Author's Note: So glad the last chapter's battle was well-received. I keep getting questioned on whether or not Greninja will return, and the fact is that I'm pretty sure that once the real tournament gets started, the answer is yes.

10: Heigh Ho Kommo-o!

Chairman Rose was not in the best of moods as the dawn broke across his city, "And you've yet to find the beast?" He questioned his secretary. "It can't have gone far for something so massive."

Oleana frowned, "No, of course not, Sir," she said, "We have all available personnel looking for it...all except Leon, of course." She said, "And, as you've ordered, the main generators have been diverted to power the city's businesses, but that won't be enough to power the stadium, or Rose Tower."

The man just waved it off, "There's nothing we can do about that," he said, "The creature aside, I will not allow my city to suffer while I live in comfort with enough energy to power the city under my feet." He frowned as he leaned back in his chair and looked out the window, "Curse this region and its freak weather changes! I thought that we had accounted for all possible outings if something of this magnitude to hit."

"It was a lightning strike, Sir," Oleana said, "Nothing can stand against that amount of power, save for maybe certain Pokemon like our lost subject."

"Indeed," he sighed, "When the city begins to stir, make sure to give a public announcement that we are trying to get everything up and running as soon as possible. And have the generators that power the containment fields in Eternatus' holding area checked. I don't want the beast escaping again should a storm like this pop up in the future."

Oleana nodded as she left the room to do his bidding, "Er, Sir?"

"Yes?"

"What about the elevators?" She asked.

"Oleana please," the man groaned, "Just take the stairs for once." He pleaded as the woman sighed and shut the door behind her. Outside his window, the rain had stopped, and was now replaced by flakes of snow the size of cotton balls. "Oh, the joy of Galarian weather changes." He groaned, feeling the cold sinking into his bones.

ガラル

Some time later as the sun rose higher, Ash was awakened by a light pounding on their room's door. Serena, he found, was still asleep with her head resting on his left arm. Groaning, he slid out from under her and out of bed. "Brr." He grumbled, finding the room unusually cold. "What the heck?" He wondered as he saw a misty puff from his breath.

He grabbed up his jacket, and stumbled toward the door. "Mister Ketchum?" Said a bell hop holding a couple of boxes as he opened the door, "I'm sorry for disturbing you so early, but I'm sure you've noticed that the power is still out?"

"Is that why it's so cold?" He asked, shivering slightly, "The weather was pretty pleasant until that storm yesterday."

The man sighed, "That's the Galar Region for you, Sir," he said, "The weather around here changes so fast you can never predict what's going to come next." He gestured to the window behind him, "It started snowing earlier this morning, and now the entire city's covered."

"That does explain the cold," Ash said, "And the tournament?"

He shook his head, "Chairman Rose has diverted all of the remaining generators to supply energy to the rest of the city. The hotel and the stadium are completely dead as a result. But he's hoping that it'll only take a day or two at the most to fix." He offered him the box he was holding, "As compensation for the discomfort, Chairman Rose sent you a few things. Two Rotom phones with National Pokedex Apps installed, some winter coats, and I do believe that one of these is a delivery from the Hoenn Region. Do you know a man named Dirk?"

Ash smiled as he took the boxes, "Yes, he's the one that made the Poke Balls I use."

"Really?" The man seemed greatly interested, "You know everyone is talking about them. The companies around here have been swamped with questions about how to get them. Both Devon and Silph operated."

"You won't find them on any store shelf," Ash smiled as he set the boxes inside their room and reached into his jacket to give the man a sizable tip. "Here, for the trouble."

"Thank you, Sir," the man smiled and nodded as he accepted the bills, "Sir, if you don't care to stay in the city, then perhaps you can go down into the Wild Area. A snow storm like this will bring out some of the Ice-types and Fossil Pokemon living there."

"What about the Galarian Moltres I've heard so much about?" He asked, having overheard a few people talking about the Legendary Bird. "A friend of mine was looking to try to catch it."

The man frowned, "I wouldn't risk it, Sir," he said, "It's most assuredly still around, but Galarian Moltres are not a Pokemon one trifles with. They are rather vicious creatures."

"Thanks for the advice," Ash said, "But I'm sure it'll be fine. After all, including me, there's gonna be three of us taking the Moltres on so a friend of mine can catch it." He chuckled, "And if he can't handle it, then I doubt anyone could," He said and closed the door as the man turned to leave with a courteous bow of his head.

The sound of the door must have woken Serena because he heard her stirring a moment later, "Ash?" She called out sleepily, "Why is it so cold?"

"Power's out," Ash said as he went back to their room and found her sitting up and huddled under the blankets. "And after that thunderstorm last night, it started snowing this morning."

Serena groaned, "Oh, just what we need," she moaned, "And I didn't think to pack any winter clothes!"

Ash chuckled and sat down on the bed, "Don't worry," he said, "Chairman Rose sent us down some winter coats, and a couple of Rotom phones for for the both of us."

"Really? How nice," she shivered, "Do I have to get out of bed, or are you coming back to keep me warm?"

Ash was all for picking option two before another, more frantic pounding caught his attention. "Oh, now what?"

Serena groaned, "I'll get dressed."

Ash nodded as he went to answer the door, and found Paul there, looking pale as a sheet. "What happened to you?"

Paul looked back down the hall, then back at Ash, "Never mind that," he groused, "I need your help!"

Ash was a little startled to hear this coming from Paul of all people, "Oh, brother, what did you do?"

"Me?" Paul growled, "I didn't do anything! I just need to get outta here!"

Ash crossed his arms, "Tell me what's going on, or I'm going back to bed where it's warm, and that's final."

Paul groaned and covered his face with his palms, "It's Dawn..."

Now Ash reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt, "Paul," the young man in a low tone, "I may not care for her romantically, but she's like a younger sister to me, and if you hurt her - "

Paul pushed him away, "It's nothing like that!"

Ash placed his hands on his hips, "Then you better tell me what it is like, and fast, buster!"

Paul's face gained a small amount of color, "She...she wanted...to cuddle..."

Ash blinked, "I'm sorry, what?"

"Oh, gah, she wants to cuddle!" Paul hissed at him, "Do I look like a cuddle-toy to you?!"

Ash's lip began to twitch, a fact that Paul didn't miss, "Hey, don't you dare laugh!"

And of course, Ash started howling with laughter. Paul scrubbed his face with his hands, "Dammit, it's not funny!"

"Oh, yes it is!" Ash chortled, trying miserably to control himself. "Of all the things to panic about!"

Paul waggled a finger at him, "You don't know what she's been wearing to bed lately!" He snapped, "I swear, I've seen more clothing on swimsuit models!"

Ash sputtered again, and Paul growled as the black-haired teen got better control of himself, "Paul, did it happen to occur to you that she might be trying to tell you something?"

"Only that she is way too tempting for me to handle right now!" Paul hissed, "Seriously, my restraint is at its maximum limit! I'm this close to outright jumping her!"

"Jumping who?" Serena asked as she came to the door, fully clothed.

Ash snorted, "Apparently Dawn is trying to get into Paul's pants."

Serena blinked and looked between to two boys, "And...that's a problem...how exactly?"

"Not sure, but Paul thinks it is," Ash gestured to the purple-haired teen with a grin.

Paul growled at him, "Don't you think this is hard enough on me without you making it worse?"

"Hard, huh?" Ash grinned.

"That's not what I meant!" Paul roared.

A door down the hallway slammed open, "Will you guys shut up?!" Max's voice hollered, "It's six in the bloody morning!"

Another door slammed open, "Like you're making it any better, you loudmouth!" That was Bonnie.

"Children!" Delia hollered right behind her, "Either go back to bed, or get dressed and get going! No more yelling!" She peeked around the door with an angry Pikachu on her shoulder and glared at Paul and her son, "That goes double for you two little hooligans!"

"Yes, Ma'am," was the collective response.

Delia shut the door with an exasperated "Honestly!" before apparently going back to bed.

Ash looked to his side and saw that his girlfriend had wisely chosen to hide behind the door frame to avoid that glare. "Smart move." He nodded in approval, and turned his attention back to Paul, "And don't you think that Dawn will have heard all of this nonsense?"

Paul shook his head, "Are you kidding? She sleeps like the dead!" He frowned, "Please, I don't know how to deal with this!"

"You think I do?" Ash asked with a raised brow. "Serena and I are still as the kissing stage!"

"Really good kissing," they heard Serena sigh dreamily.

Paul shook his head, "There's an image I didn't need." He groaned, "Look, just humor me, and let's go out into the Wild Area. I still wanna catch that Moltres, and it'll give me an excuse to bring along a big group. Galarian Moltres are suppose to be a lot more dangerous than the ones you find in Kanto."

Ash nodded, "Alright, get your gear together, because we're probably in for a long day of looking around, and probably a longer night since the power's not going to be back on in the stadium or the hotel for another day or so." Ash said, looking at Serena with a wink, "I'll round up Max and Bonnie...you're on Dawn duty."

"Right, I'm on Dawn duty," he started back toward their room before - "Wait...I'm on Dawn duty?!"

By the time he turned around the door to Ash's room had already been closed with Ash's uproarious laughter sounding behind it. "Oh, you're gonna pay for that." Paul promised angrily.

ガラル

The snow in the Wild Area was far deeper than what they had passed through in the city, coming all the way up to Ash's thighs, and nearly up to poor Bonnie's chest as the girl was forced to ride on Ash's shoulders.

"Are you sure this is okay?" The little girl asked, "Isn't your shoulder still hurt?"

Ash smiled. In truth, his shoulder had stopped hurting days ago unless someone was deliberately trying to cause him pain. Having Bonnie's weight on his shoulders was no big deal for him. "I'm sure, Bonnie," Ash grinned up at her, "Besides, Clemont would kill me if I let you get lost in a snow bank."

Ahead of them, Barry was having his Empoleon stomping out a path for them to make walking easier. "So," the blond asked over his shoulder, "Any ideas where to find this Moltres you're looking for, Paul?"

Paul frowned as he looked at a map on his new Rotom phone, "The sightings have been all over the place," he said, "It just shows up wherever it wants to, and starts causing mayhem."

Dawn looked over his shoulder at the map, "The most recent sighting was right around here near Lake Axewell." She said, not noticing how Paul stiffened next to her. Waking the bluenette up after making plans to hunt the Moltres down had not been easy. Rather, it was embarrassing for the stoic teen on so many levels that he found it hard to look at her and not remember the fact that when he'd leaned over the shake her awake she'd grabbed him and hauled him down into bed with her. Wriggling his way free had caused the buttons of her night shirt to pop open, which revealed far to much skin for Paul's hormone levels to handle, and so he had relied on her grouchy Piplup to do the deed of waking her up.

[At least I'm not the one she's mad at, right now,] Paul thought idly, [But I'd be furious too if someone blasted me in the face with a Bubblebeam.]

"There's a little spot called the Dappled Grove near that area that would be perfect to set up our camp," Serena pointed out on her own phone, "After that, we can all start looking."

Max was looking at the group with a pout, "How come I can't help catch it?" He asked petulantly.

Ash chuckled, "Max, your dad only just let you become a trainer," he told the boy, "Plus, all you have is your Ralts, right? Galarian Moltres are Dark-types. Poor Ralts wouldn't stand a chance."

Max groaned. Serena took pity on him and patted him on the shoulder, "There's plenty of other Pokemon out here for you to catch, you know." She said before looking around and spotting something tunneling through the snow. "Look there!"

Max looked over to where she pointed and saw the same thing, whatever it was, tunneling around through the snow. It didn't even seem to know they were there or which way it was going as it tunneled around Ash's feet and between Paul's legs, "Hey, watch it!"

"I don't think it - YELP! - Watch it!" Dawn shouted as whatever the Pokemon was tunneled between her legs as well, forcing her to jump right onto Paul's back.

Serena watched it burrowing around as it passed right by her and Max in a circle, "Talk about lost in the snow." Max muttered as it made it's way toward Ash, "Ash, it's coming back your way!"

"Huh?" Ash turned around as the Pokemon ran right into his legs and toppled him and Bonnie over into the deep snow, "YEOW THAT'S COLD!" The sound of a Poke Ball opening caught their attention, followed by an all too familiar PING. Ash sat up and wiped a handful of snow off of his face. "Oh, that did not just happen!"

He searched around for it, then held up a Level Ball that suddenly shone and disappeared. His Rotom phone beeped. {Zigzagoon (Galarian Form) has been added.}

Bonnie sat up behind him and shook her head clean of snow, "Does that mean that Zigzagoon have a different form here?"

Ash took out his phone, and brought up the entry. {Zigzagoon Galarian Form: The Tiny Raccoon Pokemon - Its restlessness has it constantly running around. If it sees another Pokémon, it will purposely run into them in order to start a fight. The Galarian Form of Zigzagoon gains a Dark typing and has a further evolutionary form beyond Linoone. The evolution must take place at night.}

Ash frowned, "That explains all that burrowing it was doing," he said before the phone started ringing, "Professor Oak? Hello?" He said as he answered.

"Ash Ketchum, just what kind of troublemaker did you send me!?" The man roared over the call. "I've seen Zigzagoon before, but this little terror takes the cake!"

"It wasn't on purpose!" Ash promised the man as he picked himself up off the ground and help Bonnie back to her feet, "One of my Poke Balls fell out and caught it by mistake!"

The professor's face appeared disbelieving before he sighed, a crash and commotion going on behind him, "That does sound about like your usual luck," the man said as Tracey darted behind him supposedly in pursuit of his new Pokemon. "But I must insist that you take this one in hand. We're not prepared for such a lively Pokemon like this one!"

While Ash was being yelled at, Paul and the others were chuckling at his misfortune. "This almost makes up for this morning," Paul chuckled, "Almost."

As the day wore on, Ash ended up sending most of his Pokemon, except for Quilava, back to the professor in exchange for Rockruff, Riolu, Meltan and his new Zigzagoon. When they reached the Dappled Grove, they were relieved to find that there was not as much snow around the stony cliffs and set up camp in a small clearing amidst the trees. Ash had Quilava rolling around the area with Flame Wheel to melt the snow.

While he was doing that, Bonnie was helping Max set up their tent when she saw something in a hollowed out tree. "Hey, Ash," she called out as the boy was trying get his tent set up, "Can you lift me up to that hole there?" She pointed up the tree, "I think there's a Pokemon inside."

"I got it," Barry said as he laid out the cooking supplies, and bounded over to Bonnie, and knelt in front of the tree, "Hop on, Bonnie."

Bonnie clambered up onto his shoulders as he stood up slowly, and peered into the tree, "Awww~!" Her little eyes lit up like a Christmas tree, "How cute!"

Barry frowned, "Hey, Rotom, get up there and get us some data, okay?" He said to his Rotom phone, the little possessed machine zipping out and up to where Bonnie was.

{Grookey: The Chimp Pokemon - When it uses its special stick to strike up a beat, the sound waves produced carry revitalizing energy to the plants and flowers in the area.}

The little Pokemon in question was a green monkey-like creature curled up in the hollowed out trunk of the tree, sleeping. Bonnie was captivated, "Ash, can I have one of those Poke Balls, please? The green one."

Ash came over and looked up the tree, "You wanna catch it?"

Bonnie beamed down at him. "Yeah! It's so cute that I can't not catch it!" She giggled.

Ash and Barry looked at each other with a grin before Ash knelt and fished a Friend Ball out of his bag before carefully handing it up to her, "Careful, you don't wanna drop it."

Bonnie giggled again, and primed the ball before tapping it to the sleeping Grookey's head. It was drawn inside and the ball PINGED a second later. Her Rotom phone popped out, beeping, {Grookey has been added.}

"Yay!" She jumped down happily and hugged both boys around the waist, "Thanks, you guys!"

Max grumbled in jealousy, "How come I haven't caught anything yet?"

Half an hour later, the campsite was set up, and everything was ready for their hunt. "We'll need someone to stay here and watch the camp," Paul said, looking pointedly at Barry, who shook his head and made a rude gesture.

"Not me, bub, if there's a Legendary on the loose, then I wanna be the one to catch it when you screw things up!" The blond snapped.

Ash shook his head, "Okay, guys, knock it off," he said before the imminent fight broke out, "The three of us have the most experience here aside from Dawn and Max - "

"How come Max?" Bonnie asked, pouting, "I've got more Pokemon than he does."

"Well, like you, he traveled with me for two years, through Hoenn and through Kanto," Ash told her as Max puffed out his chest in pride, "And his dad is one tough Gym Leader, meaning he knows how to battle really well." Another swell of pride made Max grin, "But he's not coming. His Ralts would be useless against Moltres, and your Pokemon are too young." Max suddenly deflated and fell backward into the snow.

Serena giggled, "Ash, you, Paul and Barry should be the ones to go after it." She said, "I've got no interest in it, and someone needs to get dinner ready."

"I'll stay, too," Dawn said, looking pointedly at Paul, "Just please stay safe this time?" She asked softly before shaking her head, "I'm not sure I could handle seeing you covered in blood again, okay?"

Max and Bonnie looked at each other, "Covered in blood?" They both turned a little green.

Ash nodded, "And that's another reason why you two are staying here," he told the younger trainers, "Hunting Legendary and Mythical Pokemon is never easy and a normal Kantonian Moltres is nothing to sneeze at, believe me, I've faced a few of them," he said with Serena nodding in agreement, "But from all that we've heard about a Galarian Moltres, there's no chance I'm letting you two anywhere near it. Serena and Dawn have some pretty powerful Pokemon, so they can help guard the camp. But if anything happens, call us, and we'll come running right back."

"No need to worry, Ash, because I've also got Braixen," Serena told him, "I called Professor Oak before we set out."

Ash grinned at her, "Good call, at least you won't be cold or defenseless." He stepped over and kissed her tenderly on the cheek, "Remember, if anything happens - "

She tapped him on the nose, "You know that I can take care of myself." She giggled before kissing the tip of his nose where she'd tapped him.

He nodded and went to his tent, "Alright, Paul and Barry, let's arm up."

He had packed the delivery of Apricorn Poke Balls brought to him that morning into another bag, "As promised, Paul, Artisan Poke Balls." He handed the bag off to him.

Paul grinned and opened it up, finding a number of each Ball type that Ash had, as well as three G.S. Balls sitting on the top of the pile. "Three of them?" He looked at Ash, "Are you sure about this?"

Ash nodded, "These are brand new, and fresh out of the forge," he said, "Originally, I had over two dozen of them. Right now I have seven, and Serena has five. The rest are back in Kanto if I need them." He gestured to his own bag.

Paul nodded as he took the three Balls and clipped them to his belt. "We're not gonna go separate directions this time, are we?"

Barry and Ash shook their heads, "Too dangerous, this time, and not in a potential snow hazard." Ash told him. "Now, let's get going. The Wild Area is pretty damned huge, so we'll need to cover a lot of ground between now and dark."

ガラル

Slogging through the snow was worse than Paul had thought it would be, and the random Pokemon that would pop up from beneath it weren't helping. His arm was well out of the sling, but the claw marks his Kommo-o had left still throbbed.

"There's a bridge up ahead," Ash said as he pushed through the snow, "If I'm reading this map right, then that should lead us over to South Lake Miloch." He looked back at Paul, "Where was the last sighting?"

"No where near there," Paul said, checking his phone, "It says that it was spotted by some old ruins. Maybe that's where's been nesting?"

Barry unslung his bag and took out a pair of binoculars. "Ruins, huh?" He frowned as he looked around the area, "There's an old tower if we go back toward Lake Axewell."

Paul nodded, "Let's try it." He pulled out the G.S. Ball Ash had given him in Alola, "Kommo-o, stand by!" He tossed it out, and out came his large Dragon-type.

Barry yelped and nearly fell into the snow, "Holy - wow, that thing is huge!"

"That's what she said," Ash snickered. "Why the sudden need for this guy, Paul?"

Paul frowned, "Because I don't fancy walking all the way back the way we came," he said as he pulled himself up onto Kommo-o's back, "And Kommo-o's more than strong enough to get us there fast."

Ash grinned at him, "I'm all for that!" He reached up and nearly forgot about Paul's bad arm, "Oops, sorry!" He hauled himself up instead.

Barry frowned as he pushed himself up onto the large Dragon, "You guys get injuries that'll give you cool scars, but I end up falling on a cactus." He frowned, as Ash and Paul looked at him, "Talk about bad luck."

Ash and Paul looked at each other. "I think I'd rather have the cactus."

"Ditto," Paul nodded.

"Where!?" Barry yelped.

Ash chuckled, "Not that kind'a ditto, you dope."

"Let's go, Kommo-o!" Paul shouted and the Dragon roared and took off, "Whoa!" As it turned out, Kommo-o was far faster than Paul had thought as the Dragon's powerful legs nearly caused them to fall off.

"Dammit, you're gonna get a fine for speeding!" Barry shouted.

"Yell any louder, and I'll toss you off at the next bridge!" Ash shouted over his shoulder.

"Hey, I'll throw both of you off for being loud if you don't knock it off!" Paul roared, "No fighting on the Kommo-o!"

Now meanwhile, at the entrance to Motostoke. "Drew, for the last time, leave me alone!" Shouted a very irritated brunette.

Behind her stumbled a green-haired teen, "Oh, come on, May, is my company so bad?"

"It is when every other moment you're flirting with me, or another girl!" May shouted in fury, "Seriously, you have got to be the worst skirt-chasing twerp I've ever met!"

Drew scoffed as he followed after, "But that's just a bit of fun!"

"Oh, puh-lease!" She groaned, "I've seen less eager girls chasing around Steven Stone!"

Somewhere in Wyndon City, Steven sneezed, nearly spilling his coffee.

"You're going to freeze to death out here," Drew tried to reason with her, "At least come back and wait for the weather to clear!"

May scoffed, "I've traveled with perhaps the roughest trainer in the world, who's in this tournament, let me remind you, and I've been in worse conditions than thi - "

"COMING THROUGH!"

"MOVE OUTTA THE WAY!"

"RUNAWAY DRAGON POKEMON!"

May whipped around and saw a gigantic bipedal Pokemon thundering toward them like a freight train with an absolute avalanche of snow being kicked up behind it as it ran. On its back was at least one familiar figure, however. "Ash?!" She shouted as the Dragon neared, "Hey! Take me with you, Ash!"

The blond behind Ash leaned out and grasped her around the waist, hauling her off the ground, "I got'cha!" Unfortunately for both parties she landed right on top of him, and the only thing that May had to grab a hold of was Barry's head which was smooshed into her chest. "Whoops!

"Hey, no hitchhikers!" Paul shouted, "Whoa, Kommo-o! Whoa! WHOA!"

Kommo-o, apparently, didn't know what that meant, and only poured on more speed.

Meanwhile, Barry was getting a faceful of their new passenger, "Er, sorry 'bout this!" He mumbled around her chest.

"Don't talk, it tickles!" May yelped.

"Will you stop this crazy thing already!" Ash roared.

"What d'ya think I've been doing!" Paul roared back.

"Could you at least slow it down!" Barry shouted.

"HEY!" May hauled him out of her chest, "Tickle me anymore and you'll owe me more than dinner and a movie!" She snapped with his face smooshed between her hands harshly.

"Sowry!" Barry mumbled.

"Wall!" Ash shouted, "WALL!"

Paul blanched as Kommo-o was headed straight for the ruins, "STOOOOOOP!" Kommo-o dug his heels into the ground and ground to a halt.

Barry was sent flying off the Dragon-type and into a snow back while May was propelled over Ash and Paul and landed on Kommo-o's neck. "Owie..." The girl moaned on account of Kommo-o's hard scales.

"Pfft!" Barry spat out a mouthful of snow. "Man, next time I think I'm gonna walk!"

Ash slid off of the Pokemon's back stiffly, "Ugh, my back," he muttered as he tried to straighten, "And here I used to think riding a Rapidash was bad," he groaned, looking at the brunette slipping off of the Dragon's neck, "You alright, May?"

"Define 'alright', Ash Ketchum," she grumbled at him, clearly not in the mood for his usual antics.

Paul had a very manic twitch on his face, "All I had to do was say stop?"

"Mo?" Asked the Dragon-type when he turned his head, prompting Paul to slide off into the snow sideways.

May, despite herself, bit back a laugh at the trio that had inadvertently saved her from Drew, "Just what have you gotten yourself into now, Ash?"

Ash leaned back with an audible crack sounding from his spine. "Guh, that's better," he frowned and hauled Paul up out of the snow, "And it's a bit of a long story, May, but the short version is that we're basically hoping to help Paul here catch a Galarian Moltres."

"Hopefully," Paul sighed as he brushed himself off. "Barry, you okay over there?"

"Yeah," the blonde chuckled, "Lucky for me I landed on my head."

Ash snorted, and waved at him, "Oh, yeah, he's fine." And May laughed at the blond, too. "But I think you owe May an apology from what I was able to hear back there."

Barry blushed, "Now that was an accident!"

May was sporting a light blush herself, "It's fine, really," she said with her hands up defensively, "Besides, you guys kind'a saved me back there."

Ash gave her a look, "So that was Drew I saw back there?" He growled, "May, do I need to give him a piece of my mind, or - "

May giggled and gave him a gentle shove, "You know better than anyone that I can take care of myself," she said, "You did teach me everything I know, after all."

"Not everything," Ash chuckled, "But I should introduce you." He gestured to Barry, "This is Barry, whom you should know very well after that little stunt." Barry chuckled and blushed nervously as he greeted her. And Ash pushed the stoic teen forward, "This is Paul, a friend I met in Sinnoh a few years back, and he's the son of Pyramid King Brandon."

May blinked at him, "Wow, really?" She stepped forward, eyeing his face, which made Paul slightly nervous, "You know, I see the resemblance." She smiled, "You and Brandon are near identical as far as your facial features." (Author's Note: Put Paul and Brandon side by side and try to deny it.)

Paul gave her a strained grin, "Gee, thanks a lot," he said as he looked up at the ruined tower, "So?" He frowned, "How are we getting up there?"

ガラル

Author's Note: Now I never addressed this in the chapter I brought it up in, but to me, Paul and Brandon do look a lot alike, even their hair styles are slightly similar. And Paul has this obsession with defeating him. His brother even mentions something about Paul wanting to beat their father badly. It kind's alluded to him being his son, but never really went further. So yes, Paul, in my story, is the son of a Frontier Brain, and a strong one at that.

Also, I hope the comedy in this chapter was okay. A little risque, but nothing too bad. The runaway Kommo-o was just too good to pass up. I could actually see that in my head.

Anyway, next up is the Moltres hunt, so look forward to that! Ya know what to do if you wanna see it!

Adios Amigos!