Thanks to everyone who has supported this story and stuck with it, I came back and found several people asking when I would continue the story which honestly means a lot to me. I hope that you'll continue to enjoy this story. Feel free to offer any advice you have, I'm always willing to listen and improve.

'– This will be Pokémon Speaking (People cannot understand it unless I say otherwise. Ash can get the gist of it due to his close bond with his Pokémon.)

Italics – This will be telepathy

"– Is, of course, regular speech.

Let the chapter begin!

Ash looked up and wasn't surprised to see the imposing form of Cynthia stood over him with an almost innocent smirk on her face. In her right hand she had a slowly melting snow cone while she held another in the hand hidden behind her back. Despite still feeling down about not getting to battle Burgh for the badge, Ash couldn't stop the smile quickly forming on his face as he looked up at Cynthia. There was just something about the Sinnoh Champion that was able to immediately brighten his mood. "I guess you're right. So, what are you doing here Cynthia? I thought you'd come to Unova for a vacation."

A small shrug was Cynthia's initial response as she revealed her other hand which was holding a second snow cone "I was just sightseeing; I hear that's what people do on vacation. I know it's probably not exactly a tourist trap here, but I thought I'd explore as much of Unova as possible and I couldn't turn up the chance to try a famous Castelia snow cone. I saw you walking by and thought we could catch up over a snow cone if you're interested."

Cynthia held out the second snow cone to Ash who chuckled lightly and gratefully took the frozen treat and watched as Cynthia sat down next to him on the step outside the gym. "Thanks, I really needed to talk to someone after the past few days I've had."

Before Cynthia could ask what had happened Eevee quickly jumped from Ash's shoulder to Cynthia's and started nuzzling her face drawing a small laugh from the Champion of Sinnoh. After a few moments Cynthia took Eevee off her shoulder and hugged her, she'd grown fond of the little Eevee and was happy that she seemed to feel the same. "Well hello to you too Eevee."

Ash once again couldn't help but smile as he watched Eevee who was usually still quite timid be so openly affectionate with Cynthia. "Eevee has really taken a shine to you Cynthia, she hasn't let anyone else get that close to her yet."

That surprised Cynthia a little, she knew that the fox was obviously going to be skittish after everything she's been through but had expected that she would let some people get close to her. It honestly made Cynthia feel quite honoured that she was one of the few people that Eevee was so comfortable with. "Well I can wholeheartedly say that the feeling's mutual. Are you feeling better now Eevee?"

Eevee nodded and snuggled a little closer to Cynthia, she felt comfortable and safe in the arms of Cynthia, not as much as she did in Ash's arms, nothing would ever match that, but it was close. Ash smiled as he saw how safe Eevee obviously felt was with Cynthia, she was usually quite shy around people, even Iris had had to wait a little while before Eevee would allow her to even hold her but Cynthia seemed to be an exception to the rule.

Ash watched as Eevee suddenly took a lick at the rapidly melting snow cone still in Cynthia's hand which brought a soft smile to the Sinnoh champions face. As Ash watched Cynthia offer the rest of the snow cone to Eevee, a rather devious thought popped into Ash's mind, he tapped on Cynthia's should and smiled softly at her. "Here Cynthia, have some of my snow cone."

There was a brief moment where Cynthia's eyes widened ever so slightly and the slight dusting of a blush formed on her cheeks before she quickly forced it away and put her Champions mask back in place. "That's very kind of you Ash."

With her arms full thanks to Eevee still gulping down the remnants of her snow cone Cynthia had to trust Ash to hold the snow cone close to her. Ash gave a quick nod of his head and slowly moved the snow cone towards Cynthia, just as she was about to reach out and take a lick Ash pushed it forwards getting it all over Cynthia's face. There was a moment of silence as Ash pulled what was left of the frozen treat away from Cynthia who has in complete shock, during her time as the Champion of Sinnoh no one had had the audacity to do anything remotely close to that.

As the snow cone dribbled down her face Cynthia couldn't deny that she was a little annoyed by Ash's prank, but at the same time it was a relief that someone was treating like any other person rather than acting how they think they should around a champion. The sounds of almost hysterical laughter coming from Ash brought Cynthia out of her thoughts, the Sinnoh champion forced an angry expression on her face and slowly turned to face Ash with a glare. "You… Are so dead. Ketchum."

Ash could tell that the threat was half hearted but still jumped to his feet and started to run back towards the docks with Cynthia in hot pursuit, she tried to keep a look of mock fury on her face but couldn't stop herself from laughing as she chased after Ash. The combination of being treated like a normal person and Eevee licking the remnants of the second snow cone from her face had put her in too good a mood.

As he reached the docks Ash looked back and watched Cynthia now walking towards him, her focus once again on Eevee. Ash had to admit that it was nice to see Cynthia so laid back. Usually whenever he saw her either in person or in photographs she seemed as though she was carrying the weight of the world on her shoulders, a feeling Ash knew far too well after his years freeing legendary Pokémon and world saving. So, seeing her smiling, laughing and acting more carefree was nice, he really hoped he could see Cynthia smile like this more often. Once Cynthia reached him, Ash held up his hands. "I surrender."

Cynthia wasn't quite ready to end their game yet though and had a few evil ideas of her own but before she could put them into motion the pair saw a couple of young kids, each holding an open Pokéball and crying. Ash and Cynthia shared a quick nod and then walked over to the kids, crouching in front of them. "Hey what's wrong?" Cynthia asked calmly.

The boy simply continued to cry as the girl composed herself and managed to talk between sobs. "Some guys… stole our Pokémon… they had weird black uniforms."

At least they knew they were looking for one of the evil teams, the question was which one, it could be Team Plasma or Team Rocket. Cynthia was hoping that it was the former, even though they were a much more dangerous threat it would give her the chance to find out more about Team Plasma's goals. Ash on the other hand was hoping it was Team Rocket so he could track down the people that had imprisoned Roxie in Virbank. "Did they have anything on their uniforms."

This time the boy managed to calm down as he remembered the most prominent part of the uniforms. "Yes, they had a big letter R on them."

That confirmed that the thieves were in fact Team Rocket, Ash and Cynthia thought stealing Pokémon from two young children was a little odd for a Team Rocket operation considering that their Pokémon would likely be rather weak. Both of them quickly pushed the thought aside, the reasons didn't really matter, all that mattered was that they had stolen the Pokémon from these kids. This time Ash crouched in front of the kids gaining their attention. "Don't worry you two, we're going to go get back your Pokémon."

The kids looked at each other hopefully and then back at Ash and Cynthia. "R-really?"

Cynthia smiled and gave a quick nod as she and Ash stood up. "Yes, what I need you to do is go to the police station and tell the Officers what you've told us. Then tell them that Cynthia Shirona requests a unit of officers to be sent to the sewers."

Smiles appeared on the kids' faces at the thought of getting their Pokémon back. "Yes ma'am." They both then ran off towards the police station leaving Ash and Cynthia to start heading towards the sewers. The former was almost ecstatic that he'd get the opportunity to potentially get payback for what happened to Roxie in Virbank City.

Cynthia saw the smirk on Ash's face and found it a little worrying, it wasn't the kind of look she expected Ash to even be capable of making. There was obviously a lot more going on than Ash was saying, and she intended to find out. "There's something you're not telling me."

Ash plastered a look of confusion on his face hoping it would fool Cynthia, although deep down he knew that that was extremely unlikely. "Huh? What do you mean?"

An exacerbated sigh escaped Cynthia as she stood in front of Ash forcing him to stop. "Please don't lie to me Ash." The softness in Cynthia's tone made guilt quickly replace the fake confusion on Ash's face and he looked away. A little ashamed that he had tried to lie to Cynthia, especially since she had told Professor Juniper that he could be trusted. Ash felt Cynthia place a hand on his cheek and he let her gently move his head back, so he was looking straight into her grey eyes. "Please, tell me the truth."

Any resolve Ash had left vanished at the way Cynthia had almost begged him to be honest with her. It wasn't that Ash didn't want to tell her; he just didn't want to give her something else to worry about when she was already dealing with so much. Although now it seemed as though lying in the first place had given her more to worry about already. "It's just… I have a bone to pick with them for something Team Rocket did in Virbank City."

Before Cynthia could ask for more details, she spotted a black clothed figure out the corner of her eye and quickly turned around watching a Team Rocket member try, and fail miserably, to sneak into the sewer unseen. Cynthia turned her attention back to Ash and gave him a look which basically told him that they weren't done here, and they would talk about this later. Ash simply nodded and the pair quickly made their way to the entrance of the sewer, doing a far better job of sneaking that the Team Rocket agent had done.

Once inside Ash and Cynthia stuck to the shadows and watch a small group of grunts patrolling the area, obviously there in case someone tried to do exactly what Cynthia and Ash were currently doing. They already had a horde of Pokémon around them, mostly just the generic poison type Pokémon like Ekans, Koffing and Zubat that were commonly associated with the evil organisation. The Pokémon looked poorly trained which made Ash and Cynthia feel guilty for what they were about to do to them, but sadly they had no choice if they wanted to retrieve the stolen Pokémon.

Ash and Cynthia waited until the grunts had turned their back and quietly sent out most of their Pokémon, the only exceptions being Togekiss and Noctowl simply because they would struggle to be that effective in such a confined space. On the count of three their Pokémon charged out of cover and in mere moments had launched attacks against the group of Pokémon belonging to Team Rocket. The combination of Ash and Cynthia's Pokémon was far too much for the Pokémon belonging to Team Rocket and they were all swiftly knocked out.

Upon seeing their fallen Pokémon, the grunts quickly returned their Pokémon and fled splitting into two different groups. The first headed into the cave connected to the sewers while the second group charged up the stairs into daylight. "We have to split up, I'll follow them through the cave. You follow them up there." Cynthia instructed.

Ash nodded and the pair split up each chasing down their group of Team Rocket grunts, Ash charged up the stairs while Cynthia followed the path that lead into the caves. After a short chase through the caves Cynthia and her Pokémon quickly caught up with her group who were now huddled in a corner fearful of what the Champion of Sinnoh would do to them. Meanwhile Ash had also caught up to the group he had chased and were cowering in a corner just like the ones Cynthia had chased.

Suddenly a group of Pokémon appeared behind both trainers Pokémon who turned to face their new opponents, growling a little that they had been ambushed by Team Rocket. The numbers didn't faze them though and they both prepared for battle, both hoping that their companion was safer than them right now. Even though Ash and Cynthia knew how powerful each other was they couldn't help but worry about each other. Although they quickly had other things to worry about as the Pokémon belonging to Team Rocket attacked

Authors Notes

Well, there's the long-awaited chapter 26, I hope you enjoyed it. I'll see you all soon... hopefully.

Pokémon Ash currently has with him: Pikachu, Eevee, Deino, Noctowl, Gengar & Infernape