a/n: All of you guys are the best. Thanks for the support. You readers frequently make my day :)
JN Ash in XYZ:
About an hour later…..
Ash met up with Serena in the Lumoise gym. "So, umm I figured now that you know I'm from the future and all, maybe you should meet my new team."
"Of course!" Serena said happily
"Ok great!" Ash said enthusiastically
Ash threw all of his poke balls, "Come on out everyone!"
Lucario, Dragonite, Sirfetch'd, Dracovish and Gengar all appeared.
"Aaaah! A ghost!" Serena yelled out. Gengar smiled at her reaction and flew around the room.
Dracovish tried to eat Sirfetch'd who jumped out of the way, much to Lucario's amusement.
Ash laughed at the chaos, and Serena watched curiously
Dragonite just walked forward and hugged her, catching Serena off guard.
"Hey everyone, umm this is Serena, and she's my girlfriend."
Serena felt her heart skip a beat when she heard Ash introduce her as that. But she mainly felt Dragonite's strength crushing her in a hug. She especially felt the bone-crushing hug.
"Hey… umm mind letting me down?" Serena asked in a tone that implied great pain.
Dragonite complied and set her down, and then patted her on the head.
"Sorry, she's the affectionate one of the group," Ash said sheepishly
Serena giggled after a deep breath, "Well, means she likes me!"
Ash pointed, "And this is Lucario, we can mega evolve, as you saw from the news,"
Serena waved and Lucario shot her a look that seemed to say,
"Hurt his heart, and I hurt your spine"
Serena seemed scared from his glare and looked down at the ground, breaking eye contact between the two.
Ash defended his pokemon, "Ignore that look, he's always like that," Ash explained
"And this is Dracovish, he's a fossil pokemon, so forgive him if he doesn't have any social skills from this er- HEY SET ME DOWN! NO DROP!"
Dracovish bit down on Ash's head and thrashed him around while jumping up and down.
Serena started laughing at the whole scene
"Well, he seems fun!"
Ash sighed as Dracovish set him down
"And this is Sirfetch'd he's very noble."
Sirfetch'd knelt before Serena and laid his leek at her foot
Ash whispered in Serena's ear, "Give him back the Leek, he's asking if he can be in your service,"
Serena did what Ash said and Sirfetch'd jumped happily, excited to have a queen to be in service to.
"And finally, meet Gengar. He's actually a sweetheart despite his looks.. So maybe just give him a chance,"
Serena trembled and Gengar just vanished.
Ash shrugged, "Well, that's my team!"
Serena looked at them all, "They all seem lovely Ash, thanks for showing me! And I'm excited for your performance in the league, with a team like that, you're gonna do incredible!"
Ash smiled, "Thanks Serena, and umm I can't wait. It'll be fun to try again with this team."
"Well, I know you're gonna do great," Serena said with a smile
"With you by my side, I have no doubt about that," Ash said with red cheeks
—-
Fireworks went off, and Ash stood in the arena with the rest of the league contestants. It was time to redeem himself at the site of one of his worst defeats ever. But this time, Alain would have a harder time, considering Ash now had a z ring and a mega Lucario.
The matches were sorted, and Ash was matched up against his first opponent. He was mad, this was HIS chance to win again. Not anyone else's.
The first match was scheduled.
Ash vs a trainer named Jakob
Ash walked in the small arena and saw Jakob smirk at him
"This shouldn't take too long," the cocky trainer said
"We'll see about that!" Ash countered
The referee dropped his flags, "Battle begin!"
Ash pointed out and Jakob released his first, an abnormally large Exploud
Ash smirked and grabbed Lucario's poke ball. This would be an easy win
The battle was over as quickly as it started, the poor trainer never even stood a chance
—-
Two hours later
Ash stood alone in the main stadium, the first round of battles had ended for the day and Ash was through to the round of 32. He stood at the exact same spot where Greninja collapsed the last time he was in this stadium. Ash knelt down and scooped some of the dirt up from the arena and put it in his pocket. He'd remember this, and when he won again, he'd-
"I saw your match," a familiar voice spoke from behind Ash
It was Sawyer, and he gave Ash a light smile
"Since when do you have a Lucario?" Sawyer questioned
"Oh, Lucario? He's been an asset to me on older adventures, so I figured I'd bring him back for the conference." Ash explained to his friend
"Oh, that's cool! I need some more data on Lucario! Especially that mega-evolution you guys do!"
"He isn't even scraping the tip of the iceberg about my new stuff,"
Sawyer started to walk off, "Well, I should be going, I need to get dinner and an early bed to be prepared for the day after tomorrow's battles!"
"Well I'll see ya soon, I'm gonna hang out here a bit longer," Ash said
Ash watched Sawyer walk away and felt the dirt in his pocket, thinking.
Just then, Ash felt a pulse in his bag. Was that? He figured he wouldn't need his Dynamax Band in Kalos, but it seemed to be activated. Maybe there was some intercontinental power spot thing going on? After all, Kalos is the closest region to Galar. Ash smiled at this revelation, it could certainly come in handy in a future battle against Sawyer or Alain. And this time, he'd sweep the Kalos league clean.
Ash finally walked out of the stadium, where Serena was waiting for him, sitting on the stairs outside of the stadium.
"Hey, Ash! Great work out there today!" Serena ran up to her boyfriend and hugged him
Ash's stomach growled and he looked down at Serena, "Hey, do you wanna get out of here and get some food?"
Serena nodded, "I think I know a place…"
—-
"Ya know Serena, I never really thought you'd like this type of place," Ash said impressed
"What? Just because I'm from Kalos doesn't mean I can't enjoy Unovan bar food!" Serena defended herself
Ash and Serena sat down and ordered some food and began talking
"So Serena, what are your plans after the league?" Ash asked
Serena thought for a moment before speaking, "Truth be told, I'm not exactly sure, I'd like to keep performing, but I really want to stay close with you!"
Ash smiled, "That's so sweet, but I mean if I win the league, why don't you stay in Kalos! You can get the title of Kalos Queen, and I can take the champion title!"
Serena blushed, "The king and queen of the region…"
"No one else in the whole world I'd rather share the throne with," Ash said as his cheeks flushed red
Serena leaned back on her chair. "Well, I mean at the rate you're going, I can absolutely see you on the throne,"
"But we gotta go on another adventure together one day," Ash said, imagining all of the places they could go
"We need to go to Alola." Serena stated, "I need a beach trip!"
Ash smiled at the mention of Alola, "I mean I lived there for a while, it's as beautiful as you hear. And the pictures don't even do it justice. Alola really is one of the coolest places I've ever been!"
"Well, I'm glad to hear that! Means I'll have a very good and handsome tour guide!" Serena said with a giggle
Ash smiled at her, "Can't wait for all the adventures we have yet to come!"
—-
Back at the tower later that night:
Serena and Ash stood in front of the computer screen, both very nervous
Serena took a deep breath, "We need to tell our parents"
Ash nodded and put in his mom's number. "Well, I'll go first. Here goes,"
After a few rings, Delia Ketchum picked up the phone
"Ash! It's so nice to see you! I saw you on TV today! That battle was amazing. Oh, Misty dear, Ash is on the line!"
Misty walked on over, towards the screen "Hey Ash! Your mom invited me over for dinner, so I decided to stop by for a home-cooked meal. Takeout gets old after a while. Hey, who's the girl on the screen?"
"Umm, that's why I called you mom. I want you to meet Serena, she's…. She's my girlfriend."
Misty looked like she was just shot in the chest from shock and Delia looked delighted.
"ASH! I'm so happy for you! Go! Get off the line, I need to talk to her….. alone. Serena dear please shoo Ash away." Delia said
Ash walked off at his mother's insistence while Serena whispered him an "I'm sorry"
After a minute or so, Serena waved him back.
Misty just smiled at the screen, "Well, umm take care of Ash please, and Serena, give him a hard smack whenever he's acting like an idiot because he likely deserves it." Misty waved and walked off-screen
"What'd you guys talk about?" Ash asked
Serena blushed, "I'll… I'll tell you later."
"Well anyway, It's getting late, so Misty and I are gonna go now. Ash, please call again soon! And Serena, it was lovely to meet you." Delia hung up with a wave
"What'd she tell you?" Ash asked
Serena's face turned beet red, "Umm she just told me to make sure that we use protection…."
"SHE SAID WHAT!" Ash said with his face turning bright red
Serena was frankly shocked Ash understood what that meant.
"Well, umm sorry about that.." Ash said embarrassed
"Yeah, no worries… that's still a ways off…." Serena said
Ash nodded, "Yeah…. Again, I'm sorry about my mom. She really has no filter with these things,"
Serena sighed, "Yeah my mom is the same way, as you'll find out in a minute!"
She dialied her mom's address and Grace picked up the phone
"Serena! It's so nice to see you! Is that Ash by your side? Hi Ash! Serena talks about you a ton!"
Serena took a deep breath "Mom, this is Ash. He's my boyfriend."
"Oh…. wow….well….congrats!" Grace said happily, "Oh Ash, take good care of my daughter, I'm sure you know how she can be."
Ash laughed, "Yes, I'm well aware,"
Serena rolled her eyes, "Anyways mom Ash is competing in the Kalos league so we'll have to go soon. We just wanted to let you know the news!"
"Okay, thanks for calling. Oh, and Serena make sure you guys use protec-"
Serena slammed the hangup button with a force that destroyed the enter key on the keyboard
Ash looked at her beet-red face and started laughing
"Well, that makes two embarrassing phone calls!" Ash said laughing before he yawned
"Well, I think I'm heading to bed soon…. Goodnight Serena!"
Serena put her hands on his head and pulled Ash into a kiss. "Forgetting something?"
Ash kissed her and smiled, "My mistake"
Meanwhile…
Alain was investigating the mysterious capture and disappearance of Lysandre. The leak of insider data from the lab coupled with the destruction of a city block from his Gyarados and the subsequent vanishing of him presented quite a mystery. Who exactly stopped him? How did they know about the data? And why didn't they inform the proper authorities first?
Alain sighed, just thinking about the whole debacle gave him a headache. As far as the law was concerned, Lysandre was in hiding. But Alain knew better, the disappearance of him timed with the data leak was intentional. Some vigilante had taken him into their own hands and disposed of him.
And while he admired the vigilante for preventing a tragedy, and detested who he had served. He couldn't help but feel unsettled for some reason. He needed closure on this team flare affair, and the only way he could do that would be to unmask the man.
He was going to catch this vigilante.