Aurian did her best not to sigh when she felt the tension spread through Ash's shoulders. She'd gotten the rundown on the Sinnoh League Incident while they fled to Kanto together and it broke her heart every time she thought about it. He'd been brave- much braver than she was- fleeing from the League and from their false charges. He'd been isolated from everything he'd cared about- his friends, his family, his home. Aurian liked to think that she could understand that but she knew she couldn't fathom the pain he went through at the beginning of their time together.
She was his rock through their first month, he was hers. They were a package deal- outcasts together and two for one, going nowhere without the other.
Their little strategy had paid off. When she'd nearly been incapacitated during their first official mission in Sinnoh, Ash saved her from a nasty fate. When Ash got himself into massive trouble in Unova, she bailed him out. They were the Armada's miracle workers, the G-Men's prodigy Captains, the liberators of Orre. She couldn't imagine a better patonai than Ketchum.
Aurian understood where Ash was coming from. She'd left the first friends she'd made on her journey behind when they accidentally found out that she was adopted and came from a battling family instead of a high-class Contest family. She left their pretty little contests and nasty personalities behind in a nanosecond. Some days she wondered if she'd taken up battling out of spite instead of for the right reasons, but none of that mattered now.
No one but Ash, Lance, Sam, and Riley knew that she used to be a Contest Girl, fully obsessed with the gorgeous dresses, creating the perfect entrance, dazzling the opponent with her capabilities. Aurian intended to keep that a secret- if word got out into the G-Men base, no one would take her seriously. She'd worked for her flawless reputation and didn't intend on bringing it down any time soon.
As Ash spoke with the little blond trainee and asked about her progress so far on her journey, Aurian watched the Spoink-tailed teen and her little brother register and receive Red's name. When they walked away from Nurse Joy, Aurian signed a wordless signal by dragging two fingers of her right hand over her left pointer finger, and then motioning towards her eye.
Watch out for trouble.
Ash nodded discreetly and continued his conference with Maddy. Aurian heard tidbits of their conversation while she bounced on her toes, preparing for the worst.
"Do you know which circuit you'd like to try to chase?" Ash asked.
"I'm not sure yet," Maddy responded, twirling a bit of her long hair. "I'm still deciding between Gym Battles and Contests. They both seem so challenging and fun..."
Ash smiled. "When I was traveling through Sinnoh, I met a man that was very accomplished at both. In the end, just do what makes you and your Pokémon happy. If that's Contests, then go be the best Coordinator you can be. If that's battling, then become a Pokemon Master! There's a world of possibilities out there."
"That's why I'm here," Maddy answered with a shrug. "Maybe if I watch really a bunch of really good trainers battle, it'll inspire me to chase my own rainbows."
"That's a good way to put it," Ash chuckled. He paled a little when he saw Max and May approach, but stood a little taller nonetheless.
"Hey there. I'm looking for a... Red Aronshu?" Max read off his paper, voice betraying his nervousness.
May crossed her arms and tapped her foot.
"Ugh, Max, hurry up! I promised Dawn that I'd meet her at the shopping area in, like, five minutes!"
Aurian took that as her cue to step in. "Hey there- Red is speaking with my trainee, Maddy. He'll finish in a second."
"What's your name?" asked Max, shoving his glasses back up the bridge of his nose.
"My name is Blue. Blue Katrian."
"I'm Max, and this impatient girl is my older sister, May."
"Whatever," the brunette answered, rolling her eyes.
Ash, who had finished his conference with Maddy, frowned, which caught May's eye.
"I'm sorry, miss, but if you're more worried about your shopping date than your family, I advise that you leave. Blue and I don't tolerate that kind of behavior from Coordinators- or anyone, really."
May's eyes narrowed. "How'd you know I was a Coordinator?"
Ash shrugged. "The way you walk, the way you speak, and the fact that you're highly impatient means that you're used to working on a tight and stressful schedule on your own. You're not used to other people factoring into your equation."
Max grinned at Red's critique at his sister's personality. He liked the older trainer already.
"You don't have to worry about me, sis. I am ten now, after all. Go find Misty and Brock- pretty sure that they won't miss me."
"Fine," May sighed. "Be sure to meet us in the Pokémon Center for dinner, though."
And at that, the Coordinator sauntered away.
"Geez," Maddy whistled. "Are all Coordinators that stuck up?"
Max shook his head. "Nah. My sister's had a really bad losing streak in her contests the past few years- she either loses in the last few seconds of the elimination rounds or doesn't get past the first block."
Aurian frowned. "Do you know why?"
Max shrugged. "There was this guy that we used to travel with that helped her through some tight spots. Without his advice, she's gotten a little strung out."
Ash raised an eyebrow. "A little?"
"Fine, a lot," Max countered. "I've been trying to make her see that it's okay to have a bad day but I haven't had any luck. Lately she's been having more bad days than good."
"You're being a great brother by trying, though," Ash said, putting a hand on the young boy's shoulder. "She'll come to her senses soon."
"This is no time for worrying, though! We've got a tournament in three days! We should get to know each other before opening ceremonies. Hey Red, do you want to head back to the campsite?" suggested Aurian, a little too eager to change the subject to something a bit more uplifting.
Red shrugged. "Sure. I think Typhlosion is still asleep back there. I'd like to check on him."
Max furrowed his eyebrows as he processed what he heard. It'd been nearly three and a half years since he last saw Ash Ketchum battle and the way that Red spoke reminded him of his old friend. Ash certainly wasn't about six feet tall, though, Ash didn't have unnerving crimson eyes, Ash wasn't nearly that muscular, Ash never would've let his hair grow out long enough for a tiny ponyta-tail.
"Let's go," Aurian said, guiding the three back through a hidden forest trail.
"So, Red, you've gotta be good to get in here, right? Which regions' gyms did you challenge?" asked Max.
"I toured the Great Regions Circuit- Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Johto, although not in that order. Blue and I also took a trip to Orre to check things out." Ash replied, stretching his arms.
"I thought that Cipher was making trouble over there," Max countered.
Aurian grinned. "Not anymore. We were dragged into a bit of trouble with them but Cipher is basically done for now. A friend of mine named Michael took care of Cipher with help from the Jennies and the Orre Regional Police."
Maddy's eyes grew wide. "Seriously?"
Ash nodded. "We're serious and we're here, right?"
Aurian moved aside a small canopy of trailing ivy, revealing two sleeping bags, a handmade fire pit surrounded by an assortment of stones, and one sleepy fire-type curled up next to the remnants of a campfire from the night before.
"Mornin, buddy," Ash announced, approaching his teammate. Typhlosion yawned and rolled back over, putting his paws over his ears.
The crimson-eyed trainer laughed and playfully nudged Typhlosion. "Up up up, we've got a big day ahead of us. Don't sleep it away!"
With a rather snarky growl, the fire-type pulled himself up and stretched. Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder to greet his friend.
"Max, may we see your starter Pokémon?" Aurian asked.
"Sure thing! Ralts, come on out!"
A petite psychic-type appeared, its green helmet shining in the sunlight.
"Raaaalts?" he questioned, gazing at the three other trainers.
"Ralts, these are our new friends- Red, Blue, and Maddy."
Corona the Cyndaquil waddled over to the Hoenn-native Pokémon and started a conversation in Pokéspeak. The two seemed to hit it off well, which made the rookies smile.
Aurian frowned. "I should probably feed the team- do you guys want to see some really cool Pokémon?"
Ash rolled his eyes. "Please," he stated, drawing the word out, "mine are much more awesome than yours."
Aurian chuckled at her patonai and released three Pokémon- an Empoleon, a Mienshao, and a Togekiss, who immediately looked for food.
"Like trainer, like Pokémon," Ash groaned.
Aurian grinned as she scratched Togekiss behind her crest. "Hey, they're hungry from the training we squeezed in yesterday. Cut them some slack!"
Ash tossed two Pokéballs into the air, revealing a Pidgeot and a Donphan.
"Woah," Maddy breathed. "I've never seen these kinds of Pokémon before!"
"They're not native to Sinnoh," Max explained, taking a closer look at his mentors' teams. "This is a very good inter-regional representation. Hey, Blue- what was Unova like?"
She smiled. "It was amazing- the gym puzzles really made you think. Lots and lots of walking, though, but the scenery was worth it. White Forest in the spring is spectacular."
Ash's reply was cut off by the ringing of a device tucked in Aurian's back pocket.
"Sorry to leave you guys this soon but Red and I really need to take this call. We'll be back ASAP, promise." She grabbed Ash by his collar and drug him off towards the greenbelt, much to the two rookies' disappointment. Pikachu and Empoleon tailed their trainers.
"Wonder what that was about?" Maddy asked, picking Corona up into her arms.
"I dunno. It's gotta be pretty important for them to run out like that," Max responded, gently stroking Aurian's Togekiss. "Let's hope that this isn't a trend."
Maddy nodded as she looked at the Typhlosion. "It's hard to believe that Corona will evolve into something like this guy..."
Max turned over his shoulder. "I'm going after them."
"Is that really a good idea? There's a reason they wanted privacy for that. What if it's bad news?" Maddy asked.
"I have a hunch," Max said, "and I need information to prove it. I'll be right back."
Aurian answered the video call to find a three way with Lance and two Pokémon Rangers- Ben Natsuya and Summer Minami.
"Hey, everyone. I take it that we have news?" asked Ash, plugging a pair of G-Men issued earbuds.
Summer nodded. "Yeah. Ben and I stumbled upon a trio of Team Rocket grunts headed your way. Said that they were looking for Ash Ketchum," she said with a wink. "Do you know anyone by that name, Red?"
Ash shook his head while suppressing a grin. "No, can't say that I do. Is there a talking Meowth with them?"
Ben glanced over his shoulder. "Yep- now they're arguing over food. If I were you, I'd keep an eye out for more agents- disguised or not. That Tournament you two've gotten yourselves into is going to turn into a hotbed of criminal activity of you don't keep your eyes peeled."
Aurian groaned. "Way to spoil the mood, Ben. Red and I will take good care of things here, I promise."
"Have you no faith?" Ash asked. "Come on, you've seen what we can do."
Summer elbowed her Ranger friend. "I told you not to worry, Ben. We're on reserve for this mission. If everything's okay with Rand here in Oblivia, we'll head out to come help you guys if we're needed. Ukulele Pichu's ready to get in on a bit of action again, he misses the haywire days."
"We'll be happy to have him," Ash said. "I miss his happy little songs."
Ben smiled. "We'll pass on the hello from you. Lance, is there anything we're missing?"
Lance shook his head. "Not that I'm aware of. Again, I might be sending messengers with news. Keep your heads down and your eyes open, patonai. We're counting on you."
The two rangers and the pair of patonai nodded and ended the call.
"Rocket must not be very confident if they're only sending Jesse, James, and Meowth," Ash said.
Aurian managed a half smile. "I'm still worried, though. I know they wouldn't have given this job to us if they knew we couldn't pull it off, but I can't help but wonder what's really behind all of this."
"I hear you," Ash answered. "I hate doubting the League but there's something not sitting right with me about all of this. Sure, you get a powerful collection of trainers at every Regional Tournament. Why the sudden rush to crown a Champion of Champions?"
Aurian frowned. "I don't know, I don't know. I'm with you on that gut feeling. When we checked in, I saw a lot of faces that I've only ever read about. Pretty sure Assunta was behind us in line. Assunta! The guy who threw down in your Kanto League and completely dominated the field. He wiped the floor with Ritchie! Not to mention Vergil, Jon Dickson, Harrison, Tyson... Tobias."
"You think he's here?" Ash asked.
Max bit his tongue to hold back a gasp. They were throwing names around like they knew everyone personally!
Aurian sighed. "Do you want an honest answer?"
"That's all I need to know," Ash said, head in his hands. "Dammit, I thought I'd be able to skirt around ever having to face him again."
"One thing at a time, Red- let's make sure that our rookies nave the time of their lives," Aurian said, putting an arm around her friend.
The patonai completely missed the little green-haired head hiding in the bushes, mouth gaping and eyes wide at what he just heard.