Serena / January 3rd
"It's an evil unlike no other" Jason said. "I first discovered of their existence when I came across a fire-type slayer who specialized in water-types... I wasn't able to defeat her"
"Where were you this whole time anyway?" Gary inquired
He put his hand on his head like he was trying to remember something. "When I first woke up, I was stranded in the middle of the desert, locked away in some kind of pyramid, and my hand was bleeding from gripping a shard of gold metal too hard"
"Is there even a desert in Kalos?" Ash asked
"A pretty large one actually" I nodded in confirmation
"I saw things of the future" Jason continued. "This tale isn't over. The upcoming Tournament of Regions could change everything..."
"Professor Sycamore said that each region were to gather ten battlers to compete, and he wanted to get as many type-masters as he could" Ash said
"The professor..." Jason remembered
After a long walk, we finally made it back to Lumiose City and towards the professor's lab. Professor - or principal as I knew him - Sycamore was surprised at Jason's return, and the fact that he had some kind of amnesia. While they talked, we waited with all of the Pokemon, who were happy to see us again - there had been situation a couple of weeks ago, where Team Rocket attempted to steal all of the Pokemon, and we had been the ones to stop them.
"Glad to see your doing better Garchomp" Ash patted its head
"Pika!" Pikachu added
I sighed and shook my head at the memory. "I just hope we don't have to go through that again"
"Right" Gary agreed. "I don't even think I would have done something that reckless"
"I remember watching that on Tv, and I have to say, that was pretty bold" Anna said
Professor Sycamore, with a proud smile on his face, and Jason entered the room. We parted from the Pokemon and gathered back in the center of the room, eager to hear the news.
"I was having some difficulty creating a team of ten, but now I've got an excellent idea!" Sycamore announced. "It's not just about power, but team cooperation as well, which is why the ten will be:
Anna, Ash, Serena, Clemont, Gary, Calem, Sawyer, Tierno, Trevor, and the tenth member will be a surprise"
"You're not competing Jason?" Ash asked
"I wouldn't be allowed to" He shook his head
"Why not? The only rule is no champions or elite-fours" I pointed
"They're looking for me... I shouldn't be here in the first place" Jason vaguely explained
"Who's looking for you? The bells again?" Gary replied
He randomly pointed towards the corner of the room. "Has anyone ever see that Pokemon before?"
We turned, and it was simply a Krabby emerging from the small pond in the grassy room. It gave us a strange look back, as if it were unaware that it had done something bad - and it hadn't.
"It's just a Krabby" Anna said
Turning back, Jason had vanished, and it was apparent that we had fallen for the oldest trick in the book; even Professor Sycamore seemed a bit taken back that he had suddenly disappeared.
"He really did that with a straight face..." Gary said
"I'll go look for him" Anna sighed
Anna exited the room, a half-frustrated and half-annoyed look on her face, like a parent with a misbehaving child - from what I had heard, it wasn't exactly wrong.
Professor Sycamore cleared his throat. "Well, the other regions should be arriving in Kalos today from what I know"
"A month in advance?" Gary asked
"It's an extremely large tournament, and the first of its kind" Clemont explained. "You should see the arena they made, it's about three times larger than the one that they use for the Kalos league"
"The other regions have arrived this much in advance so that they can settle in and begin training, which means we'll be doing the same" Sycamore added. "You all will have the month off of school so that we can begin preparing, and we'll be staying at the inn by the stadium"
Ash leaned in close to me so that he could whisper: "The professor is really serious about winning this tournament. I mean, not that I'm not, but giving us the month off..."
"Well, considering the reward, it was to be expected" I said in all fairness
Ash / January 4th
It was around two in the afternoon when Gary ran up the stairs into my room, panting like he had just a ran a mile. He look up at me and raised one finger, but was struggling to get the words out of his mouth.
"Y-Your... girlfriend... is here for you" He finally got out
"Is it time already?" I looked at my clock - today, there was a party for the competitors for each region to attend and introduce themselves to each other; combatants were allowed to bring a plus-one, like a date. "And why are you so tired?"
"What do you mean why am I tired? I ran up the stairs" He responded, and I blinked at him for a couple of seconds until I realized he was serious
We walked down the stairs, saying goodbye to my mom on the way out, and walked outside to be greeted by Shauna and Serena, who were in the middle of some kind of conversation, but stopped once they noticed us making our way over.
Serena and I held hands on the way to the party, but Gary and Shauna were a little bit more awkward about it, hesitating at first until we called them out on it - all four of us were unsure if they were dating or not. We arrived after a twenty minute walk, and found the rest of our friends waiting by the entrance to the dining hall connected to the arena - there would be a minimum of eighty people attending.
"Took you guys long enough" Calem said. "I want to see who we're up against already"
"I'm interesting in seeing the other regions too" Trevor said. "All the kinds of Pokemon they must have... I'm going to get so many pictures!"
Entering the dining hall, it was clear that we were the last ones to arrive, because we were taken aback by the amount of people spread out through the massive room, eating and talking with each other. Scanning the room, it didn't take me long to spot a familiar face all by himself at the Sinnoh region area of the room. He turned his head up and spotted me staring at him, before giving a small smile and making his way across the room over to where we were.
"Well, if it isn't Ash" Paul said. "I figured you would be competing in this tournament, but knowing you, I had no idea for which region"
"Good to see you too" I chuckled, and we shook hands
"Oh wow, you're Paul!" Sawyer exclaimed. "You're the one who battled Ash in the Sinnoh League"
"That's an odd way to be known for, but I guess you're right" Paul replied, amused at the younger boy's enthusiasm
Our team of ten - excluding Anna, who wasn't here yet, and our still-mysterious tenth member - sat down at our designated table along with Paul, and conversations broke out among our teammates and other region's members.
"So I assume that you're the strongest one on Sinnoh's team" I said
Paul shook his head. "You'll be surprised to find out who"
"Look who it is, it's Ash. I might have had to have fined you if I hadn't found you myself" Barry appeared, taking a seat next to Paul
"Hey Barry, it's been a while" I replied
"Too long" He agreed, nodding. "I knew I would find you here, I just didn't know for which region, and I definitely didn't predict Kalos"
By now, it had gotten really loud for all of the conversations. I heard my name get called out by two familiar voices in sync, and I turned to find Brock and Misty heading over from the Kanto table.
"Ash! You're really here!" Misty said
"I didn't expect anything less" Brock added. "Though for which region you would compete for was a total mys-"
"Mystery, yeah, I know" I smiled. "Good to see you guys"
"Are these your friends, Ash?" Serena inquired, turning in her seat to face them
"Guys, this is Serena, my girlfriend" I said
"Wow, Ash really did it before me" Brock nodded and smiled approvingly
"That is a surprise, considering how dense he use to be" Misty said
"I'll have to fine you for not informing me about this!" Barry said
Our group laughed, but Paul's expression went serious again quickly. "So Ash, who's your team's strongest battler?"
The double doors to the dining hall burst open, and Anna, with an annoyed expression on her face, entered the room, dragging in Jason by the wrist. Anna was dressed for the occasion, while Jason was wearing a white robe and a navy-blue bandana - both of them had slightly messy hair however.
"Her" I answered as they made their way over
"What happened to you guys?" Gary asked
"Not much" Anna shrugged. "Well, besides the amnesia that is"
"Why do I have to be here? I'm not even competing" Jason muttered, folding his arms across his chest and scanning the room
Suddenly, the room's temperature dropped to the below zero, and all of the chatting died down as we were all too cold to speak. Our teeth instantly began to chatter, and we crossed our arms across our chest to get warm. Ice inched up the walls of the dining hall and up the roof, even freezing one of the ceiling lamps.
"W-Why'd it get cold all of a sudden?" Serena questioned
"That would be our strongest member" Paul pointed to the entrance of the dining hall, where a silhouette beneath the sunlight appeared
"It's the presence of a type-master" Jason pointed out, unaffected by the cold
The figure stepped into the dining hall and scanned the room; I was shocked to see who stood at the door, with the massive presence and the title of the strongest battler from Sinnoh - Dawn. Her eyes continued looking around, until we made eye contact, and she broke into a smile, jogging over to meet us.
The coldness died down, and the chatting resumed while Dawn reached our table, standing over Paul and waving at me. "Ash! Long time no see!"
"Hey Dawn" I smiled back, waving as well
"I knew you would be here, but I didn't know for which region you would be competing for. Looks like you've moved onto Kalos though" She said
Jason's eyes landed on Dawn, and they narrowed slightly. "The ice-type master, and one of the strongest battlers in all of Sinnoh"
"You're the ice-type master?" I asked, shocked
"Yup! Isn't that cool!" Dawn confirmed with a grin. "I found out not that long after we last saw each other, and since then, I changed professions. Turns out I've got a natural ability for using Hidden Arts"
"How many type-masters are on your guys's team?" Brock inquired
I quickly counted each of them. "We've got five of them, including me"
"You?!" all of my friends said
"I didn't find out until pretty recently, but I'm the water-type master" I explained
"Oh man" Misty pouted - she must have been hoping to be the water-type master, considering how much she likes water-types
"Five type-masters though. You guys are definitely going for the win" Dawn said
"I should fine you for having that much of an advantage!" Barry added. "Though I do wonder how many type-masters are here"
"Well, we have the twin-masters representing Kanto" Misty informed
On cue, two unfamiliar boys around my age appeared next to Brock. The one on the left had messy blonde hair, brown eyes, and wore white pants along with a white shirt that had blue sleeves; on the right was his completely opposite - dark-black hair, eyes, and an all-grey attire.
"Hey, it's Ash" the blonde said, his grin remaining. "My names Leo, and the un-talkative one is Victor. I've waited quite a long time to meet you"
"How do you know me?" I asked
"I've seen all your league matches, and I have to say you were my inspiration to becoming as strong as I am" Leo answered, rubbing his index finger under his nose nervously
"Speaking of type-masters, I know the dark-type master is here representing Johto, the rock-type with Alola, and the flying-type with Galar" Victor said
"I didn't know Kalos had so many type-masters" Leo said. "I can feel the presence of fire, electric, water, fairy, steel, grass and bug all from Kalos"
"Bug?" Serena and I questioned
Footsteps approached the table, and we spotted Zack making his way over to us. "So these are my teammates. Interesting..."
"So you're our tenth member then" Tierno said
"That gives us six type-masters, which is more than half our team" Trevor pointed out
"Underestimating normal trainers would be a grave mistake though" Paul reminded
"He's right" Jason agreed. "Without proper and long enough training, type-masters aren't that much stronger than normal trainers"
"You're suppressing your presence" Victor stated. "Why is that?"
"I shouldn't be here, that's why" Jason glanced at the clock. "It's about time I leave. Don't enjoy yourselves too much"
"What'd you do anyways? Steal a chocolate bar from the store?" Anna looked unamused as Jason was beginning to walk away
"Now's no time for sarcasm" He said, his back still facing her
"I was being serious. You make it seem like the devil is chasing you"
"If only that were the case" Jason turned around - in his eyes, I momentarily saw the image of the entire arena on fire
"Then what's so important that you're running away for?" She stepped forward until they was barely any distance between them
"It's none of your concern"
"If you remembered me, then you know it would be"
Their foreheads pressed against each other, like the scenes in cartoons where two characters were having a comedic argument, except this seemed to be serious - both of them gave each other a scowl; the temperature in the room rose a couple of a degrees, while electricity sparked on the ceiling lamps.
"You're not exactly one to talk, disappearing out of nowhere for five years" Jason revealed that he remember her, before leaning back and beginning to walk away again. "This tournament has no winner, so enjoy the fun while it lasts"
