Akio recalled Ralts and Froakie and continued his trip to Santalune City.
His bad physical shape got the best of him now. He sat down on the road, depressed.
Why don't you hold a training session? A voice in Akio's brain spoke.
Akio called out Ralts and Froakie and said, "Ok! Let's do a training session!"
Ralts and Froakie seemed to like that idea.
"Okay, Froakie, use Water Pulse on Ralts. Ralts, try your best to dodge it."
Froakie built up the ball of water and hurled it at Ralts. Ralts yelped and then shimmered away, re-appearing out of reach.
"That's Teleport!" Akio smiled.
Finally, when the sky was almost pitch-black, he arrived.
"Finally!" Akio collapsed to the ground in a sigh of relief. "But it's dark. Let's head...to a Pokémon Center."
Akio quickly requested the last room available. He dropped his bag on the floor, collapsed onto the bed, and fell asleep instantly.
Naturally, he had dreams.
He was watching a battle take place. On one side was a Trainer wearing a red hat with a Pikachu perched on his shoulder. On the other was a blond woman carrying a camera.
Akio sat up. This wasn't anything he'd experienced before. Was he in someone else's dream? No way! And why wasn't that Pikachu in a Poké Ball?
He shrugged. Dream or no dream, he needed a good sleep.
Naturally, he still had dreams.
The blond woman tossed out a Poké Ball. Out popped a blue and white Pokémon with four tiny legs. The red-hatted Trainer smiled, and then turned to the Pikachu.
Suddenly, Akio remembered something he'd seen on TV the day the news program had announced the death of Ash Ketchum. There had been a blond woman with a camera telling reporters about a Gym Battle.
The sudden rush of thoughts was almost too much for Akio. Somehow, Ash Ketchum was in his brain.
Akio scoured his own brain, wondering what to do.
Once again, he thought about all the TV he'd watched prior to his journey. His mom had tried to stop his habit, but he still watched. Once, there had been a documentary called Legendx2. It had been about cloning and featured some guy called Dr. Fuji and a genetic Pokémon called Mewtwo. Dr. Fuji had tried to clone his late daughter, Amber, back to life. He didn't remember much other than that, although he believed that there was one line about how a person's thoughts could be programmed into the clone.
Now the rush of thoughts overcame Akio, and he passed out, still wondering if he was a clone or not.