Chapter 13

The following morning Ash again overslept. Finally, a little before 10:00am, Serena had to come in and shake him awake: "Yeah, Yeah, ok. Be there in a minute."

"Sorry Ash, but you'll never learn otherwise." Ash was trying to work out what she meant when suddenly he felt a tug, as Serena pulled out his covers. Now he had no choice but to force himself out of bed, as he ran for the bathroom and the comfort of a warm shower, where he also remained longer than he ought.

But it wasn't just oversleeping and ten minute showers where Ash was proving to be sluggish of late. It was his general conduct. There was still much of the old Ash about him, but he definitely wasn't the conscientious and motivated young trainer he used to be. He knew it, his friends knew it and he knew they knew it. It wasn't that he did it on purpose; he wanted to be his old hardworking and reliable self: he just couldn't find the motivation, even after recent events. But in a way, they had only compounded the problem. Too much had happened to him for him to go back to being his old self. He needed to find a new fire, 'but how?' he mused to himself. That was the question. A question he continued to ponder as he collected Pickachu and headed downstairs to the lobby where Serena was now waiting for him, her beautiful smile beaming in his direction as he approached.

"Ready for preliminary round?" She asked enthusiastically.

"Sure am", he responded likewise. "Ok Serena, let's do this!"

It was a mostly sunny day as they headed out into the crowded and lively main street, with just the odd white cloud here and there. Just the way they both liked it. Ash held Serena's hand as he soaked up the atmosphere and joined the line of joyful and excited spectators on their way to the tournament arenas, with some sampling a selection of street food along the way. There were many pokemon also, who seemed equally enthusiastic. Ash could not have been happier, feeling a world away from all the troubles he and his friends had left behind before arriving in Silver City. He was finally having a 'good day.' Things were just the way he wanted them.

About 20 minutes later he and Serena arrived at the entrance to the labyrinth of outside courts and larger stadiums where the tournament was taking place. After showing their tickets and entering through the main gate, they wandered around, trying to decide which matches to watch. "Well…" Serena began as she pulled out a program, "according to this the second round of matches for the day begin at 11:00 which is only 15 minutes from now, so we should decide quickly. Apparently Misty's second match is in the main arena, which will be full by now. But Brock's second and third matches are on Arena number 2, and Clement's final match is in Arena number 3. But I think we will have to choose one or the other because we probably won't be able to get a seat at one once we leave the other, so what do you think, Clement or Brock?"

"Oh please don't go there Serena haha. Hmm…who's on next at Arena number 3?"

"I don't think it's anyone we…oh no, wait!" She responded excitedly. "It's your friend Dawn. So what do you think?"

"Tough choice, but I haven't seen Dawn battle for so long, and I really want to see how Clement goes in his first tournament, so I think we'll head over to Arena number 3."

"Great, let's go."

Meanwhile, May, Drew and Bonnie were on one of the outside arenas where Clement's first match had just finished. Unfortunately for Clement it had ended in a comprehensive defeat, having been convincingly outplayed by his opponent from the Orange Islands. He had only managed to defeat one of his opponent's pokemon and he had looked very nervous from the beginning. His dejection was obvious for all to see. "Oh no", Bonnie lamented, "this isn't what we wanted at all."

"Don't give up", Drew answered, "he was starting to find his rhythm as the match went on. If he can take that momentum into his next match, then he will have a good chance of victory. And remember if he wins his next two matches, he still goes through to the next round."

"I know", Bonnie answered. "But what are the odds of that happening?"

"It's not a question of the odds. The odds change from minute to minute, from battle to battle. It's a question of being in the moment and battling your best. And that takes good strategy and belief."

"Belief…that's easier said than done", May answered morbidly.

"Why do you sound so upset May?" Bonnie asked in a concerned tone.

"Oh, she's just worried because her brother hasn't gotten in touch with her yet", Drew answered. "But I've already explained to her that there were no reports of anything bad happening outside of Johto, but she's always been such a worrier."

"It just isn't like Max to wait this long", May answered. "And with every day that passes the more worried I get."

"Look, I bet he'll be in touch any day from now. In fact, I'd be willing to bet he'll get in touch with you today."

"Oh yeah, based on what logic?" May was starting to sound almost manic. "The fact that he hasn't the last thirty days? Oh yeah, I'm sure I'll hear my phone buzzing any moment now. Well, I'd ask you Drew, what are the odds of that hah! What are the chances?" Just moments later her phone did exactly that. "Well", Drew began, "who is it?" May looked down at her phone. All of a sudden she began to blush with embarrassment, "it's Max", she answered softly. "Oh ye of little faith", Drew replied mockingly.

May then walked away from her seat and outside the small outdoor arena as she answered her phone: "Max", she answered, "is that you?"

"May!" her younger brother answered enthusiastically, "I'm so sorry. I wanted to get in touch with you three weeks ago, but the first time I heard about everything going on in Johto was only two days after I left Fortree City. I decided to not turn back but it took me so long to get to Lilycove City, I probably should have in hindsight. I was so scared something had happened to you. I'm really sorry May."

"I was scared to. I've been getting more and more worried every day. But I'm just glad to see you're ok." Tears were flooding down her face now. "So, how's the journey going? You got all your badges now?"

"Yes, I told you that remember."

"Oh yeah, sorry bout that haha. I'm just not with it lately. I'm guessing you're travelling through Lilycove City on your way to the pokemon league right?"

"Actually, I'm heading out to the islands first. I've got something to take care of." May then remembered something from their journey in Hoenn all that time ago. "Ohhh, I think I know what you're up to. I hope it goes well."

"Thanks May. I will try to move from one pokemon centre to the next as fast as I can so we can stay in touch ok. Looking forward to hearing how the gym leaders tournament goes."

"Ok Max. But is it possible you could buy a phone so we can stay in touch more often? I'm just really worried you know."

"Well I haven't got much money right now, but I promise I'll get in touch with Dad and ask him about it. But I promise I will get in touch really soon, so don't worry ok." May was beginning to tear up again…"ok Max, please be careful, I love you."

"I love you too May", he replied softly…then, sensing his sister's anxiety, he paused for a few moments before reassuring May again…"I promise."

May felt mixed emotions as she closed her phone. She was so relieved and happy to have spoken to Max again; but by the same token she was anxious about still being apart from him and the knowledge that she would be for some time yet, as well as being frustrated that he couldn't perform the simple act of buying a phone. Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder. "Hey, don't get all worried", Drew reassured her as he gave her a big bear hug, "it's good news, and we're all here for you no matter what happens, so try to be happy ok."

"Thanks Drew", May noticed her boyfriend's support was actually helping her feel better. Not so much his words, but just knowing that someone she cared about so much was there to look after her. Just then Bonnie walked up and began hugging her also. With her spirits lifted, May spoke next: "so where to now?"

"To Clement's next match!" Bonnie exclaimed.

"The problem is", Drew began, "his next two matches are on different arenas, so if we go to the next one, we mightn't be able to get a seat at the final one. And we want to be there for his big match don't we?"

"Oh well, I guess so", she conceded.

"So wouldn't this be the perfect time to go and get some lunch?" May asked.

"It sure would", Drew answered. "There's a perfect place inside the stadium where Clement's final match is going to be held."

"You mean Arena number 3?"

"That's right."

"Ok Drew, you lead the way."

"Anything for my girl!" he responded enthusiastically. So with a spring in his step, Drew began to run for the arena. When he realised he had gotten too far ahead of the others he turned back and shouted "you want to get a seat don't you?" May and Bonnie turned to each other and laughed, before racing to catch up with their lively male friend.

At that 'perfect place', deep inside the second level of Arena number 3, team rocket were enjoying an early lunch as the crowds from the first match began to flood into the bar. "Looks like the first match has finished", Jesse observed.

"That would be a fair bet", Meowth responded in his usual dry tone.

"I wonder how the twerps will go?" Jessie mused.

"Well there are a few of them competing, so I guess they've got that working in their favour. As for me, I'm just enjoying the atmosphere, especially the food."

"Agreed", Jessie replied.

James was being quiet, as he thought to himself. He had little or no interest in the tournament. Rather, his attention was devoted almost solely to coming up with a plan to stop Giovanni's diabolical plot. But to this point he was having no luck. Original thinking had never been his strong suit. But his attention was soon diverted as a waitress approached their table, which was located near the front of the bar. "Are you guys ready for something else?" She asked pleasantly. She meant to ask all three of them but her eyes were fixed on James, and it made him feel good, especially because James happened to find this young woman very attractive. She would have been in her early twenties, and was medium in size, with shoulder length jet black hair and kind brown eyes. Her complexion was somewhere between fair and olive. She was one of the most beautiful women James had ever seen but of course he would never tell Jesse that, although he might as well have as he continued to gape at the young woman with next to no self-awareness. Eventually, as Jesse and Meowth stared at him disapprovingly, he replied "Um…I will have a cheese burger and another Kanto draught please."

"Sure thing sweetie", she replied with an adorable grin. James was grinning in a similar fashion as the two continued to stare right at each other, as if they had temporarily forgotten where they were, but the girl soon recovered as she took Jesse and Meowth's orders, with Jesse deciding she was now only in the mood for coffee. James however still couldn't wipe the silly smirk off his face, as he remained in a state of euphoria. Once the girl had left, James whispered "this is one of the happiest days of my life."

"Wow", Meowth replied. "That's a pretty sudden turnaround from the James who's been all doom and gloom lately." Jesse however, looked downcast, and James began to notice this. But he didn't know what he could say that would make her feel better, and despite caring for Jesse, he was so overcome with happiness that he could not really sympathise with his friend. It was as if the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders; all of a sudden he had hope again. "Hey Meowth", he began, "how about this for a prank, you see that board on the wall?" pointing to a blackboard behind – and slightly adjacent to – the front counter. "That's the list of Pizzas on sale, but the most popular pizza is discounted by $5 for the rest of the day after 12:00, so I was thinking …" "Oh I'm with you you purple-haired scallywag, you want to mess up the tallies so that your pizza wins right?"

"Well, I just want to vote for my favourite pizza more than once. I call it being a highly motivated voter."

"So much for change", Jesse responded in a harsh tone. This blind sighted James, who had been grinning up until that moment. "Yeah…well change is complicated", he replied defensively. He began to leave his seat, but was now hesitating. As he did so, he accidently tripped over his chair leg, dropping a coin in the process, which he promptly knelt down and recovered, before heading towards the counter. But as he did so, something attracted his attention, and it wasn't the young waitress. It was a man. James had first noticed him around ten minutes earlier, staring at their table, but had made nothing of it initially. But his suspicions were now highly aroused as this hooded man continued to stare intently in his direction. It was then that James decided to confront him directly, so he walked back in the opposite direction, towards the back of the bar where the man was seated. "Excuse me", James began, "can I help you?" The man stared at James with a slight smirk for a few moments before responding: "No, I'm having a pretty good time back here thank you." This strongly irritated James, "I'm not interested in games, I'm a straight talker. You must be interested in me for a reason."

"Well it ain't your hair", he replied. The man spoke with a rather refined accent, albeit one with a slight roughness around the edges.

"Gee pal, that's original!" James turned around, it was Meowth who had spoken, as he and Jesse, as always, quickly rushed to their friend's side. "Time for some answers bozzo", Meowth said with a raised voice, "or else the face gets it", as he began to threaten the man with his claws. The man was laughing almost hysterically now, "ok, ok, you guys just relax. I promise, there's a good reason for all of this but just another minute or so, the next lot are about to join us."

"What are you on about?" Jesse asked irritably.

"Let's just say they'll seem familiar to you." Team rocket were afraid now. Were these operatives from a rival group who were going to come and threaten them? Or perhaps someone else they had rubbed up the wrong way? After all, they did not have a perfect past. But a few minutes later when those familiar faces did enter the room, James and the others were surprised to see it was the twerpet from Hoenn, accompanied by the green-haired boy she always hung around with. And with them was the inventor kid's little sister. Team rocket were now looking at the man in stunned disbelief, "how could you know that?" Jesse asked incredulously.

"Don't fall for it Jesse", Meowth reassured her "he obviously knows them."

"Let's go over and greet them shall we", the hooded man replied. They then walked over to the table where May, Drew and Bonnie were seated, adjacent to team rocket's table, near the front of the bar. Unsurprisingly, they reacted in an unpleasantly surprised fashion, "Oh, hey team rocket", the brown haired girl answered, "what do you want?" There was a few moments of uncomfortable silence, James did not know what to say, and Jesse and Meowth appeared to be the same. After a few more moments of awkwardness, the mysterious man spoke: "James, Jesse, Meowth", he barked, "go and pull up some chairs and come and sit here. I need to talk with all of you. There are things you need to know."

As they did, James continued to listen in on the conversation, "what would concern us and team rocket?" the green-haired boy answered. "We're not with them", he said in a condescending tone.

"Well from now on your fates are connected with theirs, so you had better get used to working together." They did not like that at all, "What!" You've got to be kidding to think we can trust them, even after everything that's happened. It still doesn't excuse all the bad things they've done."

"You're not perfect yourself May, and yes that's exactly what I expect you to do", the man answered in a calm, matter-of-fact tone, as James and the others came and sat around the table. The hooded man then took a seat from a nearby table and slotted in between Meowth and the little blonde-haired girl. "Ok, ok", he continued in a pleasant but still authoritative voice, as if he were a teacher who couldn't wait to start class, "to begin with, just a few little ground rules: "Jesse, you see this fine girl here?" "It's no longer twerpet, but May." Jesse was grinding her teeth, which James knew was a bad sign, but eventually she got the words out "hello May."

"Hello Jesse", she responded sarcastically.

"Now that's enough May", he answered. "Jesse and James are your elders, and you'll address them as such."

"Even if they never act like it?"

"Yes May, even if they never act like it. Sometimes people don't grow because no one treats them with respect."

"Yeah well people have to earn it."

"That's true, but it's not your place to judge. I will take care of them."

"Now", he continued, "team rocket, the same goes when the others start arriving, "it's no more twerp or twerpet, or inventor kid. From now on you're going to start referring to the children by their real names."

"Ok", James agreed. After a pause the others also nodded their heads in agreement. The man then removed his hood. He was quite a handsome man, with hazel eyes, a soft, oval face, and ash blonde hair. He carried a few small scares on his cheeks but nothing disfiguring. "As for me, my name is Luke, "I come from the borderlands, just slightly on the Kanto side to be exact, some distance north of here. And I'm here to guide you on your journey."

"What journey?" James asked. "We've made it to Silver City."

"That was only part one. Things are going to get a lot worse I'm afraid."

"How can you know that? Do you have inside information?" At first he didn't respond. Then after a brief pause, he began to calmly explain: "ok, this is how it is. The people, I mean to say the tribe I live with inside the borderlands, we're a rare group of people, quite different from those in the outside world. We're descendants of the original royal family of Kanto, an offshoot, separate from the more recent generations. We're a largely rural people, mostly living off the land. We're actually seers who possess an ability some of you might be familiar with, called the aura. We use it to communicate with the pokemon in our village. Some of the rarest known pokemon live with us in fact but obviously we like to keep it quiet. The aura is how I was able to know your location", he finished, his eyes focused on the children.

"But isn't the aura only related to pokemon?" James answered.

"Not always. For example, for me as a seer, that means I am able to see visions, including visions of the future. That's why you were having those strange visions May, because your mind could sense me reaching out." The girl was looking highly anxious now, "but why would you do that, why me?" He stared intently at her, "I think you know."

"Do you mean she's a seer to?" James asked.

"That's exactly what I mean. That's right May, you have the aura."

"Then h-how come", she mumbled, "how come I've never been able to communicate with pokemon or had any of these visions before?"

"Because you're still very young. It takes time to develop the ability. And I'm sure if you think back there will be things you couldn't explain, maybe a dream that happened in reality which you just put down to chance, or maybe a time you thought you were merely imagining what a pokemon was thinking." She was starting to look extremely uncomfortable now. But she soon spoke again, "actually, there's someone else in our group, for a while we've suspected that he might have the aura, would you know if that's true?"

"Ah, you mean your young friend Ash? He certainly does, and you will also be interested to know that him and Serena will be joining us very shortly. I've been deliberately stalling for a reason: I want them to be there when I reveal the next part of the story, and the plans I have for you lot, especially Ash, yourself and James."

"Ok", she continued, "me and Ash because we have the aura but why James, he doesn't have the aura does he?" James' heart was beating hard now as he waited for Luke to reveal why his role in this was so important: "no, I'm afraid not. But trust me, James will be vital to your journey. For one, he too is a descendent of the original royals, and much more closely related to the current royal family than my own tribe. However, I believe you will find his true value lies elsewhere."

"Don't riddle me man", James responded, "if there's something, some purpose which I'm needed for, just let me know so that I can do my job."

"You're not ready for the full answer yet James. But rest assured you will know when you need to know, it's your destiny. But I think you already know a piece of the puzzle." James suspected he was talking about coming up with a plan to infiltrate team rocket headquarters. He took comfort from at least knowing what he had to do next. It also buoyed James to know that he had a destiny; no one had ever told him that before.

After a few minutes of silence Luke spoke again, "could someone please go and pull up two extra chairs, Ash and Serena are about to join us."