"Alright Mr. Ketchum, thank you for replying so promptly. An e-mail will be sent to your Pokedex with the relevant details. If you have any further questions, we'll be happy to answer them once you get to Drifveil City."

Ash beamed at the League official over the video phone. "Thanks so much. This is so awesome I can't stand to wait. I'll be in Driftveil before you know it!"

The young man returned Ash's grin before terminating the call. Ash walked over to the table where Cilan and Iris were sitting. Iris gave a small sigh when she saw Ash's eager grin. "Normally I'd say you're acting like a kid, but just this once, I'll let you have this."

"Indeed, this is a wonderful occasions," Cilan said with his usual bombastic inflection. "A series of battle pitting you against the Gym Leaders of your home region. A rematch that will allow the rich flavor of worldly experience to wash away the old aftertaste of battles long fought. I for one look forward to seeing the unique combination this will produce."

Ash and Iris looked at Cilan, who had someone gone from sitting in a chair to posing with one leg up on a couch a few feet away. Ash turned to the girl still sitting at the table and raised an eyebrow. "That means he's excited for me right?"

Iris chucked and responded "I think so," completely ignoring the sound of Cilan falling down after hearing the poor reception of what was, in his opinion, a very well done Connoisseur speech. Had Ash and Iris been listening, they would have heard some dark muttering comparing their taste buds to Garbadour.

"So, is there anyone you're really looking forward to battling?"

Iris' question had been innocent enough, but it had an odd effect. He responded with "Well…" and then trailed off, apparently lost in thought, where he had remained for the next few moments. And while Iris would never call Ash a genius, she would admit that he was far from completely stupid. Which meant that this question had some unforeseen effect on him. "Are you okay Ash? You've been spacing out for bit?"

Ash blinked a few times and seemed to remember that the rest of the world existed. "Oh… I'm fine. I was just thinking… Well, when I journeyed in Kanto, I was really new. I didn't have a lot of pokemon and didn't know half of what I know now. A lot of the badges I got were… Not really earned the way they were supposed to be. I guess I'd forgotten that until now."

Iris and Cilan looked a little surprised. The Ash they had traveled with was someone that took Gym Battles very seriously. They couldn't imagine Ash doing anything other than battling to get his badge. "What do you mean?" Cilan asked curiously.

Over the next 2 hours, Ash proceeded to tell his friends about his journey in Kanto and the various Gym battle misadventures that resulted.

"You hooked Pikachu up to an electric dam!?" Cilan said incredulously.

"Well, it made sense at the time" Ash replied, trying to remember if that was true or not

"Where did they even get a giant vacuum?"

"Apparently a store in Cerulean sells them?"

"Wait, did you die?!"

Ash shrugged his shoulders, "I got better."

Ash tapped his foot impatiently as Iris rolled around in the path in hysterics. "Come on Iris. I've only cross-dressed," Ash paused briefly to make sure he had the number right, "three times in my life." Iris laughed harder. Cilan, being a mature individual, kept his laughter on the inside. ...Most of it anyway.

"There is no way at all that would work."

"Well it did. When in doubt, aim for the horn."

"But Lighting Rod!"

Cilan chuckled good naturedly as Ash finished telling them about his… interesting Viridian Gym match. "I knew that traveling with you was interesting Ash, but I had no idea your first attempt at entering the Pokemon League in Kanto was so eccentric. It speaks of a solid base of ingredients on which to build your personal flavor."

Ash grinned at Cilan "Well, I'm not sure about all that, but it was a pretty crazy ride. I made so many new friends and met so many amazing pokemon. I just…" Ash trailed off as an odd thought seemed to strike him. Iris and Cilan waited for their friend to finish the thought. Just before they decide to ask him what's wrong, Ash slammed his right fist into his left palm. He turned to Cilan, "How far to the nearest Pokemon Center?"

Cilan checks the map briefly before responding, "We should be there in about 2 hours. Why?"

A huge grin stretches across Ash's face, "I have some phone calls to make.

"Well Ash, when you ask for a favor you really don't do things halfway," Professor Oak said, scribbling the last part of Ash's request on a pad of paper."

"Do you think it's possible Professor? I know some of them are a bit of a long shot, but most of the shouldn't be to hard."

"True enough my boy, true enough. Give me a few minutes and I can give you some numbers to call to get some of this in motion. As for the rest of it," the Professor rubbed his chin in thought, "You said you have 2 weeks before this tournament starts?"

Ash nodded to Professor Oak "That's right"

The Professor nodded back a confirmation "I'll do what I can. I'm sure Tracy and Gary would be happy to help in any way they can. Don't expect miracles, but we'll do our best. Now let me get you those phone numbers."

"Thank you so much Professor!"

A few animated phone calls later Ash sat down on a couch next to Iris. Pikachu leapt onto his lap and made it know that pets and ear scratches would be most appreciated. Ash obliged his oldest friend.

"That was a lot of calls you made Ash. What was that all about?"

Ash turned his head to look at Iris, "Well, talking about my adventures in Kanto made me realize just how many of the pokemon that I met there aren't with me any more. A lot of the friends I made in that early adventure went off to do other things. Since I was going to be battling the same Gym leaders I fought way back when, I thought, well, it would be nice to reunite with those old friends."

Cilan came over with some drink for the group, passing a bottle of water to Ash. "I think it's a wonderful idea Ash. The older, robust flavor of old friends combined with the fresh splash of new friends you've made along your travels here in Unova is sure to make an interesting combination."

Ash nodded, having picked up a bit of the strange language that was "Cilan talking" after traveling with him for so long. "I know it will be difficult to get ahold of everyone, but I wanted to try. Professor Oak agreed to coordinate everything at his lab and then send all of my Pokemon to me in Driftveil once we get there in three days. That should give me a good week or so to train and work on strategy."

"Sounds like an excellent plan Ash. If you need any assistance, please don't hesitate to ask," said Cilan.

"Yeah," Iris agreed, idly petting Axew in her lap, "We're all happy to pitch in and help."

Ash pulled out his Pokedex and tapped a few buttons. "I got the e-mail from the league, let's see what this is all going to be about."

To: AKetchum05331997

From: Pokemon League Headquarters, Pokemon World Tournament Co-Ordination Division

Thank you for choosing to participate in our Gym Leader Exhibition Matches. Each match will be a full 6 on 6 battle. In order to create the most interesting battle experience possible, we ask that no two Pokemon on your team share a Primary Type. Exceptions are possible on a match by match basis and will be handled by the match coordinator prior to the start of the festivities. You will be asked to battle the following Gym Leaders in the order listed here:

Forrester Harrison
Misty Watterson
Lt. Anderson Surge
Erika Hanabira
Janine Kyo
Sabrina Dufresne
Dr. Horatio Blaine
Giovanni Vongola

As these are exhibition matches, losing one match will not disqualify you from further matches. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact your match coordinator prior to the date of your battles. We look forward to seeing you at the Pokemon World Tournament.

Ash looked over the email a few times. It all seemed pretty simple to him. Just the usual 6v6 battles he was used to in Leagues. The restriction on his types made sense, they wanted to see an interesting match. It would be pretty boring if he just used all fire types against Erica or all water types against Blaine. He was a little disappointed that he wouldn't be facing his old friend Brock again, but people didn't become successful Pokemon Doctor's by leaving school in the middle of important exams to have nostalgic pokemon battles halfway across the world. At least, Ash didn't think they did. He also didn't recognize two names on the list. Janine Kyo and Giovanni Vongola were two people he had never battled back in Kanto.

"So, anything interesting in the email?" Iris asked, leaning over in an attempt to read over Ash's shoulder.

"Not really. It's just that there are two names I don't recognize on the list." Ash responded, angling the screen over so Iris could scan the message. Iris glanced through the email, then shrugged her shoulders. She had never been to Kanto and didn't really keep up on the news of a country half a world away. If Ash didn't know them, there was no chance she would. Cilan held out his hand and Ash silently handed over his Pokedex, allowing his friend to read the message. After a few seconds of reading, Cilan started tapping a few things on Ash's screen. While most trainers would be a little worried about someone messing around on their pokedex, Ash didn't particularly mind. Despite having a Pokedex in one form or another for over 3 years, Ash never really used it for anything other than scanning Pokemon that he hadn't seen before and sending occasional emails.

After a few moments, Cilan looked up from the screen. "It would seem that Janine Kyo is the young daughter of former Fuschia Gym Leader Koga Kyo, who recently passed his Gym down to her when he accepted a promotion the Johto Elite 4."

Ash scratched his cheek and responded, "Huh, I never knew Koga had a daughter. I wonder why that never came up?"

Iris raised her eyebrow at him. "Why would anything about Koga's family have come up in a gym battle with him."

Ash shrugged, "Maybe not during the Gym battle, but I spent some time with his sister at a Pokemon Jujitsu camp in Johto and she never mentioned him being married or having a daughter."

Iris stared at Ash for a second, trying to will the sentence he just said into making sense. After a few moments, she moved away from acceptance into outright denial. "You made that up. There is no way that is true."

Ash and Iris continued to good naturedly argue back and forth while Cilan continued to scroll on the Pokedex. As he continued to read, he grew more and more worried. After a few moments, he looked up to comment on what he was reading, only to stop dead at seeing Iris standing on the couch, pointing a finger at Ash while calling him a lying liar who lies. Ash, for his part, had both his hand up attempting to placate Iris. Cilan cleared his throat, which caused his two friends to look his way. Upon seeing the serious look on his face, both of them sat back down. Ash asked, "What's wrong Cilan?"

Cilan turned the Pokedex around to show the article he had been reading. The headline read "Viridian Gym Leader released in recent trial regarding involvement with Team Rocket." Under that was a picture of an older man dressed in a red suit walking down the steps of a courthouse, a large Persian prowling along behind him. Ash took the Pokedex from his friend and began reading the article aloud.

"In a controversial decision, Giovanni Vongola was narrowly acquitted today in one of the most high profile trials in Kanto's history. Giovanni had developed a reputation in recent years for being something of an absentee Gym Leader, taking long stretches of time off from running his Gym in order to pursue personal interests. Often this was a source of speculation as to what he was doing during these times, with guesses ranging from taking care of a sick relative to this writer's personal favorite, dressing up like a Gligar and fighting crime in Johto. However, a few years ago rumors began circulating that Giovanni was using this time off to act as the head of Team Rocket, one of the most notorious crime organizations in Kanto."

"Identifying the leader of Team Rocket has been one of the hardest thing for the Indigo League G-Men in their investigation into the organization. Many lower level Rocket grunts never even meet with their boss and the higher level members of the organization are well known for being very tight lipped. After a recent sting operation, however, the League seemed to have finally found someone willing to talk. The special agent, whose real name was redacted prior to the trial, was apparently involved in what they described as a 'botched operation at Mount Quena*' that left the agent questioning their leaders decision making abilities."

"After a lengthy information gathering process, the League G-Men arrested Giovanni at his home just outside the Viridian Forest earlier this year. Since then, the trial has garnered a lot of attention both at home and abroad. Despite their insistence that the evidence was iron clad, the G-Men were unable to convince a Kantonian Judge to bring the case to trial. While the exact details are currently unknown and may never be fully available, according to our sources the main point of contention is Article 150, Subsection 19 of the Kantonian Legal Code, which deals with the effects of Psychic Pokemon mental tampering. Exactly how this fits into the broader case is unknown at this time."

"Giovanni made a statement at the Viridian Court House on the day he was released, saying 'I hope we can all move forward and put this situation behind us. Despite this recent unpleasantness, I have nothing but the deepest respect for our G-Men and I know that they will be working tirelessly to discover exactly who is responsible for this recent attempt to slander my good name. As a very private person I know I invite a lot of speculation in how I spend my time, but I assure you that while I have many hobbies and interests, Mob Boss is not one of them. I do realize that this is partly the result of my spending so much time away from my official duties and I resolve to work harder in the future to balance my personal and private life. The League has stood by me in this time of difficulty and I look forward to working with my fellow Gym Leaders in representing us at the World Tournament held in Unova next month.'"

"*Despite extensive research by our editors, we have been unable to discover any incident at Mount Quena involving Team Rocket. The only thing we were able to find that even remotely matches the timeline speculated upon was an unusually large swarm of bug-type pokemon converging on the mountain for a period of roughly 1 hour before dissipating. How, if at all, this would fit in to the case is unclear."

Ash set his Pokedex down and crossed his arms. After a few seconds, he said, "I've seen him before. He is the boss of Team Rocket." His friends stared at him for a few seconds before asking him how he knew that. For the next few minutes Ash went over exactly what the incident at Mount Quena was and how he met Giovanni.

The story took a bit longer than Ash thought it would to tell, so they ended up discussing the aftermath over dinner in the Pokemon Center cafeteria. Cilan scratched his chin as he idly fed berries to Pansage. "So, you haven't had any contact with this… Mewtwo since that event took place?" Ash nodded at his friend. "That's very odd. If Mewtwo really is as powerful as you say he is, then no member of Team Rocket involved in the incident should be able to remember a thing. How would this leak, whoever they may be, know anything about the incident?"

Ash shrugged his shoulder. "No idea. I know that after everything was over, Mewtwo restored me, Brock and Misty's memories of the time we first met. Maybe it's possible some other pokemon could do the same for him. Mewtwo is very powerful, but he isn't perfect. After all, when he left and erased our memories the first time, it didn't even occur to him that he might want to erase Giovanni's memory." Ash had lived through a lot since he first met Mewtwo and had seen several pokemon do things that could rival the psychic type in terms of pure power. Cilan and Iris shared a concerned look.

"Do you think there is anything you could do to help bring this guy to justice?" Iris asked.

Ash slowly shook his head. "I don't think so. I could probably talk to Lance or some representative of the G-Men at the tournament, but I don't really have any proof. Unless I can get Mewtwo to come forward and explain what's going on, it would just be my word against Giovanni."

Cilan and Iris nodded. "Indeed. If the G-Men weren't able to get to trial with a confirmed inside source from Team Rocket, I doubt the testimony of what would, to them, just be a random 13 year old boy would really sway things one way or another." Cilan sighed, "Sometimes we must make due with the bitter fruit of reality instead of the sweet taste of justice."

Ash agreed. "If nothing else, I'll get a little bit of revenge when I kick his butt in front of a packed Unova stadium crowd." He clenched his fist and smiled. Iris and Cilan smiled as well. This was the Ash they knew and loved.

The Driftveil Pokemon Center was an overrun hive of activity when Ash and his friends arrived a few days later. With the World Tournament only a few days away, trainers from all over the world were flocking to the city. Even with the usual precautions set in place by Pokemon Leagues during large events like this, it was impossible to contain the raw chaos that often resulted in large groups of trainers and pokemon congregating in one place. Ash loved it. Being a pokemon trainer was what he lived for and times like this helped remind him why. Even though he had set a brisk pace over the past few days, he still felt full of energy. Iris and Cilan had gone ahead to get a hotel room, since staying at the Pokemon Center would likely be out of the question for the tournament. That left him alone to take care of business at the Center. As he waited in line for the front counter, he fiddled with his pokedex. He grumbled to himself as he fumbled through the menus.

"I swear buddy, they change how to do this every time they update these things." Ash grumbled to Pikachu, who gave him a sympathetic pat on the head. The mouse pokemon was perched on Ash's shoulders, watching the line in front of them to make sure Ash didn't hold anyone up while using the Pokedex. After a few more moments, Ash said, "I got it!" in triumph. His Pokedex displayed a message that read:

GPS Signal Confirmed. Your Area has been designated a Mass Training Location. Excessive Pokeball Lock and Excessive Pokeball Teleportation have been disabled in the general area, including but not limited to Driftveil City Limits and 5 miles outside City Limits. Should you venture beyond the designated area, all setting will be reverted to default.

Ash smiled and looked up just in time to see the trainer in front of him step out of the way, revealing that he was next at the counter. He smiled at the slightly frazzled looking Nurse Joy, who smiled wearily back at him. "Hi Nurse Joy. My names Ash Ketchum and I'm here for the World Tournament. I had a few pokemon sent ahead and I'd like to pick them up please."

Nurse Joy tapped a few things on her computer console before her eyes went wide. "Oh my, that's quite a lot of Pokemon you've had sent here Ash. If you'll please step over to the retrieval counter, I'll have some of my assistants start getting them for you." Behind the counter, an Audino saluted and walked into the back room of the Pokemon Center to get the first batch of Pokemon. Ash stepped to the side and began waiting.

Audino arrived a few minutes later with the first batch of six. Ash opened his bag and slowly placed the pokeballs inside. He would love to let his friends out to run around and say high, but the center was just too crowded right now. As he settled in to wait, he heard a familiar voice that he hadn't expected to find here.

"Ash Ketchum. It's nice to see you again."

Ash looked over to the source of the voice. Standing to his right, hand outstretched, was Tobias.