A/N: Thanks for the reviews guys. It has occurred to me that we passed by our fiftieth chapter last time and it wasn't something extraordinary or like that, so I guess that's it. Anyway, that was fifty chapters done, and based on how the story is going although the next arcs will be a bit longer, I don't think this will touch another fifty. I don't plan on stretching this out unnecessarily, we'll probably be done in a year or two if I keep up at this pace. Thanks for reading, and I guess here's to twenty-five chapters more?

"So, I've gone over the list of possible moves to use in our Cool segment for the Pokemon Contest," Mr. Jennings said. "And then I updated it again- I trust that everyone has the updated list?"

Everyone gathered in the office nodded- it was flooded with various papers and Mr. Jennings and Duke Hamnet were not actually present but talking to them using telephones.

The Replay Badge was turning out to be a mixed blessing as they prepared for the imminent Pokemon Contest. While on the one hand they could use it to teach several moves to their Pokemon as long as they weren't those that they couldn't learn normally- else they'd be stuck with Pokemon that knew only one move- this meant that they had so many options that they were quite literally swamped at all the choices they had and kept updating their strategies.

"Have we assembled the props?" Brock asked. A few props, just like in Hoenn Pokemon Contests, were allowed.

"Yes," Misty said. "But I think we need something better for the Tough segment than just crushing a boulder- it's good, but not very spectacular."

Ash looked at everything that surrounded him with weary eyes. For the last few weeks, he had eaten and drank nothing but Pokemon Contests for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and even his midnight snacks.

"I think we should move out now," Ash said above the noise. "I think we should go and face her."

Everyone turned to look at him.

"Ash, I think we're going to need some more time," Brock said.

"We'll always need more time, Brock," Ash said. "We keep thinking of new things to add to our act, but that's going to go on forever. If this continues, we'll never think that we'll be ready." Ash then gestured around the room- almost accidentally smacking Pikachu in the head. "And we've done nothing but think about this for so long that I think I'm going to go crazy. It's gotten so bad that no one's even really running the government here anymore and even Mr. Jennings and Duke Hamnet are devoting all their time to this. Look, I get it, this is important, and I don't want to rush into it, but I think that we've reached the point where we're too prepared for this."

"Forgive me for saying this, Sir Ash," Mr. Jennings said in a very serious tone usually reserved for when one talks about religion or politics, "but there is nothing known as being too prepared for something."

Ash sighed. "My point is that we have too many options here and we're not able to do anything because of them. No matter what plan we make we keep second-guessing ourselves and thinking of something else, just because we think that we have all the time in the world." Ash looked each member sitting there in the eye.

"I think Ash might be right," Brock said. "We're sitting here because we're just too afraid that since we have only one shot of taking down Vanessa we should take as much time as possible since there's so much at stake here. But if we just sit here for too long… well, that's counterproductive."

At that point, Ash and Brock were all for throwing the dice right now, but Misty and Mr. Jennings were for waiting for a few more weeks to make a fully detailed plan. The rest of them seemed to be on the fence, which was why Ash spent the rest of two hours getting them on his side.

In the end, everyone including Misty was on board with Ash except for Mr. Jennings- but Mr. Jennings was probably not going to start until they had at the very least a thousand page tome detailing their various plans and contingencies that could arise, so Ash decided that it didn't matter that much.

"So I think we should move out in around three days," Ash said. "Since Vanessa probably thinks that she'll win, we don't need to bother with trying to invade- meaning no- what do you call it?- oh yeah, collateral damage this time."

"We can call her and agree on a ground for a match," Duke Hamnet said.

"What if she doesn't want to fight us right now?" Misty said. "We're ready, but she might want to drag things out."

"I doubt that," Duke Hamnet said. "After all, Pokemon Contests are what put Vanessa on her throne and what will take her off too, and she must know that at the very least. She probably has had quite some practice- on the other hand all of us are veterans only in Pokemon battles, so the longer she waits the longer we have time to prepare and it would be more detrimental to her chances of winning to stall. If she is certain of her victory she would also want this thing over with as soon as was possible so that she could continue whatever it is she normally does."

"Okay, so where should we agree to meet then?" Ash asked. "Wade'll also need to come, so we need to meet up with him first."

"We can meet him near Ponyta Bay," Mr. Jennings said. "And it would be good if he practiced his routine with us first before we leave."

"Agree," Ash said.

Three days passed with furious activity- so much so that at times Ash wondered if he had made the right choice in expediting their departure. He went ahead though, and Wade met up them near Ponyta Bay as was planned.

After they exchanged the usual pleasantries, Ash asked, "Have you ever been in a Pokemon Contest before?"

"I fear not," Wade said. "I never thought it would be a skill I would need- but based on what I've been reading up in my spare time I think I would be good at the Tough and Cool categories, and I recently endeavored to find a Feebas and now I have a Milotic, so perhaps I can contribute to the Beauty segment as well."

"Well that's great," Ash said.

"But I think you and I both know that when it comes to the appeals, we cannot outclass Vanessa," Wade said. "In the end though, our greatest strength lies in how powerful our Pokemon are, and I am confident that at the very least, in that aspect, we can be sure that we'll win."

"Yeah, the problem is the appeal," Ash said. "And also that we can only use a single Pokemon each and can't change it for a round."

"Don't worry though," Wade said. "I'm certain that we shall prevail."

"Yeah, and I'm sure Vanessa thinks the same thing," Ash said to himself quietly as Wade walked away to talk to other people and attempted to stage a conversation with Brock and Misty that was totally not awkward.

It was very awkward.

"So," Wade said as he stepped up to them. "Feeling ready?"

"Yeah," Brock said.

"Yes, and you?" Misty asked.

"Almost," Wade said.

That pretty much exhausted all topics they had to discuss so they just looked around until Misty and Brock found an excuse to leave.


Colonel Nage yawned as the waves calmly rocked the ship back and forth. It was like being in a giant cradle and it was just so hard not to zonk off, haven been given the most boring assignment in the world by Lord Wade, after all.

His crew mates were nothing exciting, and they were probably either playing poker or sleeping right now, even though the sun was bright out. Every once in a while, one of them would come on deck, take some instruments, read and record them, and go on back.

Their ship was a beauty with three masts and made completely out of timber- no cement at all. It was an extremely advanced ship… if you considered the design had been made five hundred years ago. Wade liked the design, had the ship made, but of course no use was ever found for it and so it was handed off to people like Colonel Nage to use in order to monitor the Barrier a bit more closely.

And by closely, Colonel Nage wasn't kidding. They were only around fifty meters away from the Barrier. It was actually illegal in Galea to wander anywhere near the Barrier closer than one hundred meters from it but it was a law that was poorly enforced- since pretty no one in all of Galea was stupid enough to go and try dallying by the Barrier.

The majority of people were extremely superstitious about the Barrier, and odd stories circulated around on how people seemed to vanish when they got near the Barrier- never to be seen again. Colonel Nage wrote those off as rumors that were probably started by the Gym Leaders so that people wouldn't go crowding around the Barrier like it was the Ruins of Grisigoth.

This was probably good for Colonel Nage as it meant that he didn't have to deal with any pesky civilians trying to sneak about while he was working.

It was as he absentmindedly was looking out into the waves that he noticed it. He blinked- surely he was mistaken?

The Barrier was smooth and flawless, but just in front of him Colonel Nage saw, for the first time in days that there was the tiniest of what looked like a fracture in the Barrier.

"Crew! Get over here now!" he shouted out.

He heard the footsteps of his juniors as the crack suddenly became larger and the Barrier opened up to embrace his ship in a huge cornucopia of light.

After it disappeared there was nothing left but the plain sea and the waves swirling about as normal as they had done so for an eternity unbroken.

Colonel Nage, his ship, and his crew were nowhere to be found. Not that anyone noticed they were missing until three days after the incident.


Ash looked at the border between Linnea's and Vanessa's domain. It was sharply demarcated as the land on his side was grass no higher than twelve inches, and on the other side was dark red clay soil in contrast to the black loamy soil of what was now his territory and it had clumps of small ferns scattered throughout what was mostly a barren plain.

Ash tapped his foot in impatience. The border was impressive, but he had been waiting here for two hours as they had sent a messenger to Vanessa to tell her that they were ready and now they were waiting for an escort to take them to wherever the Pokemon Contest was going to be held. Ash would've just gone on ahead, but the others said that even if they were enemies, in this case since they were agreeing to challenge them openly it would be best to follow etiquette.

The others were involved in various activities- some of them were just looking over their own preparations for the Pokemon Contests while Gulliver and Brock were playing some kind of children's card game. Only Wade seemed to be doing nothing- or at least he seemed to be gazing out at the horizon absentmindedly, so Ash decided to strike up a conversation.

"So," Ash said- Wade suddenly turned to him, startled- "I've been wondering about something lately. Ya know how the Badges prevent you from aging, right? But when I beat you, you didn't suddenly age fifty years and neither did the others."

"It does not work like that," Wade said. "While we have a Badge, we're saved from ageing. When we lose it, our bodies are simply as old as the Badges kept them- in other words when we first received our Gym Badges."

"So, Linnea, Freyja, Marley, and Thomdolt are going to age normally then?" Ash asked.

"I am not so sure," Wade said. "The Badges store a bit of energy in their wielders… and those who become Elite Four members imbibe a bit of their power permanently within their bodies and remain immortal even though they gave them up. It is possible that they will age once that energy wears off so I would hazard a guess that they will begin to age normally. I am not so sure regarding these things as a Gym Leader usually is sent to the chopping block once he is defeated. The only real exception before you came would've been Sir Fredrick, I suppose, but I don't know what has happened to him."

"I saw him, he's still alive," Ash said.

"Truly?" Wade asked.

"Yeah," Ash said and told him about the time Fredrick had come to deliver a message.

"I can't know for sure how much he's aged unless I saw his face," Wade said and trailed off.

Wade didn't give any further replies, so Ash asked another question, "Why are the territories in Galea so different? I mean, you can really tell when you cross a border."

"They are not man-made," Wade said. "They say at the beginning, Lord Arceus created Galea on eight different days, creating one of the domains each day. So they are naturally quite distinct from each other."

"I never heard that legend before," Ash said. "And I mean I've seen Arceus too and I didn't know that."

Wade unexpectedly started laughing. It wasn't a weird laugh- but Ash had never seen him laugh before and everyone in their vicinity suddenly stopped whatever it was that they were doing and looked at them, wondering what was wrong.

"I'm sorry, but that was truly funny," Wade said once he had calmed down. "Really? You saw Lord Arceus himself? The very creator of the universe?"

It was then that Ash realized that Wade didn't believe him, and as he opened his mouth to try and convince Wade otherwise, he realized that there was nothing he could really say that would prove to Wade that he wasn't lying. And even if Wade said that he believed Ash after much talking, it would probably be because Ash was in charge.

"Hey look, I think they finally managed to arrive!" Brock said, pointing off into the distance, where a group of people were approaching them… rather slowly.

Ash put the conversation out of his mind for the time being and looked at his Pikachu, who nodded.

Ash smiled. As long as they were together, he didn't know what it was in this universe that they couldn't take on together.

A/N: That ends this chapter. Thanks for reading, and do please review if you liked.