Sorry for the delay. Here it is! Question at the end.

It had been a few days since the event happened. Ash had got word that the guy died when he tripped and hit his head against a dumpster. While he wouldn't admit it out loud he was kind of happy he was gone. He had not heard much about the woman he rescued only that she was doing fine. While the police presence increased quite a bit life went on like usual shortly afterward. However, things changed pretty quickly.

Ash and Zeraora were sitting in a room with three other students waiting on someone. He had just received an invitation for reasons not disclosed to him. He was delighted to see everyone in the room didn't hate him they were pretty friendly toward him. After looking over them again he recognized them as being some of the best students in the school. Ash did not know how well he was doing but for him to be invited with them he must be doing well.

First was Georgia, the self-proclaimed future Dragon Buster. She had a goal of being an expert on fighting Dragon types. This was a very strange choice as while there were thoughts of who would specialize in one type it was odd to hear of someone wanting to be an expert in fighting one type. Her partner was a Vanillite and the two were expert battlers. She was known for using her Pokemon to hinder movements and if a Pokemon was big turn its size against them. Georgia seemed to respect Ash's abilities and did not care about his fame or infamy.

Next was Morrison, a guy who wanted to be a Pokemon Master much like him. He was a strange guy who dressed up like a swordsman and frequently lost his rice balls at lunch. However, there was no doubt that he was a good trainer. Notably due to his partner, Beldum, only knowing one move and yet winning almost every battle he was in. He and Ash had a friendly rivalry but never really met outside of the school.

Last was Jimmy, whose goals he did not know. He was in the gifted class and was well deserved in even Ash's opinion. He did not come from anywhere special and did not have any tutors. He had to learn everything the hard way and passed with flying colors even with the sudden change. He was also doing better than almost everyone else in the classes he was in due to his dedication and quick thinking. He was partnered with Cyndaquil whom he got along well with. To Ash's delight, he did not think of him in a poor light, even complimenting him and his battle style.

The four sat in silence not having anything to say. Their Pokemon on the other hand were talking with one another quite a bit. It was kind of nice how fast the four were getting along with one another. Ash felt that he should at least put in some kind of effort and say something. But it would seem Georgia beat him to the punch.

"So, anyone knows why we were brought here?" She asked.

"Not a clue. Was just called to come here." Jimmy said.

"I have not a clue myself," Morrison said. "But we are some of the best. Some better than others." Morrison said as he side-eyed Ash.

Ash shook his head. "You got one point over me and it was in speed eating. But I do agree. We are some of the best in the school."

"That is indeed why you're here."

They all turned to see Paul. Paul was one of the students in the gifted program and seemed to be one of the more level-headed ones. He and his partner, a Turtwig, were among the highest-ranking students of the school. He was known for a very calm and strategic battle style. He and Ash never really talked but the two were also respectful of one another. Something Ash was refreshed by.

"Paul? What's going on?" Jimmy asked.

"Who here knows about Unite?" Paul said.

All of them seemed to know what this was judging by the looks on their faces. Ash sure did.

"It's that game that combines battling and catching with scoring points right?" Ash said.

He nodded. "You all are not only some of the best but more importantly you all get along with one another. I want us to become a team."

"Us, a Pokemon Unite team?" Georgia asked confused.

Paul nodded. "I was picked by the school to make one. I think you all would be the best."

"Well, I am one of the best around here!" Morrison said, getting eye rolls. "But you know my Pokemon only has one move right?"

"And yet you beat some of the best in battles."

"He has a point," Ash said recalling how many gifted students he beat. The two were rivals but he was going to make sure Morrison knew.

"Well, yeah, that's true I guess."

"Our classes keep us pretty busy," Jimmy said. "What comes with making this team?"

"Well for one money." everyone's eyes got wide when Paul said this. "If the team does well the school will be giving us money to help with expenses."

"I can quit that awful job..." Georgia said.

"Also If we do well enough it will count toward our battle classes."

Everyone was thinking now. It was a very tempting offer to get grades and money. To have a little extra or to even just cut out needing to work entirely was a very tempting offer. The grades also would be very helpful as they would have some wiggle room with classes. The offers were good enough for all of them. Ash however was the first to respond.

"Hey Zeraora!" he said. "You up for this?"

"ZERA!" Zeraora said with gusto.

"We are in then!"

Everyone else followed him in joining.

"Good! Our first practice will be tomorrow." Paul handed them all some slips. "This will excuse you from battle class. We meet every Tuesday and Thursday. We will also meet every other Saturday."

"I think we should get to know one another more," Jimmy said. "Let's go out to eat today."

"That makes sense I guess," Paul responded. "Very well we will meet at the Leroys Burger house after school."

"Lunch is almost over," Georgia said. "We should get going."

"Hey Ash! I bet I got a higher grade than you in Battle Strategy!" Morison said.

"You're on!" Ash said knowing he had that class next.

They all then went their separate ways. Ash made his way to Battle Stradigy and took a seat. He noticed someone knew was teaching. It was some woman of around eighteen with long brown hair. She was very pretty admittingly but she had a strange aura. One of smugness and Ash did not like it.

"Hello everyone," she started when class began. "I am Giselle. I will be subbing while your teacher is out." She started handing out worksheets. "Now understand I just started not too long ago but I want to be a fair teacher. You work hard, listen to me, and stay out of trouble, we will get along well." Her tone changed a bit when she got to Ash's desk. "I do not have any time for thoughts who think themselves better than the rest. Ash put your Pokemon away."

"He hates being in a Pokeball. The other teachers let him stay out." He responded.

"Well I am not the other teacher, withdraw him now," she responded coldly.

Zeraora was starting to look angry. However, the sound of Oak clearing his throat stopped anything from going any further.

"A trainer needs to keep his Pokemon happy. Most Pokemon are just fine with staying in their Pokeballs." Oak said. "But Zeraora has no desire to so I have granted Ash permission to let Zeraora stay out."

Giselle looked defeated. "I see. I am sorry."

Oak smiled. "You're new at this and just trying to make sure you do everything right. I get it. But remember you must always think about the trainer and his Pokemon's needs."

"I will sir. Ummm why are you here?"

"Just wanted to check in on you. this is your first class right?"

"Yes sir. Thank you, sir."

He nodded and left. She shot Ash a look before getting into teaching class. Ash felt a lot of hostility from the entire class. While most of the other teachers did their job and had no ill will, she seemed to not like him. Still, she was just teaching so he did not have much to worry about. It was not till class let out something else happened.

"Alright everyone get your homework done," Giselle said. Everyone started to leave but she stopped Ash. "Ash I got extra work for you."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Ash asked.

"You have a mythical Pokemon. I need to make extra sure that you are prepared." She said handing him extra work sheets. "Get them done by my next class!"

Ash looked at the papers before sighing and heading out of class. The last few classes were pretty easy and had no homework. It was very rare that they never gave any homework. However, he was not going to complain due to his extra from the last class. Glad to hear he had time to work on it he left for the bus.

He was the first to make it to the restaurant. He took a seat and looked over the worksheets. His mind almost shut off when he saw the first question. It was asked to explain the F.E.A.R. strategy, who invented it, and to list at least three ways to counter it. This was something his class had not talked about yet at all. They were still learning very basic strategies such as using Solar Beam after Sunny Day. While he knew how the F.E.A.R. strategy worked he did not know who invented it or any workarounds yet. Still, he felt it would be easy to research. However, the idea that he had a few worksheets with questions around this vein worried him.

"Hello, Ash."

He and Zeraora looked up to see Jimmy. "Oh hey, Jimmy."

He took a seat near him. "Reading something interesting?"

"No really," he responded. "This homework I got seems a bit crazy."

"Let me see it," he asked.

Ash handed them over to him and Jimmy started looking it over. He started looking more and more confused as he went on. He then looked outright angry as he started mouthing some of the questions. He started looking more and more angry as he went on yet was able to keep his composer. Finally, he reached the end of the worksheets. He set it down calmly and took a deep breath. It was very clear to Ash that he picked up something very wrong with the sheet the trainer was given.

"What got you all in a twist?" Ash looked to see Georgia.

"Look for yourself," Jimmy responded as he pointed out the worksheets.

She picked it up and got roughly the same reaction. "The fuck is this? This should be given to third years of the gifted program."

"Yet it was given to Ash."

She looked at him before looking back. "She gave the entire class this?"

"No," He responded. "just me. She said since I have a Mythical Pokemon she expects more from me."

"She is expecting too much," Jimmy said.

"Who is?" Paul asked as he walked in with Morrison.

Jimmy handed him the worksheets. "His teacher expects him to finish this."

Both of them look it over. Morrison gives a confused look.

"I was not given this." He responded. "Ash I had a bad feeling about her with the way she acted to you. I think she has it out for you."

Ash shook his head. "We don't have enough to go on to make such an accusation."

Paul set it down. "Well, you need good grades to stay on the team so all of us are going to help him finish this!"

Everyone seemed in agreement to this and they pulled out any material they had to help fill the sheets out. After ordering food they started getting to work on it looking up answers and fact-checking. Even Morrison, knowing full well this could boost his grade higher than him, gave it his all. For a while, it was mostly quiet with everyone just working on finding the answers. Georgia was the one who decided to break the silence.

"So I know Ash wants to be a Pokemon Master. The whole school knows. What about you three?" She asked.

"Not sure yet," Jimmy said. "Maybe a Gym leader or something. I just want to battle.

"For me, a Pokemon Master also!" Morrison replied. "It is why me and Ash are rivals!"

"Frontier Brain," Paul responded flatly.

"Why do you want to be an expert at defeating Dragon types?" Ash asked.

"Oh you know about that huh?" she responded. "Have you noticed how many really strong Pokemon are dragon types? I think there needs to be an expert to deal with that."

Made a lot of sense. there were a ton of really strong dragon types out there. Who knows what would happen if one started to rampage?

"Why do you want to be a Pokemon Master?" she asked Ash.

"Well, I just always loved Pokemon and battling. But what sealed it was a clash of philosophy."

"What do you mean?" asked Jimmy.

"Gary thinks that you need to use the strongest Pokemon with the best moves to become a master. I feel any Pokemon can become strong you know? It feels selfish to turn down a Pokemon only because you think it's weak."

"Doesn't work when you have a Mythical." Paul retorted.

Zeraora shot him a look but Ash motioned for him to calm down.

"I did not say I wanted to use weak Pokemon, I said I wanted to use ANY Pokemon." He said. "Sometimes I will get some seen as strong, other times they will be seen as weak. If I feel a bond with them I want to use them. Besides, it is my beliefs that made Zeraora want to join me."

The Electric type nodded in approval. Strangely Paul seemed satisfied with the given answer.

"I feel any Pokemon can be strong but any Pokemon can be weak too." He jotted down another answer. "I guess if I had to pick someone I agree with it is you. Still, one shouldn't just indiscriminately pick any Pokemon I feel."

It sounded like Paul would take a Magicarp if it showed the be strangely strong but would discard any others. It was not a concept he liked admittedly. It seemed pretty selfish and like he could turn down Pokemon that might want to side with him. But at the same time, it was much better than Gary's mindset. At least he was open to all Pokemon instead of a narrow field of "The best". Ash also did not want to have a debate with the captain of the team he was joining. It felt pointless to already be having problems, especially with him helping with his Homework.

Jimmy and Paul reviewed the worksheets after Ash was done with putting down the last answer.

"Well Ash, I would have to say this is an A," Jimmy said.

"Agreed," Paul said. "This should satisfy her."

"Thank goodness," Ash responded.

"We all have to head home now though," Paul said. "Practice tomorrow at battle class everyone. It will be gym six on floor one."

Everyone bid one another farewell as everyone went home. Ash and Zeraora made it home to see Lilie with her Alolan Vulpix. Lilie was slowly reaching forward trying to touch her Pokemon. It was also slowly pushing its head forward trying to let her touch it. A sight Ash was delighted to see.

Lilies egg hatched very recently. It took a very long time for her egg to hatch to the point it needed to be checked multiple times to make sure it was not a bad egg. After it hatched it turned out it was just as unwilling to be touched by humans as Lilie was to touch Pokemon. This was making classes and her research a lot harder. Ash and Zeraora stood still and watched silently as they were mere centimeters away from finally making a breakthrough. However, the two backed off at the last second.

"You were so close," Ash said.

"I know," Lilie responded. "we are trying but, it is hard for us both."

"You two need to touch one another at some point if you want to pass."

She got some food for the little white Vulpix and set it out. "I am such a failer."

"No, you not! You two just need to keep trying is all."

"Ash, thank you for saying but you don't get how frustrating things are for me." she watched her Vulpix eat. "My mom is still not talking to me, my job hardly pays enough so I can't even help with rent, and to top it all off my grades are low sense me and my Pokemon are too scared to touch each other!"

Ash stood there trying to find the right words for her but he couldn't find them. She was very happy to have a job just to find out it did not pay as much as expected and she still could not contribute to the rent. Then her egg, which was thought might be a bad egg, hatched at long last to reveal a Pokemon just as willing to be untouched by humans as she was to touch Pokemon. He did not know what to say to her at all about any of this

"Why does your mom hate the idea of you being a Scientist? Does she hate them or something?"

"No. She and my father are scientists. It's just, that my father went missing one day after making a breakthrough. She never really recovered."

He never realized that her father was missing. The signs were there as she never really talked about her father's thoughts. It was always her mother who was against everything. It kind of made sense why her mother was so vehemently against the idea of her being a scientist. Heck, she would most likely be against anything in the Pokemon field. This sounded like a rough topic for her so he changed the subject.

"Where is Mallow?"

"Take one guess," Lilie said.

"Another party?" he exclaimed. This was getting out of control.

"Yes, She gets her homework done at least. But then it's right on to the next party if she can find one."

It was concerning to hear her at another party. Perhaps he should see if he, Lilie, and Lana could talk to her about what she was doing. For now, all he could do was worry about himself. He made his and Zeraoras dinner and relaxed the rest of the day. Tomorrow was his first day of training for the Pokemon Unite team. He wanted to be ready.

The next day, he was excused from battle class to go to training. He was the first one there and was impressed with the united course that had been set up for them. There was even an Aeos energy generator showing it was the real deal. He could not wait to start the practice. Lucky for him he did not have to wait long as the rest followed in after him.

"Alright, everyone. Does anyone need an explanation about how things work?" Paul asked.

"I kind of do.* Morrison said sounding embarrassed.

"Fine then," Paul started. "The Aeos generators will produce Aeos energy and when that happens your Pokemon's current level with temporarily restart to one. You will level quickly to a max of fifteen during the match and even evolve. Once the match ends and the generator is off you will revert to their level and the form they were beforehand. Got me so far?"

Everyone nodded.

"Good, next we will-."

"HOLD EVERYTHING!" Everyone turned to see Kiawe barging into the arena. "Who is in charge here!"

Paul let out a sigh. "I am the team captain here."

"Why didn't you invite me? You know my father is in the Pokemon Unties Alola division!"

"It is simple. You would not get along with Ash."

"They remove him and put me in! I know how to play the game much better and I do not need some Mythical to cheat!"

"I can not as we already have Jimmy using a fire type."

Ash had done his best to avoid Kiawe and it had worked out pretty well. Mallow was out most of the time anyway aside from the rare occasion he snuck over to spend the night with her. Still, when he was forced to interact with him it was never pleasant. He just wished he would back off. This was something he did not need to deal with.

"Jimmy is much better than you. So no I will not replace him." Paul said flatly.

"He is not! Jimmy! You and me are having a battle tomorrow!"

Paul looked angry now. "This is a waste of time we will not deal with this!"

"No Paul," Jimmy said. "I think I should battle him. If he wins He can take my place."

Paul gave him a look. "Fine then," he turned back to Kiawe. "I will even remove Ash from the team and let you pick his replacement. But WHEN Jimmy wins. You need to back off all my teammates. Even Ash!"

"I won't lose so that works for me." He stomped off.

Ash was a little worried now. He just got on a team and his position was already in jeopardy. But he was not allowed to dwell on this as Paul snapped up everyone's attention. He was not going to let them off practice. He started explaining the rule and as if he knew Ash's mind might return to the deal he would call him out from time to time.

After all the rules were told they all started practicing. The generator was kept on minimum power just to unlock to "Unite moves". They practiced using their moves on targets to get how they worked down. They would also use ball and normal hoops to get shooting hoops down. After the Pokemon were done training the generator was turned off and the trainers practiced Pokeball throwing. They would have to be accurate with their catching to get the energy needed to score goals. Ash and Morrison had a bit of a contest where Ash came out the victor this time. After practice was done they all packed up and finished their classes. Ash did not have a battle strategy that day so he was able to relax.

The day went on like always with nothing much to say. With classes ending a few hours after he went to meet with Bianca. To his surprise, Bianca was not present. He was able to find out that she and the other researchers were out on a field trip. With he and Zeraora freed from their weekly research they went back to their apartments. However, when they got there the door had been bolted.

"This is strange buddy..." Ash said as he knocked.

"Who is it?" Mallow's voice came. She was home for once.

"Hey, it's me. Let us in please!"

"Oh, Ash? Listen I'm sorry but my boyfriend is here and he is not really in the mood to ah, have you around."

"What? Mallow! I live here!"

"Sorry. Come back tomorrow."

He knocked a little more demanding he is allowed in but she said nothing else. He tried to call Rita but it seemed her phone was off. He went to see if Annabel or Angie could take him in but they seemed to be out. Ash tried to call his other friends but no one could take him in. He was now truly stuck. Then he remembered his team and gave them a call.

"I would let you in but the gifted dorms have very specific rules and we can't have guests for the night," Paul said.

"This is messed up..." Ash muttered.

"Let me call Morrison and Georgia."

Ash sat down and waited for him to call. It did not take long.

"Alright, Ash Morrison sleeps outside but has an extra hammock if you're willing. Georgia said you can stay at her place also if you want. I'll text you their addresses."

So who should Ash spend the night with? Georgia or Morrison?