Back in his room, Austin made sure that the doors and windows were all closed, before he switched on the Xtransceiver to make a call to Bill Montgomery. He held on for a minute of indecisiveness over whether he should just call up the famous researcher out of nowhere, but then again, the researcher did tell him to stay in contact.

Well, I won't find out without trying, would I?

Activating the call function, he selected Bill's contact number, and after three rings, a flash of light appeared on the screen as Bill's- wait-

"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?" Austin screamed, getting up from the bed, as he yelled into the Xtransceiver.

On the opposite end of the screen, stood a large, black, snail-like pokémon with tiny white pincers, six in number, while the rest of the body was enveloped in pitch darkness. 'Hello Ash. Didn't expect you to call back so soon."

"Bill? Is that you?" Ash asked, surprised. "What are you doing inside that ugly thing?"

"Yeah, that's my brand new Kabuto-based exoskeleton suit, you are referring to as the ugly thing."

"Doesn't make it any less ugly." Austin pointed out.

The exoskeleton or whatever, seemed to shake its head in frustration, before the abdominal portion hissed and cracked open, allowing the famous researcher to get out of it, still in his impeccable white robes.

"What the hell were you doing in that thing?" Austin accused.

"It is a way of trying to understand the pokémon way of life, especially for-never mind, what did you call me for?"

"I—uh, just wanted to know how things were going with Charmander's case."

"Ah, yes, of course. Has he evolved yet?"

"No." Austin narrowed his eyes. "Charmander's too… frail at this moment. He's nowhere strong enough to evolve."

"He might surprise you."

Austin didn't say anything to counter that statement.

" Ah yes," Bill replied, realizing that he had digressed from the point. "His genetics are rather surprising, but I bet you already know that. I can assure you that you are in for a surprise when he evolves into a Charmeleon."

Austin raised an eyebrow. "You aren't going to tell me, are you?"

"And spoil the excitement? No way."

Austin scowled.

" Ash , I have a proposal for you."

Austin perked up as Bill continued knowing he had the other's attention.

" I want to be your sponsor and before you say anything , I know you have Professor Oak as your sponsor but that doesn't mean you can't have more then one sponsors.With me as your sponsor , your Pokémon carrying limit will be changed to 20 Pokémon and custom made TMs which are just essentially shards of memories of moves that have been extracted psychically from Pokémon that have only learned those moves through years of training."

" But why ? "

Bill smiled and exclaimed ," It's a gamble on my part but your luck with getting all three Royal Pokémon and even catching the attention of a legendary Pokémon has convinced me that gambling on you is worth it.

Austin was about to say something but a picture of him side by side to with Suicune made him shut up.

How did he get that ?

Was someone watching me on that day ?

He hesitated for a moment before saying ," I will think about it ."

Bill knew that he had momentarily overwhelmed his friend so he decided to change the topic but Austin asked ," Why have I never heard of TMs ? "

" Oh ! Because you either have to be really rich or be an Ace trainer to even afford them."

" What are the benefits of TMs ? "

" Well other then the fact that Pokemon can learn moves that they can't learn naturally without years of training ; the other benefits are those TM moves don't require much practice from the Pokémon itself as those moves are an instant mastery most of the time."

Austin slowly nodded as his mind blanked out for a second.

He wanted to think about this deal before accepting.

" Where are you right now?"

Austin grinned, allowing Bill to have a glance at the room all around. "Let me guess, the SS. Anne?"

"Right in one." Austin jeered.

"You lucky sod." Bill muttered. "So, I take it you are participating in the tournament?"

"Yep, in the Top-8 after my last battle."

Bill almost choked. "Top-8? That's… that's rather good, Ash for someone as new as you are."

"What can I say? I'm awfully talented." Austin replied in a singsong.

"And your pokémon?"

" They are growing stronger and stronger. I have made a lot of progress with those combo moves and Pikachu has even unlocked his egg move Volt Tackle."

" Oh ! Wow ; tell me more… what's happening on that ship?"

" That is pretty much all. I have made an acquaintance with someone from Sinnoh, though she's not a trainer."

"Ah."

Austin frowned for a moment, before the rather odd behaviour he had seen in Shirona the previous evening came to mind. "Hey Bill."

"Yeah?"

"Do you know any… Shirona from the Sinnoh League? She's part of the League Envoy and is pretty knowledgeable about pokémon."

Bill began to answer, but then paused, considering his words. "Shirona you say…" His eyes seemed to be dancing with mirth.

"Yeah?" Austin stressed, completely oblivious.

"And she's friends with you?"

"Well, kind of. We've met a couple of times."

Interesting. So the Sinnoh Champion is demonstrating interest in a fairly newbie trainer? I wonder why… Bill thought to himself. "No," he finally replied, "nothing comes to mind."

"Hmm…" Austin frowned, "she was quickly able to catch up that something was… odd about Charmander. She also told me that she'll introduce me to her friends after the tournament is over."

That will be one hell of an introduction. Bill chuckled inwardly. "Guess you'll have to wait and find out."

Austin shrugged.

"Well, it's been good talking to you. Now I'll get back to my lab, and you concentrate on winning the tournament and think about my proposal. When you are done with both, give me a call."

"Uh… sure." Austin replied, as the screen went off without any overture.