Surprisingly she met up with Steven again not long after leaving Petalburg City as she and her pokémon were having lunch. He had stopped by to give her back the Gardevoirite. The Mega Stone was set into a necklace just like Absol's. Steven was proud that she did so well against Norman and won, as he was one of the tougher Gym Leaders around. Not to mention, not many trainers had 3 pokémon by the time they reached his gym from Littleroot Town. Even less managed to beat him which was why most of his matches were rematches.

Apparently, it was Roxanne that was the weakest Gym Leader in the Hoenn League and it was her job to prepare trainers for a higher level of battling. Though just because she was the weakest Gym Leader, did not mean she was actually weak. She taught young children at a pokémon trainer school and thus was quite resourceful when battling.

Then Hariel showed him the pass she had gotten from the supermarket.

"The Annual Festival at Cameron Palace? This is all the way in the Kanto Region!" Steven said with surprise. "But then again, this is a free ride there, though I'm not sure about the ride back."

"That's okay. I can just book a flight or something back," Hariel shrugged, "I just want to make the most of my journey, and I won't be participating in the Ever Grande Conference for another 8 months anyways, which means I have plenty of time."

"I see," Steven nodded. He had almost forgotten that Hariel had started her journey late. "Well then, would you like some company?"

"Huh? But aren't you busy? You are the champion and the heir to the Devon Corporation," Hariel revealed with a slight smirk.

Steven rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.

"You found out huh?"

"How many other silver-haired men have a Shiny Metagross?" Hariel asked, shrugged, "Besides, I only knew after I saw you on the front of one of those trainer magazines while waiting in the checkout line at the supermarket."

"You're not mad that I never told you, right?" Steven asked in a slightly nervous tone.

He didn't want the only woman he was currently interested in to be angry at him!

"What? Of course not," Hariel said truthfully.

There was nothing to hide as it was common knowledge amongst most people in Hoenn and even if Steven had told her outright, she probably would have thought he was bragging or something.

"That's a relief," Steven said with a sigh.

"I mean, it's not like I've been completely forthcoming about my background either," Hariel shrugged.

"Your background?" Steven asked curiously, pausing with a spoon of delicious stew halfway up to his mouth.

"My family was old money," Hariel confessed, telling the truth about background for once, "I've come from a long line of witches and wizards, though the modern populace call them psychics now."

"You're a Psychic?" Steven asked, wide eyed.

Hariel winked at him and had the spoon scoop up some stew from her bowl and feed it to her without the use of her hands. Steven blinked at the sight before looking at her with awe.

"That was how I was about to find the Mega stones to be honest. I could sense their strange power along with other evolution stones," Hariel confessed.

"I had wondered about that. I had explored that cave many times and never had I found 2 Mega Stones at once," Steven revealed.

"Kirlia actually first came to me because she was attracted to my psychic powers," Hariel said, gesturing to the Shiny pokémon who was happily conversing with Milotic as they ate lunch together.

"Interesting," Steven mused.

"But yes, it'd be great to have you with me during the festival," Hariel said with a slight blush.

"Great, it's a date!" Steven said happily.

Hariel blinked at the word "date" but it looked like Steven wouldn't take no for an answer.

Though…she had never been on a real date before…

It sounded rather exciting.

"A date huh? Sounds good to me," Hariel decided.

Steven looked at her with relief and happiness as his cheeks pinked slightly in delight.

Luckily, Steven had a bit of free time on his hands and was taking a small break from his duties as a Corporation Heir and Champion. Thus, he was able to travel with her for a bit even as they neared Rinshin Town on the way to Rustboro city.

He was able to give great tips on how to increase her pokémon's endurance as he specialized in Steel type pokémon, whom of which were famous for their endurance and high levels of defense.

His Metagross was able to take multiple Shadow Claws from Absol and Flamethrowers from Charmander without even breaking much of a sweat…if at all.

Then again, Steven had been with his Metagross for about 15 years now, so of course the pokémon was ridiculously strong. He had earned his Champion title for a reason. Thanks to being the best friend of a great trainer who specialized in Water type pokémon, Steven was even able to coach Milotic on how to use Scald.

Hariel had taken to pokémon training and care exceptionally well, Steven had thought.

He watched as she brushed Absol's fur, making it shine to perfection without a single tangle or odd tuft in sight. She also paid special attention to gently polish Absol's sensitive horn as well as clean his paws of dirt and debris every night. Absol certainly enjoyed the treatment and was content to lie on a sleeping mat that the pokémon used to sleep outside at night as she meticulously cleaned his paws and claws. Certainly Hariel's Absol was utterly gorgeous; a sure winner in Contests if she ever decided to try out and enter. It would be the same with Milotic.

Luxray's fur shined as well, as he had gotten the royal grooming treatment just minutes before. Charmander and Milotic also had their own scales polished to perfection and Kirlia was content to bathe herself in a basin of hot and soapy water.

Steven smiled when he Hariel glow with happiness as her pokémon nuzzled her in thanks.

It had taken quite a bit of time to get to Rustboro City, and she wanted to stock back up on supplies before she headed to the port where the plane ride to Kanto would be.

She had gone through quite a bit of food, medicine, and loads of Moo Moo Milk due to Absol's and Luxray's love for the stuff. If the drink wasn't so healthy for them, she would have tried to use the drink as a treat incentive rather than an accompaniment of breakfast and dinner. For lunch she had them drink berry juice instead and during breaks it was strictly water. She took to keeping their healthy diet very seriously as she still had horrible memories of Dudley stuffing his face and becoming fatter and fatter as the years passed by. Thank goodness he had taken to boxing to turn some of that fat into muscle otherwise he would have turned into a whale like Uncle Vernon.

With their perfect waste management structures (everything they ate and drank was converted into energy to create their attacks) she didn't have to clean up after them.

After making more supplies purchases along with refilling her drink capsules, she headed to the port where Steven was supposed to meet up with her. He had left a little over a week before to take care of some errands.

"Hariel, over here!" Steven called out, wearing his usual dark suite and red cravat.

Hariel smiled and she and Absol jogged over.

Unfortunately for Absol, he had to go into his pokéball as only small pokémon were allowed out on the flight.

Hariel and Steven talked about various things during the flight. The man had gotten his pass through the same supermarket and donated his purchases to a local orphanage. The children were thrilled to meet the champion and play with his pokémon, not to mention eat all the berries and play with the toys he had bought.

Hariel thought it was a nice gesture.

The two got closer on their flight before they soon landed just on the side of the large lake where Cameron Palace was situated on a large island right in the center.

"There it is!" Hariel said with awe.

The Cameron Palace reminded her of the grandness of Hogwarts, her first real home.

Once they got off the plane, Hariel released Absol from his ball and grabbed Steven's hand, practically dragging the Champion over to the great bridge while buzzing with excitement.

Steven laughed and allowed himself to be dragged. He couldn't help but think how warm Hariel's hand was and how perfectly it fit into his own he subtly laced their fingers together.

The festival was already in full swing. Children were running everywhere with their parents indulgently following after them, vendors were advertising their goods and souvenirs, food stalls were diligently completing orders from customers while simultaneously advertising their stalls with the use of wonderful smells, people playing at the game booths, and trainers were either talking to each other or even battling it out in designated areas.

Hariel wasn't the only one in awe. Absol was taking in the sights with wide eyes as well, and Steven looked much more relaxed than usual.

"Flare Flareon!"

"Huh?" Hariel turned to see a Flareon run at her with hearts in its eyes…or rather at Absol.

Steven chuckled slightly at the look of complete bafflement and uncertainty on Absol's normally stoic face when the female Flareon started cuddle up against him with love struck eyes.

"Uhh…" Hariel was at a loss of what to do and so was Absol.

It was clear that Absol was not interested in Flareon.

How funny that humans could not always tell gender right away yet with pokémon it was instinct, and that pokémon could like other species of pokémon and even breed with them, though the egg always turned out to be the same species as the mother.

"I'm so sorry about Flareon, she just ran off on me!" a young man said, panting as he ran over before getting a good glimpse at Hariel, "Well hello, gorgeous!"

The young man had light brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, and was decently good looking. Nothing outstanding like Steven however.

"Umm…" Hariel backed away from the young man who seemed determined to invade her personal space and grabbed onto Steven's arm.

Steven looked slightly annoyed at the sight of the young man trying to horrendously flirt with his date, but couldn't stifle a spark of amusement when Hariel quickly backed away from the stranger and hugged the Champion's arm instead.

"Oh…let's go Flareon," the man said with clear disappointment.

Flareon wasn't keen on leaving, but the man returned her to her pokéball and that was the end of that.

"That was strange…" Hariel said with Absol nodding in agreement.

"Stay close if you want to use me as a meat shield for strangers," Steven teased.

Hariel gave Steven a flat look but smiled none the less, intertwining their fingers once again as the Champion led them over to the souvenir stalls.

Steven and Hariel both thoroughly enjoyed their date as they tried new foods, browsed through the souvenir stalls, and took pictures of things that caught their eye.

When the sun set just after dinner, the many of the festival goers were starting to head back home or to their respective hotels back across the bridge. Tomorrow was a pokémon tournament and the winner would be crowned Hero of the Year.

The tournament required you to wear renaissance costumes. Though spectators were allowed to borrow and wear them as well.

Steven opted out of the tournament as he was a Champion, it would be unfair to compete as he would most likely win. Hariel offered to let him borrow one of her own pokémon, but Steven stated that he would rather watch her battle in her lovely dress.

Hariel had chosen a brilliant emerald green gown and with a bit of magic, she had sized it to fit her better. She had even gotten Steven to dress up with her and had picked out a nice dark medieval suit with a black feathered hat.

"You look so handsome!" Hariel grinned and promptly took a picture of him.

Steven smiled and took the complement with grace, "And you look stunning as well."

Hariel glowed and kissed his cheek before more people came into the room.

It was a dark haired boy with a Pikachu, a girl with a bandanna, a small boy with large green glasses, and a teen with dark skin.

As soon as the teen saw her, hearts appeared in the place of his slit eyes.

"Oh my fair princess, you are a dream come—ACK!" the teen was suddenly dragged off by the ear by the small boy with glasses.

"And your dream has come to an end!" the boy grounded out, sounding like he had done this every other day.

"Hello there, oh, what's that pokémon?" Hariel asked and pulled out her pokédex, completely ignoring the commotion.

"Pikachu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pichu. Pikachu can help other Pikachu who are feeling weak by sharing its electric current."

"It's nice to meet you, my name is Ash Ketchum, from Pallet Town," the boy with the Pikachu said.

"I'm Max," said the youngest boy.

"Brock," the dark skinned teen said once he had gotten himself back together.

"And I'm May," the girl said.

"Whoa, cool pokémon," Ash said, looking at Absol and pulled out his pokédex as well.

"Absol, the Disaster Pokémon. Absol live in steep mountainous regions, and rarely venture down into areas inhabited by humans, but should an Absol be seen by humans, it is said that catastrophe is soon to follow."

"Don't worry about that, it's just a myth," Hariel refuted as she took in the apprehensive looks on the group's face, "Absol actually can sense the subtle changes in the land and sky with his horn, and he tries to warn nearby settlements about incoming natural disasters. However, this has the unfortunate effect of mislabeling Absol as a doom bringer."

Honestly, Absol of this dimension were reminiscent of black cats in her dimension.

"That's amazing," Ash said, looking awed.

The group looked relieved at such a logical explanation.

"Pika Pikachu!" Pikachu greeted with a friendly smile.

"Absol," Absol nodded in greeting as well.

"Forgive me, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm Hariel Evans."

"Ash, it's been a while. How have you been?" Steven asked politely as he joined the conversation.

"Steven!" the group chorused with happiness.

"Wow Steven, I heard you made were made the Champion of the Hoenn League a few months ago!" Max said with starry eyes.

"Oh, you've met before?" Hariel asked curiously.

"We can talk more after the tournament. It's starting soon, isn't it?" Steven asked, gesturing at the clock in the corner of the room.

The group then hurried into their costumes, even dressing up Pikachu as a tiny jester.

Steven stood with Max, May, and Brock on the sidelines as the crowd cheered.

"Presenting her royal majesty, the illustrious ruler of Cameron Palace, Lady Ilene!"

From the top balcony stepped out a beautiful woman in a pink gown. She had long pale blonde hair and fair skin, and was holding an adorable Mime Jr. in her arms.

"And now, in honour of Sir Aaron and his noble deeds, we will begin our annual pokémon contest!" the Queen announced, much to the delight of the crowd and townsfolk.

Brock, May, Max, and Steven cheered for both Hariel and Ash as they continued on through the tournament.

Trainers were only allowed to use one pokémon throughout the tournament in 1 vs 1 battles.

Ash was using his Pikachu while Hariel used Absol.

Throughout the tournament, Hariel had ignored the crowd as best she could. Stage fright still affected her on an occasion. It wasn't like Quidditch where people were watching the whole team. Now people watched both you and your pokémon…even if it was mostly your pokémon.

Soon, before anyone knew it, the finals were up. Ash had beaten a trainer with a Weavile while Hariel defeated a trainer and his Gengar.

"The Final Match will now begin!" the referee announced.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!" Ash ordered with a large smile.

Clearly the boy was having a lot of fun.

"Cut through with Psycho Cut!" Hariel commanded, having just as much fun as Ash.

Absol's attack cut through Thunderbolt and managed to hit Pikachu, but the electric mouse just shook it off with a determined expression.

"Iron Tail!"

"Dark Pulse!"

Pikachu charged at Absol with Iron Tail raring to go, but Absol blasted the electric mouse away with a direct Dark Pulse.

"Pikachu, are you okay?" Ask asked, and his partner nodded with narrowed eyes, "Man, Hariel and her Absol sure are tough!"

"Shadow Claw!" Hariel commanded.

"Dodge it!"

Absol swiped at Pikachu multiple times, but the speedy mouse was able to dodge.

"Switch tactics, use Razor Wind!" Hariel commanded.

"Use quick attack to dodge!" Ash countered.

"Megahorn!" Hariel ordered.

Absol's eyes sharpened and attacked with his enlarged and powered up horn when Pikachu got close.

With a perfect critical hit, Pikachu was thrown back and looked worse for wear. Only one more hit and Pikachu would be out.

"Thunderbolt!"

"Dodge it!" Hariel commanded.

Dodge training was big on her team. During her duels back then in the Battle of Hogwarts, she was good at dodging. You can't hurt what you can't hit, after all.

"Let's finish this up, use Night Slash!" Hariel ordered.

After skillfully dodging the Thunderbolt with immense grace, Absol quickly charged in and critically hit Pikachu once again with Night Slash this time. Super Luck was a great ability to have.

"Pikachu is unable to battle, Absol is the winner! We have a new Guardian for the year, Hariel Evans from Mahou Town!" the referee announced as Ash picked up his exhausted Pikachu.

Steven nodded proudly.

Hariel and Ash shook hands amicably.