*PING*

A couple minutes of uncomfortable silence later, the elevator doors finally swung open, and Ash and May, the latter in the lead, stepped into the only suite in that floor: the penthouse. Ash let out a low whistle when he saw the display.

To Ash, it didn't look like he was stepping into a room at all; it was more like a museum. Paintings of various Pokémon, showing off their grace and beauty, dotted the four walls around them.

"I didn't even know you can whistle like that," May remarked, genuinely surprised.

"You made me wait until we got here and yet you styill didn't tell me who is the groom," Ash muttered, "but, judging from the things I've seen so far, I can take a wild guess."

Incredulous, May frowned at him. "Oh, really? Go right ahead, and knock me out " May folded her arms, giving a look of bemusement, "with that 'smart deduction' of yours. Probably one far-fetched idea that's not unlike Brock hatching a scheme to attract girls."

'How did she even come up with that kind of analogy?' Ash thought, frowning as well. he gave a rueful shrug, then finally said, "It's Wallace."

May's shoulders sagged, and her crossed arms fell. Around that same time, from another room, did the groom himself stride into view from another room, as if to confirm Ash's deduction. "Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise. I'd expect an impromptu visit from my protégé, but not one that's accompanied by an old friend of hers."

Ignoring May's stunned look, Ash stepped forward and offered his hand to the groom-to-be, who immediately shook hands. "It's nice meeting you again, Wallace. Judging from how you called me, I'll guess that you actually remembered me. How long has it been since Valor Lakefront?"

"I would never forget you, but only by appearance. The name does escape me, though." May recovered from her "coma" and slid into a small snickering fit when she heard that. Wallace turned to her, and then added, "I also know that she frequently speaks highly of you, that's another factor."

May cut into their converstion by saying, "I don't speak highly of him all the time, Wallace. There are a few highs, and then there are low points. And there are much, much more of the latter."

"Oh, really?" Wallace asked with a gleam in his eye, a gleam that insinuates something that May feels she doesn't like. He closed one eye and placed a hand on his chin (what he calls the "thinker's pose"), pretending to reminisce while training his other eye on (blushing furiously) May. "I seem to remember things very differently..."

Thinking that she will never get nowhere suggesting otherwise to Ash, May quickly dodged Wallace's knowing glances and changed the subject. "Ash, for a long time I kept you in the dark about who's going to get married. How did you even figure it out?"

Ash looked like he was relishing May's dumbfounded expression, smirked, and then started acting all smug about it. He started his explanation by pointing out the clues. "First, there is the misunderstanding I had regarding what your, um, involvement in this wedding is. I thought you were the bride, but you told me you were actually scouted by the groom to perform a show at the reception. I figured, he would never even have thought of scouting you unless it's someone we know who's a high-profile celebrity and a Pokémon Coordinator. There would probably be other Coordinators that fill that profile better, but then you showed me this room.

"The curtains, the carpet, all with streaks of blue and green. If I remember correctly, that's Wallace's favorite colors; that's from the pictures I see of him whenever I actually read some lifestyle news article. Then there's the artwork decorating the room. All of the paintings are pretty spiffy, but the fountain in the very middle of the room, displaying a statue of Milotic, that is a dead giveaway, since it's Wallace's signature Pokémon. That pretty much narrowed it down, didn't it?"

'I don't believe this,' May thought, her shoulders sagging in defeat. She then forced a (cracking at the edges) smile on her face while initiating a very, very slow clap. "Good job. I didn't know you had it in you as a sleuth."

By contrast, Wallace was actually pretty impressed, and his clapping was way a lot more enthusiastic. "If you managed to figure that out then," he challenged, "perhaps you might have also guessed who I'm getting married to?"

Ash looked like he was about to gloat, judging by the expression on his face. And it seems that he has the right to. "It's Winona, the Fortree Gym Leader."

Yet again, Wallace was impressed. He nodded solemnly, indicating that Ash guessed right again. "So then, Ash, what's your brilliant deduction this time?" he asked, speaking for himself and May.

The gloating expression changed into a sheepish one. "No deductions, actually. I really did just guess this time."

Both May and Wallace just stared at him, both dumbfounded. And then the former slapped herself on the forehead in embarrassment. "Bravo, Ash," wallace said, clapping his hands again. "I should probably start recommending you to the police academy; your powers of observation are, surprisingly, very keen."

"Wallace, this guy couldn't even tell that every single pair of blue-haired guy and violet-haired girl, with a talking Meowth, are the same people chasing him for who-knows-how-long," May interjected.

"Hey, don't act like you were never fooled by their disguises," Ash muttered right back.

Sensing that a heated exchange would be imminent, Wallace quickly changed the subject, and it's something he knew would grab both their interests. "We've been talking here for too long; how's about a meal?" Needless to say, it worked like a charm.


Finding themselves in the (where else?) dining room, Ash spent half the time there stuffing his face full, and the other half telling Wallace and May (and Max when he later caught up to them, having been told by Caroline of recent events) of his adventures in Unova, finishing with, "And then i jumped on Charizard, took off half-way around the world, and now we're here. You all know the rest."

"You all know I have a preference for water-types," Wallace said, "but your Charizard seems to be quite an interesting character. To think you'd be able to circumnavigate the globe in a matter of hours. It's remarkable."

Getting a little impatient, Max clapped his hands together to grab everyone's attention. "Enough about that, I don't want you to talk about a Pokémon I already know, my interest is in the new kinds of Pokémon you found in Unova. Can I see them? Please?"

"Sure, why not?" Ash was about to reach for the Pokéballs in his belt until he came to a realisation, regarding something that he should have remembered a long time ago already. "ACK! I forgot all my Pokémon back in Unova!" Everyone stared at him.


"You're such a kid." This was the first thing Iris said when Ash made contact with his friends back in Nimbasa City via videophone. "What kind of trainer would forget his own Pokémon whenever you have to go somewhere?" Ash's Pokémon seem to be sharing the same sentiment, as they were now trying to push Iris out of the screen's coverage, getting Ash's attention, and not in a friendly way, either. "See what I mean? You'd better find a way to make it up to them, or else who knows what happens."

Ash looked apologetic, wringing his hands in front of the screen as if he was in prayer. "I know, I know." In that instant he immediately thought of a way to make it up to his team. "How's about I transfer all of you here? That way, you guys can see a little of Hoenn before we leave, and have a good time at the wedding, too?"

The lights in their eyes indicated that their collective contempt got switched to adoration again. Ash breathed a sigh of relief. He seems to have gotten out of hot water, for now. And then Ash remembered a brand new problem in the horizon. Cilan seemed to have noticed it, too, and was just glad to point it out. "Because Pikachu doesn't like to go into a Pokéball, Ash, transferring him would be a problem."

Judging by his face, it was like a wall of bricks hit the front of Ash's face when he came to that realization again. "What am I supposed to do? I was in so much of a hurry that I really forgot everything!" He started "praying" again, this time to Pikachu, in hopes of being forgiven. "I'm really, really sorry about this, Pikachu, but unless you get over your fear of getting into a Pokéball, then I can't transfer you with everyone else! I promise I'll make it up to you, I swear!"

Surprisingly, Pikachu reacted well to rodent just nodded in understanding to his trainer, before jumping off view and walking away. "He seems to take 'rejection' really well," Iris cut in the silence that followed Pikachu's departure.

Ash couldn't tell for sure if Iris said that with her usual sarcastic tone, or was actually being sincere. "Did you really have to call it that?" he asked.


One full-team transfer later, and Pikachu would have his revenge after all. The mere thoguht of setting foot on a new region excited Ash's Unova roster. Think like they've eaten nothing but sugar for the past couple of hours. TONS of sugar.

The only sane ones are Snivy and Tranquill, being the most mature of them, managed to keep cool and remain in place. Of course, Ash had something to tell them off with, too, with good reason. He's the only one who's chasing after his Pokémon (Wallace only watched since he's both dumbfounded and confused again, and Max is too much of a fan to see them in their natural element to even try to stop them).

"Hey, how's about fiving me a helping hand here, you girls?" Ash asked the two female Pokémon as he simultaneously clamped his arm around Boldore before he could (literally) spin a Sandstorm and grabbed Oshawott flying around via Aqua Jet with the other hand.

Judging by the sighs they both let out, both females only obeyed and helped their trainer begrudgingly in incapacitating the rest of the Unova team. Think maybe that they conspired with Pikachu to have a little revenge or something?

Ash was lying face first on the floor when all the chaos have finally subsided (for now, anyway, judging by the meaningful glint in some of his mons' eyes). He went up to a sitting position to glare at his (human) companions. "Do you guys take pleasure in seeing me like this? Far as I can tell, I think you do."

"A little bit, yeah," Max replied, smirking.

"Thanks a bunch," Ash muttered in return.

Wallace, meanwhile, dodged the question with a pretty good excuse. "I'd be thrilled to see more of your Pokémon in action, but if you'll excuse me, I still have to prepare for my big day. I'll see the two of you later." And so he left.

It was only when Wallace subtly pointed it out that Ash realized that someone's missing. "Hey, wait just a minute, where'd May go?"

"While you were sweating bullets trying to keep your Pokémon from wrecking the hotel, she already took off. Don't forget, she has to get ready, too, for that special show that she's going to put up for the reception.

"If you're going to go look for her," Max added when he saw Ash spring back to his feet, "try the Petalburg Gym. Since it's League off-season, Dad really has no use for it right now, and she uses the place to rehearse."


What they didn't know was that May wasn't at the gym. Not yet, anyway. She first went back upstairs to her room, stopping by in the adjoining room to greet Caroline and Norman, whose brief disappearance he attributed to League business.

"I heard that that friend of yours was causing another commotion downstairs," Norman said at the sight of his daughter. "He's certainly rowdier than I last remembered him."

Caroline rolled her eyes. "Oh, don't you worry, Normie, I can assure you that Ash doesn't seem to have changed a bit from when we last saw him."

May shrugged. "For his sake, Dad, I'll tell you that he's trying to stop the commotion. None of it his fault, directly, anyway." And then she remembered why she was there in the first place. "I just stopped by to tell you folks I'm going back to the gym to rehearse."

With a quick goodbye, May set off, but not before noticing an envelope tucked underneath the door to her room. Feeling a little lazy, May didn't even bother to open the door; she just pulled the object out. There's something written on the envelope, a pretty long heading (if that's strange, keep in mind the article that started this whole fiasco):

To the Girl for Whom My Marriage was Nearly Ruined

May winced, thinking back to what she might imagine was the chaos Ash caused in his arrival. In her hands, May felt that the contents were a little thicker than what she'd expect. "I wonder what could be inside? Am I getting threatened or something? And why leave it here like that?"

Wary of the envelope because of that heading, May nonetheless ripped it open, less enthusiastically this time, not like when she picked up the package. Inside were a folded piece of paper and a videotape. 'Curiouser and curiouser,' she thought to herself.