2 DAYS UNTIL TOURNAMENT:
Gloria watched with wide eyes as the Glacias Capital, Ava City, came into view from the train. It was just an hour from the town where their hotal sat by train, and the Members of the Galar League were set to have dinner with the royal family, as a way to 'formally introduce the two regions' as Chairman Rose put it. The city was as massive as it was modern, with high speed monorails running throughout the metropolis. In the very center of the city was the Royal Palace, an immense place that can be seen from any corner of the city. In the seat across from her, Oleana was speaking on her phone. After a few moments she hung up.
"The Champion of Unova will also be joining us." The woman said. "From what I understand, she arrived just this morning and she is a longtime friend of the High Prince."
"Sweet!" Hop popped up from his seat. "I heard that Champion Iris is one of the strongest Champions in the world! Gloria's gonna have some serious competition in this Tournament- GAH!" Hop yelped as Bede yanked him down.
"Imbecile! Could you be any louder? People are staring!"
"You're overdressed, even for this region." Ash muttured as he and his companion crossed the threshold into the palace. Iris proceeded to rip off three layers of thick winter coats with a sigh.
"You can never be overdressed when it comes to the cold."
"You can when it leads to heat stroke."
"...Point taken." Ash chuckled.
"It's good to see you Iris. Shame Cilan couldn't come." Iris shrugged.
"The family restaurant combined with his career as a connoisseur has him pretty busy. That's why he and his brothers resigned as gym leaders a couple of years ago. Though he said to give his regards to Burgundy if she shows up."
"Wouldn't put it past her. That girl is stubborn." The two chuckled as they ascended a flight if stairs.
"So anyway, the Galar League is supposed to come here tonight, right?"
"Yeah, their Chairman says he wants to improve relations between Glacias and Galar, but I think he has ulterior motives. He's being monitored 24/7 during his stay in Glacias."
"Probably for the best, considering what I've read about that whole 'Second Darkest Day' Incident he caused." She shook her head. "But enough about that stuff. How's the family? It's been, what, five years. Sorry I haven't been able to come by more."
"Don't worry about it. We've all been busy. I guess it's a good thing our work has brought us together for the tournament." The two came into a large sitting room. Serena was sitting on a sofa reading a book, Arvo was doing his homework, and Ruby was watching TV. She looked up and let out a small laugh upon seeing Iris, jumping up and running to hug the woman. Iris laughed as well, ruffling the girl's hair as Arvo walked up.
"Wow! Look at you two. You've gotten big!" Ash smiled, thinking about the irony of Iris calling him a kid all the time when they were younger.
"Welcome to the Royal Palace of Glacias." Latias said in a bored tone as the Galar group were escorted to the gates. "My name is Laura, assistant to the High Prince. I'll be giving you a tour before tonight. I'll also show you to the guest rooms where you're staying tonight. Oh and, to those who might have sticky fingers, I'll know if you attempt to steal anything." She sighed. "If you'll follow me-"
"Hey Sonia, I think something's wrong with my Rotom Phone." Gloria's voice piped up.
"Hm? What do you mean?"
"The Pokedex keeps registering a Pokémon called Latias but I'm not seeing any such Pokémon."
"Hey, mine's doing it too!" Nessa spoke up.
"What the hell?" Bede questioned, looking at his Rotom Phone.
"Ah..." Latias turned around, resisting the urge to psychically strangle the young Galar Champion. "There is a Latias living in this castle. However, she is quite evasive towards strangers, so don't expect to catch more than a mere glimpse of her, if that." Gritting her teeth, she jerked her head towards the palace. "Please, follow me."
"For those of you who don't know," Latias droned as the group followed her through the halls. "Ava City is named posthumously after Ava Blinwrith, the third ruler of Glacias, daughter of one of Glacias' three human founders, Vitix Blinwrith, as well as the first High Princess." They came up to a statue of a seventeen year old girl with long, wavy hair, seated with a Granbull and a Zebstrika. "As the story goes, when their father died of a mysterious illness, Ava's older brother, Titus, who was also rumored to have poisoned their father for his own gain, took the throne, as before the Platinum League was established, the Glacias Region followed a familial law of succession. Unfortunately, Titus was said to be a greedy and unstable individual, and was said to abuse his sister in private, though the abuse became more public after he took the throne. Needless to say, Titus' rule quickly became a tyranny. It wasn't until Titus prepared to go to war with other regions to expand Glacias into an empire that Ava decided enough was enough, challenging her brother to violent battle for the throne. Now, Ava won, but at the cost of the life of one of her Pokémon partners, as well as leaving her permanently blind in her left eye. Titus was imprisoned for the rest of his days while Ava took the throne, and although she appeared as Lind and fair to her subjects, all of the trauma she had gone through left her psychologically and emotionally damaged for the rest of her life. She only had one child, a son who was born about nine months after she usurped her tyrant brother. She refused to divulge the identity of who the father was, but I'm sure you can guess where the rumors went." Latias shook her head. "She brought peace to Glacias and was well loved by her subects, but sacrificed so much in the process. Truly a bittersweet tale."
"Don't act like you're a fan Laura." Ruby scoffed as she appeared from an adjacent staircase with a soda. "I seem to recall you falling asleep the first time you heard that story." A vein on Latias' forehead popped.
"I'd like to see you do better!" She growled.
"Sure!" Ruby turned to the Galar group. "Ok, so if you pay attention to any painting or statue of Ava, you'll notice they all depict her with the same distant, emotionless expression. Apparently, this is the only way her son had ever seen her, and he felt that depicting her in a happy light would be insensitive given everything that's happened to her, so when he took the throne after Ava's death, he passed a law forbidding any official depictions of her from showing her as happy. This became known as Ava's Law, and over time, this expression became the most used." She looked at the statue. "Huh, now that I think about it, Kiriko always has that exact same expression. Weird."
"Hello Princess!" Bede made his way to the front of the group, trying to suck up. "My name is Bede, Fairy Type Gym Leader of Galar."
"...I honestly thought you were a girl until you started talking." Ruby replied, causing Bede to fall anime style. "I mean seriously, what's with the hair. ...Oh, hi Marnie!" Ruby waved, causing everyone else besides Marnie to fall anime style. Ruby turmed and walked off as they managed to right themselves.
"You know her!?" Bede demanded. Marnie shrugged.
"She showed me aroun' the day we got here."
"The hell!? Why didn't you mention this?" Bea snapped.
"Cause she texted and asked me not to. Don' know why though."
"You have her phone number!?" Latias cleared her thought, getting their attention.
"Please follow me." She explained through gritted teeth. "We've set aside one of the indoor reserves for your Pokémon to stay tonight."
LATER THAT NIGHT:
Gloria stared around the massive dining hall in awe as they were seated at a massive table laden with food.
"So we have to make our own pkates then?" Bede huffed. "That doesn't seem like something a Royal Family would do." Serena waved that statement off.
"My husband and daughter are big eaters. We all figured this would make things easier." Ruby blinked, in the middle of biting a piece of fried chicken she had covered in gravy. "Don't worry!" Hop chirped. "Gloria's like that too! It's a wonder how she's so fit with the amount of food she puts down." Down the table, Raihan was chatting with Iris about Dragon Types, while Gloria eyed Ash.
"Um, your majasty?"
"Please Gloria, call me Ash."
"Um, right, Ash. I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." Ash shrugged, ladling heaps of Shrimp Scampi onto his plate.
"Can't think of where. My televised appearances are limited to Glacias."
Gloria blinked, then her eyes flickered to Arvo.
"Oh! You!" She pointed, getting the boy's attention. "You're that boy from the diner!"
"Oh... Yeah, you were with your little brother, right?" Gloria sweatdropped.
"Oh, well, actually, Allister is..." Gloria trailed off as Ash's Greninja entered the room, silently making his way up to his trainer.
"Hm? What's up?" Ash asked, only for Gloria to abruptly stand.
"THAT'S where I've seen you!" She practically shouted, startling most of the people at the table. "You were in the Kalos League fifteen years ago! You were the guy with the transforming Greninja, Ash Ketchum! I've got the DVD!" Ash blinked, startled.
"Well, how 'bout that."
"I've rewatched that DVD so many times I ended up having to order a new copy. I even got copies of all your previous League attempts, but you just dropped off the face of the earth after Kalos. You're the whole reason I decided to become a Pokémon Trainer." The girl had stars in her eyes as she gushed. "I know this is a bit sudden, but will you please battle me?" The whole table was silent for a moment as everyone stared at the Galar Champion with wide eyes. Then, Ash started laughing.
"Oh, um..." Gloria's face went red. "I-if that's too much..."
"Y-you remind me of myself when I was your age." Ash laughed, calming himself down. "Sure, let's battle."
After desert, they had all relocated to the Palace's private battlefield. Ash was at one end with Greninja, while Gloria was on the other side fiddling with a Pokeball. The rest of the group were on an upper platform.
"Okay, you've got your partner, now let me show you mine!" Gloria cheered, chucking the ball. "Let's go Cinderace!" The ball burst open, revealing a white and orange, humanoid rabbit. Ash smirked.
"Since you're a guest, I'll let you you have the first move Gloria."
"Your loss! Use Double-Edge!" Cinderace charged forward as he took on a white glow. Just as he got to Greninja, the Water and Dark Type moved to the side, bringing his knee up into the Fire Type's stomach, launching Cinderace onto the ground as he wheezed. Gloria blanched.
"I never said I'd go easy on you." Ash smirked. "Water Shuriken." Greninja created multiple stars of water, hurling them at the Striker Pokémon, who was battered around on the ground before leaping back to his feet.
"Okay, guess we'll have to match Greninja's speed. Use Flame Charge!" Cinderace blasted forward, cloaking himself in fire as his speed was boosted.
"Night Slash, then Water Shuriken!" Greninja ducked, driving a blade of dark enervy into the back of Cinderace's knee, before pulling out a Water Shuriken and slamming it into Cinderace's back, launching the rabbit into a wall. Ash raised an eyebrow as he noticed something. Cinderace righted himself.
"Quick Cinderace, High Jump Kick!"
"Aerial Ace!" Greninja planted a hand into the ground, using it as to balance himself as he launched a glowing foot in the air, slamming it into Cinderace's face and launching him into the air. Ash smirked. He and Greninja had gotten the idea for that maneuver from some anime Ruby loved. Some show about a guy with a notebook that kills people as far as he remembered.
"It's Super Effective." Ash spoke as he watched Cinderace fly into the air. Gloria's eyes widened.
"H-huh?"
"I noticed that the first time Greninja used Water Shuriken, Cinderace didn't take as much damage as he did the second time it was used. His attacks also all seem to be a little more powerful than they should be. That tells me that Cinderace has Ability that can change is his type." Gloria blinked, then started laughing.
"You got me! Cinderace's Libero Ability changes his Type match the move he's about to use. Even Leon didn't figure that one out." She grinned. "Guess I need to start taking this battle more seriously." She looked up to her Pokémon, who was still in the air. "Cinderace! Use Double-Edge and dive into the ground!" The rabbit took on a white glow as he dove downwards, slamming into the ground with such great force that it kicked up a massive cloud of dust. Ash and Greninja covered their eyes as the dust blasted their way. Cinderace took this time to move behind Greninja with a Flame Charge. "Use High Jump Kick!" Cinderace slammed a glowing foot into the back of Greninja's knee, forcing the Ninja Pokémon to the ground. "Now use Pyro Ball, Cinderace kicked a pebble into the air, cloaking it in a ball of flames before launching it at the back of Greninja's head, sending the Pokémon flying across the battlefield. Ash smirked as Greninja stood.
"Wow Gloria, I'm impressed. It's been a while since someone outside of the Platinum League has gotten one over on me like that. But I'm ending this now. Water Shuriken, then Aerial Ace!" Greninja hurled a couple of shurikens, hitting Cinderace in the leg and causing him to fall forward. Before he hit the ground, Greninja's glowing foot slammed into the rabbit's face, launching him into a wall and knocking him out. Gloria's shoulder's slumped.
"You were holding back." Ash said as he approached her. The girl blinked.
"Huh?"
"You're so used to fighting weaker opponents that you subconsciously hold back to avoid causing severe harm to your Pokémon. It's happened to me and even Ruby a couple of times." Gloria rubbed the back of her head meekly.
"That... Makes sense. Outside of exhibition matches I get challenged by a lot of trainers."
"Though I'll admit, I was holding back a bit myself. Tell you what, if we meet up in the Tournament, we can both go all out on eachother." Gloria nodded.
"Sure! I'll hold you to that." She chirped as she rushed to help Cinderace.
"...I do hope you're prepared. For tomorrow I mean." Ash's smile faded as Latias' voice filled his head. He turned and stared up at her ash she psychically communicated with him. "The ones who came so close to destroying your life will be arriving tomorrow. Time's up. You need to confront your past, Ash Ketchum."