Beginning notes:
This is a reupload of the chapter, a few lines were in the wrong place. Iris' phone conversation should all be in the right place now.
Sorry for the wait, but hopefully, it's worth it! I'm now working with a beta reader, "Im The Person" on FFnet, who is more experienced at this stuff than a first-timer like me, so he's been helping with grammar, and he pointed out some OOC moments that I rewrote, so a very special thanks to him (not sure if he has a presence on AO3, though). Also, this chapter is from an omniscient perspective, one of the suggestions I got was to do that instead of third-person limited. 99% of the story will still be from the perspective of Iris and Ash, but I'll show a few thoughts from other characters, for things that they won't end up telling one of those two. This chapter is really the first part of what was supposed to be the next chapter, but I decided to split it apart so it wouldn't get unwieldy, so the end is a bit abrupt. Fortunately, the next part is mostly written, so the wait hopefully won't be as long for that one. I'm going to try to keep all installments at 6,000 words or less.
Ash got up about an hour later that morning, though it was still more than early enough to be ready when he needed to be. He yelled good morning as he sat across from Goh, watching a morning talk-show on the TV which, interestingly, was not talking about the M8 tournament. Instead, it was talking about an influx of flight delays in Unova, Kalos and Galar; though Ash had missed the first part, so he didn't fully understand what was going on.
"Chloe is coming. She'll actually be here in a few hours. She actually thinks it would be cool to see you face Cynthia in-person, but she says you still owe her for missing her performance to battle Wallace."
Great.
While Ash had apologized and they'd done several things with Goh since then, that incident still lingered over them, that Ash pretty much ditched her to battle Wallace. It was just a mental lapse for him. The excitement of battling a former champion caused Ash to just stop thinking straight and go for it, but now, he really wished that he hadn't done that.
Even when he didn't go into the venues where May was doing her contests, he still made sure to watch her on the large screens outside of the stadium. But, in this case, he just flat out hadn't seen Chloe's performance. It was her first time, too, and he just blew off his friends' debut like that. Goh had also hinted Chloe was going to leverage that over him today somehow.
Over on Goh's end, he was concerned for Chloe. She still didn't know what she wanted to do in life. She had met both Dawn and Serena, so she knew what Contests and "Contest Live!" (Which are two different things) were, but she wasn't taking any more initiative on them. She did some archeology stuff with him and Ash, but again, he hadn't heard anything about it from her since then. It's like she's forever trying to find out what she wants to do.
While he wasn't going to mention it to Ash, he had actually asked Chloe to come, thinking that the experience might help her. He also thought that it might help her friendship with Ash get a bit better if she seemed to have come on her own volition.
"Can Chloe know about you and Iris?" Goh asked.
"I don't think we can hide it from her, especially if Iris and I are going to be near each other today, which I assume will be the case," Ash said, knowing how bad he was at hiding things to begin with
"Right… Honestly, I'd say that she's discovered ninety-nine percent of the things that I've tried to keep secret from her…"
"Yeah. She makes me feel like I don't know anything sometimes, even though I'm three years older than you and her. Say, do you think she and Iris will get along?"
"I think the only issue might be if Iris gives a little too much snark right-off the bat. But, then again, Chloe has a bit of that sarcasm too, so maybe they could hit it off."
Ash thought about it for a moment. "Iris really only lets her strong opinions loose if someone else gives theirs first, so I think things will go pretty smoothly, especially when the topic of conversation is mainly going to be about my match later today."
"I didn't tell Chloe about Iris over the phone, so we'll break the news when she gets here," Goh quickly added.
Ash took out his Rotom Phone, messaging Iris:
Morning (:
Hey Pikachu's trainer (; I'm talking to Drayden in a few, but I'll text later xoxo
K, take your time
"Iris is gonna be on the phone in a bit, so it's just you and me for a few hours," Ash told Goh with a smile.
"Let's just not do anything this morning," Goh responded, tired.
Ash thought for a moment. "You know, that might actually be the best thing I could do right now, considering how intense this afternoon is gonna be. Keep an eye out for Chloe, though."
"Of course!"
While the humans wanted to relax, their Pokémon did not, as Pikachu and Grookey decided to play tag around the room.
Both groaned.
While Iris had made it appear to Ash that she was having a peaceful morning, talking to Drayden about whatever business they had, it wasn't actually peaceful.
Iris had gotten up at her usual hour — at 6 AM, no matter what — quickly showering and getting dressed. She had been about to get breakfast when she got the call from Drayden.
"Hey, Drayden!"
"I'm glad I caught you. Has Wyndon treated you well?"
"The city has been great! It's a lot like Castelia, but everything is just a bit older!"
Drayden hummed over the phone. "It is one of the oldest settlements in the world. Archeologists have found numerous historical artifacts there that are older than any settlement in Unova, even Opelucid City."
"Before you start, I want to tell you, I have a Duraluden now! Do you know anything about them?"
"A bit. Steel-Dragon is a very potent typing, and their already high defense synergizes well with that partial steel-typing, they can shake off a lot of physical attacks, and they also aren't weak to Fairy attacks. Thanks for telling me; I'm happy for you. Now, what I called for… I wanted to ask for a favor…"
Then she got her text from Ash.
"Just a minute, I need to respond to a text." After the brief exchange, she put the phone next to her head. "So, a favor?"
"When the tournament is done, could you ask the League to direct more funding to the Opelucid gym? The local businesses are struggling a bit. You know how bad the roads in Unova, our tourists are going elsewhere and the higher-ups here don't want to spend money to fix anything. But I was thinking, if the Gym looked amazing, that could draw them in and help the whole economy! Especially if the gym was chosen as a site for exhibition matches more often!"
Iris never thought too much about money before she became champion, mostly using free services. Her village gave her a monthly allowance that covered anything else and, essentials on the road were never much of an issue, but, when she became Champion, she suddenly had to become very acquainted with money.
"Look, Drayden, it's hard talking to the League about money nowadays, especially since Unovans don't want to pay higher taxes. When I get back to Unova, I'll see what I can do."
"The Dragon School is struggling, Iris. While you ended up dropping out, I will go to my grave believing that you benefited a lot from being there. I think you should do everything you can to assist with this."
"Like I said Drayden, I'll see what I can do. Hopefully we're able to save it."
He sighed. "I hope you can pull through with that. It should be doable for a champion. Tell Ash I said good-luck."
"Alright, I will. Bye!"
She hated her time there. Almost everyone was mean to her and looked down on her because she didn't grow up in a city and had a hard time remembering the names of her classmates. But she supposed she couldn't deny the fact that she probably learned something from there, and, as the Champion, she needed to help with everything Pokémon related. She sighed, hanging up the phone. It never stops for her, does it? She texted Ash that she was done with her call.
Ash and Goh had been enjoying their morning when Ash got the text. Instantly, he got an idea.
"I'm going to call Iris and tell her about Chloe. It probably would help if it wasn't a surprise," he told Goh.
"Well, you know your lover best, so do what you want," Goh said in a nonchalant manner, waving it off.
Ash called Iris.
"Ash!"
"Hey! Just to let you know, I have another friend coming today. She's the daughter of the professor I do stuff for. She does things with me and Goh sometimes too. If you want to know, by the way, I guess she's currently what you and Dawn were to me when I was in Sinnoh and Unova back then."
"Ah, so another friend who's a girl?" She asked, making Ash worried, but then she laughed. "I'm just messing with you. That's fine, but I think you're getting to the point where we're going to be telling everyone not to tell anyone that we're a couple now." She sighed. "Can it wait just another day? Hop doesn't know and he's also been with you and Goh a lot recently."
"Look, I wronged her a month ago, and while she hasn't held it against me too much it still makes her a little mad."
"What happened?"
He explained everything to her.…
"Well, I'm not going to say much, because you know what I would've said if I was there. This isn't a big deal, so while I understand her being mad about that, she shouldn't be mad about this. And I can deal with her if she is."
"Alright, we won't tell her, but I'd still like you to meet her. She's actually already met Dawn and another of my friends." Ash said, hoping that she'd agree.
"Sure, just text me when she gets to the Rose and I'll be there!"
Ash looked at Goh, feeling a bit annoyed, but knowing sacrifices must be made for love.
"Iris thinks telling one more person is too much and she really doesn't want to become the center of a media story while in Wyndon, and at the same hotel as me, so Chloe will have to know before anyone else does. Alright?"
Goh looked annoyed, but still said "Alright, we'll do that." He didn't like it, but respected Ash and Iris' privacy. While it lasted, anyway.
Two hours later, a certain maroon-haired girl, holding an Eevee, came into the Rose. She wore a white shirt underneath a pink one-piece dress that extended to just past her kneecaps. She didn't plan on going, but Goh practically begged her to come. She was still a bit mad at Ash for missing her performance, after all. She understood he really wanted to face Wallace, but she didn't get why he couldn't have just waited. That was one of the things that annoyed her about super die-hard battlers: they just didn't care for anything other than battling, it seemed. Nevertheless, she was here now, and she was going to support all she could.
"Chloe, thanks for coming!" Ash exclaimed.
"Of course, that's what friends are for!" she smiled back
"I'll show you around the hotel after this, but first, meet Iris! Though you probably saw her battle against Cynthia." Ash rubbed the back of his head a little awkwardly.
Chloe turned to Iris, addressing her, "Yeah, another younger Champion was really interesting to me. I'm sorry that you lost."
Iris waved it off, responding nonchalantly, "I just hope the nightmares about it will go away and that Chirper starts to like me."
Chloe looked at her funnily. "You really care about what goes on in that app?"
"Well, yeah, it's what people think of me."
Chloe sighed. "I guess I'm glad I don't have to deal with that. That's probably one of the main reasons why I didn't want to do anything Pokémon related until recently. There's all that public image stuff."
"Every pro comes with a con. Ash told me you know Dawn. So you're a coordinator?" Iris asked, interested.
"People suggested that I should go down that route, but I'm not sure. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do…"
"Wait, you're sixteen and still deciding on what you want to do with Pokemon? You need to figure that out and quick, before you're behind everyone else. When Ash was your age, he had already competed in multiple leagues!"
Ash and Goh quickly thought "Oh crap!"
"Well, Ash was born knowing how to battle. I wasn't. In fact, I just said that, until recently, I wanted nothing to do with Pokemon. And that's what annoys me about a lot of people associated with them. If you don't have 8 gym badges, or whatever contest ribbons, or whatever the others do, by the time you're seventeen, you're nothing." She took a breath.
"It's not too late for any of that. There's still time for either of those, and I'm pretty sure most regions require five contest ribbons to enter their Grand Festivals," Iris commented, remembering what Dawn had told her when they had first met.
"But, like I said, I don't know if I want to go all-in on that…"
"It would be such a shame if you get stuck being five steps behind others your age, so figure it out quick, okay?"
"Fine. Sure, whatever, if only things were as easy for me as they've seemingly been for you," Chloe responded with irritation. "I really didn't come here for a lecture, but whatever. Anyway, I need to call my dad and tell him that I got here, so I have to break away for now," she muttered, walking away after taking her phone out."
"What's with her? " Iris confusingly asked Ash and Goh.
Goh sighed. "Believe me, she knows all of that too, so it was probably embarrassing to her to be told that in front of Ash and I."
"Well sorry, but I don't like to make things sound better than they are," Iris stated matter-of-factly.
"And that makes you strong, but, Iris, not everyone can take it like that," Goh surmised.
"I'll apologize later, but I need to introduce my Duraluden to the rest of my team, so Goh, I'll talk to you guys later."
"Right. I'll go to her and keep her company." Goh said
"I'm actually going to meet with someone now, is that alright with you, Iris?" Ash asked, looking to Iris for her answer.
Iris giggled a bit, though not a lot because of what had just happened, "You don't need to ask me that. Message me later."
They smiled at each other and left, with Ash walking up to a group of statues.
Ash didn't actually set things up ahead of time, but seeing Chloe and Iris have somewhat of a scuffle like that stressed him out a bit. He thought that it would be good for Iris to have some alone time, and he hoped to have a certain someone join him during that time.
Luckily, Alain agreed to come.
Alain wasn't there yet when he arrived. Ash had almost always been with people since his journey began. He met Misty almost immediately after starting, and always had someone with him from then on. But, in Alola, he learned that he somewhat enjoyed some time alone. Not a lot, but it was cool when it was just him and his Pokémon sometimes, and he didn't have to accommodate anyone else.
Now, it was just him and the Rookidee statue family. He realized that he usually caught a bird in his travels, but not in Galar, and that if he did, though, there was a good chance it would've been this evolutionary line. But it was a bit too late to consider getting one to face Cynthia.
Just then, he heard footsteps. His other rival had found him. Were they still rivals? Paul and Gary seemed to still call themselves that.
"Oh, hey Alain!" Ash said tiredly.
"Long time no see," Alain responded, approaching Ash. "So, what did you want to talk about?"
"Well, I need your input on something. For two of my friends."
Ash explained the scrap-up to him.
Alain hummed in thought for a moment. "It's a bit unfair of Iris to act like Chloe needs to do those things as soon as possible. I was Nineteen when you were in Kalos, and I didn't do much before that, so that right there shows that Chloe isn't in a bad situation. But, at the same time, if Chloe has been doing a lot of things but not getting anywhere, something might be scaring her, that could be worth digging into. But I do think that Iris was not helping there."
"Well, she's been a battler since she was a little girl," Ash noted. "She's had her Excadrill for at least a decade now, so they're really the opposites in that regard."
"They're very different people, and on different parts of their journey, but I bet they could learn a lot from each other. Professor Sycamore, Mairon, and I all kind of do our own thing when we're not helping with Research. Neither can have a serious battle with me, but they're constantly teaching me things. Maybe Chloe has something to teach Iris, if Iris lets her."
"We'll see. I hope that's the case," Ash responded with a bit of hope.
Iris wasn't trying to get on Chloe's bad side and, while she probably thinks that Chloe is just an annoying schoolgirl now, Ash thought that Alain had a good point: they could benefit each other.
The two of them went silent and just enjoyed the fresh air for a few moments. Nothing more needed to be said about Iris and Chloe, but Ash wanted to know how he got here.
"Alain, could you tell me what opponents you faced on the path to getting to sixth place?" he asked
Alain smiled fondly at the memories of his battles. "I faced Sawyer in the Ultra Class and beat him. That Mega-Sceptile has only gotten stronger. It was down to the wire. I did hear through the grapevine that his opportunity to get into the Masters Eight ended when, after our match, he lost to a Sinnoh Gym Leader named Volkner. Then a Hoenn trainer named Harrison, who is said to have one of the most powerful Blazikens, also defeated him. Nobody can get high enough after such a losing streak like that in the Ultra Class.
Ash was internally pretty disappointed he didn't get the chance to have a rematch against Harrison the past season, though he knew there was plenty of time to do that. Well, Sawyer too, of course, but his loss in Johto was still a painful memory. But, still, it was Sawyer that they were talking about.
"He'll bounce back. He's very analytical, he never makes the same mistake twice!"
"Yeah, there was a few minutes where I thought he was beating me."
"Who else did you face getting here?" Ash asked.
"I know that you also beat Marnie, she faced me after she faced you. Her loss there probably took her out of Masters Eight contention. Before that, In Hyper Class, I defeated a trainer named Tyson. He had won the Hoenn League a couple of years ago. Oh, and before even that, I quickly defeated an old friend of yours named Ritchie. I noted that he reminded me of another trainer with that Pikachu, and he knew it was you. He says hello. You should show me your own Charizard some time, by the way."
"One day, but know that he'll insist on facing yours." Ash responded with a chuckle.
There was a bit of a pause after that. The talk wasn't super productive, but listening to Alain's exploits and hearing about all of his friends around the world made Ash feel a bit better.. He thought that, maybe, they would just enjoy the air a bit more after that, but Alain actually spoke up.
"I actually had my moment where I was feeling down on myself. Way before all of the events I had just spoken of, and only a few weeks had passed after we faced Team Flare. I did get the chance to take on the Elite Four, with the possibility of challenging Diantha if I beat them, as all League Tournament Winners get the chance to. But I was defeated by Siebold, who I had actually already lost to before I met you. I took steps to correct the mistakes that I made during our first battle, but he has a Mega-Blastoise and, you being from Kanto, I'm sure you can connect the dots."
"But then you got into the Masters Eight!"
"Yeah, although I clearly still have a ways to go… I still wonder to myself if I got into the Masters Eight because of luck You saw how I face planted against Leon in there…"
"Alain, I know you just took a pretty bad loss, but you still got into the Masters Eight and made me jealous with some of those moves. I still think that you're my strongest rival!" Ash laughed, "We can't beat everyone we want, but I think a huge part of being a Pokémon trainer -no, of life itself, is getting better!"
"We're still rivals?"
"You don't want to be?"
Alain smirked. "Sure. Next year, we'll have our rematch. You better make sure your Greninja is in tip-top shape!"
"I actually don't own Greninja anymore. He still has to cut all of those roots Team Flare left behind," Ash responded, a bit disheartened, but not saddened
"If you win, I'm sure you can get the next Masters Eight to be held at Lumiose."
Ash smirked at that.
"Right. I'll have to try for that."
"Well, I need to phone Mairin and Sycamore, so I must bid farewell."
During their conversation, Ash saw a certain shop down one of the roads leading to the statues, so he headed down there after he and Alain parted ways.
Meanwhile, Iris thought about getting some sleep and introducing Duraluden later, but she couldn't. It felt like a waste of time, and, as a Champion, Iris had come to learn she could never waste time, thinking that she was failing if she did that. Now, she was on a break so she could, but it was enough of a habit that she wasn't in bed for very long.
So it was time for meet the rest of her team. She went down to the bottom floor of the Rose and into a large, open room designed for Pokémon.
Out came Duraluden, Haxorus, Emolga, Dragonite, Gabite, and Excadrill.
"Everyone," she began, "Meet Duraluden!"
Everyone did their cries at him. Emolga flew around for a bit, then landed on his head. They spoke to each other for a bit, which resulted in Emolga laughing and what was basically the equivalent of an eye-roll for Duraluden. Iris couldn't fully read the conversation because Emolga wasn't a dragon, but she believed Emolga had told a joke that got the eye-roll. She was surprised that Duraluden reacted like that, given how he didn't gesture much the night before. Duraluden then made another sound, one that got Emolga off of him and made her fly away. He must have scared her.
Next, Gabite appeared and bit Duraluden's arm, causing Duraluden to smack it with Dragon Claw to get it to release. Surprisingly, Iris felt Gabite agree to not do that again. Duraluden must have an imposing nature.
Next up, Excadrill walked over to it. Nothing big happened, seemingly a casual conversation, or perhaps a friendship?
Then it walked over to Dragonite and exchanged a few cries. Dragonite flexed as it said his name, with Duraluden actually making a Gyro Ball that then quickly dissipated. Perhaps they were promising a rematch? Duraluden did the start of making a Dragon Claw around its arms, though it didn't actually materialize. Dragonite seemingly pressed its buttons, more-so than Emolga did. They didn't end up fighting, though. Finally, it exchanged some words with Haxorus, both respectful of each other. She was so impressed by how level-headed Haxorus had become since evolving. He had gotten scared a lot as an Axew.
That said, while there had been some quirky interactions, it seemed that her Pokémon accepted it as a part of the team, and, for that, she was grateful. She had a Druddigon at one point, but had to part with it after it wished to protect a forest. She could call on it if push came to shove, but it could only battle a few times a month, so she was glad to have a more permanent sixth member, though she, of course, would never forget about Druddigon.
She spent the rest of the afternoon with her Pokémon, using her powers to make promises to her Pokemon. She assured Dragonite that she'd train it to withstand steel attacks like Iron Head. For Duraluden, she won't make him change the moves he had been used to having. She also sensed that Haxorus just wanted to have a talk with Pikachu and she told him that she'd make space for them to chat next time Ash was there. She also assured him that Pikachu still viewed him as a friend, noting that Pikachu waved when he saw him again during their Ultra-Class match.
She thought about going to Goh and Chloe, to try to iron things out, but she decided to wait for Ash. He knew Chloe more than her, so she wanted to ask him more things before she went out to do it.
While she was mostly left unbothered, interestingly, Steven came down and visited her after about an hour and a half of this session.
"Pardon me, I had just heard about your Duraluden, and I just can't ignore a new Steel type."
Iris looked at him with a neutral expression. "I get it. I was like that when I saw it because of the Dragon part of it."
Steven walked around Duraluden for a bit, Duraluden didn't seem to care too much, but he kept his eyes on Steven.
"He's actually less than a hundred pounds, right?" Steven suddenly asked.
"How did you know? Do you write the Rotom descriptions?"
"Hehe, I wish, but no. I just know my metals, and I realize that Duraludon isn't made of one of the heavy ones. If you look at, for example, Aggron, its body is dominated by this darker metal. It was very hard but also very heavy. It weighs a little under 800 pounds, most machines can't lift it. But Duraludon here is a lighter color, very shiny. Those are usually more light. There's a Galar Gym Leader called Raihan and he actually specializes in Dragon Types, like you. He has one of these, and it moves around very well, so I wondered if it was a move, but no, I can tell that they can just move around like that normally."
Duraluden seemed a bit more interested in Steven then he was to his own trainer, perhaps because of his older age.
"He's pretty stoic." Steven noted. "He'll never get too angered during a fight. Of course, your Dragonite is the opposite, so you now have both ends."
Dragonite just let out a growl, like he was saying "Whatever."
"Are there, like, news articles in Hoenn about my Dragonite?"
"Not for it specifically, but there have been mentions about how, say, notable Dragonites include a really angry one owned by the Unova Champion, or, in the preview a Hoenn company made, they called your Dragonite the most aggressive, compared to Ash's and Lance's. Don't worry about it, there's nothing wrong with a more intense demeanor."
"He did beat two opponents in my Championship match against Alder! People would say that he was too aggressive to be great, and then he'd beat all of their Pokémon and sweep their team! Those are actually my favorite. I often did a little spin after winning each battle, though I know now that it was petty to do that."
Dragonite was looking at Steven, doing its flex. Somehow, Steven was unfazed.
"Yeah, don't worry about it." He laughed. "I'm glad that you're maturing a bit. Just as I want to inspire Hoenn, you inspire Unova in what you do. The kids want to emulate whatever you do."
As Iris was a bit shocked at how poignant he got, she knew that Steven was very intelligent. He immediately switched to another action without expecting a response, like it was a rhetorical question…
He walked up right to Dragonite…
He stared for a second, but then smiled. "Don't worry about how you did against the Milotic. Cynthia just knows how to use it against your kind because of her experience. You'll soon be able to beat every Milotic you face."
Dragonite just grunted in his response, likely annoyed by Steven trying to sympathize with it, but acknowledging that he wasn't wrong, either. He later did manage to nod his head, surprising Iris. He then flew to a wall and sat against it, wanting to convey that he was done talking. Steven chuckled at that.
Iris realized she had the perfect opportunity to ask an older person a really important question, not wanting to ask Diantha or Cynthia about it.
"Steven, how do you deal with Chirper?"
He hummed, but it didn't take long for him to reply. "It's just as tough for me. I want to please everyone, but, like you, there will always be someone who is mad about my Pokémon choice — someone who jumps on my every loss. But I know that I don't need the approval of everyone. My Ideal situation is that I retain favorable relations with the media, so they don't run a smear campaign against me, and I'd like to think that over 50% of Hoenn supports me. Surveys last week indicated I hit that, so I hope that they don't take my loss too hard, but I'll go battle Wallace again and win if it's below them."
"A lot of the Unova media thinks I'm a crybaby now…" Iris muttered.
"Unova media is the harshest out of all of the regions. They think they're so much better than everyone else. They also played up how you faced Cynthia when she visited Unova two years ago, so they think you ruined their 'storyline' since they thought it would look amazing once their champ beat her."
"I thought I was on top of the world too a few days ago, but now, that Unova attitude bit me."
Steven nodded in understanding. "Yeah, I noticed. Before this, I could tell that your public persona was 'The Young Hotshot Who Always Wins'. My advice to you is this: a public persona should never be just about winning, because nobody always wins. Even Cynthia and Leon will have lost by the time this tournament is over, or at least one of them will. I have my stone collecting journeys that I'm often talking to the public about. I do talk about my battles, but I often refrain from specifically saying that I won. Cynthia is also a full-blown archeologist. Diantha is an actor. You need to find a way to make yourself a champion who does more than just win. Because that doesn't always happen."
"I don't really know how to take action on that. I agree, but…"
"It doesn't have to be today, or even tomorrow. Just think about it. And, by the way, a few of those nasty comments from Unovans are because they're mad about having a black champion. You don't owe those people anything. Just keep being the champion and stick it to them."
"Of course. That part, I already knew. Thanks, Steven, for all of 's good having some things told to you instead of having to come up with them yourself."
Steven smiled, nodding. "I get that. I sometimes probe my father for his thoughts on my current exploits, for that reason. You have a bright future ahead of you. You just need the fine-tuning that everyone in the world needs. I'm sure that you'll continue to have a great tenure as Unova Champion, because I think you've been impressive."
"Thank you. And I think you're the best champion Hoenn's ever had!"
Smiling, Steven quickly responded back, "I thank you for that. But don't let Wallace ever hear that. Speaking of which, before I go, Wallace has a niece named Lisia who has an Altaria, and she is a big fan of yours. She tries to do what you do with your dragons with her Altaria, so do come visit her sometime, as a personal request of mine."
"I'll do that! See you, Steven! Thanks again!"
After that, the two waved at each other as he left.
She realized that Steven was probably looking to say that, more than examine a new Pokémon. He was the type to always let on less than what his actual plans were.
Recalling all of her Pokémon, Iris decided to take that nap, a bit clearer in what she needed to do now.
Ending notes:
Ash and Alain's conversation was originally longer, but it just hurt the pacing and most of what they talked about wasn't relevant to the story, so part of the delay was me redoing it into what is above. I was really disappointed that he didn't do much in the anime before leaving, so hopefully this is some justice for him. Iris and Chloe also was redone a bit, 'Im The Person' thought I made Chloe a bit OOC in the original version, but says my new version handled her better (and while the characters are aged up, I want them to still be recognizable). Tell me how much you loved or hated it! All critique is welcome.
