Obligatory Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon.
If the journey to the plateau could be called eventful by any standard, the trek back to civilisation was most certainly not.
The group camped for that evening just outside the cave, as all were completely exhausted and had been running on the reserves of energy that they possessed, as well as the rush of adrenaline that had become so frequent during the tumultuous events of the few hours before. They snatched what sleep they could and then left early in the morning of the next day, yawning and rubbing bloodshot eyes.
Instead of returning the way that they had come, the six travellers went the opposite way. They departed westward through the forest, picking carefully through now-familiar bushes and shrubs.
The path was no easier to keep to, but they made good time in reaching the outer boundary of the forest; probably because they managed to avoid getting lost again.
They took a break for lunch as soon as they reached the start of Route Fifteen, marked by a helpful signpost and obscured almost entirely by a light mist. There were no Pokémon battles this time. The six trainers and their Pokémon ate, rested and then resumed their journey.
No-one was really in the mood for anything else.
No-one would say or admit to it, but all had a great deal on their minds.
Route Fifteen, it transpired, had sharper cliffs and taller grass than Route Fourteen had before it. There were no waterfalls and barely a single tree in sight, but the shrouding mist made their current path far more treacherous.
Iris, after tripping over a cunningly-concealed rock and nearly slipping off the side of a narrow cliff for the sixth time, grumbled that someone should have really thought to bring a Pokémon that could use Defog, trying to bait either Ash or Cameron into a small burst of remedial banter.
Both were too distracted by other concerns, pains and worries to bother.
At one point they passed what appeared from the outside to be a research laboratory, sitting on elevated ground and comfortably in between two stone walls. They overheard someone – who appeared to be the head researcher, given the way that those he talked to deferred to him greatly, shouting animatedly at his subordinates and alternating between English, French and Italian.
Any other day, they might have felt inclined to investigate, but not today.
They finished Route Fifteen, again, in very good time, and arrived at a way station with an elevator stretching up high into the sky, hugging the wall of rock that marked out yet another of the cliff faces that seemed prevalent in the area.
It was only mid-afternoon, and so after a quick breather at the way station – which at that point was entirely deserted, they boarded the elevator up to the Marvelous Bridge.
The elevator ascended to its maximum height within minutes. Exiting it, they discovered one interpretation as to how the Marvelous Bridge received its name.
Strictly speaking, the bridge was named for the masterful feats of engineering that were required to build, raise it and connect it to each side with the impressive elevators. It was the most recently constructed of Unova's various bridges, and thus received the latest in technological advancements – deemed marvels, and hence the name.
The most common alternate interpretation, however, relates to the view.
Most of the time, the bridge would be sheathed in the same fog that so often consumes the surrounding routes, a problem exacerbated by its comparative height.
Some of the time, the fog would clear, and the sun would shine through.
Such a time just so happened to occur as Ash and the others disembarked from the elevator, forcing them to briefly shield their unadjusted eyes from the glowing warmth.
They moved onto the bridge to begin crossing it and gasped at the sight that they were able to behold. The water below glistened in the beautiful sun, glimmering with a shine that only such illumination could provide. Iris pointed out a number of water-type Pokémon sunning themselves at the surface of the water, Mantine and Basculin in particular taking in as much of the rare sunlight as they could from their current position.
It was a sight to cheer the soul, and it helped them to forget their problems for just a little while, however fleeting that time might have been.
As they reached the middle of the bridge they were able to pause again to take in another majestic sight – the cliffs on either side towering powerfully over the water, but still eclipsed by the construct over which they stood.
They were in no hurry to get off the bridge, until the fog rolled in once more, as quickly as it had disappeared, and it became very difficult to see through the mist. They carefully made their forward to the opposite elevator, intent on staying close to the middle of the bridge and sticking together, and they fortunately succeeded.
The descending trip in this elevator passed even more quickly than the ascending one had – or at least it felt like it had. The way station at the bottom of the west-side also happened to be inhabited, an old couple temporarily staying there until they could meet up with their friends and travel eastbound across the bridge.
The couple turned out to be very willing and very able to tell long stories, and delayed the group nearly over an hour with a tale of Unovan mythology, until Ash and Iris, desperate with boredom, hatched an escape plan. They excused themselves with requests for a bathroom break, and then as soon as they were out of the line of sight of their two "captors", motioned for the others to follow as soon as they could.
Ten minutes later, they lamented the loss of such time to such a pointless cause as late afternoon set in and they began the trek into the lengthy – and still very misty – Route Sixteen.
They didn't make it far in the time that they had remaining in the night. Iris began complaining of exhaustion long before the sun began to set, and given her physical condition being as good as it was, it meant that the others had also been fighting off the relentless advance of sleep for some time too, and so were in no particular mood to argue. They set up camp off the road around the middle of Route Sixteen, and jumped into their tents or sleeping bags for a good early night's sleep.
Their sleep might have been interrupted by the still-present nagging concerns that they all carried, but, just for tonight, they were too tired to ponder them, and all fell asleep relatively quickly.
Those concerns were saved for another day.
The next day was more for productive, and they technically covered more ground - if ground covered in an aeroplane counts towards such a running total.
The remainder of Route Sixteen took little time to finish, and after a light breakfast and an hour's walk they had reached the outskirts of Nimbasa City, the Ferris Wheel first to be spotted.
Pokémon in this area were few and far between and mostly kept to himself, though a few Fearow and their flocks of Spearow could be seen dominating the occasional tree that emerged from the mist.
Some of the group had shown signs that a bit more sleep had been all that they had required in order to return to normal. Cilan, for example, had begun a retrospective on the Marvelous Bridge that they had crossed the day before, leading Iris to sarcastically ask if he was a bridge connoisseur in addition to his many other passions, and, if so, why he had waited so long to inform them of such an interest, and why he had not bored them the day before with the many facts that he knew.
Cilan responded that it fell he was not a bridge connoisseur, but the last bridge that they had crossed fell under his interest in engineering and he had been hoping for all of the journey to get a chance to see it.
Cameron chipped in by reminding Iris that she frequently espoused the virtues of Dragon-type Pokémon to everyone else, so she was hardly in a position to complain about someone interested in something. This renewed their running rivalry, and they spent the subsequent hours glaring at each other, as if waiting for the other to make a comment that could be jumped upon.
As for Iris' last remark, even she knew why he had waited a day to talk about it.
Ash, Cynthia and Dawn remained very quiet throughout that morning. Such behaviour was hardly unusual for Cynthia, thought even her introspective seemed to have completely consumed her attention this morning. For Ash and Dawn to be so lost in thought was very unusual, however, and Cilan and Iris quietly but jointly resolved to get to the bottom of it at the most appropriate time – but soon, nonetheless. Pikachu and Piplup, for their part, could tell that their trainers were uncommonly muted, and behaved similarly themselves.
If nothing else, the journey to Kanto would be a little dull if two of the group didn't say a single word.
They arrived in Nimbasa City in the early morning, and immediately ventured into the Subway to head to the Pokémon centre. Cilan hoped to see Ingo and Emmet again, but whether by luck or by timing, he was denied the opportunity. He contented himself with gazing happily out of the subway car window at the other passing trains, to Iris' despair and the onlookers' despair.
As usual, the subway was expedient and they trudged into the Pokémon centre in no time. They handed their Pokémon over to Nurse Joy for a quick check-up, though, thanks to Gallade's Heal Pulse, none had injuries that were of particular concern. They bought lunch to give Cilan a break from cooking for six, which had been difficult even with everyone chipping in.
Everyone ate with gusto, including Ash, whose sudden guardedness did at least not appear to have dented his appetite to any noticeable extent.
After lunch, they collected their Pokémon and departed the centre. Cynthia led the way through bustling city streets to the quieter suburbs of the outer, south-western Nimbasa City, and area that Ash, Cilan and Iris had not visited during their original stay.
They might well have had time for a quick trip around the fairground, the Big Stadium or the Small Court; or even the musical hall, but no-one bothered to suggest it. All had experienced them before, and, again, it just didn't seem an appropriate time for such merriment.
Nimbasa City was famed as the "entertainment capital" of Unova, and from the list of the above attractions being only the tip of the iceberg, this was certainly the case. What far fewer people knew about Nimbasa was that it possessed a fully functioning, if scarcely used, civilian airfield.
This was their destination in Nimbasa City today. Cynthia, while making the arrangements in Undella Town, had hired a private plane to be waiting for the six of them when they arrived, which was the reason that they had travelled west instead of returning northeast.
Dawn and Iris in particular praised Cynthia for her foresight; this would undoubtedly shorten the journey to Mistralton City's commercial airfield to a fraction of its original length. The group boarded the comfortable aircraft, welcomed by a surly, heavily tattooed man, who identified himself gruffly as their pilot for the flight, and gave his name only as Bill. Soon they were in the air, soaring high in the sky over the Nimbasa's city centre, then in the space between the Big Stadium and the Small Court and then above the cloud level, flying north over vast forests towards Mistralton.
The flight took two hours and was uneventful in the extreme, and continued what had been an extremely tame two days in terms of action, but after the difficulties in saying goodbye to Meloetta at the plateau, a short period of calm was entirely welcome to the group.
They encountered few Pokémon in the sky, with only one such incident of note actually occurring.
"Ooh! I think that's an Altaria!" Iris broke nearly thirty minutes of uninterrupted silence, pointing out the window at a strangely shaped cloud.
Across the other side of the plane, Cameron cursed and handed Cynthia a Poké dollar, who smirked as she accepted it with an air of triumph.
"I'm serious, you guys! I'm going to try to catch one!"
"How… Are you going to do that?" Ash enquired. "We're in the plane…"
"Ugh, not now, of course!" Iris' face screwed up in frustration and she crossed her arms. "I'm going to catch one later! You're such a kid!"
The rest of the flight passed in silence until they landed – rather precariously – at the end of the Mistralton airstrip marked out for civilian flights. They disembarked quickly, waved off by Bill, who hadn't stopped grinning toothily after Cynthia had kindly tipped him for his trouble.
Cynthia offered to be the one to buy the tickets for an evening flight to Kanto, and Cameron decided to accompany her. This left Ash, Cilan, Dawn and Iris to wander the city for a little while and gave them a chance to tie up loose ends.
"Are you sure about this, Ash?" Professor Juniper asked him, her expression betraying little more than interested curiosity. "I don't mind doing it, of course, but…"
"Yes, sorry Professor, I'm pretty sure."
"It's no problem, don't worry. I'll make the necessary arrangements." She tapped a few keys on her computer, filing away the task for later. "I guess that means your journey in Unova is over for now?"
"Yeah, I need to return to Kanto for a couple of months, but I'll be back in time for the Unova League conference."
"Well, that's good to know." She smiled. "Good luck, Ash, and tell the others I wished them well too."
"I will. Thanks, Professor. Bye." Ash shut off the link and sighed.
They had immediately made for the Pokémon centre upon splitting up, as Ash needed to request that Professor Juniper send the four of his Pokémon that she had at her lab – Unfezant, Pignite, Palpitoad and Scraggy – to Professor Oak, as he had no idea when exactly he would be returning to Unova before the league in just under three months' time. He still had two calls to place, though.
First, he called home, and told his mom that he would be returning very shortly home. Her joy at such a prospect was matched only by her happiness that he had actually remembered to call her first for once instead of Professor Oak – something that he could only smile weakly in response to.
Having done so, he then called Professor Oak to tell him that he would be visiting.
Professor Oak didn't answer, however. Someone else did.
"Ash!"
"Tracey!" Ash's face broke out into a genuine smile, the first for nearly a day. "It's good to see you!"
"Same, even if it is only via the video link. And hello Pikachu, too!" Tracey also sported a wide smile at the occasion of seeing a good friend once more. "How've you been?"
"Pretty good, I got all the Unova badges just over a week ago."
"That's brilliant!"
"How about you?"
"Not too bad, thanks. Things have been pretty normal around here lately."
Lucky for some…
"Is that Ash I hear?" Professor Oak's voice sounded distant through the link, but increased in clarity as he walked closer. He appeared in the view of the screen and smiled. "Ash! It is you. It's been too long, my young friend! And there's Pikachu, too!"
"Pika pika!
"It has, Professor. Tracey and I were just catching up."
"That's good to hear. So, to what situation do we owe the honour of a call?"
Ash explained – briefly - about the upheaval in Unova, and why he would shortly be returning to Kanto, because of what Cameron had asked him to do.
"That's pretty much it, Professor. Professor Juniper said that the Poké balls should arrive through the link sometime tomorrow morning."
"That's no problem, Ash, we'll be sure to keep an eye out for them." Oak said, but, like Ash, neither he nor Tracey was smiling at this point. "The rest of what you've said worries me, however. If there's a chance for Unova to fall into chaos, well…"
"Out least you guys will be out of the area while it calms down." Tracey commented.
"Unless this stone that Ash now possesses draws them to pursue him here…" Oak pointed out grimly. They were all silent for several moments, absorbing the weight of such a terrible possibility.
"Maybe I shouldn't…" Ash began, but Oak cut him off.
"No, don't worry. I think they'd have stopped you by now if they were going to try anything; if anyone wanted the stone that badly they've had several days to try to get it from you – before you left the region. Tell Cameron that I'll take a look at the stone when you arrive."
"Okay. Thanks, Professor."
"No problem. We'll see you in a few days." Tracey smiled and waved at Ash, then moved off camera. "We look forward to meeting your friends in person, too."
Ash reciprocated the pleasantries and cut the call, then looked over to Dawn, who had been sitting patiently across from him the entire time, cradling Piplup as she always did.
"All done?"
"Done." He replied, moving out of the seat and allowing her to sit down. "All yours."
"Thanks. Pity they only have one working videophone…" She grumbled. "Time to call my mom too, I guess." She hesitated. "You… can go on, if you want. Cilan and Iris are still waiting downstairs."
"Nah, I'll stay here if you're okay with that. Keep you company." He took up her previous seat, allowing Pikachu back onto his shoulder.
Dawn smiled at him, a motion that she too had hardly had the chance to adopt for a few days.
"Thanks, Ash."
Sometime later, they had another chance to explore the few shops that Mistralton City had to offer, and, in Ash's case, pick up something to bring home as a souvenir.
Buying something like this wasn't something that he normally would do. The souvenirs that he would normally end up bringing up would usually be gifts; Misty's lure -though he still kept that one on him, given its usefulness – and the wooden Teddiursa that May had given him, to name just two. Either that or they would be items that held some sentimental value to his journey.
But from this journey, one that had been so short and so unlike the others… He wanted something to mark that irregularity. And what better way to do so than by doing something irregular to obtain one?
He was, therefore, understandably poor at deciding what to buy. And it wasn't like the shops had a great deal of stock to begin with, anyway…
Iris was of little help, muttering something about how souvenirs in general were for little kids.
Fortunately, Cilan and Dawn were on hand to help. Iris promptly dubbed Cilan a "small shop connoisseur", an assessment which seemed highly accurate given the impressive amount of information he was immediately able to pull up on Mistralton's meagre shopping facilities.
Dawn, meanwhile, possessed an uncanny level of skill at detecting value for money and the level of effort and quality design put into making practically anything you could find in such a place.
The two found it difficult to agree on what an appropriate combination of thrift – provided by Cilan – and quality actually looked like, and it took them a while to do so, leaving Ash completely bewildered in the meantime.
That was how Ash came to purchase a crystalline figurine of a Chandelure. The vendor had informed them that the material was inexpensive, but looked close enough to convince any casual observer that it was anything but that. Dawn seemed inclined to disagree, but grudgingly admitted that it would be an adequate given Ash's budget, while being duly restrained by Cilan from speaking out further.
That conversation continued down the road, the bemused pair of Ash and Iris trailing behind as they made their way back in the direction of the Pokémon centre.
"That was a reputable low-budget jeweller!"
"Whatever. I'm still not sure just how- woah!" Dawn was bowled over by an oncoming object mid-sentence, sending Piplup flying – and squealing – into Iris' hands.
The object turned out to be a person.
"Sorry, sorry!" The girl apologised profusely, helping the stunned Dawn up off the floor. "Sorry, I didn't see you coming, I-"
"Bianca!" Iris cried.
Bianca turned and beamed at the trio that she was familiar with.
"Iris! Ash, Cilan!" She shouted, letting go of Dawn by accident in her excitement and dropping her to the ground with a thud. "I didn't know you were all here!"
"We only just got here." Iris said. "Just passing through."
"Oh, I see, I knew you'd already obtained it, Ash, so that made me wonder why…"
"It?" Ash asked, confused.
"The gym badge, of course!" Bianca replied, unclipping her badge case and opening it. "I just need two badges, so I'll be heading to Icirrus City if I can get Skyla's…"
"Oh, cool! You're so close now." Cilan complimented.
"Anyone mind introducing me?" Dawn put in, having moved to stand beside Bianca.
"Oh, you're one of Ash's friends! I'm so sorry, I kinda get excited sometimes and rush around. Nice to meet you, how you do?" Bianca shook her hand. Bianca's rapid fire, animated delivery was a little too fast for Dawn.
"Bianca; this is Dawn, one of our friends from Sinnoh." Ash explained. "Dawn, this is Bianca, one of our friends in this region."
"Heh, nice to meet you."
"So, why are you guys here then?" Bianca's boundless curiosity returned with a vengeance, but at least she was able to talk while they made their way back to the Pokémon centre. "I mean, I thought you'd still be in the east waiting for the Junior Cup, it was a shame I couldn't make it up there but I only had three months to go til the league so I wanted to be safe… I mean, I heard that the cup was called off and all because of the stuff that happened in Victory Road, but…"
"We're... Uh… Catching a plane." Cilan managed to put in.
"A plane? Where to?"
"Kanto." Iris revealed succinctly. Bianca's jaw dropped.
"Kanto?! You're all leaving Unova?! Why? But, the league's so soon! Aren't you competing? Although I guess that you could go and come back, but…"
"We've got a couple of… things to do in Kanto, unfortunately." Dawn interrupted this time.
"Don't worry, I won't be missing the league." Ash reassured her.
Bianca seemed a little calmer for this, but still seemed a little sad.
"Aww, I'll miss you guys." She pouted. "But I guess it's okay if you're coming back. I- Oh my gosh! Plushies!" Her eye had caught onto a vast selection of stuffed toy Pokémon arrayed in a shop window, and, abandoning everything else, she sprinted inside the store.
"Wow. Talk about attention-" Iris made it halfway through her sentence…
"Plushies! I love plushies!" Dawn gasped and followed Bianca inside at the same speed. The others sighed and did the same.
Nearly an hour later, Bianca and Dawn emerged from the shop, each carrying a bag full of new soft toys, chatting and comparing happily; Dawn supporting Piplup in her other hand. The others again followed behind. Cilan had bought one of each of his current team; Iris had settled only for an Axew. Ash bought a Mr. Mime and had intended to buy a Pikachu as well, but a few well-timed sparks and an angry look from the real thing dissuaded him.
Pikachu didn't want that kind of competition.
"Now that that's done, let's go back to the Pokémon centre." Cilan suggested.
"Wait wait, can you guys come with me and watch my gym battle?" Bianca pleaded, her hands together. "I mean, if you haven't got anything else to do and-"
"Sure, I don't see why not." Iris cut her off quickly. Bianca beamed happily again.
Reaching the gym took very little time, considering Mistralton's size – or lack thereof. At the other end of the high-street, practically opposite the Pokémon centre and not far from the airstrip, lay the Mistralton gym.
Indeed, they even found Skyla straight away. She was standing outside the gym and looking up at the sign.
"I don't know…" She was muttering. "Maybe we could do with a change of colour after all…"
"Skyla!" Ash's greeting broke her out of her reverie.
"Ash, Cilan, Iris!" She shouted back, happy to see familiar faces as they greeted her in return. "It's been a little while, hasn't it? What brings you to Mistralton?"
"Just passing through." Iris repeated what she had told Bianca. "However, Bianca here…"
"Gym Leader Skyla, I'd like to challenge you for a badge, if I may." Bianca said, putting a hint of determination into her voice.
"I'd love to accept your challenge." Skyla replied sweetly, tossing a stray strand of red hair out of her eyes. "But I can't. I'm afraid the gym is closed."
"Not more air battles?" Ash asked crossly.
"Nah." Skyla winked at him. "Don't worry, I've learned my lesson. The last battle I had against a trainer with a Klingklang kind of… wrecked the gym a little. Blasted a hole in the roof and destroyed half the battlefield, so the gym'll be closed for about a week for repairs."
"A week? Aww…" Bianca sighed.
Skyla apologised. After a few more introductions and general conversation they departed for the Pokémon centre again, Skyla waving them off.
Dinner that night was on Cameron, primarily in gratitude for the favour that they were performing for him. Ash convinced him to include Bianca in the group as well.
Cynthia informed everyone that their tickets had been booked for the last flight of the evening, and that they would need to be at the airport within an hour of finishing their meal. Bianca sullenly realised that this meant that the others would miss her gym battle; Ash, Cilan, Dawn and Iris apologised, but wished her the best of luck and encouraged her to succeed.
Everyone was a little more talkative, a little more relaxed at this gathering than they had been for some time. Bianca had been a factor that went some way towards helping there. Given that she seemed incapable of staying quiet unless being talked to by someone else, she was able to keep several conversations going all by herself, particularly with Dawn, with whom she seemed to be kindred spirits. Ash also remembered to ask Bianca to let Trip, Stephan, Luke, Georgia – or even Burgundy, as Cilan pointed out – know, if they asked, where the group had gone until the Pokémon league. Bianca happily resolved to do so if she encountered them again.
They finished their food sated and a little more heartened by their renewed companionship. A little later, they left the Pokémon centre carrying their now-very full bags to the airport, arriving with fifteen minutes to spare.
Mistralton Airport differed from most worldwide commercial airports by having limited security; one luggage scan and that was it. Nothing in the cases of the five set off the alarm and so they were free to continue. Cameron and Bianca could also accompany them onto the tarmac, but, lacking tickets, could obviously not board the plane.
Whether or not such security would tighten in subsequent months as the fallout spread from Team Plasma's attack on the Pokémon League remained to be seen.
Cynthia and Cameron spoke privately one last time before their departure, while the others said their goodbyes to Bianca. The contents of the formers' conversation remained a mystery to Ash and the others, conducted in guarded whispers as it was, but it ended with the champion of Sinnoh and the former champion of Unova involved in a long, friendly, hug.
Then, with one last shared goodbye, Ash, Cilan, Cynthia, Dawn and Iris boarded the plane and took their seats. Five minutes later, they waved out of the window at the forms of Bianca and Cameron as they stood in the shadow of the terminal in the distance, as the plane took off and soared into the sky.
"So…" Bianca began, as she and Cameron walked back to the Pokémon centre. "Want to battle tomorrow? Do you have any Pokémon on you, anyway? Ooh, what kinds?"
"Sure." Cameron shrugged. "I'm not in much of a hurry."
The journey to Kanto by plane was a very, very long one and subsequently took a very, very long amount of time. Their arrival time was estimated at seven the following morning.
For many years, most had deemed such a trip impossible, an exercise in futility at best and a suicidal engagement at worst. In very recent times, barely a hundred years before, a few daring pioneers had proven the naysayers wrong by performing trans-ocean flights between Sinnoh and the other regions. Particularly famed for its difficulty – connected to its sheer distance – was the first flight between Unova and Johto.
Nowadays such trips were comparatively easy to make, but still took extensive amounts of time to finish.
The wait gave them a chance to sleep, but sleep came reluctantly to everyone but Iris, who was out like a light an hour after the plane took off. Instead, they had a chance to finally, properly reflect on the events of the days before.
Cilan's concerns related solely to the future, however. Although his situation was akin to Iris'; neither had been out of their home region ever before; she seemed to take the opportunity of breaking new ground in stride; new opportunities to be found and such, whereas he… still had doubts.
Sure, he'd seen a lot of new places and met a lot of new people and Pokémon across his travels with Ash, but he'd still been in Unova; he had still been able to compare everything to what he knew, and call upon his practically encyclopaedic knowledge of the region to help his friends.
Sure, he knew a little about Kanto and the other regions…
But not a lot.
In the end, several hours later, he simply resolved to learn, research and do what he could to help in this strange new world. He took some comfort in knowing that Ash, on his travels, had done so before several times, and had come out fine.
Dawn's problems, on the other hand, had a lot less to do with Kanto itself and a lot more to do with the raven-haired trainer sitting next to her, also deep in thought.
Sure, she was nervous too about visiting Ash's house… She wondered if he had felt the same when he and Brock had come to visit her in Twinleaf Town.
She still wasn't exactly sure how she felt about him, but it was certainly different about how she felt about some of her other friends, say, Cilan, or, perhaps as a better example, Brock, who she had known for as long as Ash.
Sometimes she just couldn't stop staring at Ash until he would turn around, and then she would catch herself and turn too, often with her face flushed red, avoiding any embarrassment.
She was blushing now, too, and felt fortunate that he was too absorbed in whatever he was thinking about to notice, and that both Pikachu and Piplup were sleeping on their trainers' laps.
Her catchphrase didn't seem to apply much anymore; she seemed to be worrying a lot.
Eventually, though, the time spent mulling her thoughts over in the plane turned out to be beneficial, as the darkness of the night outside melted once more into the earliest rays of sunshine over the ocean below.
She still wasn't sure, but resolved not to fret about Ash and how she felt about him. She would enjoy the vacation, enjoy the chance to travel with him once again and enjoy the chance to finally see his home town.
No need to worry.
Ash, on the other hand, arguably had the most layered concerns.
First, and most recently, he still held the slightest worry that he might draw attention to his quaint little home town by bringing the stone to Professor Oak.
He moved his fingers across its etched surface for what must have been the hundredth time, feeling the reassuringly familiar grooves again and again.
This concern was easy to dismiss. The Professor had probably been correct; if they had really wanted to retrieve the stone, they would have done so before he had left for Kanto.
Second, and by no means as easy to evade, were the worries that the struggle over Meloetta's freedom had created.
He was no longer worried for Meloetta's safety; he trusted the Alakazam and the Gallade, and knew that they would protect Meloetta for as long as it remained there.
No. He worried about his own recklessness, and how, once again, it had put himself and – more importantly - his friends, into a trap.
A trap that would have been so easy to avoid. The first wave of Pokémon that they had sent out would probably have been enough to deal with Team Rocket had they not used such dirty tactics, and even if they had still persisted, the psychic, dark and ghost-types would then have had a much easier job clearing the way to rescue Meloetta.
Sure, it had all worked out in the end. But he had caused the problem in the first place, and it hurt to realise that – and to realise that similar events had happened so many times before across the years.
Ash resolved, finally, to be less reckless, more careful on the road to his final goal, like he should have started to be many years ago. Hadn't Brandon warned him, during his challenge of the Battle Frontier? He hadn't properly listened then, but this time his failure stuck in his mind like an arrow in his head. Not that he had any experience of such circumstances.
I'm not going to fail this time. I will think harder. I will try harder. For my friends…
Third, and finally, were the nagging feelings that he could not, try as he might, banish. Feelings about one person in particular.
Feelings about one girl in particular.
Cynthia, meanwhile, had worries too. Worries that she had to keep from all of the others, because of how much more she knew than the others…
Five days earlier…
Cynthia simply stared at her friend, who was barely through her doorway and had already dropped a bombshell of news, unable to believe what he had told her.
"No… The Pokémon League… Alder... They can't have…"
"I'm sorry, but it's the truth." Cameron offered sympathetically. He winced as the wound in his leg caused a pain reaction in his nerves again.
"What… do we do?" She whispered, trying to recover.
"I need to talk to Ash." He said. "I came to you for help tracking him down, but if he's here, that's even better.
"Ash?" Her eyes narrowed slightly. "Why him? What do you need him for?"
"Two things." He replied, and pulled out a stone. "I need this to be delivered to Professor Oak urgently. It was taken from Plasma, and they seemed to hold it in high regard. Might be nothing, but he can get it there quickly and reliably."
"All right." She didn't entirely follow his reasoning, but motioned for him to continue. "Go on…"
"Secondly…" He paused and sighed. "Lance would like Ash to get involved in the struggle against whoever we're dealing with here. He thinks Ash – and his friends – could be the key to uncovering the whole conspiracy."
"But that plan will put them all in terrible danger, if it works at all!" She growled at her friend, whose expression seemed to be becoming unhappier by the second.
"Lance knows that." Cameron confirmed. "We know that. But I can see why Lance would want Ash's help, given his record…"
Cynthia could tell there was something else.
"And? There's still more." She said, urging him to hurry up.
"Can't get anything past you, Cyn." He stared past Cynthia through the door that she had come through. "We can't tell him."
"Tell him what?" Cynthia was momentarily wrong-footed.
"We can't tell him about what we've just talked about. Lance was very specific; he can't know what he's in for, or he might try to act, when what we need is what he does naturally."
"Since when did we champions – or ex-champions - stoop to this level of manipulation?" She barked, turning away, then shot back. "And since when did Lance start giving orders, and since when did you start following them?"
"Well, it was voted on…" He replied hesitantly. "Three in favour… with one abstention, and several absentees, including yourself."
She turned back around fully, and glared at him, while he stared sadly back at her.
"Fine." She sighed.
She began walking back to the living room where Ash, Cilan, Dawn and Iris were having lunch, Cameron following as well as he could on his injured leg.
"Politics." He heard her frustrated snarl as she reached for the door that led to the others. "Politics."
She couldn't keep the conversation – and the implications and worries it brought with it – out of her mind, no matter how hard she tried.
In the end, Cynthia resolved to do what Cameron had asked her to do last, as he broke off the hug on the Mistralton's airstrip.
"Protect them."
I will.
Hours later, as sun rose higher into the sky, they finally caught a glimpse of their destination over the horizon. Cilan and Iris fought over the window seat as Ash allowed Dawn to take his place.
"Welcome," Ash grinned as the very familiar cliffs – to him, at least – came into sight, marked with trees and other greenery. "To Kanto."
"Let your heels point you home."
- Ancient Blessing, Homeward Path, Commander