BP: Thanks for all the reviews and favourites and follows! I hope to get even more this chapter. I hope my dear readers can also give me suggestions to how I can write the next chapter, I value my readers' opinions.

For the PAL Elite there are other problems, besides the traitors planning to follow them and take their Pokémon. The number one fear of all celebrities.

The paparazzi.

Now why are they the number one fear? The reason is simple. They follow you around, taking your pictures without permission, asking incessant questions, and use all means to find any information about you, and post it on the newspaper of magazine. Basically, with paparazzi around, you have zero privacy, because they will never give you that.

Which explains why all of them (sans Pakura) are running towards the Battle Tower, where they will be safe, chased after by paparazzi shouting questions to them, especially Ash, since he's considered to be the most mysterious Elite, alongside Pakura. Pikachu is struggling to get a grip on Ash's shoulder, and Lucario is trying to catch up to Ash's speed.

Phillip fell behind to use his power to disable all the electronic devices carried by the paparazzi. One of Phillip's abilities is to activate and deactivate various mechanisms, both electronic and biological within a certain radius. Within the radius, he can select specifically which devices to activate or deactivate, which in this case, he's selecting to deactivate the reporters' cameras and microphones.

While they were distracted by trying to figure out what's wrong with their equipment, the PAL Elites took a run for the doors, and they quickly closed the Tower doors in the paparazzi's faces with the combined efforts of Rosaline and Ash's telekinesis. They were sure they had shaken the reporters off, since they had given up staking out the Tower, due to the fact that in the past, Pakura and the other three Elites would constantly water-balloon bomb them from above as a game. They have gotten soaked one too many times with Pakura's expert aim.

"That was definitely close." Phillip gave a sigh of relief, clutching to his Emolga.

"Indeed." Ash muttered. Pikachu is regaining his balance on Ash's shoulder.

"The other region reporters must have come over to cover the Pokémon World Championship, the biggest event of the year, that's why they are chasing us, since you are the host region's Elite Four." Lucario said.

"You could be right." Ash mumbled. "Jude, would you do a quick check upstairs if there's anything for us?"

Jude nodded. "Yeah, sure." He went up the elevator alone, while the others waited downstairs.

(10 minutes later)

"That's weird. What's taking him so long?" Ash asked. "I only said to do a quick check."

"I think something happened to him. Let's go." Phillip suggested.

They went up the elevator, and entered their quarters, only to find that it is empty, except for the huge pile of letters in the sitting room. Jude's Purrloin is sitting near the letters, looking at the pile in concern.

"Are you ok, Jude?" Purrloin asked.

"Jude, where are you?" Rosaline shouted, since he had to be somewhere near the pile.

"Over here." A muffled voice was heard from under the pile of envelopes.

"He's buried under the pile of letters!" Phillip covered his mouth to stifle his laughter.

"Very funny Phillip." Jude said from under the letters. "Get me out of here!"

It took both Ash and Rosaline's telekinesis to get the pile of letters off Jude, shortly after the elevator dinged and Pakura stepped in the quarters. Apparently, her stylist let her off for lunch break. She watched impassively as Rosaline and Ash finally got all the letters off Jude.

Jude got up from the carpet and dusted himself off. "Yup, as usual, we have fan mail."


'Hmm….it looks like Red went up the elevator. But why would he send Jude up first to check if there's anything for them?' Cynthia thought, pacing the lobby. 'Come on, Cynthia, think.' She thought back on them running from the paparazzi, and Red asking Jude to go up to check if there's anything for them.

'Now why would he send Jude alone instead of going up together? Are they afraid of something? If so, what?' Cynthia eliminated the possibilities of pests since the penthouse is one of the cleanest places she's been in. 'Could it be connected to the paparazzi chasing them around?'

Cynthia remembered that each PAL Elite is famous for something else, other than being Elites, which of course led to more fame, and more fans….

That's it! Cynthia finally figured out there might be fan mail for the PAL Elites, and they send one up because they don't want to be 'attacked by mail'. Better one than all of them, and most likely, they'll check the mail out first before doing anything else.

Knowing fan girls who often sell themselves short just to get their idols' attention, they'll send pictures of themselves, and may send ones that make them sick, thus it may deter them from lunch, and hopefully, do something else during the lunch break, and eat later. Hopefully some of them would come down to do their stuff.

And maybe Red would be one of them.

She'll just have to wait and see.


Pakura threw the last envelope to the ones with Phillip's name on it.

"Ok, I sorted them." She told the other Elites, pointing to the five different piles. "Just look for the ones with your name on it."

"Thanks, Pakura. Er…whose is this?" Ash asked, pointing at one of the envelope piles that had actually reached the ceiling.

"Oh, that's mine." Pakura waved dismissively.

"Well, you are the most popular Elite." Jude replied, with a hint of envy in his voice.

"Isn't surprising, is it? After all, she's the Princess. She practically rules PAL." Rosaline said, earning herself a glare from Pakura.

"It's just a nickname." Pakura said darkly.

"Not to the public. They think you are really PAL's Princess." Rosaline chirped. Pakura gave her a look that clearly told her to shut up or she'll really get it.

Ash shrugged, before going to the pile with his name on it, and started looking through his letters. There were a few creepy ones from fangirls proposing marriage, some requesting to take off his hood, and some sincere ones as well. Some also attached pictures of themselves along with the letters. A few made Ash blush, and he hastily closed his eyes and stuffed them back to the envelopes. How could the girls sell their dignity like this! Pikachu and Lucario looked away as well, whistling innocently. Ash gave them a mock glare.

Phillip sighed, and placed his hands on Ash's head, manipulating his brain electrical signals so that it erased the images from his memories. Even when the memories are erased, he still had this nauseous look on his face, though it was mixed with a look of gratitude.

"Happens all the time, Ash." Phillip said, looking at his face. "The way you act, it's as if it's the first time you opened fan mail." Emolga giggled beside him.

"Well…." Ash stuttered. He daren't tell Phillip that back at the Plateau, he made Pakura handle all his mail, while he did his paperwork, so it IS the first time he's opening fan mail. Said person must've known it too, for she shot him a sharp look, before turning back to her pile of fan mail. Ash noticed that her mail included job offers from modelling agencies and various nightclubs as well, which she didn't even look at. Sylveon was helping her straighten out her unwanted mail, while Skitty is playing around with the discarded mail.

"It's the usual stuff." Rosaline sighed. "You thought by now they'd know we don't do dates with fans or strangers." She watched Espeon use Psychic to put the unwanted mail into a neat stack with mild interest.

Ash couldn't help but think that Grimsley, the Unova Elite member, couldn't seem to take his eyes off Rosaline during the tag battle, but Rosaline was too focused on the battle to notice, and made a bet that he'll ask her out by the next day.

"Well." Jude said, carrying the unwanted envelopes in his arms. "Let's throw the unwanted mail into the fireplace."

"Yeah, sure." Ash replied absent-mindedly. They placed the unwanted mail into the fireplace, and Ash nodded to Rosaline.

"You know what to do." He said, as she shot flames from her hands into the fireplace. To make sure the fire doesn't get too big or the smoke doesn't engulf them, Ash placed a psychic barrier in front of the fireplace.

"I lose my appetite looking skimming through all those pictures from fan mail." Jude sighed. "We should've eaten lunch before we did that."

"Not exactly." Phillip remarked dryly. "If we did, what we really think may end up all over the carpet."

"True." Ash said. "Let's just do our own stuff to get our mind off that, and then have lunch."

Pakura nodded. "Yeah, I got lots to do anyway." She then left for the elevator with Sylveon and Skitty.

"I'll just work on my new invention at the rooftop garden. See you." Phillip mumbled, leaving to his room with Emolga.

"I'm going to draw a few pictures, and work on the Legendary Dragon Duo's case while I'm at it." Rosaline left for her room as well, with her Espeon.

Jude mentioned something about running his Connoisseur shop, and took Purrloin with him, which left Ash to decide that he'll have a downstairs Pokémon lunch and training.

He grabbed the Pokémon food and all his Pokéballs, and went down via the elevator with Pikachu and Lucario.

Unbeknownst to him, he was being followed by a Sinnoh Champion, who was patiently waiting downstairs for him ever since he went up the elevator.

'I know you are hiding something, Red.' Cynthia thought. 'And I will find out what it is.'


Unaware of his new follower, Ash went out into the garden that is leading to the forest.

"It's a nice day, isn't it, Pikachu, Lucario?" Ash asked.

"Definitely." Pikachu replied, while Lucario merely nodded. Just as they responded, he heard a rustling noise above them.

Ash suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that?" Despite the rustling noise being soft, he can hear it with his enhanced hearing.

Pikachu and Lucario nodded. Since Pokémon has more sensitive hearing than humans, he can detect the noise as well.

"Do you want to check it out?"

"Can't hurt, can it?" Lucario shrugged. "Besides, we can defend ourselves, if there's any danger to the noise."

Ash walked to the tree, where he thought the noise was coming from, and started climbing up to investigate the source of the noise, Lucario waiting below the tree. Perhaps it was just a wild Pokémon, but since the tree he is currently climbing on doesn't offer much concealment, it's highly unlikely.

Halfway through the climb, something heavy dropped on Ash's free shoulder, and Ash lost his grip and fell to the ground. He used telekinesis to slow down his fall, and stopped a foot from the ground. He then let himself down slowly, and landed on his feet softly, Pikachu clinging on the back of his shirt for dear life, Lucario ran over to him to make sure he's ok.

"What landed on me?" Ash groaned.

"Hi, Ash, long time no see." A familiar voice greeted them.

Ash widened his eyes. He knew that voice! He looked to the speaker, and sure enough, a purple, simian Pokémon with two tails, each with a large, rounded hand with three red-tipped fingers was grinning widely at him.

"Ampibom! Long time no see!" Pikachu waved at him. Lucario raised his eyebrow.

"Oh, yeah, you two haven't been acquainted. Ambipom, this is Lucario. Lucario, this is my old friend from Hoenn and Sinnoh, Ambipom, before I traded him away to Dawn." Lucario frowned at the last word. Isn't she one of the traitors?

"So, what are you doing here, Ambipom?" Lucario enquired.

"Oh, I'm done training with that O guy, and thought I'd go back to my trainer, but when I heard her talk bad about Ash, I knew I can't stay with her, because I don't even agree a single word that she said about you. I went off to try to find you, and heard gossip about the upcoming tournament in this PAL region, so I thought I'd head here and try to find you. And now, here I am!" Ambipom replied cheerfully. By her aura, Ash knew she wasn't lying. "So, how are you doing, Ash?"

"I'm great. So, Ambipom, do you want to return to me?" He took out a Pokeball.

"Definitely." Ambipom jumped to Ash, and pressed the capture button herself. She was sucked in, and the Pokeball dinged without even shaking.

"I guess I just caught an Ambipom?" Ash announced uncertainly.

He let Ambipom out again. "Ambipom, we're going for lunch, do you wanna come along?"

"Sure!"

'Ambipom looked like it knew this trainer.' Cynthia thought. 'If only I can understand Pokéspeech.'


Phillip went up a flight of stairs that lead to the roof. There's a small dome-shaped room with a door to the outside. He opened the door, and stepped to the rooftop, where they had built a garden with flower beds and potted trees. From tree branches hung hundreds of wind chimes.

Emolga immediately went to examine the blossoms, while Phillip set down his equipment, and began working on his new invention.

"What are you doing, Phillip?" Emolga asked.

Phillip smiled shyly. "Well…..I'm going to build a new game stimulus, where it takes the user into a fighting game like Mortal Kombat. What moves they use against their opponents are entirely up to the user, no buttons controlled by people outside to get them to punch, kick or anything. The user have to execute the moves himself."

"Really? What's its purpose?" Emolga asked.

"Er…I figure that's a good way for trainers to practice to defend themselves should they face danger and they don't have any Pokémon. Of course, there are health points as well, and once the user's health become zero, he is simply brought back to the real world, without any injuries, of course, since the injuries they acquire in the game is not real. Unfortunately, only aura users could be able to activate this device, since the device depends on aura to run."

"Sounds like a cool device." A female voice said.

"It is, Emo- Ah!" Phillip turned to the source of the voice, thinking it's Emolga, only to see a strange girl with long brown hair and light brown eyes smiling down at him, and he screamed in fright, dropping the tool in his hand in the process.

The girl giggled. "You sure are easy to scare, Phillip."

"Who are you?" Phillip asked nervously. He hid his hand behind his back, charging electric sparks, ready to shock her at the wrong answer.

"My name is Jasmine. It's a pleasure to meet you." Jasmine held out a hand.

Phillip hesitated, before shaking hands with her after deactivating his sparks.

"You're a Gym Leader, aren't you?" Phillip asked.

"Very perspective. I'm Johto's Steel-type Gym Leader."

"Oh, ok." Phillip nodded, and turned back to his invention. Being a shy type, he isn't really one to initiate conversations, and preferred to keep to himself, although he's still considered more approachable and talkative than Pakura is. He hoped Jasmine would go when she sees that he's not very interested to have a conversation. Soon, he was absorbed into his work again.

He did not even notice that instead of leaving, Jasmine simply sat next to him, and watched him work.


Ash squeezed through a secret tunnel located near the forest, and it lead him to a huge forest clearing. It's a place he had discovered years ago, when he was trying to hide from the press soon after he was crowned Champion. Since then, it had been a good place to train Pokémon in private. He wasn't aware that the Sinnoh Champion had also found out about the place since she was following him, and was currently going through the tunnel after him.

He laid out the bowls for the Pokémon, and poured out Pokémon food for every single one of them, being careful to sort the bowls according to Pokémon type. Cynthia was behind a tree, watching the scene quietly.

"Alright, come out, everyone!" Ash used his telekinesis to throw all his Pokeballs up into the air, and they all opened, revealing all his Pokémon.

Cynthia gaped at the number of Legendaries that Champion Red owned. And why does some of his Pokémon look familiar like that Pikachu? Especially that Meloetta….could it be?

"ASH!" They shouted enthusiastically, some going to him for a hug.

"Yes, yes I miss spending time with you all too." Ash laughed, getting a hug from the more affectionate ones such as Meloetta, Manaphy, Meganium, Latias, Shaymin, Celebi, Victini and Mew.

"Papa!"Manaphy jumped onto Ash's arms.

"Hi, Manaphy. Great to see you too. I'm so sorry I've been busy." Ash hugged him to his chest closely.

"It's ok, Papa. I'm so glad I can spend time with you now."

"Everyone, I would like you to meet an old friend of mine, Ambipom!" Ash indicated the purple monkey-like Pokémon he caught a few minutes ago. "For those who do not know her, she was my Pokémon from Hoenn to Sinnoh and decided to return to us in our quest!"

"Hi, everyone. As some of you may know, I'm Ambipom, and I just finished training with O. I didn't like what Dawn said about Ash, so I wandered around to find Ash, and arrived here since I heard about the tournament, and figured Ash would be there!" Everyone, hearing this, welcomed her with open arms. Some that already knew her went over to chat with her.

"Alright, everyone, it's lunchtime, and we can train after you have dessert!" Ash announced, interrupting the reunion.

The Pokémon cheered, and rushed to their respective bowls.

"So, Ash, have you tried to figure out what I meant by being careful of the quiet one?" Mewtwo asked.

"No, I was a bit busy with my duties to notice, but I'll work on it when I have time." Ash replied, scratching his head.

"You better hurry. Everyone's lives may depend on whether you solve them or not." Mewtwo warned.

"I get it." Ash nodded, watching the other Pokémon eat their lunch, while having conversation.

After lunch, Ash served some Poképuffs for dessert, and the Pokémon enjoyed them immensely.

"These Poképuffs are great as always, Ash!" Latias commented. "Was is Pakura who made these?"

"Yeah. She had plenty of practice making Poffins and Pokéblocks for contest, so she's the best at making Poképuffs."

"Give our thanks to her later." Meloetta said, savouring the sweet flavour of the Poképuffs.

"This is even better than the Poffins Dawn made!" Shaymin remarked. "I don't even need to release smoke through my mouth after swallowing."

"Agreed." Celebi mumbled.

"Yum…..Pakura sure knows what flavour Dragon types like us like." Dialga said.

"And she even made spicy ones for us Fire types!" Infernape added. Charizard grunted in agreement.

"Yummy! This is great!" Ambipom exclaimed, this being her first time eating a Poképuff.

"Alright, everyone! Now that you finished your desserts, why don't we do some training?" Ash finally asked. All the Pokémon murmured their assent.

"Now, get in pairs and start training! Pretend you are a wild Pokémon and your partner is a Pokémon belonging to a trainer who is about to catch you. Fight with your instincts, and do not wait for me to command you to attack."

"Why don't you take off your hood, Ash?" Pikachu asked. "Since we're alone now, and it's probably stuffy in that hood."

"Yeah, you're right." Ash replied, raising his hand to pull down his hood.

Cynthia gulped in anticipation as Red slowly removed his hood, revealing his appearance.

Red's hair was slightly long at the back, and though the top had a spiky nature, it can be considered tame, with him having bangs long enough to cover his eyes brushed to the side. His face had a mature look to it, and was devoid of baby fats. He had beautiful dark brown eyes that had a tender look to it.

Cynthia gasped. She recognise this person. "Ash?" she whispered.

Unfortunately, Ash heard her gasp, and turned to her hiding place. He saw the tip of blonde hair just peeking out from the tree trunk.

"Oh no…" he whispered. He recognised this blonde hair.

"Ash, we might be in trouble." Lucario said.

Pikachu face palmed at his own stupidity to ask Ash to take off his hood.


"Lance, do you know which direction is towards Aquamarine's Style?" Wallace asked.

"How should I know, I'm not a PAL local." Lance replied. They were outside the Battle Arena, relaxing during a lunch break.

"Sorry, I'm just asking is because I need to go there to meet the other judges for the PAL Contest later." Wallace said.

"So, who are the other judges?" Lance enquired.

"Fantina and Pakura. Why?"

"Of course, that stuck-up bitch would have to be one of the judges. She's the World's Top Coordinator after all." Lance said sarcastically.

"Don't insult her, Lance. I think she's an extremely talented Coordinator. I mean, she's labelled as the youngest Legendary Coordinator in the world! And I don't think she's that bad. Besides, you better be careful what you say, Lance, you might end up wanting to date her."

"Yeah right. That'll happen when Grumpigs fly." Lance muttered, ignoring Wallace's warning.

"If you ask me, that Aerial Ace thing was your fault." said Wallace.

"My fault?" Lance asked incredulously. "How is it my fault that May's Munchlax dodged the attack?"

"Other than the fact that you didn't predict that Munchlax would dodge and may hit Jynx, since she's directly in front of it? She did say to watch where her Pokémon is before you call out an attack you know."

At that moment, Jude walked by with his Purrloin.

"Hi, Jude." Wallace smiled at him.

Jude grinned back. "Hi Wallace, hi Lance."

Lance nodded at Jude.

"Jude, could you tell me where the Aquamarine's Style is located?" Wallace asked him.

He pointed to one of the directions. "Go straight in that direction, and turn right. It's the biggest fashion boutique in the region, you shouldn't be able to miss it."

Wallace smiled in relief. "Thanks Jude."

"No prob. By the way, you guys might want to run right now, there's paparazzi coming this way 400m behind." With that, he quickly rushed off.

They hastily ran away from the spot they were talking at. "Wasn't it nice of him to give us a head start?"

Lance did not say anything, as he rushed for cover in the forest, while Wallace ran towards Aquamarine's Style.


"This is all your fault, Max." May huffed. They are all currently in Pokémon Center rooms, and having their luggage tossed out of the Plaza Hotel (name of the hotel participants stay in PAL) didn't put the traitors in a good mood.

"My fault?" Max protested. "I swear I placed the keys in my pocket, but it just disappeared!"

"Right, and Groudon can fly." May replied sarcastically.

"Break it up, both of you." Brock said. Both of them glared at each other, before looking away.

"I knew I shouldn't have opted out of the Battle Tower rooms!" Misty grumbled. "Now it's too late!"

"Never mind that now." Iris grumbled. "Not only do we need to keep an eye on those Elites, we also need to find out who stole our keys! I bet it's one of those Elites that did it."

"But why would the PAL Elites do anything to us? We haven't done anything to them." May replied.

"Something about their tastes are strange, and yet familiar at the same time." Cilan observed. "We'll have to get more information on them."

"Yeah, I'll have to agree with you." Trip said. "Let's go to the Library. I heard they got the biggest Library and lots of computers you can use for free."

"Sure." The others nodded, and headed to the library.


"Back again, Lance?" Princess asked softly.

Lance nodded, panting.

"What happened?" Princess raised her eyebrows, noticing his state.

"The paparazzi happened, that's what." Lance muttered.

"Why didn't you run to the Battle Tower? They aren't allowed at the Tower, you know." Princess enquired calmly.

"First instinct was to run here because there's protective power here." Lance shrugged. "Besides, I was nearer to the forest than the Tower."

"Sneaky. I like it." Princess smiled. "Send your Pokémon out. I'll see if the food is ready. Don't expect a gourmet meal." She left to another part of the cave.

Lance threw all his Pokeballs, and out came all his Pokémon. His Pokémon looked around, wondering where they are.

"If you are wondering where you are, you are at the Dragon Princess' cave." Lance answered. "It isn't an easy place to find, since only true Dragon users can see the cave, and even so, there is psychic power to compel them to ignore it."

"Wait, Dragon Princess?" Dragonite gaped. "As in the strongest female Dragon user in the whole Pokémon World?"

"That's right." said a voice. All of them turned to see the Princess setting down some food for herself and Lance, and set some bowls in front of the Pokémon. She then poured some Pokémon food in the bowls.

"Oh My God, it's the Dragon Princess in the flesh!" Charizard gasped. "She has a powerful aura about her."

"She's beautiful!" Altaria gushed, despite not being able to see Princess' eyes due to them being covered by her bangs.

"Thank you." Princess smiled at Altaria. Altaria blushed at her smile.

"You can understand what Pokémon is saying?" Lance asked, surprised.

"It isn't unusual." Princess admitted. "All PAL Elite members understand Pokespeech." Instead of going to eat, she gleefully examined every single one of Lance's Pokémon. She could almost taste the strong bond between Trainer and Pokémon, and she could hear the Pokémon's thoughts on how much they liked their current Trainer, and can sense their positive emotions directed at Lance.

She was so caught up with examining the Dragon Pokémon she didn't notice Lance inadvertently ate all the food on the table, until Haxorus exclaimed, "Lance! You just ate all her food!"

Princess turned to see the empty dishes. Lance gasped, realizing what he's done.

"I'm so sorry Princess. I was so engrossed in watching you check my Pokémon I ate all the food!" Why does he always seem to trouble the Princess?

"Nah, that's ok. I'm not very hungry anyway." Princess waved the apology off, as she poured some tea into a cup and drank.

Lance decided to ask the one question that is on his mind.

"So, Princess, what happened to the Prince?"

The reaction was instantaneous.

CRASH!

The porcelain cup she had been holding dropped to the hard floor, and it crashed into millions of pieces. The Princess had an utterly shocked and frightened look on her face (judging by the way her lips are positioned).

"Princess?" Lance tried to shake her out of her shock, but she seemed to be too absorbed in her own mind.

"I-I'll tell you tomorrow." The Princess sounded like she was near tears. "I need to be alone for now."

Lance gave her a sad look. He shouldn't have asked such a sensitive question. "I'm sorry, Princess."

"No, it's fine." Princess replied. "It's fine."

But Lance knew she was lying to make him feel better.

"Come back tomorrow?" Princess asked slightly hopefully, as he returned his Pokémon and turned to leave.

Lance nodded. "I will."


"C-Cynthia, I can explain, I…" Ash tried to stutter at Cynthia who is staring at him, shellshock. A minute later, she ran at him, and threw her arms around him, and started to cry, mumbling something around the lines of 'don't leave me again', and 'I can't believe I found you.'

To say Ash was surprised might be an understatement, since he wasn't expecting this; he was actually expecting a slap to the face, but this is definitely better than a slap. He wrapped his arms around her to comfort her anyway. His Pokémon looked at each other, wondering what they are going to do with this situation. Manaphy, however, was more eager to listen in and find out if Cynthia would be her new Mama.

Ash finally manage to get Cynthia to finally stop crying, but he couldn't get her to let him go, so they had a conversation where they are now.

"Where were you all this time?" Cynthia whispered.

Ash sighed, and told her everything. How after he heard the conversation between his former friends, Trip and his mother, he decided to train by himself by getting all his Pokémon, and received a CommuniDex from Professor Oak, how his aura accumulated due to his emotions at his peak chose that timing to teleport him to an unknown region, how Pakura found him, took him in and told him more about PAL, how he caught new Pokémon, trained them along with his newly discovered abilities in the PAL Plateau by himself and fed his Pokémon healthy food and vitamins, and how they evolved, and finally, him taking the PAL Elite challenge two years ago, winning against Pakura, and becoming the first Champion.

He left out that part where he was selected as Chosen One and the Legendaries joining him on his quest, preferring to keep that a secret for now.

Cynthia finally let go of him. "That's…an overwhelming story…" she said in awe.

"It is. The thing is, Mewtwo" He nodded to the Genetic Pokémon, "told me the night of the opening ceremonies that the five leaders escaped from jail. They are coming for all five of us, so we agreed not to drag anyone else in." Ash sighed. "I thought by not telling you about my true identity, and as long as I act my part as Champion and stayed away you'd be safe. However, Pikachu wasn't very subtle." He smiled ruefully at the yellow mouse, who looked embarrassed.

"I'm glad he wasn't. Because if he was, I'll never find you." Cynthia said determinedly. "You know I'll never abandon you when there's danger. On the contrary, I'll stay with you. I say you grew up to be one fine man." She winked at him, making him blush.

"Why aren't you asking her out to dinner?" Pikachu hinted. "She likes you, and you like her; I say go for it!"

"Yeah, I mean she went so far just to find you, she's a keeper, Ash." Lucario encouraged. "And she's been pining for you for so long."

"Er…" Ash looked at the two of them nervously.

Cynthia was smiling at him expectantly. She was definitely going to enjoy this.

"Cynthia, would you….have dinner with me tonight? It'll be the two of us." Ash said this in a rush.

He expected Cynthia to reject him or something, but Cynthia kissed him on the cheek, and said, "I never thought you'd ask."

Ash smiled in both happiness and relief.

Things could only get better…..right?

"I'm so happy for you, Ash!" Meloetta was singing a happy tune.

"This is the first time I've seen you truly happy, Ash." Shaymin remarked. "I'm so glad!"

But Manaphy had another idea. He jumped into Cynthia's arms. Cynthia caught him, surprised, as he rubbed his head against her right shoulder in affection. "Mama!"Manaphy cried.

"So, Manaphy, you chose her as your new Mama?" Ash asked, smiling. He turned to a stunned Cynthia. "You see, May used to be Manaphy's motherly figure until she betrayed me, so Manaphy declared that May is not his Mama anymore. It looks to me he chose you as his new Mama!"

Cynthia smiled, and petted Manaphy. "Hello, Manaphy." She cooed at the Seafaring Pokémon, petting it softly. Manaphy seemed to be content in Cynthia's arms.

"Cynthia is my new Mama! Papa, are we going to be one big happy family?"Manaphy asked sweetly.

Cynthia and Ash looked at each other, before Ash turned back to Manaphy and said, "We'll see, Manpahy."

Manaphy clapped his hands in joy in Cynthia's arms.


Rosaline had decided to head to the library for more information so that she could work on the Legendary Dragon Duo case. She is currently at the Old News section, pouring over back issues of The PAL Times (one of the newspapers in PAL), trying to figure out what exactly are the Dragon Prince and Princess real names, so she may get a lead, and find out more about their background. Or maybe she can find out what they look like, and match their faces to the citizens in PAL.

Imagine her surprise and disappointment, when she found the article about two people being crowned the Dragon Prince and Princess, but the Prince and Princess had their eyes covered by their fringe, which is impossible to determine their appearance, and this sentence: The Dragon Prince has requested that their real names are to be kept secret, for their, especially the Dragon Princess', safety.

'But why would the Dragon Prince feel that the Dragon Princess needs her identity to be protected? Was she in danger?' Rosaline thought. She looked at the picture of the Duo again. The person who crowned them was Ken, the current announcer for the Pokémon World Championship.

'Maybe he knows something.' Rosaline thought. 'But he's not allowed to say anything. They even offered money that were up to six figures, but he still refused to talk, since he's not the type to sell his life story. I doubt he would help me in my case either. Gosh, this is one of the hardest cases I've ever seen!'

"Why don't you use your mind reading powers on Ken?" Espeon suggested.

"Espeon, you know I like the fun of solving the case without using psychic powers." Rosaline told her. "What fun is it when I only depend on my powers to solve cases?"

"True." Espeon nodded.

Rosaline sipped the strawberry smoothie she bought from the library café, and looked at the picture of the Duo. There wasn't much to look at since half their faces were mostly covered by the fringe.

"Look, what I know is that the Dragon Princess is still alive." Rosaline said to Espeon. "I don't know about the Dragon Prince though."

"You mean the time you saw the Dragon Princess flying on her Dragonite that one time, and you tried to follow but she disappeared via teleportation?" Espeon asked.

"That's the one" Rosaline nodded. "The Dragon Princess is pretty evasive."

She looked at the picture again reflectively. 'Could they have been people on the run before they became the Legendary Dragon Duo? Is that why they do not wish to disclose their real names to everyone but Ken?' Rosaline thought. That is a possibility. But the question is, what, or who, are they running away from? All the five evil teams have been shut down by Ash already, which earned him the nickname Silent Hero.

'Could the Princess have foreseen that the five bosses and their guards escaped? Is that why she was trying so hard to hide?' Rosaline wondered. The Duo, in addition to being Dragon masters, were also strong psychics themselves. Their psychic abilities are said to far exceed hers, and that's saying something, considering she is one of the strongest psychics in PAL, and she is talented enough to be accepted in the PAL Elite.


"Alright, according to the information we got, Jude's a Water/Dark, Rosaline's a Fire/Psychic, Phillip's an Electric/Steel, Pakura's a Fairy/Ice, and the Champion doesn't have any favoured type, right?" Trip consulted the notes he had taken down from the computer.

"That's right." said Cilan, looking at May and Dawn uneasily, since they were fuming from the information they read from Pakura's profile about being the number one Contest Star of PAL as she was a highly accomplished Coordinator, and Pakura never mentioned it. They bet they could beat her in a contest blindfolded, especially Dawn, since she did beat her mother, a Top Coordinator in a Contest battle before. Sure, it was an illusion caused by Mismagius, but still….

"Hey, aren't you sulking a bit too much?" Misty tried to pacify them.

"NO!" May and Dawn both shouted, causing those near them to ask them to keep quiet.

"Sorry…" They muttered insincerely.

"Anyway, which Pokémon of yours are missing again?" Cilan asked.

"My Blaziken, Skitty, and Glaceon." May spat.

"My Corsola." Misty added.

"My Pachirisu, Buneary, and Piplup." Dawn grumbled.

"My Emolga and Axew too." Iris replied.

Cilan nodded, and wrote it down. "Alright, assuming that each of them goes to the respective Elites with their type specialty, Blaziken would go to Rosaline, Glaceon would go to Pakura, Emolga and Pachirisu would go to Phillip, Piplup and Corsola would go to Jude, and the rest is probably with the Champion."

"But my Skitty is with that Pakura bitch." May cried.

"It could be because Skitty is either used for Contest purposes, or kept as a pet. Skitty is a popular pet Pokémon among trainers, after all." Cilan deduced. "She probably used her weakest Pokémon to combat you and Whitney, since I doubt she think you're worth her full strength."

"What did you say?!" May leapt up to strangle Cilan, but was restrained by Dawn, Max and Misty.

"Chill May. He's right. The PAL Elites are one of the most powerful trainers in existence. I don't think they'll use their full strength from the beginning." Misty said.

"But just to double confirm, I say we still try to keep an eye on those elusive Elites." Max suggested.

The others nodded assent.

"Hey, is that Rosaline over there?" Iris pointed to a figure at the Old News section a distance away.

"Alright, I found my target." said Max, starting to head towards Rosaline.

"Be careful, Max." May warned.

"I will." He said, following Rosaline as she left the library.


Pakura was walking along the edge of the forest, on the way back to Aquamarine's Style, where she was supposed to meet Wallace and Fantina so that they can prepare together as judges of the PAL Contest. She had a lot of thought in her mind.

When she first met that Dawn girl in Aquamarine's Style, her first impression is that she looked exactly like Princess Salvia. She knew Princess Salvia, since as PAL's "Princess", she had been invited to Arrowroot Town Palace for dinner a few times. However, Dawn's personality is so different from her. And not to mention, Dawn's a bitch. How did those two have the exact same appearance, she'll never know.

Speaking of which, she wondered why they couldn't just call her by her name instead of "Princess".

"Let go….help…." A faint voice interrupted her thoughts. It was coming from the direction of the forest and it seemed distant as well, as if the source of the voice is far away from her, but Pakura managed to pick it up with her excellent hearing. Pakura narrowed her eyes. It sounded feminine, so she thought the Pokémon must be female.

"I'm going to check it out." Pakura said. Her Pokémon nodded, and they went to the forest, with Sylveon and Skitty. Thanks to her superior speed (despite the fact that all Elite has enhanced speed, she is still faster than the other Elites), she managed to reach where she thought the voice was from.

She heard voices from her left, and headed for that direction.

"You see, Mike, this Eevee is rare and worth a lot! I mean, it's the only Pokémon that can evolve into eight different forms!" A man which stunk of cigarette smoke and had a bushy beard was holding on to a feebly struggling Eevee.

"Yeah, you may be right, Leon, PAL sure has loads of rare Pokémon, and we can just take them and sell them for money!" Mike commented. "Maybe we can catch another Legendary Pokémon before we go. It's so worth it sneaking abroad that ship to PAL!"

"Is it, really?" Pakura asked in a cold voice.

The two men turned, surprised to see a girl standing before them, and a beautiful one, at that.

Mike whistled, looking Pakura up and down. "Look what we have here! A hot chick! Come on baby, let's go back to my place and have some real fun!"

"Your clothing would look great on my bedroom floor, if you know what I mean." Leon winked. Pakura held back the urge to roll her eyes. She got that all the time from men, especially ones that are more than twice her age.

"Yuck." Sylveon was disgusted at how men always hit on her trainer. Skitty looked like she wanted nothing more than to barf on the poachers.

Mike approached her. "Come on, babe, let's-" Before he could say anything else, his throat was slit. The last thing he saw was Pakura with her hand covered in an icicle which is shaped like a sword. The sword was dripping with blood- his blood.

Leon panicked when his partner fell to the ground dead, and sent out a Pokémon. "Trubbish, use Sludge Bomb!"

"Skitty, Assist." Pakura countered calmly. Assist turned out to be Psychic, and Skitty threw Trubbish against the wall. It fainted easily.

'Weak.' Pakura thought, disdain clearly shown on her features.

Leon started to run, but Pakura shot an icicle out of her hand. It pierced through his heart from his back.

"You're….not…human…" Leon gasped, before he too fell dead.

Pakura picked up the near unconscious Eevee, and examined her. Her tiny body was full of bruises and bleeding cuts from struggling against the poachers, and burns from electrical traps. Pakura grimly noted that if her injuries are not treated in time, she might succumb to them eventually, but it's no problem for her. Pakura closed her eyes, and Eevee glowed in a blue aura, and slowly, the bruises and burns disappeared and the cuts stopped bleeding, and the cuts started to close. Very soon, Eevee was healed up completely.

"Thank you!" Eevee wagged her tail and looked at Pakura happily.

Pakura said nothing; instead, she carried Eevee to a part of PAL's natural paradise. It was a garden with clean water at the lake, and plenty of berries growing in bushes and trees. It was also filled with flowers of all kinds. There are several wild Pokémon playing in the garden. Eevee would be safe here, and be fed and watered for the rest of her life, and have plenty of playmates.

She put Eevee down, and while Eevee was distracted looking around at the beautiful place, she left without saying goodbye, and before Eevee could notice.

"Why didn't you ask Eevee if she wanted to come along with you?" Sylveon asked. "And why didn't you say goodbye?"

"She'll be better off there. Besides, that garden is the best place for her. I mean, she is free to roam around, and have fellow Pokémon to play with, and she won't starve or be thirsty, as opposed to training hard for battles or contests if she's with me. As for why I didn't say goodbye, it's because I doubt she'll stay if I didn't."

"You're a nice person, aren't you?" Skitty remarked.

Pakura hummed thoughtfully. "I wonder…" Is killing without hesitation for the sake of Pokémon considered nice? Some may call it inhumane, for one to take another's life, but what if the person's life that is taken did a crime that is unforgivable to PAL- Poaching Pokémon?

"You're….not…human…"

And ironically, she didn't regret it one bit.

"We're here." said Sylveon.

Pakura reached Aquamarine's Style, pushed open the doors and went in.

Unbeknownst to them, the same Eevee that Pakura left in the garden snuck through the doors before they closed.


"Judging by the shining and smooth feathers your Unfezant has, you have been taking care of your Unfezant very well." Jude said to a boy who wanted him to evaluate his Unfezant's well-being and their relationship together. "And by the response your Unfezant gave me when I asked about you," Understanding Pokémon language is pretty advantageous when you're a Connoisseur. "He likes you very much, and you guys most likely have a long friendship, I bet you guys have been together for at least 5 years. Am I right?"

"Wow, you're right, we've been together for nearly six years now." The boy replied, smiling. Except there was something wrong with the way he is smiling. His lips were curled up at the edges, but the smile didn't seem to go all the way to his eyes. It sort of stopped at his gums.

Jude frowned. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing, it's just that…..there was this girl who wanted to evaluate my relationship with my Unfezant, but she said that my relationship with him was worst of the worst, and insisted I get another one. I don't know who I should listen to." The boy mumbled.

Jude narrowed his eyes. "Who is it?"

"It's some girl called Burgundy." The boy replied. "She said she's an expert in telling the relationship between trainers and Pokémon, since she's a Connoisseur too."

Jude tried to remember where he heard the name from.

"Oh, Burgundy? She has a rivalry with Cilan, but if you ask me, it's one-sided on her part. She kept boasting that she's a great Connoisseur, but she doesn't know shit. When I first met her, she's pretending to be good enough to run her own Connoisseur shop, and she made me show her all her Pokémon, and she said all of them were horrible and I need to replace all of them, and seemed to want to replace them for me. She doesn't even have any reason to back up her claims. When asked about her rank, she's a C-Class Connoisseur, but she thinks that all professionals would say the same thing she did about my relationship with my Pokémon." Ash rolled his eyes at what he remembered about that girl.

"Sounds to me she's just a conceited little brat." Jude replied.

"She is, alright." Ash nodded.

Jude then realised she was mentioned when Ash told him about his travels in Unova. Back then, he was eager to hear Ash's stories as his hometown was Humilau City in Unova.

"Oh, that girl." Jude waved him off with disdain for Burgundy. "She's just a C-Class Connoisseur, a novice class, so why are you even listening to her? She's not allowed to open her own shop, and people from her class are only allowed to work as assistants to A-Class and above. Listen to me. I think your relationship with Unfezant is great. Don't let that wannabe's word get to you."

"Really?" The boy's smile was wide. "Thank you!"

Jude waved, as the boy returned his Unfezant to his Pokéball and left after paying Jude, which Jude reluctantly accepted.

Jude sighed. He had been dealing with a long line since lunch break, since besides offering a professional Connoisseur's service, he also runs a bookstore and café, the latter only built the beginning of this year since the café used to be a sweet shop next door that was ran by a family, but it shut down last year after an ancient water pipe burst in the ceiling, destroying all their stock.

The Elites had the idea of installing a café in the former sweet shop and knocking the wall between Jude's shop and the café down, which gave him more business. However, as far as running the shop goes, while he is good at physically making sales and running a service at the same time, he needed help in running the café, so he usually hired assistants to do it. However, he isn't very good at bookkeeping and bill paying, numbers not being his forte, which is why Pakura usually handled these things.

"Tired, Jude?" Purrloin asked.

"Yeah, pretty much." Jude yawned. "What wouldn't I give just to go for a swim?" His last swim was interrupted by Ash's message to get his ass back to the Plateau because he got his invitation.

"I'll go get some juice." Purrloin scampered to the café to get a drink for Jude. She returned with a mango juice for Jude.

"Thanks, Purrloin." Jude took a sip. "How I hate arrogant people like that Burgundy girl." With that, he went out his shop for some fresh air, Purrloin following behind.

The first thing he noticed was that someone had set up a portable shop station somewhere next to his café. Jude heard voices inside the station, and approached closer to listen in, since there was a female voice shouting.

"You got to replace that Swablu!" the girl declared.

Jude opened the curtains to find a girl dressed in a long-sleeved pink shirt and over it was a red sleeveless shirt with four gold buttons at the stomach, a red bow at the collar, and black pants. She had purple hair with matching eyes, and had an arrogant look about her. A little girl was trembling at her voice, clutching to her Swablu.

"What are you doing?" Jude asked, interrupting the Connoisseur.

The girl turned to him, surprised.

"I'm just telling this girl that she is better off with a Swablu that has Natural Cure instead of Cloud Nine." The Connoisseur explained.

"Oh? And why is that so?" Jude asked.

"Well….it's because…..because….Are you doubting the words of a Connoisseur?" She demanded.

Jude smirked. This must be the Burgundy girl Ash was talking about. "Yes I am. Exactly what Class Connoisseur are you?"

"Er….I'm a C-Class. What about it?" Burgundy stuttered.

"Shows what you know." Jude turned to the little girl. "Listen, you go to my shop for now, and wait for me there. I'll evaluate it for you, if you like." He smiled at the girl. "My café is just next to this fake station."

The little girl nodded. "Thanks, mister!" With that, she left, and Burgundy lost her customer.

Jude then turned to Burgundy. "Listen here, in PAL, we don't appreciate fakes who pretend to be professionals. You ought to be ashamed of yourself, doing whatever you like in our region."

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" Burgundy asked.

"Ignorant, isn't she?" Purrloin asked. Jude nodded.

"It's for me to know, and for you to find out. One more time I catch you doing this, I won't hesitate to take your license. Now if you excuse me, I have a shop to run and customers to attend to." With that, he left, back to his shop.

When he returned, he attended to the little girl from earlier. Jude deduced that they had been together for two years, so their relationship is not very close yet, but by spending time and training it, she'll most likely have a great relationship with her Swablu in times to come. He also stated that her Swablu's Cloud Nine ability is useful as it negates the effect of weather attacks, thus Swablu wouldn't get damaged from them, and may lessen the damage of attacks that are strengthened by weather.

"And this is how you evaluate Pokémon." Jude concluded to Purrloin. "I wonder why they pay me for my services, though."

"That's because you are one of the best. Your try your best to make the relationship between Pokémon and Trainer sound as good and close as possible, and give positive advices on how to improve the relationship. It also helps that you understand Pokémon language, and can ask the Pokémon what they think of their trainer, and you are honest, quoting the exact words the Pokémon said. That's why they pay you even though you never said they had to." Purrloin answered.

"Well, if you say so." Jude smiled.


Phillip Robinson is feeling rather embarrassed at the moment.

Imagine him successfully finishing his invention, and being all satisfied about it, only that Jasmine girl is still there watching him. Phillip, unfortunately, didn't take it very well that she's still there, since he gave a startled shout, grabbed his invention, and ran back down to his floor, leaving her to stare after him, stunned.

"That was embarrassing." Phillip sighed.

"Indeed." Emolga replied, giggling at the way Phillip reacted earlier.

"But why was she still there watching me? I thought she'd have left by now."

"Beats me." Emolga shrugged.

"Well, it wasn't as embarrassing as Rosaline seeing me in just my boxer shorts while I was getting breakfast the day after she was named as the newest Elite." Phillip shuddered at the memory. That time, he had forgotten that there are now girls in the Elite, and he can't just go get breakfast without getting dressed from then on. Jude still had a great laugh about it.

"I'd say you need to go out a bit. You deserve a break after making that invention and the shock of Jasmine watching you. How about we go watch the PAL Contest?" Emolga suggested.

"Well, I'm bored, so yeah, I'll go." Phillip shrugged, as he pressed the elevator, and waited for it to come up to his floor.


"Rosaline." Espeon said. "We're being monitored."

"I know." Rosaline replied. "You're talking about the kid following me right?"

"Yeah."

"I rather not let him catch me using my powers." Rosaline said to Espeon. She teleported behind Max, which confused him since she suddenly disappeared, and looked around for her, not knowing she was behind him.

Rosaline sent out her Munna. "Munna, hypnosis!" Before Max could react, Munna's eyes glowed eyes glow light blue and Max fell asleep. Rosaline walked over to the sleeping Max, and touched his forehead, and activated her ability.

"So, what kind of dream did you give him?" Munna asked.

"It's a dream where his father Norman found out about his betrayal to Ash and getting a really huge and long scolding, which would end with him telling his son that he is getting grounded and he won't be able to go on his Pokémon journey." Rosaline chuckled. "He won't wake up until the dream is over." Rosaline caught Munna looking at her hopefully. "And no, Munna, you're not allowed to use Dream Eater on him, you'll ruin my ability."

"Awww…" Munna was disappointed.

"But you can eat one of these." Rosaline offered Munna a Poképuff, which Munna ate with delight.

"Yummy!" Munna commented with joy.

Rosaline's hand suddenly jerked towards her pen and an old piece of paper in her pocket, and her arm unconsciously wrote down something, glowing in aura all the while.

"Rosaline, your prophecy making ability has shown itself again."

"Yeah, I wonder why." Her ability of prophecy construction only shows itself once in a blue moon, and only when there's extreme danger coming closer, ones that may mean their lives or deaths.

Just then, her hand stopped glowing, and they read what she had written.

The Danger is quiet
Silent and tranquil
Moving in silently for the kill
On their own free will
Abused by evil, abused by society
They are quietly shutting everyone out
With their Heart full of doubt
The quiet one is seeking revenge
For all that they had done
Acting on their emotions
Hiding their deadly secrets
The quiet one sought to let everyone feel their pain
Never caring if there's no gain

Anger and hate takes over
All because of a lost Lover.

"I better tell Ash." She quickly sent a message to the Champion.

"We can worry about the poem you wrote later. For now, why don't we go to the PAL Contest to watch Pakura?" Espeon suggested.

"That's a great idea!" Rosaline exclaimed.


"Wow, Ash, my Pokémon loves these Poképuffs. Who made this?" Cynthia asked, examining a pink Poképuff. Her Pokémon were at the background devouring the cake-like confections, enjoying every single bite of it.

"Pakura did. She's pretty good at making Pokéblocks and Poffins as well." Ash replied. "I'm glad your Pokémon liked it."

"It'll be nice if you can get Pakura to make more of these for my Pokémon." She commented, as the Poképuff on her hand got snatched up and eaten by her Glaceon.

Ash smiled, and turned to Pikachu, who was being hugged and kissed on the cheek by Buneary. Ash laughed as Pikachu seemed contented by Buneary's affections, and he isn't exactly in the Attract status often seen in battles. They had become close over the four years since Buneary left Dawn to join him, and Pikachu, like the good big brother, cared for her during that time, where Buneary felt rather left out among Ash's Pokémon, since she was the only defected one to stay with Ash, while the rest became close to the other Elites. Apparently, the friendship eventually became love.

"So, buddy, when can I expect eggs to come?" He asked teasingly, earning a blush from the Pokémon.

"Hopefully soon, Ash." Buneary replied happily.

"Wow, look at this, Ash." Cynthia pointed to her Glaceon, who is trying to get his Glaceon's attention, only his Glaceon doesn't seem to be interested.

"Don't worry about my Glaceon, she always had an icy personality. Fits her type rather well, doesn't it?" He watched as his Glaceon continued to ignore Cynthia's Glaceon, only her Glaceon was rather persistent.

"Hopefully my Glaceon can warm yours up." Cynthia indicated to the two Glaceons

Ash gave a stiff grin. "Maybe." He watched as his Glaceon used Ice Beam Cynthia's, but her Glaceon doesn't seem in the least daunted, and followed his Glaceon around. His Glaceon is trying to ignore her Glaceon, and judging by the words Cynthia's Glaceon said, it's apparent he has fallen for her.

Just then, his CommuniDex signalled a message from Rosaline. He opened it, read the message, and gasped.

"What's wrong, Ash?" Cynthia asked, concerned.

Ash showed her the picture of the prophecy, explaining Rosaline's gift to tell the future by writing poetry down unconsciously.

"What does this mean?" Cynthia asked, frightened.

"It means the PAL Elites are in danger." Ash replied grimly.

"Is it more than one person?" Pikachu asked.

"No, it's one person only." Pikachu, Lucario and Cynthia blinked at him. "Look at this line: They are quietly shutting everyone out, with their Heart full of doubt. Heart, not hearts. It's written as they because the person's gender is unknown and thus the ability used 'they' to describe gender neutrality. Whoever this person is probably the one causing those mysteries. If we can find out who this is and why, it's most likely we can put an end to this!"

Cynthia looked at him in admiration. Ash clearly isn't as dense as four years ago.

Lucario coughed. "Ash, isn't the PAL Contest thing starting soon?"

Ash jumped up. "Oh yeah, you're right! We'll talk about this later! Come on, guys!" they returned their Pokémon, and Ash offered his hand to Cynthia, which she accepted, and Ash teleported them outside Aquamarine's Style, which is located near the Contest Hall.


"All done, Princess Pakura!" Aquamarine Alexandrite, owner of Aquamarine's Style and Pakura's personal designer and stylist cheerfully placed the last touches on Pakura's preparation.

"Why can't you just call me Pakura?" she asked, irritated.

"Oh, you're as modest as usual, Princess Pakura! Just check yourself out in the mirror!" Aquamarine gushed.

Pakura checked herself out in the mirror. She was wearing the same dress that May had wanted, and her hair was pulled up into a bun with a strands of hair falling from it. She was also wearing a tiara on the side of her head with a Key Stone fixed into it, along with baby blue ballet flats.

Pakura nodded her thanks, and left the boutique with Skitty and Sylveon, and made her way to the Contest Hall, unaware of her little follower. She ignored the people waving to her, calling her "Princess". Arceus forbid they should just say Pakura. Sure, the other regional Elites and her fellow Elites call her Pakura, but the other regional Elites will go back to their regions after the tournament, and her fellow Elites also sometimes slipped up and called her "Princess". The worst part is, they really think she's PAL's Princess and sometimes, they call her "Princess Pakura" like her stylist. And when she tells them not to, they assume it's out of modesty.

Meanwhile, the Eevee that she left in the garden was peeking from behind a pillar, and smiling to herself. She imagined what it would be like to become her Pokémon, when suddenly, she was snatched up, and Eevee found herself face to face with a blond girl with green eyes.

"Aww. You're such a cutie!" The girl was smothering her. Eevee was struggling to get herself off the girl's grip.

"Alright. I've made up my mind. From today onwards, you're now my Pokémon!" she declared.

Eevee didn't like the idea, since she already decided she'll only become the black haired girl's Pokémon and promptly fired a shadow ball at the girl's face, causing her to fall and let go of her. Eevee quickly scampered away.

Hearing something, Pakura turned in time to see a light brown furry tail disappearing around the corner, away from a dazed girl.

"Something wrong, Pakura?" Sylveon asked.

"No, nothing." Pakura shook her head, and promptly turned back to head to the Contest Hall's entrance. She entered the Contest Hall lobby, and was greeted by the receptionist, and she entered the still-empty Contest Hall, where Wallace and Fantina were waiting.

"Pakura! How nice of you to join us!" Wallace greeted her.

"Hello, Pakura." Fantina welcomed her in her accent.

"Champion Wallace, Leader Fantina." Pakura nodded curtly.

"It's an honour to have an exhibition contest battle with you, Pakura. Let's do our best!" Wallace said.

"Whatever." Pakura replied absent-mindedly.

"The audience is going to arrive, we better take our places." Fantina said, looking at the approaching crowd.

The other two nodded, and took their places, not knowing that an Eevee was hiding at the side of the stage, watching one of the judges.


"Well, well, looks like congratulations is in order." Jude looked at Ash and Cynthia's intertwined hands.

"Thanks, Jude." Ash blushed.

"Aren't you going to introduce us, Ash?" Rosaline giggled.

"Everyone, this is Cynthia, Champion of Sinnoh region. Cynthia, meet the first member, Jude Harrison, second member, Rosaline Pyra, and the third member, Phillip Robinson. The last and the Leader of the Elite is one of the judges of the PAL Contest." Ash introduced them to each other.

Cynthia shook hands with each one of the PAL Elite members present.

"It's so nice to have a girlfriend for our Champion." Rosaline commented. "After all, he needs a special someone to make him happy in his life, since that incident four years ago."

"Yeah, really great." Phillip added, though he sounded slightly uncertain.

"Thank you." Cynthia smiled at them.

"Ok, celebrations aside, I need to tell you guy something." Ash's face looked serious.

"Yeah, what?" Jude raised his eyebrow.

"Rosaline's prophecy making ability showed up again." He showed the picture of the poem to the other three.

Phillip gasped. "So what does this mean?"

Ash grimaced. "It means that someone is after our lives."


They found good seats at the front row, next to Jessie, James, and Meowth, who are apparently taking a break from all the matches.

"Hey, Jessie, James. I knew you planned to go to a nightclub for your date last night. How did it go?" Ash greeted them, as they sat down next to them. "What's wrong?" he asked, seeing Jessie's pissed off expression the moment he mentioned the date.

"Nothing's wrong…but it's just that our date last night went horribly!" Jessie exclaimed.

"What happened?" Phillip enquired.

"The nightclub entertainment was horrible! Jess, you tell them what happened last night!"

"There were these two….what's the word to use….performers performing a parody of us!" Jessie fumed.

"Specifically us from our old days!" James added.

"And your point is?" Cynthia asked.

"They did a horrible parody of us!" Jessie and James shouted in unison.

"The one playing me, Mari, made me look abusive towards James and Meowth! Hey, I may have a vicious temper, but I would never try to abuse either of them!" Jessie said.

"The other one, Mami, made me seem like a…..like a…." James can't find the word to use.

"Ok we got your point." Rosaline interjected.

"They also screwed up some facts about us! For instance, they swapped our backgrounds around!" James wailed. "They also screwed up our motto!"

"What's the deal about that? You guys already quit Team Rocket, you're not going to use them ever again!" Ash raised his eyebrow.

"I know that! But it still pisses me off!" Jessie was hysterical.

"Anyway, that Mami guy also screwed up my laugh too!"

By then, all the Pokémon that is outside the Pokéballs were laughing their heads off at Jessie and James' story.

Just then, Tracey interrupted. "Wait, did you just say Mari and Mami?"

"Yeah, why?" James asked miserably.

"Oh, those two. I know them personally. They are originally from the Orange Islands, though how they came here is a mystery to me. Probably snuck on a train or plane here or something. Anyway, those two are so egoistic and delusional they think their false perceptions of themselves are real. Their biggest dream is to become a fashion designer, and design everyone's clothes despite their bad drawing and horrible fashion sense."

"I certainly wouldn't wear the clothes they design for me." Rosaline shuddered.

"Oh and one more thing. They are totally in love with one of the male Champions, though I don't know who. Let's hope they never meet." Tracey shuddered. "I hate to see what would happen to that Champion."

"Shhh, guys, the Contest is starting." Jude said, as a woman in a gorgeous pink dress that exposed her legs in front, and reached to the floor at the back, walked out onto the middle of the Contest arena. Her hair was in a ponytail decorated with elegant hairpins.

"Welcome, everyone, to the PAL's Contest of the Year. My name is Aetna and I will be this PAL Contest's host!" There were cheering and clapping from the audience.

"Many Coordinators from all over the region come and compete for PAL's Special Ribbon, where it can be used as a ticket to the Grand Festival, no matter how many Ribbons you have, and it's only offered once every five years." She held up a dark blue silk Ribbon which is inlaid with gold, and in the middle was what looked like a crafted flower, to audience's delight.

"Please welcome the three judges: Gym Leader Fantina from Sinnoh, Champion Wallace from Hoenn, and Princess Pakura from PAL itself!" the three of them walked out onto the Contest battlefield, and to the judge's stand.

"And now, to open the Contest, Champion Wallace and Princess Pakura would have an exhibition Contest match!"

Ash and the others leaned forward in their seats, eager to see how Wallace would fare against Pakura.


"Milotic, Luvdisc, on stage!" Wallace threw his Pokéballs into the air. For Luvdisc, it opened with big pink hearts surrounding it, and becoming one big heart before dispersing into pink sparkles while it levitated itself gracefully. Milotic's opened with many blue bubbles flying away from the Pokéball, and she landed on the ground with the bubbles supporting it, before disappearing.

"Togekiss, Skitty, time to shine!" Pakura threw her Pokéballs into the air, and both of them opened with pink and purple petals surrounding them, before intertwining as they fall, and exploding in a blast of red fire, turning the petals into tiny confetti that fell to the ground, creating a beautiful effect. When the effect is over, Skitty and Togekiss can be seen on the battlefield.

"There is five minutes on the clock, battle begin!"

"Milotic, use Whirlpool. Luvdisc, use-" before Wallace could finish his command, Pakura already gave a command. "Togekiss, use Aura Sphere on Skitty. Skitty, use Double Edge, followed by Fake out!" The Aura Sphere mixed with the white aura of Double-Edge made Skitty glow blue, and when Skitty reached her opponents, she used Fake out on both Milotic and Luvdisc, and blue waves emitted from her hands, which hit both of them, dealing damage and making them flinch.

"Skitty, Assist, Togekiss, Shadow Ball, and use Dazzling Gleam." Assist turned out to be Iron Tail, and when the Shadow Ball hit the Iron Tail, it turned into a dark purple tornado, as Skitty spun the Shadow Ball with her tail. Togekiss used Dazzling Gleam to distract her opponents, and while they are distracted, Skitty fired the tornado Shadow Ball, hitting them, and exploding into purple sparkles.

With one and a half minutes past, Wallace had already lost 1/3 of his points, while Pakura lost none.

'She's fast at giving commands, and can react instantly the moment I open my mouth and give my commands.' Wallace thought. 'No wonder she hardly loses points during Contests.' "Milotic, Blizzard, Luvdisc, Sweet Kiss!"

"Skitty, Disarming voice, Togekiss, Flamethrower." The Disarming Voice managed to break the Sweet Kiss before it mixed with the Blizzard, and the Flamethrower went in between the pink ring lined with hearts of the Disarming Voice, and melted the Blizzard, turning it into water droplets that looked like sparkles. Furthermore, the hearts touched the flamethrower, turning it into flaming hearts, and hitting Milotic, exploding into orange glitter. Wallace lost more points for failing to perform a move and being hit by the opponent. He realised half his points were already lost, and there's only two minutes left to the clock.

Meanwhile, the Eevee from earlier was watching the match in admiration. If only she can perform beautiful moves like these too!

"Skitty, use Assist again, Togekiss, Aura Sphere." Assist turned out to be Moonblast and it mixed with the Aura Sphere, hurtling towards Wallace's Pokémon.

"Milotic, Luvdisc, dodge, and use double Ice Beam!"

As they both levitated into the air to avoid the pink-blue sphere and charge an Ice Beam, Pakura gave another command. "Skitty, jump on Milotic!" Skitty used her tail to spring on Milotic, who struggled to get the small Pokémon off it, misfiring the Ice Beam.

"Luvdisc, quickly aim Ice Beam on Skitty!" As Luvdisc took aim, Pakura gave another order.

"Togekiss, Fairy Wind to manoeuvre the sphere." Togekiss controlled the Moonblast-Aura Sphere attack, and hit Luvdisc, who fell towards the ground, and caused the Ice Beam to miss its target, and Pakura got Skitty to use Thunder on Milotic. Milotic took direct damage, causing Wallace to lose more points as a result of the misfired Ice Beams and the damage taken by Milotic.

"There is one minute left on the clock, folks!" Aetna announced.

"Milotic, use Attract, Luvdisc, Hidden Power!" Milotic winked, and pink hearts flew out, while Luvdisc used Hidden Power to try and make the hearts glow blue.

A split second later, Pakura also gave her command. "Togekiss, use Yawn." The Yawn bubbles was headed towards Milotic.

"Milotic, Safeguard!" Milotic used Safeguard to protect itself from the Yawn.

"A mistake, Wallace. I wasn't aiming for Milotic."

"What?"

"Togekiss, use Fairy Wind on the bubbles."

Togekiss sent the Yawn bubbles towards Luvdisc and the Yawn bubbles popped into Luvdisc's face, and it started to feel sleepy. Luvdisc fired the Hidden Power, but missed the Hearts. Soon, it fell asleep.

"Togekiss, use Aerial Ace. Skitty, Assist."

Assist turned out to be Psybeam, and it hits Togekiss as she uses Aerial Ace, and Togekiss glowed in a rainbow aura that hit Luvdisc as it fell towards the ground, asleep.

Eevee was at the side admiring the beautiful moves Pakura has executed during the exhibition match.

"30 seconds left on the clock!" Aetna announced.

"Milotic, use Twister on Togekiss!"

"Togekiss, use Psychic to return it back to its owner. Skitty, use Wake-up Slap on Luvdisc." While it dealt double damage, Luvdisc also woke up. Milotic was hit with its own Twister thanks to Psychic.

"Milotic, use Scald once more! Luvdisc, Toxic!" Scald and Toxic mixed to become one purple boiling liquid.

"Skitty, Hyper Voice. Togekiss, Metronome." Metronome turned out to be Hyper Beam, and it dispersed into circular shockwaves that followed Hyper Voice. Both of them clashed, and exploded into orange and purple fireworks. Both of them lost points as a result.

It was kept like that until Aetna announced the time was up. Both of them looked over to the scoreboard, and while Wallace lost 2/3 of his points, Pakura only lost a few.

"And the winner is Princess Pakura!" Aetna said, and everyone cheered.

'She's as good as they say. Not even I can take 1/4 of her points from her.' Wallace thought. 'If anything, she lost at most 1/8 of it.'

Eevee's eyes was shining in admiration as she watched Pakura return her Togekiss, thank her for her hard work, and let Skitty hop onto her shoulder. Eevee looked on with slight envy. She wants to be that close to Pakura too.


"Wow, she hardly lost any points. Can you believe it?" Rosaline exclaimed. "It's so worth it to come just to watch this amazing display."

"Yeah. Pakura's reaction time is way too fast for Wallace to catch up." Jude replied. "She is also able to ruin his combinations easily. I must say, it's a great performance!"

They watched as Wallace extended his hand for her to shake, and Pakura hesitated for a few seconds, before shaking his hand as well.

"You were awesome, Pakura!" Wallace said.

"Wallace, you too. Not many can take points away from me." Pakura replied.

'Hmm….now I think of it, Pakura doesn't like human contact. I wonder why….' Ash thought. He made a mental note to investigate this as well. He sighed. He has much more answers to find out than he thought.

"Wow, she's stunning!" Pikachu commented. "This is the most beautiful display I've ever seen!"

Just then, Phillip's Pokéball opened and out came Pachirisu.

"She's definitely better than Johanna, Dawn's mum." Pachirisu agreed. "I bet in a Coordinating battle, Pakura would beat her by a mile!"

"Pachirisu, you can stay out, but make sure the traitors don't see you. They are probably here for the Contest, especially your former owner." Phillip warned her.

"Yes, sir!" Pachirisu saluted.


(With the traitors)

"She must have cheated! There's no way she can defeat Wallace that badly!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Yeah, she made Wallace look like an amateur. There's no way anyone can beat the Hoenn Champion in Contests!" May said angrily. She also realized that the Elite's wearing the same dress that she wanted, which just made her more livid. First she stole her Skitty, and now she took the dress she wanted. What else would she take next? Her fans? May almost wanted to scream as the crowd was actually drooling over her, and calling her Princess. They should be showing their support to her! The Hoenn Princess!

"By the way, where's Max?" Cilan asked. "He left to follow Rosaline, and never came back!"

"Isn't Rosaline over there?" Iris enquired, pointing to a girl sitting at the front row at the other side of the Contest Hall who was chatting with her friends.

"Wait, if that is so, Max must be nearby." Misty said, scanning for Max, but he's nowhere to be found.

"Do you think something happened to him?" Brock suggested.

"Oh no!" May cried. "What if Rosaline did something to my precious little brother?"

"Don't worry, Trip and I will go look for him. You guys just do your best in the Contest, ok?" Brock offered.

"Ok, thanks, you guys." May nodded, as both left to go look for Max.


Ash watched as Pakura yawned at most of the appeals. Those appeals are beautiful, yes, but they lacked originality, since he knew she had seen so many of those on TV before. Can't those people think up of their own ideas and not get some rip-off from a previous Contest?

She actually fell asleep at Dawn's appeal, which consisted of Mamoswine using Ice Beam to make an ice structure, and Quilava would use Flame Wheel to ride along the ice beam's path, creating an ice slide. However, since Mamoswine is much heavier than Buneary, the Ice Slide actually broke when it is riding down.

"This is getting old." Pikachu commented. "It's so similar to the appeal she used in the Sinnoh Grand Festival."

Ash nodded. "I agree. Look, Paku's fallen asleep." They looked, and sure enough, Pakura had her head on her arms, with her eyes closed. That stance usually meant that Pakura was so bored she actually fell asleep. Wallace had to wake her up to tell her it's over so she can watch the next appeal.

Ash then noticed everyone was distracted with the Contest, and beckoned to Pikachu and Lucario.

"Guys, let's go, I'm going off to prepare for the date. I'm planning a nice show finale as well. I'm sorry you'll have to miss this."

"Ok, sure." Pikachu shrugged, hopping onto his shoulder.

"Besides, we want to see what you have in store for her." Lucario snickered, making Ash blush.

Ash took silent steps towards the door that lead to the lobby of the Contest Hall. Since he was at the end of the bench, it was easy for him to slip away unnoticed. Once he reached outside, he teleported to an unknown place.


"Max? Max?" Trip was shaking an unconscious Max.

When Max didn't wake up, he turned to Brock. "What happened to him?"

"I have no idea." Brock checked his pulse, and his temperature. It seemed to be normal. Who could have done this to him? Last he saw of Max until now, he had headed out to follow Rosaline, if that is so, this means Rosaline might have done this to make sure he doesn't follow her.

But the question is, how did she do it? Via Espeon? No, sleep inducing moves only lasts for so long, and Pokémon with Bad Dream Ability can only activate it on a target when it's out of the Pokeball, and the only Pokémon with that Ability is Darkrai. Rosaline is a Psychic specialist, so it's highly unlikely she owns a Darkrai. Unless Rosaline herself performed the Ability.

He shook his head, and gave Trip a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, I'm sure Max just needs rest."

"If you say so."

But deep inside, he started to shake in fear, as he came to one conclusion.

The PAL Elite are no ordinary trainers.

Should he tell them to give up on following the other PAL Elites? No. It's highly unlikely the PAL Elite are actually allowed to kill them.

He never knew that if they continued, they would fall, one by one.


"Cynthia? Isn't it time for your date with Ash?" Phillip enquired. Cynthia was distracted by the Appeals of the Contest Round, and chatting with the Elite at the same time.

"Eeks! I forgot!" Cynthia jumped up, earning stares from the crowd. "I better go!" With that, she rushed out of the Contest Hall, preparing for her date.

"Hopefully, we bought enough time." Jude smirked.

"Yeah." Rosaline nodded in agreement. She turned back just in time to see Drew start his appeal.

Unbeknownst to them, Pakura had heard everything thanks to her good hearing. She suddenly had a splitting headache. Not the headaches people usually have from too much work, it's those headaches that renders her dizzy and unable to stand, and need to lie down.

"Are you alright, Pakura?" Wallace asked in concern, seeing Pakura grit her teeth slightly.

"I'm fine, Champion Wallace." Pakura replied. "I'm just fine."

BP: A lot of explaining needs to be done again. (Pls read!)

I wanted to write what they did during lunch break, so all of them had a scene to themselves, but it ended up worse than Chapter 2. I know I'm going a bit too fast with the Ash x Cynthia thing, but my friend and I agreed it should happen in Chapter 3, and that's the only way I can think up of.

The reason why Cynthia caught Ash is while Ash is able to detect stalkers, that particular time, he turned off his psychic aura so that he doesn't hear voices in his head all the time. Also, he thought he was alone, since everybody (except his Elites) are probably eating lunch at the moment.

The scene between Jasmine and Phillip was thought up on a whim. It's meant to show that he's an awkward person. Pairings for Phillip, Jude and Pakura are still open, and you are welcome to give me suggestions. My friend had already decided the pairing for Rosaline already.

I liked Eevee, so I thought Pakura should rescue her, and she follows the Leader along. Should Pakura catch her or convince her to return to the garden? You can decide if you want.

The readers didn't say anything about the Dragon Princess scene, so I put it up, hope you guys don't kill me over this.

And uh, I decided since Ash has all of the Eeveelutions, I may as well pair his Glaceon with Cynthia's to signify their relationship. His Glaceon may play a bigger part in future chapters, who knows?

And the scene where I wanted the Legendaries to have more spotlight ended up backfiring? Well, I'm not sure, but I hope you guys like the way I write, because I'm all out of ideas, and this seemed to be the best out of the bad ideas I have.

Forgive me for my pessimisms, because I used to be an optimist until I got my self-esteem lowered horribly by those people you call bullies during my four years of high school. You wouldn't even want to know what they had done to me.

And don't worry, Ash would try to figure out the mysteries after the date. For now, he'll just have to let his hair down, and enjoy himself at the date. I mean, I doubt Cynthia likes a worrywart in her dates.

Mari and Mami are NOT used to mock anybody. In fact, I have no qualms of same-sex relationships. I mean, it's also considered love, so why not? It's based on a former friend that had hurt me and my friends feelings!

Since mysterypink98 is starting her final year in high school, she isn't able to give me a lot of ideas since she is busy with homework and studies, so I personally ask you dear readers to please give me ideas for my next chapter, so I can fulfil my 12,000 word quota for every chapter. Please, I beg of you all to help me with this one.

This is in honor of mysterypink98, who gives me courage to post this chapter.

Please give me even more reviews for this chapter. Please review! *gives puppy dog eyes*

So please, once again, give me suggestions for my next chapter. *gives watery puppy dog eyes*