Crossroads Chapter 10: Oh Brother...

Previously on Crossroads: Gary appeared at the Battle Tower to challenge Anabel for the Ability Symbol. After a hard-fought battle, Gary emerged victorious and gained information about Pyramid King Brandon. Gary departed, leaving Ash with thoughts about his "relationship" with Anabel - whether this was intended or not, only Gary knows (and he's not telling).


Tohjo Falls, Battle Tower – Kanto Region

After Gary gained the Ability Symbol from Anabel within the next few days, things returned to normal at the Battle Tower. Every day, Ash learned more about how to successfully operate a Battle Facility, observing Anabel as she battled her challengers. None of which managed to pry another Ability Symbol from her case.

Ash had to get used to paperwork at some point, so Anabel began training him to handle it properly. The Pallet Town native wasn't exactly too keen on sitting around filling out forms for two or more hours straight, but Anabel pointed out this was something he would have to deal with when he became a Frontier Brain himself. This was more of a warm-up than what he would be going through when he had to do everything himself.

"But won't I have a secretary to do this for me?" he protested.

"Even if you do, you'll still need to check over their work to make sure it's filled out right," she advised. "Now go get started, or you'll never finish."

Ash dejectedly took the stack of papers and headed out of Anabel's office. After discussing it with Pikachu, who had accompanied him today, he headed to work on one of the battle floors. As he explained to Pikachu, the sounds of combat would get him excited on adrenaline, and he could (hopefully) utilize the ensuing energy rush to get through Anabel's paperwork faster.

Upon arrival, the electric mouse quickly became bored and laid down for a nap in the stands next to his trainer. As he drifted off, he thought he saw Anabel's Espeon watching him from the rafters like a ceiling cat.


Following his instructions about doing the paperwork, Ash finished everything in nearly three hours. He then took a short break to relax and closely watched some of the battles below. He was so concentrated on the spectacle that Espeon's meow took him by surprise.

Having been reminded of his assignment, Ash quickly returned the forms he had filled out, ensuring every paper was done correctly. The challengers Anabel had destroyed were pretty easy, as he pretty much only had to relate one side of the battle. Gary took a bit more time, though, as Ash had to determine the techniques and strategies used by both sides, along with said details' impact on the battle.

After about fifteen minutes, he finished double-checking his work, collected all the papers, and tried to wake up Pikachu. Unfortunately, the mouse was snoozing too deeply, most likely dreaming of ketchup. With only one hand free, Ash was unable to rouse his partner.

Seeing his predicament, Espeon decided to help. Approaching the two, she circled Pikachu thoughtfully before growing a sneaky smile. Curling up next to him as if they had been snuggling, she reached up and nudged Pikachu's nose with hers.

"Pi pika, Pikapi?" he questioned drowsily. Upon seeing Ash trying not to laugh, he began looking around to see what was so funny, only to come face to face with Espeon. "Chu, pi Pikachu pika." (Translation: "Oh, it's only Espeon.") Noticing the paperwork in Ash's hands, he stretched, only to nudge into something soft and fluffy.

Looking down, Pikachu understood why Ash was laughing at him and Espeon - or, more accurately, their proximity to one another. "Ka chu, pi-pika Pikachu!" he exclaimed in embarrassment, dashing away with almost unnoticeably redder cheeks as he was reminded of a particular clingy rabbit's behaviors.

Espeon chuckled to herself, her theory confirmed. " 'This isn't what it looks like,' eh? I guess Ash isn't the only one learning about romance..."

She walked away satisfied as Pikachu jumped onto Ash's shoulder, the duo heading back to Anabel's office. When he arrived, she was in the middle of doing other paperwork - taxes, insurance, that sort of thing.

Ash entered the office, gesturing in a grandiose manner. "My most benevolent liege, I have triumphed over the daunting quest that thou hast - OOF!" Picking himself up the floor and glaring at the stool he was sure hadn't been there before, he finished up much more demurely, "I mean, uh... I finished all the paperwork you assigned me."

"Pi-Pikachu!" Pikachu proudly announced its small fist in the air as a sign of victory as his trainer deposited the stack of paper on Anabel's desk.

Anabel didn't even look up, simply saying, "Thanks, Ash."

Disappointed by her lackluster response, Ash asked, "Are you okay, Anabel?"

She just kept right on working. "I'm fine, Ash… Why don't you go help with some trainers down on the battle floors or something?"

"Man now would be a great time to have Anabel's abilities, so I could find out what's bothering her!" He walked around the desk and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Hey, if something's wrong, you don't need to keep it a secret from me. After all, what are friends for?"

Anabel finally looked up at him, leaning back into her chair with mixed emotions on her face. "Sorry, Ash - I'm just feeling stressed."

"How come?"

"Well, for reasons, I'm a little irritable. Then there're my responsibilities at the Tower, and on top of everything..." The Salon Maiden trailed off, sighing. "Why does he make me worry so much?"

"He?" asked the raven-haired trainer, slightly jealous of this unknown person.

"My idiot brother is late getting here... again! Even though he's the kind of person who tends to be late to things, a whole week is pushing it, don't you think?"

"Oh yeah, that's right! I remember you telling me about him on my first day!" exclaimed Ash with a slight tone of relief.

"He was due around when Gary came in for his Frontier Battle. I was surprised he didn't show up. Don't get me wrong, my brother's a strong trainer, but he seems to have a knack for getting himself lost on his journeys. I'm sure he's fine, though."

"Chu pi Pikapi!" Pikachu chimed in, and an embarrassed look appeared on Ash's face.

" 'Just like Ash?" What do you mean?" Asked Anabel curiously.

"Well, you could say I have quite a... unique... sense of direction - by the sounds of it, just like your brother does," said Ash, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

Anabel laughed at Ash, and her mood lifted slightly. "Oh, I'm sure you'll get along famously."

The rumble of a nearby explosion lost Ash's reply. Looking through Anabel's windows, they saw it had happened near Anabel's house.

"Oh no… Ash, come on - we've got to go!" yelled the Salon Maiden as she ran towards the elevator, Ash and Pikachu right behind her.


They quickly left the building and ran towards the blast site, not bothering to tell anyone where they were going.

As the pair approached the scene, Ash saw a flash of purple at about head height. "Ooh, looks like Paul's here - I wonder what he's doing." The trainer they came upon, however, was not the loner from Sinnoh.

This man looked around the age of 22, with his hair having the same light-violet color as Anabel but differently styled as it was short with the front lightly spiked. His light violet eyes betrayed no fear as he stood down a large Tyranitar, sided by his Empoleon.

In a display of matching color schemes, the man's Pokémon Hockey League t-shirt perfectly complemented his partner's 'trim.' They stood about the same height, the trainer slightly edging out his Pokémon. Empoleon had his somewhat muscular trainer beaten in terms of strength. Even though the man's muscles seemed larger proportionally (an effect enhanced by his light tan), the aura of power he seemed to emit paled compared to the steel-plated penguin.

His light blue backpack sat under a tree at the edge of the field, the instruction manual to his pair of white Running Shoes ("But why would shoes need a manual?") peeking out of the side pocket. He also had a pair of sunglasses clipped to his trainer's belt.

Ash looked over at Anabel, disappointed. "Oh, I guess it isn't Paul. Do you know who that is?"

Anabel answered by yelling, "I should have figured you would be the one making all this noise, Corey!"

Corey turned and saw her standing there. He waved a blue-gloved hand, the stylized lightning bolt logo catching the sunlight. "Oh hey, sis! Great to see you! I'll be done in a flash, and then we'll catch up!"

Anabel just shook her head and pointed at his opponent, assuming he had his work cut out against a Pokémon of that stature.

Returning his attention to the battle, the violet trainer broke the stalemate as he called out, "Admiral, Flash Cannon!

The Emperor Pokémon quickly opened its beak and launched a silvery ball of energy towards Tyranitar, who fired a Dark Pulse in retaliation.

The two attacks collided in midair, causing another explosion. Corey, unfazed, kept on the offensive. "Ice Beam!"

Empoleon fired an icy beam towards the Leer-ing Tyranitar, and the pseudo-legendary cut off its technique in surprise as the attack burst through the smoke, impacting it right in the chest. As a result, the lower portions of its body became covered in ice, spurring it to begin to Chip Away at the restricting material.

"Good, now get in close with Drill Peck while it's distracted!" commanded Corey, pointing towards Tyranitar.

As the Armor Pokémon broke free from the ice, the massive penguin began charging toward it, spinning like a drill. Trusting its defenses to hold, Tyranitar gathered Dark energy in its teeth, preparing to crush its opponent.

Unfortunately, due to Empoleon's Steel typing, Tyranitar's attack was not as effective as it had hoped - Corey's partner managed to pull its wing free from the monster's maw and knock it back with the force of a Drill Peck. Such a move was not without consequences, though - Admiral also staggered slightly backward, rubbing its head after colliding with Tyranitar's armor.

"Stabilize yourself and send Tyranitar packing with Hydro Cannon!" Corey ordered confidently. Regaining its balance, Empoleon charged up a giant orb of water in its mouth and fired it towards the off-balance pseudo legendary. Whether by coincidence or by design, the watery sphere impacted it in the same place as the previous Ice Beam, scoring a critical hit on its weakest spot. It exploded on contact, sending the Tyranitar hurtling back into a tree - and then through it, knocking over a couple of others in the process, before another finally stopped the Pokémon.

Tyranitar, deciding to continue the match would not be worth it, got up very slowly from the attack and limped away.

"Way to go, Admiral - awesome job!" His prized Pokémon returned the compliment with a salute that looked as if it had been rehearsed (or performed) a thousand times.

"Wow… your brother's good. The way he battled, it looked like he had the match in the bag from the start." commented a very impressed Ash.

"Pi, chu ka pi!" Pikachu agreed from on his shoulder, looking equally shocked. However, one must note that the key word here was 'looking' - Pikachu had noticed scars near Tyranitar's mouth that indicated the usage of Fire Fang and Thunder Fang, which would have been much more effective than a simple Crunch. The mouse wondered why it hadn't used one of those moves instead.

"Well, that's my brother for you - I mean, he did win the Ever Grande Conference..." Anabel stated matter-of-factly as the barrage of thoughts rushed through Pikachu's head.

"What! He won the Hoenn League? Wow, he must be an excellent trainer then - I mean, I never won, and look how good I am!" exclaimed Ash.

Anabel retorted by giggling. "It seems both of you have an ego problem, too... neither of you is as good as you think you are."

Slightly offended yet unwilling to pass up an opportunity to tease Anabel about her brother, Ash answered, "You know, Anabel - if I were a betting man, I'd say you're a bit jealous..."

"What? No - in no way am I jealous!" she protested unconvincingly. "Look, just because he beat some random Tyranitar out of nowhere doesn't mean anything."

"Whatever you say, Anabel..." Ash responded, an unmistakable smirk on his face.

Deciding to continue the argument another time, they made their way over to the violet-haired trainer. "Well... what do we have here?" Corey began, observing Ash with narrowed eyes and ignoring his sister, whose rage grew with every second. When it seemed to Ash that she was ready to punch him in the face, Corey finally turned to her with a grin. "So, when's the wedding?"

Ash's jaw dropped as a huge blush spread across his face. "First Gary, and now Anabel's brother? Who will be next, Brock? Oh, wait - come to think of it, he may have already said something way back then..." His thoughts were interrupted by a meaty thud, and he looked up to see Anabel with her fist still extended and Corey's imprint on the grassy surface.

"Ahhhh! Why did you do that?" the purple-haired trainer yelled, holding the right side of his face in pain. Ash, Pikachu, and Admiral just looked on, dumbfounded.

"Why did I do that?" Anabel retorted, face twisting with rage. "First, you show up late, not just a day, but a whole week! Second, you battle close enough to my house that a stray attack could easily wreck part of it! Thirdly, you insensitively insult my love life!" By this point, her fury had grown to the point where her abilities broadcast it purely, and both Ash and Corey paled in apprehension as she advanced on the latter.

"Look, sis - I'm sorry, it wasn't my fault!" he tried to placate her, pushing himself up to a sitting position. "You see, I was trying to get here faster, so I decided to take a shortcut through Mt. Silver to get here sometime last week. Unfortunately, I got a bit lost on my way through and ended up in New Bark Town, where I decided to ask Professor Elm for help. Once he pointed me in the right direction, I stuck to the roads, and after an extra week of travel, here I am. Sorry about the Tyranitar… I guess it must have followed me when I left Mt. Silver."

"Even if you got lost, you still could have called to let me know where you were! For all I knew, you could have died or something!" she yelled, trying to release the stress. "You have to get a better sense of direction or a mobile communications system!" Breathing heavily, she regained control of her temper as Corey climbed back to his feet.

"Look, even after years of trying, I can't help getting myself lost. It's a part of me, and there's nothing I can do to change that. But I said I was sorry, I'll look into getting a Pokégear or something, and I got here safely. Can we put this behind us now?"

Anabel looked away with a frown as Ash decided to intrude on the conversation. "Hi, I'm Ash Ketchum. It's great to meet you, Corey - from what Anabel has told me during my Frontier Brain training, you seem a lot like me - what with the getting lost and everything."

Corey chuckled as he looked at Ash and extended his hand. "It's great to meet you too, Ash. Corey Lila, at your service - although you might know me better by my public pseudonym, Corey Thornton."

As the pair shook hands, Ash commented, "Oh, Corey Thornton! The same one who won the Ever Grande conference the year before I partici- hold on a minute, your last name is Lila? Anabel, why didn't you tell me that?"

"Maybe I didn't want you to know what it was..." Anabel replied stiffly, not bothering to face the pair.

Corey, wanting to get things patched up as soon as possible, walked over to Anabel and put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm sorry, Anabel - I really am. I know you were worried about me, but you have to have a little more faith in me - I wouldn't just go and die or anything like that. After all, I have all of my Pokémon with me, and if Admiral can take out a Mt. Silver Tyranitar while at full strength, nothing out there could have hurt me. You wouldn't want to try and take away my freedom, would you?."

Anabel's face softened (and Ash could have sworn that he saw a tear in the side of her eye) as she quickly turned around and engulfed her brother in a Teddiursa hug, saying, "Sorry for getting so mad, Corey… I haven't seen you for the past year, and it worried me when you were late without explanation."

The older Lila nodded and wrapped his arms around her for a moment, neither of them speaking, before the two separated, a bright smile having replaced the frown on the Salon Maiden's face.

"Corey, I challenge you to a battle!" Ash announced, pointing a finger towards the now bewildered Corey.

"You want to battle right now?" the violet-haired trainer asked, sheepishly scratching the back of his head.

"Yes, right now! I challenge you to a three-on-three battle!" the Pallet native confirmed. "I want to compare my skills to someone who has managed to win a league championship!"

"Sorry, Ash," Corey replied, regathering his thoughts, "but I only have one fresh team member - the one I kept in reserve just in case of emergencies. Normally, I wouldn't risk exhausting my last partner, but we have healing services available nearby, so I'd like to counter your three-on-three challenge with that of a one-on-one battle followed by a trip to the PC."

"That's fine with me; bring it on!" called Ash confidently. "Oh, but so we don't get Anabel any madder, let's move away from her house into the field."

"Anabel, would you mind being our referee for the battle?" Corey asked as they walked over to the new area.

"Sure thing Corey, I can do that - but remember, if I'm the referee, that means my word is final. So you better not protest if my annoyance with you causes me to call penalties against you..." Anabel told him, sticking her tongue out slightly in a playful manner as she took her position on the field.

Before Corey could formulate a comeback, the Salon Maiden called out to both of them, "Alright, you two, this will be a one-on-one battle with no time limit. The first trainer to knock out the other's Pokémon will be the winner - choose your Pokémon and begin!"

"Pikachu, you ready?" Ash asked, and the yellow mouse nodded and jumped off his trainer's shoulder. He ran onto the field in front of Ash, electrical sacs sparking.

"So you're going with your Pikachu, eh? I should've expected that..." Corey commented, unhooking two Pokéballs from his belt. "Admiral, return! Spectre, It's all you, bro!" he called, recalling and releasing his Empoleon and Gengar, respectively.

"Gen-gar! Gar, Gengar!" the ghost cried, grinning widely at its trainer.

"A Gengar owned by a Conference Champion, huh? Hopefully, it's not as difficult as Agatha's..." Ash thought, having been in this matchup before he challenged the Frontier.

"Ash, you have the first move," called Corey.

"You got it, Corey." Ash pointed towards the Gengar. "Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"

"Pika-chu!" yelled the yellow mouse, releasing a stream of current towards the Shadow Pokémon.

"Spectre, dodge it and retaliate with Shadow Ball!" In a slightly altered re-enactment of Ash's battle against Agatha, the Gengar sunk into the ground to avoid the incoming Thunderbolt, following it up with a ball of dark energy.

As the Ghost-type attack sped towards the Electric-type, Ash called out, "Pikachu, dodge and use Iron Tail!"

Once again, mirroring the confrontation in Viridian, Pikachu used his athleticism to vault off the crackling orb, preparing for a diving Iron Tail. As his tail began glowing white and he started spinning to add momentum to his strike, Pikachu wondered why the Steel-type attack never looked like steel.

The Sludge Bomb attack Corey told Spectre to counter with did have the proper Poison-type appearance, though, and the resulting wave of sludge pellets burst in midair near Pikachu, striking him with globs of ooze. However, the damage was not as bad due to Pikachu's spin, and he could shake off the remnants of sludge that remained on him as he fell. Bringing his tail down onto Gengar's head, he knocked the ghost to the floor, causing immense damage to it.

"Huh, I was kind of expecting a Double Team there..."Ash mused before remembering his opponent was not the aged Ghost Master. Seeing Gengar's impact with the ground, he ordered, "hit it with another Thunderbolt while it's down!" Pikachu's response was as expected; he quickly fired another stream of electricity.

Unfortunately, Corey had anticipated this, issuing another command as Gengar stood back up. "Spectre, fight it off with Shadow Ball!"

The ghost immediately charged up and fired another Shadow Ball, aiming straight for the Thunderbolt. When the two attacks collided, they fought against each other long enough for Spectre to evacuate the target area before the Shadow Ball exploded, forming an impromptu Smokescreen.

Corey immediately said, "Spectre, Shadow Punch!"

Upon hearing that, Ash quietly instructed his partner, "Be ready, Pikachu - that Gengar could appear at any moment. When you see it, dodge and counter with a Thunderbolt!"

"Pika, Pika pi." called the yellow mouse in affirmation, perking up his ears. As the smoke continued roiling, he moved his head back and forth to try and spot the Shadow Pokémon.

Finally, the attack broke through the smoke and charged toward Pikachu, who dodged it easily and fired a Thunderbolt at his previous location. Sadly, the tactic played right into Corey's hands - the electrical energy caused Pikachu to cast a shadow onto the smoke above him. The Gengar, who had been waiting for that, manipulated Pikachu's own shadow into punching him (as the name Shadow Punch implied). Not expecting the attack to come from that direction, Pikachu had no time to dodge the second strike, which nailed him right on top of his head and pushed him against the ground.

"Damn, that didn't work... I need to clear the smoke so he can't use that tactic again. But how to do that..." Coming to a decision, Ash called, "Pikachu… get up and use Thunderbolt as a Counter Shield to clear the smoke!"

Unfortunately, his moment of hesitation cost him; as Gengar began performing the Hypnosis his trainer had ordered, preventing Pikachu from executing the defense.

The electric mouse swayed unsteadily on his feet, Gengar appearing to grow more prominent as the world warped around it. The ghost's eyes filled his vision, its Thunderbolt dissipated, and he collapsed forward onto his stomach, asleep.

"No, Pikachu…" Ash pleaded. You gotta wake up before-"

Ash was cut off as Corey yelled, "Spectre, finish with Dream Eater!"

A spiritual clone of Gengar detached itself from the Ghost-type's body, which went straight into the yellow mouse and began wreaking havoc within his mind. As Pikachu writhed on the ground, Gengar's grin grew more expansive as the damage on its body began to disappear. It shrank again, though, as Pikachu's subconscious managed to fend off the worst of the effects, albeit leaving him both physically and mentally exhausted.

As Ash continued to implore his buddy to awaken, Corey told him, "Well, Ash, it's been a good match - but I'm afraid I must put it to an end. Spectre, wrap this up with Shadow Ball!"

"Gen-gar," the Shadow Pokémon called in agreement as it produced its powerful Ghost-type attack and launched it towards its opponent.

"Pikachu, if you don't wake up now, then we're going to lose! Pikachu, please wake up!" Ash shouted desperately. Suddenly, his vision swam, and an image appeared - one that he assumed was inside Pikachu's mind.

Inside, darkness surrounded Pikachu, the dream-eating image having just faded into oblivion. With the light from its enemy's glowing eyes gone, Pikachu could see nothing - but then a tiny light came into focus at the top of his mind. Determined to reach it, he began climbing, and about halfway up, he heard Ash's voice. "Come on, Pikachu, you can beat this! I know you're strong enough!" His trainer's voice gave him determination, and with each passing second, the light shone brighter, and Ash's voice got louder and louder.

Reaching the light and bursting free from his sleep as Ash finished his final plea, Pikachu took in his surroundings at the speed of adrenaline. "Chu pika, Pikapi!" he called, seeing the Shadow Ball moving as if in slow motion to deliver the finishing blow.

"Yes!" Ash cried in victory, pumping his fist. "Alright, Pikachu! Dodge and use Volt Tackle!"

Pikachu stayed low to the ground, quickly rolling out of the way of the attack, before springing forward and engulfing himself in a curtain of electricity. As he performed his final charge, the aura of electricity swept back like a Mach cone, almost to the point where it looked like a beam of pure energy.

"Spectre, get ready!" called Corey, and his Gengar got into a defensive position. "Wait for it… wait for it… Now! Spectre, Protect!"

The ghost instantly created a light green shield in front of itself, which Pikachu crashed into. While the yellow mouse would typically have been able to power through, Spectre had abandoned the rear portion of the 'bubble' to reinforce the front half - and that wasn't all. Not only was the defensive move more substantial, but it was expanding outwards as Pikachu made contact, flinging him backward rather than simply stopping him in his tracks.

"Yes! Spectre, finish with Night Shade!" On command, Corey's Gengar emitted a dark-colored beam from its eyes, hitting Pikachu in midair and sending the electric type flying backward into a tree, the impact kicking up yet another cloud of dust.

When the dust cloud dissipated, Pikachu was slumped against the tree with swirls in his eyes.

Anabel looked over and called, "Pikachu is unable to battle, which means Corey and Gengar win!"

"Pikachu, are you okay?" yelled Ash as he ran over to his fallen starter. Kneeling beside him, he told Pikachu, "You did a great job - next time, we won't lose! But first, we gotta get you healed up."

"Pika… Pikachu…" the mouse replied tiredly as Ash picked him up. Cradling him in his arms, the Pallet trainer stood up to head back to where Anabel and Corey were.

As he rose, he heard Corey telling his partner, "Alright, that's the way to get it done, Spectre! Awesome job!" A thud followed the compliment, and Ash turned around to see Corey faceplanted on the ground, Spectre laughing as it lowered its arm from high-five positioning. Corey started chuckling, commenting, "Heh heh... you got me there, Spectre. I should have remembered that high-fiving ghosts doesn't work. But you know what? Being the trainer, I get the last laugh," returning Gengar to his Pokeball

Ash could not keep from snickering at the absurdity of the last statement. "Wow, seeing your brother now makes me wonder how he's so good at battling," he commented as he walked over to Anabel. "If I hadn't seen him before this, I would have severely underestimated him."

"Well, that's my brother for you," Anabel replied. "He may act like an idiot, but his battling personality is totally different. In case you haven't figured out by now, his strategy mainly consists of offensive techniques to avoid giving his opponent a chance to breathe."

"You're Absol-utely right," Corey told her as he walked up to them. Turning back to Ash, he extended his hand. "Great battle, Ash. all battles are learning experiences; I want to hear what you took from ours."

Ash took it, answering, "Yeah, it was a great battle - I'd say when you confused me with your Shadow Punch, it threw me off my game, and you just kept pressing. I couldn't recover quick enough to go back on the offensive."

"Yeah, to be honest, there wasn't much you did wrong in that battle," Corey told him. "Your Pikachu was amazing, and its athleticism is off the charts - especially that spinning Iron Tail was incredible." He accompanied his praise by scratching Pikachu on the head respectfully.

"I think you hit it right on the head, Ash. When the attack made contact, you hesitated in making your next move and allowed me to take command of the battle. Once I had called for Hypnosis, the match was pretty much over. It would still have taken time for Pikachu to wake up, letting me prepare for a finishing move. With that in mind, I think you should work on your decision speed - the faster you can make a choice, the faster you can retaliate."

Ash still looked a little bit down, so Corey added, "Ash, don't worry about it - overall, this will make you a better trainer in the long run. Even in defeat, there's so much to learn and battles to be won. I'd say you're a pretty lucky guy, Ash. You've made it to at least the Top 16 in every league you've participated in, whereas in my first league, I only got to the Top 32 before I got knocked out. Thankfully, I learned from the loss, and my Pokémon Advanced with me, eventually getting me to where I am now."

"Let me tell you this; that was the point in my trainer career where I began improving the most - and after that, I won my first league!. If you're anything like me, I see your potential to win your next tournament, regardless of where or what it is!" Here he adopted a thoughtful expression before snapping his fingers in the decision. "As proof of my faith, I have a little welcoming gift for you." Corey rummaged through his bag, pulling out a Pokémon Egg case.

"Wow! Thanks a whole lot, Corey!" exclaimed Ash, gladly receiving the gift. He and Anabel looked inside to see the Egg, which was light blue with gray dots around it. "Where did this come from?"

"Well..." Corey began, "It all started when a Mommy Pokémon and a Daddy Pokémon of compatible species are put in a Daycare together..." Seeing the unamused looks on their faces, he told them, "Okay, fine. While I was in New Bark Town, Professor Elm gave me this Egg and said he would like for me to take care of it. However, I feel this Egg should go to you instead! To help you out on your journey to becoming a Frontier Brain."

"Thanks again, Corey. I really appreciate it!" Ash responded. "By the way, do you know what kind of Pokémon is in here?"

"Actually, no." Ash's face fell. "Professor Elm did tell me he was given the Egg about a month ago," Corey reassured, "I would hope it's somewhat close to hatching."

"Well, you should have plenty of time to take care of it when we're not at the Battle Tower," Anabel told Ash, still examining the Egg. "I'm sure you'll do a great job!"

"Thanks, Anabel." Ash nodded gratefully at both of them. "I'm sure whatever is in this Egg will help me out a lot!"

Anabel smiled at Ash. Turning to her brother, she then asked, "So Corey, will you be joining us at my house? I still have the spare guest room available. Unless you want to camp out every night or hike in from town daily..."

"I think I'll take the first option." laughed Corey. "I love sleeping outside as much as the next guy, but after a while, I miss a nice bed. And one close by, if possible."

"Well, come on then. It's starting to get late, and if you want a big dinner before too long, we ought to head inside now," said Anabel with a smile.

Ash and Corey exchanged glances with Anabel, then again, before yelling, "YEAH, FOOD!" and running past Anabel in their hurry.

Anabel laughed at their actions and said to herself, "Well, at least they get along - once Ash and I get together, they're gonna have to get along for a long time."

With that, the Salon Maiden ran after the pair of boys, who (predictably for them) were running the wrong way.


Author's Note:

For the record, Corey is once again my OC. I created him back in the day, and at the time, I wanted to include him in the story. I think he fits in well enough, so I hope you enjoyed it.

That's all for me today, and here is the name of the next chapter!

Crossroads Chapter 11: Teaching in Motion!
Cyclone20