"Remarkable! So many legendary Pokémon!" Professor Cerise said going over the information they had gathered. "Truly outstanding research!" Professor Birch chimed in. "Well I think I've seen enough, plus my wife will be expecting me home in a few days. I will send my report and an outstanding recommendation to continue the funding here. Ashley if you wouldn't mind seeing me out." Birch said, grabbing his bag. "Of course Professor." Ash said with Rowlet in his arms.
"You know you actually had me fooled there for a while." Professor Birch said with a smile. "What do you mean?" Ash asked, worried. "You're pretending to be someone you're not." Professor Birch said, turning to face Ash. "No I'm not." Ash said amidst a panic, Clemont convinced him to tell his friends but promised he'd let Ash do it as he's ready, he didn't want May or Max finding out second hand. "Please, you put up an act wearing those clothes, but I can just tell these things. Don't worry so much though. No one will look down on you for wearing dresses, but you don't need to always pull the tomboy act to make people take you seriously. You are a wonderful young lady, and a talented trainer, just try to be true to yourself." Professor Birch said, giving words of wisdom. Ash almost collapsed from relief, he still was clueless. Ask waved as the cab took Professor Birch to the airport.
Now it was time to move back into his room. Between him, Goh, and Chloe, everything was back in his room, a bit disorganized but there. As he was putting some of his clothes away he came across the dress he bought in Kalos. He still didn't like them but he spent a lot of money on this, and maybe deep down Professor Birch was right. For now it was carefully put in his closet with the rest of his things. After returning Rowlet back to Alola things had finally returned to normal.
"Hey Ash, do you have a minute?" Professor Cerise asked, knocking on Ash's open door. "Yeah what's up?" Ash asked, turning around. "How did Chloe do on the trip? I know I agreed to let her do research with you two, but I'm her father and I can't help but worry." He said solemnly. "I wish I could tell you, but a lot of the research we were separated for." Ash said apologetically. "From what I did see, she seemed to handle herself just fine, but she should look into having more experience battling just in case." Ash said, trying to turn the conversation to a happier mood. "Thank you Ash I'm glad to hear that." Professor Cerise said, turning to leave. "One more thing, why is it that all her research photos were of you in a dress?" "CHLOE!" Ash yelled running out of the room.
"Ash I can explain." Chloe said waving her arms around. "I didn't know they uploaded automatically!" "I swear I didn't mean to embarrass you." "I just liked the outfit!" "I just wanted to have some fun!" Chloe shouted, as Ash calmed down. "What do you mean?" Ash asked. "Being the daughter of an aspiring Professor, there wasn't a lot of time for fun, or many friends growing up. I had Goh and Mila but that was it. Then you come here having seen the world! We're the same age, and yet before I met you I had barely seen outside of Vermillion City. Don't get me wrong I love Parker, he's my little brother, but when you started dressing like this, and then Professor Birch coming by, and you pretending to be a girl. Well it was special to me. Like I had a sister almost." Chloe said, hanging her head. "You know, it wasn't almost like that." Ash said sitting down. "We are a family, maybe not by blood, but we are still a family of sorts, all of us. If you want to think of me as a brother or I guess even a sister that's fine by me." Ash said with a smile. "Really?" Chloe said with a sniffle. "Really." Ash responded.
"Now come on! Let's go do something you desperately need." Ash said standing up. "What's that?" Chloe asked. "Practice."
The two had picked up Goh and they were in the outskirts of Vermillion city. "Okay Chloe, we're just going to focus on battling right now. Pick and Pokémon and just go for it." Ash said confidently. "Koffie!" A wild Koffing shouted coming out from around the corner. "Okay Eevee, use Assist!" Eevee surrounded itself with electricity as it hit the Koffing. "It's coming in for an attack, tell Eevee to get out of the way." Ash said, trying his best to coach. "Eevee dodge and use Assist!" Eevee narrowly dodged as it kicked up a stone that caught fire before colliding with Koffing. "Wait, that's Cinderace's Pyro Ball!" Goh shouted surprised. "Koffing!" The Koffing almost laughed as it started spewing out smoke. "It's trying to get away don't let it!" Ash said quickly. "Okay Yamper one more time. Use Assist!" Eevee shouted and Ash knew instantly that it was Noivern's BoomBurst. "Now through a pokeball and catch it!" Goh cheered. "Alright go Pokeball!" Chloe said, throwing the pokeball at the Koffing. After a few seconds of heated hesitation, the ball stopped moving. Chloe had caught another Pokémon.
"I can't believe I did that!" Chloe said during the groups dinner. "I can't believe Eevee can call upon our Pokémon's moves." Goh said between bites. "I can, it's like I told you Chloe, we're a family." Ash said happily. Feeling his phone go off, Ash discreetly checked it to see a message from Professor Cerise. All it said was, 'Thank You'.