanted interruption of a bunch of brain-dead morons had not helped that either.

Hence she talked with him calmly. To remind Wimpod he was safe with her.

“It’s a new place where sometimes loud idiots show up and try to attack us with Beedrill, but we’re hopefully going to be here a while so you will need to get training done here if you want to get a lot of good done. We got a lot done earlier, and we can keep working on it now.”

Wimpod relaxed a bit, which she took as the cue to point at Ash’s Squirtle.

“Now let’s get that Aqua Jet looking better!”

On her command a watery veil formed around Wimpod and her scaredy-bug flew towards Ash’s Squirtle.

The turtle flashed with a metallic gleam from Iron Defense and took the Aqua Jet into his crossed arms. The attack was pushed back as a result; though Squirtle was pushed back an inch.

“Squrrt.” ‘That actually felt like a nudge! The little thing actually is getting better.’

Wimpod, who had returned to her side from the impact, looked shocked at the news of his power going up. So shocked that he almost looked ready to bolt at the news. She nipped that in the bud by picking the bug up and giving the little one a comforting hug.

Also a promise of first dibs on what berries Iris and Anabel would bring back from a berry patch a bit away with a bunch of their other Pokémon.

“That Aqua Jet’s looking pretty great! What about the other attacks it knows, Struggle Bug and Sand Attack I think?”

Ash’s compliment to her morphed into a question about the other two moves. She blushed in a bit of embarrassment at them.

“Honestly, I haven’t really done a lot with them myself. It’s dumb of me, but I just don’t like shouting Struggle Bug. If it just didn’t have ‘Bug’ in it...also I don’t really see what I’d do with Sand Attack. If Wimpod wants to stop being on fire, he can just use Aqua Jet.”

Ash’s Gigalith had used Sand Attack to douse attacks, but that had enough benefit that Wimpod did not. Simply put, there was more sand shot from Ash’s Rock-type than her little scaredy-bug.

Ash looked thoughtful, and she was really glad he wasn’t judging her on her calls. It was appreciated.

“Well maybe we can try and see if we could use Sand Attack to start working on another move. Perhaps you could have it merge into something you’d get more use out of. Like some sort of mud attack, like Mud Bomb or Mud Shot?”

She looked down at the little bug in her arms, who was letting off a nervous trill at the attention that Ash was giving him as the idea stirred around in her mind a bit.

Turning the sand into mud, and Wooper knew Mud Shot, so perhaps the two could work together and…

“I wouldn’t bother with that if I were you. No matter what you do with that Pokémon, at heart it will be a coward. Even evolution won’t fix that weakness.”

An unfamiliar voice interrupted them, and caused Wimpod to seize up and nearly bolt from her arms. She held onto him tighter as to keep the bug from proving the unfamiliar person too correct.

Stepping into the clearing was someone their age with orange hair and a lack of any Rookie Crusher paraphernalia, a black vest over a white shirt, and baggy red pants. The orange hair formed an X that hung over his eyes like bangs, and his attention was very minutely aimed at Wimpod.

Also alongside him was a Pokémon she did not recognize: an upright Pokémon of a reddish and white color that reminded her of something like an Arcanine standing on its hind legs. It had glowing red eyes that were not focused on her or Wimpod.

The attention of the red eyes, and the Trainer’s own orange eyes, were more on Ash, whom the new man was giving the once over.

“I’ll admit you look a bit tougher in person than on television or in pictures. You actually talking has the opposite effect. The name’s Cross by the way: I’ll be beating you tomorrow.”

Well he was certainly bold. Bold was a polite way of putting it. Ash didn’t seem particularly impressed by this guy either.

“You know, the Rookie Crusher said something like that too. He snuck on me like a creep before doing it too in fact. You saw what happened to him.”

Ash’s declaration didn’t faze Cross, who shook his head in amusement.

“Oh I saw that battle, and let me just say this now: I know what Goodra are and I’m not going to waste most of the battle flailing on it without a plan. More importantly I know what that is on your arm.”

He was pointing at Ash’s Z-ring, which he held up to let the accessory be more visible. This made Cross scowl in recognition.

“Normalium-Z too huh. Who sent you that? Hala? Olivia? That old coot?”

That was the long name of a Z-crystal: instead of just calling it a Normal Z-Crystal or something. Was this guy from Alola, or was he just well researched? She’d guess the former with mentioning actual names.

“Whichever of those guys is from Melemele Island. That and some sort of guardian.”

The part about the guardian made Cross look at Ash like he was crazy.

“You have got to be shitting me. You were sent that thing by Hala and Tapu Koko!?”

Before Ash could respond to that declaration of disbelief one of his Pokéballs opened up on its own, and in fact the only Pokémon in a Pokéball between any of them right now. The white light spilled out behind Ash, revealing Charizard in all of his fiery force. The fire-type was scowling at Cross, a growl slipping out of the scowl, with said interrupting Trainer looking as amused as Ash looked surprised by the escape. The Pokémon with him moved to intercept Charizard: the fangs of the Pokémon she didn’t recognize bared in a manner that was both threatening and eager for a fight.

It was odd, as Charizard wasn’t prone to the Psyduck school of randomly showing up, especially when Charizard had been returned specifically as to be exchanged with another of Ash’s Pokémon after a bit of Wimpod work was finished. It was also unusual for the Pokédex to not have randomly blurted out what the guy’s Pokémon was, and she could only assume that Ash had seen it somewhere at some point.

“Well clearly you aren’t that good of a Trainer if your Pokémon are doing that on their own. Plus, I’ll remember the Charizard for next match… oh wait a minute.”

Cross was staring at Charizard now, and not Ash himself. As he did a grin came over his face. It was similar enough to his partner Pokémon’s, though with a bit more mockery in its makeup.

“Well it isn’t much of a memory, but I do remember you a bit. Just a bit of course. You were that Charmander I crushed all the way back. How’d you end up with this lump instead of your old pathetic loser? Do you want a rematch tomorrow or something? You might have evolved a few times since then and actually look trained now, but some things never change. That includes who is strong and who isn’t. Bring your perpetual loser of a Fire-type, your Goodra, your Z-Moves, heck even bring Tapu Koko itself. I’ll beat them all.”

With that Cross turned around and left with a slow walk that showed no fear of Charizard. His Pokémon never leaving his side as it moved along in a matching pace. Charizard continued to growl and his eyes never leaving the departing opponent for round six.

She’d have to guess that Charizard would not be swapping out for a while.