The setting: Ash Ketchum is now 18 years old, and has finally decided to settle down a bit. He took the Battle Frontier up on their old offer, and has become a Frontier Brain, operating out of Pallet Town, where he lives near his mother. Unlike the other Brains, he doesn't have a big facility for his battles, but instead uses Professor Oak's laboratory field for his battles. His symbol, the Determination Symbol, has only been earned by other Frontier Brains, namely Anabel, Tucker, and Brandon, when they showed up for re-matches, and one or two others. Now challengers have a seventh Symbol to find before the location of the last is revealed, but since Ash is currently among the seven, Brandon hasn't had many challengers in the past year.

The League, on the other hand, is suffering from a case of the Cerulean Blues. Many trainers are stalling in Cerulean City, where Misty Waterflower has the longest winning streak of any Gym Leader in League history. Fortunately (as Gary Oak proved) there are more than just eight gyms in Kanto. But she still gets plenty of challengers, most seeking their eighth badge or beyond, and she still has unofficial battles with Ash and other Gym Leaders, which she doesn't always win.

Of course, she gets to see Ash a lot more now than she did while he traveled in Hoenn and Sinnoh. They get together with Brock, and occasionally some of their other old friends, every Saturday for lunch, which they usually followed with either a battle or a movie. Brock, too, has gained a reputation, especially now that, since Giovanni was convicted and Team Rocket disbanded, the new Viridian City Gym Leader had become the weak one. Brock, due to his time traveling with Ash and having diversified his team, is another big challenge, and has nearly as good a record as Misty. He is also dating the Pike Queen, Lucy, the first time that Ash or Misty has seen him focus on one girl that long. He really amazed them by not flirting with Nurse Joy when they met at the Pokemon Center last week.

"I'm telling you, Pikachu, we're just friends!"

"(Yeah, you've been saying that for years. And everyone but the two of you can see that it's more than that.)"

"Whatever. You don't know what you're talking about."

This wasn't the first time that the two had had this conversation, in fact it was the third time today, and the tenth time this week. Pikachu couldn't help but laugh inwardly, since like the other two times this morning, he'd said nothing to get them onto the subject. Even without having been with him for 8 years, he'd be able to tell that there was something just by how much Ash was fixated on the topic.

"Anyways, come on, we've got a new challenger coming in later, remember?" Ash tried to brush the thoughts of him and Misty away, but they kept coming back again and again. Pikachu laughed as he jumped down and followed Ash out of his small house, bought with a fraction of his winnings from over the years. Ash stretched as they stepped out into the sunlight. "Man, I'm glad that I've got this set-up. It's a lot more fun to battle outside than cramped inside of a building."

"(You're telling me. Especially if we were to battle in there.)" Pikachu pointed his tail back at the house to show what he was talking about.

"Yeah, there's no way that we could have a good battle in there." Ash stretched again. "I'm starting to see the advantages of being someone like a Gym Leader or Frontier Brain. I still get to see all kinds of Pokemon from around the world, and I'm able to just settle down and relax in one place. Though, I do enjoy traveling, too…"

"(Then we'll travel more later. Go back to places we've been before.)" Pikachu definitely agreed with Ash, though. It was definitely exciting to battle Pokemon from around the world, but he was glad that he didn't have to go into their habitats to do it, especially the Ice-type Pokemon. Snow was not Pikachu's preferred form of precipitation, and he really liked the climate here in Pallet Town. "(Who do you want me to go get today?)"

"Let's wait to see who the new guy is, first," Ash suggested. "Then we'll know who'll be best to fight him with." Another advantage of having the Battle Field at Oak's Lab, Ash was able to easily gather any of his Pokemon who were living there to battle.

"Hey, Ash!" Ash turned at hearing the very familiar voice, and his heart started to race, though he pretended not to notice.

"Yo, Misty!" he shouted back. "I didn't know it was Saturday!"

"It's not," she said more quietly when she got closer. "I'm here on…other matters." She pulled out a small box, which held six golden symbols.

"Wait, you're the challenger?" Ash asked, astonished. "I thought that Professor Oak said that a guy would be challenging me today."

"That I did," Gary Oak said as he exited his lab. Gary had taken over both the lab and title from his grandfather when he passed away a few years back. "He's waiting for you in the yard. Hey, good to see you again, Misty."

"It's been a little while," she agreed as they shook hands. Ash felt a pang of jealousy at that, though he knew he had no reason to. "How're things going with Erica?"

Gary took out a small leather box, a ring box, and twirled it around his hands before opening it to reveal its empty interior. "She said yes!"

Ash clapped his friend (and they really were friends now) on the back. "Good for you, Gary. I look forward to the wedding."

"Who said you were invited?" Gary said snidely, and then laughed. "Don't worry, you are."

"You two really make a great couple, now that you've calmed down a bit," Misty pointed out. "There's no way she'd be going out with you if you still acted like you did back when you were trying to become Champion."

"Yeah, I have to admit, I wasn't the nicest guy back then," Gary said, almost sheepishly. "I've really mellowed out since I started working on research rather than battling."

"Anyways, Misty, since I've got this other guy already waiting…uh, what was his name, Gary?"

"Said his name was Chris, from Oldale Town in Hoenn."

"Right," Ash restarted. "Since he registered first, you mind waiting until this afternoon?"

"Yeah, that'll be fine," Misty replied, smiling. "It'll be nice to get a bit of perspective on your current style."

"Then let's head up to the field," Ash said, leading the way. Misty and Gary both followed, and Pikachu jumped up on Ash's shoulder. They quickly reached the Battle Field, where the challenger stood waiting. "Hey!" Ash shouted, getting Chris's attention.

"Hello," Chris said calmly. He was pretty young, maybe eleven or twelve at most. "I'm Chris."

"Good to meet you, Chris," Ash said, offering his hand. "You've met Gary, and this is Misty, the Cerulean Gym Leader."

"HEY!" Misty suddenly shouted. "I remember you! You're that little brat from a couple years ago!" She trailed off, realizing that everyone was staring at her.

"Brat?" Gary asked, wondering. Ash wondered, too, and looked to either of them for an answer.

"I'm not a brat," Chris replied, peeved. "Are you really still mad about that?"

"Uh, well…" Misty's face turned red, not from anger, but embarrassment at having been angry. "It was…kind of…"

"C'mon, Misty, where'd you meet him?" Ash asked anxiously.

"He's the last trainer to have earned the Cascade Badge!" her confession came out in a rush. She took a deep breath, realized that everyone was still looking at her, then added, "he was also the first for three years, I think."

Ash started to laugh. "Is that it? Just because the only people who've beaten you in the past five years besides him have been other Leaders?"

"Which reminds me," Gary cut in, "from the sound of things, Misty, the League is going to 'officially request' that you start using lower level Pokemon."

Misty turned red again, but from anger this time. "They already are!" she screamed. "That's why I came here in the first place! Oooh, this is not helping!" She then screamed again and ran off, northward.

"…That was interesting to watch," Chris said after a moment. "You wouldn't think that a water trainer would be such a hothead."

"Just think of if she were a fire trainer, though," Gary replied. "She'd really be a terror then! Being a water trainer cools her carrot top a bit." Both of them started laughing, but Ash just glared at them.

"Knock it off, Gary," Ash said curtly. "It's not helping." Why had that made her so mad, he wondered. He was used to taking defeat in stride, of course, which he knew she had less practice with, but even so, she was never like this back when they were travelling together. He was surprised when he realized just how long that had been. Sometimes, it still seemed like only yesterday he finally replaced her bike, just last week that Pikachu had fried it.

"Yo, earth to Ash!" Gary shouted in Ash's ear. "Don't go spacing out before a battle like this."

"R-right," Ash stammered, breaking out of his reverie. "Anyways, Chris, did Gary tell you the rules for this battle?" Chris shook his head no. "Ok, then. It's a six on six battle, with one special rule."

"What's that?" Chris asked, intrigued.

"Each of you must reveal three of the Pokemon you will use in the battle," Gary instructed. "Then, you can choose your other three accordingly."

"Sounds cool," Chris said confidently. "I'm guessing Pikachu will be one of yours?"

"Yep, sure will." Ash tried to sound energetic, but he couldn't get Misty off his mind. "Being the Frontier Brain, I'll reveal my three first. You already know one, so…" He tried to focus on his teams, to decide who to use for this battle. "Charizard…and Glalie."

"Okay, good team," Chris said as he started thinking about his own Pokemon. "Clefairy, of course…"

"A Clefairy?" Even distracted as he was, Ash couldn't help but laugh at that. He stopped, however, at the dangerous glare Chris shot at him. He also realized part of why Misty was mad.

"I'll warn you now, a lot of trainers have underestimated Clef," Chris said coldly. "She makes them regret that."

"It's really just like your Pikachu, Ash," Gary pointed out. "Both trainers, and probably the Pokemon as well, prefer their unevolved forms."

"Oh, good point," Ash said sheepishly. "Sorry."

"Anyways," Chris continued, "Clefairy, of course, as well as Torterra and Sableye."

"Yikes, that's a tough team to counter," Gary said, and looked at Ash. "Hey, you still with us?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry." Ash shook his head, but it did nothing to clear his thoughts. "Anyways, we'll meet back here in an hour for the battle, okay?"

"Can Charizard get here that fast?" Gary asked. He didn't know where the Charific Valley was, but he knew it usually took a while for Charizard to make the trip from there."

"I called for him last night," Ash told him. "Last I saw, he was eating breakfast."

"An hour will be great," Chris replied. "Do you have a terminal I can use here?"

Gary turned towards the lab, "yeah, in here. You coming, Ash?"

"Nah, I'll stay out here," he called back. He then worked on deciding who to use in the battle. "That Sableye worries me the most," he said to Pikachu, "though I guess maybe it should be the Clefairy we worry about. Glalie should be able to handle the Torterra pretty easily…"

"(He's cocky. He revealed one that he knew you already had an advantage over. Or so you think.)" Pikachu chided from his shoulder.

"Okay, okay, I get it!" he hadn't, though, until his friend pointed it out. "I think we'll need to get a really balanced group for this one, Pikachu. Sceptile's a good powerhouse, and can probably match that Torterra if he needs to."

"(Noctowl would be good for the Sableye,)" Pikachu suggested.

"Hey, good idea! Thanks, Pikachu. Now, one more…Muk!"

"(Do we have to?)" Pikachu cringed. He didn't mind Muk too much, other than his smell.

"It'll be fine," Ash told him. "He's really resilient, and could turn the tide if this gets drawn out."

"(Fine, fine,)" Pikachu conceded. "(Want me to go get them?)"

"Sure, have them meet up at the house. I'll…be there in a bit." Ash watched Pikachu dart off to gather his teammates, and then turned north, wondering just how far Misty had run by this point. "Gah! There's no way I'll be able to battle if I can't get this out of my head!" Frustrated, he started examining his memories again, and his feet began to carry him northward.