he quickly moves back some as iris falls quickly to the ground. getting closer she spins forward once and lands gracefully on her feet with one hand on the grass. taking a second to recover from the slight impact from the fall she stands brushing herself off slightly then turns to ash and smiles.
"ta-da! here I am" she says
of all of ash's former female traveling companions iris's look has changed the most. she no longer has the 2 side braids she once had at the top of her head, just the body of hair reaching down her back. her hair isn't nearly as long or thick as it was before. clearly she trimmed it a bit, now it stretches down to about the middle of her back and the body of hair stretches from shoulder to shoulder. she is wearing a long sleeve light purple shirt with wide sleeves at the ends and purple short shorts.
"iris are you ok? that was some fall" says ash
"oh yeah I'm fine. it wasn't that far of a fall. so, long time no see huh ash?" says iris
"yeah it's been quite some time. how have you been?" says ash
"oh, I've been great ,and I see you've grown quite a bit since we last saw each other. not bad,guess you're not a little kid anymore huh?" says iris teasingly
"agh,of course I'm not. looks like you're not one anymore either" says ash
"oh but naturally,I'm a young woman now ash" says iris smiling brightly
"oh yeah,you changed your look quite a lot since back then. you look nice" says ash
"oh er... hehe its nothing special" says iris blushing a bit
"oh hey ash, might showing me around a bit here? I've never been to this town before" she says
"oh sure, come with me" says ash
a minute later the two walk down a path a bit less crowded than other parts of town but still had some stands. as they walk they talk to each other.
"so iris,what brings you here to kanto again?" says ash
"to see you,ash" says iris
"huh? see me?" says ash
"yeah,I heard what happened. you finally won a pokemon league,awesome!" says iris
"oh yeah,thanks" says ash
"but even better than that,I hear you battled to a draw with THE lance from the indigo league! is that true?!" says iris
"ah yeah it is,it was a damn tough battle too. so I guess you know who lance is?" says ash
"but of course, he's well known throughout the world even in unova and of course the people from the village of dragons know who he is. he happens to be one of the most famous dragon masters ever" says iris
"oh yeah ha,it kinda slipped my mind. I should've known people from the village of dragons would know him" says ash
"but ash,the fact that you tied with lance the dragon master means... that you're on par with him as a trainer. that's incredible ash" says iris
"aww heh it is huh?" says ash scratching the back of his head
"yes! you know, I've always admired lance for his skill and mastery of dragon types but... ash... my admiration for you has reached a whole other level" she says
"eh?... really?" he says
iris nods and the two gaze into each others' eyes for a few seconds. after that they snap out of it and turn away from each other blushing a little.
"so uh, enough about me. what have you been up to iris? training with clair and drayden?" says ash
"oh I've long since finished training with clair. as for drayden, he's kinda busy... being the new unova league champion and all" says iris
"huh? unova league champion? thats great! but wait, who's the gym leader in opelucid city?" he says
"oh well.. you're looking at her" says iris pointing at herself
"wha?! you mean you're the opelucid city gym leader?!" says ash
"yup, have been for a while now" she says looking away shyly
"that's awesome!" he says
"er well a little. but enough about all that. lets check out some of the stands and stuff here. this is your celebration after all heh" she says
"yeah lets" he says
the two run down the path looking around at the sights as the path gets more crowded. as the area gets more congested ash and iris get separated without them knowing. iris walks up to a stand.
"ah, a aim and shoot game. this looks fun. hey ash, lets... huh? ash?"
she looks around realizing he wasn't there.
"uh... I guess he got lost in the crowd... what a little kid!" she says
elsewhere ash comes up to a stand and looks.
"darts huh? haven't played that before. lets play, iris... iris?"
he looks around not seeing her anywhere.
"iris? where'd she go? ah curses, we must've gotten separated"
he slowly walks away as someone spots him from afar and follows him. a little later in a less populated spot ash walks slowly through the area.
"hmm hope iris can at least find her way to my house.." he says to himself
just then 2 girls walk up to him.
"oh hey it's ash, the hero of pallet!" says one
"oh my, he's cuter than I thought! can we have your autograph?" says another
"oh, yeah sure" says ash
he signs his name on some merchandise the two give him.
"ahh we're so lucky!"