The next day, Ash still wasn't back. Aichi stayed in the room Greninja was in, alone. Everyone else was outside.
"Ash isn't back yet and Aichi is alone in Greninja's room." Serena said concerned. Aichi suddenly opened the door, he was putting on his jacket.
"Aichi, where are you going?" Bonnie asked.
"I'm going to find, Ash!" Aichi answered before running outside.
"I wonder what happened." Clemont said. Serena walked into the room Greninja was in and found that the window was open and Greninja was missing. At that point, Serena got an image of what might've happened. She also ran out.
"Serena! Where are you going?!" Bonnie asked after seeing Serena run out. "Serena!"
Meanwhile, after some searching Aichi found Ash, at the same time Serena came from a different direction. "Why are you acting like this?! Greninja ran off on his own and you don't even care!?" Aichi shouted. He sounded angry.
"Aichi, calm down." Serena said.
"I will. Once I find Greninja and make sure he's okay." Aichi responded as he continued his search for Greninja.
"Aichi! Wait!" Serena called. Ash just stayed sitting on the snowy log he was sitting on before. He hadn't moved even after Aichi ran off. "What do you think you're doing?! You know, you're Greninja's trainer! It is like Aichi is more concerned about Greninja than you!"
"I can't do anything… Greninja would be better off if I wasn't his trainer, maybe he would win more battles." Ash responded. Suddenly a snowball hit his face.
"Stop feeling sorry for yourself! This isn't the Ash I know!" Serena shouted, she continued to throw snowballs at him. "Give me the Ash I know back! Give me him back!" She cried, Ash didn't say a thing.
"The Ash I know will never act like this after losing a few matches!" Serena shouted lastly. She stomped away angrily. Ash sat there a while longer before getting up.
"Ahhhh! I'm feeling much better!" Ash said as a storm rolled in.
~Meanwhile with Aichi~
Aichi was running around, he looked up in the sky and saw that there was about to be a blizzard. "Greninja! Where are you?! A blizzard is coming! We need to get back to the Pokemon Center before it starts!" Aichi called. "Greninja!"
Charizard returned from the search. "Charizard, did you find Greninja?" Aichi asked out of breath after running around in the snow for a while. Charizard shook his head.
"Okay, there is about to be a blizzard. I'll go back soon, I promise. Get some rest first." He said. Charizard nodded and entered the Pokeball. Despite what he told Charizard, he continued to look. "Greninja! Where are you?!"
"Greninja!" It started snowing. "I have to hurry and find Greninja. He might catch a cold."
"Greninja!" Aichi called. It was really starting to get windy and snowy. Aichi heard trees shaking from a direction. "Greninja, is that you?" Aichi followed the sound.
"Greninja…?" Aichi asked. He walked close to the Pokemon who was standing behind a tree. He saw a white ribbon waving in the air. "Hey, who are you?" Aichi asked reaching for his pocket for his Pokedex. It ran away before Aichi can get closer.
"Wait. Who are you?" Aichi asked. The wind intensified and the blizzard got dangerously heavy. "I need to get to somewhere warm, but why am I so cold…?" Aichi was shivering as his body weakened.
"I didn't eat anything all day, did I? I didn't eat much yesterday too..." Aichi remembered. His body felt weak after walking into the cold snow for a long time. He collapsed onto the snow. "I can't move my body… I didn't eat enough today and yesterday."
He felt his body getting lifted up and something carrying him somewhere.
He woke up in a cave, after resting he felt like he had more strength. He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. He felt the presence of 3 Pokemon around him. "Hey, I know you're there. Please come out, I won't hurt you." Aichi said as he pulled himself up. Three unknown Pokemon surrounded him.
Aichi pulled out his Pokedex.
Raikou. The Thunder Pokemon. The rain clouds it carries let it fire thunderbolts at will. They say that it descended with lightning. This rough Pokémon stores energy inside its body, then sweeps across the land, shooting off electricity.
Entei. The Volcanic Pokemon. It is said that one is born every time a new volcano appears and that when it roars, a volcano erupts somewhere around the globe.
Suicune. The Aurora Pokemon. It races around the world to purify fouled water. It dashes away with the north wind. It is said to be the embodiment of north winds, it can instantly purify filthy, murky water.
"Raikou, Entei and Suicune. Thank you for helping me." Aichi thanked. They nodded. Raikou pecked Aichi's jacket pocket making him drop his sealed Pokeballs.
"Hey, what are you going to do with those?" He asked as Raikou rolled Manectric's Pokeball towards it. "Manectric?"
Raikou's paw sparked electricity. "Raikou~" A powerful Thunder was heard from outside as Aichi's Psyqualia responded to Manectric's call.
"Manectric, come out." Aichi said. Manectric broke out of his seal and jumped on Aichi once he did.
"Manectric~!"
"It's nice to see you too. Thank you, Raikou." Aichi thanked. Suicune did a similar procedure to call upon Glaceon. "Thank you for doing that for me. But I didn't help you in any way." He looked at the final two seals.
"Suicune~"
"I see, so this is a thank you from Squishy for trying to help its friend?" Aichi asked. The three Legendary Beasts nodded. Suicune drew something on the hardened dirt in the cave. Aichi took a peek and looked at the picture blankly.
Then he noticed the Pokemon it drew on the ground. "Mew?" Suicune nodded. "Will Mew help me unlock another one of my Pokemon?" All three of the Legendary Beasts nodded. Aichi stood up on his feet and held the walls.
"Thank you for helping me, but I need to find a friend." Aichi repeated. The three Legendary Pokemon ran into the blizzard and disappeared.
"I need to find Greninja, both Ash and Greninja should be stuck in this blizzard too. I need to know if they're okay. I think I have enough energy to do." Aichi said to himself. It seemed that since meeting them, he was gradually regaining energy.
Both Manectric and Glaceon were safe and warm inside their Pokeballs. Aichi walked out of the cave and saw that Greninja was on a tree outside. "I see. Raikou, Suicune and Entei knew who I was looking for."
"Greninja!" Aichi called. Greninja looked to his direction. "We need to find Ash and get back or else we may catch a cold."
Greninja looked away. "Come on, Ash might be in trouble too. Let's find them first to make sure he's okay. I'm sure you still care for Ash, that is the only reason you came out here right? To get stronger." Aichi asked.
Greninja jumped down from his tree and knelt down on one knee to invite Aichi to get on his back. "No, it's fine really." Aichi said.
Greninja continued to persist. "Thank you, Greninja. Both you and Ash are really stubborn. That is probably what both of you have in common." Aichi commented. Suddenly, Z came running in. "Squishy, aren't you suppose to be with Bonnie? She should be worried sick."
Squishy gave both Greninja and Aichi a vision of Ash in a cave with Pokemon. "Ash is that way." Z informed telepathically.
"I see. Thank you, Squishy. You should get back to Bonnie now. We'll handle the rest." Aichi said. Greninja nodded in agreement. Z ran off as Aichi and Greninja got going to Ash's location.
"Greninja~?" Greninja looked worried.
"I'm fine. Just keep going at the speed you're going." Aichi assured. He held onto Greninja tightly, Greninja noticed Aichi suddenly holding onto him tighter.
They soon got to Ash to find him about to fall from a tree with a Spewpa. "Greninja! Help him. I'll have Charizard catch you both." Aichi said. He got off of Greninja quickly and called Charizard out. "Charizard, go help Ash and Greninja." Aichi said. The blizzard was intensifying by the second. They were barely able to see anything as it is, but Charizard can faintly see Ash's head just below the cliff edge.
Charizard nodded before flying in there and flying Ash back up as the floor under his feet crumbled and fell. Because of Greninja and Ash's transformation, Greninja was able to fly back to safety.
"Thank you, Charizard." Ash thanked. "Greninja, I'm really sorry for everything I said. But I'm back to normal! Let's beat Wulfric and win the Kalos League after that!" They locked their arms together, they were in agreement.
Charizard flew over to Aichi and found him on the floor. Charizard lifted Aichi off the ground after brushing off the snow. "Charizard~"
"There is a cave over there. We can stay there until the blizzard stops." Ash said. Charizard carried Aichi into the cave. Charizard laid him down onto the floor lightly.
Ash put his hand on Aichi's forehead and felt that his forehead was hot. "He caught a cold, he was looking for me and Greninja. If I hadn't made him worried, he wouldn't be sick now." Ash said.
"Greninja~"
"Charizard~" Charizard used Flamethrower around Aichi to give him some more heat before lying down beside Aichi.
"Thank you… Charizard…" Aichi muttered in his sleep. He felt the warmth around him.
"There isn't much we can do until the blizzard stops. You know… This reminded me of when I was little, there was a storm and I took shelter in a cave with Pokemon just like today." Ash said.
Everyone waited for the snow to stop. Aichi's condition didn't get worst so that was a relief. He was comfortably sleeping by Charizard's side. To him, his bond with Charizard is as close as his bond with Blaster Blade.
"The bond between Charizard and Aichi is really amazing. But I'm starting to have a feeling our bond is just as strong, don't you think so Greninja?" Ash asked. Greninja nodded in agreement.
Soon the blizzard stopped. Charizard carried Aichi and followed Ash and Greninja back to the others. They found Serena and the others sitting outside the Pokemon Center on the porch waiting for them to return. "Ash!"
"Pikachu~!" Pikachu ran to Ash and jumped on him.
"Sorry to worry you, buddy. Thank you, Serena. You made me realize I wasn't myself." Ash thanked.
"The real one to thank is Aichi." Serena said in tears after seeing Ash return back to his old self. They brought Aichi inside and placed a cloth on his forehead. Nurse Joy checked on him.
"How is he, Nurse Joy?" Clemont asked.
"He seemed to be just fine. He just needs to eat and get a lot of rest." Nurse Joy answered. She got up from the seat at Aichi's bedside.
"How about we get to your gym battle while he is asleep?" Ash asked. "Aichi may want to watch it, but the Kalos League is coming up really soon. We have no more time to waste."
"Ash does have a point." Serena agreed. "After Ash wins his final gym battle, we need to head back to Lumiose City."
"That is a good point, but Aichi would want to watch you battle right?" Bonnie asked.
"I'll stay with him for now. If he is well enough when he wakes up, I'll help him over to the gym." Clemont said.
"Alright, Clemont." Ash replied. "We'll meet you there then."
Soon after Bonnie, Serena and Ash left. Aichi soon woke up. He looked around and saw Clemont at his bedside. "Clemont? Where's Ash, Serena and Bonnie?" Aichi asked.
"They went ahead. Ash was really excited to battle Wulfric again." Clemont answered.
"I see… I'm glad." Aichi replied. Clemont looked at him with a confused look. "Ash is back to his normal self."
"That means that Void wasn't behind this… But I could've sworn that I saw something up with Ash's aura." Aichi thought to himself. He got up to a sitting position.
"I want to see Ash's gym battle." Aichi said. He started to get up from the bed.
"Wait! At least eat something first. You haven't eaten anything all day." Clemont exclaimed. Aichi turned around to see Clemont getting up and running out the door. He soon returned with a tray of food in his hands.
"Thank you, Clemont." Aichi thanked with a smile. He quickly ate, he felt his strength slowly returning. It was silent in the room. "I guess in some ways it was a good thing Ash went through what he did." Aichi commented.
"What do you mean?" Clemont asked.
"It's just that, if he hadn't felt what he did at the moment, I wouldn't have been able to use Manectric and Glaceon yet and Ash would've still felt a faint sense of insecurity and anxiousness during his battles." Aichi explained. "Now he is at full strength once more and is up to the level of confidence as all the other trainers."
"I understand. You care so much of all the people around you. Even though Ash would eventually become your most strongest opponents in the Kalos League." Clemont responded.
"At this point, I'm not even sure if I would be able to enter." Aichi said. He looked the Gardevoir and Nuzleaf's Pokeballs which were still locked.
"We'll find a way to get you in." Clemont replied.
"No, it really is fine if I don't enter. It wasn't my main goal to enter and win the Kalos League. I just wanted to fix the mess that I started here." Aichi responded.
"What mess are you speaking of?" Clemont asked.
"The issues in my world came inside yours the first time I came here. When I was forced into this world, the evil in my world also entered yours and created a big problem in yours." Aichi explained.
"There really doesn't seem to be much going on here. The only really suspicious thing is Team Flare." Clemont replied.
"And that's it. Their leader was the only that was affected by the evil in my world." Aichi replied.
"Who is that?" Clemont asked.
Aichi tried to avoid the question. "I… um… I don't want to get any of you involved any further than this. This is something that I must fix. All of you already done so much for me, so please… Trust me when I say it is really dangerous and it is best for me to resolve this myself." He answered.
Clemont signed. "Aichi, I do trust you. If things go bad or you need help in anyways. Ash, Serena, Bonnie and I will be more than happy to help." He responded.
"Thank you, Clemont. Since I'm done eating, how about we head to the gym." Aichi suggested. Clemont nodded and they both made their way to the gym. When they arrived, Ash and Wulfric had already seemed to been on their last Pokemon.
"Wulfric has the upperhand, he has one Pokemon over Ash. But other than that, they are completely equal. This battle is like a battle of who has the strongest spirit." Serena informed after seeing them walk inside.
After seeing Aichi walk in, Ash stepped up his game. "Come on, Greninja!" Ash cheered as Greninja changed into Ash-Greninja.
"I was waiting for that Ash." Wulfric said as he pulled out his Keystone. He used Mega Evolution on his Abomasnow which was his current active Pokemon.
"We are in for a treat." Aichi said with a smile, he looked at the battle with excitement.
It was a well fought battle from both Ash and Wulfric, but Ash won by a hair and received his Iceberg Badge. "That's great, Ash. Now you can enter the Kalos League." Serena said.
"You were great, Ash." Aichi commented. Ash added his final badge to his collection. Aichi also pulled out his badge case and revealed all of his badges. "Now both of us can enter."
"I've never met such fine trainers in my whole experience as a gym leader. With all eight of your gym badges, you can now enter the Kalos League that will be taking place in Lumiose City, about a month from now. I wish you the best in your journey from now." Wulfric explained.
"Thank you, Wulfric." Aichi and Ash thanked together.
The group left the gym and continued on their journey back to Lumiose City.
~A Few Weeks Later~
Clemont was running through the forest, everyone followed him.
"We're almost there!" Clemont cheered.
"Clemont! Slow down!" Bonnie cried. Everyone was exhausted, but Clemont was in high spirits.
"Hurry up straddlers, move!" Clemont said.
"I never seen Clemont run this fast." Serena commented.
"Yea, I thought he wasn't all that of a runner. I guess I was wrong." Aichi agreed. They made it to a sign.
"There that's it alright! There is no doubt! The gadget festival is right up ahead! It is the biggest collection of devices in the whole Kalos region!" Clemont cheered happily.
"All this running for that?" Bonnie asked.
"I guess, it must be really amazing." Aichi said.
"Yes, it is! All of the most brilliant inventors of Kalos will be here competing in the festival!" Clemont replied.
"It sounds like fun." Ash said.
"Let's go then!" Clemont replied pushing the group along.
They walked through the festival, Clemont continued his high excitement explaining the gadgets to the group. As they toured around Aichi noticed something flying around in the air. He looked around to find nothing there.
"Something is invisible and playing around with the gadgets… Can it possibly be…?" Aichi thought. The game house caught the group's eyes.
"Hey! Let's get on!" Bonnie suggested.
"Sounds like fun." Ash said. Bonnie jumped onto the seat to take them to the top the worker put on the safety belt on her. Everyone else soon joined her, except for Aichi.
"What's wrong Aichi?" Serena asked.
"It's just that, I remembered something I needed to do. So…" Aichi responded.
Everyone looked at him in worry. But Aichi gave them a reassuring smile. "We'll meet here then." Ash suggested.
Aichi nodded. "Alright, I'll be here." He responded. "You guys have fun without me." He waved before running off.
"Mew! Mew! Are you here?" Aichi called. He found a place that didn't have anyone around to call Mew.
"Mew~!" Mew appeared and danced around Aichi to say hi.
"I'm happy to see you too, Mew." Aichi replied happily. "I should've known that you would be here. This gadget festival is somewhere you can play around in and have fun."
"Mew~" It flew away to explore the Gadget Festival some more.
"Hey, Mew. Wait!" Aichi called. Mew didn't stop. It didn't turn invisible either, it just flew around attracting attention.
"Hey look mom. I don't know that Pokemon." A little boy pointed out.
"Wow! It's Mew!"
"No way! The legendary Pokemon, Mew!"
"Mew! You're attracting a lot of attention. Come back..." Aichi repeated. Mew simply ignored him and continued on. "Mew! I'm being serious!"
Aichi looked around to see that he was also attracting a great deal of attention. Suddenly, an attack was shot to Mew's direction, Aichi saw the attack coming and quickly had Charizard counter it.
"Charizard, nice job." Aichi complimented. Mew hopped into his arms.
"Hey! What's your deal, I was going to try to catch that Pokemon." A boy complained stomping up to Aichi and his Charizard.
"I'm sorry, but. I don't think Mew should get caught. It loves to go adventuring and have fun, so no one should catch it and stop it from doing what it really wants." Aichi responded.
The boy looked angrier. "You can't tell me what to do! Battle me!" The boy demanded.
"Fine, if that is what it takes to keep you from going after Mew." Aichi agreed. They had their battle and Aichi defeated him in a dominant fashion.
"No way…" The boy exclaimed. He ran.
"Mew. Suicune, Raikou and Entei told me that you can help me unlock another one of my Pokemon." Aichi informed. Mew turned its head to the side in confusion as he took out Nuzleaf and Gardevoir's Pokeballs. Mew used Psychic to lift up Gardevoir's Pokeball and dropped it on the ground before jumping on it.
Aichi giggled. "I wasn't talking about that." He laughed more. Mew puffed its cheeks as stream came out of it in anger. "I'm sorry, Mew. It's okay if you can't unlock it for me. I'm just happy to see you again safe and sound. Come on, let's get back to the Festival."
Mew flew behind Aichi, he turned to see what was going on, but Mew was holding onto his bag and unzipping it. "Mew?"
Mew flew inside his bag before closing the zipper. "I guess, it's tired then" Aichi thought. He picked up Gardevoir's Pokeball before returning to the festival. When he got back, he saw a boy and a girl banging on a wall.
"Hey, what's wrong?" Aichi asked making his way towards them.
"Some people took our Pokemon. They pretended their gadget was for entertainment, but then they sucked our Pokemon inside their gadget and didn't give them back." The young boy explained.
"I see. I'll go see if I can help you. How did you enter that room?" Aichi asked.
"We went through the game house, at the end of it, there was a door that lead to that." The girl said. "You can go through the exit to get there quicker."
"Thank you, don't worry. I'll get your Pokemon back as quick as I can." Aichi assured. He ran to the person in charge of running the game house and Aichi went with a group of engineers into the end of the game room.
There he met up with Ash and the others.
"Ash, you guys got through it that quickly?" Aichi asked.
"Yea… But why are you here?" Ash responded.
"I met a boy and girl that told me there were people taking Pokemon using a gadget, so I came to check out the problem." Aichi explained. "They said the room they enter is through the door over there."
"Let's go then." Serena said. They hurried through the door to see another victim getting his Pokemon stolen. He was about to fall through a hole, but Ash and Clemont caught him before he did.
"Are you alright? We'll pull you up." Ash said. Aichi gave them a hand and helped pull the boy back up.
"You people stole my Pokemon!" The boy cried.
Aichi released Charizard from his Pokeball. "Haven't you learning anything yet, Team Rocket?" Aichi asked.
They laughed at Aichi's response and did their introduction. Team Rocket ran out of the room and towards another part of the Gadget Festival after taking the Pokeballs they've stolen with them.
"Stop, Team Rocket!"
They arrived at their destination where they found a gigantic Meowth gadget. "It took 3 days of hard work, but the masterpiece is finished." James declared. Meowth put on a helmet and started the machine up. It was a cool demonstration, if Team Rocket wasn't planning on stealing any Pokemon, it would've been the most coolest gadget in the whole festival.
"I know it is Team Rocket, but this looks pretty cool." Ash said.
"That is so spectacular!" Clemont cheered.
As Meowth was about to attack Pikachu with Furry Swipes, he wasn't able to reach Pikachu. Everyone except for Team Rocket started to laugh.
"Why couldn't we just make Meowth use Fury Swipes?!" Jessie shouted.
"Gadgets are for fun, Jessie." James responded.
Meowth continued to try to use Fury Swipes on Pikachu. "Does this look fun to you?!" Meowth shouted.
"I'm actually agreeing with someone in Team Rocket for once." Clemont said.
"It is definitely fun to watch from this viewpoint." Bonnie laughed harder.
"I guess we should finish this performance up with a big bang, don't you agree?" Serena asked. Everyone readied their Pokemon and sent their attacks to make Team Rocket blast off. Aichi retrieved the bag of Pokeballs and gave found all the trainers and returned each and every one.
They departed from the Gadget Festival and continued on their journey...