A/N:

I think that this is the first time that I have ever directly addressed the reviewers' remarks, so here goes...

Caellach Tiger Eye

I started this story before the Sinnoh League Competition had been aired in the anime. If there are any discrepancies other than that, please let me know through a private message.

xbamsod

I currently don't have any plans to bring Dawn back into the picture, if there are enough reviews requesting such, then I will gladly do so.

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As Ashley and Whitney raced through the sky on the back of Ashley's two flying types Ashley let out yells of joy and exhilaration. Whitney, on the other hand, was letting out cries of fear. She was also clinging to her Braviary's neck feathers as tight as she could, causing the Braviary to wobble in midair. Of course that did nothing whatsoever to alleviate her fear. Ashley called out to her friend "hey Whit, what's wrong?"

Whitney shouted back, "What's wrong? What's wrong you say? I'll tell you what's wrong. Humans were meant to stay on the ground, that's what's wrong with this situation."

Ashley laughed at her friends, in her opinion, irrational fear and said, "Calm down, we're almost there. See, you can see the entrance in the distance."

Sure enough, when Whitney mustered the courage to look up from Braviary's neck she say a building rising up out of the trees, causing her to sigh in relief and exclaim, "oh thank God," then she clung Braviary's feathers harder than before.

Ashley quietly commented to her Braviary "I'm surprised that your friend hasn't dropped her yet." Her Braviary nodded in agreement with his trainers statement. Ashley then said aloud, "Alright bring us down to the ground," as they reached the building that they had been aiming to get at for the past five days.

When they touched down there was an officious looking person tapping their foot on the ground, glaring at the two women. He demanded "just what do you two think you're doing?"

Ashley replied, "Trying to make it in time to register for this competition," as if it should be the most obvious thing in the world.

"Well in doing so you've probably managed to scare off most of the bug Pokémon that we have here."

"Really? That's strange. There should still be more than enough for the competition, after all the wind is blowing away from the area. It's actually more surprising that we got here in time."

"Huh?" the official asked, stunned that the, in his opinion, inferior being could actually make a solid argument.

"What're you on about," Whitney asked as she came up to the two. Seeing who was assaulting her friend Whitney said, "oh, it's you Briar."

"Whitney! I...uhh...didn't recognise you, after all, with your fear of flying and all..." the official, now identified as Briar, grudgingly said.

"Now, you were about to tell us if we were too late to register or not," Whitney stated more than asked.

"Yes well, you're just in time we were actually about to lock the doors when you came you see."

"Oh dear! Let's hurry Ashley," Whitney said, looking at her friend.

"Yeah, looks like we have to" Ashley replied.

The two women rushed through the doors of the building and to the desk and, just as they were about to close the books (read program), they simultaneously said, "we're here to register for the Bug-Catching Competition."

The registration official stopped what he was doing and looked up at them. Seeing Whitney he said "well, you're in luck then, I was just about to finalise the competitor list. Can I please have your names?"

"You should know me, Blair, it's me, Whitney."

"And I'm Ashley, Ashley Ketchum."

"Alright then," Blair said, "Whitney and Ashley..." he typed their names into the system "...there we go, all done. You two are now registered for the Bug-Catching Competition."

"Thanks," Ashley said.

"Thanks a lot Blair. What I want to know though, is why I don't see you around anymore."

"I'm sorry Whit, it's my father. You know what he's like."

Whitney sighed and said, "Yeah, I do...tell you what, after this competition is done lets go to the gym for a soda, alright?"

Blair smiled self-deprecatingly and replied "sure, if I can get off work."

As Whitney was talking to her old friend a black haired whirlwind sped up to Ashley and glomped her from behind Ashley, shocked, froze as she heard "nee-san!"

Whitney, turning to see what was causing her old friend to get a nosebleed, intelligently asked "huh?"

A blue haired girl walked up and said, "I'm sorry for my friends behaviour, but as you can see, it's been a long time since Amelia has seen her brother, or sister I suppose."

Ashley looked at the girl and asked "Michelle? Then that means that..." Ashley turned her head and, through her peripheral vision, saw a black head of hair behind her back and exclaimed "Amelia!"

Amelia let go of her sister and Ashley turned around to see her with tears in her eyes. She knelt down and brought her sister into a hug, as Amelia said "Ash...I...I..."

Ashley smiled as she rested her head against her sisters head and said "It's alright, really."

Amelia sniffed up her tears and said, "I heard what happened...so...how did it happen, really?"

"Well, Dawn did something, we're not sure what, and then I woke up like this. That's all there is to it."

"Well then it's decided."

"Huh? What's decided?"

"I'll never forgive her."

"Huh?" Whitney asked, turning to look at Michelle.

Michelle sighed and said "you need to understand, Amelia and Ash only really had each other when they were growing up, and then Ash left on his journey. Now, they meet the first time in almost three years, and Ash, well, isn't Ash anymore."

"I see. But I thought that Ashley usually stopped back in Pallet Town before setting out on her next journey."

"Yeah, but the last two times Amelia wasn't there, she was on vacation with me and my family the first time and the second time we were on a field trip to the Seafoam Islands."

"I see."

Meanwhile Ashley and Amelia had walked over to the seating area and Ashley asked "so, Amelia, how'd you go in the Indigo League?"

"Alright, I got into the Top 16 like you, but when I did I only had Beedrill, Clefable and Farfetch'd to use, the rest of them were either tired from battling or hadn't really battled with me before."

"I see, tough break, although at least you didn't lose because one of your Pokémon wouldn't obey you."

"Yeah, there is that. That was pretty funny you've got to admit."

"Yeah well I didn't think so" Ashley laughingly commented.

"No, I suppose not."

"So, are you here for the Bug-Catching Contest too sis?"

"Yeah, but I thought that it was restricted to people under the age of fourteen."

"Yeah, that used to be the case, but this year they changed it to attract more customers. Apparently the last few years there weren't really big turnouts."

"It appears as though it worked, doesn't it Ashley?" a man, sitting across from the Ketchum siblings, asked looking up from his paper.

Ashley looked up and half-asked, half-stated, "Zachariah?"

"The one and only," the Elite Four member cockily replied.

"Uhh...sis, who is this guy?" Amelia asked.

Zachariah lost his cool demeanour at receiving almost the same reaction from the younger Ketchum as he did from the elder. "Oh come on, surely at least one of you two sister would recognise me without my needing to tell you?"

"Nope, sorry Ossan" Amelia stated.

"Ossa..." Zachariah trailed off. He then shouted, "I'll have you know that I'm only 22"

"Really!" Amelia exclaimed, "I thought that you would've been older."

Zachariah raised his hand and rubbed the bridge of his nose as he complained, "the reputation of the Hoenn Elite Four has really dropped if I'm not being recognised on sight anymore."

"You're an Elite Four member?" Amelia stated derisively.

"Yeah, you got a problem with that?"

Amelia scoffed and said "you don't look like much."

As Amelia said that Michelle heard her, rushed over and bonked her on the head saying, "Jesus Amy, almost one and a half years and you still can't show the proper respect..." she then turned to Zachariah, bowed, and said "...I apologise for my friends offensive behaviour sir. Please forgive her."

"Uhh...there's no problem, really," Zachariah said, smiling and waving his hands in front of him, "I've kind of come to expect such a thing from Ashley's family. So...uh...who's this?" Zachariah asked, looking at Ashley.

"Zachariah, allow me to introduce you to my sister, Amelia," Ashley said as she pointed at her sister, "and her best friend, and coordinator, Michelle."

"Oh, you're a coordinator are you?"

"Yeah, why?"

"So I take it that you'll be competing against Ashley in the Grand Festival will you?"

"Grand Festival?" Michelle asked, looking at Zachariah as if he had a screw loose. "Why would I do a thing like that?"

"Well, isn't that your goal, the Grand Festival?"

"Yes, it is mine, but Ashley is aiming for the Johto League Championship, not the Grand Festival."

"Huh, could've fooled me."

"Huh?" Michelle and Amelia asked simultaneously.

"Well, she did a pretty good job at using contest moves against me."

The two younger girls looked accusingly at Ashley, who blushed and scratched the back of her head. Amelia demanded, "Alright, spill."

"Well, we met when I just got to the Johto Region and I battled against his Azumarill with my Gible, though in the end there was no conclusion to the battle."

"Alright, Gible against Azumarill...how is that a contest battle?"

"Hmm..." Zachariah said "...I think that they make tapes of the Pokémon Swap Meet, you'll be able to see what we're talking about if you look at the most current one."

"Well, alright" Amelia said, annoyed at the delay.

"Hey, wait a second...if I remember correctly, you said that you were from the Sinnoh Region, right Ashley?"

"Yeah. What of it?"

"Well, Amelia and Michelle are clearly from the Kanto Region."

"Yeah, and?"

"Well, how come Amelia is referring to you as her sister?"

Amelia started sweating as she stumbled over her words, searching for an explanation. Ashley though, kept a cool head and replied, "We're actually cousins on our fathers' side."

"I see. Well, alright then," Zachariah said, having the sneaking suspicion that he was being lied to.

As Ashley came up with an excuse for her and her sisters' actions a message over the buildings P.A. System, saying "Alright contestants, we will be starting to hand out the Park Balls and CSD's at the front desk."

When she heard the unfamiliar terms of 'Park Ball' and 'CSD' Amelia turned to her sister and asked, "Hey, sis, what're Park Balls and CSD's?"

"Well a Park Ball is a kind of Pokéball that is unique to the Bug Catching Competition. You'll need to check with Whitney, but I think that when your brother went through here Park Balls and CSD's were just starting to being used..."

"Why're they unique to the Bug Catching Competition?"

"Yes, why is that?" Zachariah and Michelle simultaneously asked, just as curious as Amelia was, though for vastly different reasons to Amelia's. Zachariah and Michelle only wanted to gain more knowledge than they had before whereas Amelia wanted to know what they were purely because she always wanted to know everything about an item that she was about to use before doing so.

"Well, the Park Balls work in conjunction with the CSD's to allow a trainer to capture two Pokémon with the same ball."

"But the rules of this competition clearly state that trainers may submit only one Pokémon for judging," Michelle said.

"Yes, and I would get to that if you didn't interrupt me Mikki. Now, where was I?,,,Ah yes, why're Park Balls unique to the Bug Catching Competition..."

"No!" Mikki growled at her friends sibling, you were going to tell us why you can capture two Pokémon when you can only submit one for judging."

"Ah yes...well that's where the CSD's come in. CSD, as you can probably guess, is an acronym. It stands for Capture Switch Device. The CSD allows you to discard one Pokémon in favour of another. It also allows you to view its stats, such as its attacks and its Pokédex data."

"She's right, in the past before you caught another Pokémon for judging you needed to release the one that you currently had in your Pokéball" Whitney said as she heard Ashley explaining the technology used in the competition. "Now that they have developed the CSD's you no longer need to run the risk of capturing a Pokémon and then regretting that you let the last one go before capturing the newest one."

"Hmm, so it would be safe to say that the CSD's utilise Pokémon storage technology to undertake their tasks?" Mikki asked.

"I suppose so, but if you want to know the technical details of them then you would be better off coming to the Goldenrod City Gym after the Bug Catching Competition."

"Really? Why's that?"

"Because, one of my friends is one of the caretakers of the area that we will be using for the Bug Catching Competition and he'll be coming there then."

"Wait! What are you, the Gym's cleaning lady?" Amelia asked. Whitney struggled to contain her laughter at what Amelia said and, after less than a second had passed, she burst out laughing, holding her stomach in mirth. "What? Did I say something terribly funny?"

Seeing that the gathered trainers were looking at her like she was crazy, Whitney said, "no no, it's just that Ashley asked me the exact same question when I mentioned the Goldenrod City Gym too."

Amelia looked at Ashley, who smiled, scratched the back of her head, and said "don't we need to go get those Park Balls and CSD's?" not wanting to continue down the road of the similarities between her and Amelia as had been done so many times before. The gathered trainers realised the change in subject, but decided to go along with Ashley's suggestion, as they really did need to get them anyway. They moved to the reception desk and retrieved the Park Ball's and CSD'S and went into the park. As they were the last ones to enter there was nobody in the area of the entrance when the trainers gathered. Ashley said, "Well, I'm headed this way," as she walked off directly away from the door that they had just exited.

Amelia shouted out "hey, wait up!" as she ran after her sister.

Whitney said, "Well, I'm going this way," as she indicated to the right with her thumb.

"Hey, I'll go with," Mikki said, walking after Whitney.

"Well, looks like I'm the odd one out," Zachariah commented as he moved off to the left.