Lillie, Ash's friend from Alola, had come to visit him on Pallet Town that very day. Unlucky for her Ash was climbing a mountain when she arrived at his house, and she was already very tired from the trip. So when Ash's mom told her to rest Lillie just had to take her up on her offer. She was sound asleep in Ash's room while people from many different regions came and filled his living room.

Then another one of those promoters from many different regions, specifically Emica from Kynomiral, crashed her vehicle into a tree on her way to Ash's house. When Emica turned out to be fine, the easily distracted Ash remembered about his friend Lillie, and he went to search for her along with Serena.

Meanwhile Delia Ketchum reluctantly escorted the promoters back into her house. Trainers from places previously unheard of like Arundel, Domerlac, Gudrut, Kynomiral, Nestan-Darejan and Ruston; Scott, who was promoting his newly revamped Battle Frontier; Ritchie from Kanto; and even Yvgeny, the guy with the sword, who finally left his weapon resting at the front of the house like Delia had told him, went into the living room and quickly filled the two couches, the sofa, as well as most of the chairs from the kitchen.

Gary Oak just left unceremoniously. He had an actual job at his grandfather's lab, and more importantly, none of the promoters cared for him. He would have accepted their invitation to visit their region if only they had been a bit nicer, if only they had treated him with respect. It was almost as if Ash was the only trainer who ever existed, the only Pokemon Trainer who mattered at all. Gary just couldn't stand that, besides, if all he had to do to feel better was to get away from Ash Ketchum, then he might as well have left as soon as he could.

Delia didn't feel like tending to all those guests, they had arrived unannounced and uninvited and she knew she didn't have to deal with them. Nevertheless she decided to humor them for a bit, just to keep her manners in check, and only with some light appetizers, nothing too laborious. She then sat on the couch right in the middle of the living room, on the seat in the middle, and looked around, locking eyes with every member of the multifaceted roster of faces gathered in her house. Every pair of nervous eyes there could tell she had an indisputable influence over her son's choice, and everyone realized that whatever happened next would be crucial for Ash's ultimate decision.

Delia turned to Yvgeny first, he was sitting right next to her; his giant frame barely fit in the couch. He recoiled a bit and braced for the look Delia gave him, even though she seemed only friendly. She effortlessly demanded his respect and cautiousness for words. He was in her house after all.

"So, Yvgeny," she said.

"Yes ma'am," Yvgeny, the biggest guy in the room, nervously replied.

"I'm so sorry to hear about what's happening in your region. If I may ask, what percentage of the pokemon population has been affected by The Blight?"

"Ah! Yes… well, I don't know. Perhaps, twelve percent?"

"I see, and that is approximately?"

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I am not aware of any official counting of the victims having taken place in the past."

"Do you know what approximately means?"

"I do not."

"Just to be clear, I'm not suggesting that only twelve pokemon in total have been affected."

"Oh, goodness no, of course not, it has been more than that for sure. At least a few dozen mareep have been affected."

"Only mareep?"

"Well yes, we have many mareep, too many I would say. I mean, it is not the only species we have in our region, I once saw a patrat roaming around through the woods, though maybe that happened in a dream I had. To be honest with you I'm glad some of the mareep have died because now we have to find something else to eat."

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I was sick to death of them."

The room fell absolutely silent, denoting the repulsion they felt for Yvgeny after his admission. Everyone focused on the two of them right in the middle of the room, and yet, after Yvgeny unashamedly admitted the chief dietary habits of his region, he still had a naive, if a bit nervous smile on his face.

"Oh-kay… wait, and what about the people who died?" Delia asked.

"What about them?" Yvgeny casually replied. He had absolutely no idea the others thought there was something very wrong with him. "I'll admit, perhaps they shouldn't have eaten so many of them so quickly."

"They ate infected mareep?" Delia said with alarm.

"Yeah probably, I mean they ate too many during the eating competition, I'm sure one or two of the infected ones popped up in there."

"…Yvgeny, I'm going to ask you to leave."

"Okay," Yvgeny replied, not really surprised.

"I'm sure this isn't the first time you've been asked that."

"No, it is not."

"Thank you for coming."

Yvgeny stood up. "Can I have one of your pokemon?" he asked, still with a nervous smile on his pale face.

"Why?" Delia cautiously asked back.

"It doesn't have to be very big… What? I need something for the road, don't I?"

"Please get out of my house. I hope you understand I must report this to the police, to see if somebody has reported missing pokemon recently."

"So is that a no?"

"Yes, that is a no, get out."

"Okay, gratitude, for your time." Yvgeny promptly got out of the house and started walking carelessly into the open field, leaving his sword behind. He soon disappeared on the horizon.

As that went on in the living room, upstairs, Ash's room was a mess. His bed was covered in pillows and blankets, thin books and magazines were scattered all over the floor, and somehow there was a general smell of something akin to old people smell mixed with the more appropriate scent of male deodorant. Ash and Serena were confused, Lillie was supposed to be there and yet she was nowhere to be found. They proceeded to look for her all around but didn't find her. There seemed to be nothing else to do but to ask his mom if she was sure Lillie had arrived.

Then there was a snore. Both Serena and Ash realized they had failed to inspect the bed thoroughly. Serena looked at Ash with a slight smile on her lips and mischief in her eyes. Ash returned the look. Serena went over to the bed, masterfully grabbed every single one of the blankets with a big hug, then lifted them all, revealing the jolly magikarp imprinted on the bedspread but no Lillie. Then there was another snore, a rather cute one at that, and Serena was able to correctly pinpoint its location at the edge of the bed, where there was a bean bag, which they didn't bother to move as the space behind it seemed way too small to contain a person. Ash and Serena approached cautiously, stared at their objective below them, then turned to each other and nodded. Ash lifted the beanbag and revealed their target, a thoroughly dozed off Lillie pleasantly laying on a comfy rug at the end of the bed. They couldn't help but let out lively laughs which together made just enough noise to wake the blonde girl up, and as soon as she opened her eyes and saw the pair laughing right above her, her face turned completely red. Lillie got up instantly and turned her back to them, and crossed her arms. Both Serena and Ash realized they had made their target angry with their careless giggles, but they couldn't quite stop themselves, and Lillie's indignation and embarrassment grew at the same rate she lowered her head. It was Serena who, after taking a deep, almost painful breath, was able to control herself and apologize to Lillie, speaking for Ash too when she said she didn't mean any offense—none in the least.

"I promise we weren't mocking you in any way Lillie," Serena said. "I know we haven't officially been introduced yet and I don't want to ruin our first meeting face to face."

"What are you talking about?" Ash said. "Why would this be a problem? It's fine."

"Shut up Ash, she understandably wasn't a fan of our little number just then."

"Come on, it's fine, right Lillie?"

Lillie sighed with her back still turned to them. Her face was not red anymore, in fact her cheeks slowly moved her lips to make a little smile. That was the same Ash with whom she had shared many adventures on her home region of Alola not long ago. And even though she had never met Serena before she had a pretty good image of her already thanks to what Ash had told Lillie about her, and upon meeting her for the first time she found her voice very soothing. Lillie turned to them with a smile on her face, although she still couldn't quite look at them in the eye. She extended her arm, but before she could decide which hand to shake first Ash moved in front of her and gave her a warm hug, which she returned wholeheartedly after a second of surprise. Lillie sensed a mild, inoffensive mood change coming from Serena, who had seem very warm and pleasant up until Ash hugged Lillie so joyously. So, after Ash let go of her, while Lillie was still tumbling a bit, without stopping she went over to Serena and hugged her too, reassuring her with their first embrace, at which point the warm and pleasant mood returned.

"It's nice to see you again Lillie, how has it been?" Ash asked.

"It's been fun, and Snowy and I were glad to accept your gracious invitation to visit Kanto," Lillie replied.

"That's awesome, when did you arrive?"

"A few hours ago."

"Really, why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"I was going to. When I first got here your very nice mom told me you were out. She correctly guessed I was tired, I probably looked dead. She said I could sleep in any bed I found around the house and that maybe I'd find Serena around here somewhere, so I came in here to take a look. The door was open by the way."

"Yeah no worries, you should have used the bed like my mom said."

"Yeah," Lillie averted her eyes, "anyway, I did hear when you came in I think, and was about to come out when a bunch of voices broke out from the living room. So I decided to wait in here a little bit, but ended up falling asleep again."

"I guess that's what happens when you take too long to act," Ash said. "Isn't that right?"

"You think so?" Lillie asked.

"Of course! I hate waiting, what do you think Serena?"

"I guess so," Serena answered, not wanting to side with either one of them.

The trio got out of Ash's room and encountered Pikachu, who had chocolate smeared all over his mouth, and who, as soon as he saw Lille, jumped into her arms and gave her a hug that she returned tenderly.

Meanwhile, downstairs with Yvgeny gone, Karius and Karon had taken the opportunity to try and convince Delia to let her son go to their region, Domerlac.

When Ash saw them downstairs he remembered what frantic day he'd had so far, as well as the awesome but difficult choice he had yet to make. He rushed to the living room and failed to identify that some of the promoters were now missing.

"…Upon arrival at Domerlac," Karius lectured while standing up, "Ash will be given a complete and extensive tour of the Domerlac Academy, by us, Karon and I. Then, once he takes an introductory course and goes through a rigorous entrance exam, which will test not only his strength and ability but also his general worldview, he will be inducted into one of the six different factions, each located in its own prestigious house inside the academy, in accordance to his skill level as well as his personality. Once all of that is done he will be instituted in the academy for the meek quantity of a hundred and twenty thousand."

"A hundred and twenty thousand a year?" Delia asked with a cautious tone.

"Eh, no, per month," Karius corrected her.

"Woop! That's it Ash, you're not going to Domerlac."

"But mom, I want to belong to a faction," Ash cried out.

"You can belong to any faction you want, just not there. In fact you can join Delia's faction, located in the comfort of your own house, right now for free. That's the end of our dealings with you gentleman and lady, bye."

"Wait, that's it?" Karon exclaimed. "You have to give us another opportunity."

"I'm not giving you any money, and neither is my son."

"Okay, bye," Karius said with a completely different tone.

"So, what are you, recruiters? You didn't come here specifically for Ash, did you?" Serena asked.

"What about you Serena? Would you like to come to Domerlac?"

"No thanks, you can leave."

Immediately afterwards Karius and Karon left the house without saying another word.

"Good, that's two less to worry about," Delia said.

"Make that four and include Scott and Ritchie," Ash added, openly dismissing the promoters from Kanto.

"Wow Ash," Serena said, visibly gushing about Ash with her fists in front of her chest. "I didn't know you could be so merciless."

"I don't want to feel like I'm doing the same thing twice, and I really don't like feeling like people are lying to me."

"I totally know what you mean, me neither," Serena said, still visibly gushing. "I hate that."

"Yeah, me too." Elyan, the taciturn read-head from Gudrut intervened, with a stupid smile on his face. "I likewise hate… when people lie to me too."

Ash and Serena looked at each other. Meanwhile Elyan kept his awkward smile and hoped nobody noticed how nervous he was, although a drop of sweat subtly rolled down his temple. However, nobody cared.

"What do we do now?" Ash said. He almost shouted, he had grown extremely impatient and was more than ready to leave for his next adventure at once.

"Let's see," Serena said. She rubbed her chin with her index finger and inspected the remaining players. "We have Elyan from Gudrut, Jake from Ruston, Sebastian and Noelle from Arundel, and Emica from Kynomiral. And if you can't decide where to go Ash, then we'll help you choose."

"That's a great idea Serena!" Delia exclaimed, and made Serena blush subtly with her comment. "Why don't you interview Jake and see what Ruston is all about, and also if he's going to charge me a lot of money just so my son can visit his region? And Ash, why don't you talk to Sebastian and Noelle?"

Ash looked at his mom, then he looked at the sullen pair, Sebastian and Noelle. He wanted to say something but didn't quite know how.

"What if Lillie interviews them?" he blurted out. Even though he wanted to be subtle and to avoid hurting their feelings, the sullen pair immediately understood what Ash actually meant to say. After sharing a look of defeat with one another Sebastian and Noelle raised from their seats. Sebastian cleared his throat.

"I guess we failed, again," he said. "I guess it's time for us to go." He reached for Noelle's hand, but she flinched once he made contact with her skin, and he retreated. Noelle reacted quickly, it was obvious she regretted not simply grabbing his hand and caressing it. She almost could've cried, he lamented the failure with his eyes closed, and lowered his head.

"Come on guys, don't give up so easily," Ritchie said jarringly.

"You don't understand!" Noelle suddenly lashed out at the plump red-head. "No one could ever understand…"

"Your family will be fine," Sebastian said. He caressed her shoulders, then gently grabbed the back of her head, and led her to him. "And we'll find a cure for George, and save Monty too, I promise you."

"Who's George?" Ritchie asked.

"Please shut up Ritchie come on," Serena scolded him. "Read the vibe." She suddenly didn't fancy him anymore.

"I know I'm forcing you to love me Sebastian, but I can't stop," Noelle said with her arms around Sebastian, resting her head on his chest, with her eyes closed and yet visibly filled with many emotions.

"I don't want you to stop, I'd die without you," Sebastian answered. "When you weren't there I genuinely thought I would die, they cut my electricity off and I didn't even care… because I didn't have you with me."

Still embracing, Sebastian and Noelle walked towards the door, and Ritchie, who was the closest to it, opened it for them, then closed it after they got out and left.

"I'm sorry but they weirded me out," Ash said. He was unfazed by their depressing business. "I hope things go well for them but also I'm glad that's over. Who should I interview instead?"

"Me!" Emica shouted. Then she took Ash by the hand and stormed out of the house with him. "Kynomiral here we go!" She cried outside.

Afterwards Jake took Serena by the hand and took her outside too. She was too distraught to care, having witnessed how Emica just snatched his boy up moments ago. By sheer inertia Serena started walking along with the blue-haired Jake, who promptly started raving about his region with her.

"Let me tell ya Serena! Skydiving, wind surfing, air jousting, hover-crafts and life rafts, and an average fifteen percent chance of death, Ruston has it all! Do you know why everyone is so angry all the time? So up in arms about any weird stuff they think they care for but shouldn't? It is because they haven't felt the air on their faces as they fall at terminal velocity from an aircraft worth twenty million bucks all the way to the red and white colored ground. That's what the youth, well, the relative youth of today needs, to get their asses off the couch and stop staring at a screen that'll never talk back to them. Less words, more danger. More independence, more choices to make, more risks to take and to put themselves and their bodies into. All thanks to the technology that has been granted to us by the pokemon which dwell in our region. Hey, do you have a boyfriend?"

"What?" Serena asked. She had stopped listening to him a while ago, but she heard that last sentence quite well.

"Do you have a boyfriend?"

"Well… no."

"Sweet, I think you're really beautiful, do you want to hang out?"

"Um… I don't know."

Jake stopped walking. Serena stopped next to him, she felt weird.

"Hey, let's just follow this moment, I live for this."

Jake went in for a kiss, but his lips were stopped before they reached Serena's skin by a hand, which, as soon as Jake identified the blockade, turned out to be Delia's.

"Ha, I asked Serena to interview you for a reason. Sorry to do this to you Serena, I wouldn't have let him try anything. Jake, you can leave, thank you for your time but we are not interested in Ruston."

"You just met me Jake," Serena said.

"Yeah, so? You have to take chances and live your life at its fullest, after all, only a blink and we're gone, you know one time I was skiing on Mt. Despero with…"

"Okay Jake, I think that's enough," Delia cut him off.

Jake stopped talking and stared at them for a few seconds, he saw no way to continue his endeavors there, especially with the way both women were looking at him. Knowing there was nothing else for him to do, and thinking that this couldn't be possible—that he had somehow failed—he let out a demeaning chuckle, then turned around and left unceremoniously. He didn't even bother to go back into the house and say goodbye to anyone, he simply walked away.

Then there was some more trembling and then another explosion very close to Delia and Serena. They rushed to yet another tree with smoke coming out of it, and found Emica's futuristic vehicle stamped on its trunk, with both Ash's and Emica's bodies laying down right next to it, both of them unconscious, and lightly injured and covered in dust. Delia and Serena screamed and ran to the scene as both Ash and Emica regained consciousness. They slowly got up while stroking their heads and letting out a few confused moans.

"What happened!" Serena cried.

"…Emica let me drive her awesome vehicle, it was awesome," Ash said, still disoriented.

"Yeah, it seems you need a lot of practice Ash," Emica replied with a bit of blood on her forehead, dripping just above her bloodshot eye.

"What practice? You could've killed my son," Delia said. "Ash is never going Kynomiral!"

"What? But mom!"

"You shut up!"

"Okay."

"We are going to the hospital right now."

After a lengthy visit to the hospital, Delia and Serena returned to the house with Ash, who had been lucky enough to get off the accident with only a few light bandages on both his arms, as well as a neck brace. Emica decided not to return with them, seeing as she had fallen completely out of their favor after injuring Ash. The three of them went into the living room and found Ritchie, Lillie and Elyan sitting on the couch all serious, although the atmosphere didn't seem as awkward as it could've been. Out of all of them, only Ritchie had helped himself to some cookies and milk, which he was thoroughly enjoying when they arrived.

"The guy with the blue shirt, Scott?" Lillie said. "He left. He seemed a bit angry but also hungry."

"I believe they call such a state: hangry. I know about it because I've been in that state many times," Ritchie said. "Hey Ash! So you want to take a trip through Kanto again now that everyone else is gone?"

"Hey, I'm still here," Elyan exclaimed.

"Oh yeah I forgot."

"How? We've been talking the whole afternoon."

Ash ignored their exchange and approached Elyan, took the neck brace off, then massaged the back of his neck a bit as he ignored his mom's protests.

"Great, Elyan, you're still here, what was the name of your region?" Ash asked.

"Gudrut," Elyan answered scantily.

"Alright, let's go. You say it's very cold, right? Let's do this."

"Yeah, you heard that? Wow."

"Ash." Delia interrupted her son's sudden sprint through the house. "What in the world are you talking about? You just got back from the hospital."

Ash froze on the spot, with his right hand open lifted up to his chest, and his left one made into a fist on his side. He felt a sudden rage take over him, wasn't exactly angry, but knew he would essentially lose it if he was to be forced to stay inside those four walls of his childhood home a day more; if Ash didn't feel like he was always moving forward, then he would rather drop dead on the spot, after all, he saw no difference between being quiet and stoic and being dead.

"Mom," he said after regaining motion. He raised his open hands and directed them to Delia in a pleading fashion. He didn't quite beg, instead he tried to reason with her as best as he could, genuinely trying to communicate his intentions. "I need to do this. I've never felt better, I've never been more ready but if I don't leave right away, then, then I'll be tired, then I'll need to rest, and I might just never recover."

"Oh my, I guess that's my son," Delia said with her hand on her cheek. "Once he sets an objective he will not rest until he accomplishes it. And I guess that's also why you had to choose one of the most difficult objectives that there could be."

"That's right," Ash said. "Let's do this, let me prove to you that I am ready for this, Elyan! Let's have a quick battle, what do you say?"

"Um… I'm sorry Ash, I'm not a trainer. I don't have any pokemon with me at the moment." Elyan said, clashing his index fingers together and looking really embarrassed while doing so.

"Come on, are you serious? You came all this way to ask me to visit your region without a pokemon? Oh well, what about you Ritchie, fancy a battle?"

"Oh wow!" Ricthie exclaimed. His face lit up. "It'll be just like the old times, woo hoo!"

Both boys ran outside holding pokeballs on their eager hands. Ash called his pokemon first. A dancing mienfoo, small but spirited, with yellow skin and reddish touches on arms and legs, and a fierce pair of beady eyes, came out looking ready for a fight.

"This is Mienfoo," Ash said. "I captured her just before coming back home, and she will be one of my companions through Gudrut. are you ready Mienfoo?"

Ash's Mienfoo nodded decisively.

"Alright, I'll oversee this match," Serena said.

Ritchie smiled knowingly.

"Sparky, come out!"

A larger, more rotund version of Pikachu, orange instead of yellow, with a heavier sight and presence, appeared in front of him.

"Oh wow, Sparky evolved into a raichu didn't he?" Ash said.

"Yes," Ritchie replied. "Sparky! Use thunder!" he then cried out suddenly very angry. Then Sparky frowned, immersed in his internal focus, and out of the top of his head a giant thunder manifested itself with a resounding sound that was so loud it made both Elyan and Serena shiver. As Sparky growled a battle-cry the giant thunder traveled through the impromptu battlefield, outside Ash's house, and stopped at contact with Mienfoo, essentially toasting her with its power. After the attack subsided and the light disappeared Mienfoo fell on the ground thoroughly defeated. Smoke came out of her body, her eyes no longer looked fierce and instead she seemed to be forcefully resting.

"I guess Ritchie wins," Serena said reluctantly.

"Wow Ash, it looks like you need a lot of training," Ritchie said.

"Well, yeah, that's why I asked you for a quick battle," Ash replied angrily.

"Why didn't you use your more seasoned pokemon? You've got a lot of them."

"Because, that's the whole reason I do this," Ash said rather loudly and with passion. "I train pokemon. I train new pokemon through places I've never visited before. That's what you do when you're a trainer, you make new friends, and together you become more powerful than ever before."

"But pokemon are life partners, you shouldn't just throw them away," Ritchie said.

His response had a huge effect on Ash, who lowered his head. His eyes got watery but nobody could see it because of his cap. Ritchie likewise couldn't notice the heavy stare that Serena was shooting at him.

"How can you say that?" Ash whispered. "How can you say that I've thrown them away." Ash was genuinely angry at his friend. He then remembered about all the times he had to let go of a friend, Charizard, Butterfree, Goodra, and stopped before he realized he was about to tear up. "You don't know what I've had to do! Do you think I wanted to leave them? I've cried. Have you cried recently, Ritchie?"

"Yeah… sometimes," Ritchie replied. "I also cried when my grandma died recently."

"Well… I cried when my butterfree left with another butterfree, a pink butterfree, to make babies, because it was mating season," Ash said. But he had to admit his perils didn't compare to Ritchie's. "By the way, sorry about your grandma."

"Thanks," Ritchie said. Then the rest of the guys went over to Ritchie to give him their condolences while Ash stayed put looking at them, still a bit incensed. He called Mienfoo back.

"It's time to go anyway," Ash said. "Are you in Serena?"

Serena's eyes flashed, she raised her fists. "Yes!" she said enthusiastically.

"Great, what about you Lillie?"

Lillie quivered. She was suddenly overwhelmed, she thought about it for a few seconds and then closed her eyes, and kept thinking. It was a very important decision that had just been thrown at her seemingly out of nowhere. A decision that, at least according to her, needed a lot of careful deliberation before being given an appropriate answer. Everyone waited respectfully for her but she took her time; she even put her hand on her chin and tried to focus but nothing came up.

"Okay, I'll go," she said thoughtlessly after the anxiety overwhelmed her. But she wasn't really sure, she immediately regretted blurting it out when the fear got the better of her.

"Great, what about you Ritchie?" Ash asked.

"Nah, it's too soon for me," Ritchie replied. "But thank you." He took a moment to reevaluate Ash's inviting offer, but after sensing it would constitute too much commitment he kept quiet and resigned himself to stay.

The group went back into the house and prepared to leave. They packed their bags and psyched themselves up for the long journey that awaited them. Delia unabashedly told Ash to pack clean underwear and to do his best to keep it clean. Ash shouted "Mom!" with his face slightly redder than before while both Serena and Lillie laughed at their exchange with their hands covering their smiling mouths. It was the exact response Delia wanted from the three of them, she was really pleased.

The front door opened. Delia's young ward, Mr. Mime, with blue long ears and bright red cheeks, walked in joyously carrying a box.

"The cake!" Delia shouted. "I had forgotten all about it!"

"What cake?" Ash asked.

"I'd commissioned a special cake as a celebration gift for your return Ash, I'm sorry, and I'm sorry to you too Mr. Mime. I made you go all the way to pick it up."

"Mime," Mr. Mime replied scantily, signaling immediate forgiveness. However in actuality he was quite angry for all the trouble he had gone through at the store, although, being an impeccable-mannered individual, he chose to keep his distress only to himself.

Ash, who was holding the shoulder straps of his backpack already on his back, went over to Mr. Mime and opened the box he was holding, unveiling his sugary present. It was a personalized cake with the probably delicious image of him, his mom, Pikachu, and the currently angry Mr. Mime, whose literally sweet face had been rumpled and disfigured, adding insult to the injury. The four of them were involved in a tender hug. And below them an inscription in meringue letters that read "There's no place like home, but even better, our hug."

Ash looked at it for a few seconds, he seemed unfazed by it. Then he buried his face on it, right on the middle.

"Thanks Mom, this is a very sweet gesture," Ash said while deep in cake.

And Delia couldn't help but be delighted. She knew goodbyes were never easy for her son.

Ash, Pikachu, Serena, Lillie and Elyan, all came out of the house that evening. Ritchie for his part went to get himself a cake, because after the three months he spent eating nothing but shedding skin he had developed a very vicious sweet tooth. However, his journey wouldn't end there. After having spent just a few hours with Ash and his spirit full of energy, Ritchie wouldn't be able to stay put for long. Adventure awaited him too.

Serena in particular was both happy and just a little bit sad. Happy because she was ready to embark on another adventure with her dear friend whom she fancied. She was mildly sad because her sylveon would stay behind, with Delia, although she sensed it was the right thing to do. During the little time she had been in Kanto Sylveon had taken quite a liking to Ash's mom, and it was more than reciprocated. Serena had already left her small pancham with Professor Sycamore back in Kalos and so her first pokemon, Braixen, would be the only one, or rather the first pokemon accompanying her through Gudrut. She let out a lively laugh and touched Ash's shoulder as the night fell upon the new group of travelers. They were ready and expectant, they could taste the sense of adventure in the air.

On the road to the airport, where a plane would take them to the other side of the world, none other than the blue haired Jake appeared right in front of them, riding on top of his majestic-looking braviary, with giant wings, red and blue beating on the night sky with the moon as a backdrop, and a white crown of feathers on its head. Jake said nothing. His braviary accelerated towards Ash and caught him by the shoulders with its claws upon contact, and took him to the skies, to the horror of his friends on the ground.

"Ahh! What do you think you're doing Jake?" Ash cried in the air.

"Don't worry Ash, I know you really want to go to Ruston," Jake replied. "I've come to rescue you, we'll be there soon, you'll see."

"I already decided to go to Gudrut, let me go!"

"Sure, I'll let you go if you come to Ruston with me." Jake's braviary flew higher and farther away.

On the ground Elyan and Lillie urged Jake to let Ash go. Serena was suddenly gone. Lillie called her snow-white, four-legged, adorable-looking Snowy, who came out of her pokeball alert and ready to help. They had to stay put however, and Pikachu, also on the ground, likewise couldn't strike in fear of harming Ash. All they could do was chase Jake and his braviary from the ground and hope he didn't slip away.

Ash knew he had to do something, the ground below him didn't scare him, instead it filled his ensuing rage. He swaggered and swayed from braviary's claws while everyone, even Jake, told him to stop but he didn't. He kept wiggling his body around until he slipped out of braviary's claw, then screamed. Jake freaked out and braviary slowed down. But Ash managed to hold on to braviary with both of his hands as he let out a courageous shout. He waved his legs forward and backwards until he managed to put braviary's head in a leg lock. Braviary lost balance but Ash didn't let go, instead he pressed his legs harder to keep the lock. Jake started to fall off, he screamed like a little baby and waved his hands in panic. But before he could fall off Ash managed to climb on top of braviary and grab his arm.

"Thanks! You saved my skin man! Now let's go to Ruston."

"No Jake, you can't do this, you can't just force people to do whatever you want."

"Ruston is the best Ash, come on!"

"No Jake!"

They started struggling on top of braviary, who suddenly felt a crippling cold on his claws. From the ground, sprinting right below him, Snowy blasted some of her moderately powerful ice at him, with Elyan, Pikachu and Lillie running behind her. Jake took a swing at Ash, and his fist missed Ash's face just barely.

"Stop it Jake!" Ash shouted as he grabbed Jake's wrists.

"You need to sleep Ash. Don't worry, when you wake up you'll be in Ruston and everything will be fine! We have monster trucks powered by pokemon, my late cousin used to be the best driver around."

"You're crazy!"

They continued struggling, grunting and growling. A ball of fire passed right in front of braviary and blocked its path. Everyone opened their eyes and mouths wide, then a scary growl rumbled all over the field. It was Serena on top of Charizard heading off to encounter them. Braviary was so startled by the fire that it made both Ash and Jake lose balance, and they managed to stay on top and avoid becoming a pulpy part of the ground merely by the tip of their fingers. Jake shouted at braviary to fly away as he held onto Ash. Jake wasn't giving up. However every time braviary tried to escape Charizard blocked its way with fire, and the rather weak yet useful ice from Snowy below finished neutralizing it. It was over. Ash grabbed Jake's collar and pulled him closer to him.

"Red light, Blue light, yellow light!" Ash said right to his face. Then Ash pushed Jake off of him, and jumped off of braviary.

Jake screamed and smacked his cheeks, he thought he had killed Ash Ketchum. But Ash knew he wouldn't hit the ground, and a second later Charizard caught him safely just like last time on Mt. Hideaway. Jake calmed down but he was still confused because of what Ash said to him. It didn't seem to make sense, at all. That changed when he heard Pikachu charging his powerful thunderbolt, which he then released with a strident battle-cry directly on Jake and his braviary, effectively toasting them.

Ash celebrated with a shout and by raising his arms. However Charizard didn't have a good grip on him yet, so Ash slipped from his paws with his torso naked, leaving Charizard holding only his shirt and jacket. Ash fell, although not from very high up, and Elyan was there to catch him with his chest and arms. It hurt quite a bit, but they were still in one piece and not toasted like the other two.

Jake and his braviary were both stunned, their senses weren't working as they tried to make their way to the ground safely. They failed and crashed into a tree, and while Jake was decent enough to get his braviary back into its pokeball before hitting the ground, he himself had no such luck, and so he fell right on his rear.

"You'll pay for this bro!" he cried, clearly in pain. "Ruston is awesome, why don't you want to visit?"

"Because you suck!" Ash shouted, still half-naked.

"No I don't, it is you who sucks for doing this to me," Jake shouted. "Don't you understand? Nobody treats me like this bro!"

"You can't force people do what you want Jake," Ash said decisively. "And if you can't understand that then you better leave."

Jake stood up, took some leaves out of his collar and dusted off his rear. Then he looked at Ash standing without a shirt with his friends by his side, two cute girls and one random guy, all angry at him, and realized just then that he had no comeback. There was nothing left for him to try, Jake ran away.

"And don't come back!" Serena said with her hands on her hips. "Are you okay Ash?"

"Yeah, thanks for saving me again," Ash said, right before he realized he didn't have a shirt on.

"I am also okay," Elyan said. "Should we head to the airport now?"

"Yes," Ash said. Then he turned to Charizard. "I guess it's time to say goodbye again huh, until I come back old friend."

"Wait!" Lillie said. Something had been bothering her for a while now, it made her very anxious, even scared. She knew she had to say something, it was too much for her to handle. "I'm sorry Ash, I can't go."

"What?" Ash exclaimed loudly. It was quite a shock to him.

"I think I should stay… I'm not ready to go yet."

"Well… we can wait a bit if you want, right?" Ash turned to his still eager friends, who agreed effusively. But it was of no use.

"No, I can't let you do that. It's okay, I'm just not ready to leave on a journey like that. Maybe later. Maybe I'll join you soon."

"Of course, we'll be waiting for you if you choose to come. But Lillie, we can't just leave you like this."

"You must," Lillie said. She and Snowy then walked in front of Ash and bowed down. They started walking away towards Ash's house, but Charizard stopped them. He turned around and lowered his back so that they could climb on top. Lillie waved at her friends weakly, almost shamefully, then Charizard flew away. None of them knew what to say as they separated, and some silent time later Ash and company resumed their travel to the airport.