Frickin Ash made it to Pokemon Masters... I mean, I honestly expected it at some point, but it feels so weird seeing it happen.

Is this the part when people start to ship him with Tina?

...Is this the part when I add Tina to the fic?

Don't think so, but Korrina with Marshadow is really cool, and it gave me an idea to do something similar since there's an indirect connection between them in the fic.

Unrelated note of today: I'm rediscovering Dragon Steam Express in Webtoon and goddamn, did I miss it. I legit don't remember anything about it, so I'm really enjoying as if it was the first time I read it.

Let's get into it.

"Now all you have to do is to say yes, and then it'll be just the three of us!"

"Just the three of us...? Dawn, May... I need to explain you something first."

"What's the matter, Ash?" May asked slightly annoyed, after all they've been through she expected Ash to simply accept the offer and hug them both.

"First things first, are you two really okay with sharing me?" Ash asked.

"Yes, we are!" May exclaimed.

"Y-Yes, I'll admit I was really against it at first, this could get us in some real trouble, but I'm willing to take the risk for you." Dawn answered. "I-Is there a problem?"

"Pfft, of course there isn't." May said "Ash is just a little shocked, after all, two of his best friends are offering themselves to become his two girlfriends, what else could he possibly want?"

"I told you, I have to explain you something." Ash continued. "These girls here... They already are my girlfriends."

"...What did you just say?" Dawn asked.

"What you heard, as weird as that sounds, I have seven girlfriends already." Ash continued and the seven girls in question got closer to him, while Wicke, Danika and the Pokemon stayed behind, all of them rather curious to see what would happen, meanwhile Skyla and Cynthia were still behind Dawn and May, processing all that was going on.

"Ash has... seven girlfriends?" Cynthia asked.

"So he's been making a harem..." Skyla trailed off. "Oh geez, I knew Ash was popular with girls, but to think he'd be okay with something like this... T-Then that means I could..."

"You're kidding, right?" May asked with a short laugh, but then she noticed the serious expression that Ash had on his face. "A-Ash, this isn't funny."

"May, I don't think he's joking." Dawn said.

"He definitely isn't." Bea said. "Ash is our boyfriend, we're all sharing him."

"What?! Why?! W-W-When did this happen?!" May shouted.

"In the course of the last weeks." Ash said. "At first it was only Bea, but it all kept escalating and-"

"Ash! You can't have seven girlfriends!" May interrupted him.

"Uh, you just said you wanted to share him with another girl." Peonia said. "Weird moment to draw the line."

"That's not the same! Between two and seven there's too much difference!" May answered. "Besides, we're Ash's dearest friends, he barely knows any of you!"

"I know them enough, May." Ash answered. "Of course, I know you two as well, I kinda suspected it, but I'm also surprised that you both like me. Let alone that you two wanted to share me as well."

"Heh, even with all this, you're still somewhat dense." Mallow said.

"Well, all of you better know that we have no intention of joining such a mess!" May shouted again. "Right, Dawn?"

"May's right, I... I don't think I could find the strength to do something like that." She replied.

"Well, Ash Ketchum, it's seems like you have a choice to make." May looked at him again. "Who is more important to you? Dawn and I or all these girls?"

"M-May! How do you expect me to answer something like that?" Ash asked. "You're all important to me."

"Important, huh?" May asked. "So you want us to be your girlfriends too? You love Dawn and me that way?"

"Yes, I do!" Ash answered. "May, if you two had just told me...with all that we've been through I think the answer is obvious, of course I love you both, I'd be more than happy to be the man who takes care of you."

"And we'd love to be the women who make you happy." Dawn trailed off. "We both spent over a year traveling with you, seeing how you always take risks for the sake of others, how could we not fall in love? ...We just never found the moment to be sincere about our feelings."

"You've taught me so many things and... t-that dance we had together was the most special moment of my life, Ash. I felt like we were a married couple there!" May exclaimed.

"It did feel something like that." Ash smiled. "So, what do you say?"

"So the three of us are willing to do this..." May said and then looked at the other girls. "But... Ash, if you really love Dawn and me, we need you to prove it."

"And how can I do that?" Ash asked taking their hands.

"If you really love us..." May looked at their hands and pulled hers away. "If you reallly love us, I want you to dump all these bitches this instant!" She shouted and everyone but Ash gasped.

"She's so dead." Acerola whispered.

"M-M-May!" Dawn shouted.

"May...please, take that back." Ash said calmly.

"That's what they are! And you're no better for making all this! I can't believe it! I thought that after all the shit you went through you deserved two girlfriends, but seven?! Or nine if you're delirious enough to think we'll join?! Now you're just being a playboy!"

"Don't you call him that!" Gloria shouted. "If you were really his friend you'd respect his decision!"

"It's because I'm his friend that I'm telling him all this!" May continued as she tried to hold her tears. "A-Ash, I know I'm sounding harsh, but I just want the best for you, these girls don't know you! Only Dawn and I will know how to truly look after you, so if you're taking both of us... You'll have to leave the rest! So, what is it going to be?"

"May..." Ash simply stared at her and sighed. "I... I think the surprise of my relationship was a bit too much for you, you have to sit down and think this through."

"Think this through?!" May shouted. "Are you calling me crazy, Ash Ketchum?!"

"O-Of course not!" Ash answered. "But you're not understanding. Dawn, can you help me here?"

"Help you?!" Dawn suddenly shouted looking at the floor to then stare at him. "...Do you have any idea of how much I hesitated to share you just with May? Ash, it took me days to accept her idea! Because I was the only one considering all the risks, risks that you obviously didn't even think about! A man with two wives is already a recipe for disaster, all that I could think about was each and every problem we would face because of that relationship, just think about it! All of you!" She pointed at the girls. "S-So many people will try to separate you, your families will neglect you because of this, Ash will always be overworked and he won't even find the time to be with each of you! All of you will be always be worrying about which one of you Ash loves the most, not to mention all the legal problems..."

"Dawn, just let me explain-"

"No! You Let me finish!" She suddenly pushed Ash a few steps back. "Ash... I was willing to accept that mountain of problems... each and every single one of those challenges, I was willing to face them, because I knew May and you would be there with me, but now you're asking me to share you with a bunch of people I don't know... Ash, we'd be nine girls, I don't care how many gods you've fought, you're still just one person, how much time will you have for each of us per day? 15 minutes? I can't live a life like that and neither can you... I-I wish you happiness, I truly do, but this won't work, you still have time to back down, I'm not even asking you to accept May and me to replace them, but you have to stop this whole thing for your own well being and if you really care about the feelings of these girls."

"Dawn, they are the reason why I decided to start this relationship in the first place." Ash answered. "All their feelings, I couldn't force myself to just toss them away, just like yours and May's, you all matter to me."

"If they mattered that much you would have just rejected them, they would have gotten over it!" May exclaimed. "But just like Dawn said, now they'll have to live with all the problems of this relationship."

"And you will also have to live with those problems, Ash." Dawn said to then look at the girlfriends. "Please, be honest, are all of you really happy?"

"Yes, we are." Nessa firmly answered. "Ash is really caring and he finds time for all of us."

"He said he was going to give his all to make it work and he's been doing exactly that." Peonia added.

"The way he protect us and take care of us is the best feeling ever." Acerola said.

"And we won't let him overwork himself, we'll always help him with everything we can." Bea said.

"And even though we're the latest additions, I'm sure it wont be any different with us." Mallow said.

"We truly believe that Ash will make the best for us." Lana ended.

"And I'm not going to dump any of them." Ash said. "That's the answer I can give you."

"Argh! I'm done! We're leaving!" May shouted. "S-So I hope you keep in mind that you've lost two of your best friends, Ash Ketchum! Maybe when you understand you can't maintain this you'll realize what you just missed!"

"May, wait!" Ash tried to take her by the wrist, but May slapped his hand off, she then raised her hand and was about to slap Ash in the face, but she refrained herself from doing so and simply sighed to then leave the scene. Ash was about to go after her just like he did during the contest, but he felt like it would be the best to give her some space this time. He then looked at Dawn who was standing still while looking at him.

"Ash..." Dawn sighed. "I'm sorry, I swear I love you like I've never loved anyone before, but... I can't be part of this." Dawn stared at him for what felt like an eternity for both of them, before finally starting to walk away in the same direction as May.

"Uh... I'm leaving now, I must take account of the damages caused by the Ultra Beasts." Wicke broke the silence and parted away. Skyla and Cynthia then looked at each other and left the scene together.

"I'm leaving too, all of you take care." Danika said to them and walked to Ash. "And you... just keep doing your best." She smiled at him and planted a quick kiss on his cheek.

"Heh, I thought you were too embarassed." Ash smiled back.

"Maybe, but there's no way I'm letting you get the first shot in that." Danika replied and waved at the girls before taking her leave, now only Ash, his girlfriends and their Pokemon were left next to the still burning school.

"Ash, you okay?" Bea asked him.

"I'm ok." He answered. "Of course I knew that not everyone would be okay with this, but to think May and Dawn would..."

"Hey, don't listen to what they said." Nessa hugged him from behind. "We know you love us all equally, if they can't see it, that's their problem."

"...Thanks... I think we should all head back to the mansion for now. It's been a long day." Ash replied.

"Right, I guess we'll be staying with you for now." Mallow said. "I'll gladly be the chef of our team."

"Mallow's a complete gourmet, you're all gonna love it." Lana said. "But we have to get back to our houses and pack some things first."

"Of course, I'll go pick you two up in a moment, so get yourselves ready." Ash said and the duo nodded to then run onward their houses.

"Oh, right! Zeraora, I forgot you were still here." Bea looked at him.

"Yeah, I think I forgot it myself with all that's happening, it'll take me some time to adjust to this world." He answered. "Well, you seem to have some things to discuss with your mate so I suppose I'll leave you, I'll do as you said, I'll try to find people to help, but don't worry, I'll be close."

"Be safe then." Bea nodded and Zeraora saluted her before leaving with a lightning. Ash then guided the rest of his girlfriends back to their mansion so they could take a rest after all that happened.

Around an hour later, at Lana's house.

"Hi, Ash! Hi, Pikachu!" The twins greeted them together after he knocked the opened front door.

"Harper, Sarah!" Ash squatted to talk with the two, while they caught Pikachu in a double hug and the mouse couldn't find the will to zap out of it, so he just accepted it and Ash just laughed at the scene. "Heh, it's been a while, how are you two?"

"We're great!" Harper said.

"We were waiting for you actually." Sarah added.

"Lana seemed reeeeeeeeally happy when she got back home." They said together.

"Is that so?" Ash asked with a smile.

"Could you two stop bothering my boyfriend?" Lana asked approaching them with a bag on her back from which the head of her Eevee, Sandy, was popping out.

"Vee! Vee!" Sandy waved at Ash.

"Oh, come on, we just were... Wait, BOYFRIEND?!" The twins asked.

"Yes. Boyfriend." Lana reached out to Ash and planted a quick kiss on his lips to then snuck out her tongue to Harper and Sarah.

"LANA AND ASH ARE MARRIED!" The two shouted together with a squeal while they squeezed Pikachu who finally snapped and shocked the two with a mild Thunderbolt, but they were so excited that it wasn't even enough to knock them out neither make them let go off him.

"...I'll explain them everything later." Lana said to Ash.

"Ash, you're part of our family now!" Harper said.

"That means you're like our big brother now!" Sarah added.

"You have to play with us, teach us about Pokemon and do all sort of fun things with us!" They said together.

"Sure, I'd love to do all those things, but first I want to spent some time with Lana." Ash answered.

"But whyyyyyyyyyy?" The two complained finally looseing their hug to let Pikachu out.

"Now, easy there." Their mother walked in after hearing everything. "You have to remember that Ash is Lana's boyfriend foremost, he may be family now, but he has to prioritize her... as for you, Ash, I'm already aware of your 'situation'." She said with a wink. "But since Lana was planning something similar either way, I'm not gonna stop you, I'm just asking you to be fair with my daughter."

"O-Of course, Miss." Ash nodded rather nervous.

"Oh please, call me Suiren, dear." She said.

"...Your... name... is Suiren?" Lana asked.

"You didn't know your Mother's name?" Ash asked.

"Well, I guess it's not the kind of topic we'd bring up often." Lana answered.

"Heh, yeah, everyone just calls me Lana's Mom and I kinda got used to it." She answered. "And well, nobody actually asks, but that's enough about me. I'm sure this relationship will help you both grow, so go out and have fun!"

"Thanks, Mom!" Lana nodded while dragging Ash away.

"T-Thanks, Miss Suiren!" Ash said while trying to not fall.

"Pika pi!" The mouse complained and chased after them since his trainer left him behind.

A few moments later, at Aina's Kitchen.

"How you doing, Mallow?" Lana asked her once they entered with Ash panting behind her after she dragged him in a run without breaks.

"I'm doing great..." Mallow whispered with her backpack and looked at her father who simply nodded and she ran to give Ash a hug.

"Ash... what happened between us today... It wasn't a dream, right?" After that question Ash just smiled and gave Mallow a deep kiss.

"Does that feel like a dream?" Ash asked.

"Y-Yes... more or less." Mallow nodded and hugged him again, the hug was then joined by Lana and the three shared a laugh.

"Are you sure you want to come with us?" Ash asked Mallow. "I mean, wouldn't the restaurant be too busy for your father?"

"Pfft, don't worry about that, lads." He talked to them. "I've been hiring some extra people these last months, they're all talented and have learned most of Mallow's best recipes, we can survive without her a week or two. Isn't that right, Elio?"

"Sure, leave it to me." The teen answered coming from under a table that he was cleaning.

"Elio!" Ash exclaimed.

"Ash! dude, hasn't it been a while?" He asked offering a handshake, but Ash parted from the girls and gave him a hug instead.

"You're working here in the restaurant?" Ash asked with a short laugh. "Last time we met you somehow froze a bowl of rice in the microwave."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, things have changed since we last met." He answered laughing as well. "I'm head chef here, after the family, of course."

"Wow, I knew Elio was from Pallet Town, but I didn't know you two were friends." Mallow said.

"Well, you never asked." Ash said. "Elio and his twin Selene are good childhood friends of mine."

"Besides, it's been quite some time since we were together." Elio added. "I mean, look at you, Mr. Champion."

"Hey, you're doing quite good as well." Ash replied. "Kahili, right?"

"Yeah, I really got lucky with her, she even wanted me to be some kind of house husband..." Elio blushed embarrassed. "Eh, whatever, I thought it'd be better if I also helped with the income, you know? She works really hard with her golfing and I want to believe I'm doing my part as well."

"You definitely are." Mallow answered. "Just like Dad said, I'm leaving the kitchen in good hands."

"Thanks for the trust, really." Elio said.

"Sure thing, well, I'll be staying with you and the girls as long as you're in Alola." Mallow said to Ash. "It'll be some sorta vacation for me, but I'll be your personal chef as well."

"I'll be looking forward to that, you know how much I love your cooking." Ash said.

"Hey, one more thing before you leave." Elio talked to Ash again. "You already knew I'm with Kahili, Selene was the one who told you, right?"

"Ah, yeah, we met yesterday and she..."

"She kissed you and confessed." Elio interrupted Ash.

"Yeah, I suppose she told you." Ash nodded.

"She just told me she met with you, but by the look on her face it was easy to guess the rest, I mean, I already knew she was crazy for you, man." Elio sighed. "And I want to say it now, Ash, I'm totally fine with you two dating, you'd be great for Selene, but you and I know she can get a little... possesive, even agressive, especially if things don't go the way she wants, so be careful with that if you end up with her."

"Hmm, yeah, after all she kissed me in front of... uh... nevermind." Ash laughed. "I guess I have to talk with her. Glad to see you again though."

"Back at you." Elio answered.

"Well, I hope you all do great." Mallow's father talked again to then walk to the Kitchen of the restaurant. "And Ash, you better be fair with Mallow!"

"Does he knows?" Ash whispered to Mallow.

"He thinks it's just Lana, Lillie and me." Mallow answered. "Let's leave it like that for the moment."

"If you say so." Ash answered.

"Am I missing something here?" Elio asked.

"Let's get going." Lana dragged Mallow and Ash out of the place, while Pikachu finally made it to the restaurant only to see Ash and his girlfriends were already leaving, so he simply jumped to Ash's head as they made their way to the mansion.

"So, this is how you two imagined us to be?" Ash asked them, the trio was walking on the beach, with both girls holding one of his hands.

"Well, it was more or less like this." Lana said.

"Of course that included Lillie too." Mallow added.

"But you only have two hands." Lana replied to then giggle. "Maybe you can carry her on your back or something."

"Well, you're the lightest of the three girls..." Ash answered. "So maybe I should carry you instead!" He exclaimed to suddenly take Lana in a bridal carry.

"Hmp, well I'm definitely not complaining about this." Lana smiled while Sandy hopped to Ash's shoulder and waved at Pikachu, who was still on top of Ash's head with a tired look.

"I still feel guilty about hiding this from Lillie." Mallow said. "You know, even though Lana and I agreed that it was the best for her .. I really hope she accepts being your girlfriend as well, even with the rest of your girls in the picture."

"Don't worry, once she returns to Alola we'll get a moment alone with her and we'll ask her together." Ash said.

"Ash, please be honest here." Lana gave him a serious look. "Do you really want Lillie as your girlfriend or do you want to do it just because we're insisting?"

"R-Right, uh..." Mallow stuttered. "Ash, please don't think we're trying to force you, it's just-"

"It's just that Lillie is a close friend, I get it." Ash interrupted. "To be honest, it maybe a mixture of the two things Lana just said, you two are my girlfriends now, so of course your opinion is important, but... I also think Lillie is really beautiful and charming, during the time I was in Alola I watched her grow so much... but well, those are things that I think will be the best to save for her, right?"

"The three of us definitely made the right choice with you." While still being carried, Lana grabbed Ash's face and kissed his lips.

"We surely did!" Mallow exclaimed and hugged Ash to then give him a passionate kiss, while Lana was stuck in the middle of that exchange still on Ash's arms.

"Mallow! Your boobs are suffocating me!" She shouted.

Somewhere in Kanto.

"Hey, you okay?" Millis asked opening the door of Domino's room.

"Sure, I'm great." Domino answered while sitting on the floor next to her bed staring at Danika's totem.

"What's that thing?" Millis asked sitting next to her.

"None of your business." Domino said hiding the totem in one of her pockets.

"Hey, shouldn't you have gone to the medical area?"

"Why do you care?" Domino glared at her.

"I'm just saying, those hits looked really hard." Millis said.

"So you saw... Just how long were you standing by back in Alola?" Domino asked.

"Eh, I teleported myself around the time you shot Ash and I watched the whole thing from the hole in the roof." Millis answered. "I'll admit it was impressive how he withstood the electric hit without much issue."

"Wait, so you just stood there while he could have-!"

"Hey, you said yourself that he wouldn't harm you." Millis interrupted her. "You said you didn't need help."

"...Yes, I did." Domino sighed. "Listen... thank you for saving me."

"Heh, you're welcome." She answered giving Domino a soft punch on her shoulder.

"Ouch!" She shouted. "Okay, maybe I do need to go to the medical area." Domino stood up with difficulty and left the room, while Millis followed her and started walking by her side.

"Hmmp, you want to see me crumbling?" Domino asked.

"It's not like I'm worried about you, but I'd like to make sure you get there in one piece." Millis smiled. "You know, misery loves company."

"Well, I definitely am in misery now." Domino smiled as well. "Back to a Grunt."

"Yeah, everyone in the building is just talking about that, many are wondering who's gonna be the new second-in-command."

"Maybe Proton or Archer... not like I should care much about that now." Domino said. "I... A part of me still doesn't believe Giovanni just said all that to me."

"Hey, remember he was the one who sent me to take you back, so he cares about you to some extent." Millis said.

"Maybe, but... even for this line of work, we were actually closer, but things have changed lately, I don't understand why Giovanni is acting like that with me."

"...Can I ask something?" Millis said.

"You already are." Domino said.

"...Why do you care so much about what Giovanni thinks of you?" Millis asked. "Like, everyone here seems to serve him out of fear or for money, but there's something different about you, even with all that happened you decided to stay, how can you be loyal to him even with all this? What does he have on you?"

"He doesn't have anything on me." Domino answered. "Before l met him, l was living on the streets, like a stray Meowth, I was scared, desperate and all alone, one day I stole some supplies from Team Rocket, they caught me after a few days, but Giovanni was impressed, he gave me an offer to join them, of course I accepted, not like I had much else to do... he took me in, made me what l am, and I eventually worked my way up... I owed Giovanni everything, I did all I could to follow his orders and be of value to him, I really thought he at least saw me as someone competent... but all of a sudden, I'm here, I don't know what happened, or who was the person who told him to ignore me, but... The distance between us, the insignificance of my existence... is all becoming clear as day."

"So, you went from tramp, to second-in-command, to grunt, talk about a rollercoaster." Domino said. "So you don't have family?"

"None that I know about." Domino answered. "I escaped from an orphanage when I was around seven and I survived on my own... what about you?"

"Oh, so now you're interested in me?" Millis asked with a smug smile.

"Well, I told you part of my story, whatever happened to honor among thieves..." Domino sighed. "Besides, you look around my age, how did you even end up here?"

"Well..." Millis looked away for a moment and then sighed as well. "I'm from Kalos, my father has been a thief since I have memory, I was completely aware of the situation, he told me after all, but I stayed with Mom for most of my childhooh, he didn't want to put me in danger, then eventually I got more involved, I started checking the goods with him, I helped him repair his machines and before I knew it he had draged me into the criminal life, we stole my first bank when I was just 13. You see this fancy thing?" Millis pointed at her necklace. "It was part of the booty and I've been keeping it with me since then."

"Wow." That was all that Domino could say.

"Heh, yes, but... One day we decided to track Diancie, a Mythical Pokemon that could produce valuable diamonds, but it all ended up in a big failure and I dunno, he simply said he was tired of it all, that we shouldn't do it anymore... I said fine, I thought it would be okay to have a change of pace, we opened a chocolate shop in Shalour City and... I just couldn't take it for much."

"What do you mean? " Domino asked. "You had a chance to finally have a normal life, but decided to return to crime?"

"Eh, living a normal life is overrated anyway." Millis said. "He may have been able to move on, but I knew I wasn't going to get some happily ever after, even if I wanted to... I've done horrible things, smiling at the clients like nothing happened didn't exactly made me feel better about it... and well, some old contacts brought me and here I am... of course I never told him how I felt, but what you said about going back to a normal life, is that really what you want? You think you can back to society and be a normal person? Even after all you did?"

"No..." Domino trailed off. "Of course I can't."

Back with Ash.

"Girls, we're back!" He called them as he entered the mansion along Mallow and Lana and the five girlfriends that were waiting for them there received them in the front door, while Pikachu sighed and left the scene to go with the rest of the Pokemon that were all playing and/or training outside.

"Uh... h-hello again." Mallow stuttered suddenly feeling intimidated by the group. "I... uh... m-maybe we can do this another day!" Mallow was about to run away, but Lana stopped her and dragged her back to the rest of the girls.

"Hello everyone, we're Ash's newest girlfriends, I think we should do another presentation to get a better hold of everything." Lana said. "My name is Lana and this is..." She stared at her friend who gulped and tried to introduce herself.

"M-My name is Mallow!" She exclaimed.

"Acerola here!"

"Call me Gloria."

"I'm Peonia."

"Name's Nessa."

"And I'm Bea."

"Why so nervous, Mallow?" Nessa asked noticing she was still trembling. "You didn't seem much affected back then."

"G-Guess I was still running on adrenaline while all the invasion happened." Mallow giggled embarrassed. "I think it just hit me all together, one of my best friends became my boyfriend and I'm sharing him with another one of my best friends and other five girls, while we're waiting for our other best friend to return to Alola so we can ask her to join this as well, I'm just processing the whole thing, yes?"

"Sure, we're kinda still getting used to it honestly." Peonia said. "So if you feel like you need to talk, don't be ashamed of it, we're all here to help each other."

"Okay then, what are the rules?" Lana asked.

"Well, it's not exactly like there's an obligatory system, but we have things we must all know, even if they're obvious in this context." Bea said. "First off, no hoarding, Ash is our boyfriend, so we all have to be fair with each other, that means respecting if Ash is having some time alone with any of us."

"Another important thing is to not let Ash overwork himself." Nessa added. "Just like he promised to do his best for all of us, we promised to do whatever we can to ease the burden on him."

"And of course, just like you said, we have to try and get along." Peonia said. "We'd been doing that surprisingly well."

"And I'm sure it'll stay that way!" Acerola smiled. "You girls are all so great, I'm sure we'll feel as if we were sisters soon enough."

"That's a bit scary when you say it that way." Mallow replied.

"So, do we all sleep together with Ash then?" Lana asked.

"At least for the moment." Gloria answered. "But things are getting crowded so we'll have to see how we all fit in the bed."

Once again, Ash and the girls all slept together in the same bed, with Ash in the middle and the girls around him, making space for their new acquaintances so that all of them would fit. The next morning, Acerola was the first girl to wake up, quicky noticing Ash wasn't there, since she slept on top of him again. "Wait, how did he even...nevermind." She made her way out of bed without waking up anyone else and left the room, walking a bit until she found Ash sitting in the stairs that led to the first floor, he had Domino's tulip on his hand and was simply staring at it in silence.

Acerola made a devilish smile and silently walked to him, Ash noticed her, but he decided to play along and kept staring at the tulip, while he was expecting a scare, Acerola simply sat next to him and rested her head on his shoulder, Ash then placed a hand on her side and softly pulled her closer to him.

"Why did you get up so early?" She asked.

"Sorry, I needed to think, so many things happened today that I didn't sleep much honestly." He answered. "The invasion, Stinger, Dawn and May...Domino...Acerola, is everything okay? Like, did you sleep well?"

"I slept fine." She answered. "And even if I didn't, I'm ghost trainer, you don't know a nightmare 'til you've seen into my dreams...but what about you?"

"I'm... still a little worried with all that happened honestly." Ash replied looking at the tulip again. "I really feel bad for not intervening sooner... I could have lost Gloria and you."

"Come on, don't say such a thing." Acerola interrupted hugging his arm. "You said it yourself, you would never let anyone hurt us."

"I know, but that doesn't mean I'm innocent in all this, Domino attacked you because she saw you wearing that hat and then she tried to..." Ash stopped mid-sentence to take Acerola in a full hug, letting her rest her head on his chest. "... She was going to kill you... just because you're one of my girlfriends."

"No, cut that off, I'm not letting you blame yourself because of this." She answered to then give him a quick peck on his lips. "And you better don't think for a second that what happened will pull us away from you, if anything, now is when you need us the most, right, Gloria?"

"Correct." She answered appearing behind Ash.

"AHH!" Ash shouted and was about to fall downstairs, but the two girls held him by his arms and prevented that.

"There's the scare." Acerola giggled.

"Sorry about that." Gloria scratched the back of her head. "I've been hearing for a minute or so, hope you don't mind."

"D-Don't worry, it was nothing." Ash answered and the three sat on the same step of the stairs. "And what about you, Gloria? All ok?"

"I'm just fine, a future Miss Ketchum can't be scared of danger, can she?" Gloria laughed. "I'm a little bummed out about losing your hat though."

"Maybe we could ask my Mom to make you another one." Ash suggested.

"You think she'd do that for me?" Gloria asked. "I honestly think she'll be angry at me for losing it."

"No way! You saw how happy she was with all of you being my girlfriends." Ash answered. "And she was okay with me giving you the hat as a gift, I'm sure she'd be more than happy to make a replacement."

"That sounds great!" Gloria exclaimed.

"Don't be so loud." Mallow yawned behind them and slowly went to hug Ash. "What are you all doing?" She asked resting her head on Ash's shoulder and letting out a small snore.

"We're just having a night talk." Ash answered brushing Mallow's long hair.

"Hey, I dont know if it's the time to say this, but I love how your hair looks when it's down." Gloria said.

"My, thank you Victoria, you're so nice." Mallow yamned again.

"It's Gloria." She laughed a short moment, but then her face froze in fear. "But you just made me think that Victor might have seen what was happening here on TV, boy, he'll be mad that I didn't call him."

"Anyway, the sunrise is almost here." Acerola said as she started to walk downstaris. "I'll start preparing the breakfast for everyone."

"Huh! Wait, wait, wait!" Mallow exclaimed fully waking up and ran until she was in front of Acerola. "I'll be the one making breakfast!"

"Could you guys be quiet?" Lana said appearing next to them.

"Fine, I think we should get out of the stairs before we end up waking everyone up." Ash suggested.

"Maybe you can both cook." Gloria said looking at Mallow and Acerola. "I mean, we're eight people now, so four hands would be better than two."

"Make that six, I can cook as well." Ash stood up and raised a hand.

"No, you won't!" Mallow and Acerola shouted together and Ash sat down on the stairs again. "We're your girlfriends so it is our duty to make your food! You stay out of the kitchen."

"Hmmp, at least we agree on that." Acerola stared at Mallow.

"Yeah, but I don't know about the rest." Mallow stared as well. "After all, the kitchen of the mansion isn't big enough for the two of us."

"Hey, it actually is." Ash told them. "For real, it's a huge kitchen."

"Ah great, Mallow is in Chef Battle Mode." Lana yawned and sat on Ash's lap so their faces would meet.

"Uh, good morning, Lana." Ash patted her head and a still drowsy Lana planted a kiss on the bottom of his neck. "Uh..."

"What are you even going to cook?" Acerola asked Mallow.

"Why do you care?" Mallow asked.

"I won't let you intoxicate my family!" Acerola shouted.

"The what?! It's my family too now!" Mallow shouted. "Besides, I was pretty much born to cook, I lived my whole life in a restaurant! Where did you learn to cook?! A Police Station?!"

"Yes! You got a problem with that?!" Acerola answered.

"I don't think this is gonna end well." Gloria said.

"Ash, I want to kiss." Lana said.

"Uh, s-sure, Lana, just let me-" Ash tried to move her so he could stop Mallow and Acerola's arguing, but Lana took a hold of his cheeks.

"That wasn't a question." Lana glared at him, Ash then gulped and nodded so Lana began to kiss him on his lips and Ash simply hugged her and returned the kisses.

"Listen, if we're going to cook together then you'll have to follow my orders." Acerola pointed at her.

"You won't tell me how to cook! You lolicon bait!" Mallow shouted.

"I'm still growing!" Acerola shouted.

"Then you better grow up faster before someone arrests Ash because of you!" Mallow continued. "I know Ash's favorite recipes, you got nothing on me!"

"Oh, I don't?" Acerola smiled. "It's a bit curious that you say that since I got a few special recipes for Ash from Miss Ketchum herself."

"W-What?!" Mallow shouted.

"Of course, that was part of our deal after all. We may all be his girlfriends, but I'm still Miss Ketchum's protegee." Acerola said. "I have just the thing to get to Ash's heart... through his stomach."

"Argh, I knew she owns a restaurant so I was going to ask her for some recipes back in hospital, but Ash came in and all those things happened." Mallow sighed. "Fine, let's do this, we're cooking together, you may have those recipes, but you have to recognize I've spent more time with Ash than you so I know him better."

"Yeah, that much I'll accept." Acerola said.

"Then you'll be sharing those recipes from Miss Ketchum with me and I'll tell you how to cook Ash's favorites foods from his stay in Alola, deal?"

"We got a deal, sister wife." Acerola offered a handshake and Mallow accepted it.

"It still sounds a little weird when you say it like that." Mallow replied.

"Huh, that ended up surpringily well." Gloria said.

"Thank goodness." Ash said while recovering some air after Lana fell asleep again.

"You're glad they get along, aren't you?" Gloria asked as the two cooks walked downstairs to go to the Kitchen.

"I'm glad about that and that Lana fell asleep again." Ash said taking a deep breath. "Because this girl here is a diver and I feel like she could kiss me for minutes without break."

"Is that a challenge?" Lana asked waking up again.

Meanwhile with Cynthia and Skyla.

The duo spent the night sharing a hotel room, altough Cynthia had to pay extra so the employees would shut their mouths about her presece in Alola, the two spent the night without talking much with the other, simply thinking about what happened with the Ultra beasts, the Tapus and of course, Ash and his seven girlfriends.

Then the morning came and the two went to have breakfast together, with some last minute clothes that they bought from a close store. Skyla was wearing a loose skyblue shirt that read "I get High all the time" in white letters, along blue shorts and yellow sandals, still with her little "propeller" tying her hair, while Cynthia had most of her hair tied in a short ponytail, wearing her usual black top acompannied by long blue jeans and black sandals, along sunglasses and a big black hat, trying to mimick Diantha when she didn't want to get much attention.

"Well, I guess this is the part when we start talking about what happened." Skyla said.

"Yeah, but... where should we even begin?" Cynthia asked.

"As I told you, I knew Ash was popular with the ladies, but this seems like so much." Skyla held the little propeller on her hair and made it spin, something that she does to concentrate, while she rewinded the whole scene in her mind. "I mean, seven girlfriends! And he is still willing to have more than that! What the hell!"

"Yeah, I also knew Dawn liked him, though I was a little surprised that she agreed to share him with May to begin with." Cynthia said. "But I guess meeting the rest of the girs was much of a breaking point."

"Yeah, I feel sorry for both of them." Skyla replied. "And Ash is probably feeling down, but... I really want to talk with him, especially now that I know what he's doing."

"Skyla, please don't tell me you're considering joining that." Cynthia pointed at her.

"I told you, Ash wanted May and Dawn to join so that means he still has space for more girls."

"That may be true, but Dawn had the point there, that whole thing is a recipe for disaster." Cynthia said.

"I heard what she said, but I also heard what Ash's girlfriends said and what Ash himself said, he really seems to be doing his best and they all look happy..." Skyla raised her arms to crack her fingers and stood up from her chair. "I'm going with him, I don't lose anything asking, what about you?"

"Me?" Cynthia asked.

"E-Excuse my boldness Miss Cynthia, but I think you also like Ash, that's why you seem so conflicted with all this."

"Hmm... You're not exactly wrong, but I think I'll stay thinking here for a while." She answered.

"Well, wish me luck." Skyla smiled before leaving the scene.

"...Good luck." Cynthia whispered.

Back with Ash.

After a surprisingly calm breakfast with some skilled recipes from both chefs, Bea called for another girlfriend meeting, although she didn't specify the reason, and just like the last time they did so, Ash was asked to stay outside, he was training with his Pokemon in the battlefield that was in the back of the mansion, his Rotom Phone suddenly flew to him and Ash took it on his hand.

"You have a videocall from: Korrina." The phone informed.

"Really? I haven't talked with her in a while." Ash said answering the call.

"HELLO THERE!" Flannery suddenly shouted

"...Flannery!" Ash exclaimed once he reacted.

"How did you like my little surprise?" Flannery smiled.

"Wait, wait, wait, you're with Korrina?" Ash asked.

"You bet, and she's driving me crazy." Korrina answered showing herself behind Flannery. "We met some weeks ago, she's been staying at my home and we've been getting along quite well."

"We've been training with each other, we've shared Gym Leader tips, all alright." Flannery said. "She even taught me how to use skates."

"She fell on top of my way too may times while we trained though." Korrina added.

"Nice to know you two get along." Ash smiled. "But I really didn't expect Flannery to be in Kalos."

"Well, I came for my aunties' wedding." Flannery answered.

"Your aunties?" Ash asked.

"Yeah, my aunt Malva married with her old friend Drasna, who's also a Kalos Elite Four."

"Malva is your aunt? ...Wait, Malva got married?!" Ash asked surprised. "Like, I don't mean it in a bad way, but I'm honestly surprised anyone would want to date her after what happened, let alone marry her, no offense, Flannery, really."

"It's fine, I honestly haven't fully forgiven her myself." Flannery said. "But Aunt Drasna has always been there to support her, so if I anyone can get aunt Malva to fully redeem herself it's her."

"Uh, well, share my congratulations to those two." Ash said.

"Sure thing, now back to us. My little adventures in Galar and Sinnoh motivated me to stay here in Kalos after the wedding and I met Korrina after aunt Drasna gave her a Gym ismpection." Flannery explained. "Korrina even beat her!"

"Wait, you defeated an Elite Four?!" Ash exclaimed. "Korrina, that's amazing!"

"Hehehe, thank you, but I'm still training for our rematch." Korrina laughed while she blushed by the compliments. "By the way, we saw the invasion and that fight in TV, are you okay?"

"I'm just fine, like everyone says, I'm used to that kind of stuff." Ash answered. "But Korrina, I was just thinking about calling you, I'd like to ask you a favor."

"Sure! Whatever you need!" Korrina exclaimed excited.

"You remember when the gang and I told you about our encounter with Diancie, right?"

"Of course, did something happen?"

"I met with the girl that was trying to get her, Millis Steel, she seems to be working for Team Rocket now."

"What? But I thought they had gave up on that, like, their chocolate shop is here in Shalour, I go there from time to time." Korrina said. "But... now that you mention it, I haven't seen Millis there in a while."

"I was wondering if you could go and check the place out, maybe that could help us know what happened with Millis." Ash continued.

"Got it, it's just a few streets away, I'll go right away." Korrina said. "You coming Flannery?"

"I'm right behind you." She nodded.

"Thank you, but please be careful, I don't know what could happen there." Ash told them.

"Oh please, you don't think we can handle it?" Flannery asked with a laugh.

"We'll be fine, Ash, you can count on us." Korrina gave him a thumbs up. "Oh, before I forget, your Key Stone is almost ready! I'm sure you're gonna love it!"

"Really? That's great, you finally decided what it's going to be?" Ash asked.

"Of course, and it'll be a surprise, so please, come to Kalos soon."

"Sure, sure, I owe you a visit." Ash laughed. "See you later."

"Bye then, say hi to Bea for me." Flannery said.

"I'll inform you of what I learn when I get to the chocolate shop." Korrina said.

"Thanks, and again, please be careful." Ash insisted and they both nodded before cutting the call.

"Let's get going!" Korrina exclaimed rolling away.

"We're... two girls... on a mission!" Flannery sang while playing an air guitar as she followed Korrina.

.

"Wow, I'd never expect those two to be friends." Ash said to himself with a smile after the call ended, but his Rotom Phone ringed again.

"You have a video call from: Roxie." The phone said.

"Well, bring it in." Ash said answering the call.

"How's my favorite Ketchum?" Roxie asked him.

"Good to see you, Roxie." Ash answered with a chuckle. "How are Marnie and Victor?

"Mar-Mar and Vic are just fine, maybe a little worried with that little show you made on TV, but Vic talked with Gloria some moments ago and it seems like it's all alright."

"Good to know." Ash answered. "And what about you?"

"What? You want me to admit I was worried about you?" Roxie replied. "Let's just say I'm just glad you didn't die."

"Well, thanks, I guess.

"I'm just saying it would have been a shame if you turned off before I got a chance to answer your proposal."

"So, did you think about it?" Ash asked.

"I did!" Roxie smiled. "And I think I already have an answer for you."

"And that is?"

"It's a surprise." Roxie stuck out her tongue. "I'll tell you when we get there."

"Wait, you're coming to Alola?"

"Correct, after that disaster in Alola the other regions are organizing an special concert over there to raise funds and kinda cheer up everyone, they invited me of course, some other singers and idols will be going, the whole thing will be next week, I'll be taking Mar-Mar and Vic with me, along two other friends of mine from Unova that are dying to meet you."

"And who are those two?" Ash asked.

"Another surprise!" Roxie laughed again. "Whatever Ketchum, I'll give you my answer, but with one little condition, I'll be the last show of the concert, I got some nice things prepared, but I want you to get in the stage and sing with me during the final song."

"Uh, Roxie-"

"Nope! Don't even try to dance around it, you're gonna sing with me Ketchum!" She shouted. "Y-You said it yourself that back in the mine, that you'd consider it if I invited you to a concert, and you did that dance with May so that kind of crowds are not a problem for you."

"Of course I remember all that, but I don't think I'm "extreme" enough for your public."

"Oh, please Ketchum, they're gonna love you, you're adorable." Roxie giggled. "And if anyone complains I'll kick them out myself, I already packed my spiked boots."

"Roxie..."

"Promise it, Ketchum." Roxie insisted as she blushed. "Please, it... it would mean the world to me, Ash."

"...Fine, I promise. We'll sing together." Ash sighed as he gave in. "I can't say no that look."

"Ha! You're so weak!" Roxie laughed out loud. "Thank you, Ketchum, thank you, thank you! And don't forget to bring all your girls to the concert."

"So you can meet them, right?" Ash asked.

"Nah, more people means more tickets and more money. Don't think I'm giving you a discount just because I like you!" She exclaimed before cutting the call.

.

"Heh, same old Roxie." Ash smiled.

"You have a video call from: Jasmine." The phone talked again.

"Oh, so that's how we're playing?" Ash asked answering the call. "Good morning, Jasmine."

"Good morning to you too. Although it's already nighttime over here." She answered staring at Ash with a worried expression.

"Uh, you okay?" Ash asked.

"Well, are you feeling okay?" Jasmine asked.

"Sure, I guess you also saw that fight, I got out of the whole thing pretty much unscratched, don't worry." He answered.

"Well, you do seem fine." Jasmine sighed relieved. "You even seem happy actually, considering what just happened."

"It's okay, I got a lot of people to cheer me up." Ash laughed. "Besides, that invasion was just one of many tough situations I've been in, like what happened with Team Galactic, you know I've made it out of worse."

"Maybe, but that doesn't make me less worried." Jasmine sighed again and then let out a weak smile. "Still, seeing that you're doing well, really makes me happy... have you... thought about my proposal?"

"I have." Ash quickly answered. "Jasmine, a lot of things have happened, but...I'd like you to know that I've been thinking a lot about you and that next time we meet I'll tell you eveything."

"Then I'll be looking forward to that." Jasmine smiled more widely as her face blushed. "In fact, I've been thinking of going to Galar for a bit, maybe we'll get to meet there."

"That sounds great, we could even travel together." Ash suggested.

"That'd be lovely for sure." Jasmine nodded. "But well, I'll let you rest... I honestly need some sleep too, please be careful if another invasion happens."

"Let's hope it doesn't though." Ash laughed nervously, Jasmine then waved at him as was about to cut the call.

"Hey, Miss Jasmine, is that Ash?"

"Oh, hey there, Lyra!" Ash greeted her as she showed herself in the screen next to Jasmine.

"Oh, right, I forgot to mention you that Lyra has been assisting me in the Gym here." Jasmine said.

"Ash! It is you, man, you look so different, how's Dane, uh?" Lyra asked.

"Well, my situation with Dawn is-"

"Yeah, I don't really care." Lyra interrupted him. "But since you're here, this seems like a good moment to tell you that my Sis is out to get you."

"Your Sis?" Ash asked.

"Lyra's older sister is a really skilled trainer." Jasmine said. "I'm a little embarassed to admit she totally swept me in 3v3."

"And she's really mad at you, Ash." Lyra said. "Like, I didn't totally understand her revenge speech, but it sounded like you rejected and humiliated her at some point."

"Well, could you tell your sister's nam-"

"Anyway, take care, she's a beast." Lyra insisted.

"B-Bye, Ash, love you!" Jasmine waved at him again before Lyra cut the call.

.

"I wonder who could her sister be...Any other call?" Ash asked and the phone simply ringed. "Heh, of course... unkwown number?" Ash wondered for a bit before answered, but he did so anyway.

"Good morning starshine, the earth says hello!" A smiling Sunflora appeared on the screen.

"That voice..." Ash ignored the Pokemon and thought for a moment. "Erika, is that you?" He asked and the girl moved the Pokemon away to show herself in the video call. Erika had a surprised expression in her face and she simply stared Ash for like a minute while he was unsure of what to say, impressed by how different she looked, with her wearing a green kimono, but what got his attention the most was the change of her hair of blue to black.

"Uh...N-Nice to see you, Erika." He finally spoke out.

"Ah, sorry!" She suddenly shouted. "I was just trying to play a little joke on you, I just can't believe that you recognized my voice so easily, especially after so much time has passed since we last met."

"Well, I'm good at remembering people." Ash smiled. "Really didn't expect to get a call from you though."

"Oh my, sorry if I'm bothering you."

"No, it's not a bother at all, I'm just surprised." Ash said. "I mean, it's been like seven years."

"Hehe, you're right, quite a long time. Sabrina gave me your number the other day and I thought it'd be a good idea to talk with you."

"I see, and where is Sabrina now?"

"She just left to Unova a moment ago, I suppose you know how she likes to travel now." Erika giggled for a moment, but then she remembered her usual conversations with Sabrina about Ash and started to blush. "Uh, hey Ash... uh, do you still have that dress you wore when-"

"So Sabrina wasn't joking." Ash sighed.

"D-Did she tell you?!" Erika shouted. "I-I'm sorry, I just thought you looked cute, Ashley... I mean, Ash!"

"Well, thanks, I guess..." Ash answered. "As for the dress... I think Mom must have it somewhere in her closet."

'I know what I'm gonna do today.' Erika thought. "Either way, Ash, it was still admirable that you went through all that trouble just to challenge my Gym, and we couldn't even end the fight, not to mention that even despite all that you didn't hesitate to risk your life and save my Gloom from that fire, I've been immensely grateful with you since then, but... I've been feeling... rather guilty too, sure, I gave you the Badge anyway, but I've been wishing to finally give that match a proper ending, I was going to invite you to the Celadon gym, but you seem to have a tight schedule right now."

"Well, first off, I'd love to have a rematch with you." Ash answered. "But yeah, I have a lot going on right now... Still, I'll try to find the time and give you a visit."

"I hope you do, It'd be great to meet again." Erika smiled while she blushed. "Since we're at it, can I have your oppinion on something?"

"Sure, what thing?"

"You, uh... do you like my hair colour better as it is now or do you prefer as it was before?" Erika asked with a sudden serious expression.

"Uh, well..." Ash thought for a moment in silence to try and give an answer that wouldn't offend her, even with seven girlfriends, women were still a bit of a mistery to him. "Your blue hair looked really good, but... I think I like it black better."

"..." Erika simply maintained her serious expression.

"...Uh." Ash closed his eyes and prepared himself for a scold.

"That makes me really glad!" Erika smiled and Ash sighed relieved.

"Well, since I answered that, can I know why did you dye it?" Ash asked.

"I didn't." Erika giggled. "This is my natural hair colour, the blue one was dyed, it was an "experiment" with some of my perfumes and I kept it for a long time, but I decided to return to my roots recently." Erika tried to contain her laugh from her own joke as she winked at Ash.

'She'd get along with Milo.' Ash thought.

"Either way, thanks a lot." Erika bowed to Ash. "I'll be looking forward to your arrival, it's been great to talk with you again."

"Same goes for me Erika." Ash took a bow to her as well.

"Miss Erika, how do you even walk with this on?"

"Wait, is that-" Ash was about to ask but Erika was brought down by a girl wearing a purple kimono that stumbled onto her.

"Shauna!" Ash exclaimed.

"Another voice recognized, I suppose." Erika said while Shauna recovered from the fall on top of her.

"I'm sorry!" Shauna exclaimed standing up. "Argh, I don't even feel my legs inside this, I've been here for barely an hour and I already... Ash?"

"Hey there, Shauna!" Ash greeted her. "Nice to see you again. What are you doing in Celadon?"

"W-W-W-Well! Nice to see ya too!, You, uh, I'm here to learn!" Shauna stuttered.

"To learn?" Ash asked.

"I'm taking her as my apprentice." Erika answered while standing herself and dusting her kimono off.

"So you're not doing performances anymore?" Ash asked.

"I am, but the performances are on break, since the last season ended a few weeks ago, I got to the finals actually, but I still lost to Aria."

"Well, congratulations on making it that far." Ash gave her a simple compliment, but that was more than enough to make Shauna blush madly.

'Gosh, Serena would be dying of laughter if she saw me like this.' Shauna thought. "Still, that's not the only reason, uh, Miette opened a bakery recently and well, that got me thinking, as much as I like performances there's nothing bad with taking a different approach in life, I don't want to be a one-trick Lillipup."

"That's great, but why Celadon of all things?" Ash asked.

"Eh, it wasn't my first choice honestly, I wanted to study with Valerie, but she told me she was busy in Galar, so I ended up here." Shauna said.

"Well, that wasn't rude at all." Erika crossed her arms while glaring at Shauna.

"B-B-But then Valerie recommended me this amazing place! And I'm really honored that miss Erika accepted me as an apprentice." Shauna exclaimed. "And I think I'll do well, you remember my Ivysaur and Flabebe, right? Flower, perfumes, I can handle this."

"Well, good luck and do your best then." Ash said.

"S-Same, be careful out there." Shauna replied.

"Until we meet again, Ash." Erika smiled again and cut the call.

"Well, that was unexpected... but Shauna just reminded that I've been wanting to make a call myself."

Meanwhile in Hulbury, Galar.

"That's another success." Valerie said to herself in a mirror while wearing a simple short pink dress that she had just finished. "Boy, looking at this, Ash was right, my Gym outfit was pretty henious, it was just too much of everything."

"Excuse me, Miss Valerie, you have a video call from Ash Ketchum." Her Rotom Phone informed her and Valerie sighed before answering. "Hey there, Ash..." She trailed off.

"Feeling down again?" Ash asked.

"Not at all, I just finished a new dress actually." Valerie left the Rotom Phone floating and took a few steps back so Ash could get a full view of the dress. "What do you think?"

"It looks amazing, Valerie!" Ash exclaimed.

"Merci, Merci." She smiled taking the Rotom Phone again. "Like I told you I'm doing fine... besides, I was just thinking about you and that always cheers me up."

"Valerie-"

"No, please, let's not talk about that." She interrupted him. "I'm at fault for bringing it up...Tell me, how is Nessa?"

"She's great, getting along with the rest of the girls." Ash said.

"Of course, having to share you with three other girls, she must still need some time to adjust." Valerie said. "I hope your four girlfriends aren't too much of a burden to you."

"Yeah, about that, they're not four anymore, they're seven." Ash answered.

"Oh, I... I see, of course, you mentioned some other of your acquaintances to join you later." Valerie said. "I-I-I hope they're all making you happy."

"They are, but... if I have to be honest, Valerie... I called you to tell you something really important."

"And I guess I'd be asking what is that?"

"Valerie..." Ash firmly stared at her and smiled. "I love you!"

"...You what?" Valerie asked. "I-I think I misheard you, Ash-"

"I love you, Valerie!" He shouted.

"D-Don't say something like that out loud!" She answered blushing. "I told you to forget about my feelings, Ash, it wouldn't work!"

"It will work! I'll make sure of it, because I love you! I can't believe I left you back in Galar after that talk with had, I love you as much as I love my girlfriends! And I'm going to make you happy just like them! I know you're scared of how Nessa might react and that's why when the time comes, you and I will tell her everything together."

"A-A-Ash!"

"You said that I was a person who follows his heart and that that was admirable, right?" Ash asked. "You said you knew my intentions were the best and that I would take care of my girls dearly, didn't you?"

"Yes, I did, but-"

"Then enjoy your days as a single lady while you can Valerie!" Ash shouted again. "Because the first thing I'm doing once I get back to Galar is making you my girlfriend!" Ash smiled before cutting the call and Valerie slowly sat down in the floor with a massive blush in her face.

"...I've never felt so aroused in my whole life." She whispered.

Back with Ash.

"Well, I think we can call that a day." He smiled satisfied and was about to put his Rotom Phone on his pocket, but this ringed yet again. "For real?" Ash saw that it was another unknown number and he answered the call yet again, finding himself speechless once he saw the face of the girl on the other side of the video call.

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." She smiled while looking at him.

"...Serena." Ash trailed off her name.

"What's that? I think I didn't hear you." She giggled.

"Wow, uh, Serena, it's been... it's been quite some time, how are you?"

"I'm just great, I'm finally back to Kalos after my trip to Hoenn, taking it easy back home for the moment, what about you, Mr. World savior?"

"Gosh, when Stinger said that the whole world would see that fight he wasn't joking." Ash answered with a nervous laugh. "Yeah, I've been doing fine, Serena, I... I really like your new look."

"Thank you. That means a lot coming from you, Ash." Serena answered. "I mean, Champion Ash."

"Oh please, you know I hate those kind of formalities." Ash answered and they both laughed. "Tell me, how was Hoenn? I got to watch a couple of the contests you were in, but I could never stay for the whole thing, sorry."

"Don't you worry about that, I really appreciate your interest." Serena's smile was broken by a sigh. "If anything, I'm glad you didn't fully followed my carrier in Hoenn... You would have been really disappointed."

"Serena! I'd never be disappointed on you!" Ash exclaimed.

"You're saying that, but..." Serena sighed again. "I couldn't win a single contest while I was in Hoenn, I'm kinda glad you didn't see me fail over and over again."

"I'm really sorry to hear that." Ash replied. "But you're amazing in performances, it surprises me you had a hard time with contests."

"They may be similar, but you know it's not the same." Serena sighed again. "I can handle the showcase just fine, but I suck at battle stages, you know fighting isn't really my thing, I met with your friend May and she tried to tutor me, but it didn't quite work out, I mean, I can match my Pokemon's moves in combinations perfectly, but I can't seem to find a way to use them offensively."

"It sounds like you need a battle partner to pratice." Ash suggested. "Maybe you could ask Clemont or Korrina."

"Perhaps... you'd also be a good choice to help me with that." Serena giggled. "But you're too busy now..."

"Yeah, I kinda am... I'm taking the Gym Challenge in Galar, but I'm also taking a break in Alola for now." He explained. "After this, I'll have to go back to Galar and continue the challengue, but after I advance some more I'll go to kalos and pay you a visit, I'll teach you all you need to know about battles if that's what you want."

"I'd appreciate that a lot, Ash." Serena answered, a slight red of her signature blush then started to appear in her cheeks as she imagined Ash going all the way back to Kalos just to help her, but she did her best to remain calm and centered her sight on him again. "Still, please don't push yourself, I'll understand if you don't have the time... You couldn't even come to my welcome back party after all." Serena sighed again, but then shook her head. "Argh, sorry, it's not like I want to play being the victim, like I said, I understand that you couldn't make it."

"Wait, welcome back party?" Ash asked.

"Uh, yeah, it was the other day in Miette's Bakery in Lumiose just when I returned." She said. "All of our friends were there to welcome me, Miette of course, Shauna too, my Mom, Aria, Clemont, Bonnie, Tierno, Trevor, Meyer, Korrina, Gurkinn, Astrid, Malva, Dransa, your friend Flannery, even Diantha passed by for a second to say hello later on."

"Wow, that's quite the roster." Ash replied. "And yeah, I just talked with Shauna and she told me about Miette's bakery, Shauna also got the performances finals recently."

"Ha, yeah, those two have been doing better than me it seems." Serena showed a serious expression for a moment, but then smiled at Ash again. "The point is that we asked Korrina to contact you since she was the only one with your Rotom Phone number at the time and she told us you said you were too busy."

"Korrina said that?" Ash asked.

"...Wait, she didn't tell you about the party?!" Serena shouted.

"Serena... you're right, I have been quite busy indeed." Ash tried to ignore the question to not get Korrina into any trouble. "Uh, I-I'm really sorry, but I have to go now."

"Oh, D-Don't worry! It was amazing to talk with you again." Serena said. "Keep doing your best! Don't give up until the end, champ!"

"Thank you, and the same goes for you, don't be down just because you had a bad time in Hoenn." Ash answered with a smile. "I can't wait to meet with you again."

"You know I feel the same way." She replied. "And honestly, Ash, my journey in Hoenn wasn't a total loss, I may not have won any contests, but I have grown as a person, I'll show you how much I've changed for the better." She gave Ash a firm look before cutting the call.

"Serena..." Ash smiled to himself, but then remembered what they were talking about. "Hmm, so Korrina..."

Meanwhile in Shalour City, Kalos.

"Nobody move!" Flannery shouted while kicking the door of the chocolate shop along her Pyroar, Lampet and Ninetales.

"Flannery, calm down!" Korrina shouted while carrying Flannery's Torkoal, who was left behind.

"What? I thought this was like an Anti-Villain League mission." Flannery said.

"We still don't know what's going on here though." Korrina replied.

"Welcome to the Second Chance Chocolate shop." A woman with long golden twintails and a waiter uniform approached the young Gym Leaders. "My name is Cassidy, how can I help you?"

"Eh... N-Nice to meet you." Korrina greeted her as Flannery returned her Pokemon. "We, uh... w-we'd like to talk with Millis and Argus Steel."

"Millis hasn't shown herself here in a while." A man with short green hair and a similar outfit to Cassidy talked from a table. "Hey there, name's Butch, as for Argus, he's in the back, I'll get him for you."

"Are you sure you don't want anything?" Cassidy asked them while Butch stood up from the table and walked to the back of the shop. "We got some free samples over there, go on, try one."

"No thanks, we're fine." Korrina said.

"I don't trust this people one bit." Flannery whispered to Korrina.

"Don't be so harsh." Korrina whispered back.

"Yes, can I help you?" Argus in a chef outfit asked as he approached the girls along Butch.

"Uh, hey there Mister Argus." Korrina greeted him. "I'm a regular client here, but I have a few questions, it's... it's about your daugther."

After Korrina said that, Argus stared at the floor for a moment. "...I'm sorry, but she isn't here." Argus answered to then suddenly turn his back on the girls and started to walk away. "Please, come back another day."

"I'm afraid that's not happening, criminal." Flannery spoke out and everyone froze.

"...What did you just call me?" Argus asked.

"F-Flannery!" Korrina shouted.

"Let me handle this, your good cop routine isn't working here." Flannery said. "I called what you are, you may have mounted this little circus, but we know who you really are and what you did, and most importantly, we know what your daugther has been doing."

"...You do?" Argus trailed off. "...Butch, Cassidy, please leave us alone." He said and the two nodded to then walk to the back of the store, Argus then walked to the door of the shop, flipped the closed/open sign and locked the door.

"Oh, so that's how it's going to be." Flannery said while preparing her Poke Balls.

"Sorry, I can assure you I mean no harm, I just don't want anyone to interrupt." Argus answered raising his hands. "Now please, you know about Millis? Where is she? Can you tell me?" He asked worried.

"So you really don't know?" Flannery asked.

"I don't." Argus sighed. "She simply disappeared last week and I haven't heard anything of her since then, if you know anything, please tell me."

"...It appears Millis is working for Team Rocket now." Korrina told him, Argus then clenched his fists and knelt down to punch the floor of the place.

"Someone's a little nutsy cuckoo." Flannery whispered.

"Flannery! Why are you so insensitive?!" Korrina shouted.

"Well, sorry, but my last meeting with a villain wasn't exactly pleasing!" She shouted.

"And you think mine was?!" Korrina shouted.

"Why Team Rocket of all things?" Argus asked himself. "This is... this can't be true, please tell me you're lying."

"Now he's just being dramatic." Flannery said to then receive a slap on the back of her head from Korrina, who then rolled closer to Argus.

"Mister Argus..." She talked to him. "I'm really sorry that we're the ones to tell you, but it's true, Millis is now working for Team Rocket. Do you remember Ash Ketchum? He met with her in Alola."

"...This all my fault." Argus said. "I-I was the one who trained her to be a thief since she was a child, of course she wasn't going to just start over and forget all of that."

"Wait, so this place isn't a fake?" Flannery asked taking one of the free sample chocolates and eating it. "Damn, this thing is good."

"No, this place isn't some facade." Argus answered standing up. "I really tried to abandon crime and start over, it was hard thanks to much people like you, but I've worked it out, and I'm not the only one. You see Butch and Cassidy there? They were elite agents of Team Rocket." Argus revealed and the two girl gasped. "I enfatize they were, the two grew weary of the routinely missions and duties, so they decided to defect from it to start a new page, but not many would accept them, they ended up here and I took them in, and they aren't alone either, my delivery boys and chefs? All of them are ex-grunts from many criminal organizations that they abandoned. Everyone here wanted to start over, that why we're named Second Chance Chocolate Shop, because we all wanted a second chance and I gave them one and all of them took it! ...all of them except my own daugther... I knew she was forcing that smile, but I didn't do anything about it... there's nothing I can do for her now..." Argus walked to the door again and opened it. "Please, if Ash meets with her again... tell him to tell Millis that her dad still forgives her and is willing to take her back in."

"We will, Sir." Korrina nodded and Flannery and her then left the chocolate shop, once the two were outside Korrina took a deep breath and sighed.

"Uh, sorry, I think I got a bit too intense back there, didn't I?" Flannery said.

"No, its fine, if it wasn't for you, maybe Argus wouldn't have opened up." Korrina replied. "Now we should tell Ash about what we learned here and-" Korrina was interrupted by a ring of her Rotom Phone and she took it to see Ash was calling her. "There we go." She smiled answering the call. "Hey, Ash! Mission accomplished. We met with Argus, it seems like Millis escaped a few days ago from their house and he didn't know about her joining Team Rocket, he really is trying to start anew."

"Thanks for the information, Korrina." Ash answered. "But listen, I just talked with Serena. Why didn't you tell me about her welcome back party?"

"Oh... y-yeah... the party..." Korrina slowly placed her Rotom Phone on the floor with the camera looking down and sliced it with her skate, cutting the phone in half, the Rotom then came out floating from the phone and Korrina dropped herself face first in the ground.

"Uh, good thing you have a helmet." Flannery said.

"I BET HE HATES ME NOW!" Korrina shouted in fetal position and started to cry while Flannery tried to comfort her.

Back with Ash.

"Korrina? Hey, Korrina!" Ash called her to no avail and sighed, his Rotom Phone ringed yet again, but this time it showed that he received a message from an unknown number. Ash opened the message and the profile picture of the one who sent it easily gave away the identity.

.

-Hello, Ash!

-Selene?

-You bet! I ran into your Mom and she gave your number!

-Hope you don't mind.

-Of course not, it'll be nice to in contact with you.

-Do you want to talk about that kiss?

-Yes, but I'd prefer to talk about that in person

-Can you come to my mansion?

-Is that place where we last met, don't know if you noticed it.

-Oh, I did, I'll be going there later, but I need your opinion on something first.

-Can I send you a picture of the problem?

-Sure, what is it?

-Give me a sec.

-File uploading...

.

Ash waited a few seconds until the pic loaded and his Rotom Phone showed him a selfie taken by Selene while she was wearing black and red underwear.

"Oh, so that's how things are going to be." Ash's Rotom Phone said.

"Uh..." Ash simply blushed while looking at the picture.

"Whatcha looking at?" Selene whispered to his ear suddenly appearing behind him.

"Bah! Selene!" Ash shouted and tripped over his own feet falling to the floor, he then looked back at the girl, relieved that Selene was wearing her usual outfit, with his Rowlet being on her shoulder as well. "What...uh, h-hey there." Ash greeted her sitting on the ground.

"Hey there." She answered sitting next to him and taking his hand. "I found your Rowlet visiting his friends on the way here and we came here together, I love this ball of fluffy feathers, he reminds me of how Decidueye used to be." She said as Rowlet cuddled with her. "Heh, listen Rowlet, Mommy and Daddy need to talk in private, why don't you go play with your friends?" She asked the bird who then nodded and left the two alone.

"Mommy and Daddy?" Ash asked while she simply gave him a blushing smile.

"Hope you liked the pic, by the way." Selene answered and now they were both blushing. "I just wanted to show you my intentions with you are serious business."

"Serious business, huh?" Ash trailed off looking at their hands. "Funny, now that I think about it, you were kinda clingy to me when we were younger, but I didn't expect you to like me."

"Maybe I didn't like you back then." Selene said. "Maybe I just needed someone to look up to since Elio didn't play with me as much, but we all evolve, don't we?"

"Yup, we do." Ash answered.

"Hey, just you know..." Selene placed a finger on the neck of her loose shirt and pulled it just enough to let Ash see that she was wearing the same underwear of the selfie. "This isn't just for show."

"Y-You shouldn't do that kind of things out in the open." A blushing Ash adjusted Selene's shirt with his free hand, since she was still holding tightly onto the other one.

"I didn't hear you say you didn't like it tho." Selene grinned. "Tell me, did you also like that kiss I gave you?"

"I... yeah, I think I liked it." Ash admitted.

"It was my first one..." Selene whispered hugging him. "But I'll make sure it isn't the last... where is Gloria, hmm?"

"Well, she's inside with-" Ash was once again interrupted by a direct kiss on his lips.

"Maybe we should make some noise to bring her here." Selene suddenly sat on Ash's lap and took a hold of his face to kiss him again. "Heh, you know..." Selene smirked again once they separated. "For someone who already has a girlfriend you don't seem guilty about kissing another girl."

"I told you, things are more complicated than that." Ash sighed. "Selene, if you really want to do this then please let me explain something first."

"And what if I don't want to let you talk?" Selene traced his lips with her fingers. "I just want to stay here and keep kissing."

"G-Geez, you're really grown up... but I wonder..." Ash moved his hands to Selene's sides and lifted her loose shirt a little.

"You sure you want to play handsy?" Selene giggled. "Did you forget your Pokemon are watching us over there?"

"I didn't, but you seem to have forgotten something else." Ash said.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"Well, if I remember correctly your weak point was... Here!" Ash began to tickle her sides and Selene bursted out in laughs.

"W-Wait! No! HAHAHA! T-T-That's not fair!" She tried to stand up and get away from Ash, but she ended up falling on him again.

"It seems you're still the same Selene!" Ash exclaimed as he laughed as well.

"Ash Ketchum! You cheater! Help! Somebody- HAHAHAHAHA!" Selene continued to try and move away and the two ended up rolling on the ground, but Ash refused to stop. "Ash, stop! P-Please stop, HAHAHAHAHAHA!" She exclaimed again doing her best to talk between laughs.. "HAHA- I'm gonna diiiiiie!"

"Alright, I think that's enough." Ash finally sttopped the tickles and gave Selene some space while the latter tried to regain all the air she lost from the laughs. "Selene, you o-" Ash was starting to get worried, but Selene jumped onto him and make him fall to the floor again, taking him into a deep lip kiss as she pushed him down.

"Hey... are you mad at me?" Ash asked.

"How could I? You've always known how to find the most original way to cheer me up." She answered giving his lips a short peck. "Fine, what was that thing you wanted to tell me? Are you going to break up with Gloria to be with me?"

"No, Selene, I'm not going to do that." Ash firmly answered, still a little moved after what happened with May and Dawn.

"Then what are we supposed to do with this?" She giggled pinching his cheeks. "You enjoy kissing me so much. Didn't expect you to be such a mea hana wahine."

"Hey, I'm not a womanizer, but for real, I need you to stop for a moment and let me explain-"

"Uh, am I interrupting something here?" Skyla walked into the situation and the two stopped what they were doing, Ash then quickly stood up and helped Selene do the same.

"H-Hey there, Skyla." Ash stuttered.

"Hmm, nice to meet you." Selene said.

"Ash, uh, I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday with your friends." Skyla said.

"Don't worry Skyla, that wasn't your fault." Ash said.

"Sure, uh... Hey, I don't want to be a Mandibuzz picking on the carcass of your dead relationship with May and Dawn, but..." Skyla nervously began to twiddle her fingers as she tried to find the courage to continue. "I was wondering... i-if both my hands turned into broccoli what should I do?''

"...What?" Ash asked.

"Can we continue what we were doing?" Selene asked him.

''S-Sorry, it's the first time I ask someone something like this." Skyla laughed embarassed and took a deep breath. "Ash Ketchum... I want to become your girlfriend. It's been 3 years since we last met, but I didn't stop thinking about you since then, I've been waiting the chance to meet you again so I could confess, but I didn't expect to be so... well, let's say busy."

"Sorry, fat-tittied, but he's already taken." Selene answered grabbing Ash's arm.

"I-I know he's taken, and that's why I want to prove myself." Skyla said. "Ash, I'd like to challenge you to a battle, you know how they say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach? Well, I think that's mostly the case with you, but I also think a good battle will do, that's part of why I like you so much, you changed the way I see Pokemon battles, you helped me become a better Gym Leader and person and to show you that I'm worthy of being your girlfriend I want to fight you, 4v4, if you win, I'll leave you alone, but if I win you'll let me join your harem, what do you say?"

"A... harem?" Selene asked looking at Ash.

"I've explained this quite a few times already." Ash replied. "But well, here goes again..."

Meanwhile with May and Dawn.

"Perfect! This is perfect!" May ranted while Dawn and her were both having breakfast on their room, much like Skyla and Cynthia, the two slept in the same room, altough it was in a different hotel. May hadn't stopped complaining since it all happened, while Dawn had more of an inner conflict. "All it took us to get to an accord, all the problem we had to get to Alola and now Ash is gonna leave us behind because of those girls?!"

"But what are we supposed to do?" Dawn asked.

"We have to find a way of separating him from them!" May shouted.

"But I... I don't want to do that-"

"Why not?!" May interrupted. "They're the reason why Ash doesn't want to be with us!"

"But it seems like Ash loves them." Dawn answered. "I'm still his friend, his relationship with those girls is going to fail, but I don't want to be the responsible for causing him such pain."

"Ah, sure, now you want to talk about morals." May said annoyed. Dawn simply rolled her eyes and her Piplup tapped her skirt, Dawn looked at him and the penguin showed Dawn her phone to see that it was recieving a video call from an unknown number.

"Thanks, Piplup." Dawn took the phone and walked to the bathroom of their room, both for privacy and because of the rather tense situation with May. Dawn accepted the call and...

"Wait, Ursula?" Dawn asked.

"My, my, if it isn't good to see you, Deedee." The aformentioned smirked. "It's been a while, am I right?"

"Uh... why are you calling me?" Dawn asked. "Or better question, why do you even have my number?"

"Well, your mother gave it to me." Ursula answered with a smug smile. "I've been paying her some visits during these last months in order to refine my abilities in contests, I've become kind of her apprentice, like the daugther she never had, since you never spend time at your house, who better to tutor me than a retired professional like Johanna? And who better to learn from her than a rising star like me?"

"You're still as annoying as ever." Dawn answered with dead eyes. "And that's all weird, Mom never told me about any of that."

"Like I said, it's not like you spend much time in your house, Miss Johanna tell me you don't even call her that much." Ursula said.

"Well..." Dawn let out a sigh of guilt. "Now that I think about it I haven't even told her I made it safely to Alola considering all that happened. Still Ursula, why are you calling me?"

"I was wondering if you know where Johanna is." Ursula said. "I came yesterday, but the house was empty and now I returned yet again today and there's still no one here."

"Wait, no one?" Dawn asked.

"Indeed, not even her Glameow, she's isn't answering her phone either."

"She... s-she should be there!" Dawn exclaimed.

"Alright, your worried face isn't exactly making me feel better." Ursula said.

"Danika..." Dawn trailed off. "Ursula, please stay in Twinleaf, there's a spare key under a rock next to the mailbox, go inside the house and inform me later if you see anything weird."

"Wait, wait, wait! Don't tell me Johanna is in danger!" Ursula exclaimed.

"I really hope not, but I'm starting to worry, this is too strange." Dawn replied. "Please do as I say, I'm going back to Sinnoh right now."

"Sure, I'll be waiting for you then." Ursula nodded and cut the call. Dawn then ran out of the bathroom and began to quickly pack up her things.

"Where do you think you're going?!" May shouted.

"M-Mom and Akari are apparently missing, I have to go back to Twinleaf and see what's happening!" Dawn shouted.

"But what about Ash? What about us?!" May replied. "We just arrived yesterday, we can't leave him anymore time with all those girls!"

"Ash will have to realize his mistake on his own, my family could be in danger!" Dawn shouted.

"If you leave now our deal is over!" May shouted again.

"Then over it is!" Dawn answered unfazed. "This was one of the reasons why I didn't want to share Ash with you to begin with! Even after all that happened in the contest you're still a drama queen! You think everything will go the way you want to, but that's not how life works!"

"Don't act as if Ash rejecting us wasn't your fault!"

"My fault?!" Dawn shouted.

"If you had just accepted when I offered you the deal it could have worked, but you wasted way too much time with your insecurities and now we probably lost Ash forever! All because of you!" May exclaimed pushing Dawn back a few steps.

"..." Dawn simply took a deep breath, ended up packing her stuff and took Piplup in her arm to get out of the room with a door slam.

"Dawn!" May called her, but Dawn kept walking away, a Frustrated May then sat on the bed and tried to calm down, but her Rotom Phone ringed in front of her showing an incoming video call and she simply answered without watching who was calling her.

"Do I speak with May, the world's best coordinator?" An Orange-haired girl with sunglasses and a vest waved at May.

"Who are you supposed to be?!" May shouted still angry after her recent fight with Dawn.

"Uh, m-my name is Zoey, we met during the Wallace Cup, remember?"

"Riiiight... You're Dawn's lesbian friend." May said.

"Why does everyone think I'm lesbian?" Zoey sighed.

"What do you want?" May asked.

"Well, I'm currently retired from contests and I was appointed as your agent for as long as you're world champion." Zoey explained. "Wallace didn't tell you?"

"He gave me some weird introductions, but I honestly wasn't paying attention." May replied. "So you're supposed to be my agent now?"

"And it is such a honor to be your agent that it almost hurts to take ten percent of your winnings and merchandising and ancillary rights in perpetuity." Zoey said.

"...What?"

"Anyway, where are you right now?" Zoey asked.

"I'm in the Alola region." May replied.

"Oh, that's quite convenient." Zoey said. "Listen, there's going to be this huge concert with singers and idols over there to raise funds for the region after the destruction caused by the invasion, you were invited to participate, so I suppose you can just stay there practicing until the day comes, I'll fly there tomorrow to meet with you, I mean, you don't mind staying in Alola for a while, right?"

"No, of course not." May answered with a serious look on her face. "There's actually something important that I must-"

"Okay, I gotta jump, gal." Zoey interrupted her. "Let me know how it goes. I'm out." She snapped her fingers before cutting the call and May was left alone with her thoughts.

Meanwhile with Dawn in the Alolan airport.

"H-Hey, Chloe, nice to talk with you again." Dawn stuttered while having a video call.

"So, come crawling back, eh?" Chloe rolled her eyes.

"Listen, I know you're mad that I didn't answer your calls, but I need help." Dawn replied and Chloe could tell by her face that she was worried.

"What's the matter? Did something bad happen?" Chloe asked.

"The worst part is that I'm not sure of what happened, but... You said Regina and you were already in Twinleaf when I told you I had left to Alola, did you girls make it to my house?"

"We didn't." Chloe answered. "We were still a bit far away so we just walked back to the airport and returned to Galar."

"Did you happen to see something weird around there?" Dawn asked.

"Well, now that you mention it, we found this curious white Zorua in the outskirts of the town." Chloe said.

"A white Zorua?!" Dawn shouted.

"Yes, it was wandering all alone and it seemed really scared." Chloe explained. "Regina kept it and they're both at her house now."

"This can't be happening." Dawn held her head. "Chloe, please listen to me carefully, you have to go back to Sinnoh right now and take that Zorua with you."

"But why?" Chloe asked.

"It belongs to someone really important and I think something happened to that person and to my Mom."

"Fine, I'll tell Regina, we'll be going to Twinleaf."

"Thanks a lot. I'm also on my way there, I'll give you all the details when we meet." Dawn nodded before cutting the call and went to take her flight.

Somewhere in Sinnoh.

"You okay, Akari?" Johanna asked her. The two were still inside a glass cell belonging to the International Police and Akari was simply staring at the nothingness.

"Dawn is coming..." Akari trailed off.

"You sure? I honestly lost my sense of time since we got here, I think it's something around midnight." Johanna said.

"N-No! I mean Dawn, our Dawn is on her way here!" Akari exclaimed and Johanna quickly covered her mouth, she then looked at the cell in front of them and saw Emma was sleeping so she took her hand off Akari's mouth.

"Be a little more quiet when talking about such a thing." Johanna whispered. "But how do you know that?"

"I-I don't know, I mean, I have this weird sensation and I'm just sure of it." She explained. "Dawn and I... we've had some kind of connection since we met, but I'm not totally sure of what is it..."

"At least we know she finally noticed something happened to us. If she's coming back from Alola she's probably bringing Ash with her as well, they'll take us out of here." Johanna smiled, the two then heard some steps and remained silent until Danika showed herself outside the cell.

"What do you want?" Johanna asked hiding Akari behind her.

"...I just came to check on you. I'll leave in a moment." Danika answered. "I'm afraid I still haven't gotten any news from the one who promised to help send Akari back."

"I'm still not even sure if you're telling us the truth." Johanna said.

"Again, I'm really sorry about having to lock you, but this is for everyone's safety." Danika said.

"You're gonna regret all of this, that's all I'll tell you." Johanna continued.

"Danika, you don't seem like a bad person." Akari talked to her. "I understand you're just doing your job, but... I doubt you and your people truly understand what's going on, the forces we're messing with here."

"Girl, I just came back from helping stop an alien invasion." Danika sighed and started to walk away. "Nothing makes sense, no one understands what's going on in this world anymore."

The duo waited until Danika left the area and checked on the sleeping Emma once again before talking.

"That girl is so getting her ass kicked." Johanna said. "Our rescue team is already on the way, so like Dawn always say, no need to worry, Akari."

"I hope they manage to help us safely." Akari answered.

'Hmm... so they're coming to free them...' Emma thought after hearing everything.

And that's it!

This seems like a good moment to confirm Valerie for the harem! 13 girls!

Will Skyla get to join and make that a 14?

And what does Selene have to say in all this?

May and Dawn's team-up plans didn't work out, what will they do now that they're separated again?

.

Well, the phone call section of this chapter was really fun to do! I had the "Day N' Nite" remix from Moon Knight in the background while writing it, you know, "hold the phone, Hold the phone, Hold The Phone, NOW HOLD THE PHONE!"

In fact, the title of this chapter was originally "Hot Salad Water", since it was Mallow and Lana's full introduction to the harem, but with all those calls and messages I decided to change it to "Rainbow Connection"

.

What the hell were all of those cameos during Lance vs Diantha? Whatever, the battle was great and I'm sure Iris vs Cynthia will be just as good.

You can do it Iris, I have total confidence in you... Nah, not really.

.

Ursula made her debut in the fic just like I mentioned last chapter, so thank you Doc, I know I said I don't like to write just to please the readers, but sometimes a nice review can give me a good idea and help me connect some dots I'm missing. I always thought Ursula was interesting, but I kinda forgot about her character with how little she appeared, let's see if I can do her justice.

I also kinda had a crush on Zoey when I was younger.

.

And now for the reviews:

UltimateCCC.

The good news: Whitney will be the first thing to get focus after the alola arc is done! Her chapter will be titled: "Just a normal girl with a normal life".

The bad news: I've been making some counts and with all the things that I still want to do with Alola, it could take a little bit for this arc to end...heh.

Guest.

Serena and Selene are too characters i feel kinda conflicted with honestly.

I really like Selene, she's one of my favorite female Pokemon characters, so you could say I'm a bit biased for her, but I'm not sure if she has done enough so far in the fic to deserve a spot compared to other more well-established characters, not like Erika or Skyla have done much yet either, but I feel like I kinda used the 'childhood friend' thing with Selene to justify it, I'll have to make up for it.

Serena is of course the 'Big One' and just because of that I don't feel like I've been fair with her, I mean, I love amourshipping, but like I mentioned, I have a hard time writing characters who canonically crush on Ash, it took her 48 chapters to just talk with him. But the same happened with Erika and she's already confirmed so we'll see.

I'm getting too deep into this fic... well, best way to decide what I want to do with those two is keep writing.

As for Giselle, I think I finally got an idea to introduce her to the story, almost for sure we'll see her next chapter.

Zarc4d.

We're getting some lemons soon! With Ash and Bea first, of course! I think it'll be on either chapter 50 or 51, the rest of the girls will get a turn in the following chapters. Everyone should have pulled it off before we leave Alola.

WerewolfMazuko117.

Claro que no es problema, después de todo el español es mi lengua materna, pero luego de 500k palabras, el ingles me resulta mas fácil de usar hasta cierto punto.

Dawn, May and Domino all are getting some more development, I honestly haven't decided if any of them will join or not join the harem.

I'm not sure if Alain will make an appearance here either

I think that's it.

We'll meet again in "Blue Sky Rhapsody"!

Have some previews:

"Flying Wish!"

"Ash... Do you want to stroke my hair?"

"It's not incest if I just met him four days ago!"

"I'm totally sure that still counts."

"Miss Erika, is this legal?" Shauna asked.

"When there's no cops around, anything's legal!" She answered.

"La imitadora! Maximizadora! No limitadora!"

Holdonlupin is out!