Cynthia woke up the next morning to warmth against her back and breath in her hair. Her drowzy mind initially supplied that it was one of her pokemon crowding her, who else was ever allowed in her bed? Then she opened her eyes and remembered she was in a hotel, with Ash. Slowly she took stock of her situation and Ash was definitely right up against her back.
He was rather close and still very asleep. He was breathing into her hair and his arm was lightly touching her side, not quite over her. It wasn't exactly unpleasant, it had just been a long time since she had been this close to someone, she thought. Ash was as tall as her and he was quite warm. She tried to carefully extricate herself, before he woke up and noticed.
Finally, she climbed out of the bed. And the source of the problem revealed itself.
"Glaceon, psst! Get off him." She tried to whisper. Her own dear Glaceon, who always slept either off the bed or on top of the blankets at the bottom, was settled right against Ash's back. Probably freezing him half to death in the night.
Glaceon had no intention of moving. She just looked up at Cynthia with those big cute eyes, clearly aware, and didn't move a muscle. Cynthia huffed and reached across the bed to grab her. The scuffle, as Glaceon clearly liked where she was sitting, woke Ash.
"Whats going on?" he mumbled. "Its freezing in here."
Cynthia grimaced. "That would be Glaceon. She was settled right at your back for some reason. Probably half the night, I'm surprised you didn't wake up. Direct contact with her fur is chilly even though just being near her isn't cold."
Ash looked across the bed to his pokedex on the other night stand, and she thinks he noticed he was clearly on her side of the bed. But he didn't say anything and neither did she. It was clearly no ones fault, best to move on, she rationalized.
It just planted some strange thoughts.
After watching three battles in a row that were total one sided slaughters, Cynthia's mind was starting to drift. "Hey Ash, what do you want to do this afternoon?"
"I was thinking we could go see some of the shops in the city center. I have a couple I would like to check out for souvenirs. It might take too long though," Ash said. "I won't have time to look around on the break day because I'd like to go visit Serena. You can come with me or do whatever," he added.
Cynthia knew her a little. "I don't mind going with you. Serena was nice enough." She is pretty sure Ash had dated Serena for a while though. Hopefully she wasn't walking into something awkward. "I also want to go check out the new Geosenge museum, whenever we get the chance," she added.
"Oh good idea. How about the day after tomorrow? I'll get my own personal history guide," Ash laughed.
Cynthia smiled. He was a good listener and had an interesting way of viewing the world. The Geosenge museum had been made with a few of the new items she herself had found in Kalos, so he was in for an earful.
"The next match is the first Kalos lab trainer." Cynthia said, the stadium screen now showing her team. "I think they are a recent sponsorship by Sycamore's lab. Not like you, Ash." Ash had been Oak's star lab trainer for almost a decade now, Cynthia realized suddenly.
The team showing up on the screen was a Chesnaught, Heliolisk, Grumpig, Azumarill, Lopunny, and Staraptor. A strong, varied team expected of someone considering challenging a champion for real. The trainers name was Hinatsu Sunya.
"I have a theory on which pokemon it is actually," Ash said. Cynthia raised her eyebrow. "I think its the Heliolisk."
"I actually agree with you I think. Chesnaught is the other Kalos native and I think if it had been the one to have a mega discovery they would have just announced it normally. Its a starter." Cynthia said after some consideration.
"Exactly. Plus by this picture on the screen it looks like a massive Heliolisk."
"We shall see I guess. The match is about to start." Cynthia had watched many many battles over the years. Before and after she became champion. She could analyze a battle in her sleep and she never tired of it. The ways a battle could go were endless, and it never stopped evolving or surprising her.
"Announcing, Hinatsu versus Arley! The battle is beginning-." The announcer droned.
Hinatsu sent out Staraptor without hesitations, and Arley sent out an Exploud.
"Exploud go, start off with a screech!" Arley said.
"Staraptor, aerial ace, quick," Hinatsu ordered.
The Starapter came out ready to fight, that much was obvious. It instantly dove and hit the Exploud directly, slashing it across its front. The screech came immediately after, piecing the ears of everyone present. Cynthia cringed and tried to keep track of the fight.
"That was an extremely strong screech, wow." Ash said, shielding Pikachu's ears on his lap. "Staraptor is going to have a hard time."
"This Staraptor is strong. I have seen so many you wouldn't believe," Cynthia responded. Staraptor was so common in Sinnoh on young trainers' teams that she thinks she has faced more of them than any other pokemon. "I think it can beat this Exploud."
Ash nodded, focused on the next move as much as she was. A loud thud rang out through the area.
The Staraptor hit again with a stunning take down and on its attempt to lift back into the air away from Exploud, got grabbed by a vicious circle throw and tossed roughly across the arena floor.
Cynthia watched it drag itself back to the air, vengeance in its eyes. If its trainer was smart she would-
"Staraptor, brave bird"
The famous move, letting a Staraptor go full throttle. They lived for this. It hit the Exploud again with blistering speed and power, the crack sounding around the arena. The air hadn't cleared yet and she expected the Exploud and maybe the Staraptor to already be down from recoil.
"Cynthia, I think Hinatsu wanted an intentional double knock out here. That looked planned." Ash said. She didn't disagree.
"Both Staraptor and Exploud are unable to battle! What a shocking move, these trainers are holding nothing back."
"Hinatsu means to win at any cost here." Cynthia said, "You can feel it."
"Heliolisk, go!"
Cynthia shared a look with Ash. This could be it.
"Sceptile, go!"
The Sceptile appeared and immediately, Arley pulled up his arm and touched his own mega stone. Sceptile grew to twice its normal height in a flash of light, gaining the dragon typing a whole lot of speed and power.
-and then, the Heliolisk began to mega evolve too.
The frills turned bright red and extended in length, looking like a ragged sun around its face. Its whole body glittered like sunlight. Its claws grew larger and it gained as much height as Sceptile had. The Heliolisk looked intimidating and fiery.
Cynthia looked over at Ash. This was it and she was excited. She was already hoping the lab would release its publication on the mega Heliolisk tonight.
"I bet that is a fire type now," Ash said, "I would have expected it to gain either fire or grass typing. Look at those deep reds and sunset colors all over its body, it has to be fire."
"It could be also dragon, but I will bet on fire as well. Either way, this is now a much tougher opponent for the Sceptile. I would not want to face an unknown mega in a league battle like this." Cynthia said. She felt uneasy even thinking about it. It was one of her worst nightmares. Some trainer could come out of nowhere with undocumented pokemon and snatch the champion title from her. She hoped again that the report would be out soon.
"It looks like we have a never before seen mega Heliolisk from Hinatsu, one of Professor Sycamore's impressive lab trainers! This is history in progress folks. It will be facing another mega in battle, a Sceptile! What a battle…" The Heliolisk roared, drawing attention back to the battlefield.
"Heliolisk, flame lash"
"Sceptile, dodge, and hit her with a dragon pulse!"
It gained flame lash! It is almost certainly a fire type. The Sceptile's trainer must be trying to make absolutely sure Heliolisk is not a dragon type based on its reaction to the dragon pulse, Cynthia thought. That was smart and she would have done the same thing here.
Heliolisk's tail ignited and formed a full, blazing flame lash. Sceptile is wicked fast, and tried to dodge the attack, but got caught by just the tip of the flame lash. Fire whipped across its back. Even still Sceptile turned around and blasted off a dragon pulse without hesitation.
The mega Heliolisk shook off the dragon pulse immediately and roared again. Another point in favor of it gaining fire typing, not dragon, Cynthia thought to herself. If it had been dragon type that would have done a lot more than piss it off.
Fire and Electric are a rare combination and the Sceptile was at a slight disadvantage, by Cynthia's guess. The upside is that mega evolved Sceptile gain immunity to electric moves, so it was not going to have to take any super charged thunders.
"Heliolisk, scale shot!"
"Sceptile, dodge and get in close to leaf blade"
Mega evolved Sceptile are some of the fastest pokemon in use, and it still couldn't fully dodge the draconic scale shot. About half connected and knocked into the Sceptile, leaving painful looking pits in his hide. But the Sceptile again did not falter, and struck the new mega with its sharp leaf blades and cut deeply. Cynthia was shocked by the ferocity from them both, more like her Garchomp in battle than a Heliolisk.
"Heliolisk did not take that attack well, must have poor defense." Ash said quickly, "I think Arley might have a chance here."
"She is also not used to her new form, Garchomp was like this the first few times we mega evolved in battle." Cynthia said.
"Sceptile, jump back and bulldoze immediately!"
Hinatsu ordered her Heliolisk to use flamethrower, a touch too late in Cynthia's opinion, and it was caught in the bulldoze. The terrain would be harder for both of them to traverse now and the frilled lizard did not take the ground hit well at all. The second it gained its footing though, the Heliolisk let loose a truly massive spray of white-hot fire that fully engulfed Sceptile. If it was pure grass type still it would have been done.
"Heliolisk, follow it close and hit with another scale shot, into fire punch"
The Heliolisk hit the Sceptile with another full barrage of scales, injuring it badly. Heliolisk raced to close the gap, fists ablaze, and hit it in the side with such ferocious power the Sceptile dropped to the ground.
"Mega Sceptile is unable to battle!"
"I wonder if Heliolisk's fire moves are boosted somehow. That fire punch and flamethrower were intense, and a mega Sceptile shouldn't be overly weak to it." Cynthia said. It was really strong.
"I was thinking the same. It wasn't like Ninetails either, I don't think it was an arena effect. Something innate."
Arley, looking sick at this point, sent out a Milotic. Its gorgeous scales gleamed in the light. It wasn't as large or shining as her own Milotic but looks respectable, Cynthia thought. The Hoenn trainer was in a rough spot. It seems like the rest of Arley's team was very weak to electric and fire in combination like this. An unlucky match.
"Milotic, no messing around, aqua tail and take it out!" He wasted no time giving an order, his only shot being that Milotic takes out the Heliolisk immediately.
The Heliolisk looked enraged and dodged the aqua tail before hitting it with a truly spectacular thunderbolt. Cynthia struggled to see a way out of this, Milotic were some of the bulkiest pokemon around but that was a devastating super effective hit.
"Scald, then recover", Arley ordered, a last ditch plan.
"Discharge, don't let it recover!"
Milotic finally managed to nail the Heliolisk with scald, a lucky shot, just as it discharged and arcs of electricity spread dramatically from where it stood. Milotic did not finish its attack and collapsed, unable to continue fighting an attack like that. Heliolisk had not fallen down, but Cynthia thinks if this wer battle, it would have been done. Scald hurt it badly even though the attack had been interrupted.
"Milotic is unable to battle! Hinatsu is the winner of this match! I'm sure people will be talking about this battle for months to come.."
Hinatsu finally let it show how nervous she was and fell to her knees. Cynthia couldn't help but smile, that energy was contagious. Her bond with that Heliolisk has to be incredibly strong to achieve mega evolution and they were in total sync. Maybe in a few years that pokemon could be in a tier all its own. Time would tell.
Ash spoke up, "That is an incredible mega. I don't think it has reached its full potential yet even."
"If Milotic had hit that first aqua tail against it, I think it would have won."
"I'm just impressed the Milotic took two hits at all. Water types do very poorly against any electric attacks, right Pikachu?" He said.
"Milotics can take some serious hits, I would know," Cynthia said. She thinks her own Milotic might have survived the thunderbolt and discharge, but nothing more.
"The fire attacks off that Heliolisk were definitely stronger." Ash said, "The electric attacks seemed normal but the fire was truly intense."
"I hope the lab write up is in my email when we get back tonight. I want to know for sure."
"You better let me read too if so," Ash said grinning.
"Of course," Cynthia said. He had given her enough information about legendary sightings and otherwise over the years.
"Attention trainers, we have seen an amazing battle worthy of this conference! The next match will begin in 10 minutes…" the announcer cut in.
Cynthia could hardly focus on the next few matches, her mind caught on the Heliolisk. If she had to face it, she trusts Garchomp could have won, but what if he had been knocked out already? It would be tough, but she felt like she could have handled it even with zero information. Gastrodon, her reliable and tank-like slug, would have done something. She was confident.
"I can't believe the competition this year. Makes me wish I entered," Ash commented. He was walking ahead of her on the busy street of Lumiose city, after the day's matches. They just planned to explore and look for interesting shops. "The schedule for the next two days is up, did you see? The other two Kalos lab trainers are scheduled to battle each other. Unlucky for them, one of them won't continue."
"It will be a tense, tournament deciding battle for being so early." Cynthia said. "I can't wait to see it, the Heliolisk was impressive enough."
Ash pointed to a line of street carts and she followed.
"This looks delicious. I want two of these chick pea breads, socca i think its called." Ash told one of the salespeople. They handed over the admittedly delicious looking snack and he immediately turned to her and offered one.
Turning down snacks was not something she was likely to do anytime soon and Ash knew it. It was still warm, and the first bite was delicious.
They continued walking, vaguely towards the prism tower in the center of the city. There were endless lines of storefronts, street carts, working pokemon, and happy people.
Ash bought a few gift boxes of Lumiose specialty chocolate, macarons, and wine for his mother. Then Cynthia found a beautiful beret, black of course, with a yellow accent. Berets were popular in Kalos and she was happy to find one in her favorite colors.
She found a wonderful sticker shop and purchased a sticker based on her own Garchomp, much to Ash's amusement when the shopkeeper gushed about how that one was a best seller. He shut up when Cynthia pointed out they had a Pikachu sticker wearing a cap that looked a little too similar to his own to be coincidence.
Ash found a weird gambling stand that let you place bets on which direction a patrat would run to hide when they dropped it into a small enclosure. He lost immediately and confirmed her immediate suspicions that it was rigged.
They visited a designer Furfrou grooming service and shop, and Ash almost fell over when they saw a young shiny Furfrou for sale. It was going for more than the cost of a house. Both of its parents had been champions in the pokemon performer circuit, so it was likely to be just as skilled. It was so inky black and perfect she wanted to hug it immediately.
Cynthia had never been very interested in pokemon performing and the contest circuit, but even she had to admit that was a stunning Furfrou that would be worth every penny to a lucky (rich) buyer.
It had been a long day and she almost missed what Ash was saying to her as they left the Furfrou boutique.
"I'm getting hungry again, lets go get dinner," he suggested.
"Me too. Lets go to one of these baguette sandwich shops and sit down. I want a good view of Prism tower."
- - - x - - -
"I still can't believe you climbed prism tower, Ash." Cynthia said, gazing on the glittering building again. They were seated very close to it enjoying their Lumiose baguettes. "I still have the news video saved in stunning HD," she teased.
"At the time it didn't look like anyone else was going to do anything about that Garchomp. It was about to get gunned off the tower and I knew it didn't have to."
"Oh I remember. It was a huge deal, a rampaging Garchomp is not safe. In the middle of the city it was a disaster."
"The only reason I did it is because I had spent some time with your Garchomp and you gave me such good tips for training them." Ash said, "I knew it was just hurting. I could see that awful shock collar some idiot put on it to try to force a newly caught Garchomp to behave."
"Still, you could have died." Cynthia said. It had frankly looked more precarious than when they were face to face with Cyrus and the Sinnoh legends.
"I learned how to work with Garchomp from you, and you gave a lot of good advice. You shouldn't have worried. I told you all this before, when you called me." He said. She had let him and his friend Iris train with her Garchomp for several weeks earlier that year, but it had hardly been a blessing to go face to face with a feral angry adult!
"I called you immediately after just to tell you how stupid I thought it was. Yes, you 'did it correctly' by immobilizing it and acting calmly and decisively, but it was still crazy." Cynthia remembers watching the footage thinking Ash was about to get killed by that Garchomp. She had to look away when the hyper beams charged up. But of course, with his mysterious talent for understanding pokemon and his empathy for their suffering, he managed to get the collar off and calm it enough to get it off the tower without any injury to himself or the pokemon. It was a very memorable entrance to the Kalos region.
"Well, it worked out anyway. I was not going to stand down there and watch an innocent pokemon get euthanized because of a truly stupid trainer. Before you called I wasn't even thinking about myself." Ash had such a strong sense of justice, Cynthia knew.
"You would make a good champion," Cynthia mused out loud, mostly to herself. Then she added, "Why didn't you join this conference actually? You could have easily signed up. Your badges are still good."
Ash, for once, didn't answer immediately.
"I wanted to talk to you about this actually. I have some different ideas on what it means to be a pokemon master lately." He said. Then paused again and appeared to steel himself before admitting, "I think I am going to stop traveling and challenging gyms and leagues."
Cynthia almost dropped the remains of her sandwich. "Ash, are you serious?" She said, "I still think you could win any of these tournaments given some team building." Ash was one of the best raw battlers she had ever met.
"I know, and that is the point. Pikachu for example. If I sought out a fancy Raichu from Alola or a Jolteon even, I could have so much more raw electric power on my team. But I just don't want that." He said, nervously.
"So what do you plan to do?"
"You know how I have been a lab trainer for Professor Oak since I was like 15? I have collected an awful lot of data for him and I used to just think of it as the boring part of my job, the way to get money and do what I want. But lately, he has shown me some of the results," Ash said. "And they are incredibly interesting. Did you know my pokemon are on average 1.6x stronger than average for their species?"
"I mean, that is somewhat obvious when you battle, but to hear it confirmed by the lab is another thing. Do they know what you are doing differently to cause it?"
"The thing is, I don't really do anything differently. I feed them bog standard packaged diets generally and we train together a normal amount for a competitive trainer. Most of my pokemon are from the wild or wherever they show up from." Ash said, getting excited. Cynthia was starting to see where this was going. "So Professor Oak thinks now that it could be legitimate measurable strength coming from a close emotional bond with a human."
She had read a lot, and the idea isn't exactly unheard of, just really difficult to study or pin down. She nodded and let him continue.
"Look at mega evolution. Why do pokemon have this extra special evolution only activated by love for their trainer? There is still so much we don't know about pokemon I almost can't fathom it sometimes. When mega evolution was discovered I feel like people didn't focus on how weird it is, since its application is entirely in top battles, and it doesn't really matter to most people."
"I do think there is something there. It is scary when you think about it. There is too much we don't know about our partners." She said, meaning it. "But where does all of this lead you Ash? You are quitting the gym circuit to..?"
"I'm taking a research based position Professor Oak found for me." Ash said, quietly.
"You are going to be a pokemon researcher? Lab coat and all?" Cynthia was floored.
"Not exactly. This will admittedly be more of a field thing, and involve a lot of battle analysis and I will still be training pokemon myself. No lab coats. Its complicated. But its more a change of my focus that it represents. I have just realized recently that my path to becoming a true pokemon master does not lead me to the top of the league."
Cynthia never in a million years expected Ash to stop challenging the pokemon league. She meant what she said before, he could win any of the league tournaments eventually. Even with his unorthodox teams and styles, it was inevitable that somewhere he would succeed. She had been rooting for him for years.
But… this also made sense, if she thought about it. Samuel Oak might be able to beat her in a battle if she were dead honest with herself. Or Lance. Or anyone, really. But he applied his battle prowess and skill to bettering the understanding of pokemon and only in emergencies stepping into the public spotlight. His research did nothing but help humans and pokemon coexist.
Finally, she said, "Ash, I think this is brilliant. One day, you could be better than all of us. Professor or Champion." She meant it too.
Ash let out a breath and looked instantly relieved. She was shocked again to realized he must have been nervous to tell her, for some reason. "I'm glad you think so. I haven't told anyone else yet. Professor Oak is the only one. I think people might believe I am giving up on my dream, but to me, it doesn't feel that way." Cynthia strangely found herself touched that he told her first. He had an awful lot of close friends all over the world.
"The more I think about it, the more I think you are right," She told him. "For me, being Champion of Sinnoh is about having the strength to protect the country I love. Its also about having the soft power to make a difference in the lives of people and pokemon . People listen when I talk and I have the freedom to pursue my other interests in history. But there are other paths that lead similar places, that sound more like you."
"Well, I'm not going to be a famous professor immediately of course. This is just, the start, of maybe making that my goal. I feel so much better hearing that from you though. I have been going crazy for a few weeks. I was not sure if I am making the right decision."
"I trust you to figure that out, but I think its a great." Cynthia said. Her thoughts drifted to imagining Ash in a stuffy lab coat again and she suddenly realized this new position meant he would be staying in one place. She just thought to ask where the new job was located when-
"Cynthia, wait, is that Ray Ryan over there?" Ash was gesturing to a man inside a custom pokeball shop across from their table. From the back it did look a little like him…
"Actually yes. Look, hes got the same arm bands." Cynthia said. His battle had displayed a lot of his skill yesterday and she wanted to hear from him.
"Lets go talk to him, I'm curious," Ash said. Clearly they were thinking the same thing.
"I want to ask him some things too. But I am not looking to draw a crowd right in front of prism tower this evening, do you think he will recognize me?"
Ash looked her up and down and said, "Nahh, nobody has looked at you twice so far. Most people never really see you off the TV even if they are a top trainer." Then came in closer and said, "You look great just not like… Champion Cynthia." Her stomach jumped a little for some reason and she turned away.
It was an innocent comment. She isn't sure why she is getting flustered over an extremely basic compliment from a friend and this was just a deep conversation. Obviously Ash shares important things with her and likes the way she looks, they are friends.
(For some reason her mind unhelpfully supplied her with this morning's incident- which had nothing to do with this and was Glaceon's fault anyway.)
"Well. Lets go then," she finally said after getting a hold of herself, getting an odd look from Ash when she walked off towards the shop.
Ash stepped into the pokeball shop and tapped the man on the shoulder, neither of them had patience for beating around the bush.
"Hey are you Ray Ryan? We loved your battle yesterday. That Serperior was amazing."
He turned and looked surprised. "I am, yeah! Thanks," said Ray. "Wait, you are Ash Ketchum aren't you? I didn't know you were participating in this competition!"
Cynthia smirked, Ash was getting a little more famous than he thought he was, given all his tournament results and news appearances. Hell maybe this guy saw him climb Prism Tower a few years ago like everyone else in Kalos. Plus, Pikachu on his shoulder and Ash's signature old hat make him easily identifiable, just like her.
It was Ash's turn to look sheepish and he sputtered out, "Oh, yeah I'm not, I'm just spectating this time. With my friend, Crystal. I'm surprised you have heard of me."
"Nice to meet you." Cynthia said too. "I would love to hear about your pokemon, if you don't mind." She really loved talking to new trainers and hearing their story. She met Ash a little like that, after all.
"Nice to meet both of you. Ash I saw a highlight reel of your matches in Galar on the net just a few weeks ago. Your Pikachu is unreal, I don't think anyone misses your matches anymore. Nobody knew regular Pikachu could be that strong." Ray said, then suggested, "We can go sit somewhere if you want to hang out for a bit. Id be happy to talk."
"Perfect, you can come sit with us back across the street."
- - - x - - -
"Have you done any other tournaments?" Ash asked. "Your pokemon were really well trained."
"No, this is my first. I have taken on all the gyms in Kalos though," Ray said.
"We were shocked you were so good when you weren't one of the Kalos lab sponsors in this tournament." Cynthia added. "You stole the show on Monday."
"Nah, but my uncle is actually works at a lab in Unova. That is where I got my Serperior. I couldn't get a sponsored spot, but he got me a starter." Ray said, clearly unused to the praise.
"Wow thats lucky," Ash said. "I thought you might have caught it wild!"
"She is a special pokemon, that is for sure." said Ray. "Crystal, so what do you do?"
Cynthia smoothly told him that she was a trainer from Sinnoh (she couldn't hide the accent well) and hadn't done any tournaments lately. No lies.
Ash made quick friends with him. Ray excitedly told him how nervous he had been during the battle, and how he was nervous for his next match. It was going to be versus the trainer who had the mega Heliolisk. He seemed like a good, young trainer. She heard him mention the Sceptile match from today and had a thought.
"What do you think of the attempts to teach the Seperior line draco meteor?" Cynthia asked him. There was a whole lot of effort put into it since they use Leaf Storm so well and innately resist the recoil of moves like it.
"I think its not going to work… until someone manages a mega evolution." Ray said. "They aren't real dragon types even though they are obviously related and can use a lot of dragon moves. But I think like Sceptile, it would gain dragon typing on mega evolution." Cynthia agreed, in theory.
Ash perked up. "Is mega evolution something you want with Serperior here?"
"I mean, I would be lying if I said no. But since no one else has done it, I don't really have proof its possible," he said.
"Don't let that stop you," Cynthia said. "We have learned so much more about mega evolution and something that once seemed limited to a few powerful pokemon like Garchomp, is now more common."
"I appreciate the support," he said. "I hope you and I can battle one day, Ash. Maybe some time this week if you have time?"
"Sure, but I just have Pikachu right now so it would have to be 1 vs 1. I'll add your contact to my dex, we can meet up." Ash said happily. "Im sure Crystal would love to battle you too and trust me you don't want to miss that opportunity." Ash winked and Cynthia held back a smile. It would be fun to battle incognito perhaps. Glaceon could use a work out.
"Oh yeah of course." He handed over his dex and they quickly added each other. "Well, its getting late, and its been nice to meet you both. I'm going to head home for the night!"
"Have a nice night." Cynthia said. Ray left, and she looked over at Ash. "So what do you think?"
"He's nice enough. I hope he does well. Truthfully I think compared to Hinatsu and her battle today, he might be a bit better in skill," Ash said.
"It'll be close. I'll be rooting for him."
"Me too," he said, then yawned. Pikachu chittered under the table, and hopped onto Ash's lap.
"We should head back too. Its getting late," she said. It had been dark for hours. She spent more time than expected going through every shop in the city, it seemed like. Then meeting Ray kept them out even later.
Ash agreed with her and they picked up to leave. Pikachu slept in his pack the whole way back, it was adorable frankly.
Cynthia was just going to make sure Glaceon stayed off the bed tonight.
AN:/
So this might be a spicy hot take of mine, but iv always felt like Ash was destined to follow closer to Samuel Oak than to Lance. If Ash just wanted to win he could go catch a Dragonite like Lance or a Latias like that guy who beat him in Sinnoh and win every tournament combined with his amazing battle skill. His goal isnt "win the league" its "become a pokemon master". and I dont think pokemon professors just sit around in boring labs either. its a complex looking profession and Sam Oak has a ton of history as a god tier battler.
I hope yall liked me including that time Ash climbed prism tower after a rampaging garchomp and almost died. canonically happened!
This was real hard to write! Hope you all enjoy.
Reviews and follows are my applause, its the best way to get more chapters ;)