Helpless

by Epoxy-Resin

The disabled population is the world's largest minority of which anyone can become a part of at any time. "Peekaboo," said misfortune and jumped the already weakened boy. Ash wouldn't be Ash if he didn't try to get up again, though he's going to have to face he won't be able to do it on his own.

26. Sweet Child 'O Mine

This is the longest chapter I have ever written for any chapter and I am quite proud of it. There's a lot happening in here, so keep your eyes peeled, it's the start of his actual adventure... Though not quite. I'll just leave it up for you all to find out. A small note, near the end, I made a mention of degrees inside a room, it's actually in Celsius. For those using Fahrenheit, the temperature inside the room would be seventy-three point four degrees.

Hope you all enjoy this chapter!

---

"Mail pour Monsieur… Ketchum?" one of the nurses say, pausing as if she thought it was a weird name and then looking around in search of him.

Ash didn't know why they called out mail arrivals so publicly but he stands up nonetheless, drawing in a couple of looks -and gasps of recognition, which he pointedly ignores. The nurse smiles at him but seems a bit awkward after he thanks her in English. He'll have to ask professor Sycamore the French word for 'thanks', though he doubts he can pull it off. These people have a certain flair to their language, he doesn't think he'll ever be able to be convincing when speaking it but well, that's not important. All he's ever wanted is to be understood anyway.

Well, it's a good thing he took all his things with him when he walked over to the nurse, a couple of teens cut him off and go to sit right in the seat he was walking back to. Ash doesn't want to confront them, what if they only talk French, anyway? He's not in the mood for an argument either, though, as he turns around, someone by the side gets up and looks to be complaining to them about something. He doesn't understand it, the tone just sounds like they're bothered. The boy is very unbothered, though, he just leaves with the envelope in hand and with the knowledge that professor Sycamore's laboratory isn't that far from this pokémon centre.

He gets there and immediately notices that the building has been patched up perfectly, the doors have been repaired and there isn't a giant hole in the front of the laboratory any longer either. The place actually looks amazing, now that he gets a good look at it… though while it fits perfectly in its grand style kind of surroundings, Ash feels like the building looms over him a bit.

'You've been here before, though,' he tells himself but then again, he doesn't actually remember going in the building.

Steven or professor Sycamore must've carried him here after he managed to knock himself out on top of the Skarmory. Ash wonders if he'll see the pokémon again, he wants to thank it. Not many have the reaction to just try and catch someone falling down from such a height. Now Skarmory's made out of steel so the worst that could happen was a dent- oh no, he didn't put a dent in the pokémon did he? Is that even possible?

Ash pulls his phone out and actually sends Steven that very same question. He doesn't get an answer straight away, of course not, heaven knew where the man is at this very moment. Steven's a Champion, they're important and busy people, Ash realises that. So are professors, though but apart from professor Oak, every single one has always made sure they had the time to talk to him whenever he needed it. Professor Juniper in particular, actually. She's been a massive help during that confusing time between the castle and the tournament, gosh, Ash doesn't even remember what pokémon he used. He can guess that he didn't go out of his way to contact professor Oak to switch out some of his older ones, he could never reach the man at the times he needed him anyway.

"Guten Tag, this is the professor speaking, how may I help you?"

Ash cringes, he had expected to get an assistant or something, that way he could have blown off his entire idea of calling the professor. But now she answered the call herself and he's not on videophone so she's just seeing a private number that she can definitely link to him, it's the same one in his battle profile, after all. Seeing that it's public, she would find him pretty easily, especially since she's part of the pokémon league who can look into the private files of trainers.

"H-hello, professor Juniper. It's err… Ash."

"Oooh, hello!" she says and whatever doubts he had felt about contacting her out of the blue, just because he wanted to, dissipate as he can hear that she does indeed recognise him. "How are you doing, Ash? It's amazing to hear from you!"

"I'm in Kalos, I… I've been here for two days now and I just… remembered you."

"Is that so? I take that you are in front of professor Sycamore's laboratory, then?"

He chuckles, it must be a terribly easy guess to make.

"I am. I was about to enter when I thought that I would be intruding on the man's time. And that's when I remember what you did for me last year."

"Any time."

"But you didn't have to, that's why I want to thank you."

"Normally, Ash," she says, sounding quite stern all of a sudden. "Most trainers have people they can fall back on. Now I want to make one thing perfectly clear before you decide to tell me that you had, at the time, no matter how nice I think Cilan and Iris are, they are still kids."

"I know. I had no one but you, at the time," he says, feeling quite lonely right now, despite knowing that his family is close by.

"And that's why I did it. And that's also why you shouldn't thank me for such a basic show of humanity. I might not have children of myself but I saw a child, alone and scared so I did what I had to do, also because I could. Now, where is that boy I saw at the tournament, standing so valiantly and powerful? Who is this doubtful creature calling me?"

"I don't even remember that," he chuckles, though he feels quite sad. "I'm sorry, I'm caught up in a couple of things. The valiant one is still here, somewhere, I think. I'm sorry, I've bothered you, haven't I?"

"Never. I just feel like you need to remember what you lost, so high up in the sky."

Yeah, he remembers that. It's very cold up there, he's researched it. Apparently, the clouds and weather stop at a certain zone called the Tropopause, just underneath is the Troposphere and the world he remembers and loves. Above that is the Stratosphere… there's no air there, which explain why he couldn't breathe, where his muscles and body became so cold that he just collapsed. He remembers feeling like he was going to die, seeing those pillars close up again, no matter how badly the pokémon inside and outside were struggling to break free. He remembers the sight of the stars up there before-

*Ping*

He jumps, his phone makes the noise while he's holding it against his ear and it really startles him.

"What was that?" professor Juniper asks, apparently on high alert. Did she think he's going to do something stupid?

"Oh," he says, seeing the notification on his phone. "My recent battle video is published."

"You don't sound very excited about that."

"It's not… why don't you take a look, professor? If you have the time."

"Of course, I have time. Let me see, it's been a while since I've visited a battle profile. Now, where did I leave that password for this thing…?"

Ash patiently waits until the professor has finds her password and his profile. There's a bit of silence as she watches before she lets out an impressive 'wow'. He assumes she's just seen Heracross using Mega Horn but there's a long silence after that. Ash doesn't think the battle took that long, he checks his phone and yes, they have been on the line for twenty minutes now. He swears he entered the Gym at ten sharp and left it at a quarter past ten, with Viola hot in his heels and Alexa nowhere to be seen.

"Ash," she suddenly says and he's all ears.

"Yes?"

"Ash, did you make a Gym leader's pokémon disobey their commands?"

"I think so yeah. It makes me doubt a bit, I don't know if I should continue like this."

"An ability like that should not be held under scrutiny but neither should it be kept in secrecy. I say you continue sharpening the ability, let the world know they should not mess with you. I mean, Ash… who should you fear to face when you can make their main point of defence turn against them? And if you use it wide and openly, the only ones who will be surprised will the those living under rocks. And that's none of your responsibility. Own it, Ash, and hone it. And if the rest of the world casts you out, come to me. I can use an assistant who can calm any young baby pokémon I just want to feed for their own well-being. Not to mention the young, revived, prehistoric ones. But I am will that Gym leader Grant will be able to tell you about that."

Ash considers this another hint towards the type of pokémon his next Gym encounter will use but he's so grateful for the acceptance.

"I would be happy to help you, professor, I don't even have to come to you, I've noticed it works through the phone too."

"Really? Would you like to try it out? I have a sick one that cannot stop being tempted to bite me whenever I try to feed it."

"Of course, but do you think I can help stop it? Why is it trying to bite you, anyway? What kind of pokémon is it?"

"An imported Zigzagoon. It was so hungry it started eating waste and it refuses to eat normal food now, having linked the illness of eating waste to eating in total. It bites me because it thinks I'm trying to hurt it while I'm only trying to help."

"Awww, the poor thing. Can you put your phone's camera on? I'll put mine on too."

And that's how Ash noticed that he didn't need to put any work into that particular ability. In fact, the Zigzagoon seem rather ravenous now he's had a talk to it and professor Juniper is so bewildered but grateful for the help that the boy feels like he's owed up on some of the debt he's gathered with her. He tells her that she can call him anytime she is in need of help and she gratefully accepts, though tells him that she doesn't often have these issues, pokémon do like her a lot too, it's just the sick ones beyond themselves that get too aggravated to listen to her. He's glad though, his doubts have been eased, he can help people by being himself and that feels a lot better than Viola's example to annoy people.

"Ah, hello, Augustine," professor Juniper suddenly says, waving at someone behind him with her arm around the sleeping Zigzagoon.

Ash is confused until he feels someone lays a hand on his shoulder and when he looks up, he sees professor Sycamore, who smiles warmly at him.

"Bonjour, Aurea, mind if I steal him from you?"

"Not at all, take care of yourselves. And Ash, if you have any more of these doubts, don't hesitate to contact me. If I am truly the one you trust with this information, I will carry the responsibility with pride."

The teen simply nods as he holds up his hand to say goodbye. He doesn't trust his voice after that statement. As much as he loves his uncle, loves how much he cares, something inside of him will automatically find a woman to substitute for his mother. It's not fair, he knows that but he can't help it. And the way professor Sycamore comes to sit next to him on the flight of stairs doesn't bode much good either, at least, he's in that kind of mood where everything could possibly end up with him screwing things up.

"You know, when I told you that a Mewtwo was never spotted in Kalos, I never thought you would take that as a challenge," the man says and Ash hears levity in his voice. Did the man think this was funny?

"Oh, right… I forgot you could see that."

"I can. And so did professor Elm but I assured him that you were okay. Your lack of response to the idea of having a Mega stone to a legendary pokémon should have been a big enough hint for me, malheureusement, that was not the case. I guess I must still be distraught with the accident that's caused my Garchomp to withdraw."

"Oh no-"

"It's something I need to take care of, mon petit," the professor says quickly, as if he knows what Ash wants to offer -which would actually be a big bother and it's actually something that the man needs to take care of himself, indeed, as Garchomp's trainer. "By now, I know that you have a special way with pokémon but I will not put the daunting task of gaining Garchomp's trust and then letting me in charge again on you. Not while you have your own pokémon to mind."

"I never intended to make it a challenge, professor, trust me when I say it could've happened anywhere."

"No one will ever hear anything from me," the man says and gets a piece of paper out of his pocket. As it folds out, Ash notices that it's actually a pretty big piece of paper. "But what I will do is inform you of what you just acquired, I need you to know who you have in your possession, yes?"

"… Sure. But I thought we had already talked about Mewtwo before, right? Is there more?"

"Absolutely," the professor says as he points at a pretty impressive pokémon on the paper. "This the result of what you get when you Mega evolve a Mewtwo with Mewtwonite X, the one you have."

"Oh, wow, that's awesome," he utters, awestruck by the drawing of what seems like Mewtwo but like… butch.

"There is another form of Mega Evolution for Mewtwo, which is called Mewtwonite Y. And it looks like this."

Ash nods, fascinated to hear that there are two stones that basically appear naturally. If that wasn't confirmation enough that whatever Team Rocket did to acquire the DNA of Mew, that it was somehow meant to happen. He's happy to hear this news but at the same time, as he looks at the sleek form of the Mega evolved Mewtwo with the Mewtwonite Y… It looks a bit too much like Mew. It makes him uncomfortable, he feels like he's lucked out with the Mewtwonite X, which at least still shows a bit of the original Mewtwo he's grown to love so much.

"So far, two Mewtonite Y's have been located, they both belong to private collectors but yours is the first registered Mewtwonite X," the professor continues. "I've done you the favour of registering it already, it's in your private file so you don't have to worry about going to the trouble to prove it is a real Mega stone."

"How cool."

"I'm glad you feel that way," the professor says and stuffs the paper back in his pocket. "Have you successfully Mega evolved a pokémon already, Ash?"

"Yes, I managed to Mega evolve Glalie. I had Steven with me in case something happened but Glalie seemed like his regular old self," Ash answers. "Is that always going to be the case? Or does that depend on the kind of pokémon that Mega Evolve?"

"I doubt any pokémon would misbehave around you. Especially your own, that is."

"… So you've seen the battel video, huh?"

"Not exactly, Viola called me. She said that she feared that the battle you had with her would leave you upset. Seeing that I find you here on these stairs, calling one of my colleagues, I have a feeling she's correct."

"I am upset. I wanted a battle and I somehow messed it up."

"She said that she wanted to forfeit after that one Mega Horn attack that knocked out her Surskitt. Viola claims that you saw through her strategy and that there was barely a point in continuing but she did it for you anyway."

"So it was Field building, huh?" he muses, figuring he's gotten everything but Viola's battle strategy wrong.

"Indeed. Bug-types lay traps but your strategy to hit them before they could do anything out sped her. If anything, I find it very interesting that you would know her strategy before fighting her and I cannot wait to see what you will do with Grant's challenge."

"He sounds flexible, actually."

Professor Sycamore smiles at him but doesn't say anything.

"No hint?" Ash probes, figuring he can use all the help he can get.

"He's got an elevator, just in case the challenge he lays before you seems too daunting."

Well, he's sure it'll be helpful when he gets to the Gym but it's still as incomprehensible as French to him right now. He ponders over it and feels like it's more of a practical hint, often enough, prehistoric pokémon were Rock-types and the field usually acted in their favour. But then again, elevators usually mean human use so really, he'll just keep it in mind.

"Hey, professor? Is my uncle here yet?"

"He is in Lumiose, yes, I have alerted him that you are here but he claims to have some urgent business to attend to so it could take a while."

"Oh…"

"Why not take a walk around the town? It is one big circle anyway, keep going and you will get back here naturally," the professor offers and the teen nods, figuring that it's got little use for him to wait here on the stairs in front of the professor's laboratory.

Pikachu seems to enjoy the idea of a walk around this area too, he's looking around with his ears perked up attentively. Ash humours him but figures that it's got little use sitting still and -

"Professor! Professor!"

A young girl's voice calling out for professor Sycamore makes Ash look up. He's confused to see a small girl stand there, she's got pale blond hair… and looks like she's been crying recently. Her eyes are red and she looks scared. Ash feels for her, he doesn't like to see children see this way, he wants to console her but professor Sycamore stops him by putting his arm in front of him, stopping him from going towards the child. It confuses the boy a lot, does the man think he's that unstable?

"Bonnie!" the professor says and his voice sounds terribly accusing, betraying that he and this girl have history together. "What are you doing all by yourself? Didn't your father say that you aren't allowed to go out on your own?"

Ash is even more confused to hear that the man is talking to the girl in English, knowing professor Oak, he would chide him in full Kantonese. But then again, the girl, Bonnie, called him 'professor'… or is the word similar in French? Either way, the teen thinks that the professor is being very strict with the little girl. To think that several regions agree that Kanto has a strict way of upbringing their children, well damn, they clearly haven't been to Kalos yet.

"Big brother's fighting with Clembot," she persists, urgency in her voice. "It's going to hurt him, I don't know what to do!"

Ash is close enough to hear the silent groan the professor lets out as he stands up. He's bewildered and confuses when the man picks the child up and leave him on the stairs, not giving any kind of explanation, nothing. Professor Sycamore walks off with big steps he couldn't possibly follow so now he's alone again. From out of nowhere, the feeling of being horribly unprepared for this journey hits him like a mallet -yeah, he knows how that feels like, thanks to Misty. In the past, he would've started running already but he can't do that right now. He can speed walk, yeah but it'll put the stress on his leg and make him look like the idiot he occasionally is.

"You are not quite alone," a voice only Ash apparently can hear says, as it is pretty loud and yet no one else turns their heads or stops in their tracks, meaning they didn't hear it.

The teen blinks in surprise, he's not heard this voice before but he smiles at the idea that it could have been one of Kalos' legendary pokémon who have found him and tried to console him. It means a lot to him, to have the same kind of backup like he has in his own home but it doesn't successfully cast all doubts out of his head. Nevertheless, he pulls himself together, gets off the stairs and attempts to follow the professor, who has already disappeared out of view. Ash knows where the man is going, though and even if he doesn't want to go there again, not wanting to risk falling from such a great height again… he goes back to the Prism Tower.

---

It's funny how the landmark itself doesn't seem as tall as it used to, falling off it must've changed his perception of it. He, however, can't deny that there's something going on inside, there are kids shouting at each other and it's all kind of a mess. One he ignores, it's all French anyway so it's not like they can help him or the other way around. They look a bit confused as he passes but again, he's gotten worse looks aimed at him so Ash just continues like he's not being looked at like an alien.

Pikachu's happy to be inside this tower, it makes sense 'cause there's lightning all over the walls and ceiling. It's crackling all over and it doesn't look like it's an actual malfunction. However, as they get closer to the end of this insane hallway -with stairs and bends and whatnot- the electricity seems to get a bit out of control. Not that his pokémon minds, Pikachu's revelling under the short bursts of energy. Ash can't help but chuckle when his buddy lets out a pleased 'chaa~' when a particularly strong one hits him. Static bolts travel over the pokémon's fur and he's so used to the feeling of them that the teen can simply brush them out of Pikachu's fur with his hands. To him, it just tickles so he's fine.

"Intruder!" a mechanical voice cries out the moment he sets foot through the threshold to what seems to be a large space.

Ash spots the large pokémon league Gym symbol on the ceiling before he actually sees the angry-sounding robot squint at him.

"Leave!"

"No?" he offers and as expected, the robot doesn't get any happier.

"Thunderbolt!" the malfunctioning device cries out and the pokémon who looks like it could well be the evolved version of Alexa's Helioptile listens to the order.

The idea that the pokémon attacks them isn't worrying Ash, he knows that Pikachu will absorb the attack anyway. He is, however, very intrigued to see a robot command a pokémon. Does that mean that it's the creature's original trainer? Is the robot the actual Gym leader? If so, what on earth happened that it ended up being so pissed off?

As predicted, Pikachu's soft fur absorbs the attack, nullifying the effect as it just gives his pokémon an electric shower. Nothing too serious but then again, Pikachu's ability does really give him an edge over battles against Electric-types. Just his luck that the Lumiose Gym would have been an Electric-type too, he kind of loves the Gym leaders… but he's not too sure whether he'll ever make friends with this particular one.

"Cute," he says as he brushes a bit of excess static from Pikachu's jacket, drawing a purr from his pokémon. "Our turn, then. Thunder."

Despite his calm tone, he can't help but feel vindictive towards the robot, it looks pissed and he catches professor Sycamore looking at him all worried as he holds a blonde boy who seems unconscious. The little girl is sticking close to the professor's side, still looking scared and Ash hates that. Pikachu must've corresponded to these feelings or wanted to defend him because the attack the pokémon fires off puts them in darkness for at least a minute. After that short while of darkness, as well as a deafening silence that follows after it, the lights flicker back on.

"… Well, the robot's gonna need an update," is all Ash says as he lays eyes on the charred figure of the robot.

"Leave it," the professor orders. "Thank you, Ash. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," he answers and approaches the man, smiling widely at the girl who has lost that haughty look in her eyes… though she desperately refuses to look at Pikachu, which is a strange reaction to his buddy. Most girls like Pikachu in general so yeah, he's confused. "How are you all doing?"

"I think I will need medical assistance for him. He was unconscious when I got here."

That seems okay to Ash, though he can't help but try to help. His Aura can heal, after all, so maybe he can do something for this kid. Being attacked by pokémon is never a good experience and being hurt for a long time afterwards sucks.

"Can I take a look?"

The professor seems confused but nods. Ash knows it's a strange request, he's got zero medical experience but his time in the hospital has taught him a couple of things. Like the fact that the eyes of people who are just unconscious will just roll away when you pry open their eyelids. But if something worse is going on with the boy, his eyes won't react to light at all so he's kind of relieved to see that this kid is just unconscious. He just never expected him to wake up and straighten the moment he opens the eyelid, the boy's head banging straight on his nose.

"Not again!" he cries out, his hands flying to his face as he recoils away from the kid.

"Ah, putain," the professor swears and even with the tears in his eyes, Ash can see the blonde boy's confused look turn a bit horrified as the realisation of what happened sinks in. Kid's got his hand on his forehead that connected with his nose too so it's likely he got hurt too.

The teen can feel something trickling out of his nose and he's pretty sure it's blood. Now that the other boy seems to be okay, Ash gets the professor's full attention on him, the man gives him a handkerchief to catch some of the liquid -that's absolutely blood!- but holds his head back to check out how badly the injury is.

"Keep your head down," the professor instructs. "There's a big chance that it is just a simple nose bleed."

"But the bruise just went away too," Ash whines, wishing he got a bit more time looking less like a half-eaten gobstopper.

"It's just an accident, Ash, there's no helping it."

"Oh yeah? You think it'll be that easy to explain this," he says, pointing to his still heavily bleeding nose. "-to my uncle? He'll be livid!"

"… I think we can safely say that there won't be a need to explain," the man says, looking up.

The boy turns and he's both relieved and horrified that his uncle is right there, with Steven hot in his heels, looking like he's not at all that good at running as Lance is, he's heaving and leaning heavily on the doorframe as he bends over a bit.

"Uncle!" he says, sounding delighted though he's not sure whether he actually is but still, Ash feels better now that Lance is here.

"I should have known that it would be the two of you," the man says, coming over and crouching down, seemingly not bothered by his bleeding nose -yet. "There's only one non-legendary Electric-type pokémon I know of that would be able to dim the entire Prism Tower and its wide surroundings for a couple of seconds, after all."

"The robot attacked us," Ash answers in defence.

"Likely so, Pikachu is allowed to hit any threat to you, Ash. You don't need to find an excuse for it," Lance sighs, yet smiles. "How's your nose? How did that even happen?"

"I was looking whether the kid was okay when he jumped up and hit his head on my nose."

"Does it hurt?"

"Kinda."

"I don't think it is broken," professor Sycamore helpfully supplies but his uncle gives him a look that shuts him up immediately.

'So I was right, he is angry," the teen thinks and stays quiet as Lance gives him a look over.

There's another man worrying over the two other kids with professor Sycamore and Steven just awkwardly lingering in the middle of this mess… and then there's the pokémon that's the robot commanded. It comes over and chatters a bit, looking a bit worried and bumping its head against his arm to urge a response from him. Ash just patted it on the head in an attempt to stop it from worrying and it works but Lance clearly doesn't want to be here.

"You're not okay," he summarises, leaving no room for the teen to correct him but then again, just because he wanted to help the professor and the little girl, doesn't mean he's still not doubtful of certain things.

Ash wonders if he can talk to his uncle about his worries but as the man takes him straight to what seems to be a miniature hospital, it seems like Lance's priorities lay with his physical wellbeing. Steven follows, though remains silent and the boy knows both men are keeping a close eye on him, even if the medic deems that the bleeding in his nose has stopped and that there will be minimal bruising, though gives him a salve -it's the same one the medic in Santalune forest gave him, he recognises the tube, even though it's smaller than the one the other medic had- in case he wants to prevent bruising at all. Also, his uncle seems to think he has a sweet tooth, he's given an ice cream cone with three scoops the moment they pass a stall. Granted, it's good but this is the first time someone has ever given him something sweet to urge him to talk.

"You left something behind at professor Sycamore's laboratory," Steven says when they're seated at a terrace. He too has bought something from the stall, it suspiciously looks like a milkshake but he's gotten a spoon and the top looks very solid.

"… Did I?"

"An envelope," he continues.

"Oh god, I left it-"

"Here," Lance says, getting the envelope out of his inner pocket quicker than Ash has ever seen him move. The man also gives Steven the shortest of poisonous glances, causing the man to focus back on his imposter milkshake.

"Thanks," the teen answers and takes the envelope, opening it straight away this time.

He blinks when he first sees a small note, it's a message from Alexa… who tells him that she knew something was up when he suddenly had Heli all over him but that she absolutely loves the idea and that he should look at this ability in a positive light. That most people ask her sister to use Frosmoth to hurt it and that she likes his solution to the idea a lot better. That's basically all there is in the message and she's included a wonderfully shot of the Frosmoth floating into his waiting arms and he looks absolutely delighted that it wants to land in his arms. Ash remembers that he very much liked what happened at the time but at the realisation of what he actually did, the feeling changed dramatically.

"Are you okay, kiddo?" Lance asks.

"I think so. I mean…"

"Yes?"

"… Have you ever like… made yourself behave differently? That you act like you're the best but feeling like you're actually the scum of the earth?"

"Not that I can think of, no," the man answers.

"I have," Steven pipes up, causing Ash to turn to him. "Don't look so surprised, I might have been born to inherit the title of president of the pokémon company but that doesn't mean I've always been a good trainer."

"People probably expected a lot from you, huh?"

"Sure did," the man says, stuffing his spoon deeply inside the cup, seemingly having just remembered a painful memory. "And I disappointed all of them until I met Beldum and I met him when I was fifteen. So you're not doing bad at all, Ash."

"I dunno, taking control over someone's pokémon doesn't seem too positive, if you ask me."

"What do you mean?"

"Look," he says and holds the picture Alexa's shot out for them to see. "Viola called out her Frosmoth and I'm not sure what happened, all I wanted was to hug it because it looks so nice and well…"

Steven stares at the picture but Lance sighs.

"Ash, kiddo, you need to remember that you're a young boy with powers that even those with similar abilities barely understand. It's fine if you experiment with them… or was the Gym leader angry?"

"You've seen the video, haven't you?"

"Ash, answer my question first, don't be rude."

"No, she wasn't angry at all."

"That's because she knew what to expect and didn't listen."

"… Like a warning?" he asks.

"No, she was told that she would be receiving a visit from a trainer with special abilities. She wasn't told what because no one actually knows the full extent of your abilities but Viola was well aware of what she could expect. To bring out a pokémon you would obviously fall in love with was a mistake on her own part and you are not to blame."

Ash is honestly convinced that the woman had no pokémon he wouldn't fall in love with, he kind of likes all of 'em, especially if they like him back. But his uncle's got a point, if Viola knew, she should've paid attention to it. Surksit sure as heck didn't seem to want to come near him, so maybe she had warned the pokémon. But wait…

"Does every Gym leader in Kalos know about me?" he asks.

"Yes, the message went through Diantha's contacts with the Gym officials. Even the assistants planning the app's appointments will recognise your name."

"Then Wulfric sabotaged Viola. He told me to give her a compliment on her care of a pokémon he gave her and I became curious and that's when she called out Frosmoth."

"Or Wulfric simply didn't believe you had an ability that could mean anything in a battle," Steven pipes up. "If there's anything I'm well aware of, is that some Gym leaders have a one of a kind character. He might just have wanted to see whatever the message he got meant, even if it was at the expense of one of his fellow Gym leaders."

"Oh."

"Also, to get such a reaction from an Ice-type is kind of spectacular," the man continues. "I bet Wulfric is very worried right now, as far as I know, ice-type pokémon are hard to gain the trust of, especially Bug-types because they're usually hollow and that's not the best combination but yeah, I think he'll have his work cut out for you."

The teen nods, he's not sure whether he likes the idea that Viola's challenge became a sacrifice for the other Gym leaders but then again, he did see a cute pokémon. He wonders what Steven meant with hollow but then again, he's not a professor-

"Don't you have a friend who studies pokémon behaviour?" Lance asks and Ash blinks in confusion before nodding because yes, Brock is doing pokémon psychology too. "Why don't you ask him to have a look at the battle video?"

He's not sure it's a good idea, Brock's open-minded when it comes to abilities but to link abilities to him? That's a whole different matter and the teen isn't sure whether he'll like the response his friend gives. Brock's always been honest to him anyway and his friend has travelled with him for a long time already. But it's a perfect time to send the budding professor in pokémon science a message, it'll be early in the evening, it's the time Ash usually sends him messages so he can expect a quick response back.

"There, I did it."

"Good," his uncle says. "I think you need to start understanding that whatever ability you have comes from the love you have for life itself and that the only one who thinks it's harmful is you."

"It's annoying, though, I'd be so pissed if someone would take Pikachu from me by just looking at them, I mean, I know how I felt when Pikachu got controlled by mechanics and strange gizmos from Team Plasma and who not. I'd probably beat the snot out of the kid who did it to me."

"… Funny you should mention that, are you aware that the two kids where one nearly knocked you out are the ones who took your Pikachu here?"

"You're joking," Ash chuckles, looking weirdly at Lance when he doesn't smile along. "Surely not? The blond kid looked like he'd faint if Pikachu only looked at him."

"Quite. I think Pikachu remembers the one who took him out of his eager, little sister's arms when she proudly displayed her newest find."

"No wonder professor Sycamore acted that way to the girl! I was already wondering- but no, surely they couldn't have done it in malice, could they? The girl looks too young to even have been told what a pokéhelp is and I've seen pokémon in actual clothes walk around. Sure, they weren't Pikachu but people dress up their pokémon here, she must not have realised."

"You can make up your own stories as to what happened, you just need to realise that you can still sue them."

"What for? Ignorance? I'd need to sue over half of the world if that was actually a crime. Heck no."

Steven snorts at that and if anything, Lance looks a bit annoyed but he simply nods and sighs.

"In that case, yes, there was no malice behind it. And if that's truly how you feel, I ought to take you to see the kids' father. He wants to punish both of them very badly for their misconduct."

"Yeah, I definitely want to speak with that man, the girl doesn't deserve that. I get it, what she did was wrong but she'll most likely not take another pokémon again, in fact, she might not want to touch another pokémon if she's punished too hard. I wouldn't be a good trainer if I would let that happen, would I? Especially if it's just a mistake? And I totally should've paid attention, if a little girl managed to approach me and take Pikachu, it must've meant that my attention wasn't on my surroundings and that's one of the main mistakes I need to work on as well."

"Alright, I get it, I get it," his uncle says. "The thing is, are you up for the walk?"

Yes, that's the million-dollar question, huh?

"Ah, but I know just the trick," Steven pipes up, putting his now empty cup on the table. "You were wondering if you were heavy enough to actually make a dent in Skarmory, weren't you?"

"Were you?" Lance deadpans, turning to the boy, who squirms as he regretting sending that message to Steven to moment he had hit the send button. "Do you think you weigh more than the hit weight of a Metagross? Skamory's main sparring partner?"

"I'm sorry for being concerned, okay? I was… I had doubts. I didn't like what happened with Viola. I didn't try my hardest to get back on my feet to cheat my way into getting badges. I wanted a good battle and I didn't get it and it was my own damn fault."

"I'm sorry you're disappointed, Ash, it won't happen again, I promise you. If there's one thing your friend will also be able to tell you, is that you can't possibly possess a prehistoric pokémon. So if you want to have a good battle, try and behave with Grant just like you did with Viola and you'll be fine."

"… Come with me?" he asks, very carefully because he knows his uncle must have cancelled some important things in order to get here. "I'd feel better if I… had feedback."

"Of course."

"Can I come too? I mean, I'll be staying here the entire time, I can follow you around if you like? And I'd definitely want a front-row seat, I like abilities a lot," Steven says, making a very good impression of an excited Growlithe. If he had a tail, it would be wagging like mad, or so Ash imagined.

"Gladly!"

He longs to have some sort of group to fall back on, he desperately wants to talk, if only to make himself feel better. Steven brings out Skarmory, who lets out an elated chirp at seeing him again and now Ash knows that snuggling with a Steel-type pokémon doesn't hurt at all. He's not sure whether he wants to ride on pokémon the whole time but he feels drained and tired. He knows he'll feel better when he has spoken to the two kids' father, he knows how his mother acted when professor Oak complained. And professor Sycamore has mingled into the punishment as well, he clearly stated that her father told her not to go anywhere on her own, probably out of fear that she would take another pokémon. Ah, what a mess… He hopes it's not too late to convince the man he means well. Maybe the presence of the two champions might help.

---

When confronted with the man who introduces himself as Meyer in English, Ash's initial reaction is to sigh in relief, which is received with some confusion.

"Konbanwa," he answers, bowing his head ever so slightly in greeting. "I forgot that I could possibly not have spoken to you, sir, my French is limited to two words."

"I'm not from Kalos originally. My roots lay in Galar, English is the language I have been raised with and the one I've been raising my children in. But you might have noticed that."

"It explains some things, yes,"

"I was told you wanted to speak to me?"

Actually, Ash very much wants to talk to the two kids too but only the boy seems comfortable enough to stand in view, though far behind his father. He's not sure if the blonde tuft of hair behind the boy's elbow means the little girl is hiding behind her big brother or not but yeah, it's not ideal.

"Yes. I want to convince you to lay off punishing your children."

"… Do you? Why?"

"I believe it was an accident. She wasn't told what a pokéhelp was and I wasn't paying attention. And Pikachu must've known she meant well or she would never have the chance to run, he totally would've shocked her bad if he felt threatened."

The man's eyes go to the pokémon for a split second before settling back on him but Ash's been scrutinized before. He's firm in his belief that he's right, a lot of things went wrong his first day here -as well as his second but he feels like people don't agree with him about that- and that no one could've helped the situation. He's got bouts of being an airhead ever since he's had his accident and who can blame a little girl for being excited about a Pikachu, huh?

"So I shouldn't punish her because you think it was your fault or am I reading too deeply into this?"

"No, you're right. If I was at my best, there would have been no way she would've gotten her hands on Pikachu, let's be clear on that. In fact, between this Kevlar covered steel cable and my recently awakened paranoia of losing someone dear to me, your daughter will either have to have the most silent steel pliers ever or have to knock me out with them to get to Pikachu now. And that's something I would feel containing malice but just taking it? No, that's nothing I feel she should be punished for, if anything, it should have been your task to teach her."

The man responds to the statement as if Ash has actually hit him, he looks down and winces.

"Sorry, kid, I've been busy. There are some things I've forgotten about."

"I've been a trainer for four years and I have never seen someone with a pokéhelp before either. I think it's an easy thing to forget to mention, out of sight out of mind. But my name is Ash, don't call me a kid when I respond more maturely to a mistake than you."

He can hear Steven let out a silent 'oof' at the statement but he's passionate about this. And also, he has introduced himself, if the man has already forgotten what he's said a couple of minutes ago, he's not going to put the effort into being friends with him. It's just a sign of major disrespect, that's all.

"I'm sorry, Ash, it's hard to raise children alone."

"I understand. My mother had a hard time too," the teen answers but it's a weak excuse. Brock has managed to care for all his siblings too and even if it has left a mark on his poor friend, he managed. A teenager, managing a whole bloody football team worth of children and this big man can't take care of two kids who remain at one spot for such a long time?

"Maybe it's best if you were to talk to Bonnie yourself," Meyer sighs, seemingly having lost whatever temper had a hold over him before. "But please be nice to her?"

"Oh please-"

He doesn't continue, he doesn't think it's fair because he's the one who just told the man not to punish the girl and now he's been told to be nice? The irony of it all, god…

"… hi," the girl says shyly, looking down.

Figuring that there's no way he'll ever get her to look up at him, so he goes and sits on the ground. He can't crouch without needing assistance getting up so he's not going to do that. And even sitting on the ground, he still has to bend over to look into her eyes.

"Hi there. So you like Pikachu, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Then we have something in common."

"Mnotallowedto."

"What was that?"

"I'm not allowed to," she says with the biggest pout he's witnessed ever since Brock told one of his little sisters she couldn't get a second helping of ice cream the same day.

"Can you tell what the letters on my jacket say?"

She looks up at him

"… Pokéhelp assisted?"

"And what's written on Pikachu's little vest?"

"Pokéhelp? Why?"

"Because I can't go anywhere without Pikachu."

"… And I took him."

"Mm-hm, I didn't know what to do. You probably went to professor Sycamore because you don't know much French either, right?"

She shakes her head, though she's looking at him, at the very least.

"I didn't know anyone here and I don't speak any French either. I panicked and went to the police and that's probably why your father was so mad. If I didn't understand why you would like my Pikachu and take it to show it to your brother, I could have gotten you in serious trouble."

"O-oh… Oh no," she utters, clearly not having understood the situation before. "Officer Jenny?" she adds.

And Ash, who doesn't want to spook her any more, even though he's well aware that Officer Jenny only is a threat when they act on behalf of a Champion's order or following one of the pokémon league's rules, just nods gravely. The girl stares at him for a bit before turning to her brother, who has also approached -though looks unsure of himself.

"Is that why you were mad at me?"

"Bonnie," the blond boy sighs. "You ran from me when I told you to keep close to me. I was mad at you for a whole lot of things."

Way to be a downer, the girl's looking back at the floor again, though she raises her head to look at him again.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No, I'm not," he says because he's absolutely not angry at her. He's angry at people overreacting, he's not seen a reaction like that when bloody Team Rocket kept stealing his pokémon and yeah, stealing a pokémon from a trainer gets you in as much trouble as stealing a pokéhelp, it's just the moral backlash of stealing something from a disabled person that makes any court believe that you're totally up to no good. "You just like pokémon."

"I do," she nods. "I want to be a pokémon trainer when I grow up."

"Of course, you do," Ash chuckles.

"Are you a pokémon trainer?"

"I am, have been for four years now."

Bonnie's eyes start to sparkle and she actually grabs her brother's sleeve, pulling it in excitement.

"Brother, he's a trainer!" she says, all happy, bouncing at the spot.

"I heard," is all the other teen answers.

"Maybe he can help you?"

"With what?" Ash asks, even though the blonde boy looks mortified at the suggestion.

"He's the Gym leader of the Prism Tower," Bonnie chirps, clearly not having an issue talking about it. "But he doesn't want to be."

The boy gives the kid a long hard look before turning back to the girl.

"How old are you, then?"

"Eight!" she proclaims proudly.

"Well, then," Ash says, turning back to the blonde boy. "You just got to suck it up for two more years and then you can leave your sister in charge of the Gym."

"You would put a ten-year-old inside a Gym?"

"Better than a messed up robot feeling nothing but anger and firing attacks at everyone, I say."

The teen turns away and murmurs something about not having expected that response when he had put in the update. Ash isn't very tech-savvy, he kind of knows about updates and how computers do them by himself -though usually bother the hell out of him when the notification to restart appears in the middle of the screen when he's planning on doing something- but how do you actually enter an update in a robot?

"Yeah, I dunno if that was the result of an update, it looked pissed."

"I've added emotions signs to it a while ago, I taught it distress and anger so that trainers wouldn't be creeped out."

Ash is staring at the kid again, he's not sure what's piqued his interest the most. He is still very much creeped out about a robot expression emotions but to hear that this boy added…

"You made that robot?" he guesses.

"Yeah? I thought everyone knew I could do that…"

"Buddy, I'm from Kanto, living in Johto as of now. How the heck would I know the hobbies of a random Kalos Gym leader without having met them?"

The teen nods awkwardly, Ash gets a distinct impression that the boy isn't feeling up to much but he's very curious, nonetheless.

"So you're a scientist, huh?"

"More like an inventor but yeah, I make things."

"Being an inventor is part of following science, though," Ash says, faintly aware that he can hear his uncle talk to Meyer in the background. "But it's cool, you don't look very old, you must be smart if you can make a robot from nothing."

"… Thank you. I… I'm sorry for what happened, I wish we could've met on better terms."

"This isn't so bad," Ash grins and turns back to the girl, as a movement in his pocket gives him a bit of an idea. "I don't think I like the idea that you promised your father not to touch or take a pokémon, what would you think of petting one right now?"

The girl perks up at the suggestion and nods happily, eyeing his every move and squealing when he brings out the small Dedenne out of his pocket. Bonnie's brother bends down in interest and smiles at the pokémon when Dedenne sniffs in every direction, checking out his surroundings with its whiskers and tail twitching nervously.

"That's a Dedenne," the boy says, holding his glasses as he gives the creature a look over. "They're pretty rare to come by here. Where did you find it?"

"It had beef with a Fletchling in Santalune forest. It's a nervous little fellow, it doesn't like my pokémon, they're too rough for it, even though they're nice to every pokémon."

"Yes, they're not exactly battle pokémon," the blonde teen sighs, though has a smile on his face still -a much better look than the wide-eyed confusion from before.

"Here, hold out your hands," Ash says and Bonnie sticks her hands out at the speed of light. The teen doesn't bother to tell her to be careful, she stills the moment Dedenne is sitting on her hands and the creature goes to sniff her hands and wrists with interest, letting out a cute 'nene' in approval. There's nothing battle-savvy about the little girl either, she's wearing a very sweet-scented perfume and it seems like the little pokémon likes it a lot.

"It likes me," she giggles, probably from the feeling of the pokémon's whiskers tickling her arm… though she's still holding out her arms as if she expects to need to return the Dedenne. But that's not part of Ash's plan so he pushes her hands back to her, the pokémon moving closer to her body too.

It barely takes a second for Dedenne to jump up at her shoulder and start to sniff its way to her neck, making the girl giggle. She doesn't try and push it off, though so Ash feels like this little one will be an excellent pokémon to keep her from going towards other ones. If he's lucky, the Dedenne will have a jealous streak and start bothering her the moment she's fawning over another pokémon, tempted to take it. But just as he stands up, a bit shaky because he's still tired and not used to sitting in such a position, Dedenne focusses back on him and climbs down Bonnie's arm, chattering at him in alarm.

"What's the matter?" he asks, choosing to bend down instead of sitting back down, though he massages the pokémon's ear and well, since Dedenne is so small, Ash's hand nearly covers half of its head.

Nevertheless, the pokémon lets out a delicious purr that's not quite like Pikachu's but it's a very close second to the teen's favourite kind purr from Mewtwo. He notices that the blonde boy pulls a face at the sound the pokémon is making, the kid doesn't say anything though.

"It's so cute," Bonnie says. "You have nice pokémon, mister."

"So do you."

"Huh?"

"It's yours," he says, pushing her hand with Dedenne on it back towards her, causing the pokémon to resume its vigorous sniffing at her.

"She's too young to have pokémon, though," the other boy pipes up very quickly as the girl's reduced to a giggling mess and so Ash pushes Dedenne's pokéball in his hands, trying to get his point across.

"You're not. Least you can do for your little sister, right?"

The teen stares at him before begrudgingly stuffing the pokéball in his pocket.

"I'll be the one needing to care for it," the kid mutters moodily.

"Oh yes, what an absolute sacrifice, I bet Dedenne needs a harness and six pairs of hands to keep under control. Sorry for putting that kind of a burden on you."

"… Is that sarcasm or is it really that difficult?"

"It's a pokémon only slightly bigger than my hand. What option sounds more likely to you?"

"… I don't understand you. Why would you do this for her? She hurt you. Why aren't you angry at her?"

"I'm just not. I would rather have her work with a pokémon and grow used to it instead of just… seeing them and get chewed out every single time that she approaches someone, just because of a single mistake."

"That's… kind of you. Thank you."

"No problem," he says, happy his plan worked out, as Dedenne seems buckets more confident being around the little girl than around his burly pokémon… though refrains from clapping a hand on the teen's shoulder, the kid doesn't seem like he can take it. "I have a feeling like we'll be seeing each other again anyway, I can check up on whether or not you're telling your sister the right things to do to Dedenne too."

"Huh?"

"Unless she's a prodigy, she's going to need someone to tell her how to care for Dedenne, isn't she? And if you're so bothered by the idea to do it yourself, why not teach her to do it and give her some good experience for the future?"

"Oh… I guess I can do that, yeah. 's Not like there's much else to do."

"Repair that faulty robot?"

"You're not going to tell me to be a Gym leader myself?"

"If your automatic response to your sister getting a pokémon to care for is the annoyance that you'll have to take care of it, not thinking about teaching her the skills instead, you're not Gym leader material," Ash answers, shaking his head slightly as he crosses his arms in front of his chest. "Not that I'm saying you can't be a Gym leader but that kind of job requires a lot of work and ambition. I think your interests lay elsewhere if you make an entire robot to substitute to be the Lumiose Gym leader. Which is kind of awesome in a way too."

The teen just nods silently and looks back to his sister, probably figuring it's not all as bad as they thought it was. Ash didn't want to start to imagine that there's someone in this world who's angry with him for a damn good reason… but that he doesn't know who it is and possibly make them even angrier should they ever meet. He knows that this situation never became an issue because he's so insecure about himself -with no reason, he knows that but he can't make his heart feel things his head believes, or the other way around- and just felt sad when Pikachu disappeared. And then, when he and his buddy reunited, the sadness and doubts were gone… until his battle with Viola, that is but, for now, he feels better, now that he can safely travel through Kalos without reminding a pair of kids of a mistake should they meet again.

Ash just wants people to be happy too and seeing how Bonnie's smiling so big, despite having approached him with the biggest pout ever. It's a nice change and he wishes he could do this for every unhappy person he meets.

"Done?" Steven asks, approaching him, causing the blonde teen to stiffen. He probably knows who the man is and probably doesn't see a friendly figure in him as Ash does.

"I think so. See you two later."

"Bye!" the girl says enthusiastically, waving at him and keeping Dedenne on her shoulder with her other hand.

The other teen, who still looks a bit confused, just raises his hand as a goodbye but that's okay for Ash. He's just happy everything worked out, even though he hadn't planned on this. Lance is also done talking to Meyer, it seems, the tall man bends over towards his daughter and starts complimenting her on the nice pokémon and isn't it funny how the man does tell her he'll tell her how to clean the Dedenne? Giving an Electric-type a bath isn't something for a rookie, not if they want to get electrocuted. And even if Dedenne isn't nearly as powerful as Pikachu, water still gives an edge to their attacks. Ash knows because he was that rookie who just dunked Pikachu in a bucket of soapy water and got the shock of a lifetime. Deserved, yes but still, the memory of how the two were left spluttering despite only one of them having been submerged in water, makes the teen wish someone had taught him how to groom Electric-types before he left on his journey with nothing but his courage, ambitions and a Pikachu.

"Feeling better now you had the chance to chat with them?" Lance asks.

"Absolutely, people get way too angry with kids, always have. They yell at them if they break a glass but when an adult breaks it, they just clean it and buy another one. How is that fair?"

"You have a point but still, the emergency services found you in a straight-up panic and found your missing pokémon in the arms of a guilty-looking kid with his sister bawling her eyes out behind him," the man answers. "And to be honest, you're just very forgiving, I know that all the other people who have Pokéhelps-"

"Don't start that, you had to fill in a special form that my Pokéhelp isn't to support me physically but mentally. There's no way that anyone will run off with a pokéhelp that's actually there to support someone physically, if they're strong enough to carry around a person who isn't mobile or hasn't been for a long while, which also has an effect on the weight of the said person, there's no way Bonnie would ever be able to lift the pokéhelp at all. And taking a pokémon from a shoulder is a bit easier if the person isn't paying attention than actually taking one from straight underneath the person. No matter what kind of an airhead I can be sometimes, there's no one who could get any of my Tauros from me without a very loud 'moo' and a kick of a hoof. And trust me, they kick hard and without any mercy."

"… You have a point," Lance admits. "But still, you're forgiving. You even gave the kid a pokémon, if I tell this story to any of my friends, they'll come over and hug you to death. It's one of the sweetest things I've seen in my life."

"I've been in her position but without the person who was forgiving. I'm not going to make the same mistakes people made with me, I know how I felt when there was no one looking out for me, just my mom but she never listened to me, she never believed me. When people got mad at me, she never listened to me, she just excused herself for my behaviour, trying to appease whoever was angry at me but never giving me any attention… and then, after years of being treated like that, she wondered why I stopped talking to her about things like that," Ash sighs, shaking his head at the painful memories talking about it called out. "When I see that a small child is being treated like that, I need to intervene, if one stranger, doesn't matter who or where they come from, believed me? It would've made a major difference to me at the time. But no one came, so I needed to do something for Bonnie, it wasn't fair."

"You did amazing, Ash," Steven says, pulling him gently against his side and Ash lets him, he's tired and weary, he doesn't want to fight right now. "You even made Clemont give you that look."

"… Who?"

"Clemont? That's Bonnie's brother, Ash," the man says, frowning down at him and let's go so Ash can move freely again. "He never told you his name?"

"I never said mine either."

"Kiddo, he knows who you are, I told you all Gym leaders got a message about you and even though they don't know how you look like, your name was included in the information they got," Lance answers.

"Even the ones letting a crazy robot in charge?"

"There's no way the pokémon league would let a robot in charge, even if it's border lining an artificial intelligence. Some things need some human empathy and that's where Clemont comes in. His problem with being a Gym leader comes from the lack of confidence in fighting with his pokémon but then again, he lacks confidence in other non-pokémon league related things too. You probably noticed that, I think."

"I did. Why, though? What happened? Why did he even accept the role?"

"He kind of rolled into it, kid's terrifyingly smart and Meyer was happy about it. But then some rude kids came along and busted whatever confidence Clemont built up. Needless to say, he rather put something that never gets affected by mean words in front of the battlefield than himself, especially since he's able to create something like that robot."

"Ah yeah… A shame, I think he's still pretty cool."

"I think he likes you too. I recognise the look he gave you," Steven says and Ash looks up, he recognises a teasing tone in the man's voice.

"You do?"

"Mm, it's the same look Wallace gives me."

"… Haven't the two of you been dating for a while?"

"And how would you know about that?" the man says, sounding scandalised but the teen knows he's playing.

"Mom's magazines like to gossip about people like you."

"Ah."

"Leave him alone, Steven. Those same kinds of magazines gossip about all the Gym leaders too, that you read them isn't a surprise but there's no need to bother Ash or Clemont about those kinds of things," Lance huffs, sounding very unamused as he directs them into an alley taking them to a larger road.

"Hey now, I went and asked the kid the moment he became a Gym leader, he looked like his head was going to explode between you, Will and Lucian. He actually had to take a seat when Karen came in. I know, I've always known, from the start!" the man defends.

"Known what? That he goes for boys?"

"No, both."

Ash falls silent. He didn't know that was an option. He doesn't think he could manage to look at any of his friends in a different manner… in fact, the idea of seeing any of them naked out of the context of bathing -which they have never actually done together before either- makes him feel a bit sad. Next to that, the fact that his first kiss might not have been with a human at all lingers in his mind.

"Let's not go there," he says. "And if Clemont has something to say about me, he can do it in my face."

"He's not gutsy enough for that," Lance answers. "What makes you think you'll even get the chance to talk to him again, outside of challenging the Lumiose Gym? Which is very likely that you'll be challenging the robot?"

"Gym leaders with issues usually tend to follow me around. The issues don't even have to be bad or anything, maybe they want to see the world, maybe they want to get out of their situation… maybe even to prove themselves to someone by going places," Ash says and shrugs. "Even if there isn't a reason for them following me around, they'll find an excuse and follow. It's fine."

His uncle watches him for a while but Steven snickers.

"Sounds like an experience right there."

"You have no idea," Ash says, unable to stop the groan that follows at the statement. Misty's only recently admitted that, upon learning that Pikachu's ability is Lightning Rod, him accidentally frying her bike is nearly impossible to avoid, especially in a freak storm like that.

That doesn't mean she's let up on him buying her a bike but somehow, when he tries to get her to go to the store with him, to get her a bike, she finds some sort of excuse not to go. He's not sure what to think about it, he might just buy her a bike and tell her to return it and choose another one if she doesn't like it.

"Don't worry about it now," Lance says, putting a hand on his shoulder. "We'll see about it when we get there. For now, we're going to eat."

"Sure," the teen answers, food sounds more than fine, next to being tired he's also hungry. Maybe that's why he's feeling so weird, he's not eaten much today. His mother would be furious with him, he's skipped lunch!

Still, Lance isn't his mother and he's not aware Ash has skipped his lunch so the teen wants to keep it like that. Next thing he knows he'll get another bracelet around his wrist telling him when and what to eat. Heaven forbid…

---

They check into a very fancy hotel, Ash can't read the name without stumbling over the 'ch' in the name and he can't repeat it after the receptionist's greeting with also includes the name. But it's all very bougie, there are marble pillars and flooring, detailed titles stuck against the walls and honestly, it would have never worked in a tiny little house but here… If they moved all the plants, this would be an awesome place to roller skate. But no, it's too fancy, even as he sinks into one of the dark wooden chairs with smooth crème velvet seats, he's never felt so scruffy and out of place.

Whatever appetite he has, disappears when he sees they charge five thousand pokédollars for a coke. He closes the menu and puts it back on the table. His uncle sees it as a sign of tiredness, thankfully, he rakes his hands through the boy's hair in an attempt to try and make him feel better. It works, for the biggest part but still… his stomach churns at the idea he'll be drinking something that he can buy fifty sets of ten pokéballs with. Like… That's five hundred pokéballs and more than a few premiere balls. Along with a funny response of annoyance from the worker behind the desk, who just chucks in a couple more because they absolutely don't care, it's a more amazing experience than looking at the snooty expression from someone who is used to taking more expensive orders. Yes, even more expensive.

Still, he's barged into Lance's lifestyle, he'll just have to adapt and improvise. Even if it'll make these fancy fellows' life a bit more difficult.

"Tired?" his uncle asks.

"Myeah."

"I don't suppose you drink coffee?" Steven suggests. "It would give a bit of an energy boost."

"I drink tea?" Ash answers, unsure if this place serves tea at all.

"Well, then choose one," the man says and tilts the menu card Ash never even turned a single page over towards him… conveniently putting his hand over the prices of the drinks. Either Steven has noticed his lack of enthusiasm after seeing the price of a single coke, or else he's got a funny way of showing stuff to people.

Nevertheless, he scans the list of drinks and he can't help but smile in delight when he notices the traditional Sencha, Matcha and Pu-Erh teas.

"Can I order one of these three?"

Steven looks down at the card and seems a bit confused.

"Were you raised traditionally?" he asks. "I didn't know that was still a thing for kids your age."

"Huh?"

"Did your mother teach you how to drink this?"

"My mother did jack-shit, that's what. No, my friend, Brock, introduced me to traditional tea-drinking from Kanto. He said it was a disgrace I had never tried tea before I was ten so he rectified it, made all three for me and Misty and I liked them. Misty was really irked when I could drink Matcha without sweetener straight away, though Brock looked pleased to bits."

"… I can imagine," Lance states dryly.

"Well, alright, then we'll just have a tea party. And cakes, of course!" Steven says, suddenly full of renewed vigour, Ash doesn't know where he gets the energy to be so cheerful from.

Nevertheless, Lance doesn't speak up against the idea of having cakes for dinner but boy, he gets hit with a very different kind of quality of both the cakes and the tea. He remembers that Brock told him that the best quality tea tastes better, that it's had a chance to age and be processed better. He didn't understand at the time but he does now… even though he knows that this might make the tea more expensive but Ash still doesn't get why the coke is so expensive.

At a certain point where Lance and Steven are talking about a meeting the two of them have deliberately skipped because it was full of administration and things they had already taken care of ages ago and are discussing why Charles even bothered calling everyone there, the teen gets his phone out of his pocket. It's been awfully quiet on the other side but he belatedly realises that he hasn't told any of his friends that he's gone to Kalos. Gosh and this is only his second day too… it's already been very eventful for him, he's not sure if he's ready for a few months like this but he'll never know if he doesn't try.

He aims his phone towards the window, his uncle leans out of the way automatically, without interrupting his conversation with Steven and allowing him to take a picture of the view outside. Ash never noticed that they're seated in a spot where they could look at the Prism Tower in all its lit-up glory. Now that it's getting dark, it gets a lot more beautiful… but it still appears to be very tall. The boy thinks he's happy he's not sitting in front of the window but then figures there's a reason why his uncle is sitting there. He knows Lance likes to sit near an entrance, should anything happen now, he would have to jump over him or the table to get anywhere.

Ash suppresses a sigh, thinking he's become a sad character that needs looking after but figuring he's just as lucky to have someone willing to do it. He owes Lance a lot, he's not sure if he can ever repay him. If he asked him about it, his uncle would probably say that it isn't necessary, that it's family relations and that normally, family do these kinds of things for each other… Ash knows that 'normal' usually doesn't exist in his life, he's a bit of an anomaly in plenty of things. He's an odd boy, who isn't the tallest but also not the shortest who still cares no matter how often he's been treated badly. He's an oddity among trainers, his pokémon are precious to him like actual people, maybe even more. Then, among ability users… even in Aura, he's different from the norm.

His phone buzzes, he immediately thanks himself for thinking about putting it in silent mode before posting the message of his 'beautiful' view… but to his amazement, his friends aren't that happy to see he's in Kalos at all. May's completely beyond herself, saying he's mad that he's already out and about, that he should be resting instead of pushing himself this far. Iris's messages him separately, being extremely kind, asking him how he is and if he's still doing alright despite being in a different region… And then there's Brock who posts that video he hates by now, he's seen it all over the internet, of him jumping off the-

He reports the video, not wanting to see it automatically play for him before shutting his phone down completely. Ash doesn't want to feel it buzz, doesn't want to see another message. His friends must not know him well enough, if he stayed home for one year longer, he would be running up the walls and driving Lance and himself crazy.

"You shouldn't be looking at your phone," Lance says and Ash looks up, feeling very caught and feels his face heat up.

"Sorry," he murmurs and puts his phone back in his pocket.

He ends up pushing his last bit of cake around the plate, his stomach feeling cramped and full enough though he's not eaten nearly enough, only putting the beat-up looking piece in his mouth until his uncle probes him to eat him. The man's phone must've gone off at a certain time, Ash isn't really paying attention -though his cup of tea still tastes amazing, he swears he'll come here again one day- but as he listens to what his uncle is saying… it's almost like he's watching what he's saying and desperately not trying to look at him, choosing to look outside.

It's a quick call and Lance isn't offering any explanation, not even to Steven who is looking a bit confused.

"Why don't you go and look around for a bit, Ash?" the man says. "I've heard they've got some activities planned in the left-wing. Just come find me at the main lobby if you're done, okay? I need to talk to Steven for a bit."

The teen hears a dismissal in the sentence and he knows better than to stick around. He's still tired and the weather's changing, it'll probably rain tomorrow morning, he can feel it in his knee. Still, he goes, or rather, limps down the stairs, too stubborn to use the elevator. He wonders if there's some sort of problem going on, the call didn't seem like a happy one. It makes him take his phone again and while he doubts for a couple of seconds before starting it up again, he goes for it.

The first thing he sees is that his friends are aware that his lack of response has something to do with the way they approached him and the second thing he sees, is that Brock's message has been deleted. In fact, as he follows the link his friend has shared the video from, he notices that the entire newsfeed has been blocked… by the pokémon league.

'Well, the devil works hard but the pokémon league works harder,' he thinks as he stuffs his phone in his pocket, feeling loads better now that people can't bring up that video any longer.

He'll talk to his friends later, for now, he'll roam around in this left-wing his uncle told him to go to. As he rounds a corner, he sees something he can only describe as a poor attempt at an amusement park but whatever, he can at least have a look.

"Well, hello there," someone says and Ash immediately identifies that smoothness in the voice as someone who wants to cheat him blind. "Do you want to play a game with me?"

The man isn't talking to him, though, a couple of kids with a mother and father to their side are lured to the table where the man with a strange head of hair and the voice of a conman is sitting. The teen frowns, he recognises this fellow… It's Grimsley, he realises and briskly turns around to go to the other side. He knows the man has a gambling addiction, he's notorious to cheat money from unknowing people. Why he's left here where children are, refrains to be seen but apparently, there's no need for money to participate, he's just whirling cups around and the kids have to find the right one where the candy's underneath. It seems innocent so Ash leaves it be.

He goes to see some vending machines, there's a couple with keychains in them and he figures he can use one to hang off the zipper of his backpack. It's hard to find the fiddly little thing by touch alone so the keychain could be a great help. However, he gets a blue sphere out of the machine that's a real pain in the ass to open and when he finally gets it open… it's a Frosmoth. Not that he doesn't like the pokémon or its fabulously crystalized version on this keychain but gosh darn.

"Excuse-moi?"

There's a lady next to him all of a sudden and she talks very quickly. He doesn't understand what she's saying but she does point to a very cute little girl who has two pigtails with Cherrim hair ties on them. Ash approaches her, just out of curiosity and notices that the girl has the entire series of keychains, several repeats too. It's only after a good while that he sees she did not get all of them, she's missing the Frosmoth!

He puts the blue sphere on her hand and points to the somewhat larger orange one, it has a huge Charizard in it and basically the only one that Ash recognises out of the doubles she has. The girl nods and he takes it, smiling widely at the woman who finally gets the gist that he didn't understand a thing she says.

"Merci," she says but actually bends forwards like a Kantonese greeting.

"Doumo," he answers automatically to the greeting and oh, if the woman didn't look up with a radiant smile, he would've been embarrassed.

Nevertheless, he's happy, he's gotten rid of his Frosmoth problem and has now an amazing looking Charizard which he promptly hangs on his backpack. Pikachu likes the keychain too, it's big and shiny and most of all, it's a Charizard. Ash is very chuffed with this, even though he didn't win it himself, he feels happy to have it. And he finally had a positive interaction with a Kalos native! Even though he still didn't understand anything other than 'merci', it still ended up fine.

He's so pleased by this event that he doesn't want to risk ruining it by running into a bad situation so he goes back to the lobby to see if Lance is there. Whatever Steven and him needed to talk about didn't take long, his uncle is sitting in one of the seats to the far right side, reading a magazine. There's a small pile of them laying on the table in front of him.

"Hi," he says, hoping he doesn't startle the man.

Lance looks up and smiles, closing the magazine.

"Had fun?"

"Yup! Look!" he says, whirling around so he can show off the newest addition to his backpack. "I got a cool keychain."

"Ah, that's Leon's Charizard," Lance says.

"Leon?" Ash asks, turning back around, a bit confused.

"Yes, the champion of Galar. There's a special battle system there, in the Gyms in Galar, you can Gigantamax pokémon. And that's how Charizard looks like."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"That's nice! But it's kinda limiting, isn't it? Leon can't use that system here in Kalos, right?"

"Doesn't mean his pokémon get any less strong, though," Lance says, pulling a face like he's experienced it.

Ash just grins, he's not going to question him on it. He's sat on Steven's Skarmory, he knows the difference between a trainer pokémon and a champion pokémon now. All these special effects are fun and more to intimidate than to strengthen. They're usually not immediate victory, pokémon need to adapt to the changes that happen to them, just like humans have. One cracked tooth and your tongue will automatically go to it and bother you for the entire time until you go see a dentist. And then, pokémon can grow huge teeth or an extra set of horns, like, that's a major adaptation.

"You know, the Gigantimax Charizard is twenty-eight metres or more."

"What." the teen says. "How big are those Gym, then?"

"They don't have any roofs," Lance grins.

"Wait, like, trainers can Gigantimax from the first Gym?"

"Well, there's Dynamax too. There's only a few pokémon who can Gigantimax."

"… Confusing. I'll see it when I get there."

"That's alright," the man chuckles. "Off to bed, then?"

"Isn't it early for you? It's like," he pauses, to look at his phone's clock. "Wait… since when did it get after ten?"

"Time flies when you're having fun."

Yeah, maybe but Ash is always worried when he's unaware of time passing. It reminds him of times where he had blanks in his memory, not a good time for him, to be honest. Nevertheless, he follows Lance to their room, he's not bothered that they'll be sleeping in the same room, they have separate beds and honestly, Ash wouldn't mind sleeping with his uncle. It's just, Pikachu sleeps with him and with the slight chance his pokémon would swift towards Lance and wake up seeing him instead of who he's expecting to see? Needless to say, even if Lance doesn't touch Pikachu, the results could be shocking. Ash isn't willing to let that happen, he doesn't want to hurt Lance in any way.

"This is nice," he says, looking around the room as he plops his backpack on the floor at the next best spot.

"This is the best hotel in the whole of Kalos, Ash, it would make sense."

Still doesn't mean anything if all the rest are just shitty knock-offs but he lets the subject slide, just nodding and flopping down on the bed.

"Oooh, this is so soft. I'm gonna fall asleep right here and now."

"You're first washing up before you do. Go on, get up."

The boy groans as he does, starting with taking off his shoes and his single sock.

"I hope it has bars like in the pokémon centre room," he says as he walks around the bed Lance has chosen -the closest one to the door.

"Of course, it has, I made sure to ask for the room where it has disability additions in it. I know you have a hard time in the bathroom, I mean, people with two feet available have slipped so I can't imagine how hard it must be with just one foot."

"And a crutch,"

"Of course, and a crutch," the man adds with a chuckle. "You'll be alright?"

"Yup. Had a ball in that pokémon centre, water went everywhere."

"Try and keep it a little clean, won't you? I have to clean it up."

"I'll clean up any water I spill, I was raised to clean up my own messes, Lance. That's at least one thing my mother didn't screw up on."

"… Quite."

As Ash goes into the bathroom, Lance goes and takes a seat on his bed, pulling off his shoes as well. He's not sure whether he likes the idea that a simple keychain cheered up his nephew to the point where he became his sassy self again. It's like Viola's Gym battle never happened… but he knows Ash better than that. The boy hasn't forgotten about it, he's just chosen to think about something different, something positive. He's seen the reaction to the message Brock send him, it's why he was called by Mr. Goodshow. Battle profiles and the linked social media to it all fall under the radar of the pokémon league and they can deem content unfit if there is a complaint about it.

Ash did report the video, his full right to and Mr. Goodshow wanted to know if he was alright before giving the green light to erase that video of the face of the earth. Anyone putting the video online again will be seriously punished too so Ash can rest assured, he is likely to never see that event again. Unless, of course, it happens in his nightmare but that's something not even the pokémon league can help with. Brock, on the other hand, has gotten a good scare, Mr. Goodshow called him on his personal phone, which the president of the pokémon league found through the message he send Ash and gave him an earful on how disrespectful it is to remind someone who is challenged by daily life constantly of such a tragic event, it could be seen as emotional blackmail and that's absolutely not okay.

Even if Lance thinks that the teen should've stayed home a lot longer too, he's clearly still struggling but still… it's what Ash wants and he just wants the boy to be happy. Besides, his nephew went out of his way and saved a couple of kids out in a storm in Santalune so he knows that the kid's fine the way he is. But these abilities… Where will it end? He knows that Frosmoth too, he's fought against it, it's powerful… but seemingly not powerful to withstand the sheer love Ash has for pokémon. A dangerous ability, if one bad person could convince the boy to-

Who is he kidding? The only one who can convince Ash to do something is Ash himself, no one has any control over him. He'll listen to what he has to say, Lance admits that and he finds it respectful that the teen does follow his advice but he can't make the boy do something he doesn't want to. He can make him doubtful, yes but Ash will still rebel… especially since he knows that he can count on the help of several big pokémon who leave little room for arguments.

"There, I'm done. I'll probably fall asleep for real now, though," Ash says, reappearing in the room with his left arm holding the crutch he's heavily leaning on and his right holding his prosthesis. Pikachu's right behind the boy, looking a bit damp but very clean.

"That's alright, I'll try and be silent."

"You're not going to be able to wake me up so easily, I remember one time where professor Oak and my mom cooked up a plan to surprise me for my birthday by waking me up early in the morning and I didn't even stir when they were banging pots and pans together. So unless you're planning on demolishing this place, I think you're safe if you just take a bath. Plus, these walls are pretty thick from the look of it, so no worries, I'll be fine. You go and relax, it's a fine bath down there."

Lance just nods and watches his nephew struggle with the carpet all over the room, it's pretty long-haired and the end of his crutch occasionally snags behind the hairs. He makes it to his bed fine, though so the man goes into the bathroom too. He's not planning on being in there for over an hour, he doesn't like water all that much, not to speak being submerged in it. So he finishes quite quickly, he has noticed that there isn't a single wet spot on the floor so Ash must've indeed cleaned up after himself. As good a habit it is, it's still a thing an actual fourteen-year-old shouldn't care about.

When he gets out of the bathroom, it's clear that Ash is fast asleep and so is Pikachu. Also, even though he's promised to be silent, his toe snags in the long carpet hair and yes, he goes down completely. However, the only thing he's at risk of is a noise complaint from downstairs, his nephew doesn't even move. Pikachu's lifts an ear, though but isn't raising alarm over it yet. Which is good, Lance doesn't want the news he's fallen over some hairy rug to become public. With a badly muffled groan, he straightens and goes over to his bed, which is calling him. It has been stressful sometimes and not all of the situations he's had to navigate through had to do with Ash either. Taking the wrong plane was all his fault too but yes, he's ready to sleep and forget all about it. He's found his nephew and the kid's found his smile again, so it's all good.

Lance forgets what a bad sleeper he actually is when he's not sleeping in his own bed, though. The sheets don't smell like familiarity and they're too thick and just… uncomfortable. He doesn't know what time it is when he decides that he's had enough, his mouth dry as parchment and his tongue feels too big to fit in his mouth. The man grasps at his phone that's on the nightstand, not wanting to wake Ash by putting on too much light. He sighs when he notices it's three in the morning, an hour he's usually awake at. But Lance hasn't slept at all so he kicks the far too heavy blankets smothering him off and uses his phone's light to guide him to the bathroom.

He pauses when the light shines on the boy's bed… It's empty. And there isn't any light in the bathroom. Lance shines the light full on the bed and pauses again when he sees his nephew hasn't exactly gone anywhere. No, he's floating, Pikachu hanging from his arm, also deeply asleep. The blankets have been kicked off too. Lance wonders if they were keeping the boy grounded but figures it won't do if the kid keeps hanging there. Didn't Riley say something this happening when the Aura using kids didn't feel safe?

Lance has to stand on the edge of the bed to get to the teen and he barely manages to grab his wrist to pull him down. Ash doesn't wake up upon touch and is pulled down again pretty easily. It doesn't take long before the man has him tucked in the bed again either, though he finds it odd that the boy doesn't float up again. He decides against putting the heavy duvet back on the teen, the blanket underneath the heavy piece of fabric and fluff is enough to keep the boy warm. The room is heated too, much unlike the rooms in his house.

"Ngh?"

The man is a bit startled when the boy stirs but he's quick to crouch down and rake his fingers through the teen's hair, an action he knows Ash enjoys.

"It's okay," he whispers and places a kiss on the teen's forehead.

His nephew doesn't stir again, apparently having fallen asleep again. His mouth is still feeling parched, though, so when he's sure the teen is comfortable again and not at risk of floating up, he walks to the bathroom. Lance instantly regrets putting on the light in the room, he ducks his head to shield his eyes and lets out a muffled curse as his eyes sting. He stands there for a little while, trying to get his eyes to get used to the light inside the room… but the moment he focuses on the sink, the faucet turns by itself and all he can do is stare and wonder what the heck is going on. The faucet turns off by itself too but when he turns it, the damned thing refuses to budge.

"What the hell…?" he says and that moment the sentence leaves his mouth, the light flicks off. And then on again. And then back off again.

He can actually see the light switch getting tapped by an invisible force.

"Uncle?" Ash's voice asks, coming from the other room.

"In here," he calls out. "Something weird is going on."

Lance turns away from the light switch, he's getting the heebie-jeebies, especially now that his nephew is awake. He knows that the boy could do this but surely he wouldn't prank him this way, right? Horror fills him when the light goes off and reveals blood-red eyes behind him. They're not there when the light goes on again but he's spooked. He knows those eyes, he's seen them before back in Orre! His breath hitches-

"Look at me."

He's good at following orders, thankfully, it pulls him straight out of his dark thoughts. His boy is right in front of him, not panicking at all. He's giving him an even look, which makes him feel more… real?

"You're okay. You're still here in that shitty hotel room designed to make people melt. Or did you put the thermostat on twenty-three degrees?"

The remark makes him chuckle, he's very aware that he's in the hotel again now.

"And if there's anything causing trouble in here again, I'll sucker punch 'em to the Distortion World," the boy says, with an edge to his tone and Lance might be imagining it but it sounds like something just scrambled to get up and leave as soon as Ash said that.

"… Ghost pokémon?"

"Yup. There was a tree thing in the room, it walked through the door. Before poking its head out from the doorway again. Creepy little fucker thought Pikachu has a sense of humour when woken up that way."

"You don't sound very happy too either."

"I'm not," Ash deadpans. "Can I reverse the roles and tell you to go back to bed or is that considered mutiny?"

"No, no you're right. I just wanted to have a drink but then things got a bit weird."

"… Oh. Right, drink then. I'll stand right here."

Lance didn't want to think about what these Ghost-types could do to him while he's bent over the sink so he finishes quickly. Seems like Ash's threat hit home… and the room doesn't feel stuffy either.

"I deactivated it," the teen says as if he can read the man's mind.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

Lance's mind feels lighter due to the funny remarks the boy made. It's also very refreshing to feel that he's not the one in control. Ash is clearly in command when it comes to pokémon and that's exactly the part where he's lacking. While he is very much in control of people, a part that his nephew has no command over, lacking the reputation he does have. It won't take long before Ash gets the reputation, though, he knows that Grant is a nice man who will give the boy a chance to fight. He would be very disappointed if that fight got messed up too, Grant would most likely feel bad and offer Ash an apology. No, it'll be alright. If only his little boy keeps his head up and keeps out of trouble, it'll be fine.

"Oh yeah… I've been meaning to ask, what's that Lyssandre café about? Sounds shifty but I'm not sure."

"Don't go in there," Lance says, cringing at the sound of his own voice sounding very stern in this darkness. "I'm sorry, I have no evidence to convince anyone that there's some shady business going on down there, Lyssandre is a popular public figure, after all. Just… don't go in there."

"Wasn't planning to. Thanks for the heads up," Ash says and the sound of a yawn follows shortly. "Myeah… goodnight, uncle."

"Goodnight, kiddo."

'Honestly,' the man thinks, turning around in the bed, feeling like his nephew just attracts this bullshit.

This Lyssandre is dirty business, he knows but he doesn't have anything to go by. Adding that professor Sycamore works closely with him… He'll have to talk to Ash about it come morning. First, he wants to know who Malva is and then Lyssandre? Ash better stay clear from all of them, Lance isn't going to introduce him to every member of what he assumes is team Flare. Oh yes, he's aware and so is Diantha. But Lyssandre plays dirty and he won't be one of his fools. Neither will Ash, he will make sure of that. Though he believes in his nephew, he's not a fool. Today just proved that and maybe, if tomorrow goes as planned, the boy will find the right footing to continue the rest of his journey alone. Steven will probably follow him, in fact, the man is slowly seeing the potential he himself has seen in the boy ages ago. He might even follow Ash to the end of the world, especially now that Steven's pokémon has shown that it likes the kid. Steven's pokémon never like anyone nasty, they knew Giovanni's true nature before anyone else but just like Ash, they didn't have the right audience yet. Steven was just the son of the president of the pokémon Company at that time, just like Ash is just his strange nephew right now. But it'll get better, he knows. If not, he'll make it better, for Ash's sake.

With that thought in mind, Lance turns around in bed again, facing his probably asleep nephew and attempts to sleep himself, hoping for a new world in the morning, one without old or new ghosts trying to torment him.

---

End of chapter twenty-six