A/N: You know, once upon a time I updated consistently, and I miss that.

We move into the goals of Meredith and Mira now that we have at least one gym battle out of the way.

I did include some brief scenes of Laura and Sarah in this chapter, but they won't be making appearances often now that the story is starting to get underway. It's more so to characterize them, and give them more depth.

Enjoy!


"Let me tell you, it's smaller than what I was expecting. I think most cities in Johto were bigger than whatever this is."

"Well, it is Kanto. We're a bit far from Hoenn, Akemi."

"I know that, Daiki. I just wasn't expecting Pewter City to be so…backwater," Akemi said, adjusting her jacket and tugging at the drawstrings mindlessly.

"How do you think you'll do in the Contest?"

Akemi thought for a moment, "First or second. I've got two ribbons under my belt."

"Stop making it so hard to catch up to you!"

"Never!" Akemi exclaimed, drawing confused glances from other people around her.

"You suck."

"Love you too, Daiki. I'm going to make it harder to catch up with me now, goodbye!"

"Akemi, I swear-"

Daiki's voice cut off with the beeping of the ended call tone from her RotomPhone. Akemi tucked it back into the pocket of her magenta jacket. She looked up at a building that now blocked the rising sun, "Ribbon number three, I'm calling dibs!"


Mira shifted back and forth over the ground. Most of her camping supplies had been in her other bags, not that she even really knew how to use them. Meredith wasn't much better off and had muttered something about her brother having the tent that was sent with the two of them. Mira still envied the girl, who was wrapped up in a blanket a few feet from where Mira was laying. The sun started to rise overhead, causing the dew drops on the blades of grass to sparkle; the clearing almost looked like it was made of diamonds.

Meredith rolled around a few times, using her arm to block the sunlight. "It's too early," she groaned.

Mira rolled her eyes, "The sun has been up for an hour or two by now. It's almost nine."

"If the sun just came up then how is it nine?" Meredith challenged, sitting up straight. Her brown hair was tangled and matted and not anything like the elegant pixie cut she'd been wearing before.

"I'd worry more about your hair."

"Shut up!" She shouted, jumping to her feet and giving Mira a glare.

Mira shook her head and attended to Cinder, who'd been laying on a rock in the sun for at least half an hour. Luckily, Cinder's supplies and some of her clothes had survived the loss of her bags. Mira dug around for a brush and sat down on the rock next to Cinder. The Fox Pokemon jumped into her lap, curling up and giving small yips as Mira ran the brush along the fur on Cinder's tail.

Meredith ignored her and packed up the blanket she'd used the last night, trying her best to use her hand to comb her hair back into what it looked like. And of course, Brendan has all of the gear, she thought bitterly.

Mira grabbed her bag, redoing the bun that her hair had been in with simple ease as Cinder trotted alongside her. Nose up in the air.

Meredith stood up to continue on the path to Pewter City, but she heard a squeak from behind her. Meredith whipped around to see Kip looking up at her with wide eyes.

"What in Arceus' name is that thing?"

Meredith picked up Kip and scowled at Mira, "It's Kip. My partner Mudkip and my starter pokemon! So if you're capable of it, try to have a little respect!"

Mira shook her head, "It somehow looks weirder than Froakie," she said over her shoulder as she started on the path.

Meredith sprinted to catch her, "What is your problem? Sorry not everyone could have some little stuck-up starter like yours!"

"Cinder is not stuck up! She actually has class, class that you obviously lack!"

"How dare you!"

Mira fought the urge to laugh, ignoring Meredith's ramblings as they walked along the path.


"So how long have you two known each other?"

"I've been a fixture in his life since we were seven."

Aaron raised an eyebrow, "We met when my dad was checking up on her parents, and considering she was sad and had no friends-"

"Rude."

"-I was tasked with fulfilling that role."

Brendan nodded, "Ah, the 'go play with the neighbor kid' friendship."

Aaron stifled a laugh as Jasmine looked at him in her jokingly offended glare, that to anyone other than Aaron, looked real.

Darcy was chattering away with Nurse Joy about something that Brendan wasn't sure about. The group had come back to the Pokemon Center to get attention for Aaron's Charmander, but Darcy, just by mentioning something about a Charmander, had become a friend of the Nurse Joy.

Charmander had struck up a friendship with Brendan's Torchic, and Jasmine had dubbed them 'the most probable cause of any fire that happens in any city we visit.' Brendan protested but was immediately shut down by Torchic trying to attack a caterpie with Ember.

Aaron was a bit nervous about traveling with a big group. Not wanting to attract too much attention. But Jasmine he'd always planned to try to travel with, and Brendan was one of the few people he'd met that could match his knowledge of battle techniques, type matchups, movesets, and famous Champions, past and present.

Of course, he expected some whispers from people who recognized him. But it was nice, without a camera shoved in his face.

"So, you think your sister..."

"Meredith," Brendan answered.

"You think she'll be at the Contest?" Aaron asked.

Brendan shrugged, "I hope so. I'm kinda worried about her. Considering I had all of the camping gear."

Jasmine and Aaron cringed.

"That's gotta suck for her," Jasmine said. Ekans had been let out of her pokeball and was coiled up close to Jasmine. Doing her best to ignore the antics of Charmander and Torchic.

"Especially since it's gonna start getting colder. Hoenn is one of the warmer regions, and while Kanto isn't as cold as Sinnoh, it can get pretty cold," Aaron added.

Brendan tried but failed to mask the concern on his face, earning pitying glances from the two other trainers. He looked down, eyes fixed on a speck of dirt on the otherwise spotless floor. If there was one thing he didn't want from other people, it was their pity.

"So what if Meredith doesn't show at the Contest?" Darcy asked, walking back over to the group. She directed her question towards Brendan, "What then?"

"We wait until she pops up in a magazine and find her from there, I guess," he shrugged.

"You'll find her," Jasmine assured the siblings with a tone that Brendan couldn't tell if she was joking, or just said it like that to mask actual concern. "Not like she's dropped off the face of the earth. You guys have ways of finding her," she added.

Aaron winced as Jasmine got up and walked away. He turned to Brendan and Darcy, "Did she explain the whole brother leaving thing?"

Brendan nodded. Aaron nodded alongside him, pursing his lips.


Akemi scanned her Contest Pass at the registration desk inside the arena.

"Welcome, Akemi Saori!" The attendant beamed.

Akemi gave a half-smile, shoving her RotomPhone back in her pocket. The dressing rooms weren't open yet. Price of being early, Akemi thought.

The door opened behind her and two trainers came barging in. Akemi stood off to the side, leaning against the wall as she watched the companions. No wait, she thought, observing the glares that were shot in each other's directions, enemies.

She stayed quiet as the two bickered over mindless things. She caught snippets of the argument, something about having class or not. Though one of the girls, the one with blue hair, had a distinctive Kalosian accent that Akemi had some trouble understanding.

Ultimately, the blue-haired girl let the brunette scan her Contest Pass first.

"Welcome, Meredith Hayden!" The attendant said cheerily to her.

Meredith stood off to the side, leaning against the desk and shooting a glare directly at the other girl.

"Welcome, Mira Millefuei!"

Both glared at each other, still unaware of Akemi's existence. She fought the urge to laugh as the two still exchanged death glares and purposely moved to opposite sides of the lobby from each other.

"You realize that in public, everyone can see your business, right?" She said, finally breaking her silence.

Meredith, who was closest to her, flinched, nearly falling off the plush bench she was seated on. Mira simply looked up with a questioning glance.

"You look familiar," she said with narrowed eyes.

"Are you well versed in modern coordinating stars?" Akemi asked.

"Like who?"

"Oh, you know. Myself, my sibling Daiki, Victoria Shinji-"

"I know her!" Meredith interrupted, "She's that prodigy from Sinnoh, right?"

"The Champion's daughter. Also a third-generation coordinator. Her mom and grandma were both Top Coordinators at some point. Though Victoria didn't get the Berlitz last name, unfortunately. Shame."

Mira nodded, "I've heard of her. And I've heard that not many people consider her a 'true coordinator' because she's battling in the Unova League."

"Now that's what we call being a jerk. A bunch of great coordinators have league experience. Like myself," Akemi said, dramatically bowing.

"Really?" Meredith asked with somewhere between a skeptical question and a scoff.

"Came in as part of the top thirty-two in the Johto League. Though coordinating has always been my strong suit."

"You never answered my question," Mira butted in, "Who are you?"

"Akemi Saori."

Meredith's eyes widened. "Your mom wouldn't happen to have a coordinating school in Hoenn, would she?"

"She does, why?"

"My parents work with her! May and Drew Hayden! Some of Hoenn's best coordinators."

"Yeah, maybe last century," Mira jabbed at Meredith.

"What is your problem! Think that you and your 'performer' mom are so much better than me?"

Mira rolled her eyes, ignoring Meredith's question.

Akemi looked between the two of them, "So why are you traveling together if you hate each other?"

"We're not traveling together. We just got stuck at the same hotel and had the same destination."

"Isn't that the plot of like, a butt-ton of rom-coms?" Akemi said with a laugh, earning glares from both girls.

She glanced between the two of them. "Well, I hope neither of you have plans of coming out on top. My sibling has their eye on another ribbon and I want to keep ahead."

One of the attendants gestured to the girls. Pointing to a door that was now open. Akemi hoisted her bag over her shoulder and strutted past both Meredith and Mira into the dressing rooms.

The room was basic, if not slightly nicer than what she was used to. The Pewter City Contest Arena was a newer one, part of a plan to get more people interested in contests. There were a few built-in tables with chairs, in front of massive windows for coordinators to do their makeup and finalize outfits for their pokemon if they so choose.

Back further were sets of benches and doors that lined the walls, opening into small dressing rooms. Akemi walked over to the closest one, locking it behind her and hanging her drawstring bag on one of the hooks.

Meredith entered the room with a sigh, looking back and forth as Mira forced her way past her with an aloof 'hmph' and snagged one of the other dressing rooms. Meredith rolled her eyes, took another one, and looked into her pocket for her contest gear. It was by far the most organized pocket in her bag. The other pockets, which had extra sets of clothes, some food for her and Kip, maybe a spare RotomPhone charger, a blanket, and some other things she couldn't remember, were less organized.

Meredith carefully looked through the neatly folded and tucked away clothes and accessories and slowly grabbed a vacuum-sealed bag out of one of the pockets. She opened the bag and slowly removed the dress and hung it on one of the pegs in the wall. She left it there and went searching for her accessories. There was a small box with two sets of gold earrings. One was just a simple rounded, spherical stud, and the other was a gold ribbon that loosely resembled a contest ribbon. Meredith secured them in her ears, finding the glittery gold flats she'd packed. She set them down and grabbed the dress off the hook and slid into it. The dress had a sort of layered skirt that reached down to her knees that was a beautiful blue that complemented her green eyes. The top half of the dress was sleeveless and had extra ruffles that went over her shoulder.

She slid her feet into the flats and took Kip's pokeball out of her bag. Kip chirped at her happily, materializing directly at her feet. She scooped up the mudkip, looking through her bag until she found a simple bow that she tied over Kip's head. Kip scrambled onto Meredith's shoulder as she walked out, finding Mira running a brush over Cinder's fur and Akemi squinting at the mirror with mascara along her eyes. Mira's own outfit was a black and white statement top with a collar, and a crimson red skirt that went to her knees. She wore black leggings and matched her skirt with bright red flats and black bows on the toes. There was also the added, tinted red lip gloss over Mira's lips that gave them an extra pop.

Akemi's pink hair was half tied back, but still only fell to just above her shoulders. She wore a colorful dress jacket, half a muted lime green and the other half a brilliant magenta with gold accents. She wrapped up the outfit with white pants with gold trim; the chaotic ensemble somehow fitting together elegantly.

Other coordinators had begun to trickle in. She recognized a few from the Contests she'd watched at home with her parents. There was a boy with reddish hair that she recognized from a few Sinnoh Contests and a brunette girl that she recognized from the few Unovan Contests she'd seen.

She shifted her weight between her legs as she saw all of the more experienced coordinators. And other than herself and Mira, she didn't see many newcomers. She caught Mira's eye and looked around.

Mira narrowed her eyes with a smirk. Cinder held her nose high with pride, side-eyeing Kip.

Someone raised an eyebrow at Meredith, which she caught. It was a girl and her Sylveon trailing behind her. Her hair started out as pink at the roots but slowly faded into platinum blonde. She strutted over towards the young coordinator, "I've seen you before, haven't I?" She interrogated.

Meredith backed up slightly, bumping into another coordinator that stood behind her. "I mean, you might've?" She offered, giving the person she'd bumped into an apologetic smile. "I'm not sure where tho-"

"Oh, now I know. You're some relative of some champion or something," she said, narrowing her eyes, "Wouldn't battling fit your style more? Coordinating isn't about playing dress-up," her eyes flicked up and down over Meredith's outfit, "and badly at that," she added under her breath.

Meredith looked taken aback, "My parents were coordinators!" She protested, "I-"

"Cute honey, but this isn't Unova, you can't go parading your family legacy around like you're Victoria Shinji."

"Yeah, and this isn't whatever hole you crawled out of where you can be all high and mighty," Mira retorted, jumping up from her seat to stand by Meredith, "You might have been the queen of your little dirt pile, but welcome to competition. Appearance is everything, and while I also have many misgivings about my friend here's-" Meredith looked at her incredulously- "outfit, at least she's not tacky enough to think a pink into bottle blonde balayage looks good. But unfortunately dear, you are. Take it from a Kalosian." She said sweetly with an edge of menace in her voice.

"You're Mira Millefeui, aren't you?"

"Yeah."

"I could smell your washout of a mother from here."

"And?"

She narrowed her eyes when Mira met her jab with a sweet smile.

"Sorry if you're confused," Mira began, "but I already know that my mother is barely going anywhere. I'm here to be better than her. And believe me- wait a minute. I'm not sure I caught your name."

"Kagami. The person who will be beating you."

Akemi's head poked out to be beside the girl and she scrunched her nose, "Bet."

She was gone soon after and Kagami turned on her heel with a huff.

Mira glanced at Meredith, "Yes, I called you my friend, but that's because I don't like people that think they're above themselves-"

"Then you must hate yourself."

Mira pursed her lips, "I didn't have to stick up for you. It was a favor. And we're not friends!"

Meredith stifled a laugh.

"We are acquaintances if that."

"Sure."

"I'm serious! We're not friends, we're just people who are rivals that I guess travel together now and are general acquaintances."

"Totally."

Mira crossed her arms, "Okay fine, but you still have no class."


"Sarah! We're gonna miss class!"

"Give me a minute for Arceus' sake! Anyway, Aaron, continue," Sarah shouted at someone outside her door.

"Don't you have stuff to do?"

"I'll make up for it later. So you're watching a Contest? Willingly? You feeling alright?"

"Yeah. And on that note. Mom said that you were a coordinator when you were younger. So my life is a lie."

Sarah flinched backward onto her bunk, "Excuse me? When did Mom tell you this obvious lie about me?"

"She sent me a picture of you in your coordinating gear to prove it."

"Oh for the love of Mew!" She cried, flopping back onto the bed. "My life is over!"

"Should've picked battling."

"That would've only been slightly better. Do you know how hard it is to go anywhere in the coordinating or performing world without getting Mom's legacy shoved in your face? It's like having our last name in any city with a gym, but like, forty times worse."

"Oh, so like having tabloid photographers hide in freaking bushes to take pictures of you hugging your parents goodbye?"

"Wait that was an actual thing?!" Sarah shouted, jumping up and hitting her head on the top bunk.

"Yes!"

"Oh my Arceus, I thought it was some conspiracy that people were talking about. People would not leave me alone about it."

"I thought nobody cared about you being a Ketchum?" Aaron asked.

"Yeah. Until you popped up."

"My condolences, I guess."

"SARAH!" The same person from the hallway shouted again.

"GIVE ME A MINUTE!"

"Go to class."

"Boo. You sound like Dad."

"Well according to everyone ever, I look just like him. Except I have Mom's eyes."

"SARAH!"

"FINE! Sorry, buddy gotta go. Tell Jaz I said hi! And if Ari's still there tell her I said good luck with Raina!"

Sarah tucked her RotomPhone into her pocket and snuck out into the hallway. Her hair was in two space buns and she was snuggled into a red jacket with the Ranger insignia embroidered in gold thread. Standard issue, and one of the best ways to comply without complying to dress codes.

There was another girl waiting outside her door with narrowed eyes, her hair twisted into braids that were held back by a hair tie at the nape of her neck.

"Bout time, Ketchum," she teased. "Got a girlfriend we don't know about?"

"Uh, no. It was my brother, Alaia."

"Ah, little headline maker," she confirmed, nodding.

"For the love of Arceus, just call him Aaron," Sarah groaned, walking in step with Alaia down the hall towards the staircases.

"Stop stealing my chocolate stash and I might," Alaia elbowed Sarah in the arm.

"Stop putting it where I can find it."

"It was in my closet!"

"And? I could still find it."

"I hate you," she growled.

"I know."


The whispers followed him inside the door.

But they changed from: 'He looks like his dad'

'Got some big shoes to fill'

'Wonder if he realizes how famous he is'

To whispers about how he looked like his mother, and the dreaded 'he has his mother's eyes.'

It was refreshing, being compared to his mom rather than his dad. But could someone please come up with something more original than some comment about how his eyes look like his mother's?

Jasmine leaned over to him, "You have some sort of venture into coordinating we don't know about?" She asked in a whisper as some of the attendants waved them into the seating area.

"Well, when you're the son of a tri-regional Champion and your mom was a Kalos Queen for six years and is now the chairwoman of the Showcase committee and responsible for the hybridization of Contests and Showcases in Alola and Galar, your name gets around," he whispered back in a single breath.

"It's all fun and games until someone recognizes your parents," Brendan said, still scanning the area around him.

"Weren't you the one who said that his parents aren't that recognizable?" Jasmine asked as someone came up to Aaron with a small notebook and pen in hand. Herding him away from his group and the other spectators filing into the seating area.

"Different world in here," Brendan shrugged, unaware that Aaron had been left behind, "My parents were star coordinators."

"So, have you watched any of Miss Shinji's contests?" A voice came from behind them.

Brendan, Jasmine, and Darcy all turned to look at Aaron, who was smiling awkwardly as that person, a man who looked as though he was in casual wear, except for a logo stitched onto the small cross-body bag he had.

"Coordinator's Weekly," Brendan scoffed, pointing at the logo.

"Huh?"

"It's that tabloid Mer is always reading," Brendan said, directing it more towards Darcy than Jasmine.

"Well, I mean, she and I are friends, so I've definitely tried to catch one of her Contests," Aaron explained, "but my parents are pretty busy and I have to stay with at least one of them most times, so I haven't gotten a lot of downtime to watch any of them."

"But now that you're on your own, will you be watching more of them?"

"Well, Tori is one of my best friends, so I'd say yeah."

The man scribbled some notes on his notepad and tucked it back into his bag, "Thank you, Mr. Ketchum," he said, strolling off to a different area of the arena.

"What was that about?" Jasmine asked once the man had walked away.

Aaron waved for them to follow him and they took their seats. Darcy and Brendan broke off into some hushed chatter as the seats began to fill around them.

"It was some coordinating tabloid looking for a story on Tori," he answered.

"Why don't they just go to her, like all the Champion Children."

"Have you met her father?"

"No, actually."

Aaron was about to shake his head in disappointment before realizing that she was right. "Well, her dad's really protective and so she wasn't always in the public eye like Ry or me. Now that she's on her own she can do stuff like tabloid interviews and be a lot more famous on her own merit. And she's a really good coordinator."

"And they asked you because…?"

"I'm Aaron Ketchum," he said sarcastically.

"And that means?"

"I dunno," he shrugged, "Maybe play some 'hey look childhood friends' fluff piece or something."

Jasmine scrunched her nose at him, even after he looked back at the stage as the lights had started to dim.

The stage was completely darkened, but there was just enough light to see a darker silhouette enter the stage. The figure stomped onto the ground, and blue and orange lights shot through the floor, creating some sort of design that the group couldn't make out from their spot. He spread his arms, lifting his chin from his chest and smiling at the crowd.

"Good afternoon, distinguished coordinating fans!" He announced.

The room erupted into cheers for him. The man took a bow, dusting off his shoulder as he stood back up.

Aaron scrunched his nose, trying to know if he'd recognize this man from any of the Contests in Alola or Galar he'd gone to with his mom. His hair was dark and curly, his skin was a warm brown and his outfit was a bright blue and orange blazer.

"For those of you who don't know, my name is Mario! And I'll be your MC this afternoon as we witness the coordinating feats of some of today's most popular coordinators," he paused, "unfortunately, not Victoria Shinji, she isn't returning my calls."

He took another pause to let the audience chuckle and snicker at his joke.

"But, alongside our tried and true veterans, comes a new round of rookies! And even, the next generation of some of the most prominent coordinators of-" he counted on his fingers and shook his head- "Let's just say before I was born."

Brendan and Darcy exchanged a glance that both said one thing.

Meredith.

"The winners will receive this Pewter City Contest Ribbon!"

A sylveon trotted out from behind, launching into a routine as it made its way towards Mario. Aaron scrunched his nose as the sylveon used a Fairy Wind attack to create a backdrop as it used Swift to send stars up above the stage.

"You alright?" Brendan whispered.

"Stole it from my mom," Aaron whispered back.

Eventually, Sylveon made its way in front of Mario, and he reached down and took a small, green ribbon from just below its ear. He inspected it and held it proudly up to the crowd.

The attack dissipated, and the crowd quieted as Mario cleared his throat. "But first, it is my honor to introduce our esteemed panel of judges. Mr. Contesta, from the Contest Committee-" an elderly man slowly stood up and waved to the crowd- "Mr. Sukizo of the Pokemon Fan Club-" another man did the same- "and finally, the Pewter City Nurse Joy!"

He waited for the crowd to applaud for the judges and Brendan glanced over at Aaron, "Why is Nurse Joy on a judging committee?" He whispered to him.

Aaron shrugged, "I don't know, I never paid attention to Contest stuff."

"But you're-"

"I know who my mom is," Aaron deadpanned.

Mario's voice echoed throughout the arena again as he announced: "Our first coordinator is one who's been dazzling the stages with her sibling for two coordinating seasons, starting from her roots in Hoenn. It's the dazzling doozy: Akemi Saori!"

Akemi burst onto the stage from the side, launching into a cartwheel that sent Darcy's brain to work on how she could've done that in what appeared to be a fitted uniform. Akemi landed in a side lunge, slowly reaching into the pockets of her dress jacket and standing upright. She presented her hands to the audience, a pokeball in each, almost like how a magician presents items to the audience before a magic trick. She tossed them into the air with a twirl, somehow making both spiral as she finished her spin.

"Castform! Kecleon! Our spotlight awaits!"

Both pokeballs released a red beam of energy that spun around each other, materializing into a castform that hovered over her right shoulder, and her right arm which was bent as her hand rested on her hip. Kecleon materialized, clinging to her outstretched left arm. Castform rose above Akemi's head and Kecleon clambered down to stand in front of her. She held one hand up towards Castform and snapped her fingers. Castform began to glow and its appearance began to shift as Akemi looked down at Kecleon.

"Use Ancient Power!" She commanded.

Kecleon backflipped towards her and formed a glowing orb between its hands, shooting it up into the sky up towards Castform, who had transformed so that its head had turned red and had orange spheres that went around it, like a crown.

"Use Sunny Day, Castform!"

A bright light appeared behind Castform, just as Kecleon's Ancient Power rose up behind it, giving Castform a sort of halo above the stage.

"Kecleon, use Water Pulse!"

Kecleon cartwheeled across the stage and sent the attack flying to extinguish Castform's artificial sunlight.

"Weather Ball and Ice Beam!" She shouted as she brought both of her hands over her head.

Kecleon did a back handspring and sent the ice upwards to counter the fiery attack floating down from Castform. Instead of clashing, the ice formed a cast around the fireball, staying like that as Castform floated down back to Akemi's. She smiled at both of her pokemon and clapped her hands above her head.

The ice shattered, and the fireball dispersed along with it, creating brilliant shining, star-like, pieces that hung over the crowd. Brendan and Darcy's jaws had dropped, while Jasmine had looked away from Aaron with shock written on her face. Aaron sat forward in his seat, admiring the glowing ice chips that were now starting to fall harmlessly over the crowd.

It reminded him of the old videos that his father had shown him of his mother's Showcase performances. He'd enjoyed them but still couldn't find a way to imagine doing something like that instead of tried and true battling. But, a little part of him did sort of wish he'd pursued something like this, seeing all the flair and showmanship in person.

Akemi collected her pokemon and nodded to Mario, walking off stage with her chin held high. She tucked both pokeballs into her dress jacket and smiled at Meredith, who hung in at the edge of the curtain separating the ready rooms from the stage.

A few more coordinators came and went, and Aaron hadn't seen anyone that stood out to him. Except maybe that one girl with a sylveon. But maybe that was more because he was focused on sylveon and comparing it to his mom's in his mind. But there was the girl with the fennekin that he swore he'd seen before.

"And a new promising coordinator making her debut-" Mario announced, "-please welcome rookie coordinator, and next-generation star: Meredith Hayden!"

Brendan and Darcy jumped up as Meredith shuffled stiffly and awkwardly towards the middle of the stage in the center of the stage. The lights made obvious each individual bead of sweat on Meredith's forehead as the eyes of the crowd scrutinized her. Aaron and Jasmine glanced at each other, and Jasmine's eyes shifted back towards her as she shrugged.

Her heart was probably going in some crazy rhythm that wouldn't be readable by any machine. Meredith tried to shake the feeling, trying to give a confident smile and scanning the crowd.

About 1,4000 eyes, that means about 700 people are here, and that's less than everyone that shows up to a Grand Festival, usually. She reminded herself, using the numbers as a grounding method as she tried to wrangle in her breathing. And Grand Festivals have amazing coordinators, and if they can do it, so can I.

She tried to ignore how lanky and stiff her arm was as she drew Kip's pokeball out of a pocket in her skirt. She raised her arm, pokeball in hand, above her head, flicking her wrist in order to present some sort of illusion of skill, that only succeeded in making her look more like an amateur.

Kip sprang out of her pokeball, spreading her stubby arms and legs out into a star shape as she fell to the ground. The arena was eerily silent, sans the murmurs that were exchanged between many of the spectators. Her eye was caught by two pairs of arms frantically waving. She looked down at the people attached to them and stepped backward in shock, seeing Darcy's unmistakably bright green hair pulled into her pigtails and Brendan's spiky hair that he was always trying to fix. She took a deep breath and nodded toward Kip.

"Use Water Gun!" She commanded.

Kip nodded in acknowledgment, raising up onto one foot and spinning around like a dancer during a pirouette with a powerful stream of water escaping its open jaws that spun around like Kip herself. Water began to spray onto the audience and Meredith herself, dampening the curls of her bangs and making them stick to her forehead. Kip stopped the attack and jumped into the air, stubby limbs still extended like a star.

"Use Rock Throw!" She commanded, throwing her hand in the air.

Brendan sat back and crossed his arms, scrunching his face. "How come she gets the cool moves right off the bat?" He pouted.

Kip amassed a glowing orb between its fingers and mashed it together, creating a rough stone that she threw into the air, almost falling clumsily onto her back but saving it with a backflip. The rock broke into the smaller pieces above the stage and Meredith called out another command, reaching out to let Kip springboard off her hands into the air. Meredith yelled out another command as Kip spun in the air, sending a jet stream of water spinning and meeting the rocks. The water abruptly stopped and was replaced by a cold wind that blew over the stage and the crowd.

Darcy shivered in her sweater, tucking her arms into it. Brendan noticed her and shrugged off his hoodie and handed it to his sister, who hurriedly put it on and snuggled into it. Jasmine rubbed at her arms, glancing at Aaron, who was unbothered by the sudden temperature shift.

The water stream that spiraled down to the ground had ice shooting down the spiral of water, holding the rocks in place. And Kip landed at the top of the spiral, arms spread wide. Meredith twirled, raising an arm above her head. "Kip! Use Rock Smash!" She cried.

Kip flipped into the air, fist glowing as she came back down, shattering the ice and the rocks encased within it, creating a sparkling, dazzling shower of crystals and harmless rocks. Kip fell back into Meredith's arms as the crowd began to clap for her.

"YEAH! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! GO MER!" Brendan yelled.

Aaron winced, covering his ears, "Is that normal?" He asked Darcy.

"I'm as shocked as you. They're always fighting," she said.

Mario clapped his hands as Meredith scurried off the stage. He cleared his throat, his voice filling the arena yet again. "Well, that's definitely something to get the season started with a bang! It's fair to assume that we'll be seeing many of these incredibly talented coordinators in our Grand Festival! So stay tuned!" He paused for the crowd to cheer and Brendan glanced at the rest of his group, "Isn't there supposed to be some battle portion of this?" Brendan asked in a hushed whisper.

"We move into an intermission where coordinators will be free to interact with fans or families as we prepare for the battle portion of our Contest! We'll be back in-" he paused to check his watch- "twenty minutes!"

The room devolved into a warm chatter as the lights began to brighten, bringing a warm glow back to the arena. Brendan squinted as the darkness evaporated, escaping into the cracks between the chairs, in the shadows.

"Warming up to Mer's hobby yet?" Darcy asked as the group shuffled through to the main atrium.

Brendan crossed his arms, "Battling is still better."

"Coordinating literally has battling in it?" Jasmine said, glancing at Aaron for backup.

"But that's frou-frou battling," Brendan argued.

Aaron cleared his throat, noticing the girl who had last been on stage, Meredith, he was pretty sure her name was, waiting along the walls. He smiled at her and waved her over as Jasmine and Brendan were focused on each other.

"Well, my mom always said that Contests were showier than battles and way more technical than Showcases, but they were pretty much a happy medium between them. The battling stuff takes a lot more thought than what we're doing," he explained, gesturing to Jasmine and Brendan.L

"And Coordinating Battles have to make you think about how you can use the move to make your pokemon look much better and the others look worse!" Meredith added, proudly standing with her hands on her hips.

"Mer!" Brendan and Darcy exclaimed.

She smirked, "For someone who claims to be so exasperated with me, you did cheer pretty loudly for my performance, and you do look pretty happy to see me too," she pointed out.

"I'm happy to see you because now mom and dad won't kill me for losing you," he retorted.

Darcy looked between them, fidgeting with the hem of her sweater. "Well, he was pretty worried about you and the fact that we have all the camping gear," she mumbled just above a whisper.

Meredith pursed her lips, "I'm well aware of that fact."

"She was less prepared than me, and my bags went missing on the plane ride here," someone from behind Meredith said.

Aaron snapped his fingers and pointed at her, "I know you!" He exclaimed, "You're the daughter of that one movie star in Kalos, right?"

She smiled, "Mira Millefeui, and I'm assuming you must be Aaron Ketchum?" She inquired, reaching out a hand for Aaron to shake.

Aaron took her hand, shook it firmly, and nodded. "Yeah, the one and only."

Mira turned to Brendan and glanced at Meredith, "You must be the battling obsessed twin brother that Meredith has complained about."

Brendan narrowed his eyes at his twin sister, and then turned back to Mira with a perfectly normal smile, "Brendan Hayden, and this is Mer and I's little sister Darcy," he introduced.

"I see you made friends," Darcy said to Meredith.

"We're acquaintances," Mira interjected.

"We're friends but she's in denial of it," Meredith clarified, slinging an arm around Mira's shoulders.

Mira stiffened, awkwardly shuffling away from Meredith.

The PA system crackled to life as a voice spoke:

"All participating coordinators, please report back to the backstage areas. The battle portion of the Contest will be taking place momentarily."

"Well, that's our cue," Mira said, waving for Meredith to follow her.

She tried to, stopped by Brendan's hand grabbing her wrist. Meredith whipped around to glare at her brother, but her face softened as she saw her twin brother's encouraging smile.

"Try to come out on top, alright?" He challenged, letting go of her wrist and balling his hand up into a fist.

Meredith smirked, "We always do," she said, accepting his challenge and returning his fist bump. She waved and darted after Mira and disappeared into the crowd.

"You know, for someone who said he only cared about his sister because she's the golden child and you have the camping gear, you're pretty much a standard sitcom older brother ripped right out of the television," Jasmine snickered.

Brendan rolled his eyes, "She's not that bad."

Darcy raised an eyebrow at him, "Maybe it's because there isn't active pressure coming from Mom and Dad to polarize you too-"

"You're seven, when did you start becoming a psychologist?"

"I get bored," Darcy said matter-of-factly.

She followed the trickle of people going back to their seats as Brendan stood shocked and glanced between Aaron and Jasmine, "See, she terrifies me."

The three of them filed in behind Darcy and shuffled awkwardly between the other spectators back to their seats, mumbling half-sincere apologies the whole way. They plopped down in their chairs as Mario re-entered the stage, his sylveon at his side.

"Distinguished Coordinating Fans, I am proud to announce the panel of judges that has deliberated and released those moving on into the battle round," Mario announced, "Those are, as follows: Akemi Saori, Beatriz Barlow, Mira Millefeui, Kagami Mitsu…"

He rattled off more names as Brendan leaned forward, face scrunched up, listening for Meredith's name. As Mario reached the end of the list of names Darcy began to glance over at her brother.

"And finally, Meredith Hayden."

Brendan sighed in relief, leaning back in his seat.

"Probably by the skin of her teeth," Aaron muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean? Mer's performance was great!" Brendan protested with a hushed yell.

"It was good," Aaron said, trying to diffuse the situation, "It just took her a bit to lock into a routine. She was pretty stiff starting out-"

"She was nervous!"

"Contests are a point system, I'm not sure how it works but it's all appearances and stuff," Aaron blurted.

Jasmine nudged him with her elbow, drawing his attention away from Aaron, "Still think your sister's thing is easy?"

Brendan glared at her and sat back in his chair with his arms crossed. Jasmine shook her head, rolling her eyes. Aaron glanced between the two of them, "You two figure it out yet?" He whispered.

Jasmine gave him a thumbs-up and a nod as the lights focused on the stage, which had been hurriedly transformed into a battlefield. The lines were slightly sloppy and waved about in the dirt. The screen behind them lit up with the portraits of two trainers and a green circle underneath each.

One was the pink-haired trainer that had performed first, Akemi, and the other was a darker-skinned girl, whose curly hair seemed to frame her face. Aaron scrunched his nose and jerked back in surprise, "I know her! She's from Alola!" He exclaimed quietly.

"How-?"

"I saw her at the trainer's school. I think she was a couple of years older than my sisters."

Jasmine leaned forward to look at him in shock, "You went to a normal school?"

"Yeah? So did my sisters? How else was I supposed to learn basic math?"

"Never?" Jasmine scoffed.

Darcy rolled her eyes, "Or just online."

"Check the geniusness at the door please, I already know you're smarter than me," Brendan said, ruffling the top of her hair.

The two trainers on the screen entered the stage from either side.

"Presenting our first matchup: Akemi Saori and Kenese Lee!" Mario announced.

Kenese smiled at Akemi, "So we meet again."

"It's like the Johto Grand Festival all over again," Akemi agreed, "but this time, I'm gonna be the one walking out of here with a ribbon in hand."

"Don't be so cocky, Akemi. Oricorio, show Kanto the light of Alola!" Kenese yelled, tossing a pokeball into the air with a twirl.

It opened, releasing a yellow avian pokemon that had extra fluffy yellow feathers on the ends of its wings. It flitted down to be just outside of Kenese's trainer's box, cheering like it was a cheerleader.

"Wasn't she using the same pokemon that…what?" Brendan mumbled to himself with a frown.

"Oricorio's can change their form," Aaron explained, "That's Pom-Pom form, and it's really common on Melemele Island. Assuming Kenese has only one Oricorio, she must have the other nectars on her person because the form she was using earlier was Sensu form."

"Nerd," Jasmine hissed.

"Idiot," Aaron whispered back.

"Ponyta!" Akemi shouted from the stage.

There were solid clops as the hooves of the pokemon landed on the field, and its curly, cotton-candy-like mane bounced as it pranced about. Darcy jumped up with wide, sparkling eyes and mouth agape.

"It's so fluffy," she whispered.

"That does not look like a ponyta," Jasmine said.

"It's the Galarian Form-"

"Well, I'm sorry, I didn't get a personal lesson on every pokemon ever from my champion father."

"I went to school? It was part of our unit on regional variations?"

"He's got ya there," Brendan admitted.

"Akemi and Kenese have both chosen their pokemon," Mario announced, "There will be a timer of five minutes, and the battle will end after either one pokemon faints, one coordinator loses all their points, or the timer expires." He strutted into the middle of the battlefield, "Battle, BEGIN!"

"Ponyta, use Psybeam!"

Ponyta reared onto its hind legs, kicking out its forelegs. It lowered its head so its horn pointed at Oricorio, and a beam of pink, yellow, and blue rings were fired from its stubby black and white horn.

Kenese snapped her fingers and Oricorio used its wings to propel itself just above Ponyta's attack, leaving it to crash against the wall. Akemi glanced at the screen with a panic, watching a small part of the green circle disappear. Kenese smiled, "I got better too. Oricorio, use Mirror Move!"

"Crap," Akemi hissed, "Ponyta, dodge it then use Fairy Wind!"

Ponyta pranced out of the way, sending a cloud of pink dust with a breeze at Oricorio. It swirled around the small pokemon, scratching at its skin and getting in under Oricorio's yellow feathers. Kenese glanced at her points, watching it drop down in two steps. First for missing the mirrored attack and secondly for not dodging the Fairy Wind. She grit her teeth and called out another command for Oricorio, keeping one eye trained on her remaining points.

"Why do they keep glancing at the-"

"Shut," Jasmine said, backhanding him in the jaw without batting an eye.

Brendan rubbed at his jaw and glared at her and resisted the urge to tug on one of her purple pigtails. Aaron leaned back and winced, before whispering, "It's their points that they have to keep for the-"

"I will backhand you too, Ketchum," Jasmine threatened.

"Bet. Sarah hits way harder than you," Aaron challenged.

She scrunched her nose at him, raising her hand threateningly; to which Aaron just grinned and shrugged, "Dare ya."

"Esteemed guests, our time is up and we have a winner!" Mario announced, drawing the duo's attention away from each other. They looked at the screen, seeing Kenese's points just below Akemi's.

"Akemi Saori moves onto the next round. Next up is Beatriz Barlow and Vincent Dupont," Mario announced as Kenese and Akemi shuffled off stage.

Aaron tried to focus on whatever Jasmine and Brendan started muttering, but his focus was drawn away by a vibration from his RotomPhone in his pocket. He grabbed it, frantically lowering the brightness and tapping the notification without reading who it was from, opening his messages.

"What's up?" Jasmine asked, leaning over to try to catch a glimpse of his messages, only for Aaron to tilt his phone to the side.

"My dad. Wanted to tell me he's proud of me for beating him in terms of getting my first gym badge. And he asked if I'd heard from Laura. She's been denying his calls and he asked me if I'd called her."

"Have you?"

"Tried to, but it was like one in the morning in Unova when I tried," Aaron said, tucking his phone back into his pocket and returning his focus to the Contest.


"This isn't helping your inferiority complex."

"My what?"

"Your inferiority complex," Iris said nonchalantly, "it's clear as day."

"I do not have an inferiority complex," Laura corrected, glaring at her mentor.

"So you being convinced that you are somehow inferior to your sister despite most people, including your dad and Elaine herself, saying you could match her in strength is not actually an inferiority complex. Got it."

"If anyone has a complex, then she has a superiority complex. You just said I could beat her-"

"I said match, not beat," Iris chided, circling her protege. She and Laura sat at the crest of a lonely hill, and Laura sat down in the center. Iris glanced out at the small clump of trees that had been trimmed and chopped at by Laura and Sceptile for the better part of an hour. Sceptile leaned over her shoulder, accepting forehead rubs from Laura, who sat with her legs crossed. She craned her neck as Iris walked behind her to try to keep some semblance of eye contact. "Same thing," Laura argued, taking her hand away from Sceptile's forehead and folding them in her lap.

"Very different," Iris deflected. "I've seen that girl take out legendaries, and I've fought her myself. You could match and theoretically beat her strength-wise. Playing to your strategies alone, that is. But it's the way she uses that strength that makes her better than you.

"Sceptile charges at her opponent, attacks ready, while Greninja-" Laura rolled her eyes- "waits and makes his opponent come to him, on Elaine's command. That's a learned skill, not a known one."

"The entire point of a battle is to charge at your opponent," Laura argued, rising up from her seat by kicking out one leg into a lunge before standing up straight. She crossed her arms, blue eyes narrowed as she took one hand and ran it through her hair.

"And that's why Elaine will always beat you."

Laura scowled, "So this isn't to help me get better at all. This is just another time to take a moment and give my universally adored sister more attention."

"Universally adored, my ass," Iris muttered to herself.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Laura snarked, "Which triplet ends up in the headlines at least once a week for smiling? Which triplet has an army of loyal, adoring fans? Which triplet gets all the attention from everyone for just existing? Because it sure as the distortion world ain't me or Sarah."

"So you'd like to have the world staring at your every twitch?" Iris countered.

"How inhumane, people like her."

"What a tragedy, you can actually have a personality other than a young battling prodigy."

Iris matched Laura's glare. "I'm going to remind you of this once. You have no idea of the training that goes into being strong, in battles, physically, and emotionally. Or how to be your sister or a Champion at all for that matter," she reminded Laura, her face losing the normal playful edge it kept, even when she was scolding or otherwise criticizing her.

"You're right, I don't," Laura resolved. "I don't have any idea what it's like to be adored as the golden child or some precious little Aura Guardian-"

"Sceptile needs to slice that boulder in half," Iris interrupted, pointing at a rock that must have been at least a half-mile away.

"What?" Laura questioned, taken aback by the sudden demand.

"Use Solar Blade, slice it in half. If you do, we'll continue and I'll back off. If you can't, my point is proven and we end training here for today and I walk you back," Iris said matter-of-factly as if it was easy.

Laura squinted, part in disbelief, and part in confusion as she searched Iris' face for any sign that the Unovan Champion might have been joking about her challenge. She didn't find the familiar hint of a smile or that twinkle of mischief in her eyes. Laura stepped back, shaking her head and swallowing the lump in her throat.

She pointed at the boulder with a shaky arm and finger, looking at Sceptile, "Solar Blade," she commanded, her voice shaky and uneven as she felt Iris' eyes burn holes into her jacket and her back.

Sceptile raised her arms above her head, calling the sunlight into a great beam of light that could've singed Laura's hair if she'd gotten close enough, began to form. Sceptile took the beam and sent it hurtling towards the boulder. As it approached, however, the light dimmed and dimmed, until finally, when it hit the boulder, it was nothing more than the beam of a small flashlight bouncing harmlessly off the surface.

"Barely a scratch," Iris said, reaching into her pocket.

"It was a half-mile away," Laura protested, "I'd like to see you do better," she added under her breath.

"Garchomp," Iris commanded, releasing the looming Mach Pokemon. She pointed at the boulder and Garchomp nodded. He opened his lumbering jaw, sending a beam of purple, pink, and blue shooting towards the boulder. It exploded. Smaller rocks and even shrapnel went flying, scattering around the area where the boulder once stood. Iris called Garchomp back without another word and turned to face Laura with her hands in her pockets, "My point is proven. Shall we go?"

"What point?! That's a Champion caliber Garchomp that could rival Cynthia Shirona's-"

"I wish," Iris said under her breath.

"-no duh, it was going to be more powerful than Sceptile."

"You know, I got that idea for that test from your father. He did the same thing to Elaine-"

"And let me guess, she did it perfectly the first try."

"No, she still can't."

Laura scrunched her face, "So what was the point?"

"You said you want to be stronger than Elaine, right?" Iris interrogated.

"More or less."

"So if she can't destroy the boulder either, that means that you're roughly even in power when it comes to your aces. Garchomp is far from my ace, so if you can get even Frosslass to be able to destroy it, that means you've trained to be strong enough to beat her. And along with that, you've also trained your abilities and skills."

Laura crossed her arms, still skeptical.

"Your dad is willing to offer you Elaine's training plans," Iris said, walking away from her protege, "If you call and ask him for them, he'll give them to you so we can set up a training plan that puts you one step ahead of her, instead of half a step behind," she added over her shoulder.

Laura glanced at Sceptile and shrugged, following behind the Unovan Champion.


"Next up is Kagami Mitsu and Mira Millefeui!"

"Oooh, fennekin girl."

Aaron wanted to slap his forehead again, but at this point, he was worried about leaving a bruise. "Jaz, you're my friend and I care about you, but please stop nicknaming these poor coordinators."

"Never!" She whispered.

"No, but seriously, stop," Meredith said, backing up Aaron.

"Who brought party pooper up here?"

"You can blame Vincent Dupont for that. Or as you call him, 'guy with an accent harder to understand than Aaron's.'"

"Ce n'est pas mon accent, c'est littéralement moi qui parle une langue différente," Aaron muttered under his breath.

"My point exactly," Jasmine said triumphantly, pointing at him.

"He literally said: It's not my accent, it's literally me speaking a different language," Darcy said, shutting off her tablet and tucking it back into her bag.

"How-"

"Translating app," she said before turning towards Aaron, "That still doesn't answer the question of how you know an almost dead language."

"After Mira's battle," Aaron promised.

There wasn't much of a battle for Aaron to delay his explanation. Kagami's sylveon swiped at Fennekin in some sneaky attacks, rendering the small Fox Pokemon fainted and curled in the dirt. Mira scurried over to Fennekin, wrapping it up in her arms and shuffling off stage as Kagami flipped her hair over her shoulder, strutting off stage with her chin held high and her sylveon sashaying alongside her.

"That leaves us with two more competitors!" Mario announced, drawing claps, hoots, and cheers from the crowd, "Akemi Saori and Kagami Mitsu."

Both girls entered back from either side of the stage, Kagami now on the opposite side of where she was before. Her sylveon pranced alongside her and Akemi's ponyta trotted out into position on the battlefield, rearing up again and kicking its forelegs out.

Sylveon pranced out into position as the screen illuminated with both girls' pictures and the green circles underneath each. Mario nodded at the two of them, "Battle BEGIN!"

"Use Moonblast!" Kagami commanded.

Sylveon lept into the air, creating a bright, glowing pink orb above its head. The attack was sent flying towards Ponyta, only for Ponyta to trot out of the way before sending an attack back, which was easily identified as Psybeam. The attack slammed into Sylveon, sending it tumbling to the ground.

Kagami's points dropped violently, almost by a quarter. Akemi smirked, "Use Fairy Wind!" She commanded, letting a breeze kick up, carrying a cloud of pink dust and sending it towards Sylveon and letting it almost form into a vortex around Sylveon. Kagami's points slowly dropped, with every passing moment that she sat, trying to find a way to escape the vortex. She shifted awkwardly as Sylveon kept its head down as the wind whipped its ribbons wildly. Meredith, and Mira, who had sat down next to her, winced.

"That's brutal," Meredith whispered.

"She deserves it," Mira whispered back, "Too confident. She needed someone to put her in her place."

Meredith glanced at her, before shrugging and nodding along.

"And that's that!" Mario announced, causing them to glance up and see that Kagami's circle had disappeared. "Congratulations to Akemi Saori, the winner of this Pewter City Contest!"

Kagami left the stage in a huff as Akemi, and Ponyta moved up to stand next to Mario. She smiled, shaking his hand as he handed her the green ribbon. Akemi held it up to the light, letting the people clap and cheer for her.

"So, about that bilingualism of yours-"

"Later," Aaron groaned, standing up and leading everyone else to follow him outside.

The chattering increased as they got into the atrium, and Aaron fought the urge to cover his ears or try to get out of there as fast as possible, knowing that that would only attract more unwanted attention.

Mira stood next to him, "Crowds, eh?"

Aaron fought the urge to laugh, "Is that a conversation starter that works?"

"Not at all," Mira said with a laugh, "I will say, I'm trying to snag a spot in your group."

"That's…random?"

Mira shrugged, "Meredith was technically my traveling companion if you can call it that?"

"Didn't you two hate each other?"

"How did you-"

"You grow up getting dragged to Pokemon Showcases and you learn how to pick out beef between performers," Aaron explained. Mira looked at him with a raised eyebrow before thinking to herself and nodding.

"Anyway, there is something about a group that I find enjoyable."

"Well, if Brendan, Darcy, and Meredith stay with us, I don't see why we can't tack you on as well," he said as it looked like Jasmine was recapping how she and Brendan and Darcy ran into each other originally. "Besides, I could use another famous group member to get the tabloids' attention off me."

They eventually walked out of the arena, with Darcy immediately darting over to Aaron's side so she could glare at him as he constantly assured her that he'd explain once the group got back to the Pokemon Center. The group crammed into a small booth with all the siblings taking up one bench, Brendan and Meredith on either side while Darcy was squeezed between them in the middle. Aaron settled into the middle of the other bench with Jasmine and Mira taking the seats on the outside.

"So…" Jasmine started, drumming her fingers on the table, "We still going with our big group, or are we splitting u-"

"Sticking together," Darcy interrupted.

Meredith glanced at Brendan with her brow furrowed. Brendan shrugged and grinned at Darcy, "You wanna get your own camping gear?" He asked, "Cause I'm sticking with them."

"Fine."

Mira raised her hand, "Mind if I join in?"

"Aaron's now trying to raise his army of famous people to overthrow the owners of the big-name tabloids," Jasmine said, reaching over him to shake Mira's hand, "Welcome to the group."

Aaron leaned back into the cushions, letting the two girls shake hands uninterrupted over him. He glanced at Jasmine, who was smirking as she propped her face up with her elbow on the table. "Well, what else am I gonna do? Tell them to leave me alone? Seriously, at this point it's a matter of waiting until I drag Tori and Ry into this group," he snarked.

"How come you got all the natural chaos but I got none?" Jasmine protested, slamming her fist down on the table.

"That's like the equivalent of my mamie asking how none of my dad's stupidity was overpowered by my mom's level-headedness."

"Your what?" Meredith asked.

"Mamie, it's a word that is really common in rural Kalos, but I can't remember what it's for," Mira explained, glancing at Aaron and gesturing for him to continue.

"It's a nickname for a grandmother," he continued, "like Nana or Ganny. And my mom is from Kalos."

"That still brings up the question of how you know a dead language," Darcy piped up.

Aaron shook his head, "It's not even completely dead," he countered.

"But that must have been Traditional Kalosian since your mom is from Kalos."

"Bingo. I don't use it much, except swearing."

Brendan raised an eyebrow, "You are a horrible influence."

"So I'm told," Aaron said with a shrug, "But hey when you gotta swear without getting in trouble with your dad, might as well swear in another language."

"Oh my Arceus," Jasmine sighed, slamming her head down on the table, fighting the urge to burst out laughing. Aaron let a snort lose, and lost his composure, dissolving into snickers that slowly broke into the whole group laughing, earning disapproving and annoyed glances from Nurse Joy and some of the other people going about their business. All of them tried to ignore the boisterous group of trainers, but some of the older trainers smiled as they remembered the old friendships they had once made on the same path that the group was now on.


A/N: Traditional Kalosian = French if it wasn't obvious. As for why: it's to give Aaron a little bit more depth, and overall the world a bit more depth. But yeah, he mainly uses it to swear. And I'm gonna be honest, it's google translate, so if you speak french and you're reading that and very confused. Just know, I don't speak french, so google translate it is.

Anyway, onto the reviews!

horseradish-sprout - Thank you so much. Brendan, Darcy, and Meredith tend to be favorites, especially among some of my friends. And I've been developing these characters for almost a year before I posted first, so I hoped to give them all unique personalities that set them apart from each other.

ninjaboy12 - I included that scene because I really wanted to showcase their relationship, and also their understanding of each other and it turned out cute. Also, despite how much he looks up to his dad, Aaron is a momma's boy.

I feel that Jessie and James might have some things to say, and Jasmine is probably going to acquaint her fist with his face.

You might be on to something there...but there are other things at play, I assure you.

cricketlaxwolvesbandy - Oh absolutely, I did enjoy Ash's interactions with Delia because I feel it gave him more backstory and depth as a character. With Aaron being as close as he is to Serena, it felt natural.

What happened to Elaine is a complex subject, because even she herself isn't sure (she knows Ash's pov, and what the wound is, but still isn't completely sure how it happened) but it will definitely be addressed at some point. And I hoped you enjoyed Laura and Sarah's brief scenes. They're not meant to get too much time, because they aren't main characters, but I'll try to pop in with them every once and a while in phone calls, group chats, and brief switches to their POVs.

Well, he's not Aaron Ketchum for nothing. Aaron has spent his entire life growing up and watching his dad battle, it's natural he picks up a trick or two.

And when Ash and Serena have been together for as long as they have, Serena has learned how to pick up on what's bothering Ash.

Bingo! Mira is Miette's daughter, I was hoping someone would piece that together. And as for Serena and Miette's rivalry, it's sort of dissipated as they haven't spoken often, other than the occasional accidental bumping into each other in Lumiose City or some other major city in Kalos. Mira's goal does involve setting herself apart from Miette, so part of that might be becoming close friends with Aaron and co.

I appreciate all the support everyone! I hope y'all have a great day.