A beautiful sunset appeared on the plain blue sky above Coumarine City. Many wild Pokemon have already left the forest and were heading to the nearest beach to enjoy another warm day in Kalos region.
On the balcony in one of local hotels stood a sixteen years old trainer with his loyal yellow Pokemon. Ash Ketchum, newly crowned champion of Kalos league enjoyed the beautiful view, while having various thoughts in his head. Mainly, he thought of what to do next. The Kalos Conference has ended, he finally achieved his dream of winning a regional league and he had no idea where he could go next.
After twenty minutes of staring into the sky he turned back to his friend, specifically to a small electric mouse named Pikachu. This rodent was his first Pokemon and he travelled with Ash through all of his journeys. He was also his strongest Pokemon and he proved it in the finals, when he won against a Heatran, the Sinnoh legendary. He smiled to his trainer and jumped on his shoulder. The two of them walked back to their room and while Ash was packing all of his things back to his backpack, Pikachu finished up a bottle of ketchup, which was a present from his proud trainer after finals of Kalos League.
Ash left the room and started walking to the exit of the building. He went through a long hall decorated with mirrors and some kind of paintings. On one of them was an Aura Guardian with Lucario standing on a mountain. On the other wall was a picture of Palkia, Dialga and Giratina fighting Arceus. Both of them got attention from the raven haired trainer, who started feeling a déjà vu. He remembered all of his meetings with those Pokemon and wondered if he will meet them again someday. Pikachu patted his trainer in head with his small paw and pointed to the exit. Ash understood his Pokemon and went with him on the outside. Ash quickly realized that there was a familiar person sitting on a bench.
"Morning Ash, how was your sleep?" asked a blonde-haired Gym Leader with big glasses on his nose. He was wearing his standard suit and had his backpack between his legs.
"Really good Clemont, beds are really comfortable here" the raven-haired boy responded with a smile. "Anyway, where are the girls? We planned on meeting here soon. I remember that they were very excited about coming back to Lumiose…"
"Just relax Ash, they still have a few more minutes, let`s just wait for them here" Clemont said, being sure that they won`t wait so long.
He was wrong. They were waiting for about four hours and no one was coming from the hotel. All three of males fell asleep on a bench, so they didn`t realize when finally the main doors have opened and two girls ran out from the inside. Bonnie, younger sister of Clemont made her way to the boys first. She looked at them and made an evil grin. She reached for small orange mouse which was sitting in her bag and ordered it to use small Thunder Shock on Ash and Clemont. The older girl, Serena, wasn`t so happy about waking up boys in that way, but before she could react, Dedenne used his attack and after a second you could hear three screams full of pain, which caused a few Fletchlings sitting on the nearest tree to fly away.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" the Lumiose Gym Leader shouted.
"Yeah, I don`t understand it too. Besides, you two are late for about... FOUR HOURS?! If you made it in time, we could be now on the road and tomorrow we would be in Lumiose" the raven-haired trainer said. His Pikachu wasn`t too happy either, sparks were jumping through his cheeks. He was dreaming about swimming in the pool full of ketchup, and these two female monsters took this paradise away from him.
Girls excused for this (which didn`t convince the males to forgive them so quickly) and they started walking to the biggest city in Kalos. When the night came they decided to stay on the nearest meadow and put a camp there. Three of the humans fell asleep almost immediately. Only Serena, who was sitting in her sleeping bag wasn`t sleeping yet. She was thinking about a certain someone, who was laying next to her. She was in love with the raven-haired trainer for a long time now, but she hasn`t got much courage to confess her feelings to him. Only Bonnie knew about a secret of the young Pokemon Performer, the boys were too dense to notice some obvious hints from the honey-haired girl. Serena looked at her crush once more before going to sleep and she soon started dreaming about kissing a boy of her dreams. A small blush remained on her face till the morning.
They were woken up at 7AM by the brightly shining sun. When they packed up everything, the group continued to head to the big city. They were talking about everything and nothing, but soon a subject changed to the future plans. The blonde siblings were planning to return to their home in Lumiose after a couple of days, Serena said that she didn`t make her mind up yet and only Ash didn`t say anything.
"Hey Ash, what about you?" asked Bonnie, curious of why her friend was the only one being silent.
"Umm, actually, I don`t know. I think I should go back to Pallet to see my mom and friends. But after that, I really don`t know" he responded with a grin.
Serena lost her smile after hearing this. She didn`t want to split up with the group, especially with the raven-haired trainer. But she didn`t say anything about this.
They reached Lumiose City in the afternoon. Much to disappointment of the female`s part of the group, the male side didn`t agree to go shopping this evening, and when girls started to grumble, Ash reminded them about yesterday`s "little" electric incident. The girls had no choice and remained silent through all the way to a Pokemon Center. When they entered the building with a red roof, they saw a mass of people staying in the hallway. It was a surprise to the group, because often Pokemon Centers were nearly empty. Everything became clear when Clemont paid their attention to the poster on the wall.
"You are kidding me, right? THERE IS GOING TO BE A CONTEST HERE, IN KALOS? I MUST SEE IT!" Bonnie screamed in joy, then she turned to her friends. "You know, I was a fan of contests for a long time, but. Unfortunately, Kalos hasn`t got them, until now!"
"Bonnie, hold on, it says that this contest starts in one hour. I`m too tired to go there, what about you, Ash and Serena?" Clemont asked his female friend.
"I`m tired too. Sorry Bonnie, it looks like I`m going to go straight to bed" the honey-haired girl informed sadly.
Bonnie`s mood drastically changed. She looked like she was going to cry. Clemont and Serena felt sorry for her, but all of them forgot about one person who was standing beside them, still looking at the poster. Ash turned back to the group with a big smile on his face.
"Don`t worry Bonnie, I`m not tired at all, and I really want to see this contest too, so you can go with me if you want – Ash winked at the girl. For another five minutes Bonnie was hugging Ash in joy and she wouldn`t let him go if Clemont didn`t inform her, that they must go now if they want to see the contest. When the girl ran out of the center, Ash only followed her, laughing at her enthusiasm.
The hall where the contest had place was near the Pokemon Center, so they had much time to buy tickets and various snacks. After that they found their seats and decided to wait for the start while sitting in them.
"Hey Ash, are you really that interested in contests? I thought that the Kalos League Champion wouldn`t be interested in thing like this" Bonnie asked, not taking her eyes from a colorful brochure.
"Well, in the past I had travelled with two coordinators, and, believe me or not, I took part in Sinnoh`s Wallace Cup and in Terracotta Contest, in which I made it to the finals" the raven-haired trainer said with a smile. He put his hand into his pocket and showed a half of a ribbon to his young friend.
"You won? That`s great! But… Why it is only a half of a ribbon?" Bonnie asked, very surprised while she was looking at small object.
"It`s very simple" Ash smiled once more. "In finals I met my friend, we tied up and because the organizers weren`t prepared for a draw, we splitted that ribbon. Oh, look, it`s starting!"
Both of them watched as a man dressed in red suit appeared on a scene. He slowly raised a microphone up to his mouth and started speaking.
"Hello Kalos region, I`m Mr. Contesta and I`m glad to welcome all of you on the first contest in history of Kalos region!" as he spoke this sentence, the crowd went crazy. When everyone calmed down, he continued.
"Today you will see coordinators from other regions. Every one of them has big achievements in Grand Festivals, so get ready for a great show!" Mr. Contesta bowed and left the scene. Crowd went crazy one more time, everyone wanted the contest to start. Ash looked up at Bonnie, who was still reading a brochure.
"Hey, is there a list of Coordinators who are going to perform today?" Ash asked curiously. Bonnie nodded and handed him the brochure. He looked at the list and his eyes grew wide. His gaze stayed at one name.
"I.. I can`t believe it…" he said, still holding the piece of paper.