"oh... hello to you too gary. didn't think you'd come here" says ash
"oh but of course I just had to come here to check out your little celebration party, I enjoy having a good time too you know. plus gramps wanted me to stick around to help him out with a few things at the lab. so, your little girlfriend isn't here with you? heh" says gary looking around
"huh? girlfriend?" says tyson
"serena is somewhere around here enjoying the festival. what, you jealous gary cause you don't have one?" says ash grinning a little
"jealous? ahahaha! that's a good one ash. nah I ain't jealous, I could get a girl whenever i like. but why have just one girl when you could have a whole squad of em?" says gary
after that 4 cheerleaders appear behind gary and start to chant his name while waving their pom-poms.
"haha you see? 4 is better than 1" says gary smirking
"hmph" says ash
"anyway ash, all jokes aside I just wanted to commend you on finally winning the pokemon league and beating the elite 4. seriously, you earned it" says gary
"oh, well thanks gary. I appreciate it" says ash
"heh good. oh yeah this little festival the town's throwing for you is pretty cool.. however it's nothing compared to the party I'm gonna throw when I become the champion! it won't just be a few streamers and fireworks here and there, my celebration will be a 3 day extravaganza! concerts, parades, big name celebrity appearances, the whole 9 yards! in just a few months they'll be giving me a national holiday ahaha! of course that's in the near future when I challenge and beat the indigo league, then the elite 4. course in order to make that happen I'll have to face you eventually, and I look forward to the day that I not only beat you in battle but I take the title of champion from you and reign supreme! wahahahaha!" says gary
"heh you know gary, I hope you do win the indigo league tournament and beat the elite 4. so that I may have the pleasure of battling.. and beating you once again" says ash
"tch" says gary with a slight scowl
"heh.. who says we have to wait until then gary? we can battle right here and now if you prefer" says ash reaching for his belt
"heh, if you wanna go that bad then bring it on" says gary grabbing a pokeball
the two have a standoff staring at each other intensely and preparing to bring out their pokemon as tyson watches the exchange from a few feet away.
"so they're gonna battle now? wow this is intense, I think I'll stick around and watch" thinks tyson
ash and gary pull their arms back about to throw their pokeballs. just then someone walks up and stands a few feet away from ash.
"ah, so here's where you were" says the newcomer
hearing him ash breaks his focus on gary and looks at the individual addressing him. he appeared to be a boy around ash's age with semi-long purple hair, a purple and black jacket and black sweatpants with a familiar daunting look on his face.
"it's been quite a long time, ash" says the boy
ash looks at the boy slowly beginning to recognize him.
"wait... paul?" says ash
"heh, I see you remember" says paul smiling
"yeah, course I remember. I haven't seen you in years, since the sinnoh league" says ash
"that's right, at the time I couldn't believe I lost to you... but seeing what you've become now I feel a bit better about it. anyway after my loss to you I began training like never before and me and my pokemon grew a bond I never thought we'd have. I later rechallenged the battle frontier and beat brandon then won the sinnoh league a few years ago so needless to say I redeemed myself. I heard a rumor that you had beaten this region's elite 4 so I came to check it out, and sure enough you had. I can tell just from looking at you ash, you've gotten much stronger. I came here with the intention of testing out your strength for myself... it should be a good challenge for me. so what do you say ash?" says paul
"heh, sounds fun. I accept your challenge paul. anytime you want it, we can battle" says ash grinning
as ash and paul look at each other gary steps forward to get their attention.
"whoa whoa whoa, hold on! hey you, get in pal! I'm the one who's battling ash here!" says gary pointing at paul
"hmm? oh... don't quite know you... but if you like, I could beat you in a battle as a warmup for battling ash" says paul looking at gary
"me? a warmup?! ha dream on bud! you're on!" says gary
gary and paul have a brief staredown until yet another newcomer walks up joining the fray. he has light brown hair going down to his neck and is wearing a orange light jacket with a white shirt and tan baggy jeans.
"hmmm this looks promising" says the boy surveying the others
the other 4 look at the newcomer as he pulls out a digital camera and takes puctures of his surroundings.
"hold on... you can't be!..." says ash
"oh, yo ash. been a long time hasn't it?"