When Chloe returned to the darkened arcade's atmosphere, Ash was standing still at the dance machine, very clearly pretending to be confused as to which of the Pikachu sitting on the rail were his partner. Pikachu was sitting perfectly still next to the plush as Ash pretended to hum and haw, waiting for Chloe to return. "Hey, Ash!" she called out, making both Ash and Pikachu drop the ruse.

"Hey! Oh, you fixed your hair!" he said, immediately noticing the change. "Sorry about that…"

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it," she said, waving off his concern. "I'm just glad I didn't keep you waiting for so long."

Ash put his hands on his hips. "So, what's next?" he asked, looking around the arcade for the next game to play before Chloe spoke up.

"Actually, there is a game I'd like to play," she said. "It's a bit slower than the ones we've played so far. Do you mind if we go check it out?"

Ash shrugged. "Why not? Could be a fun change of pace, right?"

She beamed a smile back and nodded. "Thanks, Ash. C'mon, it's this way."

Ash followed Chloe closely as Pikachu picked up the plush and carried it, with Eevee carrying the cup of tokens, trying to mimic Pikachu as she did.

Chloe led Ash mostly backwards through the facility, past the entrance and the token machine, heading back to the machine she saw on the other side of the facility.

The machine was bright blue and large, riddled with flashing lights. There were four seats in a semi-circle around the display though only two were occupied at the moment. There were six smaller signs across the top, over the display labeled with the following categories: "History", "Science", "Music", "Entertainment", "Pokémon", and "Geography". Above that, on a white background was the blue logo for the game, "Trivia Time".

The Trivia Time machine had drawn quite a crowd, which made Chloe curious as to why there were only two people playing it and the rest of the crowd was watching. Upon closer inspection, it seemed that one of the competitors was answering every question before his competition. Watching the screen, it shuffled through the choices before landing on Geography. The machine displayed the question: "What chain of islands lies directly south of the Kanto Region?"

The person answering all the questions quickly hit his buzzer, and three answers were displayed: The Sevii Islands, the Orange Islands, and the Decolore Islands.

The young man smirked, and Chloe took a look at him. He was wearing a plaid button-up shirt with a pocket protector. He had long, somewhat unkempt black hair and sported thick glasses. 'This guy looks like a real nerd…' she thought.

"A more unintelligent person may be intimidated by this question," said the nerd. "But I have the intellect to understand that the answer is the Sevii Islands!" He hit the button in front of him that matched the Sevii Islands, and the screen displayed a green circle, indicating that his answer was correct, showing that he had answered twenty questions correctly compared to the other participant, an unassuming boy wearing a large red hoodie, having answered zero.

An onlooker from the crowd called out. "That's another win for the Zekenator!"

The nerd, this 'Zekenator' stood on his seat at the machine. "No applause necessary! I'm only showing off my natural intellectual talents!" The boy in the hoodie slipped away, clearly looking for another game to play as the Zekenator surveyed the crowd. "Who'll be my next intellectual challenger?"

Chloe glanced over at Ash from the corner of her eye. He was looking on with a confused look on his face. "...this is some sorta quiz battle game?" he asked.

She turned to him. "The way it works is the game randomly chooses between the six topics and asks a question. The first to answer twenty correct wins!"

Ash shrugged. "Uh… I might be able t' answer Pokémon questions but the rest of this might be too much for me…"

Pikachu hopped up from the ground right onto Ash's shoulder and patted the trainer on the head. "Pika, pika…"

"YOU!"

Both Chloe and Ash turned back to the machine, seeing the Zekenator point his finger straight at the girl. Chloe blinked in confusion. "Me?"

The Zekenator gave her a crooked smile. The way the light of the game's screen cast his face in shadow gave Chloe a chill down her spine. 'He looks like a real creep.'

"Yes," he said. "You. What's your name, miss?"

"Chloe," she said, staring him back in his creepy face.

Ash turned to her. "C'mon, Chloe, we don't gotta bother with this guy."

She shook her head. "This sort of game is exactly the kind I want to play." She turned to the Zekenator and grinned. "Just watch me wipe the arcade's floor with this guy." She stepped forward through the crowd, standing next to the seat previously occupied by the boy in red. "I'm not going to be a pushover like your last opponent. I'm pretty good at trivia games myself," she said.

The Zekenator snorted. "We'll see," he said. He inserted his tokens into the machine for his turn at playing.

Eevee scrambled through the crowd up to Chloe's feet, and the girl leaned down and put Eevee on the panel in front of her, where her buzzer and answer buttons were located. Eevee gleefully shook her head and jangled the tokens in the cup. As Chloe took the tokens out and inserted them, her opponent chuckled. "So, the little girl brought her pet Pokémon with her, huh?"

Chloe scowled bitterly at the nerdy boy. "You better just get ready, 'Zeke'," she said.

"That's the Zekenator!"

The roulette began and the first topic came up: History. The question began reading out across the screen. Glancing over at her opponent, Chloe saw that he was clearly letting her take this one with the way he leaned back in his seat, clearly trying to take up as much room as possible.

Chloe read the question: "What year did humans first land on the moon?" She hit the buzzer to make the questions appear. 'This one's easy,' she thought. The answers were 1956, 1969, and 1977. Chloe hit the button indicating 1969, and the green circle appeared, earning her first point.

"A simple question," Zeke responded, sitting up. "But get ready for the next one."

The roulette indicated Geography was next. The question read: "What is the tallest mountain in Kanto?"

Smirking, Zeke went to hit his buzzer, but Chloe's hands were faster than his. The three answers appeared: Mt. Moon, Mt. Silver, and Mt. Stone. The nerd looked at the girl in surprise, and she hit the button for Mt. Moon. The screen indicated that Chloe answered correctly, to which Zeke slammed his hands against the machine. "What?! Mt. Silver is way taller than Mt. Moon!"

"Yeah, but Mt. Silver is in Johto," Chloe responded with a shrug. "It asked for Kanto."

Zeke sat back, fuming. Chloe looked over her shoulder to where Ash was standing in the crowd. He was just staring at her, mouth slightly agape. She flashed a grin and a victory sign at him before turning back to the machine.

The next topic was Music: "What Galarian rock group released the song 'All You Need Is Love'?"

Zeke hesitated again, and behind her, Chloe heard the crowd's murmurs. "Zeke always struggled with music and entertainment…" they said.

Chloe hit the button, and hit the button for the Beatles, which gave her another point.

Zeke hit in for the next question, on the topic of History, asking when the first modern Poké Balls were developed. "1925!" he said, earning his first correct answer to Chloe's three.

The next topic was entertainment: "Before his starring role in Gigantic, what band was Fiorella Cappuccino part of?" Chloe hit the button and then the correct answer, 'PMAP'.

"How am I supposed to know that…?" grumbled Zeke.

Chloe just smirked. 'There's no way this guy's gonna beat me at this.'

The next few questions came up, and Chloe traded points with Zeke a few times, though these exchanges still left her in the lead. Zeke answered a science question incorrectly, giving Chloe a chance to take the point for herself, which left him fuming.

The next topic was "Pokémon", with the score being Chloe's 8 to Zeke's 3. As the question began to display, Zeke reached over and slammed his hand on Chloe's buzzer, making both her and Eevee jump from where they were sitting.

"Sorry~!" said the Zekenator in an exaggerated tone. "I guess I slipped! Please forgive me!"

Chloe glared back. "Yeah, a real big accident," she said. She heard some shuffling in the crowd behind her before someone called Zeke out on his blatant cheating, but she focused on the question. Rather, the part of the question that was displayed: "Eevee and Pikachu-"

She frowned. 'Eevee and Pikachu? What about them…?'

Looking at the answers listed, the correct solution became obvious. She selected "Thunder Stone", earning yet another point.

"Of course an Electric-Type like Pikachu evolves with the Thunder Stone," she said out loud. "That's just logical."

"Lucky break…" scowled Zeke.

A series of entertainment questions interspersed with Pokémon questions came in quick succession. "Brad Van Darn! Professor Sycamore! Mecha-Tyranitar!"

Ash found himself taken aback at the second answer. "Wait, Professor Sycamore discovered Fairy-Type Pokémon?"

Chloe looked over her shoulder. "Yeah? We have a Pokémonology class in school and stuff like this comes up. It's pretty basic stuff, isn't it?"

The crowd gasped. "Wow, she must go to some school!" a voice said, rising over the now murmuring crowd. "Maybe Zeke isn't going to get this after all…?"

As the next question came on the screen, Zeke slammed both his hands against the machine, startling Chloe and Eevee both. In their moment's hesitation, Zeke hit the button before answering correctly that Staryu is a Water-Type.

"Hey, not cool, Zeke!" the crowd called as the booing began. "Taking it out on this girl just 'cause she's smarter than you!"

"I thought you'd wanna play fair!" another voice called.

Chloe listened closely for Ash to join in, but the Palletonian was remaining oddly quiet. Chloe looked to Eevee, who's dark eyes stared back at her. She nodded and focused on the next question, music.

Zeke hit the button just as the question was coming up and was given the option of three names: "Koffing and the Toxics", "Air Battle", or "Enter the Beartic". "W-What am I supposed to pick…?!" he groaned, hitting the button for "Enter the Beartic" before receiving a big red X, indicating a mistake.

Chloe waited for the question to appear: "What is the name of Unova's top punk rock band?" Chloe looked back over the options. 'Between the two, only one of these can be the answer… even if I'm not really into punk rock.' Hitting the button for "Koffing and the Toxics", she scored yet another point.

Demoralized at Chloe extending her lead even further, he begins trying even more desperately to have Chloe mess up. She kept her focus forward as she answered a question about the atomic number of helium. "Mess up! C'mon, you don't know this! Take your furball and go play some dancing game!"

She answered the next question on the age of the Pokémon Tower in Lavender Town correctly. "I prefer games like this where I can think things through." She turned her eyes in his direction. "Maybe you should go play the dancing game instead. You don't seem very good at this one."

The crowd gasped and went quiet as Chloe returned to answering the next question correctly.

"This girl's blowing Zeke away!"

"The Zekenator? Maybe Zero-nater!"

The crowd rose up and continued chattering. Zeke sat down and tried to answer the last questions as best he could, but Chloe kept answering questions, just like she was at school. The final score on the board was Chloe's winning twenty compared to Zeke's 4. A complete blow out.

"Zeke couldn't win even when he was cheating and trying to mess her up!"

"What a way to go out!"

"So much for the Zekenator!"

Zeke turned to Chloe and stared at her through his glasses for a moment before jumping down from the machine and fleeing from the arcade.

Ash is still standing stunned as Chloe also descends the machine. "Hey, why don't we get out of here, too?" she asked.

Ash blinked in her direction and nodded. Chloe led Ash back to the door, with Pikachu carrying the plush and Eevee carrying the cup of tokens jingling close behind.

"This is much better than that dark arcade," Chloe said, sitting on a bench in one of the small parks scattered around Vermilion City. The sun was hanging low in the sky, not quite setting but evening was quickly approaching. The park had a small area for Pokémon Battles as well as a few flower beds all planted with orange poppies.

Chloe had slipped the cup of tokens into her handbag while Pikachu and Eevee were poking at the plush Pikachu, sitting between her and Ash, who was taking a moment to breathe.

Suddenly, he turned to her. "Chloe, that was really cool back there!"

She turned to him and blinked. "What was?"

"All that stuff you knew!" he said. "The moon landing and who discovered Fairy-Types and all that other stuff!"

She shrugged. "Well, you learn a lot in school. And I guess I've been in school for a while. So I've picked up little odds and ends for trivia. And I've watched a lot of movies and listened to a lot of music so the entertainment category wasn't very hard either."

"But still!" he protested. "That's really cool! I know about Pokémon an' bein' outdoors and stuff, but you know so much stuff I don't!" He leaned back, looking at the sky. "It makes you really think about how big the world really is, and what sorts of things are in it, you know?"

Chloe leaned back as well, only she was looking at her shoes. "Well, I may know some facts about science and history and stuff, but I don't know a lot about everything. Just a little. You seem like you know tons about the stuff you know about."

Ash chuckled. "Heh, yeah… I guess so. But that makes it that much cooler, you know?" he said grinning, putting a positive spin on it. "We're really different, and that just means we have that much more t' learn from each other! I'd really like t' learn more from you." He paused as he spoke, turning uncharacteristically sheepish. "I mean, if that's okay with you."

She smiled, feeling that now familiar flush rise to her cheeks. "No… I mean, I'd like that. I'd like to keep learning from you, too."

Ash smiled back at her, his brown eyes looking very warm in the setting sun, and Chloe felt her heart begin to pound in her chest. That familiar warmth returned to her cheeks. As she looked into his eyes, seeing her reflection, her heart skipped, and a thought rose in her mind all on it's own.

'Maybe this was a date after all.'

"HEY!"

Chloe practically jumped in surprise, turning away from Ash. The voice was familiar if only due to it's recency. Approaching them from the sidewalk and entering the park was Zeke, his bedraggled appearance looking even worse somehow in the setting sun. 'Of all the people who could have turned up… why this guy?' She sighed, and glared at him with the same icy coolness she treated anyone she found weird or annoying. "Can I help you? I don't do tutoring unless you're going to pay me the same rate I get when I babysit."

Zeke pushed up his glasses, causing the light to glare off of them. "Ah, a rapier sharp wit! Just what I'd expect from the girl who was able to defeat me!"

Chloe felt a chill go down her spine. "What, do you want a rematch with me? Maybe some other time-"

"Oh, I want more than a rematch, Chloe," he said, pointing at her. "You deserve to enjoy conversation with someone your intellectual equal! Thrilling conversation about philosophy and poetry! We deserve each other's superior minds, wouldn't you agree?"

Chloe cringed and Eevee mimicked her cringing. "Ew."

Ash saw how uncomfortable Zeke was making Chloe and stood up. "Hey, Chloe doesn't wanna talk to you, so can you leave her alone?"

"No, I don't think so," Zeke said back. "I think I'd very much like the chance to talk to her alone."

Chloe felt her stomach twist and felt herself growing even more pale. Ash frowned, glancing back at her before stepping forward. "Look, I dunno why you wanna play another trivia game with her so bad, but if you wanna compete in something, why don't you have a battle with me?"

" "A battle?" "

Chloe and Zeke both asked the question at the same time. Chloe was the first to follow up, though. "Wait, Ash, you don't really have to," she said.

"If this guy's just gonna keep chasin' you, it's better t' just handle it, right? Can I handle this for ya? As thanks for today?"

Chloe blinked, her heart beating against her chest like Grookey smacking his stick against the ground. "S-Sure…"

"Very well," Zeke said, smirking as he pushed up his glasses. "But if I win, Chloe's gotta come with me! We'll have much to discuss, I'm sure!"

She grimaced. "I'm not a trophy…"

"So, does a one-on-one battle sound good?" Ash asked.

Zeke sneered. "It sounds excellent! All the better to end this quickly." Zeke reached into one of the pockets on his cargo shorts and took out a Poké Ball, opening it in the palm of his hand. "And you'll face my most powerful and loyal Pokémon!"

The bright light burst forth and took the form of a purple serpentine Pokémon that glowered over Ash. "Cha-bok!"

Ash's eyes lit up. "Hey, an Arbok! It's been a while since I've seen one of those!"

Chloe took out her Rotom Phone and pointed it at Arbok. A picture of him appeared on the screen, and the Pokédex began to speak in its stately voice. "Arbok, the Cobra Pokémon. A Poison-Type and the evolved form of Ekans. Arbok's body is terrifically strong, able to crush even steel oil drums. The latest research has determined that there are over 20 possible arrangements of the patterns on its stomach."

Ash turned to the bench. "How about it, buddy? Wanna work off some energy?"

Pikachu slapped his own cheeks, making sparks fly off, startling Eevee and Chloe before hopping out in front of them as well as Ash. "Pika!"

Chloe watched from the side. 'Come to think of it, I haven't seen that many Pokémon battles between trainers. And most of the few that I've seen were because of Team Rocket…" She looked at Ash, blinking. 'I wonder what this is going to be like…'

"Let's get this battle started!" Ash said, punching a fist forward into the air. "Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

Pikachu's body began to glow with power before he shot forward at blinding, lightning fast speeds towards Arbok. As Pikachu charged forward, Arbok raised his body up, showing the frightening pattern on his body to Pikachu. The Electric-Type caught a full glimpse of the intimidating pattern and glowed softly. He collided with Arbok, knocking the cobra backwards, but Arbok didn't seem to have felt it much, if at all.

"Wait, why didn't Quick Attack do anything?" Chloe asked. "When you used it against Eevee, it was so strong!"

"Arbok's got an' ability called Intimidate," Ash said, his eyes focused forward, answering Chloe without turning from the battle. "Seein' the pattern on it reduces a Pokémon's physical power." And though Chloe couldn't see it, Ash gave Zeke a wild smirk. "But just because it's reduced doesn't mean it's gone. If Arbok gets close t' us, we'll show him just how we like t' battle!"

"Pika chu!"

Zeke snorted. "Ha! If you thought my Arbok's Intimidate is scary, just wait until I start using moves! Arbok, it's time for Sludge Bomb!"

Arbok opened his mouth and began spewing orbs of concentrated venom at Pikachu from across the field.

"Dodge it!"

Pikachu leapt up into the air, and the sludge splattered across the ground, the acrid venom bubbling as it melted into the dirt with a sound and smell that reminded Chloe of wet garbage, making her stomach churn.

"Got you!" Zeke shouted. "Arbok, use Glare! Stop Pikachu in his tracks!"

Arbok's eyes glowed blood red and, and when Pikachu locked eyes with the cobra, his body was cast in a red glow as well.

"Pikachu, use Electro Web!"

Shaking off the red glow with no effect, Pikachu formed a ball of electric energy on the end of his tail before flipping mid-air and sending the ball at Arbok. The ball opened up into a net made of electricity before wrapping around Arbok, shocking the Poison-Type.

Zeke's glasses fell off his nose a bit, revealing his brown eyes before he pushed them back up. "But how? Isn't Pikachu supposed to be paralzyed from Arbok's Glare?"

"You'd think that," Ash said, smirking. "But Pikachu's an Electric-Type, and you can't paralyze an electric Pokémon!"

"Pika pikachu!"

Arbok shook off the Electroweb and though injured, was still raring to fight. "Then we need a strategy change. Arbok, use Dig!"

"Chabo!"

Arbok twisted and shoved his head into the dirt as easy as Chloe herself might stick her head underwater before the rest of the cobra slithered underground right behind. "What now…?" she asked.

"Alright, buddy, you know what to do," Ash said. "Use Iron Tail!"

Pikachu leapt into the air as Zeke laughed. "How do you plan on hitting my Arbok when he's underground? A foolish error!"

Ash's confidence and bravado hadn't faded at all. "Oh, we're not aiming for Arbok. Our target's the ground!"

"Chuuu… pi-ka!"

Pikachu stored the energy of the move in his tail before bringing it down like a hammer into the ground with such intensity that the battlefield shattered into pieces with hunks of rock and dirt flying into the air.

Chloe felt her breath catch in her chest. 'This is the sort of thing you can do in Pokémon battles?!' she thought, with Eevee watching Pikachu's moves closely, eyes wide with wonder and excitement.

"Im-possible!" Zeke shouted.

"Let's give 'em another Iron Tail, buddy!"

Pikachu leapt through the falling debris he had knocked up into the air, tail glowing once more. He slammed his harder than steel tail into Arbok, catching the Poison-Type by surprise.

"While it's close, use Wrap!" shouted the Zekenator at the battle unfolding in the air.

Arbok's long body wrapped around Pikachu, constricting his arms and tail as the two of them fell to the ground with a crash, kicking up dirt in the now ruined battlefield.

"Squeeze hard, Arbok! No one's ever been able to escape your Wrap!"

"Cha!" shouted Arbok, giving his all to squeeze the life out of Pikachu.

Pikachu grunted against the force that was being exerted against him. "Pi ka…!"

"Maybe we can't escape from you," Ash said as he twisted his hat backwards on his head, "but you can't get away from us, either! Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

Zeke gasped as soon as he realized his tactical error. "O-Oh no! Arbok, get away from them!"

Pikachu's cheeks began to spark as Arbok's tail tried to unravel from around the mouse, but the Poison-Type wasn't fast enough. "Piii-kaaaaa-chuuuu!" shouted Ash's partner as the electricity exploded from his body, aimed straight for the nearby cobra. Arbok screamed in pain as the force of all 10,000 volts launched Arbok down to Zeke's feet. Arbok, struggling, once again rose, defiantly glaring at Pikachu, ready to continue.

His trainer's confidence had been shattered, however. "H-How can we be doing so badly?" he asked. "We're ranked 1425th in the World Coronation Series! How can an ameteur like you beat a genius like me?"

"1425th?" Ash asked, smiling. "That's really good! I'm 99th!"

"N-Ninety-ninth?!" Zeke stammered, his glasses almost falling off again. "Y-You're in the Ultra Class?!"

Ash pointed a thumb at his chest. "Sure am! And I'm gonna go even higher until I can face Leon again!"

"Pikachu!"

Zeke reached into his pocket and took out Arbok's Poké Ball, using it to recall his Pokémon. "I-I give up… there's no way I can beat someone as strong as you…!"

As Zeke turns to leave, Chloe stands up from the bench. "Hey! Where are you going? Why are you acting all scared and timid now?"

Zeke freezes, and his shoulders slump down. "I… this is how I usually am…" he admitted, looking like he was about to collapse. "I'm usually the quietest, meekest guy around… I'm pretty good at Pokémon battles but I didn't really have any friends… At least, not until I went to the arcade today and started playing that quiz game. After I beat so many people, they all started cheering for me and calling me the 'Zekenator'... I-I thought that by acting like a big shot, people would actually like me and want to be my friend…"

'Poor guy…' she thought. 'This is just like what happened with Ash and I earlier. We weren't being ourselves and we got all out of whack because of it.'

She stepped forward, with Eevee following her closely behind. "You should just be yourself, Zeke. You're pretty smart and good at Pokémon battles, and I'm sure there are lots of people who would want to be friends with someone like you. I know it can be scary putting yourself out there and not being afraid, but you've gotta do it for yourself."

"Chloe's right," Ash said, speaking up. "If you just treat people like y' treat Arbok, I'm sure people'll wanna be your friend!"

Zeke looked at the Poké Ball in his hands. "Like I treat Arbok…?"

Ash nodded. "Arbok was fighting super hard for you out there and you guys were totally in sync together! How else would y' have gotten that Wrap against us when we were all in the air? You guys are pretty awesome, and I wouldn't mind havin' another battle sometime!"

Zeke's glasses slid down his nose again, only this time he looked like he was about to cry. "Y-You two are right. I-" he said, sniffling, "I'm gonna go back to that arcade and see if anyone else is still there. And apologize for being a jerk. Thank you for setting me straight, Chloe. And you, too… um…"

Ash smirked, pointing at his own chest with his thumb. "I'm Ash from Pallet Town!"

Ash walked across the broken battlefield and offered his hand to Zeke, who took it and gave it a firm shake.

"Thank you, Ash." With that, Zeke turned and left, running back down the road in the direction of the arcade.

Chloe picked up Eevee and carried her over to Ash's side. "I think we really helped that guy out," she said.

Ash nodded. "Yeah. I couldn't have done it without you, though. I didn't know what t' say back there when he just left the battle, but you reached out t' him." Ash turned to her and beamed a smile in her direction. "You're so kind, it's awesome!"

Chloe giggled in response, but before she could say anything, the street lights began to turn on. Looking around, she realized that it was getting late. "Oh! We've gotta get to the Museum before it closes!"

Ash gasped, realizing the time as well. "Oh! You're right! Let's go!"

Chloe took out her phone and looked at the map. "C'mon, this way!"

And the two young trainers began racing down the sidewalk, leaving the crushed battlefield behind them.

The museum in Vermilion City was a somewhat large, imposing building, though Chloe figured that even for its size, it was still probably smaller on the inside than the Cerise Park. She didn't have a lot of time to consider it, however, given how limited their time was. The museum was only open for about another thirty minutes, and so with that limited time to spare, Chloe quickly purchased the tickets for them and they headed inside, quickly following signs to the Alola exhibit. 'Thankfully, since it's so late, it doesn't look like anyone else is here…' Chloe thought as they entered the exhibit hall. Looking up, she gasped and her eyes widened in wonder.

Displayed on four tables surrounding a diorama of the Alola Region were four large statues, carved from what Chloe assumed was volcanic rock. The carving work looked somewhat crude and rough. 'I doubt they had any really sophisticated tools back then, given how old they look.'

Ash was already running up ahead to them. "Oh, wow! They're all here!"

"Pika!"

"Chloe, c'mere!" Ash called, gesturing her over. "These are the Tapu!"

"Tapu?" she responded, holding Eevee to her chest.

"The Tapu are the guardians of each of the islands in the Alola Region," Ash explained, gesturing to the large, bird looking statue he was next to now. "They live in special ruins on the four islands and they come together to protect Alola when it's in danger!" There was a wild glee and excitement on his face as he spoke. Chloe stepped close to him and looked at the first statue. Upon examination, it looked like the head of some sort of bird with a large comb.

"This one's Tapu Koko," Ash explained. "It's the guardian of Melemele Island, and it lives in a place called the Ruins of Conflict. And Tapu Koko loves to battle! It'll fly all around Melemele Island, challenging trainers to battles! It's so awesome!"

Chloe blinked, frowning in surprise. "Wait, you saw this Tapu Koko?"

"Yeah!" Ash beamed. "I even battled 'em a few times! That last match against Tapu Koko was so intense, wasn't it, Pikachu?"

Pikachu laid down on Ash's shoulder, pantomiming exhaustion. "Pika pika…"

"But people call it a guardian deity, right? So it's a Pokémon?"

"Sure is!" Ash said, somewhat dismissively.

'I wonder if he thinks about what that means…'

"We have a lot of memories about the next one, too!"

Ash walked over to the next statue, and then, in clear defiance of museum rules, put his hands on the glass case. The statue contained within looked like the head of some sort of insect with a long proboscis and antennae. "This one's called Tapu Lele. It lives in the Ruins of Life and is the guardian of Akala Island.

Chloe went over these details in her head. "So if Tapu Koko lives in the Ruins of Conflict and likes to fight, I guess Tapu Lele likes growing things?"

Ash shook his head. "Nah, the ruins are probably called that based on Tapu Lele's scales."

"It's scales?" Now she was even more confused.

"This thing you're seeing here is just a shell," Ash said. "In fact, they all look like they're in their shells in these statues. But the outside of Tapu Lele's shell has scales that fall off. If you touch them, they heal you of all your wounds!"

"Oh, that makes sense! I guess Tapu Lele's the kind-hearted one compared to Tapu Koko."

Ash laughed. "Not exactly." He thought for a moment, as if he was working through his memories. "I guess it's like Tapu Lele doesn't really care what it does? It can heal people and Pokémon by scattering it's scales, but it doesn't try to share it's scales. And touching too many of 'em can be bad, too, trust me!"

Chloe frowned. "I guess you have experience with this, too, huh?"

Ash laughed and put his hand behind his head, but he didn't elaborate. Instead he turned to the third statue. It looked like the head of a Tauros in the abstract. "This one's Tapu Bulu! Man, training with it was so fun!"

"Piiikaaa," pouted the mouse.

"Oh yeah, you didn't train with Tapu Bulu, did ya buddy? But Rowlet and Lycanroc were the ones who really needed it!"

'I wonder if he even remembers I'm here…' she thought bitterly, watching them. 'It feels like I'm not even an afterthought, compared to the stuff that he's seen.'

He turned back to Chloe. "Oh, Tapu Bulu lives on Ula'Ula Island in the Ruins of Abundance. It can grow trees in seconds and it's super tough. It's pretty lazy, though."

This, at least, made some sense to her. "Well, I guess if I had everything I needed and could grow food with barely moving, I'd be pretty lazy, too," Chloe said. She walked around the statues to the final one that looked like some sort of fish. "And who's over here?"

Ash walked around. "Oh yeah…" he said, somewhat shyly. "That's Tapu Fini. It lives in the Ruins of Hope on Poni Island, only…" he crossed his arms. "It's not the kinda hope that you think of at first."

"'Not the kind you think of at first?'" Chloe repeated. "What do you mean?"

"The 'Hope' in the Ruins of Hope isn't hope for a better tomorrow, but it's more like…" He frowned, looking down.

'He always does that when he's trying to choose his words…' Chloe thought. 'Ash can be surprisingly thoughtful and knowledgeable when it's something he really knows about.'

"It's like 'I hope they've finally found peace," Ash said, finally deciding on how to phrase it. "Tapu Fini can make mist where you can meet the spirits of people and Pokémon who've passed on. It's like that story where you gotta pay more t' cross the river depending on how good or bad you were in life after y' die."

Chloe swallowed, not expecting that to be the answer. "After you die…? You're not saying you met actual ghosts, right?" She felt a shiver go down her spine.

"Eievui!" chirped her Pokémon, more excited than scared.

"I did," he said. "A Pokémon I caught in Alola was raised by a very old Stoutland who passed away before I caught it. We met the Pokémon in the mist again, and he helped us train."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course he did," she said sarcastically. "You train with ghosts and guardian deities. Why not?"

"Hey, one of my friends met her Mom in that mist, too," Ash replied, the look on his face serious. "I wouldn't joke about this kinda thing."

Chloe froze. 'Wait, he's being serious about this…? About ghosts and everything…?'

Ash shrugged, looking back at the statue of Tapu Fini. "I don't blame ya, I guess. It is a bit hard to believe that all that stuff would all happen t' one person." He once again put his hand on the glass case, smiling wistfully. "But I know that we really appreciated seein' Stoutland one last time."

She stepped closer to Ash. "You sure do know a lot about all of this. It's really impressive, Ash."

He shrugged, taking his hand off the case after leaving a handprint on it. "Well, most of it I was taught by Professor Kukui, so it's more like I'm just passing along what he shared with me, y'know? I saw some stuff, but there's so much he had to teach me, too."

"If you say so," she said, shrugging. 'But I feel like this is really something you make your own. You might not be academically gifted like Zeke, but your knowledge of Pokémon is easily just as good as Goh's, or even my Dad's. And that's really impressive in it's own right.'

Chloe giggled at her thoughts and smiled at Eevee, who smiled back.

The sound of her giggling was cut off by the groaning of Ash's stomach echoing through the nearly empty museum, but this just made her giggle even more. "Ah, man, it's been so long since we ate… I'm starving…" he said, putting a hand on his stomach.

"Why don't we get going, then?" Chloe replied. "We can hit the Sugiya near my house on the way!"

"Sounds great! Don't you think so, Pikachu?" He was already turning on his heels, a spring in his step. "I could eat like three plates of curry! Maybe four!"

Chloe followed behind. 'Maybe this little trip down memory lane for him really did help.'

Night had fallen, but the lights were still on inside Chloe's house when she and Ash arrived after leaving Sugiya. "I guess we're here," she said.

"Yup," Ash replied. "I had a great time, though, Chloe. It was fun learnin' about stuff together, and I even had a pretty fun battle, too!"

"I should be thanking you for the good time," she replied. "I've never seen you in a battle like that before, and it was really fun, you know? Not to mention learning about all the Tapu from you, too."

They both laughed, standing on the deck on the front of Chloe's home. Chloe still held Eevee to her chest as she looked at Ash's face, still warm and friendly in the dim light cast by the streetlamps. Ash smiled back in but then blinked before leaning in closer. Chloe's heart skipped. 'I-Is he…?!'

She'd seen enough movies to know what was expected to happen at this point. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips together…

"Oh, so that's what that was!"

She opened her eyes. "Huh?"

Ash was holding a small leaf that Chloe only barely recognized as the sort that grew on a bush near the bench they sat on in the park. "I just saw that, and I wonder what it was. I guess it's been in there for a while, huh?" he laughed cheekily.

Embarrassment colored her cheeks. "Right, thanks," she said, looking away. 'I can't believe I expected Ash to do something like…'

"Oh, one more thing before I go," he said. He turned to Pikachu on his shoulder, who seemingly knew exactly where this was going. He handed Ash the plush Pikachu they had won for being the 250th guest at the arcade that day, and Ash handed it to Chloe. "Here! Somethin' to remember the day by!"

The embarrassment was quickly surpassed by an even hotter blush that colored her cheeks even more vividly. 'Thank goodness it's so dark right now…'

Clearing her throat, she accepted the small token. "Thanks, Ash. I really appreciate it," she said, smiling widely.

"No problem. I guess we better get going, though," he said. "C'mon, Pikachu! Let's get back to th' lab!"

He ran down the path back to the sidewalk, and Chloe waved at him as he waved back before turning back to the door and taking a deep breath. Setting Eevee down, she opened the front door to her home to the sight of her little brother, Parker, sitting on the steps, a malicious grin on his face as Chloe and her Pokémon stepped through the door.

"Mom! Dad!" Parker shouted. "Chloe's home from her date!"

The teasing tone of the last word turned Chloe's face completely red as she shouted. "PAAARKEEER!" before lunging at him as he scrambled up the stairs.